Me and My Shadow

by Lord Dragon Claw

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki.

Chapter One: Hollow Slayer

After the failed wedding (which was a complete disaster), Saotome Ranma was not only depressed, but he began to see the spirits of people long since dead. He didn't know why he saw them, nor did he care. He just figured that he'd be able to see malevolent spirits before they did something wrong to him or other people.

Unluckily for him, he was right. But it's not that seeing them would make any difference...

He was once the hero of the Meiji Era. The coming of the Meiji was heralded by his sword as it was bathed in blood. For this, Himura Kenshin blamed himself. He wished he could atone for his sins, his many murders. Even after he died, he continued to regret his actions. He regretted them so much, that he became a Hollow. But he was an unusual Hollow; he had several key differences from the others.

Yes, he hungered like all Hollows hungered, but he refused to eat the souls of others as he believed it to be a sin. Yes, he had a mask like all the other Hollows, but his was extremely different. His mask only covered the lower half of his face. Additionally, instead of having a mouth with teeth, it simply had a tongue sticking out. He also had a sakabatou and sheathe as his primary weapons instead of claws, generated by his primary Hollow powers. His final key difference was the fact that he hunted other Hollows.

Being too fast or too crafty for the Shinigami to catch, Kenshin became classified as the Hollowkiri, the "Slayer of Hollows". His primary powers included shape-shifting and shadow-walking. Kenshin was unable to let go or fully remove either his sword or his sheathe from his body as they were actually part of it.

The day that Kenshin's fortune would change was the same day that Ranma died. Kenshin was hunting a powerful and fast Hollow, one that was nearly as old as he was, and he had tracked the monster into the Nerima ward of Tokyo...

Ranma saw the masked monster stalking around near a park. As was his duty as a martial artist to protect the weak, the pig-tailed teen decided to take a proactive approach to doing his duty. He attacked the monster.

The Hollow was hit and it staggered. Realizing that the human could see it, the Hollow decided to eat the martial artist.

"You will be really delicious!" it howled as it charged Ranma.

The aqua-transsexual fired a ki blast at the monster, only to find that his ki went right through the thing's face without affecting it in the slightest. In a surprising burst of speed, the Hollow took a swing at the pig-tailed boy and knocked his body twenty feet away into a boulder. Ranma's spirit kept going another twenty feet before tumbling to a stop. Ranma sat up and shook himself off. Then he noticed something was weird.

"What the...? That's me, isn't it!" Ranma also had a chain going from his heart back to his physical body.

The Hollow swooped down on Ranma and bit at him with a screech. Ranma barely dodged, only to see the Hollow bite through his Chain of Fate, only two links away from his heart. It was at this point that Kenshin exploded onto the scene and cut the other Hollow's head in half. The Hollow disappeared back to Hueco Mundo, the world of the Hollows.

Kenshin took a look at Ranma and saw his Chain was broken.

"Seems I am too late," said the dead swordsman mournfully.

"What do you mean?" asked Ranma.

"Now that your Chain of Fate is broken, you are dead."

"WHAT!" It was at this point that the remnants of Ranma's Chain began to dissolve. In seconds, they were gone and his heart turned into a hole. Ranma began to scream in pain.

Not wanting to have to eventually hunt the poor boy down, Kenshin used his various Hollow powers to plunge himself deep into Ranma's soul, changing them both forever.

Several hours later, both Kenshin and Ranma awakened to the sounds of crying people. Kenshin found himself inside of someone's shadow. Ranma found nearly all the residents of Nerima mourning his pale and bloody body.

Kasumi was crying. Akane was failing to hold back her tears as Ukyou attempted to comfort her. Shampoo and Kodachi were wailing. Mousse and Ryouga wisely kept their mouths shut. Tatewai could be seen in a bloody and crumpled heap several feet away. Tears were streaming down the faces of Dr. Tofu and Nabiki. Soun was drowning a couple people with his trademark Tendo Water Works. Everyone seemed sad. Ranma truly wished he could come back from the dead... that is, until he saw his father and mother.

Nodaka was truly enraged by Ranma's death. She silenced the entire group with her incredulous words: "If you ever come back, I'll force you to commit seppuku for dying in such an unmanly way!"

This pissed Ranma off. What pushed him over the edge was what Genma said next: "You worthless and pathetic boy! You call yourself a martial artist! No martial artist would ever kill themselves by running into a rock!"

Ranma looked, and there indeed was a boulder nearby that his body had slammed against when the Hollow had smacked him.

His rage mounted. How dare his parents consider him worthless and unmanly! How dare they think that he was just a tool for them to achieve their goals! How...

"Wait a minute," said Ranma, thinking out loud. "If I'm dead, I have no obligations to any of these people. I'm free!"

"I agree," replied Kenshin, within Ranma's shadow.

"GAH!"

"Don't panic! Just go over there to that alley. I'll explain there."

Over in the alley, Kenshin popped his head out of Ranma's shadow.

"Oh, it's you. Why are you in my shadow?"

"To prevent you from turning into a Hollow, I dived deep into your soul to fool it into thinking that you had already transformed into one."

"What's a Hollow?"

"Remember that monster? That was a Hollow. All Hollows are former humans. By the way, have you even taken a look at yourself?"

Ranma looked. He was pretty much the same, only he was wearing a pink kimono and hakama, and a blue obi sash; he also had a sword at his hip. His eye twitched when he saw what color the robes were.

"Looks like you had the hidden potential to become a Shinigami."

"What makes you say that?"

"You dress just like them, only you're wearing pink. I used to wear pink when I was still alive."

Giving up on the color of his clothes, Ranma drew his sword to see what it was. It was a sakabatou.

"The same weapon I wield. Only, I think yours is a zanpakutoh, the weapon Shinigami use to cleanse the souls of Hollows and help lingering spirits pass on."

"Would you mind getting out of my shadow?" said Ranma, suddenly changing the subject.

"I would if I could. You and I are now two people sharing the same space. I can come partially out of your shadow, but I can't come completely out unless we switch places."

"So, we're stuck together?" Kenshin nodded in the affirmative. "Might as well know your name then. I'm Saotome Ranma, or at least, I was."

"Himura Kenshin. In life, I was known as Hitokiri Battousai."

"The hero of the Meiji?"

"Yes. Regretfully."

"Sorry. Hmm... I still want to be known as Ranma, but I no longer want anything to do with clan Saotome... Do you mind if I took your clan name?"

"I don't mind at all."

"Himura Ranma. Has a nice ring to it."

As Ranma tested out his new form, he found that his spiritual body didn't house ki at all. It made sense seeing as how Ranma was dead and all (and ki was exclusive to living beings). So Ranma, being the fighting genius that he is, adapted his ki techniques to be used with spiritual energy which he seemed to have an abundance of.

Also, both Ranma and Kenshin found that their minds were linking together so that they could always tell what the other was thinking when they opened their minds up to each other. They could even search through each others' memories. Ranma saw in Kenshin's memories many, many different techniques that he figured he should try to imitate. Kenshin learned how to use spiritual energy the way Ranma used to use ki.

They practiced these techniques on the few Hollows who appeared in Nerima.

Ranma's personality was able to change, as he didn't have to put up the "tough guy" mask he had to use since he and his father went on the ten-year training trip. Ranma found it ironic that it took his death for him to have his second childhood.

Ranma would toy with a Hollow until he learned everything it could teach him, and then he purified it.

Additionally, Ranma decided to mess with everyone who lived in Nerima for contributing to the insanity that was his life.

"Hey Kenshin! I feel like pranking people."

"You know that they won't be able to see you or hear you, right?"

"True, but I can still interact with inanimate objects like a poltergeist does."

"... Have fun then."

The first person pranked was Nabiki. Ranma screwed up all the figures on her ledgers. Kasumi was next. She found all her cupboards had been rearranged. Soun was unable to find his shogi board. Happosai found all his "pretties" had been burned. Akane and Ryouga were pranked at the same time when Ranma tripped Kasumi while she was carrying tea. The tea had landed on Ryouga while he was in pig form, triggering his curse to change him back into a human. Awkward hilarity ensued.

Ukyou found that her giant baker's peel had been placed in the trash compactor.

All three Kunos were also pranked. The Principal found that he had gotten a buzz-cut of his own. Kodachi got a taste of her own paralysis powder. Tatewai couldn't find any of his bokken nor could he find the family sword (all of which were in the same trash compactor as the baker's peel). Sasuke found a proper sleeping bag in the attic. It was even waterproof (both inside and out)! Too bad it was lined with itching powder.

The English Teacher Hinako woke up one morning with all sorts of sex toys piled on top of her.

Mousse couldn't find his glasses (also in the trash compactor). Cologne couldn't find her staff (compactor). Shampoo woke up one morning in the same bed as Mousse (much to her horror and his joy; too bad he couldn't see a darn thing).

Finally, Ranma pranked his parents, who had moved back to their house in the Juuban ward. There was no food in the house (or even in a five-block radius, causing all the neighbors to blame Genma) and the family katana was missing (compactor). Genma also noticed (before being carted off to jail) that his spare Umisenken (Thousand Oceans' Fist) and Yamasenken (Thousand Mountains' Fist) scrolls that he had hidden at the house were missing (stolen by Ranma for future use).

With that taken care of, Ranma and Kenshin started traveling Tokyo, avoiding areas where shinigami appeared frequently as they had no idea how they would react. Eventually, they ended up in Karakura. There they sensed something strange emanating from a small store. The billboard read as "Urahara Shoten". Ranma was going to sneak in, but an idiotic Hollow appeared above the store.

Jinta and Ururu were arguing in the yard (well, Jinta was doing all the arguing and Ururu was simply crying) when a Hollow foolishly appeared over the store. Jinta reached for his massive bat and Ururu reached for her rocket launcher. However, a man in pink leapt up and slashed the Hollow down the middle, purifying it instantly. The strange man ran straight up to them and asked an equally strange question.

"!" he asked in an excited rush. The two child-like beings sweatdropped.

At this time, both Kisuke and Tessai exited the shop wondering what all the commotion was about. Additionally, Kisuke was curious as to who it was that had such immense spiritual pressure just outside his shop. Kisuke saw a pig-tailed man wearing a pink shihakushou (the shinigami's uniform).

"I wonder who you are," said Kisuke warily.

"Oh. I didn't know this was the residence of a Shinigami," stated Ranma.

"Ex-Shinigami." This caused Ranma to relax. "I am Urahara Kisuke, owner of this shop. And you are?"

"Himura Ranma. Formerly Saotome Ranma. I lived in Nerima before I died."

"So, Ranma, are you a Shinigami?"

"No. I do have Shinigami powers, but I doubt that I am a Shinigami."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because my shadow was once a Hollow."

"What?"

At this time, Kenshin's head slowly slid upwards through Ranma's shadow. Kenshin stopped when his waist finally made it out of the shadow (that was as far as he could go anyway).

"Hello," said the red-haired swordsman. "I am Himura Kenshin, the Hollowkiri."

"I have heard of you," stated Tessai. "You're the only Hollow that refuses to eat other people's souls."

"Are you sure you're not an Arrancar, Kenshin?" asked Kisuke. "You have the partial mask of one."

"I could be," said Kenshin. "I wouldn't know."

"Ranma, can you wear a Hollow mask?" inquired Kisuke.

"I don't know. I haven't tried."

"If you could, that would make you a Vizard."

"Whatever," said Ranma. He then pointed at Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu. "What are they?"

"Artificial souls placed inside of gigai," answered Kisuke. "Tessai is the one in the apron, Jinta is the small boy, and Ururu is the girl."

Ranma cocked his head as Kenshin sank back into the shadow. "What the hell is a gigai? What is an artificial soul?"

Kisuke sighed. "Perhaps you should come inside so I can explain."

"I see," said Kenshin, now the dominant body. Ranma was now the one in the shadow and he had pulled himself out to his armpits so that he could participate in drinking tea as well. Ranma preferred green tea whereas Kenshin wanted ginseng. Kenshin had a straw stuck up and under his mask so that he could drink the tea.

"I think I understand," said Ranma. "Tessai was your first prototype Mod Soul, Jinta was your second, and Ururu was the third. And then you made appropriate gigai or false bodies for them to inhabit when you got yourself banished from... what was it called again?"

"The Soul Society," answered Kisuke. "I am telling you this because I will likely need your help."

"Kenshin, you think we should?"

"Yes, but not for free."

"Mmm... I got it! Kisuke, we accept but on one condition!"

"Which is?"

"Allow us to train and spar with you, Tessai, Jinta, Ururu, and any other contacts of yours."

"As long as my assistants don't object, then we have an agreement."

"I shall begin construction on the training ground immediately!" declared Tessai. As he rushed off, Kisuke had a question for Kenshin.

"Kenshin, may I see your sword?"

"Oro?"

"Well, it looks like a zanpakutoh."

"Oh. Well, it's not. It's actually part of my body. See?" Kenshin drew his sword and let go. Rather than it sticking to his hand like he expected it to, it fell and hit the ground, bouncing once.

"Looks like a zanpakutoh to me," stated Ranma.

"Interesting," mused Kisuke. "Seems like you have become an Arrancar or something like one. Though you're not wearing anything at all and you don't have a Hollow's hole that is their namesake anywhere on your body. And then you share the same space with Ranma... I'll need to study you both. For the time being, I think I'll call you a Grau, the German word for gray."

"Sounds good," Ranma and Kenshin said in unison.

For the next several months, Ranma and Kenshin helped Kisuke around the shop, dealing with the occasional customer, exterminating errant hollows that the Shinigami didn't catch, and keeping an eye on those with high spiritual awareness, such as one Kurosaki Ichigo. The Grau were also wary of a young boy named Ishida Uryuu, who had a large amount of spiritual pressure as well.

More often than not, Ranma or Kenshin had to cloak themselves using the Umisenken in order to invert their spiritual pressure making them ultimately undetectable to anyone who didn't know the Umisenken. Together, they had already improved it to the point that they didn't need to use a cloth to cloak themselves anymore, but they still had to drop the technique in order to attack.

The whole time they were also training with Tessai, to improve the control of their energy and learn some kidoh ("demon arts" or "spirit spells"). They also had endurance and toughness training with Jinta, by having him clobber them with his oversized metallic bat. As for their training with Ururu...

Ranma dodged Ururu's punch again as she attacked while wearing her little mushroom hat and mushroom gloves. She missed Ranma but the boulder behind him exploded into rubble. To counter, Ranma used the Bakusai Tenketsu (Breaking Point technique) to shower the little girl with additional debris. He poked the ground under her and it exploded.

Ranma's counterattack cost him dearly, as she clocked him with a right jab. Ranma was sent flying nearly a kilometer across the battlefield that Tessai had built under the Urahara Shoten.

"Well, she got me. You're up, Kenshin."

"Very well."

Ranma sank into his own shadow. Once he had completely disappeared, Kenshin began to rise from the shadow. As Ururu charged at Kenshin after his switch with Ranma, the deceased swordsman took up a fighting stance that the deceased martial artist recognized from Kenshin's memories. It was a stance that belonged to one of his best friends, Sagara Sanosuke.

In the Kusajishi (79th) district of the Rukongai a tall man wearing a coat with the kanji for "bad" on his back sneezed as he was taking a drink at a bar. This elicited a bar fight, which the man eventually won.

Ururu was hard-pressed to hit Kenshin, despite the fact that the former Hollow was almost eight feet tall. Kenshin worked his shape-shifting abilities into his hand-to-hand combat style quite well, and had Ururu fighting almost as hard as when she was fighting Ranma. The fact that Kenshin kept using the Two Layers Strike in conjunction with the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken (Chestnuts Roasting over an Open Fire Fist) was quite impressive and kept Ururu on the defensive, trying to dodge or deflect as many strikes as possible. But soon, Kenshin made a mistake in allowing himself to fall into a pattern.

Suddenly, Ururu was inside Kenshin's guard. She managed a left hook into the dead swordsman's midsection, shooting pain throughout Kenshin's body. She followed this up with a right uppercut and a left haymaker. Kenshin's body went tumbling through a boulder.

After Kenshin got up, he switched places with Ranma again, and the fight began anew.

Kisuke was impressed by the growth(s) of the Grau. Ranma was certainly more inclined to use martial arts, but he was no slouch when it came to his kendo. Kenshin preferred the sword, but was not limited to it.

Kisuke trained them both in the use of their zanpakutoh. Each was on the verge of learning the name of their own zanpakutoh when it happened. Shihouin Yoruichi decided to pay a visit in her cat form.

"C-c-c-c-c-c-c-caaat!" screamed Ranma. As he turned to flee, Kenshin reached out of the shadow and grabbed him by the ankles and tripped him. Ranma went down hard, knocking himself out.

"What is his problem?" asked the little black cat.

"I'm not sure," answered the banished Shinigami. "But when Kenshin surfaces, we can ask him."

"What?"

"You'll see what I mean."

Ranma's body slowly sank into the shadow. Once it did, Kenshin rose from it.

"You do know you have a Hollow in your shop, don't you?" asked the cat.

"An Ex-Hollow," stated Kenshin. "Ranma and I are now a Grau."

"A... Grau?"

"That's right," said Kisuke. "A Grau is one who is exactly half-Shinigami and half-Hollow, requiring one of each to create. Both share memories and some of the same powers. They share the same space. Each one has their own zanpakutoh and I believe each has their own mask, though Ranma has yet to manifest his yet. I guess you can think of a Grau as being half-Vizard and half-Arrancar."

"Okay... seems like you found something to study again. Kenshin, was it?"

"Yes?"

"What is wrong with... Ranma? Why does he seem to be afraid of cats?"

"His father trained him in the Nekoken when he was barely six years old."

Both Kisuke and Yoruichi blinked.

"You're joking," hoped the black cat.

"I wish I was."

Kisuke walked over to the bookshelf and pulled a scroll from it. It seemed like some sort of index. Finding the entry he wanted in the scroll, he put it away and pulled out a dusty old manual. Kenshin knew it to be the Nekoken training manual. Kisuke flipped through it, not finding a cure.

"You're not going to find it in there," stated Kenshin.

Suddenly, Kenshin's shadow screamed. It was Ranma.

"What is it?" asked Kenshin.

"My zanpakutoh tried to visit me in a dream," said Ranma in between ragged breaths.

"And?"

"It was a demonic feline kunoichi."

"Sounds familiar," said Kisuke sarcastically.

"Shut up," retorted Yoruichi.

"Say Kenshin?"

"Oro?"

"Is that black cat still there?"

"Yes."

"Kuso."

"That 'black cat' you are talking about is me," stated Yoruichi.

"Of course it gets worse. It always gets worse. The little furry thing from hell can talk."

"I doubt it's a good idea to insult the cat," stated Kenshin. Ranma simply stopped talking.

"I believe introductions are long overdue," said Kisuke. "This is my good friend Shihouin Yoruichi."

Kenshin bowed curtly. "I am Himura Kenshin. The chicken inside the shadow is Himura Ranma."

Suddenly, the sheathe for Ranma's zanpakutoh flew out of the shadow and hit Kenshin right in between the eyes. Kenshin quickly grabbed the sheathe and shoved it into the shadow, eliciting a yelp of pain from within it. Soon, Ranma's fists could be seen exiting the shadow to hit Kenshin's face and Kenshin punched into the shadow, apparently hitting Ranma.

"I thought I've seen it all," began Kisuke, in a jovial tone. "but I've never seen a Hollow fighting his shadow."

The fight between the two halves of the Grau stopped. Kenshin looked at Kisuke with a mischievous gleam in his eye. The dead swordsman fired a weak balashot at Kisuke, knocking his hat off of his head.

"Seems he didn't like your joke," said Yoruichi.

"Ranma," began Kenshin. "We can't have you hiding my shadow forever - you're going to have to come out of there sometime and face your fear."

"But you know how I get when I see a cat!"

"Ranma," began Yoruichi. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not actually a cat. I can't even make the proper cat sounds."

"You're not a cat?"

"No. This is just a technique I've learned to avoid detection."

Ranma poked his head out of the shadow. He looked right at Yoruichi.

"It's not a cat it's not a cat it's not a cat..." he said over and over, repeating the mantra, forcing himself to say it slowly.

Several hours later, Ranma was mostly comfortable in Yoruichi's presence. Ranma discussed with her various techniques. Ranma was very interested that Yoruichi used to be among the Shinigami's Special Forces Division and was in fact the previous leader of said division. She had created a move called the Flash Step to move quickly from one point to another. Ranma demanded that she teach him this technique, among others.

After learning that Yoruichi was essentially a ninja cat, Ranma felt confident in trying to contact his zanpakutoh.

Kenshin, who had been sleeping inside of the shadow, suddenly woke up and poked his head through the shadow.

"I know my sword's name," he said. "It just visited me in a dream."

"Really? What is it?" asked Kisuke, who was drinking black tea.

"Its name is 'Battousai'," stated Kenshin. Ranma snickered. "I am aware of the irony."

"You mean the same name you took when you were a Hitokiri?" asked Yoruichi.

Kenshin and Ranma looked at her curiously.

"Hey, I was there. I also watched your battle with Makoto Shishio."

"Well, that proves it," said Ranma. "She is really skilled at being a ninja cat."

"How did you know I was a female? My voice is so deep that people think I'm male most of the time."

"Your aura is distinctly female."

"Aura?"

"That's right. I suppose most Shinigami wouldn't notice it, but for martial artists like myself, it's child's play."

Ranma was able to make contact with his zanpakutoh that night, but she refused to tell him her name.

The next day, Ranma was watching Ichigo again as the boy beat up a few skaters for knocking down a vase of flowers that the orange-haired youth had placed there for the ghost of a girl.

Ranma decided to tail the young Kurosaki for the rest of the day. That night, a large Hollow, one called Fishbone D, began prowling the street where the Kurosaki Clinic was located.

Ranma noticed a Shinigami arrive, but she was unable to locate the Hollow.

Following Kisuke's strict orders of non-interference, Ranma held back and watched. The Hollow attacked the clinic, the female Shinigami got injured. Ichigo refused to run away. The Shinigami decided to give Ichigo some of her power, but he accidentally sapped all of it from her. Ichigo managed to slaughter Fishbone D before passing out.

Ranma decided to report to Kisuke.

Kuchiki Rukia had finished using her kikanshinki to replace the memories of everyone in Ichigo's family (except for Ichigo). She had then found that her powers were still missing and were going to be long in returning, so she went to the Urahara Shoten to buy a gigai as well as a few Hollow hunting supplies.

She was surprised to see a handsome young man wearing a pink kimono there to greet her at the door.

"Good morning," said the man. "Welcome to the Urahara Shoten. I am Ranma, the newly hired help. Urahara-san the slacker is still asleep right now, but Tessai is available to get you whatever you need."

"I heard that!" said a voice from the back of the shop, presumably belonging to Kisuke.

"Oh, Urahara-san is apparently awake now. In any case, it is custom for us to be knowledgeable about which Shinigami come to do business here. May I have your name and Squad number?"

Rukia blinked. When Captain Ukitake had recommended this shop to her for when she might need to stay in the living world he hadn't mentioned that little detail.

"Kuchiki Rukia. Squad 13."

Ranma wrote it down. "Alright. Please come into the shop while I locate Tessai." Ranma stood up and turned to walk further inside when he walked right into Tessai. "I still need to know how you keep doing that to me."

This was the eighteenth time that Tessai had managed to sneak up on Ranma (or on Kenshin).

End Chapter One.

Next Chapter: Watching Ichigo and Rukia.

Author's Notes

What an insane idea of mine. Kinda childish too.

Don't worry, I'm rewriting this from the beginning, but I'm taking the Kenshin stuff out. Look for it soon - it will be under the name "Adjuntas".