Chapter 12. The Evil Wakes

In Osaka, the young okonomiyaki chef looked up from the portable grill as the man she had met, still wearing his gi, walked up the street. When he was close enough, the teenager asked, “Any luck this time?”

Genma shook his head, appearing faintly angry. “No, dammit. They haven't heard of the boy either. I'm thinking we might try working our way to Tokyo after all. I don't think he'd go there; he knew that was where I was taking him when he ran off. On the other hand, I know several people there. One of 'em might of heard something. If not, I'll want to try Hokkaido, and check some places along the way.”

The chef sighed, wondering once more whether to strike out alone. Though only after ... dealing ... with the present concern, of course. Still, the fat man represented one of the best chances in years to track down Ranma Saotome. For the moment, it was probably worth a little more patience.

Genma was intently watching another okonomiyaki cooking, when the question was asked which had been repeated too many times already. “So what's up with the ears and the eyebrows? You keep avoiding the subject.”

“None of your business, boy,” Genma growled, grimacing with annoyance. “I told you, it was an accident.” Now that his attention was drawn to it, he could feel the bandanna slipping. No doubt his companion had noticed, thus inspiring the question. Genma pulled it off and then retied it, yanking the knots tight with vindictive ferocity.

Watching the man fiddle with the bandanna, the young chef could not help but wonder what sort of accident could give one such large, round, black-furred ears. Especially when the rest of his hair was almost pure white, although relatively short and looking rather like fur as well. And those enormous black, bushy eyebrows! They made almost a half circle around the man's eyes. Frankly, it almost looked like he was wearing the top half of a panda's head. Bizarre.

Another shrug. Genma Saotome wasn't the only one keeping secrets. The teenager behind the grill wondered if the man would ever realize that he had never yet asked for, or received, a name. Genma seemed quite content to simply use “boy” as his only form of address for his companion. Ukyo Kuonji could not repress a small snicker at the thought.

Akane rotated her aching shoulder wearily. She was sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, beside a trail high up in the mountains. Her heavy pack was on the ground at her feet. They had only been hiking up the mountain for half a day so far, but she was as tired as if she had been walking nonstop for several days instead.

Her father was lying on the ground nearby, panting with exhaustion, though he claimed it was the altitude. Once again Akane gave silent thanks to her sister Kasumi for insisting that their father come along to chaperon. Ranma was willing to take regular breaks to allow Soun to rest and recover. Akane was in much better shape than her father, so the breaks taken for his sake meant that for her the hike was merely very exhausting, rather than an agony. If he hadn't been along, Akane was sure that Ranma wouldn't have rested nearly as much.

It also made her worry, more than a little, about what was coming in the days ahead. When her father would be resting at ease back in the camp, while Ranma had her off somewhere training.

Akane cast an envious eye at Ranma, who was in the process of climbing a tree to get a look around. With his heavy pack still on his back. Not to mention that he was currently female due to a brief shower which had fallen shortly after they'd gotten off the train.

Ranma jumped from the tall tree down to the ground, landing lightly beside Akane. He signed, “I was here two years ago. Exactly like I remember. At this speed, we reach the campsite in two hours.” Although he was currently a girl, one slightly shorter and more rounded than Akane, the wicked grin he flashed was exactly the same as the one which occasionally graced his male features. “Then we have to set up camp. Clear the area, pitch tents, dig latrine, gather firewood, ...”

Akane held up her hands. “Stop, please! Doing it will be bad enough, I don't want to hear about it as well.”

Ranma turned and eyed Soun carefully. Turning back, he signed. “Your father needs more rest. You've rested enough. Train now. Stand on hands on this tree.” He pointed to the trunk on which she was sitting.

Groaning, Akane climbed wearily to her feet. Before she could put her hands on the trunk, Ranma stopped her. He pointed to her waist and signed. “Put shirt in pants first. Unless you want it to fall around shoulders.”

Akane gave him a scowl, but took a moment to tuck in her shirt. She then did a creditable handstand on the trunk. “Like this?” she called out.

Ranma took off his backpack. He flipped and did a handstand on the ground with one hand, so that he was right-side up to Akane, then used his other hand to sign. “Yes. Now hold still.” He flipped back to his feet, lifted Akane's heavy pack, jumped up onto the tree beside her, and carefully balanced the pack on the soles of her feet.

“Hey!” she shouted. “What are you doing?” She grunted with effort. “That's heavy you know!”

Ranma did his one hand handstand again, then signed. “Good. So far. Now walk.”

“You've got to be kidding!”

Ranma sighed. He lifted his pack from the ground and tossed it into the air. He quickly did a handstand on the log a short distance from Akane, and caught his pack on his feet without dropping it. He then walked on his hands up and down the log, demonstrating. A kick of his legs tossed the pack into the air again, which he caught as he flipped back to his feet on the ground.

“There's no way I can do that!” Akane complained. “I'm barely holding it up while staying in one place.”

Grumbling mentally because he couldn't just talk to her, Ranma once more inverted himself to sign, “Start walking, or I'll tickle you.” He jumped back up and walked toward her menacingly.

“You wouldn't dare!” She watched him come closer, hands extending. “Okay, okay! I'll try!”

Ranma paused. Akane managed to slide one hand over a short distance, carefully maintaining her balance. She grunted with the effort as she slid the other hand as well. She tried lifting the first hand, but could barely manage more than another slide. Her feet wavered dangerously, but then stabilized, the pack still resting atop them.

As she moved the second hand again, she gave a sudden screech. “Oww! I think I just got a splinter!”

Ranma walked over, put his hand in front of Akane's face, and pointed along the log. “Can't I get this splinter out first?” she ... requested. At least, she tried to tell herself she wasn't whining. He simply pointed again. “Damn slave driver,” she grumbled quietly. She slid a hand again.

After about a quarter hour of this exercise, slowly moving back and forth, Ranma lifted the pack off of Akane's feet and allowed her to climb down. The exertion had taken so much out of her that her arms trembled uncontrollably, despite her effort to suppress the reaction. Ranma pulled a box out of his pack, white with a red cross, opened it, and took out tweezers and a bottle of antiseptic. He set the bottle down beside him. Taking Akane's hand in his, Ranma locked her wrist under his arm to stop the trembling and carefully pried out the splinter. He then cleaned and disinfected the small wound, but judged a bandage unnecessary. Besides, the girl's hands were going to get a lot more abuse than this over the next several days.

Ranma lifted his pack and slung it back on his shoulders, then signed, “Time to go.” Akane looked at him aghast. With shaking hands she pulled on her own pack and somehow managed to stand, barely swaying.

Soun, who by now had recovered enough to be sitting up, gave his daughter a look of rueful sympathy as he climbed to his own feet. He did not, however, extend her any more comfort than the look. He remembered details from his own training days, things that he and Genma had undergone in the name of training by their half-insane master. Ranma's stories had made it clear that Genma not only remembered as well, but used similar methods in training. Now it was Akane's turn, at Ranma's hands, and the older man hoped that the boy had given careful thought to the techniques he would use. In any event, it was such reminiscing which caused Soun to withhold further comfort. He knew, all too well, that there must be a great deal worse to come. He even went so far as to wonder if his daughter would be able to handle it.

Soun sighed regretfully, knowing that he had never possessed the strength of will to force this level of training on Akane himself. He hoped that she would be able to stick it out, that she wouldn't break under the pressure. He realized that if she couldn't endure this, that if she did surrender, it might well be the end of his dream that the two of them would marry and carry on the legacy of his dojo. He offered a silent prayer to whomever might be listening and started up the trail once more, following behind the two teenagers.

When they finally reached Ranma's proposed campsite, he turned in anticipation to observe Akane's reaction. He had purposely chosen one of the most scenic places he could remember. However, Akane was clearly too tired to appreciate anything except the fact that her feet were no longer moving. She dropped to her knees, letting the pack slide off of her shoulders to thump onto the ground. With glazed eyes and mind fogged by exhaustion, she tried to take in the view around her.

They were in a dale somewhere high up on the mountain. The ground was mostly rock covered with thick moss, although there were patches of grass and a few other scrubby plants. In front of her a stream widened into a pool, perhaps fifteen meters across at its widest point, which looked glorious to her sweat drenched body. ‹As long as it's not too deep,› she thought groggily. About forty meters to her left the ground angled down, and the stream flowed swiftly out of sight. On the other side, the stream emerged from a set of cascades on a hill, its origin lost among the spruce and pine which grew upon the slope.

Ranma appeared in front of her and signed, “Your father can rest. We need to set up camp.” Akane gave him a piteous look, but the red-haired girl merely grabbed an elbow and lifted her to her feet, removing any element of choice.

Ranma showed Akane where he wanted to set up the pair of tents and where to put the fire pit, then left her to clear the ground. She stacked the rocks she cleared from the tent areas around the boundary of the fire pit, but there weren't enough large ones so she had to go find more rocks and carry them back. Meanwhile Ranma was making trips under the trees, collecting and carrying back armloads of wood, which he split into manageable pieces with a small hatchet.

In a little over an hour they had the tents up, and a small fire in the pit with a couple of pots of water heating. A latrine had been prepared down the slope a short distance, beyond some trees and bushes. Downstream from the pool, where the stream made a bend, Ranma had managed to hang a blanket on a rope between two trees. It was situated so as to screen that part of the stream from both the camp and the pool. The water deepened briefly at this point as well, making it about waist deep. The young leader of the expedition had indicated to the other two that this would be the bathing area.

Akane hadn't given any thought to such facilities as the latrine and bathing until now, and she began to hyperventilate with nervousness on looking them over. The last time she had been camping was when she was a small child, back when her mother was still alive. The primitive nature of a camp had not made an impact at that time. Now it did.

Both places were completely open to the air. They were hidden, somewhat, from a person who was at the camp, but weren't hidden at all from other angles. There were no doors to close, no “occupied” sign to hang out as a warning to others. For the next couple of weeks, she was going to be exposing herself on a regular basis and there was nothing at all to be done about it. If anything, she had to be thankful that Ranma was willing to spare a blanket to screen the place she would bathe. In fact, as Akane thought about it, she was very grateful to him for having thought about it at all. She was pretty sure that he and his father hadn't bothered with such courtesies in their camps.

The mountain's shadow had fallen across them, and the sky was taking on a color which showed that the sun behind the mountain was not very far above the horizon. Ranma signed, “No training tonight. Take bath. I start dinner.”

Akane barely stopped herself from cheering at the thought of no more training that day. She then eyed the stream dubiously. She was eager to change her clothes, which were wet and clinging with sweat, and wash herself clean. At the same time, it meant immediately putting herself in a position where there was nothing between her nude body and Ranma's sight except for one thin, hanging blanket. With a sigh, she gave in to the inevitable and nodded.

As Ranma got out the rice and a couple of other things, he watched Akane disappear into her tent and reemerge carrying her bathing supplies. He wondered if she had yet realized ... but then, if she hadn't, she certainly would in just a minute. Akane disappeared behind the blanket, and Ranma honorably attempted not to think about what was happening beyond it.

There was a sudden earsplitting shriek which caused several birds to take flight from the trees. ‹Guess she didn't realize,› Ranma thought to himself. A few minutes later Akane reappeared from behind the blanket, hair wet, wearing pajamas, teeth chattering. She threw her clothes into her tent, then stormed over to Ranma. Soun, who was sitting beside the red-haired girl, edged away.

“Why didn't you warn me!” Akane shouted, causing both Ranma and Soun to wince. “That water was freezing!”

Ranma shrugged. He signed, “You should always be ready for anything,” then added after a momentary pause, “Look up there.” He pointed up the mountainside. “See that patch of white?” Akane nodded. “There is a valley up there. Snow in the valley, all year. Stream comes from there.”

“Do you mean to tell me,” Akane huffed, “that the only water we have for bathing in is snow melt?!”

Ranma nodded, not at all perturbed by her tone of voice. He pulled out his pad and he wrote, “You said, and I quote, ‘Enduring freezing waters in a mountain stream.’ I took you at your word.”

Soun had stepped forward to read the paper over Ranma's shoulder. He gave a choking sound and turned away quickly. Akane scowled at her father. He might have been coughing, she supposed.

Her voice still raised, the girl snarled, “I was only repeating what you said about your training. I thought you were exaggerating when you said it. I didn't know you meant that the water was literally freezing!”

Ranma shrugged once more. “Too late now,” he signed.

Akane dropped into a cross-legged position, as suddenly as a marionette whose strings were cut. Her anger evaporated, replaced by despair. “Oh God,” she moaned. “You meant everything you said about your training. Literally. Word for word. I'm gonna die.”

Ranma's eyes narrowed, and he gave her an indecipherable look. “You want to quit?” he asked her with his hands.

Akane's back stiffened. “Not on your life,” she replied with quiet fierceness. “I'm going through with this. I'll survive it somehow.”

Ranma signed, “I'm going to take a bath now. Food doesn't need anything else, just finish cooking.” He stood and walked to the tent for his own bathing supplies. Soun Tendo decided to join Ranma, since he had also worked up quite a sweat on the hike here, even if he hadn't been training as his daughter had.

Soun politely faced the other way from the pseudo-girl, while they washed themselves with the frigid water. As Ranma finished up and wrapped a towel around himself, yet another earsplitting screech split the evening, this time from the camp. “Where are my spices? Where's everything I brought with me to cook our meals? How could I have lost them?”

Soun turned toward the towel clad girl speculatively. Out of the corner of his mouth, one eyebrow raised, Soun quietly inquired. “Your doing?”

Ranma nodded.

“Thank you,” came the fervent response, as the older man began to dry himself.

Akane churned her arms and legs madly, barely keeping her nose above the water of the pool. She felt like a Popsicle, and was sure that her lips must be stark blue, even if she couldn't see them. Unfortunately, Ranma had decided that she not only needed to practice endurance in the icy water, but he had also remembered his promise at the beach to teach her to swim. Her progress was slow, but at least she no longer sank like a stone, taking in huge lungfuls of water.

She glanced at the red-haired girl beside her, standing neck deep in the water. Ranma gave almost no sign that he noticed the temperature of the water, aside from an occasional slight tremor which Akane guessed to be the result of suppressing a shiver. She sped up the motion of her hands and feet again as she sank slightly.

Trying to distract herself, Akane gave her thoughts over to all of the things they had been doing since they arrived here. Her father mostly stood on the sidelines and cheered her on, although Ranma had gotten him involved in a couple of her training sessions. There were times when the girl wondered if her boyfriend/sensei/friend was going to drive her until she dropped dead of exhaustion.

At least she could understand the reasons behind most of the training, and Ranma was willing to explain what she couldn't figure out on her own. Building up her strength, by carrying boulders or lying on her back and lifting her legs while Ranma stood on them. They hadn't done a lot of that since Akane was already pretty strong. Endurance training by spending time in the icy water, or going for long runs up and down the mountains while carrying heavy packs. Jumping and gymnastic skills were increased by tree hopping and, since yesterday, doing more complex gymnastics in the trees. Sparring, of course, extensively and in between everything else.

Akane reflected once more on how the first full day of her training had ended. When they had returned to camp, Ranma had been forced to carry her for the final stretch. He had dunked her in the pool to wash off the worst of the sweat and grime, then laid her on a blanket and gave her a vigorous massage to restore life to her muscles. Even after that, Akane had been so exhausted, stiff and trembling, that she found herself unable to crawl into her tent. She had been forced to ask Ranma to carry her into the tent and lay her down. Then had come the agony of changing out of her soaking wet gi, a feat which she had only barely managed on her own. Driven by necessity, she had slept that night without pajamas.

Luckily, she adapted quickly. Although nearly as stiff the next night, Akane had managed to operate her leaden limbs sufficiently to bathe herself and change into her pajamas. Those first nights, as she watched Ranma prepare the dinner, she wondered if he were purposefully exhausting her just to keep her away from the food preparation.

However, this turned out not to be the case. She was allowed to make the breakfast each morning. Unfortunately, she had so little to work with that these meals turned out to be incredibly bland. On the other hand, and Akane brightened slightly at this thought, Ranma and her father had managed to eat the breakfasts she prepared, even if they didn't do so very enthusiastically. It was certainly a better reception than her attempts at cooking had ever received in the past. She wondered once more if Ranma had anything to do with the missing ingredients, and resolved again not to ask.

Akane sagged in relief as Ranma called a halt to the current exercise, and she let her feet touch down preparatory to climbing out onto the shore. Then her shoulders drooped as he announced that it was time to practice the breast stroke again. Akane's lips curved upward slightly as it occurred to her that this meant his arms would be underneath her, supporting her on the surface of the water as she moved her arms and feet according to the pattern he had shown her.

As her arms sliced through the water, Akane caught sight of some of the reddened bumps along them and frowned. Honestly, some of his ideas of training! Two days ago, Ranma had taken her into a lightly forested area and announced that they were doing speed training. He had then broken open a beehive, and told her to swat the bees out of the air before they could sting her. In a state of panic, she had no choice but to make the attempt. At least he had been forced to do the same, and had collected a couple of stings of his own. Then he had repeated the exercise with two more hives!

Thus her days had passed. Ranma would wake her just before dawn for a light sparring session. Then she would make breakfast for the three of them. After that was insane training until darkness began to fall, with only a brief break for a light lunch. Ranma would start supper while she bathed, then leave her father to tend it when he took his own bath. They would sit around the fire and eat, watching the sky darken and the stars slowly emerge. After washing the dishes and pots, they would sit around peacefully for a time, conversing a little now and then by the light of the fire (which was necessary to see Ranma's hands). They would retire to their tents early, and repeat the process the next day.

Ranma had promised a slight break in the routine for tomorrow, when they would wash their clothes. Akane was feeling a little unhappy that she would have to hang her underclothes out to dry where Ranma could see them, but had resigned herself to doing so. In truth, her modesty had taken something of a beating since they got here. Using the outdoor “facilities” every day, sleeping mostly undressed that first night, the several occasions when, sweating heavily, she had stripped off her gi top and continued to exercise wearing only her sports bra above the waist. Akane knew that she was becoming accustomed to a small degree of exposure which she would never have tolerated back in Nerima.

Akane felt Ranma's arm encircle her waist, towing her toward the shore. With a sigh she relaxed into the embrace, gratified to know that the water torture was over with for the day. Well, except for the sparring session later, when he could be counted on to toss her into the shallow end of the pool every time she let her guard down too much.

They were playing following the leader through the trees, and this time Akane was the leader. She laughed gaily as she spun around a branch twice, before flipping off to the next branch. Ranma was only a short distance behind her, copying each of the moves she made. Akane blew a kiss at a startled squirrel as she jumped to the next tree, and managed to get a glimpse behind herself in time to see that Ranma had copied the kiss.

As Akane's fingertips touched the next branch she had chosen, she saw with a shock that the leaves she had subconsciously noted at its end actually belonged to a branch hanging down from above. Before any reaction to this thought could form in her mind, her hands were already closing around the branch, and an ominous crack sounded. The dead branch split off of the trunk and she was falling.

Even a martial artist as skilled as Ranma was required to pay some heed to the requests of gravity. Akane certainly had no choice. There was nothing between her and the ground below, which at this point was a steep slope. It leveled off about ten meters further down, and the girl managed to flip herself around to land feet first, hoping that she could manage a combination of a run and a skid down the slope to where it flattened.

She almost made it. Unfortunately one of her feet slipped on a loose rock and she completed the last two meters on her rump. She managed to restrain herself to an outraged grunt, then achingly stood and put her hands to her battered rear. To her dismay, she felt tears in her pants through which her fingers encountered skin. When she brought her hands back around, there was blood on the fingertips.

Ranma landed lightly beside her and signed, “Let me see.” Blushing furiously, but knowing it was necessary, Akane stood still while he stepped behind her for a look. He stepped back in front, and his hands said, “Pants are beyond repair. Damage to you is not so bad. Need to wash out the dirt, and apply some bandages. Hop on.”

He turned his back to her, and stooped slightly. Akane climbed onto his back, whereupon he stood and ran rapidly to the camp. When they arrived, Soun was nowhere in sight. This was not so surprising, as he had taken to going on long hikes during the day for the sheer pleasure of it. After all, he had little else to do with his time.

Ranma grabbed a pot and a towel, then took Akane to the pool. Standing behind her, he scooped up a potful of water and, without any concern for her modesty, ripped off the remains of her pants and underpants. Akane yelped, covering herself in front even though no one was there to see, and yelped again as the cold water was poured on her bottom to wash away the worst of the dirt. Ranma patted her dry with the towel, then placed it on her rear holding the ends out to the side, where Akane grabbed them and tied the towel around herself.

Ranma scooped up another potful of water, then pointed to Akane's tent. The young woman sighed, and walked over to it, wincing with each step. She entered the tent and lay down on her stomach, knowing what was coming. Ranma joined her a moment later, having stopped off to grab the first aid kit from his pack. On coming in, he left the tent flap wide open to admit the bright daylight.

The boy tapped Akane on the shoulder. Looking back, she saw him sign, “You know what I have to do, right?” She nodded grimly without speaking, then looked back at the ground, trying unsuccessfully to ignore what was happening behind her.

Ranma pushed up the towel, then gently washed the cuts, being careful to remove every speck of rock and dirt. Akane grit her teeth, trying to keep her thighs pressed tightly together, certain that she was going to die of sheer embarrassment.

She wished that her sister were here to do this for her. She wished it was the middle of the night and pitch black so that nothing could be seen. Except, of course, then he couldn't tend her because he wouldn't be able to see. In any case her wishes were useless. The only one who was present to help her was Ranma. It was not only bright daylight, but the tent flap had been left open so that he could have the maximum light to work by. Her uncovered state was inciting a terrible urge to turn around and clobber him, an urge which Akane suppressed only with the greatest difficulty.

The young woman gave a whimper, which had nothing to do with pain, at the light stroke of his fingers along her bottom. As Ranma gently applied the antiseptic, with its slight sting, a barely audible moan escaped her mouth. Akane bit down hard on her lip to prevent any further sound from emerging. Ranma applied a handful of adhesive bandages, then picked everything up and left the tent, closing the flap behind him.

Akane lay there for several minutes after Ranma left, trying to collect her scattered thoughts. She reflected on how surprisingly gentle his touch had been. With a sigh, she rolled over at last, retrieving some new clothes from her pack. As she pulled them on, the young woman thought about the number of dates she and Ranma had been out on, and decided they had now gone out together enough that on their next date they could experiment with a kiss. Akane lay there for a while, trying to ignore the pain from behind, as she puzzled over how she was going to get Ranma to suggest it.

Soun Tendo had brought a quantity of sake along with him for the trip. Neither Ranma nor Akane had complained about this, since he had carefully rationed himself every day. Unfortunately, he had rationed himself too well, and as the trip drew toward a close the man found that he had a surplus remaining.

The two teenagers had returned to camp that evening to find Akane's father thoroughly plastered. Deeming it useless to try to feed him, Ranma had helped the older man into the tent and left him there, passed out. Just as the young couple began to eat their dinner, the sky opened up and a heavy rain began to fall. They scampered inside their tents to finish eating, though Ranma came back out into the rain to do the washing up.

On reentering the tent, the red-haired girl found Soun sprawled across both bedrolls, snoring like a buzz saw. With difficulty, Ranma roused the man halfway to consciousness, except he started blubbering, and draped his arm across Ranma's shoulders. He sobbed drunkenly about his deceased wife, his missing friend, how the schools would never be joined. When Ranma tried to get him to shut up and go back to sleep, Soun collapsed across both bedrolls again.

In disgust, Ranma rolled his stuff up, then darted out of his tent and over to Akane's, where he quickly slipped inside and closed the flap against the rain. A flashlight came on and pointed itself at him.

“What are you doing in my tent, Ranma?”

Ranma signed, “Listen.” As they sat there quietly, Akane could just hear her father's voice singing drunkenly over the steady beat of the falling rain.

Ranma's hands moved through the words, “Can I sleep here? I'm already a girl.”

Akane thought about it. It wasn't so very long ago that Ranma had slept in her bed every night as a girl, and even less time had passed since he had ceased doing so altogether. She did trust him, and the circumstances were unusual. Akane also realized, as she reflected on those past nights, that she missed the comfort of Ranma's company in her bed.

“All right,” she whispered, trying to make her voice sound serious so as to hide how ready she was to agree. “As long as you're a girl, I guess it's okay.”

Ranma snuggled down beside Akane, feeling happy. The drumming of the rain on the tent soon put them both to sleep.

The rain was the forerunner of a thunderstorm, which struck in the hours halfway between midnight and dawn. The three residents of the camp slept on, unheeding. The storm swept in to cover mountaintops and valleys for a great distance all around, full of fury. Among those mountains was one several kilometers from the camp which an observer, had there been one, would not have immediately thought different from any of the others. Nor did the storm treat it any differently, as it battered itself against the unyielding stone. However, if one looked closely, one could have seen a boulder embedded on the side of this particular mountain, a boulder covered by sutras, around which the wind and rain were howling.

The night lit briefly as a monstrous bolt of lightning struck the boulder, cracking it. The heat charred the sutras into ash, which the rain quickly washed away. With a reverberation like the sound of a massive temple gong, the boulder split apart, the halves falling to either side. A dark hole was revealed, a cave whose entrance had until now been covered by the builder. From within the cave a diminutive figure crept out, slowly.

This figure paused, standing there. It breathed in fresh air for the first time in two decades, while the rejuvenating rain fell upon its face. As it stood there, face to the heavens, the heavens responded. Another lightning bolt struck, scorching the creature and dropping it in its tracks.

The next morning dawned clear and bright, everything made fresh by the rain. It was the last full day before the planned return to Nerima. After lunch, Soun wandered off somewhere while Ranma gave Akane a final swimming lesson. Although far from proficient, she could now swim after a fashion. Ranma was in the water as well, in his female form of course, swimming beside her. Whenever the pigtailed girl switched swimming styles, Akane was supposed to match him. She was doing fairly well until Ranma stopped quite suddenly, his attention fixed on their campsite.

Akane turned to see a blur of motion passing by the tents. It stopped at the fire where a skinned rabbit was skewered and cooking. Before either of the two teenagers knew what was happening, the skewer was lifted and the rabbit disappeared whole into the creature's maw. A moment later, the bones were spit out upon the ground.

Ranma saw red. He was hungry and had been looking forward to eating that rabbit, not to mention that he was the one who had caught, skinned and cooked it. Now this, this thing, had come along and stolen it! He leaped from the water, too angry to consider his appearance. As he ran toward the figure, it spied him and jumped to meet the charge. In mid leap it gave a happy cry of “Sweet-o!” before latching onto the front of the girl's swimsuit. In shock, Ranma felt two small hands squeezing his ample bosom.

He looked down at what appeared to be an ancient dwarf, fastened securely to his chest. Ranma tried to punch the pervert, but it dropped to the ground just in time for the punch to miss. As his eyes locked on the old creature for another attempt, Ranma saw that it was holding a piece of cloth, rubbing it against his face. At the same time, Ranma felt a distinct draft and looked down to see that his swimsuit was missing.

Embarrassment and fury both boiled up inside. Ranma grabbed the water which had been heating by the fire awaiting the end of the swimming lesson and threw it over himself, changing into a nude male. He then dove into the tent to grab a pair of pants. As he pulled them on and jumped back outside, he heard a shriek.

When Ranma had thrown the water over himself and changed back to a boy, Akane had spun around where she was still standing in the pool. Her cheeks were flaming over the view she had just been given. With her back to the camp, she did not see Ranma enter his tent, or the creature turn in her direction.

Akane felt a brief sliding sensation on her skin and then a hand groped her chest from the side. Her bare chest, she saw as she looked down. Her own suit had disappeared just like Ranma's. She shrieked, dropping to neck depth in the water, and simultaneously slamming an elbow down. Unlike Ranma's, her strike connected, and she felt the hand release its grip on her body.

Akane looked around herself nervously, scared to death that the pervert might still be in the water with her, and worried about what it might try to do. She saw Ranma running down toward the water's edge. Trying to cover her body as best she could in the clear water, she shouted, “Get my towel!”

Ranma skidded to a stop, looking around quickly. He spotted the towel, picked it up, and moved to toss it to Akane. He aborted the movement just in time as she yelled, “Don't throw it!” When she saw that he still held it, she pointed out, “If you throw it, I'll have to reach up to grab it, dummy! Turn around, and hold it out behind you!”

Ranma edged backward as close as he could to the water without entering it, then held the towel as far behind himself as he could. Akane crawled up to the bank, then surged up to grab the towel and wrap it around herself. She sighed with relief once she had it tied in place.

“What the hell was that?” Akane complained loudly.

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. His eyes were scanning the pool and nearby grounds. He hadn't seen the dwarf come up out of the water after Akane hit it. Could the pervert have drowned?

“I'm going to get some clothes on,” Akane huffed. She stomped into her tent, closed the flap, and peeled off the towel. Pulling clothes out of her pack, she quickly dressed. When she turned around to pick up the towel, she saw the pervert in the tent behind her.

“Aaaahh!” she screamed. She tried to crush the dwarf, but he bounced around her fists and back out the flap. Akane remained for a moment on her hands and knees, breathing hard, chin trembling, as she realized that the creature had been in the tent with her while she was nude.

When she gathered the courage to poke her head out of the tent, Akane saw Ranma chasing the old man all over the dale. He was being wholly unsuccessful in his attempts to catch the pervert. Once Akane got her heart rate back under control and allowed anger to push out her fear, she joined in the chase as well. Equally fruitlessly.

Soun returned from a hike to find Ranma and his daughter chasing something around the camp. When it bounced his way, his face turned as white as milk and he dropped to his knees. “M-m-master?” he wailed.

The old man bounced to a halt, studying the figure in front of him. “Soun Tendo, as I live and breathe!” he chortled. He reached back and casually threw Ranma to the side, forcing Akane to twist away to avoid a collision.

Soun swallowed heavily, forehead damp with sweat. Abruptly, he glomped the old man into a huge bear hug. “Master! Thank heavens you're safe!”

Ranma raised his face from the ground and looked toward the two men. Akane, standing beside the boy, asked, “Master? You know this ... this ... pervert, father?”

Soun tried to slip his hands around the elderly throat, but was tossed aside without apparent effort. From the ground he groaned, “Er, yes. Th-this is M-master Happosai. The s-sensei who tr-trained me.”

“And who you and that other scamp Saotome sealed into a cave,” Happosai agreed heartily. “You naughty boys.” He looked around. “Where is Saotome anyway?”

Soun lay where he was, on the verge of passing out from sheer terror, wondering what retribution the master would rain down on his head. Which he would have to face alone. At the master's words, though, he felt a faint hope. “We're not sure, master. We think he's in China. That's his son and heir Ranma, over there.”

Happosai gave the boy a dismissive glance up and down before turning back. “How about you, Tendo? You have any sons?”

“No, master. Just three daughters. Akane there is my youngest.”

Akane fumed. “Daddy, why are you being so polite to this pervert? Just because he trained you is no excuse.”

The ancient dwarf cackled. “Oh, your father knows what's good for him. Stop groveling, Tendo. I'm not interested in revenge. No, it's time for me to train the heir to my school. Which I suppose, by default, is this rather unpromising lad here.” He was looking at Ranma.

Ranma was furious. Not only had he been groped himself, but far worse was the fact that this Happosai had removed Akane's swimsuit and groped her as well. Nor had he missed the fact that the pervert had jumped out of Akane's tent after she entered it to get dressed. Now on top of that the old man was acting as if Ranma was barely worthy of notice. The young man's expression made his opinion of Happosai's suggestion crystal clear.

Ranma's hands moved vigorously. “Never!” Akane translated this for the benefit of the others.

“Hmmmph!” Happosai snorted. “We'll see about that. But first, I have to recover my strength.” He turned to Akane's father. “You still live at the same place in Nerima, Tendo?” Reading the answer from the man's eyes, he chuckled. “Good, good. I'll see you there. Bye now.” He bounced away, carrying a bag over his back. The old man disappeared from view in a matter of seconds.

Akane looked at her father, disappointment clear on her face. She turned a look of agony on the boy beside her. “Ranma, we have to get back to Nerima! Right away! There's no one there to protect my sisters!”

Ranma looked over Soun as well, also realizing that the man would be of no use. The boy signed, “Strike camp now. You and I leave at once. Your father follows at his best speed. Let's go.”

Akane explained to her father, then went to pack. Almost immediately she discovered that all of her underwear was missing, but declined to waste time telling Ranma about it. There would be plenty of time during the train trip.

As soon as the tents and packs were finished, Ranma and Akane pulled on their backpacks and took off. They left the rest of the task of cleaning up their campsite to Soun, who admitted he had enough money to spend the night at a motel near the train station and would catch the next morning's train as originally planned. The two teenagers hiked rapidly down the mountain.

They had a little trouble exchanging their return tickets for a late train that afternoon. In fact, they were unable to do so officially. Instead, they found a couple of men who were willing to wait until the morning to make their own trip in exchange for purchasing the return tickets at a discount. This money, in combination with the funds Akane and Ranma had on them, enabled them to buy tickets for that afternoon.

After leaving the train station in Nerima, Akane and Ranma ran all the way back to the house. They rushed pell-mell straight into the kitchen, startling Kasumi into dropping the cookie sheet she was pulling out of the oven. Its contents scattered across the floor.

“Akane! Ranma! What are you doing back? What's wrong?” Kasumi asked, very flustered.

The two who had just entered were still in clothes they had worn for hiking around the country, enormous packs still on their back. Their eyes were darting around wildly. Akane demanded wildly, “Is he here? Has he attacked you?”

Nabiki strolled in, attracted by the ruckus. “Is who here? Are you expecting someone to attack?”

Akane sagged to a sitting position on the floor, nearly melting in relief. Her sisters were safe! They had arrived in time!

“Akane, what's going on?” Kasumi pleaded, her face twisted in worry.

To her embarrassment, Akane found that she was starting to weep. She struggled for control. “I was s-so worried about you! Th-this morning, a r-really old man showed up in our camp. He was the most incredible pervert. He ... he did things ...” She shook her head furiously. “That doesn't matter right now. He ... daddy says that the old pervert was his master. Master Happosai. He said he was coming here. Something about regaining his strength.”

Nabiki shrugged. “Well if he's that old he can't be that much of a problem ... can he?” The last bit was asked more quietly as Ranma and Akane both shook their heads vigorously at the suggestion he couldn't be a problem.

Akane explained. “He danced around us in the camp, toying with us. We couldn't catch him. He tossed Ranma aside like it was nothing. He ... he ... he somehow pulled off our swimsuits and we didn't notice until after he did it.”

“Oh my!” Kasumi exclaimed. “That isn't at all proper.”

Akane bit her lip and turned toward Ranma. “What now?” she asked plaintively.

Ranma shrugged, trying to mask his own worry. His hands signed, “I guess he didn't take the train. We have time. Let's clean up and change clothes.”

After following this sensible suggestion, they once more discussed what they should do. The plan that all of them finally worked out, over Akane's protests, was that she would remain home to guard her sisters, while Ranma went out to look around. He would keep an eye out for Happosai, while visiting everyone they knew to warn them, and to suggest they call the Tendo house if they saw anything.

Ranma returned a few hours later, having seen no sign of the old pervert. On entering the house, Kasumi informed him that Ryoga had called to see if they were back and whether they would be interested in sparring that coming Saturday. On being informed of the current crisis, he had promised to come over in the morning to help out.

They all went to bed that night feeling rather unsettled, Ranma and Akane especially so. They had no idea when or where this Happosai would attack next, or what he needed to do in order, as he put it, “to recover his strength.” It was also very worrisome to think that he might not have been at full strength that morning. Their sleep was restless, and they were in irritable moods as they gathered at the breakfast table the next day.

When Ryoga arrived a little after nine, they filled him in on everything they knew. Which wasn't much. Another discussion ensued in which Akane this time emerged victorious. It was decided that asking Ryoga to patrol the city was unreasonable, as he would likely get lost. Therefore, he would remain at the Tendo home in case Happosai showed up there, while Akane and Ranma hunted for the pervert. Nabiki handed them both cell phones so that everyone could remain in touch, even if any communication with Ranma would necessarily be one-way.

Ranma reluctantly agreed that he and Akane should split up, so as to cover as much ground as possible. He tried to think of what locations a pervert such as Happosai might head for. At first he made the rounds of bathhouses and gymnasiums, asking the people (with his pad) if there had been any trouble that morning. Later, and in considerable embarrassment, he walked down the streets containing the love hotels, adult theaters, less reputable karaoke bars, and similar venues. As he walked he kept an ear tuned for any sounds of disturbance, while hoping that Akane would not learn where he had patrolled.

Ranma's telephone rang. Answering it, he heard Akane's voice, with a bouncing rhythm which sounded like she was running. There were shouts in the background. “I'm over on the east side, heading south! There's an entire mob of girls here chasing him! He broke into some dorm and stole all of their underwear, taking a shortcut through the showers while he was at it!”

Akane hung up, trusting that Ranma had received the message, knowing that he couldn't answer her. That young man took to the rooftops, speeding across the city, angling south and a little east. Before long he caught sight of the mob, and adjusted his path to put himself in front of it.

Ranma jumped down right in front of the old man, snapping a kick guaranteed to send him into orbit. Unfortunately, the elderly martial artist was unbelievably agile for his age and flowed around the kick effortlessly. Ranma swung his arms around to block whatever counterattack would be forthcoming, but was surprised to find a bag thrown into his arms.

Gazing with a puzzled frown into the open top of the bag, Ranma saw that it was full of panties and bras. At the same moment, the girls at the head of the mob started shouting, “Give them back!” and “You're both perverts!” They began to beat him about the head and shoulders.

Not willing to defend himself with force, he finally managed to escape the beating with several bruises and lumps. He saw Akane standing atop a wall, hand above her eyes, scanning around. After a moment more, she jumped down to stand beside him.

“Where is he?” Ranma asked with his hands.

Akane shrugged. “Sorry, I don't know. There's no sign of him. But the last I saw, he was headed that way.” She pointed.

Ranma signed “okay,” and they took off together in the indicated direction.

Some twenty minutes later, Akane's phone rang. She answered it to hear Kasumi's breathless voice. “Akane, hurry! He's here!” Akane and Ranma changed direction, dashing for home as quickly as they could. They hoped Ryoga would be able to hold Happosai off for long enough.

When they got there Happosai had already disappeared again. After helping Ryoga down from the dojo roof and administering first aid, they got the story from Nabiki.

“Kasumi and I were out in the dojo watching Ryoga practice some kata. We thought that might be safer, since the creep was more likely to look for us in the house.” She sighed. “It wasn't though.

“Are you really sure this Happosai is human? He looks like a freaking dwarf to me. Anyway, Ryoga here challenged him, but didn't do so well. When he attacked, the old man caught his arm with a pipe, and somehow used it to throw the guy through the roof. Next thing I knew, my panties were gone. The little bastard grabbed my butt while he was at it.

“We saw him run into the house, which is when Kasumi called you. We called up to Ryoga on the roof, but he said he was all right. Not that I believed him, since he didn't come back down.”

“Are you all right, Ryoga-kun?” Akane asked.

Ryoga grunted from where he was lying on the couch. “I will be. Just give me a few more minutes. Threw my back out going through the roof, but Ranma's snapped it back into place.”

“There aren't any, er, pairs of underpants left in the house,” Kasumi told her sister. “Well, except for Ranma's and father's, that is, and, um,” she blushed, “what I'm wearing.”

They followed additional reports without catching up to the ancient pervert. Akane spent some time at one point holding and comforting Yuka, after they found her sobbing in the park. Happosai had whisked off her bra and then taken the opportunity to fondle her breasts, ignoring numerous attempts on the girl's part to dislodge him. Ranma stood nearby listening to her tearfully relate the tale, his expression growing more and more grim, a murderous look igniting in his eyes.

When Soun arrived home that afternoon, he donned full samurai armor and promised to stand guard over his two older daughters and the sanctity of his home. Akane and Ranma eyed him dubiously, but this meant that Ryoga could also patrol the neighborhood. They gave him specific destinations which he could find with his GPS device, and whenever he reached one he would call Nabiki on his phone to receive his next destination.

Ryoga was invited to spend the night, and did so out in the dojo. Staying out there was his own suggestion, when he saw that Akane looked uneasy about having him in the house. They resumed their patrols in the morning after breakfast.

Around midmorning, Akane and Ranma heard a commotion about a block over, and ran to have a look. They saw Happosai scurrying down the road with a cloth tied around his face and a bag slung over his shoulder. Chasing behind him were the Kuno siblings, Tatewaki brandishing a bokken and Kodachi snapping at the old pervert with a ribbon.

Akane dove for the old man, but he agilely leaped high over her. Ranma leaped to meet him, but was thrown into the wall of the building across the street for his trouble. This had, however, slowed Happosai enough that Kodachi's ribbon twirled around his arm. Rather than spelling his defeat, the wrinkled dwarf spun in a blurred circle around the Kunos. As he ran off cackling, Tatewaki and Kodachi looked with crimson faces into each other's eyes from a distance of mere centimeters, their bodies tied together by the ribbon.

Ranma got Kodachi and Tatewaki untied while Akane called Ryoga to tell him in what direction they last saw Happosai headed. As Ranma was removing the last of the ribbon, Akane asked resignedly, “So what did that pervert do to you?”

Tatewaki spoke in grim tones. “A maid entered my twisted sister's bedroom this morning to wake her for an appointment. She found that ... that ... creature, lying in the bed with her.”

Kodachi looked furious. “The maid screamed. I woke to find this ugly dwarf touching me, in a most inappropriate fashion. I don't know if the creature is truly a man, but it won't be when I am done with it.”

Tatewaki added, “This is an insult to the Kuno family! It must be avenged!”

Akane echoed Kodachi's fury. “He also molested me, and a friend of mine, who was very upset about it. Not to mention a lot of others. He's stealing underwear, too.”

Ranma looked the Kunos over, and decided any help was welcome at the moment. He began to gesture with his hands. Akane translated, while filling in the meaning a little. “We are hunting him, to try to stop him. You say that I am a demon. Well, if so, he is a much worse demon. The enemy of my enemy is ... perhaps not a friend, but maybe a temporary ally?”

Tatewaki looked at the silent martial artist in a measuring fashion. It was not a friendly gaze, but in the end he gave a sharp nod. “For the moment I shall put aside my enmity, until the greater evil is dealt with.”

Without wasting any further time, the four of them took off running in the direction Happosai had departed. Ranma and Akane took to the rooftops, in order to gain a wider field of view, although paralleling the pair in the street below. They followed a trail of outraged, red-faced young women.

Finally they ran up to a vacant lot, where they saw Ryoga standing, panting, holding a broken umbrella. At his feet, Happosai was lying on the ground, a large lump on his head. Akane called out, “Ryoga, you got him!” At that moment, she felt prepared to forgive the boy his past sins.

Acting more injured than he was, Happosai slowly lifted his head to inspect the advancing troops. With a cry of “sweet-o!” he jumped up, grabbed a hose, and liberally doused everyone. Ranma changed into a red-haired girl, and Ryoga disappeared into his clothes.

“Ha! I thought so!” chortled the old man. “It's a Jusenkyo curse, isn't it?!” He looked over toward Ryoga's clothes. “This young rogue seems to have one as well.”

“This ends now, foul demon!” Tatewaki cried, lifting his bokken to strike. Kodachi raised clubs from which spikes suddenly emerged. Ranma slammed a fist into a palm. Akane stepped into a stance, fists raised.

“You think to fight me?” Happosai asked in wonder, laughter in the depths of his voice. “After I've had a chance to regain my strength? Fools!”

On the last word an immense battle aura sprang forth from the ancient martial artist, towering over them. The menace struck fear into their hearts, causing Akane, Kodachi and even Tatewaki to cry out and hide their faces. Ranma flinched as well, then found that he was frozen to the spot, unable to move. He noted that the others didn't seem to be moving either.

Happosai cackled. “Where's your fighting spirit now? You can never hope to defeat me, not when all I need is a cute girl, or just her pretties, in order to recover.” He held up his left hand. “Seventy years ago this hand was ensorcelled, to allow me to absorb chi from females, or even from their more intimate clothing. This gives me a supply of strength which is boundless.” He laughed again. “You cannot win. Learn your places and bow to me instead.”

With that he leaped toward the still figure of Kodachi and groped her again. He then jumped toward Ranma's female form, but the speech had given Ranma time to recover somewhat. Just before Happosai latched onto Ranma's chest, the red-haired girl's fist caught him, sending him flying over a nearby rooftop.

A short time later, the group of teenagers were all recovering. Kodachi went into a nearby store to purchase some hot water, which she used to restore Ranma and, after he explained, Ryoga. Although Akane turned away, blushing, Kodachi watched with interest as Ryoga hastened back into his clothing.

“What are we going to do to stop that old freak?” Ryoga complained. “That blow I gave him should have left him unconscious for the rest of the day.”

Kuno turned to regard Ranma. “Saotome, may I ask why you have not made use of your ... claws, or whatever they are? The demonstration which you gave to me was ... most effective. Not to say chilling. You also put my sister into the hospital, gravely wounded.”

Ryoga looked puzzled. “Claws? What claws?”

Akane answered. “He's referring to the neko-ken. It's a martial arts technique his fool of a father taught to Ranma when he was ten. Ranma doesn't talk about it much. Learning it involved a form of torture.”

She then turned to Ranma. “And when did you demonstrate it for Kuno?”

Ranma had the grace to blush. He signed, “It was the day after I attacked the boys at your school. I wanted to convince the nut to leave you alone.”

Akane shot him a medium intensity glare. “You and I are going to discuss that later. Understand?” Ranma nodded meekly.

Akane took a deep breath and blew it back out, regaining her equilibrium. Her eyes on the pigtailed boy softened. “Ranma? Can you use the neko-ken? It would probably help. But only if you can.”

“What is the problem?” Tatewaki demanded haughtily.

“Please, Kuno-senpai,” Akane implored quietly. “Don't push. We're asking a harder thing than you realize. The neko-ken normally makes the practitioner ... temporarily insane. Ranma is able to control it if he enters it voluntarily, but ... it is very painful for him.”

Ryoga snorted. “Never knew Ranma to back down from a little pain.”

Akane turned on him furiously. “You don't understand! It ...” She stopped as Ranma held out a hand. He shook his head sadly. He made a gesture. Akane told the others, “Ranma says that he'll try.”

Ranma knelt and closed his eyes. In a way, this was much harder than when he had done it to Kuno. At that time, the memories had been fresher, the pain still very much present. So while it had hurt, in a sense dredging the memories up had not involved an immense increase in what he was already suffering. Now, immersing himself once more in the fear, the agony, after he had managed to put it so much behind him, was quite possibly the hardest thing he had ever done.

Everyone watched as Ranma drew in on himself, biting his lip, occasionally trembling. After a few minutes one last, severe tremor passed over him, and a tear collected at the corner of an eye and slid down his cheek. He opened his eyes again, and brushed away the remaining moisture with his sleeve.

“Did you do it?” Ryoga asked skeptically.

Ranma reached out to where the remains of Ryoga's umbrella were lying on the ground nearby. A casual swipe of his hand, which never even touched the umbrella, left it lying in five pieces.

“Shit!” Ryoga exclaimed with feeling. Kodachi and Tatewaki narrowed their eyes, each reflecting on their own memories.

Ranma made a sign. “Let's go!” Akane announced, and all five of them rose to their feet and began the search once more.

As they sought for clues, Akane's cell phone rang. Putting it to her ear, she heard her sister Nabiki. “Akane! Hurry!” Akane shouted for the others, and turned to race to her home.

Akane was in the lead, with Kodachi right behind her. Ranma had been slowed by preventing Ryoga from running down the wrong street at one point. Akane jumped over the wall to see Happosai sitting placidly on the engawa, smoking a pipe. Her father lay in a crumpled heap beside him, a naginata stuck into the roof above. As she raced toward the diminutive figure, a bouquet of flowers came flying past Akane's shoulder.

The old man wasn't a fool, to think that the girl in the leotard was giving him flowers to show her appreciation. He raised a negligent hand, which somehow seemed to generate a brief gust of wind. The flowers emitted a cloud of gas which was blown back to engulf Akane and Kodachi. They both fell, paralyzed. Akane was right at Happosai's feet, and Kodachi two meters further away.

Tatewaki roared in, bokken swinging. Happosai caught the bokken with his pipe, and gave a little twist. The kendoist went flying through the air to land in a tangle high in the branches of a tree.

Ryoga and Ranma jumped over the wall, taking in the situation before their feet touched the ground. Ryoga shouted, “Get away from them, you monster!”

Happosai smiled in evil delight. Grinning at Ranma the whole time, he slowly slid his left hand across Akane's chest, where her shirt suddenly and unaccountably opened. The hand pushed her bra up on one side. Ranma jumped forward, racing to stop the ancient pervert. Akane screamed mentally, unable to move or make a sound, as she watched the old man's hand reach for her breast.

Two lightning fast martial arts brains made nearly instantaneous calculations. Ranma, grim, determined, eyes as cold as death, knew what he would do. Happosai, watching the boy approach like a bullet, sneered as he saw that the youngster planned to do no more than to slap his hand away from the girl. Even worse, this Ranma had so misjudged his position, that his fingertips were going to miss by at least a centimeter. Happosai didn't even bother to block the clumsy blow.

The old man's brain did not at first react to the report from his eyes, so impossible that report was. He watched, as if it were a dream, or perhaps a bad movie, as his hand fell away from his arm to tumble onto the ground.

Then the blood poured forth, and a scream was ripped from his throat. With incredible speed, Happosai pulled a pair of pantyhose from somewhere unseen and, in a miracle of dexterity, used one hand to tie it tightly around his severed wrist. The flow of blood choked off, but he was left dizzy and lightheaded from the amount he had lost.

Then he felt a hand wrap around his throat, and the skin on either side of his neck parted as if knife blades were laid alongside it.

Happosai's eyes looked up into Ranma's face, and saw death staring back at him. Far too late, the old man recognized his danger. Some fool had taught the neko-ken to Ranma! In that moment Happosai fully expected to die, although he tried to beg for his life. “Wait boy! Don't kill me! I ... You defeated me! I'll surrender the title of grandmaster to you! I'll give you anything!”

Then, miraculously, someone spoke to plead for his life, a female voice, calling out from behind the ancient martial artist. “Ranma-kun, no! Don't kill him. Even if he deserves it ... it would hurt you.” Kasumi implored the young man, “Don't damage your own spirit by killing someone.”

Happosai felt a brief, warm glow inside, that even after all this time a young maiden would speak for him. But he knew it would make no difference. After all, someone in the grip of the neko-ken wasn't even human!

But by some miracle, the fingers around his throat relaxed, one by one.

Happosai's eyes never left Ranma's, and if the look within them no longer held death, they certainly held the promise of endless pain. Furthermore his hand, his special hand, was gone. He wouldn't be recovering from his defeat easily this time. In fact, he could not now restore his strength to be anything other than an old man, ever again. At the thought, part of him changed his mind, wanting Ranma to ignore the woman, to kill him after all.

Ryoga was standing behind Ranma, looking down at the severed hand. He too remembered what the old pervert had said about his hand, and knew why Ranma had done what he had done. Pulling out his belt, Ryoga stiffened it into a long rod with a razor sharp edge. Raising this, he proceeded with distaste to slice the discarded hand into many small pieces.

Ranma started signing with his hands. Kasumi interpreted. “You will leave. You will leave now. You will return to the Hida mountains, and remain there. If I ever hear of you troubling anyone, ever again, I will hunt you down and carve you into pieces.”

Happosai trembled and nodded. He had changed his mind once more, unwilling to face death by being sliced apart, and didn't wish to give the boy time to reconsider. Besides, what, after all, was left for him here now? Without his strength, he would be only a figure of mockery if he remained. Weaving slightly, Happosai shuffled out the gate and disappeared.

Looking over her shoulder, Kasumi called, “Nabiki! Please call Doctor Tofu. We need him to look at Akane, and daddy, and this other girl.” Turning back to Ranma, she asked, “Could you carry Akane into the furoba for me, please? I'd like to wash the blood off of her before Tofu gets here.”

Ranma looked down and saw that the blood from Happosai's amputation had splashed liberally across Akane. Mercifully, none of it had landed on her face. But the shirt and pants she was wearing would likely need to be thrown away. After quickly pulling her bra back into place and closing the front of her shirt, Ranma gently lifted Akane in his arms. He noted that her eyes at least were alive and worried, as he carried her into the house.

Ryoga surveyed the yard, shaking his head in disbelief at all that had happened. He heard a voice call from above him. “You there! Could you ... er, help me?” The voice had started off haughty, but ended on a plaintive note. Looking up, he saw Tatewaki up in the tree.

Ryoga called up to him, “Can't you climb down on your own?”

Kuno grimaced, then unwillingly admitted, “I think my arm is broken. Again!”

A little later, Soun was revived with the administration of a medicinal dose of sake. Ranma and Ryoga carried the two girls to Tofu's clinic, while Tatewaki followed under his own power, cradling his arm.

At the clinic, the doctor determined that Tatewaki's arm was indeed fractured, but should come to no harm while he saw to the other patients. Tofu studied the two girls briefly, then mixed an herb with some water and managed to get the concoction down their throats. Once he saw that they were recovering from the paralysis, the doctor turned to Kuno to begin applying a cast.

In a short time Akane and Kodachi were both back on their feet, stretching and moving around, reassuring themselves that they could walk steadily despite some lingering numbness. Ranma was sitting nearby facing Tofu and Kuno, but watching over the girls out of the corner of his eye. Kodachi was looking very sheepish at finding herself the victim of her own drug, but Akane simply looked determined. And quite attractive as she twisted in interesting ways to work the kinks out of her muscles.

“Saotome,” Kuno called out. Ranma fixed his attention on the boy more firmly, nodding his head to show that he was paying attention.

“Yes, er, I must ... commend you.” Tatewaki looked like he was chewing on slugs. “You fought ... valiantly ... against one who had sullied the honor of my house.”

Ranma waved a hand dismissively. He then wrote something down and carried it over to hand to Kuno. “Didn't do it for you or your house. Did it for everyone. But especially for Akane.”

Tatewaki sighed after reading this. He spoke heavily. “I do not think that you and I will ever be friends. Or indeed that I will ever look upon you with other than distaste. But ... I will cease my attempts to drive you away.”

Ranma bowed. Being careful not to move the arm to which Doctor Tofu was attending, Kuno inclined himself in return.

Turning away, Ranma suggested to Akane that perhaps it was time to go. Smiling, she linked her arm in his and together they walked out of the clinic and down the street toward home. A few minutes later Ryoga ran past them, then skidded to a halt, looking at the couple wildly.

“You've got to hide me!” he begged. “That crazy gymnast says that she's gonna marry me!”

At that moment, a burst of maniacal laughter wafted down the street. With a scream of panic, Ryoga took off running again. A minute later, Kodachi went leaping past in hot pursuit.

Not so far away, two boys walking down the street were suddenly stopped as one was accosted by an odd middle-aged man in a well-worn gi. This stranger was accompanied by a young man dressed in a strange outfit covered with spatulas. The two teenagers stared with surprise at the sight. The man had the most unusual eyebrows they had ever seen.

Genma asked, “Excuse me, m'boy. Have you heard anything of a martial artist in these parts, about your age, by the name of Ranma Saotome.”

Wondering what this was all about, he started to shake his head no when the other boy spoke up. “Wait! Wasn't that the name of one of the people in that ice skating match? Over at Kolkhoz High?”

The first boy snapped his fingers. “You know, I think you might be right. Yeah, that does sound familiar.”

Genma's mouth stretched in a broad grin. “At last! So Ranma is a student at this Kolkhoz High School, eh?”

The second boy slowly muttered, “Noooo. The Golden Pair go to Kolkhoz High. That Saotome was one of their opponents. What school was he from?”

The first boy had been thinking about this as well, and suddenly looked up in enlightenment. “Furinkan! He and his partner were from Furinkan High. That's right.”

Genma turned away without bothering to thank the two young men. “So! Furinkan High School. At long last, we know something definite. The nerve of the boy! Coming here to Tokyo after running away from me because I wanted him to come to Tokyo.”

“And classes for the Fall Term start tomorrow,” Ukyo replied menacingly. “Tomorrow morning I will know where to find you, Ranma Saotome.” The chilled note in her voice made Genma look up in sudden worry.