AN: Ok, after much angst and hard work, I have finally finished Dragons Gift! Yay!!! I'm so proud of myself! (swipes hand across sweaty brow) I had such a case of writers block and I kept arguing with myself on weather or not to do an epilogue or include more action on Shan-Pu's part. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think. Now, on to writing The Curse of the Catfist!....and finishing my other stories like The Trouble with Chibbies and my Kenshin Story, "Shadows of the Past!" Boy, is my plate full. Anyway,...I'd just like to say thank you for all of the reviews on all of my stories and on this one as well.

Chapter 10

As he lay there wracked with pain, all of his thoughts centered themselves on the girl that was bravely trying to defend both him and herself from their enemies and everything finally became clear to him. All of the little things that she did that reminded him of his missing fiancé finally clicked and he gasped in shock and pain. Oh god. It's you he whispered quietly before shuddering at the painful sensation that ripped through his heart. Oh Akane, I can't believe all this time I've denied my feelings. But, I don't, he coughed raggedly as blood welled up in his lungs, hindering his ability to breathe. When the coughing fit subsided enough he gasped, t-think I'm going to come out of this alive

Suddenly, his body stiffed as great stabbing pains radiated from his chest to the rest of his body. His back bowed with the intensity of the pain, he cried out, Akane! I.love you! Then, his eyes closed for the last time and Ranma's chest suddenly stopped moving.

Storm heard his last words of love and felt something snap within her mind. Everything came rushing back, her memories of the past hit her like an out of control freight train. Everything all at once, her sorrows, joys, her family. "I remember...my name...my name is Akane and...and Ranma is...Ranma is my fiancé.... he's the one....I love." Her eyes focused on his lifeless form and rage began to build beyond anything she had ever felt before. she whispered in denial before a scream erupted from her throat, So great was her rage that she unconsciously brought up her battle aurora. Her aurora towered about six times the normal size of a human's height and was composed of flames. So massive was the amount of energy that it towered high above the trees. The air crackled with magic and ki as Akane let loose a soul-wrenching scream that echoed throughout the Chinese countryside. Each beat of her heart strengthened the towering inferno until it was so bright that the Amazon war party cried out, What is that! ..What the hell is going on, while backing away and flinching as they averted their eyes.

Within the blinding light, Akane fell to her knees, eyes blank and completely unaware of her surroundings, she moved closer towards his prone body, one hand outstretched in a pleading gesture she called to him in a broken whisper, "Ranma..." while refusing to believe that he was gone and that there was nothing she could do to bring him back. Akane reached out and as her fingers made contact with his skin the pulsing magic found an outlet and with a loud thunderclap echoed throughout the valley, it exploded......

**BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!**

The towering inferno began pulsing like the beating of one's heart and the bright light faded. Suddenly from the ground arose a swirling mist that began encircle Akane as she screamed out a soul wrenching cry towards the heavens. Her hair whipped violently as if in a strong storm and yet the air outside of the magical inferno was calm. .not Ranmathis isn't happening! Ranmadon't leave me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Akane's mind chanted as she slowly relived the scene of when he fell and the pain that erupted from her soul when she felt something connected to her soul, snap.

Ku-Lon gasped in utter shock at the sight. What is the seven hells! she whispered, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, it looked like a million fireflies surrounded the girl's cry gained in volume," Ranma!" The ground shook almost imperceptibly, but gained in strength as the minuets passed by. Now Ku-Lon recognized the girl as she felt the wild fluctuations of ki. It was the Tendo girl that was currently surrounded by a storm of uncontrolled magic. Akane through her head back in a silent scream of anguished desperation as the mist traveled up from the ground in a spiraling motion until she completely disappeared with one last cry of his name, "Rannnnmmmmaaaaaa!"

Ku-Lon backed away while muttering, " In all of my three hundred years I have never seen anything like this!"

**********************************************************

Miles away, Xanixi was in the middle of practicing a difficult kata when she felt the rise in magical energy, What the hell is that! Quickly, she searched the surrounding area and caught a brief inclining of rising magic. Then, following that brief sense; a loud booming noise shook the valley. "Storm!" she gasped out her adopted daughters name as she recognized the source of wild magic. Xanixi took off running towards a nearby cliff; all of her thoughts focused on one thing and one thing only, "I must hurry or she may destroy the valley!" Then, Xanaxi dove off the cliff and changed into her draconian form in mid fall; beating her wings furiously she struggled to gain enough altitude and speed to reach Storm in time.

Xanixi traveled for a good five minutes and upon her arrival, she saw the boy known as Ranma, lying on the ground and her adopted daughter engulfed in what appeared to be flames. "This is not good, " she whispered to herself as she landed nearby. Taking in everything at a glance, Xanixi noticed the cause of her adoptive daughters distress and narrowed her eyes at the intruders. Hissing in anger, Xanixi focused her gaze on the elder and growled out, "You! Why have you broken the truce between our people!"

Startled, Ku-Lon whirled around and whitened at the sight of the furious red dragon. Gathering up her flagging courage, Ku-Lon bowed respectfully and replied, "Ancient one, we have come to take back what is ours by right. The pigtailed one is my great granddaughters husband and the girl over there is to be taken to the council." Ku-Lon paused, she knew that if she told the entire truth, it just might mean their deaths if the ancient one was a friend of Akane's. Ku-Lon and the red dragon focused their gazes towards the center of the clearing and watched the events unfold.

*****************************************************************

As the mist encompassed her form entirely, Akane's once solid body became insubstantial, then it began to sparkle with hidden lights. Within a space of a second her body had disappeared and joined with the swirling mist and then moved directly towards Ranma's body and entered through his mouth and nose.

Suddenly, an unseen force lifted Ranma's body; spinning slowly as a pulsing light began emanating from every pore. The intensity of the light grew with each second that ticked by until it began to beat as if in time to the tune of a human heart. He floated there for was seemed like an eternity and yet it was just minutes as Akane's new form searched throughout his body, destroying every trace of poison in a desperate attempt to restore his life.

As Akane's spirit form moved through darkness towards a faint and dying light, she realized that the light somehow symbolized Ranma's soul. Rushing forward, Akane wrapped her spirit around his and began radiating warmth and love. Gently, she coaxed him back to life before her powers waned, .come back to me! Please don't leave me alone again. If you leavethen I will die and follow you into the next life. Please live so we may live out our lives to their fullest!

***********************************

The soul floated in peaceful darkness, all cares and thoughts about its past were gone. All it cared about now was reaching the large glowing ball in the distance. To the soul, it seemed to be calling it home; to join it and sing with it until it was time to be reborn again. Somehow, even without a corporal body, the soul seemed to smile and began moving towards the warmth that it instinctively knew, was its home. But, something called to it; something that it seemed to recognize as its other half. The soul paused in the middle of its journey and glanced back towards the darkness and saw a single pin point of light. Focusing its attention on the light, the soul could hear a faint pleading for it to return and rejoin the land of the living to be with its other half. Filled with sadness and longing, the soul that was Ranma glanced one more time towards the light behind him before continuing on its way towards heaven. Yet, before he left completely, he could hear the words and felt a strong surge of love coming from a girl that his soul recognized as Akane. Stopping his journey forward, Ranma turned around and willed all of his thoughts into one word and communicated in the only way that a soul could, he answered back with a powerful surge of love and lunged towards her, "Akane!"

Ranma's eyes fluttered open just in time to see Akane fall to the ground in a dead faint. He immediately thought the worst had happened, Ranma's heart shattered into a million pieces as he thought her dead. Gripping handfuls of dirt and grass in his hands he tilted his head back and screamed his denial into the night sky,

**********************************************************************

Xanixi lowered her massive head and growled, "I have not granted you permission to enter the valley and for that you risk your death. The girl and the boy are under my protection and you have caused great harm this day." Smoke started to curl from the red dragons nostrils as her anger stoked her fires. Just as she was about to continue speaking, she heard a screaming cry of anguished denial, "NOOOOooooooooo!!!! Whipping her head around, Xanixi flung out her senses to determine the cause and sighed in relief."Boy! She is not dead, Storm has only fainted from the strain."

Ranma stopped in mid cry as he heard Xanixi's voice before hurriedly reaching out a hand and gently brushed her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her now human ear. "You must have used up all of that magic that changed you, " he whispered as he felt for her pulse. He sighed as he noticed the gentle throbbing beat of her heart and relaxed slightly, whispering, "You came for me. I don't know how....but you followed my spirit and brought me back. I know that I was dead, but I don't know how you did it. Oh, Akane. You don't know how much I wish I could tell you the truth." He reached out a hand and stroked her cheek in a loving gesture before turning his attention back towards the dragon and the Amazons..

Xanixi spoke in a menacing voice filled with anger, "You will leave my daughter alone and leave the boy. He is not your property to do with as you wish! He is a human male who has a right to choose his own mate! You Amazons don't seem to understand this! Now, I will try to forget that you ever entered the valley.....but if you refuse....I will kill you all!.......is that clear?"

Bowing low, Ku-Lon replied, "Yes ancient one." Quickly, Ku-Lon turned around and called for her fellow warriors, "Everyone! We have lost this battle and must leave!" The elder saw many of the warriors questioning faces and a few even went so far as to try to speak, but she quickly interrupted them. "NOW!" All of the Amazons nodded their head and quickly left the clearing.

Ranma listened intently for a few minutes and could faintly hear Shan-Pu's protests. When he turned is attention back to Akane's face, his eyes met those of his fiancée. So filled with joy was he that he unthinkingly blurted out his feelings, "Akane! You're all right! You don't know how scared I was at the thought of loosing you when you collapsed. I thought you had died! Don't ever do that again cause I love you so much that it hurts!"

With every word uttered from his lips, Akane's eyes got wider and wider until they were the size of beachballs. Finally, unable to hold back anymore, she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and cried, "Oh Ranma! You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that to me. You see Ranma......I also love you."

Ranma's smile seemed brighter than the sun before he embraced her in his warm and loving embrace. He lowered his mouth until it was even with her ear and whispered, "Come on, Tomboy. It's time to go home."

The sound of a throat clearing broke the two love birds from their daze. Turning their attention towards the source of the noise, they spotted Xanixi. The dragon smiled toothily at them and made a split second decision, "Well, if you've decided to return to Japan, then you'll need a ride! Hop on and I'll take you."

Both, Ranma and Akane blinked and replied, "You mean, you don't mind?"

"Nope. Now, hurry up and lets go," Xanixi replied in a tone laced with humor. Quickly, the two hopped on her back and just in time as the red dragon launched herself into the sky. Within a few moments, the only thing left to see was a small blur heading east, towards the Tendo home.

The End.