Child of Light Born of Darkness: Chapter 1


"Wh-what money, s-son?" Genma stammered.  Why had it come back after
so long?

"Don't play games with me, Oyaji," Ranma growled."I know that you
stole it.  No one else is stupid enough, not even Nabiki, to go into
my room and take my hard earned money.  Now where is it?" Ranma
punctuated each word of the question with a flair of his battle aura.
At least that's what he meant to do.  Instead of silvery blue, the
energy he emittied was dark, like a shadow.  It pooled around his feet
and ran up and down his arms in thick streams.  Ranma didn't even
notice the difference.

Genma and Soun did though.  Soun scrambled backwards until he collided
with the wall behind him.  Genma remained seated, to frightened to
move.  Ranma's eyes had gone black.  Completely black, even down to
the whites.  For the older man it was like gazing into two cold black
spheres of ice.  Genma's agitated mind didn't even bother to associate
the return of the black crescent with Ranma's change in appearance."R-
Ranma, I don't know hwat you're talking about." He couldn't give the
boy the money back now.  He needed it himself to get away from Nodoka.

Ranma walked closer, and prepared to kick his father through the wall,
but at the last possible second he stopped.  A strange sensation,
almost like being detached from his own body had passed over Ranma,
but it went as quickly as it had come.  With the feeling gone, Ranma
no longer saw the world in the normal vibrant colors he was
accustommed to.  His vision was tinted, like a pair of shades, but
more pronounced.  He looked down at his hands and discovered that he
couldn't even see them.  They were hidden by a black aura of chi
energy so powerful that Ranma could barely penetrate it with his well-
honed senses.  A quick survey revealed to Ranma that his entire body
was shrouded in the aura.

His father momentarily forgotten, Ranma left the room in search of a
mirror.  He vaguely heard two grown men gibbering in terror as he left
the room.  Ranma paid them no attention.  He had to find out what was
wrong with him and fast, before something happened to stop him.  The
short walk to the bathroom felt extremely odd, like he was half
floating, half-sliding.  Ranma entered the bathroom and shut the door
behind himself.  The mirror showed a distorted, though much clearer
picture of himself to Ranma.  The black aura only partially outlined
his form, making him seem like a walking shadow.  The face, his face,
was a featureless mask with two shining orbs that glowed bright silver
even to Ranma's hampered vision.

That crystal he had found in his father's pack, that had to be the
cause.  Great, another fine mess he was in because of his Oyaji.  Now
what was he supposed to do?  There would be no help from Genma.  The
man probably couldn't talk right then if his life depended on it.
Cologne could help, but there would almost certainly be a price.  And
getting to the Nekohaten when he resembled a creature from someone's
nightmares was going to be difficult, at least until nightfall.

Ranma only had one option, at least for now.  He would have to attmept
to handle the situation on his own.  He went to the dojo before
attempting anything dangerous so as not to damage the Tendo's home
encase of an accident.  The short trip brought to Ranma the same
awkward feeling of sliding across jello.  By the time he reached the
dojo, Ranma knew why his steps felt that way.  It was because his feet
were never even touching the ground.  The aura was all encomposing,
adding an inch to his height and throwing his balance slightly off.
No wonder, he was walking on a cushion of energy.

Seating himself in the far corner, Ranma attempted to dispel the aura
that surrounded him by manifesting his own battle aura.  Slowly at
first to gauge the black aura's reaction, Ranma increased the power he
was pouring into his aura when there was no visible change.  Just when
he was using enough chi that he would have started to visibly show his
aura, the black aura shifted.  He felt a surge of elation for an
instant, but when nothing else happened Ranma settled himself in for a
long struggle.  Unfortunately, Ranma found that the more chi he used
the sharper the black aura became.

He could clearly see his muscles sculpted in the aura.  Even the folds
of his baggy pants were easily discernable.  This was getting him
nowhere.  Ranma saw that he was only worsening his situation and
tightly clenched his chi, folding it back within himself, and removing
the black aura's alternative power source.  Or so he thought.  But as
soon as he no longer radiated chi, Ranma experienced the same detached
sensation he had felt while looking down at his cowering father.  To
Ranma's amazement, the black aura was gone, and his sight was restored
to normal.  What in hell was going on?!

As an experiment, Ranma slowly lessened the restraints over his chi.
Sure enough, the black aura returned, complete with shaded vision and
detached feeling.  For several minutes, Ranma alternated between
unleashing his chi force and reigning it back in.  When he finally
stopped he was certain that he could control the black aura like his
normal battle aura.  The detached sensation that could cost him
precious seconds was also gone, replaced by something very close to
its opposite.  Now when the black aura shrouded Ranma his senses
became sharper, more defined.  This was still very new to Ranma.
Whatever the blackness was, it didn't seem to be harmful, but if it
came every time he used his chi, there could be problems.

He climbed to his feet began a vigorous kata that few in the world
besides himself could hope to accomplish.  It was his own creation.
Based on absolute speed, the movements were performed while in the
enhanced state caused by using the katsu tenshin amaguriken to infuse
himself with chi.  As Ranma moved through the kata, his black aura
became opaque in most places, or at least slightly grey, but his hands
and feet gathered more darkness around them until they seemed to caste
shadows.  The kata carried him near to a half demolished wooden dummy
that Akane hadn't removed after her last practice session.  He was
still more than two feet away from it when it fell to the floor,
neatly sliced into dozens of small hunks off wood.  The sound of wood
clattering to the floor of the dojo drew Ranma from his kata.  He felt
barely winded, even though he had maintained a full amaguriken for
over a minute.  He looked to the source of the sound and saw the
remains of the dummy.  Wisps of his black aura were still floating
into the air and disappearing.

How had he done that?  Determined to find out, Ranma cupped his hands
and gathered a small amount of chi.  Sure enough, the energy was
midnight black, but the black aura had not returned.  That was
interesting.  As long as he kept from applying his chi directly to
himself he didn't turn black.

"Moko Takabisha," he called out softly, aiming into the wooden debris.
The black sphere of energy rocketed from his hand, leaving a smoky
comet's tail of energy in its wake.  The sphere struck the debris, and
much to Ranma's dismay, exploded much more violently than it should
have with the amount of energy he had given it.  Thankfully there was
no damage to the dojo's flooring.

"Ranma, where are you?" Akane shouted from the house.

He would have to clean up the mess he had made later.
****

"What do you want, Akane?" Ranma asked when he confronted her in the
house.

"What did you do to my daddy?!" she screamed.  She looked to be only
moments away from summoning her mallet.

"What are you talking about?  I haven't done anything to your dad."
Ranma was, however, going to do something to his father.  He seriously
doubted that the man was going to enjoy it either.

Akane didn't believe him for a moment."Well what's wrong with him
then, huh?!  He can't stop crying and calling out your name!" Akane's
mallet appeared in her hand.  She brandished the faintly glowing
weapon like a mace and demanded,"You jerk, you better tell me what you
did to him!"

"I didn't do anything to crybaby father, you stupid tomboy!" Ranma
shouted in response.  He shoved his way past Akane and walked into the
parlor.  Soun was indeed wailing like a baby in one corner of the
room, and Genma was still seated where Ranma left him.  The fat man
was nearly as pale as his sweat soaked gi and was trembling
violently."All right, hand it over!" Ranma ordered.

Genma's head jerked up at the sound of Ranma's voice.  Shakily, he
reached into his gi and retrieved a large wad of yen bills.  Ranma
snatched them from his hand.  His hands blurred as he counted the
money.  It was all there, all seventy-five thousand yen.  Ranma
ignored Soun's wailing even as it grew louder and asked,"That little
black crystal in your old pack, what was it?"

Ranma's question only seemed to worsen Genma's condition.  He tried to
say something, but the words were garbled.  Then, before Ranma could
even smack the bastard, Genma's eyes rolled back into his head and he
passed out.

"Damn," Ranma muttered.  He had to find out what was wrong with his
aura.  It looked like it was time to visit the Nekohaten.
****

Rini shrank from Usagi's intense, questioning gaze.  They were at
Rei's temple now since it was the closest place they could talk
privately and none of the girls wanted to try to carry Usagi or Minako
very far.  They were a lot heavier that they looked.

"Explain," Usagi said simply.  Her voice held none of the exuberance
it normally bubbled with.  Rini remembered hearing her mother use that
same tone of voice back home in the future when she was discussing
matters of state.  It gave away nothing.

Rini, her head hung low began,"I just remembered in the ice cream
place." She paused and collected her wits."When I was Black Lady,
well...I guess I slept with Prince Diamond one time.  I can't remember
it, thankfully." In truth she could remember every exquisite detail,
but she didn't want to embarass herself in front of everyone."I found
out that I was pregnant and snuck into the past to have the baby where
he would be safe from Wise Man and the others of the Dark Moon Family.
I can't remember much of the time I spent there, but I remember
leaving Endymion, that's what I named him, at an old Christian
Mission.  I was going to return after we won, the Dark Moon family I
mean, and get him back, but then you fixed my memory and we killed
wise man...and I forgot." Rini's eyes teared up and emotions that the
little eleven year old girl wasn't prepared to handle rose to the
surface."I forgot about my little boy!" she cried, breaking down into
small sobs of pain and despair.

Everyone, including Setsuna was more or less in shock.  It seemed
impossible that Rini, Usagi's daughter from the future that everyone
treated like a little sister, could have had a child.  Usagi appeared
to be least effected by the revelation.  She sat down next to her
quasi-daughter and hugged her fiercely, letting the girls tears fall
into her lap."Shhh, it's all right, shhh.  We'll find him for you
Rini,a nd everything will be all better." Usagi was amazed at how calm
she was.  It was like all the foolishness in her head that she
normally passed off as thought vanished, leaving an almost differnt
person behind.  She knew how to comfort her daughter, and what to say.

When Rini stopped crying Ami handed her a hankie.  Rini blew her nose
while Ami was asking her a question so she had to ask her to repeat it
again."I just wanted to know what year you traveled to for the birth."

"1982," she answered between sniffles."He was born on October 19,
1982."

"Today is April 30, 2000, so that would make Endymion seventeen years
old," Ami said."He's older than we are!" Ami gasped softly.

"He'll be so big..." Rini whispered softly."He won't even know me."
She broke down in another crying fit.

Taking the initiative, Ami silently pulled her computer from subspace
and keyed into it a search pattern that should eventually identify any
blended Silver Millenium, Dark Moon energy patterns.  There was no way
to tell how long the search would take, so Ami said nothing, not
wanting to get Rini's hopes up.

Greatly disturbed by this turn of events, Setsuna opened a portal to
the time gate and stepped through.  She had much to do, and amazingly
enough, little time to do it.
****

"Old Ghoul, hey Old Ghoul!" Ranma shouted once he had entered the
restaurant.

"What can I do for you Son-in-law?" Cologne asked from behind him.

Ranma slowly turned around to face the aged Amazon.  This time he had
actually felt her approach.  Ranma pushed his bangs to the side,
revealing his newest feature.  He hadn't even noticed it until he went
to clean himself up a bit in the bathroom.  Apparently it came with
the black aura."My aura is pitch black now and I have this thing on my
head.  Any ideas why?"

Cologne motioned for Ranma to have a seat."I honestly have no clue,
Son-in-law.  Have you partcipated in any unusaul rituals lately, or
been exposed to an unknown magical artifact?" It was worth asking him.
You could never rule out the paranormal where Ranma was concerned.

Ranma decided not to include trying to eat Akane's cooking in the
unusual ritual category, and explained in detail the black crystal he
had found in his father's pack.

"And it disappeared completely?" Cologne asked."None of it was
absorbed into your skin?"

"All of it disappeared, I'm certain."

Cologne was quiet for a minute before saying,"I've never heard of such
an experience, therefore I can not in good conscience, give you a
course of action to follow.  Could you show me the aura, maybe that
will give me some clue as to your affliction?"

Ranma nodded and turned loose his chi.  It filled his body with warmth
while shrouding him in darkness.  He felt himself rise out of the
chair slightly as the aura fully enclosed him.

Cologne's eyes widened as she noticed the density and cohesion of
Ranma's battle aura.  The chi wasn't even being expended.  Instead it
flowed smoothly around Ranma's form, all the while drawing in light
and heat.  Incredible!  Ranma had somehow gained access to a never
ending supply of energy."That is enough, Son-in-law." There was no
magic in Ranma's aura besides the normal traces that lingered of
Jusenkyo when he wasn't in his cursed form, so this wasn't a bad
thing.

"Figure anything out?" Ranma asked.

"Ranma, your new aura is essentially a suit of armor.  The chi that
composes it is so dense that I seriously doubt anything less than a
high-powered weapon or extremely focused chi blast could penetrate it.
Add to that the fact that it gathers energy instead of expending it
and I believe that you have stumbled across the Holy Grail of martial
arts." If only she could have gotten her hands on that crystal!

Ranma didn't know what the Holy Grail was, but Cologne sounded almost
excited.  That meant that he wasn't going to die in the next few hours
at least."Well thanks for your time Old Ghoul, I guess."

"Thank nothing of it Son-in-law.  I'm glad to have been of
assistance."
****

Ami was stunned at the speed with which her computer had found
Endymion.  The readings indicated that Endymion was eminating massive
amounts of some unknown energy form that closely resembled both Silver
Millenium and Dark Moon patterns, but differed in several minor ways.
She was also reading a high energy drain from the same coordiantes.
Amazing!  Endymion was absorbing almost all the energy that he spent
and adding to it with the ambient energy from his surroundings.  If
not for the advanced multi-dimensional sensors built into her
computer, Ami would never have been able to detect the energy
readings.  She couldn't wait to meet Endymion.  He promised to be a
most interesting aquaintence.

Before Ami could tell any of the others the good news, the readings
fell off and disappeared completely before she could get a lock.  The
complete halt of all power output was amazing in of itself.  Ami
nearly set the computer to auto scan the area again and alert her when
Endymion once again used his power, but a small discrepancy in the
numbers displayed on the bottome readout caused her to take a second
look at the power readings.  She almost slapped herself for missing
it.  Even though Endymion was no longer giving off energy, he was
still pulling in a small amount.  It was barely registering to even
her computer, but it was there, and it was traceable.
****

Akane had mostly forgot about Ranma's mistreatment of her father in
favor of dwelling upon his mistreatment of her.  He had shoved her!
Like she were a child, he had pushed her out of his way without even a
simple apology.  Not that she had expected one from the jerk, but it
was the principle of the matter. And now he had disappeared, nowhere
to be found.  It couldn't be a coincidence that he would vanish right
before she punished him for shoving her.  The pervert was probably
messing around with one of his other fiances.

Well, if that was how he wanted to play it, then fine.  He had to come
home eventually, and when he did he was going to get the beating of
his life.
****

Ranma entered through the back gate as quietly as possible and
immediately regretted it when the rusty hinges on the door made a loud
creaking noise.  Why hadn't he just jumped over the wall?  Too late
for that.

"Raaanmaaaaa!"

Ranma looked up to see Akane charging at him with her crimson glowing
mallet and instinctively let his chi free.  There was the now familiar
sharpening of the senses and shaded vision that accompanied his black
aura.  The mallet's momentum carried it forward into Ranma's head even
though Akane, suprised by Ranma's sudden change in appearance, had
tried to stop it.

Not only did the mallet strike have no effect on Ranma, but Ranma
barely even felt the impact. Nor did he feel the impact of hundreds of
wooden splinters as the head of the mallet exploded an instant after
coming on contact with his aura.

Akane had a couple of splinters in her hands and a bleeding cut on her
forehead near her hairline, but other that that escaped relatively
uninjured.  Luckily none of the splinters had pierced her eyes.  Ranma
reigned the aura in and said,"Come on Akane, let's go have Kasumi look
at that cut."

Akane flinched at Ranma's touch but allowed him to lead her into the
kitchen where they found Kasumi.  Akane remained speechless even as
her older sister dabbed peroxide on the wound and stuck a large band-
aid over it.
****

Ranma was already gone when Kasumi asked what happened."I was going to
mallet Ranma for whatever he did to daddy to scare him so bad and for
disappearing earlier, but before I could hit him he made some kind of
aura.  It was pure black, Kasumi, and his eyes turned silver.  He
looked like a monster!  Then when my mallet hit him he didn't even
budge.  It was like he hadn't even flet it.  That's when it exploded.
The whole end just exploded, without Ranma even doing anything."

Kasumi patted her sister on the shoulder and said,"I'm sure that Ranma
just made up a new technique.  You know how he is about those kinds of
things.  You know that he's not really a monster."

Akane nodded absentmindedly, her mind occupied by two glowing silver
orbs.
****

"I've found him, you guys," Ami announced to the crowd of girls in
Rei's room.  The Outers had left shortly after Setsuna, so there was
no problem with space for them to lounge around.  Rini and Usagi were
almost back to their old selves, arguing over one of Rei's manga.

Rini let go of the manga causing Usagi to fall gracelessly back onto
the floor.  She rushed over to Ami and asked,"Really, you found
Endymion?" She squealed in delight when Ami answered yes.  There were
so many things she wanted to tell her son.  Of course she would tell
him about her idenity and his heritage.  She couldn't wait to tell
Endymion about him being a prince.

"Hey Usagi, is that a gray hair?" Rei asked Usagi as she examined her
prostrate friend's head."It is!" she shouted in mock horror."Usagi is
going gray!"

"I am not going gray!" Usagi screamed in true horror."Waaaahhhh," she
began crying."You're such a meenie, Rei!  Waaahhhhhh!"

"Well you are a grandmother now Usagi, so it is to be expected,"
Makoto added.

"Waaaaahhhhhh!  I'm turning into an old woman!  Waaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
****

Author's Notes: Okay, you asked for it and here it is.  I know that
Rini is sorta OOC, but I had to make some changes and it's better to
do small personality changes along the way than to have a person
magically become a completely different person between heartbeats.
Send me C&C so that I can get an idea of what I need to change about
the fic.

dark_phoneix@hotmail.com