And now we go back to a series I haven't touched on in a long while:

Body and Mind

Compass Points: Act III

    A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction

Nabiki and Tofu slid to a halt near a small grove of evergreens, as

the avalanche above them died out. The Tendo girl gasped for breath,
then staggered to her feet, surveying her surroundings.

    After regaining his feet, Tofu removed the ring from the Kinjakan

Now where'd they find that nifty little item?

and tossed it to Nabiki, then pointed to a marker blazed onto a nearby
tree. "We can be in the village we set out from by night,

I think most people refer to it as 'nightfall' in this case.

    The older man turned to look at the thin spire of ice, jutting out
from above the white cloud that seemed impossibly far away. It stood as
a memorial to the fallen youths. "I don't know. Who can say what the
future holds."

holds?

    Nabiki was lost in thought. She had the will. There were factors
against her, but there was some potential. And where there was a will...

Oh. This happened a while ago, I guess?

    ***

    She woke in a cold sweat, the way she always did when she woke from
that dream.

Ah. Now it becomes clear

    She grabbed a robe from a hook, and threw it on, closing the door
softly behind her. Once the door was closed, the light began increasing
in brightness slowly, allowing her time to adjust. She stared at the
lights for a long moment, remembering the lights of her childhood, and
their simple harsh brightness.

And of course, she remembered the coat hangers Kasumi used to beat her with
when she was bad. She sighed. Those were the good old days.

    Tofu stared at the rising sun thoughtfully, absently putting his arm
around his wife's shoulder, as she leant comfortably against him.
"Morning," she said at length.

    "Hmm..." he mused, frowning at the electric lights. "I wonder if
they're learning not to see me."

Eh?

    "It's a common enough theme," Tofu said slowly. "Heroes aren't
always stopped merely by death..."

Oh, it's been my experience they are. More often it's the bad guys that come
back to plague the heroes again.

    The door opened partially, and a tall, lanky man squeezed out
through the small gap. He frowned, as a long ribbon at his sleeve caught
momentarily, then freed himself. He nodded once, tugging at a small
metallic turtle pendant at his neck. "Yo," he said, his eyes traveling
up and down, exploring her body shamelessly.

"Mine's much better,' he said with a smirk.

    She shrugged indifferently. "It's been happening more lately. My dad
is, too. We think I might be, but aren't sure. Some of our friends from
the Qinghai Confederacy told us about it. They saw it first. They say
it's weaker towards NR Xinjiang, and that's where we're going.

Hmm. Not sure what it is, unless they're taking about mutations or
something.

    Blinking, she extended a hand to shake his warmly. "Tendo Ranko,
Tendo's the family name. Don't you want to know why we're going to
Xinjiang?"

    He blinked, his eyes seeming to nearly glow for a moment in the
sunlight. "'S about the Ranma, ain't it?"

Heh. I guess there's only one reason to go out there.

    "Aside from which, do you _want_ to be Fey?"

    "I... I couldn't complain, Daddy..."

She she could. Anyone can find something to complain about anything.

    He glanced over, his wings flapping once irritably. It was an odd
thing, to not be a part of the cycle. Without needing to burn himself
out over ten years... "When we are alone, Herb, please address me as
Saffron."

Herb: How about Hot Ass instead?

Saffron: I'd rather you didn't.

    Saffron's brow furrowed in thought. "I see. What does this mean?"

    "Well, you know that from a scientific and technical standpoint that
we can't exist. It seems that there are pillars that can allow us to
be... when we should not."

    "This is not something new to me."

    "Yes, of course. You are a not pillar, though I am. Cologne was not,
nor is my wife."

Hmm. A pillar? Odd choice of words.

    "'Shia Hai'? 'Sea o' Summer'? Got yer classic irony, there.

Heh. True

    Keitaro leant against the skimmer, wearing a heavy coat and warmer
clothing as he conceded to the intense cold inland.

    Ranko shivered herself, her teeth chattering. "It's colder than I
thought it would be," she said.

And probably going to get colder still

    She brushed a strand of her hair out of her face and grimaced
unhappily. Unruly, unkempt. It would have been shorter for her tastes,
except that they had decided she should look more like one of the
Japanese girls to make Tendo feel more relaxed.

Good thinking.

    Enough to make a small difference, since some of the weaponry could
prove to be effective against the Musk... But Tendo was allied with
Qinghai. That much was known. Would she knowingly provide weapons that
could damage her allies?

No.

    The Tendo girl simply nodded, understanding. Perhaps the reason that
there were so few fey in Xinjiang was truly due to killing, as the
rumors contested...

Sounds like it.

    Death is an odd thing, when one is bound to a dead body. Akane found
it best to contemplate silently... though there was never and response

'an' instead of 'an' perhaps?

    Was he her lover, come to protect her in the end from herself? Or
was he her jailer, protecting everyone else from her?

Little bit of both probably.

 ***

    Ranko grimaced, wondering at the stares she attracted. She wore
skin-tight body armor; Tendo Heavy's very best, which was much more
revealing than anything that the locals seemed to be familiar with.

But that happens with you let Biiko design your body armor

    "Mm.... Tango, maybe that procedure was immature?"

    "That's in Kelvin, not Fahrenheit or Celsius."

Oops. ^_^

    Being together with Akane forever. So close and so far at the same
time. He pondered, trying to decide if it were heaven or hell,

Probably both.

    Shia Hai took a long drag from her cigarette, staring at the
hand-typed

Err, hand-typed? Shouldn't it be either typed or hand-written?

 report on the desk before her. The room was locked, the

security disabled, and the typewriter inaccessible to all but herself.
No wires or connections to tell anyone what she had typed, aside from
those she delivered the note to herself.

Oh. Now I see.

    Sighing, she set the page to one side of the typewriter, mumbling to
herself as she began typing again.

    Once done, and satisfied, she crumpled the older papers into a ball,
and tossed them into the rubbish bin,

Should burn them. Can uncrumple notes and go through garbage. Can't
reconstitue ashes.

    And with her gone, a small flying creature crawled through the
narrow gap in the window, making a beeline towards the trash bin before
leaving again.

Ah ha. Now I see.

    Ranko stretched, ducking to clear the bulkhead before the main
cabin, and called out, "Morning, Keitaro. Any word on that package yet?
Shia Hai said that there was a lot of paperwork involved

Oh, there was some paperwork involved, all right.

    "I thought you didn't smoke?" Ranko asked, wondering about the pipe.

    Keitaro shrugged, gesturing towards Ranko with the pipe, clean as
the day it was made, with no signs of singing or tobacco upon it. "Don'.
Jus' liketa have this aroun' for stuff like that."

Heh. Cute. Wonder if it's Happi in disguise or something.

    Not that Keitaro didn't seem to have his share of secrets, but she
trusted him.

He makes no secret about having secrets.

    Shia Hai's grimace returned more forcefully. "We only authorized one
f--" She caught herself, and coughed loudly, as the Amazon turned,
staring at her expectantly.

    "Only one what?" she asked innocently, her eyes seemingly trusting.

    Collecting herself, Shia Hai explained, "We can only allow one...
esteemed warrior such as yourself to set foot within this perimeter.

Shampoo: You need to learn to lie better.

    Ranko watched attentively, as the woman slowly worked her way deeper
into the structure. Shia Hai and a pair of her guards followed he woman

the woman

    Shia Hai signaled her guards, preparing for the part of the plan
that was nothing more than a gamble.

Hmm. But will it pay off, I wonder.

    Perhaps, Shia Hai thought, relieved, she was trying to use the
supposed 'fey talents' that they had heard about. Not that it mattered
now, she smiled, dropping the scythe and clearing out of the blast site.
One of the guards stopped to move the Amazon, encased in ice as she was.
If Miss Tendo's plan worked, then perhaps she could be used, too.

Hmm. Hopefully poor Pu ain't dead from the cold.

    His head swiveled to scan a monitor, as it flashed suddenly, and the
computer chirped again. He blinked, scanning to another monitor, locked
on the excavation site.

    And the frozen Amazon.

    "Oh, shit. They just put themselves in the middle of two angry
Dragons." He contemplated silently for a moment, debating his options.

Getting out might be good.

    First and foremost, he needed to protect the Tendo girl. That was
the important part. Retrieving Ranma, in any form was the second task
that he had been entrusted with. Not nearly as important as protecting
the living, but still very important. Keeping Herb from committing an
act of war was not on the list, but he was supposed to keep things level.

That would be useful, yes.

Nice work. I'll be eager to read more when I get the chance

D.B. Sommer





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