The Dark Side of the Art By: Q A Ranma 1/2 - Street Fighter - King of Fighters crossover Disclaimer: None of the character within this story belong to me, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Capcom, and SNK respectively.

The Evil Intent

Ranma paused in his story to turn towards the Ucchan's entrance.

"What are you looking at?" Ranko asked her brother.

"I think we'll be having another guest..." Ranma tensed for a moment then relaxed.

"What's the matter you martial art's sense tingling?" Nabiki quipped.

"Well as a matter of fact..." Ranma looked at Nabiki before calling out in a slighty teasing tone "Why hello Rose."

As soon as Ranma uttered those words a purpled hair women in a red dress walked in. A rather voluptuous purpled haired women in a red dress actually.

"And hello to you." Rose sauntered up to him "I see everyone is still in one piece."

"We haven't been here that long." Ranma smirked.

"Ahh." Rose smiled "Even though I can guess, do you mind introducing me to your family and friends."

"Yes Ranma, please introduce us." came a frosty tone from a certain tomboy.

"Very well, I would like you all to meet Rose. She's helping me prepare a tournament to replace the 'King of Fighters' for this year." Ranma gestured to said women. "And Rose let me introduce you to my sister Kei... Ranko, Mrs. Saotome, Mr. Saotome or Mr. Panda if you'd like, Mr. Tendo, and his three daughters there... Akane, Kasumi, and Nabiki. And the young women back at the counter is my old friend and owner of this establishment, Ukyo Kounji." he pointed to each person as he introduced them.

"I suppose it's a pleasure to meet you all." Rose did a slight bow.

"So what brings you here Rose?" Ranma decided to get straight to the point.

"Can't I just come to see you?" Rose pouted, and Ranma raised an eyebrow in return. "Fine, fine, I've been able to reach him and it seems he would love to make an appearance in the finals."

"Good. That should get a lot of other people to join." Ranma nodded to himself. "For some reason I don't think you came here just to tell me that though."

"True. I was hoping to hear about your 'mysterious' past. Oh, and I wanted to tell you that Chizuru wasn't able to find a few of the fighters. Even though I probably could, I think it would be better if you contacted them. Here's the list, I also asked her to let you deliver the invitation to these returning teams." Rose materialized a slip of paper and handed to Ranma.

"You're not getting lazy, are you?" Ranma muttered while taking the slip.

"What did you say?" Rose's voice was a bit too sweet.

"Don't worry about it, I'll handle it, besides I think I'd like to meet a few of these people." Ranma smiled.

"I figure you would." Rose smiled back.

"Come on Ranma get back to the story!" Ranko pleaded.

"Wait, what do you mean you're setting up a tournament!" Nabiki asked.

"What?" Ranma seemed confused.

"How can you afford to set up a tournament?" Nabiki seemed just as confused.

"Oh, that. I'm not really paying for it." And Ranma left it at that. "So where was I...Is something wrong Rose?" Ranma's voice had just a bit of worry in it.

"...."

"Rose... Hey Rose... I hate it when she does this." Ranma gave up getting Rose's attention. Past experiences taught him that it was ultimately a futile effort. But the way she was staring at Ranko made Ranma nervous.

"That's interesting...Tell me little one, has your father been teaching you the martial arts?" Rose snapped out of her trance. Ranma felt that perhaps it would have been better for her to have stayed in it, instead of saying 'that's interesting'. As far as Ranma could tell, things that Rose found interesting everyone else found scary and/or dangerous.

"Yep, Daddy's going to make me as strong as Ranma." Ranko piped up.

Rose mock gasped "Please, one Ranma is enough."

"Ha, ha. Seriously what's wrong?" Ranma watched as Rose gave him that look. 'Oh boy, I going to have to talk to her in private.'

"Nothing really, don't worry about it." Rose smiled at everyone. "She just looks like a mini-version of Ranma's cursed form. It's so cute!"

Ranma's eye ever so slightly twitched. 'And things were bad when she thought Ranko was just interesting NOW she thinks she's cute...' Ranma was never sure if the fact that he knew this side of Rose was a good thing or not.

"Oh, I remember the first time I saw Ranma in his cursed form..."

Ranma decided knowing it was most definitely not a good thing, man o'man what he wouldn't give to just know the mysterious and ominous side of Rose.

"*Ahem* Sorry to interrupt you, but I believe I'm the one telling stories around here."

"Oh sorry, go ahead." Rose smiled at him.

"Say.. how did you know we would be here?" Akane asked, she knew there was something weird about this women from the start. 'Like any women could think that Ranma's girl body was cute.'

"Good guess?" Rose ventured.

"Riiiight, a guess..." Ranma muttered before speaking for everyone to hear again. "Anyway back to the story."

"Finally!" came from the little red head. __________

(If you haven't already guessed... Flashback)

Akane stormed into the house with a full head of steam "Where is he!"

Soun and Genma looked at each.

[I feel sorry for the boy, she's really upset] a sign read.

"I wonder what he did this time..." Soun spoke to his furry little... er big friend.

Nabiki entered the home a few moments after her sister. She came to a stop as her father called for her.

"Yeah Dad?"

"What's wrong with Akane?" Soun asked, hoping that his middle daughter wouldn't charge him for the information.

It seemed fortune was smiling on Soun today, as his daughter answered his question for free "Ranma beat the crap out of Ryouga. You should have seen it, Ranma was like an animal." Nabiki was still a bit shocked at the fight.

"An a-animal?!" Soun stuttered.

[Not the NEKO-KEN?!] screamed the sign... well, the words were wrote really big...

"Huh... oh don't worry he didn't use the neko-ken. He just beat him up the old fashion way." Nabiki assured the grown ups.

"Oh my, is Ryouga alright?" Kasumi's voice drifted from the kitchen.

Nabiki peeked in at her "Yeah, he got up about ten minutes later chasing after Ranma... he actually went in the correct direction this time, I guess that's because he didn't see which way Ranma had left."

"That's good. Would you mind telling Akane that Ranma left a note saying he was going on a short training trip." Kasumi asked her sister.

"Sure."

Akane sat on her bed with her pet pig in her arms. "What was that dumb jerk thinking p-chan? What did he mean by 'knowing your proper place' I always knew he was conceited, but that was odd even for him. Nabiki and Ukyo think he's just upset about the wedding... Well I got upset sometimes but you don't see going around beating people up do you?" Luckily, as a pig, Ryouga couldn't answer her.

Nabiki stood at Akane's doorway with a huge sweatdrop 'it's really impressive how blind Akane is...' "Hey Akane, Kasumi just told me that Ranma left for a training trip... she says Ranma left a note."

"So that jerk thinks he can just beat up Ryouga and leave huh? Well he better not have said where he went to train because if I find out where he is..." Akane held up a fist.

"Okay...." Nabiki backed away as Akane's aura began to flicker around the room. "Bye" Nabiki uncharacteristically ran away from her sister 'After Ranma went crazy I ain't taking no chances...'

Akane calmed down shortly after Nabiki's abrupt departure, and headed downstair to take a look at the note. After receiving it from a cooking Kasumi, not that she does much else mind you, Akane read it to her self aloud.

Dear um... Whoever, I'm leaving for a few weeks to work on some new moves. I'll be back before you know it so DON'T come looking for me.

Akane fumed 'Like anyone was really going to go look for him... I wonder if Nabiki knows where he's... Arghh! WHAT am I thinking?!'

"A-are you alright Akane?" Kasumi asked her sister who was currently shaking her head wildly while standing in the middle of the kitchen.

"What.... sorry, yeah I'm fine. there was something in my ear... I mean hair, yeah in my hair... why would I shake my head if something was in my ear right?... Hahahaha..." Akane began to laugh nervously.

"Perhaps you should go get in some practice Akane." Kasumi recommended.

"Yeah I guess I should."

__________

Cologne sat in the back of the kitchen to her restaurant. She was currently thinking about the second most troublesome male she knew. Earlier some of the school children came in to stare at Sham...whoops, came to partake of the Cat Cafes' delicious meals, and she overheard them mention Ranma's sound defeat of Ryouga. For some reason she couldn't explain, Cologne felt uneasy about the news. However she couldn't put her finger on why, eventually she decided just to tell her granddaughter to keep a closer eye on Ranma.

On the other hand Shampoo had a distinctly different feel for the situation. 'Darn why couldn't I have been there to see Ranma fight Ryouga today.' Shampoo had been daydreaming about seeing Ranma savagely attacking his opponent, his body vigorously flexing as he performed vicious acts of violence (thankfully she was daydreaming it instead of trying to say it...).

Mousse, however, was more inclined towards Cologne's thinking. 'I sure hope Ranma's isn't as worked up when I fight him...' somehow the thought of just not fighting Ranma never crossed his mind...

__________

P-chan sat on Akane's bed in silence... not that he made that much noise when he was in Akane's room alone normally, but still. 'I can't believe I let Ranma get the jump on me like that. If I had known he was really going to be that serious from the beginning I wouldn't have been caught off guard like I had. Still if Ranma is going to train to become even better than so will I! I'll show him who's limited! I'll get my hand to hand skill back up to par, and see what I can do with my Shi shi Hokodan... yes, that's it, Ranma won't know what hit him.'

__________

Ukyo found it harder and harder to concentrate on anything when she was as worked up as she was. She remembered the look Ranma gave Ryouga before the fight, and it chilled her to the bone. Ranma had always been rather up beat when they were younger, and in fact seemed that way most of the time nowadays, that was one of the reasons no one ever took anything they did around Nerima seriously.

If Ranma could take having bus loads of fiancees after him with an equal amount of rivals, a mother who might very well kill him over a foolish contract, a curse to turn him into a girl, as well as a father who weather any one would go as far as to admit it or not was somewhat abusive, all with a smile and a wave than what could possibly be 'going too far'. But apparently bombing a wedding had made the list.

'I sure hope Ran-chan won't stay mad to long... I don't know if Nerima could survive otherwise...'

__________

Things at the Kuno mansion were rather crazy... however, since that's actually quite normal will leave that one alone.

__________

Happosai sat on the roof on the Tendo dojo. He was currently thinking about one Ranma Saotome. 'Has Ranma finally touched the true Anything Goes power. Has he seen the true potential our style possesses. Has he decided to thank me for creating it by modeling one of my collectibles...'

Perhaps we should have left this one alone as well...

__________

"IF I SNEEZE ONE MORE DAMN TIME I SWEAR SOMEONE'S GOING TO PAY!" Ranma yelled to the heavens.

Calming down Ranma finished setting his tent. He wasn't sure how to go about suppressing his anger like he had been doing since shortly after the whole Neko-ken training. Somehow ever since his victory in China his usual methods of self denial wasn't working. He could no longer lie to himself that he wasn't really angry with this person or that person, he could no longer write off an surprise attack as a training exercise. So if he couldn't deal with his anger that way then how else could he do it?

'Meditation! Sure that's what all the older guys did right? They meditated... Some of those guys must have been really angry, I think I remember some of them meditating for hours on end. At least I hope the reason they meditated that long was because they were really angry, instead that being the normal amount of time for meditation...' Ranma cringed at the thought.

"Oh well, might as well give it a try" Ranma spoke to no one.

-Two days later-

Ranma slowly woke up against a tree, a familiar position for him. 'As much as I like the fact that I can sleep as long as I like... I'm supposed to be Meditating!

Ranma once again found himself getting upset. With the only thing around to take it out on, Ranma punched the large tree as hard as he could. As he watched the tree fall he couldn't help but feel some off the anger leaving him. 'Could that work..'

Ranma walked around searching for any sturdier object to pound on. After collecting a few boulders he began to unleash as much pent up frustration as he could, hoping to burn out his anger.

After several hours of destroying boulders, finding new ones, and destroying them again. Ranma finally stopped for the night. While cooking, or boiling water as some people might call it, Ranma inspected his fists. They were rather bloody and sore, he couldn't help but compare himself to Ryouga 'I bet his hands would still be fine, damn breaking point....' Ranma let a small smile cross his face. 'This'll give Ryouga something to freak over... But it'll hurt like hell.'

-Three days later-

"Ow...." Ranma swung bath and forth, upside down, and groaning in pain. 'Maybe Akane and Pop were mistaken about the breaking point training...' The only thing keeping him from giving up was the fact that he actually was getting tougher. The very fist time the boulder hit him full on he almost passed out. Now it just really hurts...a lot.

After pulling himself together, as well as upright, Ranma continued the training. Three swings later Ranma finally mastered the breaking point technique. 'I wonder if I should continue to toughen my body for a few more days... I might as well.' And so the hurting continued.

-Two days later-

"Enough is enough." Ranma was starting to get bored with the training, he body was more than tough enough to stand against Ryouga for awhile. True, he didn't have Ryouga's natural endurance, the breaking point training at least gave him the ability to hold his own. However, now Ranma wanted to increase his strength. While pumping his body full of ki was useful an all he wanted to increase his natural strength.

So for the rest of his training trip he would be using the remaining boulders as weights. Since he hadn't completely taken down the rope he set up for the breaking point training, he simply placed a new boulder in it and began pulling the rope one handed a couple of hundred times each arm. After getting down with his arms he would tie it to his legs and continue.

Now the strengthening exercises did not take the entire day. When not lifting, Ranma continued to gather as much anger as possible and convert it into energy before experimenting with different type of attacks. He replaced his Mouko Takabishi attack with a angry ki based attack, which seemed incredibly stronger, he also played around with combining the forbidden techniques with his now black aura of anger.

As Ranma continued to use his new aura in various ways he was ignorant to the danger using such dark energy was to the soul. He also was ignorant of the fact that he was akin to a beacon, due to his outputting of energy, to a fighter of incredibly dark power.

-Two weeks later-

Even though the Ranma that walked down the streets of Nerima looked the same, some of the inhabitants couldn't help but feel worry as they watched him stroll down the street.

Ranma, for the most part, was oblivious to the odd stares he was receiving. He was to excited about his growth in overall ability to notice. Even though he hadn't created anything new with the forbidden techniques, the fact that his new ki attack, which he still hadn't named, as well as the katchu tenshin amaguriken had become stronger as well as even faster for the latter, kept his spirits high.

His good mood took a nose dive when he heard the scariest sound known to man... a 'meow'. Actually, even though he would never admit it, the sound a cat made was not the scariest sound to him. Beyond a shadow of doubt the worst thing for him to ever hear was something he heard a lot. Is was only one word, one word that never accompanied anything good, one word that doomed his life before he even knew it... and that one word was 'fiancee'.

But back to the matter at hand, Ranma froze in mid step. Even as he turned to the sound he was begging himself not to look. Of course Ranma looked and was introduced to the sight he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy, partially due to the fact that it probably wouldn't accomplish anything but scaring Ranma instead. Slowly stepping away Ranma briskly walked away from the feline. Ranma's walk quickly moved up into a light jog as the creature continued to follow him. Finally saying to heck with dignity Ranma broke out into a run, only to have his pursuer cling to he leg when he almost ran an elderly women over.

'Damn, why is it that these cats seem bound and determined to hound me?! I know dogs are supposed to be able to smell fear, but cats? Can these beasts actually tell that I know the Neko-ken?' those were the thoughts Ranma used in an attempt to keep his mind from succumbing to the Neko-ken. Not even those thoughts were enough to block out the fear that came with encountering the bane of his existence though. For once however, a new thought was introduced, a thought that would finally shine a light of hope... well maybe not hope exactly, but it would oppose the fear.

'This is pathetic! Why am I so afraid?' Ranma began to argue with himself.

'Because these are the same creatures that tortured me day after day!'

'But I'm bigger than they are, I shouldn't fear them!'

'I've always been bigger than them though, and yet they still were able to torture me'

'That was because of stupid pops!'

'Pop's wasn't in the pit'

'But I was tied up back then.'

'So! that didn't mean it didn't hurt!'

'I've gotten bigger and stronger since then.' Ranma tried to reason with himself.

'that may be, but that doesn't mean it won't still hurt!'

'Damn it look here! So what if it hurts! Ryouga's punches hurt, Akane's mallets hurt, Ukyo's spatula hurts, Shampoo's bike hurts, Cologne's cane hurts, and I get hit with them all the time! But I'm not afraid of them, so why should I be afraid of CATS?! I said things were going to change... And I'll be damned it this isn't one of them. I. Control. My. LIFE!'

*Snap!*

Ranma opened his eyes at the sound, and let his gaze travel to his right hand. Ranma slowly, almost reluctantly, began to realize what was in his hand. A cat, a black cat, a black motionless cat, a black motionless cat with it's head bent at an awkward angle. Ranma finally allowed his mind to voice it's conclusion... he was holding a cat with a broken neck... a neck HE broke.

Dropping the animal in his hand, Ranma took a quick glance at his surroundings. Ranma was relieved to find that somehow he had ran into a empty alley. Heading home by rooftops, he decided it was time to due something about his fear and continue to work on his control.

Quickly reaching the Tendo home, Ranma entered without much fanfare. "I'm home." Ranma called out even though he could care less if anybody heard him. 'I need some time to do some real mental exercising if I want to gain control on both my fear and anger.'.

As Ranma made his way into the family room he was besieged by his uncute fiancee. "It's about time you got back, leaving for three weeks without telling me... I mean anyone goodbye! Poor Ryouga was looking all over for you."

Still not really paying attention to anyone he waved her off "What are you, my mom? I don't got to tell you everwhere I go..." Before he could even get to her second point another voice interrupted.

"True, but I AM your mother, and you didn't tell me you were leaving either." Nodoka spoke in a calm voice. "I've been so worried about you" she switched to her worried mother routine.

"S-sorry, I did leave a letter..." Ranma spluttered.

"A letter. I'm your mother, you don't just give me a letter saying your leaving." She switched back to her original calm tone.

'I think she keeps changing her attitude just to keep my off gaurd.' Ranma was batting a perfect game with his guesses that day, first the whole neko- ken attracting cats, and know finally starting to grasp a little of his mother's ways. Unfortunately Ranma didn't know he was right about any of these. "But I always take little training trips you know. I didn't think anyone would really get worried."

"Well I accept your apology, but you should apologize to Akane too, she was also worried."

"I wasn't worried about that jerk!" Akane blushed.

Ranma, of course, was oblivious. "See mom, she wasn't worried. I'm going to go wash up and relax in the dojo until dinner time."

After making his escape, Ranma methodically began washing her body before submerging into tub. Regaining his manhood Ranma relaxed in the tub. Without even looking he knew his right hand was still shaking. 'With all the cats in this area I can't take a chance with trying to cope with my fears... I HAVE to deal with it now.' Feeling himself becoming upset he tried to lighten the mood. 'And if I don't get control I'll just blame it on the 'Cat' Cafe...' Ranma chuckled to himself before trailing off 'there's something about the cat cafe that's tugging at the back of my mind...'.

"Shampoo!"

*Bam*

"Where is she!"

Ranma jumped up at the sound of the door being slammed open. He was speechless a moment as he saw Akane standing in the doorway seething. "What are you doing in here?" Ranma demanding from Akane 'the nerve of this girl. Always getting mad at me for being a 'pervert' and here she comes barging in on me! Wait a minute, where is who?'

"Out with it Ranma, where's Shampoo!" Akane bore her eyes into him 'I can't believe Ranma tried to sneak Shampoo in the house as soon as he got back! I was lucky to have heard him on my way to my room.'

"I don't know, hiding under the water maybe? or perhaps in the sink? Oh I know she's under the bucket." Was his sarcastic reply. He started to sweatdrop as Akane checked the sink and the bucket. Once Akane started heading for the tub Ranma spoke up again. "I was joking, Shampoo isn't even here you uncute tomboy." Ranma started to laugh until he was shoved aside as Akane peered into the tub.

"Hey! I said she wasn't in here!" Ranma was starting to get upset.

"Like I'll believe you." Akane shot back.

Taking a deep breath to get some control over himself, Ranma watched as Akane took on last look around the room, then narrowing her eyes at him. Ranma raised an eyebrow in return as Akane left the room.

__________

A refreshed but somewhat irritated Ranma sat in the dojo crossed legged. He was determined to do something about the cat fist. Mentally bracing himself Ranma began to recall the whole traumatizing experience while using his darker ki to keep himself from freaking out.

'First, Pop tied me up with that stupid rope and that food. Moron, he should have been suspicous about a technique that required you to be completely restrained. Even the breaking point lets you use a finger. Then he dumped me into a dark pit with all those... those... scary cats with their glowing eyes' Ranma unconsciously shuddered. 'No Ranma, they were regular cats nothing to be scared of, you know that now' Ranma let the now familiar angry ki flare up a bit. 'But the worst part is when they attacked, they ripped into my skin over and over again... No, no, no they scratched and bit me, I wasn't that hurt when it was over. I was just to shocked and scared to notice. But still Pops put me in there again and again, then he had the nerve to get angry with me for being afraid, not even knowing that being afraid was part of the training! The bastard just threw me in some more even as I begged and pleaded for him to stop! I should have really gave it to him afterwards, now that I think about it, that old lady even gave me back to that fool after learning what he did to me! All this time... I've been grateful to that old bat! and for what giving me a pat on the head before letting my father continue his insane training ideas on me! Damn her and him!'

It took him a good a five hours until he was able to recount the whole event with out any problems. 'Wow, I never could do this with the soul of ice.' Ranma decided a quick wash up was in order, even though he hadn't done much physically he was extremely sweaty.

Once he made his way into the house Kasumi called out to him "Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes."

"Thanks" Ranma rushed to clean himself off.

Kasumi watched Ranma head upstairs with a troubled look 'was that scary glow coming from the dojo really Ranma?'

Sitting at the Go board Soun and Genma were completely still, both having felt the incredible dark power coming from the dojo, and appearently from Ranma.

__________

Everyone was sitting at the dinner table with the exception of Kasumi and Nodoka who were still carrying in the food. When the two finally joined the rest at the table the meal was started.

"So Ranma what new moves did you learn?" Nabiki the ever curious one asked.

Ranma smiled "I got the whole breaking point thing down even got the whole toughen the body part. Plus I experimented with some of my old moves."

"What's the matter? scared that Ryouga'll come back to beat the crap out of you for what you did to him?" Nabiki grinned back at him.

"What do you mean 'for what you did to him', It was a fight plain and simple. Sure he might come back to try to win the next time but he shouldn't have taken it to personal." Ranma stopped to consider who he was talking about. "Then again I could be mistaken." Ranma didn't seem to embarrassed about his slip but instead was grinning. "If the fool comes back without doing some heavy duty training... then I'll just have to give him another lesson." Ranma's grin was starting to unsettle a few people.

"Teach him another lesson! You really tried to hurt Ryouga last time!" Akane cried.

'She would be worried about him' "Please it'll take a lot more than that to seriously hurt him, I was only able to knock him out thanks to well placed attacks. I bet he wasn't even all that shook up when he came back to." Ranma replied nonchalantly. "It's a martial arts thing, you probably wouldn't understand..." Ranma gave Akane a wicked grin. "Oops, did I say that out loud?"

Nabiki blinked 'I know Ranma realizes how much Akane hates when he questions her ability at martial arts, so why is he egging her on so much? He's never gone this far before...'

Akane was shocked to say the least "W-What?!"

"Never mind, don't worry about it." Ranma smiled good naturedly at her. Finishing his food at an almost record breaking speed Ranma headed back to the dojo.

After taking a few seconds to replay what Ranma said Akane exploded in anger "What do you mean I wouldn't understand! I'm a martial artist too, you know!"

Ranma stopped in his path towards the dojo. Slowly he faced Akane, after staring at her a long moment he spoke up. "Yeah, sorry about that." He then turned back around and walked away.

Akane's mind was in a whirl 'What's gotten in to him?'

Everyone else at the table looked at one another.

Ranma was berating himself as he made his way to the dojo 'I was out of line back there... Akane and Ryouga are friends, nothing more right? I mean just because she treats him better than almost any other guy I know, while she treats me worser than she treats Kuno doesn't mean anything, right?' Ranma snorted 'Oh yeah that's great reasoning...'

__________

-One month later-

The whole town of Nerima was filled with tension, the bubbly chinese waitress at the Cat Cafe was rather subdued nowadays, the friendly chef at the Ucchan's was barely able to fake a smile, the Tendo girls seemed to be worried over something, the nice katana wielding women seemed preoccupied with something as well, and no one had seen hide nor hair of the panty thief.

Yes, all of Nerima was holding it's breath. Soon, they new, something was going to happen, and they all new who it would probably start with... that Ranma boy. He was always getting involved with something.

Said boy was walking out of the dojo whistling to himself. The past month was rather peaceful for him. He hadn't run into Ryouga yet, he hadn't spared with his old man since the second day of his return... actually calling it a spar was a bit of a stretch as Ranma showed off his new toughness and strength in a humiliating, for Genma, demonstration. Genma not wanting to be showed up again, especially in front of his wife, wisely stopped attacking Ranma in the mornings.

During the nights, Ranma continued working on improving his abilities. He snuck cats into the dojo, letting them walk around for the first couple of nights, before he started to lightly pet them, then moving on to openly holding them for long periods of time. It took longer than he expected due to the fact that he aura kept scaring them off. He had to actually learn to hide it from almost all senses to finally get the cats to come near him. It worked out better than he planned though since it actually took ki strength to hide it, making it an ideal exercise to increase it's strength. He also used the old ball and chain his father had stowed away as a replacement for weights, until he bought some of his own.

'It's funny, I don't remember ever having enough money to buy things like I do now...' Ranma thought to himself. 'Man, a month without my fiancees or rivals bothering me and still being able to eat good meals cooked by Kasumi and Mom. Taking control of my life was a great idea. Sure everybody has been kind of worried about me, more like worried of me... but then again they have good reason.' Even though he hadn't been bothered by rivals or been forced to deal with anything pertaining to his fiancees, he wasn't exactly left alone. Akane still tried to cook for him, he was sure she was just using him as a test subject. Having taken control of his life Ranma refused to be used as a safety measure. Needless to say his decision was meet with much disapproval. In fact there was a stand off at the dining table. Ranma eventually won the stand off with a clever, actually it was a rather simple, ploy "Akane..." he began "I know you're trying to win me over with your cooking" then he proceeded to let himself be interuppted.

"I'm not trying to win you over!" Akane nearly screamed 'how conceited can he get?!' Akane was getting really frustrated with Ranma's refusal.

"Well, if you're not trying to win me over with your cooking then you shouldn't keep the others from being able to try it too. I mean why let me get the honors all the time? You don't want to leave the everyone else out. So why don't you let them taste it first for a while?"

Akane looked over at her family and traded pleading expressions with them. Reading their looks wrong Akane thought they were feeling her pain 'they know I want Ranma to try my cooking first, but they must not be able to think of any way around his reasoning.' In truth the looks they were giving Akane translated to 'Please don't ask us to try your cooking. Do what ever it takes to make Ranma eat it!' Neither side was able to get Ranma back as Akane's taste tester.

'She must know her cooking sucks, that's why she makes me eat it... when she finally makes something edible she'll probably give to Ryouga. After all she never pushes him to eat her cooking like she does to me.' Ranma was surprised that he wasn't getting as angry as usual. 'I must be doing a better job than I thought with handling my anger...or maybe...'

Soun and Genma glanced at the young pig-tailed boy as he walked by once he headed up the stairs they turned back to one another.

"Genma, Ranma hasn't been talking to Akane that often..." Soun said conversationally.

[Yes it has been quite peaceful.] Genma signed.

"I suppose that's true... but I'm worried about the schools." Soun continued.

[I guess the boy has been neglecting his duties to his fiancee.] *flip* [Making us eat her cooking. how could he!] Genma anguished.

"That's not exactly what I was getting at." Soun sweatdropped 'but then again, it was cruel of him to do that.' "Since the two of them haven't argued in a while perhaps it's time to hold another wedding? His other fiancee's haven't shown up and that Ryouga boy isn't around... no one would interrupt."

[That's brilliant Tendo, then we won't have to eat Akane's cooking] Genma grunted in approval.

"Um, right." Soun blinked.

__________

Ranma couldn't help but feel a slight sense of dread come over him. He had been so happy that morning about being left alone that he knew he had just jinxed himself. He easily felt the change in the air currents due to Shampoo's bike coming towards him. Hopping off the fence he hoped to avoid her usual greeting, even though there was no close encounter with her bike Shampoo still managed to land in his arms.

"Hello Shampoo..." Ranma dry toned.

"Hello Airen, you seem happy today, want to take me out for a date?" Shampoo hugged Ranma tighter than he felt comfortable with, which was actually pretty easy to do.

Gently placing his hands on her hips Ranma placed Shampoo at arms length. "I really don't thi..."

*Splash*

"Go ahead and take your pet cat out for a date!" Akane, who Ranma hadn't been paying much attention to on their way to school, was steaming mad 'First Shampoo shows up and instead of screaming for her to get off he tries to grope her. I bet he was fantasizing about her in the bath the other day. That Pervert!'

Ranma slowly lowered Shampoo on to her furry legs and turned to Akane "That wasn't very nice, you know?" she drawled out.

Akane just stood in surprise "Um Ranma... you know you were holding a cat..." Akane slapped her hands over her mouth as soon as she realized what she was saying 'If she doesn't know she's holding a cat she might not run off in fear.'

"I noticed" Ranma's voice didn't change in tone.

"B-but how d-did you..." Akane was cut off by Ranma who turned back to the cat on the ground in front of her. "I'll take you to get some hot water, alright?" Ranma once again picked up Shampoo and her clothing and headed back to the Cat Cafe.

"What's going on around here?" Akane was able to eventually stammer out. She quickly caught up with Ranma on her way to the Cat Cafe.

"R-Ran-chan?"

Ranma and Akane stopped at the new voice.

"Yo Ucchan." Ranma waved at her.

"A-are you holding a cat?" She asked, looking from Ranma to the cat, then to Akane.

"How observant of you." Ranma quiped.

"Wait a minute aren't you afraid of cats?" Ukyo narrowed her eyes at Ranma.

"I used to be, but not any more." Not bothering of expanding on the subject Ranma headed once more for the Cat Cafe.

The four of them reached the Cafe and found Cologne sitting at the counter. "Hey old ghoul, Shampoo needs some hot water." Ranma called out. Cologne looked from Ranma to Shampoo over to Akane and finally at Ukyo. "Yes I know Shampoo's a cat right now. Now, can she have some hot water please... Um actually why don't you take her, here's her clothes." Ranma wisely deduced that having a naked Shampoo in her arms while in the Cat Cafe along with his other two fiancees wasn't a bright idea.

"So son-in-law... finally decided to marry Shampoo, eh?" Cologne chuckled.

"What are you talking about?" Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"Why else would you decide to get rid of you fear of cats so suddenly?" She smiled at her.

"What! I bet you were with her the whole time during your 'training trip'!" Akane completely forgot that Shampoo had came over at least twice during that time looking for him.

"How could you Ranma? I'm your cute fiancee!" Ukyo's whole plan of giving Ranma some space to cool off went to the winds.

"I won't allow it!" Mousse shouted at Ukyo with his fist raised in a threatening manner. "You won't take my Shampoo from me that easily!"

"I don't want your bimbo, jackass!" Ukyo grabbed her huge spatula.

"Ukyo?" Mousse blinked.

"Got it only two tries, congratulations." came the annoyed voice of his true nemesis.

"There you are!" Mousse jumped at Ranma, only to be thrown back by a chair to the face.

"Are you trying to tell me what I can and can't do?" Ranma asked in a cold voice, while dropping the remains of the chair she used on Mousse.

"You can die if you'd like... but you can't have Shampoo!" Mousse growled at her.

"If Shampoo and I want to be together there's no one who could stop it." Ranma snorted back.

"I knew you were running around behind my back with her!" Akane had all the proof she needed.

"Ran-chan you and that hussy can't get married!" Ukyo cried.

Ranma wasn't going to put up with it "I don't want to marry Shampoo alright! But if I did I wouldn't let any of you stop me! So back off and shut up!"

"Never!" Mousse was in a blind rage 'She might have been able to surprise Ryouga with her mean streak but I won't fall into the same trap.'

Ranma's aura surged within her. 'Guess it's Mousse's turn to learn.'

Ranma blocked Mousse's bo attacks with her arms barely feeling anything. Mousse's bo eventually cracked under the power of his swings, so he pulled out two chinese swords next. Ranma hopped back to get some space before beckoning Mousse forward. Mousse gladly accepted the invitation and begun swinging the swords in a intricate pattern.

"Not... bad... Mousse." Ranma got out while dodging the attacks, apparently Mousse had a better understanding of the situation than Ryouga originally had. Moving his hands at advanced amaguriken speed Ranma punched one sword out of Mousse's hand, before following after it's trajectory.

"What do you say?" Ranma grinned at Mousse as she held the blade in her hand. Mousse pulled out another blade before pushing up his glasses on his face. "I won't loose this time." Mousse promised.

"Come, let me teach you your place." Ranma let all cheer leave her visage.

Cologne narrowed her eyes 'Ranma's ki has changed dramatically, I don't like the looks of this.'

Ranma and Mousse began to exchange blows, Even though Mousse was a master of hidden weapons he was not a master of weapons. Thus he found himself on the defensive as Ranma poked and parried at him.

"It ends Mousse." Ranma calmly stated, she then let the ground explode from the breaking point technique done with the sword. Mousse knocked away the floor tiling that came at him. As he knocked the last large tile away he felt the sharp tip of a blade against his neck.

"Do you yield?" Ranma asked.

Mousse looked Ranma in the eyes "I told you I won't loos... urk!"

"Do you yield?" Ranma asked as Mousse started to bleed at the neck.

Mousse took another long look in the eyes of Ranma before dropping his swords "I... yield."

Ranma removed the blade from Mousse's neck and handing him back the sword. "See you later. I'm headed home..." Ranma called to the girls.

"meow" everyone blinked at the sound.

"I'm sorry Shampoo but I was telling the truth." Ranma replied.

"meow" the cat started to pad over to her.

"No. I'm just not ready to get married." Was Ranma's last words before leaving. Everyone else just blinked at the exchange.

__________

Near the outskirts of Tokyo a dark soul gazed upon it with a intense look. 'I know I felt a familiar aura in this area a month ago... there it is again. Yes I'm getting closer. And their power is getting stronger.' A bone chilling laugh echoed around the area.

__________

Ranma returned home male and extremely pissed off. 'How dare they attempt to control me again! I swear if one more person tries something like that again...'

"Ranma." came a sharp voice from the family room.

"Coming." Ranma grumbled. He found Soun and Genma sitting on the floor with serious expressions on their faces. He glanced to the side to see his mother and Kasumi also in the room. 'This isn't going to be good... and I'm not really in the mood for their crap.'

Unfortunately, none of them knew the state that young Ranma was in.

"We weren't expecting you back home so soon but since you're here..." Soun began.

Genma spoke up, hardly missing a beat "With you and Akane getting along so well lately" everyone winced except Ranma "and your 'friends' out of the way, we decided to hold another wedding next week."

"Yes, hopefully there won't be any interruptions this time around." Nodoka spoke up.

"No."

"Excuse me?" Nodoka asked her son.

"I won't be getting married next week." Ranma continued to stare at his father.

"But it's a matter of honer that you marry your fiancee!" Genma roared.

"Look, I don't want to marry Ukyo." Ranma replied.

"What? We mean Akane." his mother clarified.

"Oh, well then, I don't want to marry that fiancee either." Ranma decided to clarify as well, emphasizing 'that fiancee'.

"What do you mean that fiancee? You know Akane is your only true fiancee." Nodoka's voice was staring to firm up.

"Yes son, Akane and you must get married." Soun was stoic in his response.

"I'm sorry but I won't get married to anyone next week." Ranma still stared at his father.

"Look Boy! I won't let you tarnish the honor of the Saotome name!" Genma finally stood.

"Bull! I'm the only one who cares about honor around here!" Ranma yelled back.

"Now Ranma surely you don't mind getting married to Akane?" Kasumi tried to calm him

Ranma stared at Kasumi 'you too... of course, I always thought you were only looking out for Akane when you were nice to me. The whole 'she's really a nice girl, just a violent maniac' was a dead give away.' "I don't want to marry her. Just accept it Genma." Ranma voice lost all heat in it instead it was a cool tone.

"Ranma! Don't you dare talk to your father like that!" Nodoka scolded him.

"To hell with him! He's caused me nothing but trouble since he took me on that training voyage. And I'm not putting up with it anymore. Genma Saotome I challenge you for mastery of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts!"

Genma eyes went wide at the challenge "Alright boy, I'll put you back in your place."

Ranma grinned back at him "Ditto."

The two walked out of the house and into the back yard.

Genma got into his stance while Ranma stood across from him with his eyes closed. Genma studied Ranma as he clenched his fists and grit his teeth. All of a sudden a huge black aura appeared around Ranma.

Ranma let his gaze fall upon Genma as he opened his eyes. "I'll defeat you with one move."

Genma scoffed at him "You think because you've strengthen you aura a little you can take me so easily. Stop deluding yourself!"

Genma charged at Ranma, he knew that Ranma wasn't one for idle threats so he kept his eyes focused for any change from Ranma.

Not taking any chances Genma reluctantly used a very dull version of his vacuum blade on Ranma. Knowing it wouldn't be enough to defeat his son Genma followed behind it with a ki charged punch that would bring Ranma to his knees.

Ranma watched the vacuum blade approach with Genma following and didn't move an inch. 'The breaking point should handle the first attack well enough but I know Genma's punch is going to hurt. But if I really want to beat him in one move than I'm going to have to take it.'

The vacuum blade slammed into Ranma harmlessly, besides from ripping his shirt. However Genma's punch knocked the air out of Ranma causing him to spit out a small bit of blood. Knowing that this was his best chance, Ranma grabbed Genma by the neck with both hands and pumped as much of his dark aura into Genma as he could.

__________

'There! Yes I can feel it completely, what glorious power this one has. I can't wait to beat it out of him.' The man thought to himself as he reached the forest bordering Nerima.

__________

Akane, Shampoo, Ukyo and Cologne all were making their way towards the dojo. The girls all wanted to figure out what the hell Ranma was talking about, while Cologne wanted to take a good look at the ki Ranma was generating.

"I feel a spike of ki, hurry girls." Cologne admonished, causing the girls to break out into a run. As they reached the dojo they heard two voices talking in the back

"I'll defeat you with one move."

"You think because you've strengthen you aura a little you can take me so easily. Stop deluding yourself!"

They recognized the voices as Ranma and Genma respectively. As they finally made it within viewing distance they all stood in shock at the scene. No more than a few feet from them, Nodoka, Kasumi, and Soun were also stunned by the sight in front of them.

"Aahhh!" Genma screamed in agony at the pain coursing through his body. Ranma on the other hand had a mad gleam in his eyes as he continued to feed power into Genma. Ranma dropped Genma after what seemed like an eternity to the spectators but was really just 15 seconds.

Ranma turned to Soun "I believe I have won, don't you?" Soun could only nod his head at him.

"Son, that wasn't very manly of you..." Nodoka spoke in a solemn voice. "First talking back to your father, then attacking him, I think there's some things we need to discuss." Nodoka placed her hand on the Saotome blade.

Ranma's head dropped at his mothers words. Nodoka was expecting him to look back at her with his usual apologetic look he took whenever she scolded him. Instead she first say his lips quiver. 'I didn't think if he would be this shaken up about all this, maybe I should soften up. No, he has to know that he must respect his father no matter what.' She was shocked however that once he looked at her it was not with tears in his eyes, but a burning fire.

Ranma began to chuckle as he looked at his mother. "It isn't very manly? But it's okay to have my life controlled by a fat fool like him? A man who harps about honor only when it doesn't pertain to himself. A man who put me through enough crap to cause me to loose my sanity! A man who has destroyed so many different families honor that he doesn't even remember them all! You want me to respect that?!"

"W-what?" Nodoka was shocked by the pain in Ranma's voice.

"Day after day I put up with his hypocrisy, I deal with women who try to trick me or force me into marriages, I deal with people who want to leave me a bloody smear on the pavement, and I even... I even have to deal with a women who should love me unconditionally but instead seems to be itching to gut me! and who's fault is it? It's his! He engaged me to more women than I or even he knows, He made me sign that damn contract, half of the people out to cause me serious harm are because of his engagements, he was the fool who forced me to learn the neko-ken and he took me to Jusenkyo where I was cursed! That man has no honor and if you stand by him against me then you're no better!" Ranma calmed down after his outburst.

"How dare you!" Nodoka pulled out the katana, even though she had no intention of ever making Ranma use it to fulfill the contract, she did use it to intimidate him. It also helped calm her down when she started to let her temper get to her.

Ranma knew nothing of this, so when Nodoka unsheathed the Saotome blade, he realized she had made her decision "So you still stand by him? Fine from this point on I'm no longer your son, I'm no longer his bargaining chip, I'm no longer some punching bag for Akane, or some cash cow or fiancee or son-in-law! I'm simply Ranma! and to hell with the lot of you!" Ranma's aura reached new heights at his proclamation as he bounded away. Everyone back at the dojo shielded their eyes from the glare of his aura and by the time they looked up again he was gone.

Silence reigned for a few moments before the sound of the front door being opened caused everyone to look towards the door with hope that things weren't as bad as they seemed.

Nabiki walked in the house and called out "Where is everyone." Her answer came in a subdued voice "Out back Nabiki."

"Um, hi everbody..." Nabiki was shocked at all the people who were assembled. "What happen to Mr. Saotome?!" Nabiki looked at his slightly burnt body as his faced changed from one expression of pain into another. "Wait where's Ranma, did someone take him and beat up Genma?" Nabiki asked. She knew something bad was going to happen when Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo failed to show up for school. She started to get impatient when no one would answer her but instead kept looking at each other "well?"

"Ranma did this." Everyone looked at Soun. "We were discussing the upcoming marriage of Ranma and Akane when Ranma refused to go along. We tried to convince him to agree but he only got angry. The next thing I know Ranma was challenging Genma for mastery of the Saotome branch."

Nabiki looked at Genma then back to her father "If Ranma won why did he leave?" something wasn't adding up. Again everyone started aggravating Nabiki by clamping up and looking at Nodoka. "Auntie?" Nabiki asked her before noticing that Nodoka had her katana out. 'Oh boy, things are going to get complicated.'

A groan broke the through the silence followed by Genma waking up "Oh, the pain..."

__________

Ranma's pursuer sat in the forest of Nerima in a meditative stance 'He's coming this way I can feel it, I wonder if he knows I'm here. If not than the dark power he possesses is being drawn to me.'

__________

Not to far away in another district of Tokyo an aged Chinese man was also on a rendezvous course with the figure in the forest. 'I know where he is, but why does he keep appearing in and out of the city? It's almost like he's in two places at once. I wonder why he's teleporting into the city, powering up his aura, then teleport back to the forest to wait.'

__________

"Real smart Ranma. Just blow up at everybody and leave without even thinking things through. Ingenious, now you have no clothes, no money, no one you can contact." Ranma bitterly thought to himself. "Still I guess I was going to have to leave eventually..." He froze in place as he felt an incredible force near him.

"My, my, you're only a boy." A deep voice that seemed to come from everywhere spoke up.

"Who's there?" Ranma demanded.

"What is your name boy?" The figure came into view.

"What's yours?" Ranma shot back at the... creature before him. He looked human for the most part. Wearing a simple gray gi with the sleeves ripped off. His skin was unnaturally dark, like he wasn't born with it... but instead he had turned dark. He wore a pair of dark brown hand guards and a large bead necklace of the same color. His hair was a blood red color and flew straight up into the air with a section near the back in a ponytail also defying gravity, his eyes were also red and had no pupils. And his teeth... Ranma had come across a few people who one might say had fangs, but a mouth full of them? Yes Ranma was sure this wasn't a normal man.

"You may call me... Akuma" The figure grinned at him, showing his canines.

"Akuma? That can't be your real name..." Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"No, that was not the name I was given, but it will do. Now I ask you again what is your name?"

"Ranma. Ranma is my name. why do you ask." 'as if I couldn't guess' Ranma thought.

"I sense the dark energy within you. It calls to me. Come let me feel your power." Akuma bent down and spread his legs, tucking his right arm at his side he brought his left arm down bent at the elbow, forearm pointing at Ranma while standing on the front of his feet. While in that position Akuma let his some of his power flow out of him through his upper body. After the red energy dissipated he entered into what was a basic karate stance, his body sideways with his front arm hanging downward until the elbow which was bent bringing his forearm across his waist. The arm away from Ranma was crossed at his chest, the palms of both hands were opened. His legs were shoulder length apart as he bounced up and down on them.

Ranma took a deep breath 'The power coming from him is on par with Saffron... perhaps even stronger. It's definitely darker than Saffrons, hell it's darker than mine. But if he thinks he can scare me he has another thing coming.' Ranma let his black aura surround him. "Alright 'Akuma' I guess you didn't know, but I've already moved up to defeating a god! You're over stepping your bounds!"

"Enough talk!" Akuma roared, and the fight was started.

__________

Gen paused in his walk towards Akuma when he felt a second power appear right next to the one he was heading for. 'Is that why I thought he was at two places at once? Was there actually another person giving off that kind of power? Akuma must have sensed it at came here to fight him.' Deciding that he wanted to have a look at whatever was strong enough to get Akuma's attention Gen picked up the pace.

__________

Ranma decided to take the initiative and not let Akuma attack with his massive power. 'Hopefully I can keep him on the defensive...' Ranma threw almost Amaguriken speed punches at him each one being blocked by Akuma. 'It seems he's not fast enough to dodge them.' Ranma guessed as he continued to throw punch after punch at his opponent. Ranma started noticing a pattern in his blocking style 'I think I've came by this style before.' Waiting for the right moment to strike, Ranma threw a powerful blow at Akuma's exposed sternum. Ranma boggled as Akuma lifted one leg and stood on the toes of his other and bringing one hand up to his face level almost like a block and lowering the other, and seemed to disappear from sight and senses for a second before appearing right behind him. 'Damn he's fast... no that couldn't be speed... and if it wasn't speed then he must have' Ranma was literally knocked out of his contemplation by a jab to his ribs from behind. As he body jerked to the side from the blow, Ranma used the momentum to turn to Akuma with a spinning high kick followed by sweep. Ducking the high kick Akuma stomped on Ranma's leg when he attempted the sweep.

Ranma couldn't help but cry out in pain as he leg was almost broken. Ranma desperately shot a Mouka Takabisha at Akuma from his position on the ground. Akuma was surprised by the attack 'I didn't feel him charge his dark energy for that attack I'll have to watch out for that.' Rolling backwards onto his feet Ranma tested his leg. 'Not to bad, it'll be fine in a few seconds.' Akuma noticed Ranma inspecting his leg 'It should be broken. It seems his body is tougher than it looks, but even if it's not broken it's still in bad shape.'

Capitalizing on Ranma's injury Akuma took to the air with a jump kick. Ranma was able to brace himself while blocking the kick somewhat with his good leg, but still felt the strain on his injured one. Akuma didn't let the block deter him though as he flowed into a low kick catching Ranma's bad leg then going for his hurricane kick also known as the Tatsumaki Zankukyaku.

Ranma's head jerked back and forth as he felt 4 kicks to his head after Akuma clipped his foot. Falling onto his stomach after the final kick, Ranma rolled forward hoping to catch Akuma off guard. Luckily Akuma was about to rush at him and was momentarily frozen in place when Ranma came towards him instead. Deciding not to hold back Ranma unleashed the Amaguriken fueled with his dark energy.

Akuma grunted in pain while laying on the ground. After getting up he spied Ranma testing his leg again, the boy seemed to be pleased with his results, meaning his leg was probably alright now. Not wanting to allow the boy to move in again Akuma tried a classic set up. He shot a Gou Hadoken, his own version of a ki attack where his cups his hands together at his waist before throwing them forward, firing a purplish fireball with the imprint of the hands in it. Ranma predictably jumped over the attack hoping to land his own jump kick only to meet the gou shoryuken, a uppercut where Akuma launches himself into the air. When performed on an opponent close to the ground it can connect up to three times. Ranma tried to avoid it in mid-air and ended up only receiving one blow from the move.

Ranma landed on his feet before Akuma reached the ground and jumped back at him for a mid-air battle. Akuma realizing Ranma was proficient at mid-air battle, apparent from his ability to dodge some of his rising uppercut and able to still land on his feet, decided to send Ranma back to the ground with a zanku hadoken, his ki fireball shot downwards from the air. Ranma's eyes widened when he saw the attack come at him. Crossing his arms over his chest he fueled them with his dark ki. Landing from taking the ki blast Ranma began jumping form tree to tree. Akuma landed on the ground trying to keep track of him. After losing Ranma amongst the trees Akuma tried to rely on his hearing to warn him of Ranma's approach. 'He thinks I won't be able to block his attack because I don't see him coming. Not a bad tactic to use against weaklings but utterly pointless against me.' Hearing Ranma approach him from behind Akuma decided to play with him.Letting him come almost close enough to the point were it would be impossible to dodge in time, Akuma spun around a held out a hand to block the jump kick. He didn't even have time to curse his stupidity as he was cuaght with Ranma's shooting star kick.

Akuma found himself once again laying on his back. A position this boy was starting to make Akuma hate. Deciding he had played around enough Akuma stood up and went into his teleport again. Ranma paused at the move before turning around to catch Akuma attacking him from behind, only to have Akuma appear behind him anyway, Akuma had really been teleporting right in front of Ranma orginally. 'He... he... teleported!' Ranma dropped to the floor like he did against Ryouga hoping to dodge whatever attack Akuma used. He lucked out when he saw an enormous version of Akuma's ki fireball flew by with Akuma calling out "Messatsu Gou Hadou!"

Ranma pushed up with his arms off the floor, laying a kick to Akuma's chin with his foot. Getting back to his feet Ranma turned to Akuma and shot his new ki attack the mouko takabisha combined with his new dark energy at point blank range with his opponents face. Idly he reminded himself to name that attack something cool after the fight.

Ranma stared at his opponent waiting to see if he was down for the count. Ranma almost screamed in frustration as Akuma got back to his feet. Getting back into a defensive stance Ranma tracked Akuma as he jumped into the air. Planning on waiting to see if Akuma would fire off another one of those ki attacks Ranma was almost caught off guard when Akuma extended his foot pointing it downward and actually flew down at an incredible speed. 'I'm not even that good in the air!' Not one to be out done by air performances though Ranma went into a front flip straight up, letting Akuma's foot impact the groud under him he landed on top of Akuma. With Akuma on the ground Ranma once again laid the katchu tenshin amaguriken into him. Akuma pushed Ranma off of him with only his aura.

"This has gone on long enough!" He bellowed to Ranma.

"I guess you know your place now." Ranma smirked, internally though he was sweating bullets, 'his aura is still going strong... I didn't want to have to use them but...'

"Kijin Raishu Dan!" Ranma cries out shooting a vacuum blade at Akuma. Ranma grit his teeth as he watches Akuma teleport, bringing his arms back for a second one Ranma waits for Akuma to reappear. Sensing him a few steps behind him, Ranma begins to fire another one but notices Akuma get in his teleportation stance again. Stopping himself from throwing out another one he glances around since Akuma's ki seems to be everywhere instead of nowhere like when he usually teleports. 'He's trying to confuse me that's why he left all these afterimages coming towards me while he aura fills up the area...' Ranma can't help but feel something off about his guess. 'What if that's the trick! He isn't leaving behind afterimages to confuse me but his aura surrounding the area is to take my attention away from them!..'

"Damn!" Ranma turned back to the image of Akuma floating towards him in his teleportation stance right before it reached him. For a moment everything went black. The next thing Ranma knew he was in a world of pain like he never felt before in his life. He was assaulted by images of all the things he did in his life that caused others pain. From leaving behind Ucchan all the way to turning his back on his so called family and friends.

Ranma tried to fight it with all his might using his anger to counteract the images. 'All my sins are in part due to my father, I didn't want to hurt them, But it needed to be done. I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT ANYONE!' As Ranma laid on the ground, feeling his body figuratively rip itself apart from the insides, he watched in a detached sort of way Akuma turning his back on him as some sign appeared on his back. Ranma couldn't make it out from his position on the ground.

Akuma turned away from Ranma as the boy lay on the ground with blood pooling out of his mouth and cuts all around his body. "You made me use my Shungokusatsu. Die with the knowledge that you gave me a true challenge Ranma."

With those parting words Akuma vanished.

If Akuma stayed a little longer he would have been witness to an amazing sight.

__________

Gen ran as fast as he could as he felt the dark energy coming from his target reach an amazing height. However once he made it the only thing let was a battered young man laying in a pool of blood. Before Gen could get a good look at him he was taken aback by the new sight.

Ranma's body was engulfed in a what seemed like living black flames, the power was so strong that he was actually floating in the air for a brief moment. His body was still fighting the raging demon attack even as Ranma lost consciousness.

Gen waited for Ranma's body to stop burning the forest before approaching him. 'Even with his body fighting the raging demon I don't know if this boy will survive.' Gen used every pressure point he knew to sustain him while he carried him to the nearest hospital in the district nearby... Nerima.

__________

Far across the globe a women with mystical abilities felt the shift of power in the earth. "I think a trip to Japan is in order..." Rose commented to herself.

To Be Continued

Next Time: Partners- Ranma is offered a chance to train with the assassin Gen, but will he accept and why is Gen offering to teach him. And what this about a tournament? It's two on two? That's Ranma's partner!?

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