minor details fleshed out. it is submitted for
completeness sake, merely for those who wanted to see a
single point made more blatantly obvious.

FEATHERBRITE'S TALE
Chapter 2: Annoying New Challenge  (ANC again)
      or...  "Wings Over Nerima"
metroanime@mindspring.com insert standard disclaimers
about not owning these characters.
--------------Faerie
Realm---------------------------------
 Featherbrite looked over the sleeping Amazon that she
had brought here and decided how best to do this. She
wanted to get this woman warrior to Ranma as soon as
possible, but the ships making the journey were all
steel and iron <shudder> and Shampoo couldn't swim that
sort of distance. Shampoo's experience with swimming so
far had been restricted to mountain streams.

 Featherbrite had gotten to know the Amazon over the
past few hours, and as this was the first girl who had
ever shown any interest in Ranma, Featherbrite wanted
this to go right. This was a major step in seperating
Ranma (her friend) from his father (nasty stupid brute)
and in Ranma's maturity. She'd read a book on the
subject once. While it hadn't made a whole lot of sense
to the faerie, the bits about dating and sex had struck
her as being fascinating.

 No doubt the transformation from boy to man was
something mystical triggered by such behavior.

 Featherbrite grabbed a few nuts and berries that would
have fascinated a botanist, then fed the sleeping
amazon. An application of Will and thousands of years
of experience were enough, otherwise Shampoo would
never have been able to leave the Faerie Realm.

 Featherbrite continued to concentrate as Shampoo
shuddered in her sleep and began to shrink.
Featherbrite murmurred a few soothing words into the
girl's ear. A battle of wills now would have been
disastrous, but this was the fastest method the faerie
could think of getting Shampoo to where Ranma was.

 Besides, Featherbrite had plans involving the Amazon.
She had promised Ranma not to make further alterations
in HIM without prior consent. Meddling was just one of
those things a faerie had to do. It was basic nature.
Unlike the Unseelie Court, a bog fairy or the like,
Featherbrite wasn't cruel in nature. Making a little
adjustment here or there so that the amazon would have
fun, enjoy life, and not take things quite so
seriously...why that was in her best interest
after all!

 The faerie looked over the transformed Amazon,
nodding. It wasn't perfect, but it was only supposed to
last until the next sunset anyway.

 At least the _physical_ transformation was.
-------Furinkan SHS--------------
 Ranma sat back against the tree, watching the crowds,
and sighed deeply. After the fight with Kuno had come
repeated demands from faculty and students to see the
curse operate again and again.

 He'd been fondled, pinched, had a wing almost torn
off, and had the school biology teacher waxing almost
Kuno-esque about the possibility of a full biopsy.

 Even as much as Akane disliked him, she had turned a
bit green at some of the details that Mister Hisakawa
had been expounding on.

 Ranma knew Akane's problem. She was used to being the
center of attention, plus she had the usual martial
artist's "attunement" to their environment. Ranma had
spent a lot of time in the Faerie Realm, so he just
seemed "off" to those who were so aware of their
surroundings. If Featherbrite had been here, she'd have
been able to adjust his glamourie so that Ranma was
more in synch. Akane would lose some of that hostility,
and everyone would be happier.

 Or maybe it was just Akane's time of month.

 Nabiki had been avoiding him. Kuno hadn't been seen
since the incident.

 All of which brought Ranma here. At lunch, back
against a tree, with nobody willing to talk TO him but
almost everyone talking ABOUT him. Not really having an
appetite, he took out his flute instead.

 Featherbrite had given him another flute to replace
the one she had made, bringing it from somewhere within
the Faerie Realms. It looked like it was bamboo, but
Genma's best efforts hadn't put a scratch in it. She
said it was an old instrument crafted by a Lord of
Elvish.

 Ranma began to play in the manner that he had been
taught by Featherbrite. He began with the tune
"Greensleeves" but poured his feelings into it, and it
became something entirely different.

 He didn't consider that when a normally gifted
musician puts all his heart into a piece, it can take
on a sort of magic. When the musician in question was
trained by one of the Faerie, and when the instrument
being used was crafted and enchanted by a Lord of
Magic, the results could be far-reaching.

 The music spread over the campus, and as Ranma played
the music, so the music played the listeners.

 Sayuri cried as the music told of a child's loneliness
as he was taken from his home and mother to wander the
cold and the rain with an indifferent father. The flute
spoke of constantly being on the move, and a father who
equated affection with weakness.

 Yuka grew angry as the flute told of how a child could
be tortured for the sake of the Art, and of pain
endured repeatedly and senselessly. Of a restless dark
where eyes maddened by hunger gleamed.

 Hiroshi stared at nothing in particular as the flute
skirled through brief passages of friendship found and
eagerly accepted, then lost again and again as the open
road called the father on to other places. Of keeping
to the shadows to avoid entanglements with the law.

 Daisuke knew exactly what the flute spoke of as it
told of being alone in a crowd, of no one to call
friend or kin or confidant. Of having to keep the world
at bay rather than grow too close to anyone, rather
than risk having one's heart rended by their loss.

 Tatewaki Kuno heard the flute sweep through a passage
of despair as another friend left, of the feeling of
sadness at having been challenged to a battle by one
who had been deemed friend. He listened to the flute
speak of life without a home, without a family, and
felt unfamiliar feelings stir within his heart.

 Nabiki stared out the window at the flautist and
listened to the flute speak of days and nights without
food or water, no bed or shelter. The song seemed to
speak of a lifetime of poverty and privation, of times
of such loneliness as one's heart seemed to be reduced
to cold stone and ash and the bitter taste of it filled
one's mouth.

 The flute briefly broke into a bubbly happy tune that
brought smiles to many faces, speaking of a friend
found, one who didn't quite understand, but was there
for him. Hikaru Gosunkugi felt he understood the
loneliness, and longed for such a friend himself-
someone who could touch his soul and bring the sun out
of the darkness.

 Akane flinched as the flute spoke of becoming cursed,
of such a simple thing as one's body being taken and
_twisted_ into a new form, without control, without any
warning. The flute sang on about being overwhelmed as
everything was thrown into chaos with a single careless
moment.

 Keiko Amano stopped her article in the school paper as
the flute erupted into the joy of finding oneself able
to fly, to leave behind the anchors to the ground and
soar effortlessly through the clouds. For a brief
shining moment, Keiko understood what it was like to be
freed from trudging along the ground, and instead to
twirl and dance along the winds themselves.

 Both Akane and Nabiki winced as the flute spoke of new
hope dawning, of extending one's hands and craving
friendship, only to find disgust, distrust, dislike,
and needless cruelty as others sought to distance
themselves, rather than leave their own hearts
vulnerable.

 The flute finished, speaking this time of being an
exhibit on display, of being judged unclean, of having
the curse triggered repeatedly for no more than a
moment's cruel entertainment. Again it spiraled,
speaking of hardships endured, and still more
loneliness and the horrors of being forced to endure
further ostracism.

 Ranma put the flute away, he always felt better after
having played. As if a burden had been shifted. He ate
the obento that Kasumi had prepared and wondered why
everyone was looking in his direction.
------Sea Of Japan, "fishing" vessel  Myoo Na
Maru(1)--------
 "Captain? Captain Fujii?"

 Captain Fujii put aside her recently acquired copy of
"Love's Fiery Embrace" and grumbled that this had
better be good. She'd been waiting for the Japanese
version of the romance novel for months.

 "Radar contact. Something is coming up fast." The
scruffy looking helmsman stuck his head in the doorway.

 Fujii nodded. The werecat was a solid crewmember, she
should have known it was something serious to get him
to interrupt her reading. "What is it? Coast guard?
Madame Lao?(2) Chinese Military? Please, don't it let
be the damn Flying Dutchman again. I swear they must
have a Hibiki navigating."

 "Unknown, cap'n," the Hindustani grimaced at the
thought of the ghost ship. They encountered it every so
often. Too damn often by his standards. Of course, he
considered adventure and excitement to be *bad* things
and preferred things to remain simple. Unfortunately,
he'd signed on to *this* ship for a five year contract.
"Whatever it is, it's airborne and very small. Too slow
to be a missle, though."

 "Okay, that lets out Gojira, the Flying Dutchman, and
probably Lao." You never could tell with Lao, but she
definitely didn't qualify as small. Fujii thought about
it, nothing was on deck to indicate what their vessel
really was, and unless you were familiar with the
bizarre history of the ship designated in several port
authorities as "That Damn Ship" or the "HMS Weirdness
Magnet" by others you might think it was a normal
fishing vessel.

 "Well, let's see it." Fujii trailed after Neko-san,
pausing only to nod at the male amazon at the controls.
Talcum pulled a hidden switch and a few key
preparations were made, just in case.

 There was a hum felt through the deck as certain
devices folded back into housings along the sides of
the vessel.

 Neko-san stared off to the West, trying to catch a
glimpse of the object. His daylight vision was among
the worst of the crew though, so he couldn't see them
until they were almost alongside the vessel.

 The dot became a shape, though they were only a few
hundred yards away before Fujii could make them out.
"Faeries?!?"

 "Mark that," came the comment from Nathan as he
slipped into place beside the Captain. "Looks like a
wind faerie, and someone under an enchantment. That's
probably her clothing they're carrying. Interesting...
I didn't know there were any faerie left."

 Fujii didn't ask. One of the unwritten rules aboard
the Myoo no Maru was "Don't Ask Nathan How He Knows
Something." It was like asking him about astronomy or
history. The consequences could be horrible. He could
tell you.

 Nathan Brazil usually told his shipmates the truth.
This was the horrible part.
---------Shinjuku, Tokyo--------------------
 Night crept over the Japanese islands. The Hunt began
and ended as it always did, with the predator dropping
now-lifeless prey down into its lair. Less than an hour
had passed since nightfall.

 The hunting was good in Tokyo. No one had any real
faith, garlic was rare, and the real threats were all
but nonexistant to someone who took reasonable
precautions.

 Now something different intruded into the old and
well-worn routine. The predator sniffed the air and
smiled. Faerie magic had been used, and used sloppily.
That meant a young faerie. Inexperienced. Vulnerable.

 The vampire abandoned its newest victim and sped
forth, the succulent blood of a young faerie
beckoned,and if it was a brownie or other house-faerie
then its mortal family would provide...amusement.(3)
--------------------Tendo-ke,
Nerima--------------------
 "Excuse me, Ranma, what are these?" Nabiki fingered
one of the paper slips hanging from the outer wall.
"These almost look like spiritual wards." Except that
they seemed faintly luminescent, for one thing.

 "Nabiki," Ranma flipped off the wall and stood before
her, looking down at her with a faint smile. "What do
you know of faerie magic?"

 Kasumi answered from where she had been sitting. "It's
small scale things, isn't it?"

 Nabiki shook her head when she saw that Ranma was
still looking for an answer from her.

 "You tell me, Saotome, up until yesterday magic was
something that didn't exist."

 Akane settled back into the shadows, still not quite
sure how to handle what she had seen and felt when
Ranma had been playing that flute earlier. Had he cast
a spell on her? Was that why she had felt like that?
Why was everyone else so trusting of him? He was a
stranger, he dabbled in magic, he could easily be a
demon or something.

 "Faerie magic isn't about demanding or forcing the
universe to do anything. I know how to ask the pieces
of the cup to come back together, or to convince them
the break never happened. It's also about feeling, as
the faerie are more emotional than intellectual."

 Nabiki watched Ranma put two more of the wards in
place. "So...you had a bad feeling?"

 "Yeah," Ranma said with a nod. "Mind you, these aren't
really strong, but I had to learn how to do this for
trips into the Faerie Realms, there's things in there
that you don't want to meet." Like bog fairies.

 "Ranma."

 "Yes, Nabiki?" Ranma looked hesitatingly back at his
on-again/off-again iinazuke, trying to guess her mood
from the swirl of colors around her.

 "Could you play something on your flute again?" Nabiki
didn't mention the recording equipment. "Something a
bit happier than you played at lunch?"

 Ranma nodded and finished the first set of wards. "I'd
be happy to, Nabiki." This was looking up, she'd asked
him to play for her. Akane's aura had less anger
(though she was still radiating distrust as well as
other things he couldn't identify), and Kasumi's was
showing a little less of the barriers.

 Ranma settled onto a section of roof, aware of his
father's disapproval and of Soun Tendo's vague
agreement with his old friend. Though Soun was a little
put off by how years of frustration had altered Genma.
Time spent playing music was time wasted that could
have been spent on the Art.

 Ranma felt there were different Arts, each having
their own time and place. Featherbrite had quoted him
some ancient song about this. "A time for war, a time
for peace..." though in the original Aramaic it had an
odd cadence.

 Sometimes Ranma wondered about that. What it was like
to be over 12,000 years old. To have a friend who would
grow old and die almost within the blink of an eye
compared to that sort of lifespan... How much of the
faerie viewpoint was due to such a long lifespan? She
had seen Empires rise and fall, mankind struggle up
from stone knives and bearskins to some kind of
civilization more than once by her own admission, and
the Industrial Age that had caused most of her own kind
to retreat to the Faerie Realms and other worlds.

 Putting aside such considerations for the moment,
Ranma felt the presence of Kasumi and Nabiki doing the
dishes in the kitchen below. Akane was starting to
fidget over algebra problems. Something lowkey, but
Nabiki had requested something happy.

 Featherbrite hadn't known the name of the piece that
she had taught Ranma. It was just something she had
heard once in Europe during the so-called Dark Ages. A
peasant folk tune with brightly clothed dancers
forgetting their problems for a time to become lost in
the restless energy of the dance. Again he did as he
had been taught and threw himself totally into the
music, this time without taking the liberties he had
during his lunchtime concert. His foot tapped against
the rooftiles to provide the beat.

 Akane looked up, her homework forgotten for a moment
as the melody came through her window. Seeing a strip
of paper hanging over it, she pulled it down. Another
spirit ward. Honestly, that boy was such so strange. If
it turned out that this *was* some kind of trick, she
would remain untouched by it.

 Nabiki sped from the kitchen with her tape recorder
and quickly set up where she could record the little
serenade. She had mailers with the addresses of two
recording studios ready. The smile on her face was only
partly from the revenue, there seemed to be some
infectious energy in the alien music.

 Kasumi merely listened to the music and enjoyed. It
was her way, just as looking for a profit was Nabiki's,
and Akane MIGHT bring herself to enjoy it but wouldn't
admit it. A brief image came to her, of brightly
dressed gaijin dancing with frantic energy in the light
of a campfire as a pair of farmers played.

 Uncaring, Ranma finished the old dance tune and went
on to something a little more modern. Only a little bit
though. He wondered if Featherbrite had actually met
Bach...

 Kasumi looked up as the piping went into the "Ode To
Joy" and marvelled again at her sister's iinazuke.
Perhaps he was a bit immature, but he obviously was not
as simple as she had
first perceived him to be. There was some growing rift
between Ranma and Nabiki, and Kasumi considered the
possibility that one one woman's trash might well be
another's treasure.

 Nabiki listened to the old piece played in a manner
that the composer had probably never anticipated. She
checked and made sure that the recorder was still
running. The gleam in her eyes was a reflection of the
money she stood to make.
--------------------------------------
(1)   The very same weirdness magnet/fishing/smuggling
vessel i used in Happi Days, renamed from "Chacha
Maru." The basic concept remains the same. Captain
Fujii, Neko-san, Nathan, Talcum, and the others are
part of one of the rules that govern anime universes.
"Strangeness accumulates."
     If anybody wants to use 'em in a fanfic, feel
free. I have stats on 'em.
(2) Permission to reference Madam Lao from Jim Bader.
No, she doesn't actually appear. I have other villains
planned.
(3) This is a villain. Villains bad. Don't worry,
before this fic is too far along, this villain will be
dealt with, though some repercussions may remain.
However, this IS an evil villain, which means that all
is not sweetness and light here.
(4) The bit about Cold Iron and the fey folk is from
the old stories about them, and how you ward them off.
Faerie magic is depicted in this fic as low power, low
scale, and emotive and instinctual rather than ritual.
------Tendo-ke, Nerima---------
 Akane couldn't sleep. The reason for this was not the
algebra homework she'd failed to
complete, nor the English test the next day.

 It was an unfamiliar feeling. Guilt. She'd been nasty
to this Ranma since the beginning. At first it was
because here was some new boy. She hated boys, they'd
never given her any reason to think they had any value
whatsoever.

 Still, he'd been fairly kind and more mature than the
rest of the boys she'd known. Though the talk about
invisible faeries (his father denied there was anything
of the sort) and his curse freaked her out, she
realized that it wasn't _completely_ Ranma's fault.
He'd been dragged around without any friends or family,
so it was only natural that he was a little weird.

 Okay, make that a lot weird.

 Still, there was something about him that just set her
on edge. He hadn't (so far) done anything to justify
her suspicions. If he could make Nabiki happy, then
shouldn't *she* be happy? Maybe it was what Nabiki said
it was, that for once a boy had actually ignored her.
Akane dismissed the thought after a moment. Despite
what Nabiki had been hinting, Akane knew she didn't
suffer from too much pride.

 Then there had been that music at lunch, and she'd
felt regret since then. She actually had a lot in
common with Ranma. Loss, and loneliness, and she'd felt
the same alone-within-a-crowd that the song had seemed
to whisper to her.

 Akane got honest with herself in the manner that some
people managed to do in the state between wakefulness
and a sleep that wouldn't come. The reason she disliked
him wasn't that he was a freak of nature that set her
teeth on edge (though his cursed form did that) or that
he was capable of doing things she couldn't (though she
resented him for that.)

 Akane could admit it to herself, though if she were
fully awake she'd have denied the whole thing as
ludicrous. She had found Ranma attractive from the
start. He was good looking, well built, good at the
martial arts, had a sense of humor and honesty, and was
much more desirable than the hormone crazed BOYS she
had to fight every morning.

 "First halfway decent guy to show up at Furinkan, and
he's not only a freak but he chooses
Nabiki. NABIKI! Over me." Akane stared at the ceiling,
not particularly aware that she was whispering aloud.
"Why? I can't have Doctor Tofu, and now this freak
chooses Nabiki. Why not me?" She ignored the voice that
said that if she hadn't been hostile to him, she could
get him. Besides, he'd said earlier that he was only
going along with this engagement thing for the moment.
He had stated earlier that he was sure that when their
parents noticed that none of the girls were interested
in him, they'd call it all off.

 A sound at her window, like a tapping, brought Akane
to full wakefulness. Akane rose
from her bed, trying to figure out who could be
up at this hour.

 Akane found herself looking into eyes the color of
fresh blood before she knew she was in
danger.
----------------------Kuno mansion, Nerima-------------
 "Sasuke!"

 "Here, Master Kuno!"

 "Don't do that!" Kuno got his heart rate back under
control with some effort. If he didn't know better,
he'd have thought the bucktoothed ninja enjoyed popping
out of nowhere and startling him.

 "Sorry, Master Kuno."

 "Have you located what I have asked for?"

 "I have had to request its manufacture, Master. It
will be ready for tomorrow's battle!"

 "Excellent." Kuno didn't even bother looking at his
underling. He was too busy contemplating the glorious
battle that lay before him tomorrow. "Tomorrow, my
winged elf maid, tomorrow you shall be mine!"

 Kuno's laugh echoed outside the Kuno Estate the way
properly done maniacal laughter is supposed to.
-----------------Tendo-ke, Nerima-------------
 Ranma was awake, and if he had been in yousei form
would have been hovering near the ceiling in agitation.

 The outer layer of wards were not very powerful. Imps
or gremlins would be stopped, but otherwise it was just
a warning system. Those warnings had gone off as
Something broke through.

 The wards outside the house itself were rather
stronger and more specialized. These were
specifically wards against supernatural evil. If
something broke through those, there was some
serious trouble. There wasn't the sensation of some
supernatural evil breaking through those, however.

 Both the room Ranma occupied, and the room Nabiki
occupied had another layer. This last
layer was subtle, hidden, and only meant to give the
occupant a few extra moments of warning.

 It was this last layer that had gone off, a silent
alarm that Something Wicked This Way
Comes. That it had apparently gotten through the second
layer was indication to Ranma that this
was not one of the mindless Thyngs of faerie, nor even
a bog-imp such as the "spider" that had
been ready to devour Featherbrite all those years ago.
This was therefore Evil and Intelligent.

 Ranma kicked his father awake then made a hand signal
where the panda could see it.
Genma immediately came awake without his usual
grumpiness and far more quickly. He had been the
one who had taught Ranma the shinobi hand signals years
ago.

 Danger. Intruder. Nearby. The hand signals were only
meant to convey specific ideas, but this it did very
well. Ranma's hands stopped as the door to the room
began to slide open.
----------------------------
 Nabiki awoke immediately at the sounds of a fight
going on. Wondering what could be this bad at 3am, the
groggy teenager stuck her head out her door and
wondered if she were still dreaming.

 Hissing like a monitor lizard, Akane hefted Genma in
his giant panda form over her head and threw him down
the stairs like a rag doll.

 Ranma did a spinning kick to Akane's head that should
have torn her younger sister's
head off but just caused Akane to stagger slightly.

 Ranma used the opportunity to apply an Octopus hold to
the berserk teenager. "Nabiki,"
Ranma managed as Akane tried to dislodge him. "Get
<urk> a spirit ward. <Ak> Hurry!"

 Nabiki froze as she got a look at Akane's face. Maybe
it was the bared fangs, maybe it was
the glowing red eyes, maybe it was just the way she
kept slamming the struggling Ranma into and through the
walls. She didn't think that was her sister after
all.(1)

 Nabiki just barely registered Kasumi moving forward
and slapping something against Akane's forehead.
Whatever it was had to be hot because smoke immediately
started pouring up and Akane HOWLED.

 It wasn't until after Akane had collapsed and a
shaking Ranma was leaning against the wall that Nabiki
saw what Kasumi had in her hand. A silver cross.

 "WHAT was that?"

 "Vampiric possession." Ranma tried to catch his
breath.

 "Vampires," Nabiki managed. "Well, I suppose if
curses, faerie, and the like exist, I shouldn't be TOO
surprised. Why did it come here? Why Akane?"

 "I don't know," answered Ranma honestly. "Why Akane?
I'm not sure, and speculating would be pointless. Oh,
thanks, Kasumi."

 "How do you know about vampires, anyway? Is this one
who followed you?" Nabiki was shaking and scared and
didn't like either condition.

 "No. My faerie companion introduced me to one once
during a night I was being music trained. He isn't a
bad sort, though, and would NEVER do this sort of
thing."

 "A nice vampire?" Kasumi stated, apparently not
noticing at how Ranma had stared at her nightgown
before turning away flushed. It was just her way of
repeating things to indicate that she understood.

 "Yeah, whoever or whatever attacked, I'm sure it
wasn't Geoffery. He's wandering Japan looking for a
cure." Ranma sighed and looked at the damage. "Guess I
better get started fixing all this."

 Nabiki hesitated before kneeling down next to her
sister. One hiss or gleam of red though,
and she'd be doing a credible imitation of a gazelle.
She brushed the hair back from Akane's neck and stared
at the two wounds revealed there.

 "I'll need to reinforce the wards, and if Kasumi can
buy extra garlic, we can keep this
from going any further." Ranma's gaze met Nabiki's over
the prone Akane.

 "Oh dear," summed up Kasumi.
---------------Shinjuku, Tokyo---------------
 Vladimir entered his lair and scowled at the
surroundings. So close, he'd been so close.
If he could drink the blood of a faerie, and use the
wings and body in the Dark Arts, then his long plan
could be completed.

 "Soon, soon, I shall have my vengeance against you,
Dmitri Maximov!"

 The vampire entered his coffin to rest. Tomorrow he
had to feed again on Akane Tendo,
and then he'd be able to get past the wards and get the
blood and body of the faerie.

 He didn't realize how much like his ancient foe he had
become.
--------------Tendo-ke,
Nerima---------------------------
 Kasumi was up, as was usual, before the sunrise. She'd
gotten a little less sleep than
normal, undead showing up in the middle of the night
having that effect, and was hoping the rest
of the day was calm enough that a nap could actually be
scheduled.

 A six inch faerie entering through an open window
dispelled that idea.

 Kasumi hoped that Ranma would be able to put together
that mixing bowl again.

 Featherbrite noted that this girl's eyes were tracking
her, and allowed herself to be drawn from the reunion
with Ranma.

 "Oh, you must be Ranma's imaginary friend." Kasumi
remembered Genma's talks about that. Ranma denied that
the friend in question was imaginary. If she could see
the little creature, then Ranma obviously had a very
good imagination.

 Featherbrite used her abilities to pass through the
young woman's almost nonexistant mental defenses and
gave a sigh that would have been accompanied by a big
sweatdrop if she weren't so tiny. A couple of temporary
fixes seemed to be indicated. This girl was so polite
that she just accepted what that horrible Genma had
told her, almost without a second thought.

 The faerie checked and found that this girl actually
found Ranma attractive! Not that she'd ever do anything
about it because of some odd barriers she'd put over
her behavior, and
some other things the faerie wasn't exactly sure about.
Ranma insisted that tweaking someone's mind was wrong,
but surely a few corrections here and there would be
ok.

 "Genma is mistaken. He is not very clever."
Featherbrite put a little extra power into the words.
"I am invisible to many. You can see me."

 Kasumi nodded. Yes, she had noticed that Mister
Saotome was missing a few bricks from the load. A few
donuts shy of a dozen. The elevator didn't quite reach
the top floor, in his case at least.

 Featherbrite looked this girl over, inside and out,
and immediately labelled her "Candidate #2" as far as
THAT went. She'd find Ranma first, then get a sleeping
Shampoo off the roof. The sooner she got someone to
start sleeping with Ranma, the sooner she'd be able to
get the damn panda's influence over Ranma diluted.

 Finding Ranma asleep, Featherbrite decided that this
was a VERY good idea and found her own place to sleep.
---------------------------------------
 "Okay Saotome," Nabiki licked nervous lips. "I'm
ready." Silently she added that she _hoped_ she was
ready.

 Ranma scooped Nabiki up in her arms. "Okay, what
first?"

 "How high up can you go?" Nabiki tried not to think
about the stomach flipflop sensation of freefall. They
were only a foot above the ground, and she had a
squeeze bottle of cold water in case (somehow) they ran
into hot water during the flight.

 "What are you two doing?" Akane came out, holding her
head and looking like she'd just gone two rounds with a
world class martial artist.

 "I'm going for a ride, Akane. He's my iinazuke, after
all, and it's only fair to find out what all he can do.
Even if he's a she at the moment." Nabiki turned to
look at Ranma. "Now, Ranma, let's find out."

 Akane watched as the two figures shot up into the air,
quickly becoming specks in the distance. "Baka..."
Akane's voice broke on the last syllable. She wasn't
sure if she was referring to Nabiki or Ranma. Not that
she was jealous, mind you. She had vague memories of
the previous night filtering in, but they didn't make
much sense at the moment.

 Kasumi dried a plate and looked skyward at the dot
that was her sister and her fiance. She wondered if she
could get a ride later. "How nice. Do you suppose
Ranma's little friend is still asleep in his room?"

 Akane gave Kasumi an odd look. "Little friend? Kasumi,
are you feeling all right? Mister Saotome said that it
was all just Ranma's imagination."

 "Mister Saotome is a few cards short of a full deck."
Kasumi continued to watch as the tiny speck made a
ninety degree turn and passed behind a cloud. "He's a
few fries short of a Happy Meal. Not running on all
cylinders. A few holes under par."

 Akane stared and wondered exactly what was going on.
Deciding she was too tired to care at this point, Akane
went back into the house to finish getting ready for
school.

 Kasumi merely felt a pang of envy, quickly suppressed,
and decided to see if Ranma's little friend was ok.
---------------------------------------
 Nabiki decided she would not squeal, she would not
faint, she would NOT do anything to indicate that she
was viewing the entire experience as anything but a
scientific experiment. She was admittedly having a very
hard time with this.

 After looking down at teeny-tiny roads and the tops of
clouds, Nabiki had realized that they had stopped
climbing in altitude because the air was getting thin.
Not that Ranma-yousei's wings beat or had anything like
a surface to air ratio that would have supported them.
Because much further up would have been difficult to
breathe.

 As far as speed went, she had trouble figuring out the
details. Her watch indicated that they had traveled the
one kilometer from the ice cream parlor to Furinkan
high in less than ten seconds. That indicated, Nabiki
did the numbers in her head, 6km per minute or a top
speed via Air Ranma of roughly 360kph.

 She noted that while weightless and blithely ignoring
several important physical laws, it was NOT effortless.
When the two of them arrived at Furinkan, Ranma was
quite winded.

 Regaining her footing, Nabiki nodded at Ranma. "Well,
that was interesting. I think that I might have a few
ideas how we can make use of that flight talent of
yours."

 "Whatever you say, Nabiki. I need to find some hot
water before classes start."

 Akane arrived and looked around. Everyone was paying
attention to Nabiki and Ranma? Nobody had noticed that
she was here? It wasn't like she felt well this morning
anyway. She decided to be happy about this turn of
events, rather than resent the way everyone was
ignoring her arrival.

 "Ah, winged goddess, how your presence shines like the
morning sun itself. Truly, you must be a wild spirit.
Let my heart tame you, that you may accept the jesses
of my love."

 Almost everyone was staring at Kuno.

 "Uh, Kuno. What the heck are you talking about?"

 "I come prepared to capture your heart, with this."
Kuno pulled the manriki-gusari out and threw it in one
motion.

 Nabiki stared in horror, the moment seeming to be in
slow motion as she noted the steel had sleeves of some
dark metal on the links.

 "What kind of lame attack is this," Ranma asked as she
reached out to snatch the weapon out of the air.
-------------------------------------
(1)- based on scenes from TOS, Nabiki is not what one
would call a morning person. It takes her awhile to
bring the higher functions on line.


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http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/

ja ne,
gregg