CHAOS SQUARED - FIRST ARC

Chapter 3

Contemplation

The silence was profound. The air thick with unsaid words and masked feelings. Ryouga left the room to leave Ranma with his thoughts.

To Ranma, everything had come terribly undone, but yet came together.

His life was truly in a shambles. The shock was so great that had to gather himself to go on through the pain. Akane had found a boyfriend at least one month after the failed wedding attempt. He was even more surprised at that Kodachi was sane. So, they all truly had no feelings for him, even his mother who hated him because of he reminded of the man who abandoned her...

Yet through all that, he found that everything came together. All the little clues that couldn't really figure out or didn't want figure out. Things kept happening to him to keep him off balance.

What he did feel was disgust. Akane was the one who was seeing someone behind his back. The plan of maiming him him made him shake his head. With that, his feelings for her plummeted to new lows. It revolved around honour, pride and their amusement.

It occurred to him that in a way it was a good thing that it did happen. He shuddered to think what would have happened if he did marry any of his fiancees. He saw now that they would have made his life a living heck.

He was outraged that they did this to him, especially his mother. He had to think about it...

Hours later

For the first time, he saw where most of his problems started with. His mother. His father was a moron most of the time, but didn't actively want to destroy him. The big question was why? What did he do or what did he represent that hated him so much?

He had to do something about it, but now a plan was starting to form. Ryouga had gotten tired and wandered out.

He sat there for a very, very long time as his whole world had turned upside down AGAIN.

Kasumi wasn't as out of it as he thought. A part of him wanted to deny it. This was Kasumi, the one who was the nice to everyone. Then again she was the mother of the Tendo family and taken in that context, what she did would be protecting her family and giving them a livelihood at his expense.

Throughout that time, the news that Ranma was actually gone had spread. The official parade of Good Bye and Good Riddence, Ranma. They didn't care how he was gone only that he was.

From that parade, Ranma would find out first hand the dark side of human nature. How any bad rumours even if they weren't true could destroy a reputation.

It was this the one thing he couldn't fight. It was the rumours that came out of nowhere. Many were about how dishonourable he was, the abuses he had given the Tendos, many of the dark deals that were made and so on. The rumours twisted what happened until it was only Ranma who was the dishonourable one. It also made out the Tendos and the Satomes to be unwilling victims of Ranma, especially Akane, even though she always hits him. This set Kuno off and he vowed to put an end to ther reign of terror of 'Vile Satome' and rescue his pigtailed and Nurse Goddessses. Ryouga, Mousse, Happosai and Taro were made to be totally clueless morons also. Shampoo, Ukyou, Akane, Kodatchi and Kasumi were made out to be the 'real victims' of his infidelity to the fullest.

Almost overnight, everybody in Nerima believed the rumours or at least had doubts about him. It came as a surprise that it was Kasumi actively took a part. He knew that Kasumi always worked in the shadow. She seemed to relish the attention. Perhaps it was that she actually wanted to vent out her frustrations.

As the days turned weeks, the rumours became more and more exaggerated and dark. The more vicious rumours would come from Akane's friends, Sayuri and Yuka. In the time that followed, it would become painfully to him that most of the students of Furinkan took it as the truth despite what they knew about him. Maybe the reason was that secretly they sometimes thought he did seem too clueless or honourful. Many of his 'friends' or people wanting attention bragged that they knew all along that he did what the rumours said which made it more believable. After a while, most of them actually believed the rumours themselves. Most people were in sympathy for the Tendos and the Satomes.

It got worse. Now that he wasn't there anymore, Happosai ran free as panty raids were more frequent and no one could stop him. More weird things started to happen as the Yorma threat from Jubban spilled over to Nerima. Also the damage wasn't localized to the Tendo Dojo.

It was in this time that people showed how finicky they were. They wanted their cake and eat it too.

Just weeks ago, they had a parade that he was gone and never wanted him to come back. Now they blamed him for not being there anymore to take the brunt of the weirdness. Bastard, coward and dishonourable cur was the nicest things said about him. It was convenient of them to forget that weirdness had always come to Nerima before Ranma and now they had a scapegoat for all of their problems.

It did make an impact on the hospital as the nurses became sceptical again and more resentment against him was building up. Kasumi, herself, directly fanned the flames by recounting her own experiences, leaving omissions that left little to the imagination.

The head nurse was more sceptical of the rumours, especially when she saw that Khun Lo herself had tried to get him into the tribe. She knew Khun Lo had excellent judgement in ability, but more in character and knew that she wouldn't have pursued Ranma if he did any of those things the rumours said. She also had a talk with Ryouga about Ranma and was shocked a the difference from what the rumours had held. It didn't come to a surprise to her when she found that Ranma didn't know about the rumours when she told him about it. Rumours were the whispers behind someone's back which couldn't be countered the person who was in the rumour never knew about it. She only nodded when he gave the same version that Ryouga said. It was a relief to Ranma because it did explain the dark, dark looks he was given by all of the nurses and patients who he saw.

Ranma's luck seemed to be changing when Daisuku and Hiroshi arrived to visit Ranma on Kasumi's off day. They were self professed cowards, but they were also the only people who actually came to his defence against the rumours. They were shocked that nurses actually believed the outrageous rumours. They went to see the head nurse to stop this nonsense because everyone seemed to believe it also and wouldn't listen to them. The head nurse had questioned them and found that, in typical fashion, the rumours were really half-truths that preyed on people's gullability, but more to people's secret superiority that they relish or just to put down someone else. They mainly refuted the slant of all of the rumours.

When the head nurse gathered as much information as she could from them, she had a meeting with the administration and the nurses in and gave them all the information she had. They were there to answer any questions the people had. They explained that, in their time as Ranma's friends, they had never seen him do ANYTHING dishonourable. Also out of all the people who they could call friends, he was the only true friend they had at Furinkan and was the only one who judged them on their merits and not what he heard from others. Ranma had always helped them, the Tendos, the Nerima people and even his enemies when they needed it and many time without question because that was just who he was. They had personally seen other people, such as the 'victims', do the deeds and then and blamed him for it. They pointed out that the timing was only when Ranma was in the hospital and unable to defend himself and that the power of rumours would never quite go away, but lurk under the surface ready to spring on him again.

Faced with similar answers from Ryouga, many of the nurses were shocked that Kasumi was never at the many places where Ranma was 'alleged' to have done his vile that he even did it himself. Many were puzzled as to why Kasumi would recounted them with a larger slant against Ranma.

Even though many were sceptical, in the end, the single thread that they find with certainty in the rumours were that they did happen, but they made by their apparent 'victims' than by Ranma himself. They told the sceptical ones to that if they wanted proof then they could see them in the public record, newspapers, internet, etc.. The more determined ones actually went to some

Nerima television stations later that day and succeeded with their connections to view many of the footages of Ranma in battle on many occasions.

What they found wasn't at all what they expected. Ranma who was the real 'victim' almost all of the time. The other 'victims' almost always instigated the problems, escalated it, blamed him when something they did went wrong or a combination of the previous three things.

There were two sequence was almost predictable. It always happened regardless if he was male or female. First, Ranma was doing something normal like walking home alone or with groceries for Kasumi. Next is usually his fiancees who came and glomped him. It was normal that he would try to get them off as he was turning blue a lot. Followed by his rivals as each of them declared him a fiend and/or gave him a death threat. The next surprised them as Akane always was there at the wrong time to call him a pervert on a flimsy excuse or with no excuse at all. The following was the usual of Ranma beat his rivals after a big fight then Akane insults him. Even they could tell that it was almost scripted. The last was that he was pounded with her mallet out of nowhere into Low Earth Orbit, hit with cold water to change him into a she with at scathing insult to his manhood, hit with another object, slapped or given the could shoulder regardless of what had happened.

The second sequence was a variation for the first as it always started with Ranma being glomped by his fiancee then is challenged by the rival or rivals for that particular fiancee visa versa. His rival or rivals usually have some new technique or dirty trick to use. He fights his rivals, runs away, only to come back and beat them. It seem to them that it was a game to him while they try to kill him when beats them. Akane then appear out of nowhere and calls him a pervert during or after the fight and predictably, he return of the insult after the fight and then Akane pounded with her mallet LEO, hit with cold water with at scathing insult to his manhood, hit with another object, slapped or given the could shoulder.

His friends said also that his adventures were almost always started with Ranma being challenged by the odd super martial artist or a magical prince trying to kidnap Akane for some odd reason. Many times, Akane would suddenly be there and inevitably yelled that she was a martial artist too and tries to fight. She is usually hopelessly outclassed. Seconds after, his other fiancees come with his rivals in tow and the other Tendos. Soun demands that he save Akane who is usually almost beaten/taken. Ranma and sometimes with the help of his rivals and other fiancees save her. Inevidably, she saids it was her fight and insults him. Predictably, Ranma return of the insult and then Akane pounded with her mallet LEO, hit with cold water with at scathing insult to his manhood, hit with another object, slapped or given the could shoulder.

A side note was that P-chan always did the first dirty move and when Ranma retaliates then Akane is suddenly there again and calls, 'Stop picking in P-chan' then launches him by Air Akane. Ryouga cringed at that one.

They did find that, while it was true that Ranma said some really stupid things, it was always the truth and he always took responsibility of his actions. It consistently showed that NONE of the 'victims' ever took responsibility of anything they did. They got in trouble, but never took responsibility of it. They even saw the pleasure they got from the troubles they caused Ranma.

To be absolutely sure, the head nurse had even went so far as to send false information through Kasumi to make sure it came through her. Unfortunately, it always did and turned into twisted rumours no matter how off handed the remark was given.

All the nurses were veterans when it came to holding their clients secrets. It was only when they thought about how Kasumi egged them on about Ranma in particular, it reminded them of another painful incident. It was just like a many years back when a more resourceful reporter that had infiltrated the hospital and gotten a huge scoop. The embarrassment and damage to the hospital's reputation were still being felt to this day.

It was the most spectacular rumour that got the nurses on Ranma's side when they heard Ranma had gone totally crazy and attacked at least 20 nurses and taking at least 15 of them out. It stated at how Ranma had blazed out with viciousness that had hurt the nurses and made him look even crazier and also had to have restraints. This had made Kuno crazier than ever and vowed to SAVE his Nurse Goddesses.

The fact was that it was true, but the hospital had kept it quiet because it was bad for business. Also, his wing was a new wing in where the patients were mostly bedridden so no one could have known the details. The question was, "how did the rumor-mongers get it and with so much detail?" When all was said and done, the only ones who knew where the head nurse, the nurses, Dr. Tofu, Dr. Mizuko, Ranma and...Kasumi since she gossiped with the nurses.

It could have been that it was just innocence gossip with Kasumi, but the head nurse reminded them of the privacy that was the hallmark of the hospital. Ranma had enough confidence in the head nurse to confide in her about what happened to him. Ryouga was against it at first until Ranma told him that they needed all the help they could get. Ryouga reluctantly agreed.

The nurses were concerned about information getting out, not circulating, so there was no impeding of the informal grapevine has transferred the news throughout the hospital. Patients and other nurses and cleaning staff were giving Ranma more sympathetic looks as he passed. They were shocked that Kasumi wasn't the nice girl seemed to be. Little did they know that some things were coming to a head.

It wouldn't be until years later of condemning Ranma that the people of Nerima would be ridiculed later on by everyone else when they finally acknowledged that the rumours that was so close to their hearts weren't true. They would turn around so completely saying how proud they were of Ranma when the deeds that would be done would put them in the worst possible light. In the past Ranma was forgiving, but he wasn't that forgiving after the years of abuse they gave him.

The final straw that closed the rumour out was the last rumour of him being a 'burkurium.' This rumour would have been the most devastating hadn't a truly miraculous happening. Getting wind of this rumour, the Emperor himself denounced the rumour and quelled it for all time.

What connections did the Satomes had with the Emperor? It was in their history. The three supporting families of the Emperor in the beginning was none other than the Tanaka Clan, Meiji Clan and the Satome Clan. The Tanaka and Meiji Clans were still powerful, but there were some trouble years ago and now they were rivals instead of allies. The Satome Clan suffered the most as it declined, but still was in favour with the Emperor for their service to the Imperial Family.

In that light, the rumours actually helped Ranma. Knowing his former trusted people were his enemies were one thing, but to actually see them do it and in ways that he couldn't solve by physically force. It made him think of ways to fight back, other than physical fighting.

The old Ranma would have been more clueless, but now when one had no real future changes one's perspective. He saw his injuries. He saw the damage, but he knew one thing. He will over come it, but he also realized that time wasn't on his side. It may take years for him to physically be able again.

With no other option, he had to start with everything else that wasn't physical. He would have to get good grades in school to go to University. He knew it would be extremely difficult, being with Genma for 10 years didn't improve it. It was only now that it was starting to work and he find out the trick. Instead of looking at everyone though rose coloured glasses, he now would see everything in terms of a battle. Whether physical to verbal to even through gestures. His rivals were just that, his rivals, but he now knew his REAL enemies. For those who worked in the background and pulled the strings. In his life, he never really saw anyone as such a despicable people, but if he learned anything in his life, especially in the last year, was that there were people like that and they DARE to call themselves honourable...

It was a very hard lesson being learned. Even more appalling was the ease that he had been manipulated so easily because they knew him and everything about him. His mother, his fiancees and even the other Tendo girls who he had considered sisters had betrayed him.

At first when he heard about the rumours, he had thought Nabiki had started the rumours, but dismissed the thought because this wasn't her style and also it wasn't profitable for her. Later, when he heard that Kasumi had made the more exaggerated rumours more plausible, it shook him deeply. He now realized why his enemies were always seemed to be a step ahead of him.

As he started to calm down, instinctively using the Soul of Ice, he realized that they knew everything that had happened and used it to their advantage. The one lesson that he finally learned from Nabiki had come to be his motto now, ANY knowledge was power. It took him a lot longer than most, but with his background, it was still very speedy.

A thought suddenly snapped into his head as all became clear. This is what Sun Tze was always talking about in the Art of War. If he knew his enemy, his terrain and himself then he would never be defeated. His problem was that he lacked the knowledge of all three in the past. He now knew who his enemies were and how they worked.

Kasumi was one of the masterminds of the plan. So with that in mind, he tried to remember who Tendo Kasumi was without the niceness to distract him. After a few minutes, he frowned as little things that nagged at him or dismissed came up. It was the way Kasumi dismissed Akane's violent nature as if it was her right. It was by saying that Akane did it was a nice girl, but a violent maniac, the fact that it was she who gave Akane the mallet in the first place. Many times she had come at precisely the wrong time when Dr. Tofu was working on him. Many 'accidents' that got him splashed into his cursed form at the most awkward times. Other occasions when he left the house and being found by his enemies when only she knew he was going and the list goes on and on.

Alarm bells went off in his head as he remembered her aura flickered though many colours that weren't nice emotions. One in particular was seemed out of place. It was the colour of righteousness that always accompanied her angry colour when Akane hit him with her mallet. He could see she was getting defensive despite her words. As she prattled on about how sorry she was that Akane did in detail, the words rang hollow as he could feel satisfaction from her in her recounting of events, not in its retelling like gossip.

Later that week

Brooding over this sudden turnabout in his life, he suddenly felt a presence and his danger sense went off like a sounding horn. He turned his head and saw a young girl about twelve years old. He didn't understand why his danger sense went off until he saw the catlike animal with her. The nurses didn't have the heart to take her pet away. His fear came back with a vengeance when the said pet "mia", close enough for a "meow" and had to physically suppress the urge to flee. In trying to control his shivering fear, he said that it wasn't a cat and won't hurt him he kept on thinking like a mantra. The girl came and stared at him through the door, smiling a bright smile and then went her own way. She was about fourteen with two long pony tails in her light blue hair.

Finally after two weeks, she had become more or less almost welcomed distraction from the near boredom that threatened to engulf him. He hadn't a thing to do. His whole life was devoted to martial arts and now he was unable to do even the most basic of katas.

It wasn't until one day she didn't come by his door. He became puzzled and waited for her the next day and then the day after. One day, a week later, she did come over, the ever present pet and customary smile was there, but he could tell the difference immediately. Her chi was much lower and she moved without her bouncy step. It was her eyes that told the story, the tiredness and pain as she then made her way past his door. Even though his apprehension for her pet, he could tell that the pet was worried also. He knew that animals knew much more about illness than people. He saw it when a girl he knew died of cancer. During her decline, her pet dog was the only indicator of her decline until it was visible. A few days after she came one last time and he could see her labouring in her steps, but refusing to give up. His heart which was numb after the betrayal by Akane started to open up to this courageous girl.

A week passed and Ranma was starting to get alarmed. Weakened by over a month of inactivity, he had some trouble even getting up. He realized he was feeling the effects of having very low chi. He naturally used his chi for physical exertion, but now he had to do without. He also noticed the bruises and aches that normally disappear within hours were still there and they hurt a lot. His old sensei had said that ki helps the body speeds recovery and enhances physical performance, but warned that if he was low on ki then he would heal normally.

Grimacing, he pressed the button to summon the nurse. He was surprised when it was the head nurse who immediately came to see him. The head nurse could see that the darkness and depression that marred his handsome features were lighter today. She signalled one of the nurses passing by outside to get him a wheelchair which was quickly brought. After another grimace, he took the chair and slowly lowered himself into the chair feet first. He stayed in the chair for a minute before experimenting with the movement of the chair. Going back and forth, turning, stopping and backing up with a slowness that seemed uncharacteristic of him. A sense of deja vu started to pervade moment as he seemed to decide something.

He asked in a very soft voice as he looked up, "Where is the children's ward."

Though surprised, the head nurse immediately answered, "About two floors up in the West Wing."

"Arigato." he said and before she could react, he sped off. Despite being out martial arts for a long time, his injury and his inexperience with a wheelchair, he was still in excellent physical condition.

The nurses were staring after what they thought was a blur with a pig tail before the head nurse yelled, "After him!" and the chase was on. This was a radical change from their view of him. They were used to the Ranma who was broding and sedentary, but this new Ranma of almost boundless energy and adaptabililty despite the fact that they fought him disturbed them. How he got through the tightly packed door was beyond them, they ran after him with the head nurse in the lead pogoing on her staff.

As they got to the West Wing, he seemed to disappear. Frantically, the other nurses searched for about an hour until they saw the head nurse who was looking into the section of the children's ward for difficult or cases beyond their care. The ones they knew who would die. What they saw surprised them. There was Ranma next to a young girl with her pet. That particular girl was a bundle of energy who seemed always to escape from her bed, but lately her condition deteriorated so she couldn't leave the bed. To make matters worse, like Ranma, all of the people she knew were banned from coming into the hospital because of the damage they caused, so she really had no one to talk to.

They were completely surprised when she did smile, in fact, she laughed with Ranma. A sound that was so foreign in this section that everyone around Ranma and the young girl looked up in shock. All of the nurses outside the ward were shocked as well. The hopelessness that pervaded the people was abruptly lifted by just a single laugh.

The head nurse was particularly interested that Ranma didn't revert to his feral state or run away at the pet, but actually sought the person with the pet. She smiled as she thought of what a unique individual he was. He was unconsciously started the first step in coming to terms with the Nekkoken. She knew of no other cases in which a person had a strong enough willpower to just get to the first step without help. She realized that she couldn't even imagine what it took for him just to get to this point. She was curious at how far with this first step will he have in harnessing its true power.

The girl seemed oblivious that her new friend was terrified of her pet. She kept on playing with her pet and it seemed to be taking this with a huge amount of suffering in its sad eyes that Ranma had to take the animal or it would have made him cry.

It took enormous strength for him to do that. As he looked at the pet and thought how the pet had answered, he could swear that it could understand everybody. He wasn't sceptical of that because he saw stranger things in his short life. He could almost see tears in the eyes of the pet.

When she saw that he took he pet, she desperately wanted her new friend to like her and him becoming friends with pet. Tears started to come into her eyes for no reason and she started to cry.

Frantic for something to cheer her up, Ranma tried to thing of something, anything. The only thing he could think of was something to take her mind off her troubles, so he started to tell her the story of his life. Of course with another person replacing him as the hero. The pet hopped from his lap to the young girl's.

The story came out choppy and after a few minutes he got into the flowed like everything he always done. At first, the people around him didn't pay attention to what he said, but ever so slowly in ones and twos the children started to gather around him. This in turn brought the nurses who worked in the ward around him too as well as the nurses that searched for him. As his storied flowed, no one disturbed him. The story seemed... so real that even the nurses were caught up in the story. The tale of might, magic and martial arts.

One of the children who was listening to the story suddenly said, "That's silly, mommy told me that there's no such thing as magic."

True to form, a nurse tripped and her glass of water splashed him. As he changed, he smiled with a raised eyebrow and said in his higher voice, "I see, I suppose I can't change your mind."

The child's eyes widened. Before she could say anything, he shrugged and said, "I guess that's all for the story..."

"No! I want to hear more." young girl begged even though she startled with the change.

"Hmmm..." he said as he pretend to think hard about this.

As the children started to beg for more, he heard the girl say, "Pleeeaaassee. Ryo-chan wants to hear it too." as she brought forward her pet and Ranma tried not to cringe in fear. Her eyes seemed so full of wanting to be accepted.

With supreme effort of quelling his fear, he slowly took her and the pet and put it in his lap before saying, "Ok."

He continued and it went on and on.

He voice slowly died away in the middle of a sentence because the young girl as well as the some other children were asleep. The nurses tucked them in and the young girl slept with her pet resting on her head. He could swear again that he could see intelligence and gratitude in the eyes of Ryo, her pet. When he turned around to leave, a huge sweatdrop formed in the back of his head. The children, parents of the children and even the most hardened nurses were looking at him in absolute silence.

A small boy, no more than five, came up to him and tugged on his shirt. To his surprise, the boy held out his arms and Ranma lifted him up onto his lap. That was when the questions started to begin, but before it could start in earnest, he put the girl back into her bed before the head nurse wheeled him out of the ward.

As the head nurse shook her head, she knew that if she hadn't seen it, she would never have believed it. It wasn't about Jusenkyo, but the way the children acted. This was the first time in months that she had actually seen them take an active part in anything. Over the months, she had seen the children being worn down by tests, uncertainty and overprotective parents. She was happy to see them actually interested in doing anything other than being stressed out. Another interesting part was that the Ranma seemed to control his fear, she smiled because this was the only time that she ever heard of the Nekkoken that a person controlled their fear to actually take a cat like object. Maybe he would be the only person in the history of the Nekkoken who would actually be able to not go crazy with when a cat was present. This was a more progressive step. For just a minute, she could see him empathizing with the Ryo and smiled again.

As time passed, Ranma came frequently to see the children, but not when Kasumi visited. He was almost certain that she had played not an insignificant part which made him less open or talkative with her.

As he turned from this problem, he started to focus on the children. He couldn't really see how these children could cope with all the problems they had. Heck, he had a hard enough time with his own life. He was impressed at how these children who had unbelievable hardships could just be children that he saw in the park. As he watched them, he would saw a lot of himself in them. When they said something, they meant it. If they disliked someone, they told them and the same if they liked them also. He could talk to them in a way he couldn't talk to anyone else. There were no innuendos, no polite face or trying to turn facts. They also saw things with clear eyes. The social norms not affecting them.

The girl's name, he found out was Sammi and that she was an caught a mysterious disease that left her with a weakening body. Her body simply was shutting down and there wasn't anything the hospital could do about it. They really never had encountered anything like this before.

He also came to know the other children and they came to know him. Contrary to what many people would say, he found that the children were very intelligent and inquisitive. He never talked down to anyone and the children were no exception.

They were drawn to Ranma by both his charm and his pain that they felt much like their own. They could feel that something had hurt him as much as they were and wanted to help him. They felt his fear when he picked up her pet more and more. With their help and support, he had even had the courage to pick up and play with it, trying to get its mind off how sick the young girl was. She had been very sick the last two weeks.

His depression resurfaced many times and he would go silent. The children would sense this and crowd around him when he did that. They didn't like to see anyone depressed, especially the normally happy Ranma. The happy faces of the children and the laugh of Sammi always lifted his heart.

As time went on, they accepted him as an equal, not as an "adult" who doesn't listen to them. Surpring as it sounds, as an equal, they would open up to him, tell him their secrets knowing that they wouldn't tell anyone else. If there was an argument, he would be the judge.

It was then that Sammi, the young girl, wanted to hear the rest of the story. She had fallen alseep and the children, just remembering it, wanted to hear it too. Looking at the hopeful faces, he decided that the story should start properly at the beginning.

"Please Ranma, I want to hear the story rest of the story."

"Are you sure? I can start at the verrrry beginning of the story. I can guarentee that you will hear the rest of the story."

Sammi furrowed her brow in thought as she was deciding what to do. She wanted to hear the rest of the story, but it wasn't even the real beginning of it. After a long while, she said, "Ok,but make it a good one."

Ranma smiled, "Well, it all began a verrrry looong time ago in a place not far from here..."

From here, the story of his life was being told by the one who knew it the best. It was a different viewpoint with a lot of details added in to make it to put the other manga to shame. He didn't know where th other details came from, but his life story took a life of its own and felt so much like deja vu. A trickle of something that had happened in to him before, but couldn't grasp it before it slipped away.

He had to gather himself and forced himself to begin. At first, it was slow and amateurish. Later it started to flow as he became accustomed to voicing his thoughts. It was only then that he truly thought about his life. The crises always left him with no time to assimilate what happened to him, but to brace for the next one.

As his story progressed, he began to think more and more about his life and where he was going. His perspective changed when he started looking through other people's point of view in his stories. Putting in what they said. Of course there was Magic and Martial Arts, but also a human side to the adventure.

Ranma was surprised that as he told his life story disguised as "made up" stories. He began to remember details that he forgotten. He wrote them down. For him, it was like a journal of sorts. These were his memories and his life, even though everyone thought it was made up.

He was letting out the frustrations, pent up feelings and insecurities about his life as he put his heart and soul into the telling of his tales. Laughter mingling with tears as he finally had a catharsis or a cleaning of the soul. In the entire time of that single story, no one said or did anything, not a child or an adult, be it nurse or parent. Tears were flowing freely down the cheeks of the children as they cried, for many it was their first time in a very long tiem as dams in the children burst.

Ranma was really surprised, it was only his first true story. It wasn't until later that the nurses approached him for a proposition. It would be a first for him, a job with the children for a salary and free place to stay. They knew that the hospital bills would be a tremendous burden on him. They were also overworked and knew the children and parents stressed them out. They were impressed with him and were starting to see him in a different light. He was good with the children and the children liked him. Also that with a single story, the children started healing the wounds that made that part of the children's ward a place of gloom. If the hospital didn't have enough money then they would pay it themselves. They needed help and needed it now which Ranma accepted. He didn't want to be a burden on his family or be obligated to at least Soun.

Two weeks later

He really didn't know where the inspirations came from. Characters deem to flow from him. Tales of heros and villans, noble and peasants with their problems. The stories that interested Sammi the most was the ones of the Tree People. She listened intently to it as if to memorize it. Ryo also did her best to do the same. She was also interested in Three Goddesses. One sealed away her power to become mortal and live the mortal life. Another goddess gave the people her Tree to help them and the final goddess who was jealous of the other two for having the courage into the unknown and triumph was plotting to take over the universe from them.

As he was developing his stories, some of the children came to him and showed him more of their favourite manga with trading cards. Some of the children handed him cards and he saw his image and everyone elses on them. As he read the storyline and started for read parts of the various volumes. he realized that it was his life. The last one was obviously after the failed wedding. The new ones, the children told him, would be out this year. The publisher was Kuno Industries with the author as Nukknas.

It gave him pause because he could almost see who it really was. The stories were of him and his adventures. He asked them for more copies and read them. He couldn't believe how intimate it was, even down to what he did with his mother. He found that he was always the clown in them with the others put in a much better light. It angered him that he was shown to be a total clueless washout. The females in the manga were toned down and always had a valid reason for why they were that way, but the most of the males were exaggerated to the craziest without going truely overboard. The one thread throughout the volumes was that no matter how good the men and boys were, the women and girls were always able to beat them because of their stupidity. In additon, the women never looked like fools while the men were always the fools.

At that point when he saw the name NUKKNAX, the name clicked as he remembered the references from what Ryouga heard. Honour was the most important thing to them. Their heirarchy. Nodoka Meiji was from one of the highest families in Japan. Ukyou Kuonji, very old and rich family from before the WWII. Kodatchi Kuno, old and rich family after WWII. Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane Tendo were descended from a samauri family. It wouldn't be a surprise for Xian Pu to be last. Despite perhaps impeccable bloodlines in China, she was a foreigner, but a respected one. NUKKNAX.

As far fetched as it seemed, more things fell into place, especially the intimate details of what he did with his mother. He always knew his mother was TOO traditional and had weird notions, but this seem too close to fit in. It was as though she wanted him to know it was them and show him that he couldn't a thing about it.

It was then he decided that it was time to modify his story. Different times and places, but with the parts of his life that HE remembered it and not the travesty that was in the manga. Every week there came a new story. Ranma had gotten better and better each day he continued. He remembered many details and opened his own imagination to the wonders that was his life. He made them seem larger than life, but also made it seem real. Not only to the children, but to the nurses and parents stop by at the time when he would tell them part of a story. Word spread as they do anywhere and the dividing walls that separated that part of the ward had to come down because there weren't enough room to hold all the people who wanted to hear his stories.

It wouldn't be until the latter part of his stay when he would get into the real adventures of his life. He would introduce the manga and change it. Where the dangers were more and more deadly. They would be captivated by the island became a land in a different dimension where a magician lived, were dismayed by the fierce female warriors, felt the magic of an ancient land and awe of a god and the his people. They also laughed at the cluelessness of all the people, especially the hero. The feats of martial arts, such as chi and ki blast, jumping up to thirty feet in the air and breaking boulders. A tale of honour, deceit, and humour. He was learning to laugh at himself as well as learning to keep quiet. In short, he became a fabulous story teller.

He even made up a story from the ideas the children had. To express themselves. They started it off and he continued it. They threw in ideas and he expanded it. It was really surprising where the stories went.

He was surprised to learn so much from the children like manners, social norms and when to just shut up because the children wanted to practice on him. If they goofed or if he did, they just laughed a good laugh. He was accepted and for the first time he learned how it was to be himself with no craziness happening and it felt good. It even made him forget about his injury.

This was the first break from his crazy life. The craziness that would have ensued were promptly booted out by the nurses who were upset by their constant sneaking ins. He felt confident. He had a job and not being a burden to anyone. Life was good.

It was then when some of his affairs were in order to do what he had to do

Author's note:

I feel good about Ranma. So many stories still have him as a cartoonish kind of character, but here he uses it to help others and to grow.

I see Shampoo and Ukyou as just using Ranma like Akane. I am basing this on the manga for Ukyou and Shampoo instead of the anime. I have never really seen Shampoo use anything other than potions to get Ranma and Ukyou never said any real feelings to him in the manga. I really felt that both were only doing this for their honour even though I like both of them in the anime.

Another problem I had with the manga was that only Akane was noticeably growing. There was some growth for Ranma, but it was only Akane had reached some plateau. No one else seemed to be growing much as they were all used for comic relief. I believe this is the reason why so many people like her and also that she is less violent.

The scene was inspired conspiracy fics that I have read. The usual was just the fiancee squad with Nabiki. This gives a farther ranging scope than the others... and also by the fact that the women in Ranma 1/2 always had advantages over the men.

Genma, I found that other than the fiancees and the Cat Fist he wasn't a malice and evil man. He was a weak man morally.

The original scene was that about the Tendo sisters and Nodoka was part of the Yakuza and that Ranma was the child of a rape by a rival family. Nodoka would hate Ranma because she blames the other family. Genma was a suppose to train him, but moved so often that the assinations sent by Nodoka failed. Who would see Kasumi, Akane and Nodoka as part of the Yakuza. Nabiki, maybe.

The idea was disgarded becasue I thought that it would have been too much. So I toned it down. Everyone who was in Ranma's former life isn't who they seem to be. Later chapters will tell why Nodoka hates Ranma so much and why vengence is always served cold on those who deem it their right.