I'm not yet dead. I'm just happy I still know how to post.

:) for those interested, I placed a webpage (posted the address when the 
FFML went down some months? years?? ago) I have a small collection of fanart 
loacated there (which I'm dying to expand and am literally begging for 
expansion... hint hint...)

I also have a resource page there where I outlined the heirarchy of the 
people in medieval Japan. Plus I have corrected some disturbing grammatical 
errors (together with Byooki Desu) on prologue through five (last revision 
12/25/01). I'm working with several history books to correct some historical 
flaws as well. They're all in http://iCe.esmartdesign.com

For those who have never heard of Rend previous chapters can be found here:

http://www.fanfiction.net/
      -- has been down lately can be hard to patch through if they're
         updating at the time of your visit. please review.

http://iCe.esmartdesign.com/
      -- My page (which only holds Rend...) anyway I'm a fic author, so bear 
with me, any suggestions on the design etc would be helpful. :) Any mistakes 
please mail me.

http://miniarchive.dyndns.org:8080/cgi-bin/MiniArchive.exe
      -- requires the search button, there are two version of prologue 
through chapter two take the trial version. Prologue is the one without any 
number... the one in the bottom.

I think that's all... (sorry to have bored you... this is what happens when 
I get cut off from the FFML for more than a year)...

~~iCe~~


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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: Rend10.txt

Dedicated to those who have been telling me to fix up my Akane and Ranma 
pairing.

Yes, so it's the first week of march... at least I finally finished this :)

Special Thanks to:
Roja Cyd
Maurice Phillip
Tin and Angel
Jourdan Bickham
Byooki Desu
Jan Stanek


And to the person reading this.

Adult stuff warning. Lime? I dunno.

Standard disclaimer here :)

Little note before you start anything:

Ranma, Ranko and Nabiki... Nabiki in her cursed form will be referred
to as Nabiki-kun in scenes that show the perspective of people who know
about the Jusenkyo curse. (Ranma-chan in Ranma's case). When this is
shown in Akane's point-of view, Ranma will be called Ranko and Nabiki
will be called Ranma. I hope this doesn't cause confusion.

I also switch from gender to gender in the middle. (Arghh sorry,
sometimes Ranma gets referred to as he when in cursed form and Nabiki
gets referred to as she in cursed form.)

Legend:

||----------------------||

is a flashback... It IS I swear!!! Thanks for the suggestion. :) (It'll
be placed at the beginning and end of the flashback.

_thoughts_ _I'm thinking now_
<Chinese> <I didn't know I can speak this language>
*stressed* Uh...
ALL CAPS (shouted)




Out of the heart a rapture,
      Then a pain;
Out of the dead, cold ashes,
      Life again.
               ~~ John Bannister Tabb
			Evolution


				~ Chapter 10 ~

   Ryoga looked up from the letter he had just finished, hoping to get
some soda out of the fridge... and blinked at the hotel entrance that
greeted him. The hotel entrance didn't bother him as much as the fact
that it wasn't where he was supposed to be. He blinked again. 'Yep,
it's real.' he thought, as he touched the sliding door and blinked
*again* at the valet who looked at him oddly.

   "Ehe..." He smiled sheepishly. Although his sense of direction had
improved over the years and he did manage to get around their apartment
without getting lost, reading while walking tended to screw his
internal compass. It would be no small feat to find the apartment.

   It could take him days, possibly weeks. He had just finished the
last letter; he had no shoes, no money and no backpack. It was one of
those virtually impossible trips. "Would you mind telling me where the
Ichimoto Towers are?"

   "It's a few blocks straight down that path, sir," the man said,
trying not to look at Ryoga's bare feet and disheveled appearance.
"It's that tall building over there, you can't miss it."

   Ryoga looked dazedly at the direction. 'Straight path, right. That
shouldn't be *too* difficult,' he mused as he turned to thank the
helpful man, and found himself staring at a Sanrio shop, with a huge
Hello Kitty and Kerokeroppi blocking his way. "This just *might* take a
while..."

   A small cackling laugh broke his thoughts, "I can't believe that
what Akane said is true. You can't walk down a straight line." Shampoo
hopped towards him using her cane as her great-grandmother had always
done -- like a pogo stick -- and began scrutinizing him. "Your wife
told me about your directional sense, but this is ridiculous."

   It would have been humorous if he wasn't the butt of the joke. "It's
not funny."

   "Oh, but it is." Shampoo shook her head, as she jumped up to perch
comfortably on Ryoga's shoulder. "You should button your shirt, sonny
boy. People might think you're coming on to me."

   Ryoga blushed as he speedily complied and Shampoo raised one
eyebrow. "You know, until now, I never really understood what pleasure
my great-grandmother found in teasing us. But in your case... I'm
beginning to understand her enjoyment. Want some directions to your
apartment, sonny boy?"

   "Uh..."
   "I'll take that as a yes." Shampoo smiled at Ryoga's expression, it
was priceless. She batted her eyelashes a bit then said, "Trying to get
me alone in your place already sonny?  Makes a girl feel young to be
flattered like that..."

   Ryoga started to look green and Shampoo let out another loud laugh.
Deciding that it would be better if she ended her teasing now she
started, "Look at it this way, I can tell you more than Akane's letters
can."

   "But your granddaughter..." Ryoga protested.

   "Len can take care of herself. She's not an Amazon for nothing.
While *you* on the other hand are completely lost..." She looked at the
yellowed parchment that lay seemingly forgotten in his hand. "With a
page you have apparently finished. So where are you now?"

   "Uhhh... Tokyo?" Ryoga answered uncertainly. He couldn't give her a
better answer.

   "No, in the letters boy!" The boy was more confused than she had
thought. It had been a long time since anyone had called him boy, and
naturally he felt put out by it.

   "Oh!" His eyes lighted up in understanding. "The Yuigahama meeting."

   Shampoo's smile grew wide. "Ahh, then I know first hand what
happened. Take a left here... No, not at *this* shop at the *corner*
boy..." Shampoo shook her head then tapped her chin thoughtfully.

   "Okay, the Yuigahama meeting... After Nabiki changed places with
Ranma, they had managed to push back the attacks away from Yuigahama.
The border mess wasn't completely cleaned up, but Yuigahama was secured
for Happosai's meeting. On the twenty-fourth of August, Ranma was home
and preparing to leave with his sister. We all were going... well
almost everyone..."

                     ||-------------------------||

   "<Great-grandmamma... can't I just stay here?"> Shampoo asked as she
snapped a jade earring in place. She had wondered why she had been told
to bring the ancient jewels along. When she found out that it was to
please Happosai she had rebelled against the idea. she still couldn't
understand why they should go through so much to please one man. "<I'm
not feeling well and -->"

   "<Shampoo.  You can't avoid Ranma Saotome forever. There are some
things that need to be understood better before one can judge.>"
Cologne chastised as she handed Shampoo a brush and a hair comb. "<Our
arrangement with the Saotome Clan is there to help ensure the safety
and future of our tribe.  I don't want my heir ruining this just
because she couldn't get the man she loves.>"

   Something akin to a whine escaped Shampoo's lips as she pulled all
her hair up in two neat odangos and added an ornate hair comb to it,
representing her role in the Amazon Tribe as heir of one of its Elders.
"<I'm not evading Ranma, great-grandmamma. I'm in his house teaching
his children, aren't I?>"

   "<Then there's no problem for you to go to Yuigahama as my rightful
heir. So stop whining.>" Cologne sighed as she gave Shampoo's shoulder
a comforting squeeze, "<It's been seven years... isn't seven years
enough to heal?>"

   Shampoo looked away, and Cologne felt that the girl had taken enough
of her lecture for the day. "<You're my heir, Shampoo... you must
realize that it is a great responsibility you must live with.>"

   Shampoo shook her head as she looked at Cologne's aged eyes. "<I
can't be Rian for you, great-grandmother... I... I can't take her
place.  She is right you know... she is the best of *our* generation.
How am I supposed to compete with that?>"

   "<Oh... my poor, sweet girl... you thought all this time...>"
Cologne hugged the girl, as she stroked her purple locks. She didn't
miss the fact that Shampoo still talked of her cousin as if she were
alive, "<I didn't raise you to replace your cousin, Shampoo. I know
being heir is a heavy burden... and it was so sudden... but I never
meant that you would replace her. Rian made her choices... and she was
the one who chose you.>"

   Cologne tilted Shampoo's face to look at her, "<Dear child, I'm so
sorry. Don't you realize that you should be proud of the woman that you
are? The woman you've become.>"

   "<I'm nothing but a shadow to a girl who did everything better than
I ever could.>" Shampoo looked away, "<I'm only second best! I couldn't
even get Ranma, and she *did*.>"

   "<You were never second best Shampoo. All of my children are equal
in my eyes.>" Cologne wanted to comfort the girl, but sensed that there
were no comforting words to say. If she overstepped here, Shampoo would
end up hurting more than she should be, "<You must realize that.>"

   "<If I wasn't second best, then why was Rian heir before me?>"

   "<Because she was older, because she was the eldest daughter of my
eldest. Because you were far too young. Because you were technically
married. So many reasons, Shampoo... What's important now is that
you're heir.>" Cologne shook her head, "<I'll leave you to think.>
Pogoing away, Cologne turned to her great-granddaughter, <When you are
ready I'll be waiting for you by the front gate.>"

   Cologne left silently, and Shampoo sighed, plucking the hair comb
out of her hair and looking at it. It was a family heirloom, handed
down from generation to generation of heirs.

   On the back, a small hierarchical tree was carved, so small... that
it would fit a grain of rice. Elders wrote down their heir as the tree
expanded. Although she would need something to magnify the image, she
knew Rian's name was beside hers. And for the first time since she had
acquired the comb, she noticed that her name was written in Rian's
hand.

   She didn't know how she could've seen that through the minute
carving, but she knew that her cousin had given her blessing.

   Shampoo sighed as she placed the comb back. She stepped out of her
room to find Cologne and apologize for her pig-headedness... but
stopped as she noticed the twins step out of their respective rooms.

   Both were male, dripping wet and wore nothing but the towels around
their waist. They stopped and looked at her. The only way to
differentiate them now, would be their eyes. Ranma had sea blue while
Nabiki had deep brown.

   "Shampoo," Shampoo wasn't sure if it was Ranma or Nabiki that spoke,
and in the distance, she couldn't tell, "Let's get moving or we might
be late, and we wouldn't want an irate Happosai on us."

   He smiled. It was Nabiki-kun, Ranma was still uncomfortably standing
there and didn't have any idea how to broach the topic of Hanae or the
fact that he was wearing *just* a towel. "Since when did Nabiki care
for old man?"

   "Don't remind me." Nabiki-kun smiled, then winced remembering
something, "Ranma, where are those shirts? And those damned katana...
Are they in your room, they're not in mine!"

   He shrugged as he looked at her helplessly.

   Nabiki-kun rolled his eyes, "Men. Well? Are you going to help me
find them or not? The old man's going to have a fit if we don't come in
our complete 'formal Saotome Clan get-up' as your daughter has nicely
dubbed it." He looked apologetically at Shampoo, "We'll be out in a
while. Come on, Ranma."

   They disappeared behind one of the rooms.

   Shampoo sighed as she went outside. Her grandmother was already
there, talking to an attentive Kodachi.

   Shampoo had to raise her eyebrows at that. She had never seen her
great-grandmother and Kodachi get along that well before.  Actually,
they had never gotten along at all.  Cologne had met Kodachi a few
times, and the meetings were always thinly veiled hostility.

   Now, a week in Rose Brier, and they were acting as if they were the
best of friends. It was highly suspicious, but Cologne was an elder,
and she herself was a mere apprentice. Who was she to question what
moved the clan?

   "<Great-grandmamma... I am truly-->"

   "What have I said about talking in another language when another
person is present, Shampoo?" Cologne asked, her voice stern but gentle.

   "But great-grandmamma!" Shampoo sighed, if Cologne really did want
this, "I'm sorry..."

   Kodachi turned around to look at her. Shampoo noticed the small
pinkish spots that marred the woman's face and arms right away. From
the looks of it, it was probably an allergy.  Kodachi smiled.  It was
something Shampoo had never seen her do...Kodachi laughed that horrible
insane laugh, but smile...never.  "I don't believe we've met...have
we?"

   The small tentative voice Kodachi used wasn't her usual dominant
all-too-sure-of-herself tone either. But then, she really wouldn't
know, it had been seven years, and the fact was, people did change.
"Crazy rose gi--"

   A small tap by Cologne's cane silenced her. The shake of the older
woman's head reinforced it. Shampoo bit back whatever she had wanted to
say. It didn't go without misunderstanding or anger in her part, but
there were orders that she would never understand.

   "Lady Kodachi, I am pleased to introduce my great-great-
granddaughter, Xian Pu." She didn't mention the long string of titles
connected to her name. "Shampoo, I believe you know Lady Kodachi? She
suffers from mild amnesia. She prefers the name Akane now."

   "So *you're* the doll maker Hanae has been talking about!"  Kodachi
said in wonder, and Shampoo could almost see her delight in the
particularly wrong fact she had just mentioned.

   Shampoo didn't know what the hell Kodachi was talking about, but
paused as she watched the woman's gaze move to a point behind Shampoo's
shoulder and heard her sharp intake of breath. Shampoo turned around to
find Ranma and Nabiki-kun at the doors, dressed identically, from the
intertwined twin dragons stitched meticulously on the black cloth to
twin katana by their side. Shampoo couldn't blame the woman for her
admiration. They looked perfect in their black silks.

   "I'm sorry, Ranma? Don't tell me you have another twin." Apparently,
Kodachi hadn't been informed of Jusenkyo as of late.

   If Shampoo had not been sure of who was who before, she was sure
now. Nabiki didn't fidget under question and hiding the truth came more
naturally to the woman. Ranma shifted, and Nabiki-kun answered the
question instead, "Relatives are allowed to look alike Kodachi."

   "Oh... I see." Shampoo didn't know if she should feel sorry for
Kodachi. It was obvious that Nabiki didn't particularly like her, and
Nabiki had the reputation of making the lives of those she didn't like
hell. "Won't you introduce me to him then?"

   Dreading a fight between the two, Ranma immediately spoke up.
"Shizukama meet Akane. My wife. Akane, Shizukama."

   "Pleased to meet you," Kodachi smiled and bowed politely at Nabiki-
kun. Nabiki-kun went through the motions with little heart.

   "It took us some time to root for the ceremonial garb." Ranma smiled
sheepishly his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

   "Come on then, Happosai does not like late comers." Nabiki-kun urged
as she pushed Ranma out of the doorway. The way towards the meeting
place wasn't particularly hard to find. Every year, they picked a
random place in Yuigahama to use for the next meeting. The person who
owned the house was informed the day before so that the location of the
house would be secret. Thus, there were no well-lit paths, just the
isolated peasant's house, and Yuigahama was as isolated as they come.

   When a new samurai was invited to the meeting, an invitation was
sent out to them through means of another Saotome samurai, with the
instructions of who exactly would pick them up, when it was going to be
held, and whatever Happosai was willing to impart. Happosai was a
terribly paranoid old man.

   Still, the sun would be useful; Yuigahama would be dark and had no
clear-cut pathways. Getting lost was not an option. Groping in the dark
was extremely disliked.

   "I'll catch up with you guys, I'm just going to talk with Kodachi,"
Ranma said, then turned towards Cologne and Shampoo for permission he
really did not need.

   The matriarch nodded, and went out towards the gates. "We'll meet
you at the bridge, son-in-law."

   "You know, it's been seven years since I've married. You'd think
that you'd stop calling me 'son-in-law'," Ranma said scornfully,
looking at the old woman with exasperation.

   Cologne merely smiled, "Old habits die hard... son-in-law."

   Ranma raised his hands up as a sign of defeat as they left then
turned towards his wife. She smiled, a little unsure of what to say,
nervous from the moment Ranma stated he wanted to remain behind for a
moment. "Would you like me to fetch the children? To say goodbye?" It
was an awkward moment.

   "No, I already said goodbye... they shouldn't be kept from their
lessons," Ranma answered. Then he looked at her thoughtfully. After a
while, he picked up her hand and looked at the receding red spots. He
raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Your allergy seems to be
getting better. I trust you know now that you don't exactly lap up all
the kamboko on the plate."

   "I didn't *know*, okay?" Kodachi answered as she snatched her hand
back. Ranma didn't know if it was because from anger or embarrassment,
"That's generally the effect *of* amnesia. I forget things."

   "Amnesia." Ranma repeated as he put his hands down, "You know,
amnesia is a weird thing... it makes you forget all of your past... but
not a thing of the present."

   "You still doubt me?" There was a plea in her eyes that he ignored.
He didn't want to answer things that would generally give him more
trouble, and that look would surely land him into some. But then, why
had he asked some time for her?

   "It's not hard to do." It didn't come out quite as he wished, but it
was too late to take it back now. Kodachi lowered her eyes, and Ranma
almost bit his lip in indecision.

   She was silent for a moment. "I guess that someone as horrible as me
would be impossible to believe..." 'or to love' she added silently to
herself.  Akane started to reach out her hand to hold his, but let it
drop before reaching it, "If that's the way you feel then..." She
sighed. "I guess I'll see you later Ranma."

   He nodded then turned to go, jumping the small fence as though to
catch up with the small party, but in reality, making sure he was far
away from them as well as Rose Brier. He stopped against a tree and
leaned trying to organize his thoughts. He closed his eyes and
whispered what he should have, but couldn't tell her, "Doesn't she know
that it's getting harder each day..."



   Akane watched him go until he was far from her sight, black shirt
whipping against the wind. She smiled ruefully as she rubbed the hand
that he had examined. It *was* getting better. Cologne had given her a
salve, and it healed her much faster than the ointment she had in her
medicine cabinet back in the present...

   It was surprising and wonderful that he had given her time, that he
had stayed to talk, but...  It didn't end on the note that she had
hoped.  A scowl making its way onto her face, Akane rubbed her arms
thoughtfully, "The jerk could have at least said goodbye before
leaving."  Yes, that *would* have made it perfect.  Ranma hadn't given
her the goodbye she wanted.

   She turned to look at the trees he had jumped towards, opting for
the shorter way towards the meeting place rather than through the gates
as Cologne, Nabiki and Shampoo had. It had been mere seconds ago, but
knowing him... he'd have covered a lot more ground than a normal person
would. She sighed, all she knew was that they were going to Yuigahama.

   "That's it!" Akane snapped her fingers as she ran inside the house,
"Ifuku!"

   In a second, Ifuku was in front of her with a small bow, "Yes, Lady
Akane?"

   "How well am I guarded?" She demanded.

   "Not as much as before, my lady..." Ifuku shrugged waving at the
gates, "Most of the men have been relieved of their lesser duties to
lend a hand at the border troubles."

   "Good," Akane smiled, "Would you mind doing a small favor for me?"

   "My duty is to serve, my lady."

   "Okay... now here's what we're going to do..."

~~~

   The moment the twins entered the small house that he had chosen for
the meeting, Happosai had known of their arrival. He also noted Cologne
and Shampoo's presence with them. He blew out the smoke from his pipe
and waited patiently in the shadows for them to pay their respects, but
he did not greet them for he was their liege lord. They would come to
him.

   His gaze never left the Saotome siblings.

   In the years of his hopefully long leadership of the Saotome Clan,
enemies and competition had never threatened Happosai more than the
twins' mere presence now did. They were the only impediments to his
position.

   He had never seen such raw potential for the art in another person
before, and although he knew of people as cunning as them and other
people with as much wits, never had he seen anyone with both of them,
and never in another practitioner of the art. They were the perfect
students. They learned as fast as you could teach and adapted to almost
any style.

   In Happosai's opinion, the twins were the best that the Saotome Clan
had ever produced, and would ever produce, from the looks of their
offspring, for even they paled in comparison. And for that, he feared
them.

   Ever since he was young, Happosai had had to struggle, struggle
always to stay one-step before everyone else. Against popular belief,
his road to where he was today hadn't been served him on a silver
platter. He had come from a poor family of eight children of which he
was the lone survivor. When other lords, who now held positions to
rival that of his own, had grown up being tutored by scholars and had
menservants, Happosai had had to glean that same knowledge for himself.
Bowing and scraping where he must and stabbing the ones foolish enough
to look the other way, in the back. Like this, he had risen to become
the head of the Saotome clan, and like this, he intended to keep it.
Happosai knew a threat when it posed itself, and the twins were a
threat.

   It all started with the small training, the small inauguration. To
be truly members of Anything Goes, the children were entered into a
small match up... All direct blood participated in it. It was made to
sift the weak from the strong, so that he would know who to pass on the
Arts to. Ranma had been undefeated and Nabiki had taken third with only
two losses, one came from her brother. It had never happened before.

   So, in the hopes that someone would eventually bungle up their
training, he had set Genma Saotome to train the young ones, and he had
taken pains in picking him for it was unusual for men to be foster
parents. It was simply not done.

   But Genma had been framed easily. He had managed to let the whole
clan believe that Genma had done something ill towards him, when the
whole time it had been a propagated front just so he could order the
fool to be foster father to the pair.

   It had been his first mistake, in a string of many, regarding the
twins. Genma Saotome may have been a fool, a drunkard and a cheat, but
it turned out that this scorned old drunk had been the best trainer the
twins could have gotten. His teaching methods may have been brutal at
best and idiotic at worst but it had managed to sharpen the twins. He
had been what the twins needed in those crucial formative years.

   When the clan started to take interest in them, he had sent them to
lead his worst group of samurai to battle. He had expected that they
would fail; they had surprised him. Genma was a poor tactician, and his
pupils should have known nothing about leading, but he had
underestimated them again. They had managed to take down an island,
with a group of samurai who did not know how to swim, much less handle
a sword.

   Instead of humiliating them against their peers, they had gained
respect for winning a seemingly impossible battle. At that time, some
of the other daimyos under him were already taking note of their
talent.

   He had been forced to admit them to the clan as samurai so early
on... Twelve was an early age to proclaim young children to be samurai.
So he had sent them off to China, against the pirate Wako that invaded
the seas, just so they would stay away from the Clan's prying eyes.

   That had been another mistake. He had not expected Cologne to take
interest in their skill, had not expected them to find any competition
there at all. Yet they did. Shampoo and Rian had managed to raise their
skills to extraordinary levels by just evading their twin bonbori.

   When they had returned, he had expected the string of engagements to
keep them busy, but they had protected their han -- their fief --
nonetheless.

   Imagine his surprise when they managed to win over that small test
he handed out to his samurai for the hatamoto status. He had been
forced to give them the extra twenty ri around Nerima.

   Nerima was the twins' ancestral home, something that their father
had passed down to them when they gained hatamoto status, making their
father focus on his other land. That much reclaimed, at least they
would be on constant watch for any invading forces from the Kunos.

   But they managed to make Nerima safe, and so he had engaged Ranma
with Kodachi and married Nabiki to a samurai who would keep her locked
up in that small house of his.

   Kodachi, who was demented and held the last piece of Kamakura in her
hands and the Ikkasei Clan who were known for their close-mindedness.
He had even made Ranma and Nabiki convert religion just because he
wanted to see if they would. They did.

   With the two of them separated through the arranged marriage Nabiki
had taken, they should have been weaker. When Kodachi tried to get
Nabiki banished, everything looked better.

   After that, Ranma was at best a puppet to be controlled. He had not
counted on him pleading for her return, to threaten seppuku when she
was not accepted back. He had not considered Ranma's honor.

   It was not good. Happosai would have been a fool not to realize that
he needed Ranma and even Nabiki as hatamoto. As daimyo. They were his
best, and he'd be damned to let his best go. To lose such a dedicated
samurai in the art and a skilled one at that just because of Nabiki was
something he was not willing to do.

   But if the clan ever had the courage to usurp him... those two were
the only candidates that could unseat him. He was taken out of his
musings by their identical bows. It had taken them shorter than he had
hoped to find him against the ceiling.

   He dropped down and looked at their formal clothes, the two
intertwined dragons at the front and the Saotome shield at the back.
Their twin katana gleamed in the light, the intricate design of the
hilt captivating to the eye. Ranma and Nabiki stole Nabiki's sword back
from the Ikkaseis when she had been let go because Clan Ikkasei had
kept it as evidence of her 'crime'. Still... they had done as he had
ordered; at least they still obeyed orders. 'I wonder for how long?'

   "It took you a while to notice the children, Happosai." Cologne
crackled from her ever-present cane, her eyebrows arching up in perfect
mockery, "I hope you aren't getting senile on me."

   He let it pass, "Kashiko's niece is in the other room serving
okonomiyaki... and since you're here... we're only waiting for Genma.
He's picking up the new heir of Sumiboshi. I'll call for you when we
begin."

   The twins nodded, he didn't wait for them to ask anything and left
instantly. He noticed Nabiki came in her cursed form as he had asked.
That was good; at least people who still didn't know about the curse
wouldn't be asking him why he was inviting a girl. The Amazons were
long ago taken as exceptions to that rule.

   He sighed as he remembered the day the twins were awarded their two
swords by their mother. It had been a long and tiring ceremony. Still,
it was a Saotome tradition and tradition was something Happosai
strongly believed in. Happosai closed his eyes to remember that
ceremony, but it was the day before that which stuck to his mind
vividly. The time when he had watched Nodoka say goodbye to her
children.

                     ||-------------------------||

   Happosai strode towards the main halls of the castle, but stopped
when he heard Nodoka's voice filter through the shoji. She was talking
to her children. Fathered by Tetsuma, these two were her only children.
And though they called him heartless, he didn't want to break up the
already rare moments between the mother and children.

   "Here, these are for you," Nodoka said as she laid the small bundle
down in front of them. They were the shirts she had worked for over an
entire month. It is tradition that women sew the family crest on silk
for their children to wear on such a day. It was a labor of love.

   Eagerly, the children tore open the packages to reveal the clothes
that every Saotome samurai was proud to wear. The entwined dragons
glinted when the sun's rays touched its golden threads. Nodoka always
loved to depict her children as dragons.

   "Thanks mom!"

   "Thank you, mother."

   Nodoka's eyes glittered with tears as she looked at them try it on
for size, "You'll wear that for tomorrow and whenever there's a Saotome
gathering. It is your formal wear. Tomorrow... your father is going to
give Ranma his sword, just as I will to Nabiki... and you will receive
them with heads held up high, showing that you are proud to be there."

   She took the furoshiki, a bolt of cloth traditionally used to wrap
bundles, made from cotton and stenciled with an intricate dye pattern
from a nearby table and gave it to them. "You'll wrap your swords here.
Keep them away from sight when you think a fight would result from
people seeing your swords, and fighting would be unwise." She neatly
folded and handed the children their respective gaily-colored
kerchiefs. "I heard Happosai wishes to send you to China."

   "China?" They spoke as if they were one and stopped the teasing over
the gifts, "Why?"

   "We do not question orders, children." Nodoka whispered, "Merely
obey."

   "But...!" They both protested.

   Ranma looked at Nabiki and continued, "We've only seen father five
times."

   "Does Lord Happosai wish to estrange us from our own family?" The
big words always came out from Nabiki, and they were always well
thought. Foster parenting was needed in Japan, it was a norm when your
parents were samurai, but the twins had always been different.

   Happosai shook his head as he entered the room, cutting any further
conversation on the topic. Nodoka immediately bowed, and the twins
followed suit. He gave a slight nod and they rose.

   "I trust your children have memorized their oaths?" Happosai asked
Nodoka. He valued the oaths of the children almost as much as he valued
women's undergarments.

   "Yes," Nodoka turned towards her children. "Would you like to hear
them recite it now?"

   "No, I shall wait for tomorrow." Happosai nodded as if it was an
inspection, "I trust you have their furoshiki and garments completed?"

   "Yes... I hope you will be pleased with their design, my lord."

   "I am always pleased with your work. Your young ones have shown much
promise. Their training under Genma has been fruitful." Happosai eyed
the children then turned to go out, "I hope I will not be
disappointed."


                     ||-------------------------||

   He had not been. The children were as good as their mentor promised.
They were the youngest on record ever to be declared fit enough to be
samurai, the youngest to have taken oaths before the liege lord. The
twins were the best...

   He had been surprised at their skill. And thus began his attempts to
keep the twins from knowing too much of the Clan, and allowing the clan
to know little of them in return.

   He shook his head, for how long would continue to be liege lord?


~~~

   Nabiki-kun grumbled as he passed the numerous samurai on his way to
the okonomiyaki grill, his stomach rumbling. He had not eaten dinner,
and Kodachi's rash outbreak left the whole household with little
appetite.

   After a few weeks of absence from Rose Brier, Nabiki felt the slight
shift in Kodachi's attitude. She was happier, pleasanter. More enamored
towards the tasks that she had seemingly forgotten. She had tried her
hand at almost every marital art now and though she failed each
completely, she hadn't been as dejected as she was before Nabiki left
for the border.

   Something had happened while he was gone... he just knew it. Could
it be possible that the girl was starting to make Ranma believe? It was
a difficult task, Ranma didn't repeat his mistakes, and Kodachi
certainly was one of them... but Kodachi's maniacal persistence was
common knowledge.

   His stomach grumbled again, reminding him that this was a time to
forget Kodachi and focus on other important things... the meal that he
had missed earlier for example.

   Okonomiyaki would barely fill his stomach but it would keep him from
starving, and Kashiko-san made the best okonomiyaki this side of
Sagami. She was even better than Ukyo. It was common knowledge that she
hoped Ukyo would be able to match a bit of that skill. He skillfully
maneuvered around the fifteen or so samurai milling about. For a small
reception room, fifteen was plenty, and he was thankful to sit down in
one of the zabuton in front of the grill and ask for one of Kashiko's
specials.

   He was actually mildly surprised to find Ukyo there, cooking. Since
Nabiki was told Kashiko's niece was cooking that night, and she found
Ukyo at the grill, she therefore surmised that Ukyo was Kashiko's
niece. He had not known before that night that Ranma's fianc�e was
related to Kashiko. 'I should have known...' Nabiki-kun thought, 'I
mean... how many people have Kuonji for last names anyway?' Upon Ukyo's
surprised look, Nabiki-kun knew that she had not known she would see
the twins there either.

   "Ranma!" Ukyo almost didn't catch the okonomiyaki she had just
flipped, "What are you doing here?"

   "This is a Saotome gathering," Nabiki-kun waved about, "What do you
think?"

   "Uhhh -- well..."

   As much as it amused Nabiki-kun to see one of Ranma's fianc�es
squirm, he did want his okonomiyaki, and he let up for one night, "I'm
not Ranma."

   "You're not?" Ukyo repeated as she placed the new okonomiyaki to a
porcelain plate and handed it over to one of the samurai, who began
eating immediately, then peered at Nabiki's eyes, confirming it, "Well
of course you're not, Nabiki! I mean -- I knew that!"

   "Sure, Ucchan. You knew." He smirked and wished all *his* fianc�s
had been this easy to fluster; Genma sure knew how to pick them. He had
given Ranma all the gullible -- but overly obsessive -- ones, while he
had given her all the incredibly smart and entirely too unemotional
louts. "I'm called Shizukama when I'm male and Ranma's here," Nabiki-
kun reminded her lightly. Ukyo had never needed to be reminded of that,
now, in the midst of Saotomes, it was important.

   "So why are you here as a boy?"

   "You of all people should know that, Ukyo." Nabiki-kun shrugged as
he motioned at the samurai milling about, taking his time to push her
second point through, "This is a man's world. This is a world where
women are regarded as mere conveniences. Only a few people know of 'The
Pools of Sorrow'. Besides, I am listened to more this way. I should
tell you what happened with 'Nabiki' the last time she was here."

   He smiled as he went back to the topic that Ukyo had obviously
dodged, "You know you can't evade him forever."

   "What?" Ukyo stuttered as she took out the batter and poured it on
the grill to make Nabiki's favorite recipe, "I'm not evading him."

   "Sure you are." Nabiki-kun bantered as he leaned closer, "That's the
reason why you closed up shop near Rose Brier, moved in with your Aunt
and are serving random people food."  He shot her a flat look. "You're
evading my brother."

   Ukyo shook her head as she flipped the okonomiyaki then whipped up
another plate, catching the pancake by it. Taking out the sauce, she
swirled it over the okonomiyaki and presented it to Nabiki-kun. The
sauce read 'No, I'm not.'

   Shrugging his shoulders, "You're in denial, that's okay," Nabiki-kun
nonchalantly replied as he took the chopsticks from Ukyo's outstretched
hand and began to eat.  "People in love always are.  It's the sure as
hell symptom for the malady."

   "I'm not in denial."

   "I rest my case." Nabiki-kun smiled, "Look, they say that loving is
the worst pain ever to exist. It cuts deeper than any mortal wound can,
and heals so much slower. Why love if it just exists to be hurt? But
then, if you evade being hurt, how will you know when you are *not*
hurt? Just a thought."

   "You're a fine one to talk about *love*." Ukyo grumbled as she mixed
another batch of the batter nodding to the next samurai that had placed
an order. "It's bold words for one who doesn't believe in it."

   Nabiki-kun stopped eating and looked Ukyo straight in the eye, �I
believed in it once, a very long time ago. I believed in love, too." He
got a faraway look, and then focused on Ukyo again his eyes hardening,
"Love disappoints you."

   "You know," Ukyo muttered, "I don't think I should go to you when
I'm heartbroken. I get the feeling you'll just be all cynical. You've
always been cynical."

   "That's a fallacy too," Nabiki-kun pointed out, setting his
chopsticks back to the plate, and handing it to Ukyo. He was just as
fast an eater as Ranma... but with more refined manners, "Children, at
least, aren't allowed to be cynics."

   "What happened?" Ukyo said as she took the plate from Nabiki and
placed it in wash pile.

   "We grow up." Nabiki's eyes bored into Ukyo's soul, "But sometimes,
staying young seems so much better... than the alternative."

~~~

   Ranma stepped out into the evening to get a breath of fresh air.
Although the gathering was limited to only fifteen people, in such a
crowded setting, it could still get stifling.

   It was chilly outside and he could see the mist circling the trees,
it was starting to get cold. Still he wanted his solitude; he had never
been much of a social person... If there were gatherings, he kept to
himself or stuck to Nabiki. When he really needed to appear for
something that needed fast-talking, he switched places with his twin.
It had been something they had frequently done. They were seldom
caught.

   Nabiki socialized, he guarded her back; that was how things worked.
Although she didn't take pleasure in socializing either, her dislike
for it was surpassed by her love of getting information, the thrill of
tricking the vast majority and her extreme pleasure in manipulating
events.

   He sighed as the mists settled, the sky was covered by the trees,
but he was sure rain was coming. Having a Jusenkyo curse tended to make
the victims sensitive about quick weather changes. It was rather useful
when one didn't want to change suddenly.

   His mind wandered away from Happosai's crowded room. Genma was the
only one missing, Happosai said, and knowing their foster father... he
would take some time to get there. It wasn't out of disrespect that he
thought that, it was just the truth. At least he could sort out things
to be answered to Happosai.

   The area was dark, samurai were patrolling around Yuigahama and
there were no trails to this house, Happosai was extremely cautious in
his desire to keep Yuigahama from the prying eyes of the enemy.  Still,
it made the other cities in Sagami vulnerable... not that he'd ever
tell Happosai that.

   In order for him to secure Yuigahama, just for it to be proclaimed
safe enough for this little meeting of Happosai's, he had needed more
manpower than necessary. Yes, he could have done it easily without
extracting men from Sagami's cities and sending them to the borders,
but not in time for Happosai's meeting.

   Still, it meant fewer samurai in the cities of Sagami. It worried
him, if all the samurai were at the border, then an enemy could attack
any city and destroy it completely. It did not bode well for him.

   Further musing was disrupted by a feminine scream, dulled by the
distance but still clear to his ears. His head shot up at the noise.
Picking the general direction of its source, he started to run towards
it, when another samurai whom he recognized as one of Happosai's,
stopped in front of him.

   "What happened?" Ranma demanded.

   The samurai bowed first before continuing, "Well sir, a woman has
breached the periphery of the estate. She claims she's from the house
of Saotome. She wishes to talk to Lord Ranma. Shall I go and fetch Lord
Ranma, sir?"

   "There's no need." The samurai was probably new, Ranma mused,
Happosai was a strict dictator among his men, and he made sure that
*all* his samurai knew the key players of his team. As it was, he had
only been recognized because of the crest in his attire and the sword
in its sheath, "I'll see to her, where is she?"

   "Just beyond that tree, two of my men are holding her until Ranma
Saotome says so." He pointed to the direction he'd come from and turned
to Ranma again, "Shall I accompany you, sir?"

   Ranma shook his head, he could handle the household help, but he
wondered what could bring her here... and was a bit worried. Nabiki and
he had only disclosed where they were going to Sara, one of the young
girls, with strict instructions not to seek them out unless they were
of dire need. He wondered what the problem at home was.

   As he neared the trio, he could not see the girl's face but was sure
it was not Sara. Sara was a fifteen-year-old girl; this one was
probably in her mid-twenties. He waved his hand in dismissal of the
samurai; they bowed and left. The girl looked confused for a moment
then turned to him.

   "Kodachi." Ranma stopped as he looked at her, he could barely see
her in the dark, and there were no lights that could light the way, but
there was a distinct way she held herself this past few months that
assured him it was his wife, "For a moment there, I thought the house
was under siege."

   "Is that the way to treat your wife?" She pouted as she neared him.
He recognized her garb as Ifuku's, and wondered how she had gotten past
Sasuke and Omokage.

   "How did you find me?" Ranma asked, knowing that Sara would not have
told her.

   She smiled, "History."

   "History." He repeated, he shook his head a disbelieving look on his
face, "What do you mean history?! Will anyone else find out the way you
did?"

   Akane frowned impatiently, "Not unless they plan on buying history
books from *my* generation." She shook her head at Ranma's stare; of
course he'd just take that the wrong way. He took everything the wrong
way. "No, no one will find out."

   That settled, Ranma turned to the less pressing issue of her
presence. "Why come here? You know what *any* samurai would have done
to you if any other relative of mine had caught you instead of me."

   "That's the exciting part." She gave out a small laugh at his
puzzled expression. He didn't know if she was crazier before her head
injury or after it, but he knew one thing for sure: she was still
crazy. "Besides, I wanted to get my goodbye."

   "Your goodbye." He replayed the afternoon they had set out for
Yuigahama and realized he really hadn't given his wife the goodbye she
was asking for, but to go through all the trouble to get something that
really didn't mean anything in the long run... it was unusual for
Kodachi to do something like that. "You went through Sasuke, Omokage,
and Happosai's ninja, stole Ifuku's clothes and attempted to breach the
meeting... because you wanted a goodbye?"

   She nodded, "From me?" She nodded again, "That's crazy!"

   She looked down, hurt but still managing a strong voice when she
demanded her request.  "Well I wanted one, are you giving it to me?"

   Ranma leaned closer then raised her face so that she would be
looking up at him, "You sound like a spoiled child, making demands from
her parent."

   She pouted again, "My parent hasn't been spoiling me enough."

   The drop of rain that fell across her cheek stopped any further
response that would come from him. Ranma frowned and wiped it from her
face with his thumb. "Damn." Lowering his hand from her face, he caught
one of hers and pulled her closer so that he could see her clearly,
"Let's get out of here."

   "Why?" Akane asked trying to catch up to Ranma's long stride and
fast pace, while squinting in the dark at where they were running.
There was no cleared path, no landmarks she could visibly see in the
dark; she was lost in an instant. "You're scared of the rain?"

   Ranma didn't answer. He was having trouble spotting the small
sukiya, the teahouse where chanoyu is held, that he had spotted when
they had first arrived. His visibility was already hampered by the
night; Kodachi was complicating things, "Kodachi, if I get wet..."

   "If you get wet? What's the problem? Afraid that the clothes will
shrink?" Kodachi laughed, she was treating it all like a big joke. Why
shouldn't she? She didn't know of Jusenkyo.

   He didn't want to explain to his sister why he'd been caught in the
rain. He didn't want to explain to the samurai present why a *Ranko*
was there and she needed hot water. There were secrets that he prized,
Jusenkyo was one of them, "More of the other way around," Ranma
muttered as he finally spotted the small isolated house, slammed the
door opened and pushed Kodachi in as she knelt before the low doorway,
just as the rain began to fall heavily.

   "Great." Kodachi muttered as she looked outside, the white sheet of
rain coupled with the fog and the dark, making it impossible to see
past an arm's length, maybe less. She pulled the shogi close just as
the wind blew the rain towards them, "Looks like I'm marooned here."

   Ranma hoped whoever the vassal that owned the place was, would
understand exactly why they were dripping all over the place and making
a complete mess of the tatami. Ranma groped around in the dark for a
lantern, thankful that the water had not been enough to incur the
change.

   "Uh... Ranma?" Kodachi said as she tugged on his hand, "That's my
shirt you're holding."

   "Sorry," The room was pitch black. At best, he could only see her
figure moving about in the dark and none of the details. "Try to find
the lantern, or the brazier."

   After a few seconds of groping in the dark, Ranma finally found the
small lantern and lit it up. He opened up the brazier and lit that one
too, making the room a bit less chilly than it had been before.

   "How did you light that up?" Kodachi asked in wonder.

   "Chi." Ranma answered a bit distracted as he opened the window that
lead to the outside. The rain was heavy and Kodachi would not be able
to reach Rose Brier safely if she went out now. "Have you eaten?"

   She smiled sheepishly as she warmed her hands at the brazier, her
hair was dripping wet and her clothes were damp -- but they were not
soaked through, "I haven't eaten since lunch."

   "The rashes from your allergy are completely gone," Ranma commented
as he closed the window again. "That salve that Cologne gave you works
miracles."

   Kodachi's hand shot up to her face, she hadn't even realized that it
was truly gone. When she had left Rose Brier, they were dwindling and
had reduced to a few minor dots. "I guess."

   "I'll get you something to eat." Ranma said as he opened the doors,
letting the cold breeze in for a moment, "I hope you have nothing
against okonomiyaki?"

   "Not unless it has kamboko." Kodachi offered a weak smile.

   Nodding, Ranma was gone in the dark night, shutting the door
quietly behind him.

~~~


   Nabiki-kun looked at the people milling about the room and frowned,
his twin wasn't to be found anywhere, and he was starting to get
worried. Ranma's ability to slip out even in a room full of samurai
astounded him, but worried him to no end.

   Happosai was not a very patient man and Genma's tardiness was
starting to affect his mood. Happosai's mood had left him pondering
heavily, so he was easily taken by surprise when something hit him in
the head -- and quite forcibly at that. Catching it as it fell, he
looked at the small rock in his palm.

   The small stone that hit Nabiki-kun's head was no coincidence, when
it hit him a second time, he caught it, tossed it a few times in the
air and searched for the person who could have thrown it to him. It
didn't take him long.

   He found Ranma-chan swinging from the ledge on the window; waving at
him... all this while she was upside down. If Nabiki-kun was fond of
hitting his head against the wall, he would have done so now. 'His aim
is still good.' He thought as he went towards his sibling and raised an
eyebrow. There had been only some centimeters between him and the next
samurai.

   "I take it you want some hot water?"

   "Mphhh phee--"

   Nabiki-kun snatched the wet wristbands Ranma had been biting a while
ago. "Continue please."

   "Yes, please." Ranma-chan smiled, her hands and feet now clasped on
the roof shingle, "And some blankets, a couple of towels and an
okonomiyaki."

   "Why don't *you* get it?" Nabiki-kun asked as he threw her one of
the pebbles that Ranma-chan had thrown to get his attention, "I'm not a
servant you know."

   Ranma-chan evaded neatly, which didn't surprise Nabiki-kun all that
much, just added to his irritation, "Yeah, yeah. You're my sister. That
makes it better."

   "I swear if--"

   "I wasn't your twin, you'd get revenge. Yes, I know," She finished,
the line being overly used by Nabiki. She smiled sweetly, "Is that
anger and frustration I sense coming from you, Nabiki? That's not good
for your chi output you know."

   "If I was Ranma Saotome, who depends on his ego for a chi blast, of
course it wouldn't be good." Nabiki smirked a little, "But I'm not
Ranma Saotome, am I?"

   Ranma-chan grinned, "At the moment, you are. Now would you please
get the items I've requested, dearest brother of mine? I'm getting
tired of hanging on this ledge."

   Shaking his head, Nabiki-kun turned to comply with Ranma's request,
"You know, this isn't exactly the way you should treat someone you're
asking a favor from," He returned in a few minutes, all items wrapped
in a furoshiki, "Your items, Lady Ranko. Mind telling me where you've
been playing?"

   "Around."

   He hadn't really expected an answer from Ranma.

   Nabiki-kun rolled his eyes, if Ranma didn't want to be found that
was her problem. If Happosai looked for her, stalling him would be next
to impossible, "Now scoot out of there to whoever you're talking to and
be sure to be back before Genma gets here. I'd really like to know if
that samurai he's fetching is panda friendly." He was already growing
suspicious by the articles she had asked him to find.

   The rain would surely hamper Genma's arrival. Ranma-chan had to
smirk at the thought, especially since Genma would be a panda at the
moment, and he wasn't the wisest of all people either. She just had the
sudden urge to find out if the man Genma was supposed to fetch really
was 'panda friendly' as Nabiki has termed.

   "Yes, ma'am," Ranma-chan answered as she slung the bundle over her
back and jumped off the ledge to disappear into the night once more.

   "Ranko! Wait!" Nabiki called out, Ranma-chan looked back and ran up
to him again.

   "What is it this time?" Ranma-chan groused as she laid the furoshiki
down.

   Nabiki-kun held out the tea kettle he had been holding in his other
hand, "I can't take this out of the house," He poured the hot contents
over her, then not waiting for the transformation to finish, handed him
a bangasa, an oiled paper umbrella, "Do your best not to get wet."

   Ranma looked from the umbrella to Nabiki and shrugged opening it, "I
can handle rain, Nabiki," He ran out again.

   Shaking his head as he watched his twin go, Nabiki-kun closed the
small shoji window, not even noticing as Cologne hopped up close to
him, "What do you find amusing in the night, Lord Shizukama?"

   "Oh, nothing elder... just the wind."

~~~

   Akane shivered slightly as the small shoji doors opened, letting the
cool night air into the less than accommodating shed. Thankfully, her
teeth weren't chattering and Ifuku's clothes were more comfortable than
she had thought they would be.

   Akane looked up from the brazier as Ranma knelt to get in. Such
doors were called 'a humble entrance' and were usually found in these
teahouses. She smiled as she watched him set his Chinese slippers
outside and drop the bundle he had been holding on to the floor. This
was the closest she would ever see Ranma as 'humbled'.

   "I got some towels an' some blankets. You'd better get out of that
wet kimono." Ranma threw her one of the larger towels, Akane caught it
happily thinking that the statement had showed his concern for her,
"Besides, Ifuku might feel bad when you return her a soggy dress."

   "Oh..." Her spirits plummeted. She looked around, but the sukiya was
a small single room house. There was nothing to hide behind to change.

   "I really didn't bring any extra clothes, because if Na-- Shizukama
went around asking for one... well, they might get suspicious." Ranma
took an okonomiyaki, wrapped in a small thin paper and some wooden
chopsticks from the small bundle and handed it to her, "There isn't any
other food in the house, you'll just have to eat this until you get
home."

   Accepting the food Akane nodded then shivered at the cold. Paper
houses really didn't do much for protection from the cold elements of
the weather, and the brazier was smaller than the traditional fireplace
usually located on the houses.

   "You wouldn't get cold if you just took off those damp clothes of
yours and wrapped yourself up in a blanket." Ranma shrugged as he sat
opposite of her, "But you really don't have to follow that, it's just a
suggestion, really."

   Akane raised an eyebrow at the sarcasm that tinged his voice, 'Well
if he wanted it that way...' She tugged on the obi that held her dress,
undoing the ribbon from its place.

   "What are you doing?"

   "Well, you suggested to 'take off those damp clothes'. What does it
look like?" Akane asked as she pulled out the small ribbon that held
her hair in the ponytail Kodachi seemed to favor, spilling it over her
shoulders. She hadn't noticed that Kodachi's hair reached below her
waist before, now... she really needed a haircut.

   "Yes, but..."

   It was the first time she had seen Ranma uncomfortable other from an
argument, it was weird, she stopped undressing, "Well, you are my
husband, aren't you?"

   "No!" He stopped and then realized what he had just answered, "I
mean, yes,"

   "If it makes you uncomfortable..." Akane gave him a teasing smile.

   "It doesn't make me uncomfortable at all!"

   Akane stared at him dubiously, the look on her face suggesting that
she really didn't believe it, she took out the outer layer of Ifuku's
kimono but left the under-kimono on and wrapped herself around the
blanket that Ranma had offered her, folding Ifuku's outer garments with
her shaking hands, "Sure, that's why your right eyebrow is twitching."

   "Don't start."

   "Start on what?" There really was nothing to start; she found out
that she enjoyed teasing him. He was extremely easy to tease. "I
haven't started anything."

   They stopped for a moment, and Akane looked him over. He was more
wet than she was. Whereas she had damp clothes, he had soaked through
his shirt and drawstring pants. His pigtail hung limply to the side and
baby hair clung to the sides of his face, dripping water all over the
tatami.

   "You know, I heard somewhere that men get cold faster than women do.
It's a scientific fact." Akane whispered over her piece of okonomiyaki,
wondering if there was such a word as science in this time and age,
"Come nearer the fire."

   He didn't budge, "Afraid I'd bite?"

   He inched closer. She resisted the urge to laugh, "Am I so evil? So
much so that you wouldn't dare come near to your wife?" She doubted it
was the reason for his hesitation, but let it rest at that.

   She was surprised to find him glaring at her, "What is it you want
Kodachi? Don't tell me this is another one of your mind games. If it
is, it's getting old. Happosai is just beyond that door, my sister is
covering up for me, and we're just lucky that my old man isn't here
yet. Other than that, would you please hurry up? Do what you want to do
and get it over with."

   She didn't know where she went wrong, it had been going smoothly,
they had not been fighting, she had not said anything to provoke the
hostility she was receiving, "I really came for what I said earlier.
I'm not leaving without it."

   "Your goodbye." He echoed, "Tell me a good reason why I should?"

   He got her there. Why should he give her a goodbye? Why did it seem
so important to her anyway? She could've just stayed home and gotten
her good 'ole goodbye some other time. It was just a word.

   "I only wanted to hear it from you, Ranma. Maybe even a..." 'Maybe
even a kiss if I was lucky.' She didn't know what had possessed her to
say that. Ranma was staying distant enough as it was. Such an admission
would push him even further. She had not known she had said her
thoughts in a small whisper, but enough for him to hear.

   She stood up, the blanket dropping to her feet, forgetting the fact
that she was only wearing her under kimono and the rain outside, "Maybe
I should leave. I've disturbed you enough as it is. It looks to me that
you see me as a problem." She took a moment to stare at him, "Am I a
*problem* then? If I'm so much as a problem to you..." She didn't
finish her sentence.

   "No, wait... I didn't mean..." She heard him curse as she ran
outside. The rain greeted her. She was soaked in an instant, her hair
blocking her view, the ground muddy at her feet. 'Maybe this wasn't
such a good idea.' Akane thought as she tried to get her bearings.

   Someone caught her hand, and she tried to snatch it back, "Ranma,
let me go, I already said I was sorry, okay."

   "I -- I'm not Ranma."

   Turning around she found Ranko staring back at her, still holding
her hand, she was giving her on odd look that bordered on uncertainty,
"Oh... Ranko... I'm sorry... I thought you were..."

   "Ranma." The small girl frowned, "I know. You told me. Don't you
think you should wait out the rain?" She gave a little cough, motioning
towards Akane's current state of undress, "Besides... you're half
naked."

   Akane looked down at herself, she had forgotten that she had left
her outer garments by the small house, but she shook her head, "I'm not
going back to him. I've taken enough humiliation as it is."

   "You think going back to get your clothes is less humiliating than
running around Yuigahama in your under kimono." Ranko looked at her
incredulously, mockery tinting her voice, "I can see the logic there,
Akane."

   "Why is it that you people only remember to call me that if you
think I'm upset? If Ranma sent you here to scorn me, tell him I'm not
interested. Besides, who the hell would take notice in me?" Akane tried
to snatch back her arm from Ranko again, but found out the girl had a
surprisingly strong grip. "Would you please let me go my own way now?"

   "First of all, you'd be surprised at exactly who'll notice a twenty-
five year old woman, who's half-naked, by the way, walking *alone* in
the dark, isolated streets of Yuigahama. I should know." Ranko gave her
a look that told her to listen, and Akane was uncomfortably sure that
Ranko was right, "Secondly, how are you going to find your way back to
Rose Brier, with your energy reserves almost depleted, only a half
eaten okonomiyaki in your stomach for dinner, and tired from running?"

   "I got here, didn't I?"

   "That was different." Ranko answered, and Akane could see that the
advice Ranko was giving her was the sensible thing to do, but hell
would freeze over before she admitted that, "You had daylight. Let me
remind you that you didn't find Yuigahama, the samurai found you. What
would they do to you when you breach the border a second time?"

   It was true. All of it was true. If she had been thinking straight,
she would have asked how Ranko could possibly know that. She brushed
her soaked locks away from her face, the rain trailing down her face,
and the image she portrayed seemed so fragile, that Ranko didn't know
if Akane would survive if she let her go, "I'll manage. I'm not exactly
a porcelain doll."

   "You're distraught," Ranko sighed, her look bordering on patience
she really didn't feel, "I understand that. You've had a fight with Ra-
- with Lord Ranma. I understand that too. Now... would you please re-
consider? I won't fetch him. I promise."

   Akane looked dejectedly at her hands, and Ranko let her arm go,
"Tell my why he doesn't understand I'm trying then? At least tell me
that."

   "You must understand that there are things that are hard to accept.
Especially if these things come from you." Ranko peered at Akane's
downcast eyes, not really knowing what Akane wanted to hear from her,
"There are things that take time."

   She looked straight at Ranko, her voice lowering to a mere whisper,
unsure why she was confiding to Ranma's supposed consort of all people,
but finding herself trusting the petite woman that came to her, "How
long does he want? I don't think I can wait forever."

   "I don't think he can either."  Ranko answered in the same lowered
voice Akane had used. Ranko looked at Akane and the mess she has
started again, quite uncertain where she would go from there. She was
also very worried for her sake. Happosai was not an easy man to handle,
to be caught, Kodachi or not, meant an extreme penalty. Happosai was
not a lenient man.

   "Ranma!" The feminine voice came from the larger of the two houses;
she identified the accented voice as Shampoo's, "Is that you?"

   Ranko's head shot up at the call, and Akane heard a faint curse
coming from the girl. It was dark and the rain coupled with the fog
hindered the visibility. But Ranko's red hair made her easy to spot in
the night. Still, Akane wondered why Shampoo had associated the color
with Ranma.

   "Do you remember the way back to the sukiya?" Ranko whispered
urgently as she looked at where the Shampoo was standing. A few more
steps and they'd have an instant cat at their hands.

   "No." She was telling the truth, when she ran out, she had no point
of origin. She just ran blindly about, not knowing where she would go.

   Ranko cursed again; there was an urgent tone in her voice now that
Akane had not noticed earlier. Taking out the shorter of her two
swords, she handed it to Akane, "Here, take this. When a samurai stops
you at the periphery, show it to them. One of them is bound to
recognize it as a Saotome's sword. Tell them it's Lord Ranma's."

   There was only time to give Ranko a confused look at the sudden
change of plans, not knowing how to handle the weapon that had just
been handed to her, "Why, aren't you going with me?"

   There was a pained expression in Ranko's face as she turned to look
at Shampoo, "I can't. If anybody finds you... I can't." Ranko gave
Akane a small push towards the woods, "Go."

   Akane turned to run, clutching the short sword tightly against her
chest. The insistent tone of Ranko's voice, convincing her that it was
imperative for her not to be caught at that moment.

   Many unanswered questions filled her mind. Still, one thought burned
clear. She had sought Ranma out, and when it was his time to do so, he
wasn't the one who had come for her... and though she had hard feelings
before she left him... Ranma wasn't the one who went to get her, and
she had desperately wanted Ranko to be him.


   Ranma-chan watched as Akane stumbled towards the dim path, then
turned to look at Shampoo. She was wisely keeping to the small wooden
porch outside the house that was still shielded by the roof.

   She looked grimly at Shampoo, knowing that she was the one who
needed to advance towards her because of Shampoo's curse. It would be a
very difficult situation -- not to mention embarrassing -- for them if
Shampoo decided to take a walk in the rain.

   "<Shampoo?>" Ranma-chan called out, but was sure it was the Chinese
girl, "<Wait for me there.>" Shampoo knew that, but she wanted to make
sure that she didn't hear Akane's feet running across the trees.

   Actually, she really didn't know if Shampoo would tell on them, or
if Shampoo would even realize that she was supposed to tell on them,
but somehow it had been her first instinct. Ranma-chan stepped up to
the small porch, and flicked her pigtail away, "<Something you want,
Shampoo?>"

   Looking over Ranma-chan's shoulder, Shampoo looked at her
inquisitively, "<Weren't you talking to somebody?>"

   "<No, I was just walking in the rain.>" Somehow, Ranma-chan doubted
if Shampoo would believe that. Jusenkyo cursed victims tended to have
an affinity towards anything water related that they couldn't control.
Rain was their chief opponent. <I was caught in the rain that's all.
Pops is a bit late.>"

   "<Hmmm... I wonder how his charge reacts when they realize the panda
is your foster father.>" Shampoo smiled lightly at that, entertaining
the thought of the samurai killing the panda. It seems like everybody
wanted to know that particular story. Ranma-chan just stared, after all
these years, Shampoo still harbored anger towards Genma -- she had
known the girl could bear grudges -- just not for seven years, "<It
would sure be interesting to know.>"

   "Ahh..." An uneasy silence settled on them, Shampoo didn't want to
broach the topic of Hanae and Ranma was forced not to tell. The
situation was more awkward than the two were willing to let on. In the
end Shampoo was the one who broke the silence, deciding to keep Rian's
past for another day.

   "<I was wondering... Ranma,>" Shampoo whispered, biting her lip in
indecision, wondering if she really should continue with what had been
a moment of insanity, "<Would you mind terribly if I asked him a
favor?>"

   "<Anything for a friend,>" Ranma-chan smiled. That wasn't quite
true, she really couldn't handle a request for a kiss at that moment,
but then she doubted that Shampoo would ask that of her now.

   "<Ranma,>" Shampoo looked away, "<Couldn't you...>" There was
another pause signifying how hard Shampoo was trying to get the words
out, Ranma-chan gave the Chinese Amazon a supportive smile, "<Can't
you... love me for one night? Even if it was just pretend?>"

   She wasn't prepared for that either, Ranma-chan froze at her place,
her eyes grew wide, and almost shouted out 'what?!' Then schooled her
face before Shampoo turned to look at her for the answer.

   She had always thought Shampoo had gotten over her that she chose to
forget the past. She had always thought she had found someone else. The
Fianc�e Wars had been a trying time for all of them, and it was not
easy to look back. When it was proclaimed over, everyone had a hard
time trying to change their ways, but Cologne had always given him the
impression that Shampoo had moved on. She had seemed far too deep in
the Amazon matriarch's training now and had less time for anything
else.

   She wasn't the smartest chip out of the block when it came to things
like her fianc�es, and she had not noticed any change in Shampoo's
attitude at all, just that she was more withdrawn, more introspective.
Now, she realized that what she had mistaken for pensiveness had been a
deep sadness. Shampoo was terribly depressed.

   Before she could answer however, a panda shoved the two apart
followed by a sword-swinging samurai. 'Well, there goes the rest of our
party.' Ranma-chan thought as she shouted, "Pops! Can't you for once
look at where you're going?"

   Ranma-chan jumped from the position Genma had pushed her into, and
chased after them before Shampoo could ask her question again, Shampoo
following behind, 'I'm sorry Shampoo. This is just the way things are.'

~~~

   Ukyo cleaned up the grill, putting the extra batter away for some
other samurai who'd find himself starving. She didn't turn the grill
off completely, just wiped it away, the night was a bit cold and the
grill provided the warmth that her kimono could not.

   It was promising to be a cold month. She put away the zabuton and
wondered exactly what her Aunt Kashiko had been telling her about the
fun at Yuigahama. It seemed like any straightforward meeting.

   Samurai, liege lord, daimyo, a couple of Chinese Amazons for spice,
nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that was really special.
Yuigahama was just like any other samurai meeting she had chanced upon.

   The excitement really had started and ended with Genma Saotome's
arrival. Genma had entered with his sign that said [Please don't kill
me!] A samurai she didn't know, but who was probably a Saotome, Ranma-
chan was trying to get the samurai off the panda, Shampoo walking
dejectedly in, Nabiki-kun calling for hot water, Happosai ordering them
to the next room... and in a second, they were all tucked away behind
the shoji. Leaving her alone.

   She had been too amused to help them then, and now she really didn't
know what to do. The sounds of battle reached her ears, and she shook
her head, 'Well at least they sound like they're having fun over
there.'

   The rain had lessened, but the air had turned more than chilly and
Ukyo suppressed a light shiver, she had not brought anything for the
cold. Pulling a small rug, she started to wipe off the grill, if the
samurai wanted more okonomiyaki later -- they'd just have to wait for
it to heat up.

   After a moment, Nabiki-kun slid out of the shoji, shutting the doors
behind him, leaning against it. He looked like he'd been through hell
and it was a rare sight to see him -- her as such.

   "Nabiki!" Ukyo called out, but he didn't look, "Okay, Shizukama,
then."

   Just as she said the words, Nabiki-kun turned and stared at her then
offered a weak smile, as if he'd only seen her now, he really was
frazzled, and Ukyo had never seen Nabiki frazzled before, "Come sit by
the grill. It's warmer."

   She took out the zabuton she had just kept, but Nabiki-kun had
turned to look at the window instead, the rain was still pouring, but
it had lessened to a slight drizzle.

   Ukyo turned towards the door, a soaking wet furoshiki leaning
against the wooden planks, a small oiled umbrella, and a half-eaten
okonomiyaki that Nabiki had turned to get before he went into the
'briefing room' as Ukyo had termed it. "Are those yours?"

   Nabiki-kun turned towards it, a puzzled expression in his face then
nodded, "Yes, they're mine."

   "Do you want to talk?" Ukyo asked, Nabiki-kun seemed to be a little
more preoccupied than the usual, and he seemed to need a friend right
now. She wanted so much to give to Nabiki what Nabiki had given her all
those years ago. "Is there a problem?"

   Nabiki-kun turned to look towards the window. To Ukyo, it looked
like he was seeing much more than the trees, the fog and the rain, and
his gaze lingered for far more, "It's not so much as a problem. It's
more of a..." He stopped to think for the appropriate words, "Riddle I
can't fix."

   That was a new one. Nabiki Saotome always had the answer to
everything, "It'll plot its own course. In time, you'll get your
answer. Some riddles... aren't meant to be answered." She wished she
had more advice than vague words, but Nabiki-kun didn't seem to mind.

   "Ucchan... about last --"

   Whatever he was about to say, was cut off by a samurai opening the
door, a dead pigeon in hand and a wet and crumpled note in the other.
The samurai left his wet slippers out of the room and padded up to the
tatami. He waved the note in the air, eyes searching the room, "Where's
Lord Happosai?"

   Both of them pointed to the shoji that Nabiki-kun had come out from,
"Just make sure what you have there is important. Lord Happosai doesn't
like interruptions."

   The samurai didn't answer him as he barged in the shoji. Nabiki-kun
raised three fingers, a smile playing on his face, "Three."

   "What are you doing?" Ukyo whispered.

   "Just watch," He brought it down to two.

   "Are you sure about this?" Ukyo asked skeptically.

   "Perfectly." It was down to one now, "I'd stay clear of that part of
the shoji if I were you."

   "Why?"

   There was nothing left, a loud crash was heard and the samurai they
had been talking about flew out of the shoji, and impacted into the
wall opposite them, "Lord Happosai's predictable, as always."

   "I'm glad you find this amusing, boy."  Happosai puffed from the
wrecked shoji as he stepped out, the samurai were still seated in order
that he had left him, Shampoo and Ranma bowed to each other, it had
been the two of them Happosai had chosen for the fight before the
samurai was interrupted.

   He walked over to the man and picked out the letter from his hands,
"Make sure he gets treated." One of the samurai rushed to comply, "Who
owns this house?"

   "Kindoshi, one of the wealthier merchants of the region." Ranma
answered.

   "Make sure his shoji and tatami are replaced." Happosai ordered as
he turned to read the letter. He then turned towards Nabiki, "Ranma,
why are you out here?"

   Ukyo placed her hand against her mouth as she stared at Ranma, whom
a while ago she had thought was Nabiki in her cursed form. She had had
her chance to talk to him and she had blown it because of utter
stupidity. After all this time, she still couldn't differentiate one
from the other in an instant. Damn.

   Nabiki-kun had noticed this and raised his eyebrows.

   "The important things were finished a while ago. You were pitting me
up against almost every one of my relatives. I was getting tired."
Ranma shrugged, "I needed some fresh air."

   "Tired when you were winning?" Happosai shook his head as he threw
the letter at Ranma, who deftly caught it before it cut him across the
cheek, "If that's true then Genma hasn't trained you the way you should
be. You should be interested in the contents of that letter, boy."

   Ranma unrolled the parchment paper that had been inside the small
cylinder at the bird's leg, and scanned it. His head shot up as he
looked at Nabiki; a frown starting to form on his face.

   "What's wrong?" Nabiki-kun asked as he strode towards him. Ranma
handed him the letter.

   "We've got to go," Ranma said as he frowned, "It's from mother.
Someone has torched Nerima to the ground."

~~~

   Kodachi looked at the blaze with mild interest. The light sparkled
against her eyes. She was almost complete now. Only the topmost layer
of her skin was missing. Her muscles were better than when she was
nineteen; the peasant that had been chosen for her was not half that
bad.

   It was also a fast body that knew how to fight; she needn't train
much to get everything in order. She should be readying to go for Rose
Brier; there were so much to do, and so little time to do it.

   With Nerima down, Rose Brier was already in her hands. All it needed
was a little tweaking in their part. She admired the fires as another
convulsion took over; fires were always beautiful, "Are they still in
Yuigahama?"

   "Yes."

   'Good.' Kodachi thought as she saw another courier pigeon in the
air, Gosunkugi raised his bow to kill it, but Kodachi held him back,
"Let the bird go."

   "We've set three birds free already." Gosunkugi complained, "Samurai
are going to get here."

   Kodachi looked at him, giving him a patronizing gaze, as if she was
talking to a three-year-old boy, "That's the point."

   She really didn't need the whole of Nerima to burn. She actually
didn't really need Nerima to burn. Just a suitable enough distraction
to get the twins away from Rose Brier and the fire was a perfect
excuse. It also helped matters that Ranma had taken a lot of the
samurai to reinforce Yuigahama. 'Ranma's banal as always.'

   "Then what's the point of loosing all of these men, to make a small
burn in a city that won't make a difference in Ranma Saotome's life?"

   "Patience is a virtue, Gosunkugi." Kodachi smiled, smelling the rose
in her hand, she really didn't want people thinking for her, she was
doing enough of the thinking already. If she had to explain her plans
to every single lout that passed her way, it wouldn't be much of a plan
then.

   "I want to make Ranma Saotome's life a living hell."

   Kodachi smiled, Gosunkugi's plans were simple, and they bordered on
hate for Ranma Saotome that she had nurtured. Gosunkugi probably didn't
even know why he hated Ranma. He just did. Kodachi's reasons ran far
deeper, "It can be arranged. For what is hell, really, but a total lack
of happiness?"

~~~

   Nabiki-kun stretched his muscles as they neared their house, it had
been a long walk and he was tired because of the entire event. The
lengthy walk home wasn't really helping his sore muscles any and he
wanted rest. Trekking through Yuigahama just after midnight, after he
had been fighting Shampoo was not one of his favorite pastimes.

   At that moment, he envied Cologne for that cane she had, as it was,
not a single speck of mud touched Cologne or her immaculately white
hair. Nabiki-kun shuddered as he stepped into a puddle of it, almost
groaning with distaste when the patch of mud covered his entire shoe.
The downpour the night before had made traveling harder.

   The first twin arches of Rose Brier greeted him, and it was good to
know he was home. Tired and irked by the fact that he would be leaving
almost immediately after they arrived, he was still happy to be home.

   Although what he really wanted was a long bath, his usual attire and
the right balance of body parts. Sasuke was with them instantly, the
black ninja bowing to each of them.

   "We have received word from Yokohama, sirs. It seems like the city
has been attacked." It was not the best news that could've greeted
their ears when they arrived home.

   Ranma turned towards Shampoo and Cologne, "I'm sorry that we had to
go home before Happosai dismissed us..."

   "Nonsense child, I already got what I wanted from Happosai,
apologies aren't necessary." She turned towards Shampoo and raised her
eyebrow, "Shampoo seems a little tired as well. The both of you has
tired my great-granddaughter, you have improved much since we last
met."

   Both bowed at the compliment, and Ranma turned to Sasuke again, "Is
Kodachi home?"

   The question surprised Nabiki-kun. To his knowledge, Kodachi was as
isolated as the day she fell on that horse. She has not attempted to
leave Rose Brier. Ranma had stopped asking that question since their
trip to the border last month, because it was obvious that Kodachi
didn't plan to leave them any time soon.

   "She arrived some sticks before you did, sirs," Sasuke motioned
towards the house, "It seems she forgot her outer kimono and her shoes,
she was wearing nothing but her chemise. She was soaking wet and
distressed, but she was otherwise okay. Shall I call her?"

   "No... no." Ranma shook his head, and then turned towards Cologne
and Shampoo, "I hope you don't mind that Nabiki and I will be leaving
you at the house again. I hope that we have more time, but we have to
take care of those fires."

   "You worry too much, son-in-law. We'll be fine. And we love teaching
your children." Cologne had managed to take an interest in the
students' martial arts, and though Shampoo had tried to hide it, she
also tried to put as much help in training them.

   "Serve dinner, Sasuke,"

   Nabiki-kun turned towards his companions, not very hungry from the
full okonomiyaki he had eaten, "If you don't mind I really would like a
bath." Nabiki-kun raised an eyebrow. The three barely acknowledged him
with nods, and he took off ahead of them to rest his tired muscles in a
relaxing bath, and at least recover his true form while at it.

   He entered the house silently, passing by his room to get a fresh
set of Chinese clothes, only to find Kodachi looking out to the bay. He
had not been planning to talk to her, but Kodachi turned around
immediately, and offered a little smile, hiding something behind her
back.

   "You're home."

   "You're wet." Nabiki-kun noted, stating the obvious, an important
point trickling in the back of his head, but could not be brought out,
"Is there something we need to talk about?"

   "Not if we're going to have a repeat of what we talked about
tonight."

   So that's where Ranma disappeared to -- he should have realized that
when he had asked if Kodachi had gotten home. 'The sneak' he had let
her cover up while he was having a little fun with Kodachi... or was
it... "It depends on your definition of 'repeat'." Technically,
whatever they would talk about could not be a repeat of last night,
because there *was* no last night. At least, not for Nabiki.

   "So... how did the conference go?" Kodachi was trying hard to strike
up a conversation. She'd find out that Nabiki didn't want one.

   Nabiki-kun shrugged, "It's a meeting. What do you expect?" He rolled
his eyes "A meeting is a gathering of people who singly can do nothing
but together decide that nothing can be done. It's a classic. What do
you think?"

   That silenced her... for a wile, "Ranma... I -- I really want to
work things out." Kodachi looked out of the window, "Can we try to work
things out?"

   Nabiki-kun froze up, this was going against every rule he had set up
for himself when he was a child. Never try to pretend to be Ranma when
it involved a woman in love with him and she was talking about that
particular infatuation at the moment. It brought her immense trouble
with his brother and with his fianc�es. That was... if what Kodachi was
showing *was* love.

   "We can *try*." Nabiki-kun sighed, "Making it work is another
story."

   "That's all I ask for, really." Kodachi answered softly as she
turned out to look at the bay again.

   Nabiki-kun took this all in and stepped towards the bathhouse,
leaving Kodachi to her thoughts. Nabiki-kun shut the shoji behind him
and leaned against it.

   Kodachi had given him more than he was willing to know about his
brother's love life. He wanted that knowledge given to him, not
extracted from Kodachi. He had realized that night that he knew so
little of his brother's new feelings for Kodachi. It unsettled him.

   He always knew where things stood, and Kodachi having amnesia threw
everything off the scales. Did his brother truly love Kodachi? That was
easily answered; the harder question would be, if it was all a game
that Kodachi played.

   Ranma might not pick up all the pieces if his heart was broken
again. How far was Ranma willing to go with Kodachi this time?

   Apparently, Ranma and Kodachi had been moving one step forward and
two steps back from each other. At the rate they were going, they were
never going to meet. But then... they had crossed that final gulf
tonight... with whatever happened, it was obvious the animosity that
was between them had significantly lessened. 'Mental note to self: have
a *very* serious conversation with brother dear regarding his love
life.'

   Question was, did he like it?

   In the end it really didn't matter anyway... he wasn't his brother
and only Ranma could decide for himself. Too many questions, but not
all questions had answers... and not all answers were pleasant ones.



   Akane watched Ranma disappear into the bathhouse and sighed, so it
wasn't the time to talk, but when was it time? She couldn't just push
herself blindly towards him. She couldn't.

   She turned back to the window, revealing the short sword Ranko had
given her when she had run away. Everything was so complicated.
Everything was so hard.

   'I haven't even admitted to myself that I loved him yet.' Akane's
eyes grew wide at the unbidden thought. It wasn't a startling
revelation, more of a gradual change that her subconscious mind had
been aware of, but it had surprised her.

   She loved him. It was silly and irrational, but it was true.

   She loved the way his black pigtail stood when he was cornered, the
way it seemed so much a part of him -- yet not. She liked the way he
moved, so gracefully like the cat that prowled the night, the way he
handled his sword. She liked the way his blue eyes twinkled in the
night -- the way the night seemed to call out to him, his eyes that
said... everything. Kodachi had hurt him. She had hurt him pretty bad.

   That was when Akane realized that she had fallen for her husband...
and she had fallen hard.

   She looked at the sword as if it will give her the answers that she
didn't have, as if it would give her a sign that she was on the right
track. But it didn't.

   'Why do I have to love a stupid, brash, arrogant jerk?' She asked as
she looked at the small sword that Ranko had given her. The sword had
no answers for her, 'So, I love Ranma... What the hell am I supposed to
do now?'

   She had been a fool. She had been trying for weeks for him to
understand her, trying to let him see that she wasn't Kodachi, that she
was different. All she has succeeded in doing was falling in love with
him.

   For the first time in days, Akane wondered what she was going to
tell her husband and feared the days coming ahead. Before she did
things because she thought it was what was wanted of her... now she
wanted his love because she wanted him reciprocate hers.

   She hadn't even known why she was doing it. She was desperately
trying for him to see her change; that she had failed to see it in
herself. Whereas before rejection had been accepted fact, now it meant
so much more. It was an end. Of everything. What she had worked so hard
to accomplish might just end up in pieces because Ranma Saotome didn't
love her.

   But she feared the days coming up most of all. Because when before
the thought of rejection had been a mere passing instance that she had
not dwelled upon, now, rejection was a looming thing that she had to
deal with. If her husband didn't want her, she had to deal with it.

   She leaned out of the window, the sea crashing against the shore
below, 'How could I live with rejection now, knowing that I love him?'

~~~

   Ranma sat against the roof, his mind wandering over the recent
events. Nerima and Yokohama were torched at the same time. Coincidence?
He wasn't a strong believer in the word. People make things happen;
fate doesn't screw your life up, people do.

   Sometimes you yourself did. It was his fault that Nerima and
Yokohama were poorly protected. He should have known that any enemy
would have attacked there. But the attacks have centered on the border,
he was sure they wouldn't bring it inside Sagami.

   He had been wrong, and a lot of people died because of his mistake.
He closed his eyes at the impending headache, and opened them to find
out he wasn't alone.

   "Hey." Nabiki leaned against him for support as she sat down beside
him on the smooth roof, her fingers resting slightly against his
shoulders for balance before she let go.

   "Hey," Ranma murmured as he turned towards his twin sister. Echoes
of words he had exchanged with Shampoo not too long ago.

   "I thought I'd find you here." Nabiki smiled as she looked at the
stars, "Wherever we are, they still look the same, don't they?"

   "Yes, they do," Ranma answered, it had been a pastime when they were
younger, because they had nothing left but their own devices. They had
always stared at the stars together, because back then, they only had
each other. They had named what they thought they saw and laughed at
their silliness. It was something that they had always enjoyed
together.

   "How are you?" Their conversations usually bordered on the Sagami or
on the problems of Nerima, they rarely had time for each other, and
such conversations were precious, "It's been a while. You seem tired
Ranma, does the night bother you?"

   "Hmmm? No... no."

   "Then what does?" Nabiki asked as she folded her arms and rested her
head against them, "Does your wife trouble your thoughts again?"

   "Does your husband trouble yours?"

   Nabiki smiled, "A good question." She sighed, they were too alike
her brother and her, she was married to a person she didn't love, and
he was married to a person who didn't want love. "Sometimes."

   "Sometimes." Ranma echoed his sister, then he looked at her
thoughtfully for a moment, "Nabiki, have you ever wished that you were
born out of caste? That you weren't samurai? Maybe even eta?"

   "Will being eta make a difference?" Nabiki had always been like
that, asking question for a question, and never really giving an
answer.

   "I guess not."

   "Then I'd rather not." Nabiki reclined on the roof, her hands behind
her back, trying to get comfortable on the cold tile, "We were born
into privilege, and it means certain responsibilities. Being heir must
weigh you down so much."

   "It's not so much as being an heir as being a puppet," He copied
Nabiki's position, lying down next to her, "I don't like being played
as a fool, Nabiki. I'm turning out to be one."

   "No one can make you foolish without your consent." Nabiki smiled,
it was one of their old lessons and it received a smile from Ranma as
well, "There, that's so much better."

   Silence rang in the air just as loud as any other words would have,
a cat purred and both shivered at the sound, "Do you think the amnesia
is real?"

   "Do you want it to be real?" Nabiki asked as both of them registered
the sounds of the household preparing for the night.

   "Maybe."

   "<You know... before, when I met you and Kodachi together... when I
was granted omiai I was happy that Happosai had settled you in with a
good wife. You seemed happy on your wedding day too.>" Nabiki sighed,
brought out of weariness of the long years that had passed, "<But I
knew you didn't love her, maybe like, but not love... Now, I'm not
quite sure. I think you're managing to fall in love with her.>"

   "Do you think I'm playing out my cards wrong, Nabiki? Am I making a
big mistake?" The worry in his voice didn't go past Nabiki.

   "You aren't perfect, Ranma." Nabiki whispered, "You're twenty-nine,
you're allowed to a few mistakes. It doesn't matter that you're heir to
Anything Goes, that you're a hatamoto, that you're samurai. It's all
just words, and when you strip all of that... you're... you. Does that
make any sense? Life's like that, what matters is that we learn."

   "When you strip all of that, I'm nothing."

   Nabiki smiled as she gave his hand a comforting squeeze, "Is that an
inferiority complex I'm feeling, Ranma? Careful, it could be bad for
your chi output." It earned her a small smile, "That's not true Ranma,
when you strip all that, you have an extremely honorable man, who's
loyal to his family, who's a good father to his children and a good
brother to me."

   "Thanks, Nabiki." He sighed, "You're always there when I need you."

   "It's what twins are for. So that you never walk down a path alone."
Nabiki sat up then looked down on her brother, "I have asked you this
before, and I will ask you again. I want the truth. Do you love her?"

   He looked away; she needn't mention the name for him to know who she
was talking about. "Maybe, I don't know anymore, Nabiki. Everything's
confusing me. She's different."

   "How so?"

   "Have you heard her laugh? It's sweet, and she has the most
beautiful smile... that's almost... cute." Nabiki raised her hand to
his forehead, "What the?!"

   "No... you don't have a temperature." She shook her head
exaggeratedly and clucked her tongue, heaving him up so that he was
sitting, "Have you been taking drugs again, because if you have, I'm
going to be forced to tell mom that you're--"

   "Nabiki!" Ranma sat up taking her hand away from his forehead, "I'm
not delusional. I don't take opium and you know it. I'm telling you the
truth. Akane's not an illusion."

   Ranma didn't know if Nabiki's look was sympathetic or disapproving,
"You *are* in love. I've never been surer of the fact than now. I wish
you could've heard yourself 'she has the most beautiful smile... that's
almost... cute...'" She shook her head, "I've heard kawaii used by
kids, but never by a grown up."

   "Nabiki! I'm serious here."

   "I'm serious, too. Damn it, Ranma." Nabiki took a deep breath,
"We're leaving tomorrow, Ranma. I'm sure we won't be back for a week or
so. Kodachi is lying awake right now puzzling why the master of the
house isn't sleeping, and it's not because she wants him in her bed. I
just don't want to see you get hurt."

   "I know."

   "Then you better listen to me, Ranma and take this to heart." Nabiki
held his shirt and shook it a couple of times for emphasis, "I want you
happy, and if Kodachi can give you that happiness, I'll step aside.
Kodachi can't give you what you want..."

   "I'll watch my back for you."

   "See that you do." Nabiki stood up and jumped down from the roof,
"Good night, brother. Be sure you're up by dawn."

   Ranma waved, "I'll stay here a while longer."

   Jumping down from the roof, Nabiki gave her brother one last look
before she entered the doors of the house below. Ranma looked at her
then back at the stars, 'Question is, what do I tell mom when I see her
tomorrow?'

   It was obvious that when Happosai made him marry Kodachi, Nodoka was
less than happy with the match. Hell, she was livid when she found out
who exactly Kodachi Kuno was.

   For her to find out that her son was falling in love with the
woman... Ranma shook his head. His mother wasn't unreasonable.
Traditional, yes, over-protective, yes, but never unreasonable. He just
wondered if falling in love with Kodachi was something she deemed
within the realm of reason.

   He sat up from his prone position and massaged his already pounding
head, "Akane... what the hell am I going to do now?"

   As if by cue, Kodachi walked out of the same doors Nabiki had
entered not too long ago.

   Her hair was down, and she was wearing one of the new kimonos he had
asked Yofuku-san to make for her. It was the kimono he favored, the one
with the moon and the stars embroidered in deep midnight blue silk.

   For the second time in months, Ranma was looking down at his wife.
She wrapped her hands around herself and shivered lightly in the cold
breeze. It was cold, the weather had improved, but it was still cold.

   He turned to go, but she called out, "Ranma, is that you?" Having
been spotted changed his plans a bit, as he landed down the grass, a
few feet from her. He hadn't been planning to talk to her, but she had
called...

   'The second time I've been spotted in one night, I *must* be getting
rusty,' Ranma thought as he turned to face her, "Kodachi, shouldn't you
be sleeping?"

   "Yes, but the man of the house seems to take his precious time in
doing so," she tilted her head, her finger tapping her chin lightly,
"Would you happen to know him?"

   He didn't take the bait, and he walked towards her, "It's always
hard to sleep at night... especially now, the nights are cold here.
They usually are."

   "Oh?" he didn't realize the double meaning the words had for Akane.

   "Nights here are always cold." He turned to her and watched her
shiver again, "Nabiki and I are leaving tomorrow. There have been some
problems at some of the cities."

   "And when exactly were you planning to tell me this? Hmm?" Akane
asked, the slightest tone of teasing in her voice.

   "I wasn't going to."

   'I guess I should be happy with the blunt honesty rather than
calculated lies.' She thought, but a lie would have been so much better
to live with, and would have hurt far less. "I see. Why the sudden
change?"

   "No reason." Ranma didn't turn to face her, reaching the part of
uneasiness in the conversation he hated. Silence is something easily
misunderstood, and silence was a part in the conversation he could
never control. "You should get inside. It's getting cold." He didn't
turn to watch her go.

   "Don't you want your sword back?" Akane asked before she left
fidgeting with the hem of her dress, "I mean you might need it..."

   He gave a sigh, "Keep it. You need it more than I do." Akane nodded
as she turned to conform to his wishes, moving towards the house. She
stopped before she reached the steps and turned around, her hands
shaking. For a while, Akane didn't know whether it was from nervousness
or the breeze. "I just want to ask you something."

   There was a smile playing around his face when he turned to her,
"Everybody wants to ask something from me tonight. Why should you be
any different?" He sighed when he saw her dejected look, "I'm sorry."
It was the first time she had heard him apologize sincerely for
anything, it was entirely out of character, "I didn't mean anything by
it. What do you want to ask?"

   Gulping, Akane took a deep breath as she walked towards him one more
time. When she finally stood inches away, she stopped and whispered, "I
just wanted to ask if..."

   "My buttons aren't going to answer you," Ranma said exasperatedly,
when she stopped in front of him, her eyes fixed on his shirt collar,
which was on eye level. She had no courage to look into his eyes but
she had complied with his unvoiced wish.

   Predictably, she lost her nerve almost immediately; Ranma had the
most expressive eyes she had ever seen. Right now, she didn't know if
she could ask what she had wanted to, "I think I should go."

   "That's twice you've told me that in one night." Ranma got her arm
before she could run out on him, pulling her back in front of him, so
that she was facing him again, "Don't run away when you're talking to
me."

   She nodded then turned to face his buttons again, this time, he let
her stare at them, "You're one to talk. You sent *Ranko* after me. It's
almost as if you *wanted* me to run away."

   "That's not true." Ranma answered, not letting go of her arm
thinking that she might run away from him again, "There were
circumstances that prevented me from going after you."

   "You didn't." It was probably the worst she had felt in days. At
least they weren't getting into a fight. At least they were talking.

   "I won't defend myself for my actions. I cannot reason when there is
no reason that you'll accept." Ranma answered, finally letting go of
her arm, "If you want to leave and run away again, you may do so."

   That made her think, but she didn't turn to leave... instead, she
continued what she had set out to do. "I was wondering... Ranma... Can
you prove that you don't love me? If you can... I'll... leave... I'll
leave Rose Brier. I won't bother you again."

   "Prove... that I don't love you?" He asked her in the same way she
had asked him, in a small barely audible whisper.  She was close enough
for him to feel her breath against his thin Chinese shirt. "Can you?"

   Akane could feel his breath was warm against her shoulder, and his
eyes looking intently at hers. And maybe because she lost her courage
Akane decided to stare at the top button of his Chinese shirt. "Maybe."

   He was amused by her request, not knowing what to do next, "How do
you propose I do that, Akane?"

   She finally gathered up the courage to look at his eyes, facing up
to the rejection she might see there, "By giving me what I asked for."

   "You want your goodbye." He looked at her, confused, it was the most
persistent demand he had ever received from her, and it was also the
most difficult to give; it troubled him. "It's the strangest request
you have ever asked me."

   Akane shook her head, "Prove it, Ranma, prove that you don't love me
and I'll leave you alone. It's what you want isn't it?"

   He stared at her; it was almost as if he was talking to her through
those eyes of his, "We won't know until I give you what you ask for."

   "And will you give it to me?"

   "Tell me this is real first. Swear to me that this isn't a mind
game." He needed some assurance that what she was asking for was what
he thought she was asking for.

   Akane's finger reached out towards Ranma's lips stopping whatever
more he was going to say, finally gathering the courage to look at his
eyes again, "I thought we were past this conversation."

   "I assure you my patience is tested every day."

   "I swear." Akane whispered, and Ranma gave Akane the kiss that she
had asked for a few hours before.



   Shampoo backed away from the roof, swinging inside the shoji. Her
grandmother raised an eyebrow at her entrance but she didn't comment.
She knew the moment she had watched Kodachi turn back to talk to Ranma
that she shouldn't have watched.

   She knew that it had been an infringement of their privacy and that
she was trespassing. But she had wanted to see. Some would say it was
sadistic; she would like to think of it as being realistic.

   Ranma had no part in her life anymore; she had been resigned to the
fact that he had been married seven years ago. But it was only now that
he showed love for Kodachi.

   It had taken her seven years to get over his marriage. How long
would it take for her to get over Ranma falling in love?

                     ||-------------------------||

   Shampoo dropped herself from Ryoga's shoulder, landing perfectly on
her cane, "Here you are sonny boy, the Ichimoto Towers, room 743."
Shampoo unlocked the door in an instant.

   "How did--"

   "I open the door? Amazon Technique buried in 2000 years of history."
Shampoo smiled as he stared at her, now she knew why her grandmother
always answered *that* particular answer. It was a grand feeling for
someone to feel ... awed.

   "I hope you don't get lost again, sonny boy." She pointed down the
halls towards the elevator, "I doubt if I'll be able to find you
again."

   "Thanks, granny." Ryoga answered as he started to go inside. He
stopped then looked at her, "But why did you tell me all of this? You
could have skipped the part of your request... or the one when you were
looking at Ranma and Akane... or..."

   "I felt that you needed it," Shampoo answered, she shook her head,
"We both lost something, Ryoga. I think you got the worse end of it.
You lost the woman you loved to a man more than two hundred years
dead."

   "You lost him twice."

   "No... I lost him only once." Shampoo said, shaking her head, "I
lost him when he married Kodachi, he wasn't mine to loose when he fell
in love with Akane. Not anymore."

   "Did you love your husband?"

   "Technically, Ranma *was* my husband," she smiled, as she nodded,
"But yes, I understand what you're asking me, and I did love him. But
there's something different about your first love, Ryoga, and Ranma was
my first. Of course, I never told anyone this."

   "Then why tell me?"

   "Because I felt that you needed to know. We're both in the same
boat, you and me." Then as if to dismiss the bleak thought Shampoo
smiled again. She nudged Ryoga into his apartment, "I'll be waiting to
hear from you after you read those letters, Ryoga."

   "Thank you."

   "You're welcome," Ryoga turned to read the letters once again, when
Shampoo called out, "Treasure her letters, Ryoga, they were sent with
love."

   With that, she walked away. There was something different when she
walked those streets again; it was as if she was more alone now, than
she had been before, the people more daunting.

   The follies of the young, 'To be young again...', the heaviness of
her heart increasing as she walked farther and farther from Ryoga's
apartment, choosing the busy streets rather than go roof hopping,
choosing the longer road than the shorter one. Ryoga had brought back
so many memories, and so many mistakes.

   "Maybe I shouldn't have granted this favor." Shampoo grumbled as she
steadily walked through the roads of Tokyo, her hand firmly gripping
her great-grandmother's staff. 'Ranma never did answer my question...'

   Shampoo sighed again loosing herself in the crowd, 'He never
answered if he could love me... even if it *was* just pretend.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||-----------^_^-----------||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Footnotes:
none (gasp! it's a miracle!!)

			  ||-----------^_^-----------||
Author's Ramblings:

Okay, It's not my best, but I like it :)

People have been telling me to get them together, and this is the best
I can do for now. Please, they have to have a few problems before a
happy ending. Sleeping Beauty had to sleep, The Beast had to be the
beast before becoming a prince, etc, etc. :) (You get the idea)

I released this over a year ago in FF.N, partially because I have
been prodded eagerly, and partly because I thought it was finished.
Now, a year later, my pre-readers have proven me wrong. :)

The formatting of the chapter is different because this is... not
Akane's letter, as most of the story has been, this chapter has been
Shampoo's story. :)



Ifuku and her husband doesn't come out of this one, sorry. More on them
in chapter 11 and 12 :) (You're dying to know what's the twist in
them aren't you?) Not just yet. Patience is a virtue (I'm quoting
people too much)

I'm just about giving up on predicting when I'm getting the next
chapters out. So no, I don't know when the next chapters are getting
out no, I don't know what's going to happen next.

YES, I'm going to finish it. It ends at around chapters 17-20 (with one
epilogue. Progress: Chapter 16 is halfway through, I have writer's block
go figure. I'm not releasing chapter 11 until I've heard from ALL of my
pre-readers)
Thanks for enduring the long rant (possibly skipping the long rant)

There, now we're finished :)

~~iCe~~

PS. My e-mail adress is iCe_an6el@yahoo.com
(I love receiving letters if just for a pleasant hi, I always answer
back, I'm *that* talkative, if not prompt)

Homepage: http://iCe.esmartdesign.com/

The Packrat's Homepage:http://members.tripod.com/the_packrat/anime.html


		  	  ||-----------^_^-----------||
ICQ: 51376120 - I hardly use ICQ anymore, but go ahead and try

Please be reminded send mail to me at: iCe_an6el@yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||-----------^_^-----------||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I write when the spirit moves, and I make sure it moves everyday :)
									~~Unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||-----------^_^-----------||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





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