Chapter 1

Where We Stand Now

Disclaimer: I don't own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.

I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave. If you find any, let me know, and I will correct them and repost the chapters.

I find that if I let thinks sit for a while in my head; I can play them out farther. Plus by trying and keeping my chapters between 2500 and 3000 words, it helps keep me from making the story slide out of control, turning a diamond to a pile of shit.

Please feel free to review, and make comments. If you find a spelling or wordage mistake, feel free to let me know. Thank you.

Also, please check out my other stories. I try to keep a constant level of dedication to all of them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So this is what is left now.

This is the end results of all my scheming, all my plans, and all my wishes.

All I wanted was for her to be happy, to have the man she desired with every ounce of her being.

All I wanted was for her to have the only man I felt she truly deserved.

But now, it is all for naught.

We had no choice really, if we let them die and he ever discovered that we could have saved them; that we could keep them from the hand of death, he would never have forgiven us.

We have seen what he could do to those who injured or threatened those he cared about.

We do not wish to incur that wrath.

We may have saved our village, our people.

If they ever find out what we did, normally they would ask for our heads.

When they learn of the alternative, they may merely ask us to never return.

Its days like this that make me feel every year this body has endured.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cologne was hoping down the street on her cane towards the Tendo Dojo. She stopped and turned around. Behind her was Shampoo, carrying her former husband in an embrace one would expect for someone crossing the threshold with their new mate, still with no idea how much she had lost that day. Beside her was Mousse, carrying both Nabiki Tendo and Kasumi Tendo in an altered fireman's carry. Both were only a few steps behind her.

And judging from the slight smile on Mousse's face, only he knew what the true implications of that particular forbidden technique were.

Cologne simply shook her head and continued on. It would not do any of them any good should they get spotted by any of Ranma's other fiancées or psychotic rivals, and in his current state, it wouldn't take much less than a intense punch to kill him now, something even that voodoo idiot could pull off, and should he be taken too far from any of the injured Tendo girls,…

Ranma would undoubtedly have another target to kill first before the Amazons, perhaps even before whomever had summoned that demon.

Assuming his life force didn't bleed out like theirs had done.

She began moving forward again, throwing a glance back at the group now making their way forward. Whoever had summoned that demon had specifically told it to kill Ranma. A demon of such caliber would care little else for anyone nearby, as the two Tendo girls found out when the demon attacked them when it had knocked Ranma far enough away, simply judging them by the fact they had been near him enough to attack them.

But to summon a demon whose claws could cut through the field holding one's own life force to their body, there is no mistaking the true intentions of someone who summoned it. Its very name told you it could do that, the very description of what type of demon it was reinforced that notion.

She only hoped that she found out who summoned that creature first before Ranma, so she could properly thank them for ruining Amazon business, for perhaps taking away the very man her great-granddaughter loved. So she turned back around and continued on her way to the dojo, grateful that they had helped save people, grateful that Ranma had proven strong enough to save Nabiki and Kasumi, grateful that she may have redeemed her entire nation in the eyes of the dominant fighter on the planet.

But she was saddened. She knew whoever tried to kill Ranma would try again, and in his current state, only the satisfaction that the summoner had to give up a large portion of their own life force to entice the demon to this world would keep them from trying again, unless they had had help, and hopefully she would find them first, as such a demon would leave a trail even a novice demon hunter could follow. But she also knew that once the effects of this technique were known to Shampoo, or even Ukyo, they would stop at nothing to win Ranma, perhaps even get themselves to the point where he would do the same to save them.

Sometimes, even love made no sense, no matter how many years you lived.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She now stared at the bed. When they had arrived, they were not surprised to see the dojo had been empty. It was their job to know these things, to give Shampoo ample time to try and win Ranma's heart. The fathers were out at some Go tournament and Akane was out with some friends. Only the other two sisters would have been here today, had they not gone with Ranma to get some groceries, though why Nabiki would go with them, even escaped her mind.

But here they were, inside Kasumi's room. While the room was an average size, it was the bed they were interested in, plus the fact that no one of Ranma's enemies or fiancées would think to look for him in here. Nabiki's room was also thought of but the bed was a single while Kasumi had a queen size bed, and she'd be damned before sticking them in Soun Tendo's room, which reeked of cigarettes and sake.

The covers had been pulled down while Ranma was laid in the middle of the bed, followed by the sisters on either side of him. The covers were pulled back up to give them warmth, as even at this time of year, a week before classes would start up again, the nights could still be too cold without them, and diseases were another consideration to take into effect. All three were very near the edge of the abyss, and any little thing could set them falling into it.

"Mousse, unless it is about to rain, I want you to stand out on the roof and look for anyone trying to get inside whom either doesn't live here or wasn't invited. We will be inviting Ukyo over, as she deserves to know how much things have changed, and keep your damn glasses on, we can't afford any mistakes at this point. Shampoo, head over to the Cat Café and make a huge meal to bring over. I do believe the families will want something to eat when we tell them this story. Do bring some sleeping powder though, as I do believe the youngest Tendo will almost certainly forget the fact that the three before us need little help to enter the next world, and her temper may just make her do it. I will wait downstairs for the arrival of the rest of the family, and call Ukyo to have her come over. Now go!"

Shampoo looked like she wanted to ask something, but jumped through the window and hopped off to the Cat Café. Mousse hopped out as well to stand guard. She simply shut the window, drawing the curtains, and began to leave the room, looking over at the three when she heard some movement. The Tendo girls each had rolled towards Ranma, laying on their sides will their heads on his shoulders, a simple hand on his chest. He had then taken his arms and wrapped them around the girls sleeping beside him, a gesture of protection; though neither participant knew they were doing this.

She then watched their auras. She had seen the auras of each before. The blue color best fit Ranma, as it was the color usually associated with confidence. The other two, she had not been able to isolate, as their auras showed many different colors, indicating the wide range of emotions they had to go through on a daily basis. The more she learned about their lives thanks to an irresponsible father, the more she wondered how much of any one emotion those girls experienced on any given day.

But now, the aura covering the three was more of Ranma's than anything else, with only little slivers of those belonging to either of the other two. It made sense after all, as Ranma had only barely managed to finish the forbidden technique before they had died. When they awoke, she would have to explain what would be required of them in any wanted to live.

She would have to do the same for the rest of this weird family, for Ukyo, and sadly for Shampoo.

She closed the door after leaving the room and made her way downstairs to contact Ukyo. Hopefully, no one would do anything stupid. To prevent that, she would even kill one of the Kunos or even Ryoga at this point. It was the least she could do for Ranma.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Akane, Soun, and Genma had arrived for dinner, none were surprised to see a large meal set out before them of Chinese food and Japanese food. What did surprise them was when Ukyo and Shampoo both came out of the kitchen with the last tray of food before anyone could mention anything about the meal.

It took a while for everyone to calm down, accusations being thrown left and right, Soun Tendo demanding to know why his eldest daughter wasn't making dinner, Genma complaining that Ranma wasn't being a man and spending time with his fiancée, though keeping quiet as to which one he was referring to. Akane was demanding to know why the other girls were here as well as what they had done with Ranma, showing little concern and spending the next few minutes calling him a pervert and demanding to know which slut he was with now. Ukyo and Shampoo merely stayed silent, having been told by Cologne that something bad had happened, and she needed them to be pillars for the others.

Ryoga had managed to even show up, wondering what the Tendo Dojo was doing in Singapore. Cologne had hopped over to him and hit several paralysis points, telling him that they had important news he needed to hear first, and not run away in his anger and perhaps cause someone's death. That alone was enough to get the lost boy to shut up and listen, his anger momentarily forgotten because of his fear of what Cologne said would happen should he not maintain his silence.

He did not want to be turned into a pork dish and served to Akane.

Finally everyone was silent, waiting for Cologne to begin speaking.

"To be honest, we had gone after son-in-law today in hopes of creating a greater chance for him to finally admit to loving Shampoo. But we did not expect to see what we saw." She handed out a book with a page marked. The book showed a colored picture of a demon, with a Japanese text describing the demon and what it was capable of. "This is what we found attacking Ranma."

The sounds of deep intakes of breath could be hard by those who read what the demon was capable of, a note to the side indicating a power level much higher than what Kuno or Happosai had even summoned.

"We only caught the end of the battle, so were unable to offer any help or stop what had happened. The demon had punched Ranma away, sending him into a wall. While he was trying to free himself, the demon spotted the Nabiki and Kasumi, and swiped at them with its claws. Physically, these claws can't hurt you, they can only cut what can't be cut, namely the barrier around you that holds all of your life energies in, in effect, and it is what holds your soul. Without the barrier, you would quickly die, your soul bleeding out into the ether." Cologne took a sip of tea before continuing, hating every time she had to tell a story like this one, no matter how happily it may end. "Ranma, seeing the demon attack them, grew enraged and hit the demon so hard with one punch, the demon literally exploded. But the damage had already been done. When we told Ranma what was happening, he asked if there was a way to save them. So we showed him a forbidden technique. When Ranma was told of the dangers of this technique, that he might not be strong enough to save both, he simply said that he would not chose which one was more worth saving over the other. He would save both."

"The technique works on the principle that a person can share their life force, enabling an injured party to live and heal physically. But the damage was so severe; it required Ranma to merge his life force with theirs, in effect, recreating the barrier that holds that energy naturally. But it comes at a high price. The joining of souls, if you will, can cause all parties involved to act and think more like the other. When this technique was used in the past, it often resulted in those involved permanently needing the other, I guess they became soul mates in a way."

She turned to see Shampoo frown; knowing her great-granddaughter now knew the price of using the technique, but now worrying that Shampoo might try and use this technique to be equally close to Ranma. She would have to discuss this with her later, as Ranma was in no shape to take on any extra souls, not now anyway. "The reason this technique was banned was because results, sometimes went too far. Even after they were cured, they still needed to be close, as they would feel intense pain or in some cases die if the distance became too great. Blood relations or even gender did not matter, as sisters became lovers and men who were almost pathologically persistent about their orientation were often found in a lover's embrace. It can become an addiction, even if those involved know to be aware of it."

"So for now, they have to be together, even when they awake, until Ranma's soul has healed theirs enough to let him begin to separate. Any damage right now would kill Ranma, as his body is too weak from the transference to handle any injury, and if he dies, the thing keeping the older Tendo girls alive would also vanish. All three would die before our eyes in a matter of moments, so we dare not disturb them until they wake up, and even then, Ranma has to be careful as his pain is now their pain, and vice versa."

"To put it simply," Cologne said, "he must remain with them until their bodies heal enough spiritually to hold their own life force in. If they end up craving to be near each other to the point of lovers, I cannot say. Right now, those three souls are linked. Ranma's life force is all that is keeping them anchored to this plane, to their bodies. Until he rebuilds his strength, even a light punch could kill him, and without him, your two sisters would die within moments. For the moment, the fiancée war is over; no one is to interact with Ranma in any way that might cause him pain or discomfort."

"That pervert, I bet he is only doing this to get into their pants!" Akane quickly whipped out her trusty mallet. "I'm going to teach that pervert a lesson he'll never forget!"

Shampoo stood before Akane, her hands outstretched, her face a mixture of rage and disgust. This was the woman who Ranma seemed to love the most, who even despite the fact she treated him with nothing but contempt and hatred, called him a pervert and a freak whenever he didn't eat her cooking or refused to fight her at his full strength. Shampoo would be lying if she said she hadn't wanted Akane dead. All of Ranma's other fiancées hated how she treated him, it was often the reason they became so affectionate around him when she was nearby, to prove she would never trust him, never show her true feelings for him, hoping Ranma would realize this and move on. But now, even knowing everything that could happen, Akane still ripped out her hammer and was ready to head upstairs and attack Ranma. Shampoo would not let her, even if she couldn't have Ranma, even if she couldn't be an Amazon if the other Elders found out what they had done, she would not let Akane hurt Ranma anymore. "Shampoo want know why you hate Airen. Him risk own life to save kitchen destroyer's sisters. To say thanks, kitchen destroyer want to kill Airen, knowing it kill sisters also. Is kitchen destroyer so hateful of Ranma, she kill own sisters to get him?"

That had been enough to apparently snap Akane out of her stupor of rage. She dropped the hammer, a resounding thud as it hit the ground before disappearing back to wherever she normally hid it. He face going pale. "I…I…I wasn't really going to…"

"Shampoo know you lie. All you do is hit Ranma, treat bad because you no care if he yours, only care he no one else's. All you do is attack for no reason, but Airen still care for you. You know if Ranma die cause of you, Shampoo kill you, make it slow and painful. Same thing if Shampoo see you near him with mallet. Your temper hurt Ranma too too much. Now you stop being violent kitchen destroyer, stop feeding him your poison, or Shampoo stop you permanently, see you as obstacle for Ranma living, for mercenary girl living, for too too nice girl living. You know what Shampoo do with obstacle."

Akane just fell to her knees, beginning to cry. Apparently Shampoo's comments had hit close to home, or at least, close enough to make her realize that she had nearly killed Ranma and her sisters merely because of her own stupidity.

Even Ryoga; a person who always took Akane's side, no matter how wrong she was, admitted that she had nearly made a costly mistake. He himself was wondering what he might have done upon hearing even part of this story, wondering if he would have attacked Ranma and killed him, as well as the Tendo sisters, had he not been currently paralyzed below the waist.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. Soun offered Ukyo Nabiki's room for the night, as she looked in no condition to go back home tonight, but also noting that she wanted to stay and protect Ranma. Ryoga had simply placed himself in a corner, vowing to guard the downstairs from assaults, even though part of him wanted to beat Ranma up, but even Ryoga would not hit an injured man, not when he had someone else's life in his hands.

The Amazons, promising they would return after hunting for whoever was stupid enough to summon the demon, left for their hunt. Even Genma almost felt sorry for whoever they found.

Like all of their days in Nerima, this was turning out to be among those that were often labeled unbelievable.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akane simply sat at the door, watching as her two sisters snuggled close to Ranma, her Ranma.

She would be lying if she said that there wasn't some part of her that wanted to go in there and smash him, call him a pervert, feel justified in protecting her sisters from him. Treat him like the pervert he is.

Right now, those three souls are linked. Ranma's life force is all that is keeping them anchored to this plane, to their bodies. Until he rebuilds his strength, even a light punch could kill him, and without him, your two sisters would die within moments.

The words of Cologne still rang through her head, constantly mocking her. It had to be a trick. It had to be another one of his perverted attempts to get into a new girl's pants. It had to be some reason for him to do this, as all boys were perverts.

When Ranma was told of the dangers of this technique, that he might not be strong enough to save both, he simply said that he would not chose which one was more worth saving over the other. He would save both.

That couldn't be the reason. That he actually cares about what happens to us, that he would willingly sacrifice himself to save any one of us.

Shampoo want know why you hate Airen. Him risk own life to save kitchen destroyer's sisters. To say thanks, kitchen destroyer want to kill Airen, knowing it kill sisters also. Is kitchen destroyer so hateful of Ranma, she kill own sisters to get him?

Akane looked back again at her sisters and her fiancée. Both of them were still snuggling with Ranma, a look of content on their face. Ranma's face still read with no emotion. It didn't even look like he was snoring, something she always remembered him doing whenever she woke him up with a bucket of cold water.

Nothing was making any sense to her anymore. Ranma was supposed to be a pervert, like all boys. They only wanted one thing.

But Ranma had willingly placed himself in mortal danger to save her two sisters, one of which had abused Ranma every which way possible, one who always offered him an ear to listen to his problems, offer little tidbits of advice to help him with those same problems.

He would save them both.

He would not chose which one was more worth saving over the other.

Even after all they had put him through; Ranma was still willing to risk anything to save someone. He had risked his life at least a dozen times to save Akane, to save Ukyo, to save Shampoo, even to save his own worthless father. He constantly placed himself in jeopardy to save those he cared about.

And in return, she bashed him, Shampoo used potions on him, his father sold him out at a pin drop, and Ukyo would always try and be the cute fiancée to win him over.

She turned away, closing the door and heading to her own room.

The truth was she had finally figured something out.

That none of them truly deserved Ranma.

Ranma deserved better than anyone here, with perhaps the exception of Kasumi, but only because she never wanted anything from Ranma.

Akane simply cried herself to sleep that night, wondering if she had a chance now to try and become someone that would even be close to being worthy of Ranma's love.

Even though every fiber of her being now said she might not be able to change, even if she tried.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ukyo lay in Nabiki's bed, trying to understand everything that had happened today. Today, she had learned that for the moment, any attempts to gain favor with Ranchan were completely banned. That alone had been enough to pain her, the belief that the man she loved with all her heart was simply too sick to be near them, but healthy enough to be near the two Tendo girls.

At least it isn't near his uncute fiancée.

At first, like all of the people at the table, with the exception of the Amazons, had thought it was another Amazon trick, though how one would see Shampoo getting Ranma while Nabiki and Kasumi were sleeping with him in the same bed, was currently beyond her.

But then they read a book on demons, saw what they had been told that had attacked Ranma. She had known enough of the demons summoned by Happosai and Kuno to try and defeat Ranma to know such things were real. And with the description of what had attacked Ranma and the two sisters, even she couldn't find fault with them. They had openly admitted that they hoped to catch Ranma alone, that they hoped to give Shampoo an advantage to win Ranma over.

All were thankful that for once, the multiple fiancées fiasco had been a blessing for once. It had allowed Ranma to save them.

But no one knew who had summoned that demon, all they knew was that its main target was Ranma, damned anyone else in its way.

But the Amazons were searching for whoever did summon it. And right now, Ukyo hoped that they found that person and beat them an inch from their life.

Silently, she hoped she would find them and take them another three miles to make certain they went to hell.

But for now, she simply pulled the blanket over her head, tears falling down her face. Ranchan, please make it through this. No one wants you to die. Please come back to us. If anyone can save them, you can.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryoga sat with his back in the corner of the dining room wall, a small blanket over him. He dare not move, afraid he would get lost and end up finding his way back in time to discover Ranma was dead.

He hated Ranma, but despite what his constant battle cry implied, he didn't want Ranma dead.

Just in severe physical pain for the rest of his life.

But for now, he would have to protect Ranma. Kuno was stupid enough to try and attack Ranma, thinking it was a trick and by defeating the 'foul sorcerer', the Tendo girls would be free to love him. Even Kodachi might show up and try to run away with Ranma, neglecting the fact that if Ranma was too far from the girls, his life force would leak out just as fast as theirs would, killing everyone.

So he sat there, his ears open, listening for any sound. He had heard that the Kunos had all left on some family vacation to Hawaii.

But being Kunos, could anyone say that meant they were actually there?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Amazons had finally managed to locate the place the demon was summoned, noting how ravaged the place looked. "It would appear they set up enough to summon the demon and ran away. There isn't much here to tell us if someone died during the summoning or not." Cologne was a little upset. It had taken them a good portion of the night to find this place, as whoever summoned the demon made certain prying eyes would not see this. Whoever they were dealing with, they were dealing with pros.

"Aiyah, Shampoo find something great-grandmother!"

Cologne hopped over to see what Shampoo had found, taking the picture from her hand. It was a simple color photo with four people in it, two of which she recognized, one of which, a young boy, was circled, with the words "KILL" wrote in Latin. Her battle aura flared, frightening both Mousse and Shampoo, who had not really gotten a good look at the photo.

The young child was Ranma.

Genma, when you explain this picture, I might just allow to live long enough for your wife to kill you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If I messed anything up, then let me know including typos.

Any suggestions on how I should continue the story or improve it would also be accepted.

Also, if you have any suggestions for how this should go, let me know. My own imagination, while vast, always enjoys a new thought. Also, catch me if you don't think I am making the characters true to form, or a way to make them better.