Ryouga simply stood still. He was afraid to move because he was lost. Dead and lost to him, was not a good combination. There were so many ogres rushing around, carrying papers, answering phones, shouting, and pushing one another. Ryouga didn't know where he was or what he was going to do. Relief came to him in a sudden flood when he heard a familiar voice, "Well, there you are, Ryouga! You need to be more careful not to wander off like that."
Ryouga bowed his head, "Sorry. I... guess I lost you in the crowd."
Botan giggled, "Well, that's silly. I am the only one here that looks human."
"Yeah... umm... I'm really sorry about that," Ryouga mumbled.
He just hated it when he couldn't find his way around. Even dead, he was still the eternally lost boy. He suddenly felt Botan get a hold of his hand.
"Now, this time you won't possibly be able to lose me in this mess," Botan beamed.
Ryouga kept his mouth shut, but inside he was a inner dialogue chatterbox.
'She's holding my hand... A girl is holding my hand... I... I'm so shocked... Wait, what am I getting all excited for? She's just holding your hand so you won't get lost again. Guh... I'm such an idiot. What girl would ever want to hold my hand for... Akane would. She might. Someday... After I come back to life, of course. I think. I hope. Maybe,' he thought.
Finally, Botan lead him to some big double doors which opened up and let them inside. She let go of his hand. The room was practically empty save for a desk and a large stack of papers. Ryouga looked around confusedly, "Uhh... Botan? Where's... umm... what's his name again?"
Botan was about to answer him when a toddler suddenly peeked at him from behind the large stack of papers. The toddler began to speak, amazing Ryouga because he couldn't see how anyone could speak with a blue binkie in their mouth, "Koenma."
Ryouga looked confused, "What?"
The toddler got out of his chair and walked over to Ryouga, "My name is Koenma. I'm the person you're here to see."
"But... That can't be right. You're just a... a... kid!" Ryouga said.
Koenma looked annoyed, "Yes. You think I haven't noticed that? I'll have you know, though, that I am way older than you."
Botan looked at Koenma a bit nervously. It seemed Koenma was in a bad mood, possibly because of all the paperwork he had to do. Ryouga stared at him, speechless. Koenma rubbed his temples, "Right. Let's get on with this. Oh, and if you make one crack about diapers I'll..."
Ryouga shook his head wildly and waved his arms, "No, no! Not me! No way! I'm just... you know... surprised."
Koenma gave Ryouga an odd glance and then smiled a little bit, "Well, that's to be expected."
He turned to Botan, "We should make him spirit detective."
Botan sweatdropped, "Koenma, sir, you know you can't do that. We already have a spirit detective!"
"But, he isn't calling me a baby! Do you know how old that gets? You'd think Yusuke would show me a little more respect!" Koenma whined.
"Well, you know him, sir. Really, you can't just offer the job to anyone who doesn't mock you," Botan laughed.
"Yeah... well...," Koenma grumbled.
Ryouga coughed, "Umm..."
Koenma turned back to Ryouga, "Right. Your ordeal."
He reached into his pocket and held up a golden egg. Ryouga looked at it puzzedly, "What's that for?"
"This, Ryouga, is a spirit beast egg. It is going to feed on your positive and negative energy until it hatches. If you're inner self is good, and I suspect that it is, this spirit beast will hatch and guide your spirit back to your body and essentially make you live again. However, if your inner self is evil and wicked, the spirit beast that hatches will consume your spirit. If this happens, you will cease to exist. So, now that you know what the ordeal is and the consequence if you fail it, do you choose to accept it?" Koenma explained.
Ryouga let the information soak into his head. He was silent for a moment, thinking.
'Cease to exist? That sounds horrible... But wait, what do I have to worry about? I'm a good person. I know I am. Akane knows I am...,' he thought.
"I'll do it," Ryouga stated firmly.
"Good! Here you are. Take good care of that egg. If anything happens to it, you'll be in trouble," Koenma told him.
Ryouga took the egg, holding it carefully, 'Nothing is going to happen to this egg so long as I... err... hold it.'
Botan grabbed hold of Ryouga's free hand and led him out of the doors and outside Spirit World. Ryouga snapped out of a daydream he was having about being alive again and looked at Botan, "Umm... Where are we going?"
"Well, you didn't just think that sitting on it and doing nothing is going to hatch that egg, did you? Not to mention we have to make sure your body is okay. Now, do you have any idea where that old man could've gone?" Botan asked.
Ryouga nodded, "Yeah. The Tendo Dojo in Nerima... That pervert... he better not..."
"Oh, good thing we know where he is," Botan interrupted.
She pulled out a large map from her pink kimono, "Let's see Nerima, Nerima... Ah, there it is. Now... Tendo Dojo..."
Ryouga looked at the map curiously, "What kind of map is that? Where did you get it?"
"It's a spirit map. I can find any place anywhere in the world with it. It helps make my job easier. Ah! The Tendo Dojo! ... Wow," Botan murmured.
"Wow?" Ryouga questioned.
"I've never seen so much spirit energy gathered in one place before... And look at all that chaos energy centered there... It's amazing," Botan replied.
"Chaos? That sounds like Nerima, all right," Ryouga remarked.
Thus, Botan and Ryouga made their trip towards Nerima and the Tendo Dojo...
Yusuke was just minding his own business.
'But isn't that how it always starts? Minding my own business before something crazy happens? Stupid town,' he thought.
He had been minding his own business as he walked home from work. It was a peaceful walk. He was actually quite pleased that not a single of Ranma's fiances had stopped him to ask where Ranma was. There was also no sign of Mousse, either. He thought today was going to be a good day. Boy, was he wrong. It happened when he was just half way home. His spirit senses, though weak, could detect something extremely powerful heading in his direction. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Before Yusuke could even prepare himself, the thing had barreled over him and bounded away. A stroke of luck allowed him to avoid getting trampled on by several girls carrying various weaponry: brooms, pitchforks, pans, and rolling pins. All he could hear was, "What a haul! What a haul!" and "Don't let him get away, girls! We're going to stop him this time!"
Yusuke got up quickly and blinked, 'What was that thing? Wait a minute... It's headed for the Tendo Dojo!'
He hurried over to the Tendo Dojo, the girls had broken up at this point shouting that they'd find the pervert and that he couldn't hide forever. Yusuke quickly entered and looked around. Everything seemed normal...
"Hey, Yusuke! Welcome home!" Akane greeted.
"Hello, Akane. You didn't... see anything strange go through here, did you?" Yusuke asked.
"Strange? No... I don't think so... Hey! Yusuke! Do you want to try some cookies I made?" Akane responded.
"Cookies? I'm not a cookie person... Anyway, I have to go check something...," Yusuke began.
Akane looked at him pleadingly, "Please?"
Yusuke grumbled, "All right. I'll try one."
Poor naive Yusuke; he hadn't yet tried Akane's cooking and trying it was a mistake he wouldn't soon forget. As he bit into the cookie, his first thought was, 'Hmm... This isn't so bad...'
Those thoughts quickly turned sour when the cookie began to taste extremely sour. Yusuke's face scrunched up and he put his hand over his mouth.
'Oh man... I've never tasted anything so bad in my life...' he thought.
He quickly ran to a trash can and began to spit as much of the cookie out as possible. He began to scrape at his tongue.
'How could anything taste so horrible?' he wondered.
"Ahhh, what a fine collection I've brought in today," an elderly voice commented.
Yusuke suddenly had the feeling that the powerful thing he had felt earlier was nearby. He turned around and in a room, he saw a little old man sitting and sifting through a wide variety of... women's undergarments. Yusuke's eyes bugged out of his head.
'What the...' He couldn't even finish his thoughts. For one he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Another thing was that he couldn't believe that such a little old man could be so... so powerful.
Akane came towards him, holding her bag of cookies and looking at Yusuke worriedly, "Do you think I put too much vinegar in them, Yusuke? Or was it the pepper? Or maybe I didn't put enough soy sauce..."
Yusuke turned his attention away from the little old man to stare at Akane.
'Vinegar? Pepper? Soy sauce? In cookies!' he thought.
Yusuke wasn't any expert when it came to cooking and baking, but even he knew that those things didn't belong in cookies. Akane suddenly turned away from Yusuke to look in disgust at the little old man that was Happosai. Then, she noticed something peculiar among Happosai's collection.
'Just wait a minute... Is that... Aren't those Ryouga's clothes over there?' she wondered.
Those thoughts were put to a halt, though, when she saw something much more startling, "P-CHAN!"
She rushed over, shoving Happosai aside and pulling her beloved pet pig out of the articles of underwear and bras.
"P-chan! What happened to you? P-chan? P-chan?" Akane cried.
She tried to get him to come to consciousness and as she did so, she could feel no heartbeat or life from him.
"P-chan! Wake up, P-chan," Akane began to sob.
Happosai rubbed a bruise on his head, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, Akane..."
Akane's eyes shined with fury, "YOU MONSTER! What did you do to him? What did you do to my P-chan?"
"I didn't do anything! I..." Happosai started, but was unable to finish.
Akane left the room carrying P-chan in her arms. She started walking towards her room, but didn't make it there. She fell to her knees and began to cry hysterically.
"P-chan...," she sobbed.
The scene had happened all too fast for Yusuke. He was having trouble figuring out what was going on.
'What's a P-chan?' he wondered.
Ranma came home after being chased by Kuno for being an 'evil sorceror who has cast Akane and the pig-tailed girl under a spell'. He found Akane on the floor, still crying over the loss of her pet. Ranma was instantly uncomfortable, "Uhh... Akane... Are you okay?"
Akane stopped crying and she was eerily silent for a while. Then, "Okay? Okay, Ranma?"
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with anger and woe and her face streaked with tears, "Do I look okay to you, Ranma? Do I?"
"Whoa, Akane...," Ranma began, but Akane's glare shut him up.
"Does... P-chan... look okay? What about P-chan? It's not like you ever cared about him... He never did anything to you and now look," Akane began to sob again.
Ranma saw P-chan in her hands, but really didn't have a good look at him. He frowned, "Well, what's the matter with him? Is he sick or something?"
Akane clenched her teeth, trying to prevent more tears from falling from her eyes, "He's DEAD, Ranma! P-chan... P-chan... he's... dead..."
She looked down at P-chan sadly. The words Akane had spoke hit Ranma like a ton of bricks. A feeling of great dread surged in the pit of his stomach.
'Dead? No way... That's... No! It's not the REAL P-chan! It's some other pig! I know it is! There's no way that is Ryouga... No way that he can be... Be...' Ranma thought.
"Give me, P-chan, Akane," he demanded.
"N-no! You've tortured P-chan enough! Leave him in peace! Leave my little baby in peace," Akane shrieked.
"Now, Akane! It's important! I need to see something," Ranma shouted.
"N-no! No! No! No!" Akane cried.
She stood up and started to run away from Ranma. Ranma moved quickly and started trying to take P-chan out of her iron grip. Akane bit his hand. The move didn't deter Ranma despite the pain he felt from the bite. He finally took P-chan into his hands.
"No, Ranma! You jerk! How can you do this to me? Give him back! Please... please, I beg you, Ranma!" Akane pleaded.
Ranma ran away from her, 'This isn't P-chan... I know it's not P-chan... I'll prove it to myself...'
He headed for the bathroom, he shut the door behind him and locked it as Akane was hot on his heels. He had to act quickly before Akane managed to break the door down. Swiftly, Ranma turned on the hot water in the bathtub and dunked the dead black pig into the water. His breath became caught as he hoped with all his heart that the pig in his hands wasn't P-chan... wasn't Ryouga. His hopes were shattered when he saw the black pig change into human form. He saw Ryouga's broken and battered body. Ranma choked.
'No... No...' he plunged into agony.
His eyes widened as he continued to stare at Ryouga's dead body. Ryouga was covered in bruises and dirt. Twigs and leaves were sticking out of his hair. His eyes were closed like he was sleeping and as much as Ranma wanted that to be the case, he knew it not to be true.
"Ryouga," he whispered.
He heard in the background, loud banging noises on the door. He carelessly turned on the shower on to cold water. It drenched him and Ryouga, changing him into a girl and Ryouga back into a little black pig. The door suddenly fell down and Akane rushed in, snatching P-chan back into her arms. She was about to scream at Ranma for being so heartless, but then she saw a look she had never seen on his, now her, face before. Ranma looked as if she had lost her best friend and, though Akane didn't know it, that was exactly why her face was stricken with grief.
"Ranma... Did you... You cared about P-chan, too?" Akane inquired softly.
Ranma stood with her head bowed. Her bangs were covering her face to hide a few tears that she couldn't prevent.
"Akane... There's something about Ry... P-chan... You don't know. And you never will know... But... Yes. He meant something to me... We didn't get along all the time. But still... He... he was really the only one I could actually trust... deep down," she murmured.
Akane's features softened as she heard Ranma's words, which she could feel were sincere. She didn't know just what Ranma meant about her not knowing something about P-chan, but that didn't matter.
"Do you... know what happened, Akane? To Rrr... P-chan?" Ranma asked.
"No... I found him with Happosai," Akane said.
Wordlessly, Ranma left the bathroom and headed into Happosai's room. She grabbed Happosai before he could run. If looks could kill, Happosai would've been in trouble. He was almost frightened by Ranma's rage. Almost.
"What happened? What happened to him, Happosai? Tell me... NOW!" Ranma snarled.
"I... I don't know...," Happosai answered.
"Tell me... the truth," Ranma growled.
Unbeknownst to Ranma and Happosai, they were being watched by Botan and the spirit of Ryouga. They had arrived, looking for Happosai and had stumbled upon the scene of Ranma roughly interrogating Happosai. Ryouga watched the scene with a puzzled look on his face. Botan was silent.
"You should thank me, really... Without my having interfered, you wouldn't even have seen the body! I don't know what happened to the kid... I found him laying on some rocks... It looked like he had fallen off the cliff there," Happosai explained.
Ranma's grasp on Happosai grew weak the moment Happosai mentioned Ryouga falling off a cliff. Happosai tore away from Ranma and bounded off, not wanting to be among the two grieving members of the household. Ranma felt extremely sick to her stomach.
'He... killed himself,' Ranma thought.
She trembled; her hands reached up to her head. The thoughts bombarding her were overwhelming. She could scarcely breathe.
'I can't... he... it's all my fault... He just... killed himself... I didn't think he would... ever get so depressed... I should've been there for him... I should've been nicer... I was always causing him so much trouble... I'm even the one who got him cursed... I put him through nothing but misery... and now... now, he's dead... because of me,' Ranma thought.
Ryouga was shocked by Ranma's strong reaction, "I thought he'd be... I don't understand... We were enemies... I think... maybe..."
"It looks to me like you were someone very close to her. She wouldn't be reacting like this if you two were enemies," Botan told him.
"She's really a guy... Her... His name is Ranma," Ryouga muttered.
"Ahhh... You must've been really good friends," Botan observed.
Ryouga paused as he thought about him and Ranma being good friends. There were so many times Ranma had made him angry and it didn't help matters that it was Ranma's fault he was cursed, but... Looking at Ranma now, Ryouga felt a twinge of guilt for all the times he had made trouble for him and all the times he said he was going to kill him.
'I didn't know he would be this broken up... but... Maybe he really was my friend... Maybe I was just too... too angry about what he had done to see that he really did have some concern for me...' he thought.
Akane entered the room, carrying P-chan in her arms. She was beginning to come to terms with her pet's death. After the initial shock, she was finding it easier to accept that her pet wouldn't have lived forever. She approached Ranma, who was still in a state of powerful anguish, "Ranma?"
"It's my fault... it's all... my... fault," Ranma choked.
"No, it's not, Ranma. I know you wouldn't kill P-chan... It's not like you," Akane assured.
"But... I should've been nicer, Akane... maybe he wouldn't have... maybe...," Ranma trailed off.
"There was nothing you could've done," Akane soothed.
She kneeled down beside her and hugged her. Ranma wasn't herself. She didn't even think about the hug. She simply embraced it. It took all of Ranma's willpower not to cry right then and there.
'I wish you could understand, Akane... But... I can't tell you about Ryouga's secret. I will always honor my promise,' she thought.
It hurt Ryouga to see Akane hug Ranma like that and comfort him in such a manner. He desparately wished that it could be him she was hugging.
'She doesn't even realize I'm the one that's dead... Oh, Akane,' he thought.
"What am I going to do? It's like I've just disappeared from their lives, now... If I came back...," Ryouga wondered out loud.
"Well, first and foremost, it's important that you keep your body in good condition," Botan started, but she paused.
She heard Akane talk about funeral arrangements for P-chan. Akane talked about burying P-chan in the backyard in a box after a small ceremony honoring the pig. Ranma didn't respond. She was wishing now more than ever that Ryouga was alive or at least that Akane knew that it had been Ryouga that had died, so that more proper arrangements could be made.
"Well, then... Ryouga, it wouldn't do you much good to have your body feet into the ground. It needs to be kept in a safe place and somewhere where you won't suffocate once you're ressurected," Botan explained.
Ryouga looked back at Botan, "How would I be able to prevent my body from being buried, though?"
"You'd just have to tell someone you can trust... that you're coming back to life. And you'd have to be really convincing," Botan began.
Ryouga cut her off, "How would I do that? I'm dead! No one can hear me!"
As if to demonstrate he stood right in front of Ranma and began to wave his arms, "Hello, Ranma! I'm dead! But don't worry! I'm coming back! Oh yeah... And don't bury my body, okay? It needs to be in tip-top condition! Or as tip-top as it can get right now!"
His voice was full with sarcasm. Botan sweatdropped at Ryouga's antics. She started to explain to him about how he could communicate with the living through their dreams and through possessing people. She also gave him words of warning about possessing others.
"I can get into people's dreams? That sounds kind of scary," Ryouga said.
Botan laughed, "Well, I suppose it can be. But you can handle it, right?"
"Uhh... Right... Sure, I can...," Ryouga replied.
'I think,' he added mentally.