Destiny-chapter 1

by Arun

Ranma is transported into the past and lives amongst the amazons and the Musk

SMARTALECK PRODUCTIONS

Destiny

By arun


Chapter#01 Completed on 06/18/2001

This is a Ranma 1/2 - Sailor Moon crossover with certain
aspects of Ramayana.

Disclaimers:

Rumiko Takahashi and Shogukkan own Ranma and the cast
members of Ranma 1/2. Rumiko Takahashi is one of the most brilliant
people to walk on the face of this earth. We the fans of the anime
world are forever indebted to her for giving us Ranma and co. Thank you
Rumiko Takahashi for bringing laughter back into our lives.

Naoko Takeuchi, Toei animation and KODANSHA, owns sailor
Moon and its characters.

I do not own the characters of both these shows, nor do I
even pretend to own them. This work of fiction is but a tribute to the
above anime shows.

Guys:

*....* indicate thoughts. In the first and second chapters
indicates Japanese and "..." indicates Chinese.

In all the other chapters the reciprocal is true.

***********************************************************************

Honshu Island: Near the river Agano, over a decade ago...

A pit of twenty feet length, fifteen feet width and sixteen
feet deep stood by the side of a rather large bamboo groove. There was
a stench about the pit and yowling and screeching was audible quite
clearly fifty yards from the pit. Upon closer examination, one can see
around thirty something cats at the bottom of the pit. All the cats are
feral animals and had not been cared for for quite sometime as is
evident from their build and coats, which lacked the lustre that wild
animals and healthy domestic ones do.

A few hundred yards to the left of the pit stood a man,
sturdily built with the beginnings of a potbelly and a balding head.
The man's head is covered by a scarf and by him stood a little boy with
blue eyes and a pigtail dressed in a training gi. The man is busy
blabbering something about cowardly son's as he ties fish and sausages
around the boy. The boy is trying to put on a brave face but it is very
clear that he is afraid of what is about to happen to him.

"Pop! I don't want to go in there again." said the boy in a
timid and trembling voice.

The man glared at the boy. "No son of mine is going to be
afraid of a pit of scawny little cats. Are you a man or not, Ranma?"

The boy's face stiffened and he assumed an emotionless
look. "I am a man and I am afraid of no cat," replied the boy though
his fear showed clearly, when he mentioned the word cat.

Genma smiled to himself. The boy was coming along nicely
and by the time he was sixteen or seventeen; he would be ready to face
his mother as a man among men. Then they'd be off to the Tendo's and
he'd live a life of luxury after that. Genma patted his son on his
back.

"That's my boy, now go in there and learn the Nekoken."

Genma picked up his tied up son and carried him towards the
pit. He could have made Ranma learn the technique at Niigata where they
had last stopped and where Ranma would have had emergency medical care
within a safe distance for learning the technique. However, the
situation there had worsened due to his thieving and he had to run away
to this forest. The situation would have quieted down in a few months.
But he had not wanted to postpone the training though; therefore, he
had gotten some feral cats with the intention of using them to teach
the boy the invincible Nekoken.

The boy had become afraid of cats after the first session
and he had taken it upon himself to rid his son of his stupid fears and
to teach him the damn technique. Never let it be said that Genma
Saotome's son was a snivelling coward.

As he approached the pit, the stench grew and by the time
he reached the pit it was nauseating. Genma pinched his nose and
dropped his son into the pit.

Scarcely had the boy touched the ground the hungry felines
were all over him. *Maybe this time the boy would learn the technique.*
Thought Genma as he retreated from the pit.

Inside the pit, Ranma screamed in agony as yet another cat
scratched him with its claw. The cats were in a mad frenzy as they
tried to get the most fish and Ranma found himself fought over, bitten,
scratched and subjected to psychological stresses that would have
driven a normal man into the clutches of insanity many times over. Then
suddenly, he felt warmth coming from his side and the cats became
quiet. He opened his eyes and saw...

***********************************************************************

It had waited for so long admist the budding human
population of this planet for eons. It belonged to a race of spirits
the ancient Amazons called the guide. Sure, the Amazons knew of it.
Some of their greatest warriors had united with other members of its
race. Throughout human history, unions with members of its species had
created those stray spots of light that shown amongst the human
population. Occasionally these spots would turn dark as in the case of
Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin but mostly the spots would shine like a
beacon for humanity to follow.

It was the most powerful and most proficient of the ki
manipulators in its race and it had watched and waited patiently as the
humans as a species slowly budded and became the dominant one on the
planet. It had waited and watched as fellow members of its race united
with human hosts and completed the cycle. Union was what all members of
its race yearned for. As they were immortals by birth, they had been
given a choice for mortality. If they were ever bored of their
existence then they would have to _unite_ with a human deemed worthy
and would transfer all their skills and powers to the human. All that
was transferred would remain latent until the human trained and gained
control over those powers.

It had been bored of its existence for the last thirty
thousand years and it had waited patiently for a human worthy of its
gifts. It had traversed the continents and had found everyone lacking.
Once in awhile a human would stand out among the cloud like a beacon
but it had found these specimens wanting in one thing or the other. By
the terms of the contract made with Kami-sama, it would have to wait
until the perfect candidate was found and as such, it had waited for
thirty thousand years. In addition, those thirty thousand years had
been boring beyond belief. Sure, it would meet with one of the stronger
surviving members of its race and it would fight with them in a battle
of wills to temporarily rid itself of its loneliness. It would soon
lose its interest in the fights as it was the champion amongst its race
and no one could beat it. These battles of the mind would often last
decades and both the contestants would come out of the battle looking
refreshed and stronger than ever before. It had met its greatest match
some three hundred years ago. It had met another powerful guide like
itself who had given up the will to live in this plane of existence and
had been wandering across the continents for tens of thousands of
years. It's opponent was the most proficient mana manipulator of its
race and they had both battled for the better part of a century before
parting ways.

Now after three thousand years of waiting, it had found the
perfect candidate. Of course, the candidate was young even by human
standards but he was overflowing with raw potential and talent. He was
more than worthy to bear its gift and become its host. With this in
mind, it approached him to unite with him. Being one with nature due to
its ki skills it sensed what the boy was feeling and what its father
was thinking. Its mind reeled from the information that the pile of
garbage the boys father called his brain. It had witnessed several
Nekoken training sessions since it had attained self-awareness in its
life and yet of all the sensei's it had witnessed this man stood out as
the worst. The others had been for the most part been unaware of what
the technique could do to their students and can therefore be forgiven
for their mistakes. However, this man not only knew of the powers of
the technique but also seemed quite aware of what the technique would
do to his son. It could also sense the greed that wafted in huge waves
from his aura. It shook its head and concentrated on the boy. The boys
aura was bluish white and it would sense some arrogance from him.
Surely if the boy was left with his father all of its gifts would go to
waste and he would most probably become one of the best martial artists
in his generation. A waste of potential if one may say for the boy had
the potential to become one of the true masters of the art with just a
little nudge in the right direction. It was also surprised to find that
the child had been submitted to only ten of these training sessions he
was very close to mastering the Nekoken. It shook its head again in
wonder and manifested itself by his side. It did not think that the boy
would be able to sense its presence and yet it was wrong. The boy could
not only sense its presence but he also knew exactly where it was
judging by the fact that he was looking at it right in the eye.

It moved closer to the boy and for the first time visually
manifested itself. The boy's eyes widened in surprise but he did not
object as the pulsing energy that was the guide engulfed him. He felt
strangely peaceful as it initiated the union. The air around the two
began to hum as the ceremony continued. The cats stood silent by the
wall with their hairs on end. Halfway through the ceremony the guide
sensed the arrival of another of its race. It slowed the process and
concentrated on finding to the identity of the new arrival. It was
surprised to sense the arrival of its friend and fellow wanderer, the
one who had given it its toughest match in all its life. It welcomed
the newcomer and the second guide made it clear that it too was
planning to unite with the boy. The guide agreed as it would provide
its host with both ki and mana manipulation skills beyond par. When the
second guide initiated the process, the boy's body became transparent
and the ki and mana lines flowing through him pulsed in harmony with
the humming of the air around him. The humming grew in frequency and so
did the pulsing until the pit was lit up with a brilliant light display
involving all the colors in the visible spectrum and some beyond that.

***********************************************************************

Genma hid behind a boulder a couple of hundred yards
downwind from the pit. He had retreated to this place due to the stench
from the pit but mainly because he feared the Nekoken. He knew what the
technique would do to his son and yet was determined to make his son
learn it in his quest to make his son a man among men. He was afraid at
the same time because the training manual had also said something about
the life of the sensei being in extreme danger once the technique
manifested itself. He did not want to die if he could help it. Learning
under the master had imbued in him a strong instinct for self-
preservation and had helped him become a master of self-preservation
techniques.

He knew that his son would learn the technique in another
two or three training _sessions_ instead of the fifty or so sessions
quoted by the manual. He also knew that his son would most probably
maul him seriously if he happened to find him while he was in the
clutches of the Nekoken.

He was therefore slightly surprised when the yowling and
the screeching from the pit stopped a few minutes after he had dropped
his son into the pit. He had not taught that the boy would learn the
technique so soon. Not wanting to risk his life, he remained where he
was hidden until he heard a humming sound from the pit. He looked out
from his hiding place and saw the pit glowing. For once, his concern
for his son overrode his self-preservation instincts and Genma ran
towards the pit. The humming and the pulsing rapidly grew in frequency
until he could feel his stomach moving in rhythm with the humming. When
he reached the pit, he peeked in to see what was happening to his son.
What he saw frightened the living daylights out of him. His son was
transparent and he could clearly see pulses of energy flowing through
his son. The humming had reached a crescendo by then and Genma watched
helplessly as the humming ceased all of a sudden and his son
disappeared with a flash of light that blinded him temporarily.

When his eyesight returned he looked around the groove
hoping beyond hope that his son would be somewhere near. He searched
for two whole hours before he decided that his son was lost to him. His
stomach chose that moment to show its displeasure at being deprived of
food for four hours and began to growl in protest. He cursed the kami
for giving him such a wayward son and settled down to eat. After the
meal he brooded over how he would tell is wife Nodoka about the
premature death of her son for he was sure that he'd never be able to
find Ranma again. After a couple of hours of thinking he decided that
he would tell his wife a version of events that portrayed Ranma as a
martyr and he himself as a dutiful sensei and a loving father to save
his neck. Having decided on this course of action Genma packed up his
belongings, left the forest without his son, and began his journey to
the Juuban ward of Tokyo where his wife awaited him. Unknown to Genma
Nodoka had been pregnant with his second child when he left with Ranma
on his training trip three years ago and he thus had a new guinea pig
to subject to his _training_.

***********************************************************************

The pools of sorrow: 156 BC...

It was a beautiful day and the guide was enjoying every
minute of it. There had been no victims of the pools... ahem, customers
for the past six months and he thanked the Kami for this unexpected
streak of good fortune. As much as his livelihood depended on the
springs, he had a good heart and it pained him every time someone got
cursed in the springs. He loved people and the thought of the anguish
they went through whenever they got cursed pained him a lot.

He sighed and shook his head before turning his attention
back to the task before him. He had to prepare the ground for the
seedlings or he and his son would die of starvation before the year was
out. His friends had said that he was mad and they still insisted that
he was mad for taking the position of the guide but he knew that he had
the better end of the deal. The Amazons had refused to treat him as
their equal although he had become one of the premier fighters in the
village. He thus had little reason to remain at the village and when
the guardian to the pools had died, he had replaced him as the new
guardian of the pools.

His wife had been distraught at his behavior, had begged,
and implored him but he had refused to stay in the village any longer.
He had told her that he would always be a male member of the Amazon
tribe in his heart though he found it difficult to lead their way of
life. The farewells had been gut wrenching but he had refused to give
into mere emotions and lose his pride. With a heavy heart, he had left
the village. It had been three years since then and he had not
regretted a single moment of his newfound freedom. As the guardian of
the pools, even the all-powerful matriarch of the village and the Musk
emperor had to address him with respect and he found himself loving
every moment of his new job.

The guide hummed to himself a little ditty he remembered
his mother singing, when he had been just a little child to pass the
time. Suddenly his ki sense flared and he stopped the plough and looked
towards the pools. His trained sense told him the alteration in the ki
flow over one of the pools and then suddenly with a flash of light a
strange looking young boy appeared above the pool. The guide's
amazement grew as the boy hung in midair for the tiniest fraction of a
second before gravity decided that it was time to prove who was the
master.

With a yelp that the guide could hear clearly, the boy fell
face first into the spring of the drowned dragon. *Spring of the
drowned dragon, why did I realize just now that the pool was imprinted.
Heck, I did not even know that there was a pool over there.* The
guardian thought. Then suddenly the memory came to him. The Amazon
elders had always said that the springs were created by gods to guide
people to their destinies and he now realized that the elders had been
correct all along for there was no way that he could remember all about
a pool he had not known to exist till a couple of moments ago. He shook
his head to clear it of his memories and thoughts. They would arrange
themselves in a little while. He left his plough and ran towards the
pools to help the boy while making an unconscious note to himself to
record the details about the new pool when he had time on his hands. He
also had to inform the Amazon elders and the Musk emperor about this
new pool as early as possible.

***********************************************************************

Ranma floated horizontally two feet above the ground
pulsing with live energy. He could sense everything and nothing at the
same time. His could not hear anything and he could not speak nor
smell but his eyes worked perfectly and he felt senses that he had not
known he had. These new senses worked in complete unison with nature.
He could feel a soft breeze coming in from the south rustling the
bamboo leaves as it blew gently over the bamboo shoots. He could feel
the greed and the foolishness that rolled in thick layers around his
father. He could sense his fathers concern when he saw him floating up
in the air. He tried to open his mouth to say something but found
himself unable to do so. Genma, too, seemed to be in shock, as he
looked at him with his eyes the size of saucers. Then all of a sudden
he lost his senses and yet regained them. His voice returned and he
could hear the sweet sound of silence all around him. His father seemed
a little relieved when the thumping went away but he didn't get to say
anything to Genma as there was a bright flash of light the very next
instant itself and Ranma found himself a few yards above a small pool
in a valley he didn't recognize. The entire valley was filled with
pools of varying sizes and shapes. Then suddenly he felt gravity return
and he began to fall. Something inside him warned him to do something -
anything to avoid falling into the water. Try as he might he could not
do anything and with a yelp, he fell face first into the water.

He tried not to breathe inside the pool and felt yet
another change happening to him. He felt his body shift and the same
glow came into existence around him. Not wanting to stay underwater any
longer for fear of drowning he kicked with his legs and rushed towards
the surface.

However, he miscalculated his own power as he shot out of
the water and a good thirty yards into the air. Not wanting to fall
down again he used his _wings_ to hover in the air. *Wings, since when
did I have wings!* Thought Ranma as he hurriedly commenced an
examination of himself. He found himself in the body of a two-foot
dragon. This new revelation proved too much of a shock and Ranma
Saotome, heir to the Saotome school of Matsubeto Katuto Ryuu lost his
already fragile grip on consciousness and much to his good fortune fell
down to the ground, for near the dragon pool was the pool of the raging
Hentai. Behind the senseless young dragon, the pool dried up and
disappeared from existence.

***********************************************************************

The guide realized that the boy maybe drowning and in need
of help as he rushed towards the pools. A part of him was afraid that
the child had drowned as it had been nearly a minute and the child had
not yet surfaced from the pool. He thought about using the Kacchu
Tenshin Amaguriken but decided against it, as he would need almost all
of his ki reserves if the boy had drowned before he got to him. In such
a case, he would need all the ki he could get his hands on to bring the
boy back from the dead. His train of thoughts was interrupted as the
boy launched himself some thirty feet into the air and hovered there in
his cursed form. The dragon examined itself and then fell to the ground
unconscious.

*Poor kid, must be a horrifying experience for him.* The
guardian rushed towards the fallen dragon taking extra care himself so
as not to fall into one of the pools. He almost fell into the pool of
the drowned chicken when he saw the newly revealed pool of the drowned
dragon dry up and disappear. Shaking his head at the strange happening
he made his way to the dragon, lifted it up, and carried it to his hut.
He had expected it actually. After all stranger things had happened at
Jusenkyo.

Inside the hut, he created a fire and laid the dragon near
it. Then he heated some water, poured some water over the dragon, and
waited for the now normal boy to wake up.

Presently the boy woke up with a start. He examined himself
and finding himself in his human form let out a sigh of relief and
shook his head obviously dismissing the whole incident as a nightmare.



Ranma looked strangely at the guardian and tried to speak
with him in Japanese. Though the guide was speaking in a language, he
had never heard he found himself understanding some words, which
greatly disturbed him! "Ummmmm, where am I?"

The guardian knew Japanese fluently and thus was able to
understand a little of the modern Japanese that Ranma was speaking.
"You are in my hut, young one. You fell into the pool of the drowned
dragon, sad story of the dragon, which fell into the spring ten
thousand years ago. Now whoever falls into the spring takes the body of
the drowned dragon. You will turn into a dragon when you are splashed
with cold water and into your non cursed form when splashed with warm
water."

The child seemed to understand what had happened to him, he
remained silent for sometime, and the guardian decided to give him some
room to clear his thoughts. "Thank you for helping me out and all. I
had better be going now in search of my father." said Ranma though he
knew instinctively that he had no hope his father.

The guardian looked at the boy quizzically and spoke at
length. "Young one, you are now at the cursed pools of sorrow. If you
can tell me where your father might be and what he looks like perhaps I
can help you in locating him as it is dangerous for you to be out there
by yourself anywhere near the pools."

"Sure thing mister. My father was training me in the
Nekoken by the shores of the Agano River." The boy shuddered
involuntarily when he said the word neko.

"Agano river... I have never heard of such a river in my
life child. You must be mistaken," said the guardian wondering at the
new piece of information. A child who had survived even a part of the
dreaded Nekoken was an exceptional soul and a child who had survived
the Nekoken training and had such huge levels of ki was worth many
times his weight in gold.

"Maybe you hadn't heard of the river mister but I have and
I trained in the Nekoken near that very river," replied the child.

"Son, I am telling you the truth. I can tell that you are
from the land of the Wa though your speech is very different from the
Japanese that I know. You are currently in the pools of sorrow on the
border between the three great kingdoms. I can also tell you for sure
that the land of the Wa is separated from here by many months of
walking distance and there is also a sea between the two lands."

As soon as he realized what the guide was trying to say,
tears began to form in Ranma's eyes. The guardian looked uncomfortable
when faced with the tears of the child but he understood the situation
that the child was in and tried to comfort the child by hugging him.

"Do not worry child, I will send you to someone who will
take care of you." repeated the guardian in a bid to comfort Ranma.

Ranma did not stop crying for several hours and when he
stopped, it was because he was exhausted. His energy reserves had been
depleted by the emotional stress he was under and he went to sleep on
the guardians shoulder. The guide patted the sleeping child and decided
to stay with him even though he had much work to do. He realized that
the child needed someone close by as comfort and as such opted to stay
where he was until the boy woke up. He too was finding the situation
very soothing, as he did not get to see his son a lot for the boy's
mother often took him on extended training missions.

***********************************************************************

The next morning Li Jiang, the guardian and Ranma set out
to see the king of the Musk dynasty as Ranma was now part dragon and as
such must be handed over to the Musk. The journey was silent as Ranma
was embarrassed at his unmanly behavior the day before. Moreover,
traveling with Genma on the road training day and night was a sure-fire
way to shall we shall being naive and shy to the outside world. A few
hours of walking saw them in front of the Musk king's palace. The
guardian was treated with the utmost respect and the two of them were
ushered into the council chambers.

"Ranma, I am going to leave you with the person we are
going to meet till you are ready for the outside world and can take
care of yourself."

The boy nodded and the two waited for his majesty's
arrival. They did not have to wait for long as the emperor came into
see them soon after they had been seated. The two rose in homage to the
emperor and bowed before him.

The emperor was a tall man by Chinese standards. He stood
at just over six feet. His body was built with bulges in all the right
places. He had brownish hair on his head. The hair was braided together
in a ponytail and his red eyes were silted as visible proof of his
dragon lineage. The emperor motioned them to get up and showed them
their seats. Contrary to beliefs of many other kingdoms of the period
the Musk rulers viewed all as equals and did not think of themselves as
divine representatives. They were the followers of Confucius and as
such, they seldom demanded respect from their citizens though they
never hesitated to enforce it when the situation demanded that they do
so.

"What brings you here Li Jiang?" asked the emperor after
the initial round of greetings and pleasantries had been exchanged.

"Honorable emperor, yesterday a new spring was discovered
in the pools of sorrow. I am here to inform you of the springs
discovery and destruction as well as to ask a favor from your majesty,"
replied the guardian in humble tones.

The emperor nodded. He laid back in his chair and motioned
the guide to continue his tale. "Proceed guardian. I am very interested
in what you have to say!"

The guardian cleared his throat before continuing.
"Yesterday, Honored Emperor, I was ploughing the fields when...."

Li Jiang told his story for the better part of the hour and
the emperor interrupted him whenever he was uncertain about some fact.
By the time the guardian of the cursed pools of sorrow was done, the
emperor was literally on the edge of his seat.

"Most interesting, guardian. This is the boy I suppose."

"Yes honorable emperor. This is Ranma and Ranma, this is
the emperor of the Musk dynasty. He is similar to you in some respects.
You see Ranma, the emperor has a dragon as his ancestor."

Ranma's eyes widened when he heard the word dragon. He
shook his head to clear it.

The emperor laughed. "Yes, young Ranma, I am part dragon
and I can see that you are also part dragon."

The boy nodded shyly. Just then the crown prince of the
Musk, a boy aged about eight came running into the room. Seeing the
visitors he excused himself and was withdrawing from the room when the
emperor beckoned him to come near him.

"Ranma, this is my only son Liu Chi'n. Liu Chi'n this is
Ranma. He is part dragon like you. Will you take him out and play with
him while I discuss some matters with the guardian of the pools?"

Liu Chi'n nodded and grabbing Ranma's hands ran out of the
room. Soon the sound of the two boys having the time of their lives
could be heard throughout the fortress.

"Now, guardian, what favor did you require of me?"

"It pertains to Ranma, honorable emperor. I beseech you to
raise Ranma as your own son till the time comes when he is ready to
face the outside world," replied Li Jiang.

"I wouldn't have it another way guardian. With his
phenomenal ki levels, he will be a menace to society and to himself if
he does not have control over his ki. Furthermore, he is a dragon and
as such, he is my brother. I will be damned if I let him be raised as a
commoner though I am afraid I do not understand why you would ask this
of me?" said the emperor.

"My liege, what I am about to tell you must be kept only to
yourself. I am pretty sure that the boy is from the future and that the
kami have something important for him to perform. The boy knows that he
is from the future and he himself is finding it hard to believe. The
boy has had too much happen to him in too short a time and he will need
all the love and affection that you can provide if he is to get through
this with a bit of sanity in him." replied the guardian.

The emperor nodded in understanding. "I will do as you have
asked guardian. As of now, Ranma is my adopted son and Liu Chi'n's
blood brother. As such he will have all the comforts and privileges as
a member of the royal family and I will see to it that he gets plenty
of love as well as training."

The guide allowed himself to smile at the last part of the
sentence. "Thank you, your majesty. I will take my leave now so that I
will reach the Joketsuzoku village before nightfall."

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to him guardian?"

"No, your highness. I must be leaving now. I thank you for
granting me this favor. I am forever in your debt." Thus saying the
guardian withdrew and went on his way.

Outside by the trees...

"Come-on Liu, you are cheated," shouted an exasperated
Ranma. He did not mean it of course as he had planned to say something
like 'come-on Liu, you cheated.'

"Nyahhh!" replied Liu and stuck out this tongue from behind
one of the trees. Liu had used his rudimentary mastery of ki to defeat
Ranma with his very own version of the Kacchu Tenshin Amaguriken.
Though the technique was nowhere near as powerful as the Amazon version
of the technique it was still much faster then Ranma could counter.
Ranma was fuming at having been beaten so easily in the fight. Only his
father had defeated him so easily and Genma was many times older than
Liu or himself. Therefore, he was shocked that a little boy like Liu
could beat him so easily and move at speeds that Genma must have found
impossible to dodge. He was not so steamed at being beaten so easily as
his father did that once or twice everyday to _train_ him of course.
What bothered him was the way in which he had been beaten and the dull
sensation he had felt all over his body when Liu had moved that fast.

Besides that, he was finding out that he was having more
success with the Chinese that Liu was speaking than he had had with the
guardian. His knowledge of Chinese was rapidly improving. It was as
though his mind knew the meaning of words he had never heard before in
his life. Ranma found this disconcerting but he supposed that it was
normal compared to what had happened in the past day or two. His spoken
Chinese had also improved though he still had months to go before he
could call himself proficient in Chinese.

Putting a smirk on his face, Ranma ran after the crown
prince in the hope of catching him though he knew that it was a lost
cause if Liu moved with the same speed. From one of the palace windows
the emperor watched the boys play and smiled to himself. He remembered
the days when he too had his brother to play with before he died of
dysentery. Thus lost in his dreams he almost failed to notice a ki
signal so familiar that he could identify the person in the middle of
the night. "Enter, Yuan."

The former sensei and mentor to the emperor entered. His
ears were pointed and his eyes were silted like those of a tiger. This
was a reminder of his tiger blood and the warrior moved with a grace
that rivaled that of a tiger in its prime though he was well over a
hundred years old. The old man bowed to his emperor.

"You may rise Yuan," said the emperor, his face showing the
slightest hint of a smile as he looked with respect at his old sensei.

"What is it you need of me, my emperor?" asked the old
warrior.

"You can address me as your student master for I will
always be your student first and then your emperor."

The old man nodded. Yuan Puyi was one of the greatest
warriors that the Musk dynasty had ever produced in its seven hundred-
year-old reign and as such he was treated with respect accorded to one
of his stature.

"Very well, Qin Shi." Yuan had not been called to the
palace for three years and if he had been called, it must mean that
something important had happened. He had already sensed what he thought
was the cause for the summoning but he wanted to confirm it first. The
emperor's smile grew in strength. "Master, don't tell me that you have
grown weak in your years. You know as well as I do why you have been
summoned. Surely you can sense the new dragon in the palace grounds."

Yuan nodded. "Yes I can sense him and I surmised that much
when I entered the palace. Surely the dragon cannot be your son for his
signature is too strong to be a small child's."

"Master, I repent my earlier comments. You are still as
healthy and observant as ever," replied the pupil with a glint of
mischief showing in his eyes.

The master grinned at his pupil. "So, who is the new dragon
Qin Shi?" If anyone else had behaved so familiar with the emperor his
tongue would have been cut as tradition demanded but Yuan Puyi was no
simple man and he was allowed to get away with anything.

The glint in the emperor's eyes increased and he allowed
himself to laugh, just a little mind you as it would be ill fitting an
emperor if he laughed in the presence of a commoner for Yuan with all
his skills didn't have dragon blood flowing in his veins.

"His name is Ranma Saotome and he fell into the pool of the
drowned dragon a little over a day ago. The guardian brought him here
as we were the most capable of raising dragons." said the emperor
solemnly.

Now Yuan Puyi had lived for hundred and thirty odd years
and there had been many instances in his childhood when he had been
surprised. However, as he had aged the youthful brashness had been
replaced with wisdom and experience and he had seldom been surprised or
even surprised, as he had grown older. When Qin Shi mentioned the fact
about the pool of the drowned dragon, so off-handily Yuan was inclined
to think that the emperor was joking but upon seeing the smile on his
students face, he realized that it was true and his shock grew by leaps
and bounds. He was roughly shaken out of his stupor by the sounds of
the emperor laughing and rolling on the floor clutching his stomach.
Several guards entered the room to check out the nature of the
commotion but quickly retreated when they saw the emperor rolling on
the floor.

Yuan waited patiently for his wayward student to stop
laughing and then cleared his throat.

"Master, forgive me for my impertinence but I could not
help it. The look of surprise and shock on your face was one I never
thought I would see." said the emperor as he rose from the floor
gasping for breath all the while. He used the silken sleeves of his
cloth to wipe away the tears that were flowing from him eyes.

"And what is it about my expression that you found so
amusing Qin Shi?" asked Yuan in an exasperated tone.

"Nothing master, nothing at all. I cannot even begin to
describe the beauty that your face displayed." replied the pupil.
Several snickers could be heard from outside the room.

Yuan let out a sigh. "I can understand that you are jealous
of my beauty." More snickers could now be heard and they were growing
louder in volume.

"True master. Now master shall we get down to business?"
The question was a little blunt but Yuan took no offense. He held these
manners of the court in utter contempt and he would have been
disappointed if his student had become the model for etiquette.

"Yes, Qin Shi, lets get down to business." replied the
master as he took the seat that Qin Shi had reserved for him. He let
out a contented sigh as the silken quilts soothed his aching muscles.
The emperor smiled at the master and assumed a seat of his own.

"Master, I called you here because I want to you to train
personally both Ranma and Liu Chi'n. I can sense the greatest potential
with Ranma and Liu too, is not far behind. Liu has some training in ki
manipulation but Ranma does not have conscious control of his ki though
I am fairly certain that he would learn it easily enough."

The master nodded inacceptance and the talk drifted onto
less serious subjects.

***********************************************************************

The next day...

The emperor's chambers were large with silken sheets draped
all over the room. There were oil lamps here and there and these lamps
together with the open window by the side of the bed provided more than
enough lighting to the room. The emperor was sleeping with his arms and
legs sprawled in weird directions. He was too busy snoring to hear the
sound of two boys sneaking up on him.

The boys edged closer and closer until they were within a
few feet of his majesty, the emperor Qin Shi. Qin Shi had long sensed
their presence and had decided to play with them. He lay there as still
as he could to catch the boys off guard. Ranma however sensed the
slightest tensing of the emperor's body and motioned to Liu that the
jig was up and they would have to move in now. Immediately both the
boys jumped into the bed and the emperor evaded their strikes with
ease. The fight drifted outside the bedroom and soon they were in the
middle of the courtyard, dukeing it out with the emperor.

The three moved with grace that anyone would have found
poetic. Qin Shi smiled to himself as he evaded and blocked and parried
the strikes and counter strikes his two sons were launching at him. He
noticed that though Liu's movements were faster and had more strength
Ranma's movements were slightly more efficient and he could not quite
place his fingers on the style that Ranma was using. All at once, the
boy seemed to be switching styles and adapting to his fighting. His
smile grew in intensity. Obviously, he and master Yuan Puyi had been
right in their judgment of Ranma. It was evident to him that Ranma was
destined to be one of the greatest warriors in the tribe when he grew
up. The boy's speed had also increased slightly and on careful
examination, he could see that the boy was unconsciously directing ki
to boost his moves. This little bit of information caused him to lose
his concentration and Liu got a hit in his stomach. Accepting that he
had been defeated, the emperor led the two boys inside the palace.

"You boys fought very well today."

Liu grinned like an imp and Ranma thanked the emperor for
the complement. As Ranma had not been on the road with Genma for very
long his manners were still somewhat intact and he thanked the emperor.

"Ranma, try as I might I could not recognize the style you
were fighting in. What was the name of the style?"

Ranma's right hand went to the back of his head and he
began scratching. "It is called the Matsubeto Katuto Ryuu. I was the
heir to the school until the accident."

Qin Shi nodded. "Well you two are going to meet your sensei
for the first time today."

"Who is it father?" asked Liu joyously.

Ranma too had the joyous glint in his eyes.

"Well you know the teacher I studied with when I was your
age."

Liu nodded his head and Ranma looked questioningly at Liu.

"His name is Master Yuan Puyi, Ranma, and he is one of the
greatest warriors that this tribe had ever produced. Come-on let's eat
and I will be tell you all about him then."

***********************************************************************

After the breakfast, Qin Shi led the two boys out of the
palace and into the forests surrounding the capital. There in the
middle of a clearing stood an old man over a hundred-years-old with a
solemn air about him. The emperor advanced towards this individual and
instructed the boys to bow to the old man. They did so and when they
bent the old man hit them both on their behinds with the staff he had
with him.

The boys yelped and jumped into the air holding their
stinging behinds. The emperor laughed but the old man looked disgusted.

"Boys, I am master Yuan Puyi and that will be your first
lesson. Never relax. Your enemy is always waiting and watching behind
you for you to relax and when you do, he will strike at you. Only one
strike is needed and you will be dead before you know it."

Ranma and Liu nodded while rubbing their behinds.

"Ranma and Liu, introduce yourselves," said the emperor.

"I am Ranma Saotome, Heir to the Matsubeto Katuto Ryuu,"
said Ranma haltingly in the Musk dialect.

Yuan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The Anything Goes
School of Martial arts, hmmm... I have never heard of such a school.
Have to test you then Ranma. Care for a spar." droned the old man.

"Sure!"

The two contestants went to the middle of the clearing
while the other two withdrew to the sidelines. Sure enough, the fight
did not last long and Ranma was sprawled on the floor clutching his
stomach and groaning. Yuan simply smiled at the boy and turned towards
the emperor.

"The boy has got a lot of potential I'll give him that and
his fighting style is one of the best I have ever seen though it does
not seem to actively use ki. Anyway, Liu do you care for a sparring
session." Liu nodded and took a defensive stance at the center of the
clearing.

Like before the fight did not last long and Liu too ended
up sprawled on the floor groaning like Ranma.

"Liu, your mastery of ki at this young age is commendable
but the concentration is just not there. You could have done better if
you had concentrated a little more."

"Yes, master." replied Liu after getting onto his legs
again. It was a painful experience as was evident by the grimace on his
face. The emperor acted his part as a passive observer during the fight
and remained passive. Soon after the first training session began, the
emperor left the clearing and went to the palace.

***********************************************************************

Five years later...

Ranma and Liu stood in the middle of the clearing their
aura's blazing like a wildfire around them. At Yuan's signal, they
leapt towards each other. Both pulled in their auras during the course
of the leap and began to exchange blows at a furious pace. Ranma had
grown into a cute boy of eleven with his pigtail dancing in the air
behind him. He was sturdily built due to extensive training in various
forms of kung fu and regular training sessions with Yuan Puyi, Qin Shi
and Liu had increased his speed, stamina and endurance manifold. As of
now, his was skillful enough to best almost all the warriors in the
village. The beginning of puberty is also evident.

Likewise, Liu had also grown up to be a cute young man with
a green ponytail and a green-silted pupils.

The two exchanged blows that would have easily pulverized a
wall of concrete and both shrugged the blows off as though they were
nothing. The sparring continued for a long time without utilizing ki
projection attacks until Yuan gave them the command to stop. The two
pupils all but dropped to the floor in exhaustion.

"Nice challenge Liu but you are too young to beat me," said
Ranma between gasps.

Liu hmphed in mock disgust. "You are speaking brother as
though you were about to beat me. Aren't we a little too positive
today?"

Ranma laughed. "Admit it Liu-chan you could not beat me
even if your life depended on it."

"Arghhh! How many times have I told you not to call me by
that name, Ranma? Now you will pay for your mistake." Shouted Liu as he
launched himself at Ranma. However, before he reached him he was
stopped by a wooden staff that bonked him nicely on the head.

"Haha... Ouch! Hey, sensei I can understand why you would
hit the crybaby over there but why did you hit me for?" shouted Ranma
indignantly.

Yuan shook his head and muttered something about wise guy
students. Then he cleared his throat and addressed his students.

"Ranma and Liu, you have both mastered various combat
styles. I am proud of the distance you have traveled so far and from
tomorrow onwards I am going to start teaching you advanced ki
techniques. That is all for today."

***********************************************************************

Ranma and Liu sat in the lotus position in front of their
master. Yuan, too, was squatting on the forest floor.

"Shall we get on with today's lessons?" asked the aging
master.

"Yes, sensei." replied the twosome in unison.

Yuan handed both of them a wooden staff. His students were
about to set them aside when Yuan motioned them to keep it in their
hands.

"I want both of you to relax and tap into your ki as I
taught have you," said Yuan.

Both of them looked straight ahead and without much of an
effort, their bodies began to glow white.

Yuan nodded his approval. Their ki tapping time was much
faster than any other warrior he had encountered if you took into
account that both were just approaching their puberty. He smiled
inwardly to himself. He viewed his students as the kami's gift to him
in his last years. The amount of skill and determination as well as the
macho bravado both of them displayed never failed to remind him of his
younger years. Both were always pushing the other past their limits and
thus into new levels of mastery. True they had nearly a decade to go
before they could give him a run for their money but the day was
definitely getting closer than ever. He mused that as of now both of
them would give Qin Shi a fair fight if they went all out in a battle.
Wiping away the grin on his aging face, the four-foot high grandmaster
looked solemnly at his two pupils.

"Now, focus the ki onto your hands. Do not use emotions.
They will reduce the power of your ki by disturbing its balance with
nature. Ranma, what did I tell you about using your confidence as
focus?"

Thwack!

"Ouch! Sensei, you do not have to hit me that hard you
know!" grumbled Ranma rubbing the sore spot on his head. Amazingly, his
aura did not flicker out of existence at this charade. Yuan shook his
head in amazement. The boy never ceased to amaze him.

"Good, Ranma. I see you have got the knack of keeping your
aura even when you are concentrating on other things." spoke Yuan his
pride for his student clearly showing in his voice.

Ranma's hand went to his neck and still the aura refused to
flicker out of existence. "Geeez! Thanks I guess, Sensei," replied
Ranma.

"Show off!" muttered Liu.

"You two, stop your bickering and start doing what I told
you to do." sighed Yuan. The two were always at each other's throats.
Some sort of weird filial bonding ritual he supposed. *Well they can
have their blood for all I care as long as they surpass me in the art!
The two nodded and followed his instruction. The glow faded from their
bodies but grew in intensity around their palms. Though they were
holding the stick in their hand, it was clear that they were not
focusing the ki into the wood.

"Now, focus the ki into the wood."

Both tried for a minute or two and Yuan could see that they
were going about it the wrong way. *Well, you cannot expect them to be
perfect! He certainly had not expected them to succeed in their first
attempt. He himself had taken nearly five attempts before he got it
right when he was learning the technique.

"You are going about it the wrong way. I said focus it into
the wood and I definitely, do not remember saying force it into the
wood. Relax and feel the ki flowing through the wood. Now, focus your
ki and direct it towards the ki lines."

Both tried again and pretty soon, Ranma's began to glow
while Liu's began to flicker in and out of existence.

*I will be damned! I never expected them to learn this
fast.* "Good Ranma, it seems that you have got the hang of this
technique. Liu try again. I am sure that you will get it right next
time."

Ranma snickered at having won this round. "Ha, shut up
Ranma," said Liu before hitting Ranma on the head with his knuckles.
Ranma grumbled to himself and muttered about hell to pay for the
offense. Yuan laughed at the childish behavior and nudged Liu to try
again.

This time Liu succeeded.

"Ranma, now that you have got the hang of the technique I
want you to imagine your ki to be a sharp edged sword. Focus it onto
the staff and hit that rock over there. You too, Liu. You can hit that
rock over there." said Yuan.

Ranma walked over to the rock, raised his staff high over
his head and in one chopping motion hit it at high speed. There was a
boom and the rock exploded into a million pieces.

Yuan shook his head. "Ranma, I told you to focus it as a
sharp edged instrument. Try it again at the rock over there."

There was another boom. Liu had managed to break the rock
he was practicing in into three separate pieces. "Liu, imagine your ki
to be sharp not hard."

"Yes master!" Liu had the commonsense to look embarrassed.

"Try it again at the rock over there Liu."

The rest of the morning was spent in perfecting the
technique and lots of rocks in the area were reduced to sand.

***********************************************************************

Fifteen years later...

"Honorable emperor, the princes' have arrived as you had
beckoned," said a guard while bowing to the ground.

"Good! Send them in and get the ministers." Qin Shi coughed
into his hands.

Liu and Ranma entered into the room. The guard exited after
showing them in. Ranma looked like a boy around eighteen years of age
though he was really twenty-seven. He had grown into a handsome young
man and the way he stood with his pigtail over his right shoulder
indicated that he was still young and brash at heart. Liu on the other
hand looked his age, which was twenty-eight and he too had an air of
macho bravado about him.

"Father did you call for us." asked Ranma after he had
risen.

"Yes, I called you here because I have something important
to tell you. I..." he was interrupted from his speech by the arrival of
the guard informing them that the ministers had arrived.

Qin Shi paused in his speech until all the ministers were
in the room. "Boys, you know that I have been ill for quite sometime
now and the doctor has said that I do not have many days to live." All
the people in the room nodded. It was common knowledge that the emperor
was ill and was dying.

"We are aware of that father," said Ranma. He glanced at
Liu and the look on his face mirrored his own. He began to have a
haunting suspicion of what the matter was all about.

"Good, I called the two of you here because I wanted to
give the throne to one of you," said Qin Shi.

"Father, I..." began Ranma.

Qin Shi interrupted him. "I have already called the
ministers to witness the fight for the throne. The fight between you
and Liu will begin in half an hour in the clearing by the forest to the
north of this palace."

"Father, I do not wish to fight elder brother for the
throne," said Ranma.

Qin Shi looked strangely at his second son. "I will not
hear any of that nonsense Ranma. Is that understood?" ordered Qin Shi.

"I understand father, that the law says that I fight with
brother for my right to become the emperor. However, I refuse to fight
elder brother for my right to the throne," replied Ranma.

There was a stunned silence. Qin Shi looked aghast at this
development.

"Ranma, I order you to fight your brother as per the laws,"
said Qin Shi.

"I have no intention to fight my brother, father. I refuse
to spill dragon blood."

Qin Shi looked hard at his youngest boy. "Ranma, you
realize that I am left with no choice but to banish you if you fail to
fight against Liu."

"Yes, father, I understand fully the repercussions that my
actions will have," replied Ranma.

"Then I have no other choice. I, Qin Shi, fourteenth
emperor of the Musk empire, hereby declare that Ranma Saotome Qin, my
adopted son and till today an heir to the throne is banished from the
Musk lands. I order him to leave the empire within twelve days. Failure
will do so will be taken as treason and he will be hunted down to the
ends of the earth. I also acknowledge my first son, Liu Chi'n as the
heir apparent to the throne, which I am abdicating. I recognize him as
the heir apparent because of my second son's refusal to duel with Liu
on grounds on brotherly love." pronounced the emperor.

Ranma hung his head and left the room with tears in his
eyes. Liu ran after him to comfort him.

As soon as he was outside the palace Ranma jumped onto one
of the trees and bounded off into the distance. Liu, followed close
behind him. Eventually after half an hour of bounding from one tree to
another Ranma reached the base of a hill and sat on a rock at its base.
His cheeks were wet from tears but he made no motion to wipe them off
his face. He sat there looking into the distance with the tears falling
freely.

Liu found him a short while later on top of the rock. He
did not know what to say therefore, he sat himself by Ranma's side.

Ranma sat there without acknowledging him long after the
tears had dried up. "Brother..."

"Yes, Liu." murmured Ranma.

"Ranma, I am sorry."

"It's all right Liu. I did not want to fight you and the
laws are there to be followed. I could see that it hurt father as much
as it hurt me. If he was willing to go through the pain in his last
days then I am willing to go through it for the rest of my life. Come
on, father must be worried."

***********************************************************************

Eleven days later...

Qin Shi, Liu, Yuan and Ranma stood outside the palace. Qin
Shi looked definitely weaker than before and if the lines on his eyes
were any indication, he had not slept for sometime. The scene in which
he had banished his son still replayed itself in his mind every time he
closed his eyes to sleep.

"Goodbye father. I will miss you," said Ranma.

"Goodbye Ranma. I will miss you too." the two men hugged
each other.

Next in the line was Yuan Puyi. The old man had definitely
seen better days, as he too was ragged looking. Apparently, he had
taken the news of his heir's banishment to heart. Though he was
emotionally distressed, he refused to cry in front of his students. He
would cry later when he was all-alone in his house.

"Master, I am sorry for bringing dishonor to you," said
Ranma to the four-foot high troll.

Yuan shook his head. "You have not disgraced me, child.
Your actions have brought pride and honor to me."

"Thank you, master. I will try to practice what you have
taught me."

"I know you will child. You and Liu are the best students
that I have ever had and I am very proud of all that you have achieved.
It is the dream of every teacher to mould his students in such a way
that they are his betters. I have succeeded twice in that and I am
grateful to the kami for giving me such wonderful students."

"Thank you master, for everything you have taught me."
Ranma bowed to the Musk warrior and moved to Liu.

They hugged each other and patted each other's backs. Both
their eyes were glinting with tears that threatened to break the feeble
control they had over themselves. A minute passed before they released
their hold on each other.

"Well, this is it, brother. I guess it is time to say
goodbye then. I..."

"Do not say it brother. I will see you again." interrupted
Liu.

"Me too brother. I will see you again. Well I'll be on my
way then."

"Where are you going, Ranma?"

"I am going to the village of our allies, the Joketsuzoku
Amazons. I hope to learn the arts from them before moving on." replied
Ranma.

Liu nodded in approval of Ranma's choice. Though the
Amazons and the Musk had basic ideological differences, they got along
just fine. The threat posed by the phoenix and their god-king was great
enough for the two kingdoms to forget their differences and become
allies. As a result, the relations between the two kingdoms were
cordial and even friendly at times, though they still kept their
techniques secret. The Amazons had a thousand years of history and
experience behind them. This experience had proven to be the ace in the
hole against the god-king Saffron. With their extensive knowledge of
ancient arts and magic, the Amazons in tandem with the Musk had proven
to be a little too big for Saffron's appetite. The god-king had
realized that he had bitten off more than he could possibly chew and
had left them alone. Thus after the last great battle between the
Phoenix and the Amazons and their allies the Musk, there had been a
hundred years of peace in the valley of the pools. Now, with Ranma
going to the Amazons for shelter this relationship would blossom and
perhaps end in smoother relations between the two kingdoms.

"A wise choice brother. Send my greetings to Xiao Lui and
the other Amazonian elders." said Liu.

Ranma bid his farewells and left the capital. Banished from
his family and his land, he set out on his journey to the village of
the Amazons.

***********************************************************************

The journey to the Amazon village took two days as Ranma
walked the distance preferring to conserve his phenomenal ki stores.
The decision was partly based on the fact that though his father, the
emperor had banished him he had given him several hundred kilos of gold
and several thousand carrots of diamonds. His master, Yuan had also
handed over to him almost all his scrolls containing the guides to
secret and powerful techniques. Together with these and the other
accessories as well as his own personal possessions, Ranma was carrying
almost six hundred kilos of stuff on his huge backpack. It was noon by
the time he reached the outskirts of the Amazon village.

Pink and Leather stood outside the village by the outpost
standing guard against intruders, though there was as big a chance of
that happening as a meteor hitting them right on top of their head.
Still guarding the village was their duty and true Amazon warriors
never shirked their duty. They were both formidable ki adepts though
they were nowhere close to the mastery that the elders of the village
had attained. Both felt that they could be of better use in the fields
or in the patrols or hunting expeditions but the matriarch had ordered
them to stand guard at the outpost, which was boring even in the most
interesting of times.

"Pink, I am bored." said the raven-haired beauty whose name
was Leather.

"Shut up, Leather! If you had not played that prank with
Elder Kho Om we would not be here standing guard while our other
sisters are on hunting expeditions." snarled the blonde in reply. She
was seething at Pink for true to what she had said Pink had been the
one who had suggested that they make Kho Om the ultimate sand pudding.
Of course she had forgotten the fact that she had been the one who had
made the pudding in record time since such minor details like these
never stayed for very long in the hearts of high powered Amazon
warriors like herself. The elder had not been amused after having taken
a bite and had ordered that they both be given guard duty in the
outpost for two whole months.

Now they stood by the outpost half a kilometer from the
nearest house in the village swatting flies and generally looking
miserable. Pink was the one who first sensed the stranger approach. He
seemed to have very low levels of ki though his huge backpack hinted at
his enormous strength. He was dressed in the finest silk clothes and
looked about eighteen years of age with a staff in his hand. He was
handsome, Pink gave him that she also reasoned that it was just another
weakling man.

As Ranma approached the village, he sensed two women whose
ki flare like the flames of a bonfire standing a hundred meters from
him. He realized that they were guards and not wanting to provoke them,
he drew in his ki into himself. The technique he was employing could
not be detected by warriors of their skill level and he thought that it
was enough for now.

As he closed the distance between them, he sensed himself
being probed by the blonde-haired woman one to his right. Being a Musk
warrior, he had had little contact with members of the opposite sex and
the sight of two voluptuous and richly endowed women in their prime who
were flaunting their assets nearly caused a nosebleed. He knew from
stories he had heard about the Amazons that they would take offense if
he developed a nosebleed and he therefore looked away from them. _Big
mistake_ whatever you do you never look away from an Amazon warrior. It
is supposed to be a sign of weakness on the observer's part.

Pink and Leather true to their upbringing made the
conclusion that this stranger was weak and therefore he could be picked
on. Leather always the first one in line when it came to mischief began
to taunt him.

"What are you doing here, stranger?" barked Leather.

"I am a Musk warrior and I have come here to ask for
shelter in your village," replied Ranma as humbly as he could.

*If all the Musk are as weak as this one then we are better
of without them as their allies! "Warrior! Do not make me laugh. You
are nothing but a weakling male." responded Leather.

Ranma began to lose his cool. Belittling a member of the
Musk royal family was not to be taken easily. Realizing that he had
made a big mistake by showing so little of his ki he released just a
little of it.

Leather sensed the increased ki level but was too far into
her taunting to realize what it meant. "Weakling male should go away
from Amazon village. The elders won't shelter a coward such as you."
said Leather. Pink began to watch with concern. The ease with which the
stranger had lifted the backpack and placed it on the ground behind him
hinted at enormous strength. She doubted that she herself with her
Bakusai training would be able to lift that bag. Now, the stranger was
visibly fuming and she realized that Leather had gotten them into
another mess.

"Leather, stop it." nudged Pink but Leather did not listen
and continued her taunting.

Ranma waited for a few minutes for the blonde haired bimbo
to stop her haranguing. When she showed no sign of stopping and hinted
at something degrading towards the Musk royal family his fuse blew with
a loud bang. All of a sudden, his aura burst into life around him like
a raging inferno. Pink _knew_ that they were in serious trouble.

"What did you say just now?" threatened Ranma. "Foolish
woman, are you not aware that you are speaking to your better and
former heir to the Musk throne?" shouted Ranma. His speech finished he
burst into action. Moving forward at near his full speed he kicked her
in her chin and then turned his attention towards the raven haired one.

"You made a huge mistake, girl, by not stopping your
companion when you should have. I really hate bullies and it appears
that you and your unconscious friend over there are no better then
them." snarled Ranma as he drew in his aura and walked threateningly
towards Pink.

"That's enough young man. July, take Lavender and report to
the village healer. Pink explain what is going on?" said a new voice.

Ranma had sensed the others approach but had decided to go
through with his threat just to show these Amazons where they stood in
the food chain. He turned towards the voice to see a two-foot woman
with a face of wrinkles and sparkling white hair on her head. She was
dressed in the robe of the matriarch and carried herself with dignity
and grace. He also sensed the power she had within her and bowed in
respect.

"Matriarch Xiao Lui, I bring greetings from the new emperor
of the Musk Empire, my brother Liu Chi'n." said Ranma in formal tones
his anger gone from his voice.

Xiao Lui surveyed the fine specimen before her. She could
sense that his mind-boggling reserves of ki were tightly focused and
well directed. The grace and speed with which he had moved also hinted
at his skill in the art.

"Yuan Puyi has trained you well, prince of the Musk." said
the aged Matriarch at length.

"Thank you matriarch. I am sorry for the trouble that I had
caused you upon my arrival but that girl belittled the Musk royal
family and I lost my temper."

"It's all right, young prince. Leather had been in need of
a lesson in manners for quite sometime now." replied the matriarch. "So
what brings you here, prince?"

"I have come here to beg shelter amongst the Amazons."
replied Ranma.

"And why would a Musk prince require the Amazons shelter,
prince?"

"I am no longer a Musk prince elder. I was banished by the
emperor for refusing to fight against my elder brother for my right to
the throne."

"Hmmm! You stood up to the Musk emperor did you? Well then
I guess I have no other choice but to offer you shelter, do I?"

"Thank you, matriarch."

"Now, young man, you have to earn your stay with us. What
are you going to do?"

"Master Yuan always said that I could earn my living as a
teacher as I had most of the right qualities. I will teach the art in
the village if you will teach me and shelter me in return." replied
Ranma.

"Young man, you cannot teach us any techniques that the
Yuan taught you as it would be treason. Therefore it will be us that
will be losing our knowledge while you will be getting the better end
of the deal."

"The Musk cannot forbid me from teaching the techniques
that I had developed to our allies though they can forbid me from
teaching techniques developed by the other masters."

"And how powerful are these techniques of yours?" asked the
old woman.

"I am willing to fight against the most powerful warrior of
your village with only the techniques that I had developed to prove
their strength." replied Ranma evenly.

Xiao Lui snickered. The boy did not lack in self-
confidence. She had to give him that. Though the Musk princes had
always been able to speeds faster than their own, they had only a small
number of techniques, which were potentially dangerous to the Amazons.
"As matriarch I am the premier warrior in the village and I accept your
challenge. If you can prove that your techniques are as powerful as
they claim to be you have earned yourself your stay in the village."

Without bothering to give Ranma the time to assume his
stance, she leapt in for the kill. His skills would be of no use to the
village if he could not respond to sudden attacks. Ranma easily evaded
her blows and jumped into the air. Xiao Lui did not follow him as she
would have a severe disadvantage in mid-air fights against a Musk
prince.

Ranma did not stay there for long and came down. Xiao was
there exchanging blows with him even before he had reached the ground.
Ranma easily evaded her Amaguriken and retreated from her. Xiao shook
her head. Perhaps the boy had been kidding all along. By this time, the
entire village had gathered to watch the fight between the matriarch
and the stranger.

Ranma began to move around the matriarch in a spiral
carefully evading all the blows that she was throwing at him. The
entire village watched with interest, as they had never seen a move
that required the user to run in a tightening spiral.

Just before he reached the matriarch Ranma allowed himself
to smile. "You lose, Matriarch," shouted Ranma, "HIRYUUUUU SHOTENNNN
HAAAAA!"

The wings picked up and blossomed into a full-blown
tornado. The Amazons watched in utter amazement as their matriarch was
picked up by the tornado. Minutes later the tornado died down and the
matriarch fell to the ground her reserves of ki severely stretched to
their limits.

The entire village was stunned. No one had imagined in his
or her wildest dreams that the matriarch could be beaten and yet there
she was beaten unconscious at the hands of a boy. Kho Om was the first
to come out of the shock and she ordered some of the warriors to carry
the matriarch to the village healer.

Half an hour later. By the healers house...

The elders were murmuring among themselves at this new
development. The boy had proven himself more than a match for the
matriarch and thus earned his shelter in the village. Ranma was inside
the healer's house having a discussion with her.

"How is she doing?" asked Ranma.

"She will be fine though I don't know about the village."
replied Pher Fom, the village healer. She was a woman well past her
hundred's just like his master had been. Like Yuan, she was around
four-foot tall with a well-maintained mane of silver white hair. Like
all the other crones in the village, she too had a staff made of silver
wood, which pulsed with ki energy too his trained eyes.

"Hmmmmm!" Ranma did not get it of course. Twenty years of
living in the Musk palace with its intrigues still had not given him
that sine qua non of a ruler - social quotient.

"As Xiao Lui said before she is the premier warrior in the
village and knows more secrets about the arts then any of us. It is
nigh impossible for anyone in the village to defeat her but here you
are. Not only did you survive the fight without a scratch but you also
defeated her in record time. So the others are shocked."

The light appeared at the end of the tunnel for the
socially dimwitted martial artist. "Well, I suppose that it's
reasonable."

"How did you create that tornado?" asked the healer, her
curiosity getting the better of her.

Ranma smiled. "Well, do you practice the fighting arts?"

"Yes, though I am not be as good as the others at it. I do
know the Kacchu Tenshin Amaguriken and the splitting cat hair
technique." replied the healer. Ranma nodded. He had surmised as much.
Though her ki was tightly focused, he could not sense the massive
amounts of ki that a warrior generated.

"I'll teach you what I know in the arts if you will teach
me the healing arts."

It sounded like a good proposition and Pher Fom decided to
go through with it. "It's a deal. I'll teach you what I know and you
teach me what you know."

Ranma smiled to himself. Things were going along nicely.
Unfortunately for him, he did not know that the elders had placed their
sights on him as potential husband material and things were going to
get a little too hot for him.

The matriarch chose that moment to come-out back from la la
land. "Ohhhh! My head!" moaned Xiao Lui.

"Do not try to get up so soon, Xiao. Remember you are not
as strong as you used to be." advised the doctor. This was of course
the wrong thing to say to the matriarch. Xiao snorted in disgust at the
thought of her growing weak and tried again to rise up.

Pher Fom shook her head. This was not going the way she had
hoped it would. If Xiao Lui tried to get up now her ki reserves would
not have recovered and she would be susceptible to disease and what
not.

"Anything I can do to help?" inquired Ranma. He sensed Pher
Fom's distress and wanted to help his teacher as best as he could.

"I don't know what you can do to help, Ranma. The
matriarch's ki reserves are severely depleted. That Hiryuu Shoten Ha of
yours drained almost all her ki and I am afraid that she needs that ki
to survive. If her ki reserves are to be replenished then she stay in
bed for another two or three days but it appears she is against that
notion." replied the healer.

"Well, I can help if that's the case." announced Ranma and
he moved towards Xiao Lui. Pher Fom watched in astonishment as the boy
before her loosened his hold on his ki. A white glow formed around him
and occupied an area over five feet thick on all sides of his body. He
knelt by the matriarch and touched her forehead with his right arm. She
felt the ki as it flowed from his body into the matriarch's. No wonder
the boy had defeated her great grandmother so easily. The ease with
which he was accomplishing the technique was astounding. Xiao Lui had
said that of all the ki techniques, ki transfer was perhaps the most
difficult to learn and it took great skill. To master it at such an age
said a lot of the boys skill and potential. *Perhaps the time had come
for me to choose Xas Min's husband!

Within minutes, Ranma had restored the matriarch's ki in
front of all the elders. There were indistinct murmurs when the elders
saw what the boy was doing. The boy was prime breeding material and
Ranma had unwittingly opened the Ranma hunting season with this second
feat of martial arts.

Xiao sat up in the bed, her ki reserves replenished. "Thank
you child." said she, her gratitude evident in her voice.

Ranma looked slightly annoyed. "I am not a child you know.
I am twenty-seven. It's just that I stopped growing seven years back."
muttered Ranma.

Xiao's eyes widened in surprise. This boy had come that
close to true mastery of the art. If that was the case as she suspected
than the boy must be kept within the village at all costs. She looked
at the other elders. They were eyeing the boy as though he were a tool
on display at the merchants. With a glare, she showed them exactly what
she thought of their idea. Turning towards Ranma, she softened her
look. "Then how do we address you sensei?"

Ranma tried to hide his smile but his sense of modesty
betrayed him. The chestshire cat grin on his face bloomed into a full
smile. His teeth sparkling on the reflected sunlight he replied, "Call
me Ranma, Matriarch."

Xiao nodded and smiled. The boy was growing on her she
realized. "Very well Ranma, You will begin teaching me and the other
elders from tomorrow onwards and we will teach you what we know."

Ranma bowed to the matriarch. "It will be my pleasure to
teach you and the elders, matriarch. I also wish to treat Pher Fom if
you do not object."

Xiao Lui glanced at her great granddaughter. Perhaps there
was still the slightest chance of her becoming a matriarch under
Ranma's tutelage. "Accepted, Ranma."

"Thank you elder." replied Ranma and stepped outside the
healer's house.

Xiao Lui turned towards the elders. "Ranma appears to be
close to attaining true mastery of the art. I will not have anyone of
you driving him out of the village by sending your granddaughters after
him. He is too good a catch to be driven away by _inept_ handling of
the situation. My advice to you ladies is to take it slow and let
Ranma's hormones do the rest."

The others nodded in acceptance. They were sure that with a
little nudge in the right direction the new teacher would greatly
enrich their family's gene pool. The nudge would be in classic
Amazonian style of course and boys throughout the village are going to
go mad with lust.

***********************************************************************

Long before the sun dawned over the horizon, Ranma was up
and practicing a kata that he had developed soon after he had defeated
master Yuan. Pher Fom had graciously offered her abode for his over
night stay and he had accepted. He had ordered the building of a house
towards the center of the village from land he had bought from one of
the merchants for several ounces of gold. The building would take
nearly a year to build and Pher Fom had extended her offer for the
whole year. He had replied that he would give it some thought though he
was glad that he had gotten a roof over his head so soon.

By the time the sun was up the whole village was buzzing
with activity. Some of the men and women left to take care of the
fields whilst the warriors were getting ready to go on their patrols.

Ranma finished his breakfast at breakneck speed and he and
the others left for training. The youngsters trained within the village
as their techniques mostly involved Shiatsu and the Amazonian version
of Wu Shu. Those who had perfected the beginners training regimen and
wanted to learn more or become warriors went to a clearing near the
northern edge of the village. Those that trained in ki projection and
techniques that are more dangerous went farther inside the forest to a
glade to train. It was to this location that the matriarch took Ranma
and the others.

The journey took about two-thirds of an hour by foot and
they arrived there by mid morning. Ranma began to teach the Hiryuu
Shoten Ha.

"No, you are going at it the wrong way, Pher Fom. do not
use your emotions. Remain calm and tap into your ki." A pause. "Yes,
that's more like it. Remember, the Hiryuu Shoten Ha can be executed
easily only if you use cold ki against your opponents hot ki. The
reverse can be done but it takes too long a time to execute in the
battlefield. Therefore I advice you to practice and perfect the cold
Hiryuu Shoten Ha without worrying about the hot version." addressed
Ranma. He had taught the basic theory behind the technique and the
elders had grasped onto it. Now all that was required was to teach them
the soul of ice technique, which was the easiest part as all his
students had tightly focused ki.

The training continued on through the morning and in the
afternoon the roles were reversed. This cycle would continue for many
years to come. When the sun began to set, the matriarch called off that
days training and the group began their march back to the village.

Ranma entered Pher Fom's house to be greeted by a sweet
smell that wafted through the air. Pher Fom had been called to attend
to some injuries attained during the day's training and she had sent
him house before her.

His senses picked up a ki signal totally unfamiliar to him.
It was sweet as though it was made of honey and radiated love,
gentleness and compassion. It was tightly focus like the other warriors
in the village. His curiosity kindled Ranma slowly made his way to the
top first floor of the building. When he reached the first floor he
heard a female voice humming a tune that, he could place not identify
though it felt strangely familiar to him.

He crossed the hallway and without knocking opened the door
to the room in which he sensed the girl. The door opened without a
sound and Ranma on seeing the sight before him developed a nosebleed
and fainted.

***********************************************************************

People who knew Xas Min called her the sweetest and cutest
little thing in the world. She had opted to follow her grandmother's
example and become a village healer much to her great great
grandmother, Xiao Lui's, displeasure.

True to her choice, she had had some training in Wu Shu and
with her grandmother's help, she had learnt to focus her ki, an
essential requirement for becoming a healer in the village. Her
training in the healing arts had been quite extensive and at the tender
age of fourteen, she was already an accomplished healer. By the time
she had become sixteen her great grandmother, Pher Fom had accepted the
fact that her great granddaughter was her better in the healing arts.
Xiao Lui often lamented that Xas Min had thrown away her chances to
become a matriarch by becoming a healer.

She was often sent to the permanently manned outposts at
the edge of the Amazon territory. Being the best healer in the village
she was expected to check on the health of the warriors there at least
once every six months. She would be escorted on these expeditions by
two dozen of the village's finest ki adepts barring the elders. These
expeditions scarcely lasted more than fifteen days and she found them
refreshing compared to the tedious rigors of the village.

Her skills as a healer and her sweet nature had made a
substantial percentage of the men in her village fall in love with her.
She tolerated her admirers who often went out of their way to do things
that they thought would cause her to choose them. Marriages to healers
in the village were often love matches as the law exempted the healers
from 'the beat 'em if you want to marry 'em' rule. The rest of the
marriages were political in nature aimed to strengthen the ties between
two families. Too bad for the men as Xas Min was not interested in
them. In her heart, the art had always come first and she had decided
at an young age that she would marry once she became the mistress
healer in the village. This goal was within her sights on her
eighteenth birthday when she had left the village on her latest
expedition to gather rare herbs and to make her twice a year medical
examination.

When she had returned her friends in the village, who was
also the local gossip machine had made her up to date on the latest
news and gossip in the village. The hottest news was Ranma and she had
heard quite a bit about the hunk from the Musk kingdom that had created
a tornado and defeated the matriarch. Almost all the girls in the
village were drooling over him and she found herself curious about a
member of the opposite sex for the first time in her life. She has
secretly rejoiced when she heard that _the_ Ranma was staying in her
house. She had waited impatiently to see the face of the man who had
defeated her great great grandmother. After spending the whole day in a
state of nervousness, she had decided to take a bath and freshen
herself. She had finished the bath half an hour later. She had been
drying herself inside her room when she heard a thud behind her.

She turned around and saw a boy about her age on the floor
unconscious. She did not recognize him but she realized what had
happened. Chuckling to herself, she donned a silk robe and moved
towards him. The boy woke up after she pressed a pressure point on his
forehead but fainted again when he saw her.

Ranma would always say in the years to come that he had not
eaten in the afternoon and this had caused him to have those fainting
spells. He was lying of course. All his life he had been secluded from
members of the opposite sex. For most of his adult life, he had been
kept in the dark about the members of the opposite sex. He knew about
the facts of life from rumors in the palace and from Kre Ame and Goe
Soot, his bodyguards but had never given the subject much thought.

Now within two days of his arrival in the Amazon village,
he had been presented with one of the most beautiful sights in the
universe. Two days was definitely not enough time to adjust to a life
surrounded by females in all walks of life. The shock of seeing one of
the most beautiful women in the village in all her glory (she had a lot
of healthy genes in her) had driven him to the brink of consciousness
and then some more.

Slap! Slap!

"What hit me?" moaned Ranma. He did not open his eyes and
thus imagined himself to be in his bed from the feel of the soft object
that supported him.

Xas Min snickered.

Slowly Ranma opened his eyes afraid of what he might see.
He was sure that the girl was going to pound him to within an inch of
his life once he was up. The moment he saw her face he fell in love
with her. He began to close his eyes as unconsciousness began to creep
in on him again.

"Do not faint. I will not harm you." said a sweet voice. It
was the sweetest voice he had heard in his life.

He opened his eyes again and fought the fainting spell that
threatened to deliver him once more into the clutches of
unconsciousness.

"Who are you?" she asked. His heart skipped several beats
when he saw her lips move.

"I... I... I am..." he shook his head to clear it. His mind
was hazy and he could not remember anything. "I do..." again he caught
sight of her eyes and again he felt forgetting himself. " I am...
err... I do not know who I am!"

She snickered again. This proved too much for him and he
gladly welcomed the sweet call of unconsciousness as it welcomed him.

Xas Min smiled to herself. She was beginning to feel
comfortable with this stranger in a weird sort of way. She felt herself
getting depressed as he fainted once more. *Does he find me despicable?
Am I ugly?* As soon as these thoughts found their way into her head,
she began to cry. A single tear slid from her eyes flowed across her
cheeks and fell on his nose.

Ranma was happily enjoying his life in la la land when it
started to rain. Not wanting to change into a dragon he woke up and saw
_HER_ once again. She was crying and he did not know why. He wanted to
do nothing but help her. If only he knew what was the reason for her
distress. Building up his courage, he looked at her and opened his
mouth to speak but no words came out.

He closed his mouth and then opened it to try again. "Why
are you crying?" It came out in the form of a squeak.

The sound of his voice made her forget her worries. She
smiled in spite of herself. This time she clearly heard the pounding of
his heart inside his ribcage. *He likes me! she realized with a start.
She blushed and he panicked.

When she smiled at him he felt, his worries go away in a
flash. His heart began to pound in his chest. Then he saw her cheeks
redden. She looked absolutely adoring like that. His eyes began to
cloud once more. He shook his head and cleared it. He did not want to
stop seeing her till he died. The blush grew in strength. *Maybe I am
doing something that is making her angry! he thought mistaking her
blush for anger.

Panicking he removed himself from her lap and retreated to
the edge of the room. He began to apologize profusely for whatever
wrong he had done. "I am sorry. I will not do it again I swear..." he
found himself blabbering on and on.

She found his blabbering the most adorable thing she had
ever witnessed. He looked so cuddly and cute waving his arms around
like that. Her blush subsided and her tongue unraveled itself. *You are
so cute!

"Am I really?" he asked. Now it was his turn to blush.

Her blush returned with a vengeance. "Did I say it aloud?"
the question was directed more to herself than to him.

He nodded.

"I am sorry." she whispered.

"Don't be." he whispered back. "Ummm... You are not mad at
me or anything are you?"

She shook her head. He let out a breath he had not known
that he had been holding. He removed himself from the wall and moved
just a little closer. He found that he could think better now. His
heart was still pounding but it was not as bad as before. He remembered
his name once more.

"Ummm... I am Ranma." he muttered.

She looked shocked for a moment before bursting out into a
laugh. "You... You... are... Ranma." She found herself unable to stop
laughing.

Ranma felt depression creeping into his being. *She thinks
that I am nothing more than a big joke! He turned away to hide the
tears that were creeping into his eyes.

She saw him turning away and caught the glint of tears on
his cheeks. Her laughter died away. She rose up and went up to him. She
turned him around by his shoulders. "Don't cry, I am not laughing
because I think that you are a joke."

His expression brightened. "You swear."

She laughed. His heart began to beat wildly once more. The
way her lips curled up was beautiful beyond description. He thought
that his heart would break out the ribcage if this kept on any longer.

"Yes, I swear. I heard all about how you defeated great
great grandmother. I was expecting you to be rugged like the others."

"Rugged... what others?" *She loves someone else. That is
why she is playing with me.* His shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I meant rugged like the warriors that I take care of." she
replied.

His shoulders rose up again. *Thank the kami.* "What is
your name?" he asked. It would not do to not know her name with him
being in love with her and all.

She blushed and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my! I
forgot that, didn't I?" she asked embarrassed.

"Yes, you did." replied he.

"My name is Xas Min."

He bowed to her. As much as he wanted to be near her he
knew that he'd go mad if he stayed anywhere near her a minute longer.
He straightened from his bow and his hands went to his pigtail.

*He looks absolutely cute like this! she swooned.

"Ummm... Nice meeting you Xas Min. I... I apologize for
um... you know um..." he pointed towards the towel she had used to dry
herself.

She blushed, her cheeks became as red as coal embers. Too
embarrassed to open her mouth she nodded.

"Ummm... Thank you, Xas Min-chan for taking care of me." he
shouted before bounding out of the room.

*He thinks that I am cute.* Her hand automatically went up
to her cheek.

"Nice to see that you have acquainted yourselves quite
well." said a old and very familiar voice. Startled out of her reverie
Xas Min turned and saw her great great grandmother perched on the tree
outside her room.

"Great great grandmother, what are you doing?" asked Xas
Min.

Xiao Lui grinned mischievously. "Nothing. I just wanted to
see how my great great granddaughter and her _LOVER_ were getting
along." replied the three hundred plus woman as she hopped into the
room.

Xas Min blushed. "He's not my lover, great great
grandmother." she muttered. *At least not yet and not for very long if
I can help it!

"Child, you do not live for three hundred years without
recognizing the signs of love.," replied Xiao Lui. "I saw the way he
looked at you. He is head over heels in love with you."

"He is?" she blurted out not realizing that she had said it
aloud.

"Oh yes, child. And by the looks of it so are you!"

Xas Min blushed once again. *My cheeks are going to turn
red permanently if I keep on blushing like this!

Xiao Lui continued. "He is definitely a good match for you.
Both your Yin and Yang's perfectly complement each other. In fact I
have never seen anyone else whose Yin and Yang matched perfectly."

Xas Min's eyes widened. She had heard about the legends.
When two people with complementary Yin and Yang meet, they will fall in
love. Their union would result in the strengthening of their ki. They
would also become soul bonded for all of eternity.

"Child, you have my approval to go ahead with this
relationship. Your marriage would greatly strengthen the families
genes."

Xas Min nodded mutely he heart fluttering like a butterfly
in the wind.

***********************************************************************

Ranma ran out of the house. His heart was as light as a
feather and he realized that he was in love. His steps had an unnatural
spring in them as he walked aimlessly through the village.

Everywhere he went he saw skimpily dressed girls. All the
men and boys had drool running all over their faces and the married
women had a dreamy look in their eyes. The married men too had goofy
grins on their faces. The men all seemed to be quite friendly towards
him and Ranma wondered why they were so.

*Must be some sort of Amazon festival or something!

"Hold on there sonny?"

Ranma turned around and looked right into the face of one
of the younger elders. Her four-foot tall body was right on top of one
of those staffs and she was starring right into his face.

"Yikes!" shouted Ranma and jumped high into the air.

The elder snorted in disgust. She was at the age where her
looks were the worst assets in her closet and to have it pointed out to
her so rudely just made her want to die in disgust at his lack of
etiquette.

"Its little old beautiful me and not some demon in
disguise. Come down for I have a proposition for you."

Ranma released his hold on his ki and landed softly on the
ground. "Elder forgive my insolence but in my humble view you are as
ugly as they come and..." Bonk! "Whaddya do that for?" shouted Ranma
indignantly. He had hoped to avoid getting bonked on the head when he
had come to the Amazon village but as it had turned out one could not
avoid one's destiny.

The elder waved her staff around and brought it to rest
with a flourish. Ranma raised an eyebrow at this display.

"Sonny, I want you to consider what I am about to tell you
very carefully." said the crone.

Ranma felt the alarm bells going on in his brain but
decided to ignore it. "Go on, elder."

"Sonny, I have been observing you since you came to this
village and I feel that a lad such as you should not be without a
girlfriend. Therefore, I am graciously offering my granddaughter to be
your wife..." Boom (sound of Ranma going supersonic) "Looks like son-
in-law is uncooperative. If he is reluctant then a more direct approach
must be taken." Thunder struck in the background to signify the firing
of the first shot in the 'Ranma be my airen contest.'

***********************************************************************

Ranma's life took a turn towards the dumpster from that day
on. For the next three weeks, he was chased by all the girls in the
village. The boys in the village grew insanely jealous of him and the
girls were too forthcoming for his tastes. Several times during the
course of the first week, huge brawls had developed between different
girls trying to seduce Ranma at the same time. Soon these brawls would
become huge free for all hit-fests and several girls were actually
missing all their teeth due to the intensity of ahem... contests.

Eventually the married men and the women in the village had
enough and they refused to work in the fields until some sort of peace
agreement was reached between the various maidens. Sure, their nights
were memorable but the damage done in the daytime was getting harder
and harder to repair by the day.

An emergency council meeting was called and it was decreed
that none should try and seduce Ranma or drug him or force him. From
that, day on the village returned to normal though tension was high
among the would-be suitors.

The boys in the village had rejoiced at the fact that Xas
Min had not joined in the contest until the day their hearts were
shattered by a chance happening.

***********************************************************************

Xas Min walked towards the house of Sien Mae, one of her
patients. A group of boys was following her as usual and leading them
was the village bully, Goe Su. Goe Su, was a seven-foot tall mammoth
with little brain. His only area of expertise was martial arts and he
was one of the best male warriors in the village. Instead of quietly
following Xas Min through the village, Goe Su was making an ass of
himself teasing her. The other boys in the village resented him and all
that he stood for but being the spineless cowards they were, they
allowed him to get away with anything.

That particular day, Goe Su and his lackeys had become bold
enough to rub themselves against Xas Min's body. Xas Min kept quiet as
her code of ethics prevented her from err... accidentally removing some
of their ahem... more essential body parts.

The possession continued as it was until Ranma chanced upon
them. Seeing the irritated look on Xas Min's face Ranma had told the
bullies to get lost. Having said that he had turned towards Xas Min and
had seen her blush. Sure enough, he had fainted on the spot.

Goe Su decided that it was time to teach the unconscious
outsider a lesson or two about who the boss was. Having decided on that
course of action, he had pulled back his leg and delivered a kick to
Ranma's midsection that would have done a professional football player
proud. Ranma flew as swift as a arrow and his head made contact with a
tree. The tree trunk cracked under the force of the impact and had
collapsed. Goe turned towards his lackeys and began to show off his
strength.

Unfortunately for him, Xas Min had watched the entire
event. When she heard the cracking sound produced by the tree, her
normally sweet face assumed an angry look. Steam began to rush out of
her ears and for the first time in her life, her aura flickered into
existence. The lackeys who were not so interested in Goe Su's show saw
this new Xas Min and ran away or tried to run away. "What did you do to
_MY_ Ranma-chan." was the last thing they heard before 'hurricane' Xas
Min hit them.

The healers who examined their beat up bodies announced
that all the boys had lost something _very important_ to all of them
and could never father their own children.

***********************************************************************

Two months after the incident...

Xiao Lui sat facing Ranma in the middle of the glade. Ranma
was listening attentively to whatever she was saying.

"No, Ranma, Yuan Puyi was wrong. You see Ranma, throughout
the human body flow two types of energy. They are the ki and the mana.
Ki is like the Yang, it is easily accessible and it is because of its
nature that users are ki grow stronger than before. Mana is like the
Yin, it is dark, mysterious and not easily accessible. It is also
vastly more powerful than ki if you learn how to use it. The body
cannot survive without both of these forces. As the body ages it uses
more ki and mana and death comes, when it's rate of consumption exceeds
its rate of production. Masters of the art have found a way to
circumvent this process. You see, Ranma, with enough ki the body can
live for far longer than normal. This is what masters of the art hope
to achieve. They train in their youth to increase their ki potential so
that they may live for a long time.

However, this extensive use of ki does have its drawbacks.
With so much ki in the body, there is not enough mana to properly
balance it. This causes the body to adapt itself such that its very
nature turns towards the Yin aspect. That is why I am two foot tall. As
the body turns towards the Yin, it needs more and more ki to balance
this new yin aspect. This goes on till the day when the Yin aspect
becomes more powerful than the Yang aspect and the person dies."

Ranma nodded. "This would explain the fact why I am not
able to reverse my curse even though master Yuan told me that is a
change in the flow of my ki that triggers it."

Flashback to the Musk palace...

"Ranma, your curse is caused by the change in flow patterns
in your body. Cold and hot water activate and deactivate it because
their ki patterns somehow are in harmony with the curse ki patterns. In
theory, you should be able to change back from your cursed form to your
original form without using hot water. Now, concentrate and feel the ki
patterns in your body. There should be a slight imbalance wherever the
ki patterns change when your curse becomes deactivated. Search for it.
When you find it set it right and you will deactivate your curse."

End of flashback.

"Elder..."

"Yes, Ranma." Xiao Lui hopped towards her student as she
had gotten up in the course of her speech.

"Then master was right. I will be able to get rid of my
curse." asked Ranma.

Xiao Lui nodded. "Yes, Ranma. You are close to becoming one
of the true masters of the art. Somehow, your body has learned to not
only generate huge amounts of mana but also to manipulate it. That is
why your aging process has slowed considerably in the last eleven
years. When you reach perfect mastery, you will stop aging altogether.
In effect, you would become immortal. Once you attained that point it
will also become very easy for you to overcome your curse."

"Thank you elder."

Xiao Lui smiled. The boy had adapted admirably to living in
a village surrounded by women when one took into account the fact that
he had been raised by the gynophobic Musk. His fainting and nose
bleeding episodes on seeing her great great granddaughter had stopped
and the romance that was blossoming between the two was a pleasure to
watch. He was still clueless about the opposite sex and unless Xas Min
made direct approaches, he would be oblivious of intentions. Even when
she was using the direct methods, he still was oblivious for most of
the time.

"Ranma, I wanted to ask you a personal question." said she.

"You are free to do so, elder." replied Ranma lost in his
thoughts.

Xiao Lui decided to pose the question when he was unaware
of her intention and thus completely off-guard.

"How far have you taken your physical relationship with my
great great granddaughter?" Several times in the past month, Ranma had
gone missing for hours on end and when he had returned he always had a
goofy grin plastered all over his face. She suspected that he was
getting some from Xas Min but did not know how far they had gone. The
boy was too good a warrior to not notice when someone was scanning him
and hide himself and her great great granddaughter too could become
quite elusive if she wanted too.

Now, Ranma's brain was a strange thing. It was probably the
fastest in the world when it came to analyzing tactical situations. Ask
it a question on any other subject and a strange phenomenon takes
place. Ranma's mouth actually works several thousand times faster than
his mouth. This time it worked no differently and long before his brain
realized what the hell was going on his mouth blabbered the following
words: We have gone as far as anyone can. Your great great
granddaughter is absolutely wonderful in the bed, I might add.

Seconds passed. The staff shook and for the first time in
three hundred and fifty years, Xiao Lui lost her balance after having
learned the arts. Ranma's brain took more seconds to realize what had
happened. Then he developed a nosebleed and promptly fainted.

***********************************************************************

Two years after Ranma's arrival in the village...

"Mi-chan, I am home." shouted Ranma returning home from his
advanced classes in the art. Usually his wife would have completed her
appointments and would be home to serve him his meal.

Xas Min walked out of the kitchen, her face shining as
bright as the moon. When she saw him, she ran forward and gave him a
bear hug. "Long time no see Ranma-chan." she whispered into his ears.

Ranma eyed her amusedly. "And may I know why my Mi-chan is
so happy today."

Xas Min's smile grew tenfold. She threw her arms around him
and gave him a tender kiss on his lips. "Ranma-chan, I have got
wonderful news for us."

"Ummm...", replied Ranma as he gently brushed his lips
against her neck. "What is it, my dearest Mi-chan?"

"I am pregnant with our child."

Seconds ticked by. Ranma stood silent, then with a hooray
that was heard throughout the village he picked up Xas Min and whirled
her around and around. Needless to say, they both did not get much
sleep that night and neither did their neighbors.

***********************************************************************

Eight months after _the revelation_...

The room was dark but the outlines of two bodies sleeping,
huddled against each is visible against the moonlight that shone
through the window.

One of the shapes woke up and by its outline, one can
discern the fact that it is a very pregnant woman. She sat up and
roused her partner. "Ranma... Ranma... get up baka..."

Ranma groaned. "Wake me up when I am seventy." he murmured
and went back to sleep.

Thwap!

"Wake up baka."

Ranma opened his eyes and looked at his wife through the
darkness. "What is it now?" he muttered cranky due to the early
departure from his beauty sleep.

"I am having your baby and you are here sleeping like a
hog." replied Xas Min.

"So what? You have had our child in you for the last nine
months." countered Ranma.

Thwap!

"I am having your baby right now, baka." shouted Xas Min.

"You are!!!!!!" All trace of sleep was gone from his voice.
He stood up and formed his ki torch. He lifted her easily and walked
towards the door. The ki torch floated in front of them. He had long
since perfected ki manipulation outside his body. The couple made their
way to Pher Fom's house. Though he was an acknowledged healer,
considered second only to Xas Min and Pher Fom village rules did not
allow husbands to treat wives or wives to treat husbands.

Six hours later...

The whole village was up and Ranma stood outside the
delivery room walking to and fro in anxiety. The elders had to restrain
him several times during the course of the night from making his way
into the room. Though they had no knowledge of parasitic bacteria they
did know about the existence of microbes thanks to their ki enhanced
vision and thus kept the delivery room as clean as possible.

Ranma had been almost beyond himself with grief at hearing
his wife's screams, but to go into the room might endanger the lives of
both his child and his wife. Therefore, he had let himself be
restrained by the elders whenever Xas Min's pain seemed to be too much
for her to bear. Finally, after six hours of waiting he felt a new ki
signature and realized that his child's umbilical cord had been cut. A
new life, which was testament to his and his wife's love had been
brought into the world.

He named his daughter Higashikaze, the east
wind.

***********************************************************************

Author's rants:

well that's the end of the first chapter.

I have read a lot of fics in which the writers have taken
the Amazon's words at face value. We know that only a few of the Musk
warriors survive in the original Ranma universe. For the sake of this
storyline, I am saying that the Musk were more powerful than the
Amazons in their heyday. You like. You no like.

Oh almost forgot! C&C would be most welcome.

The story is hosted at the following sites:
1. Mine (http://samrtaleck.anifics.com)
2. Lady cosmos (http://www.crosswinds.net/~ladycosmos/)
3. Rakhal's Penultimate Ranma Fanfic index
(http://www.rakhal.com/FFIndex/lstmain.html)
4. FFML archives
(http://miniarchive.dyndns.org:123/cgi-bin/MiniArchive.exe)
5. Mediaminer fanfic archives (www.mediaminer.org/fanfic)

I would like to take this oppurtunity to
prostrate myself in front of my pre-readers. Thank you, guys! This
couldn't have been possible without all of you:
jakub [jpilecki@poczta.onet.pl]
Kaz [kazblah945@aol.com]
Madcat [madcat08@hotmail.com]
Brain [bmccullough@nucles.com]
James Merritt [j.merritt1@home.com]
Philip Penty [plainswaker@hotmail.com]
Nathan Shuker [rezantis@hotmail.com]
Zero [shinzero@home.com]

Hints for you readers from the author:

Hint #1: Arun does not write to a schedule, he really has to spend a lot of time with his psychiatrist.

Hint #2: (for those out standing critics out there[;)])Call
Arun anything you want in your mail provided (though he won't) he has
the right to call you by these same names. Arun appreciates
constructive negative comments and he really loves the positive
comments. Its the 'Go to hell you mother F***ing Freak of nature' and
such that he hates. Please send me your negative comments though I
would be most grateful if you would tone down the I hate you part a
little.

Hint #3: The truth is out there, hey, don't ask me where but is out there since Fox 'spooky' Mulder says so.

Hint #4: There is no hint #4.

Hint #5: Read the author's rants section if there is one. It would clear some of yer questions as well as create some totally unrelated ones.