Moving right along. As always, C&C is utterly welcome. 

Historically, an odd concurrence happened around this time.
"Ill Met By Starlight," by Mike Loader and Susan Doenime, was
well underway, and the story had Akane undertaking the training
for the Bakusai Ten-Ketsu. Different circumstances, played 
out differently, but it was one of those peculiar bits of
coincidence that make you shrug. 

- Grayson Towler
http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless

               =========================
                      RELENTLESS
                A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction

                   By Grayson Towler
               =========================

-----------------------------------------------------------
                      CHAPTER FIVE:
                      Boiling Point
-----------------------------------------------------------

Akane drifted in a dark sea somewhere below the reaches of 
consciousness, oblivious to the passage of time.  She was in a 
strange nether zone between dreaming and lucidity, unwilling to 
move towards awakening for fear of what she might find there.

<Why am I afraid of waking up?>

"'Cause you just pounded yourself with a big rock, stupid."

It was Ranma's voice, of course.  Akane concentrated on the source 
of the words, straining to pierce the gauzy darkness of her own 
unconscious.  At first, he was just a red and black smudge in her 
mind's eye, but he gradually came into focus as he continued to 
speak.

"What the heck were you thinkin', you dummy?" Ranma taunted.  "You 
coulda killed yourself with that crazy stunt!"

<I wanted to get stronger.  I wanted to prove to you that I'm not 
useless.>

Ranma snorted disdainfully.  "Brilliant idea, Akane.  You really 
made your point this time."

<I wanted to help you...>

"Some help it's gonna be when I come home and find they're keepin' 
what's left of you in a jelly jar!  Are you nuts?  Is that it?"  

<I just... I wanted...>  Akane felt as if her soul were constricting 
with grief and shame.  Why was he always so cruel?  Why did he have 
to tease her like that?  Couldn't he see that she was trying to...

She thought she caught a glimpse of movement in the darkness behind 
Ranma.  There was a brief flash, like light glinting off a flat 
steel surface, and a sweep of long dark hair, tied up with a white 
bow.  She heard the faint echo of Ukyou's laughter.

Ranma took a brief glance over his shoulder, then shrugged.  "Aw 
c'mon, Akane.  If she'd been around when I left, I'd have told her 
the same thing I told you.  She don't have any more business 
followin' me than you do.  I can handle my own problems, Akane.  
You just stay outta my way."

<It's not fair!>

"What, that Ucchan's with me?"  Ranma smirked.  "At least we'll 
eat better on the road with her around."

He just never missed an opportunity to ride her about her cooking, 
did he?  Anger crackled through Akane's mind like red lightning, 
arcing through the darkness in visible streaks.  Ranma seemed 
unimpressed.  

"Yeah, yeah, get all bent out of shape 'cause I'm tellin' you what 
a lousy cook you are.  It's better than thinkin' about how stupid 
you were to try that moronic bakusai ten-ketsu trainin'.  You are 
gonna stop, right?  I mean, you realize that you're just gonna
get smashed to a pulp if you keep it up, don't you?"

<No.  I'm going to keep doing it.>

Ranma threw his hands into the air, exasperated.   "You are such a 
macho idiot, Akane!  You gotta be the most stubborn, pig-headed, 
narrow-minded, plug-ugly, tomboyish excuse for a girl that I 
ever..."

<I don't care.  I'm going to learn this technique, and I'm going to 
come save (show) you.  I've made up my mind.>

"What makes you think YOU can learn it?!" Ranma yelled at her.  
"You've bitten off more than you can chew!  If you don't get that 
through your thick skull, you're gonna end up splattered all over 
that damned rock!"

<Why can't you just... why can't you ever...>

"Akane-san."

Another voice pierced the veil of blackness, strong and gentle in 
her mind.  She focused in on its source, and a figure coalesced 
through her dark mental haze.  

<Ryouga...>

The image of her friend that snapped into focus was representative 
of her finest memories of Hibiki Ryouga.  This was not the Ryouga 
that was always awkward and shy around her, nor the angry boy who 
had fought Ranma on so many occasions.  This was the Ryouga who had 
helped train her, once when she had needed to face Kodachi on the 
Kunou girl's own turf, and once again to regain her place as heir 
to the Tendou dojo after she had lost it to her false sisters.  
This was a Ryouga who was confident and supportive, who encouraged 
her and helped her believe in herself.  It was a voice she 
desperately needed to hear right now.

"The road is hard, Akane-san," Ryouga said.  "You must realize that 
you are not as strong as I was when I underwent the bakusai ten-ketsu 
training.  It will take you longer to complete the regimen... and it 
will be very, very hard."

<Can I do it?>

Ranma and Ryouga answered almost simultaneously:

"You're outta your mind."    
"I have faith in you, Akane-san."

Neither of them had answered her question.  <Can I do it?  Am I 
capable of learning this technique?>

They were both silent for a while, regarding each other with 
questioning looks.  She knew that they were both just dream-images, 
but for the moment they seemed so real that she felt she could 
almost reach out and touch them.  She waited anxiously for them 
to answer.

Finally, they both shrugged, then answered as one:  "I don't 
know."

She knew she shouldn't be disappointed.  She knew there was only 
one way to find out if she could master the breaking point technique, 
and that was to continue her training.  

"Yeah, you gotta wake up for that first," Ranma said.  His voice was 
gentler now, not so full of derision and scorn.  "You don't even 
know how bad you're hurt."

<Do I have to wake up?>  She knew, at some level, that when she 
returned to consciousness she would find a body wracked with pain 
awaiting her.  Part of her was terrified at what injuries she might 
discover she'd sustained when she'd hit that rock.  <Can't I just 
stay here for a while longer?>

Ranma shook his head.  "Time's up, Tendou Akane," he said, not 
unkindly.  

She could feel herself being swept along towards awakening, as if 
she were caught in a strong current.  She could sense that she was 
rising up from the blackness deep inside her, towards the light and 
the pain that awaited her outside of this dream.  She was powerless 
to stop it now, helpless in the grip of inertia.  Consciousness 
rushed towards her, as inevitable as a boulder swinging on the end 
of a long rope...

She awoke with a gasp.  

"Akane? AKANE!  Oh, my baby is awake!"

There was no mistaking the voice of her father, nor was his 
near-hysterical mood any surprise.  He was emotional at the best 
of times, but when one of his daughters was sick or hurt he always 
came completely unglued.  She turned her head slowly towards the 
direction of his voice.  He was mostly a blurry smudge of brown 
to her, but she tried to force a reassuring smile.

"I'm okay, Daddy," she attempted to say.  She discovered that her 
throat was incredibly dry, and the words she spoke were scratchy 
and indistinct.  

The pain was not as bad as she'd feared, but it was still quite 
intense.  Her whole right side throbbed with a dull, pervasive 
ache, and her head was buzzing like a nest of angry hornets.  
Occasionally, a sharp burst of agony would flare up somewhere along 
her body against the general backdrop of pain, making her clench 
up and gasp for breath.  She felt like she'd been run over by a... 
like she'd been trampled by a...

Well, she felt like she'd smashed into a giant rock swinging on a rope.  
She couldn't think of anything else much worse than that right now.  

"Oh my baby!  My poor girl!  Waaah!"  Tendou Soun continued his 
monologue of anguish.  In spite of her pain, Akane was overwhelmed 
with the need to show him that everything was all right.  Gritting 
her teeth with effort, she forced herself into a sitting position.  
It took all her will to keep from passing out - the pain intensified 
when she moved, obscuring her vision with violent bursts of phantom 
light in her eyes.  

"I'm okay, Daddy," she managed, this time intelligibly.  "See?"

Her father seemed less than completely convinced, but he did tone 
down his sobbing just a bit.  Akane blinked to clear her vision, 
and was not terribly surprised to discover that she was in Dr. 
Tofu's clinic.  She wondered what time it was, and prayed that she 
hadn't been in a coma or something.  She assured herself that the 
pain felt too fresh for that.

The door swung open, revealing Dr. Tofu and Saotome-panda.  The 
two of them were carrying some bulky cardboard boxes, the contents 
of which shifted noisily as they moved.  

"Ah!" Dr. Tofu said upon entering.  "You're awake, Akane-chan!  
That's good, that's good... but you really shouldn't be sitting 
up now!"

The doctor set down his box and moved to the bedside.  Her father 
leveled a glare at Saotome Genma that could have melted lead - she 
noticed that the panda was already sporting several bandages and 
prominent bumps on the head.  Evidently, Tendou Soun was not 
finished with being angry at his friend for letting Akane embark 
on this training regimen.  Genma, true to his nature, attempted 
vainly to cower behind Betty the skeleton.  

"Now, Akane-chan," the doctor said, kneeling down beside her and 
gently inspecting her damaged body.  "How do you feel?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she lied unconvincingly.  "Really, I've had worse."

"Mmm, I'm not so sure about that," Dr. Tofu said.  "You were very 
lucky, Akane-chan.  Nothing's broken, at least, and there's no 
internal bleeding.  But I suspect you have a concussion, and you're 
going to be sore for a long time.  I recommend at least four days 
of rest, with no strenuous activity..."

"I can't!" she cried.  Tears trickled down her cheeks, both from her 
physical pain and from her frustration.  "I need to continue my 
training!"

"Akane!" her father wailed.  "You can't possibly intend to keep 
punishing yourself like this!"

"I have to, daddy," she shot back.  "I'm a martial artist.  I have 
to...  I can't just... Ranma needs..." Words failed her.

Her father began another round of noisy lamentations.

Dr. Tofu sighed heavily.  "I was afraid you'd say that, Akane-chan.  
Well, there's no stopping you once you set your mind to something, 
is there?"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Tofu," Akane muttered.  She felt ashamed at her own 
stubbornness, but refused to back down.

"Well, I guess I'll have to help you then!" announced the doctor, 
rather more cheerfully than Akane would have predicted.  

Akane's eyes brightened.  "Really, doctor?  You'll... you'll help 
me learn the technique?"

"Hmm.  Well, mind you, I don't actually KNOW this bakusai ten-ketsu 
technique myself, but Mr. Saotome did explain what you were trying 
to do with your training.  I must say that it all sounds very strange 
and dangerous."  He paused, frowning thoughtfully.  "But, I can at 
least help you keep from getting hurt too badly during your 
training."

"Doctor, can you really help my little girl?" Soun clutched the 
younger man's shirt imploringly.  "Oh thank you, thank you!"

Dr. Tofu shrugged.  "I'll research what I can about the technique.  
I'm not sure how much I can help you, but..."

He let the sentence trail off as he moved to the boxes that he and 
Mr. Saotome had brought in.  He rummaged around in one of the 
containers, finally producing an American football helmet.  He 
began to draw all manner of pads and protective gear from the 
boxes, spreading them out on the floor before them.

"These," he explained, "should probably fit you.  I borrowed them 
from the school.  I want you to wear them while you train, so the 
impacts you endure aren't so severe."

Akane frowned at the equipment.  "I... thank you, Dr. Tofu.  But 
do you think that using these might undermine the training?  I 
mean, when Ryouga trained, he didn't use any..."

"I understand," Dr. Tofu interrupted, "but you must remember that 
you have farther to go than Ryouga did before you gain the strength 
to use the breaking point.   You do realize that, don't you?"  He 
handed her a knee-pad and regarded her thoughtfully.

Akane remembered the dream she'd been having, and what Ryouga had 
told her.  <The road is hard,> she thought.  It was going to be 
much, much harder than she'd anticipated, but she was determined 
to follow through with this.  She hugged the knee-pad to her chest, 
feeling another tear creep down her cheek.

"I understand, Dr. Tofu.  Thank you.  Thank you so much."

- - - - - -

Snow had come early this year at the higher altitudes, and China 
unfolded before them in a tapestry of silver and white.  Tarou 
liked to keep to the rural areas, and he always flew low.  He had 
discovered through unpleasant experience that his mammoth cursed 
form would show up on radar, and one harrowing encounter with the 
Chinese military had been enough to teach him the value of caution 
when he was flying.  The four martial artists skimmed the rocky 
terrain, sailing towards the next town in which a rise in panty 
thefts and perversion had been reported.

Tarou endured the unwelcome burden of his passengers and their 
baggage in silence.  At least he had forced them to lighten the 
load a bit by having fem-boy and the wonder pig switch to their 
cursed forms.  They'd certainly pitched a fit when he'd insisted 
they should change - Saotome had been especially irate at being 
forced into his cursed body.  But Tarou had given them a convoluted 
speech about wing surface area to mass ratios, drag coefficients, 
and aeronautic velocity formulas, until they'd finally been so 
overwhelmed that they gave up.  It was sheer bluff, of course - 
Tarou didn't know what force it was that kept him in the air, but 
it certainly wasn't physics.  His comparatively tiny crane wings 
had no more aerodynamic chance of lifting his ponderous minotaur 
body than a swallow had of carrying a coconut, but those fools 
didn't know that.  Besides, it DID take effort to fly, and losing 
a little extra weight certainly couldn't hurt.

He wondered how long he'd be able to deal with Saotome before he 
finally got so sick of the cross-dresser that he couldn't stand 
it anymore.  Finding out that Ukyou was actually one of his fiancees 
had almost driven Tarou into a murderous rage.  He could at least 
understand the Amazon girl being latched on to fem-boy - he knew 
about the Amazon laws, and was well aware that if you let one of 
those crazy women get her hooks into you, it was almost impossible 
to shake them.  But that a worthless piece of garbage like Saotome 
would have both a nice girl like Tendou Akane and a beautiful young 
lady like Kuonji Ukyou engaged to him was almost more than Tarou 
could endure.  He was certain that Ukyou had been forced into the 
whole thing somehow, and that if she let herself really see what 
kind of person Saotome was she'd drop him like a hot coal.  The 
sight of the bright, lovely Ukyou fawning over that pervert, the 
way the sound of the name "Ranchan" rubbed across his nerves like 
sandpaper... he didn't know how long he'd be able to put up with 
this.  

Still, he was willing to play along for the moment.  He didn't 
think Saotome's hopes of finding Happosai would amount to anything, 
and even if they did catch up to the pervert he doubted that the 
old fossil could do anything useful for them.  Besides, if fem-boy 
actually did manage to redirect the Reikoku back towards Happosai 
and the thing did kill the withered little troll, it would mean he 
would be stuck with his onerous name for the rest of his life.  
Some plan that was.

No, Tarou had another idea.  He still had to work out some of the 
details, but he was certain that he could not only conquer the 
Reikoku, but that he could turn this whole miserable situation to 
his ultimate advantage.  It was the sort of plan that Saotome would 
never imagine in his wildest dreams.  He was also pretty sure that 
fem-boy wouldn't like the idea if he heard it.  Tarou didn't care 
about that.  He wondered, though, if he might be able to convince 
Ukyou of the value of his idea...

Ukyou curled herself into a tight ball on Tarou's immense shoulder, 
huddling in her jacket against the sharp chill of the mountain wind.  
Traveling like this was certainly the most efficient means they had 
of keeping their distance from the Reikoku, but it was very lonely.  
Tarou had arranged their "seating" for best possible weight 
distribution, which meant she had a big cluster of octopus tentacles 
between herself and Ranma.  Ryouga, of course, wasn't much company 
while he was a pig, so that meant she didn't have anyone to talk to 
as they covered the leagues.  She sighed, wondering if Tarou had 
done that deliberately.  It wouldn't surprise her.

Ukyou had attempted to stick with her role as peacemaker in the 
group with grim determination, but she was not a natural for the 
job.  In fact, she didn't even have any role models.  She'd tried 
imitating Kasumi until she'd realized that the eldest Tendou 
daughter never made peace at all - she simply ignored the conflicts 
around her with superhuman ease.  So she'd gone on what instincts 
she could muster in her attempts to keep fights from breaking out 
in their small party.

Ranma and Tarou had constantly been at each other's throats.  
Sometimes she'd felt that if she heard another nasty slight about 
menstruation or another awful pun about women's underwear she was 
going to go insane.  The two of them almost never let up.  She 
had no idea why they hated each other to such a degree, but there 
was very little she could do to defuse their constant bickering.  
She'd eventually ended up resorting to hauling out the spatula and 
whapping Ranma on the head to stop the arguments.  It wasn't much 
of a diplomatic strategy, but it seemed to work a bit.

She felt a little bad about hitting Ranma - certainly she didn't 
unload on him as hard as she could - but at least it was safe.  
Almost everybody hit Ranma once in a while.  There was just 
something about him that was so... bashable.  He griped sometimes, 
but he didn't seem to mind it very much.  She didn't know how Tarou 
would react to being thumped on the head and told to shut up, 
though.  There was something about that boy that made her wary 
and uneasy.  There was a dangerous edge to his words that Ukyou 
didn't like at all.

The fact that he turned into something out of a nightmare whenever 
he got wet didn't help much either.  

Fortunately, Tarou didn't seem to have as much interest in picking 
on Ryouga, apart from the occasional "pig-boy" jab.  This was a 
small blessing, at least.  Ryouga was a much easier target than 
Ranma - with his quick temper, his gullibility, his embarrassing 
curse, and his dismal sense of direction.  She glanced over towards 
the Lost Boy, who was nestled amongst the gear so he wouldn't blow 
away in the wind.  She felt a little sorry for him.  It couldn't 
be much fun to travel as a piglet...

Ryouga yawned drowsily and tried not to think about how bored he 
was.  The others, at least, could look at the scenery going by as 
they flew, but the only thing he could see from his vantage point 
was a small patch of sky.  The journey was pretty monotonous for 
him, but he was trying not to go to sleep.  If he slept all day, 
he'd be up all night... and there'd be nothing for him to do then, 
either.  At least flying on Tarou didn't make him as afraid as 
flying on the airplane had.  He sighed ruefully, mentally noting 
that a phobia about airplanes was just another item on the long 
list of Hibiki Ryouga deficiencies.  

What a life.  He still didn't think he was going to survive this 
thing with the Reikoku.  Happosai was too crafty and sly for them 
to catch, and he had all the time in the world.  And even if they 
did catch him, then what?  Tarou was probably right - once they'd 
attacked the Reikoku, they were in this to the death.  But for all 
his boasting about how brilliant he was, Pantyhose had yet to come 
up with an alternative course of action.  

He really needed to write some letters, to his parents and to Akari.  
He might never see them again.  He just hoped that he wouldn't have 
to die as a pig.

Of course, maybe the Reikoku wouldn't have to kill them at all - 
sometimes it seemed like they were going to kill each other first.  
He doubted that Ranma and Pantyhose could go on much longer without 
having it out.  At first, he had considered trying to side with 
Tarou if it came down to a fight, just out of an old desire to see 
Ranma beaten.  But he found that he couldn't bring himself to throw 
in with Pantyhose, even in the exchanges of insults and barbs.  
Perhaps it was the way that Tarou lorded his supposedly superior 
intellect over everybody else that did it.  Perhaps it was the way 
that Tarou always laced a subtext of threat into everything he said, 
to make sure everyone remembered he could turn into a monster that 
could crush them all if he wanted.  If there was one thing Hibiki 
Ryouga couldn't stand, it was a bully.  

Not that Ranma was much better, of course.  Maybe Ranma wasn't a 
bully, but he sure could be a whiner.  The way he'd kicked and 
screamed when Tarou had insisted they travel in their cursed forms 
had been revolting to behold.  He hadn't even tried to argue for 
Ryouga's benefit - he'd mostly griped that he wasn't that much 
lighter as a girl.  As if being a girl was any big deal.  Ryouga 
scowled at nothing in particular, once again feeling irritated at 
the way Ranma constantly griped about his so-called curse.  Ranma 
didn't know what being cursed was really about...

Ranma-chan shifted irritably to try to get more comfortable.  
There was certainly no First Class section on Air Pantyhose.  At 
least the scenery was decent - there was nothing that Pantyhose could 
do to ruin that, anyway.  He'd been bending over backwards to ruin 
just about everything else on this trip.

It wasn't being stuck as a girl that bothered Ranma-chan, it was 
that Pantyhose had forced her to change.  The argument about the 
traveling arrangements had been a battle of wills, and Ranma-chan 
simply didn't like to lose any kind of contest.  She certainly 
didn't believe any of that mumbo-jumbo that Pantyhose had been 
spewing about aerodynamics and stuff, but it all boiled down to 
the fact that Pantyhose was doing the flying, so he got to call 
the shots.  He could make Ranma-chan accept it, but he couldn't 
make her like it.

The hell of it was that they needed Pantyhose.  Ranma-chan had to 
admit that the guy was doing most of the important work on this 
journey right now.  He was transporting them safely, at speeds 
that kept them days or weeks ahead of the Reikoku.  He was the 
only one who spoke Chinese, so he did most of the talking when 
they got down to asking around about Happosai.  He was the one who 
knew his way around the countryside.  Though it pained Ranma-chan 
greatly to admit it, their chances of surviving were a whole lot 
better with Pantyhose Tarou in the group.

If only the guy weren't such a complete jerk.

It seemed like a fight between them was inevitable.  They'd been 
testing each other ever since Pantyhose had joined the party, 
tossing insults back and forth, watching each other's reactions to 
see if they could find any psychological weaknesses.  It was all 
just a warm-up to the battle which was sure to come.  Ranma-chan 
wasn't sure if she'd found any real holes in Tarou's mental armor, 
except that she could pretty much rely on being able to get him mad 
with the name thing.  The only other observation of interest that 
she made was that she had begun to suspect Pantyhose wasn't as happy 
to have his monstrous cursed form as he pretended to be.  Sure, the 
guy loved being able to power up and waste people easily, but 
Ranma-chan was beginning to sense that there was something about 
changing into his monstrous alter-ego that made Pantyhose 
uncomfortable.  It might be something she'd be able to put to 
use.  The biggest danger with going up against Tarou would be that 
he'd change on you, so if there was some way to psych him into 
staying human...

Ranma-chan frowned and let that train of thought slide back into 
her subconscious.  She had to keep in mind that, as big a butthead 
as he was, Pantyhose wasn't the real enemy.  She had to consider 
the possibility that Tarou was right, and that they wouldn't be 
able to get the Reikoku off their tails now that they were its 
prey.  That meant that she was going to have to have to figure out 
a way to beat that damned monster three more times.  She was pretty 
confident she had a reliable way to rack up one more victory, but 
after that...

Things were going to get rough after that.  It was probably time 
to start some more training.

Ranma-chan leaned back and took in the landscape, a world wearing 
a ephemeral blanket of pristine snow.  She let her thoughts drift 
back to home, and wondered how Akane was doing.  Nabiki had been 
pretty curt when they'd last spoken, like she'd been really busy 
with something and didn't have the time to chat.  Ranma-chan 
wondered what could possibly get someone like Nabiki flustered...

- - - - - - 

"Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, may I help you?  No, I'm sorry, we don't 
do delivery anymore.  Yes... yes... I understand.  No, I'm afraid 
we can't.  I... excuse me?  Yes, I'm sorry.  If you'd like to come 
down, I can give you directions..."

*click*

Nabiki bit back a curse and dropped the receiver back into its 
cradle.  She had repeated that particular conversation about 
thirty times already today, and it was only lunch hour.  The lunch 
crowd in Ucchan's Okonomiyaki was smaller than in past days, but 
Nabiki could still detect a frantic, nervous accent to the 
atmosphere of the restaurant.  The service was slower than usual, 
and the patrons were getting restless.

*ring* 
*ring* 

<Not another one, dammit...>

A customer intercepted her as she was reaching for the phone.  
"Excuse me?  Do you work here?"

*ring* 

"I'm the manager," Nabiki answered.  "Can I get to you in just a 
second?"

*ring* 

"I just had a question," the middle-aged woman said.

*ring* 

"Just a second, please."  Nabiki forced a smile and picked up the 
phone.  "Hello, Ucchan's Okonomiyaki.  No, I'm sorry... what?  
Oh, yes, I see.  Well, that delivery person is no longer working 
with us.  Uh... no, I'm afraid we don't.  Thank you.  Yes.  I'm 
sorry.  Thank you, yes..."

*click*

Nabiki took a deep breath, then turned back to the customer.  "Now, 
how can I help you?"

"Well," the woman said, "I'm just wondering how long it's going to 
take to get my order."

<You'll get it when it's ready, you stupid cow,> Nabiki snarled 
mentally.  "We'll have it out to you as soon as possible, ma'am."

"Oh," the woman seemed disappointed with the response.  "It's just 
that I'm on my lunch break, so I don't have a whole lot of time."

<You and everybody else, you selfish little twerp.>  The thing 
that Nabiki hated the most about this job was that she had to be 
polite.  She'd seen first-hand how quickly customers would abandon 
her if she was rude or sarcastic to them.  Right now, she couldn't 
afford to lose a single patron, even if it meant she'd have to 
keep a civil tongue in her head under stress.  

"I'm very sorry to make you wait," Nabiki said.  "We're having a 
few technical problems today, you see."

"I guess that can't be helped," the woman said with a sigh.  "I 
just got used to how fast that darling girl Ukyou was.  I'm a little 
spoiled."

Nabiki tried not to glare as the woman wandered back to her seat.  
<Ukyou, Ukyou, Ukyou!  I am so sick of hearing how damned good Ukyou 
was that I could just strangle the next person who...>

*ring* 
*ring* 

"Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, can I help you?  No, Miss Kuonji has taken a 
leave of absence.  No, I'm afraid we don't... yes, the flyers 
said... sir, I'm sorry, but that was only for a limited time.  
We don't do delivery anymore.  Yes?  No, that was our printer's 
fault, it should have said so on the flyers.  Thank you..."

*click*

<Actually, that's a pretty good lie,> Nabiki thought.  <Wish I'd 
come up with that one earlier.>

The delivery idea, she realized now with deep chagrin, had been a 
colossal mistake.  For the first few days, things were wonderful - 
they had plenty of orders, she was never short of people to make 
the deliveries, they were raking in the dough.  Then the word had 
spread.

Nabiki had never really understood what the phrase "too much of a 
good thing" meant until now.  Simply put, the demand began to 
outweigh the supply at an alarming rate.  She had a fair number 
of free deliverers at her disposal, but there was only one Konatsu, 
and he simply couldn't keep up with the sheer volume of cooking that 
was being asked of him.

In an attempt to keep the ship afloat, Nabiki had allowed herself 
to get personally sucked into the whole disaster.  She'd come in 
to check on Konatsu during the dinner hour one day, and she'd ended 
up answering the phones for him to clear out more time for him to 
cook.  Relieving him of the duty of answering the phone and writing 
down the take-out orders had given him more time to actually prepare 
the food, and it looked like they might have been able to pull 
through and keep the delivery service going.  Since then, Nabiki 
had found herself spending more and more time over at Ucchan's 
doing precisely what she hadn't wanted to do:  real work.

Even so, it wasn't enough.  It became clear that her delivery system 
was coming unraveled.  She'd exhausted her supply of people who 
simply owed her favors early on, and she'd gotten down to the few 
people over whom she held some sort of embarrassing secret.  She 
figured she could blackmail that group as long as she needed, but 
what she hadn't counted on was how difficult it was to keep track 
of how they were performing in their jobs.  They sabotaged her 
delivery service in all sorts of subtle ways - taking too long to 
make a drop-off, mishandling the food on the way, being rude to 
customers, pretending to get lost, and generally being deliberately 
inept and inefficient.  She couldn't always figure out who had 
committed what blunder, and what was she going to do anyway?  
Fire them?

In a desperate attempt to pull things together, she'd sent Konatsu 
out on late-night rounds, following her classmates around Nerima to 
see if he could come up with more dirt.  She'd managed to scrounge 
up a few more delivery slaves so she could improve her rotation, 
but it still hadn't made much of a difference.  

The last straw had come three days ago, when the heating elements 
for half the grills in Ucchan's had burned out.

Konatsu simply didn't have the necessary hardware to keep up with 
the delivery service after that.  Nabiki had been overwhelmed with 
frustration, but the electricians had said it would take a week to 
get the parts they needed to fix it.  The worst part was that Ukyou 
had told her to have the grill looked at before she left, although 
Nabiki would sooner shave her legs with a cheese grater than admit 
that fact to anyone. 

Business at the restaurant had gotten steadily worse since then.  
Nabiki learned that nobody was bothered by a restaurant that didn't 
do delivery, but that they got very upset when that restaurant 
promised deliveries and failed to follow through.  Word of mouth 
could make or break a small business like Ucchan's, and right now 
people weren't saying nice things.  

The profits she'd made in the first several days of the delivery 
scheme had vanished like morning mist.  Suddenly, she was pestered 
by irate customers who wanted okonomiyaki brought to their doorsteps, 
as her fliers had promised.  She was still getting calls from angry 
customers who'd been unhappy with the way her "employees" had handled 
past deliveries.  The crowds were dwindling, but with half the grill 
out of commission things were twice as frantic as normal.  She had 
a stack of useless menus that she'd paid to have printed, featuring 
new food items which Konatsu didn't know how to cook yet.  And, to 
top it off, she'd forgotten to buy fresh produce in all the 
commotion, so she'd had to pay to have the stuff delivered to the 
restaurant.

<What else,> she wondered, <could possibly go wrong?>

"Zounds!  Have I not already waited for the unseemly span of five 
full minutes to be served my repast?" thundered a too-familiar 
voice.  "A warrior such as the great Kunou Tatewaki should not be 
made to suffer such indignities!"

<Oh no,> she moaned inwardly.  <Please tell me I'm having a 
nightmare.>  She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed HIM until 
now - it was just another sign of how badly she'd been thrown off 
her stride by everything that had been going on.

Nabiki scrambled over to Konatsu and whispered in the young ninja's 
ear.  "Hey, Konatsu-chan, get that loudmouth his food and get him 
outta here as quick as you can, okay?  He'll scare off the other 
customers if he keeps this up!"

"Yes, Nabiki-san.  I'll do my best."  Konatsu turned to face her 
when he spoke.  He was looking a bit pale and drawn, probably from 
stress, but his expression when he regarded her was full of genuine 
adoration.

Nabiki staggered away towards the phone, which was ringing in its 
shrill, insistent voice once again.  As if her life weren't 
complicated enough right now, it seemed as if Konatsu was developing 
a crush on her.  

<This,> she decided, <is as bad as it will ever get.>

Over the collective din of the ringing phone, the sizzling grill, and 
the chattering customers, Nabiki utterly failed to hear Konatsu's 
muffled cough.

- - - - - -

Ukyou sat back and regarded the campfire with satisfaction. All 
her chores for setting up camp were done, and she was ready to cook 
as soon as the guys got back from their foraging.  It had been a bit 
unsettling to send Tarou and Ranma off into the woods - she was 
certain that one of these times, they were just going to haul off 
and beat the snot out of each other.  It hadn't happened yet, 
anyway.  

Ryouga had finished pitching the tents and was lounging against 
a tree.  He was every bit as good at finding food and provisions 
as the other two, but he wasn't so hot when it came to getting back 
to the campsite.  Usually, he went with one of the other guys, but 
today it seemed he had something else he wanted to do.  

Looking at him, it wasn't hard to tell what he was up to.  Ukyou 
watched him as he scribbled a few words onto the pad of paper before 
him, then stared moony-eyed off into space again.  The guy was an 
open book - he'd probably be a worse poker player than Ranma.  
Ukyou grinned and shuffled over to where Ryouga was composing what 
was assuredly a love letter to Akane.

"Hey, sugar," she said, grinning.  "Whatcha got there?"

Ryouga snapped out of his reverie and instinctively tilted the pad 
away from her so she couldn't read what was written.  "Oh!  Um... 
nothing."

Ukyou chuckled.  "You're writin' a letter to your true love?"

Ryouga turned beet-red in an instant.  Ukyou noticed that he was 
using green ink, and her grin widened.  She figured she'd leave the 
shy boy alone to finish his writing.  

"Well, say 'hi' to Akane for me in the letter," she told him.

"Um... yeah.  I was going to write her too," Ryouga mumbled.

Ukyou blinked in surprise.  "Hold on a second there.  You aren't 
writing a letter to Akane now?"

"Er... no."  Ryouga took a peek at his pad, then blushed again.

That was really strange.  There was no mistaking the kind of look 
he had on his face, but if he wasn't writing Akane, then who could 
he be...?  

Ukyou craned her neck over to peek at the letter.  Ryouga gasped 
and tried to hide it again, but he was too slow - she'd made out 
the name.  "Akari?" she said.  "Who's Akari?"

Ryouga was too tongue-tied with embarrassment to answer at the 
moment.  Instead, he reached over and picked up something which 
had been resting on the ground beside him and handed it to Ukyou.  
It was a little pocket billfold, which contained a picture of a 
cute, smiling girl.  She was, Ukyou noticed with dismay, terribly 
pretty - the photograph alone radiated more sweetness than a pound 
of chocolate.  She's also signed the picture:  "To my darling 
Ryouga," it said, with a couple of little hearts and a pig drawn 
underneath.  

"She's your sister?" Ukyou hazarded desperately.  "Or maybe a 
cousin?"

"No," Ryouga said in a strangled voice.  "She's kind of... she's 
sort of my..."  He cleared his throat and summoned a bit of 
composure.  "We've been seeing each other.  D... dates and stuff," 
he explained, smiling sheepishly and blushing crimson.

<This is bad,> Ukyou thought, her mind racing.  <This is not good 
at all.>  She still saw Ryouga as her best bet for getting Akane 
out of the picture.  As much as Ukyou bickered and fought with 
Shampoo, she knew that Akane was the real threat to her chances 
of marrying Ranma.  Ukyou had seen Akane show affection for Ryouga - 
she was certain they'd get together, if only the Lost Boy could get 
over his paralyzing shyness.  This was all part of her ideal picture 
of the future:  she'd end up with Ranma and they'd be happy, Akane 
would end up with Ryouga and they'd be happy, Shampoo would marry 
that weirdo with the glasses and they'd go away, and Kodachi would 
find a good therapist who prescribed Prozac or something.  
Everybody lived happily ever after.

But here was this Akari girl chasing after Ryouga, and that threw 
everything off.  How should she handle this?  She considered flying 
off the handle and calling Ryouga a two-timer, shaming him to go 
back to Akane... but she didn't know if that would really do the 
trick.  In fact, it might backfire on her completely.  No, what 
she needed was some more information.  Then she'd figure out how 
to handle this.

She forced a cheery smile and sat down beside Ryouga.  "Akari, 
huh?  So, uh... what about Akane?  I thought you were in love 
with her."

Ryouga got a melancholy look on his face and stared off into the 
woods.  He sighed a bit before he answered her.  "My love for 
Akane will never change," he finally explained, his voice full 
of resigned sadness.  "No matter who she decides to love, I shall 
always protect her with my life.  Even if she never knows how I 
feel... perhaps it's better if she never learns."

<This just gets worse!> It sounded like Ryouga had all but given 
up on his chances of getting Akane away from Ranma.  That simply 
would not do at all.  Still, she had to find out more.

"So, uh," she tried to sound nonchalant, "how does this Akari girl 
fit in, hmm?  How'd you two meet?"

Ryouga scratched his head in thought.  "Well, it started when I 
defeated her pet pig in battle.  Her grandfather's dying wish was 
that she marry the man who could defeat it, you see..."  He trailed 
off, noticing that Ukyou was looking at him strangely.  "She has a 
pig farm," he explained lamely. "And... um... her grandfather
wasn't actually dying..."

<Okay, this is promising,> Ukyou thought.  <Sounds like one of 
these stupid Amazon things, almost.  If it's a forced engagement, 
then maybe...>

"That's pretty weird," Ukyou said, trying not to sound too critical.  
"So she feels like she's obligated to marry you, is that it?"

"Well, that's not really the way she puts it," Ryouga muttered.  

"What's she like?"

Ryouga sighed and got that dreamy look again.  "She's really 
pretty, and sweet, and kind.  She's very gentle and... well, she's 
just great.  When we're together, she always... I don't know how to 
say it well."

<Uh oh,> Ukyou thought.  "So you really think she likes you, huh?"

Ryouga picked up a compact stack of letters and regarded them 
thoughtfully.  There looked to be at least a dozen envelopes, by 
Ukyou's guess.  "She says she does in her letters," he observed.  
"Yeah, I think she does."

"So she's a pig farmer!" Ukyou was floundering here.  "You think 
that's gonna be a bit weird when she figures out about your curse?  
You will have to tell her someday..."  

"Oh, she knows," Ryouga explained.  "In fact, she was very happy 
about it.  She loves pigs."  He frowned a bit at this.  Ukyou 
thought she saw an opening, and pounced.

"Oh, NOW I get it!  I gotta tell you, sugar, that sounds pretty 
warped."

"Warped?  What do you mean?" he looked worried.

"She likes you 'cause you turn into a pig?  You don't call that 
warped?"

"She likes pigs!" he exclaimed.  "There's nothing wrong with that!"

"Hey, sugar, I like okonomiyaki, but I don't want a boyfriend that 
turns INTO one," Ukyou shot back.  From his shocked expression, she 
could tell that one struck home.

"That doesn't matter!" he asserted, trying to rally his confidence.  
"She even tried to give up pigs entirely for me.  That just goes 
to show..."

"Oh SURE!" Ukyou cut him off, abruptly switching tactics.  "Well 
isn't that just typical!  What is it with guys these days, huh?  
Why do they want a woman to give up everything just to suit them?  
I expected better out of you, Ryouga.  But if a spineless woman 
with no personality of her own is what you want..."

"She's not like that!" Ryouga shouted.  But he sounded confused 
and desperate now.

"Look, let's think about this here," Ukyou tried to sound 
reassuring.  "What is it that you love about Akane, huh?"

The change of direction in the discussion seemed to throw Ryouga 
off.  "Uh... well.  I... um.  Let's see.  She's very kind, and 
sweet, and cute... uh..."

"And strong!" Ukyou supplied.  "She's a strong-willed, spirited 
girl, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"She's a martial artist, after all," Ukyou continued.  "This Akari 
girl isn't a martial artist, is she?"  She crossed her fingers 
behind her back as she awaited Ryouga's answer.

"No, no," he responded.  "She isn't."

"Well!  Look, I'll level with you here, sugar.  I don't know if 
this Akari is right for you."

"But..."

Ukyou held up a hand to silence him and smiled reassuringly.  "I 
know, I know, she's a very sweet kid, and very pretty.  It must be 
great for you to have a girlfriend like that for a while, since you 
don't have much experience with girls, right?"

"Yeah..."

"But let's think long-term here, okay?"  Ukyou tried to sound as 
knowledgeable and wise as possible.  "You're the kind of guy who 
needs a strong woman by his side.  You're a martial artist, a 
warrior, right?"

"Sure..."

"So you need a woman who's worthy of you!"  Ukyou glanced around 
and made sure Ranma hadn't come back without her noticing it - she 
wouldn't want him to hear what she was about to say.  "You need 
somebody like Akane, who's got all that sweetness stuff you like, 
but who's a martial artist too.  You're too good a guy to settle 
for some boring old homebody, even if she is cute.  You need... no, 
you DESERVE a woman of substance!"

Ryouga stared saucer-eyed at her.  "You... you really think that 
highly of me?"

"Sure I do!" Ukyou assured him glibly.  She punched him good-
naturedly in the shoulder.  "I'm a martial artist, and a woman.  
Believe me, I know what I'm talking about here."

Ryouga stared down at the half-finished letter before him, then 
at the picture of the sweet girl who loved pigs clutched in his 
hand.  A tear trickled down his cheek.  "Oh Akari... can it be 
true?  Are we really not meant to be together?"  He wrapped his 
arms about himself, hugging the letter and picture to his chest, 
and wept.

Ukyou felt a sharp pang of guilt over what she'd just done, but 
tried to ignore it.  Her arguments sounded reasonable... she was 
probably right about this!  Besides, she knew Ryouga and Akane 
would be good together.  Better to break the guy's heart a little 
now rather than let him drag this thing on with Akari...

Actually, she found that she was also feeling kind of lousy about 
slamming some girl she'd never even met.  This Akari sounded pretty 
sweet and harmless.  In a flash of inspiration, Ukyou resolved to 
set her up with Konatsu when they got back.  They sounded perfect 
for each other, after all!  And she was sure that Konatsu the 
legendary ninja could beat up some stupid pig.  Her "happily ever 
after" picture was restored, with a new addition.  

She patted Ryouga reassuringly on the shoulder.  "Hey, it's okay.  
Don't get all worked up about it."

Ryouga looked up at her, his eyes red from crying.  The green ink 
on his letter was damp and smudged.  "Th... thanks for talking to 
me, Ukyou-san.  I... I kind of want to be alone now, though."

Ukyou nodded, then got up and walked back to the fire.  This was 
for the best, she assured herself.  Everything would work out as it 
should, the people who belonged together would be together.  

Why, then, did she feel so low?

- - - - - -

It had become customary over the past few days for Akane and Nabiki 
to accompany one another to and from school.  Mostly, they walked 
together in relative silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts 
and difficulties.  Still, it was better to have some company than 
to be alone at times like this, even if a silent sister did not 
offer much solace.

Akane had taken to traveling with her sister in a large part because 
she couldn't keep up the pace that she had once maintained.  It was 
almost a week into her training, and she was perpetually sore.  The 
pads and gear that Dr. Tofu had provided did help, especially in 
preventing serious injuries, but the brutal impacts she endured 
night after night still took their toll.  

She was so tired these days, always so very tired.  Sleep had not 
come easily for Akane the past several nights - she was always too 
sore to get comfortable, and  it seemed that whenever she closed 
her eyes she could see the rock hurtling towards her through the 
darkness.  Dr. Tofu did what he could to keep her patched together, 
and Kasumi made her soothing tea to help her sleep, but nothing 
seemed to help much.  She still slouched through the days like a 
zombie.  

She couldn't even be sure if this training was really helping her.  
She hadn't even gotten to the point where she could face the stone 
without panicking and trying to writhe away from the impact in her 
harness.  How was she ever going to find the breaking point at this 
rate?  And was this perpetual cycle of physical punishment really 
helping her get tougher, or was it just wearing her down?  She 
didn't even have the energy for her normal training regimen 
anymore.  Was this lunacy really going to make her a stronger 
martial artist?  

Akane didn't know.  She remembered her reasons for starting this 
training, but they seemed so far away now.  Compared to the hard 
reality of the stone and the rope, her resolve seemed as intangible 
as a puff of steam.  

<Why am I still doing this?>  Akane asked herself.

Nabiki was asking herself the same question as well.  This matter 
with the restaurant had all but consumed her life.  She'd never felt 
so frustrated and ineffectual.  Business at Ucchan's had failed to 
pick up even after the grill had been fixed.  It had always been 
Kuonji Ukyou's sheer cooking brilliance which had kept the restaurant 
afloat through tough times, but Nabiki didn't have that safety net 
of talent to fall back on after the mistakes she'd made.  Konatsu 
was pretty good, but as her customers were so quick to point out, 
he was no Ukyou.

Nabiki hated this.  Managing the restaurant had made her feel clumsy 
and inept for the first time in her memory.  Her pride in her own 
competence had taken a serious blow, and she didn't like the way 
that felt at all.  

Was this really worth it?  She wasn't making any profit out of this 
venture anymore, that was for certain, and the time that it demanded 
of her effectively prevented her from running the little scams and 
schemes around school upon which she'd made her livelihood before.  
What's more, her reputation was in jeopardy.  She'd bragged too much 
about what a great deal this job was when she'd first taken up 
management of Ucchan's, and now people were starting to realize 
that she was having trouble.  She wondered what kind of whispers 
were going on behind her back.  She could just imagine her classmates 
snickering about her - the "high and mighty Nabiki, who drove a 
successful restaurant into the ground."  

<To hell with this,> Nabiki thought angrily.  <I'll get out while 
I still can, shut that dive down and find someone to blame it on.  
If I hear anybody talking about me behind my back, I swear I'll 
make them regret they'd ever been born!>

<This is pointless,> Akane told herself.  <I'm not up to this 
training... it's too hard.  I can't go on just beating myself up 
like this.  I can't go on...>

The sisters were jarred out of their thoughts by the familiar sound 
of a bicycle bell.  They stopped, then turned as one towards the 
noise.  

Shampoo zipped briskly along, steering her bicycle one-handed with 
astonishing balance across the narrow fence tops above the sidewalk.  
Her long purple hair billowed behind her in the breeze, and she 
smiled contentedly to herself as she pedaled on her way.

Akane glared at the Amazon girl, unable to pull her focus away from 
the everyday ease with which Shampoo performed this superhuman feat 
of balance and agility.  She had an overwhelming desire to find a 
bucket of water and splash her arrogant rival... because she knew 
that was the only way she'd ever been able to beat Shampoo before.  

Nabiki glared at Shampoo as well, or rather at the pair of take-out 
boxes that she balanced deftly on top of one another with her free 
hand.  Those boxes were full of delicious ramen noodles, or some 
other kind of food, and they were on their way to the doorstep of 
a contented, loyal, Nekohanten customer... who would assuredly 
give that wretched bimbo an immense tip, especially if it was  
a man.  Nabiki stewed in anger at the very thought of it.

Shampoo banked around the corner of the fence top, making a 
near-impossible 90 degree turn at speed as easily as Akane or 
Nabiki might skip over a crack.  She disappeared out of sight, 
and the soft clatter of her bicycle died away shortly after.  
Akane and Nabiki stared after the Chinese girl for a long time, 
absorbed in their own thoughts, until they finally turned to face 
one another.

"I have to go train." 

"I've got to get to work." 

The Tendou sisters parted ways, each one wearing an expression 
of grim determination as she traveled on towards her own 
personal hell.

- - - - - -

Ukyou sat back and sighed as she stared at the campfire.  The 
routine on this journey was well established by now, and it always 
left her to set up camp and prepare to cook dinner while the guys 
went off and foraged for food and water.  She didn't really mind 
the work, and she wasn't about to let one of those thumping, 
fumble-fingered buffoons make a shambles of the cooking, but the 
tacit assumption that the division of labor should pan out this 
way was starting to irritate her, just a little.  Why couldn't she 
go hunting once and a while?  Did they think she wasn't capable of 
it, the jerks? 

She frowned and glared at the evergreens.  Lots of little things 
were starting to bug the hell out of her lately.  She could feel 
it - she was getting close to the end of her fuse.

She was starting to have some serious concerns about Tarou's 
feelings towards her.  At first, she thought the Chinese fighter 
was just nicer to her because she'd never done anything to irritate 
him, or perhaps he just had a grudge against people with a Jusenkyo 
curse.  But she was starting to see a pattern to his behavior, and 
she didn't like what it might mean.  

Her worries had escalated after her talk with Ryouga about Akari.  
She'd been feeling lousy about doing what she'd done ever since that 
evening, especially after she saw how hard the kid took it.  So 
she'd gone out of her way to be nicer to Ryouga, to try to cheer 
him up.  

If Ranma had gotten jealous, it would actually have been gratifying, 
but Ranma was his usual oblivious self about the whole thing.  Tarou, 
on the other hand, immediately widened the scope of his anger and 
abuse to include Ryouga.  He was quick to point out the Lost Boy's 
failings and weaknesses.  He played on Ryouga's credulous nature, 
tricking him into making a fool of himself, and tried to pit him 
against Ranma.  Ryouga was always "pig-boy" or "hambone" or some 
other derisive moniker about swine.  The most maddening part was 
the way Tarou would wink or grin at her before he took a pot-shot 
at Ryouga or Ranma, as if she were somehow his conspirator or 
something.  And tensions had escalated even further within their 
small party as a result.

She could swear that Tarou was jealous, that he was trying to 
impress her.  That was not a good sign.

"Ukyou."

Ukyou startled out of her reverie and whirled towards the voice.  
Pantyhose Tarou stood at the edge of the camp, leaning against a 
tree and smiling... almost shyly.

"Tarou!  Wha... hey!" She looked around.  "Where's Ryouga?  Weren't 
you keeping track of him this time?"

Tarou sniffed disdainfully.  "Oh, he's around somewhere.  We're in 
a box canyon, you know.  Even he can't get too far."

"Don't be too sure about that," Ukyou warned.  "If he gets lost..."

Tarou shrugged.  "I'll find him if he does.  He leaves a trail like 
an elephant."

Ukyou scowled.  "You still shouldn't have left him."

"Forget about him," Tarou said, stepping towards her into the glow 
of the firelight.  "I wanted to talk to you alone."

<Oh no.  Here it comes,> she thought.  She wished she'd realized 
what he was feeling sooner, so she could have had more time to 
prepare what she was going to say.  "Look, Tarou..."

"I think you're a very special girl," Tarou interrupted.  "There's 
something between us.  I've felt it, I think you have too."

She shook her head in resignation.  She wished she'd been wrong 
about this.  "Tarou, listen.  You know I'm engaged to Ranma."

Tarou sneered very slightly, then composed himself again.  "You 
deserve better than a forced engagement, Ukyou.  Nobody can make 
you marry that guy if you don't want to."

"But I do want to," she asserted.  "I'm sorry, Tarou, but that's 
the way it is.  I love Ranma."

Her proclamation of love clearly did not sit well with Tarou.  "Oh 
come ON, Ukyou!  What do you see in a guy like that, anyway?"

"I know you don't like Ranma, but..."

"Don't like him?" Tarou barked.  "He's a perverted, cross-dressing 
little freak who..."

"He can't help his curse!" Ukyou snapped.

"I think it reveals his true nature," Tarou scoffed.

"Oh yeah?" Ukyou felt her temper flaring.  "Then what does your 
curse say about YOU?"

Tarou glared angrily, but then struggled to get his emotions back 
under control.  "Ukyou, why would you want a two-timer like that 
when you could have someone like me?  I'm smarter, I'm better-looking, 
I'm a better fighter..."

"Oh get over yourself!" Ukyou spat.  A small part of her screamed 
that she should try to be more diplomatic, to let him down easy, but 
it was no use.  She'd been keeping her anger and frustration pent 
up until now, but the dam had burst.  "You don't hold a candle to 
Ranma!"

"What did you say?" he snarled menacingly.  

"You heard me!  And even if I WASN'T engaged to Ranma, I still 
wouldn't want to go out with you!"

Tarou's jaw clenched in anger, and his eyes narrowed.  "Oh, so 
now it comes out, doesn't it?  It's my name.  You said it wasn't 
a big deal, but you really..."

"You jackass!" she groaned in exasperation.  "It's always about 
your stupid name, isn't it?  I said I didn't care about that, and 
I meant it.  But YOU seem to think that having a bad name gives 
you an excuse to treat everyone else like crap and be a jerk all 
the time!"

He took another step forward.  "You have no idea what you're 
talking about..."

"Do you think I'm impressed when you cut down my friends all the 
time?  Is that it?  I am SICK of it, Tarou!"

Tarou crossed his arms and sneered at her.  "I am so disappointed, 
Ukyou.  I thought better of you."

"What is THAT supposed to mean?"

He shook his head and chuckled harshly.  "I thought you were smart 
enough to realize it.  You'll never get your precious 'Ranchan' 
to marry you."

"Yes I will!"

"Oh please.  How naive.  He hasn't even looked at you twice during 
this whole trip except when he's wanted a second helping at dinner.  
You're just a little friend who cooks for him, that's all.  Do you 
really think he'll ever marry YOU?"

"Shut up!" Red was beginning to creep around the edges of Ukyou's 
vision.

Tarou laughed again.  "It's so obvious to everyone that the only 
one he really wants is that Tendou girl.  What she sees in him, I 
don't know, but it's only a matter of time before they tie the 
knot."

"You liar!"

"You look like a fool chasing him around, Ukyou.  Everybody's 
laughing at you behind your back, and you don't even..."

"SHUT UP!"  Ukyou hauled her great spatula from behind her back 
and swung it at Tarou with pulverizing force.  The Chinese boy 
ducked under the weapon and lashed out with an open palm, shoving 
Ukyou backwards.  The okonomiyaki chef sprawled to the ground, 
landing with a jarring thump to her tailbone.

Tarou took a single step forward.  Ukyou would never know what he 
actually intended to do at that moment, whether he'd intended to 
help her up, make sure she stayed down, or... or whatever.   But 
the single step was all he took.  At that moment a flash of bright 
red streaked between them.  Something smashed into the ground with 
enough force to crack the earth, sending out a shockwave that 
almost blew out the campfire.

It was a very familiar, very heavy, red umbrella.

"So THIS is what you ran off to do," snarled Ryouga.

Tarou recovered from his surprise almost instantly and flashed the 
bandanna-clad martial artist an angry glare.  "Stay out of this, 
pork-chop.  This is none of your concern."

Ryouga advanced and interposed himself between Ukyou and Tarou, 
his battle-aura flaring to life around him.  "If you want to get 
to her, you have to go through me!"

"Ryouga... it's okay, you don't..." Ukyou began.

"I've seen enough!" the enraged lost boy interrupted.  "Come on, 
Pantyhose Tarou... are you afraid of a man-to-man fight?"

Tarou laughed a mirthless, hateful laugh.  "Oh, Hibiki.  You don't 
know what you're saying."

Tarou wasted no more time with posturing, launching into an attack 
so quick that the eye could barely follow his movements.  He landed 
a three-punch combination against Ryouga's head, solar plexus, and 
abdomen, then followed up with a pair of lightning-quick kicks to 
the ribs.  He slipped each of his blows past Ryouga's defenses with 
ease, striking every target with fearsome accuracy.

Ryouga staggered back under the assault.  He launched a kick of his 
own, which Tarou dodged easily.  The Chinese boy unloaded another 
vicious series of body blows, then followed up with a fierce 
roundhouse kick to Ryouga's temple.

The kick connected.  Ryouga didn't even try to dodge it.  Instead, 
he reached up and caught his adversary's ankle in a vise-like grip.

Tarou tried to pull back, but it was like his leg was embedded in 
stone.  He realized with shock that Ryouga was hardly fazed by the 
blows he'd landed so far.  

The Lost Boy grinned at Tarou.  "I've had cherry blossoms in the 
wind hit me harder than that," he taunted.

Tarou leaped with his free leg, using Ryouga's own grip as leverage 
to launch another kick to free himself.  This time, the bandanna-clad 
martial artist caught his other leg in his crushing grip before the 
kick landed.  Before any part of Tarou made contact with the ground, 
Ryouga swung him around in a wide arc, releasing him after almost a 
full rotation.  Tarou hurtled away with terrifying force and slammed 
painfully into a thick tree trunk.  

"Ryouga, stop!" Ukyou called, but the two were beyond noticing her.

Tarou tumbled unsteadily to his knees, dazed from the force of the 
impact.  He'd dropped something when he hit... he reached out and 
picked up his water flask.  

Ryouga eyed the flask with suspicion for a moment.  Then, he crossed
his arms and shook his head in contempt.  "So that's it, eh?  It 
always comes down to this.  They should call you 'Garden-Hose' 
Tarou, because the only way you win fights is by splashing water 
around."

Tarou rose unsteadily to his feet, wiping his mouth with the back 
of his hand.  His knuckles were white as he gripped his flask.

"Go ahead," Ryouga said.  "Use it.  Turn into a monster.  I think 
you like it better that way."

Tarou seethed with pure rage, his throat constricted so tight with 
anger that he couldn't even speak.  He could picture, with complete 
clarity, his fists driving into Hibiki's throat, could practically 
feel the crunch of the insufferable pig-boy's esophagus under his 
knuckles.  He wanted to pound that calm look off his face, to break 
his bones and hear him howl in pain.  

<Don't be a fool!> a voice from within regaled him.  <Can't you see 
that's exactly what he wants?  If you fight him as a human, he has 
a chance.  Are you really going to let a moron like him play you 
like an instrument?  Use the water, and the fight is yours!>

Ryouga just stood there, looking composed and calm.  It was as if 
the Lost Boy somehow thought that he'd already won, no matter what 
Tarou decided to do.

It might have made a difference to Tarou to realize that what he 
thought was composure and poise in Ryouga was really something else
entirely.  At the moment, Ryouga was concentrating with all his 
might on the most depressing things he could think of.  He assumed 
that Tarou was going to change into his powerful cursed form in 
a few seconds, and he knew that his best chance against such a foe 
was to use a Perfect Shi-Shi Houkouden.  Ryouga was attempting to 
work himself into a state of misery and despair so profound that 
he could manage his most powerful attack.

Tarou wavered with indecision for a long moment, torn between wanting 
to charge in to attack Ryouga as a human and thinking he should 
change into his cursed form to ensure his victory.  He never got 
the chance to decide which course of action he would take.

"Hey guys!  Check it out... I found some wild turkeys!" 

Ranma strode into the clearing where they'd made their campsite, 
a pair of birds trussed up by their feet and slung over his 
shoulder.  His cheerful mood vanished immediately when he saw what 
was happening.

"Oh boy," he muttered.  "Here we go."  He set down the birds and 
dropped into a defensive stance.

It was one of the few times in history that Ranma actually defused 
a conflict by showing up rather than aggravating it.  Tarou regarded 
the three Nerima martial artists arrayed before him with loathing, 
but his rage abated and his head cleared.  He knew beyond a shadow 
of a doubt he could crush them easily if he changed into his cursed 
form.  He had nothing to prove.

However, there was the matter of the Reikoku.  He realized now that 
he'd been foolish to hope that Ukyou would ever go along with his 
plan, but that didn't matter.  He knew what he was going to do, and 
he knew he'd have to do it alone.  These three still had a purpose - 
they would keep the Reikoku occupied while he implemented his 
scheme.  If they were still alive when he was ready to execute his 
idea, he would let them witness his triumph.  And then, he would 
have his revenge.

Tarou let out an evil chuckle.  "I think I've put up with you 
freeloaders long enough," he announced.  "From now on, you're all 
on your own.  The Reikoku can have you, for all I care."

With that, he emptied the water flask over his head, transforming 
into the winged, tentacled minotaur.  With an earth-shaking bellow 
that echoed off the mountain walls, he launched himself into the 
night sky, leaving the three martial artists behind him in the 
darkness.

Ranma watched Tarou vanish into the night with dismay.  Tarou 
couldn't have picked a worse time to abandon them and fly off by 
himself.  They were in the middle of the mountains now, with many 
leagues of hard terrain between themselves and any kind of real 
civilization or means of transport.  Daylight hours were short at 
this latitude, up here in the mountains at this time of year, and 
even under the best of circumstances their traveling pace would be 
reduced to a crawl.

The Reikoku was still a long way back, but it never let up.  No 
terrain slowed it down, night or day did not matter to it.  It was 
going to close the distance between them now, and they might not be 
able to get out of the mountains before it finally caught up.

Ranma turned to his friends, his expression and voice grave.  "We're 
in trouble now.  We've gotta get prepared."


                    end of chapter five



-----------------------------------------------------------
                      AUTHOR'S NOTES
-----------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to try to give descriptions of the more obscure 
Ranma 1/2 characters who appear in this story.  If they haven't
shown up in the manga or anime currently released in the U.S., 
I'll endeavor to give them some introduction.  So...

AKARI:  Akari appears in the manga version of Ranma 1/2 only,
and she's pretty much as Ryouga described her in the story.
It is worth noting that her "pet pig" is actually a specially-
bred sumo pig of elephantine proportions, so the feat of 
besting it in combat is somewhat more impressive than Ryouga's
description might suggest.  Ryouga and Akari manage to have a
few dates throughout the series, which are always chaotic for
one reason or another.  She is clearly devoted to him, and
as the series progresses it seems that Ryouga begins to give
up on winning Akane's heart, turning his attentions towards 
the willing and sweet Akari.

COMING SOON:  Ranma and company begin to train for their inevitable
clash with the Reikoku, while Akane continues to struggle with her
own brutal regimen.  Can Nabiki keep Ucchan's afloat through even
more trouble?  What will she do in the face of her greatest challenge
yet?  And what is Pantyhose Tarou's plan to conquer the Reikoku?     

COPYRIGHT STUFF:  All the Ranma characters belong to Takahashi Rumiko,
and are licensed in America by Viz Communications.    

REVISION NOTES: Minor fixes. I am leaving the "obscure character"
descriptions in place for historical value, even though by now most
of the characters have appeared in commercial release Ranma material.

GRT - August 1998
MODIFIED - April 2005
thunderstruck_comic@comcast.net

All existing chapters of this story may be found at:
http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless





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