A quick note, when this story begins, almost everything in the manga up through Book 36 (i.e. before Jusendo/the wedding) has happened EXCEPT Ranma has never met Nodoka or even heard anything about her. Events she was originally a part of have circumvented her absence in this timeline. Also, since I'm crossposting (as of Chapter 5) there will be a handful of very minor changes, but I'll be doing my best to keep their impact to an absolute minimum.

Chapter 1: A Chill in the Air

Typically, winter in Nerima was a lenient thing, cold enough to bring a flush to the cheeks and a shiver to exposed fingers but hardly so frigid as to be obtrusive to daily life. An average December day would look much the same as any other, save for a couple added layers of clothes: teenagers sporting the latest winter fashions, lovers locking gloved hands, mothers swaddling snugly bundled babies. Only rarely did any morning frost last through the sunrise, and when it did, the sight was more a novelty than anything else, something for students to chat idly about before class started. The last recesses would be puddles by then.

So that evening, when the wind began to bite like a starved hound and a film of ice formed atop the canals, the ward became something it rarely ever was: still. The streets lay empty. The warblers kept their silence. Stray cats too cold to hunt huddled outside the houses with central heating. Even the trees seemed to slow their steady crawl towards the dusk-darkened clouds, if one watched long enough to tell.

Ranma found the quiet unsettling, and thought he'd been tense enough already without all this, thanks. He jostled around on the hard, sloped roof tiles, trying in vain to find a comfortable way to sit before giving up and wallowing in frustration and discomfort. He folded his arms over his knees and sighed a small puff of wispy breath. Eyes peeled, he kept his gaze steady over the houses and lanes surrounding the Tendou residence, performing a meditative exercise involving the expansion and contraction of ki to pass the time.

He felt Akane's presence before he heard the ladder hit the edge of the roof on the other side, before her footsteps started clacking along the tiles behind him. She stopped just on the edge of his peripheral vision, hands on her hips, pale yellow scarf flitting a little in the breeze. He kept his eyes forward.

"There you are, Ranma!" she said, mild annoyance coloring her voice. "I've been looking all over for you. How long have you been sitting out here?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. What's it to ya, tomboy?"

The scowl forming on her face was interrupted as the breeze picked up, and she rubbed at her forearms through the sleeves of her sweater. "Jeez, it's freezing, aren't you cold?"

He suppressed a shiver. "Nah."

Akane chuckled dryly at that. "Oh, sure. It'll take more than a little chill in the air to phase Saotome Ranma, Man Amongst Men, huh?"

"Look," he said, glaring sideways at her, "did ya come here to tell me somethin' or did ya just wanna bug me?"

Ignoring his question, she sat down next to him. "What are you doing out here anyways?"

Ranma looked back over the rooftops. "Watchin'."

"Watching?"

"Yeah. Been way too quiet lately. Haven't had anything stupid happen to me in more'n a week, so I figure the kami are gonna hit me with somethin' even dumber than usual soon. I wanna see it before it hits me for once."

Akane pursed her lips slightly in thought. "Now that you mention it, things have been oddly calm. Ukyou's been extra busy managing Ucchan's, the idiot siblings stopped bothering you when finals started, and the Amazons have been in China for- what did Cologne call it? 'Council business'?"

He nodded. "Somethin' like that. And to top it all off, even Ryouga's been leavin' me alone. Now whenever I see the guy, he just wants me to lead him to Akari's place so he don't end up in Peru or whatever. I ran into him yesterday, an' he didn't even call me an honorless bastard or nothin'." He sighed. "I kinda wanted to start a fight with him right there, just to get this waitin' over with."

She arched an eyebrow at him, and said, in a slightly exasperated tone, "You know you're setting yourself up for disappointment, right?"

That confused Ranma enough to make him meet her gaze. "Whaddaya mean?"

"Look, winter break just started, and for once we've got some time off from the usual chaos. If you spend all of it worrying about when the next attack is going to come, you're only going to end up wasting it. You should be enjoying it!" She gesticulated vaguely outward. "Having a good time! Going out and doing… whatever it is you do for fun!" She paused for a moment, her brow furrowing. "You know, I've lived with you for almost two years and I don't think I've seen you do anything with your free time but train. What do you do for fun?"

"Train more, duh. And, uh, eat ice cream, I guess. And…" His voice trailed off. "Just those two things, really."

Akane tilted her head slightly. "Of course. Alright, then how about your friends? You could try spending break with-" Again, she paused. "Hmm. Come to think of it, who do we know that isn't trying to kill you or get you to marry them?"

The list was exceptionally short. He almost brought up Hiroshi and Daisuke, but he wasn't sure if they were his friends or if they just saw him and his life as an endless stream of entertainment best experienced with front-row seats, and he figured that doubt was evidence enough to disqualify them. "Just you, and... I mean, Ryouga an' me are on pretty alright terms now, so I think he counts. Oh, and Ucchan, 'course."

She smacked a fist into her open palm. "Oh! This is perfect. We can go eat at Ucchan's tonight, and then we'll all hang out together after!"

The suggestion certainly sounded appealing. He'd not gotten to see his oldest friend outside of school in two weeks, and his longing for both her company and her cooking bordered on desperation. Monday nights tended to be rather slow, so even with the recent spike in business Ucchan's probably wouldn't be too crowded. However, the preemptive sense of guilt festering in his empty gut made him think twice. "Wait, what about Kasumi? I don't wanna just ditch her dinner for someone else's."

Akane's eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "Wow, Ranma, if I didn't know any better I'd say you'd finally found it in you to care about someone other than yourself." Ignoring his grumbling, she continued. "Anyways, that's what I came up here to tell you. Kasumi agreed to help out Dr. Toufuu at the clinic tonight, so she doesn't have time to cook. There were leftovers, but your dad got to them first, so we're on our own tonight."

"'Course he did. Alright, yeah, Ucchan's it is." Ranma rose to his feet and arched his back to let some tension out, realizing he must've been sitting there longer than he thought. His head lolled back a bit as he stretched, which allowed him to catch a glimpse of the snowflake drifting through the air above him before it melted on his cheek. He stilled, then straightened out, touching a finger to where it landed to make sure he hadn't just been seeing things. Soon, more and more specks of white were falling lazily around him, and he found his thoughts drowned out by surprise and just a pinch of wonder.

Akane stood up as well, eyes wide in unbridled excitement. "Oh… Oh, wow…" She spun around slowly to take it all in, careful not to misstep on the slanted surface. "It's so pretty! I haven't seen snow since I was a little girl!" Sticking out her tongue, she tried to catch a flake as it passed. The first few escaped her, but eventually she managed to follow one in its path on the wind. She turned around to show Ranma, only to find he'd become shorter and damper in the absence of her attention, his untamed fringe now cherry-red and clinging lightly to his forehead. A smattering of half-melted flakes speckled the top of his head, and a few more almost seemed to go out of their way to join them.

Akane snickered. "I guess even when it's frozen, water still seeks you out."

Her words spurred him to refocus, and he turned to ask her what she meant. It took him a moment to realize that Akane hadn't actually gotten any taller. He let out an acquiescing sigh and shook the wet out of his hair. "I'll meet you downstairs."

"Do you want to change back first?"

Ranma considered for a moment, then waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, we're gonna have to walk there, an' it'll just find me again anyways if I do. Like you said." Hands in his pockets, he jumped down to the ground two stories below.

The weather proved him right as snow slowly blanketed the ward, enough to form a consistent, if thin, layer of white on the rooftops and pavement. Within minutes his feet were soaked through his thin shoes and each sloshy step sent a shiver of discomfort up his spine. Akane on the other hand seemed to be doing just fine in her chunky yellow rain boots. She even had an actual bounce in her step, making the hem of her heavy navy coat ripple a little as she walked, like the wake behind a skipper. He didn't quite share her excitement; he'd seen quite a bit of snow over the twelve years spent traveling and training and the phenomenon had long since lost its novelty, especially after his father forced him to train in the terrifying "art" of outrunning avalanches. He'd certainly been surprised to see it in Tokyo, but once the realities of wet feet and plummeting body heat had reasserted themselves, the luster was lost once more.

The soft, pale light leaking under the Ucchan's noren beckoned the way a campfire in the wilderness would, heralding sweet relief from the cold and crackling with lively chatter. The pair ducked under the curtain and Ranma sighed a contented "Ahh!" as warmth enveloped them. A wave of indistinctly savory smells followed suit, carrying tantalizing hints of just about any foodstuff one could ever think to top okonomiyaki with and then some. The restaurant was surprisingly busy; tables and chairs typically only brought out on weekends lined the left wall opposite the counter and grill, all but a few seats and stools filled by students and young couples, as well as a few small families. A cheery waitress in a white kimono dotted with blooming crimson flowers was serving tea to a table on the far end. Ranma made to call out to her before he was interrupted by a voice to his right.

"Oh, hi Ranma, hi Akane!" Another waitress, identical to the first down to the red bow tying up her long black ponytail, turned from the section of the counter she'd been cleaning and bowed. "Ukyou-sama will be super happy to see you! Let me get you some extra stools." Before Ranma could say, "Hey, Konatsu," she'd hopped deftly over the counter (no small feat in her restrictive outfit) and disappeared behind the service curtain.

As he and Akane made their way to the grill, the restaurant's eponymous chef waved them over enthusiastically with one hand, the other occupied flipping okonomiyaki. "Well hey, you two! What can I get y'all? Hold on, lemme guess: scallops for Akane and a few Ran-chan specials for the one and only?"

Akane nodded hungrily, but Ranma raised a finger. "Actually, can I get those with cod? Been cravin' fish all day."

"Sure thing, sug." Without taking her spatula hand off flipping duty, Ukyou poured four more puddles of batter onto the grill to sizzle and gathered up ingredients. "You want some hot water?"

Ranma waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, my clothes are still kinda soaked, gotta wait 'til they're dry."

"Alright. Kettle's on the stove already so just let me know." Without looking up from the grill, Ukyou pursed her lips in thought and said, "Come to think of it, what does happen when you touch cold and hot water at the same time?"

Akane's brows crawled slowly upward in interest. "Actually, I've always kind of wondered that myself."

Grimacing slightly at the thought, Ranma shook his head. "I get the same weird tingly feelin' as when I usually transform, 'cept it just sorta keeps happenin' for a while. Gets hard to think straight. Usually just leaves me in this form when the hot water cools down though."

While Ukyou was frowning, likely trying to imagine the sensation herself, Akane spoke up. "You know, if you wore something besides those old Chinese silks and slip-on shoes you probably wouldn't transform nearly as often. I mean," she shook one rainboot-clad foot, "I'm totally dry under these."

"Hey, I like my silks," he protested. "An' besides, I can't. These are the only kinda shoe that fits both my forms' feet, an' even these are a little tight on my guy form. Can't wear pants without adjustable waists neither."

Akane looked thoughtful for a moment. "That's probably why your dad wears that gi of his all the time, right?"

A hint of anger slipped into Ukyou's expression at the mention of Genma, but Ranma merely chuckled. "Nah, pops has been wearin' that thing as long as I can remember. He ain't that much smaller as a man than as a panda anyways."

Just then, Konatsu reentered through the service curtain carrying two stools, sans cushions, and set them up by the counter's end with a melodic "Here you go!" before returning to cleaning duty elsewhere.

Ukyou replied, "Thanks, Tsu," then shouted, "Ko! Three for table eight," and rapidly slung a trio of okonomiyaki towards the other Konatsu. The waitress caught each one on a serving platter with practiced ease and approached the designated customers.

Ranma studied the two Konatsus for a moment and took down some mental notes. "Man, that Split-Body technique of hers is somethin' else. Even the old ghoul can't do nothin' physical with her Splitting C-cat's-Hair clones."

Nodding, Ukyou said, "Yup, that girl's got real talent, even if she can't count cash and treats every five yen coin like it's made of gold."

"You ain't still payin' her only one of those an hour, are ya?"

Her brow furrowed in shame as she stared at the grill. "No way. I was only doing that to try and get her to stand up for herself, but she just kept accepting it like I was doing her a favor giving her anything at all. Only ended up reinforcing what her stepmother drilled into her head. I still feel pretty crappy about that." She shook her head. "Nah, she gets free food an' real wage, plus the extra futon in my room."

Akane looked at her like she'd just admitted to taunting higuma in Hokkaido for fun and cried out in disbelief. "What?!" A number of patrons turned at the disturbance, and Akane flushed brightly before leaning in and continuing in a hissed whisper. "You let Konatsu sleep in your room? But- I mean, you- we all saw when the explosion hit, right? When the top of hi- of that outfit burned up, and… you know!"

Ranma muttered under his breath. "Here we go."

Ukyou drew closer and spoke in a hushed yet heated tone, barely quiet enough to keep both Ko and Tsu from overhearing. "What do ya want me to do, huh? Make her sleep in the living room, like a pet? Treat her 's if she doesn't deserve to live like a human being, the way they did?" Pulling back, she closed her eyes and drew a long, slow breath. "Sorry hon, didn't mean to get like that. I just… that kid's had it hard enough as is. If she says she's a girl, she's a girl. Last thing she needs is more folks in her life telling her who she is."

That brought Akane's boil halfway down to a simmer, but the indignance in her eyes persevered. "But… then, what about baths?"

Ukyou shrugged. "She's pretty insistent on using the furo alone, an' I usually go to the bath house down the street anyhow. I don't think she's bathed with anyone else at all since her parents died."

The last comment made Akane falter, her hard expression crumbling into conflicted acquiescence. "...I guess it's not like… she can help it in the first place. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I'd been raised as a boy."

A frown tugged at the corner of Ukyou's mouth and the look in her eyes grew heavy. "Trust me sug, it makes everything real, real complicated."

Recognition of her faux pas spread rapidly across Akane's features, followed by pink-cheeked embarrassment. "Oh! Jeez, I'm sorry Ukyou, I kind of forgot about that. I mean, most of Furinkan knows you're a girl, and you use the same locker room as the rest of us, and, um-"

"S'all right, I get what you mean." Ukyou sighed. "I guess I don't act like much of a guy anymore, huh? My clothes are about the only part of that whole disguise I've got left." She gave a maudlin smile. "Really, it's probably a good thing my father isn't here so he can't make sure I keep it up."

Ranma let out a low chuckle. "I bet if I'd been a girl pops woulda done the same thing to me, the way he goes on 'bout manliness 'n all, 'cept he'd'a stuck close to keep me from slippin'. Woulda mixed my life up somethin' nasty."

Quirking a brow, Ukyou asked, "Who says he didn't?"

"Huh?"

"Mix up your life."

"Oh."

Ranma stared at the countertop and tugged lightly at his pigtail with one hand as a small, uneasy pause settled between the three of them. For all of five seconds, the sounds of the restaurant came to the forefront, backdropped by the low whistle of winter wind outside. A chill seeped into the air, though he could only barely feel it.

He shrugged. "I mean, it ain't all that bad, really. I'm doin' alright."

Ukyou's face bore an emotion he couldn't place and she looked like she wanted to say something, but another thought seemed to take over as she hastily turned to check on the food. "Oh shoot," she said, flipping each of the four okonomiyaki onto their ungrilled sides. "I almost burned your orders! I'm sorry y'all, a minute later an' I'd've been serving up charred frisbees." When Ranma shot her his best pout, she laughed. "Don't worry Ran-chan, they're still good."

"I bet he'd still eat them if they weren't." Akane added wryly.

He shot her a glare. "Hey, gimme some credit. I don't just eat everything I see, y'know."

Barking out a laugh, she replied, "Ranma, I've seen you down a whole pack of rice crackers so stale that an archeologist would've thought they'd been in our kitchen since the Edo period."

He was about to retaliate with a comment about her cooking, but for once couldn't find one in him. "Yeah, well, I need all the nutrients I can get. Got two whole bodies to feed, y'know."

"I don't think it works that way."

"Whatever, tomboy."

As the night wound down, the three of them eased into comfortable, casual conversation. Ranma found himself enjoying more than just the food; he couldn't pinpoint anything specific - maybe it was the soothing warmth radiating from the grill, maybe it was how civil Akane and Ukyou were being with one another, or maybe the steady progression of customers finishing their meals and filtering out of the restaurant had allowed him to slowly let his guard down - but at some point the night had become inexplicably… easy. He didn't really know what to make of it. It almost scared him.

He only realized how late they'd stayed when Ko and Tsu disappeared in a puff of thick, pale smoke, leaving behind a lone Konatsu who began preparing the restaurant for closing. Much to Ranma's disappointment, he'd only gotten a glimpse of it in his peripheral vision and thus still had no clue which Konatsu had been the original, or if either one had been her in the first place. He wasn't even sure how much it would help him to know; the Split-Body technique was frustratingly elusive, particularly since it hardly ever took him more than a handful of days to replicate a technique after seeing it in action. In the two months they'd known each other, Konatsu had performed it in front of him multiple times, and yet he still felt completely out of his depth. He'd be lying if he said it didn't eat at him a little.

By the time Akane registered the sound of wooden chairs being stacked atop one another, the place was halfway to immaculate. "Oh, is it really ten already? We better get going before Kasumi gets worried."

Ukyou, who'd just started gathering up her dirty utensils, pointed a spatula stuck all over with bits of batter at the two of them. "Alright, but y'all better come back before school starts again, yeah? We've got two weeks of break this year, and if you think you can keep Ran-chan to yourself for all of it, think again, sug." She winked playfully, then walked through the service curtain with her hands full of foodstained metal. Ranma gave a quick wave goodbye while Akane simply rolled her eyes.

Just before they slipped out into the cold, Ranma said, "Gimme a sec 'Kane, I'll catch up." She raised a questioning eyebrow but complied, boots sinking into snow as she disappeared through the doorway. He turned to Konatsu, who was emptying tepid water from a kettle into the small sink behind the counter with her back to him. "Hey, Konatsu."

She spun round, a touch of surprise evident in her eyes, then put the kettle down. "Oh! What can I do for you, Ranma?"

"You're, like, the best kunoichi of your generation, right? Like the legend says an' all?"

Konatsu turned her head, one hand rising to her cheek as the other waved dismissively in a gesture of modesty that might've been more convincing if not for the overtly preening smile on her lips. "Oh, I couldn't possibly claim that title for myself, even if it somehow happened to be true!"

Ranma nodded. "So you must've had a damn good mentor, yeah?"

Her hand fell from her cheek, and though her smile didn't quite follow suit, it suddenly seemed a wan impression of what it had been a moment ago. "Actually, I didn't really have one. Father passed before he could teach me much. I had just enough time with the scrolls he left me to master my family's techniques before my stepmother found and burned them. Since then, I've just been figuring everything out on my own."

Ranma's eyebrows jumped at the revelation, though otherwise he kept his composure. "Self-taught, huh? And the Split-Body technique, izzat a family thing or did ya come up with it yourself?"

"It's built on something I learned from the scrolls, but that one's mine."

Ranma nodded thoughtfully. A slow moment passed as his face scrunched up in contemplation, eyes unfocused. Uncertainty trickled into Konatsu's body language, but before she could break the silence he nodded again, this time only once, eyes closed, expression resolute. He backed up a step from the counter, then supplicated himself in a deep kneeling bow, forehead nearing wood as he exclaimed, "Please teach me your technique!"

Konatsu had to lean over the countertop to see his bowing form. "Um, don't get me wrong, I'd really, really like to pay you back for how you helped me before! But my family's code won't let me teach anyone anything unless it's part of an exchange."

Ranma opened his eyes, then pulled himself up to a sitting position. His eyes unfocused as he mentally combed through his repertoire. A simple ki blast wouldn't be a fair trade, so the Mouko Takabisha was a dead end, and the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken and Hiryuu Shoten Ha were both Amazon techniques, so they weren't his to give away in the first place. A frown weighed on his lips as he realized that, though the Umisenken would likely be an equivalent swap as well as a fitting addition to a kunoichi's skillset, his father had sealed the technique away; imparting that knowledge to her would be nothing short of traitorous.

He rose to his feet and brushed off his pants with his hands. "Ah well, thanks for hearin' me out at least." As he passed through the doorway, without turning around, he raised one hand above his head in a casual wave. "See ya round."

By the time he caught up to Akane, she'd reached the walkway that ran parallel to the frozen canal. He slowed down as he approached until he was beside her, matching her pace. For a quiet moment, she didn't acknowledge his presence at all, letting the crunch of snow beneath their feet dissipate into the surrounding silence. His legs were thoroughly soaked halfway up to the calf before she spoke up.

"So," she said evenly, her words coming out in puffs of visible breath that partially obfuscated her face, "what was that about, Ranma?"

"Hmm? What was what about?"

She scoffed. "Whatever. If you want to go back and keep chatting up your "cute fiancée" then don't let me stop you." She picked up her pace, pulling ahead of him.

"Huh?" Ranma paused, then half-jogged back to her side, hands in his pockets to keep out the cold. "Is that what this is about? 'Kane, I wasn't even talkin' to Ucchan!"

"Oh yeah? Then what were you doing?"

"Talkin' to Konatsu."

Akane froze in her tracks. She turned to look down at him with a glare that could bore through steel. "Are you kidding me? Three fiancées isn't enough for you, no! You just have to chat up every pretty face you see!"

Ranma's brow furrowed. "I wasn't chattin' her up, alright? I was just askin' her about one'a her techniques. Nothin' an uncute tomboy like you needs to be jealous about."

Between Akane's huffs and Ranma's deep, steadying breaths, the wisps streaming from each of their mouths clouded the space between them to the point that he could only barely make out the red-hot fury in her face as she shouted, "Oh, I bet she was showing you her 'techniques' alright! Well, see if I care! I bet you perverts are just perfect for each other."

With that, she stormed off, leaving Ranma standing alone in the snow. Every muscle in his body seemed to have gone tense, his joints had locked in place, his jaw was clenched. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, deeply, in… then out. In… then out. In… then back out in a heavy sigh. After a few seconds he managed to unclench his fists. When he started walking again, for the first few steps his feet only sank ankle-deep into the snow around him, which had suddenly gone from the soft slush of the city to tough, solid snowpack, half-frozen together like that of tall mountain slopes.

When he arrived at the Tendou dojo, the window to the room he and his father shared on the second story was dark, which usually meant Genma was either asleep or out late drinking. He let just an inch of tension slip out of his shoulders. After entering the genkan, he sat down in front of the shoe rack, slipping off his wet shoes. He'd gotten the first off and was fidgeting with the second when his father's voice sounded from behind him.

"Boy."

Ranma suppressed a start and cursed the carelessness that led him to enter through the front instead of sneaking in through the window. "Hey, pops."

"Don't think I wouldn't notice that you haven't done any training since lunch. I didn't raise a layabout who would let himself slip as soon as things got easy. Meet me in the dojo in ten."

"Sure thing, pops." After setting his shoes in their spot on the rack, he rose and slipped past his father without making eye contact. While he made his way upstairs to swap his soaked silks for some dry clothes, his father called out to him.

"And don't forget to change back before you do! I didn't raise some weak little girl either!"

Ten minutes later, a taller, broader Ranma in a white gi crossed the walkway between the house and the dojo only to find Genma seated on the porch next to the open door. His face bore an expression that Ranma, if he didn't know any better, might label as genuine shock, eyes wide and unfocused, hands betraying the slightest tremble where they rested on his thighs. The sight was so unusual that it brought him to a halt at the end of the walkway. "Uh, pops?"

Genma gave no sign that he'd even heard him.

Ranma quirked an eyebrow. "Alright, well… I'm just gonna do some warm-ups, okay?"

Again, no response.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Meetcha inside, I guess."

Proceeding through the open door, Ranma was immediately greeted by a rancid smell that nearly made him gag. He looked around the dojo for anything that could possibly produce such a stench, but the only thing out of place was a cluster of black markings about two feet wide in the center of the polished wood floor and an object not much bigger than a piece of chalk sitting at its edge. He shook his head. The dojo was no stranger to being vandalized; once a month or so some kid would tag the wall or the gate, or even the side of the house, if they were especially sneaky. He had to give this particular tagger credit for managing to get in and out unnoticed, that was a feat the average graffiti artist was simply not capable of. He approached to get a better look at their handiwork but stopped short when he recognized the characters that had been spelled out in clean, direct strokes:

早乙女
(Saotome)

Curiosity piqued, he then examined the implement that had been used to write his family name. It looked almost like some sort of dried up root vegetable, pale and inconsistent in color with multiple bumps, kinks and wrinkles along its length. The end closest to the last stroke of the last character was stained black with ink. The other end was flatter, an unsettling collage of deep crimson and charred black bits. A hint of off-white poked through near the middle of the burnt mess. Those colors started to blur in his vision, soon joined by the neutral tones of the dojo's interior, when Ranma realized he was looking at a human finger.

The next thing he knew, he was stumbling backwards, only vaguely conscious of his actions. He couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away from the finger until the ground fell out from under him. He crashed into the snow, the frigid sting of the slush and the tingling change of his curse working in tandem to snap him back to his senses. He struggled to prop himself up on his elbows, no small feat in a foot of snow and the folds of his now loose gi. Once righted, he looked to the door of the dojo, and even though his position below the porch prevented him from getting another look at what he'd just seen, the knowledge that it was still there, just beyond his line of sight, was enough to force him to look away.

In his desperate attempt to look at anything but the doorway, Ranma caught Genma's gaze, and for the smallest fraction of a second he saw something impossible. He saw raw guilt in his father's eyes. It was there for a paper-thin sliver of a moment before it disappeared and Genma looked away into the distance, but by then the image was already burnt into his brain. A tumultuous blend of shock and confusion whirled within him, making the notion of getting up a fringe possibility at best, so he did the only thing he could and let his head sink back into the snow, hoping the cold would slow the world's relentless spinning to a crawl.