A Feather in the Wind
Chapter 2
The stars shone brightly as a silhouette trudged along a dirt road. Tied atop his pack
was a limp figure, but he showed no sign of strain from carrying the extra load. In the
distance behind him, the lights of Tokyo splayed across the land, totally unnoticed.
Walking tirelessly, he searched for a place he would like to call home, the Tendo dojo.
After walking for several hours, he stopped and walked off to one side of the path.
Gently he removed his pack, and the girl from his back, then proceeded to set up camp.
After he had pitched his tent, he moved the girl inside and started a fire. The flickering
flames revealed Ryouga's face. He pulled various supplies out of his pack, and set about
making a small meal.
Morning at the Tendo dojo was quiet. Ranma had woken up early, and was all set to
practice with his father again when a sharp pain in his leg reminded him that he shouldn't
be pushing himself.
"Ow... Geez that smarts" He complained about his leg as he limped towards the
bathroom. As he passed Akane's room he peeked in and saw that Akane was still asleep,
but looked more like she had been crying all night.
::Was she actually worried?:: Ranma thought as he silently crept into the room and
pulled the chair away from the desk. He sat and watched Akane as she slept. As he
watched, he failed to notice that Kasumi had peeked into the room, saw him watching
over Akane, smile, and then close the door.
Akane was having a nightmare. It seemed that she was running from something, but
it was gaining on her. Then Ranma appeared and turned to face the beast, but it tore him
to pieces. In her dream Akane screamed and charged after her pursuer, but stopped dead
in her tracks. She saw an evil version of herself, splattered with Ranma's blood. The evil
Akane slowly started walking towards her and grinned, revealing blood stained teeth and
fangs. She reached towards the fear-paralyzed Akane and opened her mouth wide as if to
take a bite. Screaming, Akane sat bolt upright in her bed, sweating heavily.
"Akane are you OK?" Ranma had leapt up from the chair, ignoring the pain, and was
next to her in a flash. "Man, you look terrible! Didja have a nightmare or something?"
Akane looked blankly at Ranma for a second. Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes, and
she grabbed Ranma in a bear hug. Hiding her face in his shoulder, she cried.
"Ah.. Akane? You OK? You're freaking me out Akane..." Ranma awkwardly tried
to comfort Akane. Akane said something unintelligible in-between her sobs.
The door burst open, startling Ranma. He looked behind him and saw that Mr. Tendo
was standing in the door, with Kasumi, Nabiki and Genma behind him.
"What's going on son? What did you make my little girl cry?" Mr. Tendo was
starting to go into Demon head mode.
"Yah! No way Mr. Tendo!! She just woke up and started crying, I have no idea
why." Ranma waved one hand at Mr. Tendo as if to fend him off. Akane blearily lifted
her head from Ranma's shoulder and weakly smiled at her father.
"It's OK daddy," she dashed the tears from her eyes with her fists, and smiled, "I'm
just really glad that Ranma's OK."
"Huh? Uh, you mean that Akane?" Ranma was startled. ::She WAS worried about
me... Now what do I do?:: Ranma froze, not knowing how to respond to this at all.
Akane nodded at him and looked out the window.
"That's my boy! Looking out for your fiancee like that, you make your father proud!"
Genma beamed.
"Well now son, when should we have the ceremony?" Mr. Tendo asked, smiling
hugely.
"Daaad!" Akane looked angrily at her father, "I didn't say I wanted to marry him yet!"
she fumed. Ranma was still in brain lock from Akane's confession, and just looked
stupidly at Mr. Tendo.
"Come on Akane, what else can he actually do for you, you want him to get himself
killed trying to protect you without being able to claim you as his wife?" Nabiki asked.
Akane was stung by her sister's words, and a vision of Ranma being torn apart in her
dream haunted her. Tears started welling up in her eyes again. This brought Ranma out
of lock.
"Hey don't start crying again OK? No one here likes it when you cry, it just doesn't
become you. Smile, it really brightens a room up when you smile." Ranma tried
comforting Akane, "Will you smile for me Akane?" He asked softly, blushing to the
roots of his hair. Akane looked into his eyes and saw only worry and concern for her
there. She wiped her eyes and tried to smile. "There you go Akane! I'm going to leave
the room so you can get dressed OK? I think Kasumi has breakfast ready, right
Kasumi?" He looked over at the eldest Tendo girl.
"Why yes, breakfast is ready. Why don't you all come downstairs now?" She smiled
and turned to leave. At the mention of breakfast, Genma practically dashed away from
the door. Nabiki left as well, grumbling about how it was really too early for anything.
Ranma disentangled himself from Akane gently, and hobbled towards the door.
"Ranma!" Akane called out. He froze, then looked over his shoulder.
"What?"
"Thanks, for being here for this morning.." Akane blushed as she stammered. Ranma
blushed again as well.
"Uh yeah, no problem right? I'll see you at breakfast." He left, and Mr. Tendo
followed him out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Akane looked around her
room and sighed. ::That dream was way too real:: She thought, as she got dressed for the
day. When she got down to the table, she noticed that Ranma was already eating.
Actually inhaling the food may have been a better description.
"The doctor said he needed to eat a lot to regain his strength Akane" Kasumi said as
she filled a bowl with miso for Akane. Akane bit her tongue to keep from saying
anything about it, and just concentrated on her food.
"Any sign of Ryouga, or Feather?" Akane asked after breakfast. Ranma shook his
head.
"Naw, but I'm sure they're OK. I mean, Ryouga is always out and about on his own
right? And he did have his pack with him, so they have food and shelter. But they could
be almost anywhere right now."
"I hope your right Ranma," Akane looked worried, "It's just that, well Feather hasn't
been out for so long, and she's probably just as lost as Ryouga out there."
"They'll be fine" Ranma said. Ranma started to say something else to Akane, but he
was interrupted by Shampoo bursting through a wall and glomping on him causing an
involuntary cry of pain.
"Nihao Ranma! You famous now yes?" Shampoo said as she continued to hug him
tightly.
"Shampoo! Get off my leg!" Ranma practically screamed. Akane was starting to
burn with her battle aura. Shampoo leapt off to one side of Ranma, and sat there.
"Shampoo sorry, now tell Shampoo all about what happen. News man say you no
talk to them for TV." Shampoo ignored Akane's presence entirely, making her even more
furious. Ranma was looking confused.
"How did you know it was me anyways? I took pains to stay off camera."
"Shampoo know when husband do something. They say that man who rescue girl no
want be on TV, or even talk about it, but they catch glimpse of you fighting your way
through crowd to get home." Shampoo smiled widely as she pointed at Genma, "Him
stand out like sore thumb in crowd!"
Ranma groaned and put his hands in his face. "I'm going back to bed." He said as he
struggled to get up. Shampoo looked hurt, but said nothing. Akane calmed down a little
bit and her face visibly softened as Ranma struggled up the stairs.
"Shampoo no like seeing husband hurt, he seem half way here." Shampoo said softly
to Akane.
"I know what you mean." Akane's answer startled Shampoo. She had been
expecting some sort of insult towards Ranma, but Akane's soft-spoken answer seemed to
be heart felt. Shampoo opened her mouth to say something, but it died on her lips as
Ukyou walked in from the hallway.
"Akane! I heard the news, where's Ran-chan?" Ukyou sat down next to Akane.
Akane pointed upstairs, not willing to talk at the moment. "Oh, he's asleep? Tell me
what happened Akane! I know you were there with him, were either of you hurt? I only
heard a little bit about it on the radio...Akane what's wrong?" Ukyou was concerned,
because it seemed her words were upsetting Akane pretty badly, and she seemed to be
close to tears. Akane's mouth moved, but no words made it past her closed throat.
Ukyou leaned closer, indicating that she didn't hear. Akane swallowed hard, and then
tried again.
"He got shot. He took the bullet for me and then ran carrying me and Feather. He
almost bled to death." Ukyou and Shampoo's faces went white while tears were running
freely from Akane's eyes. "When we stumbled into Ryouga's house, he collapsed from
the blood loss, and he just lay there bleeding, a big, red, pool... of his blood, he wasn't
moving, I...." at this point Akane had broken down, and was crying too hard to keep
talking. Ukyou did her best to try and comfort her friend.
::I may be competing for Ran-chan with her, but she needs a friend right now, not a
rival.:: Ukyou thought as she hugged the crying girl. Shampoo sat there nervously. She
wasn't exactly friends with Akane, but they weren't deadly enemies either. She simply
watched as Ukyou gently coaxed Akane back up to her room, where she could cry in
private. Shampoo just smiled.
::This is good chance for Shampoo to nurse Ranma back to health!:: She thought to
herself. She practically leapt up the stairs, and was inside Ranma's room in a flash, but
there was no Ranma.
"Aiyaah! Where Ranma?" She asked no-one in particular. Shampoo nearly jumped
out of her skin when Kasumi spoke from behind her.
"Ranma said he was heading out for a little fresh air and quiet." Kasumi smiled that
disarming smile of hers. ::Aiyaah!! How she move so quiet?:: Shampoo thought.
Kasumi smiled as Shampoo ran out of the house and leapt over the wall to go looking
for Ranma. She turned and finished walking down the hall to Akane's room. Inside, she
handed a tray of snacks to Ukyou who, with Ranma's help, continued to try and coax
Akane into calming down. Kasumi smiled and spoke.
"Shampoo just left, she's looking for a ghost right now." Ukyou and Ranma turned
and looked at Kasumi in alarm.
"What ghost?" They asked in unison.
"Why that ghost of Ranma who went out on a walk of course!" Kasumi smiled, while
Ukyou and Ranma burst out laughing. When a third laugh joined them, they stopped and
turned to Akane. She was dashing the last of her tears from her eyes, and was laughing
merrily at the little joke Kasumi had played on Shampoo. "Glad to see your feeling better
Akane!" Kasumi said cheerfully as she left the room.
"One of these days I'm going to have to learn how she knows exactly how to say just
the right thing at the right time." Ranma said, while Akane and Ukyou nodded in silent
agreement. Then they all turned and talked about what had happened, but it was mostly
Ranma talking. Later that night, Ukyou bid them goodnight, and went back to her
restaurant.
Early the next morning, Ryouga was waking up at his campsite. He teased the fire
back to life, and started to warm up some travel rations for breakfast. ::I guess I'd better
wake up Feather, she's been asleep since that night, and she really needs to eat.:: He
suited thought to action, and opened up the tent. Inside, he saw that Feather was still
sleeping soundly, and now that the makeup was wiped off her face from two days of
travel tied to his back, he could see the bruises that she had spoken of. He reached
towards her and shook her shoulder a bit.
"Hey, wake up, I've got some food cooking outside." He got no response. Ryouga
raised his voice a little, and shook a little harder, "Come on wake up already!" Feather
stirred a little, and opened one eye.
"Hmmmm...?"
"It's time to get up Feather, I uh, have some food ready outside." Ryouga rubbed the
back of his head self consciously.
"Mmmm, OK." She closed her eye for a second, then both eyes opened wide and she
looked at Ryouga. "I'm not dreaming right? I'm free, right?" She lunged out of the
sleeping bag and grabbed the front of Ryouga's shirt. "Tell me I'm not dreaming!
Please!" Ryouga shrank back a little from the almost teary face thrust into his.
"Uh, yeah that's right! Ranma and I beat the crap out of that guy for you, and your
free now. I uh..." Ryouga was looking into her eyes. ::I didn't know someone's eyes
could get that big, or that green!:: he thought, "Anyways, I made some breakfast OK?"
"Oh, OK. Um, do you have any spare clothes I could borrow? These are really
dirty." She gestured towards the blood stained dress.
"Oh, yeah sure! Just a sec." Ryouga ducked out of the tent and started rummaging
through his pack. Feather had started struggling out of the dress when he reentered.
"Here's my spare.. uuurrk!!!" Ryouga fell backwards with a nosebleed at the sight of
Feather's bra covered chest. He recovered and turned quickly, "Hhhhere!!" He held out a
set of clothes towards Feather while he had his back turned to her, his other hand busy
pinching his nose in an effort to stop the flow of blood. Feather giggled at how shy he
was. ::Now that's something you don't see anymore. A young man who doesn't gawk or
grope...:: She took the offered clothing.
"Thanks, I'll get changed now and I'll be right out." Feather gently pushed Ryouga
out of the tent. The clothes fit her loosely, fortunately there were drawstrings and a belt,
along with two cords. Feather shrugged and set about tying the cords around her calves
like she had seen what Ryouga did with them. She then joined Ryouga at the fire.
"They fit pretty well, thanks Ryouga," she smiled at him, "But do you have a spare
bandanna or two? I can't find anything to tie my hair back with..." She gaped a little as
he casually ripped two bandanna's off his head and handed them to her.
"Will those do?" He blushed a little as he asked her.
"How many bandannas are you wearing anyway?" She stammered as she tied her
hair into a pony tail and tied one of the bandanna's around her forehead to keep her bangs
out of her eyes. Except for her really long hair, she could have been confused for Ryouga
after falling into the Nyannichuan.
"Oh, I always have all that I need," Ryouga tried intensely to just finish cooking the
food. ::You're in love with Akane remember? You don't need to go and fall for some
other girl right now, you still have a chance idiot!:: He thought to himself. He scooped
some of the food from the pot into a travel mug and handed it to Feather. "It's not the
greatest, but it will keep you fed." He served himself while Feather sniffed delicately at
the food.
"What's in it?" She asked.
"Dried vegetables, along with some strips of salted meat that I boiled to make a soup.
Sorry, but I don't have any rice with me." Ryouga explained between bites of his food.
Feather sniffed the food again, and then ate a little.
"This isn't that bad at all Ryouga. I was expecting a less gamy taste from the meat
though, what kind of meat is it anyways?" She asked as she continued to eat the
surprisingly tasty food.
"Rabbit." was his only response. Feather spat out what was in her mouth.
"Eww... Rabbit?!? You cooked a rabbit?"
"It's not that bad, beats the heck out of pork. It's leaner for one thing," ::and the other
reason you'll never hear from me willingly anyways!:: "Besides, I can't afford dried beef,
and fish doesn't keep as long." Feather looked appraisingly at the mug again, and sighed.
"Sorry Ryouga, I guess I've been in the city too long, and never even considered
rabbit as food before." She continued to eat.
"When you've traveled as much as I have, you learn a bit about unconventional
foods." Ryouga shrugged, and turned back to his soup.
As soon they had finished eating they began to break camp. Rather, Ryouga was
breaking camp, as Feather had no clue as to what to do to help. While Ryouga was
working, Feather looked around, and could barely see Tokyo off in the distance. ::Odd,
you'd think he would've headed straight back to where Akane and Ranma live. Or did
those reporters chase us all the way out here?::
"Feather! It's time to go." Ryouga called out, looking about for her. He spotted her
nearby, standing on the top of a hill. He shouldered his pack and walked up to her. "Is
something wrong?" He asked.
"Isn't that Tokyo over there?" She asked, pointing towards the distant city.
"Uh, I think so... We should go and find out."
"You mean you don't know?!?" Feather exclaimed.
"Hey I was running around in the dark the night you passed out, trying to get away
from those reporters!" He practically shouted back. "It's been a whole day since then,
and I've been trying to find my way back!" Feather cringed away from him, as if she was
expecting a blow. Ryouga noticed, and immediately softened his tone. "I mean, look,
um... Hey I'm not going to hit you! Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you OK?" Ryouga
started to fidget a little.
"Oh, never mind, let's just head back there OK?" Without another word, they started
to trudge off towards the city. Occasionally, Ryouga would start to stray off course, and
Feather would grab his arm, worried that he was distracted by something and was going
to leave her alone out there. After the tenth time this happened, Feather decided it was
time to ask him something.
"Ryouga, do you hate me or something?" her sudden question stopped Ryouga in his
tracks.
"No of course not!! What makes you say something like that?" He asked, wondering
why she seemed so intent about it.
"It's just that, every now and then, you start to wander off, as if you wanted to leave
me out here or something." Feather looked down at the ground, grateful that her hair hid
her blushing face. She thought she was starting to like the rough cut young man in front
of her, and wasn't sure about what to do.
"Oh, it's just that, well, I have a hard time getting where I want to go sometimes.."
Ryouga stammered, not quite willing to admit that he had absolutely no sense of
direction.
"You mean... You have a bad sense of direction?"
"Well, yeah, basically." Ryouga looked away for a second, a wistful look on his face.
"I'll bet you get lonely wandering around Japan don't you?" Feather felt sorry for the
lost boy. She understood now why he had grabbed his pack before they had left his
house.
"Well, yeah, I do get lonely. After I get lonely, I get depressed. Fate was cruel to
curse me with this sense of direction. I can't even attend school regularly like this." He
looked at Feather again. "You must understand how it feels, not having control of where
you are going don't you?" His eyes were intensely pleading for understanding.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." She leaned forward on her toes and kissed Ryouga
on the cheek. He froze in shock, a small trickle of blood running down from his nose.
"Right now we need to get back, everyone must be worried about us by now."
They walked together in silence for a long time. Clouds were starting to gather, and it
looked like it was going to rain. Ryouga noticed the change in the weather with
apprehension. He looked desperately about for shelter, and realized that they were at the
edge of a forest, but there were no buildings in sight.
"Looks like we better pitch camp a little early Feather, I think it's going to rain in a
bit. I don't want to... er, you to catch a cold." Feather looked at Ryouga, and wondered
why he was sweating all of a sudden.
"OK, maybe you could teach me a bit about camping while we're at it. I mean, I have
no idea how to do any of it, and I want to be able to help." Ryouga nodded absently as he
explained, and demonstrated how to pitch a tent. He was just in time, the first droplets of
rain were staring to fall, and he rushed inside the tent.
Feather followed and fastened the tent flap closed. They sat in silence and listened to
the rain beat down on the canvas tent. It's dull rhythm quickly lulled Feather to sleep. ::I
think I better slow down a little, she just isn't used to this...:: Ryouga thought as he looked
at Feather's exhausted form.
After the rain had stopped they peeked out of the tent, and then broke camp and
trudged into the woods. Feather was too busy trying to keep them on track to notice
anything, but Ryouga seemed to sense someone, or several people trying to follow them.
He kept his eyes roving the underbrush, and his senses were on overdrive trying to locate
their pursuers. Before he could figure out exactly where they were, four fairly burly men
jumped out of the bushes around them. Feather gave a startled cry and jumped back to
hold onto Ryouga's arm.
"Let go!" He whispered to her urgently. Feather swallowed hard, but let go of his
arm.
"All right boy, give us the girl and ya won't be hurt," one man sneered as he
approached the young travelers. "All we want is the girl, and we'll let you run home, in
one piece. If you don't see it that way, well..." He flipped out a switchblade, and the
others followed suit by pulling out knives of various sizes. Ryouga sized them up and
judged their approximate skill. He was not impressed at all. He dropped his pack and
pulled his umbrella from it's place atop it.
"Sorry fellahs," He grinned wolfishly, "But I can't let you do that." He said simply
before whipping his umbrella around to connect with the head of the sneering man. The
blow sent the man reeling sideways into a tree, where he lay crumpled. Ryouga spun and
threw his umbrella like a spear at the next closest man and it smashed him in the chest,
knocking him off his feet. The third man sprang towards Ryouga, trying to stab him, but
his wrist was caught in a vise like grip. Startled, the bandit looked at Ryouga's hand as
he started to squeeze. The sound of snapping bone crackled through the air, a split
second before the man screamed in agony. Ryouga dropped him and turned towards the
last one. With a determined expression, the last man dropped into a basic karate stance.
Ryouga adopted a similar stance and waited. The bandit attacked with what looked like
an impressive flurry of kicks and punches, however, after Ryouga dodged a few and
blocked a couple of them he decided it was time to end it. Ryouga smashed through the
bandit's defenses with a single, open palm strike to his chest, followed by several quick
kicks to his head, followed by a fierce one into his gut. As the man leaned forward from
the blow, Ryouga grabbed him around the neck and threw him into a tree. He collapsed
and did not stir again. A few of the men were getting back up at this point, so Ryouga
turned to them.
"I'm a little irritated right now, who wants to help me work it off?" Ryouga bared his
fangs as he picked up a nearby rock and broke it to gravel in one hand. The bandits didn't
even bother grabbing their fallen comrades, they just ran. Feather was still standing next
to Ryouga's pack. She was amazed at how easily Ryouga beat up those men. Once they
were back on their way, Feather turned to Ryouga.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" She asked.
"Oh, I picked a lot of it up on the road, and from fighting with Ranma all the time."
Ryouga shrugged. "I've been training for a long time now, and I'm still nowhere near
reaching mastery. Someday though, I may become a master of martial arts, but my style
is fairly unique, as it draws the most brutal moves from more than twenty styles, and uses
some unusual weapons," he gestured at his umbrella, "So, I think I'm starting a new
school of martial arts right now. But I know my skill is not great enough for me to claim
a mastery. Besides, until I can beat Ranma, I have no right to start my own school."
Feather looked at him, and saw that he was holding his left fist clenched and raised.
"That's cool Ryouga, but can I ask you a favor?" Ryouga looked over his shoulder at
Feather, "Could you teach me?"
Ryouga stopped in his tracks. Feather walked around to stand in front of him.
"Well?" She asked eagerly, "I want to be able to defend myself from now on! Please,
will you teach me?" She put on her cutest face, hoping that it would make him cave in to
her request. Ryouga looked down at her face, and saw her lower lip start to quiver a
little. He melted like a snowball in a blast furnace.
"Ah, heh OK sure." Ryouga stammered out nervously. Feather squealed with delight
and glomped onto Ryouga, causing him to almost pass out. "Ah uhm.. First things first
though, a little strength training.." Ryouga suggested, and to his relief, she disentangled
herself from him.
"OK, what do I do first?" Ryouga pulled his umbrella out from it's retaining straps,
and held it out to Feather.
"Carry this for a while." He said simply. Feather strode forward and tried to take the
umbrella. When she thought she had it, Ryouga let go, and the weight of the umbrella
dropped her onto her backside.
"Hey that's no fair! You could've warned me that it's made of lead!" Feather yelled
at Ryouga as she struggled to get up. Ryouga watched as she slowly stood up, umbrella
wrapped tightly in her arms. Ryouga repositioned the umbrella so that it was cradled in
the crook of her arms. He stepped away from her while she strained to keep her arms
from collapsing from the deceptive weight of the umbrella. "OK, now what?" she puffed
out.
"Now we walk." Ryouga said, as he turned to walk into the forest.
"Not that way Ryouga! Tokyo is this way! Honestly, he can beat up people with the
greatest of ease, but can't find his way home." She muttered to herself as she once again
took the lead. After a short time, Feather's arms went numb and she dropped the
umbrella. Ryouga turned at the noise and smiled at her.
"Now we do push ups." Ryouga dropped and did about thirty push ups while still
wearing his pack. "Do as many as you can without going to your knees Feather." After
only a few pushups, she collapsed into the dirt. "Now do as many as you can from your
knees." Ryouga prodded a bit to get her moving again. This time she did a few more
before collapsing. "OK Feather, now we are going to do sit-ups..." For most of the day,
Ryouga had Feather doing calisthenics, and other exercise to start training her in martial
arts. He then showed her some of the basic moves.
By the time night fell, Feather was completely exhausted. They had only done some
basic moves and stances, but Ryouga was encouraging her like she was trying to master a
difficult technique. When Ryouga called it quits for the night, Feather collapsed against a
tree, and watched as he tirelessly set up the camp. ::How does he just keep on going like
that?:: she thought, ::He fights a battle, carries all this insanely heavy stuff, and matches
me exercise for exercise, and still moves easily at the end of the day::
"Just how strong are you Ryouga?" Feather asked as Ryouga casually picked up a
rather large rock to make room for the tent.
"Um, I'm not sure." He dropped the rock, and rubbed the back of his head, "But I did
tear a telephone pole out of the ground once." Feather was shocked into silence at that,
and Ryouga continued to set up camp.
They stayed at that spot for several days. While foraging for food, Feather came
across a stream and offered to clean their clothes. Ryouga hid in the tent while Feather
strode around the woods nymph-like, to attend to cleaning the clothes, and herself. She
did pop her wings out of her back, and used them as a kind of cloak. It didn't do much
for keeping her warm, but it did do a lot for her modesty. Once the clothes were dry
again, Ryouga continued to train Feather in martial arts. She was clumsy and slow at
first, but as she gained confidence, her form improved. Even if she was still no match for
most martial artists, she could probably hold her own against an unskilled opponent. By
the end of the week, their food supply was running low, and Feather said she desperately
needed a good long, hot bath. They closed up the camp, and started to run for what they
thought was Tokyo. Little did they know, they were approaching Osaka...
Three weeks had passed, and there was still no sign of Ryouga or Feather at the
Tendo dojo. Akane and Ranma were sparring in the dojo itself. Ranma's leg had healed
quickly, and he had had Dr. Tofu remove the stitches a few days ago, and now it seemed
that his leg was fully healed. Ranma was jumping around the inside of the dojo like some
kind of insane grasshopper, while Akane was trying her best to keep up, and maybe get a
hit in, but he was just too fast.
After a little while, they stopped. Sitting on the steps to the dojo, they heard the
sound of impending doom. Bicycle bells. Suddenly very nervous, Ranma was looking
around, but he saw nothing. Then they heard the bell again. Ranma jumped forward
suddenly and rolled across the lawn. In the place he had just vacated, Shampoo had
landed with her bike.
"Nihao Ranma!" She jumped off her bike, and ran towards Ranma, "Ranma, you take
Shampoo on date, yes? Leg all better now, so show Shampoo good time yes?" She
fluttered her eyelashes at him.
"Aw come on Shampoo, you know I'm not interested," Ranma said while backing up,
holding up his hands, trying his best to ward her off, and hoping that Akane wouldn't
blow her top.
"Wo ai ni!" Shampoo said as she glomped tightly onto Ranma.
"Come on Shampoo, get offa me!" Ranma saw Akane approaching angrily, "No wait
Akane! It's not what it looks like, she just keeps grabbing onto me! I swear I didn't do
nothing!" He tries desperately to pull away from Shampoo, to no avail. He sweats
nervously as he watches Akane slowly summon her mallet from hammer-space, and heft
it with a wicked looking scowl.
"Will you stop doing that!!" She screams as she flattens Ranma with her mallet.
And, almost as an afterthought, she tried to flatten Shampoo as well, but the amazon had
jumped clear.
"What you do that for? Shampoo only want to be with husband! Him all better now,
so Shampoo want have date with him! Violent girl have problem hmmmm?" Shampoo
closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Akane. When she opened her eyes she
realized she had made a mistake. All she could see was the heavy end of the hammer
coming towards her too hard and too fast to avoid. "Aiyaaa!!!!" Shampoo screamed as
Akane's swing sent Shampoo flying into the distance. "Hmmph, serves you right!"
Akane said to Shampoo's quickly disappearing form.
Catlike, Shampoo twisted in midair, and landed on her feet. ::How Akane get good
all of sudden?:: Shampoo wondered to herself as she started walking towards the
Nekohanten. She was so lost in her thoughts, she turned a corner and ran into someone.
"Oh! Shampoo so sorry, didn't see you... Ryouga?!?" Shampoo's eyes had practically
bugged out of her head when she thought she had run into a female version of Ryouga.
"When you fall in Nyannichuan? Shampoo thought you fall in spring of drown black
piglet?"
"Ah, I'm sorry, I think there's been a mistake, you see I'm not Ryouga." Feather
giggled at the look on Shampoo's face. "I'm his student, Feather" She bowed politely to
Shampoo, who was still too stunned to react. "As for the clothes, well I didn't have
anything presentable, so he loaned these to me."
"But you have Ryouga pack, and umbrella. Where Ryouga at?"
Feather held up a little black pig that had a resigned look on his face. "Right here, an
old woman splashed him on our way, and I haven't gotten him any hot water yet."
Feather giggled as she hugged P-chan to her chest, causing a slight nosebleed. Feather
had found out about Ryouga's curse along their "Training journey" and found it quite
amusing. Plus P-chan was just too cute!
"Aiyaah, you girl Ranma rescue while back?" Feather nodded, "You no look like you
have wings.." Shampoo crossed her arms skeptically, "You sure wings not prop bad man
glue on back? Shampoo no fool." Feather giggled as she put down Ryouga's pack.
"Here, I'll show you..." Feather arched her back for effect, and was satisfied by the
shocked expression on Shampoo's face when her deep purple wings shot out of her back.
Fortunately, she was wearing Ryouga's sleeveless muscle shirt, and it's neck was large
enough to become basically backless. Of course, Feather had carefully used the belt to
secure it that way.
"Aiyah! That neat trick, where you learn to do that?" Shampoo asked, amazed.
Feather blushed and looked away.
"I'd rather not talk about it, OK?" She said in a low tone. "It's not something I like to
think about." Trying to change the subject, Feather looked back at Shampoo, "Anyway,
could you tell me how to get to the Tendo dojo from here? I'm still a little lost from
running around with Ryouga for so long." Her stomach chose this moment to complain
about being empty. Feather looked embarrassed while Shampoo giggled.
"Why not you come to Nekohanten with Shampoo? Feed you good food in exchange
for talk about what happen to you recently!" Shampoo said smiling, "Maybe tell
Shampoo whole story yes?"
"Well, maybe. No pork OK?" Feather said while P-chan nodded vigorously. This
made Shampoo giggle.
"No pork, Shampoo promise!" She said as she turned to lead Feather to the
Nekohanten. "Shampoo also think it good idea to drop pig in bath. Keep great-
grandmother from trying to cook him again." Shampoo giggled at the memory. Feather
giggled as well. It did not take them long to reach the Nekohanten. When Shampoo
opened the door, they noticed that it was empty, save a shriveled old woman that
appeared to be sitting on the counter.
"Great-grandmother, I home!" Shampoo called out. "Shampoo also bring girl that
Husband rescue, and Ryouga. They hungry, so Shampoo invite them for dinner!"
Cologne looked over at Feather appraisingly. Feather flushed a little at the scrutiny the
old woman gave her, so she tried to cover it up by bowing.
"It's an honor to meet you, ancient one." Feather said as she bowed. Cologne
chuckled a little.
"Seems she knows her manners, oh but where's mine? Come in and have a seat."
She gestured with her ever present staff towards a chair near the counter.
"Um, could I get some hot water for Ryouga? He feels a-lot better being human
during meals"
"Certainly child. Shampoo!" She commanded, "Go fetch the kettle, and a towel."
"Yes great-grandmother" Shampoo scurried off to obey the order.
"Now young lady, what's your name?" Cologne puffed at her pipe briefly, "And
please, tell me your story." Feather started to recount her tale to Cologne. During the
story, Shampoo returned with a kettle for Ryouga. After he had changed back, he
scrambled into his clothes as quickly as possible. When Feather was about halfway done,
Shampoo returned from the kitchen with some Dim-sum and rice. Feather stopped
talking to wolf down the food.
"Ah, that was delicious!" Feather exclaimed after clearing her plate. Ryouga only
nodded his agreement, as he was still eating. Feather finished telling her story to
Cologne over some tea.
"So, Ryouga took it upon himself to train you," Feather nodded, her eyes shining,
"How good have you gotten so far?" Cologne looked at Feather appraisingly. Feather
blushed at the scrutiny, but she still answered.
"I've gotten a lot better since we started. Ryouga doesn't chide me for messing up my
kata anymore, and I'm a lot more flexible. Not to mention stronger."
"In other words, you feel your still a rank beginner."
"That's rather blunt, but yes. I'm nowhere near as good as Ryouga right now," She
perked up a little, "But I'm a fast learner!"
"Care to have me appraise your skill? I'd like to see just how well a once-time
student of mine can train someone." Without waiting for an answer, Cologne hopped out
the back on her staff. Feather followed, with Ryouga and Shampoo close behind.
Feather absently wondered exactly how good such an old woman could be as she made
her way to the backyard.
Feather and Cologne faced off in the yard, and Feather decided she would need to
stretch a little before the match. After a few stretches, Feather faced Cologne and bowed.
Cologne merely raised an eyebrow. This irritated Feather a little, as she dropped into an
offensive stance. Feather tried to sweep the staff out from under the old woman, and was
surprised when her opponent was no longer there. Cologne landed on the back of
Feather's head, and hopped away.
"Why you!" Feather turned quickly to face her opponent, the back of her head
smarting from the blow. Feather tried to fake a low kick, in order to lure her opponent
into a punch, but Cologne merely sweeped her feet out from under her. Feather rolled
backwards and stood quickly, looking for a follow up blow.
"Don't overbalance like that," Cologne admonished, "You left yourself wide open."
Feather rushed the old woman, and tried to hit her with a rapid series of punches.
Cologne's staff became a blur, and every single blow was blocked. Cologne popped up
right in the face of her opponent and tapped her forehead with her staff. Feather flew
backwards, and looked as if she would smash into the wall. However, she snapped her
wings out and used them to brake, and flip over to land on her feet. Just as quick as she
had brought them out, she had dismissed them. Cologne raised an eyebrow at this.
"Interesting, you could use those to a possible advantage, but would rather fight on
what you think are even terms." Feather merely nodded, as she was starting to breath
heavily. Cologne launched herself at Feather, and attacked rapidly with her staff.
Feather tried desperately to dodge all the blows, but was not doing that well. Cologne
slammed Feather to the ground with her staff. With a quick roll, Feather was behind the
old woman, and she attempted a desperate attack. Cologne didn't even turn around, but
she blocked or dodged all of the attacks. Feather took a few steps back, and collapsed to
her knees in defeat.
"Well now, you didn't to that badly," Cologne said, hopping over to the exhausted
girl. Ryouga had also stood and moved next to Feather.
"Didn't do that bad?!?" Feather practically shouted, "I didn't even come close to
hitting you, and you say not bad?"
"Considering you've been training for less than a month, and having never trained
before in your life, I must say that you have gained a fair amount of skill in such a short
time!" Her tone was sharp, and Feather looked up from the ground. "You have potential,
but you are way too slow! Your little trick with your wings proved that you are capable
of thinking quickly, now you need to apply that to your body as well." Feather nodded
slowly, the blood still roaring in her ears from the first blow. Cologne turned to Ryouga,
"Not bad Ryouga, not bad at all. Have her come back here in another month or so, and
I'll see how well she is making progress," Ryouga gaped at Cologne for a second, as if he
couldn't believe she had complimented him on his teaching. "You may want to have her
train under Ranma for a bit of work on her speed. Her basic forms are spot on, but they
don't seem to be coming naturally to her. Don't be afraid to push her to her limits!"
Ryouga nodded, "Now, why don't we go in and freshen up. I'm afraid you don't smell
that ladylike right now Feather." Feather blushed fiercely as she stood and went inside.
About an hour or so later, Ryouga and Feather strode away from the Nekohanten.
After they had walked a few blocks, Feather spoke, "So, you actually trained under her
for a while?"
Ryouga nodded, "It was rigorous training for a technique known as Bauksai-tenketsu,
or the breaking point. It was a difficult technique to learn, and even after going through
that training, Ranma still beat me."
"You really have a grudge against Ranma huh? You two seemed to get along fine
that night..." Feather looked thoughtful as they continued walking.
"Ranma has been the source of limitless suffering to me, first he ran out on his duel to
China, then he knocked me into Jusenkyo, and even that wasn't enough for him! Now he
stands between me and Akane!" Ryouga clenched his teeth. "But even after all that, I'm
beginning to think that I fight with Ranma because he's the only other one around that is
around my level of ability" Ryouga looked towards the sky, "You know, when we were
in junior high, he used to lead me back and forth from school. That was the only time in
my life I felt even close to being like other normal guys" Ryouga closed his eyes to
better see his memories. "But the solitude after he left was too much to bear, and not
only that, but we didn't have our fight."
"What about your parents? Weren't they around for you?" Feather asked with some
concern in her voice. Ryouga sadly shook his head.
"They get lost just as easily as I do. I was lucky to see them once or twice a month.
I haven't seen my father in over a year now, and just about the same for mom." Ryouga
opened his eyes and looked forward with determination. "That hasn't hurt as much since
I met Akane. Before I met her, I was sure that no girl would ever look my way. They
used to always laugh at me because I got lost, but Akane has never laughed at me for
that..."
"Man, the way you keep going on and on about Akane you'd think you had a crush on
her" Feather laughed at this, but was silenced by the desperate look on Ryouga's face.
"Aww Ryouga, don't take it so hard" She stopped Ryouga. They were standing on a
grassy hillside, overlooking Furinkan High. A gentle breeze blew, causing Feather's red
locks to swirl around her. "There is at least one other girl out there that thinks you're a
great guy" she said as she looked him in the eye.
"Huh? Who? I don't know anyone else who thinks like that about me." Ryouga
asked, startled, and starting to get nervous.
Feather leaned forward and hugged Ryouga, "You big dummy, I'm talking about me"
She hugged him tightly and kissed him on the lips, and at the same time, pinched his nose
so he wouldn't bleed all over her. Ryouga didn't get a nosebleed, but he did promptly
faint. "Dummy" Feather whispered again as she sat down next to his crumpled form to
watch the sunset.