The sound of drills, hammers, saws and numerous other pieces of 
construction equipment rang out below the roof. Ranma ignored the noise, 
reclining against the tiles and basking in the morning sun. In female 
form, of course, as the construction crew was already present. Tamago 
sat on her knee, the turtle's head bobbing up and down faintly as though 
following the soft breeze.

	She heard someone land nearby, and reached out to scratch under the 
turtle's chin with a fingertip. "Oe-sensei?" Motoko asked cautiously 
from behind her.

	"Morning, Motoko-chan," she replied, glancing over her shoulder and 
nodding at the other girl. "Everyone ready for morning practice?"

	Ye-- AUGH!" she exclaimed, as Tamago hopped off Ranma's knee and 
drifted past her. Motoko's eyes were wide, her hand pressed to her chest.

	"You're afraid of something as harmless as a turtle?" she asked 
incredulously.

	Motoko straightened up, and shot her a cool look. "I have my reasons," 
she said quietly.

	Ranma opened her mouth to say something, then reconsidered it, and 
shook her head. "Let's go and get ready to practice," she said instead.

	The two hopped down from the roof, landing before the other assembled 
students, though they were crowded around Shinobu, who had her back 
turned to them. "Are we ready to start?" she asked. Shinobu turned 
around, surprised, and Ranma saw what the other girl carried in her 
arms. "We'll jus-- AUGH!"

	"You're one to talk," Motoko grumbled, as Ranma trembled, wide-eyed, in 
fear of the mewling kitten.

	--------------------------------------
	Diamonds in the Rough -- Chapter Seven -- Tamago and the Sea Princess

	Disclaimer: Paints in this story are from Takahashi, Viz (Ranma 1/2), 
TV Tokyo and Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and Tatsuya Egawa (Goldenboy). 
The easel is mine. That's all.

	Notes: Divergences should become apparent as relevant.
	--------------------------------------

	"Will you let go of me?" she added, dropping Ranma from her arms to the 
dirt. The redhead bounced onto the ground at the same time the kitten 
leapt free of Shinobu's hands and dashed away.

	"Oooh, Ranmas like Motokos," Suu observed. "Now I can create a breeding 
program!"

	Motoko shot the girl a look of consternation, then turned her attention 
back to Ranma. "Oe-sensei?"

	"It's gone?" Ranma asked, still shaking nervously.

	"Yes, Oe-sensei," Shinobu replied, frowning. "What's wrong?"

	"Noth..." she trailed off, sighing. "I had a bad experience with... 
cats when I was young." Clearing her throat, she shook her head. 
"Anyway, as long as we're all ready...." She glanced around furtively. 
"You're sure it's gone?"

	"It's gone, Oe-san," Keitaro confirmed, frowning slightly, while Suu 
began to smile.

	"New experiment! How does a Ranma react to cats!" she exclaimed. "Must 
test!"

	"Um... no, that would be a bad idea," Ranma insisted, shaking her head. 
"A really bad one. Anyway, on with today's lesson."

	***

	In Naru's room, once the morning practice session was complete, the 
three Todai hopefuls concentrated on their studying. "I don't think I've 
been invited here to study before," Keitaro mused quietly.

	Naru shook her head, her back to both Keitaro and Ranma. The martial 
artist was currently in cursed form, as the construction crew assumed 
that her 'brother' had vanished. While Keitaro turned around and 
examined some of Naru's books, the girl was busy making tea for the 
others. "The weather sure has started to turn," she remarked.

	Ranma nodded absently, glancing at her, then Keitaro, then scribbling 
some notes in her notebook.

	"Ah!" Keitaro exclaimed, picking up a nearby book. "A photo album!"

	Naru made a startled noise, as Keitaro flipped it open, examining some 
of the pictures. "Don't look through that!" she exclaimed.

	"I'm just going to look a little bit," he replied, flipping through the 
images. "Ah! Here's our vacation with Otohime-chan!"

	Ranma glanced over, raised an eyebrow, then turned her attention back 
to her notebook.

	"Oh... fine," Naru grumped, setting the tea service on the table. 
"Here's a picture of myself in middle-school...."

	"You were cute!" Keitaro exclaimed.

	"Ah...." Naru blushed, as Keitaro sighed, shaking his head.

	"Hey... this looks familiar," he mused, pulling one of the pictures 
from the album's pages. Ranma glanced over again at the image of a young 
Naru -- no more than three or four years old -- cuddling a large stuffed 
animal. "Oh! I know, it's the one over there, isn't it?" Keitaro pointed 
across the room at a stuffed animal sitting on a wooden board.

	"It... was popular when I was younger," Naru admitted. "When I was two 
or three, there was an anime for it."

	"So you've had this thing for fifteen years?" Keitaro asked, eyeing the 
stuffed creature appraisingly.

	Naru looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded.

	"Fifteen years ago," Keitaro murmured distantly.

	"Where is your mind going?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow.

	"Ah... just thinking about the promise I made to that girl," he 
confessed, blushing slightly, and bowing his head.

	"The one that will be waiting for you at Todai?"

	Keitaro fumbled for a moment, his hand slipping across the floor and 
seeking Naru's. "If you were the girl from my promise--" he broke off, 
raising his eyes.

	"Real sweet of you, Kanrinin, but I think we can safely say it wasn't 
me," Ranma said, reclaiming her hand. Naru and Keitaro blinked at the 
girl they had forgotten was between them. The redhead glanced between 
the two for a moment, then pointed at each in turn. "Do you two want 
some privacy?"

	"Ack!" Keitaro and Naru exclaimed in tandem, leaping away from the 
small redhead.

	Ranma smirked, shaking her head, and rose to her feet as Tamago 
shuffled into the room, waving at them, then drawing herself onto four 
flippers, and bowing her head. Ranma made a face, and followed the 
turtle from the room, leaving Naru and Keitaro alone. "That was 
strange," Naru finally said.

	"Something wrong, Narusegawa?" Keitaro asked, already cracking open his 
study guide again.

	"Tama was acting funny, I think," she explained, turning to regard Keitaro.

	"Well... Oe is following her, so Tama should be fine," Keitaro reasoned.

	"I suppose..." she mused.

	***

	Ranma chuckled as she followed the turtle out to the courtyard, waving 
to Mitsune and Haruka in passing. The construction crew carefully 
avoided her, courtesy of the rumor that she was dating Keitaro, and that 
her 'brother' would beat up anyone who touched her. It was better than 
some methods of negotiating the curse.

	Still....

	The turtle paused, looking back at her, then made a cheerful chirp, and 
waved.

	"You sure?" Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow. "I wouldn't mind wandering 
for a bit -- all this studying makes me feel cooped up."

	The turtle cocked its head to one side, as though considering, then 
nodded, and motioned for Ranma to follow.

	It wasn't exactly speedy, but the turtle was able to set a pace, 
ambling down the steps one at a time. "No more flying?" she asked, 
stretching, and admiring the view from the top of the stairs before she 
followed.

	The turtle shook its head, and Ranma shrugged, trudging after.

	***

	As the day wore on, Keitaro pushed his study guide away. No progress 
had been made. On the one hand, the information he was trying to pay 
attention to kept fading into the back of his mind as he considered 
Naru. On the other hand, any attempt to broach the subject of them as a 
couple was met with a reminder about what he needed to study.

	Net result, of course, being no progress. On _either_ front.

	He groaned, falling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "I'm 
going to take a break," he muttered.

	Naru nodded, and yawned quietly. "Too much studying," she agreed.

	"Hmm," he mused, seeing the photograph album she had left out. "Now 
that I think of it... do you ever suppose we'll see Mutsumi again?"

	Naru made a thoughtful noise, and pulled the book to her side, flipping 
quickly to the picture with Mutsumi in it. "It could happen," she said 
slowly. "I mean, she might decide to retest."

	"That's true," Keitaro admitted, daydreaming back to when he'd first 
met Mutsumi. He shook his head, dismissing an image of Mutsumi kissing 
him, at the sound of Naru's voice. "Sorry, what was that?"

	"I think it's about time to get back to studying," Naru said pointedly. 
"You've been staring at the ceiling for several minutes now. What are 
you thinking?"

	"Just remembering Mutsumi," he offered, smiling sheepishly.

	"Let's hope you remember your study questions half as well," she muttered.

	***

	Tiptoeing along behind the turtle was a bit of a challenge. With the 
turtle's weight being less than her own, and its own relatively small 
size, it could cross the wires strung between storefronts easily. Ranma 
needed to exercise a bit more care than that.

	Her skill would let her distribute her weight carefully enough that she 
could do it, but her speed was reduced to only that of... the turtle, 
really. It would be faster to hop from rooftop to rooftop, but the 
turtle was leading the way. Tamago stopped at the building's edge, and 
turned to look back at Ranma.

	She shrugged, carefully, gently testing the wire that crossed the two 
buildings. It was only three stories down if she fell, but that wasn't 
the point of the game. The wire was sturdy, probably new. She carefully 
plodded along, until she stepped off the wire, next to the turtle. 
"Awesome," she said, grinning. "Where to next?"

	The turtle looked around, then sniffed at the air for a moment before 
chirping again, and working its way across the flat roof.

	Ranma quickly surveyed her surroundings. The buildings all appeared to 
be storefronts with flattened roofs, except for a nearby train depot. 
The rails headed west, well outside of the city. "Oh, this is the main 
hub for the city," Ranma realized, glancing back, only just able to see 
the hilltop that Hinata-Sou sat atop. The turtles adventurous wandering 
had led across most of the city, though it never ventured far from sight 
of the inn. "I guess this is where people from out of town will get 
in... you looking for someone there?"

	The turtle nodded eagerly, then flung itself from the rooftop, gliding 
quickly towards the depot.

	"That's more like it!" Ranma cheered, vaulting off after the creature. 
She rebounded from a light pole, and landed before the lobby to the 
building, barely beating Tamago there. The turtle landed on her shoulder 
and chirped gratefully.

	Once on the ground, Ranma stretched, looking around with mild surprise. 
The entire area was nearly deserted, only a handful of people walking 
by. "So, who are you looking for?" she asked the turtle curiously.

	It made another chirp, and pointed at a young woman who was crossing 
the terminal, struggling with the weight of her baggage. Ranma shrugged, 
and approached curiously. How to introduce herself to the girl? "What 
should I do, just go up to her and say, 'Hi, my name is Ranma, and I 
just thought I'd ask you who you were. This turtle seems to know you, 
and by the way, I'm really a guy?'" Ranma shook her head, grimacing, and 
muttered, "That won't help."

	The point was moot -- as she approached, the young woman looked up, 
smiled pleasantly, and then clapped her hands together. "There you are!" 
she exclaimed cheerfully. Tamago flew away from Ranma's shoulder, and 
drifted to the newcomer's. "How have you been?"

	The turtle chirped excitedly for a long minute, while the girl nodded 
attentively.

	"Wow," she said after a moment. She then looked up, and smiled all over 
again. "Hello, there," she said amiably. "I'm Otohime Mutsumi!"

	Ranma nodded, remembering when she'd seen her picture in Naru's room. 
"Nice to meet you," she replied, smiling back. This girl radiated a 
sense of tranquility and peace that Ranma found soothing. Her expression 
was calm, and her smile spoke of near permanence. Tamago reached up from 
her shoulder and brushed back her straw hat, granting Ranma a nice view 
of her long, dark hair, braided loosely. While Mutsumi retrieved her 
hat, Ranma realized she had been staring. "Um... sorry, my name is Oe 
Ranma."

	Mutsumi nodded, holding her hat in her hands. "Have you been taking 
care of Tamago?"

	"Me? Well... not really. Keitaro takes care of her." Ranma scratched 
her head, frowning, then brightened. "Would you like some help carrying 
your bags?"

	"Oh, that would be wonderful," Mutsumi replied, bowing slightly. Ranma 
nodded, and hefted the larger of the bags, leaving Mutsumi to carry what 
looked like a sack made of net, though it only had a watermelon in it. 
"Do you like training in martial arts?"

	"Eh?" Ranma managed, blinking. How had she known? A good martial artist 
could read another martial artist even outside of combat. But she didn't 
move much like someone who practiced. Maybe she knew another martial 
artist well enough to see the differences? "Yeah, actually," she 
managed. "How did you know?"

	"Oh, I just guessed," Mutsumi giggled, while Tamago raised her head, as 
though whispering into her ear. "Oh, my. You certainly are in good shape 
-- how long have you had your bicycle?"

	Ranma nearly tripped over her own feet, then shook her head and stared 
Tamago squarely in the eye. "Did you get stuck in your cursed form, 
somehow?" she asked the turtle.

	Tamago shook her head quickly.

	"Oh, Tamago doesn't have a curse like you do," Mutsumi explained. 
"She's just a very smart turtle."

	Ranma said nothing for a moment, eyeing Mutsumi thoughtfully. "You can 
understand what the turtle says?" she finally asked.

	"Oh, of course not, that would be silly!" the young woman giggled.

	"Just like a curse would be?" Ranma asked.

	"Exactly."

	"... right," Ranma finally managed, shaking her head. "Where do you 
need to take these?"

	"Oh! I rented a room in this town, somewhere. You certainly are kind to 
take care of someone you don't even know, Oe-kun."

	Ranma shrugged her shoulders, smiling weakly. "Aniki tried to teach me 
to look out for other people," she finally managed. "Where to?"

	Mutsumi produced a map from a skirt pocket, and studied it thoughtfully 
for a moment before she gave a confident nod. "This way," she explained, 
motioning Ranma to follow.

	***

	Ranma pursed her lips together carefully, studying Mutsumi as she led 
the way down the street. She seemed to know where she was going, so 
Ranma remained silent, studying the way she moved. It only took Ranma a 
moment to realize that Mutsumi likely had poor health -- the aura of 
life energy all living things generated seemed... subdued from her. 
Weakened.

	She needed to pause to catch her breath every so often, though Ranma 
could see she didn't look like she was willing to rest. That was easily 
solved, as the redhead 'accidentally' untied a shoelace, and called 
Mutsumi to a halt while fixing it. Which also, coincidentally, took long 
enough for Mutsumi to recover, and let the flush of exertion fade from 
her cheeks.

	But her body was a healthy mix of decently toned muscles. She had 
nothing on Haruka or Ranma -- or even on Naru and Shinobu -- but she 
certainly wasn't out of shape, which Ranma had seen from time to time in 
other people. There was just something that made her weak, whatever it was.

	Eventually, the girl pointed at a two-story building. "That's my 
apartment!" she said cheerfully.

	"Looks nice," Ranma allowed, a vague sense of uneasy familiarity from 
the area prickling about her shoulders. "Should we go in?"

	"Oh, right!"

	Mutsumi led him into the apartment, where he set down her packages. 
Mutsumi perused the room, examining the features, and nodding happily. 
"This is wonderful!" she cheered. "My packages already arrived!"

	Ranma glanced into the corner, where a short stack of watermelons sat. 
"Er... well, one package, anyway," she said, nodding. "Does the 
apartment have any hot water yet?"

	She checked the faucet, then nodded happily. Ranma splashed her -- now 
him -- self, and studied Mutsumi for a reaction, curious.

	The turtle nodded knowingly, and Mutsumi herself seemed a bit startled, 
but not nearly as much as Ranma would have expected. "That was 
interesting," she said after a moment, her smile quickly overcoming her 
surprise. "But I need to thank you for helping me carry my things here."

	"Oh, really, it's fine," Ranma said dismissively, shaking his head, and 
pulling his notebook from his pocket. Writing quickly, he mumbled, 
"'Humans can learn to speak turtle.'" Looking up, he asked, "You want to 
meet with Urashima and Narusegawa?"

	"Well, that would be nice, but I need to thank you first," Mutsumi 
insisted. She brightened suddenly. "Oh, I know! Why don't you let me buy 
you a drink?"

	"I, ah... don't generally drink," Ranma said uneasily.

	"I insist!" Mutsumi pressed, taking his hand and smiling. "We can go 
with Naru-chan and Kei-kun, and catch up on old times!"

	Ranma blinked in confusion. "Uh... what old times?"

	"Oh, I thought that Tamago said you spent a lot of time with them," 
Mutsumi explained. "You don't?"

	"Well, I do, actually," Ranma admitted. "Sometimes we study together. I 
teach Urashima martial arts. Um.... Anyway, I suppose we could go back 
to the inn and get them if you really want to go out somewhere."

	"Oh, I do!" Mutsumi cheered, nodding. "Where do you live?"

	Ranma considered it, trying to mentally retrace his footsteps since 
leaving the inn. The train depot wasn't a good landmark, as he'd never 
been there before -- he'd ridden his bike into the area, after all. 
While he pondered, Mutsumi crossed the room, and opened the window.

	"Ooh, what a lovely view," she said in admiration.

	Breaking off his mental re-mapping, which had broken down at some point 
when he and Tamago had turned cartwheels over a clothesline strung 
between balcony railings on five story buildings, he looked up. The 
hillside before him was covered in trees, the actual earth obscured 
behind a heavy cloak of leaves. A sign sat unobtrusively in the 
distance, and Ranma approached the window to study it curiously.

	"I hear that the rent here is cheaper, because it's right next to a 
dormitory filled with dangerous people -- there's always explosions and 
noise coming from it," Mutsumi supplied helpfully. "But I don't mind. I 
think it's kind of exciting!"

	"'...female dormitory,'" Ranma read aloud, massaging his eyebrow as it 
began to tic. "Boy, I wish that sign had been up when I first got here."

	"Oh, do you know this place?" Mutsumi asked, turning to regard him 
curiously.

	"Yeah." Ranma shook his head. "That's where Urashima and Narusegawa 
live, Otohime."

	"Then we can go and drink!" Mutsumi cheered. "Lead the way, Ranma-kun!"

	"Er... okay." Sighing, he looked up as Tamago drifted over to pat him 
on the head before returning to Mutsumi's shoulder. "This way, Otohime."

	She followed dutifully for the entire sixty-yard treck to the base of 
the stairs leading up to the inn. Keitaro and Naru -- along with the 
other assembled tenants -- met them there, the entire gang skidding to 
an awkward halt to stare in confusion.

	"Tamago?" Keitaro asked. "Oh! Otohime-chan!"

	"Wait! It's Mutsumi!" Naru gasped, smiling brightly, while everyone 
else but Keitaro blinked in confusion.

	Mutsumi roused suddenly, as though she had been about to doze off, then 
looked between Keitaro and Naru. "I'm sorry," she said slowly, smiling. 
"I'm looking for two friends of mine, Keitaro and Naru. Do you know 
where they are?"

	"Auuugh!" Shinobu made a dive to grab Keitaro's shirt before he could 
pitch forward and fall on his face, and saved the manager a clumsy 
meeting with the ground until he could recover his senses. "Sempai?" she 
asked tremulously. "What's going on?"

	Naru had merely stumbled backwards, into Mitsune, before she shook off 
her confusion. "Otohime-chan? Don't you remember us?"

	"Oh! Right!" the Mutsumi enthused, clapping her hands together. "I had 
forgotten, since it's been so long!"

	"Could someone explain what's going on here?" Motoko managed, glancing 
at Tamago with a mixture of concern and relief.

	"We thought that Tamago had run off before we could have our final 
confrontation," Suu supplied, eyeing the turtle suspiciously.

	"Well, I remembered that Oe-san was with her, so I wasn't too 
worried... but after a few hours I started to think it might be a good 
idea to look for her," Keitaro offered, chuckling weakly. "For a moment, 
I thought she'd run off to go into the sea."

	"Well, she went down to the beach for a bit," Ranma said, scratching 
his head. "I think that was before the zoo and after the aquarium. 
Probably to play around after running through the car wash. The little 
critter sure gets around." He glanced between Naru and Keitaro, and 
asked, "You thought she was going to run off for good?"

	Naru nodded, holding up a pamphlet. "It says here that when a turtle 
stops flying, they're ready to mature," she said, pointing to a picture 
of a turtle assaulting what looked like the Japanese Self Defense Force.

	"Turn the page," Ranma suggested.

	Naru did so, and then blushed darkly. "Oh," she said quietly. "It says 
here it takes fifty years."

	"Well, now that that's all settled, why don't we go out and talk about 
old times?" Mutsumi asked, clapping her hands together. Tamago nodded 
enthusiastically from her shoulder.

	"Well," Mitsune finally managed. "You three... seem to know one 
another, so we'll get out of your way, then."

	Ranma nodded, and moved to walk up the stairs, but was halted by a 
tugging at the back of his shirt. Mutsumi tried to slow him down, but 
wasn't expecting as much resistance as Ranma ended up putting out, no 
matter how inadvertently. The end result was that he turned around, 
curious, and Mutsumi fell into him. He caught her easily, while her head 
lolled to one side, and her eyes took on a vacant cast.

	"Hey," he said, frowning. "Hey!" Shaking his head, he fumbled for a 
moment, grabbing her wrist and feeling for a pulse. "Her heart's 
stopped," he said clinically, while his own heart began racing.

	***

	Naru and Keitaro watched, alarmed, while gasps told him the rest of the 
tenants hadn't yet cleared hearing range. Shaking his head, Ranma 
crouched, laying Mutsumi on the ground, and put his hands on her 
sternum, below the swell of her bosom.

	"Oe-san?" Keitaro asked worriedly.

	"A minute, Kanrinin," he said tersely, as an aura of something began to 
radiate from him. His entire body shimmered for a second, and was then 
enveloped in a wavering aura. Tendrils of white and gold flame crept 
into the wavering field about him, seeming to concentrate on his hands, 
while he closed his eyes.

	Motoko stiffened, and stumbled down a few steps to watch. "I don't 
believe it," she murmured. "I never thought...."

	Flickers of green and black shot through the aura, chased by white 
specks. The gold and white gathered at his hands, while everything else 
wandered across his body seemingly at random. Faintly, at first, and 
then more brightly, Mutsumi began to pick up the periphery of the glow, 
white and gold flickering about over her own body.

	After only a few seconds, Ranma staggered back, and let the light show 
vanish. "Ugh," he groaned, rubbing his forehead. "I think I saved her."

	"Oe-kun?" Mutsumi asked, looking around in confusion as she sat up. 
"What was that?"

	"Your ki is blocked, for some reason," Ranma offered, along with a weak 
smile.

	"That can be deadly," Motoko said quietly.

	"I was taught well," Ranma shot back, frowning.

	"By who?"

	"Your sister."

	Motoko stilled, looking away, then nodded. "Be careful, Oe-san," she 
whispered, before retreating up the stairs.

	"More things to investigate!" Suu cheered. "So, martial arts aren't 
always purely destructive. This is interesting, too." She also clambered 
up the stairs, though Keitaro guessed it was for different reasons.

	Blinking away their shock, Mitsune and Shinobu also departed, leaving 
Ranma with Mutsumi, Keitaro, and Narusegawa. "Anyway," Ranma sighed. 
"I'll let you three chat--"

	"Oh, no!" Mutsumi insisted, shaking her head. "I owe you something for 
helping me."

	"For what? The ki thing?" Ranma shook his head back, smirking. "That's 
my duty, the way I see it."

	"I'm not sure what that is, but I meant for carrying my bags for me," 
she countered.

	"... oh," Ranma finally managed in a small voice. "Um... if you insist."

	"Ah... Oe-san," Keitaro finally managed. "Um... you... don't need to 
worry. Otohime-chan is... she sometimes has fits like that."

	"She gets better on her own," Naru supplied.

	"Sometimes," Mutsumi added, nodding.

	Keitaro and Naru stared at her for a moment. "Anyway," Keitaro finally 
managed, shaking his head. "Where do you want to go, Mutsumi-chan?"

	"Well, do you know of any places around here that are good?" she asked 
thoughtfully.

	"Yeah, actually...."

	***

	Keitaro led the group to a nearby bar, where they were given a low 
table in the corner. Mutsumi and Naru took one side, while Keitaro and 
Ranma sat at the other. Ranma shifted about uncomfortably, not sure he 
belonged, but Naru suspected that Ranma wasn't sure of what to do about 
it. She offered him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, then turned 
her attention to Mutsumi.

	"It's good to see you again!" she told the older girl. "And it's good 
to see you're healthy, too."

	Keitaro nodded, quickly adding, "After we saw you in Okinawa, we were 
afraid that we might not see you again."

	Mutsumi smiled, glancing between Naru and Keitaro. "It's lucky to have 
good friends. Last time, you looked out for me very well, and I'm 
grateful for it." She turned to Ranma, and her expression became more 
inquisitive. "Are you helping take care of Naru-chan and Keitaro-kun, 
Ranma-kun?"

	Ranma blinked, momentarily distracted by the waiter that set drinks 
before each of them before backing off. "I... guess," he said slowly. 
"I'm teaching Kan-- uh, Urashima-san some martial arts, but he's already 
pretty sturdy." He frowned and sipped at his drink, making a face at it.

	"Actually," Keitaro supplied, when Ranma lapsed into silence, "Oe-san's 
been helping out a lot -- he was part of the construction crew that put 
the inn back together."

	"Really?" Mutsumi asked, turning to look at Naru.

	She nodded, sipping at her own drink. "They're not done yet, but Oe-san 
made them stop playing around and being lazy," she offered. "Anyway, 
Mutsumi-chan, what brings you all the way here?"

	"Oh, that's easy!" Mutsumi exclaimed, just before draining her glass. 
She signaled the waiter for another round, then said, "To drink with my 
friends!"

	Keitaro glanced at Ranma, who was staring between Mutsumi's empty 
glass, and his own, only sipped at drink. "Um, I think Naru meant to ask 
why you were here in the city, Mutsumi-chan," he offered.

	"Ooh." Mutsumi made a thoughtful noise, while the waiter served the 
second round out. Sipping at her new drink, she pondered for a moment. 
Setting her glass down, she asked, "Why am I here?" She glanced between 
Ranma and Tamago, who was resting on her shoulder. "Do you know?"

	The martial artist and the turtle both shook their heads.

	"You... don't know why you're here?" Naru finally managed.

	"Hmm," Mutsumi mused, pulling a slip of paper from one pocket after 
draining her second glass. "Ah! This looks like an exam ticket! I must 
be here to test for Todai again!"

	Keitaro stared blankly, while a waiter set yet another glass before 
Mutsumi.

	Sipping from the glass and then setting it down, Mutsumi asked, "What 
are you going to do about Todai, Keitaro-kun? Are you still trying to 
get in?"

	"Yes," he finally managed, staring at Mutsumi. "Um... you sure can hold 
your alcohol."

	"I like to drink!"

	"It looks easy enough," Ranma said, eyeing Mutsumi's collection of 
empty glasses. "Heck, I could probably do that." Signaling the waiter to 
pour him a third drink, Ranma quickly downed his first two, and then 
chased them with the third when the waiter brought it by. He stared 
around for a moment, then nodded. "I thought I could do it." Shaking his 
head slightly, he turned his attention to Mutsumi. "So you moved into 
the area just for the test?"

	"Yes!" she exclaimed happily. "I think I will do it, this year." Her 
look turned from joy to concern, and she turned her attention back to 
Keitaro. "But, Keitaro-kun, are you sure you should try again? With your 
intelligence level?"

	"Hey! I got a hundred!" Keitaro complained, producing his test result 
from a pocket.

	"Oh, my, you got all hundred questions wrong?" Mutsumi asked, blinking 
in surprise.

	"Just like me?" Naru mumbled.

	"Wait, what?" Keitaro asked, turning to Naru.

	"'snot as easy as it looks," Ranma slurred suddenly. "G'night!" He 
collapsed face-first onto the table, distracting Keitaro.

	"Oe-san? Oh. I guess this is why he said he never drinks," Keitaro 
reasoned, putting his test result away.

	"Why would he drink if he knew this would happen?" Naru asked, leaning 
forward to study the not-quite-snoring man slumped across the table.

	"Oh, I just wanted to thank him for helping me carry my baggage," 
Mutsumi explained. "Ranma-kun, are you okay?"

	"Five more minutes," he mumbled. "I swear the waffles are good."

	Keitaro shook his head, then turned to Mutsumi. "Anyway, it doesn't 
matter if I did badly before, we're all retakers here, aren't we?" he 
asked, stealing a glance at Naru.

	She blushed bright red, and ducked her head, sipping at her own drink 
to mask it.

	"I'm not!" Ranma announced suddenly, sitting upright as though mounted 
on a spring. "I failed high school, and only finished catching up just 
before.... Can't... feel... my legs...." With that, he collapsed again, 
his face slamming into the table.

	Mutsumi blinked, eyes widening slightly. "Ah! Is Ranma-kun taking the 
test with us?" she asked.

	Keitaro nodded, glancing at the man worriedly. "Er... yes. Sometimes he 
studies with Naru and I."

	"Ooh!" Mutsumi cooed, clapping her hands together. "So you two have 
become closer?"

	"What do you mean?" Naru asked unsteadily, her face still red.

	Tamago chirped quietly into Mutsumi's ear.

	"Really?" Mutsumi asked. "You two study together almost every day?"

	"Ah... sometimes Oe-san is with us," Keitaro said quickly.

	"Four of us together, then!" Mutsumi cheered. "We can make it this year 
for sure!" She raised her glass in a salute, which Naru and Keitaro 
hesitantly accepted. Ranma merely lay as if dead. "Ranma-kun, don't you 
agree?"

	He sat up, eyes bleary, and glanced around. "Together?" he managed. 
"Yes! Together! Allegiance or death! Bigfire!"

	Naru rolled her eyes. "This isn't an anime, Oe-san. I think you've had 
too much to drink," she criticized.

	"Oh yeah?" he asked, wobbling unsteadily. "Well, that may be true, 
but... uh... but...." He frowned for a moment, then furrowed his brow in 
concentration. "Okay, hang on." For a moment it seemed like he would 
collapse again before he righted himself. "I can do this," he muttered, 
seconds before an aura of blue flame leapt up from around him, flooding 
the room with light. Some of the patrons looked at the spectacle in 
worry, and then eyed their drinks, while the other half elected not to 
notice.

	"A light show!" Mutsumi exclaimed, clapping her hands together 
excitedly. "That's beautiful, Ranma-kun! Can you do any other tricks?"

	"Not right now," he croaked, as the light faded. The waiter approached 
cautiously, and Ranma pleaded, "Water... please... a dying man's last 
request." Nodding dubiously, the man went off to retrieve what Ranma had 
requested.

	"Oe-san?" Keitaro asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"

	"I'm a bit hung over," he said matter-of-factly.

	Nodding, Keitaro asked, "How did you do that?"

	"Trick I picked up from my wife," he groaned. "Just after she taught me 
how to track." He brushed a hand through his hair, tugging at his 
bandana, then opened one eye, and glanced across the table. "Wait. Did I 
say that aloud? Damn, my head hurts."

	Keitaro and Naru blinked in stunned shock.

	"You'll live," Mutsumi assured the martial artist.

	"Dunno if I want to," he moaned, sighing in relief when the waiter 
presented him with a pitcher of water, and an empty glass. "Stupid 
intentional low alcohol tolerance... stupid drunken boxing." He sipped 
at his water, relaxing somewhat. "What was that about a toast?"

	"Ah, I was thinking we should all drink to getting into Todai next 
year," Mutsumi explained.

	Ranma eyed his glass of water, then nodded. "I'll drink to that," he 
agreed.

	As one, the four Todai hopefuls raised their drinks. "To Todai!"

	After draining their glasses, Mutsumi climbed to her feet. "Well, it 
was lovely meeting with you again -- but I should really be getting back 
to my place so I can unpack my things," she said.

	"Leaving so soon?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow. "You can stay a bit 
longer, can't you?"

	"Well, it is starting to get a bit late," Mutsumi deferred, smiling. 
She leaned over and patted Ranma on the head. "Really, Oe-san, you need 
to be careful about how much you drink," she chastised him, as he 
pressed a hand to his forehead.

	"Yeah, but you made it look so easy!" he protested, wincing again. "And 
it really seemed like a good idea." He shifted his position 
uncomfortably, then ducked his head and looked away. "You know. At the 
time."

	Mutsumi giggled, and Ranma climbed to his feet. "Anyway," he said, 
shaking his head. "Why don't you let me walk you home?"

	"Ah, why not let all of us go with you?" Keitaro quickly added, smiling 
hopefully. "It would be a shame to run into you again, and then never be 
able to see you again."

	"Oh, well... if you insist," Mutsumi said, yawning. "You take such good 
care of me."

	Naru nodded, smiling at the other girl. "It's the least we can do," she 
insisted, smiling.

	***

	After the bill was settled, they left the bar. Mutsumi was carried on 
Keitaro's back, as Ranma was still weakened from his ordeal. "She's 
tired," Naru observed, smiling.

	Keitaro nodded dubiously, tying not to pay too much attention to the 
girl's weight pressing into him from behind. "Well, now we just need to 
figure out where she lives," he reasoned.

	"I know the way," Ranma said, glancing at Mutsumi for a moment. Tamago 
nodded dutifully from atop Ranma's head.

	"Er... why don't you lead, then?" Keitaro suggested.

	"Sure thing, Kanrinin," he replied, striding forward, looking at the 
ground closely.

	"Is something wrong?" Naru asked, watching the way that Ranma bowed his 
head.

	"Just tracking our footprints until I get my bearings," he said.

	"You can track across pavement?" Naru asked, surprised.

	"And through raining forests -- never would have found Motoko-chan 
otherwise, unless it was dumb luck," he dismissed. "I got it. This way." 
He marched onward, Naru and Keitaro following behind.

	"It's a nice evening," Keitaro finally said, to break the monotony.

	"It's not raining," Ranma agreed.

	Keitaro snorted, shaking his head. "Not a big fan of rain?"

	"For obvious reasons," Naru muttered. "Really, Keitaro, is your 
attention span that short?"

	"Huh?" he asked blankly. "What are you talking about?"

	Ranma winced, shaking his head. "We're here," he announced quietly.

	Naru and Keitaro had drawn to a halt, and Keitaro offered a nervous 
laugh. "Sorry, sorry," he said, bowing his head to Naru, then trying to 
cast a backwards glance to Mutsumi.

	"Something funny?" she asked raising an eyebrow, as Keitaro's face 
reddened.

	"Nothing, nothing at all," he said quickly.

	"Oh, so you think Mutsumi's chest is better than mine?"

	"Well, yeah, I did notice-- I never said anything like that!" Keitaro 
protested indignantly.

	"What does it matter, really?" Ranma asked suddenly. "A curse--" As 
though on cue, a sprinkler system started up, splashing him and causing 
him to switch genders. She sighed, pulling her shirt away from her 
chest. "A curse kind of makes things like that arbitrary."

	"Ah, Oe-san," Mutsumi murmured quietly. "They argue just like a married 
couple. It was cute."

	"It's not like that!" Keitaro and Naru exclaimed in unison. "We're not 
at all alike!" Stomping their feet, they yelled at one another, "Stop 
talking like me!"

	"Oh!" Mutsumi exclaimed more loudly, as Keitaro knelt to let her regain 
her own footing. "This is where I live!"

	Ranma nodded stretching her arms over her head. "Yup!" she said, 
yawning slightly.

	"Do you know the way back to your home from here, Ranma-kun?" Mutsumi 
asked worriedly.

	In response, Ranma pointed wordlessly at a nearby sign.

	"'...female dormitory,'" Keitaro observed aloud, massaging his eyebrow 
as it began to tic. "Boy, I wish that sign had been up when I first got 
here."

	"I know exactly what you mean," Ranma said dryly. Turning to Mutsumi, 
he explained, "I stay at the same inn as they do."

	Mutsumi nodded in understanding, beaming a smile at him.

	"Wow," Naru managed, smiling. "You live right across the street! Maybe 
we can get together to study, sometimes."

	"That would be wonderful!" Mutsumi enthused.

	Ranma knuckled back a yawn. "But right now it's late, and burning that 
much alcohol out of my system leaves me a bit drained," she said. "Let's 
go back home."

	"Okay!" Mutsumi said cheerfully, waving goodbye. "Maybe we'll meet 
again tomorrow?"

	"With any luck," Ranma agreed, nodding.

	Keitaro nodded his agreement as well, then turned towards the stairs 
leading to the Hinata-Sou. "That was nice," he said after a moment, 
climbing the steps. "I didn't think we'd run into Mutsumi again."

	"It's certainly more fun than having Tamago run away," Naru allowed.

	Ranma nodded again, stifling another yawn. Mitsune greeted her at the 
door, the young woman clearly excited about something. "Ranma! Guess 
what you got in the mail!"

	"A bill?" she asked, making a face.

	Keitaro and Naru watched expectantly.

	"No!" Mitsune shook her head, sighing in exasperation. "You got some 
packages -- three of them! Open them up, quick, I want to see what's 
inside."

	"Packages?" Ranma frowned, then brightened. "Oh, right. Aniki sent my 
stuff to me. It's not important, Kitsune. I'll open them tomorrow. Right 
now I want to go to bed."

	"You can't!" Suu cheered, flying into the room from the hallway, and 
tackling Ranma to the floor. "Your room isn't ready yet."

	"It was ready when I left," the redhead muttered.

	"I'm fixing it," Suu explained steadfastly. "So you have to wait."

	"Ooh?" Mitsune noised. "Sounds like a perfect chance to open some 
packages, to me."

	Ranma shook her head, yawning, and climbed to her feet as Suu scampered 
to the room that should have belonged to the redhead. "It can wait until 
I have a place to put my things," she said dryly. "For now, it looks 
like I get some time to study. Like, the rest of the night."

	Keitaro nodded thoughtfully. "Good luck with that, Oe-san. I'm going to 
get some sleep," he finally said, trudging to his room. As he retreated 
down the hallway, he heard Mitsune offer to help Ranma study, and shook 
his head.

	***

	The light of dawn creeping through the window managed to awaken Shinobu 
before her alarm clock could do so. She fumbled with it for a moment 
before she blinked, then nodded at it, and climbed out of bed. Mornings 
were always such a pain. And it was a Sunday anyway, so she didn't need 
to worry about school, but at the same time.... Chores needed to be 
done, and sleeping in could easily be a bad habit.

	After all, she reflected, some days Keitaro and Naru pulled 
all-nighters for studying. Yawning, she gathered her bathing supplies, 
and crept down to the baths. Someone had cleaned them, and they were 
still ready for use.

	Once she had finished washing up and brushed her teeth, she pulled on 
her day clothing -- Ranma had mentioned that they wouldn't be training 
every day, and today was a day they wouldn't need to practice. Except 
for Motoko, but Shinobu knew that Motoko was leagues beyond everyone 
else except possibly Ranma anyway.

	She ran through the day's chores in her head as she wandered through 
the main room, and paused, frowning. Ranma was sitting on the very edge 
of the couch, blearily flipping through a study guide. Mitsune was 
stretched out across the parts of the couch that Ranma wasn't using, 
sleeping soundly.

	Ranma glanced up at Shinobu, and nodded, rubbing her eyes tiredly. 
"Good morning," Shinobu greeted the redhead. "Did you study here all night?"

	"I don't have a table in my room, and Suu's... doing something in 
there," Ranma said, shrugging.

	Shinobu nodded, while Mitsune stretched in her sleep, and turned to one 
side, incidentally grabbing Ranma's leg and snuggling close to it. She 
raised her head after a moment, yawning, and released Ranma. "It's 
morning already?" Mitsune asked, sitting up and stretching.

	"Looks like," Ranma said, closing her study guide, and pulling her 
notebook from behind her. "Hopefully Suu doesn't take too much longer."

	Mitsune brightened, and nodded towards some packages sitting on the 
floor. "We can see what you got, then, right?"

	"Not until I at least have a place to put them." Ranma yawned tiredly, 
and shook her head. "What is she doing, anyway?"

	Suu bounced into the room at that moment, skidding to a halt, and 
hopping into Ranma's lap. "It's ready!" she cheered.

	"Oh, good," Ranma mumbled, standing up, while Suu slipped onto the 
couch and picked up her discarded study guide. "I'll check my packages 
when I wake up. For now, I just want to get some sleep."

	"Phooey," Mitsune grumped, while Keitaro came down the stairs, looking 
well rested, and holding a study guide of his own. "You're no fun."

	"Eh, when I wake up," Ranma dismissed, trudging down the hall to her room.

	"And now those packages are going to be sitting on the floor of the 
main room, tempting me all day," the woman complained to Ranma's 
retreating form.

	"Don't worry about it," Keitaro assured her. "Oe-san doesn't seem to 
need much sleep, so he'll probably be up soon."

	"Oh, he'll never wake up fast enough for me," Mitsune continued to gripe.

	A bloodcurdling scream of terror shook the entire inn just at that moment.

	"Then again, I may have been wrong," Mitsune admitted.

	Ranma tore down the hallway on all fours, like a thing possessed, then 
skidded to a halt before Keitaro, backpedaling, and hissing like an 
enraged cat.

	"Yikes!" the young man exclaimed, jumping backwards. "Oe-san? What's 
going on?"

	"His synch rating is over four hundred percent!" Suu exclaimed, waving 
a small hand-held computer in one hand, a white lab coat fitting loosely 
about her shoulders as she dashed into the room. "He's gone berserk!"

	Mitsune stared, wide-eyed, and backed away from Ranma slowly.

	Swallowing, Shinobu looked around, as Naru stumbled down the stairs at 
the noise, her toothbrush still in her mouth, and sleep still in her 
eyes. "What's going on?" she managed to mumble.

	"I don't know!" Shinobu protested. Her eyes widened as Ranma looked 
around, then sidled up to her, nuzzling against her leg like a large, 
redheaded cat. "Oe-san?"

	Skidding down the steps behind Naru, Motoko had one hand on her sword, 
and stared at Ranma in consternation. "Oe-sensei?" she asked worriedly. 
"What's going on?"

	"Stop asking that question," Haruka demanded, entering the room from 
the kitchen, and startling everyone. "And you stop acting silly right 
this--" Her orders were cut off when Ranma leapt in the air and dived at 
the woman. Haruka raised one eyebrow, and launched a punch at the 
redhead, but the smaller girl seemed to roll in midair, slipping to the 
side of Haruka's strike, and then knocked the woman to the floor.

	Shinobu gasped in horror, as Ranma then raised one hand, fingers spread 
like claws... and batted playfully at Haruka's cigarette. The entire 
thing frayed apart as though it had been slashed with knives, sending a 
small cloud of dried tobacco to drift to the floor. Ranma continued to 
bat at the falling pieces, until nothing remained large enough to hit, 
and the floor had gained a faint smudge of dust around Haruka.

	That done, and distraction removed, Ranma turned her attention to 
Haruka again... and curled up on the woman's lap to take a nap.

	Haruka's other eyebrow rose, as she produced another unlit cigarette to 
replace the one that Ranma had destroyed. Cocking her head to one side, 
she gently petted Ranma, scratching behind one ear. "Okay," Haruka 
admitted, when Ranma began to purr quietly. "This is, in fact, new."

	"Um... what's going on?" Shinobu finally managed to ask.

	Haruka sighed, shaking her head, and scratched Ranma behind the ear. 
The redhead acted like a cat would, turning her head to provide a better 
scratching angle, while her purring grew to a muted rumble.

	"I thought he was afraid of cats," Motoko reasoned. "So why would he 
act like one?"

	"Afraid of cats?" Haruka asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, is there a 
cat in his room?"

	"No real cats," Suu said, shaking her head. "But I made a hologram 
projector to test a Ranma's reaction to cats!"

	"That explains a little," the older woman sighed. "Ranma's not going 
anywhere for a bit, and at a guess, neither am I. Keitaro, do me a 
favor, and see if you can get a hold of Seta?"

	***

	It took him the better part of an hour to actually run into Seta. The 
man was situated in his van, down by a small river a good mile off from 
the Hinata-Sou. Keitaro had no idea why the man was there, and even less 
of an idea of how he had managed to find him, but wasn't about to 
complain. Haruka had said to find him, so Keitaro had.

	"Seta-san!" he exclaimed, skidding to a halt.

	The man raised an eyebrow and adjusted his spectacles, one hand 
gripping a fishing rod loosely. "Oi, Keitaro," he greeted cheerfully. 
"What brings you here today?"

	"Ah...." Momentarily struck dumb, Keitaro had to wonder how the man 
could be fishing so casually in the middle of the day. Didn't he have a 
job at the college? "Haruka-basan sent me to find you," he said, shaking 
his head to clear it. "Oe-san... is acting strange."

	"Strange?" Seta asked, jerking his hand backwards, sending a large 
trout flying up from the stream, attached to the fishing line. He 
expertly caught the fish in his free hand, quickly tossing it into a 
nearby icebox, and then packed up his fishing gear.

	"He's... um... acting like a cat," Keitaro offered weakly. It suddenly 
occurred to him that Seta hadn't known about Ranma's curse. "Oh, and... 
he's been turned into a girl," he added thoughtfully.

	"Sounds serious," Seta said, rubbing his chin. "Well, if Haruka-chan 
wants me to see what I can offer, I'll try to help. Hop into the van, 
Keitaro -- we'll drive back."

	Keitaro nodded, climbing into the vehicle after Seta opened the door, 
and then buckled his seat belt. The man took a moment to shuffle some 
things into the van from outside -- the icebox, a collapsible chair, and 
a dirty shovel -- before he climbed into the driver's seat. Humming 
quietly, he turned the key in the ignition.

	When the vehicle sputtered to life, the aged radio did, too, playing 
some tired English song. "I like to dream, yes, yes," the radio crooned, 
as the world outside the windows blurred sluggishly, sliding violently 
to one side. "Right between the sound machine."

	Keitaro blinked, trying to get his bearings, and realized that he was 
smashed up against the door, while Seta made a thoughtful noise, threw a 
lever, and stomped on the gas pedal. "Uh-oh," Keitaro managed to croak out.

	"On a cloud of sound I drift in the night," the song continued. "Any 
place it goes is right."

	"I think I know a shortcut," Seta said helpfully before he reached out 
to turn up the volume of the radio. While he did so, the river spun 
crazily in place, and Keitaro swallowed heavily, whimpering.

	When the van straightened from the spinning, it was hurtling through 
blurred city streets, zooming uphill impossibly fast. "Goes far, flies 
near," the music went on. "To the stars away from here."

	"Gaaaaah," he managed to moan, while Seta hummed happily along with the 
music, cresting the hilltop, and soaring free of the Earth's weak grip.

	"Well, you don't know what, we can find," went the music. "Why don't 
you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride."

	Keitaro considered this turn of the song for a heartbeat before 
deciding that he would much rather remain grounded, and not fly away. 
The van decided the same thing at about that point, and it began to 
rotate alarmingly, nosing down towards the streets below. Surprisingly, 
he saw the courtyard in front of the inn appear before the van, only a 
handful of meters away.

	"Well, you don't know what, we can see."

	"Whoops," Seta laughed. "Looks like I made a bit of a mistake, there." 
The ground approached rapidly, showing not a trace of slowing its eager 
embrace of the descending vehicle.

	"Why don't you tell your dreams to me, fantasy will set you free."

	The van came to a lurching halt, flipping end over end while the music 
seemed to shift by the Doppler effect, and the ground greeted the metal 
behemoth. When Keitaro opened the door to stagger out, he and Seta 
bleeding from matching cuts on their heads, he had to wonder if the ride 
was as bad as he had thought. Was it, perhaps, just his imagination? The 
van certainly didn't look like it had rolled the way he remembered 
happening.

	Seta opened the side door of the van, and rummaged through a box for a 
moment, before producing a book titled 'Advanced Combat.' "Very well," 
he said, nodding. "Let's see what this is about, then."

	Keitaro shook his head to clear it, frowning. Wasn't he bleeding a 
moment ago? Ah, that wasn't important. Spinning on his heel, he marched 
into the inn, leading Seta to Haruka's side -- and so, to Ranma.

	The redhead was curled up on the floor, her head resting on a pillow. 
Haruka sat on the couch, her cigarette hanging in its habitual spot 
while she observed, and someone had swept up the dusting of the one that 
Ranma had shredded. "Oi," she greeted the men, nodding. "About time you 
got here."

	"I came as soon as Keitaro-kun told me something was wrong," Seta said 
simply, smiling. "What's this about Oe-san turning into a catgirl?"

	Haruka blinked, then shook her head. "He was acting like a cat," she 
clarified.

	Seta nodded knowingly, and flipped open his book before handing it over 
to Haruka.

	The woman accepted it, scanning across the page quickly.

	"Where did everyone else go?" Keitaro asked, scratching his head.

	"Away," Haruka answered tersely. "They all had better things to do than 
sit around and watch Oe-san, once I shooed them off."

	"Oh," he said quietly. "I see."

	Seta nodded thoughtfully, as Sarah bounced into the room, gleefully 
throwing herself into the man's arms. "Papa-san!" she exclaimed. "Are we 
going fishing today?"

	"You want to go fishing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I 
suppose we could do that." He turned to look at Haruka. "Do you mind if 
I take her out for a while?"

	"Go right ahead," Haruka said, snapping the book shut with a frown. 
Seta nodded, waving goodbye, then took Sarah outside and vanished with 
the muted rumble of his van's engine. Mitsune crept into the room next, 
peering at the sleeping redhead cautiously.

	"So... what did you find out?" Keitaro asked, motioning towards the 
book. "What was all this about?"

	"I had a suspicion," Haruka said slowly, frowning. "Where's everyone else?"

	"I'll get them!" Mitsune replied, smiling. Haruka glanced over at the 
young woman, but she had already vanished.

	"That girl needs to learn herself some subtlety," Haruka observed. 
"Have a seat, Keitaro."

	Shrugging, he sat on one edge of the couch, scrubbing his hand through 
his hair. It was beginning to get a little lanky.... Maybe he should get 
it cut? But then, Ranma and Seta had longer hair... maybe he could grow 
it out a bit, and see if that worked? What would Naru like? He shook his 
head to refocus; he was distracting himself again.

	In short order, Mitsune had gathered everyone into the room.

	"So, what happened to Oe-sensei?" Motoko asked cautiously, kneeling at 
Ranma's side and peering at her teacher's face curiously. "Some 
affliction, perhaps? Or maybe some form of demonic possession?"

	"Eh... something like that," Haruka replied, handing over the book. 
"Page fifteen or so," she added.

	Motoko sat up straight, flipping through the pages until her eyes 
widened. "Neko-ken?" she asked. Perplexed, she read aloud to the 
assembled tenants, "'To learn this invincible martial arts technique, 
one must first take a fish sausage.'"

	Suu blinked curiously, thoughtful for a moment, then nodded, while 
Motoko's brow furrowed. "And then what?" Shinobu asked, wondering how 
this related to martial arts.

	"Um, 'then wrap it around the trainee and throw him into a pit of 
starving cats.'" Motoko blanched at that. "Invincible martial arts 
technique?" she asked. "I have doubts...."

	"So Oe-san wanted to learn a martial arts technique so badly that he 
put himself through that?" Naru asked, frowning. Next to her, Suu's 
expression had taken a speculative cast, and she glanced at Motoko 
thoughtfully.

	"How bad could it be?" Keitaro reasoned. "They're just cats, after all."

	"Aaaugh..." Ranma moaned, uncurling slightly, and tossing her head to 
one side. "They're everywhere."

	"Oh, I suppose it could make a difference in how many there were," he 
temporized, at Mitsune's glare. "I mean... I'd be scared if I were 
dropped in a pit with a dozen of them, I guess."

	Ranma subsided slightly, seeming to lapse back into sleep.

	"Er... yeah. And then they'd probably go right for the sausage, with 
their beady eyes and prickly little claws -- yeah, that'd scare me," 
Keitaro said, nodding.

	All of the girls sent him a look somewhere between confusion and annoyance.

	"And, um, the pit would probably be dark, which is also scary, and then 
they'd be making noise and biting and...." He trailed off, frowning, as 
Motoko and Mitsune shot him twin gazes of anger. "And I think I'll shut 
up now," he said, nodding again. He'd really put his foot in his mouth 
that time.... Then again, he'd done almost as poorly with understanding 
Motoko's fear of turtles.

	***

	Haruka cleared her throat, rising from her couch, and shook her head. 
"Keitaro, let's go outside for a quick walk, hmm?" she asked.

	Keitaro's eyes widened, and he backed away, shaking his head quickly. 
"No, no, I'm good, I don't need any air -- maybe I'll go to my room and 
study for a bit, actually, now that--"

	"Oh, give it up already," Haruka grumped. "The point here is that 
justified or not, everyone's got something they're afraid of. Try not to 
rub it in."

	Shinobu nodded thoughtfully at that. "I always thought that... they 
were cute and cuddly. Not scary," she said, turning to look at Ranma's 
slumbering form.

	"Well, be that as it may, he did it to learn an invincible technique," 
Motoko said, frowning. "According to the book, at least."

	"Turn the page," Haruka advised.

	Motoko obliged, reading aloud, "'Of course, this isn't a real 
technique, and only an idiot would try it.'" She blinked, then sighed. 
"Oh. So, in his quest for power, he brought this upon himself."

	"It ain't like that!" Ranma said, suddenly sitting bolt upright. 
"Wait." Her brows furrowed, and she turned to look at Motoko 
speculatively. "What happened?"

	The kendoka blinked, glancing about the room, then coughed, hiding the 
notebook behind her back. "Nothing, nothing at all," she blurted, 
managing a forced smile, though even to Shinobu's eyes it was unconvincing.

	Shinobu frowned, shaking her head. "Oe-san?" she asked tremulously. 
"Why did you try and learn the neko-ken?"

	"How'd you find out about that?" Ranma asked, surprised.

	"Well, we have a book..." she managed, offering a smile she hoped 
looked more believable than Motoko's. "But, mostly because you were... 
acting like a cat earlier."

	"Oh," Ranma said quietly, adjusting the fit of her bandana, then 
scratching behind one ear nervously. "I should have come clean on that a 
while ago, I guess," she admitted, grinning ruefully. "Um... when I was 
a kid, my... father... thought it would be a good idea for me to learn 
the technique, so he tossed me into a pit for training." She shuddered 
at that, shaking her head. "Uh, anyway, if I go... like that... again, 
you can usually get me out of it by triggering my curse. Otherwise, I'll 
usually calm down and let someone pet me... then it just takes an hour 
or so to wear off."

	"So I noticed," Haruka observed, suddenly looming over Ranma's 
diminutive form, her voice much more dire than Ranma's. She looked down 
at the redhead, cracked her knuckles, and said, "Please don't let that 
happen again."

	Ranma's eyes widened slightly, and she backed away quickly. "Won't 
happen again," she said swiftly, shaking her head.

	"Good," Haruka replied, her looming figure suddenly reduced to her more 
normal stature. "Having you sit on my lap cost me a good hour of running 
the tea shop. Doubt any customers came by, but I'd better check it out."

	Ranma climbed to her feet, and frowned. "Ah... Haruka-san... would you 
be looking for any part-time help?" she asked cautiously.

	Haruka raised an eyebrow at the door, and glanced back at Ranma. "I'll 
consider it," she said after a moment. After that she offered what may 
have been the hint of a smile, and vanished.

	"Well, that didn't go too badly," Ranma reasoned, glancing around the 
assembled tenants. "Anything exciting happen while I was out?"

	"Um...." Shinobu giggled quietly, still somewhat nervous. "You acted 
like a cat, Oe-san. That was enough excitement, I think."

	"Great," Ranma replied, yawning. "I'm still sleepy, so I'm going back 
to bed... assuming it's safe."

	"Wait here a moment," Motoko said, holding up a hand to forestall 
Ranma's motion. It came too late, and the hand pressed into Ranma's 
chest. The redhead looked down at Motoko's hand, and the kendoka quickly 
withdrew it, blushing. "Ah... that is... wait here a moment, while I 
make sure there is nothing else in your room that should not be there." 
Still blushing, the kendoka retreated swiftly, vanishing up the stairs 
towards Ranma's room.

	Ranma blinked, then nodded, stretching. "What a day," she sighed.

	"Tell me about it," Keitaro said after a moment. "Seta's driving scares 
me."

	Naru shook her head. "I think I'm going to lie down for a while, too," 
she said, turning to the stairs, and vanishing to her room.

	"Your father threw you in a pit of cats?" Mitsune asked, scandalized. 
"That sounds rather... cruel."

	"Was it effective?" Suu asked curiously.

	Ranma shuddered. "In a way, I guess," she mumbled. Shaking her head 
quickly, she added, "Don't try it. It's not worth it." Her eyes 
flickered briefly across Mitsune's, then away. "Anyway, that's not 
important anymore."

	"I'm sorry, Oe-san," Shinobu said sympathetically. "I won't... bring 
any more of them near you again."

	"Thanks," the redhead replied uneasily.

	Motoko returned then, nodding. "I have disabled Suu's devices." She 
shot the girl a disapproving look. "It should be safe, now."

	"Thanks," Ranma mumbled again, blushing darkly, before she ran off. 
"G'night!" she called out on her way to her room.

	"That was interesting," Mitsune said. "I'd say he's pretty embarrassed 
about the entire thing."

	"Wouldn't you be?" Motoko asked, frowning. "If you had... some fear 
that tormented you so?"

	"I guess," Mitsune replied, shrugging. "I'm not really scared of 
anything like that, though."

	"A letter came for you today," Motoko said, shifting the subject of the 
conversation.

	"What, really?" Mitsune asked eagerly. "What was it? Where is it?"

	"It's from a debt collector."

	Mitsune's expression paled, and she looked around nervously. "Uh... 
really? Where's it from?"

	"It isn't real," Motoko explained. "Today is Sunday, after all. The 
point is that we all have our fears."

	"I don't!" Suu chirped cheerfully. "I'm afraid of nothing!" Smiling, 
she dashed away, singing in a language Shinobu didn't recognize as she 
skipped down the hallway.

	"Don't do that!" Mitsune chastised Motoko. "Anyway, I need to go to 
work." Grumbling, she too wandered towards her room.

	Keitaro shook his head, sighing. "And I need to study," he said before 
he left, walking down the same hallway Mitsune had used.

	Motoko shrugged, then glanced at Shinobu. She only looked for a moment 
before looking away, watching something through the windows of the front 
room.

	"I'm... afraid of being alone," Shinobu volunteered.

	Motoko shifted her feet slightly, and nodded.

	"I'm afraid... that some day everyone will vanish, and I'll be... all 
alone." She swallowed. "That's... my fear."

	"And you still find the courage to face it every day," Motoko said 
sadly. "That is brave, Shinobu-chan -- don't think that it isn't."

	"Aoyama-san?" Shinobu was taken aback at the kendoka's words -- as 
though she, somehow, were more brave than the one who was training to 
fight constantly?

	"Don't... worry about it," Motoko said, shaking her head. "I'm going to 
go practice."

	***

	"Jogging?" Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow.

	"Well... it's... partially to keep in shape -- the long hours of 
studying aren't good exercise -- and... partially to try and help 
Mutsumi-chan get healthier, so she can make it to Todai more easily," 
Keitaro explained.

	The martial artist frowned. "So, you want to do this instead of 
practicing your martial arts?"

	"Ah! No, of course not!" Keitaro said, waving his hands to placate 
Ranma. "In fact, we were hoping... you would try and get her to train 
with us. Since you're a martial artist, you'd know more about training 
someone to become healthier... right?"

	"To a degree," Ranma said, nodding. "I mean, I spent a lot of time with 
Aniki learning... to do all sorts of things, really. But yeah, I taught 
some of the beginners exercises at Tsuruko-sensei's dojo. If Otohime 
agrees to it, that's fine. Is this going to be before or after practice?"

	"Before," Keitaro said happily. "Mutsumi-chan will follow us, and then 
we can show her how you teach us -- hopefully she'll want to learn, too."

	"'Us?'" Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow again.

	"Er... yes," Keitaro managed, laughing uneasily. "Um... Narusegawa 
wants to train with you, too."

	"Why the change of heart?" Ranma asked, frowning.

	"Er... I... guess she wants to keep a closer eye on me around 
Mutsumi-chan," he admitted.

	Ranma nodded knowingly. "That makes sense," he said.

	"Of course-- HEY!" Keitaro balled his hands up into fists and bristled 
at Ranma. "What's that supposed to mean? I thought you were on my side!"

	Ranma grinned, waving a hand dismissively. "I was just teasing you, 
Kanrinin. So what time do we meet for this jogging thing?"

	***

	"Open them!" Mitsune pestered gleefully. "I want to see what you got!"

	Sighing, Ranma shook his head -- though Suu was every bit as eager as 
Mitsune to see what was in the packages. "Fine, fine," he grumbled, 
snapping the twine about the first parcel and then tearing off the 
paper. "Clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes... oh, a blanket," he noted, 
stacking the articles to one side of his bag. "More clothes... and a 
photo album. Not bad."

	Mitsune held up a shirt, and raised an eyebrow. "Chinese silk?" she 
asked. "Nice -- I like it."

	"Eh, I don't know if it even fits me anymore," he dismissed. "I  used 
to wear them a lot. Okay, package number two... wait. This is from the 
old pervert." He frowned darkly, but opened it regardless. "Let's see 
what he gave me," he grumbled, as a number of lacy white and black 
feminine undergarments fell out. He ignored them, brushing them aside, 
and reaching in to pull out a larger white piece of cloth. "A gi... a 
signed writ recognizing... my mastery of the Anything Goes school...." 
He blinked, staring at the scroll, then smiled. "Wow. It really...." 
Shaking his head, he set it aside, pulling a number of other scrolls 
from the bundle.

	"What are all of these?" Mitsune asked, pulling one scroll in 
particular out, and examining it. It seemed to show the outline of a 
body, with specific points being marked off.

	"Pressure point chart," Ranma explained, glancing over the chart 
briefly. "It says it's to counter another set of pressure points... 
hmm." He rifled through the other scrolls, and pulled out another. "I 
think this is the first part. Looks like an exercise to increase the 
flow of ki through a person to enhance their ability. I'll have to 
research it more later."

	"Is there a technique to turn invisible here?" Suu asked curiously.

	"I doubt it -- the old man would have used it, if he had it," Ranma 
said, shaking his head. "But, let's see...." He scanned through the 
other scrolls quickly, then shook his head. "Nope. No invisibility." He 
sighed, checking the return address on the parcel's ripped paper. 
"Funny... how did he send it from Aniki's place?"

	"Maybe he knows your brother?" Mitsune suggested.

	Ranma nodded. "Wouldn't be surprised," he admitted. "Everyone else 
seems to." He set the scrolls aside in a careful bundle. "Anyway, let's 
go ahead and see what the final package is." He tore it open, his eyes 
widening happily. "My bracers!" he exclaimed, pulling a pair of 
metallic-looking wristbands from the package, and sliding them on. "Man, 
these things are great!"

	"What are they?" Mitsune asked, leaning to inspect them closely. "They 
look like silver or copper in the light... but the color changes and it 
moves like cloth."

	"Feels like it, too," Ranma said, extending a wrist to Mitsune so she 
could touch the material. "This was a gift from... someone... after...." 
His face clouded, and he shook his head. "It was a gift," he said 
simply, shrugging. "She said it was dragon-hide. I don't know if it's 
true or not, but I really like them anyway."

	"Dragon hide?" Suu asked thoughtfully, peering closely at it, then 
nodding. "Looks like it," she replied disinterestedly. "Aniki has a pair 
of bracelets like that, too."

	"Who's your older brother?" Ranma asked, plucking shirts and folded 
pants from the package and setting them in a neat stack.

	"He's a prince," Suu said simply. "Ooh, is this a photo-album?"

	"Ah! Pictures!" Faster than even Ranma could react, Mitsune snatched up 
the book.

	He took it from her hands before she could open it, and shook his head. 
"Time for that later," he chastised. "For now, I need to get to work, 
and you," he shot a pointed glance at Suu, "need to clean up these 
pieces of your last experiment."

	***

	Finally reaching the top of the hill, Keitaro let out a long breath, 
sighing. "Quite a run," he managed tiredly. "All this studying... I 
don't get enough exercise!"

	"Heh, the guy who invited us to run fell behind," Naru teased, giggling 
quietly. "Figures."

	Naru, Mutsumi, and Keitaro all froze to look as a blurred shadow slid 
across the street. "An opening!" The blurred shadow resolved itself into 
Ranma, sliding backwards across the power-line over the road while 
balanced on the balls of his feet, his arms crossed over his face, and 
Motoko's blade between his bracers. Motoko drove the blade downwards, 
but was unable to touch the other martial artist with it.

	"Gotcha!" he replied, grinning.

	"Those bracers, they're--"

	Not giving her enough time to react, Ranma rolled onto his back. 
Motoko's grip on her sword was firm, and she was pulled with him. 
Ranma's feet tucked under Motoko, and then exploded upwards, launching 
her into the air with a trailed cry of panic.

	He flipped off the power line, landing on the street on both feet, and 
wiped a faint sheen of sweat from his forehead. "Man, I'm glad Aniki 
sent all my stuff," he said, eyeing the metallic bands on his arms with 
a grin. "These things are great!"

	"Wow!" Mutsumi cheered. "Are you an acrobat, as well as a martial artist?"

	"Eh?" Ranma blinked at that then shrugged, approaching a nearby vending 
machine. "I guess," he said after a moment, perusing the selection of 
drinks. "I mean, I've learned how to do stuff like that, too."

	Fumbling for a moment with some change, he put coins in the vending 
machine, then pressed a button. It was vended with a rumbling clatter. 
Nodding in satisfaction, he added a few more coins, and got another 
drink, but this time instead of dispensing the drink with a tumbling 
clank, the machine said, "Winner!" in a recorded voice, and dispensed 
two more cans.

	"That was unexpected," he mused, juggling the three cans.

	Naru frowned worriedly, and glanced upwards. "Shouldn't Motoko be 
coming back down soon?" she asked.

	"Point," Ranma admitted, shoving the drinks into Keitaro's hands, then 
launching himself into the sky. Motoko descended, and the two collided, 
a shower of sparks erupting as the kendoka's blade met with Ranma's bracers.

	The pair of combatants came apart, flipping in the air and landing a 
few meters from one another. Motoko wore the same smile Ranma had a 
moment prior, and held her sword in a defensive position. "You've 
improved," she appraised.

	"Just got my old bracers back," he said, nodding happily. "But, I think 
this is a good spot for a break, don't you?"

	"About time you get tired," Keitaro grumped, as Ranma retrieved the 
drinks. "Fighting on the power lines?"

	"It's good for practicing balance," Motoko answered flippantly, nodding 
her head as Ranma handed her a can. "Thank you, Oe-sensei."

	"No problem," he assured her. "Haruka has me working part-time to fix 
up her apartment and the tea-shop. I'm not completely poor anymore." 
Ranma hesitated a moment, glancing at Keitaro and Naru, then held the 
extra can out to Mutsumi. "You look like you could use this," he offered.

	"Oh, thank you," she said happily, accepting the drink. "A sports drink?"

	"Water's better, but this'll replace some of the energy you lost on the 
way here," he explained. "You should also work on your breathing."

	"Breathing?" she asked.

	Ranma nodded, while Keitaro got drinks for himself and Naru. "How you 
breathe... well, part of it is that it changes the way you move ki 
through your body," he explained.

	Motoko nodded, opening her can. "The pathways through the body for ki 
allow you to have more energy, and thus, a better warrior," she added 
before taking a sip.

	"Oh, but I'm not a warrior," Mutsumi said, shaking her head. "I just 
want to go to Todai!"

	"Isn't that a form of fight?" Ranma asked. "I want to go to Todai, too. 
But if you want to be able to make it to the testing rooms, and then to 
Todai every day, it'll help to become stronger."

	"That's true," Mutsumi admitted, nodding thoughtfully. Her generally 
cheerful features shifted as she considered things, and asked, "Will you 
help me become stronger?"

	"Oh, um... sure," Ranma agreed, looking nervous for a moment. "There's 
a few things we can do... but just good exercise and proper breathing 
should help a lot."

	"Thank you, Ranma-kun!" she exclaimed, cheerfully clasping her hands 
together.

	"No problem," he said, grinning. "You're... anemic, right?"

	"Oh, yes... how did you know?" she asked, cocking her head to one side.

	"It was just a guess," Ranma admitted. "You looked a bit pale. Make 
sure you recover your breath before we jog back -- good training doesn't 
push you too hard."

	"Indeed," Motoko mused, crushing her can and tossing it into a nearby 
recycling bin. "So, what shall we do on the way back?"

	"Simple," Ranma said, grinning. "You try and tag me once."

	"That's it?" Motoko asked, disbelieving the task. "As you wish." She 
drew her sword and took up a stance -- only to blink, as Ranma spun the 
blade idly through his fingers.

	"Here's the challenge," he said, winking.

	"Ah! My sword-- Very well, I will show you a true warrior uses any 
weapon they can find," she shouted, drawing her sheath from her belt and 
swinging it at Ranma like a bokken. He ducked to one side, throwing the 
blade straight into the air, then plucked the sheath from her hands. 
"Hey!" she protested, glowering as he raised the sheath and caught the 
sword in it without looking. "Okay, now you're just showing off," she 
accused.

	"Could be," he chuckled. "Ready?"

	"Ready!" she yelled back, charging him with her bare hands.

	Mutsumi shook her head appreciatively as the martial artists danced 
fluidly over the hilltop. "Ranma sure has a lot of energy," she 
observed, sipping her drink.

	Keitaro nodded, glancing between the two girls who had jogged with him. 
"Yes," he replied, sighing happily. "He's teaching me martial arts, too."

	"Oh, can you do something like that, too?" Mutsumi asked, turning to 
look at him while she sipped at her drink.

	"Eh?" Keitaro asked, retreating a step at the suggestion. "Oh, no, I'm 
not nearly that, good, really!"

	"Are you certain?" Mutsumi asked, stepping closer.

	"I'm pretty sure," Keitaro said, nodding as he retreated another step. 
His ankle caught on a short barrier, and he stumbled backwards over it, 
sending up a great gout of cold water as he splashed into a nearby 
stream. "Auuugh! Cold!" he yelped, as Ranma managed -- somehow -- to get 
splashed while sparring with Motoko.

	The redhead seemed not to even notice that her gender had changed, 
except to pull her shirt away from her chest while she and Motoko 
sparred. Mutsumi turned her attention to Keitaro, as he pulled himself 
from the streambed. "Oh, my, are you alright, Kei-kun?" Mutsumi asked, 
leaning towards him to offer him a hand up and a towel. "You must be 
careful, you don't want to catch a cold right now!"

	Keitaro nodded, glancing at Narusegawa as he climbed over the short 
fence blocking access to the stream. Mutsumi attempted to dry him off, 
but he shook his head, blushing. "I can dry myself off," he managed, 
laughing. She nodded, and he quickly got what he could of himself dry.

	"We can finish at home later when we take a bath," Naru said, 
stretching. "Are you ready for the run back?"

	"Ah... you two take a bath together?" Mutsumi asked, her eyes widening. 
"I hadn't realized you were in such a relationship!" She giggled, her 
hand covering her mouth. "How ecchi!"

	"Not together!" Naru protested quickly, her face reddening darkly.

	"We just live at the same place!" Keitaro added.

	"And... we use the hot springs at the Hinata-Sou." Naru cleared her 
throat. "Why don't we go back there to study for a while?"

	Mutsumi's eyes lit up, and she gasped in delight. "Hot springs?" she 
asked excitedly. "I love hot springs! Even though I've heard that there 
were springs in the area, I'd never gotten a chance to visit one near 
here." She turned back towards the inn, and began jogging happily.

	"Um...." Keitaro began uncertainly. "I don't--"

	"Kensei-strike!" Motoko yelled out suddenly, making a slashing movement 
with one hand. "A slash without a sword!" True to her word, a flashing 
blade of light shot between her and Ranma, the redheaded martial artist 
ducking just barely beneath the attack, as it tore into the street 
behind her.

	"Hold up there!" Ranma growled, suddenly angry.

	Motoko froze, brought up short. "Was my form off?" she asked anxiously. 
"Was I not supposed to use such an attack?"

	Ranma sighed, shaking her head, and motioned Keitaro to move on. 
Swallowing, Keitaro turned to chase after Mutsumi, along with Naru. As 
he jogged down the hill, he caught the tail end of Ranma's lecture to 
Motoko.

	"Now, that attack's good, and there'll be situations where you need 
it... but you always need to be careful when fighting. There's no call 
to damage the surroundings or anything else. What would you do if you 
accidentally hurt an innocent bystander...."

	In short order, Keitaro had caught up with Mutsumi, and it only took a 
moment to reach the inn. Mutsumi gamely jogged up the steps, not 
stopping until she reached the top. Naru and Keitaro paced her, and they 
all stopped to catch their breath in the courtyard before the inn's 
entrance.

	"Ah!" Mutsumi breathed, surveying the inn. Keitaro examined it himself. 
Since Ranma's confrontation with the construction crew, the place had 
started getting put together very quickly -- the siding and walls had 
been repaired nicely, all of the holes cleanly repaired instead of 
crudely patched. The roof was immaculate, of course, and Keitaro could 
only grin at the pride welling up inside him when he realized that he 
was responsible for a piece of it.

	A stray wind brushed through the surrounding trees. "The famous 
Japanese inn, Hinata-Sou," Mutsumi said appreciatively. "I've seen this 
building before, I think."

	"Eh?" Keitaro noised, surprised. Motoko and Ranma lit on the top of the 
stairs, neither of them looking pleased. "Um... something wrong?"

	"Nothing," Motoko said, relaxing slightly. "Merely more lessons to learn."

	Ranma's expression grew pained, and she shook her head. "Look, 
Motoko-chan... we learn from our mistakes, right? I'd... just like you 
to do me a favor and take that a step further -- learn from my mistake. 
That's all," she explained.

	Motoko's resentment faded. "I will try," she said, meeting Ranma's eyes 
and nodding.

	"Say," Mitsune called from the balcony, her toothbrush in her mouth. 
"It's the turtle-girl, isn't it?"

	"Ah! Hello, Kitsune-san!" Mutsumi greeted, waving happily.

	"Er... how'd you know my name?" she asked, blinking.

	"Oh, Tamago told me," Mutsumi explained, nodding happily.

	Shinobu, also on the balcony, brushing her teeth, eyed the collection 
of people below her carefully, and removed her toothbrush from her mouth.

	Kitsune blinked for a moment, then shook her head. "When does class 
begin, Oe-sensei?"

	"When you're all outside, I suppose," she said, shrugging.

	***

	Once everyone had assembled, Ranma led them through their training 
exercises, though she emphasized the importance of proper breathing to 
everyone before they began. Naru sighed, shaking her head. Seta had 
taught her differently, but she didn't really know much outside of one 
or two moves.

	Ranma seemed to aim to teach her a whole style of martial arts, showing 
her more of the Jeet-Kun-Do that Seta had trained her in, while Mutsumi 
joined Mitsune and Shinobu in Tai Chi. Suu and Keitaro had joined in 
learning at Naru's side, and she had to wonder what it was that Suu had 
been learning before, but Ranma looked happy that Suu had switched, so 
she decided not to ask.

	Motoko, of course, trained in something Ranma wouldn't name, sparring 
against Ranma barehanded. She seemed to be improving, too, if Ranma's 
appraisal was any indication -- Naru couldn't tell herself. Both Ranma 
and Motoko were light-years beyond her own ability, outside of her few 
specialized attacks. Still... she did like the idea of keeping herself 
in shape. And, of course, it let her keep an eye on Keitaro when he was 
with Mutsumi.

	She shook her head to clear it. "Ah, that was nice," she sighed, 
stretching. "Um... Mutsumi-san, would you like to use the hot springs 
with me? Keitaro and Ranma have their own baths."

	Mutsumi glanced at the pair -- Ranma currently a girl -- who were 
chatting amiably, and discussing a maneuver that Keitaro was trying to 
learn. "Okay!" she said cheerfully, traipsing along after Naru, and into 
the baths.

	"Ah, so nice," Mutsumi breathed, once she was soaking comfortably in 
the hot water.

	Naru shook her head, glancing at the other girl. "You sure seem to like 
this," she commented to Mutsumi.

	"Oh, I like lots of things!" she said cheerfully. "Who do you like?"

	"Eh?" Naru managed, stunned. "You mean what, right?"

	"No, no," Mutsumi said, shaking her head softly. "Who is your boyfriend?"

	"Ack!" Naru squeaked out. "I'm... not... that is...."

	"Oh?" Mutsumi asked, leaning forward to examine Naru closely. "Is it 
that you like someone, but aren't going out with them? It is! Who do you 
like, Naru-san?"

	The other girls -- all of which had joined them in the baths, after the 
morning martial arts practice -- watched with wide-eyes.

	"Um... well," she said slowly. "You see...." What was she supposed to 
say? Usually at about this point something embarrassing would happen -- 
something that would tend to involve Keitaro wandering in and 
embarrassing himself horribly. She looked around nervously, wondering 
what it would be.

	***

	"So, I think it's going to be a function of... ah... ah...." Fumbling a 
handkerchief from his pocket, Keitaro managed to smother his sneeze. 
"Sorry about that," he managed.

	"Yeah, I think you're right," Ranma said, leaning across the table to 
peer as his answer sheet. "That looks about the same as what I was 
thinking."

	Keitaro nodded, then shivered violently.

	"You alright, Kanrinin?" Ranma asked, frowning.

	"I suddenly got the strangest feeling," Keitaro said nervously. 
"Anyway, um, onto the next question."

	***

	Naru swallowed back her fear, as nothing continued to happen to 
interrupt the question. "W...well," she managed, bowing her head. She 
had admitted it to herself, ultimately. When she thought she had lost 
Keitaro to Ranma it had begun to become clear in her own mind, at least. 
"I... like...."

	"Is it me?" Suu asked excitedly.

	"I... like all of you, but... the guy I like...." Naru trailed off, 
struggling with herself.

	"Yes?" Mutsumi asked, smiling hopefully.

	"It's... he's...."

	"Go on," Mitsune encouraged, grinning speculatively.

	"Well... you see...."

	"Who is it?" Motoko asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

	"I... really...."

	"Sempai?" Shinobu asked, her eyes shining with trepidation.

	"... like... Keitaro," Naru gasped out, her face suffusing solid 
crimson. "I... have for a while," she managed, drained from the admission.

	"Ooh," Shinobu moaned, sinking in the bath to lean against a rock.

	"See, that wasn't so hard!" Mitsune cheered, winking at Naru.

	"I can't imagine what you see in that man," Motoko said, not quite able 
to meet Naru's eyes.

	"Keitaros are interesting too," Suu admitted after a moment.

	Naru met Mutsumi's eyes, finally, and offered a nervous smile. Mutsumi 
herself regarded Naru with widened eyes -- not widened in shock, simply 
not narrowed in joy. Her expression shifted to a smile after a moment, 
though there were hints of sadness in the depths of her eyes before she 
veiled them behind narrowed eyelids. "Yes, Keitaro is very handsome," 
she encouraged. "I like him, too. Have you confessed to him yet?"

	"N...no," Naru admitted, still feeling her face burn with 
embarrassment. "I... will. After the test to get into Todai."

	"That's a good plan!" Mutsumi assured her.

	***

	"So, why don't we all study together?" Keitaro asked, while Ranma 
poured hot water over her -- now his -- head. "I mean, there are four of 
us, and... I know I got a lot better at studying after I began studying 
with Narusegawa... so if we all work together, I bet we can all make it!"

	"I'm willing to give it a shot," Ranma said, setting the kettle on the 
table. "I might not always be able to make it, but with a team of four, 
if one person can't be there, the other three can still work together."

	"I... wouldn't mind that," Naru agreed, blushing.

	"Oh, I like studying with Naru-chan and Kei-kun!" Mutsumi said 
cheerfully. "I'll gladly study with you!"

	--------------------------------------
	Author's notes:

	Thanks again to all the people on the Refuge who helped C&C this 
chapter. ^_^

-- 
Brian Randall
--
I write fanfiction. Too much of it. You can read it here, thanks to a 
kind grant from the Larry F foundation:
http://www.rakhal.com/florestica/durandall/index.html
--
Together. Allegiance or death. BIGFIRE!
--
Haiku of my lament:

Forgive my spelling,
my U.S. education,
is the source of blame.


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