Chapter 2: Jet lag

The airport was not too crowded, something that helped calm Akane. She hated crowds, after her self banishment she spent her first 4 years in a remote sparsely populated area of Japan being trained, she missed the calm tranquility of her temporary home. Toshi got them checked in for their flight and their packs headed for the plane.

Her nerves had been shot since she saw Ranma at the restaurant. She kept waiting for him to pop out at her from around the corner. So far that hadn't happened and she was starting to believe Toshi actually listened to her for once. A part of her mourned the loss, the 18 year old Akane who let go of the love of her life was having a hard time walking away from him again. That part of her she quickly ground under her boot until it shut up.

"Ready to go." Toshi gently grabbed her elbow and steered her towards the departure gates. He stuck close to her and she appreciated the warm buffer he provided. Toshi was very sensitive to her dislike of public spaces.

Toshi has been her anchor in the storm for the last seven years. Without him she would have crumbled under the pressure of the weight of this life. He was her guide and beacon. He kept her up right and moving towards her goal. The magic chose Toshi as her guide when the responsibility was moved to her with her cousin's death, and at only twenty-two years old he had embraced the role. In the beginning she was so lost but Toshi was diligent with her training and never denied her his shoulder to cry on. She really probably should be nicer to him. She snuck a glance at his cheery face as he maneuvered through the airport. Naw, he would get bored if she did that.

Mechanical static of the outdated intercom system came on before announcing, "Flight 612 to Idira Gandhi International Airport is now boarding in gate B17"

"That's us! Come on Akane." Toshi picked up speed as he half dragged her to the departure gate.

"Not sure why you decided to leave off getting here until the last minute." She grumbled in reply.

They cued up at the end of the line and Akane took a minute to glance around the gate to make sure there were no pigtailed martial artists lurking about. So far so good.

"Looking for someone?" Toshi whispered with a mischievous grin.

"No, just checking for aliens." She childishly stuck out her tongue at him which earned her an eye roll.

Upon boarding the plane Toshi maneuvered in front of her blocking her view. He also seemed tense all of a sudden. "Here it is, row sixteen." Before Akane had a chance to even acknowledge the comment, Toshi was pushing her into a row causing her to half stumble.

"Don't push, jerk face." She glared daggers at him as she rubbed the offending arm.

"Jerk face, really? You're twenty-five not twelve Akane." That voice. She knew that voice. She turned sharply and gaped at the smug man sitting in the seat beside her.

"You! What the hell are you doing here?!" She felt her temper spike and her face flush. Before she could utter another word Toshi shoved her into her seat and sat on her other side officially caging her in.

"Breathe Akane before you start hyperventilating," Toshi chastised.

Akane sent him a death glare and refused to even acknowledge the form of her ex-fiancée sitting on the other side of her.

Ranma just chuckled and watched her squirm. Getting comfortable he decided to leave her alone for awhile, She was like a caged cat that wanted to bite. It was best to draw as little attention as possible. Closing his eyes he pretended to fall asleep. The problem with that though was it enhanced his other senses. He could feel Akane next to him, hear her soft breathing and smell the floral fragrance of her hair. He frowned, being this close to her was going to be a form of torcher. His leg itched to shift just slightly so that it could brush up against her jean clad leg. Man it was not right for her to have this kind of effect on him after all these years. It was going to be a long month.

Akane brushed her bangs out of her face and glanced covertly out the corner of her eye at Ranma. Grumbling about stupid pig headed men she decided to try and ignore the situation she was in. She knew Toshi planned this. That snake, springing Ranma on her where she couldn't escape.

"Might want to relax a bit, Akane, It's a 10 hour flight." Toshi passed her a water bottle and her research material.

"Thanks Toshi." Akane fingered the sharp edge of the folder in her hands trying to decide what her next move would be. She could try and throw Ranma off the plane or disembark herself but either option would result in way more attention than she wanted. She sighed and decided to be a bigger person about her current situation. Shortly thereafter the plane took off and she braced herself for a very long uncomfortable flight. As the plane leveled out and the seat belt sign was turned off Akane pulled out her research and thumbed through it again. On the top was a worn document written in a language long since forgotten. The few linguists they tried could not help more than point to it being of an Asian dialect, likely from the Naples region. There were a few words they were able to translate: earth keeper, artifact, and god of death. She knew this was the key to start unlocking the trap she had fallen into, the parallels in what they could read and the few drawn images all spoke to what she had begun to refer to as the curse. It had been buried beneath a shrine in Southern Japan, the shrine was lost to time buried in the brambles on the side of a mountain guarded by a pair of Komainu dogs. Under the document was a map, a map given to her a few years ago by a reluctant friend. If anyone could translate the document he could, it was just going to be hell trying to reach him. He disliked all people, no exception, not even her. He tolerated her.

Akane reached towards her shoulder to gently caress the face of a sleeping golden dragon wrapped around her bicep. It warmed and seemed to hum softly before sifting slowly to loosen and curl around her wrist and lower arm as if alive. Its tail shifted to delicately rest along the back of her hand. With a deep sigh she closed the file and looked to Toshi.

"Your playing pillow." She announced. All he did was smile a gently laugh before making a show of fluffing his shoulder like a pillow. With that she curled against him and decided to follow Ranma's example and try to sleep.

2 hours later a slight bump of turbulence jarred Akane's sleeping body enough to dislodge it from Toshi's shoulder. Toshi himself had fallen asleep and that left Ranma alone to watch as the petite Miko slowly drifted towards him. A little sway in the plane seemed to shift her further and her head pillowed itself on Ranma's right shoulder. He knew he should wake her, or try to shift her back towards her overly smug peacock of a companion. But It was too much to resist the feel of her soft body. The smell and warmth of her screamed to his senses, Akane was home and everything that was right in the world, or it used to be. She let out a soft snore and seemed to try and burrow into him. He was so screwed. Breathing her in as much as he would allow, he glanced warily at Toshi before closing his own eyes. No one could blame him after all if he was asleep too. As soon as Ranma's eyes closed Toshi opened one eye to peek at his traveling companions before smirking and returning to dream land himself.

Bagdorgra Airport was located near Siliguri and was a fairly busy airport. Akane had to admit she didn't mind her forced escort at the moment. Wedged between the two taller and larger men prevented most of the crowd from getting too close to her. After twenty hours of travel that included a plane change in New Delhi she felt her hard won calm fraying. They didn't plan to stay long. Just long enough to get some rest before heading for the border with China.

She felt Toshi squeeze her hand in reassurance as they made their way to the exit. Which won him a tired smile in return.

Toshi let go of her hand and left her standing at the curb with Ranma while he went to track down transportation to their hotel.

"He seems like a nice guy," Ranma fidgeted slightly from where he stood next to her. "I'm surprised a macho chick like you has not scared him away yet." He didn't look at her. It was a dumb thing for him to say, he regretted it almost as soon as the words left his mouth. Watching them hold hands and smile at one another was becoming too much. He wasn't sure if he wanted to snatch her away like some cave man or if he wanted to go find the closest bar to drown himself in. He was Ranma Saotome! He could have any girl he wanted, he was a man among men, the badass of all bad asses! This whiny sniveling shit was so beneath him.

Akane looked at him annoyed and confused. "Well yes, he's been pretty great." she looked down at her hands as it fiddled with her dragon bracelet.

He glanced down at her trying to figure out where to go from there. "What's up with all the dragon jewelry?" He had noticed the same golden dragon on her, in different designs, wrapped around her arm. It looked quite expensive.

Akane gave him a small secretive smile as she brushed the head of the dragon slowly and purposefully. The dragon's ruby eyes suddenly opened to stare at Ranma before shutting again. Its tail shifted to wrap around Akane's thumb as if it was a ring. "Dukkeobi has been with me for about two years now. He is a bit shy of people and prefers this form when we are in populated areas. He is quite useful."

He shifted closer to get a better look at the dragon masquerading as a bracelet. "Dukkeobi? Doesn't that mean Toad?" He scratched his chin in thought before gently prodding at the dragon, it felt like metal but warm to the touch. "How the hell did you end up with him? There isn't many of his kind in the world, and he is so small. He is more lizard than dragon." Dukkeobi popped open an eye and blew hot steam out of its nose right into Ranma's face. Akane laughed and Ranma's heart seized. He forgot how good it felt to be the cause of that sound. "I guess he didn't like the comparison."

"No, not at all." Akane smiled up at him. Her breath caught in her chest as she found herself on the receiving end of Ranma's heart melting smile. A bit breathlessly she looked down the curb for Toshi for a moment. Once composed she looked back at him and added, "I take it you have met a dragon, that's no small feet. He is still young and was orphaned. We found him two years ago in Korea, he was up to some mischief that we rescued him from, he has been with us ever since."

Ranma put his hand behind his head and thought for a moment. "We ran into a large one in Turkey. She was a beautiful thing but cranky. There was a bit of an issue with some cult trying to raise a demon in a remote village out that way. We were sent in to neutralize them. Turned out they were using the dragon's front porch for the ritual site and I guess with all the ruckus we made shutting them down the dragon woke up feeling rather put out." He scratched his chin in thought. "At that point the guys from that cult were begging us to take them in, as scared of that dragon as they were I am not sure what they were going to do with a demon." He shook his head and smiled at the memory.

Akane smiled at him sadly before pensively looking out at the horizon. "It's ironic really. I have spent the last seven years trying to escape the supernatural while you were running towards it."

Before Ranma could ask her what she meant by that her third wheel ran back up the curb. "I found the shuttle come on." Toshi grabbed Akane's elbow again and began to lead them away.

Toshi managed to find them accommodations at one of the nicer hotels in the area. It would be their last night to sleep in comfy beds before they headed off the beaten trail. Toshi had got them adjoining rooms. Ranma was a bit surprised and confused when Toshi decided to bed down with him in the double room giving the single room to Akane.

"You don't snore, do you?" Toshi asked Ranma from his bed as he flipped through the channels on the TV.

"Huh?" Ranma had been running through some light exercises and stretches on the other side of his bed. "I don't think so…" He rubbed the back of his head in confusion.

"Good cause Akane does and I am looking forward to the break." Toshi said just before a slipper nailed him in the face.

"That is information you don't need to share!" Akane glowered from the adjoining room doorway. "And I don't snore, it's Dukkeobi that does."

"I don't know about that 'kane. You were snoring in my ear on the plane." Ranma reminded her.

Akane turned 4 shades of red at the reminder of that particular embarrassing moment. She had been having some rather pleasant dreams about a certain pigtailed martial artist when she woke to find herself cuddled up using the star of those dreams as a pillow on the first leg of their flight. She had refused to sleep the rest of the trip and drank copious amounts of coffee to assist with that goal. "That doesn't count."

"Whatcha need Akane?" Toshi asked, taking pity on her.

"Oh ummm… I was hoping you would help me with my leg. I can't reach the back well." Admitting weakness and asking for help was not something she did easily. She was feeling even more shy about it with Ranma standing there.

"Sure come lay on the bed and I'll re-dress it" Toshi moved toward his bag for supplies expecting Akane to comply.

Akane fidgeted and shot a cautious look at Ranma who had returned to his previous activities pointedly not looking in her direction. "Can we do it in my room?"

"Oh don't be a baby, the supplies are in here and by tomorrow night you won't have privacy to be all squirmy so you might as well get over your modesty now." Toshi patted the bed expectantly raising an eyebrow at her hesitation.

Akane sighed and then grumbled. She really just wanted to go to bed. She was not going to take her pajama pants off in front of Ranma though. Toshi was just going to have to make do with them on. After scrunching her pant leg up as high as it would go, she climbed onto his bed gingerly, laying on her stomach and hugging one of his pillows.

"Damn it, it's bleeding again." Toshi exclaimed as he started unwinding the bandage.

"Well if someone hadn't man handled it the other day it would be a lot better now." Akane shot him a glare. Toshi had the decency to look sheepish. The last layer was stuck to her skin with dried blood. He slowly peeled it away but there was no hope for it. Akane took in a ragged breath and muffled a cry of pain in the pillow.

"Dukkeobi can you help her out please." The dragon wrapped around her wrist as a bracelet glowed brightly for a moment and Akane's body relaxed.

Ranma had every intention of not getting involved but he was helpless when Akane let out the little cry of pain. Looking over he was met with the sight of a long deep gash that seemed to try and cut her leg in two. It ran through the meaty part of her thigh, running back to front, just missing the bone. It was hastily sewn shut and looked as if it was a few weeks old. "How the hell did that happen?!" The sight was quite alarming, a closer inspection showed signs of other scars that broke the flawlessness of her leg. "What in the hell have you two been doing tangling with something that can cause an injury like that?!" He was a little more than pissed.

Akane huffed in annoyance and went back to burrowing her head in the pillow. She let Toshi field that question. "Jorogumo spider demon, you gotta watch out for more than the venom, Any of its eight legs can easily impel flesh." Toshi didn't look up from his work. "We ran into one about a week before we met up with you outside of Narita. Lets just say Akane is a bit of a magnet to the unsavory everywhere she goes." He finished wrapping her leg with a new bandage then patted her leg lightly. "Luckily Dukkeobi has some natural healing magic that speeds recovery and provides a sort of natural pain relief, it's one of the reasons he is so attached to her in that form at the moment. It takes a lot of energy and requires physical contact."

Akane pulled back down her pant leg and huffed in annoyance. "If you hadn't got in the way I would have had the creep."

Ranma watched her. Eyes pensive and features harsh. He watched her move around the room and marveled at the lack of a limp. That Dragon must be doing a lot in order for her to be able to hide the injury so well. He had known she was hurt but not to that extent. She glanced at his face and quickly looked away.

"I'll be fine."

"How many times Akane?" There was no give in his voice. Ranma crossed his arms over his chest and braced himself for the tomboys' stubbornness. "How many times have you let yourself be in this type of situation?"

"Let! How many times did I let myself!" She stomped over to him putting her hands on her hips and glared up into his face, "I didn't ask for the Jorogumo to find me, or the Oni or the Tengu, or the yokai, or the half a dozen other creatures that tend to slink out of nowhere." She shoved a finger into his chest in indignant furry. "You have no idea what's been going on so don't you dare judge me."

"I would know if you hadn't run away in the first place. Maybe if you had stayed put in Nerima none of this would have happened!" His nostrils flared and he was tempted to throttle her.

"What, stay in Nerima and marry you? Pop out two kids and run the Dojo?!" She threw her hands up in the air, "don't you get it?! That was a pipe dream, not reality. Fate through the dice and decided to fuck up our lives. There was no staying put. It would have just killed everyone I loved." She was a dog straining against her leash. The invisible tether that tied her to one life and not the other.

"Ah… maybe we should put a pin in this conversation and revisit it tomorrow after we all have had some much needed sleep." Toshi, the voice of reason, had eased himself away from the two spitting hellcats. Ranma and Akane deflated and stepped back from each other.

"Yes you're right." Akane ran a shaky hand through her hair. "Good night." She hurried through the door before either of the boys could stop her.

Ranma couldn't sleep. Everything that Akane said and didn't say ran through his mind on repeat. He needed to get some straight answers about what in the hell was actually going on. Client privacy be damned, this was all too personal. It appears that whatever was going on started seven years ago and was the catalyst for the decisions Akane made when she left Nerima. A fact that made him even more angry because that meant she had not trusted him. After all they had been through she still hadn't trusted Ranma to protect her. Everything leading up to that was a lie.

There was a small thump heard in the room next door. His ears perked up but he didn't detect any ill intent nearby. Still he sat up quietly and strained to listen. There was a bit of shuffling and then silence. Just as he began to relax back into bed he heard Akane's muffled scream. Ranma shot out of bed and ripped open the door on reflex.

There standing by the side of the bed was a huge bird creature with the face of a human with deep bottomless black eyes. Akane lay sprawled and motionless on the bed as if she was a discarded doll. Those black eyes blinked once before Ranma lost himself in a rage he had not felt in years. No one touched Akane.

A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed. I really appreciate it. It helps with the motivation. Again this is self edited so please give me a shout if you see any errors. I should have chapter 3 out sometime next week. I am aiming to update weekly going forward.