The path of life chapter 1 		Written by: Matdeception.

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Disclaimer: Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko-sama. Gold Diggers belongs to Fred
Perry. I make no claim to own them, and do not profit off this piece of
fiction. I write this to pay homage to these two wonderful people for
making such an awesome series.

Authors Note: Gina Diggers was a rather 'ignored' child in her early
years, and it took her awhile to get out of that mode. That is why you
will see her here in her 'ignored child' mode, and you should be able to
understand her extreme emotions when she isn't being 'ignored'. Thanks.


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A kind moment - The path of Life Chapter 1.

A month since he was brought here, a full month since he had willing
spoken a word to another person, yet it was not a month Ranma spent
idle. Despite down time needed to heal from Genma's latest attempt on
his life, Ranma refused to let his current skills in the Art degrade, so
thus he practiced. Ranma felt he had to practice for when his father
would come. He had every intention of purging the man from existence
should he show his face and try to kill him again. With thoughts of
self-preservation in mind, he forced himself to practice from sunrise
until sundown every day. A week went by like this, until he accidentally
punched through a wall in his room to the adjacent one, nearly causing
its inhabitant, a recovering heart attack patient, to relapse.

Dr. Ishinada Hiso observed Ranma during these times, and became marveled
at the boy's physical prowess, espically at the rate in which he
recovered from his grisly ordeal. Sure, Hiso admitted, at the end of his
recovery Ranma would end up with numerous scars, harsh reminders of the
torture he had endured. However the sheer strength he possessed was
simply mind boggling, not to mention his fluidic grace and unnerving
obsession and skill in the Art. After the earlier event concerning the
recovering heart attack patient, Hiso took it upon himself to make sure
by the next day an oversized storage room had been cleaned out, and
turned into something akin of the Modern Day Dojo's that had infested
Japan since ancient times. His explanation was simply, to which the
Medical staff eagerly agreed to his actions.

"This could possibly break the emotional void he erected around himself
to defend against the trauma."

Most Doctors involved had already read the Police and Medical reports
concerning the boy, as well as those of the eyewitnesses that had found
the boy in the first place. Appalled, such a word conveying little of
the actual contempt and rage they felt over the incident, they went out
of their way to make sure Ranma's stay here was as comfortable as
possible. It was, after all, a Doctors duty to do everything in their
power to save lives, to make sure they survived their afflictions, and
help their patients recover and grow in a fitting atmosphere whenever
possible. The state Ranma was found in clearly showed he was not growing
in such an enviroment, the stuff of nightmares can erupt from such an
upbringing if left unchecked. Reasoning the normally disallowed use of
medical resources as worthwhile, they all let out a sigh of relief when
Ranma thanked them politely. If giving up on some closet space prevented
the boy from becoming a psychotic killer, which such a horrendous
upbringing making it very possible, they would pay the cost in spades.

Ranma was indeed thankful for the extra space, but beyond those words of
gratitude he showed no other signs of mental recovery. The shrinks
brought in to help the boy made absolutely no progress, at times they
would report he just wasn't there for them to help. It was as if his
mind had gone for a walk, or went to focus on something else while they
attempted to pry him out of his funk. They defiantly refused to give up
on him though.

***

Ranma didn't really care much for the doctors, being focused more on his
plans for Genma and a startling discovery he made shortly after
awakening in the hospital. Something that was never there had appeared,
he couldn't see it either, but he could feel it. Like a cobweb you
stumble through, Ranma would feel slight tingles across his skin, in his
stomach, at the tip of his hair, on his eyes when he blinked, in his
lungs when he breathed, yet he could not determine what it was.

At first he thought it was nothing more than his body recovering from
his gruesome training, until he began thinking of Genma and what exactly
he should do concerning that piece of trash he called his Father. It was
like a volcano, an eruption, an uncontrollable and near intoxicating
flood of power, of anger, and of his indomitable will to survive. It
felt like a string snapping taunt, and for the life of him he couldn't
understand it.

Ranma spoke to himself, alone in his make shift dojo. "Okay, think
Ranma. Focus. What's different about you today, that wasn't differn't
from yesterday?" Images of people, various doctors he had met, other
patients, and then Genma went through his mind. It was when Genma
appeared in his mind that the 'string' became taunt again.

"So its Genma? No.. there has to be more!"

What could it be? Examining his thoughts of Genma, Ranma compared them
to some of his recent aquaintences. Whenever he would switch mental
imagery between Genma and the others the feeling he had would fade. What
could it be?

Three hours passed with Ranma lost in thought, still no closer to
finding the answer than he had been prior to his thinking. Letting off a
frustrated scream mentally, Ranma began swearing openly at his inability
to dischiper the meaning of this 'power' he had felt.

"What the hell is this? What can I possibly be doing wrong? Damnit!"

Hearing his own words reverberate through the room, Ranma took a moment
to calm himself down. He chided himself mentally 'Damnit! I can't even
control my own frustration! If I can't even control my own emotions I'll
never get control of this.. whatever this is!'

Letting off a tired sigh, Ranma took the basic Horse stance, from there
he began an intricate, yet slow basic Kata of the Anything Goes School.
He mentally commented, 'If I lose control, lose my focus, its time to
start at the beginning. Regain my focus, retrain my center, and try try
again.'

And so it went, every day he would pick up where he left off, slowly
rising from the ground based basics of his art, to the basics of his
aerial style. Slowly but surely, he climbed the ladder of his skill,
even going so far as to alter some of his Kata's to represent the
knowledge and experience he has picked up through out his life on the
road. Adaptability and flexibility are the trademarks for his style, and
though he doesn't know it yet - He's already a master at that tenet.

***

"Is there anything else you would like to declare, Mr. Diggers?" asked a
rather plain looking Japanese Custom Agent. Theo, AKA Dr. Theodore
Pisqual Diggers, thought she looked rather handsome in her lime green
business suit. Her deep black hair looked to be the same length as his
dear, sweet Julia's, only she had it rolled up into a bun on the top of
her petite heart shape head.

"No, nothing else to declare." Theo responded, then received a pointy
finger into his stomach. Grumbling to himself concerning his daughters
antics, Theo stated, "Except that I'm married and madly in love with my
wife." He almost chuckled at the blank expression she gave him.
Shrugging his shoulders lightly, he pointed to the two adolescent
pre-teens by his side. "Sorry, they kind of demanded I say that when I
meet an attractive woman. They got it in their crazy heads some 'harlot'
will run off with me if left undefended."

Receiving another job to his stomach, courtesy of his daughter Brittany,
Theo raised an eyebrow at the slight blush covering the custom agent's
face. Deciding to forego anymore embarrassment that could very well earn
him a beating from his daughters, Theo responded "If there's nothing
else.." At her nod, Theo received their passports and the trio stepped
out of line and began making their way towards the airport exit.

Theo was hoping they could get out of the airport quietly and without
incident, however that was not meant to be as his daughter just had to
pipe in with some crass remark. Brittany, the young and lively thirteen
year old bounced once, causing her strawberry blond hair, with some odd
black spots, to rise and fall about her shoulders as she piped in,
"Honestly daddy! You should be more grateful for me and Gina! We decided
to come allllll the way from home just so you wouldn't get lonely! Right
Gina?"

Brittany glanced towards her sister while she continued to bounce and
jump around like the energetic Mexican jumping bean she was turning out
to be. Gina, however, decided to deflate her rather exuberant sisters
cheerful mood and admonished her "Gina and I, Brittany. The correct
pronunciation is Gina and I, not me and Gina."

Brittany, indignant for her sister's admonishment, stuck her tongue out
and cooed, giving an annoying 'Nyahh' sound, "We can't all be Miss
Perfect Sentence structure can we, oh biiiiiig sister!" There was no
vehemeance in her words, just a cheerful teasing.

Theo didn't detect it though, and decided to end this soon to be
screaming match before he developed a headache. "Come girls, I have some
important things to do here. Can we at least get along for the next few
days?" This trip was really getting to Theo, as any trip to visit a
terminally ill friend would.

The girls, oddly empathic to the situation, stopped their arguing and
silently followed their father. Before to long, Brittany reasserted her
curiosity and began asking about all the various little things that
tended to catch those flighty in mind and thought. From a strange
looking chair, to various Kanji shown off of signs, everything in
Brittany's view was magic and mystery.

Gina however, was not so easily satiated. Despite Brittany's
obliviousness in regards to their reason for being here, Gina knew what
was going on. Its hard for the teenage genius to miss the signs,
espically those of her father being depressed. He's normally a very
lively person, so seeing him like this had Gina on edge. Even though
Gina knew what was happening, she didn't want to be around it. Death, in
any form, scared the poor girl at this age, so she made sure to remind
her father of an earlier promise as they approached the curb of the
street. "Remember daddy! You promised to leave me at a library before
running off to your business!"

Theo simply nodded while he hailed and loaded a taxi. Soon after, the
three diggers were off, their path leading to their hotel to drop off
their luggage, then to the library to drop off more luggage (Gina), and
finally the hospital to visit the goal of Theo's trip, one currently
dying Chisato Hino. Theo was extremly relieved when they got there,
their Driver was getting angry at all the 'Why is your face so werid?'
questions erupting from his ever curious daughter.


**

Brittany 'Cheetah' Elin Diggers was completely, with out a doubt in her
mind - Bored. Every since her and papa got to this strange building she
was left alone in the waiting area. Father had gone off on his business,
and asked her to wait here.

'Bleah! This is soooooooo boring! There's nothing to do!' Brittany cried
inwardly. Thankfully her attention was snagged by a group of people, who
had stopped a little ways down the hall, seemingly to stare through an
open door into some room. From her vantage point, she really couldn't
see exactly what caught there attention. However, she couldn't miss the
look of awe the various adults adopted as they stared into the room. As
such, she came to an obvious conclusion some one as young as her could.

'Must be a play ground!' thought Brittany, 'After all, I only see those
types of looks on other kids when there was something fun to play with.'

Her curiosity would not die. This, compiled with her increasing boredom,
had her wandering towards whatever spectacle had so hypnotized the
adults earlier. Trying to appear sneaky, Brittany hugged the walls and
slowly inched her way towards the doorway.

'I am sneaky, I am undetectable, no one will find me.' she continued
mentally in a mantra as several nurses, various patients, and one or two
Doctors eyed her. Needless to say, she ignored them. 'Must all like
staring at the wall. They can't see me, I'm a ninja! Yeah!'

Traveling the last few feet to the door, Brittany lost interest in her
'Ninja' game and simply walked in with out preamble, expecting to find
swings, maybe a jungle gym, or a sand box. What she found caused her to
immediately begin hemming and hawing at the sight before her.

A boy, ten or eleven years old and dressed in what looked like shortened
versions of what the male nurses wore, was flying through the air. His
lean and muscled body didn't escape Brittany's attention. Inwardly
thankful for getting that talk about 'The birds and the bee's' as mama
and papa put it, she simply stood there and watched. Mesmerized, unable
to say anything for fear it would end.

However, like all good things, this came to an end. Brittany eyed the
boy funny as he stood there, completely stalk still. Soon though, he
relaxed his stance, his gaze settling on the far wall of the room.

'What is it with the Japanese and wall staring?' she spoke in the barest
of whispers.

**

Jump. Sidekick to opponents head. Follow through with an overhead twist.
Land, immediately flowing into a leg sweep.

Ranma had been going frantic the last fifteen minutes. Whatever 'it' is
inside him had started jumping, crackling, and going into overdrive for
god only knows why. It scared him, he could admit that to himself.
Despite his fear for 'it', he began probing and 'watching' its actions,
figuratively speaking of course. Something was different this time,
cause normally it would only react when he thought of the horrors
inflicted to him by his father. Now, without any mental stimulation, it
was reacting

'Had regaining my focus been the answer? What else could possibly cause
'it' to react like this?' Ranma mentally commented as he finished his
latest Kata with a back flip, landing in his starting stance and holding
there. Moments passed, then he finally let out a deep breath while
relaxing his stace, his gaze and attention drifting off into space as he
reviewed everything that was happening within his body.

A voice, cheerful and energetic, sounded from the doorway. Ranma idly
noted to himself that with those words 'it' had gone into a frenzy.
Surprised, compiled with a small amount of hesitation and fear at how
this new found 'power' was reacting caused Ranma to whip around quickly
in surprise, his legs still tired from his earlier exertions, and
tripped over themselves with Ranma crashing to the floor..

"You're a funny boy, aren't you?" came that same sing song voice.
Lifting his gaze to the door, Ranma lifted his gaze and spied near the
door a young girl, gaijin from appearaces. Twelve, Fourteen years of age
with oddly feral green eyes staring back at him. Ranma couldn't help but
notice two distinct differences about the girl. Her ears and.. 'Her
mouth..'

"Something on my face?" she asked, her hands coming up to her face and
moving a stray lock of hair from her forehead, in a vain attempt to hide
a growing blush, courtesy of Ranma's rather intense gaze.

"Hi. I'm reeeally sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt your dancing! It was
so beautiful though, what was that anyway?" she continued in her
questions, not breaking for a second as she threw them out.

Ranma barely registered her questions, something striking him as odd
about the girl, besides the funny pointing ears. His curiosity wouldn't
lay down and die until he asked, "Why are you talking so funny? You're
lips are moving, but not in time with your words?"

"Ummm, my daddy.." Brittany idly wondered if she was about to reveal
something she shouldn't, causing her to get in trouble for telling the
boy her father was a Mage, ".. cast a spell on me, some transgralation
or something. It's suppose to let people understand me, and me them
while its on." Brittany was surprised of course, that the boy could make
such an observation so quickly. People generally didn't notice unless
they spent a unseemly amount of time observing her.

"Magic?" Ranma asked, and then tossed her explanation away. It didn't
matter to the art, so was ultimately worthless, right? "Never mind. And
I wasn't dancing! Its called martial arts! Combat yah know, punches,
kicks, jumps.." he tapered off in his explanation, notcing the girl was
fidgeting under his gray blue eyed gaze. 'Why is she nervous?'

Brittany's mind however, was lost in a sea of questions as Ranma's
gray-blue stormy eyes stared at her. Her heart was beating faster than
normal, and so could only barely discern why. 'Is this what daddy meant?
Is what I'm feeling the same as what's suppose to happen when I meet my
'Knight' as he said? I'm sooooo confused!'

The boy continued to gaze at her funny, eliciting a rosy blush in the
process. Another moment passed in silence, until the boy spoke "So
what's your name?" while doing a neato hand stand forward roll/flip
thing, at least that's what Brittany thought to call it. The boy
continued, after landing two feet in front of her "My names Sa.. Ranma,
just Ranma."

"Brittany Elin Diggers, but everyone calls me 'Cheetah'." She stated,
receiving a blink from the pig tailed martial artists, and the question,
"What's a.. cheetah?"

"Silly! A cheetah is the name of a cat! The fastest cat in the whole
wide world!" Ranma, for his part, noticed as she spoke the word 'cat'
that unknown 'thing' had started reacting, he could feel the tendrils of
energy within his minds eye snap and go taunt. Tentatively, Ranma
reached out with his mind and senses's to grasp for it. He succeeded in
wrestling it down, but almost yelped in surprise when the tendril seemed
to vanish, only to reappear intermingled within his own body. 'The
mention of a 'cat' did this? Waita minute, could this be that Neko crap
Genma was trying to teach me? If it is, why did it respond to Genma as
well? So many questions..'

Silence ensued the pair, as Ranma kept his attention inward, and
Brittany fought her rapidly beating heart and scrambelled mind.
Brittany, being alittle scared of the feelings Ranma was inspiring
within her, began to retreat towards the hallway. With out turning
around, she just couldn't bring herself to turn her back on him, she
said "Um.. my daddy wants me to stay close.. I better go.."

And as quickly as it came the catfist, or whatever it really was,
vanished and Ranma lost control. 'What happened?'. Returning his
attention outward, he noticed the girl was half way out the door. 'Could
she be the link I need to understand this?"

Deciding to follow the best lead he had so far, he called out to her,
"Hey wait!" he stammered, trying to find a reason for her to stay. Only
one thing popped into his mind, so he went with it. "That dance.. would
you like to learn how to do it? Its kind of fun, and great for.." he
fumbled for words, lacking greatly in 'child' speech. So he decided to
use the one thing that always brought a smile to his face. "Great for..
uh.. eating?"

Like music to her ears, Ranma made the gravest mistake of his young
life. The 'hint' he gave Brittany that should could indulge in yummy
yummy tuna! "Eating?!"

Ranma nodded slowing, now smiling in such a way to Make Brittany's heart
skip a beat. 'I really wish daddy hadn't given me and sis the 'talk'
before coming here' Brittany mentally cursed, but smothered her feelings
of insecurity as he answered.

"Yeah.. you want to go grab some food? We can.. talk.. some more or
something, uh.. learn more about each other. Yeah, that's it."

"YES!" screamed Brittany, letting off an excited squeal as her mind
indulged in fantasies of tropical islands completely made of Tuna, for
the moment her previous insecurities forgotten. She hurriedly spoke,
"Lets go!!" and so she snatched the boy's hand with her own, and
practically dragged him out the door and down the hall, intent upon her
search for the cafeteria, and completely ignoring the boy's yell's to
let go, and that he could walk under his own power.

**

Sighing heavily as he left his friends room, Theo tuned in one of the
doctors explaining to him his friends situation and current condition.
Cancer seems to be eating her alive, and when Theo offered his services
to cure her ailment Chisa refused. Her words just wouldn't get out of
his head, "Theo, please.. my time has come. Don't go about curing this."

For the life of him, Theo couldn't help but believe his friend suddenly
became a retard. 'Who wouldn't jump at the chance to be cured and live?
It's inconceivable!"

Despite his earnest protesting, Chisa refused to budge on this topic,
which pained Theo so much he couldn't stand to be in the room any
longer. Exiting the room and back into the hallway, Theo's light blue
eyes dance in amusement at the sight of his daughter, Brittany,
physically dragging a younger boy with jet black hair tied into a pig
tail down a adjacent hall while yelling something about "TUNA".

Shaking his head at the poor boy's plight, Theo moved in hopes of
freeing him before his daughter dragged him to his horrible fate.
However, just before he reached them to scold his daughter, a rough
calloused hand landed on his shoulder, the owner of the hand gripped him
firmly, holding him in place.

"Leave them alone please, Doctor Diggers." Theo didn't recognize the
voice, and couldn't help but wonder why some one was telling him what to
do in regards to his daughter. Luckily, the owner of the hand, one Dr.
Hiso went on to explain the situation as the two now followed Brittany
and the pig tail boy to the cafeteria.

"The boy your daughter is with, he's been through a rather harsh
traumatic experience. This is the first time he's talked to anyone since
arriving here."

"What do you mean?" Theo inquired, suddenly nervous that his daughter is
hanging around the boy.

Hiso smiled sadly as he began his explanation. He informed Theo of
Ranma's situation, how he was found, his trauma, and how Ranma's
recovery was going, or wasn't going as the case may be. Needless to say,
Theo was righteously angry, angry and full of pity for the young and
innocent boy.

He thought long and hard on this, while he watched his daughter and the
boy converse and eat. In the end.. "I'll let it be fore now."he stated
softly to Hiso, "But I expect you to keep a close eye on him while he's
around my daughter. I don't want what happened to cause undue grief and
pain to my daughter. Are we in agreement?"

Hiso gave Theo a kind and understanding smile, seeming to understand
Theo's feelings completely on the subject. "Not to worry, Doctor
Diggers. In all the time Ranma has been here he hasn't lashed out at
anything with intent to harm, besides a few walls, so he's relatively
harmless.. and" he clucked his tongue, continuing, "Thank you. I'm not
going to lie and say we weren't concerned about his refusal to speak,
and in all truth were thankful your daughter was able to break off a
tiny piece of the many that composes his emotional shell."

Theo simply nodded dumbly from where he was sitting, across the room his
daughter and the boy, Ranma was his name, were busy scarfing down an
ungodly amount of food. Tuna mostly, Theo noted with a bit of amusement.

***

With Theo's reluctant agreement, time passed as it wants to do. Day by
day, Brittany slowly melted away Ranma's shell, and day-by-day Ranma
came to grasp the power he then termed 'Neko-Ken'. Considering it
appeared after the cat fist training, Ranma thought it a fitting title.
For some reason Ranma hadn't figured out, Brittany garners much of the
same attention from the 'Neko-Ken' as Genma does. With time passing,
their friendship blossomed slowly but surely, and Brit even roped Gina
into visiting, though later she would regret doing so.

"Hey Ranma!" Brit chirruped in delight while dragging her older sister
Gina behind her by the arm in a mad dash towards Ranma.

Stopping in his work out, the ten-year-old, though he happened to look
thirteen, smiled up to his slightly taller friend Brit, "Hey Cheetah,
who's your friend?" he asked, after noticing the rather bedraggled and
heavily panting girl behind his friend. The unknown girl had happened to
fall to her knees in exhaustion when Brit finally released her arm.

Stepping closer to Ranma, Brit turned slightly and motioned to the
recovering girl on the floor, "Ranma! This is my sister Gina! She's a
bit of a nerdy nerd, but I wanted to introduce you two" she giggled and
chimed as only a girl of her energy scale could.

"Gina eh?" Ranma answered gruffly, tiny beads of sweat dripping slowly
off his tanned skin while he checked her out. Deciding to appear more
sociably, Ranma tossed out some words he had heard a few days pior from
some of the hospital staff. "Cute name for a cute girl." He finished his
words as he knelt down, a hand out in offering to Gina, "Here, let me
help you up. I'm sure I have some ice water around here if you're
thirsty."

Gina only spared the boy a glance at first, simply to busy dealing with
her lack of breath. Upon hearing his words, Gina blushed brightly, coyly
smiling as she accepted his offered hand. 'Wow! Brit was right! He is
cute!' Gina mentally chimed to herself. Being thirteen years old, almost
fourteen, she didn't really have a 'He's too young' mentality. Hell,
she's grateful, especially after the 'Birds and the Bee's talk she got
from her father, that the opposite gender noticed her. Gina had been
depressed when a few boys from school told her that her sister Brittany
was much better looking than she was.

"Thanks Ranma." Gina said as shyly as ever.

Now, Brittany wouldn't admit it to anyone, even if you threatened her
with 'No Tuna', but right then and there she got her first taste of
'Jealousy' over Ranma. With her sister no less! Coughing politely while
Ranma helped Gina up, Brittany decided to embarasse her sister,
hopefully scaring her off from trying to nab HER Ranma.

"Gina Gina Gina, you just met the boy! How scandalous!"

Ranma was confused when Gina didn't let go of his hand, and became even
more bewildered when Gina forcibly ejected his hand after Brit's
comment. He took a moment to ponder this, but decided he didn't need to
know why this happened, while repeating in his mind 'Girls are just too
weird'

Resuming his training, Ranma was oblivious to the two teenagers in the
room, who just got their first real appreciation for boy watching. Even
if Ranma was only ten years old, he looked thirteen, or fourteen, so it
was perfectly all right to oogle his already muscular body like this, at
least in Gina and Brittany's mind.

***

A full week had passed after Brittany and Ranma first met that fateful
day when Ranma managed to finally fully grasp and control the 'Neko-Ken'
with out needing either Brittany's presence, or running images of Genma
through his mind as a focus.

With a cry of "HELL YEAH!" Ranma thrust his fist into the air.

CRASH

Came the sound as Ranma, fully immersed in the 'Neko-Ken', inadvertenly
let loose a pathetically weak Ki projectile that blasted into the roof.
No real damage, aside from the slowly smoldering tiles overhead.

"Oops."

***

The next two weeks passed with a lot more fanfare than the first. During
this time, Gina, Brit, and Ranma seemed to be getting much closer. To
Ranma, they were his friends, his only friends. So he took it upon
himself to help correct little 'bad' things about each of them. So..

Scrambelling back as fast as he could, Ranma narrowly avoided the two
girls as they jumped at one another, their screams soundly so loud Ranma
would have sworn they were Banshee's.

Ranma couldn't help but ponder what was going on. All he say was, "Wow,
Gina, you keep yourself in good shape, if what Cheetah told me about your
uh.." he fumbled for the word, "..neerdy? Yeah, that's it. If what
Cheetah told me about your nerdy ways is true." Then he turned to Brit,
ignoring or oblivious to the murderous glare that erupted between the
two girls, then commented, "You know Cheetah, if what Gina told me about
your.. uh" searching for the words, Ranma was thankful his two friends
were trying to increase his vocabulary, " glut.. uh.. gluttonous, yeah
that's it. If what Gina told me about your gluttonous way is true, then
all we need to do is put you on a diet. You'll be as 'cute' as Gina is
in no time."

From that point all hell broke loose, and for the life of Ranma he
didn't know why. Hell, he heard more curse words that day than he would
earlier have believed possible. When the Doctors, and some Gaijin man
ran into the room and witnessed the catfight, Ranma quickly offered up
an explanation as to what happened before the two started clawing at
each other. Yet another reason Ranma didn't comprehend, the Gaijin
erupted in embarrassment.

"BRITTANY ELIN DIGGERS! GINA BABBETTE DIGGERS!" Theo roared as only a
mortally embarrassed father could, tuning out the fact his collegues
were laughing up a storm at his expense,  "Stop this NOW! There's no
reason to be fighting over Ranma like.." and Theo was silence by the
glare of death he received from his daughters. What the hell caused THAT
reaction? Theo idly noted Ranma was asking him a question.

"Fighting over me? What for?" Theo groaned at the complete naivety the
young boy displayed.

***

This trip to a dying friend was from there after known to Theo as
'Hell'.

This shameless interaction between his daughters and Ranma continued day
in, and day out with both girls trying to 'flaunt' their stuff all over
the hospital in an attempt to catch Ranma's eye. What was sad about
this, was the fact the boy had yet to even hit puberty!

So, being completely oblivious to Brit and Gina's attempts to capture
his heart, he never reciprocated their advances, which caused them to
try harder, which to Theo's eternal shame included wearing rather skimpy
modes of dressed.

When Theo tried to get them into more juvenile clothing, he was
horrified at his daughters reactions. They beat his ass to a pulp.

***

"Hey Ranchan!" cooed Gina, extremely smug she came up with such a cool
nick name before that sleazy sister of hers could, what was her name
again? Oh well. "How do I look in this skirt?"

This 'skirt' was made more for an exotic dancer, that's how short it
was. On Gina's realatively short body, it went down to just her upper
thighs, showing her generous and oddly well toned legs off.

Brittany was ready to tear her sisters head off, and she couldn't
really explain where these feelings of annoyance and anger came from.
Every time her sister got close to HER Ranma, she felt like tearing her
sisters hair out. The only reason she hadn't yet, was because Ranma
totally ignored her sisters blatant advances. Never mind the fact he
ignored hers too.

"Looks.. uh" fumbling through the advice the Doctors and orderlies had
given him concerning the Digger sisters, Ranma continued, "uh.. nice.
Really.. uh.. shows off your.. uh beautiful legs."

Brit refused to be out down by her nerdy loser of a sister, and asked,
"Does my make up look all right Ranma?" She drew her face to within
inches of Ranma, and continued, "Does it make me look older? Or
younger?"

Ranma really would have liked to answer 'Clown', but he never got a
chance to answer, because with a cry of "HARLOT" the battle between Gina
and Brittany was rejoined in earnest. Crawling out of the scuffle, Ranma
noted and became horrified when he accidentally, and with out trying to,
fallen into the 'Neko-Ken', thoughts of what could have happened to his
two best friends filtered through his mind, scaring him.

He focused on himself, swearing he would gain control over the
'Neko-Ken' before he ever let harm come to his friend. Now if only he
could believe himself

***

That night, Brit was awake in bed, dark thoughts on her mind. Her sister
Gina was soundly asleep, muttering something about 'Ranma in her sleep',
which just disgusted Brittany. How could her very own sister be such a
mean and evil person! Ranma was her friend first damnit! Why did she
have to butt in?

Brit completely ignored the fact it was her fault Gina had met Ranma in
the first place. Now was not the time to go around pointing out other
peoples screw ups after all, aside from her evil witch of a sister Gina.

Her mind made up, Brittany began retreating from the room. She needed to
talk to some one, ANYONE but Gina, about her feelings and the confusion
it was bringing down on her. Jumping out of bed, Brit slowly soundlessly
exiting through the door to the living area of the suite Theo had rented
for their stay in Tokyo.

Theo himself was planning on staying awake long into the night, much
like he has done these last few weeks. One can't really blame him,
considering his friend is dying and he isn't being allowed to help. Damn
stubborn women to the nine hells!

At the moment Theo was sitting on the couch, seemingly lost in his
memories, a picture book laying limply in his lap while time to time he
muttered, "I'm going to miss you.. Chisa.."

Brittany was in need of help, and seeing her father in such an emotional
distraught mood approached him. Jumping over the couch in a single
bound, having shifted to her Hybrid form earlier in the night, Brit
alighted herself in her father's lap, her small yet strong arms hugging
her father Theo.

This action by Brittany completely caught her father by surprise, but he
didn't reject  the rather abrupt show of emotion. Still, seeing his
daughter with those confused soulfully green eyes forced him to ask the
obvious, "Is something wrong Brittany?"

Steeling herself, Brit asked, "Papa.. I'm.. confused." Which is a lot
harder to admit than people believe, Brit continued, "I.. I have a crush
papa.. and its making me angry.. angry every time Gina gets near him
papa.. What am I going to do?"

Theo chuckled at this. A crush? Oh Julia was going to LOVE hearing about
this. "Well.. does he feel the same about you?" Needless to say, Theo
didn't have to even guess whom his daughter had developed feelings for.
It being rather obvious that only an idiot would have missed it,
oblivious ten year old recovering trauma boys aside. "And.. does he know
that were going to be leaving home in the next few days?"

Scrunching her facial features up cutely into a pout, even though she
was going for a more inquisitive appearance, Brit shook her head. "I
don't know papa. I'm scared to tell him. What if he doesn't return my
feelings? Or worse.." Brit chocked out, "What if he's in love with Gina?
I don't know if I could take that."

Theo nodded slowly, "When you fall in love, or have a crush like you do,
you always risk rejection. However, you have to risk it if you want to
be happy. He may say no, but he may say yes. If you never tell him, your
dooming yourself before you start."

Brittany sighed, 'Figured he would say something like that. Should I
tell him? Should I 'take a chance' like he said? Or be content with
being his friend, and never knowing if he cared about me like that."

Silence reigned for nearly ten minutes, Theo content to hold his
distraught daughter while she mentally weighed the pro's and con's of
admitting her feelings. After the ten minutes, she snaked up and kissed
her father on the cheek, saying "Thanks daddy." And off she went,
bounding from his lap and back to the room. Squealing in mental
excitement, 'Tomorrows the day I SMITE you RANMA!!" and within 5
minutes, Brittany had fallen asleep with an unusual glow and smile on
her lips.

Theo, for his part, prayed she wouldn't tell him. First crushes and all
aside, there's no way they could have a relationship. His home being
here, in Japan, while theirs in America.

***

Gina awoke from her dream, that dream being of her and Ranma in a rather
flirtatious situation while her sister Brittany cried out that Gina was
the only one worthy of Ranma. Sighing softly, she opened her eyes and
caught sight of Brittany in the soft light that managed to filter
through the window blinds. Conflicting feelings immediately ignited
within her heart.

She knew Brittany was a victim of the green-eyed monster, much like
herself whenever she found Brittany trying to get close to Ranma. Gina
knew she should have stayed away from 'Brit's' Ranma the moment it
started, but in her entire thirteen, almost fourteen years of life no
one, but her mother father and sister made her feel so good to be alive.
No one ever made her feel so good to be just who she was. Some how Ranma
managed to see beyond her 'nerdy' persona, and that warmed her heart.
She just couldn't bear the thought of returning home, returning to that
horrible existence were she was totally ignored and hardly tolerated by
her 'friends' and peers.

Gina felt the need to talk to some one, ANYONE but Brittany. With out
preamble, and lacking the grace of Brittany, Gina stumbled out of the
room. Her gaze immediately falling onto her father as he sat on the
couch, his head rolled back over the top in what Gina confirmed to be
one of his contemplative poses. Whatever he's thinking about, Gina hoped
he didn't mind her interrupting him like this. She practically mentally
begged for forgiveness when she slid up onto the couch and hugged her
father tightly, a soft sob echoing from her as she did so.

Theo had been contemplating Brittany's feelings, but was pulled from
that contemplation in surprise when his other daughter latched onto him
in a rather abrupt show of emotion. Gentle pulling Gina into his lab,
Theo cradled her in his arms, rocking slightly back and forth while he
cooed, "There there Gina hun, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Gina's gaze turned up to meet her fathers, and a sinking feeling settled
into the pit of Theo's stomach. This could only mean trouble, and from
what Theo gathered, trouble for a certain pre-adolescent pig tailed boy
named Ranma, "Papa.. I'm confused.."

"What's got you so confused?" Theo said, unable to do anything but watch
the bomb exploding over this little affair. "I.. I'm in love papa, and I
don't know what he thinks about me. He's always so nice.. to Brittany
and me.. he's not like my other 'friends'. He doesn't ignore me, or
think I'm weird.." she sobbed out. Theo couldn't help but scream
internally 'WHAT DID THAT BOY DO TO MY DAUGHTERS!!! I'LL KILL HIM!"

"Papa.. should I tell him how I feel? Or should I just forget it?"
Sighing to himself, he relayed the same advice to Gina that he did to
Brittany. Namely, love is all risk, one that can and will blow up in
your face from time to time, but once you find some one who returns your
feelings, it makes it all worthwhile in the end.

Theo's explanation was all the encouragement Gina needed. She would tell
Ranma. With that, she thanked her father and jumped out of his lap,
oddly feeling more alive as she ventured back to her room, and the sweet
oblivion that awaited her. Before she succumbed, she softly spoke out
loud "Tomorrow, yes.. you'll be mine forever come tomorrow! Just you
wait Ranma!"

Thus, Ranma's day tomorrow was already decided. He'd get an early view
of what his life would become in six years. Whether he likes it or not.

**

At the strike of 1:37am that night, Chisato Hino was pronounced dead,
and Theo was informed mere minutes after her death was pronounced. When
the girls woke the next day, he gave the bad news that his business here
was finished, and that they would be boarding the plane to go home in a
few hours, so they could have time to pack up and move out of their
temporary home.

Brittany wanted to cry, so depressed that she would be leaving behind
her friend and first love/crush with out so much as even saying
good-bye. Gina reflected Brittany's train of thought perfectly, however
she didn't have the amount of pride that Brittany did, and let her tears
flow.

Theo, distraught as he was over the death of his long time friend and
confidant, wasn't dead to the world of his daughters. He knew exactly
why they were crying, and in fact he planned to stop by the hospital so
they could say good-bye. Hopefully the girls will come out of THAT
waiting fiasco with a lighter attitude, and more wizened to the way of
the world. "Brittany, Gina its time to go. You have everything?" Slow
nods from his two broken hearted daughters, and off they went after
entering the Taxi.

**

"Power.." Ranma spoke out loud to himself. These last few weeks have been
defining to his view of the world. 'No.. not the world..' he lamented.
He's been scared, afraid, and full of unbridled horror over this
'Neko-Ken' technique. 'Its dangerous.. too dangerous. How many times
have I accidentally slipped into it these last few weeks?'

Sighing softly, Ranma allowed his gaze to flow to the roof, in
particular a spot of the roof that had been blown away from the rest of
it. 'What would have happened if I lost control? Would Gina and Brit
been hurt?' Allowing his gaze to fall back from the roof, to the floor,
Ranma continued in his thoughts. 'Its to dangerous.. I've got to get rid
of it.. something.' He was so lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice
the arrival of two others in the room.

Brittany smiled a soft, private smile that she allowed for only her
Ranma. She and Gina had been watching him, ingraining every facet of his
being into their minds. They never wanted to forget their first true
'love'. Their very first 'crush', and the only person they will come to
know in such a view, a perfect view of untainted purity of emotion.
Well, if he managed not to break their little ole hearts in the next few
minutes. Steeling herself, she stepped forward into the room, leaving
Gina just in the doorway. They had talked this out on the way up, one at
a time to say good-bye in their own way to their 'Ranma'.

"Ranma?" she broke into his crowing with a soft, almost desperate tone
in her plea. "Ranma. My family will be leaving home soon.. I.. came to
say good bye."

Turning around, he smiled immediately at seeing Brittany suddenly appear
the way she did, however the tone, and meaning behind her words stabbed
at his being like a hot knife through butter. 'Brit? Leaving?' he
sighed, he knew they would leave one day. Either they left him, or he
left them. He smiled and nodded, reached out and encased the older girl
in his muscular, yet small arms. He spoke softly, "I'm going to miss you
so much Brit."

Unable to hold back her tears now, she left off with a torturous sob as
she hugged him back in earnest. She felt so warm, so safe in those small
little arms. She had always wondered what it would be like for him to do
this, and now that he is the finality of the situation set in. Steeling
herself for rejection, she let out what had been growing deep in the pit
of her stomach during the time she knew him. "Ranma.. I love you, I want
you to know that no matter where I'll go, I'll always love you like I do
now."

Confusing 'sisterly love' with 'boy and girl love' Ranma nodded and
whispered into her ear, "I love you to Britchan, I'll think about you
every day! I promise!" he hugged her tighter, then let her go. "Hey
Brit, " he reached a hand up to one of his bangs, pulling his hair taunt
as he embraced the 'Neko-ken', accepting the power formed Ki claws, and
sliced away the hair. Releasing the 'Neko-ken', he held out a small crop
of his hair, "Take this Britchan, when ever you see it, remember me, and
remember our friendship. I hope we can meet again when we grow up."

Brittany accepted the offered gift, allowing more of her cheery
personality to return. She wasn't scorned, and her love wasn't rejected,
even though she was about to leave her first crush, she was happy in
knowing he felt the same way about her. Not wanting to risk breaking
down again, Brittany waved good-bye one final time, and exited the room,
Gina coming in shortly after.

Things proceeded much the same way as with Brittany. Gina admitted her
'love' for the younger pig tailed boy, and Ranma confused the true
meaning behind the statement with 'sisterly' feeling. Offering her
another bang of hair, they quietly exchanged feelings of remorse for
having to leave each other. That was that, shortly there after Gina
left, waving good bye one final time.

***

Ranma had stood within his make shift dojo well into the night, plans
and idea's forming and flowing through his mind about how he would train
himself to control this 'Neko-Ken'. Before he could begin his journey to
master the technique and train, he had one last thing to take care of,
and now was that time. Ranma had been feeling a familiar Chi signature
all day, and that signature was that of his father. Finally, after a
month and a half of waiting, his father had come. Ranma would rather be
damned to hell than to let that fat asshole get his hands on him again.

Encroaching himself in the 'Neko-Ken', Ranma allowed the full force of
the technique to immerse within his being. Glittering angry claws of red
energy formed 3 inches from his fingers. His entire body was surrounded
in a nexus of flowing and raging power, power demanding it be released,
demanded vengeance for being brought into this world in this first
place.

Ranma spoke, his voice completely with out emotion, sounding like death
walking. He spat out "Father. It's time to end this."

Genma Saotome emerged from the Shadows, his entire body quaking at the
horrible power radiating from his son. In this instant, Genma knew his
son's retribution wasn't going to be pleasant.