Chapter 2 - Travel

Ranma Saotome found himself gawking at all the sights of greater Tokyo like the cliche of a young country boy in the big city for the first time. It wasn't that it was his first time in such a highly populated area, it was just that he'd never really seen it at night. It didn't look quite as busy during the day as it did at nighttime, probably because there was more neon lighting and car lights flashing around him to grab his attention. He stopped for a moment to take in the sights of Narita, where the international airport his flight was departing from. Regaining his bearings he quickly launched himself from his perch and flew from lamp post to lamp post in the general direction of the airport.

Down at ground level a small group of young women were emerging from a middle market hotel where they had spent the night before their next job. They hadn't really slept all that much opting to take advantage of their companies generosity for once and had ended up spending most of the evening drinking, eating and generally having a good time.

One Hikari Tomoe, while not as inebriated as some of her companions, was certainly very happy at the moment. She had perhaps a few too many cups of Sake she thought, but it had been such good quality and it's temperature had been perfect, it would have been a waste to have let it grow cool. So she rationalized, as she emerged with her friends, and laughing at some of the rather raunchy comments her companions had begun to spout, she threw her head back in laughter. Her eye, sluggish though it may have been, caught a glimpse of movement up on a lamp post on the other side of the road. She paused as this particular movement slowly resolved itself into the shape of a young man crouching on the thin metal bar as if it were as sturdy as any floor.

She took note, as best she could, of his strong features, shoulder length pigtail and red and black chinese cut clothing, before he stood then launched himself with all the confidence in the world towards the next lamp post a good 20 metres distant, clearing the gap with apparent ease, settled for a moment then launched himself once again forward. Hikari couldn't believe what she had just witnessed, the shock quickly ridding her of her drunken haze. Shaking herself of her wonder she looked around to find her friends had moved on without her so she hurried to catch up, all the time wondering what or who the young man had been.

A little over an hour later found Ranma standing in what seemed to be an almost endless queue of people slowly moving forward towards the almost dozen JAL check in desks in the main departure lounge of Narita International. He spent his time in the line trying to remember as much of the english he had learnt during the time traveling with his father, after two years of no use he knew it was going to be touch and go but figured that if he applied himself he could get back up to standard in a few weeks of hard work, especially if he was going to have to speak it day in day out.

His thoughts slowly drifted toward the two men that had offered him a place to stay with them. They had said he didn't need to worry about rent or any of the other costs of living, just that he trained with them while he stayed under their roof and everything else would be provided, given, they said, if he could keep up. He had snorted at that, he was Ranma Saotome, the man to have beaten a demi-god. What could these two men, hardly older than himself, have to offer that would make him flounder? It had succeeded in making him curious enough to take their offer though.

He was interrupted from his musings by a polite cough ahead of him and to his right, he glanced up to find that somehow he had become the head of the queue. Having the decency to blush slightly Ranma quickly took his place in front of the check-in counter and proceeded to go through the tedious business of slugging through all the necessary paperwork.

What seemed to be at least a half hour later, though the large wall clock showed only ten minutes had passed, Ranma had his flight ticket in hand and began to head in the direction of the International Departure lounge, only to be interrupted by a soft but hungry growl from his stomach. He grinned sheepishly at the people who were looking at him oddly and decided that maybe a quick visit to one of the cafes he'd spotted in the terminal may be in order.

Ranma shortly had himself seated at the rear of a rather respectable looking cafe with a number and several items of food to take the edge off of his hunger while waiting for his meal and coffee to arrive. He smiled at the thought of his coffee. Before he first visited a net cafe he'd only ever seen Nabiki drink the dark aromatic liquid, but her blend was so overpowering he didn't even want to consider trying it. The kind guys at the net cafe, hoping to get on his female form's good side, had somehow cajoled her into trying it, and she had found herself liking it.

She'd barely had to use her vaunted Saotome charm on the poor guys - almost as soon as she entered the store she had the attention of almost everyone in it, all she had to do was saunter up to the counter, pout a little about not being able to use a computer, and they were like putty in her hands. After several sessions over a couple of weeks Ranma had the info she wanted, but she had gone back to the cafe a few times anyway, to get more free coffee and also to learn more about computers, seeing as they were starting to become such a driving force in a regular persons day to day life.

Ranma was shaken out of his musings as one of the waitresses placed several plates laden with various foodstuffs in front of him. Deciding the beast that was his stomach had gone unfed for long enough, Ranma began to attack his food with his normal gusto, not noticing the stares his vigor was earning him. Eventually the feel of about half a dozen pairs of eyes focused on him managed to gain his attention. Looking up from the latest dish being consumed, he found himself gazing directly into a striking emerald gaze.

"You certainly look like you're enjoying your meal, young man."Said a musical voice from somewhere underneath the pair of eyes that had captured him. The woman laughed at his inability to respond and shifted back so to not lean directly into the flustered young mans face.

"Uh... yeah course I am, I mean it's good food, how can I not enjoy it?" He was somewhat confused, his eating habits had never been called into question before.

"Well, yes it is rather good food here. Do you think perhaps, you could enjoy your food at a more, uh... sedate pace?" She asked softly in return.

"You mean not eat as if it were gonna be stolen at any minute?" He asked slowly, thinking over his own eating habits and comparing them to most others in his life.

"Yes dear, that may work best, slow down and enjoy the food, don't inhale it." She smiled at him, the kind of smile that made Ranma think of the sun rising.

"So... why did you come over here? Other than to suggest I slow down, that is?" Ranma asked whilst swapping an empty plate for a full.

"Well you were making a bit of noise dear, and it was distracting. Seeing as no one else was going to come and ask you to slow down, I figured I might as well give it a try." She gave a slight shrug as if to say 'see, simple, no other agenda.'

"Uh... yeah thanks for the advice lady, I'll keep it in mind." With a bit more decorum Ranma cleaned the final plate of any food and leaned back in his chair, sighing in contentment.

While one of the waitresses come up to take his dirty plates away Ranma decided it was probably almost time that he left to wait in the departure area to make sure he didn't miss the flight.

"Ah, that was good. Compliments to the chef." He called to the waitress behind the counter, hoping whoever was in the kitchen heard him.

After clearing his way through the customs and security checks Ranma found himself a seat that overlooked the illuminated flight apron and sat watching the massive constructs known as planes taxi back and forth across the tarmac. This would be his first time flying via an airway other than Akane Air, as a result there was a certain amount of apprehension that had somehow managed to worm its way into his stomach and settle there.

After about a hours wait the call for his flight came over the PA so he rose and began to make his way to the boarding gate only to find himself in the middle of another long queue. Even after all this time without being followed Ranma was still on high alert for an attack from any direction, so when he found himself walking down the boarding tunnel the fact that he had managed to escape everyone finally began to settle in.

"Hikari, we have a problem." A young stewardess called to the head attendant of the flight, Hikari Tomoe.

"What is it now?" she sighed in exasperation, nothing seemed to be going right with this flight, it may have been the slight hangover she had that was making things worse, but she didn't really want to think about that.

"Well you know that big tourist group that we've got?" The stewardess asked.

"Yeah, that damn mess. I'm not looking forward to clean up." She shivered as she thought about the large group of American tourists.

"Well it turns out someone assigned them seats that were already taken, fortunately there are only six double ups but thats still going to cause some issues." the girl explained.

"Shit, ok have you got the seat numbers?" the stewardess held out a slip of paper as Hikari thought quickly "Good work, thanks. Ok this is what's going to happen, there are going to be six more people in Business class than there should be, I'll be stewardess for there this flight so I'll look after them, but first we need to get these people up there. Come on, lets go greet our customers." She threw on her professional smile and started towards the entrance hatch.

The first three to be sent to Business class were rather pleased with the whole situation - it isn't often you get a free upgrade after all - but the fourth person made Hikari do a double take. It was the young man who had been on the lamp post earlier that evening. She refused to let her personal curiosity overwhelm her though, she was a professional after all and couldn't let a little curiosity throw her off her game.

"Good evening Mister Saotome, I'm afraid that due to a clerical error your reserved seat is unavailable," she saw some worry come into his eyes though none touched his face, "you are in luck though, we have some seats available in business class so we can place you there for the duration of the flight."

It seemed to take a few seconds for what she'd said to properly process, and then his face lit up in a smile that made her stomach jump slightly. His eyes flicked quickly to her name tag.

"Then lead the way Miss Tomoe, I don't want to hold anything up any further than I already have." He gestured behind him, indicating the small line of people that had built up.

"Of course, of course, please come with me." for once Hikari was slightly flustered, not many passengers got this kind of reaction from her but there was something about this young man; an innocence of some kind that just made her heart flutter.

Ranma was rather pleased with the most recent turn of events, as soon as Hikari had said there was a problem he had been afraid that he would have to wait for a different flight but instead he was being led up to the business class area of the plane. He may not have flown before but even he knew that Business class was a nicer place to be compared to economy.

"Here we are, Mister Saotome." Hikari motioned toward an empty pair of seats and bowed slightly to him.

"Ranma." he corrected.

"Pardon me?"

"Call me Ranma, it's mah name after all, an' every time ya say 'Mister Saotome' I keep thinkin' your talking to mah pop." With no sign of attack, well-fed and now promote up to luxury, Ranma finally relaxed - unfortunately regressing back to his rustic, improper speech in the process.

Hikari blinked "Ah... of course Ranma, then you call me Hikari if you want." she smiled at him, usually passengers were far more up tight about the normal formalities. Maybe this flight wouldn't be as mundane as all the others for once.

"Sure thing Hikari though, shouldn't you be gettin' back ta work?" He smiled that heart stopping smile again "We can talk more later."

Hikari jumped slightly at the offer and also at the fact that he was right, she shouldhave been working, not making idle chatter with the passengers. With a bow she turned and quickly made her way back down the isle towards the entrance of the plane once again.

Ranma watched Hikari's retreating form with a slight smile gracing his lips; now that there was no Akane or any other fiance around to try and kill him for looking sideways at a good looking female he could actually let his appreciation show in his features. Despite public opinion he was neither a pervert nor was he innocent, after over two years of being put into awkward and often compromising positions he had lost the boyish innocence he had once held, it was now replaced by a healthy respect of the female figure and tempered with caution of violent fiances.

Settling into his chair Ranma extended his senses to get a feel over the rest of the passengers; most of what he felt was a sense of anticipation, under laid by some amount of both fear and excitement. A slight adjustment and he refined his senses to just those in his immediate area, with less space and numbers the influx he received was dulled but heightened at the same time; reduced because there wasn't such a huge pool of emotions and sharpened for the same reasons.

Reaching out over the large number of people on the aircraft he slowly started to exude an aura of calm over all the other passengers so that he didn't get a headache from the constant nagging worry that most people seem to feel before a flight. Finding Hikari was a little more difficult as he hadn't had enough time to get to know her aura well enough to distinguish it quickly - finding the attendants was easy enough given the business attitude they all had, it wasn't long after that when he found the one that they all deferred to, he assumed it was Hikari.

Her aura was a bit of a mess, it had the tinge of a hangover shadowing it and also the annoyance at all the little complications that come up with passengers pre-flight. Ranma decided to give her a hand, reaching out one more time he eased away the shadow to bring some more stability and pumped up her confidence slightly with some of his own. A small amount of confusion came into her aura, obviously from the unexpected recession of her hangover, but it was quickly crushed by the stern business attitude.

Shifting into a slightly more comfortable position Ranma figured he would grab a couple of hours sleep, he had close to 14 hours to kill after all and he wasn't one to pass up a chance at sleep. The newly gained hangover might have been a part of it also, but he wasn't about to admit it.

He was roused from his sleep a few hours later when the aroma of food reached him from the business class galley. He may not have been one to pass up on sleep but if one thing surpassed his want for rest it was his want for food. He sniffed at the air tenderly but was unable to identify any particular food, though it did smell good.

He was interrupted from his musings when a lithe young attendant appeared beside his chair with a light smile on her face.

"Ah Mister Saotome, you're awake. I hope you slept well?" the girl chimed.

"Ranma and yes I did, thank you, the smell of food bought me back around though." He replied, trying to keep his speech tidy instead of the rustic and ill mannered way he usually spoke.

"Ok then Ranma, we have a choice of either Japanese style or Western style meals. The Japanese is fish with rice ad miso where the western is either chicken or ham with assorted vegetables, which would you prefer?" She didn't skip a beat transferring between friendly and business like.

"Any chance I could have both? I tend to eat a rather large amount." Ranma replied with a slightly sheepish smile.

"I'm sure something can be arranged Ranma, we have more for this section than we really need, so I doubt if anyone will notice or care if we indulge one of our passengers." She replied with an equally bright smile as the one she had given him when first she had arrived. She bowed slightly to him then left to get the food from the galley.

"Ah i'm loving being in business class, finally something goes right for me." Ranma mused out loud as he stretched his legs and arms as best he could in the confines of the chair.

"Thats good to hear Ranma," came a female voice from behind him. Turning, Ranma saw Hikari standing behind his seat with two meal trays in her hands. "Mind if I join you? Don't worry, I'm on break." She gave him a smile that would have made Kasumi proud and he found himself unable to say no, so instead he just shifted over to the empty seat next to him by way of invitation.

As Hikari placed the tray of food in front of Ranma he rewarded her with a quick smile and a word of thanks before attacking the meal before him. The pair said little as they worked through the standard airline fare, just enjoying the company of one another. Eventually the plates were cleaned off and the two new friends relaxed back into the comfortable seats. Ranma was patting his stomach in a sign of contentment as Hikari tried to covertly watch him out of the corner of her eye. Feeling her gaze on him Ranma turned to face her as best he could and gave her a sloppy grin.

"Have I got somethin' on ma face?" He asked before patting around his chin trying to find the offending morsel.

She laughed at his antics, it was a laugh with a silvery musical quality to it and Ranma felt something inside him pull flips. "No, no silly, it's just I saw you earlier this evening jumping off lamp posts through Narita. Are you a martial artist or something?"

"Or something seems about right." Ranma muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Hikari said, missing his reply completly.

"Im a martial artist." Ranma said more clearly.

"Ok, any particular form?" She inquired.

"Not really, I belong to a school called Anything Goes, its a joke really, got no moves of it's own it just steals all the good moves from other styles and throws 'em together, hopefully in a way that works." Ranma replied with a small snort of what Hikari guessed could only be contempt.

"Ah ok then. So why you heading to New Zealand? Is it for a training trip or something?" Hikari was starting to really relax in this guys presence and as such her speaking skills weren't as tightly reigned in as they could have been.

"This time its the 'or something' option, things were starting to fall apart on me back home so I decided to bail for a while, get some fresh air and then come back in a couple of years and deal with it all then." He summed up his chaotic life in a few words with much the same tone as someone would use to discuss the days weather.

"Ah ok, makes sense to me." Hikari chirped.

"Really? You dont think its cowardly and unmanly to run away from your problems?" Ranma asked, his tone finally shifting to something more powerful.

"No I dont actually, as long as you plan on returning and hold to that plan then its more an extended holiday than running away, thats my opinion at least, you could probably relate it better to a long, long training trip." She replied slightly defensively, this seemed to placate the young Saotome heir as he flashed a smile at her response.

"Yeah, it is just a long training trip aint it?" he mused out loud, vocalizing the idea and finding he like the explanation.

"You know thats nothing more than pure sophistry right?" A new voice sounded in from the seats in front of them, one Ranma recognized but couldn't place where from.

"Sara thats not nice!" Hikari reprimanded the owner of the voice.

"Maybe but its true, oh hey kid. I figured it was you." The woman, Sara, was obviously kneeling on her chair to look the pair over and now Ranma could easily recognize her.

"Your that woman that pointed out I was making a scene in the cafe!" Ranma exclaimed in slight shock.

"Yeah well at least now I know why you were eating so much and so fast, martial artists have bottomless stomachs, at least the ones I know do." She smiled at the young man as he blushed slightly at being reminded of the incident.

The trio continued to talk for some time until one of the junior attendants came and stood next to Hikari. "It is time for you get come back onto shift ma'am." the younger woman said with a bow.

"Crap sorry, looks like i've got to go guys, i'll join you again on my next break." Hikari said slightly flustered at being caught taking an extended break.

"Thats ok dear, im sure Ranma here can take care of me while your gone, oh and could you get us each a drink? Talking is thirsty work after all." Sara replied slightly amused at the Head Attendants embarrassment.

"Of course Sara, play nice now you two." Hikari said with a laugh before leaving them to discuss whatever came to mind. As soon as there was room enough in the isle to move Sara shifted from her seat in front of Ranma and into the one Hikari had recently vacated.

With her figure framed by the two chairs for a short moment Ranma took advantage of it to get a better look at his newest companion. Tall for a woman, near 5 foot 8 inches, with long blonde hair that was kept in a thick braid that reached her lower back. Dressed in a formal blouse, skirt and jacket combination Sara posed as quite a authoritative and worldly individual, her clothes clung to her in just the right places obviously chosen for maximum impact.

Taking the seat next to him Sara quickly began to interrogate Ranma on his abilities, plans and idea's. She seemed to take a genuine interest in his stories about all the martial arts schools he'd learnt during his time, paying special attention to the house type martial arts such as Martial Arts Cooking and Martial Arts Sewing. It was when he mentioned his training in the field of therapeutic massages that she really perked up and badgered him endlessly until satisfied that she had every possible scrap of information.

"Give me one." She demanded of him suddenly.

"Huh?" cam his intelligent reply.

"My back hurts and I want you to fix it so give me a massage and fix it," Sara explained as she reclined the chair to its flattest then rolled onto her stomach and removed the jacket "you will have to work through the blouse i'm afraid, not even I will take my top off while on a plane, I could never fly again if I did that."

Ranma just sat there staring at her for a while wonder just what the hell was going on as this woman he barely knew demanded a back rub of him.

"Don't take all day kid, we only have so long on this flight after all." Sara said over her shoulder after a few minutes of waiting.

"But isn't this a bit ummm... perverted?" Ranma asked slowly as his upper brain functions started to return to normal.

"What the hell are you on kid? Giving someone in pain a massage ain't perverted, its a service that people sometimes go to lengths to get, now hurry up and get to work." Sara replied somewhat tersely.

"uh, ok then." Ranma said slowly before shifting into a more comfortable position to work on Sara's back. Hands pausing over her back he considered why exactly he was going through with this, part of it was a want to see his new friends happy and another was in defiance of what Akane had always claimed, here he was doing something 'perverted'and he was getting away with it he smiled at that thought.

Closing his eyes he focused his aura to just below his hands then pushed it into Sara, she would feel nothing more than a pleasant warmth as long as he kept his intentions away from causing pain, slowly Ranma matched soft pulses of healing and relaxing chi into her body to her heartbeat for maximum effect, all before even setting his hands to her back.

Placing his hands at the base of Sara's neck he began to feel for all the telltale signs of accumulated stress and worry, finding several such knots Ranma focused a small amount of healing ki into his fingertips before working to undo them. Once that task was complete he began to shift his hands further over her body, repeating the process for every knot he found. Eventually he finished his administering his magic and leaned back away from Sara's body, stretching out the few kinks that had developed in his own back from leaning in such an awkward position for a length of time. Looking at the woman in front of him, Ranma realized that at some point during his ministrations she had fallen asleep.

With a soft laugh over the apparent effect his massage had on the older woman Ranma shuffled his way into the isle and made his way towards the galley to get another drink and perhaps talk with Hikari some more seeing as his previous conversation partner was now sleeping peacefully. While on his way towards the galley his bladder chose to inform him that it was full and required attention so he took a quick detour before seeking Hikari out. Ranma's efforts however came to naught eventually as he found the galley empty and he hadn't seen Hikari during his short detour so he assumed she was off seeing to some duty or another and headed back to his seat, only to find it occupied upon his return.

"Ah Ranma there you are, Sara was was just telling me how good you are at giving massages and seeing as I'm on my break I was hoping I could get one also." Hikari exclaimed excitedly when she noticed Ranma then she seemed to realize what she was doing and blushed furiously "Th... that is, if you don't mind?" she asked in a more subdued tone.

Ranma just looked slightly confused, Hikari was acting the same way the two elder Tendo daughters had when they had discovered his skills as a masseur. It had been when Kasumi had strained her back doing some housework, Ranma being ever the naive young man offered his knowledge of massage techniques designed to help the body recover after training injuries and the like. Kasumi had reservations about the idea but eventually the pain became too much and she accepted the offer, she had been purring within 10 minutes of Ranma's ministrations and asleep before the 20 minute mark. Once awake Kasumi had evidently told Nabiki about Ranma's abilities because the next day she came to him and offered to clear his debts for a massage every second day, given they affected her the way they had Kasumi, needless to say Ranma managed to clear his debt with Nabiki in short order.

Ranma was at odds with himself, here in front of him were two very attractive women whom he had just met but created a rather fast friendship with and they were asking for a service he would gladly give to them for free, but for the past two years he had been beaten for so much as looking at another women cross-eyed and it had conditioned him to be very wary of contact with females in any capacity. It hadn't mattered with Kasumi and Nabiki because they were the Tendo girls, they were safe ground (mostly), but women like these would have gotten him the beating of a lifetime if he had so much as thought of getting within a few feet of the pair.

The two women noted his hesitation with mild interest, they both knew they were attractive and played the part to the hilt to get what they wanted, so it came as a surprise when this young man was so filled with apprehension abut being in their presence. Sara had a slightly better understanding of what was going on though she had passed off most of his stories as just that, stories, it seemed that they actually held more than a grain of truth so she decided to try and reassure him.

"Hey come on kid we are thousands of feet in the air and well out of Japanese air space by now if any of those nuts are looking for you they are miles behind us, your safe." She put on her most reassuring smile and it only grew as Ranma's shoulders relaxed slightly as he started toward them.

"Ok then Hikari do you want the whole nine yards or just a teaser for now?" Ranma asked with a quick smirk, none of the apprehension from before showing through.

"I think I'll take the whole nine yards thanks Ranma." Hikari giggled as she lay down on the seat.

Sara sat back in her seat and watched as Ranma started to work his magic on Hikari and slowly drifted back into a restful sleep.

Insert customary Disclaimer here.

A/N: I figured this was a good place to stop this chapter, sorry it took so long, had some trouble with writers block of a sort. Ranma's Chi abilities probably seem a bit strong even at this point but im going to pull a DBZ and introduce a whole new level of strength into Ranmaverse so really what Ranma can do is childsplay at this point, this fic is mostly about growth and he cant grow if he's already hit his peak now can he. So don't pick at what Ranma can do with his Chi and Aura because Im going to be focusing on them for some key events in the story, if you dont like it then dont read it.

As per normal reviews are welcome but flames will be ignored.

Enjoy.

Mority