Ok wow this chapter took awhile to get through. Not much in the way of talking here but i think the actions make up for that..and to those who ask this isn't the last chapter. There's one more left to go. Also i cut the flashback short on purpose. Hard to have a flashback in a fight after all... If i can find a spot for it i'll have it in the last chapter..or i may leave it as one of those "what you imagine is better then what i can write" kinda things...depends on how things work out.

Lack of Importance

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It was several hours later when she entered Nerima. She was clothed in a red leotard with black designs on it. It was all she was wearing. While she didn't feel being clothed was all that important it would allow her to complete her mission with out harassment from law enforcement about being naked. Her mission was of the most importance to her, until it was completed nothing was important. She walked down the street knowing her destination like the back of her hand. He was here..the man who had made her life hell..she'd relived it all in her sleep, relived it as she walked. She heard a voice telling her when he was gone it would end.

She walked casually yet seemed to flicker in and out of view of the street lights. The few people she passed felt as if the devil itself had walked beside them, yet saw nothing when they turned to look save a small girl. The full moon was completely exposed in the cloudless sky as she hopped over the wall to a familiar compound. Looking around she noticed she could almost see smells..feel noises. She pushed the hows and whys out of her mind, they held no importance save it made her mission easier. She knew she had to be quick. She was being followed even if the pursuers didn't actually know where she was. She was hunted.

She entered through the front door with the key she knew was hidden in the eve of the porch.

She moved silently through the house, pausing at a particular door. She shook her head, it too, was unimportant. She arrived in front of an unmarked sliding door and pushed it open. She made her way to a large lump on the floor, dark energy swirling around her fingers. She almost paused before that also was shoved away. Leaping forward with an agility inconstant with her small body she slashed forward with her dark energy claws cutting deep and drawing.....fluff...

Looking at her 'target' she saw it was nothing more then a stuffed animal. Snarling she turned to check the rest of the house when she heard movement coming from the lower floor. Crawling out the window she landed silently on the front lawn just in time to almost be overloaded by the strong smell of alcohol. Following the virtually glowing trail the the front door and into the living room she beheld her target. She crouched and began to sneak froward. Once the target was gone the nightmare would stop, it had to stop, and she only got one good chance.

Her prey seemed to have either much more skill then she knew or a lot of luck. Either way before she had moved into position to strike they had turned around. Knowing she had been spotted she lunged forward. Before she had even left the ground she knew she had messed up. Instead of rending the target like she planned they had time to roll to the side and avoid her. Seeing that the adrenaline rush had erased her targets inebriation she knew she would have a hard fight ahead of her. Hearing a lot of movement and loud cursing she knew her ill-fated lunge had woken the rest of the household. Needing more room to maneuver she bounded out of the room and to the yard via the porch opening. The entire time from losing the advantage to moving outside took only 6 seconds.

Landing outside she attempted to blend into the shadows. She knew normally she would have looked down on someone how fought like such as cowardly but that to was unimportant in the face of her mission. Listening in to the conversation that had started up inside she waited.

"Genma! What is going on down here? Whats with the noise?"

"Yea seriously. I banged my toe on a barbell running down thinking there was a problem!"

"Something attacked me! I walked in the house and felt something behind me so I turned and when I did something lunged at me. I managed to dodge and it ran outside!"

"I wonder if it's still out there?"

"Well Genma since it seems your the one it wants you go check"

A fat balding man is thrown out the door and several locks are heard behind him. Several faces appear in the windows. Deciding the best chance to kill her target was now even with witnesses Ranma walked from her hiding place, her wings unfolding through the drop in the back of the leotard and her nearly solid purple eyes taking on an eerie glow that even lit up her cheeks. She knew she had lost the advantage of surprise and decided to try and unsettle her opponent.

The sounds of her foot steps alerted Genma to her presence. It didn't matter if he knew she was there or not anymore, she had to kill him all the same. The nightmares continued to play behind her eyes and she knew he was responsible for them. Images of running from wolves. Images of the tigers Genma had once attempted to use to 'cure' his neko-ken. Images angry villages and mobs holding weapons. Caves he was barricaded in to train his survival. Sleepless nights and hunger filled days. Memories repressed floated to the surface of her mind all accompanied by the laughter and feeling of wrongness the demon prince had conveyed. She had to kill him..if only to stop the nightmares.

Genma turned to face the footsteps only to nearly fall on his ass as he saw what was there. A demon..with leathery wings spread wide and eyes so beautiful as to put the best gems to shame, but equal to there beauty in the horror they invoked. Black energy seemed to obscure her fingertips and her unbound hair was so coated as to appear jet black, only short flashes of red betraying it's true color. But he could have faced this so much easier if the streetlight outside the walls had not cast enough light to show her face. He had only seen it for a few hours, but one can not see the face of ones own offspring, even as changed as it was, and forget so easily.

Had it not been for the seriousness of the situation he would have acted in his true way. To demand on whither or not she had been cured and ready to marry Akane. But where as Genma had many faults, he was not so stupid to not know what was going on...his child was here to kill him. He could see it in her eyes. They never wavered from him, never showed a moment of softness, but remained as hard as diamonds in there intensity, the intent as clear in them as his reflection in a mirror. He wept in his mind. To think it had gotten so bad. It had not been his idea to throw Ranma out. No, that distinction had fallen to Nodoka...he could remember that night clearly..the shock and adrenalin having removed all traces of drunkenness.

******************************************Flashback/Genma's POV*****************************************

Genma was sitting in the living room at the dojo. Normally he'd be playing a game with Soun but today just couldn't muster up the energy. He knew something was wrong and was certain it had to do with Ranma..Ranma, the boy had left around a month ago without telling anyone where he was going, saying it was so he could do what he needed to do unhindered. He knew better..the real reason Ranma didn't want anyone to know was so he could get away from everything for awhile. He had found the letter Ranma had received and was startled to find that he was going to help in a war. To prefer a war over what was going on here..

Genma knew he wasn't a good father. He had tried but always seemed to back slide. When he set those engagements up in exchange for food he had honestly thought that they wouldn't bother looking for him over a few bits of food. He never put Ranma in any actual danger, save the Neko-Ken, and he felt shame and guilt for that when ever his son looked at a cat and ran. Even during the almost suicidal ones Ranma wasn't in any actual danger. When Ranma ran from wolves he was running unseen beside him in case he tripped or wasn't fast enough. When teaching Ranma to fall he always made sure he could catch him if he was gonna fall wrong. Every time he took precautions, but always out of Ranma's view. If the boy thought there was no safe failure he would train harder. His one non-regret in a way was Jusenkyo. He had saw how Ranma was becoming to women and those weaker then him and knew it was mostly his fault. It wasn't the girl insults, those were benign. No it was that he had trained him too well and too far from people. Ranma was winning fights hand over foot and believed he was unbeatable. He had taken a misogynistic point of view and Genma knew he needed to be brought down a few pegs.

That being said Genma didn't plan Jusenkyo. That had been a lucky occurrence. It had shown Ranma that you can't win everything and that there are consequences if you fail. That Ranma had become a girl had only made him happier. Here was the perfect opportunity to get him over his misogynistic ways. It was afterward he remembered the promise to his wife. It also threw a monkey wrench into the clockworks when Ranma got over his don't hit girls mindset but still felt girls were inferior.

A sharp knocking at the front door snapped Genma from his memories. Seeing he was closest to the door he got up and opened it. At first he didn't see anyone but a poking at his belly made him look down. At first he didn't recognise the girl in front of him. She looked to be about 6 or 7. He was about to ask if she was lost when he got a good look at her face. He recognised it immediately. It was the same face he saw during that whole mushroom disaster. What she said next was the clincher.

"You gonna let me in Pop's?" She said, little emotion was in her voice, like the voice of one dead.

Too shocked to say anything he stepped out of the way to allow Ranma to pass into the house before following her into the living room. No one seemed to notice at first save Nabiki, and her only response was to grow rather wide eyed for a sec before narrowing them. Seemed she remembered what child-ranma-chan looked like.

Ranma stood in front of the doorway to the living room seemingly unsure whether or not to go in. Finally making her decision she stepped fully into the room and sat down on one side of the coffee table still not saying anything.

*********************************************Present********************************************************

Genma snapped out of his recollection as he was forced to dodge a clawed strike aimed for his neck. Glancing around he noticed that they were near the koi pond as opposed to near the front gate where they had started. He guessed that he had been fighting on auto during his memory trip. Berating himself for forgetting the fight he upped his speed and power to force Ranma on the defencive.

The Tendos inside were watching this fight with the same attention one gives a train wreck in progress. That is, with both horror and the inability to look away. They assumed (correctly) that it was someone after Genma's head but didn't know who. It was when the attacker's face had been highlighted by a streetlamp positioned outside the gate that the saw just who it was.

At first it had seemed like Ranma was only after beating up her father. But when she started slashing with some kind of black claws they realised that it was bigger then that. It wasn't until Ranma had used her wings to jump a bit higher that they actually noticed them. What had them worried most was that for a good part of the beginning Ganma had a odd look on his face, like he wasn't fully concentrating. After seeing him dodge a blow ment to kill him the tempo of the battle picked up. Soon Genma had Ranma on the defencive.

**************************************Ranma's POV***************************************************

Black claws met ki reinforced blocks. Kicks met with redirects. She wasn't making any headway. She knew she was gonna lose this. Before losing her birth form she would have won hands down. Now however her father's longer reach was a deciding factor. She had her energy still but it was draining to fast. She was having to use it to bring her strength and speed up to match her former abilities leaving non for special attacks. Even then she could do little about her reach. Whenever she tried to get in close she was forced back. She needed her abilities back. Her ki would only last so long before giving out...

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Inside Ranma's body was a small nexus of darkness that had been growing since being put there by Theodorian's spell. It was, for all matters, a parasite. It's original purpose was to stimulate it's host's bad memories while simultaneously suppressing it's good in an effort to "bring over" someone to darkness. It was meant to cause the target to give in to there darkest desires of revenge or similar. Normally this worked fine. This time however it had been different. Instead of falling into darkness it's host had begun to fall into insanity from the shear number of repressed memories that were drug up. The parasitic darkness had attempted to shut off the memories to prevent further harm to it's host, after all, lose the host and it vanished. It was unable to stop the memories from surfacing and in a last effort shut off most of it's host's emotions. Fear and determination where not able to be shut off due to how much was present but were able to be dulled enough to prevent insanity. This left behind a logical, uncaring, fear capable, fighting machine that had a virtual horror film playing in her head and one goal in mind. Unable to do anything further in this regard it turned back to it's secondary function of providing a link to it's master.

Now however it was feeling it's host need to be stronger. Monitoring it's host memories it found the point in which she was at her peak and began to augment the body to match this point as close as possible. It was unable to change the sex of it's host as it had been limited never to allow such a thing to happen even tho by drawing more power it could have easily over powered the magic holding her host female. It was able to augment her age to a more acceptable level before locking the age down to prevent it from backsliding until it was able to apply it permanently. This whole process took about 3 seconds.

**************************************Mercury's POV*******************************************************

Mercury was leading the way followed by Moon, Jupiter, and Neptune as she traced Ranma's signature on her visor. She had been surprised when Usagi had shaken her awake yelling that Ranma was missing. It had taken her a moment to get Usagi to calm down enough to tell her what happened and a few more moments to unravel the convoluted mess of words a distraught Usagi was able to get out. She had lucked out when she realised she had fallen asleep with the computer monitoring the girl as she had been able to get a reading on her new signature. After calling Artemus and telling him to wake the others after 2 unsuccessful tries they had left the hospital and took off after Ranma.

She was just about to tell the others they were getting close when the visor picked up a large spike in dark energy. Choosing not to waste any breath she picked up her speed and arrived on a rooftop bordering a small private compound. Hearing the others land behind her she looked for the girl. She didn't have to look hard. Standing next to a koi pond facing off against a fat bald man was Ranma. Hearing a soft noise she turned just in time to see Moon leap off the building to land next to the house.

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It was at this point that all those looking at Ranma became glad they had empty stomachs when her body started to contort. Ranma screamed in pain as her body seemed to shift in slow motion as the unseen darkness started to change in her age. Her body grew taller and the leotard she was wearing ripped off as her body developed it's proportions. Her hair grew out and her wings grew larger even as they streamlined. After around 30 seconds her body stopped changing and she got up from where she had collapsed. She ripped the torn useless leotard shreds from her and they got a good look at her naked glory.

It was obviously an older Ranma but different from her original cursed form. She stood around

5 ft 7 in. and had a figure built more for the runway then a battle, tho no one could deny the toned muscles that flexed as she stood. Her hair reached down to the small of her back and was red with streaks of jet black flowing through it like she had fire and night pouring down her back. Her eyes however were the most startling. Her left eye was it's normal blue but her right had turned a purple so vivid it seemed to glow in the moon light. The tops of her wings now ended over her head but the bottoms stopped near her calves.

Deep inside her the darkness was working to restore the lines it had made in order to control her mind that the age jump had destroyed. It had to act fast before the host broke free and it got ejected. It was also unable to pull more power from it's master and would fade out anyway with out it.

***********************************Ranma POV*************************************************************

Ranma felt pain so great she hoped for anything, even death, to take it away. After what seemed like an eternity the pain finally stopped and she took a few moments to catch her breath before standing. As she stood she noticed she was taller and her balance center was off. Looking down she noticed her new body and for a moment wondered where it came from before banishing the thought. She would deal with it later. Ripping the now useless and tight leotard from her she turned back toward Genma to finish the fight that would now be in her favor. Just as she was about to rush forward she heard a sound she hadn't heard in months.

"RANMA YOU PERVERT!"

************************************Moon's POV************************************************************

She had jumped down in order to stop the fight. She didn't know who was winning or losing since she wasn't a martial artist herself but DID know it wouldn't end well as she could feel Ranma's killer intent. She had just hit the ground however when Ranma started to scream and change. When the transformation was down Moon was hit by a sudden wave a jelousy, a feeling shared by all 7 females in the area. The dark energy that had been rolling off her moments ago was now muted but still there.

"No...It's just like Dark Lady all over again..."

Seeing Ranma tense she was just about to jump into the fight to try and stop her when she heard someone scream

"RANMA YOU PERVERT!"

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Akane was furious. How dare Ranma show her up again. Not that she was jealous, nope, not at all. She was furious however at the fact that Ranma was standing naked in the yard. Bringing out her mallet she rushed forward to once again teach Ranma a lesson. Screaming out her normal battle cry she went to bring the mallet down on Ranma's skull when her target moved. Surprised that she had missed she failed to see the fist that sent her into a wall and into dreamland.

Things degenerated from there..

Soun, seeing his daughter get hit, left the safety of the house and rushed toward Ranma just as Genma did. The Senshi had by this time joined with Moon on the ground and the other Senshi not present earlier had finally arrived. All save Saturn moved in to subdue Ranma.

But Ranma was stronger now. Her new body had the reach she had needed along with a much needed reprieve from having to use ki to augment her strength constantly. She moved with the grace of a ballerina and the strength of a tank. Blow sent at her were redirected to other targets. Magic sent her way was effortlessly dodged. Nothing they did seamed to hit but she never seamed to throw a punch.

It was Jupiter that figured it out first. Jumping out of the fight she yelled out "Hit the dirt!!" before grabbing a nearby tree. She had seen this before when Ranma had been fighting multiple demons at once. The Senshi, hearing the warning, jumped from the fight also and grabbed anything latched down. Soun and Genma kept fighting however.

When Ranma reached the middle of her spiral she did the upper cut needed to create the tornado. Soun and Genma were sucked up in the vortex and thrown out of the compound and into the streets. Jumping over the wreckage the tornado had caused she went after them followed by the Senshi. She found them laying in the street unconscious.

Walking over to Genma she raised her hand and formed the black claws she intended to use to gut him like a trout. She stopped her swipe however as Saturn jumped between her and her target and cast a Silence Wall.

The Senshi were shocked at Saturn's move. If she had been a second to late she would have been killed. Seeing the wall start to fade they moved forward to subdue Ranma.

*******************************************Ranma POV******************************************************

She was close. They wall was fading and her target was still. All she had to do was go through the girl in front of her. That would end the nightmares. So why couldn't she do it? It would have been easy. Just one swipe. Why couldn't she just move? What was stopping her?

Unknown to Ranma the darkness in her had run out of energy and was almost totally faded. Her emotions were coming back to her and the logical machine was fading. Soon she'd have them all back. And because of that she was unable to hurt the girl that had become her best friend.

So cought up in her internal debate she didn't notice the Senshi till it was to late, not that she struggled much. Held down by the Senshi she heard Moon shout some spell. As it hit she felt as if a great weight had been removed from her shoulder's. Her emotions came back and the nightmares disappeared. She felt her wings shift from the leathery bat-like wings to the normal feathered kind.

With the Senshi no longer holding her down she stood and looked into a nearby window large enough to show her reflection. Her body hadn't changed from the one that the darkness had given her save the wings had become feathered again. They were black however and she couldn't pull them in.

Turning to the Senshi she saw them tense up but ignored that. Reaching Saturn she knelt down and pulled her into a tight hug. Feeling her hug back she finally let the emotions that had been built up to this point out. After she was done she let go of the girl and stood up. Before anything could be said however they heard a laughing. Turning to the sound they saw a man standing there. Ranma recognised him immediately. She rushed and threw a punch to his face but passed right through him.

"Haha did you really think I would be so arrogant as to use my physical self in front of so many?

Tell me Ranma. Did you like the little gift of darkness I gave you? True it didn't work the way I planned but these things do happen. Too bad it was destroyed by that girl over there but that was only the main part. You'll never be free of it's taint. I eagerly await the day you finally give in to your darker side."

Having said his part the projection of Theodorian vanished. Ranma stared at the spot for awhile before turning and jumping to a nearby room. The Senshi followed her up and saw her about to jump to another.

"Wait!" shouted Saturn.

Turning around Ranma saw her standing near the center of the roof with the Senshi behind her.

"Where are you going? Your not leaving are you?"

Looking at the girl Ranma spoke in a voice that seemed like it had never actually been used. So raspy was it that it seemed like she wasn't so much talking as growling.

"I have to..I have to find him and a way to remove the taint from my soul. It's not good bye forever. I'll come back, you'll see. But for now I have to go."

"But..."

"No buts. It's something I have to do. Because of him I almost killed my ex-father. I almost did a lot of things there I would regret. I'll return when it's over, ok?"

She hugged Saturn to her once more before turning and roof hopping away. The Senshi stood there watching her go while Neptune comforted Saturn.

After all but Moon left she Moon dropped her transformation and stood on the room looking to where Ranma had gone.

"Goodby Ranma..I hope you find what your looking for." Then she too left..by way of fire escape...

"Why did I drop my transformation....?"