Aftershocks
For what seemed like the thousandth time, Ranko's eyes snapped open. With a huff of frustration, she kicked free of the tangle of limbs and blankets that clung so disconcertingly to her and slid out of bed. The pale, cool light of the moon washed over the bodies of the two girls she had abandoned, and Ranko could not help but admire the beauty of her would-be lovers. Herb, she suspected, was at least twice her age and Cinnamon was easily two-thousand years older than that, but to look at them one would judge either girl to be seventeen at the least, nineteen at the most. Which was why Ranko had to stare at them. She wanted to burn into her mind what it really meant to be immortal, and thinking about it had been keeping her awake. Or, at least, it had been one of the things that had made it so difficult for her to fall asleep. Another was wondering if she would be married to one of them by the end of the week.
There was no way for her to know how Herb's father had taken her response to his question.
The thing that gnawed at her insides was an apprehension that he would take her admission as consent. It hardly mattered if Herb never asked her to keep her promise if Spice simply acted on that assumption. If Herb's father was anything like Genma or Soun, Ranko would have been whisked to the alter the instant the words fell from her lips.
Ranko shuddered and retreated from the bed chamber in haste.
With silent efficiency, Ranko dressed and slipped out of Herb's apartments to make a quick raid on the castle's kitchens. Without really thinking of it, she made a little training exercise out of it, testing the limits of her stealth and perception to slip through the massive fortress without disturbing any of the guards or staff unfortunate enough to have night time duties. If she had been able to call upon her ki, she could have easily escaped detection through the use of the umisenken techniques she had learned from Genma. Knowing that she could not simply cloak herself in invisibility, she had to concentrate on every movement, strain every sense, and once she had completed her mission, she celebrated her success with quiet gusto.
It occurred to her as she sat back, replete from her late night snack, that she might well have lain awake out of simple hunger. The seriousness of her situation rushed back to confront her. A month ago, as Ranma, she could not have even imagined anything being so upsetting it could distract her from a meal. "Have I changed so much?" she demanded softly, sitting up wide eyed at the realization. Ranko closed her eyes, and wrapped her arms around herself. It was so easy to summon up the ghost of her former self. After her experience with the circuit, it took no effort at all to be him and remain herself at the same time.
"I could just as easily be Fa Shen, y'know. Or just another Ranko," Onna-Ranma poked at the remains of Ranko's meal before rising from the table and wandering towards the sitting room to see if any of the food Lime and Mint had brought there before dinner remained. "'S kinda funny callin' on me when, um, we're stuck as a girl." She observed, shrugging and scratching at her head.
"Yeah. I know. Except that I wanna talk to you. I think it's time that I really talked to you," Ranko observed, running her hand through the hair Ranma had tousled. "I kinda wish I'd done this when we were still split."
"Why bother, Ranko?" Ranma asked, taking possession again and wandering towards a couch. "It's not like I don't know what you're thinkin' after all. Unless you're plannin' to try and make Herb think you really are crazy, talkin' to yourself like this." Ranma fluffed up a cushion and then perched comfortably on the couch.
Ranko frowned and then rearranged herself on the cushions, tucking her feet in under herself.
"Do we have to sit like a girl?" Ranma demanded at once.
"It's more comfortable to sit this way," Ranko retorted, leaning into the armrest.
"Yeah, but it limits our mobility and sets us off balance," Ranma continued to protest.
"I don't think that's something I've gotta worry about right now," Ranko dismissed, knowing full well that Ranma's objections had nothing to do with combat readiness. In an intuitive flash, she realized that the Ranma she had summoned up in her mind was closer to the real Ranma than the one split off from her by the mirror.
The Ranma that Ranko had absorbed the day she lost her battle with Herb had been more of a duplicate of herself trying to be Ranma. Her mind focused on that observation, refining it. Because Ranma was part of who she was, Ranko could pose as Ranma—but she could only BE Ranma by NOT being Ranko... or Fa Shen. In spite of each of them being an incarnation of the same person, what made that person Ranma, Ranko or Fa Shen was, in each case, an exclusive definition.
Identity.
If Ranko thought and acted in a certain way, she was Ranma—a boy who had experienced more of being a girl than he was able to cope with. Thinking and acting another way, she was Fa Shen—a girl who had awakened from death only to discover that the world and virtually everyone she had known in it had passed away.
Ranko's identity was the only one that encompassed the lives and identities of Ranma and Fa Shen, and thus was the only identity that allowed Ranma and Fa Shen to be the same person. She could become Ranma or Fa Shen by surrendering her identity as Ranko—the way she had surrendered her identity as Ranma to become Ranko—but the things she had done as Ranko and Fa Shen, or Ranko and Ranma, would undermine her identity as Ranma or Fa Shen.
Ranko blinked in surprise as her realization deepened.
The Ranma and Fa Shen split off from Ranko when the mirror's curse was broken had been undermined by their experiences with sex changing and with sex itself. The power of the circuit, the pooling of memory and experience, had forced them to become the same as Ranko, while being in separate bodies forced them to pose as Ranma and Fa Shen. Which was why they both had broken down mentally and emotionally. Their denial had ended when the circuit was opened by Ranko, forcing them to assume Ranko's identity in spite of being split off from her to deal with the power that was unleashed.
But, as long as Ranko remained herself, it took no effort to be Ranma and Fa Shen at the same time. If she looked inward, Ranko could sense Fa Shen looking back at her, silently prompting her to realize this truth, encouraging her to understand its implications. It was as if she was saying, "I am willing to be you, because you are who I have become and so I do not cease to be myself."
Ranko nearly gasped in surprise, and then turned mentally to Ranma, to find a resistance that disturbed her. For one thing, the mental image Ranma projected was decidedly male. But, that was not the extent of his defiance. As hard as it was, Ranma was capable of accepting his past life as Fa Shen, but not at the cost of his own future. Ranma could not surrender his life to Ranko, because Ranma did not believe that, as Ranko, he could fulfill his obligations or realize his dreams.
Ranma seemed to gaze back at her with fierce determination, equally conscious of Ranko's sudden epiphany, and his complaints underscored an unspoken challenge. He knew full well that she had eclipsed him, but he wanted to know if she respected his position. Ironic, considering that the purpose of this bizarre conversation was to explore his feelings, and how they influenced her.
Ranko blinked in surprise. "You haven't changed a bit," she realized aloud and if anything the image of him in her mind became even more fierce and defiant. There was a current churning in him and she had not noticed it building until now. While she had been caught up in her own problems, he had been thinking and for the first time she became aware of what he had been thinking about.
Onna-Ranma stretched out her hand and studied it intently for a moment. "I stopped being me," she said in a soft, agonized voice. "Can a person change more than that?" Her thoughts turned back to the moment she faced the prospect of becoming Ranko. They focused on the reason she had made that sacrifice, and then they jumped to a point only a few days past when that sacrifice became meaningless.
Ranko gasped. When her reflections had been fused back together, when she had absorbed them, she had become the only one capable of being Ranma. Or, as Ranma had realized, there was no longer a reason for her to be Ranko. Not when her reason for becoming Ranko was because one of her reflections was better suited to being Ranma. Onna-Ranma laughed suddenly, bitterly. "I was such an idiot. I gave my life to a copy of you! And what did he do, Ranko?"
Ranko sat open mouthed in shock as the realization rushed through her. She remembered what she had confessed, what Ranma had confessed before making the decision that allowed her to become Ranko. If Ranma ever forgot who he was and came to believe that he was a girl, the things he did as a girl would make it impossible for him to go back to being himself if he ever remembered the truth. "He became me," Ranko breathed.
Ranma nodded. "Why? Why, Ranko?"
Ranko closed her eyes. "Because I am the only way you can really be a girl."
Ranma nodded again. "You can be you and still be me, but I can't be you and still be me."
Ranko let it sink in. Remembered what she said when the others asked her what she was doing, why she had become a girl. "The only way I can not be Ranma is to not want what Ranma wants," she repeated softly. It had seemed so simple at the time. Thanks to Genma, manhood was the foundation of Ranma's whole identity, the focus of his whole existence, and the only way to be someone else had been to surrender it. "So, where is this going, Ranma?"
"I dunno. I mean, I only just realized that I have not been myself for all of this time. Everything that's happened since Pop thought of using that reflection to get out of the seppuku pact has been like a dream for me," Ranma sighed and looked up as if in search of words. "Aw, hell, Ranko. I don't know how to say this. It's like, you stepped in and got between me all all this weird stuff that's happened. You kept any of it from really happening to me, you know?"
Ranko blinked in surprise at the unexpected surge of gratitude pouring out of him. "What?"
"Geez, you know I can't explain this very well," Ranma sighed heavily. "If I had tried to hold on to myself, to being me, and all of that stuff happened to me... it woulda destroyed me, Ranko. I can see myself in you, Ranko. I can see Fa Shen in you too. The thing is, our lives pretty much end where yours begins. The moment I became you, I stopped. Nothing else happened to me. That's why I can be here now," Ranma tried to explain.
Ranko struggled to grasp it, reminding herself of the thought she had when "Ranma" responded to her mental prompt. It seemed illogical that a person, or at least a personality, could survive by not existing, but as she played through all the events that had happened since she asserted herself, it started to make sense. Ranko had absorbed everything that had happened to her and the reflections. "Are you... real?" Ranko suddenly asked.
"Real?" Ranma sighed. "I'm not another reflection. I... I am you. It's just... I guess... I finally remembered how to be me."
Ranko sat up and covered her face. "Is that it then? Is my time up? Are you asking for your life back, Ranma?"
"I don't know," Ranma replied softly. That had been the thing she had been struggling with in her own private thoughts. Ranma had a lot of obligations Ranko could not live up to. First and foremost, an obligation to be a man among men. Unlike Fa Shen, Ranma had not died. Ranma still had a life to live and as long as that remained true, she did not know if she could embrace the future as Ranko. Those thoughts continued to ring in Ranko's mind as the presence of Ranma sank quietly into the background. For more than an hour, she sat there sobbing quietly in the midst of confusion and emotional turmoil.
Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, and the questions she had meant to ask her alter ego remained unexplored. Whatever she had become, whatever strange truths had been uncovered about her true nature, and how it affected the complex tangle of relationships she had become knotted in, she could not confront them until she had resolved this question of identity and obligation.
Cinnamon finally slipped out of the shadows and approached the sleeping girl. She had woken up while Ranko was out seeking food and stood quietly in the shadows through the entire conversation she had with herself. Though Cinnamon knew very little about Ranma's history, she had picked up enough from her conversations with Nodoka to understand the significance of what she had just heard. She cursed herself silently for not anticipating this. Without her reflections, Ranko would feel pressure to resume the role she had lived prior to their interference. That should have been obvious. Unfortunately, the person she had been could not cope with what she had become and Cinnamon suspected that he knew it. That much was clear from how the conversation had ended. Unfortunately, now that this doubt had confronted her, it would undermine Ranko at a time when she needed to be absolutely certain of herself.
Fortunately none of her friends or family were around to encourage this regression. The girls, and possibly even Nodoka, would not be able to stop themselves from encouraging Ranma. Ryouga would oppose it, but the very manner in which he did would only provoke further regression. Even more troubling, this sudden reawakening of her former self might be the result of a subconscious attempt to escape from her promise to Herb. If Herb or Spice pushed the marriage forward, cutting Ranma loose might be the only way Ranko could resist them. Unfortunately, if Ranko did step aside for Ranma, it would ultimately destroy them both. The boy simply could not cope with the things Ranko had done, what Ranko had become. Cinnamon could not allow the girl to turn her back on those things simply to escape from an unhappy marriage to Herb.
Cinnamon knelt down on the floor in front of the couch Ranko was curled up on. Reaching out her hands, and weaving her thoughts into the sleeping girl's mind, she dove into her dreams in search of the newly awakened memory of Ranma. The dragon stealthfully slithered through the mists and shadows of Ranko's dreams, senses alert for any sign of the boy. It quickly became apparent that he had withdrawn to the very depths of Ranko's mind in the wake of their confrontation, and the dragon dove boldly after him. Focused on the image of Ranma, Cinnamon paid no attention to the images of Ranko and Fa Shen she stumbled across in her pursuit, or how those aspects turned in abject fear and fled from the dragon's probing thoughts. Cinnamon did notice that the presence of Ranma became caught up in the retreating tide of consciousness and redoubled her efforts to pin Ranma down when a tiny shadow strode out onto the path and looked up at her.
The dragon paused as the black tomcat narrowed it's sapphire blue eyes and hissed at her.
"Well... what is this?" the dragon rumbled in faint amusement. Cinnamon flicked a talon in the cat's direction, intending to scare it off the path. To her shock, the cat leapt into the air and her world exploded into pain.
Herb awoke with a start at the sound of Cinnamon's scream. She was just lunging up in the tangled sheets when that scream was answered by an inhuman yowl of fury. Forgetting her state of dress and crippled ki, she raced out of the bed chamber to see Ranko perched on the back of a couch in an odd crouch, one hand raised up like a paw threatening Cinnamon. The dragon woman was just rolling to her feet, having leapt back to escape from the fury of Neko-Ranko's initial attack. Her face and body were scored by a half dozen sets of gashes that were visibly closing as Herb watched. Neko-Ranko heard Herb's gasp of shock and turned to hiss a warning before leaping off the couch to a point equidistant from Herb and Cinnamon. Herb froze, as she suddenly realized what she was seeing. Risking a quick glance at Cinnamon, and noticing that a few tracks of blood were all that remained of her wounds, Herb saw a look of similar recognition on the dragon's curse-given face.
"The Neko-ken," Cinnamon breathed in horror, eyes fixed on Ranko in disbelief. Cinnamon's mind whirred, recalling some snatch of conversation about the many abuses Rank... Ranma suffered during his training by Genma, but Cinnamon had assumed that the part that sounded like training for the Neko-ken had failed, because Ranko had appeared to be completely sane.
"You can't be serious!" Herb demanded, wanting desperately to disbelieve the evidence of her eyes. "That's a forbidden technique! It drives people insane!"
Cinnamon actually turned her gaze away from Ranko to stare at Herb in disbelief. Slowly pointing toward the cat-possessed martial artist, Cinnamon cocked an eyebrow and said, "Does that look sane to you?"
Ranko's eyes shifted warily from one young woman to the other, showing no comprehension of their words, and suspicious of the hostile tone in their voices. She yowled another warning, flexing ki-clawed fingers like kneading paws and reducing the floorboards in front of her into a nest of shavings.
"Look at what she's doing to the floor!" Herb shouted in despair. "Stop that! Ranko!"
"Quiet, Herb!" Cinnamon warned harshly. "You are in no condition to defend yourself if she attacks you."
"How can she attack me? She shouldn't be capable of using her ki like this!" Herb snapped back, her mind dancing around to take note of all the expensive furnishings around Ranko, and agonizing over their possible destruction.
"How keen of you to notice, but unfortunately she doesn't seem to be aware of her limits," Cinnamon retorted acidly, while keeping her own amazement out of her voice. Observing the girl with eyes that could actually see ki flows, Cinnamon realized that she had been wrong about Ranko from the beginning. The first time she had seen the girl with her reflections, she had noticed the existence of the ki circuit that bound them together, but she had never seen it fully active. Except at a distance, when Ranko was fighting Herb. Cinnamon should have realized what the true nature of that circuit was when Ranko described the quality of her ki. When the girl mentioned it, Cinnamon recognized that the girl had tapped into a pure form of creative energy, but now the dragon finally grasped the fact that Ranko had merged with her reflections with their circuit open and active. When Cinnamon examined Ranko after the battle with Herb, it had been suppressed. Ranko's ki had been flowing at an ebb just below the threshold of the girl's awareness. When Ranko tried to raise her ki flow above that point, it had caused searing pain along those raw channels as Cinnamon had expected. What she had failed to take note of was the fact that Ranko's ki had been flowing constantly, and in the process restoring the channels it flowed through.
That was how Ranko had been able to call upon her ki so easily, earlier in the evening, and how she was able to call upon the full capacity of the neko-ken now. What Cinnamon had perceived as a near fatal searing of Ranko's ki pathways had actually been a purifying scourge of atrophied channels that was allowing her to finally grow into her true potential. The pain Ranko had been experiencing was like the cramping of growing pains.
"Are you saying she could injure herself if we provoke her?" Herb asked in bewilderment, wincing as the pile of shavings at Ranko's feet continued to grow.
"That is still a possibility. She seems to be recovering faster than I anticipated, but the fact that she is not fully recovered from her injuries makes her more dangerous than she might otherwise be," Cinnamon cautioned. It was certainly the reason that Cinnamon had no intention of fighting back, or provoking the neko-ken any further. Apart from shouting at Herb, Cinnamon kept her eyes on the cat girl and remained as still as she could. With Herb on the verge of a fit over the state Ranko was in and the damage she was doing to the apartment, but shouting at Cinnamon, Neko-Ranko seemed unsure about whether the dragon princess was a threat to her. "Damn those fools! They should have warned me that she's been cursed with this technique! We need to find out how they deal with it, what to do to restore her sanity!"
"That could take days! Are you serious?" Herb looked at the elder dragon suspiciously.
"In this state, Ranko has the mind of a cat. I aroused it by probing her mind, so believe me, I know this is true," Cinnamon responded, noting the body language of the dragon princess and how Neko-Ranko was responding to it. In soft, reasonable tones, she confided her assessment of the situation, "She doesn't understand what's going on, Herb. As far as she can tell, I am a threat, because I 'attacked' her, but she isn't sure about you yet. All she can tell is that you're angry and shouting at me... and I think you should keep doing that."
"You attacked her? You are responsible for this?" Herb snarled imperiously.
"Yes. That's perfect. Now, just pretend to chase me out of here... I will go seek out her friends and find out how to restore her sanity, and hopefully that will help you earn her trust and keep her calm until I can return. Just remember, Herb. She's just a cat, in this state. Do nothing to provoke her if you value your life. I will return as quickly as I can," Cinnamon promised, now carefully edging away from Herb.
"Do not waste time then, Dragon!" Herb yelled, realizing that her only option was to follow Cinnamon's plan. Straightening to her full height, and allowing her aura to flare up as much as she could bear, Herb began to stalk towards Cinnamon. "Make no mistake, you had better come back with a way of fixing her, and you had better be prepared to explain why you attacked her!"
"If your anger were not so useful now, I swear you would come to regret your tone. You and your father are the ones responsible for backing her into this corner, I just happen to have been the one standing there when she finally reacted to it!" Cinnamon warned, retreating rapidly toward the window. "If you are fortunate, your father will learn of this and find your would-be-bride unsuitable. It would be so unfortunate if the bride he hand picked for his heir snapped one night and turned him into cat food, don't you think?" With that, and a nasty grin, Cinnamon dove out the window. A moment later, a massive wall of scales appeared, blocking out the moon light as she reverted to her true form and took wing in pursuit of Ranma's mother and friends.
Herb followed all the way to the window, looking out at the retreating wyrm with a touch of awe and envy. She stared up after Cinnamon until the dragon was obscured by clouds and then turned to consider her betrothed. Ranko was curled up on the floor where she had retreated, watching Herb carefully. With a sigh Herb turned toward her and, schooling her features, approached her cautiously. "Oh, Ranko. What madness is this?" she asked gently, with genuine concern in her voice.
Neko-Ranko cocked one ear toward Herb, then stretched languorously, arching her back. She felt a lingering distrust of the girl approaching her, a vague memory of having fought her many times before. However, she was aware that a kind of understanding had been reached. They would fight again, but for now they were not fighting. In fact, she could recall that they had been sleeping together. With a flick of an imaginary tail, or rather the flick of a braided pig-tail, she turned and wandered into the bed chamber, hopping up and kneading the sheets with soft paws before nestling down and waiting for Herb to join her in bed.
Herb watched this with a kind of wonder, realizing that Cinnamon had been correct about Ranko's current state of mind, and gave in with a shrug. "Well, it's not like I don't know enough people who act like animals to deal with this. I am beginning to wonder if there is any end to the weirdness of your life, Ranko." Exhausted, Herb climbed into bed and fell quickly asleep.
Captain Kiima and her lieutenants circled above the towers of the Musk Fortress grateful that the light of the full moon enabled them to stage this raid into enemy territory. It was many hours before dawn, and the guards posted on the towers were dozing oblivious to their presence so high above. After one final circle, Kiima nodded to herself, satisfied that she had identified the correct tower and signaled her men. On silent wings, they dove quickly from the rarefied heights toward the tower housing Prince Herb's apartments, and the adjoining chambers of his henchmen. According to the spies that had penetrated the Musk, the two servants of Spice's heir had been charged with keeping and protecting the two greatest treasures of the Musk Dynasty, and Kiima would need to acquire both of them in order to complete the mission she had been charged with by Lord Saffron.
According to those same spies, the two young men had one major weakness, and as much as she despised the prospect, showing a little skin was a small price to pay to get her hands on the Chisuiiton and the Kaisuifuu.
Coming to a graceful landing on the sill of the window Cinnamon had leapt out of only an hour or so earlier, Kiima and her lieutenants slipped inside the massive fortress and oriented themselves. None of them noticed the stirring of a body in the adjoining bed chamber. As one, they slipped through the sitting room and closed on the door leading to Lime and Mint's chambers. Kiima quietly instructed her lieutenants to stand guard at the door as she slipped out of her tunic and into the room beyond. As they stood there, alert for possible danger, Neko-Ranko peered at them through the curtain covering the entrance to Herb's bed chamber.
Neko-Ranko peered at the strange creatures across the room from her and wiggled in anticipation, for there was no question what feathered wings implied to her feline mind. Play time. Pretty toys. Prey. On silent paws, she carefully stalked the two bird men, blending into the shadows and obscured by the many furnishings and draperies the sitting room contained. With growing eagerness, she closed the distance between her and her oblivious prey.
The two lieutenants stood at the door, one watching the door to the main hall, the other peering through a crack at their captain, as she stealthfully searched the room for the treasures she sought. They stiffened when her search brought her to the two men and her efforts to pry one of the treasures from their sleeping arms roused them.
Neko-Ranko, oblivious to the activity in the henchmen's room, tensed and watched the two bird-men for a moment until she concluded that they had not become alarmed at her presence, but rather were distracted by something else. So, while they watched as Kiima folded her wings out of sight and posed for the leering young men, Ranko moved into position to make her final pounce. The two bird-men froze in terror at the sound of Neko-Ranko's yowl of attack. She pounced out of the shadows, landing on the shoulders of the Hououjin nearest to her and riding him to the ground. The other bird-man leapt back to avoid being dragged down by his companion and ended up falling through the door into Lime and Mint's chamber.
Kiima, Lime and Mint all turned to see the lieutenant crash through the door, spotting the redheaded fury twisting and thrashing in a cloud of feathers and flailing wings. Whatever alarms the sight of winged intruders might normally have rang in the two henchmen's minds, the sight of a gloriously naked girl wrestling them completely blocked it out. Even worse, the feline behavior struck a chord in Lime, the larger of the two who happened to be descended from a tiger.
"Kitty!" was the only word that escaped the large, young man, before he dove into the fray intent on seizing the girl and something something. Neither Lime nor Mint were entirely sure what to do with a girl once acquired, but that was something to worry about after the fact.
Mint, on the other hand, was descended from a wolf. It was an entirely different set of instincts that snapped into gear when he the same word spilled from his lips, "Kitty!"
In the case of both Musk warriors, it did not help that their instinctive animal responses were compounded by their confused human instincts as they set their sights on the naked redhead in front of them. The capacity for rational thought fled at the sight of her heaving bosom, and they charged forward, grabbing Neko-Ranko by the nape of her neck and dragging her off the bird-man and into the room with them. Yowling and spitting in fury, Ranko turned her attention to them, twisting in their hands and flashing her claws first at Lime and then pouncing on Mint when his companion reeled back in surprise and agony.
Kiima managed to get a good look at Ranko, while she was perched menacingly on top of Mint, and spotted the resemblance to the portrait of Fa Shen the archivist had shown Saffron earlier that evening. Confronted with the girl's behavior, the only conclusion Kiima could reach was that the Musk had driven the girl insane trying to force her become one of their animal brides. Anticipating her lord's orders, she turned to the lieutenant that had fallen into the room with her and commanded, "Get the girl!"
The bird-man nodded and turned to face the wildcat with a shudder. Misinterpreting Kiima's order, he drew his sword and charged at Ranko, who deflected the blade with slashing ki-claws. Ranko jumped up onto Lime's head to lash out a couple more times as the lieutenant tried to dodge out of the way behind the massive Musk warrior, stripping a mass of feathers from the astonished Hououjin's wings. Then, while he was reeling back in mortification, she pounced forward, springing off of that bird-man's head to rake her claws down the back of his companion, as he finally regained his feet. Coming to rest once more atop the first winged lieutenant she turned and batted Mint off to the side as he regrouped and charged forward with a brace of knives in his hands. The blades went flying, pinning Captain Kiima to one wall and scratching the arms and shoulders of Lime as he rose up behind his friend.
"Idiot! I didn't say to attack her! She must be captured and brought back with us!" Kiima declared in fury.
Ranko sat up and roared her defiance, swatting the second bird-man off his feet with a flick of her ghost paws, then batting him around on the floor ahead of her as she bounded along in pursuit. The first bird-man waited until she was across the room before jumping to his feet and racing out the door, across the sitting room, and diving out the window in a desperate escape.
Kiima shouted curses at her subordinate for abandoning her, tugging at the knives that held her pinned in place.
Lime and Mint pursued Ranko around the room, harassing her with their groping and grappling attacks but not quite distracting her from the poor creature she was tormenting. Ultimately, the bird-man's instincts saved him as he decided to play dead. As soon as he stopped struggling and fell limp, Ranko batted him a few times, seized him in her teeth and shook him, and then dropped him and turned her full attention to the more lively creatures that were hounding her.
With glee, Ranko pounced on Mint and proceeded to bat him and Lime around the room until her attention was drawn to Kiima. The captain of Saffron's guard had just pulled the last knife free and stumbled away from the wall when Ranko whipped around and crouched down. She wiggled her rear for a moment, getting her footing perfect, and then she launched herself across the room, crashing down on Kiima with a triumphant roar.
Kiima found herself in a panic, as Ranko proceeded to bat her around as her new play toy, and cried out in desperation for help from Lime and Mint. To Neko-Ranko's great annoyance, they responded fervently, pulling out all the stops as they realized how dangerous Ranko was in this odd and inexplicable state. While they kept her occupied, Kiima helped her remaining lieutenant to his feet and to the door, but that was as far as she could help him. The two henchmen finally devised a useful tactic, tag teaming the feline fury, until Ranko became angry and brought a good part of the room down on Lime and Mint in her frustration with their ducking and dodging. Satisfied that the two had been rendered unconscious, she turned and spotted Kiima at the door helping one of the bird things get away, and her eyes focused in determination.
Kiima turned back at the terrifying, long yowl, and barely dodged Ranko's initial pounce. Unable to get any distance, and having dived away from the only open exit, Kiima flapped her wings in panic, leaping and twisting to avoid Ranko for as long as possible, but once Ranko got in one good swipe of her claws, Kiima went down and had no hope of getting back up. About the only good fortune Kiima had was spotting the Chisuiiton as she was batted into a corner and wrapping herself around it before being knocked away.
Kiima remained curled up and tried to play dead, but this time when her prey went limp, Ranko did not lose interest. She bit down on Kiima's wing and dragged her out of the henchmen's quarters and through Herb's, into the bed chamber and up onto the bed. Without releasing her prey, Ranko curled up on the bed and closed her eyes.
It was many hours before Kiima dared to move, but when Ranko did not respond, she gently pried herself out of the redhead's clutches and limped out of the bed chamber. Battered, bruised and humiliated, she retreated straight to the window, unwilling to risk losing the prize she had seized in a search for the other.
It was a testament to Herb's exhaustion that she managed to sleep through the whole battle. The closest she had come to being roused from sleep was when Neko-Ranko leapt out of bed to investigate the intruders and when she returned some time later. Herb did not have a clue that anything had been amiss until she woke up in the morning and discovered that Ranko had returned to bed covered in suspiciously large, white feathers.
"Great Ancestors! What is going on?" Herb asked, brushing the feathers off her intended, and carefully pulling a few out of Ranko's mouth.
Ranko's eyes blinked open and she sat up coughing and spitting feathers out of her mouth. "Ack! Ptthff! What the...?"
Herb stared at her in surprise. "Ranko?"
"Damn, did I eat a pillow in my sleep?" Ranko asked no one in particular as she struggled out of bed.
"Ranko? Are you... okay?" Herb asked, reaching out tentatively but stopping short of touching the other girl on the shoulder.
"I'm fine," Ranko replied in mild annoyance. "I had the weirdest dream though..."
Herb sat back, staring at the redheaded girl. She seemed completely unaware of having turned into a cat, and Herb did not want to bring it up for fear that just mentioning it could cause a relapse. The origin of the giant bird feathers disturbed her on some deeper level, but her relief at seeing Ranko back to normal drowned it out for the moment. She simply followed the other girl out of the bed chamber, and watched as Ranko traced the trail of feathers through the apartment and to the door to Lime and Mint's quarters.
"Man, looks like I slept through a hell of a pillow fight," Ranko remarked, as she pushed the door open and looked into the next room. In it, Lime and Mint were sprawled unconscious in the midst of a tornado's aftermath, feathers everywhere.
"What happened in here?" Herb demanded in imperious tones.
Lime and Mint responded at once, opening their eyes and staring at Ranko in horror. "Aaaaah! Run! Flee! She's come back!" they shouted in unison, falling all over each other in their haste to retreat from the naked redhead.
Herb blinked as their reaction stunned her and made her belatedly aware of her and Ranko's state of undress. Responding to her henchmen's panic in typical fashion, she lobbed a few ki-blasts at them, grabbing Ranko by the arm and dragging her back into her own apartments. "Idiots! Luring us in there like that just to peek at our bodies!" she snarled in fury.
Ranko blinked in surprise, having fallen into a daze at the sight of the feather strewn room. "What?" she gaped.
"Staging a scene like that! Disgusting!" Herb continued to rave, snatching clothes out of a nearby armoire and throwing some at Ranko. "Get dressed!"
"Uh... shouldn't we, um... take a bath or something first?" Ranko asked, scratching her head.
Herb stopped in mid motion and sighed. Throwing the clothes in her hands over the back of a couch, she reached into the armoire for a pair of robes and then tossed one to Ranko. "You are right. It just makes me so mad when they do that! The sight of a naked breast makes them completely forget their station!" Herb fumed in angry embarrassment.
Ranko glanced down at the robe in her hand and sighed. Thinking back to the many times she had not noticed changing forms until someone pointed out her nakedness, she felt a pang of sympathy for her would be husband. "Kind of like rubbing your face in it, huh?" she asked sympathetically.
Herb stopped fretting and stared at Ranko. There was no misunderstanding what Ranko meant, but Herb found it strange to have her feelings put so perfectly into words by someone else. Herb had so little in common with other people that that she did not count on others being able to understand her that well. "Yes. That describes it adequately," Herb acknowledged softly. Slipping into her robe, she reached out and grabbed a dangling cord and pulled. A deep, echoing gong filled the air. "The bath should already be prepared. That will warn them to stay out, if they know what is good for them." She pulled the robe tight around herself and led the way to another door. Ranko fell into step behind Herb, slipping into the robe as the other girl led the way down a winding stair to the Prince's private bath. There had been a time when her loyal henchmen would have been summoned to attend to their lord in the bath, but with her curse locked it was unthinkable to call upon their serviced in that capacity any more.
Ranko studied Herb as they walked in silence, remembering all at once that Herb was originally a guy and that the curse still plagued him the way hers had plagued Ranma. With that thought, she remembered the odd conversation she had had with herself the night before. In the light of day, it did not seem possible to revert back to the oddly innocent and naive boy she had once been. Looking at Herb, and seeing the female qualities he had unwillingly absorbed she wondered if anyone could truly remain unchanged by such a curse. Following her into the bath chamber, and setting her robe aside as Herb slipped out of hers, Ranko found herself studying the other girl more intently than she had dared until now.
They knelt across from each other on a pair of stools and washed, each careful to avoid the other girl's eyes, but sneaking long looks at each other when the other was distracted. Herb was an incredibly beautiful young woman. Since her hair had been bleached out in their fight, she had become even more attractive. But, the thing that truly made her attractive to Ranko were the masculine qualities that emanated from her true character. She blinked, realizing that they were not really masculine qualities per se, but qualities that were discouraged in girls. Qualities that Ranma had been taught to believe that a girl could not have, and when he met girls with those qualities he had considered them unfeminine as a result. And he had admired them for it, but his own sense of masculinity kept him from admitting that he found it attractive.
Would you have me go back to being like that, Ranma? Ranko asked her alter ego silently.
Herb noticed that Ranko was studying her, and unconsciously posed for her. "See something you like, Ranko?" she teased, renewing her effort to entice the other girl into accepting her proposal.
Ranko's eyes bugged out at the sight, and she turned her head away in disbelief. Is that what I was like as Ranma? she asked herself in embarrassment. There was no doubt in her mind that Herb still thought of herself as a boy, but she had obviously reached the point where she was willing to exploit her form to achieve her own ends. Clearing her throat, she asked aloud, "Do you really want me to see you as a girl, Herb?"
Herb stiffened and recoiled at that. Before she could turn away, she realized that there had been a hint of warning in Ranko's voice. "Is that concern for me I hear in your voice?" she teased, trying to hold the advantage.
"Maybe," Ranko shrugged, rinsing off and rising to enter the bath. It was more like a swimming pool, in length and depth, and was heated enough to be slightly uncomfortable for swimming. At the same time, it was not hot enough for a truly relaxing soak. Ranko drifted toward the far end of the pool and turned in time to see Herb following her into the water, light glistening on her wet body, highlighting the curves of her adopted sex. "Maybe you're just bringing out the wrong part of me," Ranko finally added, laughing as Herb froze in horrified comprehension knee deep in water.
Herb glared at her and sank heavily into the pool and drifted cautiously forward. "That was low, Ranko."
"Just reminding you who you are dealing with," Ranko shrugged. If she was willing to risk it, she could switch to male form right there to reinforce her argument. The hot water would allow her to unlock her curse. Gritting her teeth she reminded herself that triggering her curse could be fatal at the moment, and buried the impulse.
Instead, she climbed out of the pool altogether, deciding that it was not very bright to even put herself in hot water until she had fully recovered. She was about to comment on that aloud when she noticed a disturbance in the curtains that hung between the supporting columns of the bath.
With eyes narrowing suspiciously, she rose to her feet and began to approach that curtain, circling around the edge of the pool on bare feet. The cause of the disturbance was exactly what Ranko suspected, but she had no idea what compelled the two idiots to risk their lord's ire.
After being awakened by the entrance of Ranko and Herb, Lime and Mint discovered the theft of the Chisuiiton. Fortunately, the other treasure was still safe, but it was their solemn duty to break the bad news to their liege. Unfortunately, while they were debating that unpleasant task, they had heard the gong warning them that Herb was entering the bath. They had wrung their hands in frustration and argued for several minutes, not knowing what to do. They did not dare delay informing their lord of the theft, but they would be punished if they intruded on the girls in the bath. They agonized over it in silence for several long minutes, before deciding that the consequences of waiting would be far worse than what usually happened to them for peeping.
With deep breaths, and quiet reassurances to each other, they made their way to the servants' entrance to the bath and slipped quietly inside. Ranko had spotted them as they slipped up to the curtains around the outer edge of the bath and carefully peeked in. Seeing that Herb was fully submerged in the water and not seeing Ranko at all, they breathed a sigh of relief, pushing through the curtain, and marched directly up to the edge of the pool, announcing their presence.
"Our Lord Price," they began in unison. "Please forgive this intrusion..."
Unfortunately, that was as far as they got before Herb turned toward them in a rage. "Out! Get out! Get out! Get OUT!" she screamed, calling up her ki and firing off a blast right at them. Unfortunately, she had stood up as she shouted and realized it only at the last second, so her aim was thrown off by her attempt to cover her bosom. The energy blast hit the edge of the bath right at the unfortunate henchmen's feet, spilling the pair of them, and the sacred treasure carefully tucked into Lime's pocket, into the pool.
"Waaah!" Lime bellowed, arms windmilling as he pitched toward the water.
"Noooo!" Mint cried in horror, hand darting into his companion's pocket with desperate speed. In spite of his quick thinking, the object he sought to prevent entering the water was tangled in the fabric of Lime's deep pocket. As one the two henchmen hit the water with a resounding clap followed by the delicate thunder of displaced water.
"What the...?" came Ranko's belated reaction, as steam began to boil off the surface of the water and then Mint rose to the surface holding the Kaisuifuu over his head. Ranko's eyes widened in horror and she jumped away from the edge of the poor in terror as she realized that the water had been enchanted with the magic to unlock her curse, and turned her head in horror to stare at Prince Herb who was trapped in the middle of the pool.
As Lime broke the surface he saw his partner holding the enchanted kettle over his head, and as one the two Musk warriors turned to stare at Herb as well. No more than a few yards away, Prince Herb stared back at them, female and open mouthed in horror as the full impact of the event caught up to her. The sudden rise in the temperature of the water was all the proof needed for her to realize that the magic of the Kaisuifuu had worked properly. Glancing down at her unaltered hands, she saw her greatest fear realized. Herb's true form had been lost, destroyed in the transformation that concluded her battle with Ranko.
With a cry that tore at Ranko's heart, Herb fled from the bath and through the door leading back to her chambers. Lime and Mint splashed and stumbled to the edge of the bath as Ranko raced around the outer edge of the pool, climbing out and chasing the naked redhead as she pursued Herb back to her chambers. Herb was dressing in haste and when Ranko arrived with Lime and Mint hot on her heels. She turned to face them for a second as they stumbled to a halt, then grabbed her boots, cloak and belt and fled from the room. When they tried to follow, she turned on them in a cold fury and declared, "Cover yourself, Ranko! You two! Do not attempt to follow me!"
"But..." Mint gasped desperately.
"My Lord Prince..." Lime begged in tones of agonized supplication.
"No! If you value your lives, you will not test me with your presence!" Herb warned her two oldest friends. They stared at her in anguish and pity, and Herb nearly lost it right there. Fortunately, she had pushed her limits throwing two ki attacks already that morning, and when she tried to call up her aura once more it burned along her bones causing her to gasp in pain. "Do as I have told you!" she hissed, gasping for breath and turning to run from her quarters.
Recognizing what her cry of pain must have meant, the two young men stood silent and let her go. It was not fear of what she might do to them that held them in place, but rather fear of what lashing out at them might do to her. Exchanging glances, they realized that there was only one person they could turn to to go after Herb and help her. Nodding in silent agreement, they turned to look at Ranko, quickly averting their eyes and picking up clothes that were strewn close at hand. With bowed heads, they extended the clothes toward Ranko and plead with her, "Please, dress quickly and go after her!"
Lime and Mint waited in strained silence as Ranko dried and dressed herself in the clothes they had handed to her. As she dressed, Ranko's mind raced furiously, trying to grasp the implications of this revelation. Remembering Cinnamon's warning about the damage the dragon prince might have suffered, she cursed, "Shit. Do you have any idea where she's gone?"
As one the two Musk warriors turned to face her. "There are many places she might go," Lime reported mournfully.
Ranko nodded. Looking once more into their eyes, she thought of all the places she might go to be alone. Glaring at the pair, she demanded, "What the hell were you two thinking, coming in there with something like that!"
The henchmen winced and Mint looked down at the Kaisuifuu, still held in his hands. "Do you remember what happened last night? The bird-woman and her friends?" he asked Ranko pointedly.
"What? I don't know what..." Ranko stopped, looked down at the feather strewn floor, and recalled a fragment of her weird dream. Swallowing hard, she asked, "Was I acting like a c... a c-c-c... damn it! A cat! Was I acting like... one of those things?"
The two young men exchanged confused glances and then nodded.
"Shit. No, I can't remember things when I'm like that," Ranko declared angrily, looking down at her hands.
"It does not matter. You attacked them and drove them off, but one of them managed to steal the Chisuiiton," Lime announced.
"And we had to inform our Lord Prince as soon as we discovered this," Mint concluded.
Ranko stared at them for a moment before nodding. Realizing that they had a good reason to keep the other sacred treasure in their possession, and a clear duty to intrude upon their prince even in the privacy of her bath. "Fine. I will try to explain that to her if I can find her. What are you two going to do?"
The pair looked down in shame. "We will tend to matters here. Just hurry and find her. Bring her home!" the smaller boy said.
Ranko nodded and finished pulling on her borrowed boots.
Mint nodded. "Where will you start looking?" he asked, following her to the door Herb had left open in her wake.
"Jusenkyo," Ranko announced without hesitation. Turning to look him in the eye, she asked, "Where else?"
He looked at her in mild surprise, and then nodded. Ranko offered him a reassuring smile. It had not taken much thought to identify the obvious solution to Herb's present problem. "If Herb can avoid the pitfalls of Jusenkyo and make her way to the right spring... Well, Taro was able to return to Jusenkyo and get a curse he wanted. My return to Jusenkyo turned out mostly the way I hoped. I mean, my reflections and I came out with the right curses, anyway, even if things didn't go exactly as planned."
Mint nodded. "In spite of some serious interference, too," he acknowledged with a sardonic smile.
Ranko smiled wryly and nodded in agreement. "There is one thing..." she pointed out, extending a finger toward the magic kettle. "Drain the bath, and keep that thing away from me and water. I'd ask you two to come along as back up, but you're no longer protected from random cursing. Fortunately, I still am."
The two henchmen took a step back, and Mint thrust the Kaisuifuu behind his back as he realized what Ranko meant. If Ranko's curse were inadvertently unlocked, the consequences could be as bad as or worse than what had already happened to Herb. Having fallen into the bath with the magic kettle, the protection they once had from the Chisuiiton had been removed, and the Chisuiiton itself was no longer in their possession.
"Oh, and I'm willing to bet that whoever stole the locking ladle will want to get their hands on that kettle too, so find Cinnamon and get her to watch over it. I can't see anyone taking it from her by force," Ranko grinned evilly.
The two young men looked at each other and then glanced around the room, "Speaking of Cinnamon, where is she? I don't think I've seen her this morning..."
Ranko blinked, and realized that she had not seen the dragon woman either. Frowning, she scratched at her head and admitted, "I have no idea. Cinnamon taught me something that might work for getting a hold of her, so I'll see if I can track her down. Until then, do not take any chances with that damn kettle! Tell Spice what's going on and hopefully he can come up with something. Otherwise, what's the point of makin' him your emperor?"
Captain Kiima winced as a servant applied salve to the last of the cuts she had gotten in her scuffle with Neko-Ranko and then excused the bird-woman. Once she was alone, she wandered over to the wide bay window looking out over the neighboring mountains. Standing in a furious silence, she debated about whether or not to reveal what she had learned during the raid on the Musk Fortress. Lord Saffron would not be pleased to learn that the damnable Musk had driven the phoenix girl insane. Glancing at the Chisuiiton laying on her bed, she snorted. If she was willing to share what she had learned, it was no longer necessary for her to risk locking herself in human form and slipping in among the amazons. Or, perhaps she was wrong. She frowned and searched her brain for the piece of information that had just teased her consciousness. After a moment, she remembered a report about an animal that the Musk Prince had cursed that had taken on the form of the drowned girl, Fa Shen. Opening her eyes, wide, Kiima asked herself if by chance that animal had formerly been a cat, as that would help explain what she had seen.
Would it not make sense to keep that creature and use her as a stand in for the true reincarnation of Fa Shen?
Kiima settled carefully on the edge of her bed and considered that. Certainly it made more sense than taking a true phoenix and driving her insane. What could possible be gained by doing such a thing? The answer was "nothing". In which case, she had more reason than ever to carry out her initial mission, or to modify it. As a woman, she was not suited to carry out an infiltration of the Musk, but one of the two lieutenants that had accompanied her on the raid had damned himself by leaving her behind in battle.
Standing, she called out for the servant, "Send for Koruma! Bring him to me!"
"Yes, Captain Kiima," a voice responded from beyond the door.
Kiima turned her attention to plotting out the mission she had in mind for her subordinate. She had most of the details worked out when a pair of guards escorted the swarthy young bird man into her presence. Turning to face him, she dismissed the guards and waited until they were alone. After giving the lieutenant a long, studied look, she announced, "I am very disappointed in your performance this morning. You are fortunate that I was able to achieve at least part of our objective in spite of your abdication of duty. You are also fortunate that I have devised an alternate way to complete the mission our Lord has been so kind as to assign to me, and you yourself are suited to undertake that mission."
Koruma stared at her and swallowed. It was well known that Lord Saffron was a fickle and unforgiving master, and that Kiima had come to reflect those qualities herself. "My Captain, I swear to you I intended only to summon reinforcements, when it became apparent that we faced an unnatural adversary," he plead his case, falling to his knees.
"Indeed, you did at least rouse such reinforcements, and they did meet me on my way back to Phoenix Mountain," Kiima acknowledged, before allowing the steel to reenter her voice. "However, I do not recall seeing you among those reinforcements, Koruma! And do not pretend that your wounds were greater than mine!"
Koruma opened his mouth, stretching his wings to show their tattered condition, but one look at her own wings caused him to subside in shame. Instead, he tried to flatter, "Please forgive me for lacking the strength and fortitude that have made you, without question, the best suited to lead us in battle."
Kiima chewed on her lip, resisting the urge to remind the man that she expected her subordinates to live up to the standard that she set, for in the world that had evolved around them, there was no room for imperfection. "Be at peace, Koruma. You will have your chance to redeem yourself."
The bird-man looked up and saw sincerity in his captain's eyes and allowed himself a sigh of relief.
"Do not think that this task will be easy, however," Kiima warned. Gesturing for the man to rise, she led him over to the window. "Initially, we were led to believe that the one our Lord seeks has been among the amazons. However, based on what we learned last night, there is reason to believe that she has fallen into the hands of the Musk, or at least that the Musk have intentions to acquire her. In order to confirm my suspicions, I am charging you to use the Naniichuan so that you may go among them and learn the truth. I myself will attempt to learn what I may by posing as one of the amazons. Go now and do what you must to be suited to your task and then report back to me so that I may secure your disguise. Consider it a part of your mission to acquire the means of lifting the lock I will place upon you to pass as human."
Koruma closed his hands on the leading edges of his wings and bowed. Fearing, as all his kind did, the loss of that which made them unique, but knowing that it was an obligation Kiima and Saffron's hand picked agents could not escape if it fell upon them. He simply rose from his bow and stepped up to the window ledge, saying, "I shall do as you command, Captain."
Kiima nodded and watched as he dove from the ledge and took wing, headed in the direction of the cursed springs. Confidant that things were once more falling back on track, she turned her attention to her own preparations. With great caution, she used the Chisuiiton to prepare a number of flasks that could be carried safely until such time that she or her agents were ready to put their disguises into effect, and them prepared several flasks of Instant Nyanniichuan for herself and the warriors she elected to take with her among the amazons. A couple of them would be quite upset to learn that they were being asked to give up more than just their wings, but there simply were not enough female warriors good enough to pass as amazons. With a shrug, she set that concern aside as she prepared herself to report to Lord Saffron as the hour of her regular morning audience approached.
It came as something of a surprise when Koruma burst in through the window in a state of unusual excitement, several hours ahead of Kiima's estimate.
"Koruma! Stop flapping around and babbling!" she commanded, as the man soared around the room for the seventh time.
Koruma pulled up short and came to a soft landing on his feet and bowed in obedience. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he held out a flask of water to preface his words, "Something extraordinary has happened, Captain Kiima!"
Kiima held out her hands and took the flask. To her surprise, the water inside was hot enough to make the supple leather feverishly warm. "What is this?" Kiima asked.
"That is water from the Naniichuan!" Koruma announced with glee. "The spring has turned into a hot spring! The curse it gives is triggered by hot water!"
Kiima stared at him, feeling instant dismay as she realized that the Chisuiiton could not possible work if this was true. Then she blinked and realized the true implications. A Hououjin cursed with such water would not be at risk of losing his wings in mid flight during a sudden rain, or from passing through a thick cloud. The one fatal flaw of becoming cursed had been lifted for the men! "Why, that is extraordinary, indeed!" Kiima declared, feeling a faint reprieve from the guilt that usually assailed her for commanding one of he men to take on the burden of such a curse. "This complicates things, but I suppose you could obtain some water-proof soap and use that to sustain your disguise... and I warn you to be careful in sharing what you have learned. The very notion of a hot water curse changes things... I suspect that it could have dangerous repercussions for us all if were to become common knowledge," Kiima warned. It had been the danger associated with a normal curse that had kept the Hououjin as a whole from adopting human disguises and venturing out into the world around them. If it became possible to gain that disguise without the normal risks, it could mean the end of their entire way of life.
Koruma nodded and excused himself, taking wing out the window he had arrived through.
Kiima carried the flask to a corner of the room, where, after pressing on a concealed latch, a secret compartment opened up that she could conceal the dangerous substance in. Returning to her desk, she sat down to make a few quick warning notes to some of her subordinates and a more detailed report for her Lord Saffron, she did not notice the diminutive form that stood stock still in the shadows behind the curtain dividing his chambers from hers.
Saffron waited until Kiima was completely absorbed in her work before retreating to his private chambers. In recent months he had been having dreams of bathing in the waters of a magic hot spring and attaining his full, adult stature as a result. To this point, the dreams had not revealed enough of the process for him to know exactly what he needed to do, but now it was clear that the dreams had been prophetic. He had anticipated the transformation of the one spring known to confer manhood upon all who were bathed in its waters. He realized the significance of Kiima's warning to Koruma, recognized the danger such a spring represented to the Hououjin way of life, but certainly he, their lord and god, was not meant to be barred from exploiting it! Certainly not at a time when there was a female phoenix loose in the world, herself on the cusp of adulthood.
Once again, Saffron cursed the fates that caused him to endure his rebirth later than was most opportune for the circumstances. It was galling to think of confronting this potential mate in his present, preadolescent form. He dreaded the opinion she might form of him, the possibility that she would never defer to him if her first impression of him was as a child. Now, he noted with glee, that was no longer a risk he was required to face. His wings might not yet suffice to carry him to where he needed to go, but there were ways around that. After checking to see that no servants were liable to intrude, Saffron went into his personal armory and retrieved the Kinjakan, carrying that to a window that overlooked one of the gentler slopes of Mount Phoenix.
Once more making sure no one was spying on him, he launched himself out the window, straddling the poled weapon like pogo-stick. The deadly, sharpened halo attached at one end served as a wheel, powered by the magic of the weapon, that served its master as an alternate form of transportation. With childlike glee, Saffron whooped in excitement as he finally escaped from the confines of his quarters and the irritation of his pampering servants.
Ranma Nibunnoichi: Reflections – Volume 5: Paying the Price – Part 04
Author's Note: After an utterly ridiculous delay, the fourth chapter of Reflections: Paying the Price is finally done. I'm sorry to say that my efforts to put my life back on track have fallen a bit short of what I hoped for, and time to work on writing and art has been scarce. In the interests of finding work as a graphic artist, I took a few months to blow the rust off my skills and create a portfolio of work, but to date I have not found a way to turn that into a source of income, which means I'm effectively working three jobs and barely getting paid for two of them! You can see some of what I've done on my Deviantart page if you follow the link from my ff net profile page.
Things are still just shaping up in this volume, but I intend to get the next chapter out without the kind of delays you've endured so far. Say, one a month at the outside. If you don't see something in that time frame, send me a note to remind me you guys are still out here, and I'll get right on it! For those of you who have stuck it out with me, I really appreciate it and hope you continue to enjoy the story that is to come.