(This would be chapter 3, part 2, for those keeping count.)



	Movement.  I am being cradled, and I feel motion.  My head is resting
against someone.  Someone's shoulder.  Damp.
	I raise my eyelids slowly.  Ranma is carrying me.  I nestle closer and
close my eyes again.
	Ranma was a girl, but became a boy.  It wasn't real.  Hallucinations. 
Crazy Kotchi didn't take her medicine and had a hallucination. 
Perfectly normal behavior for the insane.  I feel like laughing, but
stifle it.  
	I never had hallucinations before.
	Ranma is setting me down now.  No, please.  My arms curl around his
neck, but someone pushes them away.  They lay me down on a sleeping mat,
on my side.  I curl up like a child.
	I open my eyes.  There's a man playing shogi with a panda.  The panda
is cheating.  I roll the other way.
	Ranma is here, the _real_ Ranma, and Akane, and someone else, a young
woman I do not know.  She has a ponytail and the sort of pleasant,
placid expression used by automatic elevator operators.  I find it
comforting and familiar, and focus on her as she offers me tea.
	"Yes please."  I sit up slowly.  She hands me the cup and withdraws
with a slight bow, still smiling placidly.  I sip at the cup.  "Who is
she?"
	"Older sister," says Akane.  I sip again, and feel the warmth flow
through my body.  From behind the door comes the faint clatter of
dishes.  Has older sister lost her mother, too?  I don't think she's
happy, somehow, just good at pretending.  
	"Thank you for . . . having me in."  I slip my shoes off and Akane
takes them, leaving me alone with Ranma.  I have no idea what to say to
him.  _You know, for a while there I thought you were a girl, isn't it
funny, ha ha,_ perhaps?  I settle for smiling at him.  
	"I suppose you're wondering what happened," he says uncomfortably, and
launches into a monologue.  I try to follow him, but he seems to be
saying the most impossible things.  Cursed springs?  One of us must be
crazy, and it's probably not him.  I gather that the panda is his
father, and look back over my shoulder.  He still looks like a panda,
but he does appear to be winning the game.
	I must be having a psychotic break.  But it's strange--there are none
of the feelings of fear or pent-up frenzy that I associate with the
disease.  It's a pleasant, drifting feeling.  I thought a break with
reality would be terrifying, but I feel lucid and calm.
	I keep smiling at Ranma, nodding vaguely. He's talking about Akane now,
how his father and her father forcibly engaged them.  He doesn't want to
marry the "tomboy."
	"Oh, and who'd want to marry you, you pathetic shape-shifting pervert!"
Akane interjects.  I hadn't realized she was back, but there she is,
fists set on hips, glaring at him.
	"Well, I think he's wonderful," I say, turning my attention back to
Ranma.  
	He leans back and laces his fingers behind his neck, basking. "Yeah,
I'm pretty wonderful, all right."  He smirks at Akane, who turns on her
heel and stalks out.
	"I think it's terrible that you're being forced to marry her," I
breathe, sliding closer.  "I think you should be free to marry whomever
you want."  He looks up, and I realize someone is standing over me. 
It's the man and the panda, both looking unhappy.
	"Um, within reason, of course," I temporize.
	"Ranma," the man says, scowling, "I think you'd better go upstairs and
talk to Akane."
	"Aw, man, I didn't do nothin'," says Ranma.
	"Growf," adds the panda, folding its arms.  Forelimbs.  Something.
	"I have to go!" I blurt.  I have to get home and medicate myself.  Lie
down for a while.  I scramble to my feet and dart for the door, grabbing
my shoes on the way.
	Outside, I bend down and pull the shoes on, stumbling around in my
haste.  Ranma steps through the door, looking puzzled and . . .
concerned?  Is that concern?  I stand up, staring.
	"Hey, you okay?  You're kinda . . ."
	Without quite planning it, I lunge forward and press against him,
kissing him as hard as I can.  He lets out a sort of "Murmph" or gurgle
and stumbles back.  I release him.  He falls, and I stagger, nearly
falling on top of him.  "I'm sorry," I gasp.
	I don't know what to say now, so I turn and flee, out the front gate
and down the street.  I feel like laughing.  Raising my arms, I twirl
around like Julie Andrews.  I am laughing.
	Calm, girl.  Calm, calm.  I really really need my medication.  Calm
down.  Go home.  Just go home.
	I head for home, stumbling slightly and out of breath.

	Upon arriving, I head up to my room, swallow the pills, and lie down. 
Calm descends, along with the accompanying leadenness and stomach
discomfort.  Why does my madness feel better than my sanity?  It's not
fair.
	Rising, I make my towards the stairs.  As I pass my brother's room, I
hear him muttering to himself.  His door is open a crack, so I push it
further and peer in.
	He is sitting on his bed, hunched over, staring at a collection of
photographs.  Spying me, he starts guiltily, and tries to hide them
between his legs.  One flutters to the floor.  I step forward and pick
it up.
	It is not Akane Tendo.  It is that female Ranma Saotome.  The
pig-tailed girl.


-- David