RANMA NIBUN NO USUGURAMI
PART II

Chapter 8


The heat of the day was abating with the setting sun and so was Akane's 
anger. The part that upset her was that it took all of the time since 
before noon when she had stormed out of the house. Being around Ranma 
had reached intolerable levels of torment.

She hadn't cared where she ended up when she left; she just had to 
leave.

By the time she had decided to look up, she was in Shakujii Park. Here 
the view was wonderful. The trees were vibrantly green and stretched far 
into the sky as if they were longing to caress the clouds. Grass danced 
along the hills as the wind gently rolled past them. The sun shone on 
Sanpoji Lake, its reflection being broken apart into patterns of gold 
and blue.

To Akane, this place held the best memories: the ones of her mother. Mom 
had been a beautiful, caring person. Her hair was a very dark brown, 
almost to the point of being black, but lighter than Akane's. Her eyes 
were chocolate brown, like Akane's, and set evenly apart on her slender 
face. A face that shared a thin, upturned nose with lips that produced 
warm smiles. A face that was moulded in the softest clay with nothing 
but gentle curves, a stark contrast to her father's chiselled, 
weather-beaten features. She was surprised that the memory was so fresh, 
as if Mom had left only a few months ago instead of eight years.

Walking down one hill and up another, Akane came to rest under the 
single tree decorating the peak. Resting against it, she looked at the 
stained-glass-like patterns of light and shadow shifting with the 
rocking of the branches and limbs.

It was from Mom that she had learned her self-assertiveness. She had 
been told that the Japan that Mom knew would be completely different 
from the Japan Akane would live in. It was going to be a land where both 
the men and the women would be given equal opportunities in every aspect 
of society. It was going to be a land where women would have the right 
to choose and not be shamed for those choices.

Sitting under the tree, she wondered if Mom had been a visionary, or 
just an optimist. Ever since Ranma had darkened her doorstep, he had 
gone out of his way to destroy Mom's beliefs. Whenever Akane would show 
any sign of independence, even if it were as simple as a suggestion, he 
would brush her off try to "put her back in her place." Then came the 
ignorance, than the insults, and they all served to swell her anger 
until she lashed out at him. Then she would feel better; but Ranma must 
feel perversely satisfied because he would start the process again.

"Why is it so hard for him to show even a little respect anymore?" she 
whispered to herself. She shed a tear from each eye: one for Mom, one 
for Ranma.

She fell asleep, but her dreams were littered with the morning's events. 
One particular moment gnawed at her.

She had remembered seeing the mop. Looking behind her, she had spied the 
mop beside the door where Kasumi had left it. Casting one final icy 
glance at Ranma she had picked up the mop and adjusted her grip so she 
held it like a javelin. She drew back her arm and had thrown it.

Except it was...wrong. The mop had flown startlingly straight. It had 
reached Ranma in seconds. It had landed in the exact place that his feet 
would a half-second later so he would slip and fall into the pond. The 
events were just too...perfect.

She tried to think of why she had picked that moment to leave, but 
instead slipped further, into a dreamless sleep.

Waking up later, she had gazed at the sky that had transformed itself 
into a gigantic, ethereal rainbow. The yellow and red being produced by 
the setting sun, itself no more than a sliver on the horizon. The indigo 
and violet by the creeping night on the other side of the sky. And the 
clouds set up like benches that angels would use to watch the splendour.

But now that she was almost home, the sky was dark, save for the light 
pollution spreading out from downtown. She wasn't walking with any 
particular speed. Returning home was getting harder to do because if Dad 
wasn't there to chide her again, it would be Ranma with his teasing.

She came up to the large oak doors of her house. Her body was tense and 
she drew a deep breath to relax. Her body loosened but she was still 
apprehensive about jumping back into the foray.

Finally, she walked inside the outer wall. Slowly making her way up the 
stone path, she smelled the scents coming from the orchids and 
chrysanthemums planted along the side fence. She heard the flitter of 
water as the fish swam around in the pond. But these things held no 
relief for her.

Was she losing the capacity to find beauty? If that was true, then she 
could also lose the capacity to love.

It was a chilling notion not because it could happen, but that it might 
already be true.

When she had first met Ranma, she liked the girl she saw right from the 
start. When she found out the girl was also a guy, her offer of 
friendship disappeared; almost.

As time progressed, he had done things that irritated her and even 
though she was quick to anger, she was almost as quick to forgiveness. 

And he also did things that touched her. Soon after, their friendship 
returned. And from friendship came attraction and then romance...

She still remembered the night a month after Ranma had rescued her from 
Saffron. He had told her about the day they would get married and how 
they had to keep all of it a secret from...opposing forces. He had said 
that once he won the dojo from Dad, they would perform the ceremony the 
same night. She had teased about what he could offer and he showed how 
much a martial artist's endurance could provide.

The day they had agreed on was the summer after Akane's eighteenth 
birthday.

Then something happened a year ago that destroyed all that...

?                    ?

Akane and Ranma were sitting in the Cat Caf� sharing a House Special 
when Ling Ling, one of the younger warriors from Josetsuzoku, entered 
and collapsed on the floor. Her clothes were covered with dirt and 
coloured with drops and spatters of blood. When Shampoo's 
great-grandmother, Cologne, woke her up and bandaged her wounds, she 
asked what had happened.

Shampoo came back from a delivery in the middle of the Mandarin exchange 
and looked confused at the presence of her tribal sister.

To Akane the words were no more than gibberish but it was clear as to 
the severity of the message. Ling Ling was on the edge of hysteria. 
Cologne stiffened, her gaze closing to a squint. When Ling Ling 
finished, Shampoo--the blood long drained from her face--broke down 
sobbing.

Akane looked at Ranma only to see a mirror of her confusion on his face; 
he shrugged his shoulders.

Shampoo gathered Ling Ling into her arms and they both cried into each 
other. Cologne came over to the table and sat across from Ranma.

"Ling Ling has told me that the Josetsu village has been brutally 
attacked," she said.

Akane gasped and covered her mouth. Tears started to well. She had seen 
the village only once but she was loath to think of the beauty of its 
lush green fields and mountains surrounding ancient cottages being 
destroyed by invaders.

Ranma pushed his bowl aside and leaned in. "Who's doing the attacking?"

Cologne's vigorous anger broke through her otherwise inscrutable 
features. "The attackers claim to be the rightful Bayankala Josetsu. 
They set fire to most of the homes. The killed many tribeswomen before 
they could escape. Including Lung Lung."

Akane went as pale as Shampoo had. Ranma trembled with rage, muscles 
bulging along his arms and face as he clenched his fists and jaw. Wicks 
of aural flame danced up his back and across his shoulders.

"Ling Ling came here because she wanted Shampoo to ask you to help in 
reclaiming the tribe's territory," the ancient said.

A deep guttural growl issued from Ranma. "I'll make this clear to you 
right now old ghoul." Ranma aimed a finger straight at Cologne. "Under 
any other circumstance I would leave your tribe's affairs to you...but I 
will not stand by and watch innocent children be murdered."

"Neither will I," came a voice. Mousse appeared out of nowhere and took 
to the chair beside Akane.

"You assistance is unnecessary," Cologne said immediately.

"My family is also at stake in this little war. I would gladly fight for 
only them, but I believe you will find my help beneficial."

Akane agreed with Ranma and Mousse, she wasn't fond of the old crone and 
it wasn't any of her business but--

"I want to come too," she said at last.

"Why you, child?" Cologne asked.

<So, I can keep Ranma away from your clutches.> "I can help Shampoo or 
someone else with a triage unit."

She was accepted into the game plan without anyone realising that she 
had made the wrong of the first of two very important decisions.

?                    ?

The sight of the village was horrible, almost petrifying. Akane had 
envisioned burnt and broken houses but not the burnt and broken bodies 
to go with them. The sight was made further revolting by the deep iron 
colour of all the blood in the red of dawn's twilight. She felt like 
someone had kicked her in the gut.

"Gives new meaning to 'Paint the town red,' doesn't it?" Ranma grimly 
quipped.

"Ranma!" she snapped, her stomach knotting. "How can you say such a 
thing?"

He didn't answer. She was about to yell at him again when she noticed 
something. Ranma's fists were clenched and trembling. She looked at his 
face. He only offered her a profile, but it was enough to show he was 
mesmerised by the horrid scene before him. But his eyes betrayed his 
veneer of sarcasm; they were burning with fury, even more than what she 
witnessed in the restaurant far across the sea in Japan.

A single tear escaped his eye. She softened and decided to let Ranma 
cope in his own way.

Ling Ling led the group of martial artists to the temporary camp of 
survivors. They hadn't all been killed yet, but they were still dying. 
The set-up was deplorable. A few scattered burlap tents, wounded huddled 
under a hastily erected awning with no beds and in most cases, no 
blankets. 

Akane immediately went over to one of the tribeswomen with Shampoo. The 
woman, who said her name was Dei Xi, had a sister clutching a bloody rag 
over the hole in her left shoulder where her left arm should have been. 
Akane tried to help staunch the flow of blood when Dei Xi told her to 
stop and help the sister.

"What wrong with your sister?" Akane asked.

"She have broken leg," Shampoo translated.

Akane stared in shock at Dei. "But your wound could be fatal!"

"Dei Xi knows," Shampoo relayed. "Dei Xi welcomes death when death 
comes." She talked to Akane directly now. "If Dei Xi not die, Dei Xi no 
more be good warrior. Is fate worse than death."

Akane's head drooped. She didn't want to accept it but, after a year of 
living with Ranma, she knew that it was no good trying to fight with 
someone who made up their mind. Besides, she tried rationalising to 
herself, battle was these people's life force. Still, not wanting to 
admit a total loss, she administered a painkiller before attending to 
the sister.

?                    ?

Ranma had followed Cologne into one of the tents earlier and by the time 
Akane was stitching a cut in her third patient, he re-emerged.

The crowd, previously milling back and forth, chatting with each other, 
comforting each other, became silent as Cologne stood before them.

"This boy is to help up with our battle against the other tribe," she 
declared. She repeated herself in Mandarin. "To that end, he is to be 
granted dispensation from our laws for his stay."

When she repeated herself again, various shouts could be heard. "Why we 
need more outsider-help, they say," Shampoo offered for Akane.

Cologne barked two short sentences, then started picking people from the 
group. "Silence, I am spoken, she says."

?                    ?

The day continued on harshly. Akane's skin was dirty and her hair was 
matted. The loose green tank top and shorts she wore were also dirty and 
crusted with blood. Shampoo was equally dishevelled. At least all the 
wounded had been tended to, if not by her, then other sisters who 
offered to help.

She took the opportunity to rest a little and take a slug of water when 
Shampoo offered.

"Thank you for helping me Shampoo," she said handing the canteen back.

"Akane welcome. Shampoo too-too glad to help."

"I feel like taking a bath for a week when we get back."

"Is okay. Shampoo use that time to steal Ranma away."

She caught the joke in the Amazon's words. "He's all yours."

Akane looked at Ranma. When he started training that morning, it was 
just a succession of one-on-one battles. Now he had escalated his 
handicap to four at once, no holds barred. Watching him was like seeing 
poetry. He had removed his shirt earlier because of the heat and Akane 
drank in the sight of his muscles flexing and relaxing underneath his 
taught skin. Though such bulk would slow a normal person down, Akane 
kept reminding herself that Ranma was far from normal. He knew his own 
body better than anyone else--although Akane considered herself a *very* 
close second--and he kept everything working in constant unison to give 
himself a cat-like grace. <Actually, he could put a cat's grace to 
shame.>

"Akane getting hot from sun? Or Ranma?"

She jumped at Shampoo's voice. Her friend giggled and she could only 
blush.

Ranma finished up with the group. He grabbed his shirt from the ground 
and jogged over to Akane. He reached in to kiss her, but she tried to 
protest.

"Ranma," she said, "come on. I'm filthy and you're all sweaty."

"You'd rather be sweaty with me?" he said with a grin. Before she could 
say anything further, Ranma slung one hand around her waist, the other 
around her neck, and drew her straight in.

She resisted for a second then relaxed completely with a soft sigh. She 
felt the contours of his stomach and chest that she loved so much. She 
pressed against him and tasted the salt on his lips, enjoyed the play of 
his tongue. Suddenly her mind informed her where she was and she broke 
the kiss. She just smiled at him coyly and brushed the damp hair from 
his eyes.

"Shampoo need make more room?"

Akane looked over while trying to keep Ranma from nibbling at her ear. 
"Sorry, Shampoo," she said.

"Is okay. Just don't go around Great-grandmother like that or else she 
have heart attack."

Ranma looked up, interested "Really?"

"Ranma!" Akane swung a fist at him.

He dodged and put up his hands in surrender. "Kidding," he said. Then he 
took her arm and they went to the tent the village people--against her 
protest--provided for them.

Getting inside, Akane said, "You seem to be in better spirits."

"You think so?" he said from behind a partition. "Yeah, I guess I am. I 
feel confident about the battle."

"Not too confident, I hope," Akane said smiling as she walked around the 
screen.

Slipping out of his boxers, he flashed her his own confident smile that 
said <puh-lease!>

Hopping into the wash drum, Ranma went underwater for a minute and came 
back up with a *Gasp!* "Akane," he asked, "can you bring the soap?"

?                    ?

Akane was sitting reading a book she had brought with her, but she 
wasn't concentrating. Her gaze kept shifting up to Ranma, who was across 
the tent. He was stepping through the motions of the shinchi kata but 
with his eyes closed. He kept hopping from one foot to the other keeping 
perfect balance.

"Son-in-law!" Cologne yelled pushing back the flap of the tent. Ranma 
was caught in mid-leap when his eyes flew open and his head snapped 
around in reflex. He lost his balance and fell through the tent wall. 
Akane looked towards Cologne with an equally surprised expression.

"We must be quick to the battle," she said, then disappeared.

Performing a reverse somersault, Ranma left through the new hole in the 
tent. Akane ran outside through the original opening as he ran past her 
with the rest of the tribe. She sped after him trying to catch up.

"Ranma!" she called after him. He slowed slightly to meet up with her. 
"Are you sure you're okay? Even after all of today's training?"

"This battle is mine!" he declared triumphantly. He gave her one more 
passionate kiss, then increased his strides and tore away to the head of 
the barrelling pack of Amazon warriors.

Slowing down, Akane lightly pressed her fingers to her lips trying to 
keep the memory of his warmth from escaping.

She slowly treaded back to camp letting her arms fall to her side. Why 
did the attack have to come so suddenly? Ranma was, in no doubt, in 
perfect physical condition. But the amount of training he put in 
today...

Checking up on some of her remaining patients and arranging short 
services for those who died refusing to receive treatment for their 
wounds, it was about a half-hour after Ranma left that Akane conceded it 
was getting too dark to see. She looked up at the sky. It had become 
overcast and the clouds were threatening to release their storage of 
rain.

She followed an erratic circuit around camp setting up kerosene lamps 
and wax candles that Shampoo--<who was now involved in the battle,> her 
mind tortured--had purchased earlier that day. Suddenly, she thought 
heard a crash of thunder as the camp lit up in an explosion of light.

Turning around, she caught the last few seconds of light as if faded. It 
wasn't lightning; it was an explosion of energy from the battle site! As 
if to confirm her suspicion she saw an orange sphere rise up like a 
comet and explode in mid-air. She jumped up and hit the ground running. 
The light had to be from Ranma's Tiger Blast Attack. That meant the 
battle was escalating.

<If Ranma or the others were here now,> she thought, <they'd try to stop 
me. But if Ranma thought I was in trouble, he wouldn't hesitate.>

As she ran towards Ground Zero, the clouds began to open up. At first it 
was a mere sheen but quickly sped up until large fat droplets were 
falling at a torrent pace. Her clothes clung to her, slightly 
restricting her movement. Her sneakers quickly became covered in mud and 
she was kicking it up the backs of her legs and clothes but she only 
increased her pace.

Soon she made out a halo of red light and realised that the houses were 
again ablaze. She remembered the sight of the bodies she saw and tried 
to push out the next thought before it could manifest itself. Ranma's 
too good for such a fate, she thought and pushed herself to and run 
faster anyway.

Clearing a hill, she saw the grim visage of the battle. Tribeswomen and 
men were engaged in a fight to the death. There was no order to the 
combat; no pairing off the fighters, no calculated strikes or blocks, 
just a bloody race to see which side could kill the other first.

Akane pressed against one of the few walls that remained standing. She 
looked around the corner in time to see one of the combatants--one of 
the losers now--slam against the house with a disk-like blade embedded 
in his skull, blood etching macabre rivers down his face. She shrieked 
at the sight of it.

"Akane?"

She looked and saw Mousse holding a chain. He tugged on it and the steel 
discus was pulled out of the dead man's head with a sickening *Pop!* He 
grabbed the safe edge as the chain disappeared into his seemingly 
abyssal robe. Although now, the signs of war covered the normally white 
fabric. Blood, muck, and gore.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as if she had merely bumped into him 
on the street.

"I saw the takabisha attack from camp. Where's Ranma?"

He was about to answer when a woman jumped from the Choreography from 
Hell straight at Mousse's back with a spear. In a single spin of 
incredible speed Mousse turned behind him to kick the spear out of the 
way, brought his arm around, slashed the woman across the throat, and 
turned to face Akane again before she finished falling.

"Forget it!" he blurted back. "Get back to camp before you're hurt!"

"And what if he's hurt?"

"He isn't! Just leave!"

Before she could plead again, the sky lit up and the ground shook as 
another Tiger Bullet soared above. Following the trail of light left in 
its wake before it vanished, Akane took off after its source.

"Akane, *no!*" Mousse was ready to run after her but the fighting had 
surrounded him again.

She wove her way behind the ruins of the village's houses. Miraculously, 
she wasn't challenged or attacked. She looked at it as a good sign. When 
she was about a dozen metres away, she saw him. Quickly, she ducked 
behind a wall like she had done earlier only she had to keep crouched 
because the piece of wall that was left was only a metre high. She 
peered around the edge, keeping as close to the ground as possible.

Off to the left stood Ranma who--thank God--didn't look badly hurt. The 
only hits he had were a few minor scratches on his arms and legs and a 
bruise on his cheek. His opponent however didn't have a single mark.

Akane assumed that he was fighting the leader of the attacking tribe. 
She looked to be about as old as Cologne, same white hair, same amount 
of age creasing her skin. This tribal leader, however, was twice as tall 
though still shorter than Ranma.

Akane shuffled herself into a more comfortable position so she was flat 
on her belly. The old woman darted her eyes over in her direction. Had 
she heard the movement? Akane kept very still.

Ranma took that distraction as an opening. Very quickly, he charged the 
old woman and set himself up into a leaping roundhouse kick. She was 
clearly caught off-guard but she recovered rapidly. She ducked under the 
sweep and sprang under him, hitting his other leg as she went. He landed 
on the kicking leg and jumped again, performing a flip to turn him back 
around. Before he managed to land, the old woman charged him. She 
disappeared for an instant, re-materialising behind Ranma as he went 
down. The motion was too fast for Akane to see but intuition told her 
that he had been clotheslined in the crone's brief vanishing act.

Turning downward momentum into backward, Ranma rolled through the fall 
and pushed off with his hands into a half-flip.

<No good,> Akane thought. <With her behind him *and* his back turned, 
Ranma is wide open.>

As if to prove her point, the old woman started a kicking motion, 
readying herself to release it as soon as Ranma landed. But it didn't 
connect. The instant he'd spent landing was the same he spent jumping 
again. He tucked his legs up into him as he sailed back away. At the 
apex of his flip an orange light welled between his hands.

"M�ko takabisha!" A ball of light streaked towards the old woman, 
simultaneously propelling Ranma further away.

What happened next is something Akane wished she would never have to see 
again. Before the tiger bullet could hit her she aimed her palms towards 
it and *it slowed down!* The energy became compressed into an egg-like 
shape and hung there crackling.

After what was a second of time, but felt like an eternity, the old 
woman waved her hands aside and the energy, reasserting its spherical 
shape, flew away from Akane, exploding in the distance.

Ranma landed, unfazed. "It's time to finish this, Bleach!"

"There is no scale with which to measure my level of agreement."

The old woman spoke with not a voice fitting her, but what seemed like a 
hundred different voices, an uncanny choir trying to vocalise as one.

Before Akane could form an understanding of what the ghoulish 
woman-yet-not-woman meant, understanding was thrust upon her. She was 
lifted off the ground by an invisible force and flung like a piece of 
garbage into the air, landing between the two fighters, the wind being 
knocked out of her before she could scream a protest.

"*Akane!*"

Akane tried to respond but her lungs would barely take a sip at a time. 
The air felt thick and she threatened to black out. She wasn't given a 
chance to recover before she was lifted back into the air.

"Don't act so surprised Ranma," Bleach said. "Surely you must have 
sensed her. Your ki are practically identical. *I* knew she was coming 
long before she even arrived."

Akane coughed as her spastic throat opened finally. She hung there, in 
mid-air, taking deep breaths to fight back the consuming darkness.

"Ranma," she called, finding a tiny piece her voice. Ranma didn't look 
up.

"What happens here, on this battleground is none of your concern." 
Bleach pointed at Akane but spoke to Ranma. "Leave this place now and I 
will release her. The both of you may walk away uncontested. Refuse, and 
I will obliterate her."

"Fuck you."

Akane was horror-struck. She knew he was talking to Bleach, but she 
couldn't help thinking what the implications of what Ranma said meant.

"Ranma, no! You can't!"

He still did not look up.

"You would be willing to sacrifice your lover? For the sake of people 
whom you know nothing about? Strangers whom you owe nothing to?"

"Akane knew what she was getting into when she came here. She would do 
the same thing in my place."

"No I wouldn't, you idiot!" she said, though constrained to no more than 
whispers.

"So she means nothing to you?" Bleach asked. Ranma stood silently.

"Ranma!" Akane pleaded. Then her world went white.

END?

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