Ranma 1/2:

The Long and Winding Road

Episode Two: Rocky Roads

Ranma 1/2 - THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
EPISODE TWO:  ROCKY ROADS

by Zen

Based on characters and situations created by Takahashi Rumiko
Ranma 1/2 and characters copyright Shogakukan, Kitty Animation 
Circle, and Takahashi Rumiko.
This story copyright 1998 - Jaime Bateman


*** O_o ***

The night they left Kyoto, Ranma-chan and Ukyou set up camp near a 
small stream on a low ridge overlooking the waters of Lake Biwa.  In 
the distance, Ranma-chan could just make out a few faint lights.  
Must be Shiga, she thought to herself... that's the closest town.  
Turning back to her work, she pitched their tent while Ukyou set 
about preparing the meal.

Before long the two of them were sitting on a log by a toasty fire, 
savouring rice with one of Ucchan's special sauces, baked yams and 
steaming green tea.  The hot food went a long way towards chasing 
away the day's accumulated chills, for which Ranma-chan was 
particularly grateful.

Since their run-in with Ryouga, the trip had been fairly uneventful.  
After a quick train trip from Kobe to Kyoto, they had begun the next 
leg of the journey on foot.  They had made good time.  Another day's 
hike would bring them within a stone's throw of the monastery 
where Ukyou's father was living.

Then the real fun would begin.  The prospect of facing Kuonji-san 
after all these years and all that had happened was making Ranma-
chan fairly nervous, and even Ukyou's confidence was doing little to 
reassure her.  Still, there were more difficult challenges to be faced, 
she reflected.  There was a very good chance that she would never 
survive to marry Ukyou.

Ranma-chan was startled out of her reverie by a tap on the shoulder 
from her companion.  "Hey!  Ran-chan?  Are you okay?"

"Hmmm?  What was that, Ucchan?"

"I asked if you were okay.  It's like you're a million spatials out, you 
know?"

"I'm sorry, Ucchan... I was just thinking..."

"Thinking about what?  You look like you just lost your best friend."

Ranma-chan had to smile at that.  "No, Ucchan... that's the one thing 
that I *haven't* lost."

"Well, try to look at least a *little* bit cheerful.  It's such a beautiful 
night...  The sky is so clear..."

Ranma-chan looked up, and nodded.  The sky *was* lovely.  The stars 
shone like diamonds, bright and clear, and there was no moon to 
wash out their light.  "Yeah, that's one of the things that I always 
liked about the mountains.  You never see skies like this further 
down, let alone in the cities."

Ukyou leaned up against the red-head and sighed.  "Isn't it romantic, 
Ran-chan?  Just the two of us... the fire... the stars... no one around for 
kilometers..."

Ranma-chan shifted nervously.  "Uhmm... Ucchan?  Don't you think 
we ought to wait til I can change back into a guy?"

Ukyou snorted in amusement and shook her head.  "Well, if you 
insist."  She dropped into such an exaggerated pout that Ranma-chan 
had to laugh.  Ukyou piped up, "Say.  You were gonna tell me about 
whatever it was you said to Ryouga this morning.  It must have been 
something, 'cause he lit out of there like his tail was on fire."

"Ah," said Ranma-chan, glad for the change of topic, but regretting it 
at the same time.  "Well, you see, there are a number of things that 
make Ryouga very, very nervous.  My little 'disguise' kept him off 
guard long enough to work in enough of those trigger words to panic 
him.  Simple, really."

"Trigger words?  But what were they?"

Ranma-chan sighed.  "I'm afraid that I can't tell you that..."

"You said you'd explain everything!" said Ukyou, with a disappointed 
look.

"I swore to Ryouga that I would never tell anyone.  There are times 
that I really regret that promise... but there's nothing I can do about 
it now."

"But..." started Ukyou.

"Ucchan, I'm sorry.  I just can't"

"Oh."  Ukyou looked thoughtful.  "Okay.  But what if I guess?  If I can 
guess it then you won't have broken your promise."

Ranma-chan looked doubtful, but did not object.  After a moment she 
shrugged.  "You can try.  I don't really see how Ryouga can be any 
madder at me than he already is."

"That's another thing.  Just what IS Ryouga so mad at you for?  I've 
never understood why he was always trying to pick fights with you.  
Or is that some kind of secret too?"

Ranma-chan sighed.  "Ryouga and I went to the same junior high 
school for a while.  Even then, he had a horrible sense of direction.  
I'd have to lead him to and from school all the time.  But we had a 
feud going.  You know what boys' schools are like - particularly the 
cafeterias."

Ukyou nodded.  She did indeed.

"Well, by the time Ryouga and I would get to the dining hall, all of 
the good stuff was usually gone.  The few scraps that were left were 
prizes to be fought for.  Ryouga almost always lost.  He's never 
forgiven me for that."

"You mean to say that this whole 'Die Ranma!' routine of his is over 
*cafeteria food*?" asked Ukyou incredulously.

"No... no, not all of it.  But that was where it started."  Ranma-chan 
took another sip of her tea and stared into the depths of the fire for a 
moment.  "Ryouga hated losing - almost as much as I do.  He took it 
very personally, and swore that he'd get his revenge.  So one day, he 
challenged me to a duel.  We were to meet in the back lot behind his 
house."

"So who won?"

Ranma-chan shrugged.  "We'll never know.  He got lost on the way to 
the lot.  I waited for him for three days, but then Pop dragged me off 
to China.  When Ryouga finally got to the lot, I was gone, and he's 
been after me ever since."

"Three DAYS?" Ukyou eeped.  "Wow.  What'd he do, chase you all the 
way to China or something?"

"Ryouga is a very stubborn person.  He can be very pig-headed."

"All the way to China..."  Ukyou's eyes snapped wide open.  "No... Let 
me get this straight.  Are you trying NOT to tell me that Ryouga has a 
Jyusenkyou curse?  Like yours, your father's, or Shampoo's?"

Silence.

"...and that he turns into something else when splashed with cold 
water..."

The red-head blinked owlishly at her.

"He does, doesn't he?  ...and that something would be?"

Ranma-chan said nothing.

"Feh.  Knowing Ryouga he probably turns into a wombat or an inter-
dimensional sheep or something."  There had been something about 
the way Ranma had described him... 'stubborn' she had said.    
"No!  Surely not! A little... black... pig..."  Ukyou ground to a halt.  
Ranma-chan was still silent, but that silence spoke volumes.

Suddenly it all fell into place.  P-chan.  Akane's pet pig had been 
Ryouga the whole time.  It was so obvious in retrospect.  P-chan and 
Ryouga were never seen together, but one would turn up where the 
other had been.  P-chan, like Ryouga, would go missing for days or 
weeks at a time.  They had both worn the same bandannas.  Ryouga 
had been terrified of cold water.  He had always refused to eat pork.  
"A little... black... pig..." she said again, almost to herself.  All the signs 
had been there.  No *wonder* Ranma hadn't liked it when P-chan 
had slept...

"Bwaaaaaaaaahhh ha ha ha ha ha ha!"  Ukyou almost rolled off the 
log they were sitting on, she was laughing so hard.  "You mean to tell 
me that Akane..." she paused to take a breath, "has been sleeping 
with *Ryouga* for the whole time, and that she's never even known 
it?  That is just *too* rich!"

Ranma-chan nodded miserably.  "'Fraid so.  I kept dropping hints - 
hell, I even used to call Ryouga 'P-chan' right in front of Akane, but 
she never did catch on."  The red-head cast an angry glance at her 
fiancee.  "It's not funny, either.  How would *you* like it if the pet 
that you'd been cuddling all that time turned out to be some guy?"

Ukyou sobered.  "Well, why didn't you do anything about it then?"

"Hey!  I did everything that I could to stop it... *and* I got pounded 
for it."

"You could have just *told* her."  After a moment's reflection she 
added, "If I'd been in Akane's place, I'd have wanted you to tell me!"

"I *couldn't* tell her, Ucchan.  I'd made a vow.  Besides..."  Ranma-
chan seemed to deflate a bit as she ran out of steam.  "Besides.  It 
was my fault that he got cursed."

"How the hell do you figure that?"

"If I had just waited another day... then I could have kicked his butt, 
and he'd never have followed me to China.  Never have followed me 
to Jyusenkyou."

"Hey, he's got no one but himself to blame for that."

"Maybe," agreed Ranma-chan sheepishly, "but when he got there... 
well... It seems that I sorta accidentally knocked him into one of the 
pools."

"Oh."  Ukyou was silent for a time.  "She'll kill him, you know.  When 
she finds out."

"Maybe.  But I don't think so.  She's always liked Ryouga.  The one 
she's gonna want to kill is me.  After all, it'll have been my fault.  
Everything was."

"But he's been lying to her all this time!  Hell, you told her the 
*truth* most of the time, and look how she treated you!"

Ranma-chan shrugged.  "Akane can be a surprisingly kind and 
forgiving person.  She just never forgave me for being a boy.  Who 
knows?  Maybe if I really *had* been 'Ranko' Saotome, we'd have 
been the best of friends."

Ukyou laughed.  "If you *had* been, then you never would have had 
all these engagement problems."

"Don't be so sure," Ranma-chan said darkly.  "Knowing my luck, Pop 
would have tossed me into the "Spring of Drowned Boy" deliberately, 
and I'd *still* have been engaged to Akane..."

*** o_O ***

The monastery stood, as such places often do, on a lonely, isolated 
mountaintop, as far away from the bustle of everyday life as it could 
possibly get.  In terms of distance that perhaps wasn't so far, but 
Japan is a rugged country - what it lacks in area it makes up for in 
topography.

The climb had been a hard one, given the ice that persisted in the 
higher elevations, and Ranma and Ukyou were both tired.  Ranma 
hauled himself up the last of the path and turned to wait for his 
fiancee.  Looking back out over the way they had come, Ranma was 
captivated by the view.  He felt like he could see forever.  In the 
distance, he could see peaks that were as high or even higher than 
the one upon which he stood.  But what held his attention was the 
panorama that was spread below.

Gorges and valleys, nestled between the hills over which they had 
been climbing, were thrown into sharp relief in the light of the 
afternoon sun.  The white blanket that covered much of the scene 
was ripped and torn, displaying a variety of colours - the dark, cool 
greens of tall conifers as they peeked out from under their snowcaps; 
the deceptively gentle greys, browns and reds of the naked rock that 
rent the field of white like gaping wounds, and the darker browns 
and blacks of the bare trees that pierced the snow cover like so 
many thousands of bony claws.

Cradled in the center of all of this apparent chaos were the gleaming, 
placid waters of Lake Biwa, an island of tranquillity between two 
hostile mountain ranges not unlike the eye of a hurricane.  The lake's 
surface shone like glass, reflecting the sunlight with almost blinding 
intensity.

The view left Ranma with a sense of accomplishment for having 
reached this peak despite the ruggedness of the terrain.  At the same 
time it was humbling, the raw power of the landscape making him 
feel small and insignificant by comparison.  It was just the sort of 
contradiction that one might expect when visiting a Zen monastery, 
he thought.

As Ukyou reached the end of the trail, he held out his hand to help 
her up the last few steps.  They stood there while she caught her 
breath, and Ranma resumed his contemplation of the landscape 
before turning their attentions once more to their destination.

The wall was impressive.  Enormous blocks of stone were set 
together without mortar; only gravity held them in their places.  
Ranma could not imagine their having been transported here - rather 
they must have been cut from the mountain itself, as the top had 
been leveled for the construction.  The effort that it would have 
taken to move them even so short a distance must have been 
fantastic.

The gateway was equally imposing.  Massive wooden pillars thrust 
upwards, topped by an equally massive beam lintel.  The bright red 
paint that covered the structure was a stark contrast to the grey of 
the stone, and the white of the snow.  Shimenawa, thick ropes made 
of rice straw, stretched across the gate and were hung with folded 
paper streamers that fluttered in the wind.

Beyond the gate was a small courtyard, and a set of steps that let up 
to the heavy wooden doors set deep into the wall itself.  Next to the 
doors, from a miniature version of the massive main gate, hung a 
bronze gong, and a mallet.  After exchanging a glance with Ukyou, 
Ranma hefted the mallet and struck the gong.

As the echoes of the ringing gong started to die out, there came the 
distinctive thunk of heavy bolts being drawn back, and the squeak of 
seldom used hinges as the door began to open.  Ranma and Ukyou 
found themselves peering into the kindly face of an elderly but 
surprisingly spry monk.  "May I help you?" he asked.

"Uhm..." said Ranma.

"We're here to see my father!" piped up Ukyou.  "Kuonji Haruka."

The monk blinked.  "Indeed.  You would be Ukyou, then, would you 
not?  Kuonji-san speaks of you often.  Your father is in meditation, 
near the exercise yard.  Come.  I shall take you and your friend and 
we shall see if he has finished."

The monk gestured for the two to enter the compound, and turned to 
close the door, sliding the massive bolts back into place.  He then led 
them toward one of the buildings near the outer wall.  As they got 
closer, Ranma became increasingly nervous.

Ranma only vaguely remembered Ukyou's father - at the time, he 
had been much too glad to have a friend, let alone one that could 
cook, to pay much attention to the grown-ups.  What memories he 
did have of the man were of a loud, boisterous fellow who had made 
perhaps the best okonomiyaki that Ranma had ever tasted.  At least 
until Ucchan had come to Nerima.

Reaching the door to the outbuilding, their escort stopped and took a 
quick peek.  He turned to face them once more and smiled.  "Kuonji-
san is inside." he said, indicating that they should enter.

"You're not going with us?" Ranma asked.

"My, no!  It is not my place," he said simply.  With a bow he added, "I 
do hope that you will enjoy your stay.  If you need anything, do not 
hesitate to ask."  He turned and walked back the way they had come.

"C'mon, Ran-chan." Ukyou smiled.  "It'll be okay."  Leaving their 
packs on the veranda by the door, the couple entered the building.

To look at him, Kuonji Haruka was the last person one would have 
expected to find in a monastery.  He was a barrel-chested giant of a 
man, standing well over six feet.  He had thick chestnut hair tinged 
with red, and a full beard.  There was the slightest hint of grey at his 
temples.  Thick brows hooded eyes that were sharp and bright, but 
betrayed nothing of what the man might have been thinking.

Upon seeing his daughter approach, he broke into a huge grin.  "My 
little Ucchan!"  The voice matched the man, deep and sonorous; a 
booming voice with a rich timbre and a compelling quality that any 
politician would have sold his soul to have.  "At last!  I have missed 
you so these past years!  Come!  Let me have a look at you!"

Ukyou rushed forward and hugged her father.  "I've missed you too, 
Dad."  She held the embrace a moment longer before gently freeing 
herself.  "I'm sorry I haven't come sooner..."

Haruka waved her apology aside.  "You've grown so beautiful... just 
like your mother..."  He paused, his features set in a sad smile.  "If 
only Michi were alive to see you now..."

"Dad?"  Ukyou was blushing furiously, and her voice held a slightly 
nervous edge.  "I want you to say 'hello' to someone.  You remember 
Ranma?"

Ranma stepped forward, his hands clasped behind his back.  With a 
formal bow, he said, "Kuonji-san.  It's been a long time."

Haruka turned to Ranma, his expression darkening once more into 
unreadability.  "Oh, yes.  I remember Ranma.  So.  Ukyou spoke the 
truth."  He gave Ranma a curt nod and an appraising stare.  "I can 
only hope that this time you will prove worthy of her devotion."

"Dad!" Ukyou gasped.

"Quiet, child."  Never taking his eyes off of Ranma, he went on.  "As I 
remember, boy, you were once training to be a martial artist.  May I 
assume that you have kept up that training?"

Ranma had stiffened at the open hostility in the elder Kuonji's voice.  
Keeping both his voice and his expression carefully neutral, Ranma 
answered.  "You may."

Ukyou's father nodded and got to his feet.  Gesturing toward the 
open courtyard he said.  "Then come, boy.  Let's see how good you 
really are."

As Ranma and the monk took up their positions, the older man spoke 
up again.  "You have a lot to answer for, boy.  Your family has caused 
much grief for mine."

"I wish that I could deny that," said Ranma.  "I can only try to make 
you understand that it was not my intent."

"Intent?!" the old man gasped, clearly taken aback.  "Intent?!  What 
you *intended* is no longer relevant, boy!  What you did... what your 
father did... *these* are the things that you must answer for!

"After you and your father abandoned her, Ukyou retreated into her 
own isolated little world.  I could only watch as my daughter grew 
away from me... watch as she grew away from herself."  Haruka 
launched a series of attacks which Ranma dodged with ease.  "Try as 
I might, I could not console her.  Every night she would cry herself to 
sleep, and every day she would train.  She avoided the other children 
her age, even after their teasing stopped."

Ranma bounced back into a ready stance.  "Ucchan was," he ducked a 
sweeping kick, "my best friend!"  Coming inside the monk's attack, 
fast and low, Ranma flipped up and dropped behind his opponent. "I 
never wanted to hurt her."

Haruka whirled to face the boy, attacking both with blows and with 
words.  "Hurt her?" he asked, his tone incredulous.  "She wasn't hurt, 
boy, she was devastated!  She pushed everything and everyone away 
from her.  She denied all that she was, even her own identity!"

"I know that...  now," said an exasperated Ranma as he blocked yet 
another series of blows.  "But at the time, I was six years old!  Back 
then, I didn't know anything about engagements, or marriage!  Heck, 
I didn't even know that Ukyou was a girl!"

Haruka pressed his attack.  "Your father knew!  He took the yattai 
that I gave him as dowry, but he left my daughter behind!"

Ranma nodded as he dodged the next punch.  "For that, on behalf of 
myself, and my father, I apologize."  Swinging around behind the 
monk again, Ranma tapped him lightly, causing him to stumble 
forward.  "If I had understood what was going on, things might have 
been different."

After he recovered his balance, Haruka resumed his advance.  "For 
yourself, your apology is..." he thrust out his leg in a solid kick that 
Ranma sidestepped.  "...accepted.  So long as you make my Ucchan 
happy.  However... should your father ever cross my path again..."

Ranma's voice was cold.  "He deserves whatever he gets.  But you'll 
probably have to get in line.  You and Ukyou aren't the only ones 
that have been hurt by my father's promises... *and* I have him to 
thank for my damned curse..."  Dodging the flight of spatulas that 
Haruka had pulled out of nowhere to throw, Ranma had to grin.  It 
was easy to see where Ucchan had gotten the basis for some of her 
techniques.

Haruka, meanwhile, was getting frustrated.  Fighting with Ranma was 
proving to be like fighting with smoke.  He could not connect with a 
blow, and Ranma had yet to launch any sort of a counter offensive.  
"Fight!" he roared.  "You are holding back!"

Ranma had indeed been holding back.  Ukyou's father was good, but 
he had nowhere near Ranma's speed or skill.  Ranma had been taking 
his time, playing a defensive game - analysing the old man's style, 
and also allowing him to tire himself out somewhat.  And the old bird 
had caught him at it.  With a mental shrug, Ranma shifted into a 
more offensive pattern.

The fight didn't last long after that.  No matter where the monk tried 
to dodge, Ranma was there first with a solid thumping.  Wherever he 
tried an attack, Ranma was somewhere else, inside his defences, with 
yet another thumping.  Finally, Ranma ended it with a few carefully 
placed blows that left Haruka on his backside in the snow and the 
mud, gasping for air.

"You were," the monk wheezed accusingly, "still holding back, weren't 
you?"  After a moment, Ranma nodded.  Hauling himself to his feet 
once more, Haruka moved to one of the benches in the courtyard and 
sat down, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.  "I 
thought so."  With a glare at Ranma he went on, "While I personally 
appreciate your concern on my behalf, that is a bad habit to get into, 
my boy.  When you fight, you must fight to win."

"I do," said Ranma.

Nodding in satisfaction, Haruka said, "It is good to see that you take 
your training and your obligations seriously."

"Obligations," snarled Ranma.  "Don't get me started on 'obligations'.  
Thanks to my father, I have entirely too many 'obligations', and 
there's no way that I can satisfy one without breaking a lot more of 
them than I can keep."

The monk was somewhat taken aback by the bitterness in Ranma's 
voice.  For a moment, JUST for a moment, Haruka almost felt sorry 
for the Saotome patriarch.  It seemed that Genma had lost something 
- lost something that was very precious - the love and respect of his 
only child.  Then he thought back over the past ten years of his 
daughter's life, and any trace of sympathy vanished.  The one that 
deserved that sympathy was the boy in front of him.  "What has he 
done to you, son?"

Ranma gave Kuonji-san an abbreviated version of the various vows 
and entanglements that Genma had entered into on his behalf.  
Haruka shook his head.  "So many fiancees!  Perhaps I should have 
expected such..."  The old man examined Ranma intently.  "Yet... you 
are here now.  You are with my daughter.  It *is* your intention to 
marry her, is it not?"

"I am.  It is.  But I can't honestly say that I'm doing it because it's the 
honourable thing to do.  I'm not sure that I know what that would be 
anymore.  What I do know is that Ukyou is the one that I *want* to 
marry."

The older man smiled.  "Then my daughter has indeed chosen well."  
The smile faded just a bit.  "Though what of Tendou Akane?  How is 
she likely to react to this decision of yours?"

Ranma's face was expressionless, but there was a bitter tone to his 
voice.  "I expect that she'll be thrilled, now that she won't have to 
marry the 'pervert'."

"Aahhh.  An open wound, I see." said Haruka not unsympathetically.  
"Ukyou's letters indicated that you cared a great deal for her."

Ranma shrugged.  "I guess I still do... but as a friend.  There was a 
time that it might have been more, but it just didn't work out."  He 
sighed.  "In the end, Ucchan was the one that I could talk to.  Akane... 
Akane never believed in me."

"I take it then that you did not part on the best of terms."

"No," Ranma winced at the memory of that parting.  "That'd be a safe 
guess.  I really have no one to blame for that but myself, I suppose.  
I certainly made more than my share of mistakes.  It seems that I 
was always making *everybody* mad."

"Everyone except Ukyou?" the monk asked.

Ranma had to grin at that, but his tone was serious.  "Oh, no.  I made 
Ukyou mad LOTS of times.  But she was the one who was willing to 
forgive me.  Over the past year I've learned a lot of lessons... most of 
them the hard way.  But I *have* learned them."

The monk looked dubious but decided to let it pass.  "I am curious, 
though.  Earlier, while we were sparring, you said something about a 
curse...  I had assumed that you meant it figuratively, but after 
hearing your story I am no longer so sure..."

Ranma was surprised.  "Didn't Ucchan tell you about it in any of her 
letters?"

"No, she didn't," Haruka rumbled.  "She said that you had a few... oh, 
how *did* she put it... 'unique idiosyncracies' I think it was, but she 
would not elaborate."  He continued wryly, "With multiple fiancees, 
and now a curse as well... I would say that my Ucchan had, perhaps, 
understated the matter."

"Well, it's never been *boring*, I can say that." 

"And this curse... it is real?"

Ranma sighed.  "Oh, yes.  It's real."

"What manner of curse is it?  A geas?  A spell of some sort?  You said 
that you had your father to thank for it - did he perhaps offend some 
witch or spirit?"

"I don't know what you'd call it.  I don't know a lot about magic."  
Ranma shrugged.  "All I know is that I fell into a cursed spring, and 
now, whenever I get doused with cold water, I... change."

"Change?"

"Change.  I guess it'd be easiest just to show you."  Ranma went over 
to the veranda and retrieved one of the water bottles from the belt 
of his pack.  Passing the bottle to Ukyou, he said, "Would you mind, 
Ucchan?"

"Not if you don't, Ran-chan."

Ranma braced himself as Ukyou poured the water over his head.  
There was a familiar tingle and where there had been a handsome, 
raven haired boy, there now stood a voluptuous, red-headed girl.  
She shrugged eloquently.  "See?"

Kuonji Haruka's eyes went wide with shock, and a strangled sound 
escaped his lips.  The sound became a rumble, and grew very quickly 
into loud barks of near hysterical laughter.

This was, to say the least, not the response that Ranma-chan had 
been expecting.  Still dripping, and now furious, the red-head 
grabbed a double fistful of coarse robe, and hauled the massive 
monk up off of the ground.  She shook him like a rag doll, while he 
continued to laugh helplessly.

Gasping for breath, Haruka managed to stammer, "Ucchan... ten years 
as a boy... now this... symmetry indeed!  What a sense of humour the 
Kami have!  Oh, the *irony*!"

"You think this... this *curse* is *funny*?" Ranma-chan growled.  Still 
holding him up with one hand, she drew back a fist, ready to pound 
him into the next week.

"Eh?  *Curse*?"  Haruka gasped, before dissolving once more into 
gales of laughter.  "You have GOT to be kidding.  You see this as a 
*curse*?  Oh, the okonomiyaki that I could have sold had I been so 
cursed..."

Stunned, Ranma-chan dropped the monk on his backside.  She stared 
at him in shock as his laughter gradually faded to the occasional 
chuckle.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Haruka said in a more serious tone, 
"Look - I have nothing left to give the two of you but my blessings 
and some advice.  Ranma m'boy - think hard on this - that curse of 
yours can be an incredible asset.  You can get away with things... 
Ahh, yes... I see from your expression that you've discovered that 
aspect of it already...  It's a *tool*, boy.  Use it.  Don't let out-dated 
gender stereotypes get in your way."

Ranma-chan looked at her soon to be father-in-law thoughtfully.  He 
was right - there were things that she could do as a girl that she'd 
never have gotten away with in her male form.  She held out her 
hand and helped the monk back to his feet.  Finally, she nodded.

"Obviously this transformation is reversible in some way..." mused 
the monk.

Once more, Ranma-chan nodded.  "Hot water turns me back to my 
normal self," she said.

"Excellent!  Come," Haruka said, "Let us talk more over a hot meal.  
You can tell me all about how you got this curse of yours, and what 
the two of you have planned.  Then... we will find you quarters for 
your stay."

Ranma-chan and Ukyou both perked up visibly at the mention of 
food.  It had been a long day; a hot meal and a good night's sleep 
sounded pretty close to nirvana.  Hefting their packs, they followed 
Ukyou's father into the maze of buildings, hand in hand.

*** O_o ***

Later that night Ukyou found Ranma standing alone on one of the 
monastery walls, staring off into space.  She watched him for a time 
before she ventured forward.  "Ran-chan?"

The figure before her gave a small start.  "Ucchan... I didn't hear you 
come up."  Ukyou couldn't see the rueful grin on his face, but she 
knew it was there.  "Pop would've kicked my butt for that one."

Ukyou smiled.  "Should I try to beat the snot out of you next time 
then?"

She'd meant it as a joke, but Ranma appeared to be giving the 
question serious consideration.  Finally he said, "Well, probably not, 
but it *would* be a good idea if maybe we started training and 
sparring a bit more.  Without the others to fight with all the time, 
we'll need to work harder to keep up our skills."

"Ahh," said Ukyou.  "That makes sense, I guess.  Wanna have a match 
tomorrow?  I bet Dad would join us if we asked."

Ranma grinned. "I'd like that," he said before turning once more to 
stare into the distance.  Ukyou moved up to stand beside him, and 
together they watched the stars, twinkling in the crisp night sky.

Finally, Ukyou asked, "So what made you come up here tonight?"

After a pause Ranma said, "I just needed to think for a bit."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

For a minute, Ukyou was afraid that Ranma would say no, or that he 
might ignore her question all together.  Finally, though, he said softly, 
"Akane will have gotten home tonight."

"Oh."  Ukyou thought about that.  "I guess that means that the jig is 
up.  When they find out that you weren't on that trip with her, then 
everyone will realise that we're gone."

Ranma nodded.  "Yeah.  It's really going to hit the fan now."

"You don't sound too pleased."

"I'm not.  I've been thinking about it, and I made a big mistake."

Ukyou could feel her heart drop into the pit of her stomach.  "You 
don't mean that... that choosing me... I mean..."

"NO!"  Ranma whirled to face her, eyes wide.  "It's nothing like that!"  
He paused.  "It's just that I could have handled this mess a lot better.  
I feel bad that I didn't really get a chance to say good-bye to anyone.  
I thought it would be better that way at the time, but now... I'm not 
so sure."

"I see," said Ukyou.  She felt a bit guilty for having doubted him, but 
it was still all too new.  It was still hard for her to really believe that 
she had won.  That Ranma had chosen her.  It was going to take her 
some time to get over that, but she was looking forward to every 
minute of it.  "What would you have done differently?" she asked 
him.

"I don't know, really," Ranma shrugged.  "I owe old man Tendou an 
explanation, at least.  I'd bet that after this, his friendship with Pop 
will be a bit strained..."

Ukyou smiled.  "Yes, I imagine it will at that.  I'm sorry that I can't 
feel any sympathy for him about that, Ran-chan."

"Oh, I know.  Oyaji deserves whatever he gets.  But not all of the 
problems I had at the dojo were his fault.  Just most of 'em."

"Akane?"

Ranma nodded.  "Akane.  I  was never too happy about any of this 
arranged marriage stuff... and neither was she.  But... there were 
times when she could be very nice to me.  I'd like to think that, deep 
down, she was a friend.  But now?  She'll probably hate me forever 
after this."

"Do you still love her, Ran-chan?"

"Yes... no... As a friend, I'd like to.  I'm afraid that it's not possible 
anymore - it might have been if I'd just said good-bye, but now I'll 
never know.  But I don't love her in a way that would lead to 
marriage."  Ranma turned back to the darkness beyond the wall.

"I've never thought of myself as a coward before.  I've faced lots of 
things, but I just couldn't make myself face Akane.  In a way we 
were a lot alike.  More like brother and sister, really, than anything 
else.  Dammit... why can I never think of these things at the time?"

"Would it have helped any if you had?"

"No... likely not.  We might never have gotten this far.  I just feel like 
I owed them more than that, and I've let them down."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I dunno.  I've been working on a letter - an explanation... and an 
apology.  I owe her that much - more, really, but the way things are, 
it's the best that I can do.  I can't ever go back there - even if I 
wanted to.  And I DON'T want to."

"Ranma..." Ukyou leaned her head on his shoulder.  She felt him tense 
up for a moment at the initial contact, but after a few seconds he 
began to relax.  The two of them stood like that, gazing into the night 
sky, each lost in their own thoughts.

After a time, Ranma brought his arm up and put it around her.  He 
was hesitant, awkward at first, but Ukyou didn't care.  To her it felt 
wonderful.  She sighed contentedly.

Ranma heard the sigh and held her just a little tighter.  "I just hope 
that you know what you're getting yourself into, Ucchan."

"It doesn't matter, really.  I have what I want - what I've always 
wanted.  Whatever happens, I can face it now - as long as I have 
you."

*** o_O ***

Akane was thumping the stuffing out of a practice dummy.  It felt 
good to be able to work off her frustrations this way, and 
frustrations she had aplenty.  The school trip had been a disaster.  
There was no way, she had reasoned, that things could have gone 
worse.  She'd been wrong.

She'd come home, planning all manner of mayhem for her fiancé, 
only to find that said fiancé was not there either.  He'd disappeared.  
No one had even the slightest idea where he was.  But over the next 
couple of days, the pieces had begun to fall into place.

Within twenty-four hours she had known.  Not where he was, but 
who he was with.  Now, fourty-eight hours after she'd gotten home, 
her life had been turned completely upside down.  She'd made her 
decisions... all she could do now was wait.

And beat the ever-living hell out of the practice dummies.  Time and 
again she'd feel her control start to slip, and she'd have to slow down 
and try to regain her center.  Pummeling the dummies might have 
been satisfying in its own right, but she was a trained martial artist, 
and could ill afford the lack of discipline.

Gradually, the combinations of beating the dummy, the katas and the 
meditations were having the desired effect.  Akane was beginning to 
have less trouble maintaining her focus.  Her control improved, and 
she was able to think increasingly clearly - to make more rational 
plans beyond the simple decision to follow after Ranma.  All she 
needed now was a lead.

Akane began a new set of kata, flowing through the exercise, letting 
her mind wander.  Where could they have gone?  Did they have a 
specific destination?  Where in all of Japan should she look for them?  
She didn't have the slightest idea how to even begin such a search.

As her kata wound to a close, Akane started to feel like she was 
being watched.  Dropping into a defensive crouch, she spun to face 
the entrance to the dojo.  Eiko was standing in the doorway.  
Relaxing, Akane stood and went to greet her friend.

"Eiko-chan!  What brings you out here tonight?" she asked.

The red-head shrugged and smiled.  "I thought that maybe I'd better 
check up on you.  You scared us last night, passing out like that."  Her 
smile faded and she studied Akane intently.  "Are you okay?"

Akane tried to grin, but it felt forced.  "I'm fine, Eiko-chan.  Really, I 
am."  Eiko gave her a dubious look, but let it pass.

"So what are you doing?"

"Practicing."  Akane indicated the dummy on the stand.  "Martial arts 
training is a great way to work out frustration or anger."  By way of a 
demonstration, Akane lashed out with a kick to the dummy's torso.  
With a loud snap, the timber that held the dummy snapped and the 
figure was sent tumbling into the far wall.

Eiko raised an eyebrow.  "You must be awfully frustrated, then..."

Akane looked embarrassed.  "Well, I've been pounding on that one 
for hours, so it was probably a little weak.  Usually, my control is 
much better than that."

"Control?"

"Yes," Akane nodded.  "That's really what martial arts teach most: 
control.  How to control your body and your mind... how to control 
your energy, and how it is applied.  How to control your emotions.  
Things like that."

Eiko looked interested. "Really?  That sounds pretty useful."

"Oh, it is.  Here.  I'll show you what I mean."  Akane led Eiko to one 
end of the dojo where she set up a small stack of concrete blocks.  
"Now watch closely.  By controlling the amount of energy in the hit, 
and by controlling how and where that energy is applied, I can break 
this whole stack of bricks.  Like this."  Tensing, Akane took a moment 
to focus her energy, and struck the top of the stack.  There was a 
loud crack as each block in the stack fractured under the force of the 
blow. A small cloud of dust rose into the air as the pile collapsed.

Eiko nodded, impressed.  "I see," she said.

Akane set up another stack of blocks and moved aside.  "Here, Eiko-
chan.  Why don't you give it a try?"

"I'm really not sure," Eiko started.

"Oh, come on," Akane said soothingly.  "It's really not that difficult.  
Besides, as strong as you are, it should be easy to learn."

Eiko shrugged and settled in to study the pile.  After a few seconds 
she raised her arm and brought her fist down on top of the stack.  
There was a dull boom, and the blocks shattered, almost totally 
pulverised.  Akane stared at what was left of the pile in shock.

"Wow!  Are you sure that you've never had any real martial arts 
training?" she asked at last.  "You sure didn't seem to have any 
trouble breaking those!"

Eiko stared sadly into the rubble.  "No... I've never had any trouble 
breaking things," she said softly.  "It's how NOT to break things that's 
been so hard for me to learn."

Akane looked up sharply at the sound of Eiko's voice, but she could 
not read her friend's expression.  "Martial arts can help there too, 
Eiko-chan.  You have to learn when and how to hit, but it's just as 
important to learn when and how NOT to hit."  Akane stared at the 
remains of the bricks and added in a near whisper, "I have trouble 
with that lesson too, from time to time."

Eiko nodded and stood up, dusting herself off.  "Here, let me help you 
clean up, ne?  Then I guess I'd better be getting home."

"Tell you what," Akane said.  "Instead, why don't I show you one of 
my favourite kata?  It's one that always makes me feel better when 
I've been angry.  I can clean this up later."

After a moments thought, Eiko agreed.  "Thank you, Akane.  I'd like 
that."

*** O_o ***

News travels fast.  If there was anything that was even more of a 
truism, it was that bad news travels faster.  And Nabiki Tendou had 
no qualms whatever about speeding it on its way.  The sounds of 
shattering ceramic echoed through the Nekohanten as a periodic 
counterpoint to the screams of one very unhappy Chinese girl.

"Shampoo!  Please!"  Mousse ducked and another bowl shattered on 
the wall just behind the space his head had occupied scant fractions 
of a second before.  "Calm down!"

"Damn you, Mousse!" the Amazon princess snarled, "Why didn't you 
tell me that Ranma had Spatula Girl with him?"

"I didn't see her!  Honestly, I didn't!" wailed the myopic magician as 
he dodged the next volley of dinnerware.

"You LIE!" screamed Shampoo.

"No!  I swear, I've told you the truth!" protested Mousse.

"Spatula Girl is very sneaky!"  Shampoo's voice dripped contempt.  
"Ukyou must have drugged Airen's food - there's no other way *you* 
could possibly win!"

Mousse flinched.  This was not going as well as he might have hoped.  
When he'd returned from his 'defeat' of Saotome, and given Shampoo 
the photo proving his victory, he had been very careful with his 
word choice.  He'd said nothing that was strictly untrue, but it had 
been very carefully calculated to make Shampoo jump to the desired 
conclusions.  And it had worked, too.  Up to a point.

That point had been passed when Shampoo heard about the closing 
of the Ucchan.  When Shampoo realised the both Ranma *and* Ukyou 
were gone, she had smelled a rat.  She was not, Mousse thought while 
ducking another dish, taking it too well.

Truth be told, Ukyou's disappearance had taken him by surprise too.  
He had been sure that when it finally came to a choice, Ranma would 
have picked Akane.  It was one of the reasons that he had been so 
angry with Saotome; he had always believed that it was just Ranma's 
ego that had kept him feeding Shampoo's fantasies.  Now, after the 
note that he had gotten from Ranma that day, he was beginning to 
learn otherwise.

Maybe that was a part of the hold that Ranma had on the women in 
the area.  He cared - and didn't want to hurt anyone that he didn't 
have to.  Ranma was always ready to be someone's friend - if that 
someone would only let him.  Still, Mousse reflected, he could be a 
real jerk, and all the attention he got from the girls probably didn't 
do anything to *hurt* his ego either.  Mousse's eyes widened as he 
saw Shampoo readying another volley.  He was never going to be 
able to dodge all of *that*.  As she launched her attack, Mousse 
closed his eyes and braced for the impact.

It didn't come.  After a moment, Mousse opened his eyes again to see 
Cologne's staff between him and Shampoo.  All of the ceramic ware 
that she had thrown in her last attack was neatly stacked on the 
counter, having been intercepted, no doubt, by Cologne.  Shampoo 
was glaring daggers at the old woman, who was examining her nails 
while she waited for her granddaughter to cool off.

"Great grandmother," said Shampoo, with a heated glare in Mousse's 
direction.  "Why do you interfere?"

"Patience, Granddaughter," the old witch replied.  "As an Amazon, 
you should have better control of your temper.  You know that you 
will get nowhere this way."

Shampoo scowled back at her grandmother defiantly for a few 
moments before finally wilting under the elder's steady gaze.  "Yes, 
Great grandmother," she said at last.

"That's better, child.  Now," she said, turning her attention to Mousse, 
"We shall get to the bottom of this."

Mousse tried to swallow, but his throat was suddenly very dry.

*** o_O ***

Some hours later, Mousse wiped the sweat from his brow as he faced 
the Amazon matriarch.  He'd been lucky.  Cologne had chosen not to 
challenge his story directly, so again, Mousse had managed to avoid 
an outright lie.  But it had been close.  Very close.

Her many years of life experience had given Cologne verbal sparring 
skills that were every bit as formidable as her physical abilities.  Her 
withered form worked to her advantage here as well, since many 
assumed her mind to be as weak and frail as her body appeared.  
Mousse knew better.

For her part, Cologne was frustrated.  She knew, beyond any shadow 
of a doubt, that there was more to this situation than met the eye.  
Had Mousse said anything that was untrue, she would surely have 
known - have sensed it - but Mousse had believed every word he 
had said.

Of course, she reasoned, it was not necessary to say something that 
was untrue to lie.  Word choice, and what was not said as much as 
what was said, could lead an unwary questioner to misinterpret the 
answers that were given, if the person was clever enough.  Until now, 
she had never given Mousse that much credit.

She could get the truth, of course.  She could force it out of him.  But 
it would take time, and time was a luxury that she could ill afford.  
Whatever had happened, the important thing was that Ranma was 
gone.  That could not be permitted; her great granddaughter's future 
happiness, indeed, even her very future, depended on getting Ranma 
back.

Fact - Ranma was gone.  Fact - Ukyou too, was missing, and her 
restaurant had been closed.  It followed logically that the two of 
them were together.  It also followed that they had no intention of 
returning to Nerima any time soon.  Time was of the essence.

Cologne shook her head in exasperation and, for the first time, she 
felt every one of her years as they pressed down on her.  However, 
none of that showed as she regarded Mousse.

"I still think that there is something that you are not telling us, but, 
for the life of me, I cannot imagine what it might be."  Cologne turned 
once more to her protégé and sighed.  "Shampoo, it is up to you now.  
You must go after him, and bring him back."

Shampoo's eyes lit up, and a hint of a smile crossed her face.  "You 
mean it, Great Grandmother?"

Cologne nodded, her expression solemn.  "I do.  Before I can accept 
this idiot's defeat of son-in-law, I must see it with my own eyes.

Shampoo nodded vigorously.  "That's right.  There is no way that 
Mousse could defeat Airen in proper combat."

The crone turned back to face the boy again.  "I tend to agree... it is 
unlikely that you could have defeated Saotome without some kind of 
interference..."  Cologne looked thoughtful.  "Ukyou was at best a 
consolation prize... But I still would not have expected son-in-law to 
take defeat so easily."

Mousse looked pained but held his tongue.  Once the old Amazon had 
made up her mind, there was no changing it.  He had no idea what he 
would do yet, or even if there were anything that he *could* do, so 
for the time being, he kept his own counsel.

Cologne's voice was edged with steel.  "Now go, and prepare.  You will 
take Mousse with you, to free you from more mundane chores on the 
road, but you *must* bring back your groom.  There must be a 
rematch, if you want to maintain your honour, or your standing as an 
Amazon warrior."

*** O_o ***

Akane sat in her room, thinking.  The lights were off, and the bed 
was still made - everything was in its proper place.  Not so much as a 
piece of paper was out of order.  The room had taken on the same 
empty, sterile feel that Ranma's room had.  It was as if the occupant 
was already gone.  Her pack, loaded and secure, sat by the bed.  She 
was ready.  As ready as she ever would be.  As soon as there was 
even the slightest lead, Akane was prepared to follow.

What was she thinking?  This was madness!  Ranma was gone, and 
good riddance!  He hadn't even cared enough to say good-bye!  What 
did she ever need him for?  All he did was make fun of her - tease 
her.  She'd been in perfect control of her life until he had come along.  
She should be glad that he was gone.

But she wasn't.  Every time she tried to convince herself that she was 
better off this way, a still, small voice in the back of her mind called 
her a liar.  You've blown it, the voice told her.  You've lost something 
very rare, and very precious.  And you'll never find anything like it 
again.  Akane desperately hoped that at least one of those statements 
was false.

She looked over at her pack.  Getting it ready had been a lot harder 
than she had imagined it would be.  Unlike her wayward fiancé, she 
had little experience with life on the road.  She had never realised 
just how much *stuff* she had... nor how little of it was really 
necessary.

Kasumi, of all people, had been the one to help her finalise the list of 
things that she would take.  Akane was continually amazed by the 
sheer breadth of knowledge and skills that her older sister had at 
her disposal.  And at times like this, she was grateful for them too.

When Kasumi had heard Akane's declaration that she intended to 
follow after Ranma, there had been no argument, no attempts to get 
her to change her mind.  Instead, Kasumi had simply done whatever 
she could to see that Akane was properly prepared for her travels.  
She had even provided a number of dehydrated meals for her... all 
Akane had to do was boil the water.  And THAT she could do.

Akane leaned back against the wall and let the tears flow down her 
face.  She made no sound, save the occasional sniffle.  Her anger had 
long since deserted her, leaving her only a longing and an emptiness 
that made her heart ache.  For a time she wondered if this had been 
what Ukyou had felt all those years ago when Genma had taken 
Ranma and abandoned her.

Thinking of Genma brought out a flash of anger again.  The old fool 
had caused more grief and heartache than he would ever realise.  As 
quickly as it came, the anger died.  Genma never *would* realise how 
much he'd hurt people, and there was nothing that Akane could do to 
change that.  Getting angry about it all over again would only cause 
her more pain.  That anger was, after all, a part of what had ruined 
her relationship with Ranma.

"My anger... your stupid pride," she muttered to the absent Saotome.  
"I wanted a friend... not a fiancé.  It never occurred to me that 
maybe the two weren't mutually exclusive.  You idiot.  If only you 
had told me..."

Drawing her knees up to her chest, Akane rested her head on her 
arms and sighed.  It was all so very confusing.  Why had Ranma 
stayed?  Why had he left?  If he'd liked her, why, oh *why* had he 
always behaved like such a jerk?

There had been times that Ranma could be so infuriating.  He'd make 
her so mad that she just couldn't see straight.  And, on rare occasions, 
he could do something so sweet and kind that it made her forget that 
he made her that angry most of the time.  In those moments she had 
felt so alive, so happy.  Had they been nothing more than illusions - 
daydreams and fantasies after all?

She'd always thought that there would be plenty of time.  Neither of 
them had been ready to get married, no matter what their fathers 
had wanted.  There was no rush to sort things out.  But that had been 
a mistake.  It had just been so much easier not to think about it.

Now the only way she was ever going to find out was to hunt him 
down and ask him.  Hope against hope that he would actually tell 
her.  And the only way she was going to regain any peace of mind 
was to find out.

How would he answer?  How did she *want* him to answer?  What 
was it she wanted to hear?  She didn't even know that.  She was lost 
in thought when there came a gentle tapping on the door.

*** o_O ***

Nabiki was sitting at her desk, staring at a number of pictures that 
were arrayed across its top.  Pictures of Ranma in female form.  
Looking sadly at the images of the red-head, a sigh escaped her lips.  
"I can understand why you would be mad at me, Saotome... but I 
thought that you loved her.  How can you do this to her and still call 
yourself a man?"

She picked up one of the snaps.  It was more than a little on the 
risqué side; Tatewaki would pay dearly for a print.  He *had* paid 
dearly for many like it.  Pictures of the 'pig-tailed girl' had been a 
very lucrative business - so much so that Nabiki sometimes tended 
to 'forget' that Ranma was a person with feelings like anyone else's.  
She had seldom allowed herself to think that he might resent her 
little business endeavours.

Deep down, though, Nabiki knew.  She knew that Ranma had hated 
being treated as an object - as a prize to be won, or as a resource to 
be exploited.  She knew that Akane and Ukyou had been the only 
girls that had ever stood a chance of winning Ranma's affections.  
They were the only ones who treated him like a person.  A small 
shudder passed through Nabiki.  Looking at it in that light, it was no 
wonder that Ranma had left.

To his father he had been a meal ticket and a means of getting 
something without earning it.  To her own father, he had been the 
future of the school.  To Cologne, he was fine breeding stock to 
strengthen the Amazon tribe, and her granddaughter saw in him the 
perfect trophy husband.  Kodachi and Tatewaki each saw one of his 
forms as their dreams come true, while the other form was the very 
personification of their worst nightmares.  Nabiki herself had seldom 
thought of him as anything more than a terribly convenient income 
generator.  Yes, looking at it that way, it should certainly have come 
as no surprise.

But he had abandoned Akane.  Whatever sympathy she might have 
felt for his position ended when he had walked out on her sister.  If 
you'd really loved her, Ranma, you'd still be here.  If only Akane 
could see that.  Nabiki was still glaring balefully at the red-head in 
the photograph when there was a knock on her door.

Nabiki swept the photos into the top drawer of her desk and closed it 
as she called out, "Come in."

"Onee-chan?"  It was Akane.  "Kasumi said that you wanted to talk to 
me..."

Nabiki swiveled her chair to face her younger sister.  "That's right."  
She patted the bed next to her desk.  "Have a seat."

While Akane shuffled in to sit on the bed, Nabiki took a moment to 
study her.  She had been crying again; the tracks of her tears all too 
visible against the pallor of her skin.  Damn that Saotome anyway.

"What was all of that Dad was blubbering about your leaving?"

Akane took a deep breath.  "I'm going after him."

"After Ranma."

"You don't approve."

"I do not.  I think that you should forget him.  He's trouble, Akane.  
He's always been nothing but trouble."

"That's what I used to believe too."

"But you don't anymore?"

"I've had a lot of time to think about it."

"Ah," said Nabiki.  "You realize, don't you, that even if you find him, 
he may not come back to you."

"I know."

"Are you sure, Akane?  This is really what you want to do..."

"What I want to do?  No.  Of course not.  It's what I *have* to do."  
Akane sniffled.  "I *need* to know, Nabiki."

"What do you need to know?"

"I need to know how things might have been different.  Why he 
fought for me all those times, and what changed that."  Taking a 
shuddering breath, Akane continued with a tremor in her voice.  "I 
think that I know some of it... but I want to hear it from him.  I have 
to know for sure."

"Is that your final word?"

"Yes.  It is."

Nabiki stared at her sister for a long moment, noting the hurt in her 
expression, the misery that she could not hide.  But there was also a 
set to her jaw - a grim determination that the older Tendou knew 
only too well.  With a sigh, she said, "I think that I may have an idea 
where they're headed.  I'm not *sure* but it seems like a good bet."

Akane looked thoughtful for a moment.  "Nabiki... I don't want you to 
take this the wrong way, but... why are you telling me this?  If you 
don't think I should be going after him..."

Nabiki almost grinned.  "Since when has what I thought had any 
effect once you had made up your mind about something?  I know 
you, Akane.  Well enough to know better than to try and talk you out 
of this.  On the other hand, if I help you, maybe you'll be able to put 
this behind you and get on with your life."

After a pause, Akane nodded.  "So.  What have you found?"

"I've found Ukyou's father."

*** O_o ***

The following morning, Akane sat down to the table with her family 
for what might be the last meal she would share with them for a long 
while.  It felt strange to be leaving all of this behind... she'd never 
been away from home for more than a few days at a time, and then, 
she'd always been traveling with her family, or a large group.  She 
found, curiously, that a part of her was looking forward to the trip.  
The concept was strangely liberating.

Her father was reacting as she'd expected.  That is to say, he sat at 
the head of the table, blubbering into his rice.  She'd given up trying 
to reassure him.  Besides, she reflected darkly, a lot of this mess was 
really his fault.  He deserved almost as much of the blame as Uncle 
Genma did.

The panda sitting opposite her was blissfully unaware of the dark 
thoughts that she flung his way.  Of course, from the looks of him, he 
was unaware of much of anything.  It certainly wasn't like him to be 
ignoring his food like that.  Maybe he *was* beginning to see just 
how much damage he had done.  Akane certainly hoped so.

Kasumi was her normal, cheerful self.  No one outside of the family 
would ever have known from her demeanor that this was not a day 
just like any other.  But Akane could tell.  It was the little things that 
gave her away... the added attention to Akane's food, the extra little 
smile, the slightly sad look hidden deep in her eyes.  Kasumi was, of 
course, concerned, but she had faith in her youngest sister.  Knowing 
that filled Akane with a warm glow.

The only resident that was missing from the table was Nabiki.  That 
left Akane surprised, and a little hurt.  She knew that Nabiki did not 
approve of her 'fool's errand', but she'd at least expected her sister to 
want to say good-bye... particularly after Nabiki had gone to so much 
trouble to give her all that information the night before.

Akane finished her breakfast and brooded.  She couldn't really wait 
much longer.  The lead that Nabiki had given her was a tenuous one 
at best, and time was short.  Even if Ranma and Ukyou *had* gone to 
see her father, there was no guarantee that they'd stay for very long.  
Heaving a sigh, she finally got up and set about putting a couple of 
last minute items into her pack.

Then Akane called her friends and asked them to meet her in their 
favourite kissaten on the south side of the district.  The AbCb was a 
small pub and restaurant that they had discovered one day that had, 
as Eiko had put it, some of the best food in the ward.  The staff was 
certainly friendly, and rumour had it that the waitress was a bit of a 
scrapper herself when the situation called for it.

Having made the arrangements, Akane started to say her good-byes 
to the rest of the family.  It was time to go.

As she was shouldering her pack to leave, Nabiki came charging into 
the house, winded from running.  "Oh, good," she gasped, "I was 
afraid that I was going to miss you."

Akane dropped her pack again and ran to hug her sister. "You almost 
did," she chided.  "Where were you?  I was worried!"

"YOU were worried?" Nabiki asked in mock surprise.  "I'M not the 
one going off on some hare-brained expedition for God knows how 
long."

Akane tried to look outraged, but failed.  Instead she favoured her 
sister with a warm look.  "I'm just glad you're here so I can tell you 
good-bye," she said.

Nabiki blushed.  "Yes, well..." she stammered.  "I couldn't let you go 
off unprepared.  I have a few things here for you."  Reaching into her 
pocket, she pulled out a fat envelope.  Motioning for Akane to sit at 
the table, she started going through its contents, passing them to her 
younger sister as she did.

"First of all, here's a Japan Rail pass.  It's good for a full year.  There's 
a second one in the envelope in case you lose this, or on the chance 
that you *do* manage to bring him back."

Akane's eyes got wide.

"Second, I've got a calling card in here... you'll be able to call home 
from anywhere.  Just follow the printed instructions.  You can let us 
know how you're doing, or call if you get into trouble.  Also, I'll give 
you whatever information I can when you call in.  So USE this."

Reaching into the envelope again, Nabiki handed her sister a small 
plastic card.  "Here's the last thing... I set up an account this morning 
in your name.  This card will let you draw on it when you need the 
money..."

Akane held the card in trembling fingers.  "But... but..."

"Don't get *too* excited, Akane.  The funds in the account are limited, 
but they should last you a little while if you're careful.  Allowing for 
the absence of repair bills around here now, I can put aside a little 
each month to keep you going.  Here's an estimated budget.  If you 
keep your expenses below these figures, you should be all right."

Akane was in shock.  This was certainly not something she'd been 
expecting.  Staring at her sister, all she could manage was, "Why...?"

Nabiki smiled sadly.  "I thought I'd made that clear last night.  You 
are, I think, making a mistake.  But you'll never believe that until 
you've actually made it.  So all I can do is try to make it easier for 
you.  Maybe that way you can get this out of your system and come 
back home where you belong."

Tears flowed freely from Akane's eyes as she threw her arms around 
her sister in a fierce hug.  "Thank you, onee-chan," she whispered 
hoarsely.

"Just be careful," came the reply, "and come back home to us as soon 
as you can."

Still sniffling, Akane put the things her sister had given her away, 
and made her good-byes once more.  She slung her pack up onto her 
shoulders and headed out into the morning.  She had one matter left 
to take care of, and she'd be on her way.

*** o_O ***

The Kunou mansion was also the site of frantic travel preparations, 
as two of its residents prepared for long journeys.  Just as their 
father had done all those years ago, each made ready to chase after 
their fantasies, though neither would have appreciated the irony of 
the comparison.

Kodachi was packing select belongings with a brutal efficiency.  The 
usual clothing and supplies were included... all very compact, light 
weight, and extremely expensive.  Kodachi believed in having only 
the best, of course.  She took full advantage of every advance in 
materials or technology.

For example, her tent fit into a package a fourty centimeters long, 
fifteen in diameter and weighed little more than a kilo.  Despite that, 
when erected, it was large enough to house two, and keep both dry 
in even the harshest of downpours.  The rest of her gear was similar; 
designed to be as light and space efficient as possible.

This meant that when she was finished packing the necessities for 
life on the road, she had room left over for a few more personal 
belongings.  A number of books on plants and their chemistries went 
into the pack, along with a large number of small, thick walled glass 
phials that contained her herbs, tinctures and extracts, as well as a 
selection of more modern pharmacological wonders.  It would never 
do to be without her tools.

A set of her clubs and ribbons joined the rest of the things she had 
packed.  Lastly, Kodachi picked up an envelope from her desk.  
Shuffling through a number of photographs, she selected a number of 
them and put them into the envelope.  There were several photos of 
her beloved Ranma-sama, and, out of necessity, she added a set of 
photographs of the pig tailed harlot and the okonomiyaki cook.

She stared balefully at the pictures of the two girls.  What power is it 
that they have over my beloved? she snarled to herself.  What black 
art, what manner of evil magic could make him choose to be with the 
likes of you, when he has me?  Savagely, she slid the pictures into 
the envelope and stuffed it into her pack.

"I swear to you, Ranma, I will free you from their spell.  I will follow 
to the ends of the Earth, if need be, and I *will* make you mine once 
more... no matter what the cost!"

*** O_o ***

Elsewhere in the bowels of the mansion, Kunou Tatewaki was also 
packing for an extended stay on the road.  Tatewaki was much more 
of a traditionalist than was his sister, and his choices in travel garb 
and equipment reflected that.  His gear was packed in short order, 
and his pack, along with his favourite bokken, was leant against the 
door.

The next several hours he spent poring over his photo collections, 
culling the best pictures of Akane and the pig tailed girl into one 
album that he could take with him.  It would have been unthinkable 
to leave all of his treasures behind.

Finally, though, he too was ready.  Stuffing his precious album into 
the pack, he turned to face his shrine to feminine pulchritude and 
sighed.  "Upon my ancestors, I swear it; I shall rescue you from the 
clutches of the evil sorcerer.  Fear not, my loves, the wrath of Kunou 
Tatewaki is at hand, and the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High will 
smite thine enemies!"  Caught up in the fervor of his righteous wrath, 
Kunou Tatewaki slung his pack and stalked out the door.

*** o_O ***

Two fuming Kunous stomped into the foyer of the mansion from 
opposite directions at just the same time.  Each came to a sudden halt 
upon noticing the other.  They stood, glaring at one another across 
the emptiness of the hallway.

"You!" Tatewaki's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of his sister's 
pack.  "Where are you planning to go that you should need to be so 
equipped?"

"I go to free my beloved Ranma-sama from the influence of the red-
headed, pig-tailed witch and that spatula toting tomboy, of course.  
And just where do you think you're going?"

"Isn't it obvious?  I am off to rescue the pig-tailed goddess from the 
clutches of that vile magician Saotome, and to avenge the injustice 
wrought upon the person of the beauteous Tendou Akane."

Kodachi rolled her eyes.  "Spare me, brother dear.  Save your poetic 
ravings for the peasants.  They may be more easily impressed."

If Tatewaki was offended by his sister's affront, he gave no outward 
sign.  "I will pray for the success of your efforts to separate Saotome 
from the pig-tailed girl, sister mine, but I warn you, do no harm to 
her."

Kodachi sniffed haughtily.  "I fail to see what attracts you to her so, 
brother, but you'd better hope, then, that she stays out of my way.  
For that matter," she added almost as an afterthought, "you had best 
stay out of my way too."

"Nor do I understand your infatuation with that villain Saotome.  He 
is beneath your station, sister."

"That is my concern, brother dear."  Kodachi eyed her sibling darkly.  
"I trust that we understand one another then?"

"Perfectly," intoned her brother.  "Saotome shall be yours once I have 
delivered his righteous punishment.  Once you have nursed him back 
to health, you may do with him as you will."

Still exchanging suspicious glares, the Kunou siblings left the mansion 
to follow the rather tenuous leads they had purchased from Nabiki.  
The chase was on.  After a moment of silence, a plaintive voice could 
be heard.

"Master?"  A pause.  "Mistress?"  Another pause.  "Anyone?"  There 
was no answer.  Sayogakure Sasuke smiled to himself.  For the first 
time in his life, things were looking up.

*** O_o ***

When Akane got to the AbCb, Eiko and Shinobu were there, waiting 
for her.  The master of the pub, a dark haired man with a beard and 
a kind smile, waved her over toward their booth.  Akane forced a 
smile and went to join them.  Shrugging off her pack, she dropped it 
next to the table and slid in opposite the two girls.

Shinobu looked as solemn as Akane had ever seen her, while Eiko's 
expression was unreadable.  Akane was the first to break the silence.  
"I guess I ought to explain..."

"You're going after him," Shinobu interrupted.  It was not a question.

Akane nodded.

"Why?"

"I... I have to."

"No you don't!  You can do what YOU want to do for a change!" burst 
Shinobu.  "You're free now, don't you see that?  Why do you have to 
go running away?"

Akane sighed.  "But I'm NOT free.  Somehow... somehow I don't think 
that I ever was."  She gazed into Shinobu's troubled eyes.  "This is 
something that I just have to do.  I can't let it end this way.  You 
KNOW that I can't."

"Why not?" asked Shinobu sullenly.

Akane had to smile at that.  "Why don't you just give up on Ataru?" 
she countered.  "Let that Oni girl have him?  After all, all he does is 
make you angry..."

"That's not the same thing!" Shinobu began hotly.

"Isn't it?" asked Eiko in a quiet voice.  Both Akane and Shinobu were 
startled by the intensity of the red-head's whisper.  "It seems to me 
that it's exactly the same thing."

Akane glanced sharply at Eiko, but the red-head was just looking at 
her with that same unreadable expression.  For some reason, Akane 
found it mildly disturbing.  Trying to gather her thoughts again, 
Akane reached down to her pack and withdrew two small parcels 
wrapped in brightly coloured paper.  She handed one to each of her 
friends.

"I don't have any idea how long this will take," she said.  "It could be 
a few days, it could be weeks, it might even be years..."

"YEARS?" squeaked Shinobu.

"Years," agreed Akane heavily.  "At any rate, I doubt that I'll be back 
by Christmas, and I wanted you to have these."

Shinobu held her package tightly, and looked as though she wanted 
to cry.  Eiko just nodded.  Akane had the strangest feeling that Eiko 
was not nearly as surprised as she ought to be.  Eiko confirmed that 
supposition a moment later.  Reaching into the vacant booth behind 
her, Eiko pulled out a loaded backpack of her own and set it on the 
floor next to Akane's.

It was hard to tell who was the more surprised, Shinobu or Akane.  
Akane was the first to find her voice.  "What the heck is that?" she 
asked.

Eiko looked levelly at her.  "It's a pack.  I'm going with you, if you'll 
let me.  I can pay my own way."

Akane was shocked.  "Eiko-chan, that's... that's *insane*.  My reasons 
for doing this are crazy enough, but why would *you* want to get 
involved?"

Eiko shrugged.  "You're my friend.  You need help.  I've already got 
permission from my parents."

"No.  No way.  It's just not sensible."

"And what you're doing is?"

"I'm doing what I have to do.  It's sure as hell not what I *want* to 
be doing..."

Eiko grinned.  "Then I have the advantage, don't I?  This is something 
that I have to do, and what's more, I *want* to."

Akane stared at the red haired girl as if she'd opened a third eye in 
her forehead.  "Eiko-chan... I appreciate it, really, I do.  But it's okay.  
I don't need you to defend me."

"Who said anything about defending you?" asked Eiko.  "All *I'm* 
saying is that you don't need to be alone.  Believe me, I've lost people 
close to me before, and the LAST thing that you need is to be all on 
your own."

"What's wrong with being on my own?  I *like* being on my own!" 
said Akane.  "And I can take care of myself."

"I know you can take care of yourself." Eiko sighed.  "You didn't need 
Ranma to defend you either.  But, deep down, weren't you glad when 
he did?"

Akane started to deny that, but the seriousness of her friend's 
expression stopped her.  It *had* felt good when Ranma had fought 
for her.  That was a large part of why she was going after him.  But 
this... was different.  Wasn't it?  "Eiko... I can handle it.  You don't 
have to do this."

"Akane... please.  Let me help."

"But..." Akane's protest died unspoken under the intensity of Eiko's 
gaze.  "Are you sure about this...?"

The red-head nodded.  "Very."

"But... *why*?  I still don't understand..."

"Neither do I," said Shinobu sulkily.  "I don't see why *either* of you 
have to go."

"Because," Eiko said gently, "It's a terrible thing to be alone."

"But what about me?" snuffled Shinobu.  "If both of you go haring off 
after Ranma, then *I'll* be alone!  Who will I have to talk to?!"

Eiko took Shinobu's hand in hers.  "It's not going to be forever you 
know."

"But Akane said it might be years..."

"Might be, Shinobu-chan... *might* be," said Akane soothingly.  "I'm 
hoping that it won't.  I'm hoping that this can all be settled in just a 
few weeks at most."

Shinobu looked up, tears in her eyes.  "I'm going to miss you."

Akane smiled.  "Don't worry.  I'll..." she glanced at Eiko for a second 
before continuing, "WE'LL keep in touch.  I promise."

Eiko nodded emphatically.  "You bet we will.  Besides!  Without us in 
the way you can finally land that boyfriend of yours."

"Ataru-kun?" sighed Shinobu.  "I'm beginning to be afraid he'll never 
grow up."

"No, not that lecher," Eiko grimaced.  "And I don't mean that pompous 
blowhard Mendou, either.  I'm talking about the sweet one.  You 
know, the one who's always wearing that weird bunny suit."

Shinobu looked startled.  "Inaba-kun?"

Eiko nodded.  "He's cute and he's devoted...  Oh, he's not perfect, I'll 
admit, but Lord, show me the man that is..."

"Why not?" agreed Akane.  "He *is* kinda nice.  And he treats you 
better than any of the others."

Shinobu looked at Akane.  "Following THAT logic, you'd be going out 
with Kunou, or that guy with the bandanna fixation."

Akane rolled her eyes and looked to Eiko for help, but the red-head 
was sniggering.  No sympathy there.  Finally, she sighed and grinned.  
"Maybe I should have done, Shinobu-chan... maybe I should have 
done."

"Well, I guess I better go home.  The sooner you two get this over 
with, the sooner you can come home, right?"  Eiko moved to let 
Shinobu out of the booth.  The dark haired girl headed for the door, 
but stopped.  She turned back to her friends one last time.  "You will 
be careful, won't you?  And write?  You promised to keep in touch..."

Akane smiled at her.  "Of course we will, Shinobu-chan.  We'll be 
okay.  I promise."  With an answering nod, Shinobu turned and left 
the kissaten.

After a moment of silence, Eiko piped up.  "So, Akane... I take it you 
have a good idea where to start this search?"

Akane reached into a pocket on her pack and drew out a map.  "Hai," 
she said, unfolding it.  "There's this monastery, west of Lake Biwa..."

*** o_O ***

Kodachi watched the monastery gates from a nearby ridge.  Nabiki's 
information had been terribly vague - but it had been better than no 
lead at all.  It was only by happy accident that Kodachi had already 
known of this place, as they were a good source of some of the more 
exotic herbs.  She had taken a gamble that this was, in fact, the same 
monastery that Nabiki had alluded to.

The gamble had paid off.  Ranma and the others *were* here.  She'd 
caught sight of her beloved earlier in the day as he ran laps around 
the top of the perimeter wall.  She smiled to herself.  One day she 
would have to break him of that habit.  But for now, she was glad of 
it.

Zooming in with her binoculars, she could make out two figures as 
they left the enclosure.  One was male, and wore a familiar red shirt.  
The other was tall, with dark hair tied with a white ribbon.  That 
would be Ukyou.  Kodachi kept waiting for a third figure to emerge, 
but as yet, there was no trace of the pig tailed girl.

That made Kodachi nervous.  Was she still in the monastery?  Had 
Ranma and Ukyou left her elsewhere while they had come here?  If 
she *was* in the monastery, then surely Ranma would come back for 
her... and that was when Kodachi decided she would make her move.

She settled back down to wait and watch.  She was still there a day 
later when Akane made it to the monastery, with Eiko in tow.  At 
first, Kodachi had been surprised... she had not expected to see the 
red haired harridan keeping company with Akane.  Could it be that 
Ranma had eluded even her in favour of that low born cook?

Upon closer examination, though, Kodachi realised her mistake.  The 
red-head with Akane was someone else entirely.  The witch had 
been elsewhere.  Kodachi cursed herself and fumed.  She had no idea 
where they might have gone, and with over a day's lead it would be 
all but impossible to track them.  What was she going to do now?

Maybe the people in the monastery knew where they had gone.  At 
least one of them would have to.  She would just have to find him 
and 'persuade' him to give her the information.  Then a better idea 
came to her.  Akane would be asking the same questions, even now.  
And she'd likely be getting the same answers that Kodachi would.  
Rather than tipping her own hand, she'd follow Akane.  The Tendou 
girl would lead her right to her beloved Ranma.  And no one would 
be the wiser.

*** O_o ***

Akane was finding another reason to be really grateful for Eiko's 
company.  After the previous night it was evident that the red-head 
was not the most experienced camper in the world, but she was very 
strong, and a swift mover.  They had gotten to the monastery where 
Kuonji Haruka was living faster that Akane would have dreamed 
possible.

Once they had been admitted, Eiko told Akane that she would wait 
for her while she talked to Ukyou's father.  Akane shot her a grateful 
look and then followed their guide deeper into the cloistered grounds 
of the monastery.

Akane was escorted to the same building where Ranma and Ukyou 
had met the elder Kuonji, scant days before.  She found the monk 
sitting on a bench, staring into the garden.  He was facing away from 
her, and appeared to be taking no notice of her.  After several 
minutes of strained silence, Akane cleared her throat.

The monk did not turn, but said, "Tendou Akane, I presume?"

Akane was startled, both by the monk's identification of her, and the 
booming quality of his voice.  "Um... Yes sir... how... how did you 
know?"

"I have my ways," answered the monk.  Akane could not see his face, 
but it sounded as if he were smiling.  "Though I will admit that I was 
told of your arrival before you were escorted here, it did not take 
any great mental effort to know that you would be coming."

"Ahh," Akane managed intelligently.

"Young Saotome's departure from your domicile was, I take it, rather 
abrupt?"

"You could say that, yes." said Akane.  "I had wondered if he was 
here.  It was my hope that if Ranma and Ukyou had come to visit 
you, that I might catch them before they left."

"Why?" asked the monk.

"I... beg your pardon?"

"Why do you seek him?  I was given to understand that you were 
opposed to a marriage with him, and that you would be glad to be 
free of it."

"I was... that is... I am... I think... I mean... I don't know..." Akane 
stammered.

The monk turned to face her, and she was struck by the intensity of 
his gaze.  His expression belonged to a man with a warm sense of 
humour, and a gentle nature.  Not all that unexpected on a monk, but 
not what Akane expected from a skilled martial artist.

"Relax, child," he said, "I will not bite you."  He stared at her for a 
moment and Akane was sure that he could see right through her.  
"You cared a great deal for him."  It was not a question.

Akane felt her instinctive denial coming to the surface, but fought it 
back down again.  "I did."

The battle had not gone unnoticed.  Haruka's smile dimmed a bit as 
he watched her.  "Ranma was right.  You and he are a lot alike.  
Neither of you are very comfortable with your feelings."

Hope surged through Akane at that statement.  "You've seen Ranma, 
then?  He is here?"

That hope was crushed a moment later when the monk answered.  
"He *was* here.  He and my daughter took their leave of us not a full 
day ago."

"Oh.  I see," said Akane, dejected.  "I don't suppose that..."

"I cannot tell you where they have gone," the monk agreed.  "I can 
understand how you must feel, Tendou-san, and I am truly sorry 
that it had to be this way.  But at the same time, my daughter is 
happier than I have known her to be in well over ten years.  You 
cannot seriously expect me to jeopardize that."

Akane nodded.  Ukyou had what she wanted now, and her father 
would be a fool indeed to help someone who might be trying to take 
that away from her.  Still, she had one more question to ask the 
monk.  "And Ranma?  Is Ranma happy?"

The monk paused.  Finally, he said, "Yes.  I think that he is.  He still 
has issues to deal with, to be sure, but I sensed about him an air of 
relief.  As though a burden had been lifted from his shoulders."

That had not been the answer that Akane wanted to hear.  At least 
she didn't think that it was.  It certainly did not answer any of the 
questions that were tearing at her heart.

"I see," said Akane.  "I understand.  Thank you for your time, Kuonji-
san.  Please forgive me for having disturbed you."

Haruka watched the girl as she turned to go.  She looked so unhappy 
- so lost.  So very like his own daughter had all those years ago.  His 
heart went out to her.  He was satisfied that Ranma would honor his 
vows to Ukyou... where would be the harm in helping this lost soul?

"Tendou-san... A moment.  What are your intentions?  Are you trying 
to take Ranma away from my daughter again?"

"To be honest?  If I thought I could... I might.  I'm... I'm afraid that 
it's too late for that now.  But I need some answers.  And Ranma is 
the only one that can give them to me."

The answer seemed to satisfy the monk.  "Tendou-san,  I am sorry.  I 
really do not know where they are going.  All I know, and all I can 
tell you, is that their next stop was to be in Tokyo.  There was one 
more loose end that Ranma said he had to tie up."

Akane thought about that for a moment.  What loose ends could 
there be for Ranma to deal with in Tokyo?  Had he planned to come 
back to talk to her after all?  Somehow it didn't seem likely.

Another answer came to mind, but it was not one that she liked at 
all.  Ranma's mother lived in Tokyo.  Could he really be going to see 
her?  It was impossible.  Not even Ranma was that stupid.

Turning to face the old man, she asked.  "Tell me... did either of them 
mention the name 'Nodoka'?"

"I am not certain... they might have.  Is it important?"

"It could be a matter of life and death."

The old man thought hard, trying to remember exactly what had 
been said.  Finally, he shrugged.  "I am truly sorry.  I really cannot 
remember."

After thanking the elder Kuonji for his time, Akane ran to collect her 
pack and her travelling companion.  It was a flimsy lead at best, but 
it was a lead.  And it left her with a hard knot in the pit of her 
stomach.

"What happened?" asked Eiko as she and Akane left the monastery.  
"Did you find out where they were going next?"

"I think so," said a worried Akane.  "But I hope not.  If they're going 
where I think they are, then we have to get to Tokyo fast.  Or else 
Ranma may not be around for me to talk to anymore."

Eiko blinked, but took the news in stride.  "Come on then," she said 
with a smile.  "We'd better get moving."

*** o_O ***

Ranma and Ukyou were camped by a small stream in the hills just 
outside of Tokyo.  The next morning would see them to the train 
station just a few kilometers away, and by mid-afternoon they would 
reach their next destination.

They had just finished their dinner, and the argument was one that 
had been brewing since they'd left the monastery.  "Are you *sure* 
that we have to make this stop?"

Ranma sighed.  "Ucchan... I'm sure.  We have to go to see my mom.  I 
have to let her know that I'm still alive, and that I miss her...  At the 
very least I want her to meet the woman I'm going to marry."

"I just don't think that it's a very good idea.  What about your curse?  
What are you going to do if she finds out about that?"

"She's not going to 'find out'.  I'm going to tell her about it.  I'm going 
to tell her everything."

"You're joking, right?" squeaked Ukyou.

Ranma shook his head.  "No.  I'm not."

"Ranma!  I didn't accept your proposal just to have you commit 
suicide!"

"Do you remember something you said to me the night that I came to 
the Ucchan?  The night that I asked you to marry me?"

"I'll remember that night for the rest of my life.  What, specifically, 
are you asking about?"

Ranma grinned.  "You told me that I was running away.  That it 
wasn't like me to solve a problem by running away from it..."

"I'm sorry!  I didn't mean it like that!  Besides, I was afraid that you 
were running away from me too!  Dammit, Ranma, we're free!  Let's 
just GO while we can!"

Ranma shook his head sadly.  "But we're NOT free.  Not yet.  You 
were RIGHT, Ucchan... I WAS running, just like my pop always did."  
Ranma paused for a moment as a thought struck him.  "Maybe... I've 
always been running...  Well, I'm not going to do that anymore; at 
least not from my mother."

"And what about the others?  Shampoo?  Tatewaki?  His twisted 
sister...  Are we going to go deal with all of them, too?"

"We'll have to deal with them when the time comes.  Later.  
Hopefully a LOT later.  As much as I hate it, running from some of 
these people is the only answer that will work for now.  But this is 
something that I can't put off any longer."

"Can't you just write your mom a letter then, like the ones you wrote 
for the Tendous?"

"No.  I blew it with the Tendous... I should have handled that better 
from the start.  But it's too late to fix that now."  Ranma patted the 
side of his pack.  "I can only hope that these letters will help smooth 
things over - at least they'll have an explanation, and for what it may 
be worth, an apology."  He sighed.  "Maybe it's even for the best.  If I 
*had* tried to talk to Akane... we'd just have ended up fighting 
again."

"But..."

"Look... I didn't object to going to see your father, did I?  You know 
how nervous I was about that.  But I went... because it was important 
to you."

"Yah, but it's not the same.  Dad always *liked* you.  Your mother... 
your mother might want to kill you."

Ranma let that pass for the moment.  "Ucchan... Try to understand.  I 
hadn't seen my mother for twelve years.  Twelve years!  And then, 
when I did see her, I had to *lie* to her.  To pretend to be somebody 
else.  All she wanted was to see her family again.  But every time she 
came by the dojo, all she'd find would be 'Ranko' and her pet panda.  
She was nice enough to me as Ranko, but I could see it in her eyes... 
it was her son that she wanted to find."

His voice dropped to a whisper.  "Honour is very important to my 
mother - and it's very important to me.  Thanks to my father, there 
*is* no solution to this mess where honour can be satisfied 
completely, except for seppuku.  I hope that it won't come to that - 
that she'll accept me.  But I can't lie to her anymore...  I may never 
get to see her again, and this will be the last chance I have to tell 
her... tell her that I love her.  Tell her how much I've missed her all 
of these years."

There was a long silence.  Ranma looked at his fiancee.  She was so 
beautiful in the firelight.  It tore at him to see the silver trails of the 
tears that were running down her face.  She might be right.  He had 
been given a chance to start over - to rebuild something that he had 
lost - to make it bigger and better.  If his mother *did* hold him to 
the promise of seppuku, he'd be throwing all of that away again.

But he had to do it.  He had to tell his mother the truth.  Had to make 
her understand what had happened - why he had made the choices 
he had.  She was the one parent he had whose opinion still had any 
real meaning for him.  If she rejected him... well if she did, at least it 
would be over quickly.

Ranma had promised Ukyou that he would not leave her again.  But 
could he keep even that promise?  So very many promises... so many 
of them broken... was there truly any way out except death?  Ranma 
imagined that he could feel the cold steel as it tore through his body.  
One last moment of agony, but in that moment, he could still win.

Ranma was so lost in thought that he almost didn't hear Ukyou's 
voice.  "And if she does hold you to that promise?  What will you do 
then?"

"Die."

"That's not very damned funny."

Ranma poked at the embers of their fire with a stick.  "No.  It's not."

"You... you mean that, then?  You'd really kill yourself if she told you 
to?"

"I'd have to, wouldn't I?"  Ranma turned haunted eyes to his fiancee.  
"D'you think that I *want* to die?  This is the hardest part of this 
whole mess.  I can't really believe it will come to that.  The person 
that has visited the Tendous has been so kind and caring.  But at the 
same time, she has a peculiar sense of propriety.  I just don't know 
what she'll do for sure!"

Ranma stopped prodding the coals and tossed the stick into the fire.  
He watched it blacken and smoke as it started to burn.  "I don't know 
her, Ucchan.  She's my mother, and she's almost a total stranger.  I 
don't really know much of anything about her past her visits to the 
dojo, and what Pop has told me.  And you know how reliable *that* 
information must be."

Ukyou almost had to smile at that.

"Ucchan... I want you to promise me something."

Ukyou's half smile faltered.  She wasn't going to like this, she could 
tell.  "Promise you what?"

"I want you to promise me that... that if it *does* come to seppuku, 
you won't try to stop me."

"WHAT?!" Ukyou exclaimed, "You can't seriously expect me to make a 
promise like that!"

"Ucchan... please.  Don't do this.  This is a matter of... of honour.  You 
of all people should know what that means."

"But what good is honour if it means that I lose you all over again?" 
asked Ukyou sullenly.  "Oh, Ranma..."

"Then you think that I've failed...  You think that I'm not enough of a 
man to fulfill that promise..."

"No!  Of course not.  But she doesn't know you like I do.  She might 
not see it until it was too late!"

"That's the chance that I've got to take.  Will you promise me that, 
Ucchan?"  Ranma sighed, watching Ukyou stare into the fire.  
"Please?"

With a shudder, Ukyou closed her eyes and hung her head.  Her voice 
was so quiet that it was almost lost in the crackle of the fire.  "All 
right, damn you...  I... promise.  I won't interfere."

*** O_o ***

The house was a modest one - not as large as the Tendou home, but 
ample.  The grounds were immaculately kept - the garden was neat 
and elegant, despite the covering of snow.  A small stream of water 
ran down an artfully constructed rock face and into a small pond.  
The burble of the water and the regular clack of the deer-scare were 
the only sounds that broke the stillness.

Ranma-chan stood in the gateway, staring at the house.  How many 
years, she thought to herself.  How many years has it been since I 
was last here?  Thirteen?  Fourteen?  It looks so familiar... but so 
strange at the same time.

"It's lovely..." said a voice behind her.

"It is," Ranma-chan agreed.  "I had almost forgotten how nice a place 
home could be."

Looking down at herself Ranma-chan sighed.  This was not the way 
she had planned this, but fate apparently had other ideas.  In the 
long run it really wouldn't matter.  She had promised herself that she 
was going to tell her mother about the curse anyway.  Perhaps it 
would even be easier this way.  She felt Ukyou place a hand on her 
shoulder and smiled to herself.  "It's time, Ucchan.  Shall we?"

"If we must," said Ukyou as her fiancé rang the bell.

*** o_O ***

Ranma-chan stood, trembling slightly as they waited for the door to 
be answered.  Part of her mind was screaming at her that she should 
bolt and run, that Ukyou was right, that this was all one big mistake.  
But this was her mother.  She would not, *could* not run from her 
anymore.

She could hear footsteps from inside the house approaching the door, 
but the snap of the latch still made her jump.  The door slid aside 
and Ranma-chan found herself staring up into the startled face of 
Saotome Nodoka.

"Er... Hi," she managed lamely.

"Ranko-chan!  Thank the Gods that you're all right!"  Nodoka grabbed 
the red-head in a fierce hug.  "Where have you been?  Everyone has 
been so worried about you!"

That took Ranma-chan by surprise.  "They... they have?"

"Of course they have, dear.  Akane was very upset when she called."

"Akane... called here?"

"They've been looking for you everywhere.  She said that you'd had a 
fight..."

Ranma-chan seemed to fold in on herself.  "Yes... you could say that."  
She shivered violently.

Nodoka felt it and let her go.  "Come in, child.  You must be freezing."  
Noticing Ukyou standing there, she asked.  "And who's your friend?"

"My name is Kuonji Ukyou," said Ukyou, as she followed Ranma-chan 
and Nodoka into the house.

"Kuonji... that name sounds familiar... do you know my son, Ukyou-
san?"

Ukyou and Ranma-chan exchanged glances.  "Yes ma'am.  It would be 
safe to say that I know him..."

Nodoka led the couple into the living room of the house, and waved 
them toward the table.  "You girls wait right there, while I call the 
dojo and let them know that you're safe."

"Please!" Ranma-chan said, "Don't."

"But Ranko-chan!  I must let them know that you are all right - you 
wouldn't want them to keep worrying, would you?"

For a moment, Ranma-chan felt her resolve waver.  It would be easy, 
she thought.  So easy to just go back - back to things as they were - 
as they had always been.  It would almost have to be easier than 
what she was about to do.  She looked to Ukyou, saw her encouraging 
smile, and felt her strength return.  No; there was no going back.  The 
decision had finally been made, and it was the right one.  Ukyou had 
kept her part of the bargain.  Now it was her turn.

"Please," she repeated, "hear me out first.  Then you can call whoever 
you want to."

"But..." Nodoka started to say.  Ranma-chan tensed, a little more of 
her agitation showing through.

"I beg you... don't make me leave now..."

"Why Ranko-chan... I would never do that to you."  She's terrified, 
thought Nodoka.  What could it be that she's so afraid of?

"Don't be so sure," said the red-head miserably.  "There's so much 
that you don't know.  So much that I have to tell you."

"Very well, Ranko-chan, why don't you sit down here and tell me all 
about it."

"This might take a while," said Ukyou.  "How about I make some 
tea?"

"Oh, no, I should be doing that," protested Nodoka.

"No, you and... Ranko have a lot to talk about.  Just point me at the 
kitchen, and let me worry about this."

Ranma-chan shot her fiancee a grateful look.  "Thanks, Ucchan.  It's 
through that door, and the second on the left, if I remember it 
correctly."

Nodoka turned back toward Ranma-chan, an expression of surprise 
on her face.  "Why... yes, that's right.  But... how could you know...?"

Ranma-chan sighed and set her pack down next to the table.  "It's a 
long story, believe me."  Collapsing wearily next to her pack, she 
opened one of the side pockets and withdrew a small, silk wrapped 
bundle.  Bound with a thin cord, the bundle was roughly cylindrical, 
about six centimeters wide, and forty long.  Setting it carefully on the 
table, Ranma-chan proceeded to untie the bindings, and gently 
unwrap the parcel.

Nodoka gasped as the last of the silk slipped away to reveal the 
lacquered scabbard and cloth wrapped handle of a ceremonial tanto.  
The knife was obviously quite old, but well cared for - the product of 
a master maker.  The tsuba bore the Saotome family crest.

"What are you doing with that?  Where... where did you get it?" 
asked Nodoka, the slightest tremor in her voice.

"It was given to me when I was eight years old, by my father."

"But how... I mean..."  Nodoka trailed off helplessly.

Looking sadly at her mother, Ranma-chan said in a quiet voice, "A 
long time ago, there were promises made... to you.  Promises about 
me.  As a result, the way that I see it, this conversation can end one 
of three ways.  One is that you will hear what I have to say and 
forgive me - in that event, this will stay with me, and I will see you 
whenever I can."  She indicated the tanto on the table.

"Ranko..."

She took a deep breath.  "The second possibility is that you will hear 
what I have to say, and you will reject it... and me.  I will leave this 
here.  I will renounce my family, and I will never darken your door 
again."  Her voice was starting to shake a bit as she concluded.  "The 
third is that when you hear my story, you will find my dishonour to 
be too great, and I will have to use this..."

Nodoka was horrified.  "Ranko!  What ever are you talking about?  
You're just a girl!  You are not bound by any promises to me!"

Ranma-chan winced.  "Please!  Don't call me that!  I *am* bound... by 
tradition and honour.  Bound by promises...  promises made to you, 
and to others on my behalf...  promises made by my father..." her 
voice dropped to a near whisper, "...and I can't keep them all."

"But what has that got to do with..."

"You don't understand!  My father..."  There was a harsh edge to the 
red-head's voice which she fought to control, "...my father is Saotome 
Genma."

Nodoka fainted.

"Well, *that* went well," said Ukyou from the doorway.

*** O_o ***

Nodoka sat, staring into space, her face a mask of shocked disbelief.  
She hadn't even touched her tea.  "To think," she was saying.  "After 
all these years, I never even suspected.  I knew that Genma could be 
a scoundrel, of course, but... this!"  She turned to the anxious red-
head, trying to keep her voice neutral.  "Tell me, Ranko-chan... what 
is she like?  What kind of woman is your mother?"

Ranma-chan blinked.  "No!  It's not anything like that!  Pops was... 
Pops was never unfaithful to you!"

"Ranko," Nodoka said gently, "It is not nice to lie.  I appreciate that 
you would like to spare my feelings, but really.  What else am I to 
think?  Unless my husband adopted you..." she trailed off hopefully.  
Ranma-chan shook her head in a sad negative.  "Then there really is 
no other explanation, is there?  I have no daughters."

"I know..." said Ranma-chan in a very small voice.  Looking down at 
herself she continued.  "And now you have only half a son."

Nodoka looked up sharply.  "What do you mean by that?"

Ukyou came back into the room with a steaming kettle.  She handed 
it to Ranma-chan and took a seat at the table across from Nodoka.  
Holding the kettle, Ranma-chan turned to the elder Saotome and said, 
"The first thing that I have to tell you is that my name isn't 'Ranko'."  
Reaching up, she poured the hot water over her head.  Her outline 
blurred, shifting as curves flattened out, and her body grew taller; 
bulkier.  Her fiery hair darkened to black, and her voice grew 
harsher and deeper as the now male Ranma finished, "My name... is 
Saotome Ranma."

For the second time that afternoon, Nodoka fainted.

*** x_X ***

When Nodoka came to, she found herself staring into the deep blue 
eyes of her son.  "Ra... Ranma?" she asked.  "Is that really you?"  The 
figure nodded.  "Oh, thank God!  I just had the strangest dream..."  A 
pained expression crossed her son's face, leaving a haunted look in 
his eyes.  There was something very wrong here.  "Where's Ranko?" 
she asked, struggling to sit up.

"She's right here, Mom.  She hasn't gone anywhere."

Nodoka scanned the room, but there was only Ranma, and... what was 
her name... oh yes, Ukyou.  That was it.  Both were watching her with 
concerned expressions.  Of Ranko there was no trace.  "Where is she, 
son?  I don't see her!  She was so upset... she must have run off.  We 
have to find her..."

"Mother, please!  Don't do this!  She's right here!  You *saw* it, 
Mother."  Ranma paused to take a deep breath and summon his 
courage.  "Mother...  Ranko...  Ranko and I...  we're the same.  *I* am 
Ranko..."

"No!  That cannot be true!"  Nodoka looked stricken.  "Ranko is a girl!  
A sweet, innocent girl!  My son is a man!  A man among men!  Genma 
promised me that!"

"Mother, LOOK at me!"  Ranma grabbed a glass of water from the 
table and poured its contents over his head.  Once more his outline 
shifted, growing shorter and filling out, and developing a decidedly 
unmasculine curvature.  Water still dripping out of her now red hair, 
Ranma-chan continued in a much more subdued voice, "The girl that 
you knew as Ranko... is your son."

Nodoka gasped for breath, an expression of horror and revulsion 
twisting her features.  "NO!  It's not possible..." she moaned.  "Genma 
swore to me - swore on his *life* that he would raise you to be a man 
among men!  A man among men!  What perversion..."

"Mother... no... please... it's not like that..."

"Don't call me that!  How can you be my son?!"

"Mother..."  Ranma-chan sat back as if Nodoka had slapped her.  In a 
way, she wished that she had.  A slap she could have handled.  But 
instead, her worst nightmare was playing itself out right in front of 
her eyes.  The life drained out of the red-head's expression and 
mechanically, she reached for the knife in its scabbard.  Her hand 
was trembling as she picked it up.  It was better this way, she told 
herself.  One searing instant, then she'd never feel pain again...

"Ran-chan!  NO!!" cried Ukyou.  True to her promise, she made no 
move to interfere, but the agony in her voice and in her eyes told 
just how much it was costing her.

Ranma-chan stared at the knife in her hands before turning tear 
filled eyes to her fiancee.  "I'm sorry, Ucchan.  I...  I have to do this.  
You know that I do.  It's a matter of honour..."  Her grip tightened 
convulsively on the handle of the dagger as she slipped it free of its 
sheath.  "I'm sorry.  Forgive me..." she whispered.

Ukyou's cry and the glint of light off the tanto blade broke Nodoka 
out of her horrified stupor.  "What are you *doing*?" she shrieked, 
grabbing for Ranma's arm.

"What I *have* to do!" the red-head sobbed.  "What honour demands 
that I do.  What I promised you that I would do if I failed to become 
what you wanted."  Ranma-chan tried to bring the blade toward her 
abdomen, but she had no strength and Nodoka's grip was like iron.

"Where in God's name did you get *that* idea?"

"Pops promised!  *I* promised...  promised that I'd be a real man, or 
we'd commit seppuku..."

"NO!!  Ranko... Ranma... This was never what I wanted!  You have to 
listen to me.  That promise was meant to keep Genma on his best 
behaviour.  It was never meant to apply to you!  You weren't even 
five years old!  There's no way that you could have understood what 
your father was doing!"

"But honour demands..."

"Demands nothing of the sort," said Nodoka firmly.

Ukyou heaved a sigh of relief when the knife dropped from Ranma-
chan's nerveless fingers and clattered to the floor.

Nodoka's voice was low and intense, and there were tears in her 
eyes.  "Rank... Ranma.  Please... I don't understand.  Help me to 
understand.  How is this possible?  What *happened* to you?!"

Ranma-chan blinked, as if coming out of a trance.  She seemed to be 
surprised to find that she was still alive.  She looked down at the 
knife on the floor, and to her arm, the arm that Nodoka still held in a 
viselike grip.  She blinked again, and said in a quiet, uncertain voice, 
"Mother...?"

More gently, Nodoka said, "Ranma, tell me.  What happened?"

Unable to meet her mother's gaze, Ranma-chan mumbled, 
"Jyusenkyou."

"Jyusenkyou?  What is Jyusenkyou?"

"The name means 'Pools of Sorrow'.  It's a legendary martial arts 
training ground in China.  Pops searched for it for weeks, before we 
finally stumbled across it, somewhere in the Bayankhala Mountain 
range in Quing Hai."

"Pools of Sorrow?  That seems an odd name for a training ground."

Ranma-chan nodded glumly.  "It's also called the 'Training Ground of 
Cursed Springs', and it is well named.  The valley itself is beautiful, 
shrouded in mist in the mornings.  Literally hundreds of small pools 
cover the valley floor.  There are bamboo poles to stand on - the 
object is to keep aloft, and avoid getting dunked.  At the time it 
didn't seem like anything special."

Freeing her arm from her mother's grasp, Ranma-chan reached for 
her cup and took a shaky draught from her tea.  Nodoka retrieved 
the tanto, and after re-sheathing it, passed it to Ukyou while her 
child continued to speak.

"But with each of the pools, there is associated a legend... a 'very 
tragic story' of some person or creature that was drowned in that 
pool, at some point in the distant past.  If you fall into one of the 
pools, then you turn into whatever drowned in that pool all those 
years ago.  Hot water will reverse the change, but only until the next 
time you get hit with cold water."

"Maaaaaa..."

"We found out about it the hard way.  I knocked Pops into one of the 
pools first.  It turned out to be the one the guide called 'Shon Mao 
niichuan'."

"Shon Mao..."  Nodoka's eyes widened as the connections were made.  
'Ranko' had kept a pet.  "Do you mean to tell me that your father... 
that Genma... that Genma is that *Panda* bear?"

Ranma-chan nodded.  "I'm afraid so.  When he came up out of that 
pool like that, I was so startled that I let my guard down completely.  
The next thing I knew the old man had knocked me into the Nyan 
niichuan.  So now... every time I get splashed with cold water... I end 
up like *this*."

"The whole time.  He was there, at the dojo, the whole time.  There 
were never any training trips - no expeditions... every time I visited, 
he was there... you were there..."

Ranma-chan wilted again at the hurt tone in her mother's voice.

"Why, Ranma?  Why the lies?  Why the deception?  Why didn't you 
just *tell* me?"

"How could I?  There was that promise that Pops had made... and I 
had made it too!  Look at me!  Do I *look* like a 'man among men' to 
you?"

"But I never meant for..."

"We didn't know that!  Pops was... is still terrified of you, and that 
promise, just as I was.  I think that Pops really believes that he had 
my best interests at heart.  But there was no way that I could go on 
living that way.  It was destroying me.  I couldn't keep up the lie any 
longer."

Favouring her mother with a pleading look, Ranma-chan continued in 
a quiet voice.  "I couldn't lie to *you* anymore.  Do you know how 
badly I wanted to tell you?  How hard I *tried*?  The fact that I 
failed still shames me.  Do you know how much it *hurt* every time 
you would come to the Tendous' looking for us?  You would be so 
close... so close that I could reach out and touch you, but I couldn't 
tell you who I was!

"You were always so disappointed to find that your husband and 
your son were 'away' - I *saw* the pain it caused you...  and with 
every visit, that threat of seppuku lost some of its hold.  It would 
have been easier to die than to go on like that."

Nodoka was quiet for a time, thinking.  Finally she said, "And the 
Tendous... why did they participate in this deception?"

Still hanging her head, Ranma-chan said softly, "They were trying to 
protect us.  It was more than we deserved.  Mother, I am so sorry..."

"It all makes so much more sense now.  At last I understand why all 
of you seemed so *tense* when I would come to visit..."  Nodoka eyed 
the miserable girl sympathetically.  "...and now I can understand just 
why you so hated to dress up the way I wanted you to.  I'm sorry for 
that... If I had known..."

"If you had known, then Pops would have tried to run, and we'd be 
God only knows where by now."  Ranma-chan paused, trying to 
choose her words carefully.  "Look, I don't want you to think that I 
*like* girls' clothes or nothing, but...  it was worth it.  It was worth it 
to see you smile.  I'm just sorry that I didn't tell you the truth 
before.  I never wanted to hurt you."

Satisfied that the immediate danger was past, Ukyou took the kettle 
back into the kitchen to get more hot water.  Nodoka watched in 
horrified fascination as the transformation was repeated, and 
'Ranko's' body dissolved to become that of her son.  She reached out 
toward Ranma, but she stopped short of touching him, as if she were 
afraid that he wasn't real after all.

"So... It's all true..." she breathed.

Ranma flinched and looked at the floor.  "Yes... It's true.  I'm sorry, 
Mother."

Shaking herself out of her daze, Nodoka took refuge in taking charge.  
"No matter.  The important thing is that you're back home, with me, 
where you belong.  Thank you, Ukyou, for helping him... for bringing 
him back to me.  You are a good friend for my son to have."

Ukyou tensed, but said nothing.  Ranma started to look even more 
uncomfortable.  He did not like the feel of this.  "Mother..."

"Tomorrow we'll go back to the dojo and collect the rest of your 
things, *and*," Nodoka added darkly, "I'll deal with your father..."

"Mother... no."

"It will also give you the chance to make up with Akane...  I'm sure 
that she's been worried sick about you..."

"Mother... listen..."

"...and then we'll all come back here and live together like a family 
should.  It is my fault - I never should have let your father take you 
away as I did..."

"Mother, Please!"

Nodoka ground to a halt, an expression of puzzled concern on her 
face.  "Yes, Ranma?  What is it?"

"Mother...  I'm not going back."

A leaden silence descended on the group as Nodoka stared at her son.  
"I beg your pardon?" she managed at last.

"I'm not going back to the dojo."

"Of course we're going back!  We must collect your father, and you 
must set things right with your fiancee..."

"No, Mother, I can't do that."

"Son, I understand that you and Akane had a disagreement... Akane 
told me that she'd had a fight with 'Ranko', but really, you can work 
it out."

"But, you *don't* understand.  It's not that simple anymore."  Ranma 
sighed and stared at the tabletop.  "Yes, we had a fight.  It was a bad 
fight, too.  But it was just the last in a long line of fights."  Ranma 
looked up at his mother.  "We were always fighting - since the day 
we met."

"You're not being fair, son.  Akane is a sweet girl, and she loves you 
very much.  What would make you doubt that?"

"Well, the words 'I hate you' were a subtle hint."  Ranma shook his 
head sadly.  "Most of it is my fault, I guess.  It was raining on the day 
we first arrived at the dojo, and naturally, everyone thought I was a 
girl.  Akane was so friendly... I imagine it was at least partly relief.  
She wasn't too keen on the idea of an arranged marriage either.  But 
when she found out that I really *was* a boy, she was ... upset.  I 
don't think that she's ever forgiven me for it."

Ranma sighed.  "Since then it's been a constant battle.  It seems that 
all I can do is make her angry, and I don't want to do that anymore."

"But Ranma, I don't understand.  Tendou-san has told me about all 
the times that you have fought for Akane... all of the times that you 
have gone to her aid... how can you say that you have no feelings for 
her?"

"I'm not saying that.  I'm saying that I don't *love* her.  Not like that, 
anyway.  Not anymore.  I'd like to think of her as a friend, but I don't 
want to marry her, and she doesn't want to marry me."

"But, you really don't have a choice, son.  Akane is your fiancee, and 
your marriage to her is a matter of family honour.  You must have 
faith that it will work out in the end."

"Don't you think that I *know* that?" A note of anguish crept into 
Ranma's voice.  "I wish it were really that easy, but it's not.  Besides 
that, there are other... complications."

"'Complications'?  What do you mean, 'complications'?"

Ranma took a deep breath.  "Mother," he said, "I'd like to introduce 
you to Kuonji Ukyou.  She's my fiancee."

There was a terrible, ghastly silence.

Nodoka blinked.  "Excuse me.  Could you repeat that please?  It 
almost sounded like you said that Ukyou was your..."

"My fiancee.  Yes.  She is."

"Ahhh," said Nodoka intelligently.  After a moment's contemplation, 
she said, "Ranma, you place me in a very... awkward position.  I have 
no wish to be rude to Kuonji-san here, but surely you realize that 
such a marriage is quite out of the question.  You are honour bound 
to marry a Tendou.  If you and Akane cannot get along, Tendou-san 
has two other daughters.  You will simply have to marry one of 
them."

"Mother, you're not listening to me."  Ranma held his teacup tightly, 
as if he might draw warmth from it as he spoke.  "Nabiki... Nabiki 
doesn't want me either.  All she ever saw in me was a way to make 
money.  Selling pictures, blackmail, even renting me out to whoever 
could pay the price."  Ranma shuddered.  "You could force a marriage, 
I suppose, but frankly, I'd be inclined to commit seppuku first."

The bitterness in Ranma's voice shocked Nodoka.  "Well, then it will 
have to be Kasumi.  She would make a wonderful wife."

"You're right, she would," Ranma said, "but for someone else, not for 
me.  Mom, she already has someone that she likes - even if she 
hasn't yet worked up the nerve to do anything about it."

"But she is a dutiful daughter.  She would certainly marry you if her 
father asked it of her."

"That's true.  She would.  She wouldn't even hesitate."

"There.  You see!  There is a Tendou solution that will enable us to 
keep our family's honour intact."

"No.  There isn't.  First of all, even if I wanted to, there's no way that 
I can honourably break my engagement to Ucchan either.  But more 
to the point, Kasumi has already given up her life for that family.  I'll 
not ask her to give up anything more."

"But son, honour demands..."

"Demands that I destroy the happiness of someone that I care about?  
Of someone who was kind to me?  Does honour demand that I bring 
her pain and loneliness as a reward for her kindness?  Is THAT what 
you are telling me?"

"Ranma!  I am your mother, and you will not speak to me in that 
fashion!  The matter is closed.  You will marry a Tendou, as was 
arranged by your father.  You must understand that the promise he 
made takes precedence over any preferences that you might have."

"Oh, I understand that perfectly!" Ranma shot back.  "No one *ever* 
asked me what I thought about any of this!  The first I even *heard* 
of the Tendou engagement was the day that Pop and I arrived at the 
dojo!"  Ranma made an effort to calm himself before continuing.  
"That's a part of the problem!  Pop is also the one that promised that 
I would marry Ucchan here!"

There was another one of *those* silences.  Finally, "I beg your 
pardon?"

"Remember I told you earlier that there was no way that I could 
keep all of the promises that had been made in my name?"

Nodoka nodded.

"Well, now you know why!  Just how many women do you think that 
I can marry?"

"Are you trying to tell me, Ranma, that your father has engaged you 
to *two* girls?"

"No, I'm not..." Ranma began.

"But you just said..."

"...by my count, there have been six, to date."

"Seven," supplied Ukyou helpfully.

"Seven?" asked Ranma.  "Are you sure?"

"SEVEN?!" squawked Nodoka.

Ukyou nodded her head.  "Yup.  Seven."

"Let's see," Ranma started counting off on his fingers, "There's Akane, 
and there was Kaori, and then there's you, and there was that Mano 
girl..."

"Wasn't she the one with the really strange grandmother?"

"Yeah, that's the one all right... she *was* weird.  Lessee, after Yohko, 
there was Tomoko, and finally Biiko.  Nope.  That's just six."

"You're forgetting, Ran-chan, there was that ditzy blonde girl with 
the buns and the really long pigtails."

"Oh, right... I remember now.  You're right.  It was seven."

"Seven!" said Nodoka again.  "Your father has engaged you to *seven* 
girls?"

"Well," Ranma said miserably, "those are the ones that I know about.  
Pop never told me about any of 'em until they showed up looking to 
collect.  There may be more that just haven't caught up with us yet - 
I don't know for sure."

"Is this some kind of joke?  I assure you, son, that it is *not* funny."

Ranma spread his arms in a gesture of surrender.  "Do I *look* like 
I'm laughing?  No matter *what* I do, I'm lost.  No matter who I end 
up marrying, I have to break promises to do it.  What would you 
have had me do?"

"Then you must keep the arrangement with the most valid claim.  
Your father had promised you to Tendou-san even before you were 
born.  That grants the Tendou claim seniority."

Ranma just looked tired.  "Does it?" he asked.  "And what did Pop and 
Tendou-san do to seal the arrangement?"

"It was a verbal pledge, and as such, is quite binding.  Why do you 
ask?"

"Well, you see, when Kuonji-san arranged with Pop to engage me to 
Ukyou, he put up his yattai as a dowry.  Pop took it, and me, but he 
abandoned Ukyou here."

"He.  Did.  WHAT?!"  Nodoka turned toward Ukyou, her eyes blazing.  
"Is this true?"

Ukyou shuddered at the fury evident in Nodoka's expression, but she 
managed to nod an affirmation.

"I see."  Turning back to Ranma, she said, "perhaps you better tell me 
this story from the beginning."

"All of it, or just the highlights?  It's a long story..."

"All of it."

Ranma sighed and started his tale.  He hadn't been exaggerating, it 
*was* a long story, made all the longer by Nodoka's frequent 
interruptions for clarification or greater detail.  He told her 
everything - from his earliest memories to the time he had spent 
with Ucchan in Kansai, to the fights with Ryouga, to the trip to China 
and the resultant complications, to their arrival at the Tendou's and 
all of the strange things that had happened since.  He held nothing 
back, answering all of her questions as fully and honestly as he 
could.  Finally, several hours and six pots of tea later, Ranma reached 
the end of his narrative.  A long silence followed.  A very long 
silence.

Ranma started to sweat.  "Mother?"

Nodoka merely sat there, radiating an aura of quiet fury.  Her eyes 
were dark, but still they seemed to glow with a primal fire.  "Son, I 
suggest you take a bath before you catch your death of cold.  We will 
speak more of this in the morning.  You may sleep in your old room."

From the tone of her voice, Ranma could tell that it would be no use 
arguing.  Wearily he got to his feet and picked up his pack.  Looking 
to Ukyou, he got a hopeful smile.  Ranma just shook his head and 
shrugged.  He had no idea what his mother was thinking, or how she 
was going to react.  And just now, he was far too tired to care.

*** O_o ***

After Ranma had left the room, Nodoka took a deep breath, and tried 
to calm herself.  She was not entirely successful, but she managed to 
keep her tone civil as she turned once more to Ukyou.  "Ukyou-san, 
may I request your assistance with these things?"  She indicated the 
table where the remains of tea and snacks were scattered.

Ukyou nodded politely, "Of course, Saotome-san."

The two gathered the dirty dishes onto trays and carried them back 
to the kitchen sink.  After several moments of awkward silence, 
Nodoka again found her voice, though she would not face Ukyou as 
she spoke.

"My husband and my son have caused you quite a bit of grief, and 
for that I must apologize.  But surely you can see that he must marry 
Akane.  It is a matter of honour for her family, and for ours."

Ukyou bristled.  "And what of MY family's honour?  My honour?  Do 
they mean any less?"

Nodoka sagged, a defeated look entering her eyes.  "No.  Of course 
not.  It was not my intent to impugn your honour.  But I must find a 
satisfactory resolution for all of this.  That this situation has gone 
unchecked for so long already is intolerable."

Calming herself, Ukyou replied.  "I know you didn't.  But what you 
are asking... I've devoted ten years of my life to finding Ran-chan 
again - and the last two to winning him back.  Now that my dream 
has finally come true, you would ask me to throw it all away?"

"What else can I do?  I see my family breaking apart before my very 
eyes, and there appears to be no way that I can stop it.  I have not 
seen my son for over a dozen years, and now that he has finally 
come home, you will be taking him away again."

"Ranma loves you very much.  You - and your approval - mean a lot 
to him; otherwise, we would not have come."  Ukyou paused, 
gathering her courage.  "You already have cause not to like me, but 
there is something that I think you deserve to know.  I was against 
our coming here."

Nodoka was taken aback.  "You were?  But why?"

"May I speak frankly?"

"Please do."

"Honour is very important to Ran-chan.  To be brutally honest, I 
don't know how he managed it - his father was a less than stellar 
teacher in that area.  Be that as it may, Ranma is one of the kindest, 
noblest people that I know."

Staring at the tray of dirty teacups, Ukyou continued.  "Ranma came 
here to tell you these things, fully expecting to die for them.  He 
expected that you would hold him to that promise that he and his 
father made to you, all those years ago.  He believed that you would 
consider his curse as evidence of his failure."

"And you were afraid that I would hold him responsible for that..."

Ukyou nodded.  "I was.  I am.  I don't want to lose him again.  I lost 
him once, over ten years ago, and it is an experience that I have no 
wish to repeat.  He means too much to me."

"And yet you feared that he was not man enough to meet the terms 
of his promise?"

Ukyou's voice had the sharp edge of anger held barely in check, and 
her eyes flashed.  "No.  Even as a girl, Ranma is more of a 'man' than 
any hundred others that I know.  YOU are the one that I don't know, 
and you are the one that he has to convince."

"But, I'm his mother!  How could you believe that I might wish to see 
my own son dead?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but... Genma is his father, and 
HE believed it.  Ranma believed it.  The Tendous believed it.  I had no 
reason to doubt it."

Nodoka's expression darkened, but she could not argue the point.  
"My husband has much to answer for, it seems.  He is the one who 
has truly taken my son away from me."

Softening her tone a bit, Ukyou went on, "Ranma feels trapped by his 
honour.  He wants very badly to be able to fulfill all his obligations, 
but he can't do it.  He knows he can't, and the knowledge is tearing 
him apart."  Ukyou's voice grew hoarse and she wrung a dishtowel 
nervously.  "I think... I'm afraid that, maybe, deep down, a part of 
him *wanted* to die.  More than anything, Ranma hates to lose, and 
with all of the promises that bind him, there is no way he can win."

"But, when Ranma almost killed her... himself here tonight, you made 
no move to stop him...  Why not?"

"I promised him that I wouldn't interfere.  It was the harshest vow 
that I've ever made."  Ukyou's reply was little more than a whisper.  
She looked back up at the elder Saotome.  "But you were the only one 
who *could* have stopped him.  It's your forgiveness, your 
understanding and support that he needs - not mine."

Turning on the tap, Nodoka filled one of the basins with hot water 
and soap.  She stared at the steaming basin, trying to assimilate the 
new significance that the water's heat held for her.  Finally, she 
began washing the teacups and plates, passing them to Ukyou to be 
dried.

"I must apologize, Ukyou-san.  This is... a difficult situation.  Please 
try to understand.  Over the course of my visits to the Tendou Dojo, I 
have become quite attached to Akane-chan.  I have come to love her 
as I might my own daughter.  Now I find that Ranma doubts her love 
for him, and it pains me to think that she might not become a part of 
my family after all."

Ukyou nodded thoughtfully.  "I do understand.  I can not honestly 
claim that Akane was a friend - there was too much between us for 
that - but under other circumstances, we might have easily become 
friends."

The Saotome matriarch almost smiled.  "I'm glad to hear that."  
Nodoka turned back to the dishes she was washing.  "Ranma does not 
believe that Akane loves him."  It was not a question.

"No.  He doesn't."

"Do you?  Do you think that Akane loves my son?"

Ukyou had been dreading just that question.  She was pretty sure 
that Akane did love Ranma, but... "I don't know," she said at last.  
"She's never acted like it - she would certainly never have admitted 
it to me if she did."  Ukyou turned to face Nodoka, her expression a 
mask of anger.  "If she doesn't, then she's a bigger fool than I think 
she is."

Startled by the young girl's vehemence, Nodoka asked, "And Ranma... 
does he love Akane?"

"No."  A pause.  "He did once, I think.  But not anymore."

"What happened?"

"She never trusted him.  In his own way, Ranma tried everything 
that he could, but it never worked.  When something went wrong, 
she was sure that it was Ranma's fault, whether it was or not."

Ukyou reached for the next teacup.  "Some things *were* his fault.  
Ran-chan isn't perfect - growing up on the road didn't prepare him 
for the sort of social sparring that normal people engage in every 
day.  Ranma tends to say what's on his mind, with little thought for 
how others might take it.  He's getting better, after living with the 
Tendous, but he'll never be a diplomat.

"Akane, on the other hand, was always angry.  Ranma gave her an 
easy target for that anger.  Since he wouldn't fight her, at least not 
physically, and there was no way that she could hurt him, he was 
safe for her to vent on."

Having run out of teacups to be dried, Ukyou started polishing the 
counter top.  "Except that she *was* hurting him - sticking a knife in 
his heart where he was the weakest.  Over time... the constant 
bickering... the name-calling... the fighting... they wore him down.  
Akane told Ranma that she hated him so often that he started to 
believe it.  The fact that she never *meant* it didn't matter 
anymore."

"You seem to know a lot about it."

"Ran-chan and I talked a lot when he was upset."  Ukyou shrugged.  
"Sometimes I think that maybe I was the only one that would 
*listen* to him."

Nodoka thought about that for a while.  Finally, she asked softly, "If 
Akane were to tell him that she loved him then, would you release 
him?  Would you give him back to her?"

"No.  Akane's had her chance and she blew it."  Ukyou sighed heavily.  
"If he had wanted to go, *really* wanted to go, then I would not have 
stood in his way.  But," she continued in a determined tone of voice, 
"you should know that even then, I would have fought for him; that I 
would have done everything in my power to make sure that he chose 
me."

"I see."  Nodoka turned to study the girl before her.  Ukyou was 
obviously nervous, but she showed no signs of backing down.  "Your 
loyalty does you credit - I wish that I could find it in myself to be 
happier that my son has found such a partner."

Taking the dishtowel from Ukyou, Nodoka draped it over a bar on 
the wall.  Turning back to the girl she forced her expression into 
what she hoped was a friendly smile.  "It is very late, and I must... 
meditate on what you have told me.  Come.  Ranma should be in bed 
by now.  I'll show you where to find the bath and the guest room.  
You must be exhausted."

"Thank you, I am."

*** z_z ***

The next morning came all too early for Ranma, despite the fact that 
he had slept late.  The night had been a long and uncomfortable one, 
with real sleep not coming until almost with the dawn.  He yawned 
and stretched, rubbing at the dark circles that had formed under his 
eyes.  Sitting up, he stared blearily around the room.  Fragments of 
memories, hazy with age, drifted through his mind's eye.  He could 
*almost* remember... the chest in the corner, the quilt draped over 
the sill of the window... but in the end the memories were too old, too 
far gone for him to take much comfort from them.  It had just been 
too long.

Slowly, Ranma got up and gathered his things.  He padded down to 
the bathroom once more to brush his teeth and wash the sleep from 
his eyes, then returned to his room to dress and get his pack ready 
for travel again.  When he had finished, he carried it into the living 
room, and set it on the floor.

There was no sign of his mother, and he guessed that Ukyou was still 
asleep, so he sat, staring out the window into the late morning, going 
over the events of the previous night in his mind.  To say that it had 
been a rough night would be to grossly understate the issue.  There 
had been several times that he had not been sure that he would still 
be alive to see this morning, and at least one where he had been sure 
that he would not.  But his mother had, so far, not demanded his 
death - she had, in fact, actively restrained him from giving it to her.  
He hoped that it was a good sign.

He remembered the expression that she had worn when she'd told 
him to go to bed and shuddered.  He'd never seen someone look so... 
controlled before.  He could almost feel the tempest of emotion that 
had raged beneath that calm surface, so great was its intensity.  But 
no trace of that turmoil had reached his mother's face.  Only the dark 
flashing in her eyes had betrayed her.

Maybe Ukyou had been right.  Maybe this was all a big mistake.  But 
whatever happened, Ranma was glad at least that there would be no 
more lies.  Of all the things that his father had asked him to do, lying 
to his mother had been the hardest.  And now, for good or ill, it was 
over.

He was still brooding about it, wallowing in the silence, when he 
heard the guest room door slide open, followed by Ukyou padding 
down the hall towards the bathroom.  A few moments later, he heard 
her return to the guest room, and the door slid closed again.  Try as 
he might, Ranma could hear no other sounds of activity in the house.  
There was only the gentle rustle of the wind against the walls, and 
the occasional creak as the timbers in the house shifted minutely.

A few minutes later Ukyou came into the living room, set her pack 
down next to his, and plopped down beside him with a sigh.  She 
didn't look like she had slept very well either.  She flashed him a 
tired smile.  "Good morning, Ran-chan."

"Is it morning?" asked Ranma.  "I thought that it was after noon."

Ukyou looked at her watch.  "You're right.  It is."  She looked back to 
him, studying his face.  "You look like hell," she said diplomatically.

"Didn't sleep too good," Ranma agreed, stifling a yawn.  "I *feel* like 
hell."

"So where's your Mom?"

Ranma shrugged.  "Dunno.  I haven't seen a trace of her since I went 
to bed last night.  I thought I heard her a few times, but I figured it 
was a dream or something."

The two settled down in silence to wait.  And wait.  And wait.  One 
o'clock came and went, and still there was no sign of his mother.  
Ranma got up and started to pace.  He hated waiting - he had never 
been good at it.  Like a caged tiger, he prowled the confines of the 
living room, trying to shed his nervous energy without appearing to 
be impatient.  It wasn't working.

By the time three o'clock was approaching, Ranma was ready to go 
crazy.  From her seat by the table, Ukyou finally took pity on him 
and asked, "So... you think we should go look for her or something?"

"I dunno.  Do you think we oughtta?"

"Well, it is almost three.  I guess it couldn't hurt..."

"Good," Ranma almost grinned.  Holding a hand out to Ukyou he 
helped her to her feet, and the two of them set out to find the 
missing Saotome.

*** O_o ***

Behind the Saotome home there was a dojo.  Not so large or elaborate 
as the Tendou dojo, it was still finely crafted, and had been well 
cared for.  This was not a teaching dojo, but something far more 
personal.  It was here that Ranma and Ukyou finally located Saotome 
Nodoka.

The cone of silence that surrounded the little structure was all but 
tangible.  Ranma got there first, but stopped just inside the doorway, 
gazing into the hall, a shocked expression on his face.  Ukyou almost 
ran into him.  She started to ask him why he had stopped when she 
looked in and the question died unasked.

Bits of cotton batting and straw littered the floor.  At one end of the 
hall, a post held the tattered remains of a training dummy that had 
been so savagely slashed that it was all but unrecognizable.  There 
were two more husks just like it in the corner.  Nodoka, dressed in a 
white robe, with a strip of white cloth tied around her head, was 
sitting, stiffly erect, in the center of the dojo, facing the kamidana.  
The candles on either side of the little wall mounted altar were lit, 
and there was incense burning.

Hesitantly, Ranma came further into the dojo.  If his mother heard 
him, she gave no sign.  She just sat immobile, staring into space.  To 
look at the dark circles under her eyes it was pretty obvious that she 
had not slept at all.  A tightness grew in Ranma's chest as he noticed 
the teartracks that also stained her face.  "Mother?"

Nodoka said nothing, merely shuddered as another silent sob shook 
her.

Concerned, Ranma put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder.  
"Mother?"

"DON'T call me that!" Nodoka hissed as she pulled away from her 
son's touch.  Getting slowly to her feet, she turned to face the boy, an 
expression of raw fury on her face.  "Do you not understand what 
your father has done?  How thoroughly he has disgraced the Saotome 
name?"

Ranma stepped back, surprised and hurt.  He had not known what 
kind of reaction to expect, but he was fairly sure that this wasn't it.  
All he could do was stand and gape.

"And you seem determined to follow in his footsteps!  You have an 
obligation, a debt of honour, to your family and to the Tendou clan, 
and one which you tell me that you have no intention of fulfilling.  
You have allowed other, more... persistent entanglements to interfere 
with your judgment.  More is at stake here than just your future, you 
know.  You carry on your shoulders the future of the school - the 
future of the Art!  That is not a responsibility that you can discard 
lightly!"

Making a visible effort to calm herself, Nodoka went on.  "You have 
left me at a loss, Ranma.  I cannot accept your solution to these 
problems.  I cannot support your decision to marry Kuonji-san, and 
yet, try as I might, neither can I condemn it.  It saddens me that you 
and Akane-chan could not work out your differences.  I cannot help 
but feel it might have been otherwise had you really tried."

Ranma just looked sad.  "We did try.  Akane tried.  I tried.  But by 
the time either of us decided that we didn't really want to hurt the 
other... it was too late.  We just couldn't stop.  I'd do or say something 
stupid, and she'd get mad.  Every time, I'd end up doing something 
wrong.  I'd make her angrier, and she'd hit me, or tell me that she 
didn't want anything to do with a pervert like me."

"Did it never occur to you that she might not have meant it that way?  
That it might just have been her anger speaking?  That, perhaps, she 
would have spoken more kindly after having a chance for that anger 
to pass?"

"It did.  But it was taking longer and longer for that to happen.  With 
every fight - with every new complication that popped up, she'd get 
mad a little faster, stay mad a little longer.  I couldn't even blame 
her for it!  I didn't want to see the day when she never got over it."

"And yet, she lied for you!  She lied to protect you every time I came 
to the dojo!"

"That's true.  She did.  She even stopped me from telling you who I 
was, because Pop had convinced her that you would kill me."

"And you believed it too!  How could you *believe* that I would be 
capable of demanding the death of my own son?  Did I seem to be so 
terrible as that?"

"It was," said Ranma stiffly, "a matter of honour."

"You lied to me... for almost two years.  Every time I would visit, you 
allowed me to believe that you were someone else.  How is that a 
matter of honour?"

"I tried to tell you..."

"But you didn't try hard enough.  And what of the Tendous?  How 
will you make up for the dishonour that you have done them, and 
their family?  You cannot unilaterally break the engagement that 
your father arranged - not honourably."

"And I *can* unilaterally break the engagement to Ucchan?  Is that 
what you're saying?  Pop arranged that!  What about the engagement 
to Kaori?  or Yohko?  Tomoko?  Usagi?  Biiko?  Pop arranged ALL of 
them!"

"It was always your father's intention that you should marry a 
Tendou!  That the schools should be united!  It was his lifelong 
dream!"

"Enough!  I told you that there was no way that I could fulfill all of 
my obligations...  I didn't ask for this situation, but one way or 
another I'm damned well gonna end it."

"Ranma!"  Nodoka was outraged.

Ranma's voice dropped low, became intense  "There *is* a way, you 
know - to save face - to restore honour.  I offered it to you once.  I 
will ask you once more, will you serve as my Kaishaku?"

Ranma did not think that it was possible for Nodoka to look any 
unhappier, but she managed it.  Shaking her head, she cried,  "NO!  
You know that I cannot do that.  That is NOT an option!  I will not 
condone it!"

"Then you leave me no way out."  Ranma spread his arms helplessly.

"Ranma, you are asking me to either stand aside and watch as my 
family - watch as all that I hold dear - is torn apart, or else kill my 
only child!  What kind of choice is that?!"

"Don't you understand?  I'm trying NOT to tear our family apart - I'm 
trying to put it back together!  Until you first visited the dojo, I 
didn't even know that I still *had* a mother!  I came here because I 
wanted to know you as my mother, not as 'Auntie Saotome'.  What 
else would you have me do?"

"You can go back to the dojo with me!  You can apologize to Tendou-
san and to Akane.  We can still fix this!  We can still make it work!"  
Nodoka was sobbing openly.  "Please, Ranma.  If you love me - if you 
respect your Mother, you will do this!"

Ranma stared at his mother, longing to be able to give her what she 
wanted, to do as she asked - but it was impossible.  She was wrong; it 
would never work the way she wanted it to.  Couldn't she *see* that?  
"I'm sorry, Mother," he whispered.  "I can't do that.  You know... you 
*have* to know that I can't."

"Why not?  WHY?!"

"Because I don't love her, Mother.  And she doesn't want me.  She 
never has."

"You cannot really believe that, son!  Akane *does* love you!  I know 
that she does!  You know it too, deep down!  Admit it!  Before it's too 
late!"

"I know no such thing!" snarled Ranma.  "What I know is that Akane 
spends a lot of time angry with me - that I make her unhappy.  It's 
not something I'm proud of;  it's not something I ever wanted to do, 
but I can't seem to avoid it!  And I know that I don't want to hurt 
her anymore.  Or anyone else."

"But you ARE hurting her, Ranma... and you're hurting ME!  You're 
hurting your family!  Don't you care about that?  Can't you see that 
what you're doing is wrong?"

"But Mother!  You're asking me to ruin her life - to ruin mine - to 
ruin Ucchan's - how is that any better?  How will that fix anything?"

Nodoka tried another tack.  "You said that Ukyou was your friend!  
Your childhood friend!  Surely she can be made to understand why 
she must relinquish her claim!  If she loves you; if she is really your 
friend, then she will do it."

Ukyou started to say something at that, but Ranma beat her to it.  
"Yes, Ukyou is my friend!  That's why I chose her!  As badly as Pop 
and I have treated her, she's been there for me!  She's been a friend 
when I really needed one - when no one else wanted to be!  Is it so 
surprising that I might want to have that in my life?"

"You make her sound like some sort of saint," said Nodoka bitterly.

"Saint?"  Ranma looked perplexed.  "No, she's no saint.  But she is the 
first of my fiancees that wanted me, and was willing to trust me.  We 
may squabble, but she'll at least tell me what she's feeling!"

"So you will not leave her?  You will not go back to Akane?"

"No!"  Ranma clenched his fists in frustration.  "I left her once, 
Mother.  I am NOT going to make that mistake again."

"Ranma... you break your mother's heart..."

"Mother... I'm sorry..."

Nodoka gave full vent to her pain, lashing out at her son as thirteen 
years of bitter loneliness burst forth.  "Then go!  Just GO!  Leave me!  
If you won't do what you know is right, then it is up to me to think 
of a way to restore our family's honour!"

Ranma stood for a moment, gaping at his mother.  Shock, horror and 
pain fought for control of his expression, and he seemed to be having 
trouble breathing.  Finally, a shudder passed through him, and he 
hung his head.  When he looked back up at his mother's face, the 
pain and the sorrow were still there, but there was something else as 
well - resignation, perhaps.  It was all Ranma could do to keep his 
voice from breaking as he told her, "I...  I understand."

Slowly, Ranma turned and left the dojo, walking toward the main 
house.  He did not look back.  Ukyou stood, her gaze moving back and 
forth between mother and son, a stunned expression frozen on her 
face.  She watched Ranma enter the house, then turned once more to 
his mother.  Favouring her with a withering look, the young 
okonomiyaki cook ran after her fiancé, leaving Nodoka standing by 
herself amidst the debris.

*** o_O ***

By the time Nodoka had calmed down and returned to the house, 
Ranma and Ukyou were nowhere to be found.  Nodoka searched the 
house, but somehow she knew what she would find.  It was empty.  
She walked sadly into the living room.  They could not have been 
gone for long, perhaps no more than a few minutes.  It might as well 
have been hours.

A chill passed through her as a sense of emptiness settled over the 
house, and over her heart.  Ranma had been there for the first time 
in over twelve years, and then for less than thirty hours.  Now, even 
so shortly after his departure, the house felt wrong.  Incomplete.  
Empty.

Nodoka began to wish that she had dealt with Ranma more calmly, 
more rationally.  She had let her pain, and her loneliness get the 
better of her, and she had said a lot of things that she didn't really 
mean.  She knew that she had hurt her son; she had seen it in his 
eyes.  She should have chosen her words with more care.  A sinking 
feeling gnawed at the pit of her stomach, a feeling which grew in 
intensity as she noticed several items that had been left on the table.  
Trembling, she bent down to investigate.

The first was a note - the handwriting was Ranma's, though how she 
knew that she couldn't say.  It was short, just two lines long, asking 
for her understanding, if not her forgiveness, and that she deliver 
the accompanying letters, if she got the chance.  Nodoka looked, and 
sure enough, there were two letters sitting on the table where the 
note had been.  One, a thick one, was addressed to Tendou Akane.  
The other, little more than a note itself from the feel, was addressed 
to her sister Nabiki.

The last item on the table made Nodoka's blood run cold.  There, tied 
once more in its silk wrappings, lay Ranma's tanto.  A snippet of the 
previous day's conversation replayed in her mind.  At the time it had 
been said in such a soft voice, but now it was loud as thunder in her 
ears.  "...the second possibility is that you will hear what I have to 
say, and you will reject it... and me.  I will leave this here.  I will 
renounce my family, and I will never darken your door again..."

Her own words from the dojo followed, the way an avalanche follows 
a skier.  "Go!  Just GO!  Leave Me!"

And then, the expression of pain and sorrow that had crossed her 
son's face as he had uttered those fateful words... "I understand."  
Then he had left, just as she had asked.

She looked back at the note, now crumpled in her fist.  It hadn't been 
written to 'Mother' but to 'Saotome-san'.  "...I will renounce my 
family..."  Saotome Nodoka sank to her knees with an anguished sob 
as she realised that Ranma... that her son... was gone.

*** O_o ***

Happousai was not a happy man.  As was the rule, when Happousai 
was not happy, no one else could be allowed happiness either, least 
of all his two cowering students, Genma and Soun.

"What have you two fools done *this* time?" snarled the ancient 
pervert.  "I come back from a short visit to China, and what do I find 
has happened in my absence?  I find that the two of you have chased 
off almost every female martial artist in the area!"

"We're sorry, Master..." Genma was groveling.  He'd gone for the pond 
when Happousai had first showed up, but the old man wouldn't allow 
it.  Soun, meanwhile, was sobbing in true Tendou fashion, wailing 
incoherently about his beloved daughter and the future of the school.

Favouring the pair with a heated glare, Happousai tapped his pipe 
into the palm of his hand menacingly.  "I get back, and where is my 
star pupil?  She... I mean he, has run off, with that cute okonomiyaki 
cook no less.  THEN I find that dear sweet Akane has taken off in 
pursuit, with no one to defend her.  The Chinese cutey's gone after 
him as well, AND the crazy one with the flower fetish.  DON'T YOU SEE 
WHAT YOU'VE DONE?" he roared.

"They're all GONE!  All the pretty ladies!  And, it's YOUR fault!  Just 
what is it that you plan to do about this mess, eh?  How do you plan 
to atone for this?!"

Genma was almost speechless in fear.  "Don't worry, Master," he 
babbled, "Akane will find Ranma, and she'll bring him back.  And 
everything will be all right again, you'll see!"

"Maybe she will," Happousai snarled, "but even if she *does*, what 
am I supposed to do in the meantime?  Panty raids are no fun if 
there's no challenge, and with Ranma and all the women who can 
fight gone, where is the fun?"

The old man began to pace.  "No, no... this just won't do."  He stopped 
to glare again at the two cringing figures.  "Get your things packed, 
boys, we're going on the road again."

"Master, No!" gasped Genma.

"Are you defying me?"  Happousai's tone was low and dangerous.

"But Master," wailed Soun, "If we go, who will look after the dojo?  
Who will protect my darling girls?"

"Who cares?" stormed the pervert.  "You two are a disgrace, d'you 
know that?  What is to become of the school if *you* are the best 
that it can produce?  You've let the future of the Art slip through 
your fingers!  And you let him run off with a weapons user by all the 
gods!  What were you *thinking*!"

Stomping off toward his room, Happousai tossed back, "You two 
clowns have three hours to get packed.  Be ready, or you *will* 
regret it."

A strained silence of a sort descended on the Tendou living room, 
broken only by Soun's bawling and gnashing of teeth.  In the 
background, a phone rang.  This was ridiculous, thought Genma.  How 
had all of this happened?  What had he done to deserve such 
misfortune?  He shook his head.  Life on the road with the master 
was a harsh life indeed, given the Master's... appetites.  What were 
he and Tendou going to do?

"Saotome!  What are we going to do?" wailed Soun.

"I don't know, Tendou.  I don't know."

Nabiki walked into the room, and favoured the pair with a bored 
look.  "We just got a call from Auntie Saotome."

Genma's head snapped up and he stared at Nabiki.  "What... what..." 
he stammered.

"What did she say?" asked Nabiki sweetly.  "Nothing much.  Except 
that she'll be here in a few hours, and that she was particularly eager 
to talk to you, Uncle."

Genma paled.

"Oh... and she sounded VERY upset," Nabiki said as she left the room.  
"I don't know what it was all about, but I think it's safe to say that 
she is *pissed*."

"Tendou-kun?"

"You have a plan, Saotome-kun?"

"You heard the Master.  Let's get packed.  NOW."

*** o_O ***

That night the couple checked into a hotel near the train station.  The 
morning would see the start of their journey out of Tokyo.  Ranma 
had wanted to find less expensive accommodations, but Ukyou 
insisted, and Ranma was far too tired and emotionally drained to 
argue the point.

When they got to their room, Ranma dropped his pack in the closet, 
and headed for the bathroom.  A few moments later, a damp and 
disheveled Ranma-chan walked back out and collapsed into one of 
the beds, burying herself deep in the covers.

Ranma-chan curled into a tight ball, and Ukyou could hear the sobs 
that tore themselves from the red-head's throat despite obvious 
efforts to quell them.  Ukyou moved toward the bed, intending to 
comfort her fiancé.  She sat down and put her arms around her as 
best she could.  "It's okay, Ran-chan.  Let it go.  Let it all out."

Ukyou was a bit startled when the figure she was holding stiffened 
and pulled away from her.  "No, it is NOT okay..." Ranma-chan said 
with a snarl, "Guys do not cry, dammit!  Guys do NOT cry!"

"Everyone cries if they're hurting bad enough," said Ukyou.  "There's 
no shame in crying, even for a guy."

"What do you know?" snapped the red-head.  "YOU can go back any 
time you want to, and your Dad will be glad to see you..."

Ukyou stepped back, a pained look in her eyes.  "And you think that 
means that I can't understand?  Should I stop *trying* to understand 
just because my scars are different from yours?"  She turned away 
and closed her eyes, not even trying to keep the hurt out of her 
voice.  "Do you really believe that I'll think any less of you because 
you can cry?"

A plaintive, almost strangled sound made Ukyou look back at her 
companion.  Ranma-chan was huddled in the middle of the bed, her 
knees drawn up against her chest.  Tremors shook her as she fought 
to contain her anguish; another fight that she was losing.  She looked 
up at Ukyou, her expression full of lonliness and despair.  "Ucchan?" 
she said in a very small voice.  "I'm sorry..."

"Oh, Ranma..."  Ukyou sat down next to her again and drew her into a 
tight hug.  This time there was no resistance.  Ranma-chan collapsed 
into the embrace, burying her face in Ukyou's shoulder, letting the 
tears flow freely as she finally allowed herself the 'weakness' of 
crying.

Ukyou just held her, listening to her muffled sobs and making small 
comforting sounds.  This release was just what Ranma-chan needed.  
After a time, the shaking stopped, her breathing slowed, turning 
deep and even, and she became a dead weight in Ukyou's arms.

Freeing herself gently from her sleeping fiancé's grasp, Ukyou tucked 
her into the bed, and pulled the blankets up over her.  Gazing down 
at the snoring red-head she smiled sadly.  Ranma-chan looked more 
at peace than she had in days.  That had to be a good sign.

Making her way to the other bed, Ukyou fell wearily into it.  It had 
been such a very long day.  She turned out the light and lay for a 
time, staring up into the darkness, thinking.  The worst was over, at 
least she hoped that it was, and they had made it through.  The road 
ahead was still not a smooth one, but it was wide open.  It took a 
while, but sleep finally came.

*** O_o ***

The next morning, Ukyou awoke and looked over to find Ranma-chan 
lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling.  It looked as though she 
had been crying again; her face was tear-stained, and her eyes were 
red and puffy.  But she was calmer now - a little more of her usual 
determination showing through.

"Ran-chan?" she asked.  "Are you okay?"

"No."  For a long time, Ranma-chan said nothing more.  When she did 
speak again, it was barely more than a whisper.  "You were right, 
Ucchan.  It was a mistake.  It would have been kinder to have left 
her with her illusions."  There was a pause.  "And me with mine."

Ukyou sighed.  "Oh, Ranma... you know better than that.  You did the 
right thing.  It may not feel like it right now, but you know that you 
did."

"How can you say that?  The 'right' thing would have been for me to 
have kept my original promise... for me to have committed seppuku.  
It was the only truly honourable solution."

"Ranma, if I thought you really believed that, I'd smack you silly."

Ranma-chan's response was dry.  "And what makes you think that I 
don't?" she asked.

"I know that it would have been the easy way out," Ukyou snorted.  
"I know that if you had really believed that you deserved to die for 
the mess that you're in, your mother would not have been able to 
stop you the other night.  And above all I know that you're not a 
quitter."

"Even I get tired of fighting losing battles, Ucchan," said the red-head 
wearily.  "And I seem to be losing so *many* of them lately."

"Thanks a lot," sniffed Ukyou.

Ranma-chan closed her eyes and groaned.  "You *know* that's not 
what I meant."

"Yeah, I do.  But I also know that it's not like you to spend so much 
time feeling sorry for yourself.  What is it that you're always telling 
me?  'A Saotome never *ever* quits?'"

The red-head heaved a deep sigh.  "But I'm not a Saotome anymore, 
am I?"

Ukyou wondered just how hard it would really be to kick herself.  
"I'm sorry, Ran-chan.  I know that this is hard for you.  I just hate to 
see you so down.  It's... unnatural somehow."

"Oh, I'll be all right.  It's just that my home... my family... they're all 
gone now.  There's nothing left."

"There's me," said Ukyou quietly.

"But Ucchan, I don't even have a *name* to give you anymore."

"What's in a name?" Ukyou shrugged.

"Whaddya *mean* 'what's in a name'?!  Tradition... the School..."

Ukyou smiled and began to recite, "What's in a name?  That which 
we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet;  So Romeo 
would, were he not Romeo call'd, retain that dear perfection which he 
owes without that title.  Romeo, doff thy name, and for that name 
which is no part of thee, take all myself."

Ranma-chan looked at her fianceé in surprise.  Noting her expression, 
Ukyou grinned sheepishly.  "It's from 'Romeo and Juliet'... for some 
reason, I've always liked that play."

Ranma-chan nodded and was silent a moment, as she sorted out the 
meaning in the quote.  "Thank you, Ucchan.  That... helps."  Images of 
the Kunou siblings flashed through the red-head's mind, and she 
shuddered. "Please, though," she said with feeling.  "Just don't even 
*mention* 'roses'.  Especially not black ones."

It took a minute for Ukyou to make the connection, and she giggled.  
"Gomen, Ran-chan, Gomen!  It's just that I never wanted you for your 
name."  With a mischievous grin, she leaned over and whispered 
something in the red-head's ear.

Ranma-chan's eyes grew wide as saucers, and she flushed a bright 
crimson.  "Um.  Yes.  Well, we'll talk about that later, ne?"

*** o_O ***

After a hot shower and a large breakfast, Ranma was feeling a lot 
better.  He was still subdued, but his natural optimism was beginning 
to come back to the surface.  He and Ukyou got to the train station, 
and were trying to decide where to go.

Studying the map at one of the kiosks, Ranma finally stabbed at a 
point on the display and said, "How about here?"

Ukyou looked where he was pointing.  "Are you sure. Ran-chan?"

"Why not?  It'll be a chance to make a fresh start.  There'll be lots of 
people around, and plenty of work for someone with my skills.  And 
I'd imagine that you could make a killing with your okonomiyaki..."

Ukyou studied the map again and considered.  Ranma just might be 
right.  She grinned at the thought.  It was certainly as good an idea as 
any.  "You're on, Ran-chan.  Let's go!

*** O_O ***

TO BE CONTINUED

*** O_O ***

END EPISODE TWO

*** O_O ***

Author's Notes:

If you've gotten this far, Zen thanks you for taking the time to read 
this!  It is Zen's hope that episode three will be out a LOT faster than 
episode two was.  Zen has no plans for any more dark epics along the 
lines of "Bitter End", so they should not get in the way.

You'll note that this episode overlaps parts of the first episode - it 
picks up with Ranma and Ukyou the day of their encounter with 
Ryouga, and follows them until they get to see Ukyou's father.  It 
picks up with Akane on the evening of the day she announces to her 
father her intention to follow after Ranma.

What's in the future for Ranma and Ukyou?  Well, things will go 
wrong as they always do... but you can be sure that these two will 
come out on top, and that they will continue to grow close as their 
relationship develops.  Zen hopes to make upcoming episodes a little 
less angsty, and a lot more warm and fuzzy.  At least for *some* of 
the characters.

A number of people have started following after them - and you'll be 
seeing more of them from time to time as they complicate things for 
the happy couple in future episodes.

Next in line, though, is an experimental fic... Zen's first true attempt 
at a crossover.  It's well over half done, and is, in part, what held up 
this episode.  Look for it soon, or else expect to read that Richard 
Lawson has gone postal and started shooting fanfic writers. ^_-

As ever, comments and criticisms are welcome.  Zen has tried to 
weed out most of the typos, but Zen is also certain that there are still 
plenty of them in here.  The little buggers breed like crazy.

Again, Zen owes a lot to his pre-readers who were willing to take the 
time to point out all the flaws in this story.  Some of them were even 
fixed.  Thanks to Nick Leifker, Sebastian Weinberg, Sean Gaffney, 
Richard Lawson, Greg Sandborn, Mike Loader, Travis Butler and 
Trisha Sebastian.  And if Zen has left anyone off this list, please 
accept Zen's apologies and Zen's thanks.

Thanks to all of you for your patience, and your interest in seeing 
this story continue.  Zen hopes that you will think that it was worth 
the wait, and Zen'll try not to let you down. ^_^

As ever, comments, observations, large sums of cash, and anything 
related to the Lovely Angels can be sent to:

Ayanami@mindspring.com

or Snailmail
c/o Anime*Niacs
244 First Avenue South
Franklin, TN  37064

Doumo Arigato Gozaimashita!

Zen no Itan-sha
January, 1998