*************************************
Insert Standard Copyright Disclaimer.
< The characters used in this work of Fiction are not owned by
  me.

 Ranma 1/2 and all associated characters, trademarks and
 situations are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, Fuji
 and Viz - Used here without permission. >

*************************************

[Ranma 1/2]:     Mirror, Mirror.

(Mirror, Mirror refresher courses are available from
www.upnaway.com/~ricketts)

*************************************

Chapter 4: Be careful what you wish for...

The sky grew dark, greying out the land as the two opponents faced
each other across the field of battle. The field in question was
the outer grounds of Furinkan High and the combatants were two that
would take on somewhat of a legendary status in the decades to
follow. Lightning flashed in the background, announcing a storm
that was just about to break.

     "Hey!" A voice called from one of the higher floors where
students had gathered to watch. "Somebody's going to take on
Kunou!"
     "Man! Does he have a death wish or what?"

     Nabiki hurried along the hallways, trying to find her two
'lieutenants' before it was too late. Spotting one coming towards
her, Nabiki relaxed. If they were still in the hallways, surely
they wouldn't have had enough time to get anything started.
     Yokio smiled broadly as she spotted Nabiki walking towards
her. The boss'd be happy today. "Nabiki!" She withdrew a large wad
of cash from within her bookbag. "Look at this! As per normal we
got everyone betting on the new kid! As soon as Kunou wins we'll be
well on our way to getting those new CD players."
     Nabiki groaned internally.

"Ranma Saotome! Since you insist on hounding the Pig-tailed girl
and Akane Tendou, I, Tatewaki Kunou, shall bring you to Justice!"
The samurai-wannabe's speech was being punctuated with the slashing
and stabbing of his bokken.
     With a sigh, Ranma glanced at Akane, who was still standing
behind his opponent and asked, "Am I hounding you, Akane?" She
imperceptibly shook her head.
     "Silence, fool! Never have I been swayed by honeyed lies such
as yours!" Ranma watched as Kunou shifted almost imperceptibly onto
the balls of his feet.
     He was going to attack! The thought that slid around the calm
that had formed in his mind was acted on almost before Ranma knew
he was doing it. The Kendo practitioner had leapt forward and, as
Ranma instinctively knew he would, slashed downwards.
     Twisting to one side Ranma allowed the bokken to pass down one
side of his body, missing him by a few inches; an eternity. "Oh
man... I'm missing Pop already, at least he was a challenge." Ranma
took the time to drawl derogatorily at his opponent.
     Lashing out with a kick to the chin, Ranma watched with
clinical detachment as Kunou went sailing towards a wall. He smiled
as the now unconscious boy slid down the wall, pinkie, forefinger
and thumb outstretched on each hand.
     "Heh. Undefeated eh?" Ranma flicked his pigtail back over his
shoulder. "He didn't have that much ... Ugh!" Ranma's face twisted
in pain as he fell to the ground and clutched at his ankle, closing
his eyes as he collapsed.
     Akane started forward, wondering what was wrong. Even if he
was a jerk, it was a martial artist's duty to help the wounded or
weak. Ranma definitely qualified.

The pain became even more intense as Ranko opened her eyes. What
the hell was going on? Another girl, crossing her line of vision,
was walking on... the... ceiling? She looked around, feeling an
attraction to the ceiling that could only be described as gravity.
What the hell?
     Pain.
     It drew her gaze upwards, to where one of her ankles was
currently stuck in some sort of hole. Her pant cuff had slipped
down to her knee, exposing the lower half of her leg. She'd kicked
a hole in a door of some sort and was currently hanging by one
ankle upside down.
     Blood trickled slowly down one side of her untanned leg,
twirling down it in the grim parody of a barber's pole. She placed
both hands on the ground and tried to push up, relieving some of
the stress and tried to free herself. The blood flow increased
slightly as pressure was taken from the wound.

Ranma's eyes flicked back to alertness for a half a second as Akane
touched his shoulders.
     Her concern increased another level as she noticed the massive
bruise quickly forming all the way around Ranma's ankle. She pulled
back in shock. How could that come from one kick?
     "Ranma? What's wrong?"
     The pigtailed boy didn't reply.

     "Help!" Ranko stared around at the other occupants of the room
trying to answer Akane's question without actually going back to
her other self. "I need help! I can't..." The red head's eyes
started to gaze over. "...concentrate!"
     Her shoulders twitched, beginning to give way; starting to go
back to Ranma as Akane shook his shoulders gently.
     "No, leave him alone! I can't do this if I have to switch back
and forth!"
     Ranko gasped with relief as two girls in the room tentatively
reached forward and grasped her shoulders, pulling her up. "Kyoko
went to get help. We'll help keep your weight off that ankle, ok?"
Ranko nodded her thanks.

Akane drew back slightly as Ranma muttered at her.
     "Where are you?" Akane hoped that Ranma could hear her. How
can I help? The unspoken plea would not go unremembered.
     A few minutes of silence passed before Ranma breathed a sigh
of relief and opened his eyes. "Ohhh, glad that's over. It's ok,
Akane. There's a teacher carrying Ranko right now. Hopefully ta get
some help" He smiled, looking up at her.
     Akane looked at her pseudo-fiance and wondered aloud, "Where
exactly was Ranko, anyway?"
     Ranma spoke without thinking. "The girl's toilets." He
realised the mistake that he'd made somewhere after he uttered the
last syllable and just before Akane started glowing.
     "You pervert! What are you doing in the girl's toilets?
Getting a free peep show? You PERVERT!" Akane picked up the
recently stricken boy and punted him in the general direction of
downtown.
     As the shout of "Uncute tomboy" echoed back to her, she
remembered his impossible injury. Glancing at his fading figure in
the sky she asked herself somewhat guiltily "Maybe I should have
waited and found out what was wrong?" Shrugging helplessly to
herself she decided to find Ranko to see what was wrong.

Yuka stared at the red headed girl in Mr Tanaka's strong hands.
Lucky duffer, she thought quietly to herself, as she watched the
play of muscles in the teachers arms, I wish I was able to find an
excuse to languish there.
     Good thing the others managed to get that shirt on her before
he came in or else she might have had even more of a ride. Yuka
sighed dreamily and acquired a slight flush, picturing herself in
the same position, minus the bleeding ankle of course.
     Anio Tanaka was probably the best looking male teacher at
Furinkan. His 6ft frame was as tall as any girl (Yuka especially!)
could want and as the school's coach he was well muscled. His good
looks and blondish hair just managed, to Yuka's way of thinking,
finish off the almost perfect package. Now if only he was just a
tad smarter.
     "Why was she in the toilets? Was she doing drugs?" Tanaka's
smile dropped a bit. If this girl was on drugs, maybe she would do
other weird things. That couldn't happen on his watch! No, students
were only supposed to take drugs when the principal was here. That
was the standard thing. He frowned for a second; well it was
standard among the teachers, anyway. He supposed the students must
have a similar policy. In fact, it made so much sense it was
probably in the school contract. Yes, so she couldn't have been on
drugs. That was good.
     Yuka answered slowly, "No sensei, she wasn't on drugs, well
not as far as I know, anyway."
     Tanaka smiled at Yuka and nodded, yes it was as he had
thought. He flashed his smile at the rest of his entourage in
general; there were a lot of busy bodies around the place. "Well,
what's her name?"
     "I'm not sure, I guess we should ask her, eh?" Yuka gently
tapped the red headed girl on the arm, making sure to stay well
away from the still bleeding ankle. "Excuse me? But what's your
name? Mine's Yuka." She smiled encouragingly, hoping to pry a
response that way.
     The red head suddenly shouted "UNCUTE TOMBOY!" to the world in
general.
     Tanaka's smile slipped a little further. This was not a good
thing he realised, erasing the mental cross over the word drugs and
replacing it with a giant question mark. Again the coach started to
despair, watching his record gain a black mark for allowing a
student to take drugs when he was on duty.
     Yuka's face took on a look of intense shock, which increased
as some guy, probably Hiroshi she realised, muttered from the
sidelines: "Well at least she knows what's what." Her cheeks burned
with embarrassment. How dare she! I didn't do anything!
     Tapping the small girl's head this time, Yuka asked in an
incensed tone of voice, "Why'd you say that?" She managed to ignore
the smartalec that muttered just low enough to be heard, "Because
it's true!", and bravely forged on, "I only asked your name."
     Yuka watched as the blue eyes snapped open for a second.
"Can't talk, landing, be with you in a second." Instead of closing
the eyes stayed open, glazing over as the girl did whatever she was
doing.
     Tanaka groaned again as he watched the red head twitch to
herself in his arms, getting rid of the question mark, he ticked
drugs against the checklist in his mind.

Ranma bounced as he hit the wall, redirecting his momentum
slightly, and wincing as his damaged ankle gave him slight
problems.
     From the wall he bounced over to an awning on the opposite
side of the alley and grabbed at it, swinging enough off it to aim
for a relatively soft spot on the ground below him. Dropping, and
wincing again as the ankle gave out, he grimaced as he fell on his
ass.
     Righting himself, the pig tailed boy tried to put pressure on
the ankle and snarled to himself as it failed miserably. He
realised that there was no simple answer - like jumping back along
his flight path - this time. Staring around at his surroundings and
feeling very much like another traveller, he demanded rhetorically,
"Now where am I?"

Yuka started as the slight girl asked the question. "Well, you're
in the nurses station." She stared, as the girl seemed to come
alive again and looked at her.
     "I'm sorry," Ranko looked at her, "have we met? I'm Ranko
Saotome, pleased to meet'cha!" The red head bowed as best she was
able on the bench and waited, completely ignoring the voices in the
background.
     "Nurse Utsuki, I think the girl is on drugs! Did you see her
eyes when I brought her in? They were completely glazed over!" The
coach gestured with his fingers in the general direction of his
eyes, looking a little uncomfortable. If he'd been one to watch the
American channels on his home TV, he would have realised how much
he looked like a certain stooge, about to poke himself.
     The nurse sighed, quietly ushering the coach out of the room.
A good man to be sure, but a little on the thick side. Pointedly
looking at the small gathering of over curious students outside the
small building, she glanced in the direction of the school hall and
cleared her throat. Closing the door in case anyone failed to get
the picture, she turned and looked to where her patient was engaged
in a conversation with the girl that had accompanied her in.
     "I'm Yuka, Yuka Furasu, and what you called me outside was
inexcusable!" Yuka watched as complete incomprehension settled onto
the other girl's features.
     "Huh?" Ranko scratched the back of her head, "What? Look,
Yuka, I never called ya nothin', I swear!"
     "Liar! The whole group heard you! You called me an..." Yuka
trailed off, muttering to herself.
     "I... uh... didn't hear you, could you speak up a bit?" Ranko
asked somewhat hesitantly.
     "An uncute tomboy!" Yuka repeated loudly. Then she flushed,
embarrassed to carry it so far. It had been so unfair; all she had
done was try to help. This person didn't even know her!
     Ranko's face suddenly broke into understanding. "Oh, that...
Um... Sorry, but that wasn't directed at you, I swear!" Looking at
her inquisitor's face she realised that the girl dressed in the
school uniform didn't believe her. "Please, it really wasn't you
that I was calling a tomboy."
     "Oh yeah? Then who was it?" Yuka was still not pleased at the
incident, but figured that at least she should know who was the one
that had caused the mix up.
     Before the red headed girl could answer, Nurse Utsuki stepped
up and coughed, looking in the direction of the injured ankle.
"Much as I would love," the nurse took the time to inject as much
sarcasm as possible into that statement, "to hear the answer to
that question, why don't we look over your ankle first."
     Ranko shrugged helplessly at Yuka and offered her ankle up for
inspection. Pulling the pant leg up once more to her knee she
displayed a slim leg to the school nurse, who drew a sharp breath
at the sight of the blood.
     "Hmmm. That looks nasty. I'm just going to clean it up a bit
first." Reaching for the taps and a nearby bowl, the nurse glanced
up at the owner of the ankle, "If that's ok?" She was startled to
see that the girl had her eyes closed.

Ranma stared around at his surroundings. Great, flipping great, I
think the school is... He stared around for a second. Over there!
     He walked somewhat delicately towards the end of the street.
Glancing up at the street signs, he wondered if he could get to
school in time for class. Humming to himself and leaning on his
uninjured ankle, he winced as something that touched Ranko's ankle
stung him across the intervening distance.

Ranko's eyes snapped open. "Hey! What are you doing? That stings!"
She looked down at where the nurse was placing a bottle of
anti-septic to one side of the bowl. "Oh..."
     Ranko blushed, berating herself mentally. A big bad martial
artist and you're whingeing because of a little anti-septic, some
manly fellow you are. She sighed as the nurse looked up.
     "Oh, so that got a bit of a reaction, eh? Well, good then, at
least I know you're with us. Hey, I don't suppose you could tell me
how you managed to get this, would you?" Nurse Utsuki watched, as
the girl seemed to mentally toss around what to say. Pausing before
she even started speaking, the red head's eyes widened as she
thought of something.
     Muttering something to herself about an idea, Ranko turned to
Yuka and asked, "Hey, if I was at the corner of..." Pausing in her
treatment of the small girls ankle, the nurse watched as Ranko's
eyes glazed over. "...Takeshi Avenue and Namati street, how would I
get to school?"
     Yuka stopped, looked at Ranko as if she was going mad and
asked "Why?"
     Ranko sweatdropped for a second, "Um, I'm trying to learn my
way around?"
     "Yeah, right." Yuka stared at the other girl's eyes. Watching
as they suddenly snapped into focus, she shuddered to herself. That
is so freaky, it's like she's not there and then suddenly she is.
     "Please?" Putting on a face that would drive a puppy green
with envy, Ranko tried to ham it up.
     Yuka failed to avert her gaze in time. "Oh fine, you'd go down
Namati and then turn toward Tokyo tower along Haiyama road."
     Blurting out a quick thanks, Ranko quickly closed her eyes
again, leaving two fairly confused females to wonder what that was
all about.

Staring at the people gathered around the doorway and wondering why
they were there, Akane made her way towards the girls' toilets. She
had already been to the other toilet on this floor, so this had to
be the one.
     Quickly stepping past Coach Tanaka, who seemed very intent on
the goings on in the toilet, she made her way inside. The sight of
a group of girls gathered around one of the toilet stalls was
enough to confirm her suspicions.
     "So, what's happening here..." Akane trailed off at the sight
of the blood rimmed hole at the top of the door. She gasped and
turned slightly green in remorse as she realised that this was
probably what Ranma had been feeling.
     "Hey Akane, some crazy new girl put her foot right through the
door!" Sayuri told her, turning to her friend. "God, I'd hate to
meet someone like that at night, wouldn't you?"
     "Eh heh." Akane turned from side to side, noting the looks on
the other girls' faces. "Uhhh, well actually..." She was
interrupted by a voice from the door.
     "The girl is staying with us, isn't that what you were going
to say Akane?" Nabiki leaned against the doorframe, taking note of
the hole in the door and noticing that it was about head height -
head height for Kunou anyway.
     Judging that the time was ripe for an extra little push she
added, "Or were you going to say that she helped fight off your
pack of admirers - side by side - this morning?" Smiling to
herself, Nabiki eased herself off the wall.
     "You know, I saw her brother... go off towards down town and I
wondered, at the time, if he knew that his sister..." She paused,
looking Akane in the eyes, "... was going to the infirmary..."
Akane flinched away from the tone of voice. "... maybe to get
stitches for a wound that goes around her entire ankle."
     Akane's instinctive reaction of 'It was all his fault' was
squashed, unable to escape her lips as she felt her sister's eyes
boring into her. Gasping out an apology for running out, she rushed
away from the toilets towards the nurse's station.
     Nabiki's smile dropped from her face as she whispered to
herself, "Little sister, you really need to learn some control."
Then she turned back to the now eager crowd, "Ok, who wants to know
more?" she began, a look of almost joy springing onto her face.

Ranma stared at the streets around him. Yes, yes, this is all
looking familiar... There's the post box that I jumped over on the
way to the gate.
     He spun around, stumbling a little as he was forced to put
pressure on his injury.
     Now if only I could find the right corner to turn down, I
might even make the gate in time.
     Getting the street's name from a nearby signpost, he hoped
that he could convince Yuka to once more give up some information.

The nurse looked up from her work at the ankle as she felt the girl
stir. "Well young lady," she began, looking up to make sure that
her patients eyes were open once more, "you're lucky, this isn't
really that bad, it's more of an all around cut, combined with a
really nasty bruise."
     She held the ankle firmly while running a bandage around it,
"While it's going to hurt a lot in the next week or so, after that,
you should be alright. As an aside, you might want to have a doctor
look it over, just to make sure that there's nothing damaged
further inside."
     Ranko winced again as the bandage applied light pressure to
the wound area.
     Utsuki playfully slapped the girl's calf in an attempt to
distract her. "Hey, come on now, it's not that bad. I mean, at
least you didn't need to get stitches." She smiled up at the small
girl and wondered again how she'd managed to do it in the first
place.
     "Hey, how did you..." The door opened quickly, distracting the
red head and causing the normally patient nurse to sigh in
annoyance.
     Akane burst into the room, looking immediately past her other
friend and the school nurse, straight towards her red headed
fiancee. "Ranko! I came as soon as I heard what had happened!"
Ranko's face took on a look of complete disbelief.
     Bowing towards the nurse, Akane said "I'm sorry for bursting
in like this, but she's staying at our home. I should be looking
out for her..."
     Ranko's voice took on a tone of withering sarcasm as she
almost spat out, "Yeah, Akane, I'm feeling pretty fine now. Well,
'cept that I have a nice little cut running round my ankle and
Ranma... left... before he could come pick me up. Where the heck is
the school from Haiyama road anyway? All these post boxes look the
same."
     Akane flushed in embarrassment, gulped and then quickly
replied "Umm, first left after that post box from this morning."
     Ranko nodded her thanks somewhat hesitantly and then
deliberately closed her eyes.
     The nurse, who had her mouth open to ask again, growled softly
in irritation, then turned on Akane. "Miss Tendou, perhaps you can
tell me if this is normal behaviour for her? All this closing of
the eyes and tuning out?"
     Akane blinked owlishly and then nodded while saying, "I think
so... She only arrived yesterday after all."

Ranma turned the corner and saw once more the distinctive gates of
Furinkan. Suppressing the need to sigh in relief at the sight, he
hobbled inside them and then stared around.
     "Oh, great, now where the hell is the nurse's station?"
Groaning to himself, he slowly leaned against the half-closed gate,
banged his head gently against it in frustration and swapped back
to his other self again.

Nurse Utsuki placed the finishing touches to the tourniquet on the
girl's ankle and then waited, determined to get an answer this
time.
     As soon as the blue eyes opened she snapped out, "Now young
lady, you're going to tell me why you got this injury. After all,"
her voice acquired an offhand tone, "I have to make sure kicking
through good, solid doors will not become a fashionable pastime
among the students."
     She watched as the girl let out an exasperated sigh, and
asked, in a voice loud enough to be heard in the next room, "My
brother is coming to get me, he should be at the front gates right
now, where abouts is this room in the school?"
     Ranko turned back to the nurse, "I'll tell you when he gets
here, ok? I need the support."
     Shaking her head slightly, the nurse was about to reply that
she'd tell the location for the reason of the kick, when Akane once
more piped up, "It's the first building to the right as you enter
the gate."
     Moments after Akane finished, Yuka butted in with a
suspicious, "I thought he'd left? How do you know he's coming to
get you?"
     Ranko's eyes slid closed as nurse tossed an exasperated look
at Akane. Turning back she muttered, "No way, not again!" and
proceeded to shake the red head's shoulders gently. "Autism?" she
asked herself questioningly.

Ranma's eyes glazed for a second as he was walking towards the
building. Muttering to himself about killing the next person who
shook his shoulders to get his attention, he hobbled up to the door
and knocked.
     The door, which had 'Nurse's Station' printed on the outside,
swung inwards as Akane opened it from the inside. Blushing again
when Ranma looked at her, she quickly dropped her eyes and motioned
him inside.

Looking at the young man in the doorframe, dressed in exactly the
same style as the girl on the bench, the nurse made the obvious
conclusion. "You're Ranko's brother?"
     The pigtailed boy grunted out an affirmative and then hobbled
over towards his 'sister', nodding to Yuka on the way past. "Thanks
for all your help, I'll take it..." Ranma trailed off as he
realised that Utsuki was looking, not at his face, but at his ankle.

     "Are ankle injuries a family speciality?" She asked
sarcastically, while motioning him to take a seat next to the newly
bandaged girl.
     "It's ahhh... nothing. I tripped coming here." Ranma tried to
get out of it.
     Using the adage that doctors, nurses and parents used the
world over when it came to a far-to-tough-for-their-own-good child,
she countered with, "If it's nothing then you won't mind letting me
have a look at it, will you?"
     Ranma sighed and reluctantly let himself be herded up next to
Ranko, grabbing her hand as he sat next to her. Just as the nurse
was about to lift his pant leg up to have a good look at whatever
he had done, the door swung open once again.
     Sayuri stood there panting while looking at both Yuka and
Akane. "Quick, you two, class is about to start! You should get..."
She looked at Ranko for a second, then continued, "going if you're
going to make it." She looked over Ranko again, while Yuka left and
Akane looked questioningly at the two Saotomes.
     Happy for an excuse, Ranma and Ranko tried to get up, only to
be pushed back down onto their asses by a fairly irate nurse. "You
two will be excused from this class. Now stay put." She turned to
the door, where Akane was now leaving in defeat and Sayuri was
still staring at Ranko. "Yes, and you perhaps wanted to say
something else?"
     Breaking off her stare at the dreaded door destroyer, who had
noticed her stare and was pulling a red-eye back at her, Sayuri
answered, "Nothing..." before taking one last look and running from
the room.
     "Finally." The nurse walked over and closed the door before
returning to the pair seated on the bench. "Now, you _will_ tell me
how the both of you ended up with ankle injuries today, won't you?"
Utsuki looked closely at the girl and continued, "You are also
going to tell me why you kicked the door in the first place."
     Ranma and Ranko sweatdropped in unison before replying in
their dual tone, "Uhhhh, reflex?"

Nabiki looked at the pompous ass in front of her. Tatewaki Kunou
had been a pain in the neck for as long as she'd known him,
however, never did he look quite as foolish as when he tried to
deny the plain truth.
     "So you're saying that he didn't actually kick you?" she
almost sighed in exasperation, if Kunou wasn't such a good
customer, she would never have had any dealings with him.
     "Nay! The foul sorcerer must have thrown his shoe at me! Tis
the only explanation!" Kunou glanced at the small hand mirror he
held in his hands. While he had to admit his dashing looks would
still stop maids in their tracks, he had to grimace slightly at the
marring addition to his weather worn perfection.
     Nabiki smiled slightly as she considered the tread pattern
down the side of his chin. Well, at least it made looking at him
bearable.

The teacher stood next to the phone, occasionally nodding into it.
He replaced the handset in the cradle before looking at the three
girls sitting in the second row.
     "Well, it seems to be true... Both Ranma and Ranko Saotome are
in the Nurse Utsuki's care and are excused for this period." He
turned to the blackboard, raising the chalk in his hand before
suddenly looking back at them.
     "It doesn't however, change the fact that the three of you,
Akane Tendou, Yuka Furasu and Sayuri Horuda, were late. Stand in
the hall." He turned back to the board as they trudged out of the
door.

Buckets weighing heavily in each hand the three girls stood in
silence for a few minutes.
     Shifting from side to side in an attempt to ease the weight,
Yuka moaned softly to herself "God, I hope mum doesn't find out I
was tardy to class." She glanced out of the window, looking towards
the nurse's station for a second, before returning to the task at
hand. "These are so heavy!"
     Sayuri frowned, from her position in the middle of the other
two, she could hear Yuka's soft complaints quite well. Looking
across at Akane, she saw that the other girl had the beginnings of
a class A brood on her face. Trying to start a conversation so that
she wouldn't be stuck between a whine and complete silence, she
spoke up softly, "So Akane, was Nabiki telling the truth? Did Ranko
really help you out in this morning's fight? And that she and her
brother are staying at your place?"
     Yuka stopped mid-whine and looked across at Akane, adding a
quiet "They're staying with you?" across Sayuri's shoulders.
     Akane looked slightly startled at the question. Her eyes
narrowed slightly in a frown of consideration, then she nodded and
commented, "Yes, to both questions. She and her brother are staying
at our place, and Ranko did help me this morning in my fight."
     Glancing at her buckets and thinking through the steps in her
mind, she muttered, somewhat hesitantly, "Stupid Ranma, this is all
your fault."
     Sayuri sweatdropped a little at hearing that before trying
again, "You think it was something to do with the fighting that
made Ranko kick the door?"
     Akane nodded once more, thinking about Kunou's fight with
Ranma, "Yeah, I'm fairly certain it was because of the fighting."
Picturing the hole in the door in her mind she overlayed it with an
image of Kunou.
     Perfect match between hole and head. "Yep, fighting."
     Yuka snorted, "Surely there are better ways to get out of it
than that." I still can't believe she said that about me. "Well, if
it had something to do with the fighting, why did she do it to the
door I was sitting behind? I was in the stall that she kicked in."
     With a sigh, Yuka set the buckets that she was holding down
on the top of her shoes, reasoning that as long as they weren't
actually touching the ground she was holding them up. She eased up
on the arms that were holding the handles and watched in
frustration as they started to slide off. Straightening up, she put
enough pressure on them that it stopped them moving, but made sure
that it was as little as possible.
     Pleased with her solution to the problem, she turned once more
to listen to Akane's answer.
     Akane shrugged noncommittedly, "It wasn't anything to do with
you, Yuka. She probably just needed to let some steam off."
     Sayuri nodded, seemingly accepting that explanation. "What
about Ranma then? How did he get hurt?"
     Akane snorted, "Oh, that one's easy, when he was fighting
Kunou, Ranma kicked him in the head." Akane smiled to herself,
savouring the coming punchline. "He must have damaged it on the
rocks that Kunou keeps up there!"
     Yuka looked at Sayuri, Sayuri looked at Yuka and both giggled
despite themselves.
     Sometime during the discussion their voices had raised above a
whisper and, while that might not normally attract attention, the
giggling certainly did... probably because teachers don't like
their punishments to be more fun than the classes themselves.
     "Are you three finished?" Their irate teacher stuck his head
out of the classroom and asked. "I have to run a class here."
     An immediate three part harmony of "Yes, Sensei." answered him.

     He turned to go back into the classroom before spinning again
and spearing Yuka with a glance. "Miss Furasu, if the buckets are
too heavy I can arrange for you to be carrying something lighter...
Like bricks. Say, six of them? In each hand?" His eyes gleamed.
     "No, Sensei! Buckets are fine!" Yuka jerked the buckets up off
her feet and stood as straight as a ramrod.

Ranma and Ranko stared at the ceiling.
     Noting the fine detail in the grids coving the plaster, the
fluorescent tubes next to them, and wondering how long it took the
builders to get that in place, they sighed in stereo. Nothing to
do, nothing to do. Bored. Suppose I would be bored in class as
well... They sighed again.
     "Well Ranma," Their heads swivelled down to look at where the
nurse had finished looking at his ankle. "You've bruised your ankle
rather severely and, while I could strap it, I think you'd be
better off going to see Dr Tofu, a chiropractor that practices
nearby. He'll be able to fix that up with little trouble."
     Utsuki nodded, her main task was to patch up minor scrapes,
dispense painkillers and, if the injury was serious enough, wait
with the children while parents were called to take them home.
     This sort of thing annoyed her, the injuries weren't bad
enough to send them home, but what was she supposed to do? She
couldn't treat them well enough, so she ended up telling them to
see a doctor. Frowning pensively, she resigned herself to taking
additional medical courses when time permitted.
     "Thanks, Sensei." The nurse looked startled for a second, how
did they manage to do that? It was hard enough to speak at the same
time when you were trying to. She opened her mouth, intending to
say something else, when the phone started ringing again. She
reached across and picked it up, wondering what was up now.
     Ranma and Ranko watched as the nurse talked on the phone,
nodding to herself and speaking low enough that she couldn't be
heard, she spoke for a few minutes. Towards the middle of the
conversation they heard her say, "What is it with those two?" as
she raised her voice in exasperation.
     The Saotome teens watched as, after the phone was hung up, she
collected a few things in a bag and turned towards the door. "Ok,
I'll be back in... uh... soonish. One of the smaller preschools in
the area just called, two of their students are fighting again."
     Even though she dropped her voice they both heard her when she
muttered, "Honestly, I would have thought that Ryu would have
gotten over the fact that the kid's a gaijin by now."
     Shaking her head, she opened the door to step out but then
turned back. "Just in case I'm not back, when the next period
starts you can go back to class. Until then, don't either of you
move." Passing the doorway, she closed it and was gone.
     Ranma and Ranko waited. They stared at the clock, noting the
time was 8:15. They stared at the door, trying to read the reversed
writing that could be seen through it. They stared at the ceiling
again and then back at the clock on the wall. They looked briefly
at the small medical charts on the wall. Looking out of the one
window in the room, they found that sometime in the past the
expanding school had placed a building right next to it.
     "Right, that's it. I ain't waiting any more." The clock read
8:16.
     They hopped off the bench, landing on their uninjured feet.
"Ok, let's try this." Hesitantly putting weight on the other ankles
they walked for a bit.
     Step. Hobble. Step. Hobble. Step. Hobble. They slowly made one
circuit of the room. "Hey, this ain't that bad. I don't know what I
was worried about..." Deciding that he needed to try each body by
itself, they quickly sat back down on the bench.
     Ranma quickly dropped the handhold and Ranko closed her eyes.
Bouncing off the bench, he landed on both feet. "Yeah! Now this is
the stuff!" He walked normally around the room, only wincing a
little as his injured foot placed itself on the ground. "No
worries, I'll be back to normal in no time."
     Ranma sat back down on the bench and closed his eyes. Ranko's
eyes opened slowly. "Ok, this is the bad one." Slowly easing
herself off the bench, she stood on her uninjured leg. Placing the
other one down on the floor, she gently put some weight on it. As
soon as about a fifth of her weight was on the foot, she grimaced
in pain, but continued. A little more weight and she couldn't bear
it. "This ain't good." She tried a hobble forward but it turned
into more of a hop on her uninjured foot after a few 'steps'.
     Sighing to herself she sat back down, resuming the handhold
with Ranma. "Great, just great. This stupid cure is worse than the
original curse, I'm sure of it."
     Twin smiles lit their faces for a second. "Well, at least
there's only one amazon after me." Thunder cracked ominously
outside. The two of them looked out the door, noting that the sky
had gone a little darker still.

Shampoo stood up from the ground where she was crouched, looking at
the tracks. Dusting her knees off, she nodded to herself. A panda's
tracks, a girl's tracks and someone else. Yes this was the way that
her prey had gone. It wouldn't be long now.
     Clenching her fist in front of her she vowed that the outsider
would pay for defeating her in combat. It would be her finest
battle yet. She'd been tracking them for almost 2 weeks now, and
had nearly caught up to them again when they looped back to the
village.
     A squeal from behind her reminded her why she hadn't caught up
to them again since the village.
     Her travelling companion shot past her and looked down at one
of the footprints, her eyes widening in delight. Taking a small
shovel from her backpack and scooping up the footprint she looked
at it and said "Jean-Luc! Jean-Luc! Even your footprints are cute!"
     Giggling to herself, she took a bag from her backpack
and slid the footprint into it. Then she hugged the bag. Multiple
times.
     Shampoo sighed, holding a hand over her face, why had she
agreed to travel with her? Why? Why? Why? Oh yes, the girl's
grandmother was a matriarch, of course. Growling to herself about
interfering matriarchs, she walked over to her still giggling
amazon sister.
     <Po Xion, I know you like this bear, but do you think we could
hurry?> Shampoo sighed. I want to get back to the village before
I'm old enough to be an elder. She looked at the girl who was still
giggling and hugging the bag.
     Shampoo groaned in disgust. Why couldn't she have found a man
to chase after instead? <If you're going to do that to all of it's
footprints here we're going to fall even further behind them.>
     Po Xion's eyes lit up. <You mean there's more?> She squealed
again in delight and dashed around, looking for more prints to dig
up, giggling at each new one she found.
     Shampoo placed her hands on a convenient trunk and banged her
head against the tree for a few minutes.

Ryouga stared at the sign. It was written in romanji. "Uluru?" He
looked around. The place was completely barren except for a few
small twisted trees, some shrubs, a few touristy people next to a
bus, some weird animals that seemed to be standing on their hind
legs and a gigantic rock in the distance.
     It was also hot. Very, very hot. His sweat trickled down his
face, making tracks through the thick red dust that was stuck to
his skin. In fact, if he hadn't known that he was in China, he
would have said that he was in a desert. Of course, those other
people had said he was in America but that was on the other side of
the world. They must have been confused.
     "Damn you Saotome, I know this is all your fault." He walked
slowly over towards the other people. Grabbing the first one that
he saw, (who was taking pictures of the rock in the distance) he
asked, "Do you know where Nerima is?
     The elderly tourist, who was quite astonished by the person
that had just accosted him, turned and asked in a heavy English
accent, "[Old boy, are you one of those wild men chappies I've been
hearing about?]" Noting the lack of comprehension in the other
person's eyes, he spoke slowly and loudly. "[I say, can you
understand me? Do you speak the Queen's English?]"
     He looked on as the lost boy shrugged again. "[Well, you look
a little parched there old son, want to use this kerchief? The
blasted sun in this land gets to me too.]" He offered the lost boy
a handkerchief that had been stuffed up in his sleeve and motioned
wiping the sweat from his brow.
     Ryouga nodded his thanks and tried to remember his English
lessons. "[Japan, where Japan?]"
     The tourist laughed. "[Old boy, you're a little lost if you're
looking for Japan]" He pointed to the north, laughing as he did so.
"[It's few thousand miles that way.]"
     Ryouga bowed, extending his thanks, even though he had only
understood the general direction. "[Thankyou.]"
     Staring at the dust rising in the distance and fearing that he
knew what was making it, he started off, away from the approaching
trouble.
     "[Oh I say, what a delightful fellow!] Watching as the lost
boy went east, he nodded, laughing to himself for a moment. [Jolly
good, he didn't want to swim to Japan after all. Bethel! Bethel!
Did you see him?]" He looked around for his wife, taking a few more
photos of the rock in background in the process. Turning and still
not seeing his beloved, he stared in amazement at what was bearing
down on them. "[By Jove!]" He turned and started taking large
amounts of photos of the approaching trio, the rock and his wife
completely forgotten.
     The first amazon past him glanced at him briefly before
continuing on, muttering to herself about piggish foreigners.
"<Bastard! Knock down my wall will you? I'll teach you!>" As she
ran past the tourist, she had made sure to show nothing that he
could construe as being an invitation to anything.
     The second one bore a worried look as she shouted ahead to the
first, "<Are you sure that we should have left them?>" She paid no
attention to the slightly portly man that was taking photos as she
passed.
     The first yelled back to her as she looked at the tracks of
their prey in front of them, "<Dish! The Matriarchs ruled that they
didn't have a valid claim! They shot us!>"
     The third amazon, who had stopped and posed for a few photos
when she saw the tourist, quickly caught up and yelled to her
fellow amazons, "<Dish, that means that the only hope that we have
is...>" She got an acquisitive gleam in her eye as she thought
about the muscles that played across the back of the one that they
were chasing. "Husband! Husband! Wait for your wife!" she yelled in
Japanese.
     The first slowed, sweatdropped, and turned on the third.
"<Soap! How can you say that? This pig knocked over our houses!>"
She turned to the second, "<Dish, tell her!>"
     Dish stopped next to her sister and nodded, "<Yes, Soap, you
have to let him knock you out first.>" She grinned to herself as
she watched Fork facefault, "<Let's get back after him.>" She took
off running, Soap following close behind.

Nabiki wrote carefully in her workbook, following the teacher's
well formed script across the board.
     She was a little startled when Kunou tapped her on the arm.
Looking carefully across at him, she noted that the tread mark on
the side of his face had faded almost to nothingness. Shrugging
imperceptibly she nodded slightly.
     Kunou whispered at her, "Nabiki Tendou, my ever present source
of information, what can you tell me of the pig tailed goddess that
was fighting beside your sister this morn?"
     Nabiki started, creating a line that ran from where she had
been writing to the top of the page. Damn, he's attracted to Ranko.
I guess it's a good thing that he's finally gotten over Akane...
but Ranko?
     She laughed to herself. Well I guess she'll not be caught
either. Poor Kunou baby, always picking the wrong women. She noted
to herself that it would probably be worth her while to make up
some photos later. She nodded to him.
     "Well? Tell me of her!" His slightly raised voice caused the
teacher to turn to look at them. Nabiki quickly continued writing
and waited for the sound of the quiet crawl of chalk across the
board before turning back towards Kunou.
     "She and her brother are staying at our house." She paused,
wondering if she should tell him the next piece of information.
Figuring that the guaranteed peace and quiet would be worth any
trouble caused, she looked at him said, "I hear that she was
injured after her fight this morning, she's in the nurses station
right now."
     Quickly turning back to her page, she assumed the most
innocent look she could before the inevitable outburst.
     "WHAT? The pigtailed goddess was injured? HOW?" Kunou
exclaimed loudly, rising in outrage at the thought of his beloved
injured at the hands of some miscreant. "WHO has injured my
pigtailed goddess?"
     The teacher sighed as he heard the voice and then, without
looking, said, "Kunou, stand in the hall."

Kunou dashed down the hallways, carrying his buckets in his hands
trying not to splash any on his robes. Somewhere he had found the
time to change into his traditional robes and was carrying his
bokken slung over one shoulder.
     "Never shall I allow the fair pigtailed girl to suffer her
injury alone. 'Tis far better that she enjoy noble company, such as
my own, while she recovers!" Kunou paused in his rant, while he
considered something. "In all probability twill speed her recovery.
Many have said that my presence has sped them on their way before!"

Yuka was staring out the window, trying to relieve her boredom,
when she saw a very familiar figure running across the open ground
outside.
     "Hey look, Kunou's going over to the nurse's station." She
paused while the other two girls turned slightly to look out the
window on the side of the hallway.
     Sayuri spoke next. "You don't suppose he's going out to get
revenge on Ranma for the defeat this morning do you?" She voiced
the thought that was going through the other two's minds. "After
all, Kunou really hates to lose."
     Akane groaned. This really couldn't get any worse, with Ranma
and Ranko both injured it wasn't the time for this to happen. She
put her buckets down and moved to the classroom door. She called
in, "Excuse me, sensei. I have to go to the... uh... bathroom.
Sorry."
     She ran off down the hallway, heading towards the nearest exit.

     Yuka and Sayuri looked at each other; sweatdrops sliding down
the back of their heads.
     Sayuri began, "You don't suppose...?"
     Yuka nodded, then continued, "That Akane likes Ranma? Yes, I'm
thinking that it looks that way, yes."
     They giggled, then chanted together, "Akane likes Ranma, Akane
likes Ranma."

Ranma and Ranko looked up as the door crashed open.
     Kunou entered with a swagger to his step, posing with the
buckets in his hands, looking straight at his injured love. "Oh pig
tailed girl! I had heard that you were injur..." He stopped as he
saw the second person sitting next to her. Noting that it was the
same lowborn person that had accosted him that morning he growled.
     "What are you doing here, peasant? I wish to have time alone
with my love, if you leave now all will be well." He posed again,
this time discarding the buckets and drawing his bokken.
     "Oh lovely," both of the Saotome siblings pressed their heads
into their free hand, "just what I needed right now."
     Kunou watched closely, looking at the way the two of them were
sitting. His eyes widened as he saw the handhold that was shared
between the two. His anger mounting, he gave voice to his
accusation. "Ah! I see it all now! You wish to take advantage of
this fair flower while she is injured!"
     He looked his flame headed goddess up and down, noting the
bandage around her foot. "You seek to force yourself on her when
she cannot even run from you? You cad!"
     Ranma and Ranko took the disbelieving look to an all-new level
as they considered Kunou's words. "You really are a moron, ya know
that?" The boy standing in front of them did not miss the exact
duplication of intonation.
     Kunou looked at them both, blinked twice, and then jumped to
his own conclusion. "YOU SORCEROUS FIEND, SAOTOME! TO MAKE SUCH
INNOCENCE MOUTH YOUR WORDS OF UNTRUTH AS THOUGH THEY WERE HER OWN!
I WILL FREE HER FROM YOUR EVIL INFLUENCE!"
     Ranma and Ranko sighed. Well, that is a new one. Stupid moron.
     They were about to reply when Kunou dashed forward and grabbed
Ranko off the bench.
     "Hey, put me down ya idiot!" Ranma stumbled as he struggled
with two completely different balances.
     Kunou ran out the door, thrusting his way past an unlucky
something that had just appeared in his path, he shouted, "I will
free thee, pigtailed one!" and was off.

     Akane looked up and around groggily, wondering where she was
for a few seconds. Being knocked head-over-heals into a wall by a
large samurai-wannabe carrying a small girl is good at doing that
to you. Not being able to think straight after her little run in
with the wall, she can probably be excused for what she did next.
     Ranma stopped stumbling around and was in the process of
closing his eyes to deal with the situation when Akane grabbed him
on the arm.
     The dark haired girl shook her head to clear it of the
concussion cobwebs, groaned as that actually increased her vertigo
and then shifted her hold down his arm to his hand. "Quick Ranma,
we can catch him." She pulled him outside after Kunou, only to see
him go around the corner of one of the other buildings and out of
sight.
     There was no way that she'd let Kunou alone with a girl,
especially one as injured as Ranko was!

Kunou turned the corner and started looking for a place to hide
while he broke the compulsion on his love.
     She groaned in his arms, twisting about and trying
unsuccessfully to break free. "Nay, fair maid, let me whisk you
away to a place of safety, then you may go free."
     Her eyes alternatively glazing and unglazing, swapping to and
fro between her two bodies Ranko moaned out. "Let me go! I can do
this myself."
     Kunou looked at her, and then spotted a low, knee height
fence. He could stop behind that and break the compulsion!
     Ranko winced as Kunou rested her ankle on the ground and then
dropped down to look at her. "You were already far under the evil
sorcerer's spell lovely pigtailed girl! I could not let him
consolidate his hold over you!"
     "OUCH! Akane! Let me go!" Kunou's brow twisted in confusion.
Akane? Where?

Akane stopped, looking somewhat dizzily to beside her at where
Ranma had run into one of the benches in the open areas when they
had come around the corner.
     "Oh, sorry about that Ranma, I wasn't looking. Come on, he's
just around this corner." She pulled him forward, still not looking
and caused him to kick his injured foot against the same bench.
     "Ouch! That was my sore ankle again! Please, just let me go!"

Kunou looked at his small charge. Her ankle was sore? Well, he knew
a great remedy for that!
     "Pigtailed girl! I can fix your ankle! I will massage you to
good health." Dropping beside her he placed his hands either side
of her bandaged ankle and applied a good strong pressure while
rotating the ankle from side to side.

An explosion of pain ricocheted around the boundaries of Ranma's
mind.
     "Don't rub it you moron! That hurts!" Mumbling the message
that was meant for his other throat, and determined not to scream
out, Ranma ripped his hand out of Akane's.
     His mind was trying to get him to sit down, close his eyes and
swap back to Ranko, but he suspected that if he did that he'd pass
out from the pain. Stumbling over towards the wall that he suddenly
knew his other body was behind, he tried once more to get Kunou to
stop moving the ankle.
     Akane frowned as her head finally cleared. What was up with
Ranma? She started towards the low wall that he was aiming at,
noticing that a faint hint of yellow had sprung to being around the
pigtailed boy.
     She heard him snarl out again, "Stop rubbing my ankle! You're
only making it worse!" What was strangely disturbing was the fact
that she faintly heard Ranko repeat it with the same intonation but
out of sync by a few seconds.
     Watching with concern as the aura of yellow around him flared
up, she followed a rapidly thickening thread of it to the portion
of wall that Ranma was making his way towards. Looking at the
growing glow that was coming from the other side of the wall, she
yelled out for Kunou to stop and broke into a run.
     Above them, even more dark clouds gathered.

Kunou looked at his where his love was turning a pasty shade of
white.
     Surely this was working? After all, rolled ankles needed to be
kept flexible, or else you lost all mobility in them for a week at
least! He watched as her aura came into the visible spectrum. Yes!
This was working!
     He managed to ignore both warnings that had issued from her
lips, deciding that a little pain now would save her from suffering
later on.
     What started to change Kunou's mind about this decision was
when he suddenly found both of his hands grabbed in an unbreakable
grip. Small, delicate hands were closed over his, crushing them to
immovability. A glow of bright yellow surrounded each of them.
     "You will stop. Now." The red headed girl paused slightly
before continuing, "Kunou, I have suffered you for far too long."
The cold voice that commanded him was surely not the bouncy girl
that he had been trying to help?
     Looking at Ranko's face, Kunou stared in shock. His face and
surroundings were clearly visible in her eyes, which were molten
mirrors of gold, perfectly reflecting whatever came into view. A
yellow aura burned brightly around her, illuminating nearby
objects. She stood, ignoring the pain and dragged him along with
her.
     Nodding to herself, Ranko repeated softly, "For far too long."

Akane gasped as Ranko rose in front and to the left of her, looking
straight-ahead and glowing bright yellow. She drew an even deeper
breath as she saw the red head's eyes.
     Turning to look at where Ranko's gaze lay, Akane already knew
what to expect. Ranma stood there, staring straight back at his
female twin, his aura glowing to match hers. She watched as they
stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before Ranma made a
small motion with his hands.
     Ranko dropped one of Kunou's hands and took a grip on the
material at his hip. Kunou touched her arm uselessly, trying to
remove it. Ranma motioned again and Ranko picked Kunou up by the
arm and hip, swinging him back in a tight arc before pitching him
forward, throwing him at Ranma.
     Ranma rested lightly on his uninjured leg, before spinning on
it, delivering with his other foot a powerful, whip-like kick to
the flying kendoist's chest, which drove him into the boundary
wall. Kunou twitched once as he was forced deep into the wall,
hanging upside down.
     Akane watched as Ranko turned and looked at her, the mirrored
eyes widening slightly as they came to rest on her. Then the twin
mirrors closed and the yellow aura surrounding Ranko faded to
nothingness. She slumped to the ground, collapsing over the low
wall in front of her.
     Ranma turned to Akane, he thrust one of his arms forward in a
fist, saying as he did so, "Yeah, now that's the stuff. That was
almost what I did against the amazons! Yeah!"
     His euphoria lasted until his eyes came to rest upon Ranko,
who was slumped on the ground. "Damn! That bloody bastard!" He
rushed across to her, looking straight at the bandage that
surrounded her ankle. He cursed again, seeing signs of blood
seeping through it.
     His voice took on an edge of panic as he spoke out, "I can't
feel anything from her!" He looked at Akane. "I can't feel anything
from her at all!"
     Akane's face twisted in sympathy. "She's just unconscious
Ranma, she'll be fine."
     If anything Ranma's panic increased. "You don't understand
Akane, she can't be unconscious, not if I'm still awake. That's not
how this works, she's awake when I'm awake, asleep when I'm asleep
and unconscious when I'm unconscious! This isn't how it works!" He
shook his head again.
     Scooping Ranko up, he turned once more to Akane. "I'm going to
take her back to the nurse's station." Glancing at her ankle once
more, he snarled "If that moron has done any permanent damage, I'm
going to kill him."
     He glanced at where Kunou was embedded in the wall. "I'll kill
him."

A minute or so after they'd left the area, Tatewaki Kunou regained
consciousness.
     Re-running the last few minutes of the battle back through his
mind, he noted the glowing yellow cord that ran from the pig tailed
girl to the sorcerer's body. She was being controlled again! He
knew that she would never have objected to his ministrations.
     "Never fear, oh golden pigtailed goddess, I shall not rest
till you are free from his vile sorcerous clutches!"
     He looked up at the ground. "First, however, I must get free
from this ignoble predicament." He tried to move his arms. Finding
them stuck where they were outstretched with his pinkie, forefinger
and thumb extended on both hands, he tried to move his body.
Struggling, he wondered how he could get free. Sighing, he stopped
for a second, intending on resting himself and trying again in a
second.
     As the breath left his lungs, he felt his weight shifting
forward. Before he could ready himself, he fell forward onto his
face, leaving a large Kunou shaped impression in the wall.
     "That did not hurt." His samurai heritage would not allow him
to feel such slights.
     The wall creaked ominously above him, then collapsed forward,
shattering apart as it fell down on top of him.

The nurse glanced up from where she was looking under the bandage.
     "Well? How is it? How much more damage?" Ranma bounced from
side to side, anxiously trying to gauge how bad it was from the
look on Utsuki's face.
     "How did you say this happened?" Her face was schooled
carefully to neutrality.
     "Some asshole ripped it from side to side!" Anger shone
clearly out of Ranma's eyes.
     "Well remind me to go to that asshole next time I have an
injury."
     Stepping away from Ranko's ankle and taking the bandage with
her, she watched as Ranma and Akane's faces went through the shock
that she was feeling. She had no explanation on what had happened.
In fact if she hadn't treated the injury not an hour ago now, she
wouldn't have believed it either.
     Ranko's ankle was whole and unblemished, with not a single
thing remaining to show of the wound that had marred it earlier
that morning.

     Outside, the storm, which had been growing steadily stronger,
broke over the school.

*************************************

[Authors Rant]

Well, there's chapter four...

Was that a sigh of relief I heard? Oh well, I'm sure that chapter
five (if anyone out there is actually reading this!) will be along
much sooner...

Oh, Autism is : (A syndrome of unknown cause, chiefly characterised
by some degree of inability to comprehend or communicate, failure
to relate effectively and inapropriate or obsessive behaviour :
Macquarie Dictionary.) One of my prereaders pointed out that it'd
be good to have a definition...

As always, my writing style will annoy some...

My ear is now open for guesses as to what is actually happening...
I think there should be enough clues out there for some far out
guesses, at the very least... :)

Previous parts can be found at my web site...

I can't think of anything else to put here... :)

Later,
     Mike.

--

Visit my website : www.upnaway.com/~ricketts

Message of the Day : Mail filters are evil. Don't ask.

.-----------------------..------------------------.
|  .-==-. <\-/> .-==-.  || In time, even those who|
| /_.-=-.\|^ ^|/.-=-._\ || appeared to lead fell  |
|  /_.--.\(o_o)/.--._\  || to the side, corrupted |
|   /_.--\/   \/--._\   || by their own power.    |
|     \/ {/.-.\} \/     ||                        |
|       /"(   )"\,--.   || You have risen in their|
|     __\ /'-'\ /__     || place, how long will   |
|   ///---'   '---\\\   || you walk undefiled?    |
'-----------------------''------------------------'
Yes, that is a dragon. Fixed font users can confirm.