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The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole
creation and possession of the brilliant
Rumiko Takahashi. ------------------------------------------------
Hearts
of Ice Part
16: Memories of the Past by
Krista Perry ------------------------------------------------
It was snowing. Ranma
shivered, looked around blearily,
feeling strangely weak. Snow
covered the ground as far as he could
see; light flakes drifted lazily from
the clouded night sky.
The tiny, shimmering crystals
stung the skin of his face and hands
with pricks of biting cold. Jeeze... I
can barely move...
What's wrong with me..? A
wave of exhaustion swept over him,
and his legs threatened to buckle
beneath him.
He stumbled forward a step,
leaving a deep dragging track in snow
that almost came up to his knees,
but he remained standing. He
was so cold... "Where
am I?" he asked no one, his voice
small and lost in the vast snowy wasteland.
The wind answered, soft, wailing...
Ranma...
He
turned at the voiceless sound of his
name to see the Snow Woman, tall and
white, a cruel smile on her bloodless
face.
And standing in front of her
was Akane, wearing her school uniform,
looking at him blankly. "Akane!" He tried to move, but his legs felt so heavy
that he couldn't lift them...
and he was so cold... Akane's
brow furrowed in puzzlement.
"Do I know you?"
"Akane!" His voice was thick with despair. He reached out to her with shaking arms. "It's me... please, you have to remember.
It's just the Kami Plane making
you forget!"
He glanced between her and
the Snow Woman.
"You don't belong with
her, Akane, she's a demon! Please, come back to me..." Akane
shrank away from him, clinging to
the Snow Woman's frost blue robes.
"Your...
love... is not the binding link you
thought it was," said the Snow
Woman softly, smiling at him.
And, as she reached out with
a slender white finger to touch him
in the center of his forehead, he
found he could not move to stop her...
A
cold, watery chill rippled over the
surface of his skin. And he felt himself change. He looked down at himself, at his woman's body,
in horror.
"What..!" His
head snapped up fearfully to see Akane's
own brown eyes widening at the sight
of his transformed body, only to narrow
a moment later, her nose wrinkling
in aversion.
"Ughh," she said. "A pervert." Ranma's
heart shriveled within his chest.
"No... Akane,"
he pleaded, his mezzo-soprano voice
grating in his ears. "I'm not..." "Jerk. Insensitive pervert," she said. Ranma
trembled. The
Snow Woman laughed.
"Take it slow," she
said, soft and sultry.
"We don't want to put
him out of his misery too soon."
A
soft, purring chuckle echoed in his
head, and Ranma jerked, his throat
going dry, his eyes wide and staring.
No, oh no, please, not again, anything but... Ranma
pressed himself into the corner of
his room, next to the dresser. The stinging snowflakes were shivering pieces
of glass, a shattering light bulb
plunging him into darkness... The
demon's huge cat eyes were opaque
yellow orbs glinting in the dark as
it slunk closer.
**Ah, you remember me. I'm flattered. You're my favorite, you know...** Ranma
whimpered.
Something inside him, something
that had been there since he was ten
years old, awoke and began crawling
up from the blackest depths of his
soul. Ranma felt himself falling, falling inside himself,
as the feline thing within him rose
to the surface. He was falling... ...to
his hands and knees, unable to stand
upright... ...Oh please, help me, somebody... ...was
running, running on all fours, driven
by fear, unable to stop himself...
...opened
his mouth to scream, to cry for help,
but all that came out was a terrified
yowling... Ranma
felt warm tears well up, turning cold
as they touched his skin, streaking
down his girl's face as he ran...
Please... somebody, help me..! "It's
okay, Ranma."
And
he turned, wrapping his paws protectively
around his half-eaten fish, to see
a strange bird-man, black eyes glittering
above an expressionless beak. "You know me, deep down. You know I'm a friend. I've helped you before, and I'm here to help
you now." Ranma
stood on four legs, looking up at
the tengu through red bangs, feeling
the blank animal expression on his
own female face.
Yes,
please... please help me, I don't
like this at all, I can't think... But,
as the tengu stepped towards him,
five gaping, bleeding wounds opened
up in the creature's feathered chest.
The tengu looked down at himself
for a moment, almost surprised, then collapsed lifelessly onto the forest grass...
Ranma
could smell the blood, could feel
the ravenous hunger it stirred within
him, glazing his mind, even as he
silently screamed... A
demon laughing... "Ranma..?" Ryoga looked at him, disbelief and horror flickering
across his face. ...Ryoga... Ranma turned, nose twitching as he caught the
scent of food in the lost boy's pack.
...please help me, I can't think, I... "C'mere,
Ranma."
Ryoga was kneeling down, beckoning
to him.
"C'mere, kitty kitty..."
And
Ranma felt himself respond to the
incomprehensible chattering, like
the feline animal he was.
He chewed ravenously on the
strip of meat snatched from Ryoga's
hand.
And the smothered, nearly non-existent
spark of his human consciousness knew,
and felt it all.
And wanted to die... Cologne,
the shriveled old ghoul, sat on a
neighboring rooftop, cackling silently
in the shadows, her narrowed eyes
staring down at him... ...kitty
kitty kitty... **Poor
Ranma.**
The Shadowcat's voice, in his
head, condescendingly mocking.
**You're a good kitty, aren't
you?
Yes you are...** Akane..! Ranma
opened his mouth to call her, but
he was meowing, the words wouldn't
come, he couldn't remember...
Just meowing over and over...
Oh, please, Akane, please come back, I need you... I've lost myself, I
can't think... A
whispering, scratching away in the
deep recesses of his mind. Growing louder. *You'll never see her again, you're doomed to
fail, you already have, you should
give up you'll never see her again
you're doomed to fail you already
haveyoushould giveupyou'llneverseeheragainyou'redoomedtofailyoualreadyhave...*
-------------------- Ranma
gasped as his eyes snapped open, his
heart thudding hard in his chest,
the spell voices echoing loudly in
his mind... Ceiling. He was looking at the ceiling of his room. A
dream...
Oh jeeze... Ranma squeezed his eyes shut and slowly, painfully
pushed the spell voices from the forefront
of his mind. His mouth was dry, he was shaking, drenched
in cold sweat... no, more than cold...
Icy... Turning
his head slightly, he opened his eyes
and blinked, trying to focus on the
reality around him, to shake off the
nightmare... Dim, early-morning light seeped through the
drawn shades over the window.
He could see boards and plywood
covering the hole that he blasted
in the wall of his room while trying
to take out the Snow Woman last night...
Not last night. Days ago. Ages
ago.
I remember... "Ranchan?" Ranma
startled slightly, only then realizing
that someone was in the room with
him.
Ukyo leaned over him, her weary
expression twisting with a mixture
of relief, concern, and... fear. "Are... you okay?" Ranma
groaned and, as he carefully pushed
himself into a sitting position, he
realized with dismay that he was not
a "he" at all. But then, I already knew that, he thought
dismally. He
rubbed his face with his delicate,
bandaged hands, wiping away the icy
sweat that clung to his skin.
Ukyo watched him in silence.
"What...
what happened?" he asked finally.
The last thing he remembered
was regaining consciousness... Ukyo
sweeping him up in a crushing hug...
the overwhelming desire to stand up...
to walk on two legs like a m... like
a human being... to leave immediately
for China to break the blood spell
and save Akane... "Doctor
Tofu hit your sleep points."
Ukyo's voice was soft, and
strangely thick.
"You've been asleep for
nearly ten hours. You..."
You
nearly died, Ranchan, I was so afraid,
I thought I'd lost you... Ukyo
swallowed, fighting back wetness building
in her eyes. She couldn't think of that now. Ranma needed her. "You... were so drained of ki, you needed
time to recover, but you kept trying
to stand up..." ...and
you were going on and on about breaking
the blood spell and saving Akane... "...and I... we... were afraid that you
would hurt yourself because we weren't
sure..." She
trailed off as Ranma turned to look
at her, his red bangs sticking to
his damp forehead, his haunted blue
eyes looking at her from his girl's
face... His
eyes were haunted, yes.
But... at least she could see
him
in those eyes, and not the vacuously
innocent feline that had peered at
her from those same eyes for the past
eight days... Ranma
was back.
It didn't even matter to her
that he was a girl at the moment,
that his eyes were framed by a sweetly
delicate female face, so similar to,
yet so different from Ranma's handsome,
strong male features that made her
heart flutter inside her chest. She looked into his blue eyes, the windows to
his soul, the only part of him that
didn't change with his transformation,
and knew that Ranma's mind was finally
restored, even if his body wasn't...
As
if thinking the same thing, Ranma
looked down at himself, at his female
body.
He blinked in numb horror,
as if noticing his curse for the first
time.
Soft, well-proportioned curves
and petite frame under his tank top
and boxers... creamy, flawless skin...
His cursed form was voluptuously
female in every sense of the word. Not a trace of masculinity to be found in it.
Except
in the eyes. The haunted flickering
in his blue eyes would tell anyone
who cared to look deep enough, as
Ukyo did, that Ranma's cursed form
was as alien to him as it might have
been had he fallen into the Spring
of Drowned Piglet, the Spring of Drowned
Duck... or the Spring of Drowned Cat...
A
tremor passed through Ranma's slender,
shivering body. "Oh man," he whispered, almost silently.
And Ukyo realized at that moment
that Ranma somehow knew he was stuck
in cursed form. She wanted to reach out and comfort him, tell
him it didn't matter, that she knew
he was a guy, no matter what... "Are
you... okay?" she asked again.
"Ucchan,"
he replied hoarsely, and his eyes
lost focus as he seemed to stare right
past her.
"I... remember everything."\ Ukyo
looked at him, uncomprehending for
a moment.
Then her face went white as
she suddenly understood the full meaning
of the tormented expression on his
face.
"Oh, Ranchan.
I... You mean you remember being... you remember
the Nekoken?" Ranma
nodded slowly, shuddering, and rubbed
his face with his bandaged hands again,
as if he could rub away the memories.
"Oh man..." he whispered.
And
Ukyo felt her heart contract in painful
empathy. Ranma was so proud, so driven by honor, so fiercely
protective of his masculinity...
For him to remember the humiliation
of his existence the past eight days,
with both his mind and body so changed...
But then, that means... he must remember that
I stayed with him... Ukyo
blinked, thinking of the time she
spent, staying by Ranma's side, taking
care of him, searching desperately
for some sign of the man she loved
in his feline mind, hoping against
hope that she could coax his humanity
back to the surface the way Genma
said the old woman had done when he
was a child. After all, wasn't she his fiancée? But
his feline mind had not been focused
on her. Ranma
had spent almost every waking moment
in Akane's room. And Ukyo had stayed with him, taking care of
him, trying to comfort him, to hush
his mewing even as he cried constantly
for the missing girl... A
girl that, according to her memory,
didn't exist. A girl she didn't want to believe in, even now
with the explanation of the Kami Plane's
spell of Forgetfulness altering their
memories.
Even with all the evidence
of the youngest Tendo daughter's room
that had surrounded her for over a
week.
A part of her still clung to
the hope that it was all a result
of the blood spell; that, when they
went to China, faced the Ancient One
and broke the spell, all traces of
this Akane person would disappear,
and Ranma would realize that the love
he felt for the non-existent girl
was nothing more than a result of
the spell he was under...
But
another part of her, the solid, rational
part, knew that she was fooling herself.
This was the part of her that
knew of Nabiki's similar internal
struggle.
She knew that the Tendo girl
had feelings for Ranma. She had seen those feelings in a fleeting moment
when Nabiki's usual cold mask had
slipped, the very afternoon before
Ranma was taken by the Shadowcat...
And
yet, even so, Nabiki chose to expose
the truth behind the blood spell and
the Kami Plane's spell of Forgetfulness;
revealing the truth of her younger
sister's existence, knowing that doing
so destroyed any chance she might
have with Ranma... Of
course, what Nabiki did was only right.
To do anything else would be
selfishly inhuman, even more monstrous
than what Shampoo did, casting the
blood spell in the first place. But Ukyo couldn't help but envy the stone-faced
girl her ability to put fierce, unblinking
family loyalty above her own private
passion. Ukyo
had no family.
Her own passion and loyalty
was completely undivided.
It lay solely with Ranma. But
he loved Akane... And
her own words to Shampoo, as she rebuked
the Amazon for casting the blood spell,
echoed relentlessly, mercilessly in
her mind... If you ever really cared about him at all...
you would have let him
choose. Ranma
had chosen. And
what was she to do now? "Ucchan..." Ranma's female voice, filled with panicky concern,
calling her from the depths of her
misery... "Don't... don't cry, Ucchan. I'm... okay.
Really." Ukyo
looked up at him, at his pale girl's
face, his haunted blue eyes... He was lying, of course; she could tell just
by looking at him that he was far
from okay. And
she hadn't even realized she was crying.
She wasn't the weepy type,
really.
She had cried more this past
week than she had in her entire life. Even now, she couldn't feel the tears that coursed
down her face to fall lightly on her
hands, folded in her lap. She just felt numb. The surface of her skin tingled. She kept waiting for the shattering sound of
her heart, but it didn't come.
Her heart continued to pound
in her chest, almost painfully, as
if forcing her to be aware that she
was still alive... Ranma
was still trying to comfort her in
his usual awkward way, and of course
he had no real clue regarding the
true source of her tears. He was so naive that way... "I mean, hey," he was saying, trying
to sound cheerful and failing miserably.
"I know I'm... stuck...
right now..." His eyes wavered a little, as if afraid to look
down at his body; the body that, by
all appearances, denied him the right
to use the male pronoun at all.
"But at least I... I'm...
back, right?" He pointed half-heartedly towards his head with
one slender hand.
"I mean... one out of
two ain't bad, I guess..."
He tried to laugh, but it sounded
hollow, and the laugh didn't reach
his eyes. Ukyo
felt a sad smile curling at the edges
of her mouth as she wiped the tears
from her face.
How like him, trying to cheer
her up, when he looked like he was
on the verge of tears himself. But
he hated to see girls cry... "Ucchan." Ranma's voice was quiet, penetrating, demanding
her attention.
He dropped his gaze to his
hands in his lap.
"I...
I'm no good at this but..."
Ukyo
stopped breathing. "...
but... I remember... how you stayed
with me.
How you..."
He winced, and heaved a deep,
shaky breath, as if the effort of
thinking back on the past eight days
was physically painful.
His cheeks flushed with remembered
humiliation, but he plunged ahead. "Anyway... I just... Thanks," he finished awkwardly. He looked up at her, and smiled half-heartedly.
Ukyo
sighed.
"Ranchan..."
she said, reaching out to take his
small, bandaged hand. He looked down at where her hand clasped his,
as if unsure how to react.
She smiled thinly, her green
eyes bright and wet, and gave his
hand a gentle squeeze. "You..." You want to come with me, don't you? You want to come with me, and we'll search for
a way to break the Snow Woman's cold
spell so that you can be a man again,
and we'll be together and then you'll
see how I've loved you for so long,
how I would love you forever, and
we'll live happily for the rest of... She
looked at Ranma, and in his face she
could see... gratitude. Unconditional friendship. The same feelings she'd seen in his face, for
her, since they were children together...
And
that was all. "You
want..."
She swallowed. "...to leave now to break the blood spell,
don't you?" Ranma
blinked at her in surprise, then nodded.
"Yeah," he said hoarsely.
She
could almost see him thinking about
Akane.
It was the one thing she recognized
in his countenance from the past week.
"Well
then," she said.
And to her surprise, her voice
did not crack.
"Everyone's packed and
ready to go.
We're ready to leave when you
are." And
the haunted look on Ranma's face faded
slightly, to be replaced by eagerness,
anxiousness... "I'm
ready now," he said. Ukyo's
smiled.
But the smile could not reach
her eyes. ------------------- "Nabiki. Nabiki, wake up." Nabiki
groaned and tried to bury her head
deeper into her pillow. "G'way, Ukyo," she muttered crankily.
To be shaken out of the first
real rest she'd had in over a week
did not put her in the best of moods.
Ukyo
shook her again.
"Ranma's awake,"
she said quietly. Nabiki
lifted her head out of her pillow
and looked at Ukyo, all thoughts of
sleep immediately banished from her
mind.
She sat up, realizing as she
did that she had fallen asleep where
she collapsed on her bed, still completely
dressed, lying above her bed covers. "Where is he? Is he okay?" "He's...
fine."
Ukyo's green eyes flickered
slightly, and she reached up to absently
brush her thick chestnut hair over
her shoulder.
"He's getting dressed. He wants to leave for China right away."
Nabiki
nodded, running her fingers through
her own mussed hair. "I knew he would. We'd better go downstairs, wake the others,
and tell them to get ready."
Then she peered closely at
Ukyo, at her pale face and red, swollen
eyes... "Ukyo... are you okay?" She frowned.
"Don't tell me you didn't
get some sleep when you had the chance."
"I'll
sleep on the plane."
Ukyo smiled weakly as Nabiki
continued to frown reprimandingly,
and sat down next to her on the bed,
her shoulders sagging.
"But how could I think
of sleeping," she whispered,
"when he was so... so..."
And
tears welled up in her eyes again.
She brushed at them in frustration
and sighed. Nabiki's
half-lidded scowl melted away.
"It's okay," she
said quietly.
"I understand." Ukyo
smiled gratefully.
It was so strange.
Before the whole blood spell
crisis, she never would have thought
she could be friends with someone
who seemed as cold and mercenary as
Nabiki Tendo.
But the past week, as the two
of them worked together trying to
find a way to help Ranma, she had
seen a completely different side to
the older girl. Well,
not really a different side.
Nabiki was as businesslike
and no-nonsense as usual.
But now, Ukyo knew that beneath
Nabiki's coldly rational intellect
beat a truly warm heart.
The Nabiki she had come to
know this past week was a person she
was glad... and surprised... to call
her friend.
And the most surprising thing
was that she knew the feeling was
reciprocated. Nabiki seemed just as amazed to find a companion
and ally in the okonomiyaki chef.
And
in their talks, conversations that
had stretched into the long hours
of the night as they kept their careful
vigil over Ranma, they both found
comfort from their mutual grief in
the first real female friendship they
had ever experienced.
For while Ukyo had forsaken
her femininity throughout her childhood
and had thus never had any real female
friends, Nabiki's self-imposed isolation,
her general disdain for the "giggling
fools" that made up the popular
cliques, and her intentional fostering
of her own ruthless reputation, prevented
her from forming any meaningful bonds
with her peers... male or female.
In
spite of all that, as well as their
personal differences, they were now
fast friends. "Nabiki,"
Ukyo looked up at her, her expression
etched with anguish. "He... remembers. He remembers everything." Nabiki's
eyes widened.
"Are you serious?"
she breathed.
Ranma had never remembered
anything about his experiences in
the Nekoken after coming out of it.
She chewed her lip in silent
consternation as she thought of the
consequences of Ukyo's revelation;
of the devastating effects it could
have on Ranma's ego. "I was afraid of something like this. He's never been in the Nekoken so long before."
Ukyo
looked down as she twisted her hands
in her lap. "You should see him, Nabiki." Her voice was low and hoarse. "You can see it in his face; all the memories...
And on top of that, he's stuck
as a girl, and he knows it."
Nabiki
closed her eyes briefly.
This was not good.
"Do you think he's up
to this?" she asked.
"Leaving for China right
away?" Ukyo
laughed; a short, sad sound, full
of irony.
"I don't think we could
stop him if we tried. He wants... to rescue Akane. Right now, that's even more important to him
than changing back into a guy.
Probably more important to
him than breathing." Nabiki
glanced at Ukyo, her expression carefully
neutral. "Ukyo... you haven't given up on Ranma,
have you," she said quietly.
A statement, not a question.
Ukyo
didn't raise her head, but she blinked
and brushed at her wet eyes with her
hand.
"Dammit, I knew you were
going to say that."
Her voice was low, but steady.
"What can I say, Nabiki?
I know he loves... your sister...
and I want him to be happy.
Heck, I want you and your family
to be happy..." She sniffed, and her voice broke. "But... I would be lying if I said I didn't
think about what might happen...
I mean, I can't help but think,
what if the blood spell can't be broken?
What if it's impossible to
get Akane back?
And then I think, Ranma will
need someone to comfort him..." Ukyo
put her face in her hands, her long
hair spilling forward around her. "And then... I feel so ashamed for thinking it... for feeling
that way... because I know that's
what Shampoo planned when she cast
the blood spell in the first place..."
Nabiki
sat quietly for a moment.
"You're being too hard
on yourself, Ukyo," she said
at last. "I know you. You would never have cast the blood spell.
And what you're thinking is
only human nature.
I myself have wondered... if
it's too late to save Akane."
Ukyo
raised her head and looked up at her
in shock.
"Don't
look so surprised.
It's been almost three weeks
since the blood spell, after all,
and anything could have happened to
her in the Kami Plane."
In spite of the calm bluntness
of her words, Nabiki's hazel eyes
flickered slightly.
"And I keep thinking...
what if she's lost forever?
How will I... feel?" Nabiki
sighed and looked around her room.
"I mean, I know she's
real, because of the hard evidence
I've found, and that I keep finding..."
She thought of the negatives
of Akane she'd discovered on the same
rolls of film that she'd used to take
pictures of Ranma's girl form... and
evidence in her ledger that she'd
sold all of the photos to Kuno...
She
glanced back at Ukyo.
"I know she's real.
But I don't remember her," she said quietly. "I mean, if she is lost forever, it won't
be like when Mother died.
There are no feelings, no memories,
no nostalgia...
Nothing for me to... to mourn
for.
None of us... Father, Kasumi...
have any reason to feel grief over
the loss of Akane, because we only
have the intellectual knowledge that
she exists somewhere far away.
I think of my mother.
It's been years since her death,
and there are so many things about
her I've forgotten... but at least
I remember that I loved her, and that
she loved me. I can still feel it..." Nabiki
trailed off for a moment and closed
her eyes.
"But... I don't have anything
like that for Akane," she finished.
Ukyo
looked at Nabiki, her eyes wide.
She hadn't even considered
that.
And yet it made sense.
After all, this past week the
Tendo family had seemed much more
concerned over Ranma's plight than
over the plight of the daughter/sister
they knew existed but couldn't remember.
Nabiki
opened her eyes and raised her head,
yet her calm expression quivered slightly.
"Did you know, I almost
didn't tell anyone of my discovery
that Akane was real?" She chuckled humorlessly. "I almost didn't. I almost swept her existence under the carpet,
because I knew it would be easier
to live in the reality that had imposed
itself on all of us, rather than try
to bend all our lives to Ranma's reality.
Even if his reality was the
right one." "What
made you change your mind?" asked
Ukyo softly. Nabiki
snorted in quiet self-derision.
"Because, Ukyo, in spite
of my carefully cultivated image as
the woman of ice, I'm a complete softy.
The truth is, I couldn't stand
to see Ranma suffer because of Shampoo's
lies any more."
Ukyo
saw wetness form in Nabiki's hazel
eyes in spite of her calm demeanor. "Besides," she continued, "whether
I remember her or not...
Akane's my sister.
She's family.
And I want to remember her. I want to know her. I look at the pictures of her with our family,
and I still can't remember her.
I can't feel anything for her
except frustration that she's nothing
but a big blank in my mind, and it
makes me feel sick, and I can't bear
the thought of not even being able
to feel proper grief over her disappearance."
Nabiki's
hands clenched at her sides.
"I don't like anyone or
anything messing with my mind. Or my family.
And this blood spell has done
both.
So, even though I know it might
be... too late... I hope Ranma can
break the blood spell and get Akane
back.
But... if he can't... if worse
comes to worse and something goes
wrong..."
She
trailed off, then turned to look into
Ukyo's wide eyes. "If Ranma can't break the blood spell,
you should
be there for him," she said firmly.
"Because Ranma does remember Akane. And if he can't get her back... Well, just as Shampoo planned, he'll need someone
to comfort him.
And you're more qualified than
anyone else I know to do that.
At least in my eyes."
Ukyo
blinked, stunned.
Then a small, tremulous smile
lit her face.
"Thanks, Nabiki.
I... I really needed to hear
that." "Don't
thank me.
I'm just giving you the cold
hard facts of the matter." Ukyo's
smile turned wry.
"Precisely why I'm thanking
you."
She sighed heavily, almost
in relief, as if a great black burden
had been lifted from her, and stood
from the bed.
"I think Ranchan should
be dressed by now," she said. Nabiki
nodded, and stood as well.
"We should probably go
get him and let him know what's been
going on, before he goes downstairs
and finds--" "OH,
MY PIGTAILED GODDESS!!
THOU HAST AWAKENED FROM THY
SLUMBER AND COMETH TO GREET ME LIKE
THE BREAKING RAYS OF DAWN DISPELLING
THE DARKEST NIGHT!!" "GYAAAAA!! KUNO, GET OFFA ME, YOU PERVERT!!" Ukyo
and Nabiki exchanged glances as the
shouts rang through the house. Nabiki
shrugged.
"Too late," she sighed.
Ukyo turned and ran out the
door and down the stairs as Nabiki
followed quickly after. They
reached the dining room just in time
to see Kuno collapse to the floor
unconscious.
Ranma stood, trembling in fury,
his favorite black pants and red Chinese
shirt hanging loosely on his female
body, his small fist still extended
from his thrown punch. And
Nabiki couldn't help but feel elated
to see him standing on two legs, human
intelligence burning brightly in his
narrowed blue eyes, even if those
eyes were framed by a female face.
It had been too long... He
turned towards her sharply as she
followed Ukyo into the room. "What the hell is Kuno doing in here?!" he yelled, seething. Nabiki
smiled.
"Well, he felt it was
beneath him to camp outside with the
others, so..." "You
know what I mean, Nabiki," he
growled. She
suppressed a smirk.
Yes, Ranma was back.
"He's paying our way to
China," she answered matter-of-factly.
"He's flying everyone
there in a private jet. So before you go breaking any more of his teeth,
you might want to remember that without
him, we'd all be taking the slow boat,
so to speak." Ranma
blinked, and looked down at the fallen
samurai.
"He's... paying?
But weren't you...
I thought you said..."
Nabiki's
smile flickered so slightly that Ranma
thought he might have imagined it. "Oh, that," she said smoothly. "Well, you know, I figured if Kuno was
up for it, why not?
Besides, he's more than happy
to foot the bill whenever you're--oof." She was cut off as Ukyo elbowed her a little
too roughly in the ribs. "What
she means to say, Ranchan," said
Ukyo, ignoring Nabiki's angry scowl,
"is that she can't pay for the
trip because she's broke." "Broke?" Ranma blinked in astonishment. "Nabiki?" For some reason, he was having trouble associating
the two words together. Nabiki
clenched her teeth, her face flushing
slightly, and looked away.
She hated to acknowledge that
she had depleted all her resources,
without a single personal asset remaining.
Knowing that she was only barely
in the black made her feel naked and
exposed.
But everything had happened
so fast, and she didn't have the time
to make back the money she'd spent,
between having the Nekohanten bugged,
making the tape dubs, hiring people
to find Ranma, searching all over
trying to track down ways to break
all the magic spells that had been
flying thick...
Hell, she was drained dry.
It would take months of working
in her usual circles before her finances
were back to normal. Ukyo
pretended not to notice her friend's
discomfort. After all, she was proud of Nabiki's sacrifice,
and if Nabiki wouldn't confess to
her generous acts, she would. "She spent all the rest of her money this
past week trying to find a way to
help you break out of the Nekoken,"
she said, looking meaningfully at
Ranma. Ranma's
eyes widened as he looked over at
Nabiki.
She looked up and met his gaze,
her cool expression almost defiant,
as if daring him to find the spark
of compassion she had tried for so
long to keep hidden, lest it ruin
her ruthless reputation. But
in that moment, as she looked into
his eyes, behind the growing realization
on his face, she saw...
...
saw a flash of the haunted memories
that were playing through his mind,
glittering in his eyes.
The shadow that crossed his
face was raw and terrible, and it
made her want to shudder. Oh no,
she thought, all thoughts of money
and reputations vanishing from her
mind.
Ukyo was right, he remembers everything. How can he stand it? Ukyo
must have seen it too, because she
reached out.
"Oh... I'm sorry Ranchan,
I didn't mean..." Ranma
blinked, and the shadow faded from
his countenance. He sighed. "It's
okay, Ucchan," he said quietly. And he walked over to Nabiki, looking up through
his red bangs into the taller girl's
face. "I'll... find a way to pay you back,"
he said sincerely. Nabiki
stared at him.
She couldn't help but think
of the time when Ranma had accidentally
destroyed a pair of elite concert
tickets, complete with backstage passes,
on which she had splurged in a rare
moment of extravagance.
He had humbly apologized, but
she had been furious at the loss. The next day, when she and Ranma were left alone
in the house while the others ran
errands, she made him suffer. She pulled every dirty trick and manipulation
in the book, and then some.
When she was finally through
with him, poor Ranma was a frazzled
wreck. Now,
for the first time in her life, as
she thought back on that incident
of revenge, she felt... ashamed. Ranma's not the only one who's been changed
by this blood spell, she realized
with a surprise that didn't reach
her expression.
Though I'm not quite sure if this is a good thing or not... She
decided not to think about it at the
moment.
Instead, she looked at Ranma
and feigned indifference to his offer. "Don't worry about it," she said,
not quite able to hide her discomfort.
"Just promise me you'll
rescue my sister, okay?" Ranma
nodded, his blue eyes grave and grateful.
"I promise," he said.
Nabiki
looked past him, eager to change the
subject.
She spotted just the thing.
"Oh, and just so you know.
When he wakes up," she
said, gesturing to Kuno's unconscious
form, "he's flying us to China
so that we can rescue his beloved
mystery girl -- who just happens
to be my long lost sister -- from
a dragon.
Not quite the truth, but close
enough."
She snorted softly.
"I can't believe how gaga
he is over a girl he's only seen in
photographs. Still, it's lucky for us that he seems to be
as obsessed with her as he is with
you." Ranma
frowned, but before he could respond,
the screen door slid open, and Ryoga
stepped through.
Shampoo and Mousse followed
close behind.
They were holding hands...
to Ranma's astonishment. Ryoga's
eyes widened as he saw his friend,
still in cursed form, but standing
upright for the first time in a week.
"Uh... hi, Ranma,"
said Ryoga awkwardly. "Welcome back." He immediately wanted to kick himself as soon
as the words came out of his mouth.
Welcome back? he thought. Oh that's
just great.
I might as well have just said
'Welcome back from being a cat.'
What kind of stupid thing is
that to say after what he's been through? But
Ranma only smiled slightly.
"Thanks, Ryoga."
He paused, as the shadow of
memory flickered in his eyes briefly. "For everything." Ryoga
missed Ranma's tone completely, still
squirming over his imagined faux pas.
"Hey," he replied,
trying to cover his discomfort, acting
nonchalant and failing. "It was no problem. I mean, sure, all that reading was hard on the
eyes--" Mousse
pushed his glasses up the bridge of
his nose with his index finger. "You can say that again," he murmured. "--
and we may not have found a cure,
but Shampoo did find a ton of wards
in an old Chinese book that will help
protect us when we go fight that dragon,
so all that work wasn't a complete
waste." "Huh?" Ranma blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Nabiki
cleared her throat.
"Shampoo, Mousse, Ryoga
and Doctor Tofu spent the week over
at Kintaro-sensei's library, reading
all of his ancient Chinese and Japanese
documents, trying to find a cure for
the Nekoken and the cold spell,"
she supplied helpfully. Ranma's
eyes widened as he looked at the weary
trio, suddenly understanding why he
couldn't remember seeing them all
week.
Ryoga and Mousse, two guys
that usually acted like they were
his worst enemies... trying to help
him?
And Shampoo.... Shampoo
was looking at him, her violet eyes
wide and flickering, her face ragged
and exhausted... "Wards
not for dragon," she said softly,
hesitantly as she looked into his
girl's face.
"Wards for demons."
Ranma
met her gaze, and felt his expression
harden as a rush of anger rose within
him at the sight of her, the one who
had caused him so much pain... ...and
Shampoo flinched, seeing it in his
face.
She lowered her head in shame.
Mousse,
who had been watching Ranma carefully,
glanced down at Shampoo; saw her crumple
under the venom of Ranma's gaze.
And Ranma half expected Mousse
to jerk his head up and attack him,
shouting at him for making his darling
Shampoo feel bad, or something along
those lines... Mousse
looked up, but he didn't attack.
Instead, he looked at Ranma
through his thick glasses... almost
pleadingly.
He didn't move, and he didn't
say a word, but his expression spoke
for him as he looked down at Shampoo
again sadly. Ranma
blinked, taken aback as he looked
back and forth between Mousse and
Shampoo.
The tall Chinese boy was standing
over her like a protector, and she
was clasping his hand tightly, as
if holding on to a lifeline. Ranma
took a deep breath and calmed himself.
His anger, though it might
be justified, would not accomplish
anything, he realized.
Shampoo was trying to help,
after all.
And she looked so tormented...
He
winced as a memory surfaced; as he
remembered Shampoo's expression from
days previous, when she saw him for
the first time, trapped with a girl
body and a feline soul... He
remembered it all.
Seeing the look on her face,
the mixture of horror and anguish
and guilt as she looked down at him,
knowing that she was responsible for
his plight... It was awful to remember that look on her face...
And
even worse to remember the feeling
of his own dimmed, transformed mind,
which could not even comprehend the
meaning of her expression... But
he understood now.
And, strangely, he found that
he felt better, knowing that Shampoo
was sincere in her desire to fix what
she had done to him... to Akane...
"What
were you saying about the wards, Shampoo?"
he asked. And there was no trace of anger, no hint of
accusation in his mezzo-soprano voice.
Shampoo
raised her head and looked at him
as she heard... not forgiveness, but...
a chance.
A chance to redeem herself. She straightened slightly, and a spark of hope
flickered in her clouded violet eyes.
"Wards no good against
Ancient One," she replied. "Just for demons that guard mountain.
We no reach Ancient One unless
we get past demons." Ranma
nodded approval.
"Then I'm glad you found
those wards," he said sincerely.
"That will make this trip
a lot easier." Shampoo's
countenance brightened slightly, but
her eyes were wet. "I lead you to Ancient One. I do everything I can to... to break blood spell." Ranma
almost smiled.
He looked around at the assembled
group; at his friends.
They looked at him, as if merely
waiting for the word. "Are
you guys ready to go?" he asked.
"We
just need to pack our tents,"
said Ryoga, indicating himself and
Mousse.
"Then we can leave any
time." Ranma
reached down with a slender arm, grabbed
Kuno by the back of his samurai uniform,
hauled the unconscious young man to
his feet, then slung him awkwardly
over his petite shoulder. He
brushed his red hair from his eyes
with his free hand. "Then let's go to China," he said.
-------------------- Outside
in the Tendo yard, where two tents
were pitched by the koi pond, a small,
blurring shadow moved silently in
the gray morning fog. There was the slightest rustle as it disappeared
through the open flap of the larger
of the two tents... and the slightest
rustle as it emerged a few moments
later, cackling softly as it bounded
away... The
patio door slid open a moment later,
and Ryoga and Mousse stepped out. Mousse paused a moment, and cocked his head.
"What's
wrong?" asked Ryoga. Mousse
frowned.
"Did you... hear something
just now?" Ryoga
listened a moment, then shook his
head.
"Nothing unusual.
Why?" The
tall, bespectacled Chinese boy looked
troubled for a moment, but then he
shrugged it off.
"I guess it was nothing,"
he said, then walked over to the larger
tent to pack it up for the trip. -------------------- Out
of the blissful oblivion of unconsciousness...
came throbbing pain... the sound of
voices, murmuring soft... and the
feel of cool fingers touching her
forehead lightly... Akane
groaned softly.
Her shoulder hurt, and her
thigh was shooting sharp messages
of pain along her nerve endings...
I'm alive, she realized with genuine surprise.
She thought for sure that when
the blackness claimed her, after sustaining
such serious injury from the Shadowcat
demon, that she was as good as dead.
Maybe she was.
But surely, if she were dead,
she wouldn't be feeling pain... would
she? "She's
still running a slight fever..."
"Well,
that's only to be expected, mistress..."
The
voices sounded... familiar.
Sluggishly, reluctantly, Akane
opened her eyes to see where she was,
to see whose hand rested on her forehead...
"Ah... Akane, you are awake at last." The Snow Woman smiled down at her, her frost
blue eyes filling with icy tears.
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