Guest Ki: Chapter 32
Trial Run
The doorbell at the Hibiki residence rang shrilly in the morning light. Brrringg!
"I'm coming!"
Ryoga was not a late riser. But most days he just barely managed to find the kitchen and make himself some breakfast. He was mumbling around some toastas hetried to orient himself. Normally, his dog, Shirokuro, would help him find the door, but he had let her out an hour ago to take care of some canine business and she had not yet returned. He put his hand to the wall.
Akari had helped him arrange furniture in an attempt to make it easier to find his way around the house. She treated it like a problem in maze logic, moving furniture away from the wall so he could keep one hand in contact as he traveled. Gritting his teeth, he began to search for the door.
"The bathroom?" he said startled. "Oh, well, since I'm here..."
Brrringg! the doorbell reminded him.
"I'm coming!" Ryoga moved along. "My bedroom… Wish I'd found that last night."
"The attic? I didn't know we had a... What's this?" He reached into a box. "My old stuffed bear! I wondered what happened to..."
Brrringg!
"Coming, dammit!" He hurried along the wall. "Here's a door. Mom and Dad's room." He pushed on past. "The kitchen. Didn't I just...? Oh, two doors!" This was a great revelation to the young man; his kitchen had two doors. He opened a door and stared down some dark steps. "Basement, I think..."
Brrringg! Brrringg! the doorbell insisted.
"Coming! Jeez, I hope this is..."
It was. Shirokuro pranced into the house, leaving him looking at...
"Oh! Hi, Buh-buh… uh... Ranma." Ranma was red-haired, drenched, grumpy and followed by Akane, Ukyo and Nabiki. Which was why Ryoga quickly corrected the name he was about to call the pigtailed person.
Ukyo looked at him in disgust. "Never mind the act, pork butt!" she snorted at him. "I know all about your dirty little secret!"
Ryoga blanched and retreated. They followed him in. "Were you waiting long?"
"Nah!" said Barry. "Your dog was ringing the bell when we came up." Once in the house, she stripped off the dripping shirt, only to have Ryoga turn away, a finger to his nose. "Ryoga! You know who and what I am!" she exclaimed in disgust. "Can I borrow some clothes? If ya got any of yer old stuff... " Ukyo smacked him. "Ow!"
"Can the Ranma act in private, Barry-baka!" she growled. "How Akane ever put up with it..."
"Ukyo..." Barry's eyes flashed then went dark. She turned away from the 'cute' fiancée. "Nabiki and Ukyo figured it out last night, Ryoga. They're part of the team now."
"We'll be the judge of that," snapped Ukyo. She turned her glare on Ryoga. "So this is the 'Get Back Ranma' Club?" He flinched. "How could you let me go all this time without telling me?" She screamed into his face. "I trusted you!" Ryoga started to stutter a reply.
"Leave him alone, Ukyo," Akane said in a weary voice. "And stop beating on Barry. You've been abusing him all morning; and frankly, I'm getting tired of it."
"Really," sneered Ukyo. "So says the girl with the mallet!"
Akane flinched. "Does my stupidity excuse yours?" she replied rallying.
Ukyo spun with a snarl, only to stop dead as Barry was suddenly there, Ranma's girl-type, naked from the waist up carrying her sodden shirt had a woebegone expression on her face. Ukyo stepped back doubtfully.
"Don't fight Akane, Ukyo. You'll lose," she said. The sad expression turned thoughtful. "That's a pretty good name, though. Maybe we should use it?"
"Ba-ka! I was being sarcastic! So far as I'm concerned you're nothing but a –"
"Ukyo! He's explained – "
"I can take it, Akane," Barry sighed, depressed again. "It's only fair after what I did to her." The temporary redhead suddenly leaned back as her space was invaded. Ryoga went nose-to-nose with Barry.
"Just what did you do to Ukyo," he growled. Barry didn't answer, but did catch her balance. Ryoga's fists clenched and his aura sprang into visibility, green and wrathful. His violence was interrupted.
"Are you planning to beat him to death with that teddy bear?"
Ryoga started and half-turned away from his target. Nabiki pointed to his hand. He looked down. The stuffed bear seemed to smile at him mockingly. He glanced up and Nabiki smiled and swayed her hips ever so slightly. Barry forgotten, his eyes widened and he froze, cursing his weakness, his skin burning with the blush his memory inspired. 'Don't you... want it?'
"It's... Heh-heh! It's the dog's toy!" He tossed his old beloved bear in Shirokuro's general direction. It bounced off her head and dropped to the floor. She stared at it, clueless.
"I see she's quite attached to it," giggled his tormentor, keeping a lock on his eyes.
He winced as strong fingers clamped on his ear. "Ryoga, you jackass," Ukyo growled, yanking him around. "Stop ogling Nabiki!"
"Were you ogling me, Ryoga?" the latter asked innocently.
"No, of course not!" He winced, reaching up to catch Ukyo's hand before his ear came off. "I wouldn't do such a thing!"
"Too bad," Akane's sister sighed dramatically. "Don't you think so, Ukyo?"
"Huh?" They stared at her, frozen in mid-struggle for Ryoga's ear.
"I mean, Ukyo, you wouldn't mind being ogled by a cute guy like Ryoga, would you?" She smiled at them both and looked them over. They jumped apart as if their mutual contact burned, and Nabiki snickered wickedly.
"Nabiki!" they shouted in unison. They glanced at one another, then at the still-quiet Barry. Suddenly realizing they had been sidetracked, they refocused on Akane's sister.
"Did I say something?" she asked, eyebrows raised. She swayed closer to Ryoga. "You two act like you've got a secret," she sing-songed.
Ryoga's eyes bulged. "Nabiki Tendo," he roared, "I... I..."
"Have a dirty mind," she finished for him. "Must be the neighborhood. You should have seen the expression on your neighbor's face when she saw four pretty girls march up to your door."
"Oh, no!" he groaned. "Not Mrs. Nabunichi?"
"So, you get a reputation," Nabiki shrugged.
"I don't want a reputation!" he shouted, purpling. He glanced over at Ukyo for support and saw that she and Akane were encouraging Shirokuro to play tug-of-war with his old bear. He winced.
"Nabiki, stop tormenting Ryoga," sighed Barry. "We've got work to do." She turned to Ryoga and jerked her head toward the kitchen. It produced side affects in exposed anatomy and Ryoga.
Ryoga grabbed his nose and grimaced. "Do you have to bounce those things in my direction?"
Barry looked down and sighed. "Sorry. Ya got hot water, P-chan?"
Ryoga, who was about to comment on Barry's mood, frowned. "Do you have to do that?"
"What?"
"Don't call me P-chan!" he thundered.
"Okay, pork... Never mind. Sorry, Ryoga." Barry shuffled off to the kitchen.
"Yeah, right," the lost boy growled sarcastically.
"Really! It's reflex, Ryoga," Barry said from the kitchen. The voice changed in mid-sentence. "I didn't even know I was doing it." A bare-chested male Ranma wandered back out of the kitchen.
"Oh, really." Ryoga didn't hide his doubt.
"Really," said Barry innocently. "That un-cute tomboy over there..." (WACK!) A book bounced off Barry's face. "...does it all the time."
Akane had a hand to her mouth, surprised by her own actions, her anger fading to embarrassment. "I...I..."
"S'okay, Akane. I shouldn't have done that." He tossed the book softly back and rubbed between his eyes.
"Barry, what did you do to Ukyo?" Ryoga was torn between the pain the two felt. Obviously, whatever Barry had done hadn't really harmed the 'cute' fiancée. He watched the face go still and closed again.
"Not my story to tell. Sorry."
Ryoga turned toward Ukyo and winced again. Shirokuro was shaking the stuffing out of his bear. Akane sighed and moved away, dissatisfied by the entertainment.
"Drop it Ryoga," she warned. "Have you turned up anything new on our search?"
Ryoga answered absently. "Not much," he admitted. He looked between Ukyo and Akane, and decided whatever Barry had done wasn't as bad as Barry seemed to think it was.
"What precisely are you trying to accomplish here?" Nabiki inquired.
"Bring Ranma back," Akane flatly stated. "And keep anyone who might take advantage of the situation in the dark."
"Hey!" Ukyo protested.
"We were mainly worried about the Chinese contingent, Ukyo."
"Sure you were!" Ukyo snapped.
Akane interrupted Ukyo. "Barry and Ranma had decided that the best solution to Barry was to visit temples, shrines and libraries and see if anyone had ever had this happen before, and what was done about it," She glanced at the very subdued Barry, then at her sister and the chef.
Barry cut in, wearily. "Then Ranma and I stumbled on ki-vision. It wasn't long before Akane arrived at the lake. It's a method of visualizing the energy signature of all existing things." The pig-tailed figure's focus became distant. "It's much more reliable than the instinct Ranma developed as a 'danger sense'. And it allows you to be more interactive with external ki sources because you can see how your own ki influences them. With a little work you can stimulate those sources by ki alone."
"Stimulate?" Ukyo asked suspiciously.
For some reason, Barry looked terribly embarrassed at the question.
"Um, I... yeah," he floundered weakly. "Ahhh… Anway, there are three types of ki techniques from a practical point of view: The most commonly used methods are designed to strengthen your body and increase your reaction time. I call those 'Empowering Ki Techniques'. Then Ryoga here uses a lot of what I call 'Resonant Ki Techniques'. His iron cloth techniques and the Bakusai Tenketsu all depend on using your ki to get the attention of ki in another object, then convince the ki to do what you want. These first two methods don't put much of a drain on the body's resources and probably account for 90 of all ki techniques used by any martial arts discipline. That's Ranma's assessment, not mine, by the way."
"Get on with it," Ukyo warned. "How is that supposed to get Ranma back?"
"The last type of ki technique is the Projective Ki Technique," Barry hurried on. "The Shi Shi Hokudan, the Moko Takabishi, Soun's Demon Head and the Hiru Shoten Hai all involve projective ki to one degree or another or are a combination of projective and resonant ki techniques. Ranma thought it was more likely that a Projective Technique was more likely to be the key to getting me home; of 'projecting' me back into my body. As a side benefit, he discovered how to create simple ki-objects like swords, staffs and ribbons of projective ki…" He glanced up at Ukyo and saw increasing skepticism and anger.
"But what plan did Ranma suggest for sending you back?" Ukyo gritted.
"We never quite got worked that out."
"What the hell were you doing, then?" Ukyo squawked.
"I'm sorry, Ukyo," Barry said tightly. "He was teaching me not to take someone's head off accidentally when they screamed at me like you're doing." He met her suspicious glare solidly, forced her to blink then looked away and continued, "After he decided I was reasonably safe to be around, we started trying to separate us. That's where we got into the projective ki business.
"At Himamashi's we fought against Happosai together. Ranma was drunk. The old fart was crazy. Because I wasn't running things, I wasn't as affected as Ranma was, but we both agreed that Happi had to be stopped. As parts of Ranma's control shut down, I took over for him. I think by the time Ranma saw the cat-aura in the mirror I was in control of most of the action. I was so focused on Happosai…" He shook his head. "It was like hearing a door slam. I went a little crazy then, and Akane splashing me with water was all that kept me from killing the little wart." He reached out and plucked one of Ukyo's spatulas out of her bandoleers then rubbed his fingers across it before holding it up. "Now, Nekoken, or something very like it, is on full time."
Nabiki looked closely at the blade of the tool, then the metal shavings on the tabletop. The spatula now bore the familiar kanji of 'Ucchan's' stenciled through the stainless steel. "So why aren't you all freaked out?"
"I like cats." Barry admitted.
Ukyo snatched the spatula and ran her fingers over the metal and swallowed deeply. What it implied about Barry, and what he could have done to here, she wasn't prepared to accept yet. "If you're in neko full-time, can Ranma even get back?" she demanded. "He might just sense the cat and go back into hiding." Her voice was much more gracious.
"We thought of that," Barry admitted. "One of the first things we considered – but I don't know how to shut it off – still don't."
"Okay, what if you got out first?" the chef proposed. "You might just take the nekoken with you or at least let it go back to normal."
"A body isn't a suit of clothes, Ukyo," Barry objected. "Maybe if I knew how I got here to begin with – but it's not something I've ever tried to do." Barry raised a finger to halt her imaginative progress and his expression took on a slightly more positive cast. "But thanks to Ryoga here that may soon change."
"But… You mean there is a way you can leave Ranchan's body?" Ukyo squeaked. "Why haven't you tried it? Maybe all he needs is a chance? You might be blocking his return. Oh, maybe not deliberately, but it could be, couldn't it?"
"Hold on! Ryoga just found the scroll last week. We didn't know what we had till last 'Study Session'."
"And…?"
Barry looked troubled. "I'd hate to raise false hopes."
"Are you afraid to try?" she added in saccharin tones.
"Of course I'm afraid, Ukyo." He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "If I screw up badly enough, Ranma and I are both dead, afterall." The drumming reminded him of hoof beats in the academy back home. Finally, in the lengthening silence, he smirked slightly. "I guess there's nothing stopping us from checking it out, ne?"
They cleared Ryoga's dining room table. Barry insisted on certain preparations which he promised to explain. After some preparation, Barry, in Ranma's girl-type, lay down on the table.
"Ya got the hot and cold water there? Good. Akane, Ryoga, you watch on with ki vision. Even if it doesn't work this time, we might get something for the next try."
"Don't you expect this to work?" Ukyo growled.
"Few attempts meet success on the first try, Ukyo" Barry said calmly. "Akane, summarize for Ukyo what our experience has been concerning this technique."
"Ukyo, we've all heard or read the stories about holy men sending their spirits to warn the righteous of danger. Then there are the stories where magicians have used something similar to harm their enemies or help their friends. Barry says where he's from they call it astral projection." Akane's voice had become crisp as she summarized.
"When we found it," Ryoga offered quietly, "It was sort of by accident."
"It looked like an afterthought scribed on the bottom of a chronicle like we're talking about, from a little shrine over in Shinjuku," Akane continued. "The story was about a former abbot who went out of his body to visit the home of the gods. The scroll claimed to be historical and Ryoga spent six evenings copying down the high points."
"Toward the end, I was so tired, I didn't realize I had copied down a few verses of poetry tacked to the end of the story."
"The poem, when read, evokes a burst of emotional responses, under the right circumstances," Barry said. "Akane was practicing her ki-vision while listening to Ryoga and I hash over what he'd found. Ryoga was still dead tired and simply kept reading when he got to the end of the narrative."
"I found myself looking over my own shoulder," Akane finished quietly. At Ukyo and Nabiki's shocked looks she added, "It was only for a moment. Then I was back in my body."
"I think we may have stumbled on a teaching method used in this temple," Barry suggested. "The storyhelps you getin the right frame of mind and the poem triggers the technique. But if you're using ki-vision when the trigger is read, you're already close to what's needed."
Ryoga chipped in, "The monks let me copy the scroll. I don't think anyone there knew what it was. Maybe somebody died before they could pass on the method of teaching the technique. Now as far as they know, it's just a story."
Akane looked at Barry fretfully. "This will be the first time Barry's deliberately tried it,"
Ukyo was frowning at Ryoga's notes and the poem.
"Then what's all this for and why are you a girl?" demanded the 'cute' fiancée.
"I just thought we should cover all bases," Barry said. "If Ranma doesn't come around right away, tripping the curse might act as a wake-up call." Barry pointed down her female form. "If there's a chance I might take the Nekoken with me, let's set it up that Ranma comes back male. . If the nekoken is still active, when I'm clear of the body, one of you splash him with hot water. The change should snap him out of it." Barry settled herself as comfortably as possible on the flat surface. "If it looks like I'm taking Jusenkyo with me, I'll slide back in to let Ranma change back to male." She grinned and winked at Ryoga. "Wouldn't want Ranma to wind up dating material for Kuno or what's his name — Mikado!"
"Eeuw!" all the girls chorused. Ryoga shuddered.
"I'm ready with the hot water," Ryoga said holding a pitcher thick with condensation.
"'Excuse me. Ukyo, you apply the water." Barry made a face at Ryoga and shook her head. "Partly to test if the curse is still active afterward, part to act as backup in case we're wrong and I should have started out male, after all."
Everyone moved into position. Akane stood on Barry's right, Ryoga, his left, Nabiki took up a station at the table's foot and Ukyo at the head. Barry nodded to Ryoga who positioned the poem where Barry could read it. "Be careful with the ki-vision at this stage," Barry joked. "Heck of a thing if we all projected and got mixed up in getting back to our bodies." The redhead took a deep breath. As she released it she muttered the poem to herself, allowing the restraints on her ki-vision to fall away. As the syllables rang in her ears, Barry felt her ki begin to react to the poem's triggers.
"He's pulling back into his chakras," Akane said clinically, eyes closed.
"How dangerous is this, Akane?" Nabiki asked cooly.
"I wouldn't think it was too dangerous," she said distantly. "But the scroll talked about warding from outside influences. So I suppose there's some risk."
Ukyo snorted.
"Too bad it didn't say anything about how the warding was done. I got a couple of good luckofuda from the monks hanging around, but I don't know what good they'll be." Ryoga frowned. His chakras are pulling together.Is this how it happened to you, Akane?."
"I don't know. It was very fast for me," Akane replied. "This doesn't… feel right."
Nabiki looked troubled. Around Ranma, what could go wrong often did. "Just what are you saying?"
"We don't think this is working," Ryoga stated. "Besides, If Ranma were still in there with Barry, he'd of found a way to let us know, or we'd see a doubled ki signature like Ranma said they had together." He flinched from Ukyo who looked ready to launch a tantrum at him and licked his lips. "Barry's out, Ukyo. Splash Ranma with the hot water."
Water splashed. The body before them remained female.
"Oh shit! There's something's wrong, isn't there?" exclaimed Nabiki.
Ukyo splashed some water on her own arm, testing it and yelped. "It's hot. What's going on?" She liberally poured the water over Ranma's body, which remained female.
Akane suddenly reached out and touched the body in several places. "Ranma's not breathing, there's no heartbeat... I think he's dying!"
"Barry!"screamed four voices.
Barry floated above, watching. Working entirely from the ki-awareness he's learned, he didn't 'see' the flare of Jusenkyo as Ukyo applied the hot water. Drifting like smoke, he watched as people began to panic. The colors of their concern were evident. Ranma's body, strangely, was nearly invisible. He couldn't make out its form to tell if this were working or not, and he couldn't hear them, of course. He drifted over, letting his aura faintly overlap Akane's. Her grief and fear were immediately evident. Something was definitely wrong.
He returned to the table but couldn't find anything he could lock onto. If Ranma's body was still there, he was shut out. He reached back to Akane, then to Ukyo and Ryoga. He couldn't reach them. He even tried Nabiki in desperation, but to no avail. As ghostly as Ranma's body was to his senses, it was getting more so by the minute. With a shock, he realized that the problem was on his end. He was beginning to sublimate in some way. He groped for the body in panic and hesitated. Where was Ranma?
"Get out of the way," Nabiki said crossly. "You'd think a bunch of martial artists would know some CPR!" She thumped Ranma on the chest and told Akane how to breathe for the body.
Barry watched the shadowy perception of the body grow more definite, but still too tenuous to attach to. It looked like they were both dying then. What a stupid way to go! Poor Ukyo, she hadn't really recovered from her wandering yet. This might destroy her. She would blame herself for Ranma's death, and maybe his own as well. There wasn't anyway he could reach them... or was there?
Ki radio. Yes, he used it as a speaker to try to talk to them separately at first. He focused. There was something else they could do, if he could just get through.
"It's not working," Akane yelled.
"Keep doing it!" snarled Nabiki.
Ukyo stood back in shock. This couldn't be happening. She only wanted Ranma back. This just wasn't fair...
"ssssssss...Rrrrrrmmmmmm." The odd sounds seemed to come from midair.
"What was that?" snapped Nabiki, still pumping rhythmically at the redhead's chest. She wished absently that they'd thought to have Barry put a shirt on.
Ryoga closed his eyes. "Barry's still with us, but he's real faint," he reported. "I think he's trying to talk to us like he did at the lake."
"zzzzzzshshhock! Hrt!" they heard faintly. "SHSHSHSshshaw-kkkT! HAH-rt!"
"English, if he's doing what I think he's doing," Ryoga muttered, running through his vocabulary. "Shock hurt? Shock heart?" He snapped his fingers. "Don't hospitals use some kind of electric thing to restart hearts?"
"Difibulator," remarked Nabiki, grunting with her efforts. "We don't have one."
"Yes, we do," exclaimed Ryoga. He pushed Nabiki aside and placed his large hands just under the body's breasts. Akane jumped back and Ukyo boggled at the sight of Ryoga groping Ranma. Then, the body convulsed as power rocked through the fine-boned frame.
Akane went back to mouth to mouth, while Ryoga listened for a heartbeat.
"Again!" Power surged and Ranma's body arched into a bow before slamming back to the tabletop. A leg cracked and the table twisted sideways sending the body, Ryoga and Akane sliding to the floor.
"No! No," shouted Ukyo despairingly. She stopped dead. The sprawled form suddenly convulsed again, shifting to male and beginning to cough.
"Ranma? Barry?" There was no answer.
"His heart is beating," said Nabiki, her ear to his chest.
"We can see that with ki-vision, Nabiki," Ryoga said, pulling himself out from under the remains of the table.
Akane was holding the body's shoulders. "His ki is real fuzzy, I think it hurt him doing this."
"Who?" Ukyo demanded.
"Barry," came the whisper. "Sorry, Ukyo... Akane."
The breathing became deeper and more even.
"I think he's passed out," someone observed.
Twenty minutes later, Barry thrashed awake, throwing off a quilt and coming to his feet in a rush, to stand panting in a strange room. He patted his front, then looked around for a mirror. There were none. He looked at his arms and clothes, the futon on the floor and then nodded. The room seemed chilly to him. Shivering, he wrapped the quilt about his shoulders and moved over to the door. Ranma's guest looked out on a room that was an absolute mess. Akane and Ukyo were standing in the center of the room yelling at each other while Ryoga sat disconsolately on the floor. Nabiki had found a neutral corner and was staying carefully in it.
"Why is it my fault that Ranma's missing?" snarled Akane.
"He was with you last! If you hadn't got involved in that perverted wrestling match, none of this would have happened," bellowed Ukyo.
Akane punched a hole in the wall in exasperation. "I didn't have a choice. I was challenged!" She poked a finger at Ukyo and countered, "That doesn't excuse your pushing Barry into almost getting them both killed."
"Yeah, right," Ukyo sneered. "I doubt your resident demon was really risking anything!"
"I don't believe this," muttered Ryoga.
"I do," spoke quietly Barry quietly as he stepped into the room. "They haven't actually attacked one another, have they?"
"Why do you have to believe he's evil?" countered Akane. "If you judge him by everything else he's done, he couldn't be!"
"Who wouldn't be tempted to keep Ranma's youth, power and skill?" Ukyo pointed out, smashing a lamp with her spatula.
"Someone whose heart is elsewhere, Ukyo." Barry flinched as the girls turned on him with almost savage expressions on their faces. For a moment, he was sure they were both going to grind him into paste, in the heat of their rage and frustration. Akane stood down first and looked guilty. Ukyo was slower to cool. "Her name is Gwen, Ukyo, and she is my wife, my lover and my best friend," he added. "I want to be with her, but not at Ranma's expense."
"Yeah, right. You're a such paragon of virtue," Ukyo sneered.
He chuckled and his tongue moistened his lips. "I doubt Gwen would agree," he replied finally. Ukyo lowered her spatula, sudden doubt in her eyes and body language.
Akane asked, "Are you… Is Ranma alright?"
"I guess." Barry looked around. "Real neighborly, girls; you've managed to destroy Ryoga's house for him." Akane and Ukyo looked blankly at him then turned their regard to their surroundings, suddenly becoming aware of the devastation.
"Ahhh… Oops?" Ukyo groaned, paling.
"Ryoga, I'm sorry!" wailed Akane.
Ryoga rose wearily to his feet. He looked around at the slashed and bashed walls and splintered furniture. Even some of the tatami were shredded. He met Barry's eyes. "Really, it's all right," he said resignedly. "I mean, I've damaged the dojo and both your places often enough. I guess it's only fair..."
"Girls?" They looked at Barry. "Dojo rules." Akane and Ukyo traded looks and nodded. It was so automatic by now, that the latter forgot to question his authority.
"'Dojo rules'?" Nabiki asked.
"You break it, you fix it." Barry explained as the two girls began to straighten the room up and tally the damage. "Actually, in the dojo we use it to punish failure. It's not the person who throws you through the wall who broke it, but the one who got thrown."
"And collateral damage?"
"'You broke it, you fix it'," he grinned.
It took some time, but finally everything was assigned except one piece, a dark porcelain vase with a fanciful scene of a mountain and a tree in white. Cracked into six or seven pieces, it was still identifiable.
"Did you do it? I didn't do it," said Ukyo.
"Not me," Akane said doubtfully. "And Barry gets to fix the table."
Barry had already checked the table. A good solid dowel, some glue and it would be fine. "Whose is it, then?" he asked.
"I suppose that would be mine," Nabiki said grudgingly. "I knocked it over when I was avoiding the discussion." She looked at the shards and sighed. "Do you know where I can get you a new one, Ryoga?"
"Not really," he said, looking over the remains. "I picked it up somewhere. It was in pieces already, Nabiki. You can see where I glued it back together. I just thought my mom would like it." He sighed.
Nabiki hung her head. She hated to get her hands dirty, but... "'I broke it, I fix it'," she sighed. "I'll take it with me and glue it together back at school."
"You don't have to," Ryoga said.
"Yes, I do." She smiled and looked him over. "Besides, it's for your mom. I can appreciate that."
Ryoga suddenly smiled shyly at Nabiki. He dealt with Nabiki, the schemer, for so long that he didn't know how to deal with her when she was behaving in an honest, humane manner. The fact that she was also a smart, pretty young woman thundered home again and made him blush.
Nabiki was no fool. She might not seriously consider Ryoga as husband material, but she was very aware that this cute, very strong man was looking at her favorably. Used to men showing physical interest only to have it replaced by wariness and distrust, having the opposite happen was very flattering.
Ukyo was very aware of the change in atmosphere and frowned. She broke their line of sight and presented a startled Ryoga with a list of the damages that were her responsibility. "You will send me the bill for this? I don't like owing anything to anyone." Ryoga jerked back as if he'd been slapped and stared at her.
Ukyo absorbed the hurt look and reviewed what she had just said. She suddenly realized what that sounded like, especially with regard to her behavior of the past hour and considering what she reallyowed him. "I'm sorry, Rych—!" She trembled, eyes huge, then broke like a startled deer. The door banged as she left at high speed.
Barry started after her, only to be stopped by a shake of the head from Akane who slipped out the door to track and, if necessary, redirect Ukyo back to Ucchan's. Ryoga and Nabiki stayed frozen in place.
"Ukyo," whispered Ryoga.
"Will be fine. Trust Akane," Barry said.
"I'm missing something, aren't I?" murmured Akane's sister. Ryoga looked hard at her, suspicious, and she sighed. The mood was broken. "Barry, are you up to giving me an escort back to the university this evening?"
Barry glanced at her puzzled, cocked his head and answered, "I should be. Why?"
"In retrospect," Nabiki qualified, "I was thinking Ranko might express some displeasure with Nikki's actions. Having an out-of-town 'cousin' do the deed should dissuade Nikki from any future stupidities but keep him from looking closer to home, if he does get suspicious of my interest in the competition."
Barry grinned savagely. "I really dislike perverts!"
Ryoga looked them both over and frowned. "What exactly are you planning, and why? You just found out about Barry and you're scheming with him already?"
"Barry's just helping me out a little, Ryoga," Nabiki said easily. Ryoga, suspicious, glazed over a little, in what Nabiki had come to recognize as an indication of use of the ki-vision. She sighed, exasperated as the hair literally rose on the back of his neck.
"What the hell happened to you, Nabiki?" he growled. "This has to do with that Nikki character?"
"Ryoga…" Nabiki frowned and then smiled wryly. "I get my revenge, my way; Okay?. Speaking of which: I believe my sister has been talking to you guys about an upcoming martial arts tournament it my school? Nikki thinks he's got the inside story on who's going to win. With a little help, I can… refute him." She gave him a lazy look. "You do want to help me refute him?"
"My pleasure." Ryoga met her eyes squarely and they smiled. Nabiki, flattered anew at this unusual attention, blushed. Ryoga turned to Barry, fire in his eyes. "I'm in. Nobody beats up girls when Ryoga Hibiki is around!" He struck a righteous pose, thumb jabbing at himself.
"Now if only my sister and her 'boyfriend' were more cooperative," Nabiki gave Barry a long look."
"Hey! You know what the deal is now!" Barry retorted.
"Just kidding," Nabiki smirked. "Still, you might reconsider. As I said before, the winner of each martial arts style receives a sports scholarship to the university. It's not a full scholarship, but it's very good. The events are karate, jujitsu, kendo, Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, sumo and kyudo. As a bonus,everyone entering the competition hasaccess to the university grounds and equipment, subject to the needs and discretion of the faculty." She smiled at the calculating look that crossed Barry's face. "Even better, winnersget full access just as if they were already students."
She glanced at Barry expectantly. "Nabiki, just how big is the university library and how extensive are their cultural and religious departments?"
"Ah, ha hah," Nabiki smirked. "The devil's in the details. I would have to say they're among the most extensive in Japan. Do I have your attention, now? Hmmm...?"
Ukyo ran blindly for a while before slowing and stopping at a relatively quiet little garden bordered by an ornamental wall. She looked through the stone fence-work at the even clipped lawn with its carefully shaped shrubs. She was on the outside looking in again. How could she be such a fool? She turned, angry and savage, as she felt someone land lightly not far away. It was Akane. Ukyo slumped. She tried to summon the anger and suspicion she felt earlier and failed. She turned and looked through the fence again. So cool, peaceful and inviting, but no more hers than Ranma or Ryoga. When would she learn?
"Ukyo..."
"I'm all right, Akane. I can find my way home from here."
"I'm sorry we didn't tell you before this."
Ukyo snorted, then sighed. "You guys were right, you know," she said finally. "The more people who know; the greater the chance that someone will say something at the wrong time."
"I guess." Akane didn't sound like she believed it.
They sat down not far apart against the wall of the garden. The silence grew oppressive to Ukyo after a while and she looked crossly at Akane. "Hey, you know that, regardless of what Barry is, Ranma will find some way to come back. He always has," she added harshly, "especially for you."
"Will he, Ukyo?" Akane replied hollowly. "I pushed him away for two years. I took out my fears on him and painted him with labels he didn't deserve. I blamed him for my lack of skill, for Kuno, Shampoo, Kodachi, you..." She took a ragged breath. "When I went to the lake, I had... expectations. You have no idea, Ukyo, no idea what his note to me implied."
"So there was a note?" Ukyo queried, her eyebrow rising. She blushed, remembering what she had attempted, only to end up with a blank note tablet.
"What was in it?"
"He told me where to meet him and that he was worried that the others might try to hurt me if they found out about my going. He said he chose the spot because it gave us the greatest advantage in a fight against the cursed and those opponents who depended on weapons."
"Me, in other words."
Akane nodded. "And Kuno, Ryoga and Kodachi. Mousse..."
Ukyo smiled slightly, her mood lightening. Perhaps, Ranma didn't feel so harshly toward her. "And…"
"I didn't know what to think. I mean it sounded good. Or bad, depending on how you looked at it. He just signed his name and added that I should burn the message when I was done reading it. Then I sat there and wished I hadn't, because I really wanted to figure out what he meant."
"He did write the note on the kitchen pad?" Ukyo prompted.
"Yes, and erased something where you would expect a closure to be. I really wanted to find out what he wrote."
"And?"
Akane looked down and blushed.
"He finally chose," breathed Ukyo. "I don't know whether to laugh, cry, cheer or curse," she said.
"I…I don't really know that he... Ukyo, he diderase it, and Barry was around when he wrote it. They told me that sometimes emotions and memories would cross over to one another." Ukyo looked frankly skeptical. "When I got there, Ryoga had already arrived, I found out about Barry and thenabout Ryoga and P-chan."
Ukyo groaned despite herself. "You were the un-cute, macho chick at her worst?"
"Y-yes," Akane gulped. "It was pretty horrible. I was going to pack up and leave, but Ranma wouldn't let me. He said he owed it to my father at least to train me in the full school of Mutsabetsu Kakuto. I can't say we covered everything, but I'm probably as good as Ranma was just before you turned up."
And that had been plenty good. More than enough to match Ukyo, who had only maintained her skill in the Arts while waiting for Akane to alienate Ranma. "Bloody hell!" Ukyo exclaimed. How had Ranma done that? It should have taken years. "Still, it was what you always wanted."
"Was it?" Akane said quietly. "I thought so before; but I'd trade it all to have him back." She trembled in memory. "Then that night at Himamashi's... After the competition… We finally, almost kissed."
"What?" Ukyo was aghast. "You mean you've never kissed him? I thought you'd at least… I mean when you guys faked being married… How did you never…?"
"By being a stupid un-cute macho chick, Ukyo," she said bitterly. "So close! Maybe he was drunk, or maybe having me say at the fight that I wanted him finally pushed the right button. Then Happosai went on his rampage and after that… it was too late." Bitter tears forced their way along the corners of her eyes. She blinked rapidly. "Too damn late!" She tucked her head against her knees and burst into sobs, disconsolate, rocking herself, the emotions she held within finally pouring out. After a moment, she felt an arm reach across her shoulder and hug her tightly and comfortingly.
At that moment, it could have been Kuno and it wouldn't have mattered. But it was Ukyo, and Akane hugged her friend and rival close and sobbed. Ukyo hugged back, all the while cursing her own stubbornness in ever imagining Akane had truly wanted out of that engagement. All the signs had been there had she bothered to look, Akane's jealousy, Ranma's constant defense of his fiancée against any and all odds, the exchanged glances. Whenever one of them was in trouble, the willingness to sacrifice everything... The list went on. And even if she had come to love him, at the time it had merely been a way out of an impossible revenge against a reluctant but unbeatable foe.
As Ukyo rocked Akane, tears running down her own face, she wondered if anyone would ever be there for her like that. She snorted again, blinking back the unwelcome saltiness. She had to stop thinking her prince would someday come. Cute or not, was she only one of the dwarves or the fairy godmothers? Advancing the story, but only to achieve happiness through the joy of others? Life wouldn't be so cruel!
She didn't believe it for a minute. So, they sat, each mourning their shattered dreams and prayed it would somehow turn out all right.
Barry looked up from putting the quilt away as the door opened and Akane and Ukyo returned. His body temperature was back to normal. He noticed the stains on the front of Ukyo's uniform and Akane's light yellow blouse. He glanced sharply up at their faces, which were too clean, and their eyes, which were red. He nodded. Even before he came here, he wouldn't have missed the signs of grief. "I'm sorry."
Ryoga was offering Nabiki a box he'd found — actually, Shirokuro found the box — and got more details from Nabiki about the courses offered at the university. He missed their quiet entrance. Turning at Barry's words he looked blankly in their direction. Alone most of his life, he was a bit more obtuse about emotional states, but even he could tell that Akane and Ukyo must have come to some sort of truce. Their body language indicated mutual support for each other, something Barry missed.
"It's all right, Barry," Akane said. "You tried."
"Don't be so quick to forgive, Akane," Ukyo advised her. "Barry-baka, what happened and why?"
"Ukyo, are you familiar with the concept that a person's aura is comprised of multiple levels or layers?" Ukyo nodded. "The layers being Body, Health, Astral, Mind and Soul?"
"I've heard something like that…"
"Somehow, I think I managed to pull at least two other layers out with me when I went. Without the health aura-layer, the body couldn't regulate itself and began to shut down."
The girls seemed to freeze. They looked at one another and at the room, then back at Barry.
"You mean our little emergency back there and our… squabble was due to your mistake?" Ukyo said flatly.
"Yes." Barry knew he was going to get pounded for this. He just didn't have the energy to put a good face on a bad situation.
"That's all you can say?" asked Akane quietly. "'Yes'?"
"Ummm, I've never done this before?" Barry offered. It didn't look like that would work. "Do you mind if we minimize further damage to Ryoga's house? I'll go outside and…"
"Oh, no, you don't," snapped Ukyo. "We're going to do this from the top, and do it right, this time!"
"Ukyo!" Akane gasped. The okonomiyaki chef held up her hand, keeping steely eyes on the young man before them.
"I'd love to, Ukyo, but I don't know how. I don't know why it happened to begin…"
"Ah-ha!" she shouted, pointing at him. "I told you! Didn't I tell you, Akane?"
"Come on, Ukyo, I saw your faces when you came in," Barry scowled. "I could have ignored this whole thing, let you go on believing that your pushiness had nearly killed Ranma and myself…"
"Which makes me wonder what your motivation is," Ukyo flung back acidly.
"Ukyo!" Barry turned and banged his head against the wall.
"Stop that," Ukyo exclaimed. "Listen, baka," she snarled as he paused, resting his forehead against his chosen target. "You will not do your Ranma act when you're around me, unless we're out in public. Do you understand?"
"It may surprise you, Ukyo," Barry said bitingly, "but Ranma and I have a few things in common."
He lifted his head and gave the wall one last meaningful thump, only to have it aided by the impact of her spatula against the back of his head. After a moment to deal with the pain, he yanked his face out of the hole and glared at the girl, who seemed to be waiting for another opportunity to smash him.
"Uh, Barry?" Akane spoke quietly to gain his attention.
"What?"
"Dojo rules," she added politely. He looked at her, then back at the wall.
"Aw, shit!" (Whang!)
"And watch your mouth!" Ukyo snarled.
Barry eyed her. "Yes, dear!" Ukyo swung again, only to have the heavy weapon caught just behind the paddle. She gave a single jerk in an attempt to free it and gazed coolly across her weapon at Barry, who held the other end in one hand. "Don't push it, Kuonji," he warned.
"You over your little guilt trip?" she asked sweetly. Barry glared, then glanced at Akane. She met his eyes, then avoided them, gazing innocently at the ceiling.
"Gee, thanks, hammer-girl," he said sarcastically.
"Don't push your luck, Barry-baka," Akane snapped, her eyes flashing as they locked with his again.
Barry raised an eyebrow and sighed. So, that's the way it was going to be.
"I hate to interrupt, but we have a train to catch in about an hour," Nabiki stepped between the glaring eyes, showing more guts, or less common sense, than usual. "I really don't feel like going all sweaty."
"We?" Akane and Ukyo said together.
"I've invited Barry to give Nikki a foretaste of the hell that will be his life. And by the way; you'll be taking the women's karate and kyudo divisions."
"Nabiki," Akane began, then continued, outraged, "I'll be what!"
"Besides, you don't have a convenient disguise, little sis." Nabiki added as she began packing the shards of the vase she needed to repair in the box. "Barry will go as Ranko and deal Nikki some pain - insurance against him being stupid again." She carefully placed the last shard in the box and arranged newspaper around it. "Then we'll all gang up on him and ruin his life." She sighed contentedly.
Barry examined the packing job, as Akane sputtered and Ukyo gave him a hard look. He shook the box back and forth slightly and, hearing the pieces slide, shook his head. He took the box from her and began to repack it. Nabiki glared at the implied criticism.
"How long will this take?" Akane squawked. "We can't afford to lose the time it takes to get involved!"
"Going as Ranko might not hack it either, Nabiki," he said as he stuffed twice the packing in the box's bottom and before laying the shards in again. "Ranma's fairly notorious these days and, while they may not associate Nabiki Tendo with Ranma, all it will take is a splash of water at the competition to let the cat out of the bag."
"I thought we were getting the others to help Nabiki instead! Why…?" Akane was nearly incoherent.
"There's an easy answer for that," Nabiki suggested. "Ranma's used wigs before."
"Winners get access to the university libraries, Akane," Ryoga explained, leaning away from her aura. Ukyo nodded, understanding finallyand turned to Nabiki.
"Ranma's lost wigs before, screwing everything up," she retorted remembering at least one whopper of a situation in particular.
"Hey, red hair takes dye," offered Barry.
"But I've heard it makes the hair stiff and dry," complained Akane still off balance from the change of plans and the possible side benefits. "I like Ranma's hair!"
The look her sister shot her was followed by smirks from everyone except Ryoga, who missed it entirely. Barry moistened his lips. "I'm sure you can discuss that with Ranma when he returns, Akane," he said sagely.
"Or maybe when she does," Ukyo said looking up with a smirk.
"I said when he came," Nabiki nodded. "He's half a girl…"
Akane got it. Her face flamed anew. "I am not a pervert," she wailed.
Barry and Akane faced off in the infamous empty lot behind Ryoga's house.
"I am not a pervert!" Akane hissed.
Barry smacked his head. "Relax, Akane. You know they're just teasing you." They set themselves and began the initial series of attacks and responses as Barry explored the possible damage to Ranma's body and reflexes caused by the separation. "They wouldn't tease you like that if they weren't confident in you and Ranma." Blows were delivered and countered at an increasingly dizzy pace, as on the ground or airborne, gravity and inertia seemed to play increasingly diminished roles.
Nabiki had returned to the Tendo's to pack. Their audience was Ryoga, who nodded appreciatively and Ukyo, who fumed at the sight. Ukyo remembered too well, how Barry stopped her best attacks repeatedly the previous evening. Watching Akane spar with him on such a high level was so opposed to her memories that she found herself jealous and angered anew. Besides, how dare Akane improve so drastically in such a short time?
"Was training all they were doing out there in the woods?" she sniped grumpily. She smirked to see Ryoga falter.
"Ukyo, I was there before Akane arrived," he replied meeting her eyes. "We told Akane about Barry right away, and that was the first time she heard of him. Ranma was definitely still in his body at that point." Ryoga shuddered. "I know!"
"How did she get so good so fast?" Ukyo complained as she watched them continue to attack through aerial flips that were followed by a series of detonations against the ground. Their hang-time was definitely going beyond that of a NBA-star's drive for the hoop.
"I told you that Akane found out about P-chan?"
"Yeah, yeah. And she told me about how bitchy she was."
"Well, this time I think Ranma really believed her when she said it was over. Akane was ranting on about betrayal of trust. Then Ranma suddenly hit her. Just hauled off, knocked her down and told her that he'd be betraying her father's trust in him if he didn't teach her the whole school of Anything-Goes." Ryoga shuddered in memory. "He judged her limits and used everything he had to push her past them. Then he showed her how to put herself back together again and try for more." He paused, silently following the progress of combat until suddenly a crater appeared in the ground. Akane froze and covered briefly to shield against the shrapnel. "Dammit! He did figure out my Bakusai Tenketsu!"
"What are you trying to say, Ryoga?" Ukyo growled.
"Ukyo..." Then more quietly, "Ucchan…" Ukyo blushed at the use of the diminutive usually reserved for Ranma's lips. "I've always said that, 'because of Ranma, I'd seen hell'. I had no idea what I was talking about. Iwatched Ranma give Akane a guided tour through a corner of that place and he didn't do it because he hated her! The training should have killed her, but Ranma was always there, taking her abuse and pushing her harder, making her strong, so she'd be safe when he was gone."
"I don't understand. Where was he planning to go?" Ukyo scowled. Ranma not protecting Akane? Her heart sank. Why did that sound so wrong?
"I think Ranma was planning to die." Ryoga sighed. "Akane's broken it off before, but never like this. He was acting like he did at Jusendo; when he thought she was dead."
"You're crazy!" Ukyo snapped. "Even if he was losing Akane, he still had me or even the bimbo!"
"But Ranma loves Akane, Ukyo," Ryoga said sadly. "And she loves him." Ryoga sighed melancholy. "So he tried to give her everything she felt she lacked. When they made up…" He frowned suddenly, distracted by the familiarity of a pattern that was developing. "He wouldn't!"
"What?" Ukyo shot back with a frown, trying to come to grips with the idea that Ranma had centered his whole being on her rival.
Wind roared suddenly and the sparring pair was lost in the swirling dust kicked up by a Hiru Shoten Hai. "Dammit, Barry!" Ryoga leaped to his feet, seeking Akane with his ki-vision. He barely dodged the blast that came rocketing down from thirty or forty meters in the air.
Akane launched a series of ki blasts downward, the recoil slowing her to manageable levels. She still grunted as she hit the ground and rolled. "Dammit, Barry!" she shouted, unconsciously mimicking Ryoga. "Hiru Shoten Hai? You jerk! Look what you've done to my skirt!" Her just-above-the-knee skirt was now a mini, and a tattered one at that. She was also missing a sleeve from her blouse and flinched as her shoes finally plopped down at different sides of the lot with solid thumps.
"You were getting complacent," retorted Barry. He was near one of the shoes, so he picked it up and sailed it at her. "You also need to dress better for fights. That must have been flimsy material."
"I was getting ready knock you through the fence! And the material of my dress was fine, baka!" She yanked her shoe on, winced and took it off, dumping a handful of dirt out of it. "Oooh!"
"At least you don't have to worry about something like that in the competition, tomboy," Barry smirked.
"Neither will your opponents, baka," Akane growled. "I don't think ki techniques will play well in traditional styles." She smirked and retrieved her other shoe and emptied it.
Barry looked discomfited. "Say, that's right." Ranma usually dealt with unconventional and unrestricted styles. "Uh… Well, you don't really need me…" He felt a hand latch firmly on his pigtail.
"This is for your benefit, too, Barry-baka," Ukyo said, beginning to drag him off.
"Jujitsutechniques arepart of Mutsabetsu Kakuto, Barry," Akane said confidently. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it – with some training from your father and mine."
"And remember, Ranma Saotome doesn't lose," Ryoga smirked. "Or so I've heard."
"What did I just step in?" muttered Ranma's guest.