Featherbrite's Tale, the Bet. Rough version
by Gregg Sharp based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char
Metroanime@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/greggsharp/index.html
2a: A New Challenge  (ANC again)
--------------Faerie Realm---------------------------------
	Featherbrite looked over the sleeping amazon
that she had brought here and decided how best to do this.
She wanted to get this woman warrior to Ranma as soon as
possible, but the ships making the journey were all steel and
iron <shudder> and Shampoo couldn't swim that sort of
distance. Shampoo's experience with swimming so far had
been restricted to mountain streams.

	Featherbrite had gotten to know the amazon over
the past few hours, and as this was the first girl who had ever 
shown any interest in Ranma, Featherbrite wanted this to go 
right. This was a major step in separating Ranma (her friend)
from his father (nasty stupid brute) and in Ranma's maturity. 
She'd read a book on the subject once. While it hadn't made a
whole lot of sense to the faerie, the bits about dating and
sex had struck her as being fascinating.

	No doubt the transformation from boy to man
was something mystical triggered by such behavior. 

	Featherbrite grabbed a few nuts and berries
that would have fascinated a botanist, then fed the 
sleeping amazon. An application of Will and thousands
of years of experience were enough, otherwise Shampoo
would never have been able to leave.

	Featherbrite continued to concentrate as
Shampoo shuddered in her sleep and began to shrink.
Featherbrite murmured a few soothing words into the
girl's ear. A battle of wills now would have been disastrous,
but this was the fastest method the faerie could think of
getting Shampoo to where Ranma was.

	The faerie looked over the transformed amazon,
nodding. It wasn't perfect, but it was only supposed to 
last until the next sunset anyway.
---------------Furinkan SHS------------------------------
	Ranma sat back against the tree, watching
the crowds, and sighed deeply. After the fight with
Kuno had come repeated demands from faculty and
students to see the curse operate again and again.

	He'd been fondled, pinched, had a wing
almost torn off, and had the school biology teacher
waxing almost Kuno-esque about the possibility of
a full biopsy.

	Even as much as Akane disliked him, she
had turned a bit green at some of the details that 
Mister Hisakawa had been expounding.

	Bringing him here. At lunch, back against
a tree, with nobody willing to talk TO him but almost
everyone talking ABOUT him. Not really having an
appetite, he took out his flute instead.

	Featherbrite had given him another flute to
replace the one she had made, bringing it from somewhere
within the Faerie Realms. It looked like it was bamboo,
but Genma's best efforts hadn't put a scratch in it. She
said it was an old instrument crafted by a Lord of Elvish.

	Ranma began to play in the manner that he
had been taught by Featherbrite. He began with the tune
"Greensleeves" but poured his feelings into it, and it
became something entirely different. 

	He didn't consider that when a normally
gifted musician puts all his heart into a piece, it can take
on a sort of magic. When the musician in question was
trained by one of the Faerie, and when the instrument
being used was crafted and enchanted by a Lord of Magic,
the results could be far-reaching.

	Sayuri cried as the music told of a child's 
loneliness as he was taken from his home and mother to
wander the cold and the rain with an indifferent father.

	Yuka grew angry as the flute told of how
a child could be tortured for the sake of the Art, and of
pain endured repeatedly and senselessly. Of a restless
dark where eyes maddened by hunger gleamed.

	Hiroshi stared at nothing in particular as the
flute skirled through brief passages of friendship found
and eagerly accepted, then lost again and again as the
open road called the father on to other places.

	Daisuke knew exactly what the flute spoke of
as it told of being alone in a crowd, of no one to call friend
or kin or confidant. Of having to keep the world at bay
rather than grow too close to anyone, rather than risk having
one's heart rended by their loss.

	Tatewaki Kuno heard the flute sweep through
a passage of despair as another friend left, of the feeling
of sadness at having been challenged to a battle by one
who had been deemed friend. He listened to the flute speak
of life without a home, without a family, and felt unfamiliar
feelings stir within his heart.

	Nabiki stared out the window at the flautist and
listened to the flute speak of days and nights without food
or water, no bed or shelter. The song seemed to speak of
a lifetime of poverty and privation, of times of such loneliness
as one's heart seemed to be reduced to cold stone and ash
and the bitter taste of it filled one's mouth.

	The flute briefly broke into a bubbly happy tune
that brought smiles to many faces, speaking of a friend found,
one who didn't quite understand, but was there for him. Hikaru
Gosunkugi felt he understood the loneliness, and longed for
such a friend himself-someone who could touch his soul and
bring the sun out of the darkness.

	Akane flinched as the flute spoke of becoming cursed,
of such a simple thing as one's body being taken and _twisted_
into a new form, without control, without any warning. The flute
sang on about being overwhelmed as everything was thrown into
chaos with a single careless moment.

	Keiko Amano stopped her article in the school paper
as the flute erupted into the joy of finding oneself able to fly, to
leave behind the anchors to the ground and soar effortlessly 
through the clouds. For a brief shining moment, Keiko understood
what it was like to be freed from trudging along the ground, and
instead to twirl and dance along the winds themselves.

	Both Akane and Nabiki winced as the flute spoke of
new hope dawning, of extending one's hands and craving friendship,
only to find disgust, distrust, dislike, and needless cruelty as others
sought to distance themselves, rather than leave their own hearts 
vulnerable.

	The flute finished, speaking this time of being an
exhibit on display, of being judged unclean, of having the curse
triggered repeatedly for no more than a moment's cruel entertainment.
Again it spiraled, speaking of hardships endured, and still more
loneliness and the horrors of being forced to endure further
ostracism.

	Ranma put the flute away, he always felt better after 
having played. As if a burden had been shifted. He ate the obento
that Kasumi had prepared and wondered why everyone was
looking in his direction.
----------------Sea Of Japan, "fishing" vessel  Myo Na Maru(1)--------
	"Captain? Captain Fujii?"

	Captain Fujii put aside her recently acquired copy of
"Love's Fiery Embrace" and grumbled that this had better be good.
She'd been waiting for the Japanese version for months.

	"Radar contact. Something is coming up fast." The
scruffy looking helmsman stuck his head in the doorway.

	Fujii nodded. The werecat was a solid crewmember,
she should have known it was something serious to get him 
to interrupt her reading. "What is it? Coast guard? Madame 
Lao?(2) Chinese Military? Please, don't it let be the damn Flying
Dutchman again. I swear they must have a Hibiki navigating."

	"Unknown, cap'n," Neko-san grimaced at the thought
of the ghost ship. They encountered it every so often. Too damn
often by his standards. "Whatever it is, it's airborne and very small.
Too slow to be a missile, though."

	"Okay, that lets out Gojira, the Flying Dutchman, and
probably Lao." Fujii thought about it, nothing was on deck to
indicate what their vessel really was, and unless you were familiar
with the bizarre history of the ship designated in several port 
authorities as "That Damn Ship" or the "H.M.S. Weirdness Magnet"
by others...

	"Well, let's see it." Fujii trailed after Neko-san, pausing
only to nod at the male amazon at the controls. Talcum pulled a hidden
switch and a few key preparations were made, just in case.

	Neko-san stared off to the West, trying to catch a glimpse
of the object.

	The dot became a shape, though they were only a few
hundred yards away before Fujii could make them out. "Faeries?!?" 

	"Mark that," came the comment from Nathan as he slipped
into place besides the Captain. "Looks like a wind faerie, and...
someone under an enchantment. That's probably her clothing they're
carrying. Interesting... I didn't know there were any faerie left."

	Fujii didn't ask. Nobody asked Nathan how he knew 
something. The consequences could be horrible. He could tell you.
---------Shinjuku, Tokyo--------------------
	Night. The Hunt began and ended as it always did,
with the predator dropping now-lifeless prey down into its lair.

	Now something different intruded into the old and
well-worn routine. The predator sniffed the air and smiled. Faerie
magic had been used, and used sloppily. That meant a young
faerie. Inexperienced. Vulnerable.

	The vampire abandoned its newest victim and
sped forth, the succulent blood of a young faerie beckoned,
and if it was a brownie or other house-faerie then its mortal
family would provide...amusement.(3)
--------------------Tendo-ke, Nerima--------------------
	"Excuse me, Ranma, what are these?"
Nabiki fingered one of the paper slips hanging from the
outer wall. "These almost look like spiritual wards."

	"Nabiki," Ranma flipped off the wall and
stood before her, looking down at her with a smile.
"What do you know of faerie magic?"

	Kasumi answered from where she had
been sitting. "It's small scale things, isn't it?"

	Nabiki shook her head when she saw
that Ranma was still looking for an answer from her.

	"You tell me, Saotome, up until yesterday
magic was something that didn't exist."

	Akane settled back into the shadows,
still not quite sure how to handle what she had seen
and felt when Ranma had been playing that flute
earlier. Had he cast a spell on her? Was that why
she had felt like that?

	"Faerie magic isn't about demanding or
forcing the universe to do anything. I know how to
ask the pieces of the cup to come back together, or
to convince them the break never happened. It's
also about feeling, as the faerie are more emotional
than intellectual."

	Nabiki watched Ranma put two more of
the wards in place. "So...you had a bad feeling?"

	"Yeah." Ranma nodded. "Mind you, these
aren't really strong, but I had to learn how to do this
for trips into the Faerie Realms, there's things in there
that you don't want to meet."

	"Ranma."

	"Yes, Nabiki?" Ranma looked hesitatingly back
at his on-again/off-again iinazuke.

	"Could you play something on your flute again?"
Nabiki didn't mention the recording equipment. "Something
a bit happier than you played at lunch?"

	Ranma nodded and finished the first set of wards.
"I'd be happy to, Nabiki."

	Ranma settled onto a section of roof, aware of
his father's disapproval and of Soun Tendo's vague agreement
with his old friend. Time spent playing music was time wasted
that could have been spent on the Art.

	Ranma felt there were different Arts, each having
their own time and place. Featherbrite had quoted him some
ancient song about this. "A time for war, a time for peace..."
though in the original Aramaic it had an odd cadence.

	Sometimes Ranma wondered about that. What it
was like to be over 12,000 years old. To have a friend who
would grow old and die almost within the blink of an eye
compared to that sort of lifespan... How much of the faerie
viewpoint was due to such a long lifespan?

	Putting aside such considerations for the moment,
Ranma felt the presence of Kasumi and Nabiki doing the dishes
in the kitchen below. Akane was fidgeting over algebra problems.
Something low-key, but Nabiki had requested something happy.

	Featherbrite hadn't known the name of the piece that
she had taught Ranma. It was just something she had heard once
in Europe during the so-called Dark Ages. A peasant folk tune
with brightly clothed dancers forgetting their problems for a time
to become lost in the restless energy of the dance. Again he did as
he had been taught and threw himself totally into the music, this
time without taking the liberties he had during his lunchtime 
concert. His foot tapped against the rooftiles to provide the beat.

	Akane looked up, her homework forgotten for a moment
as the melody came through her window. Seeing a strip of paper
hanging over it, she pulled it down. Another spirit ward. Honestly,
that boy was such a coward...

	Nabiki sped from the kitchen with her tape recorder and
quickly set up where she could record the little serenade. She had
mailers with the addresses of two recording studios ready.

	Kasumi merely listened to the music and enjoyed. It was
her way, just as looking for a profit was Nabiki's, and Akane MIGHT
bring herself to enjoy it but wouldn't admit it.

	Uncaring, Ranma finished the old dance tune and went
on to something a little more modern. Only a little bit though. He
wondered if Featherbrite had actually met Bach...

	Kasumi looked up as the piping went into the "Ode To
Joy" and marveled again at her sister's iinazuke. Perhaps he was
a bit immature, but he obviously was not as simple as she had
first perceived him to be. There was some growing rift between
Ranma and Nabiki, and Kasumi considered the possibility that one
one woman's trash might well be another's treasure...
--------------------------------------	
<clip here to splice to 2b>


(1) 		The very same weirdness magnet/fishing/
     smuggling vessel i used in Happi Days, renamed from "Chacha
     Maru." The basic concept remains the same. Captain Fujii,
     Neko-san, Nathan, Talcum, and the others are part of one of
     the rules that govern anime universes. "Strangeness accumulates."
     If anybody wants to use 'em in a fanfic, feel free. I have stats
     on 'em.
(2) Permission to reference Madam Lao from Shadowmane.
     No, she doesn't actually appear. I have other villains planned.
(3) This is a villain. Villains bad. Don't worry, before this fic is
      too far along, this villain will be dealt with, though some
      repercussions may remain. However, this IS an evil villain,
      which means that all is not sweetness and light here. While
      Happosai will eventually show, this will be the anime Happi
      and not the "Demon From Japan" Happi.
(4) The bit about Cold Iron and the fey folk is from the old stories
      about them, and how you ward them off. Faerie magic is
      depicted in this fic as low power, low scale, and emotive
      rather than ritual. 

ja matta!