DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" and "Bleach" are the property of their respective copyright holders. The universes and characters of the aforementioned series are used here solely as a tribute to these works and I in no way expect to make a profit off of the publication of this story.

"Wild Soul"

By

Ranchan2k3

Chapter 1: A Hero's Farewell, A Hero's Arrival

Saotome-Tendo Unified School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts

Tokyo, Japan

April 27, ?

"We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of a true hero," intoned the sorrowful priest. "We are here to mourn the passing of Ranma Saotome, Grandmaster of the Saotome-Tendo Unified School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, who one week ago, in the midst of a typhoon, destroyed an incoming moon-sized meteor, saving the entire world from certain destruction, but in doing so used every last ounce of energy in his – or, rather, her – body. As he lay dying, his thoughts turned not to his own welfare, but to everyone else's. His last words, and I believe I'm quoting here: 'Maybe now everybody'll stop fighting each other over the same stupid crap as always.' And so, let us pray…"

The gathering at the dojo that afternoon was less of a funeral and more of a hero's farewell. Everyone in the Nerima ward had turned up, of course, but so had representatives of the Musk, the Phoenix, and the Amazons in China, including a visibly older Herb, the adult version of Saffron, and a very old woman with just enough purple in her hair to identify her as Shampoo. What none of them realized, however, was that this gathering had an audience.

A rather…spirited audience, one might say.

"Man, even Ryoga found his way here," mused the spirit in question. Yes, it was the spirit of Ranma, female version, witnessing her own funeral. "Sucks I had to die in female form, though. Must be why my ghost self or whatever is female. But it's not like I could stop the typhoon, boil a kettle, and blow up the meteor. At least most of the world seems happy about it, though those weird Sailor chicks seem a bit perturbed. Or maybe that was just that one with the big-ass key. I wonder what the hell a 'Great Freeze' is supposed to be…eh, it's probably not important."

"You're right; it's not," rumbled a male voice from behind her.

Instantly spinning around, the spirit of the old-man-turned-young-woman found herself staring up at a tall man with spiky black hair, an eye patch, bells on the ends of his hair spikes, and a black uniform that was somewhat reminiscent of an old time samurai. He had a broad grin on his face and a well-worn samurai sword resting on his shoulder. He was accompanied by a young-looking girl with pink hair who was dressed similarly to the way he was dressed. Ranma sweatdropped a bit at the sight of them. "Uh…hi?"

The pink-haired girl giggled. "Wow, Kenny, I think we managed to weird Red out a little."

The large man scoffed. "T'ch, not likely. She just wasn't expecting us. After all, she's used to sensing ki, not spiritual pressure. Anyone with her power that had experience with it would know how to suppress it so the Hollows don't find her."

The girl nodded. "True."

Ranma cleared her throat. "Uh, guys? Can either of you two explain who you are and what's goin' on here?"

The tall man grunted. "I'll take care of it. I'm Squad 11 Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki. This is my lieutenant, Yachiru. We're soul reapers. Now, normally, when a soul dies, we send them on to face whatever afterlife they've got waitin' for 'em. But you, Ranma Saotome? Heh, you've caught the eye of a lot of folks in the upper levels of the Soul Society. In short, you're gettin' recruited, kid. No wastin' time among the common folks for you, it's straight to the academy for training."

Ranma blinked a bit. "Um, okay, I suppose. But why?"

Kenpachi smirked at her. "Why? Because it ain't every day we find a newly dead soul who's already got a spiritual pressure on the level of a soul reaper Captain."

Yachiru grinned. "Yeah, you're so powerful that we didn't have any problems tracking you at all. But that's why we really gotta get going. The Hollows will be here soon, and a soul as powerful as yours, without training? You'd be the best meal they've ever had."

Ranma gulped. "Okay, yeah, I'll pass on being eaten. Let's go."

Soul Society

Soul Reaper Academy

First Year Combat Skill Assessment

"Alright, newbies, fall in!"

At the barked command, the first year class in the academy's large dojo quickly got in line, standing shoulder to shoulder and at attention. A moment later, in marched a rather stern-looking woman, obviously the sensei of the dojo. Trailing behind her was Ranma, a neutral expression on her face. The two stopped in front of the class and turned to face them as the dojo sensei addressed her class. "Okay, newbies, we got new blood joining us today. Her name's Ranma Saotome. Word from the top is she was a real hot shot martial artist when she was alive: She took down the Phoenix demi-god Saffron at the tender age of 17, and her last act on Earth was using a blast of her own life energy to blow up a moon-sized meteor that had 'good-bye Earth' written all over it. She's here so we can find out if all of that was because of skill or just some fluke of nature. You, Yamaguchi!"

A large slab of beef in human form stepped forward. "Yes, sensei?"

"The consensus is you're the best fighter here, right? Well, you get to break in the new girl. Don't hold back! Either she's as good as advertised or she hits the bricks! Begin!"

The giant man nodded, then flash-stepped towards Ranma…only to then end up flat on his face, one arm bent painfully back behind him with Ranma calmly bracing a knee in the small of his back. "Lesson one," she stated flatly as the rest of the class broke out in shocked murmurs, "never charge an unknown opponent head-on. You're only inviting a quick defeat."

She released her hold and let him back up, taking a few steps away. Yamaguchi got back up with a frown, approaching more cautiously this time. He tried a jab, which Ranma casually leaned away from. Two more jabs were dodged with an equal amount of ease, as was the more serious right cross that followed. The big man growled, then threw a powerful straight right…which was caught and redirected into a Judo throw that sent him crashing into the wall of the dojo.

"Lesson two," spoke Ranma again, "be patient. If you get frustrated and over-commit to an attack, you deserve whatever happens to you."

Yamaguchi dragged himself up off the floor with another growl, then grabbed one of the kendo practice swords off the wall and charged at Ranma with it. She dodged his anger-fueled overhead strike with a side-step, then slammed a roundhouse kick into the back of his head, one that put him down and out of the fight. "Lesson three," she intoned casually, "no matter how good you are, there's always someone better out there."

The dojo sensei stepped forward with a sigh. "Alright, the new blood's as good as advertised. Someone call Squad 4 to get Yamaguchi's carcass out of here. Maybe some time in the infirmary will teach him some self-control."

Soul Society

Soul Reaper Academy

Headmaster's Office

The office of a particular school's Headmaster should ideally at a glance give you a good idea of both the school itself and the man or woman in charge of the institution. The office of the Headmaster of Soul Reaper Academy was no exception to this expectation, looking almost like the sort of office one might expect to find in the home of a feudal Japanese daimyo. Behind the desk was, of course, the Headmaster, Gotei 13 Captain-Commander Genryusai Yamamoto, and seated across from him was the sensei of the academy's dojo, Rukia Kuchiki.

"So, Kuchiki," began the Headmaster, "now that you've had a chance to assess this year's batch of new recruits, I'd like to hear your honest opinions on them."

Rukia nodded. "Well, most of them are about what we've come to expect, I suppose – a few with some potential, most of them won't even be seated members in whatever squad they end up assigned to. There is one, though…"

The Headmaster smiled. "You would be referring to young Ranma, I assume, yes?"

The sensei nodded in agreement. "Got it in one, chief. Truthfully I don't know that she even needs the academy. Show her how to summon her Zanpakuto and give her a quick briefing on what soul reapers do and she could be out in the field tomorrow. I've never had a new recruit with her skill and strength; she could be a Captain just about any time she wanted to. Hell, she spent half her time in today's skill assessment correcting mistakes in the new recruits' technique that I didn't even catch!"

A grin came to Genryusai's face. "Yes, she's quite something, isn't she?"

Rukia frowned. "You expected this. Just who is this girl, this…Ranma Saotome?"

The Headmaster folded his hands on his desk. "A soul tailor made for being a soul reaper. She's a sponge for anything related to combat, but beyond that she is perhaps the most selfless defender of the innocent we've seen here in a very long time. You've read her file; if anything, I'd say it was understated."

"Did she really take down Saffron when she was only 17?"

"Indeed," confirmed the Headmaster. "Oh, she had a little bit of help, of course, but make no mistake: It was Ranma Saotome who struck the finishing blow, and in fact the only reason the fight wasn't over in five minutes or less was because of Saffron's regeneration. She had him completely outclassed in terms of power, speed, and skill, and thanks to her consumption of a Phoenix Pill several months previously, she was very nearly immune to his flame attacks. It was quite a show for us up here in Soul Society. The battle remodeled a large chunk of China's Bayankala mountain range and destroyed the legendary Jusenkyo training ground. The sudden freeing of more than a hundred previously trapped spirits had our soul reapers rather busy for a while."

Kuchiki snorted. "I can imagine. Then it's also true about the meteor?"

The Headmaster nodded. "It is. I understand that meteor may have been connected to a prophecy or two that Ranma's intervention rather thoroughly disrupted. Too bad for them, I suppose, but that act more than anything is what convinced us to take a chance on recruiting a wild soul like Ranma Saotome. You may feel that she might not need the academy, but our feeling is that she does. Not for any real combat training – she could learn the basic soul reaper style inside of a week at most – but to teach her that relying on a teammate is not a sign of weakness. There is a lot of psychological damage buried under that calm and collected warrior façade, and I intend for it to be healed before I authorize her graduation. Understand?"

Rukia simply nodded.

Soul Society

Soul Reaper Academy

Journal of Ranma Saotome, Entry #1

So last week I blew up a giant space rock and died.

That sounds like it'd be the end of the story, but it's not.

See, today, I attended my own funeral, and it was there I met a couple of soul reapers. Apparently they'd been sent to recruit me. Since my options appeared to be train with the soul reapers or stick around and be Hollow food, I chose the training.

It started with a combat skill assessment. Sensei Rukia Kuchiki seemed a bit strict, but I can tell she knows what she's doing. Probably more of a field agent than a dojo sensei, though; I swear I must've spent half my time in the skill assessment pointing out what the other new recruits were doing wrong, mistakes that she didn't even seem to notice.

And what was up with that Yamaguchi guy? He seemed really hot-headed. Man, it'd be just my luck if I acquired a rival my first freakin' day in the academy.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing what my future holds here in the Soul Society. Everything I've heard makes it sound like this soul reaper gig is tailor made for someone like me. Everybody I've met seems nice and relatively sane so far (knock on wood), although that one Captain with the clown face kinda creeps me out. What was his name, Mayuri or something? I passed him on the way to my dorm room and I swear I heard him muttering my name along with the words "research" and "experiments."

Please tell me I heard wrong. It'd look really bad if I punched out a Captain my first week at the academy.

Whoops, there's the call for lights out. Gotta go to bed now. G'night!

End Chapter 1.

Author's Note: Yes, I'm starting another one. Yes, I'm still working on "Outside Intervention," I'm just stuck partway through Chapter 9. Anyway, this one's a crossover between Ranma and Bleach. I know a few fics have crossed these two already, but I don't think any of them have done it quite like I'm going to. Anyway, look forward to Chapter 2, and I hope like hell it doesn't take me several months to get it done. Later, taters! ^_^