Kitten's Hope
by Lerris Smith
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. This piece of work is purely for entertainment purposes.
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
Neko Ranma unconsciously sunk his claws a little into Nabiki in reaction to the violent noise.
"Ouch!" She glanced down and saw the culprit and pulled him off her. "Ungrateful baka!"
Neko Ranma yawned and, after realizing what was going on, meowed quietly.
"Ya, ya, don't try to sweet talk me. Just keep those claws to yourself."
Ranma let out a plaintive meow.
"Oh come on." She picked up Neko Ranma and walked into the bathroom and tossed the still not fully awake cat into the furo producing one very wet and annoyed cat that was cat paddling for his life. Worse, the sides of the tub were high enough that Ranma couldn't seem to get his footing while swimming. In short, Ranma looked like he was in serious danger of creating a spring of drowned Ranma cat.
"There, that should teach you not to scratch me."
Ranma cat flicked hot water into Nabiki's face with his tail.
"Why you!"
Nabiki stepped quickly over to the furo in her effort to seek revenge. As she reached out to grab the drenched furball, her house slippers slipped on the water that neko Ranma had just splashed at her. She tried to stop her fall, but her hands just hit cat briefly before slipping into the water with her body quickly following. Her nightgown billowed around her briefly before becoming soaked with water and clinging to her skin. As she fell, her head glanced off the other side of the furo momentarily stunning her.
She sank into the water as neko Ranma swam back to the surface and looked on. Crap. What the heck am I going to do? I can't lift her out like this. If she doesn't wake up soon. Ranma meowed loudly as she struggled to think of what to do. The drain plug! Ranma neko held his breath and jumped down into the water. Ranma briefly wished he had been the one to empty the furo more often. It has to be around here somewhere. The hot water made it difficult to keep his eyes open as he swam and felt for it. A paw felt the little ring, but couldn't get a hold of it. Ranma swam and got the ring in his mouth and started to pull just as a hand closed around his side pulling him up. The plug came out and the water began exiting as Ranma let go of the plug and was pulled to the surface to see Nabiki holding him.
"Trying to be the hero again huh?" After setting Ranma on a ledge she reached down and put the plug back in place.
"Meow!" came an irritated Ranma. It wasn't often that the person to be rescued saved herself, especially after he went through all that effort. Ranma stood up and shook the water from himself, incidentally splashing Nabiki again.
"You don't learn do you?" came Nabiki's coy voice. Nabiki had completely forgotten about the effects of water on thin material as she picked up the bedraggled cat and held him out in front of her. As Ranma's legs dangled in the water suddenly there was so much more of him and she could feel his naked form weighing her down.
She enjoyed the sensations for a moment and suddenly it was gone. Such was his speed to leave the tub that several gallons of water were pulled with him and ran into the floor drain. He grabbed a towel and crouched down keeping turned away from her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's not my fault!"
Nabiki's silvery laugh filled the bathroom. Had the walls not been reinforced and thicker than any sane wall should be, the noises might have been noticed. Fortunately, in Nerima, fallout shelter grade walls were available at a discount, and the Tendo house had seen many upgrades in the past couple years. She grinned and said in an amused tone, "You can stop waiting to be hit now. I seldom stoop to such simple measures, and you are going to help Akane.." The last was said in a wistful hope filled tone. The brown haired beauty took stock of how the nightgown clung to her wet body.
"I, I just.." Ranma was struggling not to say anything to make this situation worse, which in his case seemed to mean not saying anything.
"I know. Just stay turned around, I'll go get you some clothing in a bit and whatever you do, don't tell anyone. I frankly don't want to see any priests anytime soon."
Ranma gulped. "You got that right..."
Normally one was supposed to wash before entering the furo, but Nabiki's entrance was hardly planned. She took her robe off while keeping glancing at the pig tailed boy's partially towel covered behind. She then wrung most of the water out of her nightgown and tossed it in the hamper. Nabiki pondered getting out and washing off properly, but there wasn't time and she didn't think accidentally giving Ranma another free show was a good idea. A wash cloth snagged from a nearby counter allowed her to quickly clean herself off, but she didn't dare use soap, lest the furo get all soapy and cause questions to be asked.
Before long Nabiki had washed off as best as she could and left with an over-sized towel wrapped around her. She came back in and kept her eyes away from where Ranma was, although she kept looking for reflective surfaces out of the corner of her eye. She was dressed in her usual t-shit and cut off shorts and was carrying a set of dark gray draw string sweat pants, panties, sports bra, cloth tennis shoes, and a sky blue t-shirt. "Sorry, I didn't want to risk getting stuff from your room. The panda is sleeping in."
Ranma was looking at her and the clothing she had. "A bra, panties? I'm a guy."
"Not if you want this clothing to fit you aren't." She tossed the bundle in his direction without looking directly at him. He reached out and snatched it out of the air and set it down on the counter. A quick splash of cold water, and a towel made him properly gendered to handle Nabiki's clothing. She looked at the sports bra dubiously. It would hardly be the first time she had worn one, but she didn't like it. No, that wasn't true, she did like the silly things, since they kept things from moving so much and allowed her to fight with fewer distractions. What she didn't like was being so dang vulnerable to water. Ah well, at least this one looks like it might not be too noticeable if I do get hit with hot water.
Ranma finished dressing. The clothing fit better than she expected. She thought perhaps Nabiki had outgrown it. Still the shoes would have been useless if they didn't tighten up so much when he pulled the strings. "I'm dressed although I still think it would have been better to go get my normal clothes."
"I don't want anyone to know your back. This thing you have to do with Akane. I suspect it is better if your not interrupted during it right?"
"Well yes, considering I'll be pretty much defenseless during it..."
"Okay. There is not a lot of time, but here is the plan. You vanish until after school. Just find us after school without being seen. I'll find someplace quiet you can work somehow."
"Nabiki.."
Here is some money. Just get out of Nerima without being seen until later today. Ranma nodded and pulled an over-sized brown towel out of the rack and wrapped it around himself. He then suppressed his normal ki to almost nothing and formed the complex ki structure around himself that was the umisenken. The effect wasn't perfect, yet Nabiki felt her eyes wanting to slide off the vague blur, and she had been watching it.
Ranma yawned and glanced again at his new clothing. The dark blue cotton, button up, long sleeve shirt and blue jeans he had bought went well together although he was forced to buy pants one size larger to get enough flexibility to fight in. The sandals he was able to afford would be challenging to fight in, yet if the worst occurred he could simply go bare foot. Regardless, it was good to be back in the body he was born with, even if the quality of his lunch had suffered due to running out of money.
Still, so many questions remained. What he knew could so easily solve his problems, yet there was little honor in brainwashing, even if it would be so simple, so very simple to make the Amazons forget about him, or get his father to try to atone for his messes. The temptation was there, yet he knew, like his father's so called sealed moves that some temptations must be resisted. The umisenken's cloaking skill was the only one he used, and even then he tried to avoid using it in front of any other martial artists. The nature of the move made it difficult to understand simply by observing it, but there seemed little reason to take chances. No, he would heal Akane and that would be the end of it.
Ranma faded into view in the shadows of a building a few blocks from Furinken. They would be coming soon. He walked towards the path he knew they would take.
Shampoo glanced left. Great Grandmother had been right to teach her how to detect that stealth trick Ranma knew. It seemed the Panda wasn't a total fool after all. Still, while detecting it while in use was difficult unless you had some idea where to look, it did turn out that detecting it during the brief moment of hiding or revealing oneself was much easier. You could feel it as a small pop in the ki energy of the surrounding environment, well provided you were within a few hundred feet of it anyway.
Shampoo remembered the events leading up to today.
Shampoo, get your mangy furball down here.
Shampoo walked down, attempting to feign being more calm than she truly was. "Yes, Great Grandmother?"
"What is this?" Cologne held up a hand blown dark blue bottle that looked like it had some kind of powder on the inside.
"Aiyaa. Shampoo not know." She put on her sweetest expression and grinned.
Whack "Wrong answer! I've half a mind to make you marry Mousse as punishment for your stupidity."
"Sorry great grandmother. I was so sure it would work..."
"That is the other thing that troubles me. Son in law is very strong willed, but that would only delay things slightly with this stuff, and yet it failed and he is gone somewhere. Do you know where?"
Shampoo sighed. "No great grandmother. Shampoo not know. Shampoo looked, but could find no sign of Airen."
Cologne hopped up on a chair and frowned. She was sure she would have known had Ranma made a break for it. Well at least that particular piece of magic would have only made Ranma's lust insane with respect to the first woman he saw afterward, which was definitely Shampoo, so that wasn't a problem, but where was the boy? She grimaced. "It seems I can no longer wait. Shampoo, first of all cut the bimbo act. Your making a fool of your Amazon heritage."
"Yes great grandmother."
Cologne eyed her great granddaughter for a moment momentarily tight her hand on her walking stick before nodding minutely to herself. Sometimes you had to work with the heir you had, rather than the heir you might have wanted. She continued, "You know of the techniques Genma made?" Shampoo nodded. "They are quite clever actually, flawed, but clever nonetheless."
"I thought Airen's father sealed those techniques. Flawed? How so?"
"Ranma is amazing in having the ki mastery to perform the techniques so young. It is not really that the techniques are flawed, but their underlying understanding of ki is flawed. It is not unusual for men to see the obvious and to miss the subtle." She again grimaced. "Of course if my great granddaughter had been paying more attention she would have figured out a great many things."
"Great Grandmother?"
"You just think on that." She fetched a small book from a fold in her robe and handed it to her. "Study this, and tell no one of it. It was written by my mother Xian who you were named after. It is her journal into understanding ki manipulation. I do not think Ranma would use any of the more dangerous techniques of Genma, which is a good thing. He may, however, be using the cloaking one, which is what we are concerned with. You will read and learn the contents of the book. It should help you detect him, if he is using that trick. You will also apologize to him."
"Great Grandmother?..."
"Don't you great grandmother me. You screwed up, again. Somehow your last cheap trick to get Ranma with magic has chased him off. You fail to get it through your blue haired head that Ranma, while male, is not stupid. Heck he has a female Jusenkyo curse. Do you not think he would have figured out such tricks?" Cologne got a grip on her anger at her great granddaughters stupidity. "You will apologize. You will learn the contents of that book and you will keep that knowledge as secret as possible. The only exception I grant you, is you may teach Ranma enough to correct his understanding of ki. Normally the flaw in his learning would not cause any major problems but Ranma uses a very great deal of ki. Without that knowledge he risks unbalancing his spirit enough to cause his death in a few years. If you don't screw this up again, you might get him to trust you."
"Aiyaa." Shampoo paused for a moment and then continued. "What about the secret techniques?"
"What about them? They are Ranma's secrets. You have no need of such dangerous toys. Learn what is in the book and stop acting like a dumb male." Cologne shook her head in disgust, whether for her heir or her own loss of patience she did not know.
Shampoo was glad she was on her way back from a delivery. It had been a long day, and Mousse was useless since Cologne had knocked him unconscious after he mistakingly glomped her. That meant she was stuck doing all the work and she was getting tired. Suddenly she felt the disturbance she knew must have been the Umisenken being dropped and looked down from the bridge she was on to see Ranma appear in the distance.
She road her bike along the railing on the edge of the bridge before jumping it off, and, for once, made sure to land beside Ranma. She jumped off her bike and glomped onto him. "Ranma. Shampoo glad you back!" Cologne's words saying not to act like a bimbo echoed through her head, and Shampoo successfully resisted the impulse to say airen. She then forced herself to let go.
"Shampoo? What are you doing here?" Ranma's first impulse was not to believe his luck. His second impulse was to remember who's luck he was refusing to believe. Ranma fidgeted. He did not have time for this.
"Shampoo come looking for Airen." Shampoo grimaced slightly at her slip and got down on her knees. "Shampoo sorry for what she did to you."
Ranma blinked. He wasn't gone that long. Just what had caused this? He replayed her words over in his head. Someone put her up to this. It is the only explanation. It almost sounds like pop when he does the crouch of the wild tiger. It didn't occur to Ranma that this level of thinking was something almost alien to him. All that talking to the Tendo's mother had helped, if only a little.
"Um, its okay Shampoo. Well not really okay, but, um, I gotta go okay?" Ranma fidgeted.
"But I just found you." Shampoo said petulantly.
"Look over there, is that Mousse?"
Shampoo looked over and then felt the disturbance that indicated the Umisenken being activated and Ranma was gone. "Stupid Airen." and softer, "Stupid Shampoo."
Ranma ran several blocks down the street under the Umisenken and spotted Akane and Nabiki turning a corner. Seeing this was about his best shot he pressed a pressure point on Akane's neck sending Akane into dreamland. He then dropped the ki cloak and grabbed her before she could fall.
"Ranma! You about scared me to death! Just what the heck do you think your doing?" Nabiki's voice was biting, yet, amazingly, did not carry far.
"Um, Sorry. Look Shampoo saw me, and she is not far behind, so if you have someplace for us to go, we had better get there.
"Great Saotome." She fished a set of keys out of her purse with an oddly large keyring. "You know the motel about a dozen blocks north from here?"
"Ya."
"Good. The room number is on the keys. I'll be there as soon as I can. I trust you can do that thing again?"
"Actually yes. It is almost impossible to do with someone awake, but, fortunately, she isn't."
Shampoo again felt the disturbance of the Umisenken being started, but when she arrived she only saw Nabiki walking somewhere roughly northeast towards a cluster of restaurants. She dropped down in front of her. "Where Airen?"
"You know, you do have a bit of nerve. Between your stuff and whatever Kodachi gave him, from what we can tell, Ranma went crazy and ran away. So if you want to know where Ranma went, maybe you should ask Kodachi for her recipe. If you mix them both together then maybe you will go to the same place." said Nabiki sweetly.
"Mercenary girl need to learn her place. Perhaps Shampoo teach?" She fetched her bombori out of stuff space and advanced on Nabiki with a predatory look.
Nabiki was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had gone too far. It was always a mistake to let them see your anger, especially when you were anything but sure about winning if things didn't go your way. Shampoo advanced on her and swung down towards where Nabiki's head was. Nabiki twisted to the side just missing the deadly implement. Her arms crossed and she seemed to squeeze something in her left sleeve. "Do you want to know what happens if I'm hurt?" Nabiki forced her voice to stay calm as she again dodged, a strike that was closer than she would have liked.
"What? Money girl?"
"A certain envelope containing" She fell into a roll and then jumped back up to avoid the next swing. "detailed records of all the drugs and crap you have done to people will arrive at both the local police department" She dodged again and cursed her own stupidity internally. "and the Chinese embassy. I should think the Chinese government" She leaned back and felt where the annoyingly heavy maces just grazed her breasts. "might want to make an example out of your little village to clean up that mess." She stepped back. "Yes I can imagine the chinese government would be most annoyed at a little upstart village causing an international incident." Yep, Nabiki said to herself, "I screwed up and there is no Ranma around." She dodged, twisted, and swerved around the bombori. She thought about taking the offensive, yet it was all she could do to just avoid the dang things. The girl was good and her own practice was just so she could get out of these messes.
"Mercenary girl is better than Pervert girl." A grudging amount of respect entered the Amazons voice when she said that. She was so wrapped up in what she was doing that she didn't notice a police officer sneak up near her and fire a tazer at her, which just goes to show that 3000 years of Amazon techniques don't do a lot of good if you don't watch your back. He quickly cuffed her hands behind her back, and then her feet, and then ran a strap between the two sets of cuffs. It seemed cruel, but this girl was too strong to take any risks with.
"Dang it Ken? Could you have waited any longer? She was about to take my head off!"
"Hey, I floored it to get here this soon. I think this little thing makes us even. Just be glad I was so close since I'm the only one with a receiver that is listening for that panic button. Since I saw you were only dodging and she had the weapons the case should be fairly simple. I should think she will be deported and end up the Chinese government's problem."
Nabiki smiled. "Just remember she knows the breaking point."
"Thanks to you, we are ready if any of the Nerima martial arts goes off the deep end, although I pray that never happens."
Nabiki nodded and gave him one of her true smiles. It conveyed gratitude and thanks that seemed such rare emotions for the middle Tendo daughter.
From atop a nearby building Cologne watched having been drawn out by the feel of her great granddaughter's battle aura and Nabiki's of all things. It was the first time she had even sensed that much energy from Nabiki. The cop picked up Shampoo and carried her into the back of his car and drove off. Nabiki had started to walk northeast again when Cologne hopped down. "Just what the hell was that about?"
Nabiki kept a neutral mask on her face. "What do you mean? Your great granddaughter tried to kill me."
"You know what I'm talking about. If you could get the Chinese government to get rid of us, you would have done it a long time ago."
"And risk making you an enemy?"
"Then what?"
"Hey, I was just trying to scare her into backing off. What you guys do is your problem, as long as it doesn't hurt my family. If you hurry you might be able to keep things from getting worse with the police."
Cologne grimaced. "Just remember if my tribe is hurt because of you..."
Nabiki gulped. Dang you Saotome. All this because I was irritated with Shampoo and snapped at her to try to get rid of her. "Of course." She forced her voice to remain level. "Just also remember that should me or my family be harmed there will be repercussions. I have made sure of that." Privately Nabiki wasn't sure any of her plans would actually work, but well it always payed to appear confident, especially when you weren't. Nabiki sighed when Cologne hopped off towards the police station. Nabiki resumed walking, confidence exuding from her bearing, but the effect was dimmed a few minutes later when she tripped on a rock she had failed to notice.
After awhile Nabiki glanced back and was relieved not to see Cologne. Of course that didn't mean much, but it was the best she could do. She sat down on a bench and waited for the bus to come. This was hardly a direct route, yet it should only be a little slower, and sometimes it paid to avoid direct routes. Her body ached, but her clothes were at least hiding the bruising, even if the shirt was damp from sweat.
Nabiki yawned as she walked up the final steps and down the landing. She knocked on a simple blue door which was rapidly followed by Ranma letting her in. Akane was lying down on the bed seemingly sleeping peacefully.
"What took you so long?"
"I ran into Shampoo and got into a fight okay?"
"You fought Shampoo?" Incredulity laced his words as he spoke.
"Fought, well more like a lot of dodging, a few minor hits, and getting lucky that my cop friend and his tazer got there soon enough."
"Jeez, are you okay?"
"Yes, I said it didn't I? Look shouldn't we get this done?"
"We can't now. I was counting on you to stay awake and alert if anything went wrong. Right now you are exhausted."
"But what about Akane? Won't she wake up soon?"
"No, I gave her some sleeping pills I picked up earlier today. I only had enough for one does, but she will sleep probably five or six hours yet, well as long as it is quiet."
"Oh. Well then what?"
"Just a second." He went in the bathroom and ran a cool wet washcloth across his, now her face. He then sat down with his back leaning against the bed. "Come here."
"Huh? What are you planning?"
"Just come here, or don't you trust me?" Ranma said in her most innocent smile.
Nabiki sighed, sat down and leaned into Ranma-chan as she directed. It was a bit awkward considering Ranma was the smaller girl, but Nabiki seemed comfortable. A soft white glow formed around Ranma and extended to lightly cover Nabiki.
Nabiki felt so warm and oddly content. "What are you doing?"
"A ki healing technique I learned some time ago although I just barely have enough control to extend it to another."
Nabiki felt so content. She just wanted to rest here. Just for a few moments. "But won't that make..." She never got to finish her sentence as sleep claimed her.
"Rest Nabiki. Your injuries are minor, so no it will not make me too tired." He said this as she too nodded off, but not before telling his body to wake up in a few hours. As he fell asleep the light dimmed and vanished.
Nabiki yawned and stretched and then noticed her odd sleeping position. She then stretched again and a look of surprise graced her face as she noticed that all the pain was gone. Ranma was awakened by Nabiki's stirring and yawned in her own irritatingly cute way. Ranma really hated when he noticed things like that about his female form, but thankfully no one was paying enough attention to remember.
"Hey Saotome. It worked. I feel great."
"Great, now if you will move I need to..."
"Bathroom?" Nabiki moved aside and was answered by the breeze that moved passed her on the way to the bathroom. A short time later Ranma returned, still female. "Why are you still female. Come to think of it, why did you splash yourself before?"
"Oh that? Well it is just far easier to use that trick on someone of the same gender. The same as it will be a little easier with Akane although, in that case, it matters less.
"Well if you ever want to sell that trick."
"No way. As it is you may feel a little of what I feel and visa versa for a month or so. Healing your minor injuries was about my limit anyway, at least for healing someone other than oneself."
"Oh."
"We had better begin."
"So what do I do anyway?"
"You stay awake as best you can and keep an eye on things. If we are out cold for more than say 12 hours, try to give us something to drink slowly. If we are not awake by the time 24 hours passes, then get Dr. Tofu and only Dr. Tofu. He might be able to do something."
"You didn't say this was dangerous before.."
"Dangerous? Probably not, but peoples minds are worlds in themselves. At the very least it shouldn't be dangerous to you, and the danger to Akane should be fairly low as long as I avoid anything stupid."
Nabiki grimaced, but she had come this far. Still, what she had not said was less than comforting. Given her improved behavior perhaps she truly was healed, or perhaps they helped her out a bit more than she knows or said. It didn't matter. Still, given that earlier mess with Shampoo, the thought of getting a bit of training from Ranma after this seemed a good idea. She was fairly sure she could deflect Shampoo, but the easiest way was to deflect her anger to Ranma and that was something she was hesitant to do, now. Perhaps she could hang out with Ukyo some more as well...
Ranma, drank half a glass of water and carefully slipped in behind Akane being very careful not to wake her. She reached out with her senses and felt for the ki of the middle Tendo girl. That encounter with Shampoo had definitely rattled the girl and she somehow knew that wasn't over. For now though, it was time to do what their mother had asked. She hoped she could find another way.
She focused on the core of her being and split the essence that made her who she was into two bundles connected by a fine astral strand. The lesser kept her alive and gave her an anchor. The greater she let settle into Akane and willed the linkage to happen. As it happened the world faded to black. Nabiki looked on in concern, "Don't screw this up Ranma." Her words seemed angry, yet the tone seemed pleading.
Ranma's consciousness awoke in darkness. She remembered forcing her way through the shell that called itself Akane. It was difficult, but at least the shell was rigid, and that allowed her to flow through the weak points, if slower than she would have liked. She reached out with her senses and felt for what had to be here and was shocked when she found it.
She broke into a run, and in only minutes reached a simple stream by which sat a blue haired girl he knew to be Akane. The sky was dark and almost starless. A pale moon lit them in moon shadows among the few autumn trees. She wondered briefly about the blue hair, but ignored it as unimportant. She wore a white gi that seemed to be gray with ages of use. Her body seemed gaunt and malnourished. Even the few trees around seemed to be fading. She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees and her head down starring off into the slow moving stream. Ranma briefly cursed her own incompetence in causing part of this. She walked up to within about ten feet of her and said, "Hey? Are you alright?"
Akane's head shot up. Ranma unexpectedly shifted from a woman to a man. Her eyes focused on him as she jumped up and glomped him with all her might. She seemed so weak to him.
"Your here. Your really here. I'm not alone. Not alone. Not alone.. Not alone.." She kept pulling him to her.
"Yes, and I made a promise. We will free you."
"Really? You can do it? Oh please, please, please, please."
Ranma wanted to weep at the injustice of it all. It was fortunate that time in here could pass much faster than in the real world. This was not going to be easy, nor quick. "Will you trust me?"
Akane pushed him back a little and looked into his eyes and nodded. She had observed him for so long, and trusting him, of all people came easy. Ranma stepped away from her and walked over to a tree and sat down with his back facing the tree and with the stream in front of him. Once again he wondered why he was a guy now, but realized it was how Akane wanted him to be, and in this place that was nearly all that mattered. He motioned her to join him by waving his hand and smiling. She smiled back, the gauntness of her pseudo body here seemed to make that smile more precious. She walked over and sat down leaning back into him as he seemed to want. "What now?"
"For now, just rest. You are tired. I will keep you safe while you rest. When you are rested we will begin." Akane nodded, somehow feeling safer just being in his arms. Ranma glowed a soft blue white, much like he did when he held Nabiki before, yet now it was more intense and seemed to drive the shadows away from this little corner of mental real estate. Akane drifted off into sleep. "Sleep tomboy. I will be here." He mused that his resolve to avoid calling her tomboy didn't seem to hold. He once again considered his choices.
"What will I do to heal her?"
"I do not know everything, or even what state you shall find my youngest daughter, but ultimately the contamination that has enveloped her must be destroyed. You must do that at minimum."
"There is something you are not telling me.."
"You resist in killing, even to preserve the greater whole. That is good, but for my daughters sake, I beg you to do the job right. The other thing that worries me is my daughters time spent in darkness. Can she ever truly recover from that? No, I was wondering if it would be best..."
"You want me to steal her memories from her!"
"Would you really want to live with those memories?"
Ranma had no answer to that, or at least none he was willing to voice.
Ranma continued to give his energy freely to Akane. He knew what her mother wanted, and this was the time he planned to do it, but something stopped him. An hour passed in his time frame and then a second before the glow dimmed. Akane's spiritual body still looked weak and frail, yet it was much improved. Ranma's own body seemed weaker but it required careful observation to notice the signs. He gently shook her.
"Huh? What?" She turned around and prepared to smack whoever it was that had taken advantage of her while she slept, as she remembered and then let her arm drop.
"Good morning to you too." Ranma said in jest.
"Oh, sorry. Your really here, aren't you?" She got up and stood a few feet away from him.
"Yes, and I have a question that you must answer." Ranma told her of the time he spent with her mother's spirit and what she had been taught, but as with Nabiki he left out the details on the potential of the knowledge. She broke down in tears during it and he held her once more for almost an hour before it seemed appropriate to continue. "So you see, it is your choice. Unfortunately, it is only here that I can do something so delicate. I can do nothing, or I can simply try to make the memories of your time here less painful, or" He paused in his words here before continuing. "I can erase the memories of most of your time here completely. This would not be like Shampoo's trick. They will simply be gone."
"My mom wanted you to just do it, didn't she?"
"I believe so, although she never just came out and said it."
To be free, free of all the times living through that things eyes. It is so very tempting, yet they are my memories, and they are all I've had in such a long time. "No, thank you for asking, but they are all I had. I can't give them up." The thought of P-chan came to mind. "I want a promise from you though. No matter what happens you, will make sure P-chan doesn't..."
Ranma was a little surprised that she knew, although he realized that he shouldn't be. "I will. Ryoga will not use his curse to get in your bed again."
Akane nodded, seemingly satisfied by nothing more than his word. Akane knew that something as momentous as this should almost evoke more response, besides that bit earlier, but it all seemed so unreal, that a part of her almost refused to believe. "So, how do we get out of here?"
Ranma frowned. It came to what he wanted to avoid, but knew he could not. "Now, that is the hard part. You see the Akane Tendo everyone else knows is based on a part of you. It is like a cancer from what I know, twisted and tainted by magic, and as you know it is partly my fault."
"I don't blame you, at least not anymore."
"Thanks. Well there are two paths. The first, and what your mother asked me to do, and what I probably should do is to seek out and destroy the essence. In effect it will kill a part of you, yet spirits are resilient." He paused for a few seconds. "They killed the nekoken in me. Without even asking me the cat was killed. They were afraid I would do something stupid and absorb it in myself. They said without the tainted part, I would heal truly, and I think they were right."
"Ranma?" She stared at him for a bit and then asked, "and the other path?"
"I know how to shred the barrier that separates you two. It would then be possible, if you were trained, for you to do it."
"I'll do it!" Akane said fiercely.
Ranma wondered where the enthusiasm suddenly came from. "You do understand that, you will, in essence, be facing a part of yourself, twisted and perverted by magic and have to kill it. Are you sure? I can do the job. It is not something I will enjoy but to.."
Her voice became calm yet certain. "I'll do it. I want to do it. This way, I can finally beat it, even if you did have to help me. Please, I need to do this."
"If your sure. The first thing is to improve your fighting skills. Less time passes in here than in the real world. I told Nabiki to get Dr. Tofu if we were still asleep after 24 hours. That should give us about three days in here from our perspective, which is also about the limit of how long I can remain safely, so we better begin."
"Um, how are you going to teach me enough in three days?"
"You forget who your opponent is. Still, it won't be easy. Anger and rage can make a person fight much harder, and she will continue to have much of yours, at least till she is gone. Fortunately blind anger and rage also make one sloppy. You must win with skill and planning."
"Oh, um that still doesn't explain how..."
Ranma launched a relatively slow punch at her face. He almost thought he was going to have to pull it when she twisted aside.
"What the heck? I thought you were supposed to be teaching me!"
"The only way for you to learn enough in time is in actual combat. Since sleep really isn't too important here, and we have no real bodies, we are going to be busy." A sweep kick took her legs out from under her and Ranma waited and tried to avoid sighing when it became apparent that she was much worse than she was when they first met.
Dang that hurt. He's training me like his father must of him "Hey!"
"It is your choice. I can still do what must be done, or you can get up.."
Akane got up and threw a right cross towards Ranma's chest that he stepped aside of and gave her a push into the ground. "Again." Ranma hated this. He hated every punch he gave. He hated that he had half hoped she would choose this outcome, and felt shame that he was somehow failing her mother, failing his word.
The fighting continued with Ranma mechanically responding. It took little of his concentration to keep up with her, yet he could not entirely zone out either since he had to help her improve. He shook off his bout of self pity and focused. "Think about what your doing, and don't just react. That will come later, but for now you have to notice what you are doing wrong. No don't hit as hard as you can, that forces you to overextend and lose your balance." He once again dodged aside and added momentum to her causing her to tumble into the ground. Akane seemed to be focused now and not angry, something he would never have expected of her, but then he realized he had never gotten to know the true her, and being here had to have some effect. Was that a small smile? He wasn't sure.
The battle raged on and off for almost two days and Akane did improve more than Ranma would have ever guessed. She had actually had managed a few good hits on him, which surprised him a great deal. He particularly treasured the smiles on her face when she managed to hit him. They almost made the pain worth it. Still, the time for practice was over. It seemed the activity was draining both of their energies faster than he would have thought. Outwardly he smiled and said, "Congratulations Akane, you have done well. Are you ready now?"
Akane looked up through sweat soaked hair. She wondered what Ranma's trick was to avoid sweating but it didn't seem that important. She felt her bodies condition and nodded to herself. "Yes, I want to be me again."
She smiled at the last and it nearly took his breath away. She had truly done well. "It will take me awhile to break the barrier that separates you two and force her to face you here. In the end remember who's mind this is. Reality, such as it is, is somewhat in your control here." which he mused might explain why both of them had lost a noticeable quantity of energy. Her belief that they should be tired, was in opposition to his own knowledge that it was all mental. With that odd bit of advice he vanished.
Ranma finished shifting his focus to the larger mental landscape of Akane's mind. If you weren't careful here your mind would interact with the essence of the mental landscape and make you believe you were in a sort of virtual world based on the fake Akane's subconscious mind. He could not afford that. Realizing the falseness of such things here was the key to much of what he had learned since if you knew the true rules of a reality you could bend the universe to your will. Still, it was not his universe so the bending was not easy. The only good thing about this place was that the barrier also separated the fake her from him, making it impossible for her conscious mind to notice him, while it existed anyway.
The damage here was extensive, and he supposed he should stop thinking of it as alive, but it was hard, when he had spent so much time with her. He had learned a simple truth from his pop of all things. If one gave into their negative thoughts and feelings, while suppressing some of the positive ones, then it was possible to do things you would not ordinarily do. Of course, in his fathers case, he seemed to have a near complete lack of positive ones, so perhaps the analogy wasn't too apt. It didn't matter. He suppressed his feelings for the Akane he could see. She, no it, was false, tainted, and twisted and had to be destroyed. He had promised this, and fully intended to keep this promise. He called forth his shame in placing the greater burden on Akane and causing much of this mess in the first place. It firmed his resolve. A flicker of a memory passed through his mind and he decided on the form. The nekoken was truly gone, yet, here, his will allowed him to mimic it. He focused and formed what looked like six inch ki claws, and then reduced them to a bare inch. He had promised another, after all, and Akane was waiting.
Ranma lost track of the time it took. The work was very hard since the separation was composed of such powerful magic and it had been there for some time. Cut after cut he let himself rage against the barrier, only holding onto enough of his focus to be sure to limit his destruction to the barrier. Finally he came to the last swipe and it was gone. A mental push kicked the pseudo Akane towards the fragment of mental landscape where the real Akane was located. Only one more thing to do and then, well best not to think of the future so much. The present was hard enough. He sighed and let himself shift to a place near where they would battle, but far enough away not to be noticed.
He once again tried to tell himself of the necessity of what he had done and what he was doing or rather not doing. It didn't help and he lightly embraced the soul of ice to distance his feelings from himself. He mused that it was little wonder that that particular skill was easy to learn. He had learned an instinctive form of it long ago out of necessity. It was what had help him cling to his sanity through the nekoken training and so much else.
Outside about half a day had passed and for all intents and purposes the pair was just sleeping, well if you could ignore the tension that seemed to be in their bodies. She would wait, and trust in them. She had little choice. "Be safe neechan. You too Ranma-kun." She took another bite of pizza and washed it down with a drink of Dr. Pepper and once more regretted that they did not deliver to the Dojo.
Author's Notes: First of all, a quick note of thanks to J. St.C. Patrick for some proofreading. Secondly, I was originally going to do the next part in this chapter, but, well this is already more than long enough for a chapter, and to be honest, this next part is going to be challenging to write, and I want to spend some time on it. I'd apologize for the slow writing, but well the combination of motivation occurring at the same time as free time seems to be rarer than is conducive to being a prolific writer. If you haven't already done so, so you might check out the stories Ozzallos wrote. The writing there is quite good, particularly in Ah My Ranma 1/2. I do not know the author. I just liked the stories when I read them a few days ago.
Once upon a time I wrote I could wrap up this story in a chapter or two. Forget I said that. With what I just wrote the end is less than clear. I'd tend to say I still have at least two more chapters at this point.
As to what I'm going to write next, well your welcome to send suggestions, but all in all I'm going to resist making a prediction here since, I think if I do that I tend to put off writing till I get the motivation to work on a particular piece. As always, I'm curious what people think, and well, it is nice to see people reading my stories.