[FFML] [FIC]{RANMA] Upon Ethereal Wings

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko
Takahashi, Kitty Productions,
and Viz Communications.
**********

UPON ETHEREAL WINGS
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney

**********

Prologue

Herb of the Musk was defeated, and Ranma had restored
his ability to return to his male form with the
magical Open Water Kettle. When he got back home to
the Tendo's place he was greeted with the shock of his
life.

And Ranma was still in shock. Akane hugged him,
actually hugged him! No yelling, no hitting, she ran
to him threw her arms around his waist and hugged him!
And she cried too. That part really bugged Ranma a
lot, he didn't like seeing Akane cry. Despite all the
abuse he got from her he still cared about the girl
who was his iinazuke, even though the whole engagement
thing was cooked up by his father and Mr. Tendo. That
would have been enough, but for some reason Akane's
attitude towards him has suddenly changed. She's
almost gone out of her way not to be mad at him and is
even trying to listen to his side of the story for
once. He wasn't sure what was going on with her, yet
somehow he liked it.

Those days waiting for Ranma to return after he went
after Herb and the Open Water Kettle had been a
nightmare for Tendo Akane. She laid in her bed
staring up at the ceiling. No I don't miss him., she
told herself. Good riddance to him!, she said again
after a little while. Where is he?, she wondered
later. Ranma, please be alright., her heart pleaded
just before falling asleep, tear streaks still evident
on her face.

When Ranma came back it was like a dream. First he
wasn't there and then he was. She tried to act
indifferent to his return, but the days he'd been gone
were like a kind of torture. For the very first time
Akane was afraid for Ranma, afraid he wouldn't be back
from this battle, afraid that she'd loose him for
good. That fear tore away some of the black veil that
covered her true feelings concerning the sex switching
youth. Herb was an enemy unlike any Akane had seen
Ranma face before. He was very powerful, almost too
powerful. It would have taken a miracle for Ranma to
defeat him. Now he was back, he did win against him,
and Ranma had his manhood back but also still had the
cursed. That didn't matter so much to Akane, she'd
been living under the same roof with Ranma so long
that it just didn't bother her anymore. It was the
sheer fact that he could have been killed leaving her
alone that terrified her. So when Ranma came back she
did the only thing she could, she ran to him, threw
her arms around him and cried into this chest.

It all became clear to Akane. She couldn't change
who or what Ranma was, he was a Saotome, he was a
martial artist, and he will have challenges and
battles. It wasn't what was wrong with Ranma it was
what was wrong with Akane. She was the problem, her
out of control temper was the problem. Looking back
Akane realized that her life was way better off since
Ranma came to live in her father's house. He kept the
Hentai Horde at bay, he pacified Kuno, and saved her
life more times than she could count. She was "lucky"
to have a man like him, she took him for granted,
abused him, accused him of things he didn't do. It
all hit her like the proverbial "ton of bricks".
Akane needed to change her life, change her attitude
towards Ranma, or one day she'll loose him never
having really known him. She really didn't know
Ranma, or she thought she did, but even those
perceptions were clouded by her anger. Anger at
discovering the girl she was beaten by almost a year
ago in the dojo was actually a boy who turns into a
girl because of a curse. I was so stupid!, she
berated herself.

From that day Akane endeavored to improve herself, to
keep her temper in check, and to stop hiding her
feelings for someone who was literally the man of her
dreams. The two returned from a grueling day at
Furinken High School, it took all of Akane's willpower
but she didn't hit Ranma not even once all day. Not
even when he accepted Okonomiyaki from Ukyo, or when
Shampoo showed up with her Bicycle of Death and
glomped him. Seeing through new eyes Akane realized
Ranma really didn't want Shampoo's attention, he
wasn't inviting her to glomp him, she was the one
doing the glomping! Ranma considered Ukyo a friend
and treated her that way, he didn't treat her like a
man treated a woman he liked romantically. It was
with this new perception that Akane also realized that
Ranma was afraid of her. She decided to do something
about that immediately!

"We're home!" Akane announced as she and Ranma enter
the Tendo house.

The ever cheerful Tendo Kasumi peeked her head out of
the kitchen and said, "Oh Akane, Ranma, dinner will be
ready in about an hour."

"Ok, we'll be in the dojo." Replied Akane.

"Uh, we will?" Ranma eyed her suspiciously.

She grabbed his hand, an act that shocked him as much
as the hug the other day, and led him through the
house. "Yes, we're going to the dojo, we need to
talk."

"We do?"

They sat facing one another on the dojo floor. Ranma
was very uncomfortable. Akane had been quiet towards
him all day today even then Shampoo showed up. Now
that they were alone in the dojo he was afraid that
she was going to blow up on him. The first thing she
said he wasn't expecting at all.

"Ranma, are you as tired of this whole mess as I am?"

"Nani?" he gaped at her.

"Are you?" she asked again.

He scratched the back of his head and stammered,
"Well, uh."

"Let me rephrase it then." She replied calmly. "Are
you happy with how our relationship is going?"

She wants to break it off., he realized to himself.
"Well, sorta."

"I can see it in your face, you're not." She said.

"No, I'm not." He admitted resigning himself to the
inevitable. The inevitable that never came.

"So am I, Ranma, I want us to start over." Ranma
looked up at her in surprise and saw the serious
expression on her face.

"I was, afraid, the whole time you were gone chasing
down Herb." Akane confessed. "Afraid that I'd loose
you and I never really took the time to know you."

"Akane, I-"

"Let me finish." She interrupted him raising one
hand. "These past few days made me think, about you
and me. We both didn't get off on a good start and
our fathers pushing this whole thing on us all the
time isn't helping either. This whole thing with Herb
made me realize what's really important to me."

"You're important to me." She finished looking down
at her hands.

"Akane." Ranma gasped quietly.

"Never thought you'd hear me say that, did you?" she
asked looking up at his cute, bewildered face.

Ranma was over next to her in a shot and pressed her
hand to her forehead. "Akane are you ok, you don't
have a fever-"

She grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes.
"There's nothing wrong with me, well not what you
think is wrong, but what I said is the truth." She
told him.

He looked back at her, his expression softened, the
barriers between began to slowly crack and crumble
away. "You're important to me too." He admitted.

Tears threatened to come forth in Akane's eyes.
"I've been so wrong, you're the best thing that's ever
happened to me and I've treated you like trash." That
past part came out in a near sob from her lips.

"I ain't been any better, Akane." He smiled. "You
know me, I think before I say anything, I kinda-"

"Stick your foot in your mouth?" she finished for him
with a crooked smile.

He laughed. "Ah, yeah."

"I say things I shouldn't really say, you know kinda
like thinking out loud and stuff." He went on. "Like
when I talk about your cooking-"

"My cooking stinks, I have to admit it to myself."
She interrupted him. "Not even P-Chan would eat it
and pigs eat anything."

"You can get better." Ranma reassured her. "Its like
martial arts, you only get better with practice."

Akane laughed. "Everything with you is martial arts,
but then I guess I'm stuck with that."

Ranma smiled at that. "Keep trying, never give up,
that's what I live by and it's made me the best."

"You are so arrogant." Akane smirked.

"And you're such a tomboy." Ranma smirked right back.

"Am I really that uncute?" she asked seriously.

Their eyes met again. "No, actually your kinda cute
right now."

"Ranma, we gotta make some promises to one another,
starting with me." She said and went on. "I promise
not to hit you anymore, to always listen to your side
of the story, to stop coming to conclusions, and to be
nicer to you."

"I promise not to call you uncute, or sexless, or
built like a brick, and stuff like that." Ranma said,
earning a slight smirk from his iinazuke. "I promise
to stop criticizing ya and to like help ya get better
in stuff, like cooking and in the art too."

Akane blinked. "The art, you mean you'll train with
me?"

"Why not, if you're gonna hang with me you'll need
it." He laughed.

"I should have seen that one coming." She rolled her
eyes.

"I like this, I'm sorry it took scaring the begeebees
out of you, but I like this." He smiled, his fingers
softly caressed Akane's hands.

Akane was suddenly very serious. "I don't know if
I'm truly in love with you Ranma, but I know I'd be
lost if you never came back."

Ranma tightened his grip on her hands only slightly.
"Why don't we see if we can like fall in love?"

"I'd like that." She said softly.

"Me too." Slowly as if guided by instinct the two
leaned towards one another. The kiss was clumsy but
it was a start. A feeling like electricity ran
through the two of them and between them. Their arms
moved of their own accord and wrapped around one
another as they deepened the kiss and pressed their
bodies together. Ranma and Akane's hearts raced and
all the world around seemed to blur and fade into
nothingness. When they parted both issued a soft but
startled, "Wow."

"Its in the bag, Saotome." Tendo Soun whispered from
his hidden vantage point near one of the partially
opened doors of the dojo.

"They keep this up the schools will be join in no
time." Saotome Genma, in human form, a rarity, smiled
at his lifelong friend.

"I think this whole incident has made Akane finally
wake up." Nabiki whispered.

"Oh my, you really think so Nabiki?" Kasumi asked
quietly.

Nabiki nodded. "I know my little sister, she was all
torn up when Ranma was gone."

"Hopefully this will reduce the cost of repairs." She
added with a sigh.

Across town sat a modest Chinese restaurant. The
sign outside read "Nekohautan" in scrawled Japanese
kanji script, which translates to "Cat Caf�". The
proprietor stood at her customary place in the kitchen
preparing ramen. She checked the water to make sure
it was boiling and slowly dropped the wire basket of
uncooked ramen inside. Perched midway up on a knurled
old wooden staff with nearly perfect superhuman
balance, Matriarch Cologne of the Nyanchiczu, the
Chinese Amazons, turned to the two bowls of steaming
ramen she just prepared and added the ingredients.
Holding them up in both hands and gripping the staff
with her feet she turned and yelled out.

"Two ramen for table four!"

She tossed the two bowls through the air. A light
purple blur shot past snatching the two bowls out of
the air. Shampoo, great grand daughter to Cologne,
and future successor to her legacy as Matriarch of the
Nyanchiczu delivered the order to the appropriate
table then gleefully went on to her next task.
Cologne noticed Mousse, a male of the Nyanchiczu, a
skilled warrior in the difficult to master art of
hidden weapons which contrasted well with his poor
vision, busing the empty tables left behind by the
late lunch crowd. She saw him from time to time shoot
affectionate glances over at Shampoo and sighed. The
boy will never learn that Shampoo doesn't share his
feelings., she said to herself.

Cologne became aware of a change in the air, it was
to her unique senses very powerful. A sudden wave of
disorientation washed over the old matriarch. For the
first time she nearly feel from her staff. Shampoo
saw her great grand mother's distress and rushed to
her aid. Mousse just smirked. Old bat, I hope it's a
stroke., he cheered inwardly. Just as it began the
disorientation ended and Cologne caught herself before
Shampoo could reach her.

"Great grand mother, what's wrong!" Shampoo was so
concerned she forgot to speak in Nihongo and spoke in
Mandarin instead.

Cologne waved her off. "I'm fine, I suddenly felt a
disturbance in the flow of destiny surrounding
Nerima."

"Curious, very curious." She added.

"What it mean, great grandma?" Shampoo asked
switching to Nihongo, a language she still hadn't
fully mastered yet.

"The change appears to be centered around son-in-law,
yet I also feel it around the Tendo girl also." The
matriarch mused.

"Kitchen Destroyer?" Shampoo blinked.

"Remain here and tend to the customers." Cologne
ordered. "Whether it is for good or ill I must
discover the nature of this shift in the strings of
destiny surrounding the Tendo home." With that
Cologne bounded from the kitchen using her staff like
a pogo stick and vanished through the front door at an
incredible speed for someone of her apparent age.

"Great grandma is worried, Ranma come back from fight
with Musk but-" Shampoo thought out loud. The idea of
something terrible happening to Ranma was too horrible
for her to imagine.

"Oh, airen, please be ok." She sighed.

Damn you Saotome, I'll get you for stealing the
affections of my Shampoo., Mousse seethed inwardly as
he tossed an empty bowl onto his cart and headed for
the kitchen.

Almost over a thousand miles away an elderly woman
sat in lotus position in the center of a grass hut.
She sat quietly not moving with barely even a
perception of her breathing. Despite her age, which
was considerable, she appeared to be no more than
forty to forty five years of age. Her gray hair
flowed luxuriously down her back and along the floor.
Had she been standing it would have reached her
ankles. Silken robes covered her body revealingly
only traces of a once voluptuous figure. For her age
she was still strikingly beautiful, but the years were
slowly eroding her once widely envied good looks.

Lady Ambrosia, member of the council of elders of the
Nyanchiczu, opened her eyes with a start. I've found
her., she said to herself. The memory of the
perceived change in the winds of destiny in the far
off land of Japan where the Matriarch currently dwells
was still fresh in her mind.

"Lady Ambrosia?" The elder looked up to see her niece
look down at her with a look of concern.

"I am fine Orchid dear." She said.

"You looked disturbed for a moment." Orchid wasn't
very convinced.

Ambrosia reached out her arm, a wooden staff gilded
with gold and silver slowly flew through the air and
into her open palm. With the staff she climbed to her
feet. "I've found her." She said.

Orchid gasped. "Are you certain?"

"Yes, without a doubt." Ambrosia nodded.

"Are, are we in danger?" Orchid had to ask, she was a
warrior and it was her duty to know if there were
threats to her people.

"That is unknown, my steps must be measured lightly
for now on." The old woman replied.

She turned and walked towards the only entrance to
the hut. "I must leave now."

"Wait, without informing the council?!" Orchid
exclaimed.

"That would be unwise, you know how they would
react." The old woman turned to look at her. "The old
fools still hold to the foolish and dangerous notion
that The One would be found only among our people."

Orchid nodded and looked down at her hands. "They
would certainly voice many objections."

"Objections, dear, they would be quite livid, and
most of their aggression would undoubtedly fall upon
me." Ambrosia pointed at herself after making a wide
gesture with her arms.

"They would never-"

"They would if they could." The old woman winked at
her niece.

"What should I say if they ask me where you have
gone?" Orchid asked softly.

Ambrosia turned around and walked away from her, then
looked over her shoulder. "Tell them the truth, you
do not know." Before she was finished speaking
Ambrosia's body seemed to blur and become unfocused in
Orchid's eyes. Quickly the shape of her body began to
bend and twists like clay being molded by great
invisible hands. She diminished in size considerably
before taking on a new form, one that was graceful yet
also not entirely human. Orchid blinked, the
beautiful swan that her aunt had become looked at her
with intelligent eyes then turned and hurled herself
into the air. The beautiful fowl flapped her wings
gaining altitude with every stroke. Soon she was no
longer visible on the horizon. If The One has been
found then the Age of Shadows is near., Orchid
realized with sudden horror. Ever since her birth the
ancient legends were drilled into the hearts and minds
of every warrior born among the Amazons.

Cologne reached her destination in record time, the
Tendo household. The residual reverberations of the
change in the flow of destiny here was still quite
strong. Anyone in Nerima, of which there were many,
who could sense this change would undoubtedly be drawn
to this place soon. Cologne knew two such denizens of
Nerima personally, one was a diminutive old monster
who plagued her memories, and the other was a boy who
couldn't find his way out of a straight line corridor.
The matriarch followed the still fresh reverberations
towards the Tendo dojo. Upon immediately inspection
she found it empty, but she could feel where the
change took place. Her son-in-law and Tendo Akane had
been physically close, almost touching! That did not
bode well at all, not one bit. This was a powerful
cataclysmic events on the flow of destiny in Nerima,
such a force only meant one thing...

"So, you've made your choice son-in-law." Cologne
frowned. "But I will make certain that you learn the
error of your ways." With that she turned and bounded
out of the Tendo yard making it over the wall in one
huge hop before taking to the roof tops to return to
the Nekohautan.

Where the hell am I now?, the perpetually Lost Boy
asked himself. One minute he was walking down a
street of what looked like New York City, suddenly he
was in a sweltering jungle and realized it was Borneo
again, then he was here in what looked like Japan
because the street signs were all in Nihongo kanji
characters. A young boy about fifteen or so came
riding by on his bicycle. Habiki Ryoga stretched out
his arm, caught the youth, and his bike continued on
without him until it crashed.

"HEY!"

"Is this Tokyo?" Ryoga demanded.

"You nearly trashed my bike you baka!" the boy
protested.

"Answer me or you'll be wearing that bike." The Lost
Boy warned.

The kid was taken aback by this, mostly because this
guy who didn't seem that much older than he was held
him off the ground with one arm and wasn't even
straining. "Uh, yeah, you're in the ward of Nerima
mister."

"I'm back in Nerima?!" Ryoga exclaimed and dropped
the kid. The young boy took no time in recovering his
bike and high tailing it out of there.

"Huh?" Ryoga looked up and suddenly recognized the
set of gates in front of him. "Akane's house."

Ranma sat in the sitting room sipping his afternoon
tea. Nabiki sat in front of the television watching
her favorite Anime program about a young high school
kid who has a bunch of alien girls all going ape over
him. If the story weren't so science fiction-ish
Ranma could almost have sympathized with the guy. As
it was Ranma was feeling really good. He and Akane
just had that "talk" and that wonderful kiss. The
memory of it brought back that feeling of electricity
that went through him. Akane had gone off to the
bathroom to wash up before dinner. She stepped out
wearing a simple skirt and blouse intending to join
Ranma at the table. Her eyes caught motion nearly the
shoji doors and she spied a familiar, small black
form.

"P-Chan, where have you been you naughty widdle
piggy." Akane cooed over the cute little animal.

Ranma groaned. Of all the times he's gotta show up,
why now?, he fumed in his thoughts. Just as
everything between him and Akane were suddenly going
so well "Mister I can't find my way out a wet paper
bag with a GPS receiver strapped to my chest" had to
show up to spoil his good mood. Ranma promised not to
reveal Ryoga secret, but the Lost Boy turned around
and abused that promise by sleeping with Akane. Of
course, Ranma wasn't afraid of Ryoga doing anything.
Even looking at a girl wearing a bra in a department
store catalog was enough to send the baka into
epileptic shock. He had also made a promises to Akane
he intended to keep, he wanted their relationship to
work. Not for their fathers but because he genuinely
cared for Akane very much.

Akane sat down next to him and the little black pig
growled at him. To Ranma's surprise Akane lightly
wrapped the little animal on the nose. The tiny
animal look almost shocked at that, Akane never hit
him before for any reason.

"P-Chan, be nice, it's Ranma he won't hurt you." She
said.

Oh yeah, watch me., Ranma replied silently to
himself.

"So did you think about where we should go tonight?"
Akane asked her iinazuke.

Ranma scratched his head in thought. "Well, I'm not
sure, this is the first time I've actually wanted to
go on a date with you."

Akane laughed. She failed to notice the truly
shocked and horrified expression on her little
P-Chan's face. "Well, think of something."

"Uh, I hear that traveling carnival is back in town."
Ranma suggested.

Akane leaned over and kissed her iinazuke on the
cheek. "Sounds like fun."

Ranma smiled a broad smiled, both because Akane was
happy, and because the little pig's eyes had grown so
wide they looked like they were about to fly out of
their sockets. Put that in your pipe and smoke it,
baka., Ranma thought looking at Ryoga. He and Akane
were trying to make things between them work, he
wasn't about to let Ryoga undercut his efforts. The
little pig looked at Ranma with an expression of pure
hatred, the young Saotome could only guess at what the
pig headed Lost Boy was thinking.

Damn you Saotome, what have you done to Akane, she'd
never be this nice to you., Ryoga's thoughts raged.
It was the thoughts of Akane rejecting him that
allowed Ryoga to defeat the hulking Musk warrior Lime.
In a fit of immense despair he released the mother of
all Shi Shi Hokadon. Of course the despair had been
of his own doing, imagining Akane telling him off like
she did at his insistence when he was trying to learn
the chi technique.

Ranma took Akane's hand in his and she smiled at him.
She was feeling so much better now than she ever did
since Ranma first arrived at her home. Many barriers
between them have been shattered, many more still had
yet to be taken down, but in time even these would not
be able to stand long. She squeezed his hand
affectionately and felt her face burn. She was
blushing, blushing for Ranma. That was something
Akane never thought she be doing in a million years,
but here she was blushing like a giddy lovesick little
girl. She liked it.

"We keep this up we might actually fall in love." She
said softly.

"Maybe we have but we just can't admit it---YOWWWWW!"
Ranma yelped as P-Chan clamped his jaws down on his
arm. Akane gasped in shock and smacked the little
animal on the bottom. She did it again!, Ryoga gasped
but it came out of his mouth as a "Bwee!" He felt
himself being whisked away through the house, then
recognized the wash room where the washer and dryer
were kept.

"Bad P-Chan, you'll stay here until you learn to be a
good piggy!" Akane scowled down at the little animal
and closed the door on him.

Ranma when I get some hot water you're going to pay
for this!, Ryoga exclaimed. On the other side of the
door Akane heard, "Bwee! Bweeeee! Bweeeeeee!"
What's gotten into P-Chan, why's he so angry all of a
sudden?, she wondered before returning to the sitting
room. Ranma was rubbing his arm and already
determined the bite hadn't drawn any blood.

"You ok, I don't know what came over P-Chan." She
apologized.

Wait until I see you in human form, baka., Ranma
thought to himself. He replied, "Eh, maybe he's just
jealous, I hear pets can get that way."

"Still he shouldn't be biting people like that."
Akane said.

Ryoga, I promised to keep your secret but you abused
that promise, I'm not going to let you take advantage
of Akane anymore, but how do I tell her?, he wondered.
His eyes went to Nabiki who was still sitting at the
TV watching her shows. I wonder., he thought.

"Uh, when do you want to go?" he asked Akane.

"Oh, after dinner, we'll have plenty of time before
it gets too late." She smiled.

"Ok." Nabiki suppressed a sudden shudder, she liked
it better when those two were still fighting. All
this lovie dovie stuff was grating on the nerves,
besides it was also going eat into her profits. She
wasn't going to be able to set bets on how long it be
before her sister belted Ranma into the school
swimming pool everyday anymore. Well, at least I
won't have to pay for repairs to the house anymore.,
she sighed quietly.

A sudden crash issued from inside the house and a
battle cry resounded, "SAOTOME RANMA PREPARE TO
DIE!!!!"

"Ryoga, when did he get here?" Akane wondered.

The Lost Boy appeared swinging his trademark lead
lined umbrella at Ranma's head. The young martial
artist ducked the blow easily and leapt over the table
putting distance between himself and Akane to protect
her.

"You baka, you could have hit Akane!" he yelled at
the Lost Boy.

"It would have been your fault!" Ryoga yelled back
and struck again.

Ranma flowed around the clumsy swipe. "How is it
everything that happens to you always somehow ends up
being my fault?" he asked.

"Shut up you!" Ryoga raged and pressed the attack.

The fight went out the shoji doors and into the back
yard. The Lost Boy worked his umbrella like a sword
but Ranma easily evaded all of his attacks. Ryoga
made one quick downward strike but Ranma leapt up out
of the way. Ryoga brought the weapon back up and
discovered Ranma perched on it as if he were balancing
on a tight rope.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY AND STEAL AKANE FROM ME!" Ryoga
dropped the weapon, turned swiftly and raised his
hands. Ranma saw the green energy ball of a Shi Shi
Hokadon forming. The chi blast narrowly missed Ranma
as he somersaulted out of its area of effect and
landed on the roof of the Tendo house.

Akane ran outside, she knew she didn't stand of
chance of stopping Ryoga, when he was enraged he was
like a rampaging bull elephant. There was no stopping
him short of killing him. So, she did the only thing
she thought would snap him out of his blind rage.
After running outside she dipped her cup into the koi
pond, ran up to the boy and yelled his name. "Ryoga!"

True to his nature the boy turned around to look at
her. He didn't even notice the cup of water in her
hand as she brought it up to splash it in his face
before it was too late. Akane gasped in shock when
Ryoga suddenly vanished the instant the water touched
him. For a brief second his clothes hung in the air
before collapsing to the ground in a heap.

"You had this coming for a long time baka." Ranma
whispered to himself.

"R-R-R-Ryoga?" Akane looked down at the pile of
clothes in horrified astonishment. It did not take
her long to understand what just happened. She'd been
around Ranma and had seen Mousse and Shampoo transform
enough times to know a Josenkyo cursed person when she
saw one. What she wasn't expecting was what crawled
out of the pile of clothes. At first she refused to
believe what she was seeing. After the first
mortified "Bwee!" from the little creature Akane
backed away shacking her head.

"No, no, NO!" she exclaimed.

"Bwee." Ryoga oinked. Akane, this is all Ranma's
fault you must see that., he was trying to say.

"Why Ryoga, why?" Akane cried. "I trusted you!"

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Ranma
apologized after jumping down off the roof.

"What, you mean you knew about this!?" now Akane
regarded him with anger.

Ranma raised his hands in defense and said, "I
promised by my honor and the Code of Bushido not to
reveal his secret because it was sorta my fault he got
cursed in the first place."

"It was?" Akane blinked.

"Bushido tells us to never reveal another warrior's
weaknesses." Ranma explained. "I was honor bound not
to tell anyone. Remember when I told you about how he
challenged me back when we were in middle school and
how he didn't show up after four days. Well, that was
before me and pop left for China, before Josenkyo."

Akane looked down at the terrified little animal and
realized, "He must have followed you then, didn't he."

"Akane, I didn't wanna hurt ya by not telling ya
about Ryoga." Ranma admitted. "I'm sorry." He looked
down at his feet expected the usual mallet to the head
technique to come very soon. Instead he felt her hand
on his cheek, he looked up at her and she smiled at
him.

"I believe you." She said softly.

She looked down at her P-Chan and asked, "Is this why
he's always so mad at you, how did it happen?"

She's taking this way better than I ever though.,
Ranma was surprised. "I didn't know it happened until
after he told me. I guess he showed up after me and
pop got cursed, and when I was chasing pop around the
place he got in the way and got accidentally knocked
into the Spring of Drowned Pig."

"You made a solemn promise to keep his shame a
secret, then he turns around and abuses that trust
by-" Akane started to say and Ranma saw a burning rage
spark into existence within the girl's eyes.

She turned and snatched up the little pig. "Excuse
me for a moment." She said in a happy way that set
Ranma's danger sense to Defcon Five. First he watched
her carry "P-Chan" into the house then followed along
after her. She went into the bathroom and tossed the
little black pig into the furo. The instant he
touched the warm water Ryoga appeared in all his naked
manly glory.

"Akane, now do you understand, its all Ranma's fault,
everything is his fault!" the Lost Boy exclaimed. He
was about to say something more but Akane's hand
slapped him across the face silencing him into shock.

"How dare you use me like this!" she yelled. "I
can't believe you used your curse to sneak into my
bed! What kind of pervert are you?!"

"RANMA'S THE PERVERT NOT ME!" Ryoga cried.

"Ranma did nothing wrong, in fact I think your
obsessed, obsessed with blaming Ranma for things that
are obviously your fault but you're too stupid to
admit it to yourself!" she shot back. "Either that or
your crappy sense of direction also effects that pig
headed brain of yours in other ways too!"

"Akane?" Ryoga gasped. He couldn't believe Akane was
talking to him like this.

"Don't Akane me you baka, give me one good reason why
I shouldn't pound you right now!" she demanded.

"I never meant to hurt you, I never ever touched you,
I promise." He pleaded. "Ranma you baka you're going
to pay for this!"

Akane put her hand up blocking his way. "Touch one
hair on his head, Ryoga, and you will never be allowed
to step foot in this house ever again for the rest of
your life."

"I know you didn't try anything, you can't go to the
beach without passing out from blood loss!" Akane went
on angrily. "Why did you do it then?"

"Because, I-I-I-"

"He's got the hots for you that's why." Ranma
answered for him. "The guys as obsessed with you as
Mousse is with Shampoo."

Akane gaped first at Ranma then at Ryoga. "You call
this love, because I sure don't!" she seethed. "You
don't have enough backbone to tell me how you feel to
my face so you sneak into my BED!"

"This is why you were always fighting with P-Chan,
isn't it Ranma." Akane realized. "You couldn't tell
me about his secret but you've been trying to protect
me from him at the same time, and I hit you for it."

She softly touched Ranma face and pleaded, "Can you
forgive me?"

"I already have." He smiled.

"As for you, baka, I don't want to see your face
around her for a long time!" Akane turned towards
Ryoga. "I don't know if I'll ever trust you again. I
considered you a friend and only as a friend, but
after this I don't know anymore so don't come around
for a while. As for any chance that you and me could
get together you'd better forget about it, me and
Ranma are serious about trying to make things work
between us and we have enough trouble with Shampoo,
Ukyo, Mousse, and Kodachi without you putting your two
Yen in!"

She let him get out of the furo with some modesty and
had Kasumi dry out his clothes in the wash room. Soon
Ryoga was dressed and at the front gates to the Tendo
home. It pained him to see Akane standing beside
Ranma, the baka had his arm around her. That should
be HIM there holding her. Just you wait Ranma, I'm
gonna get Akane away from you one way or another., the
Lost Boy seethed inwardly.

"I knew she was going to find out sooner or later."
Said Nabiki.

"You mean you knew about this too?" Akane gasped
looking at her sister.

"Yeah, it was fun watching him squirm." Nabiki
smirked.

"She found out on her own and blackmailed Ryoga into
doing things for her or she'd tell you his secret."
Ranma explained.

"Nabiki?!" Akane said with a betrayed expression.

"Akane, I'll be back and I'll prove I'm the better
man for you." Ryoga said in a determined tone.

"You can try, but it won't make a difference." Akane
told him and put her arm around Ranma. The act of her
doing so sent a wave of despair and nausea through the
Lost Boy. Even if I can't win her back, I'm still
gonna make you pay Ranma., Ryoga promised silently to
himself. With that the young Habiki picked up his
backpack and umbrella and left down the street. After
about what seemed like only a few minutes he was
suddenly on a street corner in Saigon.

Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu, rummaged
through her chest of unique and ancient artifacts that
belonged to Amazons for centuries. Many of these
items had been stolen by Happosai long ago and this
chest represented what was left of the treasured items
owned by her clan. Shampoo sat in the background
watching her with eagerness. She listened to what her
great grand mother discovered and was not pleased at
all. Ranma has chosen Akane. That could not be
allowed. Normally Cologne would have balked at
Shampoo using magical items to win her airen but
desperate times called for desperate measures. The
boy made a fatal error incurring the wrath of an
Amazon matriarch and he would soon come to know how
terrible a thing that can be.

"Ah, yes, here it is." She said gleefully as she
climbed out of the chest.

"What that great grandma?" Shampoo asked.

The item she held in her diminutive hands appeared to
be an ordinary wire toothed hair comb with a
mother-of-pearl handle. "It is the Comb of
Suggestion." She answered. "Put this comb in
someone's hair and they will be instantly susceptible
to suggestion."

"You mean put in Ranma's hair and he do what shampoo
say?" Shampoo gasped in surprise.

"Yes, child." Cologne walked over to her and handed
the precious item to her great grand daughter.
"Ordinarily I would not allow you to use such
shortcuts to win your airen, but with recent
developments it appears we have little choice."

"Aiya! Shampoo no disappoint you." Shampoo beamed.

"I know you won't my dear." Cologne smiled back. "Do
not go now, it is not the right time, wait until you
have him alone then make your move."

"Yes, great grandma." Shampoo acknowledged.

For a brief moment something in back of Cologne's
mind told her this was a very bad idea. She could
feel something was about to happen in Nerima but she
wasn't sure what. Was it another change like before,
another shifting of the strings of destiny. Cologne
wasn't certain but she knew something very profound
was about to occur in Nerima and very soon. Had she
known to look she would have seen the beautiful swan
soaring over the city headed for the heart of Nerima.

**********

Coming up next in Chapter One

A mysterious stranger arrives at the Tendo household
with startling news about Akane. Meanwhile, Shampoo
plans to use the Comb of Suggestion to finally win
over Ranma, but can Amazon magic overcome the power of
true love? Find out in chapter one of "On Ethereal
Wings".

--
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
zorchhaney@yahoo.com
AOL: zorchhaney2k4@aol.com
Site where you can find Anime Fan Fics by Me.
My Own Site http://zorchcentral.4t.com/ (Will Be Moving)
FF.net http://www.fanfiction.net/u/194906/
FFRU http://fan-fics-r-us.com/AuthorPage.php?AuthorNumber=8&NameSearch=&&PHPSESSID=107b022b665bb1128a608252def7d88e

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