Ranma and Ryoko

By: James Lee

Disclaimer: Neither Ranma 1/2 or Tenchi Mayo belong to me. Ranma 1/2 belongs to Viz and Tenchi Mayo belongs to Pioneer. No profit is being made off this fanfiction.

Part One

Ranma stood at the edge of a bridge. This bridge was very familiar to him. It was the same bridge he went to last time. It was the same bridge he went to every time he got kicked out of the dojo. Ranma sighed as he looked down at the canal.

He had gotten kicked out again. He couldn't even remember why now. Only that it had involved food, fiancées, and a fight. It had ended with Mr. Tendo blowing his top and kicking Ranma out while saying, "Don't come back till you've apologized to my little girl!" Never mind whether or not it was Ranma's fault.

"Well better start setting up camp." Ranma knew that all he had to do was camp out for a few days. Eventually, with Ranma not at the dojo, old man Tendo would worry about the union of the schools. After all what would happen if one of those other girls took Ranma in? Thus Mr. Tendo would come and beg him to return or, more likely, send Akane to come get Ranma. He would go back and everything would go back to normal, but that was the problem.

Ranma didn't want every thing to go back to normal. He was growing tired of having the same mess waiting for him when he came back. Ranma was especially tired of everyone trying to get him to marry this girl or the other. Couldn't they get it in their heads that he wasn't ready to get married yet? He wasn't even sure if he loved any of the girls. Ranma had trouble seeing any of them as more than friends.

What Ranma really needed was some time to think, without anyone pushing for an answer. Of course that wasn't going to happen. The Tendos, his father, the Amazons, and Ukyo all wanted an answer now! Who cared what he thought in the matter? *Damn it! I care! *

Ranma once more looked down at the canal. "Maybe it's time I went on a training trip of my own."
A few hours later Akane came to the canal to receive her apology only to find an empty lot. This infuriated her to no end.

Two days later:
Ryoko sighed as she walked through the woods. She was now miles from the Masaki shrine and for the first time in a long time was truly lost. Not that it mattered; she wasn't planning to return anytime soon. In truth she just wish she knew where she was.

"Miya Miya." Ryoko looked down at the small fur covered creature trotting beside her. Although it would have sounded like any other animal to anyone else, she knew what her friend was thinking.

"Why don't I just fly or use you?" The cabbit nodded. "It would be too easy for Kiyone or Mihoshi to spot us from orbit."
Ryo-ohki eyes then became sad. "Meeyyaaa."

"You miss Sasami huh?" the creature nodded it's head. "Well I'm sorry kid. If I left you there they would use our link to track me down."

Ryo-ohki nodded her head in understanding. Although that wouldn't stop the others from asking Washu to help, whenever she got back from wherever she disappeared to. The last thing Ryoko wanted to deal with was her friends. In particular a certain Masaki boy. As she continued to walk, Ryoko thought back to what had started her trip.

Earlier that day:

"Guess what Tenchi. I'm going to school!" Said Ryoko smiling at her new idea.

"Say again?" asked Tenchi. He hoped she hadn't said what he thought she said.

"I said I'm going to school."

"I was afr...I mean that's what thought you said. Umm why?"

"Well since I'm living here, I figured that going to school would help me fit in." said the space pirate happily. She had really come up with a good one this time. Ryoko thought that Tenchi might have been reluctant to start something with her because she was so alien. She figure by watching some of the girls at school she could start acting like them and put him more at ease.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Ryoko." Said Tenchi looking at Ryoko with a nervous eye. He remembered the last time she was at a school. The building was still in need of repairs. "You'll need government records to get in."

"Nothing to worry about..." said Ryoko waving her hand. "Thanks to this program of Washu's it was easy to get in."(1)

"I know what you're up to." Yelled Ayeka. "You just want to get Tenchi alone well I won't allow..."

"I'm way ahead of you princess." Said Ryoko with an even bigger smile on her face, she was really on a roll. "I knew you'd go ballistic at the idea, so I've registered myself in a different school than Tenchi's"

Ayeka was stopped short by Ryoko's quick response. Tenchi took a deep breath; he still hoped to stem off a disaster. "I still don't think it's a good idea, Ryoko. Your powers could cause a lot of damage."

Ryoko frowned, why was he making it so difficult? Fortunately she had thought about that too, taking out a thick necklace. "This was also made by Washu. It can keep my powers at a minimum."

"I still don't like it."

Ryoko started to get angry. "Why!? What other reason could there for me not to go."

"What other reason!?" yelled Tenchi, "You destroyed my last school. You almost killed me!"

"That was a joke! I wasn't going to really hurt you. Besides, what you worried about? You won't be there."

"Be that as it may, I don't want you to go."

Ryoko started to yell back. "Well that's to bad, cause I'm going whither you like it or not."

"No, you will not!" Tenchi didn't like where this was going. He knew it would be better to stop now and calm down, but he couldn't

Ryoko likewise couldn't stop. "I'll do whatever the hell I damn well please! And unless you give me a damn good reason not to I am going to school!"

"You want a good reason? I'll tell you a good reason. You're a immature, reckless, stupid little girl who has almost no control over her powers. Every time you and Ayeka lose control of your hormones things get destroyed. And the last thing this shrine needs is you to go into one of your three-year-old temper tantrums somewhere you can get people ki..." Tenchi was cut off by a slap that seemed to echo through the entire house. Ryoko looked at her hand, her teary eyes wide with shock. Before Tenchi could say or do anything, she grabbed Ryo-ohki and teleported out of the house.

It's amazing how the littlest thing can turn one's life upside down. One little slap had put Ryoko's whole view of life in chaos. She had never hit Tenchi like that. Not since they first met had Ryoko hit him out of hatred. Sure she hit him a couple of times, but never had there been any real feeling behind it. This time she had actually wanted to hurt him. No joke, no Kagato controlling her, this time it had been Ryoko that hit him. She had wanted him to feel pain.

It was enough to make Ryoko question her entire relationship with Tenchi. Did she really love him? If so, why did Ryoko want him? Then there had been what the boy had said. Was that how Tenchi really saw her? Was she really a stupid spoiled brat that couldn't control her hormones? Ryoko like to think not.

Now Ryoko had to figure out what to do. She had to come up with a way to apologize to Tenchi. She had to decide if she even wanted to apologize. If she even wanted Tenchi. (Crack! Thud!)

"Damn it!" The voice jarred Ryoko out of her thoughts. Coming out of the bushes, she saw a boy picking himself off the ground. He was about Tenchi's age with thick black hair done in a pigtail. Ryo-ohki hopped forward.

"Miya!" Both Ryoko and Ryo-ohki blinked as the boy froze at the sight of the creature. If she didn't know better, Ryoko would say the boy was actually afraid of the small cabbit. The boy then noticed the girl who was accompanying the cabbit.

"Umm is that yours?"

"You could say that." Replied Ryoko.

"Ah what is it?"

"It's a rabbit, what's it to you?" Ryoko bit her lip. She had meant to say cat. To Ryoko's surprise however, the boy actually seemed to relax.

"Oh good, for a moment I thought that it was a c-c-c...never mind. Never seen a rabbit look like that." It had to be a rabbit thought the boy (Ranma). After all if it had really been a cat he would have been running in terror by now.

"Umm it's a very rare species. Who are you and what are you doing out here?"

"Well I'm Ranma Saotome and I'm on a training trip. If I'm trespassing I'm sorry."

"You not trespassing. At least I think your not. I'm sort of lost myself."

"Oh, so why are you stuck out here?"

"Heh. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Can't be any stranger an the reason I'm out here." Replied the Ranma.

Ryoko smirked, she really doubt he could come up with a story stranger than hers. "So let's hear it."

Ranma stared at the cyan haired girl for a moment then decided to take a shot. "OK. I've been engaged to three girls. They're always fighting over me, and it was starting to drive me crazy. Plus there's all the weird shit that happens around me. Anyway I figured that getting away for a while might help me think things through."

Ryoko just stared at the boy. "I know it sounds pretty unbelievable..."

Ryoko shook her head. "N-No no. It's just that I have this boy I like, or at least I think that I like him. There are two other girls after him and we fight all the time too. Well at least Ayeka and me fight all the time. The other's just sort of a friend."

Ranma blinked at the girl. He had heard that everyone has double in the world; apparently he had a double with the same problems he had. "Whoa, who would have thought."

Ryoko then got an idea, "Hey, do you mind if I come with you?"

"Ah, what?"

"You see the reason I'm out here is I got into a fight with my boyfriend and I was going to do the same thing you where. You know, get away and try to figure things out. Since our problems are so similar, maybe we can help each other."

"B-But you just meet me; you hardly know who I am!"

"Well, you look like a nice guy." Said Ryoko. *Besides I seriously doubt you'd be a threat to me. * "So what you say. I won't slow you down, I promise."

The Ranma seemed to think on it a while. Ryoko could see he was very unsure about her proposal. "Umm I guess it couldn't hurt."

"Great!"

"So what is your name anyway?

"Ryoko Hakubi"

(1) Washu's Hack master 2000! Now, thanks to the greatest genius in the known universe, you too can falsify government records, move satellites, and start nuclear war! Just like a real master hacker!

To be continued

Next:

-Ranma and Ryoko start going over their problems and learn more about each other.

Note:
Some of you are probably wondering how Ranma can accept Ryo-ohki as not being a cat. I'll be going into that next chapter.

Also, some of may say that Tenchi is acting a little out of character. This is true, but I needed to start things off. Besides, Tenchi has always seemed to be a bit of a stiff.