Another Rainy Day in Nerima
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form.
Author's Notes: I'm pleased that this story has been going so well; one person has spoken up to say that the effect we're going for hasn't been as well-developed as we'd like, but that's just incentive to improve, yes? Our current decision has been to focus on getting this story completed above all else, so I hope that's good news to you fans.
Chapter 7: The Butterfly Effect
Ranma leaned back and stared at the storm and grimaced, "Man, what the hell is up with the rain?" He glanced at the mirror, "Hmm, I've pretty much looked at every kind of situation I can think of with the girls..."
That was when Abe spoke up, "You sure? Try looking at a scenario you've already seen and see if there are any offshoots, sometimes they get missed. Its kinda like that whole scenario with the butterfly flapping its wings, there's always something different about a familiar situation if you care to look."
Ranma blinked, before nodding his head slowly, "Okay..." Still, he had nothing better to do and he decided to take a look at an earlier scenario, skipping back across various timelines before he noted something, a faint thread branching off from when Kodachi had paralyzed him before the Martial Arts Gymnastics Battle on the Dojo's roof.
As he mentally viewed the strand, he saw that the main change was that Akane had simply left him up there on the roof, paralyzed and helpless. Snorting at how typical Akane's reaction was, Ranma decided to take a closer look to satisfy his curiosity.
'How do I get into these messes?' Ranma thought to himself, staring up blankly at the night sky. Not as though he had a choice, really; he was still paralyzed by that gunk the crazy girl had slipped him in a bouquet. What was her name again? Blue Rose, something like that? Ah, whoever she was, she was clearly whacked in the head- what kind of loon gave paralysis poison to a guy they wanted to get a kiss out of? True, he wouldn't have kissed her voluntarily, he'd only just met her after all and he did have his standards, but still! He sighed as deeply as he could; man, just how long was it going to take for this damn poison to wear off? It was cold out here! And why did Akane just up and leave him out here to freeze, anyway? Huh! Some fiancee; he didn't care whatever everyone said, she sure didn't act like any 'sweet 'n' innocent' girl to him!
"Achoo!"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in town, someone else was also up later than they anticipated. For some strange reason, Kodachi found her bed wasn't as enticing as it normally was; she just couldn't get to sleep, but she didn't know why. Actually, she did know why, she just didn't know why she was worried about Ranma Saotome, the newly-met man of her dreams. After all, it wasn't as though he could be in danger, right? That brute Akane Tendo surely took him back inside after driving Kodachi away, and before she could claim the kiss that was so rightfully hers too!
...But what if she hadn't? The girl was clearly vulgar enough to interfere in such a sweet and private moment; what if she was also barbaric enough to leave poor, darling Ranma on the roof, so that he would be forced to remain there until the paralysis powder wore off? Kodachi's eyes opened wide in shock and she flung off the covers as that thought seeped in. Her beloved would catch a chill if he were left out in the open all night! She had to do something! Purposely she gathered a spare set of covers and a fresh pillow before slipping silently out into the night, racing along the rooftops to her destination at the Tendo dojo.
Her heart plunged when she found Ranma lying on the roof, exactly as she had left him, and something very rare -a pang of guilt- stabbed through her heart. "Oh, Ranma darling..." She murmured softly.
'Oh great, it's the crazy girl again. What's she want? ...Oh no.... don't tell me she came back for me!' Ranma's thoughts took on a definite panicked edge as the implications of that final possibility took root. While most boys wouldn't have seen anything fearful in the idea of a girl coming to them while they were unable to do anything, especially if she was good-looking, Ranma wasn't as burdened with hormones as most, due to his rather "unconventional" upbringing. That fear was just starting to really sink its claws into his psyche when he noticed that she looked guilty- and, strangely enough, was carrying a pillow and some covers. Fear gave way to a heady mix of confusion, disbelief and amazement as she gently lifted his head, slid the pillow underneath, and then draped the covers over him. He stared up at her, unable to speak even if he wasn't paralyzed, as she gave him a strange, soft smile back and bent down to kiss him- but on the forehead, rather than on the lips like she had originally tried to do.
Standing back up, smiling at her beloved, Kodachi turned and left, feeling much better now that she had seen to it that he had some comfort. Ranma simply watched her leave, confused as all hell as to what had just happened. This girl had to be a lunatic! ...But, he had to admit, he did feel a lot more comfortable now... shrugging it off as nothing he could do anything about, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep.
The sun crawled over the horizon and soon birds were chirping and people were getting ready for their day. As rays of sunshine hit the massive Kuno Mansion, a figure wrapped in blankets moaned and grumbled as a ribbon whipped out and hit the alarm button on her digital clock. Blearily blinking sleep out of her eyes, Kodachi Kuno took one glance at the clock and her eyes widened.
The scream of "I'M LATE!" echoed through the air and drew some stares as Kodachi flashed from her bed to get ready for school before leaping out of the window and over the rooftops towards St. Hebereke's Girl's School, any thought or memory of stopping by Furinkan High first to confront Akane Tendo pushed aside in favor of not being late to school.
Meanwhile, Ranma yawned as he stretched his arms and made a pleased noise at being able to move again before gathering the blanket and pillow provided from Kodachi and headed downstairs, bumping into Kasumi on the way.
"Oh! Ranma-kun, where were you? You nearly missed breakfast. Oh my, where did you get that blanket and pillow?"
Ranma shrugged; no sense not being honest. "Oh, that Kodachi chick came back during the night and gave me this stuff. Which was nice considering I was freezing up there."
He heard a scoff behind him and turned to see an angry Akane. "Yeah right, you could have just gone back inside! I bet you were just waiting for her to return after I left you pervert."
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "I bet she wouldn't have to return if a certain someone had the sense to get my paralyzed ass back inside! Geez, I've heard of heartless, but you take the cake tomboy. I'd hate to get on your bad side if leaving someone paralyzed to freeze to death at night is you being nice."
WHAM! Ranma was laid out as a grumbling Akane brushed past Kasumi who frowned ever so slightly but headed downstairs, taking the blanket and pillow to be added to the daily laundry.
Shaking his head, suddenly wondering to himself just how often it was that Akane hit him when she lost in a verbal battle with him, Ranma-Prime began to scroll on. He had some already-developing theories about what was going to happen, and when these proved to be true wondered if he was getting better at predictions, or if they were simply so obvious anyone would have noticed.
Because she was up later than usual, Kodachi had to hurry to St. Hebereke's; that left her with no time to drop by Furinkan. Without her confrontation there, she never learned Ranma was engaged to Akane, nor did she and Akane make their "arrangement" to decide who was Ranma's "owner" via the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics tournament. This also meant that Ranma didn't learn that Kodachi was part of the Kuno family, but that was less important. Ranma-Prime couldn't tell if Kuno had known about Kodachi's newfound crush on his "nemesis" before hand or if he had learned about it when Kodachi herself had shown up (in his timeline) to start trying to flirt with Ranma. He was silent on the matter, but that could have supported either version- still, not as though that made any difference. Ranma-Prime forged on ahead to more important details.
In this timeline, it was Akane who ended up challenging Kodachi; while she still had every intention of winning, of course, given that she had agreed to this to help those other Furinkan girls, without the major incentive of Kodachi's formal challenge hanging over her head, she was somewhat more relaxed about the whole routine. That meant that she avoided that nasty little 'accident' that had forced Ranma-Prime to substitute for her instead. Now that he was thinking about that, had it really been valid for him to substitute for Akane? Ah well, that was nothing more than hypothesis now- far too late to have any practical effect. Instead, he watched as Akane got into the ring and challenged Kodachi... and boy was he surprised. Not that Akane lost- he knew that was coming; while Akane was far from a weakling or hopeless at martial arts, she wasn't exactly the most graceful or agile of fighters, and she had a bad habit of trying to substitute sheer enthusiasm and strength for finesse and strategy. Not to mention she was using a style she had only practiced for a week or so against a girl who'd been doing this for a couple of years.
"In the Red Corner, from Furinkan High School, Akane Tendo!" The announcer cried, to a chorus of cheers from the Furinkan students. Ranma sat in his seat close to the front, not bothering to speak up on how this was bothering him; he had tentatively voiced a few hints of his concern back at the dojo, and promptly drawn down the wrath of first Akane, who declared he was insulting her, and then her father and his. So he had decided to keep his mouth shut, even if he just knew that Akane was setting herself up for a major league fall.
Before the announcer could continue, the microphone was grabbed by one of the Hebereke students that formed part of the audience, "And in the Blue Corner, the champion of Hebereke, the Genius of Gymnastics, may I present to you ladies and gentlemen, the Black Rose! Kodachi Kuno!"
A shadow appeared from the roof and everyone looked up and before the eyes of everyone, Kodachi dropped down to the ring, countless ribbons lashing out to catch on the rafters and snap taut as Kodachi flipped and twirled before all of the ribbons were taut, stopping Kodachi's descent just short of the ring as Kodachi lightly stepped off the platform that had been formed by the ribbons and the batons attached to them.
Ranma couldn't stop the amazed whistle that left his lips, and to his embarrassment it echoed through the silence as everyone on the Furinkan side gaped while the Hebereke audience smiled smugly. A sigh to Ranma's side drew his attention to see Kuno shaking his head. It wasn't until Kuno's mutterings of 'twisted sister' sank in that he realized what the other announcer had declared. As noise resumed to fill the air, he leaned towards the snobby kendoist.
"Hey, Kuno, is that girl any relation to you?" He asked.
Kuno nodded, "Indeed it is, my younger sister Kodachi, and as you have just witnessed, she has an overdeveloped taste for the dramatics."
Ranma rolled his eyes; she wasn't the only one considering his first meeting with Kuno.
Still he couldn't help but be impressed by Kodachi's skill. One wrong move and those ribbons would have broken bones, which showed just how big the skill gap was as the proper referee announced the start of the match, jogging Akane out of her shock at seeing the display of gymnastic skill.
Ranma wasn't sure if he should watch the massacre to come as Akane charged forwards with all the grace of a bull on a rampage while Kodachi simply stepped forwards lightly. But like watching a train wreck in the works, he just couldn't look away as Kodachi smirked slightly and brought up her ribbon.
Akane didn't know what hit her, one moment she was going for a clean hit, the next thing she knew was that she was airborne and hitting the ropes of the ring, blinking in confusion as Kodachi elegantly alighted on one of the posts and raised a hand in a beckoning motion. Akane snarled and charged again, kicking a ball at the smiling girl.
Ranma winced as Kodachi expertly redirected the projectile back at Akane, bouncing it off her face before flipping forward onto the ring, snagging a pair of hoops and a baton and with another leap, slipped the hoops over Akane and with an artful flip and twirl, Akane was on the ground in an artful restraint that left no doubt that Akane would not be able to get free fast enough to continue the fight.
Ranma glanced to Nabiki, who was staring at a stopwatch in shock and he managed to get a glimpse and his eyes widened slightly.
The fight had taken only minutes, at most.
Ranma-Prime was dumbstruck. Not by the time; that seemed about right to him as to how long Akane could possibly last against Kodachi, and he was sure she hadn't lasted much longer against... whatsisname, that guy who led the Martial Arts Men's Gymnastics team that attacked the Furinkan and Hebereke clubs. Anyway, what had amazed him was a single, simple change in Kodachi's fighting style: she had fought Akane... honestly. Where was her usual sneakiness? Where was the razor-sharp hoop and the steel bar disguised as a rope? Where were the exploding balls, the clubs with retractable spikes? Where was Kodachi attempting to handcuff her opponent, or her "Attack of 1000 Clubs" technique, where she fought using ten or twenty clubs simultaneously? ...Although Ranma had to wonder if that was really a cheat, given how much skill it took to pull it off successfully... snapping his attention back to reality, he was honestly intrigued by how this would affect his counterpart in this timeline.
After all, he had only two example of Kodachi's more outrageous behavior; her conduct during that "match" she had fought with the Furinkan girls, and Ranma-Prime couldn't remember if he, er, they, ah, whatever, had arrived in time to find out why Kodachi was fighting with the Furinkan martial arts gymnasts. The second thing was Kodachi paralyzing him, though she had later came back and made Ranma comfortable upon finding he'd been left out to freeze.
Ranma-Prime couldn't help but wonder if this would aid or hinder Kodachi's attempts to woo Ranma in this timeline; on the one hand, she didn't have the negative image she had erected in his own timeline. On the other hand, that same lack of disillusionment meant that the Ranma of this timeline was likely to react more harshly when she did finally reveal the bad side of her personality. Ranma-Prime began skimming ahead, to Ranma and Kodachi's first meeting after her defeat of Akane...
Ranma sighed as he walked along the streets of Nerima. Ever since Akane's loss to Kodachi, she had been throwing herself into training herself for a rematch but for all of her enthusiasm and the support of Genma and Soun- and Ryoga, on those occasions when he was actually present, Akane's already short patience was constantly getting worn thin trying to imitate all of Kodachi's moves, speed and agility, qualities Ranma knew that she couldn't get in a few days, even a week to match Kodachi's years of training.
"Ranma!" And speak of the devil, and she would appear as Kodachi alighted from a streetlight dressed in fairly casual clothing as Ranma smiled slightly and waved.
"Hey there, you're that crazy chick who paralyzed me a few days ago right?" From their viewing point, both Honest Abe and Ranma-Prime winced at that while Kodachi's smile fell slightly.
"Ah, yes that was me. I trust the blanket and pillow were enough to get you through the night?" Ranma nodded.
"Yeah they were, thanks for them Kodachi." At the mild surprise on Kodachi's face, Ranma smirked, "Come on, even if I had forgotten your name after that match a few days ago, Akane's been repeating it ever since. She's really set on beating you in a rematch."
Kodachi laughed, not unkindly but Ranma knew it was somewhat mocking. "While she has enthusiasm, Akane Tendo lacks the discipline to truly gain skill in that particular Art. My own regimen of training takes at least two hours to complete and it is very demanding."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, slightly curious now. "Really? I can imagine you'd need to able to jump around, but what else?"
Kodachi indicated her joints. "You'd be surprised how easily it can be for joint pain to end any prospective career as a professional rhythmic gymnast. Maintaining a flexible body is very important. But tell me, why are you wandering around town? Shouldn't you be helping Akane trying to beat me?"
Ranma laughed, "You're joking right? I'd tell her everything she's doing wrong and then she'd hammer me into the ground. She got something of a short temper." Ranma wondered why he was being so open but then inwardly shrugged, if she wasn't trying to marry him straight away, who was he to complain? "So uh...what are you doing?"
Kodachi shrugged, "I was simply going shopping for some specific flowers and herbs for my private greenhouse." She looked slightly then, "If you like, I would be more than happy to have you along?"
Ranma looked hesitant, "You sure you want me with you?"
Kodachi nodded. "Of course! And besides, I can't have you knowing me only as 'that crazy chick that paralyzed you' would I? It isn't proper."
Ranma shrugged, "What the hell, I got nothing better to do. Lead the way."
Watching this through the Eye of Zygyg, Ranma-Prime was, if anything, even more confused than he had been by Kodachi's fighting fairly against Akane. Why was Kodachi being so... placid? Why, when she was always so aggressive, perhaps even more so than Shampoo, in his own timeline? ...Of course, how could he have been so blind? Kodachi was so aggressive in his timeline because she had met Akane and Ranma at the same time; in this timeline, by having to rush to St. Hebereke's, Kodachi had thus avoided learning that Ranma and Akane were engaged. As far as she knew, Ranma was free and unattached, open merchandise, and all she had to do was pluck him like a juicy piece of fruit. In fact, Ranma-Prime would have wagered even money on Kodachi's behavior actually being a deliberate act on her part; unaware that Ranma was engaged, she thus felt no compulsion to go to such lengths, instead feeling that a softer, more gentle approach was requisite to snag the heart of her crush.
Ironically, Ranma-Prime caught himself musing; that probably would have been the better strategy all along. Shaking his head to rearrange his thoughts, he resumed watching Ranma and Kodachi spending time together.
Days passed and became weeks, and Ranma found himself quite enjoying the time he spent with Kodachi. Though she did have the rather disturbing habit of trying to stand a bit too close for his comfort, she never got violent when things seemed to be taking a romantic or otherwise uncomfortable slant, unlike Akane. Couple that with the stuff they did together was really nothing that could be considered romantic, and Ranma had begun to feel quite comfortable about being in Kodachi's presence. The two of them were currently walking in the general direction of home from a manga shop, having been caught there by the onset of one of Nerima's sudden rainstorms. The two had spent some enjoyable time together, discussing their personal preferences in manga, and that had eventually led to Ranma commenting on a few interesting series that he'd seen during his trip to China, the details of which he was now talking about with Kodachi.
Kodachi smiled happily to herself, only half paying attention to what Ranma was saying, and subtly reached out and took Ranma's arm in her own. While he promptly removed it, he only did so upon becoming aware of it, which took a good minute or so. Kodachi had been hard-pressed to believe the advice given when she had, in a subtle, round-about way, asked for help from some of her colleagues in regards to approaching Ranma, but she had to admit that it had paid off quite well. Not only did it allow her to get closer to Ranma -who was, as one of the other Hebereke girls had put it, rather skittish- but it was also a very enjoyable way to spend time, even if not quite as romantic as she had originally hoped.
Truth be told, in its way, spending time simply talking with Ranma was actually quite fascinating in its own right. While hardly classically educated, a fact that Ranma put on an air of being unashamed about, he did have a surprisingly wide array of skills and facts, the legacy of a lifetime spent on the road. Kodachi had a hard time believing Ranma's stories on occasion, but the sincerity in his voice when he claimed that his first memory was wandering some desolate road at his father's side was quite convincing. Truth be told, Kodachi found his tales of travel intriguing, although she had to admit that his descriptions of some of the hardships such a life entailed were off-putting.
A steadily growing urge had been to try and test Ranma's skill in the martial arts; she had no delusions about her competence, and she 'merely' trained during school and at home. But Ranma, from what she made out of his life, trained nearly nonstop for his entire life; she knew he was good –he had saved her life, hadn't he?- but just how good was he? Unthinkingly, her hand reached out to take Ranma's as she began to go over in her head the best possible way to ask this of him; after all, a girl could hardly ask a man to start fighting with her just like that, now could she?
She was just opening her mouth to try and ask this (and Ranma was just starting to pry his hand loose of hers) when a car came roaring by and drenched the both of them with water from the road. A lady of standing and breeding does not curse; right now, though, Kodachi was sorely tempted to ignore that fact. She wiped dirty water from her face with a grimace, quenching the urge to shake her fist at the reckless, heedless driver. Her rage promptly disappeared, replaced by shock, when a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar spoke from beside her.
"Aw, man, why does this always happen to me?" Complained an annoyed and thoroughly female voice.
Kodachi's mouth dropped open in shock. Standing beside her, soaked and looking sheepish, was the strange redheaded girl who had interrupted her during her little "lesson" to the Furinkan Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics team. Ranma was nowhere in sight… but the girl… not only was she wearing the clothes that Ranma had been wearing, her hand was still being held by Kodachi's. She looked as though she wanted the earth to swallow her whole, while Kodachi's mind reeled at the obvious, yet impossible, implications. Finally, hesitantly, she managed to speak.
"R…Ranma? Is… that you?"
The redhead cast her eyes downward and then nodded slowly.
"…How?" Was all Kodachi could think to ask.
"Magic." Was the blunt answer she received.
"…But, magic doesn't exist." Kodachi replied hesitantly, though she hardly believed what she was saying herself.
"Trust me, it exists alright, it's just not something you see every day." The girl-Ranma replied sullenly, staring at her hands with disgust and (self?)loathing written on her features. Kodachi reeled, on the verge of fleeing, but finally managed to rally; if there was one thing she hated, it was being left out of the loop, and she was determined to find out just what was going on.
"Explain this." She demanded, her voice colder and harsher than it had ever been in Ranma's experience.
"…Alright, fine, but not here- I don't really want to let people know about this." Ranma finally responded.
Really caring solely about getting some answers, Kodachi agreed and the two retired to an out-of-the-way café, where Ranma requested some hot water. Dosing… herself?… with it prompted a return to the male Ranma that Kodachi knew- or had thought she knew, at least. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, before Kodachi finally broke it.
"So… are you a boy? Or a girl?"
"I'm a guy!" Ranma declared; sounding rather offended that she thought otherwise. "This is something that goes back to China, back to my old man's stupidity. He heard about this training ground called 'Jusenkyo', so he gets all riled up to go there. Idiot never bothers to get the full details or nothing, and he don't listen to the guide when they finally get there, so both of us end up taking a dip. Turns out, if you fall into a Jusenkyo spring, you get a curse that causes you to change into whatever drowned in that spring whenever you get splashed with cold water, though hot water will let you change back into your original form. My old man fell into the Spring of Drowned Panda- and then the stupid git up and throws me into the Spring of Drowned Girl."
Kodachi leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, seemingly in deep thought before she calmly asked, "Why didn't you tell me?" Ranma flinched and stayed silent before Kodachi opened an eye to fix him with a nasty glare, "Well?"
Ranma sighed, "How could I tell you? If that car hadn't splashed us, I would never even give any thought to telling you. You think I could have just brought it up in casual conversation and even if I did you wouldn't have believed me." Ranma glanced away, "Besides, I was afraid you'd freak out like your brother did when I accidentally showed him the curse."
Kodachi snorted as she closed her eye again, "As much as I should defend my brother's sanity, you are correct in how he would react to such things. He is sorely out of touch with reality." There was an uncomfortable silence before, "Tell me, is there any way to cure your.... affliction?"
Ranma nodded, "There's another spring, called the Spring of Drowned Man. All I have to do is take a dip in that and I'll be cured." Kodachi's eye opened again to fix him with another glare.
"So why didn't you cure yourself immediately after being cursed?"
Ranma flinched again at the fact that Kodachi was all but declaring him an idiot out loud in public, but he couldn't really fault her.
"Well, there were complications and my old man was dead set on going back to Japan for some reason and… well… we never really thought about it."
Kodachi sniffed haughtily, "Well, I cannot allow you to remain as you currently are, not only for the questions people might ask, but also for our combined sanity. I will pay for you to go to China and get cured."
Ranma spluttered in shock, "Wha? You sure about that? I mean, paying for the trip and all that has to be expensive!"
Kodachi sniffed again, "We Kunos are among the richest families in Japan. Purchasing a pair of two-way tickets to China is hardly a dent in our fortune, even if we went First Class. Which we will, and yes Ranma, I am coming with you to ensure that you are cured and that you do not run off and vanish like some craven coward."
Ranma smiled weakly at the pure regality and force in Kodachi's voice, "Well, when you put it that way..."
Unfortunately for the two teens, Ranma-Prime noted, trouble was brewing just ahead on the horizon. When Ranma got home to try and pack his things, he discovered Akane had somehow gotten into a fight with the Golden Pair, and the fathers were demanding that Ranma fight at her side- partially because Mikado had kissed Akane. That meant a delay in Ranma's acceptance of Kodachi's offer- which she nearly retracted after finding out what was taking him so long: that he was engaged did not go down well. She calmed down, fortunately for Ranma's hopes of being cured, upon finding out that Ranma and Akane were not engaged voluntarily- and neither of them was, in their own words, interested in the other. After seeing how badly the two fought, especially hearing Ranma defending her when Akane slandered her, Kodachi decided to make up with her (unwitting) boyfriend.
Unfortunately for her Soun did not take kindly to her "intrusion" into his arrangements for Ranma and Akane's lives, which made him into her self-avowed worst enemies. Genma was Soun's staunchest supporter… for a little while. Eventually, however, the fact Kodachi offered a cure, not to mention she was rich, persuaded him to switch sides of the argument- to Soun's horror and Ranma-Prime's disgust. He knew it could be broken, but Genma's loyalty to Soun was one of his few redeeming qualities. Ryoga was the only one who seemed not to mind the situation, as this allowed him to get closer to Akane by playing on her feelings of betrayal. And when Shampoo arrived...
Ranma-Prime could only shake his head as he withdrew from the timestream. Things just got too complicated, perhaps even more so than his own life. While his counterpart did manage to get a cure for himself roughly before Mousse arrived, that only made things even worse- while it cut out the havoc that spawned due to him being mistaken for a girl, new havoc promptly took its place. He didn't really feel like sifting through it all to see just how everything turned out, but in the most abstract sense he saw that Ranma and Kodachi did get together in this timeline (though he had to wonder about the small branches he saw that had him marrying Kodachi and either Shampoo, Ukyo or both), so he had to admit that Abe had been right.
He couldn't help but wonder now; why was it his other-dimensional (for lack of a better term) counterparts who drifted towards Kodachi always seemed to find a side of her that he had never seen? Was he really that blind to her positive attributes, to the occasional hints she gave of having a better side to her nature? He'd always seen her as someone to avoid, even more than Shampoo or Ukyo... but had he been wrong? Try as he might, he just couldn't shake that unsettling chain of thought as he resumed delving into the mists of time.
And that's this chapter done. Kodachi might seem off, even to fans of the anime (where she is given a softening, just like Shampoo), but I hope that we managed to explain why she is acting differently here: she's initially not aware of any pressing need to push herself on Ranma, she thinks he's a fruit that she simply needs to reach out and pluck (and I've probably shot that metaphor to hell and back…). As for why she brought Ranma bedding, but left him on the roof, well… there's delicate way to put this, so I won't. That I managed to post this chapter before I left for the first interval in December was a welcome surprise. Review, and vote for the next chapters, and Gideon020 and I will get right on the next chapter when I return.