Oh my...Ranma
                                   #8
                         "The Hiryu Shouten Ha"

OMG! and Ranma characters belong to their respective owners.(And one of
these days, I'm going to remember their names) So please don't sue me.


 Belldandy stared in dismay at Ranma. He had not gone out once in the
last two days, ever since he had come home from the hospital and had
that talk with Urd. Instead, now he preferred to stay in his own room,
choosing not to talk most of the time. She was worried about what would
happen to him if he chose to stay in there any longer.

 "Ranma, you can't just stay in here forever," she pleaded with him,
trying to get him to go out.

 He didn't answer, instead choosing to look aimlessly at the floor. She
couldn't blame him, he still felt guilty for what he had done when he
had gone berserk, never mind that no one really held it against him
anyway.

 "You can't blame yourself for what you did," she said, trying to get
him to respond, to do anything instead of being this listless. The way
he seemed now, he was ready to shrivel up and die.

 "I can't blame myself!? Then who should I blame? Ryouga, for
challenging me?" Ranma answered for the first time that day, his voice
lighting up with anger that was directed not at her, but at himself. "
No, it was my fault. I should have kept better control! Damn it! I'm a
martial artist, I should have better discipline and control, I shouldn't
have lost my temper like that! Don't you see? Because I lost my temper,
I nearly ended up killing people!" he shouted.

 She was partially glad to see him this way, at least like this he
showed some emotion, not like the lifeless husk he had seemed in the
past two days. "Ranma, they're your friends. I'm sure they'll forgive
you."

 Ranma gave a bitter laugh at this, "They'll forgive me, but that won't
matter. I can't forgive myself, it's all my fault. I should have kept
better control, I should have..." he muttered over and over again.
Suddenly he stood up, walking towards the door, "I need some fresh air,"
he said as he walked out.

 Belldandy stared at his retreating figure. She knew Ranma needed time
to sort out his guilt, needed time alone to think. That was the reason
why she did not run after him to make sure he didn't do anything
foolish. She only hoped that Ranma would recover.

 ****

 "Ranma, so you're still alive?" Ranma groaned inwardly as he heard that
voice. Of all the people he had wanted to avoid on this walk, he had to
bump into Happosai. The old Saotome luck was running true to form.

 "What is it?" he growled, hoping to keep their conversation as short as
possible, he needed time to think, not to fight. " I don't feel like a
fight," he said as he started to walk away.

 "So the agression point I used on Ryouga didn't work after all," that
made Ranma freeze in mid-step as he heard what the old pervert had just
said. He stood there stiffly, images running through his head, of him
hurting Ryouga over and over again, his eyes staring unblinking straight
ahead as he replayed the scene over and over again in his mind, before
narrowing suddenly.

 He turned around slowly to face Happosai, eyes glowing with seething
rage, "Oh it worked alright, want me to tell you how well it worked?" He
tightened his fist until it was nearly white from lack of blood, as arcs
of unreleased energy started building up around his arms. One good blast
of ki...

 *What am I doing!?* he thought as he grabbed hold of himself before he
released the ki-blast he had been building up at Happosai. He couldn't
use that particular attack again, it was just too risky and dangerous if
he lost control again. If he went berserk again... he shuddered at the
thought.

 Kodachi running towards him. Him blasting her. Shampoo, Ukyou, Akane,
Ryouga... all hurt because of it. If he could help it, he wouldn't use
it again.

 "Looks like I'll have to teach you manners myself," Happosai said as he
leapt for Ranma.

 Ranma lashed out with a right hook, anger blinding and clouding his
judgement so much that he actually missed Happosai, who took the
opportunity to land on Ranma's back, hitting Ranma with his pipe for a
moment before leaping off.

 ****

 Urd walked along the halls of Heaven, she had come back for a short
visit and to get some more of her ingredients for her many potions. She
was currently engrossed in her own thoughts, tending to see nothing but
the floral floor on which she walked. Most the more handsome male gods
waved to her when she walked by but she didn't notice them.

 "Urd," a voice called out to her, a calm but firm feminine voice. A
voice that demanded attention.

 "Who?" Urd turned around to see who had called her, "Kikyo?"

 "Hi, long time no see," Kikyo smiled at her, her wings trailing down
her back and almost touching the floor. "I heard you've been busy on
Earth, with that Ranma character." It seemed as if at that moment Urd
had travelled back in time, back to when she was small, for Kikyo had
not changed at all.

 Urd was too shocked to do anything, but stare at Kikyo for the first
few moments, but after that she ran and embraced Kikyo tightly. "When
did you get to Heaven? I didn't see you here before," she said in a
tight voice, overwhelmed with the joy of seeing an old friend she
thought she had lost forever. It felt wierd, the last time she had
hugged Kikyo was when she was half of Kikyo's height but now she was
taller.

 " A long time ago, I would have visited you sooner but I didn't know
you were a goddess here. Some secret to keep from your friends huh?"
Kikyo teased lightly, Urd smiled. After five hundred years, she still
seemed pretty much the same.

 But seeing Kikyo reminded Urd of her brother, and her face fell as she
thought about Masurao.

 Guessing Urd's thoughts, Kikyo said comfortingly, "Don't worry, I'm
sure where my brother is now, he's probably doing very well. He wouldn't
want you to worry." Seeing that Urd wasn't cheered up the slightest, she
tried to change the subject. "Come on, I want to see this Ranma
character you've been living with," Kikyo said, dragging Urd to one of
the nearby pools of water. Looking into the sparkling water, she cast a
scrying spell, targeting it around one Ranma Saotome.

 Urd shrugged, not sure what Kikyo was up to. Frankly, she wasn't in the
mood to think of Ranma. But nonetheless she looked into the pool. She
could see Happosai landing on Ranma, before leaping off again. She could
see their lips moving but couldn't hear what they said. She watched as
Ranma walked away instead of chasing after Happosai like he normally
would have done.

 "That one, he reminds me a lot of Oniisan, " Kikyo remarked, snapping
Urd of her reverie. "I guess it's his blue eyes. Oniisan had blue eyes
too, even though it was rare among our family and people."

 Urd nodded in acknowledgment, agreeing with Kikyo , before returning to
viewing the scrying pool. She watched with interest as the crazy boy
with the bokken come up to Ranma and challenge him to a fight. At least
it seemed like a challenge to her, the crazy boy spoke and did lots of
crazy posturing, and then lightning flashed in the sky.

 What she saw next truly surprised her, Ranma being knocked out with one
blow.

 ****

 "Uh...What happened?" Ranma groaned, as he held onto his throbbing
skull. The last thing he could remember was being challenged by Kuno, he
had turned ignoring Kuno, and then a blow... He couldn't have lost could
he? Certainly not to Kuno.

 "Good, you're awake."

 "Dr. Tofu?" Ranma asked, not sure what he was doing in the clinic.
Looking around he could see other people lined up in the medium sized
clinic. *Let's see, there's Oyaji, Mom, Mr Tendo, Urd, Belldandy, Akane
and Nabiki.*  It was a pretty big gathering with everyone looking at him
curiously, as if he had grown another head.

 "What's everyone doing here?" he asked, not certain if he would like
the answer. "The last thing I remember was being challenged by Kuno,
then I wake up here. What happened?"

 "Ranma, you were knocked out by Kuno," Urd said as gently as she could.
She knew how much Ranma resented losing after all.

 " I WHAT!?!" Ranma screamed, along with several other's echoing him,
"HE WHAT!?"

 "How can that be!? Kuno's couldn't knock me out with one blow at all!
Heck, he couldn't knock Akane out with one blow," Ranma protested, not
really believing it himself. *Maybe this is all some sort of dream

 "I'm afraid it's true, and you were knocked out with a single blow
too."

 "I don't understand, how could Ranma have lost to Kuno in one blow?"
Akane asked Dr. Tofu, not really sure whether to believe in it. Maybe
Kuno had discovered some sort of new secret technique.

 " I'm afriad Ranma's been affected by the Moxibustion, which makes him
as weak as a child," Dr. Tofu said frankly, not beating around the bush.
The moxibustion was a deadly move in the fact that it could cripple
martial artists with a single blow to the back, tapping a nerve point so
that the martial artist's would weaker than a baby.

 Hearing this, the two fathers jumped together, sobbing , "Waah! Now
Ranma'll never be able to take over the dojo!"

 Ranma jumped up, anger twisting his features into something between a
grimace and snarl. "Is that all I mean? To take over the dojo!" he
yelled at them, clenching his fists. He was having a bigger probelm
here, the loss of the only life he had known for the past sixteen years
and the two was acting like the fact that he wouldn't be able to take
over the Dojo was more important.

 "Now now Ranma, I'm sure they didn't mean it," Akane said, trying to
soothe Ranma without much success.

 "Stuff it, I don't want to hear it," he said, opening the window,
putting a foot on the edge.

 "Ranma, where are you going?" Akane said, getting slightly angry. She
tried to be nice but Ranma wasn't making it easy for her. She supposed
she couldn't blame it on him, she wondered how she would have reacted if
she had been hit with that technique instead. But that wasn't as bad as
him, she still had her regular life to fall back on, her school, her
friends.

 " Why do you care? After all, now I can't 'take over the dojo'," Ranma
said bitterly, making a twisted mockery of the two father's words.
Saying that, he jumped out into the distance, landing on a roof-top
before taking off.

 "Is there any cure for him Doctor?" Belldandy asked Dr. Tofu, concern
for Ranma shining through. Like he had told her before, martial arts
were an important part of his life.

 "Well there is one, there was a chart in a temple that had the counter
point, but it was stolen by a thief three hundred years ago," Dr. Tofu
said, trying not to stammer. For some reason, the woman in front of him
reminded him of Kasumi. "Here's a potrait of the thief who stole it," he
said, opening a book to show the people in his clinic.

 "That looks like Happosai!" Akane remarked.

 ****

 Ranma ran on, not really knowing where he was going, only feeling the
urge to run somewhere else. His legs seemed to move of their own accord,
as he tried to run from everything, to run from himself. Eveas he ran,
he could hear voices calling to him, voices from within his mind.

 *Where are you running to Ranma?*

 *Who are you running from?*

 *Why are you running?*

 He ran harder, he had no answers to give them. None that he could
explain, he could only say that he had a feeling to try and escape, like
a creature does when it's trapped in a cage.

 "Ranma?"

 Ranma turned and regarded Belldandy and Urd, who were currently on the
roof tops with him. It would have been a peculiar sight if it hadn't
been Nerima, not that three people talking on a roof was common either
for Nerima.

 "What is it?" Ranma said, trying not to let his weariness show in his
voice. He hadn't had a good night's sleep for two days now, and the
exhuastion was wearing him down, slowly but surely. Everytime he tried
to sleep, he'd dream about the twisted faces of his friends as he hurt
them, over and over again. Sometimes he'd stop before doing anything
further, sometimes he would awake screaming, as their lifeblood dripped
from his fingers in the dreams.

 " There's a cure, you can be cured and regain your martial arts."
Belldandy's face was radiant as she looked at him.

 " Maybe I don't want to be cured," Ranma stated flatly.

 "What!? Why??" Urd and Belldandy both exclaimed at the same time. Ranma
refusing a cure that would allow him to regain his martial arts? It was
nearly unthinkable.

 " You probably wouldn't understand anyway," Ranma said, turning away,
about to resume his run.

 " Tell us anyway," Belldandy said, both concerned and curious.

 Ranma stared at the two of them for a long time, before sighing,  " It
was the last incidence where I nearly went berserk. Don't you see, all
that happened because I couldn't control myself, couldn't control my
martial arts. Maybe I don't deserve to be a martial artist anymore, at
least this way if I go berserk, nobody will be hurt that much."

 "You're giving up!?" Urd said incredulously.

 "I'm not giving up! I just think it's too dangerous for everyone else
if I still retained my martial arts!"

 "Don't give me that! You're giving up pure and simple!" Urd stated
angrily, pointing to Ranma. "What happened to Mr.
I-can't-be-defeated-and-won't-give-up? You're giving up because you
don't want to go on, you don't have the courage to go on!"

 " That's not true! Do you know what it's like going berserk!? I can
remember every single thing I did! I can remember punching Ryouga hard
enough that he vomits out blood, I can remember blasting Kodachi, never
mind that I don't like her at all, but she's a girl! A girl! Do you
understand? I can remember every single punch and kick I dealt to my
friends, I can remember it all! And you know what's worse? I liked it!!
Part of me liked it! Part of me wanted to keep going on, until they were
all dead!" Ranma screamed at them, letting out the frustrations and dark
secrets that had been stored in him for the past two days. "So don't you
tell me what to do! I'm not doing what other people want! Not Oyaji, not
Mr. Tendo either!" he yelled, jumping down onto the ground, before
running off again.

 "He didn't take that as well as I thought he would," Urd said, a bit
pale. She had been slightly scared at Ranma's outburst.

 " Would you expect him to? What were you thinking?" Belldandy scolded,
"Did you expect him to just go around as usual? Not caring if he nearly
killed those people he cares about?"

 ****

 *No one knows about how I feel,* Ranma thought bitterly as he punched
the cherry tree. He had ran blindly, not caring where he was going until
he found himself in front of the park. *They just don't know,* Ranma
comforted himself slightly with that thought. He hit the tree harder,
although with his current strentgh level he wasn't doing anything but
hurting his hand. But at least that way it helped keep his mind away
from his current troubles.

 " Ranma?"

 Ranma turned around to see who had called him. "Ryouga," he said
flatly, wondering if Ryouga wanted a rematch or something. Not that it
would matter, at his current state, he couldn't even beat a baby much
less Ryouga. "What do you want?"

 " I heard about your...uh, predicament," Ryouga said awkwardly, days
before he would have been rejoicing in the fact that Ranma could no
longer be his rival but now... something had changed, but he didn't
really know what. " And I just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear
that, I hope there's a cure."

 " There is, but I'm not taking it," Ranma said, relaxing when it was
clear that there was not going to be a fight.

 "What!? Why not!" Ryouga exclaimed, his eyes bugging out slightly as he
heard the news. If you had told him that the sky was falling, his
parents were martians and that he was actually a cartoon character, he
could not have been more surprised than he was at that moment.

 " Look Ryouga, remember when I went berserk? I couldn't keep control of
myself, of my martial arts training. If I had no martial arts, everybody
would be much happier, Shampoo would quite bugging me, Cologne would
quit bugging me. Kodachi...well I'd be defenseless against Kodachi, but
I'm sure I can think something up."

 "So what you're saying is you're giving up? Ranma, you can't let one
little incident rule your whole life," Ryouga argued, not really
believing this was the same fiesty Ranma that had been his rival.

 "It's not a little incident! What if it happens again!?" Ranma yelled,
waving his arms wildly.

 " Ranma, that's why you have to keep control. You have to control
martial arts, not let it control you. I believe you can do it, besides
you think we're any safer without you having any strentgh? What about
your ki-blasts?"

 Ranma said nothing, hugging his knees to his chest as he stared at the
ground.

 " Ranma, even though we were rivals. I respected you because you never
gave up but now I'm not sure if you deserve that respect," Ryouga said,
as he walked away, leaving Ranma to himself.

 *What do you know anyway P-chan,* Ranma thought bitterly to himself, as
he huddled closer together. *Nobody understands it, nobody understands
the dreams. They don't know what it's like...but maybe Ryouga is right.*
He shuddered, trying to keep the part of him down, a part he never knew
existed, not until he had gone berserk. Then it had risen, like a zombie
from a fresh grave, it had risen in him and never left him alone. Always
tantalising him with bloodlust. How could he win against it, how did one
win a fight when one's greatest enemy was one's self?

 *God, please give me an indication to what I should do,* Ranma thought,
standing up. He had never been a very religious person, having
disregarded dieties as myths and lots of mumbo-jumbo. Of course it was
hard not to believe when you had two goddess's living with you.

 He stood there, waiting for a sign. Any sign at all.

 Nothing happened.

 *Figures,* Ranma sighed, walking away from the park.

 ****

 *The Dojo, never thought I'd be back here," Ranma thought as he stared
at the Tendo Dojo from out on the street. *It seems like just yesterday
when Oyaji brought me here, told me I had a fiancee,* he thought, gazing
wistfully as he remembered past memories. It seemed just like yesterday,
he hadn't expected much trouble in his life. *If someone told me one day
that I'd have four fiancee's, three regular rivals out for my blood, and
that I'd be living with two goddess's, I'd have laughed in his face. Yet
now...* Life was unpredictable at the best.

 In his mind, he could still see him and Akane fighting in the dojo, how
she had been glad she hadn't lost to a boy. Of course that had screwed
it all up from the start.

 " Hello Ranma, are you here to visit?"

 Ranma recognised the voice as Kasumi's. The eldest of the three Tendo
sisters and probably the nicest. Definitely the nicest. "No, I was just
passing through," he said, walking off. "Had a few things I wanted to
see."

 "Okay, I'll tell Father you dropped by."

 Ranma didn't hear her, heading towards his next destination, the
Nekohanten. He had made up his mind.
 ****

 "So you want me to teach you a new move to defeat Happosai?" Cologne
asked, her eyes narrowing slightly as she regarded Ranma in front of
her. "What'll you give me if I teach you that new method?"

 " Nothing, if you don't teach me then I won't be able to get my
strength back than I won't be a martial artist which means I won't have
to marry Shampoo, since she'll be stronger than I am," Ranma smirked as
he looked at Cologne. It had taken him some time, but he had managed to
persuade Cologne.

 " Very well, it appears I have no choice. I shall teach you the Hiryu
Shouten Ha. Pack up warmly, we're going to the mountains to train."

 ****

 " Now, all of you attack me," Cologne commanded as she looked at the
crew of people.

 Ranma stood there, looking at her, before looking back at the people
assembled with him. Akane, Ryouga and Shampoo. He'd have invited Ucchan
along but somehow she had gone out of the town for a few days. Briefly
he wondered what this had to do with the Hiryu Shouten Ha, but he
decided to see what Cologne would do. Imitating martials arts was like
watching a magician, you always had to watch and observe their every
move carefully.

 He attacked.

 ****

 "Was that the Hiryu Shouten Ha?" was the first word out of Ranma's
mouth when he regained consciousness.

 "Yes. But in your state, you only have a 20% chance of learning it,"
Cologne warned.

 "Two days, I'll learn it by two days," Ranma said, his eyes narrowing
with confidence. After all he was Ranma Saotome, he wouldn't give up.
He'd find a way one way or another.

 ****

 "No, no! Ryouga, you must attack him with your battle aura or he won't
be able to perform the move!" Cologne said, her patience wearing thin.
Ranma had managed to learn the first basic step of the Hiryu Shouten Ha
in less than one night, the inward spiral and now he was trying to
employ it against a real opponent. But it wasn't working, Ryouga refused
to go full out with Ranma for some reason Cologne couldn't fathom.

 "Why don't you get Akane to do it? That tomboy is always mad at me for
one reason or another," Ranma quipped.

 " Ranma, how dare you insult Akane like that!!" Ryouga yelled.

 "Ah stuff it P-Chan," Ranma said casually.

 "RANMA!!! WHO'S P-CHAN!!" Ryouga screamed as he jumped towards Ranma,
battle aura blazing like a crackling inferno.

 Inwardly, Ranma smiled. He knew that would work, insulting Akane and
then calling Ryouga P-chan always brought out the temper in Ryouga. He
dodged the first blow, carefully working his way into the centre of the
spiral.

 " Hmm, he seems to be doing very well," Cologne mused. "Uh-oh," she
said suddenly, frowning as if she just remembered something.

 "Uh-oh what?" Akane said, still fuming at Ranma for calling her a
tomboy. She knew she wasn't as beautiful as some of the other girls he
always flirted with but he didn't have to rub it in. After all, she
couldn't help the way she looked.

 "I forgot to teach him the final step to making the Hiryu Shouten Ha,"
Cologne said calmly, as if she might have been talking about taking the
trash out.

 "You what!?"

 ****

 One more step, one more step and the spiral would be completed.
*Finally, now what do I do?* Ranma thought, as he dodged another fist.
If he didn't do anything soon, he'd be completely pulverised by Ryouga.
*The old ghoul didn't tell me what to do now!* he thought frantically,
but somehow whether from instinct or something else, he knew what to do.

 *Soul of Ice, heart of Ice,* he thought, closing his eyes as he
prepared himself for the final attack.

 ****

 Ryouga prepared himself for the final blow to Ranma, when suddenly he
felt it. An icy chill that threatened to blanket his battle aura, he
could sense it coming from Ranma in waves. As he watched, the next few
seconds seemed to pass by in slow motion, as Ranma's eyes opened slowly,
cold and sterile they seemed. He watched as Ranma brought his arm up,
speaking as he went.

 "Hiryu..."

 "Shouten..." The arm was nearly all the way, forming an uppercut, a
path of icy ki marking it's passage in the air.

 " Ha!!" he yelled as his arm completed it's upwards swing, and as
Ryouga watched, he swore he saw a dragon rising out from Ranma's
out-stretched arm before the coldness slammed into him.

 The end

Authors Notes: I should never ever write when I'm really tired, but I
can't help it since night time is the best time I write, which tends to
cut down on my sleep time. School's out to kill me, we're having tons of
test's, as many as three a week. Hopefully the holidays will come soon
and I'll be free! Free as a bird, BWAH HAH....wait, I have two projects
to do in the holiday. Darn it!

 Usual thanks to my pre-readers who offered invaluable advice.

Sining  5/4
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