[Ranma][FanFic] Hearts of Ice - Parts 10-12 of 17

[Krista Perry]

Please send all C&C to:

kap...@mokamo.com

The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation
and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi.

--------------------------------
Hearts of Ice
Part 10: Of Love and Insanity
by Krista Perry
--------------------------------

Demons were always messy.

Akane shuddered with revulsion. Even after so long, she
couldn't help but grimace as she pushed the still-wriggling
pieces of her latest "kill" into a pile with the edge of her
katana. The dismembered parts were struggling to reach each
other, to fuse back into a whole. They would do it eventually,
of course. It was nearly impossible to kill a demon permanently
in the Kami Plane, which was actually kind of a relief in a
strange way. Even though they were nasty, and sometimes
thoroughly evil creatures, she hated the thought of killing
*anything*. Even a demon.

Unfortunately, the only way to completely dissuade a demon
from its self-appointed task of kidnaping either Yuki-onna or
herself was to completely dismember it. Of course, the moving
parts helped dispel the illusion of *complete* death...

*Bleah.* Akane looked away as a small blue-skinned ice
woman came and began to scoop the demon parts into two separate
containers to prevent the thing from completely reforming too
soon. She sighed. The servants always seemed to handle the
results of her battles better than she did.

"All done, Akane-sama. You can look now." The little ice
woman's voice held a distinct note of amusement.

"Ugh. Thanks, Sasaki-san. Do you need help, uh... getting
rid of that?"

The little ice-woman chuckled. "That's quite all right,
mistress. You did a good enough job that I should be quite safe
disposing of it in the usual place. It will be a while before
this thing pulls itself back together."

Akane smiled weakly. Demon parts were always discarded far
outside the Snow Woman's realm. Which was fine with her. Just
as long as the thing came back to life somewhere else, and then
made the wise decision not to return. Demons could sometimes be
slow learners, though...

"In the meantime," said Sasaki, her white crystalline brows
creasing over her winter-grey eyes, "you should take care of your
wounds. You have ki burns all over your arms."

Akane looked down at herself, noting the damage in she had
taken in battle with mild dismay. "Thanks for pointing that
out," she responded wryly, wincing as pain, sparked by awareness,
sent sharp messages along her nerve endings.

"That's my job," the little ice woman said with a grin,
showing off her teeth, which were clear and pointed like icicles.
"You'd never take care of yourself if I weren't around to tell
you these things."

Akane laughed a small, embarrassed laugh at the exaggeration
as the ice woman left with the demon containers. She had
developed a bit of a reputation early on for being extremely
stubborn when it came to admitting that she needed help or that
she was in any kind of pain. She *hated* to show weakness.

Still, she'd gotten better at knowing -- and admitting --
her limits... as well as accepting help graciously when it was
offered, rather than snapping back with a retort saying that she
could deal with it herself.

That had been a difficult lesson for her to learn. Old
habits die hard, and in the mortal plane, it seemed that she was
always trying to prove herself. Prove that she was a good enough
martial artist. A good enough cook.

A good enough fiancee...

"Kawaikunee..."

Akane's head snapped up at the sound of Ranma's voice, her
eyes wide with hope, and she looked around frantically. Just as
quickly, she realized that it was simply Masakazu toying with her
again. Her expression crumpled.

"That's not very funny, sensei," she said, her voice a
mixture of annoyance and sadness.

A blur of movement, and the tengu stood before her, his
black eyes gleaming from his red feathered face.

"It wasn't meant to be funny," he said, not unkindly, as he
produced a jar of healing salve. Obediently, Akane sat down and
held out her arms, and the tengu began to apply the ointment to
her burns. He cocked his head at her. "You don't even realize
it, do you?" he asked

Akane winced at the tengu's touch, then frowned at him
questioningly as the salve vanished into her skin, soothing the
pain. "Realize what?"

"Haven't you noticed that when I've used Ranma's voice to
taunt you during our sparring matches the past few weeks, you
haven't lost your temper once?"

Akane sat silently as she digested this piece of information
in her mind. She *hadn't* noticed; not consciously, at least.
But now that the tengu mentioned it, she realized he was right.
She hadn't lost her temper. Not at him.

And not at Ranma.

The connection was obvious. It had been almost four weeks
since Ranma had appeared to her like a ghost as some unknown
spell in the mortal plane tried to overcome the blood spell that
separated them. After living nearly two years in the Kami Plane,
she had all but given up hope that he even remembered her.

But he did remember. He had come for her.

And, seizing the moment, she had finally told Ranma that she
loved him.

Akane's expression softened as she remembered the look on
his face. The shock in his familiar blue eyes. Shock that was
quickly replaced with disbelief, then fearful hope. And finally
joy as he...

... *almost* told her. Akane clenched her teeth in
frustration. He *almost* said the words before the pain choked
off his reply, and the failed spell pulled him away from her once
again.

It was simultaneously wonderful and awful. Ranma hadn't
forgotten her. He was still looking for her. Even after two
years, he was still trying to find a way to overcome the blood
spell and come to her. And yet the few brief seconds they had
been allowed to converse, to *see* each other, had reopened the
horrible, empty longing she had thought long healed over.

Five more years. Truly an agonizing eternity to wait, now
that there was the hope that...

Akane sighed. She was eighteen now, almost nineteen. Her
blue-black hair fell a few inches past her shoulders. Today
Yuki-onna had helped her tie it into a thick french braid so that
it would stay out of her eyes during a battle...

Ranma had promised to find her, but the Snow Woman had
dampened her hopes that he would succeed. Yuki-onna said that
Ranma's quest was impossible unless he found a way to nullify the
blood spell that forced them apart. A lengthy, difficult task in
the Kami Plane. A nigh impossible one in the mortal plane.

Five years.

*Ranma, please don't give up. I'll wait for you...*

"Akane-chan."

Akane looked up, blinking tears from her eyes. The tengu
looked at her with sympathy.

"The lesson is learned," said Masakazu gently. "I will no
longer use Ranma's voice during training, if it causes you such
pain..."

"No!" said Akane. Then she flushed and lowered her gaze as
she realized how sharp her tone was. "Please," she continued
softly, looking up again into the tengu's eyes. "I... I want to
hear his voice."

Masakazu blinked knowingly. "Even if his voice says unkind
things?"

Akane nodded. "Yes. The words may seem unkind, but..."

She paused, and realization flickered across her features.
Her breath caught in her throat as a million little things
clicked into place. Things that, for some reason, had never been
quite clear to her before.

A soft, bittersweet smile slowly lit her face.

"The words may seem unkind," she said, "but they *mean*
something completely different."

The tengu's eyes gleamed. "It seems that more than one
lesson has been learned," he said calmly as he sealed the salve
jar.

Akane flushed and looked down at her hands.

Just then, the Snow Woman entered the room. Her loose robes
flowed around her tall elegant form, and her shimmering white
hair trailed behind her on the floor like a silken wedding train.
She smiled. "Ah, Akane, I see you have once again driven off a
prospective 'suitor.'"

Akane started and looked up guiltily until she realized
Yuki-onna was talking about the demon she had just hacked to
bits, and not... She laughed nervously as she felt her cheeks
grow hot. "Yes, well," she said lightly, "that's one more down,
a half million more to go."

Yuki-onna noticed Akane's high color and peered at her
curiously. "Hm. Did I interrupt something?"

"Oh, not at all," said Akane hastily.

"Yes," said Masakazu. "We were just talking about Ranma."

Akane winced inwardly, then sighed and covered her eyes with
one hand.

The Snow Woman's smile cracked slightly. "I see. How nice.
Well, young Ranma certainly does seem to be the most interesting
topic for discussion around here lately. Please, don't let my
intrusion dampen your conversation. Akane, when you have a
moment, come to my quarters, and I'll work on the blood spell."
And with that, she left without another word.

Akane groaned and glared at the tengu. "Sensei, *why* did
you say that? You know how she gets upset whenever anyone brings
up Ranma."

Masakazu blinked innocently. "Really? I had no idea. I
wonder why that is."

Akane sighed heavily, feeling tears build up behind her
eyes. "I don't know," she replied. Blinking back the wetness,
she reached for her katana and wiped it clean with a dry rag,
caressing the blade with practiced, even strokes before returning
it to the sheath strapped to her back. Her hands fell limply
into her lap.

"She's been so distant lately," she said thickly. "Ever
since Ranma appeared... I *know* she doesn't like him, but I
can't figure out why. It's not like he's ever done anything to
her." A wry smile tugged at her lips in spite of her tears. "In
fact, she's one of the few females I know who doesn't want to
marry him."

Masakazu sat unblinking. "She cares a great deal for you."

Akane looked down. "I know." Her response was barely a
whisper. "She's been like a mother to me."

"Perhaps she doesn't want to see you get hurt."

Akane looked up to meet the tengu's gaze, her eyes
shimmering, her expression serious. "Masakazu-san," she said
with quiet intensity. "I would rather love Ranma and risk the
chance of getting hurt than go back to being the half-person I
was before I knew him." Then her eyes softened and she chucked
self-depreciatingly. "Heh. Wouldn't my family be surprised to
hear *those* words come out of my mouth. Daddy would either
collapse from shock or flood the house crying."

Masakazu sat silent for a moment, looking deep into Akane.
Then he smiled inwardly. *Ah, Akane, how you've changed.* He
grasped his jar of healing salve and stood. "Well, I'm off!"

Akane blinked, surprised. "Wait..!" But the tengu was
already gone. "Sensei..?" She sighed and shook her head. Her
master was wise, skilled... and odd beyond belief. Leave it to
the tengu to up and leave just when she was pouring her heart
out. Maybe eventually she'd get used to his abrupt entrances and
exits.

She smiled wryly, brushing the last of her tears away with
her fingertips as she stood. *Probably not.*

--------------------

Yuki-onna stood facing her mirror. The mirror swirled with
frost and magic as images sped over its reflective surface.

"Yuki-chan."

The Snow Woman started in surprise, and the mirror darkened.
She turned to see the tengu standing in her doorway. "Masakazu-
san," she said coldly. "What do you want?"

"I think you know what I want."

Yuki-onna tossed her mane of shimmering hair and snorted
angrily. "What are you going to do? We are in my domain now.
You cannot stop me. And don't think I don't know that you've
been helping him. I know that you blocked the spell voices from
his mind. Well, you'll be interested to know that they've broken
through your barrier." The Snow Woman smiled cruelly.

The tengu cocked his head at her and his eyes flashed.
"That may be. But at least I slowed the spell down. I bought
them some time."

"*Them?*" The Snow Woman clenched her slender white hands
into fists. "I think you mean *him.*"

"I mean *them.*" Masakazu spoke without anger. "Ranma and
Akane love each other, no matter how much you try to deny it. I
want to help them. You want to help yourself. Your motives are
purely selfish, Yuki-chan, and they will end up destroying not
only you, but Akane as well, and everything Akane loves."

The tengu's words were soft but powerful. Yuki-onna reacted
as if she'd been slapped. She stared at him with wide eyes, then
slowly began to shake her head in denial. Icy tears of
frustration slipped from her eyes and slid down her white cheeks.
"I would never hurt Akane," she said hoarsely.

The tengu's eyes softened. "Then I beg you, Yuki-chan. Let
it go. Leave Ranma alone. Fulfill your promise to Akane. Break
the blood spell and let her go home to her family."

Yuki-onna shook her head, her eyes closed. "*I* am her
family."

Now the tengu shook his head in frustration. "No. You are
a lonely, bitter woman who has grown tired of eternity. You want
to keep Akane for yourself, even if it means sacrificing her
happiness."

"You don't understand..."

"No. *You* do not understand. You are deceiving yourself."
Masakazu's voice was firm but gentle. "Akane is not your
daughter, Yuki-chan."

Yuki-onna's head snapped up, and there was cold fire in her
eyes. She trembled as she struggled to contain her fury. "She
is happy here." Her voice was a low rasp through clenched teeth.
"She *was* happy here, until *he*..." She broke off, unable to
continue.

Masakazu gazed at her, his bird-like expression unreadable.

The Snow Woman's expression hardened. "Get out," she said.
"Leave my home and do not come back. Akane is no longer in need
of your training."

The tengu stood silent a moment, his black eyes glittering.
"You presume too much, Yuki-onna," he said finally. "This may
well be your domain, but it is not for you to tell me when my
student is finished with my training." Then, in a smooth, quick
motion, he turned to leave. "You will not see me again, unless
you change your mind," he said quietly. "I would not lose your
friendship, but it appears I have no choice. You are not the
woman I once knew."

His voice hardened slightly. "Even so, I will not sacrifice
my friendship with Akane simply because you are willing to throw
everything away in your desperate, vain attempt to fill the void
in your life. I will continue to train her whether you wish it
or not. If she will still have me as her sensei," he added.

And with that, he was gone, leaving the Snow Woman staring
at her empty quarters.

She stood for a moment looking after him, then sank to her
knees, feeling strangely hollow.

--------------------

Akane stood frozen in silent disbelief after inadvertently
eavesdropping a few feet from the entrance to the Snow Woman's
quarters, all thoughts of the daily untangling of the blood spell
forgotten. There was a rush of air, and the tengu moved past her
with such speed that all she saw was a blur of rust-colored
feathers.

She stood a moment longer. Then she heard the Snow Woman
moving about inside her room, and the noise galvanized her into
motion. Swiftly, silently, she ran away.

Masakazu had known she was there. She was sure of it. And
he had said those things, knowing she would hear. Knowing she
would hear the Snow Woman's response as well.

Hot tears spilled from her eyes as she ran blindly through
the crystalline corridors of the Snow Woman's home, her sobs
echoing off the pristine white walls, the sense of being betrayed
weighing heavily in her gut. In one brief moment, the Snow Woman
had changed in her eyes from kindly benefactor to manipulator, to
possessor. And the Snow Woman's household changed from a home to
a prison. For the first time in nearly two years, she felt truly
trapped. Trapped in the Kami Plane by the one person who had the
power to free her.

Akane stopped running and collapsed to her knees as
overwhelming loneliness and homesickness welled up in her like a
black tide. She shivered uncontrollably, her arms wrapped
tightly around her body, as if feeling the cold of this place for
the first time.

*What do I do now?* she thought in despair. The image of
her family came to her mind; of her father and sisters, whom she
hadn't seen for two years. Of Ranma. She blinked as she thought
of his final words to her as he faded away: That he would find
her.

Steam rose from her tears as they fell steadily against the
cold floor. *Oh Ranma!* she thought. *Please find a way to keep
your promise...*

--------------------

Ranma woke with a start, drenched in sweat, voices ringing
loudly in his head. He moaned and pressed the heels of his hands
to his temples as he sat up groggily. *Spell voices,* he
realized. While he had slept, they had gradually emerged from
the back recesses of his mind where he had confined them the
night before.

Gritting his teeth, he concentrated and pushed them back
again so that he could think clearly. Even then, his mind felt
fuzzy from lack of sleep. Something had happened the night
before, something strange and terrifying. And yet his sleep-
fogged brain couldn't quite remember what it was. Something
about Akane. Something worse than her just being gone...

The smell of Kasumi's cooking wafted from downstairs, and
his stomach growled noisily. When was the last time he ate? He
couldn't remember. Pushing himself to his feet, he staggered
sleepily into the hall.

He paused outside Akane's room, looking sadly at her wooden
duck nameplate. For a moment he was tempted to go inside, just
to check to see if she was there sitting at her desk or lying on
her bed, and his hand stretched towards the door knob. But from
the back of his mind, the spell voices whispered their insistence
that she was still gone, that he would never see her again...

Ranma blinked and shook his head, letting his hand fall back
to his side. He knew the room on the other side of the door was
empty. Despondently, he turned and went downstairs.

"Ah, Ranma, my boy! Good to see you up and about. Feeling
any better this morning?"

Ranma looked up to seen Soun Tendo kneeling at the breakfast
table next to Genma-panda, who was busy wolfing down food with
inhuman speed. Kasumi, Nabiki and Ryoga were also eating.
Kasumi smiled at him. "Good morning, Ranma. I saved some
breakfast for you."

Ranma looked at the group, blinking in bafflement. "Thanks,
Kasumi," he said automatically. He looked at Soun, whom he
hadn't seen since the night of the blood spell when Akane's
disappearance had rendered him bedridden with grief. "Uh, I'm
feeling better," he lied. "How are *you* feeling, Tendo-san?"

"Oh, fine, just fine. Isn't that right, Saotome?" Soun
elbowed the panda in the ribs, and the panda paused briefly in
inhaling his food to look up and grin. "Yes," he continued, "it
was a nasty cold, but not even illness can keep a marital artist
down for long."

Ranma began to get a bad feeling in his gut; a feeling of
deja vu from the night before. "Cold?" he asked. Nobody was
paying attention.

"Please, Ranma," said Kasumi. "Sit down and have something
to eat. You must be starving."

Ranma obeyed numbly, kneeling across from Ryoga and next to
Nabiki. He failed to notice the ecstatic looks his father and
Soun cast at each other.

"So you're really feeling better, Ranma?" asked Ryoga,
looking at him over the rim of his miso soup bowl. "You've got
control of the spell voices and everything?"

Ranma nodded, picking absently at his food with his
chopsticks.

"Good. You really had me worried for a while there, buddy."

Ranma frowned. "Buddy?" Since when had Ryoga called him
*buddy?* He was usually calling him 'enemy of women,' or
something along those lines.

"Pass the soy sauce please," said Nabiki. The soy sauce was
right in front of Ranma, but he was staring at Ryoga. "Hey,
Ranma. Wake up. I'd like the soy sauce." When he still didn't
respond, she nudged him in the arm. "Today, if possible."

He blinked, as if coming out of a dream, and handed her the
bottle.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? Are you sure you're okay?"

"I... don't know," he replied honestly, half-heartedly
lifting food to his mouth with his chopsticks. "Something's not
right..."

"Well, let's not worry about that now," said Soun, grinning
from ear to ear. "Ranma, since you've got those spell voices
under control, and since you're all here," he said, looking
around at those seated at the table, "Genma and I have an
announcement to make. Ranma, you have lived with our family for
a year now, and it is your father's and my decision that it's
time for you to honor the agreement we made when you were born."

Ranma looked at Soun in shock, his chopsticks frozen in mid-
motion to his mouth. "What?! You can't be serious! How can I
do that when she's not even--"

"Now, Ranma, you knew this was coming, so it should be no
surprise. Yes, we have decided that you shall marry my youngest
daughter Nabiki. As of now, she is your fiancee."

Ranma's chopsticks snapped in half. Nabiki choked on her
miso soup.

"Oh, how wonderful," said Kasumi, beaming happily. "Now you
will really be a part of the family, Ranma!"

Ryoga smirked as he looked at the new couple's horrified
expressions. "Hey, congratulations, you two!" he said.

Ranma's mind was suddenly clear of fog. The memory of the
previous night and his conversation with Nabiki and Ryoga came
clearly, painfully into his mind. "You... you can't do that,"
said Ranma hoarsely. "What about Akane? She's supposed to be my
fiancee!"

Soun's face darkened. "Akane?" he asked. He turned to
Genma, his demon-head flaring. "And who, exactly, is Akane?
Don't tell me you sold Ranma for food again, Saotome!" The panda
shook his head frantically.

Ranma leaped to his feet and grabbed Soun by the front of
his gi. "Akane *happens* to be your daughter, you idiot! You
engaged me to her, and now she's missing, trapped in the Kami
Plane by this stupid blood spell! How can you possibly forget
your own daughter?!"

Soun quailed as Ranma's battle aura flared red around him.
"Now, now, take it easy son..."

Nabiki sighed. "Ranma, I thought you said you were feeling
better."

Ranma released Soun and turned on Nabiki. "I *am* feeling
better! It's all of you who have gone crazy!" He turned to
Kasumi, wild desperation lighting his eyes. "Kasumi, you
remember Akane, don't you? She's your little sister, she's my
age with short black hair, and she's a real tomboy except when
she smiles, and her cooking is toxic, and I've been engaged to
her for the past year, and..." He trailed off as she stared at
him blankly.

"I'm sorry, Ranma, but I don't know what you're talking
about," she said. She frowned worriedly. "Perhaps we should
have had Doctor Tofu come over last night after all."

Ryoga shook his head, looking at Ranma in consternation. "I
think he needs a shrink, not a chiropractor."

Ranma was too shocked to even respond. He stood numbly,
looking at the people surrounding the table, his friends, his
family. *No no no, this can't be happening. They really don't
remember Akane, not even Tendo-san...* "It... it's part of the
blood spell," he said finally. "Somehow, it's made you all
forget her..."

"What's all this about?" asked Soun, confused.

[I have no idea,] said Genma-panda, shrugging.

Nabiki looked at Ranma as he gazed in disbelief around the
table, a dozen conflicting emotions warring within her, yet she
kept her expression carefully neutral. This was all wrong, this
wasn't the way it was supposed to be. She had suspected that
Daddy was going to spring this engagement on her and Ranma to
honor that so-called agreement he and Saotome-san had made so
many years ago. She just didn't think they would be so stupid as
to spring it in the middle of this whole blood spell mess. With
their narrow, linear way of thinking, they probably thought that
the problem with the spell voices in Ranma's head would either
just go away or be inconsequential if they got their two kids
married.

Nabiki frowned slightly at the thought. She remembered that
she and Ranma had once played at being engaged, after she
manipulated him by telling him that she loved him. He had been
so shocked, and so afraid of hurting her feelings, that he had
gone along with it and played the dutiful fiance. At least he
did until he got tired and angry after she kept renting him out
by the hour to his other fiancees, or for hard manual labor that
required ridiculous feats of strength and agility. It had been
very profitable while it lasted, though...

Still... She wondered what it would be like to *really* be
Ranma's fiancee. No, not *just* his fiancee. He had a million
of those wandering around, it seemed. But... He was one of the
best-looking guys in town, with a handsome face and a great bod.
He had courage and honor, and his martial arts skills were
unparalleled. That, combined with his natural naivete and
charming, clumsy ineptness when it came to women, made him
undeniably appealing. Okay, so he was cursed to turn into a girl
every now and then. Not to mention the very important fact that
he was poor as a church mouse. But then that hardly mattered,
since, whether he knew it or not, she always managed to make a
substantial profit off of him...

She cut the thought off as Ranma turned and his eyes met
hers. She winced a little as he seemed to search her face, and,
not finding what he was looking for -- recognition of this Akane
person, apparently -- he dropped his gaze to the floor. He
looked so... so lost. She felt a little twinge of...
something... inside her chest. *Those spell voices must really
be tearing up his mind,* she thought. *Okay. Think about the
engagement later. Right now, help Ranma.*

She stood from the table to face him. "Ranma," she said.
"Listen. The blood spell was cast on you, not on any of us. You
remember that, don't you?"

Ranma didn't answer. Just a barely perceptible nod as he
looked at the floor, his fists clenched at his sides in
frustration.

"Then it doesn't really make sense that we're the ones with
the faulty memories, does it?"

Silence. Then a low whisper. "I tell you, Akane's real.
She's not a figment of my imagination, or of the blood spell, or
whatever."

"Then why don't any of us, who weren't touched by the blood
spell, know anything about her?" she asked quietly. "It's like
Cologne said. The spell was supposed to make you hate Shampoo by
making you think she had taken away your most precious
possession. Since you didn't have anything like that that would
make you upset enough to hate Shampoo, the blood spell created
something and placed it in your mind with these spell voices, and
that's all this girl is. Akane doesn't exist. She never has
existed. She's just part of the blood spell."

*Odd,* realized Nabiki suddenly, *that the blood spell would
create a girl to be the thing Ranma loves most. Maybe he's not
as shy about women as I thought...*

Suddenly, Ranma's head jerked up. "Her room!" he shouted,
and grabbed Nabiki by the wrist.

She gasped as, with a yank, he began pulling her down the
hall towards the stairs. "Ranma, what are you doing?"

"Come on, you guys," he called back to the dining room.
"Akane is real! I can prove it to you!"

Kasumi, Soun, Genma-panda and Ryoga all looked at each other
in bafflement. Then they got up and followed.

"There! See?" Ranma stopped outside a door in the hallway.
"Look for yourself. The blood spell was only cast on me, right?
Well then how do you explain this room?"

Nabiki stared at the wooden duck nameplate, identical to
hers and Kasumi's except that it bore the name "Akane." She
looked at Ranma and raised an eyebrow.

"Go on," he said. "Open the door and see for yourself."

Shrugging, Nabiki reached out and turned the knob, opening
the door.

She gasped. On the other side was a girl's room. The
flowered blankets on the bed and the school uniform and dried
flowers hanging on the wall said as much. Next to the window was
a study desk, with papers strewn across it as though someone had
left in the middle of doing homework. A set of barbells lay on
the floor next to the bed. *Well,* thought Nabiki wryly through
her surprise, *it figures that Ranma's fantasy woman would be
into weight lifting.*

"Oh my," said Kasumi as she and the others came up behind
them. "Ranma, what have you done to the storage room?"

Ranma blinked at Kasumi in shock. "What have I..? I
haven't done anything! This is Akane's room!"

"Ranma, where did you get all this?" asked Soun, frowning
slightly. "I know you're upset with this blood spell business
and all, but this is going a bit overboard, don't you think,
son?"

Ranma clenched his teeth, and his ki began to flicker
brightly around him. "I'm telling you, I didn't do this! Look!"
He went over to the desk. "This is Akane's homework! Do you
think I would do her homework?"

The others just blinked at him.

Ranma looked around desperately, trying to find something
that would jog their memories. His eyes fell on the picture that
hung over the head of Akane's bed, sitting in the frame that he'd
bought her for Santa Day. He ran over and grabbed it off the
wall. "Look," he said pleadingly, "this is her, right there.
This proves that she's real! See?" He held it in front of
Soun's face, but he just looked at it blankly. Nabiki took the
picture from Ranma's hand and examined it.

She frowned. It was the picture that had been taken of the
whole gang after their shipwreck and encounter with Prince Toma's
floating island. "Sorry, Ranma, I don't recognize her. Besides,
this girl could be anybody. She's probably one of the girls that
Prince Toma kidnapped."

Ranma opened his mouth to protest, but Nabiki stopped him.
"Look at all the people in this picture, Ranma," she said.
"There's Ukyo and Shampoo right next to you. But if this girl's
supposed to be the one you love, why is she standing clear over
there away from you?"

Ranma blinked, a stricken expression on his face. "I...
I..."

Nabiki shook her head. "Look, Ranma, I don't know where all
this stuff came from. Maybe you put this here while under the
influence of the blood spell or something. Maybe the blood spell
created some physical evidence to help convince you. It doesn't
matter. It doesn't change the fact that none of us were touched
by the blood spell, and you were. You have to accept that, or
you're going to drive yourself crazy worrying over a missing girl
who doesn't exist."

Ranma looked into the concerned faces of his friends and
family, and felt his resolve crumbling. *No, it can't be!
But... what if she's right? What if there never was an Akane...
What if it's all the blood spell...*

*No Akane...* A tremor ran through Ranma. If Akane wasn't
real, then all his memories of the past year of his life were a
lie. He tried to think of what his life would actually have been
like, since he showed up at the Tendo Dojo, without Akane there.
But he couldn't do it. Akane was an ingrained part of almost
everything he did, from the first time he sparred with her as a
girl in the dojo, all through their turbulent engagement, to this
very moment as he thought of her being trapped in the Kami Plane.

But Nabiki might be right. The blood spell might have re-
written his memories. Akane might be nothing more than a magical
influence on his mind; a creation made specifically to become the
sole purpose of his existence, only to have it taken away...

It almost made sense in a strange way. He certainly
couldn't recall feeling as... passionate about anyone until he
met Akane. Whether she was pounding him into the pavement or
smiling in that way that made him feel all funny inside, nobody
evoked emotion in him the way Akane did.

Wasn't that magic?

Blood spell figment or not, Akane was a part of himself that
he didn't want to lose.

The spell voices whispered in the back of his mind.

**Akane is alive, Akane is alive...**

**You'll never see her again...**

His father, the Tendos, and Ryoga, all looked at him with
worry on their faces.

It was too much to bear. Ranma's shoulders slumped, and he
turned and walked from the room.

"Ranma?" Ryoga's voice, hesitant and concerned, followed
him down the hall. Funny how, without Akane to fight over, Ryoga
seemed to be his best friend now. It was kind of nice, and he
wondered how they had become friends. He couldn't remember. He
went into his room and closed the door behind him.

The others stood in uncomfortable silence. Finally, Soun
cleared his throat. "Nabiki, you're his fiancee now, and you
seemed to be getting through to him. Perhaps you should go talk
to him."

Nabiki stared at Ranma's closed door and shook her head, a
strange feeling eating at her gut. "I don't think so Daddy.
Ranma needs to be alone right now to think things through. And
you and I need to have a talk about this fiancee thing." Soun
looked around nervously, and Nabiki rolled her eyes. "But not
right now," she said.

*Right now, I'm going to my own room to lie down until this
headache that I've just developed goes away.*

She sighed, and went into her room, closing the door behind
her and leaning against it wearily. She listened as the others
slowly went back down stairs.

She stood, looking at her bed a moment. Then she changed
her mind and sat down at her desk, which was covered with various
electronic equipment. Plugging her earphones into an elaborate
system, she reached over and flipped a small, obscure switch,
then listened carefully.

She couldn't hear anything. Not that she really expected
to. *Poor Ranma,* she thought. *He's probably in shock. I know
I was kind of harsh, but it was the only way to convince him.
Imagine, him thinking that he's engaged to some non-existent girl
named Akane...*

Then she heard something, so faint she wasn't sure if she'd
imagined it. Until she heard it again.

A soft, shuddering sob.

Nabiki blinked. *He's... crying?*

She pulled off her earphones, her heart pounding in her
chest, and she stood from her chair. *Oh man. Why, oh why did I
do that?* she thought with flustered anger. *That was so stupid
of me, I can't believe I did that. Nabiki, you idiot, what
*else* did you think you were going to hear, with him in there by
himself after what you just said to him? As if he's not going
through enough right now...*

*Ranma...*

She stood for a moment in indecision, then walked out of her
room and down the hall, pausing outside his door. She raised her
knuckles and rapped softly. "Ranma?"

There was no answer.

She slid the door open quietly. He was sitting with his
back to her in the corner of his room by his dresser. The bottom
drawer was open. His hunched shoulders shook with another quiet
sob as she stood watching. Swallowing, she closed the door
behind her.

"Ranma," she said, her voice catching in her throat. "I...
I'm sorry. I know it's hard with this blood spell and all, and I
was a little harsh back there..."

He didn't respond. Just sat there, hunched over, his
pigtail hanging limply down his back. Slowly, she walked up
behind him and looked over his shoulder.

In his hands he held a length of thick, blue-black hair,
tied with a ribbon. As she watched, his tears fell into the
silky strands and were absorbed, disappearing completely.

"Ryoga accidentally cut her hair off when we were fighting,"
he whispered. "She was so mad 'cause she'd been growing it to be
long like Kasumi's hair. I didn't think she'd forgive me. But
then Kasumi trimmed it so that it looked so... cute... I
almost... didn't r-recognize her... at f-first..." His voice
trailed off hoarsely into silence even as another glistening tear
fell into the lock of hair.

Nabiki didn't know what to say. This was far beyond her
realm of experience, and she'd never really been the comforting
type. She stood there awkwardly, suddenly wishing for a bit of
Kasumi's ability to deal with these kind of things.

"I know she's real, Nabiki," Ranma said quietly. But the
fear and doubt in his voice belied the firmness of his words.
"I don't care if you think that this is just part of that damn
spell..."

Nabiki blinked in surprise as she felt tears build behind
her eyes. "It's... okay, Ranma," she said awkwardly. *Like
hell!* she thought, her racing mind unable to ease the strange
ache building in her chest. *I'm watching you lose your mind
because of this stupid blood spell...*

Ranma stiffened, and for a moment, she almost regretted
saying anything. After all, he was always going on about how he
was a guy, and how guys don't cry, and he probably hated her for
seeing him like this...

Then Ranma raised his head slightly. Nabiki saw his face in
profile, his expression shadowed under his dark bangs. She
blinked in shock as she recognized an emotion she had never seen
on Ranma's face before; an emotion she never thought she'd *ever*
see on his face...

Hopelessness. It flickered across his tear-streaked face,
seemed to permeate his entire countenance...

Nabiki felt suddenly cold. She had seen Ranma feel anguish
before... the Chiisuiton disaster, for instance... But she had
never, ever seen him... give up.

His blue eyes, still wet with unshed tears, were filled with
intense despair, extinguishing the fire of confidence that
normally burned there as he stared blankly at nothing... Yet,
even as his face told of his inner misery, his hands tightened on
the thick lock of blue-black hair as if he was holding onto a
lifeline; as if to let it go would mean the end of his
existence...

Nabiki felt her heart contract painfully in her chest. She
was *way* out of her depth. What had possessed her to come in
here in the first place? This... What could she *possibly* do
to make this better?

A hug? No. She was not a physically demonstrative person
by nature, and she knew that Ranma wasn't much better. Besides,
the only person who ever threw her arms around Ranma on a
consistent basis was Shampoo, and that was a person she didn't
want to think about at the moment.

Still... she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. And
Ranma needed *something*...

Gathering her courage, Nabiki reached out and gave Ranma's
shoulder a tentative, gentle squeeze. "Ranma..."

Nabiki's touch was like a spark in the darkness, pulling
Ranma back from the dangerous ledge on which he teetered
precariously. He didn't move, but his eyes focused again, to her
relief...

"What am I gonna do, Nabiki?" Ranma's voice trembled; was
barely a whisper. He looked down at the thick lock of hair.
"I... love... Akane."

The words seemed to hang in the air, almost tangible.
Nabiki didn't know what to say. It was as if Ranma's simple,
awkward confession of love for his imaginary blood-spell girl had
robbed her mind of coherent thought.

Ranma raised his head slowly, staring straight ahead. An
amazed, yet frightened look shimmered in his widening eyes, as if
he himself was only now becoming aware of the words that had just
escaped his lips.

At that moment, Nabiki felt as if she wasn't even in the
room. It was just Ranma. Ranma, and the sudden revelation that
was filling his wide blue eyes with a million different emotions,
each more powerful than the last...

... until he seemed to crumble before her eyes. Ranma
sagged over, clenching the lock of hair and holding it to his
chest as a low sob escaped his throat.

"Oh gods, Nabiki," he whispered brokenly. "I love her...
and I never told her... She doesn't know. And now she's either
trapped in the Kami Plane where I can't get to her and everybody
has forgotten about her except me, or she doesn't exist at all
except in my own mind." A tear escaped his wet eyes and slipped
down his shadowed cheek. "I never told her..."

Nabiki's eyes burned, and her throat felt dry. She hated
this. She hated seeing Ranma like this. The cold, rational part
of her, the part that knew Akane didn't really exist, wanted to
force Ranma to accept reality. Wanted to slap him upside the
face and tell him to snap out of it and join the real world.

But looking at him... seeing his very real grief and
despair... she couldn't.

Because she knew that it wouldn't do any good.

Ranma believed that Akane was real. And he... loved her.
But that wasn't the real tragedy, it was only the evidence of the
tragedy. The real tragedy was the blood-spell that now ruled
Ranma's mind, his memory, his soul. His whole life was now based
on a lie. All of his vitality and confidence seemed to have been
sapped away in just a few days. All because of the blood spell
Shampoo had cast so that she could claim Ranma as a trophy
husband to take back to her Amazon village.

Nabiki clenched her fists at her side, and thought of a
certain tape she still had in her possession. *Cologne, I swear,
if you don't come back and cure Ranma of your blood spell in two
days, you and that Chinese bimbo are toast.*

But what could she do for Ranma now? She couldn't just
leave him here and wait for Cologne to come back with the cure.
Ranma was dwindling, spiraling down into his blood-spell induced
delusions. She could tell by the way his white-knuckled hands
still clung to the lock of hair that he claimed was once Akane's.

He needed to get out and be with other people. He needed to
get back into the swing of his life as it was before the blood
spell hit. Otherwise, he really would go crazy...

"Ranma," she said quietly. "Why don't you... clean yourself
up and come to school with me this morning. You've been out for
four days because of this whole mess, and I think it would be
good for you to go and get your mind off... this."

Ranma raised his head slowly and blinked at her, as if just
realizing she was still there. Slowly, his eyes cleared.
"School?"

"Yeah, school," she said, smiling slightly, trying to ignore
the haunted look on his face. "You know, the big building where
a lot of kids and a few adults go to watch you fight Kuno? It's
been a few days. I bet he's just aching to kill you for keeping
his pig-tailed goddess from him for so long."

Ranma stared at her with a stupefied expression as he
realized she was trying to cheer him up. This was a side of
Nabiki he hadn't seen before. "Nabiki..?"

"What are you looking at me like that for?" she asked,
feigning indifference. "My profit margins are down five percent
because you haven't been there to beat Kuno in your ritual
morning fight." She left her tone light enough to let him know
that she was kidding... just barely. She had actually lost and
spent more money because of this whole fiasco than she had in the
past six months combined.

Ranma blinked. Then, slowly, the corner of his mouth turned
up into the pale ghost of a smile. "I... Okay, Nabiki. That
sounds like a good idea."

She smiled. A real smile, the kind that rarely lit her
face. "Good," she said. "Think you can be ready in time? We
have to leave soon."

Ranma nodded, a glimmer of his old life coming back into his
countenance. But his hands still clutched the lock of dark hair.
"I'll be ready," he said.

Nabiki stood and looked at him seriously, not quite willing
to leave out of fear that he was just humoring her so that she
would go away...

Ranma seemed to understand what she was thinking. "Really,"
he said. A hint of gratitude seeped into his voice. "I'll be
ready."

Nabiki left Ranma's room with a strange, light feeling in
her chest, and traces of her smile still on her face.

--------------------

End of Part Ten

The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation
and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi.

---------------------------
Hearts of Ice
Part 11: Best Laid Plans
by Krista Perry
---------------------------

Cologne gazed contemplatively at the scroll unrolled before
her, reading by the light of the small campfire whose glow and
heat held back the cool spring night of the Chinese wilderness
that surrounded her. She had read the scroll every few hours for
the past three days, ever since she left Japan, according to the
instructions inscribed in her own handwriting. Only now was she
beginning to appreciate the reason why she had written such
instructions to herself.

The writing on the scroll described the events of the past
week in painstaking detail. From the blood spell that Shampoo
cast, using blood from the Ancient One, banishing Akane Tendo to
a place where Ranma Saotome could not hope to reach her, and
placing spell voices in his mind to reinforce the hopelessness of
any attempt to rescue her.

To returning to the Nekohanten, only to discover that Ranma
knew they were the ones behind the spell, and the ones to blame
for Akane's disappearance and the voices that now plagued his
mind.

To deceiving him with the lie that, while in China, Shampoo
was kidnapped by a dragon to be a dragon bride, and that the
spell was cast by the dragon to make Ranma hate Shampoo, knowing
that Ranma would believe she was responsible for Akane's
disappearance.

To the blackmailing efforts of Nabiki Tendo, and the taped
confession the girl acquired through unscrupulously bugging the
Nekohanten.

To the casting of the True Love spell on Ranma, and the
revelation that Akane was trapped in the Kami Plane.

To Cologne leaving with the promise that she would return
with the Eye of Kami, which would allow Ranma to rescue Akane
from the Kami Plane.

The Kami Plane.

Cologne closed her eyes, feeling the small warmth from the
campfire flicker against the withered skin of her face. She knew
what effect the Kami Plane had on those mortals who became
trapped within its boundaries. As well as what effect it had on
the friends and family and acquaintances who were left behind.
It
was a small piece of the vast knowledge of the unusual she had
acquired in a lifetime that spanned three centuries.

And now she knew for certain, from first hand experience,
that the knowledge she acquired was correct.

Because she could not, for the life of her, remember knowing
anyone named Akane Tendo.

And yet the girl existed. She had, apparently, been the
main obstacle to Son-in-law's heart, preventing him from marrying
Shampoo as he was bound by Amazon tribal law. Yet no matter what
Cologne did, or how she focused and meditated, she could not
remember her.

Her own memory told her that Ranma had two other girls, Ukyo
Kuonji and Kodachi Kuno, who lay claim to the boy as their
fiance, and that he had another potential fiancee in one of the
two Tendo sisters, to honor an agreement their fool fathers made.
Her own memory told her that Ranma was not in love with *any*
girl; that he was more interested in improving his martial arts
abilities and finding a cure to his Jusenkyo curse than deciding
which female suitor would be his wife.

Her own memory told her that the blood spell Shampoo had
cast was to force Ranma to go through a traumatic experience so
great that, when Shampoo was there by his side to give comfort
and support, he would fall in love with her of his own free will.
Her memory told her that it nearly worked but for the meddling of
Nabiki Tendo, who caught their confession on tape and threatened
to play it for Ranma unless they removed the spell from him.

Her own memory told her that her first attempt to remove the
spell voices from Ranma's mind had failed, but that she had
bought herself some time by going to China to get an Amazon cure
known as the Eye of Kami.

Cologne shook her head in amazement. Her memory paralleled
the story on the scroll, yet with all references to Akane Tendo
removed. But at least her memory was straight on *one* point.
There *was* no Eye of Kami. It was simply a ruse to allow her to
get away for a while as she...

*... gathered ingredients for a potion that would rid
Ranma's mind of the spell voices...*

No. That was what her mind told her, but according to the
scroll, the ruse was to buy time. Time for the Kami Plane to
extend its subtle magic and erase all memory of Akane Tendo from
the minds of her family, friends, and associates.

If her own memory was any indication, the Kami Plane's magic
was working. By the time she returned, no one would even
remember that Akane even existed, let alone needed to be rescued
from the Kami Plane.

Except for Ranma.

Cologne sighed, holding her tiny, wrinkled hands out to the
fire. The problem lay in the spell voices. They continually
whispered to Ranma's mind that Akane was alive, but that he would
never find her. There *was* the possibility that his memory of
Akane would fade in spite of the spell voices, and that the
voices would simply stop making sense to him. But there was also
the greater danger that, instead, they would keep Akane's memory
alive in him.

She *had* to find a way to eliminate the spell voices. She
had to make sure Ranma forgot Akane completely.

There was a way, but...

Cologne frowned, and used her staff to poke at they dying
flames of the campfire. Now was not the time to have second
thoughts. The game had become too dangerous, too complicated.

It was time for her and Shampoo to cut their losses and run.

She couldn't eliminate the spell voices completely. The
only way to do that was to break the blood spell itself, and that
was beyond her abilities.

But... there *was* a potion she could make that would numb
Ranma's mind to the point where he would no longer hear the spell
voices in his head. The disadvantage to this was that, while
Son-in-law would retain his martial arts prowess, the potion
would rob him of all functions of higher thought and much of his
memory. It would, essentially, leave him with the mentality of a
small child.

Then again, with Ranma in such a state, it would be easy to
take him by the hand and lead him docilely to the Amazon village,
far away from Nabiki Tendo and her blackmail tapes, as well as
the other girls who desired to have Son-in-law as their own.
Once they returned home, he would be Shampoo's husband and
provide strong heirs to strengthen the Amazon tribe. His state
of mind hardly mattered, since Shampoo would be the head of the
household anyway...

Cologne sighed. Shampoo might be a bit upset at first about
the potion's effects on Son-in-law. The whole reason her great-
granddaughter cast the blood spell in the first place was so that
Ranma would fall in love with her of his own free will. But the
chances of that happening now were practically nil. Shampoo
would have to be satisfied with Ranma's body. She would never
have his mind. Not if what her scroll said was true, and she
knew it was. She had written it herself, after all...

A smile crawled across Cologne's face as she contemplated
her decided course of action. A child-like Ranma with little
memory of his past could be easily molded into the perfect Amazon
man. *All in all,* she thought, *a plan with very few
drawbacks.* Now all she had to do now was find the necessary
ingredients for the potion...

--------------------

Akane heaved a shuddering sigh, her face and her eyes dry,
all her tears having been spent hours earlier. She sat on her
futon and waited, knowing that he would come. Funny, and a bit
unnerving at times, how he was able to read her mind that way...

"Akane-chan."

Akane turned to face the tengu. "Masakazu... sensei," she
said.

The tengu's eyes glimmered briefly with a smile as Akane
reaffirmed that she still wished to be his student. Then his
gaze turned serious. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

Akane wrapped her arms around her knees. "I... I don't
know. I'm... angry at her," she said softly. "She betrayed me.
And yet I can't help feeling bad because I know she doesn't
*mean* to hurt me..." Her thoughts drifted to the many nights
she awoke to the sound of ethereal grief as the Snow Woman
mourned for her lost children, and her heart ached with
conflicting emotions. She looked up at the tengu, her brown eyes
shimmering. "Does... does she plan to hurt Ranma?"

The tengu closed his eyes. "I don't know. Perhaps. Ever
since you became her bodyguard and she was able to remove the
barrier around her domain and relieve the drain on her powers,
she has been keeping her thoughts closely guarded. I do know
that she hates him because she blames him for your continued
desire to go home."

Akane shook her head and pressed her hands to her eyes.
"She wants to keep me here. Then what about the blood spell? It
doesn't make sense that she would work at breaking it every day
for two years if she wants me to stay."

"That I cannot answer," said Masakazu solemnly.

Akane lifted her hands from her eyes and looked at him
piercingly. "Cannot or will not?" she asked, knowing that
everything the tengu said was the truth, but that often he kept
knowledge from her for reasons known only to himself. Surely he
had known of the Snow Woman's true disposition long before she
had. She was tired of being left in the dark.

The tengu blinked at her. "Cannot," he answered. His voice
was surprisingly sad. "I wish I could give you the answers you
desire, but I am... forbidden." His bottomless black eyes met
hers, and she felt a tremor run through her as she saw something
she had never seen in her sensei's eyes before. Apprehension.
Nervousness. Akane blinked in surprise.

"I can tell you this," said the tengu softly, almost
urgently. "Part of the blood spell that binds you to the Kami
Plane has also protected you in a measure from the spell that the
Kami Plane casts on all mortals within its boundaries. The Kami
Plane is sentient, in a way. It is very aware of your human
presence amongst its eternal inhabitants. It is also aware that
you have not succumbed to its spell, and it is... frustrated.
Because of this, I have been severely... limited in the help I
can give you. Even the incident today, where I allowed you to
eavesdrop on the conversation between Yuki-onna and myself was...
how should I say? Pushing my luck."

Akane swallowed hard. "I... see..." she said, trying to
hold her voice steady. She had lived here for two years in
relative peace -- well, not counting the almost daily demon
attacks -- and yet now the Kami Plane was becoming more
frightening by the moment.

"You may do with this knowledge what you will," said the
tengu. "But do not ask more of me. Just know that, if it is
within my power to do so, I will help you."

Akane felt tears build behind her eyes. It was nice to know
that she wasn't *completely* alone... "Thank you, sensei," she
said. She felt a new resolve fill the emptiness inside her. She
stood from her futon.

"Where are you going?" asked Masakazu.

"I'm going to talk to Yuki-san," she replied.

--------------------

Yuki-onna gazed into her frosted mirror. She had been
spending more and more of her time the past few weeks looking in
on her hated enemy in the mortal plane as the fluxing time
dilation that existed between the planes gradually changed. Time
in the Kami Plane, which seemed to move faster than time in the
mortal plane as a general rule, was slowing down considerably in
relation to its mundane companion. Only a single month had
passed in the Kami Plane as opposed to the past three days in the
mortal realm, whereas before, months seemed to fly by in a few
mortal hours.

And now it appeared as if time in the mortal plane was
matching time in the Kami Plane almost minute for minute, which
made it harder for her to catch every moment in Ranma's life.
Because of this, the Snow Woman spied through her mirror
carefully every chance she could to make sure the boy didn't make
any progress on keeping his promise to find Akane. She sighed.
It was inconvenient, but no doubt Kami Plane time would start
speeding up once again...

An interesting scene was unfolding before her. It seemed as
though the influence of the Kami Plane was finally making itself
felt in the mortal world. Akane had faded completely from the
minds of her family and friends. Except for Ranma, of course,
because of that blasted wisp of dragon blood that served as a
transdimensional link between himself and Akane. He was now in
process of discovering that he was quite alone in his belief that
she existed at all.

"Look, Ranma." Nabiki's voice projected eerily from the
mirror. "I don't know where all this stuff came from. Maybe you
put this here while under the influence of the blood spell or
something. Maybe the blood spell created some physical evidence
to help convince you. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change the
fact that none of us were touched by the blood spell, and you
were. You have to accept that, or you're going to drive yourself
crazy worrying over a missing girl who doesn't exist."

A cold smile lit the Snow Woman's face as she watched.
This... this was something she would have to watch again. She
could almost see the boy's sanity start to crumble as Akane's
sister used piercing, if flawed logic to shatter his conviction
that they had forgotten Akane because of the blood spell. *He*
was the one touched by the blood spell, ergo, *he* was the one
with the delusional mind.

It was too perfect. If things kept up like this, she may
not have to do anything to interfere at all.

She couldn't help but chuckle softly at the stricken look on
Ranma's face as he slowly realized that Nabiki might be right.

She watched with cool amusement as Ranma went to his room,
his shoulders slumped in despair. He closed the door behind him,
went over to his dresser, knelt down, and opened the bottom
drawer. Using one hand to push his clothes aside, he reached in
with the other and pulled out a small cardboard box from the
bottom of the drawer. Sitting cross legged, he opened the box
with trembling hands.

Then, reaching in carefully, almost reverently, he pulled
out a length of dark, blue-black hair tied with a white ribbon.

Ranma's face was pale, his dark hair spiking over haunted
blue eyes that shimmered with tears of despair. He stroked the
silken strands with shaking fingers.

"Akane..." he whispered. And began to sob quietly.

The Snow Woman laughed.

Another sob, wrenching and full of pain.

Wait...

Yuki-onna's head snapped up. That sound hadn't come from
her mirror...

The Snow Woman spun around, the mirror darkening behind
her...

And found herself facing Akane.

Akane stood in the middle of her quarters, staring at the
now-dark mirror. Tears streamed silently down her face, her
brown eyes wide in a mingling of disbelief and grief...

... and fury.

Yuki-onna's stepped back in shock, leaning against the
mirror to keep from collapsing as the strength drained out of her
legs. "Akane..." she said hoarsely. "How... how long have
you..."

"Long enough," Akane replied. Her words were ghost-like,
barely audible, without any force behind them, yet Yuki-onna
reeled as if from a physical blow.

"Akane." Her voice was pleading. "I can explain..."

"You..." Her voice was low. The barest flicker of blue
battle aura began to show itself around Akane's trembling form.
"You laughed at him. I knew you resented him, but... How could
you take such delight in someone else's suffering? How could you
*laugh,* when he's so obviously in... in pain..." Akane's voice
cracked, and she blinked back the blinding tears and shook her
head back and forth, her jaw clenched tightly, as if in denial of
what she had just witnessed.

"Please understand, Akane..."

"Understand?!" Akane laughed bitterly through her tears.
"My family," she said, her voice rising in volume and pitch, "has
forgotten me. They've *forgotten* me! Ranma is the only one who
remembers me, and he thinks he's going crazy because of it, and
you laughed at him!" Her aura was flaring brightly now.

"Akane..." The Snow Woman's voice was quiet with despair.

"You knew this would happen! You've been watching Ranma and
my family through your mirror for two years! You knew it and you
didn't tell me! You *lied* to me!" Akane stood shaking with
fury.

Yuki-onna flinched, a look of anguish etching itself on her
smooth white face.

Akane seemed to deflate abruptly, and her battle aura died
down to nothing as she looked at the Snow Woman. She raised her
hands to brush ineffectually with her fingers at the continuing
flow of tears from her eyes.

"I trusted you," she whispered. "I thought you were my
friend. I even thought of you as... as..." She swallowed and
looked at the floor.

Yuki-onna wanted to say something... anything... to fix
everything that was falling apart around her, to remove the
sharpness from Akane's gaze and words, to win back the love and
trust of her kindred spirit, her... daughter...

But no words came.

When Akane looked up, her eyes were wet, but determined.
"I'm leaving," she said softly, hoarsely. "I'm going to find
someone in the Kami Plane who will break the blood spell so I
can... go home. You'll have to find someone else to be your pet
mortal from now on."

And with that, she turned and walked quickly away.

The Snow Woman, numb with shock, reached out her hand.
*No...* "Akane..."

*Akane, don't leave me...*

But she was gone.

In one day. Masakazu was gone, and now, Akane was gone.
She had lost them both.

The Snow Woman sat silently and stared at nothing as tears
of ice slid unnoticed down her face.

--------------------

"R-Ranma! H-hold on! W-wait up a s-sec!"

Ranma paused in running to glance behind him. Nabiki stood
gasping for breath, her book bag pressed to her chest with both
hands as she gulped in air. She glared at him as she slowly
straightened, then winced at a pain in her side.

"You don't... have to run... so fast," she said, her chest
heaving as she got her breath back. "Besides, we're already
late. A few more minutes won't kill us."

Ranma just looked at her. He'd never had to slow down for
Akane...

Akane...

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. *No! I can't
think about that.* His thoughts had been whirling in chaotic
circles all morning as he tried to reconcile his memories of
Akane with the reality that surrounded him -- a reality that said
she didn't exist -- and all he'd managed to do was develop a
colossal headache, as well as a strong doubt regarding the state
of his own sanity.

Part of him wanted give up. It would be so much easier to
believe Nabiki. It would be so much easier for him if he simply
accepted the possibility that Akane was nothing more than a
figment of the blood spell, a magical concoction designed to
manipulate his memory and emotions. If he did that, then he
could resign himself to learning about the unfamiliar reality he
found himself occupying, knowing that his memories... and his
feelings... were magically induced.

But another, deeper part of him screamed at him that his
memories were true. That Akane, and his feelings for her, were
the most real things he'd ever known.

And that disturbed him more than anything. Did that mean he
was right about Akane, and everybody else was wrong? Or did that
mean that he could no longer distinguish between himself and the
blood spell that had invaded him?

"Ranma?" Nabiki was looking at him, her brow creased
slightly with worry. Ranma looked a bit glazed. Her mouth
turned down at the corners as she realized it might not have been
such a hot idea to have him come with her to school today.

Ranma blinked, and his eyes focused on her. "Sorry," he
muttered softly. "I guess I'm just used to running with... I'll
slow down."

Nabiki didn't miss his correction. *That damn blood
spell...* "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, her voice
surprisingly gentle. "You can go home if you don't feel up to
this."

Ranma shook his head firmly. "No. I can't just sit around
and do nothing." The corner of his mouth turned up in half-smile
full of irony. "If I did that, I'd *really* go crazy."

Nabiki eyed him critically for a moment, and then her gaze
softened. "All right," she said, capitulating. "Let's go then.
But let's walk, okay?"

Ranma looked as if he wanted to protest, but then he sighed.
"Okay," he said.

Nabiki immediately wished she hadn't asked him to walk.
Even though it annoyed her that he left her in the dust, running
had seemed to revive a bit of the old spark in Ranma. But then
*anything* was better than watching Ranma waste away at home as
he pined after his imaginary blood spell girl. Still, telling
Ranma to just *walk* was like... like clipping an eagle's wings.

She was going to say something, to tell him to go on ahead
without her, but then she realized that he was no longer next to
her. Startled, she looked around and saw that he was balancing
on the fence next to the drainage ditch. And then, after a
graceful leap, he was walking on the wall on the other side of
the sidewalk. Then he was at her side again, only to be on the
fence a moment later. She realized that he was keeping pace with
her, but was simply covering a lot more ground while he was at
it.

Nabiki smiled. This was more like it. She should have
known Ranma couldn't hold himself back to just *walking.*

Ranma jumped to the sidewalk in front of her again, only to
get hit in the face with a ladle full of water.

"Glaahh!" he sputtered as his curse took effect. The old
woman took no notice of him as usual, and continued cleaning her
sidewalk.

Ranma looked down at his woman's body in shock for a moment,
then sighed heavily. "Aw, jeeze," he groaned, an octave higher
than usual. "Why couldn't *Jusenkyo* be part of my messed-up
memory?"

Nabiki shook her head, trying to conceal a smile that,
before the blood spell mess, would have been a smirk. "Honestly,
Ranma, I thought a martial artist like you would have learned to
avoid that old woman by now."

Ranma glared at her as he re-tied his belt to fit his tiny
waist and swiped the water from his dripping red bangs. "Yeah,
well, I was distracted," he growled unhappily.

Nabiki stifled a chuckle. "Come on," she said. "We'll get
you some hot water at school."

When they reached the school yard, however, Nabiki noticed a
young man, who appeared to be about college age, standing off to
the side on the school grounds. She turned to Ranma. "You go on
without me," she said, keeping her tone light. "I've got some
business to take care of."

Ranma looked at the young man suspiciously. "What kind of
business," he asked, raising a delicate eyebrow at her.

"Nothing you need to worry about." When Ranma continued to
give her the evil eye, she sighed. "Look, Ranma, it's okay,
really. It's for a good cause, even. Now go on before you miss
all the morning classes and Hinako-sensei decides to drain you in
spite of your excuse notes."

Ranma agreed... reluctantly. "Well, I gotta find some hot
water anyway," he said.

"Okay. See you at lunch, Ranma." And with that, Nabiki
walked off towards the strange man.

Ranma watched them go. *What in the world are you up to
this time, Nabiki?* he wondered.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted as he was suddenly
glomped from behind, his arms pinned firmly against his sides.
"Oh beauteous pig-tailed girl! How I despaired of ever casting
mine eyes upon your heavenly visage again! When these noble ears
caught the evil wind that the foul sorcerer Saotome was justly
enchanted, yet knowing thusly that he has linked thy life with
his own through dark magics, I feared lest I should never see you
agai--!"

Snarling in fury, Ranma writhed desperately in Kuno's iron
grip and managed to wrench one slender arm free. Reaching back,
he grabbed Kuno by his shirt front and yanked hard, flipping the
kendoist over his head and slamming him solidly into the ground,
knocking the breath out of him, and effectively cutting off his
speech.

"Stay away from me, Kuno," Ranma growled, standing over him
and clenching his small fists at his sides. "I'm not in the mood
to deal with you today, so just leave me alone, or I'm gonna have
to beat you to a pulp."

"But pig-tailed girl!" Kuno wheezed. "I came not only to
rejoice at your return, but to beg forgiveness at thy feet! Most
convenient, since here I lie, and at thine own hand."

Ranma blinked, stunned, and looked at Kuno with wide eyes.
It was an expression he would have consciously avoided a lot more
in his girl form if only he knew how cute it made him look. Kuno
was positively entranced.

"Wha...? Forgiveness? What the hell are you talking about,
you idiot?" *Why am I standing here talking to Kuno?* Ranma
thought incredulously. *I should just pound his head in and be
done with it.* Yet, even though he hated to admit it, there was
a comforting familiarity in Kuno's abhorrent obsession. Here was
something that *hadn't* changed with the onslaught of the blood
spell, and, irritating though it was, it was something he
recognized as part of his former life.

It felt good to beat up Kuno again.

Kuno lay on his back with his arms folded across his chest
and gazed up at him with adoring eyes. "Alas, the quandary of
true love! Know now that my heart ever belongs to thee, my pig-
tailed goddess. And yet this very morning as I roused myself
from sleep, mine eyes beheld a most amazing sight! For, next to
thy most sacred images on the walls of my bed chamber, I found
images of a creature most fair! Delicate and beautiful as the
blooming lily, yet fierce and powerful like a tigress. Truly, I
can see no other explanation as to how these images came upon my
walls than that the girl herself, longing for my person from
afar, cast aside her fears of rejection and entered my chambers
at night, stealing with such silent grace as to not awaken me
from slumber. Thereupon, she placed her images next to thine,
thinking not to compete with thine exquisiteness, yet hoping to
arouse the fiery passions of this devout heart."

Kuno then clenched his fists, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Oh, the pure love and fierce beauty of this mysterious maiden,
who has yet to make herself known to me!" He turned to Ranma.
"And yet, how can I abandon thee, who art yet so fair, to the
horrible machinations of the evil Saotome?" Kuno sat up and
thrust his fists in the air. "Oh curse you cruel Fate, to force
such a dilemma upon this faithful soul! I would date them
*both!*"

Ranma's jaw had sagged open, and his mouth was dry with
astonishment. Unfortunately, Kuno mistook his expression for one
of hurt betrayal. Which he would have done even if Ranma had
been dancing around in ecstatic happiness.

"Fear not, my beloved. You need not be jealous of this
sweet and innocent admirer. My great and noble heart has room
enough for the both of you."

Normally, this would have been Ranma's cue to punt Kuno into
the stratosphere. Actually, Ranma was so stunned, he'd already
missed this cue several times.

"You... you still have pictures of Akane..." he whispered.
*Nabiki said that the blood spell could have created physical
evidence to convince me, to match my memory, but... even Kuno's
pictures?*

Before he could think on that further, the spell voices
chose that moment to break through his mental defenses. They
swelled up painfully from the depths of his mind. "Augghh..."
Ranma groaned and clutched his head, sinking down to one knee.

Kuno immediately went to sweep him up in an embrace. "Pig-
tailed girl! What aileth thee, my lo--" His face met Ranma's
fist, and he collapsed once again to the pavement.

Ranma squinted his eyes shut and tried to focus, glad, at
least, that he'd managed to halt Kuno's advances for the moment.
He knew he couldn't concentrate and push the spell voices back
with Kuno glomping on to him...

Kuno lay on the pavement looking up to the cloudless sky.
"Oh, that my indecision has brought such pain to my beloved pig-
tailed goddess! Mystery maiden, I foreswear thee! Until you
make thyself known unto me face to face, I cannot love thee!
Truly, my fire-haired beauty has seen fit to display her
devotion..."

Ranma ignored Kuno's ramblings. Finding his center, he
forced the thick, black spell voices from the forefront of his
mind. They retreated reluctantly, clawing painfully for purchase
in the middle of his thoughts. But they *did* retreat, much to
Ranma's relief.

He stood shakily and glanced at Kuno, who still lay on his
back soliloquizing. Ranma grunted. "Later, Kuno," he muttered,
and ran towards the school in search of hot water, trying to
ignore the ringing in his ears left by spell voices.

--------------------

Nabiki halted around the corner of the high school building
when she was sure they were out of anyone's sight or hearing
range. She turned to the young man. "All right, Shiotani.
What's the report?"

The man named Shiotani bowed deeply to Nabiki. "There is
something... odd going on, Tendo-san. It's just a little thing,
it's probably nothing, but since you demanded a report on
anything unusual..."

"Just get to the point," she said.

"Well," the man held out a tri-folded sheet of paper. "The
list of instructions you left with each of the distributors...
We noticed that some of them don't make sense. Nobody noticed it
before, but now... We thought you should know about it, and
wondered if you wanted us to release the tape."

Nabiki frowned, her eyes narrowing as she took the paper
from the man and unfolded it. She scanned it briefly.

Her eyes widened, and the blood drained from her face.

"Tendo-san? Is everything okay?"

Nabiki swallowed and looked up. "I..."

"Do you want us to release the tape?"

"No!" Nabiki closed her eyes and steadied herself. "No.
Don't release it yet. I have to think about this, figure out how
this could have happened. There's still a chance that this is
just... I have to be sure." She opened her eyes and handed the
paper back to Shiotani. "Thank you for bringing this to my
attention."

The young man looked at Nabiki, and hesitantly raised an
eyebrow. "Are... are you sure you don't want to release the
tape? You said..."

"I'm sure," she snapped. Then she straightened, and her
calm demeanor reasserted itself. "I'll get back to you on this
within the next 24 hours," she said. "Until then, hold the tape.
It... it could do more damage than good if you were to release it
now."

The young man bowed, but his eyes were troubled. "Very
well, Tendo-san. I shall inform the others."

--------------------

A male, slightly damp Ranma entered the classroom with no
small amount of trepidation. Hinako-sensei paused in the middle
of her lecture and favored him with a sickeningly cute glare as,
with a sharp flip of her hand, she produced a five yen coin
perched perfectly between her index and middle fingers.

"Ranma Saotome, you naughty delinquent!" she piped in her
child-like voice. "Not only have you skipped school for the past
four days, but you show up an hour late for class! You need to
be disciplined. *Happo five-yen satsu!*"

"Wait, wait!" yelled Ranma as she began to drain his ki. He
dug into his pocket and pulled out the notes from his father and
Doctor Tofu. "I wasn't skipping school, I was... sick. See? I
have notes from my doctor even."

Hinako paused in draining his ki to examine the notes.
"Hmm," she said at last. "Very well. Take your seat, Mr.
Saotome."

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief and sat down behind his
desk, trying to ignore the stares he was receiving from his
classmates. The last thing he needed was to have his ki drained.
It was taking almost everything he had to hold the spell voices
at bay. It worried him. He wondered if they were getting
stronger, or if he was getting weaker.

"Hey Ranma." Ranma turned at the whisper to see Daisuke,
his friend who sat across from him, leaning over his desk. "Were
you really sick? We heard that Shampoo girl had cast some weird
Chinese spell on you."

"Yeah," added Hiroshi, who was sitting behind him. "We
heard that it totally made you fall in love with her, and that
you two were going to run off to China."

Ranma glared at them. "Don't be stupid," he said. "Shampoo
didn't do nothin' to me. It was some dragon in China. And I
ain't in love with her," he finished.

"So what *did* the spell do to you, then?"

"Yeah, we heard you were really out of it."

Ranma scowled fiercely. "Jeeze, you guys are nosey! Can't
a guy have some privacy?"

"Come on, Saotome. You can't leave us in the dark. Whaddit
do to you?"

"None of your busine--"

**Whap!**

Ranma suddenly found himself choking on chalk dust from the
eraser that had just smacked against the side of his head.

"Mr. Saotome, for talking in class, go stand in the hall."
Hinako-sensei's child face was pinched in a severe frown.

"But... but I..." Ranma stuttered. He realized with a
sinking feeling that he had raised his voice while trying to get
his friends off his back.

But before he could protest further, Hinako's coin flashed
between her fingers. "*Now,* Mr. Saotome."

Ranma sighed. "Yes ma'am."

*Aw, man, I shoulda stayed home.*

--------------------

Standing in the hall holding buckets, Ranma leaned against
the wall and looked over his shoulder. This, like his encounter
with Kuno, was familiar. But then, according to his memory, he
usually got in trouble for fighting with Akane.

*Akane...* Ranma's eyes misted in frustration. Was she
real or not? Was she a figment of the blood spell, or his... his
fiancee, trapped in the Kami Plane, waiting for him to keep his
promise to find her? All of the questions and fears and doubts
of the morning rose up in him once again. He wondered about Kuno
and the mysterious pictures. It was easier to believe that Kuno
had forgotten Akane than that the blood spell had created the
pictures just to fit Ranma's memory...

Or was that just his wishful thinking..?

Ranma groaned silently. It came down to which was more
plausible -- the blood spell creating physical evidence to fit
his memory, or the blood spell erasing Akane from the minds of
everyone who knew her. Either one sounded far-fetched, and yet
it had to be one or the other... Didn't it?

If the blood spell wasn't responsible for what was
happening, either to him or to everybody else, what was?

It was too confusing. Too many questions, and no answers in
sight. Ranma closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. The
spell voices tickled the back of his consciousness, trying to
break through to the forefront of his thoughts. He ignored them.

Instead, he thought of Akane. Not caring if the memories
were real or not.

With his eyes closed, he could almost imagine her standing
next to him in the hallway. A smile tugged at his lips as he
pictured her, glowing with indignant anger and threatening to
splash him with her bucket of water after he had teased her over
some frivolous thing...

His smile faded. He had teased her so often, said things
without thinking when he should have kept his mouth shut. All
because he was too damn scared to admit that he... cared for her.
That he would die for her. That the thought of losing her
forever made him crazy with grief...

He knew he had hurt her. Going too far with the name
calling, or making fun of her martial arts abilities or her
cooking...

He would eat a whole room full of her cooking if it meant he
could see her again.

His thoughts went back to the brief moment when he saw her
in the Kami Plane. How... how beautiful she was, even when she
was crying. How her deep brown eyes glistened when she told him
that... she loved him.

Ranma felt his heart tremble in his chest. In spite of
everything he'd done to her, all the pain he'd caused her because
he was too afraid to show her how he really felt, she loved him.

And now he might never get the chance to tell her the truth.
Because she was either sealed away from him in the Kami Plane, or
didn't exist at all.

Ranma looked at the floor as his vision swam with tears, and
his fists clenched tightly around the bucket handles. *It's not
fair. Why does this stuff always happen to me? First I get
saddled with this stupid curse, and now...*

The bell rang, and the students of Furinkan High came
swarming from the classrooms into the halls.

"Hey, look, Ranma's back."

"Really? I heard he was enchanted or something."

"No way. Again? How many times can a guy get cursed?"

"Hey, Ranma, is it true?"

"What's wrong with him? He's just staring at the floor."

"Maybe he's in a trance..."

"Naw, he's faking. He just wants attention."

"As if he didn't get enough..."

"No, that's not it. I heard he was enchanted to fall in
love with some imaginary girl that he made up in his mind."

"Oh jeeze. That's sick."

"Shut up, idiot. You want him to hear you?"

Ranma set the pails down, not looking up, his dark bangs
hanging over his face. If everybody saw the unshed tears in his
eyes, they would all get the wrong idea. This was that last
thing he needed to deal with.

It had been a mistake to come...

"Oh man, did you see that? Ranma just jumped out the
window."

"Third story."

"Figures. Show-off..."

"Aw, you're just jealous..."

Ranma ran across the school yard in a flash and was gone,
not knowing where he was running to, and not caring.

--------------------

Nabiki stood on her tip toes and scanned the lunch mob. No
sign of him. That in itself was worrisome, since Ranma almost
always managed to snag the food he wanted, and usually made a
spectacle of himself while he was at it. She saw one of the guys
that he hung out with and snagged his arm.

"Hey, Hiroshi."

Hiroshi turned, and, when he saw it was her, he blanched.
No doubt thinking of the money he owed her.

She grinned predatorily. "Don't worry, 'Roshi. I'm not
here to collect on your... substantial debt. I'm trying to find
Ranma. Have you seen him?"

Hiroshi put his hand behind his head in relief. "Uh, gee,
Nabiki, last time I saw him he came in late for class, and then
Hinako made him hold buckets in the hall for talking."

"Didn't you hear?" said Daisuke, coming up behind Hiroshi.
"Ranma jumped out the window and took off after the first morning
class. People who saw him said he was acting really weird." He
looked at Nabiki inquiringly. "So, do you know what happened to
him? I mean, he lives with your family, so you gotta know,
right?" Knowing what it took to get Nabiki to divulge
information, he reached into his pocket for his wallet.

*I'll tell you for 1,000 yen.* The words were on her lips,
but never made it out. Instead, she gazed at him levelly. "You
can't afford that information," she said. "Trust me. The price
is way too high."

The two boys stared at her in amazement as she turned and
walked away.

*Why did I do that? They would have paid, both of them.
They're dying to know what's going on...*

She pushed those thoughts aside as an unfamiliar tightness
filled her chest. She left the building and looked around the
crowded school yard. There was no sign of him, no flash of red
Chinese shirt, no bounce of dark pig-tailed hair.

*Ranma, where have you run off to?*

*Please be okay...*

She needed to talk to him, to make sure he was safe... and
sane. Although she wasn't sure how talking to him would help,
exactly. She herself felt disjointed and confused. She didn't
understand what was going on, and that scared her.

Her thoughts kept returning to the instructions she had
given to each of her hired "distributors" a few days before.

How, when she read the instructions again today, she found
the very specific instruction that Ranma was to hear the tape if
he or anyone else, by mysterious means, had their memory altered
in any way in regards to one Akane Tendo, her little sister.

And the instructions were in her own handwriting...

A sister. A sister that she didn't know anything about,
because she was nothing more than a figment of the blood spell in
Ranma's mind.

A sister that Ranma loved...

If Akane was real, then Ranma was engaged to *her*...

*No. It can't be. It's just more physical evidence created
by the blood spell,* she reasoned. *Like the room. That's all
it is. If I had a younger sister, I'd remember her, I'm sure of
it.*

But the explanation, which had made so much sense before,
now seemed hollow and forced. The doubt was there, weighing
heavily in her stomach. And Nabiki scanned the crowd of
students, searching for Ranma with a new understanding of what he
might be feeling as, for the first time, she doubted the validity
of the world around her...

"Nabiki!"

Nabiki turned to see who was calling her name, and saw Ukyo
running towards her. The chestnut-haired girl wore a long
figure-flattering cream sweater and black tights, and held a flat
square box balanced on one hand.

"Nabiki," she said as she reached her. "Have you seen
Ranchan? I heard he came back to school today, and I wanted to
bring him some lunch."

Nabiki looked at the cute, cheerful okonomiyaki chef, and
felt faint stirrings of... annoyance deep within her. "I
haven't seen him since this morning," she said briskly. *And if
I knew where he was, I certainly wouldn't tell you.*

Ukyo frowned. "Come on, Nabiki. You know everything that
goes on around here, it seems. You can't tell me that you've
lost track of him. Okay, how much do you want?"

Nabiki bristled and felt herself losing her cool. "I don't
*want* your money," she said tightly. "I don't know where he is.
I'm not his keeper, you know."

Ukyo blinked in surprise. "Sorry... I just thought--"

"You thought wrong."

Ukyo stared at Nabiki. The frost coming from her gaze
nearly chilled her to the bone. *Jeeze, what's with *her* all of
a sudden?*

"Where Ranma?!" The shout that split the air announced the
arrival Shampoo as her bike came to land next to a startled Ukyo
and Nabiki. In one hand, the purple-haired Amazon held a Chinese
take-out box by the handle.

Shampoo leaped off her bike and glared at Ukyo and her box
of okonomiyaki. "You, not-nice girl! What you do with Ranma?
Shampoo bring him lunch."

Ukyo crouched in a battle stance, her eyes narrowing. "Oh
no you don't. I've already brought him some okonomiyaki."

"Girls." The word was soft, but piercing, and effectively
silenced the two would-be combatants. They turned and looked at
Nabiki, who stood with her eyes closed and her arms folded across
her chest. "He's not even here, so you're both wasting your
time." Her eyes opened, and she fixed Shampoo with a baleful
stare. "Especially you," she said. "You have a lot of nerve,
coming after Ranma like this."

Shampoo paled, knowing that Nabiki still had her taped
confession, but held her ground, also knowing about the deal she
had made with Cologne not to play it for Ranma unless they
couldn't break the spell. Great-grandmother still had a day and
a half to come back from China with a cure. "What Shampoo do for
Ranma is none of your business," she said.

"Wrong, Shampoo. Nabiki's right," said Ukyo, glaring at the
Amazon. "It's all your fault Ranma is suffering with this blood
spell. Even if you really were captured by some dragon -- which
I seriously doubt, I might add -- Ranma wouldn't be in this mess
if you didn't keep claiming he was your husband."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at this. Apparently, Ukyo wasn't
as naive as she thought. Then again, she had good reason not to
believe Shampoo...

Shampoo clenched her teeth as tears suddenly built behind
her eyes, and she looked back and forth between Nabiki and Ukyo.
"Shampoo no care what you think," she said softly, fighting the
overwhelming feelings of guilt that rose within her. "Ranma
believe Shampoo. That all that matter."

"Ranma believe Shampoo," Nabiki mimicked, gazing at her
stonily. "But for how long?"

Shampoo blanched. Nabiki wouldn't go back on her word,
would she? If she did, Shampoo would lose everything. But then
if she did, great-grandmother wouldn't be bound to leave the
Tendo family alone...

No. Nabiki cared about her family's welfare too much to
break her word. "Shampoo not know why you care, sneaky girl,"
she said. "You no love Ranma. You use him. You sell pictures
of girl-type without him knowing to make money."

Nabiki didn't realize that her hands had curled into fists.
*So I've used Ranma to make a bit of profit now and then,* she
thought. *It helps pay for the food that he and his free-loading
father eat at the dojo. That doesn't mean I don't...*

"Well then," she said, the calm of her voice belying the
whiteness of her knuckles. "It should interest you to know that
this very morning, our parents formalized the engagement between
Ranma and I. He is now my fiance, and I am his *legitimate*
fiancee, since the deal made between our parents pre-dates all
others Genma may have made. And your ridiculous Amazon law
doesn't count either, of course."

Shampoo and Ukyo stared at her, stunned.

"You... you can't be serious," said Ukyo. "You don't really
intend to marry Ranchan, do you? I mean, you don't... You never
even..."

Nabiki turned her cool gaze on Ukyo. "I think that's
between Ranma and myself, and none of your concern."

Shampoo's stunned expression slowly dissolved to anger. In
the past few days, this brazen Tendo girl had practically
destroyed any chance of happiness between herself and Ranma, and
now she had the audacity to claim to be his fiancee? To mock the
ancient laws of the Amazons? Shampoo's violet eyes sparked, and
she drew herself up to face her enemy. "Feh," she said sharply.
"If sneaky girl think Ranma marry her, she more fool than I
thought. Ranma never marry girl so cold and heartless."

Ukyo's eyes widened, and she glanced between Nabiki and
Shampoo nervously. She noticed that their little group encounter
was attracting stares from all over the school grounds. She held
her breath, and wondered if she should intervene on Nabiki's
behalf if things got violent, which was a strong possibility
considering the battle auras the two girls were suddenly giving
off. After all, Nabiki didn't have any fighting skills that she
knew of...

Nabiki stood silent a moment, meeting Shampoo's gaze. Her
expression didn't change, but her eyes flashed fiercely.
"Whether or not Ranma and I decide to honor our parents'
agreement has yet to be decided between us," she said in a low
voice. "But this I can tell you. Ranma will never marry you,
Shampoo. He has never thought of you as more than a friend. And
soon he may not even think that of you. So you'd better get used
to the idea."

Shampoo cried out in fury, then crouched with a snarl.
"Tendo Nabiki! I kill!"

Ukyo tensed, ready to intercept Shampoo--

"Remember the tape," Nabiki said sharply, not moving a
muscle.

Shampoo froze. She stood trembling in her battle crouch,
her fists clenched, her eyes tearing with frustration as she
glared hatefully at Nabiki.

Then, with out warning, Shampoo's expression crumbled and
she let out a low sob. Turning, she yanked her bike off the
ground and sped off, leaving Nabiki, Ukyo and the raman behind in
a cloud of dust.

They stood in silence a moment.

"Uh..." said Ukyo. *What on earth just happened?!*

"Look, Ukyo." Nabiki turned to her. Ever perceptive, she
hadn't missed that Ukyo had planned to intercede on her behalf.
She looked at the okonomiyaki chef, her expression calm. Yet her
eyes glimmered with some unidentifiable emotion.

Ukyo blinked in surprise as she realized Nabiki was on the
verge of tears.

"Ranma will marry whomever he chooses," Nabiki said
steadily. "I'm not going to force him to honor the agreement our
idiot fathers made almost seventeen years ago. Besides, I've
never been one who likes to be bound by traditions as archaic as
arranged marriages. So if Ranma decides to marry you, that's
fine with me. I'll support him."

Nabiki's neutral expression quirked at the corners, and her
mouth turned up in a tiny, self-depreciating smile that matched
the wetness in her eyes. "But if, for some strange reason beyond
my comprehension, he decides to stick to our fathers' agreement,
I don't think I'll complain too loudly. I hope you don't
begrudge me that."

Ukyo stared at Nabiki in wide-eyed disbelief. Then, she
found herself returning the smile, blinking back her own tears,
her expression softening with sympathy. "I should have known,"
she said. "He's gotten to you too, hasn't he."

To her astonishment, Nabiki flushed and lowered her gaze.
Ukyo chuckled, a bit sadly. "That's my Ranchan," she said,
sighing. "The human fiancee magnet. And now he's even got an
imaginary fiancee, thanks to this horrible blood spell."

"Yes," said Nabiki, refusing to think about the... other
possibility. At least for the moment. She straightened.
"That's what we should be worrying about right now. Ranma's not
going to be in any shape to do anything unless that blood spell
is broken. He looked okay when I last saw him this morning, but
I've been told that he ran off after the first class."

Ukyo's expression creased with sudden worry. "Well, then,
let's go find him, shall we?" She gestured in the direction of
the of the neighborhood.

Nabiki nodded. "Okay." They headed off the school grounds
together.

"I hope..."

Nabiki trailed off hesitantly.

"Yeah," said Ukyo. "Me too."

Nabiki glanced at her, wondering if Ukyo really knew what
she was going to say.

She smiled a little as she realized it didn't matter.

--------------------

Ranma sat under the bridge on the bank of the canal, staring
sightlessly at the barges floating past, his ears not hearing the
gentle lapping of the water against the shore line.

It was so hard to think. Nothing made sense anymore. Ranma
felt his mind gradually shutting down in self-defense against the
onslaught of spell voices and reality paradoxes that were
assaulting him. He didn't even know how long he'd been sitting
there, unmoving, staring at nothing, withdrawing deeper into
himself where it was safe.

A long time, probably. His legs felt a little cramped.

"Ranma Saotome?"

Ranma blinked and turned slowly to the young man who had
just walked up to him. A part of his mind that was still active
vaguely recognized him as the man Nabiki walked off with this
morning. He blinked again, willing his eyes to focus, but was
unsuccessful.

The man knelt next to him. "Here," he said, handing him a
small package. "I've been instructed to give this to you. If
Tendo-san says anything, tell her I was simply following her
original instructions to the letter, which included ignoring any
instructions she gave afterwards that sounded suspicious, or went
against the original agenda."

Ranma stared blankly at the package in his lap.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ranma responded automatically. Lifelessly.

The man frowned. "Aren't you going to open it?" When Ranma
didn't move, the man sighed. "Okay, whatever. I'm supposed to
make sure you listen to this, so here, let me have it." He took
the package from Ranma's limp hands and opened it to reveal a
small cassette player with headphones attached. He put the
earphones over Ranma's ears and pressed the play button.

"There," he said. "I've done my job. See you around, kid."
The man walked away, knowing from experience that the less he
knew about what was on that tape, the better.

Ranma sat, his besieged mind barely registering the words
that sounded in his ears at first.

Fortunately, it was a long-playing tape, and Nabiki had made
sure the whole thing was filled with the vital conversation,
repeated over and over...

Gradually, Ranma's eyes began to clear...

--------------------

The Snow Woman stood at the edge of her realm. Behind her
lay a white crystalline wasteland; above her an unmercifully cold
and clear night sky. The piercing stars gazed down on her
without pity.

Two weeks, and Akane had not returned. Yuki-onna raised her
slender white hands and pressed them against the prickly energy
of her barrier. Beyond the barrier lay the mists of Kami that
separated the different realms from each other. It was into
those very mists that Akane had ventured two weeks previous
without a backwards glance for her former friend and protector.

All because of that boy...

The mists in front of her began to stir.

*Ah,* she thought. *It comes at last.*

The mists swirled and parted. From the darkness emerged a
pair of narrowed yellow eyes with slitted pupils, and the flicker
of black ki. The Shadowcat padded silently up to the edge of the
barrier in front of the Snow Woman.

**I am here, Snow Woman.** It sent the words into her mind.
**I am curious as to why you, who has abhorred my kind for so
long, have sent me such a gracious invitation.**

The Snow Woman smiled at the demon, her frost-blue eyes
glinting. "I have a proposal for you," she whispered.

--------------------

End of Part Eleven

Please send all C&C to:

kap...@mokamo.com

The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation
and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi.

---------------------------------------------
Hearts of Ice
Part 12: Revenge is a Dish Best Served...
by Krista Perry
---------------------------------------------

Ryoga looked up at the street sign just outside the market
with a complete lack of recognition, and felt his cheek twitch,
just under his left eye.

He'd done it again.

He looked down at the bag of groceries he carried in his
arms, his expression twisting in anxiety. Kasumi-san was
expecting him to return with the food so she could make dinner.
But it was almost dinner time, and he couldn't find his way back
to the Tendo dojo.

Heck, it had taken him all morning and most of the afternoon
just to find the market.

Well, he found *a* market...

He turned in a full 360 degree circle, his eyes scanning in
all directions, and failed to recognize a single thing. Except
the familiar, bemused expressions on the faces of various
pedestrians who couldn't help but stare at him, he was so
obviously lost and confused...

Ryoga clenched his teeth as his frustration and depression
grew. His fingers tightened convulsively on the fragile paper
bag he carried, threatening to rend it and spill it's contents
across the sidewalk.

*I'm never going to find my way back!* he realized with
growing panic. *And after Kasumi-san entrusted me with such a
simple thing as picking up a few groceries! Now the Tendo family
will have to go without dinner, all because of my lousy sense of
direction!!*

Ryoga's self-esteem shriveled under the piercing, familiar
humiliation. It was all right for him to get lost every now and
then, but not when people were depending on him. Ryoga clenched
his eyes shut, trying to block out the anxiety that was steadily
rising in him. But it was no use.

And somewhere, deep in the core of his soul, a familiar,
habitual curse broke loose from the smothered depths and rose to
the surface of his thoughts with a build-up of rage so great that
he couldn't contain it and it burst forth from his throat with a
cry--

"*Damn you, Ranma! This is all your fault!!*"

People stared and hastily backed away, giving Ryoga a wide
radius. He didn't notice. Because, abruptly, his rage faded.
Or rather, it was overwhelmed by a new feeling; a feeling of
inexplicable perplexity. Ryoga froze and blinked in confusion.

He felt... ashamed. And sheepish. And he wasn't even sure
why. After all, it was the most natural thing to blame Ranma for
his misery, since he was the cause of most of it...

Still...

A puzzled frown slowly made its way across Ryoga's face.
The past few days, ever since the blood spell had been cast on
Ranma, he had found himself... thinking differently. As if his
perspective had been altered. Could watching Ranma's suffering
really have affected him so deeply...?

Like now. Instead of his rage towards Ranma building until
he was practically incoherent with fury and filled with the
desire to pound his rival's head in...

...he found himself thinking that Ranma *couldn't* be
responsible for his predicament. He hadn't even seen him since
he left for school with Nabiki that morning. And he could hardly
blame Ranma for his lousy sense of direction. He had been
getting lost long before he met Ranma...

Ryoga looked down at the groceries in his arms, a strange
feeling settling into his gut. It was too weird. Just over a
week ago, he would have had a hard time admitting that. Even to
himself.

But... ever since he saw the blood spell seep into Ranma,
and then watched helplessly as Ranma's spell-induced psychosis
caused him to waste away from despair over an imaginary girl...
something had changed inside him. Something subtle and hard to
pin down. Ryoga found himself actually feeling anxiety on
Ranma's behalf. He found himself actually *worrying* about
Ranma. He actually hated to watch Ranma suffer from the effects
of the blood spell that seemed intent on destroying his sanity...

That, in itself, was not unusual. The fact that he
*admitted* to himself that he was worried about Ranma, was.

And, in spite of everything Ranma had ever done to torment
and humiliate him, he found he couldn't quite bring himself to be
quite as... angry at his... friend...

His friend..?

Ryoga shook his head in amazement. It was as if, in the
days following the blood spell, the fog of anger that had clouded
his mind for so long had gradually lifted. He felt as if he was
thinking clearly for the first time in years.

Well, not clearly enough to find his way around...

Still, everything that had ever kindled his fury towards
Ranma didn't seem nearly as earth-shattering and universe-rending
as it had just a few days ago. Okay, so Ranma *was*
responsible... indirectly... for his curse. He would never have
fallen into that cursed spring if Ranma hadn't knocked him off
the cliff over Jusenkyo.

But then, Ranma wouldn't have knocked him off the cliff if
he hadn't been so stubborn and stupid to follow Ranma all the way
to China just to finish that stupid bread feud...

Ryoga's frown deepened at this new train of thought.

He knew Ranma didn't do it intentionally. It seemed Ranma
*never* caused problems intentionally. He was just a trouble
magnet.

The frown softened; even turned up at one corner, changing
to the wry smile that he wore often; the smile that spoke of
knowing the harsh ironies of life on a personal basis. It seemed
that he and Ranma were both cursed, in more ways than just the
Jusenkyo curses they had in common: He had a lousy sense of
direction, and Ranma... well, Ranma attracted major disasters.

He understood that now; understood that Ranma was as often
the hapless victim of quirky fate as he was, if not more so. He
had come to understand this in the past few days in a way he
never had when he had followed Ranma to China so long ago, fueled
by his anger at being betrayed... at being abandoned...

Ryoga paused. Then blinked as the thought came clearly into
his mind for the first time in his life.

Abandoned.

That was it. The real reason behind his past vendetta
against Ranma. The reason he'd never been able to put into
words, so instead, he simply uttered his battle cry of "Ranma,
prepare to die!"

Ryoga had always been alone. He had grown up alone. His
parents, burdened with the same lousy sense of direction they had
passed on to their son, were rarely ever home. He didn't have
friends at school because he couldn't find the school building
regularly enough to make friends. And when he actually *could*
find it, most of the other boys had made fun of him, saying that
he must be really stupid to not be able to do something as simple
as find his way to school on a regular basis.

Martial arts had been his only recourse, his only solace.
And the only way to keep the other kids from teasing him. After
all, it wasn't wise to tease a boy who could smash his fist
through a few feet of solid concrete without even flinching.

Then one day, when he had happened to find his junior high
school, Ranma showed up. Ranma Saotome, who, against school
regulations, wore his hair long and pulled back into a pony-tail
tied at the base of his neck.

His first encounter with Ranma was when his head became
intimately acquainted with the soles of Ranma's feet as the pony-
tailed boy snatched the last curry bread from his outstretched
grasp, thus starting the infamous bread feud. On top of that,
Ranma -- unlike the other boys who had long since given up out of
fear of his prodigious strength and marital arts skills -- teased
him for getting lost.

Ryoga felt the familiar rage stir deep in his chest at the
memory. Ranma was so arrogant, so sure of himself... How dare
he make fun of him?!

Then, just as quickly as it came, the rage inside him
calmed. That was so long ago. Why should he get all worked up
over something that happened years ago?

And, now that he thought about it; as the memory played
itself through his mind... Ryoga was surprised to realize that
even though Ranma had teased him, the teasing was without the
malice that had spiked the words of his other classmates.

It was simply the way Ranma communicated; the only way he
knew *how* to communicate after a life on the road with his less-
than-socially-minded father. And Ryoga, whose own parental
guidance came in brief spurts of a few days over the span of his
entire lifetime, had responded less than understandingly. In his
mind, there was only one way to repair the damage Ranma inflicted
to his shredded self-esteem.

But Ryoga couldn't beat him up. Couldn't even touch him, in
fact. Ranma was too good, too quick. The fight was over in
seconds.

They should have been enemies after that first fight. Ryoga
thought they *were* enemies. He had pushed himself off the
ground, propping himself up on one elbow to wipe away the small
streak of blood from his lip, glaring hatefully at the pony-
tailed boy who stood over him.

Ranma grinned, and reached out his hand. "Hey, you're
pretty good," he said. "Not as good as me, of course, but that's
still the best fight I've had in ages. Better'n sparrin' with my
old man, that's for sure."

Ryoga stared at the outstretched hand, speechless and frozen
in disbelief. What was he doing?? Didn't he know that they were
sworn enemies now?

"Come on," said Ranma, reaching down impatiently and hauling
Ryoga to his feet. "Tell ya what. For giving me such a good
fight, I'll take you to your house. I know you'll never find it
on your own." He laughed. "Man, that sense of direction of
yours is pretty amazing. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't
seen you get lost on your way from class to the lunch room with
my own two eyes."

Ryoga blinked, too stunned at the offer to get angry at
Ranma's taunt.

He hadn't been able to find his home in days...

And nobody... *nobody* had ever offered to help him
before...

So instead of taking his revenge, he looked down at his feet
and sullenly mumbled his address to Ranma, then allowed the pony-
tailed boy to lead him home.

Ranma waved to him from the front gate. "Hey, I'll see you
tomorrow morning," he called. "Don't want you to get lost on the
way to school again, after all." And he laughed, springing up to
walk on the fence.

Ryoga seethed at the laugh, and watched Ranma leave through
narrowed eyes. But, deep inside, in a place his pride wouldn't
admit existed, he was... grateful.

After that, Ranma showed up at his door every morning like
clockwork to take him to school, and then led him home every
night without fail. It was the longest stretch of time Ryoga had
ever been able to attend school, and he found himself enjoying
it.

But most of all, above everything else, he secretly enjoyed
his fights with Ranma. Even the infamous bread fights in the
lunchroom. Fighting with Ranma constantly forced him to stretch
and grow in his abilities as he tried to find ways to defeat him.
Then, just when he thought he had him for sure, Ranma somehow
came up with a counter-technique, often making up the moves as he
went along. It was infuriatingly frustrating, losing over and
over again. But it was also a constant challenge; an obsession
that kept his mind off the other... less appealing aspects of his
life.

He knew Ranma enjoyed the fights as well (especially since
he always managed to win). They fought almost constantly. The
walks to and from school were more like one long extended battle.
And the fights always started the same way. Ranma would taunt
Ryoga, and Ryoga would attack him in a rage.

Yet, deep in the core of that rage was a tiny seed of
gladness.

For two boys who had never been taught even the most basic
communications skills, Ryoga and Ranma spoke the same language:
Martial arts. And for Ryoga, fighting with a near equal
opponent, an opponent who always forced him to stretch the limit
of his abilities, was pure nirvana.

And so it was that, after four days of searching for the
vacant lot behind his house, finding it at last, and yet not
finding Ranma for the big bread feud duel, Ryoga was devastated.

And then, when Ryoga finally found his way home, Ranma again
failed to show up to lead him to school.

Days passed, and no Ranma. When Ryoga found the school
again weeks later, he was told that Ranma's father had taken him
out of school to go on a training trip to China.

Abandoned. He'd been abandoned by his only... friend.

So, in his anger, Ryoga did the only thing he could think
of. He followed to get revenge.

And got lost...

"Hey Ryoga."

Ryoga started at the sound of his name, and looked up. As
he did, he realized that he had been walking aimlessly while
absorbed in thought, and that he was no longer standing in front
of the market he'd found. But that thought was pushed aside as
he looked up at the wall beside him and saw Ranma looking down at
him.

He blinked in surprise. "Ranma! What are you doing here?"

A faint smile touched Ranma's lips as he jumped down next to
him; a smile that failed to reach his eyes. "Do you even know
where 'here' is, Ryoga?"

Ryoga scowled. "I'll have you know that I'm just on my way
back to the dojo after picking up a few things for Kasumi to fix
for dinner, Ranma," he growled.

"Oh." Ranma reached up, grabbed Ryoga's shoulder, and spun
him around. "Well then, if you're headed for the dojo, you
should probably be going *that* way."

Ryoga clenched his teeth, biting off a retort, and glared at
Ranma as he fell into step beside him.

Then he realized something. Ranma looked different.
Something about his expression. Ranma's face had lost the quiet
despair that had permeated his countenance that morning...

"Hey," he said, surprised. "You look like you're feeling
better, Ranma."

"I *am* feeling better."

Ryoga blinked. There was a distinct hardness to Ranma's
voice. "So, uh..." he said uncertainly. "The spell voices
aren't bothering you anymore?"

"Oh, they're still in there. But I got 'em under control."

Ryoga glanced sidelong at Ranma. Ranma was staring straight
ahead. His outward expression seemed calm, but Ryoga noticed
that his jaw was clenched tight, and his eyes...

He swallowed. Ranma's eyes were filled with a cold,
carefully controlled fury. He could tell immediately that it
wasn't directed at him, but... it was an expression he'd never
seen on his friend's face before.

It was damn scary.

"You sure?" he asked, shaken.

"Ryoga." That same, level voice. Ryoga knew he wasn't
always the most perceptive person on the face of the earth, but
it was hard not to notice Ranma's stranger-than-normal behavior.
This was definitely not the Ranma he knew. Had the spell voices
finally driven him off the deep end?

"What?" he asked carefully.

Ranma looked over at him, and Ryoga blinked, relieved, yet
surprised to see that the fury was gone from his eyes, dissipated
as if it had never been. Instead, Ranma seemed merely curious.

Yet something still wasn't right.

"Do you remember who gave you that P-Chan nickname?" Ranma
asked.

"What?!" Ryoga stopped in mid-stride. Ranma had said and
done some weird things since the blood spell, but this was
totally off the wall.

Ranma stopped as well, and turned to face him. "Well, do
you?"

"Of course I do! You call me that all the time, Ranma!"
Ryoga yelled. Blood spell or not, Ranma had a lot of nerve
twisting that old thorn in his side...

"Yeah," agreed Ranma calmly. "But who gave you that
nickname? It sure wasn't me."

Ryoga blinked in shock, then his eyes narrowed. "Yes it
was, Ranma," he snapped. "And you did it just to torment me, as
usual."

Ranma snorted, and yet he looked strangely satisfied at
Ryoga's reply. "Yeah, right. Like *I* would come up with a name
like 'P-Chan' when 'Bacon Breath' and 'Porky' suit you so much
better."

Only the fact that he was carrying Kasumi's groceries kept
Ryoga from pounding Ranma right there. "Shut up, Ranma! What do
you know, anyway? Your memory's all messed up from the blood
spell!"

Ranma looked at him, and the sudden seriousness of his gaze
silenced him. Underneath that seriousness, Ryoga could feel that
seething fury again. A fury so strong, that, were Ranma to let
it loose, it would have made one hell of a battle aura. And yet
Ranma had it carefully controlled so that it merely flickered in
his eyes.

"You could be right, Ryoga," said Ranma gravely. "My brain
might be totally scrambled because of the blood spell."

Then he lifted one hand to reveal a small cassette tape he
was holding between two fingers. That small, disturbing smile
touched his lips again. "But I don't think so."

Ryoga eyed the tape suspiciously. "What's that?"

"Proof." Ranma slid it into his pocket and patted it
protectively.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Ryoga, fighting
to keep the anger from his voice. Ranma was definitely creeping
him out. "What do you mean, 'proof?'"

But Ranma didn't appear to be listening. He just continued
walking, staring ahead with a thoughtful, yet slightly troubled
expression on his face.

Ryoga watched him in silence, a feeling of foreboding
building in his gut.

"You were... in love with her, you know," Ranma said at
last, quietly. A strange convoluted expression of anger, regret,
sadness, and nostalgia played across his face. He snorted
softly. "Huh. I hated it, hated how you could say it, and I...
couldn't. And it drove me crazy, the way she never caught on to
your curse. And you..." He raised an eyebrow and frowned, still
staring straight ahead. "You were always sneaking into her..."
He cut himself off, and glanced over at Ryoga.

Ryoga was looking at him, his eyes wide and worried, with a
tinge of panic in them. *Oh man oh man. Ranma's completely lost
it. He's talking about that imaginary girl in his head. He's
completely lost touch with reality. What do I do now..?*

It was almost as if Ranma could read his mind. He smirked,
but his eyes were sad. "But then, you don't even remember that,
do you," he said. "Even though the last time it happened was
just over a week ago. Nobody remembers. Except me."

"Ranma..."

"Ryoga." Ranma cut him off abruptly. "I'm not crazy. Yes,
I'm the one with the blood spell in my head. But whatever has
made everybody forget Akane isn't the blood spell. It's
something else. I don't know what, but..." Ranma's gaze hardened
and the fury blazed in his eyes once again. His hand reached
down unconsciously to cover the cassette tape in his pocket.
"...I'm pretty damn sure I know who's behind it."

He stopped walking. Ryoga blinked, and realized that they
were standing outside the gates of the Tendo dojo.

Ranma suddenly turned to him, and looked into his eyes.
Ryoga was startled by the intensity he saw there; such a contrast
to the bleak hopelessness he saw in Ranma that very morning. He
wasn't sure which was more frightening.

"I'm gonna get her back, Ryoga. I don't know how, but I'm
gonna find a way. And when I do, you'll probably remember her
again. But I want you to know right now, once and for all --
Akane is my fiancee. And if you try to interfere again..."
Ranma trailed off, then looked down, his dark bangs covering his
eyes. His voice was firm, yet he sounded almost... reluctant.
"Well, you're gonna have to fight me."

Ryoga blinked, not knowing what to say. This was completely
out of his realm of experience. Ranma actually wanted to fight
him for the imaginary blood spell girl? "Uh... That's okay,
Ranma," he said soothingly. "She's all yours."

Ranma was silent a moment, then looked up. To Ryoga's great
surprise, Ranma's mouth had turned up in a half smile. He
clapped Ryoga on the back. "Good," he said, and then chuckled
softly. "But somehow I get the feeling you're gonna regret those
words. 'Cause, when the time comes, I'm gonna remind you of
them. Then we'll see what happens."

"Huh?"

"Well, here's the dojo. See you later, Ryoga."

Ranma turned to leave. Ryoga shook himself out of his
astonishment and grabbed Ranma's arm with his free hand,
clutching the groceries in the other. "Hey! Where do you think
you're going?" Ranma was obviously in no shape to be off by
himself. Who knew what his delusions would lead him to do?

Ranma looked down at his arm where Ryoga grasped it in a
steel grip. "Let go, Ryoga," he said. When he continued to hold
on, Ranma frowned. "Look, I'm just going to check a couple of
things out, okay? I was duped, and I'm not gonna get duped
again."

The fire was back in Ranma's eyes. Ryoga could see that it
still wasn't directed at him, but he could tell he was in for a
serious fight if he didn't let go. But there wasn't time for
that. And even if there was, he couldn't take the chance that he
might lose, leaving Ranma with no one to watch out for him.

So he didn't let go. "Come on, Ranma," he said, trying to
keep his voice calm. "Kasumi's going to make dinner as soon as I
give her this stuff. You don't want to miss dinner, do you?"

Ranma relaxed slightly.

Ryoga couldn't believe it. He'd said the right thing!

"Don't worry about it, Ryoga," Ranma said. "I'm not gonna
do anything weird. I'm just gonna... visit Doctor Tofu. Then
I'll be back."

Ryoga frowned. He was going to visit Doctor Tofu? That
wasn't so bad... He relaxed his grip a little. "You promise
you'll come right back?" he asked.

Ranma laughed shortly. "Jeeze, Ryoga, you sound like you're
my mom or something."

Ryoga flushed and let go of Ranma's arm. "I do not!" he
protested hotly. "See if I ever worry about..." He trailed off
and grit his teeth as he realized what he just said.

Ranma laughed again, yet surprisingly refrained from teasing
him on the inadvertent admission. "You know," he said wryly, "I
almost kinda like it this way. At least it's a hell of a lot
better than you trying to kill me all the time." His smile
turned rueful. "Too bad you had to forget Akane for it to be
like this. I hope that when I get her back..."

Ryoga shifted the groceries to his other arm, more out of
mental than physical discomfort. "Just hurry back from Doctor
Tofu's, okay?" he said irritably. Perhaps Doctor Tofu could help
Ranma regain his senses, at least temporarily until Cologne came
back from China with the cure. It was a good thing she was due
back tomorrow. "Don't do anything stupid."

Ranma nodded and grinned. And if it weren't for the look in
his eyes, he would have looked a lot like his old care-free self.
"Don't worry, Ryoga. I'll come right back," he said, then turned
and ran off into the growing darkness.

Ryoga watched him go, and wondered, with a sick feeling in
his gut, if he'd done the right thing to let him leave.

--------------------

The phone rang.

Nabiki reached over with lightning speed and grabbed it.
"Moshi moshi," she said quickly.

"Nabiki?"

"Ukyo! Any luck?"

Ukyo's voice was suddenly worried. "Nothing. I was hoping
you would tell me he'd come home."

Nabiki's smooth features creased in an anxious frown. *Damn
it, Ranma, where are you?* "No, nobody here has seen him since
this morning. But I'm hoping he might show up for dinner."

Ukyo sighed heavily. "Okay. I'll keep looking for him.
You'll call and leave a message if he shows up, won't you?"

"Of course. Good luck."

"Thanks. I'll need it. I... I'm afraid that if Ranchan
doesn't want to be found, the chances are I won't find him."

Nabiki was silent a moment. "Don't give up, Ukyo. You'll
find him." It was more of a gentle order than encouragement.

Ukyo understood. "Okay," she said softly, trying to sound
hopeful. "I'll call you. Bye."

"Bye."

Nabiki hung up the phone on her desk.

And stared at the tape in her hand.

She hadn't listened to it.

She was worried about Ranma. But she wasn't sure if she was
worried that he was lost somewhere, slowly losing his mind
because of the blood spell...

...or worried that he was completely sane...

She looked at the tape.

She thought she already knew what it said. But then, she
thought she knew what instructions she had written for her
distributors. And the instructions she'd read that morning, in
her own handwriting, were a far cry from what she remembered
actually writing down.

But it came pretty damn close to substantiating Ranma's
claim that Akane, his imaginary blood spell fiancee, was real.
Was her little sister. And that they'd all forgotten her.

Even worse, her handwritten instructions implied that she
herself had been worried about that very thing happening.

Nabiki rubbed her hand against her eyes. She might be able
to find out for sure. All she had to do was listen to the tape.

Then again, the tape might not even mention Akane. From
what she remembered, all it contained was Shampoo and Cologne
discussing the fact that they cast the blood spell, and that they
might be able to remove it, if necessary. The tape might not
prove anything.

*Why am I so reluctant to do this?* she thought angrily,
knowing the answer even as she asked the silent question.

She sighed.

She thought of the first time she'd seen Ranma. In girl
form, draped over Genma-panda's shoulder like a sack of rice,
protesting loudly. She remembered how disappointed she'd been
when she found out that the fiance daddy had arranged to marry
either her or Kasumi was actually a girl. And she thought of
how... disgusted she'd been, when Ranma's curse was revealed.
How could either she or Kasumi be expected to marry a half-man?
And a half-man who was a year younger than her, as well?

She'd never held much stock in arranged marriages. But when
daddy had told her that Ranma was coming from China to meet them,
deep underneath her fiercely independent, clinically calculating
intellect that insisted that romance was for the weak-willed and
the perpetually needy... she had secretly hoped that the fiance
would be someone... special.

Ranma turned out to be special, all right. *Way* too
special for her discriminating tastes.

And yet, over the past year, she had watched Ranma, and had
come to know him as more than just a gender-changing freak of
nature and magic.

He was strong. And drop-dead gorgeous -- when he was male.
Those sleek muscles... those blue eyes... his athletic grace...

Nabiki sighed and shook her head. There was much more to
Ranma than just his body. Unfortunately, it had taken her a long
time to realize that, since she'd spent so much time capitalizing
on said body -- both the male and female half -- and very little
time getting to know *him.*

Still, she had, in spite of all efforts to remain aloof,
come to know him. And in doing so, had come to understand in a
measure, not only why so many girls had fallen in... lust... with
him, but also how a few rare, perceptive girls, like Ukyo,
actually loved him for who he was.

A small, knowing smile flickered briefly on her face. She
knew that whoever Ranma married would be one very lucky woman --
in more ways than one.

Her smile faltered. Even so, she hadn't seriously
considered an engagement to Ranma. Not until this past week, at
least. After all, their interests were too diverse. She was
smart, canny, and she had big plans for her... future in society.

Ranma was... a barbarian. But an honorable barbarian. A
sweet, naive barbarian, whose posturing machismo was a thin cover
for his deep insecurities. He was so self-conscious about his
curse...

But his curse didn't matter.

Didn't someone once say that opposites attract?

Nabiki groaned in frustration and slammed her fist on the
table. She looked at the tape.

Real or not, Ranma loved this Akane girl.

But... Akane might not be real...

If she was real, that meant...

Nabiki pressed the heels of her hands against her temples.
Her instincts were screaming at her. She was missing something.
Something vital. She clenched her teeth. Her desires were
interfering with her ability to discover the truth. She hated
that feeling, hated not being in control, hated knowing that her
normally keen perception was being colored by her emotions...

*Akane *couldn't* be real. Think of Ranma's behavior...
acting desperate, lovesick, heartsick... He's *never* acted that
way before now. It's got to be the blood spell...*

*Just play the tape...*

*Not yet...*

Nabiki felt a scream of frustration building in her. This
whole week, especially the past few days had been so taxing.
Matching wits with Cologne was not an easy task. And even though
she succeeded in getting the confession from the old ghoul and
the bimbo, she couldn't help but feel...

Something clicked.

The past week. She'd only started thinking seriously of an
engagement with Ranma this past week. Since the blood spell.

Why only the past week? Why had her feelings changed?

Nabiki felt her eyes widen, and her heart began to pound.

No. Not her feelings. Her feelings were the same. Why had
her *thinking* changed?

Perhaps Ranma wasn't the only one who had been affected...

Perhaps... there was more to this than just the blood spell
at work...

Nabiki grit her teeth. Perhaps she'd underestimated
Cologne...

According to Ranma, Akane was supposed to be her little
sister. Her sister, whom Ranma was engaged to. Whom Ranma...
loved.

If that was true, and she had forgotten about this sister;
about this sister's engagement to Ranma, then there would be
nothing to keep her own feelings from...

*...*

With trembling fingers, Nabiki slipped the tape into her
stereo, put the headphones on, and pressed 'play.'

She listened.

"I tell you, great-granddaughter, that boy is practically
yours. When he finally accepts the fact that he'll never see
Akane again, he'll fall right into your arms, and you'll be there
to comfort him and be his wife. Then your honor will be
restored, and we will all return home together."

Nabiki continued to listen, her face an expressionless mask.

Except for a single tear that slowly brimmed, and slipped
silently down her face.

--------------------

Kasumi walked up the stairs, intent on telling Nabiki that
dinner was ready. She stopped outside the storage room and
frowned slightly at the little wooden duck that bore the name
"Akane."

She shook her head. Tomorrow she would have to do something
about all that stuff that Ranma had managed to drag in there to
make the storage room appear as though it were a girl's room.
She didn't think it was healthy to have it around much longer,
since it only served as a constant reminder of Ranma's
blood-spell induced... illness.

*Poor Ranma,* she thought sadly. *The boy's been through so
much... It's not fair.*

She reached out to take the duck nameplate off the door.

"Kasumi, don't."

Kasumi turned to see Nabiki, who had just come out of her
room. "Oh, Nabiki. I was just coming to tell you that dinner is
ready."

"Has Ranma come back yet?"

Kasumi shook her head. "I'm afraid not. But Ryoga said he
saw him right before he returned with the groceries. He said
Ranma was on his way to see Doctor Tofu."

A spark of relief flashed through Nabiki's eyes so quickly,
Kasumi wasn't sure if she'd imagined it. Then Nabiki nodded
bruskly, her natural business-like demeanor slipping on like a
comfortable sweater. "Good," she said. "I'm glad we know where
he is. We need to go get him."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Is everybody downstairs, Kasumi?"

"Well, yes, they're waiting for dinner..."

"Good." Nabiki put a hand on Kasumi's arm, and looked at
the duck nameplate her sister had been about to remove. "I've
just discovered something that everybody needs to know."

--------------------

Ranma didn't go to see Doctor Tofu.

He stood outside the Nekohanten, his fists clenched tightly
at his sides as he struggled to control his fury. Nabiki's words
from nearly a week ago rang in his mind...

*Just make sure you get them to reverse the spell *before*
you kill them, Ranma.*

Shampoo and Cologne had lied to him. And he had fallen for
it. Taken the bait, hook, line and sinker.

Ranma's battle aura began to flare around him, but he
focused, and forced the fury-fed energies back down.

Who knew how Akane had suffered because of the time he had
wasted, sitting around, waiting to receive help from the very two
who were responsible for the blood spell that had spirited Akane
away, trapping her in the Kami Plane...

It was his own fault. He should have known he couldn't
trust the old ghoul. And Shampoo... Shampoo had played some
sneaky, underhanded tricks on him in the past, but those had
always been virtually harmless, aside from the blows to his
pride. For her to do *this*...

No. He had to control his temper. That was how he had been
fooled so easily last time, because he wasn't thinking clearly.
He had to stay calm.

For Akane's sake.

He reached out and opened the new front door of the
restaurant -- the one that replaced the door he had shattered
with his fist almost a week ago -- and went in.

It was the dinner rush. Shampoo and Mousse were serving
customers as fast as they could manage to prepare the food.

Ranma hesitated, but then realized he didn't care if this
encounter took place in public. He'd waited too long anyway.

A few customers near the entrance noticed him, noticed his
countenance, and quietly excused themselves from the restaurant.

Shampoo caught sight of him on her way to serve a patron,
and her expression lit up. "Aiya! Ranma, you come visit
Shampoo?"

Then she saw his face.

She paled. The bowl of ramen she was balancing on her hand
slipped from limp fingers to smash on the floor.

Ranma's blue eyes burned into her own with a fury so
intense, she was afraid it would consume her right there.

Ranma didn't trust himself to speak just yet, so he kept
silent. Just as well. The shattering bowl of ramen had alerted
the other patrons to oncoming disaster, and they were quickly
making themselves scarce.

Mousse came up behind Shampoo and peered at him through his
glasses. "Ranma? What are you doing here? What's going on?"

Ranma glanced at him, then back to Shampoo. "Ask Shampoo,"
he said hoarsely. "She knows a hell of a lot more than she's
been telling."

Mousse bristled. "How dare you speak about Shampoo that
way! Especially after everything she's done to help you with the
blood spell!"

Shampoo wasn't listening to Mousse's defense. She was
staring at Ranma's fists. They were clenched at his sides,
white-knuckled. Slowly, from the palms of his hands, blood began
to seep through his fingers where his nails were digging into his
own flesh. Ranma didn't appear to notice.

"Well, Shampoo?" he said. His voice was carefully flat.

"S-Shampoo not... know what you talking..." she managed
weakly. *Oh gods, his *eyes*...* She'd never seen such fury,
such betrayal, not even the first night she returned after
casting the blood spell. And Ranma's deadly calm, as opposed to
his normal fiery temper, was the most frightening thing of all...

*Back-up plan, back-up plan... What was it?!* Shampoo's
eyes were fixed on Ranma's bleeding hands... She seemed
mesmerized by the tiny red droplets that were slowly working
their way from between his fingers and down Ranma's white
knuckles...

drip...

He was hurting himself, and he was so angry, he couldn't
feel it *Oh Ranma I'm so sorry what have I done please forgive me
all I wanted...* Her thoughts were a jumbled babble as panic and
despair swelled within her like a rising tide.

drip...

*Backup plan... Oh!*

"Ranma." Her voice was shaking, matching the rest of her
body. She was trembling uncontrollably. Another lie. Another
lie to cover the lies. She hated it. It was never supposed to
be like this. "What wrong, Ranma? You... you angry at Shampoo?
Is... dragon's spell to make you hate Shampoo working...?"

That should have made him pause. Should at least have given
him second thoughts, making him wonder what the source of his
anger really was.

*That's it, Ranma. Whatever has made you angry is just the
result of the blood spell. That's all it is. Magically induced
emotion that you can overcome, because you're so strong, and
brave, and honorable...*

Ranma's cold countenance cracked, and he grimaced as if in
pain, the faint red flicker of a barely suppressed battle aura
flaring around his form. He unclenched one bleeding hand and
reached into his pocket.

He pulled out the tape.

Shampoo felt her world shatter.

Ranma knew everything. She had Failed.

Ranma held the tape out. "Do you know what this is,
Shampoo?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She felt her
throat close off, and she sank to her knees as quiet, heaving
sobs began to wrack her body.

Ironically, tears wouldn't come.

"Shampoo, what's wrong?" Mousse was torn between his
concern for Shampoo, his fury towards Saotome, and his general
confusion as to what was happening. "Shampoo, are you alright?
Ranma!" Mousse turned in what he hoped was Ranma's direction.
"What have you done to Shampoo?!"

Ranma just looked at Shampoo. At her reaction. At the
final proof.

So he was right. Nabiki had been using this tape to
blackmail her. And Shampoo had done something wrong, had slipped
up somehow, because he had been given the tape.

He wondered what she'd done...

"Ranma! You shall pay for what you've done to Shampoo!
Prepare to die!"

Mousse launched himself at Ranma, steel blades flying from
his sleeves.

Ranma ducked smoothly, dropping to the floor, and, with a
lifting kick, sent Mousse flying over his head and into the wall
behind him.

Ranma jumped to his feet. "Stay out of this, Mousse," he
said in a low voice, watching as the Chinese boy slid down the
wall head first. "This is between me and Shampoo."

"Saotome," wheezed Mousse as he rolled over and pushed
himself up to his feet. More blades flicked out from his
sleeves, ready to launch. "I won't let you hurt her."

"I'm not gonna hurt her," said Ranma softly. But Mousse
wasn't listening. He charged again. In one swift movement,
Ranma moved out of the way and brought his elbow down hard on the
back of Mousse's head as the boy moved past him...

Mousse's eyes went blank as he lost consciousness and
collapsed to the floor.

"Sorry, Mousse," whispered Ranma. He turned and looked at
Shampoo who was staring at him, misery and guilt etched harshly
across her features.

Ranma felt his anger sliding away under a wave of
desperation.

Yes, he was still angry at Shampoo. Furious at Cologne. He
knew the truth at last. But at the moment, he didn't care that
Shampoo cast the blood spell. That wasn't what mattered.

"I..." Ranma's voice cracked. Shampoo knelt before him,
sobbing silently, as if awaiting judgement. "I don't wanna
fight you, Shampoo. I just want you to remove the blood spell."
A note of pleading seeped into his hoarse voice as tears built
behind his eyes.. "I just... want you to bring Akane back."

Shampoo's heart rent it two

She knew who Akane was. Not because she remembered, but
because of the detailed account of the circumstances of the blood
spell great-grandmother had left for her. She knew she had cast
the spell specifically to get rid of this girl... this
obstacle...

The grief she saw in Ranma's eyes because of this forgotten
girl was worse than the anger, if such a thing was possible. And
all she wanted when she cast the blood spell was for Ranma to
look at her with love...

"Ranma..." she whispered. "I so sorry..."

"If you're sorry," said Ranma brokenly, "then remove the
blood spell."

Shampoo shook her head, her eyes wide. Now the tears came,
welling up and spilling down her cheeks. "I no can..."

Ranma fell to his knees and gripped her by the shoulders,
not noticing how his bleeding hands stained her white apron.
"You have to, Shampoo! You did this to me!"

She continued to shake her head, her expression a rictus of
guilt and grief as the tears streamed down her face. Ranma's
face twisted in desperation and anger, and his fingers
involuntarily clenched on her shoulders, making her wince in
pain. "Please, Shampoo!"

"Is no cure..." she whispered. "Is no cure..."

Ranma's eyes widened in horror. He released Shampoo's
shoulders and sat back heavily on his heels. "No... cure?" His
throat constricted as cold tendrils of fear and despair once
again threaded their way around his heart. The droning mantras
of the spell voices rang in the back of his mind fatalistically,
singing their song of hopelessness to his soul. "You mean...
there's no way to break the blood spell?"

Shampoo nodded.

"You're... lying..."

Shampoo was silent. But she didn't have to say anything.
Ranma could see the truth in her eyes.

He felt his body and mind go numb with shock. *No cure...*

*Akane...*

And the spell voices, strengthened by the surge of despair,
raged up and out of Ranma's careful mental barriers. Ranma
gasped in pain at the sudden onslaught, and clutched his temples
with his bleeding hands.

Shampoo cried out. "Ranma!"

Mousse lifted his head groggily from where he lay prostrate
on the restaurant floor. "Sh-Shampoo..." He pushed himself to
his knees and saw the blurry images of Shampoo and Ranma kneeling
across from each other. Ranma was trembling as he desperately
struggled to focus enough to push the spell voices back, but
Mousse didn't notice that. All he saw through his thick lenses
was Shampoo crying.

And the bright red blood stains on her apron. Matching the
smears of blood on Ranma's hands, pressed on either side of his
head.

A murderous glint flashed through Mousse's eyes as he stood
shakily. "Rannmaaa!" he growled fiercely. "I don't care if you
are under the influence of the blood spell! You shall pay for
hurting Shampoo!"

Shampoo looked up to see Mousse standing over an
unresponding Ranma, his blades poised to launch from his sleeves.
"No! Mousse, stop!" She jumped up and leaped in front of
Mousse, shielding Ranma with her body.

Mousse froze as he looked into the tear-stained face of the
woman he loved. "Shampoo," he said, stunned. "What are you
doing? Why are you protecting him when he's hurt you like this?"

"Mousse," she said softly, and she lowered her gaze, unable
to meet his eyes. Her voice was leaden. "Ranma no hurt Shampoo.
Shampoo... hurt Ranma."

A chill ran through Mousse at the unnatural, dead tone of
her voice. He looked over at Saotome, noticing for the first
time how Ranma seemed to be in an agony greater than any that
could be caused by a simple flesh wound, as he desperately
clutched his head...

*Ah* Mousse realized. *The spell voices again...*

Then he froze. *Shampoo... hurt Ranma...?*

Suddenly, all the little suspicions he'd held at bay for so
long surged to the forefront of his mind, and Mousse stared at
Shampoo, his eyes widening behind his glasses. He'd suspected...
But no, Shampoo wouldn't... She was too honorable for...

"Shampoo." he said. "You didn't..."

She nodded. Her voice was quiet, miserable, yet strangely
resigned. "I cast blood spell, Mousse. I pay blood price. I
trade my blood for dragon blood."

Mousse looked at her, wanting to disbelieve with all his
heart. But he couldn't. Because he could see in her face that
it was true.

He looked past her shoulder at Ranma, who knelt, groaning,
seemingly oblivious to the two people watching over him as he
continued to clutch his temples in pain.

Mousse felt something twinge inside him. An unpleasant
thought rose unbidden. *This... is what Shampoo does to the man
she... loves..?*

The thought left him cold, and he pushed it from him.

"Is he... going to be okay?" he asked at last.

"He fight spell voices," answered Shampoo listlessly. "I
put spell voices in head so Ranma know Akane alive, but no can
find her. They supposed to fade away when he... give up on her
and fall in love with Shamp... with me. But Ranma no..." She
trailed off into silence and watched helplessly as Ranma battled
the unnatural forces she'd placed inside him.

Mousse frowned. Shampoo was speaking as if Akane was a real
person, and not just a blood spell figment created for Ranma to
obsess over...

But then... it hardly made sense that Shampoo would cast a
spell that would make Ranma fall in love with some imaginary...
girl...

*Oh no...*

"Shampoo," said Mousse firmly, in spite of the sick feeling
building in his stomach. It was the same feeling both he and had
Ranma shared on the day the blood spell hit. "Who is Akane?"

Shampoo knew exactly what he meant, and she answered
accordingly, in the same lifeless, defeated voice. "Akane
Ranma's... fiancee. She trapped in Kami Plane, and Kami Plane
make everybody but Ranma forget her."

Mousse closed his eyes. So Ranma had been telling the
truth. He really had lost the girl he loved. And now he was
apparently fated to have the spell voices in his mind
permanently, since there was no way he would ever fall in love
with Shampoo now, and she seemed to believe that was the
stipulation for his release.

Mousse... felt bad for Ranma. Even the jealous voice inside
him, that normally would have been screaming that Ranma brought
this upon himself because of his womanizing ways, was silent.

"Shampoo, there has to be a way to break the blood spell,"
he said, opening his eyes and looking through his glasses at the
curled-up blur that was Ranma. He could hear that the pig-tailed
boy was using breathing techniques to focus and even out his
breathing, and was gradually relaxing; evidence that he was
pushing the spell voices back once again.

"Shampoo..." She wasn't listening to him. She was just
staring at Ranma, her violet eyes no longer wet, but dull and
lifeless, like a doll's eyes, as she numbed herself to the
evidence of her crime before her. "Shampoo..." He took her by
the shoulder, to shake her out of her stupor.

She turned and slapped him hard across the face.

"Go away, Mousse."

Mousse rubbed his cheek where her hand print was forming.
She had hit him harder than that innumerable times before. Hit
him, pounded him, caged him while he was in duck form... And he
loved her in spite of it all.

He still loved her. But, for the first time in his life, he
felt himself growing angry at her. At her actions, self-centered
and unthinking. The blood spell, an abomination of dark magic...
and now this...

"You selfish little..."

Shampoo blinked.

"You stoop to using forbidden magic, casting a *blood spell*
on Ranma, then intentionally lie about it... And you even see him
suffering because of what *you've* done to him..!" Mousse's eyes
flashed behind his glasses. He could hardly believe that he was
yelling at Shampoo... and defending Ranma of all people... "Even
now, all you can think about is yourself! How *you* are going to
suffer because Ranma discovered your treachery and ruined your
plans to trap him."

It was a hard truth. Hard for him to admit that perhaps
Ranma wasn't the one chasing Shampoo. But he could not delude
himself in the face of such evidence. Shampoo wanted Ranma. So
badly that she was willing to sacrifice his happiness to satisfy
her own. Mousse looked her in the eyes, fighting the part of him
that wanted to throw himself at her feet and worship her in spite
of it all. "It's time to for you to stop thinking about
yourself, Shampoo," he said hoarsely, "and start thinking about
how to fix the damage you've done."

Shampoo blinked again, stunned. Her hand raised again,
lashed out...

Mousse caught her wrist in his hand. Then caught the other.

Shampoo looked up at him, struggling uselessly, trying to
free her hands from Mousse's surprisingly strong grip, anger
flashing across her face as her eyes shimmered with tears. He
returned her gaze, his blue-grey eyes sad, but firm behind his
thick lenses.

Shampoo tried to wrench her arms free again as she looked
into his face. "Mousse, you stupid..!"

Then she let out a low sob, her anger crumbling away under a
wave of grief, and she sagged into him, weeping into his chest.

Mousse froze. Then, slowly, he released Shampoo's wrists.
Her hands went to the front of his robe. Not to hit or pound
him, but to clutch desperately at the cloth over his chest as she
shook, her tears soaking the fabric. He hesitated only a moment,
then carefully put his arms around her, gently stroking her long
silken hair.

He'd waited a lifetime for this moment. He let the moment
stretch into minutes, allowing Shampoo to release her emotions.
He only wished...

Ranma knelt next to them, groaning quietly as he battled the
spell voices within.

"It's... okay, Shampoo," said Mousse. "I know you'll find a
way to fix things. I know you'll find a way to break the blood
spell. Even if you have to pay another blood price, I know
you'll do it..."

Shampoo suddenly stiffened in his arms. He looked down at
her, relaxing his hold, wondering if she was going to push him
away.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and wet. "Wh-what you
say, Mousse?" she asked softly.

He blinked. She wasn't clobbering him for holding her.
"I... uh... said that I know you'll make things right..."

"No, stupid!" She seemed more anxious than angry. "About
dragon. You say I have to go back to dragon!"

Had he? He couldn't remember. "I... er, mentioned the
blood price... I think..."

"Aiya! That it, Mousse! That way to break blood spell!
Ancient One more than powerful enough to remove spell cast with
own blood!"

"Ancient One?!" gasped Mousse. He dropped his arms to his
sides in shock. "Shampoo, you got dragon blood from the *Ancient
One?!*"

Beside them, Ranma moaned and raised his head, slowly
opening his eyes as the ringing aftereffects of the spell voices
lingered in the forefront of his mind. He looked over at Shampoo
and Mousse. With his hope of breaking the blood spell crushed,
pushing back the spell voices had taken the last ounce of his
remaining will. And they had not been confined peacefully.
Ranma felt as if his mind had just been scrubbed raw with a wire
bristle brush.

He winced as he pushed himself to his feet. "Do you mean
it, Shampoo?" he asked. "Can this Ancient One really break the
blood spell and bring Akane back?"

Shampoo looked at Ranma and paled, seeing him on his feet
again, seeing the anxious, determined look on his face.
"Ranma..." she said. "I... so sorry... I go back to China and
get dragon to break blood spell... Ancient One, he oldest of
dragons, very powerful. He can break spell."

A touch of hope flickered in Ranma's eyes, but it was still
dampened by seriousness. "He can," he said. "But *will* he?"

Shampoo looked down. "Shampoo... not know. But have to
try." She looked up, and her eyes were shimmering with tears.
"Can Ranma... forgive Shampoo?"

Ranma's face betrayed no emotion. "I have to know
something," he said at last. "The blood spell... Who's idea was
it? Yours or Cologne's?"

Shampoo paled even more. Seeing this, Ranma's expression
hardened slightly.

She suddenly felt Mousse's hand on her shoulder. Her
instinct told her to turn and clobber him.

But she had no right. He had shown honor in the face of her
lies...

Lies. No more lies.

She looked Ranma in the eye. "Is great-grandmother's idea,"
she said softly. "But I cast spell. I sent Akane away, and I
put spell voices in head. I... sorry." So inadequate. What
apology could make up for what she'd done?

Ranma trembled, his eyes closed, his bleeding hands clenched
into fists once again. His battle aura flared, a bright,
greenish-blue tinged with fiery red.

Shampoo stood silently, ready to take whatever Ranma threw
at her.

But then his battle aura died down. His trembling stopped,
and he visibly swallowed his anger. He stood silently for a long
moment, his dark bangs hanging over his eyes.

"Why?" he asked finally. His voice was barely a whisper.
"Why'd you do it?"

Shampoo closed her eyes and a tear slid down her cheek.
"Wo... ai ni..." she whispered. She felt the hand on her
shoulder tremble and slide off.

Ranma winced. "I... don't love you, Shampoo." His voice
was soft, without malice.

"I know." This, above all else, the most difficult
admission of her life.

He raised his head finally. "How can I trust you? How can
I know that you'll help me rather than try to trick me again?"

"Because," Shampoo swallowed and steadied herself. What
else was there to say? She opened her eyes and looked at him.
"You not Shampoo's husband, Ranma. Mousse..." Her voice cracked.
"Mousse is Shampoo's husband."

There was a stunned silence.

"*What?!*"

Suddenly Mousse was in front of her, and Ranma was looking
over his shoulder at her incredulously.

"Really, Shampoo? Do you mean it?" Mousse asked. His eyes
were wide with hope and disbelief.

She looked at him. "Shampoo no love you, Mousse," she said,
her voice and her eyes sad. "But you defeat Shampoo. You hold
my arms and keep me from striking you."

Some of the hope died in Mousse's eyes. "Shampoo..."

"Shampoo... You don't have to do this," said Ranma.

"Yes," she replied, quiet and determined. "Is punishment
for pain I cause you, Ranma."

Mousse shriveled. Ranma just stared at her.

"Now I go to China to face Ancient One so that he remove
blood spell."

Ranma frowned. This was what he wanted. For Shampoo to
remove the blood spell. To get Akane back. But for her to
suddenly decide she was married to Mousse...

She seemed to know what he was thinking. "Is more than
punishment, Ranma," she said, her voice surprisingly calm. "Is
Amazon law. If two men beat Amazon woman, and one man is
outsider, Amazon man take precedence over outsider man. Mousse
is Amazon man. You is not. You no need... worry... about me
anymore."

"Shampoo..."

"No talking. Is done."

Mousse looked at Shampoo silently, not knowing what to say.
He had hoped for so long... But for it to be like this...
Somehow she seemed further away from him than ever. His heart
ached.

Ranma looked back and forth between Mousse and Shampoo.
"I'll... let you work this out between yourselves," he said.
"But for now..." He turned to face Shampoo. "I'm coming with you
to China. I wanna make sure this spell gets lifted, even if I
have to face this Ancient One myself."

Shampoo nodded. "We prepare tonight and go first thing in
morning." She paused, and a look of trepidation flickered across
her face. "Is best to leave before great-grandmother return.
She will be... angry."

Ranma snorted derisively, and the old fury flashed in his
eyes. "I don't care what that old ghoul says or tries to do. If
she tries anything, I'll rip her head off. But I do wanna leave
for China as soon as possible." He turned to walk out the door.
"I'll be back at first light," he said. "Be ready to go or I'll
leave without you."

Shampoo winced at the hardness in his voice. Seeing this,
Ranma's face softened slightly. He sighed. "I'm glad you want
to make up for what you've done, Shampoo. And I haven't
forgotten all the times you've helped me in the past. But don't
expect me to just fall on the floor in gratitude, because in one
week you've come close to destroying my entire life. And if you
think about tricking me again, just remember. I'll find a way to
break the blood spell with or without your help."

And with that, he turned and walked out the door.

Shampoo watched him leave, a great emptiness swelling inside
her.

Mousse cleared his throat. "Shampoo..."

"Mousse. Go pack things, okay?"

He sighed. "Okay, Shampoo." He turned away from her. And
spoke in Chinese. "*But I hope that someday you will think of me
as a reward for your redemption... rather than as a punishment
for your sin.*"

She didn't respond. He walked quietly out of the room and
went upstairs.

Shampoo looked out the store windows and into the dark
night. *Oh Mousse,* she thought, her eyes shimmering. *I hope
so too.*

--------------------

In the Kami Plane, deep within the Snow Woman's abode, a
demon laughed.

The Shadowcat was clearly pleased. It's eyes burned like
yellow lamps as it looked at the Snow Woman's mirror. Within the
swirling ice magic that sped across the mirror's surface, it
could see a dark-haired pig-tailed boy running along the top of a
fence under a moonless night sky.

**Ah, yessss,** it purred. **I am familiar with this one.
He is my strongest initiate. Very powerful, his spirit. He
feeds me well, those too few times his fear activates my gift and
connects his soul with mine.**

The Snow Woman smiled and ran her long white fingers through
the Shadowcat's fur, feeling the gnawing tingle of the demon's
black ki down to her cold bones. "Pity," she said, "that you can
only be summoned briefly to the mortal realm by mortal fear.
Otherwise, you could dwell there, and keep the boy in a perpetual
state of terror."

The Shadowcat chuckled knowingly. **It is true, I can only
be summoned. But I know of no reason I cannot be *sent*...**
The demon cat's tail twitched in anticipation.

"And if I provided a way, what then? The boy has broken
your trance each time."

**He cannot do it himself,** answered the demon. **Only two
people have managed to break my hold over him. One is dead. The
other...**

The Snow Woman's smile turned grim. "The other will return
to me once his mind is purged of human thought and memory,
breaking his hold over her once and for all."

The Shadowcat blinked dismissively. **It seems such a small
reward, a pet human girl, in return for giving me this strong
one.**

The Snow Woman's eyes flashed. "That is no concern of
yours," she said.

**Of course not. But on the subject of breaking trances...
There is the little matter of his Jusenkyo curse. The shock of
his transformation has also shattered the connection between us
on numerous occasions.**

A slow, cold smile crawled across the Snow Woman's bloodless
features.

"Leave that to me."

--------------------

Doctor Tofu arrived shortly after Ukyo. Nabiki greeted him
at the door, after making sure that Kasumi was irretrievably
absorbed in cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. She didn't
need the smitten man shredding the evidence before it was
presented.

"Has Ranma come home yet?" he asked.

"Not yet," she replied soberly. "Did you bring everything?"

Tofu patted a satchel at his side. "I've got everything
right here."

She nodded. "Good. Between that and the stuff I've managed
to find, it ought to convince them."

They walked into the living room, where Ryoga, Ukyo, her
father, and Uncle Saotome sat waiting for them.

Ukyo had her arms folded crossly. "We're wasting our time
here," she said. "We should be out looking for Ranchan." She
glared at Ryoga. "I can't believe you just let him run off like
that."

"Hey! He told me he was going to Doctor Tofu's! Besides, I
didn't even know you were looking for him!"

"Quiet, everyone." Nabiki motioned for silence. Everybody
looked at her. She looked at Doctor Tofu.

He sighed. "Apparently, some of you are having a hard time
believing Nabiki when she says that Ranma's blood spell girl,
Akane, is real. I must admit, when she called me looking for
Ranma, and then told me of her suspicions, I was skeptical. But
then I did a little research on my own and found out some very
disturbing things."

He reached into his satchel, pulled out an ancient leather
book and opened it to a marked page. "Ranma keeps claiming that
Akane is trapped in the Kami Plane. Well, I did some reading,
and found this." He put the book down on the table. Everyone
craned their necks to look at it, then frowned when they saw it
was written in Chinese.

Tofu cleared his throat. "This is a very ancient book,
written centuries ago by a very wise priest. He was an expert in
creatures unnatural, and the worlds from which they come. Here,"
and he pointed to the page, "he speaks of the Kami Plane, where
Ranma claims Akane is trapped. He says that mortals unfortunate
enough to travel to the Kami Plane gradually forget the mortal
world, and are forgotten as well by those they leave behind."

He looked piercingly at those surrounding the table. "This
fits perfectly with what Ranma has been telling us all along."

"So... it's *not* the blood spell? It's the Kami Plane?"
asked Ryoga.

Ukyo was noticeably silent, but her expression was one of
dismay.

"Impossible," muttered Soun. "Magic or not, I would never
forget my own daughter."

"And I thought I would never forget my own sister, daddy,"
said Nabiki. "But guess what? I did. You did. We all have
forgotten her. Ranma may have the spell voices in his head, but
they were right all along. *He* was right all along. Akane is
real. And she needs our help."

"Yes, I'm afraid she's right," said Tofu. "After reading
this, I checked my own files and found this." He pulled out a
thick folder filled with loose papers. "These are medical
records, kept in my own handwriting, detailing a medical history
of one Akane Tendo for the past 17 years." A small smile pierced
the disturbed look in his eyes. "It appears, Tendo-san, that
Akane was extremely active in martial arts. She came to see me
each time she was injured. I find it amazing that, with such
evidence before me, I cannot remember her at all."

Soun took the medical file and looked at it with wide eyes.
"Can it be..?"

"There's more," said Nabiki. "While I was waiting for
Doctor Tofu to show up, I checked out that room upstairs. I
found a lot of interesting stuff, including these." She pulled
out some photos, and began laying them down one by one on the
table. Soun and Genma picked them up to examine them.

They were pictures of the family, before mother died. In
the first one, Soun stood behind his wife, his hand lovingly on
her shoulder. A young Nabiki and Kasumi stood on either side of
her. And on her lap, she held a little black-haired toddler with
expressive brown eyes and a cute smile.

Soun stared at the pictures in shock. Ryoga and Ukyo
glanced at each other with growing uneasiness. Nabiki noted
their reactions -- especially Ukyo's -- and debated whether or
not to put down the final picture.

She sighed. Ukyo had to find out and accept it sooner or
later... "Here," she said. "This one's especially...
entertaining. I didn't think anyone had ever taken a picture of
Ranma when he was under the influence of the Nekoken, but look at
this." She slapped the picture down.

Ukyo's eyes went wide. "That's... Akane?"

Ryoga's eyes were wide as well. "Th-that's Ranma?
Wh-what's he doing?"

Nabiki smirked. "It's called 'kissing,' Ryoga. You should
try it some time." She chuckled as Ryoga flushed seven different
shades of red.

Soun and Genma snatched the picture off the table and peered
at it.

"That's my boy!" said Genma. "Showing a little initiative!"

Soun started up with the water works. "My daughter! I have
a daughter I can't remember!"

Nabiki smiled grimly. "I think you'll all agree that the
evidence is indisputable. Akane is real. Our next priority is
to find Ranma, and let him know he's not going crazy."

"Thanks, Nabiki, but I already figured that out."

Everybody turned, stunned, to see Ranma standing in the
hallway.

He smiled a little, still looking at Nabiki. "But I guess I
have you to thank for that anyway."

Nabiki blinked, trying to get her brain back into gear.
"What?" He walked up to her and put a cassette tape in her
hands.

"So, thanks," he said, enjoying the horrified look that
rippled across her face as she looked down at the object in her
hands. "I feel much better." He looked at the others, who were
staring at him, jaws agape. "And it's nice to know you all
believe me now."

Nabiki blinked. Her distributors had given him the tape.
Not a bad thing, since she was planning on playing it for him
herself. But that meant he knew about Shampoo. And that
meant...

"So *that's* where you were..." she said, looking up at him.
He appeared to be in good shape... She raised an eyebrow,
refusing to be ruffled further. "Tell me, do we need to make
funeral arrangements, or is there anything left of Shampoo to
bother with?"

There was a gasp around the table.

Genma was the first to recover. "What's this?" he asked.
"What's going on?"

Ranma turned to the others. "Shampoo cast the blood spell,"
he said quietly. "Nabiki got her and the old ghoul's confession
on tape. I just went to see her, and she told me herself. And
no, I didn't kill her or fight her or nothin'," he said, in
response to the stares he was receiving. "But we're leaving for
China tomorrow morning. She's going to find the dragon she got
the blood from. She seems to think he's powerful enough that he
could remove the spell she cast with his blood. And I'm going to
make sure it gets done right."

There was a stunned silence as everyone digested what Ranma
said.

"I'm coming with you, Ranma," said Ryoga.

"Me too," said Ukyo. She was in shock over all the
revelations of the evening. She felt numb and heartsick over the
possibility that Ranma might be in love with someone else. After
all, wasn't *she* his fiancee? Sure, he'd never treated her as
more than just his childhood buddy, but she'd been so sure that
when he decided to make a decision, she'd win over Shampoo. She
never thought she'd have to worry about either of the Tendo
sisters, since neither of them expressed any romantic interest in
Ranma.

Except Nabiki. Just that very afternoon. And, apparently,
the third Tendo daughter that no one except Ranma remembered.

She looked over at Nabiki to find that the girl was watching
her. Her expression was easily read. It said "Get used to it.
I have." Ukyo was amazed that the normally stone-faced girl
could be so expressive without words.

She needed some time to think. Her mind was whirling, and
her heart felt like it was in a vise. But, in the meantime, she
wasn't going to let Ranma out of her sight. "I'm coming with you
too, Ranchan."

"And I'm coming as well," said Nabiki.

Ranma looked at her in surprise.

She gave him a half-lidded glare. "Honestly, Ranma, how
exactly do you plan on getting to China? Were you planning on
swimming again? I hate to say this, but you need my finances to
rescue my... sister."

Ranma was struck speechless. Nabiki was going to pay for
the trip? "Uh, thanks, Nabiki." He smiled. "I owe you."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't I know it," she muttered
quietly.

"Well then," said Ranma, not hearing her and turning to the
others, "those of you coming with me had better pack because
we're leaving first thing in the morning."

--------------------

Ranma knelt next to his dresser, stuffing clothes and
supplies into his backpack with swift precision.

Finally. After a week of waiting, he was going to *do*
something. He didn't feel so powerless now, knowing that a
solution was in sight. And he would do whatever it took to make
that solution come about.

Even face a dragon...

His heart thumped in his chest in anticipation, and his blue
eyes were wide and anxious. *Hold on, Akane. I'm coming...*

...something prickled...

Ranma tensed and looked up.

*What the...*

He looked around his empty room.

Something... was trying to sneak up on him..?

"Pop?" His eyes narrowed, and he crouched as he felt...
*something* intrude on his senses again. "If that's you, it
ain't funny. I got no time to be playing around now."

But no. It didn't feel like Genma.

Ranma frowned.

It felt evil.

Happosai, maybe? Had he returned?

*Oh man, I hope not. I don't wanna deal with him right
now,* thought Ranma, peering through his dark bangs as he
extended his senses, trying to feel *what*...

The spell voices whispered in the back of his mind,
scratching away at his mental barriers, disrupting his
concentration. He growled in annoyance. *Oh, be quiet,* he
thought. *I'm gonna be rid of you soon enough, anyway...*

**How true that is.**

Ranma froze, his eyes wide.

Silence.

Then the color drained from his face as the strange, yet
terrifyingly familiar voice came into his mind again -- a voice
he recognized from his childhood nightmares.

**Although you won't be rid of them the way you want...**

Ranma found himself pressing his back against the corner
between the wall and his dresser, trying to shrink inside himself
as his deepest instincts shivered in primal terror.

"Take it slow," said a woman's voice, soft and sultry. "We
don't want to put him out of his misery too soon. You can have
him after I'm through with him."

A soft, purring chuckle.

The single naked bulb hanging from the ceiling shattered
with a sudden popping noise, plunging the room into darkness.

*No! I can't let this happen! I have to find Akane!* Ranma
forced himself to stand on trembling legs, his eyes staring
wildly in the dark, waiting for his worst fear to appear before
him.

Instead, another image from his nightmares appeared.

A shimmering portal appeared in the darkness before him, and
through it, like liquid, came the Snow Woman, her long white hair
flowing around her ice blue robes. A cruel smile was on her cold
white lips.

"Well, Ranma," she said, as the shimmering disappeared
behind her. "We meet again."

Ranma's eyes narrowed as he realized there was nothing in
the least bit feline about the apparition before him. "You!" he
said, recognition flaring in his eyes. He crouched in a battle
stance. "You have Akane!"

"My dear boy," she said lightly. "You are jumping to all
the wrong conclusions. Akane is not my prisoner. She has stayed
with me of her own free will. Not only that, but she desires to
stay with me always. You see, as you probably already know, she
has forgotten all about you."

Ranma clenched his jaw. "You're lying," he said. His
battle aura flared, and he began to build up his ki. He was
going to blast this demon back to where she came from.

"But I'm not. Just as the Kami Plane made everyone here
forget her, so has she forgotten all of you."

"Wrong!" said Ranma. "*I* didn't forget her. And I know
she hasn't forgotten me."

The Snow Woman smirked. "How typically egotistical of you.
Of course *you* haven't forgotten her. You have those spell
voices in your mind telling you that she's alive. Otherwise, you
would have forgotten her, like all the rest."

Ranma's eyes widened, and his battle aura flickered with
uncertainty. "No," he said through clenched teeth. "That's not
true. I remember her because I... love her."

"Her father loved her," the Snow Woman said softly, her eyes
narrowed. "Her sisters loved her. Your friend, Ryoga, loved
her..."

Ranma blinked, stunned as he realized... He felt tears
build behind his eyes, and his chest felt tight. He clenched his
fists. "No..."

"It hurts, doesn't it? Yes, I'm afraid it's true. Your...
love... is not the binding link you thought it was. But I'm not
here to torture you, Ranma," she said with a half smile. "I'm
actually here on a mission of mercy." She glided towards him,
her ice blue eyes sparkling, her white arms outstretched. "I've
come to silence those voices in your head. I've come to put you
out of your misery. I've come to help you forget her..."

Ranma stared at the Snow Woman, horrified. She was lying.
She had to be. Akane hadn't forgotten him...

"Akane has no desire to return to you. In fact, she's
happier now than she ever was with you. She's stronger, more
confident..." She tossed her shimmering hair. "You needn't
worry about her. She is quite content. After all, you only made
her miserable."

"No..." Ranma glared at her, trembling, fighting back tears
as she drew closer. But deep in the part of his soul where his
darkest fears lay, he felt she was right...

"Yes. Can you honestly think of a time when you've made
Akane truly happy? Without shattering her pleasure with some
unthinking remark?" The Snow Woman smiled at the look on Ranma's
face. "You are nothing to her, Ranma," she said. "She does not
love you."

Ranma's ki burned the blue-green of despair. "D-damn you."

The Snow Woman stretched out her arms, her long white
fingers mere inches from his face. "Ah, such pain," she said
softly, her breath an icy whisper. "Come to me. I can help make
it all go away." And she went to touch him.

Ranma blinked. Then he moved so swiftly, he was a blur,
leaping and flipping over the pale apparition to land behind her.
"No way!" he shouted. She gasped and turned, her eyes blazing
with fury, to see the blur of his fist moving towards her face...

Ranma intended to use his ki-fueled punch to send the white
demon back to the Kami Plane...

But she wasn't there. Or rather, his fist moved through
her, as if it were passing through a cold mist. He blinked, and
she smiled at him as he pulled his arm from her ethereal form.
And then, a stunned moment later, he felt her very solid, icy
fingers on his throat...

"Foolish boy," she said, amused. "You think I wouldn't
prepare for your mortal tricks? I became intimately acquainted
with your ki on my last visit. You can do nothing to me that I
cannot avoid. In fact, you've made it so much easier..."

Ranma felt a flash of bitter cold emanate from the Snow
Woman's hand and spread over his entire body the instant before
he pried her fingers from his throat. He cried out, then slumped
to the floor, shivering. He was surprised when, after a moment,
the cold feeling passed.

"Wh-what did you do?" he asked, glaring fiercely at her as
he pushed himself to his feet.

"Nothing much. I just added a little something to your ki.
Something that will make whatever liquid that touches you, no
matter how hot, turn cold before it touches your skin."

The Snow Woman smirked at the horrified, angry expression
spreading across Ranma's face. Yes, he understood what she had
done. That was just how he looked after he discovered the power
of the Chiisuiton...

And, my, he certainly could throw off a bright battle aura.
The blue-greens that swirled in the glowing ball of energy he was
forming in his hands were blinding...

"*Shishi Houkodan!*" The cry tore itself from Ranma's
throat, and the blast hit the Snow Woman dead on.

The sheer strength and fury of it caught her by surprise.
She was burning. Ranma's ki blast tore at her being. She could
feel herself breaking apart, and barely had time to reinforce the
protective barriers around her before she lost herself...

Ranma sank to his knees, shaking, and looked out the
smouldering hole he had created in the side of the house. The
Snow Woman lay, somewhat blackened, on the grass against the wall
of the yard. She wasn't moving, and he wondered if he'd killed
her...

But no, she was moving. He could see waves of energy
flowing into her from the ground and the air, as if she was
pulling the cold of the chilly spring night into her body.
Sitting up, she tilted at odd angles, like a broken doll. Then
slowly, as the energy flowed to her, she began straightening...

He could hear the shouts of alarm from the Tendos as they
raced up the stairs to see what was going on.

Nabiki tried to open his door, but it was stuck. She
pounded. "Ranma! Are you okay? What's going on in there."

Ranma wearily turned to answer..

*splash*

... and found himself female, and spluttering from the cold
water that just drenched him.

**Well, what do you know. She did it. That water was hot
enough for tea.**

More pounding. "Ranma, answer me!"

But he couldn't. Because his mouth was dry, his limbs were
frozen, and his mind was shrieking with terror as the Shadowcat,
who had just appeared in the room, padded up to him, its yellow
eyes narrowed to glowing slits, its dark ki flickering about its
form like black flames.

**Ah, you remember me. I'm flattered." It extended its
claws and reached out towards Ranma's pale, trembling form.
"You're my favorite, you know. I've never had one as strong as
you. And now, thanks to the lovely Yuki-onna sending me here
through her magic mirror, I can be with you always.** The demon
bared its needle-sharp teeth in a parody of a smile.

In the past five minutes, Ranma had experienced the full
spectrum of fear. On one end of the spectrum, the esoteric, yet
very real fears of losing Akane, of losing his manhood. Of
losing his reasons for existing. Now, on the other side of the
spectrum, he felt the deep primal terror that had plagued man
from the beginning of time. Terror of things that dwelled in the
dark; of pain, sharp and sweet.

Terror of losing himself to the darkness.

He felt the now familiar feeling of his mind fleeing
unwillingly before his fear, leaving behind something... less.
Different. Him, but not.

A small, strangled cry was the only noise he made as the
Shadowcat came up to his twitching form, and pressed its forehead
against his.

Ryoga smashed the door down with a smashing, splintering of
wood. He burst into Ranma's room, calling his name, followed
closely by Nabiki, Ukyo, Soun and Genma. They gaped at the sight
of the huge demon cat pressing its forehead against Ranma-chan's
as she knelt, frozen, her eyes wide, her pupils and irises
seeming to shrink in the wild whiteness that filled them, her
hands curling into paws.

*The Shadowcat was right,* thought Ranma as he felt words
leaving him. Language was slipping away... *I can't hear the
spell voices anymore...*

*...Akane...*

And Ranma yowled.

"Get away from him!" Ryoga formed a ball of ki energy in
his hands and blasted it at the Shadowcat.

The Shadowcat simply faded away before the blast could reach
it. The blast passed in front of Ranma-chan, and she turned,
arching her back and hissing at the astonished group, her eyes
wild and empty. Then she turned and fled with inhuman speed on
all fours out the hole in the wall just enlarged by Ryoga's
blast.

"Ranma! Come back!"

But she was gone. Over the wall and into the night in a few
graceful leaps.

Ranma's friends stared after him in dismay. None of them
noticed the woman, the color of bleached bone, who faded away in
the yard below, her cold laughter echoing through the wind.

--------------------

The mists parted reluctantly, but, as Akane emerged from the
clinging wisps, she was grateful to see that the realm she was
entering wasn't as... dark... as the last few she'd visited.
Chances were, that meant this wasn't a demon's abode.

She turned to Masakazu. "Well? Do you recognize this
place? Do you think whoever lives here will help me?"

The tengu shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know this
place. But it feels like the dwelling of an upper-level spirit,
who might have power enough to break the blood spell. We can
try."

Akane sighed and brushed her dark bangs from her eyes
wearily. "We've been trying for over two weeks now," she said
irritably. "So far, all we've encountered are beings who either
want to kill me, marry me, or are just too snobbish to bother
with a 'mere mortal' like me." She grimaced. "This is gonna
take forever."

Masakazu chuckled. "Don't worry, Akane-chan. The Kami
Plane is a vast realm, much larger than the mortal world. I'm
sure we'll find someone who will help--"

Akane gasped suddenly, and pressed her hand to her heart,
her eyes wide.

"What's wrong?" the tengu asked, concerned.

Akane's brown eyes were tearing. She looked at her sensei,
her face pale. "I... I don't know. I felt something just now...
Like... like I lost something." She swallowed. "I feel...
hollow..."

A small, scared feeling was building in her stomach as she
slowly recognized the hollow feeling. It was the same feeling
she'd felt when she first became trapped in the Kami Plane. It
was the same feeling she felt as she watched Ranma fade away from
her sight as the blood spell separated them not once, but
twice...

Her eyes filled with terror. "Sensei! Something's happened
to Ranma!"

But the tengu wasn't listening. His black eyes were
narrowed as he peered at her ki. The blood spell seemed normal,
except...

...except the tiny wisp of dragon blood that served as the
transdimensional connection between Ranma and Akane was
dissolving...

*Yuki-onna...* he thought sadly. *What have you done?*

"We have to help him, sensei!" Akane was frantic.

The tengu closed his eyes. Akane's time in the Kami Realm
had made her perceptive. But then, maybe her instinctive
knowledge of what happened to Ranma had nothing to do with the
powers of the Kami realm...

Akane took him by the shoulders, taking his silence for
reluctance. "Please," she begged, tears streaming down her face.
"I can't go to him! But you can, I know it! You can go to the
mortal plane and help Ranma!"

"Akane." He sighed. "I am forbidden..."

"I don't care! You have to!" She began to break down into
sobs. "P-please... If you don't... I'll lose him. I can feel
it."

The tengu turned away from her. He hated to see her cry.
But for him to go against the significant powers that were
against him... To venture back into the mortal realm...

*Damn.*

"All right, Akane-chan. I'll try." He turned to see the
hopeful smile break through Akane's tears.

*And may Kami-sama have mercy on us both.*

--------------------

End of Part Twelve