~Lady Akitsu~ Hello everyone, and welcome to another installment of the Sabriel Series!! Sorry it took me so long, but I got a bit stuck. Anyways, to all you people who bothered to review, thanks so much!! I really appreciate it… I reposted Chap.1-3, so go ahead and check that out if you want. Oh, and I need a beta reader and/or someone to bounce ideas off of. So if anyone feels up to it, please let me know. Oh, and anyone who can tell me where I put the Cowboy Bebop reference gets a cookie or some other sugar-infested treat!! ^_^ Arigato gozaimasu! Enjoy!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½. If you want to use Sabriel, you ask first.

A/N: Once again, as a reminder… Italics for thoughts, foreign words, or book titles, ALL CAPS for shouting or sounds, bold for emphasis in speech.

The Sabriel Series, Part I: Enter Sabriel

Chapter Three

"Hmph. I've been done." Ryouga snorted as he looked at the mysterious girl. "I've… just been thinking. That's all."

"Uh huh… I see. So, what were you thinking of?"

Ryouga cleared his throat and looked away into the jungle. "It's really none of your concern. Thank you for your help, but I must get going." Ryouga bent down, got his bag and heaved it over onto his back. As he turned to leave, she spoke.

"Was it about Ranma Saotome? Revenge, perhaps…?"

Ryouga froze. What the-? It's not possible… How the hell could she have known? And how does she know about Saotome…? Ryouga whirled around to face her with a look of slightly frightened astonishment on his face.

"Who are you…?"

The girl just smiled.

"Time will tell. Just wait until we get to Nermia. I will explain everything when we get there." She put her foot back onto the ground and stood up straight. She looked at Ryouga and gave him a small reassuring smile.

"Shall we?" She motioned to the beaten dirt path. The rain drizzled downward; its trademark sound was the only thing that could be heard as the two watched the other, Ryouga with awe, the mysterious girl with a reserved quiet smile. As suddenly as it began, the rain started to lessen, diminishing slowly into a light sprinkling, then to almost nothing, only a few drops of water here and there from the tips of leaves.

Ryouga recovered from his shock and smiled faintly, shrugging.

"Why not?"

The hooded girl smiled and nodded.

"Great. Let's get going."

Ryouga nodded back and turned his back to leave.

"Hey, Ryouga!!"

Ryouga stopped as he heard his name and turned his head to look over his shoulder with an adorable smile on his face. SMACK!! Poor Ryouga got hit square in the face with something. He spun around, fell over backwards and landed sitting.

"Owww…. What'd you do that for?!"

He sat up and looked at what knocked him down. It was a red bamboo umbrella. His red bamboo umbrella. He looked up at her angrily.

"You do know that I expect an explanation from you, right?"

She just smiled and shrugged.

"I thought you might be needing it sooner or later."

A small bead of sweat formed on Ryouga's left temple as he just stared at her. She stared back and smirked.

"Feh… Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to stare at people? C'mon, pig boy, let's get going."

*~*~*

Ranma had finally gotten changed back to boy-type and was walking on a fence, only he was walking faster than usual, almost jogging.

Damn you, Akane… why the hell did you have to send me to the Kuno Estate, of all places?!

Ranma frowned and tightened his grip on his towel, which was now wrapped around his waist. He shook his head and continued jogging. Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out in the morning quiet.

"Ranma!! Why is arien walking with only towel on? Is not healthy. Good wife know this."

Ranma stopped in his tracks, cringing.

Aw, for cryin' out loud… Why did it have to be her?! Ugh… This just isn't my day…

Ranma sighed and clapped a hand to his forehead. He looked up and glowered menacingly at the sky and whatever deities might be there.

You must really despise me or something, don't you?

Ranma turned his head to look over his shoulder, and sure enough, there she was. Luxuriously long purple hair done up in its usual style, a Mandarin-styled waitress' outfit that fitted her like a glove, leaving almost nothing to the imagination, and the pink delivery bicycle with a basket attached to the handle bars. Shampoo.

Ranma sighed and turned back around. He started to walk again, gradually getting faster until he was at the speed he was before. He wondered if he should go faster so he could lose Shampoo. He grinned at the thought and decided to go for it. The sound of his feet picked up pace and began to blur into one sound as he ran. And then he heard a bicycle bell ring jarringly.

Waitaminute… a bicycle bell? Ranma glanced to the side and nearly tripped in his surprise. Shampoo looked up at him and tilted her head in confusion. She watched as Ranma flailed wildly to regain his balance, failing miserably and ending up falling into the river below.

"WHOOAAAAA!!!" screamed Ranma-kun as he fell into the water.

"Oh, no! Ranma!!"

Shampoo rushed over to look into the river and hopefully any sign of Ranma. She saw nothing for around a minute. Suddenly, bubbles started to form in the middle of the river, followed by a familiar busty red-headed girl who was gasping for breath.

Shampoo sighed with relief.

"Aiyah, Shampoo so worried! Shampoo glad Ranma safe." She chirped as she smiles down to Ranma-chan. Ranma-chan shot a reproachful glare back up to Shampoo. As she scooped up her towel and began to ring it out, Ranma-chan grumbled to herself under her breath.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me? I swear, if it's not Akane trying to kill me with that mallet of hers, it's Shampoo almost killing me with those weird Chinese love drugs. And if it's not her, then it's Kodachi with her drugs. At least Ukyou doesn't try to kill me…"

Ranma-chan wrapped the cloth around her body once again and jumped back out of the river. She landed on an empty exposed sewage pipe and walked up the hill, clutching at her towel with one hand and clenching her fist on her other hand. As she looked up with scowl and an angry stare in her eyes, Shampoo came running up to her.

"Arien is okay, yes? Ranma…?" Shampoo watched bewilderedly as Ranma-chan angrily brushed by her.

"Not now, Shampoo."

"But, Ranma-"

"I said not now."

Ranma-chan stormed off in the direction of the Tendo Dojo, her mind set on getting some proper clothes on so she could get this day over with as soon as possible.

*~*~*

Ryouga sighed as he plodded along the dirt road beside his new traveling companion. As he looked around, all he saw was a wide meadow and a wooden fence along the road. He turned his attention to the girl. As far as he could see, she seemed quite emotionless and apathetic at the moment.

I wonder who she is…and how she knew so much about me… Ryouga thought to himself. He looked at her again and noticed that she still had the blue hooded traveling cloak on from before.

"Don't you want to take that thing off? It's kinda hot out here."

She blinked as his voice broke her out of her thoughts and turned her head to look at him.

"Huh? I'm sorry, what was that?" To her amazement, he had started to laugh. She growled as she glared at him.

"Why, you…! What the hell are you laughing at, ya moron?!"

Ryouga couldn't help but chuckle a bit more at her reaction. He decided to stop since he could feel her glare boring into him, even though he couldn't see her eyes underneath the shadows of her hood. He smiled at her.

"Well?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"I'm sorry, but you looked so far off, like you were somewhere else. I thought that I should of brought you back." Ryouga chuckled briefly. "Although…"

She arched an eyebrow. "Although what? Spill it, Ryouga."

Ryouga smirked a bit. "Your reaction was pretty damn funny. I bet if I could of seen your face, it would have been priceless."

The girl just stared at him, her left eyebrow twitching slightly.

"What… did you… just say…?!" Her voice was icy cold and had plenty of malice in it. Her hands became clenched at her sides and were bent up slightly at the wrist. She bared her teeth and glowered menacingly at him, her eyes flashing.

Ryouga laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. He noticed that she had small fangs similar to his. If he was in any other position right now, he would think she looked cute. Unfortunately, he wasn't, and she looked like she was going to do a great deal of harm to him. Ryouga gulped and gave his best awkward grin.

"Um… I'm sorry…?"

KLONK!! Ryouga suddenly found himself flat on the ground with a large bruised bump on his head.

"Ow…" As he looked up at her, he saw that she had a wooden staff with two oddly shaped blades at one end in her hands. Ryouga got up and rubbed his bruise, raising an eyebrow and staring at her in the process. She smirked and turned her back to him, holding her swallow like a walking stick.

"Apology accepted. Now let's get going. And keep close to me this time. I don't need you getting lost again."

"Um… wait a minute, though..." Ryouga lifted his index finger as if to protest, but he was cut short. The girl whirled around, her cloak swishing softly.

"Yeah, what is it?" came the sharp reply.

"Um… How exactly did you… uh, that is… Where'd that weapon come from?"

"Hm?" The girl blinked and looked at him. "You mean this thing?" She asked and pointed at the staff. Ryouga nodded.

"Yeah. That."

"Oh. I've always had this with me. Didn't you notice?"

Ryouga sweatdropped and shook his head slowly.

"Um, no…"

A slight look of surprise came onto her face, but disappeared just as quickly.

"Oh yeah, that's right. I'd forgotten. Here, let me show you." She motioned for him to come closer. As Ryouga hesitantly scooted close to her, she pointed to a specific spot on her staff, just under one of the blades.

"See here? Watch." And with that, she pressed the area and quickly drew her hand away. Ryouga soon saw why, as the two blades suddenly started to twitch somewhat, then inverted into the staff soundlessly. Ryouga blinked.

"What the hell…? How did you do that?" He looked up at her and suddenly realized that their faces were rather close, although he still couldn't see the rest of her face on account of the shadows. She noticed this as well, and as a result, the two blushed slightly and scooted back a small step or two. The girl cleared her throat behind the back of her hand and took a deep breath to steady herself, not knowing that she had accidentally dropped her weapon.

That was rather close… What the hell was I thinking?! Argh, baka ne! You're not supposed to fall in love with your assignment! …Waitaminute… Did I just say "fall in love?" Oh God, I did! Shimatta!! No, no, no! This isn't supposed to be happening!! Although, he is rather handsome… Gah, stop that!

Unbeknownst to her, Ryouga was staring at her as she mentally berated herself and noticed how much more she was blushing than before.

            Man, she's dealing with this worse than I usually do! God, I can't believe that I was that close to her… I could of kissed her…Oh, my God. Why did I just think that?! What about Akane?! Remember her, Ryouga?! She's only the girl you fell in love with for crying out loud!! I can't believe I just betrayed her… Well, kinda… Okay, maybe not, since she's Saotome's fiancée. But still, I am in love with her… I think… Great, now I'm doubting myself… I can't believe I almost kissed her… Argh, what the hell is wrong with me?!

To Be Continued…

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Okay, well, that's it for now. Please, tell me what you think. I live on reviews!!