All Right. I began this fic sometime in February of two years ago. I'm not going to probably finish it anytime soon, but I can tell you this much. (clears throat)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Ranma ½ inc. That product and all affiliates currently belong to Viz and Rumiko Takahashi, and may both Akane and Ranma's wrath, as well as Ryouga's, Ukyo's, and possibly even Xian Pu's be upon anyone who claims to own them. Muu Tsu's wrath be upon anyone who steals my brand new rainbow-colored toe socks.

A soft voice whispered at her ear, a sound that could have been the very wind itself, the morning air crisp.

"Maybe you shouldn't have asked me." A cool, clench, followed by the warmth of fire swirled inside the girl, and she would have opened her eyes, were she not meditating. The dojo was empty often now, and had been since her father had given up teaching.

"Maybe you shouldn't have snuck inside my room," said Akane.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said yes." Ranma-chan tapped Akane on one shoulder and dashed to the other just as she looked up. Swiping a hand out, she missed, fuming.

"Maybe you should've talked to me about it." Following the tap around to her other shoulder, she spun around.

"Talk to you? Hah! You'd rather hit me, baka." The ki swept down Akane's arm, forming her beloved mallet, as though to prove Ranma's point.

"You- YOU-" She swung it up, and for the first time in quite a while, Ranma-chan hopped up to balance on it. Tapping Akane on the nose with a toe, she looked down at her finacee.

"Got a telegram for you from Ryoga." She tossed it lightly and hopped off. "It's marked Dublin." Her voice was flat, her eyes dull. "Let me know if you've come to a decision."

When Akane looked up from the envelope, Ranma was gone.

Sleep had returned, dreamless at first.

But then, she began to see herself in a Chinese tea ceremony, but was interrupted by a geisha in bright red robes, hair pulled into black mouse-ear formations. She enticed her to speak about a man, a man that was standing in the corner of the room, their tea ceremony interrupted despite the zingy taste of lemon in her mouth.

And she knew, deep down, that the man was Muu Tsu. Despite the mask on his face, hiding his features, she would have known his frame, his robes, his hair… She told herself that she would recognize any of it. Or maybe it was just the sweeping motion of the hand the geisha made to the figure.

"He is my dream-" She began, but trailed, not finding the right words. Yes, he was in this dream- yes, she was sure it was a dream, but was he a dream? Was he her dream?

She'd turned in bed, her eyes catching a shadow leaving her window. Most likely a Neriman bouncing from one sill to the next. Nothing that hadn't happened before.

When Yuka fell asleep once more, she fell fast- and it wasn't until the jarring alarm crammed the room with noise that she woke.

"Gooooood morning you crazy cats and kittens! We'll be starting off this morning lineup with a hot-Hot-HOT request from a girl to her man. You're listening to Ze-Ze-Zeta One-oh-One (one oh one oh one oh one) in the morning with Ming Taukimi. We're sending a request out from Tsubasa to Ukyo. Ukyo, this one's for you."

Yuka slammed off her alarm, feeling quite ill. Woozy, the effects of the lemon-curry rice hadn't completely left her, and the placid waters of illusion were still moving swiftly as she slept.

If there had been a disclaimer to Kho Lon's recipe, it would have been along the lines of "Do not take immediately before sleeping." With no-one to ask for information, the spell turned inwards. Every little unanswered question in her subconscious was dissected, re-placed with another, and dissected again. Even though she woke remembering little, her body was swimming with knowledge and doubt. What was clear was muddied. What was supposed to be clear was reduced by a series of questions that only could have belonged to Socrates himself.

"Yuka!" Her mother called from below like an elephant's bellow. "Time to get up!"

The schoolgirl heaved herself from her bed, pajamas striped like a candy-cane. "I don't want to go." The waters stirred, but then stilled. "I'm not feeling well."

She watched her mother poke her head in the door. "That so?" Yuka felt her mother put a hand on her forehead. "You don't feel particularly warm. Does something hurt?"

"Here." She rubbed her stomach. "And here." She tapped the frizzy top of her head. "Like they're both being twisted." She swallowed softly. "Don't make me go to school. Please?"

"Yuka, does this have to do with-"

"Please, Mom. I don't want to go." The cool, soothing thoughts that coerced her into dreaming were slowly wandering away- one by one. "It feels like-"

"Get dressed, and I'll take your temperature. No temp, you go."

"But I-"

"Get dressed, I'll get the thermometer."

Defeated for the time being, Yuka felt her body slowly returning to normal, the walls of calm slipping away. "I… I…" She swallowed softly, her body resisting each movement. "I don't- want to!" She jerked the drawer open, but her mother was down the hall. Her hands gripped the handle of the drawer, white-knuckled.

Swiping out a few items, she tossed them reluctantly on her bed.

The childish nature of her anger was unchecked for a few minutes. She thrashed into her clothes and straightened her skirt. And then- finally, she felt the resistance fall away, as well as the throbbing in her brain. The stomachache remained.

Half an hour later, Yuka was on her way to school.

"Yuka!" Clenching her teeth, she heard Sayuri not far behind. Slowing up, she let her friend join her pace. "Yuka, what's wrong?"

"My father goes missing for days at a time, Nerima is full of freaks," her words flowed haltingly, "Akane never hangs with us anymore, Hiroshi has a date, You have a date, I haven't a clue what the lesson is for tonight in geography, and I miss- I miss…" Heat gathered behind her eyes and Sayuri dug for a Kleenex.

"Shhhh…" The dark-haired girl wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder.

A purple cat sat at the corner of the alley, looking at the girl with rather large and lonely eyes.

"It's… just…" Yuka allowed herself to be led to a nearby bench. "Maybe I don't belong here."

"Yuka, that doesn't even make sense. Of course you belong here." She glanced up to the clock at the top of the school. "We're going to be late."

Yuka swallowed softly. "Yes." She rose. "We will be."

Ooooh… the angst. (shudder) Reviews, as always, are loved. And maybe they'll even make my next chapter go up quicker!