Chapter 3

Ranma ½: Old Friends

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Chapter 3

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By the way, in this story, the Moko Takabisha Ranma learned on his own and he is the only person in the world who can do it. You will see why later. Now, on with the story.

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"Ryoga?" Ranma said as he stood up. The motion attracted the attention of the eternally lost-boy, who was looking around, trying to find someone who could give him directions.

The girls looked at the two in surprise for a moment before Ryoga wondered over towards their table, almost getting lost on the way. Stopping in front of the table, Ryoga looked at Ranma for a long moment before asking, "How do you know my name?"

"P-chan, don't you recognize me? It's me, Ranma!" he said, surprised. After all, they had known each other ever since they were kids.

"Don't call me P-chan!" Ryoga yelled and punched at the pigtailed youth in front of him. Unprepared for an attack, Ranma didn't block fast enough and ended up sprawled on the floor after he flew backwards over the back of the booth.

"Ranma!" the girls yelled together as they rushed to put themselves in between him and the confused youth who looked like he was trying to wake himself up from a dream.

"Ranma? But he's crippled!" Ryoga said as he stared at the thin figure on the floor in shock.

"He is not crippled!" Serena shouted as she glared up at him, her blue eyes glued to his green ones.

"Serena, it's ok. I am crippled to a certain extent." Ranma said as Serena and Mina slowly helped him to his feet.

"But you're getting better, Ranma."

"I know, but I don't think I'll be up to taking on Ryoga here for a while." He said as he sat back down. Looking up at the still shocked Ryoga, he smiled bitterly and asked, "So how are the others?"

"Others? They're fine." Ryoga said as he sat down across from Ranma. "But, why ask me? You probably see and talk to them more than I do." Ryoga hadn't seen Ranma since he had visited him at the hospital, so he didn't know that they had never visited him except for Kasumi.

"I haven't seen any of them since around the time I last saw you, except for Kasumi every once in a while." Ranma said softly and stared down at the table.

"What?! I can't believe that Akane or anyone else wouldn't visit you!" Ryoga exclaimed.

"I guess you didn't hear then. The Tendos broke off the engagement because I couldn't run the dojo for them, Ukyo said it was just to painful to see me in the hospital so she just left, the amazons decided that I was no longer worthy to be Shampoos husband and the Kunos stopped by once to tell me that I was no long worthy of being their opponent or the future husband." Ranma said in an empty voice.

Ryoga just stared at him for a moment in shock. He just couldn't believe that all the people who had been so after Ranma to either marry him or kill him would just leave him like that. Thinking along those lines reminded him of something that he had been regretting ever since he had done it.

"Ranma, I want to apologize for the things I said the last time I saw you. I let my hatred for you block the fact that you have been my best friend ever since we used to fight in elementary school, and I didn't mean it when I said that you had deserved what happened to you." He said hesitantly as he looked down at the table. He had had a lot of time to think since he had last seen Ranma and he had a new outlook at things…

"It's ok Ryoga. You just got caught up in the moment and then got lost before you could do anything about it." Ranma said with a gentle smile at the lost boy as he looked up, which Ryoga reflected after a moment.

The peace was shattered a moment later when Mina said, "So guys, either of you looking for a girlfriend right now?"

Everyone stared at her for a second before Ranma calmly and deliberately started banging his head on the table.

"Um, I got one all ready." Ryoga said with a heavy blush.

"I don't want one." Ranma said, not pausing in his banging.

"Mina! After you heard all of what happened to him, you ask if Ranma wants a girlfriend?" Serena said as she stared at her blond friend before turning to Ranma and snapping, "Stop that Ranma. It's not going to do anything but give you a headache."

"Ow." Ranma moaned as he left his head on the table. "So how is Akane. I assume that was who you meant?"

"Umm, no. I meant Akari. I founder her not to long after I saw you last time and realized that I loved her more than I ever did Akane." Ryoga said, his face red in embarrassment.

"I was wondering when you would figure out that you were meant for her." Ranma said as he lifted his head and smiled at him.

"So Ranma, I thought you couldn't walk without your braces." Ryoga said and Serena smiled brightly at him.

Before Ranma could say anything, she said, "I'm helping him with that. Soon he will be as good as new!"

Ryoga raised an eyebrow at her as the others suddenly started banging their heads on the table or staring at her in shock. "What?" he asked calmly and Serena's face paled as she realized what she had said.

"Nothing!" she said nervously as she glanced around quickly to see if anyone had heard her besides the ones at the table. Luckily, there was no one near their table so only Ryoga had heard his slip. "I mean that I was helping him with some things last night with his legs and now he can walk! Hee hee…" she said with a small sweat drop as Ranma, Ray, and Mina all started banging their heads even harder.

"Right, you expect me to believe that you helped him with physical therapy one night only and suddenly he can walk just fine? I may not have been to school since junior high school, but I'm not completely stupid." Ryoga said as he leaned back in the booth.

"He is right, ya know. We went to school together back then and when he managed to get to school he had some of the highest scores in our grade. Back then, we were pretty close in strength though I always managed to get the last bread of the day, but it was fun competing like that against him when he wasn't trying to kill me." Ranma said with a wistful smile as he held a hand to his aching head while Ray and Mina slumped in their seats with their heads on the table, groaning.

"Ranma… do you think we can trust him with this?" Ami whispered but Ryoga's ears caught it any way.

"Trust me with what?

Ranma gave a single sharp nod and leaned back, gesturing for Ami to tell him the story about who they were and their powers.

Taking a deep breath, Ami began to tell him about the Silver Millennium and who they were back then. By the time she got to the part about Queen Beryl killing them all, Ryoga held up a hand to stop her.

"During one of my travels, I got to a Tibetan temple and I stayed there with them, learning some meditation techniques. While I was there, they told me this story about a kingdom on the moon that was destroyed and it's subjects who were sent forward to earth. There were two representatives from each planet except earth and the moon as the prince and the princess from those two were meant to be together. Each planet had a girl who was close to the moon princess and they each had a Knight to protect them but from what the monk said, there was hardly enough energy to send them all forward, that the knights wouldn't awaken until both the one they were to protect was in danger and in danger of their own lives. I don't mean like the regular danger but a danger so great that they were almost dead." Ryoga said, the longest explanation that Ranma could remember giving since the time in the bathroom at the Tendo dojo when he explained about how he got his curse.

"I don't remember anything about the Knights. Maybe Luna and Artemis would know about them." Mina said and Ryoga threw her a confused look.

"Luna and Artemis are the cats, right? So how can they talk?"

"They are lunar Cats. They have the power to speak because of the crescent moons on their foreheads." Ami said as she studied him. "Do you have any information on the Knights, Ryoga?"

"Some. One is supposed to be a strong fighter. Another is supposed to be really smart. One is a sweet, caring, and usually happy guy. A fourth one was very honorable. Fifth was into art. The sixth into racing. The seventh was a stoic guy that never showed his emotions and the eighth one was a very happy one who would fight if he had to, but also seemed to be surrounded by death. He was always happy and loud while she was always quiet, shy and sad. He was like the perfect counter balance for the scout of his planet. She was the scout of death and rebirth I believe. Or was it death and destruction? I can never remember which one it was. There was also mention of one more pair, but they couldn't tell me anything about them." He said as he frowned thoughtfully at the table.

"Wow. So I guess that means that each of us had someone to love us back then and they protected us, how romantic!" Mina said with stars in her eyes.

"I guess, but don't forget, it may be years before you see them." Ranma warned them quietly and they reluctantly nodded.

"I wonder who the last pair is." Ami said thoughtfully.

"I don't know, but I hope they show up soon. This new enemy seems to be stronger than any of the others." Lita said and the other scouts nodded in agreement. They finished their drinks and ice cream in silence.

Rei still had some chores to do but didn't really what to be alone so invited the others over while she did them, to just hang out.

"Sure! You have that new manga, right Rei? You know the one that just came out two days ago?" Serena said excitedly and Rei sighed before nodding. As they started to head out the door, Serena suddenly stopped and turned to Ranma. "Ranma, what should we do with the chair? And what are we going to tell my parents when we get home? I mean, you left in the chair, barely able to walk on your own without stumbling, but now, you can walk almost as well as you could before."

The other girls stared at her in shock. For once, she had considered all the possibilities before they even accrued to Ami, the brain of the group.

"I figure that we could always just drag it with us to the shrine and call for your dad to give us a ride home, thereby avoiding the whole thing for a while. We can't exactly tell them that you're the Moon Princess and you used magic to heal me." Ranma said logically and it was Ryoga's turn to stare at him. Seeing the stare, Ranma snapped, "What?"

"You actually thought something all the way out." Ryoga said dumbly and Ranma just glared at him before turning and leaving with the girls who had gotten over their own shock by this time. "Hey, wait up!" Ryoga said and hurried after them with the wheel chair.

By the time they reached the temple, Ranma was panting with exhaustion to the surprise of almost all present. The only ones not surprised were Serena and Lita. Ryoga ended up carrying him to the top on his back with the girls bringing the chair. At the top he said quietly, "I'm sorry guys, but I haven't used most of these muscles for almost a year."

"It's ok Ranma, we know it's not your fault." Serena said as they rested at the top of the stairs before moving on to Rei's room where they all sat around the small table the girls used to study when they came over for a study group.

"Who did this to you?" Mina said as she twirled a piece of her long hair around her finger.

"Yeah, you wouldn't tell us afterwards at the hospital." Ryoga said when Ranma was quiet after Mina's question. The others started to prompt him except for Ami who was saying, "We shouldn't pry." and Serena who already knew what had happened.

"Fine, fine, what happened was, Kodachi, Ukyo, and Shampoo all showed up at the dojo. They saw me before I could get away and they started fighting and I ended up in the middle of it somehow. I never did figure out why that was." He said the last part more to himself than the others, but then continued. "Akane came home and went ballistic again and slammed us all. Kodachi ended up in the tree, Ukyo was smashed into the ground and Shampoo and I were smashed into the wall. She called Kodachi's house and the Cat Café to come get Kodachi and Shampoo and lugged Ukyo back to her restaurant, leaving me in the wall, or at least, I think that was what happened to the other girls, because all four of them were gone by the time Kasumi found me. Now can we drop it?" He said and got up from the table to look out the window at the other side of the room.

"Akane did this to him?" Ryoga said shocked and Serena nodded somberly. "He told my parents the whole story when he called to see if he could live with us for a while."

"Last night, before he left the park, he said he was like this because a tomboy couldn't learn to control her temper." Lita said, just as shocked as Ryoga.

"But why would she do something like that? It wasn't his fault that they were fighting over him." Mina said angrily.

"Remember he said that she always thought it was his fault." Ami said as she recalled what he had said in the arcade.

"Now that I think about it, she was always blaming him for our fights, even when I attacked him." Ryoga said and looked over at the thin, pigtailed teenager over at the window with something akin to regret in his eyes. Quietly, he stood up and approached him., stopping just behind Ranma, who turned around to face him.

"Ranma, would you like to spar with me sometime? You know, build yourself back up now that you're basically healed."

"Sure. You were always the best one to fight with because you were the only one who was a challenge for a long time." Ranma said as he nodded. "Maybe you could stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house with me for a while. I hope it'll be ok." Ranma said as they both headed back to the table to join the others as Rei left to finish her chores. Just before she left the room, Ranma jumped to his feet and said, "Rei, could I help you with your chores? It would help me get back into shape."

"Are you sure?" she asked and at his nod, she pulled out a broom and handed it to him. "In that case, you can sweep the leaves in the yard into a pile to be burned. That shouldn't be to hard, right?" she said with a smile as she pulled out a bucket and a rag to wash the floors.

The girls sat outside on the veranda talking and watched as Ranma swept the yard, while Ryoga started to do some katas off to the side to pass the time. Rei joined Ranma about half an hour later after she had finished her other chores and they finished the yard quickly.

As Rei put the brooms on the veranda, Ranma and Ryoga began a gentle spar, but before they got to far into it, a group of four girls arrived at the temple.

"Sestuna! Hotaru! Guys! What are you doing here?" Serena said excitedly as she charged up to the small group and gave them each a hug.

"We came to talk to you five." Haruka said as she pointedly looked at Ranma and Ryoga who were approaching with the other girls.

"Oh, don't worry about the guys, they all ready know about us." Serena said and the four outer scouts tensed up.

"You told outsiders about us?!" Haruka exclaimed and Michiru looked shocked.

"Ryoga already knew and Ranma found out after I transformed in my room and he saw me leave." Serena said.

"Well, you can erase their memories. It is dangerous for strangers to know about us." Michiru said as she looked over at the boys again. Suddenly she gasped loudly as she got a good look at Ryoga.

As the others looked at her in surprise, she ran up to him and threw her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. "Oh my God, Ryoga! It's been such a long time, I thought I would never see you again." She said against his neck as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

"Michiru? Is it you?" he asked and at her nodded, he let out a whoop and swung her around in a circle. After a minute, he put her down and gave her another hug before releasing her to look her over before pulling her back into his arms for yet another hug.

"Michiru? You know this guy?" Haruka asked stunned.

"Haruka! I want you to meet my cousin Ryoga Hibiki. I haven't seen his since he disappeared when he was 12. His side of the family has the worst sense of direction anyone has ever seen." She explained and Ranma piped up from behind them.

"I remember you Michiru. You used to walk him to school every day."

"Yes, but who are you?"

"Ranma Saot…um, just Ranma." He said, catching himself before he could say his last name.

"Ranma? Oh I remember you. You were always getting the last bread of the day before Ryoga, right? He was always complaining about it."

"Yeah, we've had out differences, but we're actually pretty good friends."

Haruka had been listening to all of this in silence but now a frown spread across her face. "Ranma, what happened to you? I've never seen you look so bad before." She said suddenly and everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

"What do you mean, Haruka?" Michiru asked confused.

"We were in school together when I was in eight grade. We were always competing against each other which he would always win unless it was a race." Haruka said and she saw recognition spread across Ranma's face.

"I don't believe this. How have you been Haruka-chan?" Ranma said with a slow grin crossing his face.

"Don't call me Haruka-chan, Ran-chan." She snapped and Ranma's face lost it's grin suddenly, and he turned away and picked up his discarded broom and started sweeping the clean ground.

"Don't call him Ran-chan. It probably reminds him of Ukyo." Ryoga whispered harshly to Haruka while Serena hurried over to talk to Ranma. Everyone stared at the two as Serena put a hand on Ranma's shoulder, talking softly to his, but Ranma just shrugged her hand off and headed for the trees that surrounded the temple, tossing the broom at Rei as he passed her.

As he dissappered, Haruka finally turned to Ryoga who was still glaring at her and asked, "What the hell happened to him? He's not the same Ranma I remember."

"If you'd been through what he's been through the last four years, you would understand." Turning to Serena, he asked he to explain and then hurried after Ranma.

"…and now he's staying at my house for now so that he can get out on his own." Serena finished and the outer scouts stared at her in shock.

"That poor young man." Sestuna sighed as she shook her head. Hatoru and Michiru were almost in tears and Haruka was ready to kill Genma and the Tendos.

"Ryoga is going to help him get back into shape, but even in the bad shape he's in right now, he still help out in the fight last night." Mina said, and the other inner scouts nodded.

"How?" Sestuna asked.

"He threw a blue energy ball at Ebonite, stopping an attack that was coming at me." Serena said and Sestuna looked at her sharply.

"Do you know what this attack was called?"

"No, it just came out of nowhere. Why?"

"From the way you descaribed it, it sounded like it was a Moko Takabisha." Sestuna said and from behind her Ranma suddenly said, "It was."

Spinning around, the scout of Pluto stared at him in something akin to horror. "Only one person in all of history has been able to learn Moko Takabisha and he's been dead for a thousand years."

"And who was that?" Ranma asked.

"Jupiter Knight. How the hell did you learn that move?" she demanded and everyone stared at her because it was a well know fact that she didn't swear.

"I don't know, I just picked it up one day." He said as he watched her warily. Before anyone could say anything, five teenage boys arrived at the top of the steps.

They would have gone unnoticed because of the confirntation between Ranma and Sestuna, but one of them a boy with knee length brown hair pulled back into a braid was singing extremlly loud in English with a another boy, this one Chinese, yelling at him to shut up.

Rei immedtaly stepped forward and put herself in between the two boys, surprising all five of them. "Please, both of you be quiet on temple grounds." She snapped.

"Do not tell me what to do, onna." The Chinese boy said sharply before turning back to the boy with the braid.

Stunned and angry at the tone he had addressed her in, she spun him around and slapped him. Everyone present, including the other four guys, stared at her like she had two heads. "You shouldn't have done that, lady. Wufei doesn't seem to like women to much." The braided boy said as he grabbed one of Wufei's arms with the small blonde grabbing the other one as Wufei started towards her.

"Let go of me Maxwell, Winner, or you will lose the use of your arms very shortly." Wufei growled and wrenched his arm free from the blonde and punched the braided one in the face. Before he could reach Rei, who had backed up a couple feet, Ranma and Ryoga stepped in front of him each glowing with ki.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Ranma said as he prepared a Moko Takabisha in his hands. Seeing the ki ball, Wufei froze and started to back away.

"You can control your ki?" he asked warily and both Ranma and Ryoga nodded once, firmly. "Then I apologise for intending to strike your woman." He said with a quick bow before putting more space between them.

"She isn't our woman but she is a friend." Ranma said as he disperced the ki ball.

"What's ki?" this came from the braided one and Wufei snapped absently, "It is the energy inside a living thing, but only a skilled martial artist or a monk could hope to tap into it. Those two have to be masters to manifest that large of a battle aura and the attacks, Maxwell."

"Can't you ever just call me Duo?" Maxwell sighed before turning back to the other, larger group. "Hi! I'm Duo Maxwell. We heard that there was a person who worked at this temple who could do fire readings."

"Hi Duo. My name is Rei and I'm the Priestess here, and yes I can do fire readings. Why did you seek me out?" Rei asked.

"Well, you see, I can't remember anything before I was five, not even my real name and I was wondering if you could use the fire reading to help me." Duo said, completely serious.

"Ok, follow me and I will consult with the scared fire." She said and started off towards the temple.

"Wait! Can we watch?" Serena called and Rei shook her head.

"Serena you know better than to ask me to let you watch a personal fire reading for someone else." She scolded then lead Duo away, leaving the two groups alone.

As soon as she was settled in front of the fire with Duo kneeling behind her, she knew that something was going to happen and it would not be good.

Thank you for waiting so patiatly for this next chapter. I'm sorry for taking so long, but I've been busy in school and I stll am. It will be a while before I get anything else out except maybe for Ranmaeva. I almost have the next chapter done. I need everyone's help to pick a new name for this story. It's now going to have Gundam Wing in it so I can't really call it Ranma Moon any more. Any ideas? Review and put your ideas in. Thanks.

Shinigami-chan