Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is owned by people other than me. I own nothing and claim no rights to the show.

**C&C, public or private, is appreciated. Since most of the fic is already written, we prefer grammar help. If you have a burning desire to give other C&C though, we will take it with a smile.**

"RAGE"

by

Ashes2ashes: slayer0@Zoomnet.net
AsheRhyder: ashrhyder@yahoo.com


Chapter One

The man known only as Logan stroked the silken violet hair of his beloved, smiling down on her serenely sleeping face. One would never guess that she belonged to a clan of fierce female warriors, and was one of the strongest of them, when awake.

A noise outside quickly drew his attention. His heart beat quickened, and he stood silently, walking out of the small house they shared. He sniffed the air, his hyper-enhanced senses telling him what he feared to be true in the pit of his stomach.

"Creed..." he growled softly. There was a louder crash, and a scream, from back within the hut. Logan spun quickly, racing back inside, only to find his arch nemesis standing over the disemboweled form of his lover.

Logan's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the blood on Victor's claws. Blood that shone in his own steel-blue eyes, turning them a sort of ruddy hue. All Logan could see was the blood . . . the blood of the one he had loved, spilled on the hands of his enemy.

He hit the taller man dead on, sending them both tumbling through the already broken wall. All around, Amazons awoke and darted out to see what the cause of the alarm was. They quickly stepped back from the two dueling creatures, seeing the complete lack of control in their fighting.

Logan slashed out Victor's abdomen, only to have it regenerate before his eyes. Blood splashed on his face, but he took no notice.

"What's the matter, runt?" Creed snarled. "Don't tell me you actually like playing with the frails?" A long-armed swipe threw the smaller fighter back, crushing a house on impact.

"They fight like the wild animals!" One of the Amazons whispered fearfully to the matriarch, who watched silently.

The blond man took the opportunity to leap off the side of the cliff, where the waiting flat lands below held more room to fight. He paid no heed to the myriad pools of water below.

Logan stood, brushing bits of house from his sturdy form.

"Where is he?" Logan growled, standing and brushing bits of house from his sturdy form. His eyes, having gone completely from blue-gray to brick-red, practically glowed with anger.

The matriarch pointed solemnly to Junsenkyo, Training Ground of the Cursed Springs.

Logan nodded briefly, eyes narrowing. In a sudden burst of speed, the shorter fighter dove off the side, following his thirst for vengeance.

He landed heavily on the soft ground by one of the springs. Creed stood not too far away, apparently awaiting his arrival. The taller combatant smirked.

"Yer getting old, runt." He laughed digging his claws into his enemy's chest.

"Shaddap." Logan snapped, wrenching away and slashing Victor's arms.

The two combatants squared off on the flat land. Both were covered in blood yet neither of them were seriously injured. Creed lunged at Logan's throat claws outstretched. Logan ducked and his opponent leaped over him and landed neatly on a wooden pole in the middle of a spring.

Creed yowled, ramming Logan in the stomach, and knocking the air from his lungs. The heavier man threw him to the ground, and, seeing a conveniently close spring, plunged his opponents head under water and held him there to drown. Logan could feel the icy water pool into his lungs, making breathing impossible, but his heart beat pounded in his ears, infusing him with the will to battle. Creed's strength matched his own, though, and without air he could not force himself to break the surface. There was a burning sensation in the back of his mind . . . something raw, something primal, a sense he usually tried to bury . . .

Victor noticed his prey's struggles increasing.

'At this rate, the runt might actually break free,' he thought, scowling.

He reached over and grabbed one of the bamboo poles beside him, breaking it off and creating a make-shift javelin. With it, he impaled Logan, and pinned him to the ground. Blood streamed from the wound into the once clear water, staining it red.

Blood that did not escape Logan's notice. Not at all. As the blood filled his weakened gaze, that primal part of him broke free . . . and lashed out.

Creed was quite surprised when the one he had dubbed a 'runt' suddenly ripped out the confining pole that had pierced flesh and ground. But Logan's glowing red eyes told him that this was not a battle he could win. And when the smaller man barred his fangs, Victor knew he was no longer dealing with a man. Or even an animal. This, what he was facing now, was something so deadly, even he did not want to see what it was capable of doing. So he ran.

---

The Amazon matriarch finished explaining the danger of the spring to the guide, then returned to her home. The guide, only having half understood what she had said, merely drove a sign into the ground before the spring: "Warning: Spring of Really Deadly Man. Do not enter!"

Of course, over time and neglect, some of the words wore off . . .

---

A star-less sky hung overhead casting a lonesome traveler into darkness. As far as his eyes could see was blackness. The inky nothingness threatened to swallow him hole if he looked at it any longer.

So he didn't.

He kept his green eyes to the ground tracing the network of vines and underbrush absently. The chaotic network reminded him of his own life. Each was a constant tangle seeming to have no end or beginning.

Each had warning signs telling him to not go further.

'But did I ever listen? Do I ever think before I leap over the cliffs?' Ryouga shifted his pack on his shoulders and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.

'At this rate I'm never going to make it back to Junsenkyo at this rate. Damn you Ranma this is all your fault!' Ryouga lifted his fist in the air angrily and then let it limply fall to his side.

'Damn me for following him.' He sighed deeply. It had become increasingly hard to stay mad at Ranma. As much as he hated to admit it, he was developing a grudging respect for him.

'I'm never going to make it to Junsenkyo again.' Ryouga turned looked back at the ground as he fell back into his inner musings. If he had kept his head up a second later, he would have seen the sign reading: "Welcome to Junsenkyo".

He walked for several minutes more. The path had transformed into a well worn dirt trail. Ryouga glanced at his surroundings. He knew it was silly but it looked like he was in Junsenkyo. But that was impossible. He was deep in the forests of Japan.

'Heh, I want to go back to Junsenkyo so badly I'm hallucinating. Hell that guy even looks like the Junsenkyo guide.'

"Ah sir welcome to Junsenkyo. You look familiar yes?"

'He even sounds like him. Might as well play along.'

"Of course you know me! You tried to cook me you bastard." The guide looked up in shock.

"Oh! You the young man that fall into spring of drowned piglet? I so sorry! You run away before I could apologize and give you cure."

"C-cure?" The lost boy looked around fully and took in the familiar sight of pools of water with bamboo poles sticking out of them.

"You mean this is really Junsenkyo? I . . . can get cured?"

"Why yes si--

"HAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY, I CAN BE NORMAL AGAIN!" He ran up and hugged the guide, happily lost in the moment.

"Ack sir can't breath." The guide wheezed while several cracking sounds could be heard. Laughing nervously, Ryouga released him.

He let himself be led by the hand, necessity outweighed pride in this case, there was no way in hell he was going to let himself get lost. The guide stopped in front of his house overlooking all the springs. There must have been hundreds. Ryouga squinted his eyes and spotted the spring of drowned girl and spring of drowned panda in the front. The spring of drowned piglet was in the middle of the springs. It would be very hard to actually get to the spring let alone fall into it.

'Leave it to me to be one of the special cases.'

"So where is the spring of drowned man?"

The guide pointed to the farthest away spring. It was positioned in a way that you would have to walk between nearly all the springs to get to it and only a narrow walkway led to it.

"Damn it! You've got to be kidding!"

He took a deep breath and steadied himself. He could do this. As long as he kept the spring in his line of site he'd be all right. And so what if he fell into another of the springs?

He sat his backpack down.

"Sir? What you doing?"

Ryouga clinched his fist so tightly a trickle of blood ran down his palm.

"I'm going to that spring."

He crouched low and then leaped and landed on the first pole. After steadying himself he landed on the next, and then the next, and the next; several times he almost lost his balance but for once his course was straight and true. He landed softly next to the spring covered in sweat.

"I . . . made it." Wasting no time, he started to jump into the spring--

and stopped.

The spring he was about to jump into said "Spring of drowned Man" but the one beside it read "Spring of Really Man."

Thank Kami! He had almost jumped into the wrong spring! Perhaps, for once, the gods were smiling down upon him . . . He jumped in.

Pain . . burning searing . . . body on fire . . . can't breath . . .death . . .kill . . . pain . . anger . . .hate . .RAGE.

At the edge of Junsenkyo, the guide held his binoculars to his eyes and frowned. The boy had been under for quite a long time. He hoped he was all right.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Ryouga burst from the spring, clutching his head in pain. "It burns! Oh gods . . . the screaming! They won't stop . . . screaming." He scratched at his hands frantically, cutting deep into his hands with his fingernails making them bleed. The blood dripping off his hands reminded him of . . . something.

The screaming intensified making him fall to his knees. The pain was too much. The screaming . . . they wouldn't stop screaming! Why won't they stop screaming! His body shuddered violently and then fell still.

He slowly raised his head and looked up with glowing rage filled eyes.

---

Chapter Two:

Ranma and Akane had barely taken three steps from the school entrance when Ukyou, Shampoo and Kodachi launched themselves at Ranma. The pig-tailed martial artist winced as all three collided in mid air, and then promptly began to fight over him.

"Stay away from Shampoo husband!" The Amazon girl shouted, attacking Kodachi with her bonbori.

"You should have learned by now silly wench, that my Ranma Darling will never belong to anyone but Kodachi Kuno!" The psychotic gymnast laughed, twirling her ribbon.

"Both of you hussies leave Ran-chan alone!" Ukyou screamed, batting both of them away with her Mega Spatula.

"Thanks, Ucchan." Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "I really didn't feel like dealing with them today." Ukyou blushed bright red.

"No problem, Ran-chan." She beamed.

"Excuse me," a tired voice asked from behind them. "Could you please direct me to Furinkan High School?"

"Hey, Ryouga, welcome back." Ranma turned and smirked at the exhausted nomad.

"Heh, "Thanks", Ranma." Ryouga scowled at his rival, bitterness written all over his expression. "What are you doing in Yokohama?"

"JACKASS! THIS IS NERIMA!" Ukyou smashed him with her spatula, but he didn't go flying. Instead, there was a nice clang, and a Ryouga-shaped dent in her weapon.

Ryouga turned his dour glare on Ukyou.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that," he grumbled. The okonomiyaki chef returned his scowl.

"You dented my spatula!"

"Ah huh." Ryouga dead panned. "Must be that time of the month." Ukyou sent him flying.

Unfortunately, being not quite as used to uppercuts as Akane, Ukyou only managed to send him a few feet . . . and right into the school's pool. Briefly, Ranma entertained the idea of diving in after P-chan, but then decided he really didn't feel like getting wet.

'If I go in after him, and come out with P-chan, she's bound to make the connection. On the other hand, if I can get the girls outta here now, there may still be time for him to scramble out of there with out revealing his secret to Akane . . .'

"Hey, Akane, Ucchan, how about an after-school snack?" He grinned as innocently as he could.

"Honestly Ranma, are you ever not hungry?" Akane rolled her eyes.

Ranma thought for a moment, then grinned again. "Nope." Akane sighed.

"Ya know . . ." Ukyou glanced worriedly at the pool. "He's been under an awfully long time . . . I hope he didn't hit his head . . ."

"Ryouga can swim, right?" the chef looked to Ranma expectantly.

"Yeah, sure he can." Ranma smiled weakly.

"Maybe we should go check on him . . ." Akane turned back towards the pool, but Ranma grabbed her arm.

"NO! I mean uh, no need, Ryouga's a great swimmer, almost as good as I am."

"I dunno Ran-chan, I've never seen Ryouga even get near a pool before . . ." Ukyou swiftly crossed the distance to the side of the pool.

A sudden splash sent her scurrying back as a near-tidal wave erupted from the normally calm waters. A tall form rocketed from the pool, gaining at least ten feet of air between himself and the surface before landing behind her, facing Ranma and Akane.

The boy crouched low to the ground, balanced on all fours, and shook the water from his lean form like a dog. A low growl built in the back of his throat, and suddenly, he whipped his head up to face them. His eyes, now sharply angled, glowed blood red.

"RRRRRRRRRRRANMA!" He growled. "PREPARE TO DIE!" He leapt forward . . . just as Ranma woke up.

"GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Call it premonition.

Call it a vision.

Hell, call it Akane's cooking last night. Still, Ranma had a sinking feeling in his gut that what he saw in his dream was not totally untrue.

A sign bashed him from behind, knocking him out.

'Shut up Boy.' His father the panda sat his sign down and drifted back into sleep.

---

It was a normal day in Nerima. The bright yellow sun shone over head as little birds sung their happy songs in the trees. A light breeze blew in from the north refreshing the people outside. Crazy bokken wielding swordsman chased an aqua-transsexual martial artist across school grounds. Same old, same old, it was a normal day in Nerima.

"Saotome, I shall smite you!" Kuno held his bokken high over his head ready to strike. "In the name of the moon . . . err . . . I mean, I shall smite you and rescue the lovely pigtailed goddess!"

Ranma rubbed his temples. This guy never knew when to quit. Would he ever stop? He suddenly had a horrible vision of an elderely Kuno and himself. Kuno was hobbling over to him on a walker with his bokken held high. Ranma shuddered.

"Saotome! I-" Kuno stopped for a moment to take a puff of his oxygen tank--"I shall smite thee!"

"RANMA, PAY ATTENTION!" Akane smacked Ranma in the back of the head.

"Oh, heh, yeah." Ranma fell into a fighting stance ready to take down Kuno the fastest way he could.

Step on his face.

"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"

Kuno crumpled to the ground as Ryouga landed on the swordsman's head creating a Tatewaki shaped crater in the ground.

"Hey, P-chan, you missed."

Ryouga jumped out of the crater and brushed off the little rock bits from his clothes.

"Nah, I was aiming for him. I'm just so used to attacking you on sight . . . I sometimes forget to modify the catch phrase." Ryouga rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. He had been aiming for Ranma, old habits were hard to break.

"And don't call me that," Ryouga added.

"Hey, Ryouga, welcome back." Ranma smirked at the exhausted nomad.

"Hey, thanks, Ranma." Ryouga scowled at his one time rival, bitterness written all over his expression. "What are you doing in Yokohama?"

Ranma froze. This . . . this was just like his dream.

It was happening again. Ranma turned to his right and noticed Ukyou standing next to him. She raised her spatula in the air.

"Jack--"

Ranma tackled Ukyou and fell to the ground in a heap, landing in a very embarrassing position.

Ukyou blinked and looked at Ranma, blushing blood red.

"Ran-chan what are you--"

"YOU PERVERT!" two voices chorused from behind him. Steam rose off Akane Ryouga as each glowed an unearthly red.

"You jerk!"

"Didn't I tell you to take care of Akane?!"

Ranma shot up and waved his hands in front his face frantically.

"It's not what you think!"

Ranma looked back and forth to Akane and Ryouga and wondered from who his doom would come from. He was really hoping for it to come from Ryouga. At least then he wouldn't be kicked so far he'd miss dinner.

His wish came true as Ryouga launched himself into the air, fist outstretched.

"Ranma Prepare to die! . . . AGAIN!"

'How can you really prepare for something like that?' Ranma thought as he calmly dodged. Ryouga landed behind Ranma, creating another large crater. He let out a feral war cry before throwing himself into a complicated combination of twists, kicks, and punches. Most of the blows Ranma was able to block, but Ryouga got lucky, and one of his left strikes caught Ranma in the ribs, and threw him out towards the road.

"Ran-chan!" Ukyou cried, whipping out her Mega Spatula. "Ryouga, you jackass!" She slammed him with her weapon, but this time, he landed next to his rival. Of course, having to follow tradition, the lost boy's landing created another crater.

"Sheesh. Women." Ranma muttered, crawling to his feet.

"Maybe if you were civil to them, they wouldn't punt you," Ryouga sneered.

"I seem to remember you getting smashed as well, P-chan." Ranma scoffed. The lost boy growled, barring his fangs.

"Ranma . . . I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Ryouga spun on the ball of his right foot, bringing out his left in a deadly kick that could have bashed Ranma's brains in, had the swift martial artist not dodged.

"STAND STILL AND DIE, DAMN IT!" The short haired boy yelled, lashing out with another kick from his right side.

"What's the matter, pork butt?" Ranma winced as a punch flew wild and totally demolished a car. "You're acting like the old days . . . don't tell me you've still got a thing for Akane?! Man, I thought you were over her!"

"SHUT UP!" Ryouga cried, swinging his body low to the ground for a sweep that almost connected. "You have no right to treat your fiancé like that! I may have no right to date Akane, but I can still protect her from jerks like you!"

"Ryouga, calm down! Kami, you're really going to hurt someone!" The pig-tailed martial artist blocked a direct punch from his opponent.

"Yeah, and it's going to be you!" he snarled.

At this point in time, when the action is the hottest, there is always a twist of Murphy's law. In this case, it was the little old woman with poor eyesight who tries to water her plants.

A bucket of cold water fell from the second story window of the old woman's apartment, splashing Ranma and landing upside down on Ryouga's head.

"Awww, man, why the hell . . ." Ranma-chan looked down at her wet Chinese shirt, then realized that Ryouga had also gotten wet. And he hadn't become P-chan. A chill ran up and down her spine, only pausing to do the macarena between her shoulder blades.

"Ryouga?" Ranma-chan called out. "Ryouga . . . are you okay?"

There was a faint sound from under the bucket, and she relaxed a little at it.

"C'mere, lemme help," she approached, but stopped short as she sensed danger.

SNIKT!

Blood dripped from Ryouga's hands as three claws shot from the top of both. She screamed in surprise and jumped back, just as Akane and Ukyou arrived on the scene. Those talons were used to decimate the bucket.

One of the claws cut too deep, though, leaving a gash across Ryouga's face that bled . . . and healed, right before Ranma-chan's very eyes. Ryouga's dark lashes parted, revealing ruby-red pools of blood lust.

"Stay back!" She yelled to Akane and Ukyou. "Something's wrong with Ryouga!"

"What?" Akane stopped short, but Ukyou took another step forward.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I'm not sure," Ranma-chan replied. "But-- AHHHHH!"

In one swift movement, Ryouga had clawed six long gashes down her arms. Blood raced down her wounded limbs, and down his claws. With an animalistic growl, he licked away the crimson fluid .

"Where did those come from?!" Ukyou and Akane both moved to grab Ranma, but Ryouga's attention snapped to them the instant they shifted stance. He growled, muscles tensing to pounce, and was distracted only by his original prey's attempt to kick him. In a flash, the red-eyed youth had torn through the flesh of Ranma-chan's upper legs, as well, thoroughly disabling her.

"RANMA!" Akane screamed, ignoring the feral lost boy and starting once more to move to her fiance's side.

"RAN-CHAN!" Ukyou screamed, also trying to approach.

"RANMA-HONEY!" A lecherous old voice cried out, drawing attention from all four beings. A small form leapt like a bullet at the downed red-head, but was intercepted mid-flight.

Ryouga's nostrils flared as he pinned the small pervert to the ground, his claws on either side of the lecher's face, just nicking the skin.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Happosai sweated bullets as the glowing red eyes scrutinized their new prey. The lost boy snarled loudly, barring his infamous fangs. The ancient pervert had a feeling though, that today, the bandanna wearing martial artist wouldn't hesitate to use them.

"Ryouga.... what's wrong with you?" Ranma-chan tried to stand, causing the wild youth to spin, and his claws to slice neatly into Happosai's face. He tasted the blood, then made a face of disgust, and batted the lecher into a high earth orbit.

Ryouga circled Ranma-chan, his glinting red eyes narrow. To him, the hunt was almost over. The prey could no longer run, and could not fight back. Ranma struggled to stand upright, the loss of blood severely weakening her.

"Ranma, look out!" Akane yelled as the feral boy pounced. The scream distracted him, causing him to fall off course, but he quickly adjusted his stance so that he fell back on all fours. He growled, barring his fangs once more, his claws digging furrows into the ground beneath him.

"Ryouga, stop this!" Ranma-chan shouted. "Why are you doing this? I thought you liked Akane!" His comment went ignored, however, as the lost boy's attention was focused on the other two girls. His whole body was tense as he awaited the right moment to attack . . .

But Ukyou wasn't going to wait.

"JACKASS! CUT IT OUT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, whipping her spatula out in a giant arc that slammed into the side of his head. There was a magnificent clang, as if someone had struck a huge bell, and Ryouga staggered back, blinking. He glared at Ukyou, but slunk backwards, and eventually disappeared into the shadows of a near by ally.

As he did, Akane raced over to Ranma, who had finally fallen, and tried to use parts of her school uniform to tie off the wounds. She had Ukyou call an ambulance while she attempted to stop the bleeding.

---

Chapter Three:

Fear.

He could smell it. A part of his distant mind was worried about this but the animal snarled at it, silencing it. All that mattered was the hunt, and fueling the rage.

He sniffed the cold damp grass, picking up on a familiar scent. His glowing red eyes darted back and forth in the night looking for signs of prey. Something was close, something big. Ryouga licked his lips. He was hungry.

He heard it long before it appeared, but decided to let it come to him. A large snout poked out of the outskirts of the clearing. It looked up at him in surprise and recognition. The large pig started forward but something told him to stop.

This wasn't a friend.

Ryouga crouched low on all fours and circled the large pig. He smiled evilly, exposing his fangs to the moonlight.

He wasn't sure why, but for some reason the very sight of his prey enraged him. He wasn't just hungry. He wanted to kill, to see the sweet crimson blood roll off this beast in buckets. It made him feel weak. He hated to feel weak.

The pig turned and bolted back into the underbrush.

SNIKT!

Ryouga's claws snapped out of his hands leaving trails of blood behind. He paused for a brief moment letting the pig have a head start. He felt like playing with his prey today.

He leaped an impossible distance forward and landed silently in the wooded thicket. It wasn't hard to pick up its scent.

Ryouga spotted it a few moments later running out of the thicket. It looked around frantically in front of a small farm house as if searching for something, or SOMEONE.

"Kastunishiki what are you doing?" A pretty girl with long dark haired asked as she stepped out of the farm house. Her pig looked in relief at seeing his master. Everything would be all right.

And that's when his entrails came spilling out.

Akari looked on in horror as her beloved pet fell to the ground, gutted like a fish. She turned pale white as she recognized its killer.

Ryouga looked up at her with an animalistic expression, void of all humanity. His eyes shifted to meet hers and locked there.

The seconds seem to stretch on to lifetimes as she could only stare frozen in fear. Finally, Ryouga shifted his stance, readying to leap forward. Akari ran into the house and bolted the door, moving faster than she had ever in her entire life.

She stepped away from the wall just in time as claws burst through the plaster and ripped it apart. Ryouga stepped through the hole and pushed bits of plaster and wood back from his makeshift hole.

"Ryouga . . .what are you doing?" Akari's voiced wavered as tears streaked down her face. He only growled in response. He advanced slowly, leaving trails of dripping pig blood on the newly polished floors.

Akari took a step backward and tripped on the hem of her dress causing her to tumble to the floor. Ryouga saw this as an opportunity to strike and leaped forward claws outstretched.

And then stopped.

Why was he doing this? . . . She was prey. You kill prey. Fuel the rage. Kill her. Her? No . . .she's prey.

Akari noticed his sudden distracted and reached up, grabbed a hot pot of steaming water from the stove, and hurled it toward him. The scalding water hit him square in the face.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ryouga looked up as humanity returned to his eyes. He took in the torn kitchen, Akari laying on the floor, her pretty face streaked with tears and her hands turning red with blisters from the scalding water. And then he looked down at himself and noticed the blood. There was so much of it. It was everywhere.

"W-what?" he choked out. Akari . . . she was looking at him with . . . hatred? Had he done this? . . .

"Akari . . . wha--"

"Get out." She looked at him coldly despite the fear gripping her heart. "You're not welcome here anymore."

"But-"

"Now."

Ryouga took one last look at Akari's tear streaked and betrayed face and then ran out of the house, past the bloody body of Kastunishiki and into the dark night. Akari looked around at the carnage and then down at her burning and blistered hand . . . hands that would be scarred for the rest of her life.

"Ryouga . . . I'll never forgive you."

---

Akane, Ranma, and Ukyou sat in Ucchan's around the griddle. Akane sipped a glass of iced tea, and Ukyou absently sharpened her mini-spatulas, while Ranma checked the wide bands of white bandages around his arms and legs.

"ITAI!" he hissed, rubbing more of a salve from Dr. Tofu into the cuts.

Ukyou tightened her fist in anger. The next time she saw that stupid jackass she was going to--

"Excuse me, do you know where I am?" They stared at the ragged figure standing in the door way, fear and anticipation in their eyes.

"Ryouga?" Akane asked timidly, half afraid he'd go berserk where he stood.

"Akane? What're you doing in Nagano?" He dropped his staff and straightened up, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"IDIOT!" Ukyou roared, flinging a handful of mini-spatulas at him. "THIS IS MY STORE! YOU'RE IN NERIMA!"

Ryouga winced and dodged the projectiles, one of which snagged his cheek and made a small incision.

"Oi!" He yelped. "Watch it with those things! That stings!"

"YOU JACKASS! DO YOU KNOW HOW BADLY YOU COULD HAVE HURT RAN-CHAN?! OR ANY OF US?! YOU MORON!"

She whipped out her largest spatula and slammed him into the wall. Ryouga slid to the floor, eyes swirling. A large peice of the ceiling caved in from the impact and fell on his head.

"Owchies . . . Mommy, I don' wanna go to school today . . ." he whimpered before falling unconscious.

A mere ten minutes later, the residents of Nerima had the good fortune to see three of the resident martial artists dragging a fourth down the street, bound in probably a mile's worth of chains, by the scruff of his neck. Said martial artist was swirly-eyed, and obviously not going to be out and about on his own power for quite some time.

"So . . ." Ranma paused at the cross roads, looking down both possible directions, and then back down at their cargo. "Where should we haul him?"

"Whaddaya mean, where should we haul him?" Ukyou grumbled, rubbing her sore hands.

"Well, we could either take him to Dr. Tofu's, or we could take him to the Nekohaten." Ranma shrugged, even as Akane's withering glare killed the potted plants behind him.

"We are not going to the Nekohaten," She stated firmly, expression grim. Ranma finally took notice of this, and shrank back.

"Right. Dr. Tofu's. What could I have been thinking?" He winced as she continued to glare at him, then quickly picked up his end of the chain and started dragging.

"Good afternoon, Ranma, Akane, Ukyou. What's the . . . oh my." Dr. Tofu paused in the doorway of his office as he saw the three teenagers dragging in their bound acquaintance. Several other patrons stopped what they were doing, and a few others vacated.

"Thank Kami that Kasumi isn't here . . ." One whispered to another. "With the four of them here . . . and her . . ."

His companion shuddered.

"Oh dear, what happened to Ryouga?" Dr. Tofu asked, adjusting his glasses. "And why is he all tied up like that?"

"Remember how we told you that Ranma got attacked by a wild animal?" Ukyou crossed her arms. "This jackass is that wild animal." The doctor arched his eyebrows incredulously.

"May I ask how Ryouga here created claw marks down Ranma's arms?" He asked, then thought better of it. "Oh, never mind, just bring him on in. You're blocking the doorway."

Dr. Tofu sighed and ushered the young adults in, watching the rest of his patients quietly slip out. This was beginning to get tedious . . . For a moment, he wondered if he was even in the right profession. Then he sighed, and followed them back to the examination room.

"Ughn . . ." Ryouga's green eyes slipped open effortlessly, and for a moment, he was blinded by the bright lights of the doctor's office. "What the hell?" He blinked in shock, even as his vision rapidly adjusted to accommodate the greater amount of light.

"Why am I all tied up?"

"It's for your own good, Ryouga . . ." Akane told him from the other side of the room. "Please, don't struggle."

"Wha--?" He looked around to see her, but, since she was seated behind him, he was unable to.

"Akane, where are you?"

"Please stop it!" She grabbed Ranma's hand, as he was next to her, and gripped it tightly.

"Don't move!"

She had seen a lot of unusual things in her lifetime, but she had truly believed that Ryouga and Ranma were friends . . . and what she had seen in Ryouga's eyes when he attacked her fiance . . . the animalistic rage . . . that was not something she was prepared to deal with. And it scared her. A lot.

"Akane-san?" Ryouga's voice was hurt, but she didn't want to face him. "What's going on?"

"Ryouga, stay still." Dr. Tofu answered him, walking into his line of vision.

"Doctor? What are you doing here? Where am I? And . . . What's going on?!"

"Ryouga, what do you remember about the last week?" The doctor asked him while studying his eyes, trying to analyze reactions on a martial artist who could probably take getting hit by a small car like a walk in the park.

"Last week?" The bandanna wearing martial artist focused on the floor. "Akar i . . . she . . . ano . . . She told me she hated me and never wanted to see me again . . . and Kastunishiki . . . was dead . . . all messy . . . and . . . I don't know what happened . . . and there was all this blood . . . Akari had burns on her hands, but I don't know why, and . . . I just don't remember!" While he spoke, his bright blue aura grew, until it almost filled the room.

"This will hurt," Ranma noted, thinking of the Shi shi Hodokan to come.

Luckily, Dr. Tofu hit a knock out spot on Ryouga's neck before the negative Chi could be released in a potentially devastating blast. As fast as it had accumulated, the energy dissipated back into nothingness.

"Jackass." Ukyou grumbled. "Scaring us all like that."

"So Doc, can you figure out what's wrong with him?" Ranma asked.

"Frankly, Ranma, I don't think so." The physician sighed and cleaned off his glasses lenses. "Physically, I can't find anything too wrong with him, except for the fact that when I tried to take an X-ray, the machine blew up. I could have sworn that he wasn't wearing any metal when I ran him through . . . the sedative made sure we didn't need chains at that point . . . I hope."

"You hope?" Akane dark eyes reflected her displeasure.

"As I said, there's nothing physically wrong with him. He's in better health than most martial artists, no apparent broken bones, no lesions, no temperature . . . and watch this." He quickly removed a scalpel from one of the myriad of drawers, and made a long incision across Ryouga's cheek. A mere second after the cut was made, it healed itself, leaving only a few drops of blood to tell that there had ever been damaged.

The three teenagers gasped.

"It seems to be that Ryouga's regenerative ability has increased . . . at least tenfold." Tofu shook his head in exasperation. "I don't know what to make of it. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Damn . . ." Ranma sulked. 'What I wouldn't give to have him just change back into P-chan and stop scaring the hell out Akane an' me,' he thought bitterly. "Wait a minute . . . Ryouga got hit by cold water, and he didn't change. Maybe it has something to do with Junsenkyo . . . maybe . . .' Realization dawned on the pigtailed martial artist. He jumped to his feet.

"Thanks a lot for trying, Doc, but I guess some things are beyond science, ne?" He shook Tofu's hand, then gestured for Akane and Ukyou to help him grab Ryouga.

"Wha--?" Tofu blinked at the sudden change of events. "Huh?"

"I think I know who might have the answer!" Ranma called as the three teens lugged the once more unconscious nomad behind them in the direction of the Nekohaten.

"This place just gets weirder and weirder . . ." the doctor sighed, closing the door behind them. "Curiouser, and curiouser."

---

Chapter Four:

Ranma, Ukyou, and Akane dragged Ryouga down the street leaving a long scratch mark down the sidewalk. They had all underestimated how heavy he really was. It was like the guy was made of bricks or something.

"Ugh, he so heavy," Akane said between clinched teeth. Ranma looked at her in the corner of his eye and smirked.

"You'd think a big Gorilla girl like--"

CLANG!

"Ran-chan don't patronize her! We need her to help carry him!" Ukyou strapped her spatula back onto her back.

Ranma rubbed the knot that was already forming on the top of his head. He was about to say something in retort when the Nekohaten standing before him saved him from his big mouth.

He walked up to the door leaving the man sized pile of chains outside on the sidewalk.

"Hey old ghoul ya in there?!"

The shop looked dark from the outside. Rustling sounds were heard from the inside of shop. After several moments, Colonge opened the door.

"Have you finally decided to come to your senses and marry Shampoo, Son in Law?"

Ranma rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Um . . . no. We have a problem." He stuck out his thumb and indicated the human ball of chains behind him and Ukyou and Akane trying to keep it upright so Ryouga didn't suffocate.

"Oh." Cologne raised one eyebrow. She then opened the door and motioned for them to come in. After a difficult task of getting Ryouga to fit through the door, and some idle threats about scuffed floors, the group sat around a table inside the restaurant. Ryouga was propped up against a wall sleeping peacefully.

"So what is the problem Son in Law?"

"Err." Ranma pointed to the bundle of chains. "Ryouga is."

"I can see that . . ."

"Oh heh heh . . . guess you can . . . well, he attacked me."

Cologne raised both eyebrows. "So?"

"No!" Ranma waved his hands in front of face. "You don't understand it was really vicious, like."

"So?"

"Argh!"

Akane slapped Ranma in the back of the head knocking him out of the chair.

"Honestly Ranma, I shouldn't have trusted you to explain everything." Akane then went on to explain their meeting at school, and their visit to doctor Tofu's. Ranma lay on the floor trying to regain bodily movement. Cologne listened to the entire story silently, only interrupting to ask the occasional question.

"This is bad." Cologne sighed. Everyone else gulped collectively. When Cologne said things were bad you knew all Hell was going to break loose. Ranma then decided that dramatically this would be the best time to return to the waking world and stood up.

"So what's wrong with him?"

"Well it happened roughly fifty years ago . . ."

"Aw man!"

Cologne blinked. "What?"

"Is this one of those ancient Chinese legends or curses or somethin'? Cause if it is, you just _KNOW_ its going to be trouble."

Cologne hit him on the head with her staff. "Don't interrupt your elders. "Now, as I was saying; Ryouga suffers from what is called the Berserker's Rage. No one knows when, or even how, exactly, the Berserker's Rage came to be. All that is known is that once a man or woman has used the Rage, they give up part of their humanity to become one with the ferocity of nature."

Several moments of silence followed as the group digested this information. Finally Ukyou broke the silence.

"OK that tells us why he was acting like a boar on speed but what about the claws? Or the healing ability?"

"I'm not sure." Cologne sighed. She hated not knowing things. But . . . it did seem familiar. Different . . . yet still familiar.

"Wait!" Ranma broke in to the conversation. "The claws only came after he was hit with water. Could it be a Junsenkyo curse?"

Cologne sucked in her breath. Damn it! It couldn't be . . . hadn't she told them to dry up that spring?! Someone was going to pay dearly. "That fool . . ." Cologne muttered under her breath.

She turned to and started to walk to the back room. "I'll be right back. I have someone to consult."

She hopped on her staff to the back room and picked up the phone. She dialed with tenshin amaguriken speed, too bad the phone wasn't as fast, and then waited for it to pick up.

"Hello! Junsenkyo hot-line!"

Cologne nearly facefaulted.

"Plum? Is that you?"

"Your call will be charged 200 yen per minute! Choose 1 for a listing of our springs, Choose 2 for a free brochure!"

'That child . . . and I had thought she was kidding when she said she was going to revolutionize Junsenkyo. If I didn't know any better I would think someone had cloned Nabiki.'

" . . . Choose 3 for a live operator." Colonge puched 3 on the keypad.

"Hello! This is Junsenkyo hot-line! How may I help you?"

"Plum, I know it's you."

"Eh . . . heh . . . hello honored matriarch." Gulping sounds could be heard over the phone. "So uh . . . how may I help you?"

"Yes, I want to know why _THAT_ spring is still in existence." She could almost picture Plum going pale.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't try to lie child. Your at least three thousand years too early to be able to fool me. Did a young man come by not long ago looking for the spring of drowned man?"

"Uh . . . maybe . . .

"Child . . .

"I'm sorry! Its not my fault! I thought father could handle it this once! All he had to do was direct the man to the spring!"

"You should know better by now."

"WAAAAAA! I'M SORRRRRRY!" Cologne held the phone away from her ear.

"I ordered that spring to be dried up."

"But honored matriarch! It was the next thing on my list really it was! I was lucky enough that I had that hot water sprinkler system installed! I could have like died! Don't you care?"

"Yes, child I care. But why didn't you just cure him why he was there?"

"I tried! But the guy was raving about 'finally being able to defeat kanma' or something and then POOF! I turn around and he's gone!"

"Do you have any idea how DANGEROUS that spring is? Do you know how many people have died?" Sniffling could be heard from across the line.

The Amazon matriarch paused for a moment. "Where did you get the money for a automatic hot water sprinkler?"

"Uh well you see, I had my mom's wedding ring . . . and there was this un-cursed spring . . ."

Cologne sweat-dropped.

"I want you to send me everything you have on that spring."

"Oh Ok!"

"And we will have to have a talk when I return. And while your at it, drain it." Cologne hung up the phone and sighed. She wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of wedding rings stuffed in with the papers.

Cologne emerged from the back room looking worse for wear. Three sets of eyes looked up at her anxiously.

"Your friend . . . has been to Junsenkyo."

"That jerk! And he didn't bring me back any man water!" Mass face-faults ensued.

CLANG!

"Ran-chan there's more important things right now!" Ukyou blinked. "Why would Ryouga be going to Junsenkyo?"

All eyes turned toward Ranma.

"Ah eh . . . he . . . uh . . . got lost! Yeah! He got lost!" Akane walked up to Ranma and looked him in the eye.

"There's something your hiding . . ."

"No there's not! But there's more important things right now! We have to uh . . . help Ryouga! Yeah we gotta do that."

Akane narrowed her eyes. "When have you ever wanted to help Ryouga?"

"Uh . . .

Cologne cleared her throat, saving the boy from further blunders of his legendary tact.

"As I said, Ryouga has been to Junsenkyo. He's been cursed with the spring of drowned berserker. They are the most deadly of fighters. They have no remorse, no pity, and no mercy. Unlike most of the springs, the spring of drowned berserker just doesn't change your body, it changes your mind as well, to the point where you're not really human anymore."

Silence hung in the room.

"Is there a cure?" Akane looked up hopefully. Cologne had to know how to help them!

"None that I know of, other than the most obvious. Although there is one man that might be able to help . . ."

"Where the hell am I now?"

Everyone minus Cologne, jumped ten feet in the air. Akane moved unconsciously to stand behind Ranma. "Ryouga your awake!"

Ryouga yawned and shrugged out of his chains.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" was the collective response.

Ryouga looked down at the broken chains at his feet. "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break your chains." He looked up to see everyone staring at him like one does a tiger that just escaped from the zoo. He turned to look at Ranma who had his sleeves rolled up.

"Ranma what happened to your arms?"

"What happened to my arms?" Ranma seethed. "YOU HAPPENED TO MY ARMS! Don't you remember?!" Ryouga blinked in astonishment, then shook his head 'no'. Brushing bits of chains from his tattered form, he stood quickly, trying to figure out where he was.

"Why are you all so jumpy?" He rubbed the back of his neck absently.

"Do you know exactly what spring you jumped into, boy?" Cologne interrogated him. The lost boy shrugged again, "The Spring of Drowned Really Man." The elder of the Amazon village face-faulted.

'Trust those idiots back home to put up a sign that fades . . . and to not do what I tell them to.' She thought.

"Ryouga, that wasn't the Spring of Drowned Really Man." She sighed. "That was the Spring of Drowned Really Dangerous Man. The Spring of the Drowned Berserker."

"So?" Although he didn't seem too worried, the bandanna wearing martial artist had paled considerably.

"So, you have become a threat to your friends. Berserkers are the most deadly warriors known to man, boy. They don't regret their kill. They live for it." Cologne withdrew a piece of parchment and a pencil from her sleeve, and quickly scribbled down a name and a location on it. "This is the name of the last person known to have suffered from Berserker's Rage and not completely succumb to it. I want you to keep your eyes out for this man, Ryouga. He may be the only one who knows how to help you. Until then, do not leave your friends, and have them keep an ample supply of hot water on hand. Otherwise . . . you will have a lot of deaths haunting your mind in the future."

Ryouga's face turned ashen, so he looked to the paper, hoping his bangs would shadow his pallor enough.

"Logan at Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted," he read softly.

"Westchester, USA?!"

The lost boy looked up, faintly depressed. "I can't even find my way home, and you're asking me to go hunt down a man I've never seen, in a country more than three times the size of Japan, in an area I've never heard of?!"

"I'm doomed." He sank to the ground, head hanging low.

---

Chapter Five:

Akari stared blankly at the phone as it rang for the sixth time. Her house was still a mess. Her hands still hurt. Only Kastunishiki had been moved, thoughtfully buried outside the house in the graveyard her family had made for their loyal pets.

A seventh ring. Whoever was calling certainly wasn't about to give up . . .

She didn't want to answer. It could be Ryouga, whom she eternally hated for his violent attack against her and her pet. But it also could be the doctor, or the constructor.

Gingerly, she removed the receiver from its cradle.

"Unryuu residence." She spoke softly, her voice all but dead. "Akari speaking."

"Hey, Akari? This is Saotome Ranma," came the brash voice on the other end of the phone. "Have you seen Ryouga lately?" That name! It haunted her, hunted her, and tortured her! Would she never be free of him?!

"I NEVER WANT TO HEAR THAT NAME AGAIN!" She screamed, slamming the receiver down.

Ranma stared at his receiver as the other end of the line went dead, greatly shocked at the outburst from the usually polite and demure young woman.

"Ooookay...." He gently replaced the phone, and turned to Akane, Ukyou, Cologne, and Ryouga. "She's not in the best of moods right now . . ."

The lost boy's glare caught him like a deer in headlights.

"Why should she be?" he muttered miserably, the blue glow surrounding him increasing in size. "After all, I probably ruined her life. And on top of it, I don't even know how!" His aura fluctuating uncontrollably, the bandanna wearing boy let it concentrate into a small sphere . . .

"NOT INSIDE!" Ukyou smashed him upside the head with her spatula. Ryouga blinked, then fell off the table he had been sitting on.

"Ow . . ."

The lost boy sat up and glared at her, but she took it in stride, and bashed him again when he wouldn't stop.

"Stop looking at me like that!" she yelled.

"Like what?!"

"Like I'm a piece of meat hanging in the window of a butcher's shop!" she snapped back. Ryouga scowled, then crossed his arms.

'Okay, let's sum-up our screwed-up life, eh, Hibiki?' He thought to himself. 'One, you've just screwed up your only chance with a girl who accepted you and your curse. Now she not only never wants to see you again, but she also hates your guts. Great. Two, you've jumped headfirst into trouble. Again. And this time, you've not only endangered yourself, but you've put your friends in danger, too. . . . Friends? What am I thinking? These people, friends? No . . . they don't care at all. They just want to protect their own lives . . . that's the only reason they're still here.

'Face it, Hibiki.' Ryouga felt his depression swell. 'You're screwed!'

'Nobody cares, I'm all alone, no one knows what to do, or what I'm going through, my life is ruined, and it's all my fault . . . I'm a danger to those I've grown to care about . . . I can't live like this!' Seeing that his three 'friends' were occupied talking to Cologne, he slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants and gripped the handle of his pocket knife.

'None of them will miss me, I'm better off dead. I won't be able to hurt anyone then . . . No . . . None of them will miss me, and they'll be safe . . .'

Ryouga stood silently, his hand gripping the handle so tightly he almost feared it would shatter. The others were so engrossed in their discussion, they didn't notice him slip out the door . . . and directly into the storage closet.

"Figures," he muttered, almost silently. "I can't even get lost to take my life . . ."

'Oh well, here's as good a place to die as any other . . .' He sat down on the floor of the closet and flipped out the blade. It was almost too dark to see the blade, but Ryouga had very good eyes.

A mere slit horizontally across the wrist wouldn't do it, the cut had to be deep . . . he'd have to be untreatable, in case they found him before he was quite dead. Steeling his nerve, he locked his jaw, and carved a jagged 'T' in his arm with the sharp edge. Blood streamed down his arm in a beautiful crimson fountain . . . then stopped, as the fountain dried up. "What the . . . ?"

He whispered, not believing the speed at which his wound had healed. Again, he tried to slice open his veins, and again, it healed, the blood welling up, only to be cut off by the regenerated flesh.

His bright blue aura now provided him with enough light to watch the healing process, but he took no notice of his glow.

"NO! KAMI DAMN IT!? WHY CAN'T I DIE?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, bursting from the closet, past the startled Akane, over the now trampled Ranma, and through the front door. Once in the street, he leapt directly in front of a speeding car, only to have it crash into him with the same effect had it hit a tree, instead.

"No bones broke, not even a scratch . . ." The lost boy's wide green eyes swept over his unharmed form, and took a step to the right, just as a large delivery truck tried to hit the breaks. There was a loud thud, but Ryouga got right back up, not even winded.

"This isn't right!" he screamed, dashing down the road. "Why is this happening to me?!"

He plowed over Kodachi, who had been on her way to hunt down her Ranma-sama, and nearly tripped over Tsubassa, who had been masquerading as a lamp post.

Five trailers, Four cars, three trucks, two bottles of rat poison, Akane's leftover cookies, and a partridge in a pear tree later, Ryouga found himself at the edge of a deep ravine.

"You again?" He muttered to the chasm. "Why is it you always appear when I need you most?" He received no answer, not that he had been expecting one, so he shrugged, and prepared to jump.

"RYOUGA!" Ranma yelled from behind him.

"Don't do it!" Akane added.

"COME BACK HERE, JACKASS!" Ukyou shouted.

"So long, Ranma." The lost boy smiled grimly, then leapt.

"NO!" the three cried out at once. "RYOUGA!"

A little less than a minute later, the ground shook as Ryouga hit the floor. The trio remained silent, then began to turn around.

"DAMN IT!" an angry voice screamed from the floor of the ravine. "Why can't I just die and get it over with?!"

"Ryouga?" Akane called down into the darkness.

"Sugar, are you okay?" Ukyou leaned over the edge.

"Unfortunately, yes." Ryouga grumbled, the echo reaching them.

"You gonna come up, or are you hurt?" Ranma asked.

". . . Do I have a choice?" was the annoyed reply.

"Well, either you come up, or I'll come down. Which is it gonna be?"

". . . I'll come up . . ." Ryouga sighed. "Maybe next time, my neck will break."

"WHAT?!" Ranma about had a coronary right then and there.

"Just a thought." A moment later, Ryouga climbed over the edge of the deep chasm, looking little more worse for wear. His clothes were tattered, and he was extremely dusty, but there wasn't so much as a bruise or a scratch on him.

"Damn it don't do that!" Ranma grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away from the edge. "You almost scared me to death!"

"That would make an interesting headline." Ryouga dead panned. "Nerima's greatest martial artist killed today by a fatal heart attack."

"Please don't scare us again like that, Ryouga." Akane sighed, relaxing.

"What, like this?" Ryouga back-flipped into the ravine a second time, causing the girls to scream, and Ranma to fall down out of pure shock.

There was a resounding crash.

"Guess it didn't work that time, either." Ryouga yelled up to them. "But hey, third time's the charm!"

Ranma twitched.

---

Ryouga lay in the basement of the Nekohaten chained to a wall. The room was dark and musty and the walls were dirty and crusted with scum. Various trinkets lay about the room, left over from the previous owners.

He yanked on the chains irritably. Cologne had used some kind of variation of the moxibustion technique which stripped him of his strength . . . but only temporarily. The effect lasted for only two days but it still was very annoying.

'I still don't understand why I have to stay down here. I can't be _THAT_ bad when I'm in berserker . . . what did they call it again? Berserker rage, mode, stage err . . . damn I forgot again.' His nose twitched irritably wanting someone to scratch it.

'Well at least they gave me a TV . . . but they could have least turned it to a decent channel! I've been watching this damn Sailor Moon marathon all day, and if I didn't want to kill myself before, I sure as hell do now!'

The lost boy growled and pulled at his chains harder.

'I don't need cold water to go berserk! Maybe I could dislocate my joints or something.' He contemplated this for several moments but was saved by the basement door opening.

He squinted his eyes against the light that flooded from the door and looked up at a fully armored samurai emerged from the basement.

"Oh no he's found me! Listen, I'm really sorry about your sporting goods store! I wasn't watching where I was going and-"

The samurai opened up a small flap on its helmet and looked at him with annoyed brown eyes.

"What are you talking about jackass?"

A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

"Heh . . . heh never mind. I never said that." He looked up at the samurai questionably. "Uh . . . Ukyou?"

The samurai nodded as much as her heavy metal helmet allowed.

"Yeah its me."

"Ukyou, I didn't know you gave up okinomiyaki arts to become a samurai."

She tripped and barely kept herself from plummeting to the ground. Good thing too, she never would have been able to get back up again. She recovered and glared at him, since it was obviously his fault.

"No, Ryouga, I'm going to take you to some training grounds." Ryouga crinkled up his eyebrow in confusion. Something about this didn't seem right.

'Why is Ukyou all alone? Why isn't . . .oh.' He smiled knowingly, but the expression held no mirth.

"Why are you alone?"

Ukyou averted her eyes.

"Akane was supposed to come but--" She bit her lip.

"She was afraid of me wasn't she?" His head sagged, the weight of the world baring down on his shoulders.

"Akane afraid? Are you kidding?" She laughed half heartendly. Ryouga nodded. He knew.

"Aren't you afraid the wild animal will turn on you too?" He looked up and met her eyes. She felt unable to look away from the pain filled green orbs.

"Ryouga how could I ever be afraid of YOU?" She smiled. She was scared as hell but he still needed her help . . .

He knew she was lying but he still felt grateful. He smiled softly.

"Thank you for lying Ukyou."

"Anytime Sugar, anytime. So Ryouga, why are you down here?"

He blushed and shifted in his chains.

"Cologne said she was the best to watch over me and they wouldn't let me sit in a spare room because of this incident I had."

Ukyou shrugged and went to undo the locks of the chains.

"Did you get hit with cold water or what?"

Ryouga blushed, as the chains fell off his hands and feet. He sat on the floor and rubbed his wrists, trying to get rid of the lingering feeling of metal.

"Um . . . no I got lost on my way to the bathroom, they really shouldn't a labyrinth in a restaurant, and there was this wall . . . how was I supposed to know it was a support beam?! . . . and err," Ryouga trailed off as he noticed Ukyou staring at him.

Ukyou blinked a couple times before finally abandoning trying to figure out how a labyrinth, support beam, and the Nekohaten would have to do with Ryouga tied up in a basement watching Sailor Moon. Whatever it was it had to be horrible to have to endure such torture.

"So what's been going on?" Ryouga asked as Ukyou ducked back through the door and came back with a hand full of rope.

"Well, Happy finally came back. He looks horrible! He's all scarred up and everything! It was neat." Ukyou smirked. It was Happosai after all.

---

Somewhere in the Tendo Dojo . . .

A small figure clad in a red and green striped shirt idly scratched the wall leaving deep gashes in the wood.

Finally, he stood up and lifted a bra into the air.

"Ryouga Hibiki you shall pay for what you've done to me! Happosai is dead!"

Thunder and lightning struck in a clear sky for know apparent reason, lightning up a scared face. "Long live--

THE LECHER!"

---

Ryouga sneezed.

Ukyou walked up to her companion who was sitting on the ground and uncoiled a link of rope. Ryouga's eyes widened and his face blushed a deep crimson.

"Hey listen Ukyou! I may not be chasing after Akane anymore or anything . . but it doesn't mean I'm going to do THAT or anything! I'm glad that your over Ranma but we're just friends!"

Ukyou blushed. "YOU IDIOT! Its to tie you up with! Uh . . I mean restrain you! Err I mean . . . Damn it! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"

Ukyou looked for the nearest implement to hit him with. Unfortuantley, he had already done the job himself and was passed out on the floor in a pool of blood. She walked up to him and kicked him a few times.

"Wake up! This is harder to do when you're not awake!" He blinked, realized what she just said, and passed out again.

"Argh! Get your mind out of the damn gutter! I was going to tie you to the wheelbarrow so you wouln't fall out! Remember the moxubustion thing? Your legs don't work right now you idiot!"

He lifted his head and opened one eye cautiously and then other. Finally he sat up and laughed nervously.

"Oh THAT'S what you meant."

"What did you think I was talking about?" Ukyou glared at him with "scorned women glare of death 892" guaranteed to send many a man running in fear. Unfortunatley, she also got it confused with look 102 the 'catch cute man in chinese shirt' alluring gaze. She was really going to have to work on that.

"Nothing ma'am, nothing at all."

"Good." She tied up his arms and helped him into the wheelbarrow. "Are you made up of metal or what?" She wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Uh sorry?" He blinked as a thought occurred to him. "If your job is just to take me there then why are you wearing all that armor?"

"Ranchan said suggested it. The wheelbarrow was his idea too." She sighed. "He always has such good ideas." Ryouga rolled his eyes.

"Well gee Ukyou, I wish I could be as smart as Ranma someday," Ryouga deadpanned.

Ukyou glared at him.

"When did you start to use sarcasm?"

Ryouga shrugged.

"I dunno, being a danger to society kind of brings out the negative feelings in you."

"And you were all sunshine and giggles before huh? Whatever. Don't insult Ranchan anymore or I'll send this wheelbarrow off a cliff, got it?" She turned the wheelbarrow around and wheeled it up a ramp located next to the stairs.

"I tried that already remember?. . . Wait . . Ranma told you to use the wheelbarrow? So the only reason your taking me is because Ranma asked you to?"

"Sit back and enjoy the ride jackass." She smirked.

---

The green, rolling hills flourished with vegetation and wildlife . . . and were about to be decimated.

Two figures rested amidst the beauty of nature, one who had seen it many times before and never was not inspired by it, and another who's heart was far too damaged to appreciate it anymore.

Ryouga sat in the midst of the wonders of nature, and his dark aura spread like wildfire as he watched the beauty that surrounded him that could never touch his heart. His aura of depression spread slowly, like oil on water, a black shadow stretching over the-- WHAM!

"OWW! What the hell was that for?!" Ryouga scowled at the Amazon matriarch.

"You're getting distracted, boy." Cologne shook her staff at him. "Concentrate on your inner equilibrium."

"And how am I supposed to do that? Weigh myself?"

WHAM!

"Don't you sass me, boy. Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

Ryouga twitched irritably, his scowl darkening.

"Please don't mention suits . . ."

Cologne threatened to bash him with her staff again, so he closed his eyes. A minute later, he opened them again, looking infinitely more cross.

"I can't do this!" he snarled irritatedly.

"Ranma could do it." Cologne prodded. Ryouga's scowl deepened again, and he once more closed his eyes.

"Mantra?" Cologne poked him. The lost boy nearly lost it right then and there, but slowly inhaled and began the long and wordy mantra she had taught him.

"Everything in the universe has a point of equilibrium. This point is the balance center for all life. All life must have a balance. Without this balance, there is chaos. And within chaos, there is destruction. Within balance, there is order. There is destruction in this order, but there is also creation."

Ryouga's expression relaxed slowly as he repeated the mantra, and laxly, his aura receded.

"I must achieve a balance within myself," he whispered. "I must find the calm within the storm, and encompass the yin and yang."

"HEY PORK BUTT!" Ranma's voice yelled loudly next to his ear. Ryouga's eyes snapped open, and his battle aura flared into life around him. WHAM! Cologne's staff connected with the back of his skull again.

"Don't be distracted!" She snapped.

"But--" Ryouga started, but another bash stopped him.

"Do you want to gain control of this or not?" The Chinese matriarch scowled. "If you are going to gain any small amount of control over this rage, then you will not allow that to distract you."

"Whatever . . ." Ryouga sighed. "Everything in the universe has a point of equilibrium. This point is the balance center for all life. All life must have a balance. Without this balance, there is chaos. And within chaos, there is destruction. Within balance, there is order. There is destruction in this order, but there is also creation. I must achieve a balance within myself. I must find the calm within the storm, and encompass the yin and yang."

"I SAID, HEY PORK BUTT!" Ranma's taunt again hit home, breaking Ryouga from his trance.

"RANMA, PREPARE--" WHAM. And so the process continued several more times.

By sunset, Ryouga had gone through the mantra seventeen times, each and everyone loosing his temper. Once, he came very close to blocking out the distraction, but Akane's voice had called out: "Ryouga, you're such an asshole. Get over yourself!" And he had been forced to Shi Shi Hokoudan the whole area.

Cologne had not been pleased.

For one week, the cycle went on. After a week, the park ran out of green, rolling hills, and they were forced to resort to the mountains. Not as much fun, but there was more for Ryouga to take out his anger on before blowing everything to kingdom come.

Three days into the second week, Ryouga got lost.