Tachi ran as fast as she could, but the short-haired girl knew 
she'd never outrun Ranko.  Having no shoes made for treacherous footing, 
and her cousin, in either form, was much faster than she was.  _I will 
not talk to her!  I will not!  How could she even think of hitting my 
father like that?_
	A passing taxicab was the answer to Tachi's unvoiced prayers.  
She hailed the driver and jumped in, shouting, "Floor it," as Ranko 
reached the sidewalk.  The driver was obliging, and Ranko was left 
breathing exhaust fumes.
	"Where to, miss?" the driver asked.  His Japanese was thickly 
accented, and it took Tachi a moment to understand the question.
	"Home," she sighed.

* * * * *

	Ryo jumped from rooftop to rooftop with Ukyou cradled in his 
arms.  The streets were too crowded to move quickly, and people would 
have asked difficult questions.  Right now the pig-tailed boy was in no 
mood to explain why he was carrying an unconscious girl through Nerima.
	He reached Ucchan's without incident.  Setting Ukyou down, he 
tried to pry one of the second story windows open.  It wouldn't budge.  
_What gives?  The sill looks like it's been painted over.  Mom would 
never be that sloppy.  Ucchan's is her pride and joy._
	Ryo thought for a moment, then decided to risk the front door 
again.  _If that transvestite wants to make trouble, I'll pay him back in 
spades.  I need to get Mom home, and I'm not going to let anyone stop 
me._  He jumped down to the sidewalk, then slowly opened the door.  At 
least, that was his intention.  The door was locked, though, and the 
sign out front said, "Closed."  Ryo grumbled a bit in irritation, then 
fished his keys out of his pocket.
	They didn't fit.
	Ryo took a deep breath to calm his angered nerves.  _Of course 
they would have changed the locks at least once._  He reached up into the 
awning for the spare key, and smiled when he found it.  "At least this 
much is working right.  And if the shop is closed, then that Konatsu guy 
must not be here."
	Ryo turned on the lights as he walked inside.  What he saw shocked 
him.  The restaurant was... drab.  Bare bulbs showed him what little 
effort had been used in planning the decor.  The walls were covered with 
different shades of off-white paint, not the wood paneling he remembered 
from his childhood.  The tables and chairs were mismatched and worn, as if 
they'd come from a half-dozen garage sales.  There were no plants to give 
the room a much-needed sense of peace and tranquillity.
	"I know I was a little dazed this morning, but I'm sure the place 
looked different when I first came in.  I'll have to ask Mom about it."  
Then the reluctant martial artist climbed back up to the roof, reclaimed 
Ukyou, and carried her inside.
	Ukyou's bedroom had been decorated by the same Spartan artist 
who'd designed the restaurant.  A single futon was the only piece of 
furniture, and from the way clothes were piled around the room, it looked 
like she'd been living out of a suitcase for a while.  Ryo swept some 
travel brochures off the bed, then set Ukyou down.  _China?  Why would 
Mom want to go to China?_  He made his mother as comfortable as possible,
then struck the nerve center Tofu taught him years ago.  "Time to wake 
up, Mom.  I need some answers."
	Ukyou's eyes fluttered open.  "What happened?" she asked.  "Who 
are you?"  She saw Ryo's braid, and remembered.  "You're not a dream."
	Ryo smiled.  "No, I'm not.  Are you feeling any better?"  Ryo 
clenched his fists reflexively.  "That girl Spring hurt you pretty bad."
	Ukyou stretched, wincing at her bruises.  "I'll be OK."  Her eyes 
wandered a bit, taking in the room.  "Where are we?"
	Ryo frowned.  "I brought you home to the restaurant."
	Ukyou shook her head.  "This isn't right."  She ran her fingers 
along the wall, wrinkling her nose as the cheap paint flaked off.  "Where's 
the wallpaper I put up last month?  And these aren't my clothes."  The  
okonomiyaki chef grabbed a shirt from one of the nearby piles.  "I'd 
never wear something this threadbare."  Suspicion flashed in her eyes.  
"You say you're from the future."  She reached for her spatula.  "Tell me 
again how you got here."  
	Ryo grabbed her hand.  "Mom, calm down."
	"Let go of me!"
	Ryo backed away.  "All right, Mom," he began slowly.  "I fought a 
Chinese Amazon named Spring.  I saw her disappear in a ball of glowing 
light, and I followed after her.  Somehow this brought me to the past."
	Ukyou did not look convinced.  "Prove it."
	Ryo thought furiously.  _I need to tell her something no one else 
could know, but I can't tell her something that hasn't happened yet.  She 
and Pop are still living in Nerima, so the Gambler King hasn't shown up 
yet._  "When you and Pop were little, you met a man named the Gambler 
King," he began.
	"So," said Ukyou.  "Everybody knows that.  The story came out 
when Ranma beat him and won the dojo back."
	Ryo turned very pale.  _Pop won.  If he won, then he didn't lose 
Ucchan's.  And if he didn't lose Ucchan's, then he and Mom never got 
married.  And if they never got married..._
	Ukyou saw what effect her words had on the young man.  "Hey, 
what's wrong?  You look like you've seen a ghost."
	"I have," Ryo whispered, "and he's wearing my face."

* * * * *

	The taxi stopped when it reached the gates of the Kuno mansion.  
Tachi reached for her wallet to pay the driver, then froze when she 
looked at her money.  _He won't accept this!  I forgot they redesigned 
all the bills at the turn of the century._  "Let me run inside and I'll 
get the money to pay you," she said, shutting the cab door to keep from 
hearing the  driver's reply.
	The gate was secured by an old-fashioned electronic lock, not the 
optical scanner Tachi had been expecting.  Climbing over the wrought-iron 
bars was no challenge, though, and the Shooting Star of Furinkan High 
quickly found herself standing firmly on the grounds of her family home.
	Tachi bypassed all the traps with ease, even avoiding some that 
Satsuke wouldn't build for another decade.  The front door was unlocked, 
and Tachi pulled off her muddy socks before she tracked footprints 
throughout the house.
	_All right.  Satsuke hides the housekeeping money in the pantry, 
or, at least, he does twenty years from now._  Tachi found the cash she 
needed, turned off the security system, appropriated a pair of Kodachi's 
shoes, and walked back out to the waiting cabdriver.  She gave him a good 
tip; Nabiki would have objected, but Tachi was not very happy with her 
mother just then.  _She's almost as bad as Ranko, letting Father make 
a fool of himself that way!_
	Tachi stomped through the house, noting all the changes that 
would be made in the next twenty years.  _Mom wasn't kidding when she 
said Aunt Kodachi was a few yen shy.  Look at all the pictures of Uncle 
Ranma.  You'd think the house was a shrine or something._
	Tachi's random wandering eventually led her to what would one day 
become her bedroom.  She couldn't resist peeking inside.  "What!"  She 
let the door swing open in surprise.  "Why didn't they tell me I had 
Kodachi's old room?"

* * * * *

	Ranko swore as he saw the cab peel away.  He tried chasing after 
the car for a while, but that was beyond even his limits.  He slowed down 
after a few blocks, and then he stopped.  "Dammit, Tachi!  I only wanna 
apologize.  Why's she always got to make things so hard?"
	A cry of "RANMA" shook the air throughout Nerima.  The anger in the 
shouter's voice made Ranko shiver.  "That sounds like Ran.  I hope that 
pig isn't wandering around in the past, too.  Damn.  It wouldn't surprise 
me if it _was_ him.  He gets lost trying to go to sleep."
	Ranko looked around quickly, reassuring himself that Ran was 
nowhere around.  There was no sign of his fiance anywhere, but there was 
also no sign of Tachi.  "Think, Ranko, think!  If I was Tachi, where 
would I go?"  In an aside to himself, the pony-tailed boy muttered, "If I 
was Tachi I'd let me apologize."
	"There you are," gasped an out-of-breath Akane.
	"Huh?"  Ranko looked up.  His parents were standing a few feet 
away from him.  Ranma was looking away, his hands behind his back.  Akane 
was still trying to catch her breath, but she was smiling.  "Oh, hi, 
Mom.  Jeez, you didn't have to chase after me."
	"But I... wanted... to talk... with you," Akane managed to say.  
"You left in such a hurry.  There are so many questions I want to ask you."
	"Aw, Mom, c'mon.  Don't go all mushy on me now.  I've gotta go 
find Tachi and apologize.  I don't want her to stay mad at me."
	"Oh."  Akane took a step back, her eyes full of hurt.
	Ranko stared at the ground and played with the end of his ponytail.  
_Now I've done it.  I've made Mom cry.  Today is going great, just great._
	Ranma stared at the young man who claimed to be his daughter.  
_He looks like me.  And he talks like me._  Ranma could see the tears 
starting to form in Akane's eyes.  _Does it hurt Mom and Pop as much when 
I say things like that to them?  Does it hurt Akane?_  Without meaning too, 
Ranma took a step closer to his fiancee.  She leaned on his arm; Ranma 
felt her tears on his shoulder.
	The three of them stood that way for a long time, letting their 
thoughts go unspoken.  The wind picked up, blowing leaves around them in 
tiny whirlpools.  Then Ranma looked up and noticed the clouds racing across 
the sky.  "Uh, we'd better go somewhere," he said, breaking the silence.
 ______
{B-{=__

	Author's note:  I'm a bit pressed for time this weekend; I've got 
two midterms next week, and I haven't really started studying yet...
	This part does not resemble what I'd planned; the characters and 
their situations sort of took over.  It's going to take me at least three 
chapters to write what I thought would take one.  Oh, well.