Inside a relatively small bedroom, there were two people sleeping closely together. The male figure had his arms wrapped around the obviously female figure. A blanket covered them, but it was obvious that they weren't wearing anything underneath that. Outside, the sun was just about to rise in the horizon. This was the time that the man woke up, as it was programmed into his subconscious after years of training. He yawned loudly and cracked his neck to get the stiffness that resulted from sleeping out.

            He gazed fondly at the woman in his arms, who murmured slightly in her sleep, all the while smiling and sometimes even giggling. He was proud to have someone like her. She was the most precious thing in the world to him now, probably more than his martial arts skills. He would give up his life ten times over just to save hers if he had to. That was how important she was in his life. His smile became wider when he remembered last night. They had been married yesterday and their wedding night could not be any more wonderful.

            It's time to get up. *Sigh* She looks so beautiful when she's sleeping. I gave her a kiss on the forehead and tried to wriggle out without waking her up. She can be kind of grumpy if I woke her too early. After a few minutes, I managed to get free and got out of our bed. Her angelic face crinkled up a bit when I did, and she fumbled for something to hold onto and got my pillow. She squeezed it tightly before falling into another deep slumber.

            I stretched myself to get the kinks out of my body before getting my clothes and bath stuff. I headed across the hall to the bathroom and put the clothes in the dressing room before heading into the bathing room. Before I sat on a stool, I turned on the furo and filled a bucket with warm water from a nearby tap. After cleaning myself up, I reclined in the furo, sighing as the hot water washed over me.

            As I sat, I couldn't help but think just how I got here. Both of us have gone far together and now, we're happily married. My love for her started when she was the only one who cared for me...

______________________

//When No One Else Would\\

\\(By Riko Tenachi)//

//(Standard Disclaimers for Ranma 1/2 apply)\\

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Losing Everything

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            A seemingly twelve year old girl locked up her apartment and walked down the hall, to the stairs. She was wearing a dress that seemed too big for her and carrying a satchel. To some people, it may seem that she was going to school, and they are right, but not in the sense that they think. This is because the 'twelve year old girl' was in reality, Hinako Ninomiya, teacher and disciplinarian for Furinkan High.

            When she was young, she was a very frail child. It so happened that the grandmaster of Anything Goes, Happosai, met her and taught her a special skill of draining battle auras through a series of pressure points and practice. Now, whenever she drains someone, she turns into a fully-grown woman, but still returns to her child form after the energy is used up.

            As she was walking down the street, she couldn't help but sigh over everything. It was the start of the third year of teaching at Furinkan and she had yet to 'break' a certain delinquent. It was both annoying and tiring at the same time. But at least things aren't always as boring as some of the other schools that she had worked at before. She glanced around and saw some of the students walking as far away as possible from her. She didn't pay it any attention. It has always been like this ever since she first used that draining ability. People would either ignore her or be afraid of her. Being intimidated was one thing, but why would they be afraid? It had taken her delicate child mind a long time before accepting this belief.

            When she arrived at the school, she couldn't help but notice that there were people fighting... again. She frowned as she moved to the area, idly noticing the more than normal amount of weapons. "Alright, delinquents, stop this right now or else I'll drain you!" Her child voice cried out. One of the fighters turned his head at her shout and was instantly ganged on by the four other fighters. She thought she saw a glint of something shiny, but ignored it as she made way to the combatants. "I said stop fighting, right now!" She looked into her purse for a five-yen coin, but couldn't find any. She tried to dig deeper, but was alerted by someone shouting.

            "Now you die, Ranma! Perfect Shi Shi Hokoudan Revised! Horizontal Bullet!"

            Hinako saw that lost boy Ryoga fire off the green ki blast at his opponent, who sluggishly dodged out of the way. Her eyes widened when she found out the blast was heading straight to her and she had no way to absorb it. She was as good as dead now.

~*~

            Earlier....

            Today will be the day that our enemy will fall. Two years of nothing but anguish for us. Now is the time for revenge. Today, Ranma Saotome will be eliminated to free our loved ones. He would be defeated, permanently.

            A familiar person walked on the fence, followed by his fiancée on the ground. This person was none other than Ranma Saotome, martial artist extraordinaire. To him, going to school only meant two things. Number one, it was a fighting ground. Number two, it was a place to get more sleep in. He didn't particularly care about the schoolwork. After all, a true martial artist wouldn't need education; he only needs to know how to fight.

            When we were about at the school gates, a familiar battle cry sounded through the air. "Ranma! Prepare to die!" It was followed by an umbrella crashing down onto the part of the fence where I was.

            "Too slow, P-chan. Where had you been during the whole summer? Barbeques?" To be honest, I didn't mean to insult him all the time; it's just that it became a habit over the last years.

            "Shut up, Ranma! You will die today!" Ryoga made another angry swipe at me. Of course, with his speed, his attack missed me by a fair margin. Wait, was it just me or did his speed seemed faster than normal.

            "Still too slow, Ryoga. Catch me if you urk!" What the hell?! As I fell to the floor, I quickly rolled back onto my feet. When I looked up, I only saw Ryoga standing there with a smirk on his face. "So you've gotten faster, P-chan. This is gonna be fun."

            Ryoga growled, but was still smirking. "Yeah, it'll be fun, for us."

            "Us?" I suddenly had a bad feeling about this fight. "Don't tell me...."

            "Foul sorcerer, how dare you set foot upon the holy grounds where the mighty Blue Thunder once tread?!"

            "Once I kill you, Shampoo would finally be mine!"

            "You've been interrupting my panty raids too many times, Ranma. Now, all of us are going to get rid of you once and for all!"

            "Crap. So P-chan, since you couldn't beat me by yourself, you've gotten all of your friends together to do it? Now who's the dishonorable one now?"

            "Ranma, stop picking on Ryoga!" Akane shouted at me. I glanced at her and was about to retort before someone punched me in the stomach.

            "What? Gah!" I flew back a couple of feet, but I managed to stop myself. "Who did that now?!" Okay, four people, I can probably take them. So what if Ryoga managed to get faster? The other guys are probably still the same. I just fought Kuno, Mousse, and Happi a week ago. Kuno's still a wannabe samurai. Mousse doesn't even have his glasses on. And I can beat the old perv once I'm done with the other guys.

            "Never be distracted in a fight, Ranma. Attack!" The old pervert called out.

            "You shall die by my blade, foul sorcerer!" I just noticed that Kuno was actually using a real katana. Not a problem, he did that several times over the last couple of years.

            "Yeah, yeah, I heard all that before." I immediately dodged to the side when he was about to slash down on my head. "And you never landed a hit on me ye-argh!" I suddenly grabbed onto my left arm; there was a long cut on my biceps and blood was pouring out. Fortunately, the cut didn't extend more than a centimeter into my skin. "What the hell?!"

            "It pains me to stoop to such levels as you, but I have finally learned that in order to defeat magic, you must use magic!" Kuno flashed his sword and there was a faint aura around it.

            "You coward!" Damn bastard. If he's using magic then the others probably are too. But I can't tell how.

            "Die Saotome!" The blind Amazon male threw a flurry of weaponry from his sleeves. I never expected it to hit me so I just moved to attack Ryoga before Kuno or Happy got to me.

            "I'll still win, you dishonorable bast-ahh!!!" I fell to the ground. I could feel several wounds on my back. My vision was starting to blur. Quickly, I managed to pull a blade out from my back and brought it up to my eyes. It was hollow, and had some kind of liquid oozing out of its tip. Poison, I thought to myself. Dammit, these guys were serious. I silently thanked the kamis for the brief break from attacks as I struggled to get up. When I looked up, they were standing in a circle, destroying any chance of me escaping, not that I would; these guys would pay first.

            "Alright, delinquents, stop this right now or else I'll drain you!" Someone shouted out.

            I turned my head reflexively to the source and immediately regretted it. The four fighters --if they could even be called that now-- attacked me once again. I tried using everything in my arsenal to stay alive, but the poison was kicking in and my abilities and reflexes were divided tenfold. Even while I actively use the fullest amount of ki, I only barely dodged or blocked a few hits and the majority that got through could have killed any lesser man. I don't know how, but I managed to stay standing.

            In his current magical enhanced form, Ryoga was able to call upon his ki attacks more easily. This was no surprise because seeing Ranma still standing after all of their efforts only deepened his depression. In a surprisingly solemn voice, he said, "Now you die, Ranma! Perfect Shi Shi Hokoudan Revised! Horizontal Bullet!"

            Shit! I tried to move out of the way as fast as I can, though currently, I only stumbled a few feet away from the ki attack's trajectory. I also spun around while doing this and saw that someone was directly in the giant sphere's direction. Dammit, I am the focus of all of the danger in this fight and I'll be damned before I let some innocent gets killed because of me. With a burst of adrenaline, I moved faster than I ever had before and stood in front of the girl a scant second before the energy ball hits. I powered myself up with even more ki from my reserves and surround my body with its aura. I thrust my ki-covered hands forward, taking the brunt of the attack. I increased the ki and I made an improvised energy shield. I was visibly strained and by the time the Shi Shi Hokoudan dissipated, I was fresh out of energy and it would probably only take a breeze to knock me out now. I don't even know how I can still think while my ki reserve is practically in the negatives.

            Unfortunately, nothing is ever that easy for me.

~*~

            As I stared wide-eyed at the ki attack, I was paralyzed. This is it; I'm actually going to die. I wondered if anyone would actually miss me if I were gone. But something happened. Someone jumped in front of me and blocked the deadly attack right before it would hit me. I looked up at his back and gasped. I saw his pigtail and knew that it was Ranma Saotome, but that wasn't what made me surprised. His tattered shirt showed extremely bloody scars on his back and there were some ninja stars still stuck in his skin. It looked like he wasn't even supposed to be alive now. His aura grew up to a big size and blocked the attack until both it and his ki are gone. A few seconds barely passed until the other fighters jumped him again, only two meters away from me. I watched in shock as the aggressors continued beating him to the ground.

            "Stop! Stop it!" They ignored me. Kami-sama, he's going to die! "Stop it now, please!" I looked around and saw the other students' expressions. Most of them had a surprised look at how savage this was. Some had already fainted. The only one who wasn't in either category was the Tendo girl, Akane, Ranma's fiancée. It was horrible. She was actually smiling! I immediately hated that sinister smirk on her. And to think that I was about to ask her for her help! I saw a few yen coins on the ground and immediately grabbed them up. "Happo Go-en Satsu; Happo Go-en Satsu; Happo Go-en Satsu; Happo Go-en Satsu!" I cried out frantically. I drained their energy and immediately grew up into my adult form.

            I ran across the short distance to Ranma's body and put a finger at his neck. His pulse is very low! "Someone get a ambulance! Now!" One of the underclassmen that was still standing ran into the building quickly. I held onto Ranma until the ambulance came and took him a few minutes later, after the bell rang. I was allowed to go with him on the ride to the hospital, where he was immediately sent to the emergency room. Doctor Tofu was there also, having had someone call him if Ranma was ever in the hospital. As I sat in the waiting room, I couldn't help but feel worried over the boy that had saved my life.

~*~

Later....

            "Excuse me, Hinako-san, but why are we in the hospital? Did something happen to Ranma?" The Tendos and Saotomes had been called earlier to the hospital, minus Nabiki, who had moved out for college. They had arrived soon after the call and were standing in the same waiting room as Hinako, still in adult form.

            A sad Hinako answered her. "Saotome-san, I'm afraid to tell you all that Ranma came here in a very bad condition. There was a fight this morning and...."

            "So? The boy had always gotten into fights. I expect him to be up any time now." A gruff voice interrupted her. It was Ranma's sorry excuse of a father.

            "It wasn't that bad. He did deserve it after all." This time it was Akane.

            I glared at her. For some reason, rage took its hold over me. "Wasn't that bad? Wasn't that bad?! He was dying! And you didn't do anything to help him!"

            Her answer was just crossing her arms and answering, "That jerk _did_ deserve it, Hinako-san." By the way she said it, her name sounded like a curse. "And why did you help him anyway? Are you trying to steal him away from me, too?"

            I paused, not knowing how to answer that. Could it be true? Was there some hidden love for that delinquent? No, that must not be it. It was just common sense to help out someone in his condition. But before I could answer no, Akane left the waiting room, taking my pause as a yes. No one talk for a long time.

~*~

            It was nighttime before a very distraught Doctor Tofu came out. Everyone stood up, awaiting his answer. I changed back into my child form long ago, but the only thing that changed about me was that I was getting more impatient. Tofu looked at everyone solemnly --even looking at Kasumi didn't send him into jitters--.

            "I'm sorry. We managed to save him, but...." I could see that everyone else, but Akane for some reason, was eager to know how the brave Saotome would fare. "There had been some complications." He trailed off again.

            "What is it, doctor? Is he going to be alright?" I asked worriedly. I just knew that whatever words that came out of his mouth next would be devastating to all those present, especially to me for some reason.

            "Ranma...had taken a lot of hits from various blades. He'll have those scars for a while. He also has fractured ribs, various broken bones, and a heavy concussion. We also managed to nullify a deadly poison in him, but not before it did some damage to his nerves." I didn't know that it was possible to be even more worried at that line. "I'll get straight to the point. Ranma can not practice martial arts anymore, or anything for that matter." He finished solemnly.

           "Tofu-san, what is wrong with my son?" Nodoka's expression was stern. It was hard to tell what she was thinking of right now, though I would suspect that she was trying to keep her bearings straight for what will happen next.

            Tofu visibly got sadder. "Ranma is now a quadriplegic; both of his arms and legs are paralyzed. I'm sorry."

(END FOR NOW)

===========

Author's notes:

(6/09/03)

            Well, I'm pleased to say that I will continue this regularly, which means somewhere in between slow and fast. I've changed some stuff in here, such as Nabiki's presence (or lack thereof), and Hinako's reaction to Akane's questioning.

            To those who question how such a fic as this even exists because the canon characters would never act like that, well I have two things to say.

1.) It's FANFICTION! Duh.

2.) Yes, I have read and watched the anime of Ranma 1/2 before. I used to, but not now, draw my info solely on other peoples' possibly biased and misinformed stories. The only character that I dislike outright is Akane, and no one else. I'm sure many others share this opinion. I try to vary my fics so it's inevitable that each character would be portrayed differently (except Akane, I hate her that much).

The last comments were supposed to be a reply to one of the anomynous reviewers (Draco) and possibly more in my other stories. I don't know who you are, but at least you took the time to review anyway, so thanks for adding about a kb to this chapter. ^_^

lataz, and keep reviewing people!

You know the regular place to say stuff:
Email:   GenesisCrystalz@aol.com

Aim:     GenesisCrystalz

Thanks for reading. Lataz.