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 Shogakukan 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 20 : Day Departing

     Soun Tendo was watching the sun rise.
     
     He stood in the backyard of his house, on the dew-damp grass
near the edge of the still pond, and watched it rising slowly
upon the ashen canvas of the sky.  The grey banks of the clouds 
cycled slowly through the colours of fire as the sun crept into 
the sky at a steady pace.  There was a sense of anticipation in 
the early times of the morning, in any city, and the greater the
city, the greater the sense.  In a city like Tokyo, of which 
Nerima was but a part, the dawning felt like the slow rousing of 
some great beast from slumber.

     His youngest daughter was leaving today, and his oldest
friend.  Perhaps that was what had given him this bout of
insomnia, though in truth, such a thing as sleeplessness had
never been an unfamiliar companion to him, not since the day his
wife had died.

     This was different, though.  The other nights that he could
not sleep were spent in his room, looking at the photo of himself
and his wife, the one from before his wedding day, before the
birth of his first daughter.  The other nights he could not sleep
were spent in the own privacy of his grief, and that grief was 
silent and for none to know but him.

     Less than a year ago, it had been only him and his three
daughters.  Then Genma had come, and brought Ranma with him, and
that had brought so much else, so much chaos, the return of he
and Genma's reviled master not even the greatest of the chaos.

     Now Ranma was gone, and before the sun rose over the city
again, one of his daughters, and his friend, and his master, 
would all be gone as well.  

     Nothing ever lasts, Soun realized, and the state of life is
loss.  What little we gain is gone soon, and we have taken from
us far more than what we are ever given.
     
     His glance fell to the spreading limbs of a cherry tree near
the wall, the blossoms shed in the spring, long gone before the
summer that was even now fading had come.  Beauty was 
transcendent, and death was eternal.

     After today, it would just be him and Nabiki and Kasumi.     
He loved all his daughters dearly, but Akane, Akane had always
been the one that he had felt was truly his, ever since she'd
been born.  Nabiki and Kasumi both took after their mother in
different ways, but Akane, Akane took after him.  The fact that
she was growing a little further apart from him each day pained
him so much that he could not possibly express it to her, even if
he had known how.

     He remembered her, a tiny child, in the gi her mother had
made specially for her, small hands clenched into fists, 
mimicking his motions beside him, their feet shuffling 
together almost in time across the polished wood of the dojo 
floor, and felt a twinge in his heart.

     So long ago.  Back when he'd still had the inclination to
practice the Art that had once been his great pride.  He wiped a
hand across his eyes; he really did not feel like crying right
now, but his emotions seemed to have other ideas, as they often
did.

     He could never understand any of his daughters, but he had
always come closest, he thought to Akane, because the two of them
were both so driven by the inclinations of their own heart, to
the extent that their emotions often overpowered them.  In his
daughter, it showed itself in her quick temper; in him, it was
the wild swings of mood from joy to sorrow.  

     Nabiki was driven by her reason, and the coupling of that
reason with her desires for wealth, and he had no idea what 
drove Kasumi, content as she seemed to keep house for him and not 
think at all of herself.  

     As his thoughts turned to his eldest daughter, an even more
troubled expression settled itself across Soun's face.  Now that
he considered it, Kasumi had changed greatly since Ranma had 
first come.  Before then, she did have a life outside the house,
an occasional visit to old friends from school, and, of course,
the more common visits to Doctor Tofu.  Somewhere along the way,
she had seemed to withdraw further and further into the keeping
of the house, away from the outside world.

     It bothered him that he had never noticed that, for his
focus had always been upon Ranma and Akane.  He had, he realized
now with regret, neglected his older daughters in favour of 
trying to advance the engagement of his youngest.  

     Turning his gaze away from the rising sun to the grass at
his feet, Soun softly sighed and began to walk back towards the
house.  As much as he was worried for his future son-in-law's
whereabouts, he was surprised to find his worry for his own
daughters was somehow almost as great.

**********

     Ukyou poured a circle of batter across the grill, and the
heady, familiar scent of sizzling okonomiyaki began to fill the
confines of the restaurant.  This wasn't for a customer; it was
hers, her breakfast for the morning.

     A quick twist of her wrist and the cooking okonomiyaki
was flipped over to be grilled on the other side.  Ukyou hummed
softly to herself as she worked, a soft tune like a lullaby, and
began to spread the sauce across the finished okonomiyaki with 
careful strokes.

     The toppings were laid across, and the okonomiyaki was
proffered onto a plate.  Ukyou settled down at the counter, 
utensils in hand, and inhaled the pleasant scent.  She never got
tired of eating okonomiyaki; breakfast, lunch and dinner, there
were simply so many ways to make it.

     The door banged open, so suddenly it made her jump.  
     
     "By god that smells good," Happosai said, swaggering into
the restaurant and sniffing the air.  He licked his lips.  "Care
to make me one?"

     "You think you can just barge in here whenever you want?"
Ukyou said, rising up out of her seat with her hands on her hips
and an annoyed expression on her face.

     "Who's going to stop me?" Happosai said musingly.  "That's
one advantage of being as good as I am, you know.  I can pretty
much do what I want."

     "There's noble reasoning," Ukyou muttered sarcastically.
     
     "Just as noble as ten years spent studying for revenge, I 
can only hope," Happosai quipped lightly.

     The annoyed expression on Ukyou's face grew to a full-blown
scowl.  "Shut up."

     "Ukyou, dear, must we bicker like this?" Happosai said,
leaning his arms on the counter and gazing up at her with an
adoring expression.  "I'm a lover, not a fighter, though because
of necessity, I have been forced to..."

     "Oh, you're a lover, eh?" Ukyou said, clasping her hands
behind her back and leaning forward slightly with a cute smile.

     "Well, in my youth, I was quite the young rake," Happosai 
said with utter seriousness.  "Why, I had women chasing after me
constantly."

     "Well, I've got something for you, 'lover'," Ukyou said,
putting a slight purr in her voice.  "Close your eyes."

     Happosai eagerly did.
     
     Ukyou studied him for a moment.  There was an improvement in
his appearance, that was for certain.  But he was still short,
plain, and, even at the physical age of about twenty, slightly
balding.  He licked his lips slightly.  Ukyou's face blanched in 
distaste.  Then she drew her giant spatula from her back in one 
swift motion and hit him over the head with it.  Happosai 
crumpled to the ground, groaning and clutching his head.

     "Now, I am not in any kind of mood for this," Ukyou said
coldly, hopping the counter and standing over him, battle 
spatula clasped threateningly in her hands.  "So tell me what 
the hell you want and then get out, okay?"

     "Owwww..." Happosai said, looking up at her with a wounded
expression.  "What was that for?"

     "General principle," Ukyou said.  "I'm sure you did or
thought something to deserve it at one time or another.  What do
you want, Happosai?"

     Standing up without any trouble, Happosai half-leaned 
against the counter and shrugged his shoulders.  "I wanted to
talk to you about your friend."

     Ukyou deflated slightly, the weapon in her grip lowering.
"What about him?"

     "Are you still going to look for him?" Happosai said.
     
     Ukyou nodded.  "Of course."
     
     Happosai sighed.  "Ukyou..." he said, seeming at a loss for
words.  "I wish that..."

     "That what?" Ukyou snapped.  "That I'd just leave him when I
know he's in trouble?"

     "No," Happosai said, shaking his head.  "You, you couldn't
do that.  It's not in your nature."  He looked around, seeming 
unsure of what to say.  "We're leaving tonight for China."

     Ukyou let out a soft breath, resting the head of her spatula
on the floor and leaning on it with her hands wrapped around the
handle.  "Yeah.  I should stop by and see Akane.  I haven't
booked a flight yet, but I'll probably do that tonight, head out
tomorrow morning sometime."

     "Let me give you this before you go," Happosai said.  "It
will help you if you are in need."     
     
     Ukyou slowly nodded, feeling a strangeness settling over 
her, like the charge of the air before a storm.  "What?"

     Happosai reached inside his tunic and pulled out a thin,
long shape, carefully handing it to her by gripping the far end.
It was a stick of bamboo, not even as wide as Ukyou's smallest
finger, perhaps as long as her outstretched hand.  The surface of 
the wood was polished until it shone, and every inch was covered 
in complex Chinese characters that looped and faded into each 
other.

     "Now this," he said, "This is important.  If you are in
need, take it in both hands and snap it.  It will break in no
other way.  Do that, and I will know you need help."  He sighed.  
"I have a bad feeling about this, dear Ukyou.  Please be careful."

     His eyes misted slightly.  "If the world were deprived of a
beauty like yours before it had a chance to reach its fullest
blooming, why, who could calculate the tragedy?"

     Ukyou slapped his hand away as it strayed out towards her 
chest and stepped back.  "Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Thanks, I 
guess."

     "You know how you could really thank me?" Happosai inquired.
     
     "I could refrain from pounding the hell out of you," Ukyou
said, raising up her spatula again.

     Happosai sighed and turned to walk towards the door.  "I
suppose that will have to do, won't it?"

     "It will," Ukyou said shortly.  "Goodbye, Happosai."
     
     She saw his shoulders slump slightly as his hand reached for
the door, and a sigh escaped him, sounding very tired.

     "Hey Happosai," she said, causing him to turn as he began to
slide the door open and prepare to leave.

     "Hmm?" he said, looking back.
     
     "Thanks," she said sincerely.  "I really mean it."
     
     He smiled, looking almost happy for a moment, and nodded.
"Be careful, child.  The way is hard, and not without its pain."     
     
     Then he was gone, before she had time to even think of the
cryptical words.  Ukyou shook her head, long hair waving with the
motion, and left her cooling breakfast forgotten on the counter
as she walked up the creaking wooden stairs to her room.  Once
she got there, she walked to the small wooden dresser in one
corner and opened the top drawer.  

     She placed the stick of carved bamboo between the box and
the ring, all three of them atop the water-marred note Konatsu 
had left, black ink blended with red lipstick into a whirlpool of
dark crimson near the bottom.

     She looked at the three objects, box, ring and rod, and
sighed gently before closing the drawer and going back 
downstairs to eat cold okonomiyaki and think.

     Once again, these things had been worked by threes.
     
**********     

     Nodoka finished filling the kettle at the sink, and stared
down at the wavering reflection of her face in the polished metal 
of the basin.  

     Absently tucking a strand of hair pulled loose from her bun
behind one ear, she made her way over to the stove and turned on
a low flame, then put the kettle on to boil.  She sat down at the
kitchen table, smoothing out the folds of her kimono as she did;
it was light grey silk patterned with blue flowers, cool and
comfortable.  The weather report on the radio today had called 
for a hot day, with rain later on, and she could already feel the
heat rising.  

     She picked up the small book from the table, the delicate
rice paper pages thin and aged.  With slightly shaky hands, she
opened to the flyleaf, looked at the calligraphy there.  It was
not the most elegant in the world, but it looked as if it had
taken a great amount of time.  She knew it had; his writing was 
always poor, but he'd taken great care with this.  Even with the 
faded ink, she could see that.

     *The cold grey ocean*
     *If I lose your love, my love,*
     *I shall be like that:*
     *In lonely freedom lapping*
     *The shores of your memory*
     
     And there, below the poem, the signature.
     
     *All my love,*
     *-Genma.*
     
     
     She tried to remember how long ago he'd given the slim
volume of poetry to her.  Twenty years ago, it must have been.

     She realized, with a kind of dull disappointment in herself,
that she was crying again.  It didn't seem fair, that something
so simple as an old gift, given back before they even got 
married, was able to do this to her.  Over the past few days, she
had found tears in her eyes at moments she could neither predict
nor expect.  A glance at a tree in the backyard would bring back
memories of Genma pruning the trees at the old house, as she
watched from the porch, the tiny form of their infant son in her
arms.
     
     Sniffling slightly, she took a tissue from the box near the
edge of the table and wiped at her eyes.  She hadn't even heard
from Genma, or anyone else, since she'd left.  Perhaps her
departure had been to abrupt; perhaps she'd given the impression
to the Tendos that she didn't want to see them any more.

     She swallowed the lump in her throat, and thought of what a
pleasure it would be to work with Kasumi in the kitchen, or try
and show Akane how to cook.  She wondered if moving out of the
house had been a good idea; she had been hoping it would force
Genma to realize the seriousness of the situation, but now it
seemed as if she'd somehow rejected everyone.  

     There came a knocking at the door then, startling her.
Giving a last dab to her rapidly reddening eyes, Nodoka stood up
and walked slowly down the hallway, taking deep breaths to steady
herself.  

     She opened the door, trying to put a smile on her face.
That effort collapsed upon itself when she saw it was Genma.
     
     "Hello, Nodoka," he said nervously, adjusting the wire arms
of his glasses.  

     "Oh, it's you," Nodoka said.
     
     Genma peered at her, a slight hint of confusion on his face.
"Were you expecting someone else?"

     "Of course not," Nodoka said quickly.  
     
     They stood there, Genma on the doorstep, Nodoka beyond the
threshold of the door, and looked at each other for a few long,
uncomfortable seconds.  Morning sunlight glinted off the lenses 
of Genma's glasses and hid his eyes.

     "I'm making some tea," Nodoka said finally, realizing they
could not stand like this forever.  "Would you like some?"

     Genma nodded.  "Yes, I guess I would."
     
     Nodoka took a step back from the door, and let him walk
inside.  The two of them made their way in silence down the
hallway to the kitchen, Genma glancing around from side to side
with a studying expression on his face as they walked.

     "It's a nice house," he said as they entered the kitchen.
     
     "It is, isn't it?" Nodoka said, going to the stove and
checking on the kettle.

     Genma settled himself down into a chair at the wooden 
kitchen table.  "Big, too."

     "Yes," Nodoka said, turning back from the stove to look at
him.

     He was holding the poetry book he'd given her two decades
ago in one hand, open to the flyleaf.  She knew, without any
doubt, that he was reading what he'd written long ago.

     As he closed the book and looked at her, she saw, in his
face, a flash of regret, a momentary glimpse of what she hoped
was his yearning for things to be as they had been when he'd
given her the book.

     Finally, he stood up, putting the book back down on the
table and letting out a long, heavy sigh.  "Nodoka..."

     "What?" Nodoka said, a little too sharply.
     
     "I'm leaving tonight," Genma blurted.  "For China.  With the
master, and Akane and Ryoga and Shampoo.  We're going to look for
Ranma; the master believes he may be around Jusenkyou."

     "What?" Nodoka said again, this time with shock.  "Why 
didn't anyone tell me about this earlier?"

     "The last few days have been hectic," Genma said wearily.  
"And I was not exactly sure how badly you wanted to hear from me,
Nodoka."

     "You could have had Soun or Akane tell me," Nodoka said.
"Why must you always keep things from me?"

     "I kept nothing from you," Genma said quietly.  "Perhaps
they simply thought that you had no desire to hear from them
either, considering your abrupt departure."

     Nodoka felt a stab at her heart, at how close the words had
come to echoing her own thoughts from earlier.  "You should have
told me earlier."

     Genma gave her a look that seemed almost hurt, and then took
a deep breath.  "Nodoka, have you any idea how difficult it was
for me to come here?  Have you any idea at all?"

     "No, Genma," Nodoka said.  "I'm not sure why a man should 
have difficulty seeing his wife."

     "The promise-"
     
     "The promise means nothing.  It is over.  I have accepted
Ranma's... our son's..."

     Her voice trembled slightly at the mention of her vanished
child, but she pressed on.  "I have accepted Ranma, and all that
he is.  And I would do anything to have him with me now, so don't
you dare throw that promise in my face, Genma, because it was
your fault to begin with."

     Genma's face went hard.  "You and I both know I had to take
him, Nodoka.  He would not have become as great as he is without
it."

     "No, I suppose he would not have," Nodoka said softly.
     
     "You would have made him weak," Genma said, sounding as if
he were talking to himself almost as much as to her.

     "I would have loved him," Nodoka said.
     
     Genma nodded.  "Yes."
     
     "I hardly had a chance to love him," Nodoka whispered.
"Hardly a chance to hold him in my arms, to know him, and then
you took him from me.  And then when I finally found him again,
he was taken.  I never had a chance to love him."

     "Nodoka," Genma said.  "I'm going to find him..."
     
     "And what if there's nothing to find?" Nodoka snapped, 
grief rising with the words, the doubt long-hidden finally
climbing shrieking and triumphant from the dark places of her
heart.  "What if he's already dead?"

     "Don't say that!" Genma said fiercely, grabbing her by the
shoulders as if he might shake her.  "Don't even think that.  We
have to hope, Nodoka.  We have to hope."

     His voice was barely audible.  "We have to hope..."
     
     His hands dropped from her shoulders and he seemed to
crumple inwards upon himself, his face a mask; but a mask upon
the verge of cracking.

     "Oh my son," he whispered.  "What have I done to you?"
     
     He took off his glasses and pulled a hand fiercely across
his eyes.  "I'm sorry, Nodoka.  I have to go."

     Nodoka felt an aching in her heart, as she realized that
what she had thought was indifference on her husband's part to
their son's fate was only a hiding of his grief, a guilt that he
could not bury.

     "No," she said softly, reaching out and taking his glasses
from his limp fingers, putting them on the kitchen table.  "Don't
say you have to go.  Not yet."

     "What?" Genma said in a half-choked voice, looking up at 
her.  

     Behind them, the kettle began to whistle piercingly on the
stove.  Nodoka reached back and turned off the flame, and the
noise rolled away, like the tide receding from the shores.

     "Stay with me," she whispered, reaching out to trace the
hard lines of his rough face, the contours she had known in
youth changed by age, yet still familiar.  

     She reached a hand back, unbound her hair, let it flow down
past her shoulders.  "Just for a little while."

     Genma looked at her in disbelief.  Finally, he spoke.
     
     "I will," he said, his voice thick with emotion.  "But only
if it is what you wish."

     "It is," Nodoka said, as his hand came up to hesitantly cup
her cheek.  A tear rolled down her cheek and across his fingers, 
a diamond in the light.  "Right now, it is."

     As he moved closer to take her into his arms, the tear fell
from where it hung upon his hand, light twisting through it in
the colours of the rainbow, and it broke upon the floor at their
feet, a singular perfection as fleeting as time, and brief as one
single moment in all time's span.

**********

     Ryoga glanced nervously up at the sky, then shifted on his
feet slightly into another stance and lashed out with a kick.  It
looked like there would be rain later.  He moved forward, into 
the momentum of the kick, and made two quick thrusts with his 
hands.  Overhead, the thin branches of a tree wavered slightly in 
the breeze, the same breeze that stirred the grass at his feet
into motion and dotted the pond with small rises of water.  

     Another step, a sweeping blow of his foot that stopped
inches short of splitting the trunk of a tree, a knife-edged chop
that paused a hair from chopping it down.  He had been trying,
trying very hard in these last few days, to increase his control.
Before, he had so often let his temper have free reign, let the 
heat of rage drive him.  That had been before he'd come so close
to killing Ranma, with the clear blue sky overhead and the scent
of grass in the air.

     Ranma hadn't been supposed to stop like that.  Before, he
would have always dodged, perhaps not all of Ryoga's blows, but
certainly a killing blow like that one.  Ranma had changed, 
though.  In the brief period between their return from China and 
his disappearance, his friend had gone through a strange 
transition that Ryoga had barely even noticed until they'd gone 
up the mountain after Cologne.

     Ryoga paused in his motions and wiped a hand through his
bangs, tucking a few of them back beneath the sweat-soaked cloth
of his bandanna.  Breakfast had been an hour ago, and he'd been
practicing ever since then.  No one, not even Akane, had
interrupted him; he was glad of that.  Solitude had always been,
depending on his mood, both his greatest pleasure and his
greatest pain.

     They were leaving tonight.  Happosai had arranged it all,
for reasons that Ryoga still did not fully understand.  What
little contact he'd had with the rejuvenated master since they'd
returned had left him with the vague impression that Happosai was
nervous, maybe even scared.  His joking manner at meals, the few 
times he had shown up for them, seemed almost forced.

     Troubled, Ryoga resumed his practicing.  He was nervous of
what lay ahead for all of them.  It was more than a worry for
himself and his comrades, though.  He wondered at times if they
would find the answers they needed in the Joketsuzoku village to
find Ranma, and, even if they did, if it would be in time.

     "I really hope you're all right, Ranma," he said softly as 
he went through the slow, powerful movements of the kata.  As he 
had been for the last few days, he was surprised at the sincerity 
of what he said, and how deep that feeling went in him.  

     He stopped suddenly, not sure why he did, and glanced down
at his feet.  Lost in his thoughts, he'd almost stepped into the
pond.  Shaking his head, he backed away and looked up again at
the sky.  It had looked like rain yesterday as well, but the
clouds had not given forth their essence, only gathered tighter 
and thicker throughout the night, until it seemed a solid wall of 
grey lay across the sky.  

     "Hello there, boy."
     
     Ryoga turned and nodded in greeting.  "Hello, Mr. Tendo."
     
     Soun sat down on one of the large, flat rocks that bordered
the pond.  "Got a minute to talk?"

     "Sure," Ryoga said, somewhat confused as he sat down, 
crossing his legs and looking at Soun questioningly.

     "You're leaving tonight," Soun said.  "I..."
     
     He sighed and stroked a hand across his thick moustache.  
"I need to ask some things of you before you go, Ryoga."

     "Go ahead," Ryoga said, shifting nervously.  
     
     "I see no point in mincing words," Soun said, looking nearly
as uncomfortable as Ryoga was beginning to feel.  "Given the
changes recently, what are your intentions towards my daughter?"

     Ryoga blinked, and began to stammer.  "Akane?  I don't know,
what do you... exactly what are you... what does that mean?"

     "Remember when you first showed up here and Akane was trying
to train for that gymnastics tournament?" Soun said.

     "Yeah," Ryoga said, glancing down intently at the grass
around his feet.

     "Remember when you walked into the bathroom to change back
while I was in the bath?" Soun said, looking straight into 
Ryoga's eyes.

     Ryoga gulped and nodded.  "Yeah.  Do you mean you've known
all this time... about..."

     "Yes," Soun said.  "I know about P-chan."
     
     "Oh god," Ryoga said, closing his eyes.  "Mr. Tendo, you
have to believe me, I never intended for it to..."

     "Ryoga."
     
     "...I always turned my back when she was changing, I always,
I didn't want to..."

     "Ryoga."
     
     Ryoga paused, opening his eyes and looking up at Soun.  
     
     "It's alright," the older man said gently.  "I... will admit
I was angry at first.  But for once, I spent some time thinking
about it.  You were an honourable young man, and I knew you would
never do anything to hurt my daughter."

     He chuckled, a sighing in the sound.  "Besides, I thought it
would do Ranma good to have a rival around for her.  Make him 
work a little harder."

     Ryoga realized he was flushing to the tips of his ears.
Humiliation was busily coursing a path through his body.

     "Was it that obvious?" he whispered softly.
     
     "Not to Akane," Soun said.  "But... I know what it is like
to be so in love with someone that you can't even speak to them
properly.  I know the signs, believe me."

     He settled himself into a slightly more relaxed position on
the rock.  "What I want to say, Ryoga, is that my daughter needs
a friend right now much more than she needs a lover."

     "I know that," Ryoga said softly.  "Akane... I..."
     
     Strange, how much pain he felt at this, despite having
realized it long ago.  Perhaps it was only now, that in admitting
it to someone else, he truly managed to admit it to himself.  "I
don't think Akane will ever think of me as anything more than a
friend."

     With a long, low exhalation of breath, he closed his eyes.
"And I have someone else now.  Someone who really does love me."

     "And how do you feel about her?" Soun asked.
     
     "I guess I love her too," Ryoga said.  "A lot."
     
     Soun's face broke into a smile, and he leaned forward from
his seat to lay a hand on the young man's shoulder.  "Then you
have the finest thing in the world, boy."

     "Thanks, Mr. Tendo," Ryoga said, knowing that Akane's father 
was right.  There was nothing better than that, to love, to know
that you are loved in return.

     "I have another thing to ask you, now," Soun said.
     
     Ryoga nodded.
     
     "Will you watch over my daughter when you go to China?" 
Soun asked.

     "You don't even need to ask," Ryoga responded, silently
remembering that long earlier, he had already promised that to
Ranma. 

     "I'm glad to hear that," Soun said.  "Because it is going to
be dangerous for her.  Akane can be reckless.  Please..."

     He drew a long breath, and gulped, his voice trembling
slightly.  "Please keep her safe, because I won't be there to do
it."

     "I will lay down my life for her, if I have to," Ryoga said
softly.  "If my suffering shall spare her harm, than no suffering
shall be too great."

     "Thank you," Soun said, rising to his feet and offering
Ryoga his hand.  Ryoga took it, and the older man helped him to
his feet, then clasped his other hand over Ryoga's and slowly
shook it, his face grave.  "I hope with all my heart that it
shall not come to that, though."

     "Believe me," Ryoga said.  "I do as well."
     
     They laughed, but it was nervous laughter, and with little
humour.  Soun released Ryoga's hand and looked up at the clouds.

     "Looks like it's going to rain soon," he observed.
     
     "It always does, in the end," Ryoga said, glancing up at the
roiling greyness of the sky, with the sun breaking through in
patches to cast its light across the earth.  "It always does."

**********

     Ukyou stepped beneath the peaked roof of the gate and looked
around at the Tendo yard.  Her eye caught upon the familiar 
figure by the pond and she turned off the stone path leading to
the door and began to walk towards him.

     "Hey Ryoga," she called, raising a hand in greeting as she
approached.  

     Ryoga turned and looked at her.  "Hi," he said flatly.
     
     "Boy, you sound glad to see me," Ukyou said, coming up 
closer to him.  "Absolutely delighted, obviously."

     Ryoga half-frowned and glanced at his feet.  "Sorry, Ukyou.
It is good to see you.  How you doing?"

     "Okay, I guess," Ukyou said, deciding to keep quiet about
her own situation for the time being.  "How about you?"

     "The usual," Ryoga said.  "A little worried, a little
pessimistic.  You know, typical me."     
     
     "Something happen?" Ukyou said, tilting her head 
questioningly to one side.

     "Had a long talk with Mr. Tendo about half an hour ago," he
said.  "Made me think a lot more than I wanted to."

     "Sounds rough," Ukyou clucked, sitting down and taking her
big spatula off her shoulder to lay it across her knees.  She
scooted back and placed her back against a rock.  "What else is
up?"

     Ryoga settled down next to her, resting against another rock
and stretching his legs out.  "We're going to China tonight."

     "I know," Ukyou said.  "Happosai told me."
     
     "He's into everything, isn't he?" Ryoga muttered under his
breath.  

     "Well, no one else even tried to talk to me," Ukyou said
sharply.

     Ryoga glanced over at her, his eyes half-hidden by his dark
bangs.  "You didn't really seem in a very good mood when we came
back, particularly about matters concerning Ranma."

     Ukyou winced inwardly, remembering what had happened at the
field of Furinkan, when she'd made one last, desperate attempt to
find out Ranma's true feelings, and had ended up driving Ryoga 
into a vicious fight with Ranma.

     The kiss had been impulsive, but it had at least finally
made him tell her what she'd begun to suspect, which was that he
didn't love her.  At first there had been rage, and that had
faded in time to a vague, hollow sadness within her.

     But she didn't want to think about this.  She wanted to move
beyond this.  She would survive; she was tough.

     "I'd really rather not talk about Ranma right now," she said     
through the lump that was threatening to grow in her throat.  

     "Sorry," Ryoga said.  "Ukyou... did Happosai ask if you
wanted to come with us?"

     "I have other things to do," Ukyou said.
     
     "More important than helping him?" Ryoga said, sounding
almost angry.  "Even if he did reject you, he's still your
friend, isn't he?"

     Ukyou reached over and grabbed him by the collar, pulling
his face close to hers as she leaned towards him.

     "Listen up, sugar," she said sweetly.  "I said I didn't want
to talk about Ranma, didn't I?  And believe it or not, what I
have to do is more important to me than finding him."

     "Oh?" Ryoga said, pulling back and breaking her grip easily.
"And that would be?"

     Ukyou sighed, and told him about Konatsu.
     
     "Oh," Ryoga said again after she was done.  "I... I'm sorry, 
Ukyou.  I should have let you explain."

     "You don't think I don't want to go with you guys?" Ukyou
said.  "But I can't.  You're all going to look for Ranma.  I'm
the only one who's gonna look for Konatsu."

     "I understand," Ryoga said, having the grace to look
embarrassed.  "Please accept my apology."

     "Accepted," Ukyou said, touching him lightly on the shoulder
and smiling.  "Where's Akane, anyway?"

     "I'm not sure," Ryoga said.  "Inside the house, I guess."
     
     "Guess I'll go have a chat with her, then," she said, 
standing up.  "See ya, Ryoga."

     "See ya," Ryoga responded, still sitting.  He tilted his
head back and looked at the sky, as Ukyou walked back towards the
door of the house.

     On the doorstep, she paused for a moment, uncertainty rising
in her.  She did not know quite what she was going to say to
Akane.

     Then, pushing back her doubt and taking a deep breath, she
opened the door and stepped inside.     

**********

     "Come in," Akane called at the knock on her door, while she
struggled in an attempt to pack another pair of pants into her
suitcase.  

     Kasumi opened the door and poked her head in.  "Akane,
Ukyou's here.  She'd like to talk to you."

     "Sure," Akane said, surprised.  "Send her in."
     
     Kasumi's head retreated, and, a moment later, Ukyou stepped
in and closed the door behind her, carefully making sure her
spatula didn't get caught as she did.  

     "Hi, Akane," she said, smiling with a slightly weary look on
her face.

     "Hi, Ukyou," Akane said.  "Haven't seen you for a while."
     
     "No," Ukyou said, "I guess you haven't."

     "You want to put that down somewhere?" Akane asked, 
indicating the spatula slung across Ukyou's back.  

     "Sure," Ukyou said.  "It is kinda heavy to carry."
     
     She propped it up in the corner, as Akane moved away from
her packing and sat down at her desk chair.  "Are you doing okay,
Akane?"

     Akane nodded.  "As well as could be expected, I suppose."
     
     "I heard you were going away tonight," Ukyou said, taking a
seat on the bed next to Akane's suitcase.  "Thought I'd drop in
and say goodbye."
     
     "That's nice of you," Akane said, looking intently at her
desktop.

     There was a moment of slightly uncomfortable silence.
     
     "Akane..." Ukyou said finally, nervously tangling her 
fingers in front of her.  "I guess I really wanted to talk to you
about Ranma."

     "Oh," Akane said, a sinking feeling growing in her.  "What
about him?"

     "What's the point in dancing around it, Akane?" Ukyou said.
"We both know what I want to know.  I have to know."

     "What?" Akane said sharply.  "Ukyou, I'm busy, so..."
     
     "Do you love him?" 
     
     And the world seemed to slow down at the question.
     
     Akane raised a hand and brushed a hand through her short
hair, taking a deep breath.  She weighed the question slowly in
her mind, the scales dipping from side to side with each second 
of her thoughts.

     "Yes," she said finally, closing her eyes against the rising
tide of emotions the admission brought.  "I do.  I love him."

     Then she put her hands into her face and wept.
     
     "Hey, hey," she heard Ukyou say, heard the creak of the 
bedsprings as she rose.  "Hey, it's okay, Akane."

     An arm went around her shoulders, and she looked up,
sniffling, to see Ukyou's concerned face.  

     "Here," she said, handing Akane a tissue from the box on the
edge of her desk.  "It's okay.  Cry if you want to.  It helps."

     Akane nodded in silence and wiped at her eyes.  
     
     "I'm glad," Ukyou said softly.
     
     "Glad?" Akane asked.
     
     "I'm glad you love him," Ukyou said.  "I don't think I could
stand it if you didn't."

     "What?" Akane said, crumpling the tissue and tossing it 
away.  "What does that mean?"

     "I couldn't stand it if he loved you and you didn't love him
back," Ukyou said.

     "Who says he loves me?" Akane said.  "If he loved me, why
didn't he ever-"

     "Why didn't you ever tell him?" Ukyou asked, interrupting.
     
     Again, Akane weighed the question.  
     
     "Because I wasn't sure if he loved me back," she said
softly.  "And if I told him, and he didn't love me, what would I
do then?"

     Ukyou closed her eyes and sighed softly.  "You'd just have
to go on."

     "You really think he loves me?" Akane said.  She wanted,
wanted so badly, to believe that he did, but despite all that had
happened between them in the short time after the failed wedding
and before his disappearance, she still had some doubts.  
     
     "Yeah," Ukyou said, handing Akane another tissue and giving
her a squeeze with the arm around her shoulders.  "I think he
does."

     "Oh," Akane said in small voice.  "That..."
     
     She drew a shuddering breath.  "Thank you."
     
     "No problem," Ukyou said.
     
     "I only hope..."
     
     Akane trailed off, wiping at her eyes, unable to speak, her
words choked off by the wealth of emotions warring inside her.

     "You only hope what?" Ukyou asked.
     
     "I only hope I'll be able to tell him," Akane said, dabbing
at her tears with the tissue.     
     
     "You will," Ukyou said.  "You'll find Ranma, Akane.  I know
you will."

     "Thank you," Akane said again.  "It's good to hear that."
     
     "You okay now?" Ukyou said.
     
     Akane nodded and gave another sniffle.  Ukyou took her arm
away and straightened up.  "Good."     
     
     "I'm glad you came, Ukyou," Akane said.  "Ryoga's been
wonderful, but..."

     "I know," Ukyou said.  "Some things, you need another girl
for."

     Akane laughed and crumpled the tissue, then threw it across
the room into her wastebasket.  "I guess you do."

     "I oughta go, then," Ukyou said.  "Let you get back to
packing."

     She started towards the corner where she'd leaned her
spatula; Akane got up out of the chair and walked towards her.
"Wait, Ukyou."

     "Hmm?" Ukyou said, turning back.
     
     "You're a good friend," Akane said, reaching out and
spontaneously embracing the other girl.  "Thank you so much."

     Ukyou stiffened for a moment, then almost hesitantly 
returned the hug.  

     "You too, Akane," she said, her head nestled against 
Akane's shoulder. 

     They let each other go, and Ukyou grabbed up her spatula and
went quickly to the door.  As she pulled it open, she glanced
back at Akane.  "Good luck, Akane.  I'm sure I'll see you again
soon."

     "I'm sure too," Akane said, feeling happier than she had in
a long time.  "Bye, Ukyou."

     Ukyou stepped out the door, and was gone.  Akane wiped once
more at her eyes with her hand, then went back to struggling with
her luggage.

**********

     Ryoga was reaching for the door into the Tendo house when 
Ukyou opened it.  He pulled his hand back in time to stop from
grabbing her instead of the handle, and stepped back to let her
go by him.  

     "Did you talk to Akane?" he asked as she came down off the
step.

     She nodded.  "Yeah.  We had a heart to heart."
     
     "Good," Ryoga said.  "Do you... do you think she's okay?"
     
     Ukyou smiled.  "I think she will be.  Akane's tough."
     
     Relief showed on Ryoga's face.  "Good.  I've been kind of
worried about how she was really feeling."

     Ukyou put a hand on his shoulder.  "She talked about you,
you know."

     "She did?" Ryoga said.
     
     "Yeah," she replied.  "She said you'd been wonderful.  Good
job, kid.  You did something right for once."

     "Thank you so much," Ryoga muttered grudgingly.  
     
     "You take care of Akane, now," Ukyou said, patting him 
almost condescendingly on the cheek.       

     "Believe me, I will," Ryoga said, resisting the urge to roll
his eyes.       

     "Good man," Ukyou said, taking her hand from his face and
abruptly leaning up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.  "I 
may not see you for a while, Ryoga, so you be careful, okay?  
Don't get so caught up in protecting Akane that you forget to
look out for yourself."

     She started to walk away, then glanced back.  "Because if
you do, I'll have to pound some sense into your thick head next 
time I see you, you understand?"

     Ryoga laughed and shook his head as he turned away.  "Don't
worry about me, Ukyou.  I'm tough too.  Take care."

     "Bye," Ukyou said, standing at the edge of the shadow cast
by the gate's roof.  She stepped out, form obscured for a moment 
by the shade of the tiled roof, and then she was out into the
streets and gone.

     Ryoga looked up one final time at sky, and stepped inside 
the house, wondering when at last the rain would come.     

**********     

     Shampoo hefted a suitcase in each hand and glanced around
the dining room of the Nekohanten.  Outside, a cab idled, trunk
and back seat filled with boxes of clothing and Joketsuzoku
treasures.  Let the new owners deal with the furniture and 
whatever else she had left behind; she did not care.

     Her great-grandmother was gone.  Ranma was gone.  Mousse was 
gone.  The brief, stupid relationship she had nearly begun was 
over.       

     She was alone, and it was probably best that way.  She had
always been taught that one chose a man not out of love, but 
because he could produce strong children, to keep the bloodline
powerful.  

     She was a warrior of the Joketsuzoku, and she did not need
anyone anymore.  It was time she grew up anyway; she had been a
child for so long, concerned only with her wants.  The events of
recent times, however, had finally forced her to stop being a
child.

     Outside, evening was drawing fast, and she to meet those who
would be accompanying her on the journey to China at the airport
in a little over an hour.  They thought they could find Ranma
there somehow; perhaps they could.  Shampoo could not really find
it in herself to feel one way or another.  If they found Ranma,
then they found Ranma.  If they didn't, then they didn't.

     Drawing a long, shuddering breath and forcing the traces of
the hurting of her heart deep down inside herself, she nudged 
open the door with her leg.

     The streets were still filled with people, as the sky grew
dark above their heads, as the clouds gathered thick and heavy, 
so dark a grey that they were almost invisible against the
encroaching black of the sky.

     She was going home, finally.  Home to face the consequences
of her failure, the consequences Cologne's actions would have
upon herself and her family.  She did not look forward to dealing
with the Council.

     But she looked forward greatly to going home.
     
     "Home," she said softly, and she took the last step out the
door of the Nekohanten that she would ever take.     

**********

     Akane made her way down the corridor of the plane, with the
others walking behind her.  She counted off the seat numbers 
silently as she went, looking for the row on her ticket.  

     A sudden impact from the side sent her stumbling, and she
would have fallen had not someone caught her arms in a powerful
grip.

     "My deepest apologies," the tall, massively-built westerner
with short blond hair said as he moved aside.  

     "It's okay," Akane said, as he took his hands off her.  "No
harm done."

     His pale blue eyes caught hers for a moment, and then he
slid into his seat without another word as Akane walked past, 
brushing her slightly-wrinkled skirt into place with her hands. 

     Reaching her row, she stepped past the aisle and middle
seat, and took her place by the window.  Moments later, Ryoga
took the middle seat beside her.

     "What happened back there?" he asked quietly.
     
     "Just a little collision," Akane said.
     
     He frowned.  "Someone that big ought to be a little more
careful.  He could have hurt you."

     "I'm not made of glass, Ryoga," Akane chided, glancing out
the window, back towards the buildings of the airport, the tall
windows and long shapes.  Behind those windows, she knew that 
her father and sisters were watching the plane.  

     "Whatever you made of, it certainly not glass," Shampoo 
said, as she took the aisle seat in the row.  It was the most
words the girl had spoken at once since they'd met her at the
airport, so Akane let them go by without a retort.

     "Best try to sleep if you can," Happosai said from the row
behind them.  "It's going to be a long flight.  Genma, gripping
the seat arms like is only going to hurt your fingers."

     "Yes, master," Genma said in a tight voice from the seat
behind Ryoga.  "But it makes me feel much better about this whole
idea of flying in something that weighs many tons and is kept in 
the air by a process which I do not fully understand."

     Akane leaned her elbow on the arm of the seat near the
window and peered off across the tarmac of the airport, at the
other planes, at the control tower, at the building.  She gave a
sigh, and pressed her fingers to the cool glass of the window.

     "Bye," she whispered softly.  "Bye daddy.  Bye Kasumi.  Bye
Nabiki.  Bye, home."     
     
     "You okay, Akane?" Ryoga said.  
     
     She turned her head back and nodded.
     
     There was a crackle, and a voice came on from the speaker in
the ceiling.  

     *The plane will be taking off soon.  Please fasten seatbelts
and make sure your trays are upright and in the locked position.*

     The sound of metal snapping into metal began throughout the
plane, as people strapped themselves in.  As the soft hum of the
engines began a few minutes later, there came an answering roll
of thunder, and rain began to spot the tarmac, gently at first,
but with quickly increasing strength, as the plane began to roll
along the runway, as the landing lights that marked the path
began to blur into singular lines of illumination, blazing arrows
in the night.

     Thunder rolled again, and Akane watched as the perspective 
of the ground tilted, and her stomach jumped slightly as the 
plane began to rise into the air.  The rain streaked the 
windowpane, and she could dimly hear the sound of it thudding
against the metal shell of the plane.  

     "It finally came," Ryoga said softly from beside her.  "It
always does."

     Akane watched out the window for a long time, as the lights
of the airport retreated, and other lights swelled to fill the
ground below, all the lights of Tokyo, separate at first, but
gradually, as they rose higher, the lights began to merge, to
come together, into one entirety.

     For a third time, there was the thunder, and the singularity
of the light on the ground below grew even greater, as the plane
climbed into the sky.

     Then, when it seemed the light below might finally become
too bright to look at anymore, they pierced the clouds, and there
was only the darkness again.

     Akane settled her head back against the seat, closed her
eyes, and listened to the soft hum of the engines, letting them
slowly lull her to sleep, the gentle mechanical sound like the
voices of many people speaking quietly together.

**********

     Kasumi waved to the plane that Akane and the others were on
as she watched it take off into the sky through the 
rain-spattered windows of the airport lounge.

     "Bye-bye, Akane," she said brightly.  "Bye-bye Mr. Saotome, 
bye-bye master Happosai, bye-bye Ryoga, bye-bye Shampoo."

     "You do realize they can't hear you, don't you?" Nabiki said
from beside her.

     "I know that," Kasumi said, continuing to wave.  "But it's a
nice thing to do anyway."

     Nabiki snorted and turned away.  "Can we go home now?"
     
     "Just a moment longer," Soun said.  "I can still see the
plane."

     Nabiki rolled her eyes and blew a breath of air upwards that
fluttered her bangs slightly.  "Fine."

     "Nabiki," Kasumi chided gently.  "Don't you want to say
goodbye to Akane and everyone else?"

     "I already said goodbye," Nabiki pointed out.  "While they
were here.  Let's go home, daddy."

     "No need to fight, girls," Soun said softly, turning from
the window.  "We can go now if you want."

     Nabiki glanced at Kasumi.  "Is that okay, sis?"
     
     "Why, certainly," Kasumi said.  "Whatever you want, Nabiki."
     
     "I want to go home," Nabiki said, turning and starting to 
walk.
     
     All the way home, she sat in the back seat of the cab and
watched the rain falling on the streets, answering any
conversation attempts from her father and sister with 
monosyllables or silence.  

     When the cab pulled to a stop outside the house, Nabiki
waited as her father and sister got out and stood in the heavy
fall of rain.

     "I don't suppose either of you brought an umbrella?" she
said to them through the open door as she got out her wallet and
paid the cabbie.  It wasn't like her father had enough money to 
do it.

     "It's not that far to the door, Nabiki," Kasumi said.
     
     Nabiki sighed and stepped out into the rain, closing the
door behind her.  The cab pulled away into the deserted streets,
as the rain ran through the gutters and carried leaves and debris
with it.  

     Walking quickly and outdistancing her father and sister,
Nabiki reached the gate well before them, and was about to step
through when, from around the other side, someone else walked
out.

     She gave a small, startled shriek and jumped back.  "You
scared me there, doc."

     Tofu laughed softly, his glasses fogged slightly from the
rain and half-pushed down his nose.  "Sorry, Nabiki."

     "What are you doing standing in the rain?" Nabiki asked,
realizing that was what he had been doing.  His clothing was 
soaked to his slender, muscular body.  

     "Just waiting," he said softly.  "I heard that Akane was
leaving today, and just thought I'd stop by and see if you were
all doing alright."

     "We'll be fine," Nabiki said, looking at him appraisingly.
She wondered why he hadn't stood out of the rain, under the 
roofed gate.  

     "Oh, hello Tofu," her father said from behind her.  "What
are you doing here."

     Tofu turned his head slightly, but none of his attention was
on Soun.  "H... hello there, Kasumi.  What a strange coincidence 
to meet you here.  Hello..."

     He giggled slightly and pushed his glasses up, hiding his
eyes behind the fogged lenses.  A goofy smile slid across his 
face.

     Nabiki realized she was standing in the rain, and moved 
under the shelter of the gate, watching Kasumi carefully.

     "Hello, Doctor Tofu," her older sister said in a quiet
voice, clutching her hands in front of her stomach.  "How nice to
see you.  I mustn't stand in the rain like this, I'll catch a
cold."

     As she stepped by him, Tofu gave another giggle and reached
out to touch her arm; Kasumi paused, face blank and unreadable.

     "I'll see you around, Kasumi," Tofu said.  "Now that you
don't have so much to look after with Ranma and his father and
Akane gone, perhaps we can spend some more time together.  Like
we used to, Kasumi.  Wouldn't that be fun?"

     Odd, Nabiki thought.  He obviously had a little more control
around her right now; must be really making an effort not to let
his feelings get away with him.
     
     "Oh, yes," Kasumi said, voice all sugar and sweetness as she
walked past him, the rain making her dress cling to the slim
definitions of her body.  "But there's still lots to do, Tofu,
lots of housework to do, lots of cooking, you know..."

     Her voice trailed away as she reached the door to the house,
opened it, and stepped quickly inside.  

     "Well," Soun said.  "I'm sure we'll see you around, Doctor."
     
     "Please, feel free to call me if there's anything you need,"
Tofu said, and he walked past the two of them into the rain and
the night, heading slowly down the street.  Nabiki heard him
begin to whistle, a jaunty tune.

     "Nabiki?" Soun said.  "Let's go inside."
     
     Nabiki watched Tofu's retreating figure for a moment.

     "Curiouser and curiouser," she muttered under her breath,
and began to walk towards the house.  No big deal; whatever was
going on between Tofu and her older sister was a minor thing next
to all her other interests at this point in time.  There were 
phone calls to make right now.  Lots to talk about.