!-- page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } --

Chapter 1: Chapter one

Disclaimer : I don't own Ranma or anyone from the comics or Anime. Some Characters will be of my own creation but I think they own themselves...

A special Note : I'd like to give personal thanks and a shout out to MicroMan for informing me of the problematic upload I had. Hopefully I have all the bugs out. (watches as cockroaches walk across the screen)

Crap...

18 Months ago...

Chi Tsu Saotome looked out at the wasteland. In the distance he could see the pile of rubble that was once the proud Mount Phoenix. The Musk Kingdom had faired little better, but in the spirit of their new treaty they were housing the Phoenix people until their home could be repaired enough for them to return. After ten years Saffron was still rebuilding his mountain for his people.

"Impressive, yes?"

Chi turned his head to the woman who stood facing him.

"So this is Jusenkyo."

The woman smiled, then spoke "Yes. This is the mighty Jusenkyo that could turn men into mice, if it felt bored. No one would have believed that they had this much power, or that they would have used it since it killed them in the blast..."

Chi watched as a look of sorrow passed through the woman's eye. "Do you miss your husband?"

The woman's face contorted into a look of pain. A few moments passed before she could answer. "He was never my husband in spirit. My true husband should have been Mu Tsu."

The woman brushed a strand of purple hair from what was left of her left eye as the tears started to flow.

The two stood in silence for a moment thinking about warriors' lives and their passing. After a minute to collect herself, she turned to the youth. "I heard what you are planning to do. Do you really think you can make any kind of difference?"

Chi nods his head.

"Then I ask one thing if you make it. If there is no other choice, then kill me. If I die then I can never marry Ranma and bring him back here. No marriage, no war..."

OOOOO
13 Months ago...

Happosai looked at the youth while standing by the shrine Happosai had dedicated to his wife. "You will need allies in what you are trying to do. That's why you're here, isn't it boy?"

"I found a place that could activate the mirror one last time, but it would be destroyed in the process."

Chi looked at the master he had trained under in his younger days, along with his adopted father.

Happosai looked at Chi with an appraising eye. Softly he spoke "This is a one way trip, no one of the older generation can go because they are already there and life would become difficult. Have you even decided when you want to arrive?"

"I have spoken with my father and he says the main turning point in there lives was after Phoenix Mountain. He would like everything to be the same until then. It was afterwards that everything fell apart. I was going to arrive at the Dojo about a week after the wedding."

Happosai considered the youth. "And you came to see me...?"

"As you said, I will need allies. Especially if I am going against Cologne. I'm not stupid enough to go without your advice or wisdom."

Chi bowed slightly and waited for the ancient master to respond.

Happosai thought for a moment and then moved to his desk. He pulled out three things: a book, a few sheets of parchment and ink, and a strange looking seal. He began writing and after a few minutes he rolled up the parchment and pressed it with the seal. Chi could see as well as see feel the slight glow coming from the seal.

Happosai turned to the young man and held out the papers and the book. "The book is a collection of some of my greatest secrets in the art. It holds everything I know and much that I have forgotten. You are my heir child so it is now yours. You will need it. This is a letter to myself. I want you to give it to him when you arrive. It explains things for him. You will have your ally. The seal I used was a gift from my wife and the only real gift she gave me in our youth."

Chi took the offered book and papers with a bit of awe.
"Thank you master..."

"I told you to knock off that master crap and call me gramps. Now then. I agree about you arriving at the Dojo about a week after the failed wedding, but let's talk about your arrival into the past a bit..."

OOOOO
7 months ago...

Chi looked into the eyes of his friends. He had been gone almost a year and he hadn't told them where he was going or what he was doing. Now he had.

A girl with long black hair and a look of faint nobility looked at him with a look of confusion. "If you are truly going to partake of this endeavor, then why might we not accompany you?"

Chi turned to his friend, and first love.

"Mina, your parents are there and your mother was still after Ranma where I'm going. I've been preparing to survive alone when I get there."

Mina turned a challenging look toward her one time boyfriend.

"So are yours, are they not?"

Chi just looked at her for a moment before he spoke in a whisper.

"Ranma going to the amazon village married to Shampoo lead to my parents getting together. My birth father was a farmer, and without Ranma's training wouldn't have been able to win my mother's heart, literally. If I go and succeed... I won't be born. I'll still be preserved by the magic that takes me into the past."

Mina face grows in horror at just how far this man is willing to go. Mina throws her arms around Chi as she starts crying and ranting about him being crazy. Chi puts his arms around her and waits for her to calm down a little. He turns to his other friends who had been silent though his explanations.

Gos looked down into her hands and there were tears in her eyes. "So you came back to say goodbye."

Taro narrowed his eyes. He, like his father, believed in victory through any means. It was why he learned Anything Goes as well as his family's art. Even so, this didn't sit well.

Kuno stared at his cousin and their friend as they shared an embrace. At one time he had refused ever allowing Chi into the family, but such were the mistakes of children. Now he would give anything to relieve Mina's pain, but he understood Chi's plan and even agreed with him. He stood by silently and wished his old rival luck.

Tofu looked at Chi. He heard what Gos said about goodbye and had come to the same conclusion. His father had told him stories about his mother and how she fell apart twice while he was there to help. Once when his youngest aunt, Akane, had been killed. And again when they had learned that Ranma Saotome and Ryouga Hibiki had died destroying the Amazon Nation. Ironically, the only amazon alive now besides Chi was Ranma's 'wife' Shampoo, but they said she suffered more before the destruction than anything else felt by the Amazons who died.

Tofu caught his cousin Kuno's eyes and they shared a nod. He reached out and tapped a shiatsu point on the back of Mina's neck and she fell limp in Chi's arms.

"She's going to be furious with me later, but she would try and follow you if we didn't stop her. Good luck old friend."

Kuno looked toward his side to the blade there. He removed it and held it out to Chi as Tofu took Mina into his arms.

"Take this. It was a gift from my father to my mother when they were first dating. Give it to him and you might gain an unlikely ally."

Chi took the sword, speechless that a Kuno would freely give up his blade. He turned to the girl in Tofu's arms and bent forward. He kissed her cheek and whispered.

"I'm sorry, but my life full of death or my brother's full of joy. It's not a choice I can pass on... I love you."

OOOOO
0 Months ago...

Chi bowed before the master of the temple. He tried not to bleed too much on the floor. He had spent the last 3 months undergoing challenges and perils given by this man who was part demon and part saint, literally. The power to restore magic was located here and only a guard that cared only for balance would guard it and not use it. Instead he amuses himself 'testing' the 'worthiness' of people who come seeking that power. Chi was the first to survive in centuries. He looked up and expected to see a look of annoyance or hate. He was quite surprised to see a small smile on the ancient master's face.

The master looked at Chi and spoke. "One final test:. What is meant by balance?"

Chi looked at the master confused. He had faced monsters, traps, demons, martial artists, and had even been forced to kill in self defense. He had never simply been asked a question. He was not going to blow his chance after everything he had done yet. He stood up straight and answered.

"Balance means that all things are equal in one point of reference. Yin equals Yang. Life equals Death. I equal myself."

The master raised an eyebrow at the answer and his smile increases slightly.

"Tell me, do you know how many fools over the centuries have come here and died since the last time the power was used?"

"I do not know master."

"Honestly, neither do I. They could have left at anytime, but instead they died following fools' dreams of power. But I believe I can find an equal number to use that you would be able to understand. The lives at Jusenkyo."

Chi looked at the ancient guardian with surprise, "I... passed?"

"Yes, now stop bleeding on the floor."

The master waved his hand and a flash of energy surged through Chi's body. Chi was healed and the master was gone. After a moment the old man's voice was heard.

"Go behind the fan. The door to the power you seek is now open. Good Luck."

Looking around for where ever the voice had come from, Chi walked toward a large decorative fan that stood in the hall. Behind the fan was an open doorway in the stone. Chi knew that this was it. He pulled the mirror from his pack and walked through the door and down the stairs beyond it. When he reached the bottom he saw a single pool of water. The room had no light, yet it was as clear as day here.

Chi walked over and dipped the mirror into the pool of water. When he removed it, it was now translucent as if it was no longer there. He knew it wouldn't be soon.

Chi looked closer and saw that the crack was indeed gone. He remembered his pain to bring tears. Nothing. He remembered his friends. Nothing. He thought about the day his adoptive mother learned her firstborn son was dead and the tears in her eyes. He could no longer hold the tears back.

"Take me to Happosai's cave the day Ranma received his curse..."

There was a flash of light...

OOOOO
22 Years ago...

Chi looked at the rock that held the ancient pervert in the cave.

He placed one finger on the rock.

It exploded, and the future changed...

OOOOO
Author's Notes:

This is the first story I've attempted to post.

You like so far?

*new A/N:Yes, the reappearance of this story means that I intend to continue it soon, but first I tried to reread it to regain my muse. I was in such pain over the many typo's that I feel that I must first repair them. Please bare with me as this may take a while, but I'll be finished soon. (I hope)