- The Traveler -
By Louise McCrowe

- Chapter 2 : Twin Arrows -

Ryouga barely dodged out of the way as the other boy drove his umbrella 
into the ground previously occupied by him.  He turned around to face him, 
reaching for his own umbrella, remembering that he left it at entrance to 
the kitchen at the Tendo residence.  It didn't matter, anyway.  He could 
take care of a plagiarist with his bare hands.

Then, he got a good look at the features of the boy attacking him.

"Ranma?  What's the matter with you, have you gone crazy?"  Ryouga shouted 
at the pigtailed boy in front of him.  So, not only didn't Ranma have the 
courtesy to wait for a challenge before challenging him, he went out of his 
way to mock him?  Wearing his clothes and umbrella?  How dare he? How dare he!

"Shut up and fight, you pig!" he shifted his grip on the umbrella and went 
for a thrust.

The thrust connected solidly with Ryouga's forehead, who just stood 
there.  For a second, the scene was frozen.  The pigtailed boy, umbrella 
thrust forward, the fanged boy, standing there with his fists clenched, and 
an umbrella right between the eyes.  The owner of the umbrella was so 
surprised that there wasn't the slightest attempt to dodge that he entirely 
forgot about the fight for a split second.

That was all it took.  Ryouga let out an incomprehensible battle cry, 
understandably, since he was just shouting without bothering to form 
words.  Again, Ranma mocked him.  Again, he was reminded of whose fault it 
was exactly that he turned into a pig.  He let his fist fly, connecting 
solidly with his opponent's side, knocking the wind out of him.

"Fine, Ranma!  If this is what you want, prepare to--" Ryouga paused to 
look at the figure on the ground. "Ranma?"  He nudged the figure with his 
foot, ignoring the fact that it could very well be a feint.  "Ranma?" he 
repeated, flipping the boy so that he was laying on his back.  He looked 
thoroughly knocked out.

"What the hell?"  Ryouga said, mostly to himself.  No way Ranma would fall 
with just a punch.  Even a lucky one.  Then, a thought occurred to him: 
He'd defeated Ranma.  Not only that, but it was a valid victory.  He was 
challenged, and he knocked him out, with one punch, to boot.  He'd been 
training in the mountains for a while, and had increased his 
strength.  Obviously it proved too much for Ranma.  He'd defeated Ranma 
before -- he fondly remembered carrying a knocked-out Ranma into the Tendo 
dojo after the shishihokodan -- so it could definitely happen again.

He sighed.  Or maybe it meant Ranma was drugged, or under a spell, or sick, 
or any of the dozens of different things that could happen.

"Still," he thought, looking at the boy at his feet, "he deserves it."

"Ryouga!" came a shout in a very familiar voice.  Ryouga turned towards it, 
and noticed Akane running towards then.

"Akane!" he answered, waving and smiling, "Hi, how's it going?"

She totally ignored him and knelt besides the unconscious boy, a worried 
and angry look on her face.  "Damn it, Ranma.  Why do you always pick on 
poor Ryouga?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Ryouga said, a hand behind his head, "I'm 
OK."  He hadn't felt this good in a long time.  He'd just defeated 
Ranma.  Akane was worried about him.  The sun was shining, without a cloud 
in the sky.  He hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Who cares about you, you jerk?" she snarled at him, "Help me get Ryouga to 
Dr. Tofu."

"Uh-- wh-what?" Ryouga stuttered, flabbergasted by the apparent turnaround 
in Akane's behavior.

"Fine!" She put her arms around the limp body and pulled him on to her 
back, while saying in more than a mildly annoyed voice at Ryouga, "If 
that's what you want, I'll take him there myself."

She hooked her arms under his legs, and started walking away, when Ryouga 
finally found his voice. "Akane, I'm right here!"

Akane looked at him with what seemed to be curiosity, quickly being 
replaced by a much more open hostility.

"Honestly, Ranma.  Get over yourself," she said, and with that, stomped 
off, carrying 'Ryouga' on her back.

Ryouga, on his part, stayed rooted to his spot.  Akane needed 
glasses.  That was the only explanation.  She had probably noticed that 
Ranma was wearing the same clothes and Ryouga, and from far away, they 
looked the same.  She took one look at the fight, and assumed that Ryouga 
was the one who lost.  OK, his pride could deal with that.  Usually Ranma 
won, not always, but usually.  She probably didn't notice the pigtail, his 
lack of fangs, his face, or how light he would be, compared to 
Ryouga.  Akane definitely needed glasses.

Hoping against hope that he remembered where Dr. Tofu's clinic was, being 
there only once, he set out in pursuit of Akane.

---

Ryouga panted and gasped, attempting to get his breath back.  He had been 
running as fast as he could to catch up with Akane, and he was certain that 
he would have covered less ground if he took a train.  He'd only been 
running for about an hour, but had been doing it at a breakneck pace, 
certain that Akane was always 'just around the corner'.  The fact that it 
always seemed to be the same corner didn't exactly register with Ryouga, 
and he couldn't help thinking in what great shape Akane must be, to cover 
such a great distance carrying someone else.

For the umpteenth time, Ryouga stopped someone -- in this case being one of 
a couple of elderly women -- and asked her if she knew where Dr. Ono Tofu's 
clinic would happen to be.

She looked at the boy for a second, then at her companion.  She pointed at 
the sign on the wall.  It read "Dr. Ono Tofu - Acupressure, Acupuncture, 
Moxibustion, Obscure Knowledge Reference."  Then she pointed at the big 
neon sign flashing above them, saying "Dr. Tofu's Clinic", with a big arrow 
pointing at the building.  Then to a sign on the street which read "Get 
your bones into place - Dr. Ono Tofu", and finally to the mariachi band 
currently playing a catchy little tune as advertising.

Slightly embarrassed, Ryouga thanked the couple and went into the clinic, 
seeing the "Ono" sign on the door.  Once inside, he looked around, deciding 
which direction he should go to, and deciding it shouldn't matter, as long 
as he didn't leave the building.  Deciding on a course of action, Ryouga 
gave one step forward and felt a hand on his shoulder.  He looked at the 
hand and screamed.

"Hello, Ranma.  Looking for Akane?" asked Dr. Tofu, carrying Betty, the 
skeleton whose hand was on Ryouga's shoulder so recently.

"W-well, I'm here to see Akane, but--"

"Well, then, come on.  It won't do for you to disturb the other patients by 
accident," he said, and in so doing, grabbed Ryouga's hand.  With Ryouga in 
tow, the three of them (if one considered the skeleton) walked in a brisk 
pace towards an examination room.

"But, but I'm not Ranma," Ryouga tried saying, but the doctor apparently 
didn't hear him.

"Here you go," Tofu said, and ushered Ryouga in.

Inside was Akane, sitting next to an examination table, as well as Ranma, 
sitting on said table, apparently still a bit groggy but conscious.  For a 
few seconds, the three of them stood there, alone and silent, without moving.

"Well?" asked Akane, breaking the silence.

"Well, what?" Ryouga replied, still a bit confused.

"Aren't you here to apologize for picking on Ryouga?" Akane asked, a bit 
exasperated.

"Really, Akane, it's fine," Ranma said from the table, a bit embarassed.

"Yeah, Akane, it's not... just... wait, who is supposed to apologize to 
whom here?" Ryouga asked, feeling very uncomfortable about some of the 
things that seemed to be going through his mind.

Akane got up, standing a mere foot away from Ryouga.  An expression he had 
never seen being applied to anyone other than Ranma was on her face. "You, 
to Ryouga!" she nearly shouted.

"But-- but I'm Ryouga," he said, feeling as if he was stating that two plus 
two equals four, but wasn't that sure of it anymore.

Akane and Ranma exchanged curious glances.

"Excuse me?" Ranma asked, getting to his feet.

"I am Ryouga!" Ryouga shouted, pulling back his upper lip to reveal the 
fangs, "See? Fangs? I'm Ryouga!"  His mood changed quickly from exasperated 
to angry. "Ranma, I don't know what the hell you're trying to pull here, 
but I won't let you involve poor innocent Akane into this!" With that, 
Ryouga got into a battle stance.

"Oh, so now you make fun of me, is that it?  I don't know what your game 
is, Ranma, but I'm going to make you eat those words!" Ranma stated loudly, 
and got into a ready stance of his own, nearly identical to Ryouga's.

Akane got in between the two warring boys. "Stop it, you two," she 
said.  Akane didn't want to make trouble inside Tofu's clinic, specially 
for some stupid prank that Ranma seemed to be playing.

"Now, what happens to be the problem," said Tofu as he entered the room and 
placed Betty's arms around Ryouga's neck, scaring the living daylights out 
of him.

"Ranma is trying to pull some prank on Ryouga, isn't it, Ranma?" Akane used 
the most accusatory glare she could muster, as if daring the fanged boy to 
deny it.

Ryouga, however, at this point was getting slightly hysterical.  "I'm 
Ryouga.  Not him, me!  Akane, please, look at me," he said, a very pitiful 
expression on his face, "I know we're wearing the same clothes, but come 
on, we don't look anything alike!  I'm Ryouga Hibiki, me!  He's Ranma! Look 
at that stupid pigtail!"

Akane stared at Ryouga as he went on his outburst, stunned.  Something 
didn't feel right to her, and she was very afraid of what it might mean.

"R-Ranma, are you feeling alright?" she asked, stepping forward to feel his 
forehead.  Even Ranma seemed to have a slightly worried look on his 
face.  His opponent was never very good at acting, and he seemed very 
honest in his words.

Ryouga screamed, clutched his head, and was about to run off to sort this 
out on his own, when the world
was taken by darkness.

"Ranma?" Akane asked nobody in particular, looking at his fianc�'s limp 
form in Tofu's arms.

"Don't worry, I just tapped a shiatsu spot," assured Tofu, stepping with 
'Ranma' towards the examination table.  "Ryouga, you seem to have 
recovered, could you help me put Ranma on the table?"

'Ryouga' nodded and helped place the unconscious boy on the table.

"Dr. Tofu, do you think he thought he was being serious?" Akane asked, 
worry evident in her voice.

"Let's wait until he wakes up to make any sort of assessment, shall we?" 
Tofu offered, in a calm voice, "It did look to me that he was going through 
some sort of nervous breakdown, and we wouldn't want him roaming around in 
this state, if that's the case." Tofu smiled. "I think we all know what 
would happen then, right?"

Akane sighed.  Her fianc�'s sense of direction was horrible, and 
practically a legend.  It actually was already a legend among many travel 
guide companies, that had a contest every month or so, trying to see which 
one could come up with a method of getting even someone like Ranma Saotome 
to follow directions properly.

Tofu turned to Ryouga, who was scowling at the sleeping Ranma.  "Ryouga," 
he said, "maybe you should wait outside until he wakes up.  It seems that 
your presence is upsetting him.  Not," he said, waving his hands, 
anticipating some reaction from the two teenagers, "that it is your 
fault.  Simply that it's happening.  So, please?"

Ryouga nodded and headed out, his pigtail bouncing slightly.

"Akane, I need to see other patients, but I'll be back before Ranma wakes 
up, OK?" he told Akane, who nodded in response, and then headed off after 
Ryouga.  Akane was left alone in the room, again tending to an unconscious 
boy, but this time, she was a lot more afraid than before.  Before, she 
knew exactly what the problem was.  She was just there to make sure Ryouga 
really was alright before going home.  Now, her fianc� comes and starts 
jabbering nonsense.  Akane looked again at Ranma, laying down on the 
bed.  He look sort of cute there, sleeping peacefully.  She brushed back a 
stray hair over his forehead, her hand touching the bandanna in the 
process.  She frowned a bit, looking at the bandanna.  Ryouga only wore his 
every once in a while, and it wasn't exactly like this.  She looked at the 
rest of the clothing, and it was spot on.  He probably got them from 
Ryouga's backpack, the jerk.  Her frown deepened into a scowl.  And she was 
just starting to feel worried about his health!  It was obvious that this 
was all some sort of sick joke to Ranma.  He'd dressed up as Ryouga and set 
out to make fun of him.

She pinched the bridge of her nose.  This was so mindboggingly stupid, even 
by her fianc�'s standards, that she was glad that Dr. Tofu put him to 
sleep.  He deserved it, after what he'd done.  She got even angrier at the 
sleeping figure.  How could she have believed him even for a second?  This 
was classic Ranma, always taking his stupid little jokes and disguises too far.

Still, she told herself, he did seem honest...

No, stop it!  Don't get worried over that (cute) jerk.

Akane was fuming for a few minutes longer, when Dr. Tofu walked in.

"So, is he awake yet?" Dr. Tofu asked.

"No, he's still--" Akane said, only to be rudely interrupted by a groan 
from the boy on the bed.

"Ow... what happened?" he mumbled.

"Relax," Dr. Tofu said, coming to his side, "could you tell me what is the 
last thing you remember?"

"I was here, with you and Akane and Ranma," he said, propping himself up on 
his elbows.

"I see," Dr. Tofu said, a pensive expression on his face. "Tell me, have 
you been in any fights lately?"

Akane stayed silent, seeing what Dr. Tofu was trying to do, but still felt 
angry at Ranma and his stupid little jokes.

Ryouga looked at both Dr. Tofu and Akane, noticing that their expressions 
were slightly off. "I-- other than the fight with Ranma, no.  What's the 
matter?"

Dr. Tofu came closer to Ryouga and started to examine the back of his head, 
gently prodding the scalp and moving hair out of the way.  "Ryouga," he 
said, slowly, "do you remember who your father is?"

"Yes," he responded, warily, "He's Myouga Hibiki.  Door-to-door salesman."

"Okay," Dr. Tofu said, motioning for Ryouga to remove his bandanna.  He 
promptly did so, removing as well the other four bandannas under 
it.  Ryouga let out a sigh of relief.  He hadn't realized how long he'd 
been wearing those bandannas, and it was starting to give him a headache. 
"What about Genma Saotome?" he continued as he examined the boy's scalp, 
"have you heard of him?"

"Sure," Ryouga replied, truthfully. "Ranma's father.  Bald.  Wears glasses."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Akane said, in frustration.  She'd had just 
about enough of this.

"Akane, would you mind stepping outside?" Dr. Tofu told her, smiling, then 
turned to Ryouga, "I'll be right back."

"Akane," he said, patiently, "Ranma seems to be suffering from some sort of 
identity crisis.  Frankly, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with 
him. Physically," he added hastily before Akane could interject.  "I don't 
know whether or not he's faking it, but from what we know of Ranma, he 
really isn't one to do that sort of thing.  I can venture a few guesses, 
but that's all they'll be; guesses."

Akane nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Ranma's been through a lot these last few months, and might have taken 
refuge in taking the identity of someone else, whom he views as having less 
problems.  A way to escape the troubles of his life without severing all 
connections to it, if you will."

"But," Akane said, a frown on her face, "if that's the case, why 
Ryouga?  He seems to have his share of problems as well.  Why not one of 
his troublefree friends, Daisuke or Hiroshi?"

"I'd say that Ryouga is the one in his life he's most similar to; a martial 
artist, same age, and their lives are very connected."  Dr. Tofu shrugged. 
"Akane, I'm guessing here.  A psychatrist could probably tell you much 
more, or even determine if this is a conscious act or not.  I suppose until 
you can take him to one, just treat him normally."

Akane seemed to think this over for a moment, her eyebrows creasing in 
confusion, "Normally, as if he were Ryouga, or normally, as Ranma?"

---

"Well, come on, R-- Ryouga," Akane said.  She was back in the room, still 
deciding how to handle this while Dr. Tofu didn't contact some other 
specialist.

"Uh... sure," Ryouga answered, a bit unsure.  "So, is everything OK now?"

"Yeah.  Listen, don't worry about Ranma and all that, everything's fine," 
Akane said gently, leading him out of the clinic.
"Uh... OK!" he said, agreeably, being led by Akane by the hand. "Thanks for 
waiting for me, by the way.  I was just needing to get back to the dojo."

Akane just glanced at him, giving him a smile, an unfathomable expression 
on her face.

"Oh, and, Akane?" he asked.  Akane turned around, still smiling, with only 
the faintest hint of irritation, as if she wanted to just go home and wait 
until Ranma got back to normal, which was exactly what she wanted to do. 
"Do you happen to know what this is?"  Ryouga showed her the ringchain, 
still on his hand.

Akane looked at it blankly for a few seconds, then just shrugged.  "I don't 
know.  Some kind of stylish brass knuckles, maybe?"

"Huh," Ryouga began, softly, "so you don't what it is either.  No matter, 
then." He could just give it to Akari as a nice little trinket, let her 
make of it what she will.  Or sell it and buy her a real gift.

Akane nodded, and then did a double-take.  "Wait, you don't know what this 
is?" she said, slowly.

"No, I just found it today, over at - whoa!  What's the matter?"

Akane took a good grip of Ryouga and started in a very determined manner in 
a very different direction from the one they were heading moments before.

"We're going to go see Cologne.  Don't worry, we'll get this all sorted out 
in no time flat!" she exclaimed, victoriously.

---

"Oh, hello, Ranma," Kasumi said as she spotted the boy walking into the 
residence.  "Back from your training trip?"

The boy laughed nervously, running his left hand through his hair, ruffling 
it up some more.  He wore a blue chinese-style shirt, black pants, and some 
straps on his wrists.  On his back was a heavy backpack, and he had a light 
layer of dust on him, overall.

"Actually, I've been done for days now.  I would have been back a lot 
sooner, but, well," he laughed a bit more, still embarrassed. "you know how 
it is."

Kasumi gave a knowing smile.  "Well, you must be famished anyway.  Dinner 
won't be for a bit, would you like a snack?"

"Would I!" he said, grinning wide, his fangs displayed.

---

"God, it was not OK," Ryouga thought.  He was in the Cat Caf�, sitting down 
at a table with Cologne and Akane as well.  At the moment, Cologne was 
turning the strange piece of jewelry over in her hands.

"Well, it's nothing that I've ever seen," she finally proclaimed her 
diagnosis.  "It's not magical, either.  It just looks like a pretty 
bauble.  Or the legendary headpiece of FriNn, except it's totally different."

She handed the ringchain back to Ryouga, who decided to pocket it instead 
of keep wearing it on his hand.

"What's the matter, son-in-law?" Cologne said, "Did you get ripped-off once 
more?"

She cackled a bit, and Ryouga winced.  Not at the cackle, but at the fact 
that he was being called "son-in-law".  Things were definitely not OK.

"Oh, nothing," Akane interjected.  "He just thought it would help him out 
with his curse.  Well, come on," she said, pulling Ryouga up, "we better 
get going."  And they quickly exited the Cat Caf�.

It took Cologne a few seconds to realize what had happened.  Ranma hadn't 
said a word throughout the whole ordeal, letting Akane do all the 
talking.  Right there, she should have realized there was something fishy 
going on, but a lifetime of living in an Amazon society made such an event 
so commonplace even she could be forgiven for her momentary lapse.

Shampoo was out making a delivery, which was good anyway.  Cologne needed 
some time to figure out what was going on, and if she told Shampoo about 
this, she might to and do something stupid.  She went to her room and 
pulled out a very long scroll.  She had told them the truth; she didn't 
know what that jewelry was.  She'd be damned if she didn't find out, though.

---

"Whoa, whoa!" went a non-struggling Ryouga, "What's the matter, Akane? And 
what was all that about son-in-law?  What's going on?"

"Nothing to it, let's just get home, Ryouga," she answered, perhaps a bit 
too harshly.

"No, wait." As much as Ryouga liked to be dragged around by a girl 
(seriously), right now more important things were in his mind.  He planted 
his feet down, firmly, and Akane suddenly jerked back as her charge stopped 
moving along with her. "Listen, I'm not dumb.  She was treating me as if 
... as if... as if I was Ranma," Ryouga finally finished, feeling ridiculous.

"And you, before, were doing the same thing," he said, exasperated.  "I 
mean, I mean, look.  What's going on?"  He looked pleadingly at Akane. "If 
Ranma did anything, I'll make him pay, you know I will.  Just, please, tell 
me what's going on."

Akane looked at Ryouga with pity in her eyes, and she opened her purse, 
pulling out of it a pocket mirror.

"Who do you see?" she asked, handing him the mirror.

Ryouga swallowed, hard, as he took the mirror.  "Who do I see? Oh, lord, 
please, please, please, let me not see Ranma," he thought.

He opened the mirror, eyes shut, and slowly opened one of them, fearfully 
gazing into the mirror.  Staring back at him was his own face, one eye shut.

Ryouga looked back at Akane, the double checked his reflection.

"I see myself, Akane."

Akane ran her hands through her hair.  She seemed very tired. "Do you see a 
ponytail?"

He looked again, just to be sure. "No, I don't."

She stuck her hands out, as if that clinched it.  "Don't you find your 
smile a bit strange?"

He smiled, then examined all of his mouth.  There was nothing odd, except 
"Well, I have to sharpen my canines again, but everything seems fine."

Akane looked desperate once again. "You have no ponytail, and you have fangs!"

"Well, yes," Ryouga said, "I know."

"Listen, I really think that that thing," she pointed at his pocket, "has 
messed up with your memory.  You're Ranma.  Ranma.  Ryouga is one of your, 
well," she struggled to come up with the right word, "your friend, and he's 
the one who wears a bandanna, he's the one with a ponytail, he's the one 
who does not have fangs."

Ryouga looked at Akane, and at the chain.  "Could it be?" he thought, "This 
thing has made me think that I am Ryouga, when I am really Ranma?"

"But - but --" Ryouga tried to say.

"Ranma, don't you find it odd that everyone is treating you like, well, 
yourself? Like Ranma?" Akane said.

"But I don't remember being Ranma.  I'm Ryouga."

"That's why we went to Doctor Tofu, Ranma, I'm sorry," she said, reaching 
for his hand, "he told me to humor you, but you're not Ryouga, you're 
Ranma.  I couldn't keep it up."

Ryouga was speechless.  He was Ranma?  All of his memories were fake?

"But, then... does this mean that Akari wants nothing to do with me?"

Akane frowned just a bit. "Akari?" she asked.  She had never heard of 
Ryouga mentioning anyone like that, what could Ranma be talking about?

"Well, you know, my, well, not girlfriend, exactly," Ryouga began, 
struggling for words, "I mean, we've just gone out on a few dates, and that 
time at my house..."

Ryouga looked at Akane, who had an odd expression on her face.

"You know, that pretty girl.  You've met her.  Actually..."  Ryouga's brow 
furrowed as he began to pat himself. "Here," he said, and handed Akane a 
wallet picture of Akari, smiling sweetly at the camera.

---

Kasumi hummed sweetly as she diced the potatoes into little 
parallelepipeds, as equal to one another as possible, considering the shape 
of the potatoes.  The meat and onions were all ready, each one in their own 
bowl, ingredients proud to be there.  There was a destiny that an 
ingredient had to fulfill, one that gave purpose and meaning to it.  True, 
rare was the ingredient that didn't fulfill it's destiny, as it was, after 
all, a part of what made an ingredient, but that still didn't mean they 
couldn't take pride in it.

And so it was with the meat, waiting patiently for it's turn to be fried, 
next to it's brothers in arms, to welcome it's death, for there was nothing 
more to an ingredient after a dish, and since they didn't believe in the 
afterlife, it was with a stoicism they marched (if one could call being 
still, marching) to their fate.  The onions weren't exactly so hot for the 
idea of their fate, and usually felt that they were the chosen ones.  Why 
else, they reasoned, would their god cry while leading them to their 
annihilation?  Still, they remained still, content in the knowledge that, 
if they must be sacrifices, for them there surely must be an 
afterlife.  While they too would die by fire, all other ingredients would 
suffer from that fire throughout eternity.

It was also widely regarded by the other ingredients that onions were morons.

Kasumi placed the meat, potatoes, and those blasted onions into the frying 
pan, stirring them a bit.  She always thought this was a nice dish.  Not 
only did it have a very nice and distinct home-cooked flavor, it pretty 
much cooked itself, in relatively little time .  Normally, she wouldn't 
have made it so early before dinner, but since she was making Ranma a snack 
at the same time, she figured she might as well get started.

"So," she said as she began to untie her apron, "did you learn any exciting 
new techniques while on your trip?"

"Well, not exactly," Ranma said, his mouth full, as Kasumi sat down besides 
him (her apron neatly folded by her side), "I helped out a man and he 
taught me something in return."  He took another bite of the sandwich he 
was eating. "It's not very exciting, however."

"Well, tell me anyway," she said, and reached out to Ranma's forehead.  She 
arranged his bandanna so it was a bit more centered.  "I like to hear 
what's going on with you."

Ranma blushed, just a bit.  He wet his lips, and went on to describe the 
technique he was taught, dealing with bending spoons that weren't really 
there, even though they clearly were.  He found it slightly amusing, but 
didn't really understand what's the big deal.  Using his fingers, he could 
bend it a lot faster anyway.  Kasumi listened to him, asking questions 
whenever he got too vague or too technical, all in all seeming genuinely 
interested in what he had to say.  After Ranma's story was over, they just 
sat there at the table, staring at each other, their eyes wandering around 
the room for brief moments, but still always returning to one another in a 
very gentle, comfortable manner.

"I did miss you..."

"Now, stop it," said Kasumi, without any malice, anger, or humor.  There 
was only a sadness, and it came out almost as if she had sighed it 
instead.  She stood up, picking her apron and expertly donning it.  "Akane 
will be back soon," she continued, and went back to tend to dinner.

"Yeah," mumbled Ranma, without much energy behind it, as if he was suddenly 
empty of something very needed or very wanted.  He twiddled his fingers a 
bit, staring at them, and then at Kasumi, whose back was turned to 
him.  She made very little sound as she moved across the length of the 
counter top, sorting the ingredients and checking the food already 
cooking.  Her hair was tied back into her usual ponytail, a practical 
hairstyle that kept it out of the way as she did her household chores, with 
a minimal of fuss.  She didn't always wear it like that, Ranma knew that, 
of course.  She wore it down for special events and family outings, and on 
the few times he'd seen her go out with some of her friends.  They weren't 
very many, he noticed, and she didn't go out many times.

Ranma looked down again, but not at his fingers this time.  Of course, 
she'd also wear her hair down whenever they...

"Kasumi, I'm home!" shouted Akane from the entrance, startling Ranma half 
dead.  Kasumi turned from her cooking and glided past to go greet her 
little sister.  As she did so, Ranma noticed that she wore her usual 
expression of contentment.

"Why, hello Akane," Kasumi said, as she took sight of her sister removing 
her shoes at the entrance.  "How  was... Ranma?!"

"I can't believe him," Akane said, motioning to the unconscious figure 
she'd been dragging.  "He goes and finds himself yet another 
fianc�e.  Doesn't he know his limits?"

Kasumi stood there, looking at Ranma, then turned and hurried back into the 
kitchen.

"Kasumi?" Akane asked, surprised by her sister's reaction.

Soon, Kasumi came back, took another look at Ranma, and went back into the 
kitchen.  When she came out this time, she was dragging along with her a 
boy in some very ragged clothes, a fine layer of dust still over most of him.

"Akane, I'm not going crazy, am I?"

"Kasumi, what's going on?" Ranma asked, straightening out his 
clothes.  "Hey, who's that?"

Akane looked at Ranma, besides Kasumi, and Ranma, sprawled on the floor.

---
-Part2-
---

"Well, it's not a mask," Kasumi declared.  She had spent the last few 
minutes kneading and pulling his face, trying to see if it came off, and 
tugging at his hair.  She had run her fingers down across his flesh all the 
way to his shoulders, slowly and methodically, checking for any signs of 
the start of a mask.  Finally, she simply gave up.

Ranma, Akane, and Kasumi were on the floor around the unconscious boy, whom 
they had dragged into the living room.  Ranma was crosslegged while Akane 
and Kasumi were kneeling.

"Ranma," Akane began, in a tired voice, "did you do anything on this trip 
of yours that might explain this?"

Ranma thought hard about this.  Maybe there was something that he forgot to 
tell Kasumi?  He had a fairly normal training trip:  He'd trained, then 
proceeded home, and then got lost doing it.  Other than the incident with 
the man, there really wasn't anything else unusual.

"I don't think so," he said, "and why is it automatically assumed that I 
got something to do with it?"

"Another you shows up and you wonder?" Akane asked.  "Plus, when was the 
last time that something weird happened around here and it didn't involve you?"

"Well... Kuno and the guys at school were after you before I arrived," 
Ranma ventured.

Akane was slightly flustered, "Well, that doesn't count.  After you 
arrived, nothing hasn't been your fault."

"What about all this stuff?" Kasumi motioned to the things that 'fake' 
Ranma had stuck in his shirt.  A few letters, a photograph, a knife, and an 
extra bandanna.  "What about her?" Kasumi said, picking up the photograph 
of Akari.  "Maybe you met her while in your training trip?  Maybe she has 
something to do with this?"

Ranma felt a chill run down his spine, but for the life of him couldn't 
figure out exactly why. "No," he answered, feeling colder by the second, "I 
would have remembered someone as cute as her."

"Oh, I see,"  Akane said.  Ranma felt the temperature drop a few more 
degrees. "So, you think she's cute, huh?"

"Are-- Aren't we getting off-topic here?" Ranma said, quickly, his sense of 
self-preservation suddenly making a glorious comeback.  "We gotta figure 
out who this guy is, or what he is."

"Well, he was acting a bit strange," Akane confessed.  "Thought he was Ryouga."

"Ah-hah!" exclaimed Ranma, triumphantly, "See?! It was all Ryouga's 
fault!"  Finally something that could be blamed on that guy without any 
sort of doubt in his mind.  It was a good feeling, and he wondered for how 
long it would last.

Akane looked doubtful, but not totally.  It could be related to Ryouga 
somehow.  She found him standing over his body, after all.  Who knows what 
was going on there?  She had assumed that it was Ranma then;  that they 
were just fighting as they always did.  She shivered.  What if something 
more sinister was afoot?

"Well," Kasumi said, bringing into view a bucket full of water, "if he has 
your body, do you think that maybe he's also cursed?"

They all looked at one another.  As one, they shrugged.  What harm could it 
do?  At the very least they'd get him awake to ask him a few questions.

For Ranma, the boy that had, until very recently, always recognized himself 
as Ryouga, the world was a confusing mixture of images superimposed on 
blue.  The images were blurry and fast, moving slowly in no particular 
pattern.  He could tell that they were people but no sound came from 
them.  All around him there was a dull roar, its pitch changing at a 
seemingly regular interval.  Suddenly, out of the blueness came a terrified 
screaming piggy, black in color and small in stature.

Kasumi hefted the bucket and upended it over the fake Ranma.  She tried to, 
at least.  Fake Ranma suddenly woke up and rolled out of the way as the 
water came splashing down.

"He's cursed," stated Ranma, no hint of surprise in his voice.

"Ah! A-Akane!" shouted the fake Ranma, scrambling to his feet, "Kasumi! 
Hi!  Hey, who are you?"  The last part being obviously directed at Ranma.

"I'm Ranma, faker.  Who the heck are you?"

"I'm Ra-- no, wait.  I'm Ry-- no, I'm not that either."  Fake Ranma dropped 
to the floor, sitting in a pensive pose.  He always thought he was Ryouga, 
but Akane said he was Ranma.  Now, here is someone who looked just like 
him, saying he was Ranma, while Ranma was out there saying he was 
Ryouga.  He couldn't be Ryouga, because there was a Ryouga saying he was 
Ranma, and a Ranma saying he was Ryouga.  He couldn't be Ranma, because 
Ranma was saying he was Ryouga, and there was a Ryouga saying he was 
Ranma.  If he was Ranma, then who was Ryouga?  Ryouga or Ranma?  And if he 
was Ryouga, who was Ranma?  Ranma or Ryouga?

"Argh!" he shouted, getting up, "Who in the world am I now?  Ranma, this is 
all your fault!"

"See?" Akane said to Ranma, in a stage whisper.

"Hey, don't pin this on me.  I already said I don't know who this is."

"I'm Ryouga," he half-screamed, pointing to himself.

"Ryouga? Damn, man, what happened to you?  Why do you look like me?" Ranma 
said, getting close to Ryouga's face and examining it, well, closely.

"He's not Ryouga!" Akane shouted, bonking Ranma, "I saw him with 
Ryouga!  Weren't you listening to anything I said?"

Ranma looked at Akane for a few moments.  Unfortunately, these were one of 
those questions when, regardless of what he answered, he was in for it.  If 
he admitted that he had indeed been listening, then she'd ask why he was 
believing this fake Ranma over her, following through with a boot to the 
head, or more than likely an empty bucket to the noggin.  If he admitted 
that he was, in fact, totally ignoring what she was saying due to being 
engrossed at that very moment on comparing the size of this other Ranma's 
teeth with his, she'd get somehow insulted about him not paying attention 
to her, and he'd get clobbered anyway.

Not that Ranma was actually thinking about the repercussions of his act; he 
just paused to digest her question fully before answering.

"Well, no.  Not really."

Kasumi directed her attention to the fake Ranma, who was watching the 
carnage with a somewhat subdued interest.

"Would you like some tea, Mr. Doppleganger?" she said, trying her best to 
keep her back to the horrible screams of pain that were emanating from 
somewhere five feet in front of Doppleganger.

"I'm not Doppleganger," Doppleganger said.

"Yeah, Kasumi," Ranma said, as Akane had already calmed down and gone back 
to her place.  He scratched behind his left ear with his right foot, a feat 
totally unremarkable, considering the position that Akane had left him in 
after her storm of righteousness.  "He's one of those, whaddayacallem, 
things that copy your body."

"That's what a doppleganger is, you jerk," Akane said, in a huff.

"No, I'm thinking of something else.  Beings that take your shape, you 
know," Ranma said, untangling himself.

"Hey," Doppleganger interjected, a bit louder, "I said, 'I'm not a 
doppleganger.'"

"Actually," Kasumi said, quickly, "You said you weren't Doppleganger, not 
that you weren't 'a' doppleganger."

Akane and Doppleganger looked at Kasumi for a moment. She smiled sweetly 
back at them.  After all, they were staring at her.  They should know 
better than doing such a rude thing, and if they didn't realize it soon, 
she'd have to do some more smiling.  Sooner or later they'd feel awkward 
and stop staring at her.

"A mime! That's what you are!" shouted Ranma in triumphant delight.

Mime lunged forward and knocked Ranma upside the head.  "Will you stop 
being so stupid?!" he shouted.  Mime was having quite enough of all this 
... this ... well, this bizarre situation.  After all, he was Mime, 
dammit.  Wait a second.

"That's right," Kasumi said, admonishing Ranma, "He's a doppleganger, after 
all, not a mime."  Then, she went right back at smiling.

"That's right!" agreed Doppleganger, before realizing what he said. "No, 
wait.  Listen, dammit, I'm not a doppleganger!"

Ranma stood up, brushing his bangs off his forehead.  The bangs, having 
plans that no man on earth could ever lead astray, went right back to his 
forehead.  "Enough," he said, his voice suddenly serious.  "I think I 
finally understand what's going on here."

"You do?" came a very small whisper from fake Ranma, hope building in his 
chest.

"Yes," replied Ranma, and then struck a dramatic pose, pointing his finger 
straight at fake Ranma, his whole body anchored on the ground, like an epic 
hero.  "You are here to challenge me for the dojo!"  He even had a wave 
crash behind him, for effect.

"Oh, my, will you be fighting in here?" asked Kasumi, suddenly 
worried.  Thursdays weren't a good day for duels, so she seriously hoped 
that this challenger, Mr. Doppleganger, were here just to give the formal 
challenge today, and come back at a later date, when she could have made 
all the necessary arrangements around the house in anticipation of a battle.

Ryouga screamed, and barreled towards Ranma. "Okay, Ranma I've had enough!"

He grabbed a hold of Ranma's face, specifically his cheeks, and tried to 
pull it all off.

"Hey, what are you doing?"  Ranma asked, his words a bit garbled due to the 
rough handling currently in progress of his face.

"I should have seen it sooner," Ryouga answered, fully certain at the 
moment of who he was, "you always do this to me!  Well, I've seen through 
your disguise," he said, still struggling to get that damned mask off.

Finally, it came off with a loud rip, and Ryouga had in his hands a handful 
(well, two handfuls, to be exact) of flesh-colored rubber, leaving Ranma 
with a surprised expression.  He quickly turned that expression into a 
nervous smile, and his false teeth fell off in that gesture.  He admitted 
his guilt, and Ryouga pummeled him into the afterlife.  He went to Akari 
and got married, but since he'd deprived Akane of a suitor, he'd take her 
as his mistress, and have a healthy relationship with both of them for the 
rest of his life.

Or that's what he hoped would happen.  In truth, Ranma kept struggling 
against the doppleganger mime who was certainly going to challenge him for 
the dojo, continually screaming for him to 'Leggo my face!' and other 
phrases along that vein.  Finally, Ranma bit the other's thumb as it made 
its way inside his mouth.  The doppleganger who, for a brief moment, was 
certain he was Ryouga, yelped and snapped his hand away from Ranma's 
face.  Seeing an opening, Ranma delivered a quick jab aimed straight at 
Doppleganger's left eye.

The jab didn't do much, though, as the crazed (and that was pretty much 
literally)  boy barely flinched at the impact.

"Very well, you doppleganging challenger mime from hell! Let's see how you 
take this!" screamed Ranma, or at least he tried to.  You try screaming 
coherent words while someone is grabbing a good portion of one of the sides 
of your face, sticking his fingers in your eye and nose.  Instead, it came 
out more like "Bakarayo! Jyaa, Mitsurugi!"

With a scream of "Kachuu tenshin amaguriken!" ("Cashew tension in the 
gutter", as it came out) Ranma let loose with a volley of punches at his 
opponent.

As soon as the punches ended, his opponent said "Why won't this mask come 
off?!" frustration evident in his voice.  Otherwise, nothing seemed to have 
changed at all, and suddenly Ranma realized that this wasn't a joke; this 
was serious.

A cold wave went through Ranma.  "Maybe this is it," he thought, "maybe I 
won't be able to defeat this crazy doppleganger summoned from hell to 
challenge me and take over my identity, forever banishing my soul into the 
gray void."  He saw Kasumi standing over him, a bright light behind her, 
silhouetting her shape.  Gone was the pain, the struggle.  It was finally over.

"Aw, what a cute little piggy," he heard Kasumi said, cradling in her arms 
a little black piglet.  Besides her was a second bucket, recently emptied.

"How cute!" agreed Akane, approaching Kasumi and petting the little 
piggy.  "Who's a good little hoggy oggy doggy? You are, yes you are!" she 
said in babytalk, playing with his ears as she did so.

The pig, on the other hand, seemed to be catatonic, frozen in a state of 
horrible, indescribable panic.  Most people say they feel their blood drain 
from their faces in times of panic, but in this little pig's case, the 
blood just plain stopped.  Huge eyes stared straight at Akane, his hooves 
spread out and stiff.

"So," said Ranma, pulling her shirt off her drenched breasts, "he fell into 
the spring of drowned pork."

"Bwee," came the strangled whimper from the pig.

"Well, what do we do now?" Akane asked no one in particular, referring to 
the little porcine creature.

"Don't worry," Ranma said, strutting confidently towards Kasumi, "I'll take 
care of it." She then proceeded to grab the little hog.

Akane stared for a while. "Ranma," she asked, "what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" she replied, "I'm going to mail him to Germany, 
what else?" Indeed, he was at that point trying to stuff the little pig on 
a little crate already filled with packing material.

"I really think," Kasumi said, hastily picking up the pig, "that we could 
try talking to him now.  Will you behave?" That last being directed towards 
the piglet, who weakly nodded.

"Well, that's good.  Akane, could you pass the kettle?"

Soon, a very damp and red Ryouga was on the floor, facing Akane, 
bowing.  He was damp because he'd been drenched in hot water, since 
everyone in the room already knew how to trigger the curse, having had 
plenty of experience.  He was very red for a couple of reasons: first, the 
water was exceptionally hot, and it scalded his soft, tender 
flesh.  Second, he was still naked, and in front of two point five 
girls.  Lastly, he was bowing for obvious reasons.

"Akane, I'm so sorry," he said.

"Whatever for?" the girl asked, slightly confused. "And put some clothes 
on, please."

Ryouga looked up to Akane.  Other than a slight blush and avoiding looking 
directly at him, there was nothing there that demonstrated any sort of 
anger or indignation.  She really didn't care that he was P-Chan.  All that 
time, torturing himself over the thought of premature discovery, and now, 
nothing?

"You ... you don't mind?" he asked, still half-prone.

"Well, yeah, actually," she replied, "that's why I'm asking you to put some 
clothes on."

She pointed to the neat pile of clothes near him, and he obligingly dressed 
himself.

"How about we start with your name?" Kasumi offered, "Who are you?"

After a few seconds of indecision, he responded. "I'm Ryouga Hibiki.  Or at 
least, that's what I thought until today.  Now I just don't know anymore."

So, he told them everything that had happened that day, from meeting Kasumi 
in the street, to being suddenly attacked by Ranma, who looked like him, to 
now.  Akane questioned him about the ringchain, which he had omitted from 
the story, and he described how he found it besides a trash can.  Only 
after additional prodding did he add the detail about the confrontation 
with that crazy foreigner.

"So, basically, he threw it away and you picked it up afterwards?" Akane 
asked, piecing all the details of his story together.

"Well, no," Ryouga explained, "he threw something in the trash, and then I 
found this near some other trash can, in another direction."

Akane smiled. "You saw him throw it on some trash can, right?" Ryouga 
nodded. "Then, you turned around, went in another direction?" Ryouga nodded 
once more. "Where you found the ring thing?" He nodded again.

"Oh, so that must have definitely been the same ringchain in that case," 
said Kasumi.

"Still," Akane interjected, "We went to see Cologne about this, and at 
least according to her, it isn't anything more than a strange piece of 
jewelry."

"Why are you humoring this demon-sent shapechanging pig?" Ranma asked, a 
very cute frown on her face.

"Will you change back to a man?  You're freaking me out!" Ryouga 
said.  Seeing yourself as a very pretty young woman was definitely not at 
the top of Ryouga's to do list.

"Hey, I'll change back when I'm good and ready!" Ranma replied.  Truth is, 
she had been good and ready for a while now, but decided to wait until all 
this conversation was over before changing, as Akane hadn't put enough 
water in the kettle for two people.  Considering her father usually didn't 
mind staying in his panda form, kettles were usually left at the bare 
minimum so that they would boil faster.  Still, why should she give any 
satisfaction to this imitator by letting him know that?

"What about you?  Dressing like that dork, put on some real clothes." Ranma 
crumpled her tiny nose.  Bad enough to have someone with your face around, 
but to have them dressed like a constant nuisance made it worse, and 
considering his opponent's sense of style, it made it unbearable.

"Guys," Akane said in a dangerous tone, "can you two quit it?  Ranma, there 
is nothing wrong with...uh..." Akane looked slightly flustered for a 
moment, then just blurted out, "Say, what do we call you, anyway?"

"Ryouga," Ryouga replied.

"Well, you might be... OK, let me explain what I think happened. I-- I 
might be wrong, but hear me out, OK?"  She took a deep breath, and 
continued, "You may be Ryouga Hibiki, but you are not *our* Ryouga 
Hibiki.  You're probably from some sort of different plane, or mirror 
dimension. Some bizarre place where you and Ranma - your Ranma - were 
switched at birth."

The other three bodies in the room were silent for a few moments, and then 
Ryouga piped up, "Mirror dimension?  But you and Kasumi are still the same."

"Well, whatever the name is.  I don't know," Akane said, angrily.  "The 
concept is the important thing.  You are not in your own universe.  There. 
That better? Now you see why we can't call you Ryouga?"

"Not really.  What's wrong with my name?"

"Well, we can't go around calling you and Ryouga the same, can we?" Akane 
asked.

"Why not?" Kasumi replied, "It's not like I'm the only Kasumi around, and 
you have no problem calling me by my name."

"But not two Kasumi Tendo's, in close proximity," replied an exasperated Akane.

"Why not call him Ryouga Two?" Ranma suggested.

"Why not really humiliate me and call me Ryouga B?" came back the angry reply.

Before Ranma could sound off his "Hey, that sounds even better!" reply, 
Akane took it upon herself to put an end to this silly discussion.

"Please stop," Kasumi pleaded, before Akane could take it upon herself to 
put an end to this silly discussion, "Why not just call you Hibiki?  We 
never call Ryouga that, and it is still your name."

"Yeah, how about it?" Akane agreed.

Hibiki felt a bit uncomfortable at the suggestion.  Dammit, he was Ryouga, 
why couldn't the other guy change his name?  Specially when that other guy 
was Ranma.  Well, kinda Ranma.  He was Ranma in this place.  He thought he 
got that much straightened out.  Still if both Kasumi and Akane, specially 
Akane, considered it a good alternative, he could live with that.

"Wait," Hibiki asked, "what did you mean, 'switched at birth?'"

---

Ryouga munched absentmindedly on a mouthful of mocchi and kept on 
walking.  He was on a very deserted street, houses to the left and right of 
him.  He had undone his pigtail into the loose ponytail he favored and was 
now in the process of deciding what to do.  Go home?  Mom and dad wouldn't 
be around, and it wasn't as if he was looking for solitude at the 
moment.  His homework was already done, which left him with a free 
afternoon.  It was supposed to have been a good day, a simple day.  He was 
supposed to have gone over to the Tendo residence and asked if Ranma had 
returned from his training trip.  Had the answer been yes, he would have 
challenged him to a duel while he was still in town.  If the answer were 
no, he'd get a chance to talk to Akane without that jerk around to bother them.

He punched a wall to his left, angry, leaving a neat round hole 
behind.  Just thinking about Ranma got his temper up.  That womanizer 
already had three other beautiful fianc�es that he knew of, if he just let 
Akane go, if he let her see that there was someone there, right beneath her 
nose, that cared for her more than he ever could...

Ryouga ignored the broom connected to his head, the other end held by the 
owner of the wall, and stopped his train of thought.  It was exactly 
because he was so into it that things went so wrong today.  He was so much 
into his own thoughts that when he saw Ranma getting out of that 
porta-potty he just went wild.  He totally forgot what his plans were, and 
because of Ranma, he looked like a weakling in front of Akane.

Well, no matter.  He would get his revenge soon.  As he arrived at the 
gates of the Tendo residence, he had already convinced himself that he was 
only defeated as a fluke.  He had been training continuously since he had 
last seen Ranma, there was no way he could have improved so much in such a 
short time, and he'd prove it right now.

"Oh, hello Ryouga, you haven't been around lately."

Ryouga looked behind him, finding the source of the voice.  "Nabiki.  Hi," 
he said, "Yeah, well, he hasn't been around lately, though, ain't it?"

"Still isn't," she said, bringing her suitcase before her, "Hasn't come 
back from his 'training trip'."

"Actually, he is," Ryouga replied, "I just hope he hasn't gone off anywhere 
yet."

Nabiki didn't look surprised by these news, and continued, "Well, just try 
not to break any of my stuff this time, OK?"

Having said all that, Nabiki went into the house, followed by Ryouga.
---

"So, I'm Genma's son," Hibiki said, no sign of anger or shock in his voice.

"There is no other explanation," Akane said, placing her hand on 
his.  Kasumi had left to boil some more water.  Not for Ranma, although 
that would be useful, but because she was making tea for everyone.  She 
just felt that these sort of discussions would go a lot easier with 
something nice to drink.

"I'm sorry," Ranma commented, and he meant it.  He also felt a pang of 
jealousy as he saw Akane and Hibiki hold hands, his stomach aching and 
grumbling.  Wait, that was hunger, not jealousy.

"That's probably the change in your dimension that caused all the other 
differences," Akane said.

"No," Hibiki replied, although in the back of his mind, he couldn't help 
asking himself if this had anything to do with Ranma -- better yet, Ryouga 
-- being such a wimp here.  Could it be that the only reason that Ranma -- 
his Ranma -- became so strong was because of his father? Was Genma really 
such a good trainer?  If that was true, then this Ranma, his own 
counterpart, should be incredibly strong.  Well, he wasn't an unbalanced 
individual, crazy on always being the best, he simply became a fighter to 
be able to extract righteous retribution from Ranma's skin.  He wasn't 
interested in knowing if this Ranma was stronger than him; it really didn't 
matter.

"So, wanna spar?"

"Sure!"

---
-Part3-
---

"Spar?!" Akane shouted. "What's wrong with the two of you?  We need to find 
out how to get Hibiki back to his own dimension!"

"Well, how do you know that sparring won't somehow transport him back?" 
Ranma asked, moving some of her bangs out of the way.

"W-well... I don't," Akane started, then stopped. "Look, not even you 
believe that."

"Well, what else can we do?" Ranma said, "It's not as if you have any 
better ideas."

Before Akane could say anything else, they were interrupted by a couple of 
new arrivals into the room, namely Nabiki and Ryouga.  They both took a 
look at the situation and reacted in pretty much the same manner:

"I'll be upstairs," Nabiki said.

"You know what? Screw it.  I'll come back later," said Ryouga, turning 
around to leave.

So, basically, neither of them decided to get involved in this 
mess.  Frankly, no one would blame them.

"Ryouga, wait up," Ranma said, rushing over before he had a chance to get 
out.	Ryouga did his best to ignore her, speeding up.  Ranma, on her part, 
simply got herself in between him and the exit.

"Ryouga, wait," she repeated.

Ryouga sighed.  Why, oh, why did he always seem to get into all sorts of 
weird situations due to Saotome?  "What is it?" he asked, giving up.

"Do you know for a fact that sparring won't transfer someone back to their 
home dimension?"

"Ranma, you idiot!" Akane shouted, upending a table on his head.  Once 
Ranma was down for the count, Akane addressed Ryouga. "Sorry.  Things are a 
bit hectic here," she said, motioning towards Hibiki, who was calmly 
sitting down on the floor, near where the table used to be.

"Hi," Hibiki said, "Sorry about earlier."

"That's... that's OK," Ryouga replied.  To Akane, he said "So, which one is 
the real Ranma?"

"I am," came the strangled reply from underneath the table that both Ryouga 
and Akane were standing on now.

So, I didn't get beaten by the real Ranma, Ryouga thought, looking Hibiki 
and immediately realizing that it had to have been the one dressed as him 
at the moment.  Well, that wasn't so bad, all things considered.  It would 
have been a lot worse had it been Ranma.

"So, is he real or some sort of demon-sent fianc�e who wants to challenge 
Ranma for the dojo?"  Ryouga asked.

"HEY!" came two shouts, one from Hibiki and the other from Ranma, who was 
struggling to get out from under the table.

"I'm not a demon!" Hibiki shouted.

"I'm not gay!" shouted Ranma.

Hibiki looked slightly confused for a few seconds, then realized something. 
"Hey, did he just call me your fianc�e?"

"Look," Ryouga said, addressing Ranma, "it's not as it would be the first 
time, you know..."

"Yes it would!"

"Hey, I'm not gay either!" said Hibiki.

"What about Ukyo?" Ryouga said.

"Oh.  Well, that was different," Ranma said.  She had already gotten out 
from under the table (no thanks to Ryouga and Akane, who hadn't moved an 
inch to help), and took the time to dust herself off.

"You know, I just answered to the whole demon comment first because it was 
the first thing he said.  It's got nothing to do with my sexual orientation."

"And what about Picollo, or whatever that guy's name was?" Ryouga continued.

"Wait, that was Akane's fianc�e, I just got stuck in everything to help her 
out," Ranma replied.

"I would have eventually gotten around to replying to that, you know."

"So, if he's not your fianc�e," Ryouga said, "then what exactly is he?"

Akane decided to interrupt, considering she was pretty sure she understood 
the situation better than Ranma did.

"Oh, he's Hibiki.  He's from another dimension," Kasumi said as she came 
into the room, before Akane had a chance to interrupt.  Akane glared at her 
older sister for a moment.  That made it twice she'd done a preemptive 
interruption.  Kasumi proceeded to pour the hot water she had gotten on 
Ranma.  She stared for a second, then splashed him with a glass of cold water.

"Hey," Ranma shouted, back as a girl, but now twice as soaked, "what was 
that for?"

"It's easier to tell you two apart like this," Kasumi replied, calmly.

"Why do you call him Hibiki? Wouldn't 'Ranma 2' be more appropriate?" 
Ryouga asked, giving up on his intent of staying as far away from this mess 
as was humanly possible.

"Well," Akane began, before her sister had a chance to open her mouth, 
"it's a short, but very confusing story."

She proceeded to retell all the events as they were understood by everyone 
present as well as who exactly was that second Ranma dressed up like 
Ryouga.  All in all, Ryouga seemed to take this all in pretty well.

"Well, I guess you got lucky," Ryouga told Hibiki, who had stayed silent 
for pretty much the entirety of Akane's presentation (she had even whipped 
out a few flowcharts).  "I mean, to get switched at birth and end up with 
parents that also have your rotten sense of direction, that's pretty cool."

"Hmm... I don't know if I'd call myself 'lucky'," Hibiki said.  There was 
something that still bugged him about the idea of being switched at birth. 
"Actually, I know I wouldn't call myself lucky."

------

Author's Notes:

Well, this is where I'm really stuck.  I know exactly how I want this 
chapter to end, but it just keeps piling up and apparently I can't just 
take the fast route to the end.  I already feel I'm doing just dialogue and 
exposition, but this chapter should have been done at around part 2, 
size-wise.  You can see my trepidation at beating around the bush even more.

I mean, geez, even I get confused sometimes as to what are the differences 
between Ryouga, Ranma and Hibiki sometimes.  So, in case anyone's still 
confused:

Ryouga went to another dimension.  We'll refer to him as 'Hibiki'.
There, he met someone who looks like Ranma.  He's called 'Ryouga'.
Then, he met someone who looks just like himself, who's called 
'Ranma'.  Hibiki turns into a pig, and Ranma turns into a girl.

Huh.  It's actually simpler than I thought.

Anyway, hopefully something will come to me.  This fic is my first try at a 
slightly different style than I am used to, so any comments, criticism, 
suggestions, are welcome.  I try to reply to all CC I get, but if you slip 
through the cracks, I'm sorry...

-mccrowe



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