Chapter 1:

Ranma sighed, "My life is so weird."

Ryoga raised an eyebrow at his rival, "How do you figure that?"

Ranma glared at him, "We just tore up this empty lot throwing around punches that shatter concrete and energy blasts that can vaporize stone, and neither of us are all that worse for wear."

Ryoga nodded, "Huh, never really thought about it actually. I mean, my girlfriend raises super-intelligent sumo-pigs."

Ranma shrugged as he put his hands behind his head, "How about we call it a draw and go get something to eat? I'm hungry."

Ryoga looked at him dubiously, "You… you want to call it… a draw?"

Ranma shrugged, "I am tired of the fighting, sure it cooled off a bit after the failed wedding, but it has started up again recently. Most of it is just pointless brawling, usually over something people think I did that I shouldn't have done, whether I did it or not, or over something that I didn't do that people think I should do."

Ryoga snorted, "Right, Mr. Innocent party over here."

Ranma glared at him, "Quiet, Pork Chops, I am sure you could be saying the same thing some times, and I know I'm not completely innocent, but everyone blows everything way out of proportion or jumps to the wrong conclusion."

Ryoga rolled his eyes, "Everyone, huh?"

Ranma sighed, "Ehhh, shut it. Anyways, I am going to get some food. Do you want to come or not?"

Ryoga smirked, happy that for once he was able to get under his rival's skin, "Yeah yeah yeah, where we gonna go?"

Ranma shrugged, "Meh, feel like some Okonomiyaki?"

Ryoga nodded, "Sounds good to me, and I haven't heard from Ukyo recently. What is she up to nowadays?"

Ranma put his hands in his pockets and started walking along a fence line, "She told me a couple weeks after the wedding that she wanted to be just friends and that she was seriously considering marrying Konatsu and taking his last name."

Ryoga looked at him in disbelief, tightening his grip on his massive backpack, "You have got to be joking. I didn't take Ukyo for a quitter."

Ranma shook his head, "I don't necessarily think it is because she is a quitter. You would have to ask her for her reasoning though. Now, if only Shampoo and *shudder* Kodachi would quit then I would be able to get on with my life."

Ryoga smirked at him, "What, no other fiancées hiding in the woodworks out to get you?"

Ranma glared at him, "I hope not, it is bad enough that my father went ahead and sold me to Kodachi for a hundred million yen to pay off his outstanding debts."

Ryoga winced, "So now she has a legitimate claim to your body in marriage?"

Ranma grimaced, "Yeah, and then he did something similar with Shampoo so it is no longer just her laws that say she gets to get me."

Ryoga openly gaped at him, "What did you do about it?"

Ranma shrugged, "When I confronted Cologne about what Shampoo did, she offered me a job so I could pay off the bride prices for them and Akane so I would be free to marry whoever I want."

Ryoga raised an eyebrow, "You can do that?"

Ranma nodded, "Apparently…"

They walked in silence for almost a mile before Ryoga interrupted, "Hey, Ranma, who would you marry if you were able to choose?"

Ranma sat down cross-legged on the fence to think, forcing Ryoga to stop or risk getting lost again. They stayed there like that for a few minutes before Ranma stood up with a sigh, "At this point, I can honestly say none of them. In my opinion about the only things they got going for them in a marriage with me is their bodies and their ability to have children."

Ryoga growled, "Are you degrading them Ranma?"

Ranma rolled his eyes, "I think what you are really asking is, am I being a pervert or something towards 'Kane? The answer is no. Of the three that are still in the running, they are all violent tomboys that view me as something like a slab of meat or a prize to be won."

Ryoga growled, "Rrranmaaa!"

Ranma jumped off the fence, "Don't start with me, pork-for-brains. After what Akane pulled with the help of the fathers, you know it is true."

Ryoga deflated instantly, "What did she do?"

Ranma looked at him incredulously, "You don't know? I thought she told you everything."

Ryoga poked his fingers together, "Well yeah, but 'P-Chan' hasn't exactly been going 'home' for the past two or three months if I can help it."

Ranma pat his back, "Hey, that just means you're getting better, and as to what happened…" Ranma sighed and went to lean on the fence, his face becoming mournful, "The Nannichuan water cask was sent to me by the Jusenkyo guide as thanks for what I did against Saffron. Her and the fathers intercepted it and were using it as a bargaining chip to buy my cooperation in getting married. Before I figured that out I was perfectly fine with marrying 'Kane, despite her violent tendencies and tomboyishness… Ryoga, isn't marriage supposed to be built on trust?"

Ryoga winced, "I didn't know, and yeah it is, that is why I have been evaluating my relationship with Akari and have tried to completely cut off contact with Akane."

Ranma shook his head, "You are lucky, you don't have any forced engagements."

Ryoga raised an eyebrow, "You do know that there are a lot of men who would kill to be in a position like yours, right?"

Ranma gave him a baleful glare, "Yeah, and those men are perverts. They also haven't been 'enlightened' like I have. Being a girl isn't so different from being a guy. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of differences, and not all of them are outwardly visible, but where it counts both men and women are still human, and that means we still make mistakes."

Ryoga raised an eyebrow, "It still has got to be preferable to being a piglet."

Ranma shrugged, "I wouldn't know considering I have never been a piglet before, but I doubt you would really choose girl over pig if you had the chance. It messes with your head."

Ryoga glanced at his rival in curiosity, "In what way?"

Ranma glared at him, "Drop it, you don't want to know."

Ryoga smirked, "I think I should be the judge of that."

Ranma was about to open his mouth when they both heard a loud squealing and crunch, they both took one look at each other and bolted in that direction, Ryoga staying slightly behind Ranma so he wouldn't get lost. They turned the corner at a fairly fast pace, but what they saw made them both kick it into high gear.

They both had tears coming from the corners of their eyes within a second, and both of them yelled out at the same time, "AKANE! SOMEONE GET HELP!"

Someone shoved their way to a payphone outside of one of the shops while Ranma and Ryoga slid to a stop next to Akane. Ranma knelt down to check on her, remembering not to move her because of some cursory medical advice he had gotten from Doctor Tofu at some point. He could tell that she was alive, but she was not in great shape and needed to get to a hospital soon if she would have any chance of surviving. Ranma felt the aura of depression and anger from beside him and blurred in front of Ryoga stopping the punch that almost took the young man's, who had been driving the car, head off. There was a miniature explosion of air pressure and the asphalt under Ranma cracked and cratered a bit where his feet were.

Ryoga growled at him, his tear-filled eyes glowing red, "Get out of the way Ranma, he killed Akane."

Ranma strained against his rival's monstrous strength, "Listen to me, Ryoga. She is still alive, and even if she was dead, killing this man in cold blood wouldn't bring her back. All it would do is make you a murderer."

Ryoga blinked, the glow fading from his eyes, "She is alive."

Ranma nodded, his face becoming like stone and the air around him turning chilly, "And we need to do something to keep her that way until the hospital people can get here."

Ryoga looked as lost as he ever had, "What can we do?"

Ranma pulled him towards Akane's broken body, and whispered in his ear, "We need to trickle a little bit of our ki into her. It will be a stopgap measure at best, but it should keep her alive long enough to get to the hospital."

Ryoga glanced at him, "Since when do you know what stopgap means?"

Ranma glared at him, "Not the time, Ryoga. Now, just follow my lead."

Ryoga nodded and watched as his rival knelt next to Akane and placed a hand on her broken right arm and let it glow softly with ki and gently nudged the energy into Akane. Ryoga could feel her dwindling spirit revive a little. He also knelt and did the same, and sighed with relief when he felt her spirit stabilize a little. Both of them were so focused on Akane that they didn't notice the golden bracelet on her wrist pulse blue, as if it was reacting to their energy. They also barely noticed when the ambulance crew got there and started working on Akane. They were allowed to accompany her to the hospital and they watched anxiously as she was rolled into the emergency room.

Ranma sighed as he watched Ryoga look glumly down at the floor from the seat he was in, "We did all we could."

Ryoga looked at him with a vulnerable look in his eyes, "Are you sure?"

Ranma nodded, "Yes, I am sure. Look, don't go anywhere, I will be right back, but I got to let Kasumi, Nabiki, and Mr. Tendo know what happened." Ryoga's eyes widened when he looked right behind Ranma, causing Ranma to sigh, "They are right behind, aren't they?"

Ryoga nodded, "Uh-huh."

Ranma turned around to be met with the renowned demon head technique, "WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT MY BABY GIRL!?"

Ranma's eyes narrowed, and he punched the head, popping it, "Stuff it, I ain't in the mood."

Nodoka's eyes widened on seeing the display, "Not protecting your fiancée seems most unmanly."

Ranma rolled his eyes, "I did everything I could to save her life, mom. Do you expect me to be by her side twenty-four seven?"

Nodoka nodded, "It is your manly duty."

Ranma rolled his eyes when he saw his father moving to make a getaway, "Oh, yeah, than why do you not go after pops for being unmanly. I have never seen him move except when it is his own skin that is in danger, and he definitely doesn't follow you around everywhere you go like a stalker."

Nodoka narrowed her eyes, "They are two completely different things, son."

Ranma raised himself up to his full height and glared straight into her eyes, the air around him rapidly cooling and his eyes starting to glow blue, "No, they aren't, mother."

Kasumi interposed herself between them, the tears in her eyes making both of them pause, "I am sure, Auntie, that Ranma tried his best."

Ranma's eyes stopped glowing, though the oppressive cold feeling didn't leave, "That I did. It is thanks to me and Ryoga that she was even able to get here alive."

Nabiki was the only one who hadn't really interjected herself into the conversation, and Ryoga could tell it was because her façade was crumbling. She probably didn't want all these people to see her break down. Quite a few people in the waiting room knew her and her reputation, and even now she didn't want to lose it.

They had waited in the now semi-perma-cooled waiting room for many hours. A number of people had come up to them to wish their condolences, but they generally didn't want to stay in such a literally and figuratively frosty atmosphere. When the doctors came out, they slowly stood up and bowed formally and deeply to the doctor who returned the bow.

The look on his face didn't give them much encouragement, though his words did provide some slight relief, "She is alive, we got her stabilized in time, but… I am sorry. She has slipped into a coma, and I don't know when she will wake up. We can keep her on life-support, but any number of things could go wrong. Again I am sorry, but you should prepare yourselves for the worst."

All of Akane's family members, including Nabiki, along with Nodoka started sobbing. Ryoga had long since run out of tears, and Ranma was still using the soul of ice to keep both his rage and sorrow suppressed.

Soun Tendo weepily asked the doctor, "Can I see my baby girl now?"

The doctor nodded, "You can all follow me."

He led them through the ultra-sterilized hallways to one of the doors along the corridor and opened the door. They went through and saw Akane lying there hooked up to a bunch of machines and one of them was beeping out her heart-beat. What they could see of her flesh aside from what was covered in bandages, the hospital gown, and a blanket was all black and blue. Her father and sisters immediately ran to her.

"STOP!" the doctor shouted, "You need to be gentle with her or you could risk exacerbating her injuries."

Soun got down on his knees next to the bed and almost crashed his head onto Akane's arms and stomach in his grief. The doctor's eyes bugged out when the two young men who were there moved in between the family and the girl.

Ranma had interposed himself between Akane and Soun, but Soun's anger was snuffed out quite quickly when he stared into the arctic fury that he saw in Ranma's eyes, "If you are going to endanger your own daughter through your usual careless grief, then you can leave."

Nodoka hugged her bundle to her tightly as she glared at her son, "Getting between a man and his daughter doesn't seem very manly, son."

The doctor was astonished that the two girls and the bald man seemed to agree with the red-head's assessment, "Okay, this is on doctor's orders now. Everyone but those two young men are not allowed to see her for the foreseeable future because your reckless attitudes are a danger to my patient."

Soun rounded on him, thinking he could cow this ordinary civilian into submission where he couldn't do so to Ranma, "You would dare to keep me from my daughter. I am on the city council."

The doctor's eyes narrowed, "So is my father, who is also a doctor. I am very aware of your position and power Soun, and you would do well to not make an enemy of the man who saved your daughter's life. I was planning on giving you a little bit of a discount on the care of your daughter, but you, sir, are going to be paying full price for her care on top of not being allowed to see her. In martial arts you may be above me, but this is my playing field. Now, all of you will get out except for those two young men, or I will have you be escorted out by the authorities."

A teary-eyed but stone faced Nabiki pulled on her irate father's sleeve, "This isn't the time and place to grow a backbone Daddy."

Kasumi lowered her head in shame that she had almost contributed to worsening her youngest sister's injuries and had irrationally agreed with Nodoka's assessment of the situation. Her tears started up as they all left room, and they didn't stop for a long time. Her guilt was also the worst out of all of them, because she had studied some on how to act around a trauma patient and had, in her weakest moment, completely ignored proper behavior.

The doctor kept his glare until they had all left and the door was closed, and after the click of it shutting had resounded, he sighed, "Take all the time you need, you two. I will come back in a couple hours to check on her vitals."

The two martial artists watched in astonishment as the doctor bowed to them and exited the room. For a few moments it was quiet as they digested what just happened. Then Ryoga quietly moved to Akane's left hand side and gently touched her hand. Ranma mirrored him on her right side. Ranma used his ki-sense to inspect her, and what he found astonished him.

Ryoga seemed to have done the same, because he looked up at Ranma with a similar look on his face, "Ranma, she feels hollow."

Ranma growled, "I know. I only felt it once before, and that is when that creepy old guy's soul had exited his body so that he could go on a date with me."

Ryoga's eyes widened, "So you mean…"

Ranma nodded, "Her body is alive, but unless we can get her soul back, there is no way to revive her."

Ryoga gazed sadly down at the hand he was currently holding, and he held it up to his forehead, Ranma mirrored his actions and said, "Akane, I swear I will do whatever it takes to return you to your body, or I am gonna die trying."

Ryoga heard his oath and took up one as well, "Akane, I swear to do whatever it takes to help Ranma retrieve your soul, or I will die trying."

They immediately went unconscious, but something floated them down so that they looked they were only resting on either side of her cot, and the bracelet that had been on her wrist disappeared and reappeared as two that were attached to the wrists of two of the strongest martial artists of their generation. This is how the adventure that spanned worlds started.