Hi there. To be fair to the people who weren't on the saigon temp list,
I'm rereleasing Neko Chapters 4 through 6(I'm just a community minded
sort of guy :P ). For people who have already seen these from the temp list,
there have been minor grammatical changes, but if you picked them up
(recently) from my web page, there are no changes. This is the last
time they'll be draft versions, Chp1-6 create a natural "First Act",
so to speak, and I'll revise them all at once. So any comments
would be appreciated. Chapter 7 will be released in... oh, I don't
know, two or so days. Just email me for the first 3 chapters.

Neko
by Mark Doherty (mdoherty@mailbox.uq.edu.au)

Chapter 4: Well this place isn't in the travel guide...
(Draft)

Characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I deserve to be thrown in
the spring of drowned ferret for even thinking of using them. Please
don't sue me, I am but a poor and penniless student.

Anyone who has read any of my previous alternifics should know that I never
change just one curse, so read on at your discretion...

C&C's are welcome, wanted and not wasted on me.


My conventions explained:

- The suffix -kun is used to denote a character's cursed male form. No
  suffix indicates that the person isn't in their cursed form. If someone
  turns up with a girl curse, they'll get the -chan suffix. Animal curses
  are denoted by the name of the animal as a suffix. After a couple of
  times, animal suffixes will probably usually be shortened to the first
  letter. For example, Henry-Mockingbird, or Henry-M after the first couple
  of times the name is used in a scene.

- Just to be REALLY annoying, a cat curse will be denoted by a -Neko suffix.
  So, Ralf-Neko for example.

- <> Denotes Chinese.

- [] Denotes thoughts.

- ** Is animal speak when used without quotes, and is sound effects within
  quotes. For example: *Hello.* the duck quacked. And: "*sigh*" she sighed.

- {} Are Panda signs.


"Cruel, but composed and bland,
 Dumb, inscrutable and grand,
 So Tiberius might have sat,
 Had Tiberius been a cat."
                - Poor Matthias by Matthew Arnold.

*********************

The Tendo girls and Genma were sitting around Soun, who was lying on a futon,
a wet washcloth on his head. He seemed to be in shock, possibly from some
sort of horrible news, tears were streaming down his blank face. Akane, who
had returned to her female form, was looking nervous at the scrutiny her
sisters and Genma were giving her.

"Jusenkyo eh?" Genma finally asked.

Akane nodded.

"What on Earth were you doing over in China?" Genma asked.

"Let's just say that giving our Dad plenty of warning about your travel plans
in China wasn't a good idea." Nabiki answered calmly for Akane. "He got a bit
excited when you sent him a letter three months ago, telling him when you
were planning on arriving here."

*********************

Three months ago...

Soun sat opposite Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi in the Tendo dining area. Soun had
a ridiculously happy expression on his face, while the girls had expressions
ranging from mild concern(Kasumi), through slight interest(Nabiki), to a
certain rage(Akane).

"And so I thought I'd broach the engagement to you three now." Soun said as
he smiled. "One of you three shall be engaged to Genma's boy when they arrive
here. Genma and Ranma plan to be here in about three months, they're just
finishing up some last training spots over in China. Why look, Genma even
gave me an itinerary of where he was going. I wonder what Jusenkyo is like?
Ah, training on the open road, it reminds me of my younger..."

"That's all well and good Daddy." Nabiki cut in. "But let's get back to the
important bit here. You've engaged one of us to one of your old friend's son?
That's medieval! I mean, I know some parents still do it, but I thought
better of you..."

"It does seem a little sudden Father." Kasumi noted.

Akane just grit her teeth in her own form of protest. How could her father do
this? It was so unfair. She just hoped that Kasumi or Nabiki could talk Soun
out of this. Akane just couldn't think of any way to talk her father out of
this marriage contract, a contract between the Saotomes and the Tendos.

"Now, now." Soun said placatingly. "Genma and I agreed to this when your
mother...", his eyes got slightly misty at this point, "...was pregnant with
Nabiki. Nodoka, Genma's wife, was confident that she would soon be with
child. It just seemed so perfect to arrange a joining of our families,
especially since we were about to go our separate ways for a while. Who knew
it would be for so long..."

"So..." Nabiki said carefully, "...Ranma's younger than me. Probably around
Akane's age, is he?"

Soun shrugged. "I'm really not sure. I do know he's younger than you, Nabiki.
But I'm afraid I'd left to run this dojo before Ranma was *ahem* conceived,
so I don't know his exact age. Genma never did tell me much about his son in
his letters. Our correspondence was like that."

Kasumi sighed inwardly, although she showed no outward disappointment. That
meant that Ranma was at least three years younger than she was. How could
they possibly make a marriage work with such an age difference? He was so
much... younger. Still, if she had to marry him, she would uphold the family
honour. As would any of the Tendo blood.

Nabiki cranked out the calculations in her head. Firstly, the Saotomes
weren't rich, Soun would have used that as a selling point by now if they
were. He knew his middle daughter that well, at least. Next, Ranma was
younger, probably meaning he was less mature, although that was one that
couldn't be determined until they met. Thirdly, by the sounds of it the
Saotomes were martial arts nuts, the way her father described it they'd been
training most of Ranma's life. She wasn't interested in martial arts, in fact
Akane was the only Tendo girl who was. Fourthly, she'd barely dated yet, and
an arranged marriage would put paid to any outside romances. She didn't want
to just marry the first guy she went steady with, it sounded so boring.

Nabiki looked at her two sisters. Kasumi the substitute mother and Akane the
tomboy, the boy hater. What a family. If she married this Ranma guy, that
meant she'd be stuck here helping run the dojo. She wanted to get out, live
her own life, be free to live the dreams she had kept within herself for so
long. She wanted out of here and marrying Ranma would ensure that never
happened. There seemed to be only one last thing that could save Ranma in her
eyes.

"Is this Ranma guy cute?" Nabiki asked her father.

"I don't know." Soun admitted. "I've never met him."

"Never met?" Nabiki sighed. Well, that settled it. He might not even be cute.
That was too many things in Ranma's negative box, too few in the positive for
him to be a worthwhile investment. Nabiki didn't want to be the one stuck
with this engagement.

Akane couldn't believe her father thought they'd be happy about this. She
didn't want to be engaged to some boy she'd never met. She was having enough
troubles with boys as it was without being engaged to one. Just once she'd
like to meet a boy who could treat her as something besides a prize to be
fought over.

Kasumi looked at her two sisters. Perhaps one of them would be better suited
to this engagement? She looked at Nabiki. No, Nabiki wasn't traditional
enough to fit into an arranged marriage. Akane? Perhaps... this Ranma boy was
supposed to be about Akane's age, he studied martial arts, as did her younger
sister...

Nabiki thought about her two sisters. The thing was that she didn't want them
to be stuck in this thing either. She might be able to wriggle her way out of
an engagement eventually, if she was the one that was left carrying the
torch. Kasumi wouldn't have a chance. She'd just meekly accept the idea of
being married and she'd never try to escape an engagement. And Akane... oh
yes, Akane would be perfect. The way she treated boys, she'd have Ranma
begging to have the engagement annulled within days. Plus, Akane had a way of
wrapping their father around her finger when she wanted. She could convince
him to do practically anything, so surely she could convince him to stop the
engagement if she... happened to be the one chosen.

Akane looked at her two sisters and felt slightly nervous. Why were they
looking at her like that?

"The only thing that remains is which of you should marry Ranma." Soun said.
"Although perhaps we should leave the decision to him."

"I don't see why." Nabiki said as she continued to look at Akane. "We're not
cattle at some auction. We should choose."

"Oh?" Soun asked. "And which of you wants to marry him?"

"I think Akane would be the best choice." Kasumi offered.

Nabiki blinked, slightly shocked that her elder sister had beaten her to
saying it. "I agree." she blurted before Akane could say anything.

"What? No!" Akane shouted after saying nothing for a few seconds because of
the shock of being volunteered.

"Well then. It's decided." Soun said happily, ignoring his youngest
daughter's last words. "Akane, you shall marry Ranma."

Akane felt her stomach contract. She couldn't... she couldn't... how could
they... how? How could she be engaged to some boy, just like that? It wasn't
right, it wasn't fair, it wasn't what she wanted, it wasn't...

Akane clenched her fists. It wasn't going to happen.

Two days later...

A dark figure crept through an house, being careful not to make any noise.
Perhaps it was a burglar, intent on thievery. Or worse yet, some sort of
psychotic killer, or...

"Going somewhere sister?" Nabiki's voice whispered from nearby as she turned
on the light.

Akane looked over at her sister guiltily. She was dressed in travelling
clothes; black pants and a loose yellow shirt, with a fair sized backpack on
her back. Her hand was on the door to the main exit.

"I can't believe you'd even consider this Akane." Nabiki continued when she
saw that Akane was too shocked at being discovered to talk. "You're running
away?"

"I am not running away!" Akane protested before she realised that she was
trying to not wake her father, and lowered her voice for the next part. "I'm
not running away."

"Oh?" Nabiki asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked over the travel
equipment Akane was wearing.

Akane looked to where Nabiki was looking, at her backpack. She flushed,
before she said "Look, I'm going after this Ranma guy. I've got to convince
him to help me to get our fathers to call off the engagement contract. I've
tried talking Daddy out of this by myself, it just hasn't worked."

"Why?" Nabiki asked. "Firstly, why go after him? He's supposed to be in
China. You can't be thinking of going to China by yourself, it could be
dangerous. Why not just wait for him to come here? And secondly, why worry in
the first place? Do you hate boys that much that you won't even give this
one a chance?"

"Oh that's fine for you." Akane spat. "Considering that my dear sisters made
sure that _I_ was the one to be engaged. If you want to give this guy a
chance then you marry him. And I can take care of myself over in China, I am
a fine martial artist. Just look at what I've been doing to those boys every
morning."

Nabiki repressed the urge to sigh. "I can't let you run off like this Akane.
It's too dangerous."

"And how are you going to stop me?" Akane challenged as she opened the door.

"One yell will have Dad down here." Nabiki pointed out calmly. "He'll lock
you into your room until you reach the age of majority."

"No!" Akane said in a voice as loud as she dared. "Please Nabiki, don't do
it. Look... I'll be fine, but I have to do this. I can't be married to some
boy I've never met. It's not fair. It's not right. You have no right to stop
me... Please, just let me go."

Nabiki looked at her younger sister for a few moments. Eventually, she spoke.
"Just how did you plan to get to China?"

Akane felt relief wash over her. If Nabiki was asking her that, then it meant
that she wasn't going to stop her. "I was just going to go to the docks and
book on a ship."

Nabiki shook her head, and tutted. "Really, I despair of you sometimes. You
call that a plan?"

"What's wrong with it?" Akane asked defensively.

"I'd ask you to tell me how much money you have, but I probably know better
than you. You can't afford a boat trip there and back, especially when you
add in living expenses while you're over there."

"I can't not go." Akane protested. "This has burned away at me for the past
two days, I can't live like this for three months. I _have_ to do something."

Nabiki looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Ok, I think I can loan you some
money if you go to this captain I know. She's the aunt of a guy at school
who owes me big time. She'll get you to China safely."

Akane looked at her older sister in surprise. "You'll do that for me?"

"Just don't go spreading it around, ok?" Nabiki asked. "And remember, this is
a loan and a favour that I'll expect to be repaid."

Akane sighed. "Of course."

Nabiki smiled slightly. She had just made the greatest mistake one who
lived by her sort of moral codes could make. She had put herself in Akane's
place. She knew that Akane couldn't live with this engagement, she even
_almost_ felt guilty about foisting it off on her younger sister. Besides,
Akane would be unbearable to live with if she didn't get to go after Ranma.
And so Nabiki helped her younger sister.

Soon enough...

Akane sighed as she picked at her food. She was in Kyoto, north of Osaka. She
was waiting on a bus to take her to Osaka, where this captain of Nabiki's
was currently moored. Akane had taken a bus to Osaka via Kyoto because,
thanks to a quirk in the bus timetable, there wasn't a direct bus for another
six hours. Since the bus stopped in Kyoto for about three-quarters of an
hour for breakfast(it was an early bus) and to pick up new passengers, Akane
decided to get something to eat while she waited.

"You seem troubled." a voice noted.

Akane looked up to see that the young man who had served her was looking
across the counter at her. Since it was very early there weren't many other
customers yet and so the cook could afford the time to chat. "It's nothing."
she said, not wanting to talk about such a personal problem to a stranger.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about whatever it is?" the young man
asked. "You'll find it helps."

Akane shook her head. "No. This is between me and Saotome Ranma. But thank
you for asking."

The young man paled. "Did you say Saotome... Ranma?"

Akane looked up from her food to the cook. "You know him?"

"I knew a Saotome Ranma." the cook admitted. "In fact, I was just about to
start my search for him. I must find him. I _must_."

Akane looked at the passion in the cook's eyes with surprise. "Actually, I
was just on my way to find him."

The cook looked at her, hope in his eyes. "You know where he is? We're
talking about the same Ranma? He has a father called Genma?" His voice seemed
to grow dark as he said Genma's name.

Akane nodded. "It is the same Ranma! This is incredible. Who would have
thought that I'd meet someone who knew Ranma like this."

The cook blinked. "I am being rude. My name is Kuonji Ukyou."

"Tendo Akane."

"Tendo Akane, do you know where Ranma is? I _must_ find him. I MUST." Ukyou
said.

Akane blinked. "Well yes, I do know. But I'm sorry to say that he's over in
China. I guess you'll have to wait a while before you can see him."

"China?" Ukyou asked. Akane nodded. "And you are going there?" Akane nodded
again, a bit more hesitantly. She had just met this boy, she didn't know if
he could be trusted with such information about herself yet.

"Please." Ukyou said. "I must come with you. I have to find Ranma."

Akane blinked. "You want to come with me? To China? But we just met!"

Ukyou nodded. "And I'm sorry for being so forward but... Ranma! I've waited
ten years to encounter him again. Ten years! I have to grab at any chance I
can get. Please, I'll pay my own way, I'm a martial artist so I can protect
us if need be and I can also cook if the people you're travelling with don't
want to cook."

Akane looked down at the okonomiyaki she had half finished. "Actually, I'm
by myself." she admitted.

"Then you'll need a companion." Ukyou noted.

"But I leave in ten minutes." Akane protested. She wasn't stupid, she knew
that going to China with someone else would be a lot safer. But she'd just
met this guy. Could she trust him? Still, he seemed ok, even if he was a
little strange about wanting to meet Ranma again.

"I'll be ready in five." Ukyou answered.

Akane sighed and gave in. "Ok." she said. "Welcome aboard then, I guess."

Some time later...

Akane and Ukyou looked at the vista that spread out before them. The many
springs of Jusenkyo dotted the landscape that stretched out from the end of
the road they had taken. Behind them, the road stretched up into the
mountains surrounding the valley.

Akane sighed. "This is lovely." She looked over at Ukyou and resisted the
urge to smile. Who would have thought that this strange boy would turn out to
be such a pleasant friend? In the three weeks that Akane had known Ukyou she
had noted that he was a cut above most of the boys she knew. He didn't look
at her as an object, he respected and could match her martial arts skills,
he was good company even if he was a little grim(especially about Ranma).

All in all, Akane wasn't regretting letting Ukyou come with her. He had
turned out to be a good friend. Besides, so far he had made the long journey
more pleasant, just by being there. Who knew just how boring this China trip
would have been by herself?

Ukyou looked around. "Mmmm." he agreed to Akane's comment about the place's
beauty. "Just as importantly, Ranma's supposed to be here. We weren't far
behind him in that last village so surely we'll catch up to him here."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Akane noted as the two teenagers
started to pick their way between the springs.

After a minute or so of walking between the springs, Akane gasped and
pointed. "Wow, look! A wild panda!"

Ukyou looked to where Akane was pointing. Sure enough, a panda was darting up
one of the mountain paths. There appeared to be some small black creature
chasing after the panda, but they were too far away to make out what it was.

"Well, I guess we're in the right country for them." Ukyou said.

Akane looked down at the springs. "You know, I'm surprised there isn't some
sort of settlement here." she said as she crouched down next to one of the
larger springs. "I mean, look at this water. It looks clean, clear, perfect
for drinking. And there's so many of these springs. This place could keep a
small town in drinking water for as long as they wanted."

"Aiya!" a voice cried out from the distance. The two teenagers looked from
the spring to see a stout middle-aged man running towards them. He was
waving his hands and seemed to be minding his step, making sure he didn't
fall into any of the springs. From the description the two teenagers had been
given in the last village they visited, this man was the Guide of this area.
<Don't touch the water!!!> the Guide cried in Mandarin since he didn't know
that the two martial artists were Japanese.

[Must be private property or something.] Akane thought, alarmed at the
unintelligible spiel the Guide was shouting. "We're sorry!" she shouted as
she started to stand from her crouch. "We didn't mean any har...' she began
before her heavy backpack, combined with the slippery edge of the spring,
caused her to overbalance. "Eeeeeee..." she managed before she fell into the
spring.

Ukyou shot his head around from looking at the rapidly approaching Guide
when he heard the splash. He looked at the bubbling spring with a worried
expression when he saw that Akane wasn't surfacing. "Akane?" he began.
"Are you alright?" he added. As the Guide ran up, Ukyou swore and threw
off his backpack, combat spatula and bandolier.

"Miss Customer taking long while to surface." the Guide noted as he caught
his breath from his run.

"Too long." Ukyou agreed as he jumped into the spring.

The Guide raised his hand in protest, but he was too late. Moments later,
Ukyou(in his red haired cursed form) dragged an unconscious Akane-kun out
of the spring.

Ukyou lay Akane-kun out next to the spring before he pulled himself out. He
looked down at his friend. "Akane?" he asked in worry, wondering if he should
start mouth to mouth or something.

Akane-kun groaned and slowly opened his eyelids. He raised himself on his
elbows, coughed out some water and then said "What happened?"

The Guide answered. "Sadly, Miss Customer most unlucky. Fall in cursed
spring. Many year ago, young man drown in this pool. Now, whoever fall in
spring gain form of young man."

"That's re..." Akane-kun began before he noticed that Ukyou, who had seemed
to have somehow grown taller, changed his hair to a red colour and had
somehow gained even more masculine features, such as a more chiselled chin,
was looking at him with a strange expression. "...diculous. Ukyou, what
happened to you?"

Ukyou didn't answer, he was just looking at Akane-kun's chest, where the wet
shirt was clinging to him. Akane-kun noticed where Ukyou was looking and
growled. "Ukyou you hentai..." then he stopped. Something was wrong. He
looked down to where Ukyou was looking, at his chest, and saw that the wet
clinging fabric was showing an important fact. He had no breasts.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!"

The Guide sighed and shook his head as Akane-kun went into a state of shock.
Then he looked at Ukyou. It made no sense. A man shouldn't have been affected
by this spring, it had been proven before that this water had no effect on
a non-cursed male. So why had it affected this boy?

Ukyou stopped looking at Akane, stole a quick glance at himself and then he
grabbed the Guide by the shirt. "There better be a way to reverse this." he
said with an undercurrent of anger.

The Guide nodded. "Curse is permanent, cold water always activate it. But
hot water reverse it."

"Hot water reverses it?" Ukyou asked, keeping his grip on the Guide. The
Guide nodded. Ukyou let go of the Guide and walked over to Akane-kun, who was
staring at his chest.

"Akane?" Ukyou said softly. Akane-kun ignored him. "Akane?" Still no answer.
"Akane, there's a way to reverse it."

Akane-kun looked up, misery in his eyes. "Reverse?" he asked softly. Ukyou
nodded.

"But we have to get out of here first." Ukyou added. "This place is too
dangerous. Saotome wouldn't have stuck around here."

"Saotome?" the Guide asked. "They here just before."

Ukyou turned to look at the Guide. "They've gone?"

The Guide nodded. "They may come back."

"Did they say where they were going next?" Ukyou asked.

"The father mentioned Nerima." the Guide admitted. "Do you want me to help
you find way out of here? There is Amazon village in that direction, if you
want to find place with water that not cursed." He pointed out a direction.

Ukyou looked down at Akane-kun, who was staring at himself again. "No." he
said. "We can manage without any help." He walked over to his discarded
equipment, picked up everything and put them on, before he walked back to
Akane-kun.

"Akane?" he said softly as he offered an hand to the sitting Akane-kun. "Come
on, let's get out of here. Saotome's gone and I don't think we want to stay
here for any longer than we have to."

Akane-kun blinked before he looked up at Ukyou's offered hand. After a few
long seconds, he hesitantly raised one of his own hands and took Ukyou's in
his. Ukyou pulled Akane-kun up and helped the Neriman girl/guy off as the
Guide looked on.

<This is starting to look like a bad day.> the Guide said to himself as he
watched the two men walk off.

Night found the two teenagers camping out under the stars. They had not
managed to reach the Amazon village before dark, their cursed forms and the
debilitating emotions the new bodies had created had slown their pace.

Ukyou looked across the campfire at Akane, an unreadable expression on his
face. Akane was in a sleeping bag, sleeping after the tiring and emotionally
draining day she had just experienced.

After a while, Ukyou turned his gaze from the girl and looked down at the
small pot that was suspended over the fire. He grimaced as he remembered
Akane's words from earlier in the evening, when she had changed back to her
female form.

'Do you want some...' Akane had said hesitantly as she offered the remaining
hot water to Ukyou. Once returned to her female form, Akane regained some of
her old self. 'I guess it doesn't matter as much to you, since you're a guy
in either form.'

Ukyou winced as he remembered the effort it had taken to politely refuse, to
keep up the charade, to insist that Akane use the water for tea. "Ten years
of practice got me somewhere I guess." he whispered to himself as he slowly
took off his shirt. He stared down at his chest, which was bound with what
appeared to be a painfully tight bandage. He grimaced as he slowly unwound
the binding. Breathing became much easier when he had unsecured the white
cloth.

He stared at his flat, muscular chest for a moment before he hesitantly
rested an hand on his torso. He poked his chest for a few moments before he
removed his trembling hand. Then, with a look of horror that he had been
hiding from Akane ever since the Springs, he lifted his too-tight leggings
away from his body, and used the dim light from the fire to examine himself.

After a few seconds, he started shuddering, shuddering so badly that he lost
his grip on his leggings, causing them to snap back against his stomach. The
shuddering just kept on going and going, as he used his discarded shirt to
pick up the small pot and dump the contents, hot water, over himself.

His form shrunk as he returned to his true form. His hair turned from its
bright red to a dark brown. Large muscles turned more wirey. The too tight
leggings moulded to his now thinner legs. His eyes shifted from a bright blue
to an emerald green. And he grew breasts.

Ukyou looked down at her true form, and silently wept, still careful not to
wake up Akane. She let go of all the pent-up horror that she had been hiding
since Jusenkyo.

Ukyou just couldn't stop shuddering as she cried, mourning the passing of
another fragment of her female side, a fragment that was, like so many
fragments before, sacrificed because of one boy.

*********************

Genma felt a sense of unease as Akane slowly, haltingly told the tale of why
she had been in China, and how she had gained her curse. If she was in China
because of Ranma and if she blamed his son for her curse, then what sort of
marriage could be hoped for? This was not good. The only hope he and Soun
could hold was that Akane would not seek to blame Ranma for her problem.

He blinked as he stole a glance at the dojo. And where was his wayward son?
That other boy had certainly kept him occupied for a while. Genma shook his
head. He had almost thought that he'd known this Ukyou boy, but the person he
was thinking of had been a girl, and Akane had been adamant that Ukyou was a
boy when she met him. Obviously, it was just coincidence, and it was another
Ukyou. Perhaps this lad had known Ranma in school, apparently his boy had
managed to start a few feuds while at school. Ah... it reminded him of his
own school days, so long ago.

Genma looked at the now black sky. It had been early evening when he and
Ranma had arrived, and now night had painted the sky with darkness. Yes, some
time had passed since Ranma had left to talk with the Ukyou boy. What was
taking those two so long?

*********************

In the black pitch of a moonless night, a small boat chugged its way into
the safety of an harbour. The boat was deceptive, to say the least. Although
it looked like nothing more than a rusty old fishing vessel, it was, in fact,
one of the many smuggling ships that plied the danger-filled route between
China and Japan.

The captain of the ship looked grimly at his unwanted passenger. He had been
in one of his stopovers in China, stocking up on several hard to find items,
when the young man who occupied the deck had stepped onboard his ship.
Attempts to remove the boy had proven messy, painful and useless but
thankfully not fatal. After three of his men had been injured from attempts
to remove the youth, the captain had given up on physical means and resorted
to trying to talk the boy off his ship. He was, after all, a smuggler. He
could talk his way out of anything.

But the young man had proven to be incredibly stubborn. When the captain had
politely asked the man to leave, all he had said was 'I must get to Japan.'
first in Mandarin, and then in Japanese. After a while, the captain had given
up and ordered the crew to ignore the boy. Even if the captain hadn't seen
the way the boy had handled his men, he would have known not to mess with
this one.

For the boy had _the_ look. The look of holy determination, of obsession. The
sort of look that only the most feverant of the religious, the political, or
the anime otaku could manage. It was the look that said 'I will not walk over
this mountain in front of me, I shall walk _through_ it.'

And people like that were either to be avoided, helped, or left alone. For to
interfere with a person so focussed as this one was to invite trouble.
Painful trouble. Deadly trouble.

The boy turned his burning gaze from the shore to a small creature that
rested on his left shoulder. The boy whispered something to the small animal,
before he looked up at the smuggler captain. Well, in the general direction
of the captain. He was actually looking at a life preserver that was attached
to the bridge wall.

"Thank you for allowing me the use of your ship, captain." the boy said,
before he leapt off the still moving boat onto a nearby pier. As soon as he
had landed, he was off, his long black hair streaming behind him as he ran
into the shadows of the dark port.

"Don't mention it." the captain said drolly to the empty air where the boy
had so recently been. He seemed contemplative for a few moments, before he
added "And what was it with that pet of his? I could have sworn it looked
like a lemming... nah. What would a boy from China be doing with an American
animal?"

In the distance, there was a thud, almost as if someone who had been running
during this darkest of dark nights had run into a wall or something. There
was a pause, and then what appeared to be the concerned squeak of a small
animal.

The captain sighed. Maybe it was time to retire.

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Well, that's the end of Chapter 4. Please tell me what you think. Pretty
please. I've set up a quick web page with my fanfics on it, that way people
have an easy way to get the previous chapters. The address is:
http://www.uq.edu.au/~zzhdoher

Everything will be explained sooner or later...

Till next time.





************  
Mark Doherty  -  mdoherty@mailbox.uq.edu.au
My fanfics are at http://www.uq.edu.au/~zzhdoher

"Kawaii must die."