Disclaimer: I still don't own Ranma1/2.

Summery: AU. Things took a strange turn at Jusenkyo. Ryouga falls from the cliff and knocked his head on an outcropping. Not only that, but he fell into the spring of drowned Musk girl as well. Now undergone a total story change.

And we're finally out of China and back in Japan. Around 2 weeks have passed since the last chapter. Ranma now lives with the Tendo's, is engaged to Akane and attends Furinkan High School.

[Sign]

(Thoughts)

*SOUNDS*

++++++++++Flashback

Chinese

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"

Akane blinked her eyes as she stared at the peaceful face of Ryona. It would have been nice to see normally, but not when it was right next to you, and in the bed no less. The blanket tossed off them as Akane had moved backwards, Ryona's face turned into a slight frown as the cold morning air replaced the warmth, grabbing onto the nearest source of heat, she pulled it closer to herself. Giving a loud sign of content, she snuggled up closer to it and returned to her happy dreamland.

Akane froze at the sudden movement of the purple haired girl, and slowly, she became aware of several things. Ryona was cuddling up to her, very close, and two warm and soft lumps were starting to press into her own chest, and she could clearly feel the lost girl's breath of her throat, warm and... "Pervert!" Still in shock and trying to process the last information, her brain shut down and basic instinct, well for Akane, took over; her arm shot out and caught the sleeping purple-pink haired girl right under her chin. What followed was a show in pain as Ryona went through the room and painfully into the bookshelf, which collapsed and buried the lost girl under it.

"Oh my" Akane turned her head and found herself staring right at her family and the Saotome's. All of them were staring right at her and Ryona, most of them with a large blush on their face. While Soun was crying at the possibility that his daughter were into girls, Nabiki was lowering her camera with a wide smirk and big yen signs for eyes, and Ranma's mouth was hanging down onto the floor as he looked between them.

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An Unexpected Turn

Part V

Ryona, child of the Musk

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Breakfast was somewhat quiet that morning, mostly due to the fact that half the household was very embarrassed, especially the two girls sitting as far away from one another as they could get. One with a mixture of a frown and a blush, the other wishing she could hide under the table until everyone forgot about the incident. It would sure help a lot if she could even remember what had happened the night before.

Nabiki had a wide smirk as she rolled the camera film over in her pocket. Yes, she knew a lot of people who would pay her a lot of cash for the pictures of Akane and Ryona in the same bed only dressed in Pajamas. Coming out from her dream world, she cast a glance around the table and narrowed her eyes. It would be good if she could get some pictures of Ranma-chan as well, Kuno would be more then happy to pay for some and his money was always welcome. Looking down at her sister, a gear turned inside her head and she leaned in close. "So, Akane-chan, I didn't known you were that frisky"

Akane dropped her teacup and turned a death glare on her elder sister. "We didn't do anything. She's the one who snuck into my bed. If anyone's perverted in this house, its her!" The last came with a finger pointing straight at Ryona.

Looking from her intense study of the rice in her bowl, Ryona flashed an angry look back at the girl; slowly the rice bowl in her hands began to crack from the pressure she held it with. "My fault. I can't even remember last night, so how can it be my fault?" Both girls glared at one another across the table. The panda and the newspaper reading Soun slowly edged away from their respective places. The air was beginning to shimmer around Ryona as her anger towards Akane deepened.

The air around Akane began to swirl as well with her classic rage aura, blue sparks jumped from her as she clenched her own hands, the very clear sound of two chopsticks breaking could be heard. Slowly the three remaining persons around the table looked at the two girls. Nabiki looked down at the table and noticed the small cracks forming under Ryona's hands. "Hey Ranma-kun. Did she always have this bad temper?"

Ranma shook his head as he feared for the lives in the room. He knew Ryona didn't know any martial arts but she had the speed and strength to do a lot of damage to someone as careless in the art as Akane. Somehow, somehow he knew that what ever would happen now, it would all end up right at him, most likely with a fist right in his face from it. Luckily for him, someone else interfered before the catfight of the century could begin right before him.

Kasumi had a strained smile on her face as she looked from one girl to the other. "Well maybe, we should give you some other sleeping arrangements." She carefully placed herself where she could prevent the damage from getting out of control, while still staying on the sideline. It wasn't her style to get involved, but it just wasn't proper for two young ladies to fight in the middle of the common room.

Soun and Genma-panda rejoined the table in a flash as they heard Kasumi's suggestion. "Good idea Kasumi. Ranma you move in with Akane, and Ryona-san can share the guestroom with your father." Pushing Ranma and Akane together, they flashed a big smile at one another. "It's perfect. Wouldn't you agree Saotome?"

Genma-panda nodded, clapped Soun on the shoulder, and pulled out his trusty sign. "It seems like the only good solution Tendo." Looking at the mortified faces of Ranma and Akane he grinned. "Now Ranma, don't make too much noise and...." A fist implanting itself onto his face with a loud smack reduced the sign Genma-panda had been holding to small chunks of wood on the floor and table.

The sound of Ranma beating his father into the ground was more then welcome by Ryona and Akane. Flashing an evil look at the elder. Ryona cracked her knuckles. She would have a nice long talk with the panda later, a very long talk. Akane flashed the purple pink haired girl a strange look and shook her head. Still, it was nice to see the panda getting beaten. Too bad family values prevented her for hitting her father for even agreeing to something as stupid as that. Genma-Panda groaned as Ranma finished the fight by kicking him through the open door and into the koi-pond.

Ryona grumbled and shot a small glare at Akane as she finished the last of her rice. Moving a finger over the simple bowl when she had finished, she halfway listened in on Ranma and Akane's argument taking place in the background. Feeling her spirits drop, she stood up and bowed in gratitude to the head of the family. It took her a good ten minutes to step out of the room as she kept finding herself back at the table, so by the time she stepped outside the room, she nearly dropped to her knees and kissed the ground.

Sitting down on one of the stones around the koi-pond, she followed the fish as they moved lazily through the water. Thinking back to what had happened at the morning table, she wondered where all that anger had come from, she had been sad, scared, lonely, but rarely angry and never to such a degree.

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

"Ranma come on, we'll be late for school." Ryona looked up from her thinking and blinked as Akane rushed out the gate, with Ranma being half dragged behind her. The sound of Ranma complaining was heard for a few moments and then it faded away. As she sat there, she suddenly heard the soft footsteps of someone behind her and slowly, she did something she was a little scared of doing normally, she slowly sniffed the air. She had stopped doing it when she walked through cities or was around other people. They had a strange reaction to it, and most called her a demon when they saw her strength and speed combined with her great sense of smell. But she took the chance anyway when she wanted to find her way back to her trail, it was also good to have this strong sense of smell in other times, especially around the panda, someplace in the back of her mind, pandas had been placed in the danger category.

As she sniffed the air, her mind went over the smell's she already knew and placed a name and picture with it. It was the oldest girl in the house, the one with the brown hair in a ponytail. Kasumi. Slowly turning around, she began to smile. The girl was so nice to everyone, even nicer then Ranma had been to her.

Kasumi blinked when she saw the girl sniff the air, before turning around with a bright smile on her face. Still the feeling washed away quickly and she remembered why she had come out here in the first place. "Ryona-san, can we talk for a moment?" She slowly pulled out the small wrapped package in her hands. "I'm afraid Ranma forgot his homework. Would you bring it over to him for me."

Looking at the thin package, she slowly lifted her head and nodded. Completely forgetting the part about her having a, to put it mildly, rotten sense of direction, she left the Tendo compound heading in what she thought was the general direction that Ranma and Akane had taken. Which was most likely one of the main reasons, that she no less then twenty minutes later found herself standing inside Luigi's Italian pizza parlor in downtown Roppongi. Staring around the bad imitation of an Italian restaurant with puzzled eyes, she didn't even notice when the horribly dressed waiter popped up and asked her what she wanted, but she did notice the cheesy anime style drawing of an Italian pizza chef on the wall.

A good five minutes later, Ryona rushed out of the door, and into the busy streets. In her left hand she held the package, and in the other a steaming hot pizza box. The next hour was a nightmare to any good person. Going everywhere from the computer center of Japan to the top of the Tokyo tower, with a side trip through the closed imperial gardens, the last resulting in Ryona getting chased by security guards demanding to know how she even got into the garden in the first place.

After a cruel track through a deep cave infested with bats and running from a 2-meter tall brown bear. Ryona collapsed on the first bench she came across. Looking around the area she was in, she blinked in a puzzled way when she spotted the sign above her. Towering over her, the words Luigi's Italian Pizza Parlor blinked with the same stupid anime pizza guy. Both made in bright red neon color. Catching her breath, she stood up again and looked down the street for the right way to Furinkan High School.

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

The guide stared out of his hut into the wide area of Jusenkyo. So far it had been a most beautiful day, the best part of it was the fact that he hadn't seen any visitors enter Jusenkyo today, or in the last week as well. Now for this day to be completely perfect, he needed just one thing, for the prince of the Musk to take a day off from his searching of the chisuton. He was getting rather tired of having to deal with the prince showing up, making a lot of fuss and then charging off into the wilderness to look for the monkey that had caused him to be cursed in the first place.

Drifting, his eyes moved over the stuff he had pulled out of the springs for this week. Small everyday trinkets, they were sorted into a pile and used to pay for his continued guiding and care taking of this place. One thing had puzzled him at first, it wasn't a big thing, but it had been in one of the most troublesome springs in the valley. While he had told the prince that he didn't know of the monkey's fate, he did know where the chisuiton was.

Turning to stare more clearly at the pile of everyday things, and one unique item, he gave a sigh. "Why customers always make so much trouble?" Lifting the object he had found in the spring, he stared at a used Swiss army knife. Labeled on the side was the name Ryouga Hibiki. Turning the knife over, the guide stared down at the other side of the knife and nearly sighed. He had never been that good at reading Japanese.

Pulling out a piece of paper, he picked up a nearby pen and began to write a letter. It was never easy telling someone stuff like this. But, what were the odds of the kid landing in the same spring as the one that the monkey had thrown the chisuiton into. Stopping his writing, the guide turned his head to stare out the door again. He lived in Jusenkyo valley, the place of the cursed springs, of course something like this had to happen someday.

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

"And over here, we see the busy streets of..." A man's voice was heard saying. "Which as you all know by now, is the spiritual center of Tokyo, and it's many shrine and temples, next we will be headed for the more modern part of Tokyo, but no until we have visited one of the biggest and oldest temples. We once again remain you that it is not allowed to take photo's while visiting the inside of the temple."

Ryona looked up from eating the cold pizza, and looked down from her place on the roof of the tour bus. In the distance, she could see a large building on top of a hill. In front of it stood the same wooden type of entrance she had seen a few days ago. So that was a temple, she wondered if it was the same one whose garden she had spent the night in. Looking down, she returned to eating her pizza.

Finishing with the strange, but well tasting food, she stood up on the bus and looked around. Maybe it was time to admit defeat and try her old way of finding her way around. Jumping off the bus, and landing on the sidewalk, she sniffed the air, trying to find a smell that was familiar. No luck followed her, as the only smell she could recognize was her own. Still it could lead her back to a place she had been before. Running back the way she had come, she grumbled at the many people who kept on getting in her way. Finally she reached the roof she had jumped onto the bus from.

An old Shinto priest blinked his eyes as he saw a female figure run across the roof right outside his office window again. Slamming open the window, he caught sight of the long purple-pink hair moving wildly in the wind, as the girl jumped from the roof of his shrine house, to the temple grounds of the old Buddist temple next door. Slowly, he stepped back and picked up the box with spirit wards. Twice in one day, surely the Kami of the temple was trying to tell him something, and this old priest would be ready for what ever would happen next.

Things didn't improve that much, Ryona determined as she had been, had spent two hours running all over the town. Following her own scent back to where she had started this wild trip meant going through all her problems again. Finally the gate doors of the Tendo Dojo loomed over her. Still it was a good start. Dropping to her knees, she picked up the smell of Ranma and the strange and rather angry girl he lived with.

Making better progress than before, Ryona followed the smell through the deserted streets of Nerima, and then through the more lively shopping district of central Nerima. Stopping, she blinked as she spotted a bruised Genma standing outside a doctor's office. Sniffing the air, she gave a small bleh at the stench of panda in the air. Moving away, she finally got wind of Akane's scent.

She barely noticed as she passed the gate leading into the Furinkan High School, and from there, towards the cherry trees, and fields behind the school building. From several of the windows in the school building, several male, and even a few female, students noticed her as she crossed the open spaces. As word reached Ranma and Akane, who were eating lunch in their classroom, that the strange girl from the day before had shown up again, they left to check it out.

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

Kuno, the great and impressive warrior that he was, was still a victim to the most basic of human needs, no matter how great he thought he was, and so, he went out in search of a place to eat his lunch. Or to dispose of it, depending on how much it was drugged that day. Silently cursing the gods for providing him with a sister as deranged as his, he also thanked them for allowing him to survive up to this day so far. Now if only the foul sorcerer Saotome would be vanquished, and his two loves freed, it would truly be a fine day for him.

Kuno stopped as he reached the perfect spot for someone like him. This was where most of his meals were consumed, in the shade of the cherry blossom trees. They added the needed background to his greatness this time of the year, and this was one place he could be sure not to be submitted to the pain from the presence of the devilish Nabiki Tendo, and her refusal to call him by his proper title. Sitting down on a blanket, that his trusted man servant and ninja bodyguard had provided for him, he unwrapped the black paper around the bento box, and took a few moments to pray for a safe meal.

As he lifted the first of his rice balls to his mouth, ignoring the strange smell coming from it, he heard the strangest sound behind him. Turning to face the source of it, he felt his blood run cold. There, on all fours, a young girl was sniffing the ground, the ground where he had hugged his beloved pigtailed goddess this morning, until the demonic Saotome had shown up and kidnapped her with his dark sorcery. Slowly, the girl moved towards him. For a short moment, he felt his eyes lock onto the wild locks of her purple-pink hair, and affection for the silk like looks of it. Then her head looked up at him from under the hair. "Ranma?"

A sweet voice reached his ears, as the green eyes of the girl looked up into his. Kuno's romantic feelings for the girl vanished as the eyes gazed into his. Her eyes, they were not human. Kuno looked down into the cat like eyes staring up at him. They were pretty, no doubt about that. But they were on a human face, not a cat's face like they should be, his gaze swept over to the pointy ears poking out from the hair on each side of the head. Slowly first, then faster, he began to remember the stories and legends his mother had told him when he was but a small boy, stories of the demons and spirits born from humans evil ways. "Youkai!" Kuno eyes narrowed as the legends of the animal demons that could take on human shape came back to him. No doubt this demon was a servant of the foul sorcerer Saotome, sent to help him capture the pigtailed girl and keep her away from his glorious presence. "Foul beast." Pulling his brokken out while he jumped back, his bento box fell down onto the ground, and the lovely, yet spiked meal prepared by his sister, fell out onto the ground and was ruined. Thankfully.

Kuno stood proud as a wind swept by dramatically. Across from him stood the sworn enemy of all that was good, and stared at him with a puzzled look on her pretty face, no doubt this was the challenge he had begged the gods for, for so long, for if he could best this creature from hell, then he could also beat the dark sorcerer. "Youkai, How dare you tarnish these scared grounds with thy unholy presence. No doubt you are a servant of the foul Saotome in his quest to enslave the fierce Akane and the beauteous Pigtailed Girl. But know this, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School shall smite thee and end the dark terror of this foul sorcerer." The girl blinked as Kuno made a dramatic and longwinded speech. Having spent all that time practicing his speeches in front of the mirror, and seeing all those samurai movies was really paying off. But no time for flashbacks, back to the foul demon. "Foul youkai, prepare thyself!" Time stood still as Kuno lifted his brokken and charged the monster with a mighty battle cry.

Ryona screamed as the wooden sword moved straight through the air, and towards her unguarded throat, aiming to cut off her head.

TBC.

AN: Sorry, So sorry that it took so long to get this out. But I was rather busy with real life stuff. But I should be back on track now. Enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think.

Dak.