Update's here! Sorry for taking so long to update. I would like to say I was too busy too write, or some other excuse, but the truth is, I'm lazy, and can't ever get around to typing the story. For this reason, don't expect regular updates, I'll update whenever I can get off my lazy butt and write.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Shadow Hearts, they are the property of their respective owners.

"Ranma"- Spoken

'Ranma'- Thoughts

Demonic Fusion

By Shadow of the Dark

Once again, Ranma's eyelids fluttered as he began to awaken. As his mind drifted into consciousness, information from his senses began filtering in. He was lying on something soft, and another soft thing was covering him. Ranma slowly sat up, and the soft thing slid to his waist. He rubbed his eyes, before looking around.

Where... am I?'

He was in a room. It appeared to be a room in some sort of inn. The soft thing he had been lying on was a bed, and the soft thing covering him had been the sheets. The room was simply furnished, a table next to the bed and a window letting light in.

That place... was it a dream?'

Ranma climbed out of the bed, and stood in front of a mirror hanging on the wall. He was surprised to see that the clothes he had been wearing had been changed, now he was wearing a dark green shirt and black pants. The other important change, besides his new clothes, was the lack of scratches or scars, despite the ordeal that he had recently been through.

Why ain't I scratched up? And what happened to my clothes?'

Deciding to worry about it later and, since he was curious about where he was, Ranma went to the door, and exited the room. He walked down the hall until he reached the common room, where an older man, who appeared to be the innkeeper, was working. As Ranma walked in, the man looked over and saw him.

"Ah, you're awake." the innkeeper said.

"Umm... where am I?" Ranma asked.

"You're in the inn, young sir, you were carried in here by your companion."

"Companion?"

"Oh, you were not traveling with him? The man was asked to come here to get rid of the monsters that have been attacking our town. When he carried you in, he asked for some new clothes for you, and that you not be disturbed until you had awoken."

"Oh, umm.. what was his name?"

"He never told us his name, so I believe that you will need to wait until he returns."

"Thanks for telling me, see ya!"

With that, Ranma began running down the street, oblivious to the innkeeper's shouts that it was too dangerous to be outside right now, and for him to come back. As Ranma ran through the streets, he noticed that there were hardly any people around, and that no one was around as he drew closer to the edge of the village. Ranma continued running until he came to the edge of the village, where the forest began.

Ranma slowly walked into the forest.

The forest was eerily silent, and there seemed to be a feeling of anticipation in the air, almost as if the forest was waiting for something. Ranma, as he walked, was beginning to get somewhat nervous, as he could almost feel eyes hidden in the shadows watching him.

Suddenly, the noise of cracking sticks shattered the silence. Ranma jumped, and turned towards where the sound had originated.

"Is- Is anyone there?"

The answer was not one Ranma was very pleased to hear.

"Grrrrrrr"

Ranma slowly began to back away from where he heard the growl coming from. Unfortunately, the growling also moved forward towards him. Ranma watched as the growler came out of the darkness of the bushes, and became visible. Ranma's knees began to shake as he saw what emerged.

A monster. That was the only word Ranma's terrified mind could come up with to describe it. It stood on four legs, and was about four and a half feet from back to ground. Its form was similar to that of a wolf, excepting that it had glowing red eyes, fangs almost a foot long, the fur was blood red, and strange protrusions on its back. It stalked towards him, its burning red eyes promising death. Ranma continued backing away until his retreat was cut off by a tree against his back. The monster stopped about 10 feet away, and prepared to lunge into its prey.

Ranma's eyes stared into those of the monster's, seeing his own death in those eyes, and being helpless to stop it. The monster suddenly lunged forward, moving to tear into its prey. As the monster was halfway across the distance between them, a blur shot out of the trees, before slamming into the monster, sending it flying away. The monster struck a tree before hitting the ground, as Ranma's rescuer landed lightly on the ground. However, they were still standing in the shadows, and Ranma could not make out any clear details about them.

The monster shakily rose to its feet again, as its eyes focused, and it growled at its attacker. The monster began running toward the person, before leaping through the air towards them. However, its leap was suddenly stopped as the person appeared in front of it, before slicing it apart with what seemed to be a set of claws from the person's hands. The monster was sliced apart, and the pieces of its shredded body landed and lay limply on the ground.

Ranma's rescuer began walking toward Ranma, until they finally came into the light, where Ranma could see them clearly.

The person who had saved him was male. The man was quite tall, standing around six feet. He wore a red shirt, and black pants, with a long brown coat, that almost looked like an old-fashioned army coat, over his other clothing. He also wore white gloves. His hair was dark brown. None of this would set him apart in a crowd, except for the fact he was wearing an amulet, an amulet that was quite literally glowing bright blue. Another odd feature one would notice upon looking at him would be his eyes, which were a luminous red, that almost seemed to glow in the shaded light of the forest.

Ranma stared at the man for a few moments before finding his voice, and asking,

"Who are you?"

The man smiled slightly, as if amused by Ranma's question. He said,

"My name is Yuri Hyuga."

"My name is Ranma Saotome! Uhh, thanks for helping me. Were you the one who brought me to the village?"

"Yes, I found you in the woods, you were all cut up and unconscious. I took care of your wounds before taking you to the village. Anyway, that was the last monster, so let's head back to the village, we can talk more there."

The two began walking back to the village. The feeling of tension in the forest was no longer there, and the sound of birds could be heard, returned to the now safe area.

As the two approached the village, they were met by a crowd of the village inhabitants. After receiving Yuri's payment for destroying the monsters, Yuri and Ranma returned to the inn.

Once they were back in the room, Yuri sat down on a chair, and motioned for Ranma to sit on the bed. Once Ranma was seated Yuri said,

"All right Ranma, I've got a few questions for you."

"Okay"

"First, why were you so torn up? You looked like you had been attacked by wild animals."

"My father did as part of training for something called the Neko-ken."

Yuri blinked at that.

So THAT'S what the fatass was doing with the kid. Can't believe anyone would be that stupid!' Yuri thought. He felt disgusted, a grown man inflicting torture of that nature upon a child!

"What kind of father would do that to a kid?!"

"My father said a martial artist must be willing to give his life for the art."

Yuri sat silently for a few moments, a look of contemplation upon his face, his mind was deep in thought.

I want to keep an eye on this kid. There's something about him. Heh heh heh, this should be interesting.' These thoughts ran through Yuri's mind before he said,

"Ranma, would you like to travel with me and train under me?"

Ranma's eyes widened in surprise at Yuri's question.

"But, what about my father?"

"What about him? Do you really want to return and train under him? Even after what he did to you?"

Ranma had no response to that. He did have a question though.

"Why do you want me to come with you?"

"Why? First, I'm not going to send a kid back to someone like your father for training, and second, from what I can tell, you're a martial artist, right?"

"Yeah, I am."

"You've been training in how to fight, so I can continue your training, and teach you about being a monster hunter."

"Monster hunter?"

"Remember that creature that attacked you in the forest? That was a monster. Monster hunters, like me, travel from place to place and are hired by villages to get rid of their monster problems. Do you want to learn how to fight monsters?"

"..."

Ranma remained silent, Yuri watched him sit there for a few moments before saying,

"Alright, how about this? I'll give you until tomorrow morning to decide, alright?"

With that, Yuri went over to a futon laying in the floor. Ranma looked out the window, and noticed that it was now night. Ranma laid down on the bed, and pulled the covers over himself.

What do I do? If Yuri is a monster hunter, then he must be tough, right? He beat up that monster in the forest. But what about father? He's the one who's supposed to be training me. But, father threw me into that pit of c-cats.'

As he thought of this, memories of the Neko-ken came back to him, causing him to shudder. If I go back to him, he'll just throw me back in that pit. I'll-I'll go with Yuri.'

With that thought, Ranma drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Ranma woke up and climbed out of bed. The futon that Yuri had been sleeping on was empty. There was; however, clothing laid out on the table, which Ranma quickly changed into to. Ranma left the room and walked down the hallway, before reaching the common room.

Entering the room, Ranma noticed that the room had more people in it then yesterday. They were talking and sitting at tables eating breakfast. Yuri was sitting at a table along the wall eating breakfast. Ranma walked over to him, and sat across from him. Yuri looked up at him over his food, before stopping and saying,

"Morning."

Yuri called to the servers to bring some food for Ranma. As Ranma's food was set in front of him, Yuri's eyes gazed at him intently, studying him as he asked,

"So, have you decided?"

Ranma looked down at his food before raising his head and looking Yuri in the eye.

"I will go with you."

Yuri's face broke into a slight grin, as he began to eat again.

"Alright then, we'll pick up supplies after breakfast."

After finishing their meal, and picking up the needed supplies, Yuri and Ranma walked out of the village. And so, Ranma's training under Yuri Hyuga began.

A/N: All right, here's the chapter, a bit late, but at least I did it. It's shorter then I wanted, but I felt it would be better to go ahead and upload it. The next chapter should be a lot longer, so see that when it comes. I'll probably upload the next chapter of Eternal Blue Redux next, as well as a Harry Potter story along with a Naruto story I've been working on.

By the way, before you start complaining about Yuri's prescece when he shouldn't be there, I have a reason for it, but I don't feel like explaining now, so I'll do it later. See you next time!