[Ranma/Tenchi][FanFic] Hearts' Healing

[D.F. Roeder]

Hearts' Healing

A Ranma 1/2 - Tenchi Muyou! Ryou-ou-ki FanFiction
By
D.F. Roeder

This and other fanfictions can be found at:
http://www.flash.net/~dfroeder/index.html

C&C very welcome. Respond to FFML or privately to
dfro...@flash.net

Originally posted to the FFML in August of 1999.

----- Continuity -----
This is a Ranma divergence fic, the divergence occurring at the
beginning of the Ranma storyline, the day before the fateful trip to
Jusenkyou at the end of the 10-year training trip. This will NOT be
a rehash of the "Sorry 'bout this!" beginning to Ranma 1/2. It will
be decidedly different, as you will see.

This is also a continuation of the TM! OAV storyline, although the
concentration will be on one character, with the remaining cast
coming in as appropriate.

The dates inserted are somewhat arbitrary. If anyone has better info
and can point to some primary source material to back it up, I would
then welcome suggestions.

----- Acknowledgments -----
My sincere thanks to Vince Seifert for giving this puppy a critical
going over. As always, my work would be far poorer without him.

Thanks to T.H. Tiger for the Tenchi discussions, catching some
errors of omission, and the thumbs up. ^_^

----- Disclaimers -----
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,
Shonen Sunday comics, Shogakukan, and Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz
Communications (USA).

Tenchi Muyou! Ryou-ou-ki is the property of Kajishima Masaki and
AIC/Pioneer LDC.

This work of fiction is for free entertainment purposes only. No
compensation has been or will be received.

____________________

Part 1 - Sticks and Stones
____________________

[October 7, 1991]

"Excuse me, sir."

The okonomiyaki vendor looked up from the grill to see a short,
ragtag redheaded girl wearing Chinese peasant clothes looking up at
him.

"What do *you* want," he asked suspiciously.

"Lookin' for work."

<A classic case,> the vendor thought, his eyes narrowing. <Barely
keepin' the drool in her mouth.> "What's your name?"

"Ranma."

"What Ranma?"

She lowered her gaze to the grill, shuffled her feet, and didn't
answer.

"Where's your family?"

Her eyes flicked from side to side. "Ain't got none."

<Oh, great.> "Gomen. Don't have any work for ronin."

Ranma sighed, "Nobody does," and started to walk off.

A mild attack of conscience loosened the vendor's tongue. "Wait a
sec."

Ranma turned and watched the man wrap a plain okonomiyaki in
newspaper. "Here. Now be off with ya!"

She took the proffered food. "Arigatou gozai--"

"Yeah, yeah. Just scoot!"

To the vendor's relief, Ranma sketched a bow and left.

~~~~~

Slowly munching on the okonomiyaki to savor every bite, Ranma
wandered down the street, occasionally asking the locals for work.
No luck, and night was beginning to fall.

She popped the last piece of the dough into her mouth and chewed.
<Sure ain't yours, Ucchan, old buddy. I could really go for one of
your pop's famous cakes.> She slumped a little. <Your folks wouldn't
want me now, either, I guess.>

"Shit!" <What's in a name, anyways? Just one more way ta pin ya
down, make ya somethin' ya ain't, or... try ta make ya be somethin'
ya can't be no more, because ya spent your life followin' some
dumb-ass fa-->

An explosive sneeze shattered her thoughts. "Oooh, that felt weird."
She looked at the slightly green-tinged mucus on her hand. "NOW
what?!" Ranma wiped her hand on her sleeve and walked on.
____________________

[June 14, 1976]

The door opened to reveal three women in their best kimono.

"Nodoka-san! How are you? Is that Ranma-chan?" The first guest
wiggled her fingers at the one-year old child Saotome Nodoka cradled
in her arms.

The three women filed in, and Nodoka bade them sit while she
prepared some tea, handing Ranma to one of the ladies to play with.
She smiled at the joy a little baby could bring and went into the
kitchen.

~~~~~

"So what's that husband of yours up to, these days?" guest number
three asked.

A small frown creased Nodoka's forehead as she sipped her tea. "He's
probably off running around with that friend of his, Tendou Soun."

"Errr, has he gotten a job--" guest number two asked before getting
swatted by guest number one. A quick glare from number one sent
number two in a different direction. "I mean, has he gotten to know
his baby?" Number two smiled weakly.

It was a lame save, and Nodoka knew it. She shook her head wearily.
"No and not really," she replied, answering both questions.

Ranma began to complain at that moment, and Nodoka took him back
from the woman who'd been holding him. Picking up a bottle she'd
prepared earlier, she began to feed him. She smiled serenely down at
her child. "Your Mommy's little manly man, aren't you?"

Ranma just looked up at his mother, soaking in the sounds of her
voice as he suckled on the plastic nipple. Understanding would come
later.
____________________

[October 9, 1991]

Something was definitely wrong. Ranma coughed, her chest rattling
and wheezing. <Man, I NEVER get sick! What the hell's this all
about?!>

Finding no comfort in her thoughts, Ranma continued down another
street. She'd finally made it to Tokyo and was wandering around the
Juuban district, still looking for work. Being sick, as well as
without family, made her all too easy to turn down. Starving and
gaunt, Ranma kept trudging.

<What I wouldn't give ta see Pops about now,> she mused, then her
face darkened. "No, he had his chance," she mumbled.

Her sunken and hooded eyes concentrated on the asphalt in front of
her as she continued in a straight line, not caring where.

"Baka oyaji..."
____________________

[March 15, 1990]

Saotome Genma cuffed the back of his son's head.

*WHAP!*

"Boy, I'm really starting to worry about your training! Thievery is
part and parcel of the Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu! What will it take to
get through to you?!"

The son, Saotome Ranma, was getting a belly full of his father's
griping this morning and had just about had enough. "Pops, how's it
gonna help me in the Art, again? What the HELL does thievin' have to
do with martial arts?! Just cause YOU couldn't steal enough this
mornin' ta fill your fat belly's no reason ta get mad at me!"

Genma put his fists up to his head and reared back. "ARGH!! Stupid
boy! It's not the stealing; it's the situations it puts you in!!
Have you learned nothing?!"

Cross, Ranma snorted and looked away. "You've been tryin' ta sell me
that bill 'a goods for ten years. Give it up."

Genma slumped, still angry but unable to come up with further
argument. He shouldered his pack and struck off down the road.
Thinking of his good friend, Tendou Soun, he mumbled quietly to
himself, but not quietly enough. "The boy's going to be a big
disappointment when we get home."

<NANI?!?!> Ranma was thunderstruck - this was something completely
new. <What's Pops talkin' about?! Who'll be disappointed at home?!>
The realization that hit was terrible. Who else? <MOTHER?!?!?!>

Visibly shaking, Ranma hefted his pack and plodded after his father.
His thoughts were having a hard time coalescing into anything
understandable, so he just followed along, allowing the turmoil to
settle into a dull ache.

~~~~~

"See that cooked duck hanging over there, Boy?" Evening had fallen,
and Genma and Ranma had made it to a small village, a half-day's
walk from their next training stop. Genma, of course, had blown what
little money they still had left on Chinese beer the night before.

"Yeah, so what." Ranma studied his fingernails.

Genma grimaced and leaned one hand against the building they were
hiding behind. "So TAKE it, Boy!"

"Ain't gonna." Ranma started to walk off, but Genma cuffed him on
the head again, glaring.

"You're such a disappointment, Ranma."

Ranma flinched, thinking of his mother again.

"Why, when I was training, we would..."

Tuning his father out, Ranma concentrated on stuffing away the hurt,
but he was unsuccessful. It quickly boiled into anger, simmering
just below the surface. <No way! She can't want me to be like HIM!>
Ranma's thoughts roiled, and he missed the rest of Genma's anecdote.

"So, now do you see?" Genma finished.

Staring at the ground with his fists clenched, Ranma barely heard
his father's question. He looked up.

"Huh?"

Defeated, Genma slumped and then prepared himself for a try at the
duck hanging so tantalizing close yet so annoyingly far. Genma
grumbled to himself as he moved off, "What a disappointment he'll
be." <I hope you can see your way clear to honor our pact, Tendou.>

Ranma's heart fell into his stomach. He felt like crying, but that
wouldn't be manly. <Can't do that! Pops is always harpin' on the
manly bit. At least I can be *that* for Mom.> He shuffled away, not
wanting to be around his father for a while.

~~~~~

The next day dawned bright and clear, the very opposite of Ranma's
mood. He shot Genma a deadly glare after being kicked awake. <Don't
push it, old man!> After scarfing down the meager remains of the
duck his father had left him, the two of them got through their
morning sparring session in record time. Ranma pounded Genma into
the dirt.

Genma was surly when he came to, and neither spoke as they broke
camp and proceeded down the road to the next training spot.

~~~~~

A few hours later, the road began to climb slightly, and Ranma
looked up. Genma had stopped and was comparing the Chinese writings
on a sign to the writing in a small book he'd been carrying around
for some time. Ranma sighed, tired of the all too familiar futility
that his father personified in certain matters. A flash of sunlight
caught his eye, and Ranma found himself walking to the edge of the
road and looking down the slope.

A small brook wound its way through the stones. The clear water
seemed to laugh as it bounded and flowed through the obstacles. In
intermittent patches of soil, wildflowers had opened their
springtime faces to the sun and waved in the slight breeze. It
dazzled the eye with myriad shades of red, yellow, and blue.

Ordinarily, being who he was and doing what he did, Ranma wouldn't
have had time to notice the small wonders that surrounded him. His
current frame of mind, though, was in desperate need of a soothing
balm, and gazing at the scene before him provided it. He became so
lost in admiration that he failed to hear his father walk up behind
him.

"Beautiful..." Ranma said to himself.

Genma smirked. "Pretty, hey? I wonder how *manly* your mother would
think you are, looking at pretty flowers and shiny water. 'Shall we
stop and freshen up at the stream, dear Mother?' Yessiree, Momma's
manly man!" Genma turned and walked back up the road, chortling.

Ranma was a statue. His father wasn't acting like he usually did
when telling lies. He certainly ought to know; Genma told enough of
them. That left only the truth. Ranma tried desperately to reconcile
the picture of his mother his father was painting with the dim
memories he had of warmth and security. He failed.

Hanging his head, he once again plodded up the road. <Am I already a
disappointment to Mom? What am I gonna do?!> He trudged along,
barely keeping his father in sight. <Maybe Pops is right. I guess
it's thievin' for me. And the manly thing's always been there. I
guess I know why, now. A *manly* thief. Yeah... right.> Ranma picked
up his pace and soon caught up to the man in the threadbare gi.

~~~~~

"Welcome, Sirs, to Training Ground of Accursed Springs, Jusenkyou!"
Ranma and Genma looked out at the numerous pools, varying numbers of
bamboo poles sticking out of each small body of water. Ranma was
silent, his thoughts still miles away, over the China Sea.

"Errr, thanks," Genma said uncomfortably. The Guide was not in his
training plans for the day. He shrugged, dropped his pack, and leapt
to the nearest bamboo pole. "Ranma! Follow me!"

"ACK!! Sir! What you doing?! Very bad you fall in spring!" The guide
waved his arms frantically, trying to convey the urgency of the
situation.

Jarred from his thoughts, Ranma looked up and sighed. He dropped his
pack and jumped up to a pole, while his father bounced around from
pole to pole, getting the feel of the place. In the meantime, the
sun on the water had recaptured Ranma's attention, and he stared
into the brilliance reflected up from the pools. <Mother...>

Ignoring the Chinese the yelling Guide had lapsed into, Genma
stopped, readying himself for battle, and was not a little annoyed
that his son seemed unaware of his surroundings. <Bah! This'll teach
him!> Genma leapt at Ranma.

<Mother--> "URK!!!" He hadn't even noticed his father coming at him.
Ranma described a textbook parabolic trajectory through the air,
terminating in one of the pools nearby. Ranma sank beneath the
surface, the water bubbled for a few seconds, and then all was
quiet.

"Oh, too bad," the Guide sang. "Young Sir fall in Nyanniichuan. Very
tragic story of young girl who drown there one-thousand,
five-hundred year ago."

Genma hopped over and peered down into the water. He leaned back out
of the spray as the surface broke, and one of the most beautiful
girls Genma had ever clapped eyes on looked up at him.

"Pops? EEP!!!" Genma was frozen in shock, and Ranma wasn't much
better, wondering what had happened to his voice.

"You see, Sirs. Nyanniichuan. Whoever fall in spring take body of
young girl."

Ranma *did* feel strange, so he looked down. He carefully felt his
chest, his dread growing. Grimacing, he opened his gi and took in
the sight of two magnificent breasts. <I'm a girl...> her mind
blandly stated. The color drained from her face, and her hands fell
to her sides, the gi still open and Genma still staring. <It's all
gone. Everything that I am.> Ranma looked up at her father. She
misread his unreadable expression for a lack of emotion and caring
instead of the shock that it was.

"See?" the Guide said. "You young girl."

Ranma stared at her father, seeing no pity, no love, nothing. An
all-too-easy picture with Genma. She began to shake, and terror
temporarily washed away any sane response. Her worst fears rose
unbidden, reflected in those dead eyes high on the pole. Manhood
gone. Honor gone. Only shame.

With an inarticulate scream, Ranma leapt out of the spring and ran
off down the road that had brought them there. <I'm so sorry,
Mother...> She began to sob as she ran. The springs passed out of
sight, and the road suddenly turned to the left. With a mighty leap,
Ranma cleared the brush lining the turn and kept going straight,
over the countryside.

~~~~~

Genma, perched atop a pole, was still staring at the spot where his
son had become his daughter. He would come to regret his inaction at
that precise moment for the rest of his life.

A few minutes later he shook himself out of his daze and speared the
Guide with his eyes. "What -- just -- happened?!"

"Young Sir fall in Nyanniichuan, Spring of Drowned Girl. Very tragic
story of girl--"

"YES, YES! But what happened JUST NOW?!"

The Guide shrugged. "Fall in spring. Now young girl."

Genma boggled at the Guide. "You've GOT to be kidding--"

"Not trust eyes, no?" The Guide pointed at the pool.

Genma looked down at the pool, and then back to the Guide. "Can it
be cured?"

"No cure." The Guide shook his head sadly.

"Oh, no! NODOKA!!"

"Eh? What this nodo-ka?"

"NO, not what, who-- never mind. What am I going to do?!"

The Guide shrugged again. "Find young Sir and take hot water."

"WHAT?!"

The Guide sighed. <Tourists!> "Cold water make curse happen. Hot
water change young Sir back... till next cold water, anyway."

Genma nearly fell off the pole and into the Nyanniichuan in relief.
"Thank you, Kamisama!!" he whispered fiercely. <All isn't lost,
Tendou!>

~~~~~

The countryside had flattened out as Ranma had continued to run, and
she now found herself in a stretch of well-worked farm plots.
Pelting through the organized growth, she surprised many men and
women working the fields. She didn't stop or even acknowledge them;
she just ran.

In two hours, she finally reached a road and the end of her stamina.
She instantly collapsed onto a clear spot, lying on her side and
staring dully at the packed dirt. She had lapsed into emotional
numbness and was content to feel nothing.

~~~~~

The sun had crawled across the sky a minute distance when the
scuffling of hooves and the creak of an oxcart impinged on her
awareness. Ranma rolled her eyes to look at an elderly woman in
dull, mannish clothing looking down at her curiously.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked in Mandarin. Ranma simply
stared. "Do you speak Han?" Ranma recognized "Han" as the word for
Mandarin in the tongue. She wearily shook her head.

The woman sat back on her seat and studied the girl. <Hmmm. Not
Chinese. Didn't think so to begin with. She looks a little like an
American with the hair, at least, from what I've seen in government
films, yet the rest of her is from close by. Very pretty. *Too*
pretty to leave on the road, especially in the shape she's in.>

The woman scooted over on the bench and patted the empty space,
pointedly looking at Ranma. Ranma blinked and, since she had no
better offer - make that no other offer at all - climbed up next to
the Good Samaritan.

The woman tapped herself on the sternum. "Wong Liu," she said.

Ranma smiled tiredly and repeated the gesture. "Saotome Ranma."

<Strange name,> Liu thought. A terrifying possibility occurred to
her. "Nyuuchiezuu?!" she asked shakily.

Ranma looked at her strangely and shook her head, not understanding.
Liu relaxed and chided herself; the Nyuuchiezuu would've understood
her. She shook the reins, and the two oxen pulling the cart began to
shuffle down the road.

"Arigatou, Wong-san."

Liu nodded, not understanding either but getting the gist of it. She
watched Ranma lapse into staring at the passing road. <Great pain,
there. I wonder what happened.>

The oxcart trundled slowly along and soon crested a hill, moving out
of sight. They were headed north.
____________________

[March 22, 1990]

To say Genma was exasperated was an understatement. After taking
leave of the Guide, he'd traveled back down the road to the next
village. Asking after his son or the girl he could become, he
discovered that no one recalled having seen them other than when
they initially passed through. Or at least, that's what he'd
understood from the pidgin conversations he'd endured to find that
out. Thinking that Ranma could've passed through unnoticed, he
continued on to the next village, and the next, with the same
result.

His failed search brought him back, on this day, to the leg of the
road leading into Jusenkyou. He began to search the ground to either
side. Some hours later, he discovered a deep set of small footprints
just beyond the turn in the road. Cursing the fact that the trail
was a week old, Genma sighted back up the road and then out over the
countryside. He took off at a steady lope, keeping one eye peeled
for sign of his child's passing.
____________________

[March 23, 1990]

He was at an impasse. The trail terminated at a road, running north
and south. Genma had been happy to discover that the occasional
farmer he'd run across had been able to convey to him that a
redheaded girl had blown through some days before. He had continued
on with a lighter heart. Until now.

There were no villages and few or no passers-by. The handful that
he'd asked simply shrugged and went on their way. He sat down on the
ground and began to think, an activity that didn't come exactly
natural to him. <If I were Ranma, which way would I have gone? Hmmm.
Where would I want to go? Well, home, of course. Which road will
take me there? South!> To his credit, Genma was thinking as would a
normal person, one not having to deal with the trauma of a
form-altering water curse... or living up to certain promises made.

Happy that he'd deduced Ranma's intentions, Genma headed south.
South would be towards the ports that could take one to Japan... and
home.
____________________

[October 10, 1991]

<Nerima?!> *COUGH! COUGH!* <Didn't Pops say isn't that a pretty
rough ride back from where am I going again?>

Ranma hunched over and put her hands on her knees, waiting for the
swirling in her brain to stop.

<Gah. I'm really sick. Can't even think straight.>

After a few moments, Ranma slowly rose to a slumped-over position
and looked around. Spying a place to sit down, unlikely to be
bothered by anyone, she shuffled over and fell on the three steps
leading to the entrance to an abandoned building. She lay there
without moving for about ten minutes before crawling up into the
alcove in complete exhaustion.

"Mother, Ranma miss you!" she deliriously cried out in Chinese.

Ranma slept fitfully for almost a day-and-a-half, not moving from
her cover.
____________________

[February 2, 1991]

*THOK!* *Chunk*

*THOK!* *Chunk-chunk*

The head of an axe came to rest on a splitting-stump, and the
wielder wiped his little bit of sweat against the sleeve of the
simple Chinese tunic he wore. He breathed in the crisp late winter
air and smiled. After years of the rough and tumble and scrapes of
life on the road, the quiet serenity of this simple farm had done
wonders for his state of mind and emotional health.

He picked up the last log to be split for the fire, for the cold
days and nights still to come, and set it on the stump.

*THOK!* *Chunk-chunk*

Satisfied that enough wood had been split -- more than enough, as
Liu would probably point out -- he quickly loaded the tinder onto
the cart behind him. He shouldered the pull-straps and walked to the
cottage.

Leaving the stacked cart outside, he went into the dwelling, shook
the snow off his boots, and looked for a kettle. <A nice cup would
hit the spot!> A commotion in the front room changed his mind, and
he wandered in to see what was happening.

A middle-aged man, one of the village elders, Ranma remembered, was
speaking animatedly at Liu. He abruptly stopped speaking when Ranma
entered. The two men looked at each other for a moment, and then the
elder nodded to Liu and left.

Liu had slumped over in some kind of distress, and Ranma rushed
over. "What wrong, Liu-san? What he say?" Liu had been patiently
teaching Ranma the local version of Han, when time and the demands
of the farm permitted, but he'd stubbornly hung onto the Japanese
honorifics. "Liu-san?"

"Ranma." Liu turned around and fiercely hugged her friend and
housemate. She leaned away and looked up at the young man. "My, how
you've filled out since I first met you. But then, you were a girl
when we crossed paths." Liu smirked mischievously at him.

"Ah! No remind Ranma. You no answer, Liu-san."

The old woman sighed. "If I were forty years younger and trained,
I'd fight them off and keep you for myself."

Ranma looked at her strangely. "What you mean?"

Liu's eyes began to tear. "Time for you to go."

"NANI?!" Ranma had to steady himself a little. "You no want Ranma?
Chase off?"

"No, child. You're the best thing that's happened to this old woman
since my husband died in one of the Party's stupid wars. No, people
are coming for you. You must leave before they arrive, which will be
soon. They are already in the village."

"People?"

"Nyuuchiezuu."

Ranma started. He remembered Liu saying that word when they first
met, and he'd since heard it spoken in whispers in the village. "Who
Nyuuchiezuu?"

"Bad news. Women warriors. They have a village near Jusenkyou, and
they claim Jusenkyou as theirs. Word of the few times you've changed
in public must've finally gotten to them. I would not see you cast
into their hands. Men are treated very badly by them. Many
acquaintances of mine have lost their able-bodied menfolk to
Nyuuchiezuu raids."

Ranma stood straight. "Martial artist. Fight off!"

"Fight off twenty well-armed and well-trained warriors? Most carry
swords and know how to use them."

Ranma wilted. "Call, anou, authorities?"

"They would ignore it, as they have since anyone can remember. There
is no choice, child. You must leave. Now!"

Clearly unhappy, Ranma tried to stand his ground.

Liu sighed and hugged Ranma again. "It is my wish. Will you go
against my wishes?"

"...!" After Liu released him, Ranma sat down heavily in a nearby
chair, the weight of his situation bearing down on him. "I honor you
wish," he whispered.

Liu pasted a smile on her face. "Good! Go pack. Make it quick. I'll
put together a little food for you."

Ranma dragged himself up and entered the one bedroom of the house.
He looked at Liu's bed against the wall on one side of the room, and
then at his against the opposite wall. <I'll miss this place. And
Liu.> Sighing again, he quickly gathered his things into a makeshift
pack and returned to Liu.

"That was fast!"

Ranma just shrugged, depression beginning to settle in.

"Here." She handed him a bundle of hardy foodstuffs wrapped in
cloth. Ranma took the bundle and set in on the counter. He grabbed
the old woman up in a crushing hug. "You mother for Ranma," he
choked out. "Help Ranma. Teach Ranma. Make feel good even with
curse. No want leave!"

Liu, crying freely, beaned him on the head. Surprised, Ranma let her
go. He then smiled at her wet face. She swatted his behind.
"'Mother' says go! The Elders will stall only so long with the
Nyuuchiezuu. Go!"

Ranma took Liu's care package in hand and stumbled out the back
door, dazed by the sudden tragic turn in his life.

"Go south!" Liu called. Ranma nodded absently and took off across
the field. He was glad Liu couldn't see his tears as he turned
around one last time to see his friend. Liu shooed him, and he
turned, disappearing over the rise.

Liu sobbed for a few minutes, and then shuffled in and put the
kettle on. There was no way she'd get anything done today. Her heart
just wasn't in it. She dried her face and waited.

Soon, the kettle was hot enough, and Liu poured herself a cup of
tea. She sat down in her chair in the front room and brooded.

The front door abruptly shattered and fell in. Several grim women,
garishly dressed and armed to the teeth, walked in.

"Tell us where he is," the young leader with the purple hair
commanded.

Liu sipped her tea and smiled. Sixty years of manhandling a farm had
made her tough, as well. "Gone. Back to Jusenkyou to look for the
Nanniichuan."

"You lie. That doesn't work."

Liu was genuinely surprised. "He didn't know. Hmmm, if you were
cursed with a *man's* body and not being any wiser, wouldn't you
think of the Nyanniichuan?"

The lead Amazon chewed on her lip, digesting the possibility. She
quickly made up her mind. "Let's go."

The women filed out and disappeared into the fields.

Liu set her cup down and went out back to find some boards to nail
over the front doorway. It would be a cold night, regardless of what
temporary measures she took. She noted the oversized stack of
chopped wood in the cart by the backdoor and smiled, crying anew and
blessing her one-time son.
____________________

[October 11, 1991]

Cold rains had been drenching the Nerima Ward of the Greater Tokyo
Metropolitan Area for the last two days, and pedestrians were going
out for the evening dressed in warm and somewhat water-proof
clothing and toting countless umbrellas, most of them yellow.

One man, carrying such a yellow umbrella, was stepping briskly along
the shiny streets. He was returning from a call for his services,
midwiving a young woman trapped in an elevator due to a sudden power
outage, and was humming a happy little tune. He smiled as he stomped
in a puddle just for the joy of it. Of course, the yellow rain boots
he also wore took away any worries. He looked up to see the entrance
to the clinic he ran a little further on and quickened his pace.

A loud and congested sneeze brought him to a halt. Tracking the
noise, he spied a curled-up figure in the entry alcove of an
abandoned storefront. Normally, the derelict figure would not have
been approached, but this particular man was unusual in two
important respects.

First, he was a doctor. Helping others was his calling in life, even
if many of his colleagues would still have passed by, cultural
biases directing their behavior. Second, he was a top-notch martial
artist, and his sensitivities had been attuned to pick up on certain
aptitudes and qualities in the people he met. His sensitivities were
screaming at him as he looked at the young girl wedged into the
alcove. The girl's aura, even while unfocused and suffering from
illness, was astoundingly strong. Adjusting his glasses, Dr. Ono
Toufuu crossed the street to stand over the girl.

"Konbanwa."

With bleary eyes, the young girl looked the man over. Toufuu
grimaced as a coughing fit shook her slight frame and she spat a
mass of green phlegm at the other wall of the alcove.

"You're ill. Influenza, I'd expect."

The girl focussed on him again. "What's it to ya?" she muttered.

Toufuu sighed and squatted down at the entrance, bringing him
eye-to-eye with her bloodshot crystal blues. "I'm a doctor."

Ranma snorted and looked away. "So what. I ain't got no money. I
ain't got nothin'."

Toufuu looked at her critically. "Would you rather die in the cold?"

"Maybe," she rasped. "... There're worse things."

The despair in her voice rocked Toufuu, but he managed not to let it
show. The girl looked back and studied him.

"You ain't no doctor. You're a martial artist. From what I know,
they don't mix."

Toufuu adjusted his glasses again. "Then maybe you don't know as
much as you think." He reached into his overcoat and pulled out his
card, handing it to her. She took it guardedly, and looked it over.
<Ono Toufuu...>

She flipped the card back at him. "Okay. So you're a doctor *and* a
martial artist. Don't mean nothin' ta me." She turned back to her
examination of a stone in the wall across from her.

Instead of answering, Toufuu stood and held out his hand, waiting
patiently. The girl looked at him askance. "Told ya. Got no money."

"So you'll work it off when you're better." The hand still waited.

The girl bit her lip. Her fevered mind was not clear enough for her
to make command decisions, so she had to decide if she could trust
him. She'd been burned often enough over the last few months,
trusting when she shouldn't have.

Her body convulsed as another fit took her. She stared at the
mottled blob she'd just ejected from her lungs, and that made her
decision. Without looking, she scrabbled for his hand and found it.

Toufuu smiled and hauled her to her feet. She stumbled, but he
caught her, unintentionally mashing her breasts. Once he got her
back on her feet, he said, "Anou... Gomen."

The girl snorted again. "Eight months on the road. Ya get used to
it. Perverts, all of 'em!"

Toufuu nodded and began to walk her down the street. "By the way, is
there a name to go with the attitude?"

The girl thought for a moment. "Ranma." At the doctor's hesitation,
she said, "That's all... for now."

"Ranma," Toufuu said. "Interesting name."

"Yeah," Ranma chortled raggedly, "sort of like bein' named 'East
Wind'."

Toufuu laughed out loud and was graced with a smile from Ranma. "You
get used to it," he said.

The pair limped up the final two blocks to the clinic entrance, each
having passed the first of many tests between them.

~~~~~

"First is a warm bath... or shower, if you prefer. Then I want to
examine you." Toufuu helped Ranma up the stairs to his apartment.

Ranma started, but the sudden motion brought on another fit. When it
subsided, she said, "Warm shower. May not be a good idea. The warm,
I mean."

"Huh? Well, you certainly can't take a *cold* one." They began
climbing the stairs again.

"Believe in magic, Sensei?" Ranma had to stop at the top of the
stairs and catch her breath.

Toufuu looked at her oddly. "Maybe. I've certainly seen some strange
things in my studies. Why?"

Ranma barked a ragged laugh. "Well, it's about to get stranger. You
may wanna toss me back out... when you see." When it was apparent
nothing more was forthcoming, Toufuu supported Ranma through the
door and into his bathroom. He moved to leave.

"No, stay. Might as well see this now." The pain in Ranma's voice
was quite apparent. "Tired of tryin' ta hide this. Folks chasin' me
away when they see." Ranma began to slough off her clothing, and
Toufuu started looking uncomfortable.

"Don't worry, Sensei. I ain't got nothin' ya ain't already seen...
yet." Ranma snickered to herself. Toufuu wondered if the fever was
affecting her mind.

Now fully nude, Ranma walked carefully to the shower and turned on
the hot water. When it had heated sufficiently, she turned on the
cold to adjust the temperature. Before she stepped in, Ranma looked
back at her benefactor.

"Don't blink, now," she giggled hoarsely.

<Yes, definitely the fev--> Toufuu's jaw dropped as the pretty
little redhead suddenly added several kilos of mass, rose in height,
and became obviously male, her... his hair shifting to black. The
running shower water had visually fuzzed the process, but it was
clear enough. A memory of something once read tickled the back of
his mind, but the shock was too much for his mental functions to
dredge up.

Ranma chose a cloth and some soap and began to scrub his body. He
looked over. Toufuu was still staring, although he was in the
process of slowly closing his mouth. "Shocking, ne?" a deeper voice
inquired.

Toufuu shook himself and adjusted his glasses out of habit. "Um...
There must be quite a tale behind that, er, son. Anou... are you
male or female?"

"Male. The girl body's a curse."

Old information flooded Toufuu's mind. Curse... Hot water...
"Jusenkyou," he said.

Ranma looked over sharply, and then slowly turned back to his
washing. "When... when I'm finished, I'll leave. Ya don't want some
freak hangin'--"

"Nonsense." Toufuu had gotten over the shock and was speculating on
the difficulties such a condition must've caused on the road. "The
last thing you need is to be back out in that weather. Besides,
you'll still have to work off your treatments, and I have need of an
assistant. I think you'll do fine."

Ranma was in shock, this time. He stared at the kindly doctor for
several heartbeats before falling to his knees, shaking. Toufuu
moved to help, but before he got there, Ranma had passed out from
the various kinds of fatigue he'd been suffering from. Toufuu shut
off the water and picked Ranma up in his arms. He tottered down the
stairs and into the examination room, laying the unconscious boy on
the table dominating the area.

Toufuu sat heavily in a chair and considered the young man. <Such
pain.> His eyes refocused, and he studied Ranma's aura. <And such
potential. I'd be no healer to let that waste away.> His mind made
up and his intentions firmed, Toufuu went about his examination.
____________________

[November 3, 1991]

Ranma was mopping the waiting room for the clinic in which he worked
and lived. The regular patient hours were over, but that didn't mean
the visitors stopped. There were frequently needs to be met
off-hours, and Ranma had come to understand and enjoy the constant
ebb and flow of crises around his patron. His respect for
Toufuu-sensei grew daily as he witnessed healing arts performed and
little kindnesses bestowed. He'd also learned to get the hell out
when a certain young woman came by to visit or borrow books.

He chuckled. That certain young lady, a one Tendou Kasumi, had even
captivated Ranma a little, but it was clear she was interested in
Toufuu. And it was more than clear that Toufuu was plain,
head-over-heels in love with Kasumi. Everyone knew it, except, it
seems, Kasumi herself. <Odd,> he thought, <she doesn't really strike
me as the dense type, although she acts like it sometimes.> A rapid
knocking at the entrance interrupted his musings.

Ranma walked over, unlocked the door, and stuck his head out. "Hai?"

The girl standing there blinked and then smiled. "Oh, you must
Toufuu-sensei's new assistant. Kasumi told us about you."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah." <Man, she's cute!> "Are you Kasumi's sister?"

The girl twirled her foot on the pavement. "Yeah, I'm Tendou Akane."
Akane started when she realized she was blushing. <ARGH! It's just
another BOY!> Schooling her features, she said, "Um, is
Toufuu-sensei in? I kinda, er, hurt myself."

Ranma wondered at the change in her manner. "Uh, yeah. C'mon in.
Sensei says the Tendous are always welcome." He laughed. "Especially
Kasumi." His good humor fled when he saw the anger rise in Akane.
"Heh, anyway, just a minute." He hotfooted it into the examination
room.

Toufuu was busy inventorying his prescription medications. "Errr,
Sensei? There's a Tendou Akane to see ya. Might wanna be careful.
Seems mad about somethin'."

Toufuu laughed. "Akane does have something of a temper." He paused.
"Are you sure you don't want to tell them? It might help you find
your mother."

Ranma sighed and fidgeted. He finally shook his head. "No, if old
man Tendou is a friend of Pops, then tellin' him will only cause
trouble. And anyway, I don't figure Mom'll wanna see me with this
curse, not from what I've heard. The Tendou girls wouldn't
understand what it's like, the thing with Mom. They'd probably try
ta help and only make it worse."

Toufuu's mouth drew a line. That was a lot of thoughts out of Ranma
at one go, and it was obvious from the various conversations they'd
shared, the boy had considered virtually all the angles. The
revelation about the Tendo Ryuu of Musabetsu Kakutou had initially
brought Ranma some hope, but he soon remembered his father once
speaking of a Tendou he'd trained with and had probably correctly
deduced that the local Tendou was one and the same, given the
obscurity of their school of martial arts.

Ranma had put it best once, he remembered. "It doesn't matter. Not
anymore. I was livin' those last days, thinkin' of Mom. I don't
think Pops was lyin', so if she expects me to be like Pops, well...
let her believe it as long as she can. I won't be the reason she
don't no more."

Finished with his reverie, Toufuu said, "I understand, Ranma. Show
Akane in, why don't you?"

~~~~~

Akane made many visits over the next couple of weeks, sometimes for
the sparsest of reasons. Everytime she talked with Ranma, she had to
remind herself that he was just a boy. Nothing more.

But Ranma was different. He was generally quiet, didn't do anything
to provoke her, and was genuinely funny on the rare occasions he let
his humor show through. She also felt a kindred spirit in him -
someone who'd suffered great pain and was persevering.

Eventually, she stopped coming by on the pretense of seeing Toufuu
and simply came to visit with Ranma. No one had really caught on to
what she was doing, not even her nosy sister. Akane relished the
haven Toufuu's waiting room had become and the friendly male voice
that would talk with her.

It was in the third week that she stepped over the line.

~~~~~

Akane bounced happily into the waiting room and, as expected, saw
Ranma waiting there. The fact that he was working was incidental.
She plopped down on the couch next to where he was sweeping and
smiled.

"Hi!"

"Hi, yourself!" Ranma said, putting down the broom and sitting next
to her. "How was school?"

"Oh, you know. Same old stuff."

"I hear you're havin' some troubles in the mornin's."

Akane scowled. "Don't worry about it. I can handle it," she said
sharply.

Ranma made a peace gesture by holding his hands up with the palms
out. Akane grinned ruefully.

"Gomen. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. Let's forget it."
She thought for a second. "By the way, can I ask you a question?"

Ranma's eyes flashed, but he stayed steady. "I guess..."

"Why aren't you attending Furinkan?"

"Oh, that," he said relieved. "Errr, Sensei got me some private
tutors, instead."

"Did he get you a speech coach, too?" she smirked.

"Ha. Ha." Ranma made a face at her, and Akane giggled. It wound
down, and she turned serious.

"Really, though. Aren't tutors expensive?"

"Yeah, but Sensei trades doctor visits for them. He says free
medical stuff is very, ah, persuasive."

Akane smiled knowingly. "I can imagine. Nabiki was very proud of
herself when she finagled a family rate out of him."

Akane's mood abruptly shifted when she clasped her hands together in
her lap and stared at her fingers. "Ah... Ranma?"

"Hmmm?" Ranma's mind had wandered somewhere, and he looked at her
again. "Gomen."

"Um, I was wondering," Akane straightened the skirt to her uniform,
"if, ah, you'd like to, erm, comeoverfordinnertonight."

Ranma squinched his nose, trying to decipher the last run-together
bit, but when he did, he grew afraid. He stood up and grabbed his
broom, resuming his chores.

Akane looked at him with a slightly hurt expression. "Ranma?"

"I'm sorry, Akane, but I can't. I, uh, have stuff ta do." He busied
himself sweeping the same spot of floor.

Akane's slight hurt became anger. She stood up and stomped in front
of him. "And WHY NOT?! Are we Tendous not good enough or something?
Am *I* not good enough?!"

Ranma sighed and stopped sweeping. He leaned against the broom and
closed his eyes. "Nothin' like that. I just... can't. That's all."
Ranma resumed sweeping.

"What?! You can tell me!" Akane pleaded. Ranma stopped again, and
looked her in the eye.

"No, I can't. You wouldn't understand. No one understands." He
shuffled across the room, moving the broom back and forth in front
of him.

Akane stood there a moment, tears beginning to run down her face,
and then she ran out the door. Ranma stared at the drops of moisture
on the floor and cursed himself. <Shouldn't have let myself get so
close! Damn it!>

"Ranma."

Ranma jumped in surprise and spun around. Toufuu stood there looking
at him sadly. "Would it have been so bad?"

"No... If it'd been anyone but the Tendous, no, it wouldn't."

Toufuu shook his head. "You can't hide forever, you know. Someday,
you'll have to let someone else in."

Ranma didn't answer and went back to sweeping.
____________________

[December 21, 1991]

A few more weeks had passed, and Akane had stopped by only once, and
it had been to really see the doctor. Ranma could tell she'd had to
steel herself. He also felt her longing gaze when his back was
turned. He'd tried to say something to her before she walked out,
but the words wouldn't come. That was one week ago.

Ranma walked down from the apartment he and Toufuu shared, a
satisfying lunch settling nicely in his stomach. He went to the
front door, collected the day's mail, and set it on Toufuu's desk in
his office. He walked outside and set about cleaning the sidewalk
and steps.

He'd brought a scrubbing brush and a bucket with him, and the bucket
was soon full from the outside tap. Ranma squirted some cleaner into
the water and gently stirred it with a stick he kept for that
purpose. Holding the bucket at arms length, he climbed the few
stairs to the clinic entrance and set the bucket down. He carefully
dipped the bristles of the brush into the liquid and swirled it
slowly. Applying the wet brush to the stone, he scrubbed at the dirt
and algal growth that had appeared since the last cleaning. He
worked diligently, part of his mind on the work, part on the
passers-by, and the rest lost to thought. He'd nearly finished the
upper landing, when one part of his awareness noted that someone had
stopped.

"Ranma."

He turned to see Akane standing at the bottom step. Overflowing
water washed shallowly around her shoes. "Hi, Akane." He went back
to scrubbing.

"I, um, wanted to apologize for making a big fuss that day." Akane's
head was down, and her hands were clasped in front of her.

Ranma sat back on his wet shins, mentally keeping track of how much
of his body was damp.

"That's okay," he said. "It's... no big deal."

"Yes, it is!! I..." She stopped, then said, more calmly, "I
shouldn't have pushed like that. Whatever it is that you won't say,
I hope someday you can tell me."

Ranma didn't say anything for a moment. Then he bent back over and
resumed scrubbing. "It's not... easy."

A running man came into view up the street.

Ranma stopped and thought for a second, then said, "It's outside of
what most folks want to believe... or can believe." He sat back on
his shins again. "There're some stuff in the world, Akane, that...
that..."

The running man was abruptly upon them. He dashed up the steps and
blew through the open door, kicking Ranma's bucket as he went.

Akane gasped. Where that cute guy had sat -- the guy Akane had
finally realized had wormed his way into her heart -- was a
beautiful redheaded girl. Her wet clothes clung to her body, leaving
no doubt as to the completeness of her gender. Akane's head began
shaking back and forth.

Ranma looked down and closed her eyes. "Now do you understand?" she
sadly asked, the pitch of her voice punctuating the change. She
looked up to see Akane running back the way she came. "No... I guess
ya don't."

Without bothering to return to her normal gender, Ranma bent down
and mechanically continued to clean.

~~~~~

After dumping the remaining water in the bucket down the short
stairway, Ranma put the cleaning materials up and shuffled back into
the clinic, wringing her clothes out as best she could without
taking them off. The man that had triggered her change passed her on
his way out, giving her an odd look.

"Caught you, huh?" Smiling, Toufuu was leaning against the doorway
to the examination room. Ranma nodded.

"Did I hear you talking to someone?"

"Akane... stopped by... to say she was sorry for gettin' mad at me."
Ranma kicked off her slippers and walked towards the stairs to the
apartment level. Toufuu's smile had dropped.

"Did she--"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"And nothin'." Ranma stopped at the first step. "She ran off." She
put a damp hand on the wall and put her forehead against it. "I hate
this place, sometimes."

A grim line formed between Toufuu's lips. "Careful what you wish
for."

She turned her head against her hand. "Huh?"

"Come back down when you're cleaned up. We have to talk."

~~~~~

Male and freshly laundered, Ranma went into Toufuu's office and
plopped down in the patient chair.

"What's up?"

Toufuu leaned back and adjusted his glasses. He picked up a piece of
paper from the desk and waved it in the air.

"This came in the mail, today. I'm moving."

"What?!" Ranma sat up straight in the chair.

"I've been offered a teaching practice at my old university. It's
not something I can turn down and expect to advance in my career."

Ranma settled back and let the information soak in.

Toufuu allowed him a minute to think, then said, "So. You have a
choice, now. Do you want to stay here or come with me?"

Ranma snorted. "What choice?" He then reconsidered his words. "No,
that's not fair to ya." He clasped his hands in his lap. "If ya want
me, I'll gladly come with ya. You're... well..."

Toufuu smiled warmly. "I think I know what you're trying to say.
Which brings me to another matter, one I was planning on waiting
till Christmas to tell you, but I think you could stand to hear it
now."

He definitely had Ranma's attention.

The doctor opened a lower drawer to his desk and began pulling
papers out, continuing to speak as he did so.

"I have, over the last couple of months, come to an interesting
conclusion concerning you." He stopped what he was doing and
pointedly looked at Ranma. "I've decided that my life would be much
poorer without you in it." He resumed scrabbling around in his desk
drawer. Ranma gulped, nervous as to the coming revelation.

"I've come to depend on you for help in the clinic, on your
friendship, and..." he plopped a stack of papers on the leather
desktop, "the sense of family you've brought to my life. The whole
thing actually quite surprised me when I realized it."

Toufuu shrugged and continued, looking Ranma in the eye again, "And
since you're not willing to seek out your own family... That's still
how you feel about it?"

Ranma nodded.

"I still don't think things are as bad as you paint them, but then,
I didn't experience your father first hand, as you did. If half of
what you've told me is true, well... I'm not sure *I* want you going
back to him, either. However, this family-name limbo you're in is
going to cause you some problems... very soon."

Ranma was silent.

"I have a solution, if you'll agree to it."

Ranma leaned forward, indicating for him to continue.

"I'd like to transfer you to the Ono family register, adopted as my
son."

Ranma fell out of his chair. Toufuu stood and looked over his desk.
"Ranma?"

The young man climbed up from the floor. "Ah! HAHA! WOW!! I wasn't
expecting that!" Ranma settled himself back into the chair, a silly
grin covering his face. "I... uh... Jeez! Why? I mean, don't get me
wrong, but you've only known me a couple'a months. Why?"

The chair creaked as Toufuu seated himself. "I like to think I'm a
good judge of character, Ranma, and from what I've seen, you'd bring
honor to the Ono name, regardless of what you do with your life.
Besides," his eyes glinted from behind his glasses, "you have
certain, ah, potentials that shouldn't be wasted."

"I haven't really talked to you about this yet, since your recovery
from one of the worst cases of flu I've ever seen was slow, but one
of the things I was trained to do was to read a person's aura. When
I first met you, out on the street, ill and confused, your aura was
inconceivably strong. The first thing that came to my mind was that
this girl... sorry, this person has amazing potential as a healer."

Ranma almost fell out of his chair again.

"A healer?" he squeaked, gripping the chair arms.

"I feel that once my old teachers get a good look at *you*, they'll
be beating a path to your door."

"But... but... I ain't had no proper schoolin'. Hell, I can't even
talk right!"

Toufuu laughed. "All that can be fixed." He turned serious. "Ranma,
you don't have to be a healer. You can be anything you want, and my
adoption offer will still stand. It isn't contingent on your career
choice."

Ranma smiled in acknowledgment.

"I just want you to think about it, and I want you to know that you
have great potential as a healer. Just think about it. We've
certainly got some time. We've got to move, after all, and you have
much tutoring to finish before you have to make any decision."

Ranma steepled his fingers and moved them up and down for several
moments in the silence of the room. An expression of sadness washed
over his features.

"What... what about the, ah, oldest Tendou daughter?" he asked.

Toufuu bowed his head and studied his intertwined fingers. After a
moment, he said, "I... I... ...!"

"Sensei?" Ranma prodded him softly.

Toufuu looked up, and Ranma saw a single tear track down his right
cheek. The doctor's eyes were unfocused, looking into some deep part
of his psyche. Ranma chose to wait him out.

After about five minutes of silence, Toufuu's eyes abruptly focused
on Ranma. "What...?" He sighed. "How long was I gone that time?"

Ranma snickered. "Not very."

A rueful smile tweaked the corners of the older man's mouth. "We're
a pair, aren't we? The women we, er, 'like a lot' are sisters, but
we're separated from them; me by what happens to me on the inside,
and you by what happens to you on the outside."

Ranma shrunk into his chair.

"Gomen," Toufuu said. "I didn't mean to pick at your wound." He took
in a deep breath and exhaled. "But it doesn't change anything. I
haven't been able to, um, get past certain, ah, inhibitions before
this came up," he wagged the same piece of paper, "and now it's a
moot point. I can no more refuse this than I can refuse eat or
drink. I owe these people honor debts. I'm sure you understand."

Ranma slowly blinked.

Toufuu pasted a smile on his face. "So! What about my offer?"

Ranma shook himself and settled into his chair, going back to
squinching his fingers up and down. He thought about what the step
would mean. It was a divorce of sorts, a cutting-off from whom he'd
been and from the people, or person, who had gotten him there.
<Pops!> he thought, frowning. <Well, he'll be happy about one thing.
I don't plan on givin' up the Art.> Ranma abruptly stood and bowed
formally to his mentor.

"I would be honored to be added to your family, Sensei." He
straightened and looked at Toufuu with a mercenary gleam in his eye.
"And I *will* think about what ya said... 'bout healin'. But ya
hafta teach me what ya know about martial arts. I seen ya
practicin', and ya got some interestin' moves."

Toufuu smiled at the playful change in Ranma's demeanor and slapped
his hand on the desk. "Deal!"
____________________

[April 4, 1993]

"Saotome-kun!"

A sopping wet Genma stood in the foyer of the Tendou household. The
storm raging outside had blown his umbrella away, not that it had
helped much; the rain was almost horizontal.

"Tendou."

"Come in, come in! Good lord, let's get you out of those clothes!
Kasumi!!" Tendou Soun called back into the main part of the house.

Tendou Kasumi stepped out of the kitchen. "Yes, Father?"

"Get one of my gi's, please. My friend, here, is cold to the bone.
And some tea and a blanket, when you can."

"Yes, Father." Ever the dutiful daughter, Kasumi went about
gathering the necessary items. Soun led his silent friend to the
bathing room. Kasumi followed shortly after with a fresh gi.

"Here, Saotome-kun. Get cleaned up and join me in the tearoom." The
silent man nodded, and Soun and his daughter left him to his
ablutions.

~~~~~

Soun sipped his tea and watched the rain alternate between falling
down at an angle to blowing directly across his field of view.
Kasumi walked in, drying her hands on a dishtowel.

"Father, did you say 'Saotome'?" She knelt at the table. "Is that
the same man you were telling us about from that postcard a long
time ago? Something about a prearranged marriage?"

Soun set his tea down and sighed. "Yes, daughter. That's him, and he
was supposed to have been here shortly after we received that card.
Something must have happened, since he's here now, years late,
without a son." He reached over and patted her hand. "Let's wait and
see what he has to say."

Kasumi nodded, settling in, and poured herself a cup of tea, as
well.

~~~~~

Genma -- scrubbed and in a clean, if somewhat tight, gi -- hesitated
before joining his old friend. There would be no celebrations from
this visit. He hung his head. When Ranma had disappeared, a large
part of his soul had disappeared with him. He straightened and
schooled his features. Time to tell Tendou the news. He walked into
to the tearoom, catching the attention of Soun and his daughter.

"Satome-kun. Please, sit and get warm."

Kasumi stood with a blanket in her hand and walked behind Genma,
setting the cover over his shoulders. Genma smiled his thanks and
drew it around him.

"I gather by your unannounced appearance -- without a son -- that
your news is not good," Soun began as Kasumi took her place at the
table again.

Genma shook his head sadly and took the cup of tea proffered by
Kasumi. He took a warming sip and said, "I lost him, Tendou. The
last I saw of him was in the Bayankala mountain range, near Tibet in
China... over two years ago."

"Oh, no," Kasumi whispered. "What happened? Did he run off?" Soun
nodded at her questions.

"Yes, but not like you might think." *SIGH!* "Do you believe in
magic, Tendou?"

"Well... I think so. The, um, Master certainly knew an odd thing or
two."

"Believe *me*, then. It does exist, and in ways you can't imagine.
It all began at our last training stop before we were supposed to
leave China, a place called Jusenkyou..."

~~~~~

"...and the girl's trail stopped and disappeared at that road. No
one had seen her after that. I assumed she would head south, to the
ports, but I never caught a whiff. I've searched high and low for
many, many months, but it was like she, er, he had vanished off the
face of the Earth." Never once did Genma refer to his child by name.

The room was very quiet for several long moments. Soun's eyes had
begun to tear; he feared for the fate of the boy and for the future
of the Art.

Kasumi was lost in her own thoughts. After the furor from the
announcement that one of them would have to marry Saotome's son had
died down, Kasumi had gradually begun to entertain happy little
fantasies about this mysterious young man. Now knowing why he'd
never arrived, her heart went out to him. She would pray for him at
the shrine of her ancestors.

"Father? What was his name again?"

"Ranma. It was Ranma," Soun said sadly.

"Oh, yes. I remember now." A puzzled expression settled on her face.
<That's funny. I knew a Ranma not too long ago.>

Soun noticed his daughter's expression. "Something wrong,
Kasumi-chan?"

Kasumi jumped a little, and then waved her hand in a dismissive
gesture. "No, no. Nothing to do with this, I'm sure."

Soun turned to his friend and began to console him.

Kasumi, however, was still thinking. <What was his family name? I
don't think I ever knew. I thought he was related to Toufuu-sensei
somehow.> She shrugged and stood to walk back into the kitchen.
<'Ranma' *is* unusual, though...>

The sound of humming soon drifted into the tearoom, Kasumi's
thoughts already on other, more immediate concerns.

____________________

Part 2 - Strangeness in the Night
____________________

[June 13, 1996]

Large, close-set yellow eyes watched from across the street into the
window of a local bar. A long hind leg came up and scratched at an
itch in the wiry brown fur behind an oversized, tufted ear.

~~~~~

<It's over. It's finally over. And I lost.> Hakubi Ryouko slammed
back another full bottle of sake and pounded the bar counter,
demanding more. The bartender grimaced and walked over. She had an
elbow on the counter and had placed one hand on the bronze dragon
sculpture incorporated into the Chinese chic decor. She wore her
pale green and orange outfit that she first wore when released from
her imprisonment: her 'elf' outfit. Somehow, it had felt
appropriate.

"Look, Miss. You've already had more than I'm supposed to give out.
This is a family bar..."

The sculpture began squeezing out from between Ryouko's fingers like
putty. The barkeep bigsweated. "Errr, co-co-coming right up!" He
jogged to the other end of the bar, put three bottles on a tray, and
jogged back, setting the tray down and escaping.

Ryouko slowly released the mangled dragon, but stopped when she
caught sight of the gem in her wrist, the wrist that hadn't had one
in over 700 years. She reached up and felt the gem at her throat and
looked at the gem on her other wrist. Sighing and putting her elbows
on the counter, she rested her forehead against her palms and
remembered.

~~~~~

The end had begun 3 months ago. She and Aeka, the other serious
contender for her beloved's heart, were actually sort of getting
along, more or less. Oh, the fights still raged occasionally, but it
was more to vent frustration than from any real enmity. It had also
helped that Mihoshi had been and would be out of the picture for a
while, called back for some matter dealing with her grandfather,
Galaxy Police Grand Marshall Kuramitsu.

And Tenchi. He'd actually started looking at them and acting around
them like potential mates, and the two girls... no, *women* had
begun to see a light at the end of that long, oh so long tunnel. And
then it all fell apart.

It began with a scream that morning, coming from the kitchen where
Sasami was about her usual business making breakfast. Everyone
rushed to see what had happened -- the entire household dearly loved
the little blue-haired princess. What they saw tied their stomachs
into knots, instantly evaporating any thought of food.

Sasami was floating in a cocoon of blue energy... and dissolving.
Pain was clear from her features and stark terror from the look in
her eyes. The family rushed to help, but the field was too strong.
Energy swords, the Tenchi-ken, even Washuu couldn't bring anything
sufficient to bear. Soon enough, Sasami was gone, her last
expressions, oddly enough, a joyous smile and a mouthed word. Ryouko
thought it might've been 'arigatou'. The energy cocoon stayed in
place, just hovering there.

Aeka had broken down, incoherent, and Ryouko hugged her and cried
with her. Washuu and Tenchi were too stunned for words. Ryou-ou-ki
was wailing piteously in her piercing voice. Only Katsuhito seemed
collected, although he always wore that face. It turned out,
however, that he was the only one who had an inkling of what was
happening. He moved next to the cocoon and waited. Those still aware
of their surroundings looked at him strangely, but continued to
comfort those more distraught while trying to deal with their own
grief. Still, Katsuhito continued to wait, his arms folded.

After a period of time, long or short, no one knew, the cocoon began
to pulse and shrink. Katsuhito made no move. The blue ovoid began to
crease and ran through various ill-defined forms. Later reflection
would reveal that the shapes had been reminiscent of the various
stages of embryonic development.

The form continued to shrink and finally took the shape of an
all-too-familiar woman. The corona of energy flickered out, and
Tsunami stood in its place. Yet, not quite Tsunami, but neither
Sasami - something in between.

The Juraian goddess-princess lifted her head and said with her high
voice, "It is done."

What happened next surprised everyone, even Tsunami. "Your reasons
are plain to see, Tsunami," Katsuhito's eyes flicked over to Tenchi
and back, "but did you have to steal her childhood because of it?!"
he said with undisguised anger and disgust in his voice. Tsunami
said nothing, and Katsuhito whirled around and stalked out of the
house.

Tsunami watched him go and stared at the point of his exit for
several moments. <Tsunami wasn't the one secretly yearning for this,
Oniisama...> She then turned and surveyed the shocked group,
settling on one face.

"Tenchi... niichan."

~~~~~

Ryouko slammed her fist onto the wooden counter, causing a crack to
open along its entire length. The bar patrons froze, and Ryouko
looked over her shoulder at the staring crowd.

"Gomen," she said flatly. The patrons returned to their
conversations, keeping one eye on the strange woman with the odd
cyan hair.

Ryouko slammed down another sake, long immune to the burn of the
liquor, and stared at her reflection in the bottle-encrusted mirror
behind the bar. <I should've seen it then. It was so obvious! But...
I didn't want to see it.> She quickly disposed of the remaining two
bottles and caught the bartender's eye, glaring at him. He trotted
over with three more bottles and returned to the safety of the other
end.

~~~~~

Over the course of the next few days, everyone was beginning to
wonder at what Tsunami's arrival truly meant. Only Katsuhito and
Ryou-ou-ki seemed to have made up their minds about the event.
Katsuhito stayed at the shrine almost constantly, and Ryou-ou-ki had
rebuffed Tsunami repeatedly. The little cabbit eventually retired to
Washuu's lab and rarely came out, profoundly unhappy with the
changes wrought on her friend.

Unfortunately, Tenchi's eyes were being inexorably drawn to Tsunami,
and she did nothing to discourage him and much to encourage him, her
behavior a strangely provocative mix of Sasami's cheerfulness and
humor and Tsunami's femininity and presence.

Over the next few weeks, they begin to spend all of their time
together. Ryouko was infuriated when she caught them kissing, but
was too afraid of Tsunami's power and of accidentally hurting Tenchi
to do anything more than scream in outrage.

Aeka had withdrawn to her room, unwilling to come out for anything
other than baths, the restroom, and an occasional meal. Aeka's
behavior only fueled Ryouko's fury, but she waited, hoping to find
an opportunity to nip this, this horror in the bud. She hovered
around, out of sight, tiring herself to the point of falling down.

And fall down she did. For two days straight she slept up on her
rafter beam.

When she finally awoke, it was night, and she floated down to the
kitchen for something to drink. The clock read 4:23 AM. She downed
the last of some orange juice and then phased through the walls into
Tenchi's room. She'd had to choke off a cry.

Tenchi and Tsunami were asleep under the sheets. They were nude, and
the musk of sex was still heavy in the air. But it was only one,
otherwise innocent thing about the whole scene that sent Ryouko
spiraling out of control into the deepest of depressions. Tenchi lay
there... a smile on his face.

Ryouko raced back through the walls and landed on the kitchen floor.
She hugged herself and shivered, moaning to herself again and again.
"It's over. It's over..."

A surprised Aeka stood stock still, a half-empty glass of water at
her lips. After a second, she lowered the glass and put her other
hand on Ryouko's shoulder.

Ryouko jumped and looked at her with wild eyes.

"Ryouko-san?"

Ryouko's eyes steadied for a moment, and she said, her voice still
shaking, "It's all over... Aeka. No more... fights. Nothing... to
fight *over*... anymore."

Forcefully quelling her fears, Aeka clutched at the one-time space
pirate with her free hand. "What are you talking about?!" she
hissed.

Aeka stifled a shriek, because instead of answering, Ryouko grabbed
her arm and dragged her back through the walls and into Tenchi's
room.

"Look!" Ryouko hissed back. "If you never again allow yourself to
see, look now! It's over, Aeka!"

The glass of water Aeka had carried with her through Ryouko's
phasing fell out of her numb hands. It hit the floor with a hollow
ring and rolled in a circle until it stopped. The sleeping couple
mumbled in their sleep, and Tenchi put his arms more firmly around
Tsunami, pulling her tighter to himself. Tsunami drew her leg up and
over his hips and pulled herself on top of him, obscuring Tenchi
from view.

Having seen enough, Aeka turned away, and Ryouko led her back to the
kitchen.

In Tenchi's room, Tsunami looked at the space where the pirate and
princess had been. A hint of confused sadness showed in the
gathering of her eyebrows, and the pink of her irises seemed to
lighten fractionally. But she then closed her eyes and went back to
sleep, the smile returning to her face as she nuzzled her lover's
chest.

~~~~~

Ryouko swirled the clear contents of another sake bottle before
polishing it off. She had asked for the rest of her gems back the
next day, and it had galled her that Tenchi had looked to Tsunami
before granting her request. Tsunami, however, simply nodded and
then went into the kitchen to fix herself and *her* man a snack,
humming one of Sasami's favorite pop songs. Ryouko was no longer
certain who had gotten Tenchi, Tsunami or Sasami. It didn't matter;
the line had been crossed. Once the gems were returned, Ryouko had
left without a word. Ryou-ou-ki had tried to follow her and comfort
her, but in her grief, Ryouko chased away her long-time partner in
crime. That had been one week ago.

Ryouko opened and drank the last bottle of sake and concluded that
she'd had enough -- for now, the pain had been sufficiently dulled.
She materialized a malformed ingot of platinum into her hand and set
it on the counter, the wood creaking under the weight. She'd
forgotten much of what she could do with all of her gems, and this
was just one little talent that she'd accidentally rediscovered.

She stumbled to her feet and tried to navigate through the tables on
foot. It would've been easier if the room hadn't been alternately
spinning and moving in and out. Annoyed with the effort it was
taking, she levitated and floated erratically towards and out the
door. The bar she left behind was deathly silent, the patrons trying
to decide if they'd had too much to drink and the bartender deciding
it was time *to* drink.

Across the street, a cabbit phased back into the wall and out of
sight.

For Ryouko, floating, while great from the point of view of not
having to walk, was hell on her inebriated inner ear, so, the world
turning circles, she alit on the sidewalk and considered where, on
foot, to go next. "Any old port in a storm," she muttered, after a
moment.

Ryouko stepped into the street.

~~~~~

"Kamisama, what a day!" Ono Ranma leaned back against the seat of
the car he was driving, straightening his arms against the steering
wheel, and yawned. The car, a Toyota compact, belonged to the
school, and as a second-year medical student, he was high enough in
the echelons to be responsible for ferrying visiting dignitaries
around, in addition to his normal schoolwork, of course. It didn't
hurt, either, that he was one of the few students with a driver's
license. <One slave, made to order,> he thought ruefully.

He chuckled as the memory of a conversation he'd once had with
Father surfaced. It'd been a couple of years back, just after
turning twenty-one. "Ranma," he'd said, "I'm not asking you to buy a
car, just get the license. All your martial arts and roof-hopping
notwithstanding, there'll be times when it just won't be
appropriate!" Father was a good debater, especially when he was
right.

Of course, he'd been right about a lot of things. Ranma yawned
again, looked down, and slammed on the brakes. The line of
pedestrians crossing the street glared at him, and he hunkered down
behind the wheel. Once the crowd had passed, Ranma eased away from
the intersection, keeping a low profile. Father had also told him to
pay attention when driving. Ranma shook his head back and forth,
rapidly. "Gotta stay awake!"

His thoughts resumed as he managed to perk himself up a little.
Father had been right about his old mentors, too. One assessing look
at Ranma and his aura, and they were offering him the moon to go to
school. Well, to *that* school, the one for traditional healing.
Ranma was a double student of sorts. There was the regular medical
school he attended, working toward his doctor's license, and then
there was the *other* school, where, when time permitted, he learned
to do the things that had so impressed him about Father:
accupressure, moxibustion, chiropractic, and other more arcane
methods of healing. They also had an unusual library, full of aged
scrolls. Among them were a handful of martial arts treatises,
unfortunately in Chinese. A few of them scared him; what little
Chinese he knew allowed him to read 'Nyuuchiezuu' in the text in
places.

Ranma sighed. <What would Pops think if he knew I was afraid of a
scroll? Well, Pops isn't here, is he?> Noting that, though, led him
to the conclusion that perhaps he should pick up a Chinese course
next term.

In spite of his best efforts, another yawn muscled its way to the
surface, and Ranma opened his mouth wide, temporarily shutting his
eyes. When he opened them, a woman was about four meters directly in
front of the car.

"GAAAAHHH!!!" His martial arts reflexes allowed him time to turn,
but not quite soon enough. The car lurched as the front left of the
vehicle clipped the woman, launching her through the air to land in
a heap five meters away. Ranma screeched to a halt and, with a
sinking stomach, rushed out of the car and towards the woman. To his
lasting surprise, the woman climbed to her feet and wobbled over to
meet him.

"You HIT me!" she cried, the fluorescent streetlamp backlighting her
and shadowing her features. Ranma had stopped short, amazed. He
looked back at the car; the left front quarterpanel had been caved
in. At least it was drivable. He looked back at the woman, who
continued to weave her way toward him.

"Why... why..." she said, before passing out and falling into his
arms. He gently laid her on the asphalt and, using what training he
had, tried to assess her injuries. He found none. Scratching his
head, he looked back at the car and then at the woman. <No way!>

Shrugging in confusion, although relieved, he picked her up in his
arms and carried her around to the passenger side of the abused
Toyota. Getting the door open proved to be a bit of a chore, as the
car's frame had twisted slightly. Shaking his head at the wonder of
it all, he managed to get her into the seat. Leaning his body
against hers to keep her upright while he fastened the seat belt,
Ranma got a noseful of sour sake breath. <Well, that explains the
wobbling, but still...>

Ranma hurried around, getting back behind the wheel, and drove off,
going as fast as the law would allow. His concern brooked no thought
of the beautiful twinkle of the Grand Seto Bridge, which he often
admired, visible just above the Okayama City skyline.

~~~~~

A small shape soared about twenty meters above the road, following.

~~~~~

The front door slammed open, then shut, startling the man sitting in
the den, reading a medical journal.

"Father!" a voice called.

Ono Toufuu rose from his seat and met his adopted son in the
hallway. "Oh, my!" he exclaimed. "What happened?!"

Ranma stood there, shaking in concern and holding a beautiful yet
unusual young woman. "I... I ran over her!! But... but I can't find
nothin' wrong!!"

"Take her into the den and put her down on the couch. I'll get my
things." Toufuu hurried into another room, and Ranma took his victim
into the den, laying her down and smoothing her oddly colored hair
out of her face. He looked a little closer. <That color's natural!>

Toufuu walked in. "That's some dent! What else did you hit?"

"Nothin'!" Ranma lapsed into the speech patterns of his teen years.
"I swear! All I nailed was her!"

"All right, all right. Calm down and let me have a look." The older
man put on a stethoscope and listened to the woman's heart. He
nodded, satisfied, and began to massage her limbs, feeling the flow
of the woman's life force. He stopped, then restarted, only to stop
again and jerk his hands away.

"Father?" Ranma asked.

"Errr, just a minute. Where do you think you hit her?"

"On the hip, most likely."

Toufuu lifted the woman's left leg and watched the hip joint.
Putting the leg down and steeling himself, he touched her again at
the hip. After a moment, he moved back and thought. On a whim, he
reached over and opened one of the woman's eyes. He gasped and let
go.

"All right, spill it!" Ranma was getting nervous from Toufuu's
behavior.

Toufuu coughed a couple of times to clear his throat. "There's
nothing wrong with her, I'm guessing, besides being drunk, but I'm
hardly qualified to know."

"Huh?"

"Look at her eyes."

Wary, Ranma reached over and opened the same eye on the woman.
"Ca-ca-CAT!!" He hastily let go and backed up against the wall.

Toufuu sighed. "Ranma, look at her. Is she a cat?"

Embarrassed, Ranma scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "Er,
no, she's not." He moved back to the woman's side. "So, what do you
think?"

Toufuu considered his next words carefully. "Ranma, do you believe
in magic?"

Ranma snorted. "You're askin' ME?"

Toufuu didn't smile, and Ranma settled down. "If you believe in
magic, is it reasonable to believe other fantastic things might
exist?"

Ranma couldn't see where Toufuu was going, but he nodded anyway.
"Sure, I guess..."

Ranma's adopted father turned and looked him in the eye, glasses
glinting. "She's not human."

Blinking, Ranma looked at the woman and then back at Toufuu. "Just
because of the eyes?"

"No. Okay, time for a little advanced training. Put your hands on
her leg." Ranma complied. "Now, concentrate like we've been doing in
school. Feel her life force?"

Ranma closed his eyes and concentrated. "Yeah..."

"Feel its nature, its quality, its strength. What do *you* think?"

Ranma kept his concentration for a moment longer, and then his eyes
snapped open, and he jerked his hands away. "Ah! Uh! Weird! STRONG!!
Stronger than anything I've ever felt! Ah! Hmmm. Nothin' like the
plants or animals or other folks we've been practicin' on."

"Right. And your diagnosis?"

Ranma shook his head, staring at the unconscious female. "Not
human," he muttered.

"But!" Toufuu interjected, startling Ranma, "Still a patient!"

Ranma had to chuckle. "True. And she does speak Japanese; she asked
me why I hit her. I'll go get a blanket."

Toufuu nodded and returned to his examination, poking lightly at the
small gemstone imbedded in her throat.

~~~~~

The first thing she became aware of was PAIN, and she felt every
single capital letter of it. Her eyes hurt, the space behind her
eyes hurt, her forehead hurt, her temples, her ears, behind her
ears, the back of her skull, and her neck hurt. In short, everything
from the collarbone up was PAIN. Her stomach was also queasy, and
her left hip ached a little.

The second thing she became aware of was an intermittent wet
coolness on her face and neck. <That's niiice,> she thought.

Ryouko's eyes fluttered open and looked directly into the bluest
orbs she'd ever seen. It wasn't the masking purple or maroon of some
she was familiar with, or the nondescript brown she was most
familiar with, or... the hated pink of others; just a cool, relaxing
blue. She sighed, and then realized she didn't know the owner.

"ACK!!" She backed up against the arm of the couch. Bad move. "Oh,
fuck!" She covered her face with her hands, shutting out the light,
and slid back to a prone position. After a moment, she wearily let
her arms flop down to her sides. She blinked at the man sitting next
to her.

"Tell me why I hurt so bad."

The man dithered for a second. "Um... where exactly?"

"My head. My stomach. Oof! My hip."

The man nodded. "The head and stomach is sake."

Ryouko grunted. "Figures."

"The hip, erm... because I ran over you with a car last night." He
was suitably sheepish.

Ryouko blink-blinked. "Oh."

"Anou... gomen nasai." He bowed from his seat.

"Don't worry about it." Ryouko put her arm up over her eyes and
breathed, expelling a lungful of air.

"Hungry?"

Ryouko considered that. Her stomach was having an argument with
itself. One faction, the queasy party, said no. The other faction,
the cramping-muscle party, said yes. Ryouko compromised.

"Okay, but a pot of strong tea, first," she said from behind her
arm.

Unseen by his patient, the man smiled and rose to fulfill her
request. A little later, the clatter of tea things made Ryouko put
her arm down and make an attempt at sitting up.

"Slowly," the man cautioned. Ryouko obliged and carefully maneuvered
herself to a sitting position. The man hovered over the tray.

"Anything in your tea?"

"Sugar. Lots."

He softly snorted and put in four teaspoons, offering her the cup
after he'd stirred it. She sipped and sighed. "Super."

He sat and sipped from his own cup, studying his patient over the
rim. He sat the cup down and placed his hands in his lap, a studied
pose of receptiveness. He'd learned much from observing his father.

"How are you feeling?"

Ryouko slurped another mouthful of tea and swallowed. "I'll live."

"You don't sound too happy about that."

Ryouko glared at him. "Mind your own business."

"Of course." He waited patiently, somewhat to Ryouko's annoyance.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"It's my day off."

"Oh. I hadn't realized." She slurped again, and then looked at him.
"Well, what's your name, anyway?"

"Ono Ranma."

Ryouko boggled for a second. "Wild horse?"

Ranma laughed. "You get used to it."

"I'll bet." She set her cup down and leaned her head back, massaging
her temples.

"Aspirin?"

"Doesn't work for me. Just time... and food," she said meaningfully.

"Ah." Ranma got up and disappeared into the kitchen. He came out a
few seconds later, breakfast already made. A bowl of miso, rice, and
a few pickles were presented.

"Mmmm, looks good. You the cook?"

Ranma nodded. "Father and I ate earlier. I've been keeping it warm
for you."

Ryouko eyed him strangely, but dug in nonetheless. It was excellent,
and she found she had an appetite. The meal was gone in short order.
She sighed, feeling more charitable by the moment. "Why did you
bring me to your home?"

Ranma shrugged. "I ran over you. It was the least I could do."

"Maybe. Why else?" A nasty suspicion had begun to form in her mind.
She *had* been unconscious.

Ranma sighed. "My father's a doctor. I'm training to be a doctor.
That good enough for you?" he said a little testily.

Chagrined, Ryouko said, "Gomen. You never know."

"True enough, I suppose." Pause. "So, do you have a name?"

"Ryouko," she said, disinterestedly.

"Pretty name. It suits you."

Ryouko looked up sharply to see Ranma smiling at her in genuine
warmth. She blushed furiously, but said nothing. Ranma's smile faded
a little as he prepared to ask his next question, hoping he wouldn't
be pushing his luck.

"Now that I know *who* you are, mind clueing me in as to *what* you
are, exactly?"

Her blush faded to white as a grimace flashed across her face. "Mind
your own business," she muttered. She picked at the fuzzballs on the
blanket.

"Sorry," he sighed.

Silence reigned for a time.

Ranma was in a quandary. Something about this woman reminded him of
himself, back when things were looking bad for him, when hope had
been lost. The look on her face, the tone of her voice, the despair
in her words. He wasn't sure what about her kept striking a chord in
his soul, but there it was. He felt compelled to do *something* for
her.

<Maybe Father was right,> he considered. <Maybe I do have a healer's
instinct.> He brightened as an idea occurred to him. Maybe he could
strike the same chord in her and break down a wall or two.

He got up from his chair, sat on the floor, facing away from Ryouko
to give her some distance, and leaned his head back against the
couch. He sipped his tea quietly for a few more moments.

"Several years ago," he began, "there was this boy. He'd trained all
his life, since he could even remember, in the martial arts. His
father wanted him to be the best, and to that end, he dragged the
boy away from his mother at age six and began a ten-year journey,
visiting all the famous teachers and training spots.

"At the end of that journey, there remained only one site left to
train at. The boy was homesick and had just been given reason to
believe that after all that time, he would still be a disappointment
to his mother because he wouldn't follow in his father's lawless
ways, strange as that may sound. He was also told that his mother
expected him to be very manly.

"At the last training ground, something, er, happened to take away
some of his manhood, and the boy knew he could never see his mother
again, so he ran off. At sixteen, he ran off into the unknown,
without his father and without any idea of what he was going to do.

"A kindly Chinese lady took him in, made him feel better, and gave
him hearth and home. He came to love her very much. She became as a
mother to him. But some people came, looking for the boy because of
what had happened at that training ground, and he had to flee, or
become a slave to those people.

"The boy wandered for many months and finally found his way back to
Japan. Only Japan wasn't nearly as kind to him as China had been,
which isn't saying much. So instead of just being shiftless, he
became shiftless and starving. At the onset of the fall rains, he
found himself ill, very ill, with nowhere to go. He finally curled
up in a doorway, waiting and wanting to die.

"But it didn't turn out that way. Wouldn't be much of a story if it
did, ne? Anyway, a kindly man, a doctor, happened by and saw what
the boy couldn't. He saw hope where there had been none. He saw
potential where there hadn't been any."

Ranma paused to clear his throat. "And that is why... I am alive
today, studying to be a doctor and tending to a patient on my day
off."

They sat there, Ryouko on the couch and Ranma on the floor, for
several long minutes, staring into their pasts, before one of them
broke the quiet.

"So... what happened to that boy at the training ground?" Ryouko
asked.

Ranma turned his head and looked at her. "You really want to know?"

Ryouko nodded. "Un."

Ranma smiled. "I'll show you if you'll tell me what *I* want to
know."

Ryouko looked away and fidgeted for a moment, but figured she really
had nothing to lose. Nobody here could hurt her, not with all of her
gems, anyway. Ryouko stood and walked a little bit away. She turned
and faced Ranma, and Ranma had to stifle a chuckle at the formality
of it. The potential chuckle died as Ryouko levitated off the floor.

Hovering there, the gems at her wrists and throat began to glow, and
a flare of light began at her feet and washed up her body. In place
of her previous clothing, the light left a black and red bodysuit in
its wake. Much of one side of her face had turned black, like some
strange solid warpaint. Ryouko's head had lolled back; she allowed
herself a moment to enjoy the full power of all her gems. She
brought her head back down and speared Ranma with her gaze.

"I am Ryouko," she intoned. "My family name is Hakubi, although I
rarely use it. I was born, or maybe created, several thousand years
ago in the laboratory of my mother, Hakubi Washuu, at the Todain
Academy of Science on planet Todain, which circles a blue-white
binary star about 1200 or so light-years from Earth. My mother's
origins are unknown; even she doesn't remember past 20,000 years
ago.

"I remember little to nothing of growing up. I remember nothing of
being captured by mother's assistant and my mother being locked away
in a closed dimension for 5,000 years. Thankfully, I remember only a
little of being the assistant's mind-controlled tool of destruction.
I was... a destroyer of worlds.

"I was finally defeated 700 years ago on Earth by the crown prince
of one of the most powerful empires in the known universe. He took
my power and imprisoned me in a cave. For those 700 years, I fought
and lost to madness many, many times. I finally learned to move out
of my body and roam the countryside.

"I was finally released from my prison by the grandson of the man
who put me there. I had fallen in love with him, having watched him
grow from a baby. I moved in and lived with his family up until a
week ago, when someone stole him from me."

Ryouko's gems flickered and dimmed. She touched ground, her regular
clothing materializing around and on her.

"I lost him to one I can't fight and hope to win. Now, I am nothing,
even less than I was when I only had part of my power back." She
looked at the recently returned gem on her right arm, and then
looked back at Ranma. "I've been drinking ever since."

She lowered her arm and shuffled back to the couch, looking in every
way like a lost soul. Ranma shook himself out of his shocked daze
and let out the breath he'd been holding.

Ryouko said with some amusement, "What's the matter? Don't believe
in aliens?"

"Ah, well, I'd heard that there are some strange goings-on in
Tomobiki, but nothing quite like this. Wow!"

Ryoko laughed. "Well, believe it. I'm about as alien as *you'll*
ever see. Now," she said seriously, "I believe it's your turn."

Ranma studied the floor for a moment. "I'll believe in aliens," he
began, "if you'll say you believe in magic."

Ryouko quirked an eyebrow. "Well... I'm game, I guess. What's the
trick?"

"No trick." Ranma put his arms around his knees and rested his chin
on his kneecaps. "That last training stop is called Jusenkyou, the
Training Ground of Accursed Springs. It's also called the Pools of
Sorrow, and for good reason. In almost every pool, something
different has drowned." Ranma stopped his narrative and got to his
feet, going into the kitchen. He came back with two glasses of
water.

"As I was saying, something different drowned in each pool. If you
have the bad luck to fall into one, you take the form of whatever
last drowned there when splashed with cold water." He picked up one
of the glasses. "I fell into the Nyanniichuan..." he poured the
water over his head, "the Spring of Drowned Girl," she finished in a
much higher voice.

Ryouko was stunned. She'd seen a lot of strange things, but this was
of an entirely different order. Ryouko stood and slowly walked up to
the short, busty redhead. Ranma's gi-style tunic was too big, now,
and the front had fallen open enough to give a decent view of the
swell of her breasts. Ryouko took hold of the two halves and opened
the tunic completely.

"ACK!!" Ranma grabbed back control of her clothing and wrapped it
tighter around herself.

"Yep!" Ryouko commented. "No fakin' those."

Ranma scowled at her, and Ryouko giggled. "Gomen ne."

Ranma's scowl softened. "Okay... I guess."

"How do you go back?"

"Hot water." Ranma reached for the other glass, but Ryouko touched
her arm, causing her to stop.

"So what do you do when you're a woman?" Ryouko asked as she
continued to walk around the object of her amazement.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you, like, go out with guys, have sex with 'em, you know?"

"GAAAH! I don't do nothin' like that! I'm a GUY!!" she shouted.

Ryouko put her hands up in a peace gesture. "Just curious," she
said, smiling.

"Can I change back, now?" she growled.

"Sure." Ryouko stepped away and watched the reverse process as Ranma
doused herself with the warm contents of the other glass. She
watched the transformation rip through her... his body. Where the
adult woman had stood, Ranma now appeared. He was obviously
relieved.

"Don't like it much, do you?" Ranma shook his head in the negative.
"You know, as problems go in the cosmos, it's not really that bad.
There are worse things."

Ranma sat down on the couch with a thoughtful expression. "I don't
*really* hate it, I guess. Not anymore. Maybe that's part of the
magic. I don't know. I've found my girl form is actually useful for
some things. It definitely handles pain better." Ranma then smiled
wickedly. "I can also cadge all the free eats I want from young male
vendors."

Ryouko face-faulted, then started laughing while on the ground.
"Sounds like the best of both worlds to me," she chortled as she got
back to her feet. "Just don't give up on the sex, just yet. You
might like it."

Ranma turned a little green. "Urg... how would you know?" He jumped
off the couch and brought his hand up to his mouth, and Ryouko
scowled. "Uh, gomen. You're a girl, too."

"Glad you noticed," she said icily, but her face and body drooped a
little. "You're right, though. I don't really know. I'd hoped...
that... my love might've shown me, but..." she trailed off.

Ranma felt low. "I'm sorry, Ryouko. I shouldn't have shot my mouth
off. Old habits die hard."

Ryouko reached across the distance between them and cupped his face
in her hand. "Thank you," she said. "For taking care of me. You're
sweet, and I *do* feel better... some." She stepped over and kissed
him on the cheek. Stunned, he shivered from the soft warmth of her
lips.

Her hand dropped. "I should go." She turned and walked a few steps
before turning her head. "Thank you, again." She began to shimmer
out of existence.

"WAIT!!!" Ranma yelled, but she was gone. And then she was right
back.

"What?"

Ranma's mouth worked, and he finally said, "What'd ya just do?!"

"Teleportation," she smirked. "Just one of my many talents." She
polished her fingernails on her blouse and inspected them smugly.
"What'd you want?"

"Ah... ah... ah..." Ranma's eyes were still bugging out, so he
clonked himself on the head. Ryouko giggled. "Ah, where do I find
you?"

The mirth left Ryouko, and her eyes narrowed. "Why would you want
to?"

He managed to collect his wits. "I want to do a checkup in a week or
so."

"You're *not* a doctor, yet."

"For practice?" he asked hopefully.

Ryouko laughed, but then turned grim. "You don't want any part of
me. Trust me." She turned away.

"Why don't you let me decide that?"

Ryouko stood there for a moment, thinking. She turned her head to
the side and looked at him out of the corners of her eyes. "Masaki
Shrine. Your choice," she said softly and vanished.

Ranma blew out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding and fell
back onto the couch, wondering just what he'd set himself up for. He
absently put his hand up to his tingling cheek.
____________________

[June 20, 1996]

A cool breeze was blowing up the valley, and Masaki Katsuhito had
brought his fresh cup of green tea out to the office steps to enjoy
the mild relief from the already muggy summer heat. He was also
thinking on unsettling events recently past and wondering if he
should interfere on his grandson's behalf. Much about those events
rubbed him wrong, but he couldn't deny the growing love between
Tenchi and Tsunami. He sighed.

It was too late to prevent the real tragedy, as he saw it; little
Sasami was now fully assimilated, combined with the spirit of his
homeworld. Katsuhito knew that much of the life in the house below
had changed, as well, and possibly not for the better. His moody
musings were interrupted by the appearance of a young man cresting
the top of the long stone stairway and looking around.

"Oi!" Katsuhito called, waving his free hand. He watched the visitor
walk across the hard dirt of the grounds. <A martial artist. And a
good one, if I'm any judge. This could be interesting.>

The young man stopped at a respectful distance and bowed.

"What are your needs, my son?" Katsuhito asked.

The young man straightened and scratched the back of his head,
laughing nervously. "Ono Ranma, sir. I... I'm not... Does Ryouko
live here?" he finally blurted.

An eyebrow rose on Katsuhito's face. "And what business might you
have with her?"

Ranma blushed. "I, erm, kinda ran over her with a car last weekend."
Katsuhito's other eyebrow went up. "She's also sorta my patient,
or... would be if I was finished with medschool, that is."

"I see." Katsuhito sat and watched him. Ranma fidgeted, and then
realized what the old man was waiting for.

"I know what she is and some of what she's done, if that's what
you're wondering."

Katushito nodded. "Very well. Please wait here. I will see if she is
available." He started to walk around the building, but he paused
after a few steps. Without turning around, he said, "I expect you to
be gentle with her. She's had a hard blow recently."

"Yeah," Ranma answered, "I know."

Katsuhito continued and disappeared around the corner.

~~~~~

*NMMMMM!* *SWISH!*

An assortment of severed tree limbs fell onto the hardpack. Ryouko
eyed her trimming job; satisfied, she dispelled her energy sword and
began to pick up the cauterized pieces of green wood. She was trying
very hard to keep her mind on what she was doing and *not* on the
goings-on at the Masaki house. To that end, she hadn't gone back
down there since she'd returned from her weeklong binge. It had also
helped a little that a pair of cool blue eyes kept wandering in and
out of her thoughts.

Yousho had been kind enough to let her sleep in the shrine office
ceiling and had brought her food up twice a day. He wouldn't do it
for much longer, but she had been touched by his efforts. Sooner or
later, however, she'd have to either re-enter life at the household
or leave for another destination. It wasn't that she wanted to leave
behind her friends and family, but the pain was just too great. The
dashing of her single ray of hope after 5,000 years of loneliness
was not something easily gotten over.

She dumped her trimmings into the cart she'd brought along for the
purpose and smirked to herself. <Look at me. Working for a living.
Who'd of thought?> She returned to the edge of the grounds and
sheared off another armload of errant growth.

She had apologized to Ryou-ou-ki when she had returned to the
valley, and the cabbit had since stayed nearby, giving and receiving
comfort as needed.

Aeka had been a real surprise. She'd started coming up in the
evenings, carrying Ryouko's third meal of the day. They would sit
and chat, carefully avoiding any talk of their mutual misery. She'd
also told Aeka about the strange man she'd met, who'd run her down
in his car. They'd both laughed at the situation, although Aeka
obviously had some trouble believing the sex-changing curse. It
wasn't deep conversation, but it provided a little something for
both of--

"Ryouko-san."

"YAH!!" Ryouko spun around, clutching her heart.

"Wool-gathering, Ryouko-san?"

"Yeah," *PANT!* "something like that." *PANT!* "Damn it, Yousho!"
*PANT!* "You're a sneaky old--"

"Now, now. Don't curse on shrine grounds," he admonished with a
twinkle in his eye. "And don't call me Yousho. We've talked about
that, ne?"

"Sure, 'Katsu-chan'. Whatever your heart desires," Ryouko snorted.

"Tut, tut!" His glasses went bright with sunlight. "Or I'll tell
that handsome young medical student that came to see you that
you're... not... Hmmm."

Ryouko had shimmered out of existence before he could finish.
Katsuhito allowed some teeth to show in his smile. <I wish you luck,
Ryouko. Of anyone, you deserve it.>

~~~~~

Ryouko phased in at the top of the stone stairs, looked wildly
around, and saw Ranma stand up from the office steps. She phased out
and appeared in front of him. Ranma jumped and clutched his chest
dramatically.

"Jeez! That's gonna take some gettin' used to!"

Ryouko blushed. "Er, gomen. Oh, uh... Hi!"

"Hi! Thought I'd look in on my favorite patient."

Ryouko's blush reddened. "I'm your only patient."

Ranma scratched the back of his head and laughed. His memory of the
cyan-haired woman had not done her justice, and he discovered his
heart was racing. "I guess the first, erm, patient is always, ah,
special. Heh."

Ryouko's color bordered on purple. They both stood there for several
moments, looking at anything other than each other. Ryouko finally
had enough.

"ARGH!" She grabbed Ranma's arm and nearly yanked him off his feet.
"C'mon. Let's walk."

A little shaken by her obvious strength, he quickly calmed down, and
they leisurely walked to the stairs and down.

~~~~~

Katsuhito had waited and then turned the corner as they walked away.
He stopped at the entrance to his office and watched them disappear
down the stairs.

"What do you think?" a voice from behind him said.

"Ohayou, Washuu-dono," he said without turning.

"Katsuhito-dono."

What could've been mistaken for a twelve-year-old girl walked out of
the shrine office and stood at the top of the steps, keeping herself
at eye-level, almost, with her companion.

"An interesting young man," he observed. "Strong aura... and
something else I can't put my finger on."

"Mmmm. It's that last bit I'm interested in. The second he set foot
in the area, my instruments started going off right and left. He
carries an unusual energy signature."

Katsuhito looked over his shoulder to see a familiar gleam in the
diminutive scientist's eyes. "Let him get to know us before you drag
him into your lab," he said dryly.

Washuu cackled, throwing her head back. "Not to worry! I value my
daughter's future happiness too much!" A brief frown flashed across
her face, but it was swallowed by an evil grin. "But mark my words,
I *will* get to the bottom of this!"

Katushito laughed. "I expected nothing less."

The two of them went back into the office and enjoyed several cups
of tea with conversation.

A small brown blur streaked across the shrine grounds and
disappeared into the brush to one side of the stairway.

~~~~~

Ryouko led Ranma onto a path that cut away from the stairs. The ice
eventually broke, and the two of them chatted amiably about little
things. Their walk eventually led them to the mouth of a cave.

"Cool," Ranma observed, and he started to walk into the opening. He
was stopped by an irresistible grip on his arm.

"No. It's not," she said in a low voice.

"Eh?"

"Remember what I said about what happened 700 years ago?" Ryouko
looked at him meaningfully.

Ranma searched his memory and came up with the answer. "Here?" He
pointed into the cave, and Ryouko nodded. "I'm... Gomen, I didn't
know."

She smiled at him again, and Ranma thought it was like sunshine. "Of
course you didn't. C'mon."

The pair trooped back down the path and took a different route where
it forked. They soon found themselves at the edge of a large pool.
In the center, approached by stepping-stones, was an old and very
large tree.

"Nice," Ranma commented. Ryouko gently pulled him across the stones
to the base of the tree, Ranma keeping a careful eye on his footing.
<Why does it always have to be water!> Once back on terra firma, he
relaxed, but his tension hadn't gone unnoticed.

"What? Oh! I'd almost forgotten." She snickered at his predicament.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he said, sulking.

"Aw, don't be mad," she chided. "Besides, I think you're just as
cute as a woman."

Ranma was indignant at first, but then he worked that comment around
a few times and discovered the hidden compliment. He blushed and
evasively turned his attention to the tree. Ryouko snickered again,
understanding the play of emotions on his face. <Such an honest
face, too.>

Ranma leaned against the tree and relaxed, enjoying the same breeze
as Katsuhito had earlier. After a few seconds, however, something
began tickling his moderately trained senses. He turned and looked
at the tree. Curious, Ryouko watched, wondering what was going on.

Ranma laid his hands against the rough bark and closed his eyes,
letting himself fall into the sensing mind he'd been taught. He felt
the flow of the tree's life force -- it was quite strong -- and
smiled from the subtle euphoria that enveloped him. He felt the tide
of force shift into him slightly, a greeting from the tree. Ranma
lent the tree a little of his own aura and said hello back. His eyes
snapped open, and he let go of the bark as if it were burning.

"What?!" Ryouko asked, concerned.

"IT... IT... SHE *TALKED* TO ME!!!" Ranma was shaking in amazement.
He looked down to see Ryouko rolling on the ground and howling in
laughter.

~~~~~

In the shrine office, two levels of communication were occurring.
Washuu was chattering about an experiment she'd just finished, and
Yousho's spaceship tree was telling him how much she liked the young
man who'd just core-dumped his mind into her. Funaho posed a
question, and Yousho frowned minutely, thinking. After a moment, he
gave the tree a "Yes". He smiled and tuned Washuu back in.

~~~~~

Ryouko had calmed down some when she saw Ranma backing away a little
from the tree.

"Stop!" she said. "It won't hurt you. This," she gestured at the
tree, "is Funaho. She used to be the mind of a living spaceship,
although I'm told that since she's taken root, she can never be that
again."

"A SPACESHIP?!?!"

"No, just the mind."

"Oh," he said, as if that cleared things up.

"Hey, how could you talk to her? Only the person who commands her
key can do that."

"I... I'm not sure. I just extended my aura into the tree, and, and
it spoke!"

"Your aura?"

"Yeah, it's part of my, er, less formal medical training. It's kinda
hard to explain."

Ryouko shrugged. "Try it again," she encouraged. This was neat.

"Un-uh." Ranma shook his head vigorously.

"What's a matter? Chicken?" she taunted.

"HEY! I'm not afraid... of... well... maybe," he finally conceded.

Ryouko placed her hands flat over the swell of her bosom. "I swear
that nothing bad will happen," she said solemnly. <Besides, I'd like
to get one over on the old goat,> she giggled inside, thinking of
Yousho, no, Katsuhito.

"I don't know--"

Ryouko began a singsong. "Ranma's a scaredy ca--"

"GAH! Don't say that WORD!"

Ryouko blink-blinked. "Huh?"

"Look, fine! I'll do it! Just don't say... that again." Ranma
shivered and stepped back up to the tree.

Ryouko was left scratching her head. <What'd I say?>

Ranma tentatively laid his hands against the tree again. When
nothing immediately happened, he breathed in relief. The tree,
however, was patient; it'd had plenty of practice at waiting.

Concentrating so as not to slip too far too fast, he opened his
senses. Just barely extending into the tree, he could feel the life
force again. He extended a little further: nothing. He let out a
second breath he'd been holding.

<"Hello, Ranma.">

Ranma did the mental equivalent of presenting warding signs. When
nothing more was forthcoming, he stuttered a reply.

<"You... how do you know my name?">

<"When you first reached out, you spilled most of your life in with
your aura. Your inexperience with this is at fault. You probably
felt the data dump as a feeling of overwhelming happiness. I am told
it is very cathartic. One of my... functions is to gather and store
data. You force-fed me most everything about you.">

<"Erm... sorry.">

<"That's all right. A drop in the bucket, in your terms.">

<"Oh. How... how come we can talk like this?">

<"You have a latent empathic talent, made active by your training.
When you came into contact with a strong enough source, me, it
provided a conduit for telepathic communication.">

Ranma said nothing, trying to work what the tree had told him into
what he knew from his studies.

<"You're very fond of Ryouko,"> she said, after a time.

<"Huh? Ah... I..." *sigh* "Yes. I don't know her very well, but... I
don't know how to word it.">

<"You don't have to. I understand."> A brief pause as Funaho firmed
a decision already made. <"Break contact and remove your hands from
my bark.">

<"What?! Did I say some--">

<"No, no. I have something to show you, but you should be solidly in
your own mind. Break contact and remove your hands from my bark.">

Reluctantly, Ranma complied, instantly feeling his self diminish in
some way. He didn't have time to ponder this as innumerable points
of light began firing from the leaves of the tree, soon creating a
solid curtain of light. Then darkness fell.

Ranma looked over and saw Ryouko floating with him above what he
could see was Earth. It was, in fact, over Japan. He glanced at
Ryouko again, but her expression was unreadable. Something pulled
his attention away from Ryouko and the planet below and out to the
stars. Quickly, he spied two craft headed towards him, one chasing
the other.

The craft being chased was very odd. It looked to be made of
cobbled-together crystals of varying shades of grey. He cringed when
he heard the ship cry out in pain from a series of energy discharges
fired by the pursuing ship. The crystalline ship flashed past his
viewpoint, almost instantly followed by the second. Ranma somehow
knew that Ryouko was on the first ship.

Another volley from the pursuing vessel sent the first ship into a
dive. His point of view abruptly changed, and he saw Ryouko's ship
plow into the ground, an explosion rivaling that of World War II
atomics vaporizing everything for a kilometer or more in every
direction.

The other ship touched down just outside of the blast radius, and
Ranma saw a youngish man in fancy robes disembark, a glowing wand in
his hand. To his surprise, Ryouko emerged from the still-raging
holocaust, apparently unharmed and wearing the bodysuit she'd showed
him a week ago. Ranma shivered at her glowing, pupil-less red eyes.
A sudden movement to his left swung Ranma's attention to where the
present Ryouko had been.

She was pounding against what looked like empty space, tears running
down her face and her mouth open in a yell or scream, but he
couldn't hear her for some reason. Feeling oddly detached, the
imminent battle in front of him turned his head.

~~~~~

Washuu jerked and dropped her cup of tea. "RYOUKO!!" She hopped up
and started to run out of the shrine office, but Katsuhito's long
reach served him as he snagged her arm.

"WAIT! Funaho is monitoring the situation."

"WHAT?!?!?!" Washuu screeched.

"Sit," he quietly commanded, the iron in his voice quelling even
her, "and I will explain." Washuu reluctantly took her seat.

~~~~~

Concealed in the undergrowth by Funaho's pond, Ryou-ou-ki pensively
sat and waited for the light show to end. She could feel her
friend's misery through their link, but for reasons she couldn't
identify, Ryou-ou-ki felt that interfering would be wrong. She
frowned and continued to wait.

~~~~~

The man and Ryouko met with clashing swords. Their fight raged all
over the countryside, the effects leveling some small mountains and
creating others. After a time, the man managed to impale Ryouko
through her throat. Ranma's eyes narrowed, and he looked closely at
the small red gems that coursed down the length of the blue blade
held by Ryouko's attacker, one by one, until three had passed and
embedded themselves in the pommel of the sword. Ryouko wilted and
hung on the blade like a puppet with its strings cut.

Ranma abruptly found himself blinking in the sunlight, the darkness,
then the curtain of light, swiftly vanishing. His head felt like a
truck had run over it. He put one hand against Funaho and massaged
his temples between thumb and ring finger of the other.

<"A choice is now forced upon you,"> Funaho spoke to Ranma.

<"How? I haven't...">

<"I kept a very small link with you active.> Pause. <Look at her.">

Ranma opened his eyes and saw nothing for a second, but then he
spied Ryouko curled up in a fetal position, wedged between two large
roots.

<"Why did you do this to her?!"> he shouted in his mind. <"Why?!">

Funaho sighed over the mental link. <"Ryouko is a creature of
extremes. She is intensely loyal and would not normally switch those
loyalties easily. Even though she is attracted to you, as I can see
from within your own mind's eye, she would still pine for Tenchi for
years, possibly decades... or longer. Tenchi is lost to her; that
much is now abundantly clear. May the All-Mother forgive me, but
after receiving your life's memories, I... and another chose to
create a situation in which she would be capable of switching her
loyalties and would have a chance to proceed with her life. You
should now understand your choice.">

<"But... but... I don't even know her, really. How can I--">

<"The both of you may drift apart. Nothing is written in stone. But
for now, she needs someone to wean her off Tenchi, and that person
is you. The fact that she likes and is attracted to you may turn it
into something more, but that is also part of your choice.">

Ranma stared at the quivering woman on the ground.

<"Your heart brought you here in the first place. Search it! What
does it tell you? I know. Do you?">

Ranma pulled his hand away from Funaho. <What do I feel? Is it that
strong, already?> He closed his eyes and pictured the smiling woman
walking through the woods with him, her golden eyes laughing in the
dappled sunlight. She reached out and held him against entering the
cave that had been her prison, the tingle he felt when she pressed
the flesh of her hand against his arm. He thought a little further
back, when he decided he would visit her, that moment when her lips
touched his cheek and a marvelous thrill chased up his spine. He now
realized what he hadn't before; he had been lost the moment she
kissed him.

Ranma opened his eyes, his face at peace after the struggle, and
gazed at the distraught woman. He moved over and squatted next to
her, placing a hand on her arm.

"Ryouko?"

She jerked but didn't say anything. Sighing, Ranma gently gathered
her up, momentarily surprised at how light she was. In one smooth
motion, he lowered himself to the ground with crossed legs, cradling
her in the triangle between his pelvis and knees. She was still
shivering, so he began to rock her, wrapping his arms around her
tightly.

After a few moments, she spoke to him haltingly, not raising her
head and her voice breaking from the shakes. "I... never... wanted
you... to see me... like that...."

"Shhh. It's okay. That wasn't you."

She slowly raised her head, dragging her watery eyes up to look into
his. "How... how can... you say... that?"

Ranma was appalled at her ashen and tear-stained face and her
quivering lips. <Was all this really necessary?> For her, he grinned
lopsidedly, the wind rakishly tossing the front of his black hair
around.

"I'm just a dumb Earth boy, but even *I* could tell that there was
someone else behind those red eyes. Somehow, I just don't think you
have that kinda thing in you -- your real eyes are too beautiful."

The quivering of Ryouko's lips intensified, and she slowly put her
arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest, crying
freely.

~~~~~

Washuu cried against Katsuhito's chest in relief and joy for her
daughter, and Katsuhito absently stroked her hair, smiling as Funaho
related ongoing events to him.

In her little-girl form and laughing through her tears, Ryou-ou-ki
bounded into the shrine office and hugged her mother and Katsuhito.

Aeka chose that moment to enter the shrine office and visit with her
former rival.

"Ara?" Aeka stared at the tableau.

~~~~~

Ranma had continued to rock Ryouko for several minutes until an
internalized percentage meter started sounding an early warning.

"You keep hosing me down like that, and you're gonna have, instead
of Ranma, Ranma-*chan*."

Ryouko laughed and hiccuped into his soaked shirt. She turned her
head against the moisture and looked out over the pond surrounding
Funaho, her whispered words of serenity floating on the soft breeze
to his ears.

"I wouldn't mind at all."

____________________

FIN