Well, here's another installment of "Alone in Time" You'll notice I
labeled it as a "draft" this time, ne?
That's because I'm working on totally revamping the series, thanks to
some helpful C&C I received from people. Well, anyways, write to me,
(at this adress, please: ShampUsagi@yahoo.com) and tell me what you
think about, like, or dislike about this part.



"Alone in Time"
		
		Part Three: Destiny Calls


	Arashi dropped her staff. "What? Back? How is that possible? I
destroyed her!"
	"We don't quite know yet. It's possible that it isn't her, but no one
else has an energy signature quite like that." The ball hovered over
Arashi's head nervously. 
	"Does she know where I am?" 
	"Not yet. Like I said, we don't even know if it's really her. We will
just have to wait and see."
	Arashi picked up her staff again. "Is there any way, if it is her,
that I can keep my friends here from getting invoved?"
	The light paused doubtfully for a moment. "Well, you could leave. But
if she is here, she already knows that you have found people that mean
something to you. It's possible that she might strike
at them, even if you weren't here. The only thing you can do is try to
find her first."
	Arashi looked down at her staff, clutched tightly in her hands. "When
is this going to end? Will I ever be able to have a normal life?" 
	"Oh, Arashi. I'm sorry. I know you didn't choose this. But I promise
you, someday the spell of immortality will be lifted, and you will be
able to live normally again."
	Arashi sighed. "Well, I suppose technically I did choose this. I
could have turned my back on the whole thing."
	"But you didn't. We'll always be indebetted to you for that."
	"Yes, well. All right. So there is a chance it might not be her?
Maybe I'd better check, just to be sure."
	Later that night, Arashi sat on her floor, surrounded by candles. She
had called Akane up earlier, to apologize for not being able to
accompany her to the soccer game. That done, she had set up an
environment where she could totally concentrate on the task at hand. 
        She sat cross legged on the floor, candles brightly flickering
about her. She took a deep breath, and began to concentrate. Slowly,
she felt her essence detach itself from her physical form. This was
actually quite easy, any martial artist who was sufficiently
self-aware could do it, but the technique had been lost centuries ago,
and Arashi didn't feel any pressing need to teach this secret to
anyone else.
	Arashi expanded her conciousness outwards. She heard the refrigerator
in the next room humming quietly to itself. Expand. She heard beetles
moving under the floor, slowly lugging the house away, peice by peice.
She felt the next door neighbors fighting again. She entered first
into one, then the other, feeling the white hot rage coursing through
them. She hurridly pulled outwards again, not wanting to invade their
privacy too much. She forced herself outwards again, feeling the rows
of cars, apartment builings, and people that surrounded her builing.
Expand. Her conciousness now covered most of Nerima, including the
Tendo dojo and Neko Hanten. Not far enough. She still couldn't feel
the one presence she was looking for. The one presence that she would
know anywhere, as familiar as her own conciousness. Expand. She was
now at the very brink of her limits, covering almost the entire city
of Tokyo. There! She suddenly felt it.
A black spirit, that didn't fit in with the regular energy patterns of
the city. But, at the same time she sensed them, they sensed her as
well.
	Come questing for me? A voice spoke into her head, mocking her. Fear
not. I'll find you soon enough. Abruptly the connection broke, and
Arashi found herself back in her body, surrounded by melted candle
wax, and shivering in fear.

			*	*	*

	The next week, Arashi was on edge, constantly glancing over her
shadow and peering into shadows. One night, when she had finished her
waitressing duties, she headed out back to help Mousse, as was her
custom. Finding him nowhere in sight, she started on the stacks of
dishes herself. Time had not lessened her crush on Mousse. If
anything, it was stronger now than ever. Unfortunately, Mousse never
noticed anything, except Shampoo. She stared at her reflection in a
plate, letting self-pity wash over her. 
	Suddenly, Arashi felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she dropped
the plate she was holding. It shattered on the floor as she whirled
around, to see Mousse standing just behind her. 
	"Settle down, it's only me," he told her. "Are you all right?"
	"I-I'm fine," Arashi stuttered, and fetched the broom and dustpan
from the corner where they stood. Halfway back, she nearly dropped
them, and only by frantic juggling was she able to keep her grasp.
Mousse took the implements out of her hands and pointed at a chair. 
	"Sit down." Arashi sat gratefully, easing her trembling knees. Mousse
swept the broken glass off the floor qnd dumped it in a garbage bin.
He pulled a chair up to face her.
	"Now. Will you tell me what's wrong? You've been really jumpy all
this week, and I've never seen you drop anything before. Is something
bothering you?" 
	Arashi hid her face in her hands as a blush colored her cheeks.
"Nothing's wrong. Really. I just... haven't gotten a lot of sleep
lately, that's all." It was a partial truth. She hadn't been getting
much sleep, but as to why...
	"All right. Why don't you go home and get some rest? I can handle the
rest of the dishes." 
	Arashi started to protest, but thought better of it as she saw
Mousse's determined expression. She nodded meekly.
	"Good. I'll walk you home." 
	Arashi's brain suddenly disconnected from her body. Her mind floated
off to a more peaceful plane, while her body gave a sort of goofy grin
and said "Okay."
	Mousse stepped out front to inform Cologne, who was cleaning tables,
that he was taking Arashi home. Cologne raised her eyebrows,but gave
permission. Arashi gathered her things and together they left
the Cat Cafe.
	As they walked through the darkened streets, Arashi glanced at him
occasionally, glancing away again as she felt her cheeks grow hot. She
drew breath to say something several times, but couldn't think of
anything to say. You're acting like a silly love-crazed teenager! she
chided herself. Either say something or don't! She looked up at him
again. He looked down at her and grinned cheerfully. Arashi had the
sudden impulse to tell him everything, to just blurt the whole story
out from the beginning. She quickly squashed the impulse. As if she
could actually tell him that she was a thousand year old avatar of
some gods that most people didn't even remember anymore!
	Arashi shook her head. They had almost reached her apartment. They
climbed the stairs that led to her door, and he turned to face Mousse,
to thank him for his help. Just off to the right, she caught some
motion in the shadows. She squinted, but couldn't make anything out. 
	"Well, thank you," she said to Mousse. "I appreciate your help."
Mousse smiled at her. 
	"You're welcome." He turned away to go.
	"Mousse, wait!" Arashi called after him. He turned back. Arashi found
herself fumbling for words. "Well- that is, you see I.." She gave
herself a mental slap, straightened up, took a deep breath and looked 
him in the eyes. "Mousse, I've been working up my courage to say this
to you for a while now. What I want to say is.. well, I really like
you," she finally blurted out, "In fact, I don't ever remember feeling
quite this way about anyone before." Her cheeks felt burning hot, and
she was sure her face was completely crimson.
	Mousse looked at her face, as if to judge her sincerity. He looked
down at his hands, then back up at her face. His surprise was evident.
	"I don't really know what to say," he started, "No-one's ever said
anything like that before." Arashi noticed that he was blushing too.
He took her hand in his. "But I'm sorry. I can't return your feelings.
You are one of my dearest friends, and you mean a lot to me, but I'm
in love with Shampoo."
	Arashi's world ground to a screeching halt. "But... Shampoo doesn't
even notice you! She's in love with Ranma! Can't you see that?"
Mousse's eyes clouded with pain. "I know that," he said softly.
	"Then why are you still in love with her?" Arashi felt tears
springing to her own eyes.
	Mousse turned away from her. "I can't change my feelings for her. I
wish I could." He paused for a moment, his voice rough with emotion.
"I'd better be going. Cologne will be angry if I don't get back soon."
He looked at her over his shoulder. "I'll see you tommorrow?"
	Arashi just looked at him for a moment. An eternity clicked by in a
few heartbeats. "Yeah," she said finally, "you'll see me tommorrow."
	"Good." He smiled wanly. "Get some rest, okay?" Arashi nodded,
closing her eyes until she could no longer hear his footsteps on the
stairs. Arashi entered her apartment, closing the door softly and
carefully behind her, then leaning her back against it. Her eyes
filled with tears and her heart felt like it was locked in ice. How
could I be so stupid? she asked herself. A little voice in the back of
her head kept repeating, "Maybe I should have stayed in the
mountains..."  She shook her head. Maybe some tea would make her feel
better. She walked slowly towards the kitchen. 
	As absorbed as she was with her own thoughts, she was almost too slow
to avoid the kitana as it swung towards her head from behind her. She
whirled around, pulling her hands up into a defensive position. The
girl, holding the black-hilted kitana laughed cruelly and Arashi gasped.
	"It's you! I should have known." Arashi didn't drop her defensive
position. The girl smiled and tilted her head. She was the exact
mirror image of Arashi, except where Arashi's hair was the pure white
of a full moon, this girl's was the black of a lunar eclipse. An
expression of malevolence filled her violet eyes. "Nekura," Arashi spat.
	"Now, now Arashi. Is that any way to treat a guest? Especially your
sister?" Nekura twirled the kitana in her hands.
	"You are not my sister." Arashi glared at her. "You gave up any right
to call yourself that a long time ago."
	"Try as you might, you can't erase blood ties." Nekura's voice took
on a mocking tone. "I was wondering when you were going to come down
off that mountain. Too scared to face me?"
	"If you remember right, Nekura, I was the one who beat you last
time." Nekura's face grew dark with anger.
	"Well, this time it's going to be different!" Nekura abruptly charged
at Arashi, swinging her sword. Arashi ducked deftly, lashing out with
her knee. Nekura dodged to the side. Suddenly, the door 
slammed open. Both girls turned, startled. Mousse stood in the
doorway, accompanied by Akane and Ranma. Nekura took advantage of
Arashi's distraction to swing her sword at her again. Arashi noticed
at the last moment, she ducked the sword, but was not fast enough to
dodge the kick that Nekura accompanied it with. The blow struck her in
the solar plexus, dropping her to the ground. 
	Arashi clutched her stomach and tried to rise. Nekura laughed. "We'll
continue this some other time!" She disappeared, her laughter still
echoing throughout the room. Akane rushed to Arashi's side.
	"Arashi! Are you all right? We were coming to visit you. We met
Mousse on the stairs and then we heard fighting up here. Who was that??"
	Arashi pressed her hands to her stomach. She looked up at the three
worried faces. All the lies and half truths she had told in the past
months came back to haunt her. These were her _friends_. How could she
go on lying to them? Her defenses crumbled, and she 
lowered her eyes to the floor. "All right," she said. "I'll tell you."

	End of Part Three
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