On That Winter's Day

A Ranma ½ Fanfiction

By Prospero Hibiki

The Grandmaster Mongoose

God of Misdirection, Caffeine, and Those Socks You Lost Last Tuesday

Hail Eris! Hail Discordia! Hail Kallisti!

Disclaimer:

As it is I'm not making any money off of these characters and any character that you don't recognize from Takahashi Rumiko's Ranma ½ series is mine. And the truly sad thing is I'm not even making money off of them. I also don't own the characters from the OTHER series that shall show up in this story. They are owned by someone else also even if I don't want to say who he is or what company he publishes under. Still rest assured that I don't own his characters either.

Author's Note: Wow...been ages hasn't it? Well every so often I'd get the desire to dust this off and work on it...but...this chapter was missing. I knew what was in it (roughly) and several times tried to recreate it but it never quite flowed how I remembered. Very Frustrating. So today I got a review asking about someone had once seen more chapters elsewhere (which they might have but that website is gone gone gone) and I took a look on my computer...and found it! "Sweet Eris what is THAT?!" So this chapter is the good news. The bad news is that you're not going to see anything else from this story for a long time. Probably.

Oh, and before anyone says anything. I do in fact know it's filled with errors. I figured people would rather see it now than chance it going missing for ANOTHER eleven years.

o.o

Answers:

As is usual with a truly close brush with the Neko-ken, my thoughts are highly disjointed regaining true clarity only slowly as opposed to the sudden return that happens, or so I've been told, when I come out of the Neko-ken itself. I guess I could relate this to a series of long blinks that may or may not have anything to do with one another depending on how far apart they are. The end result looks eerily like a time-lapse video, with people disappearing and reappearing depending on the speed that they use to cross the room. The three constants though this time seem to be the forms of Dr. Tofuu hunched over his patient working his typical medical miracles and a woman seated at that same table with a man's hands on each of her shoulders. Their attention seems to be split pretty evenly between the bleeding form of what even I can figure out is their daughter and me. Needless to say the cool gaze of two cat people does little to decrease the time it takes me to shake off my fear. Still the fact that they are staying where they are and not advancing towards me in anyway is enough to prevent me from going through the wall I'm against.

One of the next blinks shakes me out of my shocked state. The doc is leaning over me his hand holding some awful smelling thing under my nose. "Ugh, what is that?" I shake my head in a vain attempt to clear my nostrils. Looking up I grin at him. "What's up doc?"

He snorts obviously getting the reference. "So that is you Ranma. I thought it was but wasn't sure as I never thought I'd see you here." There's an implied question in that, but I ignore it.

"Yeah, my life's just full of surprises." I wince as the pain radiating up my arm from my finger throbs some more. My throat is also complaining about the abuse I put it through. Who knows what else is wrong with me that those things are covering up? "Hey doc, can you help me up here?"

With his help I'm soon seated in the nearest chair. Unfortunately the movement has changed the main focus of pain from my arm to my brain. It's all I can do to keep myself conscious for the few seconds it takes for my inner ear to reassert its control on reality. I make a mental note to never do what I did earlier ever again. Hell, with this much pain involved I'll write that into the scroll. With all of my focus on my pain the doc has to ask his question several times before it sinks in enough to make me understand.

"How did you do that Ranma?"

"Do what?" I'm not being deliberately dense; it's just that I've done quite a few things recently any of which he could be referring to in that particular tone of voice. I mean if we go back to when he left Nerima almost a year before I did there's a whole hell of a lot that I've done that he doesn't even know about.

He frowns at me slightly. "You healed a werepanther of a life threatening wound made with a silver blade. Everything I know tells me that Shessa shouldn't be alive and yet she was well enough to be taken home by her parents. In fact if I hadn't smelled the soul char myself and seen the wound, I would have said it was made by any normal knife." He looks me directly in the eyes this time as if assuring himself he has my complete and undivided attention. Not that the latter is true with this pounding headache I have. "How did you do it?"

I open my mouth to answer him and then close it again. Seems that my verbal circuit breakers are working properly for once. Just how much do I want to tell him or even anyone? In reality I don't know. And right now isn't the best time to be deciding things that concern the future of my school. I can't even think of how I would describe what I did even if I wanted to. Shaking my head I push my way up from my seat only to fall back into it because of dizziness.

"Are you okay Ranma?" The shift in the doc's demeanor is as abrupt as it is amazing. He's gone from demanding to concerned as if someone had flipped a switch inside him. Something about this tugs at my mind and I file the vague feeling away for later study.

"Yeah, yeah." This time when I stand up the dizziness is dealt with. "I'm just tired. Lots happened today. I guess it's all catching up to me now." It's true that a lot has happened today. Oops, well a little less than I thought. I keep forgetting that the fight with those things in the woods happened yesterday, what with me being knocked out and all. "How about we talk tomorrow after I get some rest?"

He looks at me almost suspiciously for a minute before nodding. "That's probably a good idea. You're not looking very well. Where shall I meet you tomorrow then?"

Shrugging I gesture around. "Here probably is best. It's where I'm staying after all." Not even looking back to see if he agrees I start heading towards the stairs that lead up to my room. It takes a little while with my head feeling like it's been stuffed with briars, but I manage. Sighing once more I open the latch. Or rather I try to. A memory suddenly comes to me of both locking the door and setting the bar into place out of paranoia of someone just walking in on me.

With a frown I stagger back the way I came brushing by several confused patrons and head out the door. It takes a minute or two but I eventually figure out which window is mine and jump up and through it. Looking around I put everything back into its pouch and then into my pack as well as setting the fallen chair back up correctly. With a final sigh for the night I close the shutters before stripping down to my boxers and lying down for some well earned rest.

o.o

A loud pounding on the door wakes me up. I'm not exactly pleased about it either. Sure, I probably got enough sleep already to get by on, but the bed is just so comfortable. Sheesh, and to think I used to be a heavy sleeper too. I grumble to myself some more, more to vent to myself than the person outside, as I get out of bed, pad over to the door, and open it.

It takes me several seconds to work up the correct thoughts required to glare at Dr. Tofuu and the red-faced girl who seemed to be the manager's daughter. Several more seconds are required to realize just why the girl's face is red. Looking down at myself I confirm that what my previous thoughts had put together. Still not wearing anything other than my boxers. "Right." I close the door on the both of them and walk over to my pack to get some more clothes. I decide to wear the set of clothes that is for all intents and purposes identical to what I wore yesterday but for color. This one is a dark green compared to the other's red. The bracers and boots are next. Now will also be a good time to try out the boots since I doubt I'll be doing any serious hiking today. This'll give me a chance to break them in and see if they fit as well as I think they will. Unsurprisingly they do. Really they're the most comfortable pair of boots I've ever worn. I also grab the leather belt. A minutes search later and I've emptied out one of the leather bags and put all of my smaller coins as well as a few of the larges into it. Oddly enough, or perhaps not considering its source, the pouch has fasteners of its own to attach to my belt.

I head back to the door when it occurs to me that I might not want to take the knives with me when I go down. After a couple of seconds' indecision I decide to keep them with me. I might actually get into fewer fights for once if people see me as armed. Those not versed in martial arts don't often see it as a deterrent since it's not always easy to tell who might be a good martial artist. I don't exactly have my reputation as a fighter following me around anymore. I'm out the door and locking it behind me without another thought. The doc and the girl aren't there anymore so I head down to the common room. Sure enough I spot Tofuu at one of the tables where food is set out at two places. I sit at the extra setting once he waves me to it. Since the food's obviously for me I dig right into it. Several minutes pass in silence before he breaks in with the same question as the night before. Luckily I've spent these minutes well and have an answer for him.

"It's kind of like this, Doc. Do you teach every new student you get the counters for deadly shiatsu strikes?"

He frowns not seeing where this is going. "No, but I don't see what..."

"Why not?"

He rolls his eyes, something I wouldn't have noticed back before he left Nerima. "Because it's too advanced a technique to teach to beginners." I nod because that is part of the answer I was looking for, and it was the answer I expected him to give.

"You mean it's not because in order to teach the counters you have to teach the strikes themselves?"

"That's part of it, yes." He runs his hand through his hair as if frustrated. "But those are lethal techniques. We're talking about something that could be used to save lives. It's totally different. How could that be misused?"

I stare at him in shock. How could he of all people not understand the dangers of any technique? Especially when he refused to teach me shiatsu when I asked to learn it. I don't know this man. Maybe I never knew him, but my respect for Tofuu has decreased slightly because of this conversation. I change my tone of voice until I can almost see water condensing out of the air. "Well doctor, I never said the main purpose of the technique was to heal." This change in my attitude knocks him back in his seat. He needs to stop thinking I'm the naïve boy that he once knew. I've changed since I left that place and the faster he realizes it the better. I shrug it off. "Besides I don't even know if you're skilled enough to do it."

"What do you mean, not skilled enough?" He looks pretty pissed about it actually. "I'll admit that you're good Ranma, but you're not that good."

I return his gaze evenly. "How would you know? You left Nerima over a year ago. Any number of things could have and did happen. You don't know anything about who I am or what I'm capable of."

He snorts. "Of course anything could have happened. It is Nerima after all. But not even you could get as good as you seem to thing you are in a year."

I let that sit in the air for a while before replying. "You know Ryoga learned how to throw a chi blast?" Again my tone has changed to one better suited to reminiscing between old friends.

Just the expression on his face is amazing. "But that's impossible for someone so young! I've known masters of the art older and better than your father who think it's only a myth." Tofuu frowns again. "So Ryoga's the top fighter in Nerima now?"

I can't help but laugh. "Pig-boy?! Yeah right! Maybe now that I'm gone he is. No, I learned to use his chi blast, created my own, and beat him in a duel a week later. All this after him creating a perfect form of it. So no doc, Ryoga isn't the best." I decide to let him stew on that for a bit while I finish off what's in front of me on the table. Since I used up a lot of energy last night I'm not surprised that I'm still hungry. I look around and manage to catch the eye of the manager. Make vague eating motions and indicating a substantial quantity I convey that I want more food without his even needing to cross the room.

The doc sits in thought for a minute or two. When he does look up though his question surprises me. "So where did you get that scar on your chest Ranma?" He points vaguely at my right side. "I don't remember you having one there. It's also a little too big for me to have overlooked."

I know the one he's talking about all too well since, in a way, it's the reason I'm here. In a blink I'm back there if only for an instant. The angry retort to an honest and innocent question coupled with the wild swing of a kitchen knife. There wasn't an apology then or later when the stitches tore once more because of another needless fight. "Your replacement wasn't as good as you and the stitches kept tearing. Never thought it would heal up this well actually." Unspoken between us is the knowledge of just how severe a wound would need stitching as extreme as the scar indicates on any person as blessed with healing as fast as mine.

The food arrives and I go through my whole ritual of getting out the three coins from my waist pouch and making my how much gestures. I nod and dig out the proper amount from my other pouch with money. Tofuu's just staring at me in confusion. After paying my host I turn to him. "What?"

"Why didn't you just ask him how much it was?"

"Because I don't speak the language obviously. Why else would I be doing it?" For god's sake the doc sure seems a lot slower in picking these things up than I remember.

"You mean you came to Jade without anything to translate the languages?" I roll my eyes at the bugged out expression he's wearing.

"It's not like I had much of a choice, Doc. I wasn't exactly planning on coming here in the first place. Jade, is that what this place is called? Doesn't seem familiar."

Slowly Tofuu comes to realize that I didn't come here of my own free will and manages to drag out the story of how I got from a snowy plain in Northern Siberia to the middle of a dying forest. "That was about four months ago I think. Since then I've been following the river in the hopes of finding a town. Two days ago I got into a fight with a weird statue monster and a floating skull. Spent yesterday leaving the forest and showing up here. Got into another fight which is how you met me." Something occurs to me and I push up and away from the table and dash out the door towards the alley where everything happened the night before.

I knew it would be too much to hope for to find the attacker still unconscious where I left him, so I wasn't too surprised when he wasn't. It wasn't what I was looking for anyway. I find it embedded in the brick wall up to its hilt. Clearly I'd used a lot more force than I'd intended when batting it away. Pulling the knife out of the wall without breaking it is rather more difficult but I'm glad of the extra care when it's revealed.

Only six inches long it's shorter than the other two knives I've picked up through not by much in the case of the one I got before my...trip. One side is razor sharp even after its encounter with the wall and the other looks serrated in a way that would not help with food preparation at all. This is a knife meant to hurt both as it's stuck into someone and when as it's pulled out. Nasty thing. I turn around and try to puzzle out the markings on the flat part of the blade. The doc meets me at the entrance of the alley as I walk out.

"What was the rush?"

Curiously I look between him and the knife in my hands. "The knife that the man used to cut that girl." Yes, I need to think of her as a girl and not a cat. Girl not cat.

"Oh I doubt you'll find it. Whoever it was wouldn't leave it behind because the scents on it would lead right to him with any luck on our part."

Scents? That confuses me a little, but I shrug. It must be another one of the weird things that I've come across since showing up in this place. "Good thing I found it then."

"What? You have the knife?"

Okay now that freaks me out. The scent thing confused me but not nearly as much as the fact that the doc can't see the knife that I'm holding in my hand. I thought he was more observant than that. Hell, I know for a fact that he's more observant than that. "Doc, what are you talking about? The knife is right here in my hand. I mean look at it!"

He looks even more confused than I did previously for a moment and then looks at both my hands. He eventually focuses on the one holding the knife. Frowning he looks me in the eyes. "You are holding a knife in your hand right now?" I nod. "Your right hand?" When I nod for a second time he reaches out with both hands, one on each side of my own.

Just before his hand comes in contact with the blade I jerk it away. "What are you trying to do, Doc? Cut yourself or something?" I'm practically screaming at him. Really, I saw what this knife did to that kid and there ain't no way I'm letting that happen to him.

Tofuu clears his throat. "Yes, actually." Seeing my no doubt dumbfounded expression he continues. "Maybe we should talk about this while sitting down."

Our table is still open and contains the remains of his meal, mine having been thoroughly demolished. Turning the chair backwards I sit down and place the knife in the table. "So is this thing with cutting yourself new? Because I'm cool with it if it is."

The doc sputters for a minute before laughing. "Well that's not...no. What I want to do is see if the knife really exists."

"Of course it exists, it's lying right there!"

"Aaahhh, that's the point. You can see it perfectly well but I can't see it at all." He's gone off into his annoying lecture mode again. I'm not really being fair to him since he still manages to make things more interesting than the people from school ever did. "Which tells us one of two things. On one hand there might actually be a knife lying on the table and for some reason I can't see it. However there's the equally likely possibility that there isn't a knife on the table and what you are seeing and feeling is an incredibly elaborate illusion."

I think about that for a bit. I don't really understand how I could be fooled by an illusion like that but a faint memory of Toma's illusionary fire comes to me. "Okay I guess that makes some kind of sense. Knock yourself out." He nods to me and reaches out. Fast as lightning I grab his hand again. "Wait a second, Doc. Won't what happened to the kid happen to you? I mean that was a pretty nasty wound, and I don't exactly feel up for fixing you like I did her." Which isn't exactly true since the hard part was forming the chi tubes and not the healing itself. Still my finger's pretty damned sore and besides I didn't like the way he wanted to know about how I did it. It's better to have someone underestimate what you can do than having him know all of your secrets.

"No, why would it?" Now he looks confused. "Oh, that's right you wouldn't know about lycanthrope. Shessa is a were-panther. Her people can't touch the metal silver or it burns them. Actually it's a lot more like the combination of a burn and a poison, but I don't really need to tell you that. You saw the wound yesterday. I don't think I need to tell you just how dangerous that wound was."

No. I release his hand. Looking down at the knife I notice that it does seem to look different than a normal blade. It's, well, shinier than I'd expected. It also shouldn't be as sharp as it is since silver is a much softer metal than steel and the brick wall should have definitely dulled it. "I guess if you think it's safe."

Again he reaches out to where he thinks I put the knife. Rolling my eyes I move his hand to a position over it, a full two feet from where he was groping about on the table. I wince in sympathy when he misses touching the handle and instead manages to bring his hand down directly on the blade itself. "Satisfied now?"

Tofuu winces while he nods. Then he does something that completely blows me away. Holding his other hand over the wound he mutters some quiet words under his breath and the cut seals itself before my very eyes. I'm not talking the rather crude method I used on the girl, but rather a smooth, clean, and most of all complete healing of the slice on his hand. I couldn't feel him use chi at all so it's obviously quite different than what I did, which explains why he was so curious about it. Whatever this is, it's something else. I don't ask about it though because the doc's casual disinterest makes it somewhat obvious that he wants me to. It's one of the ways that I've changed since we last saw one another. I still feel the burning need to learn every technique I come across, but I accept that sometimes I can't. Past experiences have taught me that there are often hidden costs involved in being taught by others. My last confrontation with Cologne was what really hammered that lesson home. I don't want to come that close to losing all control over my life ever again.

"So can you see the knife now?"

"Not too clearly. Which means it must be covered by some pretty powerful magic. What I'm curious about is why you can see it." He has a slightly confused expression on his face and I can't decide if it is there because of the knife or because I haven't asked him about that flashy healing thing he did.

"Don't know. But then magic and I don't exactly get along that well." I shrug. "So what is this Jade place? I mean, I kind of figured out I'm not in Siberia. Beyond that though I have no clue."

Tofuu just sits there and I can tell that he's trying to figure out a way to explain things. It's not something that makes me feel good. "It's kind of hard to explain, Ranma. The best I've ever heard it described is that we're in another dimension. Let's just say that most of the myths and legends that you've ever heard on Earth live here. Elves, dwarves, mages, trolls, and dragons all exist here. There isn't as much technology here as back on Earth and things that we'd commonly take care of with machines are instead done with magic."

"Okay." Not quite what I was expecting, but I can work with it. I mean it's not the strangest thing I've ever heard. Also explains a bit of why magic isn't as plentiful back home. I mean if everything's here then it had to leave someplace. "So where do you fit in, Doc? I mean if we're in another dimension why are you here?"

Now the doc is eyeing me as if he hasn't decided what to tell me. Fair enough, I guess, considering, but it's still damned annoying. His words confirm that idea for me. "I don't know if I should answer that question Ranma. The person I once knew in Nerima was very different than the person I see in front of me now."

Yes he is. So very different. That Ranma had once thought he'd had everything he'd wanted in Nerima but one traumatic month had pulled all of his beliefs down around him. I don't say this though. I can't say this. It's still too soon and probably will be for the rest of my life. Instead I simply agree with what he means. "Yeah. I can understand that."

"So are you looking for a way back?"

It takes me a few minutes to figure out what he's even talking about, and when it does several more minutes pass while I wonder if I am looking for a way back. The answer doesn't surprise me as I thought it would, and that in and of itself is surprising.

"No. I wanted to get away and here as good a place as any other. Not knowing the language is going to be a pain but it's one that I'll be able to get around. Besides I don't see myself being around a lot of people anytime soon. The Art is asking me for something Doc. And I'm going to give it because it's something that I need to do." I hadn't even thought of that before I'd said it but looking back I realize it's true.