A Ranma 1/2 fan fiction

By Dmitri 'Ranshin' Antonov

The Guardians of earth

Chapter two: Friendships Renewed

Fate can be cruel, and fate can be the bringer of mercy. With one Ranma Saotome 
it has always been the former, but maybe 
for one day. One day. The gods would smile upon him, and the things he has 
accomplished as a human being. What if that 
day would be today? That is a question Ranma has asked himself almost everyday 
for the past few months. And finally, he 
may recieve his answer. 

Ranma awoke peacefully the next morning, nothing woke him up. Which was nice. He 
felt really tired last night. 
After inhaling his own food at dinner last night, plus the seconds that he asked 
for, thrice. And not to mention the 
fact that he ate almost all of his fathers food. A full stomach leaves a person 
tired and lazy. The latter never affected 
Ranma but the former sure did. When the body has energy it wants to store it, 
not waste it in a few hours through training. 

Ranma looked to his left and saw the familiar face of his fathers transormed 
form; a panda. After seeing that his old man 
wasn't waking up he decided to go take a shower. A good long shower. Boy he 
needed it. The only thing he could smell at the 
moment was his own sweat. Even though he was long used to it, other people were 
not. He didn't think that people would like 
it very much if Ranma walked around smelling like a pair of underwair that 
hadn't been washed for a week. So, Ranma took his 
covers of himself and stepped out of the guestroom. He smiled at the small irony 
of it. After all the time he stayed here 
and no matter how much he had done for everyone in the dojo, he still wasn't 
fully considered a tendant. He probably would 
be if he started paying Nabiki rent. Like that would ever happen. 

Ranma walked into the changing room, and memories filled his thoughts. Memories 
from when he first came here. When Akane had 
walked in on him, and ten minutes later bashed him on the head with a table. He 
didn't think much of the old memory, it was 
just a memory, not all that important. He took of his sleeping clothes, this 
time them being a pair of boxers and a tank-top.

He opened the door to the bathroom and entered. And was greeted to the sight of 
Nabiki of all people taking a bath. She was
sitting in the big bathtub by herself. His first reaction was to apologize and 
quickly leave the room beofre getting bashed.
But suprizingly his brain worked before his mouth or his foot. He quickly 
covered himself up with a towel and said to Nabiki:
"Hey Nabs whatcha up to?" He was grinning, he knew that. The reaction from 
Nabiki made him grin even more. She quickly went 
under the water so Ranma wouldn't see anything she didn't want him to see. Then 
she asked: "Ranma what are you doing here?
What would Akane say if she knew that her fiancée was trying to peek at her 
sister?" She said all this keeping a straight
face. "She would probably bash me on the head with her mallet, or punt me into 
LEO" Answered Ranma. "I'm kind of tired of 
lower earth orbit so I would prefer The mallet." What he said shocked Nabiki a 
little. 

"Are you saying you want to be bashed like that?" she asked him. Ranma looked at 
her like she was the weirdest person on 
earth. "Would you like to bashed on the head like that every day of you're 
life?" She shook her head no. "I thought not." 
"Anyway Ranma, what can I do for you?" she asked him looking amused at his new 
attitude. "I was going to take a bath but
since you're here I'll delay that. I would like to know how much I owe you at 
the moment." he managed to shock her again.
*Ranma's asking how much he owes me?! Since when?!* she thought. But she needed 
to be in control, so she tried to remember
the number in her book last night. She looked thoughtful for a moment looking at 
the ceiling. Then she answered him in a 
little surprised yet amused tone: "I'm actually surprised. You owe me only 1200 
yen. No more, no less." "Are you sure?" he
asked her, just to be sure she wasn't tricking him. "I'm never wrong when it 
comes to numbers, you should know that."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'll pay you today at breakfast." he said. He really 
wanted to pay her the debt so he could have 
some money for himself. "Uh, Ranma. Breakfast was two hours ago. You slept 
through it." Ranma looked shocked. Nobody had 
woken him up? Usually they sent Akane up to wake him up. She splashed him with 
water and he would go take a quick bath.

"Why the hell didn't anyone wake me up?!" he asked a not angry but very anoyed. 
"Because, first of all you slept like a 
rock. Secondly you were emitting an aura while sleeping, the aura was so intense 
that a bucket of cold water turned to half a 
glass of warm water, which didn't wake you up." she answered. At this Ranma 
looked really shocked. He stood there stuttering 
for a few minutes before collecting himself and asking Nabiki one other 
question. "Are you finished in the bath yet? I could 
really use a soak at the moment."

"I'm finished, you can have it now." she was going to stand up expecting him to 
turn around and look away. But when he 
didn't she delayed standing up and asked him. "Are you going to stand and watch? 
It'll cost you a LOT more than you can 
afford." At this Ranma just turned 180 degrees to the right and closed his eyes. 
Nabiki saw this and stood up, quickly put 
a towel around herself and left the bathroom. The minute the door to the 
bathroom closed Ranma opened his eyes and looked 
around the bathroom. Then he heard another door close, which was the door to the 
changing room. Then he quickly threw the 
towel off himself and sat down in the bathtub.

*Too many changes are happening, and I don't understand them. I hate not 
understanding things.* Thought Ranma as he sat in 
the bath. The bandages on his arms has come loose and eventually fell from his 
hands after he entered the bath. He still 
had a long bandana like bandage around his head. After soaking in the bath for a 
few moments trying to figure out his own 
questions, he took a deep breath and submerged under the water.

*This is all too weird. One normal day and then all of a sudden I have these 
marks on my forehead and hands. And then I find 
out that while I sleep my arua radiates like crazy. If what Nabiki says is true 
then it even kept me from changing because 
of it's heat. My head is starting to hurt. After the bath I'll take a walk. I 
need to clear my head.* Ranma thought while 
underwater. The bandage on his head had loosened and also fell from his head 
like the other bandages. All of a sudden Ranma 
quickly resurfaced and stood up. He towelled himself off and exited the 
bathroom. He put his clothes on, exited the bathroom 
and quickly bound for the rooftops.

He hopped around the roofs for a while. Relaxing against the slight breeze that 
was outside. This was one of the things he 
loved doing. This was one of the only things that could relax him when he was 
frustrated. The breeze against his face, 
blowing his hair backward and the wind pushing the fabric of his shirt against 
his skin. He hopped around for quite a while. 
Since this was Saturday he didn't have any school. He had already missed 
breakfast and lunch wouldn't be for a few hours.
He hopped around until he saw a familiar figure walking on the sidewalk. He was 
wearing a yellow shirt and a yellow bandanna 
with black stripes. The figure was currently looking at the back of his hands 
for some reason.

Ranma instantly recognised the person. And he called out to him "Hey Ryoga! 
What's happening man?" before jumping from the 
roof he was standing on and next to the eternal lost boy. Ryoga looked a little 
surprised and quickly looked up, stopping 
the research of his own hands. "Oh, hey Ranma. What's up?" Ryoga wouldn't admit 
it but he thought Ranma as a friend. After 
the wedding fiasco Ryoga found himself at fault of the situation. He didn't take 
full blame but still felt bad. After that 
day Ryoga apologised to Ranma and promised to stop attacking him. He could still 
remember that day...

***Flashback***

Ranma and Ryoga were sitting together on the roof of the Tendo dojo. The roof 
happened to have a few holes in it. Both boys 
were sitting with their legs crossed and looking at the sunset. After a shile of 
silence Ranma decided to break it. 

"Man, this is really messed up. I come here after the thing at Phoenix mountain 
hoping for some peace and quiet and look 
what happens." Ranma didn't really look pissed or angry, but you could see the 
tiredness and frustration in his eyes. He was 
sick of this and if you had a good eye, you could see it. Unfortunately most of 
the people that live in Nerima don't have 
that good eye. They can't see when a person is at an emotional peak. Ryoga had 
always had that eye, but he never bothered 
to use it. Now on the other hand, when he looked at Ranma he could see 
frustration, tiredness, sadness and more feelings that 
the pigtailed martial artist almost never showed. At that moment Ryoga decided 
to voice his own opinion. 

"Yeah. I agree, this is pretty messed up. And is partially my fault." At those 
words Ranma looked shocked. Never would he 
have thought Ryoga to admit something like that. Before Ranma could say anything 
Ryoga continued. "I'm partially at fault. 
You know that. I know that. I don't hold this against you, you didn't do 
anything wrong. This was supposed to be the 
happiest day of you're life, and I ruined it, I'm sorry." Ranma looked at Ryoga 
and what he saw actually scared him a little. 
He saw sadness and also truth, he could see that what Ryoga was saying was true, 
that he really meant what he was saying.
He didn't really blame Ryoga for this, he blamed his father and Soun. He also 
blamed Ukyo and Shampoo. But Ryoga he did not 
blame fo this. 

"It's not you're fault man, I mean it was Nannichuan right? Anyone of us would 
kill to get it." Ranma told Ryoga. Ryoga took 
look at Ranma and spoke again. "No, Ranma this is also my fault. Please accept 
my apology and tell me what I can do to make 
it up to you." Now at this, Ranma almost facefaulted. Ryoga saying words like 
that was not normal, not normal at all. 
Intead of looking like a deer caught in headlights forever, he quickly thought 
about what Ryoga just said, and answered 
truthfully.

"Ryoga, you don't have to worry about it. I don't really blame you, accept it. 
But if you really wanna repay me. Then lets 
stop our fights. I don't want to be you're enemy Ryoga. I never did, I want to 
be you're friend. So, what I ask of you is,
lets end our meaningless fights and become friends." 

Ryoga looked at him at him surprised. He had though that Ranma would ask him to 
be allowed to kick his ass. *I would want 
to kill the person that would ruin my own wedding.* But with Ranma that wasn't 
the case. He saw the longing in Ranma's eyes. 
He saw the need for a friend, not an enemy or a rival. Ryoga didn't wait long 
before answering him. "Alright Ranma. I agree 
with you. Let's be friends. Thank you for not blaming me." Then Ryoga reached 
with his hand out to Ranma, and after a quick 
moment Ranma clasped his hand in Ryoga's and shook it. "Alright then Ryoga, 
friends." "Yes, friends. Although we will have to 
end the rivalry with a fight you know." 

Ranma looked at Ryoga. He was right, you can't end a rivalry before finding out 
for sure who was the best. So Ranma summoned 
his words fast and spoke. "Alright how about his, the next time we meet we fight 
with everything we've got, both of us. 
No holding back, a full barrel fight. Deal?" Ryoga waited for a minute. He 
though that the idea was perfect. Just like the 
way they were going to do when they were kids. This fight would be probably be 
their last one against one another. He looked 
at his greatest rival and agreed happily. "Deal, Ranma. It's a deal. The next 
time I see you I'm gonna kick you're ass." 
Ryoga said with a deadly smirk. "Yeah right Ryoga, you couldn't beat me even if 
I had my hands tied behind my back." Ranma 
countered with his cocky grin.

Old habits die hard. But that's just the way they were. Two best friends wanting 
to beat the living snot out of each other. 
And yet at the same time, stayed best friends. 

***End Flashback***

"What's up? Not much." Ranma replied. *I may be lying but I'm not ready to share 
this problem with anybody yet.* 
Ryoga looked at Ranma and saw the doubt in his eyes, doubt at his own words. 
"You were never a good liar Ranma. Now, tell 
me what's wrong." Ranma looked a little shocked, but it passed away. Then he 
just looked at Ryoga and said. "Alright, Ryoga 
I'll tell you. But not here, somewhere more private." "Ok that's fine with me. 
Besides, a private place gives us somewhere 
to fight. You didn't forget did you?" 

"No of course not. We'll talk and then fight. It's kind of like it's always 
been. Except insulting first, then fighting and 
then talking." Both boys laughed at this comment, remembering old times. They 
had gone through many things together. 
And both of them came on top in the end. Once they were bitter rivals, and now 
they are the best of friends. But still, 
the more things change, the more they stay the same. A perfect way to talk about 
Ranma's and Akane's relationship. 

"Alright then, lead the way." "Since when have you wanted me to lead the way?" 
Ranma asked the lost boy with a grin. Ryoga 
just smirked back and said. "Since I figured out being stubborn is stupid." 
Ranma just chuckled and jumped on a nearby roof. 
Ryoga followed close after him, and soon they were hopping away. Roof hopping 
that is.

After about ten minutes of hopping from roof to roof they came to a stop in a 
house. A two story house that looked kind of 
familiar to Ryoga. He decided to voice his thoughts. "Hey, this place looks kind 
of familiar." Ranma just chuckled and 
answered him. "Of course it does, it's you're own house idiot." "What?! My 
house?! How could I have forgotten my own house?!"
Ryoga said loudly, not a scream but still pretty loud. "Jeez Ryoga, you don't 
have to shout. I just took us here because 
I thought it would be perfect to talk here. Nobody knows where you live, except 
maybe for Akane but she wouldn't be able to 
find the the place." Ryoga looked at Ranma like he was weird. *Ranma's using his 
head an awful lot lately.* 

They entered the house and with Ranma's help, located Ryoga's room without any 
problems. Ryoga set his large traveling pack 
near his bed and sat down, legs crossed. Ranma followed suit and also sat down 
in a lotus position. That's when Ryoga 
finally ask Ranma what was going on. "So Ranma, you said you're gonna tell me 
what's up. So talk." Ranma looked a little 
nervous for some reason. He took a few moments, deciding on what words to use. 
Then he took a deep breath, gulped and spoke. 

"Alright, I'm not going to stall this trying to avoid it, so I might as well 
tell you." He took one final quick breath 
before continuing. "It started yesterday. I remember having some kind of dream, 
it was really weird. It was inside some kind
of weird room. The room was like a circle, instead of the usual square floors. 
The room was all silver coloured and had a 
spiral on the floor. There were people there. At least, I think they were 
people. One was emitting this crazy white aura, while the 
other one a huge black one. Around the room were somekind of casket things. Then 
the two people started to mumble something. 
I didn't undertand what it was, it was all hazy. Then these bright clours 
started to emit from the caskets. I don't 
remember more."

Ryoga had looked more and more shocked after each sentence that Ranma finished. 
Now he had this baffled look on his face. 
The contents of Ranma's dream wasn't really what had shocked Ryoga. But 
something else. "R-Ranma?" "Yeah, what is it Ryoga?" 
Ranma looked like he missed the look of utter shock on Ryoga's face. Ryoga 
quickly shook his head and quickly spoke to 
Ranma again. "Nothing, nothing at all. Was there something else that happened?" 
Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment and 
then remembered the other mystery. "Actually now that you mention it, after the 
dream I woke up with some kind of weird 
type of marks on the back of my hands and on my forehead."

Now at this Ryoga almost fell over from surprise and shock. But instead of doing 
that he collected himself, and adressed 
his companion. "Ranma, may I uh...se the marks?" Ryoga said in a rather nervous 
tone. Ranma didn't notice it though. 
"Sure, they're a little hard to notice but, here take a look." That said Ranma 
took of his headband and the bandages on his
arms. 

On his forehead was a very thin outline of some kind of kanji. It looked like a 
scar and was rather hard to notice. Ryoga 
looked shocked upon seeing it. Then all of a sudden the mark on Ranma's forehead 
started to glow. It glowed in a bright 
yellow light. And Ryoga was even more shocked at this. Then he saw the look on 
Ranma's face, the pigtailed boy was stuttering 
something that Ryoga couldn't quite hear ans was pointing a finger at his 
forehead. 

Then Ryoga felt a familiar strong and hot sensation on his forehead. He took his 
bandana off and quickly looked in a mirror 
in his room. On his forehead was a kanji that glowed in a darksalmon colour. 
Like Ranma's the kanji was not japanese but 
for some reason he could still read it. The kanji said 'Earth'. It glowed bright 
like dark sand that was only found in the 
weirdest of places, places that Ryoga had seen, so he recognised the colour. 
Ranma's mark wasn't really yellow, it was 
kind of steadily changing back and forth between gold and goldenrod in 
colour. 

Both boys were astonished at this discovery, especially Ranma. After a long 
minute of just glancing at each other and then 
at the mirror and then back at each other, Ranma finally broke the silence. 
"Y-y-you have on too?" he managed to stutter out. 
"Uh, yeah looks like it." Ryoga answered weakly, and then continued "I have no 
idea how I got one though. I just woke up 
yesterday morning and I had it." Ranma looked at Ryoga kind of sadly. "Just one 
more problem in my life." Ryoga chuckled at 
that. "How would you know? We have no idea what these things are yet. How do you 
know they're trouble?" Ranma looked at 
Ryoga like he had grown a second head. "Everything that happens in my life is 
trouble." They both laughed at this. 

Then Ranma lifted his hand up to Ryoga's glowing forehead and touched his mark. 
"I wonder what they are? Some kind of magic 
maybe? Considering my luck with magic, quite possible." Ryoga just chuckled and 
lifted his own hand and came in contact with 
Ranma's at the moment gold forehead. Then all of a sudden the back of their 
hands started to glow. The marks that were 
hidden under the skin were now visible. Ranma's marks were 'V' like marks 
glowing in a navy colour, and were like an aura 
that surrounded only his hands. The back of Ryoga's hands on the other hand had 
a square like marks only with a 
small circle within. They glowed in a sienna like colour.

Both boys had their mouths handing open at this. And they were stuttering words 
faster than a rapper can say the F word. 
They were even more shocked when both auras, the ones on their forehead and 
hands started to fully envelope them. But they 
couldn't move a muscle. Either because of the shock or the fact that the auras 
had paralized their bodies. They managed to 
stutter out a few words that sounded like 'W-w-w-what heck i-i-is this?!' 
'W-w-what's going on?!' 'I-I c-c-can't move!' 
when the auras had fully enveloped them they flickered out of existense and with 
them went the two martial artists. 


Authors notes: Took away the colour descriptions. I mean, what kind of an author 
actually describes colour types? Jeez, I'm stupid. 


-This is Ranshin, signing off! (Not my style eh? Fine!)