Storms of Change
A Ranma ½ / Love Hina crossover
By: Kiikun
Disclaimer: I dont own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and did not ask permission for their use. I make no money off of this and have no money to begin with, so suing me won't get you much.

Warning: This story uses some language not suited for younger readers. You have been warned

Timeline:
Ranma ½: post-manga by a few months
Love Hina: a few months after Keitaro, Naru, and Mutsumi were 'stranded' in Mutsumi's back yard.
By Love Hina timeline: Late August 1999, giving until some time in November before Mutsumi returns to Tokyo.

00 - The Approaching Storm

It was late August and months had passed since the failed wedding. Akane and Ranma appeared to be getting closer for a bit, until Shampoo decided to put an end to it. Akane couldn't tell what he was doing about the other fiancées, since he wouldn't tell her anything, but from what she could see, it didn't look like he had done a thing.

The amazons had changed their approach at drawing Ranma to them. Instead of potions, over abundant questionable affections, and other underhanded techniques, Shampoo had started using various seduction techniques. She had gone from just flat out glomping her airen to rubbing various parts of her anatomy against various parts of his, including a few times she had managed to catch him off-guard and get a nosebleed inducing leg lock around his head. Her clothing even changed on a near-daily basis, going from nearly naked to drop-dead sexy and back again.

Ukyo had changed slightly. The change in the girl annoyed Akane greatly because Ukyo had gone from trying to win the pigtailed martial artist through his stomach, to almost constantly oppose and berate the girl for her actions while at the same time actually seeming to step closer and closer to him. The cause of the change was something Akane would never guess on her own; Ukyo was no longer a fiancée. A few weeks after the wedding, Ranma and her had a talk and she realized just how much trouble she and Shampoo were causing. She still loved him, but decided that if she couldn't have him, she would protect him and fall into the role of 'best friend', even though it pained her.

Akane marched through the gate to Furinkan alone this morning with a thin red battle aura around her and a scowl on her face. The marching and the red glow emanating from the girl were not exactly odd, but being alone was. Usually, no matter what happened in the mornings, Ranma would catch up to his fiancée well before reaching the school.

Ukyo noticed the lacking of her ex-fiancée and ran over to the enraged girl.

"Hey Akane!" she called out with a smile and wave. No need to get angry at her, yet.

Akane turned to the okonomiyaki chef, glaring. "Shut up and leave me alone, Ukyo. I don't care what you or that whore have to say!" she half-yelled, half-growled out before resuming her march to class.

The chef just stood there blankly for a minute. "Ok," she mumbled as her mind recovered from the sudden blast of anger from the 'true fiancée'. She knew that the amazon had something to do with Ranma's tardiness, and the sudden jump from the girl being a 'perverted amazonian bimbo' to 'whore' only left Ukyo curious as to what had happened that morning, and trying to ask Akane would be about as helpful as talking to the idiot panda without him using signs.

Looking back in the general direction of the Tendo Dojo for a moment, she sighed. 'Hope Ranchan's OK,' she thought as she turned back and headed into the school before Principal Nutcase came out of the woodwork.

The morning classes dragged on and Ukyo managed to catch bits and pieces of Akane's self-rants. From what she could piece together, Shampoo had managed to slip into Ranma's bed, again, and that something about it pissed the girl off more than usual. The chef had become worried now. Ranma still hadn't shown up. 'I really hope he's just nursing whatever wounds those two jackasses caused,' she hoped, but knew the chances were nil.

Lunch rolled around and the storm clouds that had been gathering since early morning were beginning to look bad. It was definitely going to start raining before school let out, and there were flashes within the clouds, signaling that the electricity in the air would start to discharge into the ground shortly after the rain started.

There were still plenty of people eating lunch outside, though ready to run inside if the rain started early. Ukyo was one of them and she knew Akane and her friends had come out here too. She had already finished eating and was scanning the crowds for the mallet-happy girl, intending to get the whole story from her.

After a few minutes, she spots the girls and starts over towards them. As she got just within hearing distance of the group, she heard something going on near the front of the school. She recognized the sound as a scream of pain from Kuno and looked over curiously. There were really only two people Kuno bothered enough, and were skilled enough, to cause the idiot to scream like that. Quickly forgetting about Akane, she ran over to the front of the school. 'Ranchan's finally here!' she squealed in her mind as a smile crossed her face.

Kuno stood in front of the main entrance to Furinkan, dressed in his kendo garb with bokken in hand, and scans the horizon. "The vile wretch Saotome refuses to show his face this day," he began his rant. "While that is a joyous occasion, the Pigtailed Girl has vanished as well and Tendo Akane remains under his spell." He took a step forward and raised his bokken to the sky as lightning flashed between the approaching storm clouds. "I, Kuno Tatewaki, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, shall free these maidens from your grasp, vile sorcerer!" he yelled out and then stuck his bokken back into his belt.

Just as he was about to turn back into the school, a flash of red in the trees caught his eye. "Show yourself, or feel my blade!" he yelled, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

Not really complying with the order from the delusional kendoist, the hunched over redhead crawled out from behind the tree. She was dressed in only a loose white tank top and a pair of striped boxers. She looked at him and tilted her head curiously. "Mrrroow?"

"Ah! The Kami smile upon me and deliver the Pigtailed Girl before me," he said before realizing the state said 'girl' was in. "Come to me, oh Pigtailed Girl, and let my embrace break the spells the vile sorcerer has over your heart," he started approaching her and throwing his arms out wide.

The action caused Neko-Ranma to step back a bit, arch her back, and hiss loudly at him. This gave the kendoist pause and forced him to re-examine the figure before him. He came to a conclusion only a moment later. It was the wrong conclusion of course.

"The wretch has summoned forth a demon and possessed you with it," he said, his hand going back to his bokken. "He shall pay for such misdeeds, but first we must strike away the evil presence he has forced upon you."

He approached the cat-like girl again. He only managed to take three steps before Neko-Ranma leapt at him and ki-clawed several gashes in his uniform before slamming into him, sending him flying a short distance.

Stunned for only a moment, Kuno stood back up and draw his bokken. "I do not yield, demon! And I shall free the maiden of your presence!" he yelled and charged forward as Neko-Ranma leapt at him again.

Ukyo rounded the corner of the school to find Kuno and Ranma. Kuno was unconscious from the severe beating at the hands of the Neko-ken possessed martial artist. His bokken was completely shredded and his clothes were almost gone. He wasn't bleeding though, which Ukyo was glad for. She knew that Ranma wouldn't want to kill the idiot, no matter how annoying he was at times.

Neko-Ranma was nearby, watching Kuno for any movements, and grooming herself. Ukyo noted the fact that the girl was wearing only what she normally slept in, which meant an undershirt and boxers. Both were still slightly damp.

The pieces in her mind started to fall into place. Ranma was missing because he went neko and hadn't calmed down yet. Shampoo had to be the cat that caused this. Ranma was female, so she had to have gone neko in that form. Akane was ranting about finding Shampoo in Ranma's bed and was abnormally pissed about it. Ranma, obviously, wouldn't have let the girl in if he had been awake.

Ukyo's eyebrow twitched as she made the last connection. Akane must have dumped water on the pair and stormed off, leaving Ranma and neko-Shampoo alone. She didn't know how it went to Ranma going neko afterwards, or why the dense Tendo girl was so pissed this morning, but she did know the effect and that the girl didn't even care at the moment.

Spinning on her heal, she stalked back in the direction she had just come.

Akane sat outside with her friends, Sayuri and Yuka, eating lunch and chatting. Her rage had subsided enough to where she could hold a normal conversation as long as it stayed away from certain topics, which the other two girls were doing expertly. They had enough chats after the Tendo girl had become angry at her fiancé for one reason or another and trying to talk sense into the girl was like trying to get Kuno to understand that his 'loves' hated him.

They noticed Akane twitch involuntarily when Kuno screamed from somewhere in front of the school, but they kept the conversation going to keep her from falling back into the abnormally strong rage she'd been in all morning. Akane had managed to tell them what she saw that morning, between growls and liberal swearing, and were shocked for a few moments themselves. They even started to re-evaluate the pigtailed martial artist's apparent devotion to Akane before they remembered a number of other, milder, incidents where the purple-haired girl had snuck into the aquatransexual's bed.

A few minutes had passed since Kuno's scream, when Yuka noticed a very irate okonomiyaki chef approaching them.

"Um, Akane-chan. Kuonji-san is coming this way," Yuka said, gesturing in the girl's direction, forcing Akane to turn around.

Akane saw the slight battle aura surrounding the approaching enraged girl and stood facing her in a defensive stance. "I thought I told you to leave me alone," she growled out as she came within hearing range.

Ukyo stopped a few meters in front of her and glared coldly at the youngest Tendo. "And I was leaving you alone until I saw what you did to Ranchan!"

"What I did to that pervert!" She yelled, catching the attention of most of the people in the area. "He was in bed with that whore, again!" Her stance slipped into a more offensive one in her rage. "And they were doing THAT in MY HOUSE!"

Ukyo's glare wavered for a moment as she guessed what 'they' were supposedly doing, but knowing all involved made it very unlikely even with the way the Amazons acted. She knew Ranma loved Akane, even if he couldn't say the words easily, and would never do anything like 'that' with the purple-haired pain.

"Whatever you think you saw them doing is WRONG, Akane! Ranchan would never do that with Shampoo, and you know it!" She hollered, and then reigned in her emotions. She had promised Ranchan she would stop fighting, at least physically, with her over him and if she let her emotions take over, she was going to pound Akane flat at the very least. "The least you could have done was NOT THROW COLD WATER ON THEM! Damn it, Akane! You KNOW about the Neko-ken!"

"I DON'T CARE! Let that pervert have his cat-whore! Maybe he'll even take YOU to bed with him! You'd just LOVE that!"

Ukyo snapped at her words. Here was the loved one of the one she loved, the one who had won her Ranchan's heart, and she was shoving him away like he was some sort of plague given human flesh. She charged at Akane, fists balled at her sides, ready to strike.

Akane saw the charge and was sure the chef was going to strike low and shifted her guard down to block and redirect it. She was surprised to hear the loud clap of flesh meeting flesh as her vision shifted right when nothing had hit her guard. Then she felt a sharp, stinging pain on the left side of her face.

Ukyo stepped back from her. She had pulled her punch at the last second and instead slapped the stupid girl right across the face, where a red handprint was beginning to form. "You don't even realize how much he cares for you! Damnit! He loves you, and all you can do is make his life hell! Wake up before he decides to leave you!"

Akane was still dazed from the slap and Ukyo's words just passed right though her skull, unacknowledged. She turned back to face the okonomiyaki chef and leapt at her with her fist extended as a red battle aura sprang up around her.

The nearby students ran to get to safety so they wouldn't get caught up in the fight. Sayuri and Yuka had expected this to turn into a brawl much earlier and were already at the unspoken 'safe distance', hoping that neither of them would be seriously hurt. But they knew right now that Akane wasn't even thinking anymore, Ukyo had just pushed her over the edge they had been trying to pull her back from.

Akane was throwing wild punches and charging relentlessly at Ukyo, who was doing her best to avoid and deflect the girl's strikes as they moved around the now mostly cleared lunch area. She didn't want to break her promise to Ranma and hurt Akane, but her options were narrowing by the minute as a few of the wild punches broke through her guard. She'd have to gently knock the girl out somehow, but that would take somehow getting behind her, and that was near impossible at the moment.

Akane grinned as a few more of her punches struck the chef in the side, causing her to leap back. She didn't let up and followed her to start pounding on her guard again while trying to slip past it. Her grin grew wider as Ukyo focused on something behind her and let her guard slip, granting her a nice, clean shot at her face. The 'cute fiancée' was going to become a bit less cute.

Neko-Ranma was sure the boy with the stick wouldn't be getting back up soon this time and started looking around the school yard for something interesting, or a nice place to take a nap. She could hear people beyond the side of the building, yelling, and decided to check it out. Maybe there was someone there with a warm lap for her.

As she neared the source, she heard a loud clap and looked around her to see nothing besides all the foliage she was in and the darkening clouds in the sky. She stuck her head out between a pair of bushes and saw two people she recognized standing in the middle of a group of people who seemed to want to be as far away from those two as possible, which was strange because these two people were nice, definitely has warm laps, and would probably even pet her as she took a nap.

What confused her now, though, was the short-haired one was attacking the other one, while the other one was just protecting herself. She sat there watching the 'dance' confused as to what was going on. Nice people with warm laps shouldn't be fighting each other. They should get along and pet her as she fell asleep in one of their laps. Warm laps and hands were definitely better than cold, hard ground. Unless it was in the sun. And then a warm lap in the warm sun would be heaven.

She noticed the long-haired girl look at her startled, causing her to get hit square in the jaw by the short-haired girl. Actually, the long-haired girl looked worried too. She didn't want to fight? Was she asking for help? She must be.

The short haired girl leapt at the other girl and Neko-Ranma leapt at her. The fight was over. She didn't want either of them to be hurt and she could tell the short-haired girl could take being shoved down out of the air. Plus the long-haired girl looked hurt.

Pouncing off the now grounded Akane, Neko-Ranma landed on Ukyo, who in turn landed on the ground with the cat-like girl in her lap, stunned.

Neko-Ranma looked up at her worriedly and noted the bruise forming. She raised her head up to lick it to soothe the girl, but it didn't seem to help. After a few seconds had passed with no response, she pressed her lips against the girl's. That caused the girl to stir and Neko-Ranma thought she was going to be pet now, so laid back down to take her nap.

Akane was confused to say the least. First she was pounding on that chef bitch and managed to get a good shot in on her face as something distracted her. Her own fault for being distracted in a fight. But then as she was bearing down on her, something hit her from behind and slammed her into the ground, not that she was hurt by it. That bitch must have gotten Shampoo here as backup, just in case.

She pushed up off the ground with a growl and looked up. And then froze. Only a few meters in front of her was Ranma, still in female form, and he was kissing Ukyo! That perverted bastard!

She rose to a standing position silently as mallet-sama appeared in her hand. She stepped forward and raised the oversized mallet to strike down the pervert and swung. The mallet caught a surprised Neko-Ranma right in the head and continued to follow through, sending her flying into the air. The sheer force of the strike sent Ukyo rolling on the ground for a second.

Justice having been served, mallet-sama disappeared and Akane turned and started walking away. The whore and chef bitch could HAVE the pervert.

Neko-Ranma flew uncontrolled into the air, straight for one of the storm clouds. She was yowling the entire way up, wondering just exactly what happened.

The moment she broke into the cloud cover, the first bolt hit, altering her trajectory deeper into the cloud where more and more jolts singed her and ate at her clothing and nervous system. Her yowls of pain turned into high-pitched screams, then back to yowls, then to screams again, shifting back and forth.

Jolt after jolt struck her, bouncing her around the interior of the storm cloud until one final shock sapped her of her consciousness, sending her flying out of the cloud at an even greater speed than she had entered.

On the ground, Ukyo was wincing with each scream that echoed down from above. If she didn't know that Ranma had just been launched into that cloud, she would have sworn the gods were crying out in anguish. She watched in horror as the cloud flashed with each internal lightning bolt before a final, brighter flash within the cloud ended the screaming. She watched in horror for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for whatever remained of the man she loved to fall back to earth from the heavens.

Eternity passed.

And another eternity passed, and still nothing fell as Ukyo's mind kicked back into gear. There was only one thought in her head as she stood and drew her battle spatula off her back. Akane had just killed Ranma... and she was going to pay.

Author's Notes: Hello readers! I hope you like how I have started this story and will continue to read it when I post the next chapter. No, Ranma isnt dead and i really dont plan on this being a darkfic or anything like that. Infact this is probably going to be the darkest chapter, and the swearing will most likely be down to a dull roar by the time I touch back with the NWC.

At the moment I'm still playing around with what relationships will develop between the Nerimans and Hinatans, so don't expect any major romance plot threads soon, though I may put in a few posibilities.

I'm trying to stick as close to manga-cannon on both as possible with both series, atleast until the point of the crossover. About a year has passed overall for the Ranma gang, leaving Ranma a junior. (Thus Kuno and Nabiki are still in the school.)

Cya next chapter! (And please don't kill me, Akane-lovers. This has a very, very, very low chance of a Ranma-Akane pairing.)