Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Balance of Power ❯ Volume 2 Prologue Journey ( Chapter 6 )

Volume 2

Prologue

Journey for the Cure

Seiji parked the car near the airport. He turned around to look at the other occupants of the car.

"So, aren't you guys happy?" Seiji asked them.

"Yeah but, the last I heard, Jusenkyo was flooded," Ranma said.

"Well, according to theses satellite photographs," Seiji said as he handed out the pictures, "Jusenkyo is back to normal."

Ranma and Ryoga looked from each picture to the next.

"These look real Ryoga," Ranma said. The pictures displayed some of the many springs that were back to their normal water level. One picture even showed the Jusenkyo guide running after some poor sap that was about to fall into one of the springs.

Ryoga nodded his head in agreement and handed another photo to Ranma.

"Now, if you'd all like to hurry, we have a plane to catch," Seiji told them as he cut power to the engine and pocketed the keys. He opened his door and stepped out as the others followed suit.

"Well I guess that means we'll be landing in Xining right?" Ranma asked.

"Nope," Seiji replied. "Were going to be landing in Beijing."

"What!?" Ranma and Ryoga yelled in unison.

"Seiji that's really far from Jusenkyo," Ryoga said.

"I know, but we don't really have a choice in the matter," Seiji told them as he led them to the front foyer of the airport. "I don't have a clue just how close Toshi's assets are to finding us, and if we were to land right in Xining, they could easily track us straight to Jusenkyo."

Seiji led them through the busy airport to the ANA (All Nippon Airways) terminals. He turned to them and handed out their passports and Visa's.

"How the hell did you get these?" Ranma asked.

"No need to worry about that right now, just go to the Nippon Airways terminals and hand these to the teller. When they ask if your seats are reserved, say yes and you are in a hurry. The special government insignia I have placed in them will get you through customs quite easily. I'll be waiting for you at the plane."

"Wait Seiji," Ryoga said as he reached behind his back and extracted his umbrella. "Will I be able to take this thing on the plane?"

"No, they've really been stepping up security over here so I'll just take that," Seiji said as he reached for the umbrella. Ryoga was about to warn him about the umbrella's massive weight, but before he could Seiji simply grabbed it from him and walked away.

"I guess we should get going now," Akane suggested.

As they approached the terminals Ryoga turned to Ranma. "How the hell was Seiji able to carry my umbrella?"

Ranma smirked. "Looks like Seiji has a few more surprises than we thought."

Ranma approached the terminal first and Akane followed him.

"Hello," the attendant greeted.

"Hey," Ranma greeted back.

"How may I help you two?"

"Were on a flight heading from Tokyo to Beijing," Ranma told her.

"May I see your passports please?" she asked. Ranma handed over his passport. "May I have yours as well?" she asked, indicating Akane. Akane complied and stepped up beside Ranma.

The attendant started to type at her keyboard. "Okay Mr. and Mrs. Saotome, your flight is scheduled for takeoff in 10 minutes, I think you will have to really move to make it on time. Your seats are pre-paid and pre-booked; you should be able to get through customs rather easily with your government passports."

"Okay," Akane said. She turned to go but stopped. "What did you call us?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Saotome, why?" she asked confused.

"Oh, you'll have to excuse my wife, we just got married and she isn't used to hearing that yet," Ranma said as he wrapped his arm around Akane's shoulders.

"Well have a happy honeymoon then," the attendant smiled.

"T-Thanks," Akane smiled nervously.

"Thank you for flying Nippon Airways," the attendant called after them.

Ranma and Akane ran jogged towards customs.

"Seiji's got a real funny sense of humor," Akane said, not disguising the irritation in her voice.

"Don't worry Akane, I'll get Seiji for that," Ranma said.

Ryoga and Akari caught up to them as they were swept through customs easily. Their bags were checked and they each had to walk through medal detectors, but that was the limit to what security measures they were subjected to. Since Seiji had given them about a minute to pack, the only thing they had in their bags were clothes and some dental equipment.

Seiji was waiting for them at the ticket checking booth near the flight entrance.

"Did everything go all right?" Seiji asked as he handed them their tickets.

"All except your little joke with me and Akane's passports," Ranma told him.

"I only did that so you two could get through much faster," Seiji told them, while sporting a huge grin across his face. He led them past the gate and back outside; then up the staircase and into the plane. They boarded quickly and Seiji showed them to their seats and wished them a good flight and told them to try and get some sleep for they would have a very busy day tomorrow. Ryoga and Ranma were sitting together and Akane and Akari were across the aisle from them. He left them and took a seat further down the aisle, sitting beside someone they could not see.

"This is pretty exciting stuff isn't it Ryoga?" Ranma asked as he strapped himself in. He reached forward and rifled through the magazines that had been supplied to him for the flight.

"Yup," Ryoga agreed as he tilted his seat back and pushed his bandanna down to cover his eyes.

"What, are you going to sleep?" Ranma asked.

"Yup," Ryoga said again.

Ranma shook his head and turned to look out the window.

"Sun's comin` up," Ranma muttered. He turned and looked over to where the girls were seated. They seemed to be talking very adamantly about something. Ranma caught a reflection off of something on Akari's hand. He realized it was the ring.

Ranma glanced down to look at the sleeping Ryoga. "P-Chan's getting married," he laughed as he tilted his seat back as well and soon drifted off to sleep.

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"Is Jusenkyo really that far?" Akari asked.

"Yeah, all the way into China's Qinghai province," Akane told her.

"Wow, aren't you worried about missing school?" Akari asked.

"Well, I guess I am but, I wouldn't mind missing every single day of school if that meant I could be with Ranma when he finally gets cured."

"Won't it be kind of boring hiking all that way?" Akari asked.

"Don't worry about that Akari, were going to be planning your wedding the whole trip," Akane told her.

"Oh, goodie," Akari said not very enthusiastically. She glanced across the aisle and looked at Ryoga. A smile spread across her lips as she watched his peaceful sleeping face. She turned back to Akane.

"I can't really say that I'm looking forward to planning this Akane," Akari admitted.

"Why's that?" Akane asked.

"I think I would rather spend the time with my friends and fiancée."

"I understand Akari, just tell me when you want to, and I'll help you with anything you want," Akane smiled. "Of course we could always wait until we get back, after all, my family and Ranma's are experts when it comes to setting up weddings in less than two days."

Akari laughed and leaned her seat back, hoping that she could catch up on some missing sleep.

As the plane began to taxi down the runway, a feeling of peace became over the four. Too bad the feeling will not last.

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Author's Notes: The second volume will be containing more of the secondary characters in the Ranma series. It is, in my opinion, a much better volume than the first one. I hope everyone has been enjoying the story so far, and I hope everyone has been reviewing.