Hello everyone,

Just another weekend...Just another part...

C&C is always welcome at either;
gargoyle@glasscity.net
or
gargoyle4@hotmail.com
Flames will be filed in the round folder...

Anybody thought about a more suitable name for this?
Or is Mythos a good one to stick with?

***
Mythos
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 2 - Scoundrel Days

Ijisai stumbled as she came to the chamber of her teacher and 
friend, Esu Son. She cursed lightly to herself as she almost lost the 
armload that was her burden. For some reason, Son-sama wanted 
everything from the last expedition to the hinterlands and 
everything that went with them.

It confused Ijisai greatly. To her knowledge, the scribes had 
finished putting everything to archive a few months ago. She could 
understand if Son-sama wanted to read through the archives, but 
why even bring the possessions box? The scribes were always 
more thorough than Ijisai thought they needed to be, but since they 
told the stories of everyone, she supposed they should be.

It all began two days ago when that strange girl was found a few 
meters outside the main gates. It had been Yonjisai that had found 
her and had originally thought it was a namagoroshi. The wounds 
were too fresh, however, and after Son-sama gave her permission, 
she was taken to the healers. The girl remained there, under the 
watchful eye of the healers because she still had not come out of 
the strange sleep that she was under.

Ijisai had seen her. She was quite beautiful in a way that Ijisai 
couldn't describe. Certainly not in the classical sense, like herself 
or Son-sama, but still stunning. Especially the red hair. Ijisai had 
only met one other person with red hair. Of course, that person was 
the main focus of the last expedition too. Ranma Saotome. That 
girl wasn't Ranma. Ijisai knew. Ijisai counted to twenty as she tried 
to regain her breath before knocking.

"Come in, Ijisai," a voice said from within.

Ijisai almost lost her load again and shook her head. She opened 
the door and made her way slowly to the low table towards one 
side of the room. Stacked high on the table were all the records 
from the last expedition. A journey of almost six months. And 
every day had been cataloged by the scribes in the most minute 
detail. Needless to say that the records for the time of six months 
were stacked to the ceiling.

"Oh good, you have the possessions box?" Esu asked, poking her 
head over a stack.

Ijisai would have nodded, but she didn't want to drop anything. Esu 
stepped over a smaller stack on the floor and lifted the small box 
from the top of Ijisai's burden. Ijisai began to stack the rest of the 
records in as much order as she could, while Esu took the box to a 
light.

Esu felt along the bottom of the box, holding it upright. Along one 
of the legs was a little nub that was the key to unlocking the box. 
She pushed the key and there was a slight pop as the lid lifted 
slightly. Esu set the box down on a clear section of table and 
opened the lid fully. One thing about the possessions box that 
never failed to annoy her was the smell. That musty smell that kept 
everything inside from rotting or decaying away. It still stank. Esu 
carefully set the little items aside, as she was looking for...

And there it was.

"Ijisai," Esu said, stepping lightly to the door, "Follow me."

Ijisai looked up from her stacking and was going to ask about the 
rest, but Esu had already gone from the room. Ijisai scrambled out 
of the room and down the hall after Esu. It seemed like they were 
heading for the healer hall.

"You found something, Son-sama?" Ijisai asked, not able to 
contain her excitement.

Esu said nothing in return, but handed a scrap of something back to 
Ijisai. She turned the thing over in her hands. It was like paper, but 
a little thicker. It was also shiny on one side and had strange 
writing on the other. Ijisai remembered what this was. Something 
Ranma had shown her after she first arrived. Something called a 
'photograph'. Ijisai couldn't read the lettering though. It was in 
Ranma's language. Ijisai turned the photograph over and stopped 
walking.

It was her. The red head. Except, she wasn't red headed in the 
photograph. She carried a smile and seemed quite happy to be in 
the photograph to Ijisai. Ijisai looked up to question this, but had to 
start running to catch up to Esu, who was already far ahead.

"Son-sama, I don't understand," Ijisai said, beginning to run out of 
breath, "This was given to you by Saotome over a year ago, how 
could the girl-"

"Ijisai, I don't know myself," Esu said, almost at a run now, "But 
we've got to find out. I never explained why Ranma gave me that 
photo in the first place did I?"

Ijisai could only shake her head, trying to keep up. They rounded 
the stairs and came into the healer hall. The healers, having been 
warned not to stray too far from this girl, had taken up position 
outside her room.

"We need to see her," Esu told one of the healers.

"You're in luck Protectorate, she woke up not two minutes ago," 
the healer proudly announced.

Esu growled sharply and swung past the confused healer into the 
room. The girl had been helped to a sitting position and was 
looking around with wide eyes in fright. Esu came to the end of her 
bed and stopped. The girl shrank under the penetrating gaze of the 
eldest Sister-Protectorate.

"Ijisai, the photograph please."

Ijisai handed it to her and stepped back. Watching the girl, it 
amazed Ijisai how incredibly similar she was to the girl in the 
photograph, except, of course, for the hair.

"Just as I thought," Esu said, tossing the photograph onto the bed, 
"There's no question that, except for the change in hair color, this 
is Akane Tendo."

***

The trail split and headed towards the north from its more 
southerly path at that point. Ranma stopped and looked at the 
signpost. She couldn't read it of course, but the lettering and 
languages of this world seemed to hold some kind of odd beauty to 
her. It was very much like a song that she had heard in the past. 
Something that she might have heard when she had been a child.

"Well?" Ikari asked from behind.

Ranma turned and looked at the taller girl. She was a girl, not even 
older than Ranma. Ranma wouldn't have said that out loud though. 
Ikari was standing over Rei with her hands on her hips. She was 
getting frustrated with all the walking. Ranma couldn't blame her. 
It had been almost three days since they lifted the jade from the 
traders on the ship. Since the last time Ranma killed someone. 
Ranma walked slowly to Rei, who was sitting on a nearby log, 
looking over a map. Ranma took out her flagon from it's hiding 
spot near the back of her coat. She opened it and took a long drink.

The water splashed coolly down her throat. The humidity had been 
down in the last couple days, but the heat had increased. Ranma 
offered the flagon to Ikari, who waved it off with a slight smile. 
That seemed to cool off her attitude. Ranma handed the flagon to 
Rei, who drank without raising her eyes from the map.

Ranma's thoughts once again turned back to the ship, which had 
taken up her dreams and thoughts in the last two days. Before she 
came to this world, Ranma would never have killed anyone. 
Disabled them, sure. Even broken bones in order to protect 
someone that she loved, absolutely. But to kill? Ranma had been 
sick with stress and hurt the first time she killed in this world. Rei 
seemed to almost enjoy it at times, which didn't set well with 
Ranma either.

The first time may have been necessary, but that fact hadn't made it 
any easier. Since then, killing seemed to come easier, and 
unfortunately, more frequently. Bandits seemed to thrive up here in 
the high country. Something about the variety of edible plants or 
something. Ranma guessed that it would have been easier to live 
off the land in a place like this.

Ranma snickered slightly, earning odd looks from Rei and Ikari. 
She smiled and waved them off. Her father would have loved a 
place like this. Camping, training, walking and all of them 
constant. Of course, following what had occurred with Ranma, he 
would have been stuck in his panda form for the duration. Her 
father wouldn't have minded really, especially since it would have 
meant that he would've been able to eat more of the plant life. Also 
that he wouldn't have to cook.

Of course, he'd never cook anyway.

"Nope," Rei said finally, "We're still going in the right direction."

"But I thought you said we would be going more south," Ikari 
asked, "This is most definitely going into the mountains."

"I was holding the map wrong?" Rei said sheepishly.

"Rei...I..." Ikari began to fume.

"Ikari," Ranma said, "Calm down."

"But-she-" then a thought caught her, "How could we be going in 
the right direction if the trail leads north into the mountains instead 
of into the lowlands?"

"Cause I was also reading the map wrong?"

"Rei..."

And Ikari sputtered as she was splashed with water. Ranma 
plopped the top back in the flagon and put it away again.

"Stop that!" Ikari shouted at Ranma.

She huffed a couple of times and began back down the path. Rei 
had packed the map away into her sack and sidled back up to 
Ranma.

"I wish we could find some other way to keep her from 
exploding," Rei said as she adjusted her pack.

Ranma couldn't disagree. Sometimes, though, interrupting her 
thoughts with water made her more angry than letting her go. Less 
destructive in the long run, yes, but sometimes worse. Ranma had 
discovered that little trick early on after they had been captured by 
religious pilgrims and had been made to suffer through a sermon. 
Ranma wasn't affected, as it had been in Ikari's language. Ikari on 
the other hand, blew up. It helped them escape, but Ranma was 
recovering from burns months later. He had to think that it was 
because Ikari wasn't very religious. Rei and Ranma followed Ikari 
as she stayed ahead, letting her come down slowly.

The trail wound around the base of a nearby mountain, ever curling 
more towards a sharp crevice to the east side of the mountain. At 
the next stop, Rei found the crevice on the map and saw that a 
small mountain village lay about a mile into the pass, a kind of 
waystation before the badlands that lay beyond the pass. The 
magical capitol of the southern continent, Kellenel, lay far beyond 
the badlands and was their eventual destination. Ranma sighed 
because it was still many weeks off.

"According to the map," Rei said from her perch near the fire, "We 
should be able to reach Thetheren sometime tomorrow morning. It 
says that it's some kind of native village."

"I've never been there before," Ikari handed a stick to Ranma, 
"Couldn't tell you."

"What did you say this was again?" Ranma asked, looking at the 
blue meat on the end of her stick.

"Zeeifl," Ikari said, adjusting the remaining pieces in the fire, 
"Kind of a bird."

"Kind of?"

Ranma nibbled on it. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good, either. And no, 
it didn't taste like chicken. It was a good change from the molins of 
which Rei seemed to have an endless supply, though.

"I like mine raw please," Rei asked of Ikari, holding out her sword 
for her.

She cut off another piece and stuck it on the end of the sword and 
Rei began to chew on the lighter end of the meat. Ranma gagged to 
herself, but maybe Rei could eat it that way since she was 
immortal. Ah well, it was food. One thing that made Ranma a little 
happier was that he could probably persuade Rei and Ikari to stop 
in the town and stay there for a day or two. It would ostensibly be 
to stock up and supply for the trek across the badlands, which they 
would need to do anyway. For Ranma, it meant a few decent meals 
and a warm bed. Ranma wrinkled her forehead as she suddenly 
thought that it would probably also be the best opportunity for Rei 
to take advantage of her.

Ranma didn't want to hurt Rei, but dammit, she wasn't going to be 
taken advantage of either. Besides, she didn't feel that way about 
Rei. In fact, the only person she ever felt that way about was 
Akane. And it had taken her almost all of two minutes to realize 
that when she first came to this world.

Ranma finished her piece of meat and set the stick aside for the 
night. She probably couldn't finish another. Blue shouldn't be the 
color of any kind of meat.

***

Kowaku looked in displeasure between the two brutes. Hisomu 
Hebi kept sliding in and out of phase as the light bent around him, 
his serpentine body occasionally visible while still not completely 
there. Kowaku adjusted the front of her robes and sighed lightly. 
Hebi circled around the other brute in the room, Gouka Kiyomeru. 
The big man snarled in response to a snake that Hebi had sent 
towards him. The snake gasped once and shriveled in the short 
blast of heat that Kiyomeru sent its way.

Gouka laughed, the muscles in his massive chest heaving. Kowaku 
smiled. He did have a good body. Too bad he was such an arrogant 
ass too. Well, that and the flames dancing out of every orifice 
never helped in bed either. And fire proof sheets were too 
scratchy...

That chain of thought made Kowaku frown. Her lord and master 
Akuji was now in his chambers with that little bitch Renbo. She 
wasn't good enough for him. It confused her a little because Akuji 
had never before shown interest in Kowaku's newest recruit. She 
was sweet and innocent, something that all men wanted, but still so 
naive as to make her unusable. Kowaku thought that she could 
probably be good in about ten years or so, but now?

"I thought that Ten'imuhou-sama said no fighting?" a voice said 
from close behind her.

Kowaku turned slightly at the voice. It was Uragirimano. Kowaku 
smiled at his neutral mask. He lazed gracefully on one of the small 
benches that circled the room, his great sword leaning between his 
knees. He turned his sallow blue eyes towards Kowaku and her 
heart fluttered. Kowaku turned away. She didn't want him to see 
the blush that was rising in her cheeks. Well, not to mention in 
other places too. Kowaku cursed herself for the slip.

"You know what happens when you get these two in the same 
room," Kowaku muttered to him, "One boasts, then the other 
insults, then it just escalates into an all out fight. It's actually 
surprising that they haven't killed one another yet."

"I hope that this is a good mission," Jinjutsu said lightly, "It's 
almost getting boring back on the homestead."

"I could certainly help make it less so," Kowaku purred, not 
wanting to face him.

Jinjutsu clucked softly and before he could answer, a small 
explosion brought their attentions back to the fight. Gouka was 
forming small fireballs and chucking them past Hisomu, trying to 
bring him closer so that he could use his superior strength to fight 
him. Hisomu kept phasing through the blasts though and it was 
beginning to frustrate Gouka. A small, soft chuckle escaped 
Jinjutsu.

Hisomu growled in response to Gouka's challenge and slid quickly 
to close the distance between them, hoping to strike with his talons 
before Gouka could roast him. He raised on his hind tail and 
phased in fully in the blink of an eye, but pulled up short and 
stopped.

Gouka let his fireballs dissipate at the sight of Akuji's spear 
floating almost serenely between them. Gouka folded his arms 
across his massive chest and huffed at the lizard man. Hisomu 
cycled through his phases as the emotions warred with the 
bloodlust he felt at that point. He could taste Gouka tough, leathery 
muscles under his fangs, but he had to stay his hand. For now, at 
least.

Kowaku turned to the entrance and shrank back to stand next to 
Jinjutsu as Akuji stormed into the room. The look on his face said 
everything. He strode to his spear and took hold, as if taking it 
from an obedient squire. He pointed to the space next to Kowaku 
and Jinjutsu. Gouka and Hisomu reluctantly completed the half-
circle, but kept throwing each other glances.

"I will overlook your stupidity for now," Akuji said slowly, 
"Because I have need of all of you. I have special missions for you 
to accomplish. And you will accomplish them."

The unsaid threat did not go unheard. Kowaku took a step nearer 
Jinjutsu, who she thought looked almost bored. She knew that it 
was just a mask however. He was such a man to control the 
emotions that Akuji could produce in people.

"Gouka."

"M'lord?" He asked, kneeling to his master.

"You will be the first to go after Shiro Daiou. She is approaching 
the badlands south of Kellenel. Take her and her companions out 
there. They will be entering the badlands within the next week, be 
prepared," Akuji decreed.

"At once, m'lord."

A wall of fire circled Gouka's feet and quickly consumed him. The 
fire dissipated to a cloud of smoke that Akuji waved off with a 
look of disgust on his face.

"Brimstone," he said sharply, "Kowaku."

She knelt in front of him.

"You will take Renbo-chan with you and set up shop in Kellenel, 
in the case that Shiro gets past Gouka," Akuji began, "If you fail to 
take her out, then at least make sure that Yoko is taken into her 
party. She will finish her."

"M'lord," Kowaku said, the flush rising in well hidden anger, 
"Young Renbo cannot do half the job that I could. She is too naive 
and cannot be trusted with such an important missi-"

"Enough Kowaku," Akuji said quietly, "The mission that Yoko has 
been given is to destroy Shiro from the inside out. You see, it's her 
innocence that makes her the perfect weapon. And I will hear no 
more of it. Now go."

Kowaku swallowed her words and flashed away in a shower of 
rose petals.

"Hisomu," Akuji turned his attention to the lizard man, "Take up 
residence in the woods north of Akamerajh. Keep in touch with the 
others, but remain there as backup."

Hisomu said nothing, but bowed and phased out until he 
completely disappeared. Akuji sighed slightly and walked towards 
the exit.

"Follow me, my friend," Akuji said to Jinjutsu.

Jinjutsu hefted his huge blade behind him and followed Akuji 
further into the depths of the castle. He liked the intimacy that 
Akuji afforded his old sensei, but something seemed to be coming 
between them recently. Jinjutsu scowled to himself. There was 
only one thing that ever came between to men who were good 
friends. Women. Or, more specifically, a woman. Jinjutsu knew 
that was where they were headed. Akuji spent more and more time 
in this damned room, looking at his phantom bride hovering so 
enticingly close, yet far beyond his reach.

Jinjutsu hated her. It would be just like a woman to do this to his 
friend. Jinjutsu stepped into the chamber as he followed Akuji 
down the three steps to her side. At the top step, Jinjutsu stopped 
and inhaled sharply at the sight before him. A man he knew from 
long ago was across the little glowing pool from Akuji. The man's 
eyes crinkled at the edges as something that passed for a smile 
crossed his face at the sight of Jinjutsu. His eyes flashed from the 
pale gold of concentration to the bright gold that Jinjutsu 
remembered. The flames around his crown puffed in excitement at 
the additional audience and Meijin smiled again.

Jinjutsu smiled back at the old bastard. He made his way down the 
three steps to stand next to Akuji. Akuji kept well back from the 
glowing pool, mostly in deference of the power that this girl 
seemed to radiate from her place of rest. Jinjutsu looked down 
upon her in disgust. He would just as rather drive his sword 
through her belly and be done with her. But that would displease 
Akuji. Instead, Akuji had probably made some kind of foolish deal 
with Meijin in order to free her, and the rest of them would suffer.

Jinjutsu leaned over the pool as Meijin lifted his hands from the 
fluid. Already, Jinjutsu could see that the flames had died away to 
a small degree. It would still take him a huge amount of time in 
order to dissipate it entirely, but it could be done.

"So what are you asking for this time?" Jinjutsu asked, "Perhaps 
just a continent of your own? Or maybe you have an eye on 
Kowaku? Hell, she'd probably go with you anyway, if nothing 
other than the idea that you might have power."

Meijin wrinkled his brow in annoyance at Jinjutsu and threw a 
glance at Akuji.

"The Tenmei," Akuji said in response.

Jinjutsu spun on his best student in shock.

"No," he said, "I-I can't allow it. The Tenmei is yours for the 
taking, are you going to throw it away for this...Creature?!"

Akuji raised a solemn eyebrow at his sensei and seemed to chew 
on what Jinjutsu had said.

"Jinjutsu-san, I have thought about this long and hard," Akuji said, 
stepping up to the edge of the pool, "I thought that I'd never be able 
to have her, but now I find that I can. This lifts my heart as I know 
that her power combined with my own will be more than enough to 
conquer any that oppose me. So what if I give up the Tenmei? It's a 
small price to pay for having her."

A rage burned in Jinjutsu that he had not felt in a great number of 
years. Who was this little fool to give up something so important 
for a woman? The mere thought that she would almost single 
handedly shift the balance of power on this world made his 
stomach turn. She was not worth it. She would never be worth it. 
Hell, she wasn't even FROM this world.

"Jinjutsu-san, I'm sorry," Akuji said, putting a hand on his sensei's 
shoulder, "I knew that you wanted to keep the power ours, but you 
have to understand, she has a greater power than even the Tenmei. 
She could even overthrow the Tenmei if she so wished. I've seen 
the power, I know."

Jinjutsu calmed, but still would not face his eldest student.

"Ten'imuhou-sama, I cannot accept that you're giving the Tenmei 
to Meijin. He will misuse it in order to keep the power his and we 
would never see it again. Eventually it would lead to our 
destruction," Jinjutsu muttered, leaning heavily on his sword, "If 
there is no specific mission you need of me, then I will take my 
leave of you."

Akuji paused. He knew that Jinjutsu was angry with him and it 
hurt to know that his sensei seemed to be colder than he. Perhaps 
that was the price of love, Akuji didn't know. Akuji thought for a 
moment before responding.

"Keep an eye on Renbo-chan," Akuji said, turning back to the 
pool, "If she fails, kill her for she is no use otherwise. If she fails, 
kill Kowaku as well for failure to properly train the young one. 
Otherwise, you may take your leave of me."

Akuji heard his elder pick up his great sword and walk heavily 
from the room. A slight change in air pressure told him that he was 
alone. Well, except for the smiling Meijin across the pool. Akuji 
scowled at Meijin and stomped from the room. He needed some 
air.

***

Esu looked at the girl, who fingered her hair absently while 
examining the photograph. The setting sun was beginning to shine 
through the window out in the hall. There was no windows in the 
sterile rooms, but the light still filtered in from outside. Her red 
hair was something important, but Esu had no idea what it meant.

Akane Tendo had black hair. Raven black, like Ijisai's. This girl 
had the same length. Her body build was the same, her gray eyes, 
everything. Even her smile, when she smiled earlier at a small joke 
that Ijisai said. Everything, except her hair. Esu had consulted with 
one of the female healers that had attended the girl and had been 
told that, yes; she was a true redhead, which meant that her hair 
had not been simply dyed.

Another thing bothered Esu. The girl knew her name. But it wasn't 
Tendo. It was Munesanzun. Mikan Munesanzun. She'd never heard 
of the name of Tendo. Nor Saotome either. She had no idea who 
Ranma Saotome was. She had explained her past life to Esu, that 
she had been born in the village near the city of Xixl in the east. 
How she had grown up in the city, the daughter of a middle class 
fishing family. But she had no idea how she got to a nunnery half 
way across the next continent.

All she remembered was the creature that attacked her. She also 
knew it was a kettert, which Akane Tendo should not have known. 
Of course, kettert's didn't normally attack anyone human sized 
either. The little buggers kept to themselves for the most part. The 
vicious cuts and gashes across her face and body were healing 
nicely though.

So, as the sun set away, the mystery unfolded more as Mikan 
explained herself to Esu. Esu had been classically trained, so she 
took everything that Mikan had said at face value, yet reserved her 
opinion until the whole story could be heard. Which Mikan had 
just finished.

Mikan turned her gray eyes to Esu, who had closed her own in an 
attempt to straighten things out in her head.

"Um, Son-san, I do have two other sisters," Mikan said.

"Do either of them have black hair?"

Mikan shook her head.

"I'm sorry," Mikan muttered, looking back at the photograph, 
"Hanasu has blonde hair and Kakuji has brown hair. But brown, 
like rokeroot, not black."

Mikan handed the photo back to Esu, who placed it in the folds of 
her robe in a small pouch there.

"Well, Mikan," Esu began, "I don't think that all this is a 
coincidence. But I don't think that we'll be able to work it out 
without Ranma. She is the vital key-"

"Uh, wait. She?"

Esu nodded.

"I was supposed to be engaged to a she?"

"Well Mikan, it's a long story," Esu smiled at her, "She's not really 
a she, but that's a whole 'nother story-"

An explosion rocked the building as running and screaming could 
suddenly be heard outside.

"Son-sama!" Ijisai screamed into the room.

She carried the large staff of the protectorate to Esu with fear 
rampant in her eyes. Esu could see that Ijisai had her own staff at 
hand as well.

"It's the namagoroshi, isn't it?" Esu said, adjusting the large egg-
shaped globe on the top of the staff.

The globe flashed red as if it objected to being touched. Esu 
ignored it and continued with her ministrations.

"Ijisai," she said calmly, "Stay with Mikan and make sure she 
remains safe."

Ijisai nodded to her as she began to adjust her own staff. Esu began 
to run down the hall, stripping off her outer robe. Esu had known 
that the namagoroshi would be back tonight and had dressed 
accordingly before coming to see Mikan.

If she had stopped to seriously think about her outfit, she would 
have blushed to the tips of her toes. Her top, separate from her 
short skirt, was just supportive enough for fighting, while the skirt 
left her free to run, either to or from the fight. And while the robes 
of the priestesshood were more becoming for a person of her 
status, they were a detriment in a fight. To her credit, Esu had 
never been all that modest, especially in a fight and it helped.

She stumbled again as another explosion ran through the building. 
What the Hells were those explosions from? The namagoroshi 
didn't have enough intelligence for using weapons of any kind. The 
familiar banging could be heard in the distance. Esu knew that 
sound all too well. They were too stupid to figure out a locking 
mechanism, so the door could hold them, especially since Esu 
would soon be wiping them up by the dozens.

Esu whipped into the courtyard and dove forward to miss a swipe 
by a nearby claw. The poor creature looked to have been female at 
one point, but was now thoroughly gone. Esu felt her dinner rising 
in her stomach, but forced it back down and chanted a slight 
healing word. She knew it was the magic of the namagoroshi. Esu 
brought herself up and held out her right hand. The egg on the staff 
flashed and the molecules in front of her hand released their energy 
in a bright beam of light that swept the hideous beast away.

She steeled herself and began to wade into the group that had 
somehow made it into the courtyard, blasting as quickly as she 
could.

***

Ijisai wasn't doing too well. Mikan had backed up in the room to 
avoid the few flying bits of creature that occasionally bounced into 
the room. Ijisai scrambled to blast creature after creature as they 
packed the hallways outside. She wondered if the sterile room 
doors would be enough to hold them until the protectorates arrived.

To that end, Ijisai was trying to build up a wall of namagoroshi 
parts in the hallway, and it seemed to be working. Well, that was 
until the wall behind Mikan disappeared.

A low shudder and then a sudden lurch brought everyone, 
including the namagoroshi, to the floor. Mikan began coughing as 
the dust and rubble began to clear. A cold fear ran through her as 
she looked out the wall to the...Thing that was outside. To Mikan, 
she couldn't even comprehend the enormity of the creature outside. 
Mikan backed herself up against the bed and whimpered in 
impotent fear.

Ijisai pulled herself up and looked quickly to the broken wall. A 
huge eye was staring back into the hole, the rot clearly visible on 
the leading edge of the huge eye. Fear welled up inside Ijisai at the 
thought of what the creature might be, but it was definitely clear 
that whatever it was, it was now namagoroshi.

Ijisai shot herself backwards as a claw swiped at where she had 
been. Mikan watched as the eye moved past and she could see the 
rot all along the skin of the creature outside. Mikan backed herself 
up as some other roughly humanoid namagoroshi slid into the 
room from the back of the huge creature. Ijisai flipped herself onto 
the bed and kicked at the door. Unfortunately, the beasts had 
pushed bits of others into the doorway and Ijisai couldn't get the 
door closed.

She swore loudly at the group as a blast of heat rushed out of the 
molecules an inch from her hand. The beasts rushed in from all 
sides and it wasn't until she turned to Mikan did Ijisai realize. 
Mikan screamed and for Ijisai, all went white.

***

With another shout, the last of the namagoroshi in the courtyard 
passed away with a horrid, greasy smell. Esu allowed a small sigh 
escape. She wondered for half a second how a dozen of them got 
into the compound. The other half of the second was busy 
collecting her mind again when the wall to her right blew itself 
open. Esu was blown to the ground and she heard several of the 
other protectorates cry out as sections of wall went everywhere.

The smoke cleared and Esu gasped. A huge diamond shaped head 
laboriously came through the remains of the wall and roared once 
in triumph. Esu could feel the fear hit her like ocean waves, strong 
and unstoppable.

The dragon stepped over the bottom half of the wall and stumbled 
slightly when it crumbled under its weight. The dragon stopped, as 
it seemed to look into the destroyed section of wall, then began to 
move forward again. Esu could see once-human namagoroshi jump 
from its back into the sections of wall that remained standing.

"Good Gods! Ijisai!" Esu shouted as she realized where the dragon 
had broken through.

She never sensed the namagoroshi that tackled her from behind. 
The air rushed from her lungs as she hit the ground and her staff 
clattered away. Several namagoroshi picked her up and held Esu as 
another faced her. Esu screamed in pain and fear as the one in front 
of her drove its claw into Esu's right breast.

Esu could feel the pain slowly numb as sections of her began to die 
in greater and greater numbers. The blackness spread from her 
breast upwards and downwards as she could feel the last pulses of 
life fade from her. Her last thought was of Ijisai. The young girl 
had so much promise. Too bad really.

Somewhere on the edges of her senses, as she lost all 
consciousness, she heard Mikan scream in her mind. The edges of 
light all around what remained of her sight crinkled and exploded 
outwards in a blinding rush of white light.

***

Flowers in a field.

Flowers I'd never seen before, strange insects buzzing around 
them. Pollinators. The sun is bright overhead. The green spread out 
before me in a happy rolling way that reminds me of the times I 
spent in the high country when I was a little girl.

Flowers that I know for some reason. They are not strange to me, 
though I'd not seen them before. A voice from behind me.

Flowers that sway in the light summer breeze. I know the man who 
called to me. I feel...

Flowers that feel soft under my fingers and against my bare legs. 
This man, I know. He is special to me. Joy. For him, I feel...

***

The ground rushed to meet Esu with a loud thump. She blinked her 
eyes, trying to clear the fuzz that surrounded her consciousness. 
What had been occurring rushed back to her and Esu whipped her 
head around to find her enemy.

The courtyard was empty. The namagoroshi that the protectorates 
had blown to bits were gone. The namagoroshi dragon was gone. 
Even the ones that had ambushed-

Her hand jerked up to her breast. She was whole and alive. The 
front of her top held tight against her chest, just as it should. She 
could see that there were five holes in an arc across her right 
breast.

"It wasn't a dream, then," Esu said to herself.

She then pulled up short when she realized that it was no longer 
approaching night either. The birds chirped from the nearby, half-
trampled garden, picking clean the vegetables and fruits that 
remained. She could see the other protectorates across the 
courtyard as they picked themselves off the ground and stared in 
confusion. The sun was climbing to its zenith, high overhead. 
Already bringing the noontime heat to the small mountain valley in 
which the nunnery rested.

Esu brushed herself off and picked up her staff. She examined the 
egg and was confused further by the lack of activity within the 
gem. It was the captive demons that gave the protectorates their 
powers and occasionally they would have to change them out. It 
was a simple enough procedure, but quite necessary. The gem on 
her staff was strangely dull and silent. Esu would work on it later 
though.

She walked to the crumbled wall and looked up. Mikan smiled 
from the opening and waved to Esu. The dragon was nowhere in 
sight, even though the marks on the wall and the damage remained; 
every scrap of namagoroshi was gone. And Esu thought that Mikan 
was the cause. She had hoped that she wouldn't have to go on any 
more of those damned quests, but now it seemed that Esu had no 
other choice.

***

"What kind of a shitholemphpmph-"

Ranma huffed around Ikari's hand. The taller blonde just smiled 
weekly at the guide standing across the stable. Ranma yelped 
slightly as Ikari squeezed. Ikari let go and just glared at Ranma. 
Ranma didn't know why they had to rely on this old pervert to help 
them across a bunch of sand. True they needed to take certain 
precautions, but that didn't preclude having to pay for a guide. 
Tsute Dokusatsu made no efforts to hide his pleasure in looking 
each of them over thoroughly.

When he got to Ranma, she almost laid him out, but a firm hand 
from Ikari told her to stay her anger. Kellenel was still far off and 
Rei had insisted that they'd never make it across the badlands 
without a guide. And since Thetheren was the last outpost, they 
had little choice in guides.

Rei had made some discreet inquiries and found out that Tsute was 
the best guide to get them to Kellenel. That he had been plying this 
part of the desert for almost twenty odd years. Rei thought that his 
track record was most impressive, so she overlooked his...Lack of 
social graces. Ranma hated feeling like a piece of meat.

"So will you do it, or not?" Rei said, from the back of one of the 
pecaricos behind Tsute.

Tsute turned and regarded her coolly, as if sizing up his prospects 
with any of them. Ranma began to steam again.

"Yeah, I suppose. Yuubi seems to like you, and that goes far 
towards your credibility," Tsute said, stroking the head of the 
animal Rei was on, "My pecars are very sensitive to that kind of 
thing."

Did he just say pecker? Ranma thought suddenly.

Rei slid from the back of the giant lizard and picked up a nearby 
handful of hay. She fed some to Yuubi, which earned her a friendly 
nuzzle, as well as one from her mate, who Tsute called Jooji. Rei 
seemed to have a connection to the pecaricos, which made Ranma 
wonder, but not for long. A person who regularly put herself back 
together ought to be more in touch with nature.

"Okay," Rei said, "Half the jade in exchange for the trip, supplies 
and no questions asked."

Ranma had never before heard the sound of a cash register going 
off quite as loudly as it did when Tsute heard that. The thought of 
about six pounds of jade seemed to make him more excited than 
getting any one of them into bed. Ranma shook her head and 
walked out. At least they would get to Kellenel with more jade 
than they needed. They still had a journey to the northern 
continent, but Ranma could work that off on the trip over.

Thetheren was a small village located on a bluff above the 
badlands. The back of the village quite literally dropped off into 
thin air about two hundred feet and it was only by a huge platform 
that people, animals and supplies were ferried between the village 
and southern lands on one side and the badlands on the other. 
Tsute had said that they would travel by night and sleep in the day. 
Ranma didn't like that either, but she saw the necessity of it, 
especially when travelling in the desert.

Ranma walked back to the inn at which they had checked in. A 
nice, family run place that had already provided Ranma with one 
of the best meals she'd had since coming to this crazy world. She 
didn't want to know exactly what it was, but the roast had been so 
like home, she suddenly knew why Soun would always cry with 
Kasumi's cooking.

A sudden thought came over Ranma outside of the inn. She backed 
up into the vacant street and looked up. Sheer vertical cliff led 
upwards into the waning daylight to the towering peaks above. It 
made Ranma slightly nauseous with vertigo, but it confirmed a 
thought. There was nothing keeping an avalanche of rock or snow 
from burying this tiny hamlet. Ranma turned around and looked at 
the other side of the crevice, which except for the mountain 
beyond, mirrored its cousin.

Ranma shook her head and decided that she'd try and work it out in 
the bath. They weren't the bath that she had been used to, but then 
she hadn't taken a decent bath in almost two weeks too. Well, if 
you discounted the number of times she'd been dunked in water 
since then.

Each room had been equipped with a large stone tub set against 
one wall. Ranma assumed that the plumbing was internal, but 
knowing this crazy land, it was probably magic. The soap was 
something lye based; similar to what she had when she was a kid 
in the south of Japan. After the whole thing with Ukyou.

Ranma looked up from the water. Ucchan. She wondered if time 
passed the same here as back home. If so, then it had been two 
years and most people had probably given both she and Akane up 
for dead. Of course, Shampoo had followed them for almost three 
years, not to mention the problems before the aborted marriage.

Ranma got out of the tub and dried off. The feeling of cleanliness 
was something that she'd taken for granted back home. Now it was 
a luxury. Ranma shook her head again. So much had changed. 
Ranma sat down on the edge of the bed and began to brush her 
hair. She laughed to herself. That was something else she never 
used to worry about. Of course, with the dragon whisker in, her 
hair was never an issue. But now that the dragon whisker didn't 
work anymore, she had to actually take care of it.

Ranma kept her hair short for numbers of reasons, mostly because 
it reminded her of Akane. Something to connect them. Something, 
anything. Ranma tied the soft red robe around her and continued 
with her hair. The gaslights had been lit outside as the final waning 
light set in the distance. Ranma figured that Ikari and Rei had 
already gone to bed. They seemed to sleep better in the early 
evening, while Ranma couldn't get to sleep until later. Ranma 
thought that was due to the dreams she had though.

The strange nightmares that seemed so real. It seemed like she was 
able to do anything and go anywhere, except to her. She had 
conversed with Kasumi and Nabiki. Trained and killed her father, 
beat Soun in numerous games of Shogi and flew above the streets 
of Nerima in the blissful nighttime sky. But every time she tried to 
see Akane, the white light would flash forth and she would wake 
up. And, after two years, it was really beginning to piss her off.

There was a knock at the door. Ranma opened it and Rei entered. 
Rei closed the door behind her and stood there. Ranma didn't know 
what to say or do. None of the girls in Nerima would have been 
this bold. Rei floated gently to Ranma and lifted the brush from her 
hands. She put the brush on the table and untied her own robe, 
letting it fall to the floor. Rei wrapped her silken arms around 
Ranma's neck as she kissed her softly on the cheek.

"Rei," Ranma began, "I can't. I'm sorry, but I love Akane."

A finger to her lips stopped the rest of a protest that, to Ranma, 
seemed more whiny than it should. Rei smiled easily, almost 
catlike.

"And is she here to comfort you?" Rei whispered, kissing her 
cheek, "Is Akane here to love you? Is she willing to love you?"

"But Rei...I'm a woman," Ranma said, trying to push Rei gently 
away.

She didn't have much luck.

"So?" Rei purred, "So am I. And I don't care what form you're in, 
I'll love you just the same."

Rei gently placed her lips on Ranma's. The gentle touch melted 
into a full kiss as Ranma closed her eyes, trying to block out the 
sensations with which Rei assaulted her. Worse of all, she was all 
together unsuccessful. Rei's mouth was cool against the heat that 
Ranma could feel flowing from herself.

Akane would never have kissed him like this, in any form, let 
alone in Ranma's female form. There were times that made her 
think Akane despised Ranma's female form. It hadn't been her 
fault, after all. And Rei didn't seem to mind the gender thing. And 
she was so tender and gentle as she caressed Ranma.

But...Akane...

Ranma gently pushed Rei out to arms length and lowered her head. 
She couldn't stop the sobs that came. Rei stood there for half a 
second, then she folded her arms around Ranma, but this time, in a 
tender, almost sisterly embrace that made Ranma want to cry more. 
Rei lifted Ranma's head to look at her and Ranma could see that 
tears had been streaming down her own cheeks. Rei reached up 
and gently kissed Ranma on her forehead.

"I will always be here for you, my love," Rei said.

Rei quickly gathered her robe, wrapped it around her and left. 
Ranma climbed in bed a few minutes later, as she tried to sort 
through the warring emotions that left her feeling raw. Ranma 
loved Akane. She knew that, she admitted that to herself several 
minutes after she realized that Akane had been taken from her. It 
was now readily apparent to her that Rei also loved her, but in a 
different way from any of his other fianc�es. It felt like a 
friendship love. What she felt that she could have had with Ukyou 
had Ranma never met Akane.

The bed was soft and comfortable. It eased Ranma's thoughts into 
a restful sleep that for some reason was not interrupted by dreams 
for the first time in months. It didn't stop her from crying herself to 
sleep though.

***

Akuji clucked to himself. The column was almost complete and 
the latest chapter in this saga left him with a curious sense about 
him. Shiro had resisted the girl, who was quite tempting in Akuji's 
eyes. Something unknown had helped her resist and Akuji was 
curious about what it was. He wondered if it had anything to do 
with the girl. He also wondered if she may, in some way, simply be 
reaching to him, and if there was any way to block it if she was.

And he wondered if it would be strong enough to counteract 
Yoko's special magics. Akuji doubted it, though. Yoko could be 
quite persuasive when she tried, no matter what Kowaku might 
say. It didn't matter to Akuji, really. Just a side persuasion. Akuji 
hopped lightly down the first two steps and sat down, his back to 
the newest column. He watched with eternal fascination and 
interest as Meijin continued to work, pulling the fire from the 
liquid and dissipating it around him.

Soon she would be his and Shiro would be dead. The Tenmei he 
could take from Meijin after incorporating her power. And then 
Akuji would rule...

Forever.

***

Again, C&C is always welcome...


Joshua "Gargoyle" Trujillo
"Stone Cold Protector of the Righteous"
"Owner of The Anime Bar and Grille - The Best Ribs in the Multiverse"

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