Attached find Hybrid Theory, Chapter 5. Please send also send any C&C to my
co-author at kumonryuu@hotmail.com so I don't forget. ^^;;;
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: hybridtheory05.txt
C&A Productions Presents
A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion
Hybrid Theory
Chapter 5: Session
"So you're awake."
Ukyou sighed as her newly modified memory drifted back into the recesses
of her consciousness. She had been rather fond of that memory before, or so
she
suspected. It was rather hard to tell, now.
Anyway, she and Aaron were awake now. The first thing she noticed was
her complete inability to move. The next was the spoken phrase, which had
just
now registered. She opened her eyes and saw the plain white ceiling with
its harsh neon lights overhead. In the corner of her vision she saw hanging
partitions. Oh right, Akane had taken her to Doctor Tofu's clinic.
"Doctor Tofu, I presume?"
"Why yes. though I don't believe we've had a chance to be properly
introduced," the man said as he leaned in. Doctor Tofu was really a quite
attractive man, Ukyou noted with idle dispassion. He had well trimmed brown
hair, kindly black eyes behind neat little glasses and the kind of mouth
which
was made for smiling. Aaron was curious as to why he wore a martial arts gi
in
the office, but couldn't work up the energy to ask.
"Ukyou Kuonji," Ukyou said in a bored tone. "And you are Ono Tofu.
Pleased to meet you." Tofu seemed to find her deadpan manner slightly
amusing,
and chuckled to himself.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"No, actually, I feel terrible," Ukyou pointed out with a sigh. She
wasn't exaggerating either. Her muscles ached like she had just run across
all
of Asia, and her head felt like someone had set off a fireworks display in
it a
few moments ago. There didn't seem to be a part of her body that didn't feel
like someone had worked it over with a baseball bat. "But you can unparalyse
me,
if that's what you mean. My seizure is over now that I'm fully awake."
"You sound like you're used to this kind of thing," Tofu noted idly as
he moved his expert fingers to unfreeze her. Ukyou grit her teeth and hissed
as
the sudden return of vitality to her limbs only increased the pain. "I'm
sorry,"
the doctor murmured softly when he saw her expression.
"Problem not," Ukyou sighed and rolled her head back on the stiff pillow
Tofu had provided her. "It wasn't your fault."
"I can do something for the pain."
"Don't bother," Ukyou groaned. "It isn't that bad. Plus it will remind
me not to be such an idiot in the future."
Tofu tsked and leaned in, placing his fingers on a few of the pressure
points on her head. Slowly, much of the pain drained away. Now she only felt
like she had been run over by a garbage truck. "I'll never understand how
you
martial artists can be so bull-headed about certain things."
"Like wearing workout clothes while tending patients?" Aaron chuckled.
Tofu had the decency to look abashed, but still smiled in a winning fashion.
Aaron frowned, however, looking back up at the ceiling. "I guess I should
get
the cliches out of the way. Like finding out how long I was unconscious, and
what happened to everyone else."
"Well..." Tofu shrugged and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You were
asleep for a good..." He checked his watch and whistled. "A little over
thirty-
eight hours."
"Thirty-eight?" Aaron blinked, followed swiftly by a groan from Ukyou.
"Yes, you were in much worse shape then you are in now when you came
in. I didn't even try to wake you up."
"How bad?"
"Very bad," Tofu said with uncharacteristic seriousness in his tone.
"Aside from the extensive internal and external injuries, coupled with the
blood
loss and broken bones... the most serious damage of all was to your chi."
Aaron snapped his eyes to the doctor's face and stared at him intently.
The man seemed to barely notice as he leaned back on the stool he was using.
"I don't know what technique you were using, but whatever it was is
extremely dangerous."
"Indeed..." Aaron sighed. "The truth is, doctor, that it wasn't a
technique. It's a... condition I suffer from."
"Ah," Tofu commented softly as he nodded. "That makes sense. The damage
done to your chi is too extensive for you to have done it voluntarily."
"Can you... tell me anything about it?"
"Hmm... not really, I'm not sure of the cause, It's certainly not
anything I'm familiar with."
"Too much to hope for," Ukyou grumbled softly. She spoke again before
Tofu could respond. "So, where are all my friends? I expected one of them to
be
here when I woke up."
"Don't be disappointed," Tofu said easily. "It's still school hours for
them. Akane and Ranma have both been in to see you with all their free time.
They're doing well. Ms. Hirozuki and Ms. Kanagata have not been back since I
gave them an antidote to that nasty poison."
"Ah," Aaron nodded. He and Ukyou fell silent as the doctor moved back
out of their sight and did doctor-things. In the silence of the clinic the
mental debate started. Calling it mental speech would have been a misnomer.
It
was far more... pure, more immediate than any speech could have been. The
moment
a concept entered Aaron's mind, it entered Ukyou's mind with the same
potency.
In exchange her thoughts were experienced by Aaron simultaneously.
Maintaining a
sense of separation was difficult, but not impossible. Aaron had no trouble
identifying which thoughts were "his" and which came from Ukyou's part of
their
shared psyche. It could still be confusing and annoying, however.
The first thing to enter their dual mind were recriminations, on both
sides. Ukyou had deliberately pushed Chris away. Aaron had drawn them both
into
too many conflicts. But the attacks lasted only a few seconds. It was
impossible
to blame someone for something with any real vehemence when you became
instantly
aware of every nuance of thought they experienced. So, there could be no
blame
to dole out here. Whatever damage they had done to themselves and their
friends,
both past and present, they shared responsibility equally. It was the only
fair
way to see it.
That was the logic behind it. It didn't stop Ukyou's feelings. Aaron
knew how to suppress his feelings, but that was one skill Ukyou never wanted
to
master. It left her with this dark pit of hate in her gut, a roiling toxic
mix
of guilt and anger and pain that she couldn't let out. It had been almost a
month since she had woken up with Aaron stuck inside her skull, and that
miasma
of hatred had been growing every day since then. The fact that Aaron was as
much
of a victim as she didn't matter. The fact that she was being a bitch to his
friend didn't matter. Her heart couldn't be swayed by logic; simple sense
couldn't stop her from hating him for the mockery he had made out of her
life.
Her constant hatred was inescapable for Aaron. It wore him down, eroded
his meager confidence. Ukyou's outburst against Chris the other day, when
she
voiced her hatred for the first time, had been the first time in his life
that
Aaron had ever considered suicide. Maybe it would be better if he could find
some way to disappear.
Ukyou sighed aloud. Now his feeling bad was making her feel bad. Which
only made her angry. Which only made her hate him more. Which only fueled
his
growing depression. It was a vicious cycle, one which both of them realized
existed, yet neither of them could do anything to avoid.
"You look sad," Tofu understated as he walked back into view. "You
should cheer up. From what I gathered, it isn't all that bad."
"You didn't hear enough," Ukyou sighed again. "I..." Ukyou trailed off.
"It doesn't matter, doctor. This is just something I have to live with, I
guess."
"Well, if you need somebody to talk to...," Tofu smiled down at her and
let the comment hang in the air. Ukyou forced herself to smile back. She
didn't
feel like smiling, but Aaron was a good actor and it was simple to draw on
his
skills in that area. "We're probably going to be together for a while. The
level
of your injuries... it would take someone weeks or months to recover fully
from
them. I don't even recommend you get out of bed for another week."
"I see..." Ukyou nodded. "Isn't this the part where you recommend I go
to a normal hospital?"
"I would, except I don't believe that any normal hospital could properly
treat you," Tofu responded. "At first, I would have thought that best, but
now..." he trailed off. "You've had as close to a complete transfusion as
you
can get. The rest of the damage is too widespread and too minor to be
corrected
with even the most advanced surgical techniques. Not to mention the damage
to
your chi. Your average surgeon or resident wouldn't understand the concepts
behind chi damage, much less the treatments needed to reverse it."
"So... that's why you work as a chiropractor?" Aaron mused aloud. "I
always thought you were a bit too skilled to be a small time practitioner."
"You sound like we've met before."
"We haven't," Ukyou said evenly. It was easy to forget how much they
knew, thanks to Aaron's reading that damnable comic book. "I just make it a
habit to learn everything I can about my friends and enemies."
"A strange habit in one so young," Tofu mused as he leaned back. He
started for the door. "I think I can help you recover from your injuries,
Miss
Kuonji. I understand you fled medical care the last time this happened. I
hope
you won't do the same this time."
"I won't." Ukyou turned her head to the side and saw him standing at the
door. "I insist on paying for your help. I'm not a freeloader, and I have
money."
"Hmm? Oh, it doesn't matter much to me. Your case is so interesting;
I've never seen a kind of damage quite like yours. I would love the chance
to
study it."
"Now you make me feel like some lab accident," Ukyou groused with as
much good nature as she could manage.
"Hah! No, nothing like that!" Tofu laughed and rubbed the back of his
head.
"Indeed..." Ukyou turned her head back to the ceiling. "Do me a favor,
and tell Ranma and Akane that I'm awake if you can get in touch with them. I
have... things I need to discuss with them."
"I will," Tofu said seriously. The sound of the door closing left Ukyou
alone with her and Aaron's thoughts.
*
Nabiki splashed the cold water on her face and reached over to procure a
towel to dry herself off. She couldn't stand this anymore. It was keeping
her up
at night. Remembering that day. Locked in a room, tied up, gagged, listening
to
the distant sounds of combat as it ripped up the Kunou estate...
She shook her head to free up those thoughts. No use dwelling on the
past. Best to think forward to the future. With a yawn she leaned away from
the
sink and stretched herself out. She might have been able to let it go, if
she
had been able to make any progress at all with finding out things about
Ukyou
Kuonji. No such luck. But maybe today that would change.
Nabiki left the bathroom with a smile on her lips. She did not forget to
take her schoolbag with her when she left. She wasn't letting that thing out
of
her sight. The school itself was relatively quiet today, which was a
blessing,
because Nabiki didn't want anything distracting her today. She made her way
through the halls to class without any further incident.
Kunou was back in classes full time today. Without Ukyou around to give
him his daily beating, he had even managed to show up for class on time.
Nabiki
had already cornered him the other day and bribed him with a few of the
"less
discrete" pictures she had of Akane until he blew the whole story to her.
Once
she managed to filter out the usual self-aggrandizing idiocy from Kunou's
responses she had managed to figure out quite a bit.
Apparently Kodachi had drugged him and locked him in his room for the
totality of the "incident", which meant Kunou had seen about as much of what
had
happened as she did. The fact that he treated being poisoned, trussed up and
locked away by his sister with such blase familiarity was something Nabiki
found
vaguely disturbing. Apparently Kodachi had released him once everyone was
gone,
and then told him that she was going on an extended vacation of some kind.
He
had spent much of yesterday withdrawing his sister from the exclusive girl's
private school she attended.
Kodachi herself had also been a busy bee yesterday. Apparently, the
morning after the battle, she had 'discovered' the body of a dead police
officer
in a pond on the property. Nabiki might have dismissed it, except for the
fact
that her sister was attacked already by a police officer. This was rather
too
large a coincidence for Nabiki to dismiss, even if she didn't quite know
what
the connection was. Too bad the police, after swarming over the household
for
much of the day, seemed to accept whatever story she spun for them and moved
along their merry way.
Nabiki briefly considered pressing charges against the girl. But the
problem was, she was slightly intimidated. Kodachi had beaten Ranma and
Ukyou,
and Nabiki had seen both of them fight before. She doubted very much the
police
could protect her from Kodachi if she started flinging dirt about. But the
idea
was very tempting. Nabiki just -knew- she could poke a few dozen holes in
whatever story Kodachi had come up with for them. Getting revenge on her
kidnapper came in second to saving her own skin, however.
It was far easier to focus her efforts on the person that was going to
be more available and of more immediate concern anyway. Which reminded her
about
her package.
Once she was safely in her seat Nabiki took out the plain manila folder
and began to flip through its contents. It was lucky she had established a
reputation for scholastic excellence, and so could look through the
information
without being hassled by the teacher. Inside were all the public records
available for one Ukyou Kuonji, and quite a few non-public records as well.
It
had cost her a pretty penny to get access to all these, but in Nabiki's
opinion
it would be worth it.
Throughout the day, the information proved to be naggingly incomplete.
It contained all the usual backstory, which Nabiki was able to piece
together
quite well. It seemed Ukyou was a relatively normal student. Went to mostly
all-
boy's schools, worked on the side in a number of restaurants. No living
relatives (his father had died just months ago, his mother died shortly
after he
was born) or much in the way of obvious friends. There was some sort of
problem
with his records from about ten years ago. All of Ukyou's identity papers,
from
birth certificate on up, were re-issued suddenly throughout that year. Which
was
interesting, but annoyingly unrevelatory. There was also the fact that Ukyou
had
suddenly withdrawn from school and all but disappeared off the map almost
one
month ago. That left two major events for Nabiki to find out about.
From what she remembered, ten years ago would be just about right for
when Ranma Saotome first encountered him. That meant Ranma was still
probably
her best source of information on the mystery boy. Which was annoying, since
he was proving amazingly stubborn about talking about Ukyou to her. He was
obviously hiding something - he had the worst poker face - but he simply
refused
to talk about it. Hitting up Genma for information was no better. He would
just
sweat until he somehow distracted her and then -splash- instant panda. It
was
frustrating.
A month ago would be just about right for Ukyou coming to Nerima, so
that wasn't so much of a mystery. Considering his father had died only a few
months earlier, he must have delayed only so long before departing on his
quest.
But the father's death did point out one interesting fact. It appeared that
Ukyou Kuonji had inherited quite a bit from his life insurance and estate.
Mysterious was one thing, but independently wealthy was a whole other kettle
of
fish.
Nabiki smiled and shuffled the information back into the plain manila
folder. The information she had gained had barely been worth the price she
had
paid. But it did at least confirm some of the Kuonji boy's story. Now the
rest
would be up to Nabiki. Well, it had been a few years since she had been
forced
to really dig for something. She was going to enjoy the challenge.
*
"I don't know, maybe we should have let Nabiki come along?"
"Forget about it, Akane," Ranma replied with a shrug. "Ukyou already
asked us to keep what happened at the house between us three. Plus, she
ain't
exactly dressed up for preserving her secret right now, ya know?"
Akane sighed as she followed Ranma up the path to Doctor Tofu's clinic.
He was right, even if Akane didn't feel quite right excluding her sister
from
the conversation. Nabiki had been kidnapped too; she probably deserved at
least
as many answers as Ranma or Akane did. But on the other hand, Nabiki finding
out
about Ukyou's condition would mean her father might end up switching the
engagement between Ranma and her to Ranma and Akane. That just didn't bear
thinking about. The two only barely got along now because of their
friendship
with Ukyou. No telling what being forced into -that- kind of relationship
might
do.
"Ah, you came quickly," Doctor Tofu said as he stepped out the door.
Akane smiled and bowed, making sure to run a hand through her long hair so
that
the doctor would see it. Just because she was here to see Ukyou didn't mean
she
couldn't score a few points with Doctor Tofu in the meantime.
"We came as soon as we got your message!" Akane said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, why didn't you call us at school or something? I could have used
the excuse to get out of classes," Ranma groused as he laced his arms behind
his
neck.
Tofu laughed and shook his head as he adjusted his glasses. "Now Ranma,
school is serious business. You should concentrate on your studies a bit
more."
Ranma gave him a puzzled frown but otherwise didn't react. Tofu turned to
Akane
next, his soft brown hair blowing in the wind. "You two are both really good
friends to Ukyou. I think she could really use some friends at the moment as
well." Akane nodded a few times while Ranma rolled his eyes. "Come along,
she's
in here."
They followed the doctor into the back of his clinic. He only had three
patient rooms, so it didn't take them long to reach the one where Ukyou was
resting. Once they were inside, the doctor quickly excused himself. Two
chairs
had been placed in the room for them, one of which Akane availed herself of.
Ranma, being Ranma, decided to perch himself in the windowsill again.
Ukyou herself was sitting semi-upright, propped up on a small mountain
of pillows. Her hands were laced behind her head and she was staring at the
ceiling with cold-eyed indifference. She looked a lot better now then she
had
when Akane had first dragged her into the clinic. The color had returned to
her
cheeks, and the bruises had stopped growing. The one on her chin ended just
below her lip and just before it reached her neck. But for some reason she
looked less healthy when she was awake. There had been something about the
image
of Ukyou when she was asleep that this awake Ukyou didn't possess. Akane
didn't
want to call it "peace"... but it was the only word she could think of.
"Ucchan..."
Ukyou looked over at Ranma as he spoke.
"Are you... feeling better?"
"I'll live," Ukyou shrugged. Ranma seemed to take that at face value,
but Akane wasn't going to let her get off that easily.
"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, trying not to sound too
insistent.
Ukyou switched her attention to Akane and smiled, though it seemed
forced. Akane had seen Ukyou smile before. When she did, her face lit up and
the
cold demeanour she often walked around seemed to burn away. This time it did
not. "I'm really fine, Akane. It's just a little beating. A week, maybe two,
and
I'll be better than ever."
Akane considered disputing that, but decided better of it. Ranma nodded
along as Ukyou spoke.
"Heh. You know, I've always wanted to say this." Ukyou spoke up suddenly
into the silence that descended after her statement. "I guess you're all
wondering why I called you here today."
"Uh, no, not really. I figured you were going to tell us about this
whole mess with that undead guy, er girl, er whatever."
"Ranma, you're messing with my cliche!" Ukyou teased.
"Sorry!" Ranma said as he raised his hands in front of himself. "I
didn't mean to!"
Ukyou stared at Ranma's look of mute horror for a few moments with a
totally blank expression. A second later she broke out into a fit of
uncontrollable giggles. Akane found herself smiling along with her. Somehow
that
outburst of giggles made Akane feel better. Ranma, for his part spent a few
moments staring at them in confusion until he finally realised he must have
said
something stupid. This caused him to glare at them both and cross his arms
over
his chest, puffing out his cheeks in annoyance. The expression he put on
only
caused Ukyou to laugh louder. Akane began to giggle herself, and after a
moment
Ranma joined them.
The spent the next few minutes just laughing together. Everytime it
began to die down, one of them would make some silly face and the guffaws
would
burst out all over again. It wasn't judgmental or harsh, it was just easy
and
companionable. Somehow the laughter infected them all, brought them closer
together in a way they hadn't been until now. Akane clutched at her stomach.
The
laughter was beginning to hurt, but not in a bad way. Laughing like this
felt so
right, so good.
It felt like friendship.
As the chuckles died down for the final time Akane spent a few seconds
thinking about that while she wiped tears from her eyes. This was the first
time
Akane could remember feeling this way. Sure, she had Yuka and Sayuri for
hanging
around with. But those were just people she talked to at school. They
didn't...
they didn't understand her the same way. Everyone else at school either
treated
her like some weird tomboy, or some porcelain statue (albeit one they wanted
to
beat into a date). Ranma and Ukyou were people she had much more in common
with.
They had shared danger together, and now they had shared laughter. Akane
found
herself wishing the moment wouldn't go away.
But, of course, it did.
"I needed that," Ukyou said as she clutched at her own stomach. "I don't
think even I knew how much I needed that."
"Uh... thank you?" Ranma rubbed the back of his neck and grinned, trying
to take credit for his slip-up earlier. His expression threatened to start
Akane
giggling again, but she stifled the urge as the cold, serious look
reappeared on
Ukyou's face.
"But anyway, you interrupted me before I could start..."
"EEEK!"
"What the..." Ranma leapt from the windowsill and ran towards the door.
*
Nabiki knocked on the door to Doctor Tofu's clinic. She suppressed the
urge to laugh into her hand as she rolled back and forth on the balls of her
feet, waiting for the man to respond. It took him a few moments, probably
because he was used to people just walking into his reception area. When he
did
appear at the door, he blinked owlishly on seeing her, but smiled anyway.
Perfect, he didn't suspect a thing.
"Oh, Nabiki! What brings you here today?"
Nabiki smiled back and held out a plate full of (store bought) cookies
and a (library) book of anatomy. "Oh Doctor Tofu!" she grinned, pouring on
the
false enthusiasm. "I just came over to give these to you. Kasumi wanted to
bring
them over herself, but was too busy. So I helped her out."
"K-Kasumi sent these..." Tofu said as he stared at the items in front of
him. Nabiki could practically see the veins in his forehead throb. Just a
little
more of a push...
"Oh yes," Nabiki smiled even wider. "She said she made them especially
for you. She wanted you to enjoy them as much as you would her company. She
really does miss you, when she can't come over."
"She... m-m-misses me..." Tofu chuckled and adjusted his glasses. The
poor man was practically steaming, and his glasses had already begun to fog
up.
"Oh... k-Kasumi!"
Nabiki thrust the goods into the doctor's hands and side-stepped him as
he danced out into the yard. That'd take care of him for a good long while.
Nabiki had seen him in his state of Kasumi-induced bliss quite a few times.
He
wouldn't notice if those cookies were store-bought, not when she had seen
him
eat pieces of ceramic plate without noticing it before.
Nabiki proceeded easily into the clinic proper. Thankfully, at this time
of day it was deserted. Almost all of Tofu's patients were old men and
women,
and none of them liked being out this time of day when all the teenagers
were
about. Nabiki slipped into the back without incident and crept along the
hallway. There was only one door closed back there, so it didn't take a
genius
to figure out which one Ukyou and the others were talking behind. Well,
laughing
behind, from the sounds of it.
Nabiki chuckled herself. They wouldn't even notice her. Nabiki calmly
walked into another room and pulled a stethoscope off the wall before
returning
with the instrument. Unable to contain her glee Nabiki slipped it into her
ears
and placed the metal cup against the thin wooden door. Perfect, she could
hear
everything they were saying in there. The laughter was dying down and Ukyou
was
thanking Ranma for something. It also appeared that Nabiki hadn't missed the
meat of the conversation. This was going to be...
There was a bony hand on her shoulder.
"EEEK!"
Nabiki leapt away from the hand, spinning in mid-air with the kind of
grace only gymnasts and the terrorized possessed. Behind her was Doctor Tofu
with his anatomy skeleton. His glasses were still fogged up and he was
grinning
like a loon.
"I'm sorry!" he said with a smile. "Betty just wanted to thank you for
bringing us the cookies! She's so happy to hear from Kasumi, you see."
Nabiki
wasn't sure what she found more frightening, the bones on her shoulder a
second
ago, or the way a grown man was making his teaching skeleton wave its hand
at
her.
Suddenly the door next to her flew open and Ranma stepped into view. He
took one look at Nabiki and Tofu and then crossed his arms with an amused
grin
on his face.
"Can I... help you two?"
"Uh, no..." Nabiki said with a sigh. Ranma's sudden appearance seemed to
have snapped Doctor Tofu out of his stupor. That meant Nabiki didn't have to
be
afraid of the man rearranging her body-parts in a playful accident while he
was
out of it. It also meant that Nabiki's chances of listening in were just
about
shot.
"Oh, Nabiki, what are you doing back here?" Tofu said as he bent his
head to the side. Disturbingly, the skeleton tilted its head in the exact
same
way at the exact same time.
"Yeah... what are you doing back here?" Ranma said with a bit of
suspicion in his voice. Nabiki realized as he stared at her that she still
had
the stethoscope plugged into her ears. That would explain why everyone's
voice
had been muffled. She pulled it from her ears with a chagrined smile.
"I was just... helping the doctor put away some equipment!"
"Oh, really..." Ranma gave her a flat stare. Nabiki tried to edge past
him, hoping to get a look into the room, but Ranma shifted to block her
view. A
moment later he was joined by Akane, effectively blocking out all line of
sight
into the room.
"Nabiki? Why did you come here?"
"I was..." Nabiki almost blurted out the excuse she had given Tofu
earlier, but paused when she saw the man standing only a few paces from her.
There was no telling what would set him off. "I just dropped some stuff off
and... andnowI'mleavingbyebye!" Nabiki ran off as she finished her sentence,
skipping around the motionless doctor and his pet skeleton agilely as she
sprinted for the door. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, but she wasn't
about to be stopped by this little setback. Oh no... this wouldn't stop
Nabiki
Tendo!
*
Ranma closed the door firmly once Nabiki was out of sight and Tofu
apologized for the interruption. Akane wasn't that mad, just vaguely
disappointed in her sister. She went back to her seat, while Ranma leaned
against the wall near the door. Close enough, Akane noted, that he would
hear if
anyone came down the hallway again. Ukyou had a slightly amused smirk on her
face, but shook it off quickly as she adjusted her position to better face
them
both.
"Well, as amusing as that was..." Ukyou trailed off a bit. "Where was I
before we were interrupted?"
"You were about to start explaining all the stuff that happened two days
ago to us," Ranma pointed out simply.
"Ah yes..." Ukyou ran her fingers through her bangs and sighed. "That's
quite a tall order. I don't even know where to begin."
"Were you hiding so much from us?" Akane said, unable to keep the
disappointment out of her tone.
Ukyou flinched. "I wasn't lying to you, exactly. Everything I told you
was phrased so that what I was saying wasn't exactly a lie, you see..."
Ukyou
trailed off with another flinch. Ranma was giving her a flat look, and Akane
guessed her own expression was remarkably similar. "I just didn't want
to..."
Ukyou trailed off as their expressions didn't change. "Fine. You're right. I
lied to you. I'm sorry." Ukyou bowed her head, allowing her bangs to fall
over
her eyes.
Akane let out a sigh. "It's okay, Ukyou. You had good reasons for not
telling us the whole truth, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Don't worry about it, Ucchan," Ranma added in. "We forgive you. Well,
I'm guessing Akane does. I never really held it against you, myself."
"I know..." Ukyou raised her head up and smiled a little thinly at them.
"You're not the kind to hold a real grudge, Ranma." Then she smiled a little
viciously. "Not that you don't hide things from your friends on occasion,
either." Ranma scratched the back of his neck in confusion while Ukyou gave
him
a slightly self-satisfied smile. "Like, about certain sauce recipes..."
Ranma
stared at her for another second then his eyes widened and he gulped.
"Huh? Sauce recipe?"
"Never mind. Think nothing of it, Ranma," Ukyou waved aside Ranma's
obvious confusion. "I forgive you."
"Oh, well, that's good... I guess..." Ranma said with a shrug. Akane
blinked a few times, feeling a little left out. It was still hard to accept
that
Ranma had actually known Ukyou longer than Akane had, especially since Akane
had
met her "first" here in Tokyo.
Ukyou seemed to relax a bit, releasing a long slow breath between thin
lips. Her eyes closed and she ran a hand absently through her bangs. "Where
to
begin..." Ukyou mused aloud. "The beginning would be a good place. But it's
not
the right place. The beginning was over ten years ago, back when Ranma and I
first met. The only important thing you have to know about those times is
that
Ranma's father stole my father's food cart, and abandoned me in the dust
when he
was supposed to take me with them."
"Wait... now I remember!" Ranma burst out, pounding his fist into his
palm. "That day... I remember you running after us."
"Indeed," Ukyou nodded her head, still not opening her eyes.
"But I thought you were just there to say goodbye."
"I know, you were six. I blamed you at first but... in time I came to
realize that you weren't at fault."
"So I was partly right," Akane mused aloud. "Genma did abandon you. I
thought he was... you know, really your..."
"That I was Ranma's illegitimate sister or something similar?"
"Something like that..."
"I guess I only have myself to blame," Ukyou sighed. "I was so used to
lying that I just let you draw your own conclusions." Ukyou smiled, a little
sardonically. "That's the easiest kind of lie, you know? The one where you
just
give the mark only enough information, phrased just so, and they draw their
own
false conclusions."
Akane had no real response to that. Neither did Ranma, apparently. When
Ukyou spoke next her voice had taken on a new cadence. It was slow and
rhythmic, drawing her attention in an odd way. There was something about the
way
it sounded that was familiar to Akane, but she couldn't place her finger on
it.
"I woke up almost eight hours ago now. I spent a lot of that time lying
here and getting very familiar with what that ceiling looks like. I also
spent a
lot of that time thinking. I was thinking about what I was going to tell you
when you came and you had questions. Questions about me, about Chris, about
Aaron and about how all three of us are connected. And I came up with a lot
of
things I could say to you. I spent a great deal of time refining the message
over and over in my mind, editing it and revising it. I perfected it the
same
way a politician perfects a speech or a storyteller perfects a tale,
introducing
the right levels of drama and exoticism, playing to the emotional appeals of
my
audience. I came up with a brilliant way to give you what you wanted to
hear.
"Now, sitting here, looking at the two of you, I can't say any of it.
Because everything I was going to say to you was a lie. Oh, I could call it
a
subtle half-truth, or just a little white lie, or a harmless omission... but
I
seem to have lost the ability to deceive myself even as I become a better
liar.
I look at your faces and I feel like a bitch when I prepare myself to lie to
you
so openly. I can't do it. You two mean too much to me. So instead I'm going
to
tell you the truth, or a good part of it.
"There are parts of the truth I'm not going to tell you. Some of that is
because I don't know the whole truth. Some of that is because there are
things I
just don't feel like telling anyone. There are secrets in my heart that I
want
to keep, and if it's wrong for me to hide them from you then I'm wrong, but
that
doesn't change how I feel."
Here Ukyou paused as she took a deep breath. Ranma's mouth opened and
closed as he tried to find a way to respond to all that. Akane herself was
far
from speechless, she could think of a million questions and reassurances to
give
Ukyou. But even as she opened her mouth to say something Ukyou's hand shot
up
and formed a wall between them.
"Please, don't say anything. Getting this out is hard enough. If you
interrupt me now, my courage might fail and you'd end up just as misled as
before. I need to get this out now, or I'll never get it out."
Ukyou flexed her neck.
"I am Ukyou Kuonji, the same girl you that you befriended all those
years ago, Ranma. But to a certain extent I'm another person as well. A boy
who
died, and whom I managed to... inherit the memory of. He... is like a silent
partner. He hasn't taken me over, like some parasite or anything. I'm still
ME.
But we are who we remember we are as well, and I remember all his life."
Ukyou
ran her hand through her bangs again.
"I can't really tell you how this happened. I don't know myself. It
happened about a month ago, and ever since I've been struggling to deal with
it.
Having these extra memories in my head has also done things to me
physically. As
you've seen, I can damage myself by tapping into my chi too deeply and when
I
fall unconscious I wake up again having spasms and fits. Plus, I can't
feel...
comfortable as a woman like I used to. Aaron was a guy, and for some reason
his
presence changed my body so that I can't be much like a girl anymore. It
makes
me sick to my stomach just thinking about it..."
Ukyou opened her eyes and looked over at them. "And that's me. A girl
who by some quirk of fate ended up with this bad thing stuck over her head.
So,
before I go any further, I'm sure you're both dying to ask me questions. So
shoot."
Akane stood up and quickly crossed the room to Ukyou. Ukyou only stared
as she leaned over and wrapped her up in her arms. It was kind of awkward,
but
Akane managed. Ukyou stammered for a few seconds, obviously not expecting
this.
Akane smiled and stepped back, brushing a scattering of tears from the edge
of her eyes as she did so.
"Ukyou... I don't real understand what's going on, but I'm not about to
let whatever it is get between us, okay?"
"Um, okay..."
Ranma, however, walked right past the bed, a frown of anger on his face.
Ukyou gulped at his expression. Akane couldn't blame her, he certainly
looked
mad.
*
Nabiki smirked as she idly spun the stethoscope around her index finger.
It was a bit of luck that she hadn't dropped it in her flight from the
doctor's
office. She would return it later, of course. Nabiki was no petty thief, at
least not for things with no real value. Secrets, on the other hand, had a
good
deal of value.
Her problem before had been trusting to luck. Tofu's chaotic actions had
worked against her. That was why this time she would eliminate any chance of
Doctor Tofu interfering. So saying, she had waited outside his clinic until
another patient had arrived, a young pregnant woman. With the doctor
occupied
with a patient, he was sure not to interfere with her reconnaissance.
Thankfully
it had only been a few minutes before a patient arrived, so hopefully Nabiki
hadn't missed anything critical.
The back lot behind Doctor Tofu's clinic was deserted, basically just a
muddy field dotted with the detritus of human society. It would probably
cease
to exist in a few months as the realtors of Tokyo eagerly gobbled up the
precious open space. But for now, it was just another empty place in the
world.
That suited Nabiki just fine. She walked along the wall, using her free hand
to
run her palm along the painted facade. She mentally counted out the windows
until she arrived just below the one in which her sister was talking with
the
mystery boy.
The problem was, she was below it. She craned her neck back and stared
up the narrow window in annoyance. It was quite a bit above her, which made
her
chances of overhearing much of what was going inside remote. But that
wouldn't
stop Nabiki Tendo!
Looking around, she quickly spotted a few abandoned boxes that looked
sturdy enough. They proved a little heavier than they looked, but you didn't
get
a body as hot as Nabiki's without exercising a little bit. Still, she was
sweating by the time she had piled two of them up. A quick hop and she found
herself within easy reach of the window. She could even crouch, giving her a
nice lap on which to lay her notebook so she could write down anything
interesting she overheard. Suppressing the desire to snigger she fitted the
stethoscope over her ears and reached up to place it against the windowpane,
looking down with her eyes so she could write anything she heard down in the
little notebook perched on her knees.
Hmm. That was funny. She waved the little metal cap around a bit, trying
to touch it the window, but it seemed like the window wasn't there. Was it
recessed into the building? No, Nabiki could have sworn the pane of glass
was
flush against the side of the white-washed walls. Oh, there, it seemed to
have
hit something...
"HELLO, NABIKI!"
"AHHH!"
Nabiki tipped over and collapsed as her hands snapped to her head to
cover her ringing ears. Then she screamed again as she fell on the empty
crates,
which splintered under the sudden impact with her bottom. Then she screamed
again as she plummeted through to the next crate, which also smashed apart
when
her rear end collided with it. She didn't have the breath to scream when she
landed on the ground, which thankfully didn't give way. For a few dizzying
seconds she wasn't sure whether to cover her ringing ears or rub her sore
behind.
It took her a few moments to recover her equilibrium and for the ringing
in her ears to die down to any degree. Moaning she reached up and pulled the
stethoscope from her ears. It didn't really help with the pain, but it made
her
feel better about it. She looked up above her, and only remembered what had
caused her to crash when she saw Ranma's smirking face staring down at her.
That
arrogant little bastard had yelled into the amplifier!
He was saying something, but Nabiki couldn't hear him over the ringing
in her ears. For a moment she thought it would be too undignified to cup her
hands to her ears and yell "What?", then she remembered she was sitting on
the
muddy ground, surrounded by a pile of splinters. Her face burning red with
embarrassment (and anger, don't forget the anger!) she made it clear to the
boy
that she couldn't hear him.
"I said, imagine meeting you here Nabiki, again," Ranma shouted a little
louder. Nabiki could hear him now. It helped that the ringing was really
dying
down.
"Yeah, imagine that..." Nabiki chuckled dryly.
"Can I ask what you were doing outside the window?" Ranma said as he
crossed his arms on the sill and rested his chin on them. His stupid
cheshire
cat grin wouldn't go away however. Nabiki resisted the urge to glare at him,
trying to put on her most pleasant front.
"I was... just trying to return Doctor Tofu's stethoscope?"
"Right..." Ranma drawled. "Here, I'll do it for you?" He reached down
for the instrument, which Nabiki reluctantly handed over. "Anything else?"
"No... I think I'll be on my way," Nabiki stood up with as much dignity
as she could muster. Which wasn't much. The skirt of her uniform was
plastered
to her buttocks with mud, and she was more than a little wobbly on her feet.
"Are you sure you can get home okay? Maybe you should see the doc about
that fall?"
"I'm perfectly fine!" Nabiki snapped as she strode away. Ranma stayed in
the windowsill, watching her with idle interest until she turned the corner.
Nabiki spit out a stream of unladylike curses as she leaned against the wall
and
rubbed at her sore rear. Damn.
Well, Nabiki wasn't about to let this stop her. Neither Tofu, nor Ranma,
nor anyone else would keep her from finding out the secrets of Ukyou Kuonji!
She
smirked and nodded her head downward, covering her eyes with one hand as she
tried to think of what to do next.
It was then that she remembered she had just been using that hand to rub
at her skirt. Her skirt which had been covered in mud.
Nabiki sighed.
*
"Sorry 'bout that, Ucchan," Ranma said as he slid the window closed and
turned back to the room. "Man, Akane. You seem like a nice enough person,
you
know, when you're not molesting me, but your sister is a real prize."
"Hey!" Akane shouted, doubly indignant.
"I thought we talked about this already," Ukyou said with a sigh.
Ranma grinned at her and leaned against the windowsill. One-upping
Nabiki was enjoyable. The two of them had spent every moment together since
they
had been "engaged" shooting verbal snipes back and forth. Ranma felt kind of
sore with how easily she outmaneuvered him. Getting a bit of payback made
him
feel better about it.
"Well, Akane already said she doesn't have many questions, Ranma. What
about you?" Ukyou asked calmly. Ranma dragged his attention back to the
matter
at hand and frowned a bit as he thought the question over.
"I guess this stuff does answer some questions. I mean, it seems a lot
like my curse, only in the exact opposite."
"That's... actually a rather insightful way of putting it, Ranma." Ukyou
smiled a bit at him. Ranma shrugged. She sounded relieved to hear he wasn't
mad
at her or anything. Ranma would have told her she didn't have to worry, but
that
really went without saying. Ranma knew what it was like to live with a
problem
that people just didn't understand most of the time. The fact that Ukyou had
a
certain bit of guyishness to her was something he found really easy to
accept.
Heck, it was much harder to think of Ukyou as a girl than to think of her as
a
guy. Though there was that bit about her 'true feelings' when she was
yelling at
that guy which Ranma wasn't sure about...
"Okay, well that explains you," Ranma said. "But what about this other
girl? That Chris person?" Ranma didn't bother keeping the anger out of his
tone.
But Ukyou should be able to tell it wasn't directed at her. Nobody
humiliated
Ranma like Chris had.
"Hmmm..." Ukyou ran her hands through her bangs and let her palms rest
against the back of her neck. "First off, she's not a girl. Chris is a man,
like
Aaron was. The two of them were friends, and they died in the same accident.
I
guess that something went wrong. Somehow Chris ended up being slingshot to
our
world as well, but he's stuck as a corpse person."
"Our world?" Akane asked as she leaned forward in her chair.
"Huh? Oh, well... that's probably the wrong term to use." Ukyou paused
her and chewed on her lower lip a bit. "Aaron and Chris are from the future,
from our point of view."
"The future?" Ranma snorted. "That doesn't make sense. They're like,
time-traveling ghosts?"
"Don't be so quick to dismiss it, Ranma," Ukyou berated him lightly. "If
you can believe in men who turn into women, why not people from the future?"
"Huh... I guess."
"That's part of the problem with him," Ukyou mused. "Chris knows the
future, and thus has access to a lot of information that most people don't.
It's
how he was able to predict all our moves and beat us so easily-"
"I wasn't beaten!" Ranma snapped a bit. Seeing Akane and Ukyou staring
at him Ranma grunted and laced his own hands behind his neck. "Well, I
wasn't. I
was going to win that fight until she, he, whatever... until Chris convinced
me
you were dying."
"He what?"
"I only let myself be paralyzed because I thought the poison she had hit
you with was deadly," Ranma explained easily enough. "I... I wasn't about to
let
you die."
"Indeed..." Ukyou said in her oddly emotionless tone. She shook her
head. "But we shouldn't have to worry about Chris. I think he'll leave us
alone
from now on."
"But why take that risk?" Ranma griped. "I think we should settle the
score now." Ranma's fingers clenched along the back of his neck and he grit
his
teeth. That creature... had played him for a fool. Then beaten Ukyou to
within
an inch of her life while all Ranma could do was watch. He would... do
something
about it!
"Calm down, Ranma," Ukyou said soothingly. Ranma took a few deep breaths
as he forced himself to ease up. "There's no need to pick a fight with Chris
now, or any other time." She laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling
once
more. "He's too dangerous to trust, but I think he won't be coming back."
"What makes you think that?" Akane asked.
"I know him," Ukyou stated simply. "He hates my guts now, which is good.
I wanted him to."
"Why?" Akane continued.
"Akane... Chris is a dangerous man. He's... not human the way we are,
not anymore. He doesn't see people like you or me as 'real' the same way he
is.
To him, we're just people he's read about in journals from the future. And
he's
already proven he's capable of murder... many times over. He says he wasn't
going to kill you that night when I first met him, but can I really trust
that?
And what happens when his Kodachi form begins to decay on him? He'll go
after
another body then, and I know what he wants. A 'normal' person won't satisfy
him. He'll want somebody at least as strong and fast as Kodachi is, which
means
we're not safe with him around. At least if he's gone away, he isn't our
problem."
"You really want to abandon him like that?" Akane said with a hint of
sadness in her voice.
"Abandon... no, I don't see it like that," Ukyou frowned and turned her
full attention to Akane. "I'm protecting you, us... As much as I don't want
to,
I have inherited some of Aaron's feelings about Chris. Part of his
friendship is
with me. But I can't trust him. If I find a way to help him while I'm
looking
for a way to help myself, I'll do so. But he's too dangerous to have
around."
"I agree," Ranma nodded sharply. "I've seen people with that kind of
disregard for human life before on my journey." Ranma paused, trying to
figure
out how to phrase it. "Chris is our enemy, whether he likes it or not."
"I wish there was another way," Akane sighed and rested her chin on her
palms. "It just seems so sad, the life he has to lead."
"I wish I could help him too," Ukyou sighed, rolling her head on her
neck. "But there's nothing we can do to help him, now. In time, that may
change.
Until then, we're best if he's as far from us as possible."
"I guess..." Akane sighed and nodded.
An uncomfortable silence fell as they all thought about what had been
said. Ranma, personally, wasn't willing to give up the game yet. He knew
that
Chris would be back. It was only a matter of time. This time Ranma would be
prepared. He would protect his friends, he would be ready to fight whatever
tricks that undead bastard had up her...his...whatever's sleeve. Nobody hurt
his
friends like that. Nobody.
"So, what now? Where do we go from here?" Akane asked, pulling Ranma out
of his own thoughts.
"That's a good question, isn't it?" Ukyou mused as she looked down into
her lap, a wry smile twisting across her features.
*
Chris stared out the window of the plane, watching Japan vanish into the
clouds below. It was odd how he'd always loved the view from an airplane,
even
though he also had an acute phobia of heights. Though that particular
phobia
had faded with his current circumstances.
"Would you like something to drink, Miss Kunou?"
Turning, he waved the flight attendant away, and returned his attention
to the recently-bought diary on his (or was it her?) lap. He almost smiled
as
he looked at the first page, showing all the series he now knew to exist.
Sailor Moon, discovered by accident from a US talk show. Reading the
article in the paper, that was definitely the series Ukyou had been messing
with. For what reason? Hard to say. Didn't know how early it was in the
series, but he'd do well to keep away from them regardless. The Sailor
Senshi
needed to save the world a bunch of times, and in any case, he didn't want
to
chance being hit by one of Sailor Moon's purifying attacks in his current
state.
Ranma 1/2, discovered from a library search and - obviously - confirmed
in person. Definitely early in the series, and Ukyou, with Aaron's
memories,
had also been messing with that to her own advantage. But that was fine.
Still
a rich source of possible allies and useful artifacts, and many things would
happen on schedule no matter how much Ukyou screwed around with the events
at
the Tendo Dojo.
The video games Street Fighter and King of Fighters, drawn from the
memory of Greg, the body he had occupied to get into Japan, who had been a
martial arts fan and amateur enthusiast. WHICH iteration of each series, he
didn't know enough yet to know for sure. Would be worth looking into in the
future.
Phantom Quest Corp, aka Yuu-Gen-Kai-Sha, which had been confirmed
through a simple search of Japanese business ads. They might be useful,
since
they had experience with ghosts, spirits and the undead. Of course, since
that
was because their business generally involved exorcising and destroying said
beings, being cautious was definitely in order.
And finally, Blue Seed, checked out while waiting for Kodachi's family
influence and liberal applications of money to speed along the permissions
for
the trip he was now taking. Also easily confirmed: a simple schoolgirl,
seduced
by the handsome eyes and charming smile of the man she knew only as Officer
Sugishita, wanting OH-so-badly to be able to get in touch with him again.
He
didn't yet know where the TAC building was, but the heard-it-before groan
and
stock referral to a form she'd have to fill out to "complain about Officer
Sugishita" pretty much confirmed it was there somewhere. Where in THAT
series?
No idea. He hadn't heard about giant frogs in Tokyo just yet, though, and
neither had Kodachi's memories, so "early" was a safe bet. They'd be good
people to go to for help if he stumbled across an Ancient Evil or something,
which he supposed was possible. After all, he still didn't know WHY he had
been
brought here.
He was pretty sure there were other series' out there somewhere, but
he'd need more time to look into them. The lack of the Internet was really
frustrating in that regard, for sure. And, of course, no guarantee
everything
that was here was something he knew about. He was pretty sure El Hazard
WASN'T
here, though...there was two Shinanome High Schools he'd managed to find,
but
neither had had ancient ruins discovered there, and both had reacted with
confusion when he asked to speak to Katsuhiko Jinnai. Pity. If he could've
reached El Hazard somehow, the presence of powerful android bodies certainly
presented possibilities. But maybe he'd run into some here. Androids were
hardly rare in anime...
He leafed through the diary, glancing through his collected memories and
notes on the series' he knew to be there. He'd probably want to have a
separate
journal for each series, eventually, for ease of reference. Everything
about
every series he WASN'T sure was here would have to go down as soon as
possible,
too. That would be a lot of work, but his memories would fade with time,
and he
had no way of referencing anything without asking Ukyou, which wasn't a
tempting
thought after the other day's events...
His eyes stopped on a particular entry. "Pink and Link: First
Appearance - Volume 29. Identical twins from a herbalist's village,
presumably
near the Nyuuchezu. Interacted with Shampoo when all three were children.
Pink
(always smiling, wears red, cruel and malicious) nearly killed Shampoo while
testing out a new herb strain, the Mandragora (separate entry in
"techniques"
section). Link (always frowning, wears blue, generally nice) came across
Shampoo and saved her life. Shampoo couldn't tell the difference between
the
two and beat Link up afterwards. Calling herself the victim in the
situation,
Shampoo made a point of finding and beating the crap out of the twins every
time
she went to that village thereafter. Pink and Link want brutal revenge on
Shampoo, preferably one that leaves her dead. In Volume 29, hearing about
Shampoo's 'husband' Ranma from an interview Shampoo did for a Nyuuchezu
paper,
they came to Japan..."
The entry went on, but he knew what it said already, of course. Still,
it made him think. He was already planning on going to the Nyuuchezu
village in
the hopes that Cologne might help him with his condition, and he wanted to
find
Jyusenkyou as well. So why not look for Pink and Link? As the most expert
herbalists in the manga, they might be able to help him with preserving a
body.
Kodachi's body WAS still fresh and solid on this third day, which confirmed
his
hopes that superhuman bodies like hers would be more durable. But how much
more
durable, he didn't know. It wouldn't hurt to take precautions. And, of
course,
Pink and Link could be easily bribed into doing anything with some smooth
talking and a promise to help them exact some (non-fatal) revenge on
Shampoo.
Cologne probably wouldn't appreciate it, but Shampoo wouldn't be in the
village,
and in fact was probably going to head to Japan after Ranma fairly soon, so
she
wouldn't have to know. It sounded like a plan to him.
Smiling, Chris leaned back. The flight wouldn't be very long; then he'd
just have to find transportation to the Bayankala Range in the Qinghai
Province.
But he had lots of yuan for that. The altercation with Ukyou might have
been a
fiasco, but now things definitely seemed to be looking up.
*
Ono Tofu adjusted his glasses as he shuffled the papers in front of him.
The charts on the papers were complex, the various annotations and notes
appended to them written in obscure technical terms, and the entire thing
was
covered with a variety of formulae and equations. Very few laymen would
understand the significance of any of it. But then again, very few trained
medical professionals would be able to read the various charts with any
success,
either.
Oh, the various statistics that medicine considered important were
written in the files. It contained the proper notes on blood pressure, heart
rate, T-cell counts, all the scientific indicators of health and vitality
were
there. But next to them were notes on her aura, her balance of the five Chi
aspects, maps of her dragon tracks... the kind of things that most
professionals
in his business would dismiss as folk medicine and witchdoctory. It brought
an
amused smile to his lips. He had been forced to create his own terminology
for
almost the entire subject, working backward from ancient texts and applying
modern variables and numbers to them. He had been forced to create his own
theories that fit all the facts together, mostly from scratch. Frankly, he
was
only half sure that any of it made sense at all.
The point of the elaborate and arcane notes, however, was not really to
have accurate information. It wasn't like he knew more than a handful of
scientists and physicians who believed, really believed, in the existence of
the
concepts Ono was trying to quantify. For the most part, the entire thing
served
as a jog to his own memory. Looking at these papers allowed him to remember
his
patients and triggered his mind to think about what he had seen and felt and
heard as he examined and treated them.
Now he was working on the case that had almost literally fallen into his
lap and was proving to be the most... interesting he had ever worked on.
This
girl, Ukyou...there was something odd about her chi that was more than just
mere
damage. He could struggle to figure out what was strange about it, but it
came
down to this: Ukyou's body looked, and acted, like it contained twice as
much
energy as it did. Yet no test Ono could perform would reveal the presence of
this excess energy. At first he had thought she might have a store of
magical
energy in her body, but the test for magical infusion or contamination had
turned up negative. He wasn't nearly as adept with magic as he was with the
elements of chi, but he knew enough to believe that his tests should have
picked
up something. There had to be something else there, but he couldn't sense a
whiff of it.
Ono sighed and let the various papers fall to the desk. He craned his
neck and rubbed the back of it with one hand, expertly massaging the tension
away. His free hand removed the glasses from his eyes and he closed both of
them
to block out the harsh light of the fluorescent overheads. He was getting
tired,
and his brain was running in circles. He had already covered this ground
many
times before, hoping for some spark of understanding to leap from the back
of
his mind. But such a thing wasn't happening. Perhaps it was time to get some
sleep and take a better look at this in the morning. He did have a pretty
full
schedule...
A knock at his door drew the doctor's attention. He opened his eyes,
realizing he had been on the verge of drifting off propped up in the chair.
He
chuckled under his breath. You would think a chiropractor would know better.
He
slipped easily to his feet and made his way over to the door, making it a
few
seconds after a second knock.
He was hardly surprised to see that the person standing outside was
Ukyou. They were the only people in the clinic at this time of night, after
all.
The girl in question was standing with her legs crossed and her right hand
buried in her long hair to rub at the back of her neck. Her left hand was
lowering from the act of knocking. Ukyou was wearing one of the shirts Ono
had
loaned her, and the doctor noted wryly that she had apparently borrowed some
bandages to bind her breasts down again. He considered telling her that
doing so
wasn't a very healthy thing, but whatever lifestyle choices she chose to
indulge in weren't his business. She appeared almost unnaturally masculine
when
she put her mind to it. Not in a brutish or butch manner, she was far too
pretty
for that. Instead she looked like one of those increasingly more common
pretty
boys that Ono had seen in a lot of shows on TV these days.
"Ukyou, you shouldn't be walking about like this," Ono said, trying to
suppress the instinct to frown and inject a note of geniality in his voice.
"I'm fine for walking around a bit," Ukyou pointed out. "Don't worry, I
don't plan on trying anything more strenuous."
"Well, I guess you want to talk. So in the interests of getting you off
your feet, why don't you come in and have a seat?"
Ukyou nodded and walked in as Ono eased to the side. The girl certainly
moved like a martial artist, with her brisk and confident strides. Her face
was
a mask of detachment, with unexpressive eyes. She slouched more than sat in
her
seat, running a hand through her bangs in a gesture Ono had grown very
familiar
with. Her hand remained in her hair as she looked towards the office window.
As Ono walked over to his own seat, he took a few moments to examine her
with a doctor's eye. The swelling of her bruises had died down a good deal,
and
much of the colour had returned to her cheeks. She looked to be well on her
way
to recovery. On the other hand, she had dark lines under her eyes.
"So, you're still awake?" Ono asked as he sat down. Ukyou nodded
silently. "You haven't slept for three days, ever since you woke up after
your... altercation."
"I can see the question on your lips," Ukyou verbally jumped ahead of
him. "I'm an insomniac. I might get some sleep tonight..." Her voice sounded
tired, but not physically drained. Ono nodded to himself as he leapt to his
own
conclusion. Ukyou didn't want to fall asleep, he guessed. Was it bad dreams?
Or
more likely, it was connected to her seizures. "I didn't come here to talk
about
that."
"I see," Ono leaned forward, resting his chin on the back of his
interlaced hands. "Well then, let's get right to that. You strike me as the
type
who likes to get to the heart of a problem."
Ukyou gave him a sharp look, but it softened almost immediately.
"Indeed, I suppose I am." Ukyou stretched a bit, repressing a yawn. "It's
very
simple, Doctor. I'm bored out of my skull. I need something to do."
"Well... that wasn't quite what I was expecting," Ono admitted. He
wasn't sure what he HAD been expecting, but this wasn't it. "You have two
friends who come by for several hours each day to entertain you, after all."
"That's four hours out of twenty-four," Ukyou pointed out. "I need
something to do."
Ono smiled and leaned back. "You already have a proposal?"
"You need an assistant," Ukyou pointed out simply. "I know Genma Saotome
applied for a job, but does he really meet your criteria?"
"Hmm, well, having a giant panda around would certainly liven this place
up," Ono mused with a chuckle. "But you're right. From what I've heard about
him, he's not exactly the most trustworthy fellow. That doesn't mean I'm
going
to jump at your proposal. First you have to convince me you'll be a help to
me."
"Heh. Indeed," Ukyou sat up straighter. No, not just straighter, more
commanding as well. Her lips were smiling confidently and her normally flat
expression had taken on a new self-assurance. "Well, first off, I've been
trained in first aid, in fact I've been trained in techniques that are in
some
ways more advanced than standard procedures. I also know a good deal about
anatomy and medicine. But I'm not going to be a doctor, so that isn't why
you'll
hire me." Ono nodded. "I'm good with numbers and finances. I can free up a
lot
of time from your schedule by helping you balance your budgets, payroll and
billing. I'm familiar with customer service, both in person and on the
phone.
I've even been called charismatic by a few people," she grinned at that last
point, adding an ironic flourish to her voice. "Plus, I have a big advantage
over Genma: I'll work for free."
"Free?" Ono mused, egging her on.
"That's what I said," Ukyou laced her fingers together in front of her
and nodded.
"You make a good case for yourself... but I have a feeling this free
thing isn't all you make it out to be."
"Obviously," she shrugged. "You're providing me with free room, board
and health care at the moment, despite me insisting that I can pay. I figure
this will make up for that."
"Hmm, you have a point," Ono nodded along. "I still think I'm getting my
money's worth just for the chance to examine your condition so extensively."
"I don't like playing the freeloader," Ukyou pointed out. But this was
an old argument, and Ono turned it aside with a wave of his hand.
"You have some other reason for wanting to help me out," Ono pointed
out, not really asking a question.
"Yes... I wish I could promise you that I won't get into any more fights
as dangerous as the one that sent me here. But I'm afraid that won't be
possible. I have dangerous enemies, and I'm not sure if I can hide out from
them
forever."
"I see..." Ono nodded, sensing the suddenly serious tone of the
conversation. "What kind of enemies?"
"The kind you want no part of," Ukyou said flatly. "Let's just leave it
at that."
"Very well. Then how can I help?"
Ukyou paused. Then she stood up and slapped her arms to her side,
stiffening her entire posture. Moving with fluid grace she bowed herself
down
before the doctor, her long hair flipping briefly in her wake. While still
bent
low she spoke, injecting a note of humility in her voice. "Teach me, Tofu-
sensei."
"T-teach you?" Ono blinked and adjusted his glasses. She was still
bowing before him. He had never thought of himself as a martial arts
sensei...
the sudden formality had caught him off guard. "But what can I teach you?"
"A great deal," Ukyou said, still bowed before him. "I already know how
to fight... what I want to learn is stuff about the secrets of chi control.
I've
heard that martial artists can improve the speed of their own healing, sense
their opponent's fighting spirit, and do even more esoteric feats. You've
already proven you have control over similar techniques. I want to learn the
fundamentals of these arts."
"The fundamentals..." Ono mused. He smiled to himself as he rubbed his
chin. Here was an opportunity he had been dreaming of for years, a student
who
seemed eager to accept all his accumulated wisdom from his studies of the
ancient ways under the rigours of modern methods. No other doctor, no other
student had ever been willing to entertain his 'crazy' notions. And she was
right, she would have a great deal of time over the next few weeks to absorb
his
teachings. It was almost too good to be true.
"Of course, I'll teach you everything I know," Ono laughed and tapped
her on the shoulder to indicate she should rise. Ukyou returned to her feet
and
smiled up at him. "I only have one condition."
"Which is?"
"Get some sleep."
"But..." Ono could sense the actual dread in her voice as she trailed
off and her eyes darted to both sides instinctively.
"That's a double order, from your doctor and your sensei."
Ukyou sighed and nodded to herself. "If you say so..." she said wearily.
"But you better be prepared when I wake up and start having convulsions
again."
"I'll keep that in mind," Ono chuckled as he stood up himself. He felt
suddenly energized. It would be good to pass on his teachings to someone as
bright as Ukyou obviously was. Plus, she might actually clear up some of his
workload. "If you need help getting to sleep, I can assist..."
"No... I won't need it." Ukyou sighed as she walked out of the office.
"Good night, sensei."
"Good night, Ukyou."
*
Jadeite smashed his fist into the mirror before him, shattering the
glass into a million silver splinters in his rage. This was intolerable. His
latest youma had been destroyed by those annoying Sailor Senshi once again,
and
this time that other boy hadn't even shown his face. The entire thing had
been
for his benefit, and the boy hadn't even appeared. Worse yet, the girls had
added another member to their team.
If only his magical scans could track any of them. But the Senshi were
protected by powerful glamours that concealed their true identities. And
while
the boy had no such protections, it seemed that magic had a very difficult
time
tracing his passage. Only two days ago Jadeite had thought he had finally
tracked the fool down... only to find a motel room covered in several days
of
dust.
After venting his rage there, he had returned to his home and thrown
together a makeshift plan to gather some energy. Already Queen Beryl was
growing
impatient with him, and the failure of this plan was sure to lead to
punishment.
He shuddered as he thought of what awaited him when he went to report the
failure to his queen. Compared to that, the minor scratches on his hand were
nothing.
He needed to find the boy, and quickly. Just his energy alone would be
worth more than Jadeite could gather in weeks of subtle scheming in the
human
city. If he could gain access to two, or three, or four of them... the
energy
could release Metallia months ahead of schedule. Jadeite smiled as he
contemplated the rewards he would earn for such a successful operation.
Maybe... maybe he was going about this wrong. Relying on magical
resources too much. Maybe he should let humans do the dirty work for him. At
the
very least, he could continue his own plans while he played them for pawns.
He
had already learned how effective the human media was in this world...
"JADEITE! BEFORE ME!"
The magical summons hung in the air around Jadeite for a few seconds as
he cursed his bad luck. But now was not the time for recrimination. He would
have to accept his punishment, and hope that he retained enough of his
faculties
to pull off his new plan when she was finished venting her rage. Composing
his
face into an obsequious mask he teleported himself to Queen Beryl's throne
chamber, already mentally preparing himself for the pain to come.
*
"I can't believe that idiot..." Akane grumbled as she stepped into the
clinic again. "Hello, Doctor Tofu, I just came to quickly see Ukyou, hope
you
don't mind!" Akane called as she walked past the reception desk without
looking
up. She was far too angry to give the handsome young doctor the smile he
deserved, so it was best not to tempt fate.
"Just a minute, Akane," Ukyou called from behind her. "I'm busy at the
moment."
Akane stopped in mid-stride, unsure if she had heard correctly. A quick
glance over her shoulder confirmed that, yes, Ukyou was out of bed and
behind
her. The girl was sitting behind the reception desk, helping an elderly
woman
fill out some sort of form. Ukyou was wearing a well-cut casual suit which
emphasized her shoulders and made her look more mannish than usual. From the
way
the old lady was smiling as Ukyou chatted amiably with her, apparently Ukyou
struck quite the dashing figure. Akane guessed she could see it...
Ukyou bade goodbye to the old woman and gestured for Akane to take a
seat nearby. Realizing she was staring, Akane stepped over and sat down.
Ukyou
didn't stop much, she was already pulling several huge files of papers from
the
desk behind which she sat. Akane watched in silent awe as Ukyou efficiently
laid
out the papers in front of her and began to examine them each in turn, her
expressionless eyes scanning each with critical ease.
"No wonder the guy disappears... he's been hemorrhaging money for months
with all the special projects..." Ukyou mused aloud as she began to re-order
the
papers into three large piles.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Akane said finally.
"I'm helping Doctor Tofu out," Ukyou pointed out evenly, letting
her eyes drift up to Akane for a second before going back to her work. "Just
think of it as payback for all the free medical care."
"I thought you were supposed to still be in bed?"
"I'm fine to walk around Akane, I just need to go easy for a few weeks,"
Ukyou pointed out. She bit lightly on her tongue and began to make notes on
several of the pieces of paper with a red pen. "I guess it is true that
doctors
know nothing about money. If I had half this man's operating capital, I
could
own a chain of restaurants..."
"Okay..." Akane blinked.
"Don't feel like you're disturbing me, Akane," Ukyou commented in a
placid tone as she began to make notes and punch the buttons on a nearby
calculator. "I can easily concentrate on two things at once." Ukyou let
herself
display a wry smirk. "It's a gift of mine."
"Right..." Akane stared as Ukyou's fingers literally flew across the
papers beneath her. Every now and then the girl would tsk in a disappointed
way
and mark something with a huge red X or circle it in a giant red oval. Akane
wasn't sure she wanted to disturb the girl, even with her statement a few
seconds ago.
"Did Nabiki follow you here again?" Ukyou commented idly as she
continued working. Apparently, if Akane wasn't going to start the
conversation,
Ukyou would.
"No, I don't think so," Akane sighed a bit ruefully. "I think she's
still recovering from that sprained ankle from when she fell off the roof."
"Heh," Ukyou smirked a bit viciously. "I wish I could say I felt sorry
for her, but she was asking for it. Your sister is quite the little snoop."
"I know," Akane grunted and crossed her arms. Nabiki was already
pestering her day in and day out to reveal Ukyou's confidences. Not pleased
with
just berating Ranma and her, Nabiki had taken to trying to sneak into the
clinic
all the time so she could find out more about Ukyou. Sooner or later Akane
would
have to have a talk with her about it. Thankfully, Daddy just thought Nabiki
was
sneaking out to be with Ranma. "I'll try convincing her to leave you
alone..."
Akane trailed off at a shake of Ukyou's head.
"Don't bother," Ukyou said a bit evenly. "I think having her after me
all the time keeps me on my toes."
"I suppose it would," Akane sighed. She just hoped Ukyou knew what she
was in for. Akane knew her sister could be quite sneaky when she put her
mind to
it. So far, Ukyou had proven to be just that one step sneakier. Frankly, the
idea that Ukyou would enjoy the competition cheered Akane up a little. Ever
since Ukyou had woken up, she had been... withdrawn. Well, even more
withdrawn
than usual. Akane could get her to grin, and Ranma could make her laugh. But
Ukyou never did anything herself when the two of them were around. She
seemed to
spend most of her time just staring at the ceiling.
"By the way, where's Ranma? It's not like him to show up later than
you," Ukyou asked as she continued to scratch notes all over the financial
records.
Oh great, that reminded Akane why she was mad in the first place.
"That idiot decided he'd rather go get himself beat up than come see his
best friend on her sickbed!" Akane snapped.
"Akane..." Ukyou said chidingly, not bothering to look up. Akane
flushed. Whenever Ukyou used that impossibly mature tone, Akane felt ten
years
younger than her. Considering how often she and Ranma got into shouting
matches,
Akane had grown very familiar with that tone of voice. "I'm not exactly
dying.
Ranma has his own life, I'm not surprised that..." Here Ukyou paused and
looked
up at Akane for only the second time since she had walked in the door.
"Wait,
Ranma's having a fight... with who?" Ukyou's tone of voice was carefully
neutral.
"Some guy named... Ryo... Ryouken? Ryougi?" Akane waved her bad memory
away. "Some guy who showed up at school this afternoon and punched a hole in
the
pavement. Ranma didn't even really wait for him to introduce himself before
the
two ran off to have a fight."
"Indeed," Ukyou mused aloud. "Oh, one thing I keep forgetting to
mention, Akane." Akane perked up as Ukyou leaned back in her chair, running
one
hand through her bangs and letting the palm rest on the back of her
ponytail. "I
have a pet pig that I haven't been able to see for a few days for obvious
reasons."
"Ukyou!"
"It's not that bad, Akane. The pig can take care of himself. He's a
pretty good forager, and has a tendency to wander about aimlessly when I'm
not
there to look after him." Ukyou grinned a bit, but her smile wasn't
pleasant. "I
just wanted to warn you to keep an eye out for him. He's about this big..."
Ukyou held her hands apart, leaving about enough space for a housecat
between
them. "He's jet black and very cute looking. He has a yellow and black
bandana
tied about his neck, and can be hostile with people he doesn't know."
"I'll keep an eye out for him," Akane nodded.
"Good," Ukyou nodded. "If you do see him, could you grab him and bring
him here?" Seeing Akane nod enthusiastically, Ukyou smiled. "Oh, and one
last
thing. The pig is a real pervert. Like to watch girls undress and all that.
So
don't cradle him or do anything mushy with him, since he's a rather sick
piggy.
That's why I called him H-chan."
Akane stared at Ukyou for a second. H-chan... short for hentai-chan?
Little pervert? That was certainly a strange name for a pig. But if the
little
critter was as bad as Ukyou was saying, maybe he deserved it. Akane resolved
to handle the pig at arms length, if she ever saw it. It seemed unlikely,
however.
"I understand, Ukyou."
"Good, good..." Ukyou said with a relieved sigh. Akane gave her a
curious stare as the girl went back to working on Doctor Tofu's books. Her
face
was still as expressionless as ever, even as she went over the papers with
uncanny ease. Akane shook her head and stood up. Ukyou seemed to be doing
something anyway... maybe now was a good chance for Akane to have a talk
with
the good doctor? Akane smiled a bit at that thought, allowing herself to
indulge
in a few mildly naughty fantasies.
*
Ranma groaned and wrung the water out of his pigtail as he leapt over
the rooftops. Leave it to that loser Ryouga to disappear in the middle of a
fight. At least when they had fallen into that canal, Ryouga had vanished
before
he'd had a chance to see Ranma change into this girl body. In a way, that
had
been convenient. Not that Ranma couldn't have won the match regardless of
his
current shape, but it might have been a closer fight. Still, it seemed
pretty
weird even for someone with a directional sense as bad as Ryouga's to
disappear
during a fight, but whatever.
It was only a few more hops before the clinic came into view. With a
sigh, Ranma descended to the street outside. Maybe he could get the Doc to
look
at a few of these bruises while he was there. Not that Ryouga's punches had
really hurt, Ranma thought, then winced when his slightly swollen ankle hit
the
payment. It was just better to be safe then sorry, after all.
Ranma was just walking up the path to the clinic when Akane stepped out
of the clinic, bidding goodbye to someone inside. She was probably gushing
over
the Doc again. Ranma grinned and shook his head. His pigtail bounced wetly
against his neck. At least she seemed to be interested in guys, even if the
guy
in question was more interested in her oldest sister than Akane.
"Hey, Akane," Ranma nodded as he stepped onto the stairs.
"Ranma..." Akane looked down at him, and from the way her eyes dipped
down to his chest she had noted his current gender. Ranma repressed the urge
to
growl in annoyance. "Wait, come with me for a second." Akane grabbed his arm
and
began to pull him down the stairs. He had to pinwheel his other arm and
dance a
bit to keep from being pulled off his feet entirely.
"But... but..."
"This will only take a second, and it's important. Besides, Ukyou is
busy right now," Akane pointed out as she pulled Ranma around the wall.
"Okay, fine," Ranma grumbled as he pulled his arm free. He leaned
against the wall and rubbed at the arm. Underneath the sleeve was one of his
developing bruises, but he wasn't about to share that information with
Akane.
"What's so important, anyway?"
"I think something's wrong with Ukyou," Akane began in a somber tone.
Ranma cocked his heads to the side, idly batting his wet locks from his
forehead. "Haven't you seen it yourself the past few days?"
"Well, she seems to be getting better, recovering from her injuries..."
"That isn't what I mean," Akane said with a bit of frustration in her
tone, her feet scuffing the dirt a bit as she walked over to lean next to
him.
"Haven't you see it yourself, the way Ukyou is almost totally in her... how
do
you say it... her withdrawn mode?"
"Withdrawn mode?" Ranma frowned and tried to figure out what Akane
meant. She was probably thinking about the way Ukyou looked when her eyes
took
on that cold cast and her face didn't express much. The way sometimes his
best
friend would look at him like he was barely even there. Come to think of it,
he
hadn't seen much sign of the other side of Ukyou lately. The happy, excited
Ukyou. The one with the infectious smile and boundless determination. "I
guess I
see what you mean..."
"Yes! Ukyou is depressed," Akane nodded as she crossed her arms. "I
think the fight... her defeat at Chris' hands hurt her deeper than just the
surface."
"That's kinda silly, Akane," Ranma said with a shrug. "I've beaten up
Ukyou plenty of times when we were kids. Never quite as bad, but still I
always
won. It only ever made her more determined to fight me harder next time."
"No offense, Ranma, but you have the emotional sensitivity of a rock,"
Akane grumbled from beside him. "You can't even see how Ukyou feels
about..."
"About?" Ranma asked as Akane trailed off.
"Nevermind," Akane sighed and waved the question aside. "Not my place to
say."
"Fine," Ranma grunted and crossed his own arms... or tried to. It took
several tries with that stupid top-heaviness getting in his way. "I still
don't
think she's depressed. Maybe a little down, but then again so was I until
today." Ranma grinned. Ryouga showing up had solved that. It was about time
he'd
finally gotten to take on an opponent who didn't do anything but use brute
force. Ranma was almost curious what Ryouga's problem was. He was at least
sure
he had met the guy before and...
Oh wait, was this all about that stupid bread thing?
"We need to find some way to snap Ukyou out of this," Akane muttered,
bringing Ranma back to the here and now.
"Well, maybe she just needs a challenge?" Ranma suggested. "Something
that she can overcome, to give her some confidence back."
"Maybe..." Akane nodded. "Anyway, I have to get home... WE have homework
for tomorrow, you know."
"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma waved her aside and skipped around her. "No sweat
about that." Ranma didn't watch Akane leave. He was busy walking up to the
clinic and thinking about what she had said. It was probably best to keep
Akane's idea between the two of them for now. At least until Ranma could
think
of something to cheer Ukyou up with.
*
Rei Hino sighed as she sat down on the edge of her porch. Usagi was
sitting nearby, laughing and convulsing while she read a small graphic
novel...
Wait, that was HER graphic novel!
"Give me that!" Rei shouted as she reached out to snatch the small book
from the blonde's grasp. Usagi, displaying a level of agility she lacked in
virtually all other pursuits, kept the book from Rei's grasping hand.
"I'm not finished yet!" Usagi complained in her best nasal whine. Rei
felt the blood beginning to throb in her forehead, but took a deep sigh and
forced herself to remain calm.
"Fine, you can read it, just ask permission from here on in, okay?" Rei
grumbled as she went back to staring out across the courtyard of her
family's
ancestral temple. She didn't even acknowledge Usagi's agreement to Rei's
terms.
Honestly, what was Usagi even doing here? Rei wasn't sure why such a girl
had
been chosen to be one of the Sailor Senshi, the only thing between Earth and
the
forces of this evil demonic agency. Ami was a person that Rei could
certainly
see in the role...she was smart and sensible, and brave in her own way.
Usagi
was the exact opposite: air-headed, gullible and a coward.
Then again, maybe fate worked in mysterious ways. Rei herself didn't
believe that she could be a magical soldier of love and justice, not until
she
had been forced to transform for the first time in that Dreamland amusement
park. Rei still had trouble believing in all this, but it was hard to deny
when
she had herself flung flame from her fingers to save Usagi's life.
"Hi, everyone," Ami called as she walked up into view up the stair.
Usagi waved vibrantly and Rei kept herself to nodding. The girl had agreed
to
meet the two here after her cram school, mainly at Rei's request. Rei felt
it
was important to discuss what was going on.
"Did you have any trouble getting past the vultures?" Rei asked when Ami
sat down next to her. Ami gave her a curious look at first, but it didn't
take
long for understanding to dawn.
"Oh, you mean all the reporters," Ami said with a shy smile. "They are
rather making a mess at the bottom of your steps."
Rei harrumphed and placed her chin on one palm, shifting her legs under
her expansive hakama-style pants so she was more comfortable sitting on the
wooden porch. "I don't know what they expect to find here. That guy hasn't
been
back since he saved everyone on that bus."
"I hear they're offering a one million yen reward for his location!"
Usagi crowed happily from nearby. Rei noticed she had dropped the - formerly
mint condition - book onto the floor. She wanted to comment on it, but it
was
really rather a minor thing. Besides they had better things to worry about,
like
what Usagi had just brought up.
"I think it's kind of suspicious myself," Rei mused. "This guy shows up
just in time to stop Jadeite, then throws Usagi into the portal and runs
away.
Now he never shows up again and nobody has any idea who he is at all."
"That isn't quite fair," Ami pointed out. "That other Sailor, Pluto, she
attacked him and scared him off." Ami leaned forward and sighed. "I wouldn't
blame him if he didn't trust us enough to show up again."
"Oh who cares if Pluto scared him off or not," Usagi waved her hand
through the air a few times. "Did you guys see his butt? It's fantastic!
He's
the cutest guy ever!"
"What about Tuxedo Kamen?" Rei snapped, remembering how Usagi had gushed
over the masked man back in Dreamland.
"Eh, he's also very cute..." Usagi trailed off. "On the one hand you
have the poetic, dark and mysterious gentleman... on the other the quiet,
achingly handsome rebel... oh it's too hard to choose between them!"
"The guy threw you through a portal into an evil dimension!" Rei
hissed.
"If he hadn't, all those people would still be trapped," Ami pointed out
in a shy tone. Rei cast an aggravated look at her, but it died off quickly.
She
had a point, after all. Pluto herself had admitted in her talk with Usagi
that
she had only paused to keep the portal open to save Sailor Moon. But then
again,
Pluto seemed to think that this mystery boy was far more dangerous than
whatever
enemy they were currently fighting.
"See, Ami's right," Usagi nodded. "Besides, he doesn't even hide behind
a mask. Granted using a mask on a face like that would be a crime, but he
doesn't, which is the point." Rei stared at her, giving a mental 'huh?' as
she
tried to figure out the meaning of that statement. "The point, Rei, is that
someone that cute obviously can't be a bad guy. He may be rough around the
edges, but all he needs is the right woman to smooth him out and..."
"I suppose you're the right woman?" Rei sneered.
"Maybe I am!"
Rei snapped her head up suddenly. Usagi gasped and fell over.
"Wah! Rei looks scary!" Usagi whined loudly.
"Be quiet," Rei hissed as she rose to her feet. Where was this feeling
coming from? It was a great anger, flowing through the courtyard from...
over
there. Rei snaked a hand into her shirt, peering along the edge of the yard.
She
concentrated, unfocusing her eyes and allowing them to see beyond the
physical.
It was just like the meditation before the sacred flame. You had to perceive
the
energy that bound all things together... there! "I've got you!" Rei shouted
as
she sprinted across the yard. Her hand whipped out, trailing the paper strip
of
her ofuda ward. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou
taisan!" Rei screamed as she thrust her ward forward between two fingers.
Instinct and mystical energy guided her strike, placing it with unerring
accuracy right on the... signpost?
Rei was not sure what surprised her more. The fact the she had just
attacked a signpost, or the fact that the signpost suddenly sprouted a young
woman's head and fell backward as the girl's eyes wobbled about.
"Ah! Some kind of signpost youma!" Usagi shrieked from behind her. Well,
at least Rei wasn't going crazy.
"Wait, I don't think it is..." Ami cried as she began to tap the buttons
on that tiny pocketbook computer of hers.
"Ow! That really hurt!" the girl's head on the ground complained. Rei
could only stare in wonder as a perfectly normal looking arm emerged from
the
side of the sign (it read "No sign posting please", Rei noted absently) and
reached up to the girl's head. "You crazy chick! What did you do that for?"
There was a ripping sound as the girl pulled the paper ward from her
forehead.
"Yowch! I think I lost some skin!"
"Ah! The signpost monster girl resisted Rei's ward!" Usagi cried as
she began to shake her head back and forth, her pig-tails whipping back and
forth with audible cracks.
"I don't think its a monster," Ami pointed out again. She was making
futile calming gestures at the panicking blonde.
"She's right, no monster would have been able to pull off that ward,"
Rei said as she crossed her arms. "Not without a lot more effort, anyway.
That
does still leave the question of who it is, and why she was spying on us."
Rei
began to tap her foot impatiently.
"Spying on you?" the girl grumbled as she rose to her feet. This
involved peeling off the remains of her elaborate disguise, a process that
she
made seem impossibly mundane, considering that she should have been unable
to
hide in the signpost at all. It gave Rei a slight headache to watch. She was
wearing a rather frilly and flashy sundress, which looked almost normal on
her.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you. I'm not the one planning to snatch somebody
else's sweetheart away like some street corner hussy!"
"What are you talking about?" Rei sighed as she placed a hand over her
brow. She could feel the blood thumping in her temples again. She was also
busy
trying to remember if she said anything that let the cat out of the bag, so
to
speak, regarding their secret identities.
"Don't deny it!" the girl shouted. She pointed at Usagi and started to
stalk across the courtyard toward her. Usagi eeped and toppled backwards
onto
the porch when she tried to back away. "This one here was talking about
seducing
my darling Ukyou!"
"Ukyou?" Ami piped in. She had slipped her pocket computer away to
wherever it was that she stored it.
"Hah, you don't even know the name of your 'mysterious boy hero', do
you?" the teenage girl snorted and crossed her arms under her bodice. She
was
probably about as tall as Rei, which meant she literally loomed over the
cowering Usagi. However, upon hearing the mention of her latest crush (Rei
had
counted three boys she was desperate for so far) Usagi ceased the cowering
act
and sat up.
"Wait, you're saying you know who he is?"
"Yes, I know who 'he' is," the girl snorted, with an unusual emphasis on
the word 'he'. "I've only been dating Ukyou for almost a year now."
"Dating!" Usagi shrieked and slapped her hands to her cheeks. "You're
lying, I don't believe a guy like that could date a jerk like you!" Tears
began
to well up on the corners of Usagi's eyes. Rei sighed and walked towards the
catfight in the making. If there was going to be a blow up here, she might
as
well have a good view of the fun.
"You better believe it," the girl smirked down at Usagi. "I am Tsubasa
Kurenai, the one true love of the mysterious Ukyou Kuonji!" she introduced
herself with a graceful pirouette that ended with her standing in a singers
pose, complete with karaoke microphone.
"Oh, is that why you're here?" Ami said with a cheerful smile. "I guess
you want to collect the million yen reward, since you know this Ukyou person
so
well."
"Ah..." Tsubasa stumbled back, her face going from rapturous to
downtrodden in an eyeblink. "Well, not really. I was actually hoping that...
that there would be someone here who knows where Ukyou is..." she admitted
slowly and with obvious reluctance. However, Ami's cheerful and unrelenting
smile seemed to wear down Tsubasa's nerve.
"Ah ha!" Usagi leapt to her feet and poked her finger at Tsubasa
accusingly. "How can you claim to be Ukyou's girlfriend when you don't even
know
where he is?!"
"I have a lot more solid a claim than you!" Tsubasa shot back. "In fact,
I know for a fact that Ukyou wouldn't give you a second glance, you... ugly
girl!"
"UGLY!" Usagi shrieked, but in rage this time. Rei backed off. She had
never seen Usagi angry before. It was mildly scary, the way her body seemed
to
glow with rage. "Did you call me ugly?"
"I just call them like I see them," Tsubasa smirked and crossed her arms
under her bodice again. "But even if you were the prettiest girl on earth,
you
couldn't begin to get Ukyou's attention like I can."
"So you don't think I'm enough of a woman for him?" Usagi growled and
mimed rolling up her sleeves. "I'm ten times the woman you are!"
"Bah!" Tsubasa stepped back and sneered. She waved her hand at Usagi
like she was trying to dispel a bad smell. "I have something you will never
have, girl. Without it, you're not even in the competition."
"Oh really," Usagi said in a dangerously calm voice. "I think that
sounds like a challenge to me."
"Hmph, fine." Tsubasa stared into Usagi's eyes, and the other girl
stared back. Rei backed up another step at the intensity of their stares.
She
could see their auras clashing and sparking against each other thanks to her
training, and wanted no part of this new contest. "We'll see which of us
tracks
down Ukyou and goes out on a date with her first."
"You're on!"
Tsubasa smirked again and spun on one heel, her shoulder length hair
bobbing prettily in her wake. She waved absently over her shoulder as she
started down the stairs. Usagi clenched her fists as she watched her new
romantic rival sashay down the steps.
"No one calls me ugly..." Usagi grumbled. Then she raised her hand and
pointed at the sky. "I swear, in the name of the moon... forget Motoki,
forget
Tuxedo Kamen... Ukyou Kuonji will be my boyfriend!"
"So, does that mean Tuxedo Kamen is free now?" Rei teased. Well, sorta.
He WAS kinda dreamy, with his top hat and cane...
"Well... " Usagi deflated. Then she sniffed and began to tear up. "It
was such a beautiful dream, Tuxedo Kamen... but if I'm going to beat that
jerk
Tsubasa..." she looked at the sky and clutched her hands before her. "You
have
to forgive me, Tuxedo Kamen! You have to understand that I do this for the
greater good!"
"How exactly is dating some guy you don't even know because of some
stupid contest with a girl you don't even know for the greater good!" Rei
burst
out.
Usagi only looked at her in the same manner one might look at a child
who had just asked a really stupid question. "You obviously don't understand
how
these things work, Rei." Usagi waved her fingers at her, as if she were
deflecting Rei's common sense. "It would just take too long to explain."
*
Nabiki winced as she slid quickly around the corner. Her ankle protested
the mistreatment as she moved too quickly for its taste. She had sprained it
almost a week ago now, trying once again to sneak into the clinic to get the
goods on Ukyou Kuonji. This made trailing her sister and her reluctant
fiancee
without them noticing all that much harder. Nabiki had already learned the
hard
way that Ranma seemed to have a knack for knowing when people were following
him, what with all the pictures Gosunkugi took where the man/woman was
obviously
posing for the camera. But still, being five blocks back from them seemed to
work, even if it made her job all that much harder.
Nabiki leaned down and rubbed her poor ankle. She sighed and peeked
around the corner, mindful that unless she kept her eyes on them the duo
could
likely disappear around a corner without her getting a chance to notice.
Thankfully Ranma was wearing that ridiculous red silk shirt of his, so he
stood
out like a sore thumb.
Also thankfully, the two seemed to have finally come to a stop. They
were standing a few blocks down the street, staring across the busy street
at an
unassuming looking motel. They had led Nabiki into a rather unsavory part of
town, the kind of place where a girl didn't want to be walking alone at
night.
The motel was a stereotypical example of the kind of dive that sprung up in
these kinds of places. While it was well painted and clean enough outside,
it
had a certain worn down look that pointed out that maintenance was done
half-
heartedly, if at all. Oh, and there was that giant blackened hole in it.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Ranma and
Akane were taking more than a casual interest in the motel, which meant it
was
probably the place where Ukyou had sent them. Nabiki grinned to herself.
Ranma
might be a martial arts genius and have the senses of a hunting cat, but he
really did speak too much for his own good and lied like a two year old.
Nabiki
hadn't yet managed to weasel the true story of his history with Ukyou out of
him, but on occasion he let slip little details, like the fact he and Akane
were
spending today fetching some of Ukyou's possessions from this motel.
Probably
because the boy was working at Doctor Tofu's now, which meant he would be
getting better housing for free.
Now the two were talking, making animated gestures to each other. Damn,
what Nabiki wouldn't give to know what they were talking about. But there
was
too much space and too many noisy people between her and them, which made
that
impossible. So Nabiki instead decided to examine the building itself. The
large
hole in the building would have been, if Nabiki guessed correctly, just
about
large enough to account for one room in the complex. It was also obviously
burnt
out, but not in any way she had seen fire operate before. A blaze powerful
enough to do that much damage to the structure should have burned down most
of
the building, shouldn't it? Somehow, this did not strike Nabiki as a
coincidence.
Nabiki kept a sidelong glance on Ranma and Akane, and thus saw them
moving in plenty of time to react. She carefully slipped back into the
alley,
hiding herself behind a rather unpleasant-smelling dumpster. The two passed
her
by without a glance and Nabiki smiled, even if she would need a bath when
she
got home.
Sauntering as much as her injured ankle would let her, Nabiki exited the
alley and made her way down the street. Ranma and Akane might have given up
easily on the matter of retrieving things from Ukyou's motel room, but
Nabiki
wasn't about to let a little fire stop her. Her mind worked overtime as she
came
up with a simple but efficient plan to get herself into the motel...
The inside of the motel was a great deal more scuzzy than the outside.
The wallpaper peeled off the walls in a few places, and a bit of green mold
could be seen growing in one corner of the ceiling. The foyer was a plain
box,
with one entrance into the rest of the building. The register was in an open
window along one of the walls. A tall, sweaty man with a bad combover was
sitting behind it.
"Excuse me, please..." Nabiki said as she tiptoed to the desk, her
voice containing just enough tremble to sound scared yet eager at the same
time.
She made sure to look down, and blush, while subtly breathing in so her
breasts
stood out. That got the man's attention, all right. "Can you help me,
please,
sir?"
"Heh. Sure thing, little girl," the man replied roughly. His breath
smelled minty; probably mouthwash, to cover up the occasional sip of
alcohol.
"What can I do for you?" He leaned forward across the desk. To his credit,
he
didn't leer, but he definitely wanted to.
"Well sir, I was supposed to meet my boyfriend here, because...
because-" Nabiki cut herself off and shoved her fist over her face and shook
it
back and forth, making sure she breathed deeply while she did so. She spent
a
few seconds 'regaining her composure' then pulled her hands away. "I... was
supposed to meet him here, and he hasn't shown up yet."
"Ah... that's too bad..." the man said, grinning widely to himself.
Nabiki repressed the urge to smirk. He was fed just enough information to
leap
to the wrong conclusion. "For a guy to stand you up like that is a real
crime."
"Oh, he didn't stand me up!" Nabiki gasped, making sure to put a bit of
reproach in her voice. "I, actually... I was so... excited that I showed
up..."
Nabiki looked down and twiddled her toes with her hands laced behind her
back,
her blush was in full force. "I showed up a bit early actually..."
"Oh, I see..." the man gave her a long look. "Well, what can I help you
with?"
"Well, when I agreed to meet him here I didn't know what kind of
neighbourhood this was... just that it was far away from our parents and...
ahem... well, I'm kind of scared to wait for him outside."
"Ahhh..." the man said in sudden understanding. "And you want to wait
inside, where someone can protect you, is that it?" Nabiki nodded. "Well, I
don't have anywhere you can sit in the foyer..." he mused.
Nabiki squealed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't wait for
him right here! Standing in the middle of the entrance, dressed like this,
by
myself? What will people think?" The man raised an eyebrow but didn't reply.
"Maybe... maybe I can just wait in the room..."
"I see..." the man mused, rubbing his chin. "I suppose your boyfriend
has all the money?" Nabiki flushed and nodded. He sighed. "Why am I not
surprised? Okay kid, I'll give you a break. This is a special event." The
man
reached under his desk and came back up with a room key. "Here, go make
yourself
at home." At this point he did leer, just a little. "I'll be sure to tell
your
boyfriend you're waiting for him."
"Oh thank you, thank you!" Nabiki squealed in delight this time, and
leaned over to take the key. She even allowed her hand to linger on his for
a
few seconds as a minor payment. Then she gave him a wink and skipped over to
the
room leading into the motel. Once she was inside she dropped the coquettish
school girl act and dropped the keys in the nearest trash bin. It wasn't
like
she was ever going to need them.
Nabiki strolled along the hall in no particular hurry. It wasn't hard to
spot the room that had been flash-fried; the door was missing, and ribbons
of
yellow police tape had been liberally placed across the threshold. Nabiki
leaned
down and ran her fingers along the carpet. It was even stranger up close.
The
fire that had burnt out this room had stopped exactly at the edge of the
door.
It sent a shiver up her spine for some reason...
Getting in through the police tape was easy; doing so without displacing
any of it too badly was more difficult, but not impossible. Once she was
inside,
Nabiki felt vaguely disappointed. The room was a burnt-out shell, nothing
but
black ash from wall to wall... or what would have been the walls. The
ceiling
and floor were mostly intact, but the interior walls were full of
scorch-edged
holes. The remnants of a bed sat dimly in one corner, and the opening to the
small bath proved that to be a blackened ruin as well. Nabiki kicked around
for
a few minutes, overturning anything large or unusual looking with her good
leg.
It was in the remains of what looked like a backpack that Nabiki found
her prize. The pack was barely more than a lump of ashes, filled with even
more
charred and unrecognizable objects. Nabiki guessed some of it was clothing;
other things she couldn't guess at. She did discover a set of short-handled
metal spatulas like the kind Ukyou liked to use as throwing stars, but she
discarded them. At least their discovery confirmed the former occupant of
this
room.
The real prize only even partly survived because Ukyou seemed to have
gone to great lengths to make sure it would survive almost anything. It was
packed in the remains of what Nabiki recognized as a brand of waterproof
carrying cases, then packed in pink insulation, then sealed behind a
(melted)
plastic baggy. Nabiki held up the charred binder in her hands. This had been
important to Ukyou, all right.
Unable to contain herself, Nabiki carefully flipped it open. She cursed
and resisted to urge to throw the thing away in disgust. It was badly
burned, at
least half the pages missing or so burnt as to be unrecognizable. Still,
Nabiki
held out hope. Flipped through the pages she discovered that some of them
still contained legible text, and it was filled with quite a number of hand-
drawn pictures of various subjects, some of which had even survived almost
unscathed. But it was written in English, all of it, in a slightly messy but
small and efficient hand.
Nabiki sighed. Her English teachers at school had always varied from
incompetent to downright ignorant, so she wasn't that eager to test out her
skills with the language on the fragments of pages left within it. With a
sigh
of disgust, she flipped the binder closed and stood up. Translating this
thing
would be long and difficult, especially if she didn't want anybody else to
discover what might potentially be inside. But it was the first solid clue
Nabiki had... and she wasn't about to let a thing like a freak fire or a
language barrier stop her! Grinning, she stepped out of the room, located
the
nearest emergency exit and was gone in a flash.
*
Ukyou took a long sip from her cup. The pile of invoices and bills had
finally shrunk down to a few stray sheets covering only the last few years.
It
had taken almost five days to get all the doctor's finances in order. Ukyou
smirked as she ran a trained eye over the much larger pile of paperwork that
she
had managed to finish up. It made her feel better about herself, to help
this
good man with his mundane troubles. It also meant she had a chance to put
all
that time she had spent learning how to run a successful business to good
use.
After all, it wasn't like she was going to be able to open up her restaurant
until she solved this whole brain-hitchhiker problem.
It also made her feel better that she had been the major contributor to
this little project. Aaron was used to being more intelligent and more
insightful than those around him. It was a guilty pleasure to be the one
contributing the academic skills instead of the boy. It was also good that
she
could do most of this on her own; it kept him mercifully... quiescent for
the
majority of the week.
"Ukyou, this is... this is amazing!" Tofu said as he looked at the
papers Ukyou had handed him a few minutes ago. "I never dreamed that my
practice
was doing so... so..."
"Disastrously bad?" Ukyou offered as she slipped her eyes over one of
the last few pieces of financial data remaining to be dealt with. "Don't be
too
harsh with yourself. You were busy learning all you could, aiding the sick
and
injured... you know, being a decent human being. I've known far too many
doctors
concerned only with their bottom line."
"I guess..." Tofu sighed and adjusted his glasses. "I can't thank you
enough, though. If I had known you were this good at keeping the books, I
would
have agreed to pay you more."
"It's nothing." Ukyou waved her hand dismissively. "It keeps my mind
busy. I like being occupied."
"I really do need to thank you, however."
"This is my job, Tofu." Ukyou murmured. The man was taking this much too
seriously.
"Ukyou!"
Ukyou looked up, frowning as Akane burst into the room. Ranma was
peering over her shoulder, but Akane's position kept him from walking into
the
office. Akane's long hair was shiny with sweat, and her eyes were darting
about
fearfully. Ukyou's muscles tensed but she retained an outwardly calm
expression.
Ranma, after all, did not look very worried.
"Can we help you?" Doctor Tofu asked as he stood up. He was smiling, but
Ukyou had used her recently acquired skills of perception on him too much to
be
fooled. She could see the subtle signs of his worry. The way his eyes kept
drifting along Akane's chakra pressure points as he examined her chi, for
instance.
"Ukyou, we need to talk with you..." Akane looked at Doctor Tofu for a
few seconds. "It may be private..."
"I see," Tofu nodded. "Well, I can let you young people use my office.
If you'll get out of my way?"
Aaron came to a sudden decision, and spoke up before anyone else could
respond. "No, you should stay, Doctor." Ukyou thought of protesting the
sudden
decision, but decided Aaron was right. If they were going to trust Tofu
enough
to let him be their instructor, then they had to trust him with other, more
dangerous secrets. Besides, it wasn't like Tofu didn't already know most of
what
was going on. And anything he learned... it might just help him help her.
Doctor Tofu gave her a long look and then shrugged. He stepped back to
his chair and slid down into it. Apparently he was willing to wait patiently
for Akane to speak her mind, an attitude which Ukyou emulated, if didn't
exactly
feel. Ukyou gestured for the two of them to enter. Ranma gave Ukyou a
questioning look, but shrugged when she raised no objection. He did,
however,
reflexively check the hallway to make sure there were no potential
eavesdroppers
before closing the doors.
Once Akane was seated, she spoke up. "Ukyou, I have bad news."
"I'm not surprised," Ukyou deadpanned.
"You know that hotel you sent us to? The one you were staying at?" Ukyou
nodded slowly. "Someone attacked it, burned it down." Ukyou opened her
mouth,
but no words came down.
"And not the entire thing either," Ranma added with a grumble. "It was
pretty much just your room. No attempt at even makin' it seem like a normal
fire." Ranma shoved his hands into his pockets and frowned down at the
floor. "I
think it was a message. I think someone wanted us to know it wasn't
natural."
"Could this be Chris again?" Akane asked a bit fearfully. Aaron noted
Tofu raise an eyebrow, but the man remained quiet.
"Not his style," Ukyou grunted dismissively. She stood up and walked
over to the window. "This sounds more like the work of the Dark Kingdom. I
suppose Pluto could be responsible, but it really isn't her style either..."
"Who? Where?" Ranma coughed. "You have more people after you?"
"A few..." Ukyou crossed her arms on the sill and laid her chin across
them. Outside the wind had picked up, causing passers-by to shield their
faces
from the last lingering traces of the winter chill. In only a few short
months
it would be summer. How much longer... but Ukyou was drifting. Aaron forced
them
to stay on topic.
"The Dark Kingdom is a group of dangerous people who have access to
advanced abilities that resemble magic. They can summon a variety of demonic
servants, much like the one which attacked us back in Juuban."
"That one that knocked me unconscious?"
"That's the one," Ukyou confirmed. "They want to gather human life
energy, or chi, to fuel the resurrection of their demon empress Metallia. I
think they might be interested in me, and Ranma actually, by dint of how
much
more chi we have than normal humans."
"So these people are after trained martial artists?" Tofu asked softly.
"Not directly," Ukyou sighed. The street outside was full of everyday
people going about everyday problems. Aaron had never dreamed of being
anyone
more important than one of them, had never wanted to be anything but normal.
Ukyou was beginning to wonder why she had once dreamed of being special, if
this
was what it felt like. "They aren't targeting martial artists especially, to
my
knowledge anyway. I think I just pissed off one of their generals, and he
wants
revenge. They're petty like that."
"You sound familiar with them..." Tofu pointed out slowly.
"I have sources of information," Ukyou shrugged. "Not really important
at the moment." She spent a few more seconds watching the world walk by
outside
while the others talked in the background. Aaron kept a small bit of their
combined attention on the conversation, but mainly let Ukyou focus her
thoughts
outward. He idly noted a young woman gasp in annoyance as the wind caught
her
hat and sent it skittering down the street.
"Are you listening, Ukyou?"
"Indeed," Ukyou sighed. The others had been discussing what they could
do about the situation. "And before you ask again, there is nothing we can
do
about this, Ranma." Ukyou tapped her fingers idly along the sill. "The Dark
Kingdom isn't an enemy we can defeat. First off, we would have trouble even
finding them. They come from... a long way away from Japan and use their
magic
to get here. Plus they are probably out of our league. We might be able to
defeat their demon minions, but we can't hope to stop Metallia. And thirdly,
there is already a group of demon hunters on their case." Ukyou stopped
drumming
her fingers. "Best we can do is lay low and wait for the problem to blow
over.
Jadeite will have to go back to finding other victims if he can't find me,
and
the Sailor Senshi will track him down once he does."
"You're serious?" Ranma asked, his tone becoming exasperated. "You just
want to sit here and do nothing?"
"That's about the size of it," Ukyou agreed calmly.
Ukyou gasped as Ranma grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him. He
was right in his face, his blue eyes smoldering under his furrowed brow. For
a few moments time seemed to crawl as Ranma stared into her eyes. Ukyou was
transfixed, breathless. Then he sighed and released her. He stepped back,
shaking his head slightly.
"I guess I didn't want to believe it..." Ranma muttered. "But it really
is gone."
"Gone?" Ukyou whispered as she regained the ability to breathe.
"The fire in your eyes," Ranma said with a shrug. "Back when we were
kids, you always had that fire. I'd beat you every day when we sparred for
our
breakfast, and every morning you came back with that fire in your eyes." He
looked away from her. "But now... your eyes are so cold. I guess the fire
just
went out."
Ukyou stared back at him, unable to speak. As the silence descended on
the room, Ukyou found the words sinking in. She had lost it, she realized.
That
fire that used to burn inside her and push her forward. She had always been
motivated to exceed... but what now? Ever since she had woken up here, she
had
been delaying.
She had access to a world class martial arts master, one who could
improve her skills. One who had agreed to train her, and she had spent the
last
five days doing paperwork.
"Ukyou, Ranma doesn't mean it," Akane voiced suddenly. Ukyou realized
that something must have shown on her face. Shown through the placid mask
that
she had become so used to. Aaron's placid mask. Ukyou suddenly felt like
screaming. An irrational impulse to rip the skin from her face and scream
and
scream gripped her. Oh god, she had been slipping further and further from
herself, even as she tried to provoke Aaron into being more and more a
silent
partner in their forced union.
"No, he does..." Ukyou sighed and slumped down. "I... I think I came
dangerously close to just giving up here." Ukyou ran a hand through her
bangs.
"It's so tempting: to lose yourself in the mundane and just forget." Ukyou
spoke
from bitter experience. She remembered the brutal details of Aaron's life,
and
his steady descent from promising young intellectual to just another wage
slave.
All because of his inability to fight the inertia of his own apathy. It
wasn't
something that was going to happen to Ukyou, damnit! "I think Ranma is
right.
I've been sitting around on my duff for too long."
"Ukyou, that's hardly your fault, you've been recuperating..." Tofu
began but she cut him off.
"No, I thank you for helping me out, but you're wrong," Ukyou grunted.
"I was like a little boy thrown from a bike and who got scared because he
skinned his knee. I thought... I was so confident when I went in to fight
Kodachi that I would handle it with ease. I knew," she spat the last word
like a
curse. "I knew that I could handle things. When I failed so badly..." She
stood
up, smirking angrily at herself. "Okay Ranma, you made your point. What do
you
want to do about this?"
"Hah!" Ranma walked over and clapped her on the back. "That's my old
buddy Ucchan talking. First thing we have to do is train ourselves. If these
guys are stronger than us, we'll just have to change that!"
"I'm helping too!" Akane shouted suddenly as she sprung to her feet.
"You two always end up saving me or leaving me behind... I want to help
here!"
"You're right, Akane," Ukyou nodded. "You should help us."
"Ukyou, she'll just slow u-ow!" Ranma cut off sharply as Ukyou and Akane
smacked him in the back of the head at the same time.
"Children..." Tofu sighed. "You're all set on fighting this battle, are
you?"
"Indeed," Ukyou nodded.
"I don't suppose I can try pointing out that Ukyou's former plan is
really a good one. You're still teenagers. While tough teenagers, true, you
aren't supposed to be responsible for these kinds of things."
"Ah, s'not a big deal, Doc," Ranma said with a shrug as he rubbed the
sore spot on his scalp. "We can probably handle whatever these Dork Kingdom
guys
throw at us."
"Akane, I beg you to be the voice of reason here."
"I'm sorry, Doctor Tofu, but I've seen the kind of people that Ukyou has
to deal with. I don't think we can talk them down."
"That only leaves me with one choice... I guess I'll have to help you
all out." He stood up and smiled. "If I don't, I'm likely to lose the young
woman who is the only thing keeping my practice afloat at the moment."
*
Chris gazed over the expanse of the Chinese countryside with a certain
appreciation. He had always liked travelling; not only through his native
country, but also throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Britain and
Africa. Asia, however, had eluded him until he had stolen a body and come
to
Japan. He had not really had the time or ability to appreciate Japan
properly,
however; aside from his obvious distraction in the few days he had been
there,
the bodies he'd occupied LIVED in Japan. They knew it, and thus the
surprise
and wonder he felt exploring the new was dulled by the fact he could easily,
almost unconsciously, call up foreknowledge of it. Hard to get too
fascinated
by the lights and bustle of Shinjuku when he was following Kodachi's
memories to
her favourite store to make a purchase of certain herbal ingredients.
But Kodachi had never been to China, and thus the experience was totally
fresh to him as well. Certain aspects of the usual tourist experience - the
food, the entertainment, seeing and interacting with the people and their
lives
- weren't available to him, but what he had was still pretty gratifying.
The
thing about the breathtaking landscape spread out before him that most
caught
his eyes were the mountain peaks. The Bayankala range, he supposed. They
were
not at all like mountains he was used to. Oddly, almost abnormally thin,
they
were like enormous dead trees scratching at the sky with their branchless
grey
trunks. He wondered if they were that way in the real world, or just the
stylised backgrounds of the manga he'd remembered.
Below him, in that mountain range, were wonders that he knew weren't in
the real world. Jyusenkyou. The Nyuuchezu village. Phoenix Mountain. The
homeland of the Musk Dynasty. He felt curiosity about them, almost like a
archaeologist. So many questions Takahashi's manga had never answered.
What
happened to female children of the Musk? What were Saffron's origins? How
was
the Nyuuchezu village run, and how did they not know the Musk still existed?
What were all the springs in Jyusenkyou, and how - or from whom - did the
cursed
springs originate?
Ah, so many questions. And with luck, he'd have a lifetime to satisfy
that curiosity and explore this new world.
But for the moment, there was this cliff. He frowned, glancing down at
the directions he'd been given. Forty kilometers still, by his reckoning,
and
he'd have to continue the way he'd been going, before he reached the
village.
Given that he didn't need to stop to rest, he could probably easily reach
them
by early nightfall. Which was good; camping out waiting for Cologne to wake
up
the next morning would be incredibly boring, and he didn't want to risk
getting
lost exploring away from his directed path.
Folding the paper with the directions, he placed it away in the pocket
of his jeans - he hadn't exactly felt like travelling in Kodachi's leotard,
though he had one in case of necessary combat - he looked down the steep
slope,
maybe a hundred metres total. There was a path winding precariously down
it;
his eyes searched for how to reach it, but then suddenly a crooked grin
spread
across his borrowed face.
Path? Who needed paths?
Taking off his travelling backpack, he spun it once by the strap and
hurled it high into the air, far over the cliff. Without pausing he then
ran
forward, hurling himself over the precipice, diving like a swimmer.
The slope was sleep, but not vertical; it hurtled towards him. Two
fingers stabbed down, touched the side, flipped him over and outward. A
moment
later, a heel did the same. He flipped down the slope like a human
tumbleweed,
his face and thoughts calm as the world whirled around him. He was close,
now;
leg bunched up, found a protruding rock, shot down, pushing him off and up.
He
descended in a graceful arc, flipped in the air one more time, and landed
gracefully on the toes of one foot. One hand reached up, almost as an
afterthought, and caught the bag as it fell past him.
He laughed, and this wasn't Kodachi's laugh, but something very much
like his own, ringing out over the empty countryside. It was pointless
showing
off, and to nobody but himself, he knew that...but it was good. It felt so
GOOD. He never regretted for a second losing his real body, even when
finding
out that both it and he had apparently died. That crippled, weakened body.
Here was a place where he no longer had to worry about it. This was the
land of
promise. The land where anything, literally anything was possible to the
person
who was willing to reach out and grasp it. This was where the gods walked,
casually performing things that in the "real" world were impossible. And
now he
was one of them. Oh, it felt good.
Almost as good as being alive.
Still grinning, he checked the directions again, carefully oriented
himself, and strode briskly off. Maybe his journey would end here. Maybe
Cologne could help him, or tell him what he needed to know. He'd find out
that
night.
*
"And you must be H-chan," Akane sighed as she held the squirming black
piglet in her hands. The damn thing had frightened her half to death,
leaping
out of the shadows at her like that. And she had really been hoping to get
some
sleep now that the noise from Ranma and Ryouga's brawl outside her window
had
died down. Maybe that barbell she had tossed at them had gotten the point
across.
Outside the rain fell and the lightning flashed, followed only shortly
thereafter by the distant peal of thunder. The flash of light gave her the
first
clear view of the piglet in her hands. She had been half-joking when she
mentioned the name of Ukyou's missing pet piglet. But now she saw there was
no
doubt about it. It wore exactly the right yellow and black bandana around
its
neck.
The little pig was still trying to squirm out of her hands. Akane wasn't
about to let it go, however. For one thing Ukyou had banged into Akane's
head
how much the thing wandered. For another she had pointed out what a little
pervert it was. And since the beast had leapt at her bosom from the shadows,
she
had little reason to doubt Ukyou's word.
"Calm down, H-chan," Akane muttered to the pig as she shook it a little.
Strangely enough that seemed to get the pig to pause. It looked at her, its
little head cocked to the side. It had the largest eyes she had ever seen on
a
pig, and they had an almost human intelligence behind them. Maybe it
recognized
its name, which was why it stopped moving so violently. "I guess I can see
why
some people consider you cute," Akane muttered as she shook her head. "If
you
weren't such a pervert..."
Akane trailed off as she looked around her room. There was no place she
really trusted keeping the pig for the night. She wasn't about to let him
sleep
in her bed, and letting it wander around would be even worse. Akane was just
glad the pet hadn't been deep-fried along with all of Ukyou's other
belongings.
The thought of letting H-chan wander off was unthinkable. Maybe seeing her
companion would help cheer Ukyou out of her funk.
"Personally I think you should just be neutered," Akane muttered, mainly
to herself, as she walked out of the room. "That would solve both your
wandering
and your perversion problems." Akane blinked as the pig seemed to faint at
her
statement. She looked down in worry, then gasped as the little animal began
to
fight her grip with renewed vigor. Akane frowned as she was forced to exert
all
her strength and skill just to keep a hold of the animal. "You're a tough
little
bugger..." Akane grunted as she tried to wrestle the beast while
simultaneously
keeping it from touching any of her sensitive regions. It seemed a doomed
prospect. "Stupid pig, if you keep this up I have half a mind to neuter you
with
a kitchen knife!" Akane shouted in frustration.
Ah, now the animal was being still. Almost unnaturally, completely
still, with a large bead of sweat along its brow. Did pigs actually sweat?
She
guessed so, but couldn't remember.
"Now that you're quiet, H-chan, let's see if I can find someplace safe
to keep you till morning..."
Akane wandered downstairs. She paused as she passed the living room,
wondering exactly what Ranma was doing sitting in her soaking wet
nightclothes
staring intently at the neighbours dog. But Ranma was prone to bouts of
random
insanity, Akane supposed. She really didn't know what Ukyou saw in her, er,
him,
er, whatever.
Finally Akane found an old leash, ironically enough from her old dog-
walking days for the neighbours, and went about securing it to H-chan. "Now
you
be good, H-chan, and don't try to get away tonight. I'll be very cross with
you
if you do." Akane said to the pig. It looked at her as if it really
understood,
and so Akane didn't really feel foolish talking to a pig. She even made a
little
snip-snip motion with her fingers, which caused the pig to blanch and nod
its
head vigourously. Wow. It was easier having pets than everyone said it was.
Maybe that was why Ukyou kept this thing around?
*
Nabiki strode into the office. She resisted the urge to check and make
sure her hair was in place. She kept her eyes centered forward, her back
slightly arched and her arms steadily, but loosely, at her sides. The key
was
appearing more confident then you actually were. She didn't quite smirk, but
she
allowed the corners of her lips to lift slightly.
"Ah, you would be Ms. Tendo," the man behind the desk said with a smile.
His voice was soft, almost languid. He was tall, and rakishly thin. His hair
was
short, blonde and curly, and he wore a set of pink-tinted sunglasses that
made
it hard to see his eyes. "Please, have a seat."
Nabiki smiled and graciously accepted his offer. She made sure to lean
forward a bit more than was absolutely necessary when she sat down. It was
hard
to tell if he noticed, however. Whoever this guy was, he was a smooth
operator.
She glanced idly at the nameplate on his desk. J. Dight. Sounded foreign.
"I believe I have information that you advertised you were willing to
pay handsomely for?" Nabiki pointed out. Nabiki felt a thrill of vindication
with herself. It was finally time for her to pay that bastard Ukyou back for
dragging her life through the mud the past few weeks. Of course, she would
keep
the remains of the journal she had found yesterday to herself, but having a
little extra cash to help make up for her losses would be nice. "I will be
betraying my good friend Ukyou to you, so I hope I can be appropriately
compensated."
"Yes, Ms. Tendo," Mr. Dight said as he leaned across the table, tenting
his fingers in front of his face. "And I'll make sure you get everything
that's
coming to you. But first, tell me... where is Ukyou Kuonji?"
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes:
Blade: Well, first off, we would like to send out a hearty "thank you" to
our
new prereader, Elin! For, unlike all our other prereaders (except my
girlfriend), she actually, you know, READS the chapters! And comments on
them!
And catches some of Epsi's innumerable spelling errors that I miss!
Epsilon: Yes, and I might as well say "thank you" for probably the first
time,
since I don't actually talk to her.
Blade: Which might have a lot to do with why she's still prereading.
Epsilon: It might at that.
Blade: Anyways, for her invaluable service, Elin gets to read ahead! That's
right: while you guys are just now reading here, SHE'S about to read Chapter
8!
Aren't you jealous?
Epsilon: If YOU TOO become a prereader, YOU TOO could get to read ahead!
Until
you reach the point where we're still writing, and get back to that
one-month
delay.
Blade: In other news, this series is going to have a lot of different
characters
from a lot of different series', as hinted at in this chapter. Most won't
be
very important, but a few, of course, will end up being storyline-centric.
We
don't expect you to know every series involved; indeed, we don't expect you
even
to know Ranma or Sailor Moon. Theoretically, anyone and any series we
introduce
will be in such a fashion that even someone who's never heard of it should
be
able to follow along.
Epsilon: But for people with the IQs of-
Blade: (smashes Epsilon with bokken) Let's not insult the readers, SHALL WE?
Epsilon: Oh, fine. (rub head) So if there's anything you're confused on,
let
us know and we'll try to edit things for clarity, or add more exposition on
the
character/series as we go along.
Blade: Unless we're making you confused on purpose! You know, the whole
"mysterious stranger" thing! Far more likely than our flawless writing not
being flawless, certainly!
Epsilon: That's right. Our flawless writing! Which contained NO spelling
errors...at least until Elin read it!
Blade: She probably sneaks them in on purpose! Can't trust those tricky
Swedes!
Epsilon: Even if she does speak (or at least write) better English than most
of
the native speakers we know!
Blade: And she knows what an "infinitive" is. I mean, really, what's up
with
that? How suspicious.
Epsilon: I believe that she just made that term up. You know, like other
meaningless terms, such as "unobtainium", "blinkenspiel", or "compassionate
conservative".
Blade: I'd just like to remind everybody at this point that we're
near-geniuses.
Or, at least, -I- am.
Epsilon: I also think the term "self-deprecation" is made up. I mean, come
ON.
What's with that?
Blade: But here's one word that has meaning: "preview"! So enjoy this weak
segue and, yes, this "preview" of our next exciting chapter, on its way in
thirty days!
Cologne took another long draw on her pipe, savored the flavour for a
few moments, than exhaled an acrid cloud of smoke. "Interesting." She
paused,
looking him up and down. "You are no spirit, or ghost, or elemental, or
demon."
She tapped the ashes out into a small dish near her chair. "You are, as far
as
I can tell, a nothing. Ambulatory flesh with no more animating essence than
a
rock or a stream. Either you are an automaton, like those 'robots' I have
heard
about, or you are impelled by a force I can neither detect nor have heard
the
least amount on." With that, she began elaborately and carefully stuffing
her
pipe again.
He slumped. "Well. That doesn't exactly sound very hopeful, I must
admit."
"Wisdom rarely does."
"Touche. Well, is there anything you can suggest? Any avenue I might
take, source of information I might seek out, expert I might consult?"
"I never said I couldn't help you," Cologne noted as she finished
lighting her pipe. She took another puff before continuing. "You came
seeking my
wisdom, and I gave it to you. Which is to say, I know nothing about what you
are
or how to solve your problem." Cologne smiled, more to herself than to him.
"But
the far better question for you to ask yourself now would be: why should I
do
anything at all to help you?"
Hybrid Theory Chapter 6: Breaking The Habit
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