Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.

"Learning Curve"

Part XII (v1.4)

by: J. Wagner

"Look! Up there!" Ukyou wiped a layer of dust from her brow and shielded her view as the clouds cleared, letting the sun shine fiercely down from above. The Hiryü Shöten Ha blast seemed to be dissipating as quickly as it had manifested, and as the winds faltered and weakened, the practiced martial artist could see that high above, silhouetted against the now crystal blue sky, hundreds of suspended shapes, though only the large ones were easily visible.

"What? I... I can't see a damn thing!" Mousse blinked a few times, but as expected, his vision didn't improve. His glasses were gone, now, and though he usually carried a spare, he didn't want to risk putting it on in case the winds picked up again.

"Is it Nabiki? Where is she?" Akane ran out of Mousse's arms, toward Ukyou, her eyes scanning the heavens. Her voice was desperate and hoarse. "Ukyou! Do you see her?"

"...No." Ukyou answered, after a momentary silence. "Um... we better scatter. All that stuff's coming down, and it's doing it FAST!"

"You no have tell Shampoo twice!" The Chinese girl threw a still dazed Kuno over her left shoulder. "Come on, stupid stick-boy. Shampoo save you for some reason."

"But..." Akane began, again, and started to look around frantically. Everyone else was already running in random directions, as the sky began to rain debris of all shapes and sizes. The small bits that had been caught at the bottom of the tornado were the first to come down, like a light drizzle, followed by the slightly larger, but still not too heavy, bits, like plaster. Then, finally, the shards of glass, by the thousands, rained down, the sound of them shattering on the ground bordering on deafening. Akane dove for cover under a large sheet of metal before they came, fortunately, but had to leave her shelter as the massive chunks of concrete, metal and wood began to fall with increasing frequency.

Then, a thunderous impact that was felt, more than heard, caught her attention. Turning, the youngest Tendo saw a small cloud of smashed asphalt, and slabs of pavement upturned by the fall of something. Her mind told her it was probably just a piece of an I-beam, or something else large, but otherwise noteworthy only as one less piece of deadly falling debris. But a feeling, a gut instinct, disagreed. Half in shock over what she was thinking, and half numb with the thought of what she might see, Akane crept closer to the impact site, still wary.

Around her, the last bits of what was once a regular part of Nerima fell, and settled into a dull backdrop. It was like a bomb had gone off, and leveled an entire street block. Car horns were blaring, dogs were barking, and some house alarms had even gone off. Akane only now noticed them amid the devastation of the Hiryü Shöten Ha. the barely audible creaking of broken concrete on concrete relaxing into position was the only sound she could hear. Feeling slightly bolder, Akane kept forward, a single word escaping her dry lips.

"Nabiki?"

Akane reached the edge of the crater, and carefully pushed aside a two-meter long length of the road that was stuck in the air, blocking her view. There, in the center of the devastation, two forms were visible, nearly motionless. Akane gasped, leaned all the way over, and reached down to where her sister lay, limply cushioned by the body of Hibiki Ryouga. Amazingly, miraculously, both seemed to be breathing. Akane wiped her eyes, and half laughed, half choked. Nabiki was alive.

"N... Nabiki..." Ryouga coughed, his voice strained.

"Ah..." Nabiki seemed to snap out of a stupor, and carefully moved her arms a little, resting them on his bare, bruised chest. Turning her head, she saw his face, for the first time since he'd caught her in the Hiryü Shöten Ha blast funnel. "Ryouga-kun..."

"Nabiki." He choked back any more of a reply. "Nabiki..."

"Yes?" She leaned in a little closer, and felt his breath, still hot, but now soft and labored, on her lips.

"Could..." He took a deep breath in, and completed his sentence. "Could you get off me, please? I've got a fight to finish."

Akane blinked. Hard.

"What?!" Nabiki huffed.

"I can't fight with you on me like this," he said, plainly.

"You sure know how to ruin a moment, Hibiki!" Nabiki shook her head, and pushed off him. She was still a bit unsteady, but otherwise fine. She felt a bit sore in places, and unusually tired, but otherwise the pain was largely gone.

"What moment?" Ryouga was even slower to get up.

"What happened to me? To ...us?" Nabiki added, now on another topic entirely.

"Looks like you healed up really well." Ryouga gave her a small smile. "It comes with the territory."

"And... the other things?" Nabiki looked away, blushing a little. "Did you see...?"

"Worry about it later." Ryouga's voice became steady, again, and more than a little cold. "Ranma's coming... He thinks he's won. But ... This isn't over yet. I'm not finished... yet."

The two girls climbed out of the rubble and wreckage just a few seconds before Ryouga did. Indeed, as they looked towards where the building had been, they saw a familiar figure, walking on measured steps, through the haze and the remaining dust clouds, towards them. He looked pale, and dirty, but at least he was male, thanks to more than a few boiling pools of water Ryouga's Ki had created. Torn and ragged clothes were barely hanging onto his shoulders. Bloody splotches covered his ripped pants, and flowed freely from more than a dozen open wounds. It looked like he had a few broken ribs.

Ryouga stood, with visible difficulty. Another deep breath filled his lungs, and he stood straight and tall, again. If Ranma looked bad, Ryouga looked worse. The lost one was the perfect picture of a beaten man. While his eyes were unharmed, and he could still see perfectly, he had bruises across virtually the rest of his visible body - a slight limp hampered him noticeably, and he had what looked like one or two broken ribs on his right side. Akane also noticed something else a millisecond after Ranma did, even as Ryouga tried to disguise it. It was the reason Ryouga had asked Nabiki to get off him.

His left arm was dislocated at the shoulder.

"I've seen hell because of you, Saotome." Ryouga took a few steps forward. His battle aura was non-existent.

"Ryouga... it's over. You really do look like you've been through hell." Ranma's words were sincere, but he warily raised his hands in defense. "Don't make me put you down."

Ryouga, somehow, perhaps beyond pain, laughed.

"What?" Ranma's pride got to him, quickly. "You think I'm bluffing?"

Ryouga held out his good arm, and gently pushed Nabiki aside. As he did, she resisted, and grabbed him by the elbow. "Ryouga-kun! Stop! It's over!"

"No!!" That one word left no room for argument, or debate, but he still went on, and using a fraction of his still formidable strength, pushed her out of the way. "This doesn't end... until one of us is beaten, broken... crushed!"

Akane was about to say something, when Ryouga cut her off.

"And I am far from beaten!" Ryouga closed his eyes, as if concentrating on something deep and hidden away, and opened them, renewed by some inner strength. "The Cycle ends today. I'll never endanger those I care about by letting this happen again. I'll fight, and I'll win, even if it costs me my life!"

"Ryouga-kun! Ranma-kun! Please!" Akane tried to reason with the two, but it was too late. Ranma was growling, and concentrating his Ki. Ryouga was like a statue, and several times as immovable, when he set his mind to it.

"If that's the way you want it, Ryouga." He started to move into the Umisenken stance.

"Ah. No you don't!" Ryouga reached to his shoulder, grabbed it firmly with his good hand, and with an audible pop, put the joint back into place. "Me first."

"You know, just when I think you can't get any more inhuman..." Ranma smirked. "You're still too wounded to fight, Ryouga. You're too badly hurt to beat me. Give up now. Please. I don't..."

"A remedy... then." Ryouga felt his mind begin to switch to combat mode, narrowing and focusing on a single, solitary point. He was hurting, and the damage was limiting the amount and intensity of Ki that he could manifest and use. Ranma was going to use the Umisenken, and unless Ryouga could manage to get him angry enough to attack recklessly, he would barely be able to fight back. The lost boy's mind raced, and ultimately came to the same decision he knew he'd have come to anyway. A desperate man couldn't afford to be picky.

The lost boy growled, and the world fell silent. The earth was calm, for a moment at least; even the wind died. Two hundred feet away, and closing, Ukyou, Mousse and Shampoo all felt it coming before it hit; a sense of gathering, in the air and all around them. It was as if some terrible bomb shelter, packed with munitions and explosives, that had laid dormant for years, buried and forgotten, capriciously decided to simply give up and explode in one gargantuan, city-shattering cataclysm. The sense of immeasurable pressure building grew when Ryouga closed his eyes, lowering his head and raised his clenched fists, as if in pain.

Ranma instantly realized what his opponent was doing.

Ryouga wasn't just dipping into the Abyss... he was diving head first into it.

A wind, like dry ice, descended around those present, and there was a faint, barely-noticeable tremor in Ryouga's body, for just a moment, as if his power was fighting to escape from his body, but he kept holding it in. Crackles of white Ki, a color none present had ever seen Ryouga manifest, appeared with rapidly rising frequency, and then, suddenly, and without any further caveat, his Ki exploded into a hurricane of uncontrolled light and fire. Akane and Nabiki stumbled back from the sudden explosion, and Ranma nearly recoiled. Ryouga's mouth opened, and a roar loud enough to be heard almost thorough Nerima exited, assaulting their eardrums.

"No! You... idiot! Ryouga! Stop this now!!" Ranma stumbled back. What the lost boy was doing was suicide - he'd burn out like a light bulb!

Ryouga's face was frozen in mid-shout, his eyes blazing, and the corners of his mouth slowly starting to bleed and tear from the strain. Across his body, Ryouga's wounds began to close, and heal; muscle groups became more defined, and the lost boy's aura seemed to become a small sun. Blood dripped from his clenched fists, and new wounds began to appear, across his body at almost the same rate they began to close up and suture themselves. And then, abruptly, Ryouga's voice gave out, and he fell forward, gasping for air like a fish out of water. His Ki alternated glowing green and red and black, and slowly began to recede. Slowly getting back to his feet, Ryouga smiled, and raised his hands into an open-handed stance.

"What... the hell are you?" Ranma's gasped for words, as he got a good look at the lost boy. Most of his wounds were now just red, sore looking spots. Even the nail-impressions in his palms had stopped bleeding. "What was that?!"

"Everything has a price, Saotome. Sacrifice, and pain... those two are the only currency of true value in this world. I've paid my due. It's worth it... to keep fighting... to make you pay..." Ryouga's voice was still a little shaky. Ranma noticed, and everything began to snap together. The moment the thought came, he attacked with an almost berserker fury. Ryouga seemed totally unprepared, despite his stance, and his bravado. It had been a show - he'd been able to heal himself, though Ranma couldn't imagine how intense the pain must have been to force Ki out and back into his body at such a massive rate, and in such a short period of time, instead of a period of hours like normal Ki enhanced healing required.

However, he had not truly exceeded his limits, despite appearances. Instead, he had carefully consumed the Ki as quickly as he channeled it from within, while maintaining his impressive battle aura. However, while Ryouga's battle aura, as always, had been impressive... and intimidating, it was, in truth, nothing more than a false impression. A true battle aura was representative of the power that its user had at his physical disposal. Ryouga, however, was drained and weakened from the healing, and buying himself time to recover by talking. It was smart, sound, and risky. It would have worked, too, if he hadn't seen Akane and Nabiki, now behind him, looking at his back with shock.

Three hundred blows to the cheek sent Ryouga spinning, blood and spittle pouring from his mouth and nose, and Ranma saw that his guess had been correct. He'd only healed part of his back - most of it was still scarred and bleeding. He'd put everything on display in front of him, so Ranma could see it. That minor mistake was costing him. Ranma kept attacking, forcing Ryouga onto the defensive, where he was weaker, skill and technique-wise. Ryouga was panting heavily now; barely able to keep up with the barrage of strikes Ranma was throwing at him. In the back of his mind, Ranma realized he was short of breath himself, and running on fumes.

"I have to end it now!" Ranma reared back, right arm tensed.

"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!!" The two teens echoed, and both flew backwards from the cacophony of blows. They hung, in midair, for the blink of an eye, before flying backwards and away from each other. Ryouga landed on his shoulder, scraping a bloody furrow in the ground, while Ranma landed on his back, ungracefully, with a hard crunch of weakened bone on unyielding pavement.

Ryouga rolled and got to his feet first, holding up a slab of concrete. "Hey, Ranma! Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The block exploded savagely, and all in one direction - at Ranma. By now also on his feet, Ranma got into a low crouch, as if to block the shotgun like blast. Ryouga leaned forward, just slightly, to see what he was going to do, and Ranma took that instant to move, faster than he felt he'd ever moved before. Closing his eyes, Ranma plowed through the Bakusai Tenketsu fusillade, bits of blood trailing from where the larger, sharper points hit, and kept going until his fist, now crackling with Ki, drove home, burying deep into Ryouga's torso, all the way up to the wrist.

"Aa... aahagh!" Ryouga's mouth heaved specks of black blood, and he stumbled back, gasping like a drowning man.

"Hiryü..." Ranma set himself in place, swirled his hands, and brought them forward, inches from the lost boy's body.

"Shöten..."

Ryouga's aura, still angry and hot, began to distort and flow forward, into and around Ranma's hands. The pigtailed martial artist poured every last drop of his own ki into the mixture, and the air suddenly smelled of ozone. The clash of temperatures, and Ranma's final lunge, pushing the forming tornado up and into Ryouga's lower chest, did the rest.

"HHHHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

Ryouga's chest glowed, and for all of a second, he was able to fight back the blast, even in his half unconscious state. But, inexorably, his feet began to give way, and, in that instant of weakness, he was enveloped and disappeared into the imperfect, but overwhelming, Horizontal Rising Dragon Wave. The tornado stream first widened, and then narrowed, and a blurred black form was swept up in the current like a leaf. Hundreds of feet away, in the same direction, a thick concrete wall, that had survived even the fury of the last Hiryü Shöten Ha blast, shook, cracked, but ultimately held, as a humanoid shape, beaten and battered, imbedded several inches into it. The limp form of Ryouga Hibiki hung there, for a brief moment in time, or perhaps an eternity to some, before slumping forward and falling to the ground.

Unconscious.

Half the length of a football field away, Akane turned Ranma over, and opened one eyelid to check. "He's out cold."

"Good." Nabiki didn't sound concerned with him in the least. "I'm going to go get Ryouga. If the idiot's alive, that is."

Ukyou and Mousse looked at each other. Finally, Ukyou ran up to Nabiki. "Let's go. Mousse... you know what to do with Saotome, here."

"I do." Mousse chuckled softly, a truly evil sound. Then, suddenly, something in his eyes seemed to change while looking down at Ranma, unconscious at his feet. Then, a set of glasses were over his eyes, and his face was a mask.

At the same time, before anyone else could speak up, Ukyou grabbed Nabiki by the waist, and jumped. It only took three quick jumps to cover the distance, and see the motionless body of the lost boy. Both girls gasped, but Ukyou was far quicker, and checked his neck for a pulse. Nervous, and fighting panic, she fumbled for a second, before finding his carotid. A look of relief washed over her features as she found a pulse, weak but steady.

"Ryouga-kun..." Nabiki helped roll the deceptively heavy martial artist over. Ukyou frowned, and stood over the two, as Nabiki checked for herself, cradling his head in her lap. Silently, Ukyou cursed herself - she could never imagine herself acting like that. Saotome Genma and his worthless son had seen to that. Sighing, she stood by her friend, who, she had once thought could have been more, and watched over him... and her. After a few seconds, Ukyou reached down, and picked Ryouga up. He was damn heavy considering his frame, at least two hundred and fifty pounds, all jammed into a body only slightly larger than a normal man's, but she could handle it.

"We have to get him... both of them to Dr. Tofu's." Nabiki couldn't think of a better place. The Tofu Clinic was judiciously stationed equidistant to most of the Nerima 'hot spots' and it wouldn't be the third or fourth time these two patients had been admitted for a visit. Hopefully, after this, they'd only visit for social reasons. Looking around, as she ran after Ukyou, trying to keep up with the other girl's moderate pace, Nabiki saw, for really the first time, the devastation that the battle between the two martial artists had wrought.

In the distance, Firefighters and Police were cordoning off Furinkan High. It was still pretty much intact, but large chunks of displaced rock and stone covered its roof, and in some places, had even punched through into, thankfully, empty classrooms on the top floor. The athletic fields were a total write off - the soccer field was now a jagged, smoking crater, and everything else, from the baseball diamond to the tennis court were covered in a thick layer of debris that had toppled and covered bleachers, stands, fences, everything. Luckily, the Principal seemed both able and happy to repair damage to the school, as well as renovate it at a whim.

The street below them looked like it had been bombed. There were small craters here and there, and literally tons of debris of all shapes and sizes and types. Broken glass was strewn about liberally, and off to the side, one truck was still burning away, and three parked cars had been crushed, one beyond recovery. All were blaring their car alarms like a trapped animal would scream for help. Of the construction site, there was now only a clean circular crater. Nothing was left standing save a few twisted skeletal ribs of tenacious steel. It was a disaster, but it looked like no one had gotten badly hurt except the two that had caused the damage in the first place. The famous Nerima Construction Corp would be busy the next week cleaning it up, no doubt, but they'd never press charges.

They never did.

Business here in Nerima was far too lucrative. Construction companies loved Nerima like Insurance companies hated it. Besides, martial artist duels were a major tourist attraction for Nerima Ward, drawing people from all over Japan, and even overseas, here, as well as the numerous wandering martial artists looking for a challenge. Not that either Ranma or Ryouga really thought of such things before they decided to start tearing things up all around them. Nabiki then, out of the blue, realized something else. She had no idea which one of them had won. Ranma had fallen down and out after his final attack, and Ryouga was unconscious when she and Ukyou got there to check on him.

Nabiki made a quick decision to tell Tofu to tie them both down very, very securely while they were in his clinic.

***

One-week prior to Ryouga's return:

Ranma smirked. He'd shown up at school, on a lark, to pick up some things, and Mousse and Ukyou had confronted him. Apparently, the two had just finished dealing with the Principal's plans to give the entire school hideous haircuts, something having to do with coconuts or pineapples and the Kunos... Ranma really didn't care, except that the two seemed to have gotten around to making themselves some sort of student's champions. ...It was a spot that had been held by him for over a year.

Ranma cracked his knuckles. "You two better move. I'm not in the mood for this."

"Too bad." Ukyou twirled her megaspatula and advanced.

"We've been receiving some... special training." Mousse's claws glinted in the light. "You won't find us so easily beaten this time, Saotome."

The pieces began to fall in place. "The old freak?"

Well, that explained things - notably Happosai's recent deficit of mischief, and his daytime disappearances. Ranma became wary. Happy was an erratic sensei, but the odd behavior hadn't been going on for any longer than a week at the most, and Ranma had been practicing and working under the tutelage of Cologne for even longer. Confidence quickly overcame concern, and Ranma shook his head slowly.

"You two really are pathetic!" He dismissed them with a flick of the wrist. "Well, come on, then. I don't have all day."

"That arrogance will cost you, Saotome!" Mousse ducked and came in fast, claws cutting through air. Ranma dodged the flurry of strikes, noting that they were at near Amaguriken speeds. Of course, Ranma was still faster, and avoided the strikes with apparent ease. Ukyou, meanwhile, was circling them, waiting for an instant to strike.

So far, it was nothing to worry about.

Ranma was about to retaliate, and put Mousse down, when everything became dark. He back flipped, and realized Ukyou had blanketed the area in a smoke screen, a new and improved one, thicker and darker than he'd ever used before. It had a sooty, oily quality, and began to accumulate around Ranma's eyelashes, and it became apparent that he'd have no chance of seeing as long as he stayed in the smoke. Already, it was building up in his nose and throat.

"Damn it!" Ranma felt a sharp blade nick his side, as he dodged a millisecond too late. He tried to back out, and get out of the cloud, but the attacks kept coming, from every angle, and it was impossible to tell which of his opponents was actually in the cloud with him. Cursing mentally, Ranma lashed out, hoping to hit something with the sheer volume of blows he was throwing. He came close, and felt a whisk of long hair brush past his fist, but nothing solid.

And he was rapidly running out of air.

He tried to jump, but without a direction to jump to, he was simply leaving himself a helpless target. Rolling forward, just as something large, fast, and sharp passed overhead, Ranma felt creeping panic rise up his throat, and it tasted like bile. He was losing! He was helpless! All these weeks of intense training, and he was going to lose to a stupid trick like this?

"No way..." He opened his eyes a crack and looked around desperately.

"Ranma!!"

Akane's voice.

Ranma smirked, and kicked out, heading in that direction.

"Damn it!" Another voice, Ukyou's, came from behind. "Mousse!"

"I'm on it!" Mousse's voice came from the side, to intercept, forcing Ranma to step aside and avoid a strike that hit only ground. Mousse was good, and kept at the pigtailed martial artist, hoping to get him lost and confused in the smoke again, but Ranma was ready. Somehow, Mousse could see him in the cloud, and Ranma took advantage of it. He drew Mousse into a quick spiral, but the blind one jumped out before it was complete, no doubt recognizing it for what it was and bailing.

Ranma kicked up and out in that instant, hitting Ukyou as he jumped in to change places with the male Amazon. Oddly, Ranma felt padding give slightly from the impact, and realized that his former friend must have been wearing it to try and dampen the strength of Ranma's blows. Ranma sneered at the thought. Uuchan had reached an all time low, it seemed.

Finally, Ranma felt himself leave the cloud, and he sucked in a deep breath, burning lungs a tribute to Mousse and Ukyou's trap. While physically weaker than he was, generally slower and comparatively overmatched in skill, the two opponents were consistently crafty. Unlike the Kunos, Ukyou and Mousse planned traps that worked, sometimes too well. Ranma landed roughly due to his exhaustion, but recovered quickly.

He looked up, and saw Mousse helping Ukyou up. They were both wearing goggles, and Mousse's were probably his prescription. Clever, if not very honorable, but their trap had failed. He'd escaped, and now... now they'd take their beating like men. Still breathing heavily, Ranma charged, and body checked Mousse just as Ukyou got to his feet, holding his chest as if in pain. Ranma ignored him for the moment, and laid into the male Amazon with a combination of blows, culminating in an uppercut that sent Mousse airborne and into a nearby tree's branches.

Turning, Ranma barely had time to catch Ukyou's megaspatula between his hands a half second before it could cut into his throat. Using his superior strength, he forced it aside, and used his momentum to drive his left elbow into Ukyou's face, giving her a black eye. "I'm tired of this crap, Ukyou!"

Ukyou grimaced, and tried to respond with a backhand, but Ranma caught it, and bent the arm into an arm lock, twisting Ukyou until his back was against Ranma's chest. "I'm tired of these stupid traps... and attacks!"

He pushed Ukyou forward, and tightened his grip. "And I'm tired of you! We were friends once, but if you cross me again, you'll regret it, do you understand me?"

"B... Bastard!" Ukyou struggled. "Let me go!"

"Why? So you can try and cut my head off again?"

"One of them, at least!"

"Oh, very funny. Why do you hate me so much anyway, huh? What'd I ever do to you?"

"You..." Ukyou struggled again, with greater intensity, but to no avail. Chest heaving, Ranma could see tears in his eyes, and suddenly realized Ukyou's voice had increased in pitch.

"Ukyou?" He leaned in. "Geez, don't cry! You're actin' like a girl!"

"I AM A GIRL, you ...you ...JACKASS!!"

"Wha... what?"

"I'm a girl!" She broke free as Ranma's grip loosened to nothingness. Turning to face him, standing tall, she took his hand and placed it on her chest. Ranma's hand trembled like a leaf, and he quickly drew it back like it'd been in the hottest of fires. Stumbling backwards, he almost tripped on his own feet.

Ukyou was a girl.

Ukyou was a girl.

Ukyou was a GIRL!!

"Ukyou... You... you're..." Ranma's mind raced, unable to totally comprehend and deal with everything that had been revealed. Looking at him - her, Ranma suddenly felt sick. He couldn't have... he couldn't have... no! He'd never do that to a girl! Jusenkyou! Maybe, maybe...

"I've always been a girl!" She advanced, and Ranma fell back, his question killed before it left his lips.

"Oh, kami... Ukyou... I'msosorry! What... I mean, why?"

Ukyou gritted her teeth, tears streaking down her cheeks. "I'm the fiancée you left behind, you bastard! I'm the girl you and your damn father abandoned!"

And, in typical fashion, Ranma chose the absolute worst thing to say.

"You mean... Aw, man, I've got another fiancée?"

The slap was like Akane, times ten. It was the sound of a small thunderclap, and then there was silence, broken only by Ranma falling limply to the ground. Ukyou looked down at him, and choked back a sob.

"No. ... You don't."

***

"It's been a week." Hibiki Ryouga poked his bandaged left hand experimentally. "Still hurts."

Sighing, he looked up at the sky.

The roof was his quiet place.

It was a place where he could escape from the madness, and the mundane, and the complicated nuances of being around others, and return to something simpler. The sun was slowly setting, and the sky was briefly ablaze in color. There were hues of red, orange and blue, all on natural display, only slightly marred by the lights and noise of the surrounding human world. It was the colors in the sky he loved. It reminded him of the sunsets he'd seen in China, filling him with a sense of comfort, and humility - of the insignificance of being.

And Ryouga knew he needed both of those things.

Across the sky, a flock of birds took to the air, perhaps to wait the night out somewhere else, maybe the park where Ryouga had spend so many Nerima days and nights. Did Mousse ever fly with them? Was Mousse ever lonely enough to find companionship in the loss of his humanity? Ryouga knew the answer before he'd asked it. Mousse may have been desperately obsessed with Shampoo, he may have been a blind duck, but he'd never given up what made him, him.

Ryouga smiled. Mousse seemed to have found companionship, now, regardless. He'd woken up and seen the two of them, talking animatedly. He'd recovered from the fight before Ranma had, naturally, though the pains of his desperation ploy at the end still haunted him. Brief flashes of pain occasionally reoccurred, but it was just that: physical pain, a factor long since dealt with. A minor annoyance at most.

Before leaving, he'd spoken with Ukyou privately. She didn't want the feud with Ranma to continue. She'd explained what had happened. Despite Saotome, or in spite of him, she had decided that enough was enough. Ryouga tended to agree. There had been a time in both their lives, not very long ago at all, that revenge had been all they had left to cling to. Ukyou was moving on. She had already started down that road when Ranma and Ryouga had fought, days ago.

She was healing her soul.

Ryouga was still nursing his back into being.

The sun was almost gone, now, and soon the world would be dark, like it always was, and he'd be alone in the night. He'd been along in the night since they day he was born, and it had always been preferable to being alone in a crowd, like he was on the occasions he'd tried to socialize and join the bulk of humanity. Ryouga closed his eyes, not wanting to see the sun leave for the day, to see it abandon those who depended on it. Instead, he concentrated on the smells and the sounds, and even the Ki of the world around him.

Footsteps.

"Hey."

"Hey." Ryouga opened his eyes, and looked up at her.

She sat down in the roof tiles, next to him. "Watching the sun set, huh?"

"Not really." He admitted, and leaned back, looking up at the sky. "I don't really like watching the sun set. It's depressing."

In his mind, the sun setting and the sunset evoked very different feelings.

"That's too bad. It really is beautiful." Nabiki took in the colors, and the contrasts.

"Never a camera handy, eh?" Ryouga straightened his vest.

"Never." Nabiki nodded, and slowly reclined against him, her head on his chest. To her surprise, he didn't flinch. They lay there, in silence, as the sun slowly disappeared, abandoning the earth for another half day.

"Ryo-kun," she tested.

"Yeah?"

"You never really said much about what happened between us. During the fall."

"I'm not too sure myself... Nabi-chan." He blushed a bit, despite his best efforts not to. A part of him feared she'd be insulted by the nickname, and waited for the look of revulsion on her face. When there was none, however, it filled him with unfamiliar self-confidence. Was this what it was like to have a ... relationship? It felt good: so very good. "Something special, I'd say."

"It was."

Somewhere in the distance, a duck quacked.

"I think I might stick around for a while," Ryouga finally said. "If... if... you don't mind, of course."

"You can't have another fight with Ranma like that last one. You know that. ...That's why you're really up here, isn't it?"

"I don't need to be downstairs when he comes back from Dr. Tofu's." Ryouga hesitated a bit, but sensed what Nabiki was thinking. "I want to bury the hatchet with him. I really do. If he's willing to forgive... I want to move on. But... but it's going to take some time. I just, I just don't want to deal with that tonight. It's too nice out."

"Put it off for a rainy day, is that it?"

"I can't do much else on those, can I?" He smiled, half melancholy, half content.

"Besides," he continued. "Here I am, up on the roof with the most beautiful girl I know, watching the sunset."

"Not watching the sun set," she corrected.

"Yeah." He shook his head, giving up on this one. Against his previous inclinations, he and Nabiki sat up, shoulder to shoulder, and watched the star dip into the horizon. On a whim, a saying he had heard somewhere before came to Ryouga's lips.

"Love will die if held too tightly; love will fly if held too lightly." He sighed, but smiled. "Lightly, tightly, how do I know, whether I'm holding or letting love go?"

"You're an incurable romantic, Hibiki."

"You better believe it, Tendo."

***

"Ranma! Welcome back, son!"

Ranma scoffed. "Hey, pop. Lemme ask you something. When I was out fighting the most important Duel of my life... where the hell were you?"

Genma smiled knowingly. "At a safe distance, of course."

Ranma shook his head sadly, but after a few seconds, a smile crept up on him. "That's probably one of the smarter things you've done over the last year, old man."

The elder Saotome clasped his son on his (uninjured) shoulder. "You did well, son. You made me proud."

"I didn't fight to make you proud." Ranma defended himself, but couldn't help feeling happy that his father had said it anyway. Genma seemed to understand what went unsaid.

"You fought for your honor, and the honor of the School." Genma led Ranma inside the house, where Kasumi, Soun and Akane were all waiting. "Not only did you win the battle, but you won the war. That's why I'm proud of you."

Ranma smiled at that.

"Thanks, pop."

"Now, let's go inside." Genma reverted to his usual self. "Kasumi's prepared a small feast to celebrate!"

Following his father, Ranma quietly removed his shoes. As soon as they were off, Kasumi approached him, looking over his numerous bandages. There was a little disapproval in her eyes, likely directed at both Ranma and Ryouga, but mostly there was concern and relief. Ranma shifted where he stood, a little uncomfortable with the scrutiny.

"I'm fine, Kasumi." He assured her. Only then did she step forward and give him a motherly hug. Behind her, Soun smiled proudly.

"Why, I remember the fights Saotome and I had..." He started to say.

"I'm just glad Ranma is all right. I heard..." Kasumi didn't continue that sentence. "I'm just glad neither of you were seriously hurt."

Ranma's smile faded a little. He hadn't been seriously hurt, but Ryouga... Ryouga's final gambit had cost him. The last few days, they'd shared a room in Dr. Tofu's Clinic. Ranma had heard Ryouga complaining about phantom pain caused by his overload of Ki. The doc had told him he was lucky to be alive, which was a sobering fact. Over time, Ryouga had apparently calmed down enough to talk a few times, and in those conversations neither of them had asked or argued who had 'won' the fight. When it came down to things, it didn't matter.

Winning didn't matter.

It was being alive... that was what mattered. He had survived, and just as important, so had Ryouga. Seemingly despite his best efforts, they had both survived, and now they had to live with that. It was a strange thing. Almost like starting over. ... Almost. Maybe now, just maybe, they could be friends. Or at least rivals. Not enemies.

Never enemies.

"Me too, Kasumi." He gave her a convincing smile, and she stepped back. "It's good to be home."

Soun kept talking about his old rivalry with Genma even as he and Kasumi led them into the living room. Ranma noticed, however, that Akane stuck close to him. Walking slowly, he let the two older Tendos leave him a little behind. He had to force himself not to blush when he realized what he was doing. He wanted...

To be alone with Akane?

Looking at her, in silence, he wanted to know how she felt. He wanted to talk to her. More than anything, he found that he wanted to hear that she cared. That she was concerned. Blinking, he realized something else. "What're you gonna call the pig?"

In Akane's arms, she held the little black piglet he'd given her. Akane looked down at him. "Why... P-chan of course."

Ranma boggled. "That's..."

"A little weird?" Akane finished his sentence for him. "I guess. I just... want us to pick up where things went wrong..."

Ranma didn't quite know what to say in response.

Quickly, Akane changed topics. "Doctor Tofu didn't want me to visit... either of you..." Something liquid in her eyes sparkled. "I'm... I'm really glad you're ok, Ranma. When I saw the fight, and what... what he was doing, and what you were doing... I was afraid..."

"Hey." Ranma's voice was confident and comforting. "Everything turned out all right."

She nodded. "Ryouga..."

Ranma's expression became neutral. "What about him?"

"He's here. Up on the roof with Nabiki." Akane licked her lips nervously. "Ranma... you know I want to be his friend... to put all this bad blood behind us. He needs friends. He needs you to be his friend."

"Me?" Ranma looked away a little.

"And..." Akane stepped closer. "I think you want to be his friend, too."

He was about to answer when suddenly he felt something on his cheek. Soft lips - a quick peck on the cheek. "Welcome home, Ranma."

And Akane was gone.

Blinking, Saotome Ranma tried to come up with something to say before she was gone and failed. Silenced, for one of the few times in his life, he stood there. Stunned. Finally, he touched his cheek gently and smiled.

Home.