Ranma 1/2:  Mirror Images
by George Masologites
guilds@mail.serve.com [Hunter Kid] 
http://www.serve.com/guilds/ranma/
© 09/27/1997  All Rights Reserved    
3
Waters of the Spring

    Ryoga sighed with relief as the bell signifying the end of the school
day finally sounded, and noticed that Ukyou did the same.  He stood up,
stretching as he shouldered his large pack and grinned at Ukyou, who
grinned right back.
    "You know..."  Ryoga bit his lip.  "You made that challenge this
morning assuming that I could beat this Kunou guy, right?"
    Ukyou was about to respond, but was cut off by a student who came up to
Ryoga and grinned at him.  "Hey, you're that guy who broke Kunou's arm,
aren't you?"  He inquired, looking fairly happy about the whole affair.
    Ryoga coughed slightly, looking the boy over.  He was about Ryoga's
height, with black hair tied back into a short ponytail and was dressed in
the rather drab clothing that all students seemed to be normally required
to wear - a white t-shirt tucked into grey pants.  He had a handsome,
rather cheerful looking face - that was, in fact, almost feminine in
appearance - with friendly brown eyes, so Ryoga let his guard drop a
little.  "Yes..." he responded warily.
    "No need to get defensive," the cheerful looking boy assured him.  "I
just wanted to congratulate you is all.  I practice some martial arts
myself, and I know power when I see it.  And this morning, you had some
damned unstoppable power while you were fighting Kunou.  You might even
have stopped that stupid morning battle for the hand of Akane."
    Ryoga blinked.  "The hand of Akane?"
    The young man looked at him quizically, then nodded.  "Oh, that's
right.  I forgot that you're new here.  Well, at the beginning of the
semester, Kunou made this speech in which he was yammering about how anyone
who wanted to go out with Akane had to beat her in combat."
    Ukyou laughed.  "In combat?"  She asked, a little disbelievingly.
"What kind of way is that to ask a girl out?"
    The boy shrugged.  "Beats me, but since Akane's a pretty good fighter,
I guess that Kunou thought that would be reasonable.  He also thought," he
continued, grinning broadly, "that he would just beat Akane and then go out
with her, but the next day, Akane was mad at him and mopped the floor with
him."  He laughed.  "It was really something to see.  Thing is, though,
everyone still takes Kunou's speech seriously because he beats up anyone
who 'defies' him."
    "How good is Kunou?"  Ryoga asked cautiously.
    "He's better than me, and not as good as you," came the response.
"Beyond that, I can't really say.  He's the champion of this school Kendo
club, but that doesn't mean all that much in a free-for-all fight, because
his Kendo style is really specialized.  Thing is, he's strong as hell.  The
guy can cut down a tree with a wooden bokken."  Suddenly, his eyes
narrowed.  "Say, didn't he whack you on the side?  Are you wearing armor
under that shirt?"
    Ryoga chuckled nervously.  "Ah..."  He hesitated, not really wanting to
reveal that he was, in fact, insane while he was fighting Kunou.  Purposely
insane, but insane nonetheless.  "Let's just say I have really tough skin."
    "I would say so," the boy remarked, smirking.  "Anyway, like I was
saying - you might have gotten rid of that stupid battle in the mornings,
so now people can ask out Akane without beating her up first."
    "Why would anyone want to go out with her, anyway?"  Ukyou wondered
absently.  "She seems so ill-tempered."
    "Yeah," the young man agreed, "but she's really pretty.  She's
certainly the best looking girl in the school."  He looked closely at
Ukyou, examining her rather thoroughly.  "Er...probably," he amended
lamely, a bit of a flush appearing on his face.
    Ukyou laughed.  "If you say so."
    The young man looked as if he was about to say something, then looked
away and sighed.  "Um...well, my name's Ryoushi Hasaki.  I'll...be around.
Talk to you two later," he called over his shoulder as he walked out of the
classroom.
    "I wonder what he was going to ask?"  Ukyou muttered thoughtfully, then
shook her head.  "Ah, no matter," she dismissed it absently, slinging her
school pack over her shoulder.
    Ryoga thought he recognized the name Hasaki from somewhere, but decided
he didn't and shrugged.  "Probably nothing important."

    Tarou snorted slightly as he heard the bell ring once again.  He was
definitely annoyed - it hadn't stopped raining.  As a matter of fact, it
was raining with a vengeance outside.  So now that he was back in his
natural form, as soon as he stepped outside, he would turn into a girl
again.  Not his idea of a fun walk home.
    "Wish I had an umbrella," he mumbled sourly as he stood up from the
bench he had sitting on, looking balefully out the window, hearing thunder
crackle in the distance.  He had been traveling alone in the wilderness
long enough to recognize the signs of a rainstorm that wasn't going to let
up soon, and unless he was further off than he thought he was, this storm
wouldn't end until the next morning or so.  
    Still, it was probably inevitable.  He grumbled to himself as he walked
out into the pouring rain, making sure no one was paying enough attention
to him to notice that he had suddenly changed genders.  She sighed,
shifting her clothing slightly so that it fit her smaller form and noticed
with a bit of curiousity that there was a huge crowd gathered once again in
the schoolyard, as if in anticipation of a speech.
    "A speech in the rain?"  Tarou wondered absently.
    Suddenly, a hush came over the crowd as a figure with his right arm in
a sling strutted out into the rain, trying to look majestic, and succeeding
in appearing unmistakably arrogant.  As soon as the crowd shut up, the
young man began to speak.
    "I am sure," he stated loudly, "that you have all heard this rumor,
this falsehood," he emphasized the last word, "that some scoundrel defeated
me, the great Tatewaki Kunou, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, this
morning in combat.  The fact is, he attacked me by surprise and I demand
that the fool step forward so that I may...speak to him."
    "About what?"  A voice came from behind Kunou.  Everyone turned to look
at the speaker, who was a tall, muscular young man dressed in a yellow
sweater that opened over his right breast and dark green trousers bound up
at the calves, and had a bandanna around his head.  He looked slightly
annoyed at Kunou, and was carrying a red bamboo umbrella over his head,
being very careful not to let even a drop of water fall on himself.  Behind
the young man was another fellow, a bit shorter, slender, a dressed in a
red silk Chinese button-down and black trousers, tied at the ankles.  His
hair was a dark brown, and unusually long for a male, tied back into a long
ponytail.  His face was extremely handsome, almost pretty, and he wore a
slight smirk as he looked at Kunou.
    "You attacked me by surprise, coward," Kunou declared, glaring at the
young man carrying the umbrella.
    "My name is Ryoga Hibiki," the young man stated flatly, "not 'coward,'
and I don't like being referred to as such.  Now if you want a damn rematch-"
    "You'll get one," the slender young man interrupted Ryoga in a smooth
voice.  While his voice wasn't exactly feminine, it had a sort of almost
gentle overtone that wasn't often found in male speech.  Some of the girls
who were walking to the school gates had stopped, staring at him with
lovestruck gazes.  "I take it that the good man Fujihara hasn't spoken to
you yet?"
    "Who are you, boor?"  Kunou asked, scowling.
    "Uk-"  the young man started to say, but then stopped, looking down at
himself and coughing nervously.  "Er...my name isn't important just now.  I
think you know my...sister Ukyou, though."
    Kunou looked at him with what was obvious a pitying gaze.  "You are the
brother of the poor woman that this...this -fiend- Hibiki has enslaved to
his own evil ends?"
    "Enslaved?"  The young man cocked an eyebrow.
    "Do you not know?"  Kunou looked shocked.  "That your own sister was
obviously bewitched into kissing this foul beast Hibiki to soothe his dark
lusts?  Evil sorcerer," he addressed Ryoga, who was looking more and more
angry by the second, "I demand you free the fair Ukyou from your unholy
grasp or I undoubtedly call the vengeance of heaven upon you."
    "My own sister," the young man remarked, rolling his eyes, his voice
dripping with sarcasm.  "Ryoga," he grinned at Ryoga, "I never knew that
you practiced black magic."
    "Wha...?"  Ryoga stammered.  "Black magic?  What are you talking about?"
    "Oh," the young man struck a pose dramatically, imitating Kunou, "you,
foul beast, have enslaved my sister within your evil snares of deceit, dark
one."  He grinned at Kunou.  "So, Kunou is here to challenge you to a
rematch, which I am sure no one - especially Fujihara-sensei - will
disagree with."
    Kunou looked confused for a second, then regained his arrogant bearing.
 "That is correct, good man," he said, acknowledging the handsome young man
with a nod.  "I would take my revenge and free the fair maiden Ukyou this
moment, but Hibiki has injured my arm with his dishonorable surprise
attack.  Hibiki, I challenge you to a duel two weeks from this very day.
You have no choice but to accept."
    "Hah," Ryoga grunted, scowling dangerously at Kunou.  "Fine by me."
    Tarou just rolled her eyes.  The people around here were idiots.  All
of them.

    Ranma's reaction to the events was much the same as Tarou's.
    "Let's see here," she muttered in a mirthful tone as she walked easily
along on top of the fence above Akane, "it's his first day at school, and
so far he's managed to go berserk, snap a guy's arm, injure two innocent
bystanders, make out with Ukyou in public, get called to Fujihara-sensei's
office, and get challenged to a duel by the same guy he beat up."  Ranma
smirked.  "That's a pretty exciting first day, don't you think, Akane?"
    Akane seemed to be broken out of her thoughts, and looked up at her.
"Huh?  Oh, yeah, of course," she said absently.
    "What were you thinking about?"  Ranma asked her, looking down at her
curiously.  "No, wait, don't answer that.  Probably this stupid engagement
thing, right?"
    Akane nodded and sighed.  "Yeah," she said disconsolately, "I guess I
was."  She shook her head disgustedly.  "What makes Father think I want to
get married yet, anyway?  And especially not to a..."  She trailed off,
coughing embarrasedly.
    "...pervert like me?"  Ranma finished for her, rolling his eyes skyward
to look at the dark grey sky that was pouring rain.  "What did I do to get
you to brand me a 'pervert,' anyway?"
    "You peeped at me in the bath, for one thing."
    Ranma shrugged, wiping a flaming red lock of hair out of her face, only
to have it fall back down again, the rain soaking her to the bone.  "Hey,
like I said before, you walked in on us.  Shouldn't the fact that your
bathroom was wrecked to pieces clued you into the fact that the bathroom
was in use?"
    Akane glared daggers at her.  "Yeah, by you and your stupid friends
wre-"  She was cut off when she noticed that someone had just vaulted over
her, using her head as a platform.  Another person followed, merely
bounding over the startled Akane instead of bouncing off her head.
    The first person, who was using a dull red umbrella to keep the rain
off of himself, was running and laughing at the same time, evading quick
quarterstaff thrusts from the second person, who was attacking while
shouting, "You must train for your match, evil sorcerer!  Train until you
drop!"
    Ranma and Akane both wore similar expressions of surprise as the two
people, obviously Ukyou in her cursed form and Ryoga, ran out of sight,
with Ryoga still dodging and Ukyou attacking and shouting various
ridiculous sounding phrases, such as, "How dare you enslave my innocent
sister, dark fiend!", and, "The vengeance of heaven is upon you this day,
sorcerous dog!"
    "What..."  Ranma began, mouth agape.
    "...was that all about?"  Akane finished, mouth also agape.  She turned
to Ranma, cocking her head slightly.  "Did Ukyou suffer a head concussion
or something?"
    Ranma shook her head, smirking.  "I think," she stated in a
good-humored tone, "that Ukyou is helping Ryoga train for his upcoming
match with Kunou."
    "She's...got an odd style of doing so..."
    Ranma could only nod in agreement.
    
    Tarou, now male again thanks to a kettle of hot water, was trying to
eat his dinner in peace.  
    In most places, that would have been a simple feat - just sit there and
chew your food with your mouth closed, and don't cause a fuss.  In the
Tendo's household, it was an entirely different story.  Between Akane and
Ranma, there seemed to be an endless, pointless argument going on that
involved lots of use of the words 'pervert' and 'tomboy.'  Ukyou and Ryoga,
apparently intent on training Ryoga for the match he had set up with Kunou
had taken it into their heads that dinner was an appropriate time and place
to spar, so they seemed to dueling with chopsticks, yelling and shouting
battle cries with intense concentration, neither gaining the advantage.
The two fathers were discussing how to get the marriage between Ranma and
Akane to work, which was interrupted here and there by Soun breaking out in
a river of tears, wailing about how their schools would never be united.
    Tarou picked up a small chunk of pork with his chopsticks, but before
he could put it into his mouth, Ukyou disarmed Ryoga with a triumphant
shout, sending Ryoga's 'weapon of choice' into the meat, knocking it out
from between Tarou's chopsticks and falling to the floor.
    "Sorry about that, Tarou," Ryoga apologized quickly, retrieving his
eating utensils and going back to his seat.  "I hereby challenge thee to a
duel, fiend!"  He declared in a very Kunou-esque style, flourishing his
chopsticks and attacking Ukyou with a flurry of chopstick jabs, which she
grinned and fended off easily.
    Soun suddenly spoke up.  "After dinner," he said loudly, "you will all
begin repairing the rooms which you have destroyed."  Unfortunately for
him, he hadn't spoken loud enough to be heard of the combined might of
Ukyou and Ryoga's simultaneous battle cries as they stood up and charged
each other, and the constant undertone of Ranma and Akane's bickering.  
    "Shut up!"  Soun screamed.  "Shut up and listen to me!"
    Everyone froze.
    Tarou hadn't noticed it, but he hadn't stopped chewing, and Soun turned
his seething glare on the innocently eating boy.  "I said be quiet!"  Soun
bellowed at him, looking in his rage somewhat like a demon.
    Tarou blinked, but couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong, so he
snatched up another piece of pork and started chewing again.  To his
irritation, Soun started to rage at him again, screaming about the
disrespect of children these days.  Tarou still couldn't figure out how he
was making noise, so he kept on chewing.  
    Soun lost it and threw a punch at Tarou, who nonchalantly, possibly
even unconsciously, caught his fist, taking a small piece of beef from
Soun's plate and eating it.  "Thank you," Tarou acknowledged him with a
nod, wondering quizically why on earth everyone was looking at him with
really strange gazes.
    He decided that he must have had a piece of food on his vest, so,
looking down and finding one, he casually flicked it off, failing to notice
that he had flicked it into a fuming Akane's face, failing to notice that
she had gripped the side of the table in a white-knuckled grasp, then
failing to notice that everyone else was hastily backing away from Akane
and himself.
    Tarou never saw the table coming.
    
    The next day dawned bright and clear, and turned out surprisingly
normal.  Well, normal in comparison to the previous day, at any rate.  For
instance, Kunou didn't make any big appearances because of his hurt arm,
Ryoga and Ukyou didn't get a chance to publicly show their affections for
each other, Ranma and Akane bickered the whole day long, the honorable
Assistant Principal Fujihara had completely forgotten about his promise,
and Tarou still hadn't figured out what he was supposed to do during
school, so he spent rather a lot of time wandering around, 'exploring' his
surroundings, which he found to be getting rather dull.  
    All in all, Ryoga thought it was eerily like the calm before the storm.
    Still, he couldn't exactly place his suspicions, so he dismissed them -
or he tried to.  There was a vague feeling of apprehension in the back of
his head that was making studying impossible.  It was his last period
class, Foreign Language, which in this case was Chinese, and Ryoga hadn't
heard a single word the teacher had said the whole class, instead staring
at nothing, his eyes unfocused.  
    Or he -thought- he was staring at nothing, anyway.  There was scattered
snickers about how Ryoga had been staring straight at Ukyou with what
appeared to be a quite lovestruck gaze.  It isn't to say that he would have
opposed doing that, either, but he at least wanted to have the pleasure of
doing so if he was going to get jested at for it.
    Lucky for him, he was so spaced out that he didn't hear the snickering,
let alone the teacher's lecture.  The teacher noticed this and scowled.
    "Hibiki!"  The teacher barked, annoyed.
    That snapped Ryoga out of his trance.  "E-eh?"  He asked, coming to his
senses with a snort.  "W-what is it, Takimaru-sensei?"
    "Pay attention," the teacher, Takimaru, stated in an annoyed voice,
speaking in Chinese.  Takimaru figured that if the idiot kid wasn't going
to pay attention, he was going to have to take some embarassment by not
understanding what he had just said.
    "Sorry, teacher," Ryoga apologized hastily, not realizing that he was
also speaking Chinese.  He had always been good with languages - he had to
be; sometimes, with a sense of direction like his, he would wind up in
other countries and not even know it.  He was fluent in Russian, Korean,
English, Turkish, could speak at least a dozen various dialects fairly
well, and spoke both Chinese and Japanese like a native tongue.  "I'll pay
attention."
    Takimaru looked flustered for a second, then coughed and resumed his
lecture, noting with some annoyance that Ryoga drifted off into space
again, his eyes unfocusing and his head leaning against his arm,
unconsciously staring directly at Ukyou, drawing a few giggles and chortles
around the room.  
    Why am I so apprehensive?  Ryoga wondered, licking his lips that were
dry from his anxiety.  No, it wasn't anxiety, not precisely - more like a
vague nervousness.  Ryoga always got feelings like them right before
something important was about to happen.  Something important or something
unexpected.  Or disastrous.  Ryoga sighed, knowing that while he could
trust the feeling that -something- was going to happen, he had no idea what.  
    Or do I?  He pondered absently.
    He went over the possibilities of things that could happen in his mind.
 Japan was known for horrible earthquakes, so this feeling of foreboding
could be a sign that an earthquake was about to occur.  Ryoga bit his lip.
No, that probably wasn't it.  He would definitely be getting stronger
feelings of nervousness if something that important was about to happen.
What, then?  A flood?  A tornado?  
    He shook his head.  No, natural disasters were all to destructive for
this vague feeling to represent.  
    An assassin!
    Yes, that had to be it.  What else would give a feeling like this?  He
was about to get a knife in the back.  It was so obvious it hurt.  No,
wait, that wasn't what hurt.  Someone was pinching his neck.
    "Hey," he stated irritatedly, coming out of his daze and looking up.
"Oh...er, hiya, Ukyou-chan."
    Ukyou was looking with a certain amount of amusement down at him, but
before she could say anything, one of the boys walked by and whistled
suggestively.  "Nice going, Hibiki," he remarked, laughing slightly then
walking out of sight.
    "Hm?"  Ryoga looked confused.
    Ukyou smacked him lightly on the arm.  "Why were you staring at me the
whole class period?"
    "And licking your lips, too," a male voice added.  Ryoga and Ukyou both
looked over to see the boy from the previous day - Ryoushi Hasaki - sitting
crosslegged on a nearby desk and grinning.  "I guess with you being so
obvious about it in public, you two must -really- get along well in
private, huh?  And weren't you two on a really long training trip together?"
    Ryoga didn't quite catch on.  "Um...well, yes.  So?"
    Ryoushi grinned.  "Same tent?"
    Ryoga nodded absently.  "Uh-huh.  Same tent, wh-"
    He was cut off by Ukyou putting a hand over his mouth.  "What do you
want?"  She asked, glaring slightly at Ryoushi, who grinned cheerfully back
at her.
    "To ask whether you two actually did...well...never mind about that,"
he coughed slightly, then his voice took on a more serious tone.
"Er...actually, I wanted to ask you two a question."
    Ukyou shrugged.  "Go ahead."
    Ryoushi sighed.  "Before I do, please accept my apologies if my
suspicions are...unfounded."
    "Yes, yes," Ukyou said impatiently, glaring.
    "First of all, I understand you two have been traveling for quite some
time," he began, "and have been to a -lot- of different places."
    "Right..."  Ryoga said, narrowing his brows.  "So?"
    "I'm getting to it," Ryoushi responded, then resumed.  "First off, I'm
not from around here.  Actually, I'm from Kyoto, where my 'family,' such as
they are, runs a resturaunt.  They're not exactly my family - my father
died quite some time ago, and my mother died a few years after me and my
twin brother, Konatsu, were born.  Doctors were surprised that she had
twins, actually - according to all of them, there shouldn't have been two
babies, and having us weakened her to the point where she was bedridden
during the whole time I knew her."  His voice took on a sad note.  "She was
our mother, though, and she loved us, up until the very end.  Things were
still okay after she passed away, and Father took it surprisingly well - he
even wanted to get remarried.  Actually," his voice sounded slightly
humorous here, "he wanted to marry some ugly old hag, for whatever reason.
He probably would have, if I hadn't been there to convince him otherwise,
because Konatsu didn't seem to care one way or another.  He wound up
getting married to a nice woman from Hokkaido that owned a resturaunt down
in Kyoto, and everything went pretty good for awhile.  Father was teaching
me and Konatsu martial arts, we had a good source of income through the
restuaunt, life was okay."
    Ukyou looked intrigued, and so did Ryoga.  Hearing someone's life
story, after all, was generally pretty interesting.  They couldn't help but
wonder why he was telling them, though, but something in Ryoga's head told
him that he had had an encounter with Ryoushi in the past.  He shook the
feeling off as he waited for Ryoushi to continue.
    "Then disaster struck," Ryoushi stated remorsefully.  "Father died
suddenly one day, in his sleep.  The doctors never found out what caused
it, though they say he probably died prefectly painlessly.  Thing is, with
Father gone, we were suddenly having trouble managing the resturaunt, not
to mention we couldn't train in martial arts any more.  But that wasn't the
biggest problem - for some reason, business was falling off at the
resturaunt and we couldn't bring it back, so...it happened."  Ryoushi
looked as if he was about to cry.  "Father's death affected Konatsu
somehow.  I'm not sure how or why it happened, but suddenly my gruff,
strong, powerful twin brother had become weak and emotional, like women
sometimes are, you know?"  He looked apologetically at Ukyou, a gaze saying
that he meant no offense by the statement.  Ukyou sniffed disdainfully
anyway.  
    "That's not the horrible part.  When Mother told us how business was
failing, Konatsu...volunteered himself...to help get more business.  He
always had kind of a pretty face, you know, and he was thin and lithe,
almost like a woman, without the curves.  Next day came, and I discovered
to my horror that my twin brother was wearing a skirt, makeup, and had his
long hair unbound.  If I hadn't known him for my brother, I would have seen
a very pretty girl in his place. Working as a waitress, he managed to bring
back the business - people apparently thought he was a very attractive
'girl,' and you know how that helps a place out.  Even at night, after the
resturaunt had closed, when I tried to bring back my old brother, he wasn't
in there.  It was like he had been replaced by a sister, and I gradually
grew to accept this fact, and live with it.  So we were once again in the
black, until disaster once again reared it's ugly head, in the form of a
traveling party intent on filling their stomachs.
    "It was a group of four.  A middle aged guy, two young men, and a girl.
 They came in one day, ordered some food...like normal people.  Then this
girl followed them, barking some nonsense about her stolen love, or
something.  Actually," he looked thoughtful, "I think her 'love' had the
same name as you do, Ukyou, but I assume it was a man, so..."  He shrugged
and went on.  "She was ranting to the group to return her lost love to her,
and the two young men laughed, provoking a fight that got completely out of
control and wrecked the whole building.  Holes in whatever remained of the
walls, tables reduced to splinters, all the customers scared off - it was
pretty bad..."
    The story was disturbing, but not nearly as much as were the sudden
rush of memories that were coming back to Ryoga - things that happened
before they had left for China, of a fight at a resturaunt in Kyoto...

[Flashback.  Kyoto, Japan.  Ryoga's memories.]

    The resturaunt was a pleasant one.  Fairly plain, but nicely taken care
of nonetheless, and it was certainly well-populated, with a friendly
chatter going around the room as people talked and ate at the same time at
scattered table throughout the room, and occasionally a comment went up
about the exceptional quality of the food, but much more common were the
comments about the exceptional quality of the service.
    Or more specifically, the waitress.
    She was quite a beauty.  It was hard to determine her age - at first
glance, she appeared to be well into high school, but at closer gazing,
perhaps more at the start of high school.  Her face was extremely cute, and
she had a beautiful smile, though she was too young in appearance to be
much older than fifteen or so.  Still, even amongst the older patrons of
the place, she seemed to be given the benefit of many male eyes throughout
the resturaunt, all to which she responded with a slight blush and,
occasionally, a playful wink.
    Most of the folk around the room were in pairs - couples, perhaps, but
there was one group of four sitting at a large table in the corner.  There
was two young men and an older man, along with a young, pretty girl.  All
of them - even the girl - seemed to be noticibly lacking in manners, eating
noisily and making loud, rude remarks and jokes at each other.  The older
man, a middle aged fellow, was drinking from a bottle of beer and grinning,
and the younger two were devouring some chicken legs with a great deal of
pomp and loud chewing - quite disgusting, actually - and the girl was no
better, tossing cut up chunks of beef into the air and catching them in her
mouth.  Usually, anyway, when one of the young men didn't snatch it out of
the air first.
    But, through the general din in the room, the other patrons were able
to ignore them and lead ordinary conversations.  What they -weren't- able
to ignore is when a young, brown-haired girl wearing a school dress smashed
through one of the walls, a huge battle axe in her hands.
    "Here you are, at last!"  She roared, fuming as she bounded towards the
table where the noisy group of four was seated at, lashing out with her
deadly weapon as the four of them jumped to various sides of the
resturaunt, the large axe's razor sharp blade splitting the hard oak table
cleanly in two pieces, both of which clattered to the floor noisily.
    "So," the girl snarled, gripping the axe with a firm, sure grasp.  "At
last I've found you, evil ones."
    "Evil ones?"  One of the young men, this one wearing a orange and green
traveling outfit and a bandanna, asked, cocking an eyebrow questioningly.
"We aren't-"
    "Silence!"  The girl raged, charging again.  The brown-haired girl from
the group stepped in front of her and smashed a long bo staff against the
furious girl's axe haft, locking her weapon with her own.  
    "Why do you do this to me?"  The girl with the axe growled.
"Ukyou-san, why do you block my path?  I am here to free you from these
fools that have taken you from me!"
    "Tsubasa," the other girl, Ukyou, said, gritting her teeth, "what the
hell are you doing here?  I thought I made it clear to you to back off."
    Tsubasa's eyes opened wide in shock.  "N-no," she stuttered, staggering
backwards in surprise and hurt.  "You can't mean that, Ukyou-san.  You
actually...want to be with them?"
    The boy with the bandanna stepped in, scowling.  "Who are you, anyway?"
 He demanded.  "Put that axe down.  You could have killed us back there,
you know."
    "Quiet!"  Tsubasa turned on the bandannaed boy, her fury returning.
"You stole Ukyou-san from me!"  She shouted, furious as she once again
charged, only to have the axe parried by a heavy umbrella that the
bandannaed boy was holding in his right hand.
    "So you want to fight, do you?"  He grinned.  "My name is Ryoga Hibiki,
and I accept your challenge."
    "Then so be it," Tsubasa snarled in a deadly voice, swinging her weapon
with surprising swiftness at Ryoga, who ducked under the wild slash,
returning the attack with a roundhouse that smacked hard against her ribs,
sending her stumbling back into a table, knocking it over and spilling the
plates that were on it all over the ground, breaking them into tiny shards.  
    By this time, most of the customers had the good sense to scram.
    "You're crazy!"  The other boy, a ponytailed young man, shouted,
charging the girl as she stood back up, brandishing her weapon
threateningly.  "Put that axe down before you kill someone!"
    "That was the intention," Tsubasa sneered, slashing with vicious
accuracy at the ponytailed boy, which he barely managed to flip out of the
way of.  She began to attack again, only to be met with a swipe on her side
by Ryoga's heavy umbrella, sending her reeling with pain back into the
wall, where she landed in a heap.
    "Pathetic," the ponytailed boy stated with a snort.  "Is that it?"
    Tsubasa laughed.  And laughed some more.  She stood up, her eyes
blazing with fury.  "Come now," she taunted, smirking.  "Can't you fight
better than that?"  In the blink of an eye, she was gliding swiftly over to
Ryoga, lashing out with her axe, a powerful strike which Ryoga only
partially parried with his own weapon, the steel of the blade slicing into
his right shoulder.  It was painful, but not debilitating or enough to put
Ryoga out of the fight.  
    The ponytailed boy launched an attack at the girl's back, to which her
response was to spin around and meet his foot with the top part of her axe.
 It was unbladed, so it didn't hurt the boy's foot too much, but then she
suddenly switched her momentum and launched the surprised boy into Ryoga,
knocking them both into the counter, which split under the force of the blow.
    "This is insane," Ryoga gasped, staggering back to his feet as a young,
dark haired man rushed out of the back room.  The new arrival looked with
alarm at the collapsed figure of the pretty waitress, and he began to boil
with fury.
    The older man, who had been acting merely as an observer, nodded to the
three others in his group.  "I agree, Ryoga.  Let's get out of here before
we get in trouble for all of this."
    The dark haired young man began to demand that they pay for the
damages, but before he could speak, the group of four had rushed out of the
resturaunt, with Tsubasa raging and chasing after them, screaming curses at
the top of her lungs the whole way.
    
[Present.  Furinkan High School, Japan]

    "...after the fight ended and the group of four had ran out on me,"
Ryoushi growled, "I managed to wake up Konatsu, to my infinite relief.
When we told Mother what had happened, she broke out in tears - we knew
why.  The resturaunt was gone.  We were going to go hungry.
    "Mother said it was okay, though.  She had enough money to rebuild the
resturaunt within a month, but not enough to take care of two boys while
doing so.  So Konatsu swore revenge on the group of four - or, more
specifically, the 'Ryoga' boy, the one who he claimed was responsible - and
left the following day, vowing not to return until Ryoga was dead and
brought to justice."  Ryoushi sighed regretfully.  "While I was angry at
the destruction, I didn't want to kill anyone over it.  I wanted to just
let it go, and start over.  But Konatsu left the next day," his voice
became bitter, "and he hasn't returned since!"
    Ryoushi turned a fiery gaze to Ryoga.  "You're the Ryoga from back
then, aren't you?"
    Ryoga nodded wordlessly.  "I...I never thought that we...had caused so
much destruction."  He hung his head.  "I'm...sorry."
    Ryoushi sighed.  "Don't worry about that part of it.  Mother got it
fixed up fine, and she's got enough business to hire help and allow me to
go to school.  But -where is my brother, dammit?-"  He bellowed.  "Even in
his screwed up state, I never wanted to see him gone like this!  Tell me
where he is, Hibiki!"
    "I have no idea," Ryoga said in an apologetic tone.  "I remember what
the waitress from the resturaunt looked like - and that was apparently your
brother - but I haven't seen him since then."
    "You lie," Ryoushi seethed, cracking his knuckles.
    Ukyou put a gentle hand on his shoulder.  "Why would he lie?"
    "To save his fool neck from what I'm about to do to him," the enraged
Ryoushi growled.
    "Ryoushi," Ukyou stated patiently, "Ryo-chan can beat you; that's what
you said.  Why would you want to fight him?"
    Surprisingly, Ryoushi didn't take offense at this.  "I know," he
grunted, letting his emotions cool off.  "It's just...well, I want to get
Konatsu back, that's all.  Even if he is more like my sister than my brother."
    Ryoga nodded.  "I know what it's like.  I never really had a family
when I was younger myself."  
    "Y-you lost your parents, then?"
    "Lost."  Ryoga gave a cynical, somewhat bitter laugh.  "Yeah, I guess
you could put it like that."
    "I see."  Ryoushi sighed.  "I guess you're no stranger to what I'm
going through now, then.  And the worst part is knowing that he's probably
alive, out there on some idiot, pointless quest that doesn't need to be
completed any longer."  He paused.  "I just hope I can see him again soon.
And maybe," he almost grinned, "his mind's how it's supposed to be now."
    Ryoga hoped that Ryoushi's brother's mind was back to normal, too.
Maybe something good can come out of this, he mused wryly, shouldering his
pack.  At least, I sure hope so.

    Ryoushi, as it turned out, had nothing better to do that afternoon, so
he had agreed to Ryoga's friendly invitation to come see where they were
staying.  Ukyou had frowned a bit at this - the Tendo household,
considering one of the rooms was a disaster area, and the bathroom above it
had no floor, wasn't exactly the best place to be visiting just now - but
hadn't really made any objections.
    After all, for as long as they were going to stay in Nerima, it made
sense to make some friends, and Ryoushi seemed like a decent, honest sort.
Besides that, Ryoga and Ukyou both felt that owed him something for
screwing up his life from those years before.  
    Ryoga was fairly quiet as he walked alongside Ukyou and Ryoushi in the
schoolyard, listening to them talk of inconsequential things.  It wasn't
unusual for Ryoga to be quiet, but today he seemed more...sullen, more
apprehensive than usual.
    The feeling is still there, he noted, annoyed.  He had figured that the
encounter with Ryoushi had been what the feeling had been preparing him
for, but apparently it was something else.  But what else could there be?
Ryoga put on a thoughtful expression, sincerely hoping that they hadn't
inadvertantly screwed with anyone else's life during their trip to China.
    Had they?
    Before Ryoga could start to ponder this, there was a loud cry
from...above him?
    "Ryoga Hibiki, prepare to die!"
    Ryoga blinked, looking up at the source of the voice.  It looked to be
a girl of medium height with long brown hair tied into a ponytail, and
appeared to be carrying a battle axe.  He easily moved his body out of the
way of the overhand axe slash as it buried itself deep into the ground,
splitting the earth a good three meters in front of it, leaving a gaping
crack behind.  That was pretty impressive for the girl's slender arms.  
    He looked more carefully at her as she landed lightly on her feet,
pulling the massive battle axe out of the hard dirt with a simple flick of
her wrist.  She was wearing a fairly baggy, long-sleeved traveling tunic of
a nondescrepit brown that was belted at the waist and fell a little below
mid-thigh on her, tight black leggings, and a pair of sturdy-looking
leather boots.
    And this was definitely the source of Ryoga apprehension.
    "So," another voice, lighter pitched than normal male voices that Ryoga
was used to, but definitely male nonetheless, "the hunter finds the prey at
last."  Ryoga swept his gaze over to the owner of the voice.
    The boy was slender, with leanly muscled arms and long, raven black
hair that fell down past his shoulders.  He was dressed in a black ninja
suit, complete with a net and soft black shoes, rather than tabi boots, and
had a large traveling pack strapped to his back, which appeared to be
stuffed full, presumably of survival gear.  His face was extremely
handsome, and somewhat effeminate in appearance, with high, slender
cheekbones and wide brown eyes.  The eyes, right now, were serving to make
him look very...dangerous.  Yes, that was the word.  His eyes didn't blaze
with anger like those of the girl with the axe, but rather, burned with a
sort of lust, almost obsessive in appearance.
    He looked behind him at the girl with the axe, and something clicked in
his head.  Tsubasa.  The girl from Kyoto.  She was back - but what did she
want in the first place?  It had sounded like she wanted Ukyou, but that
couldn't be right...
    "Who are you?"  Ryoga asked, eyeing them both nervously, watching for
the slightest movement that would signal an attack.  He didn't recognize
the ninja boy, but if that -was- Tsubasa, she could move a lot damned
faster with that huge battle axe than one would have expected from a
slender-armed girl like her.
    Ukyou slapped her forehead.  "Oh great," she muttered sourly.  "I
didn't think anyone would follow us all the way here."
    Tsubasa grinned wryly, a grin that had a sort of bloodthirsty edge to
it.  "Don't worry, Ukyou," she stated in an ice-edged voice, "I'm not here
to try to win you."
    "Right," Ukyou stated, a skeptical look on her face.  "So why're you
trying to kill Ryo-chan there for, huh?"
    "She probably wants to finish the fight from before," Ryoga said,
sighing as he took up a fighting stance.  "Well, let's get this over with."
    Tsubasa turned her gaze to Ryoga, her slightly crazed eyes burning with
hatred.  "'Finish the fight?'"  She mimicked, scowling.  "I don't want to
finish the fight!  This-" she stated, bounding towards Ryoga and swinging
her axe swiftly "-is -revenge-!"
    Ryoga blinked as he pulled his umbrella off from its holder and smashed
aside the attack without too much trouble.  "Revenge?"  He asked her
curiously.  "For what?  I thought you said you didn't care about Ukyou."
    Tsubasa gave a harsh laugh, making the small crowd that had gathered
around to watch the fight begin to back away nervously.  "Do you know what
we've been through, Ryoga Hibiki?  Do you know what has happened, chasing
after you through China?"
    "Whatever it was, it wasn't bad enough," Ukyou grumbled.  Luckily for
her health, Tsubasa didn't hear her.
    Tsubasa smirked bitterly, hefting her axe again.  "You have no idea,
damn you, Ryoga.  No bloody idea!"  She bellowed, her arm suddenly lurching
forward, launching the battle axe spinning towards Ryoga, who looked
startled, then jumped to the side, narrowly missing being slashed in the
abdomen by the axe-gone-buzzsaw.  Several of the onlookers screamed as they
dove out of the way, also barely escaping the axe's deadly sharp blade as
it hooked around and returned to Tsubasa's outstretched hand like a boomerang.
    The young man dressed in the ninja outfit was meanwhile calmly removing
his backpack, and he kneeled to open it, pulling out what appeared to be a
flask of water.
    Ryoushi, who had been silent through the excitement so far, suddenly
took on a look of disbelief.  "K-Konatsu?  Brother, is that you?"  He
looked, wide-eyed, at the other young man, who looked expressionlessly back
at him.
    "Ryoushi," the other boy acknowledged him, standing back up, a flask of
water in his right hand.  "It's been awhile, brother mine.  I have returned
to complete my quest; to extract my revenge upon the one who destroyed our
livelihood."
    "No!"  Ryoushi bellowed loudly enough so that everyone turned towards
him, even the enraged Tsubasa, who was about to launch an attack at Ryoga.
"Konatsu, there's no need anymore...Mother fixed up the place, and she's
doing fine.  She even could send me off to school, see?  There's no need
anymore," he repeated.
    "No need?"  Konatsu asked in a curious tone.  "No need."  He repeated,
his eyes gaining a slightly wild look to them.  "No need, you say," he said
again, chuckling in mirth.  "T-that's funny, you know, Ryoushi.  No need,"
he stated, laughing out loud.
    "Konatsu," Ryoushi said, trying to calm his brother down.  He placed a
hand on his twin's shoulder.  "We've...made amends.  It's okay now, there's
no need to take revenge."  
    "-You- made amends," Konatsu grated harshly, his carefully moderated
voice from before changing into a deep, angry growl.  "How dare you?"  He
snarled.  "You sent me off on that damn quest, and then you go off and
-make amends-?"  He looked on the verge of attacking his brother, and
Ryoushi noticed this with a certain amount of apprehension, but he also
noticed Konatsu's voice change and style of dress - could it be that the
old Konatsu from long ago was back?  Had his fighting spirit returned?
    "I didn't send you off on that quest," Ryoushi said calmly.  "You chose
to go.  I tried to stop you, in fact."
    "What a bunch of bloody nonsense," Konatsu growled, his eyes burning.
"Ryoushi, do you have any idea what I've been through?  Any idea at all of
what I've been through, trying to take revenge against Ryoga?"  He hefted
the flask in his hand, smiling in a not completely sane manner.
    Before Ryoushi could ask what was in the flask, someone flew downwards
right in front of him, landing with a loud thump in the dirt.
    "This's what I get for exploring the roof," Tarou, who had just landed
rather painfully on his back, groaned.
    "He's still alive?"  Someone muttered from the crowd.
    "Must have a tough spine," came the response, also from somewhere in
the crowd.
    "Say," Tarou noted with interest, standing up and taking the flask from
a startled Konastu's grasp, and reading the label that was apparently
hand-written by Konatsu on the flask, "this doesn't say, 'Nyanniichuan,'
does it?"  He inquired, pointing to the label's Chinese symbols.
    "As a matter of fact," Konatsu snarled, snatching it back from Tarou.
"It does.  And since you seem to know what it does, you better bloody back
off before I toss the water in your face."  He smiled toothily at Ryoushi.
"Did you know that this tiny flask of water can ruin your life, brother mine?"
    Ryoushi blinked.  "In what way?"  He asked hesitantly.
    Ryoga was also looking on with interest.  "Nyanniichuan?"  He echoed
Tarou, then turned to Konatsu incredulously.  "You're carrying around
Nyanniichuan water?"
    "Of course," Konatsu grunted sourly.  "How did you think I intended to
take my revenge on you?  Just killing you wasn't going to be enough -
this's far more grand, and much more humiliating."
    Tarou grinned at Konatsu.  "I take it you know this from first-hand
experience?"
    Konatsu gnashed his teeth together.  "That's none of your damn
business," he snarled.
    "Enough talk!"  Tsubasa growled, hefting her axe.  "Konatsu may not
want to kill you, Hibiki, but I do!"  With that, she launched into a volley
of powerful strikes with her axe, with Ryoga stumbling backwards, barely
parrying all of them.
    Ryoga swallowed, sweat running down his face as he leaped over an axe
swing that was extended a trifle too far, flipping over his opponent and
smashing his umbrella into her back with a powerful sideways slash.
Tsubasa let out a grunt of pain as the blow sent her reeling into the
nearby oak tree, where she landed, grit her teeth, and jumped back to her
feet.
    Dammit, Ryoga thought, frustrated.  That umbrella blow should have been
far strong enough to put her out of action.  What kind of monster stamina
does this girl have, anyway?
    Tsubasa glided easily towards Ryoga, and barely giving him time to
react, let loose a fury of quick, erratic slashes with her battle axe,
Ryoga desperately parrying and dodging.  How does she move so damn fast?
Ryoga wondered, snarling slightly.  That axe has to be heavy as hell, and
she's swinging it like a feather!
    Ryoga suddenly lurched forward, sending his knee into Tsubasa's stomach
as she staggered backwards, knocking away Ryoga's umbrella with the flat of
her axe blade.
    "You've improved since last time," Tsubasa growled, giving a
bloodthirsty grin.  "Looks like I'll have to work a bit harder, doesn't
it?"  She gave a savage laugh, swinging her axe in a powerful downward arc
that landed about a meter in front of Ryoga.
    Ryoga blinked, wondering what that was for, then heard a vague rumbling
from below.  "What the...?"  He looked under his feet in amazement as the
ground split asunder, Ryoga's last second leap to the side barely letting
him avoid the chasm.
    "Tsubasa!"  Konatsu bellowed angrily.  "That's enough!  We're here to
take revenge against Hibiki, not use the damn special techniques to cause
mass destruction!"
    Tsubasa gave Konatsu a baleful glare, but reluctantly lowered her axe,
snorting.  "You're right," she grunted, pulling a flask out from the
traveling pack, with the same Chinese lettering on the front as the other.  
    Tarou was watching curiously, leaning nonchalantly against the oak
tree.  "What do you intend to do, anyway?"  He asked, gazing at the flask
of water.  "Pour Nyanniichuan water on him?"
    "You figured that out remarkably quick," Konatsu sneered with a hint of
a smirk.  "So stay out of the damn way or I'll splash you, too."  Several
murmurs came out from the crowd, all speculating about what the water might
do.  Some, who could speak Chinese, asked what 'spring of drowned girl' meant.
    Tarou laughed loudly.  "Splash me?  I doubt it would make any difference."
    Konatsu's wide, burning eyes narrowed, the fire blazing in their depths
seeming all the more fierce.  "Wouldn't make a difference?"  He repeated, a
sudden understand coming into his tone, and he gave a long, wicked laugh.
"You mean you've already been splashed once?"
    Tarou scowled slightly.  "Perhaps."
    "Do you know what a second splash does from the same spring?"
    "Wha...?"  Tarou asked, furrowing his brow slightly.  "You don't mean
that it..."
    Konatsu laughed.  "That's correct," he said in a mocking tone.  "Locks
you into the form.  Permanently.  After that's happened, there isn't any
way out."
    "You're lying," Tarou grunted, his tone both curious and angry at the
same time.  "There's no way you could know that, because you obviously
aren't stuck yourself."
    "So, you think I lie?"  Konatsu gave a harsh laugh.  "Are you willing
to take the chance of truth residing in my words?"
    Tsubasa scowled.  "You understand," she stated bluntly, looking
straight into Tarou's eyes, "that if you get in the way, you -will- be
splashed.  So stay out of the way!"
    Tarou smirked in a decidedly evil manner.  "Oh, a threat.  However,
I've no intention of getting splashed, or letting Ryoga get splashed with
that water."
    Ukyou nodded, scowling.  "Do you two honestly think that you could beat
us in combat?"
    "I can take care of myself," Ryoga stated, annoyed.
    A few voices started to float out from the assembled crowd.  "You think
they're going to fight, or just talk all day long?"  "Try all day and all
night.  Feh!"  "That Hibiki guy's going to beat the tar out of the chick
with the axe."  "Yeah, right!"  "No kidding, that girl'll make mincemeat
out of Hibiki!"  "How about the ninja guy?"  "Hah.  He looks weak as a
girl."  "That sounded sexist."  "It was."
    Konatsu's slightly crazed eyes slitted, burning with anger.  "Weak as a
girl?"  He roared furiously.  "Who said that?  Show your face, coward!"
    A young man with black hair tied back into a braided pigtail stepped
out from the crowd, grinning.
    "Ranma," Ukyou grunted sourly to Ryoga, instantly recognizing the
pigtailed boy.  "He's going to get himself killed."
    Ryoga shook his head.  "Ranma can handle himself."
    Ukyou frowned.  "Yeah, but we don't know how good that Konatsu guy is.
And Ranma's used to having you, me and Genma backing him up in his fights.
He's okay, one-on-one, but..."
    "Well, we're about to get a demonstration, I think."
    "You talk big, Konatsu," Ranma remarked, smirking.  "But there ain't no
way that you can beat Ryoga or anyone else here."
    Konatsu laughed scornfully.  "Is that a challenge, pigtail boy?"
    "I don't like picking on the weak," Ranma stated loftily, still with a
smirk on his face.
    "Oh?"  The boy in ninja garb snorted, kicking the dusty dirt with his
foot up into Ranma's face.  "Then I challenge you.  You have no choice but
to accept."
    Ranma coughed, angrily wiping the dirt from his face.  "You're dead,"
he said in an angry tone.
    "Wrong.  And when I win, you're going to be a girl."  Several murmurs
came out from the crowd at this.  "A girl?"  "I don't think he was speaking
in a literal sense..."  "What if he was?"  "Uh...well, he does have that
sword...you don't think he'd..."  "That's disgusting."  "Yeah, I know, but
still..."    
    Before Ranma could retort, Konatsu had ripped his sharp-edged katana
from its scabbard on his back and charged the pigtailed boy, who grinned
and jumped backwards, easily avoiding the slashes and retaliating with a
swift side kick that smashed his opponent back several feet, gasping to
regain his breath.
    "Feh."  Ranma flipped his pigtail over one shoulder.  "Pathetic."
    Konatsu closed his eyes.  "Looks like Tsubasa was correct with
intentions after all."  His eyes flared open.  "The time for holding back
is gone.  Prepare yourself."
    "Yeah," Ranma returned, his voice laced with sarcasm.  "Like you
weren't serious before, right?"
    Konatsu didn't respond, instead pulling his arms to his chest and
inhaling deeply.  "Shishi..."  he thrust his arms out in front of him,
"...houkoudan!"  Ranma could only stare in startlement as a burning yellow
energy burst erupted from Konatsu's outstretched hands, smashing hard into
his chest and knocking him some fifty feet backwards into the stone wall
that stretched around the schoolyard, breaking hard through the stone and
landing in a pile of rubble.
    Ranma snarled in pain as he clambered back to his feet with a great
deal of effort.  "Nice trick," he spat, panting slightly as he looked up
with burning eyes at Konatsu.  "But if you think you can beat me with a
little joke of a technique like that, you're wrong."
    "Konatsu!"  Ryoushi growled.  "That's enough!  I told you that-"
    "Silence!"  Konatsu snarled angrily, turning his fiery gaze towards his
twin brother.  "This is a duel of honor.  I cannot let his insults that he
delivered simply rest with me."
    While Konatsu was talking, Ranma had charged and attacked, lashing out
with a series of quick moves which Konatsu glowered and easily parried with
the flat of his katana, waiting for Ranma to finish the combination, then
kicking him backwards forcefully so he smashed into the wall again, this
time falling backwards against some of the rubble from Konatsu's energy
blast and landing in a heap against the blocks.
    "Attacking while my back is turned?"  Konatsu questioned emotionlessly,
giving a humorless smile that never touched his eyes.  "Truly, you are a
dishonorable fighter.  Perhaps you need to be taught a lesson, pigtail boy."
    Ryoga swallowed, looking out of the corner of his eye at Ukyou, an
unspoken question in his gaze.  Ukyou's eyes had a determined set to them,
but otherwise her face remained impassive and emotionless.  
    What do we do?  Ryoga wondered, grinding his teeth together in
frustration.  Ranma might want us to help him, but then, he might get mad
at us for interfering in a duel of honor...
    "Very interesting," Tarou mused to himself.  He didn't seem
particularly concerned with the fact that Ranma was facing the prospect of
losing his battle - and possibly his manhood - but rather seemed to be
evaluating Konatsu's style with a critical, sharply appraising eye.   "To
achieve a chi blast of such power..."
    "Damn it, Konatsu!"  Ryoushi stated angrily.  "You're going to kill the
kid.  Just let it lie, brother!"
    "Stay out of this," Ranma grunted sourly, standing back up and facing
Konatsu, an unbridled fury burning in his blue-grey eyes.  "Now you're
going to get it, Konatsu."
    Konatsu gave another unamused smile, cold and chilling.  "We'll see
about that."  
    Without any more words, Ranma bounded at Konatsu and suddenly
disappeared from view.  Konatsu's eyes flared.  "Wha...?"  He growled,
looking around, confused, when Ranma appeared above him, grinning, and
executed a drop kick that Konatsu deflected with the flat of his katana,
throwing his pigtailed opponent to the side.  
    Before Ranma could react, Konatsu was on him, lashing out with quick,
swiftly flowing movements with his sharp-edged sword, occasionally landing
a glancing hit on him, opening tiny wounds all over him that trickled
blood.  Konatsu smiled as he continued his dance-like form, his steel blade
mercilessly opening small, shallow wounds all over Ranma, who desperately
dodged from side to side, never able to retaliate due to Konatsu's near
perfect sword form.
    Ranma tripped.
    Konatsu's katana slashed soundlessly through the air towards his chest.
    And Ryoushi delivered a quick side kick that knocked the attack to the
side, sending Konatsu staggering, off-balance, to Ranma's right, rolling
and bouncing back to his feet, his eyes burning with an icy fury.
    "I made it very clear for you not to step in, my brother," he stated
coldly, his right hand holding the katana in a white-knuckled grip.  "And
now, you're going to get what's coming to you."
    "I couldn't just let you kill him!"  Ryoushi protested.  "You can't
just take people's lives at will, Konatsu."  His voice turned coldly angry.
 "Seems you have a great deal to learn about morals."
    Konatsu's eyes narrowed to slits.  "And you have a great deal to learn
about honor.  The loser dies.  Always."
    "So what now?"  Ryoushi asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"You're going to kill me, I assume, for 'interfering?'"  His voice was calm
and composed, but drops of sweat that trickled down his forehead betrayed
his true nervousness.
    Konatsu seemed to notice this as well, and smiled, a chilly, unamused
smile tinged with contempt.  "No."
    Ryoushi raised an eyebrow.  "Oh, you're not?"
    "That is correct, I'm not," Konatsu stated in a dry voice.  "Even I,
hardened warrior that I am, will not slay my own brother."
    "Then what do you intend to do?"
    The crowd of people watching, which was getting thicker with teenagers
from the school by the minute, had started to buzz with gossip.  "Hardened
warrior?"  "Ha, talk about conceit."  "I don't know, he came pretty close
to killing that guy with the pigtail, if you ask me..."  "What do you think
he's going to do now?"  
    No one had an answer to that, and the crowd fell silent.
    Ranma, who was back on his feet, smirked.  "Planning to attack your
brother, ninja boy?"
    "Not very perceptive, is he?"  Tarou, who was now standing next to
Ryoga, murmured.  Ryoga looked surprised at how soundlessly Tarou had
managed to appear next to him, and nodded, sighing.
    "Should we...?"  Ryoga mumbled.  
    Tarou shook his head.  "This is between the two of them.  We need to
follow the code of honor unless they break it," he stated, gesturing to
Tsubasa.  "If the axe-girl there attacks, then we can, too.  Until she
does, though, it would be dishonorable to join the fight on Ranma's side."
    Ukyou nodded towards Ryoga; she had a great respect for honor and duels
of honor, and always abided by the rules - not that she didn't try to bend
them a little, but she never went outside the code of honor unless there
was some great necessity to do so.
    "Since when were -you- such an honor-tied man, Tarou?"  Ryoga inquired
of his companion quizically.
    Tarou looked offended.  "Come now," he said in a perhaps slightly
over-somber tone, "I don't break the code unless I absolutely have to, Ryoga."
    Ryoga smirked knowingly.  "You mean you don't break the code unless it
messes with whatever you're currently doing."
    Tarou shot him a dour glare, but didn't respond as he turned his
attentions back to Konatsu.
    "Surely," Ryoushi stated, scowling, "you have not sunk so low that you
will attack an unarmed man.  But then, you seemed to have no problems
attacking the pigtailed boy over there."
    "Feh."  Konatsu snorted.  "He chooses to fight without weapons.  Would
you combat me with a sword?"  He smiled icily again, fingering the hilt of
his sword and flipping it over in his hand so that he held it by the steel
blade.  "So be it, then."  He offered his katana, handle first, towards his
brother, who accepted it, looking at Konatsu suspiciously.
    "What are you doing?"  Ryoushi demanded apprehensively, holding the
katana in a tight, nervous grip.
    "Oh, but you mean that you've not figured it out yet?"  Konatsu
laughed.  "Follow me, brother," he stated, grinning in a slightly
bloodthirsty manner.
    Ryoushi scowled.  "I don't want to fight you, damn it, Konatsu!"
    "You accepted the weapon, and you'll agree to fight me, or I'll murder
the pigtailed kid over there."  Konatsu smirked.  "You -were- interested in
saving his life, were you not?"
    "Hey," Ranma broke in, looking annoyed but not really protesting very
loudly, "I can take care of myself."
    Konatsu ignored him, awaiting his brother's answer with an intense
gleam in his brown eyes.
    "Fine," Ryoushi agreed grudgingly, hefting the katana.  "I'll follow
your lead, brother."
    "Good."  
    With that, Konatsu bounded high into the air, bouncing off one of the
high oak tree branches and landing on the school's roof, over three stories
up.  Ryoushi took on a determined look as he followed Konatsu's lead,
jumping up the great height with a little difficulty, but nothing of note.
Tsubasa stared at the spot where they disappeared for a moment,
considering, then shook her head and grumbled something under her breath.
    Ukyou watched them both disappear onto the school's solid roof out of
sight, frowning.  "I don't like this," she grunted.  "I don't like this at
all."
    Tarou nodded.  "Neither do I, but I think the two of them need to
settle their 'family business,' or it will eat away at them forever."
    Ukyou sighed.  "You're probably right..."  She shook her head.  "Still,
I wish there was something I could do to help."
    Ryoga was glaring at Ranma.  "How about we beat the snot out of Saotome
here for endangering the bystanders, hm?"
    "Eh?"  Ranma stammered, blinking.  "E-endangering bystanders...?  How?"
    Ryoga gripped the front of his shirt.  "We can't interfere with Ryoushi
and Konatsu because they need to solve their business together.  But it's
-your- fault that Ryoushi's risking his neck in the first place."
    Ranma's eyes widened in fear as he saw that Ukyou, Tarou, and Ryoga
standing around him in a triangle, all either cracking their knuckles or
smirking evilly, in Tarou's case.  Tsubasa stood off to one side, leaning
against the oak tree and watching with amusement at what was about to happen.
    "N-now wait a second," Ranma stuttered, "I was just trying to..."  His
protest was cut off by his three 'friends' charging and bellowing battle
cries as they pummeled him with spatulas, umbrellas, and foreknuckle fists.
    "Damn you, Konatsu!"  He managed to shout out as he desperately ran and
jumped around the schoolyard, the crowd watching and cheering as the three
martial artists pursued him, grinning evilly.  "This is all -your- fault!"
    
    "We're alone now," Ryoushi grated as he faced off against his brother
on the flat, cemented roof, the katana held in a relaxed grip in front of him.
    "That we are," his brother agreed.  "Then you're ready to begin?  I
would never attack without my opponent being ready."  He smiled dryly.
    "What is the meaning of this?"  Ryoushi growled angrily.  "Why do you
insist on fighting me?  I have no wish to combat you."
    "You don't have a choice."
    "I can see that," he grunted.  "But at least give me the 'honor' of
making sense out of all this chatter about the flask of water." 
    Konatsu sighed, a strangely perceptive look coming into his wide brown
eyes as he pulled out a sharp-bladed knife and slashed the top off of the
small leather flask, revealing that it was merely half-full with clear
water.  He stared into his reflection in the water as the leather top
landed in the dirt, kicking up a small bit of dry dust.  
    "Mirror images," he murmured, his voice distant and tinged with
sadness.  "Yes, I am but half a mirror image of what I was before, consumed
by the waters of the spring."
    Ryoushi seemed confused.  "What are you talking about, Konatsu?"
    Konatsu looked up at him and chuckled wryly.  "Do you remember...what I
was before I left?"
    His brother suddenly looked slightly embarrassed.  "Er...if you mean
the...uh...method of clothing," he danced around the issue lightly,
"it's...forgivable.  I can understand; father's death probably affected you
so that-"
    "No," Konatsu cut him off harshly.  "I was not mentally ill.  I did it
to bring in customers to the resturaunt, nothing more."
    Ryoushi nodded.  "Y-yes, of course."  He bit his lip, trying to keep
from saying something stupid.  "I...er, never really thought that you did
that because you -enjoyed- it or anything...truth is, I just wanted you
to...be back to normal, you know."  He paused, then grinned.  "And here you
are; you're normal again!  So can't we just forget any of this ever
happened?  You could-"
    Konatsu's bitter laugh cut him off again.  "I don't think you
understand what I am saying.  Tell me, do you understand any Chinese?"
    Ryoushi frowned.  "A little.  I'm taking a class on it, why?"
    "Does the term 'Nyanniichuan' mean anything to you, my brother?"
    "'Spring of drowned girl?'"  Ryoushi knotted his brows.  "Easy enough
to translate.  What's it mean, though?"
    "Perhaps you would like to find out?"
    "How?"
    "Would you like a demonstration done on yourself?"
    Ryoushi was getting annoyed.  "Demonstration of -what-, Konatsu?  What
are you talking about?"
    "Just because I dressed like that," Konatsu grated, "doesn't mean that
I wanted to be as I dressed.  Remember that, Ryoushi, brother.  I -never-
wished to be like that."
    Ryoushi sighed.  "Be a girl, you mean?"  He inquired, exasperated at
Konatsu dodging the question.
    Konatsu nodded, anger marring his features.  "Yes, a girl."  He looked
at his brother with a glint in his eyes, and laughed wryly.  "Wondering
what I'm speaking of, aren't you, brother?"  Without waiting for a
response, he went on.  "Oh, but don't worry, dear brother, you're going to
experience the effects first-hand, don't you know?"
    "Is this some elaborate way of challenging me?"  Ryoushi asked crossly,
holding out the katana in front of him and moving into a fighting stance.
"Because there's no need; I'm already prepared to fight."
    Konatsu gave Ryoushi an unreadable glance.  "Are you positive of that
brash assertion, brother?"  He questioned, an undeniable intensity to his
angry brown eyes.  "I wouldn't want you to make a decision that you'll end
up regretting, after all."
    Ryoushi smiled dryly, and for a second looked very much like his
pretty-faced brother.  "Regret?  Not unless you kill me or maim me, and I
have my doubts that you're so cold hearted as to do that to your twin
brother."
    "Not kill or maim," Konatsu admitted.  "I do have my code of honor,
after all, and you -are- my brother.  But should I win our fight, you will
become...how shall I put this?  Disfigured, let's say."
    Ryoushi shook his head.  "I have no idea what you speak of, Konatsu.
And I suppose I'll find out soon, should I lose."  He smiled.  "And if I
win, then how does it matter?"  His knuckles tightened on the hilt of the
katana.  "Shall we begin?"
    Konatsu returned the smile, a cruel expression on him that bespoke of
little mercy.  "That we shall," he stated tonelessly, pulling another
dagger out of his belt and brandishing them both in his hands.
    A drop of Ryoushi's sweat hit the ground.
    Konatsu vanished.
    Ryoushi gaped for a second then quickly regained his bearings in time
to bring up his katana and parry the twin dagger strike that he knew from
years of practicing with his twin brother was coming from above him.  The
metal weapons slammed into each other with a resounding clang, then Ryoushi
forced his arms to the side, throwing his brother to his left, where he
landed easily, then charged again, slashing smoothly with incredible speed
and grace with his two daggers, with Ryoushi stumbling backwards,
desperately warding off the quick blows with his katana.
    Konatsu ruthlessly continued the quick slashing attacks, pushing
forward on his brother, the smoothly flowing blades coming closer and
closer to finding an opening in Ryoushi's defense as he staggered
backwards, wildly slicing side to side with the sword, using years of
carefully honed reflexes to keep himself from being cut to pieces from his
brother's obviously superior weapon form.  
    The dagger whistled easily through the air, grazing Ryoushi's right
forearm and leaving a shallow cut, a small trickle of blood flowing down
his arm and he grimaced in pain.  Konatsu smiled, his eyes burning, as he
continued the attack with renewed intensity, the two daggers cutting
swiftly through the air as they continued to smash up against Ryoushi's
katana, and then hit his left arm.  And then a light wound to his abdomen.
And then a tiny slash on his forehead.  And then suddenly his thigh was
wounded and bleeding.  His right arm flowed freely with blood.  His chest
had an angry red gash down it.  
    And Konatsu continued the attack.
    Gasping, Ryoushi kneeled to the ground, looking with frustration and
anger down at his many bleeding areas, stubbornly holding back tears.  He
turned his eyes towards his brother, who held one of the sharp edged
daggers to his throat, his pretty face impassive as he looked back down at
him, his eyes hard and cold.
    "Do you yield?"  Konatsu asked in an icy, emotionless tone.
    Ryoushi ground his teeth together, staring defiantly up at Konatsu, who
held the dagger tighter to his throat, causing him to hold himself back
from yelping in alarm.  "I..."  he grated, knowing he had lost.  "I yield."
 He bowed his head as his brother released the knife, sighing in defeat.
    Konatsu put one of the daggers back into his belt, then walked over to
where the fight had began and picked up the leather flask of clear water,
with its top slashed neatly off.
    For some inexplicable reason, Ryoushi's mind was screaming at him to
flee, to stay the hell clear of that small leather flask of water.  He grit
his teeth and forced the thoughts down like a sour medicine; he had been
defeated, and Konatsu could claim victory in any way he wished.
    A few moments passed, Konatsu standing above his kneeling brother,
swirling the water slightly in its flask, looking down at him with
expressionless eyes.  Finally, Ryoushi couldn't stand it any longer.  
    "What?"  He demanded, his voice harsh and raw from the pain of the many
bleeding wounds that adorned his skin.  "What do you want from me, Konatsu?"
    Konatsu's expression never changed as he stared into the water, staring
at his reflexion.  Mirror images, he had said, Ryoushi recalled, narrowing
his eyes a bit.  What did he mean by that?
    His eyebrows twitching slightly, Konatsu nodded suddenly and
affirmatively, as if he had just made a decision, and moved his arm,
throwing the contents of the flask onto Ryoushi, drenching him surprisingly
thoroughly with it for such a small container.
    And where Ryoushi's thin, muscular, black-haired and brown-eyed form
had stood only a second earlier now stood a short, slender, red-haired and
green-eyed, and extremely beautiful young girl.
    "What was..."  Ryoushi trailed off, confused, at the sound of her own
voice.  She stared blankly down at her chest for a moment, which was
bulging with rather large attributes that weren't there only a moment
before, her eyes widening with alarm as she fearfully looked down into her
grey trousers.
    Ryoushi screamed.
-------------------------
Well, now...

That didn't turn out exactly how I had originally intended to, but I
suppose I have to let the characters 'write themselves' to a point, don't
I?  I wanted to get a little further along, but I felt that this chapter
was long enough as it stands, and I'll save the rest of the events that I
had originally wanted to include for chapter 4. :)

Note that the Konatsu in the manga doesn't have a last name, so I just
picked out Hasaki, which means literally 'edge of a blade.'  Ryoushi, his
brother, means 'hunter' - the significance of that name will become quite
apparent in the following chapters. :)

And, of course, I'd like C&C (cheers and compliments? ;) on my work at
guilds@mail.serve.com; anything but a flame I appreciate - and before you
tell me, yes, I know that Konatsu is acting different than he does in the
manga, but recall how different his life is here.  Same with Tarou; I
present him as a little more good-natured than he is as Takahashi makes
him, I think.  I know I'm being a little harsh on Akane's mean streak, but
there's a good reason for that, which will be revealed later.  

Let's see, what else?  Ah, Tsubasa.  Is he really a he or a she?  His
spewing about revenge against Ryoga should make that apparent, and his
initial appearance shows that he's still a lovable crossdresser. ;)  Why
the battle axe?  Well, I needed a weapon for Tsubasa, and the image of the
'kawaii schoolgirl' that Tsubasa dressed as in the original Ranma 1/2 with
a massive battle axe just cracked me up for some reason. :)  I think I
balanced the way he looks with his new brown-and-black outfit, which should
look decent with an axe, I suppose...  (By the way, that outfit is what
Ukyou was wearing in the 'Tendo Family Christmas Scramble' anime episode,
with a different colored shirt.)

I know I said that I was going to get chapter 1 of Brother and chapter 1 of
Song of the Lute out before I finished this, but I guess I just have the
most fun writing Mirror Images out of all the fanfics I've got going. :)

Oh yes, one more thing:  if you flame me, I shall ram your flame down your
throat and make you eat it for dinner.

Zai jian!