Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, nor claim to.

Chapter Twenty-One: Cracked Seals:

"You were counting on a freefall. You laid your bet: I would lose all. Chalk up one less crucificion. I kicked that sick, old addiction!" The Exies: My Goddess

Aki walked calmly, ignoring the world around herself as she left. Sauske would be after her any moment now . . . no, wait, he was dragged away by several friends asking about her. When her "fianc" was finally free, he'd probably rush out to find her long gone, even after telling her to wait for him to meet with her. Like she would really give him the chance to do that. She wasn't so blind to not notice he was very aggravated with her, and therefor, the best action would be to let him cool off. There was always tomorrow.

She walked deftly out the front gate, and down the road to the bus stop where her sister got off.

What he was mad about, she would just pretend she didn't know. There were many reasons she was mad at him, but only one he would be mad at her about. "Why did you tell Naruto I had an aura?!" he will shout. "I told you before, I don't have one!" Maybe not those words, but that's what he'll say.

And the second one is a total lie.

So, her conscience was clear. If Sauske was going to lie about his aura, she would just have to figure it out herself. And that's just what she was going to do. And if he doesn't like it? Tough.

CHINK!

Aki paused, staring at the large kunai imbedded in the ground in front of her. The handle was angled based on the direction it was thrown from, and with it facing in the direction it was heading, that meant the person who threw it was directly in front of her. Following the invisible line of the path the knife took, she traced it back to its source.

There, crouching on the fence next to her and a bit ahead, Aki saw the thrower. Kuonji Keira, dressed in that outfit she wore the day they met. If it could be called that, being made up of a pair of pants and a black undershirt. "Oh," Aki began sarcastically, "You dropped a kunai . . . in the ground here." Reaching down, she wrenched the blade from the ground, before casually tossing it to the girl.

Keira snatched it easily, never turning her eyes away. Her glare was serious and cold, as she snapped the kunai back into its place on her arm bracer. "You have no idea what you're doing to Sauske-kun, do you?"

Aki raised an eyebrow. "No. Enlighten me."

Keira scrunched her forehead, before continuing. "First, you attack him. Then, you try to kill him, . . ."

"I did not try . . . to kill him!"

Keira ignored her, continuing without pause. "Then you use Naruto to force out Sauske-kun's aura!"

Aki smirked. "So, he does have an aura?"

The girl paused, sighing, before brushing her brown hair back. "Yes, he does. Not that you care."

"Oh? . . . You think I don't care . . . about Sauske?"

"No, you don't." Keira replied calmly. "You've only cared about yourself. You get mad when he beats you in a fight because you have to marry him. Then, when he won't tell you something because he doesn't want to, you send others to attack him! You've mercilessly assaulted him, and toyed with his head whenever you felt it would help!"

"I don't remember . . . toying with him." Aki replied, beginning to walk down the sidewalk again.

Keira waited. Aki passed by, and was walking away with her back to the ninja when she replied. "The day you two got engaged, on the roof." Aki paused. There was a long silence. "You two talked for a while, agreeing to be 'friends'."

Aki turned her head back, glaring at the girl. "You were spying on us?"

Keira shook her head. "I followed Sauske-kun." Aki turned her body the rest of the way around. "He said he had something to do, and since it was obvious it was about you, I followed. He had already told me he didn't have anything to do and that he could come and visit the restaurant, I knew it had something to do with you."

Aki smirked. "Jealous?"

"More than you know." Keira replied without hesitation. Aki blinked, staring back. "You come out of nowhere, and get engaged to the one person I care about, and then treat him like dirt. And what has he done to you? Gone out of his way to try to fix things, that's what he's done. But you don't care! He hasn't even realized that I care about him, but he's doing whatever it takes to get you to be a friend! How can I not be jealous?!"

Aki let her eyes glance to the side, but said nothing.

"You just don't care! I've cared about him for a long time! We may have our fights, some of them can be really bad, but I know he cares about me too! He knows I'll accept him however he comes, and I know whoever he loves is up to him! But you don't care! You don't know what he's been through, what he's suffered through! All you care about is your own damn self!"

Aki turned back, glaring at the ninja. Keira's face was slightly flushed, a piece of a tear in one eye, but Aki noticed no other signs of emotion. "Like I said . . . I never said . . . I don't care about him."

Keira snorted, before sighing. "Whatever you say." She stood, turning to race down the fence. "Oh, and let me tell you one thing before I go. Just know that what you're searching for is buried deep. If you want to dig it up, you will eventually. But once you do, you'll be too far down to escape what you find."

Aki shook her head. "I take it you know what his aura does, don't you?"

"Not completely." Keira replied. Aki glanced at her questioningly. "A few years ago, I saw it, and he's explained it, but I wasn't against it."

Aki snorted. "Oh, I'm sure you . . . didn't fight him . . . when he used it, . . . fast-girl."

"No, I didn't." Keira replied cold. "Because, back then, I wasn't nearly as strong as I would have needed to be. Today, I might just be able to get out of the fight intact. If I had fought him back then, I'd be dead right now." With that, she turned away, and raced down the fence, disappearing in a moment.

- - -

Sauske grumbled to himself. He was still in a bad mood since Monday. After Naruto unceremoniously revealed that he knew about Sauske's aura, and was supposed to draw it out, he knew Aki was the girl he had been training with. Aki was the only person who wanted to see his aura. And that was why he was trying to find her.

Racing past the front gate, he caught sight of the blue haired Chinese girl walking slowly down the road. Seeing her, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and began jogging down the sidewalk after her.

Aki glanced back once, but otherwise ignored the sound of the boy approaching behind her. Soon, Sauske stopped jogging, now next to her, and began matching his pace with the girl. Aki glanced over at him once, smiling pleasantly. "Hello, Sauske." She said.

Sauske snorted. "Hello, Aki-san."

"Something wrong?"

"Like you don't know." Sauske mumbled angrily.

"Excuse me?"

Sauske took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. He had to remember that she didn't know what his aura was. And he was set on keeping it that way. "You sent Naruto to attack me."

"Attack? . . . No, I trained him . . . and sent him to . . . challenge you." Aki replied calmly. "You . . . accepted the challenge."

"You also sent him to get my aura out." Sauske retorted. "Right?"

Aki turned to him, staring him down. "Are you angry . . . that I did?"

Sauske met her gaze cold. "No. I'm angry that you won't just let it go."

"Then tell me . . . what your aura is."

Sauske turned away, sighing. "I can't do that, Aki-san."

"I'll trade you . . . technique for technique."

"Why are you so interested?" Sauske replied.

"Why are you . . . so secretive?"

The boy shook his head, clenching a hand. "You don't get it, Aki-san. There's a reason I can't tell you, and so I'm not going to."

Aki huffed. "Sure . . . you're just saying that . . . so I leave you alone."

Sauske glanced back, shaking his head again. 'That's not it. It's just that . . ."

Aki ignored him. "You're hiding something . . . from me, and won't . . . tell me what it is!"

"Well, yeah, but I have a reason, because . . ." Sauske was beginning to show some tones of aggravation, but was interrupted again.

Aki knew she was doing exactly what Keira had said. But she was trying to push Sauske's buttons, since the small bits she had seen were red. And red meant anger. So, it was time to drive him on. "Don't you get it . . . Sauske? . . . I've been open with you . . . you want to know something, ask! . . . But you are hiding something from me! . . . Is that what you call . . . friendship?!" Aki paused to let that sink in. Sauske was obviously, hit by that, his face lowering, and a shadow seeming to pass across his face. "I'm not the one . . . hiding away! . . . you are the one . . . who . . ." The last pause was not because she needed to figure out how to say the next line in Japanese.

It was because she had been thrown into the wall.

Gasping for breath, she glanced up to see Sauske charging straight at her. She was about to scream, when her voice froze.

WHAM! Both of Sauske's hands imbedded into the stone along both sides of her head, the cracks spreading through the wall, all behind her body. Aki was pale, staring into the flaming eyes of her fiancé, before her eyes saw what else was there.

"Will you just shut up and listen to me, Aki?!" Sauske shouted into her face. "I told you, I have a reason I can't use my aura! It's dangerous! If I use it, someone gets hurt, and that usually means someone besides me! If you keep this up, I won't be able to hold it in! So shut the hell up about it already!"

Aki's eyes didn't move, staring fearfully at the boy's sudden change. Sauske seemed to calm down a bit, before he saw something. His left arm, sheathed in a thin red glow. His eyes darted to the other arm, and saw that same sickening red light flowing over his arm.

Aki, however, saw something more sinister. Her eyes, being much more attuned, saw not only the sheath on his arms, but the faint red glow coating his whole body. It had no form, no shape. The boy was alight with a pale flame; raw, uncontrolled power was dripping from every part of his body. It was thin, the aura not nearly strong enough to be called a usable battle aura, but it was close. Very close.

Sauske's eyes widened, and he took a deep breath. Slowly, he pulled his arms from the wall, bits of gravel and sand trailing off his hands, dropping down to the ground. His arms dropped to his sides, and his head drooped as well. He clenched his hands, trying to stamp the color away faster, but it still took a moment for the whole color to fade from sight.

The girl could hear her heart pounding in her throat. Keira wasn't joking. The heat from that thin flow would have been enough to make her sweat, but her shock at the boy's change wouldn't let her. And then, after the boy slid away, the power simply retracted itself. After several seconds, the glow had completely disappeared.

The boy, however, was not in a good mood yet. "So close." He thought to himself. "I almost lost it. Any more and . . ." he shuddered at the thought. He opened his mouth slowly to speak.

Still leaning against the wall, Aki was unable to hear the boy. "What did . . . you say?"

Sauske braced himself, swallowing, before slowly looking up at the girl. "I'm . . . sorry." He said softly, his eyes afraid and timid.

After a minute of standing there like that, Aki slowly began to lean herself off the wall. "It . . . it's okay." She replied. "I . . . I'm sorry." She replied.

Sauske nodded dumbly, and began to follow the girl as she walked along the sidewalk again.

Aki glanced back a moment later, and saw where she had hit the wall. There was more than the two hand holes where the boy had shoved his hands through. The wall had a small depression where she had been thrown into it, and the cracks were spreading a good meter and a half around.

- - -

Sakura ducked, letting the swing slice over her head. Her opponent was skilled, but not the right kind of skilled. He could hold his sword well. He just couldn't move fast enough.

Stepping aside, she let another attack from her opponent whiz by, before stepping forward. Stabbing, she swished the blade over his head, before dropping it down, knocking the boy to the ground.

"Stop!" the referee shouted. "Point and match to Furinkan High!"

The crowd cheered as the other boy stood, and Sakura and he returned to their place. They bowed to each other, and then separated, returning to their sides. Peeling away her helmet, Sakura's face was instantly seen as all smiles. The rest of the team was cheering her as she came back, including the captain, Kuno-sama. Glancing up into the audience, she could see her uncle Brandon, her aunt Kasumi, and her other uncle Ono. There was a single empty seat next to them. But she quickly lost sight of them as the rest of the team made it up to her.

"Great job, Sakura!"

"You did it!"

"We won!"

"Take that, Kolhotz!"

That reminded Sakura. Glancing up into the stands, she saw them, Kite and Naruto, waving to her. She smirked evilly at them, which they returned, before all three broke out into chuckles.

"Congratulations, Saotome-san." A new voice she half-recognized had said. Glancing up, Sakura saw the man it came from.

"Oh, uh, Principal Kuno!" she replied, taking a small bow. "Thank you."

"Hey, maybe next time, you'll let me get a fight in." Kuno Tabakatsu said smiling.

Sakura smiled, blushing. "Sorry, Kuno-sama."

"Now, son, you chance will come. It is only fair for Sakura to be given her turn." The principal replied.

The boy nodded, smiling at Sakura. "Yeah, don't worry about it Sakura. You did great. That's what we wanted. You're a great fighter."

Sakura blushed more. "Th-thanks."

- - -

Sauske stood with Aki, unsure whether to leave or stay, after that near outburst of his aura. He stared off across the street, waiting for the bus to come silence.

Aki, having calmed back down after Sauske's assault, was back to her cool, confident self. But she couldn't help but glance over at him. His small sampling of aura was incredible by comparison. He was obviously still holding it back when it appeared, but it had reached completely around his body, and started to trail off before fully forming.

Slowly, a low rumble came up along the streets. The two teens glanced in the direction it was coming from, and then saw it. The bus slowly rolled up the road, before slowing as it approached. With a slight jolt, it stopped at the sign, and the door swung open, clicking aside in a moment. With the door open, a stream of men and women, in various styles of dress ranging from expensive suits to school uniforms to a girl in dusty traveling clothes came off in a near constant stream. Seven people later, a young girl hopped off, squeaking happily, and rushing over to Aki.

The older girl grabbed her in a hug, smiling. "Hello, Pai! Is everything good?" The little girl slid back, nodding enthusiastically, and smiling happily.

Sauske took a good look at the little girl. She had short, black hair, or short by Amazon standards, reaching only down to her shoulders. It was tied back loosely, with some ribbons tied in for decoration. She wore white robes similar to the ones that man named Mousse had. Her small backpack was slung over one shoulder, and her face had a pair of thin glasses crossing them. The lenses were thin and flat, though, so they seemed to be for decoration instead of optical correction.

Aki looked up at the boy, as several more people slowly came walking out. "Sauske, this is . . . my younger sister, Pai."

The boy blinked as the little girl looked over at her. Her steel gray eyes and perfect black pupils watched carefully, before she looked up at Aki with a questioning glance. Aki nodded. The girl looked back in surprise. "Um, it's nice to meet you, Pai." Sauske said slowly, before bowing to the girl. The girl nodded, smiling happily, and bowing back.

"Sauske!" another voice shouted cheerfully, as a different girl came bounding down the steps of the bus. The boy looked over, and saw a particular redhead with the famous two pigtails rushing over.

"Auska!" Sauske replied, as his little sister rushed up to her. "What are you doing getting off here?"

"That's what I want to know." Joseph replied in a slightly annoyed tone, walking off the bus behind Amy.

Auska turned back smiling. "Well, Sauske's here. We can all walk home together!"

Sauske smiled, before turning back to Aki. "Uh, Aki, this is my little sister Auska, and my cousins, Joseph and Amy." He pointed each one out as he spoke.

The three new children turned back, seeing the Amazon girl glancing at them. "Wow! That's Aki?!" Auska said in shock. "I was always wondering who that was."

Aki blinked. "What do you . . . mean by that?"

"Well, Pai always got off here, and I kept forgettin' to ask who ya were." Auska replied calmly.

"Well, Sauske, looks like you got the lucky break, huh?" Joseph replied slowly, just enough to let Sauske translate it in his head.

Amy turned to him, smiling. "Oh, come on, brother, I think she seems nice. Don't go making jokes about her."

"I wasn't joking this time. I mean, really . . . wow is the only real word for that."After a moment, the boy turned, grinning evilly at Sauske, and found him pleasantly blushing up to his forehead.

"Well, Pai," Aki interrupted, trying to ignore the people talking in a language she couldn't understand, "We have to stop by the store to pick up things for Mother." She turned to the others. "Well, this is . . . goodbye for now . . . It was nice to meet . . . you all." The older girl turned, and waited as her sister bowed to her recent friends, especially Auska, before the two of them turned, and started walking down the street.

Sauske nodded, tacking on, "See you later," before turning himself, and leading the other three back towards the Tendo Dojo.

Auska glanced back, and simply said, "That's pretty amazing."

"Huh?"

"Oh, Pai. Not only is she the sister of your fiancée, . . ."

"Please don't remind me of her right now."

Auska continued uninterrupted. "But she's so smart. She almost has all the kanji I know down, she's skipped ahead a grade to be in my class, and she's mute."

Sauske paused, turning back to his sister. "Huh?"

"She's a mute. Ya know, she can't talk."

"She can't?"

"Nope." Auska replied.

Joseph sighed. "She said it's been this way since she was born. Something about a trade off for some power she was born with."

Sauske glanced back at the girl. Something was odd with her. Since they had started talking, she had been staring at Sauske constantly, not just to see him, but to examine him. It gave him a bit of a chill, but he got a bigger one from glancing and noticing Aki again. If he had let loose . . .

"Sauske?" Amy replied, looking back.

"Huh?" The boy turned back, and noticed the other three several steps ahead of him, looking back.

"Are you coming?"

The boy blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

- - -

Aki glanced down at her little sister. "Did you see anything else about him?"

The girl shook her head, before sliding a notepad and a large marker out of her sleeves, shacking them back so she could write. After a moment, she turned the sign to show to Aki. "No, it is like I told you. He has no red or blue aura."

"How is that possible?"

Squeaky-Squeaky! "I do not know. The amount of focus to pull them in too much for me would be very stressful." Squeaky-Squeaky! "I saw a few twinges of red at a moment or two, but no blue. None at all."

"That is odd."

Squeaky-Squeaky! "Why is he afraid of you?"

"Afraid for me?" Aki corrected.

Pai shook her head. Squeaky-Squeaky! "Afraid of you?"

The two girls looked back together as the other four were just about to disappear out of sight. Aki didn't notice anything seriously wrong with the way he acted, but if Pai could see the spikes, then . . . "I don't know."

- - -

Nabiki sighed as she walked back up to the house. It was bad enough that she had to leave Sakura's first kendo match in the middle. But someone had information she had to follow up immediately. Now, the sun was starting to set, and as she approached her old home, the tension was mounting. The only thing breaking it in any way is that there was no doubt anymore. The truth was set in stone. Now she just had to work up the courage to tell Ranma.

Stopping at the door, she took a deep breath. She just couldn't take that next step, open the door and walk inside. She wanted to, she knew she needed to, but she just couldn't do it . . . No, there was no turning back. Ranma had to know. For everyone's sake.

Sliding the door open, Nabiki stepped confidently inside. "I'm home!" she called in the loudest voice she could muster, which, at the time, was barely above talking words. Slipping out of her shoes, the woman walked into the living room.

"Hey, Nabiki!" Akane replied cheerfully, watching her daughter and niece draw together at the table. "Where have you been?" Ranma, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, glanced up at her, smiling along with his wife.

Nabiki let her head drop a bit, before sighing. "Ranma, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

Ranma, a bit shocked, nodded, and followed the woman out into the hall. Akane glanced up, looking between the two people, her smile gone. After they disappeared, she stared at the empty doorway, when her daughter looked over to her.

"Mommy? What's goin' on?" Auska asked.

Akane realized what it was they were going to be talking about, before turning back to her daughter. She forced out a smile, and her voice wavered as she spoke. "Oh, it's nothing." There was a pause. "So, what are you drawing this time?"

Auska blinked, then smiled, before sliding the paper over.

- - -

Nabiki sat glumly at the end of the dojo, letting her legs dangle over the edge like she had seen Ranma and Akane do so often. She wanted to do something, but there wasn't anything left. She could hear the sounds of soft footsteps coming up behind her. There were only two people who would be doing that at this time.

Stopping next to her, the person dropped down to the ground, sitting next to Nabiki, letting their legs dangle over as well. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really." The woman replied slowly.

Bandon sighed. "Nabiki, you are a very bad liar when you are upset. What is wrong?"

Nabiki paused, before sighing. "You know Happosai is around, right? Well, we know for sure now. He's here in Tokyo."

"Nabiki, you should not worry about that. Nothing like last time will happen to Auska. We are going to be ready this time."

"That's not it!" Nabiki said suddenly, before sighing. "I'm not worried about Auska. I'm worried about . . ." her voice failed her suddenly, before she could finish her thought.

"Amy?" Brandon replied quickly, before following it with "Joseph?" Nabiki gave a general nod through both responses. "You should not be worried about them, Nabiki. Ranma and everyone else will be there to protect them. Besides, I do not think Happosai would be interested in them."

"He went after Auska. Who knows what he wants."

"Martial artists. Auska was the daughter of two very talented fighters. That's what he wanted. Akane told me he tried to get Sakura or Sauske if he could, but that was impossible. So, he chose Auska."

Nabiki sighed. "I guess."

"It will be okay, Nabiki." Brandon said with a smile, reaching around her shoulder with his arm, and leaning over onto her shoulder. "I swear."

"Um, sorry, but have you two seen Ranma?" Akane asked from the doorway.

The two people sitting at the edge looked up. Nabiki was the first to respond, however. "He's your room, calling the rest of the gang."

Akane nodded, and disappeared out of the dojo.

- - -

Akane gently slid the door open to her room. There was Ranma, sitting with his body facing away, hunched over the phone. "Yeah, Ukyo? It's Ranma. I got good news and bad news . . . He's back, no doubt about it. Nabiki's even got proof. There's no question he's back in town . . . The good news? We're going to be ready this time . . . That's what I was thinking. Got any free days? . . . Four days? No, that's fine. It's no big deal yet. He's been strikin' to the other side of town for now . . . yeah, okay. All right, bye, Ukyo."

Akane sat down on the bed as Ranma hung up the phone. "Ranma?" The man spun around. "It's true, isn't it?"

Ranma paused, then nodded. "Yeah, Akane. Happy's back."

Akane sighed, nodding, falling into deep thought.

"You okay?"

"I'm more worried about you."

"Eh?"

"I don't want this to be like last time. You were in the hospital for two weeks. I don't want to go through that again. After almost losing Auska, and then almost losing you, . . . it was too much."

Ranma sighed, before smiling. "Don't worry, Akchan. He's going to be surprised with the new stuff I have waiting for him. I won't be worried about anything new he can come up with. I got the geyser, along with everything else, much better than before."

Akane nodded, sighing. "Just be careful."

"Always."

Next Chapter: The recollection of the fight between Happosai and Ranma, nine years ago.

Whoo! Chapter 21 done! And the re-edit of the story is complete. And all I can say about that is FINALLY! I hope to never do that again, since I spent almost twenty or so hours getting it done. Nothing's really changed, story wise, or at least those things that have come up. I mostly just fixed grammar and spelling problems, and got rid of some old author's notes and things like that. (I just wish someone had told me chapter 17 repeated itself a little earlier!)

Anyway, it's time for the reviews:

Paige Crews: YAY! Another reader who likes my story!

nonengel: Yeah, I know the way Naruto lost was a bit weird, but once I had thought of it, I couldn't think of anything else. So, I kept it. I'm glad the fight was good, though.

The Liz: Yeah, Sakura was a wolf. I figured most people knew that when I put the dream in, so I guess it wasn't much of a surprise. And yes, Kite's going to have to work really hard to get it out of Sakura.

But I think Sakura's got the worse of the two curses. Yes, Kite turns into a girl, loses almost all of his strength and size, and it almost killed him, but he's still human. Sakura turns into a wolf. I would rather turn into some odd human form than an animal, because at least then I'm still human. (Plus, some people might think she's a werewolf or something, too.)

As for Happosai, he's, um, old. Very old. And as you can tell by this chapter, no, he's not dead.