Thank You for the reviews, their really great encouragement.
I'm saying thank you to (in no specific order) Akane, Sieg1308, Christine and Goku, also to Goku Gohan, and Mz D who I lost when I fixed the format (wasn't it just the WORST!).
This chapter is more Ranma's story then actual…story i.e. we read of SOME of Ranma's past after the death of Akane sob
Worth: Chapter 4
Written by MusicIsMyLifeBlood
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ and neither do I have a wish to do so.
By the way does anyone mind the length of the chapters? It's just that i cant seem to say all i want to in anything less then about 7 pages. sorry about any difficulty.
FLASHBACK
After returning to Nerima, he went back to the Tendo Dojo and packed up his things.
His Father entered the room.
"Where do you think you're going boy?"
"To find Her" he stated neutrally.
"Find who, Boy? No one's lost"
"I'm going to go and find Aka- No I'm not worthy, I failed her, I let her die" he said still packing his rucksack.
"Akane? You're going away to find Akane? She's dead boy live with it, her name can be honoured through the joining of the Tendo-Saotome clans, honour must be satisfied. And besides you can't bring back the dead, it's not possible" Genma protested.
"So is killing a God, but I managed it didn't I? But it wasn't enough, I have to go find her, you try and stop me and I will beat you into the ground" he meant no threat by that remark, just fair warning.
Ranma turned and slung his bag over his shoulder, he was about to leave but his father blocked his path.
"You're not leaving, end of discussion"
There was nothing to discuss. He would bring Her back with or without his Father's blessings, so he grabbed the arm about an inch from his face and then jerked his whole body 180 degrees, smashing his father's body into the floor of their room, breaking several of the wooden floorboards.
Nabiki was standing at the door, red- rimmed eyes, looked at the prone figure of the Saotome patriarch, she wiped away at the tear tracks, formed by the knowledge that her baby sister was dead.
"Where are you going to look Ranma?" she asked her voice thick with emotion.
"I have to visit some people before I leave, then I…I don't know, to be honest." He admitted.
"She's really gone isn't she?" Nabiki asked no one in particular. "She's left us, just like Mother, our families slowly being killed off, Mother with Cancer, Akane by that bastard, who's next? What if it's Dad?" She gasped in shock, almost hysterical now. "What if it's Kasumi?"
Just when she was about to return to the blubbering mess she was before she had regained her composure, Ranma walked over to her and took her hands, looking her straight in the eyes.
"I'm going to bring her back Nibiki, trust me when I say that. But I want to bring her back to her family, not a bunch of nervous wrecks, I need you to be strong, if not for me then at least for Her. Would you do that for me Nabiki?"
The girl recomposed herself and then gave Ranma a very brief hug before saying in a voice just above a whisper:
"You owe me for the floor, you know" She gave a very small smile.
Ranma also gave a small smile at seeing Nabiki almost back to normal.
"Keep up that smile and I'll give you a present when I come back with Her. See you in a little while Nabs, I'll try to stay in touch but no promises".
And with that Ranma exited his room, walking downstairs to speak to the remaining Tendos saying his farewells to each in turn.
He left a sleeping Kasumi on the couch, it was probably a better idea to sleep off the sorrow of losing her sister.
He passed a blank faced Soun, staring at the Shogi board. Ranma noticed the empty bottle of alcohol in his hand.
Ranma looked on at the man, pitying him at loosing another member of his family. Ranma walked over to him and placed his hand on the blank-faced man's shoulder.
"Tendo" he said speaking with as much authority as he could, he had to get the old man out of this stupor if he was going to prevent the impending tears and eventually suicide. He could see it in his face, the slump of his shoulders, this was infinitely worse then any depression that Ryouga could possibly experience, it was fortunate Ryouga had disappeared.
"Be Strong Tendo, She will return, I will see to that personally."
"Swear it upon your honour, Saotome." The very small voice that Soun possessed demanded.
"I'll go one better old man, I swear it upon my life, she will return and I will be the one to bring her back."
Soun's depression seemed to lift if only slightly. He threw the empty bottle through the hall, the sound of the glass shattering was accompanied by Soun's own rising to his feet. He walked over to the bathroom, filled the basin with ice cold water and submerged his head in it, bringing it back out, now slightly more sober he turned to Ranma.
"You see that you bring her back, son. We're counting on you."
With that he walked towards his room. But just before he entered the doorway, Ranma spoke up.
"Don't kill the Idiot for what he says while I'm away, he doesn't know any better"
With a nod of his head Soun closed the door to his room and then the house was silent. Silent, of course, except for the muffled sobs that emerged from Nabiki's room. The strangled sound still reached his ears even through whatever she was using to silence them.
Ranma sighed, picked up his pack and walked towards the door. Putting his shoes on, he reached up to the door frame and tapped the panel, as it opened he removed his life savings. It hadn't been overly difficult, concealing the money from certain people, namely his father. But now he would need the money.
And so he set off, looking back only once towards that house that he was sure he wouldn't see in a while.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Seems they took it pretty hard then" Ukyo commented in a nonchalant manner, her voice sounded totally sardonic at the moment.
Ranma gave a small smile.
"After that I went to see the people I mentioned earlier. First up, believe ot or not, was Mousse."
Needless to say Ukyo was completely shocked, Ranma go to Mousse? But…but…that didn't make any sense at all, unless Mousse had something that Ranma wanted. So Ukyo just waited for Ranma to explain. And he did.
"I needed Mousse to teach me the Martial art of Hidden Weaponry, he proclaimed himself a master so I went to him, he's actually pretty good, not quite a master yet but still pretty good."
Ukyo was speechless. The idea of Ranma learning a technique let alone a whole art from someone like Mousse was mind-boggling.
FLASHBACK
Ranma trudged towards the Nekohanten, he realised it was very late but he didn't care, he was setting off tonight, no more delays.
Upon reaching the Nekohanten he quickly scanned for the person he was looking for and found him on the ground floor, in the kitchen, washing dishes.
Ranma silently entered the restaurant, not wanting to alert Shampoo, the old ghoul he didn't mind, he would just lie to her a 'Training Trip' she would understand he had no doubt. But Shampoo would insist on coming with him no matter where he went.
As he approached Mousse he put down the pack and slowly restrained Mousse, ensuring he made no sound by clamping his mouth with his hand.
"Calm down Mousse it's only me, Ranma, I need your help but I'll only let you go if you don't make a noise" Ranma quickly explained in a horse whisper.
Mousse immediately stopped his flailing, it was a miracle nothing in the kitchen was broken. Ranma let go of him keeping him upright.
Mousse turned around and fixed his glasses to his face.
"Ranma Saotome? What are you doing and why do you need my help?"
Thank you Mousse for being direct and to the point!
Ranma's pride screamed at him to stop, what did he think he was doing asking Mousse of all people to help?
Then the memory of the dead girl lying in his arms returned and his pride shut the hell up and shrunk to he size of a pea, it seemed to be repeating the same thing again and again.
'Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry'
"Mousse I need you to- and if you even think of laughing there's going to be pieces of you decorating this place- teach me the Martial art of Hidden weapons"
A simple enough request.
Mousse seemed to see something in Ranma's face and immediately decided that this was neither the time not the place for him to jeer at his enemy, there was something wrong with Ranma or he would never have asked for his help.
Mousse removed the apron around his waist, rolled down his sleeves, and inclined his head slightly.
"Let's get to it then, but not here the old ghoul and Shampoo would never let us work"
So they decided on the park.
Upon learning that this Art required imagination and more then a little of the "Mind over matter" thought process, Ranma was able to make objects disappear into his clothes and then make the same items reappear on command.
Once Ranma had finally mastered the rudimentary understanding of the martial art, he thanked Mousse profusely promising to train with him upon his return, to truly see how well Ranma understood.
Ranma was on his way again.
END OF FLASHBACK
"So how long did it take you?"
The pair had been walking a fair while now, back in that wasteland of a place they had visited, where Ranma had encountered 'Akane' only to find that it was a creature posing as her.
"About two hours, really basic technique, takes a while to get used to putting stuff away when in fact it disappears altogether."
Ukyo merely grinned.
"Good old Ranma, learning techniques in seconds, that people take lifetimes developing!"
"You're just jealous" he turned his head slightly and stuck his tongue out at her, returning to his childish self again.
"I think anyone would be, anyone trying to learn something anyway"
Ranma merely shrugged his shoulders and continued with his story.
Ukyo learned that the second person he had visited was in fact the diminutive pervert, Happousai.
Fortunately Happy had been out on one of his nightly underwear raids, so Ranma didn't have any trouble looking for the treasured possession.
The Namban Mirror
Ranma had known that Happy had repaired the little ornament; he would need it on his journeys.
"So that's how you got to the Midlands! I was wondering about that."
Ranma nodded.
"The Midlands and a whole load of other places"
Then he remembered.
"Ucchan, what did you mean by twelve weeks, when I met you I had only returned for about a day and I haven't done anything other then borrow that apartment a friend lent to me."
Ukyo was slightly confused but decided to continue the conversation for lack of a better thing to do while they were walking.
"Well…just that. It's been about twelve weeks since you left to look for Akane, give or take a few days, I haven't been taking count precisely."
A thoughtful look came over Ranma, one that Ukyo had never seen before, after all, Ukyo's Ranma -the old Ranma- didn't think very often. Only when he absolutely needed to, otherwise he would just leap into things and hope for the best.
"This is really weird Ucchan, I mean it definetly hasn't been twelve weeks…" he trailed off at the end, still partially lost in his thoughts.
"How long has it been for you, Ranma?"
"Just over a year" he replied still thinking.
Ukyo's mouth went dry 'A YEAR? A YEAR? How could it possibly have been a year?'
Ukyo examined Ranma from head to toe for the first time since they had met.
There were no differences, well other then his hair being tucked into the back of his shirt, there were no differences at all. No broadening of his shoulders, no visible increase in muscle mass, no obvious signs of shaving. Nothing!
Suddenly Ranma reached into his black under-shirt and drew out the little mirror.
"You know, I bet its this. I think that this somehow changed time a little or a lot, interesting huh Ucchan?" Ranma said accepting this new occurrence not for the completely astounding thing that it was but a common occurrence.
Then Ukyo chacked herself. It WAS almost a common occurrence. The six boys and girls had together experienced more then a little time distortion by some little trinket.
She shook her head and thanked the Kamis that she hadn't reached insanity yet. She loved her life really. She didn't really have much intention of living a life filled with the things that normal teenagers did: School, Homework, friends, crushes, School parents and of course the ever present school.
There probably weren't many teens who could say that they knew people who were comfortably some of the most powerful fighters in the world and they hadn't even left High school. Yes life was definetly one huge joy ride, especially as long as Ranma was around.
Moments after this thought crossed her she remembered to answer Ranma's almost question, whether rhetorical or not.
"Yes Ranma very interesting."
Ranma just continued to examine the little trinket while walking.
"Oh, and before I forget thank you for staying in touch although it was absolute hell to try and find you"
"Yeah no problem Ucchan, I didn't come by to see you, it being so late and all you had probably already gone to sleep and I didn't want to wake you up just so you could hear that I was leaving, so I thought I had better at least phone very now and then. It wasn't too often I hope, what with the time lapse thing?
"No, no Ranma, hearing your voice was very comforting, knowing for certain that you were alive."
Ranma didn't really know how to respond to that except to say:
"The same goes for you Ucchan, being away from everyone for a year's really lonely. There's something I've been meaning to ask you Ucchan. Where did you hear about where She was. I mean I looked, I really did, but I had her located somewhere that would have taken me a while to learn enough about".
The 180 degree turn of topic wasn't that much of a surprise to Ukyo, Ranma didn't want to seem weak, at least some things were still consistent with Ranma.
"I had a dream, strangely enough, where a woman was speaking to me about a boy who was 'confused about his identity', having 'lost something dear to him' needless to say I thought of you even during the dream. The identity thing wasn't obvious straight away, but then I remembered your curse and the rest was simple. Then she continued and said that 'the warrior would come to seek his prize and carry it from Hell's maws to the place known to him as home even though his prize wouldn't recall his face'. A bit over dramatic if you ask me, but the message was simple enough."
Ranma nodded.
"You remember what she looked like?" He asked.
"No. That's what really bugs me I can't remember anything at all other then what she said, if I try my mind seems to wander away from her."
That was when they reached their destination.
Ukyo watched as Ranma's jaw muscles clenched.
The scene was the same. Akane standing about thirty to forty metres away, at the bottom of the hill they were standing on, in the middle of at least twenty to thirty creatures, in the distance Ukyo could see a whole horde of fresh demons on the way.
Ranma watched with eyes radiating barely controlled fury.
He could see her, fending off the demons, but she wasn't doing quite as well as last time, every now and then she would take a hit, but it didn't seem to faze her in the slightest.
Ranma was reminded of the hordes pf boys she had had to deal with for almost a year that was of course before he came along and convinced them that what they were doing was wrong. Unfortunately Ranma wasn't quite as educated as he was now, so his diplomacy was simple and to the point, he used his fists and feet, to argue across the point that their attention was unwanted.
Ukyo stared at Ranma, waiting for him to make a move, this could after all have been another trick, another ploy by the demons and their lord, what was his name? Insanity? No it was Dementus. That's right.
Ukyo realised she was standing alone on the hill as she watched the dustcloud that was Ranma Saotome rush towards the girl fighting against the demons.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Okay end of Chapter 4
How was it? Any good?
Q&A can be obtained personally at Damian_triste@hotmail.com Pseudoname
I tried to explain at least SOME things in this Chapter, but nowhere near enough, I know (Sorry, Goku hehehe).
Important Point: 1) I have ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION of leaving this story on hold until I've finished, i.e. it will be finished and it will be by me.
2) I cannot update anytime soon, because I have exams coming, and I REEEEEALLLYYY need to study for them. So anytime free will probably be for sleeping or eating or maybe even studying, yes I know very, very boring but I can't help it. SORRY
However having said this I can promise (depending on my continued existence) that I will start updating again in July whether you want me to or not so please wait until JULY.
P.S. Look out for my new story (STILL IN JULY). I don't want to ruin it for anybody who may be waiting ( I hope there is someone out there who likes my writing, The reviews are definetly a very positive sign).
I won't tell you anything about it at all but I think it's gonna be a good'un.
Until July this is me signing off.
Bye Bye.
I'm saying thank you to (in no specific order) Akane, Sieg1308, Christine and Goku, also to Goku Gohan, and Mz D who I lost when I fixed the format (wasn't it just the WORST!).
This chapter is more Ranma's story then actual…story i.e. we read of SOME of Ranma's past after the death of Akane sob
Worth: Chapter 4
Written by MusicIsMyLifeBlood
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ and neither do I have a wish to do so.
By the way does anyone mind the length of the chapters? It's just that i cant seem to say all i want to in anything less then about 7 pages. sorry about any difficulty.
FLASHBACK
After returning to Nerima, he went back to the Tendo Dojo and packed up his things.
His Father entered the room.
"Where do you think you're going boy?"
"To find Her" he stated neutrally.
"Find who, Boy? No one's lost"
"I'm going to go and find Aka- No I'm not worthy, I failed her, I let her die" he said still packing his rucksack.
"Akane? You're going away to find Akane? She's dead boy live with it, her name can be honoured through the joining of the Tendo-Saotome clans, honour must be satisfied. And besides you can't bring back the dead, it's not possible" Genma protested.
"So is killing a God, but I managed it didn't I? But it wasn't enough, I have to go find her, you try and stop me and I will beat you into the ground" he meant no threat by that remark, just fair warning.
Ranma turned and slung his bag over his shoulder, he was about to leave but his father blocked his path.
"You're not leaving, end of discussion"
There was nothing to discuss. He would bring Her back with or without his Father's blessings, so he grabbed the arm about an inch from his face and then jerked his whole body 180 degrees, smashing his father's body into the floor of their room, breaking several of the wooden floorboards.
Nabiki was standing at the door, red- rimmed eyes, looked at the prone figure of the Saotome patriarch, she wiped away at the tear tracks, formed by the knowledge that her baby sister was dead.
"Where are you going to look Ranma?" she asked her voice thick with emotion.
"I have to visit some people before I leave, then I…I don't know, to be honest." He admitted.
"She's really gone isn't she?" Nabiki asked no one in particular. "She's left us, just like Mother, our families slowly being killed off, Mother with Cancer, Akane by that bastard, who's next? What if it's Dad?" She gasped in shock, almost hysterical now. "What if it's Kasumi?"
Just when she was about to return to the blubbering mess she was before she had regained her composure, Ranma walked over to her and took her hands, looking her straight in the eyes.
"I'm going to bring her back Nibiki, trust me when I say that. But I want to bring her back to her family, not a bunch of nervous wrecks, I need you to be strong, if not for me then at least for Her. Would you do that for me Nabiki?"
The girl recomposed herself and then gave Ranma a very brief hug before saying in a voice just above a whisper:
"You owe me for the floor, you know" She gave a very small smile.
Ranma also gave a small smile at seeing Nabiki almost back to normal.
"Keep up that smile and I'll give you a present when I come back with Her. See you in a little while Nabs, I'll try to stay in touch but no promises".
And with that Ranma exited his room, walking downstairs to speak to the remaining Tendos saying his farewells to each in turn.
He left a sleeping Kasumi on the couch, it was probably a better idea to sleep off the sorrow of losing her sister.
He passed a blank faced Soun, staring at the Shogi board. Ranma noticed the empty bottle of alcohol in his hand.
Ranma looked on at the man, pitying him at loosing another member of his family. Ranma walked over to him and placed his hand on the blank-faced man's shoulder.
"Tendo" he said speaking with as much authority as he could, he had to get the old man out of this stupor if he was going to prevent the impending tears and eventually suicide. He could see it in his face, the slump of his shoulders, this was infinitely worse then any depression that Ryouga could possibly experience, it was fortunate Ryouga had disappeared.
"Be Strong Tendo, She will return, I will see to that personally."
"Swear it upon your honour, Saotome." The very small voice that Soun possessed demanded.
"I'll go one better old man, I swear it upon my life, she will return and I will be the one to bring her back."
Soun's depression seemed to lift if only slightly. He threw the empty bottle through the hall, the sound of the glass shattering was accompanied by Soun's own rising to his feet. He walked over to the bathroom, filled the basin with ice cold water and submerged his head in it, bringing it back out, now slightly more sober he turned to Ranma.
"You see that you bring her back, son. We're counting on you."
With that he walked towards his room. But just before he entered the doorway, Ranma spoke up.
"Don't kill the Idiot for what he says while I'm away, he doesn't know any better"
With a nod of his head Soun closed the door to his room and then the house was silent. Silent, of course, except for the muffled sobs that emerged from Nabiki's room. The strangled sound still reached his ears even through whatever she was using to silence them.
Ranma sighed, picked up his pack and walked towards the door. Putting his shoes on, he reached up to the door frame and tapped the panel, as it opened he removed his life savings. It hadn't been overly difficult, concealing the money from certain people, namely his father. But now he would need the money.
And so he set off, looking back only once towards that house that he was sure he wouldn't see in a while.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Seems they took it pretty hard then" Ukyo commented in a nonchalant manner, her voice sounded totally sardonic at the moment.
Ranma gave a small smile.
"After that I went to see the people I mentioned earlier. First up, believe ot or not, was Mousse."
Needless to say Ukyo was completely shocked, Ranma go to Mousse? But…but…that didn't make any sense at all, unless Mousse had something that Ranma wanted. So Ukyo just waited for Ranma to explain. And he did.
"I needed Mousse to teach me the Martial art of Hidden Weaponry, he proclaimed himself a master so I went to him, he's actually pretty good, not quite a master yet but still pretty good."
Ukyo was speechless. The idea of Ranma learning a technique let alone a whole art from someone like Mousse was mind-boggling.
FLASHBACK
Ranma trudged towards the Nekohanten, he realised it was very late but he didn't care, he was setting off tonight, no more delays.
Upon reaching the Nekohanten he quickly scanned for the person he was looking for and found him on the ground floor, in the kitchen, washing dishes.
Ranma silently entered the restaurant, not wanting to alert Shampoo, the old ghoul he didn't mind, he would just lie to her a 'Training Trip' she would understand he had no doubt. But Shampoo would insist on coming with him no matter where he went.
As he approached Mousse he put down the pack and slowly restrained Mousse, ensuring he made no sound by clamping his mouth with his hand.
"Calm down Mousse it's only me, Ranma, I need your help but I'll only let you go if you don't make a noise" Ranma quickly explained in a horse whisper.
Mousse immediately stopped his flailing, it was a miracle nothing in the kitchen was broken. Ranma let go of him keeping him upright.
Mousse turned around and fixed his glasses to his face.
"Ranma Saotome? What are you doing and why do you need my help?"
Thank you Mousse for being direct and to the point!
Ranma's pride screamed at him to stop, what did he think he was doing asking Mousse of all people to help?
Then the memory of the dead girl lying in his arms returned and his pride shut the hell up and shrunk to he size of a pea, it seemed to be repeating the same thing again and again.
'Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry'
"Mousse I need you to- and if you even think of laughing there's going to be pieces of you decorating this place- teach me the Martial art of Hidden weapons"
A simple enough request.
Mousse seemed to see something in Ranma's face and immediately decided that this was neither the time not the place for him to jeer at his enemy, there was something wrong with Ranma or he would never have asked for his help.
Mousse removed the apron around his waist, rolled down his sleeves, and inclined his head slightly.
"Let's get to it then, but not here the old ghoul and Shampoo would never let us work"
So they decided on the park.
Upon learning that this Art required imagination and more then a little of the "Mind over matter" thought process, Ranma was able to make objects disappear into his clothes and then make the same items reappear on command.
Once Ranma had finally mastered the rudimentary understanding of the martial art, he thanked Mousse profusely promising to train with him upon his return, to truly see how well Ranma understood.
Ranma was on his way again.
END OF FLASHBACK
"So how long did it take you?"
The pair had been walking a fair while now, back in that wasteland of a place they had visited, where Ranma had encountered 'Akane' only to find that it was a creature posing as her.
"About two hours, really basic technique, takes a while to get used to putting stuff away when in fact it disappears altogether."
Ukyo merely grinned.
"Good old Ranma, learning techniques in seconds, that people take lifetimes developing!"
"You're just jealous" he turned his head slightly and stuck his tongue out at her, returning to his childish self again.
"I think anyone would be, anyone trying to learn something anyway"
Ranma merely shrugged his shoulders and continued with his story.
Ukyo learned that the second person he had visited was in fact the diminutive pervert, Happousai.
Fortunately Happy had been out on one of his nightly underwear raids, so Ranma didn't have any trouble looking for the treasured possession.
The Namban Mirror
Ranma had known that Happy had repaired the little ornament; he would need it on his journeys.
"So that's how you got to the Midlands! I was wondering about that."
Ranma nodded.
"The Midlands and a whole load of other places"
Then he remembered.
"Ucchan, what did you mean by twelve weeks, when I met you I had only returned for about a day and I haven't done anything other then borrow that apartment a friend lent to me."
Ukyo was slightly confused but decided to continue the conversation for lack of a better thing to do while they were walking.
"Well…just that. It's been about twelve weeks since you left to look for Akane, give or take a few days, I haven't been taking count precisely."
A thoughtful look came over Ranma, one that Ukyo had never seen before, after all, Ukyo's Ranma -the old Ranma- didn't think very often. Only when he absolutely needed to, otherwise he would just leap into things and hope for the best.
"This is really weird Ucchan, I mean it definetly hasn't been twelve weeks…" he trailed off at the end, still partially lost in his thoughts.
"How long has it been for you, Ranma?"
"Just over a year" he replied still thinking.
Ukyo's mouth went dry 'A YEAR? A YEAR? How could it possibly have been a year?'
Ukyo examined Ranma from head to toe for the first time since they had met.
There were no differences, well other then his hair being tucked into the back of his shirt, there were no differences at all. No broadening of his shoulders, no visible increase in muscle mass, no obvious signs of shaving. Nothing!
Suddenly Ranma reached into his black under-shirt and drew out the little mirror.
"You know, I bet its this. I think that this somehow changed time a little or a lot, interesting huh Ucchan?" Ranma said accepting this new occurrence not for the completely astounding thing that it was but a common occurrence.
Then Ukyo chacked herself. It WAS almost a common occurrence. The six boys and girls had together experienced more then a little time distortion by some little trinket.
She shook her head and thanked the Kamis that she hadn't reached insanity yet. She loved her life really. She didn't really have much intention of living a life filled with the things that normal teenagers did: School, Homework, friends, crushes, School parents and of course the ever present school.
There probably weren't many teens who could say that they knew people who were comfortably some of the most powerful fighters in the world and they hadn't even left High school. Yes life was definetly one huge joy ride, especially as long as Ranma was around.
Moments after this thought crossed her she remembered to answer Ranma's almost question, whether rhetorical or not.
"Yes Ranma very interesting."
Ranma just continued to examine the little trinket while walking.
"Oh, and before I forget thank you for staying in touch although it was absolute hell to try and find you"
"Yeah no problem Ucchan, I didn't come by to see you, it being so late and all you had probably already gone to sleep and I didn't want to wake you up just so you could hear that I was leaving, so I thought I had better at least phone very now and then. It wasn't too often I hope, what with the time lapse thing?
"No, no Ranma, hearing your voice was very comforting, knowing for certain that you were alive."
Ranma didn't really know how to respond to that except to say:
"The same goes for you Ucchan, being away from everyone for a year's really lonely. There's something I've been meaning to ask you Ucchan. Where did you hear about where She was. I mean I looked, I really did, but I had her located somewhere that would have taken me a while to learn enough about".
The 180 degree turn of topic wasn't that much of a surprise to Ukyo, Ranma didn't want to seem weak, at least some things were still consistent with Ranma.
"I had a dream, strangely enough, where a woman was speaking to me about a boy who was 'confused about his identity', having 'lost something dear to him' needless to say I thought of you even during the dream. The identity thing wasn't obvious straight away, but then I remembered your curse and the rest was simple. Then she continued and said that 'the warrior would come to seek his prize and carry it from Hell's maws to the place known to him as home even though his prize wouldn't recall his face'. A bit over dramatic if you ask me, but the message was simple enough."
Ranma nodded.
"You remember what she looked like?" He asked.
"No. That's what really bugs me I can't remember anything at all other then what she said, if I try my mind seems to wander away from her."
That was when they reached their destination.
Ukyo watched as Ranma's jaw muscles clenched.
The scene was the same. Akane standing about thirty to forty metres away, at the bottom of the hill they were standing on, in the middle of at least twenty to thirty creatures, in the distance Ukyo could see a whole horde of fresh demons on the way.
Ranma watched with eyes radiating barely controlled fury.
He could see her, fending off the demons, but she wasn't doing quite as well as last time, every now and then she would take a hit, but it didn't seem to faze her in the slightest.
Ranma was reminded of the hordes pf boys she had had to deal with for almost a year that was of course before he came along and convinced them that what they were doing was wrong. Unfortunately Ranma wasn't quite as educated as he was now, so his diplomacy was simple and to the point, he used his fists and feet, to argue across the point that their attention was unwanted.
Ukyo stared at Ranma, waiting for him to make a move, this could after all have been another trick, another ploy by the demons and their lord, what was his name? Insanity? No it was Dementus. That's right.
Ukyo realised she was standing alone on the hill as she watched the dustcloud that was Ranma Saotome rush towards the girl fighting against the demons.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Okay end of Chapter 4
How was it? Any good?
Q&A can be obtained personally at Damian_triste@hotmail.com Pseudoname
I tried to explain at least SOME things in this Chapter, but nowhere near enough, I know (Sorry, Goku hehehe).
Important Point: 1) I have ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION of leaving this story on hold until I've finished, i.e. it will be finished and it will be by me.
2) I cannot update anytime soon, because I have exams coming, and I REEEEEALLLYYY need to study for them. So anytime free will probably be for sleeping or eating or maybe even studying, yes I know very, very boring but I can't help it. SORRY
However having said this I can promise (depending on my continued existence) that I will start updating again in July whether you want me to or not so please wait until JULY.
P.S. Look out for my new story (STILL IN JULY). I don't want to ruin it for anybody who may be waiting ( I hope there is someone out there who likes my writing, The reviews are definetly a very positive sign).
I won't tell you anything about it at all but I think it's gonna be a good'un.
Until July this is me signing off.
Bye Bye.