-1A Dragon's Seal

A Ranma ½, Inuyasha Fanfic

By: Grounders10

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi-Sama does.

--Break--

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Flashbacks

--Break--

Chapter One: Homeless

--Last time--

"WRONG WITH ME!" Ranma shouted back, a figure in the darkness suddenly detached itself from the darkness. It walked into the light and Akane gasped. "This is what's wrong with me! I'm a monster Akane!" She hissed angrily.

--NOW--

The person standing before Akane was Ranma, but a very different Ranma from one she'd ever seen. Ranma's form was female, but her skin was the colour of snow, and her hair was glacial blue. Her clothes had changed as well, becoming a flowing ice blue Kimono with white vines on it. Her once bound her now flowed down her back like a frozen waterfall. Her nails were coloured a light blue, the same colour of her eyes.

"R-Ranma?" Akane stuttered in shock.

Ranma nodded slightly and pulled back into the shadows. "Stay away." She whispered.

"What?!" Akane said indignantly, "I come looking for you, and you tell me to stay away?!" She took a step towards Ranma, "Ranma, what's going on?"

Ranma paused for a moment. 'Should I tell her?' She thought, 'I guess she deserves to know why at least.' Ranma sat down on one of the crates in the shed. "Sit down." Ranma said. Akane obeyed, understanding that Ranma was going to tell her what was happening. "This," Ranma said gesturing at her body, "Is a curse."

"You already said that Ranma." Akane said.

"I meant it really is a curse." Ranma said, "It was two months before we came to the Dojo, about a month after Jusenkyo. I was sparring with pop. He'd been putting me through more and more intense training because my learning curve seemed to be slowing down. Personally I think I was hitting a plateau in my skills. I wasn't getting any better no matter what we did." Ranma leaned forward slightly. "I wasn't at my best so he managed to land a decisive blow on me. You know how far me and pops can knock each other right?"

Akane nodded. They often sent each other flying blocks away, if they didn't hit a wall first. "You two do go a ways." She said.

"Well it wasn't any different this time, only I bounced off a cliff and dislodged several boulders." Ranma said, "I was a girl at the time so the impact left me dazed, and nearly out cold. I landed on one end of a fallen long which lay across another fallen log. Sort of like a teeter-totter."

Akane adopted a half lidded look upon hearing this. "Let me guess one of the boulders landed on the other side?" She asked dryly, thinking about how typical that was of Ranma, to be a victim of an old Cartoon cliché.

Ranma nodded. "Yep. It landed on the other side. I went flying back towards pops, then I went past him and straight into the cliff face of the other side of the valley we were practicing in. Apparently I shattered a seal of some kind when I hit the cliff face. Moments later a beautiful woman, who was apparently a Yuki-onna, appeared. She told me "For breaking the seal I shall now bestow upon you the blessing of Snow and Ice." Those were her exact words. Blessing. Ha!" Ranma growled angrily as she clenched her fists. "Curse is more like it."

'Oh Ranma…' Akane thought holding a hand to her heart. 'A blessing? Maybe to the Yuki-onna Ranma freed, but to Ranma it's a curse.' "Maybe…" Akane began, drawing Ranma's attention to her, "Maybe there's a reason your supposed to be like this? Have you actually tried living like this?"

Ranma froze in place. 'A reason? Well maybe… but… She has a point I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions about this but… but nothing I guess I could give this damn body a chance.' Ranma thought before sighing aloud. "I-I haven't actually tried living as a Yuki-onna yet… Why would I? I'm a freak! A damn living icicle!" Ranma shouted standing up.

"Calm down Ranma!" Akane shouted, standing and grabbing Ranma's shoulder's. 'Oh god, her skin's ice cold!' Akane thought repressing a shiver and an instinct to pull away. "You don't look like a monster from here. You look like a beautiful young woman! I know girls who would kill for looks like yours!" Akane shouted, forcing Ranma to sit back down on the crate. "At least give it a chance."

Ranma sat for a moment before responding. "I was already going to give it a chance after what you said before…" She said quietly, "But I still need the Dragon's whisker, and I don't have any real experience fighting in this body. Yeah I tried out a few of my natural abilities in this form when I first got it, but I don't actually have any true experience fighting as a Yuki-onna."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." Akane said with an encouraging smile.

Ranma smiled back slightly. "I guess I will. Now I guess we should get going. I'll still feel a lot better when that Dragon's Whisker is back in my hands." Ranma said before standing and together they made their way to the door. "The bun guys took it after they managed to get me with some rather weak knock-out powder after Happosai managed to blow me up."

"That's why I came looking for you, I thought you'd be weakened after Happosai's attack and I wanted to see if you were okay." Akane said.

"Thanks for worrying." Ranma replied as they exited the shed, "Where should we start looking?"

"First we should get you something that you can actually fight in Ranma." Akane said looking at the kimono. It didn't allow too much room move, in fact Ranma had been taking small steps since Akane had found her, because of the limits of the kimono. 'Wait a moment… isn't that a winter Kimono?' Akane thought. "Ranma… isn't that Kimono hot?" Akane asked.

"Hot?" Ranma repeated to herself, "Nope. But honestly Akane what do you expect? I'M A LIVING ICICLE!" Ranma shouted, "DO YOU THINK I'M EVER GOING TO FEEL WARM!"

'Oops.' Akane thought cringing. "Sorry." She squeaked, taking a large step away from Ranma, who was radiating a cold powerful enough to burn. 'Touchy about it, isn't she.' She thought.

Ranma sighed. "Don't worry about it…" She said, "I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have snapped."

'Why is she…' Akane thought, 'Was everything before all an act?' "Ranma… Was everything… an act?" She asked tentatively.

Ranma paused mid-step. She turned her eyes towards the trees around them for a moment, thinking over the question. "Some of it." She finally said after nearly a minute. "Most of it was me." She turned to Akane and smiled, "Look at it this way, you've got a new friend to get to know."

Akane laughed. "That's one way." She agreed, "Where do we go first? They could've taken the Whisker anywhere."

Ranma looked around, as though searching for something. "That way." She said pointing at the school building.

"The School?" Akane said dumbfounded.

Ranma shot her a glare. "No dummy! Past the school. You think the body's for show?" Ranma asked heatedly, "I do get a few advantages."

"How far?" Akane asked.

"Past the school. But closer then the house. Other then that I can't say. I can see aura's but… I need more experience to tell you how far away they are. The Whisker's aura is larger then anything else except the freak's." Ranma said.

"Then lets get going." Akane said and grabbed Ranma's arm. She completely ignored the intense cold that came from Ranma's skin.

"Not so quickly Akane." Ranma said pulling out of Akane's grip, "The freak's there as well. You should head to the Dojo. Maybe warn your family about this."

Akane's eyes narrowed. That wasn't any reason for her to head to the dojo. They'd fought Happosai together before. "What's your real reason?" She asked.

"Real reason? I don't know what your talking about." Ranma said, trying to sound believable.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Akane said, "I've been around when you've fought him before!"

"But I haven't been in this form before!" Ranma said, "He hates demons. He won't hold back this time."

"You sure he won't just grope you to death?" Akane asked dryly as they entered the front yard of the school. It was completely deserted. "Where is everyone?" She said looking around.

Ranma looked around. "Probably in class by now, and he wouldn't descend to the depths of groping a demon, even a female one." Ranma said.

"Ranma your not that bad!" Akane said, stopping Ranma, "This isn't your fault."

"I know that, you know that, but the Freak won't care." Ranma said, "Just head to the dojo and stay there. I'll meet up with you there." She pushed Akane gently in the direction of the front gate. "Go, I'll be fine."

"If your sure?" Akane asked taking a tentative step towards the gate.

"I'm sure." Ranma insisted, "Just warn them ahead of time what happened, and don't be too artistic in your telling."

"I didn't even know you knew what artistic meant." Akane teased before running away laughing.

"HEY! AKANE! AKANE!" Ranma shouted indignantly after her. 'That was uncalled for… well I guess I did deserve it a little. I was acting like a complete moron at times.' Ranma thought watching Akane run down the street before turning away and with one bound leaping to the roof of the building across the street. 'At least my strength is greater, what with me being a demon.' She thought smugly before propelling herself to the next rooftop.

She bounded from roof to roof at twice the speed she previously had. Footprint shaped spots of frost trailed after her. The aura's that she had felt came closer every second. Finally she landed on the edge of a park. 'They took it to a park? Why would they do that?' Ranma thought walking forward and down a short set of stairs.

"So you just boil it in water?" Came Happosai's voice.

"YES! NOW LET US GO!" Came the voice of one of the bun men.

Ranma crept up to a tree right on the edge of the central area of the park. Looking around the tree she spotted the bun men tied up to one tree. Only a few feet away Genma was tied to another tree.

"Please master! Share it with me!" He shouted.

"Shut up you fool!" Happosai snapped.

'So there both here.' She thought leaning against tree, 'I can't do this… I can't take them all on… I can't even beat Happosai one-on-one.' She punched the tree lightly in depression, 'I'll never even have a choice to turn back if I want to.'

"Ranma you idiot!"

'That's Akane's voice!' Ranma thought looking around, 'No… she's not here. Her aura's still where it was before… I'm imagining things. That's what she would say though, and she'd be right. I have to do this.' She thought and gripped her Kimono sleeve. "Alright… on three… One… Two… Three!" She said to herself and stepped around the tree. "HEY! OLD FREAK!" Ranma shouted drawing the attention of the entire group.

Happosai whistled when he spotted her, causing her to go beat red. "Hotcha!" He shouted.

"OH SHUT UP YOU OLD FREAK!" Ranma shouted angrily, "GIVE ME BACK THE DRAGON'S WHISKER!"

"Back?" Echoed the entire group.

"Ranma m'boy, That you?" Happosai asked in surprise. How could this glacial beauty be either the red haired girl or idiot boy he knew.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Ranma said walking out of the trees, "Pops before you start shouting, this is your fault. Another souvenir from our trip to China."

"What your you talking about Ranma!" Genma shouted struggling against his bonds.

"YOU KICKED ME INTO A MOUNTAIN!" Ranma shouted angrily, "YOU CAUSED ME TO RELEASE AN IMPRISONED YUKI-ONNA! THANKS TO YOU SHE 'BLESSED ME' INTO THIS!"

"Is it my fault you couldn't resist a simple curse?" Genma dramatically, "Oh woe is me, to be cursed with such an ungrateful son!"

"SHUT UP!" Ranma shouted, "I'm not in the mood for your stupidity! Now hand over that Dra-" 'NO!' She thought as the aura suddenly started to fail. "NO!" She shouted taking a step forward before falling to her knees. "NO NO, no!"

Everyone was confused. What was she shouting about? "Ranma m'boy what's wrong?" Happosai asked, taking a sip of the water from a water bottle next to him

"The Dragon Whisker's power…" Ranma whimpered. 'Don't let it fail! Don't let it fail!' She chanted to herself before the Whisker's aura suddenly disappeared. "Its power just… Failed. I guess I was going to have to show everyone anyway."

Now everyone was beyond confused. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN FAILED!" Shouted one of the bun men.

"I mean if failed you idiots." Ranma growled standing up and brushing off her Kimono. "I can't use it anymore. You can have it, for all the good it'll do anyone." She turn on her heel and started to walk away, "See you back at the Dojo Freak, Pops."

"RANMA! Don't you leave your poor father behind!" Genma shouted, struggling against his bonds.

--The Dojo, One Hour Later--

Ranma walked slowly through the front door with a grace that most would never associate with her. She slipped off her shoes and continued in. "Hello! I'm back." She called.

A loud footsteps echoed down the hall as several people came running.

"Ranma!" It was Soun Tendo, Akane's father. "Ranma, say it isn't so!" The older man came barrelling around the corner, and skidded to a stop upon seeing her. "R-Ranma?" He stuttered.

"Yes." Ranma said quietly before walking past him, "Is dinner on?" She asked. When Soun didn't reply she looked back. He seemed to be frozen solid. "Mr. Tendo?" She asked worriedly.

"Leave." He said.

"What!?" Ranma asked shocked. 'Leave? B-But I don't have anywhere to go…' Ranma thought.

"You heard me Demon!" Soun's voice was laced with disgust and anger, "You will not take advantage of my family anymore. Leave, and never return." His form was shaking with anger.

"Can I at least get my stuff Mr. Tendo?" Ranma asked quietly, taking a step towards the stairs.

"You may. You have saved Akane several times. After this our honour fulfilled. Maybe if you can break this curse can you return… Ranma." Soun said before turning and walking back the way he came.

'This is why I wanted to keep this hidden.' Ranma thought before walking up the stairs very slowly, 'I thought I finally had a really home. Then this happens. The Dragon's Whisker fails. Fails. Multi-thousand year old whisker fails when I get a hold of it. Just my luck.' She thought dryly as she crested the stairs.

"Oh, hello Ranma." Came another voice Ranma recognized. Ranma looked to the side and spotted the middle Tendo sister, Nabiki.

"Hey Nabs." She said quietly and continued on down the hall.

"I take it Father gave you the eviction notice?" Nabiki asked falling in step with Ranma.

"Yes." Ranma replied drearily, "I thought I had finally found a home you know. Years on the road I we finally settled down somewhere I actually like. Sorry for being any trouble." Ranma said as she placed a hand on the door to the room she share- the room she used to share with her father, she amended.

"No trouble at all." Nabiki said, "Personally I found it entertaining watching from the sidelines."

"And quite profitable I assume." Ranma said wryly as she slid the door open.

"Quite." Nabiki assured, "Akane already packed most of your stuff, oh and Mr. Saotome keeps his martial arts scroll hidden under the floor panel three to the right of the window. I assume your going to want to continue training. Bye bye now." Nabiki said before leaving a stupefied Ranma alone and heading down stairs.

'Did she just give out free information?' Ranma asked herself before stepping into the room. Just as Nabiki had said her pack was laid out right in the middle of the room. 'Three to the right of the window?' Ranma thought walking over to the window. She knelt down and counted the floor boards. 'One… Two… This is it.' She thought and pulled out the board. Sure enough, right underneath the panel were dozens of scrolls. 'Do I have enough room for all this?' She thought for a moment before she had a sudden bout of inspiration.

Ranma relaxed for a moment and closed her eyes. She gathered her Ki and directed some of it into her sleeves where she folded it over itself to create more space. 'That should do it. Crude, but it'll work until I can figure out exactly how Mousse does it.' She thought and began stuffing the scrolls in her sleeves. She left enough to top off her backpack, so as to not look suspicious. After all everyone would be expecting her to take some technique scrolls.

Finally finished packing she lifted the backpack to her shoulders and, pausing once at the door, left the room. She walked down the hall towards the stairs, and as she got closer voices began to drift up from downstairs.

"Please Tendo! Reconsider!" It was her father's voice.

"No! Saotome she is a demon and I will not stand for such filth in this household! How dare you bring her here!" That was Soun.

"Father reconsider!" Kasumi, "She has nowhere to go. Besides, she's never actually harmed any of us."

"Kasumi's right." Nabiki's voice said, "Why kick her out if she hasn't done anything? Though I suppose it would be good for the budget, we still get by relatively well as it is, and I don't see how her being a demon would change anything."

"No! My decision is FINAL! There will be NO discussion!" Soun thundered.

Ranma winced at the volume as it pounded against her newly enhanced hearing. 'Of all the times to grow a spine it had to be now.' Ranma thought glumly as she walked down the stairs.

When she made it to the bottom she locked eyes with Soun for a brief moment, but in the moment she caught a look of grief and sorrow before the gaze turned hard and steely. Ranma recoiled imperceptibly before taking a look at the aura's of Soun's daughters. 'How could I miss this before!' She thought in shock. Sure she wasn't anywhere near good at reading aura's but Demon aura's, like the Whisker's, and Human aura's, like Soun's, were very different. So she'd assume that half-demon aura's would be a mixture of the two.

"It's because I remind you of her." Ranma said, drawing the attention of those who hadn't noticed her arrive, "It's not because I'm a demon, it's because I remind you of her. Sorry to have caused you any trouble Mr. Tendo." Ranma said quietly, walking towards the door slowly, "Now I understand, but I do have one thing to say, tell them, before your past catches up with you. Like mine just did." Kasumi took one step towards Ranma, but stopped at Nabiki's shake of the head.

Genma had no such restraint and took one firm step forward before grasping his demonic daughter by the arm. "Where are you going boy." He demanded.

"Do you see a boy here?" Ranma asked coldly, causing the air to drops several degrees in a few seconds, "DO YOU!" She shouted, yanking her arm from his grasp. "Find a way to fix this, then you can call yourself my father. Otherwise I don't know you." She growled, and pushed past him.

Genma made to go after her but Nabiki placed a hand on his shoulder. "I wouldn't if I were you." She warned before turning away and heading back towards her father. "Daddy, we need to talk." She said, and Soun gulped nervously.

--Outside--

Ranma slid the door shut just as Nabiki was beginning her interrogation. Ranma walked slowly down the path, slowly growing more and more aware that this would probably be the last time she saw any of them. 'His grief is blinding him.' She thought as she walked.

"Ranma." Ranma turned to the voice. It was Akane, she was leaning against the front gate. "I'm sorry. I tried. I really tried." She said with a sob.

"It's alright Akane. I thought something like this might happen." Ranma said.

"Still…" Akane trailing off.

"Still I had fun while it lasted." Ranma said with a small smile, "Good bye, Akane…" She whispered, though Akane picked up every word. Wordlessly Ranma ran passed Akane and out onto the road.

--Five days later--

Ranma stared at the park around her. She was tired, and hungry. She thought she would have been cold, but then again, she was a living icicle, or so she told herself. Her kimono wasn't the least bit dirty, despite the many factors that should have made it so. After all it had been raining more heavily then she'd ever remembered seeing for the past couple days. It had seemed like all the oceans in the world had fallen from the sky in an attempt to drown her, and had been completely unsuccessful. Any water that touched her froze and fell away in a fine mist of snow, leaving her completely dry, despite the torrential downpour that sent everyone running for shelter.

On the first day after being kicked out of the Tendo Dojo she had left Nerima and ventured into some other part of Tokyo. She'd been travelling through Tokyo since then, with no destination, and no purpose. She received many strange looks because of her Kimono and her skin tone. She'd heard several people wonder what the 'gaijin' was doing trying to mix in when she stood out so much. She knew it was only one or two idiots who still wanted the type of Japan that existed before World War Two, and not the more progressive one that existed now, so she ignored those comments.

It was the fifth day now, and she was tired from the constant walking, from the isolation, despite being in a big city she felt alone, more alone then she had ever felt in her entire life. Her father had always been with her, even if he hadn't been the best family, she'd at least had him.

She sighed out loud before standing and lifting her backpack back to her shoulder and continuing her walk. She had no idea where to go, she just knew she had to walk. 'I don't have anywhere to go… I can't even stay a shrine now because of this damn curse.' She thought clenching her fist before taking a deep breath and calming herself down, 'Don't get angry. Your going to live like this for the rest of your life, which is going to be quite long. Just relax. One step at a time.' She thought to herself as she calmed down. The last time she had worked herself up like that she had caused all the falling rain to turn into snow within a thirty yard area.

She smiled slightly in spite of herself. That had been surprising enough that she'd actually been startled out of her anger. One of the street lights flickered on. She glanced up at it without stopping. A siren behind her caused her to stop and look. A police car zoomed by, then another, and a third followed a moment later. 'What the-' She thought. You didn't usually see that many police cars anywhere but a police station. 'Lets see what's happening.' She thought and leapt to a nearby roof. She followed the police cars easily, managing to keep them in sight despite the speed they were going.

They turned a corner and Ranma cursed. Now how could she follow them. Still she ran to the corner and looked down the road that the cars had gone down. A grin split her face. She hadn't lost them. The Police cars had join a rather large road block. "What the heck are they trying to stop?" She asked herself.

She didn't have to wait long because less then a minute later a fire truck came barrelling around a corner a ways up the street. It sideswiped the front a store, and took out a fire hydrant before straightening out and coming straight down the street towards the road block. A police officer with a megaphone was shouting at it to stop. It abruptly turned and skidded to a stop in front of the barricade. A moment later a black thing, came out of the truck and wrapped around every person in that area before absorbing them into its body. Ranma felt sick as she watched it. 'I-I-it killed them. Oh kami it killed them.' She thought as the vehicle started up again, this time demolishing the now unmanned roadblock. It went right by beneath her perk on a rooftop.

"I've got to stop that thing." She whispered and leapt after it.

--Author's Note--

The first real chapter of A Dragon's Seal. As the popular vote requested I made Ranma a Yuki-onna. I hope I did a good job on her character. This chapter was a lot more emotional then my other stories get, and I hope I didn't make it too umm… what's the word… Fluffy?

Anyway I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and I would like a few more reviews, I like knowing what people think of the story.

Note: Flames will be purged in holy fire. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome. Please review.