Notes : I originally intended to have the chase after Ranma in this
        chapter, but it got too long. This is to show Ranma in his new
        life, a sort of calm before the storm. Any comments to be
        directed at ranma_666@hotmail.com, and are welcomed, except
        flames. Those, please mention they are flames in the subject
        header, so I can delete them without having to open them.
        Thank you. I�d like to thank all of my pre-readers for their
        help and support. You can archive this fic if you want (as
        if!) as long as it�s not changed and I�m given credit. Enjoy.


******

What happened before :

Prologue : Ranma jumps off a cliff in front of everyone, and is
           thought dead. Akane finds out about Ryoga�s curse.
Chapter 1 : We find out how Ranma survived the fall. Akane sees Ranma
            and goes back to Nerima to get help. Everyone of the
            normal cast finds out too and goes.

******

Disclaimer :
Ranma characters are not mine.
Slayers characters are not mine.
Side note : Slayers characters will be different, having grown up in
            Modern Japan. Ages will have been changed also.

This is set in the week between Ranma�s faked death and Akane finding out.

�  �  spoken
*  *  thought
<  >  Chinese


******


     Leaving, chapter 2

     A New Life

******

     Tuesday...


     "Ranma..." Lina gently shook the pigtailed youth by the shoulder. No 
response. "Ranma..." She had raised her voice, to no
avail. She pulled back and put her fists on her hips, miffed. "Well
if you're going to be that way, Ranma, I guess you won't get any
breakfast."

     Ranma immediately sat up in his bed. "Breakfast?" he asked
sleepily. Lina was half-amused and half-surprised at the reaction.
"Yes. Breakfast. It's seven thirty. Get up."

     "Seven thirty?!?" Ranma jumped out of bed, wearing only his
boxers. "What happened to my alarm?" Lina quickly turned around to
hide her reddening cheeks. Ranma was especially well-built for an
eighteen-year-old. She had to repeat to herself a few times that he
was her brother before she reclaimed control of her facial
arteries. "Lina? You okay?"

     "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." she answered, taking the few steps to
be in the doorway before facing him. "We studied pretty late last
night so I figured you needed the sleep. You don't have to exercise
every morning, you know."

     "I know, but I didn't get this bod by sleeping in." Ranma
stretched his arms upwards, making the muscles on his chest and
abdomen come out in perfect definition. Lina failed miserably at
keeping her cheeks their natural color. After a few seconds, she
couldn't take his smirk anymore so she just left, muttering a
disheartened "Show off." while closing the door behind her. She
quickened her pace to get away from his rising laughter.

     Then she stopped, looked at the blue vial in her hand, let out
a deep sigh while hanging her head and returned to his room. She
entered without knocking and, not looking up, presented the vial to
him. He let a small groan of confusion escape his throat. Lina
sighed. "It's another mana enhancing po--"

     "I know what it is, I took one of those every day last week.
I just thought there was a limit to how much I could take. I'm
dressed, by the way." Lina looked to see he was already in his
school uniform, currently adjusting the cuffs. She made a mental
note to ask him how he could dress so fast some time.

     "Yeah, well, Father did some research and you can take a few
more because of your training. Your body can take the strain."
Ranma raised an eyebrow at the comment, but just shrugged, took the
vial and downed it in one shot.

     His entire body shivered for a few seconds. "Aah! That's the
weirdest feeling I've ever had." He raised a hand to his head.
"It's like it's messing around with my feelings or something." He
shook his head and smiled. "Well, it's nothing a little food won't
cure. Come on. I'm hungry."

     Following him, Lina couldn't help but comment. "You're always
hungry." He turned on her. "And you aren't?" "Just get downstairs."
she replied, a small edge in her voice signaling he was treading on
dangerous territory. He opened his mouth to rebuke but a quick
glance at her expression made him wisely shut up. That and the
grumbling coming from his stomach.


*******

     Ranma sat down at a table in the cafeteria. "Whew! I thought
that class would never end." He started taking his lunch out of his
bag.

     "Ah, come on, it's not that bad." Lina replied, sitting next
to him. He gave her a look. "Well, all right. Toro-sensei does tend
to rant a bit."

     "Not the teacher, the subject." Ranma countered. "I agree I
kind of need the others, especially in college, but what is
medieval japanese good for?"

     Lina thought for a second. "How about reading ancient martial
arts technique scrolls?" Ranma was surprised, then scowled. "Aw,
don't be like that, Ranma. You know I'm always right." She laughed
at his continuous scowling.

     It took a few long seconds for Ranma to think of something to
respond. He then smiled at her. "Say, where's your boyfriend?"

     Lina glared at him. "Gourry is not my boyfriend." she said
through clenched teeth, emphasing each word with a dark tinge.

     Ranma either didn't notice or didn't care. "I didn't mention
his name, Lina. Funny how you immediately thought of him when I
said 'boyfriend'. Are you sure you don't have a thi--"

     "Quite sure." she interrupted, hard enough to make Ranma
understand continuing would have serious repercussions for his
health. He did stop, but the smile and amusement in his eyes
remained. Lina would throttle him if she wasn't so sure it would
be pointless. "Besides," she said, matter-of-factly, "today Gourry is
stuck cleaning the classrooms."

     "And how would you know?" Another glare shut him up, but he
did keep his smile while he began eating his lunch. Lina also began
eating, planning to make fun of Ranma at their next magic practice.
The problem was that anything she used would only be good once. At
least, she could take pride in the fact she needed less mana for
her spells.

     Her musings were interrupted by a friend's voice. "Lina? Could
I, hum, speak to you for a moment? In private?" Lina looked up at
her friend and saw the long black-haired girl giving quick glances
at Ranma sporadically. She smiled. "Sure..." she said, getting up.

     Ranma looked up from his meal for a brief moment to see what his
sister was doing. She was walking away with another girl, one of her
conspiratorial smiles on. The other girl was roughly the same height as
Lina�s, with shining black hair almost down to her knees and a pretty
round face. In one of her quick glances in his direction, he noticed
a greenish tinge to her eyes. He blinked. That was odd. Well, no more
than his own blue eyes. He shrugged, noticed Lina had left her lunch
alone, and slowly brought it over next to his lunch.

     The two girls walked away from the tables and leaned towards each
other. "What can I do for you, Mei?" Lina shot a meaningful glance
towards the cafeteria. "This wouldn't have anything to do with my
brother, would it?" The faint blush on the girl's cheeks were more
than answer enough. "You want to ask him out?"

     "Lina!" The girl clamped a hand over Lina's mouth in an
attempt to shut her up. "I don't want somebody else to hear!" She
looked left and right quickly before calming down, letting go of
Lina. She looked down, her hands together in front of her, cheeks
red. "Yes, I do. But I need your help."

     "Why?" Mei looked at her. "Oh, I get it. You want to know your
chances, don't you?" Mei didn't answer. "Why should I help you?"

     Mei smiled. "You owe me one. I'm the one who introduced you to
Gourry, remember?"

     Lina promptly hit her on the head. "We're not a couple!" she
hissed through clenched teeth as loud as she dared. "Got it?"

     "Yeah, yeah. You know, that little denial thing of yours is
getting ol--" "I'm not in denial!" Lina practically shouted. Then
blinked as she realized she just got the entire cafeteria's
attention. She smiled sheepishly with a slight blush before
grabbing Mei's arm and taking off to the hallways.

     Once out of sight, Lina let go and shot Mei a dark look. "Ah,
come on, Lina. The whole school knows about you and Gourry. There's
a running bet about when you two are going to go public. In fact,
if you could just wait until Friday--"

     "For the last time, Gourry and I are not a couple." Lina said
seriously, starting to get exasperated. "Now, do you want my help
or not?" The girl nodded enthusiastically.

     "Okay, then. If you want a date, you'll get it." Mei smiled
brightly. "Don't get your hopes up. He'll only agree after
stammering for a few minutes and seeing you looking hurt. He can't
stand hurting a girl in any way, even if he knows the girl is
faking. He's that kind of guy."

     "So he really wouldn't want to?" Mei's voice had a sad note.
Lina put a hand on her shoulder. "Not really. He's not looking for
a girlfriend right now. But if you make friends with him, maybe, in
time, he'll get interested. He's had some major girl trouble in the
past, so you'll have to take it slow."

     "Hum, okay." Mei replied, sounding unsure of herself. Then the
exact meaning of Lina's words hit her. "Wait a second. What kind of
girl trouble? How many girlfriends are we talking about?"

     "None." Lina replied with a big smile. And she wasn't even
lying, as Ranma had had fiancees, not girlfriends. And four at a
time, too. The trouble he had gotten with these four... "He's never
had a girlfriend. His father had some sort of arranged marriage
thing going on, and Ranma and that girl were always fighting."

     "You mean he's engaged?" Mei blurted out, shocked. "I thought
arranged marriages weren't done anymore!"

     "He's not engaged. The thing fell through. I'm just telling
you so you understand. That girl was the first feminine contact
Ranma ever had. He doesn't know how to deal with a girl, and his
father always told him a man doesn't hurt girls. That's why you
only need a crocodile tear or two to get anything out of him. And
I mean that almost litteraly."

     "Wow. That's just... weird. Poor guy. He must be terribly
shy." Lina burst out in laughter before slamming a hand over her
mouth. "What's so funny?"

     Lina took a few seconds to compose herself. Ranma, shy... The
concept was simply staggering. She shook her head before
continuing. "He's not shy. He just has problems dealing with
'girlish' emotions. Manly man and all that. If you can get him to
start on something, he'll even forget that you're a girl." She
snapped her fingers. "That's it! You'll help him!"

     Mei's face furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean, help?"
Her voice hardened slightly. "And what kind of help?"

     "No, I'm talking about school." Lina replied. "You're the best
of the class in math, right?" Mei gave a puzzled nod. "Well Ranma
needs more than a little help in that department. How do you feel
about some late night tutoring?"

     "I... could do that." Mei said hesitantly. "It's just that
with the finals coming up..."

     "Are you kidding, it's perfect! You'll get to revise your
notes while helping Ranma understand them! And just think about it.
Late in the evening, you two *alone*, in your *bedroom*..." Lina
gave just the right kind of subtle meaning to make the other girl
flush red.

     The two started walking back to the cafeteria. "Say, why are
you so helpful? You didn't ask for anything in return."

     Lina shook her head. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing
this for him. He needs to socialize a little. Not to mention he
needs the help. Boy, does he need the help." she finished under her
breath. "But most of all, I'm doing it for me. It's bad enough I
have to help him in every subject, but it takes most of my free
time. A girl needs some time alone, you know?" She smiled and
winked.

     "Yeah, well, I'd be happy to help him in another subject, if
you want. I'm quite good in biology."

     "Oh, already planning some more time alone with him, huh?"
Lina nudged her classmate with her elbow. She giggled at Mei's
embarrassed blush.


******


     Wednesday afternoon...

     "Well, gotta look at the bright side. School week's over half-
way done." Ranma commented as he opened the front door. He took one
look in the living room and froze.

     Lina bumped into him, started a rebuke then noticed what he
was looking at. "What's the pipsqueak doing here?" she blurted out,
then regretted as it brought said pipsqueak's attention to them.

     The young girl jumped to life. "Ranma!" she shouted as she ran
up to him, then gave a young version of the Amazon glomp. The short
black-haired girl practically squeezed the stuffing out of him.

     "Amelia! Get off me!" Ranma was at least glad the height
difference gave him the leverage on her shoulders, and not
somewhere else, like a certain purple-haired girl. It took a few
moments, but he won the struggle. "What are you doing here?"

     "Mom has to work late, so you're watching me for the night."
She latched unto Ranma again. "Isn't this great?" She found herself
taken off and pushed against Lina.

     "You mean, Lina watches you." Lina pushed the girl back at
Ranma. "No, Ranma watches you." Push. "Lina." Push. "Ranma." Push.
"Lina." Push. "Ranma!" "Lina!" "Ranma!" "Lina!" "Ranma!" "Lina!"

     Amelia was getting dizzy, being pushed back and forth
between two yelling and glaring people. "Stop it!" she yelled louder
than the two, and they let go, looking at her cautiously. She grabbed
Ranma again. "*Ranma* is going to watch me, so stop bickering about
who gets me, okay?"

     The two passed a look, then Ranma looked crestfallen as Lina
sported a winning smile. "Okay." he sighed. "I guess we could go up
to my--" Ranma stopped as he looked down at her and noticed her
adoring look. He could swear there were little hearts floating in
her blue eyes. "--up to the *study*, to do our homework."

     "Okay!" Amelia exclaimed cheerfully, then ran back to the sofa
to get her schoolbag. Not losing any momentum, she ran back, took
Ranma by the arm and dragged him upstairs.

     Lina shook her head at the retreating form of a protesting
Ranma. "Poor boy." she said softly, closing the door behind her.
"Well, I owe him one. After seven years of enduring the little
twerp, he was kind enough to take her off my hands. And on the very
first day, too."

     A loud shout of "Let go of me!!!" came from upstairs. Lina
looked up the stairway for a second before heading to the kitchen
for a snack. "If she continues," Lina mused, "he'll have to fake
his death again." She shrugged and smiled. "Oh well. More food for
me!"


******

     Thursday morning...


     Ranma sat down at his chair around the table. He took a moment
to observe the lusciously decorated room and the rich, hard wood of
the table. He took one deep breath, appreciating the silence of the
house, which now seemed even quieter compared to last night. He
could still hear Amelia's voice ringing in his ears.

     He practically jumped when Lina put down some plates full of
food in front of him. "Lina? Where's Sylphiel?" Ranma was
concerned. The woman was almost as sweet as Kasumi and as good a
cook. What she was doing here, he'll never know, but he didn't
regret it for an instant.

     "She's visiting her father in Kyoto. He's bedridden with some
sickness." She hurried back in the kitchen to get some more plates.
"And before you ask," she called from there, "Father's gone with
her. Seems he has some business there."

     "Bushnesh?" he asked, mouth already full. With the man gone,
so was his table manners. A flying pickle from the kitchen still
managed to find his head, though.

     "Mind your manners." Lina called. Ranma grumbled, swallowed
but stayed silent. "And yes, business. You know those little ugly
statue thingies he's collecting? His artifact guy found another
one." She came back with her arms full of plates. "The owner is
reluctant to sell, so he went there to negotiate. He should be back
here by Monday." She sat down and served herself.

     "You mean we have the place to ourselves 'til then?" She
nodded. "So who's gonna do the ceremony at the temple if he's not
there?"

     Lina waved the question away. "One of his apprentices, I
guess. I didn't bother to ask." Ranma looked confused. "Oh, you
haven't met them yet. The two of them live in a small cabin near
the shrine. They never get down from the hill."

     "Ah." Ranma let a few seconds pass. "Do they... you know?" He
made hand gestures in the air. Lina raised an eyebrow. Ranma
sighed, concentrated and created a small ball of magical light in
her face.

     "Hey!" Lina dispelled the thing with a wave of her hand.
"That's not nice, you know!" She shot an arm towards him.
"Levitation!" Ranma started falling backwards but found himself
floating in the air.

     He rose in the air. "Hey! Stop that!" He contortioned himself to
appear as if standing. "Would you cut that out?" "Not before you
say it." He gave her an innocent look. "Say what?"

     "Don't play dumb with me!" she shot back, raising him in the
air. "Say it!" Ranma shook his head. "Say it, damn it!" Even being
now flat against the ceiling, Ranma refused to answer.

     Lina was getting frustrated. The threat of letting him fall
was apparently no great thing to him, and after seeing him do a few
of his flying katas she had to agree. Maybe a little brute force
would help. She brought him down slightly and slammed him back up.
"Would you say it already?!?"

     A few moments passed in silence. "You're hopeless..." she
sighed, letting go of her spell. Ranma landed without a sound with
a flip. "Why can't you just *say* you do magic?" She noticed the
tinge of disgust and mistrust that crossed his face for a split
second. "Ah, come on! All magic isn't bad! Father cured you of your
curse, didn't he?"

     "Yeah, but it's a habit. For over two years, everytime the
word 'magic' was involved there was nothing but trouble coming with
it. You can't expect me to change just like that because I've met
the true nature of... you know."

     "Ahh!" A small ball of rice went flying at Ranma's head, but
missed. "You're impossible! I should just fry you where you stand!"
She raised a hand, gathering magical energy.

     "Hey! Hey! What would Father say?" Ranma shouted quickly. He
saw her hesitate, but the hand was still up, so he continued. "We
can't damage the house, and we can't--" He stopped to reflect on his
words. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but we can't be late for
school. If you're still angry after school, we can go to the cave
and have a match, but you'll have to wait."

     Lina lowered her arm and huffed. "Lucky for you, you're right.
Last thing I want to do is to make Father angry." She pointed at
him. "We'll continue this later."

     "You can count on-- Wait a minute. I can't. After school I'm
going with the tutor you set me up with." He sighed. "I'm probably
gonna be there all night. You'll have to forego on your little
revenge."

     She replied to his smile with one of her own. Ranma had no
idea how much the words 'set me up with' were right. "I think I'll
just forget it." she finally said. "Having the house to myself all
evening is compensation enough. I'll just have to beat it out of
you at practice Saturday morning."

     "You wish. Speaking of... that," Lina shot him a dark glare,
"do you have another mana potion for me?" After checking her
pockets, she threw the vial over. "Thanks." Ranma drank it. He
looked at the empty glass for moment. "Hmm. Either it's weaker or
I'm getting used to it."

     "You mean less side-effects?" He nodded. "Father mentioned
this. No more side-effects mean the potions can't help you anymore.
Tomorrow should be the last one. I guess Saturday we'll see what
you're really made of." Her smirk more than her tone of voice said
who she thought would be winning.

     "Yeah, well, don't underestimate me." Ranma replied. "I have
more than... that up my sleeve. I've--" Ranma was interrupted by
the grandfather clock sounding the half-hour. The two passed a
look. "We're late!!!" they shouted in unison before dashing
outside. Then quickly scrambled back inside to take their
schoolbags.


******

     Thursday, near noon...


     Ranma was so hungry his stomach hurt. The only thing that had
his attention was the clock over the chalkboard in the front of
the class, the teacher's rantings tuned out long ago. Finally,
the minute hand came completely vertical, the bell ringing in
synchronization.

     'Screw the books.' Ranma thought as he immediately jumped from
his seat, dead set on getting to the cafeteria ahead of everyone.
"Ranma!" Well, almost dead set. He stopped and turned to face the
girl who intercepted him. "Yes, Mei?" Normally, he would have run
out without caring who was calling him, but this was his math
tutor, and she probably had something important to say.

     "You're still coming tonight?" He nodded. "All right. I just
wanted to make sure." Her eyes slowly turned to glance at his
books, still sprawled out on his desk. "You *did* listen to the
class, didn't you?" He had an eerily unconvincing innocent look.
Then his stomach growled. "Too hungry to listen, huh?"

     He nodded sheepishly. "Me and Lina got into an argument this
morning and--"

     "I don't want to hear it." Mei interrupted. "Today's lesson
was important for the finals, Ranma." she chided. Mei pointed at
his books. "Take your books, I'll go over what we saw today over
lunch."

     Ranma entered defensive mode instantly. Nobody messed with
lunch hour! "But Mei--"

     "No buts, ands or ifs, Ranma." Mei was beginning to see what
Lina had described. Ranma had his sweet moments, and he had his
aggravating ones. "You need my help, and we have a lot of ground to
cover. Either you do this my way or you flunk math. You know what
that means."

     The fire in Ranma's eyes was in full force. This went against
his very nature, bending to other people's will was one of the
things he hated the most. Still, it wouldn't be the first time
since he started his new life, and just like all those other times
he knew that it was for the best, for his future. One more
concession that benefited on the long term. With a deep breath, he
swallowed his pride, and hung his head. "Yes, I know."

     "Aw, come on, it's not that bad." Mei said in an attempt to
cheer him up. "As long as you put in enough work, you'll get
through." She nudged him on the shoulder. "Get your books and we'll
get something to eat, if there's still any left."

     Mention of food brought Ranma back to normal. He quickly piled
his books and dashed out. "Come on! I wanna get there before all
the good stuff's gone!" With a shake of her head, Mei followed.


******


     "I still don't get it." Ranma said dumbly. It was his fifth
try at that particular math problem, and it was his fifth different
-- and wrong -- answer. He was beginning to despair.

     He wasn't the only one. Mei took a deep breath in and let it
out slowly, trying to stay calm and focused. She couldn't believe
somebody could have that much trouble solving a problem, but as
Lina had so gracefully said at lunch, this was Ranma. Besides, it
was getting late, and they had covered a lot of ground. Maybe it
was only fatigue. She looked back at Ranma's previous answers.
Maybe not.

     Mei sighed. "Just go over it again like we talked about,
Ranma." She got up from her bed. "Double check everything and check
your definitions to make sure. I'm going downstairs to get
something to drink."

     "Okay, thanks." Ranma said absentmindedly, already going at
the problem again. He wouldn't let a simple problem defeat him.
Okay, it wasn't a simple problem, it was the last exercise of the
previous chapter, but he wouldn't let it defeat him anyway.

     Going down the stairs, Mei had to strengthen her resolve. She
wouldn't let Ranma's lack of response affect her. Lina had been
right. Once Ranma had started, all of the awkwardness that had been
there when he had entered and met her mother had disappeared. If he
wasn't so nice and friendly, she would have said their relationship
had turned professional, but Ranma was too easy-going to ever
apply for that qualificative.

     She poured herself a glass of cold lemonade and sipped it, not
pressed to go back up. He had to be on his own. Not that she gave
him hints before, but it was as if all he needed to know if he was
going in the right direction was look in her eyes. As if he could
read her mind looking into them. She knew for a fact that he
didn't, because if he knew what she was thinking about when he was
looking in her eyes like that...

     "Mei? Honey, why are you blushing?" The young girl was
startled out of her reverie.  "What were you thinking about, honey?
Did Ranma go home?"

     "No, he's still upstairs, Mom." she replied. She put her glass
down. "He's working on a problem. I think we'll stop there, though.
It's getting late. Why are you up?"

     The woman sat on a stool, a hand over her round belly. "With
your brother kicking like that?" She winced in pain. "Ooh...
Again." She rubbed a spot. "The little guy can't stop. How is it
going with you and Ranma?"

     "He's progressing really well. Takes him time to understand,
but once he does he never forgets it. He's really behind, though.
If he's like that in every subject, he won't do good at the finals."
Leaning on the counter, Mei calmly sipped her lemonade.

     "That's fine, dear," her mother said with a smile, "but I
wasn't talking about school. I was talking about you and Ranma."
Mei blushed slightly and lowered her head.

     "Lina was right, Mom." Mei said after a moment. "Once we
started, he forgot I was a girl. I could have turned into a cat and
he wouldn't have noticed." She was anything but sulking after that.

     "Aw, don't worry, Mei. He'll notice you sooner or later. He's
just the kind of guy you have to be friends with before having a
relationship. Give it time."

     Mei smiled weakly. "I know. Lina also said that. She said I'd
be lucky to get a kiss on the cheek before we go off to college."

     "That's not very optimistic." her mother countered. "Be a
little more sure of yourself." She started smiling. "Drop a little
hint here and there and I'm sure he'll stop being shy a little
quicker than that. Though he's really cute when he's blushing."

     "Mo-o-o-om!" Mei whined to her mother's laughter. "I think
I'll just go back to my room, now." she added quickly, forgetting
her drink on the counter.

     Once back in her room, she found Ranma shuffling between paper
sheets, going over equations over and over again. "I just don't get
it." he muttered to himself, falling backwards to lay on her bed.

     Mei decided patience would be the better part of valor, so
just asked. "What don't you get?"

     Ranma jumped back to a sitting position, a hand full of sheets
going over his rapidly beating heart. "Don't do that!" he exclaimed,
surprise evident on his face.

     She stiffled a giggle. "Sorry." she said, sitting next to him.
"What don't you get?"

     "It's that stupid problem." Ranma started. "I went over it
twice since you left and I got the same answer." He paused,
searching for the right sheet, then showed it to her. "You gotta
tell me what I'm doing wrong in this."

     She took it and calmly went over it. "Yeah... Uh uh... Okay...
Seems okay... It looks all right." she finished, handing the paper
back. "I don't see any mistakes."

     Ranma took the sheet and handed her the book. "Then why's the
book saying I'm wrong?" Mei took it, checked the answer at the end,
grabbed his sheet from his grasp and checked his answer.

     "I don't get it." she said, more to herself than to him. He
opened his mouth to speak but stopped as she hurried to her desk,
grabbed a new sheet of paper and started doing the problem. Ranma
stayed silent for the time it took. Mei got Ranma's answer. "That's
odd." she remarked, going from the book's answer, Ranma's answer
and her own.

     "What?" Mei turned to him. "I have the exact same answer that
you do. Something's not adding up here." She acquired a thoughtful
look, then snapped her fingers. "Let me check my exercise book."
She reached over to grab the used red book and opened it. "Let's
see..." She found the page. "Ah. Here we go..." She blinked in
surprise, then looked up at Ranma. "You have the right answer. It's
the book that's wrong."

     "The book's wrong?" Ranma repeated, even more surprised than
her. That possibility had been the farthest from his mind. Then he
realized something. "Wait a minute." Ranma took his own exercise
book, searching for his first try at that problem. They had
switched to sheets after his second failed try. He found it. "Hey!
I was right the first time!" he exclaimed.

     "You were?" Mei went to look at his book. "You mean we wasted
the last half-hour on something you got the first time?" She threw
the math book at her bed pillows. "Stupid book!"

     "Calm down, Mei. It's not so bad. It was good practice." Ranma
got up and began gathering his things. "I better leave. It's
getting late."

     "Yeah." She began cleaning up her room of all the paper lying
around. "All that's left is the current chapter anyway. You're
lucky we don't have math tomorrow."

     "Ih guesh." Ranma spoke through a pencil he had put between
his teeth while gathering all the loose sheets he had used. Then he
almost bit it in two as he remembered something. "Wha abhout--" The
pencil came out. "What about Monday? Isn't there gonna be a test or
something?"

     Mei blinked. "No, I don't think so. There isn't supposed to be
any test before the finals in two weeks. Why'd you think that?"

     "No, I don't mean a test, I mean one of those surprise
thingies. You know, the ones the teachers take a sick pleasure out
of springing one on us out of the blue?"

     Her eyes lit up in understanding. "You mean a pop quiz?" He
nodded. "It's... possible." she finally said. "I heard a few people
say there could be one. You want to continue this weekend?"

     "I'd appreciate it." he replied. "How about tomorrow night?"

     "Tomorrow?" she asked in surprise. "Why'd you want to study
*tomorrow* night? It's a Friday!" Ranma blinked in confusion. "Ranma,
practically everyone just relaxes on Friday night. Take their mind
off school and everything. How about Sunday afternoon? Mom and I
are going to the shrine then, so I could stop by your place after."

     "Sounds okay." he replied, then raised an eyebrow. "To the
shrine? You're sure your mother will make it all the way up? She's
pretty big." Ranma bit his tongue right after saying that, but it
was too late.

     Mei giggled at his expression. "Don't worry, Ranma. I'm sure
she'll make it." She wiggled a finger at the school stuff still on
her bed. "Did you get all of your things?"

     "Yep." He closed his school bag and put it on. "I should get
going." He stood there, looking down, as an awkward silence set in.

     Mei realized it was her cue. "I'll walk you to the door." she
said quickly, going ahead of him to the door.

     "Thanks." While following her, Ranma thought about his current
situation. He wasn't blind. He knew the girl in front of her had
something of a crush on him. While he found it flattering, he felt
he shouldn't get in a relationship at the moment. It'd be too much
like one of those rebound relationships that didn't mean much.

     He gave that thought some thought. A rebound relationship
meant there was a previous relationship in the first place. While
he could honestly say he liked the girls back in Nerima, he had
never really considered them as more than friends, and now that he
had time to think about it, they hadn't really been friends in the
first place. They had only fought over him as if he had been some
prize, and he didn't even want to begin on Akane's faults and
problems. Conclusion; there wasn't a previous relationship to
consider.

     'So why not?' He looked at the girl ahead of her. She was
cute, nice, and actually had a rational head on her shoulders.
Instead of waiting for time to mend his wounds, having an actual
normal relationship could help him even more. With a small smile,
he decided he could give it a shot. He didn't have anything to
lose.

     They reached the front door. There was another awkward silence
until Ranma decided to actually open it. He took one step out and
turned to face her. "I'd like to thank you, Mei." he began slowly,
searching for the right words, or rather wanting to avoid wrong
ones. "I really appreciate your help."

     Mei looked down, slightly blushing. "It was nothing, Ranma.
I'm glad to help." She looked back up to see he had taken a small
step forward, and before she could react he gave her a light kiss
on the cheek. "Thanks again, and good night, Mei."

     Ranma ran off before she could respond. Mainly to hide his
almost completely red face. If this wasn't the first time he'd
kissed a girl willingly, that time had been lost in all the others
where the girl's lips had been forced on his own. So, he could
assume this was an actual first for him, even if it was only on the
cheek. Thus the blush.

     Once out of sight, Ranma sprung to the rooftops, not making a
sound, enjoying the cool air on his skin as he looked at the stars
above. This was his first opportunity since Sunday to do anything
like this, and he was so used to roof hopping he had been itching
to do it all that time.

     It was over all too soon, though, and Ranma dropped to the
street. He was facing a six foot stone wall, the forest and the
temple hill on the other side. He followed the wall up to the metal
gates, and pushed. Locked. "Figures." he muttered, and not
bothering to use his key he jumped over it with a well-executed
flip.

     Satisfied with himself, Ranma walked down the stone path. Even
in the dim starlight, he could see the temple above, at the near
top of the hill, with more steps than he cared to count to get
there.

     After one flight of stairs, Ranma took a side path, not as
wide but still made of stone. Another minute brought him to his
house, almost completely black in the shadow of the forest, the
only light coming from the living room. 'Damn. Lina's still up.
She'll probably tease me about staying so late at Mei's.'

     Ranma stopped before he was in the window's path. If she
wanted to wait, he'd let her wait. A quick jump had him grabbing at
his window sill, his other hand struggling with the window. He
would have used a levitation spell to save him the trouble, but he
didn't know how sensitive Lina was to ma-- ma-- *that* kind of
energy. He managed to get in and closed the window behind him.

     As silent as possible, Ranma put down his school bag, removed
his shoes and went to bed, still in uniform. If Lina wanted to
wait, she'd wait. The only thing that would make this better would
be seeing her face as it got later and later and he still didn't
come home. He was pretty sure her curiosity about her little set-up
would eat her alive. With a happy grin, Ranma fell asleep.


******


Friday...


     Ranma woke up when a light weight jumped on him and two hands
tried to choke him. Tried, as they weren't doing a very good job at
strangling him. He opened his eyes to see Lina basically trying to
wring his neck. "What are you doing?" he asked calmly, voice
totally undisturbed by the redhead's actions.

     Realizing this, Lina pulled back to sit on his legs, putting
her fists on her hips. "You made me wait! You knew I was in the
living room, so you got in by the window!" Her anger got the better
of her and she tried to choke him again. "You made me wait, you
jerk!"

     Not at all bothered, Ranma smiled. "You want to know what
happened or not?" Lina stopped, considered it for a moment and got
off, correcting her dress before looking at him. Ranma got up and
stood before her.

     Then he smiled. "Not gonna tell ya." he said quickly before
dashing out.

     "Hey!" Lina screamed back, running after him, almost
slamming in the bathroom door as it snapped shut in front of her.

     Lina started banging on the solid door. "Open the door, you
jerk! I want to beat it out of you! Come on!"

     "Why don't you ask Mei at school?" he rebuked, not wanting to
tell. Mainly for the blush that would rise to his cheeks if he
mentioned the last part. The last thing he needed was a sister
constantly teasing him, or rather, teasing him more. He quickly
disrobed and went in the bath.

     Outside, Lina considered it. Why bother beating it out of her
brother when she was sure Mei would tell her all about it at
school? "Okay then." she called back. "But hurry with that bath.
It's your turn to make breakfast."

     "What?!?" He heard her laugh and hurry away before he could
continue with a few expletives. "Why that..." He couldn't think of
any insults, since he knew it was probably Father who had had that
idea.

     As he started scrubbing, he also started grumbling. He didn�t
particularly like cooking, especially as a guy. Only now
that he was no longer cursed did he start considering it as
something even remotely useful. Maybe he should have asked for a
voluntary control instead of getting rid of it altogether. Too late
now, though.


******


     Friday afternoon...


     Ranma and Lina entered the house, threw their school bags on
the couch without looking and aimed for the kitchen. Five minutes
later, they came back, stomachs full, and followed their school
material.
     "Aah..." Ranma sighed. "So what are we doing tonight?" he
asked after awhile, staring at the ceiling. He didn't really mind
the inactivity, but there was such a thing as boredom, and after
escaping it almost all of his life, Ranma was basically determined
to keep doing so the rest of it.

     "Mmh..." Crossing her arms behind her head, Lina considered
the possibilities. "There's a couple of movies coming out, maybe
our gracious movie theatre has one or two of them. We could check."

     "On opening night? Are you crazy? That theater's gonna be so
stuffed a rat would be lucky to get out of there alive."

     "Ranma, this isn't Tokyo. There are advantages for living in
a small town, you know. Even that stupid gaijin movie 'Titanic'
didn't get *one* full room all the time it showed it. You could get
there at the last second and you'd have enough free seats to get
*really* comfortable."

     "Huh." Ranma replied. "Are you going to ask your boyfriend
out?"

     A cushion found his face. "Gourry is not my boyfriend." she
said simply. "But I usually go with him to the movies." She
smirked. "Are you going to ask Mei?"

     He tried playing innocent. "Why?" The cushion went up and came
back down. Ranma exclaimed a disheartened "Hey."

     "Why don't you just admit that you like her? Mei told me about
the kiss."

     Ranma was glad Lina had left the cushion on his face, as it
hid his blush. "It was just to thank her. I noticed she kinda likes
me and I didn't want to disappoint her."

     This time, the cushion came down harder. "Liar. I was planning
on inviting her anyway, and since we can't be paired together,
you're going to be with her." Lina got up and headed for the phone.

     "Oh, all right." He tried to fake resignment but a slight
smile still managed to slip on his face. "As long as you don't
invite--"

     "Hi Lina!" The cheerful voice was unmistakable. "Ranma!" The
sheer happiness in that made him cringe, and with the cushion still
over his head he missed the young girl rushing over, so had the
breath knocked out of him when he was glomped. "Hi Ranma did you
miss me we're going to the movies together isn't that wonderful
we'll go see a monster movie and you'll protect me when I'm scared
I can't believe you're such a nice guy!"

     Ranma couldn't believe she had said that in one breath, and was
suddenly very grateful of the set-up his sister had initiated.
"Eh... I'd love to, Amelia..." he started, removing the cushion to
see a beaming smile directed at him, "but Lina kinda already set me
up with a girl." He blinked as he found his lap and his hand
suddenly empty.

     Amelia was already across the room, beating Lina with the
stolen cushion. "How dare you do this! I shall punish you for your
villainous act!" Both Ranma and Lina cringed as they felt the
beginning of another of her speeches.

     Lina decided to cut that one short. "Amelia!" she interjected.
"Ranma only has to go out with her! Doesn't mean he likes her more
than you!" Ranma shot her a glare to which she smiled weakly as
Amelia stopped suddenly.

     "Oh. All right, then." She got angry again while waving a
finer in Lina's face. "But you better never do it again, okay?"
Lina nodded enthusiastically. "Good!" She returned to her usual
cheery self. "Can I still come with you guys to the movie?"

     Ranma and Lina passed a look and agreed without words. "It
wouldn't be a reall--" "I'd be glad to join you!" Amelia
interrupted. Ranma and Lina sighed together in defeat.

     'Oh, well.' Ranma thought. 'It could be--' Lightning crackled
outside as rain began to pour. '--worse... Damn. Had to think it.'


******

     Saturday early morning...

     Ranma stopped his alarm right after the first beep. He was already
awake, having slowly woken up in the last hour or so and had been
contemplating last night's events. If it hadn't been for Amelia's
constant hugging and jabbering, it could have been better. It *would*
have been, in fact, since he would have had more than a simple "Hi."
from Mei. Next time, he'd make sure the little pipsqueak would be out
of the picture.

     He got up, already dressed in his usual chinese clothes, or
rather still dressed in his chinese clothes. He tried to smoothen
the many wrinkles the fabric had acquired during his sleep, without
much success.

     He opened his window to let some fresh air in. It was slightly
dark in front of the house, the sun barely above the horizon,
somewhere to his left, birds singing, the air clear and the sky
almost cloudless, the dew on the grass and trees only remnants of
the previous night's storm. It was his first occasion in a long,
very long time to appreciate nature's beauty like this, and Ranma
took full opportunity.

     The moment was interrupted by a particularly weird sound
coming from his stomach. Dejected, Ranma closed the window and went
to the kitchen.

     A quick, though large, breakfast later, Ranma calmly left the
house, heading for the cliff. His roof-hopping two nights ago had
shown him how much martial arts were missing from his routine, and
not one to slack off he had decided to get up early to practice by
himself. It was basically his only time off in the entire weekend.

     Taking the scenic route, a small trail that went around the
temple hill, instead of simply climbing the stairs up to the temple
and taking the other trail behind it, Ranma contemplated that
thought. He didn't really have any time to kill, weekend or not.

     He went over his plans. He had ma-- ma-- Ranma gritted his
teeth. 'I have *magic* practice.' he forced himself to think, and
felt somewhat relieved when he had thought it. "Magic." he said,
and found the word not that unpleasant. His new view of magic was
finally getting through. He allowed himself to whistle as he
continued down the path.

     He had magic practice until lunch, but it would probably turn
into an all-out fight, since Lina always held a grudge and Father
wouldn't be there to arbitrate. He certainly didn't mind. After
that, Lina had planned a little get together with Gourry and Mei,
in which Amelia had managed to include herself. He didn't really
see the point, but there wasn't really any harm in trying, and Lina
had seemed so excited he hadn't been able to refuse.

     Saturday night was, as he had been told, homework night,
something that would take every second of his time until he went to
bed. Lina had asked him to teach her a little martial arts, and
that had been planned on Sunday mornings. The afternoon was another
tutoring session with Mei, which would probably take some time, and
she had mentioned she could help him in other subjects. He had been
reluctant then, but now it seemed an interesting possibility. He
could safely say the evening would also be spent studying, and that
was the end of the weekend.

     All in all, it was nothing really interesting, basically
nothing compared to his old life. But it wasn't boring, and unlike
back then, it actually went *somewhere*. Anything happening in
Nerima usually ended back in the same old status-quo he had learned
to hate so dearly. Now, what he was doing had a later purpose and
was actually useful. He felt it more than compensated for the lack
of action, and action wasn't quite gone from his new life. Learning
magic also compensated for that. It was *very* interesting.

     It took him about half an hour to get to the base of the
cliff, and then a good ten minutes to make it up the difficult,
steep path. He soon found himself overlooking the waterfall, almost
exactly in front of the spot he had jumped from the first time.

     The feelings he was experiencing at the moment were
conflicting. The very place brought back unpleasant memories and
painful emotions, but at the same time it made his spirit soar as
the area represented his achievement of freedom. Putting everything
at the back of his mind, Ranma began practicing with a few
katas.

     He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard Lina
shout his name. He went to the edge of the cliff and looked down,
to see her small form standing near the waterfall, already in her
weekend clothes, waving to him. He waved back. "I'm coming down,
Lina!" he shouted back.

     He took a second to consider. Taking the path down would take
too long for his liking, and he didn't consider jumping. Then
again... Maybe he could get a scare out of her. He jumped down the
cliff, acquiring a diver's position as he aimed for the very spot
he had gone through a week earlier.

     He entered the white waters at precisely the right spot,
relishing the feeling of cold water over his male body. He twisted
around in the water, absorbing the rest of his momentum with his
legs on the giant rock that now blocked the underwater connection
to the cavern, and pushed himself back up.

     His head popped out of the waters. He could see the
disapproving frown on his sister's face. "You can't scare me by
doing that, Ranma. I'm the one who told you about the hole,
remember?"

     He smiled. "Of course. It was just the quickest way to get to
you." Ranma closed his eyes and concentrated. Time to show off.
"Ray Wing!" he shouted, directing the energy into himself. Once he
was sure the spell had taken correctly, he willed himself to rise
upwards.

     His smile turned to a grin when he noticed Lina's look of
surprise as he slowly floated towards her. He took her by the
armpits and twirled her around a few times just for the hell of it,
then his spell failed, and they fell to the ground in a heap.

     The two managed to look at each other and then fell in
laughters. "I guess I still need to practice." he finally said as
the two distangled themselves from each other.

     "Practice? Ranma, you shouldn't even be able to cast that
spell! It's only been two weeks since you began studying magic!"
Lina had momentarily forgot her anger or plotted revenge as she
marvelled at Ranma's accomplishment. She knew their Father had
given him a book with a few spells on it, but Ray Wing just seemed
too advanced.

     "Well, what can I tell you? I'm the best at whatever I do."
Ranma replied with a smug smile. The two laughed as they picked
themselves up.

     Lina grabbed him by the wrist, leading him in the forest.
"Well, come on, then. Let's see if you can back up your words."

     "Of course I can." he quickly replied, managing to free his
hand. "I didn't bother to learn magic to lean back and be
second best."

     Lina stopped short, her hand just above the trigger that would
open the cave entrance. "Did you just say 'magic'?" she asked
incredulously.

     "I did." Ranma said, punctuating his word by pushing Lina's
hand against the stone, causing the entrance to open surprisingly
silently. He then took a step back and motioned her to go first.
"Now let's see if *you* can back up your threat from Thursday."

     "I certainly can." she said confidently, strolling inside.
With a mocking grin, Ranma followed, hitting the inside trigger to
close the entrance.


******

     Saturday afternoon...


     Ranma and Lina were strolling down the street, planning to
stop by their friends' houses to pick them up before going to an
arcade on the other side of town. Neither were very happy with the
outcome of their practice so stayed silent. Then Ranma suddenly saw
something up ahead that didn't please him at all.

     In a flash, he grabbed Lina by the shoulders and ducked in a
side alley, plastering himself, and Lina, against the wall. "What's
wrong?" she asked, concerned and confused. Just by looking at his
face she could tell he was afraid, and his eyes were saying a lot
more.

     Ranma jerked a thumb behind his back. "Tell me if you see a
girl our age coming this way, with short black hair, a green blouse
and purple skirt, somewhat cute but tomboyish."

     Lina went around Ranma and peaked up the street. "Yeah, I see
her. Is she--" She was pulled back in the alley. "Is she anybody
you know?"

     It took Ranma a few seconds to collect his nerves, taking a
few deep breaths. Then he spoke. "That�s Akane."


End Chapter 2




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