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"Autumn and Spring"
by Angus MacSpon

Based on "Ranma 1/2" created by Rumiko Takahashi.

C&C Welcome!

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Revision Introduction:
A fairly major rewrite of the last part of the chapter, which (I think)
substantially improves the introduction of the Quest part of the story.

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- 5 -

Ranma did not know how to react.  He simply had no idea.  He stood
there, staring at her, and there were no words in his head at all.

"It was eight years ago," Ukyou said in a low voice.  "Or was it nine?
January, February, March ... no, eight, I'm sure --"  She broke off, and
sighed.  "I'm babbling.  Sorry."

She put down the cloth she had been using to mop at her skirt, brushed
the hair out of her eyes, and started again.  "Eight years ago, I had a
heart attack.  A major one.  I'd had a couple of minor episodes before,
and I knew the symptoms.  I also knew that ... well, you've seen how
remote this house is.  I didn't have a chance of surviving long enough
for an ambulance to get here.

"And then ..."

She stood up, and began to walk restlessly around the room.  He
understood instinctively.  She was reliving the moment.  The shock of
sudden knowledge.  The fear.  And --

"I stood there, feeling the pain getting worse and worse and _worse_.  I
knew that in a minute or two it'd be all over.  And quite suddenly I
thought, 'When I was young I didn't have a bad heart.  I wish I was
young right now.'

"And I realised that I _could_ be."

She stood with her back to Ranma, her hands clasped behind her back, her
stance tense, rigid.  Caught in the memory of that day.

"Getting to the kitchen was one of the hardest things I've ever done.  I
thought I wasn't going to make it.  But I did.  And then I poured a
glass of water, and I tipped it over my head ...

"The change was incredibly painful.  Worse than anything I've ever felt.
I blacked out.  I thought I was dying ...

"And then I woke up.  Alive.  Young.  And I felt fine."

She fell silent.  Ranma said, "And you haven't changed back since then."

"I haven't dared.  I think -- I'm _afraid_ -- I'd die instantly."

"But ..." Ranma frowned.  "You're not sure?"

"No.  I've spoken to the Guide at Jyusenkyo.  He's never heard of a case
like this.  It's ... there's no way of telling, really.  Other than
trying it.  And I don't dare risk that."

"I'm sorry," he said softly.  "I wouldn't have -- I didn't know."

"How could you?"  She smiled, a little sadly.  "Fortunately, it's a lot
easier to avoid hot water than cold.  But still ... eight years,
Ran-chan.  I think that's some kind of record.  And I've had a number of
close calls."

"Like today."

With a snort, she said, "Like today.  That was one way of changing that
I _hadn't_ planned for.  The rest ... you wouldn't believe how many
sources of hot water I have to plan to avoid.  I take cold baths, of
course.  My clothes are all waterproof, and I wear gloves most of the
time.  I try not to go outside if it's sunny --"

"Huh?  I'd noticed that, but ... _why_?"

Ukyou laughed.  "All too easy to slip and fall, outside.  And if I
happen to fall in a puddle, and the water's been warmed just enough by
the sun ... well, maybe I'm overdoing it there.  But I don't take any
chances.  This house, now ... it was designed to withstand a hurricane,
an earthquake, or an avalanche.  'Expensive' was not the word.  And you
wouldn't _believe_ the plumbing system.  The builders thought I was
insane."

Ranma grinned.  "I can imagine.  But ..."  He turned serious.  "Do you
really think -- I mean, how long do you think you can keep it up?"

Suddenly Ukyou looked unutterably weary.  She said, "I know.  I'm only
prolonging the inevitable.  Sooner or later I'll be caught out, and ...
that's it."  She shrugged.  "But really, I don't have anything to lose,
do I?  'I'm living on borrowed time.  Every day I survive is a victory.'
That's what I keep telling myself."  She forced a smile.  "My plan is to
stave it off for long enough that there won't be any way to tell if I
died of a heart attack or old age."

Ranma did not speak for a few moments.  Then he said, "I hope you make
it."

"Eight years, Ran-chan.  Shooting for nine."

He laid a hand on her shoulder.  She covered it with her own.  They
stood that way for a time, and the silence seemed to gather around them.
At last Ranma could bear it no longer.  He spun and left the room,
almost at a run.  Not wanting her to see the tears in his eyes.

                **********

That evening, in an odd mood, he cooked okonomiyaki for the two of them.
Ukyou's eyebrows shot up when she saw it, but she made no comment at
first.  She ate slowly, her expression unreadable.  When at last she
finished, she frowned for some time, fussing with her napkin, before
finally admitting, "Not bad.  Not bad at all."

Ranma let out a breath he had not known he was holding.

She cocked an eye at him, and grinned.  "Was this supposed to be some
kind of hint?"

"No!" he said, too quickly.  Then, a little reluctantly: "Yes."

"Hmm."  Ukyou stood up and went through to the kitchen, where she deftly
scraped the dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher.  "All right,"
she said at last.  "I admit it.  I've taken it too far.  I've let my
curse rule my life to the extent that I hardly _have_ a life any more."

"You do have a good excuse," Ranma pointed out.  "Better than I ever
did."

"Well ... yes.  But even so.  I managed by myself for eight years.  I
shouldn't be forcing you to do all my cooking for me!  I'm sorry,
Ran-chan."

"Accepted," he said quietly.

"As for ... for the okonomiyaki..."  She was silent for some time.
"It's been a long time since I made it.  Three or four years, I think.
I hardly even think about it any more.  That's not who I am, now."  She
shot him a look.  "Don't ask me to go back to that life, Ranma.  I
won't.  It's over."

"You don't have to justify yourself to me," Ranma told her.

"Who else?"  But she was smiling.  "Tomorrow, _I'll_ make _you_ an
okonomiyaki.  And we'll see if I've lost it, ne?"

"Uhh --"

"You've got a full day to prepare your taste buds.  Better start now."

He studied her face, a little nervously, trying to see if she was joking
or not.  He couldn't tell.  But she was still smiling.  That had to be a
good sign, didn't it?

                **********

During the night, Ranma was awakened by the sound of a bell ringing.  He
sat up, shaking his head groggily.  It was a regular chiming sound,
repeated every few seconds.  He could not make out where it was coming
from.

He heard running feet.  A little alarmed, he ran to the doorway and
looked out, just in time to see Ukyou disappearing around a corner.  He
followed.  The steady ringing of the bell was everywhere, filling the
entire house.

A few seconds later, it cut off abruptly.  In the sudden silence that
followed, he could clearly hear Ukyou swearing.  Her voice was coming
from her work-room.

He looked in the doorway, and saw her sitting at her terminal, pounding
away at the keyboard with what seemed like unnecessary force.  Her
muttering cut off as she looked up and saw him.

"Oh, Ran-chan -- I'm sorry," she said.  She added something else, but he
was momentarily distracted by the sight of the rather scanty nightdress
she was wearing.  By the time he could pull his eyes away and pay
attention once more, she was looking at him expectantly, waiting for an
answer.

"What?" he said, somewhat foolishly.

She rolled her eyes.  "Go back to bed, Ran-chan.  I'm sorry.  It was an
alarm I set a ... a long time ago, to alert me when a computer search
finished.  I'd forgotten about it, that's all."

"Oh."  He would have liked to have asked more, but she gave him a stern
look, and he turned away obediently and went back to bed.

But he had difficulty falling asleep once more.  A troubling thought
kept returning to him:  how long ago had she set that alarm?  She hadn't
wanted to tell him for some reason.  And ... what could she have been
looking for?  Most computer searches finished in a second or two.  A few
minutes at the outside.  What kind of search could take so long that
she'd actually _forgotten_ setting up such a dramatic alarm?

What was she working on?

                **********

His concern increased the next day.  He got up at his regular time to
make breakfast, but Ukyou never showed up to eat it.  After waiting for
some time, he went looking for her.  He took a tray of food with him.
He knew where she'd be.

As he'd expected -- as he'd feared -- she was still in her work-room.
She'd put on a dressing-gown, but otherwise she did not seem to have
moved since the night before.  There were dark shadows under her eyes.

"Ucchan?" he said softly.  She did not seem to notice.  She had
abandoned her keyboard and was now working with VR gauntlets, her
movements swift and sure.  The terminal field was a maze of shifting
colour; he could not make head or tail of whatever she was working on.

"Ucchan," he said again.  This time she heard him.  She started, then
cursed as the sudden jerk caused the terminal image to wheel crazily.
She disengaged the gauntlets and looked up at him.

"Ran-chan?"  She saw the tray he was carrying.  "Is it morning already?"

"Well and truly," he told her.  "You need to eat."

"Oh," she said absently.  "Yes ..."  But her eyes were already shifting
back to the terminal.

With a sigh, he laid down the tray and left her in peace.  He heard her
slipping her gauntlets back on as he went out.  She had already
forgotten he had ever been there.

He checked on her again after his morning workout and removed the tray,
its contents untouched.  In the hours that followed, he tried to stay
within constant earshot of the work-room.  He feared that some kind of
explosion was coming.

He was right.  An hour or so after lunch (which again she did not touch)
he heard her weeping.  He ran in, rather frightened now.  She was
staring at something on her terminal, the tears streaming down her
cheeks.  He caught a confused, blurred glimpse of some kind of mesh;
then she shut down the display field and rounded on him, shouting,
almost hysterical, and made him leave.

When he peeped cautiously into the room half an hour later, he saw her
sprawled across her work-bench, sound asleep.  He breathed a sigh of
relief.

Later that day he cooked dinner, thinking that she would be in no mood
to fulfill her promise to make okonomiyaki.  He was about to take a tray
through to her work-room when she walked into the kitchen.

She was bathed and dressed, and looked better-rested.  There was a hint
of tension in her eyes, but she seemed determined to act normally, and
he made no comment.

After they had eaten she set down her chopsticks and said quietly, "We
need to talk."

He nodded.  "Is this about --" he began.

She held up a hand to stop him.  "Yes.  I'm sorry.  After all this time,
I'd almost given up hope of finding --"  She broke off suddenly.  "No.
Let me start somewhere else."

She thought for a few moments.  "There's a ... project," she said
carefully at last.  "Something I've been working on for, well, the last
twenty years or so, off and on.  Last night, another piece fell into
place.  I ... think you need to see what I've found."

Ranma stirred.  "Is this what you talked to me about, a day or two after
I came here?" he asked.  She nodded silently.  "Then, yes, of course.
But I don't know anything about genetics --"

"Don't worry."  She laughed.  "It's not that kind of project.  Actually,
it's kind of a private matter.  Not related to my professional work at
all.  It's --"

She sighed.  "Well, no use beating around the bush.  The truth is, I've
spent the last twenty years trying to find Shampoo."

- End of Part 5 -

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Angus MacSpon                                                Allen Gainsford
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon            http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon