DYNASTY - CHAPTER SEVEN - PART A
By Sydney Kyle <jantzen77@hotmail.com>

Author's notes: All right, you guys, you got me. Everytime someone asks 
me for those chapters they missed, it gets harder and harder to send 
'em over 'cause of the amount of chapters and the amount of requests. 
So if anyone, ANYONE out there has a homepage or knows of one that 
sponsors Ranma or anime fanfic, please inform me so that I can see if
I have a chance in archiving this baby. I'd make my own homepage, but
as it is, it'll be a while before THAT happens.

Okay, that's enough ranting. Enjoy the fic and I hope someone answers
my plea. (please...pretty please?)

                       =========================
                          * * * DYNASTY * * *          
                          A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
                       =========================                

                              * * * * * *

                       =========================
                             CHAPTER SEVEN:
                                 Part A
                               The Cure? 
                       =========================

   Akane sat rigidly in her desk, her hands clasped tightly in front 
of her, her dark eyes fixed on some indeterminate spot just beyond 
Sensei Tanaka.

   "Perhaps you did not hear my question, Miss Tendo."

   Oh, she did. She'd heard it loud and clear.

   "In that case, I suggest that you pay attention this time."

   Oh, she'd been paying attention, all right. She just couldn't 
understand how being put under interrogation was going to do any 
good, now that the real perpetrators were gone.

   Along with Ranma. And Ryouga. And Shampoo and Mousse.

   Gone. All gone.

   This time out of their own accord.

   "Miss Tendo, I will ask you one more time--where is Ranma 
Saotome?"

   Her head jerked up, startled. "Uhm, excuse me?"

   Sensei Tanaka heaved a tired, patient sigh. "I said, do you know 
where Ranma Saotome is?"

   Akane's gaze lowered to her desktop, absentmindedly rubbing her
thumb against its edge. "I don't know," she replied softly.

   "You...don't know." It was more of a question than a statement.

   She felt a flicker of annoyance ignite somewhere within her. "No,
Sensei Tanaka--I do _not_ know where he is."

   <And I don't care,> she added mentally. <That baka can fall off the 
ends of the earth looking for that stupid cave, for all I care.>

   "Well, Miss Tendo, I am afraid that will simply not be enough. If 
you haven't noticed, he has quite a lot of explaining to do. There is
an insanely huge radioactive-spawned pig sitting in front of Principal 
Kuno's office refusing to vacate the premises..."

   "He belongs to Akari Unryuu. Y'know, the new girl? I'm sure she'll 
pick him up soon."

   "...the schoolyard looks like a war zone..."

   "It's always been that way, Sensei Tanaka."

   "...and we've got four people who are unaccounted for."

   Akane plunked her chin on the palm of her hand, her forehead 
crinkling. 

   Sensei Tanaka continued. "I know that there were eight people 
involved in that brawl--including you, I might add--and of those eight, 
only you, Miss Kuonji, and the two young Kunos remain. What I want 
to know is, Miss Tendo, is where the other four are."

   Akane scowled. Damned if _she_ knew. It was just like Ranma to 
succumb to his masculine pride and go off on his own trying to 
discover a solution to his troubles by himself. He never even once 
considered enlisting the help and support of those who cared about 
him the most.

   Akane scratched her head. Where did that last part come from, 
anyway?

   "Miss Tendo, I realize that this is not the first time this 
particular institution has under siege by bouts of lunacy. But this...
no, I have never seen anything quite like this. Someone has to answer 
for this, Miss Tendo, and Ranma Saotome's the easiest target."

   She glanced down at her hands, alternately folding and unfolding 
them. "I know...Ranma was the one the clan challenged. And he _was_ 
the only reason they decided to come here to Furinkan High."

   Sensei Tanaka removed his glasses and leaned back in his chair. 
"Did you say 'clan'?"

   "Yes, sensei. At least, that's what they called themselves."

   The teacher panicked inwardly. Great. Another bunch of juvenile 
crazies taking up residence in this crazy little town. Perfect. He
composed himself. "Well, anyway, regarding Mister Saotome's 
whereabouts--"

   The classroom door's hinges finally snapped, and the door fell in,
revealing quite a number of Akane and Ranma's schoolmates in the act
of eavesdropping.

   "Ah...ah...why, it's Sensei Tanaka!"

   "Fancy meeting _you_ here, sensei!"

   "We were just...ah...testing the door--yeah, that's it!"

   "Yeah...we...we were conducting an experiment, Sensei!"

   Akane closed her eyes, deep in speculation, while Sensei Tanaka 
proceeded to chase off the eavesdroppers. She was still reeling from
the events that had occurred in the last forty-eight hours--from Ranma
and the other Jusenkyoites' abductions, to their night rescue, to 
Ranma's mixed signals toward her, to the furious battle that left her
joints aching. And even after all that, Ranma had still found the
strength to embark on a journey to find a cure for his gender ailment.

   He'd mentioned to her about his intention to find a cave--a cave
that supposedly held the answer to all his problems--from his Jusenkyo
dilemma to the Dragon clan's intention to hunt him down unless he was
cured. Invariably, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryouga had opted to accompany
him. Well, she amended, maybe Ryouga had gone along because he'd 
promised her he'd watch over Ranma--but Shampoo and Mousse _had_ 
willingly followed. 

   Into what?

   Akane tucked some stray stands of her bobbed hair behind her ear,
still musing.

   <Oh, Ranma,> she thought sadly. <I hope that you _do_ find your
cure--I just wish that you'd have trusted me enough to come along
with you...>

   And if there _wasn't_ a cure, she hoped that Ranma wouldn't be too
disappointed.

   Because, whether he knew it or not, she liked him the way he was.

* * * * * *

   Ranma grimaced.

   His ribs were acting up again, where a member of the Dragon clan 
had pummeled him. In fact, his torso was practically screaming with
those little hurts and pains that had been inflicted in that battle. 
Even worse, the nausea that had overwhelmed him after that draining 
mind-exchange rapport he'd undergone with that last clan member was 
beginning to reassert itself in a very unwelcome way.

   "You okay, Ranma?" 

   Ranma tried to stifle his sense of vertigo as he shook his head. 
This wasn't the time to coddle himself. Not when his cure was at stake. 
"Yeah, gimme a second."

   Shampoo peered up at him as she took his arm. Her maroon-hued eyes 
sparkled with worry. "You sure, Ranma?"

   Mousse watched them silently, not even bothering to hide the look 
of jealousy on his face. Shampoo had never looked at him that way when
_he_ was hurt--which happened to be eighty percent of the time he was 
in her presence. Come to think of it, most of his injuries had been 
inflicted _by_ her--both physically and mentally. In the past he'd 
simply overlooked Shampoo's indifferent and sometimes cruel behavior 
toward him, instead placing the blame on Ranma. 

   But after months of that same painful cycle of rejection, he was
starting to notice that the problem lay with Shampoo rather than 
Ranma.

   Mousse shut that part of his brain off, appalled with himself. What 
had he been _thinking_? Of _course_ it was all _Ranma's_ fault. It 
_always_ was.

   Wasn't it?

   Mousse hung his head. Most people would have immediately pronounced
him imbecilic just because he had terrible eyesight and kept on mis-
interpreting various objects. Maybe Shampoo would not know--maybe she
would _never_ know--but he was so much more than that. 

   The problem was, he had no idea how to show her.

   "Cut to the chase, Ranma." Ryouga strode forward, jolting Mousse 
out of his solemn cogitation. "What hell have you gotten me into this 
time?"

   Mousse conducted a cursory study of his surroundings. Their 
seemingly wayward trek by rooftop had situated them in a place far 
from urban Nerima. There were plants, shrubs, trees, and more assorted 
flora all around them, as far as the eye could see.

   Ranma's irregular, zigzagging trail had plunked them from the heart
of Nerima into the middle of a lush green forest, although Mousse was
not certain how it had been accomplished. He and the two other 
Jusenkyoites had been too absorbed in trying to keep Ranma in sight. 

   All Mousse could be sure of was that they were somewhere in one of 
the mountains that overlooked Nerima. The journey there had taken a 
good amount of time, since twilight was beginning to descend, and the 
jaunt by rooftop had taken them onto higher grounds without them being 
aware of it. 

   "We're in the middle of nowhere, Ranma," Ryouga was saying. 

   "Oh, yeah, I'm sure you're familiar with _that_," Ranma murmured.

   "Shut up, Ranma. This isn't the time for your lame jokes."

   "Whatever."

   "Are you trying to be a wiseguy?!"

   Mousse suppressed a groan of annoyance. He should have known that
Ranma and Ryouga would conduct their customary bickering the second 
they stopped for a break. He'd learned how to tune out their arguments 
pretty much for as long as he'd known them, but at times they really 
got to him. His tolerance for the both of them was low enough, but the 
only reason he'd been endured them so far--besides watching over 
Shampoo--was because they were all gunning for a cure in the Cave of 
Yasakami.

   Yasakami, Mousse thought. He was certain that he'd heard that word
before--a long time ago, back in his village at Joketsuzoku. A strange 
word, full of connotations he could not grasp at this moment...

   He glanced up to see Shampoo, who appeared to be acting as a 
moderator between Ranma and Ryouga. The two of them were now engaged 
in a spirited round of name-calling.

   "BACON BREATH!"

   "PIGTAILED PERVERT!"

   Mousse rolled his eyes behind his thick spectacles. 
 
   "PIG-BOY!!"

   "HALF-GIRL!!"

   Their exchange continued even as the four of them resumed their 
journey to the Cave of Yasakami, with Ranma leading the way.

* * * * * *

   "Hey, Akane."

   Akane spun around in one of Furinkan High's hallways, hearing a 
patter of footfalls behind her. "Ukyou?" she asked in mild surprise.

   "The one and only, sugar." Ukyou jogged over, looking vaguely 
anxious. "So how'd the third degree go?" 

   Akane shrugged wearily. "Hard to say. Sensei Tanaka wouldn't 
believe me when I told him I didn't know where Ranma and the others 
were."

   "Yeah, I know." Ukyou nodded vigorously. "Miss Kaneda couldn't see
the truth even if it came and bit her on the nose."

   "They took you in for questioning, too?"

   "Yeah. They called in everyone who was involved in the fight. And 
trust me, sweetie, they got a line of eyewitnesses longer than the 
Great Wall of China."

   "What?" Akane sounded astonished.

   Ukyou tilted her head to the side. "Seems that we had an audience 
when we were down there fighting. Those people above us weren't 
cheering for the Superbowl, Akane."

   Akane stifled a groan and dragged a hand across her forehead. "Oh,
no. You mean that the ENTIRE SCHOOL was watching us?"

   "I guess they thought we were more interesting than any History or 
Algebra lecture."

   "Great. Just great." Akane stopped walking for a moment and leaned 
back on the wall of the corridor, setting her school bag on the 
polished linoleum floor. She was still raw from the battering the clan
had imparted upon her.

   "Where're Kuno and Kodachi?" Akane queried nonchalantly, determined
not to show Ukyou how sore she was. 

   Ukyou blew at the obstinate chunk of bangs that fell across her 
brow. "Well...let's just say Principal Kuno sent them to Miss Hinako 
to straighten them out."

   "Ouch." Akane winced. Miss Hinako was notorious for her extremely 
nasty habit of temporarily sucking up other people's auras in order to 
get 'high'. "Are they all right?"

   "Apparently. Kuno was saying that no consequence was too great for
granting his pig-tailed goddess's request, or something like that. He 
was really passionate 'bout it, too. I mean, I heard his voice even 
when I was stuck in Miss Kaneda's room."

   "I shoulda known Ranma had tricked Kuno into joining this battle by
using his girl-form," mused Akane, undecided whether she should be 
amused or irked by deviousness that lurked inside the brain of Kuno's 
'pigtailed goddess'. "What about Kodachi?"

   "She's okay." Ukyou wrinkled her nose delicately. "Obviously she's 
got no regrets about saving Ranma-honey's life."

   "I see." Akane frowned.

   "Oh, I almost forgot," Ukyou volunteered. "Principal Kuno called up 
your house."

   "WHAT?" Akane screeched for the second time in the conversation.

   "They wanted to get in touch with Ranma's dad, just in case Ranma 
was there with him."

   "_Was_ he?" Akane demanded urgently.

   Ukyou didn't notice the oddness in the other girl's tone. "No. He 
had no idea where Ranma-honey was. Akari was over there, too, and she 
said that she didn't know where Ryouga was, either. Shampoo and 
Mousse're still gone, too. And according to your dad, so's Shampoo's 
great-grandmother Cologne."

   "You mean she never came back ever since she left last night?"

   Ukyou shook her head, her mahogany hair swishing like a bronze halo
in the weak rays of the setting sun. "Nope. Your dad said that maybe 
she was still looking into the Dragon Dynasty or something. Mr. 
Saotome's fine, though. He says no one tried to attack him today. 
Anyway, your dad says that we should get over to the dojo as fast as 
we can."

   Akane swallowed hard. Last night, when they'd rescued Ranma and the
others, it had almost been too late--for Ranma, anyway. What if they
_were_ too late the next time that happened?

   Ukyou patted her arm sympathetically. "Don't worry, Akane," she 
told the other girl sincerely. "I'm sure Ranma'll come back."

   Brushing furtively at the corner of her eyes, Akane managed a tiny
smile. She and Ukyou had never really been the closest of friends--
perhaps because of their situations with Ranma--but of all the rivals 
for Ranma's heart, Akane was convinced that Ukyou Kuonji was the least 
deranged and the most rational one among them. 

   "After all," continued Ukyou, grinning brightly, "He's gotta come
back for _me_, right?"

   Akane's eyelid began to twitch.

* * * * * *

   "Well," Ranma announced triumphantly, "here we are."

   Ryouga, Mousse, and Shampoo looked up.

   Looming up in front of them, huge and dark and nearly obscured by
swarms of leaves and profuse foliage, was the entrance of a cave. The
opening so resembled the side of the mountain itself that it was 
nearly impossible to tell that it was even _there_ at all. The cave 
entrance and the shrubbery surrounding it seemed wild and untouched, 
like no one had been there for a very, very long time.

   "You sure about this, Ranma?" inquired Shampoo. There was the 
smallest flicker of trepidation upon her features.

   "Yeah." Ranma stretched his arms. His gray-blue eyes were sparkling 
with excitement. "This is the one, all right. Exactly the way the 
other guy pictured it."

   Ryouga snorted and rubbed the back of his neck. "This could be a 
mistake, you know."

   Ranma whirled on him, displeased at his lack of enthusiasm. "Jeez, 
what's the matter with you? This could be your only chance of gettin' 
rid of your curse!"

   "_Is_ it?" Mousse wondered. "How can you be certain of that? The 
only reason you heard about this cave is because one of your enemies 
decided to show you how to get here in the first place! Doesn't that 
warrant a little suspicion?"

   "He's right, Ranma," Ryouga confirmed. "Are you really desperate 
enough to believe something told to you by a guy who's been trying to 
kill you? What if this's a trap?"

   Ranma studied the both of them solemnly, then swiveled his gaze 
back toward the cave. "We gotta try," he said, carefully avoiding 
their stares. "I mean, this's the closest I've ever gotten to findin' 
a cure. This could be our last shot at removing this damn curse from 
us, and I _ain't_ gonna let it slip away. Even if it _is_ a trap." 

   And with that, he headed straight into the yawning mouth of the 
huge cave.

   "Ranma, wait!"

   Mousse's jaw slackened as Shampoo ran over to Ranma, entwining his 
arm in her own as she glanced up adoringly into his face.

   "Shampoo no leave Ranma," she declared. "Shampoo no care if it _is_
trap. In fact, Shampoo think Ranma very brave."

   "Uhm, gee, thanks," was all Ranma could manage.

   Ryouga rolled his eyes and spared a brief glimpse at Mousse, who
appeared to be shaking in barely-controlled rage. <I react the same way 
when Akane gets close to Ranma,> he thought, almost absently. Then he 
shuddered. <Damn, where did _that_ come from? Am I really that bad?>

   "WELL, _I'M_ NOT AFRAID EITHER!! I MEAN, THAT'S JUST A STUPID 
CAVE ANYWAY!! WHAT'S THERE TO BE AFRAID OF?!! SHAMPOO, 
WAIT UP! I'M COMING, SHAMPOO--SHAMPOO?!?!"

   Mousse didn't stop bellowing even as he scurried in after Ranma and
Shampoo. 

   Ryouga exhaled in derision. Bakas. Fine, then. If they didn't 
listen to him then that was their problem, not his.

   He leaned back against the side of a small tree, and shifted 
traveling backpack on his tired shoulders, closing his eyes. Finally 
he began to notice the smallest hint of a tune drifting into his 
ears--whether it came from the wind or the rustle of the leaves he 
couldn't tell. Gradually he began to hum the notes, and soon his brain 
supplied the lyrics to the song.

   "This little pig went to market;
   This little pig stayed at home;
   And this little pig cried 
   Bwee bwee bwee bwee bwee bwee
   All the way home..."

   Ryouga's eyes snapped open in horror. Pigs, pigs, pigs. 

   No more pigs.

   He shuffled over to the cave entrance and furtively peered in. 
"Hey, Ranma? Shampoo? Mousse?"

   His only response was a muffled series of whacking noises. It 
sounded suspiciously like Shampoo's bonbori pounding in someone's 
skull. It was followed by Shampoo's high-pitched voice. 

   "Stupid Mousse! Why you hug piece of rock?"

   Ryouga sighed. Everything seemed normal--so far, at least. But then 
again, there was no telling what was waiting for them the deeper they
got into that subterranean passage. 

   Then again, if there really _was_ a cure...

   Ryouga felt his reluctance crumble. He glanced one more time at the
green forest behind him, then plunged into the dimness of the cavern.

To Be Continued in Part B