I is back again!

                o.o  What do I say now?  I dunno.  What do I mean I don't know?  I dunno.  Oh come on, I gotta have at least ONE thing to say.  Maybe not.  I'm confusing myself now.  Huh?  What?  Who?  Where?  I'm confused.  @.@

                Don't worry, I'm not always like this, only when I'm tired.  O.o

                P.S.: I'm baaaaackkkk... Dun Dun Dun

                ~~~~~~***   VACATION FINALLY!!   ***~~~~~~

                Ranma went and got another mark about halfway through the day, although I didn't remember him ever getting rid of the first one, honestly.  [A/N: Flashback sequence START!!  Alex: No, you've already done that.  Alex Ultra: Oh, right.  My bad.]

                Well, regardless, I noticed it when he walked up to our tree a little late with his lunchtray piled up like usual.  The first thing he said was, "You know, I never noticed just how much food I always get."

                Setting it down a little harshly, he stood up straight and stretched his arms out as he took a deep breath.  Sitting down, he looked at his food greedily and began chowing down.

                As I nibbled on a piece of bread I wondered just where he managed to put all that food.  Reading his aura (something I found I was somewhat adept at) I figured that he was about as strong as Akane now, which was just a bit stronger than me.

                Sighing, I realized that I would probably never catch up to either of them.  I didn't have the background they had.  'Well, I can always try, right?'

                Renewing my resolve to learn as much as possible and get as strong as I could, I stood.  And then I took my tray to get washed.

                Akane watched me go, and then turned to Ranma.  "You think she knows she's putting holes in the cement?"

                Ranma only shrugged, and continued eating.

                Still fussing over my apparent lack of strength, I watched my wrist as I shook my clenched fist in front of me.  'But I'm barely tired!  When I get the chance, I'm gonna add more weight.  To my arms only this time...'

                Frowning, I turned to a tree, that had conveniently been wrapped up tightly in very strong rope.  And seeing as how there were already two girls fighting in the schoolyard, I thought it okay if I just practiced hitting the tree.

                SMACK!  'Stupid dress.'  SMACK!  'Stupid tree.'  SMACK!  'Stupid... me?'  SMACK!  'Yeah, I'm too slow.'  SMACK!  'Argh!  Not fast enough!'  SMACK!  SMACK!  'Well, that's a little better, but not good enough.'  SMACK!  SMACK!  'Come on!  What have you been training for all this time!?'  SMACK!  SMACK!  WHAM!  'No good.  I can kick myself blue, but Ranma'll dodge 'em all.'  SMACK!  SMACK!  WHAM!  WHAM!  'NOT GOOD ENOUGH!'

                I continued to berate myself as I searched my arms and legs for something I was missing.  Some strength, or extra bit of slack that I could cut out to make my hits that much faster.

                SMACK!  SMACK!  SMACK!  WHAP!  WHAM!  WHAP!  SMACK!  'No good, too predictable.'

                Not satisfied with back-hands, I went into spins, jabs with my knee, ramming my head into it, ANYTHING that might fill in that space of time between hits!

                After I had warmed up a bit, I could feel my speed go up a bit, but, still not satisfied, I continued to push... faster.

                Poor tree, I'm sure that if it weren't for the ropes, it would have been worn through by now.

                Akane watched me with a half-lidded stare.  "Wonder what's got her so riled up?"

                Ranma shrugged as he slurped in some more of the unnamed noodle-type-stuff into his mouth.  Pointing to the sky, he referred to the other two girls who were fighting.  "Maybe the same thing as those two?"

                Amy seemed to have pulled a jet-pack out of nowhere and was now flying as the two of them exchanged passes in the air.  Nuku continuously kicked and punched, even jumped off the other girl's head in order to stay airborne.  "Hey!  This is fun, Amy!"

                "SHUT UP!!  I'M GONNA KILL YOU IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!!!!" Pulling several knives from the pack on her back, she started throwing them at Nuku at high speed.

                She managed to dodge most of them, and those that she couldn't dodge, she caught.  All except for two.

                SLICE!  SLICE!

                Nuku looked shocked as she saw two locks of hair fall below her (as she was currently flying higher into the sky).

                As tears floated into Nuku's eyes, Amy wondered why the heck Nuku wasn't fighting back.

                "WAAAAHHH!!!  YOU BROKE MY HAIR!!!!"

                As Nuku continued to bawl her eyes out about her hair, Amy took to simply floating there, with a disbelieving, and slightly disgusted look on her face.  'Broke her... hair!?!?'

                As Nuku whizzed past her on her way back down, Amy's attention was suddenly back on her pink-haired enemy.  'OH no!  You're not getting away from ME!!'  "DIE!!"

                Akane watched the winged girl as she dived after the falling pink-haired girl, who seemed to be crying about... something.  'I think she needs a new battle-cry.  She's starting to sound like Ryoga.'

~~

                ACHOO!!!

                Ryoga sniffed as he adjusted his pack.  "So where did you say this was?"

                "My boy, isn't that the twelfth time you've asked?"

                Ryoga scratched the back of his neck.  "Y-yeah.  But you see... I've got this problem..."

~~

                Amy caught Nuku no more than four meters from the ground and wrapped her arms around the larger girl, arms and all as she had them up to her chest as she cried her heart out.

                Pulling up sharply, she managed to avoid the ground.

                Akane watched the seemingly heroic rescue from her place by the tree.  'I don't think she did that to save her... it looks more like she's trying to CRUSH her!'  Akane didn't even wince when they rammed into, and THROUGH a tree.

~~

                "Ah, so you're a Hibiki, eh?"

                "Wha?  How'd you know?"

                The old man laughed.  'Old!?'  Ryoga developed a tic in his eye as the topic came up in his mind again.  'Try ANCIENT!'  Ryoga could have sworn that this guy was at LEAST as old as either the mummy OR that old fire-bomb-throwing guy.  What was his name again?  Happysai?  Yeah, that sounded right.

                "Right!  I know that curse!  I should, after all, I'm the one who put it on your family!  Heehee!"

                "Oh." Ryoga nodded.  That made sense.  'Waitaminute.'  "YOU PUT THAT CURSE ON ME!?"

                The old man shook one finger.  "No, I said I put it on your FAMILY."  He somehow floated up to Ryoga's face and put one hand to his chin.  "Ah, yes.  I can see it.  The fog that clouds your vision."

                It took all of Ryoga's efforts to keep from ramming this guy into the dirt.  But two things helped him in that effort, the second of which was a lot more humbling than the first.  The first, of course, was surprise and shock at both the statement, and at the fact that the man was now within an inch of his face.

                The second, was a promise.  The promise... for a cure.

~~

                I stood there... in shock.  My fist floated motionlessly in the air for a time.

                One moment it was there, and the next... I didn't even get the chance to HIT it!  And it just disappeared!

                The sight of a leaf falling through the air brought me back to the present.

                Bringing both hands to my sides and flexing them angrily, I looked around, searching for the culprit of the tree-napping.  [A/N: Interesting choice of words, ne?]

                To the left of the tree-stump I saw a trench that had been dug into the ground.

                With fire in my eyes, I followed the line created by the upturned dirt until I saw them.

                Amy was on top of Nuku Nuku and glowing again as Nuku cried out in pain.  "I'M GONNA FRY YOUR CIRCUITS NUKU NUKU!!!  HAAAA!!!!"

                Tapping on her shoulder, I caught the smaller girl's attention.  "WHAT!?"

                With my eyes downcast, I pointed to the jagged stump that was my tree.

                "SHUT UP!"  Acting as if I didn't matter, she went back to frying Nuku's... curcuits?

                If I had been patient enough, I would have seen the blue symbol on Amy's forehead.  It looked like a six-sided 'u' with a ring of electricity flowing around it.

                But I wasn't patient enough.  I had been practicing and she just went and destroyed my tree!!!!

                An evil smirk crossed my mouth as I thought up an appropriate punishment.  'If I can't hit the tree, I'll just have to find something else to hit!  And I see several targets right here.'

                Akane winced.  "I don't like that look."

                Ranma finished his plate and looked up to see what Akane was talking about.  "Hey, Akane!  That looks like you!  Or it would if you thought things through..."  Ranma almost missed the scowl cross Akane's face before he recieved a mallet to his.

                Ranma twitched slightly on the ground (with a red circle across his face) before getting back up.  "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

                Akane didn't answer, but instead went back to watching the scene being created across the yards.  For once, Ranma wasn't involved.

                Giving up... for now, Ranma went to watch the scene as well.

~~

                "Um, what are you doing?"

                Ignoring the annoyed, and slightly frightened expression from the Hibiki boy, the old man nodded.  "Yes.  Now apologize."

                Shaken from his confusion, he was suddenly plunged into even more confusion.  "Huh?  Apologize?"

                "Yes, if you don't apologize, I can't remove the curse!"

                Ryoga Hibiki was not so full of pride to not apologize.  But it was hard to apologize if he didn't know what he did!  "Um, I mean no disrespect, but I can't apologize if I don't know what I'm apologizing for..."

                "Ah, yes.  I can see where that would provide a problem.  Why don't I explain it to you.  It all started when I was but a boy...  My brother was always a hard one to control, and we fought often.  As most brothers do..."

                With tears in his eyes that the old man didn't catch, Ryoga sat, too afraid to find a place to relieve himself, for fear of getting lost... again.

~~

                CRACK!!!!

                Not even breathing hard, but still slightly satisfied, I stood and watched the results of my work.

                Akane watched, still with that half-lidded gaze, not even noticing that Ranma was taking food from her plate.  "Hey, how many hits would you say that was?"

                "Hmm?" Swallowing the indescriminate piece of... something, Ranma made a quick count in his head of what he remembered of my attack.  [A/N: Yes, it IS her still speaking here.  I let her do the talking, but she still doesn't know what's going on as it goes on.  ;P Aren't I evil?]  "Uh, five."  Pointing in the air, he counted it again as he repeated the pattern in his head.  "Yeah, five.  Five different places."

                "But I only counted three!"

                "Hah!  Check it out Akane!  She's faster than you!" Ranma didn't even try to dodge the mallet, instead he grinned wildly as he flew through the air right behind me.

                Three seperate clattering noises and an explosion got Amy's attention.

                Looking incredulously at the wings of her jet-pack, which were now left unceremoniously at her sides, she figured out what happened.  "HEY!!"

                Another explosion (the fuel pack?) sent her into the ground face-first, her dress covering Nuku's face.

                Beating thoughts of how perverted that particular scene looked out of my head, I picked Nuku Nuku up and tossed her to the side.

                Pulling both hands to the sides of her head, Amy pulled her face out of the dirt and whirled around.  "WHY YOU!  I OUGHTA KILL YOU!!"

                I laughed... a slow chuckle through clenched teeth that sounded a bit like I had lost my mind.

                Picking up my face, I pulled my right hand to my side and flexed it, showing the slight scratches I had gotten from hitting the corners of her jet-pack.  "Lookit!  I found a new punching bag!"

                The wild look in my eyes had the desired effect on her as she backed away a little.

~~

                "And that is where dragons come from!  Or came from, until those stupid Europeans killed them all.  I swear, just because thay have a sword and shield they think they can just go and do whatever they want!"

                "Excuse me sir... but is this story going somewhere?"

                "Eh?"  The old man looked blankly at the lost boy for a moment before closing his eyes.  "Oh yes, yes.  I'm getting there.  So, you see, in my travels through the far north regions of China, I came across a dragon egg.  Now, being the conscientious man I am, I took the egg home to care for it.  Now, everyone always says that dragons are close to impossible to control, even if raised from birth.  But I had seen it done many times before so I thought nothing of this warning."

                Ryoga had tears in his eyes as he sat, squirming every once in a while.

~~

                As I walked away from the pile named Amy, I flexed my fist.  'You picked the WRONG day to get on my nerves!'  My eye twitching just a little, I had another thought that I had from time to time.  'Man, being a girl can really SUCK!'

                And it didn't help that I got the FULL package.  'Stupid pain, stupid cramps, stupid hurting knuckles, stupid hard head, stupid, stupid, stupid...'  I continued on this train of thought for a while, until the bell sounded, signalling that it was time to get back to class.

                At that point, my thoughts shifted a little.  'Stupid perverts, stupid light books, stupid brittle pencils, stupid hard seats, stupid preachers (teachers)...'

~~

                "And so, he then went to the Jusenkyo springs and dunked him in... now which one was it?  ...  Oh yes!  It started with an 'N', but it was basically the spring of the drowned girl.  And then he dumped water from... oh, what was it called?  Ah, my memory must be escaping me...  That funny metal artifact that locks curses...  Well, that's..."

                "Is that it?  Is that why you cursed him?  For cursing a man to be a woman?"  True, that man WAS a thief, and probably deserved to be treated thusly, so Ryoga couldn't really follow this old man's train of thoughts.

                "Oh, it wasn't that.  I probably would have turned him into a rabbit or something." He snickered at this, then became serious again.  "No.  Rather, it was because he issued a punishment without consulting his master!"

                Ryoga finally understood and got to his knees as he made his gaze go straight down.  "I'm sorry for my Grandfather's indescretion and his refusal to apologize.  And I'm also sorry for this, but if I don't relieve myself soon, I'm afraid I'm going to explode in my pants!!!"

                Smirking a little at the outburst, he laughed lightly.  "Ah, well, I appreciate the effort, but it is not me to whom you should be apologizing."  Also, almost as if as a second thought, he pulled a strange scroll from his pack.  "Here, take this, and you shouldn't get lost, so long as you don't stray too far from this building or drop that.  If you should drop that, even for a second, it is likely you will lose yourself rather quickly."

                "REALLY!?"

                "Yes!  Now go!  I don't need to see you... explode."

                Ryoga ran off quickly, for once, not feeling lost as he found a tree, and did his business.

                "No boy!  Don't move from that spot!  You forgot the map!"  Ryoga suddenly realized that the voice was correct, and decided not to move his feet from that spot until the man found him again.

                The old man walked disbelievingly up to the boy and shoved the map into his hand.  At that point, the boy became comfortable with sitting down, after moving away from the tree a little.

                The old man chuckled a little as he sat as well.  "My spell seems to get much stronger with time.  Not only can you get lost finding the exit to the bathroom, but you tried to take that map from me, from the wrong hand!"

                Blushing, Ryoga repeated the 'Imaginary Itch' maneuver and smiled.  "Yeah, well.  I have noticed that it has gotten worse as I grew older."

                Chuckling, the ancient man explained the rules.  "If you truly intend to right what wrongs you can, here is what you must do."

~~

                Go to the grave.

                That seemed simple enough, but what if he got lost?

                As long as that is your intended destination, the map will lead you there.

                But he had never been any good at following maps.

                The map is a magical artifact attuned to the soul of the target.  It doesn't just point, it pulls.

                Well, he could follow a pull fairly easily, he hoped.  But what if it got wet and stopped working?

                Being a magical artifact, it doesn't stop working, or wear away, until it's purpose has been fully served.

                Does that mean that he wouldn't be able to find his way back when he's finished?

                No, it will only erase itself after you have returned here.

                So what does he say when he gets there?

                What you told me should be good.  Except that, since it wasn't your crime, you are going to have to apologize slightly differently.  What you say doesn't really matter too much, so long as you mean it.

                But what of that girl?  What will apologizing solve?

                Not much, except to allow her to rest more peacefully.  It is true that she committed a crime, but she was committed against when she was punished by someone other than the one she robbed, even without his permission.

                Is that why you punished him?  Because he committed a crime?

                Yes and no.  He committed a crime, but he also dishonored his master by refusing to apologize.  That is why I punished him, to teach him humility.  I created this map because I foresaw this exact problem.

                Ryoga closed his eyes as the instructions went through his mind.  He wasn't even actively walking.  He was allowing himself to be led, watching only for trees and other obstructions.

                It was true, with the map in his hands, he did seem to be able to keep track of landmarks better, but no use in taking stupid chances and getting lost again.

                As he continued to allow himself to be led along, he remembered his last words to the old man before he left.

                "Hey, old man.  I never asked your name?"

                "Handosai."

                Handosai looked puzzled for a moment at the boy's reaction to his name.  Upon hearing it, he began laughing his head off.

~~

                Contemplating the boy's odd retreat, Handosai suddenly smiled.  'So I see you've met my brother.'

                With that explanation, he didn't find the boy's reaction all-too-offending.  It WAS much better than MOST people's reactions.

                Rubbing the back of his head out of habit, he pushed all thoughts of his brother out of his mind.

                'I hope that boy will accept me as his master, I see such potential in him.  And he would be the perfect pupil!  Determined, motivated, not quick-witted, but at least he means well.'  He closed his eyes as his thoughts wandered just a little.  'He almost reminds me of his grandfather as a boy.  If a bit more scatter-brained...'

~~

                There it was.  Ryoga now stood in front of the grave of that woman, once a man, who his grandfather had wronged.  Having come from England, she was buried there.

                Ryoga was glad that the map had given him sense enough to take a boat there.  It would have been difficult to keep track of the map as a pig, especially in the water.

                And now he stood there, staring at the grave.  The map gave a slight tug as he stood motionless, not really knowing what to say.

                He had seen these English people before.  They had a strange way of showing they meant something, and he intended to at least imitate that gesture.  Besides, it did kind of remind him of a traditional bow, except on one knee.

                Falling to one knee, he put his head down and closed his eyes solemnly.  "I..."  'Should I speak in English?  I don't know English.  I guess Japanese should do, he said it didn't really matter all that much.  "I have heard of the crime committed against you by my ancestor, and although it was not my crime, it was still a crime.  I know that many people would say that it isn't my place to apologize for my grandfather, but that doesn't really matter to me."  As he went on, it became slightly easier.  "I know what it's like to be stuck in the body of something you were not meant to be.  And although you were still human, I also understand that in your time, a woman was treated much differently than they are now, and that such a change would probably have been quite a shock."

                Thinking of this, he realized that nothing he could think of seemed to be quite enough, but he did his best.

                "I want you to know that I apologize.  I can't find the words to really describe what I want to say, but I can hope that the best I can will be good enough."  That puts that to the side.  "I have been told that it was not the curse itself, or the 'punishment' as it was called, that was wrong.  But I find more wrong in that than most people could think, and to say that I sympathize would be an understatement.  If I could, I would find my grandfather and demand that he apologize himself, but... I can't.  He's dead and I don't even know where, or IF he was buried."  He was beginning to choke on his words slightly, but went on.  "I'm not really sure what to say, but please know that I apologize for his indescretion, and I also apologize that this couldn't reach you in life."

                Standing straight, he added a traditional Japanese bow as an afterthought.  "I do not approve of my grandfather's actions."  Standing, he looked at the ground.  "Although I also do not approve of the act that led to it.  Greed is such a terrible thing to be consumed by, or led by."  Not even taking a moment to note the name on the gravestone, he turned.

                The map was leading him again, this time in the opposite direction.  He seemed to be assured by that.

~~

                "Is it?" The sad, helpless look from her companion told her that it was.

                Akane tried to console her friend as a certain someone walked into the waiting area, where the Freshman class (the WHOLE Freshman class, not just class f) were waiting to be told what to do.

                Lila scowled noticably when she noticed that Kuno was walking toward the two of them.  "Akane, remember what I said about Kuno?"  Akane nodded, yeah, she remembered.  "If he gets on my nerves even once, that sword is going to be in two pieces before he leaves this room!"

                Three minutes later, Kuno left the room, the imprint of the flat of a sword across his forehead showing in light pink.  Both halves of the broken sword lay beside a fuming blue-haired girl.

                As Ranma entered the room, he noticed the red aura surrounding Lila.  'Are those fumes rising off of her?'  Moving over to them, he motioned to take the relatively safe place next to Akane, rather than Lila, who now had a small ring of space around her as everyone there moved at least a full meter from her, save for Akane, of course.

                As Ranma silently sat, he took note of the aura, one for which he was in the 'Danger Zone'.  'Man, I wonder how big of a twister I could make on THAT aura?'  He would have probably said that aloud had Akane not given him a harsh glare before he could even think it.

~~ An indescriminate amount of time later ~~

                Principal Kuno walked into the room, immediately noting how much the temperature of the room reminded him of their destination.

                Seeing the probable reason for this, he made a note to get to the point and not to annoy THAT girl any further.

                Twitching his left hand involuntarily, he cleared his throat and began.  "Now, I be sure that you don't want to hear a lot from me, so I gonna get right to it.  There be a BIG truck out back to take all your things to the plane.  After that, you go home and, well, do whatever to be ready for Hawaii," Deep voice, "The Greatest Vacation Place on da Planet!" He then dropped back into his normal voice.  "Now, tha Big Kahuna be wantin you all to remember your assignments." Almost as an afterthought, he added to this.  "Anyone who make a 'D' or less, be gettin their hair done by yours truly."  There was a little whispering at this, as well as some nervous glances toward a certain set of people sitting in the center of the room.

                Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, there was no real change in the three of them.  Lila's aura had diminished somewhat to a faint outline, but no one dared to get any closer except the bravest of them.  This consisted mostly of the people she already knew and were on good terms with.

                Strangely enough, among these was one boy with a blanched face and wide eyes.

                Seeing he was getting less and less attention directed on himself, he cleared his throat again and adressed the room, whether they were listening now or not really didn't matter.  "Now everybody be goin now.  There be no need to be stayin' here now."  With that, he left, feeling less nervous now.

~~

                Lila was brought out of her meditation by a friendly hand on her shoulder.  "Hey, we're going."

                Nodding, Lila suddenly spun around and smiled as she put her chin on one hand and said elbow to her knee.  "Hey Hikaru.  What's up?"

                Hikaru Gosunkugi suddenly began tapping his index fingers together.  "I wanted to see if you were okay..."

                Smiling, Lila stood and offered him her hand, the wrist to which was laden with those odd black bands.  Hikaru accepted the hand and proceeded to look at the floor, stealing a quick glance at first Akane, and then at Ranma.

                Shifting his feet a bit, he spoke softly.  "I'm glad to see that you're okay."  Turning around, he disappeared in the crowd.

                Lila sighed.  'I guess it's progress...'

~~

                "I don't get it Li'.  I mean, no one even notices him!  And he never makes himself known.  But..." Ranma sighed, not really knowing the words to say what he wanted to say.

                I didn't respond visibly, or at least I don't think I did.  "Ranma, does he strike you as the lonely type?"

                Ranma's eyes crossed a bit in thought.  "Yeah, I guess.  Wait, wasn't that my point?"

                "That's my point.  I can't stand to see someone that lonely." I smiled as an image came to mind.  "It makes my head spin around and causes me to go into uncontrollable convulsions."

                Ranma smiled in a good-natured way.  "I thought that was your reaction to Akane's cooking!"

                As I laughed some, Akane managed to jump atop the fence and boot him off, into the ditch on the other side.

                About ten seconds later, a rather wet Ranko joined our group.  When she looked at me, I gave her a look that said 'THAT, you deserved!'

                Ranko didn't look mad in the least.  "Okay, I deserved that.  But you have to admit, that was SO perfect, I couldn't pass it up!"

                Akane looked pleasantly up at Ranko.  "My cooking's getting better, right Ranma-chan?"

                "Oh yeah!  You bet!"  In other words, he didn't puke the last batch out.

                The odd thing about that dish was that it was different.  Ranma's was dry, Genma's was soggy, mine was salty, Suon's was burned, Nabiki's was (apparently) somewhat bland, as was Kasumi's, and Akane herself had one that somehow smelled like fish.

                Yep, I'd say it was getting better.

~~

                Ryoga came out of the restroom of the small resturaunt.  It was at exactly at that point that he made a sudden revelation.  "OH COME ON!  TEN SECONDS!?"

                It took him another ten seconds to realize that he had the map in his pack that whole time.

                Smiling, he pulled it out.  "Ten seconds can make all the difference."

                ~~~~~~***   End of Chapter  14   ***~~~~~~

                Ah, plots begin and end.  Every word has it's purpose just as each cell has its own path.

                And yes, Ranma's got the mark back.  He probably can't lift helicopters anymore.  O.o  Somehow, that seems odd.  But oh well.

                Yay!  Chapter 14 finished!  Now maybe 15?  Probably.

Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds

                Alex and Alex Ultra

                                LATER