Guest Ki: Chapter 49
Ranma-iichuan
The girls pounded after Kuno, their superior training and purpose allowing them to overtake him as the sports field came into view. They didn't see Barry anywhere, but the wolf whistles and the catcalls fueled their fury.
"It's Sham-POO-oo!" groaned a couple.
"Akane, will you measure me?" asked someone.
"You idiot, Dai!" came Hiroshi's voice. "How could you? You forgot to put Ukyo's name on the flyer!"
For some reason, that made Ukyo feel better. She still ripped into them along with Akane and Shampoo; she covered the left flank of their charge, while Akane and Shampoo formed a team against the center of the line. Kuno followed on Akane's right, his bokken dealt punishing blows against all opposition. Young men sailed into the air in a wave as they plowed into the line, four premiere martial artists against fifty lesser foes. Bonbori and mega-spatula sent perverted young men into the sky, along the ground, into the ground…
This cattle call never had a chance. Hiroshi and Daisuke, seeing which way the wind blew, led the way. Soon fifty lusty bruised perverted boys were in a panicky retreat around the side of the school, three apparently bloodthirsty girls and one enraged kendoist in hot pursuit. The girls kept looking around for Barry. If Akane was right, he should be nearby.
"Hey!" shouted Ukyo. "Isn't that Kodachi by the pool?"
Marller laughed in satisfaction as a big bubble of air burbled to the surface of the hot water. "I think it's ready, now," she commented. "Sasuke?"
"Oh, yes, Sasuke!" Kodachi danced in place. "I will cherish you forever!" She danced some more waiting for Sasuke to jump in then added, "Oh! And do pull Ranma from the pool once you're in?"
With a blank look on his face, Sasuke took one step toward the pool, then whirled and grasped Kodachi by the upper arms.
"Sasuke! What is the meaning of this?" Kodachi screamed.
"I never said Sasuke would become Ranma for you," Marller gloated at Kodachi. "I said, 'you would have him to do your will, the rest of your life'!" She laughed at the horrified girl. "And by the way, I'm not your mother, sweet cheeks!" She gestured as Kodachi, all masks torn away, saw her fate.
"NO-o-o-o-o! (SPLOSH!)
Marller nodded with satisfaction. A job well done! Ranma drowned at the hand of his patient. His patient, fully aware of what she had done, cursed to face her deed every time hot water touched her skin. Now for a few finishing flourishes, and she could go over and laugh at those stupid, insipid goddesses who simpered on about love and joy and happiness… "Sasuke?" she hummed.
"Yes, mistress?" Sasuke eyes were almost devoid of intelligence. Beyond him, a Ranma look-alike sputtered to the pool surface and stared at his hands then patted his chest as if looking for a wallet… or breasts.
"Why don't you wake up now?"
Sasuke staggered and dropped to one knee. "What? What?" he stammered. He stared at Marller and then whipped around to look out at the coughing hysterical figure in the pool. "NO-o-o-o-o-o! I'll save you, Mistress Kodachi!" He leaped in.
"Oh well," Marller laughed. "His choice, after all."
Then the crowd of panicky perverts arrived. As they pushed and shoved, they caught Marller up in their midst. Several quickly recognized her and began calling out "Biker Babe! Whoo-hoo!" in recognition. Some were copping feels. All reacted as if they had hit a bottleneck, piling up around the startled demon and causing her to panic at this unexpected conclusion to her ploy. Hiroshi and Daisuke also recognized her, but remembered the energy bolts she blasted at Happosai. Unsure what else to do, they moved along the edge of the pool to stare at a serious, apologetic boy-type Ranma, trying to drag an hysterical and crying boy-type Ranma out of the pool.
"You know… this means something, Dai," Hiroshi said philosophically.
"Yeah! Since when did Ranma get hit with water and not change? Oh, yeah! Someone's heated the pool. Hey, if one of those two is Ranma, then who's that at the bottom of the pool?"
The girls and Kuno hit then, powering into the mass at the side of the pool and driving the ranks closest to the edge into the water. Hiro and Dai's eyebrows went up as multiple 'Ranmas' appeared. "Hey, cool! Spring of the drowned Ranma!" Daisuke said. They blinked.
"That must be Ranma down there!" they chorused. By common consent they dove in, and headed for the bottom.
Marller had been in the front rank. He cursed, in thirty different languages, her condition and the numerous other Ranmas who were beginning to discover their new circumstances. With great difficulty, he summoned his power and began to rise from the pool. What the hell had gone wrong with her plan? She trembled in horror. Had she cut the link in time? She might be… Gaahh! Half-Human - maybe forever! She had to find cold water!
Marller glared at where Sasuke was pulling Kodachi out of the pool and trying to calm him. A black rose appliquéd leotard looked ludicrous on the muscular martial artist. His own feet were sorely pinched by his own boots, which were now three or four sizes too small. Another body plunged into the pool carrying Marller under water again. This was getting ridiculous! The demon floundered for the side of the pool. It was definitely well past time to escape.
Shampoo and Akane were suddenly confronted by a wet, smirking Ranma.
"Oh, we find you!" exclaimed Shampoo. Akane stared at the Furinkan uniform, at least two sizes too small for their muscular fiancé. Something wasn't right.
"Hi-yah!" He cut loose with a fast, wicked crescent kick. Akane ducked, but Shampoo was hit in the shoulder and sent skidding across the concrete. Akane blocked several fast combinations as the other martial artist went on the attack, gloating and confident. Her attacker did not use Ranma's normal combinations, but seemed more based on the pure form of karate. Guessing, she offered an opening that Ranma would typically take advantage of using a series of grappling moves, and watched him frown and hesitate, as he seemed to fight with himself over the proper course of action. She took advantage of the hesitation with a combination blow that sent him crashing through the wall of the school. Other attackers were closing in.
She turned and focused on the closest. "Ranma?" Three 'Ranmas' closed on her. Her only advantage was the bumping they did on the way in, revealing their lack of coordination with one another. She powered up her shields and stepped back two paces as their combined masses struck the barrier. Unlike Barry, they didn't seem to know how to deal with the technique. It wasn't a perfect solution. She hadn't learned to spin her shield into a globe yet, and if they got inventive…
She glanced quickly around for some alcove or narrow space to maximize her defense. More 'Ranmas' were running toward her, their cries weirdly reminiscent of the crowd that used to attack her at Furinkan's gates, but now all wearing Ranma's face. Another group of a dozen 'Ranmas' struggled about Shampoo who had lost her bonbori and was now going hand to hand, trying to defend herself from a crowd that seemed to be arguing over first dibs. Ukyo had gotten to the high board, using her spatula and her advantage in height to stave off a half-dozen more that were alternately cursing at her or trying to coax her down. Another bunch were beating the hell out of Kuno. Even as she watched, one of Ukyo's 'Ranmas' got impatient and destroyed the base of the high dive in a fit of pique. The platform twisted as it keeled over and Ukyo fell into the pool. The platform swung and fell toward the group intent on Shampoo. Half the group sprang away from the pool releasing their holds to keep from being smashed. The other group, yanking hard away from their twins, stumbled back and fell into the pool, dragging Shampoo with them.
Akane strained to see what happened to her friends but finally lost patience with these dangerous Ranma wannabes. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Concrete blasted outward. Her shields, developed in part from that technique, protected her but her attackers went down, groaning or unconscious. Having cleared a space, she ran toward the pool. "Shampoo! Ukyo!" Everywhere she looked were Ranmas. The only major differences seemed to be in dress and hairstyle. None had Ranma's distinctive pigtail, one even had a ribbon like Ukyo's in his hair.
"Oh, no!" she murmured. She could feel the heat rising off the pool. Everything was becoming clear. To the side, one Ranma spoke comfortingly to another wearing a black rose leotard. On the other side of the pool a longhaired Ranma got up after removing his high heeled boots, and leaped over the schoolyard wall. Akane wondered at the diagonal red marks on his face and suspected Ukyo had caught him a few. Not far away, two more Ranmas were dragging a third from the water. This Ranma was cocooned in tape and chain in a very uncomfortable position, his feet tied to blocks of concrete. This one had a pigtail… "Oh, NO! Wuff!" Two or three bodies tackled Akane as she lost her focus and stood frozen and unaware in horror. As she fell in, all she could think was: "How else do you get a Pool of the Drowned Ranma?"
As she hit the water, she felt a weird buzzing shift. Her clothes didn't fit right; in fact, they pinched painfully down there. But that was minor. She shoved off the bottom of the pool hard enough to break the grip of her attackers and send her porpoising up to nearly fly out of the pool. "Ukyo! Shampoo! Get over here!" she screamed. It came out a hoarse male bellow. She patted her chest, and realized the pinch came because she… he had something that hadn't been there before. Akane put his feelings of horror aside and sprang over to where the pigtailed Ranma lay. The other two were trying to pull off the bonds, but even their improved strength couldn't break the chains.
"Out of the way!" Akane sought within. She often watched Barry use the neko techniques, but had been unable to duplicate them. Something Barry couldn't communicate in words or by demonstration always escaped her, just as he couldn't seem to learn her long distance tracking system. But now that she was, in effect, Ranma, he should be able to… "Ah! So that's how it's done!" Ki claws sliced the chain and the remaining tape.
"Roll him over," suggested one of the Ranmas, "We have to force the water out of his lungs!" The two went to work. The volume of water that poured out of him was astonishing.
Akane was almost knocked sprawling by another Ranma, leaping around and sparring. He sent him yipping across the pool with a ki-bolt. Someone he guessed to be Ukyo, dragged a mega-spatula behind him and slumped depressed, beside them. Around them, the chaos and increasing damage was indescribable. "He's still got a heartbeat, " one of Barry's rescuers said. They alternated on mouth-to-mouth while Ukyo and Akane kept off the riff-raff.
Ukyo finally snarled and stalked to where the fire hose connections, used to fill the pool, stuck out of the wall and raised his weapon. A single swipe broke the cap off the pipe and cold water sprayed across the yard. About half the battling Ranma-clones were caught in the burst and reverted to their true forms. They turned and ran at that point, unwilling to face the other Ranmas on uneven terms. The other Ranmas, seeing the jig was up, leaped over the walls unwilling to be changed and brought to justice.
Female once more, Ukyo tried to adjust her torn clothing to attain some level of modesty. As the water pooled and swept across the concrete, the weeping Ranma at the pool's edge changed into Kodachi. As for the Ranma who was comforting her, he changed as he left the swimming pool to become Sasuke. The two Ranma's resuscitating Barry shivered into Hiroshi and Daisuke, while Ranma's body transformed into girl-type.
Akane saw one remaining Ranma with long hair and wearing a girl's uniform so tattered as to be indecent on a female, staggering back and forth, weaving drunkenly over toward their position. He was wailing as badly as Kodachi. As he splashed through the cold water, he slumped, disappearing into his clothes, and the weeping changed to a frantic feline yowl. Akane pushed the damaged girl's uniform aside and extracted a pink-purple cat, which pushed into the comforting circle of her arms and wept disturbingly human cries of anguish. Barry finally began to cough and show signs of reviving. As Barry sat up, Akane fixed Hiroshi and Daisuke with a look that would have frozen a volcano. "You two are coming with us."
They met at the Tendos. Akane carried the weakly struggling Ranma girl-type, while Ukyo moved along with Shampoo. Hiroshi and Daisuke had jumped back into the pool as the most convenient source of hot water to change back to Ranma so they could leap across the rooftops. They had been dragooned into carrying a badly beaten Kuno. When they arrived, they had immediately called the Nekohanten and Cologne. The Matriarch arrived with Mousse in tow.
"All right! What were you so secretive about that you had to drag me over here?
"Shampoo refuses to allow us to bring her out of her cat form," said Ukyo.
Cologne didn't reply. She was frozen by the sight of two boy-type Ranmas sitting at the table under Akane's watchful eye, and a girl-type Ranma lying on a mattress a meter away. "Mousse?" she snapped. "Which is the real Ranma? Uh… You know what I mean!"
Mousse took off his glasses and looked. "Any of these three could be Ranma."
"Hey, isn't that the blind guy… ouch!" Ukyo elbowed the Ranma who had spoken.
"Cologne!" coughed the girl-type. "Shampoo is…"
"Shut up, Ranma!" Akane ordered. She turned to the old woman. "Honored Elder... this is difficult... I believe the demon Marller somehow turned the Furinken swimming pool into an uncursed Jusenkyo pool."
"A template spring?" Cologne interrupted.
Akane nodded. "We had been warned by Mio that Ranma would face trouble today so we went looking for it." She explained the prediction made by Mio and the search for Barry after he had left them. "These baka were having some ridiculous cattle call for a porno movie they wanted to make. Since they were using our names to advertise…"
"Whose names?" Cologne asked.
"Mine, Shampoo's and Ranma's"
"Why not Ukyo's?"
"That's what I said!" Ukyo blurted.
"I told you," said one Ranma boy-type to the other.
"Never mind that!" Akane snapped. "Since Ranma was involved and Mio's prediction was so dire, we figured it was easier to look for the commotion than to look for Ranma. We realized we had one, so we barreled in. We chased the boys to the swimming pool. We didn't know it then, but Kodachi had just dropped Ranma in, to make it a Ranma-iichuan."
"And the water was hot, wasn't it," Cologne sighed. "I can see where this is going and why great grand-daughter does not wish to be transformed." Her grip on her staff tightened till the wood creaked.
"I don't understand," Mousse said.
"Boy, if they are right, Shampoo is as good as dead to the Amazons."
"What?" Mousse lost his glasses in reaction and they fell to the floor unnoticed. "I…I can't believe that!"
"If she fell into a warm-water Nanniichuan, or Ranma-iichuan, in this case, her woman form is lost forever. Even if she jumped into the Nyanniichuan, or that Togenkyo Island substitute, she would no longer be recognized as Xian Pu!"
"Then I will share her fate!" Mousse wailed.
"Don't be so melodramatic, child!" she croaked. "We have yet to confirm that this is permanent and I must, as a Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku," She turned back to them, "confirm the warrior - Shampoo's condition."
"I suspected it might be something like that. I'm sorry, Cologne," Barry croaked, "But we tried cold and hot water on Kodachi and Sasuke in the dojo. It's permanent for them."
"Perhaps. But we won't really know until we try, hmmm?" Cologne growled. "If there is even a slight chance... Shampoo, come out here!"
Neko-Shampoo slunk out from under the table and crouched at Cologne's feet.
"Granddaughter, is this how a proud Amazon warrior greets an Matriarch of the tribe?" Shampoo flinched, then straightened up. Her eyes rose to meet those of Cologne's and she growled faintly. "That's better. I must confirm your alteration. I make no promises and the law is clear." Akane handed Cologne a kettle. "But before I do this, I want you to know that, regardless of the law, you will always be my beloved granddaughter to me."
"Miahhh!" Shampoo didn't flinch when the hot water rained down. There was a sigh as the cat's form expanded and the fur vanished. When it was over, Shampoo stood before her grandmother as naked as the day she was born. She looked down at herself. Female… She reached back and sought her hair… It was violet, not black. "Am… me?" she squeaked. Mousse caught her as she fainted. His robes swirled and suddenly Shampoo's nude form was shrouded in a silk robe that covered her from neck to ankle.
Akane and Ukyo gaped. "Omigod! She's all right? Tell me she's all right!" Akane gasped. She shot over to kneel beside Mousse and Shampoo.
"Why didn't it affect her like it did Kodachi?" Ukyo asked.
"I've got three thousand years of experience, girl." Cologne grinned. "A true Jusenkyo pool requires a wellspring to replace the water. A circulating pool is a closed system. Even specially prepared, there should be too little ki in such a system for more than one or two changes before…"
"It's nothing more than instant Jusenkyo water?" Barry coughed.
"Very good." Cologne nodded. "That's right. Furinkan High School's swimming pool is now several hundred-thousand liters of 'Instant Ranma-iichuan'."
"Shi-it!" breathed the two male Ranmas. They looked at one another and wondered if the guys at the school would… "AAAHHHGH!" Cold water spilled over them returning both to their natural forms. They turned shocked gazes on a sweetly smiling Kasumi who held the bucket.
"You must be happy to be yourselves again," she caroled.
Daisuke grabbed a kettle and upended it over his head to no avail.
"Poor Kodachi," Barry croaked while this went on. "Sasuke said the demon was living at the Kuno's all this time. That explains why Tatewaki went off the wall again. She possessed Sasuke then convinced them she was their mother, somehow. A lovely lady," he added sarcastically.
"And that's why Sasuke refuses to go back to the mansion. He's arranging for a hospital for both the Kunos," sighed Ukyo grimacing. Those two were loaded with good luck amulets and other blessed objects and presently housed in the Tendo dojo. "And there's still a whole bunch of guys running around out there who can convincingly claim to be Ranchan," she added. She looked at Akane who was patting Shampoo's hand. "I guess we can get a few of those air-pressured water-guns." She turned and frowned as Barry rolled weakly off the mattress and reached for a kettle. "You are staying here!"
"She's right, you know," Cologne told the redhead. "Now I've got some medicine that will clear up your lungs by tomorrow, nasty stuff, but I don't expect that to bother you, Ranma." Cologne obviously was enjoying her discomfort. "You'll take it, or risk coming down with pneumonia!"
"What happened to a 'spoonful of sugar'?" Barry retorted, grasping the kettle and pouring, then slumping male back on the mattress. He looked over at Shampoo as she returned to consciousness. Mousse was showing admirable restraint. He cradled Shampoo as if she was a precious, delicate object, and didn't seem to be trying to cop a feel. Of course he could have felt a lot of things as he was slipping that robe on her.
He couldn't figure out Akane, though. Something had abruptly changed between the girls. Akane had originally been envious to the point of obsession about Shampoo and her 'superior' qualifications. Now, Akane might act like this if she considered the other girl like a sister… or something closer, and they never had answered his question that afternoon! Ranma would be devastated if Akane… Barry gulped. He suddenly had a vision of Ranma, Akane and Shampoo in a three-way…
"Baka, baka, BAKA!" he chanted, smacking his head. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. He sighed and shooed them with hand gestures.
"Go protect my honor, then," he grumbled. "Akane, I'll bet you can find them by looking for me. Try to keep focused on each one till you get him. Keep back if you possibly can. When they hit cold water, you've won. They might react to threat on an instinctive level if you close with them, and probably won't mean to kill you if you get careless." He coughed and hacked painfully then. "Work as a team, no heroics. Try to trick them into cold water; most of those that are left will still think it's permanent." Barry coughed some more then thought of something. "Take anyone you catch to hot water and try changing him back. There may be others with a permanent curse; we'll need to know who."
Akane lost patience with his longwinded list of instructions. "How about I arrange a sling? That way I can carry you around with us in case you've forgotten to tell us something?"
Barry opened his mouth to comment, then broke down into coughing as he realized what he'd been doing. "Sorry," he gasped finally. "Just be careful… all of you!"
It was a long night. The car that came for the Kunos was checked out by Sasuke and Cologne, festooned with wards and amulets, before he brought his charges out. Tatewaki was conscious but damaged; Kodachi hugged herself and murmured constantly. Barry came out to try to reassure her that Ranma was at least alive, but she didn't even seem to notice him. The only good thing about the attempt was that Tatewaki seemed to recognize him, but did not get aggressive. Barry hoped it wasn't because of being trashed by several dozen Ranmas.
It was also a long night because of Barry's paranoia. Every hour they were gone had him worrying that they had been ambushed, killed, molested or otherwise injured and in need of help.
The medicine didn't improve his mood. It was horrible. It was administered every hour. And Cologne insisted on doing it herself.
Akane, Shampoo and Ukyo dragged themselves in just as Kasumi was putting breakfast on the table. Kurumi and Natsume were at the Saotome's. Nodoka had taken them home during school on Friday, insisting they had to get ready to start at Furinkan on Monday. Soun was hiding behind his paper, and Nabiki, who had decided to stay till Sunday night, was brushing her teeth while eyeing the Matriarch and Barry thoughtfully. Barry was flat out on the floor, eyes wide and angry, his body stiff. As he saw the girls come in he blinked rapidly.
"What's wrong with him?" Akane asked.
"He's simply relaxing under the influence of a certain herbal remedy that disassociates the aura at the astral level," Cologne explained. "It induces a state of suggestibility if used properly and I suggested he relax. I put it in his medicine, two doses back."
"Why?"
Shampoo laid a hand on Akane's shoulder. "He worry we have too much to handle with Ranma-wannabes. He want come out, save us from fate worse than death." She giggled weakly.
"Oh, is that all!" Akane giggled as well. "Really, baka! Do you have so little faith in us?"
"He won't answer you, little sis," Nabiki said. "And actually, part of it had to do with Chardin. For once in his life, Ranma missed a challenge date. Now, our French gourmet champion wants satisfaction.
"Oh, no!" Akane groaned.
"Oh yes! He was most polite, of course, but now Ranma supposedly owes him…" She pulled out her calculator. "…762,940 yen. Apparently, the stakes were double or nothing."
"Ack!" Shampoo and Akane exclaimed. Then Akane said, "I don't remember them setting any stakes…"
"Picolet does seem to take things on himself," suggested Nabiki.
"That no explain why he (yawn!) no talk to fiancé." Shampoo stretched.
"Let's simply say I didn't approve of a certain party's line of questioning when he was defenseless like this." Cologne eyed Nabiki.
"What was wrong with my questions?" Nabiki countered. They glared at one another.
"Why didn't you use this on (yawn!) Ranchan before and just make him do the deed?" Ukyo asked.
"Let's simply say we hadn't worked up to that, yet."
Akane frowned. "You better not work…" She growled then glanced at her father. "We'll talk about that, later," she informed the diminutive woman.
Cologne smiled sweetly. "By the way, I meant to tell him earlier, but that Koile fellow… the assassin? My sources suggest that he was employed by a certain Nikkoo Darikamosu. Considering how much assassins of his caliber cost and how few there are, I'd say dear little Nikki is going to be in trouble with his grandfather." She grinned at their smirks. "Why don't you girls get some sleep?" she suggested. "Your sisters are beginning to shape up just fine, Shampoo. We can get by without you today."
"Oh, god," groaned Ukyo, "I gotta get back to Ucchan's! I already missed the Friday night crowd!"
"Mrs. Saotome covered for you on Friday, dear," Cologne told her. "Though I believe she said you were running low on your pre-mixed batter."
"If that's all, I can manage," Ukyo sighed. She turned to the other girls. "When you see me next, if I have burn marks across my face, you'll know what happened."
"Fell asleep on the grill!" Akane and Shampoo chorused.
Ukyo staggered out and Akane and Shampoo staggered upstairs, leaving Cologne, Soun, Kasumi and Nabiki at the table.
"Could you ask him to sit up and eat, Cologne?" asked Kasumi considering the practical aspects of the matter.
"If you're heading back to the Nekohanten, you might want to consider unlocking your, 'listen to me only' command," Nabiki suggested.
"Not while you're around, I won't," Cologne retorted. She turned to Barry. "Boy? Eat up, then go upstairs and get some sleep. Don't listen to Nabiki unless it's about the house burning down or similar disaster. Got it?"
Barry sat up. "Got it!" he assured her. He picked up his chopsticks.
"So, what's it like, being controlled by this stuff, Ranma," Nabiki asked. She blinked and arched an eyebrow as Barry ignored her. "I guess you've blocked that avenue," the middle Tendo said with disgust. "If anybody wants me, I'll be in my room." She rose and stomped off.
"Well, I have to get along to my business, now. Send Shampoo home when she's rested." Cologne rose to her feet, leaned left then right with loud crackling sounds and prepared to leave. "And when you're rested up, boy, give the Temple a call and ask them to join us at the Nekohanten. We've really got to do something about this demon."
Elsewhere in Nerima, a hand dialed a number. Somewhere on Honshu, another telephone answered. A discussion was held and more calls were made. In a sprawling house set among rolling hills and surrounded by large black cattle, a phone was answered. Another discussion was held. When the phone was replaced on its hooks, Nagasameru Mirotomanya went looking for her father. "Father? It was one of those phone calls."
"Oh?" Her father looked at a picture on the wall. It showed a strong young man, a woman who was his wife and a baby in their arms. "It's been a long time," he said. He looked at the huge sword where it hung by the family shrine. Sweat poured down his face.
"It's in Nerima," Naga said. "I'm sure I can convince one of my friends to put me up." He shook harder. She hugged him. "Dad, you admit that it's part of our heritage?"
"Yes," he whispered. "If only I hadn't gotten cursed…"
"But you did, and now it's my turn."
The older man sighed and nodded. "I wish you would have at least tried to get the Saotome boy. He has a strong presence."
"I like Shinzoo just fine, Daddy," she chided him. "Besides, you would have had panic attacks every time Ranma came near you."
"It's a dangerous line of work," her father said. "Shinzoo is too slow. You'll be a widow before you're a wife, and you don't deserve that."
"The risk of living is dying, Father."
He snorted. "What a stupid philosophy for a demon hunter!" he chided her. "There are alternatives to both that don't bear mentioning!"
Barry walked up the stairs to the spare room that Ranma and his father had used since they had arrived at the Tendos. As he reached for the doorknob, he paused. Akane and Shampoo had gone up to get some rest. Was she sacked out in Akane's room? Or was Shampoo in this room? He tried to use his ki, but it was still too disorganized for ki-vision. He listened. He couldn't hear anything.
Sighing, he briefly went over to Akane's door and listened. He heard movement then felt a breeze as the door suddenly opened and he was leaning his ear toward a very surprised Akane. He turned his head and faced her, and the dull look in his eyes was all that saved him from an Akane first-strike. "What… do you think you're doing?" she asked, the calm before the storm. He noticed peripherally, that she was wearing a set of pajamas.
He blinked. "Cologne told me to come up to bed," he said finally.
"Okay. Why are you leaning against my door?" she inquired, a little more of a bite seeping into her voice. Behind her, Shampoo, clad in another pair of Akane's pajamas, stepped into view and curiously eavesdropped.
"I wanted to make sure where Shampoo was," he answered truthfully.
He saw Akane's fist clench. She took a deep breath. "And why did you want to know where Shampoo was?"
Barry considered a moment. The only thing he could gather from Ranma's memories was a conversation where Shampoo had gleefully told him what she slept in. "Because she said she sleeps naked," he muttered. Inside he cringed. He was dead! Dead, dead, dead! Akane's face was going absolutely livid, her aura was cranking up, he saw her mouth open for her battle cry…
"Wait! Wait! He not Ranma!" Shampoo whispered. "He drugged besides! Can't defend himself!" Shampoo grabbed Akane from behind, restraining her and dragging her back out of kicking range as well.
"Okay. G'night!" Barry stumbled away and the girls heard the spare bedroom door open and shut. After a moment, Shampoo released Akane as the other girl's heart rate sank back to reasonable levels.
"I…I…"
"I did say that to Ranma," admitted the Amazon.
"But…"
"He no say he want peep at Shampoo. Just want to know where is. Maybe think Shampoo asleep in Ranma's room?"
"I… That sounds so reasonable." Akane sounded unhappy. "Why do I always do this?" she wailed.
"Akane, why you always say 'I hate boys'?" Shampoo asked her. Akane went white. She quickly controlled herself, but Shampoo saw something.
"It's that stupid Kuno's fault!" Akane grumbled. "When I told him I didn't want to 'date with him', he set every boy in the school to attack me… and they let him!"
"And that all?"
"Yes!" Akane grated. Shampoo looked at her sadly.
"You tell fib, A-ka-ne." Shampoo shook her finger back and forth. "That not all. There something else that hurt you, that make you angry. It not matter you tell Shampoo. Shampoo promise not use when we must fight, but…" Shampoo sat down on Akane's bed and patted the space beside her. "…Long ago, very far away, women who were hurt by men chose to learn to fight like men, that no man ever hurt them again."
"The original Amazons?" Akane asked. "Then Barry was right in his report?"
"Cannot say. Let's say other group of women very like Joketsuzoku, okay? They finally rule many villages around big water, become very powerful. Any woman hurt by man was welcome and no man allowed stay within village boundaries. They not marry. Only invite men come to certain spot on certain day of year. Women who want child challenge men. Best stay for three months. If not cruel and obey laws, make love any woman who want child. Then must go.
"One year, new warriors come to northern village. They dark with black hair, ride horses and very strong. Horsemen fight villagers. They not know they women at first, and nomads steal as often as they barter. Try steal food, valuables, they get beat! Try steal women, they find they make big mistake! When they find out, very confuse because horseman's women not warrior. They never see warrior women before. Horsemen decide they like warrior women. They want strong wives. But warrior women not interested.
"Warrior women surprise when no women come from horsemen, except escaped slaves. They find out women own everything for their husbands, tents, wagons, goods, cattle… Only thing man own are his weapons. Even slaves owned by women for men. Very strange.
"Leader of village is young, very strong woman who was once slave to hill bandits. One year on Challenge day, Warrior Chieftain offer challenge to her! She very best in village, maybe best of all villages. Everyone think he nuts! She tell him 'I hate men!" Shampoo gave it that peculiar intonation Akane used when she said 'I hate boys!' "I fight you, you lose… you die!'
"So they fought?" Akane asked wincing.
Shampoo nodded. "He win. She tell him she rather die than be raped by man again."
"What did he do?" Akane asked.
"He ask her to wed him in manner of his people. She refuse! Say might as well be rape. She belong no man! She die first! He say…" Akane listened intently. "He ask if warrior women have husband by their custom. If do, he ask if can be husband."
Akane rubbed her eyes. 'Just sleepy', she thought.
"Of course, they no have husbands, not even boy children. Boys given to fathers when born or… killed." Shampoo blinked at the harshness. She shook her head. "So Warrior say to her 'I set you free'. Then he turn and walk away."
Akane gulped. It sounded so much like Ranma's sparring with her. She could easily identify with… A suspicion formed.
"Shampoo, if you're trying to get me to admit I was…" Her voice trembled more than a bit and she couldn't bring herself to say raped, "…you're out of luck, and dead wrong. I'm a virgin and will be until I marry."
"Maybe so," Shampoo said easily. "But rape not just sex. Is violence, is helplessness, is fear and pain, and fear of what others think even if not your fault. Even if sex not happen, if bad boys try rape, still can scar, can cause pain."
Akane turned away from Shampoo. Almost indifferently she asked, "What happened to the Warrior and the Amazon."
"They fight five times. Every year, Woman Warrior train get better, to face Horse Warrior next year. Every year, he win. Then other people come, sweep through whole region, kill and enslave as they go. We—! They knew them as the Jako. No one strong enough to fight them, not even six villages of warrior women and the horsemen, who were their allies. Horse Warrior and Woman Warrior lead counterattack, while rest of villages and the horse people can escape. Few who live say they kill leader of Jako, but die in each other's arms." Shampoo was silent for a moment. "They die for their people and their people joined and journeyed to find a new home…"
"In China, near Jusenkyo…" breathed Akane. She stared at Shampoo.
"Maybe," the other said suddenly smiling, if sleepily. "Is good bedtime story, yes?"
"Shampoo!" Akane said, shocked. She hit her with a pillow. "Oooh! Honestly!"
Shampoo laughed and took the futon on the floor. "Sleep well, Akane."
"Humph!"
Nabiki sneaked into the room Barry was in. It felt just like old times. Only this time, she didn't carry a camera; she carried a tape recorder. Ranma's body was face down on the futon. Nabiki had a hunch that in his present state, she just might be able to get some information out of him and now that everyone was asleep, or busy elsewhere, she could finally nail some details down.
"Barry," she whispered. There was no response. She smiled. Cologne had unwittingly played into her hands. All she had to do was tell Barry some fictitious disaster was happening and it should break the conditioning of the 'not listen to Nabiki' command. At the same time, in his suggestible state, she should be able to tell him not to remember her presence, and at least discover his timetable and what his plans were if Ranma didn't make it back. Possibly, she could do more. She leaned forward and whispered urgently in his ear, "Barry, the house is on fire!"
He came to his feet in a rush and looked at her. She smiled and said, "Sit down and relax, Barry, everything is under control."
"Nabiki, what are you doing in here?" The voice had a hint of irritation, but none of the life that either Barry or Ranma put into their delivery. Her smile grew broader.
"Barry, I'm going to ask you some questions," she began. "You will answer them truthfully. I may make some… suggestions. I want you to consider them, but they will seem to be ideas you've come up with, yourself. When I leave, you will go back to sleep and forget I was ever here. Do you understand?"
"Perfectly!" came the response. Nabiki frowned; that hadn't sounded like Barry's voice. "Nabiki, this is a message from Cologne. I know you don't want to hear this, but you're still three hundred years too late to get around me this way. Barlowe-san's privacy in this case will be respected. Please go away and let him get some sleep." It sounded just like Cologne's voice. "I have not manipulated Barlowe-san in any way, on my honor as a Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku, save by his direct and free-willed permission. I owe him that much for how he and Akane fought to protect Shampoo recently."
Nabiki grimaced, then shrugged. She looked away from Barry, then back again. "I suppose that means you're going to remember our little conversation?"
"Yes," he said.
She winced and stood up. "I guess I'll be hearing from you, once you wake up?"
"Yes." He stared at her. "Can I go to sleep, now?"
"Please. I'm sorry to have disturbed you." She left the room and closed the door. She peeked in on Akane and Shampoo, but left them alone. Maybe she should check and see if an early train back to the university was available.
Barry woke suddenly. Vaguely, he heard feet padding around in the hall. He thought a moment then relaxed. It was Saturday. Cologne had advised him to call the Temple about Marller. He came to his feet and noticed a slightly sour smell about himself. Time for a bath, if it wasn't in use. He attempted to use his ki-vision and was relieved to find that it seemed to work properly. He glanced down toward the bath. It was occupied. Akane and Shampoo were scrubbing off.
He swung his attention to sweep the rest of the house. Soun was by the koi pond; his colors indicated meditation or prayer. If the signs were right, he had been working on his garden this morning. The walk was swept and several plants showed the gentle trauma of pruning. Kasumi was not far from her father, putting out laundry to dry. At the dojo, he was surprised to see Genma, Nodoka and Ranma's sisters. The latter were doing kata under Genma's instruction. He swept the boundaries. In a tree, outside the property was a disruption, a space that seemed to be a blank space that shifted as he watched, but put out no ki. Which was a little strange. Even Happosai's technique put out ki. He decided to keep an eye on it.
Looking back through the house, he found Nabiki in the main room, working on what might be an account ledger. With her computer at school, she had fallen back on old reliable.
It occurred to him then, that if whatever was in the tree was Marller or one of her stooges, that the phones might be bugged. The demon was really an informational genius in some ways. Not too bright in execution, though, for which he was grateful. There had to be some way to contact the goddesses and disrupt Marller's surveillance. The best bet would probably be Skuld. Now, how to contact her…
They had worked out the astral projection only to find that it did nothing to forward their goal of regaining Ranma. Nor was it as easy as it should have been. The few times Barry had experimented had felt like pushing through a forrest of elastic bands.
Still, he wouldn't be at all surprised to find his astral self was visible to the goddesses' senses. But if that were the case, he would be visible and probably vulnerable to Marller in transit to the temple. There had to be an alternate method than traveling the topological distance. He just hadn't managed it yet. He thought back to the studies they had and the techniques he had learned and got a niggling idea.
Ki use bordered on magic, he told himself. One of the basic concepts of magic was similarity. Now, what was something they had at the Temple that was similar to something they had here? Perhaps he could use the one as a guide to bridge to the other. Something, something…
His eyes lit on the small mirror on the dresser in the room. That was it. He remembered clearly that they had several large mirrors at the Temple! If he could get hold of Urd or Beldandy, then he could get Skuld through them! Now… time to sink into a light trance…
Barry drifted toward the mirror. He had passed through it before. That is, his projective form had passed through it like a ghost through a wall, but now he looked on it symbolically as a gateway/equivalence to other mirrors. Especially the big hanging sheet of polished steel Keiichi had hanging in his workshop. It was quite distinctive. Holding that image in mind, he dove in. The result was a little like the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars when it had shot forward into hyperspeed, stars blurring back into stripes and ribbons of light.
Nagasameru hummed a popular tune as she walked up the street toward the Tendo dojo. Kasumi had been most kind on the phone and seemed to welcome the opportunity to see the 'almost-fiancée' of Ranma's again. Per standard operating procedure, she did not say she was 'hunting demons', but simply that she would be in the neighborhood. One of the keys to her training was to avoid endangering her hosts. Unless they were already targets of the demon, she would only stay long enough to locate her target. Then it would be eliminate, or die trying, and she intended to live, thank you!
As she walked up, her sword began making snarly little sounds to her consciousness. She placed her hand on the hilt. "What is it?" she asked sub-vocally. The sword tugged at her, as eager as an attack dog on its chain and about as intelligent. She merged with its senses. The world went into shades of rainbow. She had been warned it would be this way when she used the sword in the presence of the supernatural. Everything was semi-transparent, and seemed so very much more alive. Ahead of her in a tree, a patch of darkness shifted and murmured to itself.
"I can't believe it!" a voice snarled. "That damn bunch of pathetic little perverts!" The darkness shifted. "You'd think they'd just content themselves with sordid little orgies, but no-o! They have to try to make porno films and antagonize those little bitches and get their butts whipped right into my project! I'm not even a succubus fer crying out loud!"
Nagasameru drew her weapon. Her vision became clearer. The darkness had a human form and sat in the branches of a tree outside the Tendo dojo. Her mission might be completed sooner than she thought. She might get to taste some of Kasumi's cakes as a reward. Taking a deep breath she charged.
Barry soared through an infinity of glittering points. He had figured it wouldn't be easy. He hadn't realized the scope of the problem before him. Earth possessed at that time nearly five billion people. Most had something they used as a mirror, and some had dozens. Even ice from glaciers qualified as reflecting surfaces, and some of those surfaces looked out on worlds so strange, they couldn't have been of this earth. As he flew, he considered that this might not be limited to only the mirrors of Ranma's universe. He tried to maintain focus. In astral form he only had a few hours before the imbalance of spirit and body, without the mediating astral presence, killed Ranma. He had to find his way to Beldandy and back again before that. For an instant, he thought he saw his own face in one of those distracting flashing surfaces, but that couldn't be! He must…focus on…
…A big shiny piece of stainless steel, polished and bright, hanging above a drafting table festooned with paper and scattered pens and mechanical pencils, beneath a hanging lamp. A swivel chair, well used, before the table, a coffee cup with more writing implements and a white eraser, its tip rubbed down and gray from use resting on a small side table…
He rushed along an infinite set of choices, not even certain that he hadn't already missed his stop.
Ranma jerked away from the bathroom mirror. What the hell? For just an instant, his reflection… it had… had almost looked like himself! Not Barry Barlowe but…Ranma Saotome. He glanced from the lighting in the ceiling to the mirror. There had been a hint of silver from somewhere, too.
Then he winced. He had managed to cut himself. In his real body, he didn't have to worry about shaving much. A change to girl-form removed extraneous hair. The change back, didn't replace it. Gingerly, he patted the bloody little spot with a piece of tissue. Ranma hoped he'd be able to make an attempt this Saturday. The workday was shorter; he'd be done by 6 P.M. As for now, he'd better hurry. It was Friday, one of his longest days. He should be safe for tonight. Barry's memories indicated Gwen let him alone on Fridays because of the long hours. That would be a relief.
Shampoo was more persistent; but Gwen, he now realized, had the advantage of experience and this body's conditioning. Gwen was a friend as well, much as Ukyo was, and he could better appreciate what the okonomiyaki chef offered. But Akane… Akane was the only girl who had been utterly selfless with respect to him. She had always been there when he needed her. She treated him horribly at times, but then he hadn't been any great prize, either. She had been so… afraid for so long, and he hadn't understood that she was as much afraid of loss as he was. They had recognized something in the other that each needed, but pushed away for so long to avoid the pain of loss when the other was gone. Had her mother's death done that to her, even as his sudden separation from his mother and nomadic life had scarred him? He ached to return. 'Soon Akane! I'm coming back!'
And beneath even his conscious level of thought was the plaintive unvoiced plea, 'Please, still want me…'
Gwen put on her shoes and thought over the past week. Barry had been so distant. When he did get close, he acted almost like he had when they were first dating. Well, that was over tonight! It was his birthday, and she planned for it to be special. She thought about the wrapping she had bought for his special present. It covered but didn't hide… anything, which was exactly right. After all the present was… herself!