Previous chapters are availible at: http://templar.anifics.com/

Sorry about the delay with this one, school papers and learning a new
language have been taking up a lot of time.

Many, many, many thanks go to Robert and Mark for pre-reading this and
other fics.

[Insert standard, overused, and intuitive disclaimer of ownership here]

The Long Road Home
by Andrew Wilson

Chapter 3: Personality Clashes

Kasumi didn't drop her stare as she deftly cleaned her knife off on the
guard's cloak.  For the first time in recent memory, Nabiki began to
feel fear.  Whatever that thing was with her sister's face, it would
have not trouble slitting all their throats in an instant.  The only
thing keeping them alive is that there was no reason for her to kill. 
Nabiki hoped the situation would remain so, but wasn't betting on it.

The assassin glanced at her knife, as though inspecting it before
putting it to use again.  As her gaze fell on the blade, though, the
assassin's eyes changed.  Life returned to those cold orbs at the same
time that her mouth dropped open in a gasp.  Every muscle in her body
suddenly stiffened, then tremors shook her hands and legs.  The knife
dropped to the ground as Kasumi sank to her knees.  A look of shock,
disgust, and fear came over her as she beheld the assassin's handiwork.

Nabiki heard a rustle as Akane and Ranma jogged up.  Akane saw the scene
and immediately moved over to Kasumi, either to gain information or to
help her.  Before anyone came too close, though, Kasumi's hand shot up.

"Stay back," she ordered.  Her voice was horse, as though she was
forcing the words out. "She may come back."

"She?" Ranma asked.

"The assassin," Ukyo breathed.

"Saotome!" Kuno exclaimed. "What have you done to the fair Kasumi
Tendo?  Must you attack her mind in addition to your other crimes?"

Ukyo backhanded Kuno, sending his diminutive form tumbling into the
night, away from the light of the dropped torches.

"She's in me," Kasumi continued in a whisper. "Trying to get out. 
Telling me to kill.  Forcing my hand.  She killed those men, but it
wasn't enough for her." Kasumi's words trailed off into sobs as tears
began to run down her face.

Kasumi's protests were ignored by Nabiki as she put her arm under her
sister's shoulder and helped Kasumi to her feet.

"Come on," Nabiki said to the others, "we have to talk.  I don't think
we'll be sleeping the rest of the night."

There were no arguments.

*******

Each member of the group had a cup of strong, black tea in hand before
Nabiki spoke again.

"I suppose it's redundant to ask if any of you have had certain odd
things happen in your heads."

Everyone nodded, even the surprisingly quiet Kuno. "But not you," Ranma
observed.

Nabiki laughed. "Not quite, but I'll get to that later.  Ranma, Ukyo. 
What happened when you passed out?"

Ranma shrugged. "Had a burning feeling all over, then blacked out."

"Same here," Ukyo said. "Is that magic?  Whatever caused the burning, I
remember actually using it to heal Ranchan, but I can't think of how."

"It's as good a guess as any," Nabiki said.

"You don't know?" Ranma asked incredulously.

"I've never done this before!" Nabiki shouted.  Her sudden outburst had
everyone flinching back.  She quickly composed herself. "The game never
explains how a magic-user...well, uses magic, the books just say that
they do.  I suppose some novels might elaborate, but most of those would
just be made up fantasies.  This is reality."

"So why the other minds?" Ukyo asked.

"I'm betting none of you put anything in the 'personality' entry on
those character sheets." Nabiki didn't continue until every head shook.
"Yeah, neither do I the first session.  What that might--*might*--mean
is that the characters' personality when we transferred into this world
were your own, though modified to fit with the created character."

Ukyo nodded. "That makes sense.  I couldn't do anything right unless I
was trying to make a show of it."

"So this thief inside me is the reason I was almost executed," Kuno
mused. "Intriguing.  How fortunate for me, because the mark of a true
warrior is the ability to defeat the foe within, as well as without."

The ranting continued, but the other's ignored it.  "What about me?"
Akane asked.

"You probably fought it," Kasumi said as she took another sip of her
tea. "We all did, to an extent.  Ranma and Ukyo fought it and passed out
because of their power going out of control within them.  You had the
same thing, except you had a focus in addition to the power."

"You might have woken up perfectly fine," Nabiki continued, "if Ranma-"
Akane flinched at the name "-hadn't interfered."

"Sorry," Ranma said in a small voice.

"What's done is done," Kasumi stated. "But you still haven't explained
why you aren't affected, little sister."

Nabiki shrugged. "Don't be so sure that I haven't been.  Me losing my
temper a minute ago cinches it.  My character--her name was Lotana, but
don't even think of calling me that--was from a clan of berserkers.  She
was a lot more level-headed than most of her family, but that's not
saying much.  She left home early on to become a mercenary."

"Soldier and businesswoman," Akane smirked, "that fits."

"*General*," Nabiki emphasized, "and business woman."

Ranma sat back and thought about the new situation.  The fire crackling
three inches above the grass and without any fuel was testimony to the
power he controlled.  He still felt a drain from the fire, but it was no
more tiring than a slow walk.  He felt rather than saw the stream of
energy flowing from him to the fire.  Though it didn't even really come
from him.  Some of it did, but for the rest he was really just the focal
point, kind of like a magnifying glass focusing the light of the sun to
start a fire.

Next, he directed his thoughts inward. *So you're me,* he said to the
cluster of thoughts and emotions in one corner.

A new set of thoughts made themselves known, though they weren't exactly
Ranma's.

*Yeah, right, like I'd be the same as an uneducated brute like
yourself.  Tell me something, do you even know how to read?*

*Why you-* Ranma mentally surged forward.  He wasn't about to let anyone
get away with saying that, much less himself.

The other him held up a metaphorical hand. *Now, now, no need for that. 
I don't really feel like fighting you and we would perish very quickly
if you defeated me.*

*Huh?* Ranma asked.

*Later,* Ranma replied, *right now the tomboy's trying to get our
attention, and I'd rather not have her in here again.*

*Again?* Ranma asked himself as his focus rejoined the outside world.

"Ranma?" Akane asked in a concerned voice. "Are you alright?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Of course I'm alright."

"Could've fooled me," Nabiki observed. "You were spaced out for a little
while, and the fire's gone."

Ranma stared at the spot where he had created the fire.  There wasn't
even any scorching to mark the place, but he knew where it had been.

"Should I make a new one?" Ranma asked.

"No," Nabiki said with a shake of her head. "We need to get moving.  I
want to get to the docks by dawn, and be on the first ship out."

"How will we pay?" Ukyo asked.

In response, Nabiki pulled a jingling pouch from her backpack. "Think
about it, we have everything that was on the sheets."

"And if we're spotted?" Kasumi asked.

"Pray," Ranma replied.  'For who?' was the unspoken question on
everyone's mind (as Akane could attest to).

*******

Getting to the docks was surprisingly easy.  They were located outside
the city proper, and therefor outside the walls.  There were a few
guards, but they had the look of men who were approaching the end of
their shift.  The lack of alertness allowed them to slip by without much
more than a measuring glance.  After all, the guards must have said to
themselves, they weren't bothering anyone or causing trouble.

"This is too easy," Ranma muttered.

"Don't even think that too loud," Nabiki replied.  Immediately, the two
glanced around to make sure no one was listening.  Aside from a few
sideways glances, they weren't attracting much attention.

Akane and Kasumi seemed to be keeping an eye on each other, making sure
neither one went out of control, while the two sisters both watched Kuno
to make sure he didn't cause a scene.  Ukyo was with the captain of the
Sea's Bounty, a ship taking on supplies for a run from K'zara (the city
they were at) to Zorrel (the region's trading axis), and trying to
negotiate passage.

"If I had been doing the talking," Nabiki stated, "we would be gone
already."

Ranma smirked. "You sure about that, Nabs?  That body of yours isn't as
good for flirting anymore."

Nabiki's hand shot up, and dragged Ranma down to her eye level by the
collar. "Don't. Go. There."

Ranma nodded. "Okay, sure, let's talk about something else." He suddenly
pointed over Nabiki's shoulder, toward the entrance to the pier. "Like
them."

Nabiki turned around, and saw close to a dozen guards in full armor and
armed to the teeth marching toward them.  By Nabiki's calculation, they
had less than two minutes before trouble started.

"Damn," she spat as she let Ranma go, "someone from last night must have
seen us."

"Would you rather have killed all those people?" Ranma said darkly.

"Hell no," Nabiki replied as they rejoined their companions.

"Shouldn't we do something about them?" Akane asked as she pointed to
the approaching soldiers.

"You are," Nabiki stated.

"Why me?" Akane asked.

"Cause I would make to much of a commotion," Ranma replied. "Just
collapse the pier, okay?"

Everyone stared at Ranma.

"When did you...No," Nabiki shook her head. "Later, right now, stall
those muscle-heads until we can board."

"It's a deal, we can board now," Ukyo said as Akane began
concentrating.  The planks of the pier between the group and the
approaching guards began to tremble as Akane began undoing the rivets,
lashings, and sealants that held the pier together.

"Let's go," Kasumi whispered as she grabbed her pack.  Since they were
in the city, she had her head uncovered and was wearing a heavy brown
cloak to conceal her black garb.

"Right," Nabiki said as she dragged Kuno up the gangplank.  Ukyo and
Kasumi grabbed the scattered bags and followed the dwarf up.  Akane
waited until the first guards fell through the collapsing pier and into
the water before boarding, and Ranma waiting until the ship was pulling
away before leaping toward it.

Now, if nothing had happened in the transition, there wouldn't be a
problem.  However, Ranma-the-wizard did not have the same training,
coordination, or muscle mass as Ranma-the-martial-artist.  Even so,
Ranma made it half way to the ship before plunging into the sea.  Ranma
looked down after surfacing, hoping again hope that the transition had-

No, *she* saw that the curse had transferred over as well.  She
concentrated for a moment and levitated herself out of water.  Using
this method, the deck was easy to land on.

"Great," Nabiki muttered, "that's here, too." Akane and Ukyo expressed
similar opinions.

"Pigtailed girl!" Kuno exclaimed as he leapt toward Ranma. "You have not
abandoned me in this cursed land!"

Ranma snapped her fingers, and a bubble of energy appeared around Kuno. 
Similar bands of force appeared around the mast, Ranma's companions, the
ship's crew, and along the rails.  With a dismissive wave of her hand,
Ranma sent Kuno zipping along the ground.  Whenever the bubble hit a
band, the bubble was sent flying away at an increased velocity.  The
bands had some give to them, so nothing was damaged and no one was
injured.  The same could not be said of Kuno.  The half-sized swordsman
hit a stone wall each time his prison bounced.  A short chime sounded
with each impact, as well.

Ranma was contemplating her work when a slim finger tapped her on the
shoulder from behind.  She turned and saw an elven woman with gold eyes
and silver hair.

"As much fun that is to watch," the woman said with a smile, "it's
getting in the way of our work."

Ranma smiled apologetically and banished the spell.  Kuno rolled on for
a moment before striking the mast with a solid thud.

"Now," the woman--obviously the ship's captain--continued, "if there's
any damaged, you'll pay double."

Ukyo hesitantly stepped forward. "We apologize for the quick exit from
the city.  If your business is harmed by the loss of that port-"

The captain cut Ukyo off with a loud laugh. "You think I do business
with a place like that, girl?  Hey, mates!  Show the colors!"

The crewman scrambled across the deck and hull of the ship.  Forward,
the glittering figure that had decorated the bow was removed to reveal a
heavy mount for some kind of ram while thick flagpoles were removed from
points along the rails.  Another set of hands swarmed out of the hatches
in the deck, bearing timbers and rigging that formed a pile on the rear
deck, behind and above the wheel.  The plank proclaiming the name Sea's
Bounty was removed, revealing the name Devil Chaser.

Akane rounded on Ukyo. "You booked us on a pirate ship?" she asked
incredulously.

"I hunt pirates, girl," the captain replied with a snarl, "and don't you
forget it." She suddenly brightened and stuck her hand out to Nabiki.
"Name's Ryoko, but you can call me 'Captain.'"

"Ryoko?" Nabiki repeated in a flat voice.

Ryoko nodded. "Now, my crew and I have some things to take care of, so
you'll have to find your way to the cabins.  I trust this won't be a
problem." There was an unspoken promise of trouble if there was a
problem.  Not that the Nerima crew needed any prodding.  This time it
was Ranma's turn to drag Kuno along as they went below.

*******

The term 'cabin' was not entirely accurate.  'Partitioned Hold' might
have been a better term for the section of the ship the companions had
been banished to.  The area was just large enough for six people to
sleep, if those six didn't mind getting stepped on whenever one moved
around.

"Why couldn't we get separate rooms?" Akane asked as Ranma lit the
single lantern hanging from a beam.

"What?" Nabiki said slyly. "You don't trust sleeping in the same room as
Ranma?"

Akane flinched at the name. "No...it's just..."

"There wasn't more room," Ukyo commented. "In case you didn't notice,
this isn't the largest ship around.  Most of the room that a merchant
would use for their hold is taken up by extra bunk rooms and supply
storage."

"Enough," Ranma's level voice cut through the arguing.  She made a
gesture with one hand, and a steaming ball of water appeared above her
head and splashed down onto him.

Kasumi spoke in the sudden silence. "We have enough problems without
this bickering."

"Right," Ukyo reluctantly agreed. "What now?"

"How should I know," Nabiki said, "I'm making this up as I go."

"Any more surprises for us, Nabs?" Ranma asked.

Nabiki glared at Ranma as she stood. "I'm going to have a bit of a chat
with our captain.  I want to find out a few things about...well,
everything.  I hate not being in the know."

Ukyo smiled. "I'll go with you.  She knows me, a little-"

"And," Kasumi stated, "she may be more willing to talk to another elf
rather than a dwarf."

Nabiki and Ukyo left the cabin.  The fact that they didn't return a few
minutes later bound and gagged meant that the captain was in the mood to
talk, or the modifications to the boat were finished.

Kasumi gave Ranma and Akane a measuring look before standing. "I need
some privacy, to think about what's happened." She spied Kuno laying by
the door and dragged him out as well.

That left Ranma and Akane along in the dimly-lit cabin.  Akane was the
one to finally break the silence.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"About what?" Ranma asked in confusion.

"Everything," Akane whispered while tears began to form at the corners
of her eyes. "About what your father put your through.  About how Kuno's
words and Nabiki's pictures hurt you.  About-" Akane choked off a sob
"-what *I* did to you."

Ranma waved a hand in a dismissing manner. "Aww, don't worry about that
stuff, it's nothing-"

"It is not nothing!" Akane screeched.  Ranma almost fell over as Akane
leaned forward. "I saw what you went through, I know what you felt.  Why
didn't you say anything?

"No," Akane said with another sob, "I know why.  Your father would
accuse you of being weak.  Both our fathers would say that it's your
responsibility to make things work.  And I...I...I would say that it's
your fault and hit you again."

Ranma slowly nodded.

"And Ryoga," a note of anger entered Akane's voice. "If you had told me
about him, really told me, I would have just blamed you again.  I can't
believe I didn't see it last week, when he had that painting on his
belly.  When I get my hands on that perverted bastard, I'll-"

"Calm down, Akane," Ranma pleaded. "It's not his-"

"Don't you dare try to apologize for him, Ranma," lightning crackled in
Akane's eyes as she growled.  Just as quickly as the anger came, it
departed, and Akane was on the verge of tears once again.  Ranma was
about to say something when Akane locked him in an fierce embrace.

Ranma felt Akane's tears soaking through the shoulder of his tunic.
"Akane, I-"

"Just shut up and hold me, Ranma."

Ranma tentatively placed his arm around Akane's shoulder as his fiancee
once again began sobbing.  Only this time, there were no apologies in
her tears.  Instead, there was a sense of understanding in their
embrace.

*******

"So what do you think?" Nabiki asked.  The sisters were near the bow,
and enjoyed the spray on their faces.  The ship was hardly
recognizable.  Certainly the general shape was the same, but the details
fuzzed recognition.  The flagpoles had been replaced by large
crossbows.  Shields dotted the rails while a metal ram was mounted on
the bow.  Finally, the pile of timbers and rigging had been transformed
into a balista on the aft deck.

Kasumi smiled. "I would say that they are quickly growing out of the
phase they've been in since they met."

Nabiki smirked. "There goes our entertainment."

"And the bills, and having to sleep in a drafty house, and-"

Nabiki cut her sister off. "Alright, I get the idea.  What do you
suppose caused this change?"

"You should know better than I." Kasumi smiled down at her sister.  That
was another thing that Nabiki was having trouble getting used too.  She
and Kuno weren't the only one's whose heights changed.  Akane, Ranma,
and Ukyo had each gained half a foot each, while Kasumi towered over
Nabiki at close to six feet tall.  Then again, it wasn't completely
surprising considering the western style (and scale) of the game, and
therefor the world they were in.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure what you...oh shit!"

"Exactly," Kasumi said with a nod. "We know what Uncle Genma is like.  I
doubt the Cat-fist is the worst of the abuses he called training.  All
of which was crammed into her head in an instant."

"Combined with Kuno, Akane, and the fiancee mob..." Nabiki trailed off
as she watched the waves break over the bow. "No wonder she was
depressed."

Kasumi nodded again, then turned to look sternward. "Let's try and keep
this from the others, shall we?"

Nabiki glanced back.  Ukyo was with the captain, chatting like the two
were old friends.  Kuno, on the other hand, was gagged, and hanging by
his ankles from the crows nest.  It had taken less than three minutes
for the crew to be completely fed up with the half-wit halfling.  Only
Ukyo and Kasumi working together had kept Kuno from being keelhauled.

"I'm all for that," Nabiki said. "On the Other Side, I might have been
able to predict how they were going to react, but here..."

Kasumi nodded as her sister trailed off. "And back home, we would not
have had this problem to begin with."

"I don't know," Nabiki chuckled, "it might have only been a matter of
time before someone with practicing Martial Arts Psionics showed up."

Kasumi laughed softly. "You have a point."

*******

"You're kidding?" Ukyo asked.

"Nope," Ryoko replied. "She was swinging her sword, missing every single
one of the boarders while she was at it, and then accidently hit the
balista's lever on a back swing.  The bolt managed to impale both the
pirate captain and his war wizard before hitting their main mast and
breaking it in half."

"And this person is still in your crew?" The pair were conversing in a
flowing, lyrical language that Ukyo had never heard before, yet could
speak without a trace of an accent.  It just one more of the things she
was quickly becoming accustomed to over the past day.

Ryoko smiled. "Nope.  She joined the navy, her new captain is pulling
her own hair out by the day."

Ukyo laughed so hard that she almost fell off the railing.

"Now that I've told you about me," Ryoko went on in a more business-like
tone, "maybe you can tell me something about yourself."

Ukyo, through some miracle, managed to keep the carefree smile on her
face.  "Like what?"

"Like who you really are.  Your accent, you friends, and your lack of
knowledge about the area poke a few holes in your story."

Ukyo's smile morphed into a look of shocked apprehension that she hoped
Nabiki and Kasumi could spot.  This was very, very bad.

"Oh wipe that look off you face, girl, I'm not going to throw you
overboard just because you fibbed about where you're from.  But if you
don't tell me, or your friends up front try anything, you'll find out
why my crew is feared from the Silver Rapids to the Red Sea."

Those names echoed with the brief geography lesson Nabiki had given them
on the way to the docks that morning.  The Silver Rapids was an area far
to the north, where the channels were often clogged by icebergs and
glaciers.  The Red Sea, on the other hand, was a more tropical region
where sunsets (combined with a few active volcanoes) turned the sea
blood red.  Back home, the closest comparison would be going from Taiwan
to the Bering Sea.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ukyo said in an attempt to
stall.

"A month ago I saw a ship I was chasing get vaporized by a human
summoner that called a small, lantern carrying fish in a brown robe that
stabbed that ship once - and only once - with a normal-sized carving
knife."

"Oh," Ukyo commented. "Well, let's just say that we're from farther away
than you could possibly imagine."

"I can imagine quite a bit," Ryoko shot back.

Nabiki and Kasumi climbed the ladder to the poop deck as Ukyo tried to
think of another way to stall.

"What is this all about?" Kasumi asked.

"Oh, nothing," Ukyo said sheepishly.
"She...justwantstoknowwherewe'rereallyfrom," she said in rushed
Japanese.

"Is that all?" Nabiki replied before turning to Ryoko and switching
languages. "We paid for no questions."

Ryoko shrugged. "And I don't let criminals aboard my ship.  Since you
seem to be lying about who you are..." She trailed off, leaving the
obvious accusation unspoken.

"Incoming!" the lookout in the crows nest suddenly shouted.  A moment
later, a whistling ball of burning pitch splashed into the water a few
feet from the stern.

End Chapter 3

Yes, I've been slow getting to this point, and there's been a lot of
exposition, but there will be a big honkin' fight in the next chapter. 
Trust me.

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