Previous chapters:
Prologue - 13 :: http://www.fanfiction.net/~iCe
Prologue - 12 :: http://iCe.esmartdesign.com
(watch the popups... -_-; annoying)

For japanese hierarchy used in this fic I listed it here:
http://iCe.esmartdesign.com/rend/resources_1.htm

fanart is here:
http://iCe.esmartdesign.com/rend/fan_art.htm

archived everywhere you can imagine (nfiction.net, mm.o etc.) and for
LJ  updates it's ice_of_dreams

Mail me at siuane@gmail.com (have I covered Everything?) If you email it in 
the hotmail account I won't get it.  C&C welcome :) more prereaders are 
welcome too. :)

It's a long one, but since my last release was a year ago... well...
I experienced a harddrive crash as well... sooo... 14-18 was completely
thrashed.

iCe

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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: rend_13.txt

Special Thanks to:
Roja Cyd		Dream and Angel
Jourdan Bickham	Acetylene
Negai

And to the person reading this.

Disclaimer: Ranma and co. were borrowed from the brilliant
mind of Rumiko Takahashi


Here where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs;
Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new love pine at them beyond tomorrow.
		~ Ode to a Nightingale
		~ unknown

			Rendezvous with Fate v. 3
				by iCe
			    Chapter 13


...The inauguration was probably the scariest, most
exhilarating thing I have ever done in my entire life...

Akane looked nervously around the room she had been led
into, wearing a standard issue gi that the maids had
provided for them. Happosai's donjon did not look special
for the fight... at least not outside.

The lotus banners that adorned the walls were those that
have been presented even back at the time when it had been
Nodoka's birthday celebration. There were no fancy rice
throwing, no special markings that indicated today would
change the lives of the several samurai children good enough
to be chosen.

In the room were fifty children, their ages ranging from
fifteen to the oldest of twenty, excluding Akane. Even
though the children were all related, Akane sensed that
competition was thick in the air. All of them wanted to
advance their skills, but only fifteen would really proceed.

She wished that Sei and Hanae were with her, although she
had been informed that the two of them were in a different
room. Their test would prove their worth as a Saotome
samurai and the difference lay in that if they failed, they
could always come again and again. In the competition she
was in, there were no second chances.

Akane tightened the belt she wore, feeling out of place with
the children she would be competing against. One of them
came closer and smiled. It was the first friendly face of
the season. She was a young girl who looked almost childish
with her twin pigtails. "I can't believe it, you're the
heir's wife. I thought he wasn't allowed to teach the art to
his wife."

"He's the heir. He could do whatever he wants." One of the
children, a boy probably sixteen years old who looked like
he argued with everyone, countered. "Happosai's just too
suspicious of skills being passed down to non-Saotomes
that's all."

"It's a family *treasure*, Seki." The girl answered turning to
the boy who had just interrupted her. "The heir would not
teach it without reason." Again she turned to Akane. "You
must be very special."

"She's too old to be special, Megumi." Seki shot back as he
ran his hands through his hair, his tone condescending.
Akane sensed that Seki did not accommodate mistakes easily.
"The heir is just trying to toy with Happosai."

Akane opened her mouth to protest at the blatant insult and
at the fact that a *child* a decade younger than her could say
it in front of her face, but she was interrupted by Megumi
again. "Give it up, Seki. You cannot possibly analyze the
twins' political tactics. Their strategy is legendary, and
their skill is infamous in the clan. No one has ever
predicted what they would do."

By now, a number of the children were crowded around the
two, already divided in their views of what her presence
here would signify. "Don't I have a say in this?" Akane
asked, outraged that they were talking about her as if she
wasn't there and looking more and more like pawn in a
chessboard.

Megumi and Seki turned to her immediately, Megumi with an
apologetic smile on her face, and Seki with an eyebrow
raised at her. It was Megumi who spoke up first, "Sorry,
it's just that the twins are the most talked about hatamoto
in the entire Saotome lands."

"Don't you ever tire of talking about the wonder twins
Megumi?" One of the older children in the group asked.
"Their reign is almost over. I'm sure one of us could beat
them."

"They've stayed on top since their first competition within
our ranks when they were sixteen." Someone shouted from the
back, all of the children now intent on talking about Ranma
and Nabiki. "This is going to be his third consecutive
undefeated championship if no one else wins against him.
People are not going to wait another five years for the next
chance."

"They're getting old." Seki answered ruefully rubbing a
dragon tattoo that encircled his left wrist, its head biting
the tail. "Wouldn't it be too shameful if we get beaten by a
thirty year old samurai? They're twice our age."

"Everyone knows that Saotome skill doesn't wane it just
improves!" One of the girls complained, they were shouting
comments, throwing it at one another just as soon as the
other spoke, and it was difficult to pinpoint exactly who
was speaking, or what they were saying. "We're lucky this
isn't a match to the death or we would be taken out
instantly!"

Another shout from the sea of voices, "Such pessimism from
one so young, are you sure you're ready for this test?"

"Wait!" Akane protested. The voices gradually faded into
soft murmurs as all eyes turned towards Akane. "Whatever
Ranma's reasons for plunging me headlong into this is none
of your business."

"On the contrary, Lady Kodachi," Seki said indulgently, as
if he was speaking to a child who was only beginning to
learn. "It is everyone's business. The twins hold Saotome
politics in the palm of their hands. Happosai does not even
come close to the respect that the twins' peers hold for
them."

Akane noticed, not for the first time that though Nabiki and
Ranma merited titles and was even respected albeit
grudgingly, Happosai's name was pronounced with scorn. "Then
why is he liege lord?"

Suddenly the room became quiet as if the children, could not
voice out their reason. Finally one girl offered the answer
that the others did not dare say. "Lord Happosai is cunning,
Lady Kodachi. He holds our reins through his teeth, and the
*twins* respect Happosai. They would not take the clan from
him for any other reason than Happosai's death."

It was not the favored answer, and the children once again
started arguing amongst themselves. "The twins can take Lord
Happosai's title anytime."

"Not if they take it with martial arts." Another child
muttered.

Nabiki suddenly entered the room, and instantly the room's
voices hushed. From some of the murmurs Akane heard, she
knew that it had not been the norm for Nabiki to speak to
them. From what a girl hastily explained to a younger
sibling, Ranma, as heir, had always been the one to speak to
the young blood.

Whatever the reason for the sudden change, Nabiki did not
explain. Nabiki was wearing the black silk that she had been
wearing when they were summoned to Yuigahama. Her long brown
hair was tied in a usual pigtailed but twisted into a bun on
the base of her neck. The twin swords were comfortably
rested on her belt.

"Gossiping already?" She asked with a bit of humor touching
her voice, although more than half of those present colored
in shame. "I assume you've been told of this moment ever
since you started training, but let me reiterate it. This
will be your *only* chance to learn anything beyond the
advanced arts, and only fifteen students will be given
permission to learn. Are there any questions?"

"Who would train us when we pass?" Seki asked, the
self-assured tone in his voice gone at the presence of
Nabiki.

Nabiki smiled at him. "So sure of winning, are we Seki?"
Nabiki shook her head at the boy. "After earning the right
for further training you will fight the thirty top ranked
samurai in the clan who have no apprentices for the advanced
lessons. You will be trained by the person you failed to
beat. Should three or more fail at one Saotome master alone,
then a higher ranked Samurai will be asked to train you. The
samurai-child match ups will be assigned by a majority vote
of the thirty samurai whom you will be facing."

"It will be my pleasure learning from you, Lady Nabiki."
Seki answered as he bowed with flourish. "But what if I beat
the heir?"

"Arrogance is a sign of Saotome blood, Seki, and so is not
knowing your limits. It is both amusing and promising."
Nabiki answered, her tone did not show offence from his
questioning rather, clear amusement. "No one has beaten
Ranma in fifteen years. And you propose to do so, you who
have not even mastered chi at this age."

Seki's embarrassed shake of head was apparent to all who was
present. Nabiki smiled at her assessment of his skill and
continued to answer his question. "If you, by chance, beat
my brother, he will relinquish his title to you. He will
teach you everything he knows and then once a year Lord
Happosai will try to kill you."

There were slow murmurs from the children and Nabiki
laughed. "Happosai's only way to impart his precious
knowledge is through combat, his time cannot be spent in a
whole year round apprenticeship. I believe that makes you
lucky, Seki. Are there more questions?"

The silence through the room was enough of an answer for
Nabiki. "Very well, I have assigned all of you to individual
quarters for the five days that you will be staying here. I
have assigned one servant per competitor. Your maid will
tell you when you will compete, where your competition will
be held and with whom you will be fighting against. All
correspondence to me or any other samurai will be done
through your maid."

Nabiki clapped her hands, and fifty servants dressed in
their plain kimonos filed into the room stepping beside the
child she was assigned to. Akane was glad that Ifuku, who
had come along, was assigned to her. "Your servants have all
been instructed with what to do with you. Rest well. You
will need your strength."

Nabiki turned to go, but as an after thought swiveled around
and smiled. "And Seki? Kumon and I will await your win over
Mori." Mori was the fourth ranked samurai and the last one
Seki had to beat to compete against Nabiki.

					~~~

Talking to one of the inductees was forbidden in between the
fights. Happosai held strict rules for the inauguration,
especially since it was the whole life of the clan. It was
about Anything Goes. It was about the succession of the
line. Not that Happosai needed anyone to succeed him... yet.

So instead Ranma followed Hanae and Sei's progress from the
shadows, both of whom were facing their respective opponents
in various parts of the donjon. Nabiki rested beside him on
one of the upper windows. "Your daughter is doing well,
Ranma. She will earn the Saotome name tonight."

Ranma nodded in acknowledgement, his eyes not leaving
Hanae's battle. It was her third and it was held over one of
the bridges crossing the donjon to the gardens. "Sei is
doing pretty good as well."

Nabiki nodded, Sei's own battle was being held along one of
the cliffs to the far side of the manor. Most of the fights
were in various places of the donjon and not in some
structured arena. This was in accordance to the Anything
Goes tenets. Anyone could be attacked anywhere, anytime.
Happosai picked every place that tested each student's skill
in every possible fighting environment. "You've trained them
well."

"I'm not the only one who's trained them." Ranma reminded
her. He turned his back on the fight, taking the scroll that
she brought with her and opened the seal. "I'm to referee
the battle of Megumi vs. Emi in one stick at Kodachi's rose
gardens. Where's your fight?"

Nabiki made a face. "At the forest with Hitoshi vs. Kaname.
A lot of the children are wanting for their samurai status
this year. Most of us are scheduled free for later though. I
would want to see the fight for the advanced students. Your
wife has caused quite a stir among the competitors. They
even wondered why it wasn't you who addressed them."

"She'll make it." Ranma answered confidently, ignoring the
fact that Nabiki was pointing out his inability to perform
his duties as heir by boosting up the children's morale
before the competition. "She's older than expected, and most
of the children will underestimate her. That won't mean she
will be in the top ranks, but that'll buy her enough time to
gauge her opponent. Those who will be beaten by her would
say it was luck and won't tell her weakness to the others,
it's a tactical move. It's always in the loser's best
interest never to tell the winner's down side."

"She is rather skilled, I can't deny that." Nabiki frowned
as she looked towards the wing that housed the competitors.
"I wonder myself why you petitioned her earning *advanced*
training, she doesn't even have the right to call herself
Saotome samurai. At least I know why I thought of
petitioning for her."

Ranma turned to look at Nabiki and smiled ruefully. "She'll
not get the chance to call herself Saotome samurai, ever."
He wanted to gauge Nabiki's reaction, but he could never
read anything from his sister when she didn't want him to.
"But her knowledge cannot be denied, she knows a hell of a
lot more than what an average Saotome samurai should."

"I've heard that before. You're just legitimizing her use of
Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu. That's okay with me." She paused as
she tapped the scroll that contained her orders
absentmindedly on her palm. "I just wonder why now and why
*ever*. Happosai never needed to know what she knew." Nabiki
gave a long pause, she took a breath to calm herself before
continuing. "Sometimes I think it's because more than
marriage, this ritual will force her to be closer to us...
to you. This trial won't judge her *humane*, *caring* nor
*wifely* for you, Ranma, it just makes her competent enough
to handle future training, lucky enough to be able to
handle training."

"I'm not doing this for that." Ranma protested, and Nabiki
brought a hand up to silence him.

"Do not lie to me." Nabiki shook her head as she took in
Ranma's features. "You couldn't decide on what she is to
you, so you think the competition would decide for you."

Ranma frowned. "You're reading more into this than
necessary." He turned around to walk towards the gardens.
"I'll be late for my first duty. I suggest you run along to
yours."

"Your wife's first match is aerial combat, Ranma." Nabiki
said as she watched her brother go. He had not turned around
to look at her, but he knew what her statement implied. He
himself has stressed Akane was not good for any type of
aerial maneuver. "It would be held within forest grounds,
between the trees. The temporary Jusenkyo like places he has
around here."

For advanced training, instead of different settings seen in
everyday fights, the children were given unnatural
circumstances requiring every bit of skill they had learned
since the passing of the samurai test. They were not given
the advantage over another samurai by attaining 'easy'
settings because they passed through every single one of the
hand picked arenas.

The aerial combat, one which is held on top of bamboo poles
was favored by Happosai because of the combination of
balance and the jumps that defined mid-air battles. Happosai
prided himself in that specialty of Anything Goes. Judging
from Akane's skill with mid-air attacks, she would need all
the support she could get.

					~~~

Akane stared at the long bamboo poles that lined the forest
and tried hard not to gulp. The bamboo poles looked rickety,
easily bendable and quite *tall*. 'Just how high do they
expect me to jump?' Akane thought as she moved closer to one
of the stalks and gave it a slight push to test how deep it
was embedded. Thankfully, the pole did not move easily.

'Okay that rules out falling by a somewhat swaying stem.'
Akane thought to herself and then shook her head again. 'Now
how the hell am I going to get up there?'

There was a light tap on her shoulder, and she looked at
Seki, her first adversary. 'Great.' She had not wanted her
first fight to be with someone too confident about himself.

"Checking out the area as well, Lady Saotome?" He asked as
he jumped up on top of the poles balancing easily from one
pole to the other. "It's quite sound, as you see." He jumped
back down again and grinned. "They told me my brother lost
on these sticks fifteen years ago to Lord Ranma."

"Do you resent that?" Akane wondered. Although Seki had been
a mere baby around the time she sensed that his purpose
revolved around his brother's fight.

"Not really." Seki grinned again as he looked at her. He was
taller than she was, so she had to look up to see his eyes.
"The heir has always been *good* there was no denying that.
And my brother did proceed to the next level. I just want to
surpass what my brother achieved."

Akane smiled at him. Determination was not rare in Saotome
children. She caught a wisp of falling hair as Seki jumped
up on one of the poles practicing a kata.

"Eager aren't they?" The voice that broke her thoughts was
old but firm. Akane swiveled around to find a man who was
probably around her father's age with eye glasses and a
bandana on his head. In the daylight, the dark contrast of
the black garb seemed too sharp against his larger belly but
he had a ready smile. "I think Seki will do well for my next
apprentice."

Before he could say more, Seki had hopped down from where he
had been standing and bowed to the stranger. "Genma-sensei,
will you be the judge of the poles?"

"A Jusenkyou like test needs to be judged by a person who
has actually been there." Genma laughed as he slapped the
hollow stem. "The time of your fight isn't for a while, but
I won't object if you want it earlier. You are the first to
use these poles for the inauguration."

"I don't mind." Seki answered eagerly looking at the tall
tropical grass, hovering over him easily. It was obvious he
was itching for a fight. He winked at Akane. "I'll meet you
up there, Lady Kodachi."

"Rather arrogant too." Akane muttered cursing at the given
setting and the fact that she was not very well versed with
the skills necessary to compete well in the given
circumstance. "He's doing this without asking me you know."

Although Genma raised an eyebrow at her in askance, Akane
sighed and nodded. She wouldn't have backed down anyway but
she would have liked it if Seki asked her about it. Biting
her lip, Akane decided on a course of action. The poles
easily towered over her, having been cut uniformly at around
twenty feet. She knew for certain that she couldn't take the
stalk one leap, a feat that was close to impossible when all
she could jump was, at most, five feet.

Taking a long breath to calm her nerves, she took on a
running start, rebounding off pole after pole until she
managed to stay on the top, using two poles as a foothold.
She wobbled a little at the way the poles held, but though
they were flexible, they were firm.

Seki was smiling and in a relaxed stance when she was
finally able to face him. She knew she had made a wrong
moved when she had allowed him to watch her handle her jump
towards the top. "Can't take the height? How in the world
are you going to fight me?"

"Fighting isn't just about how high you can jump, you know."
Akane answered going into a loose ready stance, flexing her
arms as she brought them in front of her. She was determined
to prove to the Saotomes that she could win in any setting.

Genma jumped on one of the poles in one leap. He adjusted
his spectacles and chuckled a bit. "It's good to see that
the two of you are quite spirited. Okay, this is the first
match for the two of you, so I guess I'll be telling you the
rules that would apply to majority of the tournament." He
paused briefly consulting with a small scroll he had and
then continued, "Anything Goes. This is your first aerial
combat, the only rules are, don't touch the ground, no
killing and barehanded combat only. That means no
instruments or potions that you're fond of Kodachi and no
chi. Winner is first touch on the ground or knock out."

Akane blew a wisp of black hair from her face. Genma looked
at the two of them. "Ready." He used his hand to signal go
before he jumped off to a relatively safe distance on top of
a far pole.

Because she was acquainted with Saotome impatience she'd
opted to wait out the first attack than be on the offensive
side. She was rewarded with Seki leaping up and aiming for
her head. For a split second Akane wondered how she was
going to sidestep given the fact that she was on top of a
thin wobbling stick. She managed to evade Seki's kick but
had over assessed her balance given the slenderness of the
pole making the wobbling worse and toppling her.

Using the falling momentum, she dropped on her side and
tried to catch the bamboo opposite her. Seki gave a hearty
laugh as he stood passively on top of the pole adjacent to
hers. "Out just after one strike?"

Akane rolled her eyes as she tried to swing around the
wooden rods like a gymnast would on double bars. 'Thank God
for PE.' Akane thought as she used the force she had gained
from the swinging to step onto the top.

When she was face to face with Seki she raised an eyebrow,
wondering why he hadn't taken advantage of her struggling
and struck at her. He shrugged, fully understanding what she
was asking. "I wouldn't want one lousy slip on the bamboo to
take away my victory, Lady Kodachi."

He launched at her again, almost in the exact same way he
had previously done. This time, Akane just jumped towards
the nearest bamboo crouching to keep her center low and
balance intact. When Seki had landed he was on all fours
smiling ferally at her. "Lady Kodachi, evading won't get you
anywhere."

'Which was true,' Acknowledged the rational part of Akane's
mind. 'Nobody really won while being in the defensive. Okay,
scratch that, if you had a huge fort, and an army it was
quite a possibility, but this wasn't some skirmish over
land.'

Akane used the poles to suspend herself in midair as she
slid lower. She then used a strong kick to cut the bamboo at
her feet into a pole twice her arm's length. When she had
that, she jumped towards another pole using her newly
acquired pogo stick. She looked behind her momentarily to
see that Seki was jumping from pole to pole to taunt her,
smiling at her inability to reach the other footholds
successfully.

Finally, Seki jumped in front of her giving her a side swipe
and another high kick before she used the pogo as a rebound
and hit him on the leg when she swiped at him from below.

He took that by flipping over to the next pole. You had to
hand it over to the kid: He had fancy footwork down to a
pat. He barely minded the gaps of the bamboo instantly
knowing where he would land next. "This is barehanded combat
you know. You're not allowed to use that pole against me."
He reminded her as he shook loose a bit of the splinters
that had dusted his hair from Akane's weapon.

She was using it more for balance than to ward him off.
'Although... now that he mentions it, it is a good enough
weapon.' It was Anything Goes. There was that tiny rule on
barehanded combat... but this was from her battleground. She
didn't want to take the chance for a technical default
though. 'And I suck at newly acquired weapons.' Akane smiled
as she hefted the pole. "Yeah, well tough luck."

She swung the pole low but he jumped over it. Using the pole
as a long jumper would, she propelled herself against Seki
trying to give him a kick. It was then that she found out
the Saotome mastery of mid-air combat, for though he had no
solid wall to rebound against, he had managed to avoid
neatly, perform a spin kick at her and then land gracefully
on top one of the other poles.

All she had managed to do was use the bamboo pole to suspend
her in the air by holding it horizontally on top of two
vertical bamboo poles. Seki shook his head aiming a solid
kick at her. Before he connected, Akane vaulted over the
horizontal bar and tried to land solidly on top of another
bamboo pole bringing her pole with her. He managed to split
one of the poles that she had used for support.

She winced. It was a good thing his kick hadn't connected or
she would have been on the receiving end of a few broken
ribs. Although she had managed to land in the first hit,
Seki did not seem too affected by her punch and she on the
other hand, was starting to feel the strain on her arms for
relying on them too much for vaulting over immense heights
just to meet Seki in mid-air.

Sooner or later, Seki would win with her exhaustion. So she
would have to end it before he pushed her harder. When Seki
landed on a new bamboo pole, Akane used all her strength to
launch herself at him. He almost met her, but was able to
jump on to the next pole before she had cut the bamboo he
had been standing on in half.

Giving her a half smile Seki stood balancing one foot on the
bamboo and the other folded into a crane stance in front of
him, his hands loosely reminding Akane of a ballerina. "I
know what you're doing Lady Kodachi. You're chopping off the
playing field."

Akane frowned. 'Not really.' She had just been trying to get
Seki imbalanced so she could drop him below. This Saotome
tried to read in too much into the fight than what she was
doing. And he was pretty bad at it too.

Limiting the playing field into two poles would be an
advantage for her, though. Especially if they were two very
*close* bamboo poles. That means she didn't need to vault
over as much and would receive proper close combat. She
would also manage to ground Seki close to her, making a
few more moves in her arsenal useable.

As she blocked Seki's punch, the inherent flaw of her style
became apparent to her. She jumped back grappling for a pole
behind her treating the hand that had blocked Seki tenderly.
She could have sworn he had shattered it. Her style was a
*defensive* style. Protection against robbers and molesters.
She had hardly ever had training for more offensive moves,
and when she had, rarely. Like the dojo destroyer, which she
had managed to win through the skin of her teeth *after*
training so damned *hard* because of her first defeat
against those blasted signs.

Signs of the disheartening news must have shown for Seki
pressed the advantage as he dropped to his side, his right
arm jabbing quickly at her feet as he fell, he held on to
the bamboo as he delivered a kick up to Akane's chin. Akane
dodged it by leaning backwards only to be imbalanced and
desperately tried to grope for another bamboo pole.

Flipping up and landing on the pole Akane had previously
been standing on, Seki peered over the edge. "Giving up so
quickly, Lady Saotome?"

"Not just yet." Came the rebellious answer. She had been
fast enough to elude his moves thus far. It would not do if
she would quit now. She tried to vault over the pole but
Seki had been ready for her. He had jumped off to meet her
striking a vicious blow on her stomach, which knocked the
wind out of her propelling her to the ground. He had figured
out early on that she could not evade effectively while her
feet were not touching the poles.

By the time that she had regained her breath she was almost
near the ground. She pulled herself against a pole, her body
slamming against her support because of her drop. She
coughed out a bit of blood and looked up at Seki. He was
smiling at her. Again. Although this was more of an arrogant
smile. She had prepared to bound up again, but found out her
strength had left her. She was also starting to hurt in
places that she hadn't known Seki had touched.

Deciding that she could not get enough momentum to propel
herself at the height Seki was on, she punched the bamboo he
was standing on with enough brute strength to cut it down to
her level. The pole broke off halfway, finally touching the
ground, but Seki had already side stepped into an adjoining
bamboo, making the transfer from one pole to the other seem
so effortless that Akane had to wonder if the poles she had
been standing on were farther apart than Seki's.

"Give it up, my lady." Seki called from the top, sliding
down the bamboo pole he had chosen, reminding Akane of a
fireman going to duty. He was far enough from Akane's reach
but had stopped when he was at her eye level. "You've lost."

"What?" Akane answered indignantly.

Genma who had been watching from the poles was now behind
Akane looking at her awkward position and nodded. "Seki, you
have won this round."

"That's unfair - I'm not out yet!"

Genma motioned below. Akane looked down. Her right foot was
grazing the grass of the meadow. Akane shook her head not
willing to admit defeat just yet. She was still not on solid
ground. She tried to swing over another step when she found
herself on the ground toppled over in an ungainly position
staring up at the blue sky.

The remains of the pole she had been clinging to was on her
right hand and the small stub of the former fifteen foot
pole was left with Seki standing triumphantly on it. He
smiled at her. "I do hate stubborn losers."

"Learning to accept failure is also part of the
inauguration, Lady Saotome. It may not be apparent but it is
an important lesson that must be taught to all students."
Genma held out a hand to her which she accepted. He gave her
a boost to get up, and she suddenly realized that the fight
had screwed her sense of balance a bit. "We aren't gods. We
can die. We can make mistakes."

She shook her head. Yeah right, it's not as if the
hell-bent-on-winning Saotomes would actually profess to the
world that they could actually loose. "And when has Ranma
learned that golden lesson? When has he failed?"

"Do you truly know your husband, Kodachi?" Genma sounded
incredulous, as if Akane had missed a blatant fact that
everyone else knew. "Ranma's life *has* been about failure.
There are more ways to fail than in a fight. Ranma has never
made lasting friendships and Ranma hasn't found love, Ranma
couldn't save *everyone* he chooses. The reason he has Hanae
was because he wasn't able to save her *mother*."

There was a pause, Genma turned to Seki and gave him a coin
specially designed to show that he had passed Genma's aerial
combat test and signaled his dismissal. The boy frowned,
interested in the talk but bowed low and gratefully then
accepted a towel and water from his maid. When Genma was
sure that he safely couldn't hear what he was going to say
he started to lecture Akane again.

"You view him as the children view him, impenetrable,
unbeatable and unbreakable." Solid words. Words that Akane
had always thought would be what Ranma was all about. "He
holds crutches to his side too. The world isn't all about
martial arts, and yes, he has a right to excel in it.
Haven't you figured it out yet? Being a daimyo, martial
arts, it's the *only* thing he knows how to be. *That's* why
he's good at it."

Akane opened her mouth to protest but shut it again, finding
that she had nothing to say to this man. Having a virtual
stranger point out the flaws of her husband was unnerving.
This was the first time she had ever heard of an unbiased
opinion for the Saotome heir. "How do you know him so well?"

His answer was solemn, "I have a right to know my son, Lady
Kodachi."

"*You're* Saotome Tetsuma?" Akane asked incredulously, the
thought not sitting well with her initial view of Ranma's
father from most of the maid's gossip.

"He's my foster child. He is not from my woman." Genma
corrected her irritably. She had touched a sore chord, one
which had not been opened in quite a while. "I would not
tolerate comparison to my brother."

Akane found a touch of resentment there, and maybe a little
envy. It was the first time she had heard that Genma was
actually the twin's uncle. "But sir... Saotome Tetsuma
seemed to be one of the few samurai who, from what I hear,
has power over a great deal of Saotome land."

"He is dead, there's not much changing that." Genma
muttered. "Excuse me, Lady Kodachi, I'm getting old, and
following youngsters on their little battles tend to wear me
out easily these days. Please excuse me."

Akane stared at Genma's retreating form. She looked at her
bloodied fists and grimaced, his words echoing in her mind,
giving her time to think about how many misconceptions she
could have had of Ranma.

				~~~

Ranma hated the fact that his sister could always predict
what he was thinking. It gets on his nerves, especially when
he didn't particularly want her to be right. He quickly
stripped off of his shirt and tossed it aside. He hadn't
been a particular neat freak before and didn't find any
advantages to being one right when he was dead tired.

These ceremonies had him hopping from one end of the donjon
to the other without breathing room. Sometimes, Happosai
thought just because he was fast he could be everywhere at
once. The old idiot was not getting nicer with the years.

He tensed when he sensed someone with him and swiveled
around. Akane had been standing in one corner looking at
him. "What are you doing in my room?" It was the first thing
that came to mind, and though he felt that he should have
cared less what she thought, he sensed that she was pained
by the sudden demand.

"My room too, my lord." My lord. The word on her lips
sounded foreign, submissive. He had never associated the
word submissive to his wife before. Not even when she had
her bout of 'amnesia'. "My bags have already been unpacked
here."

His look swiveled to where she was pointing and found her
clothes neatly packed on an alcove beside his own clothes.
Besides the few days he had spent alone with her as Ranko,
he had not slept with his wife in more than five years.
Before he could say anything in protest, he remembered
Nabiki telling him that there was an influx of children for
the year's inauguration and that he had to share his room
with someone.

Nabiki had said she was with their foster father. At the
time, he had laughed it off as funny, his predicament was
worse. He settled his gaze on Akane. "I'll fix the sleeping
arrangements tomorrow."

"Am I that much of a burden to you that you'll not want to
stay with me? Your own wife?" She asked softly. She moved
slowly placing her arms around his waist.

"What do you want me to do?" Ranma answered in a soft
whisper. "I don't have the liberty of forgetting and I don't
have the will to forgive you either. Do you seriously expect
me to trust you? So soon after this... I could only take so
much betrayal."

"But Ranma..." Akane closed her eyes as Ranma gently pushed
her away. "I at least expected you to understand the
difference between what is happening now, and what happened
before. Why can't you even let me try to love you?" She
moved her cheek softly against the back of his hand that was
placed on her shoulder while her left hand clasped his right
hand. "Haven't you even thought about this?"

Ranma paused before silently withdrawing his hands from her.
He settled on the corner, his back against her. "Not today.
Get your head in the game. You're going to fight tomorrow.
There's no room for unnecessary thoughts. Those children are
ruthless and they will try to gain every bit of advantage
over you."

He sensed her long sigh and heard her settle into the futon
he had been planning to use. It was resigned, full of the
sadness he hadn't associated with her either. Did he truly
not know how to read his wife?

He did not move from the corner, the picture of a child
sulking, his head bent in introspection, his back towards
her. And when he finally decided that much time had passed
he turned towards the single futon and looked down at her.

It was in evenings like this that he remembered her betrayal
most of all. She was the picture of a perfect little wife
wasn't she? He knelt beside her, smoothed the hair away from
her face, pulled up her blanket to her chin and sighed.
"What am I going to do about you?"

The tiny voice inside of his head answered: You could try
loving her.

He shook his head, loving her was something he didn't want
to experience again.

				~~~

The first thing Sohin did when he arrived at the temple was
to check on the boy. Yuki was young, but at seven he looked
like he had the world on his shoulders. Already too old for
his own years. Unlike his father, Yuki did not carry the
lung disease, but he had little memory of his parents.

Everybody had known that the boy was going to get a guardian
from one of the temples so Sohin had worked his damndest so
that the monks that had reared him would give him Yuki for
an assignment. That's why he had chosen that specific
monastery to train under. Because he knew the now dead Lord
Tendo would choose his son's protector from those ranks.

Sohin knew he would probably be the one to take care of the
boy's schooling because of Lady Chisei's dislike for the
young heir. "Sohin-san, what has taken you so long?" The boy
was shy, reserved.

Kneeling down to look at him in the eye, Sohin gave him a
reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I needed to take care of
some things in Yokohama. Ifuku sent me to talk to a friend
of hers. I bought you something."

The gift was a small top, and Yuki smiled with appreciation.
Sohin wondered if he should have bought him a sword instead.
Yuki's lessons in sword fighting were moving along, but
although he had not inherited his father's sickness, he was
still weaker than most boys his age. It was a wonder that he
survived trekking half way around the islands as it were.
"Thank you, Sohin-san."

Because of the recent actions of the Saotomes, Sohin was
unsure of how the Tendos were moving. Lady Chisei has not
expressed her want to kill the boy... yet. He sensed that
with the Saotomes on her tail, she might want the boy for
leverage. "Do you remember what I told you to do if ever we
get separated?"

"Go to Ifuku-san. She will hide me from my enemies." Yuki
nodded, knowing the gravity of the question, because he had
experienced an assassination attempt once. He had a scar
above his right eyebrow to remember it by. "Then go to the
monastery near Kanto, because they would not look for me
there."

"And what happens if you cannot find Ifuku?" Sohin asked
gently.

"Hide among the monks until such a time that I can go home."
Yuki looked up at Sohin searching his eyes. "Why are you
asking this, Sohin-san? Is there something wrong? Is someone
after you again?"

"Nothing yet." Sohin answered standing up from his crouched
position. "The feeling of uneasiness that I've had since
Ifuku's letter arrived has not left me."

There was a lengthy pause before Yuki took Sohin's hand into
his. "Oniisan, if my cousins are still alive. They would be
heir instead of me. Eruchii would be heir."

Sohin let go of Yuki's hands to lean back against the window
while looking at the boy he had been tasked to protect. For
seven years he had barely left this boy's side, and he knew
that he needed every skill he had learned in the monasteries
to protect him. Maybe more. "No, not heir. He would be Liege
Lord."

"Lady Chisei does not want me near because I am heir now."
Yuki murmured bending down to spin the top absentmindedly on
the floor. "She must have hated them for who they were. Has
she ever been close to finding them?"

Sohin paused, wondering how much the child knew. He frowned,
"Whenever Chisei is close to finding the heirs almost every
samurai in the Tendo area is deployed towards them. Rumors
say she killed one last year."

"Which one?" Yuki answered. There was no curiosity in his
voice, but a prodding one, something that told Sohin the
child was going to be a good leader one day.

"They say they killed the youngest." Sohin closed his eyes.
The youngest of the Tendo heirs had been Tendo Akane. The
interview with Nabiki was still fresh from his mind.

Yuki looked up from his top and gave Sohin comfort the only
way he knew how, "I will remember her."

"You barely knew her. What am I saying? You weren't even
born when they were banished. You didn't know her." Sohin
reminded Yuki. Then he shook his head. "You always ask these
kinds of questions, my lord. I know only rumors about the
heirs."

"I don't need to know Tendo Akane to remember that she is
one of the rightful heirs." Yuki sighed then shrugged. "At
least you know rumors, I know nothing of them. Will my
cousins save me from being heir, oniisan?"

"They should." Sohin mumbled folding his hands over his
chest and looking at his charge. "You aren't even prepared
to be liege. You hardly have the education a seven year old
samurai has."

"Does Eruchii know more than I do? He ran away when he was
barely ten." Yuki answered thoughtfully, and Sohin wondered
if he had offended the boy because of his previous comments.
The three heirs were stories told in the Tendo household
frequently and reverently, in the houses that were loyal to
them. "I would wish he did though."

"I would wish that too, young master." Sohin sighed, too
much talk about the Tendo heirs could not be good. It drew
unwarranted attention to them. "They will appear when they
are ready to reclaim what Lady Chisei has taken from them."

"But what if they don�t?" Yuki asked worriedly. "They have
been missing for twenty years. I would think that by this
time they would have thought of a plan already. They aren't
getting any younger."

"It's a little bit more complicated that just showing up in
front of Lady Chisei's doorstep, you know." Sohin answered
ruefully lifting Yuki from the floor and placing him on his
shoulder. "Well, come on, enough chit chat. You have more
than your share of lessons to learn. We can't hope that the
heirs take you out of your responsibilities every day."

				~~~

Because of power-matching, Sei expected that he would see
Hanae in the fights, though he had calculated that it would
happen later rather than ten fights into the tournament. It
was just too early for him to face off someone with the same
tutor. Most of the hatamoto in charge of these events tried
to ward off such mismatches since there were more than sixty
participants. However, the two of them had gone on an
undefeated streak which was difficult to match with another
child holding ten wins zero loses as well.

Their fight had been set on a cliff with sheer drops on both
of their backs if they were not careful enough with the
fighting space that they occupied. Sei eyed it wearily,
though Hanae was adept with fighting at constrained spaces,
his cousin tended to get excited over almost wins and
sometimes forgot her surroundings. Good for him, but not
especially good for her.

He worried for his cousin at the immense risks she took just
to get her name accredited as Saotome samurai and at the
lengths she'd go to achieve it. Most of the time Hanae was
carefree, but she had a particular bite to that childish
charm if one knew where to look. Hanae didn't believe in
pulling punches and had too much independent will to be a
team player.

Hanae tapped his shoulder as she sat down beside him, her
feet dangling off the sheer drop, appreciatively whistling
at the rocks that fell down with each swing. "Do you wish to
win this round, Sei?"

Sei shrugged, not really caring either way. They had similar
skills, he and Hanae. Being trained under one person tended
to do that. It was an even match and in their sparring
sessions, they each had their victories and their defeats.
"Does being Saotome samurai mean much to you, Hanae?"

"It's the only life I've known." Hanae whispered. "And
father certainly finds the distinction important."

"What a pair we are." Sei answered in her same hushed tones.
"You whose family you have not seen and me whose family has
shunned me. We carry a name that is not our own and dance to
a tune that we cannot hear."

"I think you get the melodrama from your father's side of
the family." Hanae said impishly pulling her hair from the
ponytail that held it. "Fighting has always been what I've
lived for. It's in the Saotome blood, and that sings out to
you doesn't it? Although I've lived more in Saotome than in
Amazon soil, the battle drums hum to me. Whatever name I
bear I will always be a fighter."

"And you tell me *I'm* melodramatic. I never actually knew
fighting has always been *musical*." Sei muttered popping his
knuckles distractedly. His comments earned him a solid punch
on his upper arm.

"Trying to prove your own worth has always been difficult."
Hanae answered reverting to their solemn tone. "Even if they
deemed me unfit to grace their soil, I will prove to them
that I *can* be the best of this generation just as my mother
was the best of *her* generation."

"You haven't told my mother about *your* mother." Sei tilted
his head as he watched her tempt death with her acrobatic
acts against the small cliffside. "What will you do when
Matriarch Cologne takes you back?"

"Go with her of course." Hanae answered as if it was the
only answer possible for her. She smiled at him. "I love
father, yes, but I want to know where my mother comes from.
I will not be welcome there, but I will learn."

"I guess that's something we have in common. It's only in
Lord Ranma's house that we can belong in." Sei said shaking
his head. "We're certainly both not welcome in the land of
our parents."

"At least Aunt Nabiki is with you." Hanae reminded him
gently.

There was that tiny knowledge that he was with his mother.
He stared off in space. Saotome children never had the
chance to be cherubic faced and giggly as the peasant
children he'd often seen playing in the fields. He'd never
met a relative who would not deliver a challenge on the
spot.

He would have said more, had their referee not joined them.
Ryu Kumon was another well known samurai within the Saotome
stronghold if not because of his status as third in the
ranks, then because of the controversy that an outsider
holds such a high designation within Saotome territory.

Although Happosai was extremely jealous of other people
holding the art, he was not as guarded when it was he who
was giving away their trade secrets. He was known for
teaching anyone at whim, even those who did not like his
attention. Names such as Pantsuto Tarou were rare but well
known among a clan that must survive attacks from former
pupils of the master.

Ryu greeted them with a formal nod, a very grim man of
sorts, Ryu always took things seriously, even small
greetings such as this. At Ryu's beckon, both of the
children went to him. "Do you want to flick a coin for
starting location?" Both combatants shook their head, so Ryu
assigned them their places.

When he was sure they were ready he brought down his hand in
the signal that would start the fight of the cousins against
each other.

When Sei squared off with Hanae, there were no elementary
combinations that left them to feel out their opponent.
Hanae and Sei knew how each other fought and what each
other's weaknesses were. The go signal had them both going
for blows each designed to attack the other's weak point.

Hanae smiled. "Not here to win, are you Sei?" She asked
nonchalantly as she whirled around to deliver an elbow
strike.

Sei swatted that away almost immediately as he replied,
"There's nothing wrong with it either, cousin." The two
fought each other with immediate familiarity that was
brought on by the time they spent together and the mere fact
that they trained together. Even their arbiter had to agree
that he would be hard pressed to say who could win in such
an event.

Sei's advantage had always been his analytical mind and an
almost impeccable memory that served him well when thinking
up of counter strikes to majority of what Hanae threw at
him. What he lacked in creativity, he compensated for with
deadly accuracy. Sei had analyzed Hanae many times before
and had come up with much of the same conclusions he had
earlier, that she lacked finesse in her fighting and was
certainly not as strong as he was. Though Sei had found her
lacking in the two, she made up for it with instinctive
skill that usually made him loose five out of ten. Not good
odds, but not a bad one either.

"Frustrated yet?" Hanae asked as she tried striking with her
knee towards his midsection, while he evaded that by using
her propped knee as bars and flipped over her trying to
deliver several blows to the head which she all avoided.

Hits and misses were common when fighting each other because
they knew each other so well. Frustration was also a very
common emotion. "On the contrary, I just need one blow to
level you off."

She smiled as she stepped back from his fists, knowing that
Sei wouldn't go for one blow to finish the fight. Sei made a
sweep at her feet and as she jumped to fend the attack off,
caught her in an arm lock. She winced in pain as Sei applied
more pressure to her arms fully understanding that there
were few options left to her at that point.

Escaping from one of Sei's hold would be rather tricky
especially since Hanae was of smaller stature than he was.
However, they were at a standstill, without rendering her
unconscious, Hanae was still in the game, and Hanae would
not give up even if there was substantial pain involved.

"Save us both the trouble and wave your white flag, Hanae."
Sei said in a taunting manner, his grip was tight with every
second still squeezing tighter against Hanae's arms.

Hanae smiled then twisted around delivering a swift kick
directly to Sei's face, Sei swung back to avoid it, dragging
Hanae stumbling with him. He placed his free hand on her
throat, a definite indication of a death blow.

With that, Ryu lifted his two fingers to his lips to call
that match an end. As the cousins disentangled, Ryu handed
Sei a small token indicative of the win. He bowed towards
Ryu and then when Hanae was fully up bowed to her as well.

He went towards the sidelines where his attending maid
handed him the thin reed necklace he had strung the tokens
on. Letting the latest one join the other three, he secured
it around his neck.

"A good match, cousin." Hanae said as she too took the
necklace that she had given her maid for safeguarding.
Traditionally, those that accompanied the young samurai
around the contests were their official foster mothers, Sei
had his, but since 'Ranko' was running with the higher
samurai tests, Hanae was provided for with one of the older
maids in the Saotome household. "What does the next test do
anyway, even the maids there are held under oath and towards
the end, no maids are allowed at all."

"Certainly secret enough so that new minds won't be bored by
it." Ryu berated as he watched the two children take their
belongings to wait for their next matches in their
respective rooms. "Hurry to your rooms. The next matches are
in half a stick and you'll want to get all the rest you
need.

				~~~

Akane pressed a cool cloth onto a bleeding nose. She winced
at the contact of the white cloth against her almost broken
nose and sighed. She had not thought that potentially
maiming blows were part of the competition.

The girl, Miyu had apologized profusely afterwards, and the
pain was only dulled by the fact that she had won that small
round of hell. That happened yesterday and her nose *still*
gave off a small trickle of blood when she managed to jar it
a little in her sleep. She sighed as she flexed her muscles
when Nabiki entered the room handing her another cold
compress. "You're doing well for someone who's older than
the rest of the children."

"Thanks." Akane said sarcastically. She didn't need Nabiki
to remind her that she was at least ten years older than
most of the children she was fighting against. Ranma and
Nabiki had both finished the particular competition when
they had been sixteen and almost fifteen years previous. "I
thought senior samurai and acolyte aren't allowed to talk to
each other."

"Hardly the case when you practically live in my brother's
bed chamber. I'm invoking the short truce that I promised
myself that I'd give you when Ranma actually permitted you
to enter this power-match." Nabiki stretched a little, her
hair was bound together in a high pony tail and she was
wearing a red Chinese shirt which she and Ranma frequented
using. "Besides how am I going to impart little tidbits of
knowledge to you? You'd think these kids would let up
sometime."

"That's what I thought as well." Akane groused as she looked
distastefully at the soaking pieces of cloth that she had
discarded for mopping up her nose. "God, your youngsters
really are ruthless."

"It's a rather ruthless world." Nabiki answered flippantly
as she sat down unceremoniously on one of the zabutons.
"Nothing else cleanses the soul as well as getting the hell
kicked out of you."

Akane wondered if Nabiki was deliberately baiting her or was
testing the waters. "There is that."

"Actually, I've been sent to inform you of your final
rights." Nabiki said tossing over a scroll towards Akane,
who had dropped the soggy kerchief she had been holding
against her face as she caught the scroll in its lazy arc.
She looked surprised, she should be. No one really knew of
their own progress in these games, there were never charts
of the wins and losses except those in the older samurai's
possession and speaking about wins and losses were as much
as taboo as it was speaking to the elder samurai. "Be early.
If there's one thing that Happosai hates, it's when one of
the inductees is late. It ruins the entire schedule."

Akane broke open the seal and quickly went over the contents
her eyes widening at the time stated there. She looked up at
Nabiki who was watching her reaction closely. Clearing her
throat before speaking, Akane said slowly, "This in four
hour- sticks."

"I know." Unwinding a thick black bandanna from her forearm,
Nabiki held it out to Akane. "It's a blind fold. No one gets
past this level without being blindfolded. You're supposed
to swear an oath as well."

"Oath?" Akane asked uncertainly picking up the neatly folded
cloth Nabiki was extending towards her, while being
extremely grateful that the bleeding from her injuries had
stopped. "What does it say?"

"Read your entire missive, Lady Saotome. You might just
understand what it's about." Nabiki answered straightening
from her zabuton and looking at Akane expectantly. "This is
one of your final tests as a samurai. I'm not going to get
my brother loose his face because the samurai he has
recommended for further training is not worth the effort."

"I... solemnly swear, not to divulge any of the proceedings
hereafter." Akane looked up from the scroll, feeling
Nabiki's gaze on her. Nabiki gave a small nod to show that
she had been doing right so far. "Failure to do so would
mean nullification of my status. So help me God."

"Well then, Lady Saotome, you've now been sworn into the
rights of induction." Nabiki said as she took the blindfold
from Akane's hands and wrapped it around Akane's eyes. Next
she touched a cool hand against Akane's forehead. "Clarity
of the mind, speed of thought, and skill with fighting. May
you posses all three with the path you're going to take."

As the words washed over her, Akane felt that she had been
dropped in the middle of darkness. The kerchief around her
eyes had rendered her blind, but the words Nabiki had said
took away some of the keen instinct she had about the room
and its contents. "What just happened?"

"From here on you would not address any samurai who is not
talking to you." Nabiki said in a stern voice as she took
Akane's hand leading her towards what Akane assumed to be
the exit of her room. "You have been rendered blind, and
even ki-sense of the area is not allowed. You have your
other senses to guide you."

The sun was still early on its ascent, and since the first
messengers about the final rights happened before the sun
could fully come out behind the horizon, it was still early
when Nabiki lead Akane to the start of the path on a test
that promised to take almost the entire day. There was no
way that they could actually finish this in just four hours.
No matter how fast Akane was, without jumping up the
mountains.

Most of the students who came earlier for this part of the
inauguration had already started to climb. From the entire
time table that the elder samurai studied early that
morning, she knew that Ranma was about half way up,
depending on the speed of the student under him.

Nabiki frowned, of all the things the inauguration entailed
it was the particular task at hand that she did not like as
a hatamoto. Going up an entire mountain and then trekking
the entire way down again, or taking the much dangerous
plummet down was never something that she enjoyed doing.

She turned to Akane who had been following the sound of her
clapping from her rooms to the base of the mountains.
Another thing that she had absolutely hated when she had
been the one with the blindfold. Following sound was not one
of the best ways to understand that there was a tree root or
a small thorny bush in your path. "Ready, Akane?"

"You mean we're just starting?" Akane replied sarcastically,
both hands out in front of her, the very picture of the
blind seeking her way. Although Nabiki was not supposed to
let Akane get into any trouble before she reached the top,
leading a blind person was not the easiest of jobs when all
she was allowed to give were sounds.

"Barely." Nabiki answered. There were brutal rules for
samurai leading people like Akane. First of which was that
if they ever held their hands to lead them, it would have to
be a harsh drag rather than a slow pull. Nabiki took Akane's
hand since they were already going on a much steeper slope
that a blind person would not fare well without more
guidance than a sound, jerking her towards the path before
letting her go. "You are aware that the donjon is on a flat
piece of land on the Kanto Mountain, yes?"

When Akane nodded, Nabiki continued, "The mountain is part
of a long mountain range, one of which we will climb today.
This is far from village so that the villagers don't get to
meddle in this business. It's the reason why you had to walk
as far as you did. The Yakuoin Temple is situated father
along, closer to Lord Happosai's fortress. We're starting a
climb up in a different direction, so that we don't disturb
worship at the temple. We're at the base, where the slope is
starting to grow steeper."

When Nabiki finished saying that, two other hatamoto greeted
her, they looked at Akane for identification and nodded. The
proceedings from here onwards were so secret that even the
trainees who want to participate in the inauguration don't
know of the test. It was secret enough for samurai who had
not participated in the test not to know of it.

They nodded to let her through. "Ranma's had a head start."
One of them said. "He might be at the base before you send
this one flying."

Akane did not understand the exchange, and Nabiki tugged her
on before she could comprehend it. True enough, the pathway
did become steeper as they progressed. Nabiki was a capable
handler and prevented most of her trips, but she did managed
a few surprised shouts when she was stepping off rocks,
realizing that the ground beneath it was deeper than what
she had expected. Nabiki never touched her unless absolutely
necessary and barked out commands in the most curt of tones.

The pathway was not as tiresome as most mountains looked
like. There were no sheer cliffs that she was required to
climb with the blindfold and there were no too steep slopes
that would have sent her tumbling back down. If Nabiki
deemed the slope too deep for Akane to walk on, she let the
girl down on all fours.

By what Akane determined to be midday, she was profusely
drenched with her own sweat, her temperature had risen a few
degrees, her throat screaming for water and her cheeks were
definitely gaining the pink tinge of both exhaustion and
sunburn.

"Let's stop here." Nabiki said as they reached a small
plateau designated as the halfway point of the entire trek,
picked out because of the small pools of springs cropping
out from the rocks and because it was flat enough and large
enough for the younger samurai not to fall off the edges.

A small ladle, brought by one of the earlier samurai lay
atop one of the rocks covered by a small white towel. Wiping
the wooden ladle, Nabiki dipped it in one of the covered
pools and brought it to Akane's lips. "Drink."

Akane gulped the water down thirstily, finishing it almost
instantly. Nabiki offered three more scoops before her
thirst was even closely sated. When Nabiki sure that Akane
took all the water that she could, she dipped the ladle a
final time for a drink herself.

Nabiki shielded her eyes from the sun that had suddenly
peeked out of the clouds. Higher up in the mountains, the
clouds moved faster giving shade in a moments notice and
abandoning them when the wind blows the feathery wisps away.
Even though Nabiki had made the trip countless of times
because of the inauguration, she always stopped to admire
the rays of light filtering through the cottony clouds
chasing the darkness around as it moved. "We're halfway to
our destination, Lady Akane. Will you continue? Remember,
this offer comes only *once*, and because you have taken this,
if you fail this test you may *never* try out again."

Akane searched for Nabiki's voice moving her head side to
side until she got a tentative location of where she was
standing and faced her off. Nabiki waved at the great
expanse before her, even though Akane didn't see the
gesture. Nabiki closed her eyes feeling the wind through her
hair and then smiled. This little task had always put her in
a better mood for the rest of the ceremonies. "I'll tell you
what my guide told me when my lungs were burning from
exhaustion, my skin an angry red from the sun and my throat
parched dry: Some people succeed because they are destined
to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.
This is your determination, Lady Akane, we are half way
through the top, and we haven't even scaled the worst of
what is to come."

"I'm determined to finish this." Akane answered with
resolve. "I will not let myself fail."

"There, you're halfway to finishing the battle." Nabiki
answered. Not that the battle was going to be any easier
from this way on. The Kanto mountain range wasn't a peak so
there was standing room on the top but the heat was prickly
and muscles screamed for release. Not to mention the
emotional trauma and physical abuse most of them would still
undertake before the entire ordeal was over. "If you finish
this alive, I swear, you should talk to Ranma about what *he*
did when he went up this trip. That story has gone on to the
most amusing anecdotes for this piece of test *ever*."

The thoughts that went through inside Akane's head were far
what Ranma did at the time. Her mind was blank from
exhaustion. The mantra that repeated over and over in her
head was, 'After this, there would be no more of the torture
and mind games'.

Thinking of nothing made the time pass swiftly, her actions
relegated to the most basic and even the most automatic,
leaving no thought to discomfort or weariness. Her straining
muscles gave into her demands, and though her movement
sometimes faltered they were moving towards their
destination. She was even beginning to think that not
talking to Nabiki was a blessing in disguise, having her
lungs reserve her much needed air supply.

After some time, Nabiki brought Akane directly in front of
one of the sheer drops, some meters away from where Happosai
was. Although he couldn't be seen and couldn't be heard from
the way she had positioned her. She flipped the blindfold
Akane had in one movement and handed it back to Akane. "I
thought you'd show some resistance. You can't even follow
the simplest of instructions can you? You're supposed to be
BLIND for this entire test."

"You were the one who -"

"Are you talking back to me?" Nabiki raised her voice
slightly angling her eyebrow in an insulted expression. "You
do realize that the *only* reason you're here is because
of my brother don't you?"

"Well excuse me. I wasn't the one who wanted to enter this
stupid inauguration in the first place!" Akane shouted in
exasperation. "You guys are absolutely crazy, you tell me
something positive one leg of this ascent and you tell me
something *completely* opposite the next!"

"Well maybe we should just send you back. A Saotome samurai
not willing to do *everything* for the art is not a Saotome
samurai at all." Nabiki said as her gaze swept over Akane in
slow assessment. A long pause passed before Nabiki moved
again. "Don't even think about leaving that spot, if
Happosai thinks you're still worthy after this small show of
arrogance he'll come for you. Else, I'm taking you back
down."

With those words, Nabiki left Akane openmouthed at the edge
of a small platform on top of a large cliff where no other
person could be seen with the immediate vicinity. 'Damned
samurai. Damned Saotomes. Godamnit, what the hell am I
doing?'

Waiting for Happosai was not something that she had
anticipated. And Nabiki's words rang loud about her
possibility of not being chosen. She closed her eyes, 'What
would Ranma say if I won't pass this test, just because I
wasn't able to hold on to a stupid BLINDFOLD?' She hadn't
thought the blindfold was that important.

Everything reminded her of secret cults or even close to
both physical torture and emotional stress of fraternities.
Wondering how long she was going to have to stay in place,
she was startled by a strong scream coming from her left.
Her head whipped into that direction, though all she could
see was the mountains, and she suddenly realized just how
long she had climbed, and just how far she was from the
bottom.

She started to go after the voice when she felt something
holding her in place. When she looked down she saw Happosai
keeping her in place with his pipe pinned at her shoe. Dead
tired and on top of the mountain she had not thought she
could climb, Akane faced off with the grand master of
Anything Goes, the founder of the school and smiled at the
thought that she could not meet the man eye to eye.

"Aren't we going to find out -" He cut her off with the
wave.

It was their first meeting and Akane was instantly harboring
suspicion that a man that came merely to her knees could not
wield the power that he claimed. He gave her a toothy grin,
one which she could not stand nor could she appreciate for
its certain oily quality.

"You'll know soon enough what that was about. I would have
loved to spare you of such misery, but there are limits to
which tradition could be bended." Happosai said as he
appraised her lightly. Akane wondered just how much he was
willing to bend for her anyway. "Take a look behind you."

Akane took a peek and nearly fell straight to certain death
if Happosai's pipe had not caught her belt as a hook
anchoring her to the mountain top. Akane turned back to look
at Happosai. They were at the peak of the mountain, it was
not windy so the two of them could stand, but on either side
she could see the vastness of the land that spilled to show
Kamakura.

If she had not been deathly afraid for her life, Akane would
have marveled at the view. "I trust Ranma has not shown you
the view from Serpent's Bluff in Rose Brier." There was a
negation and Happosai tapped his pipe against his palm. "You
should ask him of it. Serpent's Bluff shows just what your
husband holds. It is the symbol of the reach of his
influence and the magnitude of his power. This on the other
hand, is part of mine."

He flicked his hand with a possessive sweep of the plains
that surrounded them, and though the entire prefecture of
what will be Kanto region in her time was not shown by such
a small view, she was given the first glimpse of a little of
Edo. Maybe a small part of Kanagawa and a large view of
Tokyo Bay. The mountain range stretched up northward,
towards Honshu.

There was something to be said about being on top of the
world, looking at the distance that you've just labored over
to get there. From her vantage point, the fact that she was
dusty, hot and tired was compensated by the rare view of the
deep waters and the rolling fields. Two birds flew by one
after the other in a chase off the sweeping land.

"The remarkable thing about the human mind is its range of
limitations." Happosai said after he gave her a while to
digest what he had just said. She looked back at him
uncomprehending. "Let's find out your limitations. The Kanto
mountain range is very wide, and you did not pass by the
Yakuoin Temple on your way up here."

Nabiki had informed her of it when climbing up, although now
that she had more time to think about it, she vaguely
recalled the shrine as one that represents the "Tama" area
of the mountains, and was probably busy enough to have more
than their share of worship even in this particular time.
Still that meant they were high up enough for her not to see
the immediate bottom, and a plain nowhere near enough for
her to drop dead into where people could see. Just the
perfect secluded spot for some of the more eccentric things
Happosai practiced with his disciples.

"I'm giving you two choices. You can go back down the way
you came. It would be tiring but it would be relatively
easy. You would walk with your heavy and numb legs back with
the way you came. However, you may never fight using
Anything Goes again. You will renounce Anything Goes and its
use and you will forever forget that you were given this
chance." Happosai said pointing back to the long spindly
road downwards. "You see the difficulty in being among the
best, my dear. All the others who practice Anything Goes are
weeded out through this one test. If they never get up the
mountain, they can still enjoy practicing the art, but now
you are given an ultimatum."

"What's my other choice?" Akane answered distastefully,
suddenly knowing why there had been screams before hers.
Battle cries even. Because of this moment, every Saotome
child was handed down a path that no Saotome child ever
wanted to take... to forsake the art.

"Fall down the mountain for me." Happosai said toothily as
he peered down the depths that she would fall. He picked up
one of the rocks in his hands and let it sail past her
waiting for the seconds until it thudded down the bottom.
"Do you trust me enough to push you over the edge?"

"You do realize that every bit of you Saotome people are
crazy, right?" Akane muttered as she stared down at the
rather endless fall she was facing if she ever wanted to be
samurai.

"I'm eccentric." Happosai said with a wave of his pipe.
"That's one adjective more than I can permit. Wouldn't your
husband be so ashamed if you didn't see to your rights?"

"He would be happy to see me dead!" Akane said as she
motioned to the certain death that waited for her below.
"Are you crazy? No one would jump off this mountain for
you."

"No one?" Happosai laughed as he hopped by his little peak
in the mountain lighting his pipe. "Are you sure? I never
permit hatamoto who have not undertaken such a similar
exercise. Let me assure you. ALL my advanced samurai have
undertaken this. You've seen how much damage my samurai
can take. Have you seen Ranma fall down from a cliff
carrying three women? I've seen him SURVIVE such a fall.
Of course there are the few unfortunate ones like...
say that one that came before you... the one you were
worried about."

Akane stared at him agape, wondering just how much of that
she could believe and realizing that Happosai could not be
lying to her. She suddenly made the connection of the scream
she had heard from his arrival to one of the inductees
before her. They were goddamned serious to drop them off the
mountain. It wasn't just any sheer drop. It wasn't a cliff
that was 'maybe' taller than a tree. It was an entire
mountain.

"Ranma survived that fall with a few fractures. You're
telling me *you* can't?" Happosai jeered while he puffed out
smoke at her face. "Certainly Ranma must have thought you
would pass this trial if he volunteered your presence in
this affair. You who aren't even Saotome samurai by birth."

"Why do this?" Akane answered viciously taking a step
forward, a little of the few steps that she could take. "If
I was going to fall, why save me earlier when I would have
thought it was a mere accident?"

"And waste good samurai blood on such *accidents*?" Happosai
shrugged. "Surely jumping down on purpose has more fun in it
than accidentally dying. At least you have a choice in the
matter. Do not worry, Lady Akane, after the fall, I promise
you'd be taken care of. No matter how many fractures you
have. "

"I don't want to do this." Akane pleaded as she looked back
down at certain death and back to Happosai again. "What else
can be done?"

"Renounce the Saotome name." Happosai said. He never did
anything by half measure and his ultimatums were clearly
that, a demand for her absolute loyalty. "It�s the only
other recourse if you do not want to take the plunge. I'll
push you if you want. Trust me, my dear."

"What the-"

"I remember someone wise saying this once... I pride Saotome
tradition on giving our samurai two lasting bequests: one is
roots." He smiled, hefting his small pipe, then using it
quite skillfully and with little apparent effort, he pushed
her off the edge of the peak. "The other is wings. I hope
you won't be so scared of meeting the end, my dear. You
accepted that push rather well."

Akane flew off quite a distance from the mountain. At
another time, she could have wondered at the sheer strength
of a mere pipe to throw her with enough velocity to resist
the pull of gravity for a few seconds.

However, the almost instantaneous drop claimed her full
attention, and she screamed for all it was worth.

				~~~

Although parents of the samurai children to be tested were
almost always on the stronghold when the inauguration began,
they were not allowed to partake in much of the activities
unless they had passed the same test as well. So Nodoka
didn't have much of a choice but to stay in the sidelines
and wait for her grandchildren's turn to finish before she
could speak to them. Much as what the other parents were
doing.

She went inside one of the dining rooms which were
perpetually serving food for the children who were dead
tired and extremely hungry from their bouts and sat down to
drink a cup of tea when Genma sat down opposite her.

"I didn't expect to see you here." He had a jug of sake on
one hand which was tied around his fist. Nodoka tried not to
turn away her head in distaste but he caught her small sign
of displeasure and frowned. "When was it that you grew to
hate me, Nodoka?"

"I don't hate you Genma." Nodoka answered, which Genma
didn't quite believe, especially since he could not get her
to talk to him beyond the 'polite' questions she posed. She
asked one question now, "How is your drinking problem?"

He had to hand it to the woman. She didn't believe in
dulling that sharp tongue of hers. Nabiki learned from a
master. "I don't drink anymore."

"I take it you don't drink any less either?" Nodoka said
raising an eyebrow at the sake jar that he was tugging
along. She wondered why he had brought the vile liquid when
he knew he was going to be needed as supervisor almost the
entire day. "You haven't changed much."

"This isn't sake. I see you haven't forgiven me yet." Genma
said solemnly untying the jar from his wrist and leaving it
on the low table that was in between the two of them. "I
don't even understand *why* you're angry with me when
you're the one who married someone else."

"Don't bring your brother into this." Nodoka whispered
closing her eyes for composure. For someone whose will Genma
hardly ever saw waver, this was a surprise. "He doesn't
deserve to be brought into petty quarrels."

"You got your wish didn't you?" Genma answered bitterly.
"You married into the Saotome name, your children holds
Nerima, Ranma is heir and you even manage to take the Twin
Dragons - it's Rose Brier now isn't it? Trust a Kuno to give
it a sissy name."

"Don't blame me for loosing that estate of yours to the
Kunos." Nodoka shot back at him. Nodoka had always had a
very rigid sense of justice. He just never thought she would
think he blamed her for the loss of the Twin Dragon and its
subsequent renaming into Rose Brier. "You lost that in a
bet."

If memory served him correctly, he had bet because the
imbecile Kochou had managed to kidnap *her* at that time.
Still, he had been the one who lost it in a gamble. He just
didn't think that its loss would also cost him her hand in
marriage. "Oh you're the smart one aren't you? You knew
right after I lost the land that I would be stripped of all
holdings and then granted to Tetsuma. You were gone the next
second. You married him in less than a year."

"Don't tell me you agonized over that, Genma." Nodoka said
calmly. She took another sip of her tea before she
continued, "Surely you wouldn't profess your undying love.
Not when you visited a brothel every night that you were
engaged to me."

"You knew about that?" Genma asked in surprise. The steel in
Nodoka's eyes was answer enough. 'She never mentioned a
thing when I could do something about it and now she throws
it on my face! Nearly thirty years later!'

"God, you don't even try to cover up your liaisons, don't
you?" Nodoka said in disgust. Nodoka was the picture of
every self-righteous woman. She looked more angry than hurt,
yet deep down, Genma understood why she was bringing this
up. She wanted to know why he had cheated on her.

Genma's heart constricted, because even though they had
broken up their engagement, he had missed her terribly.
"Nodoka..." he said softly reaching for her hand, she
snatched it away before he could touch her, but he looked up
to meet her eyes. "Nodoka, the reason why I went there every
night was because my father's illegitimate daughter was
there. I was the one who took care of her until she died. If
you had asked Tetsuma, he would have confirmed it. Ask
Happosai, he knew about her."

Because Nodoka was proud, she didn't say the words that
clawed at her heart with the confession. She hadn't even
blinked when she had been handed the argument that would
have pushed for her to marry Genma years ago. To push for
her to wait. "You lie."

"Why would I lie to you now?" Genma asked incredulously he
motioned at himself. "I'm old, I'm close to dying, Nodoka.
Granted I may have a few years left, but why would I lie
about that to you? I didn't believe it when my brother's
emissary had sent your wedding invitation. To *him* no
less. No word, no explanation. Nodoka, you left me out
there to dry. If I had known you were marrying me for the
fiefdom, I would have spared you all the trouble and
given to you all those years ago instead of you *whoring*
yourself to him."

The slap that had come, Genma believed, was well deserved.
Nodoka glared at him before she mustered an answer, "I see
where Ranma's foot-in-mouth complex comes from. You disgust
me."

Genma snapped his head back into attention. "Then tell me
Nodoka. Why *did* you marry my brother? Why *did* you drop
me off when I didn't have a penny to my name?"

"You don't even have the right to know the answer to that."
Nodoka shook her head imperiously, her anger was quickly
hidden. Her face was smooth and expressionless once again.
"Did you give me time to explain, Genma? Where did you go
when you lost to Kuno?"

"Happosai sent me on a training trip. It had been
punishment. No one knew but him." Genma said, as if it was
the most obvious answer in the world. He paused for a
moment, letting his words sink in before he continued again,
in a softer tone. "I deserve a reason, Nodoka. Tell me at
least why you married my brother."

"Because you were missing, you idiot." Nodoka said in a low
voice. "You were missing for more than a year and I was
pregnant."

				~~~

She had closed her eyes instinctively when she had fallen
off the mountain. Akane was not afraid of heights, but there
was fear when she had toppled off the peak. Akane had her
share of broken bones and sprains, and did not relish the
fact that she was plummeting down an extremely high
mountain, which by her standards, survival was even
doubtful.

Maybe years of training *could* have prepared her for the
fall, as what Happosai was implying Ranma had done, but she
distinctly remembered that a fall off the roof in their old
house would have given her a couple of broken bones. She did
*not* want to contemplate a fall off a mountain which was
definitely more than ten times higher than the roof of her
house.

The whizzing of the air as she fell down grew louder in her
ears, an addition to her growing fright. She could not have
been accelerating, but she was gaining velocity and she
certainly did *not* want to see the moment that her head
connected with the solid ground beneath.

And although Akane half expected to be caught, the feeling
of arms gently securing her against a solid masculine chest
came as a relief. It was comforting to know that though the
entire Saotome bunch seemed crazy, they did not go about
pushing people out of tall mountains in random pursuit of
happiness.

She felt the first impact of her rescuer against the swaying
branches of the tree that he had rebounded against. He took
a few more branches before he landed safely down at a
velocity that was passable to her stomach's standards.
Compared to free fall she had been experiencing, this was a
small lull.

She was set down gently opening the eyes she had not wanted
to open even amidst her small rescue. Blinking a couple of
times to get her eyes adjusted to the sunlight contrasting
the dark environment, she was mildly surprised to find other
competitors on the ground with Ranma leaning against one of
the tree stumps.

"Do you know the purpose of that exercise?" Ranma asked
looking at her seriously.

"Finding out how reckless Saotome samurai are?" Akane
answered off handedly shielding her eyes from the sunlight
and then blinking at the distance she had fallen. She could
barely see the top of that godforsaken mountain. It was
already mid-afternoon. That meant she had climbed the rocks
for a good deal of the day. She felt her bones aching in
protest.

"Wrong answer." Ranma said sternly. "What was the purpose of
your fall?"

Akane looked at Ranma to notice that he asked the question
with seriousness she had thought he had not possessed. She
noted that the children who had undergone the same trail
were all looking at her expectantly, wanting to know how
long it was before she supplied the answer that Ranma was
waiting to hear. "I honestly don't know."

"Use your head. You were asked something before you were
thrown down here." Ranma prodded, he did not move to offer
her help as she tried to sit down, resting her aching feet
from the difficulty of standing. "Why would that question be
important here?"

"I can't-" She paused, although there was something eerily
familiar about the entire ordeal. She opened her mouth, but
the look Ranma gave her shut it again. "That I should stand
up after I fall?"

"Not quite." Ranma smiled, it was the first one she's seen
since he fought her over Hanae's tutelage. "Can't you
remember what Happosai asked you before you ended down
here?"

"He told me to trust him." Akane shuddered rubbing her arms.
"Right before he told me he was pushing me to certain
death."

"Trust, even at certain death is what Happosai demands of
all of his elite samurai." Ranma motioned towards the
children that were watching. "If you pass all tests it will
include all of you."

Someone shrugged. "I think I've learned all I can from this
little tournament."

Ranma laughed as he looked at one of the other samurai who
was looking up from the tree branch to catch the next
samurai child to be tested. They worked on rotation so that
no child was missed, but since the next child's session with
Happosai seemed to be extending since Ryu was still waiting,
he was still permitted to talk. "It's what you learn after
you know it all that counts."

He paused to let the boy mull that over and then told him
something he learned from Cologne a long time ago, "Out of
respect of the things I was never destined to do, I have
learned that my strengths are a result of my weaknesses, my
success is due to my failures and my style is directly
proportional to my limitations."

A long shout of surprise interrupted whatever Ranma was
going to say next.

"Here comes the next one!" Ryu shouted from the top as he
rebounded off the tree to reach the falling child at a
higher velocity. The moves required for such actions were
precise and accurate that only the younger high level
samurais were allowed to help with the proceedings.

Ranma frowned, although he had undergone a similar test it
was not one of the best experiences he had and didn't like
recalling much of what happened on the mountain, or even
after the fall. He had been so deep in thought that when
Nabiki, who had been waiting in the sidelines tapped him, he
had been mildly surprised at her presence.

To improve efficiency of the entire guide-trainee exercise
at the top of the mountain, a large diagonal rope was tied
in large segments in which a samurai could use a very thick
cloth to hang onto the rope and slide down with it. It was a
quick and established route especially since some of their
shifts were bordering on overlapping each other for the
guide and rescue duties.

"I'm due for this round, you better rest." Nabiki whispered,
keeping a thick cloth that she had used to slide along the
mountain. She motioned to the children who were already
being led away by one of the older samurai. "Take your wife
to your room. Tomorrow she's going to have to take part of
that long winded ceremony."

Absentmindedly, Ranma nodded taking note that Akane was
already following the rest of the children that were being
led away. Taking her arm, he steered he off towards the
shorter path towards the rooms, skipping the long winding
paths that the children were taking.

Akane yelped at the sudden tug at her arm, but let it pass
when she realized it was Ranma. Though they had been talking
and were acting civilly, he was still angry at her for
reasons she still didn't understand. She smiled trying to
lighten up the situation. "You enjoy watching us squirm
don't you. You honestly enjoy teaching those kids the hard
way."

"There's no other way to learn." Ranma answered as he looked
up towards the sky. "There are no second chances in fighting
for your life. You have to make decisions and there are
consequences. The inauguration just isn't there to find out
about your skill in fighting, it tests your level of
willingness to work inside the clan."

"How did you do in yours?" Akane asked, wondering what Ranma
would have done at Happosai's demand of absolute fealty and
the push towards almost certain doom.

"I probably took the longest. Ever." Ranma frowned looking
over his shoulder to see the looming form of the solid rock
that the mountain that all the children had climbed and
fallen off. "I've always had the urge to do things better
than everybody else. That was the reason I persisted
climbing that damned mountain after I knew my body was way
past its endurance levels."

"You were sixteen." Akane remembered from stories told
before. They were one of the youngest ever to partake in the
inaugural tasks. Most of the children she had been with were
in their early twenties or their late teens. Children
younger than eighteen usually were eliminated very early on
and asked to try again. "Younger than most."

"Not really." Ranma said as he pointed to the steady line of
participants filing out of the forest from their view. "Seki
is sixteen, and I think good enough to pass the advanced
ranks. There are about ten children this year below twenty
though I think only Seki and another girl will get
inaugurated for the special title. No one over twenty three
tries for the tests. Not until you anyway."

"That's a very short window of opportunity, seeing that this
is held every five years. You don't participate if you don't
think you can win." Akane murmured looking at the determined
group. "I hoped that it would take two tries."

"It only takes one." Ranma answered. "After the entire
mountain ordeal I thought I wasn't going to make it to the
fifteen children to advance. It was a surprise that I was
given the invitation the next day on those serial fights to
test who was going to train me for advanced lessons."

"What ever did you do on that mountain?" Akane asked
incredulous. It didn't seem that big a deal that he would
consider being eliminated.

"I fought Happosai for the fall." Ranma smirked as he
remembered the fight. "The old man is good, but damn, if I
just had something to distract him, I would have won. NOBODY
has ever dropped from that mountain with eyes wide open.
Maybe halfway through but towards the bottom, hopelessness
kind of settles in. I was probably the most stubborn in that
too. I even fought with the guy who was going to catch me.
Pops was so mad that my eyes were still open *and* that I
had to be caught as I broke through the bamboo. *That* was
nasty business I *really* could have died if one of those
long stalks had broken and pierced some internal organ."

Akane stopped from walking and Ranma had to turn back to
give her a questioning look. Akane shook her head. "You mean
to tell me that you actually had a SPINE when you were
younger?"

Ranma winced at the way she had put it. They had all changed
after the years, it was hard not to. But obedience towards
Happosai had come gradually with time, especially since
their sworn oaths. "I had to stop being a boy at my
inauguration. I have an entire fief to worry about. What
would happen to Nerima if their daimyo was hated by their
liege?"

He stopped then frowned. "I shouldn't be telling you this
much. Most of the talk between samurai is forbidden during
the inaugural period."

"Sorry." Akane said as she moved along to catch up with him.

"You're tired." Ranma said after looking at her walk towards
him, noticing the mechanical movement and the frown on her
face. He squatted and then motioned for her to get on his
back. "Come on, I'll carry you to our room."

Akane looked skeptically at the offer of the ride. Her body
was aching from the strain of the climb. Even if most of the
children were experienced with strenuous activities this
particular one still took its toll on them. Ranma himself
admitted having difficulty when he had tried it the first
time. "I don't know."

"This offer will expire in a while." Ranma said, impatient.
He also didn't like the fact that anyone could walk in on
them and see his position.

Exhaustion winning over, Akane climbed on Ranma's back. This
was not the time for false dignity. She was barely
coordinated as it was. When she was settled on his back, she
pressed her forehead onto the back of his shoulder and
whispered, "Thanks."

If he heard it or not, he didn't say as he moved from the
main forest floor towards the trees, easily jumping from one
tree to the other.

				~~~

Nabiki handed over Ranma a formal scroll as he eyed it in
distaste while he followed the power-matching lines in the
middle of tabulation room where all of the results from the
competitions were tallied and matched up against each other.
Whether it was in the junior level as Hanae and Sei were in
or the more competitive Advanced training in which Akane was
in.

"What? It's not as if it wasn't obvious your wife would have
toppled over the edge of that particular mountain." Nabiki
snorted as she pushed the scroll to Ranma's chest before
sitting on one of the zabutons provided for the hatamoto
that were allowed inside the room. "That event has changed
little from when we were on top of that goddamned mountain
and it always requires the same things. Happosai finding the
fifteen best, getting them up agonizingly over that tall
obstacle, having someone scare the hell out of them because
of the bandanna, having them equally scared by Happosai,
pushing them down and finally when said someone has almost
reached the treetops eyes closed, one samurai jumping to
their rescue." It was a synchronized effort for the most
part that took as much effort on the samurai on guard as
well as the one jumping off the mountain.

Ranma scowled at her as he twirled the scroll around his
fingers. "You *know* I hate that exercise to the core.
Almost every kid down there was shivering from fright."

"You included huh, you big baby." Nabiki said raising her
eyebrows. Ranma wasn't mistaken though. Some children have
considered quitting after a traumatic experience such as
that. There was this one incident some years ago where a
girl of nineteen locked herself up in one of the dungeons
and kept banging her head against the grills crying. It had
been extremely messy and thankfully, Ranma was able to sweet
talk her out of trying to commit suicide - and definitely
not the ritual kind.

"Put that eyebrow down." Ranma said pointing at Nabiki, eyes
narrowed into slits.

"You've managed the enraged father role well. Now let's see
if I can." Nabiki answered coolly as she pointed to the
door. "Go to your room and give that to your wife, you hear?
And don't come out until it's properly delivered."

He opened his mouth in protest but she lifted another
eyebrow again and Ranma found himself too tired to argue
with someone as stubborn as Nabiki. "Yes, *mom*."

Ranma found Akane in their shared room nursing the multitude
of cuts and bruises she had incurred over the week. She
looked up when he entered the room and thumbed one of her
more prominent bruises.

"I admire your first aid skills in this little tourney."
Akane said as she winced when she hit a tender spot while
applying the salve. "God, I don't know how long I could have
survived without knowing anything medicinal other than the
bottled type. And I don't see any drugstores nearby."

He paused for a moment to think of a reply to that, but
found that he couldn't especially when he didn't know what
half of her sentence meant. Deciding that it didn't matter,
he brought out her invitation and handed it to her. She
looked at it wearily as she accepted it then looked at
Ranma.

"Congratulations are in order." Ranma said as he sat down
across. "You're ranked tenth."

She looked at him with a hint of doubt as she broke the seal
to the scroll and scanned its contents. When she finally
reached the pronouncement that confirmed Ranma's words she
rushed to give him a hug. "Isn't it wonderful? I thought I'd
barely make it to the fifteenth."

Uncomfortable at her show of affection, and certainly not
knowing what to do with her, Ranma sat rigidly not
attempting to disentangle himself. He had enough encounters
of similar types with Shampoo and had long ago learned that
it would be easier on him if he sat still than start
squirming. When she did disengage herself she gave him a
smile. "What am I going to do?"

"Not hug Happosai like that for one." Ranma answered
promptly, and though Akane probably had enough wits not to
do that he certainly didn't want Happosai the pervert on
their hands. It earned him another smile from her. She
settled back on the zabuton she had been occupying and
placed the small scroll beside the salve she had been using.
Revealing the package that he had carefully wrapped and
worked on for the past weeks since his decision to make
Akane join the entire tournament he handed it to her. "It's
a very formal ceremony. You can't use a kimono because
that's what the maids are using. You'll use that. Every
Saotome samurai summoned to court uses that in formal
Saotome gatherings."

She accepted the parcel he tilted his head sideways.
"Because you're going to be inaugurated for the first time,
you're going to be given your first swords. The others have
already received theirs at the same competition Hanae and
Sei have passed. Do you have any specific weapon that you've
trained extensively in?"

Akane shook her head. Anything Goes had always been a
barehanded combat art. She'd never trained in anything more
than a bokken, and even that was because of some annoying
boy in her school that kept challenging her.

Ranma nodded. "I'll find something suitable. Most of
Happosai's weapons are old and he wouldn't want that to
leave Saotome hands, but there's a smithy in the donjon and
he has stock of fairly new weapons that could be handed out.
Your father never gave me a sword for you and I've never
seen you in anything than your gymnastics weapons."

"Thank you, Ranma." Akane said looking at him meaningfully.
"For all your help."

"I entered you here because I thought your skill deserves
training." Ranma said after a while. "You didn't need my
help."

				~~~

Ifuku raised the black silk towards Akane's petite figure,
helping her into the almost Chinese like clothes that Ranma
had managed to sew. The Saotome crest was embroidered at the
back and a small symbol that Ranma had handpicked for her
was sewn in front. Ranma, being a man and not really trained
in the art of embroidery had sewn painstakingly and very
messily the simplest design he could muster, a moon amidst
two clouds.

Tenth was a good number even for her, who was considered
almost too old to be entered into the elite circle that the
Saotomes held themselves at pride for. When the chosen
fifteen were finally preparing for the last test of fealty
towards the clan, the others who didn't make it were in
their rooms preparing to leave.

These failing children, though they had competed in the
advanced training, were never in the final rights on top of
the mountain. Nobody usually fails the mountain test, and
only the top fifteen were admitted into that test to keep it
secret. They were invited to the gathering after the
swearing of oaths but they almost usually went home
immediately afterwards if they had no siblings that passed.

Akane peeked from the small curtain that separated the small
cubicle that allowed for changing towards the gardens where
the matches had been held. In less than five minutes some
samurai and ninja had transformed what had looked like a
battle arena into a small reception. Akane gulped, all of
them looked extremely serious. She let the curtain fall
softly back.

But Ifuku's mind was far from helping her mistress dress up
and nurse her wounds from the fight she had incurred that
day, in fact, she was doing everything almost mechanically
that Akane had to shake her out of it once to tell her that
she was spacing out.

"Ifuku, are you all right? That's four times in an hour."
Akane looked at her worriedly then raised her hand against
her maid's neck as if to get her temperature. "You're not
sick, are you?"

Ifuku smiled dazedly. "No my lady, I am merely worried about
Sohin..." she trailed off then shook her head. "Do not
concern yourself with my worries, my lady, Lord Sei and Lady
Hanae did excellently today. They have both been placed on
the roster for candidates for being samurai in Anything
Goes, you are lucky you have skipped that earlier test."

Akane gulped, and Ifuku realized it may have not been the
wisest thing to say to calm down the frightened girl. She
was interrupted by a girl entering the room, bowing towards
them she said, "Oooohh, you're the girl who I'm going to
lead... right? Hi! I'm Ninomiya Hinako."

The girl was in a bubbly attitude that surprised Akane, she
even handed her a lollipop. "Well come on then, you better
come with me!" She giggled as she pulled her hand towards
the corridors.

Earlier that day, women ushered children of the Saotome clan
towards where they would fight, most of them maids of the
household that Happosai kept. But through the final test of
the ten, only Saotome women who have passed the same the
test before were allowed to lead.

Akane couldn't do anything but follow the girl and gave
Ifuku a glance to reassure herself, but Ifuku was back to
staring at the space of God knows what. Hinako was a curious
girl. She seemed to be bursting with energy and sometimes
stopped her walk without warning for a small thing that, to
Akane, looked like candy. Akane had to keep herself from
stepping onto the girl's kimono more than once because of
the girl's sudden stops.

"You're Lord Ranma's wife, right? Right?" Akane stopped to
look at her. She had stopped in the middle of the corridor
again and was looking at her with wide-eyes and smiling, a
child really. She looked considerably younger than her,
maybe sixteen to fifteen years of age(99), Akane can't
believe the girl could beat her in a one on one fight.

"Yes." She didn't continue to walk down the twisted paths
that were Happosai's donjon. She remained there staring at
her as if memorizing her face.

Finally, she nodded, and although Akane knew she didn't need
the girl's approval, she was relieved when she had given it.
"You're a very... ummm... unique woman, Lady Kodachi." The
words seemed unreal coming from such a child-like girl. "A
controversy. Many have been engaged to Lord Ranma and none
has gotten the privilege of his favor. Do you know he is
heir?"

Akane wasn't able to answer. It was as if she was rendered
mute by the girl's questioning. "We all wonder how you could
have attained Anything Goes. The right to be called Saotome
samurai is handed only to those who passed the test Hanae
and Sei both passed today. You have not done that. The
advanced techniques are taught only to the fifteen best
children of the generation, a test which you almost failed.
No one has taught you and yet you learn."

The girl continued walking. "Guard our secrets well, Lady
Kodachi." The girl whispered then she smiled and flipped a
coin into the air. Suddenly the doors she had not noticed
opened revealing a large reception room that they had
previously used for Nodoka's party. When she turned to talk
to Hinako, she wasn't to be found anywhere.

There were exactly fourteen children that guarded the way
from the small gate towards a platform, seven girls and
seven boys, all ranging from the age of fifteen to
seventeen. The fifteen students fortunate enough to be
taught Anything Goes, from the previous inauguration
ceremony five years before... the fifteenth being the girl
who lead her there. She was probably going to get the next
in rank for the inauguration.

At one other side were the nine children who ranked before
her, the new batch of advanced learners. There was room left
for her and the other five who had ranked below her.

As she passed them, each gave a small bow to her, 'Lord
Happosai likes formalities. He creates his own celebrations.
When you're that old, you like leisure as much as the next
battle...' Those were Ifuku's exact words.

The two lines lead up to a small platform up front where
Happosai was elevated up on the stool, at his right sat
Ranma. Nabiki sat at the platform as well, but at a level
below Ranma, equal to one other samurai that Akane
recognized as one of the other referee who had gauged her
performance for the past week. They all had taken for
granted that she was new and barely introduced themselves,
from Nabiki's words with him, she knew at least that her
sister-in-law called him Kumon.

There were several other men that sat at Happosai's left.
All of them regarded her coolly. All of them were wearing
the black garment they had worn at Yuigahama. Identical save
for the small patch at the right breast. Hinako suddenly
showed up beside her again, a small smile in her face as she
bowed low before the platform, Akane could almost hear her
giggle. "Lord Happosai, I am presenting the wife of
Musabetsu Kakuto's heir, the Maiden of the Night, The Black
Rose, Lady Kodachi Kuno-noh-Saotome."

Akane almost died when Hinako used the same trick again to
seemingly disappear, only to reappear beside one of the
fifteen students. Happosai hopped up from his chair and
looked at her from head to foot. "Inducted at the clan at
five and twenty. You're too old to be samurai, Lady Kodachi,
and yet too dangerous to break free of it."

Happosai turned towards his heir and raised his eyebrow.
"You do realize that the oldest that enters samurai status
is seventeen?" Ranma did not show any outward indication of
response, and Happosai did not wait for any. "Never mind...
you did manage to get her a sword, didn't you?"

A boy from the fifteen walked towards them and handed two
glinting swords towards Ranma, then backed away to join his
fellow students. Ranma stood up and unsheathed them both,
showing the choice of weapons towards the group seated at
the platform, and then sheathed them again, handing them to
Akane. "These swords to protect are your bond,"

"It's purpose a gift from the lord, the code." Akane
answered back hoping that she was answering the words
correctly. Happosai was looking at everything she was doing
critically and she placed the two swords at her front, as a
rule, they weren't allowed to wear swords when your liege
lord was present.

Nabiki stood up bearing the Saotome sigil on her hands
stenciled in the long black cloth that was attached to the
large poles, a banner for war. "Your quest..."

"It knows no barriers, I will overcome.
My skill is not for sale
My experience is not for auction,
I shall keep the trust of my lord,
Secure, serve and obey is my signature."

Nabiki then took her place beside her brother, as Ryu walked
towards Akane, He carried with him the armor that Akane
would never use, but was part of the formality of being a
samurai. "You are the trustee of the weak."

"The soul, the mind, the body
No man shall buy my loyalty to the clan
No reason that would becloud my noble call."

Ryu inclined his head in acknowledgement and stepped beside
Nabiki, Happosai looked at her. "You are the tenth to break,
and these nine students will soon leave the palace to serve
the lords I have chosen for them, though they are younger,
they are your seniors, they are more skilled than you.
Listen to them. The fifteen before you are the children who
have passed before. They too are your seniors."

"Should you break the trust given to you, Kodachi, you are
going to be stricken off the clan. You are not going to be
taught any more, but you aren't going to learn any less. Go
and take your place among the nine."

				~~~

Nabiki shivered in the black silk as she leaned against one
of the trees in the donjon's larger gardens. Her eyes swept
the whole scene through the shoji walls that separated her
from them. She was one of the oldest samurai present. An
honor, for the inauguration hosted the fresh blood of
Happosai's minions. 'Another generation is coming in... I'm
getting too old to be hatamoto.'

After she reflected on that she shook her head of the
nonsense, some of the best samurai were aged at eighty, and
Happosai was surely over a hundred. Still it was depressing
to look at the young ones. It meant that they would be
sending Sei and Hanae away on their ritual ten year training
trips soon. She would probably never see them again. 'I
wonder if Hanae's mother would have approved...'

"You're not supposed to think tonight."

Nabiki's eyes narrowed at the familiar voice, she turned her
head to find Ryu behind her. "Kami - you scare the hell out
of me, Kumon." She turned back to lean against the tree, her
frown still on her face.

"I thought I'd never get that reaction from you." Ryu
answered as he stood beside her. The proximity irritated
Nabiki although the words raised her annoyance more. "I
thought Saotome Nabiki wasn't scared of anything."

"No... to know no fear is to die." Nabiki closed her eyes,
as the music from the inside filtered through the shoji.
Some woman was playing the samisen, but Nabiki didn't
particularly like the instrument. Though it was supposed to
sooth her nerves, it achieved in doing the opposite. "I
haven't seen you around lately. It's a wonder Happosai got
you to take part at the end of Kodachi's oath."

"I was busy doing old man Happosai's orders. Swearing
Kodachi in was a part of winning this, along with those
fourteen others." He snorted. Ryu had been the only one who
she had not beaten in their inauguration. That was why they
stood in equal footing in the clan's eyes. "I don't know if
being part of your elite clan is worth it. That man's a
slave driver."

"Don't we all know it," Nabiki opened her eyes again. She
turned to Ryu and looked at the patch sewn on his black
shirt, a bird in flight. She lifted her hand to touch it.
"Yet you keep here."

He took her hand from his chest and laid it on his own rough
hand. "I thought you'd marry me." She snatched it quickly,
replacing it in her ear, seemingly brushing away stray locks
that weren't there.

"You were one fianc� in a thousand others, Ryu." Nabiki
sighed. She wondered what Genma was thinking when he had
engaged her to him. She wondered what Genma was thinking
when he gave the Kumons the Yamasen-ken. "It wouldn't have
worked."

"I had entered hoping you would." That was what Nabiki had
thought. Entering a stupid contest because of marriage was a
stupid idea, thinking that he would get her as a prize was
even more idiotic. "I won. You should have married me."

Nabiki glared at him, remembering her main grievance against
him. "You told my mother I was dead, you jerk." She was a
bit irked, but it had been in the past, something long
forgotten, even for her. Still, it was something that had
kept her from even considering Ryu as a potential husband...
not that her choice had any bearing on who she married. "You
expect me to marry you?"

"I thought you already forgave me." He ran his hand through
his hair, not expecting her to throw that at his face.
Nabiki gave him another icy glare. Because their foster
father had foolishly promised to make them commit seppuku in
front of Happosai if they were not 'man among men' or 'woman
among women' for their mother, they had hidden for a year
from their mother because of Jusenkyo.

They had served the entirety of that year in Happosai's
donjon with their foster father. Whenever Lady Nodoka
visited, Ranma was Ranko, Genma was a panda and Nabiki was
dressed up as Ranko's maid. It was not only demeaning, it
had been painful to see their mother and not call her as
their own.

"I beat your brother on your mother's roof that night." He
declared haughtily. Nabiki wondered if every male paraded
their supposed prowess in fighting to impress women. "I won
over him."

"And if you think that your arrogance will get you somewhere
near a marriage ceremony with me, you're sadly mistaken." If
there was something Nabiki didn't tolerate it was someone
badmouthing one of her own. She also knew the circumstances
of that fight. "He lost because he was distracted."

"Distraction is a crucial part of Anything Goes." He
answered conceitedly. Nabiki didn't need to be taught the
tenets. She had lived through it all her life. "If something
as simple as your mother could distract him then plenty of
others would."

"You mock what you do not understand." Nabiki bit back, how
could he understand what they had been through to find their
mother? Something registered in Nabiki's mind, as she shot
back, "He didn't lose to you. We were just slightly set
back. I remember that incident clearly Kumon."

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

Nabiki looked at Ryu in disgust, as they peered through the
small windows of their own house. "I'm dead? I'm going to
show that rotten fish just *who* Nabiki Saotome is."

In an uncharacteristic show of good thought Ranma-chan held
Nabiki back by the collar. "Not now, Nabiki, seppuku is not
on my agenda." She frowned as she peered down at Nodoka
busying herself for her so-called-son.

"It's not fair. *I* get to be your maid, while you get to
be-"

"Happosai's consort." Ranma-chan grimaced in distaste as she
remembered the way Happosai had introduced him to their
mother, the old man simply had no shame. "If you ask me
you're getting the better part of the deal. You act better
than I do."

Nabiki gave her a look that said otherwise. "Now aren't you
breaking the bones of this guy... or will you give the
pleasure to me?"

"He's got my name. I've got first dibs." Ranma pointed to
himself in a self assured way. Still, Ranma was sure Nabiki
would want more than the physical revenge that a beating
would entail. Hers was more of the subtle kind, the ones
that lasted long and were rather hard to forget. "You get
his scraps."

"He said I was dead!" Any further argument was stopped by a
table landing in between the two of them. They glared at
each other then at the table. "He's starting to get on my
nerves."

"We're finishing this tonight." Both of them said at once.

A few bruises, their pride a few notches lower and days
later got them on the training of the Umisen-ken the direct
opposite of the Yamasen-ken which Ryu was using.

"Why do I have to be the backup?" Nabiki shouted enraged at
the very thought that she wouldn't be getting a piece of
Ryu. She also didn't like that fact that both of them were
forbidden on any other sort of revenge than a beating
because of his knowledge of the Yamasen-ken. "This is
unfair. Wouldn't a dual attack work?"

Genma murmured to himself. "It would, but both arts were
made for one on one combat, Nabiki. It would be overkill to
use them the same time, even if this Ryu is better than the
two of you. Even if you manage to create a fuse of the
Umisen-ken."

Ranma just gave her a sympathetic look, she wasn't buying
anything like that from *him*, she just gave him a glare.
"And why do I have to go and give him this..." She looked at
the letter distastefully. "I'm *not* a messenger you know."

"He doesn't *recognize* you, Nabiki. He thinks you're a boy
'cuz you attacked him as one." Ranma whispered to her, "Do
you want mother to know our secret too soon?"

Any answer from her was cut off as Saotome Nodoka opened the
door to them and both Ranma and Genma had leapt towards the
roof before they could be seen. Nabiki had not wanted to
greet their mother in such an aloof way but let it go.
"Oh... good morning, Saotome-sama."

Nodoka greeted her with a warm smile. "Good morning,
Shizuko." Nabiki gritted her teeth at the name, when
Happosai introduced *her* however he had shortened her
second name. 'Great.'

"I have a message for Lord Ranma, this morning." Nabiki
gagged at the way she was treating this Kumon guy, and Genma
had forbidden her to even lay a finger on him. It showed why
her foster father was never chosen for training Happosai's
spies. He was a thief, but not skilled for espionage.

Nodoka smiled as she left the small white outer garment of
the kimono in the stands and placed slippers. "Oh, does Lord
Happosai wish to give Lady Ranko to Ranma as a gift?" Nabiki
turned green at the thought. Happosai had the tendency to
give away many things, but *not* his consorts. Besides, the
idea of Ranma and Ryu together in *that* way was enough to
make Nabiki a little nauseous. She was sure Ranma would have
died at the idea as well.

>From the looks of it, Ryu was feeling the same way as well.
He knew who Ranko was, after all. Nabiki mustered a smile
for Nodoka. "Ahh... no. I... have ... information to pass
on."

Nodoka smiled knowingly before going out. "Oh well. He *is*
manly enough to take a lot of consorts, Shizuko. So I
approve. I am leaving for my daily walk, Ranma. I shall be
back shortly." Then Nodoka stepped out of the house.

Nabiki's smile melted into a frown as she turned to look at
her pseudo brother. Nabiki flipped the letter in the air,
and Ryu barely caught it, her eyes narrowed. "Ranma and
Nabiki can't come because of your stupid threats -"

"If it's so stupid, then why are they keeping away?" Ryu
challenged, Nabiki's anger went up a notch. Her words were
rarely challenged. In fact he was one of the first of her
non-teachers to do it.

"They're keeping away because you're not worth breaking his
word of honor." Nabiki gave him a small smile. They were
avoiding the place because they feared his word, but it
wasn't to her advantage if she told Ryu *that* particular
fact.

She watched as he gave her a scowl and tore the letter open
and read it, when he finished he snorted at the challenge.
"So?"

Nabiki flipped her hair. "And one more thing." She pulled
him up to his feet and raised him in the air. "Nabiki sends
his warmest regards... gives his word that he's not dead,
and that you're going to pay for playing with their mother's
feelings."

Nabiki threw the boy down and wiped her hands. "That's all."

"What cowards." Ryu spat out as he coughed the dirt he had
all but inhaled when Nabiki had thrown him down. "Sending a
girl to do a man's job."

Nabiki toyed with the idea of beating him down with her
fists but her conscience rallied against it. She also
contemplated on telling him that Nabiki Saotome wasn't
exactly a man, but decided that the message wouldn't go
through his skull as she had wanted. She threw her hands up.
"There's no such thing as a 'man's job'. Anyhow... I think
your 'mother' is home."

At the exact moment, Nodoka walked in with a smile on her
face. "Oh, are you finishing up with my son? I forgot my
parasol."

Nabiki thought she was going to be sick, but held her
tongue. No secret would be revealed too soon from the mouth
of Nabiki Saotome. She smiled graciously at her. "Are you
sure that *this* is a manly son?" Nabiki waved her hand
towards the ground. "Sorry to break any hearts Lady Nodoka,
but I'm a mere peasant and I wear *him* out."

"Well, that's okay," Nodoka hummed happily as she helped Ryu
up. "A good woman can always wear out a manly man."

Nabiki heard a cough from above, her stomach acted up again,
this time, she didn't think she would make it out of the
house without vomiting, but she made it just the same. When
she got out, Ranma and Genma dropped from their positions on
the roof, she gave both of them a glare and Ranma didn't
look like he had enjoyed listening in either.

Lifting her head up high, Nabiki snorted. "That's what *you*
get for sending me as a messenger."

Ranma coughed a little as he followed. "Oh yeah? You don't
look to great either."

Nabiki hit him hard on the back. "You were saying?"

					-

Nabiki scratched her neck as she watched Ryu assist Nodoka
to consciousness, it had taken longer than she had expected
for Ranma to beat him. There had been a couple of times when
she was about to take in to assist, but he had done it all
by himself, 'The bastard,' Nabiki thought with a smile, 'He
never lets me have any fun.'

"Do you want to see your real children?" Ryu asked Nodoka
timidly as he helped her sit down. There was a tense silence
as Nabiki sweated and Genma was holding his signs ready to
bat Ryu away...

'He wouldn't dare...' Nabiki thought as she raised her hand
to stop him, but Genma got to him first. There was a small
whisper and then an exchange of notes. 'What the...'

"But... I don't know where they are. I'll be sure to tell
them though," Ryu answered with a small smile, and a wave.
Then he looked at Nabiki. "And I'll be seeing you a lot
sooner."

Nabiki looked at him bewildered, then at the paper at his
hands. It doesn't take much time for Nabiki to put two and
two together, having had the same thing happen to her
before. She turned towards the panda. "You *idiot*. Don't
tell me you engaged me to another moron!"

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

Since then, Ryu had found out that the girl that he had had
been engaged to was Saotome Nabiki, twin of Indiscriminate
Grappling's heir, not to some maid of Happosai's consort and
that 'Nabiki Saotome' was a girl not a boy as he had
previously thought.

"He's better than you, Kumon. It's the reason why he's
heir." Nabiki pushed him away. The whole line was getting
old, even for her. In the light of the past week, she would
have been thankful if she never heard it again. "Here I am
laughing at Ranma's fianc�es and yet I can't laugh at my
own. My marriage is not for me to decide. I'm an object of
the clan. Happosai chose my husband."

"You mean that damned Ikkasei?" His eyes darkened, he had
not attended her wedding. Not that a lot of people had, she
was happy that Ranma and her mother had come. "He doesn't
even believe you. He doesn't even know you're alive."

"I'm still married to 'that damned Ikkasei', okay?" Nabiki
answered wearily. "I was sent away, but I still am. Any
'wedding' at this point would be farce... at least it would
be to me. Not until my husband chooses another wife. He
hasn't, all he has are consorts."

Ryu took a step back from her, not believing. "What?"

"I have a son." Nabiki said softly. "He's the rightful heir
to his father. He doesn't know... and I keep him in Saotome
territory because I fear what they will tell him about me.
He came by his own will, and I fear of the day he wants to
retake his destiny. I do not want to lose my only link to
the world. Even after all this will you still *want* to
marry me?"

He took another step back. "I thought when I beat you in
this little tournament it would be over... I -"

"You didn't 'beat me', Ryu. Just as Ranma never lost to
you." It was the first time she had used his given name to
address him. "It was a draw. We hit each other
simultaneously and fell dead to the world. Look, I know
Genma had made a promise he couldn't keep. Just as my other
fianc�s. Just as Ranma has his. Whatever we both say, it
doesn't matter. Happosai holds our very lives."

He gave her a questioning look. "But you don't understand...
Happosai was the one who engaged us."

Nabiki's senses all snapped at that. "What!"

"Genma was the one who arranged it but it was Happosai's
stamp and seal... all of the others have it. That's why we
were surprised that neither of you married anyone that they
had given the documents to."

Nabiki's head snapped to the direction of Happosai and
narrowed her eyes. All this time, she had blamed everything
on Genma when the old man was just being manipulated. 'But
to what end?' To what end indeed.

"It doesn't matter, nothing matters. Will you still marry
me?"

If there was one thing she had to give Ryu credit for, it
was his persistence. Nabiki waved him away. She didn't want
to be bound to any of her fianc�s. "My marriage has never
been my choice to begin with, Ryu. Please..."

"We'll go away -" A desperate attempt to lure her into
marriage. How many promises were Ryu willing to give? How
many praises was he willing to dish out? How long was he
willing to wait?

Nabiki gave him a small laugh as she turned around to face
him. "Kami, Ryu! I have a son. He needs me. My brother needs
me. Stop thinking of yourself for a while."

He caught her hand as she started to walk away. "I'm not
thinking of me. I think of *you*. When will you stop
living for others, Nabiki? I could make you happy."

"A bold promise Ryu Kumon." She didn't turn back to look at
him. "Something overly promised to me before. What you don't
realize is that this is my life." She motioned towards the
scene of sparring children, of Happosai, of the donjon
ahead. "I can't marry you because I can't love you. Now
please... let me go."

He let her hand drop but not without getting his last say.
"You don't believe in love, Nabiki."

"If you believe that..." Nabiki trailed off, had she really
appeared so disillusioned to the world? True she had never
acknowledged self proclaimed love by her countless fianc�s,
and she had never thought that love was going to be one of
the factors to decide her husband. Yet somehow, she felt
insulted by Ryu's words and a little hurt over his
assessment of her qualities.

She shivered lightly, she had never actually cared before,
never really thought that she could marry for anything other
than obligation. The fact was it had never really mattered.
But now, it stung deeply, she shook her head. "Then you are
not capable of understanding what I want either."

'Nor am I capable of the marriage that I want...' Nabiki
finished inwardly.

					~~~

Akane sat down at one of the isolated zabutons away from the
night's happenings. It was just like Nodoka's birthday all
over again. She was in Saotome territory and no one accepted
her here. She was by far the oldest and it was extremely
embarrassing that she was on the lower ranking.

Sighing, she ran her thumb against the kodachi she had been
given. Saotomes do seem to have a sick sense of humor. One
thing was sure though: her sword forms needed a lot of
practice. She had barely passed that particular test.

She had been prepared for another night of solitude, since
Ranma didn't seem to want to talk to her and Nabiki was
keeping her distance. So she had been surprised when one
girl finally broke from her group to sit down beside her,
offering a smile.

"Lady Kodachi, you seem restless." She commented lightly and
proffered a cup of the sweet tea she had brought along with
her. "It is not very wise to be such in a melancholic mood
at a night where you have been welcomed. Few are given the
opportunity to do so, especially for one who is not from the
same blood lines."

Akane could only offer a weak smile. Although the people had
not been as cold as any previous gathering, they still made
an effort to ignore her. There had been little support from
the crowd and even less from Ranma and his twin. She had
seen him only twice the whole day, and even as the evening
progressed, could not find him. "I'm just very tired."

"Ahh, the day does wear out most of the people, especially
one who tries to fight off a crowd." The pretty young
samurai leaned back on the bench, motioning for Akane to do
the same. Her long, raven hair had been combed and set with
a jeweled comb for the occasion. A silk kimono adorned her.
Her brown eyes sparkled at Akane with friendliness.

"How are you related to all of the people here?" Akane
asked. She was a bit embarrassed that she could not remember
the girl's name when all of the children had been introduced
to her earlier. Still, she was curious about the life when
one gets inducted to the clan and welcomed her company.

"Most of them are my cousins." She shrugged then taking a
fan from seemingly nowhere. She opened it gracefully,
flicking it slightly towards one of the boys. "He's my
half-brother."

Akane nodded and was about to ask more information about her
when she was called by someone off the screens. From the
beckons, Akane found out that her name was Ruriko. She was
one of the younger girls. Ruriko bowed respectfully to
Akane. "When we meet again Lady Kodachi, I hope you are
happier than tonight." Then she left quickly, she was alone
again. She didn't know whether she should have been pleased
or not so she shrugged her shoulders as she walked about
finding herself into one of the donjons larger gardens.

It was dark out but the air much lighter, she felt like she
needed to get away. It was true that they had welcomed her
and brought her into their elite society, but she felt like
an outsider looking in through the window. They weren't
hostile to her, but they didn't go out of their way to
include her either. She wasn't expecting much and in truth
she shouldn't have expected anything at all, but it had
still hurt to be left out.

She sighed as she looked back, wondering how long a walk it
was to Rose Brier. 'Probably longer than I could take.' She
mused, they had taken horses lent by the Happosai, and Kami
knew how her back ached from the experience. Horseback
riding had never been one of her forte.

There was music that filtered out the paper doors to the
garden that she stared at now... one of the many gardens in
the donjon. She sighed, the need to escape so desperate in
her. Then she made up her mind, she marched up to one of the
gates smiled and told the guard that she was going home.

People were kept from going in, not from going out, and she
was home free. She sighed as she walked her way into the
busy streets of Happosai's domain. And she gulped as she saw
the sight... she had forgotten that Happosai's donjon was on
a mountain range, she definitely did not know how to get
home.

'At least I'm wearing pants.' Akane thought as she scanned
the area, 'Right...' She turned to walk down a path she made
on her own, not really caring if she got lost. 'At least
here... I don't feel like I'm not wanted.'

					~~~

"Nabiki... have you seen Kodachi?" Ranma asked when he found
his sister on one of the halls. She was frowning and looked
like she didn't want to be bothered, but the demeanor was
lost on Ranma.

"No..." Nabiki trailed off then looked out the window which
overlooked the vast land that Happosai owned. Ranma would
not come to her for his problems unless he really could not
find his wife. "Have you checked the gardens with black
roses?"

"I've checked everywhere... she can't just *disappear*."
Ranma frowned as he looked out the barred windows. He knew
the fortress very well, and from experience, knew that there
it had a lot of places to sneak out of and hide in, but the
knowledge of the public to these halls were limited and so
was Kodachi's.

"Yes, wonder boy, we really need a blow by blow account of
the obvious." Nabiki murmured, and Ranma wondered at how one
person could be sarcastic while being demure. Taking charge
of the situation she began to tell Ranma what to do, "If
she's not inside then she's outside. I'll search from the
entrance going to the town. You check the back, near the
forest... if she's outside she wouldn't have gotten far
ahead. We're in a goddamned mountain."

Ranma nodded and both of them separated to look for her,
both of them took to the trees for the better vantage point,
trying to get an upper hand on the fact that their vision
was severely impaired by the dark. Although some lamps were
around the forest so the guards could see, none were placed
near the forests that they were scouting. The little
moonlight that the gibbous moon was offering was filtered
out by the dense leaves.

It took Ranma a while for his sight to adjust to the dimness
around him, hopping from tree to tree in a swift jump.
Happosai couldn't have asked for an audience with Kodachi at
a worse time. And Happosai was not known for patience... and
even less for understanding. 'Kami, where is that woman when
you need her?'

He was running and jumping at a breakneck pace in his
urgency to find Akane as quickly as possible, and who knew
what Happosai had in store for her with her tardiness. 'I
should have paid attention to what she was doing.' He
berated himself as he landed smoothly into another tree
looked around and jumped to another, 'She could get herself
lost... killed... What does she think these mountains are?
The cliff near Rose Brier?'

He fumed as he landed down the path that leads to the
village, ending the forest for a while. "She has got to be
the stupidest *woman* this side of Japan!" Ranma cursed as
he scanned the area again.

He sighed as he took off to the trees at another angle
towards the town. He was going to give Kodachi a good
lecture when he found her. He pondered for a second why
Happosai wanted to talk with his wife, but dismissed it. The
less he knew the better. Who knows if Kodachi took to giving
her 'favors' to Happosai now? He imagined Kodachi and
Happosai together and grimaced. 'That has *got* to be the
most *disgusting* - I think I'm going to be sick.'

He stopped at that, missing the next branch he was aiming
for, which sent him plummeting down. The impact was lesser
than most of the blows he had received in his lifetime, but
pain still shot out of his ankle, his blood immediately
warming him up from the place of impact to his cheeks. He
shook his head, and then looked up the distance he had
fallen. It was quite far considering that the tree was more
than four times taller than he was and he had been on one of
the upper branches. He groaned as he tried to stand up,
testing his foot and rotating its joints, grimacing at the
discomfort it was causing him. 'Yep, something is definitely
wrong with it. Next time, less thinking on the adventures of
Kodachi and more tree hopping.' He winced as he put pressure
on his left ankle.

'Great - I haven't sprained my ankle since Shampoo tried to
kiss me as a girl.' That had been when he had been
fourteen... he had been in a fight with Rian and one thing
led to the other. The next thing he knew, he was carrying
Shampoo out of the way and were tree hopping over the sakura
blossoms. Shampoo had given him a kiss of gratitude... which
had surprised him so much he had failed to aim his jump. He
had landed ten feet below, with Shampoo sitting on his lap,
which was putting pressure on his foot, which was embedded
in the soil.

"Oh - it's just you."

He whirled around, using his right foot to pivot, but he
didn't need to see her to know he had finally come to the
end of his search. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"I could ask the same thing of you." Akane grimaced holding
a tight bundle around her arms. "I'm not going back there,
Ranma."

"Right - if you say so." Ranma answered as he moved towards
her, the pain seemed to be tolerable. It might not have been
a sprain after all. He took her arm and led her back to the
village. "Come on, the old man is looking for you."

"He could go to hell." Ranma raised an eyebrow, but kept
tugging on her arm anyway. Since he was stronger than she
was, she finally followed him reluctantly. "Can't we just
let this poor thing go first?"

Finally remembering the small bundle in her arms, Ranma let
go of her arm then looked at it. It actually wasn't a bundle
at all but an animal moving around in her hands. In the dark
he had failed to notice what it had been.

"What is it anyway?" A little of his impatience showing
through his voice. Happosai wanted her delivered. He wanted
nothing to do with her. The more time he spent here with her
the more annoyed he got.

Akane smiled as she knelt towards the ground. "Oh...
nothing..."

				~~~

Nabiki snapped her head at the scream, noticing that
everyone had done so as well. The scream had been distinctly
male and had come from the end of the forest where Ranma had
gone into. She ran towards the source of the voice, 'Oh no.'

She had forgotten one minute fact about the mountains: It
was filled with cats. Although Sagami wasn't naturally a cat
place... the mountains were. The village nearby had kept
their supply handy because the wanted to keep mice out and
the cats had grown extremely over populated this side of
Sagami that they had to actively put them out of the twin's
borders. Food was scarce in the mountains because nothing
useful grew at a higher altitude and they could spare little
for pests.

'No... no... no... This is *not* happening.' Nabiki kept
running, in a second one samurai had caught up with her as
she entered the forest. "Lady Saotome, may I be of
assistance?"

She turned her head slightly and found Ryu smiling back at
her matching her pace with his own. What he lacked in speed,
he made up with his longer stride. 'What is *he* doing here?'
Nabiki thought as she turned back to the road. "That
depends, Kumon. What do you think we're doing anyway?"

"Running towards an ambush?"

Nabiki smiled as his assumption, an ambush... "Better be
prepared Kumon, you're in for a good run." She thought about
what they were up against. "Things could get really out of
hand."

Nabiki stopped when she ran over Kodachi, who had been
staring out into the trees with shock in her eyes. "What
happened here?" Nabiki asked as she shook the girl to regain
her senses. She had to ask a couple of times before the
question registered in her mind.

Kodachi pointed towards the trees then looked at Nabiki, "I
don't know what happened - I - he told me Happosai was
looking for me..."

Nabiki turned to Ryu to confirm, and he nodded. "I was out
looking for both Kodachi and Ranma. Happosai had been
impatient after a stick of waiting for their return."

"Snap back to your senses. Why isn't he with you if he found
you?" Nabiki asked harshly. Although she knew the answer,
she was going to confirm it with facts before she moved.

"He ran. He screamed..."

Nabiki took a deep breath. "Did there happen to be a cat in
the vicinity?" Kodachi looked at her sharply, and Nabiki
knew the answer to her question. She cursed loudly and
turned to Ryu. "Get me ten samurai, quickly. I want them
around this side of the forest and fast. Get me ten more on
the village. Station them near this side of the forest. Look
for my brother. When you find him give a signal, shout or
something. I don't care... as long as you don't provoke him
into a fight."

"What's all the fuss Nabiki?" Ryu asked bewildered at her
strange orders. "Your brother can take care of himself just
fine."

Nabiki turned to face Ryu. "It's not my brother I'm worried
about." She took Akane's hand and practically dragged her to
bring her up to her pace. "You're staying with me. I want my
brother found as soon as possible. Got that Kumon?"

"Yes, Lady Saotome." Ryu bowed and in a second he had
disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

"What's wrong with him and the cat anyway?" Akane muttered
as she tried to keep up with Nabiki's swiftness. Half of the
time she was being dragged by the older girl and the other
half she was carried in air. At the rate they were going,
Nabiki could have kept her propelled in air for the whole
duration of their run... if she didn't dislocate her arm
first.

At her question Nabiki gave a snort. "Don't you wonder why
no cats are allowed near Rose Brier?" There was a tinge of
something in her voice. Something that Akane didn't
recognize.

"Sure! Ranko's scared stiff of them." Akane answered quickly
remembering the time at the beach, then just as suddenly she
remembered another confrontation with Ranko and hot water.
"Oh..."

"'Oh' isn't exactly what *my* reaction would be." Nabiki
answered then she stopped, dropping Akane towards the
ground. She took one look at the area her eyes squinting in
the dark.

"Why are we stopping?" Akane muttered, brushing away the
leaves that had accumulated on her garb. "There was a lot
more opportunity to manhandle me, you know."

Nabiki ignored her as she held her hand up to silence her.
Akane frowned as she tried to listen to what Nabiki was
listening to. She could hear nothing in the air but the soft
chirping of the cicadas. The forests were alive with them at
night... in the distance a soft mewling of a cat was heard.

Nabiki's head turned towards the sound and frowned, there
was another, and another... Nabiki's fist was already
clenched in a ball. "How could I be so *stupid*?" Nabiki
berated herself as she backed towards Akane. She could not
decipher one cat from the other, or if one of the voices she
heard was Ranma's.

"Hmm?" Akane asked finally looking at Nabiki. "What are we
doing, Nabiki?"

"I'm staying still." Nabiki managed to spit out when she had
managed to back herself into Akane. "*You're* going to call
out for Ranma."

Akane turned Nabiki so she was facing her. "You're kidding,
right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Nabiki hissed. She didn't have
time for explanations when there was the possibility of her
reverting into the cat-fist as well. "Look, he shouldn't
have gotten far. He was with you when the incident happened,
he wouldn't stray."

Akane raised her eyebrows but finally complied, thinking
nothing of Nabiki's sudden burst of - fear? She wouldn't
know. Nabiki kept her emotions under lock and key. "Ranma!"

The shout broke the other sounds of the night, silencing
some and awakening others. "Ranma! We're here!" She turned
to look over at Nabiki to see if what she was doing was
right, but the woman had closed her eyes shut and managed to
lean against the trunk of an old tree.

After a few minutes of screaming, Akane's throat was raw,
the samurai were nowhere to be found and Nabiki was of
little use. "Nabiki, what exactly am I doing here, anyway?"

"You're looking for Ranma." Nabiki said through her gritted
teeth, eyes still closed. "Don't disturb me unless you want
to look for me as well."

Akane didn't know what that meant and watched as another one
of Nabiki's weird little shudders went through her. Akane
never made the connection of the mewing cats to Nabiki's
shudders, and Nabiki wasn't about to enlighten her.

"Call to him... call to him as if you were calling a pet."
Nabiki managed to say after a few more moments, after a
while she screwed, her eyes shut again as another cat called
out its lament to the mountains.

Akane looked at her and thought that the woman was loosing
her mind, Nabiki gritted her teeth. "Call him! I don't have
much time. My affliction is just as strong as Ranma's. I can
stay paralyzed with just its sound." Akane tilted her head
to the side as she watched Nabiki as she kneeled down and
gripped her pants. "What are you waiting for you fool? Call
him."

"Ranma!" Akane finally started again, wanting to humor the
woman. It would not hurt, and they had already been stuck in
the area for a long time. The air was getting thick and
moist, and it looks as if a low lying cloud was already
starting to creep up the mountains and envelope it in its
mists. She shivered in her clothes.

It was after another round of calling before Nabiki pointed
to the bushes and whispered, "He's over there." Wondering
how the girl could know with her eyes closed, Akane walked
over to the direction Nabiki was gesturing at, but Ranma had
leapt out of it before she could reach it, his cover useless
now. He landed on all fours behind Akane and in front of
Nabiki. Nabiki couldn't see him, but her ears registered him
jumping towards his target.

"Ranma! Come!" She held out her right hand towards him, her
eyes were still closed. Ranma had stopped in the middle of
his assault. Akane watched as he gave her a last eyeing
before he walked towards Nabiki.

Akane's hand flew towards her mouth he was walking using his
hands and his feet... it was almost like a - "Cat." Nabiki
finally opened her eyes and gave Akane one strange look
before she turned towards her brother... her fear abated
because he was near.

It had always taken them more time to turn into cat when
together than when separated. It probably had to do with the
fact that they had been trained in that department
individually at first, then together at the end. Their
foster father had almost thought he had 'cured' them of
their fear when it took more than a minute to get them to
use the neko-ken.

Nabiki watched her brother closely as he sniffed her hand.
She put her other hand in his hair and smiled, trying to
reassure him. Although she was not able to bring him out of
the Neko-ken as their neighbor had, it seemed that her
presence calmed him. It also worked vice versa.

He gave her one look then another at Akane before he settled
at her feet to curl down. Nabiki raised her eyebrow at this.
'Ranma has never questioned my judgment before... he
*snarls* when there are enemies near-by... but never just
*looks* at someone.'

She gave Akane a thoughtful glance, then at Ranma. Finally,
she sighed at the girl, and motioned her to come. Akane gave
her an incredulous stare but moved forward. "What happened?"

"Three koban." Akane stared at her dumbfounded, not having
money at hand, and not knowing if her sister-in-law was
joking or not. Nabiki gave a small laugh, an odd sound at
the situation they were facing. "Kami, I haven't done that
in a while." Ever since Ranma had married Kodachi and Rose
Brier was handed down to them on a silver platter, money
didn't seem so much of a problem.

"This is a result of a stupid foster father, a large pit,
fish, and a lot of cats." Nabiki sighed, there were many
things she could blame on Genma on their childhood, the
Neko-ken being on the top of the list, but she could never
actually maim the man. Both of them owed their lives to him.
Ranma took another glance at Akane again, only to look back
at her with a small meow, a question, she wagered. "He seems
to be curious about you."

"Curious?" Akane asked a bit curious at Ranma's state
herself.

"Yes, if I didn't know any better... I'd say -" Nabiki
stopped the trail of thought. She had been about to say that
Ranma liked her. A thought struck her as she remembered a
post-fight with Cologne using the Neko-ken.

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

"I'm surprised at the both of you." Cologne berated the two
at their quarters. "Neko-ken? Do you know that you are lucky
to share the bond of twins? To use the Neko-ken both at the
same time is both deadly as it is stupid. What if you had
turned against each other?"

They hung their heads low, they had not been thinking. The
Neko-ken had seemed to be an easy way to get the Phoenix
pill. They had also ruined the first floor of the palace,
the entire garden and the cherry blossoms. Nabiki was sure
there was going to be hell to pay.

"Only two things can bring you out of the Neko-ken, the
activation of your curse which shocks you enough to regain
your senses..." Cologne shook her head as she wiped a scrape
she had received from the two of them... they had managed to
draw blood.

Fighting one was bad enough. Fighting two at the same time
was a lethal match. Most that had gotten in the way were
already attending to broken bones. "You said two things,
matriarch."

Cologne gave a scowl. "And love. Genma says a neighbor
brought you out... did you trust her as a mother?" They
didn't answer, but from the bowed head, she knew that she
was correct. "It's sad. You cannot bring each other out."

"Why?"

Cologne's head pounded at their question, why indeed.
"Because the hurdle that a man must take to reach his sanity
borders on trust and the love that both of you share for
each other. The hand that reaches cannot touch if there is
none."

Both of them looked at her confused, Cologne sighed, not
really wanting to explain the long list of things that came
with the Neko-ken. She hadn't expected to see one troubled
by it so soon... much less two. "Being twins gives you bond
a leap above normal siblings and a step higher than your
parents. But you cannot trust what you fear, and it drags
down your ability so much more."

Since they feared cats and the other was doing a good
imitation of one, they were frightened of each other when
they were in the neko-ken... even though they did not
realize it. She shook her head, they did not understand.
They will when the time comes, they were still too young,
and Genma had failed to teach them what love is.

How could he? He had failed at it as well.

Cologne knelt down in front of the two of them and smiled.
"Don't worry children. We shall train you to resist as long
as humanly possible. And when you find yourself cursed with
the cat's insanity again, I hope that both of you have found
someone to love. And that... would be the fastest way to
bring you back to sanity."

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

"You'd say what, Nabiki?" Akane asked as she looked at the
older girl in the eye. Nabiki shook her head, clearing her
thoughts.

"Hold him for a while," Nabiki urged Ranma towards Akane
while she motioned for her to step forward. He didn't
protest. He just looked at the both of them expectantly.
"Just do what you would with a pet."

Nabiki took this time to watch them both... the minute Akane
took over Ranma's hand, his attention was all hers. He sat
on her lap and curled around it, just as he had with their
neighbor twenty four years ago. Something she had never been
able to do because she had experienced the neko-ken too.
They had never been able to bring out each other, no matter
how desperate they had been.

'Love.' Nabiki stared at them for a long while. At this
state Ranma was pure emotion and no brain. He trusted Akane
completely. Even after that big fight her brother apparently
still had feelings for Akane. 'Winged cupid is painted
blind.'

'It really *is* love now, isn't it?' Nabiki thought as she
closed her eyes, before she might have believed otherwise...
but the neko-ken was sheer proof. Cologne was almost never
wrong in the weird things she professed she knew. She was a
fool to have forgotten that one little fact about their
affliction.

'Kami protect us all from what happens next.' A loud slap
rang across the forest. Nabiki opened her eyes to look at
them. Ranma was propping himself up from the dirt in front
of her in a very confused manner. Akane was red from anger.
'No... maybe not anger.'

"How could I forget? You're still mad at me." Akane huffed
as she dusted herself off. Ranma was holding a red cheek.
"You're still mad at me for something I don't know. Well
your ankle seems to be better."

Ranma rubbed his cheek as he tried to get his bearings,
ignoring Akane's last statement about his feelings regarding
her. He tested his ankle shifting his weight on it
remembering what had initially gotten him into trouble in
the first place. "I guess the neko-ken accelerated my
healing. There's virtually no pain left. Where are we
anyway? The area looks different..."

Nabiki sighed at the two of them with everything back to
normal. It was hard not to be exasperated. 'I don't know if
I should just give them swords to kill each other or give
them a pillow book. They're driving me crazy.' Nabiki dusted
herself as she cleared her throat. "You two love birds done
fighting?"

Ranma just gave her a disbelieving stare and Akane ignored
her. If she hadn't seen the scene earlier she would have
assumed that they still hated each other. 'I'm getting
another migraine.' "Good, now Lady Saotome, Happosai wanted
you three sticks ago. Ranma... we're going to have a long
talk."

				~~~

Akane was ushered in by three samurai and the one Nabiki had
called 'Kumon' into Happosai's waiting room. It was a vast
room, easily fitting a hundred men, with the standard
platform up front with a small zabuton on top. Two samurai
flanked the platform holding what looked like the Saotome
crest on the left and Happosai's on the right.

'Okay...' Akane thought as she looked around, the sparsely
furnished room was as minimalist as a Zen priest could get
with all of the grandeur a liege lord could have. She
wondered why the inauguration hadn't been held there, but
kept her questions to herself.

She didn't know the customs of this time, and cursed her
luck when no one was around to teach her, the samurai bowed
and left her to Happosai. He blew on his pipe and motioned
for the banner bearers to leave. When they were alone
Happosai hopped down towards her and surveyed her. "You look
better than the last time I saw you, Kodachi. Extremely late
as usual, but better."

"Uh... I guess..." She didn't know why the man was showing
sudden interest in her health when he was so against
bringing her into the clan. It had struck her as unusual for
he had been the one to arrange the marriage between Ranma
and her. "Why'd you call me?"

"I see your impertinence hasn't left you either. Don't tell
me your amnesia is real, Kodachi." Happosai retorted as he
stopped in front of her. "You're not the type to 'fall off a
horse' as your husband has reported. I applaud your acting,
though... it is superb."

Akane stared at him confused, not really understanding what
was happening, "But -"

He silenced her with a wave of his pipe. "Although I admit,
bringing you in the clan was a good idea, it also brings
unwanted suspicion. I thought you said you wanted to be
discreet."

Around this time, Akane decided that being 'discreet' was
the best thing to do with the situation and went along with
what he was saying. "I thought it was for the best, my
lord."

Happosai gave her a suspicious look as the words left her
lips. "You don't plan on double-crossing me, do you, my
dear?" He gave her a weary glance. Akane did not doubt that
he had no reservations upon killing her.

"No, of course not." Akane gave him a forced smile that
hoped reached to her eyes. "Why would I do something as
stupid as that?"

"You're right. It's stupid." He rubbed his temples, and for
the first time, it seemed as if Happosai really was an old
man suffering in his old age. There must be a lot of worries
that came in holding a clan.

Akane shrugged, and tried to act as nonchalant as possible.
It didn't help that she wasn't a good liar either. "Is there
anything else, my lord?" She felt uneasy in his presence and
she wanted to get away as quickly as possible. She would
have said any lie just so she could get out.

"How is your little task progressing?" He asked, taking
another whiff off his pipe, and smiled. "I hope things are
going well?"

"Yes, my lord." Akane shifted in her feet, she still knew
nothing of what he was saying and his questions troubled
her. Apparently, Happosai and Kodachi were doing something
behind everyone's backs... and it was a potentially
dangerous task.

He looked at her speculatively then nodded. "It better be.
Kami-sama knows I pay you more than you're worth. If I
didn't think you could do the job, I would have chosen some
other crazy lunatic to do it for me."

Akane knew the interview was coming to an end, and she was
nowhere near the answers she was looking for. In a desperate
attempt to find out more, she asked, "What would you like me
to do next?"

He gave a small chuckle. "The less I know about what you do,
the better. Now you keep yourself busy ignoring me, and I'll
do likewise. Besides, I'm paying you to think. I'm not
supposed to spoon feed you your plans." With a small wave of
his hands she was dismissed.

Akane walked away, letting go of the breath she didn't know
she was holding as she stepped by the doors that lead to the
great hall. "What does Happosai see in you?"

Surprised at the sudden voice, Akane whirled around to find
Ryu leaning against the doorway she had just left. She had
not even noticed him. "You don't know what you're talking
about, Kumon." It was the only way she knew to address him.
Hoping that she had heard Nabiki correctly.

Ryu arched his eyebrows at hearing his last name, but he
didn't comment on it. She didn't know him by any other. He
held out her hand to her, but she politely declined as she
followed him through the halls, hoping that he was leading
her to the twins and not to another interview. She didn't
know if her nerves could take another one. It was a surprise
Happosai had not found her out easily.

'The question is... what are Happosai and Kodachi doing
together?' She cursed softly as they rounded another corner,
'And why do I have a really bad feeling about it?'

				~~~

As of this moment, Kodachi was breaking and entering into
another donjon far from the Saotomes. Although she has done
nothing of the sort in the years of her dormancy in the
Saotome household, she still knew enough of the simple
breaking and entering that had been self-taught.

Kodachi vaulted over the wall discreetly, noticing that the
compound had less samurai guarding it than the Saotomes. It
would be easier to get by the halls undetected, but she knew
the house less than Rose Brier. It would take her a while to
navigate to her destination.

The Tendo abode was admittedly smaller than Happosai's
donjon, and a bit more susceptible to the attack of a major
house, Chisei had managed to keep their land to themselves
by creating a low profile house that gave out their favors
to major clans in the vicinity so that they would remain
untouched. They kept their small lands around ally territory
and neutral ones.

It was the act of a genius and a coward all at once. Kodachi
had use for such a woman. The woman had one great weakness
that could be exploited: Her search for the three Tendos,
the true holders of her not so vast land.

Kodachi opened the shoji towards the first floor, bypassing
the guards at the gates. Compared to samurai guarding
Happosai's donjon, they were children... Happosai's samurai
had never given her trouble. It was his elite hatamoto that
constantly irked her, especially if that retainer was her
sister-in-law.

Still, if she was as protective of her power as the samurai
that had tracked said, her trust would not come easily and
fooling her could take longer time than she had. However,
Kodachi needed money and was willing to go to any lengths to
get it, even if she had to offer up fake siblings to get it.

She surveyed the area from the thin paneling. When she was
sure it was clear she stepped into the tatami cautiously
surveying the area where she could hide if there was a need.

She had barely finished the survey when she heard footsteps
coming closer, and without thinking, she jumped at the
ceiling, clinging to the two walls for her support,
spreading her legs and her arms to match the width of the
hall.

She felt her shoulder pop, and her eyebrow twitched at the
three ladies that came up the hall. 'This is ridiculous.'
She thought while clinging on so that she could not be
discovered. 'I'm hiding from maids now. '

When they disappeared from her sight she dropped down on the
floor and glared at them. 'Foolish girls.' Finally she went
about to finding the rooms that would lead her to an
audience with Chisei.

She was surprised by a knife on her back the cold steel
sharp even against her clothes. "What brings you so deep in
Tendo territory, intruder?" The voice was soft, and if
Kodachi hadn't been expecting it, she would never have heard
it.

"I bring a message for the lady of the house." Kodachi
murmured, not bothering to turn around for the woman's
benefit, sure that her adversary had no qualms about using
the knife against her.

There was a soft grunt, and Kodachi had to wonder how you
could make a grunt sound as soft as that. It was eerie the
way she did it. "The Lady Chisei does not want to be
interrupted from her duties."

"These are for her ears alone." Kodachi spat out. "Not for
some insolent wench."

The woman pushed the dagger, Kodachi was sure it was already
drawing blood. "Insult me one more time, and that message
would not be heard." The woman was not jesting. Kodachi gave
a small smirk. Though the lady of the house was a coward,
her servants have spunk. What an unusual house Tendo rules.

"Would you kill someone who brings your Lady the Tendo
heirs?" Kodachi asked meaningfully. The pressure alighted
from her back, and was replaced by a hard shove towards what
Kodachi had been looking for. Chisei.

The woman in the room was bewildered at the sudden burst of
light. She stood up from the coverlet of her futon and
blinked at the harsh light that filtered through the room,
Kodachi presumed that the woman standing up was Chisei while
her captor shoved her in.

"My lady," There was no deference in the tone of voice that
the samurai spoke towards their liege, and more to the tones
of an order. "I bring to you someone who has information on
the Tendo siblings."

Chisei rose from her bed as she lit a lamp beside her table,
she stared at Kodachi for a moment then turned to the one
who had captured her. "It seems the ghost of Tendo Akane
haunts us tonight." She pointed at Kodachi a bewildered look
on her face. "I thought she had died. She had died in front
of my eyes."

Taking her firmly by the shoulders and turning her around to
face her, her captor raised an eyebrow. "What brings you
here, Lady Tendo? I doubt it is to turn your siblings over,
so I think it is to give the house of Tendo an offer." The
woman samurai tapped her finger against her chin. "So what
is your offer?"

Kodachi scowled at the woman. "I'm not here to give it to
you. Fool."

Slowly raising an eyebrow she exchanged a look with Chisei,
she did not even bother to hide her surprise. "So it is not
her ghost but her twin that finds her way to our doorstep."
She lifted Kodachi's face and turned it side to side for
inspection, as if seeing it for the first time.

"The likeness is exquisite. Even her mother would not be
able to tell she's a fake." Chisei agreed then frowned as
she surveyed Kodachi. "She needs to cut her hair. Akane
preferred her hair short."

Kodachi wondered what had given her away. She had hinted at
nothing that would directly imply that she wasn't the woman
whose body she held.

The samurai nodded in agreement. "Yes, Akane would." Taking
her dagger once more she cut the ponytail that Kodachi had
recently sprouted and tugged on her long blue-black locks.
In a moment, her hair was sheared to chin length. "There,
perfect. The lady is suited for impersonating Akane."

Chisei walked towards them, bringing the lamp and shining it
over Kodachi's face, she gave a smile that Kodachi had seen
only once in the mirror. Kodachi was going to like this
woman. "Your name?"

Kodachi snatched back the lock of hair that the woman had
cut then shook their hands from her person before standing
up straight to announce herself. "I am Saotome
Kodachi-noh-Ranma."

Both of the women took a step back. "Kodachi Kuno?" The
house of Kuno was well known, but the House of Saotome was
powerful, most heads knew of the clan and its leaders. The
samurai gave a small laugh and then shook her head. "What
brings my lady to the house of Tendo?"

"I'll help you get the Tendo heirs, if you help me ruin the
house of Saotome." Kodachi crossed her arms demanding her
answers before she completely trust the women. She had not
given away anything overt when she had come in the room.
"How did you know that I was not Tendo Akane?"

"Simple." The samurai who had shoved her in smiled. "That's
because I am Tendo Chisei." Chisei pointed to the woman they
had roused and Kodachi had mistaken as her. "She is the only
person left alive who has seen the Tendo heirs before they
disappeared."

Kodachi hid her surprise well. Chisei looked just a little
older than Ranma was. From the information she had gathered
before she had entered the house, it made her only around
fifteen when the Tendo patriarch died. She had a thirst for
power and an equally jealous mind for one so young.

Chisei offered her hand to Kodachi. "I sense that you want
much, Saotome Kodachi. What shall you bargain for the Tendo
heirs' lives?"

				~~~

After their short conversation, which had left Genma's mouth
hanging open and Nodoka coldly silent towards him, Nodoka
actively avoided Genma. She had explained that no one except
Tetsuma had known and it was one of the reasons why she had
even remotely considered letting them train under him.
Because the twins were his.

But when he had tried to broach the subject of telling them
she had vehemently opposed the idea. "Ranma and Nabiki have
enough trouble in their hands as it is. What would it do to
tell them that you're their father? They have spent their
entire life with you. Let me spend my last days with them."

And for the life of him he couldn't argue with that. Because
he had robbed her of so much, and because even after all of
those years, he knew that he still loved her.

Still he needed to talk to Ranma, if not because of the
entire paternity news, then because of Akane's wardship. He
had found Ranma leaning against one of the walls watching
Akane intently.

Ranma decided to keep a close watch on his wife, deciding
that she would attempt another one of her idiotic plans to
go home again. He rolled the ankle that had landed badly,
but the pain was already dull. Ranma has always been a fast
healer, but the neko-ken tended to accelerate the healing
process.

His mind was pulled away from the thought when Genma stepped
towards him. After the training trip and Genma teaching the
twins all they knew, Genma had rarely talked to them.

True, Genma occasionally took up teaching again, but never
as extensive as the twins' own training trip. Akane had
failed to beat him, and at Happosai's decree, Genma would
train her.

"Your wife surprised me, Ranma." Genma said as he wiped his
glasses against his loose white gi. "I had once assessed
that your wife would do well in battle if she loses her
dementia. I was more surprised that she did lose her
affliction over the fact that she's reached this far."

Genma regarded Kodachi's fighting skills as adequate. He
seemed impressed with her recent knowledge of Anything Goes
and glossed over the fact that the woman had just taken one
year for a complete change in fighting style. "Not quite
like all those girls you engaged me to, eh old man?"

"Spunkier, a little less clingy and makes up her own mind.
Quite a catch." When Genma put it that way, she did sound
like she was the wife of the year. If only demented,
sadistic and cheat did not go with it. "I never thought old
man Happosai had the eye for good women."

"He doesn't." Ranma muttered as he nodded towards her
direction. Genma swiveled his gaze towards her. "You forgot
that she's quite an actress, thinks she owns the world and
is totally insane."

Genma frowned as he turned towards his one time charge.
"Now, now. She isn't exactly *insane*. She just has a weird
way of expressing her joy, is too possessive, drugs you a
little too much cheats in fights. Since it's *Anything
Goes* I could hardly call it cheating. That doesn't really
sound insane to me. She sounds more like Shampoo if she
wasn't so - eccentric. Even now, she doesn't seem that way.
I talked to her after our match. Are you sure you're not
misjudging her?"

"Not after years of marriage. There *are* limits to the
anything part in 'Anything-goes' you know. I guess it was
simply lost in translation." Ranma muttered then ran his
hand through his hair. "Why are you taking her side in this
anyway? Wait I don't want to hear it. I don't want to talk
about my wife right now. What have you been doing? Last I
heard you've been training those brats of Jiro all over
Japan."

"They've outgrown me." Genma chuckled. Sometimes Ranma
thought that Genma's only life was the training of the
Saotome children. He never fought for anything else. He's
never participated in the little wars Happosai was fond of
or internal politics, which Ranma was sure he could have.
"In fact, I was here to get a new ward. I didn't expect it
to be your wife."

"Frankly, I don't think she would last with your training
methods." Ranma said bluntly. It was a wonder that anyone
ever survived Genma's tactics at all. "Most of what you
taught us bordered on the insane."

"Only through pushing harder could you realize your limits,
and overcome them." Genma pointed out. That had always been
his motto, next to anything could be turned into training
and the more idiotic the better. "Creative minds have always
been known to survive any kind of bad training."

"Ohh... so you're admitting it was bad training?" Ranma shot
back.

"That last part wasn't from me. Some old crone said it, it
just sounded good to say and I've wanted to say it for some
time now." Genma said truthfully. "Well, anyway, even though
I don't think my training is bad, I've petitioned for her to
be transferred out of my hands and take one of the boys
Genryu's taking care of."

"Why? Still vehemently opposed to the idea of training
girls?" Ranma asked. Genma had given them quite a lot of
lectures on the fact that girls were the weaker sex. Nabiki
finally shut him up when she beat him at the tournament
proper. "I thought your thoughts on that matter have
changed."

"I was never opposed to training girls, Ranma. It was just a
way to get Nabiki riled up. Children need to have a little
incentive when they fight and Nabiki had always been
difficult to figure out." He smiled, remembering their times
in China. "However, I do think that Akane would be better
suited if she trained under you."

"Me?" He looked at Genma squarely to figure out if he was
joking or not.

"Don't look surprised boy, you've managed to train your two
children, and it's been a while since somebody has trained
in the advanced lessons under you." Genma pointed out,
although Ranma did teach in the advanced levels, it was hard
to find a student that had the same passion for the art as
he himself had at that young age, and therefore teaching
stints had been few and short lived.

"Admittedly her fighting style is Anything Goes, but the way
she uses it is on the far end of the spectrum of how I use
my own attacks." Ranma pointed out, having already
completely analyzed his wife's style the first time he
fought her. "She keeps mostly on the defensive, her arsenal
on offensive could be better. She relies on her strength,
which is not much but could give others a run for their
money. She has *no* finesse to speak of and wins from force
over style, which is not bad but not entirely good either.
But mostly, I cannot teach her because she is *grounded*.
To teach her more of the things I use would be forcing her
to unlearn most of her foundations and relearning again.
I would think someone like Ryu in the brute strength
department would be a better candidate for her."

"Quit complaining boy." Genma replied. "You don't need to
retrain her. You have everything you need. You're looking at
this at the perspective of someone who's teaching off a
blank slate, and as you've pointed out, she isn't. Refine
her moves. You're brilliant in deconstructing fights, all
you need to do is teach her the moves that you've seen in
the 'brute strength' department as you've called it and add
touches of your own."

Improvising has always been one of Ranma's stronger traits,
and dismantling moves was second nature to him. He already
had Akane's style down after one fight. His uptake for the
fighting styles and his understanding of them was complete
that he could copy almost any move as long as he's seen it.

"You could pass the responsibility to teach her to me, but
I'm not teaching her anything more than she already knows."
Ranma shook his head he did not want more contact with
Kodachi than necessary and being a teacher for her required
more than twenty-four hours of guidance. "We've already made
a lot of exceptions for her."

"I understand your misgivings, but at least teach her how to
control her chi." Genma suggested, knowing that Ranma would
bend his rules a little if someone might get hurt from his
lack of action. "Master Happosai has noted that she does
have potential to wield it and wild chi is always messy to
deal with. Maybe after that, you'd have your own heir boy. A
student might give you the yearning for a child. You're
quite overdue for one. You're not getting younger."

His own heir was not something that Ranma enjoyed
discussing. It was a pressing matter, not because of the
martial arts title, since Happosai looked like he was going
to live a couple more years, but because Nerima needed a
daimyo incase he died. "I have Hanae."

"We both know that Hanae is good, however she won't reach
past advanced training." Genma paused as he let his words
sink in, waiting to see Ranma's reaction to what he was
telling him. "She is not Saotome by blood, Ranma, and most
important of all, she will never *surpass* you. She's not
even close to your equal at that age."

"My heir is none of your business." Ranma answered angrily
at Genma, not knowing how the old man could know Hanae was
not his own blood child. "Hanae is my child."

"You are my greatest pride Ranma. Maybe your training is the
only thing that's keeping me within Saotome ranks in the
first place." This was a sentiment Ranma had never heard
from the old man before, and the pride was apparent in his
voice. "You need an heir boy. Don't let your art die out
with you."

With that Genma turned to go.

Ranma shook his head. Although most of the time, his old
teacher barely made sense, this time he was right. It was a
teacher's goal to always train someone to surpass him, and
Ranma has not seen such an heir yet. It was past the time
that he should produce an heir. He was about to turn around
to look for Hanae when this time, Akane moved to talk to
him.

"Please, Ranma. Could we go home?" Akane asked her eyes low
on the ground. Ranma sensed that the night had tired his
wife, and he felt a twinge of pity. The tournament did make
you exert too much, and he knew she probably was feeling the
brunt of the fights that she lost.

"I'm heir, Kodachi." Ranma answered, but he obliged her by
walking with her. He moved towards the corridors guiding her
towards the room that had been assigned to her for the
night, she seemed lost in the middle of the large winding
pathways. "Both Nabiki and I have duties in this
tournament."

When he reached her room he slid the door open and frowned
at the fact that Ifuku was not there. Most of the maids were
being given dinner at the kitchen, and were helping with the
servings of the gathering downstairs. Lighting one of the
lamps in the room Ranma looked up to find Akane staring at
him.

"I'll call Ifuku for your bath -"

"No, it's alright." Akane mustered up a smile kneeling down.
"I'd rather stay here and talk with you."

Talking was something Ranma did not want to do at the
moment. He desperately wanted to go away. He did not want to
deal with her yet. "I have things to attend to, Kodachi."

"Kodachi." Akane whispered the name as if hearing it for the
first time. She shook her head at it. "I wish you'd stop
calling me that. I thought you already did."

"It's your name." Ranma told her softly. "I won't call you
by anything else."

Akane let the topic go as she sat down on the futon. "Tell
me more about your school of martial arts, Ranma. Tell me
what I've just been handed over."

"A privilege." Ranma answered then closed the door giving up
on leaving for the moment. "There's nothing to tell. The
name says it all. You failed mid-air combat."

"I haven't trained in mid-air combat. It's not unusual to
fail in something that you have no idea how to do." Akane
pointed out. He seemed more comfortable to talk about the
arts so she settled for it for now. "Does that annoy you?"

"No." Ranma sighed. He found no reason to be annoyed that
she failed in the rudimentary forms. He was not her teacher
nor was he the one responsible for her achievements.
"However, aerial combat is the specialty of the Anything
Goes School of Martial Arts."

"So I've been told. Over and over and over again." Akane
said glumly taking out the kodachi from their respective
places on her sides and putting them in a small trunk that
she had used to bring her belongings in. "I'm sure other
branches teach ones that take root in the ground."

"The Saotomes are the only ones who practice Anything Goes."
There was pride in his voice, and a bit of over
protectiveness at her apparent slur on the school. "Sure
there are teachers who teach basic ground movements, not all
fights are done in mid-air, but whatever could be done in
the air you could do on solid ground."

Akane sighed as she untied her hair. "I don't understand you
Saotomes, how many fights do you have in mid-air anyway?
There aren't that many mercenaries that say, 'hey, the
Saotomes specialize in mid-air combat, let's try to beat
them up in the air.'"

Ranma made a reprimanding sound at her while shaking his
head. "This is precisely what you get when you train a
non-Saotome with Saotome skills. Using aerial combat in
fights is done when you *force* your opponent to compete
in an arena that only *we* specialize in. Besides all the
jumping and evading is an integrated step of using midair
combat for fights in solid ground. I don't expect you to
find the practical reasons in fighting in mid-air, but
you have to admit the feeling is wonderful."

Though Ranma could tell the world that he hated her, he
would engage in any conversation as long as it dealt with
martial arts. He was animated when he talked about the
style, inherently proud of what it is and immensely happy to
talk about what it could be. Akane didn't want the
conversation to end. "And what feeling would that be?"

"To fly." Ranma answered. At that moment, Akane saw the
idealism in Ranma. He loved the art with passion. You could
clearly see *why* he was heir of Anything Goes beyond his
mastery of the style. He was probably the only one who
understood what Anything Goes meant beyond the fighting.
"You should try it sometime."

"Flying?" Akane repeated, for the concept seemed too
farfetched in her own mind towards what Anything Goes was.
Especially since in her time, flying had been limited to the
animated characters in manga or anime.

Ranma stared at her for a moment as if trying to remember
what it was that he was doing here with her. He shook his
head to clear it and suddenly remembering that he was not on
good terms with her, he turned around abruptly. "I have to
go. Happosai or my sister must be looking for me. Good night
Lady Saotome."

"Wait, Ranma, please." Akane pleaded when he was half out of
the opened door. Realizing that she could not prolong the
moment, that in an instant the connection she had shared
with him was long gone. "I want to understand what went
wrong."

"Nothing went wrong, Kodachi." Ranma answered quietly. His
hand did not leave the shoji nor did he turn to face her.
"We just found out the truth. That we're being stupid about
trying to understand each other when we obviously can't."

"If it's not stupid, then it's a problem." Their voices were
still low, although Akane's had been pleading. "Is that all
I am to you Ranma?"

"It's all that we are to each other. I am sure you feel the
same way too." With that, he stepped out of the door.

				~~~

Nabiki managed to find Ranma just when he was stepping out
of Akane's room. He blinked at her when she motioned for him
as they walked slowly towards the convening area. "You had a
fight with your wife again?" Nabiki asked raising an eyebrow
at his frown.

"It's not new Nabiki." Ranma said as they rounded the
corner, he sounded exasperated at her question though a
little sad as well. He had not wanted his marriage to slowly
disintegrate. He had not wanted Kodachi to be real. He had
wanted Akane. "I never expected it to last."

Nabiki did not ask what 'it' was. She placed her hand on his
arm. "Happosai is expecting you to brief the parents of the
children on what they're to expect now that they're in
advanced training. Hanae and Sei are both ready to go home,
they're sharing quarters down at the east hall, you might
want to see them."

"I have to pass by the kitchen first. Kodachi needs someone
to tend to her bruises. She's moving stiffly." Though the
feelings between him and Akane were awkward he was still her
husband, and Ranma was always a good husband, regardless of
the wife. "That slam by Kana on her back is starting to take
its toll. Now that there are going to be more free rooms
could I please get a separate one?"

"God, you whine too much. We won't even be staying long
enough for a different room to have effect. Just pretend you
don't need sleep or bunk up in my room for the night."
Nabiki answered, giving him a push towards the convening
room. "I'll find someone suitable to treat her, just attend
to your duties."

When she was sure he was not going to leave because of his
wife, Nabiki whirled around to find Ifuku. The maid had
proven to be easier to find than her brother, and she had
given instructions for the maid to bring up a fresh basin of
hot water and towels. Ifuku nodded in acquiescence and moved
to find the materials that she had been asked to obtain.

Since she didn't have anything to do at the moment and she
was naturally curious about the recent fight Akane had just
shared with her brother, Nabiki decided that looking over
Akane's wounds would not be so bad.

She knocked on Akane's door softly and saw her lying face
down on the futon. Nabiki noticed that Akane did seem to be
favoring her back so she entered the room quickly and closed
the door behind her. She moved towards the washcloth and
basin that Ifuku laid down in the room before she left for
dinner.

Nabiki surveyed the woman quickly. "You don't have a fever,
do you?" It was the closest thing to worry for her that
Akane had ever heard from Ranma's sister. Akane weakly shook
her head, but Nabiki placed her hand against her forehead
anyway. Then, she sighed. "You know it's not healthy for a
husband and wife to fight every goddamned minute."

Nabiki didn't need an answer when Akane turned her head
away. "Why must all of Ranma's fianc�e's be as moody as the
weather? There isn't a single normal girl among all of you."

"Well if he minded how we actually felt, then we wouldn't be
'moody'." Akane huffed defensively. Her ails seemingly
disappearing for a moment. Nabiki rolled her eyes. 'There is
that.' Nabiki thought as she helped Akane up on a sitting
position so she could take off the woman's kimono and take a
look at her back.

"What I simply do not understand is that if you think him at
fault," Nabiki broke off then knelt down so that she was
facing Akane eye to eye. "Is that you still tolerate him."

"But he hates me." Akane averted her eyes as she protested
quietly. The fire that she had moments before had
disappeared into the depths of what Nabiki thought was
genuine sadness. "I know so."

"You claim to know things you really don't." Nabiki gave the
woman a thin smile. "I ask you again, if you're so convinced
he hates you, then why stay?"

"I don't know."

"Right, okay... so I guess you're giving up. I wonder
sometimes how long a woman like you would last. He hates
you." Nabiki gave her a hard stare projecting to Akane just
how long she had thought Akane would have lasted. "Okay. I
understand."

"You don't." Akane practically shouted, all of the pressure
of the entire competition crashing down on her combined with
her frustration with her almost non-relationship with her
husband. "I have worked for a year in this place. A year,
Nabiki. I've been arguing with Ranma since the first day we
met. I think it's high time that I be given my peace."

"You should." Nabiki agreed, but before she could say
anything else someone knocked against the shoji, and Ifuku
stepped in from the corridor. "Ifuku, Lady Akane needs a hot
compress against her back."

Ifuku bowed apologizing for her delay and started to work,
changing the cold water from the basin into the hot one from
the pitcher she had carried up.

Before she left Nabiki looked at Akane in the eye.
"Sometimes I wonder at your determination, Akane. Good
night, Lady Saotome."

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

Endnotes:

I'm taking a gamble on Hinako's age. Since she looked
like a child when Akane and Ranma were sixteen, maybe she'd
look like a teenager when they were grownups. I mean her
child form does grow up, right... which makes me wonder what
her child form will be when she's 75 or something.

For the manga impaired: Ryu Kumon is not my character, for
those of you that have noticed him on either fanfiction or
have bought the manga... Nabiki's flashback was also mostly
derived from the manga. However, originally, it was Genma
who gave him the scrolls and not Happosai, since they're
Genma's techniques. I'm not planning to tell the
in-betweens because that would be too long and would take
out the purpose of this entire thing... If you're really
interested... it's in volume 28 of the manga.

Also the oath taking was heavily revised from an original
work :) I'm not very poetic. Here's the original of the
oath. As some of you may have noticed, it's the Hippocratic
Oath with a few changes:

Hippocrates circa 400 BC (Be my light)

Science not for profit is my bond
Healing, a gift from the Great Phycician
Knows no barrier to my utmost care
My ballpark is not for sale
My experience not for auction
I shall keep the trust of the sick
Cure, care comfort, my signature
I am the trustee of the sick
By schooling, training and profession
No broker shall stay my healing hand
No profit becloud my noble call

I have recently found out that Japanese people don't have
middle names. Hmmm... They have a first name and they have a
last name but never middle names. So the entire Nabiki thing
with two names is improbable. However, it's too late to
change the entire story line for that sole reason. It's a
minor fact that just strips Nabiki of a -ma in the end, and
not terribly important, but I just had to say it :) Sorry
for the mistake.

We could think of it as a 'second name'. A different name
bestowed on her, quite a stretch but I'm sure you could
suspend reality for a while to digest that.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. It's because of the
fighting scenes. Truthfully this would have finished ages
ago if not for those. The fight scene on top of the bamboo
was supposed to be Jusenkyou like. I was stupefied when I
watched House of Flying Daggers, pointed at the screen and
said, "So that's how you should write a bamboo fight scene".

This was written before I watched House of Flying Daggers,
so I don't know if it managed to catch the same essence as
watching that movie has. (this is a blatant plot to get
contructive criticism on my fighting scenes HELP.)

I hope the inaguration scene was believable. I based that
experience off something similar 'final rights' into
something crazy in college (similar to a sorority but no
hazing and such for people who don't know about it).

On another note, for the entire feeling on top of a mountain
what I did for research was climb the smallest volcano in
the world! Taal Volcano! I was taking lots of pictures and
taking note of the entire experience so that I could get
that on paper. It's not exactly a tall mountain, and maybe
it's three times shorter than what I percieved Akane and the
rest of the gang climbed, but it was fun. I hope my words
were enough to express both the wonder and the terror that
an experience like the inaguration brought to people who
were undergoing those rights pics are posted, don't expect
a large sheer drop, it's the smallest volcano for a reason.

And lastly on Genma's description of Kodachi! They're
borrowed from various pro-Kodachi people in the web.
Thanks for your input!

On to more serious things... my recent harddrive crash,
which wiped out all of the
finished chapters of Rend complete with FOOTNOTES and
research that was done for the series. Therefore, to
re-create the chapters, I will have to research everything
again or get my harddrive back. My harddrive data recovery
was priced at - USD 500. I earn USD 4 a day and use USD 1
for my meals.(I live in a third world country)
That means I have to go into 27 and a half
weeks of starvation to earn that much money.

I do revise backlog chapters in the middle of the next
update though. If you've noticed I've revised Prologue - 7
extensively since my last update. In fact chapter 6-7 was
uploaded at the same time as this (newly revised!) . There
are fewer grammatical errors, some length is sometimes added
and some such. Rian's birthing scene was changed, some
scenes were added in chapter 7 and if I'm not mistaken
chapter 4 as well.

Please note that there is fanart in my homepage.

iCe

siuane@gmail.com
iCe.esmartdesign.com

bannerless popupless : rend.atspace.com

LJ: iCe_of_dreams



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