Light.
So many things happen when light is present.
When light first comes to a child's eyes he marvels at the world.
When light meets the plant's leaves they live.
When light reaches the darkest corner in a room, the dark is no more.
And so, this story begins with light.
A flash of light so intense it could burn a page of paper to a crisp in an instant.
A flash of light so small, nobody would perceive it even in the darkest of nights.
And light was what Ranma saw when death took over his body.
And in boldness Ranma rejected the light.
For to accept the light would mean to lose.
And he remembered his promise made in a dark night with an almost destroyed soul.
A promise only he remembers, for only he knows.
Ranma Saotome WON'T LOSE!!!
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I've seen so much
A Ranma ½ Fan fiction
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The sky roared and the earth shivered when the first stroke of lighting fell.
And the tree at the Tendo's yard thrashed around under the strong winds pounding it.
And Akane trembled when the first drops of rain fell down on her small frame.
And Kasumi cried alongside the sky as she saw Ranma's remains burn with the dojo.
And Nabiki retreated into herself as the winds howled with a viciousness never before seen in Nerima.
And Nodoka stared at the dojo without shedding a tear, wanting with all her heart to take back the threat made to Ranma in an instant of rage.
And Ukyo wept on the floor as she saw her dreams blaze away.
And Genma cried as he saw his hope die in concert with his son.
And Soun. . . Soun didn't shed a tear, for as Ranma died with courage on his heart and resolve in his eyes he was reborn.
And Cologne rushed back to the Tendo dojo, knowing that whatever had happened had to be one way or another linked to Ranma.
And Shampoo ran alongside her, panting and wheezing as she struggled to keep pace with her elderly relative.
And Mousse ran following them, feeling fear beyond everything he had felt in his entire life.
And Ryoga turned a corner to gaze upon the spectacle of the dojo burning to the ground.
And Tatewaki declaimed poems trying to overcome the feeling of death present on the air.
And Kodachi took care of her plants ignoring the tears falling from her eyes.
And Tofu . . . Tofu ran to the Tendo's place as if the world depended on him arriving on time.
And while all this happened, and while Nerima was suddenly cast in silence, and while the canals struggled to keep the water from overflowing them, Happosai ran away from the Tendo dojo.
And tried to revive his heir.
The only boy he would dearly loved to call son.
For Happosai couldn't let Ranma die.
For if Ranma died, then Musabetsu Kakuto would die with him.
For even if he was the art's grandmaster, Ranma was the art incarnated.
And so, Happosai ran away, trying to save him while the winds razed all around him.
And so, the first line was written.
For the hero could still be saved.
And demons can always be redeemed.
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If you were to see Nerima from an air view, as if flying aboard a helicopter, you wouldn't see the sub-urban district of Tokyo so famous for it's international airport, neither would you see people roaming the streets or children playing at the parks or an incredible duel between super powered martial artists.
What you would see this night if you happened to be flying over Nerima would be a quiet city wrapped up in a fierce storm, you'd see fallen trees lining the parks and parked cars by the side of the roads. You'd see desolation beyond your wildest dreams.
But above all else, if you were flying over Nerima in this particular night, you'd see the candor of a burning property with it's flames rising high into the skies as if daring the storm to put an end to the raging inferno. And if you'd happened to be walking on the streets of Nerima you'd feel a sadness shared by all the city's populace. And if you were to strain your ears, you'd be almost able to hear a loud cry coming from the Tendo dojo. A cry of death as Saotome Ranma fell.
-------------------------------------------------- Rain at point-blank -----------------------------------
When Ranma opened his eyes in what felt to him a long time, what greeted him was darkness making him wonder if his fight was lost, making his mind race with the thoughts of defeat, a concept he never knew before, and an idea that became his greatest fear as time went on.
For his only defeat was at the hands of cats a lifetime ago, a defeat he spent the last ten years trying to overcome.
And if his defeat had arrived now, wouldn't there be light instead of darkness? If his life had finished, wouldn't his soul know peace and his heart know reprieve?
And the truth of his situation came when he tried to move, to sit on the hard surface he was feeling under his back, a truth he knew perfectly well, for this truth was the only constant in his young life, pain.
And as he felt pain he remembered the last moments when his body felt heat further than what Saffron would be able to produce, and his soul felt emptiness greater than all other feeling in his life.
For he remembered the cold steel entering his heart, he remembered the hotness of tears running down his eyes in a battle he couldn't postpone any longer, and he felt peace and acceptance and love when his breath failed him and his vision started to swim.
And he recalled hearing Ukyo's pleas to stop and take her hand instead of the blade, and he remembered Akane's cries for his eyes to open, and he remembered Genma cursing the fate that brought Ranma to take his decision.
And he recollected hearing the quiet sobs coming from a heartbroken Kasumi, a sound so soft that he probably would forget it the next day, but with a feeling so fierce that he was sure would haunt him for the rest of his days. And he kept in his mind the quiet negatives forming in Nabiki's lips asking the world to tell her this was a bad dream. And his mind recalled Soun with a fire he had never seen in his eyes and a strength he never had seen in his posture.
But above all else he remembered his mother's eyes, staring at him without shedding a tear, as if looking at a stranger's death instead of his own son's.
And for that Ranma made a second promise, a pledge stronger than any other he had made in his whole life.
A vow to live, and live to the fullest.
And an oath to be the man any mother would be proud of.
But thinking can be as strenuous as running a marathon, as demonstrated by him falling unconscious right after making this promise.
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For hours had the dojo burnt and the flames rose to the skies.
But eventually the storm was greater than the maelstrom, and the conflagration died.
And all that was left were once stood a proud dojo, were cold ashes and old memories.
Memories of a lifetime of training endured by the youngest Tendo daughter, memoirs of happy times when the dojo was alive and the students poured into it to learn the strongest martial art ever created by man.
And reminiscences of a young pigtailed man sweating and grunting as he strived to exceed his limits, memories of a red-haired girl sitting on the floor trying to take control of her life energies to beat an unbeatable foe.
And the memory of gray-blue eyes with a fire burning inside them that defied the world and it's rules everyday by just living.
And as everyone of the group present remembered tales of a boy fighting the orochi, of a young man confronting the prince of a long lost empire, of a martial artist making the unfeasible achievable as he faces down a phoenix god, a creature used to scare young amazons who didn't want to train, and defeating him in a cry of boldness, more tears fell to the ground, tears of sadness for the lose of a fiancée and friend, and tears of regret for what never was but always had the chance to be.
And as the floor collected the tears, the sky poured rain as if sharing the pain.
And as the storm raged on, the people were forced inside the house for shelter and the silence was deafening and the atmosphere thick.
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An unknown ceiling was what greeted Ranma's eyes the second time his eyes opened.
But he wasn't surprised, for an unknown ceiling had been his entire life, a life on the road making friends and getting enemies. A life his father took from him before he had the chance to know any better, so this ceiling didn't faze Ranma one bit.
And as he laid there staring unto the ceiling and wishing for the ability to gaze upon the stars as he did on so many lonely nights a sound reached his ears.
The only sound that made him want to kill.
A voice telling him three words which filled him with dread making a shiver run down his spine as he realized his own lack of ability to fight, "Ranma, my boy."
And as he tried to call forth a little bit of ki, a spark that would, hopefully, ignite his body into action and his limbs into movement he heard the same voice telling him that everything would be alright, that death was not the end, but the beginning, and telling him that redemption was close, for a being he considered a demon saved him, and a pervert who used to fondle his cursed body had been an angel of mercy when he needed one the most.
And as he heard the softly spoken "you should rest" his strength left him once again, and his eyes closed.
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Night had fell a long time ago over Nerima but rest was far away from the inhabitants minds.
For the air felt thick, and the gale razed on, and the canals overflowed, and roads were closed.
And death was present in the heavens, making the beggars shiver on cold, dark corners, and causing mothers to hold their children close.
And as the martial artists that reside in Nerima felt the heavy ki blanketing the area, a ki dark enough to instigate shivers of fright on the most hard-edged veteran of war, and a chill so cold that fire was not enough to warm the fingers on sweaty hands, Tofu ran.
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The dojo's doors were closed this night and the lights out save for one.
And Cologne arrived at the place to be greeted by a feel of death that vibrated with her aged bones.
And Shampoo gasped when she saw the remains of the once proud dojo, a building she secretly admired.
And Mousse tried not to shiver as the rain pounded on him with the strength of guilt, and the winds buffeted him with the coldness of solitude.
And as one they turned to rest their frightened eyes upon the threshold of the house proper.
And the only explanation they'd need laid there, on a hard cold floor, unmoving and uncaring as inflexible truths always are, and their eyes rested upon the lone figure of a sharp steel sword whose edge glistened in the meager light of night.
And their hearts skipped a beat, as the blade was covered in blood.
And Ranma was nowhere in sight.
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Some people say the loss of a loved one can shake whole families, and Soun found that the loss of his wife was nothing but the prelude to a great sadness, a sorrow so big that Kasumi's smile melted under the stress felt in this night, and a grief so weighty that he saw his loved ones fall apart piece by piece.
And the martial artist could do nothing as Nabiki left her tears fall since her mother died, and he watched helplessly as Akane cried with heartbreaking sobs that tore at his own core bit by bit.
And as he turned his sight away from his family, not being strong enough to help them, looking for the hidden strength that he knew so well rested inside his old friend Genma, his heart felt cold, for his friend was nothing more than a shadow, a mirage so vague his vision blurred when trying to compare what his eyes told him with what his mind knew and his tears threatened to spill in spite of his best efforts not to cry, and he cursed his own weakness as the first drop fell from his eyes.
And for once he cried with heartfelt emotion, with the same sentiment he had cried the night his wife had kissed him good-bye, and with the emotion of a man crying not for lost dreams or shattered hopes but for the loss of a life.
And as his tears fell his soul was cleaned.
And in this cleanliness he found peace.
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Tired eyes opened a third time, and as twice before gazed upon a strange ceiling.
But for once he didn't feel alone, for tiny aged hands placed a cold compress on his forehead and a wrinkled face usually adorned with a sneer was now looking at him with esteem, with, dare he hope, love.
And he struggled to sit, to tell the old man what his heart felt, to relate with this withered shelf of a man the gratitude his heart suffered, to for once in his life let all masks drop, and search for approval in the eyes of a master, and a pervert.
But the struggles were in vain, for even if his will was strong, the flesh was weak, and his chest burned with pain every time his muscles tightened and his head troubled him when his arms started to move.
And so he laid down again, and closed his eyes, not feeling the same tiredness from before, but getting the notion of things becoming better, and of sunny days replacing the shady nights of his dreams, and of acquaintances becoming friends.
And as his eyes closed, he didn't see the shape running by the window.
And as his body slept, he didn't see Tofu dash past the decayed house Happosai had carried him to.
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A secret love can sometimes be a blessing, the beam of radiance that gives you the strength to rise and face each day with it's evils with courage in your eyes and tenacity in your spirit.
And Akane had had a secret love for a long time now, a love she dared not reveal for fear of her father marrying her the instant she said 'I love you'.
And this night, Akane damned her own insecurities for keeping her away from Ranma, and she cursed his own shortages for keeping the both of them away, always holding the other at arm's length, and always wishing to be together as they'd never wished for any other thing before.
And as she felt her tears fall she raged against the world for making her temper hurt Ranma time and again and she fumed for his own insensitivity making her doubt her own feelings, making her turn her head away form the only emotion she knew was real in her own heart.
And as she smelt the smoke coming form the dojo she despaired as her heart would never be whole again, as her dreams were washed away by the storm raging outside, and as Kasumi brought her a warm blanket to keep her from getting sick she cried her eyes out for making her family worry for her welfare.
And as her gloominess grew she dared to hope love would come again, and she made an oath to live, for even if Ranma was dead he had saved her over all odds, and this time the battle would be in her own hands.
And she, as Ranma, never gave up on a fight.
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As the dogs howled it's own cries for the loss of one of Nerima's greatest inhabitants, and as Mr. Turtle happily ate a mouse thrown into the pond by Sasuke, Kodachi tended to her plants.
And made plans to snare Ranma the next time, and formed ideas on how to save her Ranma-Sama from the evil wretched Tendo Akane.
But as this ideas formed on her mind she knew, knew in a primeval level that all was for naught, for Sasuke had come from the Tendo dojo a while back with the news of the events transpiring there.
And as she heard her brother rave on and on about how the dark sorcerer had decided to run from his own noble hands, and as she saw her latest brew effervesce on the fire, her tears fell.
For even if she was a Kuno, and even if as a Kuno she had the power to rule Nerima at her will without fear of reprisal, being a Kuno didn't give her the power to change the past.
And in the past laid the truth.
And the truth was, Saotome Ranma had died.
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The heart is a mysterious variable in every human being.
And to try and dominate the heart's desire is as foolish as hoping one day one will have no worries in this life.
And Nabiki had tried her whole life to dominate her heart, to rein in her emotions, for to feel is to hurt, and to hurt is to be weak.
And weakness is a distinct antagonism in business.
And as she gave up on her dreams when her mother died and closed her heart to those not of her family, her hopes diminished a lot.
And as her expectations lessened so did her friends and her love life.
And her spirit rose to the sky when a fiancée was announced for them, a boy that didn't knew of her reputation as an ice queen, a man that would probably look at her the way she oh so desired to be looked at.
And was disappointed when instead of a man, instead of a prince who would take her away from this life full of boredom and loneliness she found a girl, and in that girl she found a child.
And she denied to hope, and killed her dreams, and closed her heart, and dried her eyes in a pillowcase the day he came into her life.
And she tried to hate him, and made his life hell, and blackmailed him, and took every penny he ever made, and saw him as nothing worth of her attention.
But as her struggles grew, as she tried everything she could think of to make Ranma hate her, and see her as nothing but a cold woman, her fight was lost.
For Ranma was not an ordinary man, he wasn't a boy she could intimidate, for as he tried to meet her eyes every time they crossed words and fidgeted whenever she spoke to him, he also made her eyes open to see a truth everybody else either ignored or choose to ignore.
Ranma was not a ladies' man for he never knew how to be with a girl without freaking out, he wasn't just a dumb jock who couldn't ace math if his life depended on it for his grades, if not excelsior, were enough to pass, even if his education was spotty at best, he concealed a mind as sharp as hers, as proven when he learnt the Katchuu Tenshin Amaguriken in under a month with his inability to resist the heat, as attested again when he learned the Hiryu Shoten Ha in just one night without knowing the secret behind the technique.
And she saw the thing that made all the girls at Furinkan wish to be in Akane's place, if even for just one day. And she discovered why none of the fiancées gave up.
For the Saotome charm was there, or should she call it, the Ranma charm, for his father obviously lacked it.
And as she struggled to close her heart off from Ranma's native charm, she failed.
And in a moment, when her control fell, her heart revived, and her hopes were reborn as she dared to dream.
That someday Ranma would see beyond her uncaring mask, that one day Ranma would realize she was the one for him.
And this day, her hopes died again.
And she was hurt.
Hurt as much as her mother had hurt her with her death.
And in her hands laid a single brooch, not worth a yen, obviously made by the unskilled hands of Ranma.
A brooch given to her on her birthday.
With the inscription on the back making her soul cry and her heart ache.
'You should smile more'.
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And as the storm raged on, and as the winds howled with a fierceness that seemed unnatural, Tofu ran.
And even as his legs moved with speeds he was greatly unused to he felt the reality tap his shoulder in a cold embrace.
And as his jump cleared the wall surrounding the Tendo dojo, and his eyes rested upon the three amazons staring into the house with resignation in their eyes, he fell to his knees and cried.
And from his hands fell a piece of paper, a note scribbled with a messy writing.
A message given to him by a young hero on a cold night.
Three words he had ignored a long time, too long a time.
'Please, help me.'
And as his tears fell he knew the truth.
He had been the only one to know Ranma was tired of living a life chosen for him instead of by him.
And the only one to see Ranma knew more than he let on.
And he cried for is inability to save a hero.
And as his cry of "No" reached every corner in the city, the rain fell.
And when rain falls at point-blank, the souls are purified.
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A.N. Well there it is! The third chapter in this little thing I'm writing. And my longest one to date. I believe these four chapters (four, for I'm including the prologue) should really be considered the prologue of the story . . . well either way this chapter is complete and it finishes Ranma's time in Nerima.
Now you'd probably thinking "Happosai being a paternal figure to Ranma? Nabiki getting a brooch made by him? Kodachi crying? Tofu screaming? Is this guy on drugs? Why doesn't he share a bit?" and in answer here comes, bow to my great wisdom!! *insert evil laugh here*
1) Happosai obviously has some paternal instincts as proven by the time he saved Hinako Nanomiya, and yes, I think he would make everything in his power to save Ranma even if only to save Ranma-Chan!
2) The brooch idea was given to me by another fic " A gift beyond words by Getzeye Dragon", well in that fic it was a rose, but I like the idea of a brooch better, and the inscription is based on the anime episode when Ranma tells Akane she looks cute when smiling, then he tells her "You should smile more"
3) I imagine that Kodachi would cry for something, after all she must have cried when her mother died, no?
4) Well if we've seen Tofu dance with a skeleton, how hard is it to picture him screaming when he finds out someone who asked for his help is dead?
5) No, l I'm not into drugs.
6) I don't like to share a lot of things, but I'd gladly accept some!!
Well, that took care of there's just one more thing to say. . .
Bans . . . off!