Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Hearts of Ice ❯ Souls in the Balance, Part 1 ( Chapter 13 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation
and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi.
---------------------------------------------
Hearts of Ice
Part 13: Souls in the Balance, Part One
by Krista Perry
---------------------------------------------

Winter Wind and Summer Rain
by WebDragon
--------------------------

Waltzing...in a dance only I can see
The snowflakes swirl outside....
Frost patterns...gather on the window
But they shy away at my touch...

The laughing winter gales storm...the land
And gleaming icicles...hang in rows of crystal teeth
Beautiful...oh so beautiful...is the scene that unfolds before
me...
Of white capped evergreens....and frozen ponds...

Yet, what I wouldn't give for a drop...
of summer rain....

Summer rain...
Summer rain...
Sing that song for me again...
The song of joy and happiness
The song I sing when my heart's in pain....

So long...have we been apart...
I fear I might have forgotten your face...
This span of time...between then and now...
Makes me want to cry.....

Summer rain...
Summer rain...
Sing that song for me again...
I'll lift my face and smile...
And I'll dance...in the summer rain...

-------------------------------

"Akane." Masakazu reached out a soft, feathered hand and
placed it on the girl's shoulder as she knelt, her sobs gradually
subsiding as she smiled at him.

Akane stood and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back
of her fingers, facing the tengu, relief and hope flickering in
her brown eyes. "Thank you, sensei," she said, her voice
tremulous and full of gratitude. "You don't know how much this
means to me. I know you can help Ranma, whatever's happened to
him..."

Masakazu gazed at her, his inhuman black eyes unblinking.
"I appreciate your confidence in me, child," he said, his voice
quiet and serious. "But..."

Akane frowned as the tengu trailed off uncertainly. "What
is it?" she asked, the knot of dread in her stomach tightening.
"You *can* help Ranma, can't you?"

The tengu closed his eyes. "That's not it, Akane. I will
do what I can to find out what has happened to him, and fix it if
possible. It's just that..." He raised his head and looked at
her. "You must know that if I leave you now... If I go to the
mortal plane to help your fiance, it may be... some time...
before I will be able to return."

Akane paled. "Wh-what?" Masakazu, her sole friend in a
hostile realm, unable to return to her? "But... why?"

The tengu closed his eyes. "Do you remember, a week or so
ago, when I explained about the time dilation between the
planes?"

Akane's eyes widened with understanding... and horror.

The revelation that she had been trapped in the Kami Plane
for over two years while only a *single week* had passed in the
mortal realm had left her reeling. Her first thought, as she
recovered from the shock, was for Ranma.

*And all this time I thought that, when he used that strange
spell to try and come for me, he'd been searching for me for two
whole years. But really, for him at least, I've only been
missing a few days. That idiot...*

It had bothered her a great deal to think that Ranma's...
feelings for her... weren't as tested by time as hers were for
him. He was just acting on the fiery impulse of the moment, as
usual -- a fiery impulse that could fade and die out as time
eventually passed for him as it had passed for her. Once again,
visions of him marrying Ukyo or Shampoo filled her head... and
filled her soul with an almost unbearable grief and anger at the
imagined betrayal...

Until Masakazu pointed out that, while everyone else,
including her family, had succumbed to the spell of forgetfulness
cast by the Kami Plane, Ranma had not. He remembered her when no
one else, not even her own father, could even recall her name.

"Do not assume," the tengu had said, "that just because he
does not have the burden of two years separation weighing on his
soul as you have, his love is less than yours. You witnessed a
mere glimpse of the intensity of his suffering when you caught
Yuki-onna spying on him through her mirror. Believe me, though
but a week has passed in the mortal realm since you left, it
seems like an eternity for him."

His words had eased her fears at the time, and left her
aching with sympathy for Ranma's pain, as well as aching for his
company... once again...

Now the knowledge of the time dilation sent a whole new
surge of fears to the surface of her thoughts. If Masakazu left
her, and spent even a single day in the mortal realm trying to
save Ranma from whatever it was that sent instinctive terror
spiking through her soul on his behalf...

Weeks... even months might pass in the Kami realm before he
returned. Months that she would have to spend alone; a sole
human in a realm of spirits, gods and demons, the majority of
whom were indifferent to her. Worse, some were openly hostile...

Akane looked behind her at the swirling blanket of dark mist
she had just emerged from, her hand nervously reaching up to play
with a lock of her dark hair that now fell well past her
shoulders. She could probably manage on her own. Heck, she'd
been winning battles against demons for over two years now,
thanks to the tengu's training. Still, it was a lot different,
fighting demons in the relative safety of the Snow Woman's
domain, and fighting demons on their own turf as she continued
her search to find someone who might have power enough -- and
compassion enough -- to lift the blood spell from her. There had
been some awfully close calls with demons the past few weeks
since she and Masakazu-sensei had ventured out on their own, and
she had been grateful that the tengu warrior had been fighting by
her side...

Akane shuddered. She didn't want to be alone in this
strange, frightening place. Yet she couldn't shake the terrified
feeling that if Masakazu didn't go to the mortal realm to find
out what was wrong, Ranma would be lost to her forever.
Something terrible had happened to him, she could *feel* it...

Tears welled in her eyes and slid silently down her cheeks
as she looked at the mist-covered ground. *That idiot... It
figures he'd somehow manage to get himself in trouble instead of
finding a way to rescue me,* she thought. Her blue-black hair
fell in soft wisps around her face and she brushed them back with
one slender but strong hand. Swallowing, she looked up into the
bird face of the tengu. "I... I'll be fine on my own, sensei.
Please... go to him. I don't think I could bear it if..." Her
throat closed off, and she couldn't finish the thought.

"Akane-chan..."

Masakazu's black eyes gazed at her sadly over his
expressionless beak. She forced a small, scared smile. "It's
okay. Really. I'll keep looking for a way to break the blood
spell by myself. Just... hurry back when you can, okay?"

The tengu closed his eyes and bowed. "I will."

And with that, he disappeared.

Akane wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered. She
looked around at the bleak, grey stretch of landscape in front of
her, the trailing wisps of the Mists of Kami curling about her
ankles behind her.

She was alone. Alone, and more frightened than she had ever
been in her life.

For herself, and her uncertain future...

But mostly, as the strange hollowness grew within her... for
Ranma...

--------------------

The Snow Woman crumpled to the floor with a gasp of pain as
the last of her mirror portal spell faded behind her.

In spite of the pain, a faint smile touched her lips.

*Success...*

But no time to celebrate. As her body gradually solidified
into material existence, the searing agony of the blackened,
blistering ki burns on her face, chest and arms flared
mercilessly. She cried out, and icy tears of pain fell from her
closed eyes to shatter on the hard floor of her quarters. She
knelt, her slim body trembling, her shimmering white mane of
hair, scorched in places, spilling on the floor around her.

Carefully, she lifted her head and began to soak up the
healing cold of her realm, soothing the pain of the blackened ki
burns that marred the smooth white surface of her skin.

She had underestimated the boy. Even after all her careful
preparation, after all the precautions she had taken, she had not
been prepared for the strength of Ranma's ki attack. Using her
precious magic to transport herself and the Shadowcat demon to
the mortal realm, and then casting the cold spell on Ranma, had
drained her. She nearly lacked the power to save herself from
the boy's unexpectedly vicious retaliation. After such a close
call, it took all her remaining strength to draw the cold out of
the chill spring night just so that she could return home...

Now, though, back in the center of her domain, she was in
her element. With a bright blue flash, her icy power flared,
engulfing her in a cold aura, soothing the pain of the ki burns.
She sagged in relief, her fingers splaying out against the cold
marble floor. Moments later, a thin sheen of shining ice formed
over the skin of her fingers. The ice slowly began to spread up
her arms and over her chest and face, then down her back and legs
until the Snow Woman had completely encased herself in a bright
cocoon of ice.

The ice pulsed with power, and the ugly wounds beneath began
to heal.

After a moment, the glow faded. The ice cracked and fell
from the Snow Woman's skin in gleaming shards. Slowly, she
pushed herself to her feet and tossed her hair, shaking out the
remaining ice crystals. She stood before her mirror to examine
her reflection.

The worst of the damage was gone. Still, she could see tiny
blackened burn fissures scattered across the white surface of her
skin like cracks in a baked desert floor. She frowned slightly,
her frost-blue eyes narrowing. They would heal with time. Until
then...

She stepped towards the mirror.

She'd only caught the briefest, tantalizing glimpse of the
fruits of her labor before she was forced of necessity to return.
Now she had to make sure...

Leaning towards her reflection, she breathed. The frost
magic swirled on the reflective surface, then cleared to show...

...a flash of red, pigtailed hair, and the slim silhouette
of a distinctly female form moving with impossible speed on all
fours through dark suburban streets, past houses, over walls,
towards trees and mountains...

Ranma was still running. The Snow Woman looked through her
mirror at the boy, trapped in woman guise thanks to her ice
magic. As the mirror focused on his face, she could see, even in
the darkness, that the blue of his eyes was lost in the wild
whiteness of the Nekoken that had overcome him. Human in body,
but in mind no longer, he ran with swift feline ease through the
moonless night, his wide eyes sparking with a primal fear as the
unseen presence of the Shadowcat demon drove him further and
further away from his home and friends...

But, though it was extremely satisfying to see the boy
reduced to such a state, it wasn't what she was looking for.

She concentrated on his ki...

The blood spell. There, woven deep within the dragon blood
that permeated his ki, was that stubborn wisp of dragon blood --
the other end of the same strand she'd spent so long trying to
reach and destroy in Akane's ki so that she would forget...

It was fading.

The Snow Woman clasped her thin white fingers underneath her
chin and smiled slowly.

The tiny wisp of dragon blood that linked Ranma and Akane,
though they were separated by dimensions, was fading.

Yet... it was fighting to exist, though it was never meant
to be. It was a mere fluke of the blood spell; an unnatural side
effect never intended by the caster. The result of Ranma's
tremendous ki blast that shattered the threatening spell into
pieces, only for it to re-form moments later -- smaller, weaker,
altered...

Still, the blood spell managed to accomplish its purpose.
Akane was spirited away to the Kami Plane. And Ranma was left
alone with the spell-voices in his head, promising him that he
would never find her...

Though, in his current state, Ranma could no longer hear
those spell voices. Or if he did, the words no longer had
meaning for him...

The Snow Woman's eyes narrowed as she watched the fading
wisp of dragon blood. "Disappear," she whispered, as if by doing
so, her will would help destroy it.

But it did not need her help. The demon Shadowcat's
disruption, as it fed delicately and continuously on Ranma's
powerful ki, had shattered the tenuous link that kept Ranma and
Akane in constant, though unconscious contact in spite of the
dimensions and the time dilations that separated them.

The tiny wisp of dragon blood flickered weakly.

Then, without preamble or fanfare, it dissolved.

Disappeared. Snuffed out like a tiny candle flame in a
fierce, cold wind.

Ranma continued to run, driven by blind animal instinct,
into the dark night.

The Snow Woman closed her eyes in satisfaction.

Complete success.

The mirror darkened. She did not want to look at the boy
any longer. Her revenge against him was complete. Not only
that, but now that the boy's mind was gone, and the connection
between him and Akane dissolved, there was nothing to prevent the
Kami Plane from extending its subtle magic to make Akane forget
him. Forget home. She would, at last, become a true denizen of
the Kami Plane.

Most importantly, with her ties to both her home and her
worthless fiance erased from her mind, the misunderstanding
between them would soften. And she would come back...

Yuki-onna opened her eyes and smiled. The first genuine
smile to light her face in the weeks since Akane left.

Akane would come back.

All she had to do now was wait.

--------------------

A moment of nothingness. The bodiless, black void between
the planes.

Masakazu waited patiently for the void to disappear, to form
itself into the mortal realm as his transportation spell
completed its cycle.

The moment of nothingness stretched into a longer moment.
Then, even longer.

The bodiless intelligence that formed the tengu's identity
in the non-existence between planes began to get worried. What
was taking so long? It never took this long to travel...

**Masakazu.**

A voice, that sounded like an infinitely vast multitude
speaking in unison, pierced his mind.

*Oh no...*

In the void, the tengu had no physical presence, no solid
body to react to the voice that penetrated his mind, yet he found
himself trembling just the same.

*I was afraid of this...*

**Were you, now?** The voice was mild, yet cold. **And yet
you attempt to interfere with the mortal plane even so.**

**It's not what you think--**

**Oh?** A touch of wry amusement. **We think it is. You
tengu have a reputation for meddling in mortal affairs. We have
seen you with the girl. You have bent the rules too often. You
should not interfere. She is ours by right. As punishment for
your meddling, we shall leave you here, in the void between the
planes.**

**I *haven't* interfered!** Masakazu forced himself to be
calm, in spite of the terrifying nothingness of the void. **I
have gone to the mortal plane merely to undo the damage caused by
others who travel between the planes to cause mischief. And as
for the girl--**

**You are not one to speak of mischief, tengu. Your kind
has a long record of creating trouble on all sides of the
dimensional barriers. You, personally, Masakazu, have been
warned time and again against interfering. And now you would
prevent the natural order of things from working on this mortal
girl in the Kami Plane.**

Masakazu heaved a mental sigh, disguising his fear.
Eternity was a long time to be trapped in nothingness, and he was
old enough that he knew a little of eternity... **I have not
done anything, one way or the other, to help Akane find her way
back home. I am not responsible for the blood spell strand that
keeps her memory of the mortal plane intact. I have not
encouraged her to find a way home. She initiated her search for
a cure through her own power and determination. If I have done
anything, I have merely taught her the skills she needs to
survive among those who would use her or harm her, so that the
Kami Plane might enjoy the feel of her human presence within its
boundaries a little longer.**

**You interfered and saved the mortal boy from the Snow
Woman, she who has the right to transcend the barriers...**

**She may be have the right and the ability to transcend the
barriers at will, having domain in both the Kami and mortal
realms,** Masakazu responded fiercely, **but she had no right to
harm that boy. It was spring, with summer on the way. Not even
a frost on the ground. He was in no danger of freezing to death,
and she had no right to take his life. It was an act of pure
vengeance on her part, having nothing to do with her normal realm
of jurisdiction.**

The voice was silent a moment. Masakazu felt the hollow,
gnawing nothingness of the void pressing against his mind as he
awaited a response.

**You summoned the mortal boy to you as a dream presence,
and warned him of the Kami Plane's spell of Forgetfulness...**

Masakazu groaned silently in frustration. **That was
completely incidental. The boy is inflicted with the same blood
spell that prevents Akane from forgetting the mortal world. As I
said, I had nothing to do with that, or the result that both of
them seem to be immune to the spell of Forgetfulness. I merely
felt sorry for him, and locked the blood spell voices away from
his mind, which in no way interfered with anything related to the
Kami realm.**

Silence again.

Were they... actually listening? Or were they simply toying
with him?

**Please,** Masakazu said, hoping that their silence was a
good sign. **I'm not going to the mortal realm to interfere with
anything in relation to the workings of the Kami Plane. I am not
giving Akane undue aid in her quest to escape the Kami Plane. I
am merely going to check on her fiance, perhaps to fix an
injustice inflicted upon him by one of our own, as before.
Surely you can allow me that.**

The voice was silent. Then, **You seem to have a great deal
of interest in this mortal pair.**

Masakazu paused. **Yes,** he admitted hesitantly. **Well...
I suppose I'm just a hopeless romantic.**

**Typical of your race.** The voice was slightly derisive,
yet held a touch of amusement.

The tengu was silent. There was nothing more to say.
Perhaps he had said too much.

The hollow ache of being in the void too long was starting
to wear against his mind. An eternity of this..?

**You may go,** the voice said at last. **But be warned,
tengu. Do not overstep your boundaries. We know how you delight
in twisting and bending the laws to suit yourself. We will not
be so lenient next time.**

The relief that flooded Masakazu's mind was almost
embarrassing in its intensity. Focusing, he found a semblance of
his ancient dignity again. **Thank you,** he replied soberly.

And then he felt his body solidifying as the mortal plane
flared into existence around him, filling the void.

--------------------

Shampoo stood, looking out the windows of the Nekohanten,
squinting against the brightness of the early morning sun as it
rose higher into the sky. Mousse stood behind her silently, next
to their travel packs.

Finally he spoke. "I don't think he's coming, Shampoo," he
said softly.

She stiffened, but her eyes didn't leave the street.
"Stupid Mousse," she said, but her voice was low, and there was
no force behind the words. "Ranma no can find Ancient One by
himself. He need Shampoo to lead him to dragon."

Mousse shook his head, even though Shampoo couldn't see him.
"If Ranma decided to find the dragon without us, he would do
it," he replied. "He said he would be here at first light. That
was over an hour ago." Mousse sighed as he saw her tremble a
little. "Face it, Shampoo. He's gone without us."

Shampoo didn't respond. She stood silently, gazing out the
window. Then her shoulders shook with a low sob, and her head
bowed as she fought back the wetness in her eyes.

"Is no fair," she whispered after a moment. "Ranma no even
give Shampoo chance to fix... He no let me prove I... sorry..."

Mousse closed his eyes briefly behind his glasses. *He gave
you every chance to prove you were sorry,* he thought,
remembering the trust Ranma had placed in Shampoo when she first
returned from China. *You just never took the opportunity to act
until after you were caught red-handed...*

Shampoo turned away from the window suddenly, her gaze
lowered, her face set and determined though her eyes were still
wet, and walked over to grab her huge pack off the floor. She
shouldered it easily.

"Shampoo... What are you doing?" asked Mousse, though he
already knew.

She didn't look at him. "I go to find Ranma," she said.
"He no find Ancient One without Amazon guide. No Amazon in China
help him, except Shampoo."

Mousse reached down with a resigned sigh and shouldered his
own pack. "Then I'm coming with you, Shampoo." He knew that, as
usual, wherever she went, he would follow. The fact that Cologne
was expected to return home later that day also helped motivate
him. He had no desire to face the old ghoul alone when she
discovered that all her plans had gone awry...

He suppressed a shudder and looked down at Shampoo. "But if
you're going to run off looking for Ranma, I suggest you start at
the Tendo Dojo. Then you might be able to find out which way
he's going, and who he's traveling with. It will make him easier
to track down."

Shampoo tensed with anger in that way Mousse was so familiar
with. He half-expected her to turn and kick him across the room,
or throw a glass of water in his face to turn him into a duck
again. But instead, slowly, she relaxed, raised her head, and
looked at him for the first time that morning.

Mousse blinked. In her eyes was something akin to fear.

"Tendos," she said softly. "Ranma maybe tell them what I do
to Akane..."

Mousse let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
"Probably," he said.

Shampoo's countenance darkened with shame, and she looked at
the floor.

Mousse swallowed. He wanted to put his arms around her, but
held himself back. "But... if you really want to make up for...
for what you've done," he said, "you need to find Ranma fast.
And that's the best way I can think of; to ask the Tendos. At
least it's better than blindly charging off to China and hoping
to run into him along the way..."

Shampoo nodded silently and turned towards the door. "I..."
She paused, as if considering. "We... go ask Tendos..." It was
almost a question.

A small, almost-hopeful smile touched Mousse's lips as he
understood. "Yes," he said. "We'll go ask them together."

A ghost of a smile flickered across Shampoo's face, and she
straightened. As she did, Mousse thought he saw a small spark of
her old, pure Amazon honor and fighting spirit, untainted by
twisted desires, flicker deep within her, seeming to pierce a
tiny hole in the gloom and darkness that had settled on her...

And the spark of hope within his own heart flared
brighter...

--------------------

Kasumi answered the door. "Oh my," she said, as she saw the
lavender-haired Amazon and her tall bespectacled companion
standing on her doorstep. "Shampoo, Mousse, what a pleasant
surprise. Please come in. Would you like some breakfast?"

The two Chinese teenagers, expecting a much more hostile
reception, were struck speechless by the welcome, and they cast
befuddled glances at each other as the eldest Tendo girl led them
into the dining area.

"I made breakfast a little while ago," said Kasumi,
gesturing to the table, "but no one has come back yet. It may be
a little cold, but I can heat it up in the microwave if you
like."

Shampoo looked around nervously. No one else seemed to be
around, much to her relief. She especially didn't want to run
into Nabiki, although she had steeled herself to face the entire
family if necessary... "A...Arigato," she said hesitantly,
"but... no can stay."

Kasumi looked at her inquisitively. As she did, Shampoo
noticed that the older girl's expression, though pleasant as
usual, was lined with worry. Dark circles stood out against pale
skin under her eyes, and her eyes were red from lack of sleep.
Still, Kasumi smiled. "Ah, I understand," she said. "You've
come to look for Ranma too. That's so kind of you."

Shampoo and Mousse blinked. "'Look for Ranma too?'" asked
Mousse. "You... you mean, he left alone, without telling
anyone?"

Kasumi tilted her head and gave him a puzzled look. "Well,"
she said hesitantly, "he wasn't exactly in any condition to...
talk... when he ran off last night."

Shampoo and Mousse blinked again.

"Huh?" said Mousse brightly.

At that moment, the sound of someone coming through the
front door reached their ears. "Kasumi." Nabiki's voice,
cracking with exhaustion. "Have you heard anything?" She
staggered wearily into the dining area...

...and froze when she saw Shampoo and Mousse standing next
to Kasumi. Her tired, blood-shot eyes immediately narrowed to
angry slits. Shampoo's eyes widened, but she stood her ground.

"I'm afraid not, Nabiki," said Kasumi gently. "Father and
Uncle Saotome are still out looking, and I haven't heard anything
from Ryoga or Ukyo. You are the first to return..."

Nabiki wasn't listening. "You..." she said, her tired voice
low and dripping venom as she glared daggers at Shampoo. "You
did this to him. How'd you do it? Did you get help from that
stupid white ghost cat in the jingle-bell who's always following
you around? Or did you did you just dip back into your bag of
black magic again to summon that cat demon?"

Shampoo looked at Nabiki blankly, expecting a verbal attack
of a completely different nature. Then, the angry girl's words
slowly began to penetrate the stunned fog in her brain. Cat
demon? What was going on here?

"Shampoo not know what you talking," she said honestly,
gazing directly into Nabiki's eyes. "We come look for Ranma
because he no find Ancient One without Amazon guide."

"That's right," added Mousse. "We waited and waited for him
to show up at the Nekohanten like he said he would, but he never
came, so we came here thinking he might have left without us.
Kasumi just told us that he wasn't here... What's going on?"

"Oh my," said Kasumi, holding a hand to her cheek. "I'm so
sorry about the confusion. I thought you knew. No wonder..."

"Know what?" asked Shampoo.

Nabiki looked back and forth between Shampoo and Mousse,
peering at them intently. She had naturally assumed that the
purple-haired bimbo was behind the creature that attacked Ranma.
After all, Ranma had just utterly destroyed Shampoo's hopes of
catching him for her husband mere hours before that thing
attacked him... And she figured that Shampoo thought if she
couldn't have him, she'd make sure no one else would. Not to
mention that Shampoo knew first hand about Ranma's cat
weakness...

At least, that was the explanation Nabiki came up with as
she spent the night searching the dark streets of Nerima, her
mind burning with worry as she called out Ranma's name, along
with the occasional, humiliating "here, kitty kitty," until she
was hoarse, her hope of finding him dwindling by the minute as
her anger against Shampoo grew...

Now though... She cast a critical, measuring look at the
Amazon, who was gazing back at her levelly, not quite able to
disguise the small spark of fear in her eyes. Nabiki had an
instinct for people, for knowing when they were lying. And right
now, in spite of her night of frustration, fear and fury, her
instincts were telling her that Shampoo was innocent -- of last
night's crime, at least. There was just a feel about her. Not
to mention that Mousse was there to back her up, and he was easy
to read. The myopic Chinese boy probably couldn't get away with
a lie if his life depended on it, since he perpetually wore his
heart on his sleeve.

Finally Nabiki sighed, looking Shampoo in the eye. "Last
night, we were all packing to go to China," she said, "when we
suddenly heard Ranma release a ki blast in his room that took out
the wall. When we ran up to see what was going on, we couldn't
get in and so Ryoga broke the door down. And there was Ranma,
with this huge black demon cat leaning over him..."

Mousse gasped, and Shampoo's eyes went wide. "Demon cat?"
she asked, horrified. "What happen to Ranma?!"

Nabiki watched her closely, looking for the tell-tale signs
of pseudo-surprise, yet, to her great amazement, she found none.
She frowned. Did that mean Shampoo really had no idea what had
happened last night? She wasn't responsible for the demon cat
that sent Ranma over the edge?

But if Shampoo wasn't the one to blame, then who... or
what... was? And why? Why now, just when they were so close to
finding a solution to the blood spell?

She sighed. She was so tired, it was hard to think
straight, but she forced herself to focus anyway. "Ryoga tried
to ki-blast the... demon," she said, "but it just faded away, and
by then it was... too late." Her heart tightened in her chest at
the memory of Ranma's unearthly yowling, the feral look of terror
in his eyes... "Ryoga's ki blast scared Ranma, and he turned and
hissed at us before running off..."

*Well, technically, he was a "she,"* thought Nabiki,
frowning. *Which is another strange piece to this puzzle, because
I don't remember him getting wet before he went upstairs. And
there wasn't any water in the room...*

Then she noticed that Shampoo had gone very pale.

Mousse noticed her pallor as well. "What's wrong, Shampoo?"
he asked, his voice worried. He'd been with her all night,
packing and getting ready for the trip. She *couldn't* be
responsible...

Shampoo looked up at him, her eyes wide and scared, then
back at Nabiki. "I... I... Shadowcat not my fault..."

Nabiki's eyes narrowed at Shampoo's usage of the obvious
title. "That may be so," she said reluctantly. "But you
apparently recognize what I'm talking about. All right, spill
it, Shampoo. What was that thing, and why did it come after
Ranma last night?"

Shampoo swallowed and nodded. She was here to help Ranma,
to try and atone for the blood spell. She would do whatever was
necessary... "After Ranma defeat Great-grandmother to get
Phoenix Pill using Nekoken, I ask her about why Ranma act like
cat. I never see anyone be like that before. She tell me Ranma
train in very dangerous, forbidden technique. Ranma act like cat
because, when first train, his fear summon demon Shadowcat.
Shadowcat take piece of his soul and replace it with cat soul.
From then on, when Ranma too afraid of cats, the cat soul in him
take over."

Nabiki and Mousse both blinked, stunned.

"Are you telling me," said Nabiki, her voice low with
disbelief and shock, "that ever since Ranma was tossed into that
pit of cats when he was ten years old, he's been walking around
with a dormant *cat soul* inside him? That all these times Ranma
has flipped out, thinking he was a cat, he was actually
*possessed* by this cat demon?!" Nabiki had the sudden urge to
track down Genma and strangle him for what he'd done to his
son...

Shampoo shook her head quickly. "No, no, is not possessed
by demon. Ranma still Ranma, just... Ranma cat." She frowned in
frustration as she tried to explain. "Shadowcat use times when
Ranma have cat-soul to feed on his ki from Kami realm. Shadowcat
no can come to mortal world except when summoned by Nekoken
training. All other times, it stay in Kami realm."

Nabiki blinked. "... The Kami Realm," she said coldly.
"The Shadowcat comes from the Kami realm?"

Shampoo nodded weakly and looked at the floor.

"The place where you sent my sister. The place that made us
all forget her, is full of demons, like the Shadowcat."

It wasn't a question, but Shampoo nodded miserably just the
same, her gaze not leaving the floor.

"I see." Nabiki was silent a moment, her carefully blank
expression covering her internal struggle to quell the rage that
was boiling within her. *Rage leads to rashness and muddled
thinking,* she reminded herself forcibly. *Now is not a good
time to lose control.*

"Well," she said at last. "You say the Shadowcat can't come
into the mortal world except when its been summoned by the
initial Cat Fist training? I've got news for you, Shampoo." Her
voice was ice. "Nobody in this house, *especially* Ranma, was
doing any Nekoken training last night, and the Shadowcat came."

Shampoo closed her eyes, yet stood firm against the accusing
tone. "Shampoo not know why Shadowcat come," she replied grimly.
"It not supposed to after first time. It no has power to do
that."

"Well, whether or not it's supposed to, it did." Nabiki's
normal calm demeanor was worn thin from exhaustion and worry, yet
somehow she managed to keep it intact. "I'm beginning to suspect
there's a hell of a lot more to this than either you or I
realize. But that's not what's important right now." She sighed
heavily, her weariness showing in spite of herself. "Ranma is
gone. We can't find him. We've been looking for him all night."

Shampoo opened her eyes and looked at Nabiki. Perhaps it
was because of exhaustion, but Nabiki's calm mask couldn't hide
the worry and fear for Ranma that flickered brightly in her eyes.
"Shampoo help you find Ranma," she said quietly. "We help find
him and then we go to China to cure blood spell."

Nabiki looked at her for a long moment. Then she nodded
slowly. "Sounds like a plan," she said.

Shampoo smiled hesitantly. She didn't even flinch when she
felt Mousse tentatively lay his hand on her shoulder to give it
an encouraging squeeze.

Nabiki noticed and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

--------------------

Masakazu blinked as he felt the warm sun beat down on his
ruddy, feathered head. The sharp scent of pine needles and new
spring growth, and the sound of a rushing stream filled the air.
The tengu felt slightly giddy as he gazed around at the forested
mountains in the brief moment of unsteadiness that followed his
materialization from the void...

Masakazu liked the mortal realm. There was a feel to it, a
heady earthiness like a bouquet of a fine aged wine, that was
missing from the Kami Plane. The Kami Plane could be so...
intangible at times...

He heaved a great sigh as he took a moment to enjoy the feel
of his flesh around him, his feathers ruffling in the slight
wind. That had been a close one. He was fortunate that the
Council seemed to be in a relatively good mood, especially since
They had a reputation of being extremely fickle in Their
execution of "justice" sometimes...

But he didn't want to dwell on that. It was time to get
down to business. He had to fix whatever had happened to Ranma
and get back to Akane as soon as possible.

The tengu extended his senses, reaching out with his mind
and soul, searching...

Ah. There. At least his aim wasn't too far off. Ranma was
close by...

Masakazu blinked in surprise as his mind touched Ranma's.
Then his black eyes narrowed, and he began moving towards the boy
with a swift and silent urgency.

Ranma's mind was full of chaos. No words or coherent
thoughts at all, just instincts and feelings -- mostly exhaustion
and hunger, and a faint feeling of terror, as if he was on the
edge of...

Something was horribly wrong.

The tengu came over the rise of a small hill, blending in
with the trees and shadows so effortlessly that even the natural
forest inhabitants were unaware of his presence. At the bottom
of the hill was a rushing stream, and on the opposite bank,
facing his direction, but staring intently down into the water,
was Ranma.

The boy was in his cursed female form, kneeling with curled
hands in front of him on the bank of the stream. His flaming red
hair was in disarray, sticking out of the braided pigtail. His
white, sleeveless Chinese shirt and black pants were smeared with
dirt and mud, as were his face and arms. His knuckles and the
palms of his hands were scratched and bloody...

...from running on all fours, Masakazu realized with a sick
sensation suddenly building in his stomach.

Ranma's hand flashed out towards the water, faster than even
the tengu's sharp eyes could follow, and suddenly there was a
wriggling, silver fish on the bank. With a feral noise of
hunger, Ranma pounced on the fish with delicate, curled fingers,
and picked it up in his mouth. He then went a little ways from
the stream, and began to devour the delicacy with the fervor of a
starving... animal...

Masakazu shuddered slightly in horror as he realized...
*The Nekoken. That means the Shadowcat's involved in this...

*Oh, Yuki-onna, what have you *done*..?*

That explained the chaotic state of the boy's mind. Ranma's
human intellect had been forcibly submerged as the symbiont cat
soul, joined to him by the Shadowcat when he was a child, merged
with his own soul, overwhelming it. Altering it until Ranma's
humanity was practically nonexistent.

Akane was right. Ranma was in serious danger if that demon
was feeding off of him. Normally, the Shadowcat merely supped
delicately from its victims' ki. The demon wanted its victims to
live long and healthy lives, physically if not mentally, and thus
provide it with a small, but continuous supply of energy.

But Masakazu knew of a few rare instances through the
centuries where the Shadowcat, needing power for some
confrontation or battle in the Kami Plane, had drained its mortal
victims dry, leaving nothing but an empty husk of a body in the
mortal plane as a testament to the danger of the Cat Fist.

This took place long ago, however, when many a young boy was
sacrificed to the Nekoken training to build up strength of
conquering armies. And they were truly sacrificed, since only an
infinitely few number of boys were ever strong enough have their
humanity coaxed back to the surface by their grief-stricken
mothers. The rest were fated to live out their lives with their
minds and souls irretrievably feline, providing the Shadowcat
with a luxurious supply of energy in return for the fury and
power of the Nekoken.

But the technique had been banned centuries ago, and since
few were foolish enough to risk the danger to their sanity and
their souls these days, the Shadowcat had been deprived of its
usual quota of victims...

Until Genma unthinkingly threw Ranma into the pit of
starving cats seven years ago. Masakazu narrowed his eyes
angrily. The boy's idiot father was fortunate that Ranma was so
strong in both soul and body, and that the kindly old woman who
discovered Ranma in his early minutes of his cat delirium was
able to reach the part of the boy's heart and mind that missed
and needed his real mother so terribly. If she had not been able
to do so, Genma would have lost his son that day...

The tengu's black eyes sparked as he watched Ranma carefully
strip the fish meat from the bones with his teeth. This was
going to be tricky. Ranma's supernaturally enhanced feline
senses would make sneaking up on him almost an impossibility, and
he needed to get close enough to get a good look at his ki, as
well as see if he could discover a way to get the boy back to
normal.

He knew from his explorations of both Akane's and Ranma's
memories that, since the old woman's death, only Akane, the
person Ranma loved and trusted the most, could unwittingly coax
his humanity back to the surface. That, and the shock of his
body shifting with the Jusenkyo curse. Masakazu's eyes blinked
in dark amusement. In that respect, Ranma's curse was a
blessing. It would aid him now, since Akane was beyond his
reach...

Carefully, silently, the tengu moved from tree to tree,
descending down the hill towards the stream. On the other side
of the bank, Ranma suddenly looked up from the fish, his lithe
feminine body tensing, and glanced around sharply, eyes wide and
alert.

Masakazu froze, cursing silently. *Damn, this boy is
perceptive. Even with the Nekoken, I should have been able to
get a lot closer before he sensed me...*

He reached out mentally and touched Ranma's mind, trying to
gauge his emotions. He was closer now, he could feel more...

The exhaustion was still there; the hunger partially sated.
The edge of fear was still there as well. But on top of all
that, raw curiosity; curiosity that overwhelmed the strange edge
of fear, as Ranma looked around, trying to figure out what was
sneaking up on him and where it was coming from.

If the tengu were human, he would have smiled. As it was,
his bird eyes glinted in amazement. Though Ranma's humanity was
gone, his underlying personality was still there, still strong,
albeit twisted with his new feline perspective. In spite of
suffering both a physical and mental identity crisis, the very
base elements of Ranma, the pieces of him that made him who he
was without all the magic and curses inflicted upon him, were
still there.

Yes, this boy was strong. Stronger than any who had lived
for decades, perhaps centuries, in the mortal realm. It was no
wonder, then, that Fate seemed to have singled him out for
experiences above and beyond the human norm. Masakazu considered
this silently, as well as the potential consequences of what he
was planning. He didn't want to hurt Ranma, but if the boy was
frightened of him enough to attack him with the cat fist, things
might get messy...

The tengu stepped out into the open.

Ranma's head jerked towards Masakazu as he sensed the
movement, and his wide blue eyes stared at the tengu from a
delicate feminine face that was smudged with dirt and blood.
Ranma didn't appear afraid, but his slender female body was taut,
ready to run from the strange creature that had just stepped from
the shadows of the trees.

"It's okay, Ranma," Masakazu said quietly, approaching him
slowly. "You know me, deep down. You know I'm a friend. I've
helped you before, and I'm here to help you now."

Ranma flattened himself against the ground at the sound of
the tengu's voice, not taking his eyes off him, a low alto growl
issuing from deep in his throat as his delicate curled hands
wrapped protectively around the remains of the fish.

The tengu stifled a chirping chuckle. "I'm not going to
take your food away," he said gently. He stopped on the opposite
bank of the stream and looked over at him. "I just need to get a
good look at your ki, that's all." *And then douse you with a
little water from that stream, after treating it with a simple
heat spell...*

Ranma watched him warily, unmoving. The tengu narrowed his
eyes and peered at him intently, looking beyond the normal
spectrum to examine the cursed boy's ki...

And felt cold tendrils of dread and despair wrap around his
ancient avian heart as he saw several things at once...

He saw the Snow Woman's cold spell that seemed to hover just
over the surface of Ranma's skin. Masakazu could immediately
tell what Yuki-onna had done, and why. No hot water would be
touching Ranma as long as that spell was in place. And trapping
Ranma in female form essentially trapped him in the Nekoken. She
had intentionally eliminated the one thing, other than Akane,
that could jar him out of his symbiosis with the cat soul within
him, and break his link to the Shadowcat.

The link to the Shadowcat. Ranma had an extremely powerful
ki, and he could see it flicker slightly in response to the
small, yet continuous drain the demon was exacting. The blood
spell, entwined deep within Ranma's ki, also flickered...

The blood spell... Masakazu's black eyes widened slightly as
he saw... He then closed his eyes and sank to his knees abruptly
on the bank of the river, causing Ranma to startle and jump away
a few paces on the opposite side. The tengu didn't notice.

He was too late. The tiny, fluke dragon blood wisp, the
unintentional transdimensional link between Ranma and Akane, was
gone. It had dissolved. The only thing that was holding back
the Kami Plane's spell of Forgetfulness from Ranma and Akane's
minds had been extinguished. The Kami Plane was probably
altering their memories at that very moment, anxious to complete
its work after having been staved off for so long...

If Ranma had been in his right state of mind, he might have
been able to fight it, to hang on to Akane's memory, but now...
Masakazu reached out and touched Ranma's mind, just to be sure...

Nothing. Just feline impulse and raw emotion. Not a human
memory to be found.

"Akane-chan," the tengu whispered, "I'm... so sorry. I
didn't make it in time."

Akane had been correct in her guess that she was in danger
of losing Ranma. But to lose him this way, to have the Kami
Plane's spell erase everything she held dear from her mind...
To not even have the bittersweet comfort of her own memories...
What would she be like when he returned, with her true past gone
from her?

Would she even be the same person? Her love for Ranma had
been such an integral part of her personality, even when she was
in denial. Without it...

He felt small drops of wetness fall into the rust-colored
feathers on the back of his hands, and knew it wasn't the spray
from the rushing stream...

Odd. He hadn't wept in... centuries...

But then this... this discovery seemed to be the culmination
of proof of how he had failed his friends. All of them...

*Yuki-chan... I'm sorry I didn't do more to help you.
Perhaps if I had eased your loneliness a bit more... you wouldn't
have resorted to such desperate measures to claim Akane as your
own, to fill the emptiness left by the loss of your own
daughters... Now you have destroyed both Akane, and the one she
loves in your attempt to own her...*

Masakazu heard the soft thud of something landing on his
side of the stream. He froze, keeping his eyes closed, and
waited... A minute passed, then another. Then the tengu felt a
nudge against his leg. He opened his eyes and looked down to see
a mop of tangled red hair, and wide blue eyes staring up at him
from a dirty, feminine face.

"Mrowr?"

Masakazu shook his head, partly in amazement that Ranma had
found the courage to approach him, but mostly in sadness. "I'm
sorry, Ranma," he said softly. "I did what I could, but it
wasn't enough. I didn't get here in time..." *The Council
probably did it on purpose,* he thought darkly. *Time in the
void is non-existent. They probably held me there without me
realizing, until it was too late. So perhaps they were toying
with me after all...*

Ranma blinked, then leaned over and nudged the tengu's arm
with his nose. Masakazu's eyes softened. He reached out a hand
to stroke Ranma's head, but the cursed boy jerked back, wanting
to sniff the strange, feathered fingers instead. Then he nipped
playfully at Masakazu's index finger.

The tengu pulled his hand back, and eyed Ranma in surprise.
"Well, aren't you brazen." He cocked a feathered brow and
blinked. "But I suppose that's a part of you that will never
change." Ranma nipped at his fingers again, and raised a paw-
like hand to bat the longer feathers of his arms. Masakazu
sighed, and stood, causing Ranma to jump away nervously. "I hate
to tell you this, Ranma, but, contrary to appearance, I am not a
bird. So don't get any ideas."

"Mrrrr."

Masakazu looked at Ranma for a moment. Ranma sat on all
fours, looking up at him inquisitively. The tengu sighed and
knelt down again, reaching out a feathered hand. "Come here,
Ranma," he said gently. "Let's see if I can do anything about
that cold spell."

Ranma cocked his head slightly, looking very kittenish in
his female body, then started to come towards the tengu's
outstretched hand. But before he had taken two steps, he
froze. Ranma's eyes went wide and wild, his slender back arched,
his red hair stood on end, and he hissed violently.

Masakazu blinked in surprise as he felt Ranma's surge of
terror. "Wha--" He broke off as he felt it a moment later, a
suffocating heavy feeling, slowly building...

*demon...*

With blinding speed, the tengu turned to see the Shadowcat
materialize behind him. He swiftly maneuvered himself between
the demon and Ranma, who was still hissing.

The Shadowcat looked at the tengu through narrowed yellow
eyes, its ki glowing blackly, seeming to dampen the light of the
spring sun in the forest around them. **Tengu,** it said in a
low, growling voice that echoed in his head. **What are you
doing here?**

**I could ask the same of you,** he replied, his own eyes
narrowed to black slits over his beak. **Aren't you supposed to
be in the Kami Plane?**

**That is no business of yours.**

**But it is. You see, the young mortal behind me, who is
currently hissing at you, happens to be a friend of mine. I'd
like to see him return to normal.**

The Shadowcat chuckled. **I'm sure you would.
Unfortunately, I happen to like him the way he is.**

The tengu's eyes sparked angrily. **You are acting out of
the boundaries of your jurisdiction by being here.**

**Perhaps,** the demon answered nonchalantly. **But after
so long of going without an extra supply of energy, I decided to
take a more direct approach.**

**Release him, and return to your domain, or I will send you
there myself.**

The Shadowcat bared its teeth, then lifted a huge paw and
extended its needle-sharp claws. **Absolutely not. As for the
first, he is mine by right. He paid the price and accepted my
gift--**

**Gift?! It is a curse. And the price was paid
unwillingly.**

**No matter. He belongs to me. He has belonged to me since
his tenth year, yet it is only now that our link is well and
truly established. As for the second, I will not return. For if
I do, I cannot come back unless I am summoned again, and fools
like this boy's father are rare. This way, I can ensure that he
stays mine. He is strong, this one; stronger than any I've had.
I do not intend to give him up.**

And that was it. The time for words was through.
Masakazu's eyes narrowed, and he began to build up his power,
mentally running through his transportation spell, altering its
parameters so that it would send the Shadowcat back to the Kami
Plane. Less than a moment later, he attacked.

Though the Shadowcat was expecting this from a tengu, the
speed and strength of Masakazu's attack caught it off guard. The
demon saw the tengu turn into a blur of reddish movement, and it
lashed out with its claws, connecting with nothing, yet shredding
the trees behind where the tengu had been a moment ago. It
twisted, trying to avoid the fiery ki blows that landed on its
head and flanks, yowling in pain, to no avail. The Shadowcat
fell on its side under the barrage, black ki leaking from
numerous wounds.

**Do you yield? Will you go back peacefully, or do you want
me to continue?** Masakazu stalled for time as the first stage
of his transportation spell flickered invisibly to life right
under the Shadowcat's nose.

The Shadowcat pushed itself to its feet, growling low. **I
will not.** The demon grimaced painfully. **It has been a while
since I have fought.** The grimace turned into a sharp-toothed
grin. **Fortunately, I believe our mutual friend has some
experience...** The demon cat's eyes narrowed and flashed
brightly.

And Ranma's angry, terrified hissing, turned into a yowl of
pain, as he suddenly collapsed.

Masakazu whirled to see Ranma writhing on the ground, his ki
fluxing strangely as the flow on the demon's ki link suddenly
reversed itself... The tengu turned on the Shadowcat, furious.
"Stop it!" he yelled out loud. "You can't do that to him!"
*Damn it, the transportation spell! First level complete, I have
to start the second! Ranma...*

**Today seems to be a day for breaking rules. I certainly
couldn't do this from the Kami Plane.** The demon smirked, its
yellow eyes dimming to a deep, pulsing red. **You surprise me,
tengu. I thought that you, of all creatures, would understand.
Too late,** said the demon smugly, as Masakazu made to attack it.

The tengu turned to see Ranma, standing on all fours,
growling low; wild, empty eyes gleaming a dull red as the cursed
boy stalked slowly towards him. "Ranma..."

**Terribly sorry, but why should I fight my own battles when
I have one of this world's greatest martial artists under my
control?**

Masakazu turned to face Ranma, dropping into a defensive
stance. *I can't hurt him. He's damaged enough as it is. And
I've got to finish that spell...* He started working on the
second level just as Ranma pounced, fingers outstretched like
claws...

**Oh my, this is going to be more entertaining than I
thought...** The Shadowcat watched as the tengu, and the boy
with the female body and the feline mind, faded into blurs of
impossibly swift movement.

Masakazu ignored the demon, dodging the shredding swipe of
Ranma's hands that tore up deep gouges in the ground behind him.
The boy was fast, that was a sure thing. But not as fast as he
was. *Sleep points... I'll hit his sleep points, and then I can
get on with this...* He jumped and dodged as Ranma came after
him with inhuman speed, tearing up the landscape with furious
clawing motions, reading his movements with increasingly
surprising accuracy...

*Yow! That was a close one.* The tengu didn't stop moving
to see the tips of the feathers on his left arm flutter to the
ground, severed. *Okay, maybe I won't be able to get his sleep
points. This kid's incredible... Time to get serious. But not
*too* serious...*

Masakazu focused. As ancient as he was, he was very good at
focusing. But at the moment, his focus was a bit divided. He
focused on completing stage two of the transportation spell. He
focused on dodging Ranma's increasingly furious attacks. And he
focused on creating a small, but powerful ball of strangely
charged ki in the palm of his hand...

He turned in mid-air leap to face Ranma's attack. Ranma
flew at him, yowling, eyes gleaming red. But instead of dodging,
Masakazu held up his hand and released the ki blast at Ranma,
just as the cursed boy swiped clawed fingers in his direction.

The ki blast hit Ranma in the chest...

The tengu twisted in the air, but not far enough, and he
felt the sharp pain of feathers and flesh shredding down to the
bone...

Ranma flew backwards to smack into a very solid tree,
shattering the trunk, toppling it. He collapsed unconscious to
the ground among the splinters of wood, twitching silently as the
energy from the tiny ki blast arced over his petite female
body...

Masakazu landed on his taloned feet, blood seeping from four
perfectly parallel gashes in his right forearm. A millisecond
slower, and he would have lost his arm completely...

The tengu blinked in pain, looking over at Ranma's still
form. "I like to call that my 'Tazer Ki Blast,'" he muttered.
Hopefully it hadn't harmed him too severely, and yet had been
strong enough to shatter the demon's control. Just to be sure...

Yes. The Shadowcat's link in Ranma's ki was back to normal,
if such a thing could be called normal. As for Ranma himself...

Masakazu reached out and touched his mind briefly just to be
sure the demon was no longer in there...

And gasped.

In Ranma's unconscious mind, the demon was gone. The
Nekoken link was still there, unfortunately, but the feline
instincts had faded to background noise. And there, right in the
forefront of Ranma's thoughts; in his mind that, at the moment,
could no longer form even the simplest of words... were images.

Images of Akane.

No... *Memories* of Akane.

There she was, sparring with Ranma-onna the first night they
met... And there she was carrying Ranma home on her back after
Doctor Tofu made his legs go out... And there she was running
below him on the sidewalk, sticking her tongue out at him as he
ran on the fence... And there she was, lying in a glass coffin
on a school stage with her eyes closed, tugging on his pigtail as
he leaned over her, his face turning seven different shades of
red as she asked him, Couldn't you just pretend? And there she
was holding his hand on the way home from Ryoganzawa as Ranma
struggled uselessly to work up the courage to tell her how he
felt...

Masakazu couldn't believe it. It was all there. All of
Ranma's experiences with Akane, all his memories of her, were all
there in the boy's mind.

The Kami Plane's magic was there too. He could sense it,
trying to steal away Ranma's memories as it had been doing since
Akane was first spirited away...

But it wasn't working.

Even without the fluke blood spell strand; even with his
humanity submerged irretrievably in his soul... It wasn't
working.

Ranma remembered Akane.

It was unheard of... Was the bond between them that
strong?

The tengu was astonished beyond belief. Throughout the
millennia of his existence, he'd never seen such a thing...

That meant there was still a chance...

Masakazu was so happily amazed as he stared at Ranma's still
form, the impossible strength of the unconscious boy's memories
of Akane playing through his mind and filling his soul with the
hope for his friends that he'd lost just minutes before...

...that he forgot about the searing pain in his forearm,
about the blood he was losing, and he only barely managed to
focus enough to complete the second level of the transportation
spell with the single layer of his mind that hadn't been struck
numb with joy and amazement at the strength of Ranma and Akane's
love for each other, in spite of everything...

The second level of the transportation spell flared
invisibly to life and a slight shimmer formed in the air behind
him...

*That's right... The portal... The Shadowcat...*

Blinking, and shaking himself out of his shock, Masakazu
turned to face the demon...

And suddenly found himself on his back, the Shadowcat
pinning him to the ground with a huge black paw on his chest.

**Well well, the Cat has the Bird in its paws at last,**
said the Shadowcat.

And, pressing firmly down on the tengu's body, extended its
claws...

Masakazu felt the claws pierce his chest and abdomen,
lancing through his body to the scrape hard ground beneath. His
black eyes went wide, and a strangled chirping noise escaped his
throat as he used his good arm to throw the demon off him. The
Shadowcat landed on its feet a few meters away, chuckling softly,
and licked the blood off its claws.

The tengu lay on his back, motionless as the pain from the
five gaping wounds in his body spiked through his nerves...

*Well. This is a surprise. Does this mean I don't have to
worry about that stupid Council anymore?*

Focus...

Masakazu struggled to his feet.

The tengu's own words came back to him as he looked down and
saw his life spilling out of him; words he'd spoken to Akane two
years ago in the Kami Plane...

*You lose your focus, you lose the battle...*

*Seems I could use a little work on that as well. You
really threw me for one with that last comment of yours. So,
your fiance fell in the Spring of Drowned Girl, did he? That
must have made for an interesting relationship...*

*Seems I could use a little work on that as well...*

*focus.*

*ah, it's getting dark out...*

For you, maybe. See? The sun is still high...

*oh*

*is that it?*

*i see. very well then.*

*One Last Time.*

*Third and. final level. Transportation spell.*

*Focus.*

*so hard... it's getting darker. or lighter...*

The Shadowcat was laughing. Allmightymartialartist
tengu,takenoutbythecatfist...

And then the portal opened. A portal specially designed for
a demon Shadowcat.

*that takes talent, you know. not everyone can do a spell
that complicated...*

Yes, very impressive.

The small shimmering in the air grew suddenly, enveloping
the surprised demon, and then closed. Disappeared, cutting off
the Shadowcat's laughter.

*see? piece of cake...*

The spring sun shone brighter in the battle-scarred forest
glade.

Off to the side, Ranma stirred and blinked unsteadily.

He's awake.

*yes, well, he's strong that way... *

*you know, i wasn't planning on earning a ticket to... that
particular plane of existence today. *

That's okay. Hardly anybody plans...

*is it as nice as the mortal realm?*

Oh, nicer.

*good...*

*don't i know you..?*

Masakazu sank to his knees, the bright spark in his black
eyes fading. A thin line of blood trickled out of the edge of
his beak.

And Ranma was by his side, looking into his face, his feral
blue eyes anxious, nudging him a little with his nose, startling
when he collapsed to the ground, coming close again, finally
coming to nuzzle his side, mewing softly...

*ah, ranma, i wasn't much help. but at least the
shadowcat's gone, eh?*

*you'll be better soon. you're a good man, to endure all
this...*

*and such a memory you've got. akane will be fine, as long
as you remember her...*

*remember me...*

my friends...

--------------------

In the Kami Plane, as Akane trudged wearily across a green
meadow towards the looming mists on her way to another domain,
she looked up as a sudden chill passed through her.

She blinked as tears inexplicably filled her eyes.

*Masakazu?* she thought.

And in the Snow Woman's domain, Yuki-onna paused in her
calligraphy, her eyes widening slightly... After a moment, she
blinked, then reached up to touch the tiny blackened cracks on
the pale skin of her cheeks that had not healed with time...

--------------------

End of Part Thirteen