Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. Whether or not that goal can be reached, we'll see... This is The 365 Project, 13 March.

Plenty of 'Replacement Ranma' stories out there, stories where for whatever reason the 'Ranma' that Genma brings to the Tendos' isn't the same Ranma he left Nodoka with, but what about a Replacement Akane story? Definitely a dark-Grey, if not full-on Dark Ranma.

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi and is being used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

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"Replacement"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Never judge anyone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, you're a mile away and you have their shoes." - Anon.

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"Wah! My baby's home!" Tendo Soun cried as he threw his arms around his youngest daughter, "Never do something like that again! Do you hear me? Never! If I lost you... WAH!"

"Oh, Daddy..." Akane glanced at her appearent fiancee who made a gesture, "Stop crying! It's not like I had a choice!"

Soun backed away and looked at her before bursting into another round of tears, "WAH! My little girl hates me!"

"Uh," Akane stumbled verbally, "Honestly! I'm going to my room."

The youngest Tendo took a step and stumbled physically, "You know what? Ranma! Take me to my room."

"Er..." Ranma scratched the back of his neck nervously.

Akane started to look angry, "You're not gonna make me walk up those stairs by myself in my condition, are you?"

"Er, sure thing, Akane," Ranma said before scooping the girl up in her arms and taking off up the stairs at a quick jog.

Once they had gotten to her room and Ranma had sat her down on her bed, Akane looked at him and sighed, "I don't think I can do this; why not just tell them that my almost dying in China caused me to lose my memory?"

"Yeah, right," Ranma groaned, "Then it's another round of 'Ranma, why didn't you protect your fiance?' and 'Marry her right now to make up for your failure'. I told you, neither of us want to be married anytime soon and that's what'll happen if our fathers think they've got any opening to work with."

Akane flopped backwards so that she was laying on her bed with her legs hanging off, "Can't we at least tell my sisters?"

Ranma thought about it as he took a seat on the floor with his back to the wall, "Kasumi maybe, but not Nabiki. She's the one that got the 'Hentai Horde' started at school by selling pictures of you."

Akane frowned, "The what?"

"Right, forgot that you forgot; Short story, a bunch of boys led by the captain of the kendo team that think because of something he said that if they can beat you in a fight, they'll get to date you."

"That's horrible!" Akane gasped, "Why didn't anyone stop it?"

"Bunch of reasons; Kuno's the principal's son, so the teachers let him get away with whatever he wants... You don't like anyone else fighting your fights for you... and when you started fighting back, a lot of people decided that meant you agreed to Kuno's 'beat her-date her' scheme, so they couldn't do anything about it anyway."

"I did that?" Akane groaned, "What kind of idiot am I?"

"You're not an idiot," Ranma jumped in to defend her, "You're just a violent maniac; attack first, find out what's going on... maybe."

"Ranma..." Akane growled.

"See!" Ranma smirked, "You're getting it now!"

Akane huffed, "I wish I could remember how to get my mallet, I'd use it on you."

Ranma smirked and shook his head, knowing that Akane would never 'remember' how to summon that stupid mallet since she wasn't Akane.

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Before Leaving China...

"My friend," Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty greeted Ranma as he was shown into the hall, "My enemy... how shall I call you, Saotome?"

Ranma looked at Herb, "The Phoenix called me 'enemy', what do you think?"

Herb smiled and nodded imperiously, "Well, then, my friend, what brings you to the halls of the Musk? And with Tendo Akane unconscious, no less."

"This ain't Akane," Ranma looked at the girl in his arms in anger, "Akane's dead - this is one of the Phoenix that kidnapped Akane and got her killed. She's somehow got an Akane-cursed form like you and me got girl forms."

"Not all of the 'Cursed Springs' carry a curse," Herb said to himself, "Some carry only the magic, yet if something or someone were to be drowned in them... I see."

"If you see, then you can guess why I'm here," Ranma remarked.

"You seek to use the Preservation Ladle for... shall we say, karmic retribution? What the Westerners would call 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life'," Herb answered.

"And what if I am?" Ranma demanded.

Herb looked at him, "Even without their body, the mind of a member of the Phoenix is a dangerous weapon."

"That's why my next stop is the Amazon village for some of that forgetfulness shampoo of theirs," Ranma informed his fellow 'Spring of Drowned Girl'-cursed male, "Figure after beating Saffron and saving them from being destroyed they owe me that much."

"If my memory is certain, you have one of the Amazons claiming you already, are you sure walking into their stronghold is a wise idea?" Herb asked.

Ranma looked at him and narrowed his eyes, "Depends."

"On what does it depend?"

"On whether or not they want their precious 'Amazon history' to reach four thousand years old or if they want you and the Musk to be the only one of the three powers left around here," Ranma answered coldly, "I owe Saffron for teaching me something; after the first time, it becomes a lot easier to be willing to kill. If they try to enforce that Kiss of Marriage of Shampoo's, try to keep me in their village, kill 'Akane' or anything else, they'll become an obstacle and you know what they think about obstacles."

Having lived near the Amazons all his life, Herb was well aware of what they thought, "Obstacles are to be removed."

"I figure if that's the game they want to play, I'm in the mood for it," Ranma's chuckle had a surprising - and somewhat frightening - level of cruelty in it, "One way or another, I'm putting an end to all of this madness. After all, Shampoo can't take me back to her village if her village doesn't exist anymore, so it'll be better for them to end her claim, safer for them..."

Suddenly Herb now know what some meant when they spoke of how it was better to be by the devil's side rather than in his path.