A Ranma ½ Fanfic: Nightmares of the Heart.

Written by Lucious Coulter.

Ranma ½ does not belong to me, but Rumiko Takahashi. Oh well…

A/N. Sorry it took so long. I had finals to do in school. Thanks for the comments, and don't hesitate to send advice. Heaven knows, I need it.

Chapter 4: The Caves Of Hatred. Part One.

Once again, Ranma found himself facedown on the floor. There was another note that was lying in front of him. 'How predictable. I hope you had some fun. I knew that you would be able to beat Sectrum Mantra. It wasn't difficult I trust. But that's the way fun goes! This is The Caves Of Hatred. The way out is at the center. Don't bore me!' The note once again burst into black flames. Ranma growled and clenched his fist. He hated being manipulated more than anything else in the world. 'That bastard will pay! No one controls me, and no one kidnaps Akane and then jokes about it!' He then took a look at his surroundings. He was in a large stone cavern. The only light came from torches along the wall. And the most prominent feature was that it was boiling hot. He could already feel sweat start to drip down the middle of his back. It was so hot, that he couldn't get up the energy to activate the soul of ice. He'd just have to endure it.

He saw a tunnel ahead and started to walk through the narrow passage. As he rounded a corner, he gave out a moan. There were five different paths going in different directions. He then realized that this just wasn't a cave. It was a labyrinth. He gritted his teeth. This was not helping his mission to save Akane, put he continued on. As he went through the caves, he found it difficult to concentrate on where he was going. He was getting seriously dehydrated and the heat disrupted his judgment. After a couple of hours, he came to another path division. Only this time there were three passages, and little green glowing orbs were floating in the air. One of the orbs came over and, to his surprise started speaking.

"Go to the left. That's the right way." It said in a high pitch whiney sort of voice. As he was about to thank the orb, another one came up and said,

"No! He's lying. The right way is the best choice!" It then let out a high pitch giggle and flew off. More and more came up and told him that the right way was either this way or that way, giggling and laughing all the while until he couldn't take it anymore.

"SHUT UP!" The orbs stopped talking and flew to a group near the far corner and started whispering. He only caught fragments of what they said, but it made him hate the little cretins even more.

"What a rude little brat…"

"Indeed. He doesn't deserve our help…"

"Let's send him in the wrong direction on purpose…"

"Yes! That will teach him manners…"

"Fool…"

"Child…"

"Freak…"

Ranma finally lost it and just went running down one of the tunnels away from the orbs giggling and gossiping. He then stopped to catch his breath. 'Idiot. Running in this heat was just plain stupid. But those things just made me so mad…' Ranma finally understood the meaning of The Caves Of Hatred. As he was breathing in and out, he noticed some light over his shoulder. He turned around and saw two orbs coming toward him. One orb was reddish orange and one was blue.

"Hello! Mr. Person man! Yoo-hoo! The red one came up to him and dimmed so he could see inside the orb. What he saw shocked him. It was a little woman about the size of his hand. She had on a short red dress and two golden bracelets on her right arm. She had spiky red hair pulled back in a ponytail, and fierce green eyes. She distinctly reminded him of Akane whenever she was in her 'I'm the best' mode.

"Hi! My names Tin! Who are you?" She asked loudly. He gazed back at her suspiciously.

"Ranma Saotome. What's it to you?" She put on a mock pout and said in a joking voice,

"Don't include us in that group of twits back there. Anyone can tell you that we are fairies and not Willo-the-wisps." He blinked. 'Fairies. Just perfect. I suppose the seven dwarfs will come around the corner any minute as well.' Out loud he said,

"What's the difference?" Her face got as red as her hair and he backed away from her.

"We are superior to those stupid little morons! We have grace and social class and more power and--"

"Tin, that's enough. We came to help. Not to scare the poor boy out of his wits."

Ranma turned to the blue orb which had now disintegrated to show another woman. She had a deep blue robe on and wore a sapphire ring on her left hand. Her long hair was a whitish blue color, and her eyes were the color of ice. She had a calm and cool state about her that felt like Kasumi and Nabiki mixed together. She stepped in front of Tin and addressed Ranma.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kel. Me and my partner Tin have been trying to get out of this cave ever since we were trapped here 250 years ago."

"I thought it was 249 years?" Tin said curiously. Kel sighed as if this sort of thing happened often.

"No Tin. 250 years. Anyway, we will help you to the center of the maze if you promise to help us escape from this place. Tin is fine in warm temperatures, but I am more partial to the snow." As she was speaking, Tin sat on Ranma's shoulder.

"We can be useful too!" Tin exclaimed energetically. "I have the ability to give you courage in the face of danger!"

"And I can create a barrier to deflect most attacks." Kel said calmly.

"So whaddya say!"

Ranma tried to take all of this in. Here were two so called 'fairies' that wanted to travel with him. They would help him out of here if he helped them escape. It sounded like a fine plan. One thing nagged him though.

"Why did you choose me to be your helper? There must have been other people that have come through here."

"Oh yes! Tons!" Said Tin without thinking. Kel put her head in her hands.

"Oops…" Tin said sheepishly. She fiddled with her thumbs nervously. Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to the other guys?" He said with a hint of warning in his voice. Tin eeped and stuttered over her words.

"Well no time to lose! We have to get out of here! Let's go! Hurry up!" Tin shouted enthusiastically. She started parading down the passage with Ranma following after her, Kel comfortably sitting on his shoulder. She chanted a few words, and a pitcher of ice cold water appeared. Ranma grabbed it a hurriedly swallowed it down. He muttered his thanks and another quick chant made the pitcher disappear.

"So why are you here Ranma?" Kel asked curiously. Ranma's eyes narrowed as he told the story of how Akane was kidnapped. Afterwards, Kel exhaled deeply.

"That's quite a story. It sounds like you care about this girl quite a lot" Ranma immediately started going on his usual ranting of who could like an unsexy tomboy like her anyway. Kel smiled a little bit and went on.

"But this dark lord, be careful around him Ranma. We of the fairy tribe have encountered him before. He loves to play games with peoples emotions and tells lies so extraordinarily that almost everyone believes them. Be careful when facing him." Tin, who had only paid attention to the first bit of conversation came over and started loudly proclaiming how Ranma was head over heals in love with Akane and if she could be invited to the wedding. Kel almost laughed as she watched Ranma chase Tin around, furiously declining everything she said. 'This will be an interesting journey indeed. I have a feeling he'll make a good friend.' She thought contently.