A/N

The age old concept of Ranma getting his curse locked and sent to a new dimension via his enemies… with one hell of a twist.

The universe Ranma is sent to is one of my own making.

*~*~*~*~*

Benihime

*~*~*~*~*

Oh Susana

*~*~*~*~*

I got a lot of reasons to be angry.

A lot of reasons.

And it ain't those sissy, pansy reasons I got back when I was in Nerima.

I remember back then. Always bitchin bout my curse and my fiancées. Never knew how good I had it. Took it for granted. Sure there were things that I didn't like; but ain't nothing perfect anyway. Shoulda just kept my mouth shut and married Akane. I liked her enough, and I know I woulda treated her right. Ryouga was right. I was always a weakling and a coward.

I got a lot of reasons to be angry.

But strangely enough he ain't one of them. It was Ryouga who challenged me. I shoulda known something was off when I saw him there. He's never on time. Ever. I just thought it was something new. Taunted him, called him P-chan and one "Ranma prepare to die!" later and we're havin a smack down for the ages.

I shoulda known.

I always got cocky, I still get cocky. Just now I'm a little more aware. I wasn't back then. Never even realised something was wrong when Ryouga's punches stopped hurtin, or when the world got turned fuzzy…

Woke up a few minutes later and eleven ears younger than I shoulda been. Tied to a chair, locked as a girl, a burn on my back, sportin a bowl cut, surrounded by arcane lights and a little black pig chewing mercilessly at my ropes. Told the damn thing to leave. It wouldn't.

The bastard.

Pissed me off thinking that all the bad things I'd ever thought about him were wrong. But I'm glad. He was a friend and a protector. The only one I had for a while.

In between the dark room and the lights I made out a few people. Mousse for one. Principal Kuno, Kodachi, think I may have even seen the members of the science club. Can't really be sure. Don't even really care. I can't go back. Ain't never gonna see my old home... and even if I do it ain't gonna be my old home for long.

Cause I'd stain it RED.

RED like blood red hair I got on my head.

RED like the echings on my gun.

RED like my name.

Benihime.

Crimson Princess.

No…

I wouldn't do that. Not really anyway. I want to, but I won't. It's the beer talking. I've been drinking for a while now. I heard it's supposed to help with depression, but all it does is add fuel to the fire. I wanna go out and kill something. Not shoot, KILL. I want them to suffer. I want them to die. She didn't deserve that. She didn't do nothin to nobody. She didn't deserve-

"BENI! RANMA! GODDAMMIT OPEN THE DOOR!"

That'd be Nodachi, Ryouga. Just like me he's the best at what he does. Unbeatable team the two of us. Good for our enemies that we don't get together often enough. He's the champion swordslinger of Edo, and I'm the badass bitch from the Victoria States. Ain't no way we'll ever get beat. Better chance of me gettin sober sometime soon.

"RANMA! IF THIS DOOR ISN'T OPEN IN THE NEXT FIVE SECONDS I'M BREAKING IT DOWN!"

It's a damn good thing I live in my own flat. His voice is enough to wake the dead.

"FIVE."

Wow he's actually counting down.

"FOUR."

Thought he would just wait it out-

"THREE."

- and break the door down after.

"TWO."

Screw it.

"ONE!"

I couldn't walk a straight line if I tried.

SMASH!

The door is blasted open. Funny. I thought he would shatter it, or knock it off its hinges, just breaking the lock? Must be worried.

"Ranma…"

Yep he's worried. It's in his voice. The kind of voice he saved for Akane back in the day. If I was anybody but me, I might look into it. But I am me, and right now I don't give a crap.

I take another swig from the bottle. It's the hard stuff. The kinda stuff that'll blow the hell up if you rub on it too hard… Kinda makes me wonder why I can still think in complete sentences.

I hear him sigh.

"Ranma."

The years have been good to him. Unlike me he wasn't turned into a kid, or locked in his curse form, or given the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion… He was just sent here. To this world, and he grew just like he should have. He's twenty-four right now, and a damn fine looker. If I was into guys I would be gunnin for him. I'm not though. I'm still into girls, even if it is weird now that I'm a permanent girl myself.

Stupid curse.

"I thought you got over that…"

I said that out loud? Damn. Can't even keep my thoughts internal anymore.

"Ranma, this isn't the answer-"

"The answer?" I cut him off, "Darlin I ain't lookin for an answer."

"Then what are you looking for Ranma."

I tilt the bottle up once again, liquid fire running through my veins. My head throbs, my vision blurs and I know the hangover that'll follow will be brutal. I love every second of it.

"A reason."

And the deepest black engulfs me…

I dream about her. It isn't the first time.

Susan…

My second friend. The reason I still have faith in people and the woman I loved unconditionally for six years. I met her as Ryouga's little sister. She was eight, smart for her age, and the first person to accept me without complaint. I grew up with her. Took care of the ranch, did what I could even in my weakened state and taught her to fend for herself. In return she was there for me when Ryouga got lost, comforted me when I fell into depression, listened to my stories and taught me a new way to fight.

I was eleven when I realised I was in love with her. I kept it secret for two more years after. In that time I had already begun making a name for myself.

Benihime.

My name was my proof. My title, and in a world where power meant everything, it was one of the three things I knew I could count on. I never killed anyone. I may have shot that gun off one to many times, but I never killed. Susan admired me for it. When the moxibustion point weakened a bit I started using bigger guns. Susan's gift for my thirteenth birthday was a .357 single action revolver. I called it my partner.

Sakurahana.

A name as beautiful as the one who gave it to me. I told her I loved her then. Blurted it out without thinking. She smiled at me, and told me she knew, but she wasn't like that… It hurt, more than anything I've ever felt.

But I loved her, so I never showed her my tears.

Not when I caught her and her boyfriend in a lip-lock in the barn. Or when I heard them making love. Not even when she cried as he broke her heart and begged me not to hurt him…

She never saw my tears, but God did I cry.

We left for City Side after her father died… the one time when I wasn't fast enough… I blamed myself… She didn't.

We had a good thing going for a while. I worked as an enforcer for "The Church". She became a photographer, a damn good one. I was the best, a slinger among slingers, and when Ryouga found me we were the unstoppable force with no immovable object in sight. It worked like that for a few months, then Susan got herself another guy.

It was hell on my heart.

Every night she came back smiling, being love has that effect. I'll admit I was jealous, but I loved her, so I supported her. That was until I caught the poor bastard chatting up some other girl and when chatting became lip-lockin; I lost it.

They never did find out who put all those bits of plastic into his legs.

Susan knew. She didn't talk to me for weeks afterwards. Even when she knew why I did it. When she did talk to me it was to say that it was her mistake to make, I didn't agree. We argued, and she called me some things… She left for a friend's and didn't come back until two days later.

Love is one hell of a thing. It makes us do things we wouldn't do otherwise… I can actually understand guys like Mousse and Gosunkugi now. It doesn't matter how badly the object of your affection treats you, or even if they don't know you're there. Just being close to them makes life worth living. Only difference between me and them, they were obsessed, I was in love. I could let Susan go… even though it killed a part of me…

I'll always remember those two days. Lonely dark days. There was nothing good about those days. The sun didn't shine, life didn't move forward, everything came to a screeching halt… and then she came back.

I remember answering the door, clad in little more than my underwear. (I had no feminine modesty in Nerima, and eight years of growing as a girl did little to change that.) It was Susan, and she was crying. Broke my heart to see her cry, but I stayed strong, because that's what I did. I did what she needed me too. I don't recall exactly what led to it, but I do recall when she kissed me.

She had the scent of angels on her. Pure and innocent. There was no evil with her around, and in her body I got lost.

I screamed her name, she moaned mine. She made me touch heaven, I returned the favour. Her touch, her taste, I'll remember it all forever and eternally.

I loved her, and I would support her.

Even if she had told me that it was a mistake, even if she had told me that I had taken advantage of her weak moment; I would love her.

She didn't say either of those things in the morning. She told me she loved me. Told me that as long as I accepted her she'd stay. I cried then. Tears of joy…stupid cliché... And for a month it was heaven.

But life ain't heaven. And in life shit has a way of hittin the fan. Susan didn't deserve what she got. She deserved to die old and feisty. Friends and family gathered around, and with me by her side, still young as ever, smiling down at her…

What they did to her…

How she screamed for me…

I saw the tapes. I saw how she died. I saw what they did and I took names. I took faces. I memorised everything about them, because I was going to kill them… I was… but… could I really do this? I killed protecting Akane, but could I kill for someone who was already dead? Could I just throw away all those years of martial arts discipline for my hate?

I hated doubting myself.

So I turned to the bottle. One reason. One reason not to hunt them down. To find out why, and to stick with plastic and not convert to lead…

I still haven't found my reason. And for them that's bad. I've never settled on being good at anything. I've never settled at being great either. I have to be the best, and I'm the best gunslinger in Gaia.

I've already made up my mind. I'm going to kill them. I'm going to condemn my soul to hell. I'm going to give up that one moral I refused to break. I'm going to stain myself RED with their blood…

Why?

Because she worth it.

Now all I gotta do is wake up…

Wake up damn you…

*~*~*~*~*

Please read and review.