DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ranma 1/2, or Dragon Ball. Son Kai and Chemise Briefs are the RP names of two people I know. I've been promising them this fic for ages! This fic is also the answer to a Valentine's fic challenge on the RRYaoi ML.

By Youko Rayah

Co written by Syx Maxwell

Ranma walked down the trail in silence. The forest was still around him. No birds chirped, no bugs buzzed, no small animals scurried about… which led him to one conclusion. Something was wrong near bye.

He had come here under the premise of a 'training trip', but in truth, he had come to get away from Akane. These trips were his only refuge these days. The violent girl had taken to hitting him more and more often. Kasumi made excuses for her, and his father and Mr. Tendo kept forcing them together… Hell, he had just gotten out of the hospital, he didn't want to go back soon.

As he approached a shallow stream, he heard it for the first time, the sound of flesh striking flesh. Leaping over the stream, Ranma sprinted to the sounds of battle as fast as he could while still remaining as silent as a shadow on ice.

When he reached the scene of the battle, he was horrified. A girl his age was being beaten to death by a large scaled creature. Her left arm and leg were obviously broken, and blood was pouring from a deep gash in her side. It didn't look like she would last much longer.

As the creature raised a clawed hand for the killing blow, Ranma attacked.

"Moko Takabisha!"

The Ki attack had as much power as he could throw. It slammed into the monster, forcing it back a few paces, away from the fallen girl. Ranma was on it in seconds. He hammered it repeatedly with Ki attacks, forcing it further away from the girl, and as he drew back for another Moko Takabisha, he came to a horrifying realization.

He hadn't hurt it one bit.

The next several minutes were a blur of pain. He felt ribs brake, and something inside started to bleed. His arms and legs were broken, and he started to feel numb as he slipped into shock. As he started to loose consciousness, he thought he dimly heard someone shout then there was only darkness.

He woke in stages, gradually becoming aware of things. He hurt with a dull throb that indicated a major amount of healing after a serous beating.

Carefully opening his eyes, Ranma looked around the room. He wasn't in a hospital, the room looked like a bedroom…

The door opened and a woman with sky blue hair walked in. "I see that you're awake. My name is Bulma Briefs, and you're in my home."

"I'm Ranma Soutome. Not to be rude or anything, but how'd I get here?"

"My husband brought you here. You were hurt protecting my daughter."

"Oh no! I forgot! Is she alright?"

"Yes. You saved her life. We owe you for that."

"Naaaah. It's the duty of a Martial Artiest to protect those that need it."

The woman smiled at him. "That's something I'm all to familiar with. My Son and oldest Daughter are warriors also. Chemise is so strong, I never expected her to be hurt so badly… Oh! I almost forgot!"

Ranma watched in bemusement as the woman pulled out a small leather pouch. Opening it, she extracted a small bean and gave it to him.

"This is a Sensiu. They repair damage to the body, and restore ones strength. We had to wait for you to wake up, but it'll heal you completely."

Ranma, being the trusting soul that he is, accepted it with out question. As soon as he had eaten the magic bean, he felt his strength come rushing back, and his body heal in moments.

"Wow!"

Bulma watched as the boy sat up without pain. He had been so badly hurt, that they had been forced to give him a blood transfusion. Kai would be bye later to take a blood sample to see if there were any complications from it. She hoped not. They knew that Saiyajin DNA was compatible with human DNA, but they had no idea if there would be problems giving a human a blood transfusion from a Saiyajin.

As if on cue, Son Kai, the youngest child and only daughter of Son Goku walked into the room. "Hi Bulma-san! How's the patent?"

"As you can see for your self, he's fine. I already gave him the Sensu you left for him."

"Than we can remove the casts and the bandages." She walked over to the side of the bed and said, "Hi! My name is Kai. Ready to get those casts off?"

Ranma nodded and allowed her to begin to work. She had some kind of mechanical device in her hand that she placed against the cast. Moments later, it split in half and fell to floor, leaving his arm bare. She did the same to the cast on his leg, and then proceeded to remove the bandages from the rest of his body.

"Are you some kind of local healer?" Ranma asked. "You look to young to be a doctor, but you look like you know what you're doing."

"Well, mom wants me to be a doctor, but as for formal training? Well, I have two older brothers and a father who are major martial artistes, and are always getting hurt. My mother and I have some healing knowledge. And I have taken several classes…"

Bulma smiled as the two talked, gradually focusing on the topic of the Art. Kai had been so withdrawn since her brake up with Chad… She and ChiChi had begun to worry.