Ki Cutters: 9

The Progression

"I turn into a monster," the first man said, sighing deeply.

"A what?" exclaimed the other man.

"A monster. That's why I won't go back out there," the first said sadly. "A real monster."

It was not a typical conversation between the martial artist formerly known as Pantyhose Taro and the martial artist formerly known as Kodachi Kuno. Due to her maintaining, as often as possible, the hot-spring cursed form of Ranma Saotome, her identity could be called into question. Only Kodachi's waist-length hair, bound back in a long ponytail, allowed her cursed form and Ranma's normal form to be distinguished. She and Taro were an odd pair, both intelligent human beings, both cursed, both happier in their cursed state than not. Now, deep in the Bayan Hara in China, Kodachi was far from home.

"You're nuts," said Taro with irritation, eyes flashing. "I'm the only monster here."

They were not physically involved, though neither were physical innocents. While Taro was a very normal male in his natural state, he had only marginal experience with the fairer sex — usually after haggling over price and reassurances that names would not be involved. Kodachi, while beautiful in her un-cursed state, was hardly normal. Before she had set her sights on Ranma Saotome, she had experimented in many forms of stimulation, as only a rich, unsupervised girl can. Due to a natural instability further enhanced by years of substance abuse and most recently a demon's meddling, sane was hardly a word to describe her natural state. Now, she feared it, which was why she was presently a he. Neither was terribly interested, by culture or training, to experiment in that way.

"Yes, I am nuts and no, you're not the only monster here." Kodachi was depressed. In his opinion, they had just had a close call with horror.

Their present companionship stemmed from common interests and a growing mutual respect. When Taro had spoken of his intentions to return to China and to the region around Jusenkyo and Joketsuzoku, Kodachi had been intrigued. A biochemist by training, specializing in botany, the youngest Kuno asked to come along to examine the plants that grew in and around the cursed pools. She needed to keep a low profile anyway, until they were certain that the illicit research Dr. Hashibara had done on her curse had not stimulated 'official' interest.

"Oh? Who transforms into a hideous, powerful, hairy beast?" Taro smirked. Kodachi threw him out of the hut.

Frankly, it was a slow day with it raining outside the hut. He wouldn't have minded normally. He approved of his cursed form. He also approved of Kodachi's un-cursed form, if only as a matter of esthetics. He couldn't completely understand why she was so fearful of resuming it. With a roar, he shook his fist at the man in the hut's entrance.

"If I step back out into that rain," screamed Kodachi, "I will become the Black Rose and that is more than hideous enough for me! If you want to go, go; but I would remind you of your oath to me and to my brother."

Taro sighed, rain running down his muzzle. He had promised to be transportation and bodyguard for Kodachi to Jusenkyo and back. In return, Kodachi would take care of expenses to make the trip more comfortable and Taro would have, for once, actual papers proclaiming him a resident of China. They had made the first leg of it by jet to Beijing itself, where Taro had endured the endless questioning of the little bureaucrats until they were free to go. A bribe had disposed of their guide and after that, Taro had been their speedy transportation to the Bayan Hararange. He sagged and stuck his head in to be drenched with hot water to return him to his human form. "I have a perfect memory," he grumbled, searching for replacement clothes.

oOo

His visit to his former village revealed everything to be exactly as he had expected. The old town mayor was dead, betrayed and executed for one of his harmless smuggling schemes by the communist authorities. Chou Meh was married to a skinny clerkish little man who dressed in communist party uniform. She had a baby boy and a fearful expression on her face. He was reminded of the edict against more than one birth per woman. He wondered what the Amazons did about that little law? Ignored it probably. He snorted.

He asked the older villagers for stories of his mother. There were so few of them left. None had known her beyond her Chinese name. Kitsuke had been the name of Kimiko Tendo's dead sister. His mother's had been…Bei X'huai? Was there any connection? None he could trace here. With his departure, even the shrine he had built on his mother's grave had been bulldozed to make way for a small military station. His anger at the action had been balanced by the realization that the Amazons could not be happy about the PRC having a military presence this close.

Kodachi watched Taro's face as he thought. He had heard something of the monster-boy's origins and understood this was his home village. Taro even admitted to the care he had lavished over it during the years of his dwelling there. The cursed Kuno looked around. The village was now a model communist village, everything falsely clean and everyone moving about politely, but without any of the friendliness a town this size normally exhibited. If Taro was telling the truth, the communist presence was recent. They were probably still stomping on everyone to drive home their authority.

""Who might you be?"" said a sneering, officious voice in Chinese.

Kodachi turned to observe a skinny little troll sneering at him as if he were a piece of dirt. Kodachi pulled out his papers. No sense causing trouble. ""Dachi Saotome,"" he said, giving the name on the papers. ""Here is my visa, my passport, my travel papers, my…"" He paused, his eyebrow raising and twitching as the little man struck the papers from his hand.

""What business do you have here, foreigner?""

Glaring, Kodachi stooped to retrieve his papers. He did not, however, let down his guard. When the official shifted behind him, he slid lightly to one side as the pompous little beast attempted to kick Kodachi into the gutter. ""My goodness? What happened to you?"" he asked the official innocently.

""You disrespectful scum!"" snarled the man from his position in the street. He ranted at the Ranma look-alike, whose patience was beginning to wear thin. Considering the Kuno family business connections, beating this little jerk to within an inch of his life might well be overlooked.

Taro walked up, listened to the man for about two syllables, then picked him up by the throat. ""You listen to me, you little government pimp! We are not your concern. If you so much as let your shadow cross our paths, I'll kill you. Do you understand?"" The man nodded, his face mottled and pale. ""Be thankful your wife is Chou Meh. I cared for her when I lived here. If you had been merely a government pimp, you'd be dead now."" The government man looked aside and saw the pale Chou Meh and their son standing quiet and afraid on the other side of the street. Taro flung him aside and took Kodachi by the arm. "Let's go, Dachi." He stomped off.

""Who was that?"" demanded the discomfited bureaucrat of his wife when she hurried over to help him up.

""Pantyhose Taro,"" whispered Chou Meh. She hugged her son to her side and wondered what might have been.

oOo

The rain poured down in heavy cold sheets.

"Feh!" Taro muttered. "If I had known you were going to wimp out every time it rained, I might have refused to bring you," he said to Kodachi.

"Really?" Kodachi might have Ranma's face, but the expressions were definitely still her own. His eyebrow raised and he looked down his nose at Taro. "You didn't appreciate having beds to sleep in at inns? Perhaps the food you were served was not up to your elegant palette? I admit you didn't need me, but I would think you could be a bit more thankful for the benefits I provide." They glared at each other. "Besides," Kodachi added, "who would have thought we'd be getting rain at this altitude at this time of year?"

"Whatever. It's not like we're on a timetable." He turned and looked out at the rain. The mist in the air brought the scent of the earth to them. "If you're so dead-set on avoiding your natural form, maybe you should have brought some more of that waterproof soap?"

Kodachi grimaced. "I still have some left, but not enough to deal with a downpour like that." Blue eyes glanced at the other man who lounged indolently against a support beam. Kodachi might be in male form now, but he could appreciate the feral litheness of his companion. It was the single temptation to return to her natural female state, but, "Never the Black Rose," he muttered, "Never again."

"What was that?" Taro asked.

"Nothing."

"Okay." He sighed and rolled over to reach for their packs. Rummaging around, he pulled out a box.

Kodachi groaned. "Scrabble? What language?" he added, after a moment.

"How about Cantonese? Pidgin, of course."

"You couldn't very well use kanji, now could you?" Kodachi replied with a twitch to his lips.

"Nah! Too many pieces and too difficult to build long combinations." He laughed with his eyes. It was about as close to an apology for his rudeness as Kodachi would get. Taro hated cross-language Scrabble.

When the rain stopped, they packed up the game, in which Kodachi had dominated Taro as expected. Cantonese was a dialect he was far more familiar with than was his opponent. "I'll be glad to go home, I think."

Taro shrugged noncommittally. It had been an interesting trip but, he had to admit, China no longer felt like home. Besides, now more than ever, he had good reason to find that perverted little freak, Happosai. Just a few days before…

oOo

Jusenkyo was beautiful under the thin dusting of snow. The guide came out, slapping his sides to greet the visitors.

""Good day to you, honored visitors! I am the Jusenkyo Guide. How may I help you?"" He looked at Kodachi then and started. He continued in Japanese, "Ah, young sir! How you doing! Welcome back! Springs still not good yet, sir. Maybe come New Year, they get better, yes?"

"He thinks you're Ranma," Taro had said in an aside to Kodachi.

"I know that," the other snapped. He turned to the guide. ""My name is Kodachi Kuno. I was wondering if I could look around?""

""Oh, no, young sir! It is very dangerous still!"" The guide paused then and looked closer. ""You are not Ranma Saotome?""

Taro turned to him. ""I thought the springs were all mixed together and powerless?""

""Mixed up, yes!"" the guide had said. ""But very dangerous."" He looked sharply at Taro then and frowned. ""I know you now, Pantyhose Taro,"" the guide said sternly.

""I apologize about the guest book,"" Taro replied a bit uncomfortably. ""I was in a bit of a rush.""

""You are lucky I am a forgiving man!"" the guide waved a fist at him. ""Besides, no way I could beat your backside anyway!"" He shrugged and grinned ruefully, then looked sad. ""And I never got to tell you how sorry I was to hear about your mother's death, young man.""

Taro suddenly swallowed hard. The switch from anger to melancholy broke through his barriers. ""I am honored by your concern,"" he said shakily. ""You knew my mother?""

""A little. I met her when Happosai brought her and your father through on the way to your village. She used to stop by with little gifts for my wife when she was carrying my first daughter, Pear. Such a sweet young woman, very pretty.""

""Happosai?"" Taro asked, puzzled. ""I always thought Happosai came across my mother by accident.""

""What? Oh, no, sir! Happosai said he was your mother's grandfather! You didn't know?"" The guide looked shocked.

Kodachi did some careful sampling of plant-life around the pools while Taro cursed Happosai in several different languages. They spent two days at Jusenkyo while Taro interrogated the guide about Happosai, his mother, his father and their life in China. There wasn't much the guide knew except that Taro's father had been missing a joint from one of his fingers and had elaborate tattoos, showing a possible connection to the Yakuza.

Meanwhile, Plum helped Kodachi, frequently asking if he was Ranma's twin brother. Kodachi finally admitted to being a woman under the curse of a Nanniichuan-like spring, letting Plum make her own mind up about why she looked like Ranma. The sudden rainstorm caught them by surprise. Kodachi was female again within two steps. She screamed in despair. Taro stepped out of the Guide's hut and bloomed out into monster form. He sighed in irritation, but two wing-assisted steps let him reach Kodachi and two more let him fling her in the hut.

"Hot water! Hot water!" Kodachi wailed. She felt all her skeletons bubbling to the surface, demonic phantoms that threatened to overwhelm her mind. Pain bloomed across her shoulders. "Hot!" she yelped.

"So sorry, young sir." The guide looked at Kodachi with concern. "What is wrong? Curse not so bad. Even look-a-like boy only mad. Oh, very funny see him chase panda father all over valley!"

""Did you ever hear of Citrus, old man,"" Taro inquired after partaking of the hot water, himself. He didn't really think it was equivalent, but it would keep discussion to a minimum.

The guide paled. ""You're joking, right?"" Taro shrugged noncommittally.

Kodachi sighed and winced as he straightened up. ""Well, I'm not joking, honored one. This is my cursed form. I created a Jusenkyo hot spring to make myself like this. It was a very evil thing that I tried to do and only this form keeps me from doing more things like it.""

The guide gulped and looked at Kodachi like he was a nuclear bomb ready to go off. He made a connection. ""You drowned the Saotome boy to make this?""

""He's still alive, old man,"" Taro interrupted, not wanting the guide to think Kodachi was worse than he was.

""No thanks to me,"" Kodachi said sadly, defeating his purpose.

The guide huffed. He looked out at the rain. ""I guess you're not going anywhere, for a while.""

oOo

When the rain was over, they exited the hut. Taro, almost childishly, jumped into a puddle, splashing water everywhere. Kodachi barely avoided the sheet of cold water. "Dammit, Lacy!" he exclaimed exasperated.

Taro turned and frowned. He gestured while making a muffled roar. Kodachi understood what he meant well enough.

"Hey! You're the one who told me what your real name was," Kodachi growled.

"MRAWW-wa-wa! MOOOOOooooaah!"

Kodachi waved a hand at him in a very feminine gesture of dismissal. "I won't call you 'Lacy Darlings' if you behave properly."

Taro sighed deeply, then stepped out of the puddle and bowed as if offering his regard to royalty. Kodachi smiled and motioned for him to turn around. Taro sighed again and crouched so that Kodachi could climb up his back to his shoulders.

Kodachi kicked him in the rear.

"BWWAH!" Taro traveled a very short distance then charged Kodachi. He struck like a pile driver. Kodachi stepped aside and smirked. Taro set himself and charged again, striking, smashing, slashing with wings and tentacles as well as his powerful arms and legs. Kodachi almost disdainfully wove between the blows, maintaining that smug smirk. Taro finally resorted to the flyswatter method and ripped up a small tree. Kodachi used Nekoken to shred the branches that came at her.

"MnAUH! FMAHR!" mooed Taro.

"Wow! I almost understood that," Kodachi remarked. "What's not fair? You tried to hit me with a tree!"

Taro snorted a huff of steam. It was cooling rapidly. Kodachi wouldn't be surprised if they ended up in a blizzard soon. Taro pointed to the air, his big fingers made dancing little motions and then his hand went down to the ground he raised it until it was over Kodachi's head.

"It's going to snow how much?" he asked astonished. Taro nodded. "Okay, let's go. I think I've seen enough of China for a while.

""I hope you have a safe trip, okay?"" The guide exited the hut as well, to wave them a send off. ""Watch out near Beijing and the major cities. The government people are very nervous right now with the Democratic Students group.""

""I thought that was finished with Tiananmen Square?"" said Kodachi.

""No, no. That was only one problem. When something like that happens, the government people are very nervous, very upset for very long time. They are always afraid maybe someone else will try to take power. Always remember, sir, power changes more often from within, than from without.""

Taro and Kodachi exchanged glances, remembering that official in his village, Chou Meh's husband. "Yes, it is definitely time to leave," Kodachi reiterated.

oOo

Their trip turned into a much more convoluted task than they thought it would be, even given an official complaint to Beijing.

"I hate the new radar," growled Taro as they hid in a cave. A military jet had found them then lost them again. 'Look-down' radar was a problem Taro hadn't faced before. Having a missile flash past them had been a new experience, too. Had it exploded above and behind them, instead of beyond them, they would have been shredded.

"Why are you so intent about getting to the Koreas," Kodachi grumbled. "They are just this side of a war zone anyway. If the Chinese don't get you, the Americans will."

"You have a better idea?"

"Actually, yes!"

oOo

Hong Kong was quite interesting. The lights, the people… Taro hadn't come through Hong Kong before. Kodachi treated him to a high-class trip courtesy of Kuno Industries, which had significant holdings in the city. Taro and Kodachi enjoyed themselves like two friends, seeing the sights of the city and the nightspots over two weeks of vacation. Kodachi smirked when Taro refused to dance with some of the young ladies there. His muttered excuse of 'it wouldn't be right' amused the cursed young woman even more.

They did have one bad moment.

""Money! Now!"" demanded the scarred thief as they came out of a restaurant. He brandished a knife.

""You've got to be kidding,"" Taro smirked. He cracked his knuckles.

Beside him, Kodachi shook his head and glanced away in disgust. Trust Taro to look forward to beating up some idiot street punk. He squawked in surprise. A dozen grim men were flashing around the corner with steel rods gripped in their hands! "Taro, watch out!" Kodachi let his instincts take over, Ranma instincts for combat and the Nekoken. The trademark whirling Saotome attack methods were unleashed on their attackers.

The man, confronting Taro, went white when Kodachi discerned the ambush. He turned as if to run. Taro, sensing the many foes going after Kodachi, leaped to his friend's defense. The knife-wielder whirled and slashed at Taro's unprotected back. Taro hissed as he felt the sting of the edge, and backhanded his attacker almost casually, crushing his face. He took care of two more of the oncoming mob without causing extreme damage, but Kodachi took care of the rest.

"Whoo!" Taro gasped, amazed by Kodachi's speed. It was faster than he'd ever seen Ranma move. "Now I know why you can dodge my tentacles."

"He caught you," Kodachi observed frowning.

Taro glanced back to where blood soaked his shirt. "Just surface. Nothing to worry about," Taro decided.

"What if he's using poison? Hmmm?" Kodachi speculated.

Taro frowned and concentrated. "I… don't think so, but…"

""Excuse me, but are you the people these thugs attacked?"" a police officer, one of a group, stepped up.

""Yeah, more the fools, they!"" Taro grunted as Kodachi tore his shirt into strips.

""We must ask you to come with us for questioning."" The policeman was much older than they and tried to use his age as a lever. Kodachi threw his wallet at him. ""Dachi Saotome with Kuno Industries?"" The policeman frowned. The papers indicated that these two were very important people in that company. Hong Kong's lifeblood was foreign investment and business. These were not simply a couple of tourists or thrill-seekers. ""Why are you out in this neighborhood without protection?"" he demanded, trying to regain control of the situation.

""Where is the nearest good hospital?"" Kodachi asked, ignoring his question. ""That knifeman over there…"" he pointed to the twitching figure with the crushed face, ""…slashed my friend from behind. I want this looked into and I want to know who he is. This was not a simple robbery attempt.""

""Just who do you think you are?"" demanded the officer. Hong Kong priorities aside, he was sick and tired of rich young people making his life hell. A British financier's daughter had been caught having a ball in the red-light district; a New Zealand film company's spoiled young star in his early twenties had been involved. On top of that, a bunch of native teenagers of rich families had created a traffic jam and gotten on international news cameras with a protest over the return of Hong Kong to China. This could be troubling, even if there was a lot of confusion over which side they were protesting against.

""We're a couple of martial artists who took down two dozen street thugs in as many seconds,"" grumped Taro, who noticed his cut was beginning to sting. ""Can we get this over with? They attacked us, we beat them up, end of story.""

The police officer looked over his men with some worry. He had a dozen on scene with a call placed for another dozen on the way. If things decided to get ugly…

""Officer,"" Kodachi said more politely, ""perhaps we can make a statement after my friend's injuries are seen to. Wouldn't that be the proper thing to do, under the circumstances?""

The Hong Kong policeman took in the respectful tones, the common sense, so lacking from earlier encounters that day and smiled, tentatively. ""Very well.""

He was less pleased later. He took their statement and nodded when the Kuno Industries got a politician to allow them to swear out an affidavit and leave. That was before they had discovered that the man with the knife carried PRC credentials and that the thugs were actually an out-of-town criminal gang, way off its own turf. The gang was now mostly dead in a prison riot caused by rival Triad members. The envoy was in the hospital in a coma with the PRC demanding retribution on the man (now gone) who put him there, and the Japanese demanding that an attempted murderer, regardless of his condition, be sanctioned or expelled or something. It was a lot of trouble, a lot of paperwork and a lot of headaches. He should have known!

oOo

Katsunishiki grunted as he trotted along the well-beaten path on the way to the Unryu farm. He looked forward to the relative freedom to be found there. No need to worry about cars, pets, strange people… Yes, in a few hours it would be the wallow, some food and a little companionship from Katsunikari, the sow that passed as the primary love of his life. Yes, soon he could just relax.

"Oh, no!"

Hmm? Akari was complaining about something. What was her problem now?

"Where's Ryoga?" she asked him.

Katsunishiki stopped and peered about. Pig's eyesight being what it was, he also used his highly developed sense of smell and keen hearing. Ryoga was beyond detection range. The massive sumo pig slumped his haunches to the ground in disgust. How did that man do it?

"We'll just have to look for him," Akari said without much hope.

Katsunishiki grunted again. What a fool's errand. Not that he thought his owner was a fool, but the mission was. Even with a scent trail, they almost never caught up with Mr. Wander-lost. Without that… Hah! Still, he knew what was expected of him. He stood up and began to backtrack, searching for some sign. He kissed the wallow and fond company goodbye once more. With Akari upset like this, there was only one thing he could do for her, if they didn't find some sign of Ryoga soon.

Find her a friendly ear to pour her sorrow into.

oOo

Konatsu polished his spatulas and pondered his life. He was between the lunch and dinner rushes, people lounging about the yatai mostly to listen to tales of the adventures the pictures told of. Konatsu knew a little about them — Ukyo had never been secretive about her past. Sometimes he wondered if he fulfilled that role Ryoga had played as P-chan in Akane Tendo's life. At least it was obvious what he was. Well, at least these days it was.

He began a kata, an adopted one from Ukyo's school, involving two spatulas and one of the thick, rubbery, false yakisoba noodles that served in place of a chain weapon in this case. The spatulas whirled and sliced the air as he spun and swept with them, knocking pieces out of a target he set up for his purpose. The weapon approximated a light kusarigama within reasonable limits.

As he worked he evaluated, for perhaps the two or three hundredth time, the rest of okonomiyaki-ninjitsu with respect to functionality and scope. After all, he was a born master of the ninjitsu, a genetic fluke that turned up in his family every couple of generations. He was a Jonin without a clan, a master ninja more by blood than by training. What training he had, had come in the forms taught a kunoichi, a female ninja, by the will of his hideous foster mother and her family.

He knew well the art of seduction and entrapment, the neko-te, the metsubushi… Lately he had studied what he could of the other side of the coin, the ninpo ways of the shinobi warrior-assassin. It wasn't that he wanted to kill anyone. His nature was peaceful and his empathy for others high. But he was made that way. Like Ranma Saotome, he was more likely to stop breathing than ignore the techniques of his heritage.

He finished his routine and disengaged the spatulas from the yakisoba. Each one of Ukyo's mini-spats was stainless steel and small enough to throw, even in handfuls. As such they were good and well disguised substitutes for the ninja's shuriken. They also sat well in one's hand, capable of being used as a knife or as a fistload… perhaps with the addition of a swivel ring? Her flour bombs were very good, too. Portable, useable, if you had to act out your role in front of a hostile audience and with the addition of gunpowder, Ukyo's favorite, or ground pepper…

It was the mega-spat that drew the most criticism from the formerly cross-dressing ninja. It was too… limited. Certainly, it could counter a sword-wielding opponent. It could be used as a short yari or spear. Its edge, used correctly, had the cutting power of an axe, but…

…Konatsu hummed as he redesigned her spatula in his mind's eye, even as he unlimbered his own and began another kata. A hollow shaft, perhaps for expelling darts or metsubushi, or perhaps to hide a length of chain that could turn that huge cutting edge into a massive chigiriki or kusarigama, an ogama in the latter case. His spine thrilled at the idea of trying out the modification, the massive twirling blade capable of taking down men or horses or pigs…

Pigs…? "Eeep!"

The heavy blade of the spatula hummed as his muscles interrupted the flow of the kata, just short of slamming it into Katsunishiki's face. The massive sumo pig dodged back a step with a reproachful snort, dislodging a drowsy Akari Unryu from her perch. With a shrill scream of surprise she obeyed the laws of physics.

Konatsu caught her and cradled her close for a moment. "Akari-sama! Are you all right?"

"K-Kenna?" Konatsu smiled. Akari had, since she discovered their common past, insisted on calling him by her childhood name for him. A child's shortening of 'kenzanin' an old shinobi greeting he had solemnly used when they first met.

"Yes, Ari," he replied gently, setting her on her feet. "What are you doing here?" Her look spoke volumes. "Oh, dear, Ryoga-sama's gotten lost again?"

Akari nodded. "It's so frustrating!" she cried. "I almost never get home anymore! I have to keep looking for him!"

"It is too bad you can't track him like Akane-sama can with her ki-senses," Konatsu remarked sadly. He straightened. "I'm so sorry, Akari-sama! I should have at least offered you something to drink, or eat." He looked appalled at his lack of good manners. But the tension was cut by Katsunishiki's grunt. He wouldn't mind something to eat. They looked at him, then at each other and laughed. "Oh, my! Here, let me make you both some okonomiyaki and get you something to drink. We are far from Nerima and you must be parched." Konatsu bustled about, arranging refreshments for the odd pair.

oOo

Ryoga was fit to be tied. "Where the hell am I now!" he roared, his aura flaring green. He fought it down. He had been trying for months to wean himself from the Shi shi Hokudan. While studying ki techniques with Ranma and Akane, they had found that the depression blast tended to build on itself if unmanaged, making the user more and more depressed. Besides, he had several better ki-techniques, now. Maybe it was time to try to learn a new one.

He sat down were he was and quickly assembled his tent. It was bigger than his old one, snug for two, but they managed. He wondered at himself sometimes. He was seventeen going on eighteen and he still hadn't done it despite the fine opportunities offered by Akari. It wasn't just his tendency to pass out either. He was reluctant around her, which he found puzzling. He liked her. She was a good listener, very intelligent, if unschooled, and beautiful. She had, early on, passed enough hints that if he was interested in getting physical, she wouldn't mind.

She was also his responsibility. It was his duty as her fiancé to protect her. Fine job he was doing here, out in the middle of nowhere! That, of course, defined his goal. He planned to try to acquire Akane's locator technique. Maybe he could cut down on her worries and his frustration at the same time. The key to ki, so to speak, was focusing on one person's ki-signature so intently that everything else seemed to vanish. Then you simply held the spot in your mind and moved toward it until you bumped into it.

Simple in theory; Ryoga had always failed in the past due to his depression and his unfocused approach to dealing with life's problems. This time, he promised himself, this time he would find Akari and get on with his life. Besides, Ranma hadn't mastered this one yet and…

He slapped himself. Focus. On. Akari! He imagined her ki-signature, and tried to 'listen' for its unique tones and colors. She would be so pleased when he accomplished this. No more getting lost. Or if he did, it would be a quick fix to being found. Too bad he hadn't had this when he was trying to find the Tendos all those…

He slapped himself and tried to settle into his focus, again. Akari… Akari… Akari and Katsunishiki… He slapped himself again and focused.

Akari… Akari… Akari… Akari… He heard a giggle and tried to shut it out. Damn it! He was in the middle of nowhere and some airhead was giggling inanely…

Wait a minute. He recognized that voice.

Ryoga opened his eyes and looked around. His tent and backpack were nowhere to be seen. He must have gotten up and wandered away from his campsite while he was concentrating. He looked for that familiar voice and found its owner only twenty meters away, munching on okonomiyaki and giggling at the yatai operator.

Akari. Giggling at Konatsu. He was at the university and Akari, far from being depressed or worried or angry at their separation, was enjoying herself.

"Oh, Kenna! If your parents hadn't been killed in that earthquake, I wonder what we'd be like today?" she said with a contented sigh.

Konatsu sighed himself. "I could easily live without meeting my stepfamily again," he said with a shudder. "Sometimes my memories of you were all that I had to keep me going. I think I may have used you as my ideal when they began molding me into a kunoichi."

"But I'm no kunoichi, Kenna!" Akari laughed.

"No, but you were and are a beautiful person, Ari," Konatsu said fervently. "Ryoga…"

"…Is here," finished a quiet, dangerous voice. Green flickered at the corners of their vision, while depression seemed to swallow them like a hungry mouth.

"Ryoga?" squeaked Akari, eyes huge. Ryoga's gaze, normally sweet, shy and gentle passed over her like a reaping scythe. She felt her knees wobble and unlock and only her grip on the side of the yatai kept her from falling. "You found us!" She wished she could have taken her words back the moment they left her mouth. They sounded very bad, not what she meant to say at all.

Katsunishiki noticed his owner's distress and immediately took steps. Eight, heavy-footed steps placed him between Akari and Ryoga. The pig respected Ryoga and liked him, sort of, but he adored Akari, and Akari was undoubtedly feeling threatened by Ryoga. The move was simple but also showed the limitations of the animal's reasoning. The counter-threat was gasoline poured on a fire.

BAM! One ton of pig cartwheeled across the green to slam into a twenty-centimeter tree trunk. The tree went down, as did the pig. With his aura flaring like a bonfire, Ryoga strode toward Akari like an avalanche. Akari gave a short scream of fear at Katsunishiki's abrupt defeat.

Konatsu slid over the side of the yatai and placed himself calmly and quietly between Akari and the engine of destruction that was bearing down on her. "Ryoga-sama, please. You know how these misunderstandings arise."

Ryoga slowed, then stopped, glaring down on Konatsu, who was about Ranma's height, but more slender. "Why?" he grated.

"I'm not certain what you mean," Konatsu answered carefully. "After you got lost, Katsunishiki brought Akari here."

"How long…" Ryoga spoke and stood like a stiff animatronics puppet, all the humanity leached out of him.

"How? She's only been here a few hours—Urk!" Konatsu was suddenly suspended off the ground by a rough hand around his throat.

"How. Long?" Ryoga seemed inhuman, horrifying.

"Ummm…" Konatsu evaluated the circumstances he found himself in. The situation was not good. Any answer would probably set Ryoga off at this point. Either it would not be believed, or it would be taken as a confession of guilt. Either way, Akari could pay a terrible price. His neck would, too. "Have a pepper bomb, Ryoga-sama," Konatsu said brightly.

"What?" (bamf!)

The pepper bomb went off with a muffled bang and a cloud of smoke right underneath Ryoga's nose. Coughing and hacking, eyes watering, Ryoga dropped Konatsu and stumbled away. The ninja took this opportunity to snatch up Akari and run for it. His objective was Nabiki's apartment. There, Akari would be out of sight and Konatsu could lead off Ryoga, or distract him until they had a chance to talk. Besides, most of his shinobi gear was there, including the sort of specialized weapons he needed to counter Ryoga's advanced skills and endurance.

He shriveled inside as he felt and heard Akari crying against his shoulder. Who knew what she thought of this mess! If Sakurida was there, perhaps she could talk to her and find some way out. He kicked open the door and bounded up the steps, the elevator was too slow. He dropped Akari on a cushion in the living area, an unexpected guest to an astonished and staring Nabiki and an alarmed and armed Sakurida, who had her hammer in a cross grip like a bo-staff.

"Sorry! Angry fiancé on his way! Gotta run!" he rattled out.

He rebounded off the wall, bounced into his room, picked up the necessary equipment, whirled, and sliding open the third story window, left the three women to their own devices. As he dropped, he noticed that his landing site was a greenly glowing man pulling back his arm to strike at the apartment's street-level door. He planted his feet on Ryoga's shoulders, kicking him away from the apartment and lightening his own landing.

"Ryoga-sama, please! Don't hurt Nabiki-san's apartment!"

Ryoga's response was an angry inarticulate roar. Suddenly, Konatsu had to dodge wildly gyrating balls of energy that skipped and exploded all around him. Several ground level windows shattered.

"Ryoga-sama!" Konatsu continued to try to get through to the berserker. "Please listen to me! Akari-sama has done nothing against your honor!" He dodged away from the building and almost grudgingly, Ryoga followed. He unlimbered his chosen weapon. He preferred to get the lost-boy further away from the apartment before he used it, however. Those energy bursts were simply too dangerous.

Upstairs in the apartment, Nabiki and Sakurida were trying to get a coherent story out of a thoroughly distraught Akari. "I don't know about you," Nabiki said with a grim look, "but I think we may need to get hold of Ranma and Akane for this."

"Perhaps I should call my sister," suggested Sakurida.

"Oh, please! What do you expect her to do? Talk to him over my cell phone? And do you really want her here to try to take him on face to face?" Nabiki shook her head. "I should have known this was coming, ever since I noticed Akari showing up every time Ryoga got lost on their trips home to her Grandpa!" She huffed angrily. "Ryoga's the type that gets a bit emotional about being dumped."

"But I wasn't dumping him!" wailed Akari.

"You were two-timing him?" Nabiki drawled sarcastically. "What do you call going out of your way to see another man when your fiancé's back is turned?"

Akari gaped at her and broke down into sobs. Sakurida hefted her hammer and started for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nabiki asked.

Sakurida shrugged. "Konatsu needs some help. It's not what you seem to think it is, Nabiki, not really," Sakurida added with confidence. "Poor Ryoga is out of control."

"And you expect to stop him with that hammer of yours? Get real!" Nabiki looked worried. "Please, Sakurida, you're like a little sister. Don't go out there and get hurt."

"You call in your backup. I'll see if I can't get through to the big guy. Okay?" Sakurida spun out the door without waiting for further argument.

Nabiki punched at her cell phone, cursing under her breath. "They better be home, they better be home," she muttered as the line began to ring.

oOo

Fighting Ryoga took every bit of concentration and focus Konatsu had. He hadn't had the opportunity to unleash his chosen attack yet, but had utilized the mini-spats and flour bombs Ukyo's arsenal provided to some effect. He wondered how long Ryoga could keep this up. He had heard Ranma say that Ryoga was a tank and had tremendous physical reserves, but this was ridiculous. Periodically, with mouth gaping and fangs glistening, Ryoga would shout something obscure and manifest weird ki-techniques.

Konatsu knew enough about ki to avoid the trap of the ribbon technique but Ryoga had twice unleashed a sort of shockwave that had shattered metal and hard stone as easily as glass. Once, when Konatsu had taken a vantage point atop a flagpole, he had cut loose with a weird disc-shaped projection that had sliced through the steel pole like tissue paper and exploded in the slope beyond. People were beginning to come out to see what was happening and the chances of innocent bystanders being hurt was steadily increasing.

"Please, Ryoga-sama! Let's just talk! Surely we can talk!" He backed away toward an open area near the park. "Please, you're not really like this, Ryoga-sama! You're an honorable man."

"Why?" snarled Ryoga suddenly. "Why does everyone I trust betray me? Why am I the doormat? Good old Ryoga, but we can do better! Always lost, always alone. No one understands what I've been through and it's just going to start all over again! Why?" The tears in his eyes disarmed Konatsu. As he hesitated, Ryoga suddenly charged him.

(BAM!)

Ryoga seemed to hang in mid-stride as Sakurida's hammer rose from the top of his skull. "There!" she said swinging it back over her shoulder. "Maybe he'll be calmer when he wakes… up…."

Ryoga turned, his aura becoming if anything, more intense. Sakurida blanched. He had taken a blow that should have been just short of crushing his skull! She took in the aura, his demeanor and realized why Akari had been terrified. She was terrified! She cringed away as he took a step toward her.

(Fwapapapapa!) A weighted net suddenly wrapped tightly about Ryoga's body, enveloping him in a black mesh that glistened in an oily fashion. Ryoga tripped, yelled and thrashed inside the net, but it was like wrestling in a gluey, flexible sack. Konatsu took in the almost neon glow and ran, picking up Sakurida and hustling her away.

"I think he's going to do it!" he yelled.

"Do what?" Sakurida demanded, while trying to decide whether she should mallet Konatsu for being too free with her person.

Konatsu's reply was drowned out by the raging scream behind them.

"Shi shi Hokudan!"

Then sound seemed to cease. Konatsu took several steps in a surreal, utterly silent world while Sakurida dropped her hammer and put her hands over her ears.

(KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOM!)

oOo

"Kogara," Ranma said wearily at yet another Student Council meeting, "you're askin' me ta use people you've chosen to manage this fundraiser for the spring dance. You should have asked me first."

"My people are efficient and ready to go. They do the fundraisers for the Kendo club all the time," Kogara protested. "When Kuno was President…"

"Jeez! Don't shoot yer case in the foot! Look, I'm not arguin' they're no good, I'm just sayin' that we should have people other than just Kendo Club members involved. This is somethin' the whole school should be workin' on."

Ranma was dealing with the onerous duties inherited from before Halloween and Amazon Days. He hated being Council President, but knowing Nabiki expected him to blow it off, and not wanting to disappoint Akane, his mother or his sisters by either ignoring his duties or resigning, he found himself in the unenviable position of trying to be a leader instead of a fighter. His most constant foe was Kogara, who had run for the position only to lose to Ranma despite the other being absent from the school. Kogara regularly tried to take over, citing the authority of tradition, grades, and weather… whatever he could think of to force Ranma to step aside.

"I've already got them started, Saotome," Kogara said, tight-lipped.

Ranma eyed him for several seconds. Kogara's face revealed just a hint of victory as he expected his opponent to back down from an operation in motion. "I'll want their names and an accounting of any money they've brought in then."

Kogara's face fell a little. "Why?" he demanded.

"It wouldn't be fair to the new people to expect them to simply accept your people's accounts, Kogara." Ranma began to let his anger show.

"But I've already—!"

"But we haven't!" Ranma's roar overrode Kogara's complaint. Kogara went white and looked around for support from the other Council members, but saw nothing but blank or hostile looks.

"Your people are welcome to volunteer, Kogara," Hiroko Kusinaro allowed, "but we want to look over the potential candidates, first."

"Candidates?" Kogara said thoughtfully.

"If I hear that any Kendo Club people are intimidating volunteers, we'll have words," Ranma growled.

"Was that really necessary?" Sayuri asked. "You can really be rude, Ranma."

"Kogara has brought up Kuno three times this meeting, Sayuri," Ranma replied as he and Kogara exchanged baleful glares. "Tatewaki was a jerk when he was here and Kodachi used to have interesting ideas about honor and opportunity." His lips quirked in a feral smile. "They are much better, now, but I'm not about to put up with that nonsense again."

"Are you accusing me of intending anything dishonorable, Saotome?" Kogara almost rose out of his chair.

"Sit down, baka," Ranma remained cool and loose. "I'm not accusing you or the Kendo Club of anything, except tryin' ta stab me in the back. I don't fault ya in that. We're rivals. You will follow the rules we set up…"

"Rules that were set up during that gaijin bitch's…" (Crack!)

Kogara rocked back in his chair his face reddening from an embarrassing open-handed slap. "Don't insult Shampoo," Ranma said quietly. "She did a good job." He turned to the other members of the board. "Okay… Does anyone have suggestions of how many group-leaders we need for this fundraiser? We also need to follow up on the Kendo Club's commitments…" Kogara briefly tried to gain sympathy for his embarrassment but met with little success. Shampoo had done a good job. The meeting went on.

oOo

Ranma was relieved when the meeting was over and he could meet Akane at the library. Akane made small talk to his stolid wall of silence, teasing him until he began to open up. He laughed ruefully and slid an arm around her waist. "Gaah! It was just that idiot, Kogara," he said as if that explained everything. "I'm gonna be glad ta get back to the dojo and take a few shots from my favorite tomboy…"

"Even if I send you through the wall?"

"Even if ya send me through the boundary wall," he elucidated. They stopped, glanced around quickly and took a moment to kiss before walking on. They had just arrived at the gate, when Shampoo ran them over.

"Ranma! Akane! Ryoga, he going berserk at university! Nabiki say you better come quick!"

"What happened?" Akane demanded of her friend and rival. She tried to ignore the fact that the violet haired girl was sprawled across them with one hand on Ranma's chest and one just under her breast. She grasped that hand and used it to push Shampoo back to a sitting position.

"Akari lose Ryoga on way home. Ryoga find Akari with Konatsu at university." Shampoo gulped in a breath. She had been running hard. "Nabiki say Ryoga think Akari cheating on him."

Ranma went white. "Crap! Get Ukyo, Shampoo. Meet us at Nabiki's. It may need all of us to stop him."

"What he said," added Akane.

"Right!" Shampoo almost vanished as she went over the rooftops.

oOo

Ranma and Akane went the rooftop express and arrived at the university half an hour later. They stopped at the sight of smoke by the park and eyed the deep pit that writhed with traces of depression. Shampoo remained in Nerima to find Ukyo.

"Oh, boy," Ranma said, "This looks bad."

"Ryoga did this?" Akane asked horrified. "And he was getting so much better."

"I dunno, Akane," her fiancé replied. "Ryoga's always been a little brittle, ya know, mentally. Look at that business with the bread, or how long he kept the grudge going about his curse."

"Let's talk to Nabiki. And find out why Akari was up here," Akane added darkly. She had always liked Akari, but if what Nabiki implied was correct, she was directly responsible for this.

They noted the broken windows at the apartment and like Konatsu earlier, ascended the steps. They came upon the astonishing scene of Konatsu face to face with Nabiki in a shouting match. They glanced at each other to reassure their senses.

"He wouldn't listen no matter what we said!" Konatsu bellowed at Nabiki for what must have been a part of a cycle of argument.

"Why did this happen to begin with?" screamed Nabiki back at him. "If Akari…"

"You leave Akari out of this!" snarled Konatsu, purpling. "She couldn't help it if he got lost all the time!"

"She trampled all over his trust and feelings!" Nabiki screamed back.

The martial artists moved to intervene. "Nabiki! Why are you yelling at Konatsu?" Akane demanded.

"Hey, hey!" said Ranma, facing Konatsu. "Let's try to keep this polite."

"What?" Konatsu said curiously, at the top of his lungs.

"He can't hear you," Nabiki yelled. "He and Sakurida were too close to Ryoga's Shishi Houkudan. They can't hear a thing."

"You're yelling because they're deaf?" asked Akane.

"Why else would I be yelling, sis?" Nabiki replied demurely. "You know me. I don't get upset, I get revenge."

"Let's check this out," Ranma said. He pointed at a cushion. "Sit!" he bellowed. Konatsu sat but looked nervously at the sobbing girl near him.

Akari's face was puffy and red from her tears, her hair a tangled mess about her shoulders. She let her face drop into her hands once more and continued to weep.

"What happened, Akari?" Akane asked softly, dropping down beside her. Suddenly, she noticed a particular absence. "Where's Katsunishiki?" she asked suddenly.

"He's alive," Nabiki assured her. "He's spending some time at the university's school of veterinary medicine. Ryoga nearly turned him into roast pork." Akari wailed louder at her off-hand assessment, making Akane grimace.

"It's all my fault! My fault!" Akari sobbed.

"Why, Akari?" Akane asked quietly. She decided to offer Akari some comfort and hugged the other girl.

"I should have told him!" she sobbed. "Kenna… Konatsu and I knew each other when we were little. We lived on neighboring farms." She sobbed but reached out toward the ninja in a wordless gesture of need. Konatsu patted her hand but stayed back, letting Akane continue. "When his parents died he was sent to live with relatives. I didn't even know who he was until just before the martial arts tournament."

Akane looked puzzled. "But that's wonderful! After all these years…"

"But I didn't tell Ryoga! I was afraid he might not want me to talk to Kenna! I kept it from him and now he thinks I was… cheating on him. Oh, kami! What have I done?" She curled into a tight ball that Akane tried to coax her out of.

Ranma finished working on Konatsu. "Yer lucky, man. If it had been worse, I might not have been able ta fix it. Get a doctor ta look at that, okay?" He glanced at Akane.

"Oh, my god!' she said quietly in response to his look.

"Just as messy as any of ours, that's fer sure!" agreed Ranma. "Where's Ryoga?"

Everyone looked guilty.

"Awww, man! He ain't…?" Ranma gulped.

"We don't know, we haven't been looking for him," Nabiki admitted. "Frankly, we're all afraid we might find him."

Ranma nodded understandingly and stepped over to Sakurida. "Akane," he said as he sat down beside her, "use yer ki-technique and try ta find the poor idiot while I see if Sakurida's okay."

"All right, Ranma," Akane replied, settling swiftly into a meditative state.

"Really, I'm fine, Ranma," Sakurida protested. "Konatsu must have shielded me from most of it. I'm almost back to normal."

"Well, if yer sure," Ranma said doubtfully. "Ya better get it checked, though."

"I will," she assured him. They looked at Akane who had suddenly raised one hand, then lowered it to point to the east.

"He's alive," she said, "and somewhere in that direction."

"Can I catch up with him, tomboy?" Ranma asked.

Akane jerked an elbow into his side with little enthusiasm. "Not a prayer, the way he's moving."

oOo

A small black pig raced through the undergrowth, running through brush and grass, glancing off trees. Ryoga was actually thankful for that puddle he had splashed through — his clothing had been more a hindrance to movement than a cover for his modesty after the Shishi Houkudan — and he really didn't want to be human anymore. Ryoga hadn't considered how much he had come to depend on Akari, even more than he ever had on Akane. Whether he loved her or not, he had needed her. He had needed the sense of requited affection and the dependability of getting to places on a daily basis.

He had always considered himself a worthy and worthwhile human being, which he was, more so than most. If he ever toyed more than subconsciously with the idea of breaking off with Akari, it would have been to sit down and have a quiet, reasonable discussion of the pros and cons, parting as friends in the end. The idea that sweet, gentle Akari had been going to another man behind his back, especially a cross-dresser like Konatsu (anyone who is having emotional upsets should be forgiven a little bigotry) had shattered him far worse than Akane's discovery of his secret. After all, he had understood by that time that he could never be hers, but Akari…

He rammed into a big tree several times like a horizontally driven super-ball before stumbling around it. The brush thinned out and suddenly he was racing toward a cliff. He didn't hesitate; he may not have noticed. He launched himself into space.

'Funny,' he thought to himself as he fell. "My life always comes back to this." He could see the glint of the sun on water far below, as he tumbled over and over. A fall from a cliff, into water; there was a certain linearity about it. On his second or third rotation, he recalled that first time, as he descended into the quiet pool of the drowned black piglet. It struck him at that point that there was so much he hadn't done; so much he was going to miss in dying. A certain longhaired okonomiyaki chef chose that moment to gaze sadly at him from his mind's eye. Ryoga, the human bomb, had always had a short fuse.

The light and thunder of a second Shishi Houkudan occurred less than five meters from Ryoga's impact with the Pacific Ocean. The power cracked cliffs and briefly churned the waters of the ocean's edge, creating a depression of crushed rock beneath the water nearly fifty meters wide. Sea life directly below ground zero never felt a thing. Seismologists noted a minor event fifty kilometers southeast of Nagoya on the coast.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Just a little side note: Ed Becerra noted that I got a 3 Stooges reference wrong. Shemp instead of Shep! Point to you Ed! I'm gonna leave it as is, though as, at the time, that's what I thought he was called. :)