A Feather in the Wind
Chapter 9
Ryouga-chan sat unmoving in the rain as the others gathered around her in
concern.
"C'mon man, you're freaking me out," Ranma-chan said, as Ryouga-chan did not
seem to react to them. Akane shivered a little.
"Let's get her inside for now, Ranma," Akane said. Ranma-chan shrugged and
tried to drag Ryouga-chan into the dojo, but she stood on her own and walked stiffly into
the dojo. She absently picked up her ruck and turned back towards the door. Her
movements seemed to be slow and careful as she pulled her ruck on and cinched the
straps.
"Where are you going Ryouga?" Akane sounded worried, but Ryouga-chan
ignored her as she pulled out her umbrella and slowly opened it.
"Ryouga? Hey! Are you listening to us?" Ranma-chan waved her hand in front of
Ryouga-chan's face. She showed absolutely no reaction as she walked outside. Once she
was a few steps from the door, she leapt over the fence.
"Damn it Ryouga! Come back here!" Ranma-chan yelled as she leapt over the
fence after her. Akane and Feather also gave chase.
Ryouga-chan ran at a dizzying pace, turning in random directions at corners, and
sometimes just smashing through the walls. Eventually, Akane and Feather fell behind,
and shortly they lost sight of the 'boys'.
"I didn't think Ryouga could run so fast!" Akane gasped out. Feather shook her head.
"I didn't think so either. He never ran that fast when I was with him. Now what do
we do?"
"Head back to the dojo I guess," Akane said as she looked down the street that
Ryouga-chan had sprinted down. "There isn't much point in running after them now."
Feather nodded. As they walked, they noticed they were in a less prosperous part of town.
"I don't like this Akane," Feather murmured quietly.
"Don't worry, we're getting close to Ucchan's now, so we'll be able to get out of
the rain. We only have about ten more blocks to go." Akane straightened her shoulders as
she started to walk. Feather jogged a few steps to catch up.
"Ten blocks? How far did we run anyway?"
"I'd say we're about three kilometers away from the dojo."
"I thought we ran further than that."
"It was all those turns we took," they lapsed into silence as they continued to
walk. Feather kept glancing about nervously, half expecting someone to try and jump
them. Akane was not worried and she walked with a confident air. The few other people
out in the rain seemed more interested in getting where they were going than two young
women in gi.
Ryouga-chan was running blindly. She didn't care if she got lost and stayed lost.
Whenever she reached a barrier, she either turned, or destroyed it. Fortunately for the rest
of the town, she usually turned. Her tears melded with the rain, disguising the fact that
she had even cried at all. Ranma-chan was doing her best to keep up, but the rubble from
the walls that Ryouga-chan destroyed kept slowing her down, and it was not much longer
before she lost sight of her.
"Damn it!" Ranma-chan swore as she looked around and noticed that the girls
were nowhere in sight. She started to walk back the way she came, and then stopped and
looked back over her shoulder.
"Good luck Ryouga, I hope you find what you need," she said softly before
walking off in the general direction of the dojo.
Akane and Feather were shivering by the time they reached the Ucchan's. When they slid
open the door, they saw that Ukyou still had quite a few customers. Ukyou still noticed
them, however, and called out to them.
"Hi there you two! Have a seat, and I'll be right there!" The girls made their way
over to an empty table and sat down. After a few minutes, Ukyou came over to where
they were seated.
"What can I do for you today?" Ukyou smiled at them.
"We really could use a place to dry off Ukyou, we're really soaked to the bone,"
Akane said.
"Sure thing hon, my place is upstairs, why don't you two take a bath and warm up
ok?" Ukyou showed them to the stairs before she turned back to dealing with her
customers.
Akane started to draw the bath while Feather wrung out their wet clothes. Akane
spared a quick glance over at Feather, and easily noticed the scar. ::I'll have to ask her
about that sometime,:: she thought. After a quick rinse off, they sank into the furo with a
grateful sigh.
"I hope Ryouga's ok," Feather said as they let the hot water soak warmth back into
them. Akane smiled reassuringly.
"I'm sure Ranma will bring him back. I thought I saw him gaining before we
pooped out." They soaked in silence for a few minutes.
"Hey Akane, what do you think about Ranma?" Feather asked suddenly. Akane
started a bit at the redhead's question.
"What makes you ask that?"
"Well, you two are supposed to be engaged, and I've seen you two get along really
well sometimes." Feather paused to twirl a lock of her hair. "Then you two are arguing
again. I guess I'm just trying to figure you two out."
"How do I feel about Ranma? He's such an insensitive jerk, and he's always
insulting me. But then, sometimes, he can be so sweet, and no matter what he says he'll
always at least try my cooking," Akane paused when she saw the huge smile on Feather's
face, "What?"
"Oh, nothing," Feather continued to smile.
"Since we're talking about sensitive subjects, what's with that scar on your back?
Ranma won't tell me what Ukyou said to him," Feather's smile faded, "I just want to be
able to help." Akane said gently as Feather sighed.
"I, I don't want to talk about it. Ask Ukyou if you have to, but please don't make
me think about it." Feather looked away as she spoke. Akane leaned back as they lapsed
into silence.
After a good long soak, the girls climbed out of the furo and donned some
bathrobes that had been laid out for them.
"Our gi are still wet Akane," Feather called out as she felt the damp cloth between
her fingers.
"I guess we'll just have to stay up here for a while. I'm sure Ukyou would get mad
if we walked into her restaurant wearing her bathrobes!" The girls giggled for a couple of
minutes as they imagined what the customers' reactions would have been.
As the last breakfast customer left the Ucchan's, Ranma-chan trudged through the door.
Ukyou smiled warmly as she bounced over to her fiancee.
"Hiya Ranchan! What can I do for you today?" Ukyou sounded as cheerful as
ever. Ranma-chan wiped some water off of her face.
"Hi Ucchan, I could really use a towel. I got soaked chasin' after Ryouga." Ukyou
looked a little startled as she ducked behind the counter to fetch a towel.
"What's wrong with Ryouga?" Ranma-chan shrugged as Ukyou passed her the
towel.
"He kinda freaked out. I guess he wasn't prepared for how much of a shock it is to
change like that."
"I thought he was dealing with turning into a wolf fairly well," Ukyou sounded
confused, "So why did he flip out today?" Ranma-chan snapped her fingers.
"That's right, you haven't heard yet. We kinda had to run to Ryugenzowa to get a
cure for an infection Mousse got. Well, while we were there we found out that Ryouga
doesn't turn into any old wolf."
"No?"
"Yeah, he turns into a werewolf. That isn't what fazed him though, what got to
him was the fact that he turns into as female werewolf." Ukyou looked shocked.
"He does?" Her face turned comical shortly before she burst out laughing, "And
he always gave you such a hard time about your curse!" Ranma-chan scratched the back
of her head.
"Yeah, well..."
"Wait a sec," Ukyou stopped laughing and a thoughtful look grew on her face,
"How does the whole werewolf thing work? Is he a wolf until a full moon, and then he
goes nuts?"
"Naw. Near as we can tell, when it's a full moon he turns into a wolf, the rest of
the time he's a girl; except for something that turns him into that weird looking mix
between them."
"So that's why he freaked today. The last night of the full moon was a day or two
ago, and today was the first time he turned into a girl!"
"You got it! The jerk was moving like a zombie; you know all slow and
deliberate. He went and got his pack, and then took off! Went and leapt over the wall and
then ran like crazy. I lost track of 'm just a little while ago." Ranma-chan started to
vigorously dry her hair as Ukyou proceeded to clean her counter.
"Oh yeah, Feather and Akane are upstairs. They came by here a while back
soaked to the bone and worn out. I told them to take a bath and warm up." Ranma-chan
grunted her acknowledgement.
It was nearly evening before Ryouga-chan stopped running. She looked around with a
confused expression on her face.
"Now where am I? How did I get here?" She mumbled to herself as she looked at
the rural town she was in. It looked vaguely familiar. ::Why do I think I should know this
place?:: She mused as she started to look around for someone to ask directions from, but
with it still raining there were not very many people out and about, and they disappeared
indoors before Ryouga-chan could catch up with them. Another glance at the hauntingly
familiar buildings only elicited a shrug from her. ::I guess if you've seen one rural town,
you've seen them all, right?::
She decided to look for somewhere to dry off, maybe get some hot water to be
normal again. It didn't seem like any of the buildings she was near were more than simple
homes, so she walked along the dirt road hoping to find an inn or restaurant just to get out
of the rain.
After wandering aimlessly in the town for an hour, she finally found a general
store.
"Good enough," she shrugged as she stepped inside. The interior of the store was
small and had a down home feeling to it. The shelves were little more than shipping
crates nailed together, and all of the price signs were neatly hand written and tacked in
odd places. The shelves contained all of the little things you might need to run a
household or a farm. There was even a plow sitting in the corner.
"Hello?" Ryouga-chan asked tenatively as she looked around for the proprietor.
"Just a second!" a rusty voice called from somewhere in the back of the store.
Ryouga-chan stood patiently until an old man peeked around a doorframe.
"Hi there sweetie, what can I do fer ya?" he asked while giving a toothy grin.
"I was wondering if you could tell me where I can find a place to sleep?" The old
man rubbed at his chin.
"Well, tha tavern's got a few rooms. I was about ta head over there and git me a
drink, I could show ya tha way iffen you can wait a sec. You don't mind waiting, do ya
sweetie?" Ryouga-chan smiled in relief.
"I can wait." The old man chuckled as he walked back to the counter and finished
making a few entries into a large ledger.
"It'll be a sec. Gotta get finished up with tha books before I go," He peered at her,
"Be a dear and turn tha sign around?" Ryouga-chan nodded and turned the cardboard sign
around in the window. When she turned around, she found herself face to face with the
old man. She yelped and fell over backwards. The old man chuckled again as he offered a
hand to help her up.
"Sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to startle ya, don't ya worry none I'm harmless."
Ryouga-chan struggled to her feet.
"That's all right, I just thought it would take you longer to finish up. Lead the
way." She opened her umbrella and held it over the man as he locked the door. As they
walked down the road, the old man prattled on about little day to day things.
The tavern was a two story wooden building with a column of smoke coming
from the chimney, indicating that there was a cheery fire inside. The storekeeper held
open the door for Ryouga-chan, who was a little flustered at the attention the old man
was giving her.
Inside, it seemed more like an oversized living room than a tavern. There was a
bar on the far wall, and around the fireplace there were several couches with small tables
in front of them. The tables had various game boards on them, everything from checkers
to go. A few of the games were occupied by men of various ages cheerfully talking and
smoking as they played.
In one corner, a child no older than twelve was playing a cheerful tune on a piano.
Scattered around the rest of the room were small tables. Upon the walls were old
paintings with ornate wooden frames right next to old tools and lengths of rope. The
peculiar odor of hickory and tobacco smoke lingered in the air.
"This is a tavern?" Ryouga-chan asked unbelievingly. The old man laughed at her
comment.
"Were ya expectin' to see one of those seedy bars you find in tha city?"
"Well, not really. I just haven't ever seen a place quite like this." She scratched the
back of her head nervously. The old man cackled again, and gently pushed her inside. A
rather stout man behind the bar waved at them.
"Hey there Ryuichiro, who's the cutie with you?" The man spoke loudly, and was
grinning wickedly at Ryouga-chan. Ryuichiro claimed a stool, and sat on it with apparent
relief.
"She says she's lookin' fer a place ta spend tha night, and I think she means alone
Kwang," He cackled as he gave Kwang a broad wink. Ryouga-chan looked flustered at
their exchange, and the barkeep noticed this.
"Now now, don't get yourself worked up. We're just two old friends digging at
each other over something that happened a long time ago." He waved at a chalkboard
behind him, "All of my prices are right there, and if you don't have enough cash I'm sure I
can find an odd job or two for you to work for your room."
"Thanks," Ryouga-chan said as she dug her wallet out. She pulled out several bills
and handed them to Kwang, "Is that enough for dinner and the room?" He grinned
broadly at her.
"More than enough sweetie! Why don't you take a seat, and I'll get ye some food."
Ryouga-chan nodded and walked to the nearest table. She dropped her ruck before
sinking into the chair with a sigh. She didn't realize how tired she was until she had sat
down. It didn't take very long for her to drift into a deep sleep.
The barkeep chuckled to himself as he watched her fall asleep in the chair. He
gestured to the old man.
"Come on, let's let her rest while we play a game of shoji."
"Hah, you ain't gonna win this one!" Ryuichiro cackled as he rose and followed
his friend over to the couches.
At the opposite side of the room, a burly man sat glaring around the room and drinking
straight from a bottle of whiskey. The waitresses avoided even looking in his direction,
and the unfortunate ones that he waved down or called over could not escape without a
pat on the butt from him. He had the kind of huge muscles people get when all they do all
day long is carry heavy sacks around or digging ditches. Unfortunately for him, his face
was twisted and scarred from an accident involving some wild dogs. Now no girl would
even spare him a second glance. This had soured him greatly towards women. To top off
his sorrows, he had just lost his job for making improper advances towards his employer's
daughter.
He growled to himself as he took another pull from the bottle, hoping to drown
his sorrows in the strong drink. He looked around the room again, hoping for a miracle,
but all he saw was the same old crowd. Then he spied Ryouga-chan snoozing peacefully
away, oblivious to the world. He took a quick pull from the bottle to gather his courage
before he approached her. When he reached her table, he noticed how her soaked shirt
clung to her skin. His drunken mind slowly pondered the situation. Here was a girl that
was a stranger in town, probably drunk, and would not be missed by a companion. He
looked about the room and saw that no one was paying attention to him.
With a drunken smile, he picked up her ruck and slung it over his shoulder before
he gathered her into his arms. Ryouga-chan only shifted slightly in her sleep. The man
swaggered towards the stairs and managed to get upstairs and out of sight before anyone
spotted him. He moved into one of the guestrooms and barred the door before setting
Ryouga-chan onto the bed. He stood there looking at her for a minute, drinking in the
sight of her. He then moved into a position over her, slipped a hand into her shirt and
began to kiss her deeply...
Ryouga-chan's pleasant dream of a sunny day and a picnic with her friends turned
suddenly into a nightmare. Her friends disappeared, and the blanket they were sitting on
morphed into a gigantic python. Without warning, it was wrapping itself around her,
moving in and out of her clothes. Her skin crawled as the cold scales slid smoothly across
her skin. She struggled against the coils, but they only tightened around her. The snakes
massive head moved to look her in the eye, it's tongue darting in and out of her mouth.
Disgusted, she tried to turn her head, but the snake merely move a coil to hold her head in
place. With a sudden move, the snake lunged to take her head into its mouth...
Ryouga-chan's eyes opened to a different type of nightmare. What she had dreamt
was a snakes coils was actually the man moving his hands over her body, and the man
was kissing her. Her eyes burned with an inner rage as she head butted the man. His head
snapped back, but he remained conscious. He slapped her hard enough to stun her
momentarily.
"Learn your place woman!" he snapped. Ryouga-chan kicked him solidly in the
chest, but he didn't move. He laughed at her efforts.
"Horses have kicked me in the chest for years! You ain't gonna hurt me that way!"
he chuckled as he moved to restrain her again. She struggled against him, but lacked the
proper leverage to do more than slow him down. Panic rose quickly, and was replaced
just as fast by rage.
An inarticulate growl sounded from Ryouga-chan's throat as fur quickly grew
across her body. Her once slender arms suddenly grew to massive proportions, and her
face elongated into a muzzle. The fangs that once served to make her look cute grew in
length. Her delicate looking hands became vicious looking claws. To top off the
transformation, two furry ears popped out of her head above her bandanna.
The man gaped at Ryouga-lupine until she backhanded him. To his surprise, he
flew to one side and crashed into the wall. He struggled to his feet as Ryouga-lupine
gathered herself into a crouch, her bushy tail swishing back and forth in agitation.
"What the hell are you?" The man asked a split second before Ryouga-lupine
pounced him with a feral cry.
All the patrons in the tavern stopped cold when they heard a tremendous crash
from upstairs. The old storekeeper glanced over to where they had left Ryouga-chan. He
cursed when he saw that the table was empty and a quick glance around the room verified
that the blond girl was not in the crowd. Screams of pain from upstairs galvanized the
people into motion. They rushed up the stairs and gathered around the door that the farm
hand had gone through.
As they approached the door, it exploded into a thousand splintered pieces as the
farm hand crashed through it and lay there screaming. His body was covered with small
scratches and several large bruises. As they were gaping at him, they heard something
smash through the window. The barkeep ran into the room to survey the damage.
The mattress had a huge rent in it, exposing the springs. The rest of the furniture
had been smashed. The glass window was broken and it had one shutter hanging limply
by a single hinge. As the barkeep approached the window, the hinge gave way and the
shutter clattered to the ground below. He peered out a window and barely caught a
glimpse of a red bamboo umbrella with what looked like a bushy gray tail peeking out
from under it before it disappeared around the corner.
Several of the waitresses were trying to help the farm hand, but he had curled into
a fetal position and was gibbering in fear. They rolled him over to see if there were any
more cuts on him, and what they saw made them scream in terror. There were three
bloody gashes going from his forehead to his chin, his eye had been reduced to a bloody
mass and his ear looked like it was halfway cut off.
"My lord..." one of the men there breathed.
Ryouga-lupine was sprinting through the forest, not daring to look back. The air
was cold, but her fur kept her warm, even though the rain had soaked her despite the
umbrella. ::Gotta get away before they see me!:: Ryouga- lupine thought. Eventually, she
stumbled and fell. She rolled into a crouching position and looked around, eyes and ears
straining for any signs of pursuit or danger. Sensing nothing, Ryouga-lupine relaxed and
took in her surroundings.
She was in a small clearing with several large rocks scattered about. A quick
glance confirmed that she had tripped over a fire pit with rocks around it in a rough
circle.
"Son of a... I'm back at the place where I started to train Feather." Heartened a
little by this discovery, she broke out her tent and quickly set it up. Just as Ryouga-
lupine finished tying the last line, the rain ceased. She glared up into the night sky and
shook a clawed fist.
"Figures you'd wait till I was done getting shelter!!" She shouted before she
pulled a towel from inside the ruck, dried off and retired for the night, burying herself in
the sleeping bag.
Ryouga-lupine woke sometime the next morning, thanks to someone poking at
her with a pitchfork. She reacted instantly by snapping the end of the pitchfork off and
kicking her unwanted visitor in the stomach. The person that had poked at Ryouga-lupine
gasped in shock and surprise as they fell out of the tent. Ryouga-lupine burst from the
tent only to see an unconscious young woman, still grasping the broken haft of the
pitchfork.
"Just great," Ryouga-lupine sighed to herself as she started to build a small fire.
Once the fire was started, she pulled her sleeping bag out of the tent and draped it over
her unconscious visitor. As she did so, she noticed that the girl's black hair was
interrupted at the temples by a pink stripe on either side. She turned and started to heat
some water over the fire.
::I think I'm going to need this fast..:: Ryouga- lupine glanced back at the girl,
ready to bolt if she woke before the water was warm enough. After what seemed like an
eternity the water was hot enough and she dumped the water over herself quickly.
"That's more like it!" Ryouga exclaimed as he tapped his shoulder a few times
with his fist.
A crashing noise in the bushes caused him to stop congratulating himself and drop
into a ready stance. He strained his ears for any other noises, and was rewarded by
another crash behind him. Ryouga spun on his heel and came nose to snout with the
biggest pig he'd ever seen! He instinctively leapt back a short distance and gaped at the
pig. The pig squealed angrily and charged Ryouga.
"Gyaah!" Ryouga dodged the pig's attack and grabbed his umbrella. The pig
trampled his tent as it turned to attack him again. Ryouga snarled at it and kicked it in the
head followed by a crushing blow from his umbrella. The pig snorted at him and started
to charge.
"Leave off you hard headed beast!" Ryouga yelled as he headbutted the pig. The
pig's eyes glazed over and collapsed. Ryouga snorted as he grabbed his ruck and left,
forgetting about the girl under his sleeping bag.
Akari Unryuu woke with a splitting headache. She groaned as she sat up,
clutching at the sleeping bag that she was under. ::Sleeping bag?:: She thought as she
blinked her eyes into focus. What she saw stunned her.
The clearing had bits and pieces of the tent she was investigating all over and her
prize pig, Katsunishiki, was plopped onto one side.
"Katsunishiki!" She cried out as she scrambled over to the fallen pig, "Are you
alright?" she asked the pig gently as she lifted its huge head onto her lap. She glanced
about and noticed that there was no sign of whomever was in the tent. She sighed.
"All I wanted was to find out if they wanted to have breakfast at the farm, and if it
was a boy maybe have him fight Katsunishiki..." She looked at the sleeping bag, "I guess
they felt bad about hitting me, and put their sleeping bag over me because they were
worried I'd catch cold; but Katsunishiki must've scared them off." She stood with a
determined expression on her face.
"I'll find you! I'll never forget your kindness of heart nor your strength!" She
declared to the sky. Somewhere in the distance, Ryouga sneezed.
A few days later, classes were just about to start at Furinkan High when Ranma,
Akane and Feather dashed into the classroom.
"Hurry up and sit down!" Ukyou hissed at them, "Someone said that Miss Hinako
is in a bad mood this morning." Ranma snickered.
"I wonder why?" Ukyou shot a startled look at her fiancee.
"What happened Ran-chan?"
"Oh, nothing..." Ranma trailed off when Miss Hinako walked into the room. The
diminutive teacher was covered from head to toe in mud. She tried to smile for the class
while the class tried to hold back their laughter.
"Good morning class! I just want to remind all of you to stay away from the mud
puddles! They're deeper than they look..." The class couldn't take it anymore when they
realized that she knew that from personal experience and they burst into laughter. Miss
Hinako frowned at the class, causing an instant silence.
"Ok, that's better. This mornings class will be a self study period, so study hard
boys and girls!" Miss Hinako waved as she left the room. The students waited a minute
before to be sure she was gone before letting out a cheer. The teens quickly formed
groups and started talking or playing cards, very little studying was actually done.
Several of the girls in the class, including Akane, Feather and Ukyou, were giggling as
they read a tabloid. Ukyou frowned as she read one.
"Hey, check this one out... 'Man mauled by werewolf girl-friend, lost his eye in
battle' hmm..." Under the headline was a picture of an obviously fake werewolf, and a
man with one side of his face covered in bloody bandages. Ukyou shot a glance at Akane
and Feather before she continued, "It says here that this guy was ending a fun date with
his girlfriend when they noticed that a full moon was rising. He said she started to growl
low in her throat at him and started to grow fur. Less than a second later, she was a
combination of a wolf and a woman and doing her best to bite him. He claims to have
fended her off with a silver belt buckle," Ukyou snorted, "Can you girls believe this
stuff?"
"Ooh, it sounds scary!" Kameko faked a trembly voice before she started to giggle
uncontrollably. While the girls were still giggling over that, Ranma walked over with a
newspaper.
"Hey, check this out," Ranma plopped the paper over the tabloid, "Check out what
happened to this dude from a village near Osaka." Ranma pointed to a small article, "It
says here that this guy apparently tried to force himself on a girl that was passing through
town but she was like a kunnoichi or something. Says here that she slashed him in the
face with some metal claws. Check out the police drawing of her." Ranma pointed to a
rough sketch of a girl. Despite the vagueness of the sketch, it was easily recognizable to
Akane and Feather.
"Oh my word!" Feather exclaimed as she snatched the paper out of his hands. She
frantically read the whole article. Kameko looked over Feather's shoulder and let out her
own gasp of surprise.
"Check this out! Look at this picture of the guy in the paper, and this one here in
our tabloid," she moved the pictures side by side, and they saw it was the same photo.
Ranma ran a quick eye over the tabloid story. Feather sat mutely in her chair, seemingly
staring at the wall.
Akane watched Feather with growing worry. She thought that the red headed girl
might get a little rash. Her fears were realized when Feather stood suddenly, startling the
others, and snatched the page that had the police sketch of Ryouga-chan.
"Ranma, tell the teacher I had to go," Feather said as she sprinted for the window.
Ranma made a grab for her, but the desks slowed him enough to allow Feather to jump
out the window and into the branches of the tree.
"Feather! Where are you going?" Akane yelled as Ranma leapt out the window
after his sister. There was no response other than the tree branches shaking violently as
Ranma tried desperately to prevent Feather from running off. Autumn leaves exploded
violently as Ranma and Feather leapt straight into the air. Feather snapped her wings out
causing her to slow down just enough for Ranma to grab onto her foot. Feather flapped
her wings rapidly to make up for his weight.
"Damn it Feather, think about this for a minute! This is Ryouga we're talking
about here, he could be anywhere by now!" Ranma shouted as Feather gained altitude
and started to fly in the general direction of Osaka.
"Yes, he could be anywhere, or he could be hurt badly. We don't know exactly
how much that guy was able to do before Ryouga was able to change." Feather reached
down for Ranma's hand. Ranma gave her a blank look. "Come on dummy, as long as
you're with me, you can help. But you can't do that if you accidentally let go of my leg!"
Ranma grimaced at her a little before his face fell into a resigned expression.
"Fine, how do you want to do this? I uh, I'm not sure how I should hold on..." She
yanked him till they were almost face to face.
"Just wrap your arms around my shoulders. I'll loop my arms under yours."
"Can't we just walk?" He asked a little plaintively as he looked down. Feather
shook her head.
"We can move a lot faster this way. Look around Ranma." Ranma looked down
and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He looked around rapidly.
"I don't see a sign of Tokyo! Nothing but woods, this is incredible!" Ranma
exclaimed. Feather laughed at Ranma's excitement.
"Did you think they were just for show?" She had a faint frown, "I found out fast I
could fly last time I went looking for Ryouga."
"Pretty useful at that," Ranma said quietly as he looked at the rapidly moving
countryside. "Head for Osaka first. Sometimes it takes him a week just to get out of
town."
"Right!" she flapped her wings harder in excitement. Ranma shook his head a
little.
"Save your strength, we'll need it to get back to the dojo tonight," Ranma
cautioned.
"We're not going back until we find him!"
"Without any supplies and such a pitiful amount of money between us that we can
barely afford one meal, maybe two? Come on, let's be realistic here, we need supplies
and we have nothing to get them with." Feather slowed to hover in the air.
"I uh... I guess I wasn't thinking..." Feather said sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it. Let's head back to the dojo, ok? Ryouga'll be just fine."
Ranma said reassuringly. Feather slowly circled around to make their way back to the
dojo. She did not fly as rapidly though.
Ryouga cursed that huge pig for the umpteenth time as he wove together branches
to make a lean-to. Time and time again a branch would snap out of the weave to hit
Ryouga in the face, and each time that happened Ryouga would walk a few steps away
from his task to keep himself from destroying it. With a growl of determination, Ryouga
tied the branch that kept snapping out into the weave with a small bit of red string.
"That'll hold you down!" He grinned triumphantly at the stubborn branch. He
continued on his task, and absently kept watch on the errant branch. The branch would
wiggle and shift within the constraints of the string. Then, with an audible snap, the
branch broke from the strain. Ryouga snorted at the branch and then he paused. He
looked over at the red string that was slowly unraveling itself from the branches. The
string was held up partially by the wind, and almost seemed to be weeping. Apparently
making a decision, he untangled the string from the weave, removed the broken bit of
branch and wrapped the red string around the top of the piece of wood securely. He
rummaged through his ruck until he found a ball of twine, and he took about an arm
length from the ball. He then tied the twine to the red string and held his impromptu
amulet before his eyes.
"This branch is what my life is like, always fighting the inevitable it seems,"
Ryouga ran his callused thumb over the rough piece of wood, "Will I be broken too, like
this wood?" he muttered under his breath before he slipped the twine over his head and
then continued on his work. He used the twine to carefully tie leaves together and lashed
them onto his weave of branches. A short time later, he huddled underneath the lean-to
wrapped tightly in his travel cloak.
"How could I have forgotten that I put my sleeping bag over that girl?" His teeth
chattered as he mumbled to himself. He grunted as he pulled the cloak tighter around
himself and tried to get to sleep. He had barely closed his eyes when he heard a crashing
noise. Ryouga sat up sharply, his eyes and ears straining for any other sign of
disturbance. Less than a minute later he heard another crashing noise from a short
distance away. Ryouga tensed, ready for anything... Or he thought he was ready for
anything.
A tremendously huge pig burst out of the bushes in front of him. Ryouga yelled in
surprise and dove for his umbrella. He snatched it and stood protectively in front of his
lean-to.
"Oh no you don't you oversized porker!" He growled, "You ain't wrecking this
one!" The pig snorted at him, and he heard a feminine giggle. He shifted his gaze and
could now make out a young woman riding the back of the pig.
"I'm sorry about your tent, sir," she said as she slid off the back off the pig, "And I
wanted to return this to you." She took a step forward, and the moonlight played across
her face. Ryouga's eyes widened in recognition.
"You! You're the one that poked me with a pitchfork a couple of days ago, right
before that pig trampled my tent!" Ryouga snarled at the pig. Akari took a step back,
sensing the hostility in the air. Katsunishiki snorted at him and charged. Ryouga danced
out of the pig's way and grabbed its curly tail.
"You ain't wrecking this one swine!" Ryouga yelled as he pulled. The pig grunted
and turned to face the lost boy. The gargantuan pig reared back to trample his opponent.
It let out a startled squeal when Ryouga leaped between its legs to grapple with it
directly. Ryouga grunted with the exertion of lifting the pig over his head before he
slammed it to the ground. The ground trembled slightly from the impact, causing Akari to
lose her balance.
"That'll teach you pig." Ryouga growled at it before he turned back towards his
lean-to. Akari rushed up to him.
"That was amazing! Here," she handed him his sleeping bag and a small note,
"Come Katsunishiki, let's go," The pig did not move, "Katsunishiki?" she asked softly as
she gingerly walked over to the giant pig. Ryouga dropped his sleeping bag under the
lean-to and walked over to where Akari was kneeling next to the pig.
"What's wrong?" he asked. She faced him with a forlorn look.
"I think Katsunishiki might be hurt..." Ryouga almost said something derogatory
about the pig, but stopped himself before he totally put his foot in his mouth and bit down
hard. Instead he carefully looked the pig over and noted it's shallow breathing. Akari
jumped into action as well, and began to examine the pig.
"I think he just got the wind knocked out of him," Ryouga said finally, "I can't
find anything obvious." Akari peeked over the other side of the pig.
"I think you're right. I guess he's never been hit that hard before." Ryouga looked
up at her.
"What was that all about anyway? It seems like every time I see this pig, it tries to
kill me. What is it, an attack pig?" Akari giggled at him.
"He's a sumo pig," Ryouga gave her a blank stare, "They're fighting pigs. The
biggest and the best have come from my family's farm for generations. I'm Akari
Unryuu." She held a hand out to Ryouga.
"Ryouga Hibiki," he gently shook her hand, "Uhm, look. I'm sorry I beat up your
ride home. Why don't you rest here tonight, and I'll take you home tomorrow ok?" Akari
looked startled.
"Oh. I guess that would be ok," Akari looked a little flustered.
"I'll keep watch for a while." Ryouga walked over to a rock and sat upon it. Akari
smiled at him and settled into the sleeping bag for the night.
Early the next morning, Akari was rudely awakened by Ryouga. He was roughly
shaking her shoulder and yelling.
"We have to go! Now!" He yelled. She could hear Katsunishiki squealing in
panic, and could smell smoke.
"What, what's going on?" She asked blearily. Ryouga quickly picked her up and
started to run, the pig right behind him.
"Looks like a forest fire started last night," He nodded his head towards a red
glow in the early dawn sky, "It's too early for sunrise, and I smell smoke." Akari grabbed
around his neck in fright.
"What can we do? If there is a fire, it'll overtake us before we get clear of the
woods!"
"I'll figure something out!" Ryouga said as he leapt over a gully, "I have no
intention of dying here!" Akari looked behind them and saw that smoke was obscuring
the sky behind them. The early morning chill was slowly giving way to the heat from the
fire.
He ran headlong through the woods, holding Akari with one arm and fiercely
smacking branches out of his way with the other. They could hear the crackle of the fire
now. Akari watched as her prize pig thundered up behind them.
"Katsunishiki! Find water! Water!" She screamed. The pig grunted and charged
ahead of Ryouga. "Follow Katsunishiki Ryouga! He'll find us a river or a lake to take
refuge in from the fire!" Ryouga nodded and changed course to follow the pig. Flights of
birds took off as they passed, startled by their passing.
Akari glanced behind them and swallowed hard.
"Uhm, Ryouga?"
"What?"
"Can you run any faster? That fire is catching up with us..." Ryouga spared a
glance. Ryouga muttered a curse and started to run faster.
Katsunishiki crashed through a thicket almost ten meters in front of them and
disappeared from sight with a startled squeal. Ryouga gritted his teeth and ran as fast as
he could while he pulled his umbrella off of the top of his pack.
"Hang on tight!" he said as he ran through the thicket, ignoring the branches that
clung at him or whipped his face. Akari buried her face in his shoulder and clung to him
with all her strength. Suddenly they burst out of the thicket and were two paces away
from a cliff. With a resounding yell, he leapt off of the cliff...
Fire fighters tramped through the charred remains of the forest later that morning.
They were looking for any signs of campers that might have been in the area. Several of
them were talking as they searched.
"Good thing we had that rain not that long ago, this coulda been worse."
"No kidding. It made it to the cliff before we were able to contain it." They
walked a little further in silence when they came across a partially melted kettle. One of
them looked around a little and saw the remains of a small fire pit.
"Damn. Looks like there were campers here."
"This ain't the area where it started is it?" The other shook his head.
"Naw, it started almost a kilometer from here." They rummaged through the
ashes, looking for anything else. One of them stopped digging through the ashes and held
up a partially burnt sleeping bag. He turned it slightly and read aloud the tag that was on
it.
"'Property of Ryouga Hibiki. If found, please return to the Tendo Dojo.' Crap,
looks like this guy left in a hurry." A younger firefighter spoke up then. "Maybe he made
it to safety..." A veteran shook his head. "The only way he could've escaped was to run
like a madman to the cliff and jump off. Unless this guy was a cliff diver or had a
parachute, I don't think he made it." They hung their heads a little before the veteran
fireman spoke up again.
"Ok guys, you know the drill." He held out a fistful of straws, "Shortest one
informs the next of kin..."
Ranma, Akane and Feather were on their way home from school when they
noticed a firefighter, still in soot stained clothes, gathering the courage to knock on the
gate. He was holding a black plastic bag and had a dejected look on his face. Akane
approached the man.
"Can I help you sir?" She asked evenly. The firefighter turned towards her.
"Is this the Tendo Dojo?" Akane nodded, "I, uh, I'm here to... Damn I hate this..."
Akane gave him a curious look.
"Hate what?" She asked. He didn't answer directly, instead he opened the plastic
bag and pulled out a burnt sleeping bag and handed it to Akane.
"Did you hear about the forest fire this morning?" Akane nodded, "We found that
in the ashes. I'm sorry." He bowed to her. Ranma and Feather stood on either side of
Akane as she turned the sleeping bag over in her hands and saw the label. The reaction
was instantaneous. Akane sank to her knees and began to cry while Feather pushed her
way past them and dashed into the dojo.
"Aww man," Ranma said as he crouched next to Akane, "Come on, let's get you
inside..." Once Akane was on her way into the dojo. Ranma turned to face the firefighter.
"Any sign of, you know... Uhm, did you find any real proof that he died?"
"Well, the only way he could have escaped was to sprint through the woods and
jump off a cliff and survive landing in the lake below. We hadn't found anything when I
came out here, and they were making their way around the cliff to see if he did make it
there and jumped. Right now, he's been declared missing. We'll continue searching until
we find something." Ranma nodded.
"Let us know if you find anything alright?" The fireman nodded as he turned to
leave. Ranma sighed and walked into the dojo to try and calm down the girls.
Akane was sitting in the living room, crying onto Kasumi's shoulder. Kasumi
looked up as he entered with an expression that seemed to scream 'What's going on here?'
Ranma sat down next to Akane before he spoke.
"Some fireman was just here sayin' they think Ryouga might've died in a forest
fire. They haven't found a body, and he's been declared missing."
"Oh my, maybe you should go help look for him, Ranma," Kasumi said softly.
Ranma looked a little aghast at her words.
"What? Why? The firemen are already looking, how would that help?"
"They don't know Ryouga as well as you do. They don't know about his...
problem." Ranma's eyes opened wide.
"Your right Kasumi, and he wouldn't tell them even if they did find'em. I'll go tell
Feather and pack to go." Akane dashed her tears with the back of her fist.
"You mean he might be alive?" Ranma nodded.
"I'll find him one way or another," he said as he dashed upstairs. Once up there,
he tapped gently on Feather's door. When there was no answer, he opened it quickly and
dashed into the room. Feather was laying on her bed staring at the ceiling. He could see
the tracks of her tears as he approached the bed.
"What do you want Ranma?" she asked in a dead voice. He sat on the bed next to
her.
"You ran off before the fireman could finish explaining," he said gently, "There's
a chance that Ryouga is still alive, and I'm going to go look for him." Feather sat up
quickly.
"I'm going with you!" she declared, but Ranma shook his head.
"No, I need you to stay here. Trust me on this, ok sis?" She looked like she was
about to argue with him, but Ranma held up a hand. "This ain't going to be easy, and I
really need you to be here for Akane." Feather nodded mutely at his words before she
embraced him fiercely.
"Be careful Ranma." Ranma stood and left the room quietly. Feather laid back
down on the bed, a faint spark of hope was all that kept her from crying again. She
uttered a silent prayer that Ryouga would be just fine.
A pair of mud covered figures lay close to the shore of the lake. Katsunishiki
nudged one of them with his snout a few times before a giggle erupted.
"I'm ok Katsunishiki!" Akari laughed as she hugged the great pig around its neck.
She then looked over to where Ryouga still lay in the soft mud.
"Ryouga? Are you all right?" She crawled over to kneel next to him. She tried to
pull the ruck off, but lacked the strength. She gestured to the pig, and it grabbed the ruck
in its teeth and pulled while Akari freed Ryouga's arms from the pack. She turned
Ryouga over and embraced him fiercely.
"I thought I was going to die back there! Thank you so much!" She said
gratefully. She paused, however, when she noticed something didn't feel quite right. She
separated from Ryouga and held her shoulders.
"Who...Who are you?" she asked the mud-covered girl in front of her.
"I'm Ryouga Hibiki, sorry 'bout this..." she rubbed the back of her head in
embarrassment. Akari's jaw dropped and she leaned to take a closer look. Ryouga-chan
wiped some of the mud off of her face and managed a weak smile.
"Ryouga? What happened to you? Can you change back? Are you really a girl?"
Ryouga-chan held up a hand to ward off the questions.
"Whoa! Why don't we get cleaned up, and I'll tell you then ok?" Akari nodded
mutely and they waded back into the lake.
Quite a while later, they had a fire going, and were trying to dry out Ryouga-
chan's spare clothes. She told Akari her story as she worked on building another lean-to.
Akari was huddled against Katsunishiki next to the fire.
"That's quite a story Ryouga," Akari said when Ryouga- chan finished talking.
The blond girl nodded and bent to her task. Akari glanced up when she heard a helicopter
go overhead, but thought nothing of it. Once Ryouga-chan was done with the lean-to, she
rummaged through her pack and found her tin mug.
"What's that for?" Akari asked.
"I can't find my kettle, and I want to change back," she replied as she placed the
cup next to the fire and poured water from a canteen into it. As soon as the water was
warm enough, she dumped it over herself and sighed with relief.
"That's so neat Ryouga!" Ryouga looked embarrassed at her excitement.
"Yeah, well it ain't that much fun for me..." He let his words trail off when he
heard something. Akari noticed and looked around. A few seconds later they heard some
people yelling and more crashing through the bushes. Ryouga grabbed his umbrella and
tensed. A minute later a group of firemen burst upon their camp. While two of them
rushed over to where Akari and Ryouga were, the last one spoke into a walkie-talkie.
"We think we found them."
Ranma was just preparing to leave the dojo when the phone rang. Kasumi broke
away from the farewells to answer it.
"Hello Tendo Dojo, may I help you?" She asked sweetly. She nodded a few times
as she spoke over the phone. Less than a minute later, she had hung up the phone and
walked out to where Ranma and the others were.
"You can put your things away Ranma," He looked at her with a blank
expression.
"What do you mean Kasumi?"
"That was from the fire department. They found Ryouga and a friend of his, and
they are bringing them here. Isn't that sweet of them?" Ranma fell over backwards at the
news. Feather suddenly wore a bright smile.
"They found him? How long until they bring him home? Is he alright?" Kasumi
laughed as the flood of questions washed over her when the rest of the family found their
voices.
"He's fine, and they are going to bring them here once they get done making sure
they are ok." Nabiki got a thoughtful look on her face.
"You keep saying 'they' Kasumi. Who's with Ryouga?"
"I'm not sure. A friend of Ryouga's I think." Ranma threw his hands up in the air.
"Who cares! The important thing is that he's ok, right?" Akane nodded.
"Right!"
They settled into the living room to wait. Time seemed to pass slowly as they
stared at each other in silence. After a short time, Soun and Genma started to play shoji.
Soon, everyone was watching the game with feigned interest.
"You should move that piece there Uncle Saotome," Nabiki pointed to a piece.
Genma nodded gravely and moved the piece. Soun glared at Nabiki.
"What do you have against your father Nabiki?"
"Oh nothing..." Nabiki smiled at her father.
"I'm going to start fixing dinner," Kasumi announced as she stood. Soun nodded
absently as he considered his next move. With a grand flourish, he took the piece that
Nabiki had advised Genma to move.
"There! That will teach you!" he crowed with delight over his victory. Nabiki
shook her head.
"You might as well concede Daddy, he'll win in ten turns."
"Have faith in your father, Nabiki," Soun said seriously. Nabiki hid a small smile
behind her hand as she watched the two men cheat against each other outrageously.
Akane, Feather and Ranma had taken to watching the television when they heard
a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Feather yelled as she leapt to her feet and ran for the door. Akane and
Ranma were right behind her. Feather yanked the door open and looked outside, before
she fell backwards with a startled shout. Sitting on the doorstep was the biggest pig she
had ever seen. Ranma came around the corner, and when he saw the pig he let out a low
whistle.
"Whoa! Hey P-chan, you've gotten a little fat!" He started to laugh before Akane
hit him on the back of his head.
"That's not P-chan you idiot!" she snarled before she walked up to the door,
"Hello?"
"Akane! Hi there!" Ryouga said cheerfully as he stepped around the pig. Akari
stepped into sight as well.
"Ryouga! Glad to see you're ok." Akane said cheerfully before she turned to yell
into the house, "Ryouga's back!" Akari stepped back nervously as Feather and Ranma
rushed out to greet Ryouga.
"Hey man, glad you ain't dead!" Ranma chuckled.
"Shut up, Ranma!" Ryouga said in a mock serious tone. Feather just stood there
smiling happily, waiting for Ryouga to say something.
"Who is that with you?" Akane said as she noticed Akari. Akari stepped forward
and gave a little bow.
"Hi, my name is Akari Unryuu, and I'm Ryouga's fiancee!"