Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong


Just Won't Die Final



     Ranma had a son. Unfortunately, he never knew that he was a father for he 
had disappeared long before his son was born. The only person who would had 
known of this boy's father had died shortly after giving birth to him, but 
not before she had given the boy a name.
  "Your name will be Ranma," the woman said, tears in her eyes.
  The baby cried, unaware as his mother's life slipped away as she held him. 
  "Ranma, make us proud," she said finally before she finally died.
  The doctors tried to resuscitate her, much to no avail. Although she lost 
her life giving birth, she had no regrets for she had been able to see her 
son's face for the very few precious moments had lived after his birth. There 
had been no information as to who the mother was, nor had she given any 
information as to who the father was. The baby had been born to a world with 
no kin.
  The baby was quickly taken away by some government agents. It seemed the 
baby sensed something was wrong with his mother and began to cry out for her. 
Of course, it was natural for a baby to cry. However, it had been different.
  As the baby cried, a blue aura formed around him. The doctors and nurses 
had been shocked. When they tried to get close, the aura surrounding the baby 
lashed out at them, picking them up and throwing them out of the room. Out of 
the four people in the room, three had been thrown out. The fourth one, an 
elderly nurse that should had retired two years ago, had been left alone.
  The aura didn't attack her. Instead, it embraced her, enveloping her.
  The nurse had merely stood within the aura, her eyes widened as she felt 
this wave of warmth flooding through her body. It only lasted a second but it 
felt like an eternity to her. While within the field, images of her late 
husband flashed before her eyes.
  "There's no rush to see me," the husband had told her, "Please, live out 
the rest of your life in happiness. We'll meet again in heaven,"
  When the aura disappeared, the elderly nurse was speechless. How she had 
longed to see her husband for so many years. 
  "W-who are you?" said the elderly nurse.
  A second later, she clutched as her chest as the excitement finally 
overwhelmed her. She felt to her knees in pain, knowing she was having a 
heart attack. However, she didn't fear death. Her husband was waiting for 
her, she knew.
  Moments before she died, she gazed at the young baby, and said, "Thank 
you,"
  When the doctors noticed the nurse having a heart attack, they tried to 
enter the room to save her. However, they were prevented as the still-evident 
aura surrounding the baby seemed to constantly lash out at them, constantly 
pushing them out of the room.
  "Can't you see she's going to die?!?" the doctor found himself trying to 
tell the baby, figuring the baby was responsible for the woman's heart attack 
and their being prevented from helping her.
  The baby knew nothing of his surroundings, continuing to cry as he was 
being held by his dead mother.
    
  "Look at the baby, he's scared to death of what's going on," an elderly 
nurse said. She had been in another part of the hospital and had come to 
where all the commotion was. "He doesn't know what's going on. Whatever that 
aura thing is surrounding him is, it looks like some kind of protective 
barrier. It's probably only protecting him,"
  "Do how do you suppose we get past it?" a doctor asked. 
  "I have an idea," the elderly nurse said. 
  The nurse walked forward toward the room.
  "No, don't!" the doctor reached out for her, but it was too late for he was 
pushed away from the room before he could get close to her.
  The elderly woman entered the room. The aura didn't attack her. Instead, it 
embraced her. For a brief moment, she felt total warmth.
  "Now I get it," the woman said in a warm voice toward the baby, "That aura 
is merely protecting you. Since I have no intention of harming you, that aura 
surrounding you feels I am no threat,"
  The baby seemed to stop crying as he noticed a woman nearby. He gazed up 
her with innocent eyes.
  "It's okay, I won't harm you," the elderly woman said. She walked over to 
where the boy was and carefully picked up, surprised that the baby actually 
stretched his arms out to be picked up.
  "There there," the woman comforted the baby, "Everything is all right. 
There's nothing to be afraid of,"
  The elderly woman gazed down at the dead body of the mother, "Don't worry, 
miss, your son is in good hands,"
  She turned her gaze toward her co-worker. She felt sad. Her co-worker was 
now long dead. They had been friends for close to fifty years. However, when 
she looked at her friend's face she noticed something that didn't make her 
feel all that sad.
  Her friend's face wasn't contorted to that of pain or fear of death. 
Instead, it seemed to be of total peace.
  "I hope you and your late husband have a wonderful afterlife," the elderly 
woman said before heading out the room.
  "H-how did you do that?" the doctor asked the woman, a bit surprised that 
he wasn't being shoved away like before. 
  "I really don't know," the woman said, "I had this weird feeling like I 
knew exactly what to do and I did it. I guess my plan worked out,"
  "You can say that," the doctor agreed emphatically.
  The woman turned toward the baby, "Well, little guy, you seem to be all 
energetic, aren't you. Well don't worry, nothing's gonna happen to you, old 
auntie Asuka will make sure to it," She looked at the doctor, "So, what's 
this baby's name?"
  "Um, the woman who gave birth called him Ranma," came the reply.
  "R-R-Ranma?" the woman's eyes widened.
  "You recognize that name?" the doctor asked.
  "Y-yes, I do," she said, "It's the name of a man my grandmother had told me 
stories about, on how she and him had known each other way back then and how 
he had disappeared a long time ago, well over a hundred years ago,"
  "Well, it's most likely coincidental," the man commented.
  "I highly doubt it,"


<above scene might be deleted from final product>
<add small scenes indicating that story is of Ranma's son, not of Ranma 
himself>
  
  
  "Hey. Fancy meeting you here," Jun said in a cheery voice, her voice 
echoing a bit loudly in the library. She had just arrive at the campus 
library to do a bit of studying for an upcoming test when she caught sight of 
a familiar face among the hundreds of students already in there gathered 
about at separate tables.
  Ranma looked up from his book to regard Jun. She was a beautiful young woman 
with long flowing brown hair that came down to her shoulder blades. She was a 
fellow college student and was in one of Ranma's classes. She sat in the 
front of the class while Ranma in the back. They were in an advanced physics 
class together.
  "Hello," Ranma replied back, his voice cold.
  Jun smiled a bit. She was surprised Ranma knew her since they had 
never actually spoken to each other until now, which was only one week before 
finals. 
  When she noticed that Ranma wasn't paying all that much attention to her, 
she asked, "Um, so what're you reading?"
  "Nothing that important," he replied, continuing to read.
  When there was a moment of awkward silence, when Jun noticed that Ranma 
wasn't taking any effort to sustain the conversation, she asked, "So, are you 
ready for the final? It's only a week away," Although she knew Ranma had 
other finals to take, she was sure Ranma knew she was referring to the 
upcoming final for the class they're both in.
  "Not really," he replied, finally looking up. 
  Their gaze locked for a short moment before Ranma broke it and turned back 
toward his book. For the brief moment, Jun almost felt captivated by his 
eyes. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. This was the first 
time she was seeing Ranma up close. She knew that he was a handsome man, but 
only noticed this from the other side of the classroom. However, that brief 
moment looking into his eyes made her realize something very odd about him.
  "Is it just me or do you have two different eye colors?" Jun asked. She was 
sure Ranma's right eye was blue while his left one had a reddish hue.
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I have two different eye colors. My right is 
considered blue while my left one is considered maroon,"
  Jun bonked herself on her head, "Gee, I feel like an idiot. We've been in 
the same class from an entire semester and I hadn't even noticed this,"
  Ranma shrugged, "It doesn't really matter. Heck, I don't even know your 
name,"
  "It's Jun," she said.
  Ranma glanced at her for a moment. That name sounded familiar for some reason 
but he couldn't quite tell from where and how. He knew for sure that he knew no 
one by that name yet that name sounded familiar regardless.
  He thought about it for a few moments before figuring nothing of it.
  "Well, I'm-" he began.
  "Ranma," she answered for him.
  Ranma looked back up at her.
  "Hey, it can't be helped," she said, "You have a pretty rare and unusual 
name,"
 He looked back down at his book and said, "No need to point that out. I'm 
aware of that,"
  "Is it okay if I sit down next to you?" she asked, pointing toward the 
empty seat next to him.
  "It's fine by me," came a uncommitted reply.
  "Um, do people tease you about that name?" Jun dared to asked.
  "More or less," he shrugged, "It doesn't bother me. It's just a name that I 
respond to,"
  Jun was taken aback by that answer. A name he responds to? What kind of 
reply is that?
  "Isn't it more than that? I mean, you have the exact name as the man to 
tried to destroy our world?" she asked. When she noticed the muscles around 
Ranma's jaw tightening, she quickly said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said 
that. For all I know, you could have been trying to forget that and here I 
am, reminding you,"
  Ranma showed a slight sense of annoyance, "I don't want to sound rude, but 
is there a reason why you're talking to me?"
  Jun was taken aback by the question. She figured people enjoyed having her 
around and talking to her. However, with Ranma, this seemed to be an 
exception, "Um, I'm sorry. I'll leave if I'm bothering you,"
  Ranma turned back toward the book, "Well, you're bothering me,"
  She gave a shocked look toward him, a bit angered by the fact that he 
wasn't even looking up at her. She managed to hide her hurt feelings as she 
calmly got up out of her seat, "I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone, then,"
  "Good," he said.
  Jun quickly walked away from Ranma, muttering under her breath.
  "What a jerk,"
  
  Jun flopped down on her bed, ready to go to sleep. She had had a rough day. 
She must have walked around ten miles today. Perhaps it would have been better 
if she had stayed and studied elsewhere in the campus library, but knowing 
that Ranma was also in the same building as her disturbed her and would had 
most likely disrupted her concentration. The library she had gone to was over 
four miles away from her apartment and six miles away from campus. 
  "Had a rough day?" Mari asked, leaning against the doorjamb of Jun's room. 
They were both roommates and graduated from the same high school class, the 
both of them deciding to attend college together.
  Jun looked at her wall clock. It read 1:09 am.
  She said, "Yeah. God, I can't wait until finals are over,"
  "I agree," Mari nodded.
  "God, I wish I had a car so I wouldn't have to have walked so much today," 
Jun commented. She sat up on her bed, facing her roommate.
  "I figured you were used to walking to school by now," Mari commented.
  "Not when it's this cold out and not when I had to walk all the way to the 
other library," Jun muttered, flopping back down on her bed with a sigh.
  "Other library, why would you go all the way over there? What about the one 
on campus?" Mari asked curiously, "They have all the books and reference 
materials you need,"
  Jun sighed, "I don't really wanna get into it. Let's just say that I felt 
very awkward being in there today,"
  "How so?"
  "You remember that Ranma guy I was talking to you about in my physics 
class?" Jun began.
  Mari nodded, "Uh huh. What about him?"
  "Well, I finally talked to him today," she said.
  Her roommates eyes widened, "Really? You did? What didja say?" She entered 
the bedroom and sat down on Jun's bed, "C'mon, give me the details,"
  "I'll tell you tomorrow," came a sleepy reply, "Right now, I'm dead tired,"
  "C'mon, just tell me," Mari persisted, "You've been mentioning about this 
guy all semester and how you were curious about why he was named 'Ranma' and 
all. Now that you've talked to him, you've gotta fill me in on the details,"
  Jun sighed, sluggishly sitting back up, "All right, but I'll make it brief. 
I went to the library to do some studying today when I noticed Ranma sitting 
at one of the library tables. I figured I should at least say hi since he is 
the only person in my physics class I've never talked to so I walked over to 
him and approached him,"
  "And?"
  "I tried to strike a conversation but he didn't seem to be all that 
receptive," Jun continued, "All he did was keep reading,"
  "Come on, be more detailed," Mari said in annoyance, grabbing one of Jun's 
pillows and holding in up against her chest.
  "All right, fine, sheesh," Jun said, "I had asked him what book he was 
reading because I obviously noticed that he wasn't reading the physics 
textbook. He basically told me it was unimportant. That's a bunch of bull 
because I took a glance over his shoulder and noticed that he was reading a 
modern history book, y'know, one of those books that only dates back about a 
century ago. As to why he was reading it, we'll probably never know. Anyway, 
after that, I asked him if he thinks he's ready for the final which he said 
'not really' and went about reading again,"
  "Okay, go on,"
  "Here's where things get strange and almost creepy if you ask me," Jun 
commented, "When Ranma went to answer my question, he looked up at me. I 
looked into his eyes-"
  Mari's eyes widened as she interrupted and said, "Oh my god, is this one of 
those 'love at first sight' thingies? Y'know, like in those romance novels 
and soap operas, where a girl and boy looks into each other's eyes and know 
that they were meant for each other,"
  Jun cast her roommate and impatient glance, "Do you want me to tell you 
this stuff now or tomorrow,"
  "Sorry. Okay, go on,"
  "Well, when I looked into his eyes, I noticed he has two different eye 
colors," Jun said, "Don't you find that rather strange? What are the chances 
of someone being born with two different eye colors? I know it's probably 
really rare, but what is really messed up is that he had one blue, which in 
an of itself is very rare here in Japan, and the other one is, get this, 
red....actually, it was maroon. Maroon. Isn't that really freaky? It'd be 
less surprising if he had eyes that were yellow rather than maroon,"
  "Hm, that's really strange," Mari said, "If he has red eyes, that could 
mean he has that pigment disorder thing. What's the word? 'Albino'? Something 
like that or another,"
  "I don't think it's that. He looks perfectly normal except he has two 
different eye colors and that the colors are very rare, especially the 
maroon one. What do you think of it?"
  "I don't know what to think of it. It's very strange," Mari seemed to be in 
deep thought, "If he has different eye colors, then that might mean he's not 
completely Japanese. Perhaps he could be part American, what with the blue 
eye and all. But as to how he has a red one, I'm stumped,"
  "Well, whatever the case, that's one observation I noticed about him," Jun 
said, "Anyway, I had made a comment about his eyes and he merely dismissed my 
comment. After that, I figured I should introduce myself just in case he 
didn't know what my name,"
  "Okay. I assume he introduced himself too, right? Even though it's kinda 
hard to miss someone with a name like his,"
  "Yeah, that's what I'm getting at," Jun said, "I told him that I already 
knew what his name was. Since we had been on the subject of names, I had 
asked him on what he thinks about having a name such as 'Ranma',"
  "And? What did he say?" Mari showed genuine interested, holding onto the 
pillow tightly.
  "Well, he said that it doesn't bother him and went about reading," she 
continued, "That's when I kinda went overboard and asked him what he thought 
about having the same name as the man who tried to destroy our world so long 
ago,"
  Mari slapped her forehead, "Oh, I can't believe you asked a question like 
that! What were you thinking, Jun? You don't ask something like that!"
  Jun gave a meek smile, "I guess I didn't know any better,"
  "Okay, so what did he say?"
  "It's was at the point I noticed that what I had mentioned about his name 
seemed to bother him," she said, "I apologized. It was then that Ranma asked 
my why I was talking to him,"
  "And?"
  "What could I say? I noticed that what I said bothered him so I 
apologized," Jun said, "However, I guess the damage was done because Ranma 
basically told me to go away, but not in those exact words. He tired to be 
polite, but it came off rather harsh, because he flat-out told me I was 
bothering him,"
  "Okay, now I get it," Mari said, "Because of what had happened, you felt it 
was necessary that you go study elsewhere because knowing that he didn't want 
you around while you're in the same building as him would have seriously put 
a damper on your concentration,"
  Jun nodded, "Yep,"
  "Oh, now I get it," the roommate said. She smiled slightly, "Well, I guess 
you did the right thing. Even though you've got every right to use that 
library as him, you probably wouldn't have gotten any studying done since you 
would have been aware that he was so close by,"
  "More or less," Jun agreed. She yawned, "Look, it's getting late. I've 
gotta get some sleep. I've got an early morning class,"
  "All right, I'll leave you then," Mari said, getting up off the bed and 
handing Jun her pillow, "However, there was one thing you forgot to mention,"
  "What?"
  "Is he hot?"
  Jun merely sighed before flopping down on her back, "Goodnight,"
  
  Ranma entered his one bedroom apartment at around three in the morning. The 
apartment was unfurnished and had remained that way ever since he moved in 
over a year ago. All that could be found in Ranma's room was the futon that 
was spread out in the middle of the room and a small dresser where Ranma kept 
his clothes and a small table located in the corner of the room with a 
computer on top of it. The school-provided computer was still new and in its 
box. Ranma hadn't touched it since he received it over a year ago. Located on 
his dresser was a glass of water. 
  Ranma placed his books in one corner of the room and laid down on his 
futon. As he did so, he continued to regard the glass of water. He didn't 
know why he kept a glass of water there, but there was something about seeing 
it there that seemed to give him peace of mind. It was this strange habit of 
his, to constantly have a glass of water nearby, even though it would never 
be used for consumption. As to why he did it, he had no explanation.
  He closed his eyes, but not before he said.
  "Soon, very soon I'll know who my parents were,"
  
  "Ranma, there's something very important we have to tell you," an elderly 
woman said.
  "What is it, mom?" Ranma asked, his hands firmly over one of his mothers 
hands. He was only 12 at the time as he stood over his mother as she lay in 
her deathbed. 
  "A-as you can tell, I don't have much longer to live," she said softly.
  "You shouldn't talk, mom. You need your rest," Ranma said, his voice 
showing more maturity than his years.
  The mother coughed, "I have to tell you this. You have to hear this,"
  "What is it? What is it you have to tell me?"
  "Ranma, I know this will come as a surprise....but-"
  "But what?"
  "You were adopted," the mother said, tears welting up.
  Ranma said nothing.
  The woman nodded, "Yes, we adopted you when you were only a month old. 
However, even though you're adopted, your father and I both loved you every 
bit as much as if you were our own child,"
  Ranma still said nothing, caught up in deep thought.
  "I-I'm sorry you have to be hearing this now, when you're so young, but I 
had to let you know," she said, "Please, go and find out who your real 
parents were,"
  "What's going to happen to me?" Ranma asked softly.
  "Nothing you need to worry about," she said, "A nice person is going to 
come and take you away for a short while. Eventually, a nice family will come 
around and adopt you, very much like how we did 12 years ago,"
  "I'm going to be put in a foster home, aren't I?"
  "I'm sorry," she said, "You know your father and I have no living relatives 
to take you in. If we did, we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they 
would be more than happy to take in such a beautiful and bright and loving 
child like yourself..."
  Ranma said nothing.
  "Ranma, just promise me one thing," she said in a weak voice, "Promise me 
that you'll grow up to be a fine young man, a man your father and I could be 
proud of as we watch you from above,"
  "Mom, don't say that. You're not going anywhere...."
  However, it was too late. Ranma felt his mom's grip on his hand release as 
she closed her eyes one last time and passed on, unable to fight the cancer 
anymore, very much like his father three years earlier.
  Ranma stood very silently was he gazed down at the still form of the woman 
who raised him. He felt like crying but he could not. Why? He knew all along 
that he had been adopted. He didn't know how and he didn't know why, but he 
simply knew. 
  He didn't have the heart to tell her that he knew all along. He had done 
the same when his father had been in his deathbed, as his mother stood right 
beside him and eventually break down sobbing as he finally passed on due to 
cancer, too.
  Ranma regarded his mother's face intently, burning her image into his 
memory, much like he had done for his father, the man who raised him.
  "Goodbye,"

  Ranma awoke with a start. He had had the exact same dream again, the dream 
of him watching as his mom died right in front of him, of her telling him he 
was adopted yet he unable to tell her that he had known all along.
  He was starting to hate that dream. It plagued him. It kept reminding him 
that he had no idea what kind of person he really was, of who his parents 
were, of what could or should be expected of him.
  He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and got up out of his futon, taking 
care to make his bed before he headed toward the bathroom. He took a cold 
shower, the cold water easily waking him from his sleepy stupor. When he was 
done, he walked naked through his apartment and into his bedroom where he got 
dressed and headed out to school.
  Although he lived a good five miles away, it took him no time to run the 
entire distance. He had been doing so since classes had started, even if it 
had been raining or snowing at the time. The weather didn't seem to bother 
him all that much. Heck, he rarely wore anything heavier that a simple 
sweatshirt even when it was below freezing outside. 
  Ranma arrived in time just as class was about to start. He had left his 
house a little over twenty minutes ago and had arrived with a minute to 
spare. It had been raining particularly hard that morning and Ranma was 
drenched as he entered the classroom. No one had made any comments about it. 
There had been soft conversations behind Ranma's back and queries as to why 
Ranma seemed unperturbed at being soaking wet. What people found a bit more 
surprising is that after a few minutes, his clothes seemed to actually dry 
off completely, an oddity people had noticed but never bothered to question 
him about.
  Jun had been talking with a fellow female classmate when she noticed Ranma 
entering. She wasn't surprised when Ranma quietly walked over to the desk at 
the corner of the room and sat down. He then reached into his backpack and 
removed the textbook for this class and proceeded to read it. He always did 
that. 
  She blushed when Ranma looked up from his book and made eye contact with 
her. Although she had made eye contact with him accidentally from time to 
time, he always seemed to turn his gaze back down onto his textbook before 
long. This time it was different. He didn't turn his gaze away.
  Jun quickly turned her gaze away. Although she sat on the other side of the 
room from him, she could clearly see the color of his eyes. It was strange. 
  "What's with him?" her classmate commented when she noticed Ranma finally 
turning his attention back onto his textbook, "I wonder why he always 
isolates himself from everyone,"
  "Well, I talked to him a bit the other day,"
  "Really? What did you two talk about?"
  Jun shrugged, "Well......." 
  She felt it wasn't necessary to tell. She and her classmate were only 
acquaintances afterall. It wasn't as if they were friends or anything.
  It was at that time when the professor entered the room and class quieted 
down. Jun took that opportunity to dodge the subject. 
  Class went about as usual. That meant about five or so students slept 
through the entire class while all the others desperately tried to make heads 
or tails of what the professor was teaching, most of them feeling that they 
were doomed come finals.
  When class ended, everyone proceeded either toward their next class or 
elsewhere. Luckily for Jun, that was the last class of the day for her. She 
had had two classes before this already.
  She stole a glance toward Ranma's seat and wasn't surprised to see that it 
was empty, Ranma already having gone about with his day, whatever it was. She 
sighed. She didn't know why, but ever since that encounter with him, she felt 
very intrigued by him. There was this enigmatic aura to him. 
  She left the classroom, dreading the walk she had ahead of her. She sighed 
when she noticed that the rain hadn't let up. Sure, she had her umbrella with 
her, but she would still get partially wet anyway, especially her shoes.
  Just as she fetched her umbrella from her backpack, she noticed Ranma 
walking ahead of her, probably on his way toward another class. He didn't 
have his umbrella. Actually, from past observations, Ranma most likely didn't 
even own one. She felt this surge of nervousness as she contemplated running 
up ahead and offering to share her umbrella with him. However, when she 
remembered how tactless Ranma had been the other day, she decided against it. 
  "But then again...." she said to herself. 
  She felt it was her duty to help someone more unfortunate out. There had 
been a couple of times when she had forgotten an umbrella and had to walk 
home in the rain. It was not a good experience and she hoped that if she was 
ever in a bind like that again, someone would offer to help her out. She 
believed in the Golden Rule, to do onto others as you want them to do onto 
you. Besides, she liked helping people out.
  Jun quickly ran up to Ranma, "Um, hey,"
  Ranma slowed down for a moment to glance at her, "Oh, hey, Jun,"
  She smiled slightly, "Wow, you remember my name. That's awfully sweet," 
She blushed when she realized what she realized she sounded as if she was 
flirting with him. She didn't want to give him to wrong idea. 
  "What do you want?" he asked bluntly.
  Jun was taken aback at the question. She stammered for a moment as she 
tried to regain her composure.
  "Well, I-I noticed you didn't have an umbrella," she said, "I just wanted 
to offer mine,"
  Ranma stopped for a moment. His cold expression showed that of surprise. 
  "Thanks, but I don't need one. I'm fine," he said.
  "You might catch a cold," she commented.
  "Sometimes, I wish I can," he said before he turned his gaze forward and 
ran forward and away from Jun.
  Jun stood there for a where she was. She didn't know what to make of what 
Ranma had said.
  "What did he just say?" 

  "Hey man, failed to conquer any new worlds lately?" a burly student asked. 
His group of goon-like friends burst out in laughter. Ranma had been walking 
across a field when five guys noticed him. There were around twenty guys 
laughing at him at the same moment as he ignored them and continued on 
walking. It seems that Ranma was walking right through the middle of a 
football game among students with too much free time and this strange 
obsession with playing in the mud.
  Ranma was perhaps the most famous student on campus simply because of his 
name. Everyone knew who he was. All the athletes of the school seemed to 
enjoy ridiculing him. Perhaps it was because he never did anything back in 
return. He always ignored them.
  "What a freak," a person commented when Ranma was a good distance away.
  "Do you guys get your jollies picking on people?" came a voice.
  The guy turned his attention toward where the voice. His gaze rested on Jun 
as she stood defiantly in front of him. The guy and all his buddies for that 
matter towered over her. She stood only up to the shoulders of the shortest 
person there and was probably a good seventy pounds lighter than the lightest 
one there.
  Although Jun was terrified of the guys standing before her, she didn't back 
down, even as they all burst out laughing.
  "What do we have here? Does that Ranma guy need a girl to fend for him?" 
the same guy chuckled, his friend also laughing.
  "Why dontcha move along? You're gonna miss your 'fashion' class if you 
don't hurry,"
  "Did it take both of your brain cells to come up with that line?" Jun spat
  "Why you!" the bully sneered. 
  Although he knew he would never hit her for fear of getting arrested for 
assault, but he figured it didn't hurt to give her a good scare. All he did was 
raise a hand as if her were going to slap her across the face. It seemed to have 
done his job because Jun quickly took a step back, expecting to have been 
struck.
  "Don't you dare touch her!" came a voice.
  The guys all turned their attention. Their gaze rested on Ranma as he stood 
right before them. Most of them showed a sign of shock, unable to fathom how 
Ranma had managed to get so close to them without their noticing.
  "Or what?" someone taunted.
  "Or I'll kill you," Ranma said dead seriously.
  The man took a cautious step back, his heart racing. He had taken a look into 
Ranma's eyes and had seen this murderous look to Ranma that made the man very 
nervous. Although he was pretty sure that Ranma didn't have a weapon, there was 
this ominous feeling he was getting that made it seem like Ranma would indeed 
kill him if necessary.
  "Look, we don't want no trouble," the man cause a bit nervously.
  "Hey, what gives?" one of the buddies said, "Why're ya acting like you're 
scared of him?"
  "We'll leave then," Ranma said softly.
  Without saying another word, he grabbed hold of Jun's hand and proceeded off 
the field, nearly half dragging her before she was able to keep her pace up with 
him. Jun accidentally dropped hold of her umbrella in the process.
  The group watched as Ranma and Jun left the field. When they were a good 
distance away, everyone turned toward the guy, the leader of the pack.
  "Hey man, what gives? Why'd ya wimp out back there?" another buddy asked, 
"There was only one of him and over a dozen of us. We would had taken him 
easily,"
  "Hey back off," the man said. He cleared his throat and lied, "I felt sorry to 
the little twerp. It's probably bad enough that he has to live his life with 
that name of his," 
  For some reason, the man felt this sense of relief that Ranma was no longer in 
sight. He had this strange feeling that Ranma could had easily taken him and 
everyone else there out of action before they knew what hit him. He didn't 
really know what Ranma was capable of, but for some reason, he had this strange 
feeling that Ranma could perhaps actually carry out his threat and kill him, 
even if it were with his bare hand. The guy had noticed that there was something 
to Ranma eyes that slightly indicated what kind of person Ranma was. His eyes 
seemed to show no emotions and that meant that he would probably feel no 
sympathy in killing either. The man didn't want to learn the hard way.
  "Look, let's get back to our game," he quickly changed the subject.
  In no time, everyone got back to playing their football game.

  "Hey, waitaminute," Jun called out, "Come on, slow down. You're hurting me,"
  Ranma quickly released his grip on Jun's wrist. He had perhaps been walking 
too fast for her. 
  Jun rubbed at her wrists. She was a bit surprised to see that there were no 
marks or bruises. Ranma had been holding on to her wrists pretty tightly.
  She glanced at Ranma as if she was waiting for something, "Well?"
  Ranma said, "What?"
  "Aren't you going to apologize for hurting me?" she asked, a bit annoyed that 
she even had to ask that.
  "No," came the cold reply.
  Jun narrowed her eyes toward Ranma. Damn, what a jerk! Why did she even 
bother? 
  "Well, aren't you going to apologize for my losing my umbrella?"
  "What for? You're the one that lost it, not I,"
  Jerk! So aggravating! 
  Jun took a deep breath, "Well, thanks to you, I'm going to be soaking wet. I 
didn't need you helping me out back there,"
  "Neither did I need you helping me out either," he added, "I would have went 
about my day and ignored them had you not intervened and made those comments 
toward those guys back there,"
  "Hey, I was fending for you," Jun said, her feelings a bit hurt.
  "I don't need anyone fending for me," Ranma said, "I can take care of myself,"
  "Oh really?" she snapped, "From what I see, ignoring those vicious comments 
isn't what I would consider 'taking care of it yourself',"
  Ranma proceeded to walk away, "Forget it. You won't understand. No one 
understands,"
  Jun quickly ran after Ranma and soon walking beside him as she asked, "Huh? 
What do you mean by that? What won't I understand?"
  He stopped and said, "There's a lot more to me than you care to want to know. 
Stuff such as getting teased by some lousy bullies is trivial. I've got more 
important things to think about,"
  "Such as?"
  "None of your business," he said.
  "Man, you're so obnoxious," Jun spat in anger. Never one to sit back and turn 
the other cheek and also sick and tired of Ranma's attitude, she wanted to give 
her a piece of her mind.
  Ranma began walking off again, "I don't have time for this,"
  "Time for what? You know I'm right," she said, "You can be such a jerk at 
times, y'know that?"
  "I try my best,"
  "Well, if you try and be a jerk all the time, then why the heck did you come 
back to 'save' me?" Jun asked from out of the blue, "Did you think you were 
going to be my knight in shining armor?"
  Ranma stopped walking for a moment as he pondered the question. Jun stopped 
and glanced at him, noticing that he was deep in thought. 
  "You have a point there," he said before continuing walking, "I really don't 
know why I came back,"
  "I know why," Jun smirked, "It's because you love me, don't you?" She was 
always the type to take advantages of situations, always wanting to see people's 
reactions to unexpected answers and comments. Ranma was no different for her. 
She also hoped it would help lighten an otherwise awkward situation, by cracking 
a joke every here and there.
  Ranma showed no signs of amusement nor shock. He maintained his cool facade. 
He just regarded her for a moment before saying, "Are you trying to get a 
reaction out of me?"
  "Well, did I?"
  "No," he replied unemotionally.
  "Man, what's wrong with you? I was only joking around," Jun said.
  "Well, that joke wasn't funny," he said, "Now if you don't mind. I have to get 
going now,"
  "Fine, go ahead. See if I care!" she said in anger. She felt even more furious 
when Ranma proceeded to actually take her advice and walk away from her.
  "Bastard!" she said, "I'll never help him out again,"
  Jun sneezed. It didn't take her long to realize that now that she didn't have 
her umbrella anymore, she was slowly coming down with a cold, what with her 
being out in the rain and all. It didn't help anyway when she realized she had a 
long walk home ahead of her. She was not looking forward to her.
  "You should take care of that cold you're coming down with," Ranma said before 
continuing on home.
  "I know that," she said.
  She watched as Ranma continued on walking, this deep down feeling of anger 
toward him as she saw him disappear around a corner.
  "Jerk,"
 
  Ranma entered his apartment building and headed straight toward his bedroom. 
He didn't even bother to lock the door nor take off his shoes. Although his 
apartment had hardwood floors, his shoes couldn't be heard squeaking as he 
walked on them for his shoes were no longer wet. Although he had walked the 
entire distance home in the pouring rain, the very moment he stepped out from 
under the rain and into his apartment, he was already dry. 
  Although he showed no signs of it on the outside, deep inside, it was tearing 
him apart. He didn't know what was causing him to remain dry but he knew that 
whatever it was, it was unnatural. He had known all along that there was some 
kind of uniqueness to him but he didn't know exactly what it was. He was sure 
that getting himself dry without outside help was just the tip of the iceberg.
  He walked into the bathroom where it contained the only mirror in his 
apartment. The bathroom was every bit as bleak as his apartment. Aside from the 
bar of soap sitting on the soap dish on the sink, the bathroom looked like it 
was never used. Heck, it didn't even have shower curtains.
  He looked at himself in the mirror for several long minutes, curious as to why 
he remained dry while everyone else around him were miserable and soaking wet.
  When he had heard Jun sneeze back there, it had made him wonder about just how 
fragile a human body could be, how it could be so easily susceptible to 
something such as the common cold.
  "So how come I never get something like a cold?" he wondered aloud.
  Figuring it was futile to dwell over a question like that and that he would 
know soon enough, Ranma took off his clothes and stepped into the shower. It 
didn't bother him one bit that the bathroom from would get wet due to a lack of 
shower curtain. It didn't matter if he stepped in a puddle of water while 
wearing socks because he would be dry soon afterwards.
  Once finished, he exited the bathroom while stark naked and headed down the 
hallway toward his bedroom. He had a towel around his shoulder but had never 
bothered to use it. It was merely there for show. 
  After getting dressed within his bedroom, he laid down on his futon and stared 
up at the ceiling. It was only five in the afternoon. At a time such as now, 
Ranma would usually be at the library. However, today, he would simply lay on 
his bed and ponder about all that he had read the other day.
  He remained lying there, on his futon, deep in though, until he finally fell 
asleep over seven hours later.

  Jun was absolutely miserable as she entered her apartment. She was cold. She 
was tired. And she felt absolutely miserable. It didn't help any that her 
sneezing had festered into a full-blown cold. She was in for one hell of a week. 
She knew that despite having a cold, she couldn't afford to miss any classes. 
All her classes were having review sessions for their upcoming finals and she 
knew that if she missed even a single one of them, she would be doomed to 
getting 
a lousy grade on the finals.
  She placed her keys on her night table as she entered her bedroom, already in 
the process of taking off her soaking wet clothes. Just as she was finished 
changing into some dry clothes, her roommate knocked on her door.
  "Come in. It's open," Jun said, carefully placing her wet clothes in one 
corner of the room.
  Mari opened the door and leaned against the doorjamb, "Hey,"
  "Hey," Jun managed to say.
  "I noticed the trail of wet shoeprints leading all the way up to your 
bedroom," Mari said, "Are you okay? You didn't walk home in the rain, did you?"
  Jun turned toward her roommate, "What do you think?"
  "Well, I saw you bringing your umbrella with you when you left this morning. 
Didn't you use it?"
  "Of course I would have used it, but I lost it," Jun sighed, sitting down on 
her bed, "It's a long story and I don't want to get into it,"
  "Man, I feel horrible that you walked all the way home and without an 
umbrella," Mari said softly, "Look, like I offered earlier, I'd be more than 
happy to drive you home-"
  "No thanks," Jun said, shaking her head, "I don't want to bother you. There's 
no need for you to wait around an extra two hours just so you can give me a ride 
back home with you,"
  "Look, it's no problem," Mari said truthfully, "I could always wait around in 
the library and study,"
  "No, don't worry about it," she insisted, "I didn't need you giving me a ride 
home since the beginning of the semester and I don't need 'em now. I can handle 
it on my own,"
  Mari gave a warm smile, "Jun, c'mon, I'm your roommate and best friend. I know 
you like doing things on your own and not making people feel like you're a 
burden to them, but this is ridiculous. I still don't understand why you still 
walk to school so early in the morning. We have classes at the same time for 
god's sake, yet you leave an hour early because you're walking. I don't see the 
point in it because I can take you to school. It's also means you can sleep in a 
little bit longer because you wouldn't have to leave so early to get there,"
  "Still, I don't want to impose," Jun said.
  "You're not imposing," Mari said in a warm voice, "Heck, sometimes, you not 
wanting to impose is more aggravating,"
  "What? What do you mean?" 
  Mari sat down on the bed next to Jun and said, "You're going out of your way 
to make yourself not bothersome to me as possible. Y'know, as in your cleaning 
the dishes the moment you're done using them. As well as taking out the garbage 
even when the garbage can isn't even half way full. Those things should be a 
shared responsibility. Sometimes, I get this feeling that I'm the only one 
living in this apartment because, aside from your bedroom, there's no indication 
that anyone aside from my self lives here,"
  "I don't follow you,"
  Mari sighed, "The point I'm getting at is that because you make yourself as 
least burdensome toward me, it makes me feel I'm the burdensome one because 
you're the one always cleaning the dishes I leave in the sink and taking out the 
garbage and cleaning the mess up after me,"
  "Oh,"
  "Look, if you are really hell-bent on waking up extra early just so you can 
walk to school, that's your prerogative," Mari commented, "But I just wanted to 
let you know you're going extra far out of your way just to make yourself seem 
not burdensome. You don't need to do that. Heck, it'd be nice if we went to 
school together. That way, we can at least chat along the way. I'm sure it gets 
boring walking by yourself. It's every bit as boring as it is for me when I'm 
driving to school by myself, too,"
  "Y-you really don't mind?"
  "Of course not," she said.
  Jun grabbed a tissue and blew her runny nose.
  "And considering you're probably coming down with something, it's best that 
you not go around walking in your condition or risk getting something like 
pneumonia," Mari said.
  "Yeah, but if we were to go to school together, then that means you're at a 
risk of catching my cold," Jun commented.
  Mari gave a laugh, "It doesn't matter if I do or don't. Keep in mind that 
we've only got one week left of this semester. Even if I get sick it won't 
jeopardize my passing the class. I don't want to sound arrogant, but you know 
I'm pretty smart," 
  Jun nodded in agreement, "Uh huh,"
  "Well, I've already figured out my grades," Mari said with a smirk, "I need to 
get a 15 to 20 points on all my finals for my grade point average to drop down 
to even an A minus. That doesn't even include the curve that I know all my 
professors will be giving out,"
  Jun thought about it for a moment, "So basically-"
  "I can't get a bad grade in any of my classes," Mari finished for her. If I 
get a cold, who cares. Even if I do, I'll still feel good knowing that I got it 
from helping you out,"
  Jun smiled sweetly, almost about to shed a tear. That was such a heartwarming 
thing to say. Her moment of feeling grateful for knowing such a great person 
such as Mari was interrupted when she sneezed.
  "Look, you need to get some rest. I know you can afford to miss any of your 
review classes," Mari said, getting up, "So do me a favor and get some rest. 
Don't worry about waking up. I'll wake you,"
  "All right," Jun said, yawning. She felt incredibly tired. Perhaps it was 
because she was exhausted from walking home and feeling miserable every step of 
the way. She laid down on her bed and closed her eyes, "I'm going to take a 
short nap,"
  "Yeah, you do that," Mari said, gently closing the bedroom door behind her as 
she left the room, "Have a nice nap,"
  Jun closed her eyes and fell asleep within minutes.

  "Wake up, sleepyhead," came a warm voice.
  Jun stirred in her sleep and then slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze came upon 
Mari as she smiled down at her as she stood at the foot of the bed.
  "How long did I sleep?" Jun asked, sitting upright and rubbing the sleep out 
of her eyes.
  "A good sixteen hours," Mari smirked, "Man, when you sleep, you sleep. You 
must have had one good night's sleep,"
  Upon hearing how long she had slept, Jun snapped wide awake, "S-sixteen 
hours?!"
  Mari nodded, "Yep. Don't worry. It's only eight in the morning. You would have 
usually left a half hour ago already. However, since I'm driving the both of 
use, we have another forty minutes before we leave,"
  Jun sighed in relief. She had mentally done the calculations in her head and 
had realized that she was going to be late for school if she didn't leave right 
away. However, she had totally forgotten she was going to receive a ride to 
school for the very first time today.
  Mari smirked as if she had just read Jun's mind, "Pretty nice, huh, being able 
to sleep late?"
  Jun couldn't help but agree. It really was nice sleeping in. When she looked 
at her clock, she noticed that she would had had to have awoken almost an hour 
ago in order to get ready to leave for school early. She could get used to this.
  "I don't wanna rush you, but forty minutes is just enough time for you to take 
a shower, get dressed, and eat some quick breakfast," Mari said as she left the 
room, "Although you have a bit of time, it doesn't mean you can take all the 
time in the world to get ready,"
  "All right, I understand," Jun said.
  Jun headed grabbed a clean pair of bra and panties and her towel and headed 
toward the bathroom where she took a soothingly warm shower. As she stood in 
front of the water, she wondered about what she was going to do for the day. She 
had slept far longer than she had wanted to and that meant she hadn't had the 
chance to do any studying the other night. She was probably going to be in for a 
rough night of studying in order to familiarize herself better with what is on 
the finals. She wondered if she should perhaps ask anyone smart in any of her 
classes if they wanted to study together. That way, perhaps she can pick up a 
few things along the way.
  "Hm, someone smart from clas...." she wondered aloud, wondering who would be 
the smartest person from her classes. It didn't take long for her to make a 
mental list of who the smartest ones from her classes were. However, when she 
thought about her physics class, her visage changed. She knew who was by far the 
smartest person in that class was. It was that guy Ranma.
  "Hmph, like I'm gonna ask him for help," she muttered to herself, turning off 
the water stepping out of the shower.
  As she toweled herself dry, she wondered a bit about that guy Ranma.
  "I wonder how he does in all of his other classes," she said to herself, "If 
he does even half as good as he does in our physics class, then he'd still have 
the highest grades. I don't get it. He doesn't even pay attention to the 
professor and he always getting perfect scores. He must be a great in terms of 
academics,"
  She let out an annoyed breath, "Maybe in terms of brains, but he sure is 
lacking in personality. That jerk,"
  She placed on her bra and panties, taking a small moments to glance at herself 
in the full length mirror that hung on the inside of the bathroom door. She 
looked at herself from the side, smiling a bit. Not really wanting to seem 
shallow, she couldn't really help but smile as she gazed at her slender body. 
She definitely had a beautiful body.
  She emerged from the bathroom and went into her bedroom where she got dressed. 
It didn't take her long to decide on an outfit. It turns out that she was in 
serious need of doing her laundry because she had been down to only two choices 
of outfits, them being a pair of blue sweatpants with a black sweater, or a 
black knee-length skirt with a red blouse. She chose the latter outfit.
  She headed to the kitchen where Mari was already in the middle of eating her 
morning cereal. 
  Jun made herself some cereal, making a comment that she should wake up earlier 
next time to prepare herself and her roommate a real breakfast. When Mari said 
that that wasn't needed, Jun insisted, as a way of showing her appreciation for 
Mari giving her rides to school for this last week of the semester. Mari, 
totally 
aware of how good a cook Jun was, was more than happy to allow that to happen.
  They chatted, talking about nothing in general before Mari indicated that it 
was time to leave.
  Jun stared out of the passenger side window of Mari's car, a station wagon. 
She seemed to find it relaxing gazing up at the clear morning sky.
  "Man, I think it's a shame that I'm driving a station wagon," Mari commented 
with a smirk, "I think we're too pretty to be seen driving around town in this 
junk of a car of mine,"
  The two of them laughed, enjoying each other's company. 
  "There he is again," Mari commented, a smile on his lips.
  "Who?"
  Mari jerked a thumb toward a man as he ran along down the road, "I don't 
really know. I always see him running along this road toward campus, always at 
the exact same time. Sometimes, I'm tempted to pull over and offer him a ride,"
  Jun took a glance at the man, her eyes widening when she recognized who he 
was. 
  It was Ranma.
  "T-that's Ranma," Jun stammered. 
  Ranma continued running along, staring straight ahead, even as Mari's car 
passed right by. He didn't look like he was paying attention to anything in 
particular, as if nothing around him mattered. His stride was well paced and it 
looked like he wasn't at all winded.
  "That's that Ranma guy you were talking about? You're kidding me! Really?" 
Mari's voice showed surprise.
  Jun nodded and said, "Yes. That's him I'm sure of it,"
  "Holy smoke," Mari laughed, "So now I can finally put a face with the name,"
  Jun gazed at her friend, "What, do you always see him running?"
  "Yeah," she answered, eyes still on the road, "Sometimes I leave early and 
sometimes I leave late from the apartment. However, it never fails that I see 
him running along this road. I've never ever seen him on this road walking, not 
even jogging, but always running. From what I gather, it seems he lives not too 
far away from us because the earliest I have seen him is when I see him running 
up from that road with that deli in the corner and that's, what, around two 
blocks away from our place. Whoever he is, he must be in terrific shape to be 
able to run for so long. Heck, there were times when would pass by him about 
four miles before the school and I would see him running across one of the 
fields as I'm heading toward class after I am forced to spend some time looking 
for a blasted parking space,"
  Jun remained silent as she listened intently.
  "Man, I never knew that was that guy Ranma you were talking about," Mari 
commented, smirking, "From what you've told me about, and how he acted like such 
a jerk to you the other day, I figure he was some ugly creep. It never crossed 
my mind that he was that handsome,"
  "Y-you t-think Ranma's handsome?"
  Mari smiled a bit, "Well, yeah, of course. However, I kinda feel sorry for 
him,"
  "Oh? Why so?"
  "Well, as handsome as he is, I feel sorry that his name is 'Ranma'," she 
commented, "It must be horrible having such a name. He must have been really 
teased when he was growing up. I wouldn't be surprised if people tease him even 
while he's attending school here. Although some people tend to grow up, there 
are those that don't, and they're the ones that would pick on him,"
  "Um, I think he can take care of himself," Jun commented, thinking back to the 
time when that incident between Ranma and that bully on the field the other day.
  "I'm sure he can," Mari nodded in agreement, "He's probably fit and as 
athletic as they come. I'm sure that if he were to get into a fight with 
someone, he'd be more than capable of taking care of himself. Actually, 
considering his name, I'm sure he's been in a lot of fights when he was young so 
he probably also knows self-defense,"
  Jun gave Mari an odd look, "Why do you keep mentioning his name like it's some 
kinda disease? I mean, sure, he is named after that guy that had tried to 
destroy all of us and failed, but there's more to a person than his name, 
y'know,"
  Mari shrugged, "Well, from what I've heard from you, it seems like there isn't 
much more to him because he actually sounds really obnoxious,"
  "Well, more or less," Jun said after a moment. She continued to think about 
the time when Ranma had come back to get her when she had gotten in way over her 
head with those bullies. Sure, he acted like a jerk afterwards and scolded her 
and told her to mind her own business, but that still didn't include the fact 
that he had come back to 'supposedly' save her. It was the gesture that she 
continued to think about.
  "You want me to offer him a ride?" Mari teased.
  "What? N-no!" Jun quickly said.
  Mari laughed aloud, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to see your 
reaction. I know you don't like him,"
  "Well, that wasn't funny," Jun gave her friend a stern look. She took a glance 
over her shoulder one last time just before they turned at a corner and he was 
out of sight. 
  
  Jun sighed, "Man, it's taking forever to find a space,"
  "Hey, we were only waiting here for around ten minutes," Mari said. She 
pointed toward the clock on her dashboard, "Actually, to be more precise, seven 
minutes. We haven't waited that long. Besides, it's better having to wait around 
ten minutes for a parking space instead of leaving over an hour early and 
walking so that you don't have to wait for one,"
  Jun shrugged, "I guess you're right. However, I guess it would have been 
better if we had left a bit early. I'm going to have to run to my class at this 
rate if I don't want to be late,"
  "All right, we'll leave earlier," Mari said, "I guess I didn't take into 
consideration that your class is a bit ways off from where I usually park. My 
class is just over there. It's only a one minute walk for me even if I'm parked 
as far away from the building. I'm sorry about that,"
  "It's okay," she said, "I shouldn't be one to complain anyway since you're the 
one giving me the ride. It was nice to sleep in late,"
  "Oh man, there's Ranma!" came Mari's voice.
  Jun looked around and noticed her friend pointing. She noticed Ranma running 
across a field not to far away from where they were parked.
  "Damn, we passed Ranma around three miles ago," Mari commented, "It only took 
us around three minutes to get here and a ten minute wait for a parking space,"
  "Yeah, what about it?" Jun didn't see the significance of Mari's observation.
  "Well, think about it," Mari said, stating out the calculations she had done 
in her head, "We passed Ranma around eleven minutes ago and that was three miles 
away. If you think about it, that means he ran three miles in under four minutes 
each. That's practically impossible,"
  "I don't follow you,"
  Mari said, "Well, I guess it's kind easier for me to notice things like this 
since I'm really into athletics and a fitness buff and such. The thing is is 
that very few people in the world has ever managed to break what is called the 
'four-minute mile', that means being able to run one mile in four minutes,"
  "Okay,"
  "Ranma basically ran three miles in around eleven minutes," Mari continued, 
"That comes out to one mile per three minutes and twenty seconds. That means he 
broke the 'four-minute mile' by a good forty seconds,"
  "You lost me again,"
  "Hello? Aren't you listening to me? For someone to be able to run that fast, 
and keep up a pace to do so for three miles basically equates to a level of 
athleticism that would put an Olympic athlete to shame," Mari said, eyeing Ranma 
fondly as he rounded a corner and disappeared.
  Jun said, "Man, that's really good then. He must be in really good shape,"
  Mari scratched her head, "What's weird is that I always see Ranma running by 
when I pass him on the road but this is the first time I've seen him running by 
while I was on campus,"
  Jun said nothing, silently pondering.
  "Say, can you do me a favor and introduce me to him?" Mari asked happily.
  "What?! Why? Y-you have a boyfriend!" Jun stammered in surprise.
  Mari shook her head as she said, "No, not like that! I would like to ask him 
questions on how he keeps in shape and manages to pace himself. I have trouble 
sustaining a five minute mile for more than three miles before my pace changes 
dramatically and here is someone that basically destroys that pace by almost two 
minutes. I'm not gonna pass this opportunity up,"
  Jun gave shrug, "Well, I guess so. But keep in mind I only met him. It's not 
like he and I are friends or anything. We're only in one class together and 
that's it,"
  "That's fine with me," Mari said smiled, "I'll be able to take over from 
there,"
  For some reason, Jun was sure of it but she didn't really like it.

  "Hey, there he is," Mari said, pointing. She and Jun were in the campus 
library. They spotted Ranma seated alone by the corner of the reading area. They 
had been there since six and were happy to finally see him when he came in 
around seven thirty.
  "All right," Jun said, "Fine,"
  Although she didn't know why, she kind of wished Ranma hadn't been there that 
time. She generally saw Ranma in the library whenever she showed up and would 
usually be there after she left. However, she had been a bit surprised not to 
see him there yesterday. She had wanted to talk to him about that incident on 
the field yesterday. 
  Jun took a deep breath as she approached Ranma, Mari closely following behind.
  "Um, hello," Jun said nervously.
  Ranma looked up from his book.
  "Oh, hello," he said. He showed no signs of surprise nor caring of who stood 
before him.
  Mari nudged at Jun's side.
  "Oh, I'd like to introduce you to my roommate. This is Mari," Jun said, her 
voice almost forced.
  "Hello," Mari gave a warm smile.
  Ranma regarded the roommate for a moment before he turned his attention back 
onto what he was reading. 
  "Um, Mari, t-this is Ranma," Jun said, starting to get angry. She realized 
that Ranma wasn't going to take any effort to introduce himself or open himself 
up. 
  "So?" he said without looking up.
  Mari winced and caste Jun a look, saying something like 'You're right. He 
really is a jerk' but without actually saying it. The eyes said it all.
  "Um, I noticed you running this morning," Mari started off.
  Ranma said nothing.
  "I remember seeing you running earlier and then running by just a short while 
later a distance away," she said, "I couldn't help but notice the distance you 
managed to cover in such a short distance of time,"
  Ranma continued on reading.
  Jun shrugged, not really knowing what to do when Mari caste her a glance.
  "Um, for you to have run such a distance in such a short time means you must 
really know how to pace yourself," Mari persisted.
  A bit annoyed with how things were going, Ranma looked up from his book and 
said, "Is there a reason why you're talking to me?"
  "Well, yeah," Mari forced herself from showing signs of shock, "I was just 
curious as to how you manage to pace yourself when you go running,"
  "I don't. I just run," he said coldly, "I don't get tired so I basically run 
as fast as I can,"
  "Don't get tired? That's ridiculous," Mari said, "Everyone gets tired at some 
point after running at such a fast pace. How do you do it?"
  "No, I do nothing," he said, "I don't get tired,"
  He couldn't help but wonder why Mari seemed to be intrigued by his sense of 
athletics. He never thought anything of it. Mari's comment made him wonder if he 
ever did get tired since he never really ran a great distance, tending to only 
run short ones.
  "Well well well, what do we have here?" came a snide comment from one corner 
of the room.
  Ranma and the two girls glanced around and noticed two burly guys approaching 
the table Ranma was sitting at. It only took a moment for Jun to realize this 
both of them had been on the field laughing alongside their buddy as he picked 
on Ranma. Of course, they couldn't understand why their friend had backed down 
when Ranma threatened him.
  Jun narrowed her eyes at the two approaching jocks.
  "Hmph, hell must sure be freezing over to see idiots like you in a library for 
a change," Jun commented.
  Ranma glanced up at Jun. He couldn't help but notice how spunky Jun was even 
though she was talking back to someone more than twice her size since she was 
rather petite and delicate-looking.
  "I wasn't talking to you, bitch," one bully said.
  Ranma stood up, "Look here," He didn't know why he stood up in the first 
place, but something deep down inside made him do so. Perhaps it was some 
instinctive nature of this.
  "I dunno why my friend letcha go on the field the other day," the guy said, 
"But I don't think he should've letcha. I think he should've kicked the living 
shit outta ya, but since he didn't the two of us figure we should continue off 
on a job left unfinished,"
  Ranma continued to regard the bully before he finally said, "Leave if you know 
what's good for you,"
  "Why don't we step outside?" the other bully said.
  Ranma narrowed his eyes, "Fine,"
  "Um," Jun began, noticing Ranma and the two bullies heading out.
  Everyone who had been within earshot knew what was going to happen. The entire 
study-like mood of the library immediately changed when someone yelled out 
'Fight' and quickly followed after Ranma and the two bullies outside.
  Everyone within the library quickly rushed outside, finally followed by Mari 
and Jun when they realized what was going to happen.
  By the time both girls emerged outside, they Ranma lying on his hands and 
knees as over a dozen bullies from the other day were busy kicking at his side. 
It seemed the bullies on the field set Ranma up, asking for someone to go into 
the library to bait Ranma outside where they would all jump him at once. It 
seemed someone had shoulder rammed Ranma from behind and knocked him to the 
ground.
  "Oh my god!" Jun shouted, at the bullies "Get off of him!"
  Everyone was gathered around shouting for Ranma to fight back, no one really 
knowing what to do. They all knew Ranma was in real trouble but no one had dared 
attempt to help him out.
  Ranma glanced out from the corner of his eye and caught sight of Jun as she 
rushed from the on-looking crowd and jumped up and onto one of the bullies' 
back, 
attempting to rain down blows on the man's skull.
  He couldn't help but smirk as he saw the bully swinging back and forth in an 
attempt to get Jun off his back, much to no avail. It was even more amusing when 
the roommate jumped in and grabbed the same bully by his leg in an attempt to 
cause the man to fall to the floor as the man desperately jumped up and down on 
one leg while Jun was on his back and Mari was trying to get him off balance.
  When Ranma saw the bully managed to kick Mari off his leg and even flipped Jun 
off his back and onto the ground rather hard, Ranma felt his blood boil, a 
feeling he never felt before.
  Even as everyone continued to kick him, Ranma got up to his feet. He felt 
kicks and punches striking him everywhere, most of them aimed at his face and 
back. However, it caused him no harm and felt more like an annoyance. 
  He walked through the gauntlet of raining blows and up to the bully that had 
thrown Jun to the floor. He reached a hand out and grabbed the man by his hair 
from behind.
  The man yelped in pain as he desperately tried to glance back at the man 
holding him. He managed to catch a glimpse of Ranma just as Ranma cocked a hand 
back and punched him in the face.
  The man flew bodily where he landed a short distance away. The man didn't so 
much as twitch in pain for he was already dead, the bones of his face caved in 
so deep that it had penetrated his brain.
  "W-what the fuck?!?" a man shouted when he saw his friend. He knew his friend 
was dead for no one could survive having his face beaten like that.
  "Holy shit!" someone else shouted.
  It didn't take ten seconds before everyone ran away, scared that they would be 
the next to suffer such a horrible fate. Even the spectators ran away, terrified 
of Ranma.
  All that remained was Ranma, as well as Jun and Mari as they tried to gather 
themselves and get back onto their feet. Mari had been kicked hard and Jun had 
been thrown to the floor hard, too. The both of them had been winded.
  Jun glanced toward the side where she saw Ranma standing over the bully's dead 
body.
  They both watched in stunned silence as they saw Ranma place a hand over the 
man's chest.
  In the far off distance, the sounds of police sirens could be heard.
  "W-what a-are you doing?" Jun managed to ask, "What are you going to do? H-
he's dead, isn't he?"
  Ranma didn't respond. He closed his eyes and he held a hand on the guy's 
chest. After a short moment, Mari and Jun were shocked to see this bluish aura 
forming around Ranma's body.
  "W-what th-the hell is that?!?!" Jun and Mari stammered, backing away, the 
both of them falling to ground from the shock, their knees weak.
  Ranma continued to glow for several moments before it finally disappeared.
  Shortly afterwards, the guy stirred and then eventually sat upright. Aside 
from blood on his face, he seemed to be perfectly fine.
  Ranma grabbed the guy by his throat and picked him up, having it such that the 
man's feet was an inch off the floor as Ranma held him in mid-air. He held on 
just tightly enough that the man was barely able to breath which help Ranma 
emphasize his words.
  "Leave," Ranma told the guy, "If I ever see you again, I'll make sure you stay 
dead,"
  The man, not really knowing what to do, quickly got to his feet and ran for 
his life.
  A minute or so passed by before Jun managed to collect herself and ask, "W-
what happened back there?"
  "It's nothing that concerns you," he said coldly, "You better leave,"
  Jun shook her head, "Not until you tell me what's going on,"
  Ranma's visage displayed a slight sense of exasperation.
  "I don't need to explain anything to you," he said, turning around and 
proceeding to walk away.
  Jun quickly followed after him. Mari stayed behind, glancing down at the 
puddle of blood left behind. She couldn't understand how anyone that had lost so 
much blood could have gotten up and ran away like that so easily.
  "C'mon, don't I have a right to know?" Jun asked, "I saw you glowing back 
there. That's not natural,"
  Ranma turned toward Jun and smirked.
  Jun's eyes widened a bit. This was perhaps the first real time she had ever 
seen Ranma show some form of emotion before.
  "Now you're starting to figure it out?" he said.
  Without saying much else, he ran off.
  
  "There he is," Mari said, pointing out the window. She and Jun were in Mari's 
station wagon. They had followed Ranma home. They had been on their way home 
when Jun had spotted Ranma running down the street before disappearing around a 
corner. 
  Mari had suggest that they head home while Jun felt she should follow Ranma. 
Through a bit of convincing that nothing bad was going to happen, Mari 
reluctantly agreed to follow him.
  Jun caught sight of Ranma as he entered through the double door entrance and a 
run down apartment complex.
  "Jeez, what a dump, he lives there?" Mari commented.
  Jun smirked as she said, "You shouldn't judge someone by where they live. How 
would you like it if people judged you on what you drive?"
  Mari gave Jun a wry look, "Hey, it may be a station wagon, but it gets me from 
point A to B. That is all that matters,"
  When Jun looked like she was about to get out of the car, Mari quickly asked, 
"Where do you think you're going? You're going to follow him into the 
apartment?"
  "Well, why not?" Jun asked innocently, "I'm just curious as to how he is doing 
after that, um, incident,"
  "Oh, you mean that 'mugging' incident?" Mari asked, "From the way I think of 
it, I think you're only using as an excuse to ask him what it was we saw back 
there, that stuff where he glowed,"
  Jun shrugged, "Well, I guess that kinda comes to mind, too,"
  Mari shook her head, "Forget it. I'm not going to letcha go. Just leave well 
enough alone,"
  "Fine, drop me off then. I'll take the bus back home," Jun said.
  Mari said in a serious voice, "I want nothing to do with this. I'm telling 
you, if you go, I really will leave,"
  "All right," she said, "Go ahead and leave. I'll be fine anyway,"
  "Do you hear what you're saying? Look at that apartment. It looks like it's 
got some shady tenants," Mari commented, "I really believe you should just leave 
well enough alone. Why dontcha wait until you see him again at school and talk 
to him then? Wouldn't that be better? This don't seem like too safe a place to 
be,"
  Jun thought about it for a moment, "Well, you do have a point there," She was 
silent for a moment before she came upon her decision, "However, I don't think 
it can be helped. I really need to know what happened back there,"
  "C'mon, it's none of our business," Mari said, "And you know what how the 
saying goes 'Curiosity killed the cat',"
  Jun got out of the car, a bit angry, "All right, if you don't want to find out 
what happened, then feel free to leave. I told you, I'll take the bus home,"
  She closed the door and proceeded toward the double door entrance to the 
apartment building. 
  "Wait!" came Mari's voice.
  Jun turned to face her, "What is it?"
  "Just wait a minute. I'll go park the car and come with you," she said, "I 
can't leave you go through this alone,"
  Jun smiled warmly, "Thanks,"

  Ranma entered his apartment, heading straight for the bathroom. Once inside, 
he glanced at himself in the mirror.
  "What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked the image. It was a question he 
found himself asking very often.
  He looked down at his hands where he saw the blood of that poor person he had 
punched. He didn't even know why he had fought back. Countless times, Ranma had 
been attacked and beaten up on, however, this was the first time he had ever 
fought back. There had been no reason for him to fight back. He could simply 
stand there and be struck in the head with metal pipes yet remain oblivious and 
unaffected. All in all, he never got hurt. He can't get hurt. Fighting back was 
a 
waste of his time. Yet, for some reason, he fought back. Why?
  He looked down at his hands. He knew why.
  While all those people were raining down blows on him, he saw out of the 
corner of his eyes those two girls he had spoken to earlier attempt to help him 
out. No one had ever helped him out before, especially after they knew his name. 
People in his world seemed to be quick to judge, and because of his name, people 
seemed to judge him as some kind of monster to be avoided. That was why when he 
saw that bully throw Jun to the floor and kick Mari away, he felt this surge of 
anger.
  However, should he had been angry enough to have killed the man? No. 
Hopefully, no one will have realized the man had been killed initially by that 
single blow Ranma had dealt him. The only person that got a real good look at 
what had happened was Jun and Mari, but that couldn't be helped. Whatever the 
case, he would have to talk to them tomorrow.
  Ranma took off his clothes and jumped into the shower. He stood in front of 
the stream of cold water for a good ten minutes before he stepped out, taking a 
look at himself in the mirror again.
  He smirked coldly as he looked at the image before him. 
  "So, I'm a killer and yet I'm not," he commented. He knew it was better to 
have used powers to bring that man back to life. He didn't exactly know exactly 
how he was able to do it, yet for some reason, he knew it was within his 
ability. Actually, he doubted there was anything what was not within his 
ability.
  He walked through his apartment stark naked, heading for his bedroom where he 
would put on something to wear. 
  When he entered his room, he was surprised to see Mari and Jun there, their 
backs to him.
  "Jeez, his computer isn't even out of its packaging," he heard Jun comment, 
"How the heck is he able to do so well in classes even without the use of a 
computer? I'll be mighty impressed if he actually does those physics derivation 
homework by hand,"
  "Man, his room is so empty," Mari said, leaning forward over a table where 
there sat a single book, a book based on Greek mythology. She picked it up and 
handed to Jun, "Check it out, he seems to like Greek mythology,"
  "What are you doing here?" Ranma asked.
  Jun and Mari quickly turned around.
  "Um, er," Jun stammered as she saw Ranma standing in the doorway of the 
bedroom totally naked. 
  Mari quickly turned around, totally mortified.
  "W-w-we're sorry to have barged in," Jun said taking a meek step back before 
bumping into the dresser drawer, "Y-your door was u-unlocked,"
  Ranma walked forward toward Jun. He wanted his book back.
  "W-what are you d-doing?" Jun stammered as she noticed the totally naked Ranma 
walking straight toward her.  
  "That's mine," he said, reaching forward to take his book back.
  Jun quickly handed the book back, her face beet-red, staring up at the ceiling 
to avoid accidentally seeing something she should not.
  "I-I'm sorry," she said, "W-we'll leave. W-we didn't know y-you w-were 
undressed,"
  She made a dash toward the door, absolutely regretting having come into the 
apartment. She thought it had been a good idea to enter even when she knew Ranma 
was inside despite him not answering the door. She figured the doorbell was 
broken since it wouldn't be all that surprising what with him living in such a 
run down place.
  As she tried to head for the door, Jun accidentally tripped over her own two 
feet where she tumbled forward and crashed against Ranma's chest. Jun's momentum 
made Ranma lose his balance, causing him to fall backwards, Jun falling down on 
top of him.
  Mari's already wide open eyes widened even more when she dared to turn around 
to see what the commotion was and saw Jun lying right on top of Ranma, her hands 
and the side of her face pressed against his bare chest.
  Jun's mouth was agape as she tried to fathom what had just happened at the 
kind of predicament she was in. One second she was looking at the cover of a 
book Mari had handed her, the next she was realizing a totally naked Ranma was 
standing before her, and then the next she was lying right on top of him.
  She had no idea what to do.
  "Are you going to get off of me?" he asked when he noticed Jun not moving or 
doing anything of the sort for a full ten seconds.
  Jun quickly got to her feet, totally flushed with embarrassment. She glanced 
in Mari's direction where she caught sight of her friend giving a forced smile. 
She knew Mari was basically silently thanking her lucky stars that it wasn't her 
that had tripped and stumbled into Ranma like that and fallen on top of him.
  "I-I'm sorry," Jun stammered, not daring to turn around, knowing full well 
that Ranma was still naked behind her.
  Ranma got to his feet and looked down at his book. It looked like it was okay 
and nothing bad had happened to it. As he stood there glancing down at the book, 
his thoughts immediately started to wander. For some reason unexplained, this 
all that transpired seemed strangely reminiscent, like it had happened before.
  "Um, your f-front door was unlocked....and we figured your doorbell was b-
broken," Jun tried to answer.
  "Glasses, I was holding glasses," he said to himself as he looked down at the 
book in his hands, recalling some past event.
  "E-excuse me?" Jun asked.
  Jun's voice seemed to snap Ranma out of his little reverie.
  He glanced up. 
  "Why're you here?" he said, walking over to the dresser drawer. 
  He picked up pair of boxer and placed them on, figuring he should put some 
clothing on even though he doesn't care if he is naked or not. He figure it 
would help the two girls feel less embarrassed.
  "Um, we were curious about back then.......with that incident in front of the 
library and those bullies.....a-about seeing you glowing," Jun said.
  Mention of what had happened earlier made Ranma realize that he had been 
meaning to talk to them.
  "About what had happened earlier..." he started off.
  "Um, have you dressed yet?" Jun had to ask.
  "Yeah," he answered.
  Jun sighed in relief. She turned around to face him but quickly turned back 
around again.
  "N-no you're not! You're not dressed!" she said, still blushing.
  "Yes I am," he said. 
  "W-what you're wearing doesn't count," she said, "Y-you're supposed to dress 
up more,"
  Ranma walked over to his dresser draw and pulled out a pair of pants and put 
them on and asked, "Better?"
  Jun turned around and noticed that Ranma was now clad in pants and gave a 
slight nod, "I guess,"
  "About what had happened earlier..." he began again.
  "Yeah, about that," Jun interrupted him, "How did you glow like you did back 
there?"
  "It's none of your concern," he said coldly.
  Jun was taken aback by that answer. She could not, nor probably ever will, get 
used to someone as emotionally cold as Ranma. Never in her life had she met 
someone like him. However, she wasn't going to stand idle and allow him to give 
her the cold shoulder.
  "And just how do you expect me to ignore something like that?" she asked, "And 
I'll be damned if I'm just gonna expect nothing happened,"
  Ranma said, "Well you and your friend're going to have to. Otherwise, I'll 
make you forget about it,"
  Jun and Mari's eyes widened. They didn't like the sound of that one bit.
  "I-is t-that some kinda t-threat?" she asked timidly, trying to sound 
undaunted by his tone of voice. Her heart was racing and she was actually 
scared.
  Ranma gave her a curious look before saying, "A threat? If you'd like to 
consider it that then I guess it can be considered one,"
  "Y-you wouldn't," Jun said, taking a step back.
  "You're right, I won't," he said, "This is only because you attempted to help 
me out back there,"
  Jun and Mari looked at one another. They didn't really know what to think or 
say. 
  "Even though I am more than capable of taking care of myself, I guess it's the 
actually act of you two attempting to help out that matters, even though the 
both of you were of no help," he continued on coldly.
  Jun narrowed her eyes toward him.
  "Now you listen here, Ranma," she snapped, "I dunno what is wrong with you, 
but I think you need a serious attitude adjustment,"
  Ranma was silent for several moments as he allowed that to sink in. Actually, 
it wasn't what Jun had suggested that made him stop to think but the way she had 
said his name. He noticed that she pronounced his name in annoyance rather than 
anger and disdain that he usually hears. 
  "Are you listening to me?" she asked, her hands on her hips.
  "Yeah, I heard you," he replied, with a wave of the hand, "Anyway, that is the 
way I am. Learn to deal with it or simply don't talk to me. It's that simple,"
  "Jeez," Jun rolled her eyes.
  "I'm going to tell you this," Ranma said, "I'll let the two of you go and give 
you the benefit of the doubt that you won't go telling anyone about what had 
happened with me resurrecting that guy,"
  "Resurrecting?" Jun asked, catching that last bit, "What did you just say back 
there? What resurrecting?"
  Ranma said, "Forget about it,"
  "No, I heard what you said," Jun said. She turned toward Mari, "Didn't you 
hear what he said? He said 'resurrecting', as in bringing someone back to life,"
  He said, "It was a slip of the tongue. Just forget you heard it,"
  "And how do you expect us to do that?" Jun asked.
  "Now that I think about it, I guess you're right," he said, "I guess I'll have 
to do it then,"
  The color drained forward Jun's face as she recalled Ranma mentioning 
something of a threat previously, "D-do what?"
  "It's nothing damaging," he said matter-of-factly, "I'm just going to alter 
you and your friend's memory,"
  "W-w-what?!?" Mari and Jun shouted in unison.
  The two girls looked at one another before they both broke out in laughter.
  "Alter our memory, that's ludicrous," Mari commented, "And just how do you 
suppose you do that?"
  Ranma wasn't at all fazed by that comment. However, he didn't really think 
before he spoke.
  "Look, I can alter the flow of time if I wanted to," he said, "Something such 
as altering memory is an even easier task,"
  Jun and Mari regarded Ranma intently. They started laughing again.
  He said, "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I don't have to prove 
anything to the two of you. And at the moment, you know more than you need to 
know,"
  "All right, but before you do so," Mari decided to humor him, "Can you tell us 
how you resurrected that guy back there?"
  Ranma narrowed his eyes at Mari, "Don't try and humor me,"
  "I'm sorry," Mari said, unable to hide a smile.
  "Forget it," Ranma said.
  He extended a hand forward and tapped a finger on her forehead.
  "There," he said.
  Mari blinked at Ranma, "Whatcha do that for?"
  "Nothing," he said with a shrug.
  Jun looked at her friend. She didn't know why, but she knew Ranma's touching 
of Mari's forehead had just altered her in someway.
  "Um, Mari, do you know why we're here?" Jun asked. She figured if Mari's 
memory had been altered in some way, then she would not know why she was here 
since the two of them were there because they had seen something that would 
otherwise cause Ranma to do what he has done.
  "Yeah, because you wanted to tell Ranma what the homework assignment was for 
your physics class since he wasn't there today and you wanted me to bring you," 
Mari said. She wondered why Jun would ask a question like that. What other 
reason could there be to her being there.
  Jun's eyes widened as she noticed there was no hint of deceit in her friend's 
voice. Mari had truly believe what she had just said.
  Suddenly, it dawned on her that Ranma had indeed somehow altered Mari's 
memory. Ranma had just invaded Mari's mind and altered something that should not 
had been altered.
  Jun felt her blood boil upon realizing this. She turned toward Ranma and 
slapped Ranma.
  "Put her memory back to the way it was!" Jun shouted at him.
  Ranma was silent for several moments as he stood there, in a state of shock 
from realizing that he had just been slapped. The actual act of Jun slapping him 
had more of an impact rather than the open hand striking his face did.
  "I told you, you and her have seem more than you should have," he began.
  "I don't care! Put it back!" she shouted at him in anger, "You have no right 
playing God and messing around with people's memories! That's hers and hers 
alone!"
  Ranma was taken aback by the comment. However, he quickly regained his 
composure. He sneered and reached a hand out, grabbing Jun by her throat and 
saying, "You fucking Angel!! I should kill you right where you stand!!"
  "W-what the hell are you doing?!?" Mari shouted, reaching out and trying to 
free her friend from Ranma's grip.
  Jun's eyes widened as she felt Ranma's grip around her throat. Although he 
wasn't squeezing, the thought of having Ranma's hand around her throat made her 
feel very vulnerable, a feeling she detested.
  All of a sudden, Ranma quickly released his grip, as if he finally realized he 
was doing something incredibly wrong and that goes against everything he stood 
for, whatever it was.
  The color drained from Ranma's face as he looked down at his hands.
  "Get out," he said in a soft forced voice, "Get out now....both of you,"
  "C'mon, let's get outta here!!" Mari quickly said, grabbing Jun's arm and 
attempting to pull Jun toward the door.
  Jun was unable to move, her knees weak.
  Ranma held his head, falling to his knees in pain as flashes of near world 
destroying battles flashed through his memory, battles that he had never fought 
in before. 
  "G-get out!" Ranma told the girls, "Get out now!"
  Jun, her legs now working, quickly ran out of the room, Mari right behind.
  They never looked back.
  Mari and Jun exited the run down apartment complex and got into the car as 
fast as possible, Mari driving back home to their apartment in record time. 
After Mari had parked in the apartment parking lot and turned off the car, they 
sat quietly for several minutes before Mari had finally spoken up.
  "W-what happened back there? Are you all right?!" Mari finally asked.
  "I-I'm fine, I think," Jun said softly. She was rubbing the area of her neck 
where she had felt Ranma's hand wrapped around. The sensation of Ranma's hand 
touching the sensitive skin around her neck lingered.
  "What caused him to do that?" Mari asked, "And why did you slap him? What do 
you mean about him altering my memory?"
  Jun turned toward her friend, "Tell me again, why were we there at Ranma's 
place?"
  "I told you already," Mari said in all honesty, "You wanted to let Ranma know 
what the homework assignment was because he wasn't in class,"
  "Do you remember what happened earlier? In front of the library, that is," Jun 
asked.
  Mari gave Jun a weird look, "I still don't understand why you're asking me 
this. You were there with me,"
  "Just humor me,"
  "We saw Ranma at the library and these two bullies wanted Ranma to step 
outside, which he did," she said, "And when we went out, he was being attacked 
by a whole gang of people at the same time,"
  "Yeah, go on," Jun said.
  "Well, I don't really know why, but I guess they got tired of beating on Ranma 
so they all stopped and left," Mari said.
  "Do you remember the two of us jumping on top of that one guy?" Jun asked. 
  Mari nodded, "Yeah, you're right. I forgot about that. Ranma punched this guy 
out and that seemed to have caused everyone else to run away. After a minute or 
so, that guy that got knocked out eventually woke back up and ran away, too,"
  "But the guy didn't 'eventually' wake up," Jun said, "Ranma woke him up,"
  "No, that didn't happen. By then, Ranma had long ago ran away,"
  "I'm telling you that's what happened," Jun said emphatically, "Ranma punched 
that guy out and it seemed to have scared everyone away because of it. A short 
while later, Ranma walked up to where that guy was lying and placed his hand on 
the guy's chest. All of a sudden, Ranma started glowing this weird bluish hue. A 
second later, the guy got up and ran away,"
  "No, that didn't happen," Mari said, "Like I said, I was right there. None of 
that happened,"
  "It did! Ranma somehow altered your memory so that you wouldn't remember it,"
  "Speaking of altered memory-"
  "That's what I'm getting at," Jun said, "Ranma somehow altered your memory so 
that you wouldn't remember exactly what had happened,"
  Mari left out a breath, "Now how do you suppose he could have done that? No 
one can alter a person's memory, not without some sort of super-sophisticated 
gadgetry...and judging from what we saw in Ranma's apartment, he has none of 
it,"
  "All he did was tap your forehead and that was it," Jun said.
  Jun stopped to think for a moment.
  All of a sudden her eyes widened, "Oh my god!"
  "What?" Mari seemed surprised.
  "Remember when we heard Ranma supposedly 'resurrecting' that guy?" Jun said, 
"That could explain why Ranma had glowed back there, because he had been busy 
resurrecting that guy,"
  "Whoa, you lost me there," Mari said, "Do you hear what you're saying? You're 
making it sound as if Ranma is some kinda god or something,"
  "It's just that I remember taking a glance at that guy Ranma had knocked out," 
Jun commented, "And frankly, that guy did not look like he would had ever gotten 
up from a blow like that. His entire face looked like it was caved-in. 
Considering how messed up the guy was, he definitely suffered more than 
something as simple as a broken nose. Even with a broken nose, he should never 
had been able to get up so easily and run away as if nothing had happened,"
  "Man, you're talking gibberish," Mari commented, "The guy looked like all he 
was suffering was a swollen black eye,"
  "That's your altered memory speaking," Jun said, "That's not what I saw, 
that's for sure,"
  "This is crazy," Mari said, "Ranma is no god,"
  "Maybe not, but he's definitely got some special powers and such," Jun said.
  "Okay, believe what you may, but this all sounds unbelievable to me. 
Something like that isn't possible and I'm gonna leave it as that. However, one 
thing that really has me interested is what caused Ranma to snap like that,"
  Jun said, "Yeah, what the heck happened there? Ranma's so.....emotionless. And 
for him to all of a sudden snap like that...."
  "I wonder why he called you and 'Angel'," Mari commented, scratching her head, 
"I specifically remember him calling you an f'ing 'Angel',"
  "Yeah, I remember that," Jun said, "I wonder, too. What really scared me was 
that it truly looked like Ranma didn't recognize me,"
  "Really? How so? What do you mean?" Mari asked curiously.
  "Well, I took a good look at him and it looked like he didn't recognize who I 
was," Jun said, "However, when he did, he immediately let go,"
  "Hmm, I wonder...." Mari said thoughtfully.
  "What?"
  "Well," Mari said, "Since you seem to have a really open mind and all, what 
with you believe Ranma is capable of resurrecting people and altering my memory, 
which I must add I don't believe was altered since I remember everything so 
clearly...."
  "But he did alter it!!!" Jun shouted.
  "Whatever," Mari said with a wave of the hand, "Anyway, what makes me wonder 
is if this 'Angel' bit has any connection with what happened on this world over 
a century ago,"
  "A century ago?" Jun said, "Oh, you mean when these Angels attacked this world 
and we used had to use these things called 'Evangelions' to fend 'em off? I 
think that's how it goes. I'm not all that great with history,"
  Mari gave a laughed, "Well, that's basically the concept. However, there's 
more to it. There's this kinda 'conspiracy theory' I remember reading about 
concerning that,"
  "Oh?"
  "Well, surely you heard about this guy that came to this world and tried to 
basically kill us all?" Mari said, "Yeah, the guy's name is Ranma. Well, from 
what I remember reading a while back, this guy Ranma was actually some kind of 
'Angel-like' person who had emerged from one of the EVA units, I forget which 
one, and basically went about helping us out,"
  "Okay, go on," Jun showed genuine interest.
  "Well, the thing is is that this soon-to-be despised Ranma person was actually 
one of the main fighting force against the 'Angels'. However, the thing was that 
he had never been aware that he, too, was also an 'Angel'. Well, after all the 
'Angels' were defeated, he supposedly left to some other world,"
  Jun gave Mari a weird look.
  "I know, just hear me out," Mari said, "I believe none of this. I'm just 
merely retelling what I can recall reading. Anyway, this Ranma guy left but 
eventually came back when his 'Angel' tendencies seemed to have finally surfaced 
and compelled him come back and actually carry out what he was originally 
supposed to do and that was to try and implement this thing called the 'Third 
Impact' if I recall correctly. However, he failed and that's that,"
  "Man, that's some rather far-out theory," Jun said, "It kinda puts my 'Ranma 
is some kinda god' theory to shame,"
  Mari laughed, "Come on, you don't believe this stuff do you? Everything you 
saw Ranma do could be explained. You could have been seeing what you wanted to 
see. The way I think of it is that because Ranma happens to have the same name 
as the notorious 'Ranma', you somehow subconsciously labeled him as some kinda 
super-powerful person because it, well, think of it, if he must be damn powerful 
to have caused this world take up arms in order to stop him," 
  Jun thought about it for several long moments, "You really think so?"
  Mari shrugged, "Believe what you want. I'm just saying that there are a lot of 
paranormal things that cane be explained scientifically,"
  "Okay, what about Ranma glowing then?" Jun asked, "I know 'you' didn't see him 
glow, but I'm sure as heck I did,"
  "It could have been the way the moonlight was reflecting off him," Mari 
shrugged, "Who knows. It was evening at the time, afterall,"
  "What about him snapping at me like that?" Jun asked.
  "Perhaps he finally snapped," Mari suggested, "Keep in mind that sometimes 
people snap all of a sudden. Like remember the time at that party we went to and 
this guy tried to hit on me and I simply blew up and told him to back off or I 
would have personally cut his penis off and handed it back to him so that he 
could go 'F' himself,"
  Jun laughed aloud, "Yeah, I remember that. What made you do that? You were all 
happy and nice one day and then you just snapped and said that. I couldn't 
believe you said that,"
  Mari shrugged, "I guess it was because three other guys had hit on me that day 
and I turned them down and when the fourth guy approached me, it was basically 
the straw that broke the camel's back,"
  Jun said, "Well, I guess that could explain it. Hm, now that I think about it, 
perhaps Ranma was under a lot of stress from the earlier incident. I'm sure 
getting attacked by all those guys back there probably does that to a person. He 
must have been full of pent up anger from what had happened,"
  "Exactly," Mari said, "Also, keep in mind we _did_ trespass into his home 
without his knowing, at least not until after he got out of the shower,"
  "I guess,"
  Mari smirked, "Speaking of which...."
  "What?" Jun sighed, knowing full well what kind of subject Mari was going to 
move onto.
  "Didja see that body of his?" Mari smirked, "His body definitely reflects how 
good of shape he is in. After seeing a body like that, I wouldn't be surprised 
if he broke a 'three-minute' miles,"
  Jun gave a meek smile, "I guess so,"
  "C'mon, don't tell me you didn't get a good look," Mari smirked.
  Jun blushed, "No, I didn't,"
  "Yeah right," the friend teased, "Then why are you blushing so much? I betcha 
it's because you're picturing what he looks like naked right now,"
  "I-I am not!!!" Jun stammered, blushing even more red, "And why are you 
bringing this up?! You have a boyfriend for god's sake!!"
  Mari smirked, "Hey, I may have a boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I can look 
around and go window shopping,"
  Jun sighed.

  Ranma looked up from his book and at the clock. It read exactly three in the 
morning. He was a bit surprised that he had been reading for so long. He had 
started reading that Greek mythology book at around eight forty.
  Although he had been reading his book most of the time, he had been pretty 
preoccupied thinking about what had happened earlier. His thoughts kept 
lingering on how angry Jun seemed to have been toward him. She looked genuinely 
angry. It wasn't very becoming of her.
  "What the hell am I thinking? What do I care if she's angry at me or not," 
Ranma commented tot himself, "Once I take care of altering her memory as well, 
she won't remember why she was angry at me in the first place,"
  He thought for a bit longer, "But then again, I'll always be aware of her 
having been angry at me though...."
  He let out an annoyed breath, "Bah. Who really cares whether or not I know 
about her being angry at me. It's all trivial,"
  His thoughts moved onto something else as he looked down at the book. He 
recalled about that incident where Jun had stumbled forward and fallen on top of 
him. That scene seemed strangely familiar except it had something to do with a 
pair of glasses instead of a book. He didn't really know what to make of it.
  "Is it some kind of vision?" he asked himself, "What the heck does it mean?"
  He tried to picture the pair of glasses clearly, wondering if perhaps that 
pair of glasses might help him determine who or what he is. He had to keep an 
open mind and constantly look for signs. It might help him reach his ultimate 
goal, to find out who he was and who his parents were. All he had to go by was 
this one flashback he remembered having when he was young. It was of people 
trying to get to him yet constantly being pushed away by some force that seemed 
to emanate from his body. He didn't know how old he was, but he knew that he 
must have been just a baby then. He also vaguely remembered the face of an 
elderly woman holding him and him feeling this sense of comfort and being safe. 
Could that woman had been his mother?
  "And what the hell happened to me back there?" he asked himself yet another 
question, "One second I remember Jun slapping me, and then the next it looked 
like I was g-going to kill her. What the hell made me do that?"
  It was never Ranma's personality to do something like that. For the brief 
moment after he had been slapped, it felt as if his body moved on its own 
accord. 
  Ranma sighed, "How am I to piece together a puzzle with pieces I don't even 
know that pertains to it?"
  He got up off his seat and walked over to his bed, taking care to remove his 
clothes before ducking under the covers.
  He had a lot to do tomorrow.

  Jun felt her heart starting to beat rapidly as soon as she saw Ranma enter the 
classroom, her stomaching curling up in a knot. 
  As Ranma entered the room, everyone seemed to stop talking as they watched him 
take his usual seat. Although no one in the room except for Jun had been in 
front of the library to witness the fight, word of it had spread like wildfire. 
Everyone knew that Ranma was constantly beaten up, but this was the first time 
they had heard of Ranma fighting back. They had heard that the guy was knocked 
out by a single punch.
  "Is it true? Did you really knock that guy out with a single punch?" a male 
student approached Ranma. This was the first time anyone had ever approached him 
and spoken to him.
  Ranma glanced up at the student and narrowed his eyes, "It's none of your 
business,"
  The student gave a meek look as he said, "I'm sorry,"
  He quickly went back to his seat and sat down, turning toward one of his 
friends, telling him that he had tried but failed in getting Ranma to answer the 
question.
  Jun glanced at Ranma. Although she didn't know what he had said, she was 
pretty sure what it was. She had the funny feeling Ranma would say something 
like 'Mind your own business' or something of the like.
  Her heart skipped a beat when Ranma looked up and made eye contact with her. 
His eyes were focused directly toward her and made her feel incredibly 
uncomfortable.
  She quickly glanced away, turning her attention toward the front of the room, 
aware that Ranma continued to cast his piercing gaze at her back. She felt 
herself shiver, wondering what Ranma was thinking at that very moment.
  The professor entered the classroom which made Jun sigh in relief. The awkward 
silence of the class would soon change as soon as the professor began teaching.
  The class went about without incident. When class was finally over, everyone 
went about the rest of their day, several students staying behind hoping to ask 
Ranma about what they had heard.
  "I heard you knocked this guy out," a young student approached Ranma. Although 
he had heard Ranma's reply to someone who tried talking to him earlier, he still 
wanted to try his luck.
  Ranma continued to put his books away, ignoring the student's question.
  "Well?" the student asked, awaiting an answer.
  "It's none of your business," he replied coldly.
  The student took a step back.
  "What's wrong with you?" the student dared to say, "Jus' because you have a 
fucked up name doesn't mean you have the god given right to act like an 
asshole,"
  Ranma glanced up at the kid, "What did you say?"
  "You heard me," the student managed to say. Perhaps it was because his friends 
were nearby that made him feel more courageous than he was otherwise.
  Ranma sneered, "Fuck off,"
  The student took a step back and tripped over his own feet, falling onto his 
backside. Although he had felt courageous, something about Ranma's demeanor 
frightened the young man terribly.
  Ranma walked passed the young boy and toward the door where he was a bit 
surprised to see Jun standing there. He managed to hide his surprise. Of all 
people, he figured Jun would be the last person he would ever see considering 
how he had almost snapped that night.
  All of a sudden, something dawned on him.
  "Um, about last night," Jun said nervously. She was more nervous than she had 
ever been in her life. However, she had to do this for Mari's sake.
  "Yeah, about last night," he began. He had some unfinished business. He had 
never gotten a chance to make Jun forget about what she had saw that night, when 
he had seen him use his powers and glowing. 
  "I want you to put Mari's memories back," she said firmly, or at least as 
firmly as she could.
  Ranma was a bit surprised at what Jun had said, so much that he wasn't too 
sure he had heard her correctly.
  "I said, I want you to put Mari's memories back," Jun said more firmly. She 
glanced up at Ranma, a bit intimidated by his size.
  Jun was rather short compared to Ranma, the top of her head reach up to his 
chin. However, despite Ranma's size, Jun desperately fought back her instinct to 
flee.
  Ranma narrowed his eyes toward Jun, "Now what makes you think I'm going to do 
that?"
  "Because what you did isn't right," Jun stated, "You've no right messing with 
someone's mind. So whatever you did with Mari's memory, undo it,"
  "No," he said coldly.
  Jun gulped. She had this funny feeling he would say something like that. She 
held her position firmly, "No, that's not an option. You're going to return her 
memory back to the way it is,"
  Ranma narrowed his eyes at her, contemplating just altering her memory now so 
they wouldn't be having this conversation.
  Jun took a step back, "Don't you dare!"
  He said nothing. He was actually rather amused at Jun's spunk. She figured she 
would be scared of him if anything.
  "Look, I don't know what you did to Mari and her memory," Jun said when she 
noticed Ranma awaiting her to say something, "But it isn't right what you did. 
How would you feel if someone did that to you?"
  "I won't allow them," he said flatly, "However, you nor Mari are me so the 
point is moot,"
  "I can't believe you're using that as an excuse," she said angrily. She found 
tears starting to come to her eyes, "I want you to fix Mari, I want you to put 
her memory back to normal,"
  Ranma regarded Jun intently. For some odd reason, when he noticed Jun nearing 
the brink of tears, he felt bad. He didn't know why though. Something deep 
within him made him want to do whatever he could to make her tears stop.
  "Fine, if it really bothers you that much, I'll return her memory," Ranma said 
without thinking. When he realized what he had said, it was too late. 
  Jun seemed absolutely thrilled, "Oh thank you!"
  Ranma opened to say that he hadn't meant to say that but when he noticed how 
happy she looked he figured maybe it wasn't all that bad to return Mari's 
memory. Worst case scenario, he would have to alter Mari and Jun's memory 
sometime down the road if need be.
  "Hmph," Ranma let out an annoyed breath. He didn't even know why he had said 
that. He could care less what she thought about him. However, it did effect him 
a bit when he noticed her looking rather sad like that. 
  "Thank you!" Jun said again. In a fit of happiness, she had forgotten who she 
was talking to, about the incident the other day and how he looked like he had 
been actually intent of killing her, as she leaped forward and gave Ranma a hug.
  The embrace lasted a fraction of a section for Ranma quickly broke the embrace 
and took a cautious step back. 
  "Sorry," Jun gave a meek smile, "I guess I kinda got caught up in the moment,"
  "Um, don't worry about it," he said, a bit surprised at himself. It was merely 
a friendly hug yet it seemed to have shaken him up quite a bit. Perhaps it was 
the combination of that faint smell of Jun's shampoo coupled with the warmth of 
her body that had caused it.
  Ranma composed himself and said, "I'm only doing this because I'm gonna give 
you and Mari the benefit of the doubt. If I hear about you mentioning about what 
you saw that night after everyone had run away, I'm going to change your 
memories whether you like it or not,"
  Jun held up her hands and said in a cheery voice, "Don't worry about it. I 
promise I won't tell anyone and I promise Mari won't either. It'll be our 
secret,"
  Ranma narrowed his eyes at her. After a moment, he figured there was no reason 
for Jun to be lying and believed her, "All right, fine then,"
  Jun smiled warmly as she gave him a playful punch, "You know what?"
  "What?" he looked down at his arm where she had giving him that playful punch.
  "You're not all that bad,"
  "Hmph,"
  
   Jun noticed Ranma eating by himself under a tree. Although she constantly saw 
him eating there, she felt obligated to approach him to thank him for listening 
to her and putting Mari's memory back to normal.
  She took a deep breath, steeling herself and walked up to Ranma.
  "Hey, Ranma," she greeted up.
  Ranma peered up from his box lunch. He already knew who it was without even 
needing to look. Jun seemed to be the only person he had ever come across that 
didn't seem to have probably actually calling him by his name.
  "Hey," he replied. 
  Jun regarded Ranma's lunch. It looked like he had bought it at some local 
convenience store rather than made by hand, like her lunches usually were. She 
wondered if this was the kind of lunch Ranma ate all the time. 
  "Um, whatcha eating?" she asked, hoping to make conversation.
  "Nothing interesting," came his reply.
  "Care if I sit next to ya?" she dared to ask.
  Ranma stopped his eating to look at her oddly. After a moment, he shrugged, "I 
don't care,"
  Jun sat down next to him. 
  "So, what do you plan on doing after finals?" she asked, "I only have two more 
final to take and then that's it. How about you?"
  "Why do you bother talking to me?" he asked, "I've already returned your 
friend's memory back to normal so there's no reason for you to associate with me 
anymore,"
  Jun let out an annoyed breath, "Jeez, what's wrong with you? I was just 
chatting. Is it such a crime?"
  Taken aback by the retort, he said, "Sorry. I guess it's because I'm not used 
to people just trying to chat with me,"
  From out of nowhere, a small stray dog wandered by where they sat. Ranma 
noticed the dog. Jun watched as Ranma looked down at his lunch, then at the dog, 
and then back down at his lunch again. She smiled as she silently knew what he 
was contemplating.
  She was pleasantly surprised when she saw Ranma place his lunch on the ground 
in front of him. 
  He said to the dog, "Here, you can have my entire lunch,"  
  The dog perked its ears. Although it looked like it had a hard life living on 
the streets and seemed to be very distrustful of anything or anyone, the dog 
seemed to show no signs of distrust of Ranma. It acted like a little puppy as it 
quickly ran forward and dug into Ranma's lunch.
  Jun and Ranma watched as the dog quickly devoured Ranma's lunch. 
  Ranma held his hand out to which the dog walked forward and sniffed. After a 
moment, it started licking his hand. 
  Ranma then proceeded to scratched the dog behind its ears.
  "The dog seems to be enjoying it," Jun commented warmly.
  He said, "All right, you go now,"
  The dog, as if understanding Ranma's words, headed off in a random direction.
  "That was awfully nice of you to give the dog your lunch," she commented.
  "I was wrong about you," she smiled, "There's a lot more to you than what I 
thought initially,"
  "Initially?"
  "Well, yeah," she said, "From what I gathered from my first encounter with 
you, I really thought you were a jerk,"
  Ranma showed some mild interest, "And now?"
  "Well, it seems like you're not all that much a jerk," she gave a smirk, to 
indicate that Ranma should not take the comment personal, which he didn't. 
Noticing a slight air of awkward silence, she quickly asked, "So, like I asked 
earlier, what do you plan on doing once finals are over?"
  "I'm gonna continue searching out who my parents are," he replied. He stopped 
to think for a moment before saying, "You know what? I don't even know why I'm 
telling you this," 
  "Search for your parents?" she asked. She was very surprised Ranma had just 
divulge what was probably some rather personal information about. This was 
quite a change from the usual cold and enigmatic version of him she thought she 
knew.
  "Forget it," he said, reverting back to his shell, "It doesn't concern you,"
  "C'mon, tellme more, if you don't mind that is," she showed genuine interest. 
She grew up in a large household with loving parents and knew no one that didn't 
know who their parents were. 
  Ranma glanced at her, contemplating whether to continue or not. 
  "So you do know who your parents are?" Jun asked, figuring if she continued 
asking, perhaps Ranma would open up a bit more because he was rather interesting 
provided he spoke.
  "Not my real parents," he said, "My foster parents died a while ago. I've been 
on my own since,"
  "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that,"
  "Since there's stuff about me even I don't understand, I figure perhaps if I 
find them, it'll help explain a lot of things," he said.
  "Stuff you don't understand? Like what?"
  "There're a ton of stuff I would like to find out," he said, "Like why I have 
two different eye colors. Could I have the same eye color as my both parents? 
Stuff like that,"
  Jun dared to ask, having been very curious about this herself, "Or perhaps 
know about what you did to that guy that day?"
  Ranma narrowed his eyes, "Y'see? This is why I wanted it forgotten, so I won't 
have to answer questions like these,"
  "I'm sorry, I won't pry if you don't want me to," she said with a meek smile, 
"I was merely curious, that's all,"
  "That's the whole reason why I'm trying to find my parents or at least find 
out who they are," he said, "Perhaps they'll help explain a lot of things. I'm 
curious as to what my limitations are because, frankly, I don't think I'm 
limited to anything,"
  "What do you mean?"
  "Man, I don't even know why I'm telling you this," he said.
  "C'mon, I swear I won't tell anyone," she said, holding her right hand up. Her 
heart beating rapidly. This was rather exciting. She knew full well that she 
had somehow gotten Ranma to reveal a bit about himself.
  Ranma took a moment before he said, "Well, if you really want to know, I guess 
I don't see any harm in doing so. Anyway, if you're inquiring about my powers, I 
think I can basically do anything. But I'm not going to get into specifics on 
that subject,"
  "Like what?" she asked curiously.
  "Like I said before, I'm not going to get into specifics about it," he said.

  "If you're really interested in that stuff, why not go visit the museum down 
in Tokyo?" Jun commented. She had spotted Ranma in the library and had 
approached him from behind. She had peered over Ranma's shoulder as he read a 
history book pertaining to a war that had taken place around a century ago 
between humans and Angels. 
  Ranma looked up from his book and said, "Museum?"
  Jun nodded, "Yeah. There's a museum located in the heart of Tokyo. It contains 
artifacts from that era. I don't know much about that since the extent of my 
knowledge comes from what I have read in text books. However, I do remember 
visiting that museum on a school field trip when I was in middle school. Didn't 
you visit there? I figure at some point in time you should have gone there on 
your own field trip. It's kinda like how basically every student at one point in 
their education had read a Shakespeare novel,"
  Ranma said, "I guess I'm an exception,"
  "Well, if you're interested in knowing more about what you're reading," she 
pointed out, "Then visiting the museum would probably help out a lot. I think
they have tour guides and from what I remember, what with my having been there 
so long ago, they're actually really informative,"
  Ranma looked down at the book, "I guess I'll go visit there then,"
  "So, what's with the sudden interest in something that happened so long ago?" 
Jun questioned.
  Ranma turned his attention back on to his book, "I've always been interested 
in history. Besides, considering my name and what I've had to deal with as I 
grew up, at some point it was inevitable that I was going to seek out 
information about my namesake,"
  "Oh," Jun said quietly.
  "I guess I'll go check that museum you mentioned sometime tomorrow," he said.
  "Do you know where it is?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No, but I don't think I'll have any problems finding 
it,"
  "If you want, I can show you the where it is," Jun offered.
  "I don't need your help," he replied without glancing up from his book. When 
he noticed Jun winced, he added, "I'm sure I can handle it myself,"
  Jun said, "Well, it wouldn't be a problem for me because I'm actually heading 
down toward Tokyo. I've got some relatives living there that I'm going to visit 
for a few days before heading on home up in Hokkaido,"
  "And how does that pertain to me?" Ranma asked bluntly.
  Jun shook her head, "Not one to use tact, huh? Well, since I'm heading toward 
Tokyo, you and I can head there together. You can...um, I mean we can keep each 
other company,"
  Ranma shrugged, "I guess so. I don't see a problem in that,"
  Jun's eyes seemed to brighten, "Really? That's great,"
  "When do you intend to leave?" he asked.
  "Well, when is your last final?" she asked instead.
  "My last one is at ten," he replied, "That means I'll probably be done by 
around eleven or so,"
  Jun smiled, "That's good to hear. That means we'll have plenty of time to 
catch the bus headed toward Tokyo. There's one that leaves at four thirty,"
  "Fine,"
  "Where do you want to meet?" she asked, "We can meet here at, say, three? That 
way, perhaps we can grab a quick bite to eat before heading on over to the bus 
terminal,"
  Ranma shrugged, "Okay. That's fine by me,"
  Jun smiled happily, "All right. Well, I guess I'll get going now. I've still 
go some things to pack,"
  Jun had originally planned to leave at ten, which was when the first bus was 
expected to leave, since she was going to be done with her own finals by nine, 
but waiting until three thirty seemed the better choice since she would have 
some company on a later bus ride. Even if it was Ranma for company, it was 
better having someone like him around to talk to than no one at all.

  Jun met up with Ranma at the designated place. She had arrived at the library 
a few minutes late but had immediately noticed Ranma as he waited by the front 
entrance. She was carrying a rather large suitcase and a duffle bag in tow. 
Actually she was carrying the duffle bag and pulling the suitcase since the 
suitcase was equipped with tiny wheels.
  "Sorry I'm late," Jun said a bit breathlessly, "I didn't anticipate having to
stop so frequently to catch my breath,"
  She jerked a thumb toward suitcase and duffle bag that she had just put down.
  "I guess I packed a bit more than I should have," she commented.
  Ranma didn't show any interest in knowing what was in the suitcase or duffle 
bag. He seemed to be preoccupied reading the same book he had been reading the 
other day.
  "So, you excited about this road trip?" she asked for conversational sake.
  Ranma shook his head, "No. I'm more curious as to what I'll find out than 
excited,"
  "Well, I'm excited," she said with a gleaming smile, "I'm looking forward to 
seeing my relatives and family again. I haven't seen them in ages,"
  "It must be nice having family," Ranma commented, glancing up from his book to 
regard Jun.
  Jun gave a meek smile and said, "Sorry. I guess I forgot who I was talking 
to,"
  Ranma walked over to where the suitcase was, "I suppose you want me to carry 
it, huh?"
  "If you don't mind," Jun gave an innocent grin.
  Ranma let out a breath. He couldn't help but smirk. He knew Jun was taking 
full advantage her being a girl and him, being a guy and all, basically being 
obligated to help her out.
  He picked up the suitcase with no effort. 
  "All right, where should we go eat?" he asked.
  "Um, isn't that heavy?" she had to ask. She was rather athletic and could lift 
heavy things if she had to and she knew that that suitcase was even heavy by a 
man's standard. Heck, she had trouble pulling the blasted thing on wheels.
  Ranma looked at the suitcase before shaking his head and honestly saying, "If 
it is, I wouldn't know,"
  "Huh? What do you mean?" she didn't understand.
  "I never lifted anything that was deemed 'heavy' before," he replied flatly.
  "What, how much can you lift?" she asked curiously. She assumed Ranma was a 
lot stronger than he let on. Although Ranma didn't have the build of some 
muscle-bound bodybuilder, she wouldn't be all that surprised if he could lift 
more than his fair share of weight. She remember seeing this really burly 
football jock bench pressing a little over four hundred at the campus gym where 
she did her aerobics with Mari from time to time, and that man was definitely 
considered extremely strong.
  Ranma scratched his head, "How much can I lift? I don't really know. I've 
never really tested myself,"
  "How much do you think you can lift?" she asked.
  He shrugged, "I'm not too sure. I don't think there's even a possible way to 
gauge how strong I am,"
  Jun giggled as she said sarcastically, "My, aren't we being modest?"
  "I don't care if you believe me or not," Ranma showed no signs of annoyance.
  "C'mon, for real, how much?"
  "Does it really matter how much I can lift?"
  "I'm just curious, that's all," she smiled innocently.
  Ranma said, "And like I said before, I don't think there's a possible way of 
gauging how strong I am. However, if I were to 'assume' on how strong I am and 
how much I can lift, then I guess it'd basically be something that weighs 
infinite pounds,"
  Jun shrugged, not believing him one bit, "Okay. If you say so,"
  "So, where would you like to eat?" he asked, realizing this conversation was 
getting nowhere and deciding to change the subject.
  "How about we head eat somewhere off-campus?" she replied, "Perhaps at a diner 
or something? We've got plenty of time to sit down somewhere and enjoy a meal,"
  She headed in the direction where several diners were located just a short 
distance off-campus.
  "All right," he followed behind her.

  "So, what do you intend to do once you get to the museum?" Jun asked from out 
of the blue as she looked down at her meal. It was a large salad that not only 
looked very bland but tasted every bit as bland, too. Ranma had ordered a large 
steak. It looked more like a full course dinner rather than a quick bite to eat.
  "I guess I'll just look around and see what I can learn," he said, "I'm 
interested in knowing all that I can of the 'Angel Wars',"
  "Why're you so interested in that era?"
  "I'm interested in knowing more about that guy named Ranma," he said, "Since 
my name seemed to be derived from him, I figure it'd be nice to know more about 
it and where it seemed to have come from. It's merely curiosity on my part. 
That's all,"
  "So, in a way, it's your hobby?"
  Ranma thought about it for a moment before saying, "I guess so. I basically 
read whatever I can of the 'Angel Wars' and anything pertaining to it,"
  "Oh, I guess that is why I saw that Greek Mythology book in your room," she 
said. When she recalled the image of her in Ranma's room looking at the book, 
and image of a totally stark naked Ranma standing before her entered her mind.
  She blushed beet red.
  Ranma noticed this but said nothing of it. He said, "Yeah, I had borrowed that 
Greek Mythology book from the library to see if it had anything to do with how 
the 'Angel Wars' had come about. I figure perhaps that Angel named Ranma might 
be mentioned in it, but it didn't seem to help. There was no mention of him,"
  "From what I hear, it seems you're most interested in not the 'Angel Wars' but 
the more in that Ranma person instead," Jun commented, taking a bite of her 
salad.
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I've read a lot about this Ranma guy, but most of it is 
rather obscure. The only thing rather informative I've found was this book that 
considered all that we know about the 'Angel Wars' was some kind of conspiracy, 
that the guy Ranma was actually an Angel or something like that. Of course, all 
of this is speculation so I don't really know what to believe,"
  "So what do you plan on doing?"
  "Truthfully? I'm tempted to go back and visit that time to see for myself what 
happened," he muttered to himself.
  "Huh?" 
  "Nevermind," he shrugged, leaning back in his seat.
  Jun played around with her salad. She didn't like the taste and didn't really 
want to eat anymore. She hated eating right.
  "Don't you like your salad?" he asked. It actually seemed like he was 
interested in her reaction toward the salad. This seemed to be the first time he 
ever indicated any interest in anything at all.
  Jun said, "No, it tastes kind of bad. Sometimes, I wish I could just indulge 
myself and eat some good tasting food for a change,"
  Ranma seemed a bit confused, "So why don't you?"
  "Unlike some people, I don't have a fast metabolism," she said, "If I 
constantly indulge myself, I'll get fat,"
  Ranma bit into his steak, "I don't see the reason. You look fine,"
  Jun blushed a bit, "Um, thanks. I guess it's easy for you to stay in shape 
since you seem to jog to class every day. Me, I don't have the stamina to do so. 
Um, actually, I think it's more along the lines of me not having the willpower 
to do so. I used to jog, but it only lasted for a whole month before I started 
dreading it. Don't you ever get tired of it?"
  He continued to eat as he shook his head, "No. To me, it's every bit as easy 
as eating this here steak. I guess it's because I don't get tired,"
  "C'mon, everyone gets tired," she commented skeptically, "You probably have a 
very high endurance threshold,"
  Ranma shook his head, "No, what I said is true. I don't get tired. There's a 
lot of things that don't seem to happen to me and I don't really understand why 
not,"
  "Like what?" she asked, humoring him. She didn't believe him. She figured he 
was merely being modest. That was one thing about him that she liked. 
  "Nothing in general," he replied, "It's obvious that you don't believe me. I 
don't even need to prove anything,"
  Jun gave a meek smile, "I'm sorry, was it that obvious? It's just that I find 
it rather hard to believe that you don't get tired,"
  "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not," he shrugged, "I guess it's 
better that you not know what I am capable of so you won't expect anything of 
me,"
  Ranma looked at the clock, "We better hurry up and finish. We've only got a 
short time left,"
  "All right,"

  Ranma and Jun arrived at the bus terminal just in time to buy themselves a 
ticket and board the bus. They both boarded the bus, Ranma putting Jun's belongs 
in the baggage compartment by the belly of the bus.
  Ranma was the first to be seat, choosing a random seat on the crowded bus, 
never bothering to take Jun's seat into consideration. Jun caste a glance at the 
seat next to Ranma. It was being occupied by a burly man. The man had a tattoo 
on 
each forearm and biceps the size of Ranma's head. The man looked rather mean, as 
if he was some kind of biker-type person. He looked to weigh five hundred pounds 
but his frame carried the weigh real well. As to why he was on the bus in the 
first place was unknown. The seat across the walkway was also occupied by a 
young boy. There were two open seats three row behind Ranma's seat.
  "What?" Ranma asked, noticing Jun looking his way.
  She gesture to the two open seat not far behind his, "Wouldn't you want to sit 
there instead?"
  "No, I'm fine where I am," he said.
  "Um, the whole premise behind our trip together is so we would keep each other 
company," she said, "If you sit here and I sit over there, then what's the use 
of our going to Tokyo together or separately?"
  "Oh," Ranma realized, "I guess you're right,"
  Jun smiled a bit. She knew it really looked like she was seeking Ranma's 
attention but she was merely interested in his company. She would much rather be 
seated next to someone she knew than not.
  Ranma turned his attention toward mean-looking man right next to him.
  "Move," he told the guy.
  "What didja say?" the man narrowed his eyes.
  "I said move," Ranma said coldly, "There's an open seat a few rows behind 
mine. Go sit there,"
  The man caste Ranma a rather nasty glance before smirking. 
  He then burst out laughing.
  "You've got spunk, boy," the man said, "I like that. For that, I'll move,"
  Jun quickly moved aside and stared as the burly man actually did as Ranma had 
told him. With her mouth agape, she looked down toward Ranma as he seemed to 
make himself comfortable in his seat.
  "What? I made him move," he said, "The seat next to me is now open,"
  Jun stammered as she hastily look her seat next to him, "I-I didn't expect you 
make the guy move. I figured we could have sat where he is seated now,"
  Ranma proceeded to get up, "Fine, I'll go tell him to move-"
  "No, forget about it," Jun grabbed onto Ranma's arm, preventing him from doing 
what he had said he was going to do. 
  He caste her a glance before he sat down in his seat.
  "Man, I can't believe you just outright told the guy to move," she commented, 
"You didn't need to do that. Weren't you scared of getting into a fight with 
him?"
  Ranma shook his head, "Of that guy? No, why?"
  "Um, nevermind," she gave a nervous smile.
  He shrugged before casting his glance out the window as the bus started to 
move.
  Jun gave Ranma and odd look before she finally decided it was best not to 
strain her brain on figuring what made Ranma tick. It was just that she found it 
odd how Ranma could be passive one minute, like during the time he had been 
jumped by all those bullies that day, and then cold the very next. Ranma's 
personality was very hard to understand.

  Ranma caste Jun a glance. It was about an two hours into the trip and Jun was 
fast asleep. What he found a bit odd and a bit awkward was that shortly after 
she fell asleep, she had somehow unconsciously leaned over and came to soon rest 
her head on Ranma's shoulder.
  She had been sleeping with her head against his shoulder for close to an hour 
now. He had contemplated waking Jun up to tell her to sleep in a different 
position, preferably not using him as her personal pillow but he had never found 
himself able to do so. She looked at peace sleeping like that so he figured he 
would let her rest.
  When the bus finally arrived at its destination, the Tokyo bus terminal, Jun 
still slept.
  "Wake up," Jun was awoken by Ranma's voice.
  "How long was I asleep?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
  "The whole trip," he replied.
  "The whole trip?" Jun said sleepily, "It felt like I only nodded off for a 
minute or so,"
  She seemed to snap wide awake when she realized that she seemed to be leaning 
against Ranma. She quickly sat upright, a blush on her cheeks, "D-did I sleep up 
against you the whole time?"
  "Yeah,"
  "I-I'm sorry," she stammered, "I didn't mean to,"
  He shrugged, "It's okay. I didn't mind,"
  They both got up out of their seat and proceeded toward the exit. Once 
outside, Jun stretched and then smiled when she looked up and noticed several 
familiar buildings.
  "Ah, Tokyo, I haven't been here in what felt like ages," she smiled warmly, 
"It's nice to be back,"
  Ranma grabbed Jun's belonging from the baggage compartment. 
  Jun smiled. That was rather nice of him.
  "Okay, where is this museum you mentioned?" he asked.
  She pointed toward an intersection just a short distance away, "You see that 
intersection? Just take that road straight ahead about five miles. The building 
is on your left. Don't worry, you won't miss it. It's gigantic. It's about the 
size of a stadium. I guess it needs to be to house those giant EVA robots,"
  Ranma glanced at the intersection, "All right. Well, I guess I'll be going 
now. Have a nice vacation,"
  He began heading in the direction she had pointed out.
  "Ranma," Jun called out to him.
  "Um, do you necessarily have to go to the museum right away?" she asked, 
somewhat nervous, "I mean, it's only seven. It won't close until ten and the 
next bus back to your home leaves at midnight,"
  "What else is there to do?" he asked innocently.
  "Dontcha wanna grab one last bite to eat before he part w