[Ranma][FanFic] Ranma and Akane: A Love Story, Chapter Three

[Eric Hallstrom]

Disclaimer: The playground is by Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only
swinging on the monkey bars. Remember to leave the grounds
cleaner than you found them and please don't feed the
Trolls.

/The Hunter and the Bear/ was picked up from Alan Cole and
Chris Bunch, and extensively filled out by me. If it
originated with them, they own whatever copyright exists. If
it didn't, they don't. It was originally told by Wee Alex,
Laird Kilgour of Kilgour, who _may_ have Ranma beat in cool,
but who is nowhere near as cute.

Jei-san, on the other hand (look that's his name, okay?) is
the exclusive property of Stan Sakai, who is welcome to him.
I am merely borrowing his likeness, and will return it as
soon as I am done with it. And not before time too, I don't
want it sticking around in my head.

"Summer Lightning" and "Stars in Their Crown" are by Garnet
Rogers, as before.

This story is archived at http://www.kawaiikunee.com/slp/

Release 1.2 (Oct. 27, 1999)

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

She could barely believe her luck.

It had already been a day to cherish forever in memory.
First, she had been brave. Ranma-sempai herself had said so.
Not that she really believed that she had been brave, as
such. She had simply felt that something needed to be done,
and then she had done it. Still, it had gotten her praise
and admiration, and Ranma-sempai had even thanked her for
it, so ....

She had, however, discovered that it was far preferable to
feel that one had been brave than to feel brave in the
current moment. The reason being, being brave _now_ meant
that something deeply unpleasant must, by definition, be
happening; whereas, on the other hand, _having been_ brave
meant that the unpleasant thing must have been faced. And,
of course, overcome. (The narrator would like to note at
this time that the subject is, after all, only seventeen.)

Second, her newfound notoriety had gotten her a date! Which
she was just now returning from. And which had been really
fun, too. Not as good as it could have been, true, but the
cute guy from class 3-C had been able to afford a trip to a
_good_ restaurant - a good _expensive_ restaurant - and had
spent most of the evening paying attention to her. Even if
it had only been so he could ask about Ranma. So, she felt,
the gates had been opened, and it was now possible that she
might achieve the lofty heights of Going Steady. Just as
soon as she found one of the boys at Furinkan who wasn't a
jerk. She was sure there must be _one_.

But third, ahh _third_, now there was the thing. The great
thing. The unalloyedly wonderful thing. For, walking home
from her date, she had passed a park. And her attention had
been drawn to an area just inside a screen of bush, where
she had made A Find. A wonderful find. She, Asano Sayuri,
Furinkan High Class 2-F, had found ... a puppy!

Stop snickering. Right now.

It was weak and half-starved, and very ragged looking, but
she knew that it would grow up fine and strong. It had
weakly snapped at her hand, but she knew that she would soon
win its heart, and that it would be loyal and true. Best of
all, it was in the park unhelped by any but herself, which
meant it must be free for any who could aid and protect it.
And since it was obviously Greatly In Need, her parents
would have, could have, no objection to her keeping it.

Asano Sayuri, at heart, was a great romantic, who frequently
viewed the world through glasses not merely rose-colored,
but actively rose-projecting, and so she smiled and skipped
slightly as she carried home the wolf cub she had found. It
would, she knew, be grand. And, invisible to her view (since
it was turned away from her), a tiny fleck of green light
flickered in one of the wolf cub's eyes, and then went out.

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

And Kuno Kodachi sat quietly and watched her brother with
what passed, for her, as concern. He had been very different
since yesterday, and no previous simple beating had ever
engendered such a result. Also, she noticed, his sword was
now securely locked in its sheath, instead of displayed on
its stand, as was proper.

Perhaps some spell had been cast on her idiotic older
brother. Or perhaps something else odd had occurred. In any
case, she supposed, she would have to check herself.
Furinkan, bah! She had visited before, and in the whole
school there was no person of merit or spirit. No person at
all.

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

And across Nerima a number of phone conversations burned
late into the night. They had been beaten. They had been
disgraced and dishonored. Moreover, some felt, they had
deserved it. First, they had failed to adequately take into
account the proper considerations of a challenge, and
second, they had attempted to attack by surprise. A direct
frontal confrontation, it was agreed, would certainly lead
to a restoration of honor. In one sense or another.

And in a maison apartment on the outskirts of the district
liquified moonlight dripped, over a jade ring, into a silver
pan.

And the night rolled on. And morning came.

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

Ranma & Akane: A Love Story.
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part A: Point of Contact: The Hunter and the Bear

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

Bushiko Ranma exited her apartment as the sun rose above her
windowsill. Behind her she left her apartments just as she
had the day before; ahead of her she had a wait of at least
30 minutes before Akane would conceivably leave the Tendo
Dojo for school. A half-hour of which she intended to make
full use.

The basic problem, she reflected, was that she had very
little experience in dealing with the emotion of great
happiness. The only means of easily dealing with _any_ great
emotion she had was to work off the excess energy. Therefore
...

She leapt, touched one toe to the nearest roof and leapt
again. Spun in mid-air, turned a somersault, bounced off a
passing air molecule, tapped a toe on a passing water-tower,
back-flipped 30 yards of warehouse, touched down in a
cartwheel, leapt again. Flickering from foothold to hand-
hold, flashing from tower to wall, dancing across the
Neriman skyline, her only accompaniment the musical chiming
of her own delighted laughter, filling the air behind her
progress like a chorus of golden bells.

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

Ranma came down on Akane from out of the rising sun. Akane
determined that Ranma's attack wasn't really serious by the
simple fact that she could defend against it. Instead Ranma
neatly bounced off her raised arm, transferring no force but
achieving enough velocity to bounce off a nearby fence in
another attack.

This sequence continued with Akane blocking and Ranma
delivering more and more complex and difficult attacks. Each
coming increasingly closer to breaking past her guard as
Akane's defensive maneuvers drew her farther and farther
away from Nabiki, to the point where her back was almost
against the fence by the side of the road.

Then a sneaky rebound off the fence behind her left her
nowhere to go but up. She snap-jumped to the top of the
fence and was then forced repeatedly back, unable to spare
the attention needed to discover where she was but happy
just to have no more than one direction from which to expect
attacks.

Akane was driven back more than sixty yards along the fence
before Ranma took pity and ceased her attack. Akane stayed
in a defensive stance for another few seconds as Nabiki came
running up with her mouth open.

"Akane! That was great! I didn't think anyone could move
along the top of a fence like that!"

Akane looked down, wavered, and wildly waved her arms in an
attempt to keep her balance, but succeeded only in falling
off the inside of the fence, onto the sidewalk, instead of
the outside, into the stream.

Looking up from her position flat on her rump on the ground,
Akane observed Ranma covering her eyes and shaking her head,
and Nabiki shaking her whole body with barely restrained
mirth.

"And so gracefully done, too," Ranma observed mildly.

"If you'd _told_ me I was on a fence _earlier_...."

"You'd have fallen off earlier, ne? It's often the case that
the body unconscious of its circumstances can do things it
never could by the will of the mind alone, but you don't
often see it that clearly," Ranma replied, still calmly.
"And now, for your next trick, get back on the fence."

"But, but, but ...."

"_Up_!"

Wobbling frantically, Akane attempted to keep her balance on
the fencetop. Then she felt a pair of hands on her
shoulders, steadying her balance. Ranma turned to Nabiki,
"Please excuse us, Nabiki-san, and continue on to school. I
see that I have some training to accomplish, but we'll be
along shortly."

Akane gulped, and commended herself to the protection of the
Kami.

"Now, Akane, first we walk," beginning to do so, "and then
we run."

Accelerating along the top of the fence, Ranma took a corner
and left Nabiki behind, pushing Akane along before her.

Akane observed the sharp-looking top of the fence vanishing
beneath her and quavered, "Wh-what happens if I lose my
balance?"

"You get to do a split onto a sharp surface. This will hurt.
A lot," Ranma replied calmly. "I don't recommend it."

"Oh, fine!" Akane mumbled.

"And now we go faster."

"Help."

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

Returning to the straight track to Furinkan as they neared
the school, Ranma and Akane caught up to Nabiki just before
they reached the outer wall of the courtyard. Akane, Nabiki
noted, was looking somewhat frazzled but bore no evidence of
injury.

Returning to the sidewalk, the two walked alongside Nabiki
as they entered the schoolyard, only to run into a wall of
semi-determined male silliness. Perhaps a dozen Furinkan
students were lined up in the center of the yard, each
bearing some form of combat implement. The leader bowed to
Ranma and began to speak.

Ranma raised an eyebrow and interrupted. "Let me guess. You
lads have decided to go the formal challenge route."

"Err ... yes," the leader said uncertainly.

"Ah. Tell me," Ranma said, "have any of you gentlemen heard
the story of the Hunter and the Bear?"

General negation was expressed.

Ahh. So. (said Ranma) It seems that once there was
a man who was successful in all his business and
in all his life.

And he attributed his success to the fact that he
treated his life and his business struggles as
though they were hunts. And he proved his point by
referring to the trophies that he had accumulated
down the years he had hunted the valiant tiger,
and the noble elephant, and the ferocious cow.

Yet, alas, his life was incomplete, and he
suffered sorely for the lack. For, despite all the
beasts he had hunted and all the trophies he had
taken, in all his life he had never hunted _Bear_.

And so, one year in the summer of his life, when
he had grown weary of the games he played, he
summoned his managers and accountants and bade
them take over all his enterprises and companies
and investments, and to keep them safe and
prosperous until it should again please him to
exhibit his business acumen, and financial skill.

And he gathered to himself, from the reserves of
all his possessions, a great store of treasure,
and he set himself to hunt _Bear_ and to gain
himself a rug. Or, as it might be, a coat.

And he bought a new and most excellent rifle, such
as he was wont to use to take his prey. And he
hired a famous hunting guide to teach him of all
the _Bear's_ habits and customs. And he spent gold
with a free hand to seek out all the information
and rumors that could be found concerning his
victim-to-be. And then he took ship for the
far-away land where, it was said, _Bear_ was to be
found.

On arriving in that place he indulged in another
week of riotous living, such as he had done on
shipboard (and indeed, if the truth were to be
told, all his life): drinking fine wines and
liquors, romancing pretty, admiring, girls, eating
gourmet meals, and boasting to all and sundry of
the glory he was soon to win.

Then he went into seclusion for a week, to listen
to the efforts of the priests he had paid to pray
for his success, and to watch the smoke rising
from the sacrifices of the costly treasures he had
purchased specifically to win the favor of the
gods.

And to drink only the finest of teas, made only
from the purest of water hand carried from the
mountain springs of its birth.

And to eat only the newest and purest of rice,
prepared by the finest of chefs, and topped only
by the choicest of salted bream, and fugu, and
squid from the deepest part of the ocean.

And to spend much time in the hottest saunas,
thinking pure thoughts, while pretty, naked, girls
attended him, striking him on the back with birch
branches to drive all impurities and poisons from
his pores.

And in various other such manners to strengthen
his body, and to focus his mind, and to commend
his success to all the relevant kami, and to call
on the protection and good luck of all of his
personal and family spirits, ghosts, fairies and
tutelary dieties.

And then, one morning, he picked up his weapon,
and had a fine hunting lunch packed, and traveled
forth into the wide world beyond the hunting
lodge. He traveled to a secluded hide, above a
descending slope which overlooked a brushy expanse
of valley, where there were bushes of berries, and
a swift flowing stream filled with fish. And where
there was known to be _Bear_.

And after he had waited for an hour or two,
drinking the nourishing drink with which he was
equipped and nibbling on the many snacks which had
been provided in his bento, along the open space
in the vale below him came that which he had
journeyed so far and through such hardships to
match himself against: a _Bear_.

It was plodding unconcernedly along, eating
berries from the bushes and considering, perhaps,
a main course of fish.

He observed it through the excellent telescopic
sight on his rifle, sniffling a little at the sad
fate that awaited such a magnificent specimen.
Almost, almost, he abandoned his sniper's rest and
descended to meet the great beast, to face it in
hand-to-claw combat from a short distance, say 100
yards or so, to be more sporting.

But no, he hardened himself to pity and thought
that if the beast had desired a sporting chance,
it should have worked to make one, as he had. And
he settled the sights on the broad shoulder
displayed before him, and he nestled the stock
gently into his shoulder, and he stroked the
trigger, and the rifle barked its song of death.

And below him, in the valley, the great _Bear_
shook its head, and stumbled, and fell, very
slowly, to its side, and lay still ... dead.

And he rose from the blind where he had waited,
and observed the trophy below him, and saw in it
all that he had worked for. And descended the
slope before him, to claim it.

Down he went, planning in his mind what he would
do with the trophy so dearly won, and how it would
be displayed. And he reached the bottom of the
ridge, and broke through the brushy screen, and
found there bushes full of berries, and a stream
full of fish, but no _Bear_, nor corpse of _Bear_,
and no sign that ever there had been one.

Frantically now he cast about, searching for any
clue as to where his trophy had gone, or who had
taken it. And he strode forward into the middle of
the vale, running to where he had seen the great
carcass fall, but no carcass, nor sign of such,
nor footprint, nor mark, nor any other trace of
the great beast's presence did he find.

And then something tapped him on the shoulder.

And then he turned around.

And there before him, rising up in majesty and
wrath, with fur stained by the blood of its
victims, with rolling eye and roaring growl, stood
_Bear_. And its terrible claws were long and
crusted with red. And its awful teeth were sharp
and keen. And it towered over him like a cliff
above a shaking mouse.

And then his courage failed him, and he dropped
his rifle, and waited tremblingly to die.

And then he heard a voice, a terrible and growling
voice, the voice of _Bear_! And it said, "Now lad,
if y' wan' tae live, ye'll be droppin yer trousies
and turnin aroun', an' I'll be performin' a
disgustin' sexual act upon yer trembling bod!"

And the man winced, and *yerked* and *yaaghed*,
but the _Bear_ was terrible, and its claws were
sharp, and so....

And so he dropped his trousers, and turned around
... and that's it, that's all.

_But_!

Later, dragging back to the lodge, he resolved
that he should leave his properties and
investments in the hands of his managers and
retire to a monastery, to mortify his flesh, and
apologize to the gods for his pollution.

But first, _first_ he would return to this place
and destroy the _Bear_, and use its skin for a rug
to sit on in the monastery, and to warm his
backside as he begged for alms. And he would spend
all his wealth and treasure, if necessary, to
attain that end. After all, what use would it now
be to him?

And so he returned to his homeland by the fastest
jet which was to be found in all that country, and
he threw all the resources of his great empire
into his one overriding goal.

And he caused to be designed a rifle; a weapon so
advanced that it could have destroyed a squadron
of tanks in one burst. A weapon whose merest
glancing blow would blow a hole three feet wide
through battleship armor. A weapon which was so
accurate that the veriest novice could use it to
blow in half a fly three miles off, and hit both
halves as they fell.

And he trained with it, and hired the world's
greatest marksman, and its most accomplished
tracker, and its foremost animal scientist, all to
explain to him, and to design a plan to bring the
fearful beast to its end. And he gave them all
they required, and built and strove as they said.

And then, again in spring, he again traveled to
that far-away land, and prayed and sacrificed, and
took his weapon, and all his devices and schemes,
and went forth to the ridge above the valley, to
meet his nemesis again.

And he set all his traps and devices in the valley
below, disguising all his scent and sign, that the
beast might not be disturbed in its progress.

And again he took up a position in a hide on the
ridge, and again he waited for the _Bear_.

And again time passed, and again the _Bear_ came
along the stream in the valley below.

And again he sighted his weapon, but no pity or
moment of grace stayed his hand this time!

And again he stroked the trigger, and again the
rifle roared. And all the traps, and nets, and
devices activated, blew up or fired at once. And
when the smoke had cleared the bruin lay, not
merely killed, but torn into a thousand pieces,
pierced, burned, strewn about the ground.

And again he raced down the slope, and took his
weapon with him. And he anticipated, as he ran,
how he would dance upon the _Bear's_ carcass when
he reached it, how he would make a common pillow
from the largest scrap of its hide, how he would
piss on the barren place where he would burn the
rest of its rotten, stinking corpse.

And again he reached the bottom of the ridge, and
broke the line of the brush before the valley
floor. And again he found there bushes full of
berries, and a stream full of fish, but again he
found no _Bear_.

And again he searched the little valley, weapon
held low and fierce before him, ready for any
movement.

And again something tapped him on the shoulder.

And again he turned around.

And again before him, rising up in terrible,
monstrous form, with blood-stained fur, and
flashing eye and thunderous growl, stood _Bear_.
And its claws were long and sharp, and dripped
with clotted gore. And its teeth were keen and
clouded with the red tinged saliva that its
twisting neck scattered near and far. And it
towered above him and its dark shadow blinded him.

And again his courage failed him, and again he
dropped his weapon, and prayed for the death he
once had feared.

And again he heard the voice, a terrible voice of
his shame, the voice of _Bear_! And it said, "Now
lad, if it's tae live y' want, ye'll be bendin'
doon, and openin' yer maw, and ye'll be performin'
a disgustin' sexual act upon me!"

And again he wailed, and prayed that the test
might pass, but the _Bear_ was strong, and its
terrible fangs dripped blood- tinged drool. And he
wished for death, but not like that.

And so, finally, he bent down, and ... and that's
all, but later, again returning weeping to the
lodge, he decided.

Corrupt he was, and impure, and damned for a
coward. He would endow monasteries and temples, he
would give all his wealth to charity and good
works, and then he would find some active volcano,
and throw himself in, and remove his pollution
from the circles of the world.

But first, _first_, FIRST!

Without fear, without possibility of failure,
without reprieve.

The. _Bear_. _Must_. _Die!_

And so he again returned to his homeland, and
spent gold like water in his quest.

He acquired the perfect rifle, the highest product
of the world's best gunsmith's art.

He went alone into the wilderness with his weapon
and the collected wisdom of the world in regard to
_Bears_, their habits, and all that related, or
had ever related to them.

And in the wilderness, in practice with the rifle,
and the bear-spear, and in communion with all that
the world knew of _Bear_, he planned and plotted
and grew in skill, until he was, without question,
the very best, most knowledgeable and most
skillful hunter of _Bear_ that there had ever
been.

And then, in fall, when _Bears_ are fat and
somnolent, _again_ he traveled to that land, and
_again_ he prayed and sacrificed.

And _again_ he took his rifle, and added to it his
spear.

And _again_ he went forth to the ridge above the
valley.

And _again_ he took up a position in a blind on
the ridge.

And _again_ he waited. He waited for the _Bear_.

And _again_ time passed, and _again_ the _Bear_
came along the stream in the valley below.

And _again_ he sighted his weapon, and _again_ he
stroked the trigger, and _again_ the rifle sang.

And _again_ the missile flew straight, and struck
its target directly on.

And _again_ the great head shook, and _again_ the
great legs stumbled, and _again_ the great beast
fell.

And _again_ he raced down the slope, and _again_
he took his his rifle, and also he took his spear.

And _again_ he reached the bottom of the ridge,
and _again_ he broke the line of the brush before
the valley floor.

And _again_ he found there bushes full of berries,
and _again_ he found a stream full of fish.

And _again_ he found no _Bear_.

And _again_ he scanned the valley, _again_ he
searched and stared.

And _again_ something tapped him on the shoulder.

And _again_ he turned around.

And _again_ before him, stood the _Bear_, and
_again_ its claws were long and sharp, and _again_
its teeth were keen.

And _again_ its mouth dripped bloody drool, and
_again_ it towered above him and _again_ its dark
shadow blinded him.

And _again_ his courage failed him, and _again_ he
dropped his weapons, and _again_ he prayed for the
death knew he would not find.

And _again_ he heard the voice, the terrible voice
of _Bear_!

And it said, "Now lad, tell th' truth. Ye didnae
come here frae the huntin', did ye?"

Ranma's voice on the last question had become soft and
gentle. And she looked upon the white-faced boys huddling
before her, and bestowed on them a smile. A gentle smile. A
kind and sweet smile. An angelic smile.

And the last remnant of the Fight at Furinkan, pale and
shaking, turned away from the terrible figure they had
sought to challenge. And stumbled weeping up the steps, and
divided themselves among their several classes, where they
sat huddled and still all the rest of the day. And where
no-one spoke of the story, or of the Fight. Not that day,
nor for a long time to come.

And Ranma and Akane, arms linked, and voices rising to the
clear blue sky, walked up the stairs behind them, singing.

When he was fast asleep, hey do me harity
When he was fast asleep, me being young,
When he was fast asleep, I from his side did creep,
Into the arms of a handsome young man!

Now he's got Faloorum, Faleerum, Fallorum,
Now he's got Fallorum, Faleerum, Falaay!
Now he's got Fallorum, he's got a Ding-Doorum,
Maids, when you're young, never wed an old man!

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

She had woken with the new day and prepared for school. Then
she had gone to the room where the puppy had slept, to see
its progress for herself. Now she knew, she had made a
mistake, a dreadful mistake, the previous day. Now, she
knew, she must be brave, and even bravery would do no good
for her. But it still might serve another.

And so she clutched the twisted, claw-like hand that held
her throat with both her own. And so she looked up into the
eyes, burning with a green internal fire, of the seven-foot,
near skeletal, black-robed figure that held her fast. And so
she saw the twisted, part wolf, part fox, part feline, all
terrible face of the being before her, and recognized in it
the remnant of the puppy she had found.

And so she heard it ask, in a horrible, pain-wracked voice,
as twisted as itself, for information about _Ranma_. And so
she was brave, and made no sound. And she heard the
horrified shriek, and saw, through a sudden twilight, her
mother standing in the doorway, aghast. And then the night
came down.

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

Ranma & Akane: A Love Story.
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part B: Storming the Wall: A Game of Wolf and Dragon

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

Koriko Nagao was having what he could unqualifiedly describe
as the worst day of his life. He had been humiliated and
dishonored and disgraced, he thought greyly.

It had been bad enough before, when that horrible barbarian
had terrified all the males of Furinkan on the first day. It
had been unendurable when he had been seduced by his own
rage into joining the attempted attack that had ended so
humiliatingly on the second. Or he had thought it had been
unendurable anyway. Now he knew better what 'unendurable'
meant.

Then they had only laughed at him to his face. Only
snickered at him behind his back. Only looked with disgust
at a stalwart of the Kendo Club. Only tittered at the
distress of a champion of the school. Only sniggered at the
nakedness and humiliation of a descendant of samurai. Only
that, then.

And so he had called together the other stalwarts, the only
remaining bastions of Furinkan tradition. Even their leader
had deserted them, the noble Kuno Tatewaki injured in spirit
and plunged into depression by the beating administered by
That Horrible Girl. They were alone now, but they would
uphold tradition and honor as they saw it.

And so they had analyzed. Dissected available data.
Consulted the authorities. And realized, to their horror and
shame, that they, _they_ _themselves_ had largely been to
blame.

Error had crept in to the ways of Furinkan. They had turned
from the path of honor, and they had rightly suffered for
it. Engaging in mass attacks on a single warrior in a matter
of honor. Attempting an ambush. Hiding like cowards.
Following a mongrel dog to avenge themselves on one who had
merely acted in defense of another.

Finally they had turned to look at themselves and seen what
they had become. Worse, they realized, they had led others
into error, as well. All of the male students of Furinkan
had eventually joined in the Fight For Akane's Heart. All
were now tarred with the same brush, with the same stain, as
they.

They must atone, they realized. They must immediately place
their straying feet back on the path of honor. But how to do
so?

There was only one choice, he had argued. They had begun as
warriors, as samurai in a sense, albeit, he now realized,
badly misguided ones. They must mend their honor the same
way.

Yet simple seppuku would not do, for the old ways were no
longer honored as once they had been. They would not be
seen, many said, as cleansing themselves from stain; but
rather as overly-emotional children, even as misguided
fools.

And what else were they, some wag had remarked, bitterly.
Some, another said, would even believe that they were
running, unwilling to face up to their shame.

No, he had argued persuasively, they must seek a
confrontation instead. They must challenge Ranma-san
directly, one by one; in the broad light of day, and not
hiding behind walls; and only after they recovered from the
destruction she would surely and deservedly work upon them
would their honor be capable of being restored.

'And,' he thought, 'in such a combat, with weapon in hand,
it would surely not be difficult to require Ranma-san to use
lethal force in her own defense.' Thus ending the life he
now felt too dishonored to endure, without drawing down
censure on anyone.

So he had thought, but he had been wrong. They had
challenged, or attempted to challenge, at least, but she had
not responded with blows but rather with words. With a
story; 'A morality tale,' he winced mentally, and with that
story she had not merely defeated them; she had destroyed
them.

He had returned to his classroom dreading the looks of anger
and disgust he knew he would see on the inhabitants thereof.
But instead he had seen something worse. Much worse. He had
looked sideways at their dutiful faces as the Sensei called
the roll, and there he had surprised an emotion more
terrible than anything he had ever seen, even in his darkest
nightmare: the emotion of pity.

Pity and condescension, as though his humiliation was only
to be expected. Worse even than this, _un_concern, as though
his shame was not even worthy of consideration. As though
_he_ was not worthy of consideration. As though he were
nothing.

He had answered the roll without conscious thought, hearing
without observing the information that one of his female
class-members was unexpectedly absent. He had not even dared
to look at Ranma, where she sat midway back in the class; he
did not wish to see what expression she wore. He had excused
himself immediately, pleading a call of nature; they would
surely snicker, but he could not bring himself to care. He
had almost fled the building, and now huddled in dread by
the outer wall, just by the gates.

Huddled there in dread, for he knew he could not evade
classes, and those dreadful, pitying, unconcerned faces
forever. And observed the approach to the school gates of
what seemed, to his in-looking eyes, to be one of Furinkan's
schoolgirls. Perhaps it was Asano-san he mused, dully. He
must pull himself together in front of his classmate. She
had not heard of his humiliation yet; he must put off that
hearing, for a moment at least.

Almost restoring his features to normalcy he turned to face
her and welcome her to school. And heard her ask him a
question, a question which he did not register.

That voice! That pain-wracked, twisted, voice never belonged
to Asano-san! What?

And he observed a fog clear from his sight. And he saw the
towering, black-robed, demonic figure replace his classmate
as if by magic, still clutching her briefcase in one twisted
claw, but bearing a great, cruel bladed Yari in the other.
And he saw the bestial wolf-like figure snarl at him. And
raise its spear as he seemed to freeze, mired in some
clinging substance that weighed down his limbs.

And then the twilight fell, and Koriko Nagao saw through
dimming vision the spear-shaft extending from his chest
retract, its broad head's bright sheen dimmed by scarlet
lifeblood. And realized that he had been granted the escape
from shame that he had sought, before the night claimed him
utterly.

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

Ranma and Akane had been slightly concerned for Sayuri when
it was discovered that she was not in school that day. Yuka,
however, had volunteered the information that she had gotten
home from her date somewhat late last night, and furthermore
that she had found a puppy. So it was decided that she must
simply have overslept, or possibly caught some type of bug,
and would be gently teased about it when she finally dragged
in.

Then the studious peace of Furinkan was broken by a scream.
A piercing, terrible scream. It came from one of the
classrooms on the front side of the first floor , and was
followed by a muffled shout that brought Ranma out of her
startlement, with a shocked oath that split plaster at 30
feet, and out the door in a dead run.

Akane followed after her, dreading whatever had disturbed
her sensei, and reached the bottom of the stairs in time to
see Ranma wave her hand in a complex pattern -- outer
fingers vee-ed and inners curling -- at the wall of one
classroom, which promptly exploded into dust.

Akane gasped and choked on the swirling dust, straining to
see into the opened room. Ranma, however, suffered no such
difficulty, snap- drawing Tenchuu in a classic Iado cut at
the dark-robed bulk that suddenly lunged at her, trailing a
scarlet stream of blood drops from its outstretched spear-
blade.

Ranma pivoted like a matador, sending the lunging demon-wolf
past her with a tortured, wordless howl. Tenchuu blurred as
it passed, striking deep more than a hundred times with a
sound like a deep-tolling bell, and Ranma snarled a name:
"Jei!"

Akane gasped in shock as the hurtling spear-blade bore down
on her, and saved herself from impalement only by a
desperate sideways twist propelled by the impetus of a side
snap-kick, which slammed into the injured side, spraying
blood and fur from the cuts Ranma's attack had left. Akane
saw with a strange, singing clarity as she shoulder-rolled
off the floor; everything seemed to be outlined, thrown into
sharp relief so that her racing mind could clearly
distinguish between what was important, and what was not.

Important, for example, were the injuries to the wolf-
demon's side, healing as she watched, the flesh flowing and
squirming back into proper shape. Also important was the
howling ki aura building up around Ranma and flowing down
her sword, and Akane abandoned reflection and achieved the
state of avoidance.

Ranma held on to the howling, snarling ki-force with a leash
of sheer willpower, quickly enjoining it to build in a
circling tubular onion-like structure, each thin inner layer
of force spinning in counter- rotation to the next, burning
lightning and destructive wind vortices building rapidly to
an uncontainable level from the internal dissonance and
friction of the whole structure.

The task, for her, was strenuous but not especially
challenging; she was much stronger then the last time she
had called the Dragon Wind in earnest, and farther advanced
down the paths of breath and spirit as well. Now, calling on
her full power, Ranma held what she knew was the most
powerful attack she had ever performed until Jei had
stabilized himself enough to be rooted. Until he had placed
himself fully in the path of destruction, yet removed his
ability to dodge it. Then she released its bonds, and called
it to battle by name. "Ryuukaze!"

A corona of blue-white lightning struck inward toward
Ranma's aura, crackling towards her body and hands like a
berserk, inverted Van de Graaff generator. St. Elmo's fire
of red and neon blue played all about her, illuminated the
swirling storm wind that gathered about her hands where they
clenched around Tenchuu's hilt, swept down Tenchuu's blade
and launched itself as a horizontal tornado that sped
irresistibly across the twenty foot space to Jei's back.

A flaming, thundering tide of lightning rode the wind,
outlining its passage with crackling, neon light. At its tip
a vortex of the storm, wind powerful enough to crumble
diamond or shred titanium alloy like wet cardboard, formed a
dragon's head; filled with the heart of the lightning and
drawing the tornado behind it as the head draws the body,
wings and claws following after. As it passed it drew up
debris and shredded floor-tiles into itself, their component
particles joining its destructive force; and on Ranma's
chest, underneath her shirt and wrap, the dragon threw back
her head -- and roared.

Ranma watched with fleeting satisfaction as an unstoppable
tide of pure destruction hit Jei squarely in the back -- and
accomplished precisely nothing. 'Oh, _shit_! He learned to
shield!' She hurled herself across the separating space
between them, shifting her sight to the mode she used to
analyze a structure of magic, and slipped fully munen muso,
into zanshin mind-no-mind.

Jei spun towards his attacker, keeping his attention focused
on her ki-force, and beginning a triumphant snarl.

Ranma sliced past him in a rush, Tenchuu burning through his
stomach and out his back, severing his spine. Ranma spun
around Jei, hand, feet and sword flickering, testing his
defenses and ki in a whirlwind too fast for even Jei's
boosted senses to track, but also too fast to do any lasting
damage, the minor wounds healing even as they were made.

At last, having discovered as much as she could, Ranma
flashed to a position straddling Jei's neck, one foot
bracing against his back as the other leg curled around his
throat. A convulsive twist of Ranma's body broke even Jei's
inhumanly strong neck; and sent her off his shoulders to
bounce off the wall behind him, curling her legs against her
chest and storing power in them.

Then she exploded away from the wall, into his back; her
sword flashed around to sever his head entirely as she built
a tornado-strength shield of wind behind and around her body
and uncurled into Jei's back. The force of her ki-charged
shove shattered every bone in his spine and propelled him
violently across forty yards of open air, through and out of
the classroom he had been destroying originally, and into
Furinkan's yard.

A lash of green energy erupted from his severed neck as he
passed, joining the severed stump of his neck to his
bouncing, discarded head; drawing the latter after it with a
shriek of rage and pain that would have shattered all the
windows on Furinkan's front side, had there been any
undestroyed to that point. Which there weren't.

Impacting the ground violently and being propelled into a
tumbling roll, Jei progressed down the yard with a series of
cracking and ripping noises, landing on his feet and healing
all his wounds with a sustained wet crackle that ended as
his head slammed home atop his neck and knit together again
with a squelch that would probably have been exceedingly
disgusting had anyone been paying attention to it.

Ranma leaped through the destroyed classroom, absently
noting the carnage within, and landed just outside what had
been Furinkan's outer wall. "Jei-san. I see you have gained
in prowess since the last time I killed you."

The storm-loud cackle of mad laughter that erupted from Jei
seemed to provide any answer that might be necessary, but he
continued anyway. "Fool, I cannot be killed! I am the
champion of the Gods, and they have given me new power for
the holy task of destroying you and all your works,
utterly!"

A green ball of fire suddenly filled his hand. "Now, prepare
to die!" he screamed as he threw it at Ranma. She batted it
aside without expression, unmoving as it spattered twenty
feet of Furinkan's front wall with a clinging emerald flame
that corroded stone, glass and wood alike.

Ranma again drew in her power and answered Jei's challenge
with a bolt of lightning. "Gekirin no Ryuu!" The thunderclap
that followed the lightning's ineffectual explosion off
Jei's shield fixed his attention firmly on Ranma herself,
and allowed Akane to shoo several panicking students up the
stairs to (presumed) safety, while she herself ran to the
destroyed classroom to see what help she might give.

Upon jumping the low sill left by the destroyed wall, she
landed in a warm, sticky pool and went to one knee; looking
around in disbelieving horror she found that the answer was:
none. At least a dozen bodies littered the floor and desks
of the violated room. Most were in pieces no larger than
half a torso, but all were clearly dead, and the still,
brooding air hung heavy with the iron tang of fresh blood,
and the sewer stench of released bowels, overlain by the
visceral, sour-sweet smell of human death.

The combination went straight to her hindbrain and forced
her, gagging, to her hands and knees. Her eyes widened in
shock, and she scrambled to her feet, frantically wiping her
hands on her pants as she realized what she had landed _in_.
She gasped and then determinedly looked away from the
carnage around her, out across the field to, and then past,
the looming figure of the seven-foot tall wolf demon, to
where several panicked students, nearly mindless with fear,
huddled against the outside wall of the schoolyard.

Akane lunged out of the destroyed wall section, snatching at
the central pillar of an overturned desk in passing, and ran
across the field, yelling desperately for the students to
run behind her, and away from the demonic spear-wolf. As she
passed directly in line with Jei, she hurled the desk across
the separating distance, smashing him dead on and hurling
him into the wall.

Unfortunately, however, one of the students, who had heard
her call and started to run across to her, was on the wrong
side. Thus, when Jei smashed into the wall, said student was
less than three feet from the impact and, startled and
unable to stop, ran directly into the towering figure as he
clawed his way from the rubble of the wall.

Jei's hand lashed out and closed on the hapless student's
neck even as Ranma and Akane both lunged towards the
tableaux, and the terrible, bloodied spear flashed back for
a death-stroke. Akane, was close enough to arrive in time
and simply shoulder-tackled Jei, breaking his hold on the
student, and driving them both apart and into the wall.

Jei rebounded with a snarl, driving his spear at Akane's
unprotected back as she turned to sent the boy she had
protected to safety on her off side. Then Ranma flashed into
range, sending Tenchuu smashing into the shaft of the spear.
But the shaft rebounded the sword-strike, to her distant
shock, and Jei's instant counter flung Ranma back a dozen
yards, rotating in mid-air and looking for a landing place.

Akane sent her charge toward safety with a massive shove and
began to turn at bay. Too late: the spearhead would pierce
her before she could evade, she saw distantly. Which was why
the black, metallic ribbon that flashed out of nowhere and
tugged the spear-shaft far enough aside to miss and plow
into the wall, instead of Akane, came as a complete shock to
everyone.

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

Kuno Kodachi had hidden in the shadows beside the wall of
Furinkan and observed the events of the morning. She was
especially concerned with finding out who had so injured her
brother, but since he had told her none of the details, she
kept a look-out for anything unusual.

The shortish redhead with the aura of power almost visible
to the naked eye was certainly unusual, she felt.

Furthermore, her brother had not mentioned her even in
passing, as he surely would have under normal circumstances,
and she was in the company of another girl, whom Kodachi
recognized as the "Beauteous Tiger" of her brother's fevered
ranting, Tendo Akane, albeit much altered from the frumpy
girl she had remembered from the last time she had seen her.

This was, she thought, suggestive, and she had been engaged
in attempting to locate the girl within the building when
the screams and explosions had informed her that matters
were becoming very odd and dangerous indeed. She had left
the building by a convenient window and jumped into the
trees, through which she had moved to a position just over
the confrontation by the wall, observing the battle in awe.
Seeing Akane's peril, she saw also an opportunity to
intervene -- and prove her own battle-worth in a theater of
the utmost truth -- and had intercepted the demon's spear
with her ribbon.

Jei's counter pull of the shaft had ripped her from the tree
and several yards further into the schoolyard, but she had
anticipated this, and landed with all the grace of her
gymnastic art, then turned and began to unleash a peroration
that would surely stop the monster in its tracks and lead
directly to its defeat. "Hold, monster! For now ..."

Ranma rebounded in mid-air and turned to the attack as Jei
took the opportunity to dispose of at least one opponent and
struck directly for Akane's heart.

"... you face the wrath ..."

Akane declined to be spitted and counterattacked before Jei
could drive home his spear, catching the spear-shaft just
behind the head with the odd speed she suddenly seemed to
have acquired, and putting a circle kick from the hip into
Jei's mid-section.

"... of the Black Rose ..."

Jei was driven back by the kick, and Ranma altered her
trajectory to track him as he stumbled into range of
Kodachi, and felt that one foe was as good as another.

" ...Ugghkk." Kodachi gasped, as her speech was rudely
interrupted by the butt of Jei's spear driving past her
defense to slam into her midriff, tearing her leotard and
breaking several ribs.

The but was followed by the spearhead, rotating like a fan
blade as Jei drove it in an arc that would have torn through
her heart, while gathering a sickly luminescent fox-fire to
his off hand. Would have, except for Ranma's fall from the
heavens, to cut through Jei's arm, severing it briefly and
reducing the wound to a three inch deep cut across and
through several ribs and deeply into the muscle of her left
arm. The fireball that followed as Jei fell away from
Ranma's strike spattered across Kodachi regardless of
Ranma's swatting, ki-charged hand, and she fell backwards,
crippled, bleeding and aflame.

Some distance away, a young man who had been engaged in the
occupation of shepherding students away from the fight
looked up, and ran to her side with a shriek of rage and
pain, "Sister! No!"

Jei regained his feet with a snarl, but Ranma had seen
enough. She had the measure of his defense now, and it only
remained to accomplish the attack that would destroy him.
She kept him on the defensive with a barrage of mini-
lightning bolts as she closed, followed by a blistering
exchange of fists, feet, spear strokes and sword blows that
maneuvered Jei into the position she wanted.

Tatewaki reached his sister's side just as Ranma put Jei in
the position she wanted him in. "_NOW_ Akane," she roared.

And Akane, seeing her chance, snatched up the central
pillar, now detached, of the desk she had previously used,
and charged into Jei's back, using the pillar as an
improvised club. An attack that was fully successful in all
ways except one: she got the angle to hit him at slightly
wrong.

Jei did not fly in the direction Ranma had wanted, nor did
he go as far, and Ranma altered direction again, on the
ground this time, as Tatewaki reacted to the presence of the
beast that had wounded his sister with the beginnings of the
best attack he could muster, his bokken blurring in the air.
"Dadadadadadadadadada"

Jei, of course, ignored the attack, bringing the shaft of
his spear over his head and down onto Tatewaki, sending the
bokken from his hand and dropping him, stunned, across his
sister's body. Akane followed up her original attack before
he could reverse and use the blade, shoving him forcefully a
couple of feet away, and following up to grab the fallen
bokken as she sprawled across the pile of Kunos.

She turned over desperately, bringing the bokken around to
block the descending spear-point away so that it thudded
into the dirt beside her, and then continuing with the only
attack she could muster from her position flat on her back
on the ground. An attack that she knew was inadequate,
possessing as she did only the mediocre skill gained by her
desultory studies previously and one day of Ranma's
instruction. An attack that was, nonetheless, the only thing
she had.

A kick straight up, with all the force that was in her, past
Jei's defense and into his groin. It lifted him up six
inches, to a roar of shock and hate; forced his hands up,
locked around the spear-shaft for the downward, unstoppable
strike that would skewer her, Tatewaki and Kodachi all
three; and gave Ranma one single, unobserved, unoccupied
second.

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

It was enough.

A roaring wind blew Jei away from the sprawled pile, as
Ranma smashed into him. A hail of sword blows from all
angles taxed his regenerative capabilities and eroded the
defense of his ki-shield. A simultaneous flurry of
ki-charged one-finger strikes pelted him, whirling him
around and around and setting his ki to boiling heat, as
Ranma sent herself into a countering circle, matching his
spin and dropping her ki to freezing before she called the
wind again.

"Hiryuu. Shouten. Haaa!"

The Rising Dragon Ascension Strike flamed inward from a
circle ten yards across and lifted Jei in a roaring cyclone
into the sky. Ranma followed after, riding the wind that was
Jei's enemy, returning Tenchuu to her jacket with a snap and
drawing a phurba of meteoric iron. This she threw straight
upward, through Jei's abdomen, and sent the lightning of the
storm after it, upward from the ground to the dagger's place
at the apex of the cyclone, damaging Jei past the momentary
limits of his regeneration and removing half of his
remaining shield.

Ranma herself rode the lightning-charged storm-wind upward,
speeding past Jei to the top of the funnel-cloud; catching
the dagger as it peaked above Jei's form, momentarily held
in equilibrium between wind and gravity. And then Ranma
called the wind up into a vortex just above the previous
apex of the storm and let Jei fall.

She followed his descent with another throw of the phurba,
again striking through Jei's body, to thud into the ground
far below, again followed by the fury of the storm,
shredding the rest of Jei's shield and wounding him deeply.

Jei snarled hatred and snapped his spear around to guard.
Ranma could not now put another missile past his guard, and
to injure him again she must go down, and thus into his
range. And then Ranma played her trump card, pulling from
Jacket-space a weapon that Jei could only vaguely place.
Some kind of one-hand arquebus, he thought, but surely too
small to ....

The IMI Desert Eagle .50 caliber AE automatic pistol has
been called many things in the world of things that go
boom. Too small has rarely been among them.

A *CHK-Klack* announced that Ranma's invisibly fast hands
had racked the slide. And then the enormous pistol roared,
and the recoil hammered at Ranma's solid grip. And once
again the World's Biggest Handgun proved itself adequate to
the task. Just.

Eight times it spoke and eight bullets flew; each jacketed,
solid core hollow point missile carrying, locked to the iron
spike at the core of its leaden mass, as much of Ranma's ki
as she could shove into it while pulling the trigger.

Each packet of ki was dedicated to the goal of expanding its
bullet explosively just before it entered Jei's body and
then holding the lead and iron in a specific shape during
its passage, regardless of the impedance of flesh or bone.
Each packet achieved its goal exactly, punching eight holes
in the spear-wolf's body; each in the shape of an ideograph
in a scholar's shorthand of ancient China.

Eight ideographs relating a saying about men, and
butterflies, and the difficulty of telling the difference.
Eight ideographs arranged on Jei's torso in a pattern
tracing out another ideograph in that same ancient hand; the
ideograph called 'Final Emptiness'. The whole assemblage of
ideographs forming a spell of dispersal, scattering Jei's
energy, dispersing his shield, and damaging his soul.

Ranma allowed Jei to fall almost to the ground before using
the iron dagger half-buried in the ground below him to
receive the remaining energy of her storm in one titanic
bolt of fury, earthing itself through Jei's fatally wounded
body and knocking the spear sprawling from his hand at last.

She herself landed about ten feet away from, and behind, Jei
-- now standing in a wide crater and frantically reaching
for enough power to regenerate his broken body -- and
snapped Tenchuu from its resting place again, sending power
through it and waking it to furious, burning life.

Then Ranma jumped backwards, past Jei again, Tenchuu
flashing. She carved another ideogram through his entire
body with her sword: two inward curving lines, each
continuing from its bottom up into a crossing loop, forming
a symbol not unlike a "W" with a loop extending above the
middle point. Then continuing in a single motion over the
top of the outer points, closing the curve and leaving only
the central loop above it.

Ranma landed in front of Jei at a distance of no more than
three feet. Jei, incapable of movement and with all his
defenses down, could only watch Ranma's cool emotionless
face as she drew back her sword. And then she struck -
straight through the center of the ideogram she had cut into
his flesh - and also straight through his heart.

Jei exploded into a towering pillar of flame, and Ranma
withdrew her sword and re-sheathed it, waiting. The flame
burned itself out in moments, revealing the various limbs
and pieces of his torso falling to earth, smeared with an
odd, green, burnt looking ichor; and a wide- winged
butterfly of an evil green hue, hanging where the ideogram
had been, sending up a high pitched, wailing keen, and
burning. Ranma swatted it from the air with a ki-sheathed
hand, and ground it underfoot.

Then Ranma returned from zanshin, and called a slow, pulsing
fire to her hand. "Come back from _that_, you pustule on the
backside of divinity," she snarled bitterly, using pulses of
the flame to burn the corpse of the butterfly to ash, and
set the remaining pieces of Jei's corpse afire.

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

Akane was just struggling to her feet again as Ranma turned
from the evilly smoking fires. She was aching, burnt,
scratched in several places, bore more bruises, scrapes and
minor cuts than she could bear to think about, and the only
thing she wanted was for Ranma to tell her that it was over.
Ranma pulled her into a brief, hard hug and whispered, "You
did great, Akane-chan!"

Ranma thumped her briefly on the shoulder and let her go,
grinning at her widely for a moment. Then Ranma turned to
the gate of Furinkan, walking over to check on the body
there, and Akane bent down again to help Kodachi and
Tatewaki.

Ranma came to Nagao's body, and knelt down. She could easily
see that he was dead, but she used ki-sight anyway, to make
sure. Then she gently closed his staring eyes, and stood up
looking over at the gate to see what she had noticed from
the corner of her eye. It was a briefcase, which she picked
up, examined, and then quickly brought over to Akane, who
was standing next to the Kunos and talking to Nabiki, who
had summoned medical and police units to the school.

"What's wrong, Ranma?" Akane noted her friend's grim
expression. Ranma held up the case, so Akane could see what
was written there: Asano, S., and an address. Akane's eyes
went wide in horror.

"Do you know where this is, Akane-chan?" And at her nod,
"Then I think, Nabiki, that you should call aid to that
address, too. And I think that Akane and I should go there
now, as well. And I think that we should run."

Akane nodded jerkily and ran toward the gate, waving her
hand toward Sayuri's distant house. "She's over that way,
Ranma. But the fastest way there is...."

She was interrupted by the feeling of arms around her waist,
and jerked into the sky. Landing on the roof in the
appropriate direction Ranma flowed into a smooth run,
leaping gaps in the roof line with focused unconcern. Akane
followed, gulping in trepidation at the gaps she would have
to jump, but making no protest.

Across Nerima they traveled in leaps and bounds, Akane
leading Ranma across the roof-tops in as straight a line as
she could, bypassing the traffic on the crowded streets
below. Shortly, they heard the rising wail of sirens, and
Ranma suddenly snarled an oath. "I can feel it now
unblocked, Akane-chan, I've gotta hurry," she snapped out,
before blurring into a red and black streak.

Akane followed as quickly as she could and reached the roof
line over Sayuri's house to find Ranma picking herself up
from the ground, smoking slightly, and a dozen paramedics
charging the door. "Wait," Ranma roared uselessly, "the
bloody thing's ...." The paramedics hit the door and were
thrown back, injured, by a burst of green fire. "... warded.
Damn!"

Akane jumped down, as Ranma snapped back to her feet and
stalked forward, snarling, "Get _back_ you fools, there's
magic here!"

Ranma jogged up to the door and raised her hand, ki
coalescing around it in an in-drawing vortex. She thrust her
hand forward in the same gesture she had used earlier, outer
fingers vee-ed and inners curling, and burned a circle of
green fire into the air before the doorway.

The door collapsed into dust as the circle of fire exploded
around the house, blowing everyone in a block's radius
except those behind Ranma flat to the ground.

The door vanished, and Ranma strode forward, hand at her
side, ki still gathered. Akane followed after, as did those
paramedics and police still on their feet. The darkness
within shifted like a living thing, snarling and drawing
down, choking. Ranma pulsed ki to her hand, drawing the dark
close about it, and then shifted an internal polarity, and
expressed the ki of the vortex she had generated as
sunlight.

A brilliant flash of light destroyed the darkness, burning
down its resistance and banishing it with a fading wail.
Ranma glided into the house; glancing at the older woman
laying in the doorway with a broad spear mark through her
outer chest she left the body to others and went directly to
the small body laying nearly hidden in another room.

Kneeling down, she checked Sayuri's ki with a sinking heart,
but then snapped her head upward to Akane with burning but
worried eyes. "She's still alive! But she's not breathing,
and she's fading fast! Get help, and I'll try to call her
back."

Akane spun and ran to the other part of the house, to fetch
a medic, and Ranma gathered all the ki she could at short
notice, then struck one hand downward toward Sayuri's chest;
her aura flaming into new life as it went, ki curling about
it ready to call the body beneath her back to life ....

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

Ranma and Akane: A Love Story
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part C: Pursuit to Destruction; East Wind, Rain.

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

Kodachi had been taken away in an ambulance, only one of
many that day. Nabiki and Yuka were assisting the doctors
that were dealing with the last of the students injured by
flying debris. Both had done yeoman service to triage the
wounded and traumatized, and in running errands for the
medical effort that had, by now, sucked in every available
doctor or medtech in Nerima ward.

Nabiki had been especially active in calming and restraining
those who had been injured most severely while the medics
tended to them; extracting debris from their injuries, or
hastily bandaging wounds and setting limbs in preparation
for their transportation to local hospitals.

Currently, the two girls were aiding Dr. Tofu by handing him
his supplies and tools while he aligned and set a number of
broken ribs belonging to a sophomore who had been trampled
and kicked into a corner in class 1-D's mad scramble to quit
the ground floor during the attack.

Nabiki looked up from the last patient as that unfortunate
was loaded onto a stretcher for transport. A very bedraggled
looking Akane was dragging into Furinkan's yard, wobbling
along behind Ranma, who herself appeared less than entirely
perky.

The two martial artists came over to where Nabiki was
standing, Ranma greeting her wearily while Akane stopped
walking and leaned against Ranma's shoulder, closing her
eyes.

"Nabiki-san," Ranma opened the conversation in a tired
voice, "I see that you're helping with the wounded. Can you
give me an estimate of the total casualty list, please?"

Nabiki rubbed her eyes with blood-stained hands. "I don't
know the full list yet, Ranma-san. The last I'd heard there
were seventeen confirmed dead. I think the total of
seriously injured is going to stop at 40. Minor injuries
and, err, _mental_ trauma ...." Nabiki turned to where a
clump of pale, shaking students were huddling against the
wall, seeking comfort in numbers, and shrugged.

Ranma nodded wearily. "You can add two more to the seriously
wounded list then. Asano-bodou was stabbed in the chest by
Our Friend, but he seems to have missed the heart, and the
medics said she has a fair chance. Sayuri-chan was
strangled, and while she's still alive she seems to be in a
deep coma, at the moment."

Nabiki glanced sideways at Yuka, who was trembling and
clenching her hands together. Quietly, she asked, "Will she
survive, long term, do you think?"

Ranma rubbed her temples briefly. "There's no good reason
why she wouldn't, I think. The physical trauma doesn't seem
to be too severe. What mental trauma she may be suffering,
and when she'll wake up...." Ranma shrugged in her own turn.

Yuka wailed and buried her face in Nabiki's shoulder. Nabiki
awkwardly attempted to comfort her and Ranma put a hand on
Yuka's shoulder, saying, "Don't give up hope Yuka-chan.
Sayuri-chan is very brave, and the hospital hasn't even
begun to care for her yet. And I'm not out of resources
myself, for that matter. But I think, for now, that it's
better to let the professionals handle things.

"And speaking of _things_, Nabiki, do you know what happened
to Jei's corpse and his spear?"

"I just saw ..." Nabiki mumbled, "Oh yes! A police van came,
gathered it all up and took it away. And I'm just as glad;
even dead that thing gave me a creepy feeling!"

"I don't blame you at all Nabiki-san. I just wanted a closer
look at the spear, but I suppose that I can do that later."
She turned her hand under her gaze and considered the ichor
crusted under the nails. "I'd like to get clean first, at
least. Do you think you're going to need Akane or I around
here any more today?"

"No, Ranma, I don't think so. Go on back to the Dojo and see
if you can get Akane-imouto to go to sleep."

Akane snorted, weakly. "Sleep. Feh. _Bath_."

Ranma grinned, "Indeed. _Bath_. I may even beg one from
Kasumi-san myself."

Nabiki grinned over her shoulder as she ushered Yuka to
where she could sit down, and shook a fist at them. "Use up
all the hot water and you answer to me," she
mock-threatened.

Ranma's grin turned crooked, and she half-turned from her
course to sweep a bow. "We shall faithfully avoid the
invocation of your wrath, Nabiki-san." She urged the wobbly
Akane out the gate, and then was gone.

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

"Tadaima!"

"Oh, my, I hope that's...." Kasumi had been beside herself
with worry. Father had managed to tell her that _something_
bad had happened. From context she had assumed that
something was wrong with Akane or Nabiki, but his tears had
managed to short out both the TV and the radio, and he
simply was not coherent enough to tell her what was wrong.
She dared not leave him alone to seek out the neighbors, and
Tofu-san seemed not to be answering his phone, but if they
were capable of calling out then surely it couldn't be
_that_ bad. Could it?

Hurrying to the front room, she assessed the condition of
Akane-chan and that nice young Ranma-san and rapidly revised
her opinion: it wasn't that bad, it was worse. Only one
comment seemed appropriate. "Oh, my!"

Ranma looked up at Kasumi's entrance, steering Akane gently
toward the furo. "We're both mostly alright, Kasumi-san, but
we badly need a bath. Is the furo hot?"

Kasumi nodded helplessly; they didn't _seem_ alright. Akane
was a complete mess: dirty, scratched, her new clothes in
complete ruination, and was that dark substance half
covering her arms, legs and back _blood_?

Ranma hardly looked better, mainly a matter of fewer areas
messed up, but some of the stains were a loathsome looking
green that made her head hurt just to _consider_ trying to
get out. Nonetheless she nodded affirmatively to Ranma's
question, then, as Ranma moved Akane along toward the bath,
burst out, "Ranma-san, what happened?!"

Ranma turned around briefly and saw Soun hovering at the
entrance to the living room, then sent Akane on toward the
bath and answered. "A monster attacked the school,
Kasumi-san. We killed it, but there were a number of
casualties. The authorities seemed to have the matter in
hand, so I felt that Akane needed to get home immediately,
and take a bath, and probably a nap. With your permission?"

Kasumi nodded and turned back to Father, who had burst out
in fresh tears. "Now, now, Father, you heard Ranma-san; both
the girls are all right and...." She herded him back into
his room to have a lie-down and thought, 'A monster. Oh,
my!'

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

Ranma ignored the clothes heaped untidily on the floor, and
quickly stripped. Picking up the water pail and soap, she
spent several minutes firmly scrubbing out the ichor and
gore that encrusted several areas of her arms and legs, then
filled up the pail again and soaped the rest of her body
before dumping the pail of water over her head to rinse off.

Then she walked over to Akane, who was sitting on a stool,
staring at her blood-stained hands and feebly attempting to
scrub the stains off. Ranma took the soap and washcloth from
Akane's unresisting hands and used them to quickly rid her
of her unwanted decorations, then rinsed her off and put her
into the tub to soak, joining her soon thereafter.

Ranma settled back into the steaming water and felt her
muscles relax, but she noted that Akane was not relaxing,
and was, in fact, on the verge of tears. She let Akane have
a minute of silence, then gently asked, "Want to talk about
it?"

Akane sniffed and shook her head, "N-no, Ranchan, I'll be
alright, just ... could you sing for me, something ...."

Ranma suddenly found her vision obscured, a gust of steam
had no doubt chosen to make a wrong turn. "Sure, _Acchan_,
I'll sing something. You just relax, now. Maybe try to go to
sleep."

That pair in the corner,
They're here every Tuesday,
They come when the market
First opens its stalls.
And it's got so that lately
I'll wait just to see them,
Their heads bent together,
As they come down the hall.

And Akane felt herself, very slowly, begin to relax. Felt
the pains of the day roll away. Felt the horror, and the
fear, and, what she felt was worst of all -- the strange,
singing joy -- begin to fade. Felt the aches and bruises and
the tiredness which denied even sleep or rest begin to heal.

And her hair has grown whiter,
His has grown thinner,
And their pace has slowed down
As the years have grown long.
But they keep step together
'Mongst strangers who hurry,
These two old companions,
Walking slowly along.

Washed away, so to speak, by steaming water. Soothed by
safety and kindness, and a place to relax. Eased by an
easing of stress and fear.

They always take the same table
And they open their menus,
And I watch as his hand
Reaches out to touch hers,
And she, with the other,
Reaches under her chair,
And fumbles her glasses
From out of her purse.

Healed and lulled to sleep by a glorious, contralto voice. A
voice that washed over her and swept through her. A voice
that eased her sorrows without trivializing them. A voice
that understood terror and the bloodlust she had found
herself fighting, but that had triumphed over them.

And she reads him the specials,
He does the ordering,
They joke with the waitress,
About watching their weight,
But the waitress says nothing,
She just snaps her gum
And then brings their dessert,
That they'll share from one plate.

She sat back, finally, and relaxed her muscles one by one.
Met her fear and disgust head on, and found them to be less
terrible than she had earlier imagined; and, slowly, began
to master them.

Sometimes I watch them too closely,
They notice me staring
And they smile at me vaguely,
Not really seeing my face.
But they know I'm a stranger,
Not one of their friends
Who have died, or long since
Moved away from this place.

And settled back into a drifting haze, and let a golden
voice sink into her. And gave up her control over her
emotions at last, and gently began to weep.

They keep to themselves,
They're each other's shelter,
Two hearts grown together,
Two parts of a whole.
And I smile at them shyly,
I know I intrude, on this
Pair of old lovers,
And I turn and I go.

And, as she drifted further from consciousness and the cares
of the day, seemed to see before her a vision.

But, you know that I've seen them
As they leave the cafe',
He pulls out her chair,
And he helps her to stand,
And he holds out her coat,
And he hugs it around her
And together they leave,
Holding each other's hand.

A vision of herself, older, gray haired. Resting in another
furo. And placing a hand, scarred but still strong, lovingly
on the back of the head resting on her shoulder. A head in
whose hair, also mostly gray, could still be seen the
occasional strand of flaming, sunset red.

And there's a love beyond words
In their every small gesture,
As the two old companions
Make their way through the town
There's a love beyond name,
beyond years,
beyond measure.
And the days that they share
Are the stars in their crown.

And gently slipped into slumber, and dreamed of something
unseen. Something which she loved with all her heart, and
which brought her great joy. But what it was, when she woke
up, she was unable to recall.

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

Akane awoke slowly, to a background of humming and soft,
mumbled curses. She was lying in her bed and clothed in her
nightgown, but it seemed to be daylight. For a moment she
could not remember why she might be asleep so late in the
day, but then memory returned and she realized that it must
be later in the same day; by the angle of the light coming
in the window she could see it was sometime just afternoon.

Akane sat up and perched on the edge of her mattress,
blinking around her with still sleepy eyes. There were, she
noticed, two things about the room that were different from
the way she had left it this morning.

The first was the tray-table by the side of her futon,
loaded with a tray carrying lunch. The second was Ranma,
sitting at her desk, wearing one of her old overalls and a
shirt slightly too small for her -- and, she noticed, no bra
-- and bent over a homework assignment in math, which she
appeared to be making heavy weather of.

Akane absently ate her lunch while she tried to make some
sense of the events of the day. She finished just as Ranma
hissed in frustration, crumpled the scratch sheet of paper
she was working with, and threw it across the room. "Stupid
thing," she pouted, "I don't think it even _has_ a
solution!" Turning around she grinned at Akane, "Awake at
last! Did you enjoy your lunch ... Acchan?"

Akane blinkied, 'Acchan? What ... ohmikami ... the furo!
What'll she think of me?' Her hands flew to her face in
dismay as she blushed a fiery red.

Ranma's grin moderated itself into a gentle smile. "No,
Akane, I'm not mad. In fact, the only other person who has
ever called me that was the very first friend I ever made. I
am more honored than I can say that you have chosen to be
the second."

This did not particularly seem to help Akane's blush, and
she looked down at her folded hands bashfully. "Ar-are you
sure, Ranma?" She looked up at the redhead where she sat at
the desk. "I've never, that is ...."

Ranma rose lithely to her feet, and crossed the room to
where Akane sat, hugging her fiercely. "I'm sure, Acchan. As
long as you promise to stay my friend."

Akane told the sudden tears to go away and hugged her friend
back, trying to place the sudden thumping in her chest. "I
promise, Ranchan. As long as you promise too."

Ranma stepped back and extended a pinky, her grin almost
splitting her face. "I promise."

Akane hooked her pinky through Ranma's and gripped, feeling
a grin taking over her face as well. "I promise too."

Ranma held the pinky grip a moment, and then stepped back,
crossing her arms over her chest. "Which does _not_,
however, get you off of getting beaten on during training."

Akane's grin turned crooked, "Wouldn't want it to." Then,
jerking her head at the desk, "What's got you so happy over
there?"

"Oh, you would remind me. Feh." Ranma blew her cheeks out
and sighed. She walked back to the desk and sat down, Akane
following behind her, and picked up her pencil. "It's a
'Problem of Multiple Variables in Multiple Equations' if you
please. Bah!"

Akane leaned over Ranma's shoulder and looked at the
problem. "This one doesn't seem _that_ hard, Ranchan."

"Hah! So you say, but look at this! These things don't even
have the same terms in them!"

Akane chuckled and took the pencil from Ranma's hand.
"You're trying too hard, Ranchan. See, you take this
equation here -- it reduces to _this_ variable, see? So you
replace the instances of that variable in _this_ equation
and then you ...."

Fainter now, lower in tone "Oh, that's how... Neat, Acchan!
But now how...."

Fainter yet, "You just...."

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

Nabiki had come home soon after noon, and had eaten a
sandwich before even seeking the furo. Now, around two in
the afternoon, she had just come from a _long_ soak in the
hot water, new clothes, and another large meal, and was
beginning to feel human again. She pushed back her plate and
turned to Kasumi, questioning, "Oneechan, where is everybody
else?"

"Father is sleeping in his room, Nabiki-chan, he took the
news very hard. Ranma-san and Akane-chan are training, I
believe." She turned around and caught Nabiki's eyes, "I
didn't get many details, imoutochan, how was it, really?"

Nabiki shuddered violently, "If it hadn't been for Ranma-san
we'd have all been killed, oneechan. And if Akane-chan
hadn't _attacked_ the thing I don't know if even Ranma-san
could have killed it. It just wouldn't _die_, not even when
she cut its head off!" She shuddered again.

Kasumi knelt by her and gathered her into a hug, "Akane-chan
fighting monsters. Who would have thought?"

Nabiki pushed herself back from the hug, "You said they were
training, oneechan? Do you know where they are? I need to
talk to Ranma-san."

Kasumi frowned slightly, "Be careful, Nabiki-chan."

Nabiki shook her head, "I will be, oneechan. I owe her my
life, and so does Akane-chan. But we need to know more about
her. I think she _knew_ or recognized that thing today. What
if there's more of them?"

Kasumi nodded seriously.

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

Ranma flowed out of the way of Akane's kick and thumped her
on the head, then called a halt. "Break, Acchan, I've got
what I needed, and you're getting sloppy."

She put her back to the dojo wall and placed one foot
against it, crossed her arms, and considered Akane, waiting
for her to regain her breath. "And besides, I think your
sister wants something."

Nabiki moved out from the entrance where she had been
lurking just out of view. "Looking good, Akane-chan, what
were you doing just then?"

Ranma answered, "Just general assessment work Nabiki-san. I
want to make sure that I know where Acchan is _now_, so I
can figure where she needs to go. It's the first time I've
really had a student, and I want to be sure I get it right."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, and Akane stopped panting long
enough to wheeze out, "You talk to Nabiki-oneechan, Ranchan,
I'm gonna lie down and pant for a while." She walked to the
wall and sat down beside it, then flopped down on her back
and lay panting.

Nabiki raised the other eyebrow, 'Acchan? Ranchan? Geeze,
what went _on_ in that furo, anyway?', but allowed no other
sign to cross her face; instead she sweetly inquired,
"Should we get out of your way and let you take a nap,
Akane-chan?"

Akane turned half over and red-eyed her, "Biiiii-da!"

Ranma smirked, "Was there something you wanted, Nabiki-san,
or is this just one of those sibling rivalry things?"

Nabiki turned back to her, and turned serious at the same
time. "Yes, Ranma-san, there was. It's about that monster
this morning. You acted as though you knew him."

"That would be because I did know him, Nabiki-san." She
pushed her tongue into her cheek for a moment, "Mind you,
the last time I saw him there was nothing left but bones,
which had just been buried under the ruins of a stone tower,
underneath which were several tons of gunpowder. Which went
off immediately thereafter. So I didn't really suspect that
I'd ever see him _again_, but...."

She considered Nabiki's face for a moment, "But I suspect
that what you actually _want_ is the story, ne?"

Nabiki buffed her nails for a moment, "Why, yes Ranma-san, I
believe it is. Unless," she added calmly, "you would prefer
not to tell it?"

"No, no, it's not secret. It is kind of long though. It
might be a good idea to have Kasumi-san make some snacks and
tea. Since I suspect that she might wish to hear it too."

"For some odd reason," Nabiki refrained from smirking, "she
has, in fact, just finished making some."

Ranma arched an eyebrow of her own. "Preplanning. The sure
sign of a conspiracy. Come, Acchan, we are summoned to Tea."

Akane groaned, "What do you mean, 'We', barbarian?"

"I mean _we_, shirker. As in _you_ and _I_. Because _I_ am
summoned by your sister, and _you_ are summoned by me."

Akane groaned again, and rolled over, coming to her knees.
"Ohhhh. My sensei is a bully."

"All sensei are bullies, Acchan." Ranma bopped her on the
head,"It's the notable trait of the type."

And Kasumi came through the door with a tray.

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

The girls were seated in a circle around the tray, sitting
in the middle of the dojo floor. Ranma blew softly on a
teacup to cool it, and crooked a grin through the steam at
the others.

So. The story. I should start at the beginning, I
guess. And the beginning .... (Her eyes focused on
something far away, or perhaps long ago, then
refocused on the girls.) The beginning starts with
my Dad. Oyaji. And the things you need to know
about Oyaji number three.

First, he's a Martial Artist.Second, he is of Low
Moral Character. And third, he's an Idiot.

Nabiki *snrrked* and Akane frowned, glaring at someone
non-present.

(Ranma grinned crookedly.) Because he's a Martial
Artist, he wanted me to be one too. Because he's
an Idiot, he just knew that this noble goal could
not possibly be attempted around my mother. So he
took the opportunity, when I was five, to take me
away on a long training trip, and never bring me
back. And because he is of Low Moral Character we
spent the next six and a half years running from
place to place. Generally, I realize now, to
escape some debt or other, or get away from the
blame for some theft or scam.

Now, when I was eleven or so, Oyaji found, or
bought, or stole, or _something_, this book. These
books, actually -- there were two of them.

The first was a Chinese ... guide to training
grounds, I guess. It had only been translated a
little and most of the text was still in Chinese,
which Oyaji didn't know how to read, but he still
got all excited about 'the marvelous possibilities
to seek out strengthening struggle in the service
of our Art'. (Ranma's voice went very pompous for
a moment, then returned to normal.) Feh.

Anyway, the _other_ book was a manual of 'Rare and
Forbidden Training Methods'. One of these was the
'Neko-ken', a supposed way to train a subject in
an Invincible Martial Arts Special Technique.
(Ranma's mouth twisted momentarily, and she
sighed.)

What you do, the book said, is you take the
trainee, and the younger the better, and you cover
him or her with fish sausage. Then you find
yourself a pit, and put a bunch of starving ca-ca-
... cats into it. And then you take the trainee,
and you throw him, or her, in. In the pit, in case
that wasn't clear.

(Ranma's face was still and far away, Akane's and
Kasumi's were nearly identical masks of horror,
and Nabiki's was as set and still as stone.
Ranma's eyes refocused suddenly, and she
continued.) Then, on the next page of the book, it
says that the _reason_ this technique is 'Rare and
Forbidden' is that; One - it doesn't work, and Two
- only a complete idiot would try it in the first
place.

The trouble is, Oyaji _is_ a complete idiot, and
he didn't _read_ that far. (Ranma's mouth twisted
again, and she sighed.)

Nabiki's face was terrible in its stillness, but her voice
was gentle, "So what _does_ the training do Ranma-san?"

Ranma's voice was equally gentle. "It makes you afraid of
cats, Nabiki-san."

Kasumi buried her face in her hands, and Akane's face began
to twist in anger, as Nabiki's control broke at last. "No! I
never _would_ have guessed that!" she snarled, "So what did
the _genius_ do then?"

Ranma smiled sadly, and quirked an eyebrow.

Why he devoted the full force of his Martial
Intellect to the problem, of course. And quickly
determined the source of the error.

It was quite clear; the author of the book had
_hidden_ the critical detail! Oh, yes! It simply
had to be a question of the _bait_ you used, you
see.

And he set out to resolve the detail in the finest
scientific fashion. Oh, yes! He repeated the
experiment, only using fish cakes, instead.

And then he tried dried bream.

And then he tried salmon.

And then he tried varied sushi.

And then he tried octopus and squid.

And then he tried octopus _by itself_.

And then....

Akane broke, and hurled herself into Ranma's shoulder,
wailing. Kasumi turned her head, sobbing muffledly into her
hands. Ranma gently massaged the back of Akane's neck and
*hssh*d.

Finally, it developed that, if you pursue your
course with unrelenting intensity, you will, in
fact, teach the trainee an Invincible Technique.
The fact that the training will have driven her
psychotic by that point is surely a minor detail
by comparison, ne?

"So, what happened then?" Nabiki asked, soothing Kasumi.

Well, I managed to avoid killing him about three
times in the next week ("Damn!" Nabiki
interjected.) but I knew that I couldn't do it
forever.

The problem, you see, is that the Invincible
Technique works by turning part of your soul into
the soul of a cat. And it's the cat that controls
the technique. A cat that doesn't have a bunch of
stuff it wants to have -- like fur, and a tail --
and does have a bunch of stuff it doesn't want to
have -- like hands, and upright posture -- and
which is trying to contend with being half-human
as well, and which is, therefore, Righteously
Pissed Off.

"So what did *snnf*, what did you do, Ranchan?"

I beat him up, (Ranma shrugged) and told him that
I was leaving. He'd had six and a half years to
train me and see what I'd gotten from it. Then he
wailed and whined until I said I'd come back in
another six and a half years and see which of us
had done a better job.

If I could beat him, he'd acknowledge me as the
head of the school, and go back to work to help
support it until I got it back on its feet. If I
lost I'd go back to training under him at whatever
he wanted.

He said he'd meet me at this training ground in
China he'd just found in the _other_ book he'd
got: a place in Qing-hai province up against the
Byankala range. Said it was named Jhusenkyou. I
promised I'd be there and left. That was five
years and eleven months ago.

Ranma poured herself another cup of tea and blew on it,
gazing at the sisters through the steam until a measure of
calm was restored.

When I left Oyaji I went hunting something that
could help me with controlling the cat. I finally
wound up at a Zen monastery in northern Hokkaido,
where I spent the next six months.

When I left the monastery, I had managed to stuff
the cat down under deep control and the Neko-ken
with it. Although I _am_ still afraid of cats, I
don't go berserk unless I can't get away from
them.

Then I headed into China, and made my way north,
to Jhusenkyou. The idea I had, you see, was that
-- if this place _was_ the wonderful training
ground Oyaji was so fired up about -- then I could
study there. If it wasn't I'd still have gotten an
idea about the lay of the land, maybe enough to
give me an edge in case Oyaji actually managed to
put up a fight.

There isn't much to say about the trip ... well,
actually that's not true. There's a lot to say
about the trip, but that's not the story I'm
telling, so I won't digress into it.

Ranma paused for a moment, and sipped her tea.

The only item of real interest to _this_ story
happened when, one day, I was walking along a road
in Qing-hai itself. I was trying to find out where
the bloody training ground actually _was_, and I
came round the corner of a hill, and nearly walked
into this girl.

She had purple hair, was wielding these
silly-looking mace thingies, I later learned that
they were a local weapon called bonbori, and was
trying to stare down a tiger.

Now, it's an interesting thing to say, but the
'training' Oyaji put me through did seem to have
_one_ good effect; I'm afraid of cats, yes, but
only _house_ cats. Other kinds, like tigers, don't
affect me at all. Plus which, the phobia about
cats seems to have sucked up all the fear I have
in me. On the one hand, that means that when the
nekophobia hits it hits _hard_; but on the other
hand, I don't have much left for anything _else_,
so when I get into situations like that I don't
panic.

Which was a good thing, at the time. Anyway, I
remembered about some animals making themselves
look bigger and louder to frighten off an
attacker, and figured that I didn't have much to
lose. So I jumped up _way_ high and _yelled_ at
the top of my lungs. And it must have worked,
'cause the tiger turned and ran off like his tail
was on fire. (Ranma gave another grin) Anyway,
that was how I met Shan Pu.

Shan turned out to be the champion-apparent of the
village of Joketsuzoku -- which is part of the
ancestral holdings of the Strong-Women-Hero-Tribe,
sometimes called the Chinese Amazons -- and by the
time we got back to her village, she was the
second friend I'd ever made. So I spent some time
in the village, and learned a few tricks, and it
turned out that they _did_ know where Jhusenkyou
was, only they didn't want to tell _me_.

It seemed, they said, that the whole valley of
Jhusenkyou was cursed, and anyone who went there
would probably get cursed too. Well, I reckoned
that I was too smart to fall for an obvious dodge
like _that_, and one night I snuck out of the
village and traveled to the valley where
Jhusenkyou was.

I've always wished (Ranma's eyes were far away
again) I'd listened to Cologne-obaasama; I might
have spared myself a lot of grief.

She'd been right, you see, the valley of
Jhusenkyou _is_ cursed, and if you go there you
probably _will_ end up cursed too. I don't know
what all the curses of Jhusenkyou do, but the one
thing that they _all_ do is the one thing that
really makes them curses: after you go there, you
live in interesting times.

Ranma paused a moment and sipped more tea.

And I don't mean 'nice' interesting either. _Not_
nice interesting is the order of the day, here. If
you stumble, you fall down a hill. And there's a
dung-heap at the bottom, too. And you don't even
get to break your fall, oh no, there's a rock
waiting under it, you can bet.

If anything falls out of the sky, it lands on your
head. If you go through a bush, you find the
thorns, and if it doesn't _have_ thorns there'll
be a bramble growing there, instead. If somebody
shoots an arrow at you and ten other
people,_you're_ the one standing in the way.

Well, I already knew that the Joketsuzoku didn't
have any way to cure the curses, and I was too
embarrassed to go back after I ignored their
warnings anyway, so I wandered back south instead.
I never did find a cure for the curse in China,
but I did finally end up in a place that led to my
eventually finding one elsewhere, and also to my
meeting that noble gentleman we entertained
earlier today, and to a bunch of other stuff as
well.

The reason is this, (she opened her shirt
slightly, and took an amulet of silver from around
her neck, laying it in the center of the circle)
and how and why I got it is a story in itself.

Nabiki picked up the amulet and examined it, showing it to
Akane and Kasumi. It was made of fretted silver, about three
inches across, chased with interlocking dragons and spirits
around the outside. Mounted so as to entirely take up one
face of the amulet was a small, cracked mirror. Mounted on
the other side was a triangular piece of pottery, perhaps
two inches on a side, covered with patterns that looked like
stretched cords or ropes. Nabiki turned it over and about in
her hands as Ranma went on.

The place I ended up was Hong Kong, and in order
to understand the story I'm about to tell you have
to know the one cardinal thing about my character
at the time: I was a barbarian.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow and smirked, "_At the time_,
Ranma-san?"

"Of course, Nabiki-san. Now, I'm only _uncivilized_."

"Ah. I see. Do go on."

Ranma smirked, herself, and did so.

I hadn't been around people much at all, 'cause
Oyaji'd moved around so much, and I was what you
might call 'sheltered' about a lot of things as a
result. So, when, just after I got to the city, I
saw this girl who was wearing about half of
nothing -- and that mostly torn -- all _I_ thought
was, 'isn't that _cold_?'

Nabiki sniggered and both Akane and Kasumi blushed.

And when this guy came out of an alley (Ranma's
grin turned crooked) and pushed her up against a
wall, all I thought was that he shouldn't use that
knife to make a girl cry like that. So I took the
knife away from him and broke his arms in a couple
places and ran him off.

Then I went to see if the girl was alright. Her
name turned out to be Masuda Kee, and she was half
Japanese, a geisha -- well, a hitoyodzuma really -
- and as far as _I_ could see, badly in need of
someone to tell her to come in out of the rain.

Now, at the time, I didn't know the difference
between a geisha, a hitoyodzuma and a fish-seller;
but I did know something about surviving on the
road, and on the streets as well. As it turned out
later, Kee-'moutochan did not, being of that
temperament that fails to concentrate on business
because it gets too caught up in its work.

Nabiki was keeping her face straight with an effort, and
Akane and Kasumi were reddening alarmingly, but Ranma merely
grinned more crookedly yet.

She had offended several of the local street trash
by being insufficiently grateful for their
'protection' and had attracted far too much
attention -- and customers -- for safety. So I
appointed myself as her 'older' sibling, and began
trying to figure out where to go to hook up with
someone who could keep track of business for her,
and put a roof over her head.

In the process I managed to offend someone myself.
This led to my inadvertently eating a plate of
mushrooms that had been drenched in LSD and laced
with about twenty grams of pure opium.

Fortunately I didn't eat the whole thing, but it
was enough to addict me badly, and the trip was
.... (Ranma shuddered briefly)

Kee-chan put me to bed and kept me off my feet
when I was raving, long enough to work through the
trip. And it turned out to be the solution to her
problem, because she rented a room from -- and
explained her problems to -- someone on the shady
side who knew someone who knew someone who knew
someone, who mentioned it to the okaasama of the
Dream of the Jade Pagoda of the Golden Door of
Infinite Bliss.

Nabiki choked briefly, "The Dream of Jade? That's the best
pleasure house in Hong Kong!"

Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Why, yes it is Nabiki-san. And
we're all wondering how it is you came to know that."

Nabiki blushed, but held her chin up. "I keep my ear to the
ground," she said, attempting to retain what was left of her
dignity.

"Of course you do," Ranma said, straight-faced, "that's
perfectly sound business practice."

Nabiki disdained to reply, and Ranma grinned and continued.

Liang-okaasama decided that Lee-chan should go to
work for her, since the best-- or at least most
enthusiastic -- geisha in Hong Kong should
obviously be working for the best pleasure house
in Hong Kong. Or the other way 'round, depending.
So that fixed Lee-imoutochan's problem, and
provided me, after I recovered, with an
opportunity to expand my education a bit.

Ranma's eyes twinkled wickedly and Akane's blush expanded
visibly. Kasumi, on the other hand, had achieved the
determinedly unaffected countenance of one who Is Not
Hearing This.

Nabiki coughed, and squeaked "You mean...?"

Ranma fixed her with a very speaking look, and asked, "What
would _you_ have done? Besides, can you think of a _better_
time or place?"

Nabiki muttered something about "twelve", but did not seem
otherwise inclined to reply to this question. Akane was
bravely fighting off unconsciousness from excessive blood
drain to the face, but surprised herself with a giggle.
Kasumi was still in the land of the selectively deaf, and
therefore Ranma went on unhindered.

That aside, however, and continuing with my story,
it was at the Golden Door that I met Oniichan Kai.
He was a genin for the Black Wave Yakuza, (Nabiki
started) and he used to bring his wife and their
daughter to the Golden Door's restaurant for
dinner.

He sort of adopted me at the time, and I always
looked on him as the big brother I'd never had,
and I was friends with Oneesan Asako too.
Imoutochan Kaiko was my little sister along with
Kee-chan and for a while there I thought that I'd
found a family and wouldn't need to go anywhere
else while I waited to beat up on Oyaji.

I'd made contacts with the local Temples too, and
I'd go to train there, or Kai-oniichan would use
his contacts to get me some lessons with one of
the wandering masters, or he'd train me himself,
or Liang-okaasama would use her contacts or....

Ranma's eyes were fixed in time and space, looking at
something far away. She sighed and a suspicious glimmer
began to gather at the corner of her eye.

I suppose I should have known better.
Liang-okaasama had made the Golden Door a neutral
ground in the Hong Kong underside and the city's
major underworld clans were sort of united around
it. Not so much in coalition, as in a mutual
understanding that violence and unrest was bad for
business.

The Black Wave was one of the three most powerful
Yakuza clans in the city, along with the Silver
Skull and the Golden Sword, and they and the most
powerful of the Triads enforced a sort of peace on
the more ... 'established' parts of the
underworld, as it were.

Needless to say, some of the _less_ established
parts were not too happy about that, and one day
we found out that this guy named Master Po had
organized a war. He had been a master in one of
the older Triads, and was some kind of sorcerer
too, so he had a fairish amount of support just on
his own hook; and then he'd organized most of the
little gangs and rings and such into an army, too.

Alongside that, he'd made an alliance with the
powers of Darkness, and he could command or
bargain with the undead, so he had about 30 or 40
vampires as shock troops.

Ranma put down her teacup and leaned forward, sighing again.

The whole thing was very quiet, but it was also
extremely ugly and for a while there we were hard
pressed. But Kai-oniichan organized the enforcers
of the major organizations into a counter-army,
and the temple monks and priests made a bunch of
peachwood swords and wards and things that the
vampires couldn't handle, and I got the
street-folk organized to use them and some basic
weaponry and we killed all the vamps that didn't
run and we drove the upstarts back to the wall.

Then we were betrayed.

Nabiki spoke up hesitantly, "Ranma-san, I'd heard some
rumors about a big shake-up in one of the major Hong Kong
clans a while back, but no one ever had any details. Could
that have been...?"

Ranma nodded, pricking tears.

Oyabun Mikoji died very suddenly. It might have
been natural, he was about 80, but I've always
suspected that Po got to him somehow. I _know_ he
got to others, 'cause Mikoji-dono's successor
suddenly decided that Master Po had the secret to
'Eternal Life' and the Black Wave and the Fire
Harmony Triad switched sides.

Maybe Master Po was a vampire himself, and he
turned the leaders, I don't know. What I do know
is that suddenly the dead started rising up around
our feet, vampires started coming out of the
walls, and half our soldiers were on the other
side all of a sudden and knew our plans to boot.

Ranma shivered for a moment, eyes again far off.

The only way out that I could see was to take Po
down before he could consolidate, and hope that
the shock dispelled all the zombies and things, or
at least slowed them down. So I organized what I
could get my hands on and we went through the
front of their defenses.

It helped that I'd gotten one of the zombies
restrained, 'cause I showed the thing off to the
Black Wave troops on that section and three
fourths of them changed sides again.

Anyway we broke the defense of Po's sanctum and
went in to get him, but we discovered that he'd
called all his proteges in for a conference, and
they'd brought their guards. So we plowed into
them, and when it was over the only two left
standing were me and Kai-oniichan, who'd been
commanding the guards.

Akane gasped in sympathy, "Ranchan, why didn't he switch
sides too? Didn't you tell him ...?"

Ranma looked at her through gathering tears. "Because he was
a Samurai, Acchan, and wouldn't leave his Lord's side."

Akane nodded, eyes also dimmed by tears, and Ranma
continued.

So I knew Po and the others were just beyond him,
and I knew he wouldn't get out of my way, and I
knew I couldn't beat him. So I turned loose the
cat, and the last thing I remember before I woke
up in the middle of the pile of corpses that had
used to be Master Po and his lieutenants and the
traitors was batting Kai-oniichan out of the way,
and he went through a wall trailing blood.

Akane gathered Ranma to her, and the redhead nestled her
face into her friend's shoulder for a long minute, silently
weeping. When she regained control she sat back and wiped
her eyes, and continued.

We never did recover Oniichan's body, but the
place had been pretty badly damaged in the fight
and the whole thing burned down and exploded right
after that, so that's not too surprising.

Anyway I couldn't stay in the city after that, so
I made what arrangements I could for Asako-oneesan
and Kaiko-imoutochan, and got ready to leave. Then
the Abbot of the Silver Mist Temple took me aside
and told me that the they'd been guarding
something for a couple centuries now, but he felt
I was worthy and he wanted me to have it. (Ranma
gestured at the amulet in the center of the
circle.)

Well, I didn't _feel_ worthy, but the Abbot said
that it could help me find what I needed so I took
it anyway. What it was, was the mirror set into
that amulet there, and the Abbot said it was the,
or maybe _a_, Nanban Mirror, and it was a magic
mirror of travel.

So I put it in my pack, and took some of the money
I had, and came back to Tokyo at last. I was
deeply depressed, still in shock, and had no idea
what I was going to do with my life, or even if I
should bother. I was thirteen years old. So, just
after I got back, I took a trip to see Fuji-san. I
was completely bummed out and seeing the happy
people all around didn't help, and I had this
stupid mirror in my pack and it wasn't doing
anything at all. So I found this little clearing
and took it out and yelled at it. It didn't do
anything, and finally I started crying, and that
was how I found out how it works.

Akane frowned, "You mean...?"

Yep. Tears. (Ranma nodded firmly) Tears or blood.
Drop them onto the mirror and it'll take you away.
_But_. You see that the Mirror's cracked? So
sometimes it takes you where you ask to go.

And _sometimes_ it takes you where you _want_ to
go.

And sometimes it takes you where you _need_ to go.

And sometimes -- if you're unlucky -- it takes you
where you _deserve_ to go.

Nabiki asked "Can anyone use it?" as Akane overrode her
with, "So where did it take you, Ranchan?"

Ranma smirked and answered Nabiki first. "Maybe once,
Nabiki-san, but not any more. I've spilled too much blood on
it, and it'll only work for me until I die."

And as to where it took me.... Well. I knew as
soon as it happened that it had done _something_,
but I didn't know _what_.

So I started looking around, and I noticed that
Fuji-san was smaller. Now I was standing in the
same place and hadn't moved as far as I could
tell, but still I could tell it wasn't the same
place at all. So I started walking around, and I
noticed that whether I'd moved or not some of the
landmarks weren't there, and others were changed,
and there wasn't any sign of people around at all.

Eventually I found an open space in the woods, and
followed that to a stream. I followed the stream
along for a day or so, and finally broke out into
a cleared field.

Now I'd been seeing the right trees and plants for
the area all around me, and Fuji-san was still
there so I knew I must still be in Japan, but I
also knew it wasn't _my_ Japan. So when I walked
around the outer edge of the field and came in
sight of the village the field was a part of and
found that it was all primitive houses and stuff,
and that the people in it were Ainu, I wasn't as
surprised as I might have been otherwise.

Nabiki started and Kasumi gasped, "Ainu! Near Fuji-san?
Kami, how far back did you go?"

From research I did later, Kasumi-san, (Ranma
smiled her crooked smile) I figure about 2500 to
3000 years.

Akane shook her head in shock and Ranma grinned at her.

So I was walking along the edge of the field, not
looking at the ground, and I trod on something and
it dug into my foot. I picked it up, and took it
into the village.

Now the village didn't know what to do with me at
all, and it didn't help that I was pissed off, but
they figured that I must be a spirit or something
and sent for the shaman. The shaman was a smart
old bugger, and we figured out how to talk to each
other a little bit. I asked him what the hell they
thought they were doing to leave things like that
out where they could bite people, and he said that
it wasn't theirs.

They just popped up, he said. They'd been made by
somebody back at the dawn of time, and then they'd
all gotten broke and scattered about when the
world came to an end. Or something like that,
anyway.

So I said that if they gave me a place to sleep
and some food I wouldn't be mad at them. So they
shared what they had, which wasn't much, and it
was good that they did, 'cause that night some
bandit types came out of the forest and I had to
run them off.

I'd had to kill a couple of the bandits, (Ranma
poured herself another cup of tea.) and the next
morning I tried to talk to the shaman again. It
turned out that the village didn't actually have
anything to take except a little food, but the
bandits would take anything they could get.

Later that night I looked at the pottery piece I'd
stepped on -- that's it on the back of the amulet
-- and I noticed something.

The piece had been broken off its pot when
somebody hit it with an axe. If you look you can
see the signs at the top. So I used the mirror to
go back to Tokyo, and went to a museum.

The guy I talked to there said it was a Jomon pot,
and figured that it must be 5000 years old at
least.

And I sat down _that_ night and thought about it
some more. And I realized that some poor guy had
made this pot the best he could, cause he'd needed
it for something. And some other bastard had come
along and broken it, and probably killed the guy
that made it too. And it had waited 2000 years in
the ground so it could come up and bite my foot,
so I would stay in a little village where little
people lived who hardly had enough for their
families to eat. And then another group of
bastards had come out of the forest to break all
_their_ stuff and kill _them_, but I'd stopped
them instead.

And I'd just come from 3000 years ahead of when
those little people lived their lives in that
little village; where I'd been living in a city
with another group of little people trying to get
on with their lives; and yet _another_ set of
bastards had come out of the wilderness and tried
to kill and mess up _them_, just so they could
steal what _they_ had.

And it came to me that, if I went wandering around
living with groups of little people trying to get
on with their lives long enough, probably any set
of them that you cared to name was eventually
going to have some set of bastards or other come
out of the wilderness and try to kill them and
break all their stuff so they could steal whatever
they had. And if I was there, then I could stop
them from doing it. And that was about as good a
road to travel as I was ever going to get.

So I took the mirror and had it mounted in the
amulet, and had the guy put the pot-shard on the
other side, to thank it for the lesson. And then I
asked the mirror to take me to somewhere I could
learn to become a protector, and cut my arm and
bled on it, and off I went.

Akane's eyes were bright and she leaned forward. "So where
did youend up that time, Ranchan?"

Well I ended up on top of a hill, and when I tried
to get my bearings I tripped and rolled down it
and when I reached the bottom of the hill I ended
up at the feet of this tall, handsome,
noble-looking guy with a samurai's swords and
topknot and the clothing of a wandering ronin.
Except he was a rabbit. And that was how I met
Usagi.

"W-wait just a minute, Ranchan. A rabbit?" Akane blinked in
confusion.

Ranma nodded.

Usagi's world is basically Japan in 1620 CE or so,
except most of the people are - what's the word?
-- anthropomorphs! That's it. You know,
human-shaped animals, like in a manga. So there's
Bulls and Bears and Cats and Rabbits and Foxes
.... Daimyo Noriyuki is a _Panda_ of all things,
for instance.

So, to continue, Usagi-dono, that's Miyamoto Usagi
by the way, had been a samurai in the service of
the Daimyo Mifune. Mifune was the enemy of Daimyo
Hijiki, and about five or six years before I'd met
them, in the last part of the battles for the
Shogunate, they'd come to blows.

Lord Mifune would probably have won, but Hijiki is
a plotter, and he plotted well. Two of Mifune's
allies turned traitor, along with one of his
generals and the commander of his bodyguard. Usagi
was away from his side acting as a courier at the
time and he got back too late; Gunichi had run off
and Lord Mifune was mortally injured.

A samurai's loyalty doesn't end just because his
lord is dead, and so Usagi wanders serving his
master's cause as best he can as a ronin.

Akane sniffed and wiped her eyes and Ranma smiled wistfully.

It's all very sweet and touching and honorable,
and Usagi-dono is handsome and noble and kind, so
I was more than willing to follow him around and
train with him.

Nabiki grinned twistedly, "Get lucky?" Akane bopped her on
the head.

No, darn it! (Ranma pouted) There's such a thing
as being _too_ noble. Although I see now that he
was basically already taken anyway. And I did
manage to retain _most_ of my dignity.

But I learned a lot about combat, and honor, and
the sword; and traveling with Usagi is good for
putting polish on young warriors if it's good for
nothing else. I met a number of his friends and
acquaintances, and managed to spend a month or two
with a few of them as well.

After that, I left and used the mirror to go a few
years later in our own Japan for a while and then
jumped back and forth to here and there training
in whatever Art was available wherever I went. But
I would go back to the wanderer's road to check on
my friends from time to time.

Nabiki quirked an eyebrow. "Just to check, hmmm?"

You get better adventures with Usagi and company
around, and they _are_ my friends. Plus, to be
honest, it's enormously liberating to be so free
that the only thing that you have to worry about
is if there's an inn in the direction you woke up
facing, and that only because it's the direction
you're walking now.

At least until the first couple of times you spend
a wet, cold, fireless night 'cause there _wasn't_
one, anyway. And that takes a while.

Kasumi and Nabiki had acquired far-off looks, and Akane
looked slightly wistful. "So what about Jei-san, Ranchan?"

Jei's from Usagi's world of course. He used to be
a samurai or some such. I ran into him several
times and didn't enjoy any of the experiences, but
they weren't like today. As for what he is? (Ranma
bit her lip lightly.)

The first couple of times I met him he seemed
completely human, or wolf, or whatever. Mad as a
monk in a morass, mind you, but human. He's always
claimed to be the champion of the gods and such,
but _which_ god he's never said. If he knows.

Generally he speaks of a 'sacred mission',which
always involves mayhem and slaughter of some type,
and says that when he completes it he will be
lifted up and granted divinity. He has before been
shown to be fast, strong, damn good with a sword,
deadly with a yari, tough, possessed of some kind
of tracking sense if he's hunting you, and very
hard to permanently kill -- he always seems to
come back.

Ranma rubbed her chin for a moment and considered.

The first time I met him, he just started ranting
and attacked me. Since I was with Usagi-dono and
Tomoe-dono -- Noriyuki- sama's chief retainer --
at the time, that was a particularly stupid thing
to do. It wasn't really much of a fight and we
left him by the roadside, dead, as we thought at
the time.

He came back on us and kidnaped the son of the
headmaster of Usagi-dono's old village to get
Usagi-dono to fight him. Usagi-dono did, and sent
him over a cliff with his yari in his side.

The third time that I met him was the only time I
ever managed to get close to Hijiki-yaro in a
fight. Hijiki-yaro's not nearly the fighter that
he is a plotter, and I nearly had him, but Jei-san
came out of nowhere and saved the bastard. I cut
Jei-san's heart in two for it, but I didn't get to
see what happened to him after that, because
Hijiki-yaro took advantage of my distraction and
did this (Ranma indicated her throat, and the scar
she bore there).

Ranma tapped her chin with her index finger for a moment.

The last time that I saw Jei-san before this
morning ... Was about a year ago in my time-line.
I had run into the little bugger unexpectedly, on
the road, and had dueled with him a little. Then
he broke off and started moving. I thought it was
weird and pursued. It worked out that he'd been
sent or moved by his patron or something, because
about twenty miles away or so I ran into Usagi-
dono.

He was with Gennosuke-san and Zato-ino-san and
about thirty or so Neko clan Ninja. They were
preparing to assault this castle, the fortress of
a moderately important lord named Tamakuro, and
Jei had gone for the fortress like he'd been
pulled by a string. Tamakuro-san, according to
Usagi-dono and the leader of the ninja -- a
warrior named Shingen -- had gathered together a
store of about three hundred arquebuses and a
couple tons of ammunition and was preparing to
rebel against the Shogun.

We found out later that Hijiki-yaro was behind it
in some way, but as usual he didn't leave any
evidence you could use.

Anyway we attacked the place and broke through the
wall. Usagi-dono went off hunting for Tomoe-dono,
who was imprisoned there, and Gen and Zato-ino-san
got pinned down holding off about half the
garrison near the main gate. This left it up to
Shingen-san and I to lead the ninja against the
armory.

We did alright for a while, but then Jei-san stuck
his nose in. He smashed into the side of our
assault and killed Shingen-san and a dozen or so
ninja, which threw the rest into confusion, but
then I went after him and chased him up into the
fortress proper.

Usagi-dono had found Tomoe-dono and he and she had
rallied the ninja and mounted another assault on
the armory; but Tamakuro-san had gained enough
time to regroup and bring reinforcements to the
central defense and they were driven back.

In the meantime I had run into Jei-san and a
samurai I knew to be one of Hijiki's chief knives
preparing to lead more of the guards to trap the
rest of our side inside the castle.

I scattered the guards and got involved in a fight
with Jei-san and Akkhoto-san that damn near killed
me, but I maneuvered them into one spot in front
of the central tower and called the dragon wind on
them. _That_ time it worked -- it didn't this
morning -- and Jei went down with the tower
falling on top of him.

About that time I got a very strong impulse to
beat feet and so I did. Which turned out to be a
good thing, 'cause something had struck a spark or
something in the ammunition room and the whole
damn place blew sky high.

Now that was the first time that I knew A) that
Jei had not only been mortally injured but had
actually _died_, and, B) that the body was
destroyed and not lost track of.

Ranma paused for a moment and sipped the last of her tea.

I don't really know how he got out of that, but
his showing up _here_ just confirms what you could
get from the fact that he showed up at all; which
is that he has some _major_ supernatural backing.

That, combined with the abilities, weaknesses and
immunity to damage he showed this morning makes me
think that he may have been turned into a Chiang
Shih. That would mean that someone had done
something to his higher 'hun' soul and then
corrupted his 'po' soul ... or replaced it
altogether, now that I think of it.

He was definitely slower and less skilled than he
should have been, which would fit, 'cause his
'body soul' would be messed up and wouldn't have
all the same skill and 'feel' he'd be used to.
He'd also be damn near impossible to permanently
damage, which definitely fits.

Normally you'd also expect him to be vulnerable to
sunlight, but he obviously wasn't. This is
probably due to the power he was throwing around -
that green fire. It showed all the signs of being
a serious yin ch'i manifestation, and from the way
it acted I'm betting it was the main thing holding
his body together.

"Which would mean what?" Nabiki asked softly.

Ranma's eyes were focused on the problem, rather than the
girls.

Which would mean that he was something closer to a
demon than a Chiang Shih per se, Nabiki-san. He'd
be using the body only as a means to move his
power around and not really be connected to it at
all .... (her eyes narrowed and her voice went
soft).

Not connected ... now that I think about it I
didn't see any sign of his 'hun' soul at all did
I? I cut out the 'po' soul and _it_ was in the
heart instead of the lungs, but I didn't see the
'hun' at all.

Which could mean that he was using the power to
animate the body and the body to contain the power
and the 'po' soul to control it all ... and that
would explain why the body blew up like that when
I took the soul out ... but the 'hun' soul had to
be _somewhere_, and if it wasn't _there_ ... then
he must have been given a way to run the body
'long-distance', as it were ... which would mean
.... that _it_ might _not_ have been affected by
the demise of the rest of his body .... which in
turn would mean ....

"Which would mean that he could come back, wouldn't it,
Ranchan?" asked Akane very quietly.

Ranma frowned worriedly. "Yeah, it would."

Nabiki was also very quiet. "If it does come back, what can
we do, Ranma-san?"

Ranma's gaze was level. "You can hide, Nabiki-san. And if
you can't hide, then you can run." She transferred her gaze
to Akane, who met it levelly. "_You_, I'll work with, since
I don't suppose I can convince you to be sensible and keep
out of it."

"No, Ranchan, you can't. As long as you're fighting it, I
will be too."

A quiet settled over Akane and Ranma, who were sitting with
their gazes locked on each other's eyes. Nabiki and Kasumi
quietly stood up, gathered up the tray and tea things and
left the dojo.

Eventually Ranma leaned forward and ran her thumb in a
circle around Akane's forehead. "Marked with the sign. Just
like me." Standing up, "Come on, Acchan, you haven't done
anywhere near enough training yet."

Akane moaned theatrically as she rose. "Ohhhh. My sensei's a
bully."

"All sensei are bullies, Acchan." Ranma bopped her on the
head,"It's the notable trait of the type. Assume."

"Oh, Kami."

"Kumite."

"Help."

*Hsssh*, *shrk*, *th-thmp* *shrk* *hssh*. *rtch-THUMP*.

"Ite!"

"Slacker."

"Bully."

"Shirker. Assume."

"Baka. Friends?"

"Friends forever, I promise. Kumite."

*Hssh*, *rtch-thp*, *th-thmp**shrk*, *thmp-thmp-SPLT*

"Ite!"

"Which does not, however, get you out of getting beat on."

*rtch-thp*, *shrk-hshh-shrk-rtch*.

"Wouldn't want it any other way."

*th-thmp*, *shrk*, *thmp-thmp-THAP* *whhsh-rtch-THMP!* "HA!"

"Good one."

*THUMP-WHAP-WHAM*

"Ite!"

"Just don't get cocky."

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

Akane was seated in seiza in the middle of the dojo floor,
eyes closed. Ranma knelt behind her with hands poised above
her shoulders. "What am I trying to feel, Ranchan?"

"You aren't trying to feel anything, Acchan; you're just
trying to _feel_. If you try to anticipate _what_ to feel,
you will feel falsely."

"Now you sound like a koan," Akane said, crossly.

"The master came to a yatai which was selling hot dogs.
'What do you want on your hot dog?' he was asked. 'Nothing,'
he replied. Then the hot dog was enlightened." Her hands
descended, slowly, to just outside Akane's theoretical
peripheral vision, had her eyes been open, and around them a
faint glow began to form.

Akane snorted a giggle, then gasped. Suddenly, she was aware
of senses she had never before known she had. All around her
she sensed flows of energy; whirls and spirals and forms of
intangible luminescence coexisted in her sight with the
simple, everyday visions of floor and walls and dojo, and
outside the dojo she could see/sense/hear/smell yet more.

A flaming tidal wave of information and impressions seemed
to pass over her, and she felt herself burn, as though every
limb had been set afire. A wash of energy filled her; she
could tell that it was her own, that in some sense it was
_her_, yet it rebelled against her, fought her tooth and
nail.

She frantically searched for control, sought to reduce the
tide of data to familiar forms and modes. In front of her
she seemed to see a shadow, like a blanket to protect her
from the fire, and she grasped at it desperately. It tore in
her metaphorical hands and yet she somehow knew that it
would heal itself, would cover her eyes and ears, would
shelter them, if only she could open herself to it.

She yearned for the protection the shadow blanket might
offer, but how do you shelter under a blanket that tears if
you touch it? Then she realized: you _ask_ it. And the
shadow rolled over her, warm and enveloping.

For a brief moment she welcomed the respite, and then the
shadow resolved itself into visions. Ghosts long gone and
barely remembered thronged her sight. Some trailed behind
her like beads of light tracing out the necklace of her
past; others swarmed throughout the dojo, carrying out the
many roles of decades of dojo life.

She saw her father's fading doppelgangers going through
kata, her own following and growing taller as they did so;
saw her mother bringing snacks, Kasumi playing about her
feet; saw Nabiki strolling through in many guises, growing
from a toddler into a teenager; saw swiftly vanishing traces
which seemed to show the future, though how she could tell
this she could not say.

The milling horde of ghosts was no better than the waves of
energy, overrunning her senses with too much input to
survive. She tried to cry out, to scream, but she sensed the
weak and desperate energies of the call smashed flat,
drowned by the raging torrent of conflicting energies that
surrounded her and foamed through her; drowned, as she was
drowning; overcome, as she was overcome.

Then the raging sensations weakened, parted, blew aside; she
emerged into the prosaic world of normal sight and sound and
touch like a diver from deep water. Slowly and cautiously
she extracted herself from the sensations that had
overwhelmed her, feeling them held back by a metaphorical
wind generated by Ranma's softly glowing hands.

Finally, she pulled the last of herself free with a sudden
jerk; and wobbled painfully to her feet, staggering to the
wall, where she sank down with a groan, putting her face in
her hands. A soft footstep announced Ranma, who knelt at her
side, putting her hand on Akane's shoulder. Weakly, Akane
held up her head, turning her face to meet Ranma's gentle,
sad smile.

"Second birth, Acchan, and Third. Welcome to the _real_
world."

"It hurt, Ranchan." Weakly and somewhat petulant, like a
child who has been assured that a trip to the dentist
involves candy.

"Being born always does, in one sense or another. Rest
awhile, you've started on a great journey, but you still
have a long way to go."

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

As the light of late afternoon slanted in from the west, and
was obscured by gathering clouds, Nabiki was speaking with
Kasumi and Ranma left Akane in the furo.

Akane had entered into the spirit of the training with
alacrity, and had become somewhat overheated as a result,
thus returning to the bath. Ranma resumed her original
clothing, which she had washed with the assistance of some
mild techniques of shih manipulation and some minor magic,
and returned to the hallway to speak to Kasumi.

"Oh! Ranma-san, is your training with Akane-imoutochan going
well?" Kasumi asked calmly. She worried about the questions
Ranma's story had raised, of course, but she did so quietly.
It would never do to question a guest's truthfulness, but
some kind of satisfaction must be gained. Perhaps Nabiki
could provide confirmation of some kind.

"Very well, Kasumi-san. Exceedingly well, in fact. I retain
the hope that Acchan will quickly rise to overtake my own
skill level." (Nabiki and Kasumi shared a single thought,
'Nani!?') "But I did want to speak with you and Nabiki on a
number of matters. The first of which involves her diet."

"Oh, my! Will she be requiring special foods or drinks?"
Kasumi was vaguely worried about this; Ranma-san had
provided a significant fund towards household expenses, but
if exotic foods were going to be joining the menu ....

"No. In fact, just the reverse. A balanced and varied diet
is best, but she _will_ be eating more than she has been; I
would estimate about twice what was normal before."

"Thank you for the warning, Ranma-san; I will adjust the
amount I make accordingly," Kasumi said gravely.

"Secondly," Ranma continued, "I will be involving Acchan in
some activities that will be either odd-looking or even
somewhat dangerous. I mention this because I am aware that
the two of you have no particular reason to trust my
judgement, nor any good way to acquire one. This is a
problem that I wish to resolve quickly, and I would value
any thoughts you might have on the matter."

Kasumi winced, and Nabiki straightened. "I know," she said,
"that we have to take your word for the conditions of
Akane-chan's training, Ranma-san. I doubt if even Daddy has
the experience to properly evaluate you in that area. The
only thing I am concerned with is that your story is _so_
strange ...."

"That you don't have any way to verify it. I understand,
Nabiki-san." A pause as Ranma chewed her lip. "Tell me,
Kasumi-san, have you begun preparations for dinner yet?"

"Err. No, not really, Ranma-san. We don't usually eat until
later."

"Ah. Well, the problem is solved, then. Acchan will be
coming out of the furo in a little while, and I've no doubt
that she'll be hungry, so we'll simply go shopping. Yes."
Ranma rubbed her chin. "You might want to change into
kimonos, though."

Nabiki and Kasumi blinked at the non-sequitur, 'Shopping?'
but went off and changed anyway. When they returned they
found Ranma with the Mirror in her hand, looking into it
seriously.

"Ahh, good," Ranma muttered, "the way is clear. Nabiki-san,
Kasumi-san, I must be careful or you will over-shine me
entirely."

Kasumi blushed at the compliment, and Nabiki ahhed, "Ahh,
Ranma-san, aren't you going to change too?"

"Oh, no, they're used to me."

"Oh, my," Kasumi said, "where are we going, Ranma-san?"

"Well, I know a number of places," Ranma replied, "but I've
a mood for Tai at the moment, so I thought we'd go to
Okitsu."

"Okitsu?" Nabiki queried, "That's a hundred miles away! Are
you going to take a train just to get fish?"

"Not a train, no," Ranma grinned, "and it's not miles we'll
be traveling now." She raised the Mirror to chest height.

"The past and future are the same,
The present's merely but a game,
A stage where players strut and stare,
Nanban Mirror, take us _there_!"

A breeze blew softly through the suddenly empty hall.

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

Akane stretched again, rubbing her hair dry with a towel.
She had stayed in the tub for an indulgently long time,
soaking off the bruises. Nonetheless, she could not remember
a time when she had felt so good, or been so happy.

She whistled happily as she dressed in the new clothes Ranma
had gotten her, and indulged in a brief fantasy of training
with Ranchan forever, getting better and better as the years
passed and occasionally saving _her_ from some unspecified
menace or other. In fact, she felt _so_ good that ... yes,
she felt that she _could_ do it this time. She would go see
if Kasumi was in the kitchen, and then ... she'd cook
Ranchan a meal! And she'd get Kasumi to help, and _this_
time, damn it, it would _work_!

She wandered out of the furo and went toward the kitchen.
Then she heard Kasumi calling "Tadaima!" and wondered where
Oneechan had gone out to.

She went to see and found Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ranma in the
dining room, unloading an array of packages wrapped in rice
paper or in little boxes from which rose a whole raft of
delicious aromas. "Ohh! You went off and got dinner without
me! I wanted to help cook. Wait a second; Oneechan, why are
you and Nabiki-oneechan in kimonos?" Nabiki and Kasumi only
gave her slightly shell-shocked looks as they wobbled
upstairs to change and Akane put her hands on her hips and
turned to her friend. "Ranchan! What'd you do now?"

"Well, after all, Acchan, you can't get good kuri-shioyaki
or kuri-kinton except from Seikenji chestnuts _I_ don't
think. And you certainly can't get fresh salt-steamed Tai
except in Okitsu." Ranma placed the browned, salted
chestnuts next to their boiled cousins in their honey-
sweetened bath of yams as the centerpiece of a rapidly
growing spread of foods in which large plates of filleted
Sea Bream, from which a truly mouth-watering smell was
rising, figured prominently.

Later, around the table, Akane leaned back and patted her
stomach. "I must admit, Ranchan, that you were right. I had
no idea I could eat a whole plate of that Tai, but ...." She
gestured to her empty plate indicatively.

Even Soun had been coaxed from his lair, and had praised the
foods exhaustively. It was, he said, a clear example of the
superiority of the true Japanese spirit; as had been strong
in ancient times. Kasumi and Nabiki just shuddered faintly,
Ranma merely grinned. And ate a great deal of everything in
sight too, of course. But that goes without saying, for
Ranma.

And Kasumi nibbled at another slice of kamo-no-kuwanamaki,
licking the sweet sauce off the broiled duck. And Nabiki
munched another half-dozen boiled chestnuts. And Akane eyed
a plate of uzura-dango, wondering if the sweet quail patties
could actually be made to fit in her stomach. And the clouds
closed in above Nerima, as the sun went down.

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

"What are we out here for, anyway, Ranchan? More clothing?"
Akane leapt to another rooftop. The sky had darkened
completely now, and the moon was hidden behind the ominous
clouds, but streetlights provided adequate illumination.

"No, no. We need to get some training supplies for the dojo
though. And rectify a couple of glaring lapses in the
armory, too. Now, if you were a criminal with a lot of
money, where would you be? And if you say 'In the
government,' Acchan, I'm going to hit you."

"Hmm. Well, there's _something_ happening over there."

"Let's take a look. Oh yes. Oh my yes, Acchan. That's a nice
_big_ one. And in its natural habitat too, you'll notice.
Let's sneak up on it, and see how it's doing, shall we?"

"Oooh, oooh, can we lurk, instead, Ranchan? I've always
wanted to lurk."

"If you want, Acchan, we can even skulk."

"Oooh, goody."

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

Akane vaulted over a leg sweep and kicked its perpetrator in
the face as she went. Ranma's lessons of the day seemed to
flow through her as she moved among the eight thugs she had
chosen as her share, and bodies flew through the air,
describing limp and sad rainbows in their haste to become
one with the walls.

A final slide sideways and twist, getting out of the way of
a clumsy rush and intercepting it in the midriff with a
backwards spin kick and it was done. Ranma's thugs, she
noted, had been unconscious long enough to be half looted,
already. 'Oh, well. Need to get faster, I guess. I wonder if
that's a ki technique, or if it's some of her 'magic'? I
suppose I should ask, at some point.'

As they walked away from the heaps of unconscious bodies,
Ranma remarked, "One million, forty thousand yen; that's
only fifty thousand each. Pffff. Still, I guess you have to
trade quality for quantity sometimes."

"I still don't believe that street trash has so much cash on
it, or such good stuff to fence, Ranchan."

"It's the Ronin's Salvation, Acchan. Jobs may come, and
patrons go, but street thugs shall be with us always; and if
you ask them right, they're always willing to share."

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

We are brief Summer lightning,
We are swift as swallows' flight.
We are sparks that spiral upwards,
In the darkness of the night.
We are frost upon the window,
We won't pass this way again,
In the end only love remains.

They had fenced the loot, and spent some time finding the
supplies Ranma wanted. Then they had moved deeper into the
warren of Nerima's Ginza, seeking for weapon sellers. They
had laughed and sung snatches of song; whistled and bought
candy and snacks; ignored the gathering clouds. Then they
had sent the merchandise to the dojo by delivery, and taken
to the air.

Well who scattered these diamonds,
Through the vault of Heaven?
Who drew the curve of the magpie's wing?

The wind questioned, and the flame responded. The bonfire
summoned,and the breeze answered.

Who shaped your face, and what made you love me?
Where is the heart of every living thing?

The rising wind commanded, and the snapping flame obeyed.
The blaze flamed higher, and the wind grew with it, and fed
it, and drove it on before.

Well, I guess I don't know, and I don't care either.

Wind roused flame to life, dancing from rooftop to walltop,
leaping empty air from power line to telephone pole;
caroling across the sky, feet dancing on nothing at all but
air.

I know you love me, how could it not be?

Flame drew wind's reply, flickering along a ridged roof,
alighting a moment on the tip of the roof of a fake pagoda,
before blazing across forty yards of open air to set a
warehouse roof alive and singing.

And I am yours, now and forever,

Feeding now from each other's power. Flinging melody and
harmony one to the other. Changing and exchanging the lead,
to join again in rising triumph at the last ...

'Til my lips fall silent, and my eyes can't see.

And the wind blew the flame into a wildfire...

We are brief Summer lightning,
We are swift as swallows' flight.
We are sparks that spiral upwards,
In the darkness of the night.

And the wildfire whipped the wind into a storm.

We are frost upon the window,
We won't pass this way again,
In the end Dear, only love remains.

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

And later, in the hush after midnight, when both Ranma and
Akane were long asleep, the clouds over Nerima opened, and
the quiet rain began to fall. A still, silver curtain,
walling off the near from the far; softening the silhouettes
of wall and cornice; filling streams and watering parks and
hedges; sending small animals into hiding, and pets into
shelter; cleansing the stains in the yard of Furinkan and
washing the blood away.

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

Next:
Ranma and Akane: A Love Story
Chapter 4: Tapestry of Shadows
Part A: Requiem for Solo Voice

Also look for the first RAALS Side Arc: Training Sequence,
which occurs at about this time.

'Til Next,
Eric Hallstrom 10/27/99
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www.kawaiikunee.com/slp/index.html
www.kawaiikunee.com
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kaw...@kawaiikunee.com