Here's the latest of the new chapters, also posted on the 
website. C&C is most welcome.

Chapter 16 will arrive next Sunday (April 24th). 

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

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

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


-----------------------------------------------------------
                     CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
                      Cat and Mouse
-----------------------------------------------------------

Shampoo bowed to the captain of the river barge in gratitude. 
She and her companions wouldn't have cabin space for their 
stay on the boat, but the captain had agreed not to throw 
them off the ship either. Out here in the wilder regions of 
China, people understood when you told them you had "monster 
troubles." The barge wasn't the fastest means of 
transportation around, but it would serve well enough to let 
them get some rest while they widened the distance between 
themselves and the Reikoku.

<Speaking of rest,> she thought, <I wonder if Ranma is awake 
yet?> There were some matters they needed to get out in the 
open as soon as they could. Ranma still didn't know that she 
wasn't engaged to him anymore.

She fingered the scarf on her head and smiled a little bit. 
That had been a sweet gesture on Akane's part. She wondered 
if the Tendou girl knew how much it meant to her not to have 
to appear before Ranma shamed, with her bare scalp showing to 
the world. Probably not - Akane wasn't an Amazon, after all - 
but nevertheless, Shampoo felt grateful for the kindness. 

<She's really not so bad a girl,> thought Shampoo. In a way, 
she was glad that they were no longer rivals for Ranma's 
affection. It freed her to feel respect for Tendou Akane, and 
even a sort of friendship. <Not that I wouldn't mind having a 
rematch with her. Now that I know about her training, I 
wouldn't take her so lightly.> Still, it would have to wait 
until after her year of penance. A shamed Amazon was not 
allowed to go around making challenges.

For now, they had more pressing concerns. One was getting rid 
of this Reikoku creature. The other was making sure Ranma and 
Akane didn't screw up their engagement somehow. Now that 
Shampoo had ceded her claim on Ranma's hand to Akane, she had 
no intention of letting any other girl wed her former 
fiancee. She wasn't really concerned about Ranma's affections 
for other girls getting in the way - he'd never shown a hint 
of attraction to Ukyou, and Kunou Kodachi's "relationship" to 
Ranma existed entirely in the girl's own warped head. That 
wasn't the problem.

The problem was between Ranma and Akane. Shampoo suspected 
that both of them had done some soul-searching in the hard 
months they'd spent apart, but how far would it take them in 
their relationship now that they were together again? 

Shampoo's keen ears picked out voices speaking in Japanese. 
It sounded like Ranma was awake - he and Akane were talking. 
Crouching down in the shadows, the young Amazon crept forward 
to hear what they were saying.

"So... uh," Ranma spoke haltingly. She could easily picture 
him twiddling his fingers, the way he did when he was fishing 
for words. "How's Kasumi? She gettin' along okay?"

"Oh, she's fine!" Akane answered brightly. Shampoo was 
certain she was wearing that too-cheery smile she affected 
when she was anxious. "She's happy to have Natsume and Kurumi 
around, of course. And she's been having a good time looking 
after Miss Sanae."

"Who's... wait a sec." She could hear him scratching his 
head. "That's the monkey! The tea ceremony one."

"Actually," Akane said, "Miss Sanae is a chimpanzee. So that 
means she's an ape, not a monkey."

"An ape?" Ranma replied. "You don't say?"

A burst of rather forced laughter followed this.

Shampoo sighed and shook her head. Small talk was better than 
bickering, she supposed, but it still wasn't great. Ideally, 
they should have been all over each other, declaring their 
love and devotion, that sort of thing. At the very least, 
they should be hugging. She peeked around the corner, 
confirming her suspicion that they were not even holding 
hands. Instead, they sat facing slightly away from one 
another, so they could each throw furtive little glances over 
their shoulders when they thought the other wasn't looking.

<Honestly,> she thought in frustration, <Japanese kids are SO 
stupid about expressing their feelings.> It was one of the 
things she'd never gotten used to about living in Nerima. 
She'd grown up in a culture that was up-front, direct, and 
unencumbered by the built-in shyness of the Japanese. If an 
Amazon girl liked someone, she let them know. If she hated 
someone, she let them know that too. The Japanese she'd come 
to know had no difficulty declaring a feud or vowing 
vengeance, but they were downright pathetic when it came to 
expressing affection.

<Someone's going to have to take charge to get those two 
together,> she thought grimly, <and it looks like that's 
going to be me. Right. Well, first things first... time to 
clear the air about the current situation.>

Shampoo rose from her hiding place, smoothed out her clothes, 
and walked purposefully towards her two companions. Ranma 
rose to his feet immediately. 

"Hey, Shampoo!" he began. "What's..."

"Ranma-san," she cut him off, "Shampoo need to tell you 
something."

"Uh... sure."

She nodded curtly, then reared back and smacked the living 
hell out of him.

As smacks went, this one was epic. It met all the criteria: 
packed with power, filled with righteous fury, delivered with 
a full roundhouse arc right to the face. The sharp "CRACK!" 
of impact snapped through the air like the sundering of a dry 
tree trunk. The heat of it burned a bright red palm-print in 
Ranma's cheek. The force of the blow took the pig-tailed boy 
clean off his feet, sent him corkscrewing through the air, 
and smashed him like a hammer into the bulkhead. 

Akane, who had delivered her own share of smacks to Ranma, 
looked on in sheer amazement. Several of the ship's crewmen 
who had been watching hastily scribbled signs and held them 
up: "10.0, 10.0, 9.75." If smacking had been an Olympic 
event, Shampoo would have just taken home the gold medal.

"...oww..." muttered Ranma dizzily.  "...that girl... has 
some serious power."

"Ranma-san is no longer Shampoo's groom," she announced with 
crisp authority. "Engagement now officially ka-put." 

"Was that some sort of Amazon tradition?" Akane asked, wide-
eyed. "The 'Smack of Breakup' or something?"

"Nope," she replied. "Shampoo just felt like it." Amazon 
girls were taught to be in command of their emotions - but it 
wasn't the easiest thing in the world to just stop loving 
someone. Shampoo found that it made the medicine go down 
better if she channeled some of that emotion into anger. That 
smack had felt really GOOD. She pointed a finger at the dazed 
Saotome. "That what you get for messing with young girl's 
heart."

"Messing with..." Ranma slurred. "When did I ever mess with 
your heart?"

She glared dangerously at him. "You want list?"

He raised his hands as he struggled unsteadily to his feet. 
"No, no. Never mind. But... wait. Why... why the breakup? 
What happened? I mean... don't you like me anymore?"

Akane began to grind her teeth, but Shampoo acted before the 
Tendou girl could get any farther. "Ranma-san, you marry 
Akane-san." She grabbed Akane by the shoulder and steered her 
towards him, until they were face-to-face. Both of them 
stared like frogs suddenly caught in a flashlight beam, but 
at least they didn't turn away from each other.

"Uh..." Ranma croaked.

"Ranma-san, you engaged to Akane-san, right?" Shampoo said.

"Well... yeah," he admitted.

"You no more interested in Spatula Girl, crazy Rose Girl."

He fidgeted. "Sure... I mean, I was never..."

"You is chase nobody else. Not even loudmouth Sword Boy."

"HEY!" he shouted, aghast. "You mean KUNOU?! What the heck 
are you saying?"

She favored him with a level glare. "You go on more dates 
with Sword Boy than you ever did with Shampoo."

Saotome Ranma made several horrified gagging noises, trying 
to articulate a protest. She reached out and grabbed his 
nose, pointing his face back towards Akane. She wanted him 
looking at his fiancee. 

"Now, Akane-san," the Amazon continued, "you pledged marry 
Ranma-san, right?"

"H... hey," Akane said, gulping hard. "You don't have to..."

"RIGHT?"

"Right!" the young Tendou said hastily. Then slower, staring 
into Ranma's eyes: "Right. I did."

Ranma returned her gaze, the startled expression on his face 
softening into something more open and vulnerable. They 
simply looked at each other for a long time.

Shampoo considered forcing them into a hug, but opted against 
it. These two were stubborn types - too much forcing would 
make them resist. Some heartfelt gazing into each others' 
eyes was going to have to be good enough... and besides, it 
was about all that she could stand right now herself. Seeing 
that look on Ranma's face while he looked at Akane was 
starting to piss her off, even though she knew it wasn't 
appropriate for her to feel that way anymore. 

Shampoo clapped her hands together, startling the two 
entranced martial artists. "Good. Is time for business now." 

"Uh... hey..." Ranma muttered. He was still a bit 
disoriented.

"Ranma-san," Shampoo said, "tell why you was being cat back 
up on mountain."

He blinked. "Oh. That. Yeah... see, the thing is, when I 
fought the Reikoku last at Jusenkyou, I used the Neko-ken on 
it."

"But how?" Akane asked. "I mean... animals run away from that 
monster whenever it gets anywhere near them. So how did you 
find a cat to make yourself change?"

"I didn't," he explained. "I trained myself up by giving 
myself a bunch of bad dreams about cats. It took a while, but 
I got to the point where I could make myself go into the 
Neko-ken state just by thinkin' hard enough about cats, see? 
And it worked!" He grinned that smug way he did when he was 
proud of himself, but his expression quickly turned gloomy. 
"But then that demon turned my own trick against me."

"How?"

He grimaced. "You saw. Now whenever I get near it, I start 
feelin' terrified of cats. I can't get close to the damned 
thing without going into the Neko-ken. I shoulda guessed it'd 
do something like that. "

Akane peered at him curiously. "But why is that such a bad 
thing? The Neko-ken is practically invincible..."

The pig-tailed martial artist shook his head. "Nothing's 
invincible, especially against the Reikoku. If I get trapped 
in the Neko-ken, I'll be attackin' that thing exactly the 
same way I attacked it before. It'll be able to anticipate 
every move I make and tear me apart. And it'll change 
physically in some way to exploit my weaknesses."

"Oh."

Ranma smacked his fist against a metal beam. "If I face that 
monster again as the Neko-ken, I'm SCREWED! I gotta find some 
way to get over my fear of cats."

"Shampoo can help."

He turned to her, eyes wide and hopeful. "Really?" he said. 
"Do you know a way...?"

The Amazon girl tapped her finger against her temple. 
"Problem up here in head, Ranma-san. Shampoo know better than 
anybody how to be cat and person at same time, yes?"

"That's right!" Akane agreed. "Your curse gives you an 
outlook on this sort of thing that nobody else has."

"Mm-hmm," she hummed in satisfaction. "So, tomorrow we is 
begin special training, Ranma-san. I teach you how to stop 
worry and love the cat!"

- - - - -

The whetstone made a low, grainy hiss as it glided along the 
oiled edge of the weapon.  Ryouga followed the temper line of 
the blade on the battle spatula with meticulous care, 
caressing a finer edge from the steel with each precise 
stroke. Ukyou normally did not keep her weapon's blade so 
keen, but there was only one foe against whom Ryouga intended 
to use the great spatula, and against that enemy there was no 
point in holding back.  

"You should turn into a girl when you do that," a raspy voice 
suggested.  "It's a girl's weapon, you know."

"Shut up."

He spared a contemptuous glance towards the dangling 
Happosai.  Prolonged exposure to the fumes of Ryouga's socks 
and underwear had left the old pervert weak enough that they 
didn't feel the need to watch him every second now, but 
Ryouga still was standing guard as he tended to the care of 
his weapon.  He was glad he didn't have to watch the old goat 
like a hawk anymore - he was getting pretty sick of looking 
at that wrinkled, loathsome face.  

His gaze traveled from the swaddled form of the captive 
degenerate to the figure of Ukyou in the distance.  She was 
practicing her forms in the setting sun, trying to master the 
art of reaching that perfect zone of concentration which 
would allow her to summon forth her spatula-shaped ki blast.  
A smile crept across Ryouga's face as he watched her flow 
from one posture to the next.  Ranma might still have the 
edge on her when it came to pure speed, but Kuonji Ukyou 
moved with a fluid grace that put even Ranma to shame. 

"Pretty thing, ain't she?" 

"Shut up."

Ryouga tore his eyes away from his comrade and continued to 
work on the blade of the spatula.  In a way, learning to 
ignore Happosai's babbling was a kind of training in and of 
itself.  The gods knew, he needed all the practice he could 
get at keeping his temper under control.  

"Hey, boy," the old man wheezed.  "Have ya gotten a peek at 
her in the bath yet? You must've had a chance, traveling 
around like this..."

"Shut up."

"Aw, come on," Happosai wheedled.  "Look, just answer me 
this.  Are yours bigger than hers?  I mean, when you're a 
girl.  'Cuz from what I saw, I'd guess..."

Ryouga knew better than to let Happosai get under his skin, 
but that didn't mean he had to listen to that kind of crap.  
He plucked a decent sized fleck of rubble off the ground and 
flicked it with unerring accuracy at Happosai's bulging left 
eye.

"Aaack!" the old man howled, blinking furiously to try to 
dislodge the speck.  With his hands bound, he had no way to 
rub his eyes.  "What'd you do that for, you little punk?"

"To get you to shut up," Ryouga informed him.

"He bothering you, sugar?" Ukyou asked as she walked towards 
him, wiping a thin sheen of sweat from her brow with her 
sleeve.  

"No more so than normal."

"So what'd you think?" she asked.  "How did I look out 
there?"

"Hotcha, cutie!  You looked... glaarp!"

Ukyou watched him try to spit out the pinecone she had 
pitched into his mouth for a moment, then turned back to 
Ryouga.  "Well?"

"You looked very confident," he told her.  "The forms are 
flowing naturally for you now.  The way you move is very 
graceful, like a dancer.  I think you'd be good at Martial 
Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics."

She chuckled at that.  "Would I have to learn to throw rose 
petals and laugh like a psychopath?"

Ryouga grinned back.  "Not hardly."

"But you would have to wear one of those SWEET leotards!" 
Happosai chimed in.  This time, she pegged him in the mouth 
with a bristle brush.  The old man gnawed and spluttered.

"Idiot," Ryouga scoffed at the pervert, then turned his 
attention back to Ukyou.  "Pity we don't have any of the 
tools.  I could teach you.  I bet you'd learn it faster than 
Ranma, even."

"Wait a second," Ukyou said.  "YOU know Martial Arts Rhythmic 
Gymnastics?  How come?  Isn't that a girl's sport?"

The Lost Boy flushed.  "Well... yeah."

"How'd you learn it, then?" 

"Well..." he cleared his throat.  "Um... it was when I was a 
little kid.  I got lost and wandered into the wrong class, 
you see.  And... one thing just kind of led to another.  I 
was too young to care if it was a girl's sport or not.  I was 
just having fun." 

"I'll bet you were!" the imprisoned Happosai rasped.  "All 
those cuties in their tight little..."

"We were just little KIDS, you PERVERT!" Ryouga shouted.

Ukyou laid a restraining grip on his shoulder and glared 
daggers at the old man.  She brandished the stick with 
Ryouga's boxer shorts on them threateningly.  "One more crack 
out of you, and the next thing I shove into your mouth is 
THIS, buster."

"Hey, hey," the old man gurgled placatingly, sweat beading on 
his pallid brow.  "No need for that, now.  Listen, all I 
wanted to say is that if you youngsters need training, I can 
help you out."

Ryouga crossed his arms.  "You.  Train us."

"Yeah, sure!" the ancient degenerate said.  "I know some 
pretty sweet techniques, kiddies.  I am the founder of 
Anything-Goes martial arts, after all.  I taught Ranma 
everything he knows."

"Pfeh," Ryouga spat.  "You didn't teach Ranma a thing."

"Of course I did!" Happosai insisted.  "We sparred all the 
time.  And I taught his pop everything HE knows, and he 
passed it on to Ranma.  So that means I get the credit, 
right?  And don't forget, I taught little Hinako-chan her 
special techniques."

"Oh, right," Ukyou said ruefully.  "Her."  Miss Hinako was 
the most irritating teacher at Furinkan High, who frequently 
used the energy-draining techniques that Happosai had taught 
her to inflict her own brand of discipline on her classes.  
"That sort of thing would be useless against the Reikoku, 
oldtimer.  If you tried to drain that thing's aura, it'd kill 
you."

"Well, I could teach you something else..."

"No chance," Ryouga said, rising to his feet.  "I'd rather 
die than let you poison my mind with that filth you call 
martial arts."

"Same here," Ukyou agreed.  

"Hmmph," the old pervert sniffed.  "Your loss."

Ukyou picked up the battle spatula from the ground and 
extended it to Ryouga.  "Your turn to practice now, sugar.  
You're getting better with this."

He reached and took it from her grasp.  "Thanks, Ukyou-san.  
Don't let the old goat get to you."

"I'm fine," she said.  "I'll be watching."

Neither of them noticed the intensity with which Happosai was 
watching them, however - watching the way they looked at each 
other, watching the way that Ukyou's hand brushed Ryouga's as 
she handed the weapon to him, watching the way they lingered 
in the exchange.  <Interesting,> the old man thought.  

- - - - -

Having Shampoo along as a guide made a world of difference, 
Ranma found. Though the terrain was still treacherous and the 
snows of winter posed a constant, worrisome obstacle, the 
Amazon girl's knowledge of the countryside let them access 
the most expedient, safest routes through the mountainous 
wilds of China. She also knew where the trains ran, on which 
waterways one could expect to find friendly passage, and how 
to avoid the most densely populated areas that might be 
endangered if a fear-inducing hellbeast were to stroll 
through the middle of town. 

All in all, Ranma felt a lot more comfortable about their 
lead over the Reikoku now. Knowing that Ryouga and Ukyou had 
also started moving again was a relief as well - it meant he 
didn't have to worry about getting so far ahead of his 
pursuer that it oriented on them instead. Shampoo had said 
something about the two of them having a lead in the hunt for 
Happosai, but didn't seem to know the details. He was just 
glad that Ryouga had recovered from the wounds inflicted on 
him by the monstrous Reikoku-fusion that Pantyhose Tarou had 
become. 

<We're makin' good time now,> he thought, eyeing the overcast 
sky, <but how long will that last? One bad blizzard and even 
Shampoo's knowledge won't help.> When you were being hunted 
by the Reikoku, you couldn't afford to hole up and wait out a 
storm. You either kept moving, or you died. <It's too much to 
hope that we get through the whole winter without the weather 
turnin' nasty on us. I gotta deal with this monster, and it's 
gotta be soon. Time's runnin' out on us.>

Which meant he had to conquer the Neko-ken problem. He hoped 
Shampoo's training really would be the key. 

He, Shampoo, and Akane stood at the edge of a thick patch of 
forest, in a clearing where they had made their camp. The 
encroaching darkness of night would soon be on them, but for 
now he could still see well enough in the dusk. "Okay," Ranma 
said. "So here's the other thing I didn't tell you yet. After 
I used the Neko-ken last, I've been havin' these weird... 
episodes."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked, her voice tinged with 
concern. 

Ranma swallowed hard. He still felt like he was walking on 
eggshells with his fiancee - he had a million things he 
wanted to say to her, and couldn't seem to find voice for a 
single one. He didn't want to fall back into their old 
bickering style of relationship, but wasn't sure how to 
relate to her any other way. <Stick to business,> he thought. 

"It's like this," he explained. "It happens when I'm runnin' 
on reflex. Like when I'm doin' some kind of really repetitive 
exercise that don't take much thought, or when I'm in the 
middle of a tough fight and have to run on instinct. At times 
like that, the Neko-ken kinda... surfaces."

"You start to feel like a cat?" Akane asked.

"No, no," Ranma clarified. "I don't FEEL anything. But the 
phantom claws that I make when I'm in my cat-state come out, 
see? Like I'll throw a punch, and then all of a sudden 
whatever I'm hittin' gets cut clean in half."

His fiancee blinked, the implications clear to her 
immediately. "So that means in a fight... you might..."

"Yeah," Ranma said miserably as she trailed off. "It means I 
might cut someone open without meanin' to. That ain't exactly 
a big concern when we're talkin' about the Reikoku, of 
course, but it's gonna be a real pain for the rest of my life 
as a martial artist if I don't get a handle on it." He turned 
to Shampoo, a note of pleading creeping into his voice. 
"So... does that mean anything to you?"

The violet-eyed Amazon considered this for a moment. "Hmm. Is 
good sign."

"Really? A good sign?" 

She nodded decisively. "Yes. It means Ranma-san's mind 
already trying to cope with cat self. Dream training was 
start of it. In time, Ranma-san will naturally learn to 
control cat self."

"How much time?" Ranma asked.

"Too much," Shampoo asserted. "And is dangerous in meantime. 
So we train and help mind cope more quick, yes?"

"Right," the young Saotome agreed. "I'll do whatever it 
takes." He fidgeted a little bit after uttering that - making 
such an open-ended declaration to Shampoo would have been 
asking for trouble in the past. 

She chose to ignore his flinching. "Listen now," Shampoo 
said, taking on the tones of an instructor. "Think about how 
Ranma-san is when he cat. How he act?"

Akane scratched her head, but Ranma smiled. He could hear the 
echoes of Cologne's wisdom and authority in Shampoo's voice 
now, the first hints of the Amazon leader that the girl would 
someday become. This was an old dance of trainer and student 
they were performing now, and he knew it well. 

But as for her question, he couldn't actually answer. "I 
ain't really sure how I am," he said with a shrug. "I black 
out mostly."

The Amazon girl turned to Akane. "Well?"

Akane shuffled her feet. "Um... he yowls around. He pounces 
on things. He's friendly to me... I don't know. I mean, he 
acts like a cat, right?"

"Yes," Shampoo agreed, nodding. "But what KIND of cat?"

The Tendou girl looked puzzled for a few moments, but then 
her eyes widened as the answer hit her. "Oh! He acts like a 
kitten! Is that what you mean?"

Shampoo grinned and held up a finger. "Is exactly what 
Shampoo mean. Ranma-cat is playing and silly, yes? Even when 
is fighting, Ranma-cat think he playing in fun. That because 
Ranma-cat stuck thinking he is kitten."

Ranma snapped his fingers. "I get it! Since I first turned 
into a cat when I was six years old, my cat-self was just a 
kid too. Or a kitten, in this case."

"Just so," the Amazon girl stated. "Now, Ranma-san self is 
grown up as young man, but Ranma-cat still is kitten. That 
why Ranma-san's mind having hard time getting cat-self 
together with normal self. If two Ranma-selves are getting 
together, then Ranma-cat must learn to be same age. He is 
being tomcat, see?"

"I see," Akane said. "So if we help Ranma's cat personality 
catch up to his normal one, the two minds will integrate, 
right? Then what will happen?"

"If Shampoo right," she said, "then Ranma-cat will blend with 
Ranma-self, stop being separate. And Ranma-san should no more 
be afraid of cats."

"Great!" Ranma shouted excitedly. "So... uh... how do we do 
this? Do I have to turn into a cat again or something for you 
to teach that other personality how to grow up?"

Shampoo shook her head. "No. We trying to bring selves 
together, so Ranma-san not split anymore. Shampoo will now 
teach you how to be like cat while still being person. You 
learn to hold both mind at once, and selves will come 
together naturally."

Ranma nodded. "I'm ready."

"Good." Shampoo moved to take a position alongside him. 
"First, we start simple. You walk like cat."

The young Saotome shrugged. He'd certainly done stranger 
things in the name of training than this. He dropped to all 
fours and began to pace forward, mimicking a cat's gait as 
precisely as possible. 

To his surprise, Shampoo took hold of his pig-tail and yanked 
him to his feet. Her voice was sharp as she spoke. "No! Not 
like that. You is supposed to be both person and cat at same 
time. No walk on all fours... it is cat attitude you use."

He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "Cat attitude, huh?"

"Right," the Amazon instructed. "Watch Shampoo." With that, 
she began to glide forward, chin angled up, eyes full of cool 
self-satisfaction. She strolled gracefully, noiselessly, as 
if she had all the time in the world to get where she needed 
to go. It was the walk of someone who knew, beyond a shadow 
of a doubt, just how hot she really was.

It was also a rather feminine walk. Ranma felt a flush rising 
in his cheeks. "Uh... you want me to walk like that?"

"Not JUST like that," Shampoo clarified. "But start thinking 
like cat. You is greatest thing in whole world. You is cool, 
you is classy, you is good-looking. Think about how suave you 
feel." As she spoke, she beckoned him to walk.

Akane watched this with half-lidded eyes. "And how is this 
any different from how he normally is?"

Ranma glared at her. "Hey, you..."

Shampoo's hand darted out, pinching him under the chin and 
turning his head away from her. "Think like cat! Someone 
insult you, you not lose temper. You look down nose at them. 
You KNOW how cool you is... who care what some yappy dog have 
to say about it?"

Akane stomped her foot. "Who are you calling a yappy dog?"

"Is training," the Amazon replied haughtily. "Now, Ranma-
san... try some more."

Ranma thought he was beginning to understand the distinction 
Shampoo was making between the kind of confidence he normally 
felt and the smug, arrogant, bone-deep sense of superiority 
that he should be striving for as a cat. Akane was right - it 
wasn't too far removed from how he usually felt - but perhaps 
that wasn't so big a mystery. His cat-self may have been 
subtly affecting his personality for a long time without him 
even knowing it.

Saotome Ranma tried again. This time, he didn't just walk - 
he STRUTTED.

"That good," Shampoo muttered. "You getting it."

<Of course that's good,> Ranma thought as he slid from step 
to step. <It's ME, isn't it?> He strolled on, letting his 
emotions of self-satisfaction dictate the way his body moved, 
submerging his thoughts in the feeling that he was the 
coolest, quickest, most clever guy in the whole...

Without warning, Shampoo extended a foot into his path and 
tripped him. Ranma suddenly slammed forward flat on his face 
in a graceless sprawl. He bounced back to his feet, his fists 
clenched. "What was THAT for!?"

His trainer thumped him on the head. "No, no, no! That NOT 
how cat handle such thing happening."

Ranma's temper cooled as he thought about this. "Okay," he said, 
dusting himself off. "Let's try again."
 
He began his lazy swagger again, easing along with the grace 
of a dancer in his cat-strut, as Shampoo kept pace beside him 
with her own feline walk. This time when she tripped him up, 
he immediately rolled from his fallen splay into a relaxed, 
lounging pose. "I MEANT to do that, of course," he told them 
smoothly. 

Akane snickered, but Shampoo nodded with approval. "Good. 
That very good."

- - - - -

"So... much... FOOD!" 

Nabiki smiled as she watched Kurumi try to run in about seven 
different directions at once. The Winter Festival was, as 
always, a cornucopia of delights for all senses, with booths, 
stands, and displays of all sorts lining the street as far as 
the eye could see. The little adopted Tendou was, of course, 
most captivated by the stalls where food was for sale.

The only thing holding her back from a headlong charge was 
her elder sister. Natsume kept a firm grip on the little 
dynamo's shoulders. "Remember," she instructed, "we are NOT 
food thieves anymore. We will eat what we can pay for."

"Mmm-hmm!"

"So don't spend all your money in one place. You want to try 
a lot of things, right?"

"Yeah yeah yeah."

"Wipe your mouth, please. You're drooling."

"Sorry!" Kurumi strained forward. "Let's go! Come on come on 
come ON!"

Natsume wore an apologetic smile. "We'll meet up with you 
later, okay?"

"Knock yourselves out," Nabiki said.

"Have a good time, both of you!" Konatsu added.

As the two adopted Tendous lurched off into the festival 
crowd, Nabiki turned to her companion. "How're you doing 
there, Konatsu?"

The young ninja beamed at her with undiluted joy. "This is 
amazing, Nabiki-san! I've never seen anything like this."

"Happens every year," she told him, grinning. Konatsu had 
lived worse than a sheltered life - his ruthless stepsisters 
had worked him like a dog, depriving him of even the barest 
luxuries. Ukyou had treated him better, but she hadn't 
exactly taken an active role in trying to show him all the 
parts of life that he'd missed. <Well, that's going to 
change,> she promised herself.

"Spring Festival is even better," she confided. "At least I 
think so."

"There's... more than one kind?" he asked, astonished.

"Yep," she affirmed. "Good chance to go out and treat 
yourself to a new outfit. Speaking of..."

Konatsu looked down at his new kimono, brilliantly patterned 
with red and gold chrysanthemums, and touched the fabric with 
reverent awe. "This is so beautiful," he whispered. "I never 
imagined wearing something like this..."

"Yeah. You know," Nabiki hazarded, "I would've bought you a 
boy's outfit if you wanted."

Konatsu gave her kind of a shy look. Dressed as a girl, he 
could've fooled even the most discriminating eye. <He's 
prettier than I am,> she admitted, though without any rancor. 

"Maybe for the Spring one," the ninja suggested. "Okay?"

"You got a deal."

Of the many head-trips Konatsu's thoroughly hideous and evil 
stepsisters had played on him, the most cruel was that they 
had raised him to believe he was a girl. For the longest 
time, he had simply believed that made him some kind of freak 
of nature, not realizing that he had a perfectly normal body 
for a boy. After being rescued from his horrid homelife and 
brought to work for Ukyou, Konatsu had finally come to 
understand that he really was male.

But it was a difficult road for him, Nabiki knew. He was 
comfortable wearing girl's clothes, and his natural 
mannerisms and speech tended to be female. He could be a very 
convincing boy when he wanted to nowadays - his ninja 
training made him a superb actor - but it took focus. 

<He's always going to be different,> Nabiki thought. <But 
then, what's the big deal? All the real, dedicated martial 
artists are.>

That made her think about Akane. All three Tendou daughters 
had been faced with a choice somewhere along the way as they 
grew up - would they choose the path of the martial artist, 
or live a "normal" life? Kasumi had always been a natural 
pacifist as well as lacking any great physical gifts, so the 
choice had been easy enough for her. Nabiki had trained 
during her younger years, but had come to dislike the feeling 
of being "weird" that came with being a martial artist. 
Though she took some pride in her family's tradition, she had 
abandoned the warrior's path.

In many ways, Akane had never made her choice. She often made 
a lot of noise about how she was a "real martial artist," 
just like Ranma and Ryouga and all the rest, but at the same 
time she wanted to be a regular schoolgirl. She didn't seem 
to realize that was a big reason why her skills lagged behind 
the others, in spite of her natural physical potential. 
Except for the occasions when something motivated her into 
action, like when Natsume and Kurumi first tried to claim the 
Tendou Dojo, she tried to live a dual life... and her martial 
arts suffered.

That had changed when she had determined to follow Ranma and 
help him against the Reikoku. Once she committed to the 
Bakusai Ten-Ketsu training, martial arts had truly become her 
life. For months, all her energy and will had gone into 
attaining a new level of skill. Her grades had dropped off, 
her social life had vanished - but she had done it. The Akane 
of today was light years ahead of who she had been before she 
had first strung that boulder up in the forest.

<But what's she going to do when she gets back?> Nabiki 
wondered. <Has she finally made her choice, or will she go 
back to trying to have it both ways?>

The middle Tendou daughter was so lost in her own thoughts 
that she didn't notice the tall young man step in front of 
her. Her face smacked into a firm shoulder, and she stumbled 
back with a surprised yelp.

"Whoah! Sorry about..."

"I should be the one apologizing," came a smooth, cultured 
voice.

Nabiki blinked, rubbing her nose, and looked up. "Ah. 
Sanzenin Mikado, I believe?"

"And I recognize you as well," the somewhat famous skater 
crooned. "Tendou Nabiki... financial genius of Furinkan 
High."

"Yes, well... nice to... erp!"

Suddenly, his hands gripped her shoulders, and she felt 
herself pulled forward. <Oh crap, not this!> she thought.

"There is only one way to truly convey my regret at my 
clumsiness," he whispered, closing his eyes and leaning in 
for the kiss.

Quick as lightning, Konatsu was there to save her. He cast 
his hand towards a nearby sushi stand, a thin chain snaking 
out of his sleeve with unerring accuracy towards a fresh 
squid. He yanked the dead cephalopod back to his hand, gently 
nudged Nabiki's head to the side, and pressed its beak up 
against Mikado's seeking lips. 

A short burst of slippery slurping ensued.

The skater from Kolkhoz High drew back, shuddering. Konatsu 
tucked the squid behind his back in an invisible blur just 
before Mikado opened his eyes. The tall youth dabbed at his 
lips with his handkerchief. "It seems... the art of kissing 
has hit a bit of a low in this region."

"Oh well," Nabiki said casually, just as another voice 
snapped through the air.

"How DARE you, peasant girl!"

The Nerima crowd knew a martial artist's aggressive tone when 
they heard it, and parted immediately to clear a space for a 
possible fight. Nabiki looked towards the sound of the 
newcomer, knowing the voice of Kunou Kodachi all too well. 
The self-styled Black Rose stood atop a tall sign post, her 
ribbon swirling in her hand... as she glared daggers at 
Nabiki.

"You there!" cried the demented gymnast. "What is the meaning 
of this?"

"The meaning of what, Kodachi?" Nabiki asked with an air of 
nonchalance.

"You DARE to try to seduce my darling Mikado with your 
gutter-tramp wiles!" Kodachi accused. "I shall not stand for 
it!"

"Seduce?" Nabiki asked. <Damn it,> she thought. <I didn't 
know she was hot for this preening dandy now. I would've been 
selling her pictures!> Running the restaurant had its 
drawbacks - she wasn't on top of all the goings on around 
Nerima like she used to be. "Now look..."

"There's no seduction going on here," Mikado shouted up to 
his unwanted admirer. His voice lost a good bit of polish 
when speaking to her - in fact, he sounded close to panic. 
"This girl happens to be... uh... my fiancee!"

"WHAT?" Kodachi shouted.

"What?" Konatsu squeaked.

Nabiki was about to deny the claim, but suddenly she felt a 
fat wad of bills being pressed into her palm. Mikado leaned 
over and whispered, "You want this, don't you?"

"Oh, YES!" Nabiki exclaimed reflexively. 

"Nabiki-san!" Konatsu cried in dismay.

"Oh... I mean..." <Damn!> Nabiki thought. <Mercenary 
instincts took over there for a second. No way do I want 
Kodachi thinking I'm her rival...>

"So THAT's how it is!" the Black Rose snarled, eyes burning 
with rage. "You dare to set yourself between me and my 
beloved!"

<Too late,> Nabiki thought. "Uh... no, listen. I..."

"Then face the wrath of the Black Rose! OH-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-
HO!" 

Nabiki took a step back. "Konatsu!" she hissed. "Help!" She 
knew that Kodachi was not the sort to hold back, even when 
her opponent was a non-fighter. 

The young ninja stepped forward, his hand moving in a blur to 
intercept the rhythmic gymnastic ball that came streaking 
towards Nabiki. <It's a good thing he's so loyal,> Nabiki 
thought with relief. <I can't let him think I'm actually 
interested in that primped-up moron...>

"So," Kodachi declared. "The young chef from that hole-in-
the-wall okonomiyaki pit, is it? Now I see your true mind... 
you sought to hide my darling from me!"

In response, Konatsu let fly with a hearty boot to Mikado's 
rump. The skater's body tumbled through the air towards 
Kodachi. "If you want him," Konatsu shouted, "then take him! 
Nabiki-san and I couldn't care less!"

He turned and whispered to her, voice slightly plaintive. 
"Right, Nabiki-san?"

She nodded back. "Sorry about that..."

Kodachi, for her part, let Mikado's flailing form tumble by 
and crash head-first into a large goldfish tank at one of the 
carnival attractions. She clutched her hands beneath her 
chin. "My darling! How could that harridan treat you so 
badly? I shall get my revenge on her, and eliminate my rival 
in one stroke!"

<Great,> Nabiki thought. <Once Kodachi gets an idea in her 
head, she never lets it go.> "Watch out, Konatsu..."

The gymnast's ribbon rippled through the air, snapping like a 
whip towards them. Konatsu braced himself to defend her...

... but something intercepted the incoming ribbon in mid-
strike. Another ribbon of silk, this one red, hissed through 
the air. It twisted around Kodachi's black lash, entangling 
it in sinewy, entrapping coils. 

A moment later, the red ribbon glowed with bright, hot ki-
energy. Kodachi's weapon ignited in a burst of flame, reduced 
almost instantly to ash.

"What? Who dares... ?"

Tendou Kurumi leaped out of the crowd, drawing her red ribbon 
back in a series of graceful coils. She perched on top of 
another post, so she was on the same level as Kodachi, and 
struck a ready pose.

"Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, is it?" the small girl 
asked, her eyes smoldering. "That's a good school for 
beginners. But if you want to really see how a ribbon is used 
in combat..."

She swished her red ribbon through an intricate series of 
loops and patterns, leaving behind a glowing energy trail. 
The display ended with a whip-crack that left a firework-like 
explosion in the air.

"...then I'll show you how it's done."

"Wh... who are you?" Kodachi asked, her voice for once 
lacking its usual self-important timbre.

"Tendou Kurumi," the small girl introduced herself, smiling 
with superb confidence. "Of the Anything-Goes School of 
Martial Arts."

She held a fighting pose for a long moment, her battle aura 
blazing bright around her as Kodachi cringed. Then, unable to 
contain herself, she began to bounce up in down in a gleeful 
little dance on top of her high vantage point. "Oh WOW! I 
look like SUCH a bad-ass! Didya see, sis? Didya? Wasn't I 
COOL?!"

Natsume appeared out of the crowd, leaning on her rugbeater 
and looking up at her little sister. "It was going great 
until you started celebrating," she noted wryly. 

"Oh yeah yeah yeah... right!" Kurumi broke off her self-
congratulatory display and struck another fighting pose, 
facing off with a somewhat bewildered Kodachi. "Heh..."

The Black Rose surveyed the scene and clearly didn't like the 
odds. She was experienced enough to mark Natsume as another 
high-level fighter, which made it three on one. "Asuza!" she 
called. "To me!"

Silence fell over the crowd at the festival crowd as they 
waited the response. Somewhere far in the distance, the sound 
of a struggle drifted to Nabiki's ears. A very high pitched 
voice could just barely be heard demanding that someone 
render to her an extremely adorable socket wrench, which was 
apparently named "Marcel." 

Kodachi's eyelid twitched. 

"Very well!" she proclaimed. "I shall withdraw for now. But 
know this, Tendou Nabiki... the Black Rose shall prevail! 
Vengeance shall be sweet, sweet, sweet... and you shall pay, 
pay, PAY!" 

She began to launch into her patented Black Rose Blizzard, in 
which she scattered rose petals to cover her departure, but 
realized that she no longer had the necessary ribbon to pull 
it off. Without further ceremony, she bounded off into the 
night, stunning the local bird population with her peals of 
demented laughter as she went.

Natsume and Kurumi converged to Nabiki's position as the 
crowd began to mill again. "Great," Nabiki grumbled. "That's 
just what I need."

"Do you think she'll attack you?" Kurumi asked. "Even though 
you're not a fighter?"

"She's doesn't exactly hold to a strict ethical code," the 
mercenary girl observed dryly. "Look, guys... I may need you 
to watch my back for a while until she gives up and flutters 
off to her next obsession."

Natsume and Kurumi exchanged a worried look. 

"What?" Nabiki asked.

The elder of the pair spoke up. "I am afraid we have another 
obligation, sister." She executed a low, apologetic bow. "My 
sister and I have a duty to perform which will necessitate 
that we leave town for a short while. I'm sorry we didn't 
tell you sooner."

"How long?"

"Usually not long!" Kurumi chimed. "It shouldn't be more than 
a couple weeks."

<Great,> she thought. 

Konatsu's hand found its way into hers, and their fingers 
intertwined. "Don't worry, Nabiki-san," her employee and 
friend said earnestly. "I'll protect you."

- - - - -

Ranma sniffed at the egg roll, then rolled his eyes 
disdainfully. "No, no. That simply won't do."

Akane glared at him. "You ORDERED this yourself! We bought 
these yesterday and you liked them just fine."

The young Saotome crossed his arms and turned away, not even 
deigning to look at the egg rolls. "These are not fresh. You 
expect me to eat these?" He made a disparaging noise.

"Fine," Akane groused, settling down to eat. 

A few minutes passed, the only sounds in the night being the 
crackling of the campfire and the soft crunch as Shampoo and 
Akane chewed their dinner. Then Ranma spoke up again.

"Hey."

"What?" Akane asked.

"I'm hungry."

She offered him the egg rolls. He turned up his nose at them 
again. "Well this is the freshest thing we've got!" she 
exclaimed.

"Pfeh." Ranma rose and slunk off into the night. "I'll find 
my OWN food then."

Akane threw up her hands in exasperation and turned to 
Shampoo. "How long is this going to go on?"

- - - - -

<Back to Japan,> Ryouga thought.  <We're finally going home.>

In spite of the uncertainty of their situation and the 
imminent danger of the Reikoku, the thought of returning to 
his native soil lifted the young warrior's perpetually heavy 
heart.  He turned a moment to take in the look on Ukyou's 
face as she watched the Chinese shoreline diminishing behind 
them, and he guessed that she was feeling the same way.  It 
was good to have something to be happy about, at least for a 
little while.

<Another thing to be grateful for,> he thought.  <We're not 
going by plane.>

The relief he felt at that was stronger than he would have 
expected.  It wasn't just that he was mortally afraid of 
flying, but also, he realized, that he was glad Ukyou would 
not have to see him in the grips of his embarrassing phobia.  
That was silly, he knew.  She wouldn't think less of him just 
because he went to pieces on an airplane... at least, he 
thought not.  It was better not to have to find out right 
now.  

Ukyou sensed him watching her and flashed him a brief smile.  
For some reason, he felt the color rising in his face at 
this, ever so slightly.  Well, that was no big mystery.  He 
had always been uncertain around girls.  Even though she was 
dressed like a boy at the moment, he knew better.

Ryouga heard the sound of footsteps on the deck behind them - 
the captain, he guessed.  "You lads doing all right?" the 
weatherbeaten sailor asked.

Both young fighters turned to face the captain.  "Just fine, 
sir," Ukyou chirped.  "We're glad to be underway, that's 
all."

"Is there something we need to be doing?" Ryouga asked.

The captain shook his head, scratching the grey bristles of 
his beard.  "No, not at the moment.  You won't have to start 
prepping dinner for another couple of hours."

Finding passage to Japan had turned out to be fairly easy 
with Ukyou along.  A quick demonstration of her skills as a 
cook down at the docks had secured a spot for them on the 
crew of a ship of their choice.  Which was good, because they 
had been keen to find a vessel with an all-male crew.  It was 
much easier to keep Happosai quiescent that way.

"Just wanted to ask," the captain said, "about that... er... 
thing you brought on board.  The... monkey-mummy... thing."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Ukyou assured him breezily.  
"It's fine."

"It's... alive, then, is it?" the seaman asked hesitantly.  
"One of the men saw it twitching."

"It's more or less alive, yes," Ukyou admitted.  "But we've 
got it sedated.  It won't bother your crew, sir.  Just leave 
it alone in our cabin, okay?"

The captain nodded at this - he clearly had no desire to 
tamper with the shriveled creature his two temporary crewmen 
had brought aboard.  They had been deliberately vague about 
who or what Happosai really was, but Ryouga felt confident 
that he would stay dormant for the voyage.  Even the old man 
had nowhere to go on a ship, and there were no unwary women 
around for him to harass if he somehow slipped his bonds.  
They had also taken another bit of Ranma's advice when they 
reached the port, and had purchased several bottles of 
whiskey to keep Happosai appeased.  The liquor was dirt cheap 
and put off fumes that could peel wallpaper, but the old 
geezer had sucked it down willingly enough.  While they 
didn't need his active guidance to find this mysterious 
temple, they could afford to leave him tied up and pickled on 
booze for now.

"Good, good," the captain said.  He smiled fondly through his 
grey beard at the two of them.  "Well, I'll just leave you 
two to enjoy each other's company until dinner.  Don't worry 
about a thing.  We're all sailors here - we know how it is."  
He gave them a broad wink and turned to go.

Ryouga didn't know what to make of that, but it seemed to 
mean something to Ukyou.  She turned towards the rail, making 
little spluttering noises.  "Are you okay?" he asked, 
worried.

"Fine," she wheezed.

"Not getting seasick, are you?"

"Nope, nope," she waved her hand, stifling a snort.  "It's... 
never mind."

Ryouga shrugged.  He was fairly accustomed to the feeling 
that he had missed something.  He leaned back and let his 
lungs fill with the tangy sea air, letting his body move 
naturally with the rocking of the boat as it cut its way 
across the surf.  

Eventually, Ukyou recovered her composure and smiled at him.  
The swaying of the deck sometimes brought her shoulder 
against his, so she was almost leaning on him, but she made 
no effort to pull farther away.  "Good to be going back to 
Japan, isn't it?"

"I was just thinking that," Ryouga said.  "It's nice to feel 
good about something again, even if it's just for a little 
while."

She nudged him with her elbow.  "Just for a little while, eh?  
There's that gloom of yours again, sugar," she teased.  

"That gloom may be my best chance of surviving, if I have to 
fight the Reikoku again," he said.

"You think so?" 

He nodded.  "The Perfect Shi-Shi Hokoudan is still my most 
powerful technique.  And I haven't used it on that monster 
yet."

"You used the lesser one," Ukyou noted.

"Yeah," Ryouga admitted.  "The perfect version is different, 
though.  Besides, it probably didn't have to adapt a defense 
against the Shi-Shi Hokoudan, since it was more effective to 
turn me into a pig."  He allowed himself a grim smile.  "It 
won't be able to do THAT anymore, at least."

"Old Cologne didn't think much of that technique of yours," 
she reminded him, studying him carefully.

"I know."  The wind whipped his hair as he watched the 
endlessly churning waves.  "She's right, of course.  The last 
thing I need is something that makes me more miserable.  If I 
survive being hunted by the Reikoku, I'll seal the Shi-Shi 
Hokoudan away forever.  Right now, I need every advantage I 
can get."

"You think you can get depressed enough to use it?" Ukyou 
asked.

"Heh.  Getting depressed has never been a problem," he told 
her.  And yet, he realized, right now his misery felt a long 
way away.  He knew the Reikoku was still out there, knew that 
their chances of finding a solution at this temple were 
probably slim, but just at this moment, those burdens did not 
weigh on his soul.  Standing here on the deck on a boat 
headed back towards Japan, feeling the sway of the deck under 
his feet, feeling the brush of Ukyou's shoulder against his 
as the ocean rocked them in its embrace... it seemed like it 
was enough, somehow.  

For the moment, it was enough.

- - - - -

There was a little restaurant attached to the inn - normally, 
Ranma and his companions didn't spend money on lodging, but 
with the rain falling that night and what felt like a 
comfortable lead on the Reikoku, they had decided they could 
swing it just this once. Akane sipped her hot tea.

"Is it still rainin'?" Ranma-chan asked, poking at the door.

"Of course it is," the Tendou girl answered.

"I wanna go check."

She rose with a sigh, walked over to the door, and let her 
outside. Ranma-chan leaped out into the night, and Akane 
closed the door behind her. 

A moment later, there came a loud scratching from the door. 
Akane opened it up again, and Ranma-chan bounded through, 
shaking off water. "Whoah," she said. "Still rainin'." The 
red-headed martial artist strolled back to her table and took 
a few more bites of her dinner.

Akane had barely managed to settle back in to her own seat 
when Ranma-chan was at the door in. "Hey! Think it's still 
rainin'?"

She ground her teeth and glared at her fiancee. "Of COURSE it 
is!"

"I wanna check!"

She rose, let Ranma-chan out again, and stood there waiting. 
A few moments later, the scratching started. "Hey! Let me 
in!" she heard through the door. "It's pourin' out here!"

<This training is going to drive me nuts,> Akane thought, 
letting Ranma-chan back in for the sixteenth time that night.

- - - - -

The lunch crowd had all but petered out, and it would be 
hours before the next rush hit the restaurant. Nabiki was 
about to start cleaning the counter when she heard Konatsu
pick up the phone.

"Ucchan's Okonomi... Ukyou-san!?" The young ninja's voice 
brightened with excitement. "Is that really you?"

<Ukyou?> thought Nabiki, putting down rag and cleanser. 
<Haven't heard from her and Ryouga since they split off from 
Ranma. Wonder where they are?>

"We've been so worried about you!" bubbled Konatsu 
delightedly. "Are you okay? How are you feeling? Have you 
been eating well? Was there danger? Do you need help? We 
really missed you back here!"

<Geez, lay it on thick why don't you?> Nabiki thought 
irritably as she listened to Konatsu fawn over Ukyou. 

"We're fine here," Kontasu continued. "Nabiki-san has really 
gotten things running smoothly. What? Yes, she's done that. 
No... she only cooks during the slow periods. Yes, she's 
good! We're even thinking of teaching Miss Sanae to cook..."

Nabiki flinched and gritted her teeth. <Konatsu... don't tell 
her that!>

"Miss Sanae? She's a tea ceremony master, so she's been 
serving the customers... where'd we find her? Oh, she belongs 
to a friend of the Tendous. Yes, a pet... she's a chimpanzee. 
Mm-hmm! Yes, Nabiki-san is here. You want to talk to her?"

Nabiki reached slowly to take the receiver from Konatsu, 
bracing herself for what was to come. "Er... hello?" she 
said.

"NABIKI!! WHY do you have a MONKEY working at MY RESTAURANT! 
HAVE you LOST YOUR MIND?!"

Nabiki cringed and held the receiver farther away from her 
ear. "Actually, technically speaking, Miss Sanae is an ape, 
not a monkey."

"And TECHNICALLY speaking, YOU are a JACKASS!" Ukyou roared. 
"WHAT kind of..."

"She brings in customers by the truckload," Nabiki pointed 
out.

"I DON'T CARE if... wait, what? She does?"

"They love her," Nabiki asserted firmly. "She makes tea, 
balances plates... families are hauling their kids in here 
left and right just to see her."

"Huh."

"Plus, we don't have to pay her."

"... I see."

Nabiki grinned. Ukyou's temper might flare up, but she was a 
businesswoman too. Now that she'd disarmed Ukyou's wrath, 
Nabiki felt it would be best to move on to other topics 
before she got a chance to get going on something else. 
"So... where are you?"

"Oh... right. Ryouga and me just got off the ship. We're back 
in Japan."

"What?" Nabiki was shocked - she would have bet money that 
they'd want to catch up with Ranma once Ryouga recovered. 
"Why?"

"We caught the old man," Ukyou said.

"Happosai? You found him?"

"Yeah," the young chef agreed grimly. "Found him and captured 
his sorry old butt. We've got him with us right now, wrapped 
up and sedated."

Nabiki leaned forward. "What are you doing with him?"

"He's guiding us somewhere," she explained. "We had to wring 
it out of him, but the old goat finally told us what 
happened. There's some secret temple of women in the 
countryside. He did one of his panty raids there..."

"That figures."

"Yeah," Ukyou agreed, "except these chicks are sorceresses or 
witches or something, and they set the Reikoku after him. 
Turns out they botched the spell... didn't know his actual 
name, only his title. That gave him a loophole to rub the 
thing off on Ranma."

"So... you're going back there?" Nabiki asked.

"Yeah. We figure these women are the only ones who might be 
able to call off their pet horror." Ukyou sounded concerned. 
"Look... could you tell Ranma about this when you talk to him 
next? I don't want him to think we abandoned him. You... you 
have heard from him, right?"

"Yes," Nabiki said. <It's 'Ranma' now, not 'Ranchan.' 
Interesting.> She filed that tidbit away for later 
contemplation, and considered whether she should tell Ukyou 
that Akane and Shampoo were with Ranma now. <Better not. This 
temple thing is important... I don't want her losing focus 
because her rivals are with Ranma.>

She decided on a vague response. "The Amazons sent him a 
guide," she related. "He's doing all right."

A sigh of relief from across the line, and then: "Good. He's 
all right. You heard that, sugar?"

Nabiki could detect the muffled sound of another voice - 
assuredly Ryouga. He and Ukyou exchanged a few words off the 
receiver, and then she heard Ukyou speaking again.

"Okay. Look, I just pulled some money out of the account for 
traveling expenses," Ukyou informed her. "From what that 
pervert said, it sounds like we've got to go pretty deep into 
back country to find this temple place. And I'm not sure what 
they're going to do when we do find them."

"What about Happosai? I doubt he's keen to go back."

"Tough," she barked. "If we have to turn him over to these 
gals to make a deal, he's all theirs."

"Fair enough."

"But for all we know, these women could be fruitcakes," Ukyou 
speculated. "They might have a bunch of crazy laws, like the 
Amazons or something. We'll try talking to them first, but if 
we have to beat a solution out of them..."

"Please," Nabiki implored. "Stick to diplomacy if at all 
possible. If these women can summon something like the 
Reikoku, you've got no idea what else they might be capable 
of."

"I know," the young fighter agreed. "Listen, it looks like 
Happosai's starting to wake up. We have to get moving."

"Okay..."

"Tell Ranma what we're doing," she implored. "If we get this 
monster stopped, he'll be safe to come home."

"I'll tell him next time he calls," she promised.

"See ya," Ukyou said by way of a farewell, then hung up the 
phone.

Nabiki handed the receiver back to Konatsu. The pretty ninja 
gave her an earnest, concerned look. "Do you think she's 
going to be okay?"

The middle Tendou waved a hand. "Oh, she's fine. She's got 
Ryouga with her... those two are tough enough to handle 
pretty much anything."

It was a glib response, but it seemed to put Konatsu's mind 
at ease. The last thing she needed was for the ninja to 
charge off to try to help Ukyou. <It's not like she ever 
helped him all that much,> she thought sourly. All right, 
she'd helped Ranma rescue Konatsu from his stepfamily, but 
how much of that had been for Konatsu's benefit and how much 
just to try to impress Ranma or something? In any case, it 
wasn't like she'd spent a whole lot of time and energy trying 
to help the poor guy with all his problems adjusting to real 
life once she had him here. <Too busy chasing Ranma to care 
about someone like Konatsu,> she thought.

Anyway, they couldn't help Ukyou and Ryouga now even if they 
wanted to. The two couldn't afford to wait around to 
rendezvous with anyone else - time was of the essence where 
the Reikoku was concerned. If they could really figure out 
what was going on at this mysterious temple... well, it might 
be just the answer they'd been looking for. <I usually think 
of Ryouga and Ukyou as being the sort of people who create 
problems rather than solve them,> she realized, <but if they 
manage to figure this one out, I'll have to...>

"Tendou Nabiki! A word with thee!"

Snapped from her reverie, Nabiki turned to see that Kunou had 
entered the restaurant. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw 
Konatsu relax from his tensed stance - he was keeping a close 
eye on her ever since Kodachi had vowed vengeance on her. 
Nabiki raised an eyebrow, studying the bouquet of flowers and 
stuffed panda bear that Kunou was carrying. 

"Hey, Kunou-baby. Who might those be for?" She was pretty 
sure she knew.

"Hark! It has come to my attention that the fair Tendou 
Natsume shall not be attending Furinkan for some time. Is 
this so?"

"'Fraid so."

"Alas! Woe unto me!" the mighty samurai lamented. "Is it my 
destiny that all my loves shall fly off into the distance, 
like the migrating swallow laden with the coconut of my 
heart?"

"Huh?" Konatsu said. "Kunou-san, I hate to ruin your 
metaphor, sir, but there's no way a five ounce bird could 
carry a one-pound coconut."

"It could grip it by the husk," Kunou insisted.

"It's not question of where it grips it," Konatsu explained. 
"You see..."

"Kunou-baby," Nabiki interrupted, not caring to get dragged 
into this discussion, "what do you want?"

"My love returned to me!" the kendo champion insisted. "I 
wish to grace her lovely ears with my latest verse. Attend, 
Tendou Nabiki:

	
Your eyes, how they twinkle!
	
Your dimples, how merry!
	
Your cheeks are like roses,
Your nose, like..."

"Well, you'll have to wait," Nabiki cut him off. "Sorry."

"As her sister," Kunou queried, "might there be a way for you 
to reach her with tokens of my affection?"

"Sorry, I..."

Kunou produced a large roll of bills from his sleeve.

"...couldn't possibly do it for any less than 10,000 yen," 
Nabiki lied smoothly. No sense in disappointing a young 
fellow in love, after all.

"Done!" The exchange of money happened at a speed that would 
have even impressed Ranma. "Now, if you would, please deliver 
unto my beloved this adorable plush panda," he handed over 
the stuffed animal, "and this bouquet of roses..."

Nabiki heard something click as she took the flowers.

Konatsu moved like a blur and began to shout a warning, but 
even his speed wasn't enough. A plume of greenish gas spewed 
forth from the bouquet, flooding the air with some noxious 
vapor. She saw Kunou's eyes widen in shock as the gas 
erupted, and knew that he had simply been a dupe in this 
trap. <The perfect sucker...>

She tried to hold her breath, but the gas had already filled 
the air around her. Dizziness overcame her as she inhaled the 
vapor. Kunou reeled as well, and even Konatsu couldn't stop 
from taking in at least enough of the gas to make him hack 
and wheeze. As her world turned to darkness, she heard the 
maniacal laughter of Kodachi the Black Rose, and felt the 
silken coils of a ribbon twining around her body...

- - - - -

<Patience,> the withered old pervert thought.  <Almost time 
now.  Almost time.>

Happosai swayed like a lantern as Ryouga hopped from one rock 
to the next, looking at the world upside-down as he dangled 
in his bonds from the long stick that his captors used to 
transport him around.  The crash of swelling waves thundered 
in his ears, roaring with each mountain of water that smashed 
its fury against the jagged stone.  

This was a path only a select few could hope to take, leaping 
from one safe perch to another over the roiling sea as they 
traveled along the rugged Japanese coastline.  Jagged peaks 
of dark stone stabbed forth from the roiling surface of the 
sea, forming a path of giant stepping stones twisting its way 
across the heaving bay.  The sheer cliffs along the 
shoreline were so perilously steep that they would have taken 
at least a full day to traverse, probably more.  The path 
across the stones littering the bay was risky, but much 
faster.  Happosai had known that the two youngsters would 
choose the quicker route, in spite of the risk.  

Both Ukyou and Ryouga handled the treacherous path from one 
stone spire to the next with practiced ease.  Happosai was 
impressed in spite of himself - these two had gotten much 
better than they had ever been in Nerima.  Being chased by 
the Reikoku was like taking a warrior's pilgrimage, except on 
a much deadlier order of magnitude.  They had used their time 
well, like true martial artists.  

"You okay back there, sugar?" Ukyou called across the thunder 
of the waves.

"Fine!  No problem!"

She gave him a thumbs-up and continued along the path, 
carefully lining up her next jump to a safe perch above the 
frothing waters.

The old man watched Ukyou out in front, taking the lead for 
the two of them in the dangerous crossing.  She kept herself 
in Ryouga's line of vision, making sure he could follow her 
so that his accursed sense of direction did not carry him off 
their course.  

He would have to time this perfectly, he knew.  And he would 
have to get lucky as well, but on that score he felt 
confident.  He had always enjoyed the Devil's own luck.  
<Here it comes,> he thought.

The place to which he had been waiting to come was a 
particularly tall rock which had two safe ledges.  From the 
direction they climbed onto the rock, they would be on the 
high ledge.  In order to get to the next perch, it was 
necessary to climb down to the lower ledge.  Even someone as 
skilled as Ryouga couldn't simply risk the jump - the footing 
was too treacherous on this wave-slicked stone.  He would 
have to turn around and climb down.

For that brief moment, his back would be to Ukyou.  

Happosai felt his pulse thudding in his ears as Ryouga crested 
the top of the rock, sized up the situation, and then turned 
to climb down.  His gaze darted towards the water - there was 
a good-sized wave swelling towards them, just as he had 
hoped.  Now all he needed was the boy to react as he 
predicted...

<Now,> he thought, and then shouted.  "Ukyou, LOOK OUT!  
Don't fall in!"

"What?  Ukyou!"

Sure enough, the boy whipped his head around to see if his 
companion was in trouble.  Happosai threw all his weight to 
one side, moving with the inertia of Ryouga's own turn, and 
desperately wished for it to be enough.  

Ryouga's grip slipped.

The two youngsters had talked about this for a good spell 
before they had attempted this crossing, knowing it was 
dangerous.  Ukyou never carried him, since they knew that he 
might pull strength from her feminine aura if he was too 
close.  They were cautious of Ryouga getting wet, knowing 
that if he turned into a girl then Happosai could drain him 
as well, but they had thought themselves prepared to take the 
risk.  They knew that if Ryouga could keep his balance, he'd 
make it through dry.  They had both gotten very good at 
resisting his taunts and insults, so they'd been confident 
that Happosai couldn't distract them.

<Nice try, kiddies,> he thought triumphantly as Ryouga's body 
crashed to the stone, and the wave broke over them, drenching 
the Lost Boy with cold seawater and triggering his Jusenkyou 
curse.  <But you're still a hundred years away from being 
able to outsmart me.>

His limbs were bound tight, but the old geezer still had more 
than enough body control to flop his way into contact with 
Ryouga-chan as she spluttered in the brine.  A brief touch 
was all it took.  Energy surged through him, igniting his 
battle aura like a tank of nitroglycerin.  The wave of power 
blasted the restraints from his body, and he was free.

"WAHOO!" he cried.  He fastened himself onto Ryouga-chan's 
chest for a good, healthy glomp, just to make sure his engine 
was really running, then bolted free before the outraged 
martial artist could get a grip on him.  Two flea-like hops 
later, and he was standing alone on a spire of rock fifty 
yards away, cackling with glee as the pair of young fighters 
watched in helpless fury.

They'd never catch him now, and they knew it.

"Damn it!" Ryouga-chan shouted, face practically glowing red 
with her fury.  "Damn you, old man!  Come back here!"

Little Ukyou let fly with a couple of her darling throwing 
spatulas, but even her vastly improved speed and accuracy 
were not enough at this distance.  Happosai batted them away 
with his pipe, then took a long, satisfied puff.  

"Sorry to run, youngsters!" he croaked.  "But I got places to 
go, ladies to see.  Can't afford to go back to that temple, 
no siree!"  

As he watched the two young fighters trembling in useless 
rage, an impulse struck him.  "But tell you what, cuties!  
You're on the right track.  Just keep heading this way up the 
coastline, 'til you get to an inlet where there's a rock that 
looks kind of like a crow's head.  There's a little stream 
there... follow that in a few miles, and you'll see the 
temple in the valley below.  Hard to spot, but from that 
angle you should be able to find it."

They glared at him with suspicion and loathing, but he wasn't 
surprised at that.  He was more surprised with himself for 
telling them how to reach the place.  He didn't want to think 
it was because he felt guilty about starting this whole mess 
in the first place, so instead he decided it must be for 
another reason.  "Consider that my thanks for the booze!" he 
called.  

And with that, he turned and pelted away towards the shore, 
away from Kuonji Ukyou and Hibiki Ryouga.  

<I'll never see those two again,> he thought... but he 
wondered.  

- - - - -

"C'mon, buddy!" Ranma challenged belligerently. "You wanna 
piece of me? Huh? I'll tear you a new one. I'll make you 
sorry you were ever born. I'll send you home with a freakin' 
rupture, ya jerk! You think you're so hot? You got nothin' on 
me, loser! Your kung-fu is a joke." He mimed a few lightning-
fast punches. "Oh, you think you can keep up with me? You 
think you're fast? I'll SHOW you fast..."

"Um, Ranma?" Akane tugged his sleeve.

"Yeah?"

"That's your reflection."

Ranma straightened up, gave a surprised look at the full-
length mirror in the vendor's stall, and then crossed his 
arms nonchalantly. "Of course it is. I was just practicing."

"Right."

- - - - -

"Damn it!" Ryouga-chan howled, pounding another rock to 
rubble with a furious fist.  "How could I be so stupid, 
stupid, STUPID!"  This time, she slammed her forehead into 
the stony cliff.

"Cut that out!" Ukyou cried in exasperation, hauling her away 
from the rocky wall.  Part of her actually wanted to bash 
Ryouga-chan's head herself, but she knew she shouldn't.  
Happosai was a devious, evil old demon, and they'd been lucky 
to hold onto him as long as they had.  

"Curse you, Happosai!" Ryouga-chan shouted, shaking her fist 
into the air.  "Curse you to a thousand hells!  Someday 
you'll pay for this, I swear!"

Ukyou watched as Ryouga-chan stormed and raged around for a 
while longer.  She felt like shouting herself, but her 
companion was doing enough of that for the both of them.  
Instead, Ukyou put her head in her hands and thought.

Finally, when it seemed like a gap had appeared in Ryouga-
chan's fury, she grabbed the lost girl by the shoulders and 
faced her.  "Okay, listen up, sugar," she said, biting off 
the words in a near shout.  "We have to make a decision."

"What?" Ryouga-chan said.  "What decision?"

Ukyou reached into her blouse and withdrew the magical 
earring they had obtained from the Amazon village.  When she 
let it dangle, the tip swung and pointed roughly back the 
direction they'd come.  Ryouga-chan's eyes widened with 
understanding.  

"He still doesn't know about the earring!" the bandanna-clad 
girl exclaimed.  "We can go after him!"

"Maybe," Ukyou agreed.  "But hold your horses, okay?"

Ryouga-chan gave her a wary look.  The color in her face was 
returning to normal, although she was still in a state of 
high agitation.  It would have to do - Ukyou didn't want to 
make this decision by herself.  

"Right," the young chef said, taking a deep breath.  "One 
choice is to go after him again.  But he knows we're after 
him now, and he'll be a lot more on his guard.  Even with the 
earring, we don't know if we can catch him.  But we can 
try... or we can follow his directions, and try to find that 
temple."

Ryouga-chan ground her teeth.  "Those directions may be a 
lie," she said.  "We could be a thousand miles from that 
temple."

"We could," Ukyou agreed.  A desperate shudder passed through 
her.  "Or we could be on the right path.  If we chase after 
Happosai... we'll lose our way.  I don't know if I can find 
my way back if we end up hunting that old son of a bitch 
halfway across Japan, you see?"

The Lost Girl pressed her knuckled to her forehead.  "Damn 
it!  What do we do?"

Ukyou waited, her eyes watching the earring as its tip swayed 
in the air, pulled as if by a magnetic force towards the 
direction of its missing partner.  Her gaze traveled up the 
shoreline, in the direction that Happosai had told them the 
temple lay.  

After what seemed like an eon waiting by the roaring ocean, 
Ryouga-chan finally smacked her hands together in a resolute 
gesture.  "I want to go to the temple," she said.

This was Ukyou's instinct as well, but she wanted to be sure.  
"Even if it means letting that old goat get away?"

Ryouga-chan nodded.  "It can take a long time to hunt 
somebody down," she said.  "Even if you have a real sense of 
direction.  The more time we spend... the worse it is for 
Ranma."

Ukyou let out a long, trembling sigh.  She felt her heart 
becoming clear.  "Yeah, that's pretty much the size of it, 
sugar.  We came this way to find answers, not to get revenge.  
Much as I hate that old bastard, he doesn't have any more 
answers about the Reikoku.  If there are any, we'll find them 
at the temple."

"Then let's get going," Ryouga-chan said, her face grim.  
"And if that pervert gave us the wrong directions, we'll hunt 
him down and tear the truth out of his misbegotten hide."

Ukyou clasped her on the arm.  "You got that right, hon."

- - - - -

Nabiki clawed her way back to consciousness through a hazy 
grey fog. She could feel the ropes around her wrists and 
ankles before her vision even began to clear, and knew what 
had happened. <I'm a prisoner,> she thought irritably. <I 
have been captured. ME. Isn't this the sort of thing that 
should happen to Akane?>

Akane wasn't here... so it seemed fate had tapped her to play 
the role of the hostage. <Just what I always wanted,> she 
thought bitterly. <Tendou Nabiki, damsel in distress. And I'm 
not even a martial artist...> She was beginning to wonder if 
she ought to start taking lessons at the Dojo again. If this 
sort of thing was going to keep happening to her...

"Ah, I see you are awake, my dear."

"Kodachi," she slurred. 

The wavy-haired gymnast, complete with her black leotard, 
swam into view as Nabiki's vision sharpened. Nabiki 
discovered that she was bound to a chair, her ankles tied to 
the chair's legs while her wrists were strapped to the arms. 
She gave the bonds an experimental tug, and found them to be 
discouragingly solid. She also noticed that a table had been 
set before her.

"What... do you think you're doing?" she asked, her tongue 
feeling heavy in her mouth. She looked around - they seemed 
to be in the vast, open arena which lay beneath the Kunou 
estate.

"Observe," Kodachi said, gesturing at the table, "and 
understand the genius of my vengeance."

If this was vengeance, Nabiki thought, it was an awfully 
strange sort. Upon the table had been arranged mountains of 
pies, cupcakes, cookies, pastries... savories of chocolate 
and cream and caramel piled perilously high before her. "I 
don't get it," she admitted.

"You," the gymnast informed her, "are going to eat ALL of 
this."

The middle Tendou gaped. "ALL?" No single person could put 
away that much food. Okay, maybe Ranma could. Or Kurumi. Or 
that Piccolet guy from the Martial Arts Eating school...

No NORMAL person could put away that much food. Nabiki 
certainly couldn't.

"You've got to be kidding," she murmured.

"Oh, I'm afraid not," Kodachi gloated. "You shall receive 
your just desserts, mercenary harlot. But for an appetizer, 
you shall be eating... this!"

With a sudden motion, the Black Rose produced a single, 
ordinary-looking noodle. Nabiki eyed it suspiciously. "What's 
that?"

"So glad you asked!" the gymnast said with a burst of 
laughter. "It wasn't easy to procure, but one cannot place a 
price tag on revenge. This is the legendary On Earth As It 
Is In Heaven Ramen!"

"Uh..."

"Once you eat this," Kodachi explained, "you will temporarily 
be granted the appetite of a thousand women. You will stuff 
your face with the treats I have prepared, eating and eating 
like the sow that you are. You will become fat, Tendou 
Nabiki... fat and pimply and utterly homely. And then, 
dearest Mikado will have no interest you!"

"You maniac!" Nabiki snarled. "He doesn't have..."

"It's the perfect plan!" Kodachi exclaimed, then belted out a 
peal of ear-shattering laughter. "OH-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO! 
Now, my dear, all that remains is for you to partake of this 
one little noodle..."

Something hissed through the air.

A dark blur, and suddenly the noodle disappeared from 
Kodachi's hand. The gymnast flinched, and then there came the 

thunk< of a bladed weapon embedding itself in a wooden beam. 

Nabiki turned, and saw the noodle pinned to the wall on the 
edge of a black shuriken.

The throwing star could only have come from one person. 
"Konatsu!" she cried. 

"We're here to save you, Nabiki-san!" 

"We?"

"Eeeek!"

Nabiki sighed. Konatsu had brought Miss Sanae along. While 
she understood the desire to bring some backup along in the 
rescue, she wished Konatsu had recruited a real martial 
artist. Maybe her father, or Mr. Saotome, who was at least 
ostensibly human...

The two figures stood in one of the doorways of the arena-
like expanse of the underground chamber. Konatsu wore his 
kunoichi outfit, soot-black and full of weapons, while Miss 
Sanae looked... well, she looked like a chimpanzee dressed 
for a tea ceremony.

Konatsu pointed a finger at Kodachi. "Leave her alone, you 
maniac!"

Kodachi put a hand to her mouth and laughed. "OH-HO-HO-HO-HO! 
So, you think that you have me outnumbered, do you? Asuza-
chan, come here at once!"

>From somewhere behind her came a piercing giggle that felt 
like someone driving a knitting needle into each of Nabiki's 
ears. "TEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! The Widdle Pink Pansy is here 
to help my mistress!"

The curly-haired horror skated into view on a pair of roller 
blades, power-posing next to Kodachi. Her gaze strayed a 
moment towards the table laden with treats, and her eyes 
began to sparkle with longing.

Kodachi smacked her on the head. "Not now, Asuza-chan! I'll 
take care of the cook. You remember what to do..."

"Of course, mistress!" She skated off across the smooth 
wooden floor.

"Come on, Miss Sanae!" Konatsu commanded. He and the 
chimpanzee took off, angling away from each other, tracing 
parabolic arcs along the vast floor as they charged towards 
the dais where Kodachi waited. Konatsu advanced in a low-
slung ninja run, while Miss Sanae scooted along in a kneeling 
position, in accordance with the teachings of the school of 
Martial Arts Tea Ceremony.

"Foolish gruel-slinger," Kodachi taunted Konatsu. "I have 
observed your roach-infested restaurant for days as I awaited 
my chance to strike. I anticipated that you might bring that 
flea-bitten creature along in some misguided rescue attempt, 
and prepared accordingly! Asuza-chan... use the secret 
weapon!"

As the shorter member of the Golden Pair glided towards her 
adversary, she drew an aerosol can from behind her back and 
pointed it at Miss Sanae. "Here, you nasty brute! Take 
this... Monkey Repellant!"

A cloud of fumes sprayed from the can's nozzle and caught 
Miss Sanae full in the face. The simian martial artist barely 
even blinked. She sprang at Asuza, whisk brush in hand, and 
began to swipe the bristles across the skater's face.

"Aaah! Stop that!" squealed Asuza in panic.

"Eeek! Eeek!" screeched Miss Sanae, in full battle fury.

Kodachi took a step back, eyes widening. "But... but how?"

Konatsu let out a little bark of laughter. "Your imprecise 
command of zoology is going to cost you this time, Black 
Rose!" he vaunted. "Monkey Repellant is no use against Miss 
Sanae... she is an ape!"

"Curses," Kodachi snarled villainously. 

Nabiki spared a moment to watch the battle between Asuza and 
Miss Sanae. <A little girl practicing one lame form of 
esoteric martial arts,> she observed, <against a chimp that 
practices another stupid school. How epic.> Still, it looked 
like the ape was getting the better of that exchange. She 
turned her attention to the conflict unfolding between 
Konatsu and Kodachi.

The Black Rose sliced the air with snaps of her silk ribbon, 
controlling the distance of the battle and keeping Konatsu at 
bay. "Foolish girl!" she taunted. "You think dressing up like 
a ninja will save you?"

Konatsu had speed to spare, but the seeking coils of the lash 
were impossible even for him to avoid forever. After dodging 
a series of strikes, he made one false move. With a flick of 
the wrist, Kodachi sent the ribbon twining around Konatsu's 
body. 

"Got you! ...what?"

As the coils tightened, Konatsu momentarily disappeared in a 
puff of smoke. Kodachi gave a tug on her lash... and found 
that it was wrapped not around Konatsu, but around a log 
dressed in a black ninja shirt.

<Body switch trick!> Nabiki realized.

The hum of a sword being drawn chimed through the air, and 
suddenly there came a series of blurring strikes. The ribbon, 
pulled taut as it was around the log, was an easy target to 
cut. Kodachi pulled back a severed length of silk that was 
now only a few feet long.

>From the shadows came a low, confident laugh. "You fool," 
Konatsu chided. "Do you really think I'm just playing dress-
up? Your skills cannot match those of a true kunoichi, Black 
Rose."

Kodachi responded with an angry growl, tossing a series of 
spiked clubs towards the sound of the voice. They clattered 
harmlessly into the shadows. More laughter echoed behind her, 
but when she cast her weapons at that target, she struck 
nothing but empty air.

"Accursed sneak," she growled, backing towards the table. She 
snatched something that had been hidden by the piles of 
pastries - a remote control of some sort. "You dare to 
challenge the heiress of Kunou in her inner sanctum? The 
traps of the Kunou mansion will spell an end to you!"

She began pressing buttons on the remote... to no effect. 
"What's going on here?" she demanded angrily.

The Black Rose dodged as a bundle came plummeting down from 
the shadowy ceiling above. The mass that landed on the ground 
before her was a great tangle of ropes, spiked wooden 
columns, spears, gears, nets... and all manner of other 
apparatus.

"These traps, you mean?" Konatsu's voice teased. "Amateur 
work, at best. Do you expect a true master of ninjitsu to be 
hindered by meager traps like these?"

"Cheeky peasant!" Kodachi raged. "But I know your weakness..." 
She pivoted suddenly and faced Nabiki. With a dizzyingly fast 
motion, the Kunou girl let fly with a razor-edged hoop. Bound 
to her chair, Nabiki couldn't even try to dodge.

A dark blur seemed to materialize out of nowhere, and 
suddenly Konatsu was there, his back turned to her as he 
deflected the oncoming missile with his short sword. His 
shoulders and arms were bare - he had abandoned his shirt for 
his earlier body-switch trick - but most of his torso was 
still covered with a tight white wrap. 

<Odd...> thought Nabiki, but she had no time for further 
reflection.

"OH-HO-HO-HO-HO!" Kodachi laughed triumphantly, drawing two 
of her spike-coated clubs and twirling them in each hand. "A 
ninja's strength is in stealth. But you cannot hide in the 
shadows and protect that oafish moneygrubber at the same 
time. Your movements are limited if you want to keep her 
safe. Now, the advantage is mine!"

"Perhaps," Konatsu acknowledged, taking up a ready stance with 
his sword. "But there's one thing you haven't considered, 
Kunou Kodachi."

"Oh?" 

"Has it occurred to you," asked the ninja in a sly tone, 
"that I might have just been stalling you this whole time?"

The Black Rose had only a split second to register a look of 
surprise on her face. Then a figure plummeted down from the 
ceiling, letting out a fearsome "Eeek!" of battle fury. Miss 
Sanae, simian master of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, slammed a 
thick iron pot into Kodachi's head.

The impact drove the gymnast's upper body down through the 
floorboards. Kodachi's leotard-clad figure, inert except for 
a slight twitching of the left toes, stuck halfway out of the 
broken floor. 

Miss Sanae struck a victory pose over her fallen foe. "Eeeep! 
Oooka ooka!" she trumpeted.

Konatsu straightened up from his defensive stance. "Are you 
all right?"

"Fine. Thanks for the rescue. Your timing was... uh..."

The kunoichi turned and began to slice away Nabiki's bonds. 
"Pound for pound, a chimpanzee is much stronger than a normal 
human."

"Hey... Konatsu..."

"For Kodachi to disregard such an enemy," the ninja 
continued, "was a fatal error."

"Yeah. Great. Listen, Konatsu?"

"Yes, Nabiki-san?"

Nabiki cleared her throat and stood up. "What are those?" 

She pointed to Konatsu's chest. Though they were bound tight 
by the wrap, the young kunoichi quite clearly had a pair of 
breasts.

Konatsu looked down and blushed. He... or rather, she... flushed 
and covered up with her arms. "Oh! Um... I forgot about that, 
Nabiki-san."

"I thought you were a boy," Nabiki said. "No... I know for a 
FACT that you're a boy. Were a boy. That is... look, what the 
heck is going on here, Konatsu?"

The ninja girl, now suddenly shy about her body, turned away 
and peeked back over her shoulder at Nabiki. "Do you... do you 
remember the box that Elder Cologne gave me before she left 
for China?"

Nabiki rummaged through her memories for a moment. "Yeah."

"Elder Cologne and I got to be good friends while she was 
here," Konatsu-chan explained. "She... sympathized with my 
difficulties. So she gave me these packets of Instant 
Nanniichuan Spring water to try."

"I remember that stuff," Nabiki said. "It only works once, 
right?"

"Each dose does, yes," the kunoichi affirmed. "Elder Cologne 
said I should try it out... see how it felt to be able to 
change. If it was something that I liked or not."

"How often have you been using that stuff?" Nabiki asked 
incredulously. 

She shrugged. "Oh, just a few times. Once in a while at the 
restaurant... at that Winter Festival... when we went out to that 
movie the other night. Off and on."

"Unbelievable," the mercenary girl whispered to herself. <I 
didn't notice a thing! Ranma's body changes so much when he 
transforms... but with Konatsu, there's not much difference at 
all.> "So... how... er, how do you like it? I mean..."

The pretty ninja blushed. "I do like it sometimes. It's like... 
sometimes it feels better to be a boy, and sometimes it feels 
better to be a girl... and sometimes it doesn't seem to matter. 
I guess... I guess I'm just weird."

"Oh, well... no, not really that weird," Nabiki placated. This 
was perhaps not a completely honest sentiment, but she didn't 
want Konatsu-chan to feel bad.

"Elder Cologne said that if it felt right to me," the ninja 
continued, "that she would get me some of the real water. So 
I would be... like Ranma. If I wanted it."

Nabiki peered at the girl, her voice gentle. "And is that 
what you want?"

Konatsu-chan looked back at Nabiki over her shoulder, all the 
vulnerability of a newborn fawn in her eyes. "Would you hate 
me if I did?"

<I could shatter him with a word,> the Tendou girl thought. 
<One crass, smart-alec word right now, and I could break his 
heart into a million pieces.> In that look she suddenly felt 
the true depth of the power she had over Konatsu-chan - the 
power that Konatsu-chan had willingly given to her, trusting 
her with her fragile heart. It was a responsibility so great 
that it made her dizzy. A responsibility... and an honor.

Nabiki wasn't really equipped to handle that much emotion. 
She gave a breezy smile and squeezed Konatsu-chan's shoulder 
reassuringly. "Hey, don't worry about it. No big deal. I 
mean, it's becoming kind of a tradition in my family to be 
engaged to sex-changers. So do whatever you like..."

Konatsu-chan turned to face her, her entire body seeming to 
radiate joy. The smile she gave Nabiki was bright enough to 
shame the sun. "You... you mean it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"You said... ENGAGED!" 

Konatsu-chan threw her arms around Nabiki and hugged her with 
fearsome delight. "Wha...? I did?" <Did I say that?> the middle 
Tendou thought, bewildered. <Wait... engaged? I did say that, 
didn't I? Have I utterly lost my mind? What the hell did I go 
and say something like THAT for?>

"Uh... Konatsu?"

"I'm so happy!" the ninja girl wept. She pulled back and took 
Nabiki's hand. "I never thought I could be this happy, 
Nabiki-san!"

<Well, crap,> Nabiki thought. <I can't just slam her down 
after that.> After all, Konatsu-chan had just come to her 
rescue. Besides, this was a kid who had endured quite enough 
heartbreak. "Uh... hey, Konatsu? Let's get out of this dive. 
You know the way out?"

"Yep!" Konatsu-chan led her by the hand towards the exit 
across the vast room. The kunoichi danced her way across the 
polished hardwood, her feet seeming to barely touch the 
floor, as if the lightness of her heart could float her away 
like a balloon.

Nabiki couldn't help but smile - seeing Konatsu-chan so full 
of joy made her feel pretty good herself. <I'll work this out 
later,> she told herself. <Somehow, I guess it'll all work 
out.>

- - - - -

"He always fast learner," Shampoo told Akane in a quiet 
voice. She fussed a little more with the Tendou girl's 
outfit. "He almost ready for final test."

Akane flinched uncomfortably, looking acutely self-conscious. 
She looked around the tent, as if expecting to see someone 
else in there watching them. "Look... are you sure this is 
the right way to go?"

"Akane nervous?"

She swallowed hard. "Yeah... I mean, LOOK at me! Of course 
I'm nervous."

Shampoo nodded sagely. "Thought so. You drink this." She 
offered a small flask to Akane.

The Japanese fighter eyed the container warily. "What's 
that?"

"This very old medicine," she explained. "Proven over 
centuries to help relax. It keep you from feel so nervous."

"Okay," Akane said, taking a swig. "Is it... some secret 
Amazon potion?"

"Is booze," Shampoo answered, taking the flask back. "No 
drink too much. Not wanting you passed out now."

"I guess not," the girl said, blinking as the alcohol coursed 
into her system. "So... you want me to come out when you give 
the signal. What will it be?"

"Shampoo just whistle," she said. "Wait in tent until we 
ready."

"Okay."

With that, Shampoo emerged from the tent. She looked around 
and spotted Ranma lounging on a tree branch, napping with his 
arm dangling down from his perch. A satisfied smile crept 
across her face. <Ranma always kind of cat-like to begin 
with, really,> she thought. <This training wasn't as hard as 
I feared it might be.> A week's worth of continuous effort 
had gotten Ranma ever closer to the goal of integrating his 
cat sub-personality with his main human self. Tonight would 
be the finishing touch - she felt sure she could get Ranma 
past his fear of cats once and for all.

And with any luck, she could hit two birds with one stone.

"You ready for beginning?" she called up to him.

The pig-tailed boy awoke, stretched, and took a long time 
considering her question. "Well... okay. Sure. What're we 
doing tonight?"

"Making much progress on training, Ranma-san," she said.

"Naturally."

"Time to practice next way of being catlike," she instructed. 
"This one is straightforward. As cat, you see what you like, 
and then you go get it. You not hesitate. You pounce! 
Understand?"

Ranma gave her a half-lidded look. "That's it?"

"That it."

He yawned expansively. "Sounds boring."

<You won't think so in a few minutes,> she thought. "Start 
with this." She pulled a steaming pork bun from behind her 
back and held it up. She'd made this one fresh, and knew 
perfectly well how much Ranma loved them.

"Hey!" he cried, suddenly interested. She tossed it in the 
air and he leaped instantly, snatching it in his mouth. He'd 
practically finished eating it before he'd landed. "Mmm..."

She allowed herself a small grin. The pork bun had been 
spiked as well - it wouldn't hurt to loosen Ranma up a little 
bit for this. Nothing too extreme, but just enough to get rid 
of some of those annoying Japanese inhibitions. She had kept 
it mild, knowing that Ranma was a complete lightweight when 
it came to alcohol.

"So... how about this?" Shampoo pulled out a string-wound 
wooden top and sent it spinning across the dusty earth. 

"Neat!" Ranma pounced after it, doing a little dance around 
the erratically-moving toy. He seemed to be trying to tap his 
feet as close to it as he could without actually touching it.

<That's good,> Shampoo thought. He had really begun to grasp 
the essence of this training - he wasn't trying to be 
precisely like a cat, but more like what a human would be 
like with a cat's sensibilities superimposed on top. The 
playfulness, the indolence, and the smugness all wound 
together in his mind, creating a feline "personality" that 
didn't have to actually think it was literally a cat.

"How about this?" she tried, pulling out a large rubber ball 
with a bell inside. She bounced it off the ground and sent it 
ricocheting off a tree trunk.

Ranma simply watched it with an expression of complete 
contempt, as if unable to fathom how anybody could be 
interested in something like that. He then regarded her with 
a look that seemed to ask if she'd lost her mind.

<That's fine,> she told herself, unperturbed. That reaction 
was also perfectly in line with the training. "Okay... how 
about this?" This time, she drew out an elaborately folded 
paper airplane, created from sheets of brightly-colored rice 
paper. She tossed it into the air for him. "Can you keep that 
from hitting ground without touching?" she challenged 
playfully.

"Ha! No problem!" The young Saotome took off in pursuit of 
the small aircraft. First he simply blew under the plane with 
his breath to keep it in the air, but after a while he 
started using more complicated means. Shampoo watched in 
curiosity as Ranma began generating little controlled puffs 
of air by moving his hands in circles with relation to each 
other.

<He's got a hot aura on one hand, and cold aura on the 
other,> she observed. <That's... something new. He must have 
learned that on the road.> She felt her pulse quicken, and 
tried not to let her feelings show. <He's not for you 
anymore,> she told herself. A pity... he could be SO cool 
sometimes.

Their play went on for a while longer, with Shampoo throwing 
out a variety of different toys and Ranma choosing to pounce 
on them or ignore them, depending on his interest in what she 
produced. 

"How about this?" she would say as she brought out her next 
item. "Look at that!"

She picked up the pace, reducing the time between changes, 
forcing Ranma to rely more and more on reflex. Pounce, or 
ignore. Leap when something catches the eye. No hesitation, 
no inhibition.

"How about that?"

The wine that she'd spiked the pork bun with began to 
circulate in his bloodstream as well. His eyes were not quite 
so focused, and he wore a vaguely silly smile as he leaped 
around after the objects she threw. She watched as he became 
more spontaneous, more playful...

"Look at this!"

It was almost time. He was ready, she knew it... and part of 
her didn't want to go through with what she knew she had to 
do. Part of her heart still refused to accept the hand that 
fate had dealt her, wanted to still believe he could be hers. 
But Shampoo was a daughter of the Amazons above all other 
things, and that took precedence even over the longings of 
her own heart. The blood of warriors and matriarchs past 
flowed within her veins. 

She could survive a heartbreak. Damned if she couldn't.

Shampoo pursed her lips and let out a whistle. Ranma's head 
jerked around as he was distracted from the inflatable 
octopus that he had been chasing around the campfire. The 
Amazon girl pointed toward the tent at the edge of the 
clearing.

"Look at that!"

Ranma looked, and there was Akane. Her face was a bit flushed 
from the liquor she'd drunk earlier, and her smile was shy. 
Kitty-cat ears stuck up from Akane's hair, a cat tail swished 
from the rear of her outfit. Dark stripes adorned the 
skintight yellow catsuit she wore. Her mittens and shoes were 
shaped in the fashion of soft white paws. 

Even Shampoo had to admit that Akane made a damned cute cat-
girl.

Once, an outfit like that would've sent a reflexive shock of 
terror through Ranma, touching off his primal fear of cats. 
This evening, he didn't even flinch. Primed to act on reflex 
by Shampoo's preparation, Ranma pounced towards his fiancee 
with his arms outstretched. Akane let out a little squeal - 
part fear, part excitement - as he wrapped her in his embrace 
and hauled her into the air. She barely had time to gasp as 
he planted a passionate kiss on her lips.

Shampoo choked back a sob.

Akane clenched a fist as if to strike for a moment, but the 
tension melted out of her almost as soon as it came. She 
leaned into his embrace with her whole body, kissing Ranma 
back with a passion equal to his own.

They paused a moment as the kiss broke off, both suddenly 
self-conscious about what they were doing.  "Uh..." Ranma 
muttered. "Akane?"

"Ranma," she breathed back.

They gazed into each other's eyes for a few moments longer, 
unable to find anything to say. Lacking words, they did what 
came naturally - and began to kiss again. All the pent-up 
longing, the words unsaid, the feelings too frightening to 
face... all the months apart, spent regretting how they had 
wasted the time that had been given to them... all this came 
flooding to the surface as Ranma and Akane finally gave in to 
the deeper desires of their hearts.

Shampoo was pretty sure her last test wasn't going to be 
needed, but she still felt like it would be for the best. 
This was for herself as much as Ranma. She withdrew her 
canteen and dumped it over her head, letting the cold water 
wash away the unwanted tears on her cheeks. And then, she
was a cat. Cats, after all, didn't feel heartbreak. Cats 
didn't cry over lost love.

She trotted over to where Akane and Ranma sat on a log now, 
still lost in each others' kisses, and hopped up next to her 
former fiancee. She let out a small meow and reached out with 
a paw to poke him in the back. 

"Hey... Shampoo," Ranma said, looking a bit dazed as he 
turned to see her. 

"Looks like you're not afraid anymore," Akane whispered.

Ranma reached out and stroked her fur with a steady hand. 
Shampoo purred, yawned, and settled herself down against him. 
"Yeah," he said with wonder. "I guess I'm not."

<Well,> Neko-Shampoo thought as she arranged herself into a 
comfortable position. <It's about time. I knew one of my 
schemes to get a kiss out of Ranma would work someday.> She 
was a cat, after all, and cats never made mistakes. This was 
exactly how she had planned things to go all along.

- - - - - -



                    end of part fifteen...

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

This chapter marks the last of the segments which I have come
to think of as the "Meanwhile, Back in Nerima..." arc - meaning
the chapters centering around Nabiki, Konatsu, and the rest of
the gang back home. Those parts were always meant to provide a
bit of fun and lighten the mood.

But fun time is now pretty much over. The big fights are about
to begin.


COMING SOON:  Ryouga and Ukyou search the wilderness for the
temple where it all began, and find more danger than they ever
feared. Meanwhile Ranma, having overcome his Neko-ken weakness,
must make a heartbreaking choice...

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

GRT - 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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