Ranma 1/2

----------------

I own none of these characters, just the story that I have put them into. For a more in depth rant try reading my other story, For Future Times. It may or may not be posted by now.

----------------

Remembrance

Chapter 3

Ranma jumped down and landed lightly with a wave, "Yeah, you have fun with that whole thing. I'm going to try to figure out who I am in the meantime."

The man with the tape hummed happily as he walked back towards the house with the tape in his hand. It was a tape that held many possibilities, one of which was offering a clue as to who he was. The other was finding out what he used to do that would get a person like Ryouga aggravated, not that it was all that hard to get him aggravated to tell the truth. Nabiki followed behind him, curious as to what the whole exchange had been about in the first place. She had heard Ryouga yell and wisely stood back so she was not in harms way. It would do no good for her to get hurt by either of the overly powerful martial artists.

Ranma inserted the tape into the video player and turned on the television, waiting as the screen came to life. As it did it showed a man in a white jacket wearing glasses came on the screen. There was a short introduction to the experiment and a long speech on what cause the experiment was. This was pretty much summed up to be that a super soldier was to be created to help with any war that was getting out of hand. Once this was over with the man moved to an enclosed room with a tank full of liquid. In the tank was a man who looked pretty average. Sitting in a chair next to the tank was Ranma, strapped down and looking a little irritated but cooperating just the same.

The doctor gave the sign to start the experiment and what looked to be automated needles stuck themselves into each of Ranma's arms. Blood began to flow through the tubes for about two minutes before the needles withdrew themselves and the restraints were released. The blood eventually came to a tank and was mixed with some kind of green liquid before it was heated and pumped through more tubes into the tank. The reaction inside the tank was... interesting. Bubbles started to rise as the man in the tank flailed around and started to scream in what could only be pain. Eventually the bubbles shrouded the view of the man an only the screams could be heard for a while. Then the screams went away and the bubbles subsided. What was left was a man that looked a lot like Ranma but not quiet exactly the same. Both Ranma and the man were taken away in wheelchairs and the doctor came back on looking exited. He got only one word out about being overjoyed at the success of the experiment before Ranma turned the video off and took the tape out. He stared at it for a second before he closed his eyes and crushed the tape in his hand.

"Ranma?" Nabiki asked in concern.

The man let the pieces of the tape fall to the floor, his open hand revealing where one of the sharper pieces had cut his hand lightly, "So that's who I was, I was a guinea pig. I could have lived without that."

Nabiki gasped as she saw the cut, "Hold on, I'll get something for that cut."

The man shook his head, "Don't bother, someone like me doesn't have a need for that. Just give me a couple minutes."

"Ranma, what's wrong?"

The man stared at her sharply, "I just saw myself being used to make a super soldier and you ask me what's wrong. I don't know, you tell me."

Nabiki sighed, "Okay, it was a stupid question, but it's not like it's the end of the world."

"No, just the end of any sense of decency I ever had," Ranma returned, "I'm nothing but walking spare body parts."

What happened next was a surprise to both the martial artist and the woman standing across from him. The surprise was actually greater than the actual hit that had come from the woman. Ranma blinked a few times before he rubbed his cheek and frowned. Nabiki had just slapped him in the face, not just metaphorically but actually hit him. The man was having trouble figuring out just what the hell was going on.

"Wha- What the hell?"

Nabiki looked at her own hand in shock before she frowned at him, "You know, I'm just as surprised as you are that I did that. However, the reason for it is the fact that I've never seen you so pitiful. I mean what the hell, Ranma?"

The man smiled sadly and conceded, "I see, you're right. I shouldn't let this get me down. Besides, I need to continue seeking answers."

The woman across from him gave him a wry smile, "You know, that is exactly the answer I would expect from someone like you. Prideful and determined, and an idiot."

The man blinked as a smile came across Nabiki's face at the words, he frowned at first then shrugged, "Oh, well, I have you to make up for my lack of brains. How much do I owe you for that tip."

The woman smiled as he began to reach for his wallet, she leaned in and kissed him for a second before saying, "Ranma, baby, as far as that kind of information is concerned, I'd say free is a price I can accept."

Ranma grinned and shook his head, "Oh well, and here I had a new 50,000 Yen bill that I need to part with."

"50,000?" Nabiki's eyes went wide as she heard his words, then she placed a hand over her mouth and coughed slightly before composing herself, "Yes, well, I guess free is a bit much, I mean that amount will pay for it."

Shrugging, Ranma shook his finger in admonishment, "Going back on your word is not good, Nabiki-san."

"Why you!" The woman yelled in mock anger, "that's not fair."

Ranma smiled and waved said bill in the woman's face, "Come get it,

Na-bi-ki-chan, if you can."

"Why you," The woman yelled, "I'll get you for saying my name like that, and I'll get that money from you."

"Oh really," Ranma continued to taunt the woman as he danced out of the reach of her grasp as if it was nothing.

Nabiki, for her part, was trying with everything she had to catch the martial artist and make him pay for this humiliation. She was the one who was supposed to do these kinds of things to him, she could not win with her physical prowess alone. She had to use the part of her that had always had an advantage of this man, her mind. Nabiki was aware that a lot had changed in Ranma since he had been away but she was sure that he would not be able to cope with how sharp her own mind had gotten when she wanted it to be. It was definitely time to show

Ranma just what kind of woman she could be when you messed with her.

Nabiki stopped suddenly and turned away from the man, "You are so mean, Ranma.

Despite saying otherwise you continue to show that you think that all I care for is money."

The man was surprised by the fact that tears suddenly started to appear in

Nabiki's eyes as she spoke to him, "Wait, Nabiki, That's not what I, I didn't mean..."

The woman looked over her shoulder with fake tears in her eyes and the man began to stutter an apology. This was exactly how she had thought he would act, he had not really changed, just become really good at repressing his inner feelings.

Now that she had brought the real him out it would be easy to repay him for teasing her like that. An evil grin crept on her face but she quickly suppressed it and continued her act.

Looking as sad as she could, Nabiki put a hand to her mouth looking down and making her eyes shimmer slightly, "Ranma, how could you do this? I thought you loved me."

"Nabiki, I'm sorry," Ranma said desperately as he went to embrace her.

With a smile of victory, Nabiki grabbed the money in the man's hand and stuffed it in her pocket, "Ha, gotcha."

Ranma blinked and looked at his hand before he fixed the woman with a withering glare, "That was low."

"You started it," Nabiki said with a winning smile.

The man frowned, "I guess I did. Now come here you."

"Eek!" Nabiki ran away in mock fear as Ranma gave chase to her, they both knew this was a game, "No, you evil man!"

Ranma followed Nabiki inside her house and gave chase to her as they ran through the living room, yelling like little kids. The chase wound through the house with no real direction, making its way upstairs and through the rooms. Hitomi, who had gone to sleep, walked out of her room rubbing her eyes and blinking at the scene. She was not sure whether to laugh or make plans to see a physiologist. Of course she was too young to really know what one of those were but she had always heard her mother talking about one when she had a really stressful day at work and acted angry. Then something happened that none of the people involved expected, Ranma stumbled over something as the two were making their way back down the stairs and fell. He would have fallen on Nabiki had he not grabbed her and pulled the woman into him as he turned and tucked into a ball in order to protect her from harm as much as possible. The two rolled downstairs and came to a rest against the backside of a couch with Ranma on the bottom.

"Oh- Ouch," Ranma managed to mutter as he lay dazed, "That sucked."

Nabiki looked a little shaken but otherwise fine, "You okay, Ranma? That was a bad fall."

Ranma managed to raise his head just enough to see the look of concern in the woman's face, "Yeah, Biki, I'll live. How about you?"

"I'm fine," The woman said as she rolled off of him and helped him sit up strait, "You took most of the impact."

The two of them heard two little feet running down the stairs as fast as they could and Ranma was suddenly assaulted by a blur of brown hair in sleeping apparel. The man yelled in surprise as he fell back once again and hit the back of his head on the floor. He looked up to see a face that belonged to a small girl hovering over him with a look of worry. Nabiki gasped as he grimaced in pain at the impact.

"Are you alright Daddy?" Hitomi seemed like she was about to cry.

Gritting his teeth in pain, Ranma held the back of his head, "Hitomi, please don't do that. Did you just call me Daddy?"

Nabiki was looking at the two of them with wide eyes, "Hitomi..."

"In any case, please get off me, Hitomi," Ranma said, "I need to stand up."

The little girl looked a little sad but did as the man said, allowing Ranma to sit up. Taking a few deep breaths he then attempted to stand up before he wobbled and caught himself on the couch. Nabiki stood and was about to help him before he waved her off and tried to stand once again. This second attempt was met with more success than the first and Ranma walked around to settle on the couch.

"You sure you're going to be okay, Ranma?" Nabiki asked.

The man nodded, "Sure, I'll be fine. Just need to rest."

"Okay, I'm going to put Hitomi to bed," Nabiki said, "I'll be right back."

Ranma nodded and closed his eyes, letting his body drift into the calming darkness that wanted to surround him. The darkness gave way to images of a life that he could not remember, a girl with short black hair yelling at a calm woman with short brown hair. As the two argued, a third girl, almost a woman in her own right, came in and started to chide the two for arguing. The girl with black hair yelled about how she was not arguing and turned her back and walked out of the room. As she did so the girl with short brown hair sighed and shook her head before going her own way. The view changed to one of the short haired girl with dark hair looking angry and a hand coming across the screen and then blackness. The scene then came back and showed a woman with black hair done in a pig-tail that was broken on the sides by red hair. She looked serious about something but he did not know what it was and she just threw up her hands and walked the other way. The scene went dark again and Ranma heard someone calling his name, seeming to be far away. He opened his eyes and found Nabiki looking at him with an expression that was difficult for him to interpret.

"Hey, how's it going?" She asked.

Smiling, he responded, "I'm still in a little pain but nothing I can't handle."

"Good... Hey if you feel like you need it," The woman paused and looked away for a second, "I mean... you can sleep... that is if you need to..."

The man just waved his hand, "No, I don't need a bed Nabiki."

She nodded and looked a little disappointed, "I see, well goodnight."

Ranma watched as she started to walk away and then sighed and laid himself down across the length of the couch. Sleep came fast mostly because he was a little sore from falling down the stairs in the first place. He never felt Nabiki come back and place a blanket over him and a pillow under his head. On a whim she leaned over and gave a hesitant hug before she ascended the stairs to check on Hitomi and go to her own room to get some sleep.

Morning came, and Nabiki woke to the sound of her alarm sounding, sitting up she ran a hand through her mussed hair. Shaking her head to try to clear the feeling of wariness from her head. This made her a little dizzier and she stuck her tongue out at the feeling that came over her from her previous actions. It was then she heard a chuckle from the door and looked over to see Ranma dressed in his jeans from before and a white shirt. He was leaning against the door frame with his arms folded across his chest and a smile on his face.

"You still haven't lost your cuteness," The man said as he leaned forward and started to walk towards her, "I hope you don't mind but I made you breakfast."

Nabiki stood and noticed that Ranma had suddenly frozen in place with a look on his face as if he was a deer in the headlights. It was then that she looked down at her self and realized that she had gotten too used to living alone. Because there was nobody around to see her she became used to sleeping in very sheer fabric. So sheer in fact that there was nothing above the chest that was left to the imagination. She still wore underwear to bed but the whole scene had the effect of short circuiting Ranma's mind. The woman smiled and calmly walked over to her closet and pulled out a bathrobe and wrapped it around herself.

"So did you enjoy the show," Nabiki said while oozing sensuality.

Ranma was red in the face and still looked like he was scared out of his mind, "Uh... Y... ye... yes, I mean no, I mean..."

The woman walked up to him with a smile, "You're hopeless. It's okay, I'm covered now and that was my fault. I'm not like my sister, I understand the circumstances."

The look slowly went away from Ranma's face and Nabiki smiled and placed her index finger in the middle of his forehead, "What are you doing?"

The woman pushed slightly and the man started to fall back, "I'm testing to see if you are fully recovered. Maybe you are a pervert."

Regaining his balance, Ranma looked at her in outrage, "That's not fair."

"Oh, I was hoping you were as much of a pervert as me," Nabiki said with a smirk, "I mean why else would I want a man that changes into a woman."

Ranma scratched his head, "I really wish you would stop playing with my emotions like that, Biki-chan."

"But you're so cute when you get that look," Nabiki said, "So what's for breakfast?"

The man looked glad for the change in subject and made to answer her, "Well I don't know how but I knew how to make some western food so I figured I would try that."

"I see, I'll be down after I get ready then," Nabiki said, "Oh, and can you take Hitomi to school today. Usually I don't have time to eat breakfast because her school is out of my way."

"As long as you promise me that you'll start eating breakfast regularly," Ranma replied, "I'll go wake up Hitomi."

The woman nodded and watched the man depart her room with a smile, he was so innocent even now. He had hardly changed even in the long time it had been since she had seen him last. There was a moment of sorrow as she thought of that but she hardened herself and ignored the feeling. It did not matter, he was here now and that was the important part, he had come back to them. While they had all went their separate ways and yet Ranma was back and with him the old feelings that he had taken with him.

Granted, when he was around the bills at the Dojo were through the roof because of the repairs. That was not the important part though, while he was there it was a happy home and never dull. Daddy had been so happy when Ranma came and he had only became more joyous as the years went by. It used to be that any mention of their departed mother sent him into a fit of crying. After those times with Ranma he had gotten better, he was not totally cured but he was much better than he had been. Akane had become less violent at others, just more violent at him, and Kasumi had started to express herself more.

Deciding she had reminisced enough, Nabiki went to the bathroom and prepared herself to go to work. Outside, Ranma was making his way into Hitomi's room in order to wake the girl up. As he walked into her room, he was surprised to see that her room was actually sparse for a girl's room. He expected a bunch of pink and stuffed animals everywhere. What he ended up getting was a room with a bed, a closet, and a trunk at the end of the bed, white sheets, and a girl sleeping with a single stuffed animal that looked to be a plush black piglet. Ranma did not know why but he had the sudden urge to laugh at the stuffed animal, it seemed to remind him of something though he was not sure what. Ranma called the girls name as he walked up to the bed, causing the girl to stir in her sleep and open her eyes slightly. Apparently she had not expected him to be there because when she saw him she screamed and threw the stuffed animal at him.

Ranma, for his part, seemed to take it in stride as he caught the pig in one hand and made a hushing motion with the other hand. Once the girl realized who it was that had entered her room she went silent and looked a little sheepish at her actions. Ranma tossed the stuffed animal back to her and smiled as he walked up to her.

"Hey, how's it going kiddo?" Ranma asked, "Your mom asked me to take you to school this morning."

"Really?" The girl asked as she sat up, "That's great!"

Ranma blinked, "Is it?"

The girl nodded frantically and jumped up, wrapping her arms around him, "This way I can actually talk to someone without being in a big hurry."

Ranma was starting to get a little nervous at this, he was not the best conversationalist after all, "I guess, you better get ready in that case... I'll be downstairs."

Hitomi nodded, "Alright."

Ranma drew a retreat and headed downstairs where Nabiki was already sitting down at the table and eating her breakfast. The man shook his head and the woman looked up at him with questioning eyes as she chewed her food. For his part, Ranma just waved it off and sat down across from her. Being so bad at conversation had its drawbacks, like awkward silence at the table. Nabiki did not seem to mind so much however. She was enjoying the meal he made and Ranma was enjoying how quiet it was around, he had a feeling that this was not going to last all that long.

It did not take long for Hitomi to make her way down the stairs and eat, Nabiki had finished and left a few minutes after the girl took her seat. Once Hitomi finished her meal, Ranma made sure she had everything she needed for school and the two of them made their way towards the place of learning.

Ranma looked at his watch and realized that the two of them had plenty of time to spare so he took on a leisurely pace and held onto the girl's hand. It was when they reached the school gates that the two of them encountered trouble. A man in a business suit stood in the gates of the school, dark glasses covered his eyes but he looked stern enough. As they got closer to the man, he removed his glasses and fixed Ranma with a look that promised trouble if he did anything wrong.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Kuno," The man said as he ran a hand through his groomed brown hair, "I am the Principle at this school. Forgive my rudeness but where is this young ladies mother."

Something about this man immediately rubbed Ranma the wrong way, "She is at her work, and Hitomi has to get to class."

The man nodded and stepped aside, "Quiet right, and please stop by my office once you have dropped young Hitomi off."

The martial artist nodded, "Yes, you can count on that."

Ranma made his way to the classroom where Hitomi was to be dropped off before he walked back down the hall to the place where the principles office was, a place he was not looking forward to going. As he knocked on the door a voice beckoned him to enter and he turned the knob to the room. The door opened and the man from before stood in the center of the room with a wooden sword in his hands held so that every few seconds he took a swing with the sword. Ranma politely cleared his throat and the man answered him without looking.

"I'm quiet aware that you're here fool!" he stopped swinging and pointed at the pig-tailed man with the wooden weapon, "I was the one who told you to enter my establishment after all."

Ranma let a look of irritation show on his continence, "Look, buddy, I don't know who you think you are but I just want to get out of here. So stop with the flowery talk and tell me what you wanted to talk to me about."

The man smirked and dropped the sword to his side, placing a hand on his forehead as he looked to the side and smirked, "Such uncouth words, a cur like you would know nothing of the relationship between me and that little ones mother. She is much too cultured to like a brute like you, I worry for nothing apparently."

"This was all out of some petty jealousness," Ranma remarked incredulously, "What kind of an idiot are you? And what do you mean by the relationship between you and Nabiki?"

The man whipped his head around to look at Ranma with anger and clenched his fist dramatically, "That woman stole my heart before she ran off with that child of my blood!"

There was a pause and a wind seemed to pass though the enclosed room, "You mean you're Hitomi's father?" Ranma asked uncertainly.

"Knave, how could you not know!" The man was shaking with anger, "That evil, detested, conniving, woman ran from me while she was birthing the child and left me in my depression while she enjoyed the spoils."

Ranma looked up at the ceiling and scratched the back of his head, "Uh, look man, I don't usually tell people how to live their lives but, are you absolutely insane. Spoils? Depression? Birthing the child? In what way is Hitomi your spoils, I mean Nabiki was the one who brought her into the world. And your choice of words in the matter is horrible, you treat them like objects. I mean

Biki-chan is a sneak but come on."

"What did you call her?" the man interrupted him suddenly, "What is your relationship to her?"

"Well I live at her house-." Was as far as Ranma could get.

Ranma dodged a swing from the man's wooden sword as he heard the yell,

"Intolerable!"

Instinct took over as the man took swing after swing at the martial artist, Ranma was plenty fast but this man was good. He was better, in fact, that the man he had faced earlier. The martial artist was also restricted in his movement in the small room, but that meant that the man was also restricted with his weapon needing more room to swing. Still, Ranma needed to end this quick before things got too out of control.

It was then that the door opened, "Principle you have a-."

Ranma was just in time to shelter the man as he dove in front of the door,

"Watch out!"

The cut that formed from where he had been hit was deep and painful, if the man could do that with a wooden sword then a real sword would have most likely killed him. Ranma quickly pushed the man out the door and slammed it shut before he lunged out of the way of yet another swipe of the wooden sword. Ranma was having trouble here, it would have been no contest if he had not been cut but the place it had cut his arm had temporarily rendered the arm useless. Deciding to use drastic measures, Ranma summoned his energy and used his one good arm to unleash a flurry of punches on the man. Eventually he knocked the man out and stood hunched over holding his bad arm and trying to stop the bleeding.

"Oh man, I hope Hitomi didn't get any of that man's personality," Ranma gasped as he took a deep breath and stood strait, "What an insane moron."

There was a knock on the door suddenly and Ranma panicked, he did not want to be caught in the office with the principle knocked out like this. Thinking quickly he decided he would have to jump out the window just as the doorknob turned. The secretary from before opened the door but only saw a devastated office, a knocked out principle, and an opened window with curtains blowing in the breeze.

Ranma had other things on his mind, like the fact that seeing the name Kuno as he leapt out the window had brought up a group of images of a sword swinging maniac. Unfortunately he happened to be falling from the fourth story of Furinkan High as this flash of memory came to mind. As the flash ended Ranma realized that he was upside down and only about ten feet in the air, panicking he tried to right himself too late and landed awkwardly on his feet before stumbling forward and skidding across the ground hard on his bad arm. He was not sure but it felt like the arm had been knocked out of joint with the fall.

Grunting and standing slowly, the man looked around and cursed, why did these visions always seem to come at the worst times. With a sigh, Ranma decided to make his way to a doctor's office. As he walked out of the gated school however he felt something on the edge of his senses warn him of inherent danger and stopped completely as a short throwing knife just missed imbedding itself in his face. Irritated, the man turned to look the direction the knife had come from and saw a thin man who obviously favored the use of knifes as they adorned his entire body, next to him was a woman that looked strikingly familiar. In fact she looked exactly like the woman with multi-colored hair he had seen in his vision.

"Agent R, how nice to see you," The thin man said in a voice that sounded like air escaping from a balloon, "It is unfortunate that it has come to this but you should know better than anyone the consequences of being a rouge agent."

Ranma sighed, "Right, can we just get this over with? Obviously you favor throwing knives and therefore have no way to defend yourself in close. I have already beaten you. As for the lady over there, well that might be a tough fight since I only have one arm but I'm sure I'll figure out something.

The thin man grinned, "You are as confident as ever, Agent, but you must die now."

Faster than the martial artist could follow, a barrage of knifes which Ranma dodged easily. Then he charged forward and before either of the two opponents could react, kicked the man in the jaw and sent him into the air before jumping back and bringing his good hand up to a defensive position. He was expecting the girl to attack next, she was a wild card because she had shown no indication of even wanting to attack the whole time. Now that she was the only one left, she slowly got into a stance herself and stared uncomfortably at the man in front of her. From what Ranma could gather it was as if she was forcing herself to do something she really did not want to do.

The man that Ranma had knocked to the ground earlier sat up and grinned, "Now you're in trouble, RS1, AY2 here has trouble holding back against opponents."

Ranma looked from the man back to the girl, "That may be true but she really doesn't seem to be thinking of me as an opponent right now."

The man growled and looked at the Agent he called "AY2", "Get you're thoughts strait, unless you want to be hunted also, kill the traitor!"

Looking over at the thin man the girl spoke for the first time since the confrontation, "I don't believe he could have been a traitor, there must be an explanation," she looked back at Ranma, "Right?"

For his part, Ranma was taken back by that last part, it was as if she was pleading with him, "Uh, sure, the truth is that I don't know if there is or not.

You see, I kinda got amnesia."

The girl sighed with relief but the man stood and growled, "That is no excuse, you have still defected and must be dealt with."

"AY2" looked at the man with a downcast expression, she knew he was right, "I'm sorry Ranma, I wish it didn't have to be this way, you were like a brother to me."

The flash of memory from earlier came back but this time it was accompanied by words:

"Are you listening to me Ranma? Please don't accept this mission. It's certain death. You have always been impulsive before and came out on top but this is different. In order to get this information you must sneak past heavy security and then get the information without being caught. It's too much for you to handle. Please listen to me, if I was to ever lose you I don't know what would happen, you're like the brother I never had. I never even had a family because of this stupid laboratory.

"Fine throw your life away, idiot."

"Akemi?" Ranma found the name springing from his lips before he could stop it, "I understand."

The girl grit her teeth, "Just shut up, the longer we talk the harder this is going to be for me."

With that the woman charged forward and launched a kick at the martial artist's head which he leaned to the side to dodge. He was not going to fight back, there was not much he could do against her skill level with one arm anyways. The woman followed the kick with a jab which Ranma spun around only to be on the receiving end of an elbow to the face. Stumbling back, Ranma frowned at the hit. He had been clumsy and not seen the obvious attack. His danger sense went off yet again and he jumped out of the way just in time for a barrage of knives to fly by under him. Enraged, Ranma came down top of the thing man and knocked all of the air out of him, leaving him unconscious.

"Enough with the damn knives!"

Ranma turned to face the woman again and sneered, "Look, lady, are you going to fight me for real or what? Granted I'm not as capable as usual right now but a baby could defeat you right now."

Akemi had always felt strongly about her martial ability and never took lightly when someone insulted them, "Ranma! Damn you, you want me to fight for real then here I come."

Before he could blink she was in front of him throwing punch after punch as fast as she could. With only one working arm, Ranma was doing his best to prevent the punches from getting through but it was a futile effort. Of course he still was not going to retaliate but at this rate he would be dead faster than he wanted.

"Ranma," This was from a new smaller voice.

The male martial artist looked up in time to see Hitomi standing there and staring at them. He could only guess it was lunch time and that was why she was out here. Jumping back, Ranma put some distance between him and the woman, that was when he heard the weak chuckle.

"So you care for that brat, then live with her death if you won't die," Ranma watched helplessly as knives flew towards the little girl.

Everything burned with redness as he screamed, "Hitomi!"

There was no in between movement, Ranma was there instantly, catching those knives he could and absorbing the rest into his body. He was too angry to notice those however as, once the knives had been stopped, he disappeared again only to reappear next to the man with both the thin man's arms in his hand.

"You pride yourself on your knife throwing," Ranma said dangerously, "Just to get to me you would hurt an innocent child. I won't forgive you!"

The woman known as Akemi gasped as the martial artist started to put pressure on the man's arms. Never had she seen him this enraged, he had never done something so brutal to anyone. This was not right, granted it was low for her partner to resort to what he had but Ranma had never been so brutal. Desperately she called at to the enraged martial artist.

"Ranma, stop! He's not worth it, please stop."

The man looked at her and sneered, "Oh, I know he's not worth it, but trying to hurt Hitomi like that is going to far."

With a sickening crunch, and a blood curdling scream, one wrist shattered under the insane strength of the martial artist, "Ranma please."

Akemi was surprised that she felt tears in her eyes, this was not the Ranma she knew. The man she knew was kind and even when fighting would never going past what he absolutely needed to. He never killed or hurt out of spite and he never tried to cripple someone no matter how much he hated them.

"Ranma-papa, please stop!" Hitomi did not understand what was going on but judging by the way that the other woman was acting it was nothing good.

The martial artist looked up at the little girl and then looked to the woman in front of him who had tears in her eyes. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt a rational thought come through and dropped the man's good arm in horror. The rage ebbed away and left only the pain from the knife cuts in his mind and throughout his body.

"Oh man, what was I about to do?" Ranma collapsed more from the pain than from disbelief, "I think I'm done for the day. Stick a fork in me."

Akemi watched as Ranma passed out from the pain and the strain on his body, she could easily take him out now. She spared a glance at the little girl looking on with some uneasiness, how could she kill him in front of a child. The others had always accused her of being too soft but this was a child for crying out loud.

"Miss," the little girl said as she walked up to the woman, "Will papa be alright?"

Akemi blinked, "Papa?"

Hitomi nodded, "Yes, him and mom have been living together so I though he was my father. I never knew my real father."

The woman sighed, now she was unsure if she could kill Ranma even out of this girls sight, "Well I can tell you that he is not you're real father, kid, but yes he will be alright. You had better get back to school, okay little girl."

The girl nodded, "Yes, thank you for taking care of my... Ranma."

Akemi sighed again, "Uh, yeah, sure."

"See you lady," With that the little girl ran off to her class.

The woman looked at the passed out body of the man known as Ranma and shook her head, "I swear, I don't know why I even bother with you sometimes. I think I just signed my own death warrant here."

"Akemi, you stupid woman," the man who had previously been her partner yelled in pain, "You know you're as good as dead now."

The woman looked back at the man for a second before she looked strait once more and made her way to the nearest doctor's office. It was not long before she came across a small clinic that, though small, she knew it was better than waiting for a long time and finding a hospital. At least here they could treat Ranma and stop some of the bleeding before operating on him. She hoped that it did not come to that but as bad as some of the wounds were she could not avoid the fact that it might.

Opening the door to the small clinic with the man on her back she yelled out to see if anyone was there. There was some fumbling from somewhere in the back before a man with long brown hair in a pony-tail and glasses walked out with a smile. He seemed to be in his forties with good muscular tone.

"Excuse me," Akemi said as the doctor came out, "I need your help. This man has been hurt and needs treatment."

The man raised an eyebrow and looked at the two, "I see, well just follow me into my examination room and I'll look at him."

The girl did as the man said and waited patiently while the doctor looked over the man. It did not take a long time and when he was finished the man looked over at her. Wordlessly he walked out of the room and came back with some water and medicine which he put in the man's mouth. Hitting a pressure point, Ranma seemed to instinctively swallow the pill and the water.

"He will be fine, I just gave him a little something to replenish his lost resources. It's a vitamin supplement that will help his recovery." The doctor sat down across from the standing girl and continued, "He does not really need such a thing, and he is recovering from those knife wounds faster than humanly possible."

Akemi nodded, "I was hoping the wounds weren't that bad."

The doctor cleared his throat, "No, they are very bad, a normal person would have been permanently crippled if their arm looked like his, his arm is healing itself fully, on its own. Those wounds from the knife should have killed him before he even got here."

The woman thought for a second, "He's been that way ever since I knew him. I wonder if he was one of the soldiers."

There was a movement from the bed and Ranma sat up slowly, "Well I'm in some pain here."

The woman, Akemi looked over at the man she had brought in and saw him holding his head with his eyes closed, "Damn crazy people always attacking me."

"I see you're awake, that was faster than usual, Ranma," The doctor said as he came in holding some bandages and cleaning alcohol.

The man held out his arm as if it was still a standard routine from when he had been a teenager in Nerima during his school days. He did not find it weird that Dr. Tofu knew who he was, he had stopped being surprised by how enigmatic the doctor was a long time ago. He realized that he somehow knew who the doctor was but had no idea why that was. He had lost his memory of everyone else, why was this single person the one who stuck in his mind. Was it possible that the doctor had stuck in his head from all of the times he had operated on him? He did not know but he would definitely try to figure that out in between figuring out everything else that was happening here. The doctor started to clean his wounds and bandage him up as he looked over at the woman with multi colored hair.

"So you brought me here, huh?" Ranma looked down at his still bad right arm, now bandaged from the top of his bicep to his wrist and moved it a little, "I have to admit I thought your duty would come before your feelings. I remember you being more committed than this."

Akemi frowned and folded her arms behind her head, elbows pointed upward at an angle, "I was committed but what's the use of being committed to something when the person you tried so hard to impress is dead."

Ranma chuckled, "Hey doc, she remind you of someone?"

The doctor looked of from where he was cleaning the wounds on his stomach where he had caught three knives that barely avoided vital organs, "Well now that you mention it, with her standing like that she seems like a younger you. How old is she, 18?"

The doctor started to bandage his stomach as Ranma looked at her and seemed to think about it for a second, "Not sure, she looks about that old."

Akemi looked at Ranma in irritation, "What're you looking at?"

"Well, I occurs to me that I know little about you beside your name," Ranma held out his left arm and the doctor cleaned the few cuts that were on it before he bandaged the portion from the forearm to the start of his fingers.

Akemi dropped her arms to her side and looked at him in disbelief, "You don't remember much about me, and we were partners! I do not believe this."

Ranma flexed his left hand and nodded, "Thanks doc, I'll explain everything to you a little later."

The man positioned himself so that he could drape his legs over the side and slide off to a standing position. With fluidness that hid how hurt he actually was, Ranma sighed at his torn shirt and casually discarded it with a frown. The only real choice he had was to go around without a shirt for now, at least it was not his silk shirt from when he was a kid. The jeans left a lot to be desired in terms of flexibility but they were loose enough to make up for that fact.

"Alright, better get back to the house," Ranma said as he started to walk out of the room, "I want to cook dinner tonight, Nabiki's going to need some rest."

Tofu grinned at that, "So, how is Nabiki? Kasumi has been a little worried about her ever since her divorce."

Ranma turned back to the doctor, "Uh, she's doing fine, like I said before, I'll catch up with you later."

With that the man quickly made his way out of the clinic followed by Akemi who was not going to let him out of sight for a second. She walked behind him and hoped he would not say anything or, indeed, even notice that she had decided to follow after him. She knew the last part was too much to hope for but it was not beyond her to hope for the impossible, actually it was more of an improbability.

It was still day out, probably about two in the afternoon if she had to guess, and the sun was free to shine through the cloudless blue sky. The wind blew with an intensity that was not so much saying "run along and get inside", but instead "enjoy this time because you are not going to get the chance for a while".

Akemi looked at Ranma who had stopped next to a window, for a second she thought he was going to yell at her for following him, but he just stared. The girl waited for him to do something but he seemed entranced. In fact it was getting on her nerves a little. Walking up to where he was standing, he was about to give him a piece of her mind before she saw the object that held his attention.

"Wow," it was really all she could say at the jewelry she saw.

Ranma turned to her and chuckled, "Yeah, a lot of this stuff is really overdone but this is perfect."

Akemi nodded, "Just out of curiosity, who is it for?"

When she asked this question, the man did something she had never seen him do before. He blushed bright red and turned to walk quickly down the street as if he was running away from the question, which was exactly what he was doing.

Akemi jogged to catch up with him and smiled as she glanced over to see the redness still burning his cheeks.

"I think that would look good on her," the girl said absently.

Ranma stopped and turned to her, "How would you know, you never met... Damn."

Akemi let out a little laugh, "I knew it. You have a girlfriend. Maybe that's why you stopped being a spy."

"What are you talking about!" Ranma turned from being embarrassed to being angry in a second, "Look, I told you. I have amnesia so I can't even remember that I was a secret agent. I don't want your delusions to get Nabiki hurt alright."

The girl put her hands up in a gesture to ward off his anger, "Alright, man! This is our little secret."

"I guess that's the best I can ask for," Ranma sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

There was idle chatter around him as he walked down the street in the direction of the house. He would have to be sure to make Nabiki a good diner when she got home from work to lessen the verbal thrashing he was sure to get. It took a while before he actually got back to the house and the girl who was following him every step of the way was causing him to be distracted also.

When he opened the wooden door and stepped inside he immediately smelled something far better than he had been expecting. Walking to the kitchen with the girl in tow he soon found the reason for this. It was not Nabiki cooking but her older sister in front of the stove top with an apron on. She was humming a song to herself and seemed to be in her own little world, she did not even acknowledge that the two of them were there. The man shrugged and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room towards the couch that was set up in front of the television. When he got there he found the reason that it was Kasumi and not Nabiki cooking. Passed out on the couch was the woman he was expecting with a pillow under her head and a blanket lay carefully on top of her. What was more, on top of her was her daughter.

The man smiled to himself and turned back towards the kitchen only to find Akemi looking over the pony tailed woman's shoulder. The girl was practically drooling... actually she was drooling at the look and smell of the food. Ranma walked over to her and grabbed her by an ear and led her out of the kitchen so that the woman with long brown hair could finish cooking her meal.

Once they were out of the cooking area, Ranma let the girl go and was on the receiving end of a nasty glare, "That hurt you moron!"

"Well sorry, I didn't want you to get your drool in the food," Ranma countered calmly as he sat down on a reclining chair in the living room.

Akemi just stuck her tongue out at the man in anger and stormed off towards the kitchen once more. Ranma decided he would go get a breath of fresh air, the night was cool and clear as Ranma opened the door and took a step out onto the patio. A breeze of cool air ruffled his hair slightly and with a fluid movement he leapt to the roof. Landing lightly he proceeded to sit in the cross-leg position and looked out upon the pale lighted neighborhood he now lived in. It was quaint and held a charm that, while plain, seemed to exude a sense of well-being.

With the feeling of peace that he was feeling at that moment it was perfectly natural for him to be totally confused when an explosion rocked the foundation of the house. Quickly running to the edge of the roof near the back of the house he found the yard and part of the house on fire. An orange glow cast an urgent glow on its surroundings as the fire consumed everything it touched. In the flames lit the yard and Ranma saw a man dressed in a flowing robe holding a clawed weapon in each hand. He smiled madly at Ranma as the man faced him.

"Agent, you have gained another traitor and taken care of another agent that while not very good," The man moved to an offensive stance, "was still part of our organization. Not very smart when we know where you live."

Ranma grit his teeth, "Damn you, if you hurt anyone in my family I will kill you. I will do it slowly and painfully."

The man pointed to the house, "Then what are you waiting for."

Ranma slowly looked to where the man was pointed and saw Akemi had shielded the others with her body. As a result she had several fresh cuts from where she had been grazed but also some shrapnel had imbedded itself in her arms and upper body, she was very weakly managing to stay on her feet. The man turned back to his enemy and was suddenly surrounded by an aura of dark blue that seemed to drown everything out.

"You would hurt those I care about," Ranma all but roared, "I will take payment from you, in small installments, with interest."

With those words he charged forward and dodged a claw that grazed his face only to counter with a right elbow to his enemies face. In rapid succession he brought an open hand under his elbow and hit the man in the stomach before ducking with a spin and sweeping the man's legs out from under him. Ranma then returned to his feet and stomped on the man's stomach as he lay on the ground helpless. He did not let up for some time even after the man had stopped moving.

Ranma finally fell down out of breath, "Damn you, damn you, damn you, why did you have to go and hurt her."

Everyone looked at the distraught man with a mix of fear and trepidation, then the taunting laughter began as the man in the cloak rose to his feet as if he was being lifted by an invisible platform. Ranma frowned in the orange glow the flames and clenched his fists in a show of anger. He was not like this situation one bit, he had hit the man in the cloak with enough force to cripple a normal man and he was still getting up.

"I know what you're thinking," the man said with a grin, "How is he even still alive after all of that. It's simple, I'm not actually human."

Ranma let out a small annoyed sound, "Right, then what are you?"

"I'm an android, though I don't have nearly the capability to fight as you do since I was only sent as a messenger. The message I have come to give you is that it is still not too late."

"To what?" Ranma yelled through grit teeth, "Go back?"

The man grinned at his though it was not particularly pleasant, "That is what we were hoping. It would be a shame to have to kill you, agent, or any of the ones you care for."

The man with the braided hair looked back at the girl that was currently in front of everyone, "Akemi, you guys alright?"

She gave him a weak nod with a grin, "Yeah, just hurry and kick his ass so we can put the fire out and get this over with."

"I see," Ranma said as he looked back to the man, "So you will leave them alone if I go with you."

"You catch on quick," The thing said as it stared at him without blinking.

Ranma smiled and shook his head, "It's a nice offer but I think not, how do I know you will not hurt them after I'm gone?"

The man grinned and shrugged, "I guess that is the question. I take it that's your answer."

Ranma raised his hand in a clenched fist, "Yes."

With a sigh, the man turned and started to walk away, "My master will be... disappointed, Goodbye, Ranma Saotome. As a parting gift, this is all the information we have on you. That should help with your... problem."

Ranma caught the disk deftly from the air between his thumb and forefinger before looking at him. The man just shrugged as he slowly seemed to melt into the darkness of the surroundings and the fire that seemed to engulf their whole house disappeared to reveal only a hole with no indication of burning. Ranma turned in amazement and caught the look of everyone else as the others looked back at him in awe.

"Ranma, who was that?" Nabiki asked.

Akemi spoke while she removed some of the shards of glass and spoke in between small doses of pain from such an action, "He was the android messenger and double for our previous master. Normally he kills without hesitation if an agent deserts."

Ranma frowned, "Then what's with him giving this disk to me? I thought he was going to kill me, not help me."

"Maybe those were his orders," Nabiki said as she looked over Hitomi to make sure she was all right, "It seemed like he was trying to get you to rejoin them instead of kill you."

Akemi nodded, "Yes, I don't think he was supposed to kill you, that will probably be handled by another."

"He did not act evil," Hitomi said after her mother was done with her.

Ranma nodded in the distracted way of a person who was not listening fully to what someone was saying. The truth was that he wanted more to find out what was on the disk in his hands than to wonder why the man had shown up. He also should be going to bed so he could wake up early tomorrow and fix the wall that got destroyed.

"Well you guys should get some sleep," Ranma said as he turned to them, "We have a lot of things that will probably need to be done tomorrow."

Akemi nodded, "Yes, I agree with Ranma. We should all go to bed it has been a long day."