It was an unusual night in the district of Nerima. The city was peaceful and its inhabitants, typically rowdy, were in an oddly good mood. All this peace had a particular martial artist on High Alert. One Ranma Saotome, unused to the calm that had blanketed Nerima since the failed wedding near two weeks ago, was worriedly suspicious. In the time that had passed sinced that particularly ill fated event, the relationship between the pair had descended in to a cold acceptance of one another.

In order to avoid the conflicts that Ranma knew would soon rise, from whichever hole his rival's and various fiance's had placed them in, and with (he guessed) greater force than they had previously exhibited, he schemed a simple plan.. Thus, in order to protect not only his own health but the health of those around him, mental and physical, he had come up with a final drastic solution, which followed one of the earlier teaching's from his usually incompetent father: the Saotome secret technique of "Face Opponent and Fast Break."

He would prefer to use this paticular technique only in a true fight but after discussions with Kasumi and Nabiki the past couple of weeks, he had come to see his own life as a challenge - one which he had to take control over in order for him to have any chance at winning.

He had finished packing his few scant belongings only a few hours beforehand. All that was left to do now was to somehow leave Nerima unnoticed. He had already come to the conclusion the week before that in order for him to have any chance to take control he would have to do go further than another of Japan's islands; he would need to leave Japan altogether, all in order to make tracking him that much more difficult.

After some quiet use of the local internet cafés Ranma had finally managed to get in touch with a pair of martial artists that were looking for a foreign flatmate in the country of New Zealand. It took a few days to get all the details sorted but he now had it all set up so that he would be meeting them at Christchurch International Airport the next evening.

He sat on the roof of the Tendo dojo, his only steady home in the past near 16 years, gazing at the stars once again. He'd often found himself star gazing while living at the Tendo home, he felt it help him achieve his centre and without it he would have likely lost his sanity some time ago. For some reason that was unknown to him he was largely left to his own devices whenever on the roof, not that he minded, but the fact that there was actually one place he could find some modicum of serenity was one that he had difficulty swallowing.

Closing his eyes in a brief sign of weariness, he took the opportunity to rub the bridge of his nose as if something were pinching him there. With a soft sigh he collected his thoughts together and gracefully flowed back to a standing position, and with his feet parallel to the edge of the roof, he displayed his normal dexterity and quickly returned to the room he no longer shared with his father. It was even more spartan than it had been with his father's occupation, now only Ranma's futon adorned the floor. His father had returned to the Saotome household, with his mother, shortly after the mess from the wedding fiasco had finally been cleared.

Settling into a lotus position on his futon he slowed his breathing and entered a meditative state. Once he had achieved an internal balance and calm he extended his sense's throughout the house to check on all its occupants. He could feel all bar Kasumi's aura letting off the calm of sleep. Kasumi, it seemed, was still awake, even at this late hour of the night. He smiled at the thought of the few heart to heart talks they'd had during the weeks following the incident. It had started with him wanting to help her out around the house a bit more, since his father was no longer around to call down his masculinity, gradually he came to find a certain tranquility to the chores. It had helped him regain his centre after all the chaos that had been harassing him almost endlessly.

After the first few days Kasumi had confronted him; she wasn't complaining about his sudden willingness to help around the house, in fact she was enjoying being able to take a bit more time now that she didn't carry the load by herself. She was surprised when he told her that now his father was no longer watching his every move, belittling him when he did something he found even slightly unmanly, he could start to pull his weight around the house. The smile she had graced him with at that point would have made any dentist proud at such a massive display of brilliantly white teeth. After that they had often sat down late at night talking over some tea, or even just sitting on the engawa and looking out at the stars. He learnt more about the Tendo family in those few week's than in the last two years staying in their home.

His new friendship with Kasumi didn't go unnoticed by the other members of the Tendo family, Nabiki had just quirked an eyebrow but kept wisely silent, still smarting over the tongue lashing she had received from her father and Auntie Nodoka. Akane was convinced that Ranma was trying to do something perverted to her older sister but, in a rare display of anger, Kasumi had dissuaded her of that notion. Only the two of them knew what had been said after Kasumi dragged Akane to her room for a little 'discussion.' Akane apologized to Ranma shortly after she escaped Kasumi and had been rather subdued in his presence ever since. Soun had just smiled whimsically at the pair, watching fondly as his eldest daughter finally started to grow again, he was proud of the boy and the huge change he had wrought in his family over the past two years, bringing them all back from the stagnant precipice they'd been on since his wife's death.

Ranma's fond smile slowly changed to a sad one as his thoughts returned to what he had to do this night, once again reaching out with his aura he gave each member, both awake and asleep, a gentle pulse of warmth, a sort of long distance hug. Pulling his aura back into himself he stood, grabbed his belongings from where they leaned against the wall and left out through the same window he had come in a few minutes before. Once again displaying his superhuman grace he leapt from the roof and landed silently on the lawn near the main entrance. With a final glance back towards the old Tendo home he walked resolutely towards the gate. Reaching out to grasp the handle he found he couldn't open it, not because it was heavy or locked, but rather his muscles would not respond, after several long minutes he managed to regain mastery of his body.
It was the most difficult battle of his life to take the few steps needed to leave the compound, despite the difficulty he continued forward, never looking back, not even once he had left the ward of Nerima and was on his way to Nerita International.
In her room at the end of the hall Kasumi Tendo sat in a lotus position, deep inside a meditative trance. She did this each night to get in touch with the Wa of the Home, to check on its well being and feel out the newest emotional ups and downs of the people contained within. She was interrupted by a warm pulse that seemed to envelope her completely, warming her more thoroughly than a hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire, the warmth felt when filled with kindness and love. She instantly recognized it as a pulse from Ranma, so quickly got back in touch with the Wa of the house to watch as he stood at the front gate, his emotions going through a high powered blender before finally being overpowered by the raw determination that had made him the best. Kasumi felt him leave the grounds and a sad smile graced her face as she knew it would be the last time she would see him for a long time.

"Best of luck to you, Ranma." She whispered to herself before finally settling down to sleep.

Enjoy it? Hate it?

Please review, help me get better, if you thought this was bad you should read the drafts, it hurt to read them so I could put it up here thats how bad they are.

Flames will just be used to help me do sacrificial rituals on the Kuno's so keep them to yourselves I prefer to sacrifice people alone.

Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Next chapter will come out soonish I should hope, depends on how encouraging the reviews are, Hint, Hint!!!

Ja Ne

New A/N: Ok nothing really new here, reading through you may have found a few new changes, mainly because a good friend of mine who loves to nit pick and is stupidly good at english read through the first chapter and ripped into about all my mistakes then helped me fix them, so nothing major yet. Will have the next chapter "Travel" out in the next few days I should expect.

Ja Ne