Chapter Two: Changes
Ranma opened his eyes and looked around. His vision was a little blurry so he tried to shake his head a little only to cause a massive dizzy spell. He slowly tried to sit up after his head had stopped spinning only to find a sharp pain in his midsection. It was so bad that he dropped right back down to the ground grabbing his stomach only to feel something warm. He raised his hand up to his face only to find drops of blood dripping on his face. His eyes widened. That was when the full sensation of his wound got to him. He doubled over only to straighten out again. The pain was intense, the blood loss making him feel lightheaded. He looked over to his side and found Shampoo lying on the ground.
'Shit. What the hell happened to me?' Ranma asked himself.
His vision was starting to blur again, yet he tried to keep his eyes open. He tried to think back to what had happened when everything came back to him.
*Flashback*
The darkness faded almost immediately after they had disappeared. Ranma looked around quickly to find Shampoo looking at him with a wild look in her eyes.
"Nihao Ranma. love Shampoo, right?" Shampoo had stuttered out slowly.
"Shampoo! I told you already I love Akane and I always will!" Ranma shouted getting angry that he was just dragged away from his wedding.
"No. Ranma love Shampoo because Shampoo love Ranma." Shampoo rattled off.
Ranma grasped Shampoo's shoulders and shook her a little.
"Get it through your head, I love Akan-" Ranma had started when something entered his abdomen.
Ranma backed away slowly grabbing his midsection. He saw a glint of light flash in his eyes and he whipped his hand out hitting Shampoo in the face. Shampoo recoiled but stood her ground with a dagger in her right hand, tears rolling down her face.
"NO! RANMA LOVE SHAMPOO! NO LOVE AKANE!" she shouted in anguish. "If Shampoo can't have Ranma then." Shampoo started.
"Then what?!" Ranma spat, trying to stand his ground even with the wound in his gut.
Ranma felt the blood dripping from his stomach but did little to stop it, as he was completely concentrated on Shampoo's next move. That was when Shampoo whispered.
"Then no one have Ranma."
Then with no warning she jumped at Ranma with a look of utter despair in her eyes. Ready this time Ranma sidestepped and threw a spinning back fist to her temple knocking her to the ground, the dagger clattering to the ground. He grasped his abdomen again as the pain surged through his body. He looked at her once more when he noticed another object glistening in the ground. It turned out to be a mirror, more importantly the Nan-ban mirror. Ranma examined it when he noticed a crack right down the middle. He just dropped it to the ground and stared at it when a lone tear dropped. He moved his body forward at that exact moment causing his wound to be right above the mirror, a drop of blood dropping at the same time as the teardrop.
The teardrop hit the right side, while the drop of blood hit the left side of the crack at the same moment. A flicker of light flashed from the mirror, both drops vanishing from sight. It was then that Ranma rolled over and collapsed.
'So this is it, huh. Damn it. I was so close to marrying her. God, she'll kill me. Wait, I'm already dead, heh.' Ranma thought silently.
With his last breath he screamed out one word, "AKANE!"
Tears running down his face he finally closed his eyes and then the world went black as he passed out into a deep sleep.
*End Flashback*
Ranma lay on the ground with his eyes open, his vision still a little blurry.
'Shouldn't I be dead? What the hell is going on?' Ranma thought silently to himself when another voice entered his head.
"You almost did," the voice said mysteriously.
That made Ranma jump; of course he regretted it moments later as the pain in his abdomen shot through his body. He quickly lay down again and started an old breathing technique to calm his body down. That was when the voice spoke up again.
"Err, sorry to startle you. I didn't mean to, but you really shouldn't be jumping around like that, it will aggravate the wound."
"Err. ok. hey! Who are you anyways? Or what are you?" Ranma spoke out.
"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! Err, what would you call me? Last time I checked it was." the voice mumbled off.
Ranma just lay down waiting not really knowing what was going on. However when the voice never came back he got impatient.
"Who are you?!" Ranma yelled out suddenly.
"Huh? Oh right. I almost forgot about you. I was thinking of all the names I'm known as and I sort of lost track of time somewhere around." the voice started when Ranma interrupted him.
"Just tell me who you are will you and why you're talking to me," Ranma said exasperated.
"Sure! I'm what you humans call Kami. Or was it something else?" the voice asked himself.
"HUH? You're Kami? All powerful, all knowing Kami of everything?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"That's right! Well, minus the all powerful, all knowing part. I'm more like a Kami, not the Kami, and the all powerful, all knowing part is more like pretty powerful, mostly knowing Kami," the Kami finished.
Ranma just lay there utterly confused. He was starting to get a headache and the wound wasn't getting any better.
"Mind telling me why you are talking to me right now and why I'm not dead?" Ranma asked slowly, feeling weaker from the loss of blood and the continuous conversation.
"No problem! You see I was just looking around when I spotted a time disturbance. Now mind you there are lots of things that could cause a time disturbance, like the time machine, a vortex, a black hole, a-" the Kami rattled on when Ranma interrupted him with a cough. "Err, anyways, the interesting thing about this time disturbance was that it was growing larger and larger. I watched it for a while and decided to intervene. Well that led to one thing and another, when I ended up here looking at you. You looked like you were in a bit of a bind so I healed you up as best I could," the Kami said.
"Best you could? The wounds still there! This isn't pretty powerful! This is pathetic!" Ranma said with much strain.
"Hey! I never said I was all-powerful, and besides I don't specialize in healing. I took the recommended two classes then forgot it all. At least you're not dead. Anyways back to what I was saying. I found the root of the time disturbance. It's that mirror over there, I believe you call it the Nan-ban mirror. Well that crack is causing things to change in the present, all the changes being centered on you. There's nothing I can do from here except try and see if you can change things back," the Kami stated.
"And why can't you do anything?" Ranma asked with a questioning look.
"Err, well that's because I sort of caused this little mishap." the Kami said in a soft voice.
"What?! What do you mean caused it?" Ranma yelled angrily.
"Err, that is, I'm sort of the one that gave your world the Nan-ban mirror. I mean, I didn't mean to or anything it's just I lost it one day I never found it. I just forgot about it and somehow it ended up in your world. Well when I made the Nan-ban mirror it was perfect, except for one little thing. If the mirror were to break while in a different time period then the present it would start to sort of mess things up in little ways." the Kami said.
"What kind of little ways?" Ranma asked getting a little frightened.
"Well, here, let me just show you," the Kami said.
All of a sudden a giant mirror appeared above Ranma. Ranma's eyes widened considerably then shrunk down again as he was starting to get tired. That was when the mirror flashed brightly. Ranma turned his head away then turned back as the light faded. A series of scenes scrolled by.
The first scene showed his mother in labor, then a picture of his father pacing back and forth outside. Moments later a doctor came out with a grim look on his face. Genma raced into the hospital then held Nodoka's hand firmly. Tears were running down his face. Ranma just looked on in horror. He had never seen his father cry in his entire life. He watched as his mother's hand slowly fell limp in Genma's hands. He continued to watch as Genma fell to his knees crying in agony. Ranma turned away tears running down his face.
"So my mothers dead? What does that mean? I was never born? I don't understand," Ranma rattled off.
"Just watch," the Kami said.
The next scene showed a view of Genma standing in front of the Tendo dojo. He dropped off an envelope into the mailbox and walked away. The scene switched to a scene of Genma sitting in the middle of the woods. A closer look of his face showed the toll the death of Nodoka and Ranma had taken on him. He suddenly pulled out a sword and sat up. In his last moment he looked up at the sky and whispered, almost to soft for Ranma to hear, "I'm coming my dear. I'm finally coming to you," then with a mighty swing he shoved the sword into his stomach. He coughed up blood, and then lay down in the ground as he slowly lost a hold of the world. Genma passed away silently, a smile on his face. Ranma just watched, tears continually rolling down his face.
"."
"I'm sorry you had to see that. I just wanted to let you know what's happened," the Kami said sincerely.
"So, I don't exist in this world. No one has any connection to me whatsoever. What are you trying to show me? Are you just trying to make me miserable?" Ranma asked bitterly, his strength starting to leave him.
"No, that's not it at all. You need to see this because this is your new world, your new life. There's still more for you to see though so just sit tight, it's not all bad," the Kami said, trying to cheer Ranma up.
Ranma just lay silently as the next scene rolled around. A view of a younger Mr. Tendo showed up. Ranma watched the sorrowful times Mr. Tendo went through after reading Genma's letter. Even more hardships came around as Mrs. Tendo passed away. Ranma watched silently as he saw the Tendo family he knew grow and overcome the hard times. It went by so quickly that before Ranma knew it the Tendo's life had flashed by.
"So, Akane's alive. I'm glad. Will she know me? How could she, I don't even exist," Ranma said quietly, answering his own question.
The next scene showed a young Ryoga as he grew up, never knowing Ranma, never going through much grief, besides of course, his family curse. In the long run he found Ryoga to have grown up into a much happier person, although just as well traveled.
"So I really did mess up his life. I really hope I can meet him again. I always thought he would have been a good friend had we met under different circumstances," Ranma said out loud to no one in particular.
"Well, you'll probably see him, considering he'll probably be the first person to have been seen by every man on the planet," the Kami stated.
"True," Ranma agreed.
The scene then shifted to one of the Amazon village. Ranma's face remained neutral but anger started to grow in him. The Kami just watched Ranma in silence. The scene showed a picture of Shampoo and Mousse as little kids. Then it ran through their lives, Ranma free. Ranma looked on and sighed.
"I can't hold a grudge against them." when Ranma just realized something. "Hey! Wait a minute! Why does Shampoo still exist and I don't?" Ranma asked angrily.
"That's because you killed her. I made it so she would be reborn in this world," the Kami started when Ranma yelled.
"Then why did you keep me alive?! Nothing would have changed if I was reborn!" Ranma shouted, then added, "And when the hell did I kill Shampoo? I know she didn't die from me hitting her."
"I don't think you realize yet how strong you really are," the Kami said sadly. "You really did kill her, and the reason I didn't let you die is because, you need to retain your knowledge. This present was created because you were never born. I didn't save you just so I could create this new world. I saved you because I had to. I can't reincarnate you like I did with Shampoo,"
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked confused, forgetting about how he could have killed Shampoo when he knew he had held back.
"I mean what I mean. There are people that are born to be reincarnated over and over. Then there are people that will never be reincarnated. The reason for this, I have no idea. You just happen to be one that will never be reincarnated," the Kami said sadly.
"That means when I die, I'm gone forever. Well then, I guess I should thank you. Sorry for getting angry," Ranma apologized.
"It's not a problem. So how do you feel? Are you up to some time travel?" the Kami asked.
"I guess, but when is the present in this world?" Ranma asked with a sudden moment of wisdom.
"Well, it will be the same time as when in your world you first met Akane. So it will be nighttime and raining when you enter the world. Is there any preference of the place you wish to be taken to?" the Kami asked.
"Yeah, send me to Tofu's. He'll have me fixed up in no time at all," Ranma answered.
"Good plan. Well then, let's get going," the Kami said.
In an instant the two vanished from where they were. Shampoo already reincarnated was nowhere to be found. The two reappeared in front of Tofu's office. The Kami bid farewell and left. Ranma sat up on the steps, trying fervently to ignore the pain in his midsection. Tofu's building warded off the rain. He slowly made his way to the door and knocked. The Kami watched from afar and silently whispered a prayer. To who he had no idea but he prayed anyways. Then the Kami went off.
"Thank god I was able to save him this time. I pray he is able to find the secret as to why he can't be reincarnated. I hope me not telling him that he was actually the only one that can't be reincarnated doesn't pose a problem. If he can destroy the curse then maybe he can free himself before he disappears completely," the Kami said silently to himself.
Then the voice disappeared altogether.
Author's notes: Ok, I know that last cliffhanger was evil so I wrote this up as fast I could. It was pretty easy cause I have the entire story all thought up in my head. Just have to write it down. I hope this one wasn't too bad of a cliffhanger cause the next update will probably take longer. But who knows. Keep giving me good reviews and I'll write more in a shorter amount of time. Motivate me! Until next time! Please R&R!
Ranma opened his eyes and looked around. His vision was a little blurry so he tried to shake his head a little only to cause a massive dizzy spell. He slowly tried to sit up after his head had stopped spinning only to find a sharp pain in his midsection. It was so bad that he dropped right back down to the ground grabbing his stomach only to feel something warm. He raised his hand up to his face only to find drops of blood dripping on his face. His eyes widened. That was when the full sensation of his wound got to him. He doubled over only to straighten out again. The pain was intense, the blood loss making him feel lightheaded. He looked over to his side and found Shampoo lying on the ground.
'Shit. What the hell happened to me?' Ranma asked himself.
His vision was starting to blur again, yet he tried to keep his eyes open. He tried to think back to what had happened when everything came back to him.
*Flashback*
The darkness faded almost immediately after they had disappeared. Ranma looked around quickly to find Shampoo looking at him with a wild look in her eyes.
"Nihao Ranma. love Shampoo, right?" Shampoo had stuttered out slowly.
"Shampoo! I told you already I love Akane and I always will!" Ranma shouted getting angry that he was just dragged away from his wedding.
"No. Ranma love Shampoo because Shampoo love Ranma." Shampoo rattled off.
Ranma grasped Shampoo's shoulders and shook her a little.
"Get it through your head, I love Akan-" Ranma had started when something entered his abdomen.
Ranma backed away slowly grabbing his midsection. He saw a glint of light flash in his eyes and he whipped his hand out hitting Shampoo in the face. Shampoo recoiled but stood her ground with a dagger in her right hand, tears rolling down her face.
"NO! RANMA LOVE SHAMPOO! NO LOVE AKANE!" she shouted in anguish. "If Shampoo can't have Ranma then." Shampoo started.
"Then what?!" Ranma spat, trying to stand his ground even with the wound in his gut.
Ranma felt the blood dripping from his stomach but did little to stop it, as he was completely concentrated on Shampoo's next move. That was when Shampoo whispered.
"Then no one have Ranma."
Then with no warning she jumped at Ranma with a look of utter despair in her eyes. Ready this time Ranma sidestepped and threw a spinning back fist to her temple knocking her to the ground, the dagger clattering to the ground. He grasped his abdomen again as the pain surged through his body. He looked at her once more when he noticed another object glistening in the ground. It turned out to be a mirror, more importantly the Nan-ban mirror. Ranma examined it when he noticed a crack right down the middle. He just dropped it to the ground and stared at it when a lone tear dropped. He moved his body forward at that exact moment causing his wound to be right above the mirror, a drop of blood dropping at the same time as the teardrop.
The teardrop hit the right side, while the drop of blood hit the left side of the crack at the same moment. A flicker of light flashed from the mirror, both drops vanishing from sight. It was then that Ranma rolled over and collapsed.
'So this is it, huh. Damn it. I was so close to marrying her. God, she'll kill me. Wait, I'm already dead, heh.' Ranma thought silently.
With his last breath he screamed out one word, "AKANE!"
Tears running down his face he finally closed his eyes and then the world went black as he passed out into a deep sleep.
*End Flashback*
Ranma lay on the ground with his eyes open, his vision still a little blurry.
'Shouldn't I be dead? What the hell is going on?' Ranma thought silently to himself when another voice entered his head.
"You almost did," the voice said mysteriously.
That made Ranma jump; of course he regretted it moments later as the pain in his abdomen shot through his body. He quickly lay down again and started an old breathing technique to calm his body down. That was when the voice spoke up again.
"Err, sorry to startle you. I didn't mean to, but you really shouldn't be jumping around like that, it will aggravate the wound."
"Err. ok. hey! Who are you anyways? Or what are you?" Ranma spoke out.
"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! Err, what would you call me? Last time I checked it was." the voice mumbled off.
Ranma just lay down waiting not really knowing what was going on. However when the voice never came back he got impatient.
"Who are you?!" Ranma yelled out suddenly.
"Huh? Oh right. I almost forgot about you. I was thinking of all the names I'm known as and I sort of lost track of time somewhere around." the voice started when Ranma interrupted him.
"Just tell me who you are will you and why you're talking to me," Ranma said exasperated.
"Sure! I'm what you humans call Kami. Or was it something else?" the voice asked himself.
"HUH? You're Kami? All powerful, all knowing Kami of everything?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"That's right! Well, minus the all powerful, all knowing part. I'm more like a Kami, not the Kami, and the all powerful, all knowing part is more like pretty powerful, mostly knowing Kami," the Kami finished.
Ranma just lay there utterly confused. He was starting to get a headache and the wound wasn't getting any better.
"Mind telling me why you are talking to me right now and why I'm not dead?" Ranma asked slowly, feeling weaker from the loss of blood and the continuous conversation.
"No problem! You see I was just looking around when I spotted a time disturbance. Now mind you there are lots of things that could cause a time disturbance, like the time machine, a vortex, a black hole, a-" the Kami rattled on when Ranma interrupted him with a cough. "Err, anyways, the interesting thing about this time disturbance was that it was growing larger and larger. I watched it for a while and decided to intervene. Well that led to one thing and another, when I ended up here looking at you. You looked like you were in a bit of a bind so I healed you up as best I could," the Kami said.
"Best you could? The wounds still there! This isn't pretty powerful! This is pathetic!" Ranma said with much strain.
"Hey! I never said I was all-powerful, and besides I don't specialize in healing. I took the recommended two classes then forgot it all. At least you're not dead. Anyways back to what I was saying. I found the root of the time disturbance. It's that mirror over there, I believe you call it the Nan-ban mirror. Well that crack is causing things to change in the present, all the changes being centered on you. There's nothing I can do from here except try and see if you can change things back," the Kami stated.
"And why can't you do anything?" Ranma asked with a questioning look.
"Err, well that's because I sort of caused this little mishap." the Kami said in a soft voice.
"What?! What do you mean caused it?" Ranma yelled angrily.
"Err, that is, I'm sort of the one that gave your world the Nan-ban mirror. I mean, I didn't mean to or anything it's just I lost it one day I never found it. I just forgot about it and somehow it ended up in your world. Well when I made the Nan-ban mirror it was perfect, except for one little thing. If the mirror were to break while in a different time period then the present it would start to sort of mess things up in little ways." the Kami said.
"What kind of little ways?" Ranma asked getting a little frightened.
"Well, here, let me just show you," the Kami said.
All of a sudden a giant mirror appeared above Ranma. Ranma's eyes widened considerably then shrunk down again as he was starting to get tired. That was when the mirror flashed brightly. Ranma turned his head away then turned back as the light faded. A series of scenes scrolled by.
The first scene showed his mother in labor, then a picture of his father pacing back and forth outside. Moments later a doctor came out with a grim look on his face. Genma raced into the hospital then held Nodoka's hand firmly. Tears were running down his face. Ranma just looked on in horror. He had never seen his father cry in his entire life. He watched as his mother's hand slowly fell limp in Genma's hands. He continued to watch as Genma fell to his knees crying in agony. Ranma turned away tears running down his face.
"So my mothers dead? What does that mean? I was never born? I don't understand," Ranma rattled off.
"Just watch," the Kami said.
The next scene showed a view of Genma standing in front of the Tendo dojo. He dropped off an envelope into the mailbox and walked away. The scene switched to a scene of Genma sitting in the middle of the woods. A closer look of his face showed the toll the death of Nodoka and Ranma had taken on him. He suddenly pulled out a sword and sat up. In his last moment he looked up at the sky and whispered, almost to soft for Ranma to hear, "I'm coming my dear. I'm finally coming to you," then with a mighty swing he shoved the sword into his stomach. He coughed up blood, and then lay down in the ground as he slowly lost a hold of the world. Genma passed away silently, a smile on his face. Ranma just watched, tears continually rolling down his face.
"."
"I'm sorry you had to see that. I just wanted to let you know what's happened," the Kami said sincerely.
"So, I don't exist in this world. No one has any connection to me whatsoever. What are you trying to show me? Are you just trying to make me miserable?" Ranma asked bitterly, his strength starting to leave him.
"No, that's not it at all. You need to see this because this is your new world, your new life. There's still more for you to see though so just sit tight, it's not all bad," the Kami said, trying to cheer Ranma up.
Ranma just lay silently as the next scene rolled around. A view of a younger Mr. Tendo showed up. Ranma watched the sorrowful times Mr. Tendo went through after reading Genma's letter. Even more hardships came around as Mrs. Tendo passed away. Ranma watched silently as he saw the Tendo family he knew grow and overcome the hard times. It went by so quickly that before Ranma knew it the Tendo's life had flashed by.
"So, Akane's alive. I'm glad. Will she know me? How could she, I don't even exist," Ranma said quietly, answering his own question.
The next scene showed a young Ryoga as he grew up, never knowing Ranma, never going through much grief, besides of course, his family curse. In the long run he found Ryoga to have grown up into a much happier person, although just as well traveled.
"So I really did mess up his life. I really hope I can meet him again. I always thought he would have been a good friend had we met under different circumstances," Ranma said out loud to no one in particular.
"Well, you'll probably see him, considering he'll probably be the first person to have been seen by every man on the planet," the Kami stated.
"True," Ranma agreed.
The scene then shifted to one of the Amazon village. Ranma's face remained neutral but anger started to grow in him. The Kami just watched Ranma in silence. The scene showed a picture of Shampoo and Mousse as little kids. Then it ran through their lives, Ranma free. Ranma looked on and sighed.
"I can't hold a grudge against them." when Ranma just realized something. "Hey! Wait a minute! Why does Shampoo still exist and I don't?" Ranma asked angrily.
"That's because you killed her. I made it so she would be reborn in this world," the Kami started when Ranma yelled.
"Then why did you keep me alive?! Nothing would have changed if I was reborn!" Ranma shouted, then added, "And when the hell did I kill Shampoo? I know she didn't die from me hitting her."
"I don't think you realize yet how strong you really are," the Kami said sadly. "You really did kill her, and the reason I didn't let you die is because, you need to retain your knowledge. This present was created because you were never born. I didn't save you just so I could create this new world. I saved you because I had to. I can't reincarnate you like I did with Shampoo,"
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked confused, forgetting about how he could have killed Shampoo when he knew he had held back.
"I mean what I mean. There are people that are born to be reincarnated over and over. Then there are people that will never be reincarnated. The reason for this, I have no idea. You just happen to be one that will never be reincarnated," the Kami said sadly.
"That means when I die, I'm gone forever. Well then, I guess I should thank you. Sorry for getting angry," Ranma apologized.
"It's not a problem. So how do you feel? Are you up to some time travel?" the Kami asked.
"I guess, but when is the present in this world?" Ranma asked with a sudden moment of wisdom.
"Well, it will be the same time as when in your world you first met Akane. So it will be nighttime and raining when you enter the world. Is there any preference of the place you wish to be taken to?" the Kami asked.
"Yeah, send me to Tofu's. He'll have me fixed up in no time at all," Ranma answered.
"Good plan. Well then, let's get going," the Kami said.
In an instant the two vanished from where they were. Shampoo already reincarnated was nowhere to be found. The two reappeared in front of Tofu's office. The Kami bid farewell and left. Ranma sat up on the steps, trying fervently to ignore the pain in his midsection. Tofu's building warded off the rain. He slowly made his way to the door and knocked. The Kami watched from afar and silently whispered a prayer. To who he had no idea but he prayed anyways. Then the Kami went off.
"Thank god I was able to save him this time. I pray he is able to find the secret as to why he can't be reincarnated. I hope me not telling him that he was actually the only one that can't be reincarnated doesn't pose a problem. If he can destroy the curse then maybe he can free himself before he disappears completely," the Kami said silently to himself.
Then the voice disappeared altogether.
Author's notes: Ok, I know that last cliffhanger was evil so I wrote this up as fast I could. It was pretty easy cause I have the entire story all thought up in my head. Just have to write it down. I hope this one wasn't too bad of a cliffhanger cause the next update will probably take longer. But who knows. Keep giving me good reviews and I'll write more in a shorter amount of time. Motivate me! Until next time! Please R&R!