Teacher's Aide

Ranma shook his head. He'd tried, he really had, but family honor or not, there was a limit to what even he was willing to put up with. He didn't have to bother being quiet as Genma's snores easily covered any sounds he made as he packed. He took one last look around the room when he'd finished and could only sigh.

"You'd think I'd have more stuff after so long living in one place," he muttered, but thinking over things he could see why he didn't. Anything valuable he'd gotten, like that small gold nugget he'd found when they were camping, Genma had hocked if Nabiki hadn't snagged it first. Even the cheap gold plated trophy he'd won for beating Kuno had vanished, no doubt now on the Kuno's mantle with the name changed.

Items of personal significance had equal chance of being destroyed by his wakeup call from Akane or Genma. His alarm clock might as well have been made of stone for all the use it'd gotten. He wasn't even sure what it sounded like.

Picking up his backpack he was surprised by the weight for a moment until he remembered he'd been tossing all the weapons people had tried to kill him with in there. "I guess I have collected a bit of stuff after all," he chuckled humorlessly.

He closed the door behind him and walked downstairs, he had his hand on the door before he was stopped

"You're leaving then?" Kasumi asked from the table where she was sipping tea.

"Yep, I've reached my limit," Ranma replied not turning around.

"What about your honor?" she asked.

"Akane broke the engagement," he said with a shrug.

"You know she didn't mean it."

"She's broken it over a dozen times and impugns my honor daily, while defending someone who's trying to kill me," Ranma said without blunting his words. "If I was a more honorable man I'd request her head from the Tendo clan or be forced to declare a blood feud."

Kasumi winced. "Thank you for being merciful."

"Don't mention it."

"There are other Tendo daughters."

"One of which has behaved worse than the yakuza towards me."

"And the other?" Kasumi found herself holding her breath as she waited for the answer.

"Declined the honor very firmly, she has made living here almost bearable," Ranma said finally, before vanishing through the door.

"But lacks the strength to control her family," Kasumi said to the air as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Ranma felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders as he left the Tendo household. He was free.

It had been nice to stay in one place for a while until Genma's misdeeds had started catching up with them and somehow became Ranma's problems. He wasn't too fond of the locals heaping their problems on him either and between Akane and Shampoo he hadn't made all that many friends.

"Time for another ward," he thought to himself.

Tokyo was easily large enough to lose yourself in and never be found with just a little effort…

Ranma wore his trademark black and red fighting tongs as he hit the docks while the sun rose, asking questions about boats that fished the waters just a few miles off the shores of china, making sure to take notes.

Just because he wasn't planning to make the trip right now didn't mean he wouldn't in the future, though he had some serious doubts about the cure for his curse being found at Jusenkyo it still seemed like the best place to start his search for one.

Ducking under the pier he quickly switched clothes, gender, and tied a scarf over her hair, while hanging by her toes. The heavy backpack vanished up one of her sleeves almost as smoothly as Mousse could have done it, as she moved across the underside of the pier like a spider, only to pop back up between a stack of crates fifty feet away.

With her bright red hair concealed under a dark scarf and her figure disguised with a baggy sweater, Ranma chose a direction at random and started walking until she reached a bus-stop and caught a ride to whatever train station it connected to. For nine in the morning on a Saturday the place was surprisingly full. Seeing a large group of middle-schoolers she couldn't help but smile as she got into line behind them thankful for once of her female form's small stature.

"Twelve hundred and fifty yen," the ticket master said mechanically, assuming Ranma was one of the students returning from the trip.

Ranma paid for her ticket and followed the students on-board not sure where they were going, but sure she wouldn't stand out in anyone's mind as a girl traveling alone or heading towards anywhere she would have picked herself, making tracking her even more difficult for anyone who knew her.

* Juuban Prefecture - Minato Line * the engineer announced as the train pulled into the station and the group of students prepared to exit.

While Ranma could have wished for a more distant destination, she had to admit this wasn't a place she would have chosen to vanish into, making it perfect for her needs.

Stepping off the train she headed for the nearest drug store and bought some brown hair dye, and used a love hotel to apply it, darkening her scarlet hair into a reddish brown that wasn't all that uncommon.

Typing by: Stephenopolos