I do not own anything involved with Ranma and a half in any way shape or form. If I did, I would actually have a sense of humor.(sob)

At the Tendo dojo everyone had their morning routines. Akane would run, Nabiki would get ready, Kasumi would cook up breakfast and Tendo would read the paper. This morning though, there was another routine; the Saotome's routine. Ranma and Saotome had been sparring for the better part of the morning as part of their workout. It seems they did this every morning and the Tendo's would be getting a free show from now on that nobody would complain about. Well, everyone except Nabiki.

"Geez, energetic aren't they?"

Tendo just nodded and hummed his yes.

Kasumi came in carrying today's breakfast and said,

"Mr. Saotome! Ranma! Breakfast is ready!"

Akane had just come back from her morning run when she saw Mr. Saotome say something to his son they had taken to aerial combat. Through a series of punches and kicks thrown by both of the gravity defying martial artists, Mr. Saotome came out on top and kicked Ranma into the koi pond. He landed and started to heartily laugh saying.

"You're going soft on me boy, imagine what Shampoo would say!"

Mr. Saotome had taken up a girlish pose and started to bat his eyes furiously saying,

"Wo ai ni." and "Oh Ailen, you lost to great big panda man! How could you?"

It was very comical and everyone was laughing at the antics of the 'Panda man'. Mr. Saotome had begun to say what seemed like another trademark line when the koi pond began to bubble. Everyone stropped laughing as it seemed the all the emotion was sucked out of the atmosphere and the pond started to emit a dim light and Ranma, still in boy form started to float over the water. Surrounded by an black aura the likes of which no one had seen in any martial artist or person in general, said in a voice filled with anger contempt and...pain?

"Don't. You. EVER. Mention her name again. Got that?"

Genma knew he was pushing his luck but said,

"Why? What have you got against me saying Shampoo?"

The boys aura grew in intensity and turned even darker before he said,

"Shut up old man or I'll-"

Saotome cut him off and completely ignored his danger sense and common sense to get a cheap shot at his son and said said,

"Do what if I say her name? Hurt me?"

"No old man, I'll do worse."

Everyone was staring at the boy's growing aura and knew Saotome was biting off more than he could chew. Too bad he didn't see that.

"Like what! Flash me with what's under the rag like you did to Shampoo? That's why she gave you the boot. You scared her and she freaked out."

Saotome had begun to laugh maniacly and Akane knew vaguely what he was reffering to. She knew that had been a cheap shot and looked over to see how Ranma was handling it.

Ranma had frozen, his aura turning so black it was literally soaking up the light around him and dimming everything. Saotome smirked. He had hoped to see the boy's true potential through his anger and unwisely kept verbally jabbing his son.

"She really did have a thing for you boy, oh remember that time in the fields?"

His father started to imitate the girl Amazon.

"Oh Ailen, Shampoo love spending time with you. You know Shampoo love you."

He did an overdrawn content sigh as to keep up the imitation and started to act out his son's time with the Amazon afterwards, which was the last straw for Ranma. Anyone in their right mind had found cover, for the Tendo's entire house had been eneveloped in an artificial night vreated by the enraged boy. The boy himself was neveloped in a black depthness seen only in nightmares and he had now landed and started walking towards his father. Saotome had been oblivious, too engrossed in his imitation of his son and fiance to really notice until the boy had walked right up to him. Now I bet you're wondering where the Tendo's are aren't you. Well, they had over turned their table and watched the boy pogress a safe distance away with wide eyes. All four were now hiding behind the table, shocked into silence at the power literally flowing off the boy at the mention of an old girl friend. The four huddled together at the sight of the boy confronting his father and were wondering what was going to happen next. The answer came faster than any of them could think, or blink for that matter.

Saotome had finally realized the boy was standing in back of him and turned arounhd with a confident smile on his, thinking that he could easily diffuse the situation. When he saw the hand lash out from his son at unimaginable speeds and grab his throat, the smile shattered and realization caught up to him. He had gone too far.

"Ranma... Ran...ma?"

Ranma's face could not be seen, but when he lifted his up to 'look' at his father two red tracks had started down his face from his eyes.

"I told you old man...I told you to stop."

The grip on Saotome's throat increased and he started to choke as his son forcibly lifted him off the ground and held him in the air.

"You know I loved her and here you are taunting me with the best memories I have of her."

Akane finally understood to an extent and started to get up before her father grabbed her shoulder and pulled her forcibly down, hoping to wait out the storm that was the boy's wrath. Ranma had held his father in the air a moment and then threw him into the wall, causing it to create an impact crater the size of the man and then some. Ranma walked to his father, the red tracks still flowing with fresh drops of 'tears' and said,

"You know how much I loved her pop's. I would have gladly given my life to her."

Ranma twitched his hand and a ball of energy materialized out of thin air. Ranma picked up his father and held the ball of energy at stomach level, then to everyone's horror Ranma set it loose. Saotome flew across the yard and landed with a thud on the other wall and created another huge crater larger than the last one. He again walked over to his father and picked him up off the ground and readied another ball,

"Shampoo was all I had pop's, and I lost her. She hated me because I'm a freak, and you have the BALLS to say that to my face!"

Ranma let loose another 'ball' but then kept shooting the balls into the elder Saotome until the gave in and shot him straight through to the street. Ranma walked through the debri's and said,

"I'm a freak now pop's, you of all people should know that but she didn't. She was the only person who cared for me instead of trying to kill me for what I was. But you...you..."

Ranma dropped to his hands and knees and said so quiet that only Saotome could hear,

"She loved me pop's, one of the few who ever did, and now I lost her because I was too blind to see the truth. No matter who I love, they will never accept me."

Ranma's 'tears' hit the ground and made red drops on the pavement. Saotome was at a loss for words. His son had dissapeared for a while to train at some point and had never actually shown or told him just what he had learned. Genma had seen as much as the floating but that was about it, his son never really had a need to use the power he had just shown. Saotome uneasily got up and stumbled his way towards his son knowing that since the test he had never been able to see or cry. When he did cry though, the 'tears' were actually blood that seeped from his...eyes. So when Ranma cried, it meant pain for him in both mantal and physical ways. Saotome realizing this did something he rarely showed his son as he approached. He showed compassion.

"C'mon, let's go and get some breakfast."

Saotome held his out to his despairing son and when Ranma looked up, he smiled and looked encouragingly at his 'crying' son. Ranma took the offered hand and wiped the 'tears' from his face. Once properly cleaned off, both son and father walked back to the house and went to sit at the overturned table and have breakfast before he left for school. The shell shocked Tendo's could all but stare as the duo turned the table upright and talked at the table as if nothing had ever happened and amiably joked about the look on the faces of the family. Soun concluded that with the Saotome's around, peace would be a rare thing to come across.

-----

Akane was to say the least, uneasy about having to walk Ranma to school. She had just witnessed him give his father the ass beating of the century and both walked away unphazed and actually happier than when their fight began. So when Akane was doing double takes of her possibly future fiance you can understand why. After the fight and the talk with his father, Ranma had shown no emotion at all and hadn't spoken an actual word since then. Akane had to drag him to school via hand hold and was getting tired of the silence and said,

"So sleep well?

Ranma 'looked' at her and nodded. She was ghetting a little annoyed at the boy's obvious avoidance at words and tried again.

"So you think school will be fun?"

Ranma just shriugged and again danced a way around not using words. She was going to give this one more try.

"Why did you get into that fight with your father this morning anyway? Why ver that girl named Shampoo."

She finally got a reaction, but not the one she had expected. The boy had begun to glow again with that same black intensity and had actually made her shrink away from Ranma letting go of his hand. He realized she had let go and to her elief, let the black aura subside. But it seems she had finally reached her goal of getting him to talk.

"She was the Amazon I told you about in the bathroom."

This piqued her curiosity and she asked,

"You said you loved her in the ight with your dad. Is that true?"

Ranma winced and said,

"Yeah, I did love her."

Akane felt a little sad but finally picked up on the 'did'.

"You mentioned that you had loved her and she made you leave but you never explained why. Your dad said something about the rag but I missed most of it. What did he say?"

Ranma re-grasped her hand and smiled knowingly at the girl.

"I'll tell you another time but we don't wanna be late do we?"

Akane checked her watch and sure enough, they had less than ten minutes to get there. She grasped his hand firmly and said,

"Oh man, you're right. We're gonna have to run the rest of the way, C'MON!"

She then began to sprint and failed to realize in her haste that the 'blind' boy had grabbed her hand the second time and was now running alongside her at an even pace. She also failed to realize that he had dodged just about everything that came his way and actually managed to avoid the cold water thrown by the old woman so they never needed to stop by Dr. Tofu's. The school finally came into focus and Akane said,

"Finally, we made it!

That was about the same moment she tripped. By Akane watch they had three minutes to spare and knowing about the hentai horde that lay awaiting her arrival outside the school doors. She wearily groaned and shakily tried to get to her feet but all she managed to do was get up and have searing pain shoot through her ankle and cause her to crumple down to the ground. Akane hissed and the boy, still holding her hand felt both the fall and heard the hiss and said,

"Hey what the matter?"

"I tripped and hurt my ankle, I don't think I can make it."

"Hm? Why not? The school is right there right?"

"Yeah but so is the horde."

"Hmmmmmm?"

Akane gave him the thirty second spark notes on the horde and when she finished he chuckled and said,

"That's okay, I think I can take em'"

Akane looked questionly at the boy that went unnoticed as he just kept smiling and added,

"Here, I'll carry you in."

He turned around and lowered to the ground, offering her his back. She was now looking at the boy as though he had sprouteda second head and said,

"Are you crazy? You can't carry me and take the hentai's all at once!"

His answer was to wear a smirk that was almost too Nabiki-like in nature to trust and he said,

"Don't worry about the horde, just let me take care of them and you, ok?"

Akane blushed a little at the accidental flattery and said,

"Alright fine. I can't turn down an offer like that."

Akane hobbled over to Ranma and grabbed a hold of his neck while he put an arm under each leg. Now normally, any boy who ever dared touch her anywhere got a good smack to the face. But, Ranma not showing anything to have possibly pointed him out to being a pervert was an exception to the rule. That and that he was the first boy who hadn't instantly drooled over her or had tried to fight her for the right to date. For the first time in a while, Akane felt calm around a boy her own age. The calm though lasted about two seconds before they entered the gat and the mob started to sprint at the two. Ranma kept walking with the direction given by a very nervous kane and when he stepped into the grounds, a confident smirk came over his face. Akane looked questioningly at him and he said,

"Hold on tight."

"Uh yeah ok, what are you going to do?"

"You'll see."

This time the smirked changed into a small smile and Akane began to become uneasy. This coupled with the oncoming horde led her to become quite nervous and she was starting to question her judgement in letting Ranma handle things when all of a sudden a weird tingle started to crawl up her spine. She looked at Ranma who was glowing, this time white, and seemed to be channeling his ki into somethig. The horde was now twnety feet away and closing and Akane was panicking. She said,

"Ranma? What are you doing c'mon do something."

Ranma said,

"Already did."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Asked Akane hotly.

"You'll see."

Akane looked up and the horde was ten feet. She knew this was the end and sighed in defeat. She had trusted the blind boy too much. The horde was five feet away and about to pounce on the couple. Akane slowly counted the feet in her mind until the horde was upon them. Nine feet, eight feet, seven feet, six feet. As soon as they hit five the weird tingle she had felt earlier came back with a vengence and she looked to the boy to see the white glow was painfully bright now. She looked up in time to see the horde come within three feet of them before hitting an invisible wall. She blinked to make sure she wasn't seeing things and sure enough, the horde was piling into an a solid wall of nothing. Ranma happily 'looked' at her and said,

"SEE! I TOLD you I could do it."

She just stared speechlessly at the boy before her and wondered how in the hell what he was doing was even physically possible. She yried to say,

"How...how...how did you...do..."

Ranma finished for her by saying,

"How did I do that?"

Akane dumbly nodded her head and again looked at the mob of boys pressing against the invisible wall trying to get to the people within. Ranma said while walking and bulldozing the horde at the same time,

"Well, I just concentrated my ki and formed the wall in my mind. After that it just making it happen."

Akane looked at Ranma as if seeing him for the first time again and thought of how powerful he must be to create and articulate his ki in such a way. They kept walking on and Ranma asked,

"Hey, do you mind if these guys get hurt?"

Akane shook her head and Ranma stopped, concentrated for a second and then literally blew the mob away. Akane was shocked beyond coherent thought and tried to piece together what had just happened in her mind. Ranma smiled and looked at Akane again and said excitedly,

"Pretty neat isn't it."

Akane just nodded and started to wonder what kind of destruction Ranma could wreak and hopefully she wouldn't be too near. Oh what wishful thinking. Kuno had stepped out of the shadow of a nearby tree and korny sppech forgotten stared at the blindfolded boy who had taken out the entire moob of boys with what appeared to be an invisible blow.

"Such...power. This new student will prove to be quite a challenge. I the great Tatewaki Kuno embrace this challenge."

Kuno stepped out of his perch and looked in interst on his new target until he saw that the new student was carrying Akane. Instantly he ran at the boy and stepped in front of him to impede his path.

"New student, stop right there! Why are you carrying the beautiful Akane Tendo in your unworthy arms."

"Ummmm, Akane who is this guy?"

Akane sighed and rolled her eyes. She said in a bored tone,

"This guy would be Kuno, the-"

"Ah, my fair Akane Tendo, let me introduce myself to the undeserving ca who you grace your presence with."

Akane rolled her eyes while Ranma sweat dropped. Nabiki sighed in wonderment at the mornings events and said,

"Kuno baby just doesn't know when to quit does he."

The other girls in the room laughed and one of them said,

"Yeah, I know what ou mean. He just can't take a hint."

Anopther girl said,

"Your tellin me. That guy is hopeless."

Nabiki thought for a second before a lightbulb flashed in her mind and said,

"I've got a little bet to wager, who wants in?"

Immediately everybody got up and swarmed Nabiki who placed the bet for who would win the match; Ranma with injured Akane or Kuno with bokken sword.Nabiki found that if Ranma kept this up, she would be living the high life in no time. While everyone had finished placing their bets, Kuno had finished his speech and made them so late there was no point in hurrying anymore. So the exasperated couple waited and then Ranma gave his introduction.

"Ranma Saotome of the anything goes school of martial arts, now can you get out of my way so I can get Akane to the nurse?"

"What? How did thy fair maiden injure herself."
Both sighed a very tired sigh and said,

"Kuno, I hurt myself walking here and Ranma offered to help get me here to school on time. Then you showed up and made us late."

"But why would the fair Akane Tendo leave such work to this simpleton."

Akane was flustered and said,

"Well, ummm, ah he's my-"

"He's her fiance it's his job Kuno baby!"

Nabiki had been listening because there was nothing better to do and she answered the question for her little sister. She shrugged at the look her sister gave her a dirty and thought,

'Oh well, more than one fish in the sea as they always say.'

The entire room was a buzz of not so quiet mutterings and almost all the girls in her class came up to her to ask her about the engagement.

Cackling evilly on the inside Nabiki thought, 'Oh, this is just too easy.'

A/N: DON'T HURT ME!(ducks randome blunt object) It was school! Blame the school! Anyway,uh, I hope you liked it,, now you don't have to hunt me down!O