All right. This is #4. This story ends tomorrow. (What IS the delay on this
list, anyway?) What bout that Ranma Wars idea? Anyone?

Ranma 1/2: Red Strings #4
By Shiro Akai Shi

Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan Sunday Weekly Comics

Ranma walks into one of the huts. Inside is Ran-chan.

Ranma: Meet you previous incarnation.

Ran-chan2 (previous type) How do you... What?

Ran-chan (Ranma type) Hello.

Ranma: This is the girl that fell in the spring.

Ran-chan: Well. It seems we have something in common.

Ran-chan2: Ranma told me about it, but I never dreamed it could bo
true! We look exactly alike!

Ran-chan: No kidding. So, you're the girl who fell in the spring.
Say... Why do you speak Japanese?

Ranma: Apparently language has no meaning in the afterlife.

Ran-chan2: My name, since you were so kind to ask, is Amnari.

Ran-chan: So what were you doing at the springs anyway?

Ran-chan2: I was getting water for my family.

Ran-chan: From a cursed spring?

Ran-chan2: Well, it wasn't always cursed you know.

Ran-chan: So, you've been here fifteen hundred years... What's the
story on this place?

Amnari: It's the afterlife! Basically, you have a home base... A place
special to you in your life. Each place here is attatched to the place
in the material world. Through force of will, you can enter other's
places for a limited time. The amount of freedom is governed by a
force that cannot be explained.

Ran-chan: That doesn't sound that great to me.

Ranma: Don't you feel the peace that comes with it? Isn't that alone
worth staying?

Ran-chan: No... I feel about the same!

Ranma: [looking above Ran-chan] Aaah. [strands of red string go from
Ran-chan to the wall, and disappear] You are still very attatched to
the material world. [one in particular is thicker, and shows up
better] And... One is more important than the rest. Who is that?

Ran-chan: It must be Akane. She's the driving force behind my coming
here.

Ranma: Akane. [a red string starts to fade in on Ranma] Oh yeah.

Ran-chan: Yeah. Remember her? Or does this place sap your memory too?

Ranma: Akane... I ... Saved her.... [The string is getting stronger]
Let's go back to the dojo. See you later, Amnari.

Amnari: Yeah. See you. [she seems to be almost choking back a tear]

Ranma walks back through the wall. A tear forms in Amnari's eye.

Ran-chan: What's wrong?

Amnari: He won't be back. Not for years.

Ran-chan: How can you tell?

Amnari: I've seen that look before...

Ran-chan: ... I gotta go.

Ran-chan walks through the wall, following Ranma. Amnari looks down at
her hand, and on her little finger is a broken piece of red string.
The tear rolls down her cheek as we fade to the dojo. In the middle of
the room, the strings from the Ran-people converge on a floating
light.

Concluded...