No Wisdom Without Regret

Prologue: A Change of Pace

Updated: 7/19/11 - Fixed formatting errors

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Gantz. I wish I did. That would be awesome! Course, if I did own them, then I probably wouldn't be writing fanfiction or let the Gantz anime end the way it did. Hmm anyway, kudos to both Rumiko Takahashi and Hiroya Oka for everything.

As with many days lately, Ranma was not having a good one. It had been a year since the wedding, and he had changed a lot. Unfortunately, none of the fiances and rivals had. He closed his eyes as he sailed through the air and thought about his day.

He had been woken up by being thrown out the window by his fat panda of a father, again. Had Akane walk in on him while he was in the furo, again. Had been barely able to eat any breakfast, again. Was late to school and had to hold buckets, again. Fought Kuno, Mousse, Ryoga, and Happosai during lunch break, again. Had his Ki drained by Miss Hinako for eating his lunch at his desk, again. Got attacked by his fiancees and a new challenger on the way to the dojo, again. Was malleted by Akane for not eating the toxic sludge she had made for him, again.

*Sigh* Opening his eyes to get a better view of the evening sky and the stars beginning to shine down on him. Admiring the beauty, he took a deep breath and started thinking back on the past year. "Why do I even bother trying with Akane anymore? She hits me for even the littlest things now. I don't even like her anymore. Hell, makes me wonder why I ever tried to love her as more than an annoying sister.

"She treats me like crap even after everything we've been through. I killed for her, I managed to find the scrolls for and master the Umisenken and Yamasenken to protect her better, I started to apply myself to my studies, so no one would make fun of her for having a stupid and ignorant fiance, I cleaned up my speaking and manners for her... Well... Her and mom, but still the point stands. The only thing I haven't done for her lately was mastering the Neko-ken. I did that for myself. I pretty much had to after that damn ghost-cat incident. That was so embarrassing I still hide the fact that it's under my control now mainly to keep Shampoo away, and it's a fun way to mess with people.

"Speaking of which, that crazy Amazon just won't give up, and her grandma can stay the hell away from me with all of her spices and potions... Unless the old ghoul wants to teach me some new techniques, of course.

"Then there's Ukyo, I seriously don't know why she can't accept the fact that I don't feel the same way about her as she does for me and just move on. Konatsu would probably be good for her. They even match and can use it for marketing, the crossdressing duo!"

Ranma gave a rueful grin before continuing on with his thoughts. "Course, I can't really say anything. I've gone and accepted my curse. I have to admit, it even has its perks. Still embarrassing as hell when I change in front of someone, but it could be worse. At least I can speak to explain the situation after I change and not be stuck making animal noises."

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he began to angle and twist himself around to see where he was headed and to get ready to make his landing. He was not amused by what he saw.

If the cliff face had a face, he'd see that contrary to what he was feeling, it was amused. Especially when Ranma made a face that said, "This is going to hurt," right before he slammed into it, which bore a striking resemblance to a bug hitting a windshield.

Ranma's vision faded as he thought, "One day, that tomboy will be the death of me."

When he next opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling over his head. Sitting up, he noticed that he was in some sort of apartment filled with people and a large black ball sitting on one side of the room.

Author Notes: This was spawned from a very sick part of my brain that commented that Ranma would kick ass in the Gantz world. I get a lot of those and have written many outlines and two other stories that I dont feel are good enough yet.

This chapter may have been fairly light and short, but future chapters will become VERY dark and longer. I promise at least 3000 words per chapter from here on out.

Also, just a note, but I will be following the manga and NOT the anime.