Chapter 3

It was the 11th birthday for Ryouga Hibiki. It would have been a day for rejoicing if it weren't for that stupid sensei of his. Ryouga kept thinking back to those days when he had been unable to fight back always trusting sensei to be right. 'Why did I never doubt his words?' Questions like these had plagued him since that faithful moment in the Amazon village. Yet he had always failed to kill him off. 'He's the only companion I'll ever have…' Ryouga never dared to utter the thoughts reverberating inside his skull. That promise he made so many years ago still burning in his mind. 'I sacrifice myself to never be a free man to become a warrior for what I pledge…' At the time he had not seen any significance in the words no real meaning. They had just sounded nice. Honourable, they had sounded honourable!

Darian was knocked out for most of the time. Ryouga had never liked the way his sensei kept on prattling about and selling him off at any given opportunity. This was the only thing he had managed to do though. He couldn't hurt him or her further somehow.

The desert sun was burning at his exposed forehead. He had sold the bandanna to a merchant in that strange bazaar. 'Got a nice penny for it though…' Smiling at the memory Ryouga trudged on.

Environments swirling around him he noticed incongruence in the air around him. He had never gotten a good explanation for the phenomenon. The swirling colours had entranced him the first time he had managed to spot them. 'Something to thank sensei for. If it weren't for you I'd never have gotten good enough to see…'

No motion was needed to spot and remain in the vortex. It wasn't enough to be sensitive to the magic of the curse. Ryouga knew that the limited time he had to fool the curse was precious. A result of training… 'Will I ever beat you?' The mood shift had been enough… The desert was no more!

In the Chinese rain forest 56 amazons were running around screaming their heads off. Xian Pu was calm though she had noticed the elder's hadn't taken part in the chase for the Japanese marauder. 'What is it the elder's know?' If Xian Pu was to become matriarch herself one day she needed to think! 'There were three girls…' "Aiyah!"

Khu Lon had suspected something to be wrong with the sudden visitors yet this was more than expected. "So Mr Guide what can you tell us?" Smiling malevolently was something she could do. Which she did…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The Guide had tried to run away in the pandemonium yet somehow they had found him just two miles from the Springs… She been knocked out and awakened later wet and warm and male…

In the Australian Outback Ryouga Hibiki sneezed violently and repeatedly…

Darian no longer hit the boy. The prospect of being pummelled in girl form had relieved of those impulses. He had explained the remaining techniques available in his memory and had nothing left to teach the boy. Being female and physically twenty for the majority of a year under the leash of Hibiki the scaring kid had made her appreciate the little things in life once more. "Ryouga could you pass me the bread, please." Kaoru Hibiki that was her punishment… She was the cook and mother for the Hibiki boy!

Ryouga had never had much in the way of school or any kind of education and he knew even less of the purpose of females. So Sensei had become a sensei once more. Therefore when he had reached the Kurusei School for boys he had become a student. He had gained a mother.

He had noticed some things coming to the fore with Sensei when female. She behaved differently. Less scorn and sarcasm, some times even warmth. It was something Ryouga had never really experienced. He would do anything for her…

(AN: I truly am at a loss here… If this line has any real meaning for you then if you are of honest heart, help me out here, please!)

Lunch break for the Kurusei scholars…

Ryouga always knew where the bread would go. And therefore he always caught it…

"HAHA!"

Blink-blink! "Release my bread."

The immediate quiet should have alerted the interloper to the danger. "Hey, don't be like that. You're pretty good!" The smile was innocent. Moreso than normal.

"I grabbed the bread first. Its mine by the rules." Ryouga couldn't help but smile back at the youth. "What's your name?"

"If you split the bread with me I'll tell ya, okay." Smiling even more…

Ryouga let go of the bread… "I'm Ryouga." Ryouga heard the crowd get back to normal once more.

"I'm Ranma! Thanks for the bread friend. I haven't eaten for twelve hours already. You saved me there!" Ranma didn't notice the glazed look coming over Hibiki's face at the mention of his name. Or he would have probably run away…

At the abandoned parking lot

Ranma had chosen to appear earlier than agreed to. Ryouga had impressed the youth. Ranma would have been happier if Ryouga wouldn't hold back so much though it always seemed as if he was disappointed though for some reason or another. 'Will I find out today? I hope so...'

On a nearby roof. Ryouga is watching the Saotome youth. 'How could one such as he possibly be my nemesis!' Ryouga had long since learned the value of patience though. 'I will not surrender to my insecurities. Ranma or not this kid deserves better.' Ryouga never talked much so when he leaped off the roof he had been camping on he kept silent. Scanning the immediate surroundings he temporarily shook himself free of the curse.

Ranma leaped in the direction of his arriving friend. "Ryouga you made it!" Still not scarred to the point of no return he smiled. 'Maybe he'll show me something!' Ryouga would do that sometimes, leave a clue in the direction of uninhibited potential. Ranma only smiled in anticipation though.

Ryouga flicked out the umbrella with his pinky finger twirling it absentmindedly. "I hope this will be educative for both of us." With a casual flick of the hand the umbrella took off into the horizon! With that taken care off he bowed deeply. "Any fight not to the death is to me honourable." Taking a universal stance not really belonging to any martial art in particular he awaited the response...

Ranma would take those words to his heart. He would not know why. "I will honour you equally, friend." Ranma blurred...

4 hours later (AN: yes I do know that the amazing fighting scenes strike down the hearts off all you pacifists out there...)

"Thank you se...sense...sensei!" Ranma fell over.

Ryouga had never ever experienced such a discipline in a fighter. 'Only a warriors heart!' Safe to say Ranma had impressed Ryouga on all counts but the one his sensei had drilled into him. "You have taught me a lot today Ranma. I amproud to be your friend."Ryouga had honour it was the last thing he had remainingfrom what had been once Ryouga Hibiki son of Kaoru and Ichiro.'I cannot be your sensei though...'

Genma had stepped in looking for hisson. What he had seen had been something he had not expected. The so called friend of his was fighting him. In an all out fight. Or so it had looked to be. The margins of the fight were measurable only to the mind. He had remained silent watching how his son somehow using that talent of his unconsciously drew out his meager ki reserves. Normally the fight should have been over at that point. But the drawing of ki had not encountered an abrupt end... Genma had only seen such mastery once before.

In the beginning when he had trained under the master he had helped them to organize their ki-lines by supplementing their ki with his own putting a small measure off control into the actions off the student. It had been painful then. Yet the results permanent. That was how he had wrung out the gross load of imperfections inherent in his students. It was a one time affair though. The pain was forever etched into his mind.

Genma could only gasp as his heir and only son was subjected to the same treatment yet somehow only smiling wider. And moving faster. And hitting harder. 'Maybe...' Genma's hesitation left the fighters alone...

Ryouga had wasted a lot of ki. He was only wasting ki though so his physical self looked to be practically untouched. He had to smile at the friend he now had. Ranma had been subjected to the inner workings of three different amazon techniques. 'He will find these techniques extremely easy to learn intuitively if chooses to do so.' With this he bowed to Genma ho had come to cradle his son up. "He is only exhausted. Good bye."

Genma had only nodded at the spectacle not really knowing what to do. However he chose to carry Ranma off to the hospital before going on their training trip...

Ryouga had later in the day been found by his sensei/mother after a convenient splash. "So Ryouga how did your little meeting conclude." Darian/Kaoru was not particularly emotional any more. She had not raised any defense when confronted with the ranma the beast issue at all. She had merely shrugged.

Ryouga was not happy about how things had gone about on the non ranma front. Kaoru/Darian had shown wy to many female traits in her disposition and had constantly shrugging off any accusations off unjust behaviour. Ryouga had been unable to yell back properly. If he had known it was all due to the conditioning he had been submitted to he would most likely have become depressed beyond lethal borders. As it was he munched away on an icecream come looking miffed. "Its all your fault!"

Kaoru/Darian just smiled. She had found being a woman not that hard. Being a medschool dropout she had the necessary knowledge to integrate it into her martial arts routine seemlessly. 'I even got the behavioural patterns down!' The motherly smile smothered any violent resistance threatening to blossom in the young Hibiki. "Don't be such a baby Ryouga dear. I'll buy you another snow cone, okay." The sentence had its desired effect.

Ryouga felt comfortable around Kaoru/Darian in a way he had never felt around plain Sensei. To comfortable to press the injust ideas of the formerly fully male sensei presently female, he settled for another ice cream cone. "YAY!" Chibi expressions galore...