Guest Ki: Chapter 43

Slinky-fu

Journal: Ranma's Guest — Tuesday, 15 October 1991 – Day 52

I'm getting this out of the way because there is just so much that has happened over the weekend. Amazon month has been; Goofy... Weird... Stupid... I had good intentions with this thing, and for most people, its not too bad a change. Some of the guys have been surprised. The girls are much bolder about asking boys out than the other way around. The girls are feeling it in the pocketbook, however. It shook things up, which is good but I really didn't see this 'date Ranma' thing coming. Nor did I understand just how forward some of these little pests could be.

Ranma, your virtue has been safe with me. Its times like this when I really wonder what's going on back home, though. I figured that since I was doing Shampoo a favor, we would sorta, maybe, kinda start from scratch, at least for the month, but the old ghoul felt it necessary to let people know by example, what Amazon justice was like. Thanks for volunteering son-in-law! Apparently, the old bat expected us to choose that way, darn it! I have had to suffer through 10 dates thus far as part of an Amazon method of encouraging a reluctant male to 'loosen up'. Ranma! Because of you... Sorry - I can't finish that. Besides, its possible you'll say worse about me.

Ranma, old buddy, it's been weird. Sorry I let this go a few days, but here's the bad news: As of Saturday, the list of people 'in the know' is as follows… Akane, Ryoga, Nabiki, Ukyo, Shampoo, Cologne, Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung, Mrs. Morisato and her sister, Sakurida… and Nodoka Saotome.

Yes, your mother knows. Now don't pull into your shell this is actually good news! I had a few talks with your mom and since I'm not at risk for manliness, I asked just what she meant by it and how she defined it. Result —YOU PASS! The only reason she carries that damn katana around all the time is that she doesn't want your dad stealing it. Give it a rest. Your mom loves you and had no idea you thought she was still questioning anything. Manliness to Nodoka Saotome is more a matter of your ideals and ethics, than your ability or desire to jump from bed to bed. When you get back, give her a hug; you both deserve it.

I'm on the Amazon's sht li st I think. Cologne seems pragmatic about the whole deal but Shampoo was quite upset. Mouse was happy! Why? He was afraid he was beginning to like you too much. He feels much better now.

Oh, yeah! The Nerima Martial Arts Federation, or 'Team Nerima' as they called it in the media, won almost everything. The only events we didn't win were women's kyudo — Akane took third — and martial arts rhythmic gymnastics...

Barry detailed the events of the competition, finishing with...

Your dad complained of our mastery of jujitsu. Maybe you can talk to your uncle about improving that area of your expertise.

Then he moved on to the information concerning ki and ki research.

As I mentioned, Cologne obtained the scroll detailing how a person's projective powers are blocked. It's pretty simple and damn ugly. I can see why Cologne had trouble getting the copy of the scroll we have. While the binding is simple in application, there is some connection made to the place where things like the gaki we fought last week dwell. I believe it is used to siphon off the energy she would otherwise possess to project. There are warnings in the scroll and it does not explain how to release the blockage, but I can see weakness in the procedure that we can exploit.

Something still worries me. Maybe it's the way Mousse read the part that says '...those who hunger will be fed...' concerning the individual affected. We're checking into the viability of using that ki technique I learned from watching Mrs. Morisato. She said that if I needed to use it, I could; but warned me that misuse could be disastrous. I got very specific at that point and she admitted that it was a form of prayer or supplication to a being inimical to forces like the gaki. I already got religion, thank you. I need time to sort out how this all fits together.

As for school: Calculus — Chapter 8, pages 112 to141; English — Midnight Diner, Chapters 7-10; Physical Education — we finished flag football, now we start basketball; History —

Barry yawned and stretched.

We will get you back. Now that we have the willing cooperation of Cologne, I think we have a real chance. Sunday is the big day for Shampoo. As soon after that as I can arrange, you are coming home! If I'm not here when you get back, wish me luck and forgive me if I've caused you trouble.


Barry walked home carrying Sayuri's books while his 'date' for the day chatted with Akane. He kept an arm's length away and his mouth shut, as Sayuri already proved that she was going to verbally rip him apart for any comment she construed as critical of her friend.

Akane tried to keep up a cheerful demeanor but, now and then, her gaze would cross to Barry and her smile would fade, leaving a pensive look on her face. Her fine bone structure was becoming more accentuated by her worry for Ranma and the gradual weight loss, despite a carefully considered diet. When she grew pensive, Sayuri would shoot dagger looks at Ranma, daring him to say anything so she could rip into him again. "Why so quiet, Ranma," Sayuri demanded finally. "Afraid of the truth?"

"Nah. But I haven't worked out a martial arts technique for fightin' a sharp tongue yet," Barry replied unwisely. Akane scowled and reached past her friend's shoulder to bop him. Sayuri ducked reflexively, glanced at Akane, then back at Ranma.

"Serves you right, Ranma!" She stuck out said 'sharp tongue'. "Every time I see Akane down in the dumps because of you..."

"It's all right, Sayuri," Akane said. "It's not Ranma's fault."

"Yeah," agreed Barry, "Akane has enough other things to be depressed about."

The girls stopped and stared at him.

"What was that supposed to mean?" growled Sayuri. She glanced aside and flinched at the flickering aura her friend gave off.

"Uh... Heh! Akane, you aren't supposed to go beatin' on somebody else's date, are you?" he asked plaintively.

"Not without permission." She glanced at Sayuri.

"Be my guest!"

"Ranma, you baka!" (POW!) Akane bounced a few times on one foot as she finished her follow-through. She was a bit out of practice.

"You always get such nice loft," Sayuri commented. "You haven't been doing that much lately. Did you two finally 'do it'?" Her smile of mischief turned into a gulp as Akane turned toward her, glowing again.

"Do you want to follow him?" the dark-haired girl inquired coldly.

"Akane." Sayuri backed up a step her eyes wide.

"Ohhh." Akane suddenly deflated, eyes tearing, her aura snuffing out. "Kami, I'm sorry, Sayuri!" She suddenly hugged her friend. "It's just so damned hard..."

"What's going on, Akane?"

Akane laughed shakily. "Same old, same old, Sayuri. I'm just feeling it more these days."

(SPLOOSH!)

Barry rose from the pond and extracted from her shirt a koi that hadn't moved out of the way fast enough. 'Stupid!' she thought, 'I deserved that.' Gingerly, she left the pond and started to head for the back door to avoid dripping on Kasumi's floors.

"Another argument with Akane, eh?" Soun sat with Ranma's father playing Shogi on the verandah. "At least there aren't as many as there used to be."

"You know, you're right, Tendo," Genma replied thoughtfully. Neither man's eyes left the board, knowing that a lapse would result in lost pieces and changed positions. "Perhaps they are getting along better." His eyes rose far enough to demand contact from his friend. "Dare we hope?"

Soun's eyes began to tear up at the thought. Genma's hands began to switch pieces on the board. Barry leaped up behind the preoccupied man, swept off the soaked shirt and wrung it out over his head — instant panda. She leapt back from the expected swing, rolled the wet fabric and snapped the improvised whip at Genma's ample posterior. "Yowr!" Genma hurtled to an upright posture holding his rear. Barry had the shirt back on before he turned around, ready for action. As Genma took an angry step forward, Barry pointed to the game.

"What about yer game?" she asked innocently. Genma whirled around to find Soun with a serene expression on his face, above a board that subtly but significantly changed.

"GRAOw-arow!" You cheated! The panda shook his sign in rage.

"Honestly, Saotome, I don't what you mean." Plans for a quick marriage between Ranma and Akane were temporarily forgotten.

"Yee-hah, git along, little dogies!" muttered Barry to herself as she swung around to the bathroom. Before swinging through the window, she sent her awareness ahead to insure the facilities were not occupied. Kasumi was in her room, changing sheets, P-chan following at her heels. Ryoga's successor was a very sociable little animal. The bathroom was unoccupied.

Barry stripped off her clothes and opened the hamper to deposit them for washing.

"Hi, there!" A wrinkled little face framed by a bra grinned up at her.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Barry sprang backwards for the furo.

"Swee-to!" Happosai shot out of the hamper, fingers twitching eagerly. He was met with a foot in the face just before Barry's momentum carried her back and into the welcome pool.

(SPLASH!) Barry bobbed up to glare at the Master of Perversion. "Hello to you too, freak," Ranma's guest said from the water.

"Ranma, that wasn't fair," Happosai growled from the tub's edge. "Hardly a considerate greeting for your old master. How could you?"

"Your point is?"

Happosai glared at the young man who soaked in the warm waters of the furo. "I understand that you've been studying ki techniques lately." He pulled his pipe from somewhere and began tamping tobacco into it. "If I understand correctly, you've gone far beyond your Mouko Takabisha. You are treading on very dangerous ground, you know."

"Yeah? I sorta figured that." They traded glares but nothing more was forthcoming.

"Who redesigned the garden?" Happosai changeds the subject abruptly and lit the pipe with a burst of ki-generated heat. He was obviously disappointed by Ranma's lack of reaction to his first query.

Barry frowned and tilted his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw bits of dirt and mold in the water and sighed. He'd have to apologize to Kasumi for dirtying the furo. "Just why are you asking, old man?" Suspicion came to the fore with the question.

"Oh, no reason. It's just so peaceful out there. I wondered if you had used your new ki awareness in working on it."

"Let's just say, we had some help, and leave it at that."

"That was some idea, Amazon Month," Happosai said changing the subject. "How many of those sweet young things have you cozied up to?"

"Don't go there, old man, " Barry growled.

"You gonna stay in there all day?" Happosai grinned. He was standing not far from the showerhead.

"It's comfortable in here," Barry said, leaning back and smiling, his eyes glinting dangerously. No way was he getting out while the freak had access to cold water.

"We're home," Akane called as she and Sayuri entered. They shucked off their shoes and moved toward the main room. "Kasumi is...Ranma home yet?"

"I haven't seen him, Akane," Kasumi replied as she walked down the stairs.

"Are you sure you sent him this way, Akane?" asked Sayuri.

"Of course I am," Akane huffed. She accessed her ki-vision and surveyed her territory. "He's in the bath." She blanched as she realized what else was in that room.

In the bathroom, both men heard the girls enter and speak. Happosai's grin turned to gloating, gleeful victory. "I think its time I start vetting your dates, boy!" He turned and bounced for the door. "Or maybe give Akane a welcome-home smooch!"

Barry surged out of the tub. "You little shit, leave 'em alone!" He grabbed a towel for decency's sake and wrapped it about his waist as he rushed after the wrinkled martial artist. "Come back here!" He snatched at the hem of Happosai's gi, but missed as the little man slid out and shut the door in his face. The door boomed off its tracks. Barry slammed over it and hurtled after Ranma's most consistent nemesis.

"Get behind me," Akane snapped, shoving her friend roughly aside.

"What's wrong, Akane?" demanded Sayuri. She gave a short scream as she saw a bouncing, chuckling form ricochet down the hall, Ranma, dressed in only a towel, in hot pursuit.

"Akane!" Happosai leaped at her face.

"Pervert!" Akane blocked and knocked him aside.

He laughed and used the blow to bounce off a wall beam and head for Sayuri. Millimeters from contact just as Sayuri was sucking in a breath for a really heartfelt shriek, Barry's fist shot at the freakish little monster. Happosai ducked the blow and let the young man's momentum assisted by a subtle twist of ancient, mobile fingers throw him across the big square table. Happosai landed briefly and drew a balloon from his gi. An instant later, Barry was 'girled' and glomped. The redhead's small, hard fist pounded down, hammering the Master of Perversion into the floor. On the rebound, a whirling leg, courtesy of Akane, sent him past the heads of Soun and Genma, sitting on the verandah over a new game of Shogi. Already stung from earlier events, they ignored Sayuri's outburst in favor of watching their game.

"Not this time, Tendo," Genma said.

"No more distractions, Saotome," Soun agreed.

In the koi pond, Happosai sputtered to the surface and shook the water out of his eyes. He shook his fist at the house and coughed up more water. "Curse you, Ranma," Happosai snarled, his aura rippling the air above the pond. "How dare you cause me to drink water… and pond water at that!" He coughed some more and took note of the condition of his clothes. "My clothes are ruined! You'll pay for that, too."

"Grandfather." Kasumi stepped out from behind them holding the phone. "There's a girl named Atsuko on the phone. She wants to know if she can come over and play." That got everyone's attention. Even Soun and Genma turned at Kasumi's words, and the idea of a girl wanting Happosai's attention... They turned from Kasumi to watch Happosai's reaction.

The eyes of the Master of Mutsabetsu Kakuto bulged in horror. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish. "No! Not… not her!" he choked out before turning and leaping over the wall. They all gaped after the vanished pervert and then looked at one another. The common expressions of shock individually reassured them that they were not going crazy.

"Grandfather met Atsuko while you were away training, Akane," Kasumi explained. "But for some reason, he doesn't want to play with her any more." She smiled faintly. "I really don't understand why; she's very pretty and quite athletic. Nabiki suggested that I pretend to call her anytime he got out of hand."

"Atsuko rides a bicycle, right?" Barry grinned. All eyes snapped to the redhead and her altogetherness, except Akane who got a clue and smacked her fist into her palm in recognition. "What? Ooops! Sorry about that!" She dipped low and retrieved the towel, which had slipped off due to the change in shape. She wrapped it firmly around all critical features and, blushing, swung past the observers and up the steps.

Akane ducked her head and hid her face in her hands. This was so embarrassing.

Sayuri slowly peeled herself off the wall. She glanced up the steps where Ranma vanished and across at Akane. Slowly her breathing returned to normal. "Ummm... What would you do if that didn't work to stop him?" she asked Kasumi. "Happosai, I mean."

"Then I would call Atsuko," smiled Kasumi. "She only lives on the other side of Nerima."

"Cool! I wonder if we can get her to come to Furinkan?" Sayuri speculated. She nudged Akane who continued to hide her face. "Or are you afraid Ranma'll end up with another fiancée?" Akane jerked her hands down and looked horrified. Sayuri jumped as Ranma glided back down the stairs fully dressed.

"Kasumi, I'll have to drain the furo," Barry told the oldest Tendo. "Happosai was hiding in the hamper and I had ta dive for the hot water before I could rinse off."

"That's all right, Ranma," Kasumi said. "It doesn't happen too often."

"It's really disgusting, Ranma," Sayuri complained at Barry. "You're cuter than most guys, and when you're a girl... It's just not fair!"

Barry shrugged. "Can't do a thing about it, Sayuri."

"And you're so modest, too," the girl continued grumbling.

"Akane," Kasumi interrupted. "A message came that I think you should see." She handed her sister a folded sheet of fine rice paper.

"What is it?" asked Sayuri as Akane broke the seal.

Barry moved closer and read over her shoulder. "It's a challenge," he said, "for Friday at 4:00."

"But what is 'Sa-lin-ky-fu'?" Akane inquired of no one in particular.

Several kilometers away, Happosai slid out of an alley and took stock. That Atsuko girl was a real pest! Despite having a to-die-for body, she had almost no residual ki that he could access. She was also so fast and powerful, she could possibly compete with Ranma, even in Nekoken. He had seriously considered getting her involved with Ranma, but decided it was much too dangerous... for him. Either she would hang around Ranma, making approach extremely inconvenient, or Ranma would finally get so pissed off as to hunt down Happosai and kill him.

He still had nightmares of the way Ranma's face looked just before Akane interrupted the Nekoken at Himamashi's. He kicked a stone in the street in disgust and winced. His clothing was binding something fierce. Funny, after all the punishment his garb took, it would shrink like that and so quickly after he landed in the pond. If only there was some way to get close to Ranma without revealing his presence. He rubbed the back of his neck and ran his hand up and through the hair that covered his head.

He stopped dead. What did he just do? He ran his hand through... He repeated the action, feeling hair slip through his fingers. Hair, where there hadn't been hair in decades. Knees shaking, he wobbled to a plate-glass store window and looked at his reflection. A homely young man stared back at him. Thin black hair, short, muscular, but far taller than Happosai was... a full set of teeth. He patted himself and tried to figure out what happened. He looked like he did when he was in his teens.

"What in all nine hells happened to me?" he husked. He ran his hands through his hair again and stretched his mouth apart comically to look at the even white teeth. He looked at the smooth, firm skin that replaced the wrinkles. He thought furiously and then a smirk made its home on his face. Moments later he was laughing, a healthy ringing sound, that nevertheless raised the hackles on many a passerby. The rejuvenated pervert took to the rooftops. There was much to plan.

Barry and Ukyo leaped over the wall to run across the roof and swing down and into the dojo. The other members of Team Nerima were already there. Kuno swung and moved through his forms with an intense air. Shampoo and Akane were doing an odd exercise of Joketsuzoku origin that reminded him vaguely of a sport called Indain Wrestling he had done in scouts as a boy, and made them act like mirror images. Mousse was discussing something with Ryoga in quiet tones in a corner. The last member of the local group, Kodachi Kuno, sat on an equipment chest and sipped a fruit drink that Kasumi provided earlier. She looked up as the two swung in and placed her juice aside to wave faintly. One arm still hung in a sling as a result of her injuries.

"So, you've finally arrived?"

"Hi, Kodachi," Ukyo replied a bit guardedly.

"How ya feelin', Dachi?" asked Barry. She tried to keep her skin from crawling. It wasn't that Kodachi was any creepier than usual, but the weird ki transformation Barry had undergone, in an attempt to disguise herself as Kodachi this past weekend, had some strange aftereffects. The girl-type ki kept trying to revert to the Kodachi patterns. She hurried over to the kettle and dumped it over her head, quickly restoring the normal male shape. Barry turned and almost bumped into Kuno.

"Curse it, Saotome! Did you have to trade places with thy lovely sister so quickly? I had a series of haiku I wished to regale her with." Kuno looked irritated.

Barry felt a rise in his own ire. They had managed to get so far, and no further, at convincing the kendoist that Ranma and his 'pigtailed goddess' were somehow associated. Having good days and bad days, Kuno seemed to vacillate between lucidity and insanity. He wondered if the reality was too much for Kuno to bear. Though from what Barry read in some of the period stories, the situation shouldn't be that embarrassing. Of course, with the weird way Kuno's mind worked, he probably had twentieth century hang-ups on top of his seventeenth century habits. Controlling himself, he nodded to Tatewaki. "She's been out and about all evening, Kuno. You know she doesn't want to date you. Why do you keep pestering her?"

"To see her is to see perfection! To hear her voice is to be soothed by the voice of a nightingale." Kuno looked to the heavens, not seeing the threat close at hand. For once, it was not incipient violence but rather an outburst of hilarity. Onna-Ranma had a good singing voice, but rarely spoke in honeyed tones to Tatewaki. Descriptions of annoyed, shrewish or downright bitchy might be more accurate.

Barry held his tongue with increasing difficulty and glanced over at Akane. Her sad look sobered him immediately. "Okay, okay! Can it, bokken-boy," he finally said a bit roughly. "We've got work to do." He moved over to Akane. "Anybody have any ideas about that challenge, Akane?" Kuno sputtered and gripped his weapon tightly, before turning away in disgust and continuing with his practice.

"I just can't imagine what Salinky-fu would be," Akane said with something approaching her normal tones. "It doesn't even sound like a real word."

"Maybe it's martial arts done with Slinkys?" suggested Ryoga, humming the commercial jingle. "You know, the children's spring-coil toy?" They all stared at Ryoga who, after a moment, withdrew in embarrassment.

"Well, there's nothing to be done about it until Friday," Barry sighed. He glanced over at Akane who frowned without saying anything. "What?"

"Who's taking the challenge?" Akane didn't look at him.

"It's your dojo, tomboy," he replied, amused. "Who do ya want to take it?"

"Me!" she said intensely, eagerly and disbelievingly.

"Okay! Just don't go punchin' walls unprepared this time," Barry said, amused at her enthusiasm.

"Surely such a lovely flower as Akane should not be put at risk." Tatewaki heard them discussing the challenge and paced over, concerned when Akane demanded to respond to it.

Barry sighed and the others slid aside as Akane began to steam; Kuno had that effect sometimes. "Tatewaki, don't insult Akane. She's very good and risk is a martial artist's bread and butter. Besides yer not a student of the dojo, properly speaking. The challenger wants to try his skills against Mutsabetsu Kakuto."

Kuno, acting like he had not heard Barry at all, looked at Akane and sighed. "In truth, I meant not to disparage thy skills. It is but an outgrowth of my philosophy within Bushido." There was a familiar tremble visible in Kuno's shoulders. He lunged. "Akane! Let me take this…" (POW!) Akane's foot planted itself in Kuno's face at the same time Shampoo's bonbori and Ukyo's spatula hit his head. "Ow!" Kodachi yawned and covered her mouth.

Ryoga smirked. "Kuno, when are you going to learn not to do that?" the lost-boy said. "I thought you were getting therapy."

Kuno slumped to a sitting position. "My manliness has never been in question," he said, rubbing his head. "My passion overwhelms me at times."

"You mean Dr. Hashibara encourages your perversion as part of his control," Kodachi observed dryly.

"We've really got to meet the good doctor," Akane growled. "If he's the reason why Kuno has harassed me all this time, I owe him."

"Not the only reason," Kodachi admitted sadly.

Ryoga put an arm-lock on Kuno and dragged him kicking away. "C'mon, Blue Blunder, I'll spar with you and save you from incipient foot-in-mouth disease." He caught his umbrella as Barry threw it to him and faced off against his opponent's bokken.

"How do you do that?" Ukyo asked, shaking her head at Barry. "That thing weighs a ton!"

"Trade secret. Not mine," Barry commented. "It's not a matter of strength, though."

"How does he do that?" Akane asked as Ryoga fenced with Kuno, the umbrella a match for Kuno's bokken. "I checked it a bunch of times. It's an ordinary split-bamboo umbrella." She paused. "Of course, I never really figured out how Kuno can cut down a tree with a piece of wood." She smacked Barry who softly chanted, 'I know something you don't'.

"Ow! C'mon, Akane, use your brain and what you've learned. Yes, it's a bamboo umbrella. Yes, it's a wooden bokken. Look with all your senses!"

"Ahhh, Grasshopper!" muttered Akane sarcastically. She did what he asked and grinned. "Ki! I should have known. Ryoga's umbrella is so dense, I can't see through it. Kuno's bokken is actually a vehicle for ki he's projecting."

Shampoo looked disgusted. "Stick-boy has ki attack? Not fair!"

"Monomania has its uses, honey," Ukyo shrugged. She watched sparks fly as the bokken and umbrella scraped along their lengths. 'Maybe I can get Ryoga to show me how he does that,' she thought. 'It should be safe enough. He was doing it long before Barry got here.' She considered what her spatula could do, augmented like his umbrella.

"Don't worry about ki attacks, Shampoo," Barry said easily. "After Saturday, you should begin discovering your own."

Shampoo frowned but said nothing. Cologne warned her not to reveal Barry's presence, but she was still aggravated. All of the things she had thought Ranma was doing — her rescue from the avalanche, the promise to help fix her ki blockage, Amazon month — it had all been Barry. Would Ranma have done the same thing? She'd probably never know. Ranma was not very open about his feelings and, even if they did get him back, would probably find some way to avoid the issue.

Mousse was silent, distracted by his own concerns regarding the procedure planned for this weekend. His glasses shone steady in the shadows he found, betraying a preternatural stillness. He had read the scroll with Saotome — no, with Barlowe — and the displaced spirit pointed out things that troubled him deeply. Where Barry got his confidence, he didn't know, but Mousse conceded that Ranma's guest saw solutions where Mousse saw only problems. Between them, they worked out a procedure that required four participants to enact. Mousse considered what Barry deduced from his translation. It was disquieting to think that he might be right, but if he was...

...Then someone in the extended Amazon family was, not only a traitor, but also a black sorcerer. The implications were clear. The blockages were in some way tied into that strange nether realm where the oni lived. The scroll detailed a procedure, banned a millennium ago, used to subdue opponents having strong magical or ki abilities. It siphoned off projective ki to a captive gaki by some method they did not yet fully understand. He remembered the howling force of the gaki that had come during the abortive attempt to contact Ranma, and shuddered.

He flinched as Kuno stamped and thrust at Ryoga. The umbrella-wielding martial artist snapped his weapon open as the shockwave of Kuno's technique hammered the air at him, forcing him back. Ryoga could have avoided the attack, but chose to test himself by resisting it. Akane jumped to her feet.

"Kuno, no!" It was too late, of course. Ryoga was fine, but the wall behind him had chunks knocked out of it from the shockwave that had not been absorbed or deflected by Ryoga's umbrella. "Kuno, you've wrecked the dojo!" Akane stormed.

Kuno was unfazed. He whipped out his cell phone. "Never fear, fair one! I shall have workers here within the hour to repair..."

"No, no, no, brother! You broke it, you fix it," Kodachi drawled.

Tatewaki looked at the wall, then back, pained. His eyes met the others one by one. He put the phone away. "Where are the materials?" he asked, resigned.

Barry jumped up. "I'll get 'em." Seconds later, he was back with a bucket of nails, a saw, a hammer and several lengths of wood. "Ya want some help? I know yer not used to this sorta thing." Kuno flushed in anger, then paled as he regarded 'Saotome'. After a moment, not trusting himself to speak, he nodded.

Akane shook her head in disbelief. Ranma and Barry were constant contradictions. Ranma was trained as a warrior, a destroyer in some people's eyes, but never wished to hurt anyone and somehow managed to antagonize everyone. Barry, trained as an artist and engineer, a creator, was actually more willing to do violence, yet also managed to calm people around him, gaining their cooperation. How did these totally different personalities manage to come across so much alike to everyone else?

She watched Ukyo and Shampoo regard this cooperative effort with amusement. Originally, neither had been told about Barry's presence and both had been furious at Barry when they found out. Both were beginning to support Akane, even if they disagreed with her conclusions concerning Ranma's displacement. They seemed to view Barry as taking advantage of the situation. If only they heard his nightmares or his reminiscences of his family. Still, it was making things easier for her. Even Kodachi was acting more human.

Barry helped Kuno seal the hole his ill-advised technique had caused, not saying anything and letting Kuno, within limits, guide the course of the repair. He was puzzled, if pleased, at the way the other fiancées were treating Akane, but he wondered about Kodachi. The Amazon might, just might, be explainable through her training and cultural background. Ukyo had teamed with Nabiki and was at least nominally friends with Akane anyway, but Kodachi…?

With her intelligence and past sneakiness, had she guessed the truth? She was almost too nice, especially for her. With his inexplicable tie to her through the ki technique, had he become more suspicious or more sympathetic to her? He glanced at Kodachi, observing her unusually calm demeanor. Had it possibly worked the other way, allowing mental as well as physical healing? He hoped so, but shuddered at the damage that might ensue to her when Ranma made his decision and Kodachi felt abandoned again.

Kasumi brought out more fruit juice for later and watched for a while as her sister's friends broke into pairs to spar. Ukyo matched against Kuno, Shampoo against Ryoga, while Akane, Barry and Mousse moved aside to discuss the work they planned to do Saturday.

"It's too bad Mrs. Morisato couldn't come. I mean it is her technique to begin with," Akane commented.

Barry nodded and looked thoughtful. "She said she wasn't permitted to get involved. I'm not sure why, though."

"From everything I've heard of her," Mousse said, rubbing his chin, "I would not expect such an excuse."

"It didn't feel like an excuse," Barry said firmly.

"What?" chorused the other two.

"What do you mean?" asked Akane.

He shrugged. "I don't know what I mean. We'll have to make do with preparations as they are."

When Friday came, the same group gathered at the dojo to see who the idiot was. Akane, in her gi, was in front of the others. Barry stayed to one side, explaining what was happening to Amami Kobayu, who was, by their standards, a beginning martial artist with only a first dan in karate. At 4:00 PM, a tall, slender figure strode up to gate and rang the bell.

Jeanne Koile was a harmless looking, pleasant man in his early thirties. He wore a pair of fanny packs, small bags on belts, in front and behind him. Large wire-rimmed glasses framed soft brown, long-lashed eyes and only the smoothness of his motions betrayed his martial arts training.

"Good afternoon," he said, bowing with a careful degree of respect. "I've come to challenge your school. I think you may find this interesting."

"Are you using a weapon form?" Akane asked.

"Yes. You may be familiar with the coiled spring toy Americans call Slinky?" At Akane's polite nod, he continued. "I found the flexibility and reach, as well as the binding properties of Slinkys, to be extremely interesting. I bought several, deduced how they worked, and designed my own from a variety of materials." His daffy enthusiasm was contagious. Most of Team Nerima were smiling now, interested in what was coming.

"Would you like to warm up first?" Akane inquired. "Or shall we begin?"

"Let's start."

Akane set herself carefully, prepared to let him make the first move. Jeanne removed a single Slinky from a fanny pack, smiled and let it walk across the back of his arms. As it moved, he slid another steel coil from a pack and held it between his hands.

Ryoga grimaced. "Crap. It is a child's toy!" A cute Slinky-dog was delicately grasped between the thumb and middle finger of each hand. Akane ground her teeth and tried to focus more acutely. Somehow, she felt this was going to be bad.

The Slinky rippled in Koile's hands. Akane's arm rose swiftly to block the wave of steel coil that surged across the space between them. Her wrist was pinched between the loops and a sudden twist pulled her off balance. Jeanne Koile glided in and kicked twice as Akane tried to untangle herself. She blocked them and finally jerked her hand free. She struck and dodged, her opponent responding with loops of coiled steel intercepting her strikes and nearly entangling her anew.

And all the while, the first Slinky was walking from shoulder to shoulder to elbow to hip... Akane shook her wrist slightly. Jeanne Koile and Slinky-fu was a little like fighting a combination of Mousse, Ranma and Kodachi. It was surprising how much that stupid spring hurt when it hit, and the way it had trapped her wrist… The sound the springs made as they moved was also unnerving. She kept her eye on the Slinky he was juggling around his body as he fought. Suddenly, it was launched at her from the end of a toe.

She almost dodged the attack, but it wrapped around one leg at the knee, binding on itself and pinching painfully, the free ends dangling and getting underfoot like loose shoelaces. As she tried to shake it off, Koile dipped his hand into one of the bags and brought out a Slinky attached to a handle with a post that ran up the center of the spring. He brandished it and snapped it at Akane's face. Had it struck, it would have been like being on the receiving end of a steel-clad Chinese yo-yo. Akane ducked and wove as he struck again and again.

Barry frowned as he watched the action. Akane needed to get in close quickly. She was not taking much damage but, had the springs been weighted or edged, she would have been suffering severe lacerations by now. ''C'mon, tomboy, use your environment,' he thought savagely.

Amami just gaped. She had been proud to achieve her black belt and thought to test herself against Akane and her fiancé as part of Amazon Month. She was rapidly deciding she needed a lot more training. The sheer speed of the match was leaving her several steps behind the action. The first clash had been over in a single breath.

Akane was thinking the same thing. She backed close to one of the shoji windows and let the Slinky slam past her again, its end smashing out through the window and getting trapped on the sill for a few strategic seconds. She let her duck carry her deep and lashed out with the free ends of the Slinky trapped around her leg. It didn't bind, but it did trip him. As he hit the floor, the Slinky thrummed, caught at extension. He lashed out with the toy, but she was already inside his reach. She grabbed for nerve points at wrist and hand, even as he twitched the entrapped Chinese yo-yo free to send it recoiling at the back of her head. Akane's strikes interrupted the action and the device clashed as both ends recoiled to their common center and hit the floor. Akane did not hesitate to consolidate her position, straddling Koile's stomach with one hand firmly clenching the front of his shirt. The taller man could not get to his Slinky bags to re-arm nor strike at her effectively. Akane, however...

"Dai!" Her fist hammered down, coming to a stop touching the septum of the nose lightly. It could easily have been a killing stroke. "Want me to continue?" she asked. He shook his head slightly. "Good!" She rose to her feet and stepped aside before extending her hand. Her smile was wide. "That was great!" she exclaimed. His smile was shy in response. "Could you get this thing off my leg, please?" she added. He smiled and winked at her. Her narrowed eyes warned him he'd better be real careful where he put his hands.

As they spoke afterward, Barry asked about the use of the Slinkys. "You were talking about some special ones you made. Why did you use these? Weren't they pretty much ordinary Slinkys?" He shuffled one back and forth on his hands, feeling the balance and trying to visualize how Koile did what he had with it.

Koile looked embarrassed. "I didn't really get a chance to use my special Slinkies. The Slinky sword seems to have failed its test." He held up the Chinese yo-yo thing.

"Not at all," Akane said. "I got lucky when it tangled in the window. The only weakness I see in your style is that, if an opponent gets in close, you need to be better prepared to go hand to hand." She dimpled. Koile looked like he was about to go into a Ryoga-like freeze. "Take it easy. I'm sure this can become a major style with only a little more work. It's exciting to see something like this when it's just developing." Akane was enthusiastic and bubbled at the man, slowly bringing the shy smile back. Koile was treated to congratulations and suggestions from several of the assembled martial artists.

Eventually, he had to leave, as did Barry who had to hurry to get to Ucchan's for the dinner rush. He wondered what she would think when he informed her Ryoga's guess had been correct. Who woulda thought? Slinkys!

It was a hell of a coil to be in. Ranma nervously returned to the bed after Gwen fell asleep. This just couldn't go on. He had to find a way back, now! If he didn't, he was either going to get 'caught' by Gwen or be forced to tell her the truth. He really didn't want to have to deal with the upset that would cause, not when she was under so much pressure as it was. How the heck was he going to do this?

He pondered the information he gleaned at the library, scant though it was. The aura was supposed to be comprised of five layers, which were associated with the five traditional elements of Oriental philosophy. The astral was the area with which the others reached out and interacted with outside sources. He took stock of his aura and it's characteristics.

Body — Barry's, obviously. Strength was not too far off his own, developed more toward power than speed, but in reasonable shape for someone who was not an intense martial artist like Ranma.

Humors, or Health — again, Barry's. In balance with the body, much higher levels of sexual energy, probably because Barry was married and, if memories were to be believed, very devoted to his wife. Ranma shied away from those memories, only looking sidelong at them, feeling very much as if he were a peeping Tom. Barry asserted that Hiroshi and Daisuke's hentai magazines were full of crap. This glimpse into a working marriage confirmed it. These memories and memories of Barry's parents were haunting. His father, dead when Barry was fourteen, and his mother, still alive and beautiful, were both oddly westernized versions of his own parents, yet with significantly different training and relationships. Belatedly, he wished his own father were more like Barry's.

Barry's greatest weakness in the chemical balances, called humors in the one book on ki that he felt trustworthy, was a slight lactose deficiency. Ranma did not have this problem, but discovered its drawbacks not long after arriving here. Ice cream meant a quick trip to the bathroom half an hour after the treat.

Astral or ethereal — Ranma was fairly certain the astral level was his own. Now that he had found his center, it was easy to call up any of the ki routines he had known before. The astral was the channel of most of those techniques. The body and humors provided the strength; the mind and spirit provided the focus.

Mind — Ranma's, undoubtedly. While he had access to Barry's memories, they were definitely not his own. Hmmm… He had access to his own memories and identity and also Barry's. Did that mean there was some link in his and Barry's minds? Or perhaps he should seek higher?

Spirit or soul — again, Hmmm… He was far more familiar with his soul than Barry had been. The soul was not easily explainable or, in their case, identifiable as to ownership. It experienced, it remembered, it balanced or not, depending on your actions. If the body was based in instincts and responses, the soul was the repository of conscience and personality. He felt that he was utilizing his own soul, his own set of values, but at the same time he occasionally felt conflict. It was as if certain parts of his aura were laid alongside parts of Barry's.

Ranma reached over to the bedside table. He had seen something there. His hand came back with two rubber bands. Curious at his impulse, he felt their stretch and noticed how they looped. The path of ki in the body looped much like they did. He looped them both over his fingers then caught at the opposite sides of the band, playing a sort of cat's cradle with them. Ranma noticed how they laced and locked together. It was difficult, when doing so, to trace which band belonged with which. He slowly released first one strand then the other. Suddenly, his fingers jumped apart with a twang, leaving separate bands on each hand. He hadn't been trying to do that. Somehow, he felt this was significant.

He looped them together and tried again. Then again... and again...