The New Guardian

By The Senshi of Valis

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Don't own Ranma or W.I.T.C.H.

WARNING: This chapter is a bit dark in places.

Will's world dissapeared in a brilliant flash of light leaving her with a sense of floating through nothing. After searching for something or someway out she started to see images all around her, images of what must have been Ranma. She watched one where a large man carried a small crying boy off in the middle of the night while leaving some kind of paper behind.

"Mommy!" the boy cried.

"Shut up, Ranma!" the man snarled, "Are you a man or a girl?"

"I-I'm a guy, pops." Ranma sniffed.

"That's my boy." The man said.

Will realized that the man must have been kidnapping Ranma or something and that he must have been his father. She watched in horror at all of the training methods the older man came up with, feeling everything from the emotions to even the physical pain.

Was the heart doing this, showing her Ranma's life? Why would it do that though, Ranma wasn't around anywhere, she was with…Sakura. She kissed Sakura and she felt the same emotions…the same feelings that she felt with Ranma. It wasn't just that she was attracted to either of them, it went much deeper than that. It felt more like a bond, a feeling like they were a part of each other and knew each other forever. Why was she feeling that way for both of them thouh?

"Come on, boy, they are just some silly springs. This is Jusenkyo, legendary training grounds." The man Will now knew as Genma said as Ranma and him approached a valley littered with hundreds of pools.

"Pop…I don't know about this. There's something wrong here…I can feel it." Ranma said, worry evident in his voice.

"Don't be a weak little girl, Ranma." Genma snarled.

Will watched the two jump on top of the bamboo poles sticking out of the pools as the guide there tried to stop them. Will admired how Ranma was able to just glide over the poles with ease as he fought with his father. Then Genma was knocked into one of the pools and stayed under for what seemed like an eternity which was starting to worry Ranma. Suddenly the pool began to bubble before a giant Panda launched itself from the spring shocking Ranma and Will both. The shock was more than enough for the panda to get a cheap shot in and launch Ranma from his perch across the valley and into another of the springs. Will waited with bated breath to see what would emerge and would have feel to her knees if she could. Sakura's head came up out of the spring yelling at the panda before noticing her voice and other changes.

Will continued watching as she learned the truth behind Jusenkyo and then the Amazon village. She could feel Ranma's growing depression day after day as they traveled until they reached Japan and what Ranma thought was his first real friend in a long time. A friend he desperately needed after what happened.

It wasn't to be as Will watched everything, true Ranma should never have said some of the stuff he did but Akane was completely at fault. The girl had carelessly rejected Ranma and pushed him away, even abusing him no matter how nice he tried to be for the easily angered girl.

At first Will felt a little betrayed herself, she felt like she was being played with in some ways. As she watched though those feelings were replaced with sadness and understanding as Ranma was rejected time after time, hurt repeatedly by those he believed were his friends.

Will cried as she absorbed all of Ranma's memories, seeing them for herself and feeling them as if they were her own. A pair of arms circled her waist from behind and pulled her back into a strong body who she instinctively knew to be Ranma's.

"I'm so sorry." Ranma whispered in her ear, sending chills through her entire being. She could feel his regret for hiding the truth and his unconditional love for her.

"Don't be, Ranma." Will said, turning in his arms and leaning up to kiss him this time.

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"I can't stand either of you!" a male voice screamed as a small red haired girl cowered just inside her door, it cracked open just enough to hear what was going on downstairs. "You are nothing but trash who isn't going anywhere and Will!"

"What about Will?" a female voice screamed back, anger and hurt plainly in the voice, "She's our daughter, doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"That's bull and you know it!" the male voice screamed, "She's trash just like you and all those guys you…" A loud slapping noise stopped whatever he was going to say next.

"Don't you dare! I didn't cheat like you've been doing with that…that…" The female voice cried before another, louder noise was heard and the woman cried out just before a loud thump.

"If I ever have to see you or that…that trash ever again I swear I'll make you both suffer!" the male voice said coldly before the slamming of a door echoed loudly.

Ranma didn't know what was going on, the last he remembered was being in his girl form and being kissed by Will. Then a bright flash of light and he found himself floating here, watching these images…these memories. That's what these were, memories, Will's memories to be exact. How was the question though, was it these powers that he had been slowly developing the last few days?

Ranma shook himself out of those thoughts as he was forced to watch scene after scene of Will growing up the last few years, most of it wanting to make him cry. Though Susan had tried to hide most of it from Will, the small redhead either overheard everything that had happened or found out about it in other ways.

Ranma watched as they struggled just to survive as that bastard who was Will's father drained all of the bank accounts of all money shortly after leaving. Susan had no money and wasn't making hardly anything at the job she had which made it very hard to support both herself and Will. Will had secretly helped out in any way that she could to save money or not spend as much as before.

Things didn't get much better though when Susan had agreed to get a divorce without any child support or alimony in exchange for complete custody over Will with him getting no rights to her at all. The only good part that came from it was that Susan got the rights to the house where they had rented the small apartment over the garage to help out for awhile.

That wasn't the only troubles that Will had went through though, all of her so called friends started turning their backs on Will one by one. They called her names like trash, worthless, and home wrecker. They heard some of the allegations her father had made from their families and blamed her for it. Their families had been close to her father so naturally they took his side and shunned both Susan and Will.

A stroke of luck though finally came when an old friend of Susan's offered Susan a job at Simultech. The job offer came with a paid apartment, full heatlth benefits, and really great pay after training which Susan was actually just finishing up. It had been kind of hard lately still since Susan didn't really make much until after her training was completely finished. They had sold the house though before coming here and the money they made from it had helped a great deal.

All of this happening did have effects on Will though she tried to hide it. The two worst scars that she had was that deep down she was terrified of her mother leaving her and then her friends that she had made here abandoning her, or not even really being her friends in the first place. After all, the Heart of Candracar is what had brought them together originally. After Will served her purpose would the others just throw her to the side like the trash she sometimes felt she was?

Ranma couldn't help crying a little as he finished absorbing Will's memories before he felt her. Concentrating a little he found himself behind her while she seemed to be crying as well. He moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close.

"I'm so sorry." Ranma whispered in her ear, electricity coursing through his body as their bodies pressed close. He could feel everything, her feelings, her thoughts…her love for him despite her fear of being abandoned.

"Don't be, Ranma." Will said, turning in his arms and leaning up to kiss him. He didn't even hesitate this time before returning the kiss.

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Will opened her eyes and pulled away from Sakura…Ranma a little as the rain started to let up. The two red haired girls stood staring at each other in confusion, surprise and unconditional love for one another. For a moment Will wondered if it was all some dream or fantasy but she could feel Ranma's bond with her. She could feel his emotions running rampant through him, his thoughts as he tried to figure out what happened and the emptiness that was in each of them when they first kissed moments before completely gone. It felt as if the two was one.

"So…what now?" Ranma asked nervously.

"I…I don't know." Will said, wanting only to feel Ranma's embrace, whether it be girl Ranma or boy Ranma, to her they were one of the same. It seemed Ranma could read her mind as she moved close to Will and wrapped her arms around Will before their lips met once again. Will wasn't sure who started the kiss this time but she didn't care at the moment.

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AN: Thanks everyone for all of your reviews and support. And also thank you Cyclone One for all of you're help and corrections which I'll have finished and posted along with the next chapter.

Until Next Time,

Ja Ne