Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns all rights to Ranma 1/2. I am just borrowing her characters!

Whoa! It's been a while! I know most of you didn't believe me when I said I would finish this story... eventually! For all of you out there that stuck with it and wanted to see it finished this chapter is for you! :)

Thanks once again goes out to my proofreader Angela! I don't know what I would do without her! :)

"Then you really are…"

He nodded slowly.

"A vampire," he finished for her. "Yes."

"But how can that be?"

He knew she was trying to rationalize what she'd seen. To make some sense of it so that she wouldn't feel like she was losing her mind. But he was what he was, and as much as he'd like to deny that, it wouldn't do either of them any good.

"Believe me," he told her honestly. "I've gone over that in my head a thousand times, Akane. Some things you just can't explain. They just are."

"Does that mean Ryoga…" she couldn't bring herself to say it. She felt as if she were losing her mind.

Ranma hesitated, wondering just how much he should tell her. The fact that she was bringing Ryoga up meant that she was already putting the pieces together. He toyed with the thought of mesmerizing her into forgetting what she'd seen, but couldn't bring himself to do it. It had been so long since he'd felt this close to someone. He didn't want to lose her, no matter how selfish it seemed.

He decided instead to tell her the truth.

"Yes," he admitted. "He is. We were kids growing up together, both of us training in martial arts." He smiled faintly almost sadly at the distant memory. It had been such a long time ago, and though it had been hard, he knew he would have given anything to relive that time again. It was true what they said, you never really knew what you had until it was gone.

"We were always trying to outdo each other, neither one of us liked to lose. With every challenge the risks only grew, each one more dangerous then the last, until it became almost like a game." He sobered then. "His parents were killed when he was just a kid. Some sort of sickness they had no name for. Back then most medical treatments were pretty primitive."

Akane's heart pained at the thought of what Ryoga had gone through. She knew firsthand how painful it was to lose a parent. She was just glad Ranma had been there to see him through it.

"Back then?" she asked.

His eyes met and locked with hers.

"I was born in 1736," he told her, watching her carefully, gauging her reaction. "In 1760 I was brought across. I was twenty-four years old."

He watched as she struggled to take in the information. "That would make you…"

"Over two hundred and fifty," he finished for her, amazed when she seemed to take the calculation in stride.

"And both you and Ryoga were…were…"

"Brought across," he volunteered, "It's what we call it when a vampire is born."

No wonder Ryoga's smile had made her blood run cold. The feral look she had seen in his eyes. She had thought she'd just imagined it, but now…

So many things were starting to make sense. Things Ukyo had jokingly pointed out. Ranma's ability to show up out of nowhere without a sound, never seeing him eat or drink, and of course there was also the fact that he could send her into fits of unbridled pleasure without even being in the room…

She had dismissed them, not wanting to think about what they might mean, simply chalking it up to her overactive imagination. Now she had to face them. Face the fact that she was in love with a vampire.

This can't be real, her withered mind tried to protest. But it was and she knew it. With her infamous stubborn resolve she pushed the impossible aside and accepted her fate.

Of course this meant she wanted to know everything.

Ranma watched the acceptance dawn on her face and braced himself for the questions he knew would come. Whatever she wanted to know he would tell her. He owed her that much.

"You said it was a long story," she said, her eyes meeting his, determination lighting them. "I think I'm ready to hear it."

He had to smile at her tenacity. He knew she would always keep him on his toes, and for a vampire, whose immortal life was one long endless spiral, it was a gift he would treasure forever.

He got up and sat down beside her, taking only a moment to sort out his rampant thoughts.

"I was six years old when my pop decided to take me on the road and train me in martial arts. We moved around so much I didn't have time to make any friends. Then, during one expedition when I was ten we came across this young boy. It was Ryoga."

"It turns out he was born with a horrible sense of direction and was wandering around, completely lost. With his parents gone there was no one to go home to anyway, so we asked him if he wanted to join us."

Ranma smiled at the distant memory. A small sturdy kid wearing a black and yellow bandana, a set and determined look on his face despite his predicament. He had been stubborn to a fault, a mirror image of his own tenacious resolve.

"At first we didn't get along. We'd fight over the stupidest things. Like who could out distance who, and who could take down what, and then of course there was our infamous bread feud."

Ranma's smile grew as he remembered.

"Bread feud?" Akane asked, smiling along with him.

"Pop turned it into a training exercise to test our speed. He used to hoard bread in his pack and force us to fight for our food. Whatever we managed to get from him we got to eat. During those long days on the road it was sometimes the only food we had. Of course Ryoga didn't take too kindly to the fact that I was quicker than him." Ranma chuckled, making Akane's smile grow wider. It was good to hear him laugh.

"Still, we sort of grew on each other. Like I said before, both of us were into martial arts, it was our common bond." He suddenly grew serious. "Neither of us had ever really had a friend and through it all..." He shrugged. "We became what the other needed, filled that void, that emptiness. We became like brothers."

He gave a wholehearted sigh. "When we were sixteen my pop took us to China. There was an infamous training ground he'd heard about and wanted to check out. Unfortunately it turned out to be cursed."

"Cursed?" Akane gasped, astonished. "Is that how…?"

He shook his head. "No."

She was taken aback by the sheer bitterness she heard in his voice.

"The training ground was littered with several springs. Each one of them cursed. The trick was to stay on the bamboo poles that jutted out of the center. To get wet meant inheriting that spring's curse." He gritted his teeth at the memory. "Unfortunately for all three of us we only learned of this afterward."

Akane's eyes widened. "So what happened?"

"This," he replied, closing his eyes and concentrating.

There was a sudden shift in the air surrounding him, and Akane watched in amazement as he began to shimmer. All at once his raven black hair turned a bright scarlet red, his full frame shrinking several inches as his body changed from that of a hulking young man, to a very curvaceous, well built young female.

Akane couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was hard enough to accept the fact that he was a vampire, but now this? Seeing her dismay Ranma tried to explain.

"I fell into the spring of drowned girl. When I was human cold water used to trigger the transformation. Hot water turned me back to normal. Now that I am what I am, I can do it at will."

Akane shook her head as if to clear it. What kind of childhood must he have had? To have had no real sense of stability, a father who cared more about training him than caring for him, not to mention this curse and then to top it all off to become… It wasn't fair, any of it.

"You said all three of you," she replied when she could find her voice. "So Ryoga is cursed too is that right?"

She watched as he shifted back to normal before answering. "Yes," he said with a sigh. "He used to hate it. Before we could control the change water seemed to find us no matter what we did. Now he sometimes uses it to his advantage. If you haven't already guessed, he's not like me. He doesn't fight what he's become."

She had guessed it alright. It was good to know her instincts weren't failing her.

"Does he become a girl too?"

"No," Ranma replied instantly, a note of disgust creeping into his voice. "He becomes a small black piglet."

Akane raised her eyebrows in astonishment. "Animal curses?"

Ranma nodded. "He's gotten to more than one woman using his curse. Unsuspectingly they take him home only to find out later what he really is."

Akane shivered at the thought. "What about your dad?"

She watched him grimace at the mention of his father, a look that could almost be construed as hate flashing in his beautiful blue-gray eyes.

"My father," he spat almost as if the word were poisonous. "He cared more about the art than me. It was always all about the next technique, the next challenge. Whatever it took to get to that next level was what we were subjected to. His curse took panda form, and he used it to run away from his problems. Whenever things got too tough you could always count on my pop to turn panda and leave me to deal with and clean up his mess."

Akane's heart pained for the look she saw in Ranma's eyes. The bitterness seemed like it might eat him alive.

"I take it he's the one who let you become a vampire?"

"He's the one who sold me to his old martial arts master," Ranma replied. "Who just happens to be the oldest living vampire in the world."

Akane simply looked at him, her own horror dawning in her dark eyes. "He sold you?" She felt the old familiar rage burn within her. Had his father been here she would have cut him down where he stood.

Ranma nodded. "My instinct tells me that my pop knew this, yet he did it anyway. He was too much of a chicken shit to take a stand against what he knew would happen. Instead of defending us he let us take the fall to save his own hide. I never saw him again."

Akane shook her head, unable to comprehend the fact that a father could do such a thing to his own son.

"Of course I only found this out later. When he brought us to master Happosai it was under the guise of learning the art from the best around. I guess I should have known. I always felt a bit uneasy around the old letch. Like there was something just outside of my line of vision. I knew it was there, but I couldn't quite make it out. Of course even if someone had told me what it was I don't think I would have believed them."

She nodded in understanding. She could totally relate to that.

"Even with my uneasiness it seemed like just another stop along our never ending training journey," he confessed. "Master Happosai was relentless. He wanted to see what we were made of. Being as stubborn as we were we never let the pain show. Ryoga and I fed off each other, neither one of us wanting to give in first, we pushed each other past the limit of endurance." He shook his head at the memory. "If only we'd known…"

He felt her soft hand brush his in a gesture of comfort and reveled in it.

"Our stubborn resolve only made him want us more," he said with a resigned sigh. "He hadn't seen anything like it in hundreds of years. We fed right into what he wanted. Of course it probably saved our lives…" he grunted at the thought. "If you can call this a life…"

He felt her hand suddenly tighten around his, her soft face full of sympathy, telling him without words that she was there for him. It filled his empty soul with something he couldn't explain, encouraging him to go on.

"It turned out that word had gotten back to him of our exploits, especially in one Chinese village. Apparently the matriarch of the clan had ties to Master Happosai. He then approached my father and made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

Ranma took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It felt good to tell someone. To get it all off his chest, like a kind of release of sorts. He watched as her big expressive eyes got even bigger, a hint of anger he suspected was aimed toward his father shinning just beneath the surface. He smiled inwardly. It was good to know she cared so much. Had his father been standing there, Ranma suspected she would have leveled him where he stood.

"Your father was a coward," she muttered, the anger evident in her voice. Ranma nodded, a small grimace surfacing in his perfect lips.

"We had no idea what was coming," he continued, staring off at the far wall as if looking directly into the past. "He said it was a training exercise. He wanted to gauge our instincts and reaction times. We were sent out into the woods separately…"

Suddenly it was as if he were back there, his senses straining as he walked cautiously through the darkened forest. He knew an attack would be forthcoming it was just a matter of gauging where and when.

He stopped suddenly, his senses picking up a sudden shift in the air. He felt his reflexes tense as they prepared themselves for action.

"I know you're there old man!" he yelled confidently. "You might as well show yourself!"

From out of nowhere there came a sardonic laugh, "Very impressive boy!" Master Happosai replied gleefully. "It's not many who can detect my hidden aura."

Ranma frowned. There was still no sign of the old letch. He scoured his surroundings, his eyes looking everywhere at once, instincts now stretched to their limit.

The air suddenly shifted again. Before he could fully prepare himself something flew by him in a rush. He felt the blow land and the blood trickle freely down his face from the small gash in his left cheek. Silently he cursed himself for not being quicker, for letting the old man get the better of him.

He barely managed to avoid the next blow, sensing his master's aura at the last minute and counteracting with a jab of his own. It didn't seem to slow him down as the old man flew at him again and again, faster and faster, until he was a mere blur.

Fortunately for Ranma he had settled into a rhythm, his senses picking up on his master's presence, allowing him to take a more offensive approach. He managed to gear up his ki, sending out a blast of orange light. It connected solidly with the thin air and dissolved instantly.

Suddenly he was aware that he was once again alone. He could no longer detect his master's presence. He frowned.

What kind of game was the old letch playing now?

Before he could even start to figure it out he heard a blood curdling scream pierce the night air. His eyes widened when he realized who the voice belonged to.

Ryoga!

Ranma began running toward the sound. Even as he ran he kept his senses primed and ready. It would be just like the old man to use Ryoga as a distraction, to gauge his reaction and find the perfect opening. He wasn't about to let that happen. Still, that scream, if it had been a ploy, seemed awfully real.

When he finally came upon the clearing he could just make out Ryoga's lifeless form lying in the underbrush. His eyes widened for a moment as he tried to take in what he was seeing. Finally his shock receded enough to allow him to race to his friend's side.

He knelt down carefully and quickly assessed the situation. Ryoga thankfully was still breathing, although barely. Even in the sparse moonlight he could see that his friend was very pale, his lips holding an almost blue hue.

"Ryoga!" he shook his friend slightly, trying to rouse him to no avail. He frowned in confusion. He could see no outward sign of trauma. Had the old man done this somehow, a hidden pressure point maybe? Ranma began to look more closely at his friend. That's when he saw it, two perfectly round puncture marks on the left side of Ryoga's neck.

His frown deepened. "What the…"

Before his mind could process the implications, he was attacked from behind. In an instant he felt his legs and arms go completely numb as his master quickly applied a sequence of pressure points. He toppled over and landed face first in the warm earth.

He could feel himself being turned over and could do nothing to stop it. His body was totally limp, his muscles not obeying his brain's commands. He cursed himself for falling so easily into Happosai's trap. When he finally lay face up his eyes went immediately to the old man looming over him.

"I knew the moment I saw you fight you were worthy."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. What was the old letch talking about? Worthy of what? He wanted to ask but found he couldn't speak. Happosai saw this and smiled.

"You will be the crown jewel of my new army. Together we will rule the world."

Before Ranma knew what was happening Happosai had descended over him. He felt a sharp piercing pain penetrate the side of his neck. He tried desperately to scream, but found no sound would come.

There was a strange pulling sensation and he felt himself starting to fade. The pull grew stronger and stronger, helplessly leaving him feeling weaker and weaker. He tried desperately to fight it to no avail. His eyes began to close as he finally gave into it, letting it take him wherever it wanted.

In the next instant he felt something being pressed to his lips. It was warm and thick and something inside of him cried out for more of it. He went with the instinct and seized upon it, drinking it in with an almost desperate need.

There was a sudden rush of warmth that seemed to flood through him all the way to his toes.

The sensation was incredible. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before. In the space of seconds he felt his senses spike to new heights. A feeling of raw power surged through him, making him feel more alive. All at once he was connected to every living thing around him. It made him gasp with the sheer sensation of it.

Once again he felt the power surge through him, this time stronger than ever. His senses reeled with all the overwhelming force of it, as even the ground beneath him felt suddenly alive.

His eyes flew open and he stared up at his master. He had pulled back and now looked down upon him, that same knowing smile etched upon his face. That smile… he knew it could mean no good.

It was then that Ranma fully realized the change. He could feel the power moving within him almost like a separate entity. He sat up slowly, realizing with some trepidation that he could hear the creatures of the forest as they slept in the trees, their tiny heartbeats keeping time with the blood rushing through their bodies.

The blood…

Just thinking about it made his mouth water as he felt a surge of hunger rush through him. He shook his head roughly, trying to break free of the sensation.

"What the hell have you done to me old man!"

But Happosai was gone.

Ranma heard a movement off to his right. He turned slowly to find Ryoga pushing himself into a sitting position. His friend turned to stare at him and the first thing Ranma noticed were his eyes. They were blood red and feral. He smiled then, a wicked smile, full of malice. His usual fangs were now an inch longer and honed to a sharpened point.

This can't be happening! His mind screamed.

"But it was…"

Akane watched him return his gaze to her as if releasing the past once more.

"My God…" Akane said, her voice breathless.

"God had nothing to do with this," Ranma returned bitterly. "Of course for Ryoga it was totally different. It meant having full control and freed him from his horrible sense of direction. It also made his curse an asset instead of a liability. For him it really was a new beginning."

"And for you?"

Ranma sighed. "I've always had to endure Akane," he said simply. "My whole life was one challenge after another. You either learn to adapt or you die."

"I see," she said, taken aback by his easy acceptance of what had happened to him. "And what about Happosai," she asked, a tinge of anger in her voice. "Did you adapt and become one of his army?"

"Understand something Akane," he replied when he heard the animosity begin to surface. "Just because I accepted my fate doesn't mean I didn't accept it on my own terms. I never joined Happosai and neither did Ryoga. He'd lived with rules his whole life and he wasn't about to resign himself to that fate again."

Akane suddenly felt ashamed for jumping to conclusions.

"We knew he wouldn't stop until we agreed to his plan. That he would track us down wherever we went, so we ended up tricking him into a cave which we then sealed him inside of. It wasn't hard. The old letch was always easily distracted."

"Aren't you afraid he'll escape?" Akane asked flabbergasted.

Ranma grimaced. He knew if Happosai did ever escape he'd have one hell of a battle on his hands. "I try not to think about it."

Akane nodded. She still couldn't believe she was sitting here talking with a vampire. She felt like she had stumbled into an Anne Rice novel. And there was still so much she wanted to know.

"So," she said, changing the subject. "I see staying out of the sunlight is true to the folklore, what about everything else?"

He had to smile at her determined interest. "Yeah, we certainly don't sparkle in the sun, unless by sparkle you mean implode."

She couldn't help giggle at his small joke.

"As for the rest, most of it is true. All except the staking thing. That doesn't work. Someone tried that on me once. It was more of a nuisance than anything. All I did was pull it out. The wound healed pretty quickly too."

She simply stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and awe.

"I'm a bit more adept at being able to mesmerize," he continued. "I can send a thought at someone with enough force to do some major damage."

Akane recalled how he'd made Takeshi turn and walk away with just a suggestion. How he and Ryoga had seemed to carry on some kind of silent conversation. How Ryoga had abruptly left the table complaining of a headache all the while glaring at Ranma.

She began chewing her bottom lip, not quite sure how to ask her next question.

"How many… that is have you…"

He seemed to pick up on what she was trying to ask instantly as he finished the thought for her.

"Killed anyone?"

She merely nodded, bracing herself for the answer.

"No," he stated firmly. "I've never had to. My martial arts training gave me the discipline to take only what I needed to survive. Most of them didn't even remember the encounter. I still didn't feel right about it so I've been living off cow's blood mostly."

"But that ki-blast…"

Ranma nodded. "Very impressive Akane," he admitted. "Yes, for that I had to have human blood, as I needed human ki to fuel it. But I didn't kill for it. I simply borrowed some of Ryoga's stash. With the sun out I knew I was going to need it to save you."

"I see…" she replied not sure how to respond to that. She was sure Ryoga had no qualms about killing, and the blood Ranma had "borrowed" probably had come from someone no longer walking this earth.

She frowned then in confusion. "How did you know I was in trouble?"

He hesitated for a moment, trying to think of the right words to explain it to her.

"As I've stated I'm more adept at mesmerizing a subject. For some reason I am able to take it a step further. I can draw your blood to me just by concentrating. Once I tasted you I was instantly connected to your ki. I could sense you were in danger."

At his statement her mind instantly drifted to the dreams. She felt her face redden slightly. "It was you wasn't it?" It was more a statement than a question. "The dreams, they weren't dreams at all were they?"

She recalled the first time at the bar when she'd felt that jolt of pleasure hit her out of nowhere. Then again that first time she'd had him up to her apartment and he'd kissed the palm of her hand. She had felt a wave of desire so strong she could do nothing but respond to it. She had tried to brush it off as mere imagination, but even as she did so she knew, had always known.

She watched as his eyes darkened with desire.

"No," he stated simply. "You've probably already guessed, but I don't even need you to be asleep." He sighed. "I tried to resist you. I didn't want you mixed up in all this, but then you were attacked and I had to intervene. After that I was lost. It's been such a long time since I felt this strongly about someone. I'm sorry Akane. I didn't mean…"

He tore his gaze away, suddenly unable to look her in the eye.

She reached out then, brushing his face with her fingers, gently guiding his gaze back to hers. "This is what you meant by complicated?"

Ranma sighed again, this time wholeheartedly. "Yes."

"So if you can draw my blood to you does this also mean you can send me your desire as well?"

Ranma merely nodded, too full of raw longing to even speak.

Akane felt her heartbeat quicken at the thought. "How…" she forced out the word in a breathless whisper.

She stared into his intense eyes, unable to tear her gaze away.

"Like this…" he whispered, releasing just a fraction of his smoldering desire. She gasped as it hit her, making her tingle from head to toe.

She felt her breath quicken as the sensations washed over her. Unable to stop herself she inched closer, her eyes still locked upon his.

She was instantly drawn to him. He was dangerous, and she had to admit tempting that danger gave her an instant thrill. It made her feel more alive than she had in a long time.

Her lips met his and with every kiss he released more of his desire, making her gasp as the feelings grew in their intensity. His mere touch was electric, sending bolts of excitement through her. The urge to have him grew stronger with every second that passed.

When she finally pulled back her breathing was labored, her eyes glassy with desire.

"Can vampires…" she breathed. "That is, can you…"

Ranma merely smiled, knowing fully what she was trying to ask. He pulled her into his arms then eased her down beneath him.

He would show her just what a vampire was capable of.

Well, I hope it was up to par and that you enjoyed it! If you did let me know. It only encourages me to write faster! heh heh!