I just want to take a minute to say how much I appreciate all the help
and support that everyone on the FFML has given me. Most of the time,
when I ask people to read my work they just say- "Oh yeah, that's
great." I *know* my work isn't perfect, and the only way I'll improve
it is if people give me C&C about it. That is what the FFML has given
me, and in abundance. From help with spelling and Japanese culture to
actually helping me write a fanfic, you've given me more help than I
probably deserve. So, hugs and kisses, I love you all, stay safe and
keep dreamin'.

This is the next to last part in this series. Please, please write to
me with your reactions!!!

Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction- "Alone in Time"

         Part Six: Dancing in the Dark

	The sword slipped out of Arashi's sweat slicked hand, falling to the
floor with the clear ring of fine steel. Arashi sank to her knees,
tears of frustration pricking her eyes. She clenched her hands
tightly, her nails diggining into the palms of her hands, the pain
giving her something to focus on besides her persistant failures. A
drop of blood welled up and splashed softly onto the floor's 
polished wooden planks.
	"Dammit," she cursed softly, "dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" She cursed her
ill fortune. Her guardian had come back and apologized to her earlier.
Arashi had apologized, too. She realized that she couldn't let her
emotions interfere with this. If she was so self-
centered that she couldn't ask someone, anyone for help, then Nekura
would win, and destroy more innocent lives. She just couldn't do that.
	So, she had gone to see Mousse this morning. She took the sword along
to show him. Mousse had studied it for a few moments, then told her
that it looked familiar, but he didn't know how to use it. He said he
assumed it was the same as wielding a kitana. Well, that was what
Arashi had been trying to do for most of the day, and it just wasn't
working. She just couldn't get up enough speed to do any damage.
	A knock sounded on the outer door to her apartment. Arashi took a few
breaths to regain her composure, then called that it was unlocked. She
heard soft footsteps make their way across the kitchen, 
weaving around the stacked furniture she had moved to make space for
her practice area, and then enter the living room directly behind her.
Arashi quickly wiped the blood off her palm onto her black sleeve and
stood up, muscles protesting, to greet her guest. 
	Rin stood there, a concerned look on his face. He quickly erased it
as she turned around. Arashi noticed that he had changed from the
temple clothes he had worn last night into regular jeans and a T-shirt.
	"Rin." Arashi smiled at him. "Hello. What brings you here?"
	"Hello." Rin shifted a little, unconfortably. "I hope I'm not
interrupting you?" Arashi shook her head. "I- I just wanted to see if
you were all right, you know," He continued, "After last night. And, 
I, uh, wanted to thank you, too. For healing me." Suddenly his eyes
widened. "Is that the sword you were talking about last night?"
	Arashi nodded. "I'm fine, I felt I owed it to you, and yes, this is
my sword. Cursed thing." She glared at it. "My guardian says I have a
week to learn it, and I've never even seen a sword like it before."
	Rin looked at her shyly. "I have," he said.
	"What?" Arashi looked at him in amazement. 
	"I have," he repeated. "I used to spend summers in America, and I
learned about swords like that at the Renaissance Faires. My father
bought me one and I got lessons on how to use it. It's a bastard
sword, one-handed from the looks of it, but its got a really unique
hilt design."
	Arashi stared at him. "You know how to use this?" she whispered. Rin
nodded. 
	"Would you like me to teach you?" He asked. 
 	Arashi almost cried with relief. "Can you? Will you?"
	"Sure! Its not all that hard. Let me see what you know so far."
	Arashi nodded, and took up a stance. She started in on a fairly
simple exercise, the one she had been working on all day, but Rin
shook his head as soon as she started. "No, that's not it. You're 
holding it wrong, see?" He took her hand and repositioned it on the
hilt. "You need to get a firmer anchor. This isn't a sword built for
speed, its built for power. Let me show you." Arashi handed the sword
over to him. "This is wonderful," he said, "the balance is absolutely
perfect. Now, watch me carefully." Arashi watched. Once he had the
sword in his hand, it seemed Rin's personality radically changed. His
shyness melted away, and he seemed more animated, more alive. He
handed the sword back to her. "Now you try."

		*		*		*

	Arashi plopped down on the floor, mopping the sweat off her forehead.
Rin sat beside her, breathing as heavily as she. 
	"That was really good," He told her, "I don't think I've ever seen
anyone catch on to those techniques that fast." Arashi nodded her
thanks, too winded to speak. Rin had pushed her training harder than
any of her old masters had ever done. But then, her old masters hadn't
had only a week to teach her a totally new weapon, and all the
techniques and stratagies that went with it. 
	"I'm not pushing too hard, am I?" He asked, echoing her thoughts.
"It's hard for me to tell, since I'm used to being the one who's being
trained."
	"No, no," Arashi waved it off. "I'm okay. It's just, I was so busy at
the cafe lately, I haven't had much time to practice. I'm kind of
rusty, I guess."
	Rin smiled. He glanced at his watch. "It's eight o' clock!" He
exclaimed. "I gotta go! I already missed dinner!"
	Arashi picked her head up. "Eight o' clock already? I'm sorry. I
shouldn't have kept you so late." She stood up, her muscles creaking.
"Would you like to stay here for dinner? I can order out for something
if you want."
	Rin looked down at his watch, then back up at her. "Sure," he said.
Let me just call grandpa first. He gets nervous."
	Arashi led Rin to the phone while she went to her room, hid the sword
in a different place, and changed her clothes. She released her hair
from the ponytail it had been in for the whole day and took her 
comb with her into the living room.
	 As Arashi entered, Rin was just hanging up the phone from talking to
his grandfather at the temple. He turned around and saw her standing
there in the doorway, with a comb in her hand and her pure
white hair cascading down around her like a waterfall.
He gulped a couple of times, trying to make his vocal cords work again.
 	"Was he upset?" Arashi asked him. Rin wondered what she was talking
about. Then he remembered his grandfather. 
	"Oh! Um, no. He was actually out shopping, so he didn't even know I
was gone."
	"Good." She smiled. "So what do you want for dinner?"
	They ended up having ramen, delivered from the Cat Cafe. Shampoo
showed up on the doorstep with an enthusiastic hug for Arashi.
	"Shampoo hear all about everything from Mousse! Shampoo glad you
okay. Is you coming back to work at cafe? We really need you help!"
	Arashi returned the hug. "I guess so. But not for a while. I have to
defeat Nekura once and for all before I can settle down to a normal
life again." To Arashi's surprise, she actually felt optomistic
about defeating Nekura permanently, now that she had a weapon to do it
with.
	"Okay, but no wait too long!" The amazon gave the bowls of steaming
ramen to Arashi. "We miss you!"
	"Thank you," Arashi said. "I really do appreciate that." She waved
goodbye to the departing amazon. It warmed her heart to know that
after all this time, she had some friends that actually cared about
her. She turned to take the bowls of ramen in to Rin. If he was as
hungry as she was, he was not going to want to wait too long.
	Dinner was a quiet affair. Each was too tired to talk very much.
Afterwards, they said goodbye and Rin went on his way while Arashi
dragged herself into the bathroom for a good, hot bath, and then to
her room for a long night of blissful sleep. Just before she drifted
off, she thought about Rin again. His coming had been a godsend, truly
lucky for her. Without him, she might never have learned how to 
manipulate the sword properly. She turned over onto her back and
stared at the celing. Just what was the power of that sword, anyway?
Her guardian had said it was very powerful, but it didn't specify
exactly 
what it did that made it so special. Sure, it was an odd looking
sword, but that didn't explain the tone of almost awe she had heard in
her guardian's voice. Why was this sword so great?
	Arashi flipped back over onto her stomach. Her thoughts wandered back
to Rin. The way he had been looking at her today... At first he had
seemed almost frightened of her, but then once she had gone to change
after their practice... Well, he had warmed to her quite a bit, to say
the least. In fact, when she had entered the room after he called his
grandfather, he had looked at her in almost the same way Mousse 
looked at Shampoo. Arashi shook her head and laughed at her silliness.
He was probably just surprised, that's all, she told herself. Don't go
making a big deal out of things that never happened. Besides, she
thought, the only one I'm interested in is Mousse. But she also knew
that she was not the kind of person who would stick to a one-sided
love affair for very long. If only she knew how Rin felt for certain! 
	Arashi finally fell asleep, but her dreams were as full of confusion
as her thoughts. Sometimes she saw Mousse's green eyes and gentle
smile, and somtimes she saw Rin's arms as he carried her to the
bedroom after she had fainted, and his open, friendly expression. When
she awoke in the morning, she knew there was going to be no easy
solution to her problem.
	The next five days passed in a blur for Arashi. Her days were filled
with training in swordplay, with Rin as her teacher. They moved the
practice out of her apartment and into the Tendo Dojo, where they had
more space to move. Sometimes Akane or Ranma would come out to watch
them or offer advice, but they were mostly left alone.
	Slowly, Arashi found herself warming more and more to Rin. At first
she tried to deny it, saying that after so much time alone, of course
she would jump after the first male who showed interest in her.
But as time wore on, and she and Rin spent more time together, she
began to realize that her feelings for him were deeper than the ones
for Mousse had ever been. She ached to tell him, and almost did many 
times, but she chose to keep her silence instead, at least until after
the battle with Nekura was finished. After all, she didn't know how
well her twin sister knew her sword, and she didn't want to get too 
involved when she wasn't sure she would be coming back from this battle.
	"So what do you think I should do?" Arashi asked Akane. They were
sitting together in Akane's room, sharing a cup of tea before Arashi
had to head for home after her day's training. When Rin had left,
Akane had come in and found Arashi with a troubled look on her face.
She had invited Arashi to stay a while. An hour and two cups of tea
later Arashi confided the whole confusing problem to her. 
	Akane shook her head and took a sip of tea. "That is a dilemma. I
wish there was some advice I could give you. Right now, training is
the most important thing. I know you can beat her, but it will take a
lot of hard work, and a love affair will distract you from your goal.
On the other hand," she paused, "You don't want to leave him without
ever having told him how you felt."
	Arashi cast her eyes down. "I've only got two more days," she said
softly. "It's not just Rin I'm worried about. I don't want to leave
any of you. Its never been this hard for me to face a battle before.
For the first time since I became immortal, I'm frightened." She
clutched her mug tightly and fought against the lump rising in her
throat. "I'm tired of leaving everyone behind. I want this to end!"
	Akane laid her hands over Arashi's. "It will end," she said softly.
"It has to end. I know you have the power to do it. I believe in you.
And so does everyone else."
	The tears finally spilled over. "Thank you, Akane. You've all done so
much to help me. And, even if this isn't the final battle, I want you
to know I'll never forget any of you. Not as long as I live."
	"Its not time for goodbyes yet," Akane said firmly. "It will end.
Your spell will be lifted and you'll be free. It can't end any other
way."
	Arashi smiled through her tears. She desperately wanted to believe
Akane, but her soul told her that there could be plenty of other
endings. She knew her immortality would not depart without a heavy
price.

End of Part Six

This story, (along with the rest of my life) can be found at my
homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/2324
Any C&C can be sent to this adress or posted on the FFML. Thank you!


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