Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This story based on the anime, not the manga.

Chapter 5: All Dreams Must End

Ranma stood on a rocky promontory, staring out across the ocean. The coast around him was rather more battered than it had been a few hours ago, the result of an extended bout of training, experimentation, and stress relief.

He'd spent some thirty minutes trying to figure out just what was happening with Ukyo, before finally deciding that this was probably another situation where it would be better to wait and let her tell him herself when she was ready. With that settled, he'd decided to put his new abilities through their paces. It had been the work of an instant to locate an island hundreds of miles away from any people (he was definitely beginning to appreciate his scrying ability more now), and the work of another to teleport into the ocean and swim to shore.

Once he was there, with nobody around to witness and ask awkward questions, Ranma had really cut loose. He'd started out with standard kata, except it wasn't his own body flowing through the motions, but rather a Ranma-shaped construct of water. With his physical self settled down into a meditative posture and all his will focused on the doppelganger, he'd been able to get it to move with almost as much grace as his own flesh. And he'd found that if he just focused on speed or power, he could actually go higher than his body's limits. Much higher. Control suffered at those extreme levels, but Ranma was confident he could eventually correct this.

Next, he'd called forth a few thousand more gallons and gathered them around himself, in a rather more impressive — at least, in his humble opinion — version of one of Happosai's techniques. He'd formed a ridiculously larger version of himself out of the water; Ranma was on the inside, well protected by his elemental shielding, and able to move the massive watery shell as if it were his own body. Sure, it had been rather slow and clumsy on this first attempt, but practice should fix that too.

He'd let the waters fall away from himself then, and moved into kata using his own body. However, at the same time he was pulling waves forward out of the ocean, sending them streaming forward and around him, now pushing him along to gain extra force behind a charging strike, now cascading into a surge of sparkling white foam to blind his opponent, now blasting in an arc that would slam into someone who'd tried the most obvious dodge for the kick he'd just executed.

This held his interest for quite awhile, since there was so much variety to the tricks he could pull off. In fact, Ranma hadn't yet exhausted all his ideas when he paused an hour later. The reason he stopped was that the damage to the beach was beginning to reach noticeable levels. He contemplated this for a few minutes, then set off along the shoreline. A few minutes' brisk walking took him within sight of a place where the shore rose into a twenty-foot cliff. The pigtailed boy stopped and stood there, focusing, focusing…

At a point several dozen meters out from the base of the cliff, the water began to churn, then convulse… and then, with a furious roar, it lifted, bent, and shot forward. It came as a corkscrewing maelstrom of fury, created by all of Ranma's knowledge and experience with the Hiryuu Shouten Ha and powered by every last iota of will and elemental energy he could bring to bear.

The roaring, whirling horizontal column of water slammed into the cliff. It chewed through the stone like so much sand, blasting away a massive section in the blink of an eye. Ranma disengaged the technique then, and just stood for awhile, silently contemplating the damage; reflecting on the measure of the abilities that had been granted to him.

Somehow, it didn't seem nearly so unbalanced now, when he contemplated his power versus Ukyo's. Sure, she got way more spiritual stuff than he did, but that was just the way it was. Darkness seemed to be more spiritual than physical; Water was just the opposite. And maybe that was how it should be.

He stared out across the ocean, thinking back on all the new tricks and techniques he now had at his command and feeling a sense of peace that he'd seldom enjoyed. His curse was gone. It had been replaced by abilities that would surely help solve some of the rest of his woes. And the last vestiges of the resentment he'd never allowed himself to face, the annoyance that someone his age was so much stronger than him, had finally slipped unnoticed into oblivion. All in all, the Saotome heir was feeling pretty good about things just now.

Ranma stood outside Ukyo's bedroom door, feeling more than a little bit disgruntled.

He'd stayed on the island awhile longer, practicing, trying new things. Eventually, wondering whether Ukyo might not be ready to talk now, he'd formed another scrying puddle and checked up on her. No change — she'd still been in her bedroom, a mixture of rueful shock and contemplation on her face. However, something else had grabbed Ranma's attention then… namely, the clock on her dresser that read 7:42. Obviously his best friend had lost track of time. She still had enough to get ready and make it to Furinkan, but it would be close.

It was at that point that he'd realized one annoying limitation of his powers. Sure, he could shift across unimaginable distances in the blink of an eye, but only into a body of water at least large enough to cover his own body. And there was nothing like that at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, no equivalent of the bedroom Ukyo kept conveniently dark all the time.

He made the best of a bad situation by teleporting into the Nerima canal at the point where it ran closest to Ucchan's, then running for her place at top speed, hoping and praying that nobody would observe him doing this. And then, after taking that risk to get back in time to shake Ukyo out of her daze, after knocking on her door and reminding her about school, only to be told in no uncertain terms that as far as his host was concerned Furinkan could kiss her spatula… Well, it left Ranma feeling a little put-upon and underappreciated.

The Saotome heir soothed his ruffled feathers by spending the next several minutes scrying out everyone he didn't want to know where he was, and confirming that none of them were near enough to have seen him en route back to Ucchan's. There was Kaede, pushing herself determinedly through a set of exercises much like the ones he'd done not so very long ago, building up her lower-body speed…

Kaori was on her way to Furinkan. Ranma winced at the sight; in this unguarded moment, unhappiness was writ plain across her face. Unhappiness that the track record showed was almost certainly his fault. He reminded himself that no matter how nice a break it was for him personally, he couldn't afford to take too much time relaxing at Ucchan's. He needed to face his problems down once and for all….

Genma was in panda form, in a local park. He'd set up a sign that read "Chuushinteki Park Panda Petting Zoo — Admission One Pork Bun", and was doing a brisk business with the preschool crowd. Ranma was severely tempted to head on over there and whip up a hot rain shower, but he didn't want to be responsible for traumatizing a bunch of little kids for life. Let the old man have his fun for a bit longer.

Cologne and Shampoo were found inside the Nekohanten, Shampoo intently studying a large shiatsu chart, Cologne giving equal attention to what appeared to be a soap opera.

Soun was sweeping the Tendo outer yard, while Kasumi was cleaning up after breakfast.

Akane and Nabiki walked to school together for a change, one girl showing no emotions to speak of, the other not looking much happier than had Kaori.

Happosai was somewhere in Honshu, running gleefully along in front of a horde of outraged females, his ill-gotten gains slung over his shoulders. All at once the old pervert jerked to a stop, all the merriment draining away from his face as he stared off into the distance, apparently at something not in Ranma's field of vision. Then the girls caught up with him, and he had other things on his mind.

Ryoga was still in North America, though he'd wandered even farther afield than last time. The sun was red and hung low in the sky, and the shadows would have been long had there been anything to cast a shadow. Such was not the case, however; Ryoga was in the middle of the flattest plain Ranma had ever seen. The only thing breaking the monotony was the stream beside which the lost boy was setting up his camp.

He chose his moment well, slipping quietly out of the stream while Ryoga was inside his tent sliding the last few bars of the framework into place. Consequently, when Ryoga exited the now-stable structure, it was quite a shock to find he was no longer alone. Ranma stood roughly ten paces away, staring sternly down at his rival, backlit by the setting sun for extra dramatic emphasis. Of course, this made it rather more difficult for Ryoga to see the pigtailed boy's stony expression, but one can't have everything.

"Ranma?" Ryoga asked hesitantly, squinting forward and trying to determine whether he was really seeing what he thought he was. On the one hand, it did look like Ranma. On the other, this was the last place he'd expect to run across his foe. "What are you doing in Okinawa?"

Only the fact that he was here to confront Ryoga about nearly killing Kaede kept Ranma from facefaulting. Still, he was momentarily rendered speechless.

Meanwhile, the initial shock was wearing off for the lost boy. His startled expression shifted into a scowl. "It is you! Never mind how you got here, Ranma. I'm gonna make you pay for hurting Akane like that!" His umbrella was inconveniently located several feet away. Deciding not to bother with it, he charged.

That was more than enough to shake Ranma from the remains of his discomfiture. He took a few quick steps forward to meet Ryoga, dodging the other boy's strike. As this was their first fight since Ranma took his speed training to the next level, Ryoga was nowhere near ready for his rival's increased quickness. Ranma had all the opportunity he needed to shift to one side and launch his own attack. Ryoga had already braked to a stop and was turning to strike again — which played perfectly into Ranma's hands. The Saotome heir twisted, then whipped his leg around in the strongest roundhouse kick he could manage. The strike connected without much force, though; Ryoga was standing too close for there to have been any real momentum built up just yet. Which was exactly as planned.

Ranma fed every last bit of strength he had into the attack (it was nice not to have to worry about straining his muscles or tearing a ligament), pushing past the sudden added drag. His move picked Ryoga up and swept him along, sending him flying as if shot from a sling. The pigtailed teen was careful to angle the direction downward, knowing that if he gave his opponent too much air time, the other boy would easily recover in time to control his fall. Instead, Ryoga slammed into the ground just five feet away from Ranma and continued going, plowing along for another five feet before coming to rest in a crumpled heap, with a mound of earth three times his own mass piled up behind him.

Ryoga actually took a few seconds to shake that one off, before climbing back to his feet with a growl of renewed determination. "Damn you, Ranma!" he roared, on seeing no sign of his nemesis. "How dare you run away again?!"

"Excuse me?" Ranma retorted sardonically, from his position some five feet behind Ryoga. "I'm right here, pig boy. Come and get me."

The lost boy whirled, and prepared to do just that… then froze at the sight before him. Ranma was standing up straight, but his head came only to the level of Ryoga's waist. The reason for this was simple — he was standing waist-deep in the stream beside which Ryoga had camped. The pack that Ranma had been wearing when he arrived was still slung across his back, but now it hung flat and empty. Its contents rested in Ranma's hand: a large sealed wooden cask, marked in big bold black lettering that Ryoga could read even at this distance and in this failing light.

He stared at the cask labeled "Nannichuan" at least as intently as a starving man would a nine-course French dinner placed just out of his reach. "Is… is that…" he struggled to get the words out.

"I got your cure right here, Ryoga," Ranma said curtly. Technically it was true, even though the cask was just something he'd picked up at a bathhouse, filled with ordinary water, and labeled himself. "No tricks. No catches. No more games or lies or stupid things that look like they're gonna help us but end up bein' so much hot air."

"GIVE IT HERE!!" The tortured cry rang out over miles and miles of prairie.

"Not yet," Ranma retorted. "You've got to promise me something first."

With a great deal of effort, Ryoga held back his instinctive response to this. "And what's that?" he managed to say, in a strangled sort of voice that would have sent many Nerima residents running for the hills.

Ranma's reply came in tones of quiet reason, which contrasted nicely. "Promise you'll listen to everything I got to say before you attack me again."

Ryoga blinked. "That's all?" Ranma nodded. "Not, 'Promise not to attack me'? Just listen to your stupid excuses before I do?"

The Saotome heir growled, and cocked one fist menacingly over the cask. Ryoga began frantically waving his hands and shouting pleas for mercy. "Listen up, Ryoga," Ranma yelled. "You think I'm out here for my health?! This is a hell of a lot more serious than you seem to think! Now are you gonna promise? Or do I give some fish a life-changing experience?!"

"I promise!!" Ryoga shouted frantically.

In that instant the Saotome heir focused, reaching out toward the sense of wrongness emanating from Ryoga. He'd been able to feel the power of water in the other boy ever since he got here… but it was perverted somehow, mixed with something with which it never should have been… with a mental twist, he severed the connection, only just holding back a smile of satisfaction as the unnatural sensation finally disappeared.

Unaware of the fact that the whole charade was now completely unnecessary, Ryoga continued to plead. "I'll listen to whatever you've got to say!! Just please, please, PLEASE GIVE IT HERE!!"

Resisting with some difficulty the urge to toss the cask toward Ryoga, Ranma moved forward and handed his cargo over. "Here ya go, bacon boy. Heh… guess I'm not gonna be able to call you that much longer, huh?"

His question went both unanswered and unnoticed. Ryoga was staring at the cask as if he held the Holy Grail in his hands. Closing his eyes and saying a silent prayer, the lost boy raised the cask over his head and shattered it with one swift blow.

The water inside cascaded down over him, leaving him wet… and otherwise unchanged. For a long moment he stood there trembling. And then, with a yell, he whirled and charged.

Ranma gave Ryoga some five minutes to stand in the stream and laugh maniacally. Eventually, though, he forcefully cleared his throat, calling the other's attention to himself. "You ready to listen now, Ryoga?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Truth be told, Ryoga doubted he would be able to give Ranma the pounding he deserved for his heartless actions toward Akane anyway. At least not tonight; he was just in too good a mood now. The lost boy climbed out of the stream, heading over to his backpack and pulling out a towel. "Go on."

"Okay." Ranma took a deep breath, marshalling his thoughts. "Ryoga, about—"

"Hey, where'd you get Nannichuan water anyway?" Ryoga demanded, interrupting him.

Ranma frowned, then decided a technique from one of his favorite anime would work nicely here. He shifted his face into an annoying grin. "Now that… is a secret!"

"Not you too," Ryoga grumbled under his breath. "I hate it when I run into that stupid priest."

For Ranma's peace of mind, it was probably just as well that he didn't quite catch that. "Listen, Ryoga, I got to talk to you about something serious. I mean real serious. I mean more serious than your cure or mine."

Ryoga blinked. Ranma blowing off his rival's cure was one thing, but saying this meant more than his own? "Okay, I'm listening."

"I'd like you to tell me just what happened a couple of days ago. With Kaede," he added for clarification.

The lost boy frowned, his good mood dimming. So he'd heard about that fight already, had he? Chances were Ranma knew about his latest ace in the hole, then. Why couldn't he ever get the break he deserved? Still, considering that he was currently damp from cold water that hadn't washed away his human form, the thought held rather less angst than it usually did. "What's to tell? You must know about it already. I got into a fight with that new fiancée of yours."

"I know that," Ranma growled. "Already heard one side of it. Now I want to hear yours."

Ryoga just gestured helplessly. "What's to say?" Mentally, he continued, 'No way am I gonna let you trick me into giving out ALL the details of my new move, Ranma!'

"Okay. Let's start simple. Who won?"

"I did," Ryoga asserted. "I had her down for the count." He frowned. "No matter what she told you, that's how it was. The fight was over." It was annoying enough that Kaede had beaten him so easily the first time… no way was he going to let anyone cast doubt on his comeback victory.

"How could she have told me anything else?" Ranma inquired. "I mean, if you really knocked all the fight out of her, how could there be any question about who won?"

Ryoga squirmed a little, but decided this was a better question than just how he'd taken Kaede down. "Umm… well, the thing is… Ukyo kinda caught the tail end of the fight. She ran forward and interfered."

Ranma's eyebrows climbed toward his hairline in surprise. How exactly had Ryoga managed to work out that what had happened next had been Ukyo's doing? There were many things that the lost boy was not, and one of them was perceptive. "Interfered how?"

After squirming a little more, Ryoga admitted, "Well… you know how it is… I mean, it kinda looks bad when a guy fights a girl… and Ukyo wasn't there to see that she started it anyway…."

"Would you get to the point?!" Ranma demanded.

"Look, Miss Okonomiyaki-Obsession was gonna splash me in broad daylight, in front of a hundred people!" Ryoga shouted back. "So I took off. That's what I meant."

Ranma spent a few more moments blinking in surprise. "You thought she was gonna trigger your curse?"

"Thought nothing, it was plain as day! You'd understand if you had a real curse, Ranma. You would've run too!!"

"I guess having it revealed in front of everybody like that would be pretty scary," Ranma mused.

"Yeah, terrify—" Ryoga caught himself. "Shut up! Like you'd've done any better in my place!"

"Prob'ly not," Ranma admitted. "I guess if I'd been there instead of you and the same thing had happened to me, I probably woulda run too." Given that he knew what Ukyo had really done to cause Ryoga's terror, admitting that didn't come particularly hard.

"Yeah… well," the lost boy said, his ruffled feathers settling.

Ranma waited a few moments, then continued. "Okay. I got it. Ucchan ran up, you ran off so she wouldn't take you down the cheap way." He frowned, not that Ryoga could see this all that well in the fading light. "What I really wanna talk about is what happened next."

"What happened next?" Ryoga echoed.

"Yeah." Ranma's voice sharpened, and grew cold enough that Ryoga shivered involuntarily. "The part where Ucchan checked Kaede for a pulse, and didn't find one. The part where she gave her CPR, which is the only reason I've still got as many fiancées now as I did the day before your fight."

A long moment of frozen silence, then Ryoga burst to his feet. "You're lying!!"

"No way. No how. Your technique shut her heart down. You woulda killed her, Ryoga," Ranma said in the coldest tone he could manage. "I swear on my honor as a martial artist. I ain't lyin' or stretchin' the truth or nothing. If Ucchan hadn't've been there, Kaede would be dead now. Her blood would be on your hands."

"But I… I didn't…" Ryoga searched frantically for the words. "I didn't hit her with anything that bad!"

"That ain't how I heard it," Ranma countered remorselessly. "What I heard sounded like you used some kinda twist on the Shi Shi Hokodan, set up to shoot into her when she got too close to you."

Ryoga gritted his teeth. "Yeah, that is pretty much what I did. But do you think that was the first time I ever pulled the move off, Ranma? Not even close! I'd gotten it to work a long time before I had that second fight with Kaede, and I'd used it to win three matches! And none of those guys took any real damage!!" He was shouting now, desperation in his voice. "It just took all the fight out of them. Hell, this version is even less powerful than the usual Shi Shi Hokodan!!"

"Yeah, well, it was powerful enough to take all the fight out of Kaede, forever," Ranma said flatly.

The lost boy held tensely silent for the next little while, his thoughts racing in circles of desperation and confusion. Ranma sat there and watched him, content to let the other boy work things through for himself for now.

Several long minutes passed… and then Ryoga seemed to sag, sinking back down to the ground. "Maybe it was because of that technique she had," he half-whispered, more to himself than to Ranma. "Maybe that was what caused it."

"Technique?"

"Yeah, the first time I fought her, she broke my normal Shi Shi Hokodan and drained power out of it to boost herself," Ryoga explained absently. "That was what gave me the idea to work this new move out. But maybe being able to do that makes her more vulnerable to something like this."

"Maybe so," his rival acknowledged. "Well, lucky you, Ryoga. She told me how to do that trick too. Guess you got a real good weapon now, if you wanna fight me again. Heck, you could finally make good on that 'Ranma, prepare to die!' thing."

"Shut up!" It was more a tortured plea than an indignant demand. "You think I wanted this, Ranma?! I never meant to go that far!!" Even if she had whipped a cutting edge a micrometer away from breaking the skin of his neck.

The Saotome heir shrugged. "Guess you better not use that technique then, huh? Or at least have the sense to talk to the old ghoul about it first, see if it's safe or not."

"Maybe I'll do that," Ryoga said quietly. Or then again, maybe he'd just bury this technique in the deepest, blackest depths of his unconsciousness, and try to forget what he'd apparently come so close to doing.

Silence fell again, lasting for several more minutes. At last, with the air of one really in need of a change of subject, Ryoga spoke up. "Really though, Ranma. Where'd you get the Nannichuan?"

Ranma frowned. "I already told ya, I'm not saying. It's not important anyway." He figured he'd probably have to let everyone in on his new abilities eventually, but there was no way in the world he was letting that secret slip out anytime soon.

Ryoga acquired a matching frown. "Wait a minute… did Shampoo give it to you?!"

"Huh? Where'd that come from?" the other boy responded, too surprised to deny it outright.

"I knew it!" Ryoga growled. "This was her way of paying you back for favoring her while you treat Akane like crap!!"

"Excuse me?" Ranma's tone dipped back toward glacial levels. "You wanna repeat that, P-chan?"

"DON'T CALL me… P-chan…." Ryoga's protest ran out of steam as the reminder of his broken curse sank in. He tried to pull himself together, tried to recapture the righteous anger that Ranma deserved for his heartless actions. "She told me, Ranma! Akane told me how you as good as slapped her in the face! How you wouldn't even let her stand up for herself to someone who'd humiliated her in her own home!"

Ranma heaved a long and weary sigh. "Oh. Really. She told you that, did she?"

"Yes, she did!"

"Told you how she went over to the Cat Café to give Shampoo a formal challenge? How Shampoo asked me if Akane was ready to fight her for real? How Shampoo said that if Akane was, that's how she'd fight her? For real?"

"Ummm… some of that…" It was funny, but until this moment Ryoga hadn't really given much thought to that angle. That Akane had been going to pick a fight… no, issue a formal challenge to Shampoo. As much as the lost boy encouraged the love of his life regarding her martial arts skills whenever he got the chance, he knew that Akane was nowhere near the level she'd need to be to take on Shampoo for real.

But with that thought, he recovered his balance. "She told me the important part, Ranma! She would've won that fight, and you cheated her out of it!"

"Interesting use of 'cheated' there, Porky," Ranma muttered, wondering how badly Ryoga would've taken it if he had ever deliberately used his rival's curse to win one of their serious matches. Louder, he continued, "Yeah? You think so? Did Akane happen ta clue you in that Shampoo's learned the Amaguriken now?"

"No, but what's that got to do with anything?!"

Ranma shrugged. "Gee, I dunno. You think maybe… just maybe… she might've managed to block Akane's shot with a bonbori? The tomboy'd only get that one moment of surprise, you know."

Ryoga could find nothing to say. After a moment Ranma filled the silence himself. "And what if she had pulled it off? You forget what happens when an Amazon gets defeated by an outsider girl?"

Another rather more awkward silence. Ranma opted not to end this one, waiting instead to see what Ryoga's reaction would be.

"Damn you, Ranma!" the lost boy eventually exploded. "This is all your fault! This stuff happens to Akane over and over and over again! You never treat her right, you hurt her time and time again, you put her in danger and complain about how she can't keep up with you! You should've cleaned up this mess a long time ago!!"

Amazed that Ryoga had managed to hit at least one nail on the head in that diatribe, Ranma just replied soberly, "Yeah, well, if you run across a time machine so I can go back and fix all the mistakes I made, be sure an' tell me about it."

"I'm serious!" Ryoga shouted. "This isn't some stupid joke, Ranma!"

"No duh, pork brain," the Saotome heir replied acerbically. "Why d'you think I came all the way out here with that cask for you? I'm trying to deal with my problems once and for all.

"But if you think that's easy, then you're living in a dream world." Ranma glared through the gloom. "You think you got all the answers, Ryoga? Then you tell me… what should I do next?"

"Stop insulting and hurting Akane!"

"SPECIFICS, you moron!!" Ranma took several deep breaths. "Don't tell me not to do something. Tell me what I need to do. How would you…" he cut that sentence off, amending it to a version that would be more helpful, "how do you think I should solve the fiancée stuff?"

Now Ryoga was well and truly on the horns of a dilemma. Had Ranma just asked him how he would act if he were in Ranma's place, the answer would have been easy enough not even to require conscious thought. But he just couldn't tell Ranma to dump all the other girls and be a caring faithful doting fiancé to Akane!

While his rival was still struggling in silence, Ranma spoke again. "Ain't as easy as ya thought, is it?" He didn't wait for a response. "I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, at least as far as the Tendos go. Akane's broken the engagement for the last time. I don't care if that is the only promise the old man meant to keep. As far as I'm concerned, it's gone. Over. Finished. Kaput. Akane and me ain't nothing to each other any more."

"You can't do that." Ryoga felt as if the words were being pulled out of him by heavy, brutal machinery. Each one cost him effort greater than throwing a Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan, but they came nonetheless. "Not yet. She… she isn't ready for that… not with the way she acted, not with the things she said…"

"Too freakin' bad," Ranma said coldly. "I know you think I'm the scum of the earth and Akane can do no wrong, Ryoga. But that's not the world I live in. And I'm not going back there. Not anymore."

"I promised I'd listen to everything you had to say." Ryoga's tone could have ground through granite. "Are you finished yet?"

"Not quite yet," Ranma replied. "Just one more thing."

"Go on."

The pigtailed boy heaved another long, weary sigh. "Ryoga. Half the time I get Akane mad at me, I don't even know what I did wrong. The other half, I don't understand how it coulda mattered that much to her. It's the same old thing, over and over again. You say I just keep on hurting her? You say it's all my fault? Well, maybe so, but if I don't know any better, how the hell am I supposed to fix it?!"

"How can you not know any better?!" Ryoga demanded, using indignation to cover the fact that he had no clue how to answer the question.

"That isn't any kind of answer, Ryoga. Far as I can see, there's just one way out, and it's the one I'm taking. Get out now, maybe… maybe hurt Akane one last time by dumping her. Seems to me like that's better than keeping on hurting her until she finally tells me to go and don't change her mind afterward."

Ryoga was silent for a long time, at last giving a supremely reluctant, "Maybe."

"Maybe nothing. I'll be doing the tomboy a favor. Clearing out of the way and making room for somebody on the same page as her," Ranma said rather more cheerfully. "Somebody who can eat her toxic food, somebody who don't mind how uncute she is, somebody who's strong and slow and bad-tempered to boot… sounds like a match made in heaven, right, P-chan?"

That decided it. If Ranma was making stupid jokes, then he must've finished saying everything Ryoga had promised to listen to. And whether or not Ranma was ultimately doing the right thing here, Ryoga still owed him one for hurting Akane anyway. The lost boy surged to his feet, with a battle-cry of "Don't call me P-CHAN!!"

'What am I going to do?'

The question echoed through Ukyo's mind, over and over again. Nor was it the only one; the chef's consciousness was filled with a cacophony of fragmented thoughts, whirling emotions… and resurrected dreams.

Just about everything she'd done over the past couple of months, all the plans she'd laid, the course she'd charted and followed to the best of her abilities, all of it had been based around one central truth: that her time with Ranma was limited. That she only had so much, and no more, of a window of opportunity to be with him. That he might stay with her for a time, might listen to her and let her help him… but sooner or later she'd have to let go, because he was never, ever going to love her like she loved him.

A 'central truth' that could suddenly no longer be trusted at all.

"This just isn't fair!!" she lamented. "I never actually told him… never came right out and said I'd been made to believe he'd never love me. And now… what's he going to think?"

It was a fair question. While Ranma wasn't exactly the suspicious sort, Ukyo thought this scenario would likely strain even his ability to trust. 'Let's see… I know I didn't tell you this before you got your own power-up, Ranma honey, but the main reason I actually broke our engagement was cause the Dark told me there was no chance you'd ever love me. Except this scroll I suggested you look for says that was probably a lie. So now that you're living with me and we're the only two people we know who've got this kind of power, you wanna take the engagement back up?'

Ridiculous coincidences happened all the time in Nerima, but even to a veteran of the craziness like Ukyo, this one felt over the top.

'I could just… not say anything,' she thought hesitantly. 'Just keep quiet. That way, if anything happens, it'll happen honestly. And if nothing happens, I won't be any worse off than I was before…'

She considered the thought for all of ten seconds, before a stray memory tickled her mind, a memory of her sleeping guest and the only thing that had held her back from giving him a kiss. The chef grimaced, remembering that she couldn't afford any more self-deception. If there was any chance that her dreams might come true after all, there was no way she was going to be able to hold back from pursuing them. She was a seventeen-year-old girl, not some monk who'd learned iron restraint through decades of meditation under an icy waterfall.

Which raised another nasty issue. Ukyo knew — or had known — that despite what any outsider would have thought, bringing Ranma here to live with her had been an innocent act. However, the revelation of this morning had shattered that fact, leaving only a confusing tangle of uncertainty. Would Ranma still want to stay here? Should he? Was it even fair, given that she now wanted back into the game, for her to keep an advantage like having him live with her?

Ukyo dismissed that last objection almost as soon as it arrived. Ranma had spent more than a year living under the same roof as Akane, the least deserving of anyone in the fiancée scramble in her humble opinion. Any semblance of fairness about this competition had long ago been flushed down the toilet.

But the more important questions still remained. She'd offered this sanctuary to Ranma in good faith, as a sort of neutral ground, a place where he could stay without that decision making any sort of impact on the choices he had to make. And suddenly that wasn't going to be true anymore… at least, she hoped not.

But then again, Ukyo reminded herself sadly, this could all be a moot point. She knew she'd been lied to during her transformation, but there was no guarantee that this had been a lie. The visions of the future if nothing was done — Ranma dying, Ranma suiciding, Ranma chained as an Amazon slave — had hurt just as much. Those could have been the deception and the other nothing but truth. She might make her offer, only to have him dismiss it… and her… one last time.

The thought hurt like a demon clawing away at her from the inside out. But at least, Ukyo thought as bravely as she could, it would finally be settled.

With that, the chef let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and got to her feet. It was time and past to quit stewing in her room like this. She headed out into the hallway and down the stairs, intending to soothe her nerves with a nice round of the Art of the Okonomiyaki.

As luck would have it, Kaede arrived at the front door just in time to meet Ukyo's gaze through the window.

Ukyo's jaw dropped in shock, the other girl's inquiring, entreating look not yet registering in her mind. What on earth was Kaede doing here?

The chef finally recovered her balance when the other girl grimaced and knocked loudly. She hurried over and opened the door, making a mental note to point out to Ranma that he hadn't locked it when he left. "Can I help you?" she asked, remembering just in time that as far as the other girl was concerned Ukyo shouldn't know her name.

"Um… You're Ukyo Kuonji, right?"

Ukyo nodded. "That's me. And you…?"

"Kaede Hayashibara." Kaede fidgeted. "Ah… could I come in?"

Now, Ukyo was hardly enthusiastic about that idea. Ranma wasn't here at the moment; it would actually have been safer if he was. That way she could just have done her usual thing and introduced him as "Cousin Takeshi". However, with her houseguest off who-knew-where and due back who-knew-when, the situation was a good bit trickier than that. If Kaede should still be there when he decided to come dashing back home… Well, Ukyo for one was nowhere near ready to have their cover blown just yet.

On the other hand, saving someone's life gives you a certain measure of responsibility toward them. Ukyo couldn't quite bring herself to blow this off, especially since the vulnerable look in Kaede's eyes made it seem likely that she'd come to talk about just that. The chef compromised with a quick excuse. "Actually, it's not as clean in here as I'd like for visitors, sugar." Technically true — she didn't want any of Ranma's acquaintances visiting while his stuff was cluttering up her guest bedroom. "If you want to talk, we could go for a quick walk or something."

Kaede shook her head ruefully. "I can't. Been doing some hard training this morning; it was all I could do to walk over here. I really need to sit down. Don't worry about how messy it is, I promise I couldn't care less."

Ukyo bit her lip, seeing no way out. "Well… okay."

She turned, and Kaede followed her into the restaurant. Kaede took a few seconds to glance puzzledly around the room — which seemed quite tidy enough to her — before deciding that restaurant operators probably had to go by a different standard of "clean" than ordinary people. She sank onto a stool with a grateful sigh. "That's better. I should have taken a taxi over here."

"So… what'd you want to talk about?" Ukyo asked, seating herself as well and doing her best not to appear nervous.

"Can't you guess?" Kaede blinked. "That was you the other day, who helped me after the fight with that bastard Hibiki, wasn't it?"

As tempting as it was to reply in the negative and get Kaede out of there quickly, Ukyo suspected this would likely cause more problems down the road. "Yeah, it was," she replied, "but how'd you know? I mean, you were unconscious the whole time."

Kaede shrugged. "I asked around. Wasn't too hard to find someone who'd seen the fight and knew who you were and where I could find you."

"Mm," Ukyo replied noncommittally.

The other girl paused, trying to decide what to say next. At last, she continued, "The people I talked to said you gave me CPR, Ukyo. Was that… are you sure…" she took a deep breath, "…did I really need it? I mean, did I really have no pulse? Had my heart actually stopped beating?"

"Afraid so," Ukyo said, as kindly as she could. "Just for the few seconds it took me to get over to you and start you going again, though."

"So that's how it is," Kaede said. She fell silent, brooding. Ukyo shifted her weight nervously, feeling more and more anxious for this little encounter to end. When Kaede spoke up again, the chef nearly bounced an inch off her seat.

Fortunately, Kaede wasn't looking directly at her, and didn't notice. "So, you saw the end of the fight. Do you know just what Hibiki did to me?"

Ukyo opted not to give the full story. "I think it was some kind of chi thing." She shrugged helplessly. "I've never had that kind of training myself."

Kaede frowned a frown of disappointment. She'd hoped to be able to clear things up quickly and easily, but evidently her luck wasn't going to be that good. "Crud. Well, let me ask you something else. You've been around here awhile, right?" The restaurant didn't have any of the aura of gleaming newness she would have expected if its proprietor had only been here for a few months. And it certainly hadn't been hard to find someone who knew who Ukyo was and where to find her. "I mean, would you say you know Ryoga Hibiki pretty well?"

Ukyo shrugged. "I guess. Probably as much as anybody other than Ranma."

"Well… Then tell me what you think about all this. I mean, if it weren't for you, Hibiki would have…" She held back a shudder. "…would have killed me. It wasn't like I was threatening him with anything worse than a knockout blow, either. He knew that was what I was going to do next, and his counter stops my heart!" She gave herself a few moments to breathe deeply and push past the emotion, before saying, "What kind of guy is this Ryoga anyway? Was what happened an accident, do you think? Or do I need to make damn sure he doesn't ever pull something like that again?"

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Ukyo said slowly, her anxiety at the thought of Ranma's return suddenly getting pushed to the back burner.

Kaede stared the other girl straight in the eyes. "What do you think? Even if I never fought him again, that wouldn't make things safe. Hibiki says he's Ranma's greatest rival — and there's no way in hell I'm going to risk my fiancé's life, no way I'll let that bastard do to Ranma whatever it was he did to me. If it wasn't an accident, something that he lost control of… if he did just what he meant to do… I'll fight him one more time. One last time."

"You mean you'd kill him?!" Ukyo demanded, aghast. A fleeting vision of blasting Kaede with Fear in order to save Ryoga's neck danced through her mind.

"No, not kill," Kaede hastened to clarify. "Just… disable."

"I think I'm going to need a little more detail than that!"

Kaede grimaced, wishing she could've avoided putting this into words. "It's… There's one shiatsu technique I know that I've never used yet. Never, ever wanted to. It'd turn most of his voluntary muscles against themselves, cramping and spasming until they tore. It would take years of therapy to even walk again after that, and he'd never be any threat in a fight."

Ukyo's mouth opened and closed several times, before she managed to find words again. "And that's what you're asking me if I think you should do?! That's… that's…"

"It's what?!" Kaede demanded, desperation in her eyes and in her voice. "What else am I supposed to do?! If this guy's showed his true colors now, if he really is a killer… and not for self-defense either, like I already told you… then I've got a responsibility here. I can't let it happen again. Not to Ranma or to some innocent shmoe I've never met."

Ukyo chewed her lower lip, agreeing in principle, but fairly certain that such drastic measures were not needed. It was more than a little unnerving to hear Kaede talking so bluntly about being willing to go that far. "I don't think that's how it is, Kaede. Pretty sure Ryoga didn't mean to kill you."

Indebted to Ukyo though she was, Kaede couldn't just take this statement at face value, couldn't ignore the chance that the chef might be shying away from contributing toward Ryoga's judgment. Perhaps she would rather lie than take any part of that kind of responsibility. "You sure about that?" Kaede asked dubiously.

"Yeah," the other girl replied. "Mind you, I didn't get a really good look at the scene, but I remember that Ryoga was gloating at you about his comeback victory. It sure looked like he thought you were still in a condition to hear him."

"Really." Kaede favored her host with a piercing stare. "So why'd you run up when you did, then, if you didn't have any good reason to think Ryoga might really have hurt me?"

Ukyo had already begun thinking frantically as soon as 'why'd you run up' had registered. "Well… the thing is, Kaede… I've fought Ryoga before." A very long time ago, but she had. "He's used to fighting Ranma, who you may or may not know is a totally kick-butt fighter. Incredibly strong and fast and skilled. The kind of effort Ryoga has to put out to fight Ranma… Well, fighting someone else that hard, he could end up hurting them by accident. That's what I was worried about. That and the fact that he's got this nasty habit of wandering off into some godforsaken corner of the wilderness and coming back with a new technique to try and beat Ranma with. So he could have been trying something brand-new on you. I mean, it was nothing I'd ever seen him use before."

Kaede mulled over that thought for a bit. "Makes sense. Guess it could have been an accident, at that. Maybe I need to talk to him before I do anything else."

"And anyway, there's other, better ways of dealing with the situation than crippling him," Ukyo retorted. "Even if it turned out that he was trying to kill you."

"And what would those be?"

"Amazon shiatsu techniques. Shampoo knows this nice trick called the Xi Fang Gao that lets her wash whatever memories she wants to right out of your hair."

After grumbling under her breath for several moments about unfair advantages, Kaede said, "Well, that's good to know. I guess."

"I'd say so. Nice to know you had some option other than utterly destroying him, I mean," Ukyo said acerbically.

"Yeah, yeah, take it easy on that already," Kaede retorted, waving one hand dismissively. "You think I liked the thought? Hell, no! Besides, I could've done something a lot worse."

"Like what?"

"Like tell my dad the whole story of what happened, if I thought Ryoga really meant it." Kaede stared soberly ahead. "We wouldn't have to worry about him anymore after that, that's for sure."

There was a long, awkward pause. Kaede ended it, saying, "Well, I'm feeling a bit more rested now. Probably should start on my way back home. Thanks for the advice, Ukyo."

"No problem," Ukyo replied, getting up to walk Kaede to the door. "Glad I could help."

"Yeah, you helped me quite a lot," Kaede joked. Then her eyes widened, and she smacked herself on the forehead. "Oh, yeah, there was one other thing I came here to say."

"Which is…?"

"That I'm in your debt." There had been many serious things said here this morning, but Kaede spoke this last more soberly and with greater significance than anything that had gone before. "You saved my life, Kuonji. When you tell me how… I'll repay the debt."

Ukyo allowed herself a slight smile. "I'll give it some thought," she promised. "Wouldn't want to leave something like that hanging over your head."

Ten minutes after Kaede had left, Ranma returned. Ukyo heaved a long, relieved sigh that the near miss had been just that, and not a catastrophe. "Never thought I'd say this, Ranchan, but I'm glad you waited this long to come back."

"What, you think I wanted Kaede to find me here?"

"Uh… wha? How'd you…?!"

Ranma shrugged. "I take back what I said about gettin' gypped. Scrying's a heck of a lot more useful than I thought it was going to be. For instance, I can check up on all the nutcases and make sure none of them are too near before I jump back to Nerima."

Ukyo resisted the urge to smack herself with her own spatula. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Eh, why should you have?" Ranma said dismissively. "I mean, that would mean I'm actually stopping and thinking things through, instead of just blundering along and making stupid mistakes. Ain't something you've seen me do a lot, right?"

His best friend chewed her lower lip unhappily. She'd actually meant the question to be 'why didn't I think of using that as a precaution', not 'why didn't I think you would have thought of something like that by yourself'. "Ranma… that isn't… I mean, you shouldn't dump on yourself like that…" Then she blinked, realizing that though his words had sounded rather bitter, he didn't seem to be feeling anything nearly that dark. "Hey… are you just fishing for sympathy or something, sugar? You aren't exactly suffering there, far as I can tell."

"Just facing the facts, Ukyo," he replied. "Way I'm looking at it, I've got a second chance now. I've gotta make good use of it. And that means not ignoring the mistakes I made, and for sure not keeping on making 'em."

"Right." Ukyo swallowed, suddenly nervous. "Ah… I might be able to help you. With Kaede, I mean. If you want out of that engagement."

"Yeah?" Ranma said, interested. His best idea so far for that one had been to slip Kaede several more techniques over the course of the next few weeks, and then get with her dad and lay everything out on the table. That Genma had never meant to keep his word. That Ranma just wasn't going to let a choice like this be made for him. That he was trying to clean up his old man's mess, and that he'd done his best to repay the 'dowry' that had been given to seal his and Kaede's engagement.

But if Ukyo had an idea that wouldn't take the better part of a month to bring off, and wouldn't involve meeting regularly with Kaede without letting her know where he was staying, he was all ears. "What've you got in mind?"

"It was partly why she came by this morning, Ranchan. To tell me that she would repay the debt she owed me. You know, for saving her life." Ukyo gave a nervous grin. "I could call it in on your behalf, tell her she has to let go of the engagement."

"Hmmm…" Ranma hm'd. It did have the advantage of a quick resolution. On the other hand… "Wouldn't that kinda blow our cover, though? I mean, why the heck should you be asking that if you weren't gonna have anymore to do with me? Kinda seems to me like that's a real good way to get everyone we know camping out on the doorstop, thinking maybe you really do know where I am."

"Well, I didn't mean we should do it right away," Ukyo equivocated, inwardly cursing herself. She could almost feel her good sense and native intelligence draining away, departing in the wake of her vanished objectivity. No wonder so many hare-brained schemes had been hatched and botched around here. "Just something to keep up our sleeves unless we need it."

"Yeah, I guess. That sounds good. Thanks, Ucchan."

She licked dry lips. "N-no problem." Ukyo paused, trying to work her way through a sudden spasm of nerves. Knowing that she couldn't just keep quiet about the things she'd learned this morning. Understanding that she owed it to Ranma, to tell him how she still felt. To admit that hope had sprung back from the ashes, clamoring to life more strongly than ever. No matter how scary it felt, she had to do it. She took a deep breath, then opened her mouth, ready to get it all out at once.

"So, Ranma. Where'd you go off to this morning, anyway?"

Ukyo cursed her cowardly vocal chords.

"Couple of different places, actually," he replied. "First, I found a deserted island and tried to find out just what I could do with an ocean at my back."

"How'd that go?"

"Pretty darn good, if I do say so myself." Ranma gave a satisfied grin. "I bet I could take down either of the old geezers if I needed to. At least once I get a bit more practice with some of the stronger tricks I came up with."

"You mean Happosai and Cologne?" Ukyo hazarded a guess. "You really think you could handle them now?"

"Yeah, that's right." Ranma remained oblivious to the worried look on his best friend's face. "Then I—"

"Ranma, I don't think that's a good idea," Ukyo interrupted. "I mean, at least not the old woman."

He blinked, surprised at the outburst. "Why not?"

"It's just… Well, let me put it this way. Early on after I got my powers, I thought I'd try and get some inside info from the Cat Café. Just an idea of whether they were brewing any trouble." Ukyo's brow wrinkled as the memory resurfaced. "I… I felt something. Don't know what it was… it wasn't Dark, but it was sure powerful. Anyway, I didn't dare get close. And this was in a dream, not even the real world!"

Ranma turned that thought over in his mind for a little while. "Probably some kind of defenses they've got set up there," he reasoned, remembering the strange nature of the Cat Café, the labyrinth underneath the building and the mystic urn that had been there before ever Cologne or Shampoo had set foot in the place. "Okay, I'll be sure not to pick a fight with her on her home turf." Which pretty much went without saying anyway… if such a battle were to occur, he'd want the Nerima canal, if not the Sea of Japan itself, right at hand.

"Anyway," he continued, "I got in some good practice there. That's where I was until I came back and told you about school."

"School. Right." Ukyo let out an unladylike snort. "I'm not saying I don't appreciate the thought, but still. How could you possibly think I might've been ready to head on off to Furinkan after what happened this morning?"

"Uh… Ucchan? What did happen this morning?" Ranma asked cautiously, even as the girl realized her mistake.

"I… I…" She spoke the words with difficulty, her mouth and throat suddenly bone dry. The moisture was apparently being rerouted, in order to allow her to break out in a massive cold sweat. Ukyo tried to find the words, tried as hard as she could. But she just could not summon enough will to push past the fear. Sighing in defeat, she said, "I'm still not ready to talk, sugar. Sorry."

His first impulse was to let it drop. Since following those impulses had gotten him into trouble more often than not, Ranma wondered if he ought to push it. He settled for asking, "Well… just tell me if it was something bad or not. I mean, are you okay?"

She smiled at him, a genuine expression containing such relief and thankfulness that Ranma couldn't help but feel he'd gotten it right. "Yeah, Ranchan. I'm okay. It wasn't something bad… not really. Just something big, and I haven't gotten a good grip on it yet." Changing the subject, she asked, "So where'd you go after that?"

"Oh, yeah." Ranma gave a smile of his own. "Figured I'd better deal with Ryoga before he really did put someone six feet under. So I 'ported on out to where he was, and laid it all on the line for him. Told him what he'd almost done, cured his curse, and said I wasn't gonna get in his way with Akane anymore. So that's one problem that I hope really is solved." He took note of the way Ukyo's eyes were bulging out from their sockets. "Uh… something wrong?"

"You… you told him?! Everything?! All about our powers?!"

"Course not," Ranma said, a little affronted at the question. "What kinda idiot do you take me for, Ucchan?"

"Then how'd you cure his curse? Hand him a barrel full of normal water and tell him it was Nannichuan?!" Ukyo blinked. "Hey, wait a minute. That actually would work, wouldn't it."

"Would work, did work," Ranma confirmed. "He did kinda wonder where I got the water, but as far as I'm concerned, P-chan can just live with that until I'm ready for everyone to find out the truth."

"I guess he must have been pretty thrilled," the chef mused. "At least now maybe he'll have the decency to quit attacking you all the time."

"Heh. You kiddin', Ucchan? It held him for awhile, but I eventually had to kick his butt across the prairie all the way to Manitoba." It had come as something of a relief, too, after the distasteful way he'd absolutely crawled to Ryoga while the conversation had touched on Akane. That bit of humiliation had been hard enough to swallow once; Ranma wasn't about to mention it again to Ukyo. "Nah, I'm sure Pork-Bun'll still be good for plenty of challenge matches."

"But… but…" Ukyo gaped, a rather helpless look in her eyes. "Then what did you accomplish anyway?!"

Ranma ticked the points off. "Well… One, I found out that move he used on Kaede had already won three fights for him, without seriously hurting anyone. So we know it was just an accident. Two, now that he knows, he won't risk using it again. Three, I've cancelled any debt I owe him for him getting cursed. Four, I've taken away just about every reason he's got to really get ticked at me. I ain't stopping him from going after Akane, and I gave him the cure he wanted so much. Only thing he's got left against me is that I'm a better martial artist." The pigtailed teen shrugged. "The way I figure it, that'll mean he keeps on challenging me. We'll always be rivals. But we've been allies too, when it was important, and that oughta come a lot more easily now." Then he grinned. "Truth be told, I'd kinda miss the fights."

Ukyo threw her hands up into the air, turned, and walked over toward the grill, muttering something under her breath about machismo and testosterone.

Every so often, Noriko's attention would seem to wander. Her part of the conversation would dwindle to the occasional "Hmm" and "Really?" Her gaze would drift, scanning restlessly through the other pedestrians on the road, tracking down side-alleys, or just sharpening to an interested stare as she regarded some utterly innocuous building.

When her friend answered her question as to how her family was doing with the phrase "You don't say," Kaori finally noticed. She cleared her throat loudly and peremptorily, dragging Noriko's attention back to the immediate present.

"Sorry about that," she offered. "Did I miss something?"

Kaori waved her hand, dismissing as irrelevant any concern for Noriko's family's well-being. "Never mind. What's the matter, Noriko?"

"Nothing's the matter, exactly…" the other girl replied. "I'm just wondering when all the crazy stuff is going to start up."

Kaori gave her friend a flat stare. "I met you at the Nerima train station less than twenty minutes ago. We haven't even walked a mile yet. I know I've been complaining about the chaos in my letters to everyone, but it's not that bad. You may not see anything bizarre the whole time you're here."

Noriko attempted, with no real success, to conceal her disappointment. "What about at Furinkan?" she queried. "I'm only going to be here a couple of days. It hasn't calmed down any since my cousin left, has it? I'm going to eat lunch with you there, at the very least." The girl absently fingered her long, black hair. "Aren't we going to be fighting off lobsters and luaunatics and trained wild boars with electric razors tied to their snouts?"

Once again, the Daikoku daughter reflected on her friend's grim, even morbid tastes. Honestly, with the way the girl sought out thrills and intrigue, it was a wonder she'd made it this far without stumbling into any major catastrophes. It was an even bigger wonder that her parents had let her go off by herself, even to visit a good friend who'd been missing her.

However Noriko had managed to get their permission, she was glad — it was good to see her friend again. Kaori certainly didn't like the idea of disappointing her. Nonetheless, the brunette wasn't able to muster up any real regret as she answered, "I'm afraid not. Things have really quieted down at the school lately. I think the principal took something he couldn't bounce back from." She went on to explain the latest rumor, that both Kuno children were sequestered in the deepest recesses of a secure psychiatric ward. Kaori didn't know how much she trusted this story (the rumor mill was largely run by Nabiki Tendo, after all), but it would explain the quiet, subdued, dispirited way the Furinkan headmaster behaved these days.

"That's just so wrong!" Noriko protested. She had particularly been looking forward to watching one of Tatewaki's psychotic rants. Dang it, why couldn't her parents have sent her to Furinkan back when she'd first asked? Now it looked like it was too late! Once again, she'd missed all the fun! Sometimes, Noriko muttered under her breath, she couldn't help but feel as if someone else had cut in front of her when they were handing out luck, and grabbed the entire share that should've gone to her.

Ukyo glanced over at 'Cousin Takeshi', wondering if she'd put too much pepper into the okonomiyaki he was carrying. That had been quite a sneeze.

"Look on the bright side," Kaori said matter-of-factly. "Your parents will probably be happier that Furinkan's calmed down."

Noriko shrugged. "Well, it's not like they know I'm here." As Kaori's jaw dropped, she explained further. "I left a note on my bed saying that I'd heard about a temple that supposedly had a magic sword that grants wishes, and I was going to go find it."

Well, that explained how Noriko had handled the issue of permission. For a moment, Kaori tried to fight off grim visions of what would happen if Noriko's parents ever found out where she'd really gone, and wanted to have words with their daughter's friend. Presumably one of the reasons Noriko never got in real trouble was the fact that her father had the general build and disposition of a grizzly bear, and her mother was the former assassin he'd tamed.

With some effort, she pushed the thought aside. Considering some of the stunts her friend had pulled in the past, there was no reason for them not to believe the excuse she'd left. It was exactly the sort of adventure that would call to Noriko, sending her off rushing blithely in where wise men would fear to tread, coming unscathed through situations that would have blown up in anyone else's face, and returning complaining bitterly of the way real excitement always stayed half a step ahead of her.

"And now you're telling me this place isn't as exciting as everybody makes it out to be," Noriko complained. She let out a long-suffering sigh, and forcibly turned her thoughts away from the injustice in her life. "Well, never mind me and the way reality constantly lets me down. How are you doing?"

"I…" Kaori echoed her friend's sigh. "I've been better."

"Lonely, sad, missing your friends… well, cheer up! I'm here to chase those blues… away…" Noriko let the sentence die unfinished, as she took a good look at her friend's unguarded face. This didn't look like some middling little depression to be shooed away with silliness. Hesitantly, she said, "What is it, Kaori? What's wrong?"

As luck would have it — Noriko's luck, anyway — there was a vacant bench quite near the two of them. Kaori headed over and sat down, followed closely by her friend. The Daikoku daughter was silent for a time, marshalling her thoughts, trying to decide where to begin and how much of this she really wanted to talk about out in public.

"I am lonely," she said at last. "I do miss all you guys. It's been months, Noriko! Months since I came here, and since then I've only been able to get in a few quick visits with all my friends back home. You're only going to be here a couple of days!"

"I can stay longer," Noriko offered. "My parents probably won't start putting my picture on the milk cartons until I've been gone for a week."

Kaori didn't really hear her. "And what do I have to show for it, huh?! Nothing!" she cried. Then, calming a bit, she opted for a bit more honesty. "Well, not much, at least." She'd now worked to the point of being able to jump half a story higher than her previous limit, which was nice, but not nearly nice enough.

"What about Ranma?" Noriko asked hesitantly. "How have things gone with him?"

"Ranma. Hah." Kaori gave a bitter laugh. "Can't ask the easy questions, can you Noriko?"

"What's the cube root of eight?" Noriko's attempt to interject some humor fell rather flat. She gave a faltering grin, then said, "If you'd rather not talk about it…."

"Thanks, that sounds good. I think I would rather sit here and watch you slowly perish from curiosity," Kaori retorted.

"Well, it would beat dying from boredom, anyway," Noriko muttered.

That line actually did earn her a small chuckle. It felt good to have her friend here, ready to offer her sympathy and commiseration and advice. "Ranma," the brunette said contemplatively. "I just don't know, Noriko. I'm really not sure where we stand.

"I've made some progress, at least. We've spent time together, done fun stuff; I've helped him, he's helped me. I've done my best to show him he's got something a whole lot better waiting for him than those scum at the Tendo dojo."

Noriko heard the undisguised rancor in her friend's voice, and sorrowfully crossed the second place off her mental list of must-see Nerima chaos hot-spots. If Kaori thought they were that bad, she wouldn't dishonor her friend by visiting them. Not when the whole reason she was in Nerima in the first place was to cheer up Kaori.

Unaware that she'd just handed her friend yet another narrow escape, the Daikoku daughter continued. "I just don't know. Don't know where I stand. That hurts."

"Maybe you should talk to him then?" Noriko hazarded. It felt more than a little strange to be offering that advice — Kaori was one of the most take-charge people she knew. For her to be hesitating like this… Well, Noriko wasn't quite positive yet what it meant, but whatever it was, it was big. "C'mon, you can do it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Just think of him like one of the guys back at the old school."

Kaori made a face. "Would that be the ones who'd get down on their knees just to ask me for the time of day? Or the ones who resent it that a mere girl can wipe the floor with them?"

"Well, which one is he more like?"

"Neither of the above. That's… he's… Ranma's just in a class by himself. He is shy, sometimes, and not very sure of himself. Tries to cover it up, but I know I've seen it. But he'd never crawl like those wimps." Kaori gave an amused sniff. "As to the other ones, he can wipe the floor with me."

And that didn't bother her friend? "You really do like him, don't you."

"Yes," Kaori said quietly, looking down at her shoes. "I really do.

"At first I didn't know whether I would, you know. When I came here, it was about what I needed to do — I needed to redeem our honor, I needed to rescue him, to get him away from the abuse he was suffering under. Needed to do these things. But now… more and more, I just want to spend time with him. To talk to him. To get his sympathy after I had a hard fight." Kaori paused, then said simply, "To be with him."

"Can't you tell him that?" Noriko couldn't imagine any guy not melting upon hearing such a romantic declaration from such a wonderful, talented, beautiful girl as her friend. Of course, at sixteen years old, Noriko had yet to really come to grips with the difference between the way women's and men's brains work.

"No, I can't!" Kaori's frustrated cry shook the heavens, or at least gave her friend a nasty shock. "He finally did leave the Tendos behind. Left them for good, or at least that's what I hope. Took his pack, brushed their dirt off his kung-fu slippers, and made a break for it. And he didn't come to me!"

Noriko felt an icy tremor of fear for her friend worm its way up her gut toward her chest. "Where did he go?" she asked hesitantly. "Was there someone else?"

"I don't know. There's several people he could have gone to," Kaori explained. "But he didn't. He's just gone, disappeared, vanished into thin air. I don't know where he is or what he's up to. Don't know whether he left for good or just took a training trip to clear his head. Don't know when, or if, he'll be back. And it hurts," she said quietly. "The not knowing. It hurts that he didn't come to me, even if it was just to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry," Noriko murmured, patting her friend sympathetically on the back. Privately she decided that if this Ranma didn't start acting a little more like a proper fiancé to Kaori, she might have to do something about it. 'Accidentally' letting slip to her parents that Ranma Saotome was the one who'd gotten her that forged passport and ticket to Iran last year… that could work.

Nabiki inhaled, taking a long, appreciative sniff. Kasumi's cooking shouldn't smell that good, she thought ruefully, not when she was this hungry and there yet remained forty-five minutes until dinner would be ready.

She looked down at the manga in her hands, trying to lose herself in the story. After a few minutes, she gave this up as a lost cause. She needed something a lot more engrossing than that to take her mind off what was happening in the kitchen. Nabiki looked around the living room, searching for inspiration.

The middle Tendo wasn't the only one present; Akane was there as well, seated some little distance away from Nabiki, apparently engrossed in the television. At least, she was looking in its general direction and clearly wasn't paying attention to anything else going on around her.

However, given that the program currently on was a horror show, and Akane wasn't showing any signs of the muted terror she usually wore when watching such fare, Nabiki concluded that her little sister wasn't really paying the program any attention either. She leaned to the side, getting a better view of Akane's profile. Yep, that clinched it — her face wore an expression about as closed as ever it got, but Nabiki was still able to see a brooding unhappiness behind it.

This should serve as plenty of a distraction, Nabiki decided. She got up, fetched the remote, wandered back to her seat, picked her manga up again, and idly pressed one button on the television control, doubling the volume in an instant.

Akane nearly jumped out of her skin as a terrifying shriek echoed through the room. Her eyes darted from corner to corner, trying to find the source of the sound, realizing a moment later that it had come from the television. She blanched as she finally noticed just what sort of program she'd been staring at. That scream had been the last protest the girl in the negligee would ever make; the vampire's fangs were already in her neck, and she hung limp in his grasp as the life drained from her. The youngest Tendo shuddered, and quickly lunged across the room to turn off the set.

She took a few deep breaths, getting her heart rate back to a more pleasant pace, then glanced sourly over at Nabiki. "What was that for?"

Nabiki looked up, giving her sister an oh-so-innocent stare. "What was what for?"

"Why'd you turn it up so loud?!"

"I didn't. I hit the mute button. I didn't think you were really watching it, and the noise was bothering me," Nabiki explained.

Akane gave her a blank stare. Why on earth would Nabiki say something that dumb? "No, you didn't," she protested, too confused to be irritated at the moment. "You turned it way up!"

"Excuse me?" Nabiki arched an eyebrow. "I don't hear any noise coming from the TV. Do you?"

"Nabiiikiiiii…" Akane growled, beginning to suspect some fun was being had at her expense.

"Well, what else would you call it? I hit the button, and the television went silent."

"That's just because I turned it off!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Akane. The facts are totally on my side here," Nabiki said airily. "I didn't make a mistake. You know it, I know it, stop trying to tell me something we both know isn't right."

Akane just growled and turned, preparing to stomp off to her room.

Before she had taken the first step, Nabiki spoke again. And this time, every hint of teasing mischief was gone from her voice. The tone alone stopped Akane and held her in her tracks, even before the meaning of Nabiki's words registered.

"The laws of the Amazon tribe are as follows," Nabiki's voice cracked like a whip, and stung nearly as badly. "In the event that an Amazon is defeated by a female outsider, the Amazon must give the Kiss of Death and kill without delay."

Slowly, Akane turned back around, to find her sister giving her an intense stare. "What did you say, Nabiki?" she asked, the words coming with a curious breathless quality, as if she couldn't quite believe what she had heard.

"You heard me," Nabiki retorted coldly. She stood up, looking Akane in the eye. "It's time to quit sulking, Akane."

"SULKING?!"

"What else do you call it? 'That Ranma, he's such a jerk! He wouldn't let me fight Shampoo, even though she said this time she'd be ready to seriously hurt me! Wouldn't let me pull off a cheap win that would really make her mad! Wouldn't let me beat her in front of an Amazon elder, so she had to follow up on her law afterward! Wouldn't let me STICK MY DAMNED HEAD INTO A LION'S MOUTH!!' " Somewhere in there, Nabiki's control had slipped. She hadn't meant to take the 'distraction' this far, but suddenly she couldn't hold back any longer. It was time and past to pound some sense into her younger sister's skull. "DAMN IT, AKANE, HE DID THE ONLY THING HE COULD DO!"

"Since when do you care?!" Akane demanded, her face contorting. "Are you gonna take his side over mine too, Nabiki?! I know everybody else does, but I thought my family would stick by me, at least…."

The sheer cluelessness and selective hearing inherent in that response literally took Nabiki's breath away. Several seconds passed before she could find will and words to reply. "Are you even listening to me? Or to yourself?! I was worried about you!"

"Then leave me alone! Stop yelling at me! Stop bringing this back up!" Akane pleaded.

"No. This has gone on long enough. I'm not letting you keep on hiding your head in the sand, Akane." Nabiki pinned Akane with the strongest stare she could muster, attempting through sheer force of will to keep her sister here, listening, instead of turning away again in denial. "Ranma did what he needed to do. That's a fact, and you need to face it."

"You don't have any right to tell me that! You weren't even there, Nabiki! You don't know what happened. You can't tell me Ranma was right and I was wrong and that's the end of it!"

"Wrong, wrong, wrong… and wrong. I was there, little sister. I left the house while you were still arguing with Daddy. I got to the Cat Café even before you did."

"Yeah, I'm sure, just like you pressed the 'mute' button," Akane countered.

Without another word, Nabiki turned, and marched over to the cabinet that stored the videotapes. She rummaged in it for a second, eventually removing a plain, unmarked tape. She popped this into the VCR, switched the television back on, and turned to give her sister an expectant look.

Akane stared, her face growing paler than it had during the horror movie. The screen now was showing a scene that — to her, at least — was even worse. Judging from the angle, Nabiki must have been on a nearby balcony, scrunched down low to give her a closer shot. The bird's eye view was all too clear, showing a Chinese girl with long purple hair pummeling a post with kicks. Just for a fraction of an instant, the girl paused, her eyes tracking off down the alley. Akane caught herself on the very verge of darting forward and smashing the TV, to wipe away the look of amused contempt that had flitted across the Amazon's face.

She settled for darting forward and turning the set off. "Fine, Nabiki," she said bitterly, "you were there. One more person to watch me getting treated like I'm worthless. Now we've even got a videotape, to keep the memory alive."

"The videotape was to be used as evidence, if Shampoo really did try to hurt you," Nabiki retorted. "Anyway, now you know I know what I'm talking about."

"Fine. Can I go now?"

"No, you can't!" Nabiki snapped. "Not yet! You threw Ranma out on his butt for what he did, and you've been moping and sulking ever since. I think it's time to grow up and admit you were wrong, Akane!"

"Nabiki. Please," Akane said, hating the catch in her voice. "Please just leave me alone. Why are you doing this to me anyway?"

For a long moment the middle Tendo held tense, as if unsure how to respond… and then, ever so slightly, she relaxed. In tones of frustration rather than outright censure, Nabiki replied, "Because you made a mistake. A big one. A bad one. And you haven't even admitted it. Sis, learning from your mistakes so you don't make them again is the single most important part of growing up. And it kills me to see you don't seem willing to do that."

"Well, excuse me for not being as smart as you, Nabiki!" Akane had held out quite a long time, but the tears were beginning to fall now. "Maybe sometimes it's hard to learn a lesson! It's hard… And, and all you can do is th-throw Ranma back in my f-face…"

The middle Tendo mentally castigated herself for pushing this too far. Tentatively she reached out and put one hand on Akane's shoulder. "Listen, Akane," she said, as kindly as she could. "This isn't about Ranma, not really. It's about you and your choices. That's all I was trying to say."

Akane sniffled a few more times, and blinked away several more tears, but managed to limit it to that. "Then why…?"

Nabiki gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze, then let go. "I'm sorry, little sister. I've already said too much. Just… just think about things for yourself, okay?"

The youngest Tendo nodded, turned, and walked away. 'That's what I've been TRYING to do, Nabiki…' she thought with a sort of grumbling sadness.

"I'm proud of you, Nabiki."

The middle Tendo jumped, and spun around. She'd given Akane time to get upstairs and sequester herself in her room, and had been about to head off toward her own. Her snack stash was currently empty, but hopefully at least in there the smell of the cooking dinner would be less distracting.

However, Kasumi apparently had other ideas. The eldest Tendo daughter stood in the doorway of the kitchen, looking toward her younger sister with a careworn smile. She turned, gestured for Nabiki to follow her, and headed back into the kitchen. A little reluctantly, Nabiki followed, silently determining to grab a quick early bite or five when Kasumi wasn't looking.

Once they were safe in her sanctum sanctorum, Kasumi spoke again, louder than her original soft call. "Thank you, Nabiki. I really think little sister needed to hear that." And it was nice to see someone other than herself taking a bit of the burden of responsibility and guidance onto their shoulders.

"Do you think she paid any attention at all?" Nabiki asked dubiously. "I mean, besides just enough to put on her 'poor little me' act again?"

"I hope so," Kasumi said with a sigh. After a pause, she continued, changing the subject a little. "Have… have you heard anything more about where Ranma might be?"

"Nope. Nothing," Nabiki said, grimacing sourly. On seeing the disappointed look her sister didn't even try to hide, she asked, "You miss him that much, Kasumi?"

"It's… well… the house just doesn't seem right without him around," Kasumi explained. "Can't you feel it too? It's like some of the life has gone, like a candle blown out when we still need its light."

"Don't let Akane hear you say that," Nabiki said.

Kasumi frowned. "Akane is a very sweet girl, but you hit the nail right on the head when you were talking to her. She still acts very much like a child. We can't afford to let her make these kinds of decisions for us. As soon as you find Ranma again, I'm going to tell him it's all right to come back. If Akane has a problem with that, I'll speak to her and make her see reason."

"Better you than me, Sis. Better you than Daddy, too," Nabiki said dryly. "I'm sure he'd be very grateful to you if you handled this for him."

In the hallway outside, from which position he'd caught most of the short conversation, Soun nodded his head in involuntary agreement. It was looking more and more like Genma's idea had been a good one….

With a muted swoosh of displaced air, Ranma slipped in through the window. It was rather disconcerting to find Ukyo waiting for him beyond it; Furinkan's last class had only just ended, and she should still be on her way back, not already here. And waiting in his bedroom like this… well, Ranma was just glad she'd been sitting down a good ways away from the window. As usual he'd traveled back from the canal at top speed, to minimize the chances of being observed by anyone in the neighborhood, and if she'd been situated five feet to her right there would have been a rather embarrassing collision. "Yo, Ucchan. Back kinda early from Furinkan, aren't ya?"

"I cut out early."

"What for? Want to get a head start on opening the restaurant this afternoon?"

"Nah." Ukyo grimaced, theatrically massaging one shoulder. "I got tired of teachers sending me out to the hall for bucket duty, just because I wasn't paying attention. Guess I wasn't ready to go back today after all."

So she still wasn't really recovered from whatever had shocked her the previous morning. Ranma tried to think of a subtle way to bring the question back up.

Before he could come up with anything, Ukyo spoke again. "So what've you been up to today?"

He shrugged. "Training… working on mixing my powers in with Anything Goes… it's coming along pretty good, if I do say so myself."

'And you could have still been out there… doing what you wanted to do… except it's time for the restaurant to open…' Ukyo turned that thought over in her head for a few moments, before taking a deep breath. Now more than ever, she was convinced she needed to do this. "Ranma… I think we need to talk."

The pigtailed boy tensed, ever so slightly. "About what?"

"It's just… this…" She made a vague gesture, attempting with one wave of the hand to indicate the small size of the room she'd stuck him with, and the fact that he'd just cut short on a session of doing what he wanted to do to come back here and let her surround him with the illusion of a waiter's uniform. "I should have said this awhile back, and I'm sorry I waited this long."

The chef braced herself. She'd come up with this as a way to ease into talking about just why'd she'd reacted as she did after learning the truth of her powers — or to save herself some awkwardness by proving that it wouldn't be necessary. How Ranma reacted to this next offer… Well, it would decide either the next step, or the last one. This wasn't as scary as just bursting out with a full-fledged confession would have been, but it was plenty difficult nonetheless. However, it had to be done, so Ukyo scraped together all her courage and said, "I… I never really asked you. What you wanted. And, and the one time you said something about getting out on your own, I shot you down."

Ranma made a tiny noise, perhaps in protest, perhaps wanting to say something. She overrode him without really noticing. "I mean, I basically just grabbed you and brought you here when you were really down on your luck, when you had nowhere else to go… Stuck you in this crowded little restaurant, where we have to keep ducking and covering and hoping nobody's gonna find out… I just… I mean, I never asked. But I'm telling you now. If you want to leave, it's okay."

Silence fell. Ukyo was trembling, and her eyes were tightly shut as she waited for him to respond, one way or another.

When Ranma's answer finally came, his voice sounded as distant as sakura blossoms settling on Mount Fuji. "Maybe you got a point, Ukyo," he said. "Guess I can pretty much go anywhere I want, now. No need to stay here, right?"

She swore she felt her heart contract, becoming a cold lifeless lump in her breast. 'Damn it, it should not hurt this much,' Ukyo thought bitterly. She'd already gone through this once, after all. This final confirmation should not have brought so much pain. Reality apparently didn't agree; the agony was fresh, sharp, driving her toward another breakdown. A breakdown that she absolutely would NOT inflict on Ranma. With a mental twist, Ukyo engaged her powers, sucking away all the pain, the heartache, the despair… all the darkness that had wanted to choke her.

With a shock, her eyes flew open. With her own distractions out of the way, something was suddenly clear. Something that her anxiety had completely kept her from noticing before. "Hold it, Ranma," she said in a voice of steel.

Ranma froze in the act of slipping a shirt into his backpack. He held motionless for a moment, then turned around. "What?" His face was expressionless, as controlled as his voice.

To Ukyo, that mask was worthless. "How come you're hurting there?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," he muttered, suddenly not meeting her gaze.

"Bullshit! In case you've forgotten, I can sense any kind of darkness. And right now, you are feeling hurt… betrayed… there's even some fear there?!" Ukyo scooted forward close enough to get right in his face, and gave him a glare. "What the hell's going on here, you jackass?! When I force myself through something like that to try and help you, you aren't supposed to take it like this!"

"Whaddaya mean, help me?!" he demanded. "By kicking me out?! Look, you don't want me here, fine. I'll go. Thanks for all you've done for me, Ukyo, you got me back on track and I guess there's no good reason to stick around imposin' on you any more."

"STOP RIGHT THERE!! That is not what I said!" Ukyo paused, wondering whether she ought to eliminate the pain Ranma was feeling, so that maybe the idiot could start thinking straight again. Deciding to hold off a little longer, she continued, "I told you, you could go if YOU wanted to. How'd you get me wanting you to go out of that?!"

"Sure sounded like that was what you were getting at," Ranma grumbled. Again, though the mask didn't do a very good job of hiding his actual feelings — Ukyo could feel the darkness beginning to lift.

"Well, someone needs to get his hearing checked then," she retorted. "Ranma honey, the reason I brought this up is because I hadn't asked you what you wanted!"

"You didn't ask this time either," Ranma pointed out.

"I believe the question was kind of implied, sugar, when I said you could leave if you wanted to." Ukyo paused, then let out a sigh. "But you're right. I guess I did kind of blow this, if you misunderstood me that badly. So let me set the record straight. No, I wasn't trying to get rid of you. I like having you here, Ranma. I'd never ask you to leave, and I'd never want to ask you to leave.

"So what do you want?"

For a moment, Ranma looked like he was trying to decide what to say in response… then he gave her a cocky grin (it was a good bit weaker than usual, but it was real), turned away from her and began removing the stuff he'd packed. Behind his back, Ukyo pulled down one eyelid and stuck out her tongue.

She was looking innocent again when he turned back around, though. "Remember, sugar, this is as good as saying you don't mind me working you into the ground in the afternoons and evenings."

Ranma snorted. "As if that measly little bit of work is gonna affect me. Ucchan, you're talking to a guy who worked as a waitress in the Cat Café. Ain't nothing you could do that'd come even close to being as hard on me as that was."

"Except kick you out," Ukyo said softly. He didn't flinch, but she felt a spike of pain anyway. "Tell me something, Ranma. You've spent so much time traveling with nobody but Genma." Ukyo didn't need to actually say "and no company at all would have been better than that", her tone did it for her. "Why would the thought of leaving here hurt you so much?"

What she was hoping he would say was that it was the thought of leaving her that had hurt. On some level, Ukyo realized this was unlikely, but hope — one emotion that she couldn't do much about without actually projecting despair — was interfering a bit with her ability to remain rationally detached.

Ranma hesitated a long time. This wasn't going to be easy to say… but he figured he probably owed it to her. Besides, he and Ucchan were already keeping plenty of each other's secrets; it wasn't like she was gonna blab about this to anybody else. "It's just… that's just it," he said at last. "I have spent so much of my life without other people around who cared about me. Just Pop, and he sure don't seem like he's too interested in tracking me down now." He gulped. "I just don't want to be alone, Ucchan."

Another long moment of silence, as Ukyo turned his words over in her mind. It felt rather like she'd just been handed an important piece of a puzzle, and was now twisting it around, moving through the last few contortions prior to fitting it into place… and revealing something that had been obscured for too long. "Is that why you did what you did with Shampoo, do you think? I mean, that stuff that the Dark threw in my face, the time when you were going chasing after her in that tux."

Ranma considered this. "Maybe. Could be. I dunno." He shrugged. "That was prob'ly part of it, at least.

"But I can tell you for sure, it's why I cared for Akane as much as I did." The Saotome heir let out a long, ragged sigh. "Ain't something I'm too proud of, to tell ya the truth. I get to look back over all my life an' the lives of those around me, and one of the biggest things I have to face is I was lying to myself. I did care about Akane, a lot more than I ever let on. But do you know why?"

"Because she was always there?"

"Bingo. She was there. Only things that looked like taking her away, it was all stuff that it was my duty as a martial artist to fight anyway. Kirin… Toma…" Ranma grimaced. "I got into some of my best fights over her. All that stuff… it made it easy to forget about the bad times, you know?"

"So that's how it was, huh?" Ukyo asked sympathetically. Truth be told, she had halfway suspected it at times, but never had she ascribed this much importance to the issue. When those suspicions had arisen, she'd usually dismissed them with the thought that spending so much time around Akane would eventually cause Ranma to tire of her abuse and leave by his own choice. Here, now, hearing him spell it out for her… just how much it had meant to him, to always have someone there, someone who he knew wasn't going anywhere, someone he knew he wouldn't be taken away from… Ukyo suspected that if she wasn't still shielding herself from dark emotions, she'd be feeling an intense desire to go pound one Akane Tendo flatter than an okonomiyaki. "I wondered, sometimes."

"Well, now you know." Ranma heaved another sigh. "Let me tell you something, Ucchan. I know I didn't suffer anything like what you did, when I got my Water power-up, but it wasn't much fun to see all the mistakes I've made." His voice dropping to a near-whisper, he said, "And I'm thinking now that one of the biggest was the way I remembered all the good times with Akane, and forgot all the bad. Seein' the whole thing spread out before me like that… all those things I'd forgotten, it hit really hard."

"You aren't going back to her, are you? Not ever." Ukyo even managed to say that without a hint of gloating triumph.

"No way. I wouldn't mind saving Akane's butt if she gets kidnapped by another prince or something, but that's all I'm up for."

"If you're really, really sure of that—"

"Oh, yeah."

"Then maybe you ought to go tell that to Mr. Tendo? Lay it out for him that you're not going to go along with your idiot father's stupid plans?"

Ranma shrugged. "Way I figure it, the Tendos are the last people I oughta be worrying about. If I did do that, Nabiki'd have the news all over Nerima the very next day that I was in town. So no, I think I'll save them for later."

"You could write a letter," Ukyo offered. "Post it from Hokkaido or something."

He blinked. "Now there's an idea. Thanks, Ucchan."

"You're welcome."

"So what was the deal yesterday morning, anyway?"

Ranma had asked the question so casually that Ukyo almost answered without even thinking. She caught herself on the very verge. "Where'd that come from all of a sudden?!"

"Eh, just curious. You know, you just dragged something pretty heavy out of me a few minutes ago…"

"Blackmailer. No, wait, that's not the word," she corrected herself. "Um… manipulator?"

"Hey, do I look like Nabiki?!" Ranma asked indignantly.

Ukyo reached out and playfully bounced the back of her hand off his chest. "I think Nabiki'd have a pretty bad day if she woke up with a build like this, so, no."

"Hmm… that'd be kinda funny," Ranma mused, lost in thought. "Maybe not Nabiki, but next time someone like Pantyhose gives me grief, I could skip out to Jusenkyo, get water from one of the real debilitating springs, and douse 'em. Wouldn't make it permanent or nothing, just give 'em a good lesson."

"Hey, you'd probably get the same effect by dumping a hundred gallons of ordinary water on whoever," the chef said. "Didn't you tell me Ryoga's curse felt really, really wrong to you somehow?" Given that fact, she didn't much care for the thought of him putting himself in harm's way at the very source of all that wrongness.

"Yeah, I guess. So why did you freak out when you read that scroll, Ucchan?"

Ukyo rolled her eyes at his persistence, and then paused, trying to decide how to respond. Her reluctance to answer his question was not due to fear; she was still blocking that, and frankly expected to continue doing this for quite some time. No, she was simply unsure as to whether this was really the time to explain. After all, they'd just come out of a long, important discussion, when Ranma had laid something bare for her that hadn't been easy at all. Just because the jackass was pushing now, didn't mean he was ready to have something this important dropped on him so soon after that…

At last she said, "Ranma, I think I've already hinted that this is big. I don't think now is the right time to talk about it. I mean, less than twenty minutes ago you were putting stuff in your pack cause you thought I wanted you to leave. I'd rather give us both some time to cool down and relax before I talk about this. So why don't you go do some more training or something else that you'll enjoy, and I'll tell you tonight."

The pigtailed boy allowed himself rather a peculiar grimace, then vanished. Ukyo thought back over her last few words. "You know, that might not have been the best way to set his mind at ease," she allowed. "Oh, well."

"Ranma, I'm guessing you must have read my scrolls by now, right? I mean, the ones that talk about Darkness, and how lies are a big part of it…" Ukyo broke off. "No, that's no good. I don't want him thinking I'd ever lie to him. Umm… Ranma, you read the scroll and how it talked about Darkness, right? How it lies to you… ahem, how it lied to me…" The chef fell silent again, before letting out a long, frustrated sigh. "This sucks!" she complained. "I'm not nervous. I'm not afraid. Why the heck can't I string ten coherent sentences together?!"

The universe didn't answer. Perhaps it was deriving too much amusement from watching her stumble her way through an attempt to rehearse her explanation, and didn't want the spectacle to end. Ukyo checked the time — she had actually spent forty-five minutes on these rambling, halfway-coherent trial runs! She hadn't specified an exact time to talk to Ranma tonight, but she didn't expect him to stay away too much longer. With a curious sense that she ought to be panicking, if only she wasn't feeding her fear to the Dark, Ukyo began yet another attempt to work out a decent, convincing, non-threatening way to tell Ranma she was still hoping to be with him. Praying that she could somehow work out all the right words in time. It was nearly a quarter to six now — as curious as Ranma had been about this, surely he wouldn't wait much longer.

Only because she was holding motionless herself, her senses straining for any hint of his arrival, did Ukyo hear Ranma's return. There — the whisper of his entry through the window. There — the slight creak of that annoying patch of flooring just outside his door. There — a series of near-soundless footfalls she felt rather than heard, as he came slowly and quietly down the stairs. He entered the main room of the restaurant, and met Ukyo's gaze.

She held that pose for a long silent moment, then turned to stare at the clock that read 11:30.

"Uh, you did mean that you weren't gonna open the restaurant today, when you told me to take off for the afternoon. Right?" Ranma asked hopefully.

"Actually, yes. I did mean that. I thought you were dying of curiosity to ask me something?" Ukyo had eventually decided to allow herself at least a little irritation. Love, hope, and all that mushy stuff notwithstanding, she wasn't about to turn herself into a doormat. "What the heck took you so long, you jackass?!"

He let out a long, quiet sigh. "I… I had to do some thinking of my own. Lot on my mind, you know?"

Ukyo blinked. "Um… no?" She hastened to qualify. "I mean, I know you've still got some pretty tangled problems sitting in front of you, Ranma honey, but I don't see any one thing that would've gotten you deep in thought this particular afternoon. Was it something from our talk earlier?"

"Not really. Well, a little, but that came after." Ranma cleared his throat nervously. "Um… well… I didn't spend the whole time thinking. Did what you said, actually; spent the first few hours training. The thinking stuff over… that kinda came later…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I think we'd better." The Saotome heir gulped a couple of times, then walked over to the sink. He opened the faucet long enough to collect sufficient water for a scrying puddle, headed back to where Ukyo was seated at the long counter, and spread the water out before her. "I didn't actually mean to keep this secret or nothing, Ucchan. It just didn't come up before now." The waters shifted, discarding the vision of the countertop beneath them, focusing instead on a rock concert where hundreds of screaming teens competed with the band's loudspeakers to see who could generate the most volume.

Ukyo blinked, leaning her head down toward the water. "No way… I can actually hear them! It's real faint, but it's there! I thought you could just show images?"

"Nope. Sounds get conducted too, just real, real quiet. But no matter how quiet it is, it's clear to me. Cause the words passed through the water, I guess."

The chef snorted, glancing down at the scene still pictured below her. "Yeah, right, like there's any words there. Just a bunch of people yelling their fool heads off."

"Um…" Ranma took several precautionary steps back. "I was kinda talking about… other times. Other words. Like…" a few more steps, without even realizing he'd done it, "…late this afternoon, when I was checking here to see if it was okay to come back?" His voice ended on a note that wouldn't have sounded too inappropriate in his late, unlamented cursed form.

From curiosity through blank incomprehension to refusal to understand. Then, the slow dawn of realization, forcing its way through the ignorance she tried to cling to. Finally, the full-blown horror of the situation, standing before her as naked truth.

Ranma took the last few steps backward that brought him up against a wall. Every time he'd seen Ukyo get embarrassed beyond a certain point, he'd gotten reflexively pounded. Judging from the look of things now, well, it was looking like a good thing that Water empowerment included super-healing.

His expectations would go unfulfilled, though. Ukyo was literally frozen, caught in the grip of an emotion that was just too strong to be expressed through any action. All she could do was sit there in an incoherent stupor, radiating nearly enough heat to cook an okonomiyaki off her own skin. Embarrassment was a few shades too far away from true Darkness for her to be able to shred it, not that she was capable of that kind of clarity of thought anyway at the moment.

After a few minutes of silence had passed, Ranma wondered whether he ought to go back over there and wave his hand in front of Ukyo's eyes or something. He decided to play it safe, resorting to words to try to break her from her stupor. "Didn't mean to spy on you or nothin', Ucchan. It's just… I checked in at just the right moment to hear something pretty damn big. By the time it occurred to me that I probably shouldn't be doing this, I'd already heard the whole thing." Ranma opted not to mention that that had been after half an hour of listening, and the conviction that he ought to quit eavesdropping had only come after he was certain he'd heard all the important stuff.

"Y-you heard?" Ukyo squeaked, regaining a tiny bit of conscious motor control.

"Yeah. That's… that's why I took so long getting back. Had to think about all that stuff."

Ukyo licked dry lips, and closed her eyes. "What'd you… decide?"

"It's… I mean, there's…" Ranma scrabbled desperately for his own pre-rehearsed speech, grasping only bits and pieces of it. "There's still so much trying to come crushing down on me, Ukyo. I mean… all the engagements… all my old man's broken promises… I'm sick and tired of being told what to do, ain't gonna let those decisions be made for me anymore… I mean, what I'm trying to say here is, it's my life, and I'm not gonna let other people tell me how I have to live it…"

She let out a long, quivering sigh. "I… I understand, Ranma."

"No, I, I don't think you do. Lemme finish, okay?" It was Ranma's turn to try and get some moisture in his mouth. "I… I'm breaking all the engagements, Ucchan. Or not really breaking them, ending them. That ain't what I want now anyway, and, and you know that. I mean, we talked about it some, that first day after you let me come here. I'm not ready for that kind of stuff. But…

"But it's not as scary as it was, you know?" And now that he was this far along in the conversation, the fear of what he was saying was lessening too. He dared to step forward away from the wall, closing half the distance between himself and his best friend. "When I was getting my own power, I saw so much stuff, Ucchan. My whole life, pieces of other people's where they'd touched me or I'd touched them. Even a few bits from people's lives who I'd never met, but who had a big impact on other people I had. All… all that stuff I saw, so much life, so many people who were happy, or sad, some who had somebody to love, some who were all alone…" He took a deep breath. "I'm still not ready yet, but it ain't nearly as scary as it was before.

"And I got to thinking about all that this afternoon, and on into the night… and then it hit me. Something so simple, I almost missed it. Like you said, it was from what we talked about today. Reason why my feelings for Akane lasted so long. She was always there, I was always with her. I knew that, knew what it had meant for me — what it had done to me. And when you asked me if I wanted to leave, I still said I'd rather stay."

"Ranma…" Ukyo made a few false starts, before managing to get the next few words out. "Are you saying…?"

"I… I don't want a fiancée right now, Ukyo. It ain't the right time, and when it is it'll be my choice. Not because of something my old man did or said. I don't… I'm not ready for a fiancée…" he paused, determined that his voice wouldn't shake when he said these next words, "…but I think I'd kind of like to have a girlfriend."

"I, I'd like that too," she half-whispered. Then she looked up, met his eyes, smiled shakily. "Th-that was an offer, just s-so you know."

"I…" he took a deep breath. "I thought it was you accepting the one I made, Ucchan."

"That, that too." Ukyo's smile shone through the dimness of the restaurant. Her eyes were shining too, and she raised one trembling hand and wiped at them. "Count on it, Ranchan. I t-told you already… I'll never leave unless you ask me to go."

The minutes ticked by, and Kaede's anticipation wound itself ever tighter. She diverted as much attention as she could to the task of alternately tightening and then loosening various muscle groups, which would at least keep her physically relaxed. It didn't do much for her mental tension, though; that particular exercise was one she'd known for nearly a decade, and it just didn't take too much thought to perform anymore.

Thus leaving her mind free for other, weightier concerns.

With some effort, she refrained from grinding her teeth together. Yesterday she had made another attempt to get in touch with Ranma. She had left late in the morning, knowing that this would mean she'd get to the Tendo dojo while her fiancé still had several hours to spend at school. By this time, Kaede considered the thought of waiting those hours before he returned to be a small price to pay. They weren't going to put her off this time, she'd sworn to herself.

Nor had they tried, or rather, Kasumi hadn't tried. She had been the one to answer the door, and when she'd heard Kaede's request to wait here for Ranma, the Tendo homemaker had told her quite a lot of things she didn't want to hear. Kaede hadn't wanted to believe it, had desperately tried not to believe it, but there was just something about the older girl that made it impossible to think she might be lying.

She'd stayed at the Tendo place for nearly half an hour after that, waiting grimly for Akane to come back. It had been a while since the last time she'd defeated the heir to a dojo, after all. And although she'd never actually taken a sign and destroyed it after her victory, well, there had to be a first time for everything.

Fortunately for what was left of the harmony of the Tendo household, Kaede eventually cooled off enough to realize that if she did do this, the self-disgust she'd feel afterward would far outweigh whatever temporary satisfaction she would have gotten. Not to mention what her father would say if he learned she had deliberately thrashed someone so far below her and shattered her school. No, that wasn't a good idea at all, Kaede had eventually realized, better to find some other outlet to serve as a channel for her anger. Which had brought her here, now, standing in this vacant lot and waiting.

And then the relative quiet of the morning air was broken. The bright, cheerful jingling of a bicycle bell sounded, coming rather incongruously from some ninety feet above her. Kaede whipped around and looked up, disbelief pushing aside determination. Shampoo had just rocketed into the sky, apparently from the top of a five-story building. The Japanese girl watched, dumbfounded, as the Amazon shot through the air, angling down and forward, in a path that looked like it would slam her into the face of another building. However, she twisted at the last second, bringing just the wheels of the bike in line with the wall and riding straight down it. When she was just one story away from splattering against the ground, she turned and pulled up on the handlebars, changing the angle of her descent and bringing the front wheel away from the building. The rear wheel hit an outcropping windowsill, which broke away. Of rather more importance, though, the bump transformed most of Shampoo's velocity from vertical to horizontal. She shot out from the building, passing clear from one side of the empty lot to the other before touching down next to a wall. Shampoo hopped off the bicycle, pulled a chain and padlock out of the box on the handlebars, and carefully secured the bike against theft.

Somehow, that last note only increased the sense of unreality. Kaede just stood there, blinking, her mind struggling to get back in gear, for nearly a minute.

Shampoo smirked. The mental battle was just as important as the physic