Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Rendezvous with Fate ❯ August ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Revision:
11/19/06 : getting the hang of media miner uploads again 04/02/06 : common grammatical errors in the English language; punctuation in quotes and verbs (had) were changed; Media Miner upload.
12/21/05 : Revising grammar iCe
11/13/02 : grammar revisions

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Special Thanks to:
Roja Cyd
Maurice Phillip
Tin and Angel
Jourdan Bickham
Byooki Desu
Don Granberry
Howard Russel

And to the person reading this.

Dedicated to the people who have been urging me to fix my Ranma-Akane pairings.

---

Out of the heart a rapture,
Then a pain;
Out of the dead, cold ashes,
Life again.
John Bannister Tabb
Evolution

---

Rendezvous with Fate v.3
by iCe
Chapter 10

---

Ryoga looked up from the letter he just finished reading, hoping to get some soda out of the fridge... and blinked at the hotel entrance that greeted him. The hotel entrance didn't bother him as much as the fact that it wasn't where he was supposed to be. He blinked again, trying to will away the image, wondering if he was dreaming. 'Yep, it's real,' he thought, as he touched the sliding door and noted the valet who looked at him oddly.

"Ehe..." He smiled sheepishly. Although his sense of direction had improved over the years and he did manage to get around their apartment without getting lost, reading while walking tended to screw his internal compass. It would be no small feat to find the apartment.

It could take him days, possibly weeks. He just finished the last letter; he has no shoes, no money and no backpack. It was one of those virtually impossible trips. He was in a busy area, so it wasn't difficult to get the attention of the nearest person to ask for directions, "Would you mind telling me where the Ichimoto Towers are?"

"It's a few blocks straight down that path, sir," the man informed him, trying not to look at Ryoga's bare feet and disheveled appearance. He pointed towards the general direction of the high rise condominium. "It's that tall building over there, you can't miss it."

Ryoga looked dazedly at the direction and at the Towers looming in the morning sky. 'Straight path, right. That shouldn't be too difficult,' he mused as he turned to thank the helpful man, and found himself staring at a Sanrio shop, with a huge Hello Kitty and Kerokeroppi blocking his way. Ryoga turned back to the direction that he was supposed to set down on, when he noticed that the street looked completely different. Normally, he would be able to stay on track if he could focus and see his destination, but since he lost his marker he was now completely lost. Again. "This just might take a while..."

A small cackling laugh broke his thoughts. "I can't believe that what Akane said is true. You can't walk down a straight line." Shampoo hopped towards him using her cane as her great-grandmother had always done -- like a pogo stick -- and began scrutinizing him. "Your wife told me about your directional sense, but this is ridiculous."

It would have been humorous if he wasn't the butt of the joke. "It's not funny."

"Oh, but it is." Shampoo shook her head, as she jumped up to perch comfortably on Ryoga's shoulder. "You should button your shirt, sonny boy. People might think you're coming on to me."

Ryoga blushed as he speedily complied and Shampoo raised one eyebrow. "You know, until now, I never really understood what pleasure my great-grandmother found in teasing us. But in your case... I'm beginning to understand her enjoyment. Want some directions to your apartment, sonny boy?"

"Uh..."

"I'll take that as a yes." Shampoo smiled at Ryoga's expression, it was priceless. She batted her eyelashes a bit then said, "Trying to get me alone in your place already sonny? Makes a girl feel young to be flattered like that."

Ryoga started to look green and Shampoo let out another loud laugh. Deciding that it would be better if she ended her teasing now she proposed, "Look at it this way, I can tell you more than Akane's letters can."

"But your granddaughter --" Ryoga protested.

"Len can take care of herself. She's not an Amazon for nothing. You on the other hand, are completely lost." She looked at the yellowed parchment that lay seemingly forgotten in his hand. "With a page you have apparently finished. So where are you now?"

"Uhhh... Tokyo?" Ryoga answered uncertainly. He couldn't give her a better answer.

The boy was more confused than she thought so she corrected him, "No, in the letters boy!" It had been a long time since anyone had called him boy, and naturally he felt put out by it.

"Oh!" His eyes lit up in understanding and answered with, "The Yuigahama meeting."

Shampoo's smile grew wide. "Ahh, then I know first hand what happened. Take a left here... No, not at this shop at the corner boy..." Shampoo shook her head then tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Okay, the Yuigahama meeting... After Nabiki changed places with Ranma, they managed to push back the attacks away from Yuigahama. The border mess wasn't completely cleaned up, but Yuigahama was secured for Happosai's meeting. On the twenty-fourth of August, Ranma was home and preparing to leave with his sister. We all were going. Well, almost everyone..."

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"<Grea t-grandmamma... can't I just stay here?>" Shampoo asked in Mandarin as she snapped a jade earring in place. She had wondered why she had been told to bring the ancient jewels along when they left for China. When she found out that it was to please Happosai she had rebelled against the idea. She still couldn't understand why they should go through so much to please one man. "<I'm not feeling well and -->"

"<Shampoo. You can't avoid Ranma Saotome forever. There are some things that need to be understood better before one can judge,>" Cologne chastised as she handed Shampoo a brush and a hair comb. " Our arrangement with the Saotome Clan is there to help ensure the safety and future of our tribe. I don't want my heir ruining this just because she couldn't get the man she loves.>"

Something akin to a whine escaped Shampoo's lips as she pulled all her hair up in two neat odangos and added an ornate hair comb to it, representing her role in the Amazon Tribe as heir of one of its Elders. "<I'm not evading Ranma, great-grandmamma. I'm in his house teaching his children, aren't I?>"

"<Then there's no problem for you to go to Yuigahama as my rightful heir. So stop whining,>" Cologne ordered as she gave Shampoo's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "<It's been seven years. Isn't seven years enough to heal?>"

Shampoo looked away, and Cologne felt that the girl has already taken enough of her lecture for the day softening her tone she explained, "<You're my heir, Shampoo. You must realize that it is a great responsibility you must live with.>"

Shampoo shook her head as she looked at Cologne's aged eyes. "<I can't be Rian for you, great-grandmother. I... I can't take her place. She is right you know. She is the best of our generation. How am I supposed to compete with that?>"

" My poor, sweet girl, you thought all this time -- >" Cologne cut herself off as she hugged Shampoo, stroking her purple locks. She didn't miss the fact that Shampoo still talked of her cousin as if she were alive. "<I didn't raise you to replace your cousin. I know being heir is a heavy burden and it was so sudden, but I never meant for you to replace her. Rian made her choices and she was the one who chose you.>"

Cologne tilted Shampoo's face to look at her. "<Dear child, I'm so sorry. Don't you realize that you should be proud of the woman that you are? The woman you've become?>"

"<I'm nothing but a shadow to a girl who did everything better than I ever could.>" Shampoo looked away. "<I'm only second best! I couldn't even get Ranma, and she did.>"

"<You were never second best Shampoo. All of my children are equal in my eyes.>" Cologne wanted to comfort the girl, but sensed that there were no comforting words to say. If she overstepped here, Shampoo would end up hurting more than she should be. " You must realize that.>"

"<If I weren't second best, then why was Rian heir before me?>" Shampoo asked defiantly.

"<It was because she was older; because she was the eldest daughter of my eldest; because you were far too young; because you were technically married. So many reasons, Shampoo. What's important now is that you're heir.>" Cologne shook her head. "<I'll leave you to think>."Pogoing away, Cologne turned to her great-granddaughter. "<When you are ready I'll be waiting for you by the front gate.>"

Cologne left silently and Shampoo sighed, plucking the hair comb out of her hair and looking at it. It was a family heirloom, handed down from generation to generation of heirs.

On the back, a small hierarchical tree was carved. It was a carving so small that it would fit a grain of rice. Elders wrote down their heir as the tree expanded. Although she would need something to magnify the image, she knew Rian's name was beside hers. And for the first time since she acquired the comb, she noticed that her name was written in Rian's hand.

She didn't know how she could've seen that through the minute carving, but she knew that her cousin had given her blessing.

Shampoo sighed as she placed the comb back. She stepped out of her room to find Cologne and apologize for her pig-headedness... but stopped as she noticed the twins step out of their respective rooms.

Both were male, dripping wet and wore nothing but the towels around their waist. They stopped and looked at her. The only way to differentiate them now, would be their eyes. Ranma had sea blue while Nabiki had deep brown, almost indistinguishable from black.

"Shampoo," Shampoo wasn't sure if it was Ranma or Nabiki that spoke, and in the distance, she couldn't tell. "We have to move faster or we might end up late. Happosai does not like late people and we wouldn't want an irate Happosai on us."

It was Nabiki-kun, Ranma was still uncomfortably standing there and didn't have any idea how to broach the topic of Hanae or the fact that he was wearing just a towel. "Since when did Nabiki care for old man?" Shampoo asked.

"Don't remind me," Nabiki-kun said with a smile then winced as if remembering something painful. "Ranma, where are those shirts? And those damned katana... are they in your room? They're not in mine!"

Ranma shrugged as he looked at Nabiki helplessly.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Men. Well? Are you going to help me find them or not? The old man's going to have a fit if we don't come in our complete 'formal Saotome Clan get-up' as your daughter has nicely dubbed it." She looked apologetically at Shampoo. "We'll be out in a while. Come on, Ranma."

Nabiki pushed Ranma's towards the direction of the next room. Ranma complied by opening the shoji for Nabiki and stepped inside while Nabiki gave a final wave to Shampoo before entering the room.

Shampoo sighed as she went outside. Her grandmother was already there, talking to an attentive Kodachi.

Shampoo raised her eyebrows. She never saw her great-grandmother and Kodachi get along that well before. Actually, they have never gotten along at all. Cologne met Kodachi a few times, and the meetings were always thinly veiled with hostility.

Now, a week in Rose Brier, and they were acting as if they were the best of friends. It was highly suspicious, but Cologne was an elder and she herself was a mere apprentice. Who was she to question what moved the clan?

"<Great-grandmamma...I am truly-->" Shampoo started to say in Chinese, but Cologne cut her off.

"What have I said about talking in another language when another person is present, Shampoo?" Cologne asked her voice stern but gentle.

"But great-grandmamma!" Shampoo protested weakly. But since Cologne didn't waver in her stance, Shampoo switched to Japanese. "I'm sorry..."

Kodachi turned around to look at her. Shampoo noticed the small pinkish spots that marred the woman's face and arms right away. From the looks of it, it was probably an allergy.

Kodachi smiled. It was something Shampoo had never seen her do. Kodachi laughed that horrible insane laugh, but smile -- never. "I don't believe we've met, have we?" They wouldn't have. Shampoo has been avoiding her quite vigilantly and has been doing well until her great grandmother decided to be friends with the woman.

The small tentative voice Kodachi used wasn't her usual dominant all-too-sure-of-herself tone either. But then, Shampoo really wouldn't know, it had been seven years, and the fact was, people did change.

"Crazy rose gi--" she started to address Kodachi in her usual manner but she was silenced by a small tap from Cologne's cane. The shake of the older woman's head reinforced it. The order didn't go without misunderstanding or anger in her part. But even if there were orders she would never understand she reluctantly followed it, biting back the scathing insult she wanted to say.

"Lady Kodachi, I am pleased to introduce my great-great-granddaughter, Xian Pu." She didn't mention the long string of titles connected to her name. "Shampoo, I believe you know Lady Kodachi? She suffers from mild amnesia. She prefers the name Akane now."

"So you're the doll maker Hanae has been talking about!" Kodachi exclaimed in small wonder, and Shampoo could almost see her delight in the particularly wrong fact she just mentioned.

Shampoo didn't know how to respond to Kodachi's comment since she has never been friends with the woman and she has been forbidden to any hostile response. She was saved from further conversation when she noticed Kodachi's gaze move to a point behind Shampoo's shoulder and heard her sharp intake of breath.

Shampoo turned around to find Ranma and Nabiki-kun at the doors, dressed identically from the intertwined twin dragons stitched meticulously on the black cloth to twin katana by their side. Shampoo couldn't blame the woman for her admiration. They looked perfect in their black silks.

"I'm sorry, Ranma? Don't tell me you have another twin." Apparently, Kodachi has forgotten the Jusenkyo curse.

If Shampoo was not sure who was who before, she was sure now. Nabiki did not fidget under questioning and hiding the truth came more naturally to the woman. Ranma shifted, and Nabiki-kun answered the question instead, "Relatives are allowed to look alike Kodachi."

"Oh... I see." Shampoo didn't know if she should feel sorry for Kodachi. It was obvious that Nabiki didn't particularly like her, and Nabiki has the reputation of making the lives of those she didn't like hellish. "Won't you introduce me to him then?"

Dreading a fight between the two, Ranma immediately spoke up, "Shizukama meet Akane, my wife. Akane, Shizukama."

"Pleased to meet you," Kodachi said and bowed politely at Nabiki. Nabiki went through the motions with little heart, having been introduced to Kodachi once for Ranma and Kodachi's wedding was enough, Shampoo imagined having to do it again was just tiresome for Nabiki.

"It took us some time to root out the ceremonial garb." Ranma smiled sheepishly by way of explanation, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"Come on, then, Happosai does not like latecomers," Nabiki reminded them, urging things along by pushing Ranma out the doorway. The way towards the meeting place was not particularly hard to find. Every year, they picked a random place in Yuigahama to use for the next meeting. The person who owned the house was informed the day before so that the location of the house would be secret. Thus, there were no well-lit paths, just the isolated peasant's house, and Yuigahama was as isolated as they come.

When a new samurai was invited to the meeting, an invitation was sent out to them through means of another Saotome samurai, with the instructions of who exactly would pick them up, when it was going to be held, and whatever Happosai was willing to impart. Happosai was a terribly paranoid old man.

Still, the sun would be useful. Yuigahama would be dark and has no clear-cut pathways. Getting lost was not an option. Groping in the dark was extremely disliked.

"I'll catch up with you guys. I'm just going to talk with Kodachi," Ranma urged them along then turned towards Cologne and Shampoo for permission he really did not need.

The matriarch nodded moving towards the gates. "We'll meet you at the bridge, son-in-law."

"You know, it's been seven years since I've married. You'd think that you'd stop calling me 'son-in-law'," Ranma noted scornfully, his face registering exasperation as he stared hard at Cologne.

Cologne merely smiled. "Old habits die hard... son-in-law."

Ranma raised his hands up as a sign of defeat as they left then turned towards his wife.

She smiled, a little unsure of what to say, nervous from the moment Ranma stated he wanted to remain behind for a moment. "Would you like me to fetch the children? To say goodbye?" she suggested. It was an awkward moment.

"No, I already said goodbye. They shouldn't be kept from their lessons," Ranma answered, waving away her worries. Ranma and Kodachi hardly ever gave each other the courtesy of talk, and he wondered briefly what urged him to stay. Looking at her thoughtfully, gauging the reddish spots on her face he smiled a little, he hadn't seen an outbreak of allergies on Kodachi in ages. Picking up her hand he examined the receding red spots more closely. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Your allergy seems to be getting better. I trust you know now that you don't exactly lap up all the kamboko on the plate."

"I didn't know, okay?" Kodachi shot back as she snatched her hand. Ranma didn't know if it was because of anger or embarrassment. "That's generally the effect of amnesia. I forget things."

"Amnesia," Ranma repeated as he put his hands down. "You know, amnesia is a weird thing... it makes you forget all of your past... but not a thing of the present."

"You still doubt me?" There was a plea in her eyes that he ignored. He didn't want to answer things that would generally give him more trouble, and that look would surely land him into some. But then, why did he ask some time for her?

"It's not hard to do." It didn't come out quite as he wished, but it was too late to take the words back. Kodachi lowered her eyes, and Ranma almost bit his lip in indecision.

She was silent for a moment. "I guess that someone as horrible as me would be impossible to believe..." 'Or to love,' she added silently to herself. Kodachi started to reach out her hand to hold his, but let it drop before reaching it. "If that's the way you feel then..." She sighed. "I guess I'll see you later Ranma."

He nodded then turned to go, jumping the small fence as though to catch up with the small party, but in reality, he was making sure he was far away from them as well as Rose Brier. He stopped on one tree and leaned against it as he tried to organize his thoughts. He closed his eyes and whispered what he should have, but couldn't tell her, "Doesn't she know that it's getting harder each day..."

-

Akane watched him go until he was far from her sight, black shirt whipping against the wind. She smiled ruefully as she rubbed the hand that he examined. It was getting better. Cologne gave her a salve, and it healed her much faster than the ointment she had in her medicine cabinet back in the present.

Her thoughts wandered back to the gesture Ranma displayed. It was surprising and wonderful that he gave her time that he had stayed to talk, but... It didn't end on the note that she hoped. A scowl making its way onto her face, Akane rubbed her arms thoughtfully. "The jerk could have at least said goodbye before leaving." Yes, that would have made it perfect. Ranma didn't give her the goodbye she wanted.

She turned to look at the trees he escaped to, opting for the shorter way towards the meeting place rather than through the gates as Cologne, Nabiki and Shampoo used. That was mere seconds ago, but knowing him... he had covered more ground than a normal person would. All she knew was that they were going to Yuigahama.

"That's it!" Akane snapped her fingers as she ran inside the house calling, "Ifuku!"

In a second, Ifuku was in front of her with a small bow. "Yes, Lady Akane?"

"How well am I guarded?" she demanded.

"Not as much as before, my lady." Ifuku waved at the gates for emphasis. "Most of the men have been relieved of their lesser duties to lend a hand at the border troubles."

"Good." Akane smiled. "Would you mind doing a small favor for me?"

"My duty is to serve, my lady."

"Okay... now here's what we're going to do..."

---

The moment the twins entered the small house that he chose for the meeting, Happosai knew of their arrival. He also noted Cologne and Shampoo's presence with them. He blew out the smoke from his pipe and waited patiently in the shadows for them to pay their respects, but he did not greet them. He was their liege lord. They would come to him.

His gaze never left the Saotome siblings.

In the years of his long leadership of the Saotome Clan, enemies and competition have never threatened Happosai more than the twins' mere presence now did. They were the only threat to his position.

He has never seen such raw potential for the art in another person before. Although he knew of people more cunning than them and other people who were more valued in their wit, never has he seen anyone with both, and never in another practitioner of the art. They were the perfect students. They learned as fast as you could teach, adapted to almost any style and did as was bidden. That was proven by the way they followed their foster father's training. They may not like his training, they may complain about it but they followed it.

In Happosai's opinion, the twins were the best that the Saotome Clan has ever produced. And they would remain the best the Saotome Clan would ever produce from the looks of their offspring, for even they paled in comparison. And for that, he feared them.

Ever since he was young, Happosai had to struggle, struggle always to stay one-step before everyone else. Against popular belief, his road to where he was today was not served to him on a silver platter. He came from a poor family of eight children, of which he was the lone survivor. When other lords, who now held positions to rival that of his own, grew up being tutored by scholars and had menservants, Happosai had to glean that same knowledge for himself. Bowing and scraping where he must and stabbing the ones foolish enough to look the other way in the back. Like this, he rose to become the head of the Saotome clan, and like this, he intended to keep it. Happosai knew a threat when it posed itself, and the twins were a threat.

Everything started with training the children from the day that they could understand commands, each guardian trainer has their own methods but everyone with Saotome blood taught Anything Goes. They taught it completely to the child that sometimes, martial arts is the only thing the children end up knowing. Then, when they were truly ready, they were inaugurated. But, to be truly members of Anything Goes, the children were entered into a small tournament... All direct blood participated in it. It was designed to sift the weak from the strong, so that he would know who to pass on the Arts to. Ranma was undefeated and Nabiki took third with only two losses, one came from her brother. It had never happened before.

So, in the hopes that someone would eventually bungle their training, he set Genma Saotome to train the young ones, and he took pains in picking him for it was unusual for men to be foster parents. It was simply not done. But Genma was framed easily. It was easy to look into the mistakes of a fool who drank and gambled too much. It was easy to pick any of the number of possible offences Genma had and exaggerate his mistakes. Happosai managed to let the whole clan believe that Genma did something ill towards him, when the whole time it was a propagated front just so he could order the fool to be foster father to the pair.

It was his first mistake, in a string of many regarding the twins. Genma Saotome may be a fool, a drunkard and a cheat, but it turned out that this scorned old drunk was the best trainer the twins could have received. His teaching methods may have been brutal at best and idiotic at worst but it managed to sharpen the twins. He was what the twins needed in those crucial formative years.

When the clan started to take interest in them, he sent them to lead his worst group of samurai to battle. He expected failure. They surprised him. Genma was a poor tactician, and his pupils should have known nothing about leading, but he underestimated them again. They managed to take down an island, with a group of samurai who did not know how to swim, much less handle a sword.

Instead of humiliating them in front of their peers, the twins gained respect for winning a seemingly impossible battle. At that time, some of the other daimyo under him were already taking note of their talent.

Although they were recognized as Saotome samurai at six as most of the children were, they were advanced in almost everything else. He was forced to put them in the competition roster so early on... twelve was an early age to proclaim young children to be full samurai. So he had sent them off to China, against the pirate Wako that invaded the seas, just so they would stay away from the Clan's prying eyes.

That was another mistake. He did not expected Cologne to take interest in their skill, did not expect them to find any competition there at all. Yet they did. Shampoo and Rian managed to raise their skill to extraordinary levels by just attacking with their twin bonbori.

When they returned, he expected the string of engagements to keep them busy, but they protected their han, their fief, nonetheless.

Imagine his surprise when they managed to win over that small test he handed out to his samurai for hatamoto status. He was forced to give them the extra twenty ri around Nerima.

Nerima was the twins' ancestral home, something that their father had passed down to them when they gained hatamoto status, allowing their father focus on his other land. That much reclaimed, at least they would be on constant watch for any invading forces from the Kuno.

But they managed to make Nerima safe, and so he had engaged Ranma with Kodachi and married Nabiki to a samurai who would keep her locked up in that small house of his.

He married them off to Kodachi, who was demented and held the last piece of Kamakura in her hands and the Ikkasei Clan who were known for their close-mindedness. He even made Ranma and Nabiki convert from Buddhism to Catholicism just because he wanted to see if they would. They did.

With the two of them separated through the arranged marriage Nabiki took, they should have been weaker. When Kodachi tried to get Nabiki banished, everything looked better.

After that, Ranma was at best a puppet to be controlled. He did not count on him pleading for her return, to threaten seppuku when she was not accepted back. He did not consider Ranma's honor and an equally strong love for his sister.

Until now, Happosai still has not found a way to keep the other Saotomes' attention from the twin's increasing skill. All that he could do was keep them busy doing errands for him so that they would not think of overthrowing him.

It was not good. Happosai would have been a fool not to realize that he needed Ranma, and even Nabiki, as hatamoto and as daimyo. They were his best, and he'd be damned to let his best go. To lose such a dedicated and skilled samurai in the art, just because of Nabiki, was something he was not willing to do.

But if the clan ever rallied the courage to usurp him... those two were the only candidates that could unseat him. He feared Ranma because he has the influence to overthrow him. He feared Nabiki more because she was devious and because she never liked him as liege lord.

He was taken out of his musings by their identical bows. It took them a shorter time than he hoped to find him against the ceiling.

Happosai dropped down from the ceiling and looked at their formal clothes, the two intertwined dragons at the front and the Saotome shield at the back. Their twin katana gleamed in the light, the intricate design of the hilt captivating to the eye. Ranma and Nabiki stole Nabiki's sword back from the Ikkaseis when she was set free because Clan Ikkasei had kept it as evidence of Nabiki's 'crime'. Still... the twins did as Happosai ordered and came in their respective garbs. At least they still obeyed orders. 'I wonder for how long?'

"It took you a while to notice the children, Happosai," Cologne cackled from her ever-present cane, her eyebrows arching up in perfect mockery. "I hope you aren't getting senile on me."

He let it pass. "Kashiko's niece is in the other room serving okonomiyaki... and since you're here... we're only waiting for Genma. He's picking up the new heir of Sumiboshi. I'll call for you when we begin."

The twins nodded, he didn't wait for them to ask anything and left instantly. He noticed Nabiki came in her cursed form as he ordered. The order was for the people who didn't know about the curse and to stop questions asking him why he invited a woman along. The Amazons were long ago taken as exceptions to that rule.

He sighed as he remembered the day the twins were awarded their two swords by their parents. It had been a long and tiring ceremony. It was a Saotome tradition and tradition was something Happosai strongly believed in. Happosai closed his eyes to remember that ceremony, but it was the day before it which struck him vividly. The time when he had watched Nodoka say goodbye to her children.

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Happosai strode toward the main hall of the castle, stopping when he heard Nodoka's voice filter through the shoji. She was talking to her children. Fathered by Tetsuma, these two were her only children. Though they called Happosai heartless, he didn't want to break up the already rare moments between the three, so he stopped by the shoji giving them a few more minutes before he talked to Nodoka. He watched the scene through the small opening the shoji afforded him.

"These are for you," Nodoka revealed as she laid the small bundle down in front of them. They were the shirts she worked on for over an entire month. It is tradition that women sew the family crest on silk for their children to wear on such a day. It was a labor of love.

Eagerly, the children tore open the packages to reveal the clothes that every Saotome samurai was proud to wear. The entwined dragons glinted when the sun's rays touched its golden threads. Nodoka always loved to depict her children as dragons.

"Thanks, Mom!"

"Thank you, Mother."

Nodoka's eyes glittered with tears as she watched them try on the new clothing. "You will be dressed in those garments tomorrow. They are to be worn whenever there is a Saotome gathering. It is your formal wear. Tomorrow... your father is going to give Ranma his sword, just as I will to Nabiki... and you will receive them with heads held up high, showing that you are proud to be there."

She took the furoshiki, a piece of cloth traditionally used to wrap bundles made from cotton and stenciled with an intricate dye pattern, from a nearby table and gave it to them.

"You will wrap your swords here. Keep them away from sight when you think a fight would result from people seeing your swords and fighting would be unwise." She neatly folded and handed the children their respective gaily-colored kerchiefs. "I have been informed that Happosai wishes for you to travel to China."

" China?" they spoke as if they were one and stopped the teasing over the gifts. "Why?"

"One does not have reservations about commands, children," Nodoka whispered. "One merely complies."

"But...!" they both protested.

Ranma looked at Nabiki before continuing, "We've only seen father five times."

"Does Lord Happosai wish to estrange us from our own family?" the big words always came out from Nabiki.

Foster parenting was prevalent in Japan. It was a norm when your parents were daimyo, so that there was more time for the parents to do their duties to the clan instead of being bothered with taking care of the children. Foster mothers were assigned to these children early but he recently changed the person assigned to them, handing them Genma, a Saotome samurai himself, who would act both as their trainer and foster parent. It was the reason why the twins only saw their mother occasionally and their father rarely. Their foster father took them on long training trips while Tetsuma, their real father, went about following orders and arranging his fief.

Happosai shook his head as he entered the room, stopping any further conversation on the topic. Nodoka immediately bowed, and the twins followed suit. He gave a slight nod and they rose.

"I trust your children have memorized their oaths?" Happosai asked Nodoka. He valued the oaths of the children almost as much as he valued women's undergarments.

"Yes, my lord," Nodoka answered as she turned to face her children. "Would you like to hear them deliver it now?"

"No, I shall wait for tomorrow," Happosai pronounced. He nodded as though he were conducting an inspection. "I trust you have their furoshiki and garments completed?"

"Yes, my lord. I hope that you will be pleased with their design."

"I am always pleased with your work. Your young ones have shown much promise. Their training under Genma has been fruitful," Happosai complemented them as he eyed the children. "I hope I will not be disappointed."

||-------------------------||

He had not been. The children were as good as their mentor promised. They were the youngest to ever be declared fit for duty as samurai, and the youngest to have taken oaths before their liege lord.

He was surprised at their skill. Thus began his attempts to keep the twins from knowing too much of the Clan, and allowing the clan to know little of them in return.

He shook his head as he thought of how long he had left to be liege lord.

-

Nabiki-kun grumbled as he passed the numerous samurai on his way to the okonomiyaki grill, his stomach rumbling. He did not eat dinner, and Kodachi's rash outbreak left the whole household with little appetite.

After a few weeks of absence from Rose Brier, Nabiki felt the slight shift in Kodachi's attitude. She was happier, pleasanter. More enamored towards the tasks that she seemingly forgot. She tried her hand at almost every marital art now and though she failed each completely, she wasn't as dejected as she was before Nabiki left for the border.

Something happened while he was gone. Could it be possible that the girl was starting to make Ranma believe? It was a difficult task, Ranma didn't repeat his mistakes, and Kodachi certainly was one of them. But Kodachi's maniacal persistence was common knowledge.

Her stomach grumbled again, reminding her that this was a time to forget Kodachi and focus on other important things... the meal that she had missed earlier for example.

Okonomiyaki would barely fill his stomach but it would keep him from starving, and Kashiko-san made the best okonomiyaki this side of Sagami. She was even better than Ukyo. It was common knowledge that she hoped Ukyo would be able to match a bit of that skill. She deftly maneuvered around the fifteen or so samurai milling about. For a small reception room, fifteen was plenty, and she was thankful to sit down in one of the zabuton in front of the grill to ask for one of Kashiko's specials.

She was actually mildly surprised to find Ukyo there, cooking, and remembered being told that it was Kashiko's niece who was cooking belatedly. 'I should have known...' Nabiki thought, 'I mean... how many nieces could Kashiko have that cooked okonomiyaki anyway?' Upon Ukyo's surprised look, Nabiki knew that Ukyo did not expect to see her or her brother either.

"Ranma!" Ukyo cried out in surprise. She nearly failed to catch the okonomiyaki she just flipped into the air. "What are you doing here?"

"This is a Saotome gathering," Nabiki retorted, waving her hand about. "What do you think?"

"Uhhh -- well..." the fumble over the words made Nabiki smile. She has been busy lately that she barely managed to get in a word of teasing edgewise.

As much as it amused Nabiki to see one of Ranma's fiancées squirm, she wanted her okonomiyaki, so she let up for one night. "I'm not Ranma."

"You're not?" Ukyo repeated. She placed the new okonomiyaki on a plate, and then handed it over to a waiting samurai, who began eating immediately. Ukyo peered into Nabiki's eyes for a moment. "Well of course you're not, Nabiki!" she exclaimed. "I knew that!"

"Sure, Ucchan, you knew." She smirked and wished all her fiancés had been this easy to fluster. Genma definitely knew how to pick their fiancées. He gave Ranma all the gullible, but overly obsessive ones, while he gave her all the incredibly smart and entirely too unemotional louts. "I'm called Shizukama when I'm male and Ranma's here," Nabiki reminded her lightly. Ukyo never needed to be reminded of that because they have never been in a setting that required her to pretend to be someone else. Now, in the midst of important Saotome heads, it was important. The curse was an advantage even in the middle of the family.

"So why are you here as a boy?"

"You of all people should know the answer to that, Ukyou," Nabiki pointed out with a shrug of the shoulder. She motioned at the samurai milling about, taking her time to get her second point across. "This is a man's world. This is a world where women are regarded as mere conveniences. Only a few people know of 'The Pools of Sorrow'. Besides, I am listened to more this way. I should tell you what happened with 'Nabiki' the last time she was here."

She smiled as she went back to the topic that Ukyo obviously dodged, "You know you can't evade him forever."

"What?" Ukyo stuttered as she took out the batter and poured it on the grill to make Nabiki's favorite recipe. "I'm not evading him."

"Sure you are," Nabiki said in a bantering tone as he leaned closer. "That's the reason why you closed up shop near Rose Brier, moved in with your aunt and are serving random people food." Nabiki shot her a flat look. "You're evading my brother."

Ukyo shook her head as she flipped the okonomiyaki then whipped up another plate, catching the pancake with it. Taking out the sauce, she swirled it over the okonomiyaki and presented it to Nabiki-kun. The sauce read 'No, I'm not.'

Shrugging his shoulders again, Nabiki-kun prodded, "You're lying so much you believe it yourself. That's all right." She nonchalantly took the chopsticks from Ukyo's outstretched hand and began to eat. "People in love always are. It's the sure as hell symptom of the malady."

"I'm not lying to myself," Ukyo countered.

"I rest my case," Nabiki declared triumphantly. "Look, they say that loving is the worst pain ever to exist. It cuts deeper than any mortal wound can, and heals so much slower. Why love if it just exists to be hurt? But then, if you evade being hurt, how will you know when you are not hurt? Just a thought."

"You're a fine one to talk about love," Ukyo criticized as she mixed another batch of the batter nodding to the next samurai that placed an order. "It's bold words for one who doesn't believe in it."

Nabiki stopped eating and looked Ukyo straight in the eye. "I believed in it once, a very long time ago. I believed in love, too." She got a faraway look, and then focused on Ukyo again his eyes hardening. "Love disappoints you."

"You know," Ukyo muttered. "I don't think I should go to you when I'm heartbroken. I get the feeling you'll just be all cynical. You've always been cynical."

"That's a fallacy too," Nabiki pointed out, setting her chopsticks back to the plate and handing it to Ukyo. She was just as fast an eater as Ranma, but with more refined manners. "Children, at least, aren't allowed to be cynics."

"What happened?" Ukyo asked as she took the plate from Nabiki and placed it in wash pile.

"We grow up," Nabiki declared in a matter of fact tone, her eyes boring into Ukyo's soul. "But sometimes staying young seems so much better...than the alternative."

-

Ranma stepped out into the evening to get a breath of fresh air. Although the gathering was limited to only nineteen people, they were meeting in such a confined space that the air in the room became stifling.

It was chilly outside and he could see the mist circling the trees, it was starting to get cold. Still he wanted his solitude. He has never been much of a social person. If there were gatherings, he kept to himself or stuck to Nabiki. When he really needed to appear for something that needed fast-talking, he switched places with his twin. It was something they frequently did. They were seldom caught.

Nabiki socialized. He guarded her back. That was how things worked for the best. She once told him that although she didn't take pleasure in socializing either, her dislike for it was surpassed by her love of getting information, the thrill of tricking the vast majority and her extreme pleasure in manipulating events.

The mists settled, the sky was covered by the trees, but he was sure rain was coming. Having a Jusenkyo curse tended to make its victims sensitive to quick weather changes. It was rather useful when one didn't want to change suddenly.

His mind wandered away from Happosai's crowded room. Genma and his charge were the only ones missing, Happosai said. Knowing his foster father, Ranma expected it would take some time for Genma to arrive. He did not think this out of disrespect. The truth was, Genma simply behaved that way. At least he could sort out the things Happosai has questions about.

The area was dark, samurai were patrolling around Yuigahama and there were no trails to this house, Happosai was extremely cautious in his desire to keep Yuigahama from the prying eyes of the enemy. Still, it made the other cities in Sagami vulnerable... not that he would ever tell Happosai that.

In order for him to secure Yuigahama, just for it to be proclaimed safe enough for this little meeting of Happosai's, he had needed more manpower than necessary. Yes, he could have done it easily without extracting men from Sagami's cities and sending them to the borders, but not in time for Happosai's meeting.

It meant fewer samurai in the cities of Sagami. It worried him, if all the samurai were at the border, then an enemy could attack any city and destroy it completely. Since the Yuigahama meetings varied in time and place, it was not really a large possibility of attack, but because of the border troubles he had not wanted to risk it. But here he was, with men pulled out from their stations. It did not bode well for him. Sometimes, he wished that Yuigahama was not in Sagami, it would make his life easier if he didn't need to secure the meeting place every year.

Further musing was disrupted by a feminine scream, dulled by the distance but still clear to his ears. His head shot up at the noise. Picking the general direction of its source, he started to run towards it. However, another samurai whom he recognized as one of Happosai's stopped in front of him.

"What happened?" Ranma demanded.

The samurai bowed first before continuing, "Well sir, a woman has breached the periphery of the estate. She claims she's from the house of Saotome. She wishes to talk to Lord Ranma. Shall I go and fetch Lord Ranma, sir?"

"There's no need." The samurai was probably new, Ranma mused. Happosai was a strict dictator among his men, and he made sure that all his samurai knew the key players of his team. As it was, he was only recognized because of the crest in his attire and the sword in its sheath. "I'll see to her, where is she?"

"Just beyond that tree, two of my men are holding her until Ranma Saotome says so." He pointed to the direction he came from and turned to Ranma again. "Shall I accompany you, sir?"

Ranma shook his head, he could handle the household help, but he wondered what could bring her here... and that worried him. Nabiki and he only disclosed where they were going to Sara, one of the young girls, with strict instructions not to seek them out unless they were of dire need. He wondered what the problem at home was.

As he neared the trio, he could not see the girl's face, but was sure it was not Sara. Sara was a fifteen-year-old girl. This one was probably in her mid-twenties. He waved his hand in dismissal of the samurai. They bowed and left. The girl looked confused for a moment then turned to him.

"Kodachi," Ranma addressed her stopping in mid-step as he looked at her. He could barely see her in the dark, and there were no lights that could light the way, but there was a distinct way she held herself this past few months that assured him it was his wife. "For a moment there, I thought the house was under siege."

"Is that the way to treat your wife?" She pouted as she neared him. He recognized her garb as Ifuku's, and wondered how she had gotten past Sasuke and Omokage to leave the house this morning.

"How did you find me?" Ranma asked, knowing that Sara would not have told her.

She smiled as she whispered, "History."

"History," he repeated then shook his head a disbelieving look on his face. "What do you mean history? Will anyone else find out the way you did?"

Akane frowned impatiently. "Not unless they plan on buying history books from my generation." She shook her head at Ranma's stare. Of course he'd just take that the wrong way. He took everything the wrong way. "No, no one will find out."

With that matter settled, Ranma turned to the less pressing issue of her presence. "Why come here? You know what any samurai would have done to you if any other relative of mine caught you instead of me."

"That's the exciting part." She gave out a small laugh at his puzzled expression. He didn't know if she was crazier before her head injury or after it, but he knew one thing for sure: she was still crazy. "Besides, I wanted to get my goodbye."

"Your goodbye," he echoed while replaying the afternoon they had set out for Yuigahama in his head and realized he really hadn't given his wife the goodbye she was asking for. What astounded him was that she went through all the trouble to get something that really didn't mean anything in the long run... it was unusual for Kodachi to do something like that. "You escaped Sasuke, Omokage, and Happosai's samurai; stole Ifuku's clothes and attempted to breach the meeting... because you wanted a goodbye?"

She nodded. "From me?" he asked. She nodded again. "That's crazy!" he shouted at her.

She looked down hurt by his assessment, but still managing a strong voice when she demanded her request. "Well I wanted one, are you giving it to me?"

Ranma leaned closer then raised her face so that she would be looking up at him. "You sound like a spoiled child, making demands from her parent."

She pouted again. "My parent hasn't been spoiling me enough."

The drop of rain that fell across her cheek stopped any further response that would come from him. Ranma frowned and wiped it from her face with his thumb. "Damn." Lowering his hand from her face, he caught one of hers and pulled her closer so that he could see her clearly. "Let's get out of here."

"Why?" Akane asked trying to catch up to Ranma's long stride and fast pace, while squinting in the dark at the direction that they were running. There was no cleared path, no landmarks she could visibly see in the dark. She was lost in an instant. "You're scared of the rain?"

Ranma didn't answer. He was having trouble spotting the small sukiya, the teahouse where chanoyu is held, that he had spotted when they first arrived. His visibility was already hampered by the night. Akane was complicating things. "Kodachi, if I get wet..."

"If you get wet, what's the problem? Afraid that the clothes will shrink?" Akane laughed, she was treating it all like a big joke. Why shouldn't she? She didn't know of Jusenkyo.

He didn't want to explain to his sister why he'd been caught in the rain. He didn't want to explain to the samurai present why Ranko was there and she needed hot water. There were secrets that he prized, Jusenkyo was one of them. "More of the other way around," Ranma muttered as he finally spotted the small isolated house, slammed the door opened and pushed Akane in as she knelt before the low doorway, just as the rain began to fall heavily.

"Great," Akane muttered as she looked outside, the white sheet of rain coupled with the fog and the dark, making it impossible to see past an arm's length, maybe less. She pulled the shogi close just as the wind blew the rain towards them. "Looks like I'm marooned here."

Ranma hoped whoever the vassal that owned the place was, would understand exactly why they were dripping all over the place and making a complete mess of the tatami. Ranma groped around in the dark for a lantern, thankful that the water had not been enough to incur the change.

"Uh... Ranma?" Akane tried to get his attention as she tugged on his hand. "That's my shirt you're holding."

"Sorry." The room was pitch black. He could only see her figure moving about in the dark and none of the details. "Try to find the lantern, or the brazier." After a few seconds of groping in the dark, Ranma finally found the small lantern and lit it up. He opened up the brazier and lit that one too, making the room a bit less chilly than it had been before.

"How did you light that up?" Akane asked in wonder.

"Chi," Ranma informed her, a bit distracted as he opened the window that led to the outside terrace. The rain was heavy and Akane would not be able to reach Rose Brier safely if she went out now. "Have you eaten?"

She smiled sheepishly as she warmed her hands at the brazier, her hair was dripping wet and her clothes were damp -- but they were not soaked through. "I haven't eaten since lunch."

"The rashes from your allergy are completely gone," Ranma commented as he closed the window again. "That salve Cologne gave you works miracles."

Akane's hand shot up to her face, she hadn't even realized that it was truly gone. When she left Rose Brier, they were dwindling and were reduced to a few minor dots. "I guess."

"I'll get you something to eat," Ranma told her as he opened the doors, letting the cold breeze in for a moment, "I hope you have nothing against okonomiyaki?"

"Not unless it has kamboko." Akane offered a weak smile.

Nodding, Ranma was gone in the dark night, shutting the door quietly behind him.

-

Nabiki-kun looked at the people milling about the room and frowned noting that his twin wasn't to be found anywhere. Ranma's ability to slip out even in a room full of samurai astounded him, but worried him to no end.

Happosai was not a very patient man and Genma's tardiness was starting to affect his mood. Happosai's mood as well as Ranma's absence left her in deep thought, so she was easily taken by surprise when something hit her quite forcibly in the head. Catching it as it fell, she looked at the small rock in her palm turning it over slowly.

The small stone that hit Nabiki's head was no coincidence. When another stone tried to hit her a second time, she caught it before it connected to her head. She tossed both stones a few times in the air and searched for the person who could have thrown them. It didn't take her long to find the culprit.

She found Ranma-chan swinging from the ledge on the window waving at her. Ranma managed to do this all while she was upside down. If Nabiki was fond of hitting her head against the wall, she would have done so now. 'His aim is still good,' she thought as she went towards his sibling and raised an eyebrow. There had been only some centimeters between Nabiki and the next samurai, allowing Ranma little room for error.

"I take it you want some hot water?" Nabiki drawled trying to hit Ranma with one of the stones and failing when Ranma swung to the left.

"Mphhh phee--" Ranma mumbled incoherently. The slippery wristbands that he took off so that he could get better purchase on the eaves were in between his teeth, preventing articulation of the words. He held his shoes with his left hand, threw his rocks with his right hand, all the while holding on to the roof with his toes.

Nabiki snatched the wet wristbands Ranma had been biting, as well as his shoes, before she said, "Continue please."

"Yes, please," Ranma answered Nabiki's previous question, his hands finding their way to aid his feet clasped on the roof shingle. "And some blankets, a couple of towels and an okonomiyaki."

"Why don't you get it?" Nabiki asked as she threw him another one of the pebbles that Ranma had thrown to bring her attention to him earlier. "I'm not a servant you know."

Ranma evaded neatly by another swing, which didn't surprise Nabiki all that much, but added to her irritation. "Yeah, yeah. You're my sister. That makes it better," Ranma's reply didn't help with her current mood.

"I swear if--"

"I wasn't your twin, you'd get revenge. Yes, I know," he finished, the line being overly used by Nabiki. He smiled sweetly, trying to cajole her into doing is wishes. "Is that anger and frustration I sense coming from you, Nabiki? That's not good for your chi output you know."

"If I were Ranma Saotome, who depends on his confidence for a chi blast, of course it wouldn't be good." Nabiki smirked a little. "But I'm not Ranma Saotome, am I?"

Ranma grinned. "At the moment, you are. Now would you please get the items I've requested, dearest brother of mine? I'm getting tired of hanging on this ledge."

Shaking her head, Nabiki turned to comply with Ranma's request. "You know, this isn't exactly the way you should treat someone you're asking a favor from," she lectured. She returned after a few minutes, all items wrapped in a furoshiki. "Your items, my lady. Mind telling me where you've been playing?"

"Around," Ranma answered vaguely. She didn't really expect an answer from Ranma.

Nabiki rolled her eyes, if Ranma didn't want to be found that was his problem. If Happosai looked for him, stalling the liege lord would be next to impossible. "Now scoot out of there to whoever you're talking to and be sure to be back before Genma gets here." She was already growing suspicious of the articles he asked her to fetch. "I would really like to know if that samurai he's fetching is panda friendly."

The rain would surely hamper Genma's arrival, especially since Genma would be a panda at the moment. He wasn't the wisest of all people either. Ranma just had the sudden urge to find out if the man Genma was supposed to fetch really was 'panda friendly' as Nabiki termed.

"Yes, ma'am," Ranma answered as she slung the bundle over her back and jumped off the ledge to disappear into the night once more. It was certainly a feat to watch, since Ranma accomplished everything while upside down. Nabiki never did get the hang of maneuverability at odd places like Ranma did.

"Ranko! Wait!" Nabiki called out, Ranma looked back and ran up to her again.

"What is it this time?" Ranma groused as he laid the furoshiki down.

Nabiki-kun held out the tea kettle, Ranma's shoes and the twin wristbands she was holding in her other hand. "I can't take the kettle out of the house." She poured the hot contents over him, then not waiting for the transformation to finish, handed him a bangasa, an oiled paper umbrella, that she propped against the wall along with Ranma's other items. "Try your best not to get wet."

Ranma looked from the umbrella to Nabiki, opening the bangasa. "I can handle rain, Nabiki." He ran out again.

Shaking her head as she watched his twin go, Nabiki closed the small shoji window, not even noticing as Cologne hopped up close to her. "What do you find amusing in the night, Lord Shizukama?"

"Oh, nothing elder... just the wind."

-

Akane shivered slightly as the small shoji doors opened, letting the cool night air into the less than accommodating shed. Thankfully, her teeth weren't chattering and Ifuku's clothes were more comfortable than she thought they would be.

Akane looked up from the brazier as Ranma knelt to get in. Such doors were called 'a humble entrance' and were usually found in these teahouses. She smiled as she watched him set his Chinese slippers outside and drop the bundle he was holding on to the floor. This was the closest she would ever see Ranma as 'humbled'.

"I got some towels an' some blankets. You'd better get out of that wet kimono." Ranma threw her one of the larger towels. Akane caught it, happily thinking that the statement showed his concern for her. "Besides, Ifuku might feel bad when you return her a soggy dress."

"Oh..." Her spirits plummeted. She looked around, but the sukiya was a small single room house. There was nothing to hide behind to change.

"I really didn't bring any extra clothes, because if Na-- Shizukama went around asking for one... well, they might get suspicious." Ranma took an okonomiyaki, wrapped in thin paper and some wooden chopsticks from the small bundle, handing them to her. "There isn't any other food in the house. You'll just have to settle for this until you get home."

Accepting the food Akane nodded then shivered at the cold. Paper houses really didn't do much for protection from the cold elements of the weather, and the brazier was smaller than the traditional fireplace usually located on the main houses.

"You wouldn't get cold if you just took off those damp clothes of yours and wrapped yourself up in a blanket," Ranma suggested sitting opposite of her. "But you really don't have to follow that, it's just an idea, really."

Akane raised an eyebrow at the sarcasm that tinged his voice. 'Well if he wants it that way...' She tugged on the obi that held her dress, undoing the ribbon from its place.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Well, you suggested to 'take off those damp clothes'. What does it look like?" Akane asked as she pulled out the small ribbon that held her hair in the ponytail Kodachi seemed to favor, spilling it over her shoulders. She hadn't noticed that Kodachi's hair reached below her waist before... she really needed a haircut.

"Yes, but..." he started to protest weakly.

It was the first time she had seen Ranma uncomfortable other from an argument, it was uncanny, she stopped undressing. "If it makes you uncomfortable..." Akane gave him a teasing smile as she trailed off.

He mumbled something under his breath that sounded somewhat like, "It doesn't make me uncomfortable...", but Akane couldn't be sure.

Akane stared at him dubiously, the look on her face suggested that she didn't believe his words. She took out the outer layer of Ifuku's kimono but left the under-kimono on and wrapped herself around the blanket that Ranma offered her, folding Ifuku's outer garments with her shaking hands. "Sure, that's why your right eyebrow is twitching."

"Don't start," Ranma warned as he sat in front of the brazier, across of her. She pulled out the small brazier from the sides into the middle of the tea house so that the warmth would radiate farther.

"Start on what?" She found out that she enjoyed teasing him. He was extremely easy to tease. "I haven't started anything."

They stopped for a moment, and Akane looked him over. He was wetter than she was. Whereas she had damp clothes, he was soaked through his shirt and drawstring pants. His pigtail hung limply and baby hair clung to the sides of his face, dripping water all over the tatami. "Come nearer the fire," she offered. He didn't budge. "Afraid I'd bite?"

He inched closer, although it was hardly an improvement over his earlier position. She resisted the urge to laugh.

She was surprised to find him glaring at her. "What is it you want Kodachi?" he asked impatiently, motioning vaguely towards the world he left so that he could tend to her. "Happosai is just beyond that door, my sister is covering up for me, and we're just lucky that my old man isn't here yet. Other than that, would you please hurry up? Do what you want to do and get it over with."

She had pushed him too far. She forgot too easily that this wasn't a husband she shared ease and friendship with. They did not hold enough trust for easy banter. They did not know each other enough for the boundaries of light teasing. She overstepped her bounds. "I really came for what I said earlier," she soothed him with solemnity, when she failed with jest. Theirs was the beginning of a relationship, but one built on a shaky foundation. "I'm not leaving without it."

"Your goodbye," he echoed. "Tell me a good reason why I should?"

The challenge in his voice did not go unnoticed. He got her there. Why should he give her a goodbye? Why did it seem so important to her anyway? She could have just stayed home and have gotten her good 'ole goodbye some other time. It was just a word. Ranma was different from Ryoga. Ranma was a man who lived in a time of war, a man whose trust was broken before, who did not share his trust easily with his wife. Why would he bestow his favor onto her?

"I only wanted to hear it from you, Ranma. Maybe even a..." 'Maybe even a kiss if I was lucky.' She didn't know what possessed her to say that. Ranma was distant enough as it was. Such an admission would push him even further. She did not know she said her thoughts in a small whisper, but enough for him to hear.

She stood up, the blanket dropping to her feet, forgetting the fact that she was only wearing her under kimono and that the rain was still raging outside. "Maybe I should leave. I've disturbed you enough as it is. It looks to me that you see me as a problem." She took a moment to look at him in the eye. "Am I a problem? If I'm a problem to you..." she didn't finish her sentence.

"No, wait. I didn't mean --" She heard him curse as she ran outside. The rain greeted her. She was soaked in an instant, her hair blocking her view, the ground muddy at her feet. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,' Akane thought as she tried to get her bearings.

Someone caught her hand, and she tried to snatch it back. "Ranma, let me go, I already said I was sorry, okay."

"I -- I'm not Ranma."

Turning around she found Ranko staring back at her, still holding her hand, she was giving her on odd look that bordered on uncertainty. "Oh... Ranko... I'm sorry... I thought you were -- "

"Ranma." The small girl frowned. "I know. You told me. Don't you think you should wait out the rain?" She gave a little cough, motioning towards Akane's current state of undress. "Besides... you're half naked."

Akane looked down at herself. She had forgotten that she left her outer garments by the small house, but she shook her head. "I'm not going back to him. I've taken enough humiliation as it is."

"You think going back to get your clothes is less humiliating than running around Yuigahama in your under kimono." Ranko looked at her incredulously, mockery tinting her voice. "I can see the logic there, Akane."

"Why is it that you people only remember to call me that if you think I'm upset? If Ranma sent you here to scorn me, tell him I'm not interested. Besides, who the hell would take notice in me?" Akane tried to snatch back her arm from Ranko again, but found out the girl had a surprisingly strong grip. "Would you please let me go my own way now?"

"First of all, you'd be surprised at exactly who'll notice a twenty-five year old woman, who's half-naked, by the way, walking alone in the dark, isolated streets of Yuigahama. I should know." Ranko gave her a look that told her to listen, and Akane was uncomfortably sure that Ranko was right. Feudal Japan was much scarier than modern Japan, whereas rapists knew that the police were efficient in the present, bandits were abundant in the past and not all samurai were able to catch them. "Secondly, how are you going to find your way back to Rose Brier, with your energy reserves almost depleted, only a half eaten okonomiyaki in your stomach for dinner, and tired from running?"

"I got here, didn't I?"

"That was different," Ranko pointed out, and Akane could see that the advice Ranko was giving her was the sensible thing to do, but hell would freeze over before she admitted that. "You had daylight. Let me remind you that you didn't find Yuigahama, the samurai found you. What would they do to you when you breach the border a second time?"

It was true. All of it was true. If she was thinking straight, she would have asked how Ranko could possibly know that. She brushed her soaked locks away from her face, the rain trailing down her face, and the image she portrayed seemed so fragile, that Ranko didn't know if Akane would survive if she let her go. "I'll manage. I'm not exactly a porcelain doll."

"You're distraught." Ranko observed, her look bordering on patience she really didn't feel. "I understand that. You've had a fight with Ra-- with Lord Ranma. I understand that too. Now... would you please reconsider? I won't fetch him. I promise."

Akane looked dejectedly at her hands, and Ranko let her arm go before Akane asked, "Tell my why he doesn't understand I'm trying then? At least tell me that."

"You must understand that there are things that are hard to accept, especially if these things come from you." Ranko peered at Akane's downcast eyes, Akane felt that Ranko didn't know what to tell her either. "There are things that take time."

She looked straight at Ranko, her voice lowering to a mere whisper, unsure why she was confiding to Ranma's supposed consort of all people, but finding herself trusting the petite woman that came for her. "How long does he want? I don't think I can wait forever."

"I don't think he can either," Ranko answered in the same lowered voice Akane used. Ranko looked at Akane and the mess she has started again, quite uncertain where she would go from there. She was also very worried for her sake. Happosai was not an easy man to handle, to be caught, Kodachi or not, meant an extreme penalty. Happosai was not a lenient man.

"Ranma!" the feminine voice came from the larger of the two houses. Akane identified the thickly accented voice as Shampoo's. "Is that you?"

Ranko's head shot up at the call, and Akane heard a faint curse coming from the girl. It was dark and the rain coupled with the fog hindered visibility. But Ranko's red hair made her easy to spot in the night. Akane briefly wondered why Shampoo associated the color with Ranma.

"Do you remember the way back to the sukiya?" Ranko whispered urgently as she looked at where the Shampoo was standing. A few more steps and they'd have an instant cat at their hands.

"No." When she ran out, she had no point of origin. She just ran blindly, not knowing where she would go.

Ranko cursed again. There was an urgent tone in her voice now that Akane had not noticed earlier. Taking out the shorter of her two swords, Ranko gave Akane instructions while she handed it over, "Here, take this. When a samurai stops you at the periphery, show it to them. They should recognize it as a Saotome's sword. Tell them it's Lord Ranma's."

There was only time to give Ranko a confused look at the sudden change of plans, not knowing how to handle the weapon that was just handed to her. "Why, aren't you going with me?"

There was a pained expression in Ranko's face as she turned to look at Shampoo. "I can't. If anybody finds you -- I can't." Ranko gave Akane a small push towards the woods. "Go."

Akane turned to run, clutching the short sword tightly against her chest. The insistent tone of Ranko's voice convinced her that it was imperative for her not to be caught.

Many unanswered questions filled her mind. Still, one thought burned clear: She sought Ranma out, and when it was his time to do so, he wasn't the one who came for her. Though she had hard feelings before she left him, Ranma wasn't the one who went to get her. She desperately wanted Ranko to have been him.

-

Ranma-chan watched as Akane stumbled towards the dim path, and then turned to look at Shampoo. She was wisely keeping to the small wooden porch outside the house that was still shielded by the roof.

She looked grimly at Shampoo, knowing that Ranma was the one who needed to advance towards her because of Shampoo's curse. It would be a very difficult situation -- not to mention embarrassing -- for them if Shampoo decided to take a walk in the rain.

"Shampoo," Ranma called out, although he was sure it was the Chinese girl who interrupted his visit with Akane. "Wait for me there." Shampoo was wise enough not to go out in the rain while Ranma or Nabiki was present, but he wanted to make sure that she didn't hear Akane's feet running across the trees. His order was said more to mask her leave than concern for Shampoo's actions.

She didn't know if Shampoo would tell on them or if Shampoo would even realize that she was supposed to tell on them, but somehow it was his first instinct to cover up for Akane. Ranma stepped up to the small porch, and flicked her pigtail away, asking in Chinese, "<Something you want, Shampoo?>"

Looking over Ranma's shoulder, Shampoo looked at him inquisitively. "<Weren't you talking to somebody?>"

"<No, I was just walking in the rain.>" Somehow, Ranma doubted if Shampoo would believe that. Jusenkyo cursed victims tended to have an affinity towards anything water related that they couldn't control. Rain was their primary opponent. "<I was caught in the rain that's all. Pops is a bit late.>"

"<Hmmm... I wonder how his charge reacts when they realize the panda is your foster father.>" It seems like everybody wanted to know that particular story. Shampoo smiled lightly, and Ranma could imagine her entertaining the thought of the samurai killing the panda. After all these years, Shampoo still harbored anger towards Genma -- he knew the girl could bear grudges -- just not for seven years. "<It would sure be interesting to know.>"

"Ahh..." An uneasy silence settled on them, Shampoo didn't want to broach the topic of Hanae and Ranma was forced not to tell. The situation was more awkward than the two were willing to let on. In the end Shampoo was the one who broke the silence, deciding to keep Rian's past for another day.

" I was wondering... Ranma,>" Shampoo whispered, biting her lip in indecision, wondering if she really should continue with what had been a moment of insanity. " Would you mind terribly if I asked a favor?>"

" Anything for a friend.>" Ranma smiled. That wasn't quite true, she really couldn't handle a request for a kiss at that moment, but then she doubted that Shampoo would ask that of her now. Especially since it was widely known that even after the curse was found out, Shampoo hated Ranma's girl side.

"Ranma," she addressed him as she looked away. "<Couldn't you...>" There was another pause signifying how hard Shampoo was trying to get the words out. Ranma gave the Chinese Amazon a supportive smile. "<Can't you... love me for one night? Even if it was just pretend?>"

He wasn't prepared for that either. Ranma froze in place, his eyes grew wide and almost shouted out 'What!' then schooled his face before Shampoo turned to look at him for the answer.

He always thought Shampoo got over him; that the Amazon girl chose to forget the past. He always thought she found someone else. The Fiancée Wars was a trying time for all of them, and it was not easy to look back. When it was proclaimed over, everyone had a hard time trying to change their ways. But Cologne gave him the impression that Shampoo moved on. She seemed far too deep in the Amazon matriarch's training and seemed to have no time for anything else.

He wasn't the smartest chip out of the block when it came to things like his fiancées, and he did not noticed any change in Shampoo's attitude, just that she was more withdrawn, more introspective. Now, he realized that what he mistook for pensiveness was a deep sadness. Shampoo was terribly depressed.

Before he could answer however, a panda shoved the two apart followed by a sword-swinging samurai. 'Well, there goes the rest of our party,' Ranma thought as he shouted, "Pops! Can't you for once look at where you're going?"

Ranma jumped from the position Genma pushed her into, chasing after them before Shampoo could ask her question again. Shampoo followed him close behind. 'I'm sorry Shampoo. This is just the way things are.'

---

Ukyo cleaned up the grill, putting the extra batter away for some other samurai who would find themselves starving later. She didn't turn the grill off completely, just scraped off the dough that stuck to it. The night was a bit cold and the grill provided the warmth that her kimono could not.

It was promising to be a cold month. She put away the zabuton and wondered exactly what her Aunt Kashiko had been telling her about the fun at Yuigahama. It seemed like any straightforward meeting. There were samurai, liege lord, daimyo and a couple of Chinese Amazons for spice but there was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that was really special. Yuigahama was just like any other samurai meeting she chanced upon.

The excitement started and ended with Genma Saotome's arrival. Genma entered with his sign saying, 'Please don't kill me!'; a samurai she didn't know, but who was probably a Saotome; Ranma-chan who was trying to get the samurai off the panda; Shampoo who was walking dejectedly in; Nabiki-kun who was calling for hot water; and Happosai ordering them to the next room. In the next second, they were all tucked away behind the shoji, leaving her alone.

She had been too amused to help them then, and now, she really didn't know what to do. The sounds of battle reached her ears, and she shook her head. 'Well at least they sound like they're having fun over there.'

The rain lessened but the air turned more than chilly and Ukyo suppressed a light shiver. She did not bring anything for the cold. Pulling a small rug, she started to wipe off the plates that she finished washing. If the samurai wanted more okonomiyaki later -- they'd just have to wait for the batter to heat up. She was fresh out of pre-made okonomiyaki.

After a moment, what she gauged to be Nabiki-kun slid out of the shoji, shutting the doors behind him, leaning against it. He looked like he'd been through hell and it was a rare sight to see him -- her as such.

"Nabiki," Ukyo called out, but he didn't look her way. "Fine, Shizukama, then."

Just as she said the words, Nabiki-kun turned and stared at her offering a weak smile, as if he'd only seen her now. He really was frazzled and Ukyo had never seen Nabiki frazzled before. "Come sit by the grill. It's warmer."

She took out the zabuton she had just kept, but Nabiki-kun turned to look at the window instead. The rain was still pouring, lessening to a slight drizzle.

Ukyo turned towards the door, a soaking wet furoshiki leaning against the wooden planks, a small oiled umbrella, and a half-eaten okonomiyaki that Nabiki turned to get before he went into the 'briefing room' as Ukyo had termed it. "Are those yours?"

Nabiki-kun turned towards it, a puzzled expression in his face then nodded. "Yeah, they're mine."

"Do you want to talk?" Ukyo asked, Nabiki-kun seemed to be a little more preoccupied than the usual, and he seemed to need a friend right now. She wanted so much to give to Nabiki what Nabiki had given her all those years ago. "Is there a problem?"

Nabiki-kun turned to look towards the window. To Ukyo, it looked like he was seeing much more than the trees, the fog and the rain, and his gaze lingered for far more. "It's not so much as a problem. It's more of a..." He stopped to think for the appropriate words, "Riddle I can't fix."

That was a new one. Nabiki Saotome always had the answer to everything. "It'll plot its own course. In time, you'll get your answer. Some riddles... aren't meant to be answered." She wished she had more advice than vague words, but Nabiki-kun didn't seem to mind.

"Ucchan... about last --"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a samurai opening the door. He clutched a dead pigeon in one hand and a wet and crumpled note in the other. The samurai left his wet slippers out of the room and padded up to the tatami. He waved the note in the air, eyes searching the room. "Where's Lord Happosai?"

Both of them pointed to the shoji that Nabiki-kun just came out from. "Just make sure what you have there is important. Lord Happosai doesn't like interruptions."

The samurai didn't answer him as he barged through the shoji. Nabiki-kun raised three fingers, a smile playing on his face. "Three."

"What are you doing?" Ukyo whispered.

"Just watch," he said as he brought it down to two.

"Are you sure about this?" Ukyo asked skeptically.

"Perfectly," he assured her. It was down to one now. "I'd stay clear of that part of the shoji if I were you."

"Why?"

When his small count down reached zero, a loud crash was heard and the samurai they were talking about flew out of the adjoining room, and impacted onto the wall opposite them. "Lord Happosai's predictable, as always."

"I'm glad you find this amusing, boy." Happosai puffed from the wrecked shoji as he stepped out, the samurai were still seated in order that he had left him, Shampoo and Ranma bowed to each other, it had been the two of them Happosai had chosen for the fight before the samurai was interrupted.

He walked over to the man and picked out the letter from his hands. "Make sure he gets treated." One of the samurai rushed to comply. "Who owns this house?"

"Kindoshi, one of the wealthier merchants of the region," Ranma answered.

"Make sure his shoji and tatami are replaced," Happosai ordered as he turned to read the letter. He then turned towards Nabiki. "Ranma, why are you out here?"

Ukyo placed her hand against her mouth as she stared at Ranma, whom awhile ago she had thought was Nabiki in her cursed form. She had her chance to talk to him and she had blown it because of utter stupidity. After all this time, she still couldn't differentiate one from the other in an instant. Damn.

Nabiki-kun noticed this and raised his eyebrows.

"The important things were finished awhile ago. You were pitting me up against almost every one of my relatives. I was getting tired." Ranma shrugged. "I needed some fresh air."

"Tired when you were winning?" Happosai shook his head as he threw the letter at Ranma, who deftly caught it before it cut him across the cheek, "If that's true then Genma hasn't trained you the way you should be. You should be interested in the contents of that letter, boy."

Ranma unrolled the parchment paper that had been inside the small cylinder at the bird's leg, and scanned it. His head shot up searching for and catching Nabiki's attention in the process, a frown starting to form on his face.

"What's wrong?" Nabiki-kun asked as she strode towards him. Ranma handed the letter over to his sister.

"We've got to go," Ranma said, frowning as he straightened. "It's from mother. Someone has torched Nerima to the ground."

---

Kodachi looked at the blaze with mild interest. The light sparkled against her eyes. She was almost complete now. Only the topmost layer of her skin was missing. Her muscles were better than when she was nineteen. The peasant that had been chosen for her was not half that bad.

It was also a fast body that knew how to fight. She needn't train much to get everything in order. She should be readying to go for Rose Brier. There were so much to do, and so little time to do it.

With Nerima down, Rose Brier was already in her hands. All it needed was a little tweaking in their part. She admired the fires as another convulsion took over. Fires were always beautiful. "Are they still in Yuigahama?"

"Yes."

'Good.' Kodachi thought as she saw another courier pigeon in the air, Gosunkugi raised his bow to kill it, but Kodachi held him back, "Let the bird go."

"We've set three birds free already," Gosunkugi complained. "Samurai are going to get here."

Kodachi looked at him, giving him a patronizing gaze, as if she was talking to a three-year-old boy. "That's the point."

She really didn't need the whole of Nerima to burn. She actually didn't really need Nerima to burn. It was just a suitable enough distraction to get the twins away from Rose Brier and the fire was a perfect excuse. It also helped matters that Ranma had taken a lot of the samurai to reinforce Yuigahama. 'Ranma's banal as always.'

"Then what's the point of loosing all of these men, to make a small burn in a city that won't make a difference in Ranma Saotome's life?" Gosunkugi demanded.

"Patience is a virtue, Gosunkugi," Kodachi reminded him, smelling the rose in her hand. She didn't want people thinking for her, she was doing enough of the thinking already. If she had to explain her plans to every single lout that passed her way, it wouldn't be much of a plan.

"I want to make Ranma Saotome's life a living hell." Gosunkugi's plans were simple, and they bordered on hate for Ranma Saotome that she nurtured. Gosunkugi probably didn't even know why he hated Ranma. He just did. Kodachi's reasons ran far deeper.

"It can be arranged. For what is hell, really," Kodachi murmured slowly. "But a total lack of happiness?"

---

Nabiki-kun stretched his muscles as they neared their house, it had been a long walk and he was tired because of the entire Yuigahama meeting. The lengthy walk home wasn't really helping his sore muscles any and he wanted rest. Trekking through Yuigahama just after midnight, after he had been fighting Shampoo was not one of his favorite pastimes.

At that moment, he envied Cologne for her cane. Not a single speck of mud touched Cologne, her immaculately white hair or her intricately made Chinese dress. Nabiki shuddered as she stepped on a puddle, almost groaning with distaste when the patch of mud covered his entire shoe feeling the sticky substance through the material. The downpour the night before made traveling harder.

When the first twin arches of Rose Brier greeted her she almost shouted in glee, happy to know that it was home. Tired and irked by the fact that she would be leaving almost immediately after they arrived, she was still happy to be home. She wanted a long bath, her usual attire and the right balance of body parts.

Sasuke was with them as soon as the crossed the first arches, the black ninja bowing to each of them.

"We have just received word from Yokohama, sirs. It seems like the city has been attacked." It was not the best news that could've greeted their ears when they arrived home. "We were informed that another samurai was sent to inform you, so we did not bother to order Sara to fetch you."

Ranma nodded to confirm what Sasuke reported before he turned towards Shampoo and Cologne. "I'm sorry that we had to go home before Happosai dismissed us..."

"Nonsense child, I already got what I wanted from Happosai. Apologies aren't necessary." She turned towards Shampoo and raised her eyebrow. "Shampoo seems a little tired as well. The both of you tired my great-granddaughter. You have improved much since we last met."

Both bowed at the compliment, and Ranma turned to Sasuke again. "Is Kodachi home?"

The question surprised Nabiki. To her knowledge, Kodachi was as isolated as the day she fell on that horse. She has not attempted to leave Rose Brier. Ranma had stopped asking that question since their trip to the border last month because it was obvious that Kodachi didn't plan to leave them any time soon.

"She arrived some sticks before you did, sirs." Sasuke motioned towards the house. "It seems she forgot her outer kimono and her shoes, she was wearing nothing but her chemise. She was soaking wet and distressed, but she was well otherwise. Shall I call her?"

"No... No." Ranma shook his head to reinforce his words, and then turned towards Cologne and Shampoo. "I hope you don't mind that Nabiki and I will be leaving you at the house again. I hope that we have more time, but we have to take care of those fires."

"You worry too much, son-in-law. We'll be fine. And we love teaching your children." Cologne took an interest in the students' martial arts, and though Shampoo had tried to hide it, she also tried to put as much help in training them.

"Serve another dinner, Sasuke," Ranma ordered while continuing to walk towards the house.

Nabiki turned towards his companions, not hungry from the full okonomiyaki she ate earlier. "If you don't mind I really would like a bath." Nabiki raised an eyebrow in askance. The three barely acknowledged her with nods, and she took off ahead of them to rest her tired muscles in a relaxing bath, and at least recover her true form.

She entered the house silently, passing by her room to get a fresh set of Chinese clothes, only to find Kodachi looking out to the bay. She did not plan on talking to her, but Kodachi turned around immediately, and offered a little smile, hiding something behind her back.

"You're home."

"You're wet," Nabiki noted, stating the obvious. An important point was trickling in the back of her head, but could not be brought out. "Is there something we need to talk about?"

"Not if we're going to have a repeat of what we talked about tonight," Kodachi said slowly.

So that's where Ranma disappeared to -- she should have realized that when he asked if Kodachi arrived home. 'The sneak,' she thought. He made her cover up while he was having a little fun with Kodachi... or was it... "It depends on your definition of 'repeat'." Technically, whatever they would talk about could not be a repeat of last night, because there was no last night. At least, not for Nabiki.

"So... how did the conference go?" Kodachi was trying hard to strike up a conversation. She would find out that Nabiki didn't want one.

Nabiki shrugged. "It's a meeting. What do you expect?" She rolled his eyes. "A meeting is a gathering of people who singly can do nothing but together decide that nothing can be done. It's a classic."

That silenced her for a wile. It was obvious Nabiki wasn't in the mood to talk. "Ranma... I -- I really want to work things out." Kodachi looked out of the window. "Can we try to work things out?"

Nabiki froze up, this was going against every rule she set up for herself when she was a child. Never try to pretend to be Ranma when it involved a woman in love with him and she was talking about that particular infatuation at the moment. It brought her immense trouble with her brother and with his fiancées. That was... if what Kodachi was showing was love. "We can try." Nabiki sighed. "Making it work is another story."

"That's all I ask for, really," Kodachi answered softly as she turned out to look at the bay again.

Nabiki took that as a signal to end the conversation and gratefully stepped away from the woman. She noted all of the words that were said -- and those that weren't as she stepped into the bathhouse, leaving Kodachi to her thoughts. Nabiki shut the shoji behind her and leaned against it.

Kodachi gave her more than what she was willing to know about her brother's love life. She wanted that knowledge given to her by Ranma, not extracted from Kodachi. She realized that she knew so little of her brother's new feelings for Kodachi. It unsettled her.

She always knew where things stood, and Kodachi having amnesia threw everything off balance.

In the end it really didn't matter anyway... she wasn't Ranma and only Ranma could decide for himself. Too many questions, but not all questions had answers... and not all answers were pleasant ones.

-

Ranma sat against the roof, his mind wandering over the recent events. Nerima and Yokohama were torched at the same time. Coincidence? He wasn't a strong believer in the word. People make things happen. Fate doesn't screw your life up, people do.

Sometimes you yourself did. It was his fault that Nerima and Yokohama were poorly protected. He should have known that any enemy would have attacked there. But the attacks have centered on the border, he had been sure they wouldn't bring it inside Sagami. He was wrong, and a lot of people died because of his mistake.

He closed his eyes at the impending headache, and opened them to find out he wasn't alone.

"Hey," Nabiki said softly trying to get her attention. She was fresh from her bath and her hair was still damp, so she opted to let it loose, hanging freely around her waist, managing to get her clothes a little damp. She sat down beside him on the smooth roof, her fingers resting slightly against his shoulders for balance before she let go.

"Hey," Ranma murmured in greeting as he turned towards his twin sister. Echoes of words he had exchanged with Shampoo not too long ago.

"I thought I'd find you here." Nabiki smiled as she looked at the stars that he had been observing a while ago. "Wherever we are, they still look the same, don't they?"

"Yeah," Ranma answered, it had been a pastime when they were younger, because they were left to their own devices in their free time. Since their childhood wasn't spent playing with toys, but with hard battle they spent their free time together, trying to find a silent moment they could share. They shared numerous picnics, tree-hopping, and star gazing moments together, because back then, they only had each other. They named what they thought they saw and laughed at their silliness. It was something that they always enjoyed together.

"How are you?" Their conversations usually bordered on the Sagami or on the problems of Nerima now. They rarely had time for each other, and such conversations were precious. "It's been a while. You seem tired Ranma, does the night bother you?"

"Hmmm? No... no," he answered distractedly, still starting at the stars, or at nothing.

"Then what does?" Nabiki asked as she folded her arms and rested her head against them. "Does your wife trouble your thoughts again?"

"Does your husband trouble yours?" he shot back. Sometimes, when he didn't like answering her questions he answered with one of his own. Usually repeating the question she asked him, forcing her to answer for the two of them and try to see just how prying her questions were.

"A good question," she teased. They were too alike her brother and her, she was married to a person she didn't love, and he was married to a person who didn't want love. She was truthful in her answer, "Sometimes."

"Sometimes," Ranma echoed his sister, both to stress her answer and to answer to her own question. He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Nabiki, have you ever wished that you were born out of caste? That you weren't samurai? Maybe even eta?"

"Will being eta make a difference?" Nabiki had always been like that, asking question for a question, giving an answer only when she wished too.

He stopped to ponder over it a moment before answering, "I guess not."

"Then I'd rather not." Nabiki reclined on the roof, her hands behind her back, trying to get comfortable on the cold shingles. "We were born into privilege, and it means certain responsibilities. Being heir must weigh you down so much."

"It's not so much as being an heir as being a puppet," he explained as he copied Nabiki's position, lying down next to her. "I don't like being played as a fool, Nabiki. I'm turning out to be one."

"No one can make you foolish without your consent." It was one of their old lessons and it received a smile from Ranma as well. "There, that's so much better."

Silence rang in the air just as loud as any other words could have. A cat purred in the distance, breaking their silence and both shivered at the sound. "Do you think the amnesia is real?" He's been thinking these questions for a while now, and it bothered him because there were no easy answers.

"Do you want it to be real?" Nabiki asked as both of them registered the sounds of the household preparing for the night.

"Maybe," he answered.

"<You know... before, when I met you and Kodachi together... when I was granted omiai I was happy that Happosai had settled you in with a good wife. You seemed happy on your wedding day too,>" Nabiki said in Chinese, because emotions were better talked about in Chinese and because no one could listen in the language. She sighed, brought out of weariness of the long years that passed. "<But I knew you didn't love her, maybe like, but not love... Now, I'm not quite sure. I think you're managing to fall in love with her.>"

"Do you think I'm playing out my cards wrong, Nabiki? Am I making a big mistake?" the worry in his voice didn't go past Nabiki.

"You aren't perfect, Ranma," Nabiki whispered. "You're twenty-nine, you're allowed to a few mistakes. It doesn't matter that you're heir to Anything Goes, that you're a hatamoto, that you're samurai. It's all just words, and when you strip all of that... you're... you. Does that make any sense? Life's like that. What matters is that we learn."

"When you strip all of that," Ranma told her. "I'm nothing."

Nabiki smiled as she gave his hand a comforting squeeze. "Is that a feeling of inadequacy coming from you, Ranma? Careful, it could be bad for your chi output." It earned her another small smile. "That's not true Ranma, when you strip all that, you have an extremely honorable man, who's loyal to his family, who's a good father to his children and a good brother to me."

"Thanks, Nabiki." He sighed. "You're always there when I need you."

"It's what twins are for, so that you never walk down a path alone." Nabiki sat up then looked down on her brother. "I have asked you this before, and I will ask you again. I want the truth. Do you love her?"

He looked away. She needn't mention the name for him to know who she was talking about. "Maybe, I don't know anymore, Nabiki. Everything's confusing me. She's different."

"How so?"

"Have you heard her laugh? It's sweet, and she has the most beautiful smile... that's almost... cute." He stopped further comments when Nabiki raised her hand to his forehead. "What the!"

"No... you don't have a temperature." She shook her head exaggeratedly and clucked her tongue, heaving him up so that he was sitting. "Have you been taking drugs again, because if you have, I'm going to be forced to tell mom that you're--"

"Nabiki!" Ranma sat up slapping her hand away from his forehead. "I'm not delusional. I don't take opium and you know it. I'm telling you the truth. Akane's not an illusion."

Ranma didn't know if Nabiki's look was sympathetic or disapproving. "You are in love," she pronounced the words as if it were a diagnosis of a rare and untreatable disease. "I've never been surer of the fact than now. I wish you could've heard yourself 'she has the most beautiful smile... that's almost... cute...'" she said the words in a small whiny voice while trying to match her cadence with his. She shook her head. "I've heard kawaii used by kids, but never by a grown up."

"Nabiki!" He glared at her antics. "I'm serious here."

"I'm serious, too. Damn it, Ranma." Nabiki took a deep breath. "We're leaving tomorrow, Ranma. I'm sure we won't be back for a week or so. Kodachi is lying awake right now puzzling why the master of the house isn't sleeping, and it's not because she wants him in her bed. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know."

"Then you better listen to me, Ranma and take this to heart." Nabiki held his shirt and shook it a couple of times for emphasis. "I want you happy, and if Kodachi can give you that happiness, I'll step aside. Kodachi can't give you what you want --"

"I'll watch my back for you," he assured her, not letting her finish the threat that was obvious in her voice.

"See that you do." Nabiki stood up and jumped down from the roof. "Good night, brother, be sure you're up by dawn."

Ranma nodded in agreement but told her, "I'll stay here awhile longer."

Jumping down from the roof, Nabiki gave her brother one last look before she entered the doors of the house below. Ranma looked at her then back at the stars. 'Question is, what do I tell mom when I see her tomorrow?'

It was obvious that when Happosai made him marry Kodachi that Nodoka was less than happy with the match. Hell, she was livid when she found out exactly who Kodachi Kuno was. Nodoka was a forgiving woman, but she could bear a grudge and she was overprotective of her two children. Sometimes, Ranma thought that returning to Japan needed him to be five again, always under his mother's watchful eyes.

For her to find out that her son was falling in love with the woman... Ranma shook his head. His mother wasn't unreasonable. Traditional? Yes. Over-protective? Yes, but never unreasonable. He just wondered if falling in love with Kodachi was something she deemed within the realm of reason. Sometimes, he himself didn't.

He sat up from his supine position and massaged his already pounding head. "Akane... what the hell am I going to do now?"

As if by cue, Akane walked out of the same doors Nabiki had entered not too long ago. Her hair was down, and she was wearing one of the new kimonos he had asked Yofuku-san to make for her. It was the kimono he favored, the one with the moon and the stars embroidered in deep midnight blue silk.

For the second time in months, Ranma was looking down at his wife. She wrapped her hands around herself and shivered lightly in the cold breeze. It was cold, the weather had improved, but it was still cold. It was a tame autumn, and there seemed to be no promise of snow, but it didn't prevent her from shaking.

He turned to leave her alone to her thoughts, but she called out, "Ranma, is that you?" Having been spotted changed his plans a bit. He landed down the grass, a few feet from her. He hadn't been planning to talk to her, but … he didn't want to leave her alone so soon after she ran away in the rain.

'It's the second time I've been spotted in one night. I must be getting rusty,' Ranma thought as he turned to face her. "Kodachi, shouldn't you be sleeping?" he managed to insert a slight reprimand in his tone, as well as the right amount of concern. She dismissed the reprimand easily.

"Yes, but the man of the house seems to take his precious time in doing so," she tilted her head, her finger tapping her chin lightly in a teasing gesture. "Would you happen to know why?"

He didn't take the bait but he walked towards her. It was difficult to talk to someone more than three arm-lengths away, and the house was already trying to sleep. "It's always hard to sleep at night... especially now, the nights are cold here. They usually are."

"Oh?" she murmured. He didn't realize the double meaning the words had for Akane.

"Nights here are always cold." He turned to look at her and watched her shiver again. If they had the relationship that most man and wife shared, he would have offered his warmth, instead he rubbed his thumb against his knuckles trying not to look awkward, ignoring her discomfort. "Nabiki and I are leaving tomorrow. There have been some problems at some of the cities."

"And when exactly were you planning to tell me this? Hmm?" Akane asked the slightest tone of teasing in her voice.

"I wasn't going to," he answered immediately. He was honest to a fault, even with his wife, and mostly relied on Nabiki for his deceit. He never managed to mask his feelings from his eyes, and his principles didn't allow him to say an outright lie.

'I guess I should be happy with the blunt honesty rather than calculated lies.' She thought, but a lie would have been so much better to live with, and would have hurt far less. "I see. Why the sudden change?"

"No reason," Ranma said, reaching the part of uneasiness in the conversation he hated. Silence is something easily misunderstood, and silence was a part in the conversation he could never control. "You should get inside. It's getting cold." He didn't turn to watch her go.

"Don't you want your sword back? Ranko gave it to me earlier," Akane explained before she left, fidgeting with the hem of her dress. "I mean you might need it..."

He gave a sigh he had another small sword, "Keep it. You need it more than I do." Akane nodded as she turned to conform to his wishes, moving towards the house. She stopped before she reached the steps turning around to face him again, her hands shaking. For a while, Akane didn't know whether it was from nervousness or the breeze. "I just want to ask you something."

There was a smile playing around his face when he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "Everybody wants to ask something from me tonight. Why should you be any different?" He sighed when he saw her dejected look. "I'm sorry." It was the first time she heard him apologize sincerely for anything, it was entirely out of character. "I didn't mean anything by it. What do you want to ask?"

Gulping, Akane took a deep breath as she slowly walked towards him one more time. When she finally stood inches away, she stopped and whispered, "I just wanted to ask if..."

"My buttons aren't going to answer you," Ranma told her exasperatedly, when she stopped in front of him. Her eyes were fixed on his shirt collar, which was on eye level. She had no courage to look into his eyes but she complied with his unvoiced wish and met his gaze.

Predictably, she lost her nerve almost immediately. Ranma had the most expressive eyes she had ever seen. Right now, she didn't know if she could ask what she had wanted to. "I think I should go."

Ranma caught her arm in his, before she could run out. "That's twice you've told me that in one night." He pulled her towards him in such a way that she was facing him. "Don't run away when you're talking to me." She nodded but still kept her gaze locked at his buttons. This time, he let her stare at them, knowing that another reprimand might cause her to run away again.

"You're one to talk," she accused. He was starting to feel silly talking to her while she was staring at his collar, but listened to her as she continued, "You sent Ranko after me. It's almost as if you wanted me to run away."

"That's not true," Ranma disagreed, not letting go of her arm thinking that she might run away from him again. "There were circumstances that prevented me from going after you."

"But you didn't." It was probably the worst she had felt in days. At least they weren't getting into a fight. At least they were talking.

"I won't defend myself for my actions. I cannot reason when there is no reason that you'll accept," Ranma answered, finally letting go of her arm. Cursing, and not for the first time, his vow of silence regarding Jusenkyo, wondering if she would indeed believe it if he told her about it. "If you want to leave and run away again, you may do so."

That made her think, but she didn't turn to leave... instead, she continued what she had set out to do. "I was wondering... Ranma... Can you prove that you don't love me? If you can... I'll... leave... I'll leave Rose Brier. I won't bother you again."

"Prove... that I don't love you?" he asked her in the same way she had asked him, in a small barely audible whisper, in halting words, in uncertainty. She was close enough for him to feel her breath against his thin Chinese shirt. "Can you?" he countered.

Akane could feel his breath was warm against her shoulder, and his eyes looking intently at hers, even if she didn't meet his. And because she lost the last remnants of her courage with her small plea, Akane decided to keep staring at the top button of his Chinese shirt. "Maybe."

He was amused by her request, not knowing what to do next. "How do you propose I do that, Akane?"

She took a stilling breath, trying to use her reserves. There was a long period of silence while she composed herself but he waited patiently. When she finally gathered the courage to look at his eyes, facing up to the rejection she might see there she said, "By giving me what I asked for."

"You want your goodbye." He looked at her, confused, it was the most persistent demand he had ever received from her, and it was also the most difficult to give. It troubled him. "It's the strangest request you have ever asked me."

Akane shook her head. "Prove it, Ranma, prove that you don't love me and I'll leave you alone. It's what you want isn't it?"

Was it? He didn't know the answer to that either. What would he prove with one goodbye? He stared at her. It was almost as if he was talking to her through his eyes. "We won't know the answer until I give you what you ask for."

"And will you give it to me?" she asked slowly. She could hear her heart beating in her chest. She wondered if he knew what she was asking of him. If he knew what his goodbye would mean to her.

"Tell me this is real first. Swear to me that this isn't a mind game." He needed some assurance that what she was asking for was what he thought she was asking for. He wanted to know if this would last for forever and a day or just a moment of illusion.

Akane's finger reached out towards Ranma's lips stopping whatever he was going to say. "I thought we were past this conversation."

"I assure you my patience is tested every day."

"I swear," Akane whispered, and Ranma gave Akane the kiss that she had asked for a few hours before.

-

Shampoo backed away from the roof, swinging inside the house through the windows. Her great-grandmother raised an eyebrow at her entrance but she didn't comment, continuing to comb her long white hair.

Shampoo knew the moment she saw Kodachi turn back to talk to Ranma, that she shouldn't have watched. The conversation was intimate and stripped them both to who they were and not who they thought they ought to be. She knew that staying had been an infringement of their privacy and that she was trespassing on their rights. But she wanted to see what Ranma would say to her request.

Some would say it was masochistic for her to watch; she would like to think of it as being realistic.

Ranma had no part in her life anymore. She had been resigned to the fact that he had been married seven years ago. But it was only now that he showed love for Kodachi.

It had taken her seven years to get over his marriage. How long would it take for her to get over Ranma falling in love?

||-------------------------||

Shampoo dropped herself from Ryoga's shoulder, landing perfectly on her cane. "Here you are sonny boy, the Ichimoto Towers, room 743." Shampoo unlocked the door in an instant.

"How did--"

"I open the door? Amazon Technique buried in 2000 years of history." Shampoo smiled as he stared at her, now she knew why her great-grandmother used that particular answer. It was a grand feeling for someone to feel ... awed.

"I hope you don't get lost again, sonny boy." She pointed down the halls towards the elevator. "I doubt whether I'll be able to find you again."

"Arigato, granny," Ryoga thanked her as he started to go inside. He stopped then looked at her. "But why did you tell me all of this? You could have skipped the part of your request... or the one when you were looking at Ranma and Akane... or..."

"I felt that you needed it," Shampoo answered, she shook her head. "We both lost something, Ryoga. I think you got the worse end of it. You lost the woman you loved to a man more than two hundred years dead."

"You lost him twice," Ryoga pointed out.

"No... I lost him only once," Shampoo corrected him, shaking her head. "I lost him when he married Kodachi. He wasn't mine to lose when he fell in love with Akane. Not anymore."

"Did you love your husband?"

"Technically, Ranma was my husband." She smiled, her mood changing almost instantly. "But yes, I understand what you're asking me, and I did love him. But there's something different about your first love, Ryoga, and Ranma was my first. Of course, I never told anyone this."

"Then why tell me?"

"Because I felt that you needed to know. We're both in the same boat, you and me," she restated the words she said earlier, because Ryouga was asking the same question. Then as if to dismiss the bleak thought Shampoo smiled again, she nudged Ryoga into his apartment. "I'll be waiting to hear from you after you read those letters, Ryoga."

"Thank you." Ryouga stepped inside the house holding the door ajar as studied the small woman in front of him.

"You're welcome," Shampoo replied. He was about to shut the door when Shampoo called out, "Treasure her letters, Ryoga, they were sent with love."

With that, she walked away. There was something different when she walked those streets again. It was as if she was more alone now than she had been before, the people more daunting.

'The follies of the young... to be young again...' the thoughts were disjointed and erratic. She hadn't thought about Ranma in ages, choosing instead to remember him fondly through his offspring instead of dwelling on the past that they did not share.

The heaviness of her heart increased as she walked farther and farther from Ryoga's apartment, choosing the busy streets rather than go roof hopping, choosing the longer road than the shorter one. Telling the story to Ryoga brought back so many memories of her youth, and so many mistakes because of it.

"Maybe I shouldn't have granted this favor," Shampoo grumbled as she steadily walked through the roads of Tokyo, her hand firmly gripping her great-grandmother's staff.

'Ranma never did answer my question...' Shampoo sighed again losing herself in the crowd. 'He never answered if he could love me... even if it was just pretend.'

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Endnotes:
none (gasp! it's a miracle!)

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Disclaimer: Ranma and co. were borrowed from the brilliant mind of Rumiko Takahashi. Book that the story was based from was 'When there was Hope.'

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Author's Ramblings:

Okay, it's not my best, but I like it :)

People have been telling me to get them together, and this is the best I can do for now. Please, they have to have a few problems before a happy ending. Sleeping Beauty had to sleep, The Beast had to be the beast before becoming a prince, etc, etc. :) (You get the idea)

The formatting of the chapter is different because this is... not Akane's letter, as most of the story has been. This chapter has been Shampoo's story. :) And because I took pity on poor Ryouga for just having a Prologue and an Epilogue, so here is my grand Ryouga gesture.

Ifuku and her husband doesn't come out of this one, sorry. More about them in chapter 11 and 12 :) (You're dying to know what the twist in them is, aren't you?) Not just yet. Patience is a virtue (I'm quoting people too much)

If you're a bit lost on the heirarchy of Feudal Japan, which I'm using here I copied something down from one of my library books: Just go down to my livejournal account and click on Rend there, and there should be an entire heirarchial map there... Although well I could also write it here. I'll write it out in chapter fourteen (For the people who missed it)

What changed in the Feb/April '06 edit:

Howard Russel has brought to my attention that a lot of the terms in Nabiki – Ukyo conversation were largely from Freud's method of psychological analysis (founded around the 1890's) and therefore beyond Nabiki's knowledge. Therefore a few substitutions were made for this fic:

Inferiority complex – sense of inadequacy
In denial - lying so much you believe it yourself
Psychoanalysis - reading your character (but this is not in this particular chapter)
ego - confidence

Howard Russel also pointed out the inconsistency of the dates or rather -- names months. The Japanese does not use the Gregorian calendar names, but rather uses numeric names for the months (ichigatsu or first month, through junigatsu). More information on this is found in the footnotes under month. Feel free to correct my Japanese info if you find them wrong too. It's how we all learn.

I revised the scene with Ranma-Akane interaction in the Sukiya. I thought the initial way it was written portrayed Akane as too childish. I guess that change was also pivotal in answering the question how and why Akane could love Ranma so 'early' in the story.

I also deleted a part of Nabiki realizations, and a part of Akane monologue about her loving Ranma. It was too sappy for my own good, and it should be READER inferred rather than told explicitly by the story. I think this is also the reason why too many people think Akane fell in love with Ranma too early.

I am starting a system wide edit of the fic, changing punctuation and changing the commonly misused words, etc.

Thanks for enduring the long rant (possibly skipping the long rant)

There, now we're finished :)

iCe

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webpage: iCe dot esmartdesign dot com
email siuane at gmail dot com
LJ iCe of dreams with the spaces as underscore

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I write when the spirit moves, and I make sure it moves every day.
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