Disclaimer: See prologue

Wow, when I posted the prologue to this story, I never expected to get so many reviews asking for more. It was quite the ego boost. I hope that the following chapters will meet with everyone's expectations. Thank you to all who read and reviewed! Now, on with the story!

Of Metal and Flesh. A fanfiction work by pryme-sephir Chapter One: Missing: One Martial Artist

The Tendo Dojo in Nerima had been the center of chaos since Ranma Saotome's sudden disappearance. Ranma had never come home after being malleted by Akane five days ago, and all the fiancés and rivals had been searching for him frantically. While Shampoo, Ukyou, and Kodachi all insisted that Akane had driven Ranma away, the four of them were able to start working together after Shampoo's great-grandmother Cologne had knocked some sense into them with her ever-present can. Of course, everyone had a different reason for wanting to find Ranma.

Akane was convinced that Ranma was off with doing "something perverted with some new hussy." Shampoo wanted to retrieve her "airen" and drag him back to China. Ukyou wanted to score some more fiancé points with Ranma and try to cement a position as his "true fiancé." Kodachi was convinced that the "red-headed harridan" had kidnapped her "Ranma-sama" and that he needed to be rescued.

And that was just the fiancés…

Ryouga wanted to kill Ranma for "hurting Akane." Tatewaki Kuno was just the opposite of Kodachi: he was certain that the "foul sorcerer Saotome" had kidnapped his "pig-tailed goddess." Mousse wanted to kill Ranma and prove that he was the better man for Shampoo. Genma and Soun wanted to drag Ranma back and make him "apologize" to Akane by marrying and uniting the schools immediately. Ranma's mother, Nodoka, wanted to question him about "being unmanly and making his fiancés worry." Everyone else in Nerima was certain it was going to turn out to be just another one of the many training trips Ranma went on. The only ones who seemed to be genuinely concerned about Ranma were Happousai, Cologne, and Kasumi.

Speaking of Kasumi, she was currently in the kitchen of the Tendo household preparing the food for tonight's dinner. Kasumi's mind was not on her cooking, however, but on the missing martial artist who had made such an impact in her life. "Five days," she whispered to herself. "Ranma, where are you?" Kasumi had come to care deeply for the young man, especially after the failed wedding. It had been the evening after that monumental disaster that Kasumi had found Ranma sitting outside among the remains of the dojo in the pouring rain…

Flashback: the night after the failed wedding between Ranma and Akane…

Kasumi had just finished cleaning up the kitchen after feeding all the guests that had come today. Because the battle that had occurred had destroyed the food that had already been prepared, Kasumi had been forced to fix even more food to feed the many hungry guests. This resulted in her only just finishing cleaning the kitchen after everyone else had long since gone to sleep. Tired, both mentally and physically from the day's events, Kasumi wanted nothing more than to go collapse into her bed and sink into a blissful slumber.

Kasumi was heading upstairs to do just that when she noticed that someone had left the side doors open. Sighing to herself at the carelessness of her family, Kasumi started to walk toward the doors to close them. It was raining heavily outside, and she didn't want water to get all over the floor should the wind start blowing. As she was about to shut them, she noticed Ranma, in his cursed form due to the rain, sitting among the wreckage of the Tendo Dojo.

Kasumi was about to ask the redheaded pseudo-girl to come inside, when she noticed that Ranma was crying. Despite the heavy rainfall, Kasumi could clearly tell that those were tears streaming down Ranma's face. Kasumi was shocked. Sure, Ranma had pretended to cry on numerous occasions to deceive his enemies, and sometimes when he was just being dramatic, but for Ranma to be crying when he didn't know anyone was watching? It just didn't make any sense to her. Ranma never cried. He was supposed to be confident, humorous, and generally light-hearted. To see Ranma "I never lose" Saotome sobbing openly was just…wrong.

Kasumi turned around and moved toward the front door to retrieve an umbrella, then returned to the side doors and stepped out into the rain as she opened the umbrella. She moved quickly toward Ranma, intent on getting her out of the rain. "Ranma, why don't you come inside? If you stay out here, you're going to catch a cold." Ranma slowly tilted her head up to look at her, and Kasumi was shocked by what she saw in the girl's eyes. Hopelessness. Whereas Ranma's eyes usually danced with mirth and confidence, there was now only sadness, and a sense of…surrender.

"Ranma-kun, what's wrong?" In response to Kasumi's question, Ranma's eyes seemed to light up, not with mirth, but with anger.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG? What ISN'T wrong is more like it!" Almost as quickly as Ranma's anger had flared, it faded, and the girl's mood returned to the depressed state of before. "I'm tired, Kasumi. Of all of it. The fights, the engagements, everything. I just want all the chaos to end, but I don't know how to make it stop."

Kasumi frowned at this. "But Ranma, if you simply married one of the fiancés…" Ranma cut her off before she could say anything more.

"You honestly think that would stop it? Kasumi, after all the time you've spent knowing everyone, you honestly think that if I chose to marry one of them that the others would just give up? None of them cares in the slightest what anyone else wants, Kasumi. They only care about what they want. And that 's just the start of the problem. If I don't choose Akane, your family gets dishonored, as does mine, and I could get banned from the Anything-Goes school. If I don't choose Shampoo, she'll kill whomever I do choose and try to drag me off to China anyway. And if I don't choose Ukyou, I risk having her clan declare a blood feud on my family and the family of whomever I do marry. On top of all that trouble, there are all the rivals. They'll still be trying to kill me no matter WHO I decide to marry." At this point, Ranma let out a low sigh and slumped down once again. "I'm trapped, Kasumi. The only way to get out of all this mess would be if I committed seppuku…" Kasumi's face paled and her eyes went wide at this statement "but there's no way I'm about to do that, because I have a promise to keep."

"I don't understand how you can say those things about everyone, Ranma. They all seem perfectly nice to me…"

"That's because EVERYONE'S nice to you, Kasumi."

Now THAT caused Kasumi's brow to furrow in confusion. "I…I'm not sure what you mean, Ranma…"

"Kasumi, everyone's nice to you because you're the only person in the district who's nice to everyone else. You never have a bad thing to say about anyone, you're a great cook, you put up with all the trouble everyone causes, you're smart, and you're absolutely beautiful! Kasumi, you're practically perfect! Hell, if I had a choice, I'd be engaged to you instead of any of those other selfish brats!"

When Ranma finished ranting, Kasumi was stunned. Everyone liked her? Everyone thought she was beautiful? Her? The plain, ordinary, boring little housewife? How could anyone have such a high opinion of someone as uninteresting as she was? Hearing a compliment coming from Ranma of all people made it seem even more unreal.

Wait. Back up a second. Ranma had just said that she would rather be engaged to HER instead rather than ANY of his other fiancés. Kasumi didn't need a mirror to know that she was as red as Ranma's hair right now. She decided that the conversation needed to change direction, FAST.

"Let's go inside, Ranma-kun. We don't want to catch cold out here." At Kasumi's request, the pig-tailed martial artist allowed herself to be ushered inside. Once Ranma was dried and once again male, Kasumi that the both of them needed to have a long talk…

End Flashback

Kasumi smiled at the memory. The two of them had stayed up much of the rest of the night talking. She had been quite surprised with just how sullen Ranma had become. The young man had simply poured out all of his troubles to her, and Kasumi slowly became ashamed that she had never noticed how bad things had been for so long. After that night, the two of them began to grow quite close. Every night since, the two of them would stay up late, sharing stories and comforting each other. Kasumi would soothe the wounds caused by the daily chaos in Ranma's life, and he would make her feel like something more than just the Tendo home's caretaker. She once asked him what the promise he was trying to keep was, but Ranma told he would not tell anyone, not even her. Kasumi decided that if Ranma ever wanted to tell her, then he would, and she would not pressure him.

During the month that followed, Kasumi looked on, as the situation in Nerima simply grew worse. The rivals got more violent, and the fiancés got more desperate. Yet, their friendship seemed to revitalize his spirit. Kasumi saw the mirth return to his eyes, and his confident smirk once again adorned his face.

Then, five days ago, he simply vanished.

It had started with the typical argument with Akane. Akane had gotten mad at Ranma for "picking on Ryouga" when the fanged boy had clearly tried to attack Ranma. This time, however, Ranma did not throw a single insult, and calmly pointed out that Ryouga had started the fight, and that he had simply defended himself. Akane refused to listen and quickly malleted Ranma into the sky yet again. Kasumi had chastised Akane for it, but Akane shrugged it off and said: "the perverted jerk deserved it."

It had taken all of Kasumi's willpower not to slap Akane right there. Instead, she prepared the first aid kit and the hot water for when Ranma returned home. Except that Ranma never came home. Nabiki had checked at Ukyou's, Shampoo's, and Kunou's the next day, but no one had seen him anywhere. That's when the search began in earnest, yet even with the combined efforts of nearly everyone in Nerima, nothing could be found. Nabiki was nearly to the point of ripping her hair out in frustration. Everything her information network had come up with so far had been dead-ends.

Speaking of Nabiki, she had headed out earlier today to a nearby district trailing a possible lead. Kasumi hoped that her younger sister found something. Since Ranma's disappearance, Kasumi had felt as though there were a gaping hole in her heart. Ranma had become possibly more than just a friend for her. Kasumi shook her head to clear her thoughts. Finding Ranma came first. Dealing with her feelings for him could come afterwards. It was then that Kasumi heard the front door slam, and Nabiki's voice calling out a strained "tadaima".

Kasumi bolted from the kitchen, but composed herself before confronting the middle Tendo sister. "Nabiki, please tell me that you found something." Nabiki turned to look at her, her usual ice-queen mask in place. Nabiki was in one of her usual business outfits, the navy blue one this time, and in her hand was a digital camcorder that Kasumi was certain that she had not had before. Nabiki's voice was dead serious as she spoke.

"I'm going to call everyone here, Kasumi. You might want to put some extra food on."

Kasumi's eyes widened and she stepped slightly closer to Nabiki. "Then, you've found him?" Kasumi's hopes were dashed as Nabiki shook her head.

"I don't know where he is…" Nabiki held up the camera. "But I know what happened to him." Nabiki's expression went from cold to grim. "And it doesn't look good…"

Author's Notes:

First of all, I'd like to clarify the timeline a bit. For the Ranma ½ part of the storyline, it's set after the failed wedding in volume 38 of the manga. As for the Transformers storyline… Well, that's a bit more complicated. In my story, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, the "Great War" happened several thousand years prior to the events in this story, with no human involvement. The Autobots won, and peace treaties were written. The background for the Maximal/Predacon conflict is that a little over ten years ago, a small group of Predacons led by the new Megatron attempted to "claim what is rightfully theirs." I'll explain more of how the conflict came to Earth and what happened to the Maximals in future chapters.

Second, I will not necessarily be using characters from the Beast Wars show other than Megatron. Venom is based off of Tarantulus, but will have some significant differences, while Stalker is an original character. I hope this clears up some confusion for some of my reader.

Third and finally, those of you who read this chapter may have already guessed, but this will be a Ranma/Kasumi pairing. As I began writing this chapter, I decided to ignore all suggestions (and in some cases, demands) on what the pairing should be, so don't expect me to change my mind. I hate to sound rude, but it's my story and I am the sole authority on how it progresses, not anyone who tries to trash-talk me to get their way. Don't like it? Then don't read it. But to those of you who are keeping an open mind and enjoying the story, I thank you, and hope that you continue to enjoy future chapters. Ja ne!