Chapter 9 – Gone too far

Ranma sighted, as he sat on the huge stone, by the only spring in Jusenkyo, that wasn't cursed. He sat there, cross-legged, his head in his hands.

Ranma never cried.

Since he had been small, he had been thought to be the greatest fighter of them all, the men of men. His fathers training methods were awful torture he had to go through. Funny, he thought. I still can't hate him for what he did to me. Not even for the neko-ken. He had been forged, forged to be a weapon, a fighter. The protector of the weak.

That was what his father always said. 'It is a martial artist's duty to protect the weak'. He never though protected me, Ranma thought sullenly, fingering his sleeve. He had been subjected to every teaching method possible, everything from dangerous electric shocks to deadly traps. And he had survived. That was why he couldn't really blame his father. He had learned, he really had.

And for what? To make his father, and the mother he couldn't remember proud? Since he was small, he had learned his father really didn't care. He had cried, and it hadn't help. There were moments thought, when he suspected.

Ranma wasn't all that smart… well, at least in the academical side. He caught those painful looks his father sent for him. It was almost as if his father cared. As if.

So Ranma didn't cry, when he learned that he would be half-girl for the rest of his life. He didn't cry when he thought about how his mother was going to be so disappointed. If she even is alive, that is. But he still couldn't stop himself from shaking or the rising of something in his throat.

It wasn't really before the cold, silent tears fell to his hands that he realized it.

I am crying.

Ares watched from the distance, as Ranma sat by the lake. He had watched the whole thing from distance, and felt proud of the boy's efforts.

Ranma had finally caught up with his father. After some fighting, and yelling from the guide of the springs, the man and the boy had learned the truth of Jusenkyo. Ranma's father had not really been shocked, but had at least the decency to look apologetic.

After changing to their original forms Ranma and Genma took separate ways. Ranma, feeling the need to get away, and Genma granting him his privacy. And the boy didn't even cry… Ares was shaken out of his thoughts as a painful shout could be heard from the guide's hut. Deciding to check out it, if it would happen to be another demon, he pulled out his katana, and thanked his godson in his mind for the weapon.

Ranma had apparently heard the shout as well, because he arrived to the hut at the same time as Ares. The stopped in the doorway, Ranma throwing him a confused glance, which clearly said: 'Who the fuck are you, and where did you come from?' But Ranma didn't voice his question, just simply nodded, before sprinting into the hut. Ares followed closely behind.

The scene they came in was odd. The hut considered two rooms, one being a bedroom, and the other being the kitchen/living room. In the middle of the kitchen was a simple kitchen table, and in the west side of the hut was an open fire with different kitchen devices.

Genma was sitting by the kitchen table, looking impatient, with a set of eating sticks in his hand. The guide though, was trying to corner a black piglet, which was fighting abnormally strongly back, obliviously not wanting to be dinner, as the guide was holding a knife.

Ranma moved to stand by the wall, looking at the scene in understanding.

"What is going on in here?" Ares asked in a powerful voice, which made the others to ignore the fact that he looked as if the same age as Ranma.

"The pork for the sour pork is trying to run away." The guide answered in Japanese, which was the language Ares had made his question in. Ares looked at the piglet closer, and noticed a faintly red aura around it. Recognizing the piglet as a Jusenkyo victim, he made a suggestion.

"It obliviously doesn't want to be cooked. How about it, I'll buy it from you? I have a sister who would just love to have a piglet like this one…." Ares said, smiling his fake-but-you-have-to-be-immortal-to-notice-smile, and sending a small wandless bend-to-my-will-charm.

"No, sir, you can have it." The guide said in a perfect Japanese that seemed little surreal, as he had just talked with Chinese accent. Genma or Ranma didn't either notice, or didn't think it was important. Ranma stayed expressionless, but Genma's face twisted in frustration as his lunch had gotten away.

The piglet squeaked, and Ares looked at it, and silently whispered so that the others could not hear:

"Don't worry, I know what you are. Just follow me, and be a good pig for now." Then Ares expressionless stalked to Ranma. "Ah, I saw you fighting at the cursed springs…" Ares started, explaining how he was there, filling them in on the fake story he had just made up. "… So, how about we spar for a moment?" Ares suggested at the end of his story. Ranma's expression brightened at the idea of a fight, and Ares found himself liking the other boy.

Just like me, when I was younger…

Ares and Ranma sparred to the evening, both filling with the thrill of the fight, Ranma finally finding someone who offered a challenge in fight.

"So, what's your name?" Ranma asked, as they were sitting by the very stone Ranma had been earlier sitting in. Ares considered for a moment, before giving the same name he had given in Sunnydale.

"I'm Harry."

"Ranma."

"I know. You are some sort of men of men, right?" Ares asked.

Ranma just scoffed, and Ares smiled ironically. "You are dealing with it quite well, thought." Ares then said, after a moment of silence. He wasn't even sure if Ranma detected the hidden question in the statement, or simply didn't want to answer.

"Yea…well my life has been shit this far." The statement was dry, and Ares wasn't really sure how to answer. "I think it's actually kind of sad." Ranma said after the couple of minutes of comfortable silence.

"What? The fact that that you now are most possibly stuck as a femalethe restof your life?" Ares threw a stone on the water, making the stone jump on the surface so many times, that they didn't even see where it landed. Ranma took a flat stone of his own.

"Well, there's obliviously that." Ranma threw the stone, and it just dropped below the surface. "…And then there is the fact that my life evolves completely around my martial arts. And If I lose my martial arts?..."

"…You will become just like those old, bitter martial artists, drinking their sake, and doing exactly the opposite what they used to. You will become the exact opposite of the force you now represent." Ares eyes became misty, clouded with thoughts, as he finished Ranma's sentence. Ranma threw him a weird look, and then turned back to looked at the training grounds of Jusenkyo.

The sun was starting to near the horizon, its rays hitting the multiple cursed springs, making them glitter with a golden light. The air was filled with light mist, making the place look unearthly. Ranma sighted, and muttered a silent "yeah."

They sat there, side by side, watching the sundown making the shadows grow. It wasn't until it was quite dark, when a thought occurred to Ares.

Wait a minute… I tried to teleport to Japan… Then why the hell am I in China?

To Be Continued

A/N: Sorry for the fact that my characters are OC. Just may I remind you that Ares really isn't Harry? He is mostly Ares, just with Harry's memories, and better touch with the world around him. And about me killing Hedwig? Well, sorry about that actually, but it was this old joke between me and my friend, so I apologize for that one.

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