Memories (a Ranma 1/2-with-cameos! fanfic)
by Nikholas "Mayhem" F. Toledo 


	The Ranma 1/2 Universe was created and therefore owned by Rumiko 
Takahashi, Viz Communications and Shogakukan. If you do own Ranma and I 
have failed to mention you, that is because I am not worthy to even write 
your name since you are really incredible people and earn a million 
dollars just to write up the characters in the Ranma 1/2 title.  I would 
also declare that I will not get a single cent from this work and that I 
am only doing this to pass away time and for my own personal artistic 
fulfillment.


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|Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!|
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Chapter Twelve
Aloha Sadness

	The sun had set, and in the gathering twilight, the Sanzenin 
mansion stood on top of its high hill - watching, as it had over the 
decades past, upon the clear blue lake and the cherry trees that lined 
its shores, over the houses of the rich and their well-manicured gardens, 
on the far-away steel and concrete spires of Tokyo, seemingly crystalline 
in the moonlight, and upon the stars that twinkled in the sky - the same 
stars that shone on a winter not too long ago, but upon a different 
Tokyo, with lesser buildings and much more open spaces, when the world 
seemed both young and old at the same time. 
	Mikado stared quietly into the back of the armchair, which faced 
the window. The old man who sat there was shrouded partly in shadow, and 
the pipe that he smoked glowed faintly in the darkness. 
	"My father..." Mikado faltered as he breached a topic not spoken of 
for a long time. "My father is here, right? The man who came here told me 
that there was some kind of message and that -"
	"The man who came here?" the old man asked, puzzled. When Mikado 
didn't answer, he continued. "The man who came here... his visit was 
sudden, but expected, with your father's ship docked in Tokyo harbor and 
all that." 
	The old man sighed, and his voice was suddenly weary and old. "His 
visit is part of a fulfillment of a promise that your father failed to 
uphold, a path which you must now take, young Mikado Sanzenin."
	"What do you mean, grandfather?" Mikado asked. 
	The old man began. "Long ago (has it been that long?), there was 
this young skating boy and a certain blue-haired girl that he loved..."

	It was a joyous night in Tokyo. 
	The evil perverted monster that sucked California's swimwear stores 
dry was finally defeated. Speeches were made, medals were given, ticker-
tape parades held through every part of the city as militant women's 
rights groups went on a rampage, bonking arrogant perverted men.
	Like the rest of the city, the crew of the USS Eisenhower was 
having their victory party on the flight deck of the carrier as the 
planes of the triumphant Alpha strike squadron circled victoriously 
overhead. 
	Then somebody realized that those planes were not circling 
victoriously but were actually desperately trying to land. 
	After a few minutes of intense planning, the Eisenhower TactComm 
managed to develop a battle plan that managed to land the planes and 
still keep the party going. 
	When the planes landed, Max Sterling, wing commander of the 
squadron, squeezed his way out of the jubilant crowd to catch a certain 
person who was not celebrating but was staring out to sea. 
	"Are you okay, Rick?" he asked his friend. "You seem distracted or 
something..." 
	"I don't know, Max," Rick Hunter replied, his voice somewhat 
distant. "I've been feeling weird all afternoon. Don't know why." 
	"Huh? You think that something bad is going to happen?" Max was 
incredulous. "We've won! I saw the old creep got shot into space. He 
won't be coming back for a long time." He placed an assuring hand on 
Rick's shoulder. "War's over, Rick. Time for some peace and quiet."
	It was then that an explosion rocked the massive ship. 


	There's always a cool breeze blowing around in Nerima. 
	This one blew its way to a certain nondescript house, opening the 
front door and shutting it behind, startling a couple of nondescript 
parents. 
	Gosunkugi stared sullenly into the ceiling of his room from his 
futon that doubled as a pentagram. Part of his room had been wrecked when 
Ranma slammed through it that morning and the futon was covered with dust 
and debris. He'll have to clean this, soon. 
	"Darn..." he groaned, "what a lousy day..."
	Well, it wasn't really that lousy. He had been Awakened [1] and was 
now half a million yen richer. But still... 
	He was such an idiot! The first time a member of the opposite sex 
actually liked him for what he was and he let her go - and why? Just 
because he thought that with full mastery of his magic, Akane would be so 
impressed that she would fall in love with him. 
	"How come it sounds so stupid now...?" Gosunkugi asked himself. 
	Gosunkugi answered. "I shouldn't have let her go. Nanami Jinnai 
taught me to believe in myself - that's why I can do so much now. She 
even gave me half of the profits she got from Nabiki and the rest of the 
student body. And, most of all, she liked me. Maybe I should have -"
	"Of course I had to let her go!" Gosunkugi interrupted himself. 
"How can I fall in love with someone I just met today? I mean, I don't 
know her, like I do Akane..."
	The other part of his mind laughed. "You know Akane? Don't be 
stupid. If you really knew her, you would have known that Akane really 
loves Ranma, and would have quit long, long ago and spared yourself from 
all this pain."
	"But..." Gosunkugi protested. "I know Akane. Even without my magic, 
I know exactly what she thinks. I know her like the palm of my hand. My 
gosh! I even know what the two-palm-trees-with-the-three-stars-and-the-
red-car-on-a-beach-underneath-a-cresent-moon-picture that she drew as a 
little girl means! And it's danged important!" 
	Gosunkugi was panting. "I know her so well that the first time 
Ranma came to school with her, I knew then that she..." he paused, then 
said the thing that he feared the most. "She really liked him..." 
	Realization hit Gosunkugi (both sides of his brain) like a ton of 
bricks. "I knew back then... I actually knew, way back then..." 
	Depression washed over him. "All these months wasted... Just 
because I couldn't believe that she would actually like the one person 
she hated the most... Just because I thought that she would like me, if I 
could pull a rabbit out of a hat..." 
	He found it harder to breathe. Everywhere he looked, there was 
Akane. Pictures of Akane that he had taken over the year filled his room 
- images of a past that he thought was real. 
	He just couldn't stay here anymore. 
	He had to go somewhere - anywhere - just to forget. 
	"Damn! The pills!" His hand clasped the small vial that was tied 
around his neck. Nanami had told him that it had concentrated anti-
depressant drugs that her brother took regularly. Maybe this would make 
him forget Akane - at least, for the moment. 
	With a huge gulp, he emptied the vial's contents in his mouth. 
	Suddenly, a massive ice squall sprang up around the Gosunkugi 
residence, shaking it to its foundations, filling their garden with snow. 
And just as it had appeared, it abruptly subsided into the night.  
	When the storm died, Gosunkugi's parents rushed upstairs and stared 
at the totally wrecked room where their son used to sleep. 
	Gosunkugi Sr. exclaimed, "he's finally done it! He's completed 
those stupid chemistry experiments!" He began shaking his wife. "Do you 
realize what this means? My son is a man now!" He began dancing around.
	All of a sudden, his wife slammed him to the floor. 
	"What?!?" he yelled angrily. 
	His wife had an evil look in her eye. "Didn't you say this morning 
that you were paralyzed from the waist down, so you couldn't go to work?"
	"Eh... Ah..." Cold sweat broke across his brow as the dark shadow 
of his wife fell upon him. 

	[1] The term Awakened is generally used in all books of magic and 
the occult to describe the awareness of a person to the mystical world of 
magic that pervades the normal universe, and that person can tap into his 
full potential of magical powers that lie buried in the ignorance of 
those who are Asleep (also known in Hindu-Gangetic and other Asian 
cultures as the 'opening of the third eye'). 
	Kimiko Tendo's book defines the state as 'awareness of chi flux', 
thus quantifying and integrating magic into the exact science of Lucasian 
Kinetics.

	Ryoga stood in the entrance of what was left of the Ucchan's, 
staring into the darkness.
	"She did not even bother to clean up," Ryoga thought as he walked 
through the rubble. That morning, he had razed a path through the 
okonomiyaki shop on his way to the bathroom, making a great deal of mess. 
Now, at the end of the day, it seemed much worse. 
	Broken china, wood splinters and fluorescent-light fragments 
littered the floor. The cushioned stools around the grill seemed to be 
chewed in places. Tibetan llama hairs grew in clumps around what used to 
be Ukyo's immaculately clean floor and the Tibetan llamas themselves were 
sleeping on what was left of the booths and tables. 
	He couldn't look at the grill itself. It was the heart of the 
entire shop, the quintessence of the okonomiyaki-do, the die-cast, 
tempered steel cooking apparatus made from the same material as Ukyo's 
spatulas. It was where she practiced her art for her customers, where she 
had reaped the rewards of training against the raging seas. 
	It was like the Ucchan's had died, and he didn't want to see the 
corpse, much more the tortured ghost that lived there. 
	He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the Ucchan's just a week 
ago - those clean floors Ukyo had forced him to wash, the tables and 
chairs that always seemed new, the way the grill shone, the warm smile 
and the slish and slash of her spatulas through the air as she cooked him 
dinner as they would talk and talk about how to split Ranma and Akane 
apart, about what had happened while he was gone, about lots of other 
stuff that he couldn't remember... 
	He wished that he could go back...
	Back when they were just friends. Just friends. 
	Maybe things would have been better if he had never begged her to 
stay. Maybe he should have let her leave Dr. Tofu's clinic that morning 
and just pretend that nothing had happened. Maybe it would have been 
better to ignore what they felt, and let all those uncomfortable 
questions go unanswered.
	He cracked his knuckles and wished like he had never wished before.
	But when he opened his eyes, he was still among the wrecked tables 
and stools and the ghost of the grill haunting him from the shadows and 
the Tibetan llamas laughing and laughing at the fool who had wanted to do 
something right but ended up doing something so wrong.
	His shoulders slumped down. Dejectedly, he walked outside. 
	Suddenly, his foot came across something buried in the dust. Ryoga 
reached out and found an old salt shaker at the floor of the Ucchan's, 
dark gray against the pale light of the moon. 
	His eyes sparkling with newfound hope, he dashed outside, knowing, 
without a doubt, that he would find her.   

	At a small window table of WcDonald's Furinkan branch, Mousse 
thought the day over as he quietly ate his BigWac meal. 
	"Hi, Mousse!" Yuka cheerfully said as she sat down in the seat in 
front of him. "What ya doing here? Got a little tired of Chinese food for 
once?"
	Mousse seemed a little lost for a while. "Oh, you're Akane's 
friends, right?"   
	"No," Hiroshi's head appeared from the table behind them. "We're 
the Power Rangers!"
	"Pay no attention to him," Sayuri bonked Hiroshi's head down. 
Sounds of a heated argument were heard from the other side. 
	Mousse laughed despite himself. "I think I've seen this somewhere 
before..."
	"You're right..." Yuka leaned slightly on Daisuke as he spoke. 
"We've been trying to set them up for a long time now. And the way things 
are going... well... with much success, actually."
	Mousse pushed up his glasses. "So, do you really think that, even 
though they're after each other's blood most of the time, Ranma and Akane 
are going to end up together?"
	"Why? Are you a bit partial to that?" Sayuri remarked dryly as she 
stepped out carrying a slightly dazed Hiroshi. "You've been getting 
pretty close to our friend lately, and we don't want you pulling off any 
tricks."
	Mousse was taken aback by the stares that Yuka and Sayuri were 
giving him. "Why are you looking at me that?" The idea hit him like a ton 
of bricks. "No!" he said that a little bit too loudly. "Akane's my 
friend. And I would really want her to end up with Ranma, so that I'll be 
the only one in Shampoo's heart and -" Mousse broke off in mid-sentence. 
"Let's not talk about that right now..."
	Yuka caught that pained tone in Mousse's voice. "Hey... is anything 
wrong?"
	"Well... I..." He took a deep breath and paused in thought. Saying 
this would most probably change his life. Well, he had to do this 
sometime, and perhaps that sometime should be now. 
	"I was thinking..." he began. "I was thinking of calling it 
quits... with Shampoo, I mean..."

	Furinkan High was deserted. Its corridors and classrooms were dark 
and empty, its battlefields cold and quiet... 
	... except for the sound of digging at the center of the Furinkan 
soccer field. 
	Nabiki placed down the shovel and wiped the sweat off her forehead. 
She wasn't really cut out for manual work, but this was going to be worth 
it - especially since it was the unconscious body of the descendant of 
the fabulous Kuno clan she was digging out. 
	"I'm going to charge you extra for this..." she said, panting from 
the exertion.
	It's not that she disliked hard work - hard work was one of the 
basic tenets of martial arts and, being part of a martial arts family, 
she wasn't that against physical exertion. If you did your own work, you 
wouldn't have to consider labor problems. 
	It was just that Kuno was babbling (and quite loudly) in his sleep. 
Nabiki already had quite an earful of how he was going to defeat the evil 
enemy-of-all-women Ranma Saotome and how much he loved his divine 
goddesses. Nabiki's vocabulary had more than doubled from all the five-
yen words Kuno kept spitting out. 
	Finally, she had enough and slammed Kuno in the face with the 
shovel. "Wake up, you miscre- oh..." Nabiki stopped and tried again. 
"Kuno-chan, time to wake up..." Now that's better, she thought.
	Kuno spit out the clods of dirt and ranted. "WHO DARES DISTURB THE 
GREAT BLUE THUNDER FROM HIS SLUMBER?!? It is not even daytime yet! Now, I 
shall be cranky for the rest of the day..." 
	He noticed the shadow that Nabiki cast on him and yelled at it. 
"HEINOUS SPECTRE! This is your evil doing!" He looked around and noticed 
that he somehow could not move his arms or legs. "Blast! I am pinned in 
the claws of this monster! But I will not surrender! I fight on!" 
	He took a long breath. "With the storm that brings forth the Blue 
Thunder comes the raindrops of destruction! BEHOLD THE MOST POWERFUL SPIT 
OF THE KUNO FAMILY!" He began spitting on the monster. "Take that! *spit* 
And that! *spit* And tha- *BONK* OWW! THAT HURT!!!"
	Nabiki pried the shovel off of Kuno's skull. "Good evening, Kuno-
chan," she said. "You know my regular rates, and I hope that, this time, 
you will pay me extra..."
	Kuno turned around (pretty difficult if you're buried neck-deep in 
the ground). "Art thou the spell-caster that summoned this monster?" 
Kuno's eyes were glazed as he looked at her, but it finally went to his 
otherwise twisted brain the identity of the person in front of him. 
	"Nabiki Tendo!" he yelled, but in a rather hushed-up tone of awe 
(as it seemed to Nabiki!). "Forgive me, I did not know that it was you!"
	"SASUKE!" he yelled, and the diminutive ninja appeared in front of 
him. "Why are you late?!" 
	"Forgive me, master," Sasuke groveled. "I was watching my favorite 
soap opera about Mexicans who amazingly speak perfect Japanese, but there 
are times when I wonder why their lips move strangely -"
	"YOU DARE TALK BACK TO YOUR MASTER?!?" Kuno yelled. "Because of 
your tardiness, the fair hands of Nabiki Tendo were dirtied with the 
stain of men's work! If it were any other person, I would have been 
lenient with you. But it is Nabiki Tendo herself that you have thus 
insulted," he said this in a tone that appeared to Nabiki like that of 
hushed reverence. "TAKE THE SHOVEL AND DIG ME OUT! I shall think of a 
good punishment for you later!"
	While Sasuke was digging out his cursing master, thoughts were 
running around in Nabiki's head. "Kuno apologized to me and said my name 
in a hushed tone of reverence?" A thousand and one schemes were running 
around in her head. "This could be interesting..."
	Kuno got himself out of his hole and dusted himself off. Then with 
a flourish, he knelt before Nabiki. Sasuke followed hesitantly 
afterwards. "Fair Nabiki Tendo," Kuno addressed her. "For your excellent 
record of service to me and the Kuno clan, I award you with the---"
	"Don't tell me that it's another medal..." Nabiki tapped her foot 
impatiently. "I don't need another medal."
	"But, Nabiki!" Kuno was shocked. "This is the Kuno Medal of Honor! 
The greatest award the Kuno clan can give to a person not related to the 
Kuno family to the fourth degree of affinity or consa-"
	"Didn't you hear what I said, Kuno? I don't need another medal. 
Just pay me in cash and I'll be okay."
	"But, Nabiki!" Kuno was at a loss for words for once. "You... You 
saved the life of the Blue Thunder. You used your own body to shield me 
from the withering gaze of our fair educator Miss Hinako!"
	"I did that?" Nabiki thought. The last thing she remembered that 
afternoon was fainting. "I must have fallen on Kuno..." she laughingly 
thought, but she did not show this.
	"But I must repay you. It is my honor and duty as the descendant of 
the great line of Kunos." Seeing that Nabiki will not accept his medal, 
he stood up. "As the service you have done upon me was great, so shall 
thy reward be. The vast resources of the Kuno family are now yours to 
call upon. I... We shall be forever indebted to you..."
	"Yes, you will be, Kuno..." Nabiki smiled at the idea of an SD Kuno 
wrapped around her little finger. "That you shall be..."
	Kuno would have said more if Ranma-chan had not appeared out of 
nowhere and begun molesting him. Nabiki would have taken out her camera 
to use the pictures as blackmail, but somehow she felt rather put-off at 
the obscenity in front of her - disgusted was a better word. 
	She said to Sasuke, who was trying to avert his eyes from the scene 
in front of him, "could you get me a kettle of hot water?"
	"Yes. This is getting rather too kinky for me..." He lit a stove 
and placed a kettle full of water on top of it. 
	"You mean, you know all about Ranma's curse?" She was surprised at 
the thought that a member of the Kuno household was actually intelligent 
enough to grasp at the concept. "Since when?"
	"As the manservant of the Kuno family, I am called to attend to all 
the master's needs. You may realize that I have spied on Ranma for months 
now as my master has ordered me to. I know all this and much more." He 
lowered his head in shame. "Forgive me. It is my only joy in life to see 
my master in love with another man (who changes into a woman)." 
	He turned the stove off. "Besides, if I told him, would he believe 
me?"
	"Good point..." Nabiki said as she threw the kettle. 

	Nodoka opened the door to an empty house. 
	"Honey, I'm home!" she called into the hollow interior. 
	"Welcome back!" the house replied. "How was your day?"
	"Fine, actually - if not exciting." She sat down on the sofa and 
smiled. "Ranko has fallen in love with someone..."
	"Really, now..." The house was surprised. "A wild girl like her, 
falling in love?" The house tickled her. "Remind you of anyone?"
	"Stop that..." Nodoka playfully slapped the house's behind. But her 
smile turned to a frown. "Although, there was something weird about what 
she said to Akane..."
	"What did she say?" the house asked, concerned at Nodoka's change 
of demeanor. "Was it something about that pet pig of hers?"
	"No... Something about not loving her at all... Made Akane really 
angry..." Nodoka thought for a while. "What do you think?"
	"I don't know..." the house scratched its head. "Maybe Ranko's 
really a man (your son, actually) who has fallen in love with Akane and 
fallen in love with someone else (another man) due to a mysterious green 
love potion."
	"Eh...?" Nodoka was bigsweating. "You've been watching too much 
anime lately. You know things like that don't happen in real life..."
	"They don't?!?" the house replied in mock horror. "Well, I don't 
really talk back to you, you know..." 
	"You're right..." she sighed sadly. 
	The house noticed this. "You miss them, don't you?" 
	"Of course I do!" Nodoka replied. "It's been ten years! I've been 
getting used to talking to you..."
	"Hang on to your sanity. Things could get interesting..." The house 
winked. "You had a phone call..." 
	"Phone call?" Nodoka tried to ask, but the house had already turned 
back to the TV and was watching Monday Night Football. 
	Checking the caller-identification feature of her phone, she dialed 
the number that was displayed. "Hello... This is Nodoka Saotome 
speaking... What's that...? Oh! You were the one they were talking about! 
... A wedding! Isn't that a bit too soon? ... Oh! Someone else's 
wedding... They want me to cook the food at the reception? ... Yes, I 
will... No, I'm not busy tomorrow... Clock Hill, huh? That's right across 
town... I'll be there first thing in the morning... Goodbye..."
	Nodoka set down the phone and smiled. 

	Genma-panda did not want an interesting life. All he wanted to do 
was sleep, eat and perfect his martial arts skills. 
	But no... He had to take part in settling domestic disputes, like 
the ruckus going on at the second floor of the house. 
	"AKANE! Please come out! You're breaking your father's heart!"
	"Talking about it would make you feel better, Akane..."
	"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"
	"Kasumi... She yelled at me! WAAAAAHH!"
	"There, there, now, father... I'm sure Akane didn't mean it..."
	"It's all that Ranma's fault... How dare he break my daughter's 
heart..."
	Genma knew that somehow he was going to get blamed for this. Yes... 
It was all going to be his fault. 
	And, when Nabiki comes home from school, she's going to tell 
everyone how he peeked on Kasumi during her morning bath (even if he 
didn't mean to). Facing up to Nodoka's katana and Soun's angry biting 
gigantic head and Nabiki's calculating gaze was a bit too much stress for 
one day. And, maybe, this time, hiding as a panda won't do any good. 
	<There's no way things can things go wrong...> Genma-panda signed 
frantically. 
	Just as he said it, a large gust of wind hit him at his broadside. 
	To his horror, a ghostly apparition appeared in the wrecked part of 
the Tendo dojo fence, with frightening cuteness extruding from every pore 
of his/her/its body coalescing into a terrifyingly pink battle aura. 
	"Oscar!!!" he/she/it said in an disembodied yet awfully cute voice. 
"I/We/Azusa finally found you!!!"
	If Genma's mind wasn't as sterilized with fear as it was right now, 
he would have thought that this could actually be a good thing. But all 
it said right now was...
	<AAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!>

	Ukyo slowly walked across the platform of the train station.
	It was already after the evening rush so she easily found herself a 
bench to sit on. With a weary sigh, she slumped down, trying to absorb 
whatever comfort the worn wooden railings could offer. 
	"I'm really going to do this," she thought. "There's no turning 
back now."
	She was going home. 
	"Daddy..." she whispered, her mind flooding with memories of starry 
nights beside the comfortable shadow of the yatai, her father whispering 
old fairy tales about dungeons and dragons and onis and samurais and 
dashing princes on white horses and beautiful century-sleeping 
princesses. 
	Fairy stories were all about hard work and dedication, her father 
would explain. Cinderella worked hard for her step-family before she 
found her prince. Jack had to climb the beanstalk before he could get 
anywhere. Happy endings don't just come at the flick of a switch - they 
only come when you've worked hard enough and suffered long enough and 
trained long enough and never give up. 
	"Someday, sugar..." her father would say, brushing her hair from 
her face, "you're going to find your own happy ending, with your own 
prince charming, and your own castle on some far-away land, where you'll 
live happy ever after. Daddy promises you that..." 
	And she had done all those things. After all those years of cross-
dressing, endless searching, and training-against-the-raging-seas, Ranma 
did turn out to be a real prince. And she did hope that he would be the 
prince that was going to wake her up with a kiss to a life happy ever.
	But only when she stood in that little street corner with the no 
left turn sign watching Akane and Ranma disappear into the sunset did she 
realize that this was never her story to begin with. This was Ranma and 
Akane's love story, where both of them had worked hard enough and 
suffered long enough and trained long enough and had never given up on 
each other. This was their happy ending, not hers, not even Ryoga's.
	Ryoga and her. They were the obstacles to Ranma and Akane's happy 
ever after. They were the antagonists who would use every chance they got 
to ruin the hero or heroine's chance for happiness, but in the end, they 
always lose. And no one in the audience would cry for them. 
	She wished that she never believed in second chances, that she 
should have run away after failing that first time and not be hurt at 
every single second chance that she thought would be the lucky one but 
wasn't. She should have gone home long, long ago.
	Just as her train roared through the station, she heard someone 
call her name. 

	Daisuke knew the look that Yuka was giving him. "Come on, Hiroshi," 
he said, dragging him off. "Let's go order something..."
	"Hey! We were just getting to the good part!" Hiroshi protested, 
but his pleas soon vanished into the background noise.
	"So, you're thinking of giving up on Shampoo..." Yuka sighed sadly, 
having lost the cheerful mood she had earlier. She had seen her share of 
broken hearts and shattered dreams. 
	She knew what it felt like, not too long ago, crying over a guy 
whom she knew didn't deserve her love but loved him nonetheless. But the 
experience made her stronger and kinder to others. And that was the 
opposite of weakness, like Sayuri had said. 
	"Why?" she asked, concern full in her voice. "You've loved her all 
your life. What made you change your mind?"
	What had made him change his mind? "There's nothing that much to 
talk about, anyway. I've just painfully realized that Shampoo really 
loves Ranma, and that there's nothing I could do to make it otherwise."
	He tried to laugh, but it came out haggard, lifeless. "You know how 
I realized it? This morning, a love potion backfired on Shampoo and she 
started liking me, really liking me. It was incredible at first, like a 
dream come true. It was like all the hard work I've done finally paid 
off."  
	His glasses frosted over. "Then I realized that it wasn't real, 
that it was only the love potion that was talking, and not really 
Shampoo." He sighed and, for a moment, he seemed not to be the formidable 
master of hidden weapons, but a shrunken, defeated man. 
	"Suddenly, I found myself back at square one again, and that I have 
never really gone beyond that. Things kind of went downhill from that 
point on..." 
	He didn't tell them about Akane's kiss and the way it had made him 
feel something that he couldn't understand - talking about it would only 
make matters worse. All he knew was that Akane and Ranma should... 
must... end up together, or else he might actually start...
	"So, what are you going to do, now?" Yuka asked, breaking the 
silence that had suddenly sprung across the table.
	Mousse shrugged. "I don't know, really. For as long as I can 
remember, it was always Shampoo this and Shampoo that. It's going to be 
pretty hard finding a life away from her. Maybe I'll stay at the Cat Cafe 
for a few more days until I get my bearings back - after that, who knows? 
I guess I'll go wherever my feet take me..."
	"NO!" Sayuri, who had kept quiet for the entire exchange, suddenly 
spoke up. "I mean... you don't have to do this, Mousse. Shampoo is just 
one girl. You don't have to go and ruin your life over her. She doesn't 
deserve it, you know."
	"She's right, Mousse," Yuka gave Sayuri a questioning glance. 
"There's still lots of other fish in the sea. I know that you've heard 
that phrase many times, but it is true." She smiled, "Believe me, I 
know..."
	"I... I don't think they would go for someone..."
	"Hey, man! Don't pull yourself down too much!" Hiroshi slapped his 
hand on Mousse's shoulder as he slammed his tray down on the table. 
"You've got this thing going for chivalrous woman-worship. Girls like 
that." He winked knowingly. "In fact, I know some people who would -"
	"Hiroshi..." Sayuri cracked her knuckles as she did that blue aura 
thing. "Do you want to become a spot on the floor right now?"
	Mousse finished the last of his meal. "Well, I better go back. It's 
getting late, and Cologne might get suspicious or something. Thanks a lot 
- I really appreciated that I had someone to talk to."
	"Anytime, Mousse," Yuka smiled. 
	"Good luck!" Daisuke gave him a thumbs-up sign.  
	Hiroshi stood up. "Wait! I'm coming with you! Daisuke, could you 
eat this? I suddenly had this appetite for Chinese food."
	"And ogle Shampoo again..." Sayuri added sarcastically.  
	"Well, just don't eat it at the Cat Cafe," Mousse remarked. 
	"Huh? What do you mean?"
	For the first time that night, Mousse actually smiled. It was a 
mysterious evil smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Let's just say there was 
this accident at the kitchen no one really knew about. If I were you, I'd 
stay away from there for a few days, unless you want to end up like those 
weird animal catchers at the district zoo." 
	And with that, he vanished swiftly into the night. 

	Another explosion shook the mighty carrier. 
	"What's going on?!?" Tom Swift asked as he entered the small 
control room. 
	Red lights were flashing, smoke was coming out from some of the 
instrument panels and there was this blasted klaxon that was making 
everyone deaf. "Give me a status report!" 
	The three techs that inhabited the room began talking all at once. 
	"Energy spikes emanating from the containment unit! We've already 
lost two out of the ten energy dampers!" said the nerdy-looking eye-
glassed one. 
	"PKE readings are rising! They're clear across the scale!" said the 
long-haired rocker techie. 
	Finally, the cute short-haired twenty-ish lady tech said the thing 
that everyone feared. "The electromagnetic field can't take much more! 
Containment breach in 75 seconds!" 
	A clock flickered on, counting the seconds 'til destruction.
	He looked out through the front window of the control room, which 
overlooked to the large red hulk of metal that took up a quarter of the 
hangar deck and currently housed a rather well-known oni. Smoke was 
issuing from the wires that brought power to the containment unit and 
there was a visible bulking on some parts of the smooth metal finish.  
	A hand was placed on his shoulder. He glanced back and saw the 
grave face of Captain Gloval, almost in a complete state of calm panic 
(all captains must remain calm, even when they're panicking). From the 
look in the captain's eyes, Tom knew that it all depended on him. 
	"I'm not going to let you ruin Tokyo like you wrecked my home..." 
he said firmly, trying hard not to think of Ami. 
	"Divert all power to the containment unit! Increase external power 
input!" he began, remembering the plans for a possible scenario like 
this. "Call an evacuation of all non-essential personnel. Activate all 
static proton cannons! Contact all the other ships and the Japanese 
National Guard to prepare for a possible containment core breach. We 
ain't beat yet!"
	The three techs began to work, their fingers moving over the 
different switches and keyboards in response to Tom's commands.  The 
countdown adjusted, taking into consideration the steps they were taking. 
	The numbers on the screen continued to go down. 
	Another explosion rocked the ship.
	"Short circuit in External Bus A! External power lost!"
	"PKE readings continue to increase! Massive energy build-up within 
the core!"
	"The entity has eaten through the inner bulkhead! 65 seconds to 
containment breach!"
	Tom thought quickly. "Cut power cables. Increase internal fusion 
core output to compensate. Calculate the amount of energy needed by the 
electromagnetic field to prevent compromise of the outer hull."
	"Processing..." The lady tech inputted the required data. She 
looked back in astonishment. "Field requires 307 percent of maximum 
output!" 
	"Where the heck is it getting all that energy?!?" Cold sweat 
dripped down Tom's face. Things were getting real bad. "Can you reroute 
the energy generated within the containment unit and channel it to the 
fusion core? We might be able to increase field strength using the energy 
the monster's radiating and back it up using the fusion generator." 
	"Will do..." The nerdy tech flicked the appropriate relays. 
Everyone watched as the field strength indicator approached the critical 
level. "Field strength increasing to 150... 200... 250... 275... No good! 
Too much energy lost in transmission. We're still lacking a good 21 
percent!" 
	"What's the status of the reactor?" Tom asked. 
	"It's already at 99 percent!" said the long-haired tech. "We won't 
be able to increase the power without severely compromising -"  
	He was interrupted as a chilling laugh escaped from the bowels of 
the containment unit. The laugh was disembodied, distinctly inhuman, and 
was horribly evil. It grew louder, filling everyone who heard with cold 
feeling of dread, and vanished slowly into the ambient noise.  

	In the chilling quiet, filled with the roar of the mighty engine 
under the ship, all eyes turned towards the young inventor whose eyes 
were turned to the small clock as it ticked down irreversibly to zero.
	The clock ticked 60 seconds. 
	"Increase fusion flux to 120..." Tom ordered, quietly. 
	"But we can only maintain 120 percent for just three minutes before 
the Sub-Divergence Fusion core breaks down!" the cute tech reported. "It 
could-"
	"Just do it!" Tom replied. There was desperation in his voice. "I 
designed the SDF-1! I know exactly how long it can last at that power 
output!" 
	A metallic whine filled the air as the fusion reactor that took up 
half of the lowest deck of the ship increased its power output much more 
than it was designed for. 	
	"It can only handle 120 percent for *two* minutes..." he said 
gravely. "But it will buy us some time..."
	"WHAT?!?" Captain Gloval snapped out of his state of calm shock. 
"Are you telling me that, in two minutes, the core would undergo 
meltdown?!? Are you telling me that you would risk the lives of my ship 
and my crew just so that you could buy us some time?!?" He wasn't so calm 
anymore. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?"
	"He is waiting for me... Uh... I mean us..."
	A calm voice (really calm) came from the doorway of the control 
room. The Admiral stood, his small but powerful presence made him seem 
like some kind of god among the flashing red lights and the arid smoke. 
	The Shinto priest and Rick Hunter cowered behind him, looking 
dazed.
	"Admiral!" Captain Gloval stepped up to him and looked at the 
Shinto priest. "Who is this man? This is a restricted area and he has no 
right to be-!"
	"I give him all the right in the world. He's going to save our 
lives." He beckoned to the priest. "Time to do your job, now..." 
	The priest walked through the inner door vanished into the smoke. 
	"Flux overload in 60 seconds..."
	"Sir," Captain Gloval asked the Admiral, "will all due respect, 
just what do you expect him to do?"
	"Watch and learn..." the Admiral replied knowingly. 
	Just as he said it, a massive gust of wind shattered the front 
windows and the room was suddenly wrapped in an unearthly white light 
that came from the front of the containment unit. 
	And in the middle of the harsh glare of white light and the center 
of the storm, a voice said, "In the name of the monk (who was also a 
monkey), I command thee, evil spirit, BEGONE!!!" 
	"NOOOOO!!!!!" the unearthly cry filled the room, and it was the 
same voice that filled them all with dread, but now it was no longer 
laughing. It screamed in agony as the unearthly illumination grew 
brighter and the gale-force winds reversed in direction, sucking 
everything to the center of the maelstrom, strong at first but was slowly 
dying out. 
	The lights dimmed back to normal intensity as the evil voice was 
suddenly cut off. 
	"Critical power level dropping..." the nerdy bespectacled tech put 
his glasses back on. "It's in the red... the yellow... at normal level... 
And still decreasing!" 
	The three techs cheered as the power indicator pointed to a spot 
very near the bottom of the graph. "PKE readings have virtually 
disappeared... Sensors indicate only low-level residual energy..."
	"We've beaten it!"
	"Alright! Let's get some coffee!"
	"Hey! That's a good idea!"
	In their good cheer, they dragged off Tom Swift, Captain Gloval, 
and the Admiral to caffeine heaven. 
	They forgot the priest, silent and unassuming behind his mask, 
unconscious under the spirit ward that he had placed, just in the nick of 
time. 

	Tokyo was ablaze that night. 
	Every part of the city, from the little houses to the glittering 
steel spires of Tokyo Tower, was filled with brilliant colored lights as 
the citizens danced the night to a drunken stupor. Fireworks burst in the 
skies in expanding spheres of red and green and yellow, casting colored 
shadows through a certain bedroom window that was not as brightly lit as 
the rest of the city. 
	Ami sat quietly in the shadow of her room, comfortable in her own 
silent celebration. She had heard the news only a few moments ago and 
still couldn't believe that it was finally over, that the dark shadow of 
the last six months had finally gone. 
	Only the moon shared her comfortable silence, floating serenely 
above the noisy city and all its noisy people. She gazed quietly at the 
old familiar face of the satellite, finding it hard to believe that 
something so beautiful seen from the earth was a complete wasteland when 
seen up close.
	A long time ago, the moon was as beautiful as the earth, full of 
trees and grass and where life grew in abundance. It was the capital of 
the old Silver Millenium, a paradise where no one ever got sick nor grew 
old nor died, in a time when the solar system was ruled justly and 
lovingly by the old Queen Serenity and her Holy Silver Crystal. 
	But now that ancient kingdom was nothing more than ruins scattered 
across the lifeless lunar soil, its memory erased from human history, 
except for small, unclear references in creation myths and old legends. A 
paradise lost. 
	She remembered what he had said about utopias. He said that perfect 
societies couldn't exist - no human society can be truly happy because 
there will always be a certain population strata, willing or unwilling, 
that had to sacrifice their happiness for the benefit of others. 
	"I can't let myself fall in love with you," she whispered softly to 
the night, hoping that he would hear. "I have a duty to perform and a 
sacrifice to make for the sake of your future happiness and for the rest 
of mankind." 
	Her eyes wandered over the Tokyo, seeming already so much like the 
Crystal Tokyo of the future, and upon its citizens who were enjoying so 
much, though they suffered so much. 
	She sobbed, remembering the way his sad, sad eyes looking into 
hers. "Please understand... It's easier to say goodbye before saying 
hello."
	There was a soft beep from her answering machine. She didn't make a 
move to pick up the phone. A few moments later, there was a small click 
as the phone recorded the message. 
	"Hi, Ami. It's me, Makoto." Behind her voice, laughter could be 
heard. "Jeez, I don't know where you are right now, but you're missing 
one heck of a party..." 
	Makoto squealed as Ami heard the phone being passed. 
	"Hi, Ami!" Rei, Minako and Usagi screamed. "Why are you not 
here?!?"
	"Anyway..." Makoto continued after a few moments. "Although the 
school's been wrecked, we're still going to go to classes tomorrow. We're 
all been transferred for the meantime, somewhere in Nerima, although 
Minako says she knows where. Plans are that we'll meet at the old school 
a bit earlier to be picked up. Well, I just thought you'd want to know 
and all that..." 
	There was a pause. "Ami, if you're listening, I hope you're feeling 
okay. Please talk to me..." Pause. "I guess you're not at home. Well, see 
you tomorrow!" she said cheerfully. 
	"WAIT!" Usagi yelled. "I still want to say some-" *click*
	Ami's room was quiet again. She gazed at the moon and the city 
below it one last time before she closed the blinds and climbed into bed.
	She knew that she couldn't run away forever.

	Meanwhile, on the other side of Tokyo, Shampoo quietly watched the 
same fireworks from the rooftop of the Cat Cafe. 
	Being part cat, whether it was the curse or not, she sometimes 
would go to this quiet place and spend the night there. She would stay 
there and gaze at the stars and mull over something that happened that 
day, or when her honorable great-grandmother's feet smelled again. 
	Sometimes, she would be there until morning, especially if it had 
been a particularly bad day - and this could be one of those days, if not 
the worst. 
	"Too few stars today..." she sighed, remembering those brightly lit 
nights back in China. She found no comfort in the few dozen scattered 
pinpricks of light that shone through the smog blanketing the city, or 
through its bright lights and fireworks. "Shampoo wish she could go 
back..."
	It had been so simple before she had met Ranma. Train in the 
morning, beat up Mousse in the afternoon, train again in the evening, and 
beat up Mousse again just for fun right before he slept, and hide his 
glasses for the rest of the night. 
	She hated today. Because of a stupid love potion, she actually felt 
how it was like to really love Mousse. Whenever she tried to remember it, 
she felt nauseous. She actually was jealous whenever he would hang over 
some other woman, like Akane or even Kodachi.
	But she was cured, right? All she had to do to get cured was to 
kiss Ranma, and that she did, and in a way that astounded even her. 
	"But why Shampoo still really angry at Mousse?" she asked herself. 
It was illogical, but she felt much worse now that the potion was gone. 
	Was it because she didn't have a reason-?
	There was a noise downstairs as Mousse made his long-delayed 
arrival. "Mousse eat at WcDonald's again..." Mousse had been eating out 
for the whole day. 
	"Is something wrong with Shampoo's cooking?" She paused for a while 
and listened to the conversation going on between Mousse and her 
grandmother. Something about Ranma being weak temporarily? Pressure-point 
chi-depressant something or other? 
	She couldn't hear that much, but there was that unmistakable evil 
heckling. She gave up trying to understand and buried herself closer into 
the rooftop and stared at the stars. 
	Her grandmother was going to look for her soon, she knew it. 
	 
	"I'm home..." Nabiki called into the seemingly quiet Tendo Dojo. 
	"That's strange," she thought. It should have been dinner by now, 
and there should be at least some noise coming from inside. She pushed 
open the gate, dragging Ranma's dead weight behind her. 
	She was already way into the dining room when Kasumi appeared from 
the kitchen. "Oh... Hello, Nabiki..." 
	Kasumi seemed like her normal cheerful self but, to Nabiki's 
discerning eye, a few stray locks of hair trailed from her usually neat 
ponytail. "Dinner will be a little bit late, so, if you want, there's a 
few cups of instant noodles in the kitchen -" 
	Kasumi paused as she noticed Ranma's unconscious form behind 
Nabiki. "Oh, dear..." She put her right hand to her cheek as she assessed 
the situation. Nabiki sensed a small instant of hesitation before Kasumi 
took out a small pillow and applied a cold compress to Ranma's head. 
	"Nabiki..." she said slowly, as if thinking what the right words 
where. "I think that Ranma should stay out of father's way for a while. 
He is a bit mad at him right now, and at Mr. Saotome, too..." There was 
this tone in Kasumi's voice that seemed deadly serious. 
	"Huh? What happened?" 
	"Well... I only overheard it from father, and you know how he 
exaggerates sometimes, that Ranma told Akane that he didn't like her but 
liked Kuno instead."
	"HE WHAT?!?" Nabiki yelled, much to Kasumi's surprise. 
	"Kasumi," she asked, and Kasumi noticed a slight tension in her 
voice, "was Ranma a girl at that time?"
	"Uh... Yes... Why do you ask?" 
	Nabiki found herself letting go of a breath that she didn't know 
she was holding back. "Uh... Kasumi..." she said, trying to shake off the 
sudden dizziness that had come over her just now, "Ranma-chan was under a 
kind of love potion at the time..."
	"What kind of love potion?" Kasumi asked. 
	"AHA! I knew it was a love potion! It is a love potion that only 
affects Ranma when he is in girl form!" 
	Sasuke had suddenly appeared between the two Tendo sisters and was 
closely examining Ranma. "It seems so very clear to me now!"
	"Why, hello, Sasuke!" Kasumi cheeringly said. "Are you staying for 
dinner?" 
	"I'm sorry, Miss Kasumi. The noble Sasuke only passed by to deliver 
the crate of flowers my new Mistress Nabiki (his face contorted with 
forced respect) has received from my honorable master Kuno." 
	At the mention of Kuno, Ranma began groaning. At first, he couldn't 
remember anything. "What? Where?" he asked. 
	Then the rest of his short-term memory crashed down on him. "Oh 
my... What have I done?"
	With a flourish, Sasuke took the aforementioned crate from one of 
the sleeves of his ninja suit and placed it beside Ranma. "Although I 
have an insane pleasure in seeing Ranma weak and on his knees, I cannot 
help but feel pity for him." 
	With a flash, the diminutive ninja jumped out into the night. "It 
must feel horrible for him to both love and hate master Kuno at the same 
time! HAHAHAHA!"
	"Poor Ranma..." Kasumi said. "This just can't be..."
	"You know... Ranma's situation is pretty easy to get out of... If 
he knew who to help him..." Nabiki said in that "money coming my way" 
tone. 
	"Oh, yes! You're absolutely right, Nabiki!" To Nabiki's surprise, 
Kasumi began radiating a small battle aura identical to one that she 
radiates when she thinks hard. "I'll talk to father... In the 
meantime..." She picked up one of the flowers. "Nabiki, could Ranma use 
some of the flowers? I'm sure that he'll pay you soon."
	"Uh... Sure..." Nabiki replied, feeling suddenly put off by 
Kasumi's erratic behavior. 
	And, if she didn't know any better, it was like Kasumi was acting 
just like her.

	The room was dark and empty. 
	The hesitant light from a nearby streetlamp probed inward only to a 
certain extent, shying away from the prevalent gloom that hung in the air 
the same way bricks didn't. The only occupant in the room was in total 
darkness, staring quietly at the ceiling, thinking, thinking. 
	There was a knock, and the door was slid open, flooding the room 
with the warmth of fresh fluorescent light. 
	"Father?..." Kasumi asked as she stood quietly in the doorway, her 
figure in the shadow. "There's something you need to know about Ranma..."
	"Yes, Kasumi." Soun's voice was cracked and weary, tired from 
crying. "I overheard your conversation from the living room..." His voice 
suddenly became lively, taking on this fake cheer. "Ranma's been 
victimized by another love potion. I'm not surprised..."
	Kasumi's tone of voice matched that of Soun's. "Poor Ranma. This 
does happen to him, once in a while..."
	Silence. 
	"Never a dull day with the Saotomes around, eh, Kasumi..."
	"Yes, father..."
	Silence.
	"I have to go now, father..." Kasumi slid back the door. 
	"Wait!" Soun said, and she stopped with the door half-closed. Soun 
took a deep breath. "Tell me," he started, and his voice was smooth, and 
even, and he asked a question that he had never thought to ask. 
	"Have I... Have I been a good father to you?" 
	There was a slight pause. "You've taught us to be good and obedient 
children, father...." Kasumi replied finally as she closed the door. 
	"But are you..." Soun began, but Kasumi was already gone. 
	"Are you happy, my daughter?" he asked the darkness that once again 
filled the room. There was no answer, and he leaned back further into his 
cold futon. 
	"Oh, Kimiko..." he sobbed, "what have I done..."
	He had found her letter. It was hidden on one of the steps leading 
to the second floor. He never told Kasumi or anyone about this. 
	It was one of those letters that began, "dear Soun, by the time you 
read this I would have been dead..." and so on. Although the paper was 
old and wrinkled, and the date was at a time more than fifteen years ago, 
it revealed much more about Kimiko than he had ever thought, answered 
things about her that he never understood, and showed him what path he 
was walking on, a path that he vowed never to go. 
	He remembered those good old days when he fought long and hard 
against Kimiko's father to gain her hand. He never knew why her father 
was so much against their marriage. But now, he knew exactly why, for he 
had become just like him. 
	Tomorrow, he was going to have that long talk with Akane and Ranma 
about that engagement. And, if he could get the courage up, to Kasumi. It 
hurt him to think that Kasumi really loved Dr. Tofu, and he had forbidden 
her to see him, just like her grandfather did. He was going to listen to 
what his daughters wanted, just like Nodoka had said that afternoon (had 
she known all along?).
	He had to make things right. He owed it to her - and, most of all, 
he owed it to himself. He just can't let his daughters feel the same 
gloom and hopelessness of his younger years, of loving someone against 
the will of their parents, or be forced to marry someone they didn't 
love... 
	And what was the reason? Why Kimiko's father was angry at him? Why 
Kimiko never talked too much about her past?
	It was because Kimiko had been promised to marry someone else. 

	In the same darkness, Dr. Tofu sat quietly behind his desk, 
meditating on the object on his desk that had cost him lots of hard 
earned money and several nights of sleep. It glittered silently in the 
moonlight as he mulled the day over in his head -
	- how he had almost crippled Ranma by having shaky hands during his 
acupressure session -
	- how he had frightened Mr. Tendo over and over again when he went 
berserk - 
	- and how Kasumi had looked at him back at the Tendo Dojo, that 
sad, sad look she gave him as she helped her father into the house. 
	Sadly, he took the ring back into its velvet box, locked it inside 
one of the drawers on his desk, and went to sleep.
	His dreams were troubled that night. 

	The roar of the train dissolved into the tiny twinkling of the 
chime in Dr. Tofu's clinic and it was morning again, back when the day 
was still new and full of hope, before it had become the utter mess that 
it had turned out to be.
	Ranma and Akane had just left. Dr. Tofu mumbled something about 
getting some more coffee from the kitchen. Soun Tendo had thankfully 
fallen unconscious again. 
	They were effectively alone.  
	Ryoga quietly looked at the flowerpot he had knocked down in his 
rush to get away from Ukyo. At the back of his head, he was thinking how 
things could have gone worse if the water had splashed on him and not on 
the floor. 
	How could he had been so careless, acting as if he was caught red-
handed doing something that he shouldn't have done? So what if he had 
glomped Akane, what the heck was wrong with that? 
	No, he corrected himself, there were lots of things wrong with 
glomping girls (Happosai came to his mind). Maybe he should apologize - 
at least for that.
	"I'm sorry, Ukyo..." he began, still looking down on the flowerpot. 
"I didn't mean to -"
	"Why are you apologizing?" Ukyo snapped, looking at him with dagger 
eyes. "I absolutely don't care if you glomped Akane." Noticing that the 
volume of her voice had gone up, she stopped, her eyes turning to the 
hand that still felt warm after he had held so tenderly (did he? she 
wasn't sure) just an hour ago that she had almost used to slap him. 
	Trying to keep her voice even, "actually... I-I'm really happy for 
you, really, I am," she lied. "I'm glad she trusted you enough not to 
punt you into the stratosphere for doing that..."
	There was something in what Ukyo said that seemed wrong to Ryoga.  
"But *you* were going to punt me into the stratosphere..." 
	Ukyo gasped. Had she been that obvious? Did he know how she felt?
	"What does that mean, Ukyo?" Ryoga's voice seemed afraid. "That you 
don't trust me anymore?" He tried to meet her eyes, but she avoided his 
gaze. "What did I do, Ukyo? Did I do something to hurt you or make you 
sad or even mildly melancholic? Please tell me!" 
	Ukyo said sadly, "maybe it's something you didn't do..." 
	Ryoga didn't reply, surprised at what she said. So it was the 
incident at the Ucchan's all along. "Ukyo," he explained, "you know why I 
didn't -" 
	"Yes... It's because of Akane." She could feel her chest 
tightening. The truth does hurt sometimes. 
	"You don't have to explain anything, Ryoga. I know that you love 
Akane and I love Ranma and whatever it was that happened back at the 
Ucchan's... well... I think that we just imagined it." She sighed. It was 
better this way. "Well, I better go, Ryoga..."   
	Ukyo turned and walked towards the exit, thinking, "you may never 
see me again..." 
	"WAIT!" Ryoga said, grabbing Ukyo's hand. "I don't know what's 
going on. I never do. But all I know is that if you walk out that door, 
I... We would have lost all the second chances that we could have had." 
	Second chances, Ukyo thought. Ryoga had read her mind. 
	She turned around, and her eyes met Ryoga's, unleashing feelings 
that she did not want to feel, but liked anyway. 
	"Ukyo," Ryoga continued, gazing upon and holding tight to Ukyo's 
hand as if it were his lifeline, "I know that you know that something 
went on back there at your place that scared the heck out of the both of 
us that we would pretend never happened, or hide it behind what we feel 
for Akane or Ranma or run away or something like that." 
	He looked into her eyes, hoping that he could say the right thing. 
"If... if you leave this room, you're going to ask yourself for the rest 
of your life what would have happened if you had stayed here just a few 
minutes more."
	Gently, he took Ukyo's other hand and tenderly held both of them. 
"Ukyo, please stay - even for just a few minutes more. Please do it for a 
friend. Please do it for me." 
	It was the way that Ryoga looked that did it, the pleading sad look 
that his eyes had as the sunlight reflected on half-hidden tears. It was 
the way the hero from a fairy tale would look, tired from so many years 
of working hard enough and suffering long enough and training long enough 
and never had given up against all odds. 
	It was the same face that Ukyo saw in her mirror. In Ryoga's eyes, 
she saw herself. 
	They deserved their own happy ending.
	Ukyo sniffed, touched by what Ryoga had said. "You have a nice 
streak left in you, sugar." She wasn't going to hide anymore. "All right, 
you convinced me." She smiled. "I'll stay... For you..."
	For a moment, nothing was said between the two of them, enjoying 
the closeness and the tenderness of the moment, relishing the hushed 
tones of the bright morning that was still full of hope (before they knew 
it was going to turn out to be the utter mess that it was) and the way 
the cool morning breeze blew through the window of Dr. Tofu's clinic, 
bringing the tones of a hushed argument from the outside.  
	Ukyo smiled. "They're eavesdropping again, aren't they?" 
	Ryoga grinned. "You know how they are. Exactly like their parents, 
though they don't admit it."
	Ukyo's eyes sparkled as she drew closer. "Let's give them something 
to eavesdrop on..."
	Ryoga tried to say something, but he was muffled by Ukyo's lips 
pressed roughly on his. 
	It wasn't a tender first kiss. It was a lustful, mad, ravaging type 
of kiss that surprised the both of them with a ferocity that was suddenly 
there. It was as if a dam had broken loose inside and the waters 
threatened to drown Ryoga as he became painfully aware of the perverted 
thoughts racing inside his head, and the way his nose was starting to 
leak blood, and how all of a sudden there was this buzzing in his ears, 
and how the white spots swam with the black spots and the blue-gray ones 
all on the rough wind-tossed sea that was behind his eyes as his legs 
grew weaker as he sank deeper and deeper into the calm and warm embrace 
of - what was her name again?
	Ukyo half-opened her eyes, expecting to see him right in front of 
her. Her eyelids flew open as she saw the stunned face of Dr. Tofu who 
had dropped his cup of coffee. She turned around but saw only Mr. Tendo 
who had once again awakened at a bad time. 
	There was moaning somewhere to her left and Ryoga was there on the 
vacant bed reserved for him with blood gushing from his nose as he moaned 
her name. 
	Then Ukyo realized who the him and the her that they were thinking 
about.
	Suddenly, she felt disgusted with herself. 
	With a bang, she slammed Dr. Tofu's clinic door and stepped out 
into the morning that didn't seem as bright and as hopeful as it was 
before and carried a dim foreboding of the things yet to come. 
	Ranma and Akane watched her departing figure. She had gone too fast 
for them to ask any questions.
	"Wow..." was all Ranma could say. "In all the time I have known 
her, I have never seen her get this upset about anything."
	
	"Tell me something," the Admiral asked Tom Swift as they stood on 
the docks, "Did you really know that I was going to arrive in the few 
minutes of time you bought when you switched to overload?" 
	"No, sir..." Tom replied, raising his voice a bit to be heard. "To 
tell you the truth, I had no idea what to do next. Either way, if the 
evil oni broke loose or the SDF-1 blew up, we were all going to die. I 
put all my cards on the chance that something good might come up."
	"So you were waiting for a miracle?"
	"I guess you could say that..."
	The Admiral smiled. "And have you begun analysis of the data that 
the onboard flight computers recorded of this afternoon's battle?"
	Tom took out his palmtop, which was connected to the ship's 
computers. "Yes, sir. The energy levels we got were incredible but they 
seem to follow the theories that Kimiko Tendo put forth on chi 
manipulation. But I would really want to go to Furinkan High to 
investigate further -" 
	He looked at the Admiral. "Sir? Is anything wrong? You look a 
little pale."
	The Admiral cleared his throat and he looked up the gangplank. 
"Well, here's the real hero of the day..." he said as he clapped, 
ignoring Tom's question. 
	The priest Shinto appeared at the top of the stairs and immediately 
the crowd burst into cheers. News had spread quickly that the priest had 
saved the day by placing that spirit ward on the containment unit just 
before it blew up and he was hailed as a national hero by two countries 
that night.
	He even looked more heroic as he sat on the wheelchair. He had had 
a bad fall when he fainted and must have twisted an ankle. The Admiral 
was supposed to give a short speech, but he wasn't feeling all too well. 
So, Captain Gloval himself helped the priest down to the docks and unto a 
waiting jeep that was going to drive him to the center of town for even 
more speeches and awardings and parades. 
	When the jeep had vanished into the night, the crew lined up to the 
flight deck for the interrupted victory party.
	Tom looked around for the Admiral, but he was suddenly nowhere in 
sight. "Oh, well," he sighed. "At least he hasn't said no..." 
	The rest of the night was spent partying without abandon.

	"Good luck!" Nabiki said as she closed her bedroom window.
	"Tell me, Nabiki..." Kasumi whispered in the dark beside her. "Did 
Ranma really have to pass by the window to get to Akane's room? He's just 
going to apologize, you know..." 
	"Trust me, Kasumi..." Nabiki replied in her normal voice. "We're 
gunning for maximum effect here. He needs all the help he could get..."
	"I better remember that..." Kasumi said, lost in thought. "Do you 
think she's going to forgive him?" she asked. 
	"I don't know..." Nabiki shrugged. "Hopefully, Ranma's going to 
live through the night." 
	"... if she hadn't read that, what I think she had..." Nabiki added 
quietly to herself. "How could I have been so careless! This could ruin 
my schemes big-time if they broke up now..." 
	Kasumi yawned. "It's getting late. I've got to go back to my room 
now." 
	"Uh, Kasumi, don't you want to listen in on their conversation?"
	Her voice was serious when she replied. "Nabiki, if you want Ranma 
to patch this up, you better leave it all to him. Let them go at their 
own pace now." 
	She turned and walked away, and her voice was cheerful once again. 
"Well, good night, Nabiki..."
	The same weird feeling came over Nabiki. "Kasumi," she asked, "did 
you happen to see a black book running around the house?"
	Kasumi froze at the door. "Is it important?" she asked back, 
keeping her back to Nabiki. 
	"Well... No..." Nabiki found herself saying. "It's just a few old 
notes and phone numbers that I most probably have written somewhere else. 
I've learned everything I can from it and... Kasumi?"
	The door had already closed, and Nabiki found herself alone in her 
room. 

	It was almost midnight and, from far away, the tumult that was 
Tokyo grew fainter and fainter until there was only the moon shining upon 
this certain rectangular district at the outskirts of the city. 
	And, somewhere in this self-same district on this moonlit night, a 
shadow moved, and this shadow was cast by none other than the foremost 
martial artist of this certain district as he crouched on the windowsill 
of a certain room of this certain district where the moon lit only to a 
certain extent, leaving the rest in shadow. 
	Ranma silently placed one foot and then the other into this room. 
In the dark, he wasn't certain if the person on the bed in front of him 
was sleeping or not. But he knew that he couldn't go back the way he 
came, so he better said what he had to say. 
	"Akane..." he began, choosing his words carefully. 
	How could he explain, in just one sentence, everything that he had 
felt that day, from his frustrations, his anger, to the crawling tinge of 
fear and desperation that crept across his consciousness every single 
moment? 
	How could he tell her how it felt to have lost, in an instant, 
everything that he had worked for in his life - to have lost a friend, to 
suddenly love someone you hated and to suddenly hate the one that he...
	... loved?
	"I'm sorry..." Ranma finally spoke - it was the only thing that 
came to his mind. 
	"Is that all you could say, Ranma?" The voice came from behind him. 
	Akane stepped out from the shadows, her eyes seemingly luminous in 
the scant moonlight reflected in his room, eyes that shone with barely-
contained anger and half-hidden tears, eyes that seemed to judge him.
	 "I don't believe you, Ranma..." she said. "You sneak into my room 
in the middle of the night, just to say you're sorry. About what? 
Apologize for saying that you hated me? Apologize for all the times when 
you led me on and insulted me, when you made me think that it was Shampoo 
or Ukyo or even Kodachi and not me? Apologize for not telling me earlier 
that I'm the one you... you loved, and no one else?"  
	Akane's voice suddenly lost its sarcastic tone and became softer 
and seemed to almost break. "Or are you going to apologize because it 
wasn't me, that it was Kuno all along, that you... that you..." 
	"I can explain..." Ranma tried to say. 
	"There's nothing left to explain..." Akane looked away from Ranma, 
her voice cold and distant. "You chose Kuno. I should have known that, 
every time you flaunted your body for him, it was for real. I knew it the 
moment I read the letter you wrote that you were giving me and the pig-
tailed goddess up -"
	"I never wrote a letter!" Ranma yelled. "I don't know what you're 
talking about!" 
	"Don't you dare shout at me!" Akane yelled back. "All you do is 
shout at me, hate me, insult me. You never cared at all for me, did you? 
You never cared. It was never me, it was always your stupid pride on the 
line."
	Tears started falling down Akane's cheeks. "You never knew how 
concerned I was for you, how jealous I was with all your other fianc�es 
who seemed better than me at everything, how afraid I was that, in the 
end, it was not going to be me. But, in the end, you choose a guy! Do you 
know how that makes me feel, Ranma? It makes me feel disgusted, with you 
and with myself." 
	"Akane, please..." Ranma pleaded, looking into her eyes. 
	Akane broke eye contact. She turned around, away from him. "You 
chose a guy over me, so you better live with the consequences. I don't 
want to live under the same roof with a sick, perverted guy like you! I 
want you out of my house before morning. START PACKING!"
	"Akane, please..." Ranma said, his voice for once wavering, unsure. 
He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Why won't you listen to me, just 
this once..."
	Akane's reaction was electric. "I HATE YOU, RANMA!" she screamed. 
"I HATE YOU! I WISH THAT I NEVER MET YOU! I WISH THAT YOU WERE DEAD!"
	A resounding slap echoed through the small room, dying upon the 
wooden floor. 

	Another shadow in that certain district moved, and it was away from 
that certain house, cackling evilly as she raced across the moonlit 
night. 

	Once upon a time, in a train station in Nerima, there was a certain 
ninja and a wanderer. For a long time, they had vowed to separate a 
certain well-known martial artist couple, but, realizing that everything 
they had done was for nothing, they asked the uncomfortable question, 
"now what?"
	The answer came to them: why not fall in love with each other? They 
tried that, but they found out that they still loved the martial artist 
and his fianc�e, respectively, and so that idea was shot down. 
	The only thing left was to go their own separate ways. 
	"So, you're really going to leave, Ukyo?" Ryoga asked, gazing at 
the two bags at Ukyo's feet and the train that was next to her. (Like, 
duh?)
	"Like, duh?" Ukyo replied, but it didn't sound as cheerful as she 
wanted it to be. "Don't think that it was because of... what had 
happened," she explained, trying to lighten Ryoga's spirits. "You see, 
this Wednesday..." 
	Ukyo paused, thinking if it would be best to tell Ryoga. 
"Wednesday's the anniversary of the day my mom died..." 
	"Ukyo," Ryoga said, surprised. "I'm really sorry -"
	"No, you don't have to apologize or anything," Ukyo interrupted, 
trying to smile. "It's been seventeen years since my mom died, and I was 
really young then. I have to go home to pay my respects..."
	"Oh..." was all Ryoga could say. "So, you're coming back soon, 
aren't you?" he asked.  
	Ukyo looked at him sadly. "Ryoga... I may not come back..." 
	A train roared through the opposite track, not stopping at this 
station. A few moments passed when it was too loud to say anything, and 
they just stared at each other, saying nothing. 
	The rumble died down, and Ukyo was in Ryoga's arms, comforting 
Ryoga, comforting herself. 
	"I can't believe that I'll say goodbye to you, just as I have found 
you..." Ryoga whispered into her hair. "Please don't leave... Please, 
stay..."
	"I can't stay, Ryoga. You can't stay either. Sooner or later, 
Ranma's gonna formally announce his engagement to Akane and they're going 
to get married and have kids and..." she stopped - it just hurt too much. 
	"Why do we have to leave?" Ryoga suggested. "We can always stay 
here and be happy for them and just not care. Maybe, in a few months, you 
can get over Ranma, and I, Akane, and then we can still -"
	"I'm supposed to be Ranma's friend," Ukyo answered. "You're 
supposed to be Akane's friend. Everyone expects us to be the first two to 
understand them if and when they do end up together. Didn't you know that 
Nabiki's already running a bet that we're going to be the best man and 
bridesmaid at their wedding? 
	"But, honestly, do you think that we can get over them in that 
short time? Do you think that we would understand? Hell, no! We're going 
to throw tantrums, protest and scream. And when the time comes when we 
really get over them, were going to realize how stupid we were..." 
	She held him tightly. "I don't want you to get be embarrassed, 
Ryoga. I don't want you to get hurt."
	Ryoga pushed her gently away. "Then let me come with you," he said, 
gazing into her eyes. "Let's run away together, then."
	"Ryoga, I can't. You know that. I still love Ranma, and you still 
love Akane." 
	"But -" Ryoga protested, but Ukyo kissed him again, softly on the 
lips this time. 
	"You just thought of Akane, didn't you?"
	Ryoga couldn't lie. "Yes..." he admitted. 
	"You should know that I just thought of Ranma," Ukyo said, picking 
up her bags. 
	"I'm going home to find myself, Ryoga. For ten years, I've been 
after Ranma, every single moment of my waking life was devoted to killing 
him, then finding ways to make him mine. I want to find the person I was 
and who I could have been if I hadn't left home to chase after him. I 
want to be the Ukyo that never met Ranma, the Ukyo that I want you to 
fall in love with."
	A voice came over the intercom, saying that the train was about to 
depart, and this was the last call for all passengers.
	"Goodbye, Ryoga..." She squeezed his hand one last time. "I'll see 
you around..." 
	"Goodbye, too, Ukyo." The light fell on Ryoga's face in such a way 
that she couldn't see his eyes anymore. "I might never see you again..."
	A tear fell quietly down Ukyo's cheek. She knew what Ryoga was 
thinking. With his sense of direction, he was going to wander off to some 
forgotten corner of the world and never return, since there was no reason 
for him to stay anywhere.
	"Ryoga, please don't give up. If we're really meant to be together, 
we're going to find each other. No matter how many oceans we cross, or 
mountains we climb, we can get away from each other."
	Ryoga looked up to her as she stepped into the train. "Do you 
really think so?" 
	She smiled amidst the tears falling down her cheeks. "Don't worry, 
Ryoga. Don't you believe in happy endings?" 
	With that, the doors shut, and the train began to move - slowly at 
first, but faster and faster into the night filled with stories happy and 
sad, about dungeons and dragons and onis and samurais, ninja and 
wanderers and frogs turning into dashing princes and ugly ducklings 
turning into beautiful princesses in a fairy tale that was not ending but 
beginning, heading irrevocably towards a happy ending. 
	Ryoga watched as the train vanished into the horizon. "Our happy 
ending..." 

	A cold wind of winters past blew from the mountains from the west, 
howling across rolling hills now filled with houses and streets, each of 
them having rooms having their own little stories to tell and ideas to 
pass along, until it reached a certain room in a certain house where it 
shook the a little window chime, its twinkling speaking volumes, like the 
stars that shone, never changing, above them all.
	"Oh, my..." Akane sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Ranma... I'm so sorry..."
	"No, Akane," Ranma replied, his voice faint. "You're right. All 
I've done is to hate you, and insult you, and be mean to you. But I want 
you to know that it was never my pride, Akane. It was always you that I 
was fighting for..."
	"Please, Ranma... Don't talk..."
	"But I can't do it anymore. I'm weak and crippled and my girl-side 
is in love with someone I hate. Martial arts is... was the only thing I'm 
good at and I'm of no use to you the way I am..."  
	"Ranma, don't say that... I need you... I still do..." 
	"Mousse... Mousse is the only one I can trust... He'll protect you 
with his life the way I have... I won't get your way, anymore..." 
	"No, Ranma... I don't feel anything for Mousse... You're the one 
I... I... Please, Ranma..."
	"Goodbye, Akane... I'll be gone before morning... Just like you 
wanted... Just like you wished..."
	"Don't leave me, Ranma... I take it back... I take it all back... 
Just don't leave me like this... Please... Y-you're the one I... I..."
	But Ranma wasn't listening anymore.	
	"You're the one I love... Don't go..."
	But he was already gone, vanished into the night.

	The man stared quietly into the night. 
	All around him, Tokyo was rejoicing, their cries of joy filling the 
air as they laughed and danced in wild abandon. A war had been won and it 
was now time to celebrate, a time to let go of a past that was full of 
hardship and suffering. 
	But it wasn't over for the man. In fact, it was just beginning. 
	From the of the control tower, his control tower, he watched the 
cold waters of the bay below as they splashed against the pier, on the 
nearby away steel and concrete spires of Tokyo, seemingly crystalline in 
the moonlight and, from somewhere in those lights, between the well-
manicured gardens of the rich, a lake that shone quietly in the 
moonlight, and a certain house whom he knew someone else stared out to 
that same sight and to the same stars. 
	Tokyo had changed so much, the man thought. When he had left it 
almost fifteen years ago, it had fewer lights and fewer buildings and 
much, much more open spaces.
	Only the stars never changed.
	The sky had never changed, he thought. After all the years that had 
past, after all the pains and heartaches, after he thought that he had 
grown up and moved on, nothing had changed. 
	After all this time, he was still the young skating boy that who 
had danced on that far away winter night with the mournful howling winds, 
on that frozen lake underneath the full moon, on that last day of his 
childhood, the last night of his innocence.
	He thought that he had forgotten who he was, he thought that he had 
buried any trace of what he used to be - but it had come back, like he 
had been afraid of - and he found himself back at square one, with twenty 
years and twenty thousand tears all wasted, all for nothing. 
	"Forgive me, Kimiko..." the man whispered. "I can never forget you, 
like I can forget myself... 
	"Long ago, you said that people who escaped and never faced 
hardships would never be hurt or feel sad or be betrayed. But they will 
always know the meaning of loneliness... 
	"And sorrow is sometimes even worse than pain..."
	A cool wind blew, a memory of past winters. "But I've come back 
now, Kimiko," the man continued. "This time, I won't run away. This time, 
I'll set the record straight. Our children shall not make the same 
mistakes we did. That I promise you..."
	And the moon shone quietly upon the man who was neither a father 
nor a son, but was both - the man who tried to forget but remembered even 
more - the man who ran away from the girl he loved the moment she needed 
him the most - the man who used to be a young skating boy who grew up to 
be an Admiral, and found out that he had never left the lake of his 
childhood... 
	The man of sorrows, Admiral Mikado Sanzenin, Sr. 

	With a silent thump, 
	a rose fell onto the moonlit wooden floor, 
	glistening with tears not Akane's, 
	but Ranma's own... 

End: Memories day 1


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|Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!|
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	Gah! Finally managed to do it! It's been two months overdue, but 
the last chapter of the first day of the Memories saga (yep, it's a 
saga...) is finally finished. I know the series isn't that hot in the 
FFML but still, thanks for all of you who checked your mail and found 
this in. 

	Guess it's a bit late, but I need to clear matters up a bit. 

	Although Memories is a Ranma-Sailor Moon-Maison Ikkoku-Macross 
(Robotech)-El Hazard-Real Ghostbusters-Tom Swift-and a dash of Evangelion 
crossover, the major plot still revolves around the Ranma 1/2 cast. 
Basically, it's a return-of-the-evil-oni-with-a-vengance fanfic with some 
angstful and funny extras merged with something that I can't tell yet.
	
	After the evil oni's defeat by Ranma and Co., it found its way to 
the West Coast of the US. The crossovers are here for a particular reason 
and these are the following.
	1) Massive military strength is needed in defeating the oni and 
Happosai. That's where the Macross (Robotech) universe comes in. 
	2) A catastrophe like this would be considered to be a paranormal 
event. And if there's something strange wreaking California, who do you 
call? Ghostbusters!
	3) Conventional weapons supplied to the US National Guard won't 
work against the two monsters. There happens to be a literary series that 
postulates the existence of a blond boy genius in sunny California who 
goes on super-scientific quests with the help of the resources of the 
multi-million dollar heavy industries corporation that his father happens 
to own. That's why Tom Swift is here. 
	4) The evil oni's capture is a very dangerous thing and should be 
shrouded in secrecy complete with specially lighted rooms and Mysterious 
Men Cloaked in Shadow With a Dark Secret (MMCISWADS).
	5) And, of course, the Sailor Soldiers will be there to protect 
love and justice. I linked Tom Swift and Ami Mizuno for their common 
characteristics and because I love Ami and I would really like to have 
her in my story (Note: THIS IS NOT A SELF-INSERT!).
	6) Maison Ikkoku and El Hazard are here for kicks. 

	I designed Memories to be modular in nature so that the first day 
is a story in itself and the Second day of Memories can be considered as 
separate, although the first chapter of the second day will still be 
called Chapter 13. As you can see, everyone in the Ranma 1/2 cast is 
rethinking the status quo and things are bound to get interesting in the 
second day. 

	Well, I guess that's that. Sorry for making this story pretty long 
and I hope that you liked the ending for the first day. It could be a 
while before I start the second day of Memories, so don't hope for a 
quick ending for the entire series in the near future. 

  	Of course C&C desperately begged for. For the rest of the story, 
please check out our website at www.geocities.com/tokyo/flats/3145.

	Domo Arigato Gozimasu!

Mayhem
199811221620H

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|Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!|
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