Guest Ki: Chapter 19

Lost Ki's

Barry's head snapped over at the unexpected sound. She had grown accustomed to Shampoo's weight and occasional movement. Internally, she groaned. If she were Ranma, ailurophobia would now kick in. She quickly sucked in a breath and clinically watched Shampoo's ears go back in horrified expectation. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Her passage by Akane briefly countered the wind off the ridge. "Cat! Cat! CAT! Get it off!"

The scream jolted Ryoga to the realization he was holding a warm feminine body in his arms. He jerked back and had a glimpse of Ukyo's lower body as the tunic slid back into place. Then Ranma churned past, breasts bobbing, Shampoo hanging almost resignedly from a loop of cloth tied around her torso. The combination of kiss, proximity and visual assault proved too much for him and he went down like a falling tree, blood streaming from nostrils.

"I… I… can't stand it! Get it o-o-off!"

Barry liked cats. He liked their independence; their 'on my terms' attitude and their sleek power. Ranma reminded him of a cat, though he never would have told the boy that. She was using the extreme over-the-top activity to try to find a way to stop this mad flight without pretending Nekoken or hurting Shampoo. She leaped over Ryoga's tent.

If she simply fell under the circumstances, Ranma would only get up and run again. She had to convincingly knock herself out somehow. Running into a tree might do it but the rebound would probably land her on her back. Wait a minute! A low-hanging branch… She could shield her throat with ki and use the branch to perform a mid-air somersault with her jaw as the pivot. Convincing, spectacular and Shampoo would be padded from impact by her back when she landed. She found an appropriate limb and went into her finale.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh… GLA-ack!" As she spun around the limb, she noted that an impact on her male body back home would probably have crushed the throat. As the line of her body assumed a slight upward vertical angle, she relaxed her throat, arched her back a little and slid off the branch. Momentum carried her twisting body past to the forest floor. She was perfectly lined up. Her forward momentum would bring her in for what would seem a belly flop but would actually be an artful landing starting at her toes and rocking up the length of her tensed body to dissipate itself against the muscles of thigh, abdomen and chest. Barry had done this once in a stage play (in a much simpler, stiff-bodied fall) to simulate a body comically reacting to an unexpected blow.

It was only as Barry was rolling down off her thighs, arms still outspread dramatically, that she remembered her breasts were a trifle more sensitive than his. (Squish!) "Erk!" She fainted.

Shampoo sighed and curled her tail tighter about her front feet. It would take a while for Ukyo's clothes to dry and for water to boil. Ukyo had dumped all the hot water on 'P-chan'. Till then she was stuck in cat form and exiled from Ranma's presence. She looked sadly at Akane kneeling with the girl's head in her lap, speaking too softly for even her sensitive ears to hear.

It was promising though. Somehow Ranma had managed to rescue her from the churning mudslide even though she had turned cat from the abrading action of earth, stone and too much water. And she had carried her nemesis in a sling on her back for hours, careful of the cat-cursed girl's injuries, slight though they were. It was perhaps a sign that Ranma's fear of cats was fading. She had to admit, though, the incident she had just experienced was easily as bad as any in her memory.

Akane knelt, pillowing Barry's head in her lap, whispering imprecations at the stupidity of the performance she had pulled off. Ranma was notindestructible! She winced at the bruising evident on the redhead's breasts. Barry was going to get an earful at the earliest safe opportunity.

The atmosphere was positively blue around Ryoga where he sat by the fire and watched the water come to a boil. He couldn't believe this had happened to him. Not that his luck was particularly good at the best of times, but he had imagined that somewhere there were limits. Now everyone would think he was a no-good, two-timing bastard like Ranma. Not that Ranma was really a no-good, two-timing bastard. Ryoga knew better than anyone, the perceptions that were involved. Now the perceptions would definitely be against him. He winced as Ukyo came close to the fire to check her clothes. He had… kissed her in a semi-clothed state. Well actually, she had kissed him and she had explained several times why, and claimed it really meant nothing. The trouble was… he had actually enjoyed it.

'Oh, kami! What am I going to do?'

Ukyo was unconcerned about the kiss she gave Ryoga; unaware he considered it a breach of honor. She hadn't realized how out of balance she had felt without her main weapon. Her eyes still teared at the memory of reclaiming it. No, the kiss was spontaneous, a breaking of her controls. Heck! She might even have kissed Kuno if… well, maybe not Kuno.

Ryoga was kind of cute with those serious green eyes and those fangs. She shivered a bit. The kiss had become more than she had intended it to be, as had other reactions she had become aware of in herself and Ryoga. Why the hell did she have to be attracted to 'taken' men? Oh well, one for the memories. It was one more than she had from Ranma, anyway.

Her only purpose for a decade had been to hunt down the people who ruined her life and to make them pay. As a child, she hadn't realized Ranma's perception had been distorted by Genma's training. She knew she was a girl. She knew he was a boy. Her father told her he had arranged for she and Ranma to be together forever. Genma had not, apparently, mentioned that fact to the boy. When the elder Saotome took off with the family yatai, her father blamed her. She reminded herself to look up her father again, some time soon. In the past year, she realized he was as much to blame for her decade of agony as Genma.

The spatula spun as Ukyo reveled in the feeling of power and complete­ness it gave her. After checking her clothes, she moved into standard kata of her peculiar brand of ninjitsu ala' okonomiyaki. The great weapon sang through the mountain air, the wind a welcome challenge to her skills. The sound of its passage heterodyned as it spun and shifted almost with her thoughts. She struck out and a wrist thick limb dropped as if cut by a fine samurai blade. There was no perceptible delay caused by the strike and she moved on to more advanced maneuvers.

Barry regained consciousness and sat up suddenly, jarring her bosom painfully.

"AH-heh-hah, Ow! Owie!" She winced, hands coming up and hovering, undecided whether to soothe or avoid. Finally, she gingerly folded her arms gently across the abused glands. "Why don't they armor-plate these things," she moaned, rocking.

"Serves you right!" came a furious whisper.

"Akane, what was I supposed ta do?" she rasped back.

"Moron!"

"Ya really don't want ta get into an inventive insult contest with a guy twice yer age, sweetheart," Barry whispered, wincing. "Don't go there right now. Okay? Oooh!"

"Idiot! Just another good example of why the powers that be don't normally give men women's bodies," Akane muttered.

"You gonna pull my learner's permit?" retorted Barry to that nonsensical observation.

"If you were physically available, I'd beat you to within an inch of your life," she hissed. "Be more careful with Ranma's body!"

"Which one?"

"Barry." Her tone was flat and deadly.

"All right!" Barry looked down the length of her body distastefully. "Say, couldn't you guys have at least covered me up with… my… shirt…" Akane held up a shredded and tattered rag. Her finale had panicked Shampoo, with predictable results. "My… shirt?" Akane nodded.

"Don't worry, Barry," she said quietly, with a kind of 'keep-your-chin-up-now' delivery. "I'm sure it was all part of your plan to make everyone think Ranma's still here."

"Now I can see the relationship between you two."

"What? With whom?"

"Nabiki. That was definitely something Nabiki would have said." She sighed. "At least we got Ukyo back and we can get down ta business." They suspended the verbal sparing as that individual noticed Ranma was awake and wandered over.

"Hi, Ucchan," Barry said, hoping she was greeting this 'cute' fiancée in proper Ranma style. "Sorry I didn't check with you on the way past there." She laughed a bit shamefaced at the spectacle she had presented. "How ya feelin'?"

"I feel great! Uhhh… I mean…"

"S' okay, Ucchan," Barry said blandly. Ranma's memories of absurd circumstances made for generous allowances. "None o' my business anyway."

Ukyo stiffened, misunderstanding the words and the tone.

"What?" Barry noticed her defensiveness.

"It was not what it looked like!"

"C'mon, Ucchan, when is it ever?"

"Ranma," she whined angrily.

"Gotta warn ya though, I think Ryoga is spoken for… Ow!" Akane slapped her with the remains of the shirt.

"Ranma!" Ukyo looked like she was about to explode. Her spatula quivered and Barry decided she was pushing things too far.

"Sorry, Ucchan. I'm just glad ta see ya in one piece, ya know? Everyone's worried about ya."

Ukyo subsided, lip quivering. Ranma cared. He still cared about her.

"Let's get ya home first. Then we'll sort out the relationships, okay?" (CLANG!)

Ukyo stalked away muttering. Ranma was still an insensitive lout, too.

"Barry, did you know that in some ways you and Ranma are very much alike?" Akane said quietly.

"Owie… Really?" Barry tried to stop the ringing in her ears.

After the water boiled, Ryoga struck camp and allowed himself to be led down the mountain. Shampoo went first garbed in Ryoga's spares, followed by Ukyo in her relatively clean but comfortable rags. Next came Ryoga, followed by a shirtless (but male) Ranma who was surreptitiously examining the lost boy's umbrella where it hung on his pack. Akane brought up the rear, glad of her isolation, as well as the distance between Shampoo and Barry created by their marching order.

Barry was the only one concerned with entering town. He was all too aware of how easy it was to 'go girl' now, but there wasn't a spare shirt for him. The prospect of wandering around town as a topless girl did not suit him at all. He couldn't avoid it unless he abrogated his responsibility with the finances. He didn't know what Ryoga carried but the rest of them would have to depend on the money he carried in the belt pouch he had worn since the beginning of their journey. Akane had carried the bulk of their funds. That was lost with the packs in the landslide.

As near as he could work it out, one hundred ten yen was worth a dollar in his home universe. He was having trouble trying to imagine how they would stretch the money to cover five tickets back to Nerima. The last thing he wanted was another pick-up job like Himamashi's had been. Time was wasting and they already missed a week and a half of school. That work would have to be made up before serious efforts could be made on more esoteric research.

As they walked through the edges of town, he continued to ruminate on his problems. It was very frustrating, so many little things to deal with. The really important one needed to be approached like a thief would his unsuspecting target. Suddenly, everyone else jumped aside as a van sped by, its tires hitting the edge of a puddle.

(SPLOOSH!)

"Ahhh!"

And of course, you had to make sure you didn't get distracted. The girls took her money and went on ahead, while Ryoga uncapped a thermos to revert girl to boy.

"You're a lot of trouble sometimes, Ranma," Ryoga declared.

"Betcha wouldn't feel that way if you were on the receivin' end, Ryoga!" Barry shuddered as he resumed male form. "I'm almost glad that happened though. I've been trying to get you aside since the fight at Himamashi's."

"Barry?" asked Ryoga cautiously. "If it's about ki techniques, I don't think now is a good time."

"No, though what you've done with your umbrella is fascinating," Barry replied. His face fell as he sighed. "It's a bit more serious, I'm afraid." He related what had happened at the bar in as few words as possible.

"Poor Akane," were Ryoga's first words, "and Nekoken is on all the time?"

"I'm afraid so. We don't know whether Ranma's in here somewhere, hiding from the Nekoken, or if..." Barry looked back up toward the mountain.

"Good thing we had it up there,though," Barry sighed, finally. "Without Nekoken, I don't think I would have the control or power to have done what I did. We'd a been dead in that avalanche if it'd been just me!" He grimaced. "But we gotta find a cure, or a solution to the damn…" Barry shook his head."Things just keep on getting in the way. The priorities…" With another sigh, Barry got back under control. "We had to find Ukyo. Ranma would put everything aside if any of his friends were in danger."

"Well that's over, at least," offered Ryoga. "Maybe we can beat the address ofwherever Genma stole the Nekoken manual from out of him? They might know something…" Barry nodded thoughtfully. "But if that doesn't work, what will you do?"

"I'm in a unique situation, Ryoga," Barry said slowly. "I can see ki and manipulate it to some degree." He met the other's eyes. "But we've both heard of masters that could do amazing things with ki as well. Somewhere, someone must have dealt with this or something like it before," Barry nodded to himself. "And whether they succeeded or failed, if we could find out what they tried and experienced, it might give me a clue where to begin!" Almost excited he stopped their progress with an arm across Ryoga's chest. "Do you think the high school…?" Barry started to suggest hopefully.

"Not a chance," Ryoga replied immediately. "I got lost in the library there, once. Since I had nothing better to do, I did a lot of reading. They're okay if you want scientific, historical or technical stuff, but what you're looking for won't be found outside of a major university or, more likely, a temple library or a good family dojo like the Tendo's." He grimaced. "And that's IF they let you see it. Most of that will be written in Chinese, Sanskrit or Urdu, or archaic Japanese."

"Oh, man!" Barry rubbed his own temples. "I suppose you know someone who knows Chinese, Sanskrit and Urdu?" he asked, half sarcastically.

"Well… I do, some…"

Barry spent a few minutes absorbing that.

"Where do you pick up this stuff?" Barry demanded.

Ryoga rubbed his head, amused. "It must be a survival trait. I can ask 'Where am I?' in about forty different languages and dialects; not that it does me any good." He shrugged as if this was no big deal. "I can get by in most languages on this side of the world."

Hmmm… Barry thought. There were many temples, shrines and dojo in the Tokyo area. Barry had the feeling that Ryoga was right that what he was looking for would be kept under lock and key. Still, Ryoga could translate the older languages… "Ryoga? If someone helped you get around, could you cover the temples around Tokyo?" Ryoga's long bangs bobbed as he nodded his head once. "And maybe we ought to get you back into school, too," Barry continued. "It'd be a great cover for the 'research' you would be doing." Barry punched lightly him in the arm in a friendly fashion. "Two birds with one stone; you could finish school and improve yourself while helping us at the same time."

Ryoga blinked in surprise. Going to school, again? He scowled. "Feh, Like school would help me hold down a job." He snorted, "Who would hire me? Who would want to keep me after I missed a few weeks work." He gazed off into the clouds. "I'm a Hibiki, cursed to wander."

"Remind me sometime to discuss your future in international business," Barry broke into his musings. "You can't believe how hard good linguists are to find, or what a big company will pay and do to get one where they need him to be."

Ryoga shrugged. "If you say so. But don't misunderstand. I'll be doing it because Akane needs Ranma. I owe her and nothing will stop me from repaying my debt to her…"

(SPLOOSH!) Cold water descended from somewhere above.

"Squeeee!"

"Dammit!" Barry screeched. "Don't you people have laws about doin' that? And quit gawkin'! A man yer age gotta seen tits before, dammit! Pervert!"

Ryoga and Ranma finally tracked the girls to a small clothing shop at the edge of the market district. They were involved in a heated discussion over a simple Chinese-style silk dress.

"It not even silk!"

"Ten thousand yen? That's robbery! It's not worth one thousand," growled Akane, agreeing with her closest rival for a change.

"What's up?" Barry asked.

"Shop vender robber-baron, big time!" complained Shampoo. She glanced at Ranma and looked puzzled. "Why you wear pig-boy's shirt?"

"Never mind," Barry replied testily.

"This is top quality…" screamed the shop vender.

"Polyester," Ryoga finished for him. "That's not what the tag says, though. One hundred percent silk?" He glared at the shopkeeper.

"That what Shampoo say! Should know. Is Chinese… am Chinese!" she corrected herself. "Wear silk all time. This not silk."

They all glared at the shopkeeper now. Nervously, the shopkeeper looked from one to the other of the young, muscular youths. "Perhaps we can make a deal…"

At the train station, Ryoga pulled out his wallet and paid for everyone's tickets back to Nerima. He was the only one with significant luggage. All three girls had new clothes, courtesy of the shop vender who had become very reasonable after their discovery of his mislabeled stock. They chatted almost companionably, provided Barry kept out of sight.

Barry replaced Ryoga's shirt with a green polo shirt similar to ones he had worn at the riding academy. The cotton was far more familiar against his skin than silk, and the denser fabric would hide certain salient features that became noticeable under damp conditions.

"Ya know," he commented to the other young man, "I've got enough ta get us all back home, Ryoga. Ya didn't need…"

"I know," the other replied, "but Ranma's not the only one with a lot to atone for." He walked with Barry behind the girls to the platform. "Barry? About school… Can I count on you to help me get there and back again?"

"Sure. And we can help ya get ta the market for food or do shopping for ya when ya need it, P-chan."

"Great!" The taller man looked to one side, then back with a scowl. "Why did you call me P-chan?" he asked. "It's not like I have reason to worry anymore."

"Part of the act, Ryoga," Barry replied with a hint of mischief. "Besides, if it doesn't mean anything, you won't mind if I do it, will you?"

Ryoga scowled at him and looked away again. "Here comes our train," he said tightly.

Barry snickered.

"Ryoga, I just thought of something," Barry said suddenly. "You only went a few days last year. Aren't you gonna hafta repeat?"

"Probably not," the lost boy replied absently, as he handed over his ticket and boarded the train behind Shampoo. "My testing last year placed me in my senior year anyway, except for math. I just wanted to be with Akane."

"Oh," Barry nodded, offering his ticket and following. "That's good. It could have been damn inconvenient if we were in separate classes."

Ryoga looked at him with an evil grin. "Did you pass?" he asked innocently.

Barry started to answer, then looked perplexed. 'Had Ranma passed?' He couldn't find a pertinent memory. Apparently, Ranma was indifferent on this subject. He looked for Akane. "Hey, tomboy!" he yelled.

The girl turned around annoyed. "What do you want?"

"Did I pass?"

"What?" Akane's face told him she was ready to go overboard with the possible choices for misunderstanding.

"Did I pass? At Furinken; am I a senior?" he quickly elaborated. Her hand rose to her face and she groaned. Around her, other passengers chuckled at her face-fault and the obvious implication.

"I should let you suffer," she yelled back at him, red-faced and embarrassed.

"C'mon… Did I pass?"

"Yes, you passed. You're a senior," she snarled before turning back to the other girls in a huff. "Honestly!"

Barry made a warding off gesture and sighed as Ukyo and Shampoo reacted with Akane, in solidarity for once. Strange, Barry thought. These girls were deadly rivals for Ranma's attention, but seemed almost like friends at the moment. He found a seat next to Ryoga as the train pulled out of the station. Now that that was settled…

"Ryoga, about your umbrella…"

Ranma sat gingerly on the large stone beside the customer entrance to the barn. Unpleasantly surprised at how slow Barry's body recovered from its injuries, he was trying to do something about it. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ki senses Barry and he had developed at the lake. He had to resort to the mental exercises that old monk had taught him as a game a month or so before his dad tried to teach him the Nekoken. He shuddered.

Cats! This place was crawling with cats. Dozens and dozens of cats! The horses he didn't mind, but the cats… He tried to regain his focus and slowed his breathing again, meditating, searching for the center that increased the healing process. It wasn't easy. Barry hadn't been lying when he said that he had never heard of ki. His focus became more profound. The difficulty was avoiding sleep while ridding yourself from external stimuli. His breathing and heart rate dropped, while the actual volume of blood remained constant. He lost all sense of his surroundings and of time.

"Barry?"

It didn't register at first. He was aware that someone was standing before him. There was other movement as well and something warm seemed to be resting on his lap and against his side. He decided he better see what was up. He had made some progress, but still had far to go. He opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a woman with long brown hair held back by a hair ribbon in much the style Ukyo wore. She also wore a pink, sleeveless scoop neck T-shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes. She had hazel eyes, a slightly crooked nose and a smile that made something inside him lurch in a disturbingly familiar way. Suddenly he knew who she was.

"Uh… Hi, Gwen."

"Are you all right?" Her voice spoke of concern and she reached out, caressing his cheek. He tingled where she touched. Swallowing, he dropped his eyes. He had been running his hand over the soft something in his lap, which was rumbling in a comforting manner. He now saw that it was a cat.

"No!" his voice came out an agonized whine. A cat? It must have crawled in his lap while he was meditating.

Gwen, fortunately, misunderstood the reason for his strange voice. She assumed he had tried to get up and that it had been too painful. She reached down and scooped the cat out of his lap and then held out her hands. "Come on. Let me help you up."

Ranma reached out almost desperately for her hands. 'Yes! Get me away from these cats,' he thought but did not voice. With her assistance, he hobbled over to the car and climbed in the passenger side. He was relieved when she shut the door. Safe! Then a cat jumped up on the car and walked right up the windshield and onto the roof.

"Hang on," Gwen said in disgust. She got out, chased the cat off the roof checked once again under the car for more, climbing back in only when she was satisfied. "Idiots," she muttered. She looked quizzically at him when he jerked at the word. "Not you, dear, the cats." After she started the car, she glanced at him again fondly. "I love you." It was said simply, with experience and deep layers of meaning.

"I love you, too," he muttered. 'What did I say? Did I just say…'

"Good," she replied, throatily, running a finger along his leg. He jumped and groaned, half in pain, half in… something else. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'll behave myself." She put the car in gear and pulled slowly out of the parking lot. "We'll stop by the hospital first; then get you home. You are not going to work tomorrow." Her frown was fierce and left no room for argument.

When she pulled out in to the street, he nearly shouted in shock. What did she think she was doing? She was driving down the right side! He was in a car with a crazy woman and this body did not have, even in the best of circum­stances, the speed or skills to escape this danger. He whined in protest and felt his fingers dig into the armrest of the door. A car came toward them on the opposite side of the road. His heart climbed back down into his chest. Apparently, Americans drove on the right. Barry's wife glanced over in concern and promised to drive more carefully.

"I love you," she said again.

"I love… you…" He cursed inside. Even prepared, he had only slowed it down. What was with Barry, anyway? Even Ranma's most basic kata didn't command this level of response. He-l-l-lo… Akane? Akane! Ranma shriveled inside. What the hell was going on? He had just told this strange woman… again… But he… Akane… The cats… Sinking deeper into his seat, Ranma Saotome, age seventeen, of Nerima, sweated, his mind whirling from the four-fold assault from his desires and phobias and Barry's responses and memories. He had a bad feeling about this.