Nabiki was the first one up, much to her surprise.
It was partly due to the dojo being chilly; the down comforter she was wrapped in was barely doing the job. It was also partly due to the fact she was used to a soft western-style bed and her back was complaining about the hard floor.
Akane, Ukyou and Shampoo were thoroughly tangled up and, from the grin Akane was sporting, Nabiki had some guesses as to the kinds of dreams they were sharing. She half remembered a few images before she had rolled over and broken contact.
You are a bundle of repressed hormones, sis. You might just be the one to finally wear Shampoo out, she thought, bemused. She glanced past them to see another blanket with a lump under it and crept around to check.
She paused, a little surprised. She walked around to the side of the bundled sleepers and knelt.
Ryouga and Ranma were huddled together, likely for warmth. Nabiki was well-acquainted with Ranma's vampiric tendencies regarding heat, and it seemed she had latched onto Ryouga and compacted herself against him, arms tucked in against his chest and her head tucked under his chin. He had both arms wrapped around her and she doubted it'd be possible to separate them without a prybar until they regained consciousness.
That… might be explosive when they wake up, Nabiki considered. Nnh. Need coffee first. Figure out how to prevent holes in dojo walls later. Unless… he told her? She reached out and placed her hand on the back of Ranma's head and closed her eyes, listening through the Link.
Their ki was calm. Deep, dreamless sleep most likely. There were just a few gentle swirls of contentment and warmth.
They're happy, she thought, smiling a little, but WAY too placid for a bomb like that to have been dropped. If only it was this simple when they're awake. She leaned over and kissed each of them on the forehead in turn. Well, for now, sleep well. I love you both.
She paused a moment as she realized that had come unbidden. She tousled Ryouga's hair gently then stood up. Maybe it's a little early to be thinking that way about Ryo? Well… I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. She stood and gave them one last smile before she walked out of the dojo and towards the main house.
She could hear Kasumi humming away in the kitchen long before she got there and smell the rich and savory aromas of breakfast already cooking, as well as…
"Tea?" Nabiki poked her head into the kitchen. A very familiar tea. "Kasumi, is that…?"
"Mr. Jiro said this was your preferred type," Kasumi turned and handed Nabiki a steaming cup of Earl Grey. "It's probably better for you than that coffee you drink every morning."
"Eh, that's debatable," Nabiki muttered and took a sip. Her eyes widened and she looked at her sister in shock. It tasted exactly like Jiro's blend. "Sis, how did you…?"
"I… well, I hope you don't mind… the tea is actually a bit of an apology, but…" Kasumi grinned. "Mr. Jiro offered me a part time job!"
Nabiki blinked at her sister's almost ecstatic demeanor, then casually took another sip of her tea. "Umm… congratulations? Good for you getting a part time job. Just don't let Daddy snaffle your paycheck."
Kasumi blinked. "I thought you'd be more excited?"
Nabiki shook her head. "No, no, don't get me wrong, Kasumi, this is great. It's just… I mean, it's a tea shop. That's hardly going to be a challenge for someone like you. You're not exactly lacking in employable skills."
Kasumi frowned, then brightened again. "Oh! That's right…! Yes, it's just a tea shop… but it's something to do. And Mr. Jiro has let me sample different teas from all over! Even a couple of coffees he says he keeps for his 'problem customers'."
"So… you stayed out all night drinking tea in a tea shop with an eccentric old transvestite?" Nabiki asked, taking another sip. "I mean, as far as Friday nights go, that's actually not too bad."
"You… don't suppose Father will be upset, do you?" Kasumi asked nervously. "I know he was very opinionated on the subject when I last asked him about it."
"Yeah, and you're also twenty, Kasumi. You're old enough that it's not his decision." Nabiki snorted. "He's just worried that his breakfast might not be on time." She drained her cup and Kasumi refilled it before returning to breakfast preparations. "Actually… that might work to our advantage. When given the choice between relying on Akane for breakfast or accepting our arrangement and having Ukyou and Shampoo here… well, thinking with his stomach is another habit he's picked up from Mr. Saotome."
"Oh! Speaking of which, I noticed Father didn't come home last night," Kasumi said. "Normally I would call the Saotome house to find out if he stayed there, but… given current events…" She sighed, pausing in chopping vegetables. "After what I've heard, dealing civilly with the Saotomes will be difficult."
"I'll figure something out. At the very least, send 'em off on a cruise or something to give us a reprieve," Nabiki replied. "We'll have to set some pretty harsh boundaries with those two sooner rather than later, but that fight can wait until we've dealt with Himura."
"How is that going?" Kasumi asked.
Nabiki swallowed. Whoops. So, how much do I tell my sister about me potentially pissing off some serious underworld figures and making deals with shady criminal organizations? Anything she knows makes her a target… not that just being my sister hasn't made her that already…
Kasumi put down her knife, turned, and took Nabiki by the shoulders. "Is it that bad?" she asked with concern.
"Do you want the comforting lie, or the truth that will make you an accessory?" Nabiki asked. She immediately regretted her glib choice of words as the look of concern on her sister's face deepend. "Kasumi… Himura is… Her grandfather is deeply involved with the Yakuza. They're not interfering because they see this as some sort of test, where her win condition is to get control of Ranma. If she does… I don't like the thought of what she might make him do, but she isn't likely to take a loss lying down, either."
"I see. So… this isn't Ranma's challenge anymore, is it?" Kasumi murmured softly.
Nabiki shook her head. "I don't think Ranma will have any trouble winning a straight up Volleyball game, no matter how good Himura thinks her team is and I don't see how she couldn't have figured that out herself by now. But she's not at all worried - which tells me she's got something else planned, and I have no idea what it is yet."
"Are you all right?" Kasumi asked.
Nabiki took a deep breath. "I'm… As long as I can see a way forward, I'm okay."
Nabiki looked her sister in the eyes, waiting for the inevitable lecture. She could see that look on Kasumi's face, that one that their Mother had worn when Nabiki had knocked over a prized vase, or neglected to do her chores.
Instead of a lecture though, Kasumi closed her eyes and sighed. Her expression became more determined. She opened her eyes and nodded. "All right. What can I do to help?"
Nabiki blinked. "That's… that's it? I just admitted that I'm basically in a turf war with a Yakuza Princess and have waded up to my eyeballs in underworld shenanigans, and that's all?"
Kasumi smiled weakly. "Were you expecting a lecture? Something about being disappointed, but knowing you can do better? That… was my first impulse. But," she shook her head, "that's not appropriate. You're not a child anymore, and this isn't a broken vase. And it's not your fault, either."
"I don't think you want to be involved, sis," Nabiki said. "This… this is some bad stuff. I mean… our plan pretty much involves letting the Amazons abduct us if things go south, because spending the rest of our lives in Jusendo would be better than dodging Yakuza hitmen for the rest of our short lives."
"My choices are to stay safe and pretend nothing is going on or to do something, right?" Kasumi said with a smile. "If I'm not going to get involved now, when will I ever?"
Nabiki was forced to smile at that. "If… if things go bad… You're okay with coming with us? Leaving the house… the dojo?"
Kasumi looked around, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I was always going to have to leave someday, Nabiki. As much as I love this house… It was never meant to be mine." She gave her sister a crooked grin. "But I'd much rather it stayed in the family if possible, so… please win?"
Nabiki nodded and smirked, regaining a bit of her old confidence, even if she didn't quite feel it. "Don't worry, sis. I'm pretty sure the Yakuza won't want to mess with Nerima once I'm done."
000
Her head hurt. It was the sort of splitting migraine that reminded her how desperately tired she was, yet wouldn't allow her the respite of sleep. Her mind was a whirl of confusing images and the notion presented itself that maybe things would get better if she opened her eyes.
She slowly cracked an eye open and winced. The notion had been very very wrong. She tried closing her eyes again but that just started the dizzying brain whirl all over again. She wanted so desperately to sleep but she kept tumbling back to consciousness.
She groaned and accepted defeat, opening an eye again. She managed to pry her tongue from the roof of her mouth, realized that her throat was so dry it hurt and that there was the most awful taste in her mouth.
She was in a white room. It was sterile in the way that hospital rooms tended to be, though there was a large window that had the curtains drawn back, letting in the daylight. She couldn't quite see out from her angle so she had no idea how high up she was. Her training kicked in and she glanced around for other escape routes. The door was closed and did not appear to have a lock, however, she could hear footsteps outside. There was a vent in the ceiling but it looked far too small for her to slip through and she doubted she could muster the effort to reach it.
The bed she was on was very soft. To someone used to sleeping on the floor or on a pile of flour sacks, it felt like a marshmallow. The sheets were crisp, white and clean and had been recently changed. Where am I?
The door opened. She opened both eyes and looked blearily towards it, though she was having trouble focusing. Two figures entered, but she couldn't make out enough detail to identify them.
"Konatsu?" a familiar voice asked. It was a voice she liked, but… something about it made her feel sad too. Or… hurt? She didn't know. Whatever the feeling was, it swam away in the haze of her confused thoughts.
"W-who…?"
The figure hurried closer. It was a girl, a teenager, with brown hair sporting streaks of vivid color in her bangs. She took hold of Konatsu's hand and gripped it. "Konatsu? Do you remember me?"
Konatsu? Yes, that's right. That's my name. Konatsu… She closed her eyes for a moment, but the whirling only got worse. "Nnnh..." A name came up from the whirlwind, however. "Mineko…?"
Mineko's smile widened and she nodded. She took Konatsu's hand and squeezed it. "Yeah… Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling?"
Mineko is my friend. Konatsu found the concept among the confusing jumble of thoughts and memories. It felt a bit odd… like something someone had told her. But at the same time, deep down, it felt correct. She curled her fingers around that hand… had Mineko's hand gotten bigger? No, that would be ridiculous. "My head…"
"We'll get you something for it," The other figure said. She stepped forward. Blonde, long hair, tail, piercing eyes. Konatsu didn't recognize her, though she had the odd feeling she should. "For now… you're probably dehydrated. Mineko?"
Mineko nodded and quickly retrieved a glass of water from the side table. She held it to Konatsu's lips, allowing her to drink until Konatsu was able to reach up and take the glass and drain it. It barely felt like enough to notice.
"Who… are you?" Konatsu croaked to the blonde girl.
"My name is Himura Tanaka," Himura said. "You remember the Tanaka family, don't you?"
Konatsu frowned. The name 'Tanaka' rang in her head almost like a bell. One of the few things that was absolutely crystal clear. But… oddly detached. Tanaka… My parents were retainers to a family named Tanaka. I was… I… don't remember them, but I know they were the ones my parents served. "My family have… been your retainers, right?"
"Exactly. Until your stepmother broke the agreement and spirited you away as a child when your father died," Himura said. Her eyes seemed oddly intense. Like she was searching Konatsu's face for a reaction.
"Yes…" Konatsu nodded. That sounded right. Not honoring father's commitments certainly sounded like something her stepmother would have done. "Have… you come to claim a debt on my honor?"
Himura smiled widely, as if she had heard what she had been waiting for. "No, my dear Konatsu! I've been searching for you! Since your mother died, my family has been very concerned about your welfare, but then your father passed and, much to my Grandfather's chagrin, we lost track of you. Your stepmother kept you from anything that might have left a paper trail. It wasn't until Mineko found you that we were sure. If anything, I am the one who has the debt of honor to repay." She bowed deeply before her.
"A… debt?" Konatsu asked, confused.
"Your family have been our retainers for generations. Though you have always managed your own affairs, we've done our best to ensure your family was well taken care of. However, in the tragedy that claimed your parents, we failed you twice. And then again in being unable to find you and allowing you to be exploited for so long. First by your Stepmother, and then by Ms. Kuonji."
"Exploited?" Konatsu murmured, frowning. That word didn't seem right connected to the name 'Kuonji'.
"I… don't wish to speak ill of her. She did certainly provide you an escape from an abusive situation that had become intolerable. But, when we found you, you were terribly malnourished. You could barely remember your own name. She had been paying you perhaps a few yen a day, and forcing you to work her shop while she indulged in… more 'recreational pursuits' with what appears to be several lovers." She dusted off her shoulder as if she felt soiled by mentioning it. "Mineko found you collapsed after having worked long hours without food or water… ironically serving food and water to Ms. Kuonji's clientele. I wanted to respect your wishes as much as possible, but I felt at that point that I needed to intervene."
"Intervene…" Konatsu repeated, frowning again.
Mineko squeezed her hand. "Yes, Konatsu! It's not fair how that girl treated you! She made you work for her basically for free because… because she knows you…" she bowed her head, "She's been exploiting your feelings for over a year now, all while rubbing your nose in her relationships. And you'd just accepted it… like you didn't deserve anything better! I couldn't just watch anymore!"
"I… thank you," Konatsu smiled. Mineko's earnest sincerity reassured her. She squeezed back, then glanced at Himura. "I… have no way to repay you for this."
"Oh, I know," Himura said, beaming. "That's hardly a concern. My family has always helped yours out whenever we could. That's why your ancestors pledged fealty to us so long ago." She waved her hand. "Honestly, it's all a bit silly and I'd hardly expect to hold you to such an agreement…"
"No…" Konatsu shook her head. "No… you honored your part of the agreement by helping me." She closed her eyes and swallowed. "I can't… things are still fuzzy… confused… but I know honor is important and my parents were honorable people. And if they chose to uphold this…" she looked back up at Himura, her eyes taking on a determined gleam "then so must I."
Himura raised an eyebrow, a bemused smirk on her lips. She nodded her head once. "If that is your wish… your help in my life would be sorely appreciated. But!" she held up a finger to forestall Konatsu's inquiry, "Later. Once you have recovered your strength to Mineko's satisfaction. Presuming she is agreeable?" Himura cocked her head, glancing at the girl.
Mineko nodded quickly. "Y-yes! Yes, I'll get Konatsu back on her feet for you, I promise, Himura!"
Himura grinned again. "Good. We've got a lot to discuss, the three of us. Rest up… I'll come see you both in a couple of days. I have some business to attend to."
000
Ryouga sighed as he leaned against the wall, waiting. His arms were crossed and his expression made it clear to most that he wasn't interested in talking.
He currently had a free period. Ukyou, Akane and Ranma had been shunted off to Home Economics, with much grumbling by Ranma, leaving Ryouga with a free period by himself. That generally meant standing wherever he was left and not moving from the spot until someone came to get him for fear he might end up somewhere outside of the school.
He tapped his foot and fidgeted. Most days he could simply meditate to pass the time, but it wasn't happening today. His thoughts were in a whirl and he couldn't focus enough to settle them.
"Got ditched again, Ryo?" A familiar voice asked.
Ryouga looked up to see Nabiki walking towards him. He sighed, closed his eyes and nodded. "The girls had home ec. I've got a free period. Nowhere to go."
"That must have burned for Ranma," Nabiki said, walking up to him and leaning against the wall next to him. "You wanna get out of here? I'm free too."
Ryouga exhaled heavily in relief. "Please. I'm going to go insane if I have to keep on counting floor tiles."
She smiled and offered her arm. At any other time Ryouga probably would have protested, or at least been a bit more shy about it, but he was already full up on anxiety from other things. He looped his arm through hers and let her lead him down the hall.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow at him as she made contact. "Woof. What's got you all churned up?"
Ryouga scowled. "Not having any privacy for my own thoughts, for one?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "All right. Come on." She led him up the stairs without another word.
Ryouga winced. He had stuck his foot in his mouth again. He wasn't getting much of a sense that she was mad, but then again Nabiki was hard to read. Her emotional landscape tended to be guarded.
She took him up the stairs to the roof access, producing a key from her pocket and unlocking the fire door. She led him onto the roof then released his arm, walked over to a large industrial vent and leaned against it. "All right… Now we can talk," she said. "No contact, no Link. Better?"
Ryouga nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… yeah. Look, sorry about…"
"She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Don't. Trust me, wanting privacy in your own head is something I can understand. I've had Shampoo, Ranma and Ukyou second guessing me so far based on the Link and… while it's nice to be understood at times, there are also times you want to keep some stuff to yourself." She smiled. "Or at least get to decide what and how much you share."
Ryouga sighed and leaned back against the door, closing it behind him with a click. "Thank you."
Nabiki chuckled. "I'm pretty good at identifying needs. It's important for a mercenary, you know?" She sighed. "So… Did you want to talk about any of that stuff in your head? Last call before I claim the floor because I could really use someone to talk to right now."
Ryouga blinked. "You need to talk?"
Nabiki looked away, appearing uncharacteristically shy. "Ryouga… I'm… in kind of over my head, on a lot of things right now. Everyone knows bits and pieces of it. Everyone owns a piece of it. Everyone except you. So… I guess I'm kind of hoping for an outsider's perspective." She swallowed nervously. "A-and… I'm also dreading it because… I'm pretty sure by this point you're neck deep with the rest of us, and I haven't told you anything."
"You're worried I'm gonna be mad?" Ryouga asked.
"I'm certain you're going to be mad," Nabiki replied. "I'm worried about how much of it will be aimed at me… and, to be honest, I probably deserve a lot of it. Most of it." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "All of it, if I'm honest."
Ryouga swallowed. This behavior was so far removed from the Nabiki he knew that he was having trouble figuring out what to say. "L-look, Nabiki, I promise I won't get angry…"
"Don't make a promise you can't keep, Hibiki," Nabiki warned him sternly, then looked away again. "Look… I just got done talking this over with Kasumi this morning and… I realized I hadn't thought this through all the way. I'll just start at the beginning." She took a breath. "Himura Tanaka's family, specifically her grandfather, is in deep with the Yakuza. Like founding member deep. She's being groomed to be his eventual successor. When her Granddad found out that she was using his resources to mess with a bunch of high school students… he wasn't happy."
"So… he's going to put a stop to all of this?" Ryouga asked hopefully.
Nabiki shook her head. "No… He decided to make it a test. And worse? Apparently, because I outplayed Himura at the school assembly, I'm being tapped. So either she wins and can force Ranma to do who knows what… or I win and we're all forced to do who knows what." Nabiki closed her eyes. "Then… I was approached by a group of… well, let's just call them 'criminal social activists' - hackers and thieves with an agenda. I got into bed with them to try and find a way out… and they want me to help them torpedo Tanaka Pharmaceuticals itself. I've gotten so tangled up that no matter what I do I'm dancing to someone else's tune and pissing off people it's not healthy to piss off. Which would be fine if it was just me. But it's not. These people… all of them… they're the sorts who go after the people you care about. With guns, or with technology or with other things that you just can't fight with martial arts. So everyone I care about - my family, Ranma, Shampoo, Ukyou, you… maybe even Sayuri and the others… they're all on the hook for this." She laughed bitterly. "And the best plan I've got so far to get out of this…? Is to sell us all to the Amazons!" She rolled her head back and thumped it against the aluminum with a *Bang*.
Ryouga just stared at her for a moment. Funny thing about being stuck in your own head with no way out; Sometimes the only way that you could escape it was to be faced with someone else who needed help getting out of something even worse than you.
He pushed off the door and walked over to her. He gently gripped her by the shoulders, earning a startled look. He held her eyes and made sure she could sense his sincerity through the Link before he spoke.
"Then we take 'em all on," he said. "We've been in worse fixes before…"
"No… no we have not," Nabiki said firmly. "Ryouga… this could include your family too! They could go after your Mom if they think you're involved…"
"Then we don't let 'em!" Ryouga shot back. "You think I'm afraid just because we might lose? I've put my life on the line plenty of times in fights I didn't know I could win… hell, there were a few I was pretty sure I couldn't. Ranma, Ukyou, Shampoo, Akane… They're all the same. If it's important, they'll fight for it. And you are important."
Nabiki looked stricken. "Ryo… I don't think you understand…"
"You're saying I might die," Ryouga said. "You're saying Ranma might die, or Akane, or any of us or all of us. And… you're saying they might not stop with us. Right?" He set his jaw. "You think these are the only bad guys who ever resorted to that? If nobody is willing to take risks to stop them then they never stop. So… Don't try to get out of it. Don't run. Don't… don't do damage control. Do what makes everyone fear and respect Nabiki Tendo. Walk in to the middle of the fire without any fear and make them afraid of you."
She stared at him. Her jaw trembled a bit. "Ryouga, I'm… I'm just a high school student. I'm not…"
"You are everything you need to be for this," Ryouga said firmly. "You've stared down gods and demons and stuff that scared the hell out of me, because you always knew what to look for. And now you've got all of us at your back, so… I wanna be there when they get that look in their eyes."
He smiled. His own problems felt far away now. "Do you want to know why I was all anxious earlier? I was scared. Not of anything bad that might happen, but of something good. I was scared of losing the curse… the family curse. For the last… god, I don't even know… my whole life has been just one day. A string of just one day. Each day, everything I did was just to get through to the next. Sometimes it was easy. Sometimes it was hard. But I never had to worry about the future or make plans or get attached to anything, because I never had a future to plan, or a place I could stay even if I wanted to. My whole world was just what was in my pack and that one day I had to get through. My biggest and only plan was finding Ranma. It was simple and I could manage all of it. But now? You and Ranma and Tofu and the others… you're about to give me a future, a place, things to hold on to… and that scared the hell out of me. I was…" he chuckled and shook his head, "I was even considering backing out. Not seriously… I can't afford to. Mom needs this too badly. But it was enough for me to wish that I could and to think 'maybe the wandering wasn't so bad'. You're giving me a whole life and I don't know what to do with it and it scares the hell out of me." He released her shoulders and straightened. "But you just solved my problem for me. Figuring out my future? All those possibilities? That's… that's too much. I don't want it. I'm not made for that. But living for a cause? Dying for it? Bleeding for it? That's easy. That I know. And you've got a cause that needs someone to do just that. So I'll solve both our problems." He stepped back a pace and dropped to one knee, bowing his head. "Nabiki Tendo, I pledge myself to your service, and the service of Ranma Saotome, and your combined families. My life, my strength, and my… uhh… umbrella are yours to command."
Nabiki was silent for a few moments, her eyes wide. Then, a small smile and… tears? She hiccuped, which became a giggle.
"Ryouga, for the love of… get up off the ground. You look ridiculous!" she managed to say, covering her mouth and a smile. But at the same time, tears were still running down her cheeks.
He stood. He was a little concerned about the crying but he could sense, even from here, that what was driving it was relief. "I… uhh… guess that was a bit melodramatic of me…" He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "I guess I'll have to…"
Nabiki took advantage of his momentarily lowered guard to step in towards him, inside his reach, slip her arms around his neck and pull his head down for a kiss that immediately shorted out whatever he had been about to say and obliterate the notion from his mind.
Nabiki kept the kiss short and sweet. Ryouga had the sense that she didn't want him completely going incoherent, though recent events seemed to have built up his resistance a little. Still, he wasn't quite sure exactly where he was anymore. His perception of reality had narrowed down considerably to consist of very little more than the girl who was in his arms right now (When had he put his arms around her?) and who was looking up at him with something much closer to Nabiki Tendo's usual confidence, though it contrasted a bit with the tear stains along her cheeks.
"That was your own fault," she said softly.
"I… uhh… I… I… ummm…" Ryouga stammered. Some part of his brain was telling him he should really let go and step back. Another part was telling him he could probably get away with another kiss, judging from the look in her eyes and the sense of her surging through the Link. She was warm and close and fascinatingly complicated and she wanted him and that stoked a fire in him he had never felt before. But a third, nagging voice reminded him that she wasn't his, and that she belonged with someone he very much couldn't bear to hurt. The conflict kept him paralyzed.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Sometimes a girl likes to be saved… but do you know what's better? Being reminded that she can do the saving too. That she can save herself. That someone believes in her. And to know that you meant every word of that… honestly and without any sort of ulterior motive?" She pressed herself a bit closer. "Well… that's just plain arousing."
"I… we… probably shouldn't…" Ryouga managed to croak out, hating himself for every syllable.
"I know," Nabiki said softly. "Though… It'd be really nice to get back at my sister. But… you have some things to sort out with Ranma first." She gently pulled him a bit closer, until their foreheads were touching. "I want to make it clear though… I am going to hold you to every word of that… except with one change. You're not allowed to die of anything other than old age if you want to be with me. Got it?"
"I… uhh… I think that's a price I'm willing to pay…" Ryouga managed. He even managed a lopsided smile though it felt a bit insane to him. He should have been a gibbering wreck, and an incoherent mess bleeding out from the nostrils and making a fool of himself.
She believes in me too, he realized. It wasn't Akari's blind faith, or Anna's misapplied belief in a hero that he wasn't. Nabiki knew him, knew what a mess he was, knew all of his flaws and mistakes. And she believed in him anyway. That knowledge was keeping him anchored in the moment. I was always afraid before, he thought. He wondered how long it had been since he had simply been happy like this - without the ever present fear of it being taken away.
But there was still that one reminder needling the back of his mind.
"I feel… like I'm betraying Ranma a bit here…" he murmured. It was a bit of a struggle to get the words out. He wanted to simply enjoy the feeling of the moment a bit longer.
"You're not," Nabiki replied. "Not yet, anyway." She smirked. "And I'm just as guilty. But I'm greedy. I think you're someone Ranma needs in her life. And I think you're someone I need. You're certainly someone I want. So… I'll push a little, if it will help you two sort things out. Then I can have you both."
"Should… Should I go…" Ryouga shifted, gesturing at the door.
"No… not right now. Ukyou wanted to talk with Ranma alone and I think we should probably save this last resolution until we've got your curse out of the way. Besides…" her smile widened and she gave him a playful look, "What's the rush?"
Ah, THERE'S the terror. Ryouga swallowed. "I… uhh… I thought we weren't….?"
"Oh, not that," Nabiki smirked. She slipped away from him and reached into her bag to pull something out. She turned and raised an eyebrow, hefting a camera in her hand. "Still want to learn about photography?"
000
Ranma slid the tray of cookies out of the oven smoothly, nodding in satisfaction at the golden brown color. Even color, not burned at the edges, nice shape… She set the tray on the counter to cool, pulled off the oven mitts and sighed heavily.
What the hell am I doing? she thought, staring at the cookies.
It would be easier if she hated this, or if she were out of her mind in tea ceremony lala land, puttering around 'making goodies for the boys' or some of the other nonsense that she usually spouted whenever there was some kind of magical personality alteration involved.
But she wasn't out of her mind, and she didn't hate this. It had just become another kata, like math problems had become. It was like she had started applying that method to everything, whether she wanted to learn it or not. And… there had been a kind of zen to it. Before she had always cooked for some ulterior motive or goal, but this time it had just been to cook.
"Something wrong, sugar?" Ukyou leaned against her counter. Ukyou had finished her own cooking early, even while coaching Akane with hers. There were no handy 'Greek Cookie' Recipes lying about, so Akane was back to form and needed supervision for most of the class, leaving Ranma to her own devices.
"I'm just… having another small identity crisis, Ucchan," Ranma sighed, gathering her recently washed utensils to put away. "Sorta… worried about how far this whole 'girl side' thing has gone, you know?"
"What, cookies are enough to get you off-kilter now? It's not even like it's the first time you've baked cookies," Ukyou replied. She glanced sidelong at the cookies.
"Yeah, but… always been some purpose to it before," Ranma grumped. "That always used to distract me. I guess having a reason for it made it okay to enjoy myself doing it?"
"Cooking isn't exactly a female-only profession, sugar. Unless you wanna say that to my Dad and pretty much my entire family?" Ukyou reached for one of the cookies. "You just like being good at things, and you're naturally good at cooking."
Ranma rapped Ukyou on the knuckles with a wooden spoon. "Wait for them to cool. You know better than that!"
Ukyou scowled and shook her hand. "Geez, you're as strict as the girls in my old middle school!"
"You weren't baking?" Ranma raised an eyebrow.
Ukyou shrugged. "I was attending as a boy, remember? And the school wasn't exactly progressive if you get my meaning. I wanted to cook, but boys were supposed to wait outside and beg for treats from the girls. Say what you want about Furinkan, but at least it's my choice if I wanna take cooking or shop class."
"Wait… then why did they say I had to take cooking if I was registered as a girl!?" Ranma protested, gesturing at the cookie tray.
"Because the Principal is messing with you and he probably figured changing out your course load for a bunch of 'girly' classes would make you crack," Ukyou replied. This time she managed to move fast enough to snag a warm cookie while Ranma was distracted. She winked and took a bite. "Honestly, the best revenge you can get on him is actually enjoying yourself…" She immediately opened her mouth and fanned with her hand due to the high temperature of the molten chocolate chips.
"I did warn you," Ranma said. "Okay, maybe cooking isn't the example I thought it was. But…"
"This is about this morning, isn't it?" Ukyou jumped in.
Ranma scowled and crossed her arms tightly over her chest and looked away. "L-look, I said that wasn't what it looked like…"
"We know, Ranma," Ukyou replied, putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Ryouga was warm, and you're a little heat vampire. Besides… you worry too much about what other people think about all of this."
"Y-yeah, well… losing face is something pops said I gotta avoid…" Ranma said weakly.
"And your father would know anything about that?" Ukyou said, giving Ranma a bemused look.
"I… I just don't wanna give anyone the wrong idea, is all!" Ranma huffed. Her cheeks were burning and she hated that she couldn't get it under control.
Ukyou sighed and shook her head. "Ranma… do you know why nobody woke you guys up until breakfast was ready?"
"I'm guessing you found me and Ryo snuggled up amusing," Ranma grumbled, putting the rest of the things away in the drawer with more force than was strictly necessary.
"No… well, yes, but mostly…" Ukyou walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "We could sense through the Link that you felt safe. We know… I know… that's a rare feeling for you. We didn't want to take that away."
"I'm not… like that, okay, Ukyou?" Ranma said, resisting the urge to slam the drawer, and forcing herself to close it with exaggerated care to avoid drawing attention to herself. Her hand was shaking.
Ukyou's eyes narrowed. "Care to explain to me what you mean by that, sugar?"
Ranma blinked and looked at her. "I… uhhh… I just mean…"
"Careful," Ukyou said, a warning tone entering her voice. "Because I am 'Like That'. I like boys and girls, and depending on the day my preference about which one I want to be changes too. And I was under the impression you were too. So… care to explain what 'Like That' even means in this context?"
"I…" Ranma started, then trailed off. "I don't know, okay? I know… I know on some level I can get my parents to be okay with all of this… with all of you. But… but Ryo? That's…." She squeezed her eyes shut. "That's a line."
"So… this isn't about how you feel about him, this is about holding onto some hope that your parents will one day accept you, huh?" Ukyou said. She scowled. "Sugar, give it up."
"How can I?" Ranma hissed. She glanced around, but no one was paying attention to them. "I'm supposed to save the Saotome family line. I'm supposed to revive our martial arts legacy and become the Grand Master of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I'm supposed to be a Man amongst Men… even if it's just a show!" She huffed in frustration. "You wouldn't understand…"
Ukyou grabbed her shoulder and turned her to look at her with a bit of force, startling Ranma. Her eyes were cold and angry.
"Don't tell me I wouldn't understand about living up to family expectations, Saotome!" She said harshly. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and calmed herself. She opened them again, some of the hardness gone. "Listen to me, Ranma… when you and your Dad ran off? I blamed a lot of my troubles on that, but the truth was the engagement was just my Dad trying to 'save face'. Even back then he knew I wasn't 'right' in his eyes. I acted more like a son, dressed like a boy, talked like a boy… he knew I wasn't going to be a 'good wife'. So he tried to sell me off to your father like I was damaged goods. And then when that failed? He gave up on me. And do you want to know the stupidest part? It was all because he wanted a son."
Ranma blinked. "I thought… I mean, isn't that why you…?"
Ukyou looked down. "Don't get me wrong… I wanted to be that son for him. More than anything. Even before I met you. But… That wasn't enough for Dad. He made do with his tomboy daughter for a while, but… In his mind I couldn't be what he wanted me to be. I couldn't be his true heir. And it turns out he couldn't trade me in to get the heir he wanted, so…" she shrugged, "he gave up. Packed up one day and headed off to a monastery somewhere. Said he couldn't live with the shame of it."
"Ucchan… God, I'm sorry…" Ranma said softly.
"Don't be," Ukyou shook her head. "That's not the point. The point is Ranma… you can't be what your parents want you to be if that's not what you are. No matter how much you want to be."
Ranma looked at her. "But…" she trailed off, "but…" She clenched her fist, then relaxed it. "It's not right."
Ukyou's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously, Ranma?"
"No, not…!" Ranma said quickly. "I don't mean because… because he's a guy and…" She swallowed nervously. "I mean because… don't you think he deserves to be with a real girl? A-and not one who's already shared four ways?"
Ukyou frowned at her. "That's a stupid argument, Ranma. By that logic Akane shouldn't be with you because she deserves a real girl. Or me."
Ranma felt an odd lurch. Selfish… a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. It sounded oddly like her mother's voice. "Well… maybe you shouldn't," Ranma said heavily. "Sometimes… sometimes I don't get why you are. If I can't be what my parents want, how am I supposed to be what you want, huh?!"
The shock was obvious on Ukyou's face, and Ranma felt a pang of guilt. "Ranma, that's not… We want you! Not… not…"
"Wasn't always like that, though," Ranma replied. "Maybe it still isn't, huh? Akane and Ryo want a girl, you want a trans, Shampoo wants a breeder, and Nabiki wants an action movie star. Maybe I ain't ever gonna be all of those things. Maybe I won't be any of 'em. What then, huh? What if one day the curse goes away? Or… or… it did something and I can't have kids? Or…"
"Ranma…" Ukyou stepped forward and took her by the shoulders. "We'll deal with any of that if and when it happens, okay? But… You can't live your life around trying to account for who you might be in the future. Just be who you are now… that's all we want from you."
There was a yelp from the other side of the room, and a fwoosh as flames leapt up from one of the ovens.
"Oh crap, I left Akane too long!" Ukyou said. "Uhhh… we'll talk more later, okay Ranma?" She released Ranma's shoulders and raced past her towards the fire as Akane started hosing down the flaming oven with a fire extinguisher.
Ranma watched. The fire was already dying down and seemed to be under control without her. The girls could take care of themselves perfectly well without her, of course.
"Yeah… okay, Ucchan." Ranma said softly to herself. "We'll talk later."
000
"Anything?" Hiroshi asked in a tired voice. He was slumped over on a table littered with file folders, index cards and discarded wrappers.
"Nothing," Yuka sighed, carefully putting the papers back in the file, and dropping it on top of a somewhat precarious stack. They had given up on carefully re-filing the dossiers sometime after noon, when the prospect of spending another uncomfortable night sleeping on the floor loomed.
"This is a mess," Daisuke said, leaning back from the microfiche reader and rubbing his eyes. "Most of these files aren't sorted and are crammed so full of irrelevant crap you can't tell who's actually in the family!"
"Well, it's not like they use these files anymore," Yuka replied off-handedly. "I don't think they've even updated these files in ten years."
"Great. We've got nothing to report, and we can't even report that we've got nothing to report because there's no flippin' cell service this deep in the catacombs…" Hiroshi tossed his useless cell phone onto the table.
"We should take a break," Yuka said with a sigh. "What have we got left for food?"
"Well, I've got a few cups of instant ramen," Daisuke replied, digging through his pack.
"Oh?" Yuka asked. "Did you happen to bring a microwave or kettle to heat the water with?"
"Ummm…"
Yuka slapped her forehead.
000
Kodachi slowly turned the envelope over in her hands. The wax seal was broken - she had read the contents thoroughly and returned them to the envelope. Now she was lounging in one of the soft chairs of the main study, regarding the letter in the flickering firelight. The paper was coarse and cheap, the envelope plain and unadorned, save her name. There was no perfume or gold embroidery. It was an attempt to ape the customs of the aristocracy by someone who utterly lacked any understanding of them.
"You have been staring at that envelope for over an hour, dear sister," Tatewaki said, walking in bearing a tray with a tea kettle and two cups. He set it down on the stand next to her and began pouring tea for both of them.
"There are servants for bringing us tea, dear brother," she said off-handedly, not shifting her gaze from the envelope.
"I find peaceful contemplation in making tea," Tatewaki replied.
"You steep it too long. I vastly prefer the tea Ling makes," Kodachi groused, though she accepted the cup and took a sip.
"Not attending school today, sister?" Tatewaki asked, not rising to take the bait.
"It would be… awkward," Kodachi said, turning the envelope over again.
"Are you perhaps finally willing to tell me what is in this mysterious envelope you have been worrying all day?" Tatewaki asked as he sat in the chair across from her with his own teacup.
Kodachi scowled. While her brother finally being on proper medication made him far less odious to deal with… and indeed almost pleasant at times… it had also made him that much harder to misdirect. She sighed. As the legal head of the Kuno family, I do suppose I would have to discuss this with him at some point. She flicked the letter over to him. "Here. Indulge your curiosity. It was delivered yesterday by my Darling Ranma's father, according to Sasuke."
He caught the letter, opened it and pulled out the letter inside. She watched the play of emotions across his face as he read; He might be much less prone to outbursts now but he was still very much the open book.
"I… suppose congratulations are in order," he said carefully, folding the letter once more. "Presuming this is what you really want?"
Kodachi smiled. "If you mean being wed to my Darling Ranma? Yes, of course, don't be foolish," she scoffed. She took a deep breath. "However… the… circumstances of that marriage concern me."
"You mean the stories we have heard of Ranma Saotome's family, the treatment of his sister and his mother's apparent plans for your offspring," Tatewaki said, closing the envelope and handing it back.
Kodachi scowled and nearly snatched it from his fingers. "You needn't be so glib, brother dear. Yes, all of that concerns me." She regarded the envelope wistfully. "As much as I want a chance to finally be with my Darling Ranma, the idea of being beholden to that woman for it irks me. I would have my love choose me as his rightful bride of his own free will… or at least by a machination of my choosing. This… barbaric contract that she holds over his head offends my sensibilities!"
She paused, expecting the usual retort about her own 'flexible' morals, but Tatewaki merely nodded.
"What do you wish to do about it, then?" Tatewaki asked.
"I'm not certain," Kodachi said softly. "My first impulse is to accept, swoop in and spirit my Darling away, and leave the wretched woman pining for the grandchildren she will never see. But I worry dear Ranma would still feel bound by that ridiculous contract. And if I tip my hand that I'm aware of it, I worry about reprisals towards my dear Ran." Her eyes narrowed. "As much as I am loathe to admit it, I am… considering entreating Nabiki Tendo for her assistance."
Tatewaki's eyebrows rose. "Does she not have a claim on Ranma Saotome as well?"
"Yes, which is why I am only considering it at the moment," Kodachi growled. "She and the other harridans hounding my love are entirely too friendly with each other. The moment word of my victory slips to one, they will all know." She sighed sadly. "They will protest; perhaps mount a 'rescue'... and my moment of triumph will be ruined, just as every other moment with my Darling has been."
"Yet you still consider it?" Tatewaki asked, curious.
"What good is my victory if it's in name only? If he remains a slave to another, even his own mother?" She crushed the envelope in her hand. "I will not make such a Faustian bargain! My Darling Ranma will be mine… solely mine… or not at all! But either way he will not belong to that woman one moment longer than necessary!"
"I see," Tatewaki smiled. "It is good to see the fire in your eyes, sister." He stood and walked over, surprising her with a kiss to her forehead. "Whatever you decide, I will support you. Do what you must."
Kodachi blinked. She hadn't expected Tatewaki to oppose her of course, but neither had she expected him to offer support. Normally he would want to be left out of whatever plans she had for Ranma. "And what price your support, brother? Or do you feel this will endear you to your beloved Akane Tendo? Or that perhaps Ran would see merit in you for facilitating her brother's happiness?"
Tatewaki winced visibly and she felt the odd, rare pang of guilt.
He gave her a weak smile. "Call it… the first step of my penance. There was once a time where you did not have cause to believe me so… mercenary. Perhaps I can make some small progress toward earning that sort of trust once more. At the very least, I can make amends in some way for the behaviour that caused me to lose it in the first place."
Kodachi considered. Part of her wanted to deride him for acting and sounding so weak but… sincere support was something she sorely needed now. Do I dare trust your newfound sanity this far, brother?
"I… will let you know when I've decided then," she said finally.
000
The walk to the hospital after school did little to ease Ryouga's apprehension. What if this doesn't work? he thought, his mind whirling through dark fantasies of doom and despair. What if this makes it worse? What if… if it SPREADS? Doc Hirano said my ki was keeping that from happening, but if we suppress my ki, then what?
He felt a nudge at his side. He looked down to his right and saw that Ranma was walking next to him, hands jammed into her pockets. She had just nudged him with her elbow.
"You're projecting," Ranma muttered, eyes on the pavement ahead of her. "I can feel it, like, five feet away from you."
"Sorry…" Ryouga replied, unconsciously mimicking her as he jammed his own hands in his pockets. "I'm just… nervous."
"Oh yeah? About what?" Ranma asked.
Ryouga chuckled softly. "Stupid stuff. Just… worried about what happens if this doesn't work. Curses don't go away easily. We've both got experience with that."
"Yeah…" Ranma replied. "Uhh… hey, Ryo… You don't… I mean… about the Jusenkyo curses… Do you think they'll… last?" She glanced up at him.
Ryouga blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… we've only had them a couple of years, right?" Ranma said. "The springs are a flooded mess and we haven't messed with any magic for a while. I was just thinking… the whole dragon whisker thing - that wore off after a while. Do you think the same thing might happen with the Jusenkyo curses?"
Ryouga frowned. "Y'know… I never even really considered that. But… I don't think it's on the same level." He shrugged. "Your dragon whisker only wore off because the whisker expired, right? And doesn't that thing have a shelf life of something like 4,000 years?"
Ranma's eyes widened. "Oh yeah, I forgot that part…"
"And that's for a stupid hair restorative," Ryouga continued. "Jusenkyo… well, that's a whole other level, right? I mean, look at my directional curse. It's been in my family for something like 500 years and it's as strong as ever."
"You mean… we might pass our curses onto our kids?" Ranma suddenly looked nervous. She rubbed her chin. "No… no, the Musk used Jusenkyo to turn animals into women to become their wives."
"And then they locked them with the ladle. Herb seemed to be pretty convinced it was lifelong." Ryouga shrugged. "Like I said, curses don't go easy. Something as powerful as Jusenkyo probably can't be cured by anything."
Ranma sighed and seemed to relax. "That's a relief."
Ryouga raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth, then shut it, deciding that was a rabbit hole he didn't want to go down.
"I'm surprised you don't have a stronger opinion, Ryo," Nabiki said, suddenly appearing to his left and looping her arm through his. "Don't you have a preference?"
"Urk." Ryouga shot her a look of panicked betrayal, then glanced at Ranma, who was giving him an apprehensive look.
He closed his eyes and forced his panic down. He could sense Nabiki through the contact of her arm and got the sense that she wasn't trying to sabotage him… but give that 'push' she had been talking about. Just be honest, Ryouga.
"I… uhh…" He rubbed the back of his head. "L-look… Ranma is Ranma. She shouldn't have to pick just one if she doesn't want to."
"Yes, but this isn't about Ranma picking one, this is about which form you prefer." Nabiki nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. She frowned and nodded towards Ranma.
She wants me to say I like her as a girl? Ryouga glanced at Nabiki, then back at Ranma. I mean… I DO, but… but that's not all of it… Arrgh, how do I say this right?
"Well?" Ranma prodded. "C'mon, Ryo… this is getting weird. Just say it, okay?" She scuffed her shoe on the ground. "I mean… it's not really a big deal, is it?"
Ryouga took a deep breath, centering himself. "Alright. Fine." He swallowed. "I prefer Ranma as a girl."
"There, see? Was that so…" Nabiki said, but Ryouga held up his hand.
"I'm not finished," he said. "That's hard for me to say because I like Ranma. Not just girl-Ranma. Ranma the person. I prefer her as a girl because she's cute, but… Her being cute isn't why I like Ranma. It's just… a bonus." He relaxed. "There. Happy?"
He doubled over as a fist slammed into his midsection, driving the air out of his lungs.
"Pervert," Ranma muttered, cracking her knuckles as she walked away.
Ryouga groaned and sank to his knees. "What… was I supposed to say?" he wheezed.
Nabiki crouched next to him, patting his shoulder sympathetically. "No, no, that was beyond perfect, Ryouga. I'm kind of impressed. I don't think I could have worded it better myself!"
Ryouga turned his head to glare at her, his arms still cradling his wounded midsection. "Yeah, thanks a bunch, Nabiki. Remind me why I trusted you to help me with this?"
Nabiki winked and whispered. "Because I'm a fantastic kisser? And also… because our little redhead just stalked out of here with a blush and struggling to hide a grin that might just crack her face."
"That was the good outcome?" Ryouga gasped as Nabiki helped him to his feet.
"She didn't even go for the face. Trust me, she ate that up. Most of what Ranma has learned about being a girl has come from Akane, Ukyou and Shampoo. 'Tsundere' barely covers it." Nabiki slipped his arm across her shoulders to help steady him. "Now come on and see if you can muster some more of that charm. The blood loss will be worth it."
"I'm never going to survive this... " he moaned.
000
Ranma had just about recovered her composure by the time they stepped through the doors of the hospital. Her hand still hurt from the punch. Stupid Ryouga… stupid concrete gut… stupid… STUPID! Why did he hafta say all that weird stuff, huh?
Because you told him it was okay.
Shut UP! Shutupshutupshutup! She thwacked the side of her temple with the heel of her hand to knock the voice loose.
He said he likes you.
That's not what he meant! Ranma howled mentally at the infuriating voice. Why did it sound so much like her? He likes… her like the girl in the mirror! He likes the girl I look like!
That's not what he said.
"Shut up!" Ranma barked out loud.
"Ranma?" Shampoo asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Shampoo not say anything…"
"What? No, not you, Shampoo. It's just… I… Ever get a song stuck in your head and it won't go away? Even though you really don't want to hear it?" Ranma replied hastily. "It's like that."
"Aiya! Shampoo have same problem! Is ad for Sapporo Ichiban too?" Shampoo asked.
Ranma frowned. "No… but now that's stuck up there too. Thanks."
"Shampoo! I just got rid of that stupid jingle!" Akane whined. "Now my head is full of noodle-selling cowboys!" Her stomach growled. "And I'm hungry!"
"Actually, why don't we take care of that?" Nabiki said, clapping her hands. She glanced at Ukyou and gave her a meaningful nod when the others weren't looking.
"Uhhh… yeah… we should… uhh… check out the vending machines?" Ukyou said, giving Nabiki a quizzical look.
"Actually, I was thinking more the cafeteria," Nabiki replied. "I heard they do a great… great…" she struggled, then sighed, "Okay, fine, it's hospital food, so it'll be awful. But I'm hungry and I'm buying, so let's go."
Ranma perked up. "You're buying, Nabiki? Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
"Not you," Nabiki said, pointing sternly at Ranma. Then she pointed at Ryouga. "And not you, either! You need to stay put, sign us in and wait for Doctor Hirano."
"What?! But… but why?" Ranma's eyes misted up with tears that weren't entirely fake.
"We'll… bring you back something, Ranchan. I promise," Ukyou said. She helped Nabiki herd Shampoo and Akane down the hall.
Ryouga shook his head and sighed. "Here, I've got a few yen. Maybe you can get something from the vending machine to tide you over." He dug into his pocket and produced the few coins he had been holding onto and handed them over reluctantly.
Ranma beamed at him in a remarkably decent impression of Akane's 1000 Megawatt smile. "Thank you, Ryo!" She clutched the coins to her chest and then scampered off to the vending machines by the door.
"Yeah… I'll just… do the paperwork…" Ryouga glanced at the front desk and sighed.
Ranma grinned as she stared through the glass of the vending machine, trying to decide what to pick. "Hmmm… something sweet… hmm, chocolate maybe?" She blinked. "Oooh, there's Pocky! I can…" she trailed off as she suddenly remembered the 'game' that was sometimes played between a boy and girl with Pocky, "Aheh… no, maybe not. Something else, then... Definitely something else… Chocolate… chocolate…"
She glanced up towards the reception desk, considering asking Ryouga to come help her decide. He was still over by the desk, but the receptionist…
It wasn't the usual bitter, middle-aged woman. The nurse manning the station was young, attractive and leaning over the desk far too close to Ryouga, ostensibly to help him fill in the forms. She was smiling far more than Ranma liked, as well.
And then he smiled back.
It was one of his clueless, goofy smiles, too. The one that told her that he was well aware of just how pretty the nurse was.
Ranma didn't take her eyes off them as she stabbed the buttons on the control panel, then snatched up the Pocky that dropped out. That's MINE!
She stalked over to the desk. As she did she calmed her outer demeanor, though she was still seething inside.
"I can't believe you don't remember me!" The nurse poked Ryouga's shoulder playfully. "I was working your floor both times you were brought in!"
"Yeah… aheh… well… bad memory?" Ryouga said nervously. He looked like he was trying to focus on the form. "Are… you sure you need my phone number on this?"
"We need a contact number, naughty boy," she said with a wink. "For emergency use only, of course. Unless you want to write it out a second time on the notepad for me."
Ryouga swallowed.
"Ryo! Darling!" Ranma latched onto Ryouga's arm, trilling in her cutesiest cutesy voice. "Where did you run off to?"
"Gah!" Ryouga started badly. He relaxed slightly when he saw that it was Ranma, but then tensed up again as he noticed the look in her eyes. "Uhhh… hi, Ranma! I was just… y'know… Forms… paperwork…"
"Oh! You're the little redhead who came in with Mr. Hibiki the second time," the nurse said. "I'm Reiko. Are you Mr. Hibiki's little sister?"
Ranma's right eye twitched. She hugged Ryoga's arm a little tighter and puffed out her chest. "I'm his fiancee. And I'm pretty sure I've got a few inches on you, sweetheart."
Reiko raised an eyebrow. She smirked and folded her arms, leaning across the desk on them. "Really? Hard to tell in that schoolgirl outfit. I can check, though. I'm pretty sure we got your measurements when we were cleaning you up. I couldn't help but notice that poor Mr. Hibiki took the worst of whatever happened. How very gallant of him! I imagine a little thing like you would have been torn to shreds."
"I'll tear SOMETHING to shreds…" Ranma growled under her breath. She decided to change her approach, fishing out the Pocky and shearing the top off the box in one quick motion. "Look, Ryo dear… I got Pocky!" She fished out one of the chocolate coated cookie sticks and put the very tip in her teeth, holding it with light pressure as she stood on her tiptoes, offering the other end to him. "Want one?"
Ryouga's eyes widened with panic. "Y'knowI'vebeentryingtocutbacktoomanysweetsdon'twanttogetfatRanmawhattheHelliswrongwithyou!?" He hissed the last part.
Some part of Ranma's brain prickled, trying to alert her that maybe this wasn't the best way to approach things, but she wasn't listening. Instead she twitched the Pocky stick in her teeth and gave him her best seductive look. "C'mon P-chan… C'mon c'mon c'mooooon!"
Reiko blinked, then straightened and sat back in her chair giggling. "Oh my God, the Pocky Game?! You two are just too precious!"
Ranma's attention immediately swivelled back to the nurse, who was lounging back in the chair and crossing her long legs. Ranma had a moment of hesitation as she realized that the nurse's miniskirt was quite short. She snapped up the Pocky stick in one bite. "H-hey…! I don't see you doing any better!"
Reiko smirked. She sat up, fished a pen from her breast pocket, pulled out a business card and wrote something on the back. She then held it out to Ranma. "Here. You two seem like a lot of fun. You've got some fire to you and it's been forever since I've found a nice couple to play with."
Ranma blinked and accepted the card. On the back was a phone number.
"Just don't tell my boss, okay? He gets uptight about me propositioning patients." She stretched, stood up and picked up the clipboard with the half-complete paperwork on it. "Don't worry about the paperwork, sweetie. I've got all your info from the last two times you were here. I do hope the next time I see the two of you things are a little less formal though." She winked and walked around the desk, her heels clicking as she strode down the hall.
Ryouga and Ranma both blinked and watched her go.
"What just happened?" Ryouga asked.
Ranma squinted at the phone number on the card, confused, until something clicked and her eyes widened. "Don't tell Nabiki."
"Don't tell Nabiki what?" Ryouga asked. "What did she give you, anyway?"
"Don't tell Nabiki!" Ranma repeated. She shoved the open box of Pocky into his hands. "J-just… shut up and have some Pocky!"
"I… I don't… What?" Ryouga said uncertainly.
Ranma swiped a handful of the Pocky from the box and crammed them into his mouth, then snatched the half empty box back. "Oh shut up, let's just go sit."
"Mmmrrf mmrr mmm mff," Ryouga replied and followed her obediently. He sat down heavily on one of the plastic chairs and started chewing.
"Hmpf… You should know better than to go all dopey just because a pretty girl smiles at you. Don't you have enough pretty girls around you these days?" Ranma pulled out a Pocky stick and bit it angrily.
"I wasn't… Look, you told me to go fill out the paperwork! She was the receptionist! What was I supposed to tell her?" Ryouga replied as he swallowed his mouthful of cookie stick.
"How about that you're married!?" Ranma shot back.
Ryouga coughed, choking on a remnant of Pocky. Her thumped his chest. "What?!"
"I mean… Technically," Ranma folded her arms and huffed. "Until we get that sorted out, it's… it's just not right for you to… to… to flirt with any pretty girl you see!"
Ryouga was silent for a moment. Then a slow smile spread across his face. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You're jealous."
"What?!" Ranma squeaked. "Why would I be jealous of you?! Get me a little hot water and that Nurse wouldn't even look twice at you!"
"Not what I meant," Ryouga replied. "You're jealous of her."
Ranma flushed red, another indignant squeak escaping. "I am not, you pig-headed, pig-for-brains… pig!"
"Your insults get repetitive when you're lying," Ryouga replied with confidence. "How many times did you call Akane 'Uncute' because you couldn't think of anything better, huh?"
"I… you… you!" Ranma grit her teeth, staring daggers at him.
"Look, you can't just pull out the 'we're married' card when it suits you!" Ryouga said. "I'm probably doing your fiancees a favor on this. You're either married or you're not. Married girls don't flirt with soda jerks for free ice cream, they don't vamp the guys at the beach for free treats and they don't stick their spouses with the jobs they don't wanna do. So pick." He sat up and crossed his arms. "You can be jealous, or you can be single."
"You can't be serious!" Ranma huffed.
"I totally am!" Ryouga shot back, closing his eyes and raising his chin. "Gimme the card, or give me a Pocky."
"Why do you want the card?!" Ranma yelped. "Don't tell me you're actually…?!"
Ryouga scowled. "No, of course not! That'd be… Look, I want it because it's none of your damn business! Weren't you talking about how I needed to find a girlfriend?"
"Then find a girlfriend, not a hookup, you sleaze!" Ranma gripped the card tighter.
Ryouga gave her an exasperated look. "I'm not… It's the principal of the thing! Besides… Reiko seems like a nice girl…"
"Ryouga!"
He shrugged and leaned back, looking away as he stretched his arms across the chairs. "You're jealous, then."
"I am not!"
"I'm sick of being jerked around, Ranma," Ryouga shot back indignantly. "Card or Pocky. Pick one."
Ranma glared at him, then thrust the box in his direction.
"Uh uh," Ryouga shook his head. "With your mouth."
Ranma froze. "You can't be serious."
"You were gonna do it in front of Reiko, weren't you?" He locked eyes with her, challenging her. Finally, he broke the stare, rolled his eyes and sat back. "Look, this is stupid, Ranma. You get all jealous and competitive and you do stuff like this and it's frustrating because you don't really mean any of it, and you won't admit you're doing it! You can't keep holding onto me if you don't actually want me, so… just gimme the card. I'll tear it up if you want, I just want you to let go of this stupid…" He grunted as something dropped into his lap.
He blinked and looked down to see Ranma had sat herself across his legs. Her blue eyes were flashing with defiance and she had a slightly cracked Pocky clenched between her teeth.
"What are you doing?" Ryouga squeaked.
"I thought you wanted Pocky?" Ranma said. She was blushing and, though she was scowling, she was also shaking slightly. "Here it is. Take it already."
Ryouga's looked around wildly, but no one seemed to be taking notice of what was going on. "You can't be serious!" he hissed.
Ranma scowled. "That's my line!" She swallowed. Her heart was thudding in her chest and she did not feel any of the defiant front she was putting up.
Ryouga just stared at her a moment. Then, slowly, he reached out and took her by the shoulders. For a moment, she was afraid he was actually going to do it, but instead he seemed to just be studying her.
"I… Look, I'm sorry," he said, bowing his head. "I'm… it's complicated and I've got no right to push like that. I'm not even sure what I hoping for."
Ranma slowly reached up and took the Pocky from her mouth. "You… wanted the card, then?"
"No!" Ryouga said, with more vehemence than strictly necessary. "I…" He sighed in frustration. "I guess… I'm just sick of not knowing where I stand with you. Or where I could stand. I don't know what I am to you anymore."
"I… you're…" Ranma stammered. She frowned. It was an easy question. It should be an easy question! It was obvious to her, right? Nothing had changed! He was… he was… "You're… You're Ryouga."
Ryouga gave her a sad look and sighed heavily. "You're the only one who knows what that means, Ranma. If you even do?"
"W-well… what do you even want to be to me, huh?" Ranma shot back. "You keep acting like you're on the edge of telling me something… just tell me!"
"It's not that simple!" Ryouga replied tightly.
"Well it's not that simple for me, either!" Ranma retorted.
"I'm… sorry, am I interrupting something?"
"AAAHHHHH!" Ranma and Ryouga yelped in unison. Ranma tumbled over backwards off of Ryouga's lap, landing awkwardly on her neck on the floor as Ryouga tried to scramble up. Ryouga stumbled, shoes slipping on the freshly waxed floor, then landed heavily back in his seat.
Doctor Hirano gave them both a quizzical look. "I… can come back if you both need a few minutes?"
"No, we're fine!" Ryouga said quickly.
"Everything is fine!" Ranma scrambled to her feet, dusting herself off.
"We're fine here," Ryouga added.
"How are you?" Ranma finished, plastering a big smile across her face.
Doctor Hirano raised an eyebrow. "I… am ready for you and your friends now. If you could gather them we can begin the procedure."
000
"Before we begin, I wish to state that I am still rather… hesitant to proceed with this whole scenario," Dr. Hirano said as he paced before the group. "Normally I wouldn't even dream of proceeding so quickly and recklessly, but my colleague…" he shot an annoyed look at Dr. Tofu, who looked away awkwardly, "appears to have elected to override my concerns and proceed anyway." He looked at the group of them appraisingly. "And you claim you are now all connected through this Link, yes?"
Ranma nodded, taking the lead. "Yeah. We think that if we get enough of us working together, we can flush that curse right outta Ryo's system."
Dr. Hirano sighed heavily, took off his glasses and started methodically polishing the lenses. "You do realize there is absolutely no basis in observed fact to support that hypothesis, yes? That there is no precedent, either in medical science or the extensive homeopathic documentation that Dr. Tofu has provided?"
"I mean… well, there's gotta be a first time, right Doc?" Ranma said with a grin.
Dr. Hirano put his glasses back on and gave Ranma such a stern glare that she found herself withering under it. "Yes. A first! A single first, under controlled conditions where the factors are known and understood! We have barely progressed to the stage of proving that all of this… this level of physics actually even exists! This is all firsts, and to proceed under these conditions is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible!" His glare shifted to Dr. Tofu, who also wilted visibly under it. "Especially for someone who has ostensibly sworn to uphold the Hippocratic Oath!"
"Doctor, we understand you're uncomfortable with this, but we're short of time," Nabiki said. "We have no idea how long Ryouga's mother has without a Link of her own. We're willing to take some risks to find a solution for her before it's too late."
"Some risks, perhaps," Dr. Hirano replied. "However, I find very little in this that is not risk!"
"If healer no help, we go to Great Grandmother, find other way!" Shampoo said, stepping up behind Nabiki and putting a supportive hand on her shoulder.
Dr. Hirano clenched his fists and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He visibly forced himself to relax. "And it is the assurances of my colleague that you will proceed anyway, with or without proper medical supervision, that is the sole reason I am electing to participate in this… this ritual," he said tightly. "However, I will not trade six lives for one! Or a dozen, or a hundred! If, at any point, I deem that any of you are in danger, I will terminate this experiment and there will not be another. Is that perfectly clear?"
Ryouga swallowed. "Y-yeah, Doc, we got it."
"I am not finished," he replied sternly. "And… and regardless of the outcome, the six of you are going to agree to participate in a proper medical study of this phenomenon! One that is conducted with proper scientific rigors, controls, and precautions, and this… connection you have created between yourselves is not to be replicated again until we have a much better understanding of the process behind it, as well as the long-term effects!"
"We understand," Ukyou said, stepping forward slightly.
"Do you?" Dr. Hirano asked, folding his arms. "This is not a two week medical trial I am referring to here. I am asking for a commitment for a lifelong case study of this effect. One that I intend to publish the results of so that all of this… this voodoo might one day be properly understood and harnessed for the betterment of mankind and medical science."
Ranma blanched. She suddenly had visions of being locked in a glass tube full of liquid while men in white lab coats poked at her and took notes. "L-like… like in a lab? With… dissections an' stuff?"
Dr. Hirano frowned then scowled at Dr. Tofu again. "Ono, you and I are going to have to have a long chat about setting proper patient expectations!" He returned his gaze to Ranma. "No, absolutely not, Ms. Ranma. This is not some afternoon science fiction drama on television. A case study would mean you and your friends would commit to making regular contact with myself and whatever research team becomes involved in studying this effect, and agree to periodic medical examinations, interviews and consultations. You would continue with your regular lives - it would simply be something you would do on a yearly basis, like a more in-depth version of a full physical exam. It requires honesty and openness on your part to ensure the validity of the data, and the understanding that that data will inevitably become public information once it is scrubbed of details which might directly identify you. But otherwise it is intended to be as unobtrusive as possible."
Ranma felt a bit better at that, but still somewhat apprehensive. After all, how many people had told her something would be 'no big deal' only for it to end up being a nightmare? Granted, that was mostly her father… "I'll… uh… Nabiki?" She glanced towards Nabiki uncertainly. Nabiki will know if this is a safe deal to take.
"You'll provide us with proper agreements covering our expected commitments to this?" Nabiki asked, raising an eyebrow.
Dr. Hirano waved his hand. "Yes, yes, we can negotiate the details later. I'm not interested in interrupting your lives, merely in getting enough solid, publishable data to move this forward. I just want an agreement in principle. Ono tells me you are all martial artists and concerned with honor. I simply want a commitment that you will continue to work with me once your own needs are met."
"Oh!" Ranma said. "Uh, sure, of course. You have our word of honor, Doc," Ranma said.
Dr. Hirano regarded them for a moment, searching each of their faces, then finally nodded. "Very well. I hope that this all bears fruit before I am called to task for misuse of hospital equipment. If you will follow me…"
000
The next few hours were spent with everyone taking a turn in the MRI to get a baseline scan, including fresh baselines for Ranma and Ryouga. Shampoo in particular was nervous about the device, though seeing the others being brave reassured her.
"Is strange… know Man's World have many strange devices, but Shampoo not even begin to understand this one," Shampoo said, running her hand along the humming toroid as Ryouga was prepared for the final test. "Never imagine need to see inside of own head."
"It is vastly more than that," Dr. Hirano sniffed. "But… such is progress. Technology evolves to meet our needs and, as our understanding expands, new needs are identified. This is to examine, understand and treat diseases that were mysterious and tragic for our ancestors. What they might have thought a single ailment we know now to be a dozen different maladies or defects."
"That is difference from village healing," Shampoo said softly. "Healers know many things. Many potions and remedies. Know what works. But Man's World… seek to know why it works, yes?"
Dr. Hirano smiled, the first smile he had sported since the day began. "Yes, very much so. That is an excellent way to look at it. I have found many from more traditional communities tend to be scornful of our approach to medicine. It's refreshing to find an open mind on the subject."
Shampoo blushed lightly and shook her head. "Is… is just interesting. See much like this when working as Dr. Tofu's assistant."
"She was spending every spare moment reading through my medical journals," Dr. Tofu added. "She's actually got quite good instincts."
"'Instincts' are barely a fraction of this discipline, Ono," Dr. Hirano retorted. "But… If you have an interest in it, I would be happy to discuss the more advanced fields of medicine when we have time. An interest in medical science is always a pleasure to encourage. Japan needs all the doctors it can get these days!"
"Oh! S-shampoo not… I mean, only know a little healing," Shampoo said, stammering uncharacteristically.
Ranma sidled up to her and poked her arm while Nabiki flanked her on the other side. As soon as Dr. Hirano moved on to other things, they each pinched one of her cheeks.
"Is that a blush?" Ranma asked.
"I do think our little Shampoo has a twinkle in her eye," Nabiki continued. "Is that the blossoming of a new profession I see?"
Shampoo folded her arms and sniffed. "Shwampoo jwust cwurious!" she huffed, somewhat distorted by the tugging on her cheeks.
"Too bad. I bet you'd be hot in a nurse's outfit," Nabiki said, waggling her eyebrows.
Shampoo pulled free and raised her chin indignantly. "Hmpf! Shampoo be doctor. Pintou and Airen wear nurse outfits!"
A slow, seductive smile spread across Nabiki's face. "Sound like a pretty fun Saturday night to me."
Ranma swallowed, realizing that somewhere, the conversation had veered away from medicine dramatically.
"All right, I believe we are ready to begin," Dr. Tofu said as he applied the last of the sensors to Ryouga. Ryouga was laid out on the table for the MRI and looking nervous.
The rest of the group gathered around, sitting down in five plastic chairs that had been arranged around the MRI machine. Ranma took up position on Ryouga's left side. She could see that he looked nervous, so she automatically took his hand.
"You okay, Ryo?" Nabiki asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, yeah… we haven't done anything yet… I'm fine," Ryouga lied badly. Ranma could already feel his apprehension through the Link.
"Because of Ryouga's exceptional levels of Ki, I'm afraid an oral dose of the herbal extract would not suffice," Dr. Tofu said, holding up a needle and an IV bag. "With Dr. Hirano's help, I've refined the active ingredient in the pill and created an intravenous form. With this we'll be able to precisely control the dosage and bring Ryouga's Ki levels down in a controlled manner without any of the 'crashes' the rest of you experienced."
"I still feel that assessment is overly optimistic," Dr. Hirano snorted. "We are still guessing at the dosages. What we will be able to do is monitor and adjust accordingly, as well as make sure that Mr. Hibiki's vitals remain stable. I am still not entirely happy with the drop in body temperature that accompanies the use of this compound."
"I am quite familiar with the effects, Dr. Hirano," Dr. Tofu said, slightly testily. "I am also aware of how uncomfortable you are with it. You needn't remind me at every opportunity."
"You do realize this drug is approved as a food supplement, don't you Ono?" Dr. Hirano replied, sticking his head out of the MRI booth. "I could lose my medical license just helping you refine the stuff into an injectable, much less participating."
"Well then," Dr. Tofu swabbed down Ryouga's arm with alcohol. "We must hope Ryouga decides to be cooperative and not die, hadn't we?"
Ryouga whimpered.
"Great bedside manner, Doc," Ukyou muttered.
Dr. Tofu inserted the needle then set up the IV bag and the infusion pump that would regulate the flow. "All right, if you girls would all gather around and make contact with Ryouga…"
Ranma leaned a little closer and squeezed his hand. She could feel the cold spikes of fear coming from him.
"Ranma," Ryouga whispered softly. "Promise me… if anything feels off, let go, okay?"
"Ryouga, I'm pretty sure all of this is going to feel off," Ranma whispered back. She felt Akane scoot her chair closer and put her hand over Ranma's.
"That's right, Ryouga. We're not going anywhere, no matter what!" Akane said, squeezing gently.
"No, listen to me!" Ryouga hissed. Ranma could feel his ki starting to ebb as the drug seeped into his system. "You have to let go if anything goes wrong. Even if it doesn't seem like a big deal! Dr. Hirano is right, I'm not trading the five of you for Mom. I can't risk this thing jumping into one of you."
"You think it might be infectious?" Nabiki asked.
"I've got a gut feeling," Ryouga replied. "It's been getting worse the stronger the Link gets. Like it's… struggling."
"Struggling? As in… alive?" Ukyou asked nervously.
"Then we kill," Shampoo replied. "Shagua not worry. We protect you this time."
"That's not…!" Ryouga protested, trying to sit up. Ranma stopped him with a hand on his chest.
"Ryo, what's the worst that happens if we get infected?" Ranma asked.
"You get lost!" Ryouga replied. "It'll start slow… you'll just take a wrong turn now and then… then you find it harder to get to places you're trying to go… then it gets hard to follow a straight line… You don't want this, Ranma!"
"But we're still Linked, right?" Ranma pressed.
"I… y-yeah…" Ryouga said, unsure.
"Then we'll always be able to find each other, won't we?" Ranma smiled. "And heck… getting good and lost might just solve some of my other problems… or at least put 'em off a while. Generations of Hibikis have dealt with this, right? If it comes to that, we'll manage."
Ryouga relaxed and lay back down, but Ranma could still see the fear in his eyes. She squeezed his hand, staying close. I've never seen him honestly SCARED like this before, she thought.
She could feel the drain now as Ryouga's ki levels dropped and the Link tried to equalize between them. She felt him shiver and she rubbed his hand with her free one.
"Mr. Hibiki, how are you feeling?" Dr. Hirano asked through the small intercom built into the MRI torus.
"Tired," Ryouga said.
"That's normal. Try and stay awake as best you can, though with the dosage you are receiving it's understandable if you can't stay awake. However, your friends will need to ensure contact is kept regardless."
"Nnnh…" Nabiki groaned softly. "This is… a lot more of a pull than with Akane…"
"Shagua have much ki," Shampoo replied. "Very deep reservoir to fill."
"Is he going to be okay doing this?" Akane leaned in next to Ranma, looking concerned.
"Ryo?" Ranma said. She could see Ryouga struggling to keep his eyes open. "Ryo, stay awake…"
"I'm starting to feel woozy myself, actually…" Ukyou said, leaning against Ryouga's cot. "Woof, this takes a lot… out…" she trailed off int mumbling as her head nodded.
Ranma could feel it too. It was almost like when Ms. Hinako drained her, but slower. She could feel Ryouga's hand slacken in hers and tightened her own grip, though her hand felt like it was responding only reluctantly.
"I can see the mass of corrupted ki now," Dr. Tofu said from the booth. "Another moment and it should be fully exposed to erosion. You'll have to…"
The rest of his words became indistinct and distant-sounding. Ranma saw Nabiki slump over against Ryouga on the far side. Shampoo was crumpling as well. Her own head felt too heavy to hold up. Everything sounded like she was underwater. Something was wrong. She tried to muster the energy to panic, but she couldn't. She just wanted to lie down and sleep.
"L-let… go…" Ryouga managed to croak. He was starting to twitch now.
Ranma felt his hand start to slip from hers, and that was enough to snap her awake, just a little and just for a moment. She tightened her grasp, her vision focusing on him, even though she still felt like something was dragging her down.
"No," she stated simply.
Then everything went black.
000
It was raining.
Ranma remembered this rain. It had been the kind that had a bite to it, like little needles stabbing through your clothes. She had always hated rain for many obvious reasons; It always seemed to symbolize losing her right to choose. This might be where that notion had come from.
The empty lot was just like she remembered, the pile of lumber off to the side, the retaining wall with the loose bricks, and the bare patch where their tent had stood for nearly a year, until just the day before. It could easily be a snapshot of her last look back as she and her father left. Except for the youth kneeling on the ground in the middle of the lot, slumped and motionless.
"Where are we?" a voice to her right asked.
Ranma glanced over to see Nabiki and Akane on her right. They looked younger than normal. Akane's hair was back to being long, though not as long as it had been when they had first met, and her school uniform was different. Nabiki was wearing overalls, and her face showed that she still had a bit of her babyfat.
Ranma glanced down at herself. She was wearing her old middle school uniform. It was a bit tight in the chest (But then it always had been) and there were some dark stains on the shoulders. She brushed at it, realizing it was black dye. She remembered that, too. Pops had made her throw the outfit away after that.
"Ranchan, what is this?" Ukyou asked. She was wearing a middle school uniform too, her hair tied back and her poise and demeanor more definitively masculine, as it must have been when she was in middle school.
Shampoo was just to Ukyou's left, wearing traditional Joketsuzoku clothing and staring at her hands as the water ran down them. "How…?"
"This is a dream," Ranma said. "Or… or a memory? It's just like the day Pops and I set off for China."
"Is that why I look fifteen again?" Nabiki asked, scowling. "This wasn't a good age for me, y'know…"
"This… before curse then," Shampoo said, looking up to the sky and closing her eyes. "Feels so real… Shampoo almost forgot what rain like without fur."
"Wait, if this is before the curse… then why are you a girl, Ranchan?" Ukyou asked, peering at Ranma. "And what is that black stuff in your hair?"
"I'm probably a girl because I'm one in real life right now." Ranma said, though something seemed off about that explanation. "And Pops used to make me put dye in my hair when I was younger."
"What?" Akane asked, frowning. "Why?"
"I…" Ranma trailed off. She realized she wasn't sure. It was just a thing she had always done. "He didn't like the color, I guess? It must have darkened up enough to make him happy after we left for China, because he stopped making me do it."
"Is that Ryouga?" Nabiki asked softly, taking a step towards the kneeling figure.
Ranma followed suit, "Yeah… I guess this is him when he finally managed to get here the day after Pops and I left," She started walking faster. "Ryo? Ryouga? Hey, are you okay?
"As she got closer, she realized that he wasn't entirely there. He was translucent, though the rain was deflecting off him as though he were solid. There was a deep red glow, too, coming from his torso, about where his heart would be.
"D-don't… come any closer," he said weakly, his eyes shifting towards them though he didn't move otherwise. "G-get out… you have to… acckght!" He suddenly doubled over, clutching his midsection as the glow brightened.
"Ryouga!" Ranma ran closer, but something held her back, some force that made it harder to press forward the closer she got to him. Her feet skidded on the slick ashphalt.
Black smoke was billowing forth from Ryouga's mouth, nose and eyes as he gagged and choked. It didn't dissipate or expand into a cloud, but remained coherent, swirling around Ryouga like a serpent before extending to a spot a few feet away from him and gathering, coalescing into a humanoid shape. It solidified, taking the form of Ryouga at his current age and wearing his usual training pants and yellow sleeveless shirt.
The force holding her back disappeared suddenly, causing Ranma to stumble. She recovered and made it the few remaining feet to Ryouga's side, kneeling and helping him sit up as he coughed and retched.
"Well now, that's better!" the image of older Ryouga said, stretching and working his shoulders. "You have no idea how cramped it was in there!"
Ranma's eyes narrowed. It looked like Ryouga, but the stance… the way he moved… it was nothing like Ryouga. "Who are you?"
The doppelgänger smiled. "Why, my dear Ran… I'm Ryouga." His voice was slick and smooth, full of confidence and contempt. He smiled and the expression was something that didn't belong on Ryouga's face.
"Obviously not," Nabiki replied, standing next to Ranma and folding her arms. "You're the curse, aren't you?"
Ryouga's doppelgänger chuckled and shrugged, still smiling in a way that gave Ranma an almost uncontrollable urge to punch him in the face. "Ah, how cruel! Reduced to a mere affliction. That's very depersonalizing, you know." He held out his arms and frowned. "Hmmm… no, no... tch. The boy has no fashion sense, does he? And in this world that is so full of so many better options!" He snapped his fingers and suddenly he was wearing a tailored black 3 piece suit with a black shirt. He straightened the yellow and black checkered tie and cleared his throat. "Much better. Saw this in a store window he passed… oh, maybe a year ago? In Australia I think. European brand, though. I think maybe Europe is where I'll go first…"
"Go? Where exactly do you think you're going, sugar?" Ukyou asked, stepping forward. She reached back for her battle spatula, but realized she didn't have it.
The doppelgänger raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes, I suppose it's a bit optimistic to hope you had figured that out at this point. Here, allow me." He snapped his fingers again and Ranma felt a lurch. Suddenly, she was fully grown once more, in her blue chinese shirt and training pants. Ryouga had changed as well, ironically wearing the outfit the curse had just been wearing. Ukyou was back in her Okonomiyaki chef's outfit, complete with bandolier and battle spatula. Shampoo was wearing her magenta pants and shirt. Akane was in her yellow training dogi, and Nabiki was dressed in a regular T-shirt and jeans.
"Yes, yes, that's better." He sighed. "Honestly, it was a more than a bit difficult to take the middle-schooler versions of you all seriously. Not that the current versions are all that much better, but… I suppose I should at the least grant you your due, yes?" His smile was wide, showing off his teeth. "As for where I'm going… Why, out of course." He gestured vaguely towards the horizon. "I've been trapped in this boy's bloodline for… oh, what has it been? Five centuries or more? I had honestly lost hope of ever getting out. You all have my gratitude."
"Gratitude…?" Nabiki said, frowning. "You're not just some part of Ryouga's psyche, are you?"
Shampoo growled. "This not curse at all. This something else!"
"Very astute, my dear!" The doppelgänger clapped, chuckling. "If only that I stopped short of outright telling you." He gestured and a black umbrella appeared in his hand, folded. Ranma realized that the rain wasn't actually falling on him like it was the rest of them. "My tragic tale started five hundred years ago, give or take a generation or two. I was a yokai, a demon if you prefer, though that is such a Judeo-Christian influenced misnomer. My name was… was… Well, It's been so long since I've been aware, I suppose I've forgotten it. You may call me 'Axis', however."
"All right, 'Axis'," Nabiki said, frowning. "How did you end up inside the sense of direction of a modern day teenager?"
"Oh, I'm there because he killed me," Axis replied airly. "It wasn't actually him I suppose… though the resemblance is certainly there… but it was someone of his mother's line. The boy has yokai blood himself, you know. Faded, but…" He pulled back his lip and tapped a canine with his fingernail. "there, nonetheless. Wolf demon, if I'm not mistaken, not that it's terribly relevant. It's the source of what you call 'the Link', you see." He started pacing, twirling the umbrella like a cane. "I was an admittedly minor player in those days, content to get by on what scraps of spiritual energy I could get. Then I stumbled across a wolf yokai princess… lost, injured and vulnerable…" He smiled, reminiscing. "The taste was… exquisite. Of course her mate was none too pleased to lose her… and who could blame him, really? She was quite attractive. A redhead, too, like yourself." He pointed at Ranma and gave her a smile that made her feel like squirming. "I see that Ryouga has that preference in common with his ancestor as well. Well… I imagined I'd just slip into the shadows and be on my way, like always."
He slowed his pacing. "I hadn't counted on his unique ability… I'm not even sure he was aware of it, but he used it to mark me. No matter where I went, no matter where I hid, no matter how far I ran, he found me… hurt me. Then set me loose to run again so he could do it all over." His lips peeled back in a snarl. "For years he tormented me! Cutting… pieces from me… always taking something from me, bit by bit! I was only feeding! A creature like him should have understood that! But he had been around humans too long - been corrupted by their notions of vengeance. He wasn't content to kill me, he needed to take everything from me!" He thumped the end of the umbrella on the asphalt, causing it to crack. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and visibly relaxed. "But that was five hundred years ago."
His smile returned as he resumed his pacing. "So, by the time he got tired and decided to finish me off, I was in quite a state. There wasn't much fight left in me by that point but, by then, I understood the nature of his mark and how he kept finding me. And I had a plan. I would use this… 'Link', as you call it… to cheat death! At the moment he took my life, I sent all that remained of me through our link and into him." He chuckled. "I had some… uneducated notions about possessing him and resurrecting myself through it. I suppose I wasn't thinking clearly. I believe about half my skull was missing at the time, but I found myself trapped within the deepest recesses of his mind. Mute and paralyzed, I was no more than a silent observer. I lacked the energy either to escape or to improve my situation. I couldn't even die."
Axis stopped and focused his gaze on Ryouga. "So, I spent the next few years, forced to watch as he wandered, mourned, recovered, found love again… and fornicated." He shuddered. "Human woman this time. Raven black hair. Reminded him of another girl he knew I believe? It didn't matter. By that point I'd had quite enough. And I knew… I knew that my consciousness was fading. So… I put everything I had left into my own 'special ability'. You see, I was known as the Demon of Misdirection. I had a nifty little trick where I could mess with someone's spatial awareness - make them get lost. It was a temporary thing, a little parlor trick… unless they happened to stumble into a dangerous part of the woods or take a bad fall and then get eaten by a demon like his pretty little red-headed first wife. Oh my! Perhaps I deserved some of that rancor of his after all…" He smirked as his gaze shifted to Ranma. "Her screams were delicious, you know. Her sobbing even more so."
"Okay, that's enough!" Ranma growled, getting to her feet and cracking her knuckles.
Axis held up a hand and the barrier was back. "Now now now my dear… Ayame was it? No, that was the other redhead. Ranma, that's it!" He chuckled darkly. "You must let me finish my tale! You see… I cannibalized everything that was left of myself to make my little trick permanent. I wanted to die… I needed to die… and the only way to do that would be for him to die. And so the mighty wolf king wandered off into the wilderness, away from his new wife and halfing babe, and eventually starved to death, lost and alone. It was the perfect pyrrhic victory."
He sighed heavily. "Except… I didn't die with him. It seems he passed on a fragment of me to his offspring. And that fragment repeated the effect, addling the poor lad's brains. He found a way to compensate, using his mark to find something to return to, a lovely young girl who took pity on him I'm sure… and around we went." He began twirling in circles. "Around and around, over and over and over again, your ancestors stubbornly refusing to die until they had spawned and repeated the cycle, always with just a little less of me each time… UNTIL!" He stabbed the umbrella into the ground again and grinned at Ryouga, motioning to him with his hand. "Until our prodigal son here! Ryouga. The one who set me free!" He beamed, feigning being overcome with emotion. "You and your lovely chosen here ripped the Link wide open and woke me up. And what did I find? Spiritual energy! What you would call 'ki' of course… oceans of it! But… not quite enough. It needed a little more. So, I bided my time, and when lovely young Ranma here learned she could share her ki with you? I backed off." He clapped his hands. "I had no idea if it would work, of course, but you… you wonderful madman! You found a way, didn't you? You sweet talked your way into the hearts of four more lovely girls and now, finally, I have enough." He sighed.
"Okay… so you got what you wanted," Ukyou said warily. "Congrats? So… this is the part where you leave and go off to do whatever… demon… things you lot do… right?"
Axis chuckled. "Yes, of course, of course!" He spread his arms wide. "I'll be on my way and not bother you for the rest of your lives." He took a breath, and then his smirk widened. "Just as soon as I claim young Ryouga's body for my own and purge what remains of his essence." He shrugged. "My old body is, I am afraid, quite thoroughly destroyed, and as distasteful as I find the idea of spending any amount of time as a human, I am limited in my options. But aside from that, I am perfectly happy to…"
He didn't get to finish. Ranma darted forward, pushing past the barrier and charging, fist cocked to smash Axis in the face.
He caught the punch. Or, more accurately, he stopped the punch about six inches before it struck his palm. Ranma felt like a vise had closed around her, holding her immobile.
"Oh, you've got fire in you, don't you?" he purred. "All passion and emotion… mmmm!" He smacked his lips.
"I'm going to kill you," Ranma growled.
"I'm sure you'll try," he replied. He swept his hand through the air and flung Ranma back to send her sprawling across the ground.
"Leave her alone!" Ryouga snarled, forcing himself shakily to his feet. He winced as the light in his chest pulsed.
"Ah-ah-ah!" Axis wagged his finger. "Now Ryo, are you sure you want to do that? After all, you're the one I want to consume! At this point, with your ki so badly depleted? One touch buddy… fhtfhtfhtfhtfht! Now, if you want to sacrifice yourself heroically to save your lovely ladies…" he smirked, "I'm afraid I'm still going to eat them. They just look so tast-"
Axis was cut off by a mighty *Clong* as Akane, swinging an impressively large hammer, hit him on his left side and sent his body careening through the brick retaining wall and the nearby house.
"I hate it when they monologue," Akane muttered.
"Did you get him?" Ukyou ran up to her, Battle spatula drawn and peering into the cloud of dust.
"Where Akane get hammer?" Shampoo asked, peering at the weapon. It was impressively large, with a handle nearly as long as Akane was tall, and a heavy, ornately etched head of solid metal.
"It was on a TV show I think," Akane said. At their confused looks, she shrugged. "It's a dream, right? I figured that meant if he can make stuff appear, then I can too."
Ranma made her way over to them, holding her side. If this is a dream, why does stuff hurt? "Be careful, Akane. Guys like him don't usually go down that easy in my experience."
"She's right," Axis murmured from right behind them. "We don't."
Everyone dodged frantically out of the way except Akane, who immediately whirled and made a wild swing, the heavy head of the hammer on course to collide with the side of Axis' head once more.
The demon merely stopped the hammer with one hand, again halting it six inches from his palm. "You figured out the rules much more quickly than I expected!" He gestured and flung Akane away from him.
Shampoo immediately altered course, changing direction to catch Akane, grunting and barely keeping her feet as Akane slammed into her.
"Shame that's just a lump of metal," Axis said, nodding towards the hammer. "Not going to do you much good against a yokai, even in a dream. You'll have to think bigger."
Two throwing spatula whizzed by Axis' head. He dodged them easily, turning as his eyes started to track Ukyou while she circled him at a run, flinging her sharpened minispats at him.
"You should be careful, 'Ucchan'," Axis said, catching one out of the air. "These are sharp and you could hurt…"
A bag of flour hit him in the face, exploding into a cloud.
"Really?" Axis said, tossing the spat away as he glared, somewhat less amused. "Of all the things to throw at me… flour?"
Ukyou was silhouetted by the fog of finely ground power. He could still make out her smile though as she held up one last minispat. She threw it, not at him, but at the ground, aming it to skip off the asphalt. The blade ricocheted off a small pebble of chert in the tarmac and struck a spark.
The explosion was brilliant, blasting away the rain for a moment.
"Yeah, flour," Ukyou said.
The smoke cleared and Axis was still standing there, arms crossed. But the smile was gone from his face.
"That hurt," he growled, and started stalking forward.
Suddenly, Ranma was impeding him, moving like a blue and red blur. He stopped reflexively as she crouched in front of him.
"That hurt, huh?" Ranma said, drawing her hands back. Pulsing yellow light gathered between her palms. "Then I bet this'll feel real good… MOKO TAKABISHA!" She drove her hands forward, releasing the ki blast into his chest at point blank range.
Axis actually screamed as the force of the blast burnt and frayed his suit and slowly pushed him back. He struggled and his form seemed to waver as though he was fighting to keep himself together.
Finally the blast ended. Axis's form was smoking, and black ichor was leaking from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, and the grin slowly returned.
"No wonder he's in love with you," he said, chuckling softly. "I wonder if it's just coincidence that it was a redhead last time, too? I'll have to preserve some fragment of his consciousness so he can watch as I eat you… eventually." His grin spread. "Remember that Oni? It had some nifty ideas, and I remember all of them…"
"Aww come on!" Ranma panted. "What's it take to take you down?"
As if to answer the question, Akane ran past Ranma, hefting her hammer once more with a battle cry on her lips.
Axis sighed and held up his hand to stop the hammer as it swung towards his head. "I told you…"
He never finished as the hammer, unaffected by his gesture, passed his hand and impacted his temple hard enough that his head actually deformed, spurting streams of thick, black ichor.
Akane followed through, shifted her weight and brought the hammer back around, batting Axis away as though he were a doll made of straw. His body slammed through the pile of lumber and left him twisted and broken in a pile of two-by-fours.
"You tell us 'lump of metal' not enough," Shampoo said, coming up beside Akane. She took hold of the haft and held it up a bit to reveal the head of the hammer was now covered in a mix of foreign runes and Shinto spirit wards. "Now blessed lump of metal."
"Thanks for reminding us about the Oni, by the way," Akane shouldered the weapon and smirked. "I remembered a bunch of the spirit wards that the priest used for that. I bet a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Greek enchantments probably really sting, huh?"
"Shampoo throw in a couple of Norse, too," Shampoo added. At Akane's curious look she shrugged. "Norse know hammers."
Axis struggled out of the pile of wood, bones cracking as dislocated limbs snapped back into place. "Y-yuh-you think… think you're winning, don't you?" he said, spitting a mouthful of tar-like bile onto the ground as his ruined face slowly reformed itself. "Th-that's adorable."
"None of us are spitting up our pancreas, pal," Ranma said, putting her hands on her hips. "You should probably just give it up right now."
Axis smirked. "I mean… you're right." He shrugged and dusted off his suit. "As long as you're willing to kill Ryouga in the process."
Ranma felt the blood drain from her face. She spun, looking for Ryouga.
He was back on the ground, struggling to hold himself up on his hands and knees. He had gone from translucent to almost transparent. Only that red, pulsing mass in his chest remained relatively solid.
Ranma sprinted toward him and skidded to a stop as she crouched next to him. Ryouga coughed, wheezing and gasping as he struggled to breath.
"You see… the instant you lot all came here, I had already won," Axis said with a grating laugh. "If you kill me, you kill him. My vengeance will be complete and I can rest in peace. If you try and keep him alive then, inevitably, I will overwhelm you, devour his soul and then I will have all the time in the world to hunt you down in the real world, thanks to this lovely link we all share."
"Ranma…" Ryouga wheezed.
"Don't you dare say it, Ryo," Ranma snarled. She grabbed his head in her hands and forced him to look at her. "We're not sacrificing you! Do you hear me?! I haven't come this far just to lose you. Not now!"
Ryouga coughed and a slow smile spread across his lips. "Nah… I gave you my word of honor that I'd stick around, didn't I?"
Axis smirked. "Isn't that touching?"
Ryouga took Ranma's hand and placed it over his chest, over the red light that was pulsing beneath his ribs like a lurid heartbeat. Ranma swallowed, her eyes going wide. Is… is he going to…?
No wonder he's in love with you.
"R-Ryo?" she stammered.
"Rip it out," Ryouga whispered.
Ranma blinked. "What?"
Ryouga grunted and pressed her hand harder to his chest. "Rip it out!"
Axis's eyes widened. "H-hey, hold on a minute…" He started towards the couple, hands outstretched.
"Ryouga, if I rip your heart out, you'll die!" Ranma said. "You said you weren't gonna…!"
"It's not my heart!" Ryouga said. "This is a dream! We're… we're all ki phantoms or something! That red thing thudding in my chest… it's him!"
"Stop!" Axis snarled, charging forward. He blocked a strike from Akane's hammer, though the force of it arrested his momentum. He grabbed the haft of the weapon and his hand started to smoke and the flesh bubble and char as the wards started to glow, but he paid it no mind. "Out of my way!"
"I… I don't… How do I do this without hurting you…?" Ranma wailed, looking from the red pulsing mass back to Ryouga's eyes.
"You don't. You just do it!" Ryouga said through gritted teeth. "It's a dream! Just… imagine it happening!"
"NO!" Axis ripped the hammer from Akane's grasp only to be struck by bonbori and a huge battle spatula similarly adorned with wards and runes as Shampoo and Ukyou dogpiled him. With a roar and a surge of force, he cast all three of them off him.
"Do it!" Ryouga cried desperately.
Ranma swallowed, squeezed her eyes shut, tried to visualize her hand passing harmlessly through Ryouga's ribs, and jabbed her stiffened fingers into his chest.
Her hand wasn't passing into his chest harmlessly.
She could feel his bones crack and his ribs split as her hand plunged into his chest. She heard the breath wheeze out of his lungs. She opened her eyes and looked into his, full of pain… she dared not look down. "I'm sorry! Oh god, Ryo…!"
"Not… real…" Ryouga reminded her weakly.
"Also not happening!" Ranma looked up to see Axis stomping towards them. His eyes were glowing red now as he reached for Ranma, intending to tear her away.
A gigantic metal fist slammed into him from above and drove him into the pavement. Ranma was forced to withdraw her hand to steady herself and Ryouga. The metal hand closed, scooping up a handful of asphalt, concrete, and Axis.
Ranma looked up to see a huge red mech. It looked like it was 5 stories tall, with a single glowing red eye. Ranma recognized it from one of those classic anime series. A Zaku.
It straightened and the chest opened up. From the right side, a figure in a crimson uniform pulled herself up from the control seat and removed her white helmet and mask in a properly theatrical manner.
"Nabiki!?" Ranma squeaked, gaping.
"Took me a bit to visualize it properly. Sorry I'm late," Nabiki called down from the cockpit. She turned her gaze to the fistful that the mech was holding, specifically the doppelgänger of Ryouga struggling in its clutches. "Now you have been a bad boy, so just sit still and let Ranma kill you."
"No!" Axis squirmed frantically. The metal creaked ominously, but it held. "Not while he lives! Not while there's a single one of that damndable wolf's spawn left in the world!" He turned his blood red gaze to Nabiki. "This can't hold me! I'll get a hand free in a minute, and then I'll find the breaking point of it. And then I'll find your breaking point!"
Nabiki cocked her head at him. Casually she reached down and manipulated a control on the yoke. "What was it Gendo Ikari said at the end of the Evangelion series?" she asked.
As she did, the mech's thumb pivoted, pressed against Axis' face, and flicked his head off his body.
"Oh yeah. That," she said with a smirk.
The head hit the ground, still cursing as it bounced. Though decapitated, Axis' body continued to struggle, and black smoke started to seep from the mech's fingers as his form started to lose cohesion.
"Ranma, hurry up!" Nabiki called. "He's doing… demon things!"
Ranma swallowed. She risked a glance down at Ryouga's chest, and found to her surprise that it was intact and undamaged. However, he was getting fainter and fainter, and he was starting to feel light against her. She looked into his eyes, biting her lower lip. "I'm sorry!"
He nodded, then howled in pain as her hand drove into his chest once more.
Ranma grit her teeth and forced her hand deeper, pushing aside bone, muscle and cartilage, her fingers questing until she felt something sickly and warm against her hand.
"STOP!" Axis roared. The black smoke was re-coalescing around his head to form an arm and part of his torso which he used to try and pull himself forward.
Ranma pushed in deep enough to grab hold of the pulsing thing. It felt horrible, pulsing and writhing in her grasp, desperate to escape. It wasn't just a physical sensation, either. She could feel echoes of all the horrible things the demon had done; the corruption and hate within him. It was cold and slimy and yet it burned at the same time. Her instinct was to jerk her hand away, but she closed her grip more tightly and started to pull. "Hold on, Ryo!"
His form flickered and he grunted, coughing up blood, a hitch in his breathing. But his eyes didn't waver, so she pulled harder still. Sickening wet squelching noises and bone twisting cracks came from his chest as she slowly wrenched the thing out.
"Noooooooooooo!" Axis howled and struggled, hastily reforming his other arm, more of a malformed stump than a usable limb as he tried frantically to crawl forward.
With a final yell, Ranma wrenched the red, pulsing mass free. She could feel it throbbing and writhing in her hand, little cillia probing and gripping at her flesh, like it was trying to find a way into her now.
Ryouga's form flickered, growing even more faint. Ranma could see a sort of tether - a faint line of force that still connected it to him. He reached up weakly and put his hand over hers, on top of the mass.
"Do it."
Ranma nodded, closed her hand into a fist and crushed the thing while Ryouga held her hand in his.
Axis didn't cry out or struggle. He just abruptly came apart. His form, or what was left of it, dissolved into black ichor that splattered across the ruined pavement, steaming and bubbling.
After a moment, Ryouga's tenuous form started to grow more opaque. He groaned and slumped against Ranma, plainly exhausted. She caught him and slipped her arms around him, holding him up as his weight returned.
"Ranma," he croaked.
"Shut up!" She wrapped her arms around him more tightly, closed her eyes and balled her fists up in his shirt. She was shaking as she buried her face against his shoulder. Never again! I'm not going to go through that again! Not ever again!
She felt his arms tighten around her and the others embrace them both as Akane, Ukyou, Shampoo and Nabiki encircled them, with herself and Ryouga at the center. Her aches started to fade as she could sense all of them through the Link.
"Thank you…" Ryouga managed, his voice still hoarse and weak.
"Y-you have to promise…" Ranma said haltingly, struggling around the lump in her throat as she fought to hold back tears. "Promise that you'll stay now."
He chuckled weakly. "I thought I already had?"
"That was before, when I was your Anchor! Promise again!" Ranma insisted hotly. "No wandering off or d-dying or anything!"
"I promise," he breathed.
000
When they woke up, they discovered the entire battle had literally been the blink of an eye; they had all nodded off at once and, by the time Dr. Tofu and Dr. Hirano had reacted, it was over and they were all awake - including Ryouga.
They all had to endure another full spectrum of MRI scans. Their ki levels were low all across the board and all of them were cold so the group huddled under blankets as each of them took their turns getting run through the torus. Since Ryouga was first, he found himself in the center of the pile, struggling to stay awake. The fatigue and low body temperature did a lot of override the usual hangups about physical closeness, otherwise he imagined that huddling under a blanket with five girls would have caused him fatal blood loss.
Ranma was the last to get scanned. She had been reluctant to leave him the entire time, yet she had kept her hands either behind his back or wrapped around herself and away from his chest. She'd also kept her head resting with one ear to his breastbone. She said she just wanted to reassure herself that his heart was still in there and still beating.
"Can I… have a minute?" he asked, nudging a dozing Ukyou off his shoulder as he tried to extricate himself from the pile.
"Going somewhere?" Nabiki asked sleepily.
"I just want to look outside," Ryouga replied. "I want to see what the streets look like when I know where I'm going."
"Don't go far," Ukyou cautioned him and nodded towards Ranma on the MRI bed. "You've got unfinished business."
Ryouga nodded slowly. "I won't. Promise."
He got up, making sure to rewrap the blanket around the four girls as he did. He liked the idea of taking care of them in some way, no matter how small. It was a way to start to pay all of this back to them. He already owed them more than he could repay in several lifetimes.
He slipped out the door and walked down the hall. Across from the elevators there was a doorway that led to an open-air patio that afforded patients or staff a place to step out for fresh air or to indulge in a cigarette without having actually leave the building. It overlooked the road leading to the hospital and was high up enough to have a decent view of the city.
THe patio was vacant, save for him, and he stopped to look out over the surrounding bits of Tokyo. The sun was starting to set and lights were flickering to life as dusk settled over the landscape.
There, Ryouga thought, picking out a spot in the distance. That's where my house is, isn't it?
He smiled, now able to remember all the twists and turns they had taken to get to the hospital. He shifted his gaze a bit. The Tendo Dojo is… there… and the Nekohanten is over a bit to the east of that... the school is… there! I can actually see it! He felt a warm surge as he got first hand confirmation that his newly won sense of direction was actually working.
He strode forward and leaned on the railing of the overlook, scanning to the horizon, as far across the city as he could see. It was all there; every path he had ever taken. Some of the details were still a bit fuzzy, especially how he'd managed to cross the ocean multiple times, but that was all right. Some things he didn't really want to know. His world had navigable boundaries once more - for the first time since he was a child. That was all that mattered.
"Here you are!"
Ryouga glanced over his shoulder. Ranma was standing in the doorway. Her hair was unbound, blowing in the slight breeze, and her eyes were bright in the gloom.
"Wandering off again, Ryo?" she asked, stepping out onto the patio and walking over to stand next to him. "I thought we'd just fixed that."
"We did," he said, smiling a little as she joined him at the railing. "I was just… taking in the view. Now that it actually means something to me."
Ranma leaned her elbows on the railing but remained quiet. There was a pensive look on her face.
"You're not… going back out there," Ranma said softly. It wasn't quite a question but not really a statement either. "You promised you'd stay. You're staying, right?"
"I don't ever want to wander again," Ryouga replied. "I plan to stay for the rest of my life… If you'll let me."
Ranma turned and stared at him. She blinked a few times in confusion. "I-if you mean… like, in Tokyo? I-I mean, that's not really my call… I mean, lots of people stay their whole lives in Tokyo…"
"That's not what I meant and you know it," Ryouga said, though there was no edge in his voice. He kept staring out at the cityscape, watching her from the corner of his eye.
Her cheeks colored and she fidgeted, spluttering a bit before she gained some sort of traction. "I… it… Ryo, if this is about what the demon said about you being in love with me… I mean, he was trying to mess with us, I didn't really pay attention…"
Ryouga pushed off the railing, straightened and turned to look at her. She had that slightly panicked, trapped expression she usually wore when she was being confronted with any sort of deep or strong feelings. He took a deep breath. She can't do this for me. I've got to be the one to say it.
"Ranma Saotome, I love you," he said, opening his eyes. The words weren't nearly as scary as he thought they'd be.
At least, for him.
Ranma's eyes went wide. Her expression shifted to a nervous smile. "Aheh… I mean… Yeah! I love you too, bud! We're… we're… best friends… right?"
Ryouga sighed. "Ranma, that's not how I meant and we both know it."
"N-no… it's just… just… an emotional high… from the fight an' stuff…" She backed up a step, the look of panic in her eyes growing stronger. "You're just… woozy from the drugs! Yeah… that's it…"
Frustrated, Ryouga reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders. Her terrified squeak immediately made him regret the decision but he was committed now. "Ranma!" he hissed. "Would you just stop? Just… just listen to me for once, would you?"
"But… but you can't!" Ranma shook her head. She was shaking in his grasp, trembling like a leaf on the wind. "You can't… I can't! It's… it's not…"
"You don't owe me anything for this, Ranma," Ryouga said. "You aren't… obligated. You don't have to feel the same way. You don't have to protect me from anything. I'm not saying this to try and claim you or anything. I just… I just need you to know. That's all."
"Why?" Ranma shook her head. "Why? Why why why why!?" She was shaking harder now and tears were starting to run down her cheeks. "Why do you have to be such an idiot!? Why would you fall for someone like me?! I'm literally the worst person on earth for you! I'm… I'm stupid and selfish and a glutton and I'm already engaged to a half dozen people and… and…!"
"You forgot that you're a guy," Ryouga added helpfully.
"I was getting to that! I'm a guy! I'm a man amongst men! I'm… I'm supposed to be a man amongst men! I'm not… I'm not supposed to be a girl! Not like this! I'm not supposed to feel…!" She was starting to hyperventilate, the tears flowing more freely. "I can't! I can't! Because… because…!"
Without thinking, Ryouga moved his hand from her shoulder to her cheek to brush away the tears. Ranma froze, her breath hitching as she stared at him with a mix of terror and pleading in her eyes. Her emotions through the Link were so chaotic that he couldn't make any sense of what she was feeling and he doubted she could either.
"Then don't," Ryouga said softly, still cupping her cheek. "Just tell me you don't. Tell me you don't feel the same. That's all I need from you. That's all I ask. Say that you don't love me… that you can't… and mean it. So I can move on from you."
Her lower lip trembled. "But… you'll leave…"
"No I won't," he said solemnly. "I'm not going to make you choose, Ranma. I'll stay as your friend, as your ally… family, even. But… I need to know how you feel." He leaned a little closer. "Just tell me."
"I can't…" she whimpered, shaking her head slightly. "I can't I can't I can't!"
She was terrified - he could feel that - but not of him. There was… something else. She couldn't acknowledge something, as if admitting how she felt would lead to disaster. But she wasn't taking the escape he was offering her. He could feel her struggling.
She can't say it, he thought. He felt a pang of guilt for the turmoil he felt roiling within her. There was one other thing… but it scared him. If he was wrong, he'd push her away forever.
Time to be brave, Hibiki! he thought. He pulled her forward gently, eyes locked on hers as he leaned in. Her eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do.
He stopped and waited.
All she needed to do was push, now. Just a gentle shove, or pull away. One last easy escape.
Her breathing slowed. The fear was still there in her eyes, but at the same time… relief? Her emotional landscape seemed to be wavering, trapped in anticipation, waiting to see what he was actually going to do. He could hear his own heartbeat thudding in his ears and he realized that he was terrified, too.
He shifted his hand from her cheek to the back of her head, tilting her head back gently as he stared into her eyes. Do or die. He leaned in, turned his head a bit, drawing on what he had learned from Nabiki and Shampoo, and gently touched her hips with his.
She made a soft noise, and then her eyes slid shut and she leaned in against him, her hand against his chest as she pushed back into the kiss. And then everything cut loose. Through the Link he could feel the relief as all of the feelings she had been suppressing and denying surged forward. He moved his arm around to her back and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss as, for one brief, glorious moment, everything was right.
He felt it in the same moment she did. A black, bubbling, mewling horror from that deep, dark place that she kept sealed. It surged through her and then into him - a paralyzing black wave of fear, suffocating and binding. She shuddered in his arms and then abruptly pulled away, eyes wide with terror.
And then she mewled.
"Ranma?" Ryouga's breath caught in his throat, his heart pounding with fear as the mere memory of that wave of terror left him unable to move. NO! Why now!? He scanned the area, looking for the cat that had triggered her without ever fully taking his eyes off her, but there was nothing he could see. What had set it off!?
Ranma whimpered and clutched the sides of her head, shrinking back. "Nnnnh!" she panted, trying to steady herself on the railing, but as her fingers came down on it they slashed right through the metal, as though invisible claws were extended from her hand. "I can't! I can't! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
"Ranma!" Ryouga reached for her but she flinched away, shaking her head.
"N-no!" she cried out. "I can't… the pit… I'm sorry!" She turned, leapt up onto the railing on all fours then bounded off into the night.
000
"Hey, I think I've got something!"
Daisuke started from his doze, head jerking up from the table as he glanced blearily over at Hiroshi. "This had better not be another false alarm, Hiro."
"No, no, this is it!" Hiroshi said excitedly. "Genma Saotome… Nodoka Saotome… ages look right… and Ranma Saotome!" He thumped the side of the mirofiche reader.
Yuka got up and walked over to him, peering over his shoulder. "And… Ranma Saotome, apparently."
"I just said that," Hiroshi blinked at her, confused.
"No, look… it's here twice on the register," Yuka pointed to the screen. "Ranma Saotome here, and then a bit further down, Ranma Saotome again."
Daisuke walked over and joined them, squinting at the screen. "That's weird…" He read the specifics under each name. "One male… the other female? Same birthdate though."
"That would explain why Ranma never got investigated by the Athletics Board," Yuka mused. "If there's a female Ranma Saotome on the Saotome family register who's got the right birthdate, then there'd be no grounds."
"But why is there a second Ranma Saotome?" Daisuke asked. "If Himura could get in here to change the records, why add a second Ranma to the register?"
Yuka scoffed, crossing her arms. "Did you see the dust on these files? Face it Dai, no one has looked at these for over ten years, much less altered them."
"Secret twins?" Hiroshi suggested. "Maybe Ranma had a sister, but she died at birth and his parents never told him?"
"Then where's the file? There should be medical records in there." Daisuke rooted around for the hard copy of the files Hiroshi had displayed on the reader. He found the folder and flipped it open. "Marriage license… Driver's license… Mr. Saotome can drive…? Here it is." He fished out a faded pink sheet of paper. It was covered in barely legible scrawl. "Looks like they used a midwife. 'Assisted Home Birth. Mother, Nodoka Saotome. Child name, Ranma Saotome. Male…' birth date and time match the Family Register… okay, so the girl Ranma is fake then."
"Hold on…" Yuka flipped a bit further into the file and pulled out another set of documents, these much more legibly typed up. "This is from Nerima General. 'Cesarean Section, Nodoka Saotome. Child name Ranma Saotome. Gender female'... birth date and time match here, too."
"Wait, what?!" Daisuke took the sheet from her and compared it to the one he was holding. "That doesn't make any sense. How could the same woman give birth to two different kids in two different places at the same time?"
"One is fake, obviously!" Yuka snatched both sheets back and held them up for both to see. "And which one of these is slick, professional and authentic-looking and which one looks like 'Genma Saotome paid for this'?"
"So… the Nerimal General sheet is fake?" Hiroshi said, taking it from her and scratching his head. "But… then why put it as a C-section? Doesn't that leave, like, a really noticeable scar? That seems like a awfully easy way to prove your faked records are false."
"You ever seen Nodoka Saotome? She dresses like it's the Feudal Era." Yuka scoffed. "Nobody has seen her bellybutton since the doctor snipped her own umbilical."
"Crude, Yuka, even for you," Daisuke muttered. "You got a point, though."
"Still seems like a weird oversight," Hiroshi said. "It's like Nabiki says, 'if you gotta lie, keep it simple and keep as much to the truth as you can.' Also, didn't you say that that nobody has been down here in ten years?" He glanced at Yuka.
"Yes, but…" Yuka chewed on her lower lip. "I mean, Himura faking Ranma's girl-type birth records? I can totally see that. Screwing 'em up by making them overly complicated? Sure, she's arrogant enough to put in something like that because she'd figure we'd never find it. Going to the trouble of tracking down the original physical file and stuffing it with fake documents, then sprinkling dust on it?" She shrugged. "That's pushing it, I agree. But it's not like both sets could be authentic. Nodoka couldn't have given both to a boy in one place and a girl in another at the same time. We know the crappy fake-looking one is the real one because Ranma is a boy, and Genma Saotome is cheap. The problem is convincing other people of that."
"Well, we've got the way to do that, right?" Hiroshi said. "Just gotta get Nodoka to prove she doesn't have a C-section scar and we can debunk the fake documents!"
Yuka snorted. "Yeah, good luck with that."
"Hey, to help her son? It's not like we're asking her to strip or anything!" Hiroshi replied.
Daisuke leaned back against the table, stroking his chin and frowning. He had a worried expression on his face.
"What's wrong, Dai?" Hiroshi asked.
"What if Nodoka Saotome does have a C-section scar?" Daisuke asked quietly.
"What, you've seen it?" Hiroshi asked. "Have you been taking surveillance photos without me again?"
"Daisuke, you creep!" Yuka punched him on the shoulder.
"OW!" Daisuke protested. "No, I haven't… I'm just speculating!"
"But that's stupid!" Yuka said. "A midwife wouldn't be able to do a C-section! So the only way Nodoka could… have… a scar…" she trailed off, eyes widening.
000
Ranma didn't know where she was going.
Her perceptions of the world shifted back and forth. Sometimes she was aware of the terrain she was running through, other times… there was darkness and the echoes of that awful yowling.
Please please please let me out! I'll be good! I'LL BE GOOD!
She was slipping into the pit. But it wasn't like before. This wasn't like concealing herself from the cats, where she could go somewhere deep inside herself and hide. Her safe haven was gone now - exposed. And she was slipping into the pit and the cats were going to get her and girls couldn't get out of the pit.
Girls couldn't get out of the pit.
Only boys.
She came to awareness as she smashed open a door with her shoulder, stumbling as she nearly tripped over a mop and bucket. It was the maintenance shed at the school. There was salvation here! She stumbled over to the sink, whimpering as the edges of her vision darkened once more and the cats struggled to crawl out of her throat and take her again.
She turned the hot water tap on full blast and shoved her head under it. The hot water scalded her scalp, and the sudden change to male form caused the back of his head to bang painfully against the metal tap as his height changed.
He stumbled backwards, landing in a heap, panting and sobbing as the darkness finally receded. He was out. He was safe. Boys could get out of the pit, and he was a boy. He was a boy.
He clutched his head as the pain flared up again. Darkness was coming for him, but at least it wasn't the darkness of the pit. He slumped against the shed wall, his arms dropped and his breathing finally slowed as he sank into merciful unconsciousness.
000
Hiroshi frowned. "No. No way. That's not how the curse works! I researched this thoroughly!"
Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "You mean back when you still held out hope Ranma was really a girl?"
"Yes!" Hiroshi punched his palm. "Cold water is the cursed form, hot water is the natural form. That's how it works! I even begged a pamphlet on the whole thing from Shampoo's Great Grandma!"
"You got a pamphlet?" Yuka asked skeptically. "They have pamphlets on Jusenkyo curses?"
"Oh yeah. Apparently the Joketsuzoku flirted with the concept of tourism before deciding that it was a really terrible idea," Hiroshi said. "It had a whole section about 'What To Do If You Get Cursed'. It's pretty clear about the basics of the curses."
"Does it cover stuff that messes with the curse though? Like that ladle, or the Full-body Cat Tongue?" Daisuke asked. "How do we know there isn't some way to invert the curse?"
"Ranma would know," Yuka said. "Unless you figure he's been lying to us all along?"
Daisuke sighed in frustration. "Okay, fine, there are a couple of flaws, but… we've seen enough brainwashing Chinese snack cakes and love-inducing cufflinks to know weird stuff can happen, right?" He gestured at the folder. "I mean, something doesn't add up!"
"We should get this to Nabiki," Yuka said. "Hiroshi, can you print out the register from the Microfiche viewer? I'll go photocopy these medical records."
Hiroshi centered the appropriate parts of the document and hit the print button on the reader. "Guys… I think we're missing the more pressing crisis here."
"Oh yeah? What constitutes a bigger crisis than knowing that either Himura has magical document-changing powers or one of your best friends might have been brainwashed and gender swapped by his parents?" Daisuke asked dryly.
"The building is closed and locked down until Monday. How are we gonna get out?"
000
"And then she just ran off?"
Nabiki studied Ryouga's face as he nodded. From the subtle play of emotions, she could imagine him tearing himself up inside, even without the Link. His head was bowed as he stared at the concrete.
"Never hear of Neko-ken happen without cat," Shampoo said, examining one of the sliced bits of railing on the ground.
"Ranma's never talked while in the Neko-ken, either," Akane added. "This is different."
"It's happened once before," Ryouga said quietly.
Nabiki turned, walked over and sat next to him. She was close enough to feel the turmoil through the Link.
"We were experimenting with the Link," Ryouga said softly as the others all listened. "She was trying to help me. She tried to… I don't know, project feelings through it? There was some kind of feedback, and… and she started meowing - like we had popped the tab on a shaken can of soda."
"So… emotional stress caused it?" Nabiki asked, frowning. "It's not like Ranma hasn't been stressed before…"
Ryouga slumped a little further. "I pushed her. I pushed her somewhere she couldn't go."
"It's not your fault, sugar," Ukyou said. "We were all pushing. We figured she needed to get this out, not that it would…" Ukyou shook her head.
"It was too close to something," Ryouga continued in a near whisper. "The cats… the Neko-ken… when I got a glimpse of it… there was something else there. Something behind it all. Something the Neko-ken was blocking. I should have known. I should have seen it coming this time…"
Nabiki put a hand on his arm and squeezed. "Ryo, this isn't your fault. You didn't put her in that pit." Her jaw tensed. "We found journals Genma wrote about the Neko-ken. It was… heartless. I should have guessed Ranma's issues from it would come to more than just a pathological fear of cats."
"We should be out looking for Ranma," Akane said.
Ryouga made to stand, but Nabiki held onto his arm. "Not you," she said. She winced a bit at the flare of frustration from him. She nodded to Akane, Shampoo and Ukyou to head out, then turned him to look at her.
Ryouga sighed heavily. "That's… yeah, I get it. I'll stay out of the way…" he muttered.
"No. It's not the reason you think," Nabiki said softly. "Ryouga, please… you're exhausted from what you just went through. We all are, but you especially. I want you to come back to the dojo with me."
"Why to the dojo?" Ryouga frowned.
"Because you're exhausted and I want to make sure you rest and because the rule is that fiances shouldn't be alone, especially when they're feeling bad." She straightened his shirt a little without thinking about it.
"I'm not a Fiance, Nabiki," Ryouga muttered.
"Yes you are, Ryo," she insisted. "Ranma didn't reject you! She kissed you back. Heck, we could feel it two rooms away! Something… something just happened that detonated some kind of mental landmine. Shampoo has found her way around that, you can too. Don't give up on Ranma just yet. Please?"
He sighed and closed his eyes. "I promised not to go anywhere. You don't have to worry about me."
Nabiki put her arms around him and hugged him. She could feel him stiffen at the unfamiliarity of the act. Nabiki, what is it with you and the kicked puppies? she thought, squeezing a bit tighter. "Good. Because right now I can't do anything for Ranma but wait, since I can't leap tall buildings or run along fences. I kinda need you here right now."
Tentatively he put his arms around her. "I'm... not sure I can do much," he mumbled. She could feel concern muffling some of his own darker emotions as his focus shifted to her.
"Yeah… you and me both," She pulled back slightly to look up at him. "I've spent all this time frantically running around, trying to fix everyone's problems… and I just seem to dredge up new ones. You nearly get your soul eaten by a demon, Ranma is popping the lid off of her own bottled imps, Mousse's psycho ex fiancee has brought the circus to town Stephen King-style and I managed to get the Yakuza interested in our sleepy little corner of insanity."
"I wasn't eaten by a demon, my direction curse is cured. Tatewaki Kuno is sane, the Principal is out of our hair, Mousse's ex is not your fault and the Yakuza are hardly a problem you created," Ryouga countered.
Nabiki sighed and hooked her chin over his shoulder. "I know… rationally I know all of that, but still…" She closed her eyes. "Thank you, though. It's nice to hear someone else saying it."
"Ah, there you are!" Dr. Tofu peeked out through the doors. "I was wondering where everyone had wandered off to!" He stepped outside and looked around, noticing it was just the two of them. "Where are Ranma, Akane and the others?"
Nabiki gently disengaged from Ryouga. "It's… complicated, Doc," she said a little sheepishly.
"Oh, well…" Dr. Tofu awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, we just wanted to let you know the MRI images all look good. We'll want you all back in a week of course to verify, but there's no sign of the corrupted ki in any of your scans."
Ryouga breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Really. I… don't know what I'd do if it had jumped to someone else."
"Honestly, the chances of it were low. There was a flare up right at the moment you lost consciousness, but the influx of the uncorrupted ki from the girls seems to have done the trick. Simple, really!" He blinked at the slightly horrified expressions they gave him. "… What?"
"Nothing!" Nabiki said quickly. "Just… healthy skepticism from a couple of people for whom things are rarely ever simple." She chuckled weakly.
"Ah! Well, that is true…" Dr. Tofu rubbed his chin. "At least in this case. Though, I'm optimistic! Once we've verified the results, the next stage will be to figure out how to generalize this procedure for other uses. For now, though," he smiled at Ryouga, "I'm guessing you can find your own way home?"
Ryouga blinked, then looked away, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth even as it trembled slightly. "I… yeah… Yeah I guess I can."
Nabiki waited until Dr. Tofu walked out before she took his arm. "Congratulations, big guy," she whispered, smiling. "Instead how about you find your way to my home?"
Ryouga's eyes widened, and Nabiki realized what she had just said. She sighed and clapped a hand over her face.
"That sounded like way more of a come-on line than I intended. I'm tired, I'm sorry," Nabiki groaned.
"No, no, it's okay!" Ryouga laughed weakly, waving his hands as if to dispel the awkwardness.
"I really wasn't intending anything untoward, despite making some rather shameless passes at you in the past." Nabiki took hold of his arm and leaned against him. "I think that whole demon slaying thing took more out of me than I thought. I'm pretty sure right now I'll be lucky if you don't end up carrying me home."
Ryouga swallowed nervously, probably getting some mental imagery from that too. "It's totally fine! I should never have thought anything like that." He straightened, looking forward as he started leading her back into the hospital to guide her home.
Nabiki smirked a bit. "Oh, you probably should. When I've got my energy back, and we've found Ranma and calmed her down, I absolutely plan to go back to making shameless passes at you."
Ryouga made a small strangled noise in his throat.
000
"[I need to make a new example, I think,]" Himura said with a sigh.
Tan Pohn gave her a quizzical look, something of a break from her usual stoic boredom. "[An example?]"
Himura smiled. Part of the fun of having someone with you who spoke a different language than the herd was that you could be far more open. "[My players are getting complacent.]" She gestured at the current group of second stringers running drills at the instruction of Sanae. "[I find it useful to pick one as 'The Example'. The one who always gets picked last, gets the terrible jobs… nothing overt of course. Just enough that they know they're The Example, and everyone else knows it too.]"
"[I see. So you punish the weakest with ostracization,]" Tan Pohn said with a sniff.
"[Oh, no, no my dear!]" Himura said, smirking. "[Never so obvious. In fact, most of the time it's random. The speculation as to what displeased their betters is what keeps them going in circles. Sometimes it's the least popular, but not always… can't let them think they select The Example. Sometimes I make the least popular my favorite, just for that reason. It's how I picked up little Omi.]" She stretched.
"[And they don't rebel when you ostracize one of them without reason?]" Tan Pohn asked, looking more interested.
"[Oh there's always a reason. Everyone is guilty of something, or at least they think they are. Small things, unimportant things. You just need to learn to see it, pick it up and then point them out. Publicly. You can always invent larger crimes later, but you start with the small, real, petty crimes everyone commits every day. Mock them. Deride them. Hold them up as examples of why they can't be trusted. Convince the others of the same. Do it long enough, and your target will believe it.]" She waggled her eyebrows. "[Then you can start to have some fun.]"
"[I don't see how that it effective leadership…]" Tan Pohn said.
"[It keeps them too divided to unite against you, but united against a 'common bad'. It gives you someone convenient to blame when things go wrong. And it keeps them competing to keep from being next.]" Himura stretched. "[Sayuri was barely started before she decided she'd had enough. A miscalculation on my part. She and her defiant little group work well enough for now, but I'll need more soon.]"
The buzzing of her phone interrupted. Himura brought the phone to her ear and tapped the screen with her thumb to answer. "Hello, Himura Tanaka."
"He's at the school," A familiar voice came over the line. Low, but not a whisper.
Himura raised an eyebrow and sat back in her seat, the social structure of her team momentarily forgotten. "Is he now? Alone?"
"SOMETHING happened. He busted into the shed as a girl, changed back to a guy, then passed out on the floor. Still in his girl's uniform. You want me to take pics?"
Himura considered. "Hmmmm… No, don't risk it. We don't know how heavy a sleeper he is. Make sure no one disturbs him, and see if you can't slip a boy's school uniform inside for him."
"What? Why?!"
Himura gave an exasperated sigh. "Because, my dear Hana… this is the opportunity I've been waiting for. He's vulnerable and alone now. Keep an eye on him and call me the moment he stirs. I will take care of the rest. Don't do anything to provoke him."
"He looks like he's out for the night…"
"Then grab a coffee and get comfortable. I'll send some backup to keep you company. Don't screw up this time." Himura thumbed the call closed without waiting for the reply.
"[The Godslayer is alone?]" Tan Pohn asked.
"[Oh, you caught that?]" Himura said, mentally filing away the fact the Chinese girl understood Japanese far better than she spoke it. "[Yes. Ranma is having a bad night, apparently.]"
"[I should tell the Elder,]" Tan Pohn stood.
Himura reached up and caught her arm. "[Not yet, dear Tan.]"
For a moment Himura thought she had miscalculated. The looks of pure ice she received made her wonder if she had overstepped. She carefully withdrew her hand as casually as she could, maintaining her smile and eye contact.
Tan Pohn grunted and sat back now. "[For now. Don't forget, he belongs to us when this is all done.]"
"[Of course not,]" Himura said. "[The game is almost over, after all. Though if you're anxious to help things along, I'd like to ask a favor of you and your sisters…]"
000 (Chapter 31 - The Cure, The Kiss, The Calamity End)
