I HATE WRITER'S BLOCK!!! Ahhhhh! Another desperate attempt to overcome my huge writer's
block. It's really not one of my best works. Well, read on and review!

Disclaimer: I always forget to write this, but you know I don't own Ranma 1/2, it's belongs
to Takahashi-sama, but don't rub it in.

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A Different Life
Chapter 1: Meeting
By: CSMars
7/2/2001


"Yes, dear."

*Pause*

"I promise you, dear."

*Pause*

"Alright, bye. Yes, yes, I promised, didn't I?"

*Click*

The bald man hung up the phone and walked toward the dock where a teenager boy
stood with two bundles on his shoulder.

"What did Mom say?" The boy questioned as he run toward the older man.

"She said we have to go back in three weeks. I told her we just got here, but
she says two years are up and I have to get you back to Japan." The man muttered angrily,
"It's training. How can I train you if you're always smothered by your mother?"

"Oh, shaddap, old man. She's just worried about me. You obvious don't, so if
I came with you on that ten-year training trip you original planned, I would've been
dead by now." The boy tossed one bundle to his father.

"Stop whining, Ranma. You sound like a girl. And hurry up, I want to get to this
training ground called Jusenkyo before night fall." The man shouted as he ran into the
forest.

"Don't call me a girl." The pig-tailed boy protested as he ran after his father.

* * *

"Night fall, huh?" Ranma smirked.

"Shaddap. I'm sure we're near the training ground." The bald man replied, looking
around for any kind of indication. "We've been walking in this forest for a week now, and
the map says that Jusenkyo is just outside of the forest."

"You call this a forest?" Ranma asked, starring at the bare trees, "It's the
middle of spring and I don't even see one bud on these trees. And I don't recognize any
of the constellations during the night, in fact, I can't find the North Star anywhere.
Not that it matters, before we came into this place, we were lost in a real forest for
a week anyway. Now we only got one week to get back to Japan..." His angry rambling was
stopped by a sharp smack on the back.

"Shhh..." Genma shushed him quickly, "Do you hear that?'

"Hear what?" Ranma inquired absentmindedly.

"I'm not sure, but it sounds like... fighting and someone yelling."

"What?"

"Come on, it's coming from this way." Grabbing his son by the arm, Genma ran toward
a clearing where a young, purple haired girl was fighting a longhaired boy barehanded.

"Oh, Kami-sama! We have to help her." Ranma said hiding behind a tall tree,
pointing to the girl who was shouting in Chinese.

But at the same time, the two Chinese teenagers looked over and noticed the two
Japanese. A glance was passed between them and the next thing Ranma knew, he was tied up
in chains that seemed to be coming out of the boy's sleeves.

Genma tried to attack the boy, but a tap in the back of the neck from the girl sent
him into unconsciousness.

The girl said something to the boy, he nodded and she ran off.

Suddenly, he knew a lot more about these two teenagers. Trying to free himself
from the heavy chains, Ranma spoke to the boy in Japanese, hoping that the boy will
understand from the tone that he's harmless, "Hi, my name's Ranma. Why were you fighting
that girl and why do you have me and my pop tied up now? We didn't do anything wrong,
did we?"

Much to his surprise, the boy replied in almost perfect Japanese, "You two interfered
an honorable challenge."

"Wow, you speak very good Japanese." Ranma complimented him, hoping it'll help him
to get out of the chains.

"Thank you." The boy answered crisply, and then allowed the awkward silence to
take over.

After what seemed like an eternity, the boy perked up, as if he could hear something
Ranma couldn't. He glanced at Genma, still lying on the ground but slowly regaining conscious
and frowned in worry.

A few seconds later, Ranma could see two figures running toward them on the
horizon. Both of them ran at an incredible speed, letting him know that they're martial
artists. When they got close enough, Ranma could tell one of them was that purple-haired
girl from before. The other also looked to be a girl, but she was wearing a pair of black
pants and a blouse instead of a short dress like her companion.

Genma groaned and blinked his eyes, letting the boys know that he's waking up.
The Chinese boy yelled something to the girls, but they either thought replying would
be wasting time or they didn't hear him. Just as Genma started to crawl onto his feet,
the girls have arrived under the tree where the trio stood. It was then when Ranma got
a good look at the two new arrivals. The first thought that crossed his mind is that
they are both extremely gorgeous. Ranma is not one who knows a lot about girl, but he
is born a boy and there is something called hormone in his body. One girl has long,
flowing purple hair all the way down to her thighs while the other girl's bluish-black
hair only reached her shoulders. Both had the body of a supermodel: lean, tall, and
curves all at the right places. The black-haired belle caught him starring and yelled
at him in Chinese while the purple-haired beauty started a heated argument with the boy
she was fighting with.

"Umm... I'm sorry, I don't speak Chinese." Ranma replied, looking toward the boy,
hoping he would be the translator.

But it turned out that a translator is unneeded as the girl spoke in Japanese,
"I said, 'you're trespassing on Amazon ground.'"

The boy in the long, white robe said something to her and the girl opened her
mouth again, "Ranma... that's your name, isn't it?" Upon seeing his nod, she continued,
"My name's Akane. You and your father, well, I'm assuming he's your father, are both on
Amazon training ground without permission."

Ranma heard a growl around him, and turned around to see the other girl impatiently
tapping her foot. She growled again, louder this time and then started shooting off a
string of Japanese words toward him and Akane. " 'Kane, they outsiders. Elders say outsiders
must die. Law say outsiders must die. Great-grandmother say outsiders must die. We kill
them and go home, yes?"

"Not so fast, Shan." Akane replied in Japanese, much to Genma, now again unconscious,
courtesy of Shan's pressure points, and Ranma's benefit. "Great-grandmother and the
other elders told me that they want to question them first. It's been a long time since
anyone's *stupid* enough to wander into our ground."

Ranma opened his mouth to defend himself, but the girl named Shan cut him off,
"The law say we kill outsiders, so we kill them and go home!"

Akane drew her sword that was strapped on her back and pointed it at Shan's face
as she spoke apathetic, "You're my sister, Shan. And I don't want to hurt you. But I am
the best Amazon warrior of our generation, and you will follow my orders just as I am
following the elders'."

This time, Shan just starred at the ground and nodded.

"Mu Tsu!" Akane barked at the boy, who still have Ranma wrapped in metal chains,
"You take care of the old man." Then she turned to face Ranma and said, "Come on, Wild
Horse. We're taking you back to our camp. Don't try anything funny, or else--" she put her
sword on his neck before continuing, "I _will_ kill you."

Ranma considered fighting back, but he knew he couldn't beat them _and_ drag Genma
out of there before one of the Amazons hit his pressure points. So he made small talks as
they walked out of the... bare trees forest, trying to find out as much about his captors as
possible, "So... you said this is Amazon training ground, it wouldn't happen to be Jusenkyo,
would it?"

All three Chinese's head snapped up when they heard the word, but Akane beat the
other two in asking, "Jusenkyo! Where did you hear about Jusenkyo?"

Surprised at the reaction he got, Ranma told them the truth, "Well, my pop and I
were looking for Jusenkyo 'cus he said it's great for training."

This time, all three busted out laughing. Shan tried her best to stay upright as
she cheered in delight, "Stupid outsiders don't know Jusenkyo. Jusenkyo cursed springs,
if outsiders fall in, outsiders become who drowned in spring long, long ago."

"What?"

"What she was trying to say, is that if you fall into a spring at Jusenkyo, you'll
become the person or animal that drowned in the spring before you. But the curse is not
permanent, it's water-based. You change depending on the temperature of the water." Mu
Tsu explained as Shan hit him on the head for making her look like a fool.

"It's true," Akane added, "you shoulder thank your Kami for meeting up with us,
or else you would probably be a roasting pig right now."

The Amazons chuckled as Ranma shuddered, "Stupid pop! But don't worry, we've been
wandering in this place for a week now, I doubt we could've found the curse spring anyway."

This time, the Amazons didn't laugh, they starred at him in shock. This is just
too weird. Mu Tsu, the boy wearing a pair of thick glasses, recovered first, "You two
were lost in the Ba Gua Zhen for a week?"

"The what?"

"Ba Gua Zhen, it's this maze, one of the tactics used in Ancient China to trap
your enemies during the war. Have you never heard of it?"

"Umm... my old man isn't really into tactics and strategies."

"Wow, Shan thought martial artists all know tactics. Outsiders much stupid than
Shan thought." The girl commanded in broken Japanese.

_Who are you to talk?_ Ranma retorted... in his mind of course, he doesn't want
to die yet.

"Sorry, Ranma. But Amazon children began their training at three. Every birthday
after that, they're given a standard test. Sometimes it's a test of strengths, sometimes
a test of skills, sometimes a test of strategies. Finding your way in Ba Gua Zhen is the
test every child must pass on their thirteenth birthday, I guess Shan is just surprised
you Japanese don't know anything about it." Mu Tsu whispered, almost afraid that the two
girls will hear him.

"Come on, we're almost there." Akane yelled as the air is suddenly filled with
the delicious aroma of food.

The five, well, actually four with a man in tow, walked straight through the row
of huts toward the biggest one in the center of the village.

Akane went inside first while Ranma and Genma waited outside with Shan and Mu
Tsu. After a brief conversation, she came out and asked for Ranma. Mu Tsu also pulled
Genma inside, but he and Shan didn't stay.

Akane stood in the center of the round room and bowed with her sword in front
of her. Ranma looked around and found seven old women sitting on the fine-curved, wooden
chairs.

"On your knees." Akane whispered in a demanding voice, still looking toward the
front of the room.

"What? I am not bowing in front of seven _women. _" Ranma said, just a tad too loud.

Just then, something hit him hard on the stomach. He bend forward involuntarily,
but since his hands are still tied up behind his back, his knees buckled under him and
crashed into the hard surface to regain his balance.

"Insolent male, you're in our land, therefore you will obey our rule." Ranma
raised his head to see an old, well, ancient woman poised on a stick.

"Elder Ku Lon." Akane said in surprise as she bowed again.

Ku Lon tapped on Genma's back and then turned to Ranma once again. Everyone looked
at her for the next move. After Genma recovered, the Amazon Elder began to speak, "Usually
we do not give outsiders the chance we're offering to you, so listen carefully. I see
that you have no food with you, so the Council of Elders of the Amazon tribe is willing
to make a deal: we will provide repast for both of you for the next five days if you take
Akane back to Japan and provide shelter for her for a whole year. We will give her money
for food and clothing, but she'll be living with you."

"Elder, I don't want to leave China." Akane murmured.

For an old woman, Ku Lon has great hearing, "Akane, you're a great warrior who
will one day take my place among the council. But times are changing and you need to learn
about the outside world. This will also strengthen your Japanese and you'll learn many
things that will make you an valuable leader." She turned back to Genma, "Of course, we
won't force you to take a stranger into your home. But if you decide not to corporate with
us, then both of you will die, if not by our weapons, then by starvation. So... do we have
a deal?"

To a man who has sold his son a numerous of times for food, this sounded much better
than the rest of the bargains Genma has encountered. "Deal."

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Author's note: Yes, there is such a thing as Ba Gua Zhen and no, I have absolutely no
idea how to get out of it. I'll be using a lot of reference to Ancient Chinese battle
tactics so I'm considering getting a book. There'll also be a little Chinese mythology,
and Chinese tradition and morals. Just the things I learned as I was growing up. I really
like where this story is going (in my head, not on paper yet), but I can tell you right
now that it's going to be long (maybe ten chapters... well, it's long for me!). I'm not sure
when I'll start working on the next part but it'll be about Akane preparing to leave.

Also, I'll working on the next chapter of "Love Thy Enemy" and it'll be out before the end
of the week.

Okay, see ya! Love, CSMars

P.S. A big question: should I bring in Nabiki? (Kasumi'll be in the next chapter)