Aftermath

"Akane! Wait!" cried the Avatar of Light as the other girl ran off down the trail. She took a step to follow before forcing herself to stop. "No… chasing her will just make things worse. Damnit!" She turned to Ryouga's body and sighed. "And I guess I can't just leave you here, either. Just like you not to disintegrate like the other challengers…"

She shook her head and tried to remember if any of the old man's 'practical advice' included dealing with bodies. After a moment, she snapped her fingers and went over to Ryouga's pack, coming back a moment later with a water bottle, which she emptied over the body. She watched the unchanging body for several seconds before shaking her head. "Well, at least you got one thing you wanted. Man, why can't this job come with magical girl storage space like they have on those shows? Wait, who says it can't?"

She looked at the water bottle in her hand and concentrated for a few minutes. Sweat trickled down her forehead, and the bottle suddenly vanished. "All right!" She eyed the body briefly. "Let's work our way up to that…" she said before heading over to Ryouga's pack. A few minutes later, the pack vanished as well, and she nodded grimly before walking back to the body. "Guess it's your turn now."

Before she could even start to focus her light on Ryouga and the fabric of space itself, the body dissolved into shadows that sank into the ground. "Asshole," remarked Ranma as she gave the bare ground a flat look. Shaking her head, she reverted back to her normal form and started home.

oOo

"Ranma killed Ryouga!" Akane shouted as she burst into the living room.

"That's nice, Akane," Soun said distractedly as he intently studied the go board between Genma and himself. Velgri didn't look up from her book.

With a growl, Akane stormed across the room and kicked over the game table, sending the black and white stones flying. "Ranma, as the Avatar, killed Ryouga!"

Soun sighed at the scattered pieces. "Akane, I'm sure it seemed like Ryouga was killed, but both of those boys can take an immense amount of damage and they know their limits. l have no doubt that he'll be waking up, sore but alive, from an attack that would have killed most people."

"He was just standing there and she shot him in the throat with a light lance! There was blood everywhere and Ryouga wasn't moving!"

"Ah. Well. That does sound bad," Soun admitted.

"I know they didn't like each other," Akane said, wiping her eyes, "but to turn into the Avatar and kill him…"

"I'm sure she had a good reason," Velgri said, turning a page.

Akane turned to face the lavender fox and scowled. "I'm not surprised you would think that! Ranma never would have dreamed of killing even someone he hated unless there was absolutely no other choice before you came here, but now, I guess all he needs is a good reason! Someone annoyed him too much? They might get in the way of a challenge! Better kill them!"

"We'll see what the boy has to say for himself when he gets back," Genma declared as he fished a black stone from his gi.

"He killed Ryouga, as the Avatar, and you want to talk things out?!" Akane cried in disbelief. "I can't believe you're taking this so casually…"

"Akane," her father said, "we have no idea exactly what happened or why, and the only way we have to find out more right now is to talk to Ranma."

"I, I guess… but why are you so calm about this?" she asked, shooting a brief suspicious glance in Velgri's direction.

"Because we're talking about something more serious than the usual matters of property damage and his daughter's uncertain engagement," Nabiki declared as she stepped into the room, "we're talking about murder." Lightning split the afternoon sky and thunder boomed at her last word.

"Indeed," Soun nodded solemnly as Nabiki took a seat. "This is no time for strong emotion; we must get to the bottom of this. Velgri, what do you think is going on here? What Akane described doesn't sound at all like Ranma, but Akane wouldn't make up something like that! Could my little girl be right?" Soun asked pensively. "Could he have killed that boy out of hand?"

"No," Velgri said, shaking her head. "If she had that capacity, I would never have chosen her."

"Him," Genma muttered.

"People can change…" Soun observed to a dull rumbling of thunder.

"They can," Velgri allowed, "but not so much, so quickly, without us noticing. Without me noticing."

A red and black blur bounced into the room an instant before the skies opened up in a torrential downpour of cold rain. "Ryouga was the Avatar of Darkness," Ranma blurted, sparing a glance of annoyance at the rain before turning the occupants of the room with a grim expression.

"There you go, that explains it," Velgri said, clearly considering the matter settled.

"Right…" said Akane, voice dripping with skepticism, "Then why wasn't he a magical girl, why weren't you at the challenge site, and why was he just standing there when you…" She broke off, taking a deep breath and shaking her head.

"Those are good questions," Soun agreed.

"We were on our way to the site when he said that we'd gone far enough and he wasn't going to fight me somewhere I'd prepared ahead of time. The place looked remote enough, and it's not like I haven't fought challengers in other places. He was a magical girl when we started, but the idiot changed back halfway through and started gloating. I shot him with a light lance, of course. I didn't expect it to actually kill him!"

"Why would he change back in the middle of a fight?" asked Nabiki.

"I kinda told him the only reason I could turn back into a guy was my curse."

"Please," Akane scoffed, "he'd know that wasn't true from the other times he'd transformed. Or do you expect us to believe he challenged you without ever becoming the Avatar before? He isn't that stupid!"

"Wanna bet?"

The other humans in the room exchanged glances. "I don't know that I'd say he's stupid," Soun said slowly, "but I do recall him being quite single-minded and prone to acting hastily in anger."

"Also, he was an idiot," Ranma helpfully added.

"He was not! He was kind, and polite…" Akane said sadly. "I don't know why the two of you hated each other so much." She sighed then shot Ranma a hard look. "Do you have any proof that what you said happened?"

A hurt look crossed Ranma's face for an instant before vanishing. "Yeah, Ryouga blasted through a bunch of trees before changing back."

Akane hesitated. She knew such damage could have been caused by Ranma, after she'd stumbled onto the scene and run off, even, but she also knew that making such an accusation would be crossing a line that she was already very close to.

"I have proof," Velgri stated, rousing Akane from her thoughts. "There is now a record of the Avatar of Light accepting a challenge from the Avatar of Darkness twenty minutes ago and emerging victorious."

"Well, I guess that settles it," Soun declared, relief clear in his voice.

Akane frowned, feeling that Ryouga's death was far from settled but unable to think of a reasonable objection to raise, when Ranma peevishly asked, "Why were you even back there anyway? It's not like there's much there besides the challenge area."

"Oh! P-chan told me there was a new magical girl back there!"

"That's impossible," Ranma stated flatly.

"No! He told me the magical girl made him her animal companion, which is why he could talk! He said she'd sensed something in the woods there and had gone to check it out."

"I'm telling you there's no way that was P-chan. I don't know who you were talking to, but it wasn't him."

Nabiki looked back and forth between the two girls. "Oh, I see. Ryouga was P-chan, wasn't he."

"W-what do you mean?" Ranma asked nervously. "That doesn't make any…" She trailed off and sighed. "I guess it doesn't really matter anymore. Yeah, he was."

"What." Akane stated flatly, fists clenched at her sides, and Ranma suddenly remembered why it might still matter.

"Y-yeah, he followed me to China over some stupid challenge and fell into the spring of drowned piglet."

"So that's why both Ryouga and P-chan hated you," Nabiki said, nodding, "That makes sense."

"And you didn't tell me because?" Akane asked, her voice still unnaturally devoid of emotion as she looked around the room, noting the lack of surprise on the fathers' faces and the lack of interest on Velgri's.

"Akane, the guy turned into a piglet when splashed. If that got out, anyone could have killed him easily, and he was the kind of guy people wanted to kill. Look, I hated that he kept getting close to you disguised as P-chan, but I wasn't willing to get the guy murdered over it."

"I see," she said, numbly thinking how strange it was that she'd so quickly gone from being terrified that Ranma had given in to the urge to kill people he didn't like to feeling betrayed by his decision to put the life of someone he didn't like over her feelings. And then there was the fact that her father had either known or suspected, as well, and not done anything to keep P-chan away from her. "Excuse me," she said, turning and walking upstairs.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Soun said hesitantly in the silence that had fallen on the room.

Ranma sighed and shook her head, taking a moment to glare at the sky as the rain stopped as abruptly as it had started. "Today has completely sucked…"

"I'm sure it could have been worse," Nabiki remarked.

"Indeed," Soun agreed solemnly, perking up at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. "Ah, here comes Akane. I knew she'd bounce back quick…" He trailed off at the sight of Akane wearing a backpack and holding her bookbag in one hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but I just can't stay here right now."

"Akane?" Soun asked as she walked to the door. "Akane!" he called after her as she left.

o0o

Nabiki paused in the entrance to the dojo for a moment, the late afternoon sun framing her in the doorway as she sighed in pleasure at the feeling of her power flowing through her body. Ranma stood motionless before the kanji wall scroll, apparently meditating, but if the tension in his body was any indication, he was doing a poor job of it. After a moment, he made a noise of disgust and turned to start pacing.

"What do you want, Nabiki?" he eventually asked. "It's not a good time to train."

"Obviously," she said, a short wave of her hand indicating she wasn't even dressed as Pretty Special. "I came to see how you were doing."

"Yeah, right. Oh, and thank you so much for your help earlier, by the way."

Nabiki shrugged. "I wasn't trying to help or not help. You're the one who dropped such a big hint to an important secret in public; you shouldn't be surprised if people figure things out and say something if you do that."

"Do you think she's okay," he asked, concern quickly replacing the annoyance in his voice and expression.

"Akane? I'm not sure." Nabiki sighed. "I'll check on her and smooth things over."

"You will? Just like that? For free? Why?"

"Because she's my sister and I care about her. Also, to teach myself not to just blurt out valuable information that could be put to better use otherwise."

"You're all heart," Ranma said sarcastically. After a moment, he quietly added, "Thanks."

o0o

Akane half sat, half lay on the wooden log bench and gazed out over the beautiful pond, eyes idly tracking a lazily flitting dragonfly for a few moments before focusing on a frog happily croaking on a half submerged log. She sighed contentedly, fully at peace, thoughts of home and worries about the people she cared about far away. A small black and red bird landed on the far end of the bench and chirped brightly; Akane found a crumb in her lunchbox and tossed it to land at the bird's feet. She smiled as the bird tilted its head and eyed the crumb, then giggled as a warm breeze sent the crumb tumbling, prompting the bird to quickly snatch it up and fly off.

"This is a nice place," Nabiki said as she sat down at the other end of the bench. "Very peaceful."

"Nabiki? How did you find me?" Akane asked, brow furrowing.

"You always come here when you're really upset." Akane just nodded and stared out at the pond. After a minute, Nabiki asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm angry and afraid," Akane said in a small voice as a cloud passed in front of the sun and the light dimmed. "Ranma, Dad, and Mr. Saotome all knew about P-chan and didn't say a word to me, just let me hug him and treat him like a pet even though he was really a boy…"

"You noticed their reactions, or lack thereof, too, did you?" At Akane's slight nod, Nabiki leaned back and said, "You should be angry. If it'd been me, everyone involved would be wishing they'd gotten off as easily as Ryouga, whether they thought they had a good reason or not."

Akane shivered then glanced over at her sister. "A good reason?"

Nabiki nodded. "Ranma's an idiot; he could have handled the whole thing much better, but he honestly thought he was keeping the guy from being murdered. He's right about Hibiki being the kind of person who gets into feuds, and I have no doubt that, sooner or later, a sore loser would have grabbed a cup of cold water and turned him into bacon if word of his curse got out."

Akane reluctantly nodded. "And our fathers?"

"Saotome probably thought the same as Ranma to some extent—the guy is a thief and scammer but not a killer—and they both probably had some stupid idea it was Ranma's place as your fiancé to deal with the matter and that it would make the two of you feel closer."

Akane growled, then frowned in thought. "You don't think Dad was worried about him getting killed?"

"I think it never occurred to him. He settled down in Tokyo and raised a family; he doesn't think of things from the perspective of a martial artist wandering through less civilized places where the law is only a suggestion."

"I guess that makes sense," Akane said slowly. "So you think I should punish them all?"

"That's up to you. It's what I'd do, but you should do what feels right to you."

Akane sighed and briefly glanced across the pond at the sun slowly sinking behind a hill before looking back to the pond. "I'll think about it."

"Revenge works much better when it's planned properly," Nabiki agreed. "Now, what else is bothering you, little sister of mine?"

"Everyone's changing," Akane said in a small voice, "Ranma, with being the Avatar and having to kill people; Kasumi, under Velgri's influence; Dad and Mister Saotome—you saw how calm and accepting they were about Ryouga being killed—they never would have acted that way before… Even you're different in some way, though I can't really put my finger on how. It's all because of Velgri. I don't trust her, Nabiki. She's turning everyone into people I don't know, and it scares me."

"Everyone changes, Akane, especially around our age. Velgri's arrival and Ranma becoming the Avatar certainly make the changes more extreme and affect exactly how we change, but I don't think she's twisting us according to some secret plan. That said, she clearly has her own agenda and her goals aren't the same as ours. I think we can all agree that none of us wants to see the Earth overrun with dark creatures, and by extension, we don't want Ranma to lose a challenge, but beyond that, don't assume that she wants the same things we do."

Akane watched a frog plop into the water after a dragonfly deftly evaded its tongue. "Velgri has an elf form, you know... She's very pretty."

"That must make things much nicer for Kasumi."

Akane flailed wildly as she fell off the bench. "How can you say that?!"

"Well, I imagine they could make things work with Velgri as a fox, but her being able to turn into an elf makes it easier, don't you think?"

"That's not what I meant! You're just okay with them doing … having a…?"

"If Kasumi's happy and not being taken advantage of, sure."

"How do you know she isn't though?"

"I don't know one hundred percent, but Kasumi's a lot sharper than most people give her credit for. You should trust her more. In fact, how do you know what she did when you tried to make that big breakfast was due to Velgri's influence and not her just deciding it was time to resort to more drastic measures?"

Akane flushed. "I! She couldn't! I mean…" she floundered before asking in a small voice, "Do you really think she could have just gotten fed up with me?"

"I don't think Kasumi would feel that way, but she might decide that what she was doing wasn't working and it was time to try something new."

Akane sighed and sat up on the ground with her back resting against the bench. "I guess. Maybe."

"Things seeming any less dire now?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you feel okay to come home?"

"I'll think about it…"

"Fair enough," Nabiki said as she leaned back and looked out over the pond.

"Thanks," Akane said softly.

The sisters fell into silence and watched as fireflies started to flicker in the twilight, twinkling like stars above the pond.

oOo

Yumi groaned and rolled over as the morning sun viciously stabbed at her eyes. Once she'd successfully escaped her attacker's cruel rays, she sighed and snuggled into the warm body next to her. For long moments, she lay there, at least half asleep, until whatever was tickling her nose finally annoyed her enough to scowl and open her eyes despite the lurking evil day star. With a huff of annoyance, she brushed the lock of platinum blond hair away from her face and started to close her eyes before freezing and carefully checking exactly who was sharing her bed. It only took a moment to determine she was naked in bed with an equally naked Maëlys.

Yumi quietly slipped out of bed, to avoid both aggravating the dull pounding in her head and waking the other woman. She went to the closet and threw on her robe, then crept out of the bedroom and followed the smell of coffee to the kitchen where Ursula was filling her enormous mug at the counter. Yumi froze for a moment, then sat down, slumping over the table with her head in her hands.

"I am so sorry," she said miserably, "I have no excuse. I don't even remember how it happened."

"It's okay," Ursula said as she placed a normal sized cup of coffee in front of her girlfriend.

"Okay? How can you say that? We're in a relationship, I'm living with you, even, and I slept with someone else." She paused. "You… you didn't tell me it was okay beforehand, did you?"

"It's okay because it doesn't bother me. Nah, we didn't talk about it, but it's not like we said we couldn't do anything with other people."

"It's kind of assumed around here that you don't…"

"Yeah? Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Like I said, you're fine, though."

"But—"

"Yumi, if I'd wanted to stop you, I could have."

Yumi nodded slightly and took a sip of her coffee. "What happened? I vaguely remember going to the club, but after that, I only have bits and pieces of…" She trailed off and flushed deeply.

Ursula took a long sip from her mug. "Like you said, we went to the club. We got a table and some drinks, and then people started coming over."

"Okay," said Yumi. "So why didn't Maëlys go home with one of them?"

"Because they all wanted to talk with the city's new official hero that they saw on the news."

"Oh, shit… I forgot it was like that at Dark Waters until people got used to you coming there. Everyone only wanted to talk to you?"

"Well, there was that one woman who lost her nerve and hit on you instead."

Yumi groaned. "Why would she hit on me when Maëlys was right there? She's so beautiful!"

"She's also a lot more intimidating than you."

Yumi sighed. "And then what?"

"You shot her down."

"I meant for the rest of the night!" Yumi cried before wincing and holding a hand to her head. "Sorry," she said more quietly, "Go on, please."

Ursula shrugged. "Maëlys got angry and embarrassed, you got angry and started feeling guilty, and you both kept drinking. Eventually we left. She declared she was clearly undesirable and started to leave when you told her she wasn't and that you'd prove it."

Yumi groaned and dropped her head to the table. "I kissed her, didn't I…"

"You kissed her," Ursula agreed. "And then I brought the two of you back here before you started going at it on the sidewalk."

"I'm sor—" Yumi paled and bolted upright as Ursula placed a cast iron skillet on the stove with a sharp clang. "I'll stop saying I'm sorry if you don't do that again," she gasped.

"Hm? Oh, sorry. But, yeah, that'd be good."

"So… what do we do about Maëlys?"

Before Ursula could answer, the blonde in question walked out of the bedroom, still completely naked, picked up Yumi with one arm, kissed her on the cheek, and carried her into the bathroom. A few moments later, the sound of the shower running reached the kitchen.

"Well, it looks like one of us will be taking a shower with her," Ursula replied to the empty room as she took some kippers from the refrigerator.

oOo

Akane got out of bed, got dressed, and after using the small bathroom down the hall, walked to the living room to start her day.

"Good morning, Akane," Yuka greeted her, "did you sleep well?"

"Good morning. I did, thank you. And thank you again for letting me stay over."

"You're welcome! What are friends for? You can stay here as long as you need to." Yuka paused. "If it's more than a few days, I'll need to talk with my parents, though."

"It's okay," Akane assured the other girl as she frowned and plucked a tiny ball of fuzz from her sweater. "I think I'm going to go home today, actually."

"Are you sure? You were pretty upset when you called me."

Akane sighed. "I was, but a good night's sleep and some time to think put things into perspective."

"If you're sure. But you're always welcome here, and if you ever want to talk about things…"

"I appreciate it," Akane said, giving the other girl a quick hug, "really I do. A lot of things have been going on, and I think I kind of lumped them together as one huge, terrible problem instead of dealing with each one on its own."

"I think I know what you mean. Like when a bunch of little things happen and make it seem like The Worst Day Ever even though nothing too terrible happened."

"Something like that," Akane said with a frown.

oOo

Nabiki got up, touched the power flowing within her and retrieved the journal from her nightstand. She started to make a note, but stopped with a frown. "Forgot to log the dojo and pond yesterday. Let's see, that was around…" She moved the pen away from the page as she mentally recounted the events of the previous day. After a few moments in thought, she closed the journal, returned the pen to its compartment, and put them down on the nightstand. She lay down on her back and stared unseeing at the ceiling. "So, that's how it is," she murmured. Closing her eyes, Nabiki reached unerringly to the source of her power, and sighed in pleasure as it eagerly, almost joyfully surged into her body.


Author's note (10/4/24) - As always, even if I don't say it every time, thanks to Sunshine Temple for proofreading and feedback.