Disclaimer: This fanfic is a crossover featuring Ranma ½ (Property of Rumiko Takahashi) and The Never-ending story (Property of Michael Ende), none of the characters here (unless stated) are of my own creation.

This story takes place in an alternative universe

I have changed around stories and some other things as well, as curses.

I am using both the Never-ending story and the characters from the series Ranma ½ without permission from their respective authors.

This is my first attempt of doing a fanfic, so please forgive me if you don't like it.

C & C are welcome, please don't sue me, I'm just a student with a little too much imagination in my hands.

Words inside * * are thoughts, words inside are signs, words inside # # are animal speech and words inside { } are foreign language. Any writing inside / / are comments, actions and thoughts from the person reading the book.

Please read and review

LadyCrow

Chapter 6: Atrejú and Ukyou.

Ukyou shaked her head trying to wake up, straining hard to open her eyes as she lay on the ground

The last thing she remembered was a strong wind inside her apartment…and something about a book.

With a start she sat up and opened her eyes…The book….The wind….Her apartment.

Where was she now?

Atrejú the grass man was wandering over the huge prairie when he saw something moving inside the waves of grass, a flash of something brown and pink.

Smiling he put and arrow to his bow and aimed, a prairie rabbit was a rare treat and he was sure that the movement and colours he saw was that of a female. Tensing the cord of the bow almost to it's limits Atrejú aimed carefully before letting the arrow go whooshing through the tall steams of the prairie grass.

A sharp scream filled the air scaring up several purple prairie hens, Atrejú didn't notice them at all, the scream wasn't the one of a wounded rabbit, it was that of a girl, a wounded and very scared girl.

Dashing into the grass where he had aimed the arrow Atrejú prayed to every god he knew that for once he had missed his target or his tribe would have to sing funeral songs this night for someone he had killed by his own hands.

There between the grass he did indeed find a girl, but of the kind he expected. Her skin was a sickly pink and her hair was brown like the grass in winter. She was covered only in what looked like some kind of blue robe, a large red stain was growing on the side of it.

Atrejú stared at her for a few seconds before breaking out of his astonishment, he had not hit true for few inches, the shaft of his arrow was sticking out of the shoulder of the girl, dangerously close to her neck.

Kneeling beside her he worked fast, putting his hand one the end of the arrow he pushed fast and hard.

Ukyou screamed once again as the point of the arrow emerged through her back, scraping through bone. She looked at the man kneeling beside her and the only thing she noted before she faded into unconsciousness was that he had olive green skin.

Atrejú held the limp body of the girl in his arms as he ran as fast as he could towards his village, he had removed the arrow but the bleeding would not stop, this was a matter for the healer of the village.

In the village of the grass people that night there was wonder and fear. What if the unknown girl was a bad omen? What if she would bring sickness and bad hunt to the tribe? Those were the question repeated again and again among the villagers.

The only one that had a different question was Atrejú. He kept on asking if she would survive. He did not wish to carry the life of a innocent girl on his conscience for the rest of his life.

He remembered how fragile and light she seemed in his arms, how soft the touch of her skin was and how big and brown here eyes were. None of the village women had brown eyes, they all had dark or light green eyes.

In a flash he also remembered the fear that filled her eyes as he pushed the arrow through her flesh to remove it. He felt his heart shrink in repentance and compassion for the still nameless girl. He then sat up with a start.

Why was he feeling such things for a stranger. He never felt like this about anybody before. What made her so special and different from the rest?

These question kept on churning in his mind as he sat outside the healer's hut and waited for the girl to wake up.

Inside the hut Ukyou slowly woke up and encountered herself with the wrinkly face of the healer, only the loss of strength from the blood loss kept her from getting to her feet and running away.

The old man lifted her head from the pillow and put a small bow to her lips, the brewage inside it smelt like bitter herbs and she closed her mouth firmly, shaking her head slowly she indicated that she wasn't going to drink whatever he was offering her.

The healer sighed and started singing softly in his own language and he slowly rocked back and forth.

Ukyou listened carefully to the words but couldn't distinguish any of them, the tune was soft, almost like a lullaby, she felt sleepy and slowly she closed her eyes, still listening to the unintelligible words of the song. She realized just before she felt asleep that she felt safe here, in this hut, with this people.

The healer continued singing until he was sure that the girl would not awake again. She needed all the rest she could get to recover her strengths.

He then exited the hut and was suprised to find Atrejú waiting outside. {You were the one that found her, were you not? Are you worried for her?} Atrejú nodded. {I was the one that found her and wounded her, it is only natural that I worry for her.} The healer nodded and pointed in the door of his hut. {She is sleeping now, but you can go and see her if you so wish.}

Atrejú nodded shortly and entered the dark hut. The form on the bed and the soft sound of breathing was the only things that he noticed before kneeling by the bed. The girl was fast asleep and there was even a soft smile gracing on her lips. Atrejú doubted for a split second before he let his index finger run over her cheek, brushing away a few strands of hair that was covering the pink skin. {Who are you, girl? And how did you end up all alone on the prairie?} Those were questions that churned around in his head as he looked at the sleeping Ukyou. He stayed there for a while, letting his dark green eyes look over her face again and again before he decided that it was time to leave. Slowly he got to his feet and with one last glance at Ukyou he left the healer's hut and walked toward his own.

Dawn broke and sent its warm rays into the hut and danced over Ukyou's closed eyes. Slowly, as if she was emerging from death she opened her eyes and once more encounter the wrinkled face of the healer hovering few inches over her own. Blinking she slowly sat up, a burning pain in her shoulder making her gasp for air and lay back once more. The wrinkly old man sighed and shaked his head, once more offering her the bowl that smelled of herbs. Ukyou hesitated for a few instants, but then remembered how safe she had felt the night before and decided that these people didn't wish her any harm. Meekly she took the bowl in her hand and slowly drank it's contents. It tasted awful, yet she managed to drink it all. Slowly she felt the pain in her arm subside and she managed to give the wrinkly old man a smile.

The healer smiled back at her and placed a hand on his chest {Kohey}, that was all, one word. He repeated the action several times making sure that Ukyou understood.

Ukyou dd understand quite easily, that was the old man's name, smiling she placed her own hand to her chest and spoke – Ukyou.-

The old man laughed and clapped his hands together, so she could understand sign language, this was good news, maybe she could explain how she got here.

Atrejú returned from his morning hunt and headed for his hut as he heard laughing coming from the hut of Kohey the healer. Placing the fresh prairie hen inside his hut he walked over to see what was happening there. As he looked in the door he smiled slightly when he saw the strange girl making signs to the healer, it seems that she was quite fine this morning. Leaning against the frame of the door he just observed them.

Ukyou noticed a shadow blocking out the light of the sun and turned to see who it was. Her lips parted in a smile as she saw the boy that had brought her here looking at her. She waved at him and repeated the same operation that she did with the old man. –Ukyou. – She said placing her hand to her chest and then she pointed at the olive green boy, waiting for his answer.

Atrejú smiled back at her and walked over to the bed, kneeling beside it and taking her hand in his, placing it on his heart. {Atrejú.} He whispered.

Ukyou blushed and pulled her hand away, still smiling to the boy not wanting to offend him with her shyness, but the boy, whose name she now knew was Atrejú, didn't seem to matter her pulling away her hand, instead he continued smiling at her in a friendly way.

Ukyou smiled back, a little more relieved now, and even thou she didn't know where she was not why she was here, she felt content, at least she didn't have to be alone anymore.