Urrgh. Twice as long as expected and half the free time equals three days
later than planned. Apologies for the wait, and I hope you enjoy.
C&C sil vous plait.

Disclaimer: The playground is by Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only swinging on
the monkey bars.  Remember to leave the grounds cleaner than you found 
them and please don't feed the Troll.

*Stars in Their Crown* is copyright Garnet Rogers, off the *Small Victories*
album. I merely borrow its likeness; he does it better.
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ranma and Akane: A Love Story
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part C: Exploiting the Breach: Telling Stories

   Kodachi had been attended to by a medical team and taken away in an
ambulance, only one of many that day. Now Nabiki and Yuka were assisting
the doctors that were dealing with the last of the students injured by 
flying debris. Both had done yeoman service in triaging the wounded and 
traumatized, and in running errands for the medical effort that had, by 
now, sucked in every available doctor or medtech in Nerima ward. Nabiki 
had been especially active in calming and restraining those who had 
been injured most severely while the medics had extracted debris from 
their injuries, or hastily bandaged wounds and set limbs in preparation 
for their transportation to local hospitals.

   Currently, the two girls were aiding Dr. Tofu by handing him his 
supplies and tools while he aligned and set a number of broken ribs
belonging to a sophomore who had been trampled and kicked into a corner
in class 1-D's mad scramble to quit the ground floor during the 
morning's attack.

   Nabiki looked up from the last patient as she was loaded onto a 
stretcher for transport to see a very bedraggled looking Akane come 
into Furinkan's yard, wobbling along behind Ranma , who herself appeared
less than entirely perky. The two Martial Artists came over to where
Nabiki was standing, Ranma greeting her wearily while Akane stopped
walking and leaned against Ranma's shoulder, closing her eyes. 

   "Nabiki-san," Ranma opened the conversation in a tired voice, "I see
that you've been helping with the wounded. Can you tell me what the
total casualty list was, please?"

    Nabiki rubbed her eyes with blood-stained hands. "I don't know the
full list yet, Ranma-san. The last I'd heard there were 17 confirmed
dead. I think the total of seriously injured is going to stop at 40. 
Minor injuries and trauma ...", Nabiki turned to where a clump of pale,
shaking students were huddling against the wall, seeking comfort in
numbers, and shrugged.

   Ranma nodded wearily. "You can add two more to the seriously wounded
list then. Asano-ofukuro was stabbed in the chest by Our Friend, but he 
seems to have missed the heart, and the medics said she has a fair 
chance. Sayuri-chan was strangled, and while she's still alive she 
seems to be in deep coma, at the moment."

   Nabiki glanced sideways at Yuka, who was trembling and clenching
her hands together. Quietly, she asked, "Will she survive long term, do
you think?"

   Ranma rubbed her temples briefly. "There's no good reason why she
wouldn't, I think. The physical trauma doesn't seem to be too severe.
What mental trauma she may be suffering, and when she'll wake up...."
Ranma shrugged in her own turn.

   Yuka wailed and buried her face in Nabiki's shoulder. Nabiki awkward-
ly attempted to comfort her and Ranma put a hand on Yuka's shoulder, 
saying, "Don't give up hope Yuka-chan. Sayuri-chan is very brave, and
the hospital hasn't even begun to care for her yet. And I'm not out of
resources myself, for that matter. But I think, for now, that it's 
better to let the professionals handle things. And speaking of profess-
ionals, Nabiki, do you know what happened to Jei's corpse and his
spear?"

   "I just saw ..." Nabiki mused, "Oh yes! A police van came and gather-
ed it all up and took it away. And I'm just as glad, even dead that 
thing gave me a creepy feeling!"

   "I don't blame you at all Nabiki-san. I just wanted a closer look
at the spear, but I suppose that I can do that later." She turned her
hand under her gaze and considered the ichor crusted under the nails.
"I'd like to get clean first, at least. Do you think you're going to 
need Akane or I around here any more today?"

   "No, Ranma, I don't think so. Go on back to the Dojo and see if you
can get Akane-imouto to go to sleep."

   Akane snorted, weakly. "Sleep. Feh. _Bath_."

   Ranma grinned, "Indeed. _Bath_. I may even beg one from Kasumi-san
myself."

   Nabiki grinned over her shoulder as she ushered Yuka to someplace to
sit down, and shook a fist at them. "Use up all the hot water and you
answer to me," she mock-threatened.

   Ranma's grin turned crooked, and she half-turned from her course to
sweep a bow. "We shall faithfully avoid the loosing of your wrath upon
us, Nabiki-san." Then she urged the wobbly Akane out the gate, and then
was gone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Taidama!"

    "Oh, my, I hope that's..." Kasumi had been beside herself with worry.
Father had managed to tell her that _something_ bad had happened. From
context she had assumed that something was wrong with Akane or Nabiki,
but his tears had managed to short out both the TV and the radio, and
he simply was not coherent enough to tell her what was wrong. She dared
not leave him alone to seek out the neighbors and Tofu-san seemed not
to be answering his phone, but if they were capable of calling out then
surely it couldn't be _that_ bad. Could it?

   Hurrying to the front room, she assessed the condition of Akane-chan
and that nice young Ranma-san and rapidly revised her opinion: it wasn't
that bad; it was worse. Only one comment seemed appropriate. "Oh, my!"

   Ranma looked up at Kasumi's entrance, steering Akane gently toward
the furo. "We're both mostly alright, Kasumi-san, but we badly need a
bath. Is the Furo hot?"

   Kasumi nodded helplessly; they didn't _seem_ alright. Akane was a 
complete mess: dirty, scratched, her new clothes in complete ruination,
and was that dark substance half covering her arms, legs and back 
_blood_? Ranma hardly looked better, mainly a matter of fewer areas 
messed up, but some of the stains were a loathsome looking green that
made her head hurt just to _consider_ trying to get out. Nonetheless she
nodded affirmatively to Ranma's question, then, as Ranma moved Akane
along toward the bath, burst out, "Ranma-san, what happened?!" 

   Ranma turned around briefly and saw Soun hovering at the entrance to
the living room, then sent Akane on toward the bath and answered. "A
monster attacked the school, Kasumi-san. We killed it, but there were
a number of casualties. The authorities seem to have the matter in 
hand, so I felt that Akane needed to get home immediately, and take a
bath , and probably a nap. With your permission?"

   Kasumi nodded and turned back to Father, who had burst out in fresh
tears. "Now, now, Father, you heard Ranma-san; both the girls are all 
right and...", and herded him back into his room to have a lie-down.
And thought, 'A monster. Oh, my!'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Ranma ignored the clothes heaped untidily on the floor, and quickly
stripped. Picking up the water pail and soap, she spent several minutes
firmly scrubbing out the ichor and gore that encrusted several areas
of her arms and legs, then filled up the pail again and soaped the rest
of her body before dumping the pail of water over her head to rinse off.
Then she walked over to Akane, who was sitting on a stool, staring at
her blood-stained hands and feebly attempting to scrub the stains off.
Ranma took the soap and washcloth from Akane's unresisting hands and
used them to quickly rid her of her unwanted decorations, then rinsed 
her off and put her into the tub to soak, joining her soon thereafter.

   Ranma settled back into the steaming water and felt her muscles relax,
but she noted that Akane was not relaxing, and was, in fact, on the 
verge of tears. She let Akane have a minute of silence, then gently 
asked "Want to talk about it?"

   Akane sniffed and shook her head, "N-no, Ranchan, I'll be alright,
just ... could you sing for me, something ..."

   Ranma suddenly found her vision obscured, a gust of steam had no 
doubt chosen to make a wrong turn. "Sure, _Acchan_, I'll sing something.
You just relax, now. Maybe try to go to sleep." 

	That pair in the corner,
	They're here every Tuesday
	They come when the market 
	 first open its stalls.
	And it's got so that lately
	I'll wait just to see them
	Their heads bent together,
	As they come down the hall.

   And Akane felt herself, very slowly, begin to relax. Felt the pains
of the day roll away. Felt the horror, and the fear, and, what she felt
was worst of all -- the strange, singing joy -- begin to fade. Felt the 
aches and bruises and the tiredness which denied even sleep or rest 
begin to heal. 

	And her hair has grown whiter
	His has grown thinner,
	And their pace has slowed down
	As the years have grown long.
	But they keep step together
	'Mongst strangers who hurry,
	These two old companions,
	Walking slowly along.

   Washed away, so to speak, by steaming water. Soothed by safety and
kindness, and a place to relax. Eased by an easing of stress and fear.

	They always take the same table
	And they open their menus,
	And I watch as his hand 
	 reaches out to touch hers,
	And she, with the other, 
	 reaches under her chair,
	And fumbles her glasses 
	 from out of her purse.

   Healed and lulled to sleep by a glorious, contralto voice. A voice
that washed over her and swept through her. A voice that eased her 
sorrows without trivializing them. A voice that understood terror and
the bloodlust she had found herself fighting, but that had triumphed
over them.
	
	And she reads him the specials,
	He does the ordering,
	They joke with the waitress, 
	 about watching their weight,
	But the waitress says nothing, 
	 she just snaps her gum
	And then brings their dessert,
	That they'll share from one plate.

   She sat back, finally, and relaxed her muscles one by one. Met her 
fear and disgust head on, and found them to be less terrible than she
had earlier imagined; and, slowly, began to master them.

	Sometimes I watch them too closely,
	They notice me staring
	And they smile at me vaguely,
	Not really seeing my face.
	But they know I'm a stranger,
	Not one of their friends
	Who have died, or long since
	Moved away from this place.

   And settled back into a drifting haze, and let a golden voice sink
into her. And gave up her control over her emotions at last, and gently
began to weep.

	They keep to themselves,
	They're each other's shelter,
	Two hearts grown together,
	Two parts of a whole.
	And I smile at them shyly,
	I know I intrude, on this 
	 pair of old lovers,
	And I turn and I go.

   And, as she drifted further from consciousness and the cares of the 
day, seemed to see before her a vision.

	But, you know that I've seen them
	As they leave the cafe,
	He pulls out her chair,
	And he helps her to stand,
	And he holds out her coat,
	And he hugs it around her
	And together they leave,
	Holding each other's hand.

   A vision of herself, older, gray haired. Resting in another furo.
And placing a hand, scarred but still strong, lovingly on the back of
the head resting on her shoulder. A head in whose hair, also mostly
gray, could still be seen the occasional strand of flaming, sunset red.

	And there's a love beyond words
	In their every small gesture,
	As the two old companions 
	 make their way through the town
	There's a love beyond name, 
		beyond years, 
			beyond measure.
	And the days that they share
	Are the stars in their crown.

   And gently slipped into slumber, and dreamed of something unseen.
Something which she loved with all her heart, and which brought her
great joy. But what it was, when she woke up, she was unable to recall.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Akane awoke slowly, to a background of humming and soft, mumbled 
curses. She was lying in her bed and clothed in her nightgown, but it
seemed to be daylight. For a moment she could not remember why she
might be asleep so late in the day, but then memory returned and she
realized that it must be later in the same day; by the angle of the 
light coming in the window she could see it was sometime just after 
noon.

   Akane sat up and perched on the edge of her futon, blinking around
her with still sleepy eyes. There were, she noticed, two things about
the room that were different from the way she had left it this morning.
The first was the tray-table by the side of her futon, loaded with
a tray carrying lunch. The second was Ranma, sitting at her desk, 
wearing one of her old overalls and a shirt slightly too small for her
-- and, she noticed, no bra -- and bent over a homework assignment in
math, which she appeared to be making heavy weather of.

   Akane absently ate her lunch while she tried to make some sense of
the events of the day. She finished just as Ranma hissed in frustration,
crumpled the scratch sheet of paper she was working with, and threw it
across the room. "Stupid thing," she pouted, "I don't think it even
_has_ a solution!" Turning around she grinned at Akane, "Awake at last!
Did you enjoy your lunch ... Acchan?"

   Akane blinkied, 'Acchan? What ... ohmigods ... the furo! What'll she
think of me?" Her hands flew to her face in dismay as she blushed a 
firey red.

   Ranma's grin moderated itself into a gentle smile. "No, Akane, I'm
not mad. In fact, the only other person who has ever called me that was
the very first friend I ever made. I am more honored than I can say that
you have chosen to be the second."

   This did not particularly seem to help Akane's blush, and she looked
down at her folded hands bashfully. "Ar-are you sure, Ranma?" She looked
up at redhead where she sat at the desk. "I've never, that is ...."

   Ranma rose lithely to her feet, and crossed the room to where Akane
sat, hugging her fiercely. "I'm sure, Acchan. As long as you promise
to stay my friend."

   Akane told the sudden tears to go away and hugged her friend back, 
trying to place the sudden thumping in her chest. "I promise, Ranchan.
As long as you promise too."

   Ranma stepped back and extended a pinky, her grin almost splitting
her face. "I promise."

   Akane hooked her pinky through Ranma's and gripped, feeling a grin
taking over her face as well. "I promise too."

   Ranma held the pinky grip a moment, and then stepped back, crossing
her arms over her chest. "Which does _not_, however, get you off of
getting beaten on during training."

   Akane's grin turned crooked, "Wouldn't want it to." Then, jerking
her head at the desk, "What got you so happy over there?"

   "Oh, you would remind me. Feh." Ranma blew her cheeks out and sighed.
She walked back to the desk and sat down, Akane following behind her,
and picked up her pencil. "It's a 'Problem of Multiple Variables in
Multiple Equations' if you please. Bah!"

   Akane leaned over Ranma's shoulder and looked at the problem. "This
one doesn't seem _that_ hard, Ranchan."

   "Hah! So you say, but look at this! These things don't even have the
same terms in them!"

   Akane chuckled and took the pencil from Ranma's hand. "You're trying
too hard, Ranchan. See, you take this equation here -- it reduces to
_this_ variable, see? So you replace the instances of that variable in
_this_ equation and then you ..."

   Fainter now, lower in tone "Oh, that's how... Neat, Acchan! But now 
how...."

   Fainter yet, "You just...."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Nabiki had come home soon after noon, and had eaten a sandwich
before even seeking the furo. Now, around two in the afternoon, she
had just come from a _long_ soak in the hot water, new clothes, and
another large meal, and was beginning to feel human again. She pushed
back her plate and turned to Kasumi, questioning, "Oneechan, where is
everybody else?"

   "Father is sleeping in his room, Nabiki-chan, he took the news very
hard. Ranma-san and Akane-chan are training, I believe." She turned
around and caught Nabiki's eyes, "I didn't get many details, imoutochan, 
how was it, really?"

   Nabiki shuddered violently, "If it hadn't been for Ranma-san we'd 
have all been killed oneechan. And if Akane-chan hadn't _attacked_ the 
thing I don't know if even Ranma-san could have killed it. It just
wouldn't _die_, not even when she cut it's head off!" She shuddered
again.
 
   Kasumi knelt by her and gathered her into a hug, "Akane-chan fighting
monsters. Who would have thought?"

   Nabiki pushed herself back from the hug, "You said they were training,
oneechan? Do you know where they are? I need to talk to Ranma-san."

   Kasumi frowned slightly, "Be careful Nabiki-chan."

   Nabiki shook her head, "I will be, oneechan. I owe her my life, and
so does Akane-chan. But we need to know more about her. I think she 
_knew_ or recognized that thing today. What if there's more of them?"

   Kasumi nodded seriously, "I think they're in the Dojo."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Ranma flowed out of the way of Akane's kick and thumped her on the
head, then called a halt. "Break, Acchan, I've got what I needed, and 
you're getting sloppy."

   She put her back to the dojo wall and placed one foot against it, 
crossed her arms, and looked at Akane consideringly, waiting for her to
regain her breath. "And besides, I think your sister wants something."

   Nabiki moved out from the entrance where she had been lurking just
out of view. "Looking good, Akane-chan, what were you doing just then?"

   Ranma answered, "Just general assessment work Nabiki-san. I wanted 
to make sure that I got where Acchan was _now_ right, so I could figure 
where she needs to go. It's the first time I've really had a student, 
and I want to be sure I get it right."

   Nabiki raised an eyebrow, and Akane stopped panting long enough to
wheeze out, "You talk to Nabiki-oneechan, Ranchan, I'm gonna lie down
and pant for a while." She walked to the wall and sat down beside it,
then flopped down on her back and lay panting.

   Nabiki raised the other eyebrow, 'Acchan? Ranchan? Geeze, what went 
_on_ in that furo, anyway?', but allowed no other sign to cross her 
face; instead she sweetly inquired, "Should we get out of your way and 
let you take a nap, Akane-chan?"

   Akane turned half over and red-eyed her, "Biiiii-da!"

   Ranma smirked, "Was there something you wanted, Nabiki-san, or is
this just one of those sibling rivalry things?"

   Nabiki turned back to her, and serious, at the same time. "Yes, 
Ranma-san, there was. It's about that monster this morning. You acted
as though you knew him."

   "That would be because I did know him, Nabiki-san." She pushed her
tongue into her cheek for a moment, "Mind you, the last time I saw him
there was nothing left but bones, which had just been buried under the
ruins of a stone tower, underneath which were several tons of gunpowder.
Which went off immediately thereafter. So I didn't really suspect that
I'd ever see him _again_, but..."

   She examined Nabiki's face consideringly for a moment, "But I suspect
that what you _actually_ want is the story, ne?"

   Nabiki buffed her nails for a moment, "Why, yes Ranma-san, I believe
it is. Unless," she added calmly, "you would prefer not to tell it?"

   "No, no, it's not secret. It is kind of long though. It might be a
good idea to have Kasumi-san make some snacks and tea. Since I suspect 
that she might wish to hear it too."

   "For some odd reason," Nabiki refrained from smirking, "she has, in 
fact, just finished making some."

   Ranma arched an eyebrow of her own. "Preplanning. The sure sign of a
conspiracy. Come, Acchan, we are summoned to Tea."

   Akane groaned, "What do you mean, 'We', barbarian?"

   "I mean _we_, shirker. As in _you_ and _I_. Because _I_ am summoned
by your sister, and _you_ are summoned by me."

   Akane groaned again, and rolled over, coming to her knees. "Ohhhh.
My sensei's a bully."

   "All senseis are bullies, Acchan." Ranma bopped her on the head, 
"It's the notable trait of the type." And Kasumi came through the door 
with a tray.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

   The girls were seated in a circle around the tray, sitting in the
middle of the dojo floor. Ranma blew softly on a teacup to cool it, and
crooked a grin through the steam at the others. "So. The story. I should
start at the beginning, I guess. And the beginning ..." Her eyes were
focused on something far away, or perhaps long ago, then refocused on
the girls. "The beginning starts with my Dad. Oyaji. And the things you 
need to know about Oyaji number three. First, he's a Martial Artist. 
Second, he is of Low Moral Character. And third, he's an Idiot."

   Nabiki *snrrked* and Akane frowned, glaring at someone non-present.
Ranma grinned crookedly and continued. "Because he's a Martial Artist,
he wanted me to be one too. Because he's an Idiot, he just knew that
this noble goal could not possibly be attempted around my mother, so
he took the opportunity, when I was 5, to take me away on a long train-
ing trip, and never bring me back. And because he's of Low Moral 
Character we spent the next 6 and a half years running from place to
place. Generally, I realize now, to escape some debt or other, or get
away from the results of some theft or scam. Now, when I was 11 or so,
Oyaji found, or bought, or stole, or _something_ this book. These books,
actually -- there were two of them. The first was a Chinese ... guide
to training grounds, I guess. It had only been translated a little and
most of the text was still in Chinese, which Oyaji didn't know how to 
read, but he still got all excited about 'the marvelous possibilities
to seek out strengthening struggle in the service of our Art'." Ranma's
voice went very pompous for a moment, than returned to normal. 

   "Feh. Anyway, the _other_ book was a manual of 'Rare and Forbidden 
Training Techniques', one of which was for the 'Neko-ken', a supposed 
method for training a subject in an Invincible Martial Arts Technique."
Ranma's mouth twisted momentarily, and she sighed. "What you do, the 
book said, is you take the trainee, and the younger the better, and you
cover him or her with fish sausage. Then you find yourself a pit, and
put a bunch of starving ca-ca- .... cats into it. And then you take the
trainee, and you throw them in." Ranma's face was still and far away,
Akane's and Kasumi's were nearly identical masks of horror, and Nabiki's
was as set and still as stone. Ranma's eyes refocussed suddenly, and
she continued, "Then, on the next page of the book, it says that the
_reason_ this technique is 'Rare and Forbidden' is that, One: it doesn't
work, and Two: only a complete idiot would even try it in the first 
place. The trouble was, Oyaji _is_ an Idiot, and he didn't _read_ that 
far." Ranma's mouth twisted again, and she sighed.

   Nabiki's face was terrible in its stillness, but her voice was 
gentle, "So what _does_ the training do Ranma-san?"

   Ranma's voice was equally gentle. "It makes you afraid of cats, 
Nabiki-san."

   Kasumi buried her face in her hands, and Akane's face began to
twist in anger, as Nabiki's control broke at last. "No! I never _would_
have guessed that!" she snarled, "So what did the _genius_ do then?"

   Ranma smiled sadly, and quirked an eyebrow. "Why he devoted the full
force of his Martial Intellect to the problem, of course. And quickly
determined the source of the error. It was quite clear: the author of 
the book had _hidden_ the critical detail! Oh, yes! It simply had to be 
a question of the _bait_ you used, you see. And he set out to resolve 
the detail in the finest scientific fashion. Oh, yes! He repeated the
experiment, only using fish cakes, instead. And then he tried dried 
bream. And then he tried salmon. And then he tried varied sushi. And
then he tried octopus and squid. And then he tried octopus _by itself_.
And then...." Akane broke, and hurled herself into Ranma's shoulder,
wailing. Kasumi turned her head, sobbing muffledly into her hands.
Ranma gently massaged the back of Akane's neck and *hssh*d. "Finally,
it developed that, if you pursue your course with unrelenting intensity,
you will, in fact, teach the trainee an Invincible Technique. The fact 
that the training will have driven her psychotic by that point is 
surely a minor detail by comparison, ne?"

   "So, what happened then?" Nabiki asked, soothing Kasumi.

   "Well, I managed to avoid killing him about 3 times in the next
week ..."

   "Damn!" Nabiki interjected.

   "... but I knew that I couldn't do it forever. The problem, you see,
is that the Invincible Technique works by turning part of your soul
into the soul of a cat. And it's the cat that controls the technique.
A cat that doesn't have a bunch of stuff it wants to have -- like fur, 
and a tail -- and does have a bunch of stuff it doesn't want to have --
like hands, and upright posture -- and which is trying to contend with
being half-human as well, and which is, therefore, Righteously Pissed
Off." 

   "So what did *snnf*, what did you do, Ranchan?"

   Ranma shrugged, "I beat him up, and told him that I was leaving.
He'd had 6 and a half years to train me and see what I'd gotten from it.
Then he wailed and whined and I said I'd come back in 6 and a half
years and see which of us had done a better job. If I could beat him,
he'd acknowledge me as the head of the school, and go back to work to 
help support it until I got it back on its feet. If I lost I'd go back 
to training under him at whatever he wanted. He said he'd meet me at
this training ground in China he'd just found in the other book he'd 
got: a place in Qing-hai province up against the Byankala range. Said
it was named Jhusenkyou. I promised I'd be there in 6 and a half years
and beat feet. That was 5 years and 11 months ago."

   Ranma poured herself another cup of tea and blew on it, gazing at
the sisters through the steam until a measure of calm was restored. 
Then she continued, "When I left Oyaji I went hunting something that
could help me with controlling the cat. I finally wound up at a Zen
monastery in northern Hokkaido, where I spent the next 6 months. When
I left the monastery, I had managed to stuff the cat down under deep 
control and the Neko-ken with it; although I was still afraid of cats,
I didn't go berserk about it unless I couldn't get away. Then I headed
into China, and made my way north, to Jhusenkyou. The idea I had, you 
see, was that -- if this place was the wonderful training ground Oyaji
was so fired up about -- then I could study there, and if it wasn't I'd
still have gotten an idea about the lay of the land, maybe enough to
give me an edge in case Oyaji actually managed to put up a fight. There
isn't much to say about the trip ... well, actually that's not true.
There's a lot to say about the trip, but that's not the story I'm
telling, so I won't digress into it." 

   Ranma paused for a moment, and sipped her tea. "The only item of
real interest to _this_ story was when, one day, I was walking along a
road in Qing-hai itself, trying to find out where the bloody training
ground actually _was_. I came round the corner of a hill, and nearly
walked into this girl. She had purple hair, was wielding these silly-
looking mace thingies, and was trying to stare down a tiger. Now, it's
an interesting thing to say, but the 'training' Oyaji put me through
did seem to have _one_ good effect; I'm afraid of cats, yes, but only
_house_cats. Other kinds, like tigers, don't effect me at all. Plus
which, the phobia about cats seems to have sucked up all the fear I 
have in me. On the one hand, that means that when the nekophobia hits
it hits _hard_; but on the other hand, I don't have much left for any-
thing _else_, so when I get into situations like that I don't panic.
Which was a good thing, at the time. Anyway, I remembered about some
animals making themselves look bigger and louder to frighten off an
attacker, and figured that I didn't have much to lose. So I jumped up
_way_ high and _yelled_ at the top of my lungs. And it must have worked,
'cause the tiger turned and ran off like his tail was on fire." Ranma 
gave another grin, and continued. "Anyway, that was how I met Shan Pu."

   "Shan turned out to be the champion-apparent of the village of the
Josoketsuku -- who are a fairly fierce group of warriors that live 
thereabouts -- and by the time we got back to her village, she was the 
second friend I'd ever made. So I spent some time in the village, and
learned a few tricks, and it turned out that they _did_ know where
Jhusenkyou was, only they didn't want to tell _me_. It seemed, they said,
that the whole valley of Jhusenkyou was cursed, and anyone who went there
would probably get cursed too. Well, I reckoned that I was too smart to
fall for an obvious dodge like _that_, and one night I snuck out of the
village and traveled to the valley where Jhusenkyou was." Ranma's eyes
were far away again, and she sighed. "I've always wished I'd listened
to Cologne-obaasama; I might have spared myself a lot of grief. She'd
been right, you see, the valley of Jhusenkyou _is_ cursed, and if you
go there you probably _will_ end up cursed too. I don't know what all
the curses of Jhusenkyou do, but the one thing that they _all_ do is 
the one thing that really makes them curses: after you go there, you
live in interesting times."

   Ranma paused a moment and sipped more tea. "And I don't mean 'nice'
interesting either. _Not_nice interesting is the order of the day, here.
If you stumble, you fall down a hill. And there's a dung-heap at the 
bottom, too. And you don't even get to break your fall, oh no, there's
a rock waiting under it, you can bet. If anything falls out of the sky,
it lands on your head; if you go through a bush, you find the thorns, 
and if it doesn't _have_ thorns there'll be a bramble growing there,
instead; if somebody shoots an arrow at you and ten other people, 
_you're_ the one standing in the way. Well, I already knew that the
Josoketsuku didn't have any way to cure the curses, and I was too 
embarrassed to go back after I ignored their warnings anyway, so I 
wandered back south instead. I never did find a cure for the curse in 
China, but I did finally end up in a place that led to my eventually 
finding one elsewhere, and also to my meeting that noble gentleman we 
entertained earlier today, and to a bunch of other stuff as well. The 
reason is this," she opened her shirt slightly, and took an amulet of 
silver from around her neck, laying it in the center of the circle, 
"and how and why I got it is a story in itself."

   Nabiki picked up the amulet and examined it, showing it to Akane and
Kasumi. It was made of fretted silver, chased with interlocking dragons
and spirits around the outside. Mounted so as to entirely take up
one face of the amulet was a small, cracked mirror. Mounted on the
other side was a triangular piece of pottery, perhaps two inches on a
side, covered with patterns that looked like stretched cords, or ropes.
Nabiki turned it over and about in her hands as Ranma went on.

   "The place I ended up was Hong Kong, and in order to understand the
story I'm about to tell you have to know the one cardinal thing about
my character at the time: I was a barbarian."

   Nabiki raised an eyebrow and smirked, "_At the time_, Ranma-san?"

   "Of course, Nabiki-san. Now, I'm only _uncivilized_."

   "Ah. I see. Do go on."

   Ranma smirked, herself, and did so. "I hadn't been around people 
much at all, 'cause Oyaji'd moved around so much, and I was what you
might call 'sheltered' about a lot of things as a result. So, when,
just after I got to the city, I saw this girl who was wearing about
half of nothing -- and that mostly torn -- all _I_ thought was, 'isn't
that _cold_?'" Nabiki sniggered and both Akane and Kasumi blushed.
Ranma's grin turned crooked as she continued. "And when this guy came
out of an alley and pushed her up against a wall, all I thought was
that he shouldn't use that knife to make a girl cry like that. So I
took the knife away from him and broke his arms a couple times and ran
him off. Then I went to see if the girl was alright. Her name turned
out to be Masuda Kee, and she was half japanese, a geisha, and, as far
as I could see, badly in need of someone to tell her to come in out of 
the rain. Now, at the time, I didn't know the difference between a 
geisha and a fish-seller, but I did know something about surviving on
the road, and on the streets as well. As it turned out later, Kee-
'moutochan did not, being of that temperament that fails to concentrate 
on business because it gets too caught up in its work."

   Nabiki was keeping her face straight with an effort, and Akane and
Kasumi were reddening alarmingly, but Ranma merely grinned more
crookedly yet. "She had offended several of the local street trash by
being insufficiently grateful for their 'protection' and had attracted
far too much attention -- and customers -- for safety. So I appointed
myself as her 'older' sibling, and began trying to figure out where to 
go to hook up with someone who could keep track of business for her,
and put a roof over her head. In the process I managed to offend someone
myself. This led to my inadvertently eating a plate of mushrooms that
had been drenched in LSD and laced with about 20 grams of pure opium.
Fortunately I didn't eat the whole thing, but it was enough to addict 
me and trip me too, and I went down hard. Kee-chan put me to bed and
kept me off my feet when I was raving, long enough to work through the
trip. And it turned out to be the solution to her problem, because 
she rented a room from -- and explained her problem too -- someone on 
the shady side who knew someone who knew someone who knew someone, who
mentioned it to the okaasama of the Dream of the Jade Pagoda of the
Golden Door of Infinite Bliss."

   Nabiki choked briefly, "The Dream of Jade? That's the best pleasure
house in Hong Kong!"

   Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Why, yes it is Nabiki-san. And we're all
wondering how it is you came to know that."

   Nabiki blushed, but held her chin up. "I keep my ear to the ground",
she said, attempting to retain what was left of her dignity.

   "Of course you do," Ranma said, straight-facedly, "that's perfectly
sound business practice."

   Nabiki disdained to reply, and Ranma grinned and continued. "Liang-
okaasama decided that Lee-chan should go to work for her, since the best 
-- or at least most enthusiastic -- geisha in Hong Kong should work 
for the best pleasure house anyway. So that fixed Lee-imoutochan's 
problem, and provided me, after I recovered, with an opportunity to
expand my education a bit." Ranma's eyes twinkled wickedly and Akane's
blush expanded visibly. Kasumi, on the other hand, had achieved the
determinedly unaffected countenance of one who Is Not Hearing This.

   Nabiki coughed, and squeaked "You mean...?"

   Ranma fixed her with a very speaking look, and asked, "What would
_you_ have done? Besides, can you think of a _better_ time or place?"

   Nabiki muttered something about "twelve", but did not seem otherwise
inclined to reply to this question. Akane was bravely fighting off 
unconsciousness from excessive blood drain to the face, but surprised
herself with a giggle. Kasumi was still in the land of the selectively
deaf, and therefore Ranma went on unhindered. "That aside, however, and 
continuing with my story, it was at the Golden Door that I met Oniichan
Kai. He was a genin for the Black Wave Yakuza," Nabiki started, "and he 
used to bring his wife and their daughter to the Golden Door's restaur-
ant for dinner. He sort of adopted me at the time, and I always looked 
on him as the big brother I'd never had, and I was friends with Oneesan 
Asako too. Imoutochan Kaiko was my little sister along with Kee-chan 
and for a while there I thought that I'd found a family and wouldn't 
need to go anywhere else while I waited to beat up on Oyaji. I'd made 
contact with the local Temple too, and I'd go to train there, or 
Kai-oniichan would use his contacts to get me some lessons with one of 
the wandering masters, or he'd train me himself, or Liang-okaasama 
would use her contacts or...."

   Ranma's eyes were fixed in time and space, looking at something far
away. She sighed and a suspicious glimmer began to gather at the corner
of her eye. "I suppose I should have known better. Liang-okaasama had
made the Golden Door a neutral ground in the Hong Kong underside and the
city's major underworld clans were sort of united around it, not so much
in coalition, as in a mutual understanding that violence and unrest was
bad for business. The Black Wave was the most powerful Yakuza clan in 
the city, along with the Silver Skull and the Golden Sword, and they
and the most powerful of the Triads enforced a sort of peace on the
more ... 'established' parts of the underworld, as it were. Needless
to say, some of the _less_ established parts were not too happy about
that, and one day we found out that this guy named Master Po had
organized a war. He had been a master in one of the older Triads, and
was some kind of sorcerer too, so he had a fairish amount of support
just on his own hook; and then he'd organized most of the little gangs 
and rings and such into an army, too. Alongside that, he'd made an 
alliance with the powers of Darkness, and he could command or bargain 
with the undead, so he had about 30 or 40 vampires as shock troops."

   Ranma put down her teacup and leaned forward, sighing again. "The
whole thing was very quiet, but it was also extremely ugly and for a
while there we were hard pressed. But Kai-oniichan organized the
enforcers of the major organizations into a counter-army, and the temple
monks and priests made a bunch of peachwood swords and wards and things
that the vampires couldn't handle, and I got the street-folk organized
to use them and some basic weaponry and we killed all the vamps that
didn't run and we drove the upstarts back to the wall. Then we were
betrayed."

   Nabiki spoke up hesitantly, "Ranma-san, I'd heard some rumors about
a big shake-up in one of the major Hong Kong clans a while back, but
no one ever had any details. Could that have been...?"

   Ranma nodded, pricking tears. "Oyabun Mikoji died very suddenly. It
might have been natural, he was about 80, but I've always suspected
that Po got to him somehow. I _know_ he got to others, 'cause Mikoji-
dono's successor suddenly decided that Master Po had the secret to
'Eternal Life' and the Black Wave and the Fire Harmony Triad switched
sides. Maybe Master Po was a vampire himself, and he turned the leaders,
I don't know. What I do know is that suddenly the dead started rising
up around our feet, and vampires started coming out of the walls, and
half our soldiers were on the other side all of a sudden and knew our
plans to boot." 

   Ranma shivered for a moment, eyes again far off. "The only way out 
that I could see was to take Po out before he could consolidate, and 
hope that the shock dispelled all the zombies and things, or at least 
slowed them down. So I organized what I could get my hands on and we 
went through the front of their defenses. It helped that I'd gotten one 
of the zombies restrained, 'cause I showed the thing off to the Black 
Wave troops on that section and three fourths of them changed sides 
again. Anyway we broke the defense of Po's sanctum and I went in to get 
him, but I discovered that he'd called all his proteges in for a 
conference, and they'd brought their guards with them. So we plowed 
into them, and when it was over the only two left standing were me and
Kai-oniichan, who'd been commanding the guards."

   Akane gasped in sympathy, "Ranchan, why didn't he switch sides too?
Didn't you tell him ...?"

   Ranma looked at her through gathering tears. "Because he was a 
Samurai, Acchan, and wouldn't leave his Lord's side."

   Akane nodded, eyes also dimmed by tears, and Ranma continued. "So
I knew Po and the others were just beyond him, and I knew he wouldn't
get out of my way, and I knew I couldn't beat him. So I turned loose
the cat, and the last thing I remember before I woke up in the middle
of the pile of corpses that had used to be Master Po and his lieutenants
and the traitors was batting Kai-oniichan out of the way, and he went
through a wall trailing blood."

   Akane gathered Ranma to her, and the redhead nestled her face into
her friend's shoulder for a long minute, silently weeping. When she
regained control she sat back and wiped her eyes, and continued. "We 
never did recover Oniichan's body, but the place had been pretty badly 
damaged in the fight and the whole thing burned down and exploded right
after that, so that's not too surprising. Anyway I couldn't stay in the
city after that, so I made what arrangements I could for Asako-oneesan
and Kaiko-imoutochan, and got ready to leave. Then the Abbot of the 
temple took me aside and told me that the temple had been guarding 
something for a couple centuries now, but he felt I was worthy and he
wanted me to have it."

   Ranma gestured at the amulet in the center of the circle and kept on.
"Well, I didn't _feel_ worthy, but the Abbot said that it could help
me find what I needed so I took it anyway. What it was, was the mirror
set into that amulet there, and the Abbot said it was the, or maybe _a_,
Nanban Mirror, and it was a magic mirror of travel. So I put it in my
pack, and took some of the money I had, and came back to Tokyo at last.
I was deeply depressed, still in shock, and had no idea what I was going
to do with my life, or even if I should bother. I was thirteen years 
old. So, just after I got back, I took a trip to see Fuji-san. I was 
completely bummed out and seeing the happy people all around didn't 
help, and I had this stupid mirror in my pack and it wasn't doing
anything at all. So I found this little clearing and took it out and 
yelled at it. It didn't do anything, and finally I started crying, and 
that was how I found out how it works."

   Akane frowned, "You mean...?"

   Ranma nodded firmly. "Yep. Tears. Tears or blood. Drop them onto
the mirror and it'll take you away. _But_. You see that the Mirror is
cracked? So sometimes it takes you where you ask to go. And _sometimes_ 
it takes you where you _want_ to go. And sometimes it takes you where
you _need_ to go. And sometimes -- if you're unlucky -- it takes you
where you _deserve_ to go."

   Nabiki asked "Can anyone use it?" as Akane overrode her with, "So
where did it take you, Ranchan?"

   Ranma smirked and answered Nabiki first. "Maybe once, Nabiki-san, but
not any more. I've spilled too much blood on it, and it'll only work
for me until I die. And as to where it took me.... Well. I knew as
soon as it happened that it had done _something_, but I didn't know 
_what_. So I started looking around, and I noticed that Fuji-san was
smaller. Now I was standing in the same place and hadn't moved as far
as I could tell, but still it wasn't the same place at all. So I started
walking around, and I noticed that I must have been in much the same
place but some of the landmarks weren't there. And others were changed
and there wasn't any sign of people around at all. Eventually I found
an open space in the woods, and followed that to a stream. I followed
the stream along for a day or so, and finally broke out into a cleared
field. Now I'd been seeing the right trees and plants for the area all 
around me, and Fuji-san was still there so I knew I must still be in
Japan, but I also knew it wasn't _my_ Japan. So when I walked around
the outer edge of the field and came in sight of the village the field
was a part of and found that it was all in really ancient form houses
and stuff, and that the people in it were Ainu, I wasn't as surprised
as I might have been otherwise."

   Nabiki started and Kasumi gasped, "Ainu! Near Fuji-san? Kami, how
far back did you go?"

   Ranma smiled crookedly. "From research I did later, Kasumi-san, I 
figure about 2500 to 3000 years." Akane shook her head in shock and
Ranma grinned at her. "So I was walking along the edge of the field,
not looking at the ground, and I trod on something and it dug into my
foot. I picked it up, and took it into the village. Now the village
didn't know what to do with me at all, and it didn't help that I was
pissed off, but they figured that I must be a spirit or something and
sent for the shaman. The shaman was a smart old bugger, and we figured
out how to puzzle out a few concepts. I asked him what the hell they
thought they were doing to leave things like that out where they could
bite people, and he said that it wasn't theirs. They just popped up,
he said. They'd been made by somebody back at the dawn of time, and
then they'd all gotten broke and scattered about when the world came to
an end. Or something like that, anyway. So I said that if they gave me
a place to sleep and some food I wouldn't be mad at them. So they shared
what they had, which wasn't much, and it was good that they did, 'cause
that night some bandit types came out of the forest and I had to run
them off."

   Ranma poured herself another cup of tea. "I'd had to kill a couple 
of the bandits, and the next morning I tried to talk to the shaman 
again. It turned out that the village didn't actually have anything
to take except a little food, but the bandits would take anything they
could get. Later that night I looked at the pottery piece I'd stepped
on -- that's it on the back of the amulet -- and I noticed something.
The piece had been broken off its pot when somebody hit it with an axe.
If you look you can see the signs at the top. So I used the mirror to
go back to Tokyo, and went to a museum. The guy I talked to there said
it was a Jomon pot, and figured that it must be 5000 years old at least.
And I sat down _that_ night and thought about it some more, and I 
realized that some poor guy had made this pot, and needed it for some-
thing. And some other bastard had come along and broken it, and prob-
ably killed the guy that made it too. And it had waited 2000 years in
the ground so it could come up and bite my foot, so I would stay in
a little village where little people lived who hardly had enough for
their families to eat. And then another group of bastards had come out
of the forest to break all _their_ stuff and kill _them_, but I'd 
stopped them instead. And I'd just come from 3000 years ahead of those
little people, where I'd been living in a city with another group of
little people trying to get on with their lives, and yet _another_ set
of bastards had come out of the wilderness and tried to kill and mess
up _them_, just so they could steal what _they_ had. And it came to me
that, if I went wandering around living with groups of little people
trying to get on with their lives long enough, probably any set of 
them that you cared to name was eventually going to have some set of
bastards or other come out of the wilderness and try to kill them and
break all their stuff so they could steal whatever they had. And if I
was there, then I could stop them from doing it. And that was about as
good a life plan as anyone like me was ever going to get. So I took the
mirror and had it mounted in the amulet, and had the guy put the pot-
shard on the other side, to thank it for the lesson. And then I asked
the mirror to take me to somewhere I could learn to become a protector,
and cut my arm and bled on it, and I was off."

   Akane's eyes were bright and she leaned forward. "So where did you 
end up that time, Ranchan?"

   "Well I ended up on top of a hill, and when I tried to get my 
bearings I tripped and rolled down it and when I reached the bottom of
the hill I ended up at the feet of this tall, handsome, noble-looking
guy with a samurai's swords and topknot and the clothing of a wandering
ronin. Except he was a rabbit. And that was how I met Usagi."

   "W-wait just a minute, Ranchan. A rabbit?" Akane blinked in 
confusion.

   Ranma nodded. "Usagi's world is basically Japan in 1620 CE or so,
except most of the people are (what's the word?) ... Anthropomorphics!
That's it. You know, human-shaped animals, like in a manga. So there's
Bulls and Bears and Cats and Rabbits and Foxes .... Daimyo Noriyuki
is a _Panda_ of all things, for instance. So, to continue, Usagi-dono,
that's Miyamoto Usagi by the way, had been a samurai in the service of
the Daimyo Mifune. Mifune was the enemy of Daimyo Hijiki, and about
five or six years before I'd met them, in the last part of the battles 
for the Shogunate, they'd come to blows. Lord Mifune would probably
have won, but Hijiki is a plotter, and he plotted well. Two of Mifune's
allies turned traitor, along with one of his generals and the commander
of his bodyguard. Usagi was away from his side acting as a courier at
the time and he got back too late, Gunichi had run off and Lord Mifune
was mortally injured. A samurai's loyalty doesn't end just because his
lord is dead, and so Usagi wanders serving his master's cause as best
he can as a ronin." 

   Akane sniffed and wiped her eyes and Ranma smiled wistfully. "It's 
all very sweet and touching and honorable, and Usagi-dono is handsome
and noble and kind, so I was more than willing to follow him around
and train with him."

   Nabiki grinned twistedly, "Get lucky?" Akane bopped her on the head.

   Ranma pouted. "No, darn it! There's such a thing as being _too_ 
noble. Although I see now that he was basic ly already taken anyway. And
I did manage to retain _most_ of my dignity. But I learned a lot about
combat, and honor, and the sword, and traveling with Usagi is good
for putting polish on young warriors if it's good for nothing else. I
met a number of his friends and aquaintances, and managed to spend a
month or two with a few of them as well. After, I left and used the 
mirror to go a few years later in our own Japan for a while and then
jumped back and forth to here and there training in whatever Art was
available wherever I went. But I would go back to the wanderer's road
to check on my friends from time to time."

   Nabiki quirked an eyebrow. "Just to check, hmmm?"

   Ranma shrugged. "You get better adventures with Usagi and company
around, and they _are_ my friends. Plus, to be honest, it's enormously
liberating to be so free that the only thing that you have to worry
about is if there's an inn in the direction you woke up facing, and
that only because it's the direction you're walking now. At least until
the first couple of times you spend a wet, cold, fireless night 'cause
there _wasn't_ one, anyway. And that takes a while."

   Kasumi and Nabiki had acquired far off looks, and Akane looked
slightly wistful. "So what about Jei-san, Ranchan?"

   Ranma shrugged. "Jei's from Usagi's world of course. He used to be
a samurai or some such. I ran into him several times and didn't enjoy
any of the experiences, but they weren't like today. As for what he is?
The first couple of times I met him he seemed completely human, or wolf,
or whatever. Mad as a monk in a morass, mind you, but human. He's always
claimed to be the champion of the gods and such, but _which_ god he's
never said. If he knows. Generally he speaks of a 'sacred mission', 
which always involves mayhem and slaughter of some type, and says that
when he completes it he will be lifted up and granted divinity. He has
before been shown to be fast, strong, damn good with a sword, deadly
with a yari, tough, possessed of some kind of tracking sense if he's 
hunting you, and very hard to permanently kill -- he always seems to
come back."

   Ranma rubbed her chin for a moment and considered. "The first time
I met him, he just started ranting and attacked me. Since I was with
Usagi-dono and Tomoe-san -- Noriyuki-sama's chief retainer -- at the
time, that was a particularly stupid thing to do. It wasn't really
much of a fight and we left him by the roadside, dead, as we thought 
at the time. He came back on us and kidnapped the son of the headmaster
of Usagi's old village to get Usagi to fight him. Usagi did, and sent
him over a cliff with his yari in his side. The third time that I met
him was the only time I ever managed to get close to Hijiki in a fight.
Hijiki's not nearly the fighter that he is a plotter, and I nearly had
him, but Jei came out of nowhere and saved the bastard. I cut Jei's 
heart in two for it, but I didn't get to see what happened to him
after that, because Hijiki took advantage of my distraction and did 
this." Ranma indicated her throat, and the scar she bore there.

   Ranma tapped her chin with her index finger for a moment. "The last
time that I saw Jei before this morning ... Was about a year ago in my
timeline. I had run into the little bugger unexpectedly, on the road,
and had dueled with him a little. Then he broke off and started moving.
I thought it was weird and pursued. It worked out that he'd been sent
or moved by his patron or something, because about twenty miles away or
so I ran into Usagi. He was with Gennosuke-san and Zato-ino and about 
thirty or so Neko clan Ninja. They were preparing to assault this 
castle, the fortress of a moderately important lord named Tamakuro, and 
Jei had gone for the fortress like he'd been pulled by a string. 
Tamakuro, according to Usagi and the leader of the ninja -- a guy named
Shingen -- had gathered together a store of about three hundred arque-
buses and a couple tons of ammunition and was preparing to rebel against 
the Shogun. We found out later that Hijiki was behind it in some way, 
but as usual he didn't leave any evidence you could use. Anyway we 
attacked the place and broke through the wall; Usagi went off hunting 
for Tomoe-san, who was imprisoned there, and Gen and Zato-ino got 
pinned down holding off about half the garrison near the main gate. 
This left it up to Shingen-san and I to lead the ninja against the 
armory; we did alright for a while, but then Jei stuck his nose in. He 
smashed into the side of our assault and killed Shingen-san and a dozen 
or so ninja, which threw the rest into confusion; I went after him and 
chased him up into the fortress proper. Usagi had found Tomoe-san and he 
and she had rallied the ninja and mounted another assault on the armory, 
but Tamakuro had gained enough time to regroup and bring the rest of 
his guards to the central defense and they were driven back. In the 
mean-time I had run into Jei and a samurai I knew to be one of Hijiki's 
chief axes preparing to lead the rest of the guards to trap the rest 
inside the castle. I scattered the guards and got involved in a fight 
with Jei and Akkhoto that damn near killed me, but I maneuvered them 
into one spot in front of the central tower and called the dragon wind 
on them. _That_ time it worked -- it didn't this morning -- and Jei 
went down with the tower falling on top of him. About that time I got a 
very strong impulse to beat feet and did so, which turned out to be a 
good thing, 'cause something had struck a spark or something in the 
ammunition room and the whole damn place blew sky high. Now that was 
the first time that I knew A:) that Jei had not only been mortally 
injured but had actually _died_, and, B:) that the body was destroyed a
nd not lost track of."

   Ranma paused for a moment and sipped the last of her tea. "I don't
really know how he got out of that, but his showing up _here_ just 
confirms what you could get from the fact that he showed up at all;
which is that he has some _major_ supernatural backing. That, combined
with the abilities, weaknesses and immunity to damage he showed this
morning makes me think that he may have been turned into a Chiang Shih.
That would mean that someone had done something to his higher 'hun'
soul and then corrupted his 'po' soul ... or replaced it altogether,
now that I think of it. He was definitely slower and less skilled than
he should have been, which would fit, 'cause his 'body soul' would be
messed up and wouldn't have all the same skill and 'feel' he'd be used 
to. He'd also be damn near impossible to permanently damage, which 
definitely fits. Normally you'd also expect him to be vulnerable to 
sunlight, but he obviously wasn't. This is probably due to the power he 
was throwing around - that green fire. It showed all the signs of being 
a serious yin chi manifestation, and from the way it acted I'm betting 
it was the main thing holding his body together."

   "Which would mean what?", Nabiki asked softly.

   Ranma's eyes were focused on the problem, rather than the girls. 
"Which would mean that he was something closer to a demon than a Chiang
Shih per se, Nabiki-san. He'd be using the body only as a means to
move his power around and not really be connected to it at all ...", 
her eyes narrowed and her voice went soft, "not connected ... now that 
I mention it I didn't see any sign of his 'hun' soul at all did I? I cut
out the 'po' soul and _it_ was in the heart instead of the lungs, but
I didn't see the 'hun' at all. Which could mean that he was using the
power to animate the body and the body to contain the power and the
'po' soul to control it all ... and that would explain why the body 
blew up like that when I took the soul out ... but the 'hun' soul had
to be _somewhere_, and if it wasn't _there_ ... then he must have been 
given a way to run the body 'long-distance', as it were ... which 
would mean ...."

   "Which would mean that he could come back, wouldn't it, Ranchan?",
asked Akane very quietly.

   Ranma frowned worriedly. "Yeah, it would."

   Nabiki was also very quiet. "If it does come back, what can we do,
Ranma-san?"

   Ranma's gaze was level. "You can hide, Nabiki-san. And if you can't
hide, then you can run." She transferred her gaze to Akane, who met it
levelly. "_You_, I'll work with, since I don't suppose I can convince
you to be sensible and keep out of it."

   "No, Ranchan, you can't. As long as you're fighting it, I will be
too."

   A quiet settled over Akane and Ranma, who were sitting with their
gazes locked on each other's eyes. Nabiki and Kasumi quietly stood up,
gathered up the tray and tea things and left the dojo. Eventually
Ranma leaned forward and ran her thumb in a circle around Akane's 
forehead. "Marked with the sign. Just like me." Standing up, "Come on,
Acchan, you haven't done anywhere near enough training yet."

   Akane moaned theatrically as she rose. "Ohhhh. My sensei's a bully."

   "All senseis are bullies, Acchan." Ranma bopped her on the head, 
"It's the notable trait of the type. Assume."

   "Oh, Kamis."

   "Kumite."

   "Help."

   *Hsssh*, *shrk*, *th-thmp* *shrk* *hssh*. *rtch-THUMP*. "Ite!"

   "Slacker."

   "Bully."

   "Shirker. Assume."

   "Baka. Friends?"

   "Friends forever, I promise. Kumite." *Hssh*, *rtch-thp*, *th-thmp* 
*shrk*, *thmp-thmp-SPLT* 

   "Ite!"

   "Which does not, however, get you out of getting beat on." *rtch-
thp*, *shrk-hshh-shrk-rtch*.

   "Wouldn't want it any other way." *th-thmp*, *shrk*, *thmp-thmp-THAP*
*whhsh-rtch-THMP!* "HA!" 

   "Good one." *THUMP-WHAP-WHAM* 

   "Ite!"

   "Just don't get cocky."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Whew. Well, that was about twice as long as I expected, and it isn't
over yet, either.

Next: Ranma and Akane train some more. Ranma talks to Akane about her
future. Assumptions about the Art are explicated. More background
gets filled in. And Ranma and Akane go shopping, again.

Ranma and Akane: A Love Story.
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part D: Pursuit to Destruction: East Wind, Rain.

Coming as soon as I can write it, to a FFML near you.

Eric Hallstrom  hallcon@mindspring.com