Ranma 1/2Ranma 1/2 property of Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, VIZ Communications. Magic Knight RayEarth property of CLAMP, Kodansha, Media Blasters.
Characters and situations borrowed from or mirroring other series copyright the respective owners and used without permission.

Ranma barely noticed the sign which bounced off the back of his head; he paid no heed to the disgruntled panda which rolled over on the futon beside him, soon emitting loud snores. His pulse was racing; sweat ran in cold rivulets down his face, neck, and spine.

The door opened, and the bleary, sleep-worn face of Tendou Akane peeked into the room. "Ranma?" she asked drowsily. "What is it?"

Crap! "Ah...nothin', Akane. I just had a bad dream. Sorry."

The youngest Tendou sister frowned uncertainly at him. "Are you sure?" The black piglet nestled in her arms afforded Ranma a baleful glare.

"Yeah, I said it was nothin'! Go on back to sleep."

"Well...okay, if you're sure you're alright," Akane replied hesitantly. "Goodnight, Ranma." With that, she slid the door closed again and headed back to bed.

Ranma sighed, shoulders slumping. "Man, what the hell's wrong with me...wakin' up screamin' from a damn dream..."

Deciding he wasn't going to be getting back to sleep soon, and figuring it was probably close enough to morning that it didn't really matter anyway, Ranma disentangled himself from his futon, grabbed some clothes to work out in, and headed down the hall.

In the bathroom, he stripped off his sweaty tank top and filled a bucket with cold water. He stared into it apprehensively, the images of the nightmare which had woken him still burning through his consciousness. With a deep breath, he dumped the water over his head, and stared into the mirror.

Tormented red-brown eyes stared back at her from a grimy, tear-stained face. She let out a gasp and stepped backward involuntarily--and the reflection in the mirror returned to the usual sapphire-eyed visage of Ranma's female self; the grime and tear tracks were no more than bleary shadows of lack of sleep and sweat marks. Shuddering, the cursed martial artist took a deep, shaky breath, and laughed softly.

"Stupid curse," she muttered. "I'm startin' t' crack up."

Following up with a cupful of hot water and towelling off, Ranma dressed and headed out through the window, landing silently in the garden. Standing on one foot and taking a deep, calming breath, he began a complicated kata, moving swiftly and silently through the night, barely discernable from the shadows cast by the streetlights. The familiar and repetitive motions allowed him to attempt to clear his mind of the disturbing images from the dream, a difficult task; the horrifying and graphic events from the nightmare were livid, like a fresh, raw wound. It disturbed him profoundly that the girl in the dream had looked so much like himself--and even more that it had been he himself who had raped her.

No, that couldn't be right. Saotome Ranma was not that kind of person. He certainly would never...

But the memory of the nightmare refused to be denied, and Ranma's form began to falter slightly as he shook from the raw emotions that the dream had stirred. Caught up in his inner turmoil, he failed to notice the dew-slicked grass his toes were angling for as he landed from an aerial kick...

She pulled her sodden body from the pond, shivering from the chill, and stood at the edge, wringing her shirt out into the water before trudging wearily back to the house.

She ignored the spectres of reddish eyes in her reflection on the water as best she could.

"Father? I have found something strange in the mountain pass near the springs."

The Guide of Jusenkyou turned to see his young daughter, Plum, remove a worn knapsack from over her shoulder. "What is it, daughter?" he asked.

Plum removed a dirty white object from the knapsack and laid it on the table. "It looks almost like some sort of glove," she replied. "See, here? It looks meant to be worn on the hand."

"You're right, it does resemble a warrior's glove," the Guide replied, nodding. "It is very small, though...as though for a child, or..."

"For a woman," Plum replied.

The grimy white glove lay on the table, the dusty red stone on the back gleaming dully in the soft lantern light of the hut. Suddenly, a bright crimson flare illuminated the gem, pulsing three times, like a heartbeat. Then it was gone, and once more the glove looked simply old and dirty.

The Guide and his daughter looked at one another.

"Joketsuzoku?" Plum asked.

"It has to be," her father replied, nodding. Sighing, he added, "Pack for a hike...we'll leave in half an hour."

Ranma sighed as he dodged another water balloon thrown by a pack of rowdy elementary school kids scampering up the street ahead of them. "Annoying brats," he muttered.

"If you weren't on top of the fence, you wouldn't be such a tempting target, Ranma," Akane said, giggling slightly.

"You got a point," Ranma admitted, jumping down to land beside her. Cheering at their small victory, and giving the pair several rude gestures, the pack of small children ran off, laughing and yelling.

Once they were well gone, Akane turned to Ranma. "You've been kind of out of it all morning. What's wrong?"

"Eh, it's nothin'."

"It's that dream you had last night, isn't it?"

"Ah, what d'you know about it?"

"Fine," Akane snapped, turning away in a huff. They continued on in tense silence for almost a full minute.

Ranma sighed. "I...did somethin' horrible," he said.

Akane blinked. "Huh?"

"Th' dream. I saw myself--or at least it looked like me--doin' awful things t' some girl who looks...who looks just like me. When I'm a girl, I mean. Except she didn't have th' same eyes as me. An' it...it was at Jusenkyou."

"What kind of awful things?"

Ranma shook his head. "You don't wanna know that, Akane. You really really don't."

The short-haired girl frowned. "Maybe it's part of the curse? Maybe it has something to do with something that happened to the girl who drowned in the spring? I mean, could the curse work that way?"

"Man...I hope not," Ranma replied, shuddering. "Anyway, it's been damn near a year since I fell in that stupid spring...don'tcha think somethin' like that woulda happened before now?"

"How should I know? I don't know a thing about Chinese curses!"

"Well excuse me!"

Another tense silence engulfed the two. Nearly two minutes had passed when Akane said, softly, "Ranma...thank you."

"Huh?"

"For opening up to me. I know...how hard it must be for you to tell someone something like that."

Ranma shrugged. "Eh, Pop'd bitch me out for sayin' anything about it, cuz it's probably not very manly or nothin'." He paused. "But that dream...really bothered me, Akane. An'...I guess I hadda tell someone, an' maybe, I dunno, I guess I just trust you more than I trust anybody else."

Akane's face grew warm. "Ranma..." Unconsciously, her hand stole closer to his...

*SPLASH*

"SHIT!" Ranma yelled, wiping cold, sticky soda out of her eyes with her sleeve. "YOU LITTLE BRATS! GET BACK HERE!"

Akane watched the feisty redhead chase after two straggling elementary school students, worry, affection, and amusement in her eyes. "Ranma..."

Ten minutes later, the two girls were dashing madly through the streets. What sympathy Akane had earlier felt for Ranma's plight was erased by irritation with the redhead.

"Honestly, Ranma, we're gonna be so late we're dead! And all because you had to chase that kid halfway to Suginami for spraying you!"

"With soda! Sticky soda! Water's one thing, but..."

"And did you HAVE to kancho that poor kid?"

"HE HAD IT COMIN'!"

Akane rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We'd better hurry..."

They barely made it to Fuurinkan High School before the gates closed. Panting and puffing, the two girls took a moment to rest before heading into the school proper. However, they had failed to notice the figure lurking behind a tree they had passed on the way in...

Ranma suddenly tensed up as a pair of strong arms encircled her from behind, hands clamping firmly on a very personal area. "Pigtailed girl! Tendou Akane! I had feared this day a waste for not seeing my loves among the throngs entering yon edifice of learning, and yet lo, here you are! Come, let us retire to a less noisome locale, that we may--"

Whatever Kunou wished to do with them was not heard, for he was cut short by a shrill, piercing scream from Ranma.

Akane stared in worry at the redhead, who was struggling to break free--and should be able to do so easily. Yet her eyes had glazed over, and she was standing there screaming her head off.

The youngest Tendou frowned. "Kunou-senpai, let her go."

"My love appears to suffer from some distress. I must comfort her--"

"COMFORT THIS!" Akane broke a limb off the tree behind her and hit Kunou about the head and shoulders with it until he released his grip on the screaming redhead. Ranma collapsed bonelessly to the ground, hugging herself tightly and shivering. A pitiful whimper occasionally escaped her lips.

Ranma, what's going on with you? The sight of the smaller girl sobbing, rather than being her usual brash, energetic self, troubled Akane deeply. What could possibly have happened to have such a terrifying effect on Ranma literally overnight?

Sending Kunou off to dreamland with a final kick to the face, Akane knelt beside Ranma, wrapping her arms comfortingly around her shoulders. "Shh...it's okay...it'll be alright..."

She cast an annoyed glance at the heads which were popping out of windows all over the school building, but her annoyance was overshadowed by worry.

And were her eyes playing tricks on her, or had Ranma's eyes turned red for a few moments?

Ranma kept his head low to his desk for the duration of the day. Whispering and occasional glances from his classmates were quelled by sharp, pointedly hostile glares.

He had no idea why he'd suddenly spazzed out that morning and had that screaming fit instead of pounding Kunou like he normally did,

(no, that's not true...it has to do with that damn dream)

but the shame he felt from the incident--which he barely remembered; his mind had become very hazy and unfocused at the time--burned through him and ate away at his very core.

He prayed his mother and father didn't learn of the incident. He could ignore the old man's rantings about acting like a girl, but his mother was sure to give him a stern, disappointed look, and he didn't think he could stomach that.

Worst of all, Akane and, once she'd learned the details, Ukyou kept shooting him looks of concern. He knew they were only worried about him, but it still got on his nerves. He was a man, dammit! This kind of thing didn't happen to men!

...right?

During one of his afternoon classes, he dozed off, and had another dream. This one wasn't as horrific as the previous nightmare, but it was definitely odd, full of images that simply didn't make sense. He'd awoken from the dream shouting something about the ocean, which caused the sensei to hit him on the head with his book and make a scathing remark, and the class to snicker.

On the way home, Ranma said softly to Akane, "Listen...what happened today...I'd appreciate if you not mention it t' my folks."

Akane nodded. "I understand. But Ranma...seriously, what's going on with you?"

"I wish I knew, Akane. It's...I just wish I knew."

Both teens sighed. After a moment, Akane asked hesitantly, "Ranma? That dream you had...did the girl...was she, um..." She paused. "Did something...perverted happen to her?"

"Huh? Why do you ask?"

"Because of the way you reacted to Kunou this morning. I just thought maybe..."

Ranma's lips pressed into a thin line. "Yeah. I really don't wanna go into details."

"That's fine, I'd rather you didn't. It's just...if what we were talking about earlier..." Akane paused.

"Yeah, I've been thinkin' about that," Ranma admitted. "If this IS part of th' curse..." He frowned. "If I'm livin' out some shit that happened t' that girl in my dreams..."

"I wish Tofu-sensei was still in town. I'm sure you could talk to him about it."

Ranma snorted. "He ain't no shrink, an' I'll be damned if I talk to one. I can barely stand talkin' to you about it." At Akane's frown, he added hastily, "I didn't mean that th' way it sounded, Akane. I just meant..."

Akane's expression softened. "I...I know, Ranma. I know..."

Things did not improve over the course of the week. Ranma occasionally lapsed into periods of unresponsiveness, or developed a glazed, faraway look in his eyes. It happened more frequently when he was a girl, and one day, he'd just wandered off while in girl form. Akane had found him an hour and a half later, in Minato-ku, sitting on a bench about five blocks from Tokyo Tower. He didn't have any memory of how he got there, or why he'd gone there in the first place, and that disturbed him almost more than anything else from the previous days.

His parents, naturally, found out about everything within two days of the initial nightmare. His father reacted as expected, with much loud bellowing and declamations of Ranma's lack of manhood, while his mother was far more worried and concerned--she immediately came to the same conclusion Akane had, and almost insisted Ranma seek the advice of Cologne. Ranma had vetoed that idea; while it was true the elderly Amazon knew more than anyone else he knew about Jusenkyou, he didn't feel comfortable sharing this new problem with anyone he didn't trust implicitly--and that definitely did not include Cologne or Shampoo. Two of his lapses had resulted in his development of some unexplainable injuries, and he would rather not have it known he was periodically vulnerable, lest one of his adversaries (or erstwhile suitors) decide to take advantage of the situation.

Ryouga had found out--by virtue of being P-chan--but rather than using it against Ranma, he seemed oddly thoughtful about it all. Ranma didn't confront him about it, but he assumed that the lost boy was probably wondering whether or not a similar effect would happen to him.

Six days after the nightmares and periodic lapses began, Fuurinkan's sports festival took place. It was during this event that the situation finally came to a head--almost tragically so.

Ranma grumbled as she adjusted the embarassingly short, tight bloomers she'd been forced into wearing. "This bites," she groused.

"It can't be helped, Ranma," Akane explained apologetically. "We were short one girl for the opposing-sexes kibasen, and as a girl, you're light enough that you make a perfect rider."

Ranma snorted. "Yeah, yeah. I just hate wearin' this crap. What kinda pervert came up with this shit?"

Akane giggled. "Every Japanese girl that's ever attended high school has asked that same question."

While they were milling about waiting for an event to begin, a series of shrill, female screams rang out from the direction of the water fountains, and began moving closer. Akane and Ranma looked grimly at one another.

"Only one thing I can think of," Ranma said.

"Happousai?" Akane guessed.

Their suspicion was confirmed a moment later, when the shriveled old pervert appeared over the heads of a crowd of enraged, panicking girls. He cackled as he angled in towards his preferred target. "Ranma-chan! How lovely you look in that outfit! Here I cooooome!"

The ancient martial artist landed squarely between Ranma's breasts.

And that's when it happened.

Akane saw the change in Ranma's eyes immediately. The normal blue orbs changed into a snapping, reddish sienna. Blood rushed to the redhead's face, and a look of pure, unbridled fury wrote itself across her features. A hot wind began buffeting Akane and the other girls nearby, who backed away cautiously, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.

Ranma shrieked inarticulately, voice full of rage and pain. Suddenly, an aura of fire--pure fire--exploded outward from her, blasting Happousai into the air. Akane and the other girls ran, frantically trying to avoid being burned by the blaze which radiated from the redhead.

The entire population of Fuurinkan stared in horror as the inferno spread, towering into the sky. Happousai, singed and startled, let out an angry shout. "What the hell was THAT?"

Akane responded by smashing a folding chair over his head until he collapsed. By the time the ancient pervert was unconscious, the flames had died down; a ten-meter-wide circle of scorched ground marked its passing.

Of Ranma, there was no trace.

"Ranma...?" Akane's eyes widened, brimming with horrified tears. "RANMA!!"

There was no answer.

Without a word to anyone, Akane took off, ignoring the buzz of murmurs behind her.

Ranma...please be okay...PLEASE...

The redhead walked for hours, unmindful of the stares she received. She couldn't say for certain where she was going, but somehow she instinctively knew where she belonged, and it wasn't in the place she had been.

Not where that...horrible...thing had...had...

The fire hadn't burned her, hadn't hurt anyone save her tormentor; while her mind was so clouded she couldn't even remember who she was, she did at least know she didn't want to hurt anyone.

She couldn't take a train where she was going, for she had no money. She couldn't ask for help, for her voice was virtually gone from screaming. So, she walked.

It was nearing sundown when she finally began to feel a sense of familiarity about her surroundings. Her mind was also beginning to clear, and she was beginning to remember who she was. As her memories slowly reconstructed themselves, she knew that she was in the district of Tokyo in which she lived, and that her home was...that way! She picked up her pace, ignoring her sore, tired feet.

As she walked, further ahead, she saw two familiar figures--both girls--dressed in school uniforms, heads bowed somberly. The direction they were coming from was the cemetery for her district.

She wanted to call out to them, but her throat was still raw and hoarse from her earlier screaming. She tried to run to them, but her legs were far too tired, and she couldn't bring herself to more than a fast walk without tripping. By the time she made it to the corner where they'd turned, they were long since out of sight.

Staring morosely at her feet, she turned and headed in the direction the two girls had come from. Hesitantly, she entered the cemetery, wondering whose grave they had been visiting. She scanned the rows, and spotted incense smoke still drifting over a particular marker. Heading slowly that way, she found the fresh offerings left at the white stone, and scanned the name engraved there.

Her eyes widened, a brand new and wholly unwelcome terror filling her soul. "No..." she whispered scratchily.

It couldn't be true. It couldn't.

This...this grave was...?!

Unable to cope with this newest traumatic shock in what had been an overwhelmingly trying day, she collapsed in a dead faint.

Two minutes later, she rose to a sitting position, blinking bleary sapphire eyes open and staring around. "Huh? Where am I--ugh!" Her throat was far too raw for speech, so she settled for examining her surroundings as she massaged it. Her eyes fell on the grave marker before her, and she frowned in confusion. The name was unfamiliar, but something inside her felt strangely uncomfortable about this memorial.

Noticing the position of the sun, she cursed inwardly and stood, dusting herself off and trying to get her bearings.

As she left the cemetery, a last curl of smoke rose above the stone marked "SHIDOU HIKARU", before dissipating into nothingness, leaving the air still and silent.

Copyright 2007 Studio ELL
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