Standard Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 characters and situations
are copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi, and is not my property.
I'm just borrowing them to write an enjoyable fiction. This
work is Copyrighted to the author, and in no way is it to be
sold, altered, or just plain old renamed. This work is by a
fan for fans for free!
A Feather in the Wind
Chapter 2
The stars shone brightly as a silhouette
trudged along a dirt road. Tied atop his pack was a
limp figure, but he showed no sign of strain from
carrying the extra load. In the distance behind
him, the lights of Tokyo splayed across the land,
totally unnoticed. Walking tirelessly, he searched
for a place he would like to call home, the Tendo
dojo. After walking for several hours, he stopped
and walked off to one side of the path. Gently he
removed his pack, and the girl from his back, then
proceeded to set up camp. After he had pitched his
tent, he moved the girl inside and started a
fire. The flickering flames revealed Ryouga's face.
He pulled various supplies out of his pack, and
set about making a small meal.
Morning at the Tendo dojo was quiet. Ranma had
woken up early, and was all set to practice
with his father again when a sharp pain in his leg
reminded him that he shouldn't be pushing himself.
"Ow... Geez that smarts" He complained about
his leg as he limped towards the bathroom. As he
passed Akane's room he peeked in and saw that Akane
was still asleep, but looked more like she had
been crying all night.
::Was she actually worried?:: Ranma thought
as he silently crept into the room and pulled
the chair away from the desk. He sat and watched
Akane as she slept. As he watched, he failed to
notice that Kasumi had peeked into the room, saw him
watching over Akane, smile, and then close the
door.
Akane was having a nightmare. It seemed that
she was running from something, but it was
gaining on her. Then Ranma appeared and turned to
face the beast, but it tore him to pieces. In her
dream Akane screamed and charged after her pursuer,
but stopped dead in her tracks. She saw an evil
version of herself, splattered with Ranma's blood.
The evil Akane slowly started walking towards her
and grinned, revealing blood stained teeth and fangs.
She reached towards the fear-paralyzed Akane
and opened her mouth wide as if to take a bite.
Screaming, Akane sat bolt upright in her bed,
sweating heavily.
"Akane are you OK?" Ranma had leapt up from
the chair, ignoring the pain, and was next to her
in a flash. "Man, you look terrible! Didja have a
nightmare or something?" Akane looked blankly at
Ranma for a second. Suddenly tears welled up in her
eyes, and she grabbed Ranma in a bear hug.
Hiding her face in his shoulder, she cried.
"Ah.. Akane? You OK? You're freaking me out
Akane..." Ranma awkwardly tried to comfort
Akane. Akane said something unintelligible in-
between her sobs.
The door burst open, startling Ranma. He
looked behind him and saw that Mr. Tendo was
standing in the door, with Kasumi, Nabiki and Genma
behind him.
"What's going on son? What did you make my
little girl cry?" Mr. Tendo was starting to go
into Demon head mode.
"Yah! No way Mr. Tendo!! She just woke up and
started crying, I have no idea why." Ranma
waved one hand at Mr. Tendo as if to fend him off.
Akane blearily lifted her head from Ranma's
shoulder and weakly smiled at her father.
"It's OK daddy," she dashed the tears from her
eyes with her fists, and smiled, "I'm just
really glad that Ranma's OK."
"Huh? Uh, you mean that Akane?" Ranma was
startled. ::She WAS worried about me... Now what
do I do?:: Ranma froze, not knowing how to respond to
this at all. Akane nodded at him and looked
out the window.
"That's my boy! Looking out for your fiancee
like that, you make your father proud!" Genma
beamed.
"Well now son, when should we have the
ceremony?" Mr. Tendo asked, smiling hugely.
"Daaad!" Akane looked angrily at her father, "I
didn't say I wanted to marry him yet!" she
fumed. Ranma was still in brain lock from Akane's
confession, and just looked stupidly at Mr. Tendo.
"Come on Akane, what else can he actually do
for you, you want him to get himself killed trying
to protect you without being able to claim you as his
wife?" Nabiki asked. Akane was stung by her
sister's words, and a vision of Ranma being torn
apart in her dream haunted her. Tears started
welling up in her eyes again. This brought Ranma out
of lock.
"Hey don't start crying again OK? No one here
likes it when you cry, it just doesn't become
you. Smile, it really brightens a room up when you
smile." Ranma tried comforting Akane, "Will you
smile for me Akane?" He asked softly, blushing to
the roots of his hair. Akane looked into his eyes
and saw only worry and concern for her there. She
wiped her eyes and tried to smile. "There you go
Akane! I'm going to leave the room so you can get
dressed OK? I think Kasumi has breakfast ready,
right Kasumi?" He looked over at the eldest Tendo
girl.
"Why yes, breakfast is ready. Why don't you
all come downstairs now?" She smiled and turned
to leave. At the mention of breakfast, Genma
practically dashed away from the door. Nabiki left
as
well, grumbling about how it was really too early for
anything. Ranma disentangled himself from
Akane gently, and hobbled towards the door.
"Ranma!" Akane called out. He froze, then
looked over his shoulder.
"What?"
"Thanks, for being here for this morning.."
Akane blushed as she stammered. Ranma blushed
again as well.
"Uh yeah, no problem right? I'll see you at
breakfast." He left, and Mr. Tendo followed him
out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Akane
looked around her room and sighed. ::That
dream was way too real:: She thought, as she got
dressed for the day. When she got down to the
table, she noticed that Ranma was already eating.
Actually inhaling the food may have been a better
description.
"The doctor said he needed to eat a lot to
regain his strength Akane" Kasumi said as she
filled a bowl with miso for Akane. Akane bit her
tongue to keep from saying anything about it, and
just concentrated on her food.
"Any sign of Ryouga, or Feather?" Akane asked
after breakfast. Ranma shook his head.
"Naw, but I'm sure they're OK. I mean, Ryouga
is always out and about on his own right? And
he did have his pack with him, so they have food and
shelter. But they could be almost anywhere
right now."
"I hope your right Ranma," Akane looked
worried, "It's just that, well Feather hasn't been
out
for so long, and she's probably just as lost as
Ryouga out there."
"They'll be fine" Ranma said. Ranma started
to say something else to Akane, but he was
interrupted by Shampoo bursting through a wall and
glomping on him causing an involuntary cry of
pain.
"Nihao Ranma! You famous now yes?" Shampoo
said as she continued to hug him tightly.
"Shampoo! Get off my leg!" Ranma practically
screamed. Akane was starting to burn with her
battle aura. Shampoo leapt off to one side of Ranma,
and sat there.
"Shampoo sorry, now tell Shampoo all about what
happen. News man say you no talk to them for
TV." Shampoo ignored Akane's presence entirely,
making her even more furious. Ranma was looking
confused.
"How did you know it was me anyways? I took
pains to stay off camera."
"Shampoo know when husband do something. They
say that man who rescue girl no want be on TV,
or even talk about it, but they catch glimpse of you
fighting your way through crowd to get home."
Shampoo smiled widely as she pointed at Genma, "Him
stand out like sore thumb in crowd!"
Ranma groaned and put his hands in his face.
"I'm going back to bed." He said as he
struggled to get up. Shampoo looked hurt, but said
nothing. Akane calmed down a little bit and her
face visibly softened as Ranma struggled up the
stairs.
"Shampoo no like seeing husband hurt, he seem
half way here." Shampoo said softly to Akane.
"I know what you mean." Akane's answer
startled Shampoo. She had been expecting some sort
of
insult towards Ranma, but Akane's soft-spoken answer
seemed to be heart felt. Shampoo opened her
mouth to say something, but it died on her lips as
Ukyou walked in from the hallway.
"Akane! I heard the news, where's Ran-chan?"
Ukyou sat down next to Akane. Akane pointed
upstairs, not willing to talk at the moment. "Oh,
he's asleep? Tell me what happened Akane! I know
you were there with him, were either of you hurt? I
only heard a little bit about it on the
radio...Akane what's wrong?" Ukyou was concerned,
because it seemed her words were upsetting Akane
pretty badly, and she seemed to be close to tears.
Akane's mouth moved, but no words made it past
her closed throat. Ukyou leaned closer, indicating
that she didn't hear. Akane swallowed hard, and
then tried again.
"He got shot. He took the bullet for me and
then ran carrying me and Feather. He almost bled
to death." Ukyou and Shampoo's faces went white
while tears were running freely from Akane's eyes.
"When we stumbled into Ryouga's house, he collapsed
from the blood loss, and he just lay there
bleeding, a big, red, pool... of his blood, he wasn't
moving, I...." at this point Akane had broken
down, and was crying too hard to keep talking. Ukyou
did her best to try and comfort her friend.
::I may be competing for Ran-chan with her,
but she needs a friend right now, not a rival.::
Ukyou thought as she hugged the crying girl. Shampoo
sat there nervously. She wasn't exactly
friends with Akane, but they weren't deadly enemies
either. She simply watched as Ukyou gently
coaxed Akane back up to her room, where she could cry
in private. Shampoo just smiled.
::This is good chance for Shampoo to nurse
Ranma back to health!:: She thought to herself.
She practically leapt up the stairs, and was inside
Ranma's room in a flash, but there was no Ranma.
"Aiyaah! Where Ranma?" She asked no-one in
particular. Shampoo nearly jumped out of her skin
when Kasumi spoke from behind her.
"Ranma said he was heading out for a little
fresh air and quiet." Kasumi smiled that disarming
smile of hers. ::Aiyaah!! How she move so quiet?::
Shampoo thought.
Kasumi smiled as Shampoo ran out of the house
and leapt over the wall to go looking for Ranma.
She turned and finished walking down the hall to
Akane's room. Inside, she handed a tray of snacks
to Ukyou who, with Ranma's help, continued to try and
coax Akane into calming down. Kasumi smiled
and spoke.
"Shampoo just left, she's looking for a ghost
right now." Ukyou and Ranma turned and looked at
Kasumi in alarm.
"What ghost?" They asked in unison.
"Why that ghost of Ranma who went out on a walk
of course!" Kasumi smiled, while Ukyou and
Ranma burst out laughing. When a third laugh joined
them, they stopped and turned to Akane. She was
dashing the last of her tears from her eyes, and was
laughing merrily at the little joke Kasumi had
played on Shampoo. "Glad to see your feeling better
Akane!" Kasumi said cheerfully as she left the
room.
"One of these days I'm going to have to learn
how she knows exactly how to say just the right
thing at the right time." Ranma said, while Akane
and Ukyou nodded in silent agreement. Then they
all turned and talked about what had happened, but it
was mostly Ranma talking. Later that night,
Ukyou bid them goodnight, and went back to her
restaurant.
Early the next morning, Ryouga was waking up at
his campsite. He teased the fire back to life,
and started to warm up some travel rations for
breakfast. ::I guess I'd better wake up Feather,
she's
been asleep since that night, and she really needs to
eat.:: He suited thought to action, and opened
up the tent. Inside, he saw that Feather was still
sleeping soundly, and now that the makeup was
wiped off her face from two days of travel tied to
his back, he could see the bruises that she had
spoken of. He reached towards her and shook her
shoulder a bit.
"Hey, wake up, I've got some food cooking
outside." He got no response. Ryouga raised his
voice a little, and shook a little harder, "Come on
wake up already!" Feather stirred a little, and
opened one eye.
"Hmmmm...?"
"It's time to get up Feather, I uh, have some
food ready outside." Ryouga rubbed the back of
his head self consciously.
"Mmmm, OK." She closed her eye for a second,
then both eyes opened wide and she looked at
Ryouga. "I'm not dreaming right? I'm free, right?"
She lunged out of the sleeping bag and grabbed
the front of Ryouga's shirt. "Tell me I'm not
dreaming! Please!" Ryouga shrank back a little from
the almost teary face thrust into his.
"Uh, yeah that's right! Ranma and I beat the
crap out of that guy for you, and your free now.
I uh..." Ryouga was looking into her eyes. ::I
didn't know someone's eyes could get that big, or
that green!:: he thought, "Anyways, I made some
breakfast OK?"
"Oh, OK. Um, do you have any spare clothes I
could borrow? These are really dirty." She
gestured towards the blood stained dress.
"Oh, yeah sure! Just a sec." Ryouga ducked
out of the tent and started rummaging through his
pack. Feather had started struggling out of the
dress when he reentered.
"Here's my spare.. uuurrk!!!" Ryouga fell
backwards with a nosebleed at the sight of Feather's
bra covered chest. He recovered and turned quickly,
"Hhhhere!!" He held out a set of clothes
towards Feather while he had his back turned to her,
his other hand busy pinching his nose in an
effort to stop the flow of blood. Feather giggled at
how shy he was. ::Now that's something you
don't see anymore. A young man who doesn't gawk or
grope...:: She took the offered clothing.
"Thanks, I'll get changed now and I'll be right
out." Feather gently pushed Ryouga out of the
tent. The clothes fit her loosely, fortunately there
were drawstrings and a belt, along with two
cords. Feather shrugged and set about tying the
cords around her calves like she had seen what
Ryouga did with them. She then joined Ryouga at the
fire.
"They fit pretty well, thanks Ryouga," she
smiled at him, "But do you have a spare bandanna or
two? I can't find anything to tie my hair back
with..." She gaped a little as he casually ripped
two bandanna's off his head and handed them to her.
"Will those do?" He blushed a little as he
asked her.
"How many bandannas are you wearing anyway?"
She stammered as she tied her hair into a pony
tail and tied one of the bandanna's around her
forehead to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Except
for her really long hair, she could have been
confused for Ryouga after falling into the
Nyannichuan.
"Oh, I always have all that I need," Ryouga
tried intensely to just finish cooking the food.
::You're in love with Akane remember? You don't need
to go and fall for some other girl right now,
you still have a chance idiot!:: He thought to
himself. He scooped some of the food from the pot
into a travel mug and handed it to Feather. "It's
not the greatest, but it will keep you fed." He
served himself while Feather sniffed delicately at
the food.
"What's in it?" She asked.
"Dried vegetables, along with some strips of
salted meat that I boiled to make a soup. Sorry,
but I don't have any rice with me." Ryouga explained
between bites of his food. Feather sniffed the
food again, and then ate a little.
"This isn't that bad at all Ryouga. I was
expecting a less gamy taste from the meat though,
what kind of meat is it anyways?" She asked as she
continued to eat the surprisingly tasty food.
"Rabbit." was his only response. Feather spat
out what was in her mouth.
"Eww... Rabbit?!? You cooked a rabbit?"
"It's not that bad, beats the heck out of pork.
It's leaner for one thing," ::and the other
reason you'll never hear from me willingly anyways!::
"Besides, I can't afford dried beef, and fish
doesn't keep as long." Feather looked appraisingly
at the mug again, and sighed.
"Sorry Ryouga, I guess I've been in the city
too long, and never even considered rabbit as food
before." She continued to eat.
"When you've traveled as much as I have, you
learn a bit about unconventional foods." Ryouga
shrugged, and turned back to his soup.
As soon they had finished eating they began to
break camp. Rather, Ryouga was breaking camp,
as Feather had no clue as to what to do to help.
While Ryouga was working, Feather looked around,
and could barely see Tokyo off in the distance.
::Odd, you'd think he would've headed straight back
to where Akane and Ranma live. Or did those
reporters chase us all the way out here?::
"Feather! It's time to go." Ryouga called
out, looking about for her. He spotted her nearby,
standing on the top of a hill. He shouldered his
pack and walked up to her. "Is something wrong?"
He asked.
"Isn't that Tokyo over there?" She asked,
pointing towards the distant city.
"Uh, I think so... We should go and find out."
"You mean you don't know?!?" Feather
exclaimed.
"Hey I was running around in the dark the night
you passed out, trying to get away from those
reporters!" He practically shouted back. "It's been
a whole day since then, and I've been trying to
find my way back!" Feather cringed away from him, as
if she was expecting a blow. Ryouga noticed,
and immediately softened his tone. "I mean, look,
um... Hey I'm not going to hit you! Sorry, I
didn't mean to yell at you OK?" Ryouga started to
fidget a little.
"Oh, never mind, let's just head back there
OK?" Without another word, they started to trudge
off towards the city. Occasionally, Ryouga would
start to stray off course, and Feather would grab
his arm, worried that he was distracted by something
and was going to leave her alone out there.
After the tenth time this happened, Feather decided
it was time to ask him something.
"Ryouga, do you hate me or something?" her
sudden question stopped Ryouga in his tracks.
"No of course not!! What makes you say
something like that?" He asked, wondering why she
seemed so intent about it.
"It's just that, every now and then, you start
to wander off, as if you wanted to leave me out
here or something." Feather looked down at the
ground, grateful that her hair hid her blushing face.
She thought she was starting to like the rough cut
young man in front of her, and wasn't sure about
what to do.
"Oh, it's just that, well, I have a hard time
getting where I want to go sometimes.." Ryouga
stammered, not quite willing to admit that he had
absolutely no sense of direction.
"You mean... You have a bad sense of
direction?"
"Well, yeah, basically." Ryouga looked away
for a second, a wistful look on his face.
"I'll bet you get lonely wandering around Japan
don't you?" Feather felt sorry for the lost
boy. She understood now why he had grabbed his pack
before they had left his house.
"Well, yeah, I do get lonely. After I get
lonely, I get depressed. Fate was cruel to curse me
with this sense of direction. I can't even attend
school regularly like this." He looked at Feather
again. "You must understand how it feels, not having
control of where you are going don't you?" His
eyes were intensely pleading for understanding.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." She leaned
forward on her toes and kissed Ryouga on the cheek.
He froze in shock, a small trickle of blood running
down from his nose. "Right now we need to get
back, everyone must be worried about us by now."
They walked together in silence for a long
time. Clouds were starting to gather, and it looked
like it was going to rain. Ryouga noticed the change
in the weather with apprehension. He looked
desperately about for shelter, and realized that they
were at the edge of a forest, but there were no
buildings in sight.
"Looks like we better pitch camp a little
early Feather, I think it's going to rain in a bit.
I don't want to... er, you to catch a cold." Feather
looked at Ryouga, and wondered why he was
sweating all of a sudden.
"OK, maybe you could teach me a bit about
camping while we're at it. I mean, I have no idea
how to do any of it, and I want to be able to help."
Ryouga nodded absently as he explained, and
demonstrated how to pitch a tent. He was just in
time, the first droplets of rain were staring to
fall, and he rushed inside the tent.
Feather followed and fastened the tent flap
closed. They sat in silence and listened to the
rain beat down on the canvas tent. It's dull rhythm
quickly lulled Feather to sleep. ::I think I
better slow down a little, she just isn't used to
this...:: Ryouga thought as he looked at Feather's
exhausted form.
After the rain had stopped they peeked out of
the tent, and then broke camp and trudged into
the woods. Feather was too busy trying to keep them
on track to notice anything, but Ryouga seemed
to sense someone, or several people trying to follow
them. He kept his eyes roving the underbrush,
and his senses were on overdrive trying to locate
their pursuers. Before he could figure out exactly
where they were, four fairly burly men jumped out of
the bushes around them. Feather gave a startled
cry and jumped back to hold onto Ryouga's arm.
"Let go!" He whispered to her urgently.
Feather swallowed hard, but let go of his arm.
"All right boy, give us the girl and ya won't
be hurt," one man sneered as he approached the
young travelers. "All we want is the girl, and we'll
let you run home, in one piece. If you don't
see it that way, well..." He flipped out a
switchblade, and the others followed suit by pulling
out
knives of various sizes. Ryouga sized them up and
judged their approximate skill. He was not
impressed at all. He dropped his pack and pulled his
umbrella from it's place atop it.
"Sorry fellahs," He grinned wolfishly, "But I
can't let you do that." He said simply before
whipping his umbrella around to connect with the head
of the sneering man. The blow sent the man
reeling sideways into a tree, where he lay crumpled.
Ryouga spun and threw his umbrella like a spear
at the next closest man and it smashed him in the
chest, knocking him off his feet. The third man
sprang towards Ryouga, trying to stab him, but his
wrist was caught in a vise like grip. Startled,
the bandit looked at Ryouga's hand as he started to
squeeze. The sound of snapping bone crackled
through the air, a split second before the man
screamed in agony. Ryouga dropped him and turned
towards the last one. With a determined expression,
the last man dropped into a basic karate stance.
Ryouga adopted a similar stance and waited. The
bandit attacked with what looked like an impressive
flurry of kicks and punches, however, after Ryouga
dodged a few and blocked a couple of them he
decided it was time to end it. Ryouga smashed
through the bandit's defenses with a single, open
palm
strike to his chest, followed by several quick kicks
to his head, followed by a fierce one into his
gut. As the man leaned forward from the blow, Ryouga
grabbed him around the neck and threw him into
a tree. He collapsed and did not stir again. A few
of the men were getting back up at this point,
so Ryouga turned to them.
"I'm a little irritated right now, who wants to
help me work it off?" Ryouga bared his fangs
as he picked up a nearby rock and broke it to gravel
in one hand. The bandits didn't even bother
grabbing their fallen comrades, they just ran.
Feather was still standing next to Ryouga's pack.
She was amazed at how easily Ryouga beat up those
men. Once they were back on their way, Feather
turned to Ryouga.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" She
asked.
"Oh, I picked a lot of it up on the road, and
from fighting with Ranma all the time." Ryouga
shrugged. "I've been training for a long time now,
and I'm still nowhere near reaching mastery.
Someday though, I may become a master of martial
arts, but my style is fairly unique, as it draws the
most brutal moves from more than twenty styles, and
uses some unusual weapons," he gestured at his
umbrella, "So, I think I'm starting a new school of
martial arts right now. But I know my skill is
not great enough for me to claim a mastery. Besides,
until I can beat Ranma, I have no right to
start my own school."
Feather looked at him, and saw that he was
holding his left fist clenched and raised. "That's
cool Ryouga, but can I ask you a favor?" Ryouga
looked over his shoulder at Feather, "Could you
teach me?"
Ryouga stopped in his tracks. Feather walked
around to stand in front of him. "Well?" She
asked eagerly, "I want to be able to defend myself
from now on! Please, will you teach me?" She put
on her cutest face, hoping that it would make him
cave in to her request. Ryouga looked down at her
face, and saw her lower lip start to quiver a little.
He melted like a snowball in a blast furnace.
"Ah, heh OK sure." Ryouga stammered out
nervously. Feather squealed with delight and glomped
onto Ryouga, causing him to almost pass out. "Ah
uhm.. First things first though, a little strength
training.." Ryouga suggested, and to his relief, she
disentangled herself from him.
"OK, what do I do first?" Ryouga pulled his
umbrella out from it's retaining straps, and held
it out to Feather.
"Carry this for a while." He said simply.
Feather strode forward and tried to take the
umbrella. When she thought she had it, Ryouga let
go, and the weight of the umbrella dropped her
onto her backside.
"Hey that's no fair! You could've warned me
that it's made of lead!" Feather yelled at Ryouga
as she struggled to get up. Ryouga watched as she
slowly stood up, umbrella wrapped tightly in her
arms. Ryouga repositioned the umbrella so that it was
cradled in the crook of her arms. He stepped
away from her while she strained to keep her arms
from collapsing from the deceptive weight of the
umbrella. "OK, now what?" she puffed out.
"Now we walk." Ryouga said, as he turned to
walk into the forest.
"Not that way Ryouga! Tokyo is this way!
Honestly, he can beat up people with the greatest of
ease, but can't find his way home." She muttered to
herself as she once again took the lead. After
a short time, Feather's arms went numb and she
dropped the umbrella. Ryouga turned at the noise and
smiled at her.
"Now we do push ups." Ryouga dropped and did
about thirty push ups while still wearing his
pack. "Do as many as you can without going to your
knees Feather." After only a few pushups, she
collapsed into the dirt. "Now do as many as you can
from your knees." Ryouga prodded a bit to get
her moving again. This time she did a few more
before collapsing. "OK Feather, now we are going to
do sit-ups..." For most of the day, Ryouga had
Feather doing calisthenics, and other exercise to
start training her in martial arts. He then showed
her some of the basic moves.
By the time night fell, Feather was completely
exhausted. They had only done some basic moves
and stances, but Ryouga was encouraging her like she
was trying to master a difficult technique.
When Ryouga called it quits for the night, Feather
collapsed against a tree, and watched as he
tirelessly set up the camp. ::How does he just keep
on going like that?:: she thought, ::He fights a
battle, carries all this insanely heavy stuff, and
matches me exercise for exercise, and still moves
easily at the end of the day::
"Just how strong are you Ryouga?" Feather
asked as Ryouga casually picked up a rather large
rock to make room for the tent.
"Um, I'm not sure." He dropped the rock, and
rubbed the back of his head, "But I did tear a
telephone pole out of the ground once." Feather was
shocked into silence at that, and Ryouga
continued to set up camp.
They stayed at that spot for several days.
While foraging for food, Feather came across a
stream and offered to clean their clothes. Ryouga
hid in the tent while Feather strode around the
woods nymph-like, to attend to cleaning the clothes,
and herself. She did pop her wings out of her
back, and used them as a kind of cloak. It didn't do
much for keeping her warm, but it did do a lot
for her modesty. Once the clothes were dry again,
Ryouga continued to train Feather in martial
arts. She was clumsy and slow at first, but as she
gained confidence, her form improved. Even if
she was still no match for most martial artists, she
could probably hold her own against an unskilled
opponent. By the end of the week, their food supply
was running low, and Feather said she
desperately needed a good long, hot bath. They
closed up the camp, and started to run for what they
thought was Tokyo. Little did they know, they were
approaching Osaka...
Three weeks had passed, and there was still no
sign of Ryouga or Feather at the Tendo dojo.
Akane and Ranma were sparring in the dojo itself.
Ranma's leg had healed quickly, and he had had Dr.
Tofu remove the stitches a few days ago, and now it
seemed that his leg was fully healed. Ranma was
jumping around the inside of the dojo like some kind
of insane grasshopper, while Akane was trying
her best to keep up, and maybe get a hit in, but he
was just too fast.
After a little while, they stopped. Sitting
on the steps to the dojo, they heard the sound
of impending doom. Bicycle bells. Suddenly very
nervous, Ranma was looking around, but he saw
nothing. Then they heard the bell again. Ranma
jumped forward suddenly and rolled across the lawn.
In the place he had just vacated, Shampoo had landed
with her bike.
"Nihao Ranma!" She jumped off her bike, and
ran towards Ranma, "Ranma, you take Shampoo on
date, yes? Leg all better now, so show Shampoo good
time yes?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him.
"Aw come on Shampoo, you know I'm not
interested," Ranma said while backing up, holding up
his
hands, trying his best to ward her off, and hoping
that Akane wouldn't blow her top.
"Wo ai ni!" Shampoo said as she glomped
tightly onto Ranma.
"Come on Shampoo, get offa me!" Ranma saw
Akane approaching angrily, "No wait Akane! It's not
what it looks like, she just keeps grabbing onto me!
I swear I didn't do nothing!" He tries
desperately to pull away from Shampoo, to no avail.
He sweats nervously as he watches Akane slowly
summon her mallet from hammer-space, and heft it with
a wicked looking scowl.
"Will you stop doing that!!" She screams as
she flattens Ranma with her mallet. And, almost
as an afterthought, she tried to flatten Shampoo as
well, but the amazon had jumped clear.
"What you do that for? Shampoo only want to be
with husband! Him all better now, so Shampoo
want have date with him! Violent girl have problem
hmmmm?" Shampoo closed her eyes and stuck her
tongue out at Akane. When she opened her eyes she
realized she had made a mistake. All she could
see was the heavy end of the hammer coming towards
her too hard and too fast to avoid. "Aiyaaa!!!!"
Shampoo screamed as Akane's swing sent Shampoo flying
into the distance. "Hmmph, serves you right!"
Akane said to Shampoo's quickly disappearing form.
Catlike, Shampoo twisted in midair, and landed
on her feet. ::How Akane get good all of
sudden?:: Shampoo wondered to herself as she started
walking towards the Nekohanten. She was so
lost in her thoughts, she turned a corner and ran
into someone. "Oh! Shampoo so sorry, didn't see
you... Ryouga?!?" Shampoo's eyes had practically
bugged out of her head when she thought she had run
into a female version of Ryouga. "When you fall in
Nyannichuan? Shampoo thought you fall in spring
of drown black piglet?"
"Ah, I'm sorry, I think there's been a mistake,
you see I'm not Ryouga." Feather giggled at
the look on Shampoo's face. "I'm his student,
Feather" She bowed politely to Shampoo, who was
still
too stunned to react. "As for the clothes, well I
didn't have anything presentable, so he loaned
these to me."
"But you have Ryouga pack, and umbrella. Where
Ryouga at?"
Feather held up a little black pig that had a
resigned look on his face. "Right here, an old
woman splashed him on our way, and I haven't gotten
him any hot water yet." Feather giggled as she
hugged P-chan to her chest, causing a slight
nosebleed. Feather had found out about Ryouga's
curse
along their "Training journey" and found it quite
amusing. Plus P-chan was just too cute!
"Aiyaah, you girl Ranma rescue while back?"
Feather nodded, "You no look like you have wings.."
Shampoo crossed her arms skeptically, "You sure wings
not prop bad man glue on back? Shampoo no
fool." Feather giggled as she put down Ryouga's
pack.
"Here, I'll show you..." Feather arched her
back for effect, and was satisfied by the shocked
expression on Shampoo's face when her deep purple
wings shot out of her back. Fortunately, she was
wearing Ryouga's sleeveless muscle shirt, and it's
neck was large enough to become basically
backless. Of course, Feather had carefully used the
belt to secure it that way.
"Aiyah! That neat trick, where you learn to do
that?" Shampoo asked, amazed. Feather blushed
and looked away.
"I'd rather not talk about it, OK?" She said in
a low tone. "It's not something I like to
think about." Trying to change the subject, Feather
looked back at Shampoo, "Anyway, could you tell
me how to get to the Tendo dojo from here? I'm still
a little lost from running around with Ryouga
for so long." Her stomach chose this moment to
complain about being empty. Feather looked
embarrassed while Shampoo giggled.
"Why not you come to Nekohanten with Shampoo?
Feed you good food in exchange for talk about
what happen to you recently!" Shampoo said smiling,
"Maybe tell Shampoo whole story yes?"
"Well, maybe. No pork OK?" Feather said while
P-chan nodded vigorously. This made Shampoo
giggle.
"No pork, Shampoo promise!" She said as she
turned to lead Feather to the Nekohanten.
"Shampoo also think it good idea to drop pig in bath.
Keep great-grandmother from trying to cook him
again." Shampoo giggled at the memory. Feather
giggled as well. It did not take them long to reach
the Nekohanten. When Shampoo opened the door, they
noticed that it was empty, save a shriveled old
woman that appeared to be sitting on the counter.
"Great-grandmother, I home!" Shampoo called
out. "Shampoo also bring girl that Husband
rescue, and Ryouga. They hungry, so Shampoo invite
them for dinner!" Cologne looked over at Feather
appraisingly. Feather flushed a little at the
scrutiny the old woman gave her, so she tried to
cover
it up by bowing.
"It's an honor to meet you, ancient one."
Feather said as she bowed. Cologne chuckled a
little.
"Seems she knows her manners, oh but where's
mine? Come in and have a seat." She gestured
with her ever present staff towards a chair near the
counter.
"Um, could I get some hot water for Ryouga? He
feels a-lot better being human during meals"
"Certainly child. Shampoo!" She commanded,
"Go fetch the kettle, and a towel."
"Yes great-grandmother" Shampoo scurried off to
obey the order.
"Now young lady, what's your name?" Cologne
puffed at her pipe briefly, "And please, tell me
your story." Feather started to recount her tale to
Cologne. During the story, Shampoo returned
with a kettle for Ryouga. After he had changed back,
he scrambled into his clothes as quickly as
possible. When Feather was about halfway done,
Shampoo returned from the kitchen with some Dim-sum
and rice. Feather stopped talking to wolf down the
food.
"Ah, that was delicious!" Feather exclaimed
after clearing her plate. Ryouga only nodded his
agreement, as he was still eating. Feather finished
telling her story to Cologne over some tea.
"So, Ryouga took it upon himself to train you,"
Feather nodded, her eyes shining, "How good
have you gotten so far?" Cologne looked at Feather
appraisingly. Feather blushed at the scrutiny,
but she still answered.
"I've gotten a lot better since we started.
Ryouga doesn't chide me for messing up my kata
anymore, and I'm a lot more flexible. Not to mention
stronger."
"In other words, you feel your still a rank
beginner."
"That's rather blunt, but yes. I'm nowhere
near as good as Ryouga right now," She perked up a
little, "But I'm a fast learner!"
"Care to have me appraise your skill? I'd like
to see just how well a once-time student of
mine can train someone." Without waiting for an
answer, Cologne hopped out the back on her staff.
Feather followed, with Ryouga and Shampoo close
behind. Feather absently wondered exactly how good
such an old woman could be as she made her way to the
backyard.
Feather and Cologne faced off in the yard, and
Feather decided she would need to stretch a
little before the match. After a few stretches,
Feather faced Cologne and bowed. Cologne merely
raised an eyebrow. This irritated Feather a little,
as she dropped into an offensive stance.
Feather tried to sweep the staff out from under the
old woman, and was surprised when her opponent
was no longer there. Cologne landed on the back of
Feather's head, and hopped away.
"Why you!" Feather turned quickly to face her
opponent, the back of her head smarting from the
blow. Feather tried to fake a low kick, in order to
lure her opponent into a punch, but Cologne
merely sweeped her feet out from under her. Feather
rolled backwards and stood quickly, looking for
a follow up blow.
"Don't overbalance like that," Cologne
admonished, "You left yourself wide open." Feather
rushed the old woman, and tried to hit her with a
rapid series of punches. Cologne's staff became a
blur, and every single blow was blocked. Cologne
popped up right in the face of her opponent and
tapped her forehead with her staff. Feather flew
backwards, and looked as if she would smash into
the wall. However, she snapped her wings out and
used them to brake, and flip over to land on her
feet. Just as quick as she had brought them out,
she had dismissed them. Cologne raised an eyebrow
at this.
"Interesting, you could use those to a
possible advantage, but would rather fight on what
you think are even terms." Feather merely nodded, as
she was starting to breath heavily. Cologne
launched herself at Feather, and attacked rapidly
with her staff. Feather tried desperately to dodge
all the blows, but was not doing that well. Cologne
slammed Feather to the ground with her staff.
With a quick roll, Feather was behind the old woman,
and she attempted a desperate attack. Cologne
didn't even turn around, but she blocked or dodged
all of the attacks. Feather took a few steps
back, and collapsed to her knees in defeat.
"Well now, you didn't to that badly," Cologne
said, hopping over to the exhausted girl.
Ryouga had also stood and moved next to Feather.
"Didn't do that bad?!?" Feather practically
shouted, "I didn't even come close to hitting you,
and you say not bad?"
"Considering you've been training for less than
a month, and having never trained before in
your life, I must say that you have gained a fair
amount of skill in such a short time!" Her tone
was sharp, and Feather looked up from the ground.
"You have potential, but you are way too slow!
Your little trick with your wings proved that you are
capable of thinking quickly, now you need to
apply that to your body as well." Feather nodded
slowly, the blood still roaring in her ears from
the first blow. Cologne turned to Ryouga, "Not bad
Ryouga, not bad at all. Have her come back here
in another month or so, and I'll see how well she is
making progress," Ryouga gaped at Cologne for a
second, as if he couldn't believe she had
complimented him on his teaching. "You may want to
have
her train under Ranma for a bit of work on her speed.
Her basic forms are spot on, but they don't
seem to be coming naturally to her. Don't be afraid
to push her to her limits!" Ryouga nodded,
"Now, why don't we go in and freshen up. I'm afraid
you don't smell that ladylike right now
Feather." Feather blushed fiercely as she stood and
went inside.
About an hour or so later, Ryouga and Feather
strode away from the Nekohanten. After they
had walked a few blocks, Feather spoke, "So, you
actually trained under her for a while?"
Ryouga nodded, "It was rigorous training for a
technique known as Bauksai-tenketsu, or the
breaking point. It was a difficult technique to
learn, and even after going through that training,
Ranma still beat me."
"You really have a grudge against Ranma huh?
You two seemed to get along fine that night..."
Feather looked thoughtful as they continued walking.
"Ranma has been the source of limitless
suffering to me, first he ran out on his duel to
China,
then he knocked me into Jusenkyo, and even that
wasn't enough for him! Now he stands between me and
Akane!" Ryouga clenched his teeth. "But even after
all that, I'm beginning to think that I fight
with Ranma because he's the only other one around
that is around my level of ability" Ryouga looked
towards the sky, "You know, when we were in junior
high, he used to lead me back and forth from
school. That was the only time in my life I felt
even close to being like other normal guys" Ryouga
closed his eyes to better see his memories. "But the
solitude after he left was too much to bear,
and not only that, but we didn't have our fight."
"What about your parents? Weren't they around
for you?" Feather asked with some concern in
her voice. Ryouga sadly shook his head.
"They get lost just as easily as I do. I was
lucky to see them once or twice a month. I
haven't seen my father in over a year now, and just
about the same for mom." Ryouga opened his eyes
and looked forward with determination. "That hasn't
hurt as much since I met Akane. Before I met
her, I was sure that no girl would ever look my way.
They used to always laugh at me because I got
lost, but Akane has never laughed at me for that..."
"Man, the way you keep going on and on about
Akane you'd think you had a crush on her"
Feather laughed at this, but was silenced by the
desperate look on Ryouga's face. "Aww Ryouga, don't
take it so hard" She stopped Ryouga. They were
standing on a grassy hillside, overlooking Furinkan
High. A gentle breeze blew, causing Feather's red
locks to swirl around her. "There is at least one
other girl out there that thinks you're a great guy"
she said as she looked him in the eye.
"Huh? Who? I don't know anyone else who
thinks like that about me." Ryouga asked, startled,
and starting to get nervous.
Feather leaned forward and hugged Ryouga, "You
big dummy, I'm talking about me" She hugged him
tightly and kissed him on the lips, and at the same
time, pinched his nose so he wouldn't bleed all
over her. Ryouga didn't get a nosebleed, but he did
promptly faint. "Dummy" Feather whispered again
as she sat down next to his crumpled form to watch
the sunset.
Well, that's all for Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is in the works
right now, but it may be some time before it's done. Please
E-mail me with any comments and criticism, as I enjoy
hearing from everyone who has read my work!
ryouga1100@hotmail.com
