Waters Under Earth A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum -harnums@thekeep.org -harnums@hotmail.com (old/backup) All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first published by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North America by Viz Communications. Waters Under Earth at Transpacific Fanfiction: http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/transp.html http://users.ev1.net/~adina/shrines2/fanfics.html Chapter 2 : Tangled Webs Jusenkyou in the early morning. Mist shrouded the veritable forest of bamboo poles that sprouted, seemingly at random, from the hundreds of pools that filled the deep valley, protected on all sides by the high mountains of the Bayankala range. The air was crisp and clean, filled with the faint tang of fresh water and the scent of the new dawning of spring. Muted light from the just-risen sun filtered through the cloudy streamers lingering around the poles, and in places made the clear water of the pools sparkle brightly and appear deceptively inviting. Solitude and emptiness in the streaming sunlight, none to see her but the air and the water and the mist. She danced atop the poles, a graceful figure in a green robe cinched tight at her slim waist by a black belt and slit high up the sides along the legs for maneuverability. Long hair, straight and midnight-black and hanging almost to her waist, whirled behind her as she moved, gliding gracefully from one unarmed form to another as she leaped from pole to pole. Any slip meant disaster, and she knew it. The elders of the tribe had forbidden training at Jusenkyou long ago, except as a punishment for breaking certain laws. She was here anyway, for though she was not even yet old enough to be counted as a full woman, not even old enough to have even a partial vote on the matters of the village when the Council called for them, she knew that she was good enough to train here. And she was. There were no slips, no narrow escapes, only the smooth flow of her body, lithe and slender as a bending willow tree. The morning mist clung to her face, her hands, her hair, as she leapt from pole to pole with an easy, practiced grace. Kick. Punch. Turn. Kick. Punch. Spin. No hint of any thought to the transition, just a smooth flow. Water flowing over rock, wearing it down bit by bit. That was the strategy that had won her the tournament this year, against foes stronger and bigger than she was. Water over rock. Dancer in the mist. No distractions. And suddenly, there was. Up there, above the curtain of mist, a vague shape, a winged shape, too big to be a bird. The shape all wrong for a bird; her eyes followed it instinctively, tracking a possible foe. A momentary distraction, but enough, combined with a bamboo pole slick with morning dew, a bamboo pole little wider than her thumb. She slipped, just a little, but it was enough. Down, down she fell, towards the spring below, towards the jewel-fine crystal sparkle of the waters... And someone caught her. Slender arms, one under her knees, the other around her waist. The beating of great wings. "Don't worry. I've got you," a voice said. The voice of a boy bordering on manhood, but with a strange, musical accent to it. The wings beat again, and she was too stunned with this utterly alien experience, the experience of flying, if only for a second, to do anything, to even speak. They landed on the damp ground near the pool, and he set her down. The grass was wet and springy under her feet. She looked at her rescuer. A handsome boy, about the same age as her, slender and fine-featured. Bright green eyes and dark brown hair, long in the back and tied into a ponytail. A handsome boy with black-feathered wings, and hands that were half human hands and half the talons of a bird. His feet were those of a bird as well, bare and taloned and digging into the ground slightly for purchase. "Phoenix Mountain," she breathed slowly. They were only legend, but such conflicting legend. The elders had always spoken of them as stories when she asked, but there'd been a strange look in the eye of some of them. "Yeah," the boy said. "That's where I come from. It's my home." "What... why..." She hated the way she sounded, confused and unsure. She was Joketsuzoku, not just some foolish village girl. The winged boy smiled at her, and she tried to force herself to look cold and controlled. But oh, he was so beautiful, and his eyes were so bright... She'd thought they were human hands, when he'd caught her. The talons looked sharp, but they'd been so gentle. "What? Why?" the boy said, jokingly mimicking her. "Well, that's the Nannichuan you almost fell into there. That's the what, I suppose. And the why? I couldn't let you fall in. You're far too pretty to get turned into a man." She narrowed her eyes. "I am Joketsuzoku." The boy shrugged his shoulders; it made his wings ripple like a dark cloak around his slim body. "And I am of Phoenix Mountain." She relaxed slightly. He had saved her. And he seemed friendly. And she had never met anyone with wings before. She extended her hand to him. "Khu Lon." He gripped her wrist in his taloned hand, and she did the same to him. His grip was gentle, though now that she was paying attention she could feel the texture was wrong for human skin. But the rest of him seemed human, except for those beautiful, silky wings. "And I am Samofere." ********** Cologne woke slowly, her body stiff and her joints creaking. She often felt like this when she woke up, but it was particularly bad today. She shouldn't have fallen asleep in the chair like this. She hadn't meant to, of course. But the thick tome, with its hundreds of pages covered with her own tiny handwriting, had entirely occupied her attention for the past two days. She'd sent Shampoo away each time the girl had asked if she needed anything; finally, she'd told her not to disturb her anymore until she was finished. That had been... a few hours ago, in her memory. Probably more. She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep; the thick curtains were drawn, entirely blocking out whatever sunlight there might be and only the small desk lamp gave illumination to read by, leaving most of the room, the small bed and smaller dresser, draped in pools of shadow. Next to the book were dozens of loose pieces of paper, all scattered randomly around the desk like fallen leaves and covered with quickly scrawled charts, diagrams, tables of correlations and possible interpretations. There was little doubt in her mind, though. There had not been for some time. But what had occured in the last few weeks was the final confirmation, the final fulfillment. She had to check her notes again, check the other books, make sure of it. There could be no doubt; none at all, not even in her mind. For to do what she must, she had to be absolutely sure. Someone knocked on the door outside, which both startled her and gave her a slight feeling of annoyance. She'd asked Shampoo not to disturb her. "Yes?" she called out, hopping out of the chair and wincing at how stiff she felt. "Cologne?" It wasn't Shampoo. "What is it, boy?" "Shampoo wants to know if you're alright," Mousse answered from the other side of the door. Cologne smiled slightly. Clever girl; checking on her again without actually defying her wishes to be left alone. "I'm fine, boy. Shouldn't you be working?" "We don't open for another two hours," Mousse said a bit peevishly, his voice muffled by the wood of the door. "You've been in here for nearly three days now, old ghoul! What are you up to? Don't you realize that Shampoo can't ever have Ranma?" That made her temper flare; it hit far too close to home in more ways than one. She threw open the door and glared up at Mousse, trailing her eyes up from the fringe of his robe to his dark eyes. One of them sported a large, yellow-black bruise over it, causing him to squint it almost shut. The other one was squinting as well, trying desperately to see without his glasses. "I see Shampoo's been responding to your affections as enthusiastically as always," she said sarcastically. Mousse scowled and glared down at the potted plant two feet away from her. "She's only wasting her time with Ranma," Mousse said with a disdainful tone. "She'll realize I'm the one for her sooner or later." Cologne smacked him on the foot with her staff and left him hopping up and down on one leg and holding a one-sided exchange of insults with the potted plant. She felt too weary to hop on her staff right now; she almost needed to use it to hold herself upright as she walked, the soft rustle of one slipper placing itself on the floor followed a second later by the tap of wood meeting wood as the tip of the staff contacted the floorboards. Down the hall she went, and around the corner, hearing Mousse stop shouting at the plant as she started down the other end of the hallway. His footsteps clumped down the stairs that led to the first floor, and she heard the familiar bang of the back door of the kitchen slamming shut as he headed outside to throw knives at the target he'd made out of several empty wooden boxes that supplies had been delivered in. He did that more and more these days. It might have worried her, if the alternative hadn't been worse, which was him going out and throwing knives at Ranma. Shampoo's room was at the end of the hallway, at the front end of the building. The door was closed, which meant that her great-grandaughter was in the room. She rapped on the door with her staff, and heard Shampoo's voice answer almost immediately. "Go away, Mousse! I say no date! You want me do other eye as well?" "It's your great-grandmother, child," Cologne said. The door was open before she finished the sentence, her great-grandaughter standing in the doorway with a concerned expression marring the delicate lines of her face. "Great-grandmother alright?" the girl said quickly. Her face tightened, and then she slowly spoke again. "Are you alright, great-grandmother?" "" Cologne said as she stepped through the doorway and into the room. She tapped the door closed with her staff and let it swing shut before turning her attentions back to her great-grandaughter. "Shampoo... I am supposed to get practice speak Ja- speaking Japanese," the girl said haltingly. Cologne could almost see her shaping the words inside her head before she let them out. "" Cologne said. She glanced around the room; sparse and generally spartan. Even she had been astonished by all the luxuries available here when she came back; it had been many years since she'd been in Japan. Her great-grandaughter, used to the more simple life of the village, had been somewhat overwhelmed. There was little evidence of either the village or the new home in the room; it looked as if it had been prepared beforehand and the owner simply plunked down into it. A bed, a dresser, a mirror, a small desk and chair. A closet, into which those clothes that didn't fit into the dresser went. Inconsequential things, no distinction to them. The weapons rack in the corner and the silk wall-hanging were the only things that made it look like anyone with a personality occupied the room. The rack held twin bonbori, heavy, round-headed maces painted in bright colours, and a curved sword without a sheath, the edge sharp and gleaming in the overhead lights. The wall-hanging depicted a lake, and behind it sharp-peaked mountains stretching upwards. "" Shampoo asked, though Cologne could hear the relief in her tone. "" Cologne said. "" Shampoo shuffled her feet and stepped back, taking a seat on the bed. "" "" Cologne filled in as Shampoo trailed off. "" She silently took a seat at the desk chair and watched as Shampoo shifted uncomfortably, tangling the neatly-made covers of the bed slightly. The girl said she was fine, but Cologne had learned to read people over the years, and Shampoo hadn't yet mastered even partially hiding her emotions. "" she asked when Shampoo didn't say anything. Her words were gentle, but her tone said she would accept nothing but the truth. "" Shampoo said finally, pressing her hands together in her lap and sighing. "" Cologne frowned inwardly; the frank admission itself did not bother her so much as the flat, tired tone it was made in. "" Shampoo turned her head to the side, hiding whatever feelings might be showing on her face beneath her hair. "" "" Cologne said. "" There was a shift in her posture, a slight change in the angle of her head, but Cologne still couldn't see her eyes. "" she said firmly. The girl's head finally turned, and she looked at her ancestor. "" "" Cologne prompted. "" Shampoo said. "" Shampoo's eyes were downcast, her mouth a straight line. "" She stopped speaking, but her face said she knew the answer. "" Cologne said wistfully. "" Shampoo smiled sadly. "" "" Cologne said. "" Shampoo whispered. " It broke, then. Not like a dam bursting unexpectly, but like a great wave you'd seen coming long ago finally hitting the shore. Shampoo took a long, sharp breath, and the tears began to fall slowly down her face. Cologne watched for a moment, sorrowing that physical affection was something discouraged between females in the tribe. Than she got out of the chair and walked over, feeling the bed depress slightly beneath her as she sat on it and gently rubbed her great-grandaughter's shoulder, the best that she could do without breaking a virtual taboo among the tribe. "" she said once, knowing it was a lie, but knowing that it was a kind lie, at least. "" Shampoo said softly. She hadn't once made a sound above a whisper, or even tried to scrub the tears away from her face. One hand still rested in her lap; the other tangled its fingers tightly in the bedsheet. "" She looked at Cologne, eyes blurred by tears. "" Cologne looked back at her with a level gaze. "" She hardened herself. No lie would be kindly here. "" Shampoo closed her eyes. "" "" Cologne said after a moment. "" "" "" Cologne said. Shampoo's eyes went wide with shock. "" "" Cologne said vehemently. "" Shampoo nodded. "" "" "" Shampoo said. "" She shuddered. "" "" Cologne said gently. Shampoo nodded. "" "" Cologne said. "" Shampoo closed her eyes. "" she said, rolling the word around in her mouth like poison. "" "" Cologne said. "" She looked at Shampoo. "" "" Shampoo whispered despairingly. "" Cologne said. "" Shampoo pondered silently for a few moments before speaking. "" She hung her head. "" Cologne nodded slowly. "" "" Shampoo said, continuing as if Cologne had not spoken. "" " Cologne said. "" "" Shampoo said. "" "" Cologne said with an aching feeling inside her heart. "" She patted Shampoo awkwardly on the shoulder once more, and stood up from the bed, carefully leaning on her staff. "" Shampoo looked at her and nodded. "" Cologne was out the door and closing it behind her before Shampoo might think to ask her just what it was she'd been doing the past three days. ********** He was in a forest, a forest where the trees were so densely packed and so towering that there was no sky, only a ceiling of emerald-green leaves. It was dark, although it was day, because little sunlight could shine down through that vast, spreading canopy of foliage hundreds of feet above. Did the forest have a name? Names, perhaps? A green-and-gold butterfly the size of a large bird fluttered by a few feet from his head, wings flapping slowly and leisurely as the soft flow of tides, and then he knew where this was. Ryugenzawa. So that is what you are called here, he thought, and almost as quickly forgot that thought. Sunlight dappled the rough trail that he walked into patches of light and shadow. The rustles of leaves and the sound of heavy, sliding footsteps betrayed that he was not alone here in the forest, but he saw no other animals after the butterfly, and he did not seek any more out. His feet seemed to have a definite destination in mind, even if he didn't. After a while, he began to hear someone singing, softly at first, but rising in volume as he walked. It seemed likely it was towards the singer that he was heading. He began to make out the words after a few minutes. The voice was beautiful, and the rustling of the leaves in the trees seemed to become an accompaniment if he listened closely enough, encompassing the swell of gentle strings and the soft beating of drums within themselves as they rubbed against each other in the slow wind. *Bright the waters* *Bright the song* *Bright the flow that bears it on* The voice was achingly lovely, so musical that it seemed to have been made only for singing. He strained to catch more words, and onward his feet carried him towards the singer and the source of the song. *Bright the waters* *Bright the heart* *Bright my gift of healer's art* The path was widening now, the trees thinning out, and the sunlight was streaming down in gold-bright shafts upon the forest floor. Up ahead he could see a grove, and there were many animals in it, and at its centre was a woman, and it was she who was singing. He came closer, drawn towards her and her song. There were wolves in the grove, and deer, and birds, and it was peaceful and lit with sun, and overhead was blue sky, and the trees around it cast green-gold shadows upon the clearing. And the deer lay down next to the wolves, and the wolves did them no harm, and atop the broad and branching horns of the deer the birds perched, silent in the face of a song more beautiful than any even they could make. She looked up at him, and her mouth opened again, and that impossibly beautiful voice spilled forth again in a tide of shining music. *Bright the duty* *Dark the call* *Towards the oldest one of all* Her hair was green, the green of forest leaves and spring grass, of tangled plants and all growing things, and so too green were her eyes. Her voice washed over him, and bore him away upon it like a swift flowing river. ********** "WAKE UP!" "Whazzat?" "We're going to be late! You've been sleeping since you came home yesterday." Ranma poked his head out of the tangled covers and looked at Akane. There was annoyance in her voice, but a little concern as well. Her eyes studied him a bit apprehensively. "Unless you're still not feeling well," she said in a softer voice. "Are you okay, Ranma?" Ranma blinked bleary eyes at his fiancee and sat up a little, holding the covers up with his hand. "Yeah. I feel better. Boy, did I have some weird dreams though..." "Hmm?" Akane said, cocking her head at him in a movement that shaped the sunlight shining through the open curtains into blue-black highlights on her hair. "Like what?" "Can't remember most of 'em," Ranma said. "Just little weird glimpses... like I was other people or somethin'. Really weird." "Like someone who wasn't going to be late for school if he doesn't hurry up?" Akane said with a small smile. "I'll be downstairs, okay? Breakfast is almost ready." Then her voice switched to an annoyed tone again. "And if you're coming with me, you'd better move it. I'm not gonna have you make me late." Ranma nodded and was already starting to stand as Akane closed the door and left the room, her skirt swirling slightly about her legs as she went. He left the covers slip off and stretched slightly. He really did feel better this morning. He must have been pretty sick, though; even he didn't sleep this long without a good reason. He felt better now, at least. He'd always been a fast healer. He worked the last kink out of his back and went over to his dresser, grabbing out a change of clothing and shrugging out of the clothes he'd slept in as quickly as he could. He changed and headed out into the hallway, hopping down the stairs three at a time to the first floor. He could hear the sound of voices and chopsticks clacking together from the dining room by the back porch; if they'd started without him, it must be pretty late in the morning. He had to hurry, or he was going to be late for school. Frowning at the memories of yesterday, he walked quickly to the bathroom and splashed warm water on his face and brushed his teeth. Finished, he walked out quickly to the dining room and took his seat at the table. "Good morning, Ranma," Kasumi said cheerfully, as if they'd never had their serious conversation of the day before. "How do you feel?" "Much better, Kasumi," he said as he began to eat with his usual vigour. "Must be all that beauty sleep," Nabiki said with a small smirk. "He needs extra, considering there's two of him to keep beautiful." He glared at her for a moment in silence, and continued to eat. "Hey pop, how come you didn't wake me up to train this morning?" "I told him to let you sleep, Ranma," his mother said quietly. "We can't have you getting sick." His father nodded without saying anything and poked at his rice bowl as if he might find an errant grain hiding amidst the already picked-clean expanse of the porcelain. "Well, I feel great today," Ranma said as he finished his first bowl of rice and started on a second. "Like a million bucks." "If only you were..." Nabiki said wistfully. Ranma glared at her for a second time, and she looked back at him with a slight smile on her face. "You kids had better get going," Soun said from behind the shield of his newspaper. "Don't want to be late for school." "Your lunches are on the counter in the kitchen," Kasumi said as Ranma, Akane and Nabiki stood up from the table. "Have a good day at school." With a quick round of farewells to the others, the three of them headed into the kitchen and grabbed their lunches before heading out the front door and off to school. ********** Ukyou sipped her tea in the little kitchen of her restaurant and gave Konatsu a small smile. "Thanks." The ninja beamed and walked away into the dining room, silk kimono rustling softly with the easy grace of his movements. He drew the curtain closed behind him and left Ukyou alone in the tiny kitchen by herself. She looked around at it as she sipped her tea; all of the cooking for the restaurant was done in the dining room on the grill, but it was in here that she made up the batter for the day and washed the dishes. Cooking was like anything else; not just in the actual doing, but also in the presentation and the preparation. Yesterday had not been particularly pleasant. Ranma was obviously very angry with her, and she'd started to see why. She'd tried to force his decision, something she'd vowed not to do. Unlike certain others, she wanted him to come to her of his own free will. Then again, there was the possibility he'd actually wanted to marry Akane. She pushed that thought down quickly, though; logic dictated that if he was going to choose anyone, it would be her. For him to marry anyone else wouldn't make sense. She realized she was trying to sip from an empty teacup, and slowly sighed and let it sink back into the saucer with a slight rattle. She stood up from the table and pushed her chair back with a scrape, then carefully carried her cup to the sink and ran water in it. The few drops that splashed against her hands made her wince slightly; the water was cold this morning. She dried her hands on a dishtowel and grabbed her schoolbag from where it rested against one leg of the table before heading out into the dining room. Konatsu was carefully dusting a table in the corner, and he looked up as she came in, long ponytail swinging back over his shoulder. "Are you going to school now, Ukyou?" he asked quietly, not letting his eyes meet hers. "Yeah, I'm heading off," Ukyou said. Konatsu nodded, dark eyes half-closed and head bowed. "I'll be back after school, and we'll open up together. Don't just wait around for me; go for a walk or something." "Yes, Ukyou," Konatsu said in a soft, demure voice as he worked at the wood of the table with a cloth. "I hope you have a nice day." "You too," Ukyou said. She crossed the wooden floor quickly and slid open the front door, glancing back once at the interior of the restaurant before she stepped outside onto the early morning streets and closed the door behind her with a soft hiss of sliding wood. "Off to school, then," she said with false cheer. She began to walk after only a little hesitation. ********** Kodachi watched as the girls filtered through the gate of St. Hebereke with a slight sneer of disdain on her face. They were like sheep; they came, did what they had to, and left. Not like her; if she came to this school, it was only because she chose to. Which she was not choosing to do today. She was so far ahead in classes already it was laughable to even show up, and the teachers knew it. Besides, what was the worst punishment they could give her? Detentions she wouldn't attend? Extra assigments she would complete as easily as she did anything else here? No, today was the day she tried again to win Ranma's love. She knew she didn't have it; she'd admitted that to him and to herself. But there was nothing you could not make happen if you worked hard enough at it. And she was a very hard worker, if what she was working for was worthwhile. And if any man was worth it, it was him. She could make him love her. It was only a matter of time. Still, there were difficulties. Of the three girls who were also trying to win his love, two of them went to the same school as him, and the other didn't go to school at all. They had plenty of time to spend with him; she didn't have nearly as many opportunities to be around him. "That ends now," she whispered softly, a strange glint in her eyes. "Till I have his heart, I shall not go back to school." She shook her head; that was an imprudent thing to say. "I shall try today. And perhaps tomorrow." She smiled and stood up from her crouch on the rooftop, brushing off a few stray specks of dust from the black hem of her schooldress. With a quick leap, she left St. Hebereke behind as she started across the rooftops towards the route Ranma took to Furinkan. ********** Shampoo pedalled her bicycle quickly through the streets, off on a delivery job. It was a little early, but the work helped keep her mind off other things, and it got her out of the restaurant, away from the constant annoyance of Mousse's affections. This early, most people on the streets were students heading to school. This area was near Furinkan, and she recognized the blue girl's uniform she'd seen on Akane. Thinking of Furinkan made her think of Ranma, and that was something she had no desire to do right now. So she sped up, and concentrated entirely on the bicycle and the streets, ignoring whatever looks she got. She was used to being stared at by the people in this country; it was obvious by the way she dressed that she was not one of them. She didn't care anymore. Not that much, at least. But the constant disapproving looks, the whispered comments behind her back, it still hurt sometimes. She would tell herself that she didn't care, but to so often feel unwelcome wherever she went was not an easy thing to take. She sighed, and wished with all her heart that she was back in the village. What she had told her great-grandmother was true; if she could have given up Ranma and gone back to China, she would have in an instant. She loved him, but staying here was killing her, just a little everyday. But she couldn't go; the need to fulfill laws and her own heart held her here. Which was the stronger, she did not know. The bicycle whipped around the corner, and she nearly collided with someone in a boy's school uniform. She screeched around them at the last second, nearly falling off the bike. She winced inwardly; her mind hadn't been on the road. "Why don't you watch where you're going, you Chinese bimbo?" the person snapped in a voice that made it clear they weren't a boy. Shampoo's eyes narrowed. She didn't much care about the bimbo part, but the way Ukyou had said "Chinese" as if it were some kind of insult was not something she was going to tolerate from anyone, particularly her rival. "Something wrong with being Chinese?" she said in a low, dangerous voice as she hopped off of her bike and propped it against a nearby streetlight. She shifted just slightly, got into a stance that didn't look threatening, but would let her move quickly if she needed to. She took in the area around her in a second; a side street, bordered on one edge by the fence that indicated the canal. Not many people about, and fights between martial artists in the streets had become common enough in the past few months that most people ignored them on general principle. "Well, if you're an example of it, then yes," Ukyou said. That did it. The deliveries could wait. A certain person needed to be taught a lesson about having respect for other cultures. ********** Ranma glanced suspiciously up ahead at Nabiki's back. She was walking a dozen steps ahead of them, at a sedate but still quick pace. "She better not try anything like what she did yesterday." "She won't," Akane said from beside him, her schoolbag held swinging at her side. "She... I talked to her yesterday." Ranma snorted. "Yeah. That's reassuring." Akane frowned. "She's not that bad, Ranma. She's just a little..." She trailed off with a sigh and looked up for a moment before speaking again. "She sometimes gets so caught up in her schemes that she forgets she might be hurting people with them." "I don't think she forgets," Ranma muttered. "I just think she doesn't care." Akane's eyes narrowed. "She is my sister, Ranma." "So you're not mad at her?" Ranma asked pointedly. "Of course I'm mad at her," Akane said grudgingly. "I just can't hold it against her forever. She'll..." "She'll what?" Ranma asked, turning his head to look at Akane. "Find some other way to make money off of me or you?" "Ranma..." Akane growled. "Watch how you talk about my sister." "You mean the one who just disappeared from sight while we were distracted?" Ranma said as he began to look straight ahead again. Akane hung her head. "I'm sure she just went around the corner. She's probably waiting for us to catch up with her." Ranma nodded. "I'm sure," he said flatly. They turned the corner, and Ranma was quite startled when someone threw their arms around his neck and whispered throatily into his ear. "Ranma my sweet, what a pleasant coincidence." Well, it definitely wasn't Nabiki. ********** Ukyou decided bickering with Shampoo hadn't been a good idea the second time she got thrown against the wall of the building. She'd obviously set the Amazon off somehow, and this wasn't just one of their little catfights. Those weren't concerned with martial arts so much as they were with hair pulling and face scratching. In one of those, she could usually hold her own against the other girl. As much as she hated to admit it, though, in a straight fight like this, Shampoo was better. She really wished she'd brought her big spatula this morning. As it was, she'd been forced to go straight hand to hand against Shampoo, because she didn't even have time to go for some of the smaller ones on the bandolier across her chest. She stumbled off from against the wall, barely blocked a combination of punches from Shampoo, and just managed to avoid a kick to her side that seemed to come out of nowhere. She lashed back with a fist, a blow that looked clumsy to her eyes. It had been a long time since she'd actually fought unarmed. Too long. Shampoo blocked it, but that bought her time to weave back a few steps and pull a fistful of spatulas from her bandolier, casting them out in a wide wave against her opponent. Shampoo moved to the side, faster than Ukyou thought she was able to. It took her only a fraction of a second to recover from her throw, but somewhere in there Shampoo's leg tangled itself through hers, and she was facedown on the street, tasting dust in her mouth, with the other girl on top of her. Shampoo had a knee in the small of her back, and Ukyou's left arm twisted and locked behind her in a tight grip. "Still have bad things to say about Chinese?" Shampoo asked sweetly. The position didn't actually hurt that much, but she knew it would hurt a lot more if she tried to struggle. "Not really bad things to say about the Chinese," she said between gritted teeth. "Just about you. You're arrogant, stupid, you dress like a..." She choked on the words as Shampoo shifted her grip on the arm slightly. "What that you say? I almost think I not hear you begging for mercy." "I won't beg you for anything," Ukyou said. "Not now, not ever." "Much pride," Shampoo said, and there was almost a kind of respect in her tone. "You would make good wife for Ranma." Ukyou didn't even speak she was so surprised. "Too bad you never have him," Shampoo said with a slight sadness to her tone. "You not have him, I not have him. Is too bad." "What are you talking about?" Ukyou finally said, twisting her neck slightly to try and get a look at the Amazon's face. If she could see her face, she might be able to get an idea of why she was talking this way. "You no there at Jusenkyou," Shampoo said softly. "You not see him. His heart belong to Akane." Ukyou's jaw tightened. The dust of the road tasted bitter in her mouth. "How would you know who a man's heart belongs to?" "I know," Shampoo said simply, without room for argument in it. Ukyou found it anyway. "What about Mousse?" she said, putting as much derision behind it as possibly. "I know Mousse's heart belongs to me," Shampoo said softly. "It is only that I do not want it." "Why are you still here, then?" Ukyou said. "If you're so sure you can't have him?" "Because I will not disgrace myself before my tribe," Shampoo said. "And I love him still. I no can control heart." "You wanna get off me now?" Ukyou gasped. "We still rivals," Shampoo said, and there was little in her voice of what had been there before. "I want make sure you remember this, spatula girl. Remember that I beat you and hold your face in dust. Remember that next time you think about insulting me or my people." Almost screaming with frustration at her helplessness, Ukyou bucked her hips, trying to throw the Amazon off. It was a stupid thing to do, completely useless as an escape tactic, and it sent shooting pains through her entire body. "GET OFF ME!" She was really starting to hate the taste of all this dust. It was making her eyes water. Not from pain, she told herself. This didn't hurt that bad. It was just the dust getting her eyes. And it certainly wasn't because she believed any of what Shampoo was saying. ********** "What are you doing here?" Akane said, glaring at Kodachi as Ranma tried to detach himself from the gymnast's embrace. "Shouldn't you be at school by now?" "What kind of education can compare to spending time with dear Ranma?" Kodachi said, managing to somehow maneuver Ranma's arm around her waist. Akane ground her teeth together and brought her schoolbag back over her shoulder. "Ranma..." "You think I want her hangin' all over me like this?" Ranma protested. "It sure looks like it," Akane said flatly. Ranma noticed where his arm was, and yanked it off Kodachi's waist with an embarassed grin. "Really, that just kinda..." "Go away, you silly girl," Kodachi said, looking down the end of her nose at Akane. "I'd like some time alone with my dear Ranma, if you don't mind." "He's not yours..." Akane said. "And he doesn't like you hanging around him." "Really?" Kodachi said. "Let's find out." She saved Ranma from further struggles by detaching her arms from him herself and moving a few feet up to stand beside Akane. She put her hands together in front of her and cocked her head to one side as she looked at Ranma. "Ranma dear, do you truly dislike me so much that you'd prefer if I went away forever and you never saw me ever again?" "Uhh..." Ranma said. Kodachi's eyes shimmered slightly, and she gave a barely audible sniffle. "Of course not, Kodachi. I wouldn't want that. I'd uh... I'd really... uh..." He trailed off in the face of Akane's glare. "Oh, no, please continue," Akane said icily. "I've always wanted to know what it sounds like to hear you say nice things to a girl." She spun on her heel and started quickly off. "I hope you two have a lovely time together." "Oh, come on, Akane," Ranma said as he started after her. "I'm just bein'..." "Don't mind her temper, dear Ranma," Kodachi said as she slipped her arm through his and rested her head in the crook of his shoulder. Her ponytail tickled his nose with the clean scent of hair and shampoo. "We can have a lovely time by ourselves. Remember how much fun we had on our last date?" "That was not a date," Ranma protested, trying to slip away from Kodachi and catch up to Akane at the same time. Neither worked very well. "I just did that because..." "Because you felt sorry for me," Kodachi said in a tight voice. She pulled her head away from his shoulder, but kept her arm linked with his. "You'll come around in time, though. None of those others can compare to me." "You've got that right," Ranma said to himself under his breath in a tone that made it clear that this was a good thing. Akane turned the corner up ahead, her pace already picking up. Ranma tried to pick up his pace as well, but Kodachi was content to continue at a leisurely walk, and she had a tight grip on his arm. Short of dragging her, there wasn't really any way he could go faster. "What are you doing?" he heard Akane say in a loud, surprised voice. He yanked his arm roughly free from Kodachi's and sped around the corner to see Akane, aghast, looking at Shampoo and Ukyou. The Amazon had the other girl laid flat out on the ground, with her arm twisted behind her and a knee against the small of her back. He could see Ukyou's face was dust-covered, streaked in a few places with tears. "That's enough!" he shouted angrily, stalking forward past Akane with every muscle of his body tensing. "Shampoo, get off her! You're hurting her!" Shampoo slowly looked up and met his eyes. There was an expression on her face he'd never seen before, and a look in her eyes that looked even more out of place. It looked almost as if she might keep her hold on Ukyou for a moment, but then he saw the tense look on her face slowly relax, and she almost gently took her knee off Ukyou's back, and a moment later released her hold on the arm and stood up, brushing road dust from the leg of her flower-embroidered silk pants. "You see who better now?" she said, looking down at Ukyou. There was a half-triumphant, half-sad sound to her voice. Ranma glared at her, and she shrank away slightly, taking a few steps back from Ukyou, who was still lying on the ground. Ranma knelt down beside her, whatever anger he'd had for her yesterday evaporating. "Hey Ucchan, you alright?" he said. Ukyou opened her mouth to respond, but all of Ranma's attention was taken from her when he heard Akane make a surprised scream from behind him. Then he heard Kodachi begin to laugh. It sounded even more unpleasant than usual. ********** Kodachi scowled as Ranma slipped away from her and tried to get Shampoo off of Ukyou. Whatever those two wanted to get up to, she didn't care. Deciding to ignore it, she turned her attention to Akane. "And how are we, Akane Tendo?" she asked in a cheerful voice. Akane looked back at her and frowned fiercely. "Why don't you just go away, Kodachi? No one wants you around." "Ranma dear doesn't seem to object," Kodachi said with a shrug. "He seems to think rather more of me than he does of you." Out of the corner of her eye, Kodachi saw Shampoo begin to get off of Ukyou. Then she switched her gaze back to Akane, who still seemed unsure of how to respond. "He just doesn't like hurting people," Akane said. "Even a loon like you, Kodachi." Kodachi's eyes narrowed and her face hardened. "I am not a loon. Because I do not choose to follow the common herd like the rest of you people does not mean I am any less sane." Akane snorted. "Right. Well, they say crazy people never think they're crazy." "I would rather be crazy," Kodachi said icily. "Than be an indecisive, immature, ignorant girl such as yourself. You do not even appreciate what you have in him. Believe me, if our situations were reversed and I found myself arranged to marry him, I would not treat him in the way you do. If being willing to let myself love someone is crazed, then I suppose I am crazy." Akane snarled and started forward. "You better watch it, Kodachi." Kodachi danced back, rising on her toes gracefully. "You wish a duel, Akane Tendo? The Black Rose shall oblige." Akane dropped her bag and cocked a fist. "Right." She swung at Kodachi, a clumsy blow. Akane had little grace in Kodachi's eyes, and the gymnast stepped back from the fist as if it were no effort at all. "Come, try harder, Akane." Akane did, launching a combination of kicks and punches that Kodachi wove and dodged away from, taking the two of them further away from the situation between Ranma, Akane and Ukyou. "This takes almost a little effort to avoid," Kodachi said, glancing back at the rapidly approaching fence that bordered the canal. "Still, you haven't gotten much better than the last time. Remember the last time?" She put a hand to her cheek. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. You did such a clumsy little thing like sprain your ankle, and you had to get that little pig-tailed hussy to fight in your place." "If you know who that pig-tailed hussy was," Akane growled as Kodachi dodged a kick, "you wouldn't think it was so funny." "Not as funny as this will be," Kodachi said as Akane threw another punch. This time she didn't dodge it; she caught it, catching the wrist and rolling back onto her shoulders, using Akane's momentum to drag her down with her. A defeat was one thing. That was easy. A truly humiliating defeat, though, that was another thing entirely. She placed one black-shoed foot in Akane's midsection, and carried through with the move by kicking up, launching the surprised girl over the edge of the canal and towards the water below. She heard a splash, and a surprised yell. Kodachi grinned, and did what she usually did when she had a victory like this. She began to laugh. That stopped when she felt someone grab her arm, much too tightly to be comfortable. She turned her head, and looked into Ranma's grey eyes. The anger in them made even her shrink slightly. "What are you doing?" he shouted, shaking her by the arm. "Just cooling down her temper a little," Kodachi said, but there was a hint of doubt there in her voice, a hint that she realized she might have made a mistake here. Ranma's eyes pinned her, and they would not let her look away. "You're hurting my arm, Ranma dear..." "Are you nuts?" Ranma shouted again, his grip tightening for a moment. "She can't swim." He let go, almost flung her aside, and leaped over the fence and down into the canal. Kodachi ran to the fence, looked down, saw him fall towards the water and the struggling form of Akane. She saw him hit. Perhaps it was the rage in his eyes that had forced her to tear down some of the barriers, some of the explanations for the inexplicable that she'd built up over time. Because when she saw him hit the water, she saw, for a moment, his body shift and change, and realized what it meant. A low, disbelieving sound rose from deep inside her throat. ********** The canal wasn't that deep, perhaps only a little over six feet at this time of year. But it was enough to be dangerous to someone like Akane, Ranma realized. It wasn't just that she couldn't swim; even someone who couldn't swim could float. What was the matter was that she panicked whenever she got into water she couldn't stand in. She thrashed her arms, opened her mouth to yell, drove herself deeper below the surface of the water and swallowed it in great gulps. He knew; he'd seen it before. He was only barely conscious of the change in his body as he hit the water, as his body shrank and grew in places. He was only aware of Akane, struggling to stay afloat and taking in as much water as she did air. She was a few feet ahead; Ranma hadn't timed her leap as well as she'd hoped. Ranma pulled herself forward, stroking with her arms and kicking with her legs as hard as she could. She could hear Akane gasping and choking, a sound that wrenched at her somewhere deep inside. Just as she reached her, Akane's head sank below the water with one last frantic wave of her arms. A few bubbles rose. Ranma was there in a second, ducking under the waters and grabbing Akane, getting her under the armpits and dragging her back to the surface. Akane coughed and choked in the smaller girl's arms, and Ranma realized with panic that she had too much water in her lungs to breathe. She had to get her on to land, and quick. "Give her to me!" Shampoo was stretching her arm down, perched on the inch or so of concrete lip on the side of the fence that faced the canal with her other hand clinging to the wire mesh of the fence. Ukyou was a concerned face on the other side; he couldn't see Kodachi at all. Somehow, without even purchase for her feet, she managed to lift Akane up to Shampoo. The Amazon grabbed the half-conscious girl by the front of her soaked school dress, and effortlessly lifted her up, carefully passing her over the fence to Ukyou. She hopped back over, and as Ranma began to climb out of the canal, Shampoo and Ukyou laid the coughing Akane down on the ground. Ranma could see Kodachi now, standing a few feet away, her face slightly pale and trembling. She was furious with the gymnast, but that could wait for now. She had to see to Akane. Shampoo was pressing down on Akane's stomach, forcing the water out of her lungs, as Ukyou carefully held the girl's head in her lap. Akane coughed up water on the ground in front of her with weak heaves of her throat, but it looked like she was going to be okay. Ranma knelt down next to the two girls ministering to the third and brushed a hand through the damp bangs of her hair. "Is she alright?" she asked Shampoo. The Amazon nodded. "Little water in lungs. Nothing serious. She just need to get her breath back." Ranma saw Kodachi had come closer, and stood up with an angry expression on her face. She took a step towards the taller girl and grabbed her by the shoulders, leaving damp palm-prints on the black school dress. "What the hell were you thinking?" she yelled, shaking the pale-faced Kodachi. "What did you think you were doing?" "Who... where did Ranma darling go?" Kodachi said, her lips barely moving. "I am Ranma, you nut!" Ranma shouted harshly. "Get it through your head! You coulda really hurt her! Dammit, Kodachi..." She let go and let her arms drop to her sides. She didn't like to hit girls, but she wanted to hit Kodachi more than nearly anything right now. She restrained the impulse, though. Kodachi looked stricken, her face bordering on shock and guilt that Ranma had never thought the Black Rose capable of having. "Please forgive me, Ranma," Kodachi whispered. "I did not know. I did not know of your fiancee's difficulties with water. I will go now. Please forgive me." She bowed, just slightly, and hurried off, leaving Ranma wet, stunned and female behind her. ********** Akane coughed the last of the water out of her lungs, and looked up with eyes blurred by tears and lack of oxygen at the two girls who knelt beside her. "You okay, Akane?" Shampoo asked. "I know you not good swimmer." "I'm alright," Akane said, surprised at how weak her voice sounded. "What..." "You tried to swallow the canal," Ukyou said. There was a teasing note to her voice, but also concern as well. "Kodachi tossed you in while..." She looked at Shampoo, seemingly embarassed, and the Amazon looked away, her face going just a shade towards red. "Ranma..." Akane said slowly. "He jumped in and handed you to Shampoo," Ukyou said. "She hauled you over the fence and pumped the water out of you." Akane blinked in surprise and looked at Shampoo in silence for a moment before she was able to find room to speak. "Thank you, Shampoo," she said. "You..." "Is nothing," Shampoo said quickly. "I need get back to deliveries." "It wasn't nothing," Ranma said as she knelt down beside Akane. "Hey Akane. How you feeling?" "Wet," Akane said with a weak grin. She coughed, and Ukyou helped her sit up while patting her on the back. To her surprise, Ranma reached out and took her hand. It didn't even occur to her until a moment later that he was female, and then she realized it didn't matter. "I'm glad you're okay," Ranma said with a relieved smile. She glanced at Ukyou and Shampoo, and her smile diminished a bit. "I'm gonna take Akane home. You guys better go." Shampoo stood up. "Bye Ranma. Bye Akane." She nodded her head in a quick gesture of farewell, than ran to grab her bicycle from the wall. Ukyou looked at Ranma, hesitation to speak showing on her face. "Ranchan, couldn't I..." she began. Ranma shook his head. "We'll talk later, Ukyou," Ranma said. Ukyou gulped and nodded. She stood up and walked away, as Ranma pulled Akane to her feet. "I'm okay," Akane said. "I just need to get some dry clothes, and then..." She was interrupted by a spasm of coughing. Ranma shook her head and sighed. "You need to get home and rest, Akane. I'm not gonna argue with you about this. Let's go." Akane nodded mutely, and let Ranma lead her along by the hand. ********** Kodachi sat in the thin wicker framework of the chair in her room, two photos spread out on the table in front of her. One of them was of Ranma, a shot of him frozen still in the midst of a kata, light defining one side of him in sharp detail, and leaving the other side of him cloaked in shadow. It was her favourite one of him she had. The other was of her brother's other obsessive love interest beyond Akane Tendo, the girl with the pig-tail. The pose was a similiar one, although she could not for the life of her imagine what had possessed the girl to do katas while topless. Or now perhaps she could. After all, a girl who was not truly a girl would have no concern for feminine modesty, would she? The resemblance was obvious. So were so many other things now that she looked for them, searching back through her memory. It all came together, the final pieces of a puzzle. "How could I have been so blind?" she whispered. "So blind..." She shuffled the photos from hand, so fast they became a rapid blur of colour. "So blind..." A few tears dropped from her eyes, the scattered memories of what had happened earlier driving themselves into her soul. Seeing the rage in his eyes, seeing him toss her aside and leap into the canal after Akane. Seeing him change. And then the girl, the girl who was him, who somehow was him. The same fury in the eyes, although they were a different colour, they were the same eyes. There was no mistaking those eyes or the expression on them. It was true; no matter how you could change your form, it was hard to change your eyes. She set the photos down on the table again, and buried her face in her hands. More tears came, but very quietly, because the few times Kodachi ever cried for real, it was with little show of emotion beyond simple tears. When she was done, she went around her room and methodically gathered every photo of him she had, from the walls, pressed inside the pages of books, sitting in frames on her desk or dresser or the table beside her bed. She took them all out, leaving the room a mess of opened books and empty frames. She put them all in a box, and as an afterthought, added the one photo of the female side. To remind her, if she ever got them out again. To remind her of what he truly was. She put the box on the top shelf of her closet. Perhaps she might want the photos again, some day. But now, she wanted only to be alone. That was her choice; she would not have it be her fate. ********** "WHAT?" "Dad, I just got a little wet, that's all... Ranma pulled me out right away. I'm fine," Akane said. She then proceeded to ruin whatever effect her words had upon her father by breaking into another coughing spasm and sagging against Ranma, still female, who held her up until she recovered. Kasumi and his mother were heating water in the kitchen, for tea and transformation back. Soun was currently looming over the two of them, having intercepted them as soon as they got in the door, dripping water on the carpet from their soaked clothing. In the background, Genma stood with his arms folded over his chest, the expression on his face calculated neutrality. "Ranma! How could you let this happen to Akane?" Soun demanded. "You're her fiancee!" "Yes, son, please answer that," Genma added with a slight frown. "Look, I was just seein' if Ukyou was alright, and the next thing I know Kodachi tossed her in the canal!" Ranma protested, wishing that she'd been able to turn back to a man before the interrogation had begun. "You were paying attention to Ukyou over your true fiancee?" Genma asked with an indignant inflection to his voice. "What of honour, Ranma?" Ranma pointed her finger at her father. "Don't you lecture me about honour, old man. Who's the one who engaged me to two girls in the first place?" "That was an unavoidable necessity," Genma said with absolute conviction. "A man must eat." Soun whirled and grabbed his friend by the collar. "Saotome, you mean to say you engaged Ukyou to Ranma for food alone?" Genma took a firm hold on Soun's wrists and pried his hands off. "Tendo, you forget the hardship of the road. Why, when we trained, we were forced to sacrifice much in pursuit of the true path of the martial artist..." "Come on," Ranma said sideways to Akane. "While they're distracted with their reminiscing." The two of them snuck past their bickering parents, still leaving a small trail of water behind them. They paused at the foot of the stairs. Akane coughed again, and Ranma patted her on the back. "Why don't you go have a hot bath? I'll go tell Kasumi to get you some dry clothes." Akane nodded, took a deep breath to recover herself. "Okay." "Good," Ranma said. She reached back and took hold of her pigtail, wringing water out of it with a sigh. "Get in there. You look like somethin' outta a horror movie with all those wet clothes on you." Akane glared at him. "Thank you so much." Ranma winced. "Uh..." Shaking her head, Akane slid open the door to the bathroom and stepped inside. "Just when I think you might actually be..." Ranma heard her say, before her voice was cut off by the closing door. A hand fell on her shoulder from behind, large and blunt-fingered. "Boy, come and get changed back. Your mother and Tendo and I want to speak with you." Ranma sighed. When she didn't start moving right away, her father's hand tightened slightly, not enough to hurt, but there was, as with a lot of things her father did, the impression that it could hurt very soon. "Okay," she said finally. Her father let go of her shoulder and turned to go. Ranma looked at the closed door of the bathroom for a moment, and then followed with her head hanging. Her mother and Soun were seated at the kitchen table when she and her father entered. His mother handed him a steaming kettle without a word, and a moment later she was he. Genma took a seat at the kitchen table, across from Soun. The chair across from Ranma's mother scraped across the floor as he pulled it out slightly, sounding far too loud in the enforced silence the three adults were now maintaining. "Ranma, please close the door to the kitchen," his mother said as he was about to sit. "Hey mom, where'd Kasumi go? Akane's in the bath, and she needs some-" "Kasumi went to look after her sister," Soun said, cutting him off. "Close the door and sit down, Ranma." Ranma slid the kitchen door closed with a frown; it was hardly ever closed. Kasumi never closed it when she was cooking; she'd said once she liked how the smell filled the whole house when she was making something. He took his seat, shifted a bit nervously and tugged the chair towards the table. He realized even the seating had been calculated; he was looking straight ahead at his mother's unsmiling face, while his father and Soun flanked him on either side of the table. The silence continued for a few seconds, and he was almost sure he felt his heart slow down. To his surprise, it was Soun who finally broke it. "This is the final straw, Saotome," he said, and Ranma realized he was addressing his father. "It cannot go on like this." "Tendo, my old friend, really, the boy only needs a little more time..." Genma said defensively. "NO!" Soun snapped. "No more time, Saotome. No more of your promises, your excuses, your rationalizing. Again, Saotome. Again within a few days after my daughter gets back from China, she is put in danger. Since you and your son came, I have seen her kidnapped, threatened and attacked. I will not have it anymore." Ranma was speechless. It had always been his father who dominated conversations like this; his mother was often a generally silent presence, and Soun generally served only to back up his friend's words. He had seen Soun cry often enough, but he had not often seen him get actually, genuinely angry, which was what he was now. This was something different from his short berserk rages, when his head seemed to get as big the whole room and he looked like a demon. He looked very, very calm in his anger right now. "Tendo..." Genma began. Soun cut him off again. "Saotome, you are my oldest friend," Soun said in a tight voice. "It is my honour to have you and your family share my home. I am a patient man, Genma. But I cannot let this continue. I have seen my daughter insulted constantly by the man she is supposed to marry, I have seen the people you and he have wronged nearly destroy my house on several occasions. And I have had enough." "Really, Tendo, Ranma and Akane just show they care by how they act," Genma said with a nervous laugh. "Isn't that true Ranma?" His mother's eyes were boring into him, dark and sad in her smooth, youthful face. They would not let him say anything but the truth, because he knew that she would know if he did not. "No," Ranma said with a sigh. "Me an' Akane fight a lot, I know. But it's not always me who starts it..." "Ranma, my Akane is not perfect," Soun said slowly, with some of the anger draining from his voice. "She is impulsive, and she has not yet learned to control her temper. You are far more easygoing than her, more used to dealing with change. It is your duty as her fiancee to try not to set her off." "I try," Ranma said. "I really do... what... what's this all about, Mr. Tendo?" His voice sounded nervous, frightened even. He did not like that one bit. Soun sighed. "Ranma, I said that until our affairs were in order, the wedding would be off. I am considering more drastic measures than that." Ranma stiffened. "You don't mean..." Soun looked around the table, at the faces of the Saotome family. "Ranma, I would like to see my daughter marry you. I think you are a fine young man, and worthy inheritor of my dojo. There is also the matter of family honour. But I..." He sighed, and the anger finally left his voice entirely, and he looked like the Soun Tendo Ranma was used to, the tired, weary man who missed his wife and worried too much about his daughters. "I do not wish to see my daughter unhappy. And I do not wish to see her hurt, either by one of those other girls or by one of the dozens of foes you seem to attract." Ranma slapped his palms down on the table. "I'm never gonna let anyone hurt Akane! Nobody! You hear me?" "We hear you, son," his mother said. "You do not need to shout." "Sorry, mother," Ranma said, bowing his head. "Son, we only want to know," Soun said. "Do you want this wedding to happen? Do you want to marry my daughter?" "I... I..." Ranma stuttered. He wanted to say that he didn't know, but that was not the whole truth. "Why don't we give him some time to think about it?" Genma said. "It's not fair to put the boy on the spot like this, Tendo. Give him a day or so, some time by himself." Nodoka's eyes turned from her son to her husband, and they were cold. Genma gulped, but he stared back at her until she looked back to her son. "Very well. Ranma, this time tomorrow you will talk to us again. The results of that conversation will determine whether or not you and Akane will continue to be engaged." The three adults pushed their chairs back almost simultaneously, three separate scrapes on the floor of the kitchen. His mother went to the sink and began washing her hands, for a reason he didn't know. Soun opened the door of the kitchen with a soft hiss and stepped out. His father stood looking at him for a moment, then went the same way as Soun. Ranma stayed for a moment, watching his mother's back as she ran water over her hands, and then he went out the kitchen door after the two older men. Soun was sitting in a chair near the stairs, smoking a cigarette with a pensive expression on his face. He didn't even acknowledge Ranma's presence when he stepped by and walked out towards the back porch, where he could see his father looking up at the sky. "Hey pop," he said as he slid the door open and stepped out, feeling the rough grain of the wood under his bare feet. He realized he was still in slightly damp clothing, but that was really the least important thing right now. "Hello son," his father said, not turning to look at him. "Thanks for sticking up for me in there," Ranma said after a moment. "Uh... thanks." His father turned his head and looked back, his eyes unreadable behind the thin wire frames of his glasses. "I know what it is like to have to make a choice too soon," he said after a moment, as if they were discussing the weather. "Often, you make the wrong one. Go and think, boy. You have a choice to make; just make sure it is the right one." Ranma nodded slowly, and then walked back inside, leaving his father staring at the sky. ********** Ranma tossed his futon onto the flattened roof of the house, then grabbed the lip and swung himself up, doing a handstand for a half-second before he tilted over and landed on his feet. Today had, if anything, been worse than the day before. No headaches today, but the constant looks of his father, mother and Soun as he hung around the house had finally made him say that he was going to go back to school. Akane, despite her protests, had been put to bed right after her bath; he hadn't even had a chance to say two words to her until dinner. He didn't go back to school, though. Going back meant that he might have to meet up with Ukyou or Shampoo, and he had enough to deal with already. He'd spent the day walking through the streets, all the familiar places he'd been while here. And he tried to think, although he didn't do a very good job of it. That was why he was out here, on the roof. He'd spend the night out here; the night was warm, and he'd slept in worse places while on the road. He'd lie up here, under the infinite empty sky, and he'd run thoughts through his head until he either came up with an answer or fell asleep. And he would be able to escape the looks of his father and mother and Soun, and most of all he would be able to escape Akane and her puzzled concern as to why he was so troubled. He couldn't tell her, couldn't share with her the strange mix of his thoughts. Two conversations in the kitchen played themselves back in his head, the first Kasumi, gentle and persuasive, and then her father, pushed finally to lay down an ultimatum. Tomorrow. He had until tomorrow... *"He who does not choose makes also a choice..."* Tomorrow to decide, once and for all... *"I do not wish to see my daughter unhappy..."* Father and daughter, words intertwining themselves within his head. Could he make the right choice? More importantly, could he make Akane happy? They fought so much, but the times when they did not... He saw flashes, in her smile or dark eyes, flashes of the girl who'd offered to be his friend on the first day he'd come here, rain-soaked and alone. But who was he to make this choice? How did he have the right? Ukyou's claim was, in his mind, equally valid. Shampoo's was in her mind, if not in his. And Kodachi... She seemed to have caught on, at last. Perhaps the nature of his transformation would force her away; he'd often thought that it would drive people away from him, although it really hadn't seemed to matter to many people yet. He hoped it would make her go away, because Ukyou and Shampoo were going to be hard enough to deal with. He lay back on the futon, carefully covered himself with his thin blanket. The night breeze carried on it the scent of the city, and the noises as quiet Nerima sank into sleep, the twitter of birds and the soft scrapes of doors and windows closing. He lay there, under the sky, the tiles of the roof indenting slightly into the futon under his back, letting him feel vaguely their shape. He lay there, and he thought, which was something he seldom did. Gradually, his eyes closed, weariness sank over him. He slept, up there on the roof of the house, with the night air wafting over him and stirring his blanket slightly in its wake. And he dreamed, as he had the night before. Perhaps dreams are memory, or perhaps memory is dreams. Perhaps dreams are the memories of things we could never remember otherwise, memories buried deep inside our souls, locked so tightly behind barriers of our mind that we never glimpse upon them except for in those few shining moments when we rest and our minds are free to roam within themselves. (...upon the field of battle, with all slain but him, he raised the horn to his lips and blew with the last of his strength, and the sound rushed forth like a black river...) The moon rose, swung high into the sky, and overhead the few stars visible through the haze of the city came out. The night breeze flowed like water over him, and he dreamed on. (...up and up came that vast spiralling form, and the hair and beard were white ocean foam, and the eyes were the green of sun-drenched sea...) A black shape, large and winged, swung in front of the moon overhead for a moment, and looked down with glittering black eyes upon the sleeping boy upon the roof, before banking and wheeling away to its true destination, and leaving the dreamer to his dreams. (...and the waters flowed and carried him down, down, down...) ********** Cologne stood on the roof of the restaurant, looking warily at the crescent moon gracing the night sky, a slash of silver on black. She turned her eyes downward, and looked at the wrapped parchment, tied with string, that she held in her hand. A black, winged shape, looking even darker than the night sky it swept across, came into view, banking and turning with avian grace. She put her fingers to her lips and whistled sharply in a few complex notes. The shape spun, folded its wings against its body and dived towards the rooftop of the Nekohanten where she stood, as if it might bury itself into the concrete roof like a black-feathered arrow. At the last second, the wings unfurled and the bird swept up gracefully, landing on a pipe that went horizontally across the roof before it curved down the side of the restaurant. It was a huge raven, glossy blue-black feathers reflecting flashes of silver in the moonlight. The eyes were bright and quick, glittering like dark jewels in the sockets of a lean and sharp feathered face. "Show-off," Cologne muttered. "Greetings, Cologne," the bird croaked in passable Japanese before beginning to preen under one wing with his sharp beak. "Hello, Shiso," she said. "And how is your brother?" The raven paused in his grooming and regarded her with one solid black eye, darker even than the inky feathers. "He is well." "And your master?" "He misses you," Shiso said, hopping off the pipe in a flutter of wings and perching nimbly atop the knob on the end of her staff. It swayed a little under his weight before Cologne got it balanced again. "You may tell him I miss him as well," Cologne said a bit sadly. "I hope that they did not damage his library when they were there." The raven gave a croaking laugh. "Phoenix Mountain has endured worse than the actions of a few children such as them. It will endure worse and continue to stand." Cologne sighed. "Do you bring me a message from him?" "I do," the raven said, beginning to preen the other wing. Cologne waited a moment. "What is it?" she asked tiredly after the bird didn't take his cue to speak. Shiso told her. His next action was to give a surprised squawk when Cologne swung her staff to one side and began pacing the rooftop. He beat his wings and landed on the pipe again. "He brought her into this?" Cologne hissed. "What was that old fool thinking?" The bird opened his beak to speak, and then closed it again as Cologne continued. "Do you know what she did to my great-grandaughter? She made her into a virtual slave! The woman is..." She sighed and visibly got calm again. "He does this because it must be done. He knows the future even better than I do." "Are you done ranting yet?" the bird asked sardonically. Cologne took a half-hearted swipe of her staff at him which he skipped over in a flurry of wings. "Yes, I suppose I am," Cologne said finally. "What use is it to rail against this? What did Samofere always use to say again..." "Woodchips in the stream of time," the bird croaked, claws clinking against metal as he shifted his position on the pipe slightly, smoothing his ruffled feathers. Cologne nodded. "I..." She trailed off with a sigh. The bird looked at her, black eyes glittering. "You know what must be done," he said after a moment, and his voice was different this time, without the croaking accent a bird's tongue had lent him before, a strong voice with the age of mountains in it. "This must be done not because it is easy, or because we are cruel, or because we wish him harm. It must be done because it must be done." "But he is young," Cologne said. "He is young and foolish and arrogant and he does not know what duty means and..." "And your great-grandaughter loves him," the bird said pointedly. Cologne closed her eyes. "That is not important." The bird nodded slowly. "Through fire he comes and fire he brings, reforged anew for better things," it intoned. They were words she'd heard before. Cologne held up the tied scroll to the bird. "Take that to him. It tells him what I have determined." The raven allowed her to slip it into the grip of his claws. "I will do so." "Thank you," Cologne said. "I... have also said what I will need if I am to do what I must." The bird nodded, and took off without another word, just a quick, sharp inclination of his head in a nod of farewell. Black wings stroked the air, forced the great body through the sky, towards Tokyo Bay and then out across the Sea of Japan. Cologne watched him go as long as she could, old eyes straining to make out his dark shape against the black. When at last she could see Shiso no longer, she turned away and bowed her head. "Not because it is easy," she said. "Or because I am cruel, or because I wish him harm. I must do this because it must be done." She went back down inside to rest then, because she felt more old and tired than she had in a long, long time. And out over the ocean, already miles away, a dark shape winged his way across the ocean towards China and Phoenix Mountain, a black blur against the darkness of the sky.