Chapter: Thirteen: A Friendship Formed from Chaos.

Reaching the top at last, Ranma threw open the last door leading him up to the roof. He stared in horror as Ryoga fell, a look of indifference on his face. He had gotten there too late! He screamed and dove forward, making a last ditch grab for his suicidal friend as Ryoga's still frame dropped over the side. Time seemed to slow down to almost non-existence as his body moved through the air.

"No! Ryoga!" Ranma felt his chest slam into the ground and yet, he felt no pain. His hands closed around Ryoga's ankle, clutching to it with all his might, holding onto the dangling boy. He slid forward a bit and banged his stomach on a loose brick, knocking the breath from his lungs. Holding preciously tight to Ryoga's ankle, he managed to rise to his knees. Planting his feet firmly on the rooftop one foot at a time, he slowly pull the Lost Boy back onto the roof and out of danger. Only then did he collapse from exhaustion.

Ryoga lay in an unmoving heap on the ground, clearly unconscious. Ranma stared at him with naked fury in his eyes. He poked the boy's prone body, shoving hard with his foot. That damn fool! What was he thinking!?

He nudged Ryoga again and at last the boy's eyes slowly opened. He slowly rose to a sitting position with a vacant expression on his face. Ranma could see he was clearly in shock and as he watched his rival, anger rose and found he couldn't control himself any longer. "Damn you! What the hell were you thinking?! You almost took your own life!"

Ryoga didn't stir which just fueled Ranma's anger all the more. He got up in Ryoga's face. "Snap out of it and listen to me, damn it! You almost committed suicide! Do you have any idea what would happen if ya' had hit the ground?! You'd be dead, gone, game over! There are no second chances. Come on, this is the real thing here! Think about how Akane would have felt if I had to tell her you died! Do you have any idea what would have done to her?! Damn it, listen to me!"

Ryoga blinked. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ranma's words had an effect. He groaned once and rose up on uncooperative feet. Everything Ranma just said rushed back to him and suddenly he became responsive, spinning to face the other boy as cold anger blazed in his eyes. He shoved Ranma back several steps and clenched his fist.

"What do you care, Ranma?! You could never understand how I feel! When I lost Akane, I lost all willingness to live! Besides, I would think you would have been glad to have me out of the way! One less rival to deal with, right?"

Ranma waved his hand in the air. "Woh, wait a minute! Ryoga, that's not-"

"Don't you dare say a word," he screamed. "What do I have to show for myself?! Nothing! I'm doomed to wander around forever, lost and alone! That's a destiny I refuse to accept! Naturally, suicide is the only answer. Why did you have to save me anyways?! You hate me! My death would amount to one less trouble in your life, that's all. Let me die!"

A sharp punch to his cheek staggered Ryoga back a step and cut off anything he could have otherwise said. His eyes, which had been dim and vacant, returned to conscious clarity and he blinked, focusing in on Ranma and staring at him as if it were for the first time. "Ranma?"

Ranma shook his head sadly and let his anger drain away. "No, Ryoga. I won't let you take your own life. Where is the honor in that? We may be rivals but I've... always considered you a friend of sorts." He looked away, unable to meet Ryoga's gaze. Feelings were not something he was comfortable in dealing with and he detested feeling vulnerable.

Stopped cold, Ryoga's eyes filled with tears of despair. A friend? That was something he had never really had. He hadn't really cared about it before, or so he had thought. Looking into his soul though, Ryoga finally admitted to himself that maybe he didn't hate Ranma after all. Maybe it was finally time to move on and let the past rest. He wasn't doing anything but wasting his life away on revenge and the more he thought about it, the less appealing that idea became.

He gripped his face in his hands. "I'm a total idiot…."

Ranma blinked. "Hmm?"

Ryoga bowed his head, too ashamed to make eye contact any longer. "Ranma, I... Thanks. You have always been a friend of sorts to me too… I was just too blind to realize it. I was always so jealous of how Akane always seemed to prefer you. I could never face the fact that maybe she… really did love you. That idea hurt too much. But that's all going to change now. I realize how things really are now and I'm not going to try to change the outcome. I'm stubborn, and I sometimes have a hard time accepting things as they are, but I can see a doomed cause when it smacks me in the face."

He staggered a few steps until he caught himself, shaking his head as if to clear it. Tears fell from his eyes and while he attempted to stay calm, his jaw trembled with emotion. "I feel like I'm waking up from a bad dream. It's like I was watching what I was doing all this time but it wasn't me in control... I was helpless to stop myself and if you hadn't come along I would have…"

"Look, don't think about that anymore. You just need a little bit of rest is all. We've had one hell of a day and I know you gotta' be hurting as much as I am. Look Ryoga, we've waited a long time to get to this point and it took both of us nearly dying at the hands of a freak in a tin suit to make it happen. I think we could become real friends if we put our pasts behind us once and for all. Our feud has been going on long enough, bread or otherwise. What do you say? Friends?"

Ryoga smiled and extended his hand. He didn't even have to thing about his decision. "I can't promise that I still won't want to kick your head in from time to time but… yeah friends." The two shook hands. For the first time, Ryoga felt his eye's open. He realized that he could look at the world in an entirely new way now that he wasn't dwelling on hatred. His soul was reborn like a Phoenix and he felt a rush pass through him, leaving him lightheaded. It almost seemed like a dream. In a matter of moments, two years of violence between the two came to a screeching halt, leaving in its place the seeds for an alliance that would make the two far stronger than the sum of their parts, though neither knew it at the time.

"We'd better get back. If I know Akane as well as I think I do, she'll probably worried sick about us! Can you manage to walk back?"

"Ryoga nodded distractedly. "I still can't believe I almost…"

"Hey, its over! Just forget about it, ok? You just need some time to unwind and come back to yourself. You can stay with us at the dojo for a while if you wanna, at least until this thing is over. I'm sure Mr. Tendo wouldn't mind."

Ryoga blinked. "You mean you'd actually let me stay in the dojo?"

"Sure, I don't mind as long as it's not in Akane's bed as P-chan. You can sleep on the extra futon in my room. There's more than enough room. Come on will ya', I'm hungry!" On the way out Ryoga picked up his umbrella and backpack which he had forgotten there earlier that day. The two started on the short walk back to the house through familiar streets filled with unfamiliar people.

For a while neither spoke. Ryoga stared at the ground as he walked. The aura of a shamed warrior hovered about him, dragging his steps. It was more than Ranma could bear and he finally coughed to get Ryoga's attention. "Ya' know Ryoga, its going to take more than teamwork and training to beat this guy. Our special attacks were completely useless. I have no idea how I'm going to find an edge this time."

"Yeah," Ryoga agreed, placing one hand on his stomach. He wasn't feeling so well. Even if he did tend to bounce back quickly after something happened to him, an attempted suicide was another matter entirely. It left him physically and emotionally drained. He suddenly felt sick when he thought about what he had tried to do and his face turned a sickly shade of white. He tried to concentrate on what Ranma was saying and ignore the agony his body felt.

"It felt like he was reading our moves," Ranma continued. "That's something no one's ever been able to do. His armor also gives him a tactical advantage. What I really want to know is how he performed Kirin's attack. I know there's no way he'd ever teach his move to a guy as dangerous as that."

"I have an idea on that one. It's going to sound crazy, but I'm sure it's the answer. While I was chasing you around China before Jusenkyo, I stumbled upon a village… one of many I visited. It just so happens that this particular village was hold a martial arts tournament and I was able to see one of the strongest fighters perform a move that steals selected portions of a person's memory against their will. I'll bet my bandanna that this Warrior learned the move and is now using it for his own ends."

"I'm surprised you didn't try to learn this move yourself," Ranma commented, trying to stoke Ryoga's pride back to life. It worked and Ryoga shot an indignant look his way, squaring his shoulders.

"I don't want to steal anyone's techniques. I wanted to beat you with my own skill alone."

Ranma smiled and nodded, turning back around. "Hmmmm. But the real question is why he's out to destroy my family's school? He told me he hated the 'Anything Goes' school of martial arts, but he never said why."

"It could have been something Happosai did to him," Ryoga said.

Ranma groaned, slapping his forehead. "I bet that's our answer right there! That old lecher is always up to something! Maybe I need to have a little 'chat' with him. Oh wait, scratch that, he isn't home. He went on an 'ultimate panty raid' in America a couple of weeks ago. We have no idea when he'll be back. Normally I'd say good riddance to bad rubbish, but the one time we actually need him, he aint around."

"He's bound to turn up sooner or later," Ryoga pointed out.

"Where there are panties, there's a way. We'll get him, one way or another." Ranma's clenched fist foretold a severe beating to come if Happosai was found to be linked to the psycho in armor in any way shape or form. "When he does come back, we'll get to the bottom of this. If nothing else, he might be able to shed some light on whom exactly this guy is. I wonder what his identity is..."

Ryoga sighed. "That's the biggest mystery of all. We're completely in the dark and the part that sickens me is that everything is going the way he wants; we're dancing to his tune and somehow, we've gotta change the music. "