Okay, this time around i'm gonna see if the intros that i write, which
have nothing to do with the fics, really are the reason why i've gotten
almost no responses for the last two major projects i've posted to the
FFML, or if it's just my atrocious writing. So no intro this time, just a
few notes of thanks that i forgot to put in my last post:

Thanks to Jim "The Prince of Rant" Nutley, T.H. Tiger, and Eternal Lost
Lurker for being my prereaders on these projects; There's no way i would
ever get anything done without them.

And thanks to everyone that actually read past the intros of Shattered
Hearts on the Road 4 and Changes 1+2, even if you didn't respond. It's
nice to think that somebody out there is willing to put up with me...

As usual, anything that you've got to say about this fic, anything at all,
would be gladly appreciated. For those of you who've read some of my other
stuff, yes, this is new; sorry about this...

~Eimii


<Disclaimer: The writer doesn't claim ownership of any of the characters
that she quite obviously doesn't own. She also doesn't claim to have the
permission of the actual owners of these characters to use them in a work
of fiction, and thus it's probably safe to say that she's using them
without permission. Please don't get upset, or sue, or anything...>









<tap_tap_tap_tap_tap_tap...>



*I can feel the rain...*



<tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap...>



*I can feel the rain on my cheeks. It's getting stronger...*



<tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap...>



*Strange... I can feel the raindrops falling on my cheeks, but I don't
feel wet.*



<tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap...>



*And the raindrops... somehow, they don't seem really... raindrop-like.
More like...*



<taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap...>



*More like- I don't know. Just not like raindrops... And it's always one
cheek, then the other, over and over again. Rain isn't usually like that,
is it?*



<Tptptptptptptptptptpt-..........................>




*That's funny, it stopped... I wonder what's going on. I wish there was
some way to find out...*



"haah, hah- <wheeze> -hah. Ouchie... Wow, how can his face be so hard...?" 

A sound; somebody's voice. An unfamiliar voice. Somebody was speaking to
him? Movement; something light, almost a breeze, shifting on his chest.
*What's going on here? Who's voice is that?*




"I hope he wakes up soon. My hand is really starting to hurt...<sigh>"
<tap_tap_tap_tap_tap_tap...>



*Now that I think about it, it doesn't really sound like rain either. More
like... like somebody slapping someone, repeatedly... Maybe I'd better
take a look* Slowly, as if they were just now remembering how to do so,
eyelids cracked open. Blinding light. Shadow. Blinding light. Shadow. 



<tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap...>



Things started to come into focus. Somewhat more bearable light. Shadow.
A... a hand? Bearable light. Hand blocks the light <Tap>. Hand pulls away.
Light. Hand falls again, on the other side <Tap>. Hand pulls away. Blink. 

"Huh...?" He mumbled groggily, now remembering where his hands were, as he
brought them up to ward off another slap. "Wha-... whaas goin' on...?" 

The hand stopped in mid-motion, pulling away one final time, to be
replaced by a face. Small and roundish; short red-orange hair. Anger
flared within him in a moment, though he couldn't quite understand why. 
Yellow eyes. *Something funny about those eyes, and not just the color...*
Soft features; a girl, probably. *Kawaii...* Something different flared
within him, but was pushed aside by a strange, general feeling of
wrongness. *There's something just... odd about this face, this person. I
can't quite figure it out, but I'm _sure_ there's something wrong with
this picture...*

"Oh good, you're awake! Finally!" The face cracked into a wide, ear-to-ear
grin. Something bothered him about that smile too. "Sorry about hitting
you, but you just wouldn't wake up! I hope you're not too mad..." The
person- he was definitely sure it was a girl now. Maybe. You could never
_really_ tell... -she flashed him an apologetic look and clambered off of
his chest. He now came to realize that he was flat on his back, and just
moments ago he had had what was probably a cute girl straddling him, slap
ping him in the face repeatedly. Several oft-used clusters of neurons
buzzed to life noisily, but in the end decided amongst themselves that
potentially incapacitating embarrassment could wait at least until full
consciousness was regained. 

"No, no. I'm... I'm fine. Thanks for waking me up, I guess..." He blinked
a few times and shakily sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. A glance
at his companion provided corroborating evidence in favor of the
assumption that she was indeed a girl. The short green T-shirt and loose
black shorts that she was wearing revealed enough of her figure to satisfy
his suspicions. Plain white socks and a pair dirty, beaten-up gray and
white sneakers completed the picture of a cute teenaged girl; maybe
fourteen or fifteen, probably about ten centimeters shorter than he was,
when standing. Her hair was fiery orange-red and straight, cut just above
the shoulders with spiky, irregular bangs. It looked rather tousled, but
for some reason that seemed to suit her. Her skin was tanned, but he could
still make out a light sprinkling of freckles dotting her cheeks. 

There was something else too. Something about the girl's face somehow
struck him as terribly unsettling, but he still couldn't quite wrap his
mind around it well enough to say what it was. Reluctantly letting it drop
for the moment, he got into a kneeling position and took a look around at
his surroundings. It appeared that they were in a small grassy valley,
nestled between two low, rounded hills. About dozen yards away in one
direction he could see the beginnings of a thin sort of forest, while a
glance the other way revealed a picturesque vista of rolling, grassy hills
extending off towards the horizon. The sky was clear and blue, with just
the occasional wispy cloud gracing its cobalt vastness, and the air was
silent but for the occasional whisper of the gentle wind. 

All taken into account, it was probably the most beautiful, peaceful
setting that he could ever remember being in. Now, if only he could
remember how it was that he gotten there. Lifting his arms and twining his
fingers above his head, he began to work the kinks out of his limbs. As
he stretched, he turned to regard the girl. "Um, excuse me... I was just
wondering if you-" Wait a minute here. *Hmmm... That didn't feel quite
right...* He shifted his arms slightly. "-if you could tell me..." A truly
peculiar sensation, a muscle twinge that he shouldn't have felt, alerted
him to the fact that there was something terribly amiss with his body.
With his back, to be specific. He flexed again, just to make sure. Yup,
something definitely wrong there. *Uh oh...*

Slowly, deliberately he turned his head to the side, hoping against hope
that he would not see what his body had already told him that he should.
"No way..." Suddenly, it was as though a dam broke within his skull. A
chaotic flood of images and sensations , of memories, rushed into his
head, seeping into all of the fuzzy, indistinct hollows of his mind. He
reeled for a moment, stunned beyond thought, as the waters settled, until
finally comprehension began to dawn on him. Now he understood. Now he knew
where he was, and how he had gotten there. He still didn't understand
what was bothering him so much about this girl, but that could come later. 

Reaching up with both hands, Ryouga tentatively fingered one of the large,
feathery wings that extended from about where his shoulder blades would
be. "Funny, I thought angel's wings were supposed to be white, not black."
He mused dreamily, his emotions still numbed in shock. "And I'm not even
Christian, either..." 




Fun with Nyanniichuan Productions Presents... 

>From the slightly unbalanced mind of Eimii... 

Yet _another_ piece of Ranma 1/2 fanfiction... 




Fun things to do in Nerima when you're dead. 

Part One: Fairy Tails... 




The girl just sat back a bit and favored him with a slightly curious look.
"Ne, what're you talking about? Are you sure you're okay?" She crawled
over on her hands and knees and peered at him more closely. "Maybe I
shouldn't have hit you so much, if you can't even remember what color
your own wings are..." She then cocked her head to the side slightly, a
puzzled expression crossing her face. "Ano... what's a 'christian,'
anyway...?" 

It was now Ryouga's turn to look puzzled, as his brain desperately tried
to jump-start enough neurons to effectively deal with this line of
questioning. "Uh... uhmm..." It wasn't having too much luck. "Well... this
is Heaven, right?" The girl just stared at him blankly. "It's not Heaven?
Then is it Hell? If it is, then it's certainly a lot nicer than I pictured
it would be..." A frown of consternation settled on his features for a
moment, as he thought of the implications. The beginning of a frantic edge
appeared in his voice as he continued. "I _am_ dead, aren't I?" 

The girl blinked once, twice, not saying anything. Then she began to stare
at him even more intensely, an expression of confusion on her face. "Ara,
you think you're _dead?_" She scratched the back of her head for a moment,
and looked him up and down. "You don't _look_ dead..." She poked him in
the arm once, watching how he moved. "You don't _feel_ dead..." She
grabbed his hand and brought it up to her nose, sniffing it. "You don't
_smell_ dead..." She dropped his hand and crossed her arms, staring at him
again. "And you don't _sound_ dead, to me." She nodded once to herself, a
playful smile forming on her lips. "So, why d'ya think you're dead? I
mean, _I_ don't think you're dead." She sat back again, still smiling. Her
left ear twitched a bit, perking up slightly. 

"Well, I-" Hold it! Ryouga's mind was really putting on the wear and tear
today, with all of this stop-and-go thinking. Now then, back up a bit; did
we see that right? Replay. Yup... "-I, uh... umm... I'm sorry, but are
you- I mean, do you have... that is , are- are those... _cat_ ears??" He
choked out, weakly. He looked again, this time taking in her eyes, and the
curve of her lips. "And cat's eyes, and fangs," he looked around behind
her back, attempting to see if his imagination was really going all out
with this, "and a _tail_??" 

The girl nodded happily to him, seemingly oblivious to his rising
distress. "Uh-huh! I'm a cat spirit! Neat, ne?" With that, she hopped to
her feet, twirling once to give Ryouga a good look at all of her assets,
and plopped back down again next to him. "Myaan! Nice to meet you!" she
sang cheerfully, offering Ryouga her hand. 

Not knowing what else to do, Ryouga took the hand and shook it, though
somewhat unsteadily. "Um... Hi, I'm Hibiki Ryouga. Nice to meet you,
uhm.... I didn't quite catch your name..." 

"I just told you!" she scolded jokingly, "It's Myaan!" she shook his hand
vigorously, a silly smile still plastered on her face. 

Ryouga scratched the back of his head, still almost completely lost in the
labyrinth of his own thoughts. *Her name is Myaan? I just thought that she
was making some sort of cat noise...* He did have the presence of mind not
to voice this thought though, as Myaan might take offense. "So... Myaan,
If I'm not dead, then why do I have wings?" He asked, experimentally
unfurling said appendages. 

Myaan's smile fell slightly, as the confused look returned. After
examining him for a few more moments, she replied, "Um... you have wings
`cause you're a Bii`bi, I think..." She crossed her arms and peered at him
again, seeming to be looking at something just behind his right ear. 

"What's a Bii`bi?" Ryouga asked, reflexively lifting his hand to feel
behind his ear. Or, at least he tried to feel behind his ear. Ryouga felt
something brush up against his right ear, so he twitched it out of the
way... <Blink><Blink> Tentatively, Ryouga reached up and touched his ear,
which had apparently become rather pointy, furry, and mobile since the
last time he had examined it. A lot like Myaan's ears, actually, except
Ryouga's ears felt as though they were a good bit longer than hers. 

Meanwhile, Myaan had apparently missed Ryouga's little bout of self
examination, and had gone on talking. "You don't know what a Bii`bi is?
Well, then you're probably not one of them, ne?" Myaan giggled a bit, and
continued. "A Bii`bi is a Chinese fox spirit, sort of like a Kitsune,
`cept they have wings, `an they're a lot nicer, tho maybe they're not
quite as smart. Or at least they're not as sneaky." She crossed her legs
and put her hands on her ankles, beginning to rock back and forth
anxiously.

"Somebody once told me that one day, a long time ago, a nine-tailed Bii`bi
decided that she wanted to see what was on the other side of the moon, so
she turned six of her tails into wings, `an flew away, `an that's how the
Bii`bi got wings." Myaan got another confused look on her face, and
scratched her chin in puzzlement. "But I still don't understand why she
would turn her tails into wings. A nine-tailed fox can fly really, really
fast already. It doesn't make any sense, ne?" Sighing, she turned back to
Ryouga. "But anyway, I was sooo sure that you were a Bii`bi, `cause you've
got the ears of a fox `an the tail of a fox, `an you've got wings too! `An
you seem nice enough, but not very smart!" She grinned widely at him,
shutting her eyes and nodding to herself. 

"Hey!! Who's not very smart?!" Ryouga growled, his feathers bristling.
Myaan, who seemed to be genuinely startled by Ryouga's reaction, jumped
and scooted a few feet away. "Maybe I'm one of these Bii`bi, and maybe I'm
not, but that still doesn't explain _why_ I have wings."

Myaan fixed him with a questioning gaze. "Why doesn't it explain why you
have wings?" 

"Well, I..." Ryouga stopped, his mind balking at this continued abuse. 
"That is, I mean, I didn't have any wings before, but I have them now,
and..." Ryouga's anger quickly drained away into frustration, as he
struggled to articulate his thoughts. "And...  aargh! Are you _sure_ I'm
not dead?" Ryouga looked pleadingly at Myaan. 

"Ano... Why d'ya keep asking if you're dead? Why would you be dead?" Myaan
peered quizzically at the lost boy, the beginnings of worry evident on her
face. 

"Because- because...," pausing, Ryouga looked down into his lap, his
expression darkening considerably, "because I _should_ be dead...
Because...," taking another deep breath, Ryouga looked up at Myaan again,
a frightened, haunted look in his eyes, "because I can _remember_
dying..." 


(~) 


Stumbling to his feet again, Ryouga wiped a trickle of blood from his
lips. He hastily assumed a defensive stance, casting a wary gaze at his
opponent. From across the rooftop, Ranma stared back at him, his hands
still cupped in the final motions of a Moukou Takabisha. Then, with
almost infuriating nonchalance, the pigtailed boy assumed a casual stance.
An evil grin appeared on his face as he turned to regard Ryouga out of the
corner of his eye. "Too slow, P-chan." the words trickled contemptuously
from his lips, as his lifted his hand to brush long bangs away from his
eyes, the tiny pair of horns on his head becoming all the more evident
from the motion. 

*DAMMIT! He's just too goddamn fast! And he fights dirty, too!" Ryouga
winced as a painful twinge in his groin reminded him of an earlier lapse
of judgment on his part. *How the hell am I supposed to hit him in the
head if he won't stop moving around like that?! Hmm... maybe one of the
wards might work...* A hasty glance revealed that several of the wards
were still littered about the rooftops and in the street below. The small
wooden box that he and Ranma had tried to trap the oni in was there too,
and it looked like it wasn't too badly damaged either. *Only one way to
find out!*

Using his foot to kick the box into the air, Ryouga rolled to the side,
snatching several of the wards off of the ground. Dabbing his little
finger against his split lip, Ryouga drew in the final stroke on each of
the wards in his own blood, catching the box again just as he was
finished. "Alright Saotome, no more playing around!" Roaring a battle cry,
Ryouga flicked right wrist, focusing some his Ki into the wards,
stiffening them to the consistency of steel. At the same moment, he began
focusing for the ShiShi Houkoudan. Splitting his concentration like that
was incredibly trying, but vital to his hastily contrived plan.

Advancing rapidly, Ryouga released three of the five wards he had charged,
sending them whistling through the air in a deadly, erratic arc towards
Ranma's head. Only Ranma wasn't there anymore; he had just stepped
arrogantly to the side, cleanly bypassing Ryouga's attack, just like the
lost boy had expected him to. The fourth ward, which Ryouga had released a
split second later, buzzed down towards the roof tile that Ranma was
standing on, splitting it in half and causing the pigtailed boy to dance
hastily away, just as Ryouga closed on him. 

Bringing the last ward to bear as quickly as possible Ryouga locked his
free arm with that of the possessed martial artist. A momentary look of
surprise flashed across Ranma's face, before it was replaced once again by
that smug, arrogant smile. Ranma's arms blurred, moving faster than
Ryouga had ever seen, and suddenly the lost boy felt a tremendous pain in
his chest. Looking down, the ward fluttered fruitlessly from Ryouga's
numbed fingers as he tried to process the fact that Ranma's forearm was
protruding from his chest. *Claws... The demon could make claws... I
forgot about those...*

With a sickening, wet noise, Ranma jerked his arm back. Holding it up
before the shocked lost boy's face, Ranma licked the blood from one of the
six centimeter long claws that tipped all of his fingers, not seeming to
notice how that same thick, red fluid was running down the length of his
forearm, staining his skin crimson. Or perhaps he noticed, and simply
didn't care. "Too bad pig boy. You lose, again..." Smiling again, Ranma
began to laugh. 

"...N- not... yet..." The gloating expression on the demon Ranma's face
shattered into one of confusion and disbelief, as Ryouga's arms sprang up,
almost with a life of their own, and clamped around his shoulders. 

"WHAT?! NO!! YOU CAN'T-" 


"DIEEE!" With a thunderous crash, Ryouga's forehead collided with Ranma's,
the pigtailed boy's head snapping back violently from the force of the
blow. A dazed, unfocused looked entered Ranma's eyes, as a black haze
began to stream from his body. *NOW!* Gripping Ranma's body to his own,
bloodied chest, Ryouga cast his eyes skyward, screaming at the heavens.
"SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!!!" 

A livid column of green light engulfed the boys, it's expanse shot through
with writhing tendrils of curling black and red mist. Rising high into the
sky, it paused almost a kilometer above the city, hanging before the
setting sun like some sort of surreal fireworks display, pulsing with
wild, malevolent waves of light and shadow. And then it began to fall. 

Down on the ground, Ryouga watched its approach with glazed, unseeing
eyes. Dimly aware of Ranma's breath on his neck, the lost boy pushed the
unconscious martial artist away. Then, like a broken puppet with its
strings cut, he collapsed to his knees, pitching forward limply; the
shattered roofing tiles cut deeply into his cheek. His labored, gurgling
breath began to slow, as a warm wetness spread from the rent in his chest,
running down the gentle slope of the roof and dripping onto the ground
below. His sight rapidly began to darken around the edges, as fleeting
spots of non-color danced across his field of vision. As the pool of red
began to encroach upon the vivid white of the demon ward that rested
beside his head, a final spark of need alit within the lost boy's dimming
consciousness. 

*I... I have to finish it... before...*

Almost without a thought, his right hand crept forward, rescuing the ward
from the rapidly spreading pool of blood, before moving out to the side. 
His left arm, still clutching the wooden box, copied this action, moving
to the side and bracing against the slick surface of the tiles. 

*Have to finish it, before... before anyone else...*

With a strangled grunt of effort, Ryouga tensed, oxygen deprived muscles
screaming in agony as his arms and back straightened. One final spray of
crimson erupted from his chest, unnoticed, as Ryouga tilted he head back
to regard the sky above his head. It was close; the green and black sphere
of light filled his field of vision, looming like the sun before his
failing eyes. With unsteady, blood stained hands, Ryouga opened the box,
holding it in both hands as he lifted his arms above his head, waiting. 

*Goodbye... Akane...*

After half a second's eternity, the wayward star finally succumbed to the
relentless draw of one man's unending sorrow, striking the house with
earth shaking force. The walls of the building blew outward as the roof
collapsed, a blinding could of dust rising from the wreckage to fill the
vacuum left in the wake of the blast. Upon the impact warped floor of the
building, within the sphere of light, the form of a man stood untouched.
Above his head he held a box, into which rushed a roaring stream of darkness, 
swirling around him within the verdant inferno. As the last tail of
shadow was sucked into the box, the man within the sphere of light snapped
the lid shut, affixing a tattered, bloodstained piece of paper over the
clasp. Then, with a final motion of surrender, the form of a man folded in
upon itself. 

Within a crater of his own creation, the body of Hibiki Ryouga knelt.
Within his lifeless arms was clutched a small wooden box, held tightly to
his chest, a final protective impulse preventing it from falling to the
ground. For a moment, a tiny pinpoint of green fire danced behind his
dull eyes, before fading into darkness. 


(~) 


"...The last thing I remember is sealing up the oni, and then...," Ryouga
trailed off, staring aimlessly into the distance, "and then I was here."
Trembling a bit, Ryouga hugged himself tightly, as if trying to prevent
the warmth from escaping his grasp once again. Eventually, his eyes began 
to refocus a bit, and he turned to regard his audience, a puzzled look
replacing the previous pallor. "Say, where are we, anyway?" 

"Huh?!" Myaan blinked and shook her head a bit, as if just waking up from
a dream. "Ara... ehehe. That was a really, really good story Ryouga! `An
you told it _sooo_ well, too! You should be a bard or a poet or
something... ah, are you okay?" Myaan peered curiously at Ryouga, who was
currently holding his head in his hands and weeping. 

Taking a moment to compose himself, Ryouga straightened, a tired look on
his face. "Yeah... I'm fine, don't worry about it." Sighing, the lost boy
began to scrutinize the ground in front of him, casually picking up a
small red stone and turning it over in his hand. 

"So what's earth like?" The cat-girl queried, leaning towards him. 

The small red stone crumbled into a palm full of red dust as Ryouga
twitched convulsively, almost falling over backwards. "Huh? What?"
Flailing his arms and other various appendages about, Ryouga managed to
right himself. 

"Wha`dya mean, 'what?' I asked first!" Pausing, Myaan momentarily assumed
a contemplative stance. "Actually, you asked first. But you're much better
at stories than me!" Smiling again, she bounced forward in a crouch,
forcing Ryouga to lean backwards as she invaded his space. "Ne, ne, So
what's it like? Are there lots of people `an animals `an trees `an stuff?
What color is the sky? Is it blue? Is it red? Is it green? How `bout the
ocean? I've never seen the ocean! `Course, I've never been to earth, but I've 
never seen the ocean here either. Is it plaid? I'll bet it's plaid!
That'd be funny! Do humans still run around wearing armor `an swinging
swords `an slaying dragons `an stuff? How d`ya say 'I have a dozen eggs in
my pants' in human? Do humans really live in hollowed out stumps and eat
boiled rutabaga every day? I don't like rutabaga very much. I like clouds
tho! Are there clouds on earth? What do they look like? Huh? Tell me tell
me tell me!" 

Forced back by this onslaught, Ryouga toppled over again, falling
backwards into the soft grass. This time, he decided to stay there for a
while. Laying sprawled at the base of the gentle slope of the hill, he
gazed up at the sky. "I... I thought you didn't believe me when I said I
was a human..." Suddenly, Ryouga found that he had a small, hyperactive
cat-girl sitting in his lap, staring down at him. 

"I never said that!" Resting her elbows on his chest, she perched her face
in her hands and blew out a sigh. "I just said it was a good story. But I
guess was a sad story, ne? You didn't look happy when you were telling it. 
I though maybe that was part of the story, but I guess not, `cuz you don't
look happy now either. I s'pose dying isn't something that you like to
think about. `S not something I like to think about either. But it was
such a good story! And I wanna know more about earth, too! But maybe you
don't wanna talk about earth, ne? I'm sorry. Maybe you don't wanna talk to
me anymore. But you asked me a question before! What did`ja wanna talk
about? Please tell me! I promise I won't bring up earth or dying or the
ocean or rutabaga or Ross Perot anymore! Pretty please! I'll be good!"
Leaning forward until their noses were only millimeters apart, Myaan put
on the most pathetically cute, dewy-eyed, pleading look that Ryouga had
ever seen. Her ears drooped and her lower lip began to tremble, a tiny hint 
of fang peeking through. 

Ryouga could only stare back at her, his jaw working wordlessly as he
tried to formulate a coherent response. On the one hand, he fully realized
that he now had a cute... female person, pressed up against him, and that
they were situated in a very... interesting position. In fact, he seemed
to remember being in a similar position with this same person at some
point in the recent past. Conditioned responses roared to life, preparing
to defend Ryouga's delicate sensibilities against this renewed threat. 

On the other hand, however, Ryouga was suddenly overcome with urge to pet
the pretty kitty in his lap, and maybe scratch it behind the ears and
snuggle for a while. This posed a rather confusing problem for Ryouga's
mental defenses, as they couldn't quite decide whether to treat this new
factor as a person or an animal. All thought processes ground to a
screeching halt as more and more resources were devoted to this dilemma,
but in the end, no conclusion could be reached. Ryouga's eyes rolled back
in his head as the system froze and crashed, effectively rendering the
decision a moot point. Comforting darkness descended once again. 

(~) 

"Ugh..." Groaning a bit, Ryouga drifted into wakefulness, his eyes
fluttering open furtively, then closing again to block out the too-bright
light. "Wha... what happened...?" Plumbing the murky depths of memory, a
string of bizarre, disjointed images began to surface. "Man... what a
weird dream." Lifting one arm to rub his eyes, Ryouga stared up at the
hazy, red-violet sky above. *I wonder what time it is...*

Grunting quietly, Ryouga began to sit up, only to notice that there seemed
to be something sitting on top of him. Tilting his head forward, Ryouga
nearly swallowed his own tongue when he found a head of messy, red-orange
hair resting on his chest. As Ryouga moved, something sticking out from
one side of the head twitched, and the form laying on top of him shifted a
bit. The head turned to reveal the sleep-clouded face of Myaan; her eyes
cracked open slightly as her ears flicked back and forth in irritation. 

"Huh?!" Ryouga blinked and rubbed his eyes again, as if trying to dispel
the image before him. When it didn't work, Ryouga just continued to stare,
while Myaan seemed to fall back to sleep, once again curling up into a
ball, her head resting on his chest. "But, but you're..." Trailing off,
Ryouga uncertainly began to roll his shoulders, while a questing hand
began to feel the ground at his side. *... there... there they are...*
Brushing against a carpet of soft feathers, Ryouga's hand traveled back to
his face, covering his eyes as he slumped to the ground. "It... it wasn't
a dream, then... but that means..." Tilting his head to the side and
opening his eyes, Ryouga turned to face the light. The hills around them
were lit in a warm, ruddy orange glow, as the sun dipped further below the
horizon. 

Turning once again to his slumbering companion, Ryouga debated what to do
next. Strangely enough, he wasn't so bothered by her proximity anymore;
lying there, curled up on his chest in the fading light, Myaan's sleeping
form didn't strike Ryouga as suggestive so much as trusting and
vulnerable. But still, despite the comfortable, warm feeling that such
innocent, intimate contact elicited, it remained evident to Ryouga that
something had to be done. Lifting one hand, Ryouga began to gently shake
Myaan's shoulder. "Psst, Myaan... Wake up. C'mon..."

Un-curling a bit at his touch, Myaan turned a pair of lidded eyes towards
the urgently whispering lost boy. "Ara... ah, Ryouga. You're awake
again..." Rubbing her eyes, Myaan stretched her legs and rolled over onto
her stomach, regarding her pillow sleepily. "Wha'sup?" 

Blushing badly, but somehow managing to maintain his composure, Ryouga
took a deep, calming breath. "Um... why are you l-lying on top of me?"
Averting his eyes to the side, Ryouga hoped that his flushed face would be
obscured by the darkening shadows. 

"Oh. You decided to take a nap, I guess. I didn't want to wake you up
again, `cuz my hand still hurts, so I decided to wait." Crossing her arms
on Ryouga's chest, Myaan laid her head down and looked off towards the
setting sun. "I waited a long, long time , but you didn't wake up. Then I
got bored, so I decided to take a nap too." Lifting her head again, Myaan
turned towards Ryouga, a happy smile on her face. "I like naps a lot! I
think you do too, `cuz you seem to take a lot of them." 

Scratching the back of his head, Ryouga nervously looked up at the sky.
"Uh... yeah, I guess I do, don't I. But... er... I mean, why'd you decide
to take your nap, um... on me...?" Idly, Ryouga began to tug on his
bandanna. 

"`Cuz you're warm." Myaan replied playfully, snuggling a little closer.
"`S nice to sleep on something warm..." 

"Ehehehe..." Ryouga hastily stifled his rising panic, though it was
intensely difficult, what with all the blood in his body suddenly rushing
to his head. "Y-yeah... but, but... um... don't you think we should g-go
somewhere else, or something... It's g-getting dark, y'know..." The broad
wings under his back flexed and twisted uncomfortably as the 'fight or
flight' instinct tried to take control. 

"`S okay. We're safe here, I think. I never heard of anything bad
happening out here, `an I come here a lot." Turning an ear to the side,
Myaan glanced over to see what the rustling noise was. "Ah! Oops! Sorree!" 
Straightening suddenly, Myaan moved back a bit, so that Ryouga could sit
up. "That looks like it hurts!" 

Finding that propping himself up on his elbows was difficult, because of
the wings, Ryouga eventually managed to get himself upright. Resting his
weight on his hands, the lost boy opened his wings to their fullest
extension, fanning them out in the cooling air. Lowering them, Ryouga
found that he couldn't quite close them again while in sitting position,
so he settled for wrapping them around his shoulders like a long cloak. 

Myaan, still sitting in his lap, leaned into his left wing. "Hmmm... Hehe,
that's soft..." Giggling quietly, she began to play with his feathers.

"Hey, stop! That tickles!" Ryouga shifted the wing out to the side, only
to have Myaan switch to the right wing. Moving that one as well, Ryouga
lifted a hand to ward off the laughing cat-girl. "C`mon, quit it!" 

With a devilish grin, Myaan suddenly placed a hand on either of Ryouga's
shoulders. Then, before he could protest, she vaulted up out his lap and
over his head. Landing behind his back, Myaan proceeded to tickle both of
his wings at the same time. "Nyaa, nyaa! Can't get away now!" 

"Aaa- hehe- s-stop! Eheh-" Hastily scrambling to his feet, Ryouga tried to
turn around, only to have Myaan dance nimbly around him, always staying at
his back. "C- ahaha- come back here!" Ryouga tried lifting his wings into
the air, but that only exposed more of the vulnerable underside to Myaan's
tickling. *Well, at least she's out of my lap...*

Suddenly, the tickling stopped. "Eheh, thanks... Myaan?" Lowering a wing
and turning his head to the side in puzzlement, Ryouga found that the
cat-girl in question was sitting on the ground, staring in rapt attention
at his tail, which was swishing back and forth in irritation. Actually,
now that Ryouga took a good look at it, it wasn't just one tail, but
three. Each of them was about the length of his leg, and covered in long,
thick black fur, tipped by a flash of silver that seemed to glow like fire
in the fading light. Experimentally, Ryouga tried to sway them to the
left, then to the right. Much to his amusement, he found that Myaan's eyes
remained glued to bright tuft at the end, no matter where he put it. 
Occasionally she would try to bat at it with her hands, only to have
Ryouga quickly move it out of her reach. 

Smirking to himself, Ryouga closed his wings and crouched down facing
Myaan, all the while keeping the tip of his tails bouncing up and down in
front of her eyes. After a few moments of watching her, Ryouga poked her
in the arm. "Hey, what's so interesting, hmm?" 

"Aa- Ara?" Blinking, as if awakening from a trance, Myaan snapped to
attention. "Oh, Ryouga. Heh... your tails are pretty. `An you've got three
of them too!" Suddenly, a wide, fang-toothed grin split the cat-girl's
face. "Five! Hehe, lucky!" Pouncing before Ryouga could so much as blink,
Myaan snagged the ends of his tails and began to tickle his nose with
them. 

"Wha- aaaah- aACHOO!" Sneezing, Ryouga quickly snatched the tails away
again, hiding them behind his back, while Myaan giggled at him. "What do
you mean 'five?' Sure, five is lucky, at least where I come from, but I
only have three tails." Rubbing his nose to ward off another sneeze, the
fox-tailed boy gazed curiously at his companion. 

Still giggling, Myaan bounded to her feet and ran around to Ryouga's back,
grabbing his wings again. "Hey, you weren't listening, were you? I told
you a story earlier! Did'ja forget already?" Leaning around Ryouga's
wings, Myaan peered at him appraisingly . Her lips turned down in a small
frown of disappointment, though it didn't reach her eyes. "It wasn't as
good as your story, but I though that you'd remember! After all, you asked
why you had these, ne?" Grasping them by the tips, Myaan spread his wings
a bit, nuzzling her face into the soft feathers. 

Having tensed for action when Myaan had grabbed his wings, Ryouga began to
relax a bit, as it seemed evident that she wasn't going to start tickling
him again. "Yeah... I guess I did ask why I had them," he ventured,
turning to peer at Myaan over his shoulder, "but what do my wings have to
do with how many tails I've got?" 

"Weeeeellll...," cocking her head to the side, Myaan assumed a thoughtful
stance, though her hands alternated between grasping Ryouga's wings and
playing with the end of his tails. "If that Bii`bi turned six of her tails
into wings, then that means that your wings are sorta like tails... `cept
that they have feathers, ne?" Having successfully tied his tails into a
french braid, much to Ryouga's chagrin, Myaan began to count on her
fingers. "Soo... if you've got three tails, and two wings, that makes
five. `An five's a lucky number, `cuz it's one more than four. Four's a
bit less than half of nine, while five's a bit more, `an nine's a really
lucky number, `cuz that's how many lives cats have, `an how many tails
foxes have, `an lots 'n lots of other stuff! So five is lucky `an four is
unlucky, but you've got five! Lucky!" Bouncing around the lost boy, Myaan
spun around to face Ryouga, a silly grin on her face. 

"I see..." Ryouga muttered absently, as he tried to un-braid his tails.
Succeeding, with some difficulty, Ryouga turned a rueful grin to match his
companion's playful one. "Well, that makes sense, I suppose. Four is
unlucky where I come from too, though not for the same reasons." 

"Wow! Neat!" Twining her fingers behind her back, Myaan rocked back on her
heels, nodding. "Sounds like a lot of things on earth are the same as
here, ne?" 

"Yeah..." Scratching his head, a thought suddenly leapt to Ryouga's
attention. "Oh, that reminds me! I was going to ask you something,
before... um, before I took my... nap." Coughing to clear his throat, as
well as to get Myaan attention, Ryouga looked a round, spreading his arms
wide. "Um... where exactly is 'here,' anyway?" 

"`S a grassy field," Myaan replied, matter-of-factly. 

"I know that, but _where_ are we?" 

"Ina grassy field." 

"And this field is where...?" 

"Beside that forest over there." 

"That's not what I mean!" Ryouga shouted, causing Myaan to jump back, a
frightened look on her face. Holding his head in his hands, Ryouga took a
deep breath, trying to calm down. "Sorry... now then, if this... this
_place_ is not earth, then what is it called?" 

"Oh..." Instantly, Myaan brightened, all traces of fear disappearing from
her expression, quickly replaced by her usual air of carefree ease. "`S
called Arcadia!" 

"Arcadia?" Ryouga turned the word over in his mind, trying to remember if
he had ever heard it before. 

"Or Alfheim, or Xanadu, or lotsa other things. Nobody can ever seem to
agree on what it's called." Myaan explained, shrugging expressively.
"Arcadia's easiest, `cuz people usually don't get mad when you callit
that." 

"People get mad when you call it other things?" Ryouga wondered aloud, an
incredulous note entering his voice. 

"Sometimes." Myaan nodded slowly. "Most don't, but somebody's always
unhappy, no matter what'cha do. I think Arcadia sound's best, tho." The
cat-girl turned an inquisitive look towards her new friend. "Why'dja ask?" 

"Hmm...?" Having been lost in his own thoughts, Ryouga started, and turned
to look at Myaan. "Oh, it's just that I was wondering about how I got
here. I mean, one moment, I'm... I'm on earth," shivering a bit, Ryouga
continued, "and the next I'm here. It doesn't make sense..." Trailing off,
Ryouga's expression clouded, a small scowl forming on his lips. "Um... I
know that you said I'm not... dead, but just hypothetically, let's say
that I _was_ dead. Now, if someone dies, is it common for their soul, or 
their ghost, or whatever to come here?" 

Scratching her head, Myaan was silent for a moment. "Aah... Nope. No, I
don't think I've ever heard of someone coming here after they die. I
always thought that you went somewhere else when you died. A lot of people
say that you become someone else when you die, or something like that, but
I don't think they meant that you become a Bii`bi. I dunno..." Myaan's
puzzled look deepened, her gaze drifting to the sky as she continued to
ponder the matter. 

"That's okay, never mind." Ryouga interjected, waving to get Myaan's
attention. "Since neither of us can figure out how I got here, I'm not
going to worry about it right now. It's not like this is a completely new
experience for me, anyway, thought I can't recall ever getting lost and
ending up in a place called Arcadia..." Ryouga trailed off, his lips
frozen in the final sounds of the name. Narrowing his eyes, the lost boy
got a very confused look on his face. "Arcadia. Ar... ca... di... a..." 
Saying the name again, Ryouga pronounced each syllable individually,
sounding it out slowly, as if he were searching for some hidden meaning in
the word. 

Looking up suddenly, Ryouga cast an intense look towards the cat-girl.
"Oi, nihongo o hanashiteiru kai? Wakatteiru?"

"Um...," Backing away a bit under Ryouga's gaze, Myaan held a placating
hand in front of his face. "I understand, I guess, but I dunno if you're
speaking... 'nihongo?,' or not..." Shrugging, Myaan wore an apologetic
smile. "I've never heard that language before..." 

"Then... then how did you understand what I said?" Ryouga queried,
switching back to his previous mode of speech. 

"Um... I dunno. Nobody ever seems to have any trouble understanding each
other in Arcadia." Still slightly unnerved at Ryouga's intensity, Myaan
began to play with her own tail, cocking her head to the side as she
regarded the lost boy. 

"Hmmm..." Wearing a frown of consternation, Ryouga crossed his arms and
looked down at the ground. "So, if we're not speaking Japanese, then what
_are_ we speaking, and why can _I_ understand it?" Ryouga actually knew
quite a few languages reasonably well ; he could say "where am I?" in over
90 languages, and in at least 200 dialects. But, now that he really
thought about it, he couldn't recall ever having spoken in the tongue that
he used now. Despite that, it felt as natural to him as his native
Japanese ; perhaps even more so. Raising an eyebrow, Ryouga turned an
inquisitive glance towards Myaan. 

"Don't look at me! I dunno what it's called." Myaan shrugged yet again;
she seemed to be doing that a lot, lately. "I never really thought to
ask..." Suddenly, Myaan's eyes widened, her expression brightening
considerably. She held her finger up to get Ryouga's attention. "Ne, I'll
bet they'd know in the City! They know all kinds of neat stuff there!" 

Ryouga's ears perked up at the mention of civilization. "The City? Where's
that?" 

"Lotsa roads lead there; most of them, really. One's usually in the woods,
not too far from here!" Smiling happily, Myaan pointed at the thin
beginnings of a forest off in the distance. 

"'One's _usually_ in the woods...?' What's that- never mind; I don't want
to know." Shaking his head, an exasperated look on his face, Ryouga
continued. "But they'll know what language this, is in the city? Do think
they'd know how I got here, or why I'm not dead?" 

"They might!" Myaan nodded energetically, "`An they could tell you all
about Arcadia, and Bii`bi, and other stuff too! Y'hear lotsa good stories
in the city!" Leaning forward, Myaan looked up at Ryouga's contemplative
expression. "You're gonna go, right? To the City? Ne, can I come too? `S
been a while since I've been there, `an I wanna hear some more stories! I
can show you the way! Please, please, lemmie go with you! Pretty please?" 

"Uh... yeah," Ryouga nodded uncertainly to Myaan, "I think that would be
best." 

"Yay!" grabbing Ryouga's hand Myaan began to lead them towards the forest.
"C`mon, lets go!" 

"Wait, wait!" Standing his ground against the cat-girl's seemingly
boundless enthusiasm, Ryouga waved his other arm at the sky. "Don't you
think we should wait until it's light out?" 

"Why, cant'cha see?" Myaan peered at the lost boy inquisitively. 

"Yeah, but-" Blinking, Ryouga stopped abruptly. Turning around, he looked
off in the direction of the horizon. The sun had long since disappeared,
taking with it the fiery afterglow of its departure. The twilight, too,
had passed, and yet, even without it , the land seemed to be cast in a
sort of cool, shimmering light. Looking towards the sky, Ryouga found that
the moon hadn't yet risen, thus discounting the possibility of moonlight.
"How...?" Turning to face Myaan, Ryouga caught the shine of gold in her
feline eyes, her irises reflecting much brighter than they should have;
almost glowing. *Cat's eyes...* Almost bringing a hand up to his face,
Ryouga stopped himself and looked the cat-girl in the eye. "Myaan, what
color are my eyes?" 

"They're green, why?" Myaan stopped trying to drag Ryouga toward forest,
and the lost boy could see a confused expression forming on her face. 

Nodding to himself, Ryouga continued. "Okay... um, do they glow?" 

"... Sorta, I guess." 

"Do they look like a cat's eyes?" 

"Nah!" Shaking her head, Myaan smirked at him. "They look like a fox's
eyes! Why would they look like cat's eyes if you're a fox?" 

"Never mind..." Rubbing his temples with his free hand, Ryouga faced the
sky and closed his eyes. "Just... never mind..." Opening his eyes again,
the lost boy looked towards the forest. It seemed reasonably well lit, as
far as he could see, though thinking about it was starting to give him a
headache. "Regardless, I still think we should find somewhere to stay for
the night. Traveling during the day is usually safer. Unless this city is
nearby?" 

Shaking her head, Myaan rolled her shoulders. "I dunno. The roads to the
city are always different out here. Could be a couple hours, or a couple
weeks..." 

"Wonderful... a city that has more trouble finding itself than I do..."
Chuckling ruefully to himself, Ryouga peered into the forest. "Um, do you
have a place that you usually stay around here?" He looked the cat girl up
and down, paying attention to her reasonably urban attire. "In a town, or
something?" 

"Yup, yup! `S in the forest, but there's a town not too far away. The road
runs through it! The town, I mean." Nodding emphatically, Myaan pointed in
another direction. "My place is over there." 

"Hmm..." Ryouga turned to face in the direction that Myaan had been
leading them. "Maybe I should get a place to stay in the town. Then, you
could go home, and if you still want to come with me you could come pick
me up in the morning." 

"That's silly!" 

"Huh?" Blinking, Ryouga turned to face Myaan. The cat-girl had her hands
on her hips, a no-nonsense expression on her face. "Why's that?" 

"`Cuz I bet you don't know where the town is!" Wagging a finger in
Ryouga's face, Myaan's expression began to crack, a hint of amusement
showing through. "`An anyway, my place's closer. It'd be simpler if you
just stayed there. That way, we could go to town together." 

Though Ryouga had been planning on suggesting that Myaan drop him off at
an inn or something, he realized that Myaan had no way of knowing about
his directional problems, and had apparently assumed that Ryouga was going
to make his way to town by himself. Despairing at his own weakness, the
lost boy sighed, his ears drooping a bit. "I really don't want to
impose..."

"Don't worry about it!" Grinning, Myaan began to lead Ryouga towards the
forest. "I don't have company often, `an you're fun! `An you tell good
stories too!" 

"Well, okay..." Letting himself be led, Ryouga nodded in resignation.
Reaching the near end of the field quickly, under Myaan's energetic
guidance, Ryouga began to follow the cat girl into the woods. After a few
minutes of walking and making small-talk, mostly Ryouga describing earth,
at Myaan's behest, the trees gradually began to thicken around them. As
per normal, the canopy of leaves and branches obscuring the starlight made
it slightly harder to see, but not nearly as much as Ryouga would have
expected; the shadows deepened, but it was more a matter of contrast than
visibility. 

The trees themselves were surprisingly mundane. Ryouga could identify most
of them by sight, and those that he couldn't were at least somewhat
similar to other types that he had seen. One thing that did surprise him
was the intensity of the forest noises; the animals sounded as though they
were inordinately active, considering that there were two talking... 
people, walking in their midst. At one pause in the conversation, Ryouga
turned his head to peer off into the trees on their right. Animal noises
were particularly loud in that direction; so much so that Ryouga wouldn't
have been surprised if the animals were right there, up in the trees above
them. 

At first, the lost boy didn't see anything. Then, tracking another sound,
Ryouga turned to see, off in the distance, a gray squirrel climbing up the
side of a tree. Ryouga was amazed that, even at this distance, some forty
or fifty meters away, he could still hear the squirrel's claws biting
into the bark of the tree. It sounded like the squirrel should have been
right there with them, climbing up the tree beside his head, not half
kilometer away. Ryouga couldn't decide what he should be more impressed 
by, the fact that he could hear it, or the fact that he could see that 
far in the dark. 

"Ne, Ryouga, what'cha lookin' at?" Myaan asked, tugging at his sleeve. 

"Huh?" Ryouga reflexively swiveled an ear towards the sound of Myaan's
voice. "Oh, noth-" He blinked in confusion, as the sounds of the squirrel
became much more indistinct, but still clearly audible. Thinking about
what his ear had just done, Ryouga returned it to its original position. 
The sounds of the squirrel, now chewing on a nut, leapt back into focus. 
*Hmmm... directional, like sight...* Turning his attention back to Myaan,
Ryouga faced forward, a small smirk on his face. "Nothing. Nothing at all.
It's just... I guess we're safer than I thought we were..." 

"Oh, that's good..." Myaan replied, a happily uncomprehending expression
on her face. 

(~) 

*Of course, I could still be wrong about that...*

"Ne, Ryouga, what'cha waitin' for?" Myaan's voice floated down from the
darkened canopy above. The thick branches obstructed his view enough that
he couldn't see her, but Ryouga found that he could still tell where she
was by the sound of her voice. "C'mon up!" 

With a weary sigh, Ryouga grimaced and tilted his head back, peering up at
the patch of foliage where he had seen the cat-girl disappear. "Alright,
I'm coming up!" Dusting his hands off, the lost boy tested his grip on the
bark of the tree trunk in front of him. *When she said that she had a
place in the forest, was it asking too much to assume that she meant a
_house_...?* After a short while, he and Myaan had come into a section of
old growth forest, so many of the trees were too wide across for Ryouga to
get his arms around. The one he was facing now was no exception. 

Moments earlier, Ryouga had seen his traveling companion take off her
shoes and scamper up this same tree with cat-like ease; surprise,
surprise. But still, Ryouga didn't trust his climbing skills that much,
and he suspected that Myaan's alacrity wasn't due entirely to natural
talent alone. *Oh well, nothing for it, I guess.* Spying a likely looking
branch, one thick enough that it wouldn't break under his weight, Ryouga
lowered into a half crouch, his wings locked tight to his back. Then,
pushing off with his considerable strength, Ryouga sprang straight up,
shooting through the branches like a silver-fletched arrow. 

At the calculated terminus of his leap, nearly fifty feet above the
ground, the lost boy cleared a particularly thick branch. Spreading his
arms for balance, Ryouga's wings popped open reflexively, cleaving the air
and softening his approach. He touched down lightly on the branch, only
the soft sound of feathers rustling, as his wings closed, giving away his
presence. *Humph... that was nice.* Ryouga had been betting on a heavy
landing, and maybe a bit of mad scrambling for purchase as the branch
broke under the stress. This development was a pleasant surprise, though
looking around at the confined space within the branches, he decided that
he didn't want to try opening his wings again until he was out in the
open. 

Silently treading along the branch, seeking out his guide, Ryouga found
her standing on a lower branch, around the left side of the tree, looking
down at the ground below. Grinning to himself, Ryouga crept towards the
tree trunk, leaning against it casually, being careful not to make any
sound that couldn't be mistaken for animal noises. Then, after peering
down at the cat-girl's back for a few moments, watching her tail swish
back and forth in anticipation, Ryouga cleared his throat noisily. "Hey
Myaan! Who are you looking for?" 

"Eep!" Jumping in surprise, Myaan nearly fell off of her branch as she
spun around to face him. "Ryouga! How'd you get back there?" She cast an
astonished glance towards the silently grinning wanderer. 

Thinking back to an anime he had seen once, Ryouga just winked at her,
holding up a single, admonishing finger. "Ah, that's a secret..." 

"Ara? Wha'dya mean?" Cocking her head to the side, Myaan peered up at him
in confusion. "Why's it a secret?" 

"Never mind..." Snickering to himself, Ryouga hopped lightly down to
Myaan's branch, this time being careful to keep his wings shut, lest he
knock her off. "So, where to now?" 

"Oh, just over there." Pointing off towards the top of a particularly
large tree on their right, Myaan began to bound on all fours from branch
to branch, gaining a bit of height before crossing over to the other tree
and continuing up into the canopy. 

Following her lead, Ryouga leapt off from the trunk of the tree, sailing
through the air towards the larger tree, before bouncing off of that tree
trunk back towards the original tree and repeating the process, gaining
height with each leap without having to worry about looking for strong
branches to land on. Finally, seeing Myaan standing on a long, thick
branch sticking out of the larger tree, Ryouga landed beside her. The
branch only shook slightly upon his arrival, attesting to its strength.
Looking up at Myaan from his crouch, Ryouga cast her a questioning
glance. "So, where is it?" 

"Right there, see?" Grinning, Myaan pointed at the tree. 

Following her gaze, Ryouga turned to regard the tree, expecting to see a
bed of leaves nestled in the branches, or maybe just a broad branch with a
comfortable curve to it. What he wasn't expecting was the little red door
that loomed out of the darkness before him. Blinking in surprise, Ryouga
looked again. The door was set into the wall of what was possibly the
strangest looking house that Ryouga had ever seen. Hugging the side of the
tree like some sort of bizarre fungus, the tree house curved up and around 
the nearly two meter wide trunk of the tree in steps, each segment
supported by both buttresses and living branches. The bulk of the house
sat in the crown of the tree, with branches protruding irregularly from
the earthen-tiled roof and wooden walls in such a manner that Ryouga
couldn't decide whether it looked like the tree had grown up through the
house, or if the house had grown up around the tree.

"Hehehe, neat, ne? C'mon inside!" Not waiting for Ryouga to reply, Myaan
skipped up to the door, opening it with a flourish and stepping across the
threshold. 

Realizing that he was staring, Ryouga shook his head and stepped forward,
proceeding cautiously along the branch. *Weird... I wonder why I didn't
see it before...* Stepping inside, Ryouga reflexively began to take off
his shoes. Then, looking down and seeing that Myaan hadn't left hers, he
decided that it would be safer to leave them on, just in case. Shutting
the door behind him, Ryouga began to make his way up the narrow, curving
hallway, towards the main house. By the starlight filtering through the many 
small, open-shuttered windows in the outer wall, Ryouga could see that
the wall on his right was the bare trunk of the tree itself. The outer
wall seemed to be about a hand's width thick, meaning it probably had some
sort of insulating material packed between the wood slats. 

Reaching the main room, Ryouga found Myaan standing to one side, fiddling
with a small lantern. Light flooded into the room as Myaan finally got it
lit, hanging the lantern from one of the branches protruding from the
crown of the tree, which dominated the center of the room, with several
large branches radiating out from the center. The leaves and smaller
branches had been meticulously pruned, but the larger branches, some of
them as thick around as Ryouga's waist, were given free reign. It made it
somewhat difficult to walk around the room, without having to duck at
least once. The room itself was round, about five meters across, and
rather sparsely furnished. A table was built into the center of the room,
on top of the tree trunk, at about waist height, and small, straw-covered
cot was built into the outer wall. It sat opposite the stairway down, with
a set of shelves and cabinets mounted into the wall and a small cast-iron
stove at the other two opposing points of the compass. A small chest sat
at the foot of the cot, and there were four shuttered windows set into the
walls; one at either side of the cot, mirrored by a pair at the sides of
the stairway. 

Plopping down on the cot, Myaan crossed her legs and leaned up against the
wall. "Well, what'cha think?" The cat-girl stared up at Ryouga
expectantly, smiling. 

Not finding any chairs in evidence, Ryouga walked around the center of the
room and sat down on the floor beside the cot, leaning against the tree
trunk. "It's not quite what I was expecting, but it's nice." Looking
around at the single bed, and the few personal possessions, Ryouga turned
to peer curiously at Myaan. "Do... do you live here alone?" 

"Yup! I've lived here for the last two winters, since I left home. I've
never had anybody living with me since I got here." She looked around the
room for a moment, a slightly regretful look on her face. "Still seems
sorta empty, I guess. But when the weather's nice, I like to travel, so
I'm not here much anyway. `S too bad I can't have a fireplace up here tho;
I like fireplaces, but I have'ta be really careful when I burn anything up
here. Stove's usually warm enough, tho."

Looking over at the stove, Ryouga saw that it was sitting in a pit of
packed earth, probably to catch any falling ash, and to keep the wooden
floor from catching fire. If the walls were as well insulated as they
looked, the room could probably be quite cozy with a fire burning. All
things considered, it appeared as though someone had put a lot of thought
into this tree house, though why anyone would go would go to so much
effort to construct such an unconventional house, Ryouga had no idea. "Hey
Myaan, are houses like this common around here?" He asked, turning to
look at his host. 

Myaan seemed to lose herself in thought for a few moments, before
answering. "Not really, I think. `S the first one that I had ever seen,
anyway." 

"You didn't have it built for you?" 

"Uh-uh." Myaan shook her head, "I just found it." 

Ryouga gave Myaan a questioning look. "You found it?" 

The cat-girl nodded. "Yeah. I had just gotten to this area and was staying
in town. One day, I was wandering around in the woods, and saw it up in
the trees, so I climbed up to take a look." Turning over, Myaan rested her
chin on the small, feather stuffed pillow that sat at one end of the cot,
wrapping her arms around it. "It was empty, and it looked like nobody had
been home for a while, so I went back to town and asked if anybody knew
about it. Most had never even heard about a house up in the trees, and
nobody could tell me who lived there, so the next day I brought my stuff
and moved in. I've been living here ever since." 

"Strange..." Scratching his head, Ryouga looked around again. "Nobody's
ever come looking for whoever lived her?" 

"Nope." 

"Hmm... That's sort of odd." Shrugging, Ryouga put his hands behind his
head and leaned back, using his wings as an impromptu cushion. 

"Not really." Myaan smirked, sitting up again. "You find all kinds of neat
stuff in the forest." 

Ryouga favored her with a funny look. "Neat stuff? Like what?" 

Peering at Ryouga playfully, Myaan seemed to consider her answer for a
moment before replying. "Well... I found these shoes in the forest." She
replied, holding up the gray sneakers that she had been wearing. "They've
got this weird gummy stuff on the bottoms, and they feel better than the
kind you get from a cobbler." 

Narrowing his eyes, Ryouga examined the shoes. Though badly worn, they
seemed to have once been a rather nice pair of name-brand sneakers;
somebody would probably have paid a lot for a pair of shoes like that, on
earth. "Humph... you found these in the forest, huh?" 

"Yup! Where'dja find yours? Don't see clothes like that much, either."
Myaan pointed out, indicating Ryouga's attire. 

Self consciously, Ryouga looked down at his clothes, as if noticing them
for the first time. Strangely, they didn't appear to be the same clothes
that he had... left earth in. When he had been fighting Ranma, Ryouga had
been wearing a yellow cutoff T-shirt, a pair of his regular cotton,
drawstring travel pants, with bindings up the shins, and his leather-soled
slippers. Now, he appeared to be wearing a pair of drab khaki pants,
possibly army surplus, with a black T-shirt and a pair of high-topped,
black leather combat boots. Only the bandanna was the same. The outfit
wasn't unfamiliar; Ryouga could remember having worn something like this,
once, but the memory was hazy, and he hadn't owned a pair of boots
since... *Since I was traveling in China, searching for Ranma...*

The thread of memory snapped taut, leading him back to the very moment. He
had been weeks wandering in the deepest expanses of China, searching for a
man who had fled from a duel of honor. Carrying a heavy hiking backpack,
he wore the clothing of a Chinese soldier; clothing that he had bought
right off of the soldier's back. Village people tended not to question the
actions of the military, at least not in front of them, so the clothing
allowed him to cross regional borders relatively unmolested, blending in
as just another young man returning home on leave. He had a good command
of the language, which helped, and the intensity of his manner tended to
put off any unwanted questions regarding his comings and goings. 

The day had been hot, and he was climbing into the mountains, so he had
taken off the jacket, stuffing it in his pack with the rest of his
clothes. Finally, he had broken out of the forest; standing on a rocky
outcropping, overlooking a wide valley filled with shining, inviting pools
of cool spring water, he tried to regain his bearings. Suddenly, he heard
a sound behind him. Spinning, he leapt just in time to avoid the panda
that was charging at his back. In his haste, however, he had failed to
notice the red-haired girl chasing after the animal. Springing from the
ground, the girl's knee collided with the side of his head in passing; not
hard enough to cause injury, but enough to knock him off the edge of the
cliff, sending him plummeting down into the valley below. Down into the
crystalline blue depths of a cool mountain spring, hidden deep within the
mountains of China, in the valley of the Pools of Sorrow... 

(~) 

"Ne, Ryouga? Ryouugaaa..." 

"Huh?" Blinking, the lost boy came back to the present. He turned to
Myaan, a slightly panicked look in his eyes. 

"What'cha thinking of?" The cat girl peered at him intently. "Maybe you've
got a story `bout how you got those clothes?" 

"Uh...," Staring down at himself again, then back at Myaan, Ryouga tried
to think of an answer. "Well, um, I'm not really sure how I got these
clothes. Eheh..." 

"Oh, okay!" Grinning, Myaan leaned back again, resting her hands on her
knees. 

Sitting up straighter, Ryouga took another glance around the room, before
crossing his arms and bowing his head. *Hmm... it's possible, if I really
did die... And if I didn't, well, foxes are _supposed_ to be able to
change form. Maybe...* After a few more moments of contemplation, Ryouga
reached a decision. Nodding to himself, Ryouga stood up and looked down at
Myaan. "Myaan, do you have any water in here?" 

Looking up at Ryouga, an expression of curiosity formed on Myaan's face.
"Yeah, there's a barrel outside." She replied, waving over towards the
window at the foot of her bed. "Why?" 

Walking over to the window, Ryouga threw open the shutters and looked
down. There, sitting in a small, box-like platform mounted on the side of
the house, was a medium-sized wooden barrel. A thick rope harness was tied
around it, with three leads joined to a coil of rope that hung from a peg
mounted in the wall on the right. A heavy looking wooden cover sat atop
the barrel, hinged in the middle so that one edge could be lifted. Ryouga
lifted the lid and peered inside, noting the glint of clear water about
halfway down. 

At tap on his shoulder caused the lost boy to turn to his right, where
Myaan was standing, offering him a small wooden pitcher. "Here, use this!"
Myaan urged, smiling obligingly. 

"Thanks." Accepting the pitcher, Ryouga leaned down and dipped it into the
water. When it was about half full, he pulled it out and closed the lid,
backing up and setting it on the floor beside him before closing the
shutters again. Picking up the pitcher again, Ryouga moved over to stand
by the stove, Myaan following him along, a questioning look on her face. 

Turning to face her, Ryouga glanced down at the water in the pitcher,
gathering his nerve. "Um... Myaan, I'm going to do something, but first I
need to ask you a favor." 

"Sure!" Nodding happily, Myaan regarded Ryouga from her perch on the edge
of the table. "Wha'dya need?" 

"Okay," nodding, Ryouga indicated the pitcher. "I'm going to pour some of
this on myself, and I might need you to do something for me after that." 
Looking into Myaan's eyes to make sure that she understood, Ryouga took a
deep breath and continued. "If- if I should... change, then I'm going to
need you to heat up some water with your stove, and then pour it on me.
Could you do that for me?"

"Yeah, I guess." Scratching her head, Myaan peered back at Ryouga in
confusion. "But why would'ja need me to do that? Couldn't you just do it
yourself? And wha'dya mean 'if' you change? I mean, shouldn't you know if
you're gonna change-" Myaan's eyes suddenly widened, as if she had just
experienced some sort of revelation. "Unless you aren't good at changing
yet! If you were a human before, then you wouldn't know much about
changing yet, ne?" Smiling to herself, Myaan nodded once, but then the
look of confusion returned. "Ara, but what's the water for, then?" 

"Uhh... that's a long story." Ryouga replied uncertainly. 

"Okay!" Grinning brightly, Myaan hopped to her feet and raised one finger.
"I'll do it if you'll tell me the story afterward, `kay?" 

"... Alright, I'll tell you that story later. I'll probably need to
explain anyway...." sighing, Ryouga nodded to Myaan, before turning his
gaze back to the pitcher in his hand. Swallowing uncomfortably, Ryouga
raised the pitcher to head level. *Well, here goes nothing...* Tipping
the pitcher, Ryouga felt a cool cascade of wetness flow across his brow and
down his cheeks. For several moments he simply stood there, waiting for
the familiar pins and needles sensation of the magic to sweep across him,
to steal what remained of his humanity. Water seeped though his shirt,
trickling down his chest. 

Setting down the pitcher on the cold stove, Ryouga ran his fingers through
his hair, smoothing back his damp bangs. Drawing his hand back down,
Ryouga watched in uncomprehending wonder as the lamplight flickered and
flashed in the sheen of moisture on his skin. Grabbing the pitcher again,
Ryouga dumped its remaining contents over his head, feeling the water
splash across his shoulders, flowing down the middle of his back. His eyes
widened as he held the empty pitcher before him, his jaw hanging slack in
surprise. 

"YEEEAAHH!!" Throwing his head back, Ryouga shouted victoriously, raising
the empty pitcher above his head. "NOT A PIG! NOT A PIG! WHAHAHAHAHA!" 

"KYAA!" 

Blinking, Ryouga stopped laughing and looked to his right. There, pinned 
to the wall by one of his outstretched wings, was Myaan. "Oops! Sorry!" 
Blushing sheepishly, Ryouga refolded his wings and bent over to help his
host back to her feet. *Not a pig, but not human either...* he mused with
a sigh. 

"Aah, `s okay," Myaan replied as she grasped Ryouga's arm, rubbing her
nose with her other hand. Letting the lost boy pull her to her feet, Myaan
took the pitcher from Ryouga's hands, bringing it back to the shelf where
she got it. "Was just surprised, `s all." Still grinning, the cat girl sat
back down on the table. 

"Oh... well, still, I shouldn't have done that." Looking rather abashed,
Ryouga scratched the back of his head. "I'll try to be more careful from
now on." He assured her, again making sure that his wings were firmly
secured. 

"`Kay. Now why'dja do that thing with the water, an why were you so happy
when nothing happened?" Leaning forward, Myaan looked at him expectantly.

"Uh... well," Ryouga thought of how to explain his actions without
embarrassing himself. Then he realized that, since he apparently wasn't
cursed anymore, he really didn't have anything to be embarrassed about.
"Okay, well, a while ago, I was traveling through China, when-" 

"Where's that?" Myaan interrupted. 

"Huh? Well, China is..." Ryouga trailed off, wondering how he could
explain relative geography to someone who had never even been on earth
before. Not that he really put much stock in geography anyway, since the
maps that he always tried to use never seemed to get him where he wanted
to go. "It's sort of... well, it's big... and kind of in the west,
somewhere, usually..." 

"Show me!" 

"Huh?" Ryouga glanced back at Myaan, his face twisted in confusion. "Do
you have a map or something?" 

"Nah, silly!" Hopping to her feet, Myaan wove her way around the room back
towards the window with the water barrel. "Just follow me!" So saying, she
opened the shutters again and leapt out the window, bounding off of the
water barrel into the branches above. 

*What the hell...?* Planting a hand on the table, Ryouga flipped through
the center of the room, landing near the window. Then, being careful to
make sure that his wings fit, he ducked through the window and stood atop
the water barrel, looking up through the branches for Myaan. Not seeing
her, he hopped up to one of the branches that was protruding from the
roof, absently noting that on the leaves and smaller branches were still
whole and quite healthy on the outside of the house. Scanning the other
branches from his perch, Ryouga found Myaan standing in the center of the
roof, looking up at the sky. 

*Why'd she bring me up here?* Ryouga wondered, as he began to make his way
towards the cat-girl, stepping gingerly across the roof tiles. Stopping
beside her, Ryouga tapped Myaan on the shoulder. "Why'd we come out here,
Myaan?" 

"`Cuz I wanted you to show me where China is." Myaan replied simply,
nodding towards the sky.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to..." Ryouga's protests died on his lips
as he turned to look in the direction that Myaan had indicated. *... No
way...* Closing his eyes for a few heartbeats, Ryouga looked again, a bit
more intensely this time. *There's no way that that can be... this can't
be real.* But even as Ryouga though this, he began to make out the
familiar shapes that he had seen so many times before.

"I guess those maps were right after all..." he mumbled to himself.
Painted in warm luminescence across the bluish night sky, looming large
before his unbelieving eyes, the earth floated before him, shining like a
beautiful, blue-green moon. And there, just now peeking around from
behind that mysterious celestial body, her ashen-faced sister satellite
began to make an appearance.

"So where is it?" Myaan pressed, pointing up at the great globe floating
across the sky. 

"Where is what?" Ryouga mumbled, still rather stunned. 

"China!" 

"Oh." Staring up at the earth, Ryouga realized that, at the very least,
it looked like the right side of it was facing them. *I'm gonna have to
remember to ask her why the _hell_ we can see that.* He looked back
at Myaan, who was staring at him expectantly, curiosity gleaming in her
eyes. *Though something tells me that I'm not gonna like the answer, even
if she's got one...*

"Well, you see that really big chunk of green and brown that's sort of in
the center there?" Myaan nodded to him. "Now that's Asia. The blue stuff
that's all around it is the sea." 

"So the sea's blue?" His companion wondered aloud. 

"Yeah, it's blue." Thinking back to a previous conversation, Ryouga
suddenly got a confused look on his face. "Hasn't anyone ever told you
about this before? What, with _that_ up there and all?" He queried, waving
up at the earth. 

Myaan shook her head. "Uh-uh. Cat spirits don't go to earth much, so momma
didn't tell me anything about it. `An most of the stories that I've heard
don't say much about the sea, really." Looking up again, Myaan peered
intently at the blue-green orb before them. "I knew it was water `an all,
but sometimes water is different colors, ne? I've seen ponds where the
water's clear, and swamps where it's brown or yellow. But I've never seen
a sea before..." 

"Hmm..." Ryouga nodded to himself, regarding the earth once again. "Well,
the water's not really blue. It's just that it's so deep that the light-
it- well, it's complicated." Ryouga stopped, hoping to avoid any more
explanations along those lines. "But anyway, that big piece of land in
the middle is Asia. Now on the right side of Asia- sort of in the lower
corner there," He explained, waving his hands up at the globe for
emphasis, "That's China." 

"So you're from China?" Myaan inquired curiously. 

"No, I was just traveling through China." 

"But I was always told that Bii`bi were 'Chinese' fox spirits. That means
they're from China, ne?" Myaan looked into Ryouga's eyes for confirmation
before continuing. "I never knew where China was before, but I knew it was
supposed to be different from the place where Kitsune are from, some
place called Japan." 

"Hmm... well, I don't know much about that, but I'm originally from Japan
myself." Ryouga explained, looking contemplative. 

"So why aren't you a Kitsune?" The cat-girl questioned, looking confused. 

Ryouga shrugged. "I dunno. Is there really that much difference?" 

"I'm not sure. You're the first Bii`bi I've met." Myaan admitted. "Where's
Japan, anyway." 

"Umm..." Squinting a bit, Ryouga examined the sea to the east of China. 
"Okay, can you see that line of green and brown that's sort of floating
out in the sea beside China?" Myaan made a small affirmative sound, not
taking her eyes off of the sky. "That's Japan. It's a bunch of islands. My
home is sort of in the middle of the big one, I think." 

"So why were you in China?" 

"Well..." Ryouga peered closely at Myaan, wondering if he should continue.
Then, sighing to himself, he sat down on the roof of Myaan's house.
"Actually, if you want me to tell you the _whole_ story, we have to start
in Japan. This could take a while..." He explained, patting the spot
beside him. 

When Myaan had gotten comfortable, Ryouga tuned his face up to the sky,
this time looking to the stars, "About... a winter and a summer ago, I was
living by myself at my home in Japan. Well, not really by myself; I had a
dog too. Back then I was going to school-" 

"School, what's that?" Myaan interjected. 

"It's a place where humans go to learn about the world, and about math,
and science, and stuff like that. The people there teach you all sorts of
things." Ryouga explained.

"Wow, that sounds like fun." Myaan replied cheerily. "I'll bet'cha hear
all kinds of neat stories there. Do alot of people go to school?" 

"That depends on where you are," Ryouga elaborated, thinking back to his
travels, "but in Japan, everyone that's not an adult is supposed to go to
school. And as it happened, it was in this school that I met another boy.
His name was Ranma..."