Here's the fanfic I wrote that didn't get through in case you missed it:
	I recently decided to check to see if any of my fanfics had been
nominated for the upcoming Ranma 1/2 quarterly fanfic awards. But
they hadn't. Then I realized that I had forgotten to post them.
Oh well.
Getting back to the point, if I had one to begin with, this is the first
in a new series of fanfics I'm writing. If it gets good response I'll 
write another one. If it doesn't I'll write hundreds of them! Ha! Ha! 
Just Kidding! 

-The Emperor
(He's lost his sanity but he's still got his sense of humor!)



Ranma 1/2: In The Shadows Of Nerima: Episode One
The Mirror Has Two Faces
By Stephen Schlueter


Prologue:

The darkness filled the room around Akane. The dull light from the 
overhead lamps was barely enough to allow her to see. There were stacks 
and stacks of wooden crates all around. The crates were all used for 
shipping knives. Hardly a pleasant thought. The interior of the 
warehouse was cold and dank.... and quiet. 
Too quiet...
He had to be there somewhere, somewhere in the shadows where she 
couldn't see him. His black clothes blended in with darkness. He could 
be anywhere. He could attack at any moment and she 
wouldn't even know about it until it was too late.
Akane tried desperately to find him. She was standing directly under one
of the lamps now. The room suddenly seemed 
colder. He could see her. She couldn't see him but he could see
her from wherever he was. This was all Genma's fault, she
thought, if he hadn't ordered that stuff from the Jusenkyo mail
order catalogue she wouldn't be here now.
     Genma had apparently overlooked the failures of past
Jusenkyo products like The Instant Spring Of Drowned Man and the
Water-Proof soap. But, this was probably one of the worst things
that could happen.
     Akane hoped to see some movement in the room, but she
didn't. Maybe he wasn't here at all. Maybe he was somewhere else.
There was no way for her to tell.
All she could do was wait.... 


Chapter One: There Is No Such Thing As A Miracle Cure.

     It had all started about two days ago....
     "Are you sure about this stuff, pop?" asked Ranma "Mail
order stuff isn't always reliable."
     Ranma held up the small glass bottle. Inside was a clear
liquid that looked pretty much like water to him.
     "It looks like water to me." said Akane "This stuff is
supposed to separate Ranma from his female alter-ego?"
     "That's what the catalogue said." began Genma defensively. 
     He had gone to a lot of trouble to get that catalogue from
Cologne even if it hadn't been done by legal means.
     The whole family was assembled to find out whether or not
the clear liquid was actually going to work or not. Ranma was
really doubtful. Over time every would-be cure that had come
along had either failed miserably or turned out to be a hoax. Not
that he was going to give up.
     "I don't know..." said Nabiki eyeing the bottle "What if we
wind up with two of him? One is enough as it is."
     "Very funny." grumbled Ranma.
     "There's only one way to find out." said Genma. He took the
bottle from Ranma, opened it and poured the contents over the
boy's head.
     "Hey!" shouted Ranma.
     "Oh my..." said Kasumi "Are you sure that's what you were
supposed to do, Mr. Saotome?"
     "Well, actually..." Genma stumbled over his words. He had
forgotten to read the directions.
     "Well, let's see if it worked." said Akane. She picked up a
bucket of water and dumped it over Ranma's head.
     "All right!" Ranma-Chan sputtered "Would you guys just quit
dumping stuff over my head!!"
     "I guess it didn't." said Nabiki in her usual sarcastic
tone.
     "Another failed attempt, eh, Saotome?" said Mr. Tendo.
     Genma sighed. So much for that idea. Ranma wandered off in
search of hot water.

     The next morning started off quietly. It was unusual for the
house to be this quiet at anytime.
     "Akane!" said Kasumi "Could you go wake up Ranma?"
     "Okay, Kasumi." said Akane as she walked off towards Ranma's
room. "Ranma! Time to get up! You can't sleep all day, you know!"
There was no answer...
     Akane went inside, Ranma wasn't there. It wasn't like him to
leave the house so early. 
     "Akane!" shouted Nabiki from the kitchen "Have you been
cooking again?!"
     "What's that supposed to mean?" Akane grumbled as she
stormed back into the kitchen.
     "I do believe we've been robbed then.." said Kasumi "All of
the kitchen knives are gone."
     "Who would break into a house just to steal knives?" asked
Akane. Maybe Kasumi had simply misplaced them. But how is it
possible to misplace that many knives?


Chapter Two: The Man In The Shadows.

     Ryoga Hibiki wandered about the rooftops of the Nerima
suburbs trying to find his way to god only knows where. But he
was being watched... and he didn't even know it. Ryoga paused for
a moment to consult a map. Not that this ever did much good. The
person watching him was the same person who had stolen the knives
from the Tendo household.
     "I don't get it..." grumbled Ryoga "I should've been there
by now..."
Just the, a gleaming metal object flashed by, missing Ryoga's head by a 
fraction of an inch, and slamming into the roofing tiles causing at 
least three of them to shatter like glass. Ryoga quickly turned towards 
where the object had come from. 
There was no one there...
Ryoga looked towards the object. It was a kitchen knife. Who would 
attack him with a kitchen knife? He decided to reach for his umbrella...
it wasn't there! Someone had stolen the umbrella! 
A voice came from behind him. "Looking for this?" Ryoga turned around 
just in time to see the umbrella before it slammed against the side of 
his head. He hadn't even gotten a glimpse of his attacker... 
His attacker was Ranma Saotome...

Ranma was dressed in his usual Chinese attire only it was all black 
rather than his usual reds and blues. He stood over the fallen body of 
Ryoga. 
"Hmph. What a loser." Ranma grumbled. He took one of the knives from his
belt. "Still.. stabbing him to death is too messy. I don't want blood on
my clothes unless it's absolutely necessary." He picked up Ryoga with 
one hand and walked over to the edge of the roof. 
The building was five stories. The fall would probably kill Ryoga. Ranma
pulled the orange and black bandanna off of Ryoga's head. 
"I think I'll keep this as a souvenir." said Ranma "I don't know why I 
didn't think of this sooner." He held Ryoga over the edge of the roof. 
"Happy landings, old buddy." he said and let go. 

	"Where on earth is Ranma?"
This was repeated numerous times as the members of the Tendo household. 
For the past hour Nabiki had been out searching for the lost boy while 
Mr. Tendo tried to explain what he thought was exciting news. 
"Absolutely not!" grumbled Akane "I'm not going on any cruise ship as 
the entertainment." 
"It's nothing like that." explained Mr. Tendo "We're just going to be 
there to give a martial arts demonstration. Genma and Ranma are going to
be there too. In fact, they already have the tickets." 
	"Maybe that's why Ranma took off." mumbled Akane.
	Just then Nabiki came in. "Hey! Guys!"
	"Did you find Ranma?" asked Kasumi.
	"No, but I found Ryoga."
	"Well, what's so important about that?" asked Akane.
"Well.." began Nabiki "When I saw him they were carrying him into Doc 
Tofu's office. They think he fell off a building." 
	"Oh, dear!" said Kasumi "Is he all right?"
	"How should I know?"
"It's not like Ryoga to just fall off a building." said Akane maybe we'd
better go check on him." 


Chapter Three: When She Was Good...

The Tendos arrived at Dr. Tofu's office just as they were hauling in 
what appeared to be Mousse on a stretcher. Inside the clinic were 
Cologne and Shampoo with her left arm in a sling. Ryoga was on a bed in 
the corner with bandages on his head. 
	"What happened to you guys?" asked Akane.
	"I think someone aggravated the son-in-law." said Cologne.
"It was Ranma." said Shampoo "He come to Cafe and attack Mousse and 
grandmother and Shampoo." 
"Oh my." began Kasumi again "It's not like Ranma to do mean things like 
that." 
	"That's what Shampoo think too."
"Where's Ryoga's bandanna?" asked Akane as she looked over the battered 
body in the corner "He never takes that thing off." 
	"Well, he wasn't wearing one when we found him." said Dr. Tofu.
"I've never heard of anyone getting mugged for a bandanna." said Nabiki 
sarcastically. 
Just then, Ranma-Chan walked into the clinic pausing occasionally to 
wring out one of her sleeves. "Dear me." she began "I must watch out for
that fountain in future. I do so hate when these things happen." 
	Akane turned towards the new visitor. "Ranma!"
"Akane!" said Ranma-Chan "How nice to see you all here! I was wondering 
why you weren't at home." 
	"Where were you anyway, boy?" asked Genma.
"Well, I was... I... hmm.. dear me. I can't seem to remember. Where did 
I go anyhow? Anyhow I found this." Ranma held out Ryoga's bandanna. "I 
can't seem to recall how I found it either. It's truly strange. I also 
found these. "Ranma-Chan put what had to be at least twelve kitchen 
knives on the table next to Ryoga's bed. 
	"Oh, Ranma." said Kasumi "You found my stolen kitchen knives!"
	"Where did you find them?" asked Akane.
"Well, actually..." began Ranma-Chan "Uh..., I'm not really sure. Hmmm."
"Black isn't really your color, you know." said Nabiki looking over 
Ranma's clothes. 
	"Ranma. Why you attack Shampoo?" asked Shampoo.
"Attack?" said Ranma-Chan with a certain level of shock in her voice "I 
didn't attack anyone! At least I don't think I did." Ranma paused and 
scratched her head for a moment. "Well, isn't that just the most 
peculiar thing." 
	"Uh.. right." said Akane. "Maybe you should go home, Ranma."
	"Oh... All right." said Ranma-Chan and she left.
	There was a long silence in the room.
	"What was that?" asked Akane.
	"I believe it was Ranma." replied Kasumi.
	"I know that!" Akane went on. "But why was he talking like that?"
	"Yeah." said Nabiki. "He made Kasumi sound like Hitler."
"You don't think this has anything to do with that stuff Mr. Saotome 
ordered from the Jusenkyo catalogue, do you?" asked Kasumi. 
"So! You're the one who took it!" Cologne said accusingly. Genma 
pretended to ignore her. 
"It split his personalities all right one's the nicest person on the 
planet and the other is a psycho killer." said Akane. 
"Then that mean that if Ranma change back he attack Shampoo again." said
Shampoo. 
"We'd better stop him before he changes back!" said Akane staring for 
the exit. 
	"What's going on here?" asked Dr. Tofu.
	"I'll explain later." said Akane.
"Hi there everybody!" said Ukyo as she walked in "Ran-Chan told me about
the weird things going on here." 
	"Do you know where he was going?" asked Akane.
"Sure, he said he was going home. I told him to stop by my shop to get 
some hot water first... Why do you ask?" 
	"Great.." grumbled Akane "We'd better beat him there and fast!"
Akane rushed out the door with Ukyo right behind her asking for Akane to
explain what was going on. 


Chapter Four: The Burning Of Nerima.

The sun had already set by the time Ukyo and Akane reached Uuchan's 
okonomiyaki. It had been late afternoon when they had left and the sun 
had already started to fade into the horizon. The lights in the 
restaurant were out. 
"That's weird..." said Ukyo "Tsubasa knows the shop doesn't close this 
early." 
Ever since Ukyo had hired Tsubasa for the part-time job of running the 
restaurant while she was away things had been unusual, yes, but this 
seemed like a dumb move even for Tsubasa. 
The inside of the shop was dark and slightly smoky. Ukyo flipped the 
light switch. Nothing. She looked up to see that all the light bulbs had
been shattered. 
	"I don't like this." said Akane as she walked slowly into the shop.
"Akane!" shouted Ukyo "I found Tsubasa!" Akane rushed over to a corner 
near the back of the shop where Ukyo was. Tsubasa was slumped against 
the wall with a knife jabbed in her shoulder. 
	"Is she alive?" asked Akane.
	"I think so." said Ukyo "We better get her out of here."
Ukyo picked up Tsubasa and was about to head for the exit when someone 
else showed up at the front doorway. 
"Leaving so soon?" It was Ranma. He stood in the doorway with a 
emergency flare, burning like a torch, in his hand. "I'll bet you're 
wondering where I got the flare, right? Actually I ripped it off from 
some guy's car." 
	"Ran-Chan? What's with you?" asked Ukyo.
"You know what the problem is with these old buildings is?" said Ranma 
looking at a series of small pipes running up the side of the wall next 
to him. "The gas pipes are on the walls, where anything could happen to 
them." He smashed his fist against one of the pipes splitting it in 
half. There was a low hiss of gas escaping. "And once you have a gas 
leak anything can happen." He held the flare near the broken pipe and 
instantly a huge stream of fire shot across the room as Akane and Ukyo 
ducked for cover. The back wall started to catch fire. 
	"We've got to get out of here!" shouted Akane
	"You think?" said Ukyo sounding sarcastic.
Akane started crawling across the floor towards the door. Ukyo followed 
dragging Tsubasa behind her. 
By the time Ukyo, Akane and Tsubasa were out of the shop the whole 
building was starting to burn with the occasional explosion from a gas 
line catching fire. 
	"Where'd Ranma go?" asked Ukyo.
"I don't know..." said Akane "But I'm not waiting for him to come back."
The sound of sirens echoed through the streets as Akane and Ukyo took 
Tsubasa back to the clinic. 

It had taken Dr. Tofu months to achieve the level of concentration he 
had needed earlier in the day when Kasumi had shown up in the clinic. 
And even then it was only affective during truly serious matters such as
someone falling off a building. Kasumi, Nabiki and Mr. Tendo had gone 
home almost an hour ago. 
Genma, Shampoo and Cologne were still there with Mousse and Ryoga when 
Akane and Ukyo showed up with Tsubasa. 
"You do realize that this girl isn't really a girl." said Dr. Tofu as he
finished bandaging Tsubasa's arm. 
	"Of course." said Ukyo "But you get used to it."
"I don't get it." said Dr. Tofu "Why would Ranma do all this and burn 
down a building." 
"It has to be the stuff that Mr. Saotome ordered from the Jusenkyo 
catalogue." said Akane "What else is there to explain this?" 
	"What 'stuff'?" asked Dr. Tofu.
Akane handed him the small glass bottle that once contained the clear 
liquid that had been poured over Ranma's head. 
"Well, here's the problem." said Dr. Tofu pointing at the small label on
the side of the bottle "There's an element in here that, when used 
incorrectly, can cause an imbalance in a person's brain chemistry." 
	"So what do we do about it?" asked Ukyo.
"It'll take some time to come up with a solution that will level out the
imbalance." said Tofu "In the meantime you'd better see if you can get 
Ranma back here." 
Just then the phone rang. Genma answered it. "I think we have a 
problem." said Genma "It's on the news right now. Someone set fire to 
the Kuno house." 
	"And I think I know who that someone is." said Akane.


Chapter Five: The Challenge.

The fire department and the news crews were already at the Kuno house by
the time Akane, Genma and Ukyo arrived. The whole house was slowly 
crumbling to ashes as the flames lit up the black emptiness of the sky. 
	For several minutes no one spoke.
	"I can't believe he did this." said Ukyo.
An ambulance drove by carrying away the inhabitants of the Kuno house, 
who were still alive. 

The next morning in the Tendo household was anything but peaceful. There
was an unexplainable level of tension in the house. No one had slept 
during the night. 
The group sat around the breakfast table trying to think of something to
say. Shampoo and Cologne had arrived about twenty minutes earlier along 
with Ryoga who had followed them to avoid getting lost. Mousse and Ukyo 
were due to show up any minute. The whole point of the meeting was to 
discuss how they would find Ranma, but so far no one had a suggestion. 
"This ridiculous!" said Shampoo "We no find Ranma by sitting and do 
nothing!" 
"Patience, child." said Cologne "We can't go rushing in without a plan."
	"She's right." said Mr. Tendo "Look at what's happened so far."
	"How is Doc Tofu coming along with that cure?" asked Akane.
	"It's going to take him a while." said Mr. Tendo " A least a day."
	"But that won't do us any good if we can't find Ranma." said Ryoga.
"And you never will at the rate you're going." Everyone in the room 
turned towards the new voice. Ranma stood in the doorway looking smug as
the group stared at him in disbelief. "But since you're all trying so 
hard, I'm going to give you a sporting chance." He tossed a folded piece
of paper on the table. "But don't expect any more help from me." 
	"Why'd you..." Akane began.
"Burn down the Kuno place?" said Ranma "Simple. I had so much fun 
burning down Ukyo's place I just had to try it again. Besides, sending 
them to hell would be to hard so I just brought hell to them." 
	Everyone's eyes turned towards the folded paper on the table.
	"But, Ranma.." Akane began. But he had already left.
On the paper was the address of a warehouse and a time. The group agreed
that they were going to have to go there. 


Chapter Six: The Trap.

And that was why Akane stood there amongst the darkened stacks of 
crates. Ranma was there. Somewhere. Genma, Mousse, Shampoo, Ryoga, 
Cologne and Mr. Tendo were in other rooms. Once again, Akane thought to 
herself that it was possible that Ranma wasn't in that room. 
"What's the matter, Akane?" She looked around for the source of the 
voice. "Don't tell me that a tough big shot like you is scared of me." 
There were several tiny glints of light from the shadows as four knives 
flashed through the air, missing Akane by fractions of an inch and 
shattering the wooden planks of several crates behind her. Akane looked 
over at the splintered wood and then looked back in the direction from 
which the knives had come. 
	"R-Ranma..." Akane said trying to form words "S-stop it!"
"Isn't that interesting." The voice seemed to be coming from all 
directions. "During our early sparring matches you'd always complain 
that I wasn't attacking you. And now that I am you want me to stop. Get 
a life, Akane. I don't take orders from anyone, you know that." 
	Akane looked in all directions for the source of the voice.
"You're wondering where I am? Aren't you?" said Ranma "But I could be 
anywhere. I could be right behind you and you wouldn't even know..." 
	Akane spun around. Ranma wasn't behind her.
"You're really just too easy to fool." That time he really was behind 
her... and she didn't even realize it. 

A high pitched scream echoed through the entire warehouse causing the 
rest of the group to dash towards the source. When they got there Akane 
was on her knees clutching her shoulder with one hand. She was bleeding.
	"Akane, you're injured!" shouted Ryoga stating the obvious.
"Well, aren't you the genius." The attention of the group turned from 
Akane to a figure standing on top of a stack of crates directly under 
one of the dim warehouse lamps. It was Ranma. 
	"Saotome!!" shouted Ryoga as he leapt towards Ranma "Prepare to die!!!"
Ranma gave a swift, but somewhat uncaring gesture which sent three 
knives slicing through the air. The blades snagged Ryoga sending him 
backwards and pinning him to a crate. 
"Can't you think of any new lines, Ryoga?" Ranma shrugged. Mousse went 
over to help Ryoga down from the crate. "Not that it really matters 
anymore. I managed to get you all into this room and that was what I was
trying to accomplish. I really didn't intend to kill Akane. At least not
yet. Actually I chose this room for three reasons... One, it's the most 
air tight. Except for the ventilation, of course. Two, it has a vital 
water main and three the door locks from the outside making it 
impossible for you to get out." 
	"What you talking about?" asked Shampoo.
"What am I talking about?" said Ranma with mock surprise like that of a 
cartoon super-villain. He walked over to a large pipe with a valve on 
it. He kicked out several sections of pipe out from under the valve. 
"I'm talking about this!" Ranma turned the valve causing gallons and 
gallons of water to rush out. Ryoga, Mousse and Shampoo darted up onto 
lower stacks of crates. Genma on the other hand was almost instantly 
drenched by the oncoming water. "You see..." Ranma went on "eventually 
this room will flood and those of you who survive long enough will pass 
out from hypothermia and drown. Though personally I'm sure Akane will 
drown long before then." Ranma smirked as he looked at Akane as she 
slowly got to her feet. "You should've taken swimming lessons instead of
martial arts, Akane!" Ranma said chuckling "'Cause you sure as hell 
can't fight!" 
	"We've got to stop it" shouted Mousse.
	"We have to turn off that valve!" Mr. Tendo shouted back.
"I have an idea!" said Ryoga. He took his umbrella and flung it at the 
pipe. The umbrella hit it with a loud bang causing the pipe to curve 
awkwardly and send gallons of water towards Ranma. 
"Gyaaaa!!" Ranma shouted just seconds before he was bowled over by the 
oncoming water. 
It took Ryoga a couple of minutes to shut off the water main without 
getting wet. 


TO BE CONTINUED...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emperor Stephen "The Mega Man" Schlueter
Leader Of The Crimson Empire
"It's not like I start the fights or anything.She just overreacts to 
every little thing!" -Ranma Saotome
------------------------------------------------------------------------