Ranko dragged herself through the door of her 'home', she glanced around saw no one was up, except for Kasumi who was still cleaning the house and hadn't noticed her presence as of yet, no one had stayed up for her, worried about her or anything, Ranko clenched her fists in anger, they didn't care, that night had been second worst night in her life second to losing her parents, she felt so alone.

Ranko dragged her body to the foot of the stairs, making as little noise as possible before gripping the first few stairs and pulling herself up them before letting go to grab the next couple stairs only to have her body drop and hit the stairs, hard, and since they were wooden without covering, it hurt a lot, Ranko winced in pain holding back any sound she might make before continuing her way up the stairs, repeating the experience with each step.

By the time Ranko got into her room her clothes were torn, her knees were cut and bleeding, her front and arms were covered with bruises, she even managed to get one or two on her face she dragged herself to her futon, she'd lived there for a decade and she still slept on a mat on the floor, her eyes shook with anger and pain, her gaze moved to her mother's books, she reached out and grabbed the largest one and placed it beside her before adjusting her position on the futon so to be more comfortable, wincing in pain as she did so.

Ranko began to read the text and read is for a good hour or so before she stopped on a certain page, demon summoning, it intrigued her, she already knew nobody cared for her as a person all she had was sympathy, pity and lust, she thought maybe a demon could help her or at least protect her from people like Kuno since her cousins had failed and hadn't even cared that she hadn't gotten home until near midnight, nobody stayed up worrying for her and continued as if it was normal.

'Is this how'd they act if I'd of died…like I was never even there just pack away my futon, sell what I owned and continue as if I never existed?' Ranko asked herself, eyes shaking as tears began to slide down her cheeks, her decision was made before she even thought of it, she was going to summon a demon.

She sat upright and followed the instructions when drawing the summoning circle, using the lower half of her futon since it was closer and easier, with the lack of chalk, paint or even pens she resorted to using her blood that was still pouring from her leg be it slow but she could still use it. She had lost all feeling with her leg so it didn't even hurt when she dipped her index finger into her wounds and pulled it out covered in blood, she began to draw the summoning circle, it was a complicated design and took a good hour, it was 3am by the time she finished it.

"I summon you demon come to the circle and grant me my request, in all the names if the deities and devils with all the forces of darkness and light I summon you demon now come" Ranko stated, her voice but a whisper, the summoning circle began to glow brightly, a hurricane of darkness erupted from the summoning circle, Ranko's eyes widened in fear and she slid back a bit, she then saw a dark figure slowly rising from the centre of the summoning circle, all but a shadow until the hurricane died down.

There stood the demon she had summoned, his eyes closed, he had raven hair, he wore a black Chinese shirt, it seemed to be similar to her own red one, he wore dark blue jeans with the odd cut on them, his hair tied into a pigtail, his hands buried in his pockets, he seemed to be exerting some kind of dark power.

His eyes snapped open, those cold blue steal eyes, they seemed to draw hers in, they were filled with darkness, pain, torture even, he looked at her with little interest though it seemed to grow slightly when he saw the stated of her body.

"Why did you summon me mortal? Oh let me guess you want your legs back am I right?" he asked, almost in disgust, if only she knew that whenever he was summoned it was always for personal gain, people wanted him to do the impossible because he was a demon, heal wounds far too gone to be healed, bring back the dead or in other cases, mostly with lonely women to show them a 'good time' as they put it and he was fed up of been used.

"No" Ranko replied in a timid tone, her voice shaking, she could feel the raw power of the demon she had summoned and it scared her, Ranma's eyes widened slightly for a second before returning to as they were before.

"Then why summon me?" he asked, in a tired tone.

"I need protection" Ranko replied.

"What do you mean protection?" he asked, finding his interest beginning to grow.

"I'm almost completely defenceless I've been relying on my…'family'" Ranko spat, her voice filled with venom and yet still shaking "They were supposed to protect me since I can't protect myself, my cousin deserted me and I got raped…I want someone to protect me so I consulted my mother's books and found a summoning spell and yours was listed so I thought you'd be able to protect me" Ranko finished.

"Why summon me? That book contains several summoning circles" he asked.

"There are legends about the Saotome clan and their power and willing to punish those who deserve it…I thought if I could get one of your clan to protect me…I'd be safe" Ranko replied.

"So you did know what you were doing well I'm Ranma Saotome, descended from Genma and Nodoka Saotome, the blood within my veins is that of a devil my power is without rival outside my clan…but still don't believe everything what you read or hear, my clan, most of them would have killed you for such a request" Ranma replied, Ranko's eyes widened and began to shake even more violently.

"But…what about you…will you protect me?" Ranko asked timidly.

"I will…for now…but for me to protect you I need you to make a contract with me, I need a root to remain in this dimension and that is the role of the summoner…we will be linked, your energy will keep me here and you will be able to call me no matter where you are be you thousands of miles away of three feet…but to forge a contract you must offer me something" Ranma explained, Ranko appeared to be in thought for a moment.

"Okay…then I offer…my soul when I die you get my soul" Ranko stated, Ranma's eyes widened.

'This girl is willing to offer her soul to a demon, a devil, most people tend to offer their arm or senses never the soul that is the last thing anybody offers unless…they have nothing to lose, nothing left' Ranma thought to himself as he realized that was how she felt, that there was nothing left for her, nothing, but still he had no choice at this point.

"I accept your offering, when you die your soul will belong to me, now brake the circle" Ranma stated, Ranko extended her arm as far as she could and smeared some of the blood, freeing the demon within the circle, Ranma stepped out of the circle and it seemed to deactivate, becoming nothing but blood in the design of a summoning circle with some of it smeared, he offered Ranko his hand.

Ranko took it and they shook, Ranko felt a small burning sensation on her palm and quickly drew it back and looked down at it to see a red mark in the design of a stallion with what appeared to be a summoning circle around it.

"That is my mark, the contract has been made" Ranma stated before glancing at the circle behind him, waving his palm over it and it shattered, leaving no trace anything was there, he turned back to her and healed that nights wounds.

"You are now under my protection, just remember what you paid for it" Ranma stated before fading out of existence, returning to his own realm, Ranko then repositioned herself on her futon and drifted off to sleep, finding that the mark on her hand actually made her feel safe and for the first time in ten years she felt she was not alone.

A/N Hope you all liked it, plz review and sorry it's so short, I know it seems to be getting darker but that wasn't my original plan for and at this point I don't know if it will continue to get darker or not, thank you all of you who reviewed this fic.