The Spring Of Drowned Thief

The Bringer of Life and Death


Akane was getting worried. The others were taking too long to catch up, so she went back to check things out. Soun and Nodoka stayed behind to try and bring Kodachi back to reality. She kept rocking back and forth while asking quietly, “Do I act like her…?” it was unnerving, but somewhat true. Kodachi had finally met some one that acted truly insane and blood crazed. Even though she had never done any thing nearly as drastic, the fact remained that her laugh was the same as Marry’s. Neither Soun nor Nodoka knew how to answer that question, but they stayed with her. As Akane went off, Soun said, he’d come looking for her if she was gone too long. It pained him to let her go like that, but she was a capable girl, and even though it was horrible to even think, he knew most of the guards were dead.


Elsewhere in the wilderness...

“This isn’t good. We seemed to have lost him…”

Ukyo looked down at Cologne with a wondering look. “How do you know?”

Cologne sighed. “Don’t you pay attention, child? The fog is gone meaning he’s either not shielding himself or he’s not hiding any more.”

“I guess this leaves us out in the open then?” Ryouga added.

Cologne nodded. “I am afraid so… Be on guard for attacks. The Musk cross themselves with animals, so they may be much more dangerous then the average human.”

Ukyo kept looking down with a look of wonder. “How do they do that?”

Cologne was about to explain it, when the silent one of the group spoke his part. “It’s Ranma!”

Ryouga looked up and at Hikaru. “What, where?”

Hikaru pointed at a large tree with a figure sitting under it. He was clearly looking at them, but not making any effort to do anything otherwise. Every one just stood there collecting dust and trying to figure out what to do. Ryouga tapped Cologne with his foot and asked, “You think that’s that Kyva guy that Mousse was talking about?”

Cologne squinted her eyes for a more focused look. “Most likely. Shall we see what he wants?”

Ukyo took a bit of a step back. “Are you sure that’s a good idea…?”

Ryouga shook his head a little. “I don’t think it matters if we try and run away. He’s got us trapped. He knows where we are.” Ryouga took Ukyo’s hand. “If something happens, I’ll hold him off while you run. Got that?”

Ukyo squeezed his hand and nodded. “Ok… Just be careful Ryouga…”

Ryouga nodded back and looked over at Hikaru. “Same goes for you.”

“Y-yes.”

Ryouga walked ahead of the others and made his way slowly over to the Ranma. With each passing step he could make out the gentle smile on Ranma’s face, and for some strange reason, it put him at ease as he came closer. The sun seemed to burn brighter bringing out the beautiful green of the forest. Life was all around in its prime. The four stopped short of the figure and looked down upon him. He gazed up at Ryouga with that same soft smile and half closed eyes, as if he were half dreaming. No one said any thing, even though they were trying, but it was this Ranma that opened his mouth first and gave every one a surprise. “….Ryouga….”

Ryouga didn’t know what else to say, but to return the name. “Ranma?”

Ranma closed his eyes a little and swayed slowly as if hearing music. He turned his eyes to look behind Ryouga and said. “Ukyo… My first friend…”

Ukyo shivered and moved closer to Ryouga and once again he looked in another direction. “Hikaru… You came… I’m glad…”

Ryouga kneeled down close to Ranma and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you ok? Every one’s been worried sick about you.”

Ranma leaned forward and rested his forehead against Ryouga’s shoulder. “Yeah… I’ve missed you guys. I can’t seem to be away from you guys with out feeling lonely. Where’s Akane…?”

“She went somewhere else to look for you. Come on get up. We’ll find them and get out of here.”

“Can’t do that…” As Ranma said that his body slowly became transparent and Ryouga fell forward a bit as Ranma’s body became passable.

“What the hell!? What’s wrong?”

“I have to finish it Ryouga…”

“Finish what?”

“I have to kill them all…”

“Kill who?”

“All those different sides of me.”

“You’re talking crazy Ranma. What’s going on?”

“The story of my life…”

“Ukyo, stand back… Hey where did every one go?” Ryouga looked around noticing that he was now alone. “I was holding her hand wasn’t I?”

“This is all a dream Ryouga…”

Ryouga thought for a few moments. “Are you in my head again? I don’t remember falling asleep.”

“Sorry… I just needed some one to talk to. It gets lonely in here. Nothing but my own personal demons.”

Ryouga thought again and looked around. “This is... your head…”

“Yeah, I guess so… Not much here any more though.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure. But every thing is screwed up now because of it.”

Ryouga looked around again not sure what to make of the place. “Where are you? Like physically.”

“I’m not. I’m a ghost now. Just some lights and a reflection that people see every so often.”

Ryouga gasped and stared. “You’re… You’re dead…?”

“I’m not sure about that either… Every thing is fuzzy to me these days. Nothing is certain either. As usual, I’ve managed to screw up the lives of people around me. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry man… We’ve been good friends haven’t we? I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Ranma laughed and became solid again as he put an arm around Ryouga’s neck and gave his back a pat. “Thanks man… That means a lot to me. I have a question that I’ve been dying to ask though. Do you mind?” Ranma let go of Ryouga, leaned back against the tree and looked at him with the same warm smile.

“Sure. Ask any thing.”

“Do you love me?” Ranma suddenly changed forms in front of Ryouga’s eyes and asked, “Or is it just the body?”

Ryouga didn’t know how to answer right away but eventually found the right words. “Don’t think of me like that… I’d never admit it, but since we’re alone… I love you either form you’re in. I don’t think I’d ever kiss you when you’re a guy, but yeah, I defiantly love you for you.”

A tear rolled down her face as she kept looking at Ryouga. “You’ll never know how much I wanted to hear that… Thanks…”

“Why did you ask though? Were there doubts to it before?”

“How can I explain this…?”

Ryouga sat down next to Ranma and leaned against the tree to stare up at the sky. “Take your time. I don’t mind listening. Start from the beginning if it helps.”

“The beginning eh? Are you sure?”

“I’ve been worried about you and have some questions of my own, and I’d like to spend some time with you.”

“Yeah, I guess you would have a few questions. I’ve left you and Akane in the dark most of all.”

“You have your reasons…”

“It still pisses you off though. I know you better then that Ryouga.”

“Yeah…” Ryouga slid down and lay on his back in the grass with his arms behind his head. “So, tell me what happened.”

Ranma kept looking forward blankly going through her thoughts. “I traveled all across China training and all else, that’s no secret, but the one thing I always lied about was what happened to me after my father died.”

Ryouga looked up with a curious look on his face. “None of that happened?”

Ranma waved her hands. “You know me. I tell half-truths more then any thing. It’s not a complete lie, just a glorification of the truth. After dad died, I wasn’t really lost in the wilderness traveling around aimlessly. In fact, I was never lost, I knew where I was going.”

“But I found you, didn’t I? That wasn’t made up.”

“No that wasn’t made up, but the circumstances behind it were. I was running from the police and I’d gotten myself shot in the process. I did some crude patchwork and managed to seal the wound, but I had server blood loss. I was so dazed that I didn’t even know you picked me up, until I realized I was moving. The hospital was the last place I wanted to go to at that point, because that’s where they would catch me.”

“What about that guy that picked you up?”

“An utter lie. If anything it was I who approached him.”

“Huh?”

“I was in a perfect state of mind when I left the hospital on my own. I ran out of there dressed as a nurse and got myself some close at a shop we passed by on our way there. I slipped in and got myself a travel bag ready, but I was still tired and I needed to lay low, so I got myself a cheap sleazy place to rest. I was an idiot to go there as a girl, but I did anyways. I was still groggy from the blood loss and pain killers and couldn’t really hear what the guy was asking me. I assume he asked me if I wanted to work there and I’d agreed to some extent. I only remember bits and pieces, but I knew I needed money quick, and a legitimate job was the best way to do it at that point, you know, advert attention from myself.”

“So you were really…?”

“Yeah, I guess… I was my own fault, but it was a mistake that’ll be with me forever… I was in fact drugged up for a while, the owner must have thought I was some sort of addict and didn’t want me to go through with drawls while in the middle of something. I truly did kill every one there, but the thing I hid was that I did it with full knowledge of what I was doing. I made it sound like I went berserk, but in truth I killed them all viciously and silently. After that ordeal, I ended up becoming a heroine addict for a while and ended up in a halfway house to once again, avoid the police and get cleaned up…”

“Shit… I-“

“You don’t have to say anything Ryouga. I doesn’t matter what you say or do, the point is that it happened to me and I’m not going to forget any time soon.”

“I see…”

“After that the man at the halfway house suggested that I get back on track with my life as best I could. That’s when I remembered what my dad said before he died about finding the Tendo’s. I never really gave it any thought until then, but I thought, why the hell not? It would give me something to do until I figured out what I was going to do with myself. And wouldn’t you know it? I became engaged to a girl I didn’t even know. A wrench in all those plans I didn’t have.”

“Do you regret it, or something?”

“I did at first. But then I saw something. I saw a beautiful angel. You know the kind dressed in white with perfect hair and a smile not meant to be seen by mortal men. It was amazing, and exhilarating all at once. I found a girl I could love forever. My father’s final gift I guess you could call it. Every thing was going great until I found another reason to hate myself for the things I’ve done.”

“Was it me…?”

“…Yeah…”

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m not done yet, and it’s not your fault. You see… I remembered you back in grade school, all those times I humiliated you and treated you like crap; it just washed back in on me all at once. I went back to being suicidal and prayed that you’d kill me right there when we met again.”

“Really…?”

“I was almost dead, I wasn’t even planning on healing myself, but then it hit me. In the back of my mind I heard you crying… I heard Akane screaming… I remembered everything that there was to be happy about, so I came back. Back to tell you I’m sorry, and tell Akane that everything was going to be ok. To eat Kasumi’s cooking again. To hear Mr. Tendo talk highly of my father. To show up Nabiki one more time. To see all those sights I thought beautiful. To hopefully, once again see my mother. Then I saw a crystal clear lake. It was as smooth as glass, and uninterrupted. It was a memory of Akane. I was with her and she smiled. I made up my mind and came back. And when I came back, it hurt, but I felt warm. It was the most amazing feeling I’d ever had. I knew from that moment I had found my true love and my best friend in the same day. The woman I’d keep forever and the guy that would cry over me if I died…”

Ryouga felt his head being lead into Ranma’s lap. She kept her back to the tree and started playing with his hair while he laid there letting the feeling of relaxation take over him. “So what happened next?”

“I started falling in love with him bit by bit. It started slowly, and later on I knew why. My body was changing on me and once again I panicked and almost screwed every thing up again. Before I could ruin everything again, I reevaluated my life and took some advice into consideration. I kept an open mind and thought about the ones around me and how they’d act. I thought about you and Akane and came to one of my hardest decisions…”

Ryouga took his eyes off the sky and looked into Ranma’s dazed eyes. “What was it?”

“Akane likes me as a girl and you like me as a girl, is it that hard to guess?”

Ryouga’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped slightly open. “Tell me… You didn’t…?”

Ranma gave him the same warm smile she’s given him since the beginning and continued stroking Ryouga’s hair. “I gave up being a man, and let myself become a women for you two… I gave it up to be with you…”

Ryouga got up and sat on his knees in front of Ranma. “No. No you didn’t! Tell me you didn’t do that! Tell me you’re lying!”

“Why would I start lying now? Why do you think I was able to get into bed with you so easily? I’d do anything for you and Akane… Even if it meant giving up who I used to be…”

Ryouga put both his hands on Ranma’s shoulders and stared into those big blue eyes. “I’d never ask you to do something like that! Why would you? You can’t give up on being a man!”

Ranma reached out and brushed her hand along Ryouga’s cheek. “I did it because I love you…”

Ryouga batted the hand away gently. “What about Akane? What would she think? I know you’re still a guy at heart! You can’t just change like that!”

Ranma looked away shyly and let the smile on her face leave. “It’s too late… I want to be a woman for you and Akane… How else can we all be together…?”

Ryouga let go and clenched his fists while scratching his brain for anything to say. He was beaten to it when Ranma placed her hand back on Ryouga’s face started coming near for a kiss. That’s when he did the only thing he could think of. “Prove it to me then!”

“I’m about too…”

“No! Change back into a guy first!”

Ranma stared at him with wide eyes for a second. “A-are you sure? I thought you said-“

“Forget what I said! Change into a guy and kiss me! I dare you!”

Ranma’s eye twitched and quickly she was a he again. “H-have it your way then. I’ll still kiss you as a woman.”

”Oh, yeah?” Before Ranma could do any thing Ryouga had grabbed Ranma’s head and brought him in for a deep kiss. There was no struggle at first, which had cause Ryouga a bit of discomfort, but he was determined to prove a point. That’s when Ryouga up-ed the ante and slipped Ranma the tongue.

“Err.. Ryo-… argh…”

Ryouga broke for a second and said, “What’s wrong, missy? I thought this was ok?” Ryouga went back in with a suction hold on Ranma’s lips. Ranma gave in and put his arms around Ryouga while holding him close. Ryouga wasn’t finished though. He dropped them both to the ground and started caressing Ranma all over, but Ranma just started doing the same. Ryouga finally thought of one last thing he could do to prove his point. He pinned Ranma’s shoulders to the ground while still giving kisses, but slid his hand down Ranma’s chest, across his stomach, down Ranma’s pants and around his-

“AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!! GET THE HELL OFFA ME!!” With that Ranma’s face turned into a scowl as he brought his fist back and followed through by bringing it forward and launching Ryouga off him and into the tree. After a few moments a few branches broke and Ryouga came falling out. He got up and looked over at Ranma standing there with a bright red face, fists clenched, breathing hard, and looking like he was ready to kill something.

The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments while Ranma calmed down. As Ryouga wiped his mouth on his sleeve and spat in the grass he found some words to ensure his victory. “Is there something wrong?”

Ranma just kept breathing heavily while holding his chest and spitting. “Shut up…”

“I was right wasn’t I? You’re still a guy at heart. You can’t stand to be kissed by me while you’re a guy either. Just like me.” Ranma said nothing as he kept looking at Ryouga. “You don’t need to put up a false front for either me or Akane. We all fell in love before you made this ‘decision.’”

“I almost sacrificed my manhood for you…”

“Yeah, well I just sacrificed my dignity for you! There, we’re even. I just don’t want you to change for anything. Is that so much to ask!? Ahh! Why do you have stubble!? We’re in your head damnit! You don’t need stubble!”

Ryouga watched as Ranma hit his head with the palm of his hand and start laughing frantically. He eventually fell down on his butt and ended up on his back while still laughing crazily. Ryouga walked over and looked down at him. “What’s so funny!?”

Ranma wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at Ryouga with a smile. “I just realized that even some-what dead, I’m still messed up.”

“Hell, I could have told you that!”

Ranma snorted out his nose and started laughing again. “You always have this way to remind me of how great of a guy you are.”

Ryouga shook his head and sat down next to him again. “You’re weird man. But do you get it now?”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. I can be both your best friend and lover.”

“If it makes it easier, I can just be your best friend…”

Ranma propped himself up with his arms behind him. “Ya know? I lied again without even realizing it.”

“What?”

“Ever wonder why I haven’t done anything with you two as a guy?”

“Now that you point it out, yeah, I’m curious. Even when we ummm… You know. With Akane. You were a girl the entire time I thought you were going to change.”

“When I woke up in the whore house, or came out of my stupor is a better way to put it, and there was that guy in the middle of doing it with me…”

“…You don’t have to tell me if it’s too hard… I know you were being raped…”

“…Yeah, but I was a guy at the time as well…”

“…”

“…”

“…Holy shit…”

“…That’s why I’m always kind of sketchy around people and because of that I may never want to do any thing in my original body…”

“…But how…? Didn’t you walk in as a girl?”

“…Yeah, but I had a shower. If I was a girl at the time I would still be traumatized, but god damn, that was even worse…”

“Oh, shit…! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that to you! I didn’t know!”

Ranma waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll always have mixed feelings about this relationship, but I really don’t mind being with you, as long as you know who I am…”

Ryouga’s head started hurting and he put a hand against it. “Oww… I just got a massive head ache…”

“You’re waking up... I can’t hold you here forever I guess.”

Ryouga’s eyes shot wide. “Whoa, wait! I got a few questions!”

“I know we still have time, just hurry with them.”

“First, what’s going on? Why are we all here?”

“As I am no longer physically part of the world, I am still here in spirit form. There are five people from a long time ago traveling this forest and making their way to Jesenkyo. As I can’t really control them I can however, make suggestions and nudge them in the direction I want them to go. You should be very careful of all of them, they have their own type of danger behind them.”

“The forbidden pools… Did you jump in them all?”

“No, I only jumped into the Pool of Thief. The thief is the only real form I have more control over then the others, but as to the reason they have all spawned here, is because the five cursed springs were all linked with a secondary curse which brought them all back through me. No one was supposed to enter those springs for a reason.”

“Why did I get all my memories back?”

“Oddly enough, that wasn’t my doing. It may have been the thief that did it, but I’m not completely sure what he has to do with all this, but what I do know, is that he’s here to fix things to a certain degree.”

“What was with all those clues and hidden messages if you could have just talked to us like this to begin with?”

“That’s easy. I thought I was going to die, and to an extent I was right.”

“Why didn’t you ask us for help?”

“How would you have done it? No one can help me. What I did do was give you guys a mission, though I was hoping not so many would have come.”

“What mission…?”

Ranma took in a breath and released it. “I hated to ask this, and even more so now, but all those forms of me… If I can’t kill them, then I need you guys to.”

“What about the thief…?”

“He dies too. He’s part of the curse, but he seems to want to set things right as well. I don’t know what motivates him, but I still want you to be careful of him. He’s just as dangerous as the others.”

“Wait, how do we kill them? I saw that thief get shot to hell and he still got up. Are the others like that?”

“Yup, but I’ve still got a plan as always. I need you guys to get to Prince Herb and talk to him.”

“Why?”

“No time to explain. You’re off it seems.”

Ryouga looked as the world around him started to fade. He looked down at his hands, as they seemed to blow away like dust. Ranma waved at him with his ever-present smile. “See ya around.”

Ryouga gave him a look that demanded full attention. “Don’t die completely or whatever. If for any reason, make it for Akane. You got that!?”

Ranma bowed his head as he himself started to blow away. “I won’t make any promises… One last piece of advise. Avoid my mom for as long as you can.”

“Huh?”


Ukyo rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she kicked Ryouga awake. Every one had seemed to pass out except for the old woman. It was dark out and not much could be seen. “Ryouga! Get up, this is no time to be sleeping sugar!”

“ahhh… You don’t have to kick me…”

“Well, I’ve tried every thing else!”

“Huh?” Ryouga pushed himself up and looked around. Sure enough he was face down in the grass with two teens looking down at him. “How long was I out?”

Hikaru pointed to the Cologne. “A-ask her. W-we all fell asleep. M-must have b-been something in the air.”

Ryouga shook off his grogginess and put a palm on his forehead. “Maybe for you guys. I just had a conversation with Ranma myself.”

Cologne hopped over to all of them and stood looking. “It appears it was his doing. These two said the same thing.”

“Oh? What did he have to say to you guys?”

Ukyo put a finger on her lip as she thought back. “He didn’t say anything all that important to me, he just said it was nice to see me again and he gave me a hug. I, uhh… Kind of blew up at him again…”

“Oh… How did that go over…?”

“Better then I thought. He said he was sorry about everything and getting me involved in his mess…”

“That was it?”

“Well, no. He said a few other things, and something I’d like to keep to myself…”

“Ok. How about you?” Ryouga looked at Hikaru.

“W-we umm… Talked about stuff. H-he wanted to know how m-my studies were going. H-he also said, that he’s kind of d-dead. He m-mentioned that you’d have something for us w-when you woke up.”

Ryouga shrugged his shoulders and put his hands up. “I don’t have any thing.”

Ukyo plucked a book out of Ryouga’s hand and said, “What about this sugar?”

Ryouga looked in wonder at the book that was in his hand and raised his eyebrows. “That was weird… I’m too tired for this right now…”

“Wh-what did he say to you?”

“Oh, well I guess I do have kind of a message.”

Cologne turned back to face his as well as the others. “And that would be?”

“We’re all on some kind of mission. There are five people that look like Ranma traveling to Jesenkyo. He said, that if he can’t kill them all, then we would have to do it.”

Ukyo passed him an odd look. “Why do we need to kill them? Can’t we just, like tie them up and send them to jail or, something, darlin?”

“I didn’t have enough time to ask. SOMEONE woke me up, but apparently they all have Ranma’s healing abilities.”

Hikaru gulped and asked. “S-so, how do we beat them i-if we need to?”

“Once again, SOMEONE woke me up before I could ask, but he said we should talk to a guy named Prince Herb.”

Cologne shook her head. “The leader of the Musk… I do not advise this. He would kill us on sight, for stepping into his territory.”

“Maybe just you elder…”

Every one turned around to see a figure of Ranma leaning against a tree with a smoke hanging limply out of his mouth. He was busy examining a knife of his, but lost interest and put it back in his long dark coat. “I can’t see him attacking any one mindlessly, unless he really didn’t like them. Trespassers like you are usually given an escort off the land and a warning, but an Amazon leader in the heart of his territory… Oooo… I can feel the tension now.”

Cologne jumped in front of the teens with her staff out, ready for action. “What business do you have here!?”

He just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Nothing really… Just passing by. Wondering what an old lady and a couple of kids are doing out in the middle of the sticks.”

Ryouga got up and brushed himself off. “Hey. Are you the thief?”

A vein popped up and became apparent in the figures forehead. “Please don’t call me that… I did do the occasional burglary back in my day, but I was more of an assassin then anything else.”

“Ranma said, that you were somewhat trust worthy, but I should still keep my distance.”

Kyva took a puff from his smoke and release the air quickly. “Good advise if you ask me. What else did he say about me?”

“He mentioned that of the five of you, you’re the only one trying to set things right. I still don’t know what’s going on completely though.”

“Well, tough bananas big guy. He asked me to show you the way to Prince Herb’s place, so here I am, your guide.” He held out a hand for a shake, which was promptly denied by all. “No takers eh? Hey what’s with the spatula, miss?”

“An assassin huh!? You’re just here to kill us!”

Ukyo came at him with a good swing, which was caught with ease. The spatula was yanked from her hands as she was pushed back. Kyva held it up in front of him giving an examination of the instrument before tossing it back to her. “You know… If I wanted to kill you people, then I would have just done it while you were all asleep and unaware. I’m a real ‘down to business’ type of guy.”

Cologne pulled Ukyo back and once again went back into a defensive pose. “We are not traveling with you, thief!”

He rubbed his head and shook it. “Call me Kyva… And yes you are traveling with me.”

“We are not going through the kingdom with you! We are going around! We can’t just prance in unannounced, especially with a killer like you!”

Kyva pointed at Cologne with the smoke between his fingers. “Look lady, you’re really starting to piss me off. I have my orders, and I’ve always been one to complete my missions, one way or another. So here are your choices. One, you can follow me peacefully and we can do this civilly, or two, I can take you there cut up and in a bag over my fucking shoulder.”

“You don’t scare me, with your idle treats…”

“You silly old bitch… You’re really going to risk the lives of others over your own foolishness, aren’t you? Right! It looks like my top-notch persuasion techniques are coming into play here! I fucking-well warned you!”

“You cannot beat me, ghost of the spring...”

One minute and seventeen seconds later…

Kyva lifted up his leg and rubbed the cigarette out on his shoe. “Now that my point is across, I suggest we leave, unless you three have any objections to this of coarse.” The three teens shook their heads quickly and without a sound. Kyva smiled and gave them a thumb up. “Good to hear!”
Kyva smiled as he picked up Cologne and hefted her over his shoulder. Cuts, and bruises were all over her face and probably more over her body. She was defiantly knocked out for the rest of the night. Before he set off, he looked at the three with a strong look and eyed them all down. “Don’t any of you run away. I am neither in the mood to chase any one, nor am I in the mood to carry two people. We will rest twice and sleep when we get there. Is that understood?” Every one nodded in silence again. Kyva smiled once again and gave them another thumb up. “Good to hear!” He promptly lit another smoke and turned around.

“….u-uuummm….”

Kyva rolled his eyes. “What is it spooky? Need to take a leak?”

Hikaru shook his head and looked down. “N-n-no. I-I was just w-wondering where y-you got the cigarette…?”

“Oh, that nice Nabiki girl gave them to me. Great kid, she’s got some potential that one. A real snake in the grass, if I didn’t know any better I’d say we were related.”

Ryouga and Ukyo gasped in unison. Ryouga asked the question quickly. “Y-you saw them!? You didn’t hurt them did you!?”

“Hey! Less talky, more walky. We’re meeting them there, so get your ass in gear. Herb is expecting us.”

Ukyo asked her question. “How does he know we’re coming?”

Kyva cracked his knuckles and looked back. “Need I repeat myself kids?”

Ukyo nodded and started walking with a look of fear in her eyes. “Less talky, more walky…”

“Good, now keep doing that.”

“Yes sir…”


Earlier that day…

Akane arrived at the temple she had tried so hard to escape from, most would call this foolishness, but she called it concern. She was shocked to see only two or three dead people. ‘I could have sworn she did more damage then that…’ The Musk of the temple seemed to be preoccupied, but since there was an absolute lack of real activity, it made her think only the worst had happened.

Determined to find out for sure she snuck around and went inside when no one was looking. She gave a final look out the doorway to see a lot of Musk warriors, just sitting in the grass with blank stares on their faces. ‘They must still be recovering from the attack…’ She didn’t waste any more time as she crept up the stairs and passed all the unconscious guards. Once at the top she cracked the door open an inch to look inside, and it was a horrible site. The priest held hands in a circle around Mousse, Shampoo, Tofu, Kasumi, Kuno and Nabiki, while the Shaman and that Kyva guy stood in the middle with them. They did a weird dance around them while chanting something that Akane could never hope to understand. The priests started swaying when shards of light surrounded everything in the room. A blinding light which made Kasumi scream. Stones started moving and the temple shook. Akane shielded her eyes as she tried to watch, but the only thing she could make out was a huge knife being held above her sister Nabiki. Akane was through watching at this point and burst in for the rescue. ‘Why that two timing bastard! I’ll teach ya to act all friendly!’

“KYVA NO BAKA!!!”

The light dimmed down and every one saw a giant hammer flying in Kyva’s direction. “What the-“

The hammer hit him straight across the face and sent him flying into a wall, were his slid down slowly and laid limp, propped up against it and out cold. The Shaman looked over at Kyva and then at the floor where the glowing symbols were. His expression changed for a look of ‘oh my god…’ to a look of shear shock horror. Every ones mouth dropped as Mousse started screaming. “UNTIE US OR WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!”

Akane thought Mousse was talking to her at first, but she became very curious as she watch all the priests jump forward to cut their bindings. “Fair Akane Tendo! Your judgment on the situation was as one might say, not up to par.”

Akane pointed dumbly at herself. “But I came to save you guys…”

“Really sis! You can’t just rush in on a situation like this!”

“Oh, my! Nabiki’s right Akane. Kyva said that if he gets interrupted then a monster would come out and try to eat every thing it sees. I knew I should have packed a larger picnic basket…”

Shampoo was finally free and she grabbed Mousse’s arm. “NO TIME TO TALK! JUST RUN!”

Every one ran off leaving Akane behind standing dumbly. “Did I just miss something…? I though they were being sacrificed for sure…”

“Hey kid… Do you always talk to yourself? Get the hell out of here before it comes out!”

Akane snapped out of it and ran over to kneel down in front of Kyva. “I’m sorry are you ok?”

Kyva got an angry look on his face and started pointing frantically. “ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID!? THE DOOR IS THAT WAY!!!”

“Well, I can’t leave you here! This place feels like its about to fall apart!”

“Get out! That thing is going to wake up any second! This is why you don’t mess around someone casting a life-summoning spell! He’s coming back as a demon!”

“How was I suppose to know that!? I thought you were about to kill my sister! Here get up!”

Kyva pushed her back hard as he got up. “You don’t get it do you!? I’m not this fucking fiancé of yours or whatever, so stop treating me like that! I have to kill this demon now, so fuck off!”

“I’m not treating you like Ranma! I just want to help!”

“You wanna bet!?” Kyva snapped his fingers and started growing in height and his hair in length. His face changed to a more stone chiseled ruggedness with a five o’clock shadow across it and he stopped growing at about six and a half feet. His coat no longer touched the ground and it now went down to his knees, his hair went jet-black and traveled down to his shoulders, and his clothes tightened around a muscular form. Akane backed away slowly as she watch the change and almost screamed when his large hands grabbed her arms. “This is what I looked like before I died! Do you understand!? I’m not your damn boyfriend; I’ve only got his image! Are you going to leave now, or do I have to throw you out the doors personally?”

Akane jerked her arms and made him let go. She backed away slowly again and headed to the door without a word. Kyva just continued staring her away and when she was gone he turned back to the center of the room. He bowed his head and put a hand on the side of his head. Unknown to every one he started mumbling to himself. “I’m sorry. I know she means a lot to you… Don’t lie to me like that. I know you’re pissed off at me… It was the only way I could get her out of here with out hurting her… I meant physically hurting her… I don’t care if you think it would have been a better idea, I’m not hitting a lady… You want me to what?… Apologize!?… *sigh* Fine. But if it were any one else but you, I wouldn’t. Just remember that… No, I’m not reasonable and I’m not a nice guy at heart. I’m just doing you a favor… God, stop thanking me already. I was happier when you were pissed… Shut up you fucking wuss… No you couldn’t kick my ass…”

Kyva was cut off from his mumblings when a sudden enraged panda with glowing eyes and festering skin popped out of the temple floor and started its roars for blood. Kyva gave the zombie panda the good old look down and ask to an invisible person. “Is this the right one?… Perfect. What gave it away?… Yeah, I was wondering why the zombie panda was wearing a karate gi… You’re right, this place is going to fall apart, gotta lead him outside…”

Kyva ran up to the panda before it could make a move and punched it in the gut. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to have any effect, but by grabbing the bears paw, he whipped the panda around with a high velocity swing and sent it flying out the doors, at alarming speeds. Kyva smiled and laughed like he heard something funny and said out loud. “Yeah, I’d say it was very subtle.” He proceeded to run down the stairs kicking the Panda to the doors on his way. He gave it one final boot with a grin on his face, sending it off into the clearing. “You never told me he was such a wuss. I thought this guy made you strong?… Oh, so his training plan actually worked? Amazing… Look out? Oh shi-“ Kyva looked up at the last second to see an army of stone and dusk collapse on top of him. Support beams holding up the structure of the building started snapping over the extensive damage done to the place. It wasn’t so much that the building was on an auto destruct sequence, no not at all. It all started when Akane launched Kyva into one of the main support walls of the building, and due to budget cut backs, human error, and faulty construction, the building was bound to collapse. At least it wasn’t going to explode.

Mousse stood looking at the temple while rummaging through his things. “Hey! What happened to my C4?”

“Stupid Mousse! Don’t play with self here! Do that in private!”

“No! I’m just looking for someth- oh woops. There goes the remote control detonator flying out of my hand, beyond all manner of my control.”

A mushroom cloud engulfed every ones vision as the temple blew to pieces. “….stupid Mousse….”

“Err…. That’s not good…”


Elsewhere…

“Nodoka! Is that a nuclear explosion over there!?”

“I’m no expert but…”

Kodachi looked at it carefully. “No, I’d have to say that its just standard demolitions. If it were nuclear then we would be vaporized by being so close, that is of coarse unless it were only a tiny one in which case we are all going to die from cancer within the next ten years… How a mushroom cloud was formed will always be far beyond me.”

Nodoka blinked once and looked over at Kodachi. “Th-thank you for that dear…”

Kodachi latched onto Miss. Soatome and asked with teary eyes and a smile. “Does this mean I have you blessings to marry my Ranma!?”

“….No….”

“AAHHH!!!! MY LITTLE GIRLS ARE IN DANGER!!!!”

“Please Soun… I have a head ache…”

Soun ran off in the direction of the cloud, screaming and pulling his hair. “That man, I swear… Oooohhh…. When did I get so tired…?”

“Auntie Soatome, are you ok?”


Nodoka went down on her knees and slowly passed out as she lay down in the grass. It was moments later that she woke up again, but this time she was in a different place and away from that crazy gymnast. She gave a look around and a voice came from behind her. “…M-mom…”

Nodoka scurried up and turned around to see her son sitting under a tree with a shy look on his face. “Ranma…! Is that really you…?”

He gave her a small smile and nodded. “Yeah… It me, the real one anyways…”

Nodoka came over to him quickly and place her hands on his cheeks, examining his face for every inch. A few tears rolled out of her eyes as she stared at him. “You grew up to be so hansom…”

“Th-thanks… Ummm…. Did they tell you about me…?”

Nodoka kept smiling and nodded. “Yes. Akane told me all about you. I’m so proud that you’ve stayed strong…”

“She even told you about my curse…?”

Nodoka sat down beside her son and cradled his head. “Yes, she told me all about it… Nabiki said that we look identical when you ummm… change.”

“You don’t mind?”

“Of coarse I don’t mind… It was your stupid father’s fault that this happened to you…”

“I guess she didn’t tell you everything then…”

“…What else was there…?”

“I planned on keeping the curse…”

“…Oh… I-is there something you should tell me, dear?”

“Maybe… I was doing it for Akane, you may not agree with it, but she kind of likes other girls… Don’t tell her I told you please…”

“W-well… If you did it for her, th-then I guess it was something pretty manly!”

“...And there’s this guy…”

“…Oh my lord…”

“…Yeah… This is kind of awkward isn’t it?”

“A…. A little, but if its your decision… I’m just worried about what Akane will think…”

“All three of us are in this together…”

“…What has your father been teaching you…?”

“It sort of came with the curse mom…”

“W-well, does this boy know about your condition?”

“Oh, yeah. Ryouga… Oh, god….”

“…I see…”

Ranma sighed and leaned back as best he could. “I guess you’re kind of disappointed to see what happened to me…”

“No, no… I’m, ummm, not disappointed… Just surprised…”

“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better mom… You were expecting me to be something else, and not some girly, dress wearing, sissy that talks about his feelings to his boyfriend.”

“…You wear dresses…?”
“Well… Not really… I did it a couple of times for a disguise to avoid police, but no I don’t make a social habit of it.”

“…Can I see it…?”

“What?”

“Your… Other self…”

Ranma frowned a bit and snapped his fingers. In an instant he shrunk down and turned into that all too familiar form. Nodoka once again kneeled in front of Ranma and put her hands on her cheeks. After going through the examination again she dropped her hands and put on the best smile she could. “Nabiki was right… We look the same… You’re a beautiful girl and… If its what you want… I will have a daughter in place of a son…”

Ranma laughed her cute laugh and gave her mom a warm look. “I don’t think you get it yet mom… I’m both a boy and a girl. I’ll always be your son, no matter what, but now you’ve got the added bonus of having a daughter as well. Whenever I’m a girl people call me Ranko, it’s just a name I made up to hide my secret, but then every one started calling me that. People only assumed that this Ranko was my sister anyways. It was only the people really close to me that call me Ranma in both forms. That’s the Tendo’s and a couple friends. It may be a lie against the world, but hey it works.”

Nodoka wrapped her arms around her child and held him tightly. “If you want this then I won’t object. I need some time to get used to it, but… I think… I can accept you as both my son and… daughter…”

“Mom… I have a bit of a confession…”

“Another one?”

Ranma laughed a little, but shook her head. “Yeah, another one, but this one you’re really not going to like.”

“You’re…. You’re not pregnant are you….?”

Ranma rolled his eyes. “No mom, I’m not pregnant. I may be messed up in the head, but not stupid enough to get myself knocked up at this age.”

“Then what is it…?”

“I wouldn’t have told you any of this, unless… I thought I was going to die soon…”

Nodoka pulled back and examined her Ranma all over. “You’re not hurt are you!? Are you sick!? We can take you to a doctor! We have one with us!”

Ranma placed her soothing hand on her mother and slowly turned back into a guy. “No, I’m not hurt. I’m not sick either. I’m just coming up to the end of the line. Weather I live or not depends on undefined events that are to take place soon. I got a job to take down some really bad people, and I’m damn well going to do it.”

“Ranma… If there are dangerous people, you don’t have to pick fights with them to prove yourself. You can walk away and come home.”

“It doesn’t work like that in this case. I’m not picking a fight, and I’m not on some stupid search for
glory. I’m here because I have to be, because I’m the one that has to do it. There’s a little voice in the back of my head that telling me I can’t look back because I can never go back. You came here looking for me, and you found me, but I want you to know something very important. If any thing happens to you or any one else I love, I can’t win this fight. I’m not afraid to die. I’m just afraid to die here with some one I love. I’ll gladly put my life on the line for those around me, as long as they don’t get hurt, I don’t care what happens to me…”

Nodoka held Ranma close again and closed her eyes. “You’re brave… The only thing I ever really wanted you to be… I’m thankful…”

Nodoka slipped slowly through her son and fell over. She looked up to see Ranma turning transparent. “Ranma! What’s wrong!?”

“Oh, this? Don’t worry mom. He’s just waking up, that’s all. I guess our time is up for now…”

“Ranma…”

“Don’t worry mom… I’ll do my best…” Ranma vanished and soon the world that surrounded him did as well. Kyva burst out from the stone rubble with his fists in the air and a scowl on his face, to see the Panda turned Genma fighting with Mr. Tendo.