Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½.

Author's Notes: I'm glad I'm a writer who likes to finish a story rather then one that relies on reviewers to decide otherwise this project might be scrapped. I don't like feeling unwanted, but I will finish. I write because I like to and not because I have to so I hope at least someone enjoys this story. To those of you who have reviewed this rant isn't for you. I'm sorry to get upset. Let's get on with the show and remember to tip your waitress! (Said waitress cocks a gun) Erm…Maybe not.

Strange Occurrences

Chapter 3

The area outside of Ucchan's looked like a war zone. There were bodies flung everywhere, smoke obscured my vision, and panic was settling in for a long stay. As I strode towards ground zero of the disaster, I began making out shapes in the haze ahead. It looked like two people battling it out, judging by their auras they were both affected by the potion and they were holding nothing back. I was all set to jump ahead when a weak voice called to me.

"R-Ranchan…?" I knew that voice anywhere; it also helped there was only one person who'd call me that. My eyes fell on Ucchan; she lay on the sidewalk with her arm bent at a horrible angle. Blood was running from a gash in her forehead and her chest shuddered instead of rising and falling normally. I was beside her in an instant.

"Ucchan… What happened?" I bit down on my panic before I exploded in violence; she needed me to be levelheaded.

"A-Akane…came by…" she struggled to breath before continuing, despite my trying to shush her. "Ryoga was there… She ran a knife into his chest. No warning… They started fighting… I-I can't remember the rest… Wh-where did ya go Ranchan? I-I can't see you anymore! Don't leave me!" I tried everything I could think of, but she was going into shock fast. I once again called on the power inside me, pleading with the benevolent force that saved Kodachi. If it could save someone I barely cared about then it should be able to save Ucchan. I couldn't be gentle, if I was then the power would heal her arm wrong. I grabbed the arm and wrenched, she shrieked and bucked in pain, but what could I do? The power welled up inside of me, followed quickly by the beast. I had to wrestle the beast under control before laying my hands on her chest and thanking the Kami I had a good reason to do this. I can feel myself starting to ramble and clamp down on my own shock. A pure white glow envelopes me before spreading down into Ucchan, restoring her body completely. She looked up at me with big eyes as if I was some kind of angel before throwing her arms around me and sobbing.

"It's ok Ucchan…I'm here and I won't-" but what I was gonna say got cut off by a flying body that drove me away from her and into the ground. I pushed the massive form off me and stared in shock at Ryoga. The knife had been snapped off and the blade was partially buried in his chest, his face looked like raw hamburger and was swelling rapidly. The sheer amount of damage said that the person fighting him was incredibly strong. Once again, I acted before thinking and yanked the blade out causing the unconscious Lost Boy to hiss in pain. I'm getting a lot better with the healing aspect, healing the most critical of his injuries, but holding back so as not to completely drain myself. When my head whipped around to see the person walking through the smoke, my heart jumped up into my throat. It was Akane, with a bigger aura then I had ever seen. Her fury was creating a powerful fire aura that had burned her clothing; the only thing saving her modesty seemed to be flames clinging to her body. Her eyes were filled with hate.

"Stupid pig. Who said you could go to Ucchan, huh? You're my stupid pig. Bah! You, Ranma no Hentai, you're mine as well. I didn't say you could leave the house! After all I've done to you, ya leave me? Baka, I thought you liked pain." Then she laughed. I was thoroughly creeped out and in fear of her. She said it all in a singsong manner and seemed to be swaying, her hands curled into claws and swinging by her knees from being hunched over. Several officers arrived on the scene and drew their weapons on her, but she looked unconcerned. Her aura began swirling rapidly around her hands, gathering power.

"Put your hands up!" One of the geniuses ordered. I tried to rush forward and save them, but it was too late. I've been around enough to know that a swirling aura means an attack is forming.

"Happy to oblige ya stupid boy!" she called out gleefully, her hands raising up to chest level, pointing at them with her palms together and fingers spread into a cone formation. Her smile became a cruel smirk as they ordered her to put her hands up again. My feet didn't seem to want to move, I saw Ucchan lying off to the side of Akane out of the blast radius, one less worry for me. As I found the will to move, I knew I wasn't going to make it. A sound like a thousand gas burners coming on was heard and blue flames erupted in a cone towards the officers. They couldn't even cry out or shoot as they were totally consumed and reduced to ash. She had just killed innocent people, I couldn't let her get away with this, but it was Akane! I didn't want to kill her even if she was a bitch. Her eyes fell on Ucchan, but figured she was dead. Good thinking to play dead I suppose, except this just meant the pyro wanted to cremate the dead. As she gathered in her aura for another blast, I slammed into her from the side with enough force to stagger Ryoga. She bumped and skidded to a halt several yards away, but was on her feet in an instant. I had to remove my shirt quickly, the brief contact had ignited it and it was burning my skin.

"You have betrayed the martial artist's code by slaying the innocent. I'm sorry, but this can't go on." I was sad, truly sad. She was my first friend here, even though she retracted it that same night, but still it meant something. Ya can't live with someone for as long as I did without feeling something right? She just laughed at my speech.

"I am beyond the code. I am the greatest fighter in Nerima! See? I can do a trick that you can't. I've surrounded myself in flames!" if this had been any other time I would have said "Great job", but this wasn't one of those times. The beast wouldn't be held back anymore, I couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing. The first searing hot punch to the stomach quickly decided it. The beast tapped into the Soul of Ice, forming a swirling blizzard around my body. Her fire melted my ice, but lost a lot of burning potential. Now I knew why Akane had been acting so weird! The potion had affected her as well. It was the only way I could explain this. My beast was ready for battle, but I felt something hold me back. Overlaid on the crazy Akane, was the real Akane. She seemed to be trying to fight what was happening, I tried to reach out to her, but every attempt failed. The outward battle was impressive I'm sure. The two conflicting auras crashed off of one another, her fire blasting into my ice just as I froze her legs solid with an ice powered Mouko Takabisha. Her flame driven mallet crashed into my chest with unbelievable pain, but a frosty Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken forced the crazy bitch back. The mental struggle was unseen, but it outranked this fight easily.

"Akane!" I cried out to her, trying to get her to listen. She stared at me in confusion before her face cleared.

"Ranma..." Her voice sounded so weak. Her spirit was failing fast; if I couldn't figure a way out of this she was gone.

"Hold on! Ya gotta fight this!" I tried to boost her with some of my own power, but it just seemed to make her retreat more. It was so confusing! I was trying to save her but she wasn't grabbing the lifeline!

"Ranma...D-do you love me?" The question hit me harder then her evil self was doing.

"Of course I love you!" Maybe this was what she needed to come back. I did love her, but not the way the fathers would have liked.

"Not the way I love you..." She smiled at me, that smile that always made her so cute, but it made me wanna cry. Akane looked at me again, but with fire in her eyes.

"If you really love me then prove it!" her voice growing stronger. "Kill me before I hurt anyone else! Don't let others die because you want to save me! Save me from this by releasing my soul! Please Ranma!" I couldn't bear to hear her say this. As much as I tried to squirm away from it, she had a point. This had gone on long enough and she had killed a lot of people.

"A-Akane... I'm sorry 'bout this." Was the best I could manage with the tears flowing down my face. The battle outside had reached a lull, the evil bitch squaring off with my beast. It was time to rejoin the battle myself.

"Well...Not bad I guess, but still not good enough!" Her laughter hurt my ears. I had heard Akane laugh like that hundreds of times, but never with this much malice. I could feel my body hovering on the edge of exhaustion, but I couldn't stop now. My left arm hung uselessly at my side, broken in several places. Somehow Akane looked unharmed, the flames around her body turning a deep black.

"Time to end this! All my sorrow and all of my hate... I give it all to you! You never loved me! Feel the might of a woman scorned..." She brought her hands together for the final attack, the dark fire crackling hungrily. Just as she was about to release the attack, she stopped.

"No! What is this? I-I can't move!" I could see the overlay again, Akane was holding her body back with a visible effort. It was now or never. I said a prayer for her as my right arm came up.

"I can never forgive you for hurting my friends and taking away someone as close to me as family! For Akane I will destroy you! VANISH!" The crimson balls of energy rotated so quickly around my hand that they seemed to be a ring before seven orbs rocketed outward and shredded her body with tremendous force. Akane gave me a final smile in farewell before everything turned to darkness.

As I came to, I heard voices. They seemed to be discussing someone. Poor guy, whoever he is it sounds like he got hurt bad. Broken ribs, broken arm, second and third degree burns over the upper portion of his body and first degree on his legs. With a start I realized I smelled something medicinal. I was in a hospital and was lying on a hospital bed with someone holding my right hand. The hand is significant because I just realized whom the docs were talkin' about. They were referring to me.

"Open your eyes Ranchan... For me?" Ucchan pleaded softly, not realizing I was already awake. My eyes cracked open, I felt like they'd been glued shut. With a cry she hugged me, good thing it wasn't on the side that was burned.

"Hey..." My voice sounded rusty and weak, not good. I needed to be up and out of here. The cause of all this pain and suffering was still out there. My energies began focusing themselves on healing me. If the doctors saw each wound seal up as if they weren't there, someone would faint.

"How long was I out?" She looked down.

"Almost two weeks." The answer floored me. Two weeks... How much chaos had been caused since then?

"How're you n' Ryoga?" I knew Ucchan would be physically okay, but I had to move a little fast with the Lost Boy.

"They took him into surgery. The most extensive damage was to his face and head. They couldn't save his eye. A blow to the back of the head gave him mild brain damage." As if my day couldn't any more rosy, I find out my rival is an invalid. Why couldn't I solve this damn thing sooner? Didn't I take it serious enough? Another thought occurred to me.

"What about Kodachi?" Ucchan sighed; she hated this part most I could tell.

"Sasuke suddenly went crazy and trashed her lab, Kodachi came out of it with a few scratches, but her research is gone." When it rains it pours I guess. The nurse came in to tell Ucchan that visiting hours were over. I gripped her hand, praying for time to fix some of this. I needed time to grieve, time to rest, but life wasn't letting me. She looked at me curiously before I pulled her in for a kiss. This night was going to be the last night for either me or the bastard who did this. Ucchan seemed to understand what was going on, her tears fell on my face, or was it my own tears? We shared a last look as she left the room, before the nurse turned out my light. Time to fly. Justice may be slow, but vengeance can be swift as hell.

The city seemed so peaceful, but looks can be deceiving. Except in my case, I looked like I was worn out and felt that way as well. The only clothes left was my pants and even they were shredded along one leg. My first stop was to see Kodachi. Even if her notes were destroyed, she should remember some of what she learned. My thoughts were derailed by a small blur of perverted fun. This was not a good night for me to run into Happosai.

"Well, you sure look like hell." he commented. I tried to glare back at him, but it's not too intimidating coming from a walking corpse.

"What d'ya want?" I wasn't exactly gracious about asking.

"I wanna know what happened here! I can't pilfer any silky darlings or cop any feels due to the paranoia level around here!" He wanted to know what was going on? I gladly filled him in. He looked so outraged I thought he would burst into flames himself. He looked me over and hopped up to me. He struck a pressure point, I was too weak to stop him, but suddenly felt better.

"What happened?" This was something I coulda used!

"It is a pressure point for tricking the body into believing your vitality is restored. It will only last six hours and after that you will sleep until your energy restores properly." He puffed on his pipe while I pondered the implications. Six hours to find out what had happened before bedtime for who knows how long. I asked him to help me and he readily agreed. I ran back to the Nekohanten while he went to visit the Tendo dojo. The Cat Cafe was exactly how I remembered it at least. Shampoo and Mousse were back to normal and looking at each other in varying degrees of distress.

"What's goin' on?" I asked them. Shampoo gulped noisily before looking away from Mousse. Even the blind boy couldn't stand to look at the object of his desire. This would be funny except I was on a mission. Mousse noticed me and said something I'm sure he will regret.

"Saotome! This is all your fault!" I moved so fast that the blast of air from my approach almost blew him down.

"Don't you DARE blame this on me!" I roared into his face. Cologne came downstairs weakly and looked over at me.

"Ranma. Come with me." What could I do but follow her? I tried to help her up the stairs, but she wanted to do it alone. Something was about to happen I could feel it. We sat down on her bed again. The old woman looked even more ancient then ever.

"Shampoo will no longer pursue you. Under our laws, she has been defeated by Mousse and will wed him." That news would normally be a blessing but not in this instance. I waited for her to get on with it.

"There is something else I must tell you as well." She really didn't want to tell me this. I was growing impatient; the clock was ticking on this pressure point.

"Kasumi stopped by several weeks ago looking to borrow some spices. She wanted to try a Chinese dish, but lacked the proper seasonings. She is a sweet girl so I let her look through my spice rack." Here was where the bomb drops, my throat was already constricting. My mouth ready to deny it, but couldn't.

"I'm not sure if I am correct and I pray I am wrong, but I had some rare herbs and spices mixed with the mundane. Oh what have I done...?" The elder began crying. I can't stand it when a girl cries no matter what the age. I gave her an awkward hug, but she pushed me back.

"No time for that. Go and see what has happened. Please let me be wrong." I was about to say that Happosai was there, but my mouth snapped shut. Something was wrong with this picture. I couldn't sense a dying life force from Cologne, but I did sense the warped aura of someone afflicted. The window was open so I used it. My heart was hammering in my chest as I leapt towards the dojo. Whatever was going to happen would happen there. I landed softly in the backyard and crept upon the house. The door slid open easily and I stepped through, but something hit me in the face. The lights came on to reveal Happosai, dangling from a noose with a butcher knife in his chest. My brain was somewhere between total shut down and run, but I had to see this through to the conclusion. I found Kasumi tied to a chair, similar to how Kodachi had been and set about untying her before whoever killed Happi returned. My danger sense kicked into high gear, but the source of the danger was so unexpected that the knife got through my guard and pierced my lung. I danced out of range and removed the weapon, healing as I did so. I couldn't use too much. My brain settled on shut down as I beheld who got me. It was Kasumi.

"What's going on? I don't understand! Why are you doing this?" To say that I was surprised would be a gross understatement. Here was Kasumi, the sweetest girl on the planet who would cover you in bandages if she so much as slapped you, and she caused so much pain and suffering. She wasn't even recognizable. Her eyes were filled with a manic light and her fingers flexed cruelly. Something peeked out from her hair; a pair of tiny horns were on her head. My eyes shot over to the corner to confirm my suspicions and saw the box. I thought that damn thing was gone, but here it was. It had possessed Kasumi again and had decided to kill.

"Well, not bad little detective. I honestly didn't expect anyone to figure it out before you were all dead." The ogre gloated, warping Kasumi's voice into a demonic parody.

"I shoulda stopped ya sooner." I couldn't help but feel guilty. If I'd been just a little more observant then everything would have been all right. She seemed to sense my feelings and grinned wickedly.

"All those clues you had to follow. Some were real, but others were quite false. You didn't do half bad with what you had to work with. Humans can't see the victories when they have them, all they see are the failures. Since you found your way through my gauntlet, the only thing that remains is for you to help me. I see your potential for violence and malice. Join me and know the bliss of destruction." Oh yeah, I won't lie and say I didn't think about it, but I also remembered Akane. People died, real people not imaginary beings. People who I knew were alive are now dead and this thing wants to spit on their graves. I could almost feel Kasumi begging for release from the bonds holding her. It was beyond my power to free her body, but her soul would be released. The demon seemed shocked at what she saw; the boy was fully powered and ready to kill.

"It's time, Kasumi-chan. I'm sorry for what happened to you and I hope ya find peace in the next life." I almost smiled at seeing the look of fear, but banished the thoughts. The real Kasumi was no longer afraid and waited for freedom. My hand was glowing crimson, ready to strike. As I threw my hand forward, Ucchan ran into the room. How did she get here? I tried to shout but my voice wouldn't come. With terrifying speed, Kasumi's body snatched Ucchan and held her in front. I tried to stop the attack but the beast had other ideas. It poured even more power into the attack. My friend's terrified eyes bore into my soul as she was devoured by crimson light, exploding in a spray of crimson. What have I done? Ucchan... My best friend... The cute fiancée... No...

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Ranchan? Wake up Ranchan!" The voice sounded better then anything I had ever heard before. Only one person called me Ranchan. I felt a pair of arms wrapped around me, holding me softly. My eyes opened to stare in surprise at the girl beside me. It was Ucchan, lying beside me in a thin white t-shirt, her face creased with worry. I was on Ucchan's bed, sore and exhausted, but not from fighting. It felt like the aftermath of one of Akane's dinners.

"U-Ucchan? Is that you?" I asked her. Still only half awake and seeing an impossibility will confuse anyone.

"Hai. I'm right here and don't worry, I'm sure you threw up the worst of it." At my confused expression she explained. I had been kicked out of the house this morning (that much was accurate), Akane had gloated over me leaving, but called to make sure he was ok. He made it to her restaurant where she had attempted to kill herself.

"I was tired of being constantly rejected. Then you came along and saved me. Even if it's not love... I still want to continue living." I stared at her in wonder. Everything I had been through was just a nightmare? A culinary disaster's fevered dream? It couldn't get much better then this I guess. I'm sure I surprised Ucchan when I dragged her in for a kiss. The girl eagerly returned the kiss. I wish I'd had my eyes open just to see if she was as happy as me, but something told me they should be open for other reasons...

At the Tendo house...

"I'm tellin' ya Happosai... It's all about planning! Manipulate a person here, induce madness there, and voila! Anything you want. Sure, I had to convince the kid that it was all a dream, but the results are worth it. Now I can do whatever I please here and Ranma will be out of my hair. Life sure is good, right Happosai?" says Kasumi to the small figure, her arm draped about his cold shoulders. She looks at him with a malicious gleam, the noose was good but sliding the knife in was better.

"All about planning..."

The End

Author's Notes: I changed the genre to Mystery/Horror because the ending gave me the creeps and I'm the writer! Oh well, I tried my hand at something serious and hopefully a little frightening. I'm not quite sure if how people will react to this, but I had fun. I hope you did as well! Happy trails! Ja ne!