I don't own Ranma aand a half. If I did, that would mean I had a sense of humor. (sob)

Anime watcher: This takes place a month or two before the Amazon's competition.

Also important:This story will not fall into the rut of the last Chapter. I will reveal no more tha Jokka finally show's himself. Now, sift through the needed and boring beginning and get to the good part at the end already!

Khu Lon pogoed her way over early in the morning to check up on her two young charges. On the way over she had been mulling over the events of the past day and every time she did she only came up with more questions than answers. She sighed and opened the door to the healer's hut with a heavy heart and a heavy mind. She opened Koiichi's door and blinked in surprise. She blinked again and smiled to herself before walking out and starting her way over to the healer's room to give the two a couple more minutes. She silently cackled to herself as she opened the door to the healer's room and imagined what the two youth's faces would look like.

-0-0-0-

The first thing Xian Pu noticed was the very warm and very soft thing she was cuddling in her arms. It tried to move but she frowned and tightened her grip on the thing to keep it from moving. The thing started to struggle even harder and she heard someone gasp,

"Xian...Pu...can't...breathe..."

She finally opened her eyes and noticed that the warm and soft thing was in fact, Koiichi's head and that it was slowly beginning to take on a shade of blue. She blushed and let go of the suffocating Koiichi and noticed two things. One, The healer and her great grand mother were rolling on the ground laughing and two, Koiichi was turning a bright shade of red. From getting his ability to breathe back or from embarrassment no one but Koiichi could tell, and he wasn't saying a word. Xian Pu was turning an interesting shade of red and muttered about the idiocy of an 'old ghoul' and was immediately rewarded with a bonk on the head with the Elder's staff. Khu Lon said in all seriousness,

"Respect your Elders Xian Pu."

After scolding her great grand daughter, she went straight back to laughing on the ground with the healer and making a certain lavender haired Amazon add another shade of red to the wonderful world of colors as we know it. After the laughing finally died down, they made their way to breakfast with both adults sniggering or cackling and both youths turning stark red and vowing never to fall for the same trick again.

-0-0-0-

When they got down to breakfast, Koiichi quickly forgot the mornings embarrassment and quickly wolfed down anything put on his plate and made more than a few people nervous. Xian Pu just laughed and Khu Lon had chuckled the rest of breakfast. As soon as everyone finished the healer shook her head at the boy and told Khu Lon that he had to get his bandages changed. Xian Pu didn't make the same mistake as last time and followed the broken boy to the healer's and waited. And waited. And waited some more until Koiichi came out with less bandages and more energy than when he went in. He flexed everything except his broken leg and arm and went over to where Xian Pu was sitting. He poked the dozing Amazon with a crutch and said,

"Hey Xian Pu. Whatcha doin'?

Xian Pu started and on reflex put Koiichi in a strangle hold and quickly threw him face first into the ground. A couple of seconds later, a muttered 'ow' could be heard and Xian Pu finally realized what she had just done and muttered a few apologies before dragging the boy back up and onto his feet. He rubbed his head where the bump was beginning to form and said,

"Why do I always get stuck with the abusive ones?"

This got him a bonk on the head from her bonbori and a K.O. for the rest of the morning. Xian Pu realized again what she had done and dragged the uncouncious Koiichi all the way to the training hall grumbling about idiot boys and how abusive she was gonna be when he woke up. Going over to her friends, Kan Lan and Jai Na and dropping the comatose boy at their feet and sat down huffing. Both girls looked from the unconscious boy to the huffing girl and started to come up with some wild and crazy schemes before Jai Na said,

("What happened to him Xian Pu? It looks like he got hit pretty hard.")

Xian Pu hauffed and said,

("That's because he called me abusive. Serves him right.")

Both girls gave out a sigh of relief which wasn't lost on Xian Pu.

("Why? What did you think happened?")

Both girls began to blush furiously and started to stutter out an incoherent answer when a new voice said,

"What are they saying about us? All I'm catching is 'why did you do challenge' and 'was he that bad?' ."

All three girls jumped and blushed that new color of red once they hit the ground. Xian Pu looked at the newly awakened Koiichi rubbing his head and back to her blushing friends. She stuttered,

("Y-you thought I-I did that with him?")

Jai Na said,

("Well yes, that's what we thought...")

("Well you thought wrong. Who would do that with a stupid, loser of a boy like Koiichi anyway?")

She suddenly had one of those great epiphany's that only the oblivious can have. She remembered Koiichi was behind her. She mentally kicked herself and turned around to find that Koiichi was nowhere to be seen. She blinked and rubbed her eyes and sure enough the boy had thoroughly dissapeared from sight. She looked at her friends who looked back with the same wondering look. Kan Lan said,

("Wonder where he went. Seems like he just dissapeared or something.")

Jai Na said,

("Yeah, that's weird.")

Xian Pu was in a panic saying,

("Where is that stupid boy. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhh! If I lose him now great grand mother will be furious.")

The two girls looked to the fuming and panicky girl and then traded knowing mischievous looks. Jai Na said,

("Hey, Xian Pu! We'll help you find him.")

She looked happy and hopeful for a moment and said,

("You will?")

Both nodded their heads vigorously and Xian Pu brought both into a tight hug that squeezed the air out of their lungs. Once she was done she let them go to go and said,

("Thank you both! You are true friends.")

Jai Na dismissed it with a wave of her hand and said,

("Don't mention it. Besides, it's not like we were doing much here anyway.") Jai Na mentally cheered in victory and thought,

'You won't consider me much of a friend after we're through with the boy though...'

Xian Pu quickly set out to search the south part of the city, leaving Jai Na and Kan Lan to and search the north. The three set off in search of the missing boy with one planning on ripping him a new one, and two planning something entirely different...

-0-0-0-

Xian Pu had been searching for the boy all through the morning and straight past lunch. To say she was pissed at a certain brown haired boy right now would be a severe understatement. To also say that she was going to be just a little rough with Koiichi when she found him would be the biggest understatement you or I would ever make. So when she found Koiichi waltzing around on his crutches in the town plaza and saying she seeing red right now would surprisingly not be an understatement. She pulled out her bonbori and was preparing for a javelin throw at Koiichi's head when she heard Jai Na scream out.

("GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD AND ACCEPT MY CHALLENGE!")

Xian Pu ducked behind the building she had come out from and was just in time to see both the ragged and out of breath figures of her friends, Jai Na and Kan Lan. Jai Na being the former who had screamed out the comment and stepping right up to Koiichi and punching him in the stomach. He fell to the ground in a heap and tried to get up but was pushed back down to the ground with her foot. Xian Pu got out from her hiding spot and started to march forward toward her 'friends'. She was getting there but they were still too far away to get to right away so they kept on talking while Xian Pu was hurriedly making her way over. Jai Na said,

("Why won't you accept my challenge? Are you afraid of losing?")

She pressed down harder with her foot, pushing the air out of his lungs and making it hard to breathe for him. Despite all this, he amazingly found a way to sigh and said, though very stressed,

("Look, I don't like fight girls unless they do something very bad to me.")

("Oh? You mean like this?")

She pulled back her other foot and kicked him across the face. She did it again and again before she heard something she would never have expected to hear from him. Laughter. Koiichi was laughing like this was the funniest thing in the world which made Jai Na kick him harder and harder until eventually he stopped and a couple of teeth and and a good amount of blood came out. She smiled and said very sweetly,

("How about now you stupid boy, was that bad enough?")

Koiichi lifted his bruised and battered face from the dirt and smiled. He said,

("Not even close.")

Jai Na was getting really pissed and pulled her arm out to land a good solid punch to his jaw. She was going to wipe that stupid smile off his face one way or another. She punched him and knocked him right off the ground into the arms of the person she was least expecting to be there. Xian Pu.

("What the HELL do you think you are doing to him!")

Jai Na said angrily,

("Trying to get a challenge out of your stupid boy that's what! He won't accept no matter what I do!")

Xian Pu looked to the boy's mangled face and saw swelling already apparent on his bleeding face. He lifted himself up from her arms and slowly began to hobble away. No trace of his happy and uncaring attitude was showing, only one of boredom and sadness as if he had been through this kind of thing more than he would have like to been. He was hobbling his way off on his crutches when Jai Na picked up a good sized rock and said,

("Don't you DARE turn your back on me you stupid man!")

She chucked the rock and hit Koiichi on the back of the head and he crumpled to the ground. Jai Na smiled as if she had won a victory and Xian Pu looked in shock at the girl and then began to run over to Koiichi. She kneeled down by his side and saw a very large gash at the spot Jai Na had hit and started to try and roll Koiichi over to see if he was still awake. As soon as she touched him though, something funny happened. Everything around them stopped. All the birds stopped chirping chirping, all the bugs stopped buzzing, all the trees stopped blowing and anything else that could have possibly made a noise stopped. That was when she felt a chill colder than any winter day descend around the plaza and felt it's coldness deep down into the essence of her soul, causing her to lean closer to the prone boy's body for warmth. Koiichi lifted himself off the ground and said something to Xian Pu that she didn't catch the first time because of the voice itself. She knew this couldn't be Koiichi's voice, it was just too malicious and aggressive to be the caring and nice boy she had met three day's ago. It was too cold and too uncaring, too vicious and too nasty to be his. She shook her head at hearing the perverse voice, trying to make it get out of her head and give back the boy she knew would never talk like that. She shook her head over and over until it hurt to get it's voice out and to leave her alone. When it did, she heard Koiichi's voice and smiled and looked up to see Koiichi barely standing and saying,

"...an Pu, you need to move. I've gotta teach this girl a lesson."

Xian Pu looked up at the smiling face and the comforting voice of the boy she knew and smiled. She nodded and left to move over to the shade of a tree to hopefully get rid of the typhoon that was wracking her brain and rest. When she fell under the tree and sat, she had mercifully passed out and left Koiichi and the two girls, who were experiencing the same thing Xian Pu was but were forced to stand to face the now enraged Koiichi. He looked at Jai Na who smirked and said,

("Is...thatenough...for...you...tofight...me?")

Her world was spinning fast and everything was coming in and out of focus. She began to stagger forwards when Kan Lan followed Xian Pu and passed out on the ground, escaping the pain. Koiichi smiled with no warmth ever reaching his lips and said,

("Yes, you have Jai Na. I accept your challenge.")

Jai Na smiled drunkenly from the effects that had begun to overtake her. She pulled out her Chinese swords and staggered just as drunkenly towards the boy who had just crushed both his crutches with a sickening CRACK and had a large flame aura burn everything in a good three foot radius. His clothes caught on fire and everything, including his bandages, burned and left him stark naked. He stood there, with fire in his eyes and said in a voice that no human could ever use,

("Now it's time to finish this stupidity. Come at me if you will.")

She was fully feeling the effects of whatever it was and staggered onto the ground in front of him and began to crawl forward, sword spear heading her snail like pace. Koiichi laughed a laugh not heard on earth for centuries and kicked the prone girl across the plaza a good two meters and said,

("PATHETIC! You challenge ME when you can't even stand straight? Why did you even bother challenging me when you can't even beat me while I'm in a weakened state!")

Koiichi had been advancing the entire time and by the time he had finished he was standing in front of her. He gave her a solid kick to the abdomen and sent her sprawling into a nearby tree, knocking her out. Seeing this, Koiichi dropped his aura and dropped to the ground on his healed knee. He breathed heavily for a moment before looking to the prone forms of the three girls lying around on the ground in front of him. He looked slightly abashed and scratched the back of his head nervously, saying,

"Looks like I over did it there, eh Jokka?"

Inside Koiichi's mind a disembodied voice(Always cool)said,

"You know, I'd have to agree with you, Koiichi Sure as hell didn't have to hit em' that hard. Man are you gonna be in trouble when those Amazons wake up."

The voice laughed while Koiichi chuckled just a little too nervously and said,

"Yup, definitely went over board. Hope Ku doesn't sense us though, or she might remember..."

The disembodied voice nodded and left Koiichi to get some clothes on and find a stick he could limp on. He limped back away from the tree line and went over to the prone form of Xian Pu and started to experimentally poke her out of arm's reach and waited for her to wake up. When she didn't, he gave her a good prod in the leg and all she did was stir. He cursed himself and muttered, 'Definitely over did it,'before hefting the girl over his shoulder and heading in the general direction of the healer's home.

-0-0-0-

Khu Lon had left the healer's home in search of the ki spike that had just reverberated throughout the village. The healer was left blissfully alone for the first time in day's and hummed merrily to herself that the walking tragedy was now out of her home for the afternoon. She took this time to ready a shower and hope no one interrupted her.

Unfortunately, god had other plans for her, as the saying would go. Halfway through her shower there was a knock on her door that kept going until she was forced out of the shower to answer the door in a towel. She turned off the shower and ran out and said,

("COMING!")

She was grumbling all the way and when the knocking didn't stop, she all but screamed out,

("I SAID I"M COMING.")

The healer opened the door and was about to scold whoever was there when she noticed two things.

Koiichi was carrying Xian Pu over his shoulder while nervously smiling and,

He did not have any bandages on him and was wearing clothes that were not his own.

"Uh, a little help here?"

He began to stagger and the healer caught him and helped him carry the girl inside while he limped in and set himself into his room to watch over her. The healer dropped her onto his bed and said,

("Okay Koiichi, what happened now?")

Koiichi scratched the back of his head nervously and said,

"Well, um ah, I think, well, um, I-"

"Yes Koiichi, what happened to these girls?"

The healer jumped and knew that being involved with this kid was shortening her life span. She calmed her racing heart and processing the Elder's choice of words said,

("Girls Elder? How many others were involved?")

The question answered itself when two Amazons came in carrying two unconscious girls. The healer sighed and said,

("This had better be one hell of an explanation kid...")

"Yes Koiichi, it had better be."

Koiichi looked nervously at the Elder and said,

"Well, um, there was this light and it all got cold and then-"

"Do not lie Koiichi."

She sighed and knew that even though this wasn't the best time to bring it up, it was also the best opportunity to slip in the memory sight.

"Koiichi, by chance, and I'm guessing you wouldn't, but do you know what a memory sight is?"

His smiled faded and his eyes took on a looks similar to flint. In fact, his eyes had begun to change to a color similar to flint until he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let out the breath and opened them to find a surprised Elder who had not missed the change. For a youth's eyes to change from a friendly light brown to a deep, malicious black certainly was not normal, no matter if you used magic or not. The boy nodded and said,

(("By chance Elder, yes, I would know of it."))

She nodded and said,

(("Then you would now what we plan on doing?"))

His eyes actually flashed briefly red before he sighed again and closed his eyes. The Elder was beginning to become just a little nervous at the boy's changing eyes and said was about to say something when the healer said,

("Um Elder? Why are you speaking in the old tongue?")

The Elder looked up at her and was shocked to find that she was speaking old tongue with the boy who couldn't speak a lick of Chinese straight. She looked to the boy and began to feel something very odd. At the beginning, she had been used to not being able to sense his ki or aura. She thought that unsettling feeling was because of that, but now she realized it was because she could, it was small but there. She concentrated all of her energy into reading the aura, and when she did, she opened her eyes in fear and began to cower back from the sitting boy. The Amazons awake in the room looked around in fear and shock at seeing their Elder act so fearful and wondered what could have caused such a reaction. The Elder sat in a corner hugging her staff as if it was her only life line and pointed at the boy with a withered hand. She said very quietly,

("I-It's you! Why a-are you...")

At that point, she started to mutter out something incoherent when the healer took a step closer and said,

("Please Elder, calm down. What has caused you to be so fearful?")

She came over to the fear induced woman and listened carefully to the ramblings of the Elder. She sat there with the Elder after a few moments and turned whiter than any of her bed sheets. She joined the Elder in her cowering and stuttered out,

("K-K-K-Koiichi! Y-y-y-your a dem-")

She was cut off by a flurry of motion that ended in the blink of an eye and left only the boy, the healer, the Elder and Xian Pu.

("-mon")

She finished lamely as she noticed the change of people in the room. She looked up into the face of not the broken boy she had met mere day's before and actually liked. No, she looked up into a face completely devoid of any emotion and eyes filled with hate that only a person betrayed and hurt in unimaginable ways could. His eyes though didn't only display hate, but the fires of hell replaced his pupils and the rest of his eyes were covered in a blackness that you could fall in forever and never see the bottom. His battered and bleeding face was covered with black tattoos that etched around his face like black flames and gave him an almost etheral and animalistic look. His body was much more defined and muscular and his body almost bled the power it radiated. The 'boy' began chanting and slowly brought his hands around in a series of articulate gestures that led the room to be covered in bright red runes that lights danced around like their was fire behind them. This brought the Elder out of her fear induced cowering and caused her to yell,

("WHAT ARE YOU DOING JOKKA? Why are you still using that poor boy? Hasn't he been through enough?")

He stopped in mid chanting and sighed and forced his hellish eyes to fall upon the Elder. He said,

(("I am sorry Khu Lon that I am still haunting his body. Though there have been...changes since our last meeting. All will be explained"))

He re-engaged his chanting and coupled with his few words that had caused a coldness to seep into all the souls surrounding him, Khu Lon realized what he was doing.

("Jokka you fool! Why are you using the memory sight with these two here!")

Jokka kept going anyway and finished completing the chant. He sighed as well as a Demon could express emotion. He said,

(("And so it shall be revealed."))

Unbeknownst to everyone, Xian Pu had woken to hear the Demon's words. She groggily shifted her eyes on the Demon and muttered out,

("Koiichi?")

She covered her eyes as a blinding flash engulfed everything in the room and sent her into brief blindness before her mind overloaded and sent her into blackness.

-0-0-0-

Khu Lon looked at the blackness that surrounded all of them and looked over to see everyone from the room, with the exception of one Demon and one boy. She sighed and hopped over to the healer and her great grand daughter who was looking very confused. The healer was looking all around her and sighed. She muttered,

"I need a new job."

When Xian Pu saw her great grand mother she smiled and said,

"Hello great grand mother. Do you know where we are?"

Khu Lon sighed and said,

"Yes I do. But while we wait for Koiichi and Jokka to show up, why don't you tell me about what happened this afternoon between Koiichi and those girls."

Xian Pu nodded and retold the event as best as she could and Khu Lon nodded grimly and said,

"Well then, I can see why he did that. Koiichi never did like being hit by rocks."

The healer scoffed and said,

"Who does?"

Both ignored her sarcastic comment and Xian Pu said,

"You knew Koiichi, great grand mother?"

The Elder nodded and said,

"Yes, I met him a long time ago."

The healer sighed and said,

"So then, he really is a Demon."

Xian Pu's eyes widened in shock and screamed,

"WHAT!"

"Yeah, apparently, we get to add another stitch to the belt of that ."

Khu Lon bonked the healer on the head with her staff and said,

"You should speak respectfully about your Elders."

Xian Pu's and the healer's faces faulted and the healer said,

"What do you mean 'speak respectfully about your Elders'? The kid doesn't look a day over sixteen!"

Xian Pu nodded vigorously and said,

"Yes great grand mother, he looks no older than me!"

The Elder shook her head in sadness and said,

"No no no. You don't understand. You see Koiichi-"

"Is right behind you."

All three girls jumped and 'eeped' as a pre teen Koiichi made his presence known. The girls looked behind them to see a little Koiichi being followed by a Demon big enough to overshadow their entire village. The girls began to back away and Koiichi said,

"Ya know Jokka, I think you should change inta me. I don't think they like you like that."

The Demon chuckled and said

"Alright Koi, I guess I had my fun."

The Demon, who no one could really describe when he was that big, shrunk down into the boy they had all seen in the healer's home. He regarded the women with as friendly a smile a Demon could produce and said,

"Well ladies, I'm sure you have a few questions for me."

Khu Lon started the questions off with an answer of her own by bonking the Demon on the head with her staff and said,

"Yes I do. Why are we all speaking the same language and why in the gods did you do this?"

The Demon rubbed his head and said,

"Well to answer your first question, in any memory sight you will adopt the language of the the person you are connecting with. I would understand why you would not know this. The answer to your second question is to show you something."

The three women quirked their eye brows and Khu Lon said,

"Show us What Jokka? How you polluted Koiichi's life with your own greed to live."

Jokka winced and said,

"Yes and no Elder. You three, Follow me."

Jokka began to move away from them and all three women began to follow. During the speech, little Koiichi dissapeared and all the women thought he had left when there was tug at the back of Xian Pu's clothes. She looked down to see little Koiichi beaming up at her saying excitedly,

"Xian Pu, Xian Pu! Come and meet my friend!"

Koiichi began to tug on her clothes and she smiled. Even though she was wary from having just learned that he was a Demon, she couldn't resist the little boy's enthusiasm and charm. She looked over to see Jokka laughing and saying,

"I don't mind. Go and have fun you two. Who are you bringing her to see Koiichi?"

Koiichi looked up to the Demon excitedly and said,

"Setsuna! I'm bringing her to see Setsuna!"

The Demon let a little sadness and worry creep through his smile and said,

"Alright then, play nice though."

Little Koiichi stuck his tongue out and quickly dragged Xian Pu away into the darkness and dissapeared. Khu Lon looked thoughtful for a moment and said,

"Setsuna...Setsuna...Setsun-"

She stopped mid word and said,

"Oh my gods. Does he mean-"

Jokka cut her off by saying,

"Yes Khu Lon, he means that Setsuna. That is one of the reasons you're here."

The healer looked confused as ever at the sad knowing look being shared between between both Demon and Elder and said,

"I'm missing something, aren't I?"

Both looked at her in a 'you don't wanna know' look and she knew she wasn't gonna last the week without needing therapy. She sighed and said,

"I'm gonna find out anyway, right?"

The Demon nodded and she said,

"Alright then, just hurry it up already."

The Demon smiled and said,

"You know, just for you, I'll take my time."

The healer groaned and followed the cackling Demon into the first of many memories they would see that night.

-0-0-0-

Koiichi led the Amazon girl through the darkness to a light at the center of the black. She felt a tingle overcome her body as she neared the light and when she opened her eyes, she gasped and saw that she was now smaller and just about the same age as Koiichi. He laughed a pure laugh that only a child can and said,

"C'mon hurry up Xian Pu. Setsuna's in the garden!"

"Garden?"

All of a sudden, she entered the light and blinked away the drastic change in brightness and looked down across the valley. She looked around and saw the most beautiful garden she had ever seen. It had every flower she had ever seen and even some she hadn't. It had fruits and vegetables of all kinds and a beach with a long, sandy white line escaping into the horizon. The waves were lapping softly onto shore creating a very calming effect that seemed to wash away the pains of life and set you in a peace so calming that nothing could possibly break it. She watched as little Koiichi tugged her to a figure in the distance. The figure turned and saw the boy running towards her and smiled brightly at the approaching two. She seemed to be the same age as Koiichi and Xian Pu but something about her seemed...older. She grabbed the little boy in a bear hug and ruffled his hair saying,

"Where have you been, huh? I've been playin' here all alone because you were late."

There was no hint of anger or meanness in her words, but the boy saddened and said,

"I'm sorry, I had to do something."

The girl smiled and said,

"Apology accepted. Now why don't you introduce your friend, hm?"

The boy brightened and smiled. He said

"Okay. Xian Pu, meet Setsuna. Setsuna, Xian Pu."

The girls shaked hands and the only one who truly kenw what the weight of what this meeting meant was in a ten year old mindset without a care in the world.

A/N: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Left you off in a bad way didn't I? Oh well,

I'm gonna let you squirm. 0. Thanks for all the comments. Till' next time. And to answer Darkman version 3 , I believe the story answered itself.