Ranma's Hell Forge

Disclaimer: You know the drill. I don't own any of the characters from Ranma 1/2 or Spawn Blah, blah, blah, or X-Force, Blah, Blah Blah, yadda, yadda, yadda!

* *: Thoughts

' ': Stressed words or sarcasm (depending on how it's worded.

{ }: Author's notes.

CHAPTER 01

Exploding

The first day of school. Ranma sighed and hung his head as he walked towards Furinkan high. He had been in a blue funk all day and the day before, dreading the start of the new school year. Akane and Nabiki walked on either side of him in the same direction. Both girls seemed to like the prospect of going back to the land of boring. Ranma looked like he was being lead to his beheading.

"Cheer up Ranma." Akane said with a cheerful smile. "Schools not that bad. You'll probably meet some new friends and, if you study hard, get good grades."

"I don't know Akane." Nabiki injected into her little sisters conversation. "Ranma barely passed all of his classes last year. The only reason the teachers gave him 50's was because they liked him and felt sorry for him. They think he's 'special' you know."

Ranma glared at Nabiki. "What do you mean special!?!" He demanded. He then stopped and shouted. "I CAN BE SMART IF I WANTED TO!!" Ranma then got splashed by an old lady who was washing her walkway in front of her house inevitably the pigtailed martial artist turned into a busty young red haired girl. Ranma stood there and frowned.

Nabiki chuckled. "Well Saotome you never seem to learn, for instance how many times are you gonna get splashed by that old lady every time you walk by here? Really, I would have thought that you would have figured out by now to stay away from her."

"SHE'S PLOTTING AGAINST ME! IT'S SOME SORT OF CONSPIRACY!!" Ranma tried to attack the old lady but Akane rushed in and stopped Ranma by grabbing her arms and restraining the pigtailed girl.

"RANMA! She's just an old lady leave her alone!" The lady who was the subject of their discussion turned and walked back into the house having not heard the bickering at all, or seen the attempted attack. Probably cause she's deaf and half blind. Ranma didn't know that though.

Ranma fumed as she walked the rest of the way to school awaiting a day full of pain suffering and confusion. Hell! She hadn't even reached the school grounds and had been splashed turned into a girl and teased by her fiancé's sister. Ranma grumbled as she and Akane entered Tofu's Clinic on the way to get some hot water for Ranma. Nabiki went on without them anticipating another school year of blackmailing, betting, and raking in profits.

***********

Later on, after Ranma had gotten hot water from Tofu and turned male again, Hiroshi and Daisuke were walking on either side of Ranma down the halls. "So Ranma What do you got first?" Daisuke asked. Ranma shrugged and then dug around in his pockets pulling out his timetable a moment later.

"Uhhh, something called special education. Whatever that is." Hiroshi and Daisuke looked at each other with confused looks each looking to the other for an explanation. They turned they're attention back to Ranma who was still looking at his timetable. "Then I got shop class. What do you do there?" He asked looking to both of his friends for an explanation.

"That's where you build stuff like cars and stuff. You get to build other stuff too though." Ranma looked thoughtful as he began pondering what he could make in that class. Something clicked in his mind as he thought about it.

"Sounds kind of fun." Ranma said. Hiroshi and Daisuke stood shocked as they heard this. Ranma? Being interessted in something concerning school that wasn't physical education??

Hiroshi rushed up to Ranma, grabbed his shirt, and began shaking him. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE REAL RANMA!!!???" He screamed at the pigtailed boy, catching the attention of all the students in the vicinity.

"Huh?" Ranma said as he looked at his perverted friends in genuine confusion. "What are you talking about Roshi?" This got Hiroshi irritated and he fumed with anger.

"THE REAL RANMA WOULD NEVER SHOW INTEREST IN SCHOOL!! YOU JUST SAID THAT ONE OF THE CLASSES ON YOUR TIMETABLE SOUNDED FU..."

SMACK!!

Ranma backhanded his friend into a wall. "SNAP OUT OF IT MAN!" Hiroshi stood up and rubbed his jaw for a moment to get the feeling back into it.

"Yup! Your the real Ranma. I would know that hand imprint anywhere." noted Hiroshi as he walked up to Ranma and Daisuke now completely fine, and sane. "Why the sudden change of heart Ranma?" He asked.

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know, just sounds better'n going to math or something." Daisuke nodded and tried looking intelligent.

"He's got a point there Roshi. I'd rather take shop than math or English any day." the boys continued down the hall towards their first period classes.

*************

The bell rang and students poured out of their first period classes with groans and whines as they bitched about all the homework they had to do or the next class coming up. There were a few exceptions though. For instance Ranma strolled out of his first class with a big grin plastered on his face. He was feeling good about himself. He had actually gotten pretty good marks on a review test. It was really easy too. Akane walked by Ranma on the way to her second period class and frowned.

"What are _you_ so happy about!?" She spat.

Ranma seemed not to notice. He just smiled back at her seeming not to notice her crappy mood. "Nothin. Just that my first class is a breeze." Akane looked confused.

*Ranma doing good in school?* She thought as she walked alongside her wayward fiancé through the halls. "What class is it?" she asked in genuine curiosity. Ranma pulled out his time table from his pocket and waved it in front of her face.

"Who cares?" He said, "All I care is that it's easy."

Akane grabbed the paper out of his hands, unfolded it, and began reading. Akane's face twisted into a confused then wickedly cruel smirk as she now realized what Nabiki was talking about on the way to school. "Ranma, This class is for people with learning disabilities." She noted as she pointed to the sheet of paper.

Ranma stopped and looked at it for a moment. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Akane giggled and gave him back the paper. "It means that the teachers stuck you in that class because they think your a RETARD HA HA HA!!" Akane then broke out into a full untamed laugh.

"WHAT!?!" Ranma screamed as he looked at the paper with cold hard fury in his eyes. He read the description of the class quietly to himself. "Special people...learning disabilities...physical AND mental!!? WHO WOULD PULL THIS BULL...?" Ranma's gaze landed on the middle Tendo daughter Nabiki as he scanned through the crowd of people.

"Nabiki..." Ranma snarled under his breath as he fixed the extortionist and all time sneak with a hateful icy glare. She caught his gaze but was unfazed and just smirked at him. Ranma was about to walk up to her and give her a piece of his mind when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"What is it Aka...Oh it's you. What do you want Kuno!?" Sure enough Tatewaki Kuno, the self proclaimed rising star of kendo; The Blue Thunder, stood behind the pigtailed martial artist.

"Verily Saotome I merely come to offer mine sincerest apologies."

Ranma looked confused. "WHAT!?!"

"Thine disability hast been a mystery to me. Would I The Blue Thunder have known of it; this travesty of a rivalry I would never have let come to being." Ranma was fuming. Nabiki had probably spread this gossip all over town by now. Kuno blabbed on. "...and the pigtailed girl, I have been informed, carries this mental disability as well, hence thou and thine sister will not be bothered by mine person from this day forward."

"Sister?!" Ranma was more confused than ever. "I don't have a sister."

Kuno hung and shook his head. "Alas the amnesia. Nabiki hast informed me about this. It is a tragedy indeed. The pigtailed girl is thine own sister. Nabiki Tendo has sold my personage this information. I give you my friendship and should you ever need a hand with anything you need simply ask and I shall assist." Ranma nodded sheepishly as he stared stupidly at the taller boy. The crazy Kuno then walked off into the halls. "I now take my leave for I have spotted the lovely tigress Akane Tendo and after such a long perilous summer break she must have want of mine affection."

Ranma stood stupefied as he watched Kuno glomp onto and then get smashed into the stratosphere by the girls mallet. *Kuno? A FRIEND???* Ranma thought with disgust. "I think not." With that Ranma began to head towards his next class.

************

"Hello class I am Mr Tokogawa. I'll be your shop instructor. In this class I will be teaching you about the many tools and equipment in the class. The outfits you are wearing are to protect your clothes from getting oil on them. It'll ruin your clothes should that happen. When we are working with most mechanical equipment you will be required to wear your protective goggles. Now if everyone could please take a partner and station yourselves at one on the many work stations in the shop, then I will be coming around and helping you learn how to use them. After each of you has learned how to use the equipment at your stations then we will rotate and you will begin on a new one."

Ranma quickly grabbed Hiroshi, who was also in his class, as his partner and dragged him over to an electric grinder where there was a box of scrap metal and wires laying beside it. Ranma eyes the box with excitement. Ranma couldn't explain it but when he looked around at all of these electronics and heavy machinery he felt almost like he did when he was practicing martial arts.

Before he even knew it he was building something out of the parts in the box beside the bench. "What're you doing Ranma? We shouldn't be touching anything without the Teacher saying so. Do you want to get kicked out of the class?!" Said Hiroshi in a hushed but stern voice.

He didn't get an answer.

Ranma then turned on the grinder and began grinding something. Hiroshi got nervous as, the loud noise would surely grab the teachers attention. When he looked back to the grinder Ranma was gone, He looked frantically around the room for his friend and finally spotted him at a cutting machine. Once Hiroshi's gaze had come into focus Ranma dashed away from the new workplace and went to another. The Teacher of course noticed by now and was shouting at the boy.

"Saotome Take your place and turn those machines off this INSTANT!" Ranma didn't answer the old man at all and continued to work frantically on whatever it was he was working on. Just when the teacher was about to shout for Ranma to stop again Ranma stopped back at his station beside Hiroshi at the grinder. The teacher stalked towards Ranma with a scowl.

"Mister Saotome! I don't care if you are handi..." The teacher stopped and pointed to the object sitting on the workbench beside Ranma. "What's that?" The teacher asked the boy. Ranma shrugged.

"I don't know. I just wanted to build something so I did." The object in question was spherical and gleamed a silvery colour. Hiroshi picked up a small hand held remote with directional buttons and some switches. Hiroshi turned one of the switches to on and then pieces of the ball began opening up, revealing blue glowing lights and a small oval piece of black machinery at the bottom. Everyone in the class leaned in closer for a better look once it had finished transforming.

Everyone in the room gasped and jumped back as the machine began to hum and lift off into the air. It just hovered there for a moment and the teacher stepped forward to examine it. "Remarkable!" He said with excitement as he gazed at the technological wonder that his student had just created. "Ranma you've just uncovered the secret to anti gravitation, YOUR A GENIUS!"

"I thought he was a retard." Noted one of the other students. Ranma decked him and the teacher rambled on.

"Why... If we were to sell this we would make billions! Furinkan high would go down in HISTORY!! I have to get some of the other teachers. They'll never believe it!" With that Mr Tokogawa ran out the doors in search of some other teachers .

Meanwhile the students all crowded around Hiroshi begging him to let them fly it. Hiroshi didn't let them and he flew it around the room a couple of times. Ranma smiled as he realized what the thing was. Somehow he could just...tell.

"What's this do Hiroshi asked as he pressed a red button on the side of the remote. Ranma's eyes went wide and he grabbed the controller from the boy. Ranma steered the thing out the nearest window as fast as his martial art reflexes would allow him to. After a few seconds an explosion was heard that literally rocked the foundation.

Out on the school yard. Kuno walked briskly out of the front doors with a wide smile on his face. He had a red rose in his hand and was sniffing it euphorically (pathologically speaking of course). "Ah to think the fair flower Hinako sends me of all her students to deliver yon message to the ice cream parlor. She must truly be in love with me to bestow such a pleasure unto me." Kuno said as he held up a letter in front of himself and examined it. His expression turned seriously thoughtful. "But what of my love Akane Tendo!? Truly she would feel abandoned where I to choose Hinako over her. Alas the thought tears my soul to the very center... I MUST HAVE THEM BOTH!!"

Just then the insane Kendo champion looked towards the sky as a silver orb with blue glowing panels rushed towards him. "Eh What is this?" Kuno mused. "Surely this must be a sign from the gods that I, Akane, and Ms. Hinako are destined to be together."

BOOM!!!!

The explosion from the silver blue orb created a large crater in the school yard and Kuno lie in the center burnt to a crisp. "Truly a sign!" He muttered insanely before passing out into unconsciousness.

************

Mr. Tokogawa ran back into the shop room with about a dozen other teachers following behind him. He began to talk about how talented and phenomenal Ranma's building talents were and about the hovering orb he had built. He waved his hands out as if to present something but the teachers saw nothing.

"So what is it we've been pulled from our classes to see Mr. Tokogawa?" Asked a balding male teacher from the crowd. Mr Tokogawa spun around and began looking for the orb frantically.

"Where is it? I was right there a moment ago..." Tokogawa then turned to Ranma who was smiling sheepishly. The teacher rushed up to Ranma grabbed him by the front of his shirt and screamed in the boys face. "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ANTI GRAVITATION DEVICE RANMAAAAAA!!!!????!!!!" Ranma put his hands up in front of his face to block the rainstorm of saliva that was being spit at him.

"Jeeze! Say it don't spray it Geezer!" Ranma said. "It kind of blew up."

Tokogawa's jaw dropped to the floor at the boys words. Mentally he could see little American thousand dollar bills with angel wings get shot down by devils with shotguns along with grants, fans, and history books with the words Furinkan genius written on the covers.

The teachers that Tokogawa had brought with him turned around in a huff and began to storm out of the room muttering things as they left.

"Old geezer."

"Waste of time."

"Senile."

The balding teacher from before turned around to face the still shocked Tokogawa and gave a few words of scholastic wisdom. "You should get some help Tokogawa. That drinking problem of yours will get you into a lot of trouble someday." With that said the teacher left the room.

Tokogawa stood in the center of the room with tears streaming down his face. "They don't understand. They were supposed to understand." Tokogawa then gave an evil glare at the door where the other teachers had left. "I'll make them understand."

************

Lunch time.

Ranma and Hiroshi walked around the school grounds with Daisuke hanging around. Wow! That was amazing! I can't believe you made that thing Ranma!" Noted Hiroshi as he recalled the device Ranma had devised in shop class. "How did you do that Ranma!?"

Ranma shrugged at his friends question. "It's hard to explain." He said. "First I was all normal and stuff, then there was this...thing."

"Thing?" asked Daisuke in bafflement.

Ranma shook his head. "I don't know, It's hard to explain. It's like a piece of a puzzle that you lost...and then...you, like, find it and then the whole picture kinda comes together? This sounds stupid! It's just...I feel like I could make ANYTHING given the right parts." Ranma said frustrated.

"So you say you could make 'anything'?" asked Hiroshi. Ranma shrugged.

"I guess so."

"AIREEEEN!!!"

Ranma jerked to a halt and spun around to where he had heard the high pitched bubbly voice. No sooner had he turned his head a rubber tire impacted with his head. He fell to the ground and a purple haired Chinese amazon then calmly dismounted the red bike that she rode right into her 'husbands' head. She then ducked down opened up a delivery box and waved it under Ranma's nose.

"Shampoo make delicious Cantonese style pork for airen. Is very good. You eat yes?" Ranma groaned beneath the red bike and the amazon who happened to be conveniently digging her feet into the pigtailed boy's spine.

"Hello Shampoo." Ranma said in severe discomfort. As he shoved the girl and her bike off of him so he could stand up. Shampoo pivoted in the air and landed lightly on her feet. Then continued trying to get Ranma to eat her food, knowing very well that the way to his heart was through his stomach.

"You eat now Airen." She said as she tried to feed Ranma. Ranma didn't even get the chance to smell the food. No sooner had Shampoo said her last words a metal spatula split through the air and cut the chopsticks she was holding in half, along with the tray as well.

"No way are you gonna feed that 'poison' to my Ran-chan!" Said Ukyo Kuonji, one of Ranma's many fiances. The aforementioned boy moaned as he witnessed the soon to be all out brawl between his friends and family. Ever since the failed wedding attempt {see Ranma 1/2 Manga, Vol 38} all the girls ever did was fight over him. It always ended the same as well, Ranma ran for his life while a bunch of females either tried to poison, kill, or marry him. Noone ever won.

"What you do!" Yelled the Chinese amazon with her usual heavy accent. "You ruin Ranma's lunch!" Ukyo shook her head and took up a stance after pulling an okinomiyaki with R+U written on it in sauce out of seemingly nowhere.

"Nuh uh 'bimbo'! The only thing Ranma's gonna eat is my food." She said matter of factly. "Right Ran-chan?" She asked her arranged fiancé. Ranma waved it of and began walking away, for once trying to avoid a conflict. Hiroshi began to suspect that this wasn't the real Ranma, but, he decided to stay out of it.

Ukyo and Shampoo, seeing that Ranma was getting away, chased after the boy and then they both dove in and gave him a double glomp. {Crushing hug, for those of you who do not follow anime physics and terminology.}

"Where you going Ran-chan!?" Asked Ukyo desperately.

"You stay here with Shampoo!" said the amazon plain and simple. Ukyo glared at the purple haired Chinese girl and let go of Ranma, putting her hands on her hips.

"What do you mean stay with 'Shampoo'!?" she asked threateningly.

Shampoo also let go of Ranma and glared at the okinomiyaki cook with equal intensity. "Ranma is Shampoo's husband." She said. "Is customary for husbands to eat wives cooking and sleep with." She said, the last part turning her facial expression from a glare to a smirk.

"Excuse me!?" Said Ukyo angrily. "Would you care to run that by be again?!" She emphasized her point by unhooking her battle spatula from the holster on her back.

Shampoo met the challenge by pulling out her Bonbori {big mettle maces. Don't ask me where she pulled them from.} "What? You no,no of what me and Airen is doing at nights?"

Ukyo snarled and leapt at the girl. "THAT'S IT YOU ARE GOING DOWN BITCH!!" With that the two girls began using everything in their martial arts arsenal to get the better of the other. Ranma quietly tried to sneak away..

"I SAW THAT!" Ranma shuddered as he slowly turned to meet the voice of the new person speaking.

"Er,...Hi...Akane." Ranma said weakly, knowing and dreading what was sure to happen next. Ranma's eyes widened and he clutched his stomach as it contorted in pain. It wasn't like the feeling that he had gotten in shop class where he made the explosive device. It was completely different. It was like an energy, trying to consume him, almost as if this 'feeling' had a life and consciousness of it's own.

*W-What is this?* Ranma thought as he desperately tried to fight down whatever it was building up inside of him. Akane didn't notice Ranma clutching his stomach. The only thing she was concerned with was her own jealousy of Ukyo and Shampoo giving Ranma any attention. Not that she would ever actually admit to anyone, including herself, that she was jealous. Instead the short black haired Tendo daughter pulled out a giant mallet and did the usual batting Ranma into the stratosphere while screaming, "RANMA YOU JERK!!"

None of the girls noticed the light green aura that had begun building up around Ranma's body, nor did they see the trail of this energy flowing off of Ranma as he sailed through the sky via mallet air.

************

Ranma landed in the koi pond of the Tendo dojo with a large splash. Koi got washed up onto the ground and water drenched every nearby object. Ranma grumbled as she climbed up out of the pond, kicked the koi back in and went inside after peeling of her soaking shirt. When she got to the room she shared with her father she took off the rest of her clothing and dumped them in the corner of the room.

The now naked red haired girl looked quickly around the room for a towel or some sort she could cover herself with. She shrugged and picked out one of Genma's freshly washed Gi tops from the dresser drawer in the one corner of the room. She put it on and walked across the hall towards the bathroom to take a bath.

Genma entered the Tendo dojo with a smile on his face. The bald, fat martial artist had taken Ranma's allowance and gotten himself dinner at a fairly nice restaurant. The boy wouldn't know and besides he didn't get home until at least three. A shot of fear shot through Genma's brain like lightning as he just remembered something. Something he had been dreading for nearly sixteen years. Tomorrow was Ranma's seventeenth birthday.

Genma tightened the belt on his gi and walked out to the yard. It was a nice large yard with a lot of space to move around in. The man got into a stance and then began doing some complicated katas.

Ranma smiled as he sat in the steaming hot water in the tub. He pondered the events of earlier with a frown. *What is goin on with me?* he wondered in his mind. *First I find out I can make practically anything and then some sort of energy tries to take over my body or somethin.* Ranma's eyes flew open as he considered terrifying idea. *What if I've got some sorta disease or sickness!? I better go se Tofu soon.* Ranma's stomach growled reminding him that he hadn't eaten a single bite of Shampoo's Ramen or Ukyo's okinomiyaki. Ranma got a new plan of action, food first, anything else, later. With that Ranma lifted himself from the tub and made his way to the changing room where he had set a dry pair of clothes for himself.

************

Kasumi hummed a happy tune as she entered the Tendo Dojo. She smiled at Genma Saotome who was busy working on a kata. "Hello mister Saotome." She said nodding at him in greeting, not able to use her hands for they were currently holding the groceries that she had just purchased.

Genma smiled back at the eldest Tendo daughter but didn't stop his workout. "Hello Kasumi." Kasumi entered the house and walked straight to the kitchen to sort out the groceries and put them away in their proper place. Ranma hopped down the stairs and greeted Kasumi as well as he passed by the girl.

Ranma noticed his father doing an advanced kata and was a little confused. *Pop?...'practicing'?* Ranma thought. His father almost never practiced the art anymore. All the fat man ever seemed to do was lounge around the dojo in Panda form, play shogi with Soun, and get drunk. "YO POP! WHAT'S THE OCCASION!?" He yelled at the man from the open door.

Genma looked over to his son and frowned. "RANMA! What are you doing home!?!" Ranma shrugged.

"Akane sent me home." Genma frowned.

"Get over here boy. If you're not going to go to school than you're going to spend your time practicing the art." Ranma shrugged and took his regular place on one side of the koi pond, which was quite short on water. Genma took up his position on the other side and then they began. Ranma was surprised. His father was actually fighting a lot harder than he usually did. Ranma just smiled, he could beat the old man any day, after all Ranma had defeated a god before Genma was a pushover compared to Saffron. {See, again, Ranma 1/2 Manga vol. 38}

Ranma threw a punch and kick combo but the old man actually evaded or blocked every single blow. *Woah! Maybe Pop's been holding out on me these years. That was one of my best combos.* Genma smiled menacingly at Ranma, Ranma knew that the old man was holding something back now. The pigtailed boy then dodged a seriously complicated aerial attack. A few of the attacks hit home and he held his mid-section in pain. Ranma looked up at his father in pure shock.

*That punch made Ryoga's Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan feel like a baby's kick! What's the old man been hiding all these years.* Genma laughed as he stood on the other side of the koi pond.

"Well Ranma, doesn't seem that your all that great now does it? I'll bet you're wondering how I got so good so quick, or whether or not I've been hiding my full power from you." Ranma smiled and was about to give a witty retort but was cut of when his stomach began wrenching in pain.

*It's back again!* Ranma thought in agony as he tried to hold in the powers that were trying to consume him. *That energy,...worse than before! Feels like... I'm gonna EXPLODE!!* Genma leapt at Ranma in anopther Saotome school aerial attack.

"I won't hold back anymore son!" He yelled in mid strike." Genma also realized that Ranma was glowing green, that couldn't be a good thing. However the bald martial artist was already committed to the attack and couldn't slow his descent.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!" Ranma screamed as he threw his arms forward, towards his father. Yellowish Green energy shot forth from his arms towards the anything goes master. Genma screamed in pain as he was consumed by the emerald fire. His flesh burned and his clothes were disintegrated. Ranma fell onto the rock, depleted of his energy and still in pain from the energy within him.

Genma's burnt body fell onto the rocks on the side of the koi pond and landed with a sickening crunch. It rolled off and landed on the grassy ground face up, or at least...what was left of it.

"POP!!" Screamed Ranma as he rushed weakly to the decimated body of his father while holding his side in pain. Before he could get near him, he fell to his knees and clutched his sides in pure torture. "AAAAAAUUUGHHH!!"

Kasumi ran out to the door when she heard Ranma scream. She stood at the open shogi that led to the yard with a concerned expression. She gasped and held an open palm to her mouth as she bore witness to the burned and smoldering corpse of Genma Saotome. She forgot about the corpse abruptly as she saw Ranma holding his sides in pain on the ground. "RANMA!?" She cried out to the boy.

Ranma turned his head towards the girl grunting painfully as he felt the energies well up from inside of him. "K-Kasumi! Get...GET AWAY FROM MEEE!!! AAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!!!" Kasumi turned to her right to head back into the house but a flash of light and emerald energy erupted from Ranma's body Kasumi screamed as the energy burned into the left side of her face and burnt her left arm. The rest of her body was unharmed as the radius of the blast was not that great and she had only caught the edge of it. She fell to the floor and grimaced as the pain shot through her. She spotted the phone on a nearby wall and began crawling towards it, her left arm was unusable and she was forced to look out of only one eye since the other one had been damaged in the blast. She could feel her blood as it nearly poured out of her arm and face.

The blood was hot and it burned when it touched her skin. She grabbed the phone off of the hook and thanked god that Tofu was on quick dial. After about two agonizing rings that sent waves of pain through her head a calm voice spoke up on the other end.

"Hello? Tofu Clinic."

"...Tofu..." Kasumi said weakly. Her voice ached and it came out raspy and hoarse.

"Kasumi? Is that you? Asked Tofu on the other end of the line a little concerned. "What's wrong? Did Akane injure Ranma too badly? You sound distressed."

"H-Help...Me." She said. The pain then shot through her entire body once again and she collapsed into unconsciousness after giving off one last painful, weak, cry. The phone she was holding, with Tofu on the other end, clattered to the ground.

"Kasumi?...KASUMI!!"

****************

Nabiki smiled as she looked over to her younger sister Akane who was walking home beside her. "Really Akane, You've got to stop knocking Ranma' into the sky like that. You're giving him way to many days off school that way." Akane frowned and just looked at her feet as they closed in on the Tendo dojo.

"I _Know_! It's just that Ranma's such a playboy! All he ever does is show off, eat the other girls cooking, and fondle them whenever he get's the chance." Nabiki smirked.

"He's got good reason to avoid your cooking, and I'm pretty sure it's the girls who do the fondling. I know I would."

Akane missed that last part completely. "Are you saying that my cooking's BAD!" She asked with a huff. Nabiki didn't hesitate and nodded.

"Yup."

Akane hung her head in shame. "I'll never make a good wife someday if I can't even cook!" Nabiki shook cocked her head as she heard sirens in the distance.

"You forgot, you can't sew or clean worth a darn either."

Akane glared at Nabiki harshly. "You don't have to rub it in you know Nabiki." Just then an ambulance screeched around the corner and raced down the street in the same direction that the girls were walking. Nabiki and Akane blinked as it pulled up in front of the Tendo Dojo, two paramedics rushed out of the back and ran through the front gate.

Akane gasped and ran towards the dojo the moment she saw the paramedics. Nabiki followed, her cool mercenary calm broken by the thought of one of her family members being seriously hurt or worse. AS Akane passed through the gates she gasped at what she saw. The yard was destroyed, and part of the house was wrecked. It looked like a bomb had gone off. She ran towards the house and threw the door open and ran inside the house frantically searching the house for her father and her elder sister. She found her father sitting on the porch with tears running down his face.

She kneeled down in front of her father and shook his shoulders forcefully. "DAD! What Happened!?" Soun looked up at his youngest daughter with a look of shock and disbelief, Akane hadn't seen him look like this since her mother died. It was one of the few things she could remember from when she was little and it filled her heart with dread.

"I...I was at...town meeting." Akane shook her head and stood up seeing clearly that she wasn't going to get a sensible answer from the Tendo Patriarch. She then noticed a long streak of half dried blood leading to the fallen telephone. She looked outside and saw two more paramedics zipping up a burnt corpse in a body bag.

Akane stumbled towards the black bag. She asked the paramedics to let her see, and they opened the bag reluctantly. "I don't think your going to like this little girl." Said the one as he slowly unzipped the bag. The first thing Akane noticed was the smell. It wafted up from the bag and she had to cover her nose lest the stench overwhelm her. She gasped again as she realized who the body was. It was male and the glasses that adorned his face were none other than Genma Saotome's.

Akane turned away, choking on the stench of burning death. "Told yah." Said the one paramedic as he zipped the bag up and lifted it up with his partner; carrying the dead man towards the ambulance. Akane noticed the other two paramedics, wheeling away another body on a stretcher, she couldn't tell who it was at the distance she was at and it had a white cloth covering the entire body. Akane rushed towards the stretcher at a mad pace not noticing Nabiki standing not to far off away with tears streaming down her face much like her father.

*Oh no! RANMA!* thought Akane as she nearly tore the thin white cloth from the body on the stretcher panic overwhelming all her senses and adrenaline coursing through her body in buckets.

"HEY!" Yelled one of the paramedics who was wheeling the stretcher to the ambulance. Akane's heart nearly stopped at what she saw, or rather _who_

"K...K...Ka..." Akane fell to her knees and held her face in her hands as tears fell down her face and her body jerked with gut wrenching sobs. She didn't even seem to feel her sister put a comforting embrace around her.

************

The wait. The wait seemed to last forever. Akane sat at the hospital waiting room with her sister Nabiki beside her. They were both waiting to hear from the doctors concerning their older sister. The clock ticked ominously and Nabiki got a deep feeling of dread as she realized that they'd already been there at the hospital for three hours. When the doctor looking after her walked through the doors of the waiting room both sisters jumped out of their seats, attacking the man with questions concerning their elder sisters health.

"Is she all right?" asked Akane with tears slowly forming in her eyes as she awaited to hear the worst.

The doctor smiled reassuringly and put up his hands to stop the questions. The sisters held their breath unknowingly as the doctor talked. "Your sister Kasumi is going to be fine. She wasn't hurt as badly as you might think. However she will have to wear bandages for a couple weeks and will have massive scars from the burns." Despite the good news Akane began to cry and Nabiki put her arms around the girl to comfort her. The doctor coughed into his hand and then commenced delivering the bad news to the girls. "However...She is in a coma. People in comas are very unpredictable. They could wake up in the next five minute or the next five years."

"WHAT!" Screamed Nabiki. The doctor cringed at the noise and warned her to keep the noise level down.

"Please miss Tendo. This is a hospital, I would advise you to keep your voice down to a minimum. There are other patients here."

Nabiki stepped back and just opted for glaring at the doctor menacingly. Akane looked up at the man through tear soaked eyes. "C-c-can we at least go to(sniff) see her?" Asked the short black haired girl weakly.

The doctor nodded and motioned for them to follow him. "I'll take you to her." He said before opening the door and exiting the waiting room. The two Tendo daughters followed closely behind.

When they finally made it to the room Kasumi was currently staying at the doctor opened the door for the girls and they walked in. The doctor closed the door behind them and stayed out in the hall, not wanting to disturb their visit.

Nabiki gasped and covered her mouth when she saw Kasumi lying in the hospital bed. Half of her face was wrapped up with white gauze, her entire left arm was done up similarly. Akane rushed over to the bed and kneeled beside it. She grabbed the comatose girls good hand and began to sob heavily.

"Oh Kasumi...I'm so, SO sorry! I-I never a-appreciated what you've always done for us. I-I-I never told you how much(sob) I loved you and, and(sniff) and now I may never get the chance to."

Nabiki came over to her younger sister and put a hand on her shoulder. "Akane. The Doctor said she'd be alright. She's not dead." Akane wiped her nose on her sleeve and sniffled.

"Y-yeah, but she might never wake up from her coma. The doctor said that she might be in it for a very long time and I just don't think that I can handle that."

Nabiki patted the younger girls shoulder, grabbed a nearby chair and sat down next to her. "Akane, Not everything goes the way you plan. You've got to make the best of what you get. We got a bad hand I admit but I don't think it'll always be like that. We never planned for mom to die, but we still got through it okay. Kasumi isn't dead and I'm sure that we'll be able to make it through this just as well. So please try not to act like the world is coming to an end, it's depressing."

Akane sniffled again and smiled up at Nabiki. "Thanks Nabiki." Nabiki got up and headed towards the door to leave. Akane didn't follow her and she looked back towards the girl confused.

"Aren't you coming Akane?" She asked.

Akane shook her head and smiled. "Not yet. I want to spend some more time with Kasumi. You go on without me. I may be a while." Nabiki nodded and opened the door she jumped back a little when she saw Dr. Tofu standing right in front of the door with his hand outstretched as if to open the door.

"YIPE! D-Dr. Tofu. What a pleasant surprise." Tofu smiled weakly and walked past her towards Kasumi's motionless body. Akane looked up and smiled at the doctor.

"Hello Dr. Tofu." Tofu tried to smile but he couldn't at all, when he laid eyes on the girl in the bed. Akane followed his gaze to her sister and lost her smile as well. She couldn't think of anything to say at the moment. She was fairly sure that Tofu was in love with Kasumi and it probably broke his heart to see the girl like this. Mutilated by some bomber creep. Akane frowned when she thought about it. *If I ever find out who decided to bomb our back yard and hurt Kasumi I will make him pay dearly.*

Tofu took the chair that Nabiki had abandoned and sat down with a heavy sigh. The door clicked shut behind them signaling that Nabiki had left. Tofu just sat in the chair motionlessly, not making a sound. Akane didn't talk either. Finally the good doctor spoke. "She's beautiful isn't she?" He asked Akane.

"Huh?" Akane said as she looked towards the doctor.

"Kasumi." Tofu continued, "She's beautiful. Even when she's all wrapped up and unconscious she'd still the most beautiful thing on earth." Akane looked towards her oldest sister and just stared. For some reason she could see where the doctor was coming from. At first when she looked at her sister in the hospital bed she had only seen a family member hurt by some heartless bastard...now... she saw A pretty, 20 year old, woman sleeping serenely with white sheets draped over her fragile body, her hair being tossed just lightly by a light breeze coming through the half open window, the afternoon sun illuminating her face just right; making her look like some sort of goddess.

She now knew why Tofu went insane whenever she came near. She was perfect. No flaws, always beautiful no matter what she was doing. She envied her sister. She always had, only now...she idolized her. The way she could make anything she did seem so perfect and wonderful, the way she was kind to everyone no matter what they did, everything she was, was perfect and Akane could only wish she could be more like that.

"You really love her don't you?" Asked Akane still staring at her sister. Tofu nodded.

"Yes. From the time when she was only five years old. We used to play together as kids, even then I knew I wanted to be a doctor. Heh, the look on your mothers face when she caught us playing 'doctor' in her room was priceless. The older we got though, the more we drifted apart. Once I hit puberty I saw Kasumi in an entire different light, that's when I began stuttering and going insane whenever I heard her voice or saw her face. That just put an even bigger space between our relationship." Akane stared at the doctor in disbelief, she had no idea he and her sister had so much history together, she also felt sorry for him. He seemed so sad like his whole world just came crashing down around him. He continued. "It tears my heart apart knowing the fact that something this tragic had to happen before I snapped out of it."

A tear rolled down Tofu's cheek and Akane wiped her own eyes, only now realizing that she too had been crying. Tofu stood up and walked towards the door. He stopped and looked back to Akane one last time, "A word of advice Akane, don't distance yourself from the ones you love. If you love someone, tell them. Don't hold it in." With that the doctor left the room. Akane sat for a few minutes just staring at the door that the good doctor had exited through. Her first thoughts were of Ranma. What Tofu had said would probably bring her and the man she loved closer together than any of Genma and Soun's scheming and nagging.

Akane yawned and lay her head down on the bed that Kasumi was sleeping on and fell asleep.

*****************

Author's notes: {Well this is my new fic, Ranma's Hell Forge. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. It leaves you with a lot of questions don't it? Like what the heck happened to Ranma? When will Kasumi wake up from her coma? Will Akane really say she loves Ranma? What was that energy that Ranma was emanating? Some of these will be answered in the next chapter entitled: slipping. A little bit of news: I'm not going to be working on this one as hard as all my other stories, the first four are priority. I've got to finish one of them sometime. This will officially be my LAST Ranma fic. Until I finish some other ones, I will be doing crossing over different series but they will not be Ranma. I won't be doing those until I've finished at least up to chapters ten on each fic. So all future projects are postponed to a later date. I'm splitting the writing of this fic with Agasaki Ishano(good friend of mine) who has agreed to not make this fic too silly like his other stuff, actually the whole thing was his idea. He'll be writing chapter two and I'll be pre-reading it, then I'll write chapter three etc, etc, etc. A little hint as to my first non- Ranma fic, it'll be a Tenchi Muyo/Sirius Scars crossover. If anyone would like to give me ideas or even a title that would be great.}

Chow!

Morden Night

http://josh_vh.tripod.com/mordensranmapage/