Disclaimer:
Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi.  A very talented and
RICH person...so I'm pretty sure she won't sue me for using her
characters for this fanfic.  That's all for the disclaimer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some Things Were Just Meant to Be
Chapter I - Ranma

By Kaiki Houjun


	So here I am, Ranma Saotome, 18 years old, fighting off
guards and security for scraps of food.  I suppose it's not any
different, after all, I've been doing this for the past 4 years
now.  Everyday I think that something new will happen, but of
course, being a "helpless streetrat," as everyone calls me,
everything stays the same.  Only my pop knows this, but ever
since I was 6 years old, I've been training myself to become a
powerful martial artist.  My pop helps me a little, but he's
pretty useless most of the time.  He thinks of the dumbest
techniques, like the Nekoken.  He thinks that I can learn this
technique by wrapping me in sausages and throwing me into a pit
full of starving cats.  Well, shows how much he knows.  Instead,
I've become unbelievably frightened of cats.  I can't even get
near one without fainting.  I didn't learn the technique, but I
seem to act and think like a cat if i get scared enough.  I'm
actually really dangerous when I'm like that, and no one can
control me, not even my pop.  Everyone just backs off.

	Oh yeah, did I happen to mention that I have this
stupid curse that turns me into a girl whenever I touch cold
water?  Yeah, you got it, another one of my pop's brilliant
plan to help me train.  Our native language is Japanese, so 
you'd think that he wouldn't be stupid enough to take me all 
the way to China just to practice.  We don't even understand a 
word of Chinese!  We were training in Jusenkyo, where they have 
tons of cursed springs.  We were balancing ourselves on these 
tall bamboo poles and prepared to battle.  Some weird Chinese
guy was screaming these words at us, but I was too absorbed in 
the soon-to-be battle that I didn't pay attention.  After a 
while of jumping and kicking, pop fell into the Spring of 
Drowned Panda while I fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl, or 
the technical name, Nyannichuan.  So now I'M to blame for being
less "manly" than I was before...way to go, Pop.

	Lately I've been getting real good at this whole martial
arts stuff.  My speed has been increasing each day, and so has
my strength.  Someday I think I'll be good enough to actually
compete in the Martial Arts Championship.  Yup, that's my goal.
I guess the main reason is because I really don't want to live
my whole life the way I do now...stealing scraps of food in any
way I can.  I mean, this is no way to live.  No one has any idea
what it's like, to wake up each morning and wonder if you're
gonna have enough to eat for the day, or if you'll be unlucky
enough to get caught by the city police.  Well, I guess it won't
be so bad in the future though.  There was this Chinese saying
that I heard while my "vacation" in China.  I'm not sure of the
exact wording, but it was something along the lines of
"Everything in life will balance out."  I suppose that means
since I have such a bad childhood I'll have a better future.
Does that make sense?  I'm not sure...guess I'll just have to 
have faith.

********

Two years ago...

	"Hey, wake up, boy!"  I hear a voice yelling at me.

	"Huh...what?"  I slowly open my eyes, trying not to let
too much light in too quickly.  Then I realized that it wasn't
even light outside.  I looked at our rusty looking clock on the
wall.  3:00.  In the morning.  I turned to face my father, and
he seems to have a panicked look on his face.  I look at him
questioningly, expecting an answer for waking me up at this
hour.

	"Come on, we gotta get going!!"  He started packing some
food we saved in a bag and pulled me out of the bed we found in
the dump one day.  I resisted, wondering why he was making me do
this.

	"What's going on, Pop?"

	"They found us!  Hurry!"

	Crap.  I didn't think this would happen.  No way.  Not
now.  Not when I've come this far to enter the championship. I
will NOT go to prison.  "Well where are we gonna go?"

	"Anywhere but here!"  I watch him run around our little
shack, deciding which items were important enough to take along.
He stopped and looked at me, "Why aren't you moving, boy??"

	"I...I don't want to do this anymore, Pop."  I looked
down at the floor, and said with a nervous tone,  like a 
ten-year-old boy who has broken a vase and confessing to it.

	Pop remained still.  "What?  Do what?"

	"I...I'm tired of running around like this."

	"There's nothing else we can do, son."

	"No...there IS.  I saw a flyer one time...it was about
some sort of Martial Arts Championship.  I think that I want to
join.  There's some prize money involved...and I think that it'd
help our way of living."

	"You think you're good enough to enter that?  Those 
contestants have trained with real professionals!  You were just
doing what you thought would be a good fighting style!"

	"Yeah, so?  I think that I do pretty good!  I mean, why
can't I just invent my own style?"

	"Yes, that's great and all, boy.  But we've still got to
get out of here.  Can't we talk about this later?"

	"No!  I don't want to run anymore!"  My voice is filled
with anger now.  "All my life I've been running.  I...I want a
life!  Maybe...maybe...*sigh* forget it."  What I didn't say
that was...maybe I could find someone to love.

	"Look, if we don't get out of here now, you'll be
arrested anyway and you'll NEVER be able to compete in that
championship!  Let's just get out of here now and we'll deal
with this later!"

	I sighed.  I guess he was right.  I don't want to run
anymore.  But I guess that's all I can do right now.  I nodded
and grabbed my backpack.  "Yeah...ok."

********

	Yup, it's been two years later and I've still been
running.  That's ok, though.  Because now I'm at this new town
called Yashida where I have a new identity.  I also found out 
that they have a Martial Arts Championship here, too.  So, I 
vowed to myself that I won't run.  Not here.  Pop understood, so
he TRIED to stay out of trouble.  But we gotta eat sometime, so
occasionally we would take little bits and pieces of food from
several people until we had enough for both of us.

	Oh yeah, this past year I HAVE invented my own style of
fighting.  I call it the Saotome's Anything Goes Martial Arts.
Nice, huh?  In this style, there are no rules.  You can do
anything.  Obviously I'm the only one who has mastered this,
since I invented it.  But I hope that later on I'll become a
grandmaster and everyone will be learning my fighting style.

********

One month later...

	"Wow...get a load of this place,"  I said to my pop in
astonishment as I looked up at a tall emperial palace.  I
estimated it to be at least six stories high.  This is where the
competition will be held, and ever since this morning I've been
nervous about it.

	"Mm-hmm...well.  We better go in.  Good luck, son."  My
father patted my shoulder.  I smiled at him, for once I actually
feel some sort of connection to him.

	I walked up to the huge front door but before I could
walk in two guards blocked my way and one asked in a demanding
voice,  "Who are you?  What is your business here?"

	I raised my hand to stop Pop from speaking.  "Umm...I'm
Ranma Saotome.  I'm here for the Martial Arts Championship."

	The other guard looked at me up and down and laughed,
"You?  Hahaha!  You're thinking of entering the contest? 
Alright, kid.  That's enough jokes for today.  Get outta here
before I have to kick you out."  The first guard looked at me
and nodded in agreement.

	"Look, I don't want any trouble.  But I AM here for
the contest.  My name is on the list.  Just please let me pass."
At this point I'm very angry, I really don't like it when people
judge me by my appearance.  I may not look so tough and strong 
on the outside, but my skill can defeat 20 people at once.

	The second guard shook his head.  "If you want to get
in so badly, try to defeat us."  Both of the guards took a
fighting stance and drew their swords.

	"Well, isn't this a bit unfair?  First of all, you have
weapons, second of all, you have armor.  But that's okay."  At
the second I finished saying that last word, I leaped into the 
air and jumped behind them in a split second.  Right when they
turned around, I kicked both of them in the stomach before they
even realized it.  I kicked them so that I didn't break any part
of their body but hard enough to keep them from moving.

	"OOOF!"  They both groaned in pain as I signaled my pop
and walked in the palace.

	We arrived to the backyard where the competition was
held just in time to hear the emperor speak before the contest
begins.  As I recall, the emperor's name is Soun Tendou.  I
haven't heard much about him except the fact that he was a very
fair ruler.

	The emperor stood up and so did everyone in the crowd.
He motioned for everyone to sit down, so we did.  He spoke in a
loud and slow voice, "Welcome to the First Annual Martial Arts
Championship!"  The whole crowd cheered.  Wow...first contest!
I got to this town at the right time!  "Before I start the
contest, let me thank my three daughers who have all helped make
this successful."  He pointed to a tall girl with long, brown
hair tied in a ponytail and said, "This is my oldest daugher 
Kasumi, she prepared and designed this backyard of which the 
contest is being held!"  The crowd cheered while Kasumi smiled 
sweetly and bowed.  Next, he pointed to a shorter girl with 
short, brown hair and a mischievious grin.  "This is my second
daugher, Nabiki.  She took care of any financial problems that
would have occured!"  Nabiki crossed her arms and didn't seem to
care.  The crowd cheered.  Lastly, he pointed to another shorter
girl with long, blue-black hair.  "This is my youngest daughter,
Akane.  She is the one who gave me the idea of having this
competition!"  Akane smiled and waved to the once again cheering
crowd.

	At first I didn't care much about these people.  But I
soon changed my mind when I saw Akane.  She was so beautiful,
and the way she smiled was so kawaii.  I especially liked the
way she was dressed in that gi of hers.  She probably wanted to
get the spirit going.  I shook my head as I caught myself
staring at her.  No way, she would never go for me.  She's the
daughter of the emperor, and I'm just some guy off the streets.

	Soun spoke again and my thoughts were interrupted, "As
you all know, the prize money is for 50,000 yen!  But before we
start, here are the rules.  If a fighter is in any way out of
the ring, he will lose.  If a fighter is knocked out and stays
on the ground for ten seconds, he will lose.  Lastly, if a
fighter uses hidden equipment to somehow cause his opponent's
body to go numb, or blind him, he will lose.  Let the fight
begin!"  The crowd cheered the loudest at this point.  Soun sat
down and motioned the announcer to call out the names of the
first two competitors.

	After four or five victories against different fighters,
I finally managed to make it to the final battle.  I waited as
they dragged the loser of the previous battle out of the ring
for the announcer to call out my name and my next opponent's
name.

	"Saotome Ranma and Hibiki Ryouga!  Please step up to the
ring!"

	I walked up and looked around for another person
stepping up to the ring.  There he was.  He was about the same
height as me and wore a bandana on his head.  When we faced each
other in the ring I had a feeling that this battle won't be won
so easily.  After we bowed we took our fighting position.

	I stood, waiting for Ryouga to make the first move.  But
when he didn't, I threw three punches at him.  He dodged it with
a grin on his face.  A grin that said I would never be able to 
touch him.  After my punches I tried to sweep my feet under his
to make him fall.  He dodged this by jumping before my feet 
could reach his.  I looked up and saw that he was still in 
mid-air.  I jumped up also and right when I reached him I threw
another three punches at him.  All of which he blocked
effectively with his arms.  When I stopped punching, we finally
landed on the ground.  Ryouga charged at me with one finger and
screamed out, "Bakusai Tenketsu!!"  I dodged and heard a loud
explosion and screams from the crowd.  I turned around and saw
shattered pieces of concrete flying everywhere. 

	I thought, Crap, he's good.  Then I decided to use my 
special technique.  A technique I learned in China while an old 
lady was teaching me about Martial Arts.  This was called the 
Hiryu-Shoten-Ha, and it took me quite a while to master.  When
the smoke cleared, I saw him staring at me with icy eyes, like
he had something against me and wanted me dead.  As he ran
towards me in high speed, I ran and made spirals around him.
This is the first step to the Hiryu-Shoten-Ha.  When I reached
the middle of the spiral, I raised my fist up high and screamed
"HIRYU-SHOTEN-HA!!!"  A strong force circled me and charged up
to the sky, taking Ryouga along with it.  When it slowly faded,
I could hear Ryouga slamming onto the ground after being tossed
into the sky by the Hiryu-Shoten-Ha.

	"Ugh..."  Ryouga groaned as he tried to get up.  He
failed, however, and after countless times of trying to push
himself off the ground, he finally laid still.  The crowd
cheered loudly and for once I felt proud of myself.  I was proud
that I had actually gotten this far and had actually won, even
when other people didn't think I would.  The announcer came into
the ring and raised my arm.  "The winner of today's Martial Arts
Championship...Saotome Ranma!"  I smiled and looked at my pop, 
who nodded and mouthed the words, "Good job."

	The emperor Soun stood up from his seat and walked up to
me.  "Congratulations, Mr. Saotome.  Please come back to the
palace tonight at 8:00 to pick up your prize money.  Also, we
will have a feast to congratulate you," he said as he shook my 
hand.

	His three daughters all took turns shaking my hands and
congratulating me.  Kasumi was first, "Congratulations, I hope
you will like the dinner tonight."  

	Nabiki shook my hands next, "Yeah, good job...whatever."

	And last, it was Akane.  I held my breath as she took my
hand and shook it.  She smiled at me with that same smile I 
thought was so cute on her and said, "Congratulations!  Hey,
you're really good at this!  Maybe we can become friends and you
can teach me some stuff!"  I couldn't believe it, Akane Tendou, 
daughter of the emperor, wants to be friends with me, Ranma 
Saotome.

	I nodded and laughed nervously, not wanting to sound
stupid in front of her.  "Yeah...ok, no problem.  Anything you
need."  Oh my god, did I just say that??  'Anything you need??'
I don't even know this girl and here I am coming on to her like
I'm trying to sell her something.

	Akane let go of my hand and replied, "Great!  So I'll
see you tonight at dinner!"  She turned around and saw Soun and
her sisters motioning her inside the palace.  "Oh, I have to go
now.  You HAVE to come back tonight, ok?"

	"Yeah, wouldn't miss it for the world."  Oh man, there I
go again.  I gotta quit making it sound like I know her.

	Akane turned and ran to her family, halfway there she
turned and waved to me, "Ja ne!"

	My heart just skipped a beat as I waved back.  I watched
her enter the palace and thought, maybe this is the girl that I
could get to know and love.  And maybe if I'm lucky she might
just love me back.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Notes:

Whoa!  I did all of this in two hours!  Err...yeah...ONLY two
hours.  I'm surprised though, throughout this whole chapter I
haven't had any writer's block.  I just kept typing and typing,
of course I occasionally stop to think about how I would word
things.  But that's about it.

Well...what did you think?  I thought that this wasn't THAT bad,
since I'm a better writer than I was two years ago.  I tried
really hard to describe some things so that you could get the
feel of what Ranma is going through.  Let me know your comments
and mail them to me at Azncloud8@aol.com!

~Kaiki Houjun, 6/3/00

hehe.  A.K.A. Stephanie