2:0 Arrival

	Nobody was around to witness a most unusual spectacle upon one of the few
isolated beaches on the west coast of Japan, which was probably for the
best. A young, slender girl with pale hair wearily dragged herself out of
the ocean, trailing a large, watertight backpack behind her. The soaked gi
she wore revealed more of her pale body than it concealed. She collapsed
wearily to her knees and panted for breath. "I'm...glad that's...over," she
gasped out between breaths. Wearily, she dragged a blanket out of her pack
and wrapped it around herself, then began unpacking her camping gear. She'd
just swam all the way to Japan from the mainland, and after a little rest,
and a dry change of clothes, she'd be on her way to Nerima.

	Saotome Nodoka shifted uneasily as she approached the entrance to the home
of her husband's old friend and partner, Tendou Soun. She'd been feeling
uneasy the last few days; she was certain something terrible had happened
to her husband, and to her son. Finally she had decided to drop in on
Tendou, to see if he had heard any news of them. She could have called,
certainly, but she decided she'd rather handle this in person.
	The door slid open, and a young woman greeted her with a warm smile.
"Hello, may I help you?"
	Nodoka bowed. "Pardon the disturbance. I am an old friend of Tendou-san's,
and I wish to speak with him. My name is Saotome Nodoka."
	The young woman bowed, and inclined her head, motioning her guest to
enter. "Welcome to our home, Saotome-san. My name is Kasumi."
	Nodoka blinked. "Kasumi-chan? I wouldn't have recognized you..."
	Kasumi looked confused. "Have we met?"
	Nodoka laughed softly. "When you were very small, yes. I believe you were
about two when I last saw you."
	Kasumi giggled. "Oh, I see! Well, let me go find Father. Please, make
yourself at home. I'll bring some tea out shortly."
	"Thank you, Kasumi-chan." Nodoka seated herself carefully at the tea
table, and waited. A few moments later, a girl, slightly younger than
Kasumi, with short brown hair arranged in a hairstyle which framed her face
smartly, entered the room. "Well hello," she said to the older woman, a
trace of amusement and a note of calculation in her voice. "Who might you
be?"
	Nodoka wasn't sure she particularly cared for this girl's attitude. Then
she chided herself about first impressions. "Saotome Nodoka, and old
acquaintance of Tendou-san."
	The girl nodded, as if expecting such an answer. "Tendou Nabiki. Nice to
meet you." At this point, another girl entered the room. The youngest yet,
she was clad in a gi and appeared to have recently returned from a workout.
"Tadaima!" she called as she stepped into the room, breath still coming in
ragged gasps from what was probably a late morning jog. "Oh, we have a
visitor!"
	Nodoka smiled. "Saotome Nodoka. And you are?"
	"Tendou Akane." The girl bowed politely. "If you'll excuse me, I need to
go wash up. I've been jogging for about an hour now."
	Nodoka nodded, and Akane vanished up the stairs. A moment later, Kasumi
reentered the room from the staircase, followed by an older gentleman, clad
in a dark gi, with long black hair and a heavy mustache. He brightened at
the sight of the woman seated at the table. "Nodoka-san! It has been far
too long."
	Nodoka smiled. "Hello, Soun-kun. You're looking well."
	Soun seated himself across the table from Nodoka. "So, what brings you
by?"
	Nodoka sighed. "I wish this were a simple social call. I was...actually
wondering if you had heard any news of my husband and son."
	Soun blinked. "No, I can't say that I have. Is something wrong?"
	Nodoka shook her head, frowning. "I can't explain it, but I've been having
the strangest feeling lately. Like something terrible has happened."
	Soun rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "They left on a training expedition
quite some time ago, am I right?"
	Nodoka nodded. "That's right. They've been away from home for ten years
now."
	"Wow, ten years? Why would they do that?" Nabiki interjected.
	"My husband wants to ensure that the family school is never lost," Nodoka
said. "I tried to convince him that he could train Ranma just as well at
home in our dojo, but Genma can be so stubborn..."
	Soun grinned. "Yes, I remember how Saotome-kun gets at times."
	Nabiki had become fairly interested in the conversation at this point, and
sat down. Kasumi entered the room bearing tea. Nodoka took a sip of tea,
and continued, "The last few days, I have felt uneasy. I know it's
irrational, but I can't shake the feeling that Genma and Ranma are in
trouble."
	"Do you have any idea where they might be?" Soun asked. 
	Nodoka pulled a postcard from her kimono. "The last time I heard from
them, they were crossing into China."
	Nabiki examined the postcard. "Hmm...this is dated over six months ago."
	"Hai." Nodoka frowned. "After that, I heard nothing."
	"Goodness. Do you know where in China they were headed?" Kasumi asked.
	Nabiki spoke up. "Says here they were hunting down famous training
grounds."
	Akane entered the room, and sat down. Nodoka continued, "I was fairly sure
that perhaps you had heard from them, Soun-kun. Especially considering..."
she trailed off and looked around at the three girls.
	"Considering...what?" Nabiki asked, a sudden hint of suspicion in her
tone.
	Soun sweated. "Ahhh...a little matter of a promise between my old training
partner and myself, before you were born," he said.
	Nabiki smirked. "Let me guess. Something to do with an arranged marriage?"
	Soun paled. Nodoka raised an eyebrow. This Nabiki girl was very sharp. 
	Akane scowled. "Dad! You didn't!"
	Kasumi asked, "Father, is it true?"
	Soun nodded nervously. "Hai. You see, other than ourselves, the only other
family in the world that practices the Anything-Goes school of martial arts
is the Saotomes," he began. "We did it as a way to ensure that the school
would continue."
	None of the girls looked too pleased. Nodoka sighed. "So you've heard no
word from them?"
	Soun shook his head. "I'm sorry, Nodoka-san."
	Nabiki spoke up. "Saotome-san, do you have a photo of Ranma?"
	Nodoka frowned. "Not a recent one, why?"
	Nabiki's brow furrowed. "That will make it tougher..." 
	Akane gave her sister a look. "Nabiki? What are you plotting now?"
	Ignoring Akane, Nabiki said, "Well, Saotome-san, I have some favors due
from the administrations office at Furinkan. I can use that to get access
to the school system network. If Ranma's been enrolled in a Japanese school
within the last year, I might be able to dig up a forwarding address or
something. Or at least a recent photograph."
	Nodoka smiled at the girl. "Nabiki-chan, thank you very much. I appreciate
it."
	Nabiki shrugged. "Hey, if one of us is going to wind up marrying him, we
have a vested interest in finding out where he is, ne?"

	Clad in an ill-fitting red Chinese shirt and dark blue silk pants, with
soft black slippers, Rei walked briskly through the countryside. She had
already managed to cross a third of the island, and it was only now
approaching sunset. She appreciated the strength and energy in her new
body. 
	The sun began to dip towards the horizon, and Rei stopped, pitching her
tent. After a quick meal of ricecake and cup ramen, she began a light
workout. Slowly stretching and flexing her exhausted muscles at first to
loosen them up, she began to do a light, slow kata. The fluid motions would
at one time in her life been completely alien to her. Now she moved with a
grace and rhythm that suggested she'd been doing this her entire life.
Speeding up the kata slightly, and adding to its complexity, she continued
her workout for half an hour, before bowing in the direction of the setting
sun, and climbing into her bedroll.

	Nodoka had spent the night at the Tendou residence, and was now seated
across from Soun, a shogi board between them. Soun had lamented about the
lack of a shogi partner, and having seen her own husband play so often,
Nodoka offered to play a few games while they waited for word from Nabiki. 
	The middle daughter entered the dojo, face blank. However, her father knew
her well enough to know that something was disturbing her. "Nabiki?
Anything?"
	Nabiki nodded numbly. She dropped a manila filing folder onto the shogi
board. "Ranma's records from his last school, west of Tokyo. Also a
newspaper clipping from some martial arts tournament which he won." Nodoka
and Soun pored through the folder, reading the school records, and the
clipping. Nodoka smiled at the black-and-white photo of her son. "Look at
him, Soun-kun."
	"He seems to have turned out to be a fine young man," Soun commented.
	Then Nabiki dropped the postcard on the table. Soun looked at it, and
raised a questioning eyebrow at Nabiki.
	"That came in the mail today," she said. Soun nodded, and read it. As he
read, his eyes widened, his face paled, and he began to weep. 
	"Soun-kun? What's wrong?" Nodoka asked. Soun numbly dropped the card and
pushed it towards Nodoka, who read it, and turned completely white in shock
and horror. She dropped it, staring at it as though it were an oni. 
	Akane walked in, took in their expressions, and took Nabiki aside. "What's
wrong with them?" she whispered to her sister.
	Nabiki sighed. "We found Ranma."
	Akane blinked. "And?"
	Nabiki shook her head. "Saotome-san sent a postcard from China. Ranma died
in a training accident."
	Akane's eyes widened. "Oh kami-sama...what could have happened?"
	Nabiki shrugged. "The postcard didn't say. We'll probably find out though.
Saotome-san mentioned a student that he's sending back to Japan."
	"Student?"
	"Your guess is as good as mine."

	"Nodoka-san...I'm terribly sorry. This is a terrible thing for you to have
to deal with."
	Nodoka's shoulders shook as she sobbed, burying her head in Soun's chest.
"I can't believe...Ranma...my son is gone..."

	Rei polished a dented old urn she'd haggled from a junk dealer in a small
village. It was early morning, and she would make it to Nerima before noon
today. Setting aside the urn, she put a tin of water over the fire. After a
few moments, she upended the hot water over her head, reverting to her male
form. Setting the tin aside, Rui dashed the fire. Drying out the tin, he
carefully scooped up the ashes of the fire, pouring them into the urn. He
managed to dig out enough ashes to fill the urn. "Perfect," he mused. "That
should do it." He set the urn in his backpack, next to a similar one, and
broke camp.

	The mood in the Tendou household was somber, as the three daughters tried
to comfort the grieving woman and their equally grieving father. Shortly
before noon, there was a visitor. "I'll answer the door," Kasumi said,
rising from the table.
	"May I help you?" she asked the person standing at the entrance. It was a
young man, about sixteen or so, with skin the color of chalk, crystalline
grey eyes, and short, pale blue hair. He was dressed in Chinese clothing
and carrying a large backpack. His face was devoid of any expression, as
was his voice as he said, "I was asked by Saotome Genma to speak to
Tendou-san on his behalf."
	At this, the entire household gathered around the doorway. Soun and Nodoka
stepped forward. A faint flicker of surprise graced the youth's face at the
presence of the Saotome matriarch, but it vanished quickly. "You said
Saotome-kun sent you."
	The boy nodded. "Hai. I was a student of his, until the accident."
	Nodoka paled at the mention of the accident, and the use of the past
tense. "Is Genma alright? Where is he?" she asked.
	The boy bowed his head, and shrugged off his backpack, producing from it
two slightly dented urns, which he placed on the floor before the
kimono-clad woman. He bowed low to the ground in an expression of sincere
apology.
	Nodoka looked at the two urns, and burst into tears. 	
	Remarkably, at least to the three girls, Soun was remaining calm. He
addressed the boy quietly. "It is good of you to so trouble yourself with
being the bearer of such tragic news. I thank you sincerely."	
	The boy nodded. "It was no trouble."
	Soun examined the urns, and asked, "I trust there is a reason they were
cremated before being brought back?"
	"Hai, Tendou-san. They were mauled by mountain lions in Qinghai. The
bodies were..." he trailed off. Soun nodded, indicating he understood
perfectly.
	"Mountain lions...what a way to go," Akane said. Nabiki nodded.
	"I'm sorry, please do come in," Kasumi said to the youth. As he entered,
Soun found the presence of mind to ask, "By the way, I didn't catch your
name."
	"My name is Ayanami Rui," the pale youth said.