Disclaimer: I still don't own Ranma 1/2.

Uncertainty

…

She woke with the birds before dawn. Raising her head she felt Ranma's head slide off her shoulder to the ground. He grumbled in his sleep and settled for burying his face into her side. Looking around Akane noted how empty the temple yard looked with the hazy pre-dawn mist. The place looked surreal, like the home of gods hidden in the mountains above the clouds. Akane snorted to herself when she realized that was what this was-complete with the mythical beasts for guards.

Standing up she watched Ranma as he groaned and curled into himself. Recently he had become so affectionate towards her. It wasn't that she didn't want the affection; it was just so sudden. Akane knew that she always cared for the pigtailed man, and she knew that her feelings had grown over time. Before she had always had an inkling that Ranma felt similarly towards her, though she did have her moments of doubt. He had gone from small gestures of friendship to…nothing as the Godling took over his body. And now he was heaping affection on overtime. It was suggesting to her that perhaps he cared for her more than she thought. She was just surprised at the intensity of his emotions that ran for her. Still, whatever happened she silently hoped he would stay by her side.

Akane stretched a bit, loosening her muscles and shaking away the last traces of slumber. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow move. Squinting Akane tried to make out what it was, but the shadow was just under the tree on the other side of the yard. Cautiously she stepped closer and a rancid stench that reminded her of the evil spirit from the day before hit her. Growling softly Akane dropped down and did her best to disappear as she stealthily crept closer. She made it to just beyond the reach of the tree when the shadow-she still couldn't make out what it was- jerked and then ran for the temple gate. Snarling she leapt up to give chase but stopped when the shadow made it past the gate. Cursing inside Akane stood rumbling angrily facing the gate.

She heard a snort from Ranma before he groggily sat up, "Akane?"

As Akane turned to answer him a Server came out of the living quarters of the Temple-Palace and both shisa froze. The Server made his way carrying two trays with food and water on them. He placed the trays on either side of the steps, as he had every day since the shisa arrived, before turning toward the gate so he could roughly face both shisa. He bowed, "Honored Shisa, receive these offerings and guard us from harm." The Server then retreated back into the temple.

Akane saw Ranma glance at her from the corner of his eye, to see if she would follow, before trotting over to one of the trays to begin eating. Her stomach grumbled, and so, sighing Akane made her way over to the other tray.

Bending down to take a bite she heard Ranma say around a mouthful of food, "He could just say 'Breakfast' each morning."

Pausing Akane stared down at her food, "I don't think he or the other Servers believe we are alive…"

Ranma raised his head to peek at her, "but we have eaten the food every day, and they must notice that we move around…"

All Akane's recent begrudging acceptance of becoming a shisa evaporated and she snarled, "Face it, Ranma! Almost nobody thinks we're alive! We're not human anymore, we're…we're these things that people only half believe exist!"

"Maybe….maybe there is something we can do about that."

Akane looked up into his blue eyes, but before she could ask him to elaborate his former body interrupted them.

"Today will be busy." The puppet commented in His dry monotone as He looked out beyond the gate.

…

The Tendo sisters barely had enough time to say their goodbyes and promise to visit when the first visitor came. In fact he came so suddenly that Ranma and Akane were forced to freeze in the midst of Kasumi and Nabiki. The confused sisters spent a moment or two waving their hands in the shisa's faces before they were forced to leave mid-goodbye. Ranma could see Akane's ear twitching in annoyance and just knew her temper was rising.

Once the visitors started coming there was hardly a moment's break. They came in a near continuous line, to ask for the Godling's blessing and advice or to offer gifts. Through it all the two shisa were forced to sit still staring. In the few momentary breaks they were allowed the most they managed to accomplish was switch which had the mouth open and which had the mouth closed. Ranma was thankful for small favors, having your mouth dry out regularly was not a pleasant experience.

Ranma still had not managed to tell Akane what he meant earlier that morning before the puppet interrupted them. He was aching to tell her his idea, if nothing else then to distract her from her growing temper and hopefully put her in a better mood.

Eventually the patrons did lessen, but as they did the clouds gathered and darkened. With only a few drops for warning the rain poured down. Two shisa raced for the porch of the temple seeking the shelter of its overhang. Dripping, now out of the rain, Ranma shook himself spraying water everywhere. Akane standing next to him hissed back irritated at the additional water. In retaliation she returned the favor, shaking the water out of her coat and drenching Ranma again.

Ranma huffed, but remained silent. He was cranky from the rain and sitting stiffly all morning but he didn't want to upset Akane anymore either. Still, he found it hard to overcome his own bad mood.

Akane spoke, trying to lighten the mood, "look on the bright side, you're not female."

"I guess so," he muttered as he jumped up onto the porch railing. In the past year he had actually stopped thinking of his curse much. Yes, it was annoying and he would have jumped at a cure, but compared to that parasite stealing his body it was a minor nuisance. Speaking of the parasite he better tell Akane about his idea before they were interrupted again. Ranma padded in a circle his claws holding his balance on the railing as he looked down at his companion, "Akane, you remember what I was saying earlier?" Her ears and eyes flicked in his direction signaling that he had her attention, "This is a temple, we could-"

His former body interrupted them, by walking over to the steps and standing behind the two shisa. Ranma wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. In that instant Ranma almost considered pouncing on his former likeness. Ranma did, after all, now possess claws and canines - but against all his former abilities, plus unknown godly powers? The male shisa settled for growling not so softly.

The Godling, not surprisingly, ignored him. Instead He addressed Akane, "female shisa, did the evil spirit return this morning?"

Akane's ears flattened and her eyes flashed as she snarled in response, "I have a name!"

Looking out into the rain the puppet continued, unaffected, "I shall begin training you on how to deal with spirits soon," He abruptly turned to leave only to pause two meters away, "A protective ward was placed on your sisters."

Ranma and Akane stared blankly as the Godling left their sight. Ranma had noticed that while the last message was still said in a monotone like always it was…softer. Just why did the Godling tell them that? Did he actually care about them? Shaking his head the shisa dismissed his thoughts; the body thief could just as easily have an ulterior motive.

He realized that he and Akane were once again alone when she jumped up onto the opposite porch railing. Ranma leaned towards her, "Akane, we could search the temple for ancient scrolls. It's bound to have some-and the scrolls might contain magic or instructions to help get our bodies back!"

Brown eyes met his with the faintest glimmer of hope. "Alright Ranma," her ear turned toward the temple door in worry, "but how will we do that without being noticed?"

He had to sit back and think about that one. "We'll come up with something. Either we could sneak around during those 'lessons' or we could sneak around at night… or something."

Akane looked down at the raindrops splattering the ground, "that might mean leaving the temple unguarded… we should only search one at a time."

"You actually want to guard the temple?" Ranma didn't mean to sound so disbelieving but he was genuinely surprised.

Akane sputtered, "That, that thing that followed my sisters and the one this morning-they are evil, Ranma," she met his eyes, "as angry as I am at what happened to us… those things are worse, would do worse. Couldn't you…sense it?"

Ranma relaxed, so he wasn't the only one who felt the foreboding from that thing last night, "Yes, I'm just…surprised." Her words tickled his mind and his attention snapped fully toward Akane, "Wait, you said there was one this morning?"

Akane shifted uncomfortably, "yeah, well, I chased it out the gate right before you woke up."

Ranma narrowed his eyes, "you should have woken me up."

Akane flicked her tail, "I chased it out."

After a minute Ranma sighed and let the matter drop as he lowered his shoulders to sit sphinx-like. He watched as puddles began to form around the yard and remembered a time when he loved to jump in them. Back when it was just him and his Pop and things were simpler. "We'll be human before you know it, then we won't have to worry about these things anymore."

"Yeah…" Akane trailed off as she looked out the gate to watch the rain fall in the road.

…