A shimmering orb illuminated the skies over Nerima, bathing the world in a light glow. Shafts of pale moonlight shined down onto a small koi pond, tranquil and calm. An errant cherry blossom, fluttering in the evening breeze, weaved an intricate dance through the air, before coming to rest upon the still waters. Faint ripples passed over the surface of the pond, before returning to their source after reaching the stones lining the pond, merging and complimenting the harmony of the pond rather then disrupting it,

     A fragment of the night slipped away and glided over the pond, the shadow of its flight


     "Wahahaha! What a haul, what a haul!" Happosai cackled gleefully. His eyes began to shine as he remembered all those beautiful women who chased him across Nerima. With a sigh he shook away the pleasant memory, his eyes gleaming with a new light. Right now Akane would be in the bath and it was his duty as the Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts to protect beautiful young women from perverts. His lips curled into a mischievous grin. And if that ingrate Ranma interferred, he'd splash him with cold water and leap into the loving arms of his Ranma-chan. Sweeto!

     As he stepped out into the hall, he noticed a middle aged man clad in a tattered white gi carrying a bulky backpack. "Genma m'boy, what are you up to?" To his surprise, Genma ignored him and continued to walk, his stride never faltering. Happosai froze in his tracks in surprise. This situation was just wrong, when did Genma grow a spine?

     Annoyance crossed his features as he stepped into Genma's path. "As long as you are my student, you will acknowledge your master when he is speaking to you!" Happosai relaxed his grip on his aura allowing it to swirl and build until it towered over his pupils form. There. That should send him to bowing and scraping. He suppressed the dull ache of pain in his chest that accompanied the release. Ughh. I'm getting too old for this.

     A faint smile touched his lips as Genma prosrated himself before him. "Well thats better, what do you have to say for yourself?" Happosai strained to hear as Genma mumbled something. "What's that? Speak up, I can't hear you." he said, leaning foward with his head cocked.

     Faster then he thought possible, Genma's hand flashed out, a dull fifty yen piece held between two meaty fingers. "Happo Go Jyuu En Satsu!" Happosai's battle aura sputtered and died, like an extinguished candle, plunging the hall once more into darkness. Tendrils of ki flowed out of him into Genma's waiting hands.

     Happosai gasped as strength fled his limbs and he collapsed to the floor, without enough energy to support himself. A cold chill ran pricked the back of Happosai's neck as he struggled to stand. "I-impossible! I never taught you that!" Genma's thin smile didn't reach his eyes as he lifted the old man's withered body.

     For an instant, Happosai stared into the coldest eyes he had ever seen, twin pools of darkness. Then the moment passed as they collapsed in upon themselves and a shield slid over Genma's gaze. The tension around Happosai's neck vanished and he fell to the floor, hard. "You taught me the way of the Anything Goes school and that was enough. I no longer need you." For a long moment, Genma reguarded his former master, then turned away, his lip curled in distain, and left him alone in the shadows.

     Ki sluggishly flowed into Happosai's drained aura and he finally forced himself to his feet. He sighed, serious for once, as he watched the retreating back of his student vanish into the main room of the Tendou dwelling. He felt the full weight of the many years settling upon his old shoulders. "Genma, my dark horse, I yearned for a student to carry on my Art, my legacy." said Happosai, his voice barely above a whisper. "And I received one who has fufilled all my expectations and more. But never did I dream..." For a moment he stood with his head bowed, the silence filling the room, then the momentary light of sanity vanished from his eyes.

     "Hotcha! Come to me, my silky darlings!" With a wild, maniacal cackle, he vaulted out the window and vanished into the night.





The Art part 1
By Darkness and Light(darkness_and_light@hotmail.com)
https://www.angelfire.com/sd/darknessandlight/index.html

Disclaimer:Ranma 1/2, its characters, story and associated trademarks are properties of their respective owners. I in no way claim these characters as mine nor have I made money from it.





     Although to outward appearances Kasumi seemed calm and serene, despair raged beneath the surface. Earlier that day, when Akane returned home from school, she stormed in the kitchen in a rage, growling about a Chinese bimbo, and sealed herself in. For a while, Kasumi heard crash of pans and Akane's screams of frustration before it was replaced with silence and thick clouds of black smoke that billowed from the kitchen. Finally Akane emerged from the kitchen several hours later, a smudge of soot on her right cheek and a plate of ...something in her hands.

     Kasumi sighed in resignation, as Ranma and Akane continued to bicker, and looked over the shattered remains of her kitchen. Once again Akane disrupted her domain and left her to clean up the mess.

     "...not like that Akane, and I don't know what you always gotta hit me for." Akane whirled upon Ranma, her features of her face contorted with rage. "As if you didn't know you pervert. Go yuck it up with Ukyo and Shampoo, see if I care! But right now you are going to eat this dinner I made for you." She punctuated her statement by pushing foward a plate with a decidedly unhealthy looking green tinge. Kasumi heard Ranma sigh with resignation and not a little anger.

     "Ranma!"

     All eyes turned to Genma who was standing in the doorway. "Get your things, we're leaving." Ranma started to protest but Genma cut him off, his voice cold and lined with an iron hard authority that Kasumi had never heard in it before. "Enough boy, we are done here." The fury on Ranma's face melted away and was replaced with a hard, mirthless smile. "So it's that time again? Took long enough."

     Blue waves of energy pulsed from Akane as she held Ranma by the front of his shirt. "And just where do you think you're going? You haven't even tried the dinner I made for you!" Ranma shook himself free with an ease that startled Akane. "Why would I want to eat that slop?"

     Akane was speechless for a moment, shock and disbelief washing over her face before it was replaced with a vicious fury that scared Kasumi. "How... dare you." she hissed, her voice low and dangerous.


      Will continue when I have time)