Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This story based on the anime, not the manga.

Chapter 6: Interlude — The Calm Before…

He walked along in the gentle glow of the afternoon sun, enjoying the calm weather, the uncrowded streets, and the pleasant ache of recent exertion. Ucchan had really given it her all in their sparring session, resulting in a very good workout indeed. 'Kinda made for a nice change after all that time in the harness,' he thought, grimacing at the memory of the frustrating initial Air Style exercise. 'Sometimes seems like the more powerful the lesson you're learning, the less fun the training is. But of course, it also means there's more satisfaction at the end when you've accomplished something that big.'

The sparring he'd recently finished with Ukyo had been fun, but the only thing he'd actually learned from it was that his oldest friend had come up with a killer new recipe for gunpowder and black pepper okonomiyaki. She'd caught him utterly by surprise with the attack and reduced him to coughing, sputtering tears. 'Man, I'm glad she took it as well as she did when I talked to her about Shampoo. If she really had been as ticked as I thought she might be, she could've squashed me flat right then. But all she did was back off and brag a bit.' He'd take hearing Ukyo crow with triumph any day, at least if the alternative was her patented spatula slam.

'Not that Ucchan would hold back like that in a real fight, of course,' he mused. She hadn't come right out and said it, back when he'd first showed up at her place and she'd asked him to train with her, but Ranma was nearly certain that his oldest friend was thinking about getting some payback for the Instant Maoniichuan. He wasn't sure what he thought about that. In all honesty, part of him wanted to just ignore the question and enjoy the calm, peaceful moment free of troubling thoughts.

On the other hand, that part of his psyche had done him precious little long-term good. With a mental grimace, Ranma opted to ignore its advice this time. 'Should I worry about it at all? It ain't like Ucchan and Shampoo haven't had plenty of scuffles before. Nothing ever really comes of it,' he thought. 'Sure, things might've changed a little recently, but that don't seem like such a big deal. Ukyo used Shampoo's curse against her when she never has before, and Shampoo paid her back by doing something she hasn't either. Ucchan told me she won't do that any more, and Shampoo said she'll only use the Instant water as payback for people who splash her first. That pretty much puts things back like they were, right? So is there any reason for me to care if they have another fight down the road?'

When he phrased the question like that, it became a little easier to see what had been nagging at the back of his mind. 'Then again, guess I really shouldn't say it'll be just like it was before. Ucchan always put up a pretty good fight in the past, at least the times I was there to watch.' He considered that thought for a minute, then amended, 'Well, out of the times they didn't lose their tempers, forget about their training and discipline, and get into a straight-out catfight.'

However, unless he was radically mistaken, those days were drawing swiftly to a close. Ukyo hadn't exactly slacked off since coming to Nerima; her skills were better now than they had been then, and in its own way, this might be more impressive than anything Shampoo had done. The chef didn't have anyone to guide her training and also had the fiercest demands on her time out of all his circle of friends and rivals. Taken in that sense, Ukyo might already have achieved more than Shampoo would for years to come.

'And all of that's well and good,' he thought, 'but how much comfort is it gonna be to Ucchan if she tries to go up against Shampoo in another month or so and gets squashed by the Air style?' The playing field wasn't terribly uneven yet; Shampoo definitely had a few new tricks up her sleeve, but at her present level of mastery, use of them drained her reserves very quickly indeed. Heck, if she tried to use them too exclusively in a fight, Ranma would place his money on Ukyo emerging the victor rather than the Amazon.

From what Shampoo and Cologne had said, though, that wouldn't be true for much longer. Another couple of weeks' work would likely see Shampoo able to use the lowest-level techniques with impunity. Ranma didn't know for sure, but he suspected that by that time Cologne would also have taught her at least one newer and stronger move. In another month, she could probably take Ukyo as easily as Ucchan could handle Akane.

'Wonder how Ucchan's gonna take that when it happens,' Ranma mused. 'I know how ticked off Ryoga was when I first mastered the Chestnut Fist and outclassed him so bad.' Mad enough to try to use the Breaking Point against him without knowing it only worked on stone. He didn't think Ukyo would react anywhere near that badly, but the fact remained that she surely wouldn't like it much when Shampoo took uncontestable first place. 'Guess we'll just have to see how she deals with it and whether Shampoo grinds her face into the dirt with it,' he thought. He didn't think the Amazon would go that far, but she might not have to. Even if Shampoo didn't flaunt her new level of mastery at all, he doubted Ukyo would be too happy about never again being able to face her on equal footing.

'Not like there's much I could do about that, though,' he thought uncomfortably. 'Hmm… it'd be funny if somebody randomly turned up who could teach her the Water style, assuming there is such a thing. After all, she spent so much time battling it out against the waves of the ocean. Ucchan with water, me an' Shampoo with air, Ryoga's got earth nailed down pretty good… Heh, guess that leaves fire for Akane.'

After spending a few moments thinking about that, and having his amusement turn to trepidation at the thought of an Akane who could back up her strikes with angry, burning chi, Ranma pushed those thoughts away. He had more immediate things to focus on. The Tendo dojo was just a block away now, and there was an important conversation not to put off any longer. Akane's training session with Genma probably hadn't ended yet, but once it did, he needed to have the same talk with her that he'd had with Ukyo. 'I should be so lucky that it'll go as well this time as it did with her,' he thought. 'Still, Akane oughta be wiped out after training this long. I don't know what Pop's got her doing, but whatever it is, it sure pushes her to her limits. Maybe she'll be tired enough to actually stop and think instead of just losing her temper.' If there was anything he could say, any way to soften the blow of explaining that he'd talked to Shampoo, accepted why she did what she did, and agreed that Ukyo and Akane needed to hold back from their own water attacks, Ranma doubted he would see it in time to do any good.

Nonetheless, he spent the remaining time walking slowly and contemplating, hoping for an inspiration. As he passed through the gate and into the Tendo yard, he found at least a measure of success. 'You know, I bet it would be a good idea to leave out the part Shampoo told me about Akane already trying to use her new curse against her. The whole point here is to get Akane not to do that from now on. Throwing it in her face that she already tried once and failed… that won't accomplish anything except making her feel bad. No, I'll just keep quiet on that detail unless she says something to change my mind.' He couldn't think of what she might say to do that, but the year he'd lived in Nerima had taught him to expect the unexpected from girls.

"Well, well, Ranma. I was beginning to wonder when you'd wing your way back." This was Nabiki, who had just appeared in the doorway as if to greet him. 'It's already been a good forty-five minutes since I tricked Ryoga into charging away into the sunset.'

"You were?" Ranma asked. "I've only been gone about four and a half hours, Nabiki. You've seen me take longer than that when I go out to… fly…." He paled and twitched, realizing suddenly that he'd forgotten something rather important. That had indeed been his cover story for the afternoon — that he was leaving for some flying time. How to explain his return now, in human form and fully clothed, when he'd left home in neither condition? 'Maybe she won't notice? …Who the heck do I think I'm kidding?'

'Good, he's off-balance,' Nabiki thought. This would be a perfect opportunity for her to push a little, completely destroy the feeble remnants of his poise, and drag from him the truth of his whereabouts for the afternoon… except for the fact that she already knew he'd cut his flight short to visit Ukyo. A week ago she'd spread the word among the students who were deepest in debt to her, that if anyone saw Ranma spending time with Shampoo or Ukyo when Nabiki herself didn't know about it, they would receive a five percent reduction on their outstanding balance. She'd gotten a phone call fifty minutes ago from one of her minions, reporting that Ranma was roughhousing with Ukyo in a vacant lot.

Under more pleasant circumstances this would be a great chance to get him to blurt out everything, then purchase her silence. However, as things stood now that would be a mistake. There was more important information to drag out of him while his defenses were down. "That's true," she said. "But never on a day like today, when you already got out on both the previous days for your little romps through the clouds."

"Huh?" he said feebly, more confused than ever. Both days? He quickly ran the events of Friday and Saturday back through his mind. "What're you talking about, Nabiki? Yesterday, sure, but I didn't do that at all on Friday." Just as importantly, he hadn't led the Tendos to believe that was what he was doing and then proceeded to take care of other business.

"You didn't?" she repeated, giving him a stare that made the back of his neck prickle. "I know it wasn't for very long, Ranma, but surely you haven't forgotten already? You ditched Ukyo and my sister on the way home from school, didn't even wait to get home to change and kiss the sky." Her tone sharpening ever so slightly, she continued, "Now that I think about it, though, I do seem to recall Akane saying something about how you weren't flying so much as heading straight to the Cat Café to spend time with Shampoo."

Ranma snorted, forcibly pushing aside his uneasiness. He didn't have anything to be ashamed of, and the only thing he had to hide from that day had nothing to do with why he'd originally gone to the Amazon stronghold. "Well, that's actually pretty close to what did happen, Nabiki. If by 'spend time' you mean 'ask her why she did that to Ucchan, and find out it was 'cause she'd already used Shampoo's new curse against her in a fight'. It ain't like I'm trying to keep that a secret from Akane or nothing, she just didn't ask me."

"And what would you have said if she did?" Nabiki wanted to know.

Ranma blinked. "Um, I just told you that."

"Why don't we see if we can dig a little deeper here," the middle Tendo suggested. "Shampoo used Instant Jusenkyo water on Ukyo, striking out of ambush without any warning at all, because Miss Kuonji grabbed for an advantage during one of their fights. Am I right so far?"

"Um… well…."

"Not only did she do that, she picked the absolute worst curse imaginable," Nabiki continued. "No danger of Ukyo not understanding the lesson our favorite Amazon was trying to teach."

"Nope, that ain't true at all." Ranma took a deep breath, focusing on the conversation as if it were the kind of battle he knew how to fight. 'Think strategy, think sacrificing stuff you don't need, think preemptive strikes.' "From what she said, she thought that's how it was, but Shampoo really didn't get her point across like she meant to."

Nabiki raised one eyebrow. "From what Akane told me, Ukyo was panicking, desperate, just about on the edge of a breakdown. How much farther did Shampoo mean to go than that?"

"She wasn't tryin' to crush her, she just wanted to teach her a lesson!" Ranma snapped back. "Teach her how it feels when someone takes advantage of your Jusenkyo curse like that. And yeah, she screwed up by not explaining it anywhere near good enough, which is why she asked me to talk to Ucchan and tell her that's how it really is!" He hesitated just one moment longer, then made his decision. Surely it was better to confront a potential problem than hope it never turned into a real one. "That's why I cut my flying time short today. Went by Ucchan's to talk to her about that. To tell her why Shampoo did what she did, an' that she won't do it again if Ukyo doesn't try an' hit her in her own weak spot first."

"I'm sure she just loved that," Nabiki murmured, concealing her disquiet at Ranma actually volunteering information he should have wanted to keep hidden. "It must have been a great follow-up to Friday, to have her fiancé come by and take Shampoo's side over hers."

"Look, I ain't taking sides here at all! I'm trying to make sure they both understand what's really happening, and I'm hoping that they can work it out on their own once they do. It's not like Ukyo or Akane could know what it's like to have a curse, not without something like this. It's really about the least painful way they could find out for themselves, if you stop and think about it."

Nabiki's gaze was flat and stony as she replied, "So not only did she resort to that, she fully intends to do it again. Not only did she drop that bomb on Ukyo, she has every intention of including my sister in the fun as well. And you're just going to stand back, shake your head, and say 'Not gonna get involved', Saotome? Your father would be proud."

"Well, I don't think anybody would be proud of me if I just went blindly along with what somebody else told me to do!" he snarled back at her, a little too angry now to be cautious. "Happy, sure. I know there's loads of people who'd cheer themselves hoarse if I just knuckled under to whatever it is they want. Well, that may have happened sometimes, but it damn well isn't again!"

"And yet you say no word of protest when Shampoo proposes to punish the members of her competition by changing them into the stuff of your worst nightmares. Hey, do you think she's already planned out the eight times she's got coming, to balance out the times Akane used her old curse against her? The times she's never said a word of protest for?"

"It was more than eight times," Ranma stated flatly. "And no. I thought I already said that Shampoo asked me to make sure they know this is what's gonna happen from now on, if they go for the cheap win against her."

"And here I thought you took that stuff seriously, those things you martial artists always spout about protecting people from things they can't protect themselves from," Nabiki observed coolly. "Pray tell, how could Ukyo have defended herself from this? What could my little sister do?"

He just stared at her, anger subsiding in the face of lack of understanding. "Are you even listening to me, Nabiki? What kinda sense is that supposed to make? Yeah, Ukyo wasn't exactly able to stop Shampoo on Friday, but it's not like I could've made any kind of difference then. Whaddaya think I'm doing now if not what I can to keep it from happening again? In case you didn't realize it, it wasn't easy to have that talk with Ucchan, and if you think it won't be worse than that with Akane then you're really losing your touch!"

With a great deal of effort Nabiki maintained her control in the face of this. She couldn't decide which was worse — Ranma's attitude, or the fact that he hadn't made even one unthinking response to her attempts to push his hot-buttons. She didn't allow any of her true feelings or thoughts to show as she replied, "Well, Saotome, if you're that concerned about doing a good job of it, perhaps you ought to subcontract out?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, I certainly don't want my little sister getting a close encounter with the Maoniichuan, even if it is the Instant type. And while I'm sure you could tell her what you told me and even convince her," she said this in a tone that indicated she was anything but sure, "it would probably go a lot smoother if you passed the message on to me and let me make the final delivery. How about it? I'll even slash my usual fee down to a paltry two thousand yen."

"W-would you?! …Wait." He stared back at her for what felt like a long time, seeming to debate something. Nabiki could tell that he was trying to decide whether to take her up on her offer, but she couldn't understand why, couldn't see any reason for him to hesitate like that. This didn't do much to help her mood.

In point of fact, Ranma was weighing the need to get Akane to see reason (which he was all but certain Nabiki could accomplish better than he could) against the fact that he'd committed himself to being the one to do it. Would it be right to pass the task off to Nabiki? Or would that be running from a hard thing that needed doing?

"Lemme think about, Nabiki," he eventually said, pushing past the highly dissatisfied Tendo daughter and disappearing into the house.

Nabiki remained where she'd been for several moments longer, seething in silence and secret. 'Damn it, I really don't like the direction things have been taking lately.' She had already committed not to set Akane directly against the Amazons, determined that doing so simply wasn't safe. Now Ranma was breaking away from his old patterns, the ones that had been so helpful for so long? 'Okay, Nabiki, just get some space, let him have his head for a day or a week or whatever. If he's not going to listen to me — or even worse, if he's going to listen close enough not to be hoodwinked by the usual BS — then I'll just have to work through other people. At least for now,' she thought darkly. 'But that's not how it's going to be forever, Ranma. Let's see how confident you are after I get something huge to blow up in your face.'

Ryoga stared forward over the smooth, unbroken, pristine soil of the lot. The terrain showed none of the common signs of his training, no craters from the Breaking Point, no half-submerged objects from the Graveyard Shift. Certainly none of the massive blasted excavations caused by the Chain of Despair combo. "Would you be proud, Akane?" he murmured. "I haven't used the Shi Shi Hokodan at all since we talked. I'm not sure it's helping me feel better, at least, not that part. But knowing you care so much — that does help. I promise, I won't fail you again."

With a deep breath and a frown of concentration, he dropped once more to his knees and braced his palms against the ground. For a long moment, nothing discernable happened. Then, with a grumble and a growl, the earth shuddered, convulsed, and disgorged a large, ragged chunk of concrete. Ryoga stayed where he was for another minute, recovering from the exertion of this twist on the Graveyard Shift. Making the ground swallow that thing whole had been easy enough. Operating the technique in reverse… Well, he didn't think he'd have it ready to unleash in a match any time soon.

Especially not with what he could see of his target even at this distance. Ryoga stood and walked over to the chunk of cement, taking in all the details that hadn't been discernable from far away. The black coating he'd applied to the entire surface of the object was still the predominant color, but there were numerous areas of bright gray showing, some in huge patches, others in scratches or streaks. Each one of those places represented damage done to the concrete from the disgorgement technique, an overall level of damage that would translate to critical injury if this were used against a person. Ryoga snorted and shook his head. "If I wanted that, I'd just use the original like it was designed for." And he certainly wouldn't be using this variant to give himself unlimited passage through the earth anytime soon. His overall toughness might protect him, but he had no intention of popping out of the earth without his pants in the middle of a challenge match.

The Lost Boy let out a sigh. He could see lots of possibilities for this variation, but so far all the good ones required a level of control that remained very far off. It didn't help that this training seemed to exhaust him more quickly than anything he'd done in years. Ryoga wasn't used to limiting his training to less than three hours a day. Heck, he hadn't caved like that during either the Shi Shi Hokodan or the Bakkusai Tenketsu regimens, no matter how much suffering either had entailed.

Those memories, particularly the second set, led his thoughts circling back to something he'd been trying to avoid. Ryoga shook his head, pulled out his black permanent marker, and began coloring over the fresh gouges on his target. Better to focus on what was before him right now, rather than brood about Amazons and their threats against Akane. He couldn't do anything about that right now, so he needed to focus on what he could do. He needed to train, train hard and improve himself and reach true mastery and understanding of these principles as quickly as possible. It was still a long ways down the road, but the ultimate goal he'd set his sights on deserved every ounce of effort he could put toward it.

With the concrete once again completely blacked out, Ryoga retreated half the length of the vacant lot and concentrated again. By now it was becoming a strain even to make the ground perform the initial, unaltered Graveyard Shift. Then again, perhaps having less energy could work in his favor. Perhaps it would be easier to reach the level of control he needed when he wasn't working with his full strength. Once the rock was completely submerged to the six inches he'd chosen for a target depth and the ground was once more smooth and unblemished, Ryoga took a moment to rest. He didn't let his concentration falter, but for the moment he wasn't expending any of his flagging reserves.

"I suggest you leave it there, boy."

The unexpected voice, as dry as the air of a long-sealed tomb and about as welcome, shattered Ryoga's focus. He lurched to his feet and spun around, gaping in dismay at the sight before him. Less than ten feet away, standing — at least, he guessed she was standing — on the boundary wall of the lot was Cologne. Blast it all, he thought he'd be safe here from any prying eyes that knew him and would report his progress back to Ranma! "Old woman, what are you doing in Osaka?!"

Cologne didn't bother to roll her eyes, chuckle, sigh, or in any other way make light of the usual confusion. "This is Nerima, boy. What's your third mistake?"

"What? My third…?" Ryoga let the question trail away into meaninglessness. No doubt she was just trying to mess with his head. "Never mind your questions, I've got one of my own! Is it true that you and Shampoo had some kind of potion delivered out here from China, that'll turn Akane or Ukyo into cats just like a one-use Jusenkyo curse?!"

"It's a powder, not a potion; a one-use curse is exactly what it is; my great-granddaughter did it without consulting me; she intends to use the Instant Sloth variety on Akane rather than Instant Cat; she will only go to such a length if it proves necessary; and she chose this as a deterrent from either of them using her own curse against her. Ukyo Kuonji resorted to that tactic in a battle with my Shampoo, and received her repayment four days ago. Akane Tendo has not yet done so, at least not since Shampoo exchanged curses, and therefore remains unchanged."

Ryoga's hands clenched into fists. His teeth glinted in the morning sunlight as he snarled, "You tell your Shampoo to stay away from Akane!"

In the blink of an eye Cologne crossed the distance separating them and gave him a painful thwap. "Weren't you listening, boy? I said as plainly as day that Akane is only at risk if she first engages in dishonorable, unfair, unworthy tactics! Or do you think it's perfectly all right for someone to win a victory through such a method, as long as it's Akane Tendo who is doing it?"

"Like Shampoo wouldn't provoke her into it if she wanted to get justification to do it afterward," he grumbled back, forcing himself to use a milder tone. He wasn't mollified in the slightest, but for now it seemed wise to let discretion prove the better part of valor.

"Bah. Surely even a love-blinded fool like you can give my great-granddaughter the barest minimum of credit. Even if you think she would resort to such tactics in a heartbeat if it were only a question of her own desires, you must know that she doesn't want to look bad to her beloved husband."

The Lost Boy snorted. "Like he'd care. That jerk has never once let himself see how great Akane really is, how she deserves to be treated. He'd probably just laugh if Shampoo did that, at least if she used the Sloth stuff rather than the Cat." He forced the glare away from his face, replacing it with a mask of determination. "But I'm not like that; I won't just sit back and let Shampoo or Ranma or anyone treat her like that! I'll fight your great-granddaughter if it comes to that, old woman. I'm sure you'll see her again before I will, so make sure she knows."

Cologne's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you want that, boy? Want me to tell my great-granddaughter that Ryoga Hibiki has declared she can't even defend herself from those who would turn her curse against her? Excuse me, not everyone, merely the one person who's always been willing to do just that?" She hesitated for a moment, teetering on the edge of two very different rebukes. It would be easy enough to let her anger rise into flames, the anger Ryoga's unthinking Akane-can-do-no-wrong attitude had sparked even in one as controlled as her. Easy enough to remind him that taking this tone was a very bad idea when they hadn't yet received, let alone passed along, the Nannichuan that Shampoo had ordered for him.

Ryoga took a half step backward, feeling a surge of anxiety mix with his anger as for a second the Matriarch's eyes seemed to burn. Then, in the instant of an eyeblink, that was gone, and suddenly the ancient figure in front of him was more recognizably an old woman than he could ever remember seeing. A woman old almost beyond his concept of the term, worn and shrunken and weary.

"Do you really believe that, Ryoga Hibiki?" the Matriarch asked quietly, staring at him with a gaze that Ryoga found it impossible to hold for long. "That Akane Tendo can do no wrong? That no matter what she does, it's okay because she's the one doing it? That she must always be shielded from the consequences of her actions? That my great-granddaughter's plan, one designed to teach empathy and understanding of what a curse victim goes through, is such a horrible travesty? That Akane must never, ever suffer any such inconvenience, no matter how many times she takes advantage of the true curse Shampoo bears?" She paused for a few moments, regarding him. "Well, do you?" she snapped.

"…no," Ryoga was forced to admit, in a small, grudging voice. "But that doesn't mean it's all right for Shampoo to just drop something like that on her out of the blue! At least she needs to tell Akane why she would do it, heck, even give Akane the chance to deliberately use one of those powders herself to figure out what it's like!"

"She has already requested that my son-in-law give all those details to Akane Tendo, that she would have fair warning." Cologne paused for another moment, scrutinizing Ryoga even more closely. He seemed to be experiencing a mixture of relief, doubt, and concern. If there was any anger at the thought that Ukyo Kuonji had received no such consideration, she couldn't find it. Truth be told, she wasn't surprised. At least this reaction was better than some he might have made. "Perhaps if Miss Tendo is so kind and sweet, such an all-around treasure as you believe, she'll come up with the idea herself to try out a curse."

Ryoga was already shaking his head. "Yeah, right, like Ranma will manage to explain any of this good enough for her to really understand. She'll be lucky if he only insults her enough to ruin half her day." That thought sparked another. "Um… Granny?" he asked tentatively. "I'd do a much better job than Ranma, I'm sure of it. Do you think you could lead me back to the Tendo dojo?"

"Perhaps. Right now I have more important things to discuss with you," she replied. Besides, if Ranma knew what was good for him, he would already have communicated these things to Akane.

"Can't they wait?" he asked piteously. "I haven't seen her in so long… I finally made it back to her home the other day, but she was in the dojo training and I missed her then! When I heard about what Shampoo was going to do, I got so mad I ran out to find her and warn her to back off, and of course I got lost right away…." he stumbled to a halt as he realized that, although it certainly was a tragic story designed to raise pity in the heart of the average listener, he might have been better off omitting certain details when he was telling it to Cologne. "Er… I mean…."

"So you learned of this at the Tendo home," Cologne said, giving him a long, careful look. It sent chills running up and down Ryoga's spine, even though somehow the fear didn't seem to be directed toward himself. "Do you think Nabiki Tendo was deliberately trying to run you off, by using such a distraction?"

Ryoga made a disgusted sound. "If she didn't want me around, all she'd have to do is splash me, grab me, and throw me up into the sky. It'd take me another week just to find hot water, probably." At least, without the soap Kasumi had given him. "I figure she was just getting a few more kicks by hitting me where it hurt." He waited a few moments, seeing if Cologne would reply. She remained thoughtfully silent, showing no signs of ire at his previous unfortunate choice of words. He gulped, and asked again, "So… could you please lead me over to the Tendo place? We can talk afterward, if you want."

"Ryoga, it's ten a.m. on a Tuesday," the Matriarch stated flatly. "Akane is in the middle of class right now. Trust me, boy, you've got nothing better to do right now than listen to one last lesson from me."

The Lost Boy glared up at the sun, as if it were one of the long line of conspirators who'd worked against him over the years. It declined to shift through an eighty degree arc to suit his convenience, and so he sighed and said, "All right. What did you want to talk about?" His brow creasing ever so slightly, he added, "And what did you mean, the last lesson?"

Cologne opted to open with actions rather than words. She turned away from Ryoga to gaze across the expanse of the lot. Extending her staff and placing the knobby end on the ground, the Matriarch closed her eyes and concentrated. For a long moment nothing visible happened… and then, slowly and smoothly, the blackened chunk of concrete rose from the depths of the earth.

"You're actually going to help me with this?" Ryoga breathed, uncertain as to why he'd receive such a stroke of fortune. Even from this distance, he could see that this time the concrete hadn't suffered any large gouges or scrapes. "I… I would really appreciate it."

"Don't misunderstand me," Cologne returned in a tone that brooked no argument. "And don't jump the gun either, boy. Take a closer look." Ryoga's eyes bulged as the broken slab suddenly levitated into the air and floated over toward them. The sight was in no way comparable to what the Tendo family had witnessed when Cologne unleashed the Fist of the Ice Bear, but Ryoga had been in Sapporo at the time. To him, the sight of eighty pounds of solid mass floating through the air was daunting enough. As the concrete settled down at his feet and Cologne gestured for him to examine it, he pushed aside his trepidation and complied.

From this distance, he could see that the chunk hadn't come through undamaged after all. There were numerous small scratches and nicks speckled over the block, though none were large enough to detect at the original distance. "Um, what did you want me to see?" he asked, unsure what the old woman's point could be. "That's about a dozen times better than I was doing."

"It's also the best I can do with three centuries of experience under my belt," Cologne retorted. "My personal style is Air, not Earth. In my youth I knew a master of that school, and he could have brought that thing out of the ground larger and stronger than when it went in, by mixing the soil and stone of the earth itself into the concrete."

"Whoa," Ryoga breathed, glimpsing vistas he hadn't yet dreamed of.

Cologne's staff against his head brought him back to reality, though the Matriarch used just enough force to regain his attention, not to actually dish out pain. "As Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons, I have at least heard of all major techniques and styles that our people collected or developed over three thousand years. I've learned as many as my personal limits allow. But with the elemental styles, it is impossible for anyone to master more than one of them, because of the nature of chi in general and the human aura in particular."

"So you know some stuff about what I'm trying to learn, but you can't teach me anything really big," Ryoga said. "I still don't get why you thought that was so important. Even whatever you do know and can pass on to me would be a lot of help!"

"Boy, what we have here is a failure to communicate," Cologne pronounced. "I want you to think back to the one lesson I taught you directly."

"The Breaking Point," he said. "That's an earth technique, isn't it?" It was something he'd been suspecting lately, a suspicion that had moved closer and closer to certainty with all his recent training in the Graveyard Shift and its potential variations. Cologne certainly hadn't taught it like that, hadn't said any of the things he'd learned for the Graveyard Shift about focusing his own strength and self into the rock he was trying to affect. Then again, he could understand why the Amazons taught the Bakkusai Tenketsu like they did; his training for the Graveyard Shift hadn't had any kind of secondary physical benefit.

"Ah, you do remember. Now draw your mind back just a bit… not quite as far back as the training itself, think of your battle with my son-in-law and its aftermath. I haven't forgotten," Cologne said quietly, ominously, dangerously. "I remember all too well the image of you charging him with your finger outstretched, as if to trigger his own bloody exploding death. I recall a piglet squealing in fury when I revealed that the earth's body is the only one the technique affects."

Ryoga said nothing in reply. Cologne didn't allow him to get away with silence forever, though. "Have you forgotten, Ryoga? Do you still resent that the move doesn't do everything you assumed it did?"

"No," he muttered, and fell silent once more.

"Do you hold a grudge at me for letting you think what you did?"

"No. But…." he struggled for a few more moments, not sure that what he was about to say was true. Cologne merely stared at him, letting the silence stretch until he continued, "But I would like to know why."

"Certainly," Cologne returned in a silky smooth voice that immediately made Ryoga certain he shouldn't have asked. "It was a test. Much like the one I set for my son-in-law, when I shared with him the secret of the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. That is, those two situations are similar in my motivations and goals, that each time I was laying a challenge before a talented young warrior to see how he fared." She pinned him with the most intense stare Ryoga had experienced in a long time. "Ranma passed. You failed."

Ryoga hung his head. "Yeah, I guess I can see that," he said quietly. The mistakes that Ranma had forced him to acknowledge weren't the only ones he'd faced up to since that fight. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I am still glad of the gift you gave me, though."

"It is the last such gift you will receive from the Chinese Amazons," Cologne pronounced. In the privacy of her own mind, she continued, 'Unless you go to truly heroic lengths to overcome the poor start you made.' Frankly, his reaction to the most recent twist of this conversation was more than she'd hoped for, offering the barest glimmer of light to Cologne that he might be redeemable for her purposes after all, that a few years of work might see him worthy of the kind of trust she'd like to be able to place in him.

Perhaps she could lay a little more groundwork for that possible redemption now. "Remember what I said a while ago about my people collecting styles, secrets, and techniques? It's one of the most honorable positions in our society. We greatly value the ones who carry out that task, who travel over the world seeking new or forgotten elements of the Art, arcane lore, treasures too dangerous to allow ordinary people to get their hands on them, that sort of thing. I believed it would be a good fit for you, Ryoga. That it would work well for everyone to take you back to the village, give you a few years of stability to grow and find a girl or two who were a good match for you, then let you go forth as a family to stumble over knowledge and artifacts for a greater, worthwhile purpose."

Ryoga wasn't sure just what to think of that. No end to his journeys… but companionship along them? He shook his head, forcefully discarding the idea since it obviously wasn't an option any longer. Wanting to change the subject to one less painful, not to mention less personal, he replied, "You said you tested me and Ranma both. Is that what you're planning for him and Shampoo?"

"I'm not making any plans that detailed for their future together," Cologne replied. "If you want to know whether I think it's a good choice for them, then the answer is yes. But they will find their own way together as they learn new things and grow stronger, whether that's in our home village, abroad as they journey, here in Japan if we decide to found a new outpost of the Joketsuzoku in Nerima, or perhaps some path that they'll chart all on their own."

"Maybe you ought to tell Ranma that," Ryoga suggested. Anything that got the pigtailed paragon of pride away from Akane for good sounded good to him. "If he's really got that kind of freedom and choices waiting for him with Shampoo, I don't think he knows it yet."

"All in good time," Cologne replied. "That's something that should develop naturally, as he and Shampoo talk about their hopes and dreams for the future. Too much interference on my part will only be counterproductive."

Ryoga blinked in mild disorientation, caught off-guard by this attitude. 'Maybe I've spent too much time around Akane's and Ranma's dads.'

"I generally only step in when I know there's something real to be gained," the Matriarch continued briskly, moving the conversation back to the point she'd originally intended to make. "Such as not allowing my son-in-law to lose a valuable rival and sometime-ally to a preventable training accident."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean, Granny?"

Cologne gestured first toward the block of concrete, then to the ground in general. "I mean I may not have any real strength in the Earth style, which you must know by now is what you're stumbling and groping toward, but I know enough of the secrets of chi and the human body's use of it to know just how close to the edge you were walking." She braced the tip of her staff against the ground and vaulted to its head, the better to look him in the eye. "Without proper training, without the oversight of a true master of the style, you can injure or kill yourself by pushing too far, too fast. It's true of all four elemental schools, and in fact it's the case for any set of techniques at this level. You're taking your first true steps up to the next stage of mastery, when you begin to understand the force of life itself, when you learn things that can extend your lifespan immeasurably and give you strength enough to shake the world around you."

Impossibly the Matriarch's gaze intensified. Ryoga would have taken a step back if he wasn't paralyzed like a bird by the gaze of a snake (with the small but crucial difference that this 'snake' was working in the bird's best interests). "Do you understand me now? For your own sake, don't rush into this. There's no one to guide you, Ryoga. By Chinese Amazon law and the choices you yourself made, I can't give you more than this. You're on your own, winding your way over treacherous ground indeed. In a situation like that, there's no shame in taking baby steps. Quite the opposite in fact; it would be a terrible shame if Ranma lost one of his most valuable comrades." Cologne paused for emphasis, then said, "If Akane lost her most faithful friend."

"A-Akane," he managed through a mouth dry as cotton. "I… I wanted to teach her these things too, once I mastered them enough… it's why I was working so hard."

"If you're willing to hear an old woman's words of wisdom, then let me suggest you hold off on that for at least five years," Cologne returned. "That should give you time enough to learn what you need, let you teach her without putting her at risk." 'Hopefully it will also be long enough for her to get over losing Ranma to Shampoo, move past the bitterness and sorrow, and grow to be a better person because of it.'

Kodachi Kuno, the Black Rose of St. Hebereke, the rising young star of the Rhythmic Gymnastics world, and the destined bride of Ranma Saotome, was in quite a good mood. Her position on top of this four-story building afforded her an excellent view of the streets and the people beneath her. A gentle, balmy breeze ruffled her hair and slipped around her leotard-clad form like a caress. The sun was sinking toward the far horizon behind her, its position perfect for hiding her form in its glare. Her darling Ranma would never see her coming.

'Oh, yes, my sweet, it's been too long and we have so much to make up for! Should we hurry back to my private rooms and all the luxury that awaits us there? Or would even that be too much of a delay? Shall we renew and strengthen the ties that bind us in the very den of iniquity upon which I stand?' Her scouting had only been thorough enough to establish that this building, the one perfectly situated for her ambu— grand entrance, was a love hotel. The Black Rose had no idea where it ranked on the quality scale, and she wasn't about to leave her post to investigate the building's interior. Ranma darling's school had already let out for the day, and she knew for a fact that today one Kuno at least would not be delaying her love's departure.

Kodachi glanced over her shoulder, sending a smirk at the roof's other occupant. "Brother dear, please do stop struggling. You brought this on yourself, you know."

Tatewaki only increased the fury of his struggles and muffled cries. Neither had much effect on the double-length octuple-strength gymnastic ribbon gagging him and binding him from head to toe. Kodachi wondered idly whether the strangled utterances were threats directed against her or entreaties to the heavens to give him strength. "You of all people should know how pointless that is. My ribbons are strong enough to restrain even my darling Ranma." For a moment she lost herself in a starry-eyed fantasy.

Tatewaki did pause in his struggles this time, while his face acquired a faint tinge of green. How the heavens must weep, not only that the Blue Thunder should be brought to such a state as this, but even more so that he was able to follow his twisted sister's line of thought so clearly. It was a mental picture the kendoist could well have done without.

Blinking away the pleasant thoughts, Kodachi continued, "And since the material is rated with half again enough strength to subdue such a specimen of manhood as Ranma sweetums, there's no way on earth you'll do anything more than get yourself tangled up worse."

Kuno resumed his struggles and muffled invective.

"Fine, be that way," Kodachi snapped. "Don't blame me if you end up cutting off the flow of blood to something important. Not your head, obviously," she quipped, then dismissed her brother from her thoughts. While it might be true that he was responsible for her choosing this day and way to greet her beloved, that didn't mean she wanted to waste time thinking about him, or the other pointless objects she had dragged up to this rooftop.

Blocking out Tatewaki's presence and struggles with the ease of long practice, Kodachi resumed watching the street below. "Anticipation certainly does make the heart grow fonder, Ranma darling. My own heart beats in my lonely schoolgirl chest like the thunder of drums. I can only dare to dream how your own heart must long for me. But fear not, my sweet, we shall soon be together."

Kodachi fell momentarily silent. The soliloquy was enjoyable, but somehow not fully satisfying. "Oh, yes, darling, yes — mere words simply aren't enough of their own. I feel like I could almost… sing…."

Clearing her throat, searching her memory for the right song, and switching languages as only one who had received a hideously expensive private education could, the Black Rose gave wing to the words and emotions surging within her. "Oh, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood… hm hmm hm hmm hm hmmm hmmm hm… a beautiful day to catch a friend, a beautiful day to seduce your man…."

She broke off suddenly, sensing impending trouble. Her brother's struggles, the frenzy of which had redoubled during her happy little tune, had brought him dangerously near the cargo she had brought to the rooftop. Well, perhaps 'dangerously' wasn't the right word; if Tatewaki should crash into the items and wreck that part of the Black Rose's afternoon agenda, the only danger would be that her brother would continue boring her to tears with his ridiculous claims.

That thought was unpleasant enough for Kodachi to abandon her post with all haste, zipping over to her brother's side, tightening her grip on the end of the ribbon, and giving him a gentle, ladylike nudge with one foot that sent him halfway across the rooftop. He was brought up short only when he'd exhausted all the slack of the fabric. "Brother dear, please do not knock those over." She nodded toward the ugly iron buckets full of water. "I am well and truly tired of hearing you spout this ridiculous nonsense about Ranma darling and dark sorcery and the efficacy of these toys in washing away the deception. Today is the day your dear little sister forces you to face the folly of your fantasies. And then," her eyes becoming starry again, "I shall join him in a hot bath to make up for the indignity of the unexpected cold shower, and then…."

'She couldn't have been merciful enough to twist this blasted ribbon over my ears as well, could she?' Kuno grumbled mentally.

'All quiet on the western front,' Ranma thought, sneaking a glance over his shoulder at Akane. He wasn't sure what the phrase meant, couldn't remember more about it than that it was something he'd heard in English class, but it seemed to fit the moment. Their current position was due west of the Tendo dojo, their course bearing directly east as they headed for home… and Akane was unusually quiet.

'She hasn't been all that talkative in general these last couple of days,' he mused. 'Dang, I'm still not sure whether I did the right thing or not.' He'd given it a lot of thought, and had decided that the 'don't splash Shampoo or she'll splash you back' talk would be better handed off to Nabiki. She was much more likely to succeed in getting the message across to her sister. Ranma had decided that his part would be to take care of any follow-up that was needed, such as if Akane had confronted him over just what he thought of all this. The thought of such a conversation wasn't very pleasant, but it was better than the idea of skipping out on the matter entirely just because it was a difficult one.

'Sure thought she would've had something to say to me about it by now. I mean, it was Monday morning that I decided to pay Nabiki to do it, and Monday evening when she told me she'd done it and gotten Akane to agree not to go for the water attacks any more. That was two days ago, or a day and a half at least. I'd almost rather have Akane bring it up and get it out in the open. Does it really not matter to her at all? Huh, I should be so lucky.'

Well, if she wouldn't bring it up, maybe he had better. Ranma spent the next few minutes trying to think of a good way to ease into the subject. 'Or then again, maybe the best thing to do is just get her talking about other stuff, and see where that leads.'

It was easy enough to think of a good topic to open the conversation. He might not have been a part of the encounter after class today between Akane, Sayuri, Yuka, and those other girls who weren't in their club, but he'd still overheard most of it. "You look kinda disappointed, Akane," he ventured.

"What?" she said, dragging her attention back to the present and focusing it on Ranma. "Did you say something, Ranma?"

"Said you looked kinda disappointed," he repeated. "That you couldn't go hang out with all those girls this afternoon."

"It happens," Akane said. "It would have been nice if they'd wanted to do it tomorrow, instead of today. With some warning like that, I might have been able to go too."

"I can't see the appeal myself," Ranma admitted. "I mean, karaoke? What's the point to singin' a song and doing a worse job of it than whoever it was that recorded it?"

She shook her head. "It's just fun, Ranma. A fun time to go and hang out with your friends." Her expressionless look cracked a bit. "It's been a long time since I was able to make it to something like that."

"So you shoulda gone to this one," he replied.

"Excuse me, have you forgotten that I'm training with your father in the afternoons?" Akane asked, the barest hint of an edge in her voice.

"Course not," Ranma answered. "But today was the only chance you had for something you wanted to get out and do, right? You shoulda asked me to tell Pop you weren't gonna make it home on time this once. If he's got a problem with it, you know you can count on me to kick his butt and get him back in line."

"You mean, I should know I can count on you to blow off my training and encourage me to do it too?" The edge was no longer merely a hint.

"Jeez, I try to do something nice and this is the thanks I get?" Ranma complained. "I wasn't talking about blowing off your training. Heck, you could even say I'm helping it, cause if Pop ain't taught you yet that Anything Goes is about flexibility and adapting to stuff, then he's really falling down on the job."

That was something Genma had taken a good bit of pain to communicate to her, actually. She still didn't understand what Ranma was trying to say here, but she decided to get clarification before passing any more judgment. "So how does that fit into you telling me I should've just skipped my afternoon training?"

"Simple — you don't skip the session, you put it off until after you get back. It ain't gonna hurt my old man to get his exercise in the evening instead of the afternoon. And like I said, if he complains about it when I tell him, I can just ask him to use the unexpected free time to 'spar' with me."

"That wouldn't leave me any time to do my homework," Akane pointed out. The edge was gone from her tone, though, now that she knew Ranma hadn't meant it the way she'd first thought.

"And that, Grasshopper, is what you blow off."

Akane rolled her eyes. "Thanks but no thanks, Ranma. Not even if I didn't have any homework. Mr. Saotome deserves better than something like that. He didn't have to train me, after all." Genma would have snorted loudly at that last sentence, remembering just what it had been like when Akane 'requested' his aid.

He wasn't here to give that snort, but his son filled in for him. However, Ranma's exhalation of disbelief was triggered by a different sentence. "Don't tell me you haven't seen through that one yet."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sure, be glad he's training you, but don't let him pull the wool over your eyes or nothing, Akane. You're doing him a favor by learning too." 'At least, if you're serious about it,' Ranma amended. "Think about it. What's Pop, or any sensei, got to show for his life if he's not learning new things and still growing in the Art? The only thing left for somebody like that is to help new people down the path. If you're lettin' him teach you real stuff," with Herculean effort he kept any hint of doubt out of his voice as he said this, "then you're giving him one more way to justify his life, one more reason to stand up and be proud of himself. He oughta be the one thanking you for going to him for training. It's not like you don't have other choices, after all."

The duo walked in silence for a little while. At last, in a stunned tone, Akane stated, "That may be the proudest, most overconfident, egotistical thing I've heard in my entire life, Ranma."

"You think so? Huh." Ranma turned and faced up toward the sky. "MOKO TAKABISHA!" The teens watched the chi blast as it shot away into the distance. "Didn't look any bigger than usual to me," he said, turning back to Akane as the two began walking again. "I think you're just confused cause it's something you never thought of before."

"What I think—!" Only with a great deal of effort did Akane clamp her lips shut around the traitorous exclamation. Oh, how she wanted to hit him with the news of what she and Genma were really working on! Oh, how she longed to force him to face the fact that his father knew such a powerful technique, was training her in secrets that were still a mystery to Ranma himself! But that wasn't what her sensei wanted, and Akane herself wasn't quite worked up enough to disregard her own goal, or forget how satisfying it would be to reveal these things in the right way. Better to keep quiet now, and eventually enlighten Ranma by demonstrating the moves on his hide.

"Well? What do you think?" he prompted her after the silence had stretched a few seconds.

Akane stuck out her tongue at him in the most childish pose she could manage. Tauntingly rather than with any real heat, she said, "I think you're an overconfident jerk."

"Feh. Whatever. Blow me off when I'm trying to teach you something," Ranma grumbled, turning away.

The youngest Tendo stood stock-still for the next several moments, caught totally off-guard by this unexpected and out-of-character response. Eventually regaining some self-possession, she hurried across the distance that had opened up between them. "What's that supposed to— LOOK OUT!!"

Even if she hadn't seen him coming, the chi blast would have been enough to alert Kodachi to Ranma's approach. As it was, it merely made her more excited to be reminded of her beloved's strength and skill. She watched, waiting for the perfect moment, smiling ever more broadly at the sight of the squabble between her darling Ranma and that Tendo harridan.

As if to underscore how wrong for each other those two were, how perfect was the harmony between herself and Ranma sweetums, the moment when he moved into position was the one in which the distance between himself and the peasant was at its greatest. Holding in her laughter for just a few seconds more, Kodachi snapped her wrist then pulled sharply back. The first motion whipped her brother, still bound inextricably in the ribbon, from horizontal on the roof to more or less upright. Before he could fall, the second move sent him spinning furiously in place like an oversized top.

Even as the ribbon released the last of its hold on him, she sent it snaking forth to grasp the framework connecting the handles of the dozen 'cold iron' buckets. "Do pay attention now, brother dear," Kodachi commanded, managing to overlook the fact that the dizziness which prevented him from interfering must surely prevent him from really being aware of what was about to happen. "I don't want to hear any more nonsense about this washing dearest Ranma's humanity away." Exerting all her skill, strength, and control, the Black Rose whipped the buckets into the air and over the street without spilling a single drop of water— at least, not until the moment when she wanted those drops to be spilled. Then, with her peals of triumphant glee no longer restrained, she hauled the empty buckets back on an intercept course with Tatewaki, leapt to the fire escape, and hurried down to greet her beloved.

On hearing Akane's cry of warning, Ranma took one instant to see where she was looking, then spun to face the threat. It was Kodachi Kuno, halfway down the fire escape of a nearby building and descending at a speed Ranma himself would have been hard pressed to exceed. Making a split-second decision that the best way to deal with this would be to lead the Black Rose away from Akane over the rooftops, then lose her once he had a moment to duck out of her sight and trigger his transformation, Ranma gave a mighty leap backward. If all had gone as planned, the move would have set him firmly on the rooftop of the building across the street from Kodachi — a distance he knew Kodachi could cover in pursuit of him, but Akane couldn't.

Of course, his plan failed to take into account the unseen shower descending toward the street. Kodachi had flung the buckets even higher into the air before upending them, a last-second inspiration that the Black Rose had hoped would allow her to beat the water down to the ground. After all, why should Ranma be the only one to suffer a drenching? And certainly the love of her life would better enjoy the sight of her leotard after the water did its work.

Kodachi was fast, but she wasn't quite that fast. Girl, boy, and water all reached the same height above the street at roughly the same time, Kodachi descending at her best controlled speed, gravity drawing down the water just that little bit faster, and Ranma jumping up, up, and away. Time seemed to slow as his eyes locked with those of the gymnast, as he stared grimly at her while she smirked in pleasure, welcome, anticipation, and triumph. Even as the water caught up and molded itself around their forms, Kodachi pushed away from the fire escape, summoning every bit of leg strength she could muster, transforming her descent into a lateral jump toward the object of her desire.

Her arms locked around the waist of an empty shirt, as a feathered blur burst past her.

She hadn't even begun to recover by the time she slammed directly into the wall. It was ingrained reflex alone that allowed her to regain control of her fall, kicking against a windowsill three quarters of the way to the ground and losing enough speed to land safely. For all that her body was undamaged, though, the youngest Kuno staggered away from her landing site. The shirt still clenched absently in one hand, she wove her way over to the middle of the street where his pants had landed. "Ranma…?" she breathed, running one disbelieving hand over their empty length.

"Kodachi, he's there." This was Akane, pointing up to Ranma's circling form, hoping against hope that this wasn't somehow going to make things worse. Ranma had only tried once to make Tatewaki see reason about his original curse, an effort which had failed utterly. As far as she knew, no-one had ever attempted anything like that with Kodachi. Maybe, just possibly maybe, it wouldn't blow up in their faces. "He's right there! Look up!"

"Be SILENT!" the Black Rose raged, spinning faster than Akane would have dreamed possible and striking directly toward her face with a club pulled from parts unknown. It would have been a more impressive attack if Akane had been close enough for it to connect, though; Kodachi in her distraction had noticed only that Akane spoke, not that the youngest Tendo hadn't first crossed any of the distance separating the two girls. Her attack hit empty air, leaving her overextended and stumbling.

Ranma's skreeling descent put a halt to any further hostilities. 'This ain't good. Where's the Air style when I really need it?' he thought frantically. He'd known from the first moment he laid eyes on Shampoo's new cursed form that a falcon was nowhere near as helpless as Akane seemed to think, but there was no way in the world he wanted to prove the tomboy wrong by lighting into somebody with talons and beak. 'Why couldn't this have happened just two damn weeks from now? I ain't even mastered the training exercise yet, let alone learned something that'd let me attack her without hurting her for real!'

Hoping against hope that it would prevent any more attacks, Ranma managed to grab the club on his fly-by and wrench it from Kodachi's grasp. Flinging it away down an alley, he banked sharply and came in for a landing on the street between the two girls, though in the interests of Akane's safety he settled down much closer to Kodachi.

"Ranma!" Akane exclaimed, hurrying protectively forward as if to negate that consideration.

"Ranma?" the Black Rose breathed, falling to her knees and staring desperately down.

He met her gaze, though it was much harder than he'd expected it to be — unbelievably hard, considering that Kodachi's gaze held no anger, rage, or remnant of fighting fury. All the blood had drained from her face, leaving her violet eyes looking like smudged bruises in a mask as pale as bone. Kodachi continued, choking on the words, getting them out only as a whisper, "Is… is it… you?"

Even more troubled now, he gathered his strength and gave a bob of his head; up, down, an unquestionable yes.

Kodachi stared for one moment longer, her face now showing a cacophony of emotions. Shock… disbelief… terror… agony… Just as Ranma felt like he must break eye contact or snap himself, she wrenched her gaze away. The motion begun by her eyes continued to her head, then her whole body, as the Black Rose spun and darted away, his forgotten shirt still clutched in one white-knuckled hand.

Ranma and Akane stared after her, and could find nothing to say. Even if there hadn't been a language barrier in place.

"The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure." Clearly the same limitation didn't apply to Tatewaki. Both Anything Goes students turned to stare at the fire escape down which Kuno was descending. He was still feeling a little dizzy, and he was bruised from the buckets' return to the rooftop, but as he passed below the one-story mark he was able to jump the rest of the way and land safely. "I saw her face, Saotome. At last it seems that the dark sorceries you have used to bind my sister to you have met their timely end. And if my twisted sister has finally found freedom from her chains, can even greater liberties be far behind?"

Ranma glared darkly at the kendoist, tuning out his continued ranting. 'I am so gonna flatten you in this body once I've learned how to do it without scarring, crippling, or killing you.' The thought wasn't nearly enough to satisfy him. 'Maybe I could scratch him up just a little right now? Just a few tiny cuts on the arm…? Nah, that wouldn't be enough to give me any kind of satisfaction.'

Wishing he could form a sinister grin, Ranma fluttered away to what even the most overprotective person would consider a safe spot — sheltered by a ledge at second story height, visible only if he leaned forward. He did just that, gave a loud screech to make sure he had Akane's attention, then gestured toward Kuno with one wing. "~Don't worry about me, tomboy. Go ahead, give him his own flying lesson.~"

It started as an itch on the back of her neck. Junko ignored it for several minutes, focusing on the homework spread out before her at the café table. However, as the conviction grew more and more pronounced, she found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the task. At last, frowning and sighing, she twisted around in her seat. From this new vantage point, it was easy to see that her suspicion had been correct. "Hey, Manami," she said as she turned back to face the girl sharing the table with her. "I think the café owner is getting a little angry."

"My heart bleeds," Manami grumbled. "Like either of us wanted to be stuck here so long."

"Well, I wouldn't really mind," Junko confessed. Better to do her work here than in a bedroom shared with two younger sisters. "But I know you'd rather be with Gosunkugi right now."

"Sure, that would be my first choice, but it's not just that. I'd rather be doing anything interesting, with him or with you or Nabiki or all by myself. Not just sitting here waiting to finally get the call to move."

Junko turned around in her chair again, uncomfortably aware that the intensity of the proprietor's stare continued to mount. It wasn't surprising, really; she and Manami had been at their table for three quarters of an hour now, and in all that time they'd each only purchased one fruit drink. "Maybe I should go buy something else for while we're waiting," she proposed. "What would you like?"

"Oh, no you don't!" Manami said crisply. "In case you forgot, we're going to need our appetites available before too much longer." She pulled out her cell phone and gave it a glare, then shoved it away again and glanced around the open-air café. Only two other tables were occupied, outnumbered five-to-one by the vacant stands. "So mister Cool Refreshing Beverage Pusher doesn't like it that we're taking up his space? It's not like we're keeping paying customers away. If he's frustrated at how little business he's getting, he ought to blame himself or Ukyo Kuonji, not us. It's not our fault he set up shop here."

"Still, maybe I should go buy a couple more drinks. We don't have to actually drink them," Junko pointed out.

Manami rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You're paying— Ah-HAH!" This as the long-silent cell phone finally began to buzz. She pulled it out and answered, hoping this was indeed the call they were waiting for and not a random wrong number. "Hello, Manami speaking."

"Come on over," said the voice on the other end of the phone. Manami didn't recognize his identity, other than in the most basic way. It was doubtless some random freshman that had gotten a little too deep in debt to the boss. She could tell by the nervous tremor in the voice that this was a first-timer. Nabiki's usual modus operandi in situations like that was to give out an easy job, but accompany it with a glimpse of just how badly things could go for the trainee if he or she screwed it up. "There hasn't been more than five people here at a time for the last fifteen minutes, and I got out into the street and checked up and down and it doesn't look like too many more are on their way, so—"

"Right, right, stop babbling. We're on our way. We'll see soon enough whether you picked a good moment or not." Smirking, Manami ended the call and stood up. "Come on, Junko, let's blow this popsicle stand."

A brisk two minutes' walk took them to their real destination for the afternoon: Ucchan's Okonomiyaki. The two girls passed through the door and took a minute to size up the interior of the restaurant. Not because it was their first time — rare indeed was the Furinkan student who hadn't visited Ucchan's at least once — but to decide on their next move.

At least, Manami was doing this. Junko just followed her lead as the other girl strode forward and selected a vacant seat three spaces down from Ukyo's grill. Her body language made it apparent that Junko should take the seat on her left, closer to Ukyo, rather than farther away on her right. Junko sat down and waited for her cue.

"What'll it be, ladies?" This was Ukyo, giving the generic greeting after taking a moment to check the girls out. The chef was fairly sure she'd seen them before, but they weren't common enough customers to let her put names, or more importantly okonomiyaki preferences, to the faces.

"One seafood deluxe, please," Manami answered.

"Two of the daily special for me," Junko requested.

'What I wouldn't give for her metabolism,' Nabiki's second-in-command brooded darkly, distracted for a moment from their mission. It wasn't like they could get started right away anyway; they needed to wait for Ukyo to finish cooking their order and pass it along to them. Once the conversation got started, it shouldn't be interrupted… at least not until the interruption was Ukyo dealing herself in.

"So, did you hear the latest?" she asked Junko once they'd received their food and eaten some.

Junko shook her head, finished her first okonomiyaki, and started on her second. "What is it?" she asked.

"Shampoo brought Ranma lunch at school today."

"Huh?" Junko blinked. "Since when is that news?"

"Because she didn't do it like she usually does, apparently. At least, if this is true," Manami demurred. "I only heard it second-hand, and my source said that almost nobody was around to see it happen." She winced slightly at the unpleasant metallic scrape of Ukyo's small spatula across the grill, as the chef fumbled the preparation of her current okonomiyaki. "She didn't drop by at lunch to try and snuggle with him while he eats. She didn't break through classroom walls until she found the one he was in. She didn't even chase after him at all! She just came by the office in midmorning and dropped off the lunch for him, told the secretary that she wanted to give it to him but she was going to be busy during the actual lunch period."

"Wow, that is different," Junko said, wide-eyed. Different enough from Shampoo's usual methods that she wondered what it all meant. It wasn't something Manami had made up just for the purposes of this conversation, she could tell that much. Her friend was good enough to hide what she was thinking if she kept silent, but Nabiki was the only one Junko knew who could speak to her and remain a sealed book while doing so.

"Yeah," Manami agreed. She'd spent quite a bit of time pondering the implications ever since she'd heard the news, from one of the lower-rank girls in Nabiki's network who'd happened to be in the office when the incident happened. Ultimately, it was the boss who'd decide what to do about this new twist on affairs, but that didn't mean Manami ought not to give it some thought as well.

(Later that evening, she would learn that the whole story was nothing but a fabrication, something Nabiki had made up and passed along to her via third party so that she'd believe it when she in turn shared it with Junko. Nabiki and Manami both knew that the other girl wasn't good enough at thinking on her feet to go along naturally with something she knew was a lie. That Nabiki had used her own second-in-command as that much of a cat's-paw… it would be the source of half an hour's pleasant nostalgia for Manami, as the memories of her freshman year and her initial recruitment by the boss came surging back.)

That was still a ways off, however. At the moment Manami had no clue that she'd been used like a two-dollar pair of chopsticks, but she did know she had better things to do than think too much about what she'd heard. Discussing this Amazon antic was only meant to lead into more important things. "Never thought we'd see her showing a little discretion," she continued. "Usually her idea of subtle is to ask him to go out with her, rather than latching onto him and trying to strip them both down to the buff." From the corner of her eye she noted that her genial host was currently anything but. Ukyo's back was ramrod straight, one eye was twitching like crazy, and her face was twisted into a dark scowl. A party of five students that had just come through the door took one look and headed right back outside again. Manami thanked her lucky stars that Ukyo didn't appear to notice; if she had, the chef would surely have exploded right here and now. And that wouldn't do. Not at all.

Giving a deep sigh, she said, "It's so sad, don't you think?" Another truth; the matter she was discussing didn't actually tug her heart-strings, but within her own mind Manami regarded it as sad indeed. Not to mention pathetic.

Junko nodded soberly. She didn't know whether Nabiki had given Manami any private instructions for this skirmish, but when the two of them were receiving their orders together the middle Tendo had been straightforward and forthright. They were free to use their own judgment in how to lead up to it, Nabiki had said, but there was one point they needed to make absolutely sure Ukyo Kuonji overheard. She had then gone on to illuminate said point, revealing something that Junko honestly hadn't thought of before. It was all too obvious once Nabiki had pointed it out, though, and Manami was right — it was sad. "It really is. Shampoo tries so hard, pushes and pushes, keeps on trying to get close to him and honestly believing she's got a chance, and she doesn't. She never had, and she never will."

'Perfect,' Manami thought admiringly while finishing the last bites of her okonomiyaki. It would be even more admirable if this was something Junko could control, if she could elicit at will the kind of response they were counting on. If she could do it even when she wasn't honestly saying something she believed, it would be a truly fearsome talent. However, that wasn't the way of things. Her comrade in arms meant every word she had said, and every one she was going to say. That she would get to speak the rest of her message was all too obvious, as Ukyo's anger became blunted with confusion. The chef hesitated just a few moments longer, to which Manami mentally shook her head in reproof. 'Please, Miss Kuonji. As if there's any way you can resist.'

Sure enough, Ukyo stepped away from the grill and closer to Junko. "Why's that?" she asked, although 'demanded' might have been a better word. "Why do you say that, and why would it be sad if it was true?"

"Isn't it sad?" Junko answered, switching conversational partners without a hitch. "That she tries so hard for something that's totally out of her reach, something she never had any chance of getting and never will? Bad enough if that was just some random goal she wanted, but it's even worse that we're talking about a thing as important as love! She loves him, even if she doesn't have a clue how to show it here in Japan, and she'd have a better chance at getting him to love her back if she was that crazy Kuno girl!"

Ukyo stared wide-eyed at her. The chef wondered for an instant whether this was some kind of joke, but just as quickly dismissed the idea. The other girl's words carried complete and total conviction; she really believed what she'd said about Shampoo never having had a chance to begin with, and she believed as well that this truth was a tragic one. Ukyo stood in silence for a bit, turning these thoughts over in her mind, trying to make sense of them. 'I guess maybe I could see that as kind of sad,' she mentally conceded. 'If there really was some reason why everything Shampoo ever did or said to try to get close to Ranma honey was just a moot point.'

"But that's not how it is!" she burst out. "What are you, blind? Or are you the only girl in school who doesn't know about their new 'his and hers' curses?! Have you really not seen how she's been sneaking closer and closer to him, just… stealing more and more of his time these days?!"

"It doesn't matter," Junko said firmly. "It's not doing her any good."

Ukyo ran her hand across her brow, then down over her eyes. "I honestly think you believe that, and I also honestly think you're talking out your butt," she stated. "Go away."

"No, you don't get it! I'm not saying Shampoo hasn't gotten any closer to him, but that's all she'll ever manage! To be a friend to him, maybe a close friend even, but he'll never take her up on more. Not with what comes along for the ride if he does make a choice like that!"

Despite herself, Ukyo could feel her conviction being worn away by the waves of the other girl's certainty. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, she calls herself his wife. Why is that? Because it's how Amazons do things." Junko fired off a meaning-filled look. "And what's another thing Amazons do? How did Ranma's first few encounters with her go?"

"He was running for his life. So what?" Ukyo snapped. "You obviously have no idea how much of a 'forgive and forget' kind of guy Ranma honey is. She's had plenty of time to write over that earlier image with her little sex kitten routine."

"I'm not talking about Ranma's feelings for her," Junko explained patiently. "Sure, he's had worse stuff than that, probably even worse stuff that was just misunderstandings if half the rumors at school are true." Ukyo nodded involuntarily. "I wasn't saying anything about Ranma still holding a grudge against her. That's the kind of thing a girl as pretty as Shampoo could work her way past for sure. I'm talking about the future, and what marrying her would mean." She paused, giving Ukyo a sad but reassuring smile. It was sad news for the Amazon, all right, but Ukyo Kuonji should be only too relieved to hear this. "You don't think he'd really be okay with that, do you? Bringing up his children under a bunch of fossilized laws that say they have to kill or marry someone for defeating them? No matter how much he likes her, you don't honestly think he'd go for that, do you?"

All the breath left Ukyo's lungs in a rush. She actually had to catch hold of the counter with one arm to steady herself. "Not… not the past, and not the junk that's going on now… but the future. I can't believe it! You're right, you're absolutely right! I never even once stopped to think about it like that!"

"Ranma probably hasn't either." This was Manami, deeming it safe at last to join the conversation. Junko's people skills had done their work; Ukyo was stunned and reeling, overcome by the realization that she simply hadn't thought far enough ahead, and wide open for reasonable suggestions. "I'm sure you know him better than I do, but that doesn't seem like his kind of thing. There is one thing I wonder, though…." Again, this was something she honestly meant.

Junko picked up on it. "What's that, Manami?"

"Whether Shampoo, or at least her great-grandmother, has seen it all along. It could be that they're gambling Ranma won't pick up on it until it's too late. Hoping he'd be too honorable to just walk away afterward, if they did get him to marry her and he only realized too late what he'd really set himself up for."

There was silence for a moment as all three girls contemplated this. Ukyo was the first to come out of her fugue. "It's been fun, girls, but I can't spare more time to talk. I think I need to close up shop for a little…." Her voice trailed off as she remembered something. Ranma had told her during today's astronomy club meeting that he was planning to spend the afternoon in the air. He wasn't going to be available anytime soon. "No, wait, never mind. That's going to have to wait," she said, speaking the last sentence more to herself than to her two customers. Tomorrow would be soon enough. Heaving a frustrated, but ultimately hopeful sigh, she walked back behind the grill. "Can I get you anything else? On the house."

"Well, we really need to be going ourselves," Manami temporized.

"So can you put a pork deluxe and a vegetarian special in a box for me?" Junko asked eagerly.

'I wouldn't just kill for her metabolism,' Manami decided, suppressing a grimace with great difficulty. 'I'd sell each and every airheaded clueless cheerleader or cheerleader-wannabe at school into slavery.'

Ukyo smiled, whipped up the requested order, boxed it up, and handed it over. "My pleasure," she said cheerfully. Then, her gaze shifting from the girls to some vision hidden in the middle distance, she repeated softly, "My pleasure…."

Ranma cast a nervous glance up the stairwell. From where he stood he could only catch a glimpse of the sky, but it was enough to set off the warning bells. "Huh. That don't look so good."

After a few seconds, the reply came. "What? Did you say something, Ranchan?"

"Yeah. Look at the sky." By now the two had moved far enough up the stairs to get a better view of the clouds. Ranma instinctively slowed down and Ukyo unconsciously adjusted her pace to match his. "Sure looks like it's gonna rain. Wonder what that'll mean for the meeting."

He and Ukyo had officially joined the astronomy club after school on Monday, with Tuesday's meeting the first they attended. Ranma and Ukyo both had been surprised to find out what the astronomy club actually did when they got together. "Yeah, me too," she agreed, thankful for the moment's distraction. She'd spent enough time over the past sixteen hours pondering something, and was frankly ready for a break. "So why is everyone still heading to the roof? They better not have set the equipment up anyway. I doubt even the Kunos could scrape up enough yen to replace it if it gets rained on."

"Nah, it's no big deal," said a straggling fellow club member as he passed them on the way up. Neither Ranma nor Ukyo had any idea of his name; this was only their fourth meeting, and so far they'd been too busy adjusting to the general strangeness to worry about social niceties. "Rainy days aren't a problem for us. Not even for you and your curse, Saotome. Come on, this is something you don't wanna miss." He headed away, out of the stairwell and onto the roof.

Ranma and Ukyo were now the only club members still sheltered inside. They exchanged dubious looks, simultaneous shrugs, and started walking again. "Maybe they've got Plexiglas minibooths set up over the telescopes or something," Ukyo speculated. "After all, the crazy things work just fine during the daylight. Once you get the right filter settings, anyway, which still blows my mind to think about."

He snorted. "You think that's impressive? Yesterday I zoomed in for a close-up of that big red storm on Jupiter, and I hit a few random keys, and managed to filter it out too. It was really weird seeing the ground underneath it all churning up like that."

"Well, that beats anything I've gotten these bad boys to do for me," Ukyo said as they stepped out onto the roof. "Speaking of which, I see they don't have cover for them after all. And it looks like they've got a lot more of them set up than usual." Although the extra telescopes all seemed to be concentrated in one big clump on the other side of the roof, in the middle of which stood their illustrious captain, upperclassman Kaito.

"Jeez, you wouldn't think they'd get out even more of them if there was any kind of risk," Ranma commented. "Maybe they're so advanced, they're actually waterproof?"

"Don't know how that would figure in with what that guy said, about your curse not being a problem," she answered. "Well, if it does start raining, I'll ditch the club with you and go back home so you've got a place to change."

"It will not be necessary," said a soft-spoken voice that sent chills down Ranma's spine. He turned and confirmed that Kaito — he didn't know the upperclassman's last name — was still where he'd been a moment ago. The other boy was as thin as Gosunkugi, but creepy in a way that the voodoo student had never managed. There wasn't anything threatening about him, per se, but somehow he always managed to exude a nagging sense of wrongness… and it didn't much help to hear him speak this softly and yet have the words clearly understandable at this distance.

"The telescopes are indeed waterproof," he continued, "but why should our fellow students suffer a drenching to use them?" He gestured at the cluster of instruments around him. "I have switched these over to radar mode, boosted the output by several thousand percent, made the necessary adjustment to the filtration system, and slaved them all to the same control panel. And now…" He pressed a series of buttons on the controls of the nearest scope. The instruments began to hum with the noise of active use. Ranma thought he caught the hint of a glow at the skyward end of the nearest one.

Then, with no further ado, it began to rain. Hard.

Ukyo stood in silence for she didn't know how long. Eventually, though, she said, "Ranma honey?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it just my imagination… or is the rain shoving itself to the side so as not to share the roof with us?"

"The radar waves resonate with the moisture in the clouds and force them to dump it now," Kaito explained, still standing fifteen meters away, still speaking in his usual soft tones, still clearly audible even over the hiss of the downpour. "And the shape formed by the projected waves causes the rain to bend as well."

Five hundred feet higher and two miles to the west, Shampoo checked her airspeed and tried to concentrate harder. '<Am I imagining this?>' she wondered. '<Something feels… weird. But it's so faint… is it just in my head?>'

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Her great-grandmother had kept a close eye on Ranma's progress in the *snicker* Flight of the Plucked Chicken. Her husband had not quite mastered it yet, but Cologne had told her that she fully expected him to do so during their next training session. If that was so, then he would beat Shampoo's own time by one day. The majority of Shampoo was pleased at the thought, happy for her beloved's triumph, but there had been one little nagging corner wishing she could have at least tied with him in this one arena.

That voice had been silenced quite effectively when the Matriarch broke the news to her about how well Shampoo's own learning time stood up against that of Amazons past. Learning that not only would the Air style help her in her cursed form, but that her cursed form helped her with the style, had come under the heading of serious good news. Ranma would think so too, she was sure of it. Now flying wasn't just a great way to enjoy oneself, it was actually highly effective training to boot! Take that, Tendos, if you ever try to complain about him getting away from you for the day!

She had devoted this afternoon to expanding on the idea, had gone into this flight focusing as much of her conscious thought and attention as she could on the air itself. Shampoo had hoped that doing so might teach her new things, might lead to greater understanding of her chosen element. She knew there were heights she hadn't even glimpsed yet, understood far better than Ranma how far the style could take its devotees. The Matriarch had made this clear to her after she'd mastered the Buzzing Fist, shown her how small a first step it really was, but at the same time filled her full of determination to learn more.

Right now she was wondering whether the lesson to learn today was that she just didn't know enough yet. She felt, or thought she felt, the barest hint of wrongness, of oddity, of something out of place. It wasn't very far away (at least, as a falcon reckons air distance), but it seemed to be coming from an area with unpleasant flying conditions. The wind wasn't blowing hard and there was no hint of thunder, but the clouds were heavy with rain. 'I don't want to fly through that,' Shampoo thought, although at the same time the avian Amazon had already curved her flight to bring her around in the direction of the anomaly. Maybe she would just go far enough to figure out whether she was really feeling anything, then turn aside before she actually had to go through any rain.

By the time she'd covered a mile, her suspicion had deepened to near-certainty. The sensation was stronger now, and beginning to tickle the back of her mind with a tantalizing hint of familiarity. This was something she'd felt before, the Amazon thought. At least it felt like it. It was becoming hard to focus on it, though, since she had flown far enough to reach the fringes of rainfall. She could easily fly even with the water that beaded and slid over her feathers, but the immediacy of that sensation was making it hard to concentrate on the distant hint of discord.

Nodding decisively, Shampoo climbed for greater altitude. No need to endure the rain when she could fly over it.

Ranma shrugged and moved toward a telescope. He'd seen plenty of weirdness since coming to Nerima, but this club was taking the cake — at least as far as the nonthreatening stuff went. It was probably best to go with the flow. "Pretty convenient," he offered in Kaito's general direction. "You said the radar's what made it start raining now, instead of holding off until later? You think you could kick it up a few notches, enough to make sure the clouds rain themselves out completely by the time class is over?"

"Sorry, not enough telescopes," Kaito murmured. Raising his voice by at least half a decibel, the captain addressed everyone in the club. "I've already calibrated the remaining telescopes to filter out the falling rain, and put an administrative lock on that particular part of the setting. Tatsuki, please do not waste the period trying to reverse that."

"Aw, come on, Kaito," protested one of the freshman club members. "You have no idea how cool it is to filter out everything but the rain when it's pouring down like this. It's like… I don't know, like you're falling through a tunnel that's made up of a million different tunnels all going almost the same direction but they're not quite, and… and…." Words failed him for a moment, before he remembered a phrase from his Conversational English class. "It's just… 'out of this world'! And we are the astronomy club, after all!"

Kaito turned to stare directly at the underclassman. Even in the dimness his eyes were obscured by a dull gleam of light. Ranma suppressed a shiver. It wasn't so bad to see that effect on somebody wearing glasses, but Kaito's face was as bare as the surface of the moon.

"Man, I bet it takes real skill to do that with contact lenses," remarked a nearby girl.

"No kidding," replied her friend. "Even those freaky tinted ones he wears."

Ranma blinked as the words filtered through his mind. He shook his head and turned away from Kaito's flat stare and Tatsuki's continued whining. "Let's see," he mumbled as he peered into the telescope's viewfinder. "What do I want to look at today?" It was a rhetorical question; the telescopes were by far the most advanced technology he'd ever come in contact with, and ease-of-use was not one of their strong suits. There was a keypad that allowed you to enter all kinds of instructions, each of which was conveniently displayed as he typed it out, the glowing translucent characters popping up within the field of vision inside the viewfinder… but whatever language it was, it was nothing he'd ever seen before, each character consisting not only of multiple curves and angles, but different colors as well. Kaito had merely said that figuring things out for himself was part of his duties as a member of the astronomy club. Ranma personally suspected Kaito had developed and programmed the code himself, after watching one sci-fi anime too many.

"Time to go with the old standby, I guess," he muttered, pointing the scope up at the nearest section of sky and beginning to enter commands at random. Black sky studded with stars… black sky studded with slightly brighter stars… comet blazing a streak across the emptiness, that was pretty cool but over too soon… giant red ball devouring a blackened cinder of a world, how depressing was that… whoa, two comets, headed straight for each other… man, that explosion was even more impressive than the old freak's Happo Fire Bombs… falling through a tunnel made of a million different tunnels all going nearly the same direction….

"Please step away from the telescope, Ranma," Kaito said from six inches to his right.

Ranma jumped backwards, blurring as he covered ten feet in half a second. 'Jeez, it's even creepier when he sneaks up on you like that.'

Kaito, meanwhile, had taken Ranma's place at the telescope, peering through the viewfinder and entering commands with a swift familiarity that Ranma doubted he'd ever match, Amaguriken or no Amaguriken. "Well, Saotome, somehow you managed to not only turn off the rain filter, you completely disabled my ability to lock down any features on this telescope." Kaito gave him the flat, contact-lenses-gleaming stare. Ranma fought an urge to race to the roof's edge for transformation, flight, and freedom. Kaito kept up the stare for a moment longer, then pulled out a permanent marker and scrawled the kanji for 'Wild Horse' on the telescope. "From now on, you use this one. The last thing this club needs is for you to unlock all the features on every one of our scopes. We would never get anything done if the students found out the equipment can filter through building walls into bath houses and locker rooms."

Ranma stared back at him for a long moment, then turned and regarded the rest of the rooftop. Judging by the number of students looking up through their telescopes, i.e. none, as opposed to the number currently staring wide-eyed at Kaito, which was to say everyone, the captain had forgotten how well his voice carried. "Well, I'd hate to be responsible for that," the pigtailed boy said sarcastically, stepping back to the telescope as Kaito walked away.

"Man, how'd I pull that off anyway?" he continued, muttering to himself softly enough that not even Ukyo, who was standing closest to him, was able to hear. Hopefully Kaito would be able to fix it when he had more time free to work on the problem. Being asked to pay for something as expensive as this thing surely was… Somebody up there watching his life might get a nice cruel laugh out of it, but the joke didn't strike Ranma as funny. "It shouldn't even be possible to mess it up just by pushing random buttons. What kinda super-secret stolen alien technology is this supposed to be anyway?" Heh, that was a better joke.

The remaining students blinked as Kaito crashed to the roof in a perfectly executed facefault.

Shampoo stared thoughtfully down. She had covered the two miles of sky originally separating her from the disturbance she'd sensed. It was below her now, though not directly below her; she had more sense than to fly into an unknown air disturbance, especially one she'd sensed from so far away. The sense of familiarity was stronger now. She flew in circles for a while, puzzling it out.

Eventually she made the connection. What she thought she felt was the effects of forced vibration, similar in many ways to the Buzzing Fist. Far more powerful, obviously, since she'd felt it from so far away, and there seemed to be other differences as well… but the Amazon was pretty certain of her conclusion nonetheless.

It wasn't hard to figure out a possible explanation, either. She had told her great-grandmother what she intended for this flight, and the Matriarch had given the idea her wholehearted approval. It was a very short step from that to Cologne setting out something like this as a test. No, Shampoo wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it was Cologne, hidden away at ground level, producing this strange, penetrating vibration.

Well, if this was one of the Matriarch's tests, Shampoo wasn't about to fail it. She began her descent through the clouds, ignoring the rain as best she could. It would be nice to surround herself with a shell of dry air, but Shampoo knew she wasn't ready for something like that. Tamper with the very thing that was keeping her from falling? Maybe with a few years practice under her belt. She was reasonably confident that she could create a pocket of vibrating air around her body large enough to keep away the rain… but what that might do to her wings was best not contemplated. Rain was only a metaphorical pain.

As she sank lower, the vibration became more pronounced, and eventually she was able to determine its effect. There was a ring of rain, far more dense than what she was flying through. The vibration seemed to be concentrated on the inner edge of that ring, extending further inward. Shampoo flew as close as she felt was safe, straining fledgling senses. The rain was extremely concentrated there… but inside the ring there wasn't any…? That was what the vibrating of the air was accomplishing… and now that she was this close, and had spent this much time studying the vibration, it felt wrong. Too regular, too even, too mechanical to be the result of Cologne's mastery. Her great-grandmother was powerful and controlled beyond Shampoo's understanding, but at the core of a master's skills were the pulse, the beat, the chaotic strength of life. She couldn't feel any trace of that here.

'<Maybe I should give this up,>' Shampoo thought, even as she continued her slow descent. '<If this isn't something great-grandmother set up for me, then I probably should go back and get her to investigate. That has to be the smartest thing to do—>'

Further rational thought was wiped out in an instant. Shampoo had finally flown low enough to make out what was on the other side of the hyperdense rain curtain. It was Furinkan! Was this some new threat after her Airen's hide?!

Throwing caution to the winds, Shampoo dived to gain airspeed, then twisted and zipped through the wall of rain. She took an instant of unpleasant pounding and then she was through, regaining control of her flight and reorienting herself. Even though she'd expected the air to be rain-free, it was still bizarre to experience it.

Then she caught sight of Ranma. He seemed all right, no sign of turmoil or threats, no chance to stand by his side in battle. He was just staring into a strange mechanical tube pointed at the sky. So were all the other students on the roof, Shampoo quickly noted, and it seemed that because of this none of them had seen her.

Wait, there was one student who wasn't looking into her tube anymore. Shampoo's eyes narrowed as she watched Ukyo Kuonji turn away from the bizarre contraption and take a hesitant step toward her husband. Shampoo was sorely tempted to bank in a hard turn, come in for a dive, maybe trim the girl's hair a bit with her beak. At the very least she could 'accidentally' shake enough water onto Ranma while flying overhead to defeat whatever the spatula girl was planning.

The only thing that held her back was the presence of all the other students. Not that Shampoo cared about them or would let them dictate her idea of acceptable action, but she knew Ukyo was much more inhibited (or as the Amazon thought of it, 'more like stupid Japanese way of never showing your real feelings'). Whatever the girl intended now with Ranma, surely it wouldn't be anything Shampoo needed to stop at all costs. And so, still undetected, the Amazon turned and came in for a landing atop the roof of the stairwell, crept to the edge, and watched.

'Damn moral dilemmas,' Ukyo thought. That one hesitant step toward Ranma seemed to have used up all her reserves of decisiveness. 'Ranchan, why'd you have to go out flying yesterday anyway? It was all so easy then, so clear and bright and uncomplicated. I'd go to you, I'd point out just what those Amazon laws really mean, you'd do the right thing and not keep Shampoo hanging any longer. She goes away, not happy but at least she can get on with her life, and things get better around here too.'

All of that was still true; an evening, morning, and early afternoon of reflection hadn't picked any holes in it. No, the problem Ukyo was facing now was with something outside of those nice, simple, straightforward, 'it's for Shampoo's own good to get this out of the way now' issues. 'It's like that girl said… with her handicap, Shampoo won't ever be able to snag Ranma honey for real. At least, not by his choice,' Ukyo thought with a glower. 'But that doesn't mean it won't have any effect at all, when she tries and tries so hard to get close to him. Hell, I've seen it already in just the last few weeks! She is getting closer… and that doesn't just affect her and Ranchan.'

She hadn't forgotten it yet, what Ranma had said to her when talking about not going for the win by using Shampoo's curse. The words still echoed in her mind: 'I don't know, Ucchan, but I will tell you one thing I haven't seen. I haven't seen her try an' tell me which of my friends I could and could not spend time with. Akane does that a lot. You've seen it yourself, I know, and it just ends up with me going out behind her back. I'm even startin' to be glad that it's easier to do that now…'.

No, Ukyo didn't think she'd forget those words anytime soon, or Ranma's follow-up statement that he didn't want things between the two of them to proceed down that same path. Part of Ukyo felt guilty, to be so thankful that Shampoo's gambit had resulted in a greater distance between Ranma and Akane, but that part was dwarfed by the chef's practical side. Those two simply weren't right for each other. Sure, it was sad that Shampoo should pull them apart when the hopes driving her to do it were destined to be crushed, but that didn't make it any less in Ranma's own best interests. The sooner he and Akane realized they didn't have a future together, the sooner everyone could move on with their lives. And if that meant keeping quiet for a while longer, letting Shampoo believe she still had a chance so that the Amazon would continue prying her 'airen' away from her rival… Well, if it was a question of what was good for Ranma versus what was good for Shampoo, Ukyo knew which side she'd stand on.

That was what she told herself, but it didn't quite want to stick. A little voice in the back of her head continued to whisper that Shampoo had already opened significant distance between Ranma and Akane, that the Amazon must surely be happily treasuring the increased closeness to him she'd gained. It might be good for Ranma to end things with Akane as speedily as possible, that voice agreed, but the bigger issue wasn't really in doubt, was it? It was only a matter of time, likely of much less time now than Ukyo would have dreamed six weeks ago. Not because of anything Ukyo had done, but because of Shampoo's actions combined with Akane's unquenchable jealousy. 'Humph. She never had to put up with her fiancé staying under another girl's roof,' Ukyo thought, her train of thought taking a minor detour. 'Except for that one time with the Gambling King, of course.'

Forcing away the infuriating memory of finding Genma and the Tendos camped out in her home, Ukyo refocused on the issue at hand. She stood there, pondering, questioning, searching, and seeking for a good five minutes. The sound of a falcon yawning was completely inaudible over the rain.

Eventually, though, she reached the point of decision. 'If I keep quiet and let things go on as they are, it's only going to be worse for Shampoo. A lot worse. She's finally making what she's gotta think is real progress. So yeah, I could let it go on like that, watch as she works her way farther in between Ranma and Akane, and wait to say anything until Akane's out of the picture for good. That might help Ranchan out a little… but it would mean dumping a truckload of pain and hurt on Shampoo. Wait to hit her when she's sitting on top of the world, thinking she's finally got everything going her way? Hurt her that much to maybe spare Ranma a little bit of pain?'

With a determined shake of her head, Ukyo lurched into motion once more, crossing the remaining distance to Ranma and laying one hand on his shoulder. "Ranma honey, we… we need to talk."

'<That's it? Just talk?>' Shampoo thought, blinking the boredom out of her eyes. '<She stood there that long, working up her courage just for that? What's she going to say to him? No way will it be anything too personal. There's no way the spatula girl could pull that off with so many people around, even if they are all staring up through those things.>'

She settled down again, focusing, trying to make out everything Ukyo was saying. It wasn't easy. The force with which the chef spoke her initial phrase had carried it clearly to Shampoo's ears, but Ukyo had shifted to a lower tone to continue. Between the noise of the rain and the distance separating Ukyo from Shampoo's perch, the Amazon was having serious difficulty catching her words.

By the time she grasped the gist of what Ukyo was saying, it was much too late to intervene.

Unable or unwilling to believe what she had heard, eyes staring grimly forward, her whole body trembling with tension, Shampoo watched the conversation proceed. She only caught bits and pieces — questions, discomfort, sputtered half-denials from Ranma. From Ukyo, clarifications, grim repetitions, and above all the careful insistence that she wasn't telling him who he could and couldn't spend time with, wasn't trying to get Ranma to drop Shampoo out of his life for good. She just wanted him to see what was really at stake here, Ukyo said so earnestly, so honestly, so innocently. She didn't want Shampoo to get any more hurt than she had to, for thinking things were different from how they really were.

With that last line, the urge to take flight and shred the treacherous backstabbing witch left her, replaced by a much better plan. 'You not want Shampoo hurt for think things not how they really are?' she mentally sneered in her rival's language. 'I follow you example. Is past time somebody learn how some things was for true.'

A tiny hitch of breath caught in Shampoo's throat as she finally spotted her target. '<You're late, Ranma,>' she thought distantly, watching from her higher vantage point as he leapt from the street to the top of a one-story building. '<I was beginning to wonder whether you were coming at all.>'

She waited and watched, tracking his progress as he moved over the rooftops. Her beloved was moving much slower than usual. Normally when he arrived at the Cat Café for a new bout of training, eagerness and determination practically radiated from him. This time, his features were an open book of uncertainty, confusion, and bitterness. 'You happy, Ukyo?' Shampoo thought darkly, pretending she was speaking the words directly to the girl. 'Glad to see what you do to him? Too bad you not here to enjoy it while it last.'

Forcing away the curdled sneer that those thoughts had brought with them, Shampoo took several deep breaths, chose her moment, and leapt down. She dropped to the roof tiles only five feet away from Ranma, landing as lightly as her former cursed form. "Nihao, Ranma," she said evenly as she closed the distance between them. "What is wrong? You not look happy to be coming for train with Shampoo."

Despite himself Ranma had taken a step backward, caught off-guard by her arrival. He'd known he wasn't ready for the encounter he was heading towards, and only the knowledge that skipping out on it would make things worse had kept him on his path. "That ain't it," he said after a long moment spent trying to scrounge up some opening remarks. Would it have been so hard for fate to have let him have those last few minutes to try and come up with what he was going to say?! "Why'd you come looking for me? I'm only a few minutes late."

"Just wanted to talk, before you get to Cat Café and focus on training. Great-grandmother say we can take as long as need."

Ranma blinked, a suspicion beginning to gnaw at the back of his mind. "Talk? About something important enough for that?" He supposed it could be a coincidence, that this was happening less than twenty-four hours after that talk with Ukyo, but it didn't seem likely. 'At least if that's it, it'll make it easier to get started talking about it.' "What did ya want to talk about?"

"Many thing," Shampoo said. "Start with school. How was it today? No stupid people try take advantage of curse? You glad is Saturday, only have half-day of class?"

Ranma shrugged, hiding the fact that — for the first time ever — the answer to that last question would be 'no'. He would have preferred a lot more time to think about the questions and issues Ukyo had raised the previous day. "Nobody tried nothing. I guess that's good."

"Shampoo glad." The Amazon scraped up a small, fake smile. "So, was better day than yesterday, yes? Better than yesterday late afternoon?"

He drew a deep breath, released it, then took another. "You already know about that, huh. How?"

"Felt something strange in the air while I flying, go to check it out, find rain making curtain around school but not falling on roof. Also find roof was where you were, Ranma, other students too." Shampoo's eyes narrowed. "And Spatula Girl. She not see me on top of roof over stairs, for sure she not hear me. I hear everything she say to you, though."

"Everything?" he echoed. "Why didn't you fly down and stop her?"

"What good that do?" Shampoo countered bitterly. "Sure, I could have fly down, slash her with beak or claws, could even have knock her off roof with full power Wind Strike. That really solve problem, yes? Stop her from talking about how horrible Amazons is, how they nothing but honorless bunch of bloodthirsty backward barbarian peoples who no belong in world of today. Stop her from saying that, no matter how far Shampoo have to go — that would really be smart thing to do."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't," Ranma said wearily. "What are ya gonna do instead?"

Shampoo held silent for a long moment, then gave a tiny shake of the head. This was too important to rush. Though her heart urged her to push forward as quickly as possible with the truth he needed to hear, her mind remembered the advice Cologne had given her so many weeks ago. Simply racing as fast as possible down the obvious path probably wasn't the best thing to do. Much better to talk th