Chapter 5 is now done, but I haven't thought of a title for it yet.

C&C welcome, but remember that I spell like an Aussie.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chapter Five: Untitled

Disclaimer:  I don't own Ranma 1/2 or any of these characters.

*****************

Falling.  He could remember falling through the dark.

His head was an explosion of agony.  It was all he could feel, all that
he was; a supernova of pain threatening to bust out through his skull.
He focused on his breathing, on feeling the pain ebbing and flowing with
every breath, trying to will it away.

His eyes flickered open.  Sky.  It was daylight.  He let his head roll
to one side.  He was by a campfire, on the grass.  A figure walked past
him, carrying a second over its shoulder.  The figure laid the other
down on the grass, and then walked off out of sight again.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.  He allowed his
eyes to close, and drifted back into that world of pain.

Falling.

Jumbles of images floated past.  Places, faces.  He could only watch
them, not think or feel.  A pretty girl with short black hair and kind
eyes.  A fish jumping out of a pond.  A panda landing on a bamboo pole,
high above the water.  A red umbrella flying through the air.  His
memories, fragmented.

Throbbing.

Someone was touching him, their hands soft and gentle on his head.  They
were dabbing at the side of his head with something warm and wet.  It
stung a little, but the pain was nothing compared to that inside his
head.

"... hurts..." he managed to gasp out.

"I'm not surprised," came the reply.

It wasn't a kind voice, but the hands were so he didn't mind.  Whatever
they were doing didn't help the pain much, but he was grateful for the
attention.  The pain seemed to be fading on its own, anyway.

He opened his eyes and found himself looking up at a face.  It was a
little out of focus, but it was a pretty face with short black hair.

"Akane...?" he murmured.

He could see that it wasn't, now that he looked harder.  The eyes were
wrong, but the shape of the face was similar.

"No... pretty like 'kane..."

The eyes narrowed slightly, but the hands didn't stop their dabbing and
wiping.  He smiled and closed his eyes, happy to let whoever it was look
after him for a while.

***************

Blood on his hands.  Ranma's blood.  Hell, that didn't surprise him.
He'd always expected that one day he'd have fem-boy's blood on his
hands, but not like this...

The last person who'd called him pretty, he'd had that person's blood on
his hands, too.

"Do you want to make a few yuan, pretty boy?"

The man's lascivious grin had deepened when he'd seen the predatory
gleam in Tarou's eyes, obviously mistaking it for something else.

"Oh, really?  You'd like some of this, would you?"

The man ran his fingers through his greasy hair and nodded, his eyes
glazed with lust.  Tarou cracked his knuckles and stepped forward
slowly, almost languidly, all the while chuckling to himself quietly.

It had been over in just a few moments.  The man's nose has shattered
under his knuckles with a satisfying crunch, followed by his jaw, and
then both his arms.  And as for the rest of him, there were some parts
he wouldn't be able to make use of for a long time, no matter how many
pretty boys came along.  Tarou hadn't killed him; it was far more of a
punishment to let him live with the pain.  Far more of a punishment to
make him explain his injuries to his wife; in Tarou's experience,
despite their tastes for pretty little boys, most of these men had wives
and children of their own.

Blood on his hands, but not from hurting someone... from helping them.

It hadn't worked, last time.

A child's voice sobbing.  "Please, wake up!"  Tiny hands caked with
blood.  "Don't leave me!"

No.  Don't think about that.

Tarou washed the last of Ranma's blood from his hands with a stream of
warm water from the kettle, and then wiped them dry on his pants.  He
hadn't hit fem-boy.  To his surprise, he hadn't even felt a need to.
Ranma had been barely conscious when he'd said it and probably hadn't
even recognised him.  And hitting him might have made his injuries
worse.  The pig-tailed boy's skull appeared to be more or less the right
shape, but he couldn't tell any more than that.

Still, he had to give Ranma some credit - but only grudgingly, he
reminded himself.  The boy was tough and a fast healer.  A couple of
hours of rest and he'd be back to his usual annoying self.

The other boy was less of a problem.  For some reason, the idiot had
allowed himself to become starved and dehydrated.  Stupid, lazy city
dweller!  It was easy to catch food in that body, and there was water
everywhere.  The fool obviously had no idea how to survive in the
wilderness.  That big pack he carried around must be for show.

Tarou unfastened the water bottle from his sash and knelt down by the
lost boy.  He'd need some water and something to eat if he was going to
recover.

"Hey, porkchop."  Tarou slapped the sleeping boy lightly on the cheeks.
"Wake up."

Ryouga began to stir.  Tarou slapped him a few extra times for good
measure, and then sat back on his heels.  The other boy's eyes flickered
open.  He blinked groggily several times, trying to focus on the Chinese
boy.  He tried to speak, but nothing came out other than a hoarse
whisper.

"Good.  Now drink this."  Tarou opened the water bottle and held it out.

Ryouga ran a tongue over his cracked lips, and then grasped the bottle
with an unsteady hand.  Tarou kept his own fingers wrapped around the
bottle to prevent it from spilling, and then cupped his other hand under
the lost boy's neck to help him sit up.  He was far weaker than Tarou
had thought; he must have used up the very last of his strength bringing
them from the cavern.

Ryouga took a tentative sip of the water, and then drained it in several
gulps, his lips pressed to the bottle as though his life depended on it.
Despite the boy's weakened condition, Tarou had to wrestle the bottle
from his fingers to get it back from him.  Ryouga hiccupped, and then
suddenly turned away and vomited the water back onto the ground.

"Lovely," Tarou said, wrinkling his nose.  "It's not going to do you any
good if you don't keep it down."

Looking shamefaced, Ryouga wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.
Tarou sighed and went to fetch the second water bottle.  This time, he
unscrewed the lid and tipped most of it onto the ground before offering
it to the other boy.  Obviously, his stomach would only be able to take
a small amount at a time.

He pried Ryouga's fingers off the empty water bottle and screwed the lid
back onto it.  By the time he had returned from refilling the bottles,
the lost boy should be ready for some more.

"What about something to eat?" he asked.

Ryouga nodded slowly.

No doubt ex-pig-boy would throw up any solid food he was given.  He'd
need something light to start with, something easy to digest.  Tarou
remembered the sachets of instant miso soup he'd seen amongst the food
supplies.  Yes, he thought to himself with a smile, they should be
suitable.

He started to rise to his feet, and then stopped when he saw that the
lost boy was trying to say something.  His voice was raspy and hard to
understand, and Tarou eventually managed to make out the words.

"Thank you."

Tarou blinked, surprised at the unaccustomed flush of warmth that those
words had brought to his face.  "Not a problem," he replied awkwardly.

Without another word, he grabbed the kettle and both water bottles, and
marched off through the trees towards the waterhole.

***************

When Ranma opened his eyes again, the sun was sitting low in the sky and
the pain in his head had lessened to be no worse than a severe headache.
He raised his hand to his head, gingerly feeling around the sore spot on
the left side of his head; there was a large bump and the skin had been
split, but it didn't seem too serious.  He worked himself onto his side
and looked over to the motionless figure lying on the other side of the
campfire.

Ryouga.  They'd found Ryouga, but when?  They'd been looking for him,
and then... he'd fallen... and he couldn't remember.  He sat up slowly,
trying to avoid any sudden moves with his throbbing head, and then
crawled over to the lost boy's side.

Ryouga was lying wrapped in a blanket, asleep or unconscious - Ranma
couldn't tell which - and his face was gaunt and pale.  Without his
bandanna to keep them in place, his thick, dark bangs hung low over his
eyes; Ranma gently brushed them aside with his fingertips.  At the light
touch, the lost boy groaned softly and murmured something under his
breath, one of his pointy canines protruding slightly from his lips.
Ranma smiled and laid a hand on Ryouga's shoulder, happy to see that he
was safe.

"Good to see you're not planning on lying around all day."

Ranma turned his head to see Tarou approaching, kettle in hand and a
large smirk plastered across his face.

The Chinese boy moved the cooking pot from the campfire and placed it on
the ground nearby, where it sat, steaming fragrantly.  He poured some
water into a pot full of uncooked rice, and then hung both it and the
kettle over the fire.

"I guess you found Ryouga," Ranma remarked, as he sat down beside Tarou.
"Where was he?  In that cave?"

"He found you, actually.  He caught you after you fell."

"Fell?  That's right.  The cliff broke."  Ranma brushed his fingers over
the bump on his head.  "What happened?  Why does my head hurt?"

Tarou gave a contemptuous snort.  "He thought I'd done it.  Hit you over
the head and thrown you off.  You must have hit your head on the way
down, otherwise he'd have known it wasn't me."

"And that was you touching my head earlier?"

"I was washing the blood off so I could see whether you'd broken your
fool head open."  Tarou gave a chuckle.  "You haven't, so it looks like
I'm stuck with you for at least a little while longer."

"Oh," Ranma said, nonplussed.  "Thanks... I think."  He gestured at the
sleeping lost boy with a thumb.  "So he's gonna be okay then?"

"He needs food and water.  He might take a couple of days to get back to
full strength, but he should be fine."

"I don't understand," Ranma said.  "He knows how to survive, does it all
the time."

Tarou shrugged, apparently unconcerned.  "By the way, it's watering time
again.  Since you're awake, it's your turn."

"Huh?"

"He needs water, remember?" Tarou said, rolling his eyes.  "Give him
some.  The bottle's over there."  He pointed towards Ryouga.

Ranma moved over to the lost boy and knelt down beside him.  He rummaged
around for the water bottle, and soon found it nearby, lying beside an
empty bowl that still contained drying shreds of seaweed.

"Oh, and make sure you wake him up first."

"Just how stupid do you think I am?"  Ranma shot an angry glare at the
grinning Tarou, and then turned his attention back to the sleeping
figure beside him.

"Hey, Ryouga."  He gave the other boy's shoulder a gentle shake.  "Wake
up."

Ryouga peered up at him groggily through half-closed eyes that were
sunken deep into shadowed sockets.  "Ranma," he whispered in a ragged
voice, "you're awake."

"Hey, that's my line!" Ranma grinned.  "How are you feelin'?"

"Tired.  Thirsty."  Ryouga sat up carefully, his blanket sliding down
his bare chest to his waist.  "What about you?"

He handed the water bottle to Ryouga.  "You know me.  Takes more than a
bump on the head to keep me down."

"That's because there's nothing in there to get injured," Tarou quipped.

Ranma rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored the Chinese boy.  His head
was hurting too much to want to get into an argument now.  "Looks like
Tarou's already given you somethin' to eat, at least."

Ryouga took a large swig from the bottle and then nodded.  "Yeah.
Instant soup, I think."  He stared off into the distance, his expression
troubled.  "You came after me," he added in a quiet voice.

"Course I did.  We're pals, right?"

"We are?"

Ranma nodded and then, sensing that it wasn't quite enough, gave the
lost boy a reassuring pat on the shoulder for good measure.

"I thought I'd have to stay like that forever.  I thought I'd never..."

Ryouga's large, brown eyes filled with tears.  He hid his face in the
crook of his arm and began to weep.  Ranma watched in awkward silence,
unsure of what to say or do, just like he always did when someone cried.
Unable to think of anything better to do, he reached around and
tentatively patted the other boy on the back.

Ryouga peered up at him, his eyes reddened and watery, and sniffed
loudly.  "What happened?  Why did I turn into... that thing?"

Ranma opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a flood of cold
water streaming over his head, triggering his curse.  He looked up to
see Tarou standing over him and grinning, water bottle in one hand and a
steaming kettle in the other.  Ryouga was glaring at the Chinese boy
with barely concealed distaste.

"Bweee!!"

"I'm sure you can guess what happens to me," Tarou said to Ryouga.  He
then poured a stream of hot water over Ranma's head.

"Hey!" Ranma sprang to his feet, and immediately regretted it.  He
waited for the pounding in his head to pass.  "What'd you do that for?"
he growled.

"I would've thought that was obvious," Tarou replied dryly.

"I could've just explained it to him!"

"I prefer the practical approach."

Ranma glanced at the empty water bottle in the other boy's hands, and
then down at the one Ryouga had drained earlier.  "I bet there's no more
cold water around here either, is there?"

"Nope," Tarou said, no longer bothering to hide his amusement.

"Why you sneaky little-" Ranma growled.  Every time!  Every damn time he
started thinking that the Chinese boy maybe wasn't so bad, he'd go and
do something like this again.  He dropped back onto the ground beside
Ryouga and started to tug his damp clothes back on.

Ryouga flicked his eyes back and forth between Ranma and Tarou,
bewildered.  "So we all swapped?  How?"

"You tell me," Tarou said flatly.  "It was your water."  He knelt down
beside Ryouga and gave a menacing smile.  "The question is how do I get
my body back?"

Ryouga blinked, confused.  "I don't know.  I don't know what happened."

Tarou gave a derisive snort and leaned in closer toward the lost boy.
"What do-"

"Jeez, Tarou, not now!" Ranma snapped.  He placed a hand firmly on
Tarou's chest and tried to angle himself between the Chinese boy and
Ryouga.  "At least wait till he's feeling better."

The Chinese boy looked down disapprovingly at Ranma's hand and then
locked eyes with the pig-tailed boy, his eyes narrowed and his lips
pressed tightly together in an insincere smile, and then stalked off
back to the campfire.

"He's a jerk," Ranma muttered, lowering his voice so that only Ryouga
could hear.  "Not as bad as he used to be, but he's still a jerk."

Ryouga paused, his brows furrowed.  "Does Akane know?"

"Yeah, she's met him."

Ryouga rolled his eyes.  "No.  About the curses?  About P-Chan?"

"Nah," Ranma grinned.  "She thinks we're out training together."

"Really?"  Ryouga frowned slightly.  "You lied to Akane."

Ranma slapped a palm to his face and sighed.  The idiot couldn't have
just been grateful that he'd kept his secret, could he?  "Damnit Ryouga!
What was I s'posed to say?"

"I don't kn-"

"Are you two hungry?" the Chinese boy called from the campfire.

Ranma's irritation vanished as quickly as it had come at the prospect of
food.  "Yeah, I'm starvin'!" he called back brightly.

"I'm still pretty hungry, too," Ryouga agreed.

Ranma clambered to his feet and began to head towards the campfire,
where Tarou was scooping rice into bowls.  As he approached, the Chinese
boy glanced up.

"You want to find some clothes for him?" Tarou said.  He nodded stiffly
in Ryouga's direction.

Ranma peered over his shoulder.  Ryouga had managed to work his way to
his feet and was swaying back and forth unsteadily, clasping his blanket
around his waist with one hand.

"Oh yeah, in here."

Ranma grabbed the unprotesting lost boy by the arm and led him into the
tent, where he quickly dug out a pair of pants and a shirt from his
backpack.  He was glad that he'd thought to bring so many changes of
clothes; with the clothes he'd lost when he'd been turned into a pig,
the ones he'd lent to Tarou and now Ryouga, and the ones that were too
filthy even for him to wear, he was nearly out.

"You need a hand or anythin'?" he asked, handing the clothes to Ryouga.

"I can dress myself, Ranma."

Ranma shrugged and headed back outside.  He eagerly accepted a bowl
containing some rice and leftover pork and vegetables from that morning,
and some chopsticks from Tarou.  Ranma sniffed appreciatively and took a
large bite.  The Chinese boy wasn't a Kasumi level chef, of course, but
the food was much better on this trip than it had been on previous ones
when it was his father - or Akane, he thought with a groan - cooking.

Ryouga soon emerged from the tent, wearing the black pants and green
Chinese style shirt that Ranma had given him.  With his recent weight
loss, the shirt hung loosely around his usually broader frame.  He knelt
down beside Ranma and picked up the third bowl of food and a pair of
chopsticks.

"What is this?" he asked, peering curiously into the bowl.  He sniffed
it tentatively.

"Pork and vegetables," Tarou replied.

"P-pork?"

"What's the matter?  You don't eat pork?"  Tarou casually popped a piece
of meat into his mouth and then smirked unpleasantly at Ryouga.

Ryouga looked down into his bowl again, a faint blush spreading across
his cheeks.  "Well, I... don't..."  He cleared his throat and fixed
Tarou with a steady gaze.  "Sure, I eat pork.  Why wouldn't I?"  He
picked up a piece of pork in his chopsticks and gave it a stern look, as
if daring it to contradict him, and then hesitantly placed it in his
mouth.  "You eat beef, right?"

"Of course.  Beef, eel, octopus, birds... all good."

Ranma scraped the last grains of rice clinging to his bowl into his
mouth and then helped himself to another serving.  "What about yeti?"

"Never seen a yeti."

As he ate, Ranma watched Ryouga out of the corner of his eye.  He could
see the lost boy was only picking at his food, although Ranma guessed
that was because he was squeamish about eating pork, despite his
protests to the contrary.  He did wonder briefly about the lost,
desolate expression in the other boy's eyes, but then decided that was
probably caused by his recent illness.

*************

Ranma blinked his eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the dark.  Idly,
he wondered what time it was, but then quickly decided that it didn't
matter.  Time had no meaning out here in the mountains; you travelled
when it was light, slept when it wasn't and ate whenever you were
hungry, just like he had all those years with his father.  No timetables
and no limitations.  It was refreshing.

He lay still for a while, not sure whether it was worth trying to get
back to sleep or not.  To his left, he heard Ryouga whimper in his sleep
and roll over.  Ranma waited until he had settled back down and then
silently crawled to the tent entrance.  Perhaps if he went outside and
stretched his legs for a while he might feel more like sleeping.

The moon shone down full and bright, bathing the land in a silvery
light.  Surprisingly, the fire was still going strong.  Ranma knelt down
by it and prodded the coals with a stick, watching the flames dance in
their twisting, hypnotic rhythm.

He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned
to see Tarou, clad in only his white pants, performing a kata off in the
distance.  The Chinese boy flitted back and forth like a ghost, gleaming
white in the moonlight, throwing punches and kicks that were almost too
fast for Ranma to follow.  Ranma watched in rapt attention, comparing
the moves to his own, the same way he had used to watch his father
practice as a small boy.  Back then, Genma had moved with a raw, savage
power that had seemed almost god-like to his young eyes; and now... he
saw images of Genma drinking sake, playing shogi with Soun, lolling
around on the floor in his panda form... Ranma shook his head in
disgust; at least he wouldn't end up like that.

Tarou whirled around as if he were being attacked from behind, and
planted a series of punches aimed at the phantom enemy's nose, throat
and sternum.  Ranma continued to watch curiously.  How often had the
Chinese boy practiced like this?  Every morning?  And what about Ryouga?
He had spoken of training in the mountains, numerous times.  And what
had he, Ranma, done lately?  Some katas one morning, a sparring session,
and a brief scuffle in the past week.  And before that?  He had used to
spar with his father every morning, but then that had fizzled out and he
started spending the mornings sleeping in rather than practice on his
own.  At the time he hadn't minded; he was getting more than enough
training fighting the many mad martial artists that lived around or
visited Nerima, but in the months following Saffron and the failed
wedding, there had been less and less of them, too.  Ranma shook his
head again and chuckled to himself.  He didn't know what he was worried
about; the other two only needed to practice so much because they didn't
have the raw talent that he possessed.  He was still the best, wasn't
he?

He watched as Tarou slowed his movements, eventually coming to a
standstill.  For a moment, the Chinese boy dropped his face into his
hands, shoulders slumped, and then stood upright again and walked slowly
back to towards the tent.  He seemed to stiffen slightly as he noticed
the other boy, but it was gone so quickly that Ranma was left wondering
whether he'd imagined it.  Without saying a word, he sat down a short
distance from the fire, one knee drawn up against his chest, and stared
into the flames.

"How come you're up?" Ranma asked.

Tarou turned his gaze upon Ranma.  "How come you're up?"

"I just woke up, I guess.  Prob'ly spent too long asleep today."  Ranma
paused, waiting for the other boy to answer his question.  After a
while, he added, "What about you?  Dreaming, again?"

"How did you-"

"You talk in your sleep, remember?  It wakes me up sometimes."

Tarou looked mildly embarrassed.

"I think Ryouga was having a bad dream when I left.  It wouldn't
surprise me."  Ranma gave a small chuckle.  "I don't think he thought
much of your curse."

"Good.  He'll be happy to give it back then."

"At least we found him in time," the pig-tailed boy said, "and he's
getting better.  I don't understand what happened to him.  It's like...
I dunno... like he just gave up."  Tarou looked at him blankly, although
Ranma couldn't tell whether it was because he didn't care or didn't
understand.  "How did you know what was wrong with him?  And what to
do?"

"You think I've never been without food and water before?" the Chinese
boy snorted.  He paused, a distant look in his eyes, before continuing
in a quiet voice, "When I first left, I didn't know how to look after
myself.  I could set some basic traps, and that was it.  I had to teach
myself everything."  He rested his chin on his raised knee, and wrapped
an arm around his leg, pulling it close against his chest.  "I nearly
starved to death that first winter."

"So why didn't you go back?"

"I..."  Tarou wrapped his other arm around his leg.  "It just wasn't an
option, okay?"  He dropped his arms to his sides and then sat up
straight, gazing at Ranma calmly.  "Anyway, that's how I knew what to
do.  I've seen it before."

"Lucky you did.  I wasn't really in a position to do much at the time...
what with hitting my head."  Ranma rubbed at the spot on his head, and
noticed the pain had all but gone.  He guessed he had his rapid healing
to thank for that rather than anything Tarou had done, but still, the
Chinese boy had carried him back to the campsite and taken care of him,
despite his earlier claims that he wouldn't.  "It's funny.  I never
imagined you helping someone... helping me and him... doing all that
healing stuff."

Tarou held out his hands, palms upwards, and examined them closely.
"No."  He clenched his fists briefly and then opened them again.  "No,
neither did I."

For a moment, he seemed about to say something else but nothing came.
Instead, he went back to staring intently at his hands in the firelight.
Ranma shuffled slightly closer, trying to see what it was that had the
other boy so entranced, but couldn't see anything: no marks, no
injuries, nothing.  Tarou hadn't even appeared to notice him
approaching; normally the Chinese boy was almost preternaturally aware
of his surroundings.

"Tarou?  What's goin' on?  You're actin' kinda weird."  Weirder than
usual, Ranma corrected himself.  The Chinese didn't normally answer
questions about himself like that, either.

Tarou turned away stiffly and stared into the fire.

At least he hadn't been told to mind his own business.  He cast about
for an appropriate subject.  "How old were you?  When you left?"

"Twelve.  Just a stupid little kid."

"What about your family?"

"What about them?"

"Didn't they... I dunno... miss you after you left?"

"I doubt it," Tarou answered grimly.  "My mother's dead.  I never knew
my father."

Well done, Saotome, great choice of question.  "Jeez, I'm sorry," he
said out loud.

He looked up to see Tarou staring at him, his eyes cold and his face
hard.  "Why are you sorry?  You didn't do it."

"What?  You mean someone...?"

"No, it was an accident.  A wild bear.  I was six years old."  The
Chinese boy lowered his forehead onto his raised knee and began to speak
softly, making it difficult for Ranma to catch the words.  "She was out
in the forest alone - I don't know why - looking for food perhaps.  The
bear attacked her.  She managed to make it back to the village by
nightfall... she had been bitten, scratched, bones broken... must've
been hurt inside, too."  He looked up, his eyes and earrings glittering
golden in the firelight.  "The elders said she was too badly hurt," he
continued, his voice growing bitter.  "They didn't want to waste
medicine on someone that would die anyway.  She lasted most of the
night.  I was the only one who stayed up with her."  He trailed off and
he sat with his head bowed, the silence broken only by the sound of his
breathing.

Ranma sat and listened in sympathetic silence.  He could still remember
how difficult it had been when he could only see his mother as Ranko
rather than as her son due to his father's stupid seppuku promise.  He
couldn't imagine how it would have felt to have never been able to see
her again, or to have sat by her while she died, unable to do anything
to help.

"Is this somethin' to do with the dreams?"

"No.  Sometimes.  I..."  Tarou's fists clenched and he chuckled darkly,
his voice sounding barely human.  "None of your business.  What do you
care anyway?"

"Huh?"  Ranma blinked.  He'd only been trying to help the jerk!  Why
couldn't he see that?  "You're right.  If you wanna sit up half the
night sulking, that's none of my business I guess."  He climbed to his
feet and yawned loudly. "I'm getting tired.  Goin' back to bed."

Ranma dusted his feet off at the tent entrance, then ducked inside and
crawled back to his bedroll.  He heard a faint snore from Ryouga on his
left, indicating that the lost boy was still fast asleep.  He cast one
last look at the Chinese boy's hunched form silhouetted against the
firelight, and then closed his eyes.

****************

Tarou scooped up a bucketful of water from the waterhole and emptied it
over his head, suppressing a shudder of disgust as his body deformed
into its female form.  He refilled the bucket and stepped away from the
waterhole to prevent contaminating their water supply.  He quickly
soaped himself up from head to toe and rinsed off, and then ran his
hands over his body to scrape off the excess water.  Strangely, his
female body no longer repulsed him as it had a week earlier.  How soon
would it be, he wondered, before the transformation itself no longer
bothered him?  Would he eventually stoop to flaunting his feminine
charms to get something he wanted, the way he had seen Ranma do so many
times?  Mincing around like the grotesque parody of womanhood that he
was, exposing his chest for the likes of the old lecher to fondle?  He
chased that thought away angrily, and switched his attention scrubbing
the last couple of day's worth of accumulated sweat and grime out of his
clothes.  There was no way he'd end up like fem-boy!

Once done, he headed back to the camp, wet clothes slung over his
shoulder and the bucket in his hand.  The two other boys were sitting
together by the fire, talking and eating.  He felt a twinge of shame as
he saw Ranma.  He had spoken so openly last night.  Too openly.

As he approached, Ranma gave a curt nod in greeting and then resumed
shovelling down his breakfast.  Ryouga glanced up and his eyes widened
in horror.  He clapped a hand over his nose and turned his head away, a
livid blush spreading across his cheeks.

"You never got a nosebleed for me!" Ranma grinned.

Cautiously, Ryouga unpeeled his hand from his face and sighed heavily.
There wasn't a trace of blood around his nose.  "Just caught me by
surprise," he muttered.  "I'm okay now."  He looked Tarou up and down
slowly.  "Haven't they heard of modesty in China?"

Tarou looked down at himself in bewilderment; comprehension finally
dawned.

"How 'bout I put the kettle on?" Ranma said brightly.  "Just in case
Ryouga here changes his mind and starts to bleed to death."

"Ranma!"

After quickly hanging up his own clothes to dry, Tarou ducked inside the
tent and tugged on the pants and singlet that Ranma had lent him
previously.  As much as he enjoyed tormenting the lost boy, he had
enough of an idea about what a nosebleed meant to not want to provoke
him into getting one.  He then ducked back outside and seated himself by
the fire opposite the other two boys.  The water in the kettle was now
hot enough, so he poured a generous splash over himself and then helped
himself to some breakfast.  The three boys ate in silence, totally
devoid of the usual inane chatter that he'd come to expect from Ranma at
mealtimes.  For some reason, he found the silence oddly unsettling.

Tarou felt a yawn rising and stifled it with his hand.  He was
exhausted.  That must be why he was reacting to things differently.  He
didn't need a lot of sleep normally, but the last week of broken sleep
and nightmares must be starting to affect him.

He looked up to see Ranma peering up at him strangely from under his
bangs.  He opened his mouth to demand an explanation, but the pig-tailed
boy had already looked away again.  Instead, he turned his attention to
Ryouga.

"So, pig-boy," Tarou said, "do you want to tell me where you got that
water from yet?"

Ryouga glared up at him menacingly.  "The name is Ryouga Hibiki."  Ranma
chuckled to himself quietly.  "What's so funny?" the lost boy growled.

"Nothin'," Ranma grinned.  Ryouga crossed his arms across his chest
angrily.  "C'mon, man," the pig-tailed boy said, giving his neighbour an
enthusiastic nudge in the ribs with an elbow, "are you gonna tell us
about the water?"

"I just don't want him to call me that."  Ryouga scowled in Tarou's
direction for a moment longer, and then unfolded his arms.  "Fine.  Like
I said back at the dojo, I picked it up at a shrine in the mountains.
The waters from the spring running under the shrine have been used for
centuries, to cure illnesses and magic curses."

"So why didn't it cure us then?"

"He's bloody lucky it didn't!" Tarou muttered.

"I don't know!" Ryouga snapped.  "He said I had to share the water with
someone pure of body to get it to work.  That's all he told me.  I don't
even know what that means!"

"And that's why you came to see me?" Ranma asked.

Tarou sniggered loudly at the thought of anyone being desperate enough
to require the use of Ranma's brain; it was just like someone asking
pig-boy for directions.

"I thought he might have meant..."  Ryouga cupped a hand and whispered
into Ranma's ear, a vivid blush spreading across his cheeks.

The pig-tailed boy looked confused.  "What?"

"You know..."  The lost boy whispered something else, his cheeks burning
an even deeper crimson than before.

Ranma shook his head and whispered something in return.

"But what about...?"  Ryouga rolled his eyes in Tarou's direction.

Ranma snorted incredulously.  "Him?  He can't even talk to a girl!" he
whispered, although it was still loud enough for Tarou to hear.

"What are you two on about?" Tarou snapped.  That last comment had hit a
little too close to home for his liking.

Ranma grinned, but there was little humour in it.  "What Ryouga is
asking me is if you're a virgin."

"What's that got to do with anything?!" Tarou growled.

("... such a pretty little thing...")

No.  Don't think about that.

He waved a hand dismissively at the pig-tailed boy.  "Why not blame the
guy with all the girls hanging off him?"

"Jealous, Tarou?"

"Of you?  Feh!" Tarou sneered with as much contempt as he could muster.
"What could I possibly be jealous of you for?"

"I'm better lookin' than you, definitely sexier-"

"Never let it be said that Saotome lacks depth," Tarou quipped, smirking
meaningfully in Ryouga's direction.  To his surprise, he received a wry
smile in response.

Ranma wrinkled his brow in confusion.  "What?  Hey!"

"So," Ryouga said, addressing Tarou, "you don't think the curse swapping
has anything to do with whether or we've... you know...?"  He blushed
again.

Tarou shook his head.  "No.  Besides, did he ask you whether you were
'pure of body'?"  Not that anyone needed to ask; Ryouga was as innocent
as they came, even by his less than experienced standards.

"No.  He only said the other person had to be."

Comprehension dawned.  Tarou let out a guffaw of laughter at his own
stupidity.  The meaning was blindingly obvious when you considered how
the water had affected them.  "You dolts!  Pure of body means un-
cursed!"  He chuckled again, earning puzzled looks from the other two
boys.  "The water doesn't cure the curse.  It gives it to someone else."

Ranma blinked.  "And 'cause we were all cursed, it gave us one right
back!"

"That's right," Tarou nodded.  He folded his arms and allowed a huge,
self-satisfied smirk to creep onto his face.  Who knows when the two
idiots would have figured it out without him to help them along?  Not
that he'd ever get any acknowledgement from them, of course.

"So in order to get cured, I have to give this monster curse to someone
else?" Ryouga said slowly.

"Uh, uh!" Tarou said, wagging a finger at the lost boy.  "You're giving
that back to me!  Once we swap back I don't care what you do with your
curse."

"Akari'd love to turn into a pig," Ranma offered.

"No way!  I couldn't do that to her... to anyone."  Ryouga shook his
head unhappily.

"I could think of a few people who deserve to turn into a girl," Ranma
grinned, cracking his knuckles.  "The freak, for one!  Or that idiot
Kunou - he'd make a great girl!"

Ryouga shot a disapproving look at the pig-tailed boy, and then turned
his attention to Tarou.  "What makes you think we'll even be able to
swap back?"

"The water worked once.  Why wouldn't it work again?  All we need to do
is go back to that shrine and get some more."  He tossed his head to
flick the bangs out of his eyes and smiled.  "Simple."  Or not.  He
hadn't missed the panicked look on the lost boy's face.  "You don't
remember where it is, do you?"  Ryouga shook his head.  "How to get
there?"  No.  "Any nearby landmarks?"  No.  "Or what it's called?"  No.
Tarou pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers in an attempt to
quell his rising anger.  "Is it even in Japan?"

"Of course it's in Japan!  I don't get that lost!" Ryouga growled, his
fists knotted tightly.  "It was high up in the mountains.  It took me a
week to get from there back to Nerima.  I didn't cross any water or go
through any tunnels.  And that's all I remember!  Happy?!"

"No, a map of Honshu with a big X marking the location of your shrine,
that'd make me happy," Tarou replied acidly.  Something to beat up
wouldn't hurt either, he reflected.  A stupid, directionless ex-pig-boy
something, preferably.

Ryouga dropped his head into his hands and moaned, a low animal groan
somewhere between frustration and anguish.  "I don't know!  I don't
know!"  His fingers twisted roughly through his thick, shaggy hair.  "I
can't think straight right now... can't remember anything..."  He
paused, breathing heavily, and then there was a long, wet sniffling
sound.  "You don't know what it's like," he lamented, his voice barely
above a whisper, "not being able to get anywhere you want to, not being
able to remember how you got where you are, not knowing if you'll see
anyone you know ever again.  It's hell.  Or at least I thought it was.
Imagine having that and being only a few inches high, unable to even ask
for directions, lost in the middle of China.  Do you know how many
animals, how many people, have tried to eat me?"  He chuckled hollowly.
"And then, I get turned into this huge, ugly beast.  Not so bad, you
might think.  At least it won't get eaten.  But no, it's worse.  There
was screaming.  I couldn't go near anyone... they were afraid of me.
And I could fly.  I could've ended up in Africa or Australia... or
flying around in circles out over the Pacific until I couldn't anymore."
The lost boy raised his head and stared off into the distance for
several moments, his brown eyes filled with sorrow.  "What next, huh?
What's going to happen to me next?"

Ranma opened his mouth as if to make some reply, but no words came out.
Quickly, he closed it again and turned back to the campfire, an
uncomfortable look on his face.

Ranma climbed to his feet and dusted his pants off with a couple of
swipes of his hands.  "Look, I wanna head back to the village.  Maybe I
can call Cologne, she might've heard something about this shrine.  And I
gotta tell Nabiki we've found Ryouga so she can stop looking."

"Why?" Tarou asked, curiously.  "She didn't find anything, anyway."

"No, but it'll be costin' me a fortune every day she's looking.  I gotta
stop her before she sends me broke."

Tarou frowned.  "And you want me to stay here and babysit him?" he said,
jerking a thumb in the lost boy's direction.

"I don't need babysitting," Ryouga muttered, "and definitely not by
him."

"Well, he can't stay here by himself," Ranma explained.  "You don't want
him to get lost again, do you?"  Ryouga folded his arms and grumbled
something under his breath, but Tarou couldn't make out the words.
Ranma, ignoring the lost boy, gave Tarou what he presumably thought to
be a winning smile.  "C'mon, please?"

"Go ahead," Tarou said, less grudgingly than he had intended.  Ranma
immediately brightened and bounded off in the direction of the village.
"I'll be able to get some peace and quiet for a change," he added
loudly, but the pig-tailed boy was already too far away to hear.

************

Ranma slowed to a walk as he approached the village.  It felt good to
have some time to himself again.  It wasn't that he didn't like having
Ryouga around - if nothing else, the lost boy might draw some of Tarou's
barbs away from himself - but the mood he was in was making him too
depressing to be around.  With any luck, he might even remember some
more about that shrine once he'd had a rest; provided that Tarou didn't
try to bully the information out of the poor guy, that is.

Before long, he was at the public phone.  He lifted the receiver,
slipped in a ten yen coin and then punched in the number for the Tendou
home.

"Hello, Tendou residence," a familiar female voice answered.

"Hi, Kasumi," he said.

"Ranma!" Kasumi exclaimed happily.  "How is your training trip?"

"It's going well.  Is Nabiki around?"

"No, sorry," she answered.  "She's still at school.  It's a school day."

Damn.  He'd forgotten about school.

"Can I pass on a message?"

"Um, yeah.  Could you tell her...?"  He paused, thinking.  "Could you
tell her that we've found what we were looking for?  She'll know what I
mean."  Yeah, that oughta do it, he thought to himself happily.  It
would get the point across while being ambiguous enough that it wouldn't
matter if Akane overheard.

"Yes, I'll tell her.  By the way, I heard you were on the news two
nights ago."

"Yeah, they interviewed me and everythin'," Ranma grinned.

"I was busy with dinner," Kasumi said, "and Akane was out with friends,
so unfortunately neither of us was able to see it.  Mrs Saotome was very
proud; she said you looked very manly."

Ranma allowed his chest to puff out a little.  Naturally he'd have
looked manly, especially standing next to Tarou.

"Anyway, Ranma, I need to go out shopping now," Kasumi continued, "but
I'll be sure to pass on your message."

"Thanks, Kasumi."

It was only seconds after he'd hung up the phone that he realised that
he should have asked Kasumi for the phone number for the Nekohanten.  He
wondered if he should ring back, but decided against it.  The local
convenience store would probably have a phone book - and, more
importantly, food, his growling stomach added.  He could grab something
to eat, call Cologne, and then head back to camp.  Or he could wait here
a few more hours and then he could talk to  Akane.  Not that he needed
to talk to the tomboy, of course, but surely she would like to hear from
him again.  Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

Ranma slid aside the door to the convenience store and stepped inside.
It was pleasantly cool inside after being out in the heat of the sun.
He quickly grabbed a few things off the shelves - some crackers, fruit
and a can of drink - and then made his way to the small, mousy looking
man standing behind the front counter.

The man looked him up and down, and then glanced out of the window into
the street.  "That'll be 420 yen, please."

Ranma slipped some coins onto the counter.  "You got a Tokyo phone book
I can borrow?"

The shopkeeper dug out a phone book from behind the counter.  Ranma
gratefully accepted it and thumbed through until he found the number for
the Nekohanten, which he scribbled onto the back of his hand.  He
flipped the book shut and pushed it back towards the shopkeeper, who was
gazing distractedly out of the window again.

"You... uh," the man began, nervously.  "Your lady friend isn't around,
is she?"

Lady friend?  Ranma burst out laughing.  "No, she's not here today."
The shopkeeper looked crestfallen.  "But I'll let her know you asked
about her."

Ranma gathered up his purchases and left the shop, still chuckling to
himself.  He couldn't wait to tell Tarou; the guy would not be
impressed.

**************

"I hate boys!"

She hadn't said those words for over a year, but she said them now.  She
hated boys!  Especially, one particular boy, who had left over a week
ago on a so-called training trip and then been seen on television with a
girl!  How could he?  After everything they'd been through; after nearly
giving her life for him in China, and nearly getting married to him;
after putting up with him flirting with Shampoo and Ukyou and then
finally learning to trust him, how could he go and do this to her now?

Akane dropped her school bag onto the ground and leaned over the wire
fence, watching an empty chip packet dance wildly in the wind and then
land in the canal.  She wiped at the tears that were trickling down her
cheeks.  She wasn't crying, damnit!  What did she care what that pervert
did?

She heard footsteps approaching and hurriedly dried her eyes.

"Akane Tendou," a familiar voice intoned.  "The heavens themselves would
weep to see such tears.  Surely, you are not mourning the loss of the
villainous Saotome?"

Tatewaki Kunou, clad in his usual blue and black kendo uniform, slung
his bokken over one shoulder and leaned back against the fence beside
her.

"No!  Why should I care what he does?"

Kunou produced a fan out of his kimono and opened it with a deft flick
of his wrist.  "Then we shall date!" he announced, beaming at her.

Akane clenched her fists and groaned.  Kunou was an obsessive, deranged
idiot.  Normally, she wouldn't have bothered asking him, except that he
had been the one to let slip about Ranma that morning.  No-one else had,
not even her family.

At least he hadn't wrapped himself around her yet.  She allowed her
hands to drop, and smiled sweetly up at him.  "Upperclassman Kuno, you
said you'd tell me more about the girl on the news report."

He nodded sagely.  "Ah yes, the fair Panko.  A cousin of the vile Ranma
Saotome, but no more alike him than the day is like the night."

Ranma's cousin?  That couldn't be true.  Ranma didn't have any cousins.
And Panko?  It had to be a fake name; it was too close to Ranko to be a
coincidence.

"Clearly, he has captured her innocent heart and enslaved her," Kunou
continued passionately, clenching a fist tightly.  "Oh, I nearly wept
with pity when she put her arms around his neck!"

Akane felt her face grow cold, then hot.  Ranma let himself be hugged by
this girl... on television?!

She didn't know if she could trust herself to speak, but she eventually
regained enough control of her vocal chords to ask what the girl had
looked like.

"A true beauty, rivalling yourself or the pig-tailed girl," Kunou said.
"Fair of complexion, dark of hair.  And she wore a most curious shirt,
made of some reptilian creature, I suspect."

Akane's heart sank.  So, this Panko was pretty, too.  That must be why
Ranma liked her.  He had used to say she was un-cute and flatchested all
the time, but he hadn't said those things for a while.  She'd thought
that maybe - just maybe - that meant that he actually liked the way she
looked, that maybe she was cute, after all.  How could she have been so
stupid?  She felt tears start to well up in her eyes again, and turned
away so that Kunou wouldn't see her.

"Fear not, Akane Tendou.  When the villain returns I shall smite him,
and free you, the pig-tailed girl, and fair Panko from his evil
clutches!"  Kunou raised his bokken high into the air and began to
cackle wildly.  There was a rumble of thunder.

Akane dried her eyes, thankful that Kunou's observation skills were up
to their usual standard.  For a moment, she wondered whether she should
be putting much faith in his account of what happened, but then
dismissed the thought.  Deep down, she knew it had to be true.  Kunou
had described things in detail; he had remembered the girl's name, even
remembered the clothes she had been wearing.  A reptilian shirt?  This
Panko must be a real tom-boy to wear something like that!

"Methinks a storm is coming," Kunou said.  Akane nodded, noting the
thick, black clouds that had gathered in the sky.  "Allow me to walk you
to your abode," he added, sweeping a hand grandly through his hair.

"No, thanks," she answered.  He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut
him off as quickly as she could, adding, "I'll be home in a couple of
minutes, anyway."

For a moment he looked crestfallen, but it didn't last long.  "We shall
date tomorrow, then!"

There was no point contradicting him; Kunou's listening skills ranked up
there with his observation skills.  Akane turned to go, but then stopped
on a whim.

"What was the news report about?" she asked.

"There was a monster on the loose.  The vile Saotome and his cousin
Panko had vowed to stop it."

Not exactly a romantic getaway, then, but that probably didn't matter
with Ranma.  "Oh," she said dully.  "What kind of monster was it?"

Why had she asked, anyway?  What difference did it make what kind of
monster it was?

"Some kind of vast, tentacled monstrosity, I believe," he replied,
puzzled.

She blinked.  Vast, tentacled monstrosity?  She knew of only one
creature that fitted that description - Tarou's cursed form.  But why
would Ranma and this girl be chasing him?  She felt something at the
back of her brain, trying to get her attention.  There was something
about the girl's description that seemed odd, too, but what was it?

There was another rumble of thunder, which almost drowned out Kunou's
voice.

"What did you just say, Kunou?"

Whatever it was that was trying to get her attention was really jumping
around now.  The shirt!  Had he meant scaled?

"I said they gave the name of that monster, since you seem to be
interested."  Kunou slung his bokken back over his shoulder and turned
to walk away.  "It was called Ryouga."

Akane felt her mouth fall open.

The thunder rumbled again.  The rain began to fall.

**************

Ranma frowned up at the rapidly darkening sky, slipped ten yen into the
public phone, and punched in the number for the Tendou Dojo.  He'd have
to make this quick; it was going to start pouring down any minute.

The phone rang once, twice, three times.

"Hello, Tendou residence."

"Hi, Nabiki."

"Ah, Ranma.  Kasumi passed on your message.  Where are you, anyway?"

"Same place I was two days ago.  Why?"

"Just curious.  Don't forget, you might have found him yourself but you
still owe me."

Ranma groaned inwardly.  "How much?"

"1,500 yen per day, remember?  That makes 10,500."

Ranma winced.  It hadn't seemed like much at the time, but, then again,
he had expected to find Ryouga within a day or two.  "That's pretty
steep."

"You agreed to it."  She gave a small chuckle.  "Tell you what, I could
reduce it to 7,000 yen and a photo shoot.  A special rate just for you,
of course."

She'd make more than 3,500 yen selling photos of him, but at least it
was less out of his pocket.  And she always found a way to photograph
him anyway; it was better to agree to it and then have some control over
how compromising the photos were.  He nodded dumbly, and then stopped
himself when he realised she wouldn't see it over the phone.

"Sure."

"I could even reduce it to 5,000 if your little friend would agree to a
photo shoot," she offered happily.

Ranma thought briefly about how he'd go about asking Tarou to pose on
camera, in girl form, topless, just to reduce his debt by 2,000 yen.
"Nah, I don't think he'd go for that."

"Pity.  Kunou-baby's just dying for some pictures of 'fair cousin
Panko'."

Ranma's mouth went dry.  Tarou had been seen with his girl curse.

"I must say," she continued dryly, "it wasn't very clever allowing
yourself to be interviewed on television with him like that.  Not if
you're trying to keep this business of yours a secret."

Kasumi had said Akane hadn't seen it.  If it was only Kunou, everything
would still be okay.

There was a rumble of thunder.  He didn't have much longer.

"Is Akane home yet?"

"She's in the bath.  She got soaked by the rain on the way home."  There
was a pause.  "Actually, she seemed pretty upset.  Did you do something
to her, perhaps?"  Nabiki was smiling now; he could hear it in her
voice.

"How could I?  You know where I've..."  He trailed off.  Nabiki knew
exactly what he'd been up to.  That had to be why she had asked.

Had Akane seen something, after all?  Had somebody told her?  How much
had she found out?

Oh, crap.

He had to talk to her.

There was a flash of lightning, and an answering crack of thunder.  A
raindrop splattered heavily onto the ground nearby, followed by another.

"Look, I gotta go.  I'll call tomorrow... same time, okay?"

"I'll tell her."

Ranma hung up the phone and glared at the sky.  He mentally calculated
his chances of making it back to the convenience before it really
started raining.  He'd have to worry about getting back to camp after
the rain had stopped.

He broke into a run.

The thunder rumbled again.  The rain began to fall.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rebecca
email: rmthornton (AT) gmail (DOT) com

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