Disclaimer: I don't own or claim Rurouni Kenshin or Ranma1/2. I don't make any money from this or have intentions of copyright infringements, so please don't sue me.

Bushido

It was another day of the same thing. She sighed. She ignored the wind and the sun as the image of baby blue eyes rose in her mind's eyes. It's been three years since Ranma Saotome and his father had come to the Tendo Dojo to stay. Three years full of crazy adventures, life and death duels and magical insanity that only Ranma can attract. It was also three years worth of the happiest moments of her life, Akane thought.

It has already been a week since she admitted to herself the feelings for Ranma that had been slowly growing inside her. And she thought that perhaps Ranma felt the same way towards her, too. She hoped that Ranma liked her, too. It was hard to tell since Ranma was so shy about those things, not to mention the numerous fiancées who continually ruin any moments when Ranma and Akane were alone.

Akane was contemplating her depressing love life when she felt a presence. She looked around and saw no one. But she knew that there was someone there. In the last three years, like it or not, she had learned how to tune her martial arts instincts to a fine degree.

"Who's there?" she called out, afraid at first, then turning angry. "Whoever you are, you better come out now!"

"Hey, Akane, who're you screaming at?"

Akane turned around and saw Ranma squatting on the edge of the fence that separated the sidewalk and the canal. She relaxed then smiled. "Ranma! You shouldn't have been sneaking up on me like that."

Ranma peered at her. "Aren't you used to it by now?"

Akane half-heartedly swung her purse at him, hoping to throw him off balance. He jumped, then regained his balance. He stood up on the fence and began to walk.

"What are you doing here, Ranma?" Akane asked as she began to walk again.

"Nothing," he said casually. His stance and his tone indicated indifference. But under his hooded eyelids, his eyes told something different.

"Are you following me because you were worried about me?" Akane teased.

"W-what?!" Ranma sputtered, caught. "I wouldn't follow ---"

"Oh you wouldn't, would you?!" Akane yelled, swatting at him with her purse, all to no avail. Ranma's laughter and Akane's angry replies faded in the distance as they turned the corner leaving the figure perched in the tree alone.

He had followed and watched Akane Tendo as she had left the house that morning. He had smiled to himself as she had suspiciously turned around numerous times, sensing his presence, then continuing her walk once again when she couldn't find him. He nearly reached out to her when he sensed her sadness just a few moments ago when she was alone. How he had missed her! Then he felt a myriad of feelings as happiness then longing gleamed in her eyes when Ranma Saotome had appeared. The stranger could've hit Ranma over the head right then and there.

This Ranma was an idiot! Couldn't he see that Akane loved him? But the stranger knew the answer to that.

"You should've told her, Ranma Saotome," the figure whispered, sadly. "And now it could be too late."

"Hey, whadya do that for?!" Ranma Saotome yelled at his father as she surfaced from the koi pond. The morning training routine had suddenly come to a halt when Ranma was pushed into the pond.

"You're getting sloppy, boy!" Genma jeered from the shore. His arms were crossed across his chest and he was laughing at the soaked form of his son. He enjoyed these morning routines, knowing that soon it won't be long before Ranma would become too good to spar with his old man.

Ranma chan immediately splashed cold water on her father, surprising the reminiscing Genma. "Look whose getting sloppy, old man!"

"Rowr, rowr, rowr!" the panda that was once Genma grumbled. He made a bunch of paw gestures and suddenly turned around to amble off to the dining room of the Tendo household, where he sat down to partake of the meal that Kasumi had just brought out.

"Hey, old man! Don't hog all the food!" Ranma chan called out, running into the dining room. She hit Genma panda on the head. "Whatcha eating for, anyways?! You're a panda!"

The panda merely turned its head and pulled out a sign. "-Hey, I'm a growing panda!" the sign read.

"Ranma, hurry up! We're going to be late!" Akane called out as she quickly finished her bowl of rice and miso soup.

"Stupid old man! That was mine!" Ranma ignored Akane and yelled at her father, and using breakfast as a way to spar with the panda.

"Okay, everyone, I'm out-y!" Nabiki called out, swinging her school bag. As usual, everyone else ignored her, for the fact that she was the most normal out of everyone else in that house. She heaved a sigh and thought about the number of people she could con that day. Instantly, the thought brightened her up and she left the house skipping.

"Have a good day at school, Nabiki," Kasumi, who heard the front door close, called after her sister.

Meanwhile, Akane was still trying to get her things together, at the same time attempting to get her fiancée's attention. "Ranma! I'm going to leave without you, if you don't hurry up!" she yelled.

"Just, hold, on, ya kawaiikune tomboy!---Hey!" Ranma fought hard to keep the food that she was hanging onto with her teeth from her father.

"-I'm still hungry!-" The sign read. It promptly rested on Ranma's unguarded head, along with the bad news end of a mallet.

"Geez, let go pop!" Ranma said, rubbing her head and defending her vegetables at the same time.

"-Look there's Kodachi!-"

"Oh great!" Ranma became distracted enough to let down her guard for a split second, realizing too late for the lame trick that it was. She turned her head only to get it slammed in by Genma's sign.

Stars flew around Ranma chan's head, her eyeballs rotating 180 degrees and her mouth hung open.

"-Like I said, you're getting sloppy, Ranma!" Genma Panda wrote, then taking the opportunity of grabbing the uneaten food that had fallen from Ranma's mouth.

"Kasumi, do you mind bringing me a cup of tea?" Soun asked from behind his newspaper. Soun Tendo had learned earlier on that it was much more beneficial for his mental health and emotional state that he ignore the goings on around him. As long as there wasn't much property damage, he could be happy with life.

"Ofcourse, father," Kasumi cheerfully replied, leaving the group and going into the kitchen.

"Oh! What does it take to get to school on time for once?!" Akane screamed, pulling the still dazed Ranma by the back of her neck collar and dragging her outside the dojo, where she immediately regained proper consciousness and jumped on the fence rail and began to run.

"Your father was more violent than usual, Ranma," Akane mentioned, running on the sidewalk below Ranma.

"I think it's just the house, it gets to a person's sanity and..." Ranma winced, too late.

"Are you saying that my house is mentally polluted?!" Akane intoned.

"I didn't mean..."

Akane stopped running. Ranma waited for the predictable punisher of grossly exaggerated injustice to come out. "You're right."

"Huh?" Ranma blinked and squatted on the edge of the fence railing. She stared at Akane intently, wondering if she was sick.

"That house is insane."

"Huh?" Blink, blink.

"But then again, it wouldn't be as bad if you and your dad weren't there," Akane giggled. She tweaked Ranma's nose and laughed louder. "Gotcha!"

She quickly began running again. Ranma, after his initial surprise at Akane's rare show of nonviolence, ran after her.

Both finally turned a corner and ran straight towards the Furinken High School gates, where a familiar figure awaited them.

"Ah!" Tatewaki Kuno breathed nostalgically. "The fates have indeed decided to bless me this day with the appearance of both my loves. If it were not for the despicable sorcerer, Ranma Saotome, I would claim both my loves at this moment and make them mine for ever more! But, hark where is that evil cur, the mangy beast? How will I claim my two loves should he not show up! Faith! Perhaps, he finally realizes the futility of his defiance against the Blue Thunder...."

"Oh please! We're going to be late!" Akane said, making to pass right by Kuno, who took the opportunity to grab her and pull her to him.

"Hey!" Ranma yelled, seeing red. "Let go of her!"

Kuno looked up. "There is no need to be jealous, my love..."

"Who's jealous, you bean sprouting piece of..."

"Ranma!" A blur of brown pounced across the scene.

"Eek!" Ranma yelped, trying to pull off the little thing that clung tenaciously to her chest. She instinctively elbowed it in the head and socked it in the eye for insurance. "Get off me, ya old pervert!"

"And you get off me, Kuno!" Akane yelled, creaming Kuno with her right fist.

Both Kuno and Happosai loosened their hold, clutching their eyes. But, with stunning persistence, and despite their injured eyes, both got up and instantly made for the girls.

"Akane, my love!"

"Ranma, sweeto!"

Kuno felt a wrinkled goat in his arms.

Happosai felt…nothing...no familiar, soft curves.

Both squinted their eyes open.

"AAAAGGHHH!!!"

"Serves them right," Akane said, angrily.

"Yeah, no kidding," Ranma replied.

They looked at each other and laughed all the way to their first class.

"Ranma, that was a mean tricked you played on me today," Happosai whined, using Ranma's head as a trampoline for punishment.

"I didn't do nothin'," Ranma, now male, replied dryly.

"Did too, did too, did too!"

"Now, now, master, I'm sure that we can work something out," Soun said, trying to keep Happosai from yelling and disturbing Soun's concentration on the game in front of him.

"I'm not stopping 'til Ranma apologizes to me!" Happosai spat back, switching from Ranma's head to Soun's in one leap.

"Ranma...Apologize... to the... master," Soun said, making a move on the shogi board while trying to ignore the jelly bean on top of his head.

"I ain't gonna do it," Ranma said, moving away.

"He didn't apologize!" Happosai said angrily. He then began to draw pictures on both Soun's and Genma's faces and body.

Genma made his move on the Go board. "Say sorry, boy!"

"I won't!"

"Say sorry, son!"

"Dad, it wasn't Ranma's fault," Akane added, holding a familiar little black pig.

"Dinner's ready, everyone!" Kasumi called out over the hubbub of noise.

"Say sorry that you tricked me, you little punk!"

"Give it up, I'll never say it!"

"Care to bet on that, Ranma?" Nabiki teased (maybe) as she walked into the dining room, hoping against hope that the evening for once would be peaceful. The scene in the dining room crumbled her hopes to ash.

"Well, Ranma?" Genma asked, becoming distracted enough for Soun to switch the board around.

"I told you already...! Ask Akane, it wasn't my fault!"

"The path of a true martial artist..."

"Dad! I was there, Happosai glomped on Ranma..."

"What about a re-enactment, Akane, my dear?" Happosai said, glomping onto Akane's chest, and failing to see the little piglet that suddenly launched itself onto his nose.

"OW!" Happosai said, clutching his nose.

"Why, you PERVERT!!!!!!" Akane swung her leg and sent Happosai through the roof and straight up into the sky.

"Kasumi! Bring out the sake, my little Akane has finally beaten the little, evil master!"

Happosai landed back onto the earth with a loud crash. His head swam a little before he managed to straighten up.

"I heard that, Tendo!" Happosai glared at the now kowtowing Soun and Genma.

"M-master, I meant..."

"Spare me!" he sneered back. He then turned to glance at everyone else, his eyes pitifully full of crocodile tears and his body and face covered with the remains of Kasumi's dinner. "Respect. That's all I asked for <sniff>. How hard could it be to give it to a lonely old man <blow, sniff>. I've given you all my knowledge and experience as the master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and as students <sniff> you can't even afford...<sniff> I'm going to end it here and now! I don't want to live with a bunch of ingrates anymore!"

"Master, no!" Soun exclaimed as he saw Happosai reach from deep inside his bottomless gi for an object.... Happosai pulled it out, raising it high, then bringing it close to his face.

"The Nanban Mirror!" Ranma exclaimed at the little taped and glued up hand mirror.

"I'm leaving this world!" Happosai cried, making tears fall on the mirror's battered surface. "Take me to a time and place where I can be happy!"

"Master, no!"

"Oh, my!"

"Ranma?!"

"Hold on, Akane....!!!!"

Everything warped and the air was filled with screams, yells and bright blinding light. Then, a moment later, nothing but the neighborhood dog's howl was heard and nothing was seen in the sky but the dark night and the serene stars.

 A man, or what seemed to be a man, wrapped in countless strips of bandages looked into hell's mirror to the mortal plane.

"Himura batousai," he grinned evilly as he saw the face of the one that thwarted his dreams. "Although I do well in this existence, I still cannot forget what has happened."

A woman in a red kimono sidled up to the man and caressed his back. "Shishio-sama... what are you doing?"

"Yumi," the man straightened up and brought the woman closer to himself. "Just planning a little surprise for our favorite Batousai, is all. I have just granted the wish of a little old man from the future."

"Indeed?"

"Himura and his little friends are in for a surprise when I send them a little gift. And who knows, we may at last finish that duel we had and see who truly is the better hitokiri."

"You are so optimistic, Shishio-sama."

"Mmmm... Let the game begin."

Both beings laughed as Shishio Makoto outlined his plans for Hitokiri Himura Kenshin.

Kamiya Dojo, Tokyo, 1878

"Yahiko! Pay attention!"

"No way, ya hag!"

Himura Kenshin chuckled when he heard the familiar voices of his family. He turned back to his laundry and continued to scrub.

"Ken-nii! Let's play!" a high childish voice called out from the entrance of the Kamiya Dojo gates.

Kenshin looked up, a gently smile curving his lips. "Ayame chan, Suzume chan. Genzai sensei!"

"Play, play!" Ayame, the one with two pigtails repeated after her sister, Suzume.

"Do you want to help me finish washing and then afterwards we can all make dinner together," Kenshin suggested. He looked up at Dr. Genzai. "Will you be staying for dinner, sensei?"

"Well," he said looking around suspiciously for a certain blue haired assistant dojo master. "Now that I know you're the one cooking."

Kenshin laughed. A minute later, his face froze, feeling a strong battle aura close to him. "Oro?"

"I heard that," Kamiya Kaoru, the blue haired assistant dojo master, said standing over and behind Kenshin.

Kenshin turned to look up at the glaring Kaoru.

"Kaoru-dono...are you and Yahiko finished already?" Kenshin asked nervously.

"No use, Kenshin," Yahiko laughed. Seeing the all-famous hitokiri in a tight spot was a rare sight, and one that should be appreciated.

"Genzai sensei," Kaoru's glare turned into a face wreathed in smiles. "How nice of you to stay for dinner."

"Yes, ...ofcourse," Dr. Genzai said, sweating a little.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru said snapping her attention back to Kenshin.

"Y-yes, Kaoru dono?"

"Since you're busy finishing the laundry and looking after Ayame chan and Suzume chan, I'll start on the dinner."

Yahiko nearly hurled, Ayame and Suzume paled and Dr. Genzai hoped that he had enough medicine in his pocket for the whole family.

"Uh--You don't have to do that, Kaoru dono--"

"Oi, everyone! Mind if I stay for dinner?" Another voice called from the gates.

"Sanosuke!" Yahiko called out, hoping that the lame brain could hear the warning in his tone.

"Fox lady said she'll be coming soon since there were no other patients waiting for her. So, Kenshin, you might have to cook for more tonight, eh?" Sano laughed. He looked around at everyone and suddenly noticed their expressions. He finally got the hint. "Actually, I just recalled...."

"Sano, you're just in time to help me make dinner!" Kaoru called out, all smiles.

Sano made a face. Just the thought of Kaoru's cooking could really ruin a person's appetite, even if that person hadn't eaten for a day and a half.

"First Kenshin and now Sano," Yahiko laughed.

"Yahiko?" Kaoru called.

Yahiko grimaced, he spoke too soon. "What now?"

"Clean up the equipments in the dojo," Kaoru said and left, pulling Sano after her.

Kenshin, Yahiko and Dr. Genzai watched her leave.

"I hope Megumi san will bring her medical bag with her," Dr. Genzai muttered.

Kenshin nodded.

Yahiko sighed.

Ayame and Suzume's eyes teared up.

"Alright everyone! Dinner's ready!" Kaoru called from the open terrace of the dining room. Everyone else came reluctantly, muttering beneath their breaths.

They all sat in the dining area, waiting for Kaoru to place their dinner in front of them.

Thankfully, the cooked rice looked edible.

"I made the rice," Sano said proudly.

"And I cooked the vegetables and the tofu!" Kaoru declared. "Eat up everyone!"

Everyone stared at their food, preparing themselves for the torture they were about to go through.

Kenshin sighed and picked up his bowl of rice, picking at the tofu and wondering what the little black stuff on it were. He placed a piece in his mouth and chewed slowly. All of a sudden he froze. He lowered his bowl and thumbed the sakaba sword at his side.

"Kenshin?" Yahiko called out.

Kenshin looked around at everyone's faces. He noticed that they were all eyeing him expectantly.

"Oro?"

Sano let out a breath in exasperation. "Well?"

Kenshin knew he couldn't hide anything from them. "I feel something... I need to look around for a moment."

"Oh no, you don't! That excuse won't work, you're staying here and suffering with the rest of us!" Sano said, dragging the standing Kenshin down again. "If the food is that bad, it's not fair that you go and we stay."

"At least we know that Ken-san hasn't slipped into unconsciousness yet," Megumi said picking up her chopsticks.

Kenshin blinked. He looked at everyone in confusion. They had been waiting for his verdict on the food? He looked towards the darkening skies in the horizon. He had truly felt something out of place and he thought that he had to share it with the rest of them but... he sighed and turned his attention back to the dinner scene. Kaoru was yelling at Sano and Yahiko. Ayame and Suzume were chewing continuously without swallowing indicating how tough the vegetables were. And Megumi was eyeing the tofu as though it were an unknown herb.

He was about to pick up his chopsticks again when he felt the shift in the air. This time much stronger. Once more he held himself in check.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked.

Kenshin was too busy waiting for the next unpredictable wave of uneasiness, but instinctively he replied, "The food is edible, Kaoru dono. Don't worry, I'm sure I can finish it."

"No, Kenshin, it's not that. There's something wrong isn't there?" Kaoru asked, her voice tinged with concern.

"Ofcourse there's something wrong... it's the food!" Yahiko said, earning himself a hit on the head.

"Ken-nii?" Ayame chan asked hesitantly, feeling a little uneasiness at Kenshin's stillness.

"You mean this isn't about the food this time?" Sano said.

"I think..." Kenshin never finished his sentence when the last wave of apprehension swept through him and a loud crash reverberated through his head coming from... the roof?

Loud yells and screams filled the Kamiya home as the roof crumbled and what seemed like a thousand bodies fell through.

"Alright, a fight!" Sano declared.

"Cool, Intruders!" Yahiko said, readying his bamboo bokken.

"Oh, no My dinner!" Kaoru wailed, looking at the mess in front of her.

"We need a doctor," Dr. Genzai said automatically, looking at the tangle of arms and legs in front of him.

One pair of eyes looked up from the bottom of the human pile. The stranger's eyes rolled around and his tongue lolled out. "Did anyone see the number of that twuck?"

***To be continued *****