Lost in Infinity

A Ranma 1/2 - Naruto Crossover
Prologue Part 2

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, and Ranma belongs to Takahashi. So there.

Author's Notes: Nothing much to say here, since I posted the first four parts at the same time. Hope you like it.

The peaceful quiet of the morning held much the same, even though the sun was already three-quarters of the way in lighting up the sky. Osaka was pretty much always like this in the mornings; in southern Minami area, the bustling crowds wouldn't really start to form till some time around noon. Till then, things would move quite slowly, and this suited Saotome Ranma, martial arts prodigy extraordinaire, quite well.

It wasn't everyday that the 6-year-old boy would have the chance to sleep in. He only got lucky in situations where his somewhat sorry excuse of of a father got himself too drunk to attack the poor child to begin their morning ritual of sparring, all in the name of training. Though, some habits are so deeply ingrained in the psyche, that it is no use to try to fight them, since it is so much simpler to give in. In Ranma's case, waking up so early practically everyday made his biological clock permanently tick to that rhythm.

Try as he might, he couldn't go back to sleep once the sun shone through the window upon his face. Begrudgingly accepting his fate, he sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

'I wonder where the old man is. It's been a long time since he's been late for our morning sessions', he thought to himself as he rose from his sitting position, and moved for the bathroom to wash off whatever sleep there was left in him and get on with the day. A day without training meant he could play with Ucchan, and his friend of a few weeks could show him some other areas in Osaka that might be fun to visit. Maybe another martial arts dojo like the week before.

As he entered the small bathroom, he pulled a small stool that was under sink towards him, and stood on it, so that he could reach the sink and see himself in the mirror. Without realizing it, he turned the faucet too fast, and splashed himself with cold, if not frosty, water.

It was to his discomfort that he felt his body twist inside out as he wiped away the water from his face and his bangs, only to see the reflection of a redheaded girl looking back at him from the mirror. He sighed heavily as he opened the faucet again, this time slowly and gently, and continued his morning clean up routine.

As he cleaned up, he couldn't help but think of the stupidity of the entire situation, and how he came to be in such a position. It was all the old man's fault. Him and his stupid ideas. 'Let's go train in China' he said. 'Your mother would be proud of you' he said. That was the main reason he went along. If there was one goal Ranma had his heart set on, it was to make his mother proud. He missed her, it had been barely a year now that he and his father had left home to go on their already infamous training trip. And it came to be, that their first destination was China.

Since he had been trained by his father in the Art since he could walk, the first test his old man had set was to swim across the Sea of Japan. Miraculously he had survived, but he had a sinking feeling that it was going to get worse. His feelings were justified, as the adventures, if you could call them that, that they had ensued. They had been chased by the natives, had little to no food at times, and even had to endure the harsh environment when they could find no shelter. Along with all that, he still couldn't piece together exactly what had happened during the stint which he had a lapse of memory, but he chalked it off to exertion, and left it at that. But the one thing that took the cake was Jusenkyo. If there really was a Hell on earth, he thought, its name would be Jusenkyo. It was also called the Cursed Pools of Sorrow, and aptly so.

His own stupidity for following the old man after all the shit they had been through because of him was partly to blame. Now, he was cursed to spend at least half, if not more, due to the water attraction part of the curse, of his life as a member of the opposite sex. Suffice to say, it did not sit well. All the nonsense that his father had drilled into him since he was younger about the frailty of women had now come back full circle and hit him in the face. And since he now knew that what his father fed him were lies, what else could he have lied about?

By this time, he had already finished cleaning up, and had put on his clothes as he moved from the guest room towards the hall. Odds are Ucchan would be there, and they would go about their day without much ado.

After a long and tiring day, eating, training, as well as visiting around Osaka, Ranma and Ukyou returned to the Kuonji residence.

"I hope you had fun today, Ranchan. I'm so tired right now that I don't think I'll be able to wake up tomorrow," Ukyou said, panting exaggeratedly.

"I hear ya, Ucchan. I wonder where the old man is, though. Must've gone drinkin' again. I can't believe him!" Ranma said, shouting a bit to the end.

They proceeded to enter the house and head to the showers, separately. After cleaning up, they entered the kitchen for dinner. They found a note stuck to the refrigerator, which read "Dear Ukyou, Saotome-san and I have gone out to celebrate an agreement. We'll tell you about it when we get back. Love, Otousan."

"I guess we shouldn't expect them back any time soon, eh?" asked Ranma, as he grinned, knowing the answer already.

"Well, we'll just have to make do with what we have. Okonomiyaki?" Ukyou said, giving him a toothy smile,

Ranma couldn't help but smile back, replying "Why not."

And so, they went on, having a dinner of Okonomiyaki, which was Ukyou's family's specialty. After dinner, they played a bit, and went off to bed, knowing that their fathers would probably not be back till very much later.

Ranma lay on his mat, facing the ceiling. He thought of the day he had spent, and how he liked life here.

'I could definitely get used to this,' he thought, 'but at the very least, I have to find Mom, and make sure the old coot of a father doesn't further mess up my life.'

He tossed. Then turned. Finally, sleep claimed him, and the dreamless expanse expanded.

In an instant, he was jerked awake, his eyes wide, as he felt a horrible jerking sensation from the core of his being. His entire body was flooded with pain as he opened his mouth to scream. But nothing came out. He started writhing in the agony as a pain worse than any other that he had ever felt washed over him, overloading his senses. From the corner of his eye, he saw his father lying a few feet from him.

He tried desperately to reach out, but his body refused to obey. His nerves were beginning to feel raw, and he knew that even a hundred cats clawing at him would not have felt so bad.

At another time, perhaps, he would have questioned as to how he knew what a hundred cats clawing at him would have felt like, but this was not the place, and now was definitely not the time.

He shrieked silently as he felt an energy surge forward, out of his chest, only to meet a small swirling glow just above him. He felt his body rise, off the floor, and felt the weightlessness as he floated. He would have savored it had it not been for the sudden renewal of pain surging cross his spine.

He instantly regained control of his voice, and in the instant that he screamed, he felt the blackness fill his view, and the tugging on his soul jerked so strongly into the swirl of energy that he felt as though he had been hit like a truck. Then, he gave in to the darkness.