Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and Oh my Goddess! characters do not belong to me. I am merely 'borrowing' them for the period this fic will take to be finished (considering my previous track record, sometime right before apocalypse)



"Ranma?"

"Huh?" Ranma turned to face Belldandy. They were seated on a bench in a mall, as they waited for Urd to show up. Shortly after arriving at the mall, she had dumped Ranma and Belldandy, telling them that she would meet them at this bench one hour later.

"You've been staring off to space for the past few minutes. Anything on your mind?"

"Uh...nothing much. I was just thinking about my childhood."

"Really? Tell me about it," Belldandy said, it seemed that she was geniuinely curious about it.

Ranma hesitated, could he tell it to her, to Belldandy? "Well you see," he began, unsure of how to express himself, "all my life I've been training in martial arts right?" As he spoke, his voice began getting more and more confident, "and now I'm the best martial artist I know but... I'm wondering if it's worth it."

"Why not? After all, you've done what you set out to do."

"*Sigh* And what has that done for me? I've got three fiancees-inculding Akane, I doubt Oyaji and Mr.Tendo would let us break up any way, tons of rivals all waiting in line to beat me, this stupid fear of cats due to that neko-ken training, and more importantly this blasted curse!" Ranma paused for a moment, staring off into the distance, fingers steepled under his chin, "I always believed martial arts was my life, it used to be everything to me...but now, it just doesn't fill me up as much as it used to. It's like I'm getting tired of it, yet it's the only thing I know how to do. Years spent training with Oyaji, years when I could have been at home with my mom," Ranma sighed, sounding like an old man.

Belldandy didn't know what to say, this was a side of Ranma she had never seen before. An insecure young man hidden behind the usual facade of cockiness and pride. "So you want to give it up?" She asked hesitantly, unsure of how he would reply.

"Nah, it's given me lots of grief but still it's part of my life...it's just not enough to be my whole life anymore." He turned to look at her, a gentle smile on his face, "I don't blame you if you don't understand me, I'm not too good at expressing my feelings."

She found herself gazing into his sapphire blue eyes, which always made her queasy, made her legs tremble and set her afire. She found herself leaning closer and closer towards him...

"C'mon, kiss already!" Urd said, popping up besides the two of them, impatience marring her features.

Ranma jerked back as if burned. Ranma scowled at Urd, "Who said we were going to kiss!?" He would have been more convincing if he had not been blushing furiously.

"Why, aren't I beautiful enough?" Belldandy said, managing to sound both teasing and slightly hurt at the same time.

"Yes but..."

"But what?" Urd taunted. It wasn't often she could get Ranma as unsettled as this. Usually he hid his feelings pretty well, he even tended to ignore her when she flaunted herself before him. Not even the magnificent body of the goddess of love interested him. She had begun to wonder if he was made of stone.

"But...." Ranma was fighting a losing battle and he knew it, "oh never mind!" he said exasperatedly, throwing his arms up in defeat.

Urd smirked, walking off with the other two behind her.

Ranma was sulking when he felt a delicate hand take his own. He turned to see who it was, only to see Belldandy walking along as if everything was perfectly normal but he could see the slightest hint of red in her cheeks. Funnily enough he found himself gripping hers just as gently.

****

"RANMA!! PREPARE TO DIE!" Ryouga roared to the heavens, anger twisting his appearance into a bestial mix of fury and depression. Those who were near could have sworn that a green glow surrounded him.

*Soon. Soon Ranma, I'll have my revenge...* These thoughts cheered him up, slightly. Ranma might be able to stand up to the normal Shi Shi Hokodan but against the full might of the Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan he had no chance. *Soon...*

****

Ranma raced along the fence, having a hard time keeping on it, as he was distracted by the way the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up every now and then.

*There's the school, if I can make it there without falling off the fence...* He quickened his pace, hoping to rush into the school before his sense of impending danger got stronger.

He managed it, leaping off the fence into a forward somersault, landing with a flourish onto the ground. Briefly he saw Ucchan waving to him, along with Shampoo who was standing off to one side. Most likely she was wondering if he was still mad at her for the love pills, and he scowled at her, giving her an answer. He saw her flinch slightly, before turning her gaze towards the floor.

He could have sworn she was crying and was about to go and check it out when suddenly-

"RANMA DIE!!" The furious lost boy yelled, slamming his umbrella into the spot where Ranma had been.

Ranma grimaced as he landed off to one side. He hadn't been looking forward to another match between Ryouga and him. He guessed it was guilt over how much Ryouga had been hurt in their last fight, hurt by him. He should have known better than to injure Ryouga so severely, yet at the time he had no idea what he had done but now he did and he didn't want to repeat the same mistake. "Look Ryouga, I don't really want to fight now okay, especially not against you. Not after I hurt you the last time." He forced himself to relax, his arms held loosely by his side.

It was a mistake.

"So mock me, will you Ranma? You think I'm not good enough to fight against you is that it! Well not anymore, now I can beat you!" Ryouga snarled, holding his hands together.

"No! It's not that, I still-"

"Shi Shi Hokodan!" Ryouga screamed, a ki-blast forming from his hands and slamming into Ranma, sending him crashing into the school building.

"Ryouga!" Akane gasped, Ranma had been perfectly willing to back down this time yet Ryouga had attacked him, unprovoked. But how could this be? Ranma was always the one who started a fight, things were changing too fast for her. She tried to run towards Ranma, to check if he was alright when Shampoo grabbed her hand.

"What are you doing!? Let me go," Akane screamed at Shampoo, not willing to hit her.

Shampoo shook her head sadly. "Violent girl not interfere in fight, it's not honourable. Besides Ranma already getting up."

She glanced off to where Ranma had been blasted to, and sure enough he was getting up, albiet with a slightly angry expression on his face.

"Ryouga," Ranma said in a warning tone, "please, I don't want this fight."

"Get up and fight me Ranma!!"

*Ranma saying please?* Her mind reeled at the thought, impossible as it seemed. She saw as the same ki-blast began forming in Ryouga's hands, saw as a touch of grief flashed past Ranma's face gone even before it was swept away by a mask of anger.

"Shi Shi Hokodan!"

"Raging Lion's Roar!!"

Red ki-blast met green ki-blast, neither giving way. They clashed like two titans, giant waves of energy pressing together. Finally after a while, both stopped as murmurs started among the courtyard about what it was the two martial artists were doing.

Ryouga smirked, an unsual and frightening sight on him. It was rare that the lost boy was confident enough to smile, especially in a battle with Ranma. "Well, so you can take care of a normal Shi Shi Hokodan," he said with a nasty grin. It wouldn't have been honourable to use the ultimate technique on Ranma if he couldn't even manage the normal hokodan, "Let's see you take this, ULTIMATE SHI SHI HOKODAN!!" He screamed, as green ki began pouring upward,

coleascing into a giant ball before slamming down onto Ranma, who watched with wide-eyed shock.

No sooner had Ranma managed to start getting up again when another wave of energy slammed into him, and another and another...

****

Urd popped out from television, shocking several students in the classroom. "Ahh," she said stretching slightly, "travelling like that always makes me want to stretch."

Hearing a commotion-which sounded strangely like someone telling Ranma to die- she walked over to the nearest window. She had seen as Ranma had refused to fight the stranger*Ranma refusing to fight? What next?*- had seen as the stranger had used a ki-blast to knock Ranma into the building.

As she watched Ranma tell the stranger he didn't want to fight, even after he had been slammed into the building, she wondered why she had never seen this side before. The strangely humble one, was this what captivated her sister? She had seen Ranma practically beg the stranger not to fight, yet it seemed to her as if he was more frightened of what would happen to the stranger instead of him.



As she looked upon him now, he did seem very familiar to her, yet the memory tickled the back of her mind, it tantalized her yet she couldn't remember. She set it off into the corner of her mind, so that at least it wouldn't bother her if she couldn't remember.



She watched as the stranger performed somre sort of ki-blast, green ki streaming up from him, forming into a giant green ball before smashing back into Ranma. Before Ranma had even gotten up, another one smashed into him, followed by another and another...

****

*You're hopeless, you can't even defeat Ryouga. Look at you, a wimp, kneeling in front of Ryouga!* He was back in the pit. He could see the emerald glow of their eyes, yet they held back inflicting him with their claws, instead taunting him with their voices, sharp hisses, grating on his sanity.

*Look at you, failure. You're not worthy. Not fit to be a man. You deserve to be cursed...* Silently he wept for them to stop, screamed at them to shut up as he held his hands over his ears.

*Failure...*

*No!* Ranma shouted as he began countering his depression with anger instead, *no!* His voice grew stronger and harder as he went on. *I am Ranma Saotome! I am no a failure, I will not fear, I am the wild horse. I will not be broken!!* He screamed out, pouring out all the denial and rage within him.

The voices stopped suddenly as they ceased, and if there had been a mirror in the room, Ranma would have noticed his eyes were glowing scarlet.



****



Ryouga watched as Ranma got up from the umpteenth Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan. *He should have dropped by now! What's keeping him up?* Ryouga screamed in frustration.

He watched as Ranma kneeled down, one hand on his knee, slowly lifting himself up. *Let see if he can take another one,* Ryouga thought as he yelled, "Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan!" His ki poured upwards towards the heavens again, as it collected themself into a giant sphere.

Then he noticed the eyes, Ranma's eyes. It is said the eyes are the windows to a man's soul; but Ranma's eyes seemed to be glazed over , as if they were looking at something far away, yet they possessed a sharpness that shook Ryouga.

"Raging..." Ranma began, gazing down as swirls of energy started collecting around him, spinning slowly.

*What's he doing?* Ryouga thought, *He won't have enough time before the blast hits him,*

"Lion's" The swirls of energy began spinning faster and faster, the number of swirls increasing until they seemed to be some sort of fancy fireworks.

"ROAR!!" Ranma howled to the sky as the green sphere of ki was about to crash down.

What happened next can best be described as an explosion of ki, as a sphere of red ki exploded from Ranma, expanding outwards. This sphere of ki met the green ball and the two clashed, until finally the green ball gave way, fragmenting into small wisps of green.

Ryouga was totally unexpected for this and took the full shock of the blast, being knocked back several yards.

*WHAT WAS THAT!!* Ryouga yelled in disbelief as he stared at Ranma. Ranma who stood uninjured in the big crater, Ranma who stared at him with eyes that promised pain.Eyes that glowed with an inner fire as a red battle aura began to form around him. He didn't like the unspoken malicious intent behind his eyes.

Ranma smiled, not a particularly nice smile- more like one a predator smiles when it spots its prey. He began advancing, slowly, step by step towards Ryouga. And that unnerved the lost boy, for every slow step of Ranma's spoke louder than words. Ranma's form seemed to get darker and darker, surrounded by shadows untill nearly all that could be seen was his mouth and eyes, the same intense stare that seemed to pierce through Ryouga.

Ryouga tried to summon up another Shi Shi Hokodan but somehow it couldn't come to him, fear and depression did not mix for the young Hibiki. So he tried to use the only other special technique he knew, hoping it would at least slow Ranma down as he tried to recover his breath from the earlier blast.

"BAKUSAI TEN-KATSU!!" He yelled, poking the concrete ground beneath him with his index finger. Shards of concrete flew from the shattered ground, speeding towards Ranma. At the speed they were going, they could likely slice through flesh.

He watched in surprise as Ranma didn't make any indication of a block, until one shard zoomed past his head, and a thin line of red appeared above his eyebrows. When that happened, Ranma simply reacted with blinding speed, parallel to that of his chestnut fists, using his arms to deflect the stones, sending them flying everywhere.

When it was over, Ranma's arms were spotted with scrapes and bruises where the flying shards had hit him. But he paid it no more mind than he might have an ant, walking towards Ryouga without the slightest pause, his arms bleeding slightly from the many small wounds.

It unnerved Ryouga to say the least. Ranma was bleeding from a dozen or so wounds yet he didn't pay it any mind, didn't flinch in the slightest, just kept walking towards him with that same, controlled pace. He couldn't take this. Yelling out, he plucked a few headbands from the ever-pleantiful supply on his head, sending them whizzing towards Ranma.

Ranma waited until the last minute possible before leaping into the air, high above the spinning headbands, his face still as emotionless as ever but Ryouga could have sworn he saw the slightest hint of a sneer.

Ranma held out his hand, palm extended towards Ryouga as a red glow began building up.

Ryouga had seen this well in advance and managed to leap clear as the ki-blast struck the ground where had been. "Is that the best you can do-Urk!" Ryouga realised too late the ki-blast had been a mere diversion, as Ranma, having leapt up, managed to intercept him in the air before he could block, slamming his knee into Ryouga's gut several times. As Ryouga doubled over on his knee gasping for air, Ranma brought down his elbow, with a viciousness that shocked the others, onto Ryouga's back.

"No, this is the best I can do," Ranma smiled without humour, as he kicked Ryouga in mid-air, sending him crashing into a wall.. It was the first time he had spoken after the Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan, but the very tone of his voice brought chills to Ryouga. It sounded like Ranma, but it didn't feel like him, instead of the usual arrogance in his voice, this Ranma sounded like ice, a cool icy rage that washed over Ryouga everytime Ranma spoke.

*How,* Ryouga tried to think, it was hard to do so over the pounding of blood in his head, *how did Ranma get so strong? He's actually hurting me with one punch.* He watched as Ranma walked closer and closer to him, no doubt to inflict more pain. *Only one chance to get this right,* he thought grimly, cupping his hands together and hoping Ranma wouldn't notice the gesture.

"P-chan lost his voice?" Ranma taunted, "Don't worry, you won't suffer...for long." Ranma said, walking closer and closer.

Just as he was about to reach Ryouga however, Ryouga thrust out both his hands. "Shi Shi Hokodan!" he yelled as his ki rushed from his hands to meet Ranma, obscuring Ranma's figure for a while. *Please, this has to work,* he pleaded silently.

When he finally stopped and the ki dispersed like smoke, Ranma stood there, the same spot he had been in before Ryouga had released his ki-blast. "Nice try," Ranma intoned, all the while smirking unpleasantly, "But that was all it was, a feeble attempt." He picked Ryouga up, grabbing him by the cuff of his shirt, leaning him against the wall. "Let's see how you take it now," Ranma said and if anything, his smile grew wider.

Ryouga released his intent as Ranma placed his hand on Ryouga's chest, red swirls already beginning to build up around it. "No--" was about he could get out before Ranma released his ki-blast, sending him through the wall.

Enough was enough, Akane wasn't going to stand around and let this happen. Was Ranma trying to kill Ryouga? She knew that the two were supposed to be enemies but she had never thought that it would become as serious as this. She turned to warn Shampoo to let go of her, when she discovered Shampoo had already done so and was now staring at Ranma with a pale face of shock.

"Aiyah, Shampoo know this..." Shampoo whispered so softly that Akane didn't know if Shampoo had wanted her to hear that.

"You know what?" Akane demanded, not sure if Shampoo had fed him another love potion gone awry or something. She still didn't trust Shampoo and the incident with the love pills hadn't helped any.

Shampoo turned to her, and Akane could see the fierce warrior of the Amazons was trembling slightly. "Nothing, Shampoo must get Hiba-chan now!" She said, before running off towards the direction of the Neko-hanten.

Akane stared at the retreating back of Shampoo before turning around in a huff. If Shampoo was going to be such a coward about facing Ranma, she wouldn't stop her. At least she assumed that was the reason Shampoo was afraid.

"Ranma, stop this right no..." She faltered off as Ranma turned his head back to regard her, stopping her with such a gaze. In the gaze she felt herself being stripped to the soul by the being before him. Within him, she could see no sign of the Ranma she had once know, the usually kind and brave but honorouble one. In the eyes of this Ranma, there was only hatred and rage, a stunning sight which stopped her dead in her tracks.

Ranma turned back towards Ryouga, walking at the same slow,steady pace.

"Saotome! How dare you leer at Akane with such lust in your eyes!!" Kuno yelled, charging at Ranma.

Ranma turned to Kuno. He just stood there, not moving until Kuno was almost upon him before he moved with the speed of his Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. Grabbing hold of the bokken with his left hand, his fist slammed into Kuno's gut with the same force he had used on Ryouga, causing Kuno to double over. He paused only for an instant, before backhanding the older boy with such force that it sent Kuno crashing through a wall.

Akane was shocked at seeing this, Ranma had never been so violent in his entire life before. She stood there, paralyzed with shock as Urd rushed to the bokken boy to check for signs of life.

****

"Hiba-chan! Come quick, Ranma in trouble!!" Shampoo said, anxiety in her normally bubbly voice.

"Why, what happened?" Cologne asked. It had to be something very important if Shampoo was worried.

"I think he go berserk!"

Cologne paled slightly, as she remembered the tale of the last person who had gone berserk. "Quick take me to him. And tell me how this happened," she said as she started pogoing out of the shop at as fast a pace as she could, followed by Shampoo trailing after her.

****

Urd checked out the boy lying crumpled down in front of her. What was his name again? Ah yes, Kuno. Hastily she checked him for life signs. He had been hit pretty hard and she was pretty surprised that he had managed to survive it at all. She could still remember how surprised she had been to see the Nerima gang fighting.Sure she had read it in the reports but she hadn't believed it at first, thinking it some sort of error.

Glancing back at the rest of the martial artists she saw that a small wrinkled woman had joined them, balancing on a stick. Curious, she decided to join them.

****



"It is just as I feared," Cologne said gravely as she observed Ranma and Ryouga. walking at the same measured pace towards Ryouga. "Ranma has gone berserk."

"What? I don't care even if he's gone mad, I'm going to stop this," Akane huffed, turning to walk towards Ranma. *Surely he won't hit me...will he?*

"No, I wouldn't suggest it child," Cologne said, catching hold of Akane's arm with one of her small hands. For a small hand, the grip was surprisingly tight. "In a way, Ranma's worse than mad right now."

"Ranma-sama! OHOHOHOHOHOHO." The usual laugh of the Black Rose announced Kodachi, who was standing upon the rooftop looking down at Ranma with unbridled lust, not the lust of love but the lust of possession. "Why waste time with that pig when you can spend it with me," Kodachi said, as she leapt down from the rooftop towards Ranma.

She never had a chance to reach him. Ranma looked up at her, with a grimace of disgust flashing across his face briefly. As she reached him, he just held out one hand, his ki focusing onto one target.

The ki-blast slammed into Kodachi, knocking her into a wall and rendering her unconscious.

"See what I mean?"

"But...Ranma won't hurt girls," Akane stammered, trying to understand what was happening.

" Sigh, I keep telling you that's not Ranma. He's now berserk," Cologne paused for a moment before carrying on, " People go berserk when their anger overwhelms them, in a sense their anger posesses them and they usually go berserk for a reasong. In the history of the Amazons we have only fought with one person who had gone berserk before, and that was 500 years ago before I was born but I was told the tale by my parents. And that person took down half of our village before being stopped. When people go berserk, they don't care anymore, they don't feel pain or exhuastion and you can't stop them unless you kill them or they stop on their own, which is highly unlikely."

"What! You have got to be kidding right?" Ukyou said in disbelief. Kill Ranma? That thought was unheard of, and if one berserk person was able to take down half a village of Amazons, how were they going to stop him?

"Yeah, isn't there any other way?"

"Well, there is one other way. If we can find someone to shock him out of it, or maybe someone who has never ever angered him before, they would be safe from him I believe."

The memories exploded within Urd as long forgotten details drifted out from the closet they had been kept in. "You're Amazons!" She spat out as if it were the vilest curse she knew of.

"Why yes we are," Cologne said, regarding Urd with a curious look. *Hmm, this must be the Urd Shampoo told me about." Continuing she said, "And proud to be it too."

"Why I ought to!" Urd snarled, a dark aura gathering around her. "If it wasn't forbidden to use my powers against mortals, you'd be less than dust now!"

" Do I know you?" Cologne didn't know who this 'Urd' thought she was but if she turned out to be a potential threat to the tribe, she would have to be eliminated.

"No, you don't! But I know your kind well enough!! And if I have my way, Shampoo is never going to marry Ranma!"

"Who's going to stop her?" Cologne definitely didn't like Urd now.

"Uhh...back to the subject of Ranma?"

Urd snapped out of her conversation with the wizened matriach of the Amazons. "I'll get Belldandy," she said with unseemingly urgency. *Please, don't let this turn out like the last time,* she thought as she ran off.

"Well if this Belldandy can shock Ranma out of it, it's best we distract Ranma before he kills Ryouga," Cologne said wisely as she looked at where Ranma had gotten hold of one of Ryouga's arms and was now slamming him into the ground over and over again.

"Wait a minute, I thought you said that it was impossible to stop a berserk person without killing them," Ukyou asked.

" But now that we have someone who may be able to shock Ranma out of his state now, we must try and distract him enough to prevent him killing Ryouga."

"Fine, but no hurting Ranchan," Ukyou said adamantly.

****

"So the pig falls," Ranma said, grinning as he stood over Ryouga's beaten and battered body. "Well since this isn't fun anymore, I think it's time to end it. Don't you think so Pig-boy?" Ranma grinned ferally as he raised one hand above Ryouga, fingers placed like claws.

"Ranchan sorry about this!" was all the warning Ranma had before something caught hold of his hand, stopping him ending Ryouga's life prematurely.

He looked up to see some sort of lasso pulled tightly around his hand.

"Pull harder!!" Cologne yelled at Shampoo, Akane and Ukyou as they strained to pull Ranma off of Ryouga.

Ranma growled slightly as he pulled back, trying to resist the strong force that was pulling him back. He almost succeeded, almost. With a final jerk on the fiancee's part, he went flying towards them, landing behind them.

"What's he doing?" Ukyou said, half fearfully as Ranma's battle aura started to grow.

*Uh-oh," Cologne thought. "He's starting to use more and more of his ki. Be careful-"that was the last she said before Ranma gave on mighty tug on the string sending the girls flying towards him.

Shampoo charged him with a bonbori, hoping to take him down early. Cologne wanted to scream at her not to take him on alone. The only way they could win was by teamwork but unfortunately the three girls had been rivals for too long to just fall into an easy sense of co-operating with each other.

She was kicked back before she could even reach him. Ukyou came next, smashing her spatula into Ranma's back. It hardly moved him.

He grinned back at her. "Having fun Ucchan?" he asked, twisting the normal affectionate greeting into contempt. "I know I am," he rasped as he grabbed the business end of her battle spatula before she could let go, throwing her over him. She lost her grip in mid air and was sent flying into a bunch of trash cans nearby.

He turned to Cologne finally. "So old ghoul, got any new tricks up your sleeve?" he asked.

Akane crept up quietly behind him, hoping to knock him out with her mallet as she always did. Before she could get closer to him however, his arm flashed back in a clean arc.

And the top of her mallet fell off, the pole looking like it had been sliced clean through. Akane could only stand and stare at the pole, trembling slightly. *What if that had been my head?* Akane thought.

Cologne looked on grimly as she faced her prospective son-in-law. She had no personal experience with berserkers before but they were a kind to be feared, the stuff of nightmares, of scary stories used to scare little Amazons. She had even used that once on Shampoo but never had she thought she would be facing one.

"Come on old ghoul, give me your best shot," he said mockingly.

She thrust with her staff, hoping that her superior speed would allow her to knock him out with one blow.

He didn't seem to reach until the last possible moment, when he caught her staff and crushed it in his fist. "That the best you can do old ghoul?" he said, smirking confidently.

****



"Hiryu Shouten Ha!" Cologne said as the whirlwind took hold of Ranma and sent him sprawling into the sky. She only hoped this was enough to defeat him without killing him.

The massive whirlwind finally spun Ranma out, sending him to the ground below. He crashed with a might rumble, forming a large crater in the school grounds.

When nothing moved in the crater for a few seconds, Cologne blew a mighty sigh of relief. That was when Ranma appeared out of the crater, his clothes now no more than tattered rags hanging off of him, numerous wounds decorated him. "Nice trick old ghoul," he said as his eyes tightened, "But now I'm mad!!"

"Ranma!" That voice penetrated the foggy mists of his head. Turning to see Belldandy running to him, with Urd close behind, he forgot all about the battle he was engaged in, all about the anger. He came out of the berserker rage that had gripped him in it's thrall.

Which was unfortunate for him for the berserker rage had been the only thing that kept him from feeling all his wounds and tiredness. He felt strangely lethargic and his head seemed to be swimming. Was the ground moving or was it just him?

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out, instead blood started gushing out- a side effect the berserker rage, of having been hit with a whirlwind hard enough to fracture or break several bones. He dropped bonelessly to the ground, as blood flowed from his wounds, pooling into a pool below him.

The last thing he could remember as darkness overtook was of someone running to him, crying his name out frantically.

****

Ranma awoke in a strange place. *Am I in heaven?" he wondered. The last thing he could remember was seeing spatulas sticking into him even as hot coppery liquid flooded his mouth before he blacked out.

"Oh good you're awake,your fiancee stayed here for quite a long time until we finally persuaded her to go back and that we would call her if anything happened. You're really lucky to have someone like her," a man dressed in a white overcoat said. *Probably a doctor,* Ranma thought, not really paying attention to what he said, *That means I'm not dead, I'm in the hospital.*

"You lost a lot of blood, more than your friend over there." He pointed towards another bed, and Ranma saw to his shock that Ryouga occupied it. Ryouga was severely injured, with a mass of bruises adorning him, but even as he watched they seemed to be healing.

"Don't worry for him, we've sent for the type of blood he needs. He has a very rare blood type, the same as yours in fact."

"Then take mine," Ranma said.

"But you need to rest and recuperate. You're in no condition to donate blood!"

Ranma held up his right palm, concentrating slightly even as a red glow washed over it. It was harder to concentrate on his ki with him being injured. "Take it doctor or I'll make you," Ranma threatened in a soft voice.

****

Ryouga awoke in a strange place, but there was nothing new to that. He was usually waking up in strange places.

"You're up," a female nurse greeted him.

"Urgh," Ryouga grunted, his back and front hurt, "How did I get here?"

" Your friends brought you here along with another friend of yours," the nurse smiled, pointing towards Ranma.

"He's no friend of mine!"

"Really?" The nurse appeared geniuinely shocked. "But from the way he insisted on donating blood to you even if he was about to collapse from exhuastion again I thought you two were close friends."

"He donated blood to me? So what! He made my life a living hell."

" That may be true but he almost died from lack of blood after giving you his. Well not really died but he was pretty close to it."

"He did?" Ryouga's features softened.

"Oh I'm sorry, this must be something personal between you and your friend. Well I gotta get checking on the other patients."

Ryouga waited until the nurse was gone before walking up to Ranma's bed, plopping himself down on the chair beside it as he looked at Ranma's pale face.

"Ranma," He whispered, not really knowing what meant with that one single word. He sat down and stared at Ranma.

The end