Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Results ❯ Preparations ( Chapter 3 )

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

{} = Thoughts
[] = Chinese
<> = Flashback


Results
By: Dyne <paradised@yahoo.com>
Part 2
Preparations

Akane didn't have time to blink before Ranma gave his
decision.
"I'll do it!" he exclaimed enthusiastically as soon as he
finished reading the word Nannichuan on the large vial.
"Ranma!" Akane looked at him sternly, "this isn't the first time
you think you've found a cure."
"Akane's right, Ranchan," Ukyo said quietly, "remember what
happened last time?"
"Don't worry, you two," he flashed them a proud smile and
pointed to himself with his thumb, "just thinking about curing this
damn curse is more than enough to not let me lose to some sicko."
"But what if the vial is destroyed before the battle is over?!"
they both asked at the same time, knowing the many disappointments
he had suffered through in the past, when he was within a centimeter,
no, a millimeter of curing his curse, something went wrong and Ranma
was forced to look for another method.
"Yeah," Ranma looked over at Kohei, "what kind of promise
have you got if that vial's destroyed before we beat Hashin?"
"Did I say that I was going to give it to you after our victory?"
Kohei simply asked in response as he surprised the three of them by
standing up behind Ranma,

and pouring half of the vial's contents onto his head.

Out of the three, Akane looked up at Kohei with the greatest
amount of shock as she thought, {He already trusts Ranma enough to
not only give him to water right away, but to pour it onto him for him?
I honestly didn't think he would give it to him until after we defeated
Hashin. Kohei-kun is different from everyone else who's promised to
give Ranma a cure if they helped him. I'm surprised that per-} she
caught herself as she was still trying not to think about Ranma that way
anymore, {he didn't reject Kohei-kun's offer because of all those other
times.} She only smiled as Ranma sat speechless, almost with a look
of disbelief on his face, while Ukyo hugged him.
"Ucchan," he said quietly, almost barely audible, "is this a
dream? You're still here this time, right?"
"It's not a dream, Ranchan," she assured him, "and I'm still
here this time. You've earned this moment."
{What are they talking about?} Akane thought.
"Kohei..." Ranma looked up at him, unable to find the words
to express his thanks, other than his standard, "[thank you]" in English.
"It would have been wrong to make you wait, especially when
I know that you are a man of honor," he said simply as he handed him
the vial, still half-full, "there's enough left for curing one other man.
Do with it what you will."
"That won't be a problem, I know who deserves this and who
doesn't."
"I will leave you to celebrate for the rest of today. Meet me
back at this place tomorrow morning at dawn and we will begin our
travels to return to China," he said nothing more as he turned and began
to walk away from the school grounds. Akane spent the next few
moments looking back and forth between the departing young China
man and Ranma with Ukyo still sitting in front of her. She truly felt
happy for Ranma, but her place had long been lost from his innermost
circle of celebration, and there was something else she had to know.
Ignoring his and Ukyo's call to her, she stood up and ran to catch up
with Kohei.
"Kohei-kun!" she called as she met up and fell in step with
him.
"Akane-san?" he obviously had never expected her to come
walk with him.
"Can I ask you a few more questions?"
"Yes, feel free to."
"How did you know to bring that vial of Nannichuan water?"
He didn't hesitate to respond, "That was easy. As Ranma's
fame increased after he defeated Saffron, some rumors of the existence
of two Saotome Ranmas began to circulate, one of them male, the other
female. It wasn't hard to figure out that both were the same person, but
I didn't know until this morning as to whether Ranma was actually a
boy or a girl until Ukyo-san referred to his female half as a he. That
was how I figured he fell into Nyaniichuan. In all honesty, I had
brought a vial of Nyaniichuan and Nannichuan water."
That still didn't explain one thing, "You said that Jusenkyo's
flooding negated all of the springs. How did you get the water?"
"With my village being so close to Jusenkyo, many of our
fighters left to train there but only under the light of the full moon so as
not to make their presence known to the guides. And, as you can
imagine, almost all of them fell into various springs. So after any large
numbers went to train, they would often bring back large amounts of
water from both the Springs of Drowned Man and Girl. We still have a
large surplus in the village storage, but a lot of it was destroyed in
Hashin's first attack." Akane saw him clench his fists when he
mentioned the other man's name. Now she was ready to ask what she
felt was the most important, the question that would explain his
personality.
"You don't have to answer this one if you don't want to," she
started, "but when you were growing up, were you ever taken away
from your mother for long periods of time because of your training?"
Kohei looked at her as if she'd just crawled out of one of the
cursed springs in another form.
"No, of course not," he answered, "Unless it was a time to
specifically train in my family's style, I always trained or traveled with
both my parents and, when she was old enough, my sister. Can I ask
why you asked that?"
"Of course. There are two reasons, really, the first is because I
noticed that while you and Ranma both grew up learning specifically
the martial arts, and obviously a little more in other fields of basic
education, I also noticed that you and he are almost exact opposites in
personality. I want to think it had to do with the amount of motherly
influences the two of you had."
"Was Ranma not around his mother often?"
"No. In fact, Ranma spent 12 of the last 13 years completely
separated from his mother because his father thought that a motherly
influence would hinder his training and dampen his potential. As a
result, Ranma is a good fighter, but he's stubborn, arrogant, proud, and
has no social skills at all."
"What kind of man has so little honor as to tear his wife's own
child from her for 12 years?!" the tone of his voice and the fact that his
fists were again clenched told her that he was both angry and shocked.
"If I told you everything that Uncle Saotome has done to
Ranma, my family, and even Ukyo, you would hate him as much as the
rest of us. The only one who still thinks of him as a good man is
probably my father, as they were united against a common enemy."
"I won't ask anything about him, then."
"Okay, but my second reason for asking that question was,"
she swallowed, "I was raised almost the same as Ranma. My mother
died from a disease when I was a little girl, so I don't remember her
very much. And I've heard some people say that because I didn't know
her when I grew up, I became a tomboy."
"I'm sorry to hear about your mother, but..." he paused, "a
tomboy?"
"Yes..."
"Um... Akane-san? What's a tomboy?"
Akane heard that and had to stifle her laughter, "Oh, I'm sorry,
Kohei-kun. I forgot you were raised in an isolated village."
"Yes, but I have learned a lot since arriving in Japan a month
ago."
"I can imagine," she thought of all the troubles he had to have
had with all the new things he'd undoubtedly seen, "but a tomboy is a
girl who acts like a boy. I grew up studying martial arts too, and a lot
of people always tell me that I need to act more feminine."
"I don't see why they would call you that name. If you were
raised in Ryuchiezu or one of the surrounding Amazon villages, a girl
of your skill would probably be a village champion, if not the best
young female fighter of the whole clan." That was something she
almost refused to believe.
"You think I'm skilled? But you've only seen me do one thing
and that was hit a tree. I'm not as good as you or Ranma," she never
would have admitted that while she was still his fiancé.
"But you could be. You already have the strength and you
could be taught some new techniques."
"You really think so?"
"Of course," he nodded, "every martial artist, as long as he
continues his training, can only become more powerful."
As Kohei's words referring to training sank into her mind,
Akane thought of something.
"Kohei-kun," she asked, "where are you living right now?"
"Wherever I am allowed to set up my tent. My clothes and
provisions are hidden in a vacant lot not far from here."
"My family has an extra guest room and we run a dojo if you
would like to stay the night there before you take Ranma back to China.
And if you're living in the vacant lot that I'm thinking of, my house isn't
far from it."
That invitation caused him to stop and stare at her again,
"Thank you, Akane-san, it would be nice to sleep indoors."
She only smiled and nodded, "Let's go get your stuff and we
can be home in time for dinner," then felt a drop of water land on her
forehead. She hadn't noticed the sky having clouded up during and
after the fight. The first drop led to a second, and third, and several
thousand more as it began to rain. With Kohei taking the lead, the two
ran together to quickly find his things and get to shelter. The only
thing she hadn't noticed was the small tinge of red on his face when she
had smiled at him.


Mere words were unable to describe Ranma's gratitude he felt
towards Kohei for giving him the cure he'd sought for three years. That
gratitude was increased by nearly three times when the rain started and,
true to Kohei's word, he indeed did not turn into a girl anymore. He
even surprised Ukyo by taking her into his arms and dancing down
along the sidewalk, very reminiscent of Dr. Tofu's dancing with Betty-
chan whenever he used to be around Kasumi for too long, which now
seemed so long ago. Neither he nor Ukyo cared as their laughter and
merriment drew the attention of everyone on the stretch as they made
their way back to her restaurant, where several customers awaited in a
line outside as it was supposed to open nearly ten minutes ago.
"Sorry I'm late, everyone!" she announced, "But come on in!
Everything's half-off today!"
The crowd was easily appeased by that offer. As Ukyo
unlocked the door and led everyone inside, Konatsu, who was cleaning
some of the tables, looked up.
"Ukyo-sama! Ranma-sama!" he exclaimed, "You're both
soaked! Let me get you some dry clothes and towels!"
She just threw the hair that had fallen in front of her face back
and headed behind the grill, "No need, Konatsu. I can't keep these
hungry people waiting. The heat from the grill will soon be more than
enough to get us dry in no time. So help me mix some batter but let me
do the cooking."
The male kunoichi immediately responded to his boss's orders
and, as news of the half-off special traveled around the district, the
Ucchan soon became filled to capacity, with several more people
waiting outside for a seat. {Ucchan's place has really gotten popular in
the last while,} Ranma thought as she served him first with a heart-
shaped okonomiyaki that said "Congratulations, Ranchan! I love you!"
on it. He could only smile as he knew that she felt as good as he did
and that her special was a spur-of-the-moment thing to celebrate the
removal of his curse. After his own feast of that and a few more of his
Ucchan's best okonomiyaki, he did what he could as a man to help run
the business. After all, he still had all those IOUs that he owed her
from the incident with the Gambling King.


"Tatewaki-sama! Tatewaki-sama!" Sasuke continued to call
out to his master who still lay unconscious in the school nurse's office
as he had done throughout the entire day. Even the ninja was surprised
as Kuno shot up and shouted, "I shall smite thee and return the hearts of
these women towards Kuno Tatewaki!" as if he had never been
knocked out by Kohei. He then looked around and noticed where he
was.
"Sasuke!" he called.
"Here, Tatewaki-sama!" he answered.
"What happened to me? The last thing I remember was rising
towards victory against the one who dared cross my path this morning."
"Um... Tatewaki-sama, he knocked you out with one move. I
saw it all."
This disturbed the blowharded kendoist beyond measure.
"For Kuno Tatewaki to be defeated... 'tis a farce! He must
deal with the same black magic as that foul sorcerer Saotome! For
Kuno hath never been defeated and shan't be defeated! Come, Sasuke,
let us away to prepare for tomorrow's victory!"
Sasuke sighed and, not for the first time, wished his master
would not let his ego interfere with any common sense he might have
ever had because one day, it might cost him dearly.


Even though he was the guest of honor at Ukyo's party,
Ranma didn't stay too much longer as he had one more thing to do
before returning home, despite how far out of the way it was. As the
train carried him outside of Tokyo, he held the half-empty vial of
Nannichuan water gingerly in his hands and hoped that at last he would
be able to at least atone for one of his mistakes that had resulted in a
rivalry and somewhat of a friendship, but was founded on hatred.
When he arrived, he hadn't even crossed half of the distance
between the main road and Unryuu household before the cry of
challenge from an all-too familiar voice echoed across the field.

"RANMA!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!"

Not caring how Ryoga seemingly appeared out of nowhere as
there were no trees to hide in, Ranma quickly jumped aside from the
thrusting umbrella attack from above.
"How's it going, Ryoga?" he asked casually as he dodged
repeated swipes.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming here, Ranma!" the young
Hibiki practically growled as his eyes showed that his mind was set to
kill, "Have you come to insult me like you did Akane-san?"
"Hey! I thought we had made peace over Akane!"
Ryoga halted his overhead blow where it would have been a
centimeter from Ranma's head had he not dodged the feint.
"I know that," he said, grinning evilly and lowering his
weapon, "I was just rehearsing."
"Rehearsing?! What the hell does that mean? Does Akari
have you working as the family watchdog?!"
Rather than take another swipe at his head, Ryoga just threw
his head back and laughed, "You couldn't be more wrong, Ranma, I've
been cast in a martial arts movie fighting some good-guy actor named
Jackie... something. I think his last name was Chan, but I'm not sure."
"Never heard of 'im," Ranma shrugged.
"Same."
"But congratulations! Being the villain is more than a perfect
role for you, especially since you lose all the time!"
This time, Ryoga did take a swipe at Ranma.
"You're just jealous because I convinced you I was really
trying to kill you!"
"You didn't have me fooled for a second," he lied, "but that's
not why I'm here."
"Why then?" he again halted his attack.
Ranma looked him in the eye, "Ryoga, I know we've made
peace over Akane, but I know you've never forgiven me for knocking
you into the Spring of Drowned Black Pig."
"I've... come to accept it. Otherwise, I would not have met
Akari-chan."
"Well, I've brought you this," and tossed the vial into his hand.

Ryoga made sure not to break the large vial that Ranma threw
to him as he caught it, "What's this?"
"Read the label, moron," Ranma answered, "it's Nannichuan
water!"
"It's what...?" out of his shock, he dropped the vial. Ranma
must have expected it as he quickly caught it with his foot and lifted it
back into his hands.
Ryoga almost refused to believe what was happening. Ever
since he had met Ranma in Jr. High School, he had continually been
humiliated by him by losing to him in the lunchroom every day.
Allowing his rage to overrule his judgement eventually led him to
follow Ranma to China, Jusenkyo, Nerima, Akane, and last of all,
Akari.
The previous year had been almost as hard for him as it had
been for Akane. As soon as he heard that Ranma had broken his
engagement with her, his original anger returned and he was truly
intent on killing him. It was the first time he had held onto his
advantage when he first gained the upper-hand on Ranma in a fight.
His victory was almost insured as he had been able to prevent Ranma
from executing the Hiryuu Shoten Ha. After he had knocked Ranma
into a wall with a force equal to when he had refused to let go of Akane
during the Golden Pair's Couple Cleaver technique, he prepared for the
finishing blow. His blind rage, however, didn't allow him to focus
enough to create a Perfect Shishi Hokodan, and the one he was building
was easily going to be enough to kill him as well in the recoil, but he
didn't care as long as Ranma died in the blast. He had committed the
unforgivable for breaking Akane's heart! He also didn't care when
Ukyo threw herself onto Ranma in order to protect him. It was fine if
they wanted to die together. But his first distraction was Akari,
shielding the two lovers, begging him to stop. His decision became
even harder as Akane stood next to Akari, asking him to let go of the
past. They had made their statement: If he was going to kill himself
and Ranma, he would have to take them too. Ryoga didn't know what
to do as his blast grew in power, far too late for him to cancel it. Even
if he did aim it away, it would still kill him, until Ranma somehow
managed to get up and fire a Mouko Takabisha. The power of it
negated enough of his growing Shishi Hokodan to reduce it
significantly and he fired it into the air. But the residue of the Mouko
Takabisha and the recoil of his Shishi Hokodan was still enough to give
him severe high-degree burns on his chest, arms, and legs, hospitalizing
him for several months.
During his long recovery time, Akari visited him nearly every
day and never left his side for the whole time she was able to be there.
Akane was also a frequent visitor, but it was at this time when the
Eternal Lost Boy realized that, while he still had feelings for the
youngest Tendo daughter, Akari's unconditional support for him
despite the fact that he was probably going to be horribly scarred all
over for the rest of his life, led him to truly fall in love with her in
return. His biggest surprise was Ranma; he was there every day, even
more than Akari, and often Ukyo came with him. But Ryoga always
faked sleep for the first couple of his bedridden months and he heard
Ranma continually confess that he had never wanted to hurt Ryoga in
the first place and that he had only wanted them to be friends. But his
pride wouldn't let him admit those same things when he was awake. So
as far as Ranma knew, Ryoga had never heard any of his confessions.
Being in the hospital gave Ryoga more time to think than ever before as
his mind was never occupied with wondering where he was. It was
there and during this time that he mustered the courage to confess his
secret to Akane, despite the difficulty of it because she was obviously
still hurting over Ranma. But when she did learn about his identity as
P-chan, she was surprisingly understanding, finally figuring out why
the two of them were never seen together and why "P-chan" always
refused to take a bath with her and always looked away when she
changed clothes.
As soon as he was released from the hospital, being
considered extremely fortunate not to have as many burn scars as had
been predicted, with what little he did have only on his chest, he was
invited into the Unryuu household and began to officially court Akari.
During this entire time had anyone been able to contact Ryoga's parents
or anyone else from his family. They all feared that every one of them
had gotten so lost as to either be dead on the road from starvation or on
the other end of the world. Fortunately, when he did find his house the
next time, Checkers was still there waiting for him and, rather than
make her wait anymore, he took her back to the farm. Once all of the
souvenirs from his travels were transferred, the Hibiki household
looked even more abandoned than before.
Another two months after his release, when Jackie Chan's
location scouts were searching for locations for Jackie's next film in the
wilderness of Japan, they found a lost, tough, and excellent martial
artist named Hibiki Ryoga training. They were so impressed with his
skills that they cast him right away. Ryoga was actually just returning
from an acting class to get him ready for the shooting when he found
Ranma walking to the Unryuu farm.
"Hey, Ryoga? Ryoga!" Ranma waved his hand in front of his
face, "Great, I killed him with shock."
"Cut it out!" he snapped awake and swiped the vial out of
Ranma's hands.
His timing was perfect as a happy female voice called,
"Ryoga-sama! Welcome home!" from behind.
"Ah, Akari-chan!"
Akari ran up to the two young men and hugged Ryoga long
before she even noticed Ranma's presence, "Oh, Ranma-san! Welcome
to my family's farm. What brings you here?"
"Let Ryoga answer that," he said, gesturing to him.
The young farm girl looked at her beloved with question
included in her glittering eyes.
"Um... Akari-chan," Ryoga blushed and nearly stammered,
"would you mind if I stopped turning into a pig?"
"Not at all," she answered immediately, "I love Ryoga-sama as
both a man and a pig, but I only want to marry Ryoga-sama as a man."
"If that's what you want," with that, Ryoga emptied the rest of
the vial of the cold, cursed water over his head. He felt a familiar
tingle, but noticed that he didn't shrink out of his clothes and stayed as
a man.
"It... it worked..." tears of happiness began to flow freely from
his eyes as he looked to his old, new friend, "Ranma... I don't know
what to say..." He was so overcome with emotion that he didn't feel
Akari squeeze him again.
"Forget it," he just shook his head, "but there's something I've
got to warn you about, Ryoga."
"What?"
"Be careful with the Shishi Hokodan," he didn't have to warn
him twice about that anymore, "the guy who gave me the water's
parents were killed by it and from what he said, the technique only
grows more and more deadly as you keep using it."
Ryoga started laughing again, "I don't think I'll ever be
depressed enough to ever use it again!"
"Good," Ranma turned and began to walk away, only to stop
after a few steps and say, "Ryoga, I'm going back to China to help that
guy avenge his parents, and I don't know if I'm going to come back
alive. From what I hear, our opponent is just as powerful as Saffron in
full adult form. So if I don't make it, I leave Nerima in your hands,"
and didn't look back as he walked back towards the main road leading
to the train station.
"Don't worry about Nerima, Ranma," he said after him as he
put his arms around Akari, "and if you don't come back, I'll hate you
for all of the afterlife," and smiled.


"I'm home!" Akane announced as she escorted Kohei into her
family's home and removed her shoes. While the rain hadn't lasted
very long, it was more than enough to trigger Kohei's alternate form.
And since Kasumi was no longer around to welcome her back, Soun
was the one to greet them.
"Akane, welcome home," he said as he stepped into the foyer
and his eyes fell on Kohei, "look at my little girl, already finding a new
boyfriend," and started guffawing. Akane could only scowl, as her dad
hadn't been very supportive ever since Kasumi married "Saotome"
Tofu, he hadn't really cared what happened to her in her love life since
his wish in uniting the schools had finally been fulfilled. Except for the
fact that she was doing most of the cooking now, half the time he didn't
acknowledge her existence. But she put on her fake smile and let him
get away with his negligent attitude, for now.
"Oh, Dad, stop it. Kohei-kun is a travelling martial artist who
didn't have a place to stay tonight."
"I'm honored to be in your home, Tendo-san," Kohei said as
he put his pack down and bowed, "I am Ikimono Kohei, son of Ikimono
Shinji and the Amazon Ji Lu from the village of Ryuchiezu in the
Bayankala Mountain Range of the Qinghai Province of China."
"From China? What brings you all the way to Japan?"
"I'm on a journey of training and searching, Tendo-san, and as
master of this dojo, I would be honored to spar with you to prove my
worth in staying the night."
"That can be arranged," and without warning, turned around,
"I will wait for you in the dojo. Akane will show you the way when
you're ready."
"Um... Akane-san, before we go out, can I-" but she was
already leading him out towards the dojo. She knew what he was going
to ask for, but felt that Soun really needed a good partner to get him
back into shape.
"Dad hasn't had a good spar in a while," she said, "it'll be good
for him."
"I understand. But, Akane-san, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"What's a boyfriend?" This time, Akane couldn't hold back as
she burst out laughing.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"Oh no, no," she calmed down and shook her head, "I'll
explain it later. But first I'll take you out to our dojo."
Kohei just shrugged as Akane led him out to the dojo, where
her father awaited.
"Get ready, Kohei-kun," Soun stood in his fighting stance,
"I'm going to give you everything I've got. I expect you to do the
same."
"As you wish, Tendo-san," he entered the stance of his
family's style, the same as when he fought Kuno, "but I must warn you-
"
"Hiyaaaah!" Soun charged forward with a straight punch,
which was the only time he was ever on the offensive.
If Kohei's speed didn't impress Akane before, it certainly did
now as he spiraled around her father so fast that he looked like he was
in two or three places at once! The whole time his illusory body
continued to spiral around Soun, Akane didn't see anything else move,
nor did she hear a thing, but could see that her father was taking several
hits. After only about half a minute, he halted his seemingly invisible
assault just as Soun dropped to the floor.
"Dad! Are you okay!" Akane shouted as she ran up and knelt
beside him to look for damage.
"He'll be fine," Kohei assured, "I made sure not to cause any
bodily damage as it was just a spar. He'll be awake in a few moments."
"What did you do?" she asked, not angrily but out of curiosity,
"I didn't see you lay a blow, and you didn't make a sound."
"You've seen the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. That was my
faster revision of it called the Butou Sakibou."
"The Dancing Cat's Paws? I never thought the Amaguriken
could be any faster."
"It's impossible for any normal human to pull it off, I can only
do it in my cursed form."
A bellowy laugh from the entrance interrupted Akane just as
she opened her mouth. The two turned to see Saotome Genma, who
during the past year had lost a lot of weight, as he was the only one
who couldn't avoid Akane's cooking.
"You're getting old, Tendo-kun," Genma laughed, "to be
beaten so easily by such a youngster."
"Uncle Saotome," Akane asked, "were you watching?"
"I saw everything," he answered, "and I won't make the same
mistake!"
"So you are the father of Ranma whom Akane-san spoke of. I
accept," Kohei didn't wait for a chance to counterattack as he started on
the offensive. Akane almost didn't want to watch as Genma soon found
himself unconscious next to Soun.
"For someone who is the father of a warrior as skilled as
Ranma, I truly expected more."
"Are you saying he was too easy, Kohei-kun?" Akane asked.
"Much," he nodded, "he has not trained in a long time and
must have thought that he retained all of his skills."
{He's right,} Akane thought, {Uncle Saotome hasn't been
training at all lately and he looks so skinny. I'd better make him an
extra large portion of dinner tonight.}
"Ugh..." Soun groaned as he began to come to his senses, "I
didn't think Kohei-kun was twins."
"Are you okay, Dad?" Akane asked.
Soun examined himself for any injuries and shrugged, "Looks
like I'll be fine, but what happened to Saotome-kun?"
"He thought he could beat Kohei-kun just by watching you."
"I'm impressed with your skills, young Kohei-kun. You are
more than welcome to stay at my home."
"I thank you for your hospitality," Kohei bowed again.
"All I ask is that you tell me more about your fighting style."
"I'm going to go start dinner," Akane announced before Kohei
could begin, and left to go back into the house. She left Soun and
Kohei in the dojo, discussing each of their styles and giving the
occasional demonstration while they waited for Genma to wake up.
{Kohei-kun really gave it to Uncle Saotome,} she thought, {he must be
mad at him for severing Ranma's ties with his mother for so long.}

Inside the house, Nabiki calmly awaited for her sister to return
from the dojo. As soon as Akane re-entered, she called to her in a loud
whisper.
"Psst! Akane!"
The youngest turned her head, "Nabiki-onee-chan?"
"I need to talk to you about Kohei-kun," she gestured her into
the kitchen. Akane knew better than to ask her sister where and how
she had learned about Kohei.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I managed to see his fight with Ranma-kun and got these,"
she laid out two sets of pictures on the counter, one from each of the
two halves of the fight, "I also heard him talk about what he did at
Jusenkyo, and I thought you might want to know that I might have a
way to tell when he's in cursed form or not."
"How? I can't see any change."
"1000 yen."
"Onee-chan!"
"Okay, okay, 500 yen."
Akane shook her head and forked over the money.
"Take a good look at these two," Nabiki pointed as she pulled
out one photo from each set that strongly focused on Kohei's face, but
more particularly...
"His eyes!" Akane realized, "His eyes are different!" She had
hit the nail on the head. Indeed, when Kohei was in normal form, his
blue eyes a gentle, ocean-blue shade to them. But in his cursed form,
they became a sharp, steel blue. The same steel blue as when she'd first
seen him.
"Why didn't I notice this before?" Akane asked nobody in
particular, "He must've gotten splashed before school and that's why he
asked for some of Ranma's hot water! How could I not have figured
that out sooner! He said the last spring he jumped into was the Spring
of Drowned Wolf, and that's what his eyes look like now, a wolf's!"
Nabiki nodded and flashed her evil smile, "Kohei-kun is going
to be a gold mine. Did you see how many girls were after him at
lunch? I might get more money from them with pictures of him than I
ever got from Kuno with pictures of Ranma."
Her smile vanished when she saw Akane scowling at her,
"Nabiki! Don't even think of taking advantage of Kohei-kun!"
Nabiki couldn't apply her poker face this time in a vain
attempt to hide her surprise.
"Are you trying to exploit his naivete? Are you going to try
and cheat him out of what little money he may have, if any? He may
have been raised only in martial arts like Ranma, but his personality
and culture are a lot different than Ranma's! I'll bet a lot of money in
saying that until he left his village and came to Japan, that he's never
seen any electronic devices, any cars, paved roads like we know, or any
modern convenience that we've known all our lives! If you even think
of trying to do to him what you did to Ranma, you'll have to answer to
me!"
Nabiki couldn't say anything. Never before had her sister
lashed out at her like that.
"Akane..."
She took a few deep breaths and began to calm down, "I'm
sorry for that outburst," she said quietly, "you're a very smart girl,
Nabiki-onee-chan, and I know your business sense is going to earn you
a lot of money. But there are times when you go too far. I just ask that
you don't do anything to Kohei-kun or sell those pictures to any of the
girls. He's not going to be around much longer so he won't be as much
of a gold mine as you'd think. And he's had it really hard for the past
few months. His parents were killed right in front of him and his
village has been practically put into slavery."
"I-I didn't know..." This time, it was Akane's turn to be
shocked as she hadn't expected her sister, the one always on the side of
money, to listen. And Nabiki hadn't known. Once she got the pictures
and information about his curse that she needed, she didn't stick around
to hear the rest of his story. But she said, "I'll tell my associates to
leave him alone," and gave her the pictures of Kohei, "I'll let you get
rid of these."
"Onee-chan..."
Nabiki just grinned again, "After all, I still have drawers full
of prints of Ranma-chan and Ukyo that Kuno is stupid enough to buy,
even though he's bought all of these prints twice already."
"Am I still in them?"
"Of course," her grin only became bigger.
Knowing that she was fighting a losing battle, Akane sighed
and said, "You'll never change, Nabiki," then suddenly remembered
something, "oh yeah, there's something that happened to Ranma that
you need to know."
"What's that?"
Akane did know of a battle she could win and couldn't help
herself when she said, "500 yen."
Nabiki laughed, "Okay, you got me," and returned the money,
"now what's this about Ranma-kun?"

Out in the dojo, Kohei, Soun, and the now conscious Genma
looked out towards the house as they heard the scream.
"What was that?" they all asked?


Saotome Nodoka sipped her cup of evening tea and checked
the clock, it was almost time for Ranma to come home and, as always,
she eagerly anticipated his arrival. The past year had been the happiest
of her life as she had spent the 12 before it without any contact
whatsoever with her son. Day after agonizing day she would always
wonder if he was even still alive, until she would receive a letter from
Genma. But that would only alleviate her anxiety for that one day.
When the time finally came for them to return home, they never came,
and she had never received any letters since the one where he had told
her they were preparing to train in China. Her worry reached its climax
during that time, until a phone call from Genma told her that he had
taken Ranma to the Tendos so that he could meet and marry one of the
daughters and fulfill the promise he and Soun had made to unite the
schools. As she looked back on that, Nodoka wondered why she wasn't
immediately suspicious then and there, since Ranma should have still
been in school. She had asked to go visit, but he told her to stay at
home and that they would let her see Ranma when it came time for the
wedding. Those had been the hardest two years.
What Genma hadn't told her, however, was that he was hiding
himself and Ranma from her because he had disgraced his personal and
family honor countless times, been the main cause of Ranma falling
into a cursed spring due to his ignorance, and even drew in many other
families into his selfish acts. Rather than commit seppuku, his last
attempt at reconciliation had been to try and keep the promise he
deemed as most important because it had been made to a good friend.
But in Nodoka's book, if he had Ranma marry one of the Tendo
daughters, he would gave dishonored himself beyond forgiveness in
this life as he had made one of his promises and sealed it as higher than
the one to Soun when he accepted the dowry of one of the girls whom
he promised Ranma to. Never did Genma expect that nearly all of the
girls he promised Ranma to would come to claim their payment,
especially Kuonji Ukyo, who was the victim of his stealing her dowry
and leaving her and her wishes in the dust, even though his action had
placed her above all of the rest of the girls, including a Tendo daughter.
Ranma and Ukyo had explained all of this, and more, to her
after he had explained his curse to her. Once her mind had been made
up, Nodoka decided that rather than have Genma kill himself in an
attempt to regain his honor, she decided that was too good of a
punishment and let him live with the dishonor he had brought upon
himself and the shame of losing everything he had when his wife
divorced him. It didn't take long for Nodoka and Ranma to find a good
number of the people whom Genma had lied to, including Ukyo's
father. With the overwhelming number of witnesses present at the
court, the judge was quickly able to identify numerous criminal charges
against Genma, thus leading Nodoka to gain ownership of the Saotome
School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, the Saotome home, and
Saotome Ranma, their only son. The judge's list of charges included
child abuse, for repeatedly throwing Ranma into a pit of starving cats,
fraud, larceny, and overall mental incompetence, thus making his
decision very easy. With that long chapter of her life complete,
Nodoka stopped carrying around her family's katana and placed it on
display in the family's living room, hopefully never to be brought down
again other than the reason for cleaning it.
Soon after the divorce was complete, Ranma moved back in
with her, but soon asked if he could still attend Furinkan High School
back in Nerima. She didn't mind that he had asked that, because that's
where his friends and fiancé all went, plus she knew that he would
come home every night, and would call her to let her know if he wasn't
going to make it. It had obviously been hard for him to live back in a
home that he had not known for 12 years at first, but he soon learned to
adjust, help around the house, and get to know his mother far more. As
a result, she was able to start teaching him how to be a good husband
and parent and get him prepared to receive the school when he was
ready. And because she was the new owner of the school, she wasn't
going to settle for anything less than Ranma being 100% ready before
she gave it to him. At Nodoka's request, Ukyo would visit whenever
she could and, with her business sense, started to plan on how to run
the school in the future, he would teach the classes and she would
handle the finances until Ranma was able to handle both tasks so Ukyo
would have time to raise the children. All of this talk of the future and
having children made Ranma uncomfortable first, but the two women
soon got him to accept the fact that Nodoka wanted grandchildren. As
it began to sink deeper into Ranma's mind, he applied himself more at
school and, as a final result, his grades began to improve significantly.
Nodoka's thoughts on the past and planning for the future were
interrupted when she heard the front door open.
"I'm home, Mom!" Ranma announced.
"Welcome home, Ranma," she smiled as he walked in and, as
he sat next to her, hugged him, ignoring the sweat he was drenched in,
"how was your day?"
"Mom," Ranma said quietly, but directly, "there are a few
things I have to talk to you about."
"What is it? Is something wrong?" She sat attentively as he
related to her all of the events that had occurred thus far that day.


"Dinner's ready!" Akane informed everyone happily. Nabiki
winced as she set the large bowl of chicken curry on the table before
her, Soun, Genma, and Kohei. Fortunately for her, Akane had yet to
catch her switch her cooking with the store-bought or take-out food she
had hidden under the table. Soun soon gained the same idea and was
able to afford his with the rent money that Genma paid him, leaving the
old Saotome forced to either eat Akane's cooking or starve. Many
times he chose the latter.
"Akane-san," Kohei complimented as she handed him his
portion, "this looks and smells delicious."
{Rookie,} Nabiki thought as Akane served her and she made
her switch, {everyone says that before they learn the hard way.}
"I hope everyone enjoys this," Akane smiled and sat. All eyes
except hers were turned to Kohei. He didn't seem to notice as he lifted
a mouthful to his lips...

Took his first bite...

Chewed it slowly...

And swallowed...

During this whole time, Nabiki waited for the explosion.

"It's wonderful!" Kohei exclaimed, "Akane-san, how did you
know that spicy foods are my favorite?"
"Really?" that was the best compliment she had ever received
on her food, and it only increased more as he ate every piece of meat
and grain of rice. Not even Ryoga ever ate that much or that quickly.
"Would you like more?" she asked.
"Absolutely, thank you."
As Akane served him seconds, she looked at the other three,
"What's wrong with you guys? You all look like a typhoon blew
through the house."
Indeed, Nabiki, Soun, and Genma's faces, clothes, and (for
those who had it) hair had all become extremely disheveled from the
amount of shock each one had just fallen into. All three of them were
still there long after Kohei and Akane had eaten the entire meal
themselves and he helped her clean up the table and wash the dishes.
Once that was done, he asked her to meet him in the dojo when she was
ready.


"And because I accepted his request and because he gave me
the Nannichuan water, I'm bound by honor to go with him to China,"
Ranma concluded.
"So you're going to leave again?" Nodoka asked.
He nodded.
"And you can't guarantee that you're going to come back?"
He nodded again and could tell that what he had just told his
mother was difficult for her to take.
"Ranma..." she opened her mouth, and he expected her to say,
"it will be hard to watch you leave me again, but honor demands that
you go, so I will wait." But her true words surprised him as they
became, "I'll have your things ready for you in the morning. All I ask
is that you let me come with you to your meeting place and try to
contact me whenever you can. If you don't come back, I will soon join
you in heaven."
"Mom... don't say things like that. I'm not going to die so
easily."
"I know, but that is how a mother feels for her son, Ranma.
It's still early, but because you have to leave before dawn, you might
want to bathe and go to bed right after dinner."
The sight of the katana displayed on the mantle again
reminded Ranma to never argue with his mother.

When Akane finished her homework and changed into her
karate gi, she headed out to the dojo, expecting to see Kohei working
out, meditating, or running through some katas. But she never would
have imagined to see him in the state he was in: He was kneeling in the
middle of the dojo and praying. She didn't mean to overhear, but
couldn't help herself.
"I've finally found him Mother, Father," he whispered towards
the heavens, "we will be returning to China starting tomorrow and, with
his help, I can avenge you and free the village. Please lend me your
strength and protection along with our ancestors. I am always thinking
of you."
Akane didn't know how long he had been at it before she arrived, but
her timing was perfect as he was just finishing and stood up. Knowing
a little about the Chinese custom of praying to one's ancestors, she
asked quietly.
"Do you pray to them often?"
"Every day," he answered softly and with a slight quiver in his
voice, not turning around, "their memory and support have been what
has kept me going in this strange land."
She could tell that he had been crying, but didn't mention
anything of it, "I know how that is. My mother's death changed all of
us more than we could have realized." She thought of how Kasumi had
worked so hard to become a mother figure for her and Nabiki, how
Nabiki had mostly kept it to herself and started to let it eat her from the
inside-out, and how she herself had become as she grew up not
knowing her. But most of all, her father had taken it the hardest, he had
begun to fall away from his daughters and it was only the idea of the
promise between him and Genma to unite the schools that kept him
from becoming a hermit. She guessed that he must have developed his
uncontrollable crying as the results of a near-nervous breakdown that
he suffered at his wife's death. "But whenever I go to visit her grave, I
feel strengthened whenever I do. I can always feel her presence there
and can almost always hear her say, 'Akane, you've done so well since
the last time we talked. Never give up and never forget that I'm
watching you closely.'"
"Your dedication to your family and friends is admirable,"
Kohei spoke again, "I wish there were more women in the world like
you, Akane-san."
"Th-thank you, Kohei-kun," she stammered, blushing slightly.
A few seconds of silence passed, as Akane guessed, while Kohei fully
regained his composure, before he did turn around.
"I see you're ready for that training session we talked about
earlier."
By looking at his eyes, she saw that he had found some hot
water before she arrived. She smirked and readied for her spar,
expecting to lose, but she didn't let that stop her from fighting her
hardest.

As Akane had predicted, Kohei was able to dodge and/or
defend against her attacks before following through with a counter-
attack. At first she was unable to block the counters and found that
while his blows had a lot of force behind them, there was no power
behind them. It felt strange to get knocked halfway across the room
and not feel anything.
"How are you doing that?" she asked as she got back up and
attacked again.
"It's a form of chi training," he answered as he dodged her
punches and kicks, "it allows me to increase my chi reserve and keep
my stamina high. You may notice that-" he caught her with a punch to
the ribs, "my fist doesn't actually connect."
She noticed that he was right, his punch connected a couple of
centimeters before his fist did. The ki surrounding his blows was what
allowed him to knock her back without hurting her. And she could also
see his intent in this workout, to have both of them use up their stamina
in attacking and defending rather than have large chunks of it deplete
when taking hits. Having them use their vitality at a steady rate
maximized the time of the spar. What surprised her even more was that
during their match he always gave her advice on how to counter certain
moves of his, and before long-
"HA!" Akane shouted as she connected her spin-kick into
Kohei's stomach, sending him down to the ground.
"Well done, Akane-san," he complimented as he began to get
back up, leaving his face locked in its serious expression, "but now I'm
going to make it harder. Come at me again!"
This cycle continued for the duration of their training. He
would increase his level of fighting and give her advice on how to see
any openings and whenever she got in a good hit, the cycle would
repeat. It was just as he had said, his intent was to increase her skills at
a rate she would be able to handle and gain more confidence in her own
abilities, rather than always lose to Ranma, who would just taunt her
whenever she was beaten by him.
A good hour-and-a-half passed before Akane's energy finally
exhausted and she couldn't fight any longer. Based on how many
cycles of his increasing skill they had gone through, she guessed that he
was fighting at about 3/4 of the power he used against Ranma that
afternoon when they finished.
"You did well, Akane-san," Kohei congratulated as he wiped
the sweat off of his brow, "you're very strong."
"Thanks," she said, breathing heavily as she began some cool-
down exercises.
"With some extra training, you could become as fast as you
are strong."
"Kohei-kun," she asked, "does your fighting style emphasize
speed over strength?"
"Yes and no," he answered, "while the Ikimono family style
tries to balance them, it is the Amazon-style that works to improve
speed."
Akane nodded as she thought about all of the times she had
seen Shampoo fight. That purple-headed bimbo was sometimes even
faster than Ranma in his female form, but with her moves being so easy
for Ranma to read, she always lost to him/her.
"If you'd like," Kohei said again, "I can teach you some
training techniques that will improve your speed tomorrow morning
before Ranma and I depart."
"I'd like that," she smiled at him again, and then decided it was
time to speak what had been on her mind all evening, "but I'm going
with you two."
"What?" his eyes widened.
"I helped Ranma defeat Saffron," she stated in her defense, "so
I have the same obligation that he does to help you."
Kohei shook his head, "I'm afraid that I can't allow you to
come, Akane-san. Did you deliver the killing blow? Are you strong
enough to swim to China? Are you aware that you might not return
home alive? I'm sorry, but it's just too dangerous of a place for you to
be."
Akane scowled as what he said was exactly what Ranma
would have said, just in lighter terms. <"You're too slow! You're not
good enough to handle this! It's too dangerous for you, Akane, let me
handle it!"> Thoughts of the past welled up, arousing her anger as the
one she thought of as the "Chinese Ranma" stood in front of her.

"Akane-san?" Kohei blinked as he saw her angry expression
and battle aura literally flare up around her.
"RANMA NO BAKA!!!" she yelled as, with a speed even he
couldn't have matched, she charged forward, produced a large, wooden
mallet seemingly from nowhere, and hit him upward, flinging him
through the roof and into the night sky.
{Hmm, she has even more potential than I first imagined,}
Kohei thought, {if she can channel that anger into her fighting like that
at will, then she could beat all three of us any day.} He was so focused
with his thoughts that he didn't even notice his crashing through the
roof of another building a few blocks away.

Akane continued to breathe heavily as Mallet-sama vanished
from her hands, then realized what she had done. She hadn't malleted
Ranma, she had malleted Kohei!
"Kohei-kun!" she called after his vanishing body, but couldn't
figure out what else to do. She hoped that this incident hadn't shattered
the short friendship they had developed. If it had, then that was the
second time she would have screwed everything up from the beginning.
{It's been a year and he still makes me so mad sometimes!} she shouted
in her mind, {But now I let my anger towards him hurt someone else!}
She didn't realize that she was now starting to voice her thoughts, "Why
can't I ever control it? Why?!" Akane fell to her knees and spent
several seconds trying to hold the tears back, "Ranma no baka! If only
you were nicer to me! If only I was nicer to you! Then I might have
actually been able to openly tell you that I lo-"
"Akane!" Nabiki called from right outside of the dojo, "Phone
call! It's Kasumi-onee-chan!"
Akane's mood immediately perked. Kasumi always knew
how to cheer her up.
"Onee-chan!" she said happily as she picked up the receiver.
"Hello, Akane," her oldest sister replied on the other end, "a
young man came crashing down into the clinic just a few minutes ago.
His face had the markings of your mallet and he mistook me for you.
Do you know who it might be?"
Akane's eyes widened and she couldn't help but smirk as she
thought about how good her aim had been.
"Yes, I know him. Is he hurt?"
"He doesn't appear hurt, but Tofu-sensei is examining him
now. What's odd is that both of them are laughing."
"I'll be right there, bye," she immediately hung up and dashed
out of the house, still in her gi. She only came back inside when she
realized she forgot her shoes.


"Konatsu!" Ukyo half-called/half-yawned as she finished
cleaning the grill. Her half-off sale had been an enormous success.
The restaurant generated nearly three times the average profits on any
given regular day, but they had come dangerously close to running out
of ingredients.
"Yes, Ukyo-sama?" the ninja materialized beside her.
"Can you please finish cleaning the place? I've still got to
pack."
"Of course, Ukyo-sama. Are you leaving on a trip?"
Ukyo nodded, "I'm going to be gone for quite a while, maybe
up to three months. So I think it'll be smarter to not open up again until
I come back and order new ingredients. While I'm gone, you should
probably go on another trip yourself."
Konatsu complied and nodded, "Yes, Ukyo-sama. I will be
sure to protect this your home while you are away."
"Good. Just don't open the place or try to order new
ingredients for me while I'm gone," with that, she trudged upstairs and,
within a half-hour, was ready to leave the next morning. As she was
just about to fall into bed, the phone rang. Konatsu could only hear her
half of the conversation.
"Hello?" she asked, then continued to speak, "it's good to hear
from you, too. What's that? Oh, don't worry, I already plan on going
with him anyway. Okay. See you in the morning. Good night."
After such a long, busy day, sleep was a very welcome guest
to Ukyo as she closed her eyes.


When Kohei's vision began to clear after his rough landing, he
saw both a man and woman looking at him, but his focus had only
returned enough to differentiate them in that sense.
"Oh my," the woman said, "he's starting to come to. Anata, is
he hurt?"
"He'll be okay," the man assured her, "but do you see that
mark on his face? It looks all too familiar."
As his vision fully recovered, he was able to make out the
details on each of their faces. The woman looked strikingly like
someone he knew.
"Akane-san?"
"Excuse me? No, I'm her sister, Kasumi. And this is my
husband, Tofu."
"Oh, I can see the resemblance you two share. You have the
same eyes."
"May I ask who you are and how you met Akane?"
"Certainly, I am Ikimono Kohei, son of Ikimono Shinji and the
Amazon Ji Lu from the village of Ryuchiezu in the Bayankala
Mountain Range of the Qinghai Province of China. I met Akane-san at
school this morning."
"You have the air of a martial artist," Tofu said, "were you
sparring with Akane-chan?"
"Yes. But what I found unusual is that she didn't hit me this
hard until after the match was over and she pulled a large mallet from
nowhere."
Kasumi stood up, knowing full well what had happened, "I'll
go call Akane and tell her you're here," and left the room. Once she
was gone, Kohei was able to take a quick glance around the room. He
noticed several anatomy and pressure point charts hanging on the walls.
"Tofu-san," he asked, "are you a doctor?"
"Yes, I am," he answered meekly, "and in actuality, I've know
Akane-chan since she was little."
"Was she always as strong as she is now?" he questioned
again as Tofu had now brought some kind of salve and was applying it
to his cheek.
"Do you know Ranma-kun?"
"Yes, I do."
"Well, until he showed up, Akane-chan would single-handedly
defeat every club captain at school every morning. And when he did
show up, she would still have enough energy left over to give him a
good beating whenever she got mad at him, too."
"She told me she was once supposed to marry him. How
would he have ever survived long enough to even make it through the
wedding?"
"Because he's got such a good doctor so close by," Tofu didn't
boast in that statement, but it did remind him of the many times Akane
brought a beat-up Ranma into the clinic, 99% of the time by her hand.
The happy memories only caused him to burst into laughter as he
described some of the ways Ranma had been mangled when he was
brought in. Kohei soon began to understand why the young doctor was
laughing and quickly fell in with him. {Akane-san really brings more
happiness into people's lives than she may realize,} he thought as he
laughed. That incident and the earlier one with Akane knocking him
out of the tree had been the first times he'd laughed in quite a long time,
but nobody would have guessed that.
When the two finished their joyful moment, Kohei asked Dr.
Tofu about pressure points that he knew about and which effects they
had. It wasn't long before he widened his eyes in awe as the doctor
listed several sets of points that fell beyond the boundaries of his
knowledge. All of the pressure points that he had learned about were
taught to him by his mother, and even she would have been surprised to
learn about how much Tofu knew. There was one particular set that,
when he explained what it was for, caused Kohei's face to turn beet red
as he decided to wait until he was married and only use it on his bride
before attempting it at all.
When Akane did arrive a few minutes later, the three of them
shared a long conversation on martial arts and Kohei's home village
while Kasumi served tea and cake. It wasn't until he and Akane began
walking back to the Tendo household that the trip to China was again
brought up.
"I'm sorry for hitting you because of your concern for me," she
apologized.
"It was my fault, really," he said, "I was the one who made
you angry. But I learned one other thing about you, Akane-san; you
have more potential than you realize."
"Potential?"
He nodded, "If you could learn to summon the power behind
your anger at will, you could turn it inward and enhance your abilities
immensely. All it will take is some extra training."
She could see where he was going with this, but said, "But I
don't know any ki attacks or techniques that would let me control that
kind of power."
"That's why I'm going to teach you how as we travel to China.
That is, if you still want to come with us."
She smiled, "Of course. Thank you, Kohei-kun."
As he saw her smile, he could feel some slightly strange new
feeling begin to well up inside of him. {You have a special air about
you, Akane-san,} he thought, {when I'm with you I feel like my pain
can be bearable.} A few more minutes brought them back to the young
girl's home where they concluded the day and awaited the following
morning through sleep.


When morning did arrive, Akane awoke exactly at dawn so
she would be able to have time to leave before anyone else who lived at
the house could wake up. She felt bad for only leaving a note to
announce her departure, but there was no other way as she wouldn't
have had time to deal with her dad's bawling and clinging attitude when
he realized that he was about to lose another woman in his life. This
was the only time when he would have expressed concern for her
anymore, but it would have only been out of his interest, not hers.
Akane sighed as she simply wrote.

Dad and Nabiki,

I've left to go to China with Ranma and Kohei-kun. Don't
worry about me and don't follow me. I expect to be gone anywhere
from two-to-three months. I love you both and I'll miss you.

<p align="right">-Akane.</p>

As soon as she finished her brief letter, she quietly slipped into
her travelling clothes, hauled her large pack onto her shoulders, and
quietly tip-toed down the hall to Kasumi's old room, which was where
Kohei had slept, and was surprised to find a note addressed to her.
Kohei's message simply said, "Akane-san, I've gone on ahead. We'll
wait for you at the meeting place. Do not worry, I'll make sure that
Ranma does not leave you behind." Wondering how he was able to get
his things ready and leave so quickly and quietly, she left her letter on
the downstairs telephone and dashed towards the field behind the
school.

Ranma ran and hopped across the rooftops of Nerima as fast
as he could. He and Nodoka had taken the earliest train into the district
and, once they arrived, separated briefly as Nodoka said she needed to
make one quick stop, allowing him to travel his preferred way. As he
arrived at the rendezvous point, he found, as he expected, Kohei to be
waiting for him, but not to see who he was with.
"I have awaited the entire night for your return, Ikimono
Kohei," Kuno declared, "and today shall be different than the
previous!"
"Are you so without honor and humility as to never learn that
there will always be others who are more skilled than you?" Kohei
asked in angry disbelief at how idiotic Kuno was behaving. Ranma
knew how he felt.
"Kuno Tatewaki never admits defeat. It is only an array of
setbacks that has allowed me to make mistakes."
"Jeez, Kuno," Ranma stepped in, "how dumb can you be?
You were the one who ran into him yesterday and didn't you notice
how fast he kicked your butt?"
"Silence, foul Saotome!" he pointed his bokken at him, "this
morning I shall smite thee as well and set at liberty the lovely Akane
Tendo, the voluptuous pig-tailed girl, and the ravishing Kuonji Ukyo so
that their hearts may be once again mine!"
"They were never yours to begin with!" Ranma shouted, then
remembered, "and as for the pig-tailed girl, you'll never see her again!"
"Still thy tongue! What have you done with her?!"
"Nothing," Ranma shrugged.
"You lie, foul Saotome!"
"He's right," Kohei admitted, "I was the one who made it so
she would never appear again."
Ranma grinned, now knowing that they shared the same
intent: to make Kuno blindingly angry and get his ki hot enough.
"Murderer! On my honor I shall smite thee!" he raised his
bokken and prepared to charge.
"What honor, Kuno?" Ranma taunted, "She's told me about all
of the dishonorable things you've done to her."
"Dare I ask?" Kohei looked at him.
"Foul sorcerers, both of you! I shall send you both to the
depths of hell!"
"Bring it on!" Ranma shouted as Kohei similarly yelled, "I
accept your challenge!" and they both rushed in with the Kendo club
captain in between them, both moving fast enough to confuse him as to
where to strike.
"Ranma!" Kohei called to him as they prepared their attack,
"get back! I don't want this attack to hit you!"
"Don't worry about me! I know what you're going to do and
I'm gonna help you!"
He could tell that Kohei didn't quite understand what he
meant, but he stayed on Kuno's end opposite of Kohei as they spiraled
their ice cold ki around Kuno's burning hot ki.

"HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!!!"
"HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!!!"

Ranma didn't quite know what the result was going to be when
they raised their arms into the air. He smirked as the resulting two
whirlwinds combined into one enormous vortex and sent Kuno flying
out of the school grounds, maybe even out of the district. Once the
winds died down, Kohei again looked at him in amazement.
"Ranma," he asked calmly, "who taught you that move?
That's the second secret Amazon technique I've seen you use."
He shrugged, "The same old ghoul who taught me the
Amaguriken."
"Was she an Amazon? What was her name?"
"Yeah, she is. Her name's C-"
"Ranchan!" Ukyo called concernedly as she ran onto the field,
wearing her pack and carrying her portable okonomiyaki grill.
"Hi, Ucchan," he greeted as if nothing had happened, "are you
going on a trip too while we're gone?"
"You jackass!" she replied angrily, "first I see you create a
Hiryuu Shoten Ha bigger than my restaurant, and when I come running
up to make sure you didn't kill yourself with it, you just ask me if 'I'm
going on a trip?' like you just didn't do anything major!"
"Okay, okay, Ucchan, calm down," Ranma raised his hands in
front of him to ward her off.
"No wonder Auntie Nodoka asked me to come with you," she
continued, "not that I wasn't planning to if she hadn't."
"WHA?!" Ranma's eyes nearly popped out.
"Ucchan's right, Ranma," Nodoka said as she entered the area,
"I asked her to go with you, not only to cook for you, but also so you
could spend some more time together."
Ranma sighed, wanting to kick himself for not thinking that
this was going to happen. No wonder his mom had let him go so
easily!
"You don't want me to come?" Ukyo asked, changing her
vocal tone to a cutesy one.
"Knock it off, Ucchan. I'll let you come if you want to."
"Really?" she beamed, "I'm so happy!" and all of her anger
vanished as she glomped him. Ranma could only wince in pain as her
portable grill smacked him dead on in the back.
Meanwhile, Nodoka had just noticed Kohei's standing there.
"Excuse me," she asked, "are you Ikimono Kohei-san?"
"Yes, I am," he answered, "what can I do for you?"
"I wanted to thank you for removing my son's curse. And I
also have a request."
"What is that, Saotome-sama?"
"Please send my son and his fiancé home alive. He is my only
child."
"I have no doubts that we will succeed," Kohei bowed,
"Ranma and I have already shown each other that we make a
formidable team. And with the many allies who are joining us both
here and in China, our power will only grow."
"My," she was taken aback, "for one raised in such an isolated
village, your Japanese is excellent."
"Thank you, Saotome-sama. My father taught me that the
mind and body cannot be disciplined before the mouth, as that is the
entrance to both."
"Your father is very wise."
"Thank you. My only hope is that I remain worthy to carry his
and my mother's blood."
"Do not worry, Kohei-san, your parents are very proud of
you."
"I know, Saotome-sama," he looked up into the dim morning
sky and sighed, "I know."
"There was one other Chinese Amazon about your age who
came to Nerima and lived here with her great-grandmother for a long
time. But they suddenly left a year ago and no one has seen them
around here ever since."
"What were their names? Mother often took me to other
Amazon villages, so I might know them."
"The girl's name is-" the arrival of one more person
interrupted Nodoka, "Akane-chan?"
"Akane?" Ranma and Ukyo asked in disbelief as they turned
to see Akane stop in between the two groups.
"Good morning, everyone," she greeted, smiling, "hello,
Auntie Saotome. It's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you too, Akane-chan," Nodoka replied, "but
why have you come? Are you travelling to China too?"
"Sure am," before Ranma could say anything, she quickly
explained, "Kohei-kun wants to take the one who defeated Saffron, but
I helped Ranma beat him. So I'm in this as much as Ranma."
"She has enormous potential. And the training I plan to give
her will help to increase her skills greatly," Kohei added, "which is why
I agreed to allow her to join us."
"All right!" Ukyo cheered, knowing that she didn't have to
worry about Akane as competition, "now I won't be the only girl!"
"Ucchan?" Ranma looked at her in the same amount of
disbelief, "you too?"
"Of course, Sugar," she grinned, "it can get lonely
sometimes."
"Very well," Nodoka spoke, "if Kohei-san and Ucchan have
no arguments against Akane-chan travelling with all of you, then I wish
her a safe trip as well. Ranma, you have a long road ahead of you.
Please help Kohei-san protect these girls and come home alive and
victorious."
Ranma didn't feel trapped this time as he held his head high
and proudly stated, "I will, Mom."


Once all of the good-byes had taken place, the group of four
teens set out on their journey to China and Kohei's home village of
Ryuchiezu. The half-amazon had them follow a strict pattern of
training in the morning and travelling in the afternoon. The first third
of the exercises would have Kohei and Ranma take turns training with
one-on-one Akane and Ukyo and try to teach them some new tricks and
techniques. While Ranma was against this at first, as he didn't like
fighting the girls, the conviction came to him through the medium of
Ukyo's spatula and Akane's fist, again showing him that they weren't
afraid to hit him. The second third of each session was a spar between
partners of Akane vs. Ukyo and Ranma vs. Kohei one day, and
switching to the other three as the four-day cycle progressed. The final
third was especially aimed towards Ranma and Kohei, as they were
deemed the two best martial artists in the group. Every other day, they
would rotate with one of them fighting all of the other three at the same
time. At Ranma's insistence, this would be the only time when Kohei
would ever intentionally change into his cursed form. But on the day
of Kohei's third turn...
"I'm ready!" he announced, throwing his canteen aside after
dousing himself, "Come at me, all three of you!" and awaited their
assault.
Ranma and the two girls all tried to take him at the same time,
but, using his non-painful, high-force ki attacks, he soon knocked the
two girls aside for a few seconds so he could concentrate on Ranma.
He didn't hold back at all against Ranma, who had now become wise to
all of his skills in cursed form and was now able to hold out against
him for much longer. About 20 minutes of this passed before Ranma
began to notice something. {He's getting angry!} he thought as he saw
Kohei's next move and blocked it, {This could be my chance!} Using
the split-second opening that he gained when Kohei knocked Akane
back to his advantage, he set his heart to ice and spiraled around
Kohei's now hot ki. Not knowing how he was able to manage
executing the technique, he was still able to do it.

"Hiryuu Shoten Ha!"

The whirlwind appeared the instant he raised his arm to the
air...

But Ranma never expected his wrist to be grabbed.

"Oh no you don't," Kohei growled, "I'm not the one going up
there!" and threw him up into the tornado. "Didn't the one who taught
you the Hiryuu Shoten Ha also teach you ways that it can be
countered?!"
Ranma could only watch as Kohei leapt off of the ground and
shout,

"Sun Rises in the East!"

His jump and extended fist were like that of when he executed
his Shigami no Genkotsu technique. This time, he rode the winds
upward, gathered their power, and, working his fist around Ranma's
defenses, slammed between his ribs, hard, before kicking him back
down.
Back on the ground, Akane and Ukyo, managing to jump
outside of the range of the whirlwind, saw this and stared in awe.
"Only Herb was able to reverse it," said Akane, "and what
technique did Kohei-kun use? It looks like the Hiryuu Korin Dan but it
also looks like his Death-God's Fist."
"Ranchan!" Ukyo called as she saw him fall towards them.
She immediately ran under and caught him. But the velocity of his
landing sent her to the round as he hit. "Are you okay?"
"He got angry on purpose just to show that the Hiryuu Shoten
Ha can be countered like that..." Ranma held his ribs and started to get
back up.
"Ranchan! You can't fight anymore today!" she tried to hold
him down.
"Lemme go, Ucchan," he tried to pry her off, "I've had worse
and have been able to come back and win. The spar isn't over yet,
either.
"Something's wrong," Akane noticed, "Kohei-kun hasn't
landed yet." The other two looked up to see that she was right, he was
nowhere to be seen.

Several meters away from the sparring circle and campsite,
Kohei had landed into one of the trees after jumping off of Ranma, but
something was wrong with him. He was breathing hard and heavily,
not from fatigue, but from something else. His eyes exuberated fear as
he looked at his hands and could see his rigid fingers almost becoming
deformed. {I know it was a mistake to allow my control to waver like
that,} he thought, {I've got to fight it!}
"Kohei-kun!" he could hear Akane's voice call to him from
below. She had obviously come looking for him.
"Akane-san!" he responded in a loud shout, "You have to run
back to camp and get me hot water, now!"
"Are you all right?!"
"Please, Akane-san! I can't subdue it for much longer!"
"A-all right!" it was obvious that she didn't understand, but he
could hear her start to run back to the camp. His brief conversation
with her allowed the last of his control to falter. As a wave of pain
washed over him, he grabbed his head and cried out. Once it subsided,
Kohei slowly stood up on the branch and emitted a loud howl. Not the
howl of battle...

but the howl of a wolf.

"What was that?!" Ukyo, who had taken Ranma's shirt off and
was applying some salve to his very bruised front, asked as she turned
her head towards the direction of the loud cry that echoed across the
entire forest. She had also turned back in time to see Akane sprint back
towards them.
"Something's wrong with Kohei-kun!" she exclaimed as she
ran towards the pot of water that Ukyo had also just set on the fire to
boil so they could eat a quick meal of instant ramen before heading out
for the afternoon. The water hadn't heated up very much so she looked
around for something, anything else. But she had no luck.
"Don't look now, but here he comes," Ukyo reached to draw
her combat spatula when she saw the green-haired man come walking
into the camp, sniffing loudly, but Ranma quickly grabbed her wrist
and shook his head when she looked at him.
"He can smell our food," he whispered.
"What's wrong with him?" Ukyo asked.
"He's acting like a wild animal," Ranma answered and stood
up beside her. What was unusual though, was that he was walking on
two legs instead of four.
Kohei slowly walked right past the two of them and headed
towards the scent of the pile of food that was near the fire, and Akane.
But when he noticed that she was between him and the food, he emitted
a low growl.
"Kohei-kun," she turned and saw him, "what's wrong?"
"Akane!" Ranma called in a loud whisper, "back away slowly
and don't make any sudden moves!"
"O-okay," she obeyed and began to back up around to the
other side of the fire. But, Akane being Akane, found a rock to trip
over. She hit the ground only a meter away from the fire and let out a
loud cry of surprise. An instant before the strangely-acting Kohei was
about to eat all of the noodles and seasonings raw, her loud noise and
quick movement startled him. Seeing her as a threat, he snarled loudly,
and lunged towards her with his fingers hooked into claws!
"Akane!" Ranma and Ukyo shouted as they ran over to stop
him, but weren't fast enough.
{No! I don't want to hurt Akane-san!}
Kohei was just about to reach her neck when she saw an easy
opening, grabbed his shirt, and threw him over her with her foot. As he
landed on his side, he let out a loud yelp and whimpered slightly. By
now, Ranma and Ukyo had gotten to her. But more importantly, the
water looked like it was about to boil.
"Forgive me, Kohei-kun," Akane produced her mallet and
smacked the pot, sending it and all of its contents onto him.
"Is he okay?" Ukyo asked.
"I don't know," replied the youngest Tendo as she shook her
head before running over to him and knocking the pot aside. He lay
sprawled on his back, breathing hard, but sound relieved. While his
skin was red from the heat of the water, he didn't look like he was in
pain.
"Thank you, Akane-san," he said, "I'm sorry... for worrying...
all of you..."
"Forget it," Ranma waved it aside, "but what happened to
you?"
"It was my mistake in letting... the wolf's spirit overtake me
when... I purposefully got angry to counter... your Hiryuu Shoten Ha,
Ranma..."
"So if you're not careful with your emotions in cursed form,
then-"
"I turn into a wolf, mentally, yes," Kohei finished, "because
that was the last spring I dove into before Nannichuan, it's influence is
the strongest. I have no control over my body when the wolf's spirit
overtakes it, but I know everything that happens.
"Hmm," Akane mused, "instead of the Cat Fist, your
technique can be called the Wolf Fist."
"I've never heard of the Cat Fist. What kind of technique is
it?"
"You don't want to know!" Ranma shouted as those horrid
memories arose. After a few more minutes of recovery, the day
continued on as normal.


Other than that one major mishap, there were no extremely
unusual occurrences during the entire trip. When they reached the
western coasts of Japan, Ukyo surprised everyone by buying them a
small rowboat, mostly thanks to her large windfall from the night
before they left. Their method of travel reminded Ranma all too much
of the trip to fight Kirin and the students of the Seven Lucky Gods
School of Martial Arts, but he didn't complain as it definitely beat
swimming to China. Following their training and travelling routine as
Kohei led them through the Bayankala range towards his village, they
arrived about seven weeks after they had left.
"There it is," Kohei gestured to the cluster of buildings on the
horizon, "my birthplace of Ryuchiezu."
"Wow," Akane admired as she shaded her eyes from setting
sun to get a better look, "it's bigger than I thought it would be."
"It won't do us any good to stand here gawking," Ranma
complained, "let's just get there already." Rather than chide him for his
impatience, everyone agreed and they arrived on the outskirts one hour
later.

"My home is on this very edge," Kohei guided as he looked
around to make sure no one saw their arrival through the eastern gate,
"I hope we can have time to get there unnoticed and rest until tomorrow
before we talk to Grandfather."
"You seem awfully relaxed about this," Ranma said, "don't
you want to go beat Hashin right now?"
"I don't know where he hides in between his monthly raids,"
he admitted, shaking his head, "my plan is to wait for him to return on
the next full moon and catch him by surprise."
By this time, he had led them without discovery to his family's
house, where Ukyo noticed something.
"Kohei," she pointed to the large sign on the building, written
in both Chinese and Japanese, "your house is a ramen stand?"
He took a quick glance at it and easily figured something out,
"It looks like my guests who took care of my home and sister while I
was gone opened it up to bring in some extra revenue."
"You had someone take care of your house?" Akane inquired.
"Yes, and I'd like you to meet them, and my younger sister,
Miki," Kohei ignored the "CLOSED" sign on the door when he opened
it and led the three from Japan into his small house. It was a two-story
wooden hut that consisted of at least four rooms on the first floor and
they could see a staircase leading up to the second floor, as well as one
leading down to a basement.
"Nihao!" Kohei called as they stepped in, "Miki! Xian Pu!
Mou Su! I'm home!"
Ranma, Ukyo, and Akane all stopped dead, too stunned to
continue forward.
"Xian Pu...?" Akane whispered in disbelief.
"Mou Su...?" Ukyo continued.
"There's no way..." Ranma finished.
Their shock heightened as they heard a loud, excited "Aiyah!"
come from upstairs and Shampoo, the same Shampoo whom Ranma
was once supposed to marry and who none of them had seen in over a
year, bounded down the stairs and, not seeing them, glomped Kohei.
"[Cousin Kohei!]" she exclaimed in Chinese, "[Welcome
home!]"
"[It's good to see you, Xian Pu,]" he responded.
But their shock climaxed when they saw her smile at him...

And kiss his cheek.