All characters, save Feather, are the copyrighted work of
Rumiko Takahashi, and are used without permision purely for
entertainment value. In other words, I ain't selling, you
ain't buying, and everyone is happy right? That having been
said, let us proceed with the third chapter of A Feather in the
Wind.
_______________________________________________________________
Chapter 3
As the sun set upon the horizon, Feather sat
next to an unconscious Ryouga. She leaned back,
enjoying the simple beauty of the sunset.
Eventually, Ryouga regained consciousness again, and
they
set out to find their goal, the Tendo Dojo.
"We're in the right town," Ryouga said as
they started out, "if our luck holds, we will be
standing on the Tendo's doorstep before nightfall."
"What makes you say that? I'm not sure exactly
of where we are."
"You see that school?" Ryouga pointed at
Furinkan High, when Feather nodded he continued,
"That's the school Akane goes to. The path between
that school and the Tendo dojo is marked by signs
of battle." He rubbed the back of his head, "I don't
hold back whenever I fight Ranma, and he has
other enemies that attack him on a regular basis as
well. Ranma has a tendency to leave them
imbedded in walls, so all we have to do is follow the
damage and we can't lose!" Ryouga looked
impressed with himself. Feather snorted and crossed
her arms.
"And how, pray tell, do we decide which way to
go from the gate?" Feather asked, with just a
touch of sarcasm in her voice. Ryouga made a
guttural noise and jerked forward a little. He
looked
sheepishly over at Feather and put his hand to the
back of his head.
"I guess we'll flip a coin, we'll have a fifty
fifty shot anyways." Feathers face started to
turn red with anger, then suddenly she laughed.
Ryouga started to laugh with her as they headed
towards the front gates to the school. Neither of
them noticed a black-cloaked man following them.
The man spoke briefly into a walkie-talkie, and
turned to continue his surveillance. A small
embroidered patch of a viper encircling a blade could
be seen on his shirt.
When Ryouga and Feather reached the gate, they
stopped and flipped a coin. They turned to the
left and started to run. After only running for a
few minutes, they saw what looked like a body
print in a wall. Ryouga grinned hugely. "Judging by
the shape of that hole, Mousse decided to
attack Ranma today." Feather was panting when she
replied.
"How do you know it was today?"
"Simple, with all the fights going on,
construction companies have gotten real efficient.
The
holes from today's fight will be filled in by
morning." And as if to prove Ryouga's point, a pick-
up
pulled up to the hole and two men jumped out. One of
them started to gather the pieces of the wall,
while the other started to mix concrete. Feather
gaped at how quickly and quietly they worked.
"That's amazing!" She gasped out. She was
hurting from her fight with Cologne, but she didn't
want to admit it to Ryouga. But her muscles
complained constantly about their use, and her breath
was getting short. Suddenly she tripped, and it
looked to her like she was going to smash headfirst
into a pole. She closed her eyes and waited for the
inevitable contact.... but it never came. She
opened her eyes and looked around. Ryouga, without
even breaking stride, had picked her up and was
still running. She was so out of breath that she
wasn't even able to thank him, so instead she just
wrapped her arms around his neck and relaxed.
"I knew it!" Ryouga shouted as he turned a
corner, following some broken chains. Up ahead was
the Dojo, and the gates were open with Mr. Tendo
sweeping in front. At Ryouga's shout, Mr. Tendo
looked their way, and Feather waved to him. He
waited for the teenagers to stop in front of him to
speak.
"Well now, Hello Ryouga, I'm glad to see you
made it back. Looks like you and Feather had a
good time on your little trip." Mr. Tendo said as
Ryouga put Feather back on her feet. He winked at
Ryouga before he turned and called into the house,
"Kasumi! We have guests for dinner!"
"Yes Father!" Was Kasumi's only response.
"I hope we're not to much of a bother.."
Feather started to say, but was interrupted by Mr.
Tendo putting an arm around her shoulders and leading
them in.
"Nonsense! We really want to know more about
you, and now that you're here, you can tell us"
He grinned hugely, "We've been worried about you
since that night, the only one who wasn't was Ranma.
He kept saying that there was no way Ryouga was going
to let you get hurt. I'm glad to see that his
faith in his friend was well placed" Mr. Tendo was
practically blabbering as he led them into the
dining room. Nabiki was sitting there reading a
stock report. She looked up as they entered the
room.
"Well well well, look what daddy found!" She
smiled a little, "Don't you too just look so cute
together." Feather blushed, and Ryouga looked fairly
uncomfortable as they sat down at the table.
"Don't spare me the details, tell me what happened"
Feather gently punched Ryouga in the arm. He
looked startled for a second, then he started to
talk.
"After Feather had passed out, I carried her as
I ran from those reporters. She didn't wake up
again until a day later. By then, I was outside
Osaka. After she woke up, I loaned her my spare
clothes, and we walked into the city...." Ryouga
continued relating their tale as the rest of the
Tendos and the Saotomes filtered into the room and
listened intently. When he was finished, Ranma
smirked a bit.
"What did I tell you?" Ranma grinned at Akane,
"Like I said, he's just too pig headed to have
let anything happen to her," Ryouga glared at him for
a second, but subsided when he realized that
this was just Ranma's way of complimenting him.
Ranma looked at Feather, "So, Ryouga's started to
train you huh?" Feather nodded and Ranma grinned.
"How good have you gotten?"
"Ranma!" Akane glared at him, "She's only been
training for a month! Don't be too harsh on
her, even if Ryouga is a great teacher." She thought
back to when Ryouga had trained her for the
rhythmic gymnastics tournament, and more recently,
helping to train her for her rematch with Natsume
and Kanumi.
"I'm still not that great," Feather said
softly, "But Shampoo's great-grandmother said I had
potential," Feather brightened at this. "She did
say something about how my form didn't seem to be
coming naturally to me, though." Feather looked
thoughtful, as did Ranma and Ryouga. Suddenly Ranma
snapped his fingers.
"Of course! Feather, show me the stances that
Ryouga first taught you..." Feather stood and
demonstrated. Ranma nodded, "Yeah, those stances are
well suited to someone who uses a lot of
strength in every strike. What may work better for
you would be..." Ranma stood and showed Feather a
slightly different stance, showing her to roll
forward on her toes a little, and flex her knees just
a bit differently. "There, is that a lot easier?" he
asked as Feather tried the stance he had just
demonstrated for her.
"Wow! This feels a whole lot more natural!"
Feather exclaimed. Ryouga looked at Ranma with a
hateful glare. Ranma noticed this and started to
sweat.
"Not that the stance Ryouga taught you was
bad," Ranma stammered out, "It's just that he
didn't seem to realize that you are a lot lighter.
You should still be able to execute the same
moves from that stance, just try and do them a little
faster. You may be surprised at the results!"
Ranma sat down, and Ryouga leaned next to him to
whisper.
"How did you know that stance was going to work
better for her?" He practically hissed into
Ranma's ear.
"Simple," Ranma replied, "I have to use a
different stance when I'm a girl 'cus my balance is
different. Even Akane could've told you that that
stance pulls a girl off balance." Ryouga looked
stupefied.
"How come I didn't run into that kind of
problem whenever I helped train Akane?" Ryouga
asked.
"She already knew her stances stupid."
"What did you call me?" Ryouga started to
steam at the casual way Ranma insulted him.
"What are you two whispering about?" Akane
asked as she leaned towards them, curious.
"N n nnothing Akane!" Ryouga stammered,
abruptly sitting up straight. Ryouga continued to
look excessively nervous while Akane was looking his
way.
"What's the matter P-chan? Can't admit you
learned something from me?" Ranma taunted. He
backed up a little when Ryouga bared his teeth and
then lunged for him.
"You're dead Saotome!" he yelled as he threw
Ranma out into the yard.
"Cut it out both of you!" Akane practically
yelled as she scrambled to get up and separate the
two "friends". Akane was about to rush into the
melee, when the two suddenly stopped fighting, and
just stood looking at each other. Confused, Akane
went to stand next to Ryouga.
"What happened?" She asked him. When Ryouga
didn't answer, Akane looked at him in concern.
She noticed that he was staring rather intently, but
not in hatred at Ranma. She followed his gaze
and smiled a little. At the far side of the lawn,
Feather had been standing, watching the fight with
a faint look of disapproval. Akane walked quickly
over to Feather. When she got close, she could
see a bit of a tear forming in the corner of the red-
heads eye. "Come on Feather, you look like you
need some rest," Akane said, gently trying to guide
the girl inside.
"But Ranma and Ryouga," Feather started to say,
but was interrupted by Akane.
"Neither of them will admit it, but they're
good friends. I think they fight like this to keep
their edge. They are both really proud, and had
started out as rivals," Akane smiled at the shorter
girl, "But with everything they have been through,
they have become friends, and they seem to show it
to each other by demonstrating his skill... on each
other." Feather giggled at Akane's viewpoint.
Especially since she heard the battle restart after
they had left.
"My interfering has also become part of the
game they play. I try to stop them, and it spurs
them on even more." she giggled at that. "Come on
Feather, you can tell me about your wings while
they work out..." Akane didn't notice Feather
getting very nervous.
::It's not like I don't want to tell her,::
Feather thought, ::But I can't remember anything
before last year!:: Feather continued to think about
how she would get around telling Akane about
her past, unawares of the man watching the dojo from
the tree.
A while later, Ranma and Ryouga were sitting in
the dojo, utterly exhausted, and both a bit
bruised. Their clothes were torn, and each felt pain
in their ribs as they tried to breath.
"It's not over yet Saotome!" Ryouga stood,
albeit unsteadily.
"That's right, pig boy!" Ranma also stood, and
he was grinning widely, "We haven't gotten each
other wet yet!"
"Ha! You're not getting me this time Ranma!"
Ryouga grinned as he hefted a fire pail. Ranma
grinned and revealed a water pistol. The air between
them was thick with the tension, and neither of
them moved. A single bead of sweat fell off of
Ranma's chin as he suddenly raised the water gun and
squeezed the trigger. Seeing the motion, Ryouga
hurled the contents of the bucket at Ranma, and did
his best to dodge the thin stream of water Ranma was
sending his way. With a loud splash, a pig and
a girl looked at each other from different sides of
the dojo, then the girl collapsed laughing, while
P-chan did a piggish equivalent.
Only a few seconds later, they were both young
men again, thanks to a steaming kettle,
thoughtfully left behind by the eldest of the Tendo
sisters.
"Whoo! I haven't had that much fun since,
oh, I'd say that little trip to Togenkyo!" Ranma
laughed out. Ryouga merely grinned as he squeezed
out his shirt. "Practicing with Feather sure has
improved you since the last time pig-boy!"
"Heh, and I suppose that you don't think that
not being able to fight for almost a month didn't
hurt your abilities? You've gotten soft Ranma! Your
chestnut fist was slower than usual!" Ryouga
beamed at Ranma.
"Hah yourself Ryouga!" Ranma replied, still
grinning ear to ear, "Your baksai tenketsu took a
whole second to work, and even then the rock barely
shattered. What's wrong? Lose your focus?
Maybe you left it with your sense of direction!"
Ryouga glared at Ranma, who returned the look.
After a few seconds of mock anger, they both
collapsed laughing again.
"It's good to have you back around Ryouga! I
needed a distraction so badly," he rolled his
eyes a bit, "Shampoo has redoubled her efforts since
that night, Kodachi is as crazy as ever, and
Akane's had to fight off Kuno at almost every street
corner." Ryouga grunted a bit at the news.
"What about Ukyou?" He asked.
"That's the funny part Ryouga," Ranma
scratched his head, "Every time she comes over, I
think
she's going to glomp onto me, but instead, she just
seems to want to help Akane get through what
happened. Of course, she would still bring over a
'get well' okonomiaki every day. But like I said,
she's just been helping to keep Shampoo and Kodachi
offa me, and Kuno and anyone else offa Akane.
Ever since she came over the day after I got shot,
she's been like that, even now when my leg is
fully healed, she's still acting like that." Ranma
shook his head, then looked out at the darkening
sky. "It's kinda nice, and Akane seems to enjoy
having Ukyou as a friend, but what will happen when
I tell Ukyou that I don't want to marry her..."
Ranma and Ryouga face-faulted as Genma and Mr.
Tendo came out of nowhere and crowded around
Ranma.
"Is it true son?" Mr. Tendo asked, tears in
his eyes, "You really want to marry my Akane that
badly?" Ranma squirmed within their grip.
"Hey waitaminnit! That ain't what I said! Who
said I wanted to marry that un-cute tomboy
anyways!" Ranma yelled as he struggled. Mr. Tendo
wailed and grabbed Ranma's shoulders while bowing
his head. Genma moved next to his son with his fist
raised angrily.
"Is this how you show your gratitude boy? This
marriage goes beyond personal wants and
desires!" He yelled in his sons ears. Ryouga stood,
unnoticed. "It's about carrying on the
anything goes school of martial arts!"
"Oh yeah?!? Well Akane and I think our
feelings have an awful lot going into this pop!"
Ranma
yelled as Ryouga took a step forward.
"Put aside your anger! Akane is such a sweet
young girl! You should be proud to have her as a
fiancee, and you would be even more proud to have her
as your wife!" Genma countered, knowing his
son's true feelings for Akane, and was using them
against his son. Ryouga's battle aura flared.
"She can't cook, she's violent, stubborn as a
mule, twice as strong!" Ranma fled behind the
cover of the insults. Out of the corner of his eye,
Ranma noticed a green glare. Glancing over, he
noticed Ryouga was approaching them angrily.
"Wait Ryouga!" Ranma starts to panic, since it
looked like Ryouga was getting ready to do a
full shi shi hokkkodan. Ryouga seemingly ignored
Ranma's shout and charged them. Seeing an
uncontrollable Ryouga approaching them rapidly, Genma
and Mr. Tendo scrambled to get out of the way.
Ryouga ignored them as he flying tackled Ranma into
the yard. Before Ranma could recover, Ryouga had
grabbed the back of his shirt and jumped over the
wall and dragged him down the street.
"Whoa Ryouga! Slow down man!" Ranma
desperately twisted around, trying to get Ryouga to
release his grip. Suddenly, Ryouga stopec and let go
of Ranma's shirt. They were at the bank of the
river next to the bridge. Ranma stood and looked at
Ryouga. "Ryouga, what's gotten into you?"
Ryouga looked wistfully up at the now dark sky.
"Ranma, I, I think I'm starting to get over
Akane."
"WHAT?!?!" Ranma yelled as he face faulted.
Ryouga turned and looked at the ground.
"When your father and Mr. Tendo were talking
about you marrying Akane, I didn't get the same
kind of pain in my heart. It was almost as if,"
Ryouga paused as he looked up, "It felt more like
that happy-sad feeling you get when you see a sister
or brother married I think." Ryouga suddenly
grabbed Ranma's shoulders. "Be good to Akane Ranma.
I, I don't think I'll be getting in your way
anymore." Ranma just looked at him in shock. Ryouga
sighed and sat down. "Your objections to Akane
still wound me Ranma, but, they don't infuriate my
like they used too." Ranma's mind was still
reeling from the implications behind Ryouga's words.
He sat down next to Ryouga.
"What made you change your mind?"
"I think it started when you dragged Akane and
Feather into my house. The way Akane looked at
you while you were passed out, her cry of despair
when she realized that you were badly hurt, the way
she was locked in her mind after you were taken to
the hospital. She loves you Ranma," Ryouga
looked over at his rival/friend, a sad look on his
face, "Don't make her wait too long, I might kill
you for that." Ranma started to object, but didn't
say anything when he saw the expression on
Ryouga's face. They sat in silence for a few
minutes, then Ranma spoke.
"So, what are you going to do now Ryouga? If
you think you're over Akane, are you going to try
and find your way home?" Ryouga shrugged.
"I thought about that, but it's fun watching
you squirm around your fiancees. Also, our fights
are making us stronger." Ranma nodded.
"Yeah, like when you figured out the shi-shi
hokkudan, I figured out the mouko takabisha. And
you seem to be stronger and stronger each time we
fight. Your one guy who keeps me on my toes!"
"And someday Ranma, I will defeat you! But
this time, it won't be about Akane. It will be
about our skills!" Ryouga took on a determined
expression.
"Hah! That'll be the day!" Ranma laughed,
"The day you defeat me in a fair fight is the day
I'll kiss Kuno!" Ryouga gagged at Ranma's remark,
but then he grinned.
"I hope you don't take those words to heart
Ranma." Ranma looked at the stars again.
"So, you and Feather making plans yet?" Ranma
asked nonchalantly.
"What do you mean, plans?" Ryouga asked, his
heart suddenly aching.
"I saw how you look at her man. It's the same
look you used to give to Akane. I just figured
that since you two were out training together for a
month, she might also be feeling something for
you.."
"If only I was that lucky Ranma." Ryouga
sighed. "She seems to be haunting my dreams now,
but, I can't get it together enough to ask her out or
anything. When I look in those eyes of hers
I...." Ryouga stops, embarrassed.
"I know what you mean. I get the same way
whenever Akane smiles at me. Not that smile when
she's about to clobber me, but that smile she has
whenever I do the right thing." Ranma started to
fiddle with the grass. "But, before I can say
anything to her, either pops or Mr. Tendo show up out
of nowhere, and they try to force us." The grass
he's playing with was forcefully ripped out of the
ground. "And then we close up again. I get so tired
of it all, that I want to grab Akane and run
for the horizon, maybe getting lost somewhere and
then we would be able to actually talk without
being idiots." Ryouga looked at his friend in
sympathy. Then he stood up.
"It's late Ranma, you want to lead me back to
the dojo? I kinda want a warm bed tonight." As
if to punctuate his words, the wind started to blow,
chilling them both. Ranma stood without a word
and led Ryouga down the streets of Nerima. When they
where about halfway back, Ranma spoke.
"Hey, does she know?"
"Know what Ranma?" Ryouga asked, confused.
Ranma rolled his eyes.
"About P-chan. Does she know that your the
pig." Ryouga nodded.
"She found out about two weeks ago. She thinks
it's cute, and doesn't seem to mind at all,"
Ryouga flushed a bit at the memory.......
They were running alongside a highway, side by
side. A recent rainstorm had left puddles
alongside the road. Ryouga was dodging the puddles,
and encouraging Feather to leap over them,
rather than go around.
"Think of it as training. If you can jump over
the puddles without landing in any of them, you
will have made an improvement." Ryouga demonstrated
by jumping over a particularly large one with
apparent ease. Feather tried to jump over, but when
she saw she was going to land a bit short, she
snapped her wings out and flew to where Ryouga was
standing.
"Don't take the easy way out Feather!" Ryouga
chided her, "If you don't make the jump, you get
wet. If you make it, you stay dry." Downcast,
Feather walked around the puddle, and then backed up
a few paces to get a running start. She swallowed
hard and then started to run. She jumped right at
the edge of the puddle, and it looked like she would
make it. However, she came up about half a foot
short, splashing water all over the place.
"Oh, Ryouga! I'm sorry did I get you wet?"
Feather looked all over, but the only sign of
Ryouga was his pack, and some rumpled clothes. Then
something under the clothes started to move.
Curious, Feather leaned closer, and was greeted by
the sight of a small black pig wriggling free of
the clothes.
"How cute!" She exclaimed as she picked the
pig up out of Ryouga's clothes. She hugged it
tightly to her chest, and was rewarded with a gusher
of blood coming from the pig's snout. "Hey!
What's the matter with you pig? And why do you have
Ryouga's bandanna.... Bandanna? Nosebleed?
Ryouga?!?!?" Feather looked at the pig again, and it
looked like the pig nodded ever so slightly.
The pig squealed a little, and rubbed the side of his
head with one hoof.
"How on earth?" Feather was confused. The pig
wriggled in her arms, trying to get free.
Feather put the pig down and kneeled in front of it.
"Well, are you Ryouga or aren't you?" The pig
responded by scratching the words 'hot water' in the
dirt.
"You are Ryouga!" Feather exclaimed, as P-
chan nodded vigorously. "And I guess you mean by
writing hot water, that that's what it takes to turn
you back!" P-chan nodded even more vigorously.
Feather frantically dug through Ryouga's pack,
looking for the 'camping man's helper'(TM) and a pot
or anything to heat water in. In short order, she
had dug out the mini stove, a pot, and had scooped
up some rain water to be heated. Not knowing how hot
it needed to be, she had boiled the water.
"Here you go!" She said cheerfully as she
tossed the pot full of boiling water on Ryouga.
"OWW!! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!" Ryouga danced
around in pain from the scalding water, but
avoided the cold water like the plague. Feather
blushed as she watched a naked Ryouga dance around.
Suddenly Ryouga stopped, and he looked over at
Feather as he belatedly tried to cover himself. His
face, and a good portion of his chest turned red as
he fell face first onto the ground.
"That was a good one Ryouga!" Ranma laughed at
his story. Ryouga got red faced with his
anger.
"Shut up Ranma! That isn't something to laugh
about!" Ryouga yelled.
"But it's so funny! I mean you, teaching
someone to jump, over cold water, knowing that if
they fail, you would become P-chan!" Ranma continued
to laugh.
"I said shut up!" Ryouga retorted with quite a
bit of anger in his voice "It ain't funny at
all!"
They continued on to the dojo, Ryouga was still
fuming a bit, and Ranma was chuckling at him.
The star filled night was so peaceful, they felt like
nothing could go wrong now. Kasumi greeted
them at the gate.
"Why hello you two." Kasumi greeted them
cheerfully, "Your just in time for dinner, why don't
you go and freshen up a bit." Kasumi smiled at them,
and then went into the kitchen to start serving
the food. Feather and the rest of the Tendos were
already at the table when Ranma and Ryouga sat
down. Feather was looking distinctly uncomfortable,
but as soon as Ryouga was in sight, she visibly
relaxed. Akane caught Ranma's eye and winked. Soon,
everyone was too busy eating the delicious meal
set before them to do anything else. After the meal,
the two fathers retired to their usual spot to
play shogi, while Feather offered to help clean up
afterwards. Kasumi gently, but firmly, told her
that guests should not have to help in the kitchen.
Ranma, Ryouga, Feather, and Akane sat around the
living room. Akane was telling the bandanna clad duo
about what happened around the dojo for the
last month. Akane carefully omitted about how she
was so worried about Ranma that she had lost sleep
over him.
"Feather," Akane asked, "How come you keep
avoiding the subject when I ask you about your
past?" Akane gazed at the suddenly nervous girl.
Feather fidgeted for a few minutes, trying to
think of a way around that topic. "Well?" Akane
urged gently. Feather stopped fidgeting, and just
bowed her head. Ryouga looked worried as he shook
Feather's shoulder.
"Hey! You OK?" he asked. Feather's head
snapped up, her eyes full of tears.
"I don't remember okay?!?" she screeched as
she quickly stood and left the room. Outside, a
man made a triumphant report into his walkie talkie,
and he stealthily left. Inside, three young
martial artists looked at each other, and then dashed
after Feather.
"Wait Feather!" Ranma called out, "We couldn't
have known! Come back here!" Feather ignored
him as she quickly threw her shoes on and ran out the
door. "I said come back here!" Ranma and
Ryouga gave quick chase, promptly leaving Akane
behind.
"Honestly," Akane grumbled to herself as she
started walking back to the dojo, "You'd think
she would stick around, huh?" Akane noticed a figure
fleeing the wall near the dojo, trying to stay
lost in the shadows. Akane blinked and she couldn't
see it any more. "Probably just Happosai up to
his usual tricks again." She mumbled as she
reentered the dojo.
Feather ran. She ran from Ranma, Ryouga, and
most importantly, she ran from that blank in her
memory. Her tear filled eyes clouded her vision, and
occasionally, she'd stumble, only to try and
run longer. 'Further, faster, longer, tougher' her
sensei's words haunted her as she ran. She
never noticed when her loose shoes came off, until
she tried to cross some gravel. She sat down in
place and cried. She tried blocking out the rest of
the world, locked in her own misery at not
knowing who she really was. Try as hard as she
might, the first thing she remembered clearly is
working as a fake angel in a carnival side-show. She
originally told them about being like that for
ten years in hopes that they wouldn't ask any more
questions about that. She was wrong.
Ranma and Ryouga heard a girl crying ahead of
them, and they sped up. When they turned a
corner, they were able to see Feather sitting on the
ground crying her eyes out. Both of the young
men stopped in their tracks, not sure about what to
do. Ranma broke out of brain freeze first and
walked up to Feather.
"Hey, come on, stop crying." He tried to
comfort her, "We don't care that you don't remember
anything, just come on back to the dojo OK?" Ranma
looked intently at Feather, and she turned on him
rather suddenly.
"You have no idea what's going on do you?" She
screamed, "I can't remember anything past about
a year ago! I don't even know who my parents are!
I'm cursed like this now. You have no idea what
it's like to be cursed! Ryouga maybe, but you have
no way of knowing how much it hurts to be
different, so different that people would pay money
just to see you for a minute or two. Or so
alone! You at least still have you're parents! I
can't even remember them!" She punctuates each
sentence by advancing on Ranma angrily. Ranma backed
away from her, then looked over at Ryouga.
"I guess there's only one way to make her feel
a bit better about this, eh P-chan?" Ranma said
softly, with a note of resignation.
"Ranma, you don't mean...." Ryouga started to
say, and stopped when Ranma nodded. "I hope
your right Ranma." Ryouga looked around for a
second, and then picked up a discarded cup. It still
had some water in it from a previous rainfall.
"Sorry about the dirty water Ranma." Ryouga said
simply as he poured the water over Ranma's head.
Feather's eyes just about bugged out of her head as
she watched Ranma change suddenly from a well muscled
young man, to a much shorter, bouncy red-headed
girl.
"Wha wha, how, how did you do that?"
Feather's brain went into shock. Ranma-chan grinned
a
little at that.
"You know all about Ryouga and you're asking
how? I've been cursed, much as he has, and it has
made my life difficult. I know about what it's like
to be used by others for profit. There're a few
people that have paid money just to see me for a
moment or two. I'm definitely different from
everyone else, and it's been so long since I've been
able to be with my mom as her son, it tears me
apart every time she comes over." Ranma-chan walked
forward and put her hands on the other girls
shoulders. "I know only too well what it's like to
be cursed. As for the memory, you can talk to
Akane about that, she would understand a lot better
than most people." Ryouga walked up to the
other two, and put in his piece.
"You see Feather, we can relate to what you're
going through. Both of us have had no choice
about some things that have happened to us. Can you
imagine waking up on a dinner platter?" Feather
looked agape at Ryouga who nodded. "More people than
I can count have tried to cook me, but I
survive, and I learn from it. You need to be strong,
and I think we can help."
"What should I do?" Feather was still
sniffling a bit, but allowed the others to start
guiding
her back to the dojo.
"Well, I think Dr. Tofu might like to take a
look at you," Ranma-chan said, "He's dealt with
memory problems before. He's great, as long as
Kasumi ain't around." Ranma-chan shuddered at the
thought.
"What happens when Kasumi is around the
doctor?" Feather inquired, curious about Ranma's
reaction. Ranma shruged a bit.
"The poor guy's so much in love with Kasumi
that he goes nuts when she's around. It's
dangerous to be near him when he's like that."
Ranma-chan said, and they continued walking on to the
dojo in silence. When they reached the dojo, they
saw that Akane was waiting for them at the gate.
"Sure took your time getting back," She
commented acidly. Ryouga and Feather looked
sheepish,
but Ranma-chan was defiant.
"So we took a little while, so what? It's not
my fault that you're too slow to keep up."
Akane fumed, then she grinned maliciously.
"Is that right? Then I guess I won't warn
you." Akane entered the house in a huff.
"Geez, what's her problem?" Ranma-chan muttered
as they walked inside. Right as Ranma-chan
kicked off her shoes, a motherly, and yet frightening
voice hailed her.
"Ranko, it's nice to see you again!" Ranma's
mother, Nodoka, walked around the corner.
"Auntie Saotome!" Ranma-chan tried desperately
to keep her heart from stopping. ::So this is
what Akane meant about warning me...:: "I'm really
glad I could see you again!" Ranma-chan meant
it. Even if she couldn't reveal her true identity to
her mother, she still wanted to be as close to
her as possible. "You missed Ranma again, he went
with his father on another training trip."
"Oh, Akane-chan already told me. I was hoping
to catch them while Ranma's leg was still
healing. I saw what happened on the news, but I was
visiting with my parents and couldn't just
leave. I was so proud of my son, when the reporters
said he had taken a bullet to keep Akane-chan
from getting hurt." Ranma-chan's heart almost broke
when she heard that. Feather almost said
something, but Ryouga clamped his hand over her
mouth. Feather struggled to move his hand, but he
was way too strong for her. She even tried biting
him, but he showed no sign of pain.
"Ryouga-kun! I thought you would be training
with my son. What are you doing here?"
"I, um, I have to stay here and help get
Feather back on her feet, yeah that's it." Ryouga
stammered out nervously. Nodoka just nodded, and
looked intently at Feather.
"Aren't you the girl my son rescued a while
back?" Nodoka leaned forward to look a little
closer at Feather. Ryouga moved his hand to
Feather's shoulder. Feather spared Ryouga a
withering
glance, but then smiled to Nodoka.
"Hi, my name is Feather, it's a pleasure to
meet Ranma's mother! You must be so proud to
have a son like that!"
"I am, but sometimes it seems like his father
has been trying to avoid me.." Nodoka sighed.
"So, have you found your parents yet?"
"It's been so long, I can't even remember
them." Feather said softly. Nodoka looked shocked,
then tried to comfort the girl.
"That's awful! You poor thing..." Nodoka moved
and embraced the girl, "What do you plan on
doing now?"
"Ryouga has started to train me in martial
arts, and Ranma said that he wanted to help before
he left again. I was thinking about looking for a
place to stay for a while, maybe start going to
school again." Nodoka nodded at her, "But I don't
want to go anywhere without Ryouga. The news may
not have said anything about it, but Ranma never
would have made it without his help." Ryouga
blushed and stammered something unintelligible when
Nodoka gave him a startled look.
"You helped my son, Ryouga? That was very kind
of you." Ryouga just rubbed the back of his
head self consciously, and laughed a bit.
"He's been keeping an eye on me for the last
month now, so I feel perfectly safe around him."
Feather giggled, and at that sound, both Ranma and
Ryouga relaxed. They knew she wasn't going to run
off again that night.
They all went to sleep shortly after that.
Feather bunked with Akane, while Ryouga opted to
stay in the same room as Mr. Tendo.
The next morning, Feather felt like she had
been run over by a train. Her muscles, unused to
the amount of exercise she did the previous day, were
all complaining. She did her best not to let
it show, but the others noticed quickly.
"Aren't we a bit sore this morning." Nabiki
remarked as she passed Feather in the hallway
dressed in her school uniform. Feather just gave
Nabiki the look of the long suffering, and
continued to shuffle towards the breakfast table.
Once there, she practically collapsed into her
spot at the table.
"Oh my, Feather are you sore this morning?"
Kasumi asked as she dished out a portion of food
for her. Feather sighed. ::So much for trying to
hide it from these people.::
"Yeah, I guess I overdid it yesterday."
Feather began to eat, ignoring the morning argument
between Akane and Ranma. She was in too much
personal pain to notice them.
"Maybe you should have Akane and Ranko drop you
off at Dr. Tofu's and have him take a look at
you." Kasumi said cheerfully. Nodoka nodded from
where she sat.
"That's a good idea Kasumi, I'd take her there
myself, but I have to leave again."
"So soon? Can't you stay just a bit longer?"
Ranko stopped arguing with Akane long enough to
look pleadingly at her mother. She ignored the
panicked looks a certain panda was giving her.
"I'm sorry Ranko, but I really have to be
going. I'll be back again to try and catch Ranma and
Genma here." Ryouga looked up from his food.
"I'll go with you Feather, you don't look like
you'd be able to keep up with their morning
scramble." Feather looked gratefully at Ryouga.
"Thanks Ryouga, It's always nice to have a
friend along." Ryouga blushed and fidgeted with his
chopsticks, absently breaking them.
After breakfast, they scurried off to Dr.
Tofu's, Ryouga ended up carrying Feather so that she
could keep up. They managed to arrive at Dr. Tofu's
office without incident.
"Good morning Akane, Ranma," Dr. Tofu greeted
them at the door. "How's your leg this morning
Ranma?"
"Good morning Dr. Tofu, my leg is as good as
new, but I do need a bit of hot water, and could
you see a friend of ours?" Ranma-chan said.
"Of course Ranma, you better hurry on to
school, you don't want to be late again this
morning."
He advised as he handed them a kettle he kept handy
for Ranma. Dr. Tofu looked over at Feather and
Ryouga. "Why hello there you two, what can I do for
you this morning?" He asked them pleasantly.
"I think she could use something for sore
muscles doctor," Ryouga said, "She's not in the same
kind of shape Ranma and I are in and she's trying to
train just as hard." Ryouga shrugged.
"Come on in and I'll take a look at you." Dr.
Tofu gestured for them to enter.
Once inside, Dr. Tofu examined Feather
carefully, then applied a salve that he said was a
muscle relaxant. He then proceeded to give her a
massage to help loosen her tense muscles. When he
was done with the massage, Feather decided to ask him
about her memories.
"Doctor, I need to ask you something."
"Go ahead," He said without looking away from
the papers he was filling out.
"I seem to have lost all of my memories
starting a year ago. I can clearly remember back to
a
certain point, but after that, it's a huge blank. Do
you think you can help?" Dr. Tofu gestured for
her to sit in a chair, and he looked over her scalp,
as if he could see her memories as objects.
When he was done looking at her head, he gazed deeply
into her eyes, and asked her to follow his
finger with her eyes. Feather's heart was pounding
in her chest, and she almost screamed just to
break the awful silence that had crept into the room,
when he spoke.
"Someone did something to block your memories.
They didn't leave any of the usual tell tale
signs, but there is definitely something blocking
your memory. Unfortunately, unless we can figure
out exactly what was done, I am unable to reverse it.
All I can do is touch a shiatsu spot that's
supposed to aid a failing memory." He gestured for
her to stand, and then traced his finger along
her side so gently, she thought she was going to
break down laughing. Then he poked his finger into
a spot close to the bottom rib.
"There, that might be able to help. It won't
be apparent right away, but things may start
coming back to you." Dr. Tofu said gently as he
started leading her to the door.
"Thank you Doctor," Feather said as they
reached the waiting room. Ryouga was sitting there,
absently cracking walnuts between his fingers to
amuse an old woman who was also there. When Ryouga
noticed that they had come out, he stood and walked
over to Feather. They continued walking out to
the sidewalk.
"You need to take it easy for today, you
strained a bit past your limits yesterday. You
should
stretch and do your kata, that should keep you from
getting stiff again. Try and avoid getting into
any fights today ok?" Dr. Tofu said as they were
starting to walk away.
"Yes doctor." Feather said as they made their
way down the street. They started walking
slowly, and then Feather looked around. "Umm Ryouga?"
"Yeah?"
"Where are we?" Feather asked looking around
at the different stores and vendors that seemed
to surround them.
"What are you asking me for? How should I
know?" Ryouga replied in a bit of a huff.
"Great, just great. Lost again, and this time
you don't have your pack with you." Ryouga
looked around for someone who might be able to tell
them how to get back to the dojo, when he saw a
sign.
"Perfect, now all we need to do is wait till
school gets out." Ryouga said with confidence as
he strode up to a restaurant that appeared to be
closed.
"What makes you so sure of that Ryouga?"
Feather asked as she came up to stand next to him.
"This place is locked up tight, what makes you think
there's someone here that'll help us out?"
"This is Ukyou's restaurant, and she'll be glad
to help us when she gets out of school."
Ryouga replied, sitting down next to the door.
"But what if someone comes along and tries to
bother us?" Feather asked worriedly. Ryouga
grinned viscously as he spoke.
"Then I get to vent a little bit." Feather
looked a bit shocked. "What's wrong? I'm just a
little upset that were lost, that's all. It's not
like I'm going to kill anyone." Seemingly
mollified, Feather sat down next to Ryouga. She
leaned her head on Ryouga's shoulder, and quickly
fell asleep. Ryouga was vigilant, and did his best
not to disturb Feather no matter what happened.
The day seemed to drag on for Ryouga, and he was
starting to feel extremely uncomfortable when he
noticed something. The sky had gotten dark and it
was starting to look like rain. Almost in a panic
he stood, picked up Feather, and moved them under the
awning at the front of Ucchans. He set Feather
down next to a mailbox, and he leaned against it.
"If it's not one thing, it's another." Ryouga
grumbled, drumming his fingers along the side of
the box. "I wonder when Ukyou allowed this mailbox to
be put here, right in front of her door. Oh
well, makes a good leaning post."
Inside the mailbox, Tsubasa Kuranai was doing
his level best to avoid revealing himself early.
He was laying in wait for his dear, dear Ukyou, and
nothing was going to stop him this time. Not
even some guy who seemed to be purposely doing
everything he could to annoy the heck out of him.
A few minutes later, the rain started to fall,
and Ryouga was glad that the awning was out. He
continued to drum his fingers against the mailbox in
irritation at the wait. Suddenly losing his
patience, Tsubasa popped out of the mailbox and
confronted the jerk who was annoying him.
"Now look here you..... uh oh." Tsubasa had
started to wag a finger at he offender, but then he
realized he was facing off against Ryouga Hibiki, one
of the strongest fighters in Nerima. "Eh,
umm.. Hi there Ryouga. What's up?" Tsubasa giggled
a little, fully into his cute girl act now.
Ryouga glared at him, and Tsubasa tried his best to
look even cuter. Ryouga looked down and started
to chuckle.
"Still after Ukyou, Kuranai?" Ryouga asked,
nonchalantly tossing the remains of the mailbox
away.
"You know how it is, with unrequited love and
all that. I take it you wanted me out of my
disguise so you could talk to me is that it?" Tsubasa
hadn't even noticed Feather's happily asleep
form yet.
"I need someone to take me back to the Tendo
dojo. I have a friend I'm taking care of, and she
really needs to get back there." Ryouga gestured at
Feather, and when Tsubasa started to get all
starry eyed, Ryouga menaced him with his umbrella.
"Don't even think about it." He snarled at the
cross dresser.
"Don't hurt me!" Tsubasa cringed a little,
then spoke "Okay, I'll lead you back to the Tendos,
but if I miss seeing my dear Ukyou because of you,
I'll find a way to make you pay."
Ryouga didn't bother responding to that, he
merely picked up Feather, set his umbrella and
waited for Tsubasa do lead him onwards. Tsubasa
procured an umbrella from somewhere and began to
skip around in the rain, leading Ryouga back to the
dojo. Just as they left, a black cloaked man
stepped out of an alley, and started to follow them.
Akane, Ukyou, and Ranma-chan were hurrying to
the dojo, the rain, having changed Ranma back
into a girl, was already putting Ranma in a bad mood.
It didn't help much that Kuno had accosted
him, claiming that he had ensorcelled his pigtailed
goddess away from him yet again.
"Why did if hafta rain today?" Ranma-chan
complained.
"Don't worry about it too much Ran-chan," Ukyou
said cheerfully, "After all, your mother may
still be there right now." Ranma-chan grumbled a
bit, but inwardly agreed with his friend.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't have to if it wasn't for
that stupid promise pop made." Ranma-chan fell
silent after that, as they were approaching the dojo.
Once they were inside, Ranma-chan noticed an
unusually large potted plant that wasn't there
before. She smirked to herself and waited for the
inevitable. As Ukyou tried to pass the plant, it
abruptly sprouted arms that hugged her tightly, and
Tsubasa's head popped out of the plant as well.
"Oh my dear Ukyou! I would you hold you like
this forever!" he sighed. Ukyou's face went
through several stages of surprise, fear, then anger.
"Tsubasa." She said with deceptive calm as
she reached for her mega-spatula, "Let go of me!!"
Ukyou screamed as she slammed Tsubasa into the next
town. Akane whistled as she followed Tsubasa's
flight.
"I don't think I've ever seen you hit him so
far Ukyou," Akane commented. Ukyou was still
shaking in rage when they entered the living room
with Ranma-chan and Akane. They were a bit
surprised to see that Ryouga was sitting on the
floor, with Feather resting her head on his lap. He
held a single finger up to his lips, and then turned
his attention back to the girl in his lap.
Ranma ducked into the kitchen for some hot water, and
when he came back out, Akane was kneeling next
to Ryouga.
"Where's everyone else?" Akane asked quietly.
"Genma and Mr. Tendo went out somewhere, Kasumi
went shopping, Mrs. Saotome left about an hour
ago. I haven't seen Nabiki yet." As he spoke,
Feather stirred a little, then slowly sat up. She
stretched her arms and yawned, then opened her eyes.
"Oh, good morning you guys" She said a bit
sleepily. Akane and Ukyou giggled a little, while
Ranma outright laughed. "What's so funny?" She
asked.
"It's afternoon now silly" Akane said, a hint
of amusement still in her voice. She would have
said something else, but there was a popping noise
and a tranquilizer dart hit her. She collapsed as
the powerful drug took effect. Ryouga leapt to his
feet as more darts flew in. Feather was struck
next, and she keeled over again. Ranma was dodging
the darts as he tried to figure out who was after
them. Ryouga had pulled his umbrella out to use as a
shield. Ukyou tried to block the darts with
her spatula, but one got past her defenses, and she
too collapsed. Seeing that they were getting
nowhere fast, Ranma faked getting hit with a dart,
and fell in such a way that he could quickly get
up and fight. Ryouga continued to block them with
his umbrella for a few seconds, until he realized
what Ranma was up to. A moment after Ryouga faked
his fall, about ten men in black cloaks entered
the dojo.
"You three grab the girls," One of the men
spoke, gesturing towards the fallen girls, "I
want you and you to tie the boys up, the boss don't
want any boys. The rest of ya get rid of the
evidence." As the men started to move towards the
fallen girls, Ranma and Ryouga sprang up and
attacked. Ranma opened up with an uppercut to the
man closest to him, while Ryouga threw one of them
into the others. The dart guns were out again in a
flash, and Ranma was hit with five tranks at
once. He shook his head blearily, and proceeded to
kick another one through a wall. Ryouga was hit
with three, but he was in a rage, and the drugs were
not affecting him at all.
"These guys are monsters!" One of the men
cried, as Ryouga grabbed the front of his shirt
and threw him out of the dojo, ignoring the numerous
darts that were sticking in him. Ranma was
feeling them, but was determined to fight off these
men. He felt his heart sink, however, when
another twenty of the cloaked men entered the dojo,
and concentrated on knocking out Ryouga. When
Ryouga finally fell to the tranks, they turned their
attention on Ranma. During the fight, a few of
the men were slowly dragging Akane, Ukyou and Feather
away. Ranma went into a rage, and attacked
the men closest to him with a ki charged kick, and
then turned on another few with the kachuu
tenshinn amaguriken. He didn't even bother to call
out his strikes, he just pulverized anyone who
got close to him. Unfortunately, the number of
tranks in him were starting to wear on him, and he
couldn't dodge them as well. Completely blinded by
the tranks, Ranma grabbed the closest thing to
him, one of the cloaked men. The cloth tore as Ranma
fell heavily to the ground, looking more like a
human pin cushion than anything else. His last
conscious thought was of Akane, and firmly gripped in
his hand was a scrap of cloth, emblazoned with the
sign of the Viper and the Blade...
_____________________End Chapter Three________________________
Well, that finishes off another chapter of a Feather in the
Wind. My schedule at work is changing drastically right now,
so it may be more than a month till the next chapter is put
out. I only wish I could devote more time to this. I promise,
the next chapter will be longer. Feel free to e-mail me with
your thoughts and comments. Criticism is also welcome, and
even flames are tolerated. Please E-mail me at
ryouga1100@hotmail.com
Take care, and let the wind blow you good fortune.
