Epilogue - Fly On.
------------------

Some birds did their usual thing as they flew through Nerima's fine
morning skies. Ranma listened to them, but did not look up. He stared
straight down the fence-rail, his usual route to school around the
sweeping curve of the canal. When he passed an intersection he looked
down the connecting street and saw Ukyou jogging up to meet him.
  "Rancha-a-an!"
  "Yo, Ucchan."
  They resumed and she walked just below him on the pavement.
  "Are you feeling better?" Ranma asked.
  "I think I'm over it," she paused. "He was just trying to scare
me. Still, it's strange that Kohane actually killed him for what he
did. It seems... I dunno..." She sighed and silence fell, but it was
comfortable. Presently, Ukyou looked askance at him and asked, "How's
Akane-chan?"
  "The wound was superficial and her blood-loss was negligible, the
doctor told us. She was in shock of course, and they're keeping her
at the hospital till the end of the week. I'm going there after
school."
  "Well, I'll try to come, but I do have a business to run. If I
don't make it, send Akane-chan my love."
  Silence once again reared its ugly head.
  "I think I'm glad it's over," Ranma finally said.
  Ukyou looked at him directly. "But don't you still have that know-
ledge that Kohane gave you?"
  "Sure, but me an' Ryouga had a talk about that. We've agreed to
never try building on the Tamashiitou that we know. You heard about
how we fought Kouhai, and what he could do. We might not be immortals
but we'll be careful with it all the same."
  "Why?"
  "Because Tamashiitou can kill."
  "...Is Ryouga okay?"
  "The strike wasn't as bad as we thought. He's real tough y'know,
he recovered very fast and got totally lost again."
  Ukyou looked ahead and thought. "I guess it isn't so weird. She's
a warrior, and I don't know too much about history but she lived
through the feudal period and those times, so there must be lots
more about her that we wouldn't want to know..."
  "I'd rather not talk about it," Ranma spoke blankly.
  "..Yeah, you're right."
  The couple approached the school.
  "Will she ever come back?"
  "No."
  Ukyou looked at him a bit anxiously. Poor Ranchan, she thought,
nothing usually troubles him so much. I feel bad about my ordeal,
but I wonder how I'd react seeing someone be killed in front of
me, even when he did what he did... She shuddered. "Well then,
things will get back to normal then, huh?" she tried to say cheer-
fully.
  Ranma sighed unenthusiastically, and finally stared up at the
birds. The small creatures flew away, silently, into the distance.


* * *

Well, she's walkin' through the clouds
With a circus mind that's runnin' round.
Butterfly's and zebras and moonbeams and fairytails;
That's all she ever thinks about - ridin' with the wind.

When I'm sad, she comes to me
With a thousand smiles she gives to me.
"It's all right," she says, "It's all right.
"Take anything you want from me.
- Anything."

Fly on, Little Wing.

* * * * * * * *




Afterhand-word:
Hope you enjoyed reading Little Wing as much as I liked writing most
of it. I better get the disclaimers out of the way first. The cast
you are immediately familiar with is owned by Takahashi-sensei and
Shougakukan, together with settings. 'Little Wing' belongs to Jimi
Hendrix and is taken off the Polydor album Axis: Bold as Love (its
the sixth song on side 1). Lyrics are reproduced here to the best
of my ability without permission, so please don't show this fic to
Jimi or anyone from Polydor 'cause I might get in serious trouble.
If you're reading this, Polydor executive, this is completely non-
profit and I have no money for you to sue me for ^-^;. Finally,
any opinions or beliefs expressed here-in don't necessarily have
anything to do with what I reckon about stuff.
  Now some background info that you might find interesting or might
want to ignore. When I started this story, Kohane was originally
named Koryuu, or Little Dragon. I wasn't happy with that, 'cause
Dragon is used so frequently and that was Bruce Lee's actual nick-
name as well. As I was doing this, I discovered the Stevie Ray
Vaughan CD The Sky is Crying with his cover of 'Little Wing'. It
didn't take me long to get the Japanese for _wing_ from my Japanese
exchange student Youko-oneechan, and I substituted it for _ryu_ and
her name became _Kohane_ - Little Wing. Kouhai's name came when I
spotted the two kanji meaning 'desolation' in my kanji dictionary,
and it seemed like a suitable villain name.
  This story-line will not be continued. It is obvious that I'm more
interested in fight scenes than characterisation, and I don't want
to spend heaps of time working out the psychological effects on Ranma
and Akane that seeing someone killed in front of them has. Ranma's
silent demeanour at the end is as far as I'm gonna take that.
  This will be my last Ranma-based fic. This is simply because there
are too many. There should be just as many fanfics based on Tenchi,
El Hazard, Ah! My goddess, NukuNuku etc. IMHO. I know its probably due
to the fact that there is so much Ranma information readily available
(especially from Viz) and the environment is one where a timeless
fanfic story can be unobtrusively introduced - my first passable
fanfic was Ranma and it took me only 4-5 weeks (I worked on _this_
story for almost 5 months). I guess its good to start with something
as easy as Ranma (though sometimes it can turn out real bad IMHO)
but I no longer want to add to the multi-Everest heap. I might write
a Tenchi fanfic if I think of one good enough, but for now I'll
concentrate on my own original sci-fi work called 'EETFV KARMA'.
I'm also tossing around an idea for the cross-over you've a-a-all
been waiting for: Star Trek / Street Fighter! Hmph, and they said,
"You can go Reb, you're sane."
  The martial arts and fight scenes owe much to inspiration I got
from Jackie Chan and Jet Lee films. I thank them. I also thank
Capcom for releasing Street Fighter Alpha (Zero in Japan) and its
follow-ups. Watching and playing it has put me in combat scene-
writing mode many a time.
  The immortal fighting style Tamashiitou I made up by putting
_tamashii_, one of the many kanji for 'spirit' and _tou_ which
means combat and is on the end of Kakutou as well ('Martial Arts'
or hand-to-hand combat) together. As with the moves' names which
I made up, I am unsure as to its accuracy. I make references to
several martial arts as well. First, Aikidou _was_ created by the
remarkable Ueshiba Morihei, though by himself in reality. Read about
him, he was amazing. The art relies on 'dissuading' attacks through
drawing the aggressor into a circular motion and somehow using the
rotational energy to throw him. I'm unsure how this is achieved, but
its a triumph of human mechanics and looks astounding. The Six-and-
a-half point pole is a Chinese weapon utilised in Wing Chun kung fu,
which I studied for several years. The One Inch Punch is a stunning
technique of this style, embodying all the principles it is based
upon. The 'kiai' spirit shout is used in many styles, especially
Japanese forms like karate. Historically it is cultivated to stun
the opponent, and there are legends about great warriors 'killing
with a shout'. It's all stuff you really need to read into if you're
interested.
  The Musha Shugyo translates as 'Warrior Pilgrimage'. Many Ronin
who didn't turn to crime followed this path in the feudal period,
travelling to hone their abilities and spirits. One such samurai was
the great Miyamoto Musashi, and I recommend the drama/biography about
him by Eiji Yoshikawa very highly. Especially the part in BOOK II:
Fire, chapter 6: The Houzouin for a great telling of a fight on the
spiritual level. Bonodori is the Buddhist 'Dance of the Dead', a
night where the Japanese dance around and have a good time in a
festival. See it theatrically in Akira Kurosawa's 'The Hidden
Fortress'.
  Oh, and the stuff about spiritual weapons I made up entirely for
the purposes of the story. You may have realised that I got rid of
the weapons in Kohane and Kouhai's fight as quick as I could. This
is because much more descriptive combat can be written in hand-to-
hand and that's what I'm interested in. And also, the thing about
Kasumi and Aikidou I threw in as a theory of sorts, because practi-
tioners of the art are usually very peaceful, calm people, and it
seemed like their _might_ be a connection. ^-^ But I'm taking myself
too seriously now.
  Lastly, I used the silly term 'felophobia', as in feline. This
must be wrong, but you all understood. 'Course ya did!
  Now here's the glossary of technique names. Look at the Ranma 1/2
FAQ for info about the existing ones not mentioned here.

* * * * * * * *

KUDARIKI SHOUTEN HA
  Descend Force Focus Defeat
The chi is release from the hand or heel above the opponent to
flatten him into the ground. Not to be confused with Ranma's skill,
of course.

SUISEI KEN
  Comet Fist
A 'less refined' version of Tamashiitou punches, the projected force
is manifest in a streak of chi. Relies on reluctance to physically
reach the opponent. Is a basic technique to be incorporated into
others.

YAKUSHA
  Leap-shoot
A white 'chi-laser' launched from the hand, with instantaneous speed
and great force. 

KINKATANA YAKUSATSU
  Golden Sword Leap-kill
Much more powerful version of the Leap-shoot that Kohane uses in the
heat of the moment by focusing chi through her conducting katana.

CHOUKYUUSHUN IINCHI KEN
  Everlasting Springtime (Wing Chun) One Inch Punch
Relies entirely on accelerating the fist in the inch allowed, because
the punch's damage is done by the momentum it has at the instant of
impact. It can be just as effective as your regular punch.

SANJUU SENHANA BU
  Triple Spinning Bloom Dance
A three-person defensive kick technique. Obviously it needs to be
set-up fast. If you've seen Riverdance, you know what it looks like.

HANSHUU NAMI KYAKU
  Half-way Around Wave Kick
A high full roundhouse using chi energy for extra rotational kinetic
energy, ergo greater momentum. Its all physics (if chi energy can be
considered here in energy transformation ^-^). Rokubai means 'six-
fold', so figure it out :).

HIRYUU SHOUSEN KAN DAN
  Flying Dragon Hot Rotating Return Bomb
A 'changed model' of Ranma's Hiryuu Kourin Dan which he uses like a
reverse Hiryuu Shouten Ha. The rotation and his control over chi lets
him change his opponent's tornado's direction and the reverse
temperature difference turns it into a hybrid blast.

TSUNAMI CHOUBATSU
  Tidal-wave Exceed Attack
Ryouga uses the defensive aspect of Tamashiitou (using chi to harden
the body against attack) to solidify his forearms into blunt weapons.

MOUSUISEI SETSUTEN GAESHI
  Fierce Comet Connect Point Return
Ryouga somehow gets his Comet Fist to come back so he punches both
sides of his opponent's body.

AMA NO DAKARU
  Corruption of Heaven
Kouhai's chi causes lighting strikes where he wants them.

KUUKI RANKAGO SHI
  Air-(spirit) Wild Cage Posture
Kouhai encases Kohane in his chi to slowly kill her with pain. The
swirling cloud bit was just for tangible stuff and effect. (Kuuki is
the word for 'air' but includes a kanji for spirit or ghost.)

RYUUSOKU TAI DAN
  Dragon Breath Great Bomb
A literal chi fireball. Go see Dragonheart, when the dragon breathes
his fire. It looks like that.

MOUSHIN CHIKARABAKU DOU
  Fierce God Power-explosion 'Way'
Kouhai's Tamashiitou is mainly centred on manifesting his spirit
directly, opposed to Kohane who incorporates her's into her martial
arts. He uses this technique to gain superiority in hand-to-hand
battle, becoming basically invulnerable with an aura surrounding him
hot enough to cause skin burns.

BAKUTOU KUZUTEN DAN
  Explode-on-target Demolish Point Bomb
Kaiteiban means 'revised'. Ryouga just uses the Comet Fist to carry
his Exploding Point.

RYUUSEIUU TENSHIN AMAGURI KEN
  Meteor Shower Imperial Sweet Chestnut Fist
Like Ryouga, Ranma mixes his chestnut punch and the Comet Fist, so
the chestnut punch is augmented greatly by the chi.

* * * * * * * *

Be sure to D/L the picture of Kohane from rec.arts.anime.creative
when I finally get use of a scanner. I send thanks to Youko-oneechan
for all the use of her dictionaries and stuff, and to Zen for
support and proof-reading. :) Thank_you_ for reading, especially
this far. C&C welcomed and wanted on the FFML or at
archer@senet.com.au

The Reb, Jan 1997


This is the final release version. All spelling should be correct,
and iffy situations fixed. Unless _major_ holes/problems are found
by you of the FFML, no further changes will be made. You must have
enjoyed it if you've read all the way to here, so thankyou. Some
last addendum things: there is no Shampoo/Cologne/Mousse because
I simply wanted to give them a rest. I may write another Ranma
fanfic because of what I realised I've done to Ucchan, here-in and
in 'Nemesis'. I feel I need to make it up to her (she's SUPPOSED to
be my fave ^-^;). I treat Ranma's hair-colour as changeable so I
can use 'red-head' as a term of reference.

The Reb, Feb 1997