Welcome my friends to another chapter of A Feather in the Wind.
All characters, save Feather, are the property of the esteemed
Rumiko Takahashi, and several very large corperations.
That being said, let us begin...
A Feather in the Wind
Chapter 13
It was a peaceful sunset over a scenic, forest
covered mountainside. The tall pine trees bowed and
whipped violently when the wind suddenly blew with
hurricane force. Some few trees broke under the
merciless pounding of air as a glowing disk spiraled
in being a few feet above the ground. Blue energy
swirled and crackled with almost deafening reports as
the disk forcibly ejected four tangled forms. They
left a deep trench in the soft dirt upon impact and
just as suddenly as it came, the disk disappeared
leaving no evidence that it was ever there other than
four people lying in a trench.
Slowly, one of the mud caked figures struggled
to his feet and looked about. With a tired sigh,
Ranma bent to try and wake the others. After a few
minutes, Akane stirred awake.
"Where are we, Ranma?" She asked as she rose
to her feet and tried in vain to wipe the mud from
her face.
"I dunno. In the woods I guess."
Akane glared at him, "That's obvious you idiot!
"I don't know! The mountains I think!" Ranma
snapped as he tried to wake Ryouga.
Akane shot his back another dirty look before
she tried to wake Feather.
"Geez, look at his hand!" Ranma exclaimed as
he turned the lost boy over. Akane looked over and
gasped. Ryouga's left hand had several deep looking
cuts and blood flowed freely from the lacerations.
"I hope it's not too bad..."
"Bad enough." Ranma growled and continued to
shake Ryouga's shoulder.
A short time later, the four of them were
gathered around a small campfire. Feather was
carefully bandaging the cuts on Ryouga's hand, using
what little water they had sparingly to clean the
wound.
"We're in trouble," Ranma said as he tossed a
small chunk of wood into the fire. "We don't know
where we are, we ain't got too much food and even
less water."
"I have about two weeks of travel rations in my
pack, and I know how to hunt," Ryouga grunted as
Feather tied off the bandage.
"Two weeks for one person," Akane reminded him,
"that'll only last a few days between the four of
us."
"I'm sure Ranma is as good at hunting as
Ryouga, so all we need to do is find a stream or
something," Feather sighed. "Ryouga managed to get a
lot of my clothes. Akane can fit into those and I'm
sure Ranma can fit into Ryouga's spares."
"What else do we have, other than this
briefcase of papers?" Akane asked.
Ranma rummaged through Ryouga's pack a little
before he responded. "Ok, one fair sized tent, two
canteens of water, a camp stove with four full tanks
of propane, survival knife, fishing line and hook,
some rope, a lantern, matches, one sleeping bag, two
wool blankets and several changes of clothes for both
Ryouga and Feather and a fair amount of dried foods
and rice."
"Not quite, Ranma." Ryouga shook his head;
"There's two ponchos, a cloak, goggles, a collapsible
spade, a bottle of oil for the lantern and toiletries
in the outside pockets. There's also some
miscellaneous stuff in there." He snapped his
fingers. "That reminds me..." He got up and rummaged
through one of the outside pockets of his pack for a
moment before he turned to Feather.
"You kinda forgot this back there," He said
shyly as he held out the choker to Feather. She
squealed with delight as she jumped to her feet and
took the choker from his hands.
"Oh, thank you Ryouga! You're a sweetheart,
you know that?" She smiled as Ryouga blushed.
"OK, enough of that, you two," Ranma said
firmly, "We gotta find some water. I don't know
about you, but being covered in mud ain't exactly
comfortable."
Feather pouted at him and plopped back down on
the ground, "Spoilsport."
"I don't think he's trying to be mean
intentionally," Akane glared at Ranma for a moment.
"But he does have a point. One thing we need
desperately is water."
"I know, I know..." Feather sulked for a minute
before she leapt to her feet, "I'll go look for water
then!"
"How? It's dark out right now..." Akane tried
to protest, but Feather had already snapped her wings
out and was leaping into the air. "Impulsive, isn't
she?" Akane commented as she watched Feather
disappear over the treetops.
"Yeah, but there may still be enough light out
for her to see. Let's build up the fire so that it's
easier for her to find us again." Ranma said as he
tossed a few sticks into the fire.
About an hour later, Feather returned with a
happy smile.
"Hey guys! I found a lake that's not too far
off!" She enthused as the rest wearily found their
feet.
"How can you possibly have so much energy?"
Akane grumbled.
"I'm just happy! Come on! I'll show you where
the lake's at!"
"Just a sec," Ryouga said as he scooped dirt
and mud over their fire, "We can go just as soon as
I'm sure that fire is out. One forest fire is one
too many for me."
They trudged off into the woods in the
direction Feather indicated. The trees seemed to
loom out of the darkness at them and more than once
Akane and Feather almost screamed with fright at the
sound of some animal. The hours dragged on and
finally, just as the sky was beginning to lighten,
they spotted the lake.
"Ok, next time you say it's a short ways off,
I'm going to sleep first," Ranma grumbled as he
collapsed on the soft turf. Akane hauled him back to
his feet by one arm.
"First things first, Ranma! You and Ryouga
pitch the tent while Feather and I get cleaned up."
She ordered as she shoved the tent into his gut.
Ranma glared at her, but said nothing as the two
girls practically sprinted for the lake. "See
if you can find some dry wood and get a fire going...
that water's gotta be cold. I'll get the tent
pitched," Ryouga grunted as he took the tent from
Ranma's hands.
Ranma nodded and headed a little ways back into
the woods. Ryouga pitched the tent and dug a fire
pit a small distance away from the front of the tent.
He looked around a little and found a few logs that
he drug over to the fire pit for a makeshift bench.
By the time Ranma had returned with a double armload
of firewood, Ryouga had made a camp that seemed
fairly permanent.
"That was quick," Ranma smirked as he dropped
the wood.
Ryouga grinned at him. "Practice. Since I've
been camping out the bulk of my life, it comes as
second nature to me. Let's get that fire going
before the girls come back."
Akane and Feather looked at the shimmering
lakeshore with undisguised longing. With a laugh,
the two shed their clothes and jumped in.
"Yow!" Akane half screamed before she began to
shiver, "This water is cold!"
"Yeah, let's hurry and get back to the camp."
Feather said as she began to try and rinse the mud
and dirt out of her hair.
After hurried washing, the two girls began to
clean their clothes. The sun's continued rising
finally burned the last of the fog from the lake, and
they could clearly see the far side. Feather looked
across the lake and frowned.
"Hey, Akane,"
"What?"
Feather pointed across the lake, "What do you
see over there?"
Akane shrugged, "Trees?"
"Trees that still have their leaves! I thought
all the leaves had already fallen from that old tree
out back of the dojo!"
Akane squinted again across the lake. "I think
you're right. Let's worry about that later and just
get back to camp, I'm freezing out here!"
Ranma and Ryouga had a fairly large fire going
by the time the girls returned. Feather had wrapped
her wings around the two of them, as much for modesty
as for warmth. Their wet clothes were slung over a
stout branch that Akane was carrying. Ryouga held
his nose and looked away.
"Take one of the blankets with you," Akane said
through chattering teeth, "That Lake is practically
freezing. Don't forget to wash your clothes while
you are at it!"
"Yeah, yeah. Come on Ryouga, let's get this
over with so we can get some rest."
Ranma-chan glared at the steely gray clouds
that had moved across the sun as she and Ryouga-chan
struggled to get all of the mud out of their clothes.
"Looks like we got a storm moving in."
"Yeah. Let's hurry up, I'm cold enough as it
is."
"Can't ya just change into that weird lookin'
wolf thingie? I bet that fur would keep ya warm."
Ryouga-chan shrugged. "I suppose I could if I
knew how. I did manage to go into my wolf form by
concentrating while we were in that place."
Ranma-chan grunted something and held up her
shirt. "That's as clean as it'll get. Why don't ya
try changing into a wolf and I'll carry the clothes
back?"
"You just don't want to share the blanket..."
Ryouga-chan trailed off as she stared across the
lake.
"What is it?"
Ryouga-chan pointed, "That storm's coming in
awfully fast."
Ranma-chan swore as she wrapped the blanket
around herself and gathered up their wet clothes.
"Try changin' into a wolf or somethin'. Lesse if it
wasn't just a fluke and then let's get outta here."
Ryouga-chan nodded and then concentrated on how
it felt to change into her wolf form. After nearly a
minute of concentrating, fur began to sprout all over
her body. The shifting of her bones was visible
under her skin for a few moments before the fur
suddenly thickened and the changes to the rest of her
body became more apparent.
"That was weird," Ranma-chan shuddered once the
transformation was complete. "You changed in slow
motion."
Ryouga-okami growled and limped towards the
woods.
"Hey! The camp's this way!"
When the oddly matched pair made it back to the
campsite, Akane and Feather were struggling to string
up a line for their clothes and stretch one of the
ponchos over it to protect the damp clothes from the
impending storm.
"Ranma! Perfect timing, take this line to that
tree over there, will you?" Feather pointed and
handed her the line in one motion before dashing over
to where Akane was mangling a corner of the poncho.
"Whose idea was this?" Ranma-chan asked as she
quickly tied the line off onto the tree and stepped
back to look at the haphazard setup.
"Akane's. She wanted our clothes to actually
dry sometime this week."
Ranma-chan shook her head. "Gimme a sec to get
dressed and I'll help you guys."
"This is hopeless!" Akane shouted after the
poncho fell to the ground again.
Ranma-chan shook her head. "Look Akane, why
don't you and Feather warm up by the fire and let me
handle it?"
"But I want to help!" Akane protested right
before sneezing violently a few times.
"That does it, Akane! You and Feather are
going to go sit by the fire right now! I ain't gonna
let you get sick on us out here." Ranma-chan half
shouted.
"But..."
"No buts Akane!"
"Come on Akane, let's get you warmed up."
Feather grabbed her arm and firmly steered her over
to the fire. Ranma-chan tossed a blanket over their
shoulders and went to work on fixing their improvised
clothesline. The wind picked up a little and snow
began to fall softly about them in small, almost
sleet like flakes.
"Ain't that just perfect," Ranma-chan muttered
to herself.
Feather shivered and huddled as close to the
fire as she dared without pulling the blanket away
from Akane. Ranma-chan squinted up at the gently
falling snow and muttered a soft curse when it
changed suddenly to freezing rain. Ranma-chan glared
at Ryouga-okami for a moment.
"You know, it must be nice to suddenly get a
weather-proof coat whenever it rains..." Ranma-chan
said as she tied off the last line for the small
cover over their still damp, but clean, clothes.
Ryouga-okami growled softly before pushing the girls
into the tent with her head.
"Ok, ok Ryouga! I'm going already!" Feather
smiled a bit as she and Akane entered the tent.
Ranma-chan and Ryouga-okami followed them in and
closed the tent flap.
"We can't stay here forever, you know." Akane
grumbled as they listened to the steady pounding of
the sleet on the canvas tent.
"True enough, but we won't get far if we get
sick from walking around in the rain." Feather
countered as she began to braid her hair.
Akane watched her braid for a few minutes.
"How long does it take?"
"What?"
"Your hair. How long does it take to put it
into a braid?"
"About an hour, maybe almost two I guess," She
shrugged.
"Wow. And I thought my hair was a pain to deal
with when it got past my shoulders."
Feather shrugged as Akane popped the latches on
the briefcase she had been carrying around.
"What's in there?" Feather asked curiously.
"This," she handed a fairly thick file to
Feather with a conspirital wink. "That has all the
data they've collected on you. A girl should try and
keep her measurements a secret after all."
Feather blushed as she took the file and
started to leaf through it. "Hey!" She gave Akane
an accusatory look," This has nothing to do with me!"
"What?"
"It looks like plans for that room we were in
when we got shot out here," Feather hummed as she
looked through it. Akane blinked before she rummaged
through the briefcase some more.
"Oh, here's your file. Let's keep them in
here, it seems to be waterproof," Akane took the
files and closed the briefcase.
Ranma-chan cleared her throat to get their
attention. "I think what we need to do is get
ourselves rested up, and then worry about how we're
gonna get home."
"But we don't know where we are!"
"If we run around in the rain or at night, we
still won't know! Look, I know your tired and all,
so you and Feather can share the sleeping bag, I'll
use one of the blankets. What about you, Ryouga?
Ryouga?" Ranma-chan looked over at the large, gray
wolf. Ryouga-okami appeared to be fast asleep
already, curled into a tight little ball with her
tail lightly covering her nose.
"I guess that answers that."
"Oh yeah, when we were at the lake, I noticed
something." Feather spoke up.
"What is it?" Ranma-chan asked wearily as she
began to wrap herself into the blanket. Feather told
her about the trees on the other side of the lake.
"Huh, that's weird. Who knows where we are
now..." Ranma-chan grumbled. "Let's just get some
sleep and worry about it tomorrow."
When they woke up again late that afternoon,
the sleet had changed to large flakes of snow.
Ranma-chan poked through Ryouga's pack and pulled out
a few strips of dried meat that were carefully
wrapped in wax paper.
"Ok, once we get the fire going again we can
make some soup outta these."
Akane looked appraisingly at the small strips
of meat. "That's not going to make much of a meal.
Maybe I could find a way to liven it up..." She
glared at the looks of horror and winced a little at
the sudden whine of pain from Ryouga-okami.
"What?!?!" She demanded.
"Is that safe?" Ranma-chan asked while
protectively holding on to the dried meat.
"Are you sure Akane? Wouldn't it be better to
try and stretch what little food what have rather
than trying to have lively meals all the time?"
Feather tried to ask diplomatically.
"Are you trying to tell me that I still can't
cook?!?" Akane bristled at the perceived insult.
"Not at all, Akane." Feather soothed, "It's
just that, well, you are still learning, and learning
involves the occasional mistake right?" Feather
waited for Akane to nod in agreement before
continuing, "Well, right now we don't have enough
food to afford any mistakes."
Akane looked angry for several minutes before
visibly deflating. "Oh all right, you do have a
point. I just want to do something, I'm not
useless."
"I'm sure you can get us some more firewood.
We're also gonna need water from the lake and other
stuff as we go along," Ranma-chan waved it off, "Ya
ain't gonna have time to be useless, not with
everything that needs to be done around a camp."
Ranma-chan looked over at Ryouga-okami.
"Hey, you think you could try and change into
your girl form? It's gonna be a while till we got
hot water and I could use a hand."
Ryouga-okami growled sullenly and looked up.
Just as Akane and Feather thought that nothing was
going to happen, Ryouga-okami's form suddenly started
to shift. A few seconds later, Ryouga-chan was
sitting in from of them and snatching at a blanket to
cover herself.
"You know, that's hard to do." She said
quietly as she drew the blanket about her shoulders.
"Really? That looked weird, kinda like one of those
time lapse photos." Akane commented.
Ryouga-chan shuddered. "I could feel my bones
shift when I did that. It wasn't painful, just
weird."
Akane and Feather left the tent in search of
dry firewood while Ryouga-chan got dressed. Ranma-
chan smirked in amusement when he saw that Ryouga-
chan was deliberately keeping her eyes closed and was
muttering something under her breath the whole time.
A short time later found them gathered around
their fire eating fairly bland soup and discussing
what they would do next.
"We need to figure out where we are so we can
get home," Akane grumbled.
"How are we going to do that?" Ranma-chan
asked. "I ain't seeing anybody else around, so we
can't ask around."
"I did see some power lines south of here, they
should lead to a village or something. We should
head there first."
"First thing in the morning, then." Ryouga-
chan hissed a little as she held her bowl in her
injured hand. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm
still worn out from yesterday."
"No argument there," Ranma-chan said as she
spooned out another bowl, "You know, we could train
as we go." She looked around and saw the blank looks
on the girls' faces. "Come on, you know, train in
the Art as we travel. Let's take advantage of the
fact that we're away from school."
"Aren't we low enough on food without straining
ourselves?" Akane asked.
Ryouga-chan shook her head. "It shouldn't take
us more than a day or two to reach a village. Even
if they don't have a phone there, we can either buy
or work for the supplies we need."
"Sounds like you've done that before."
"Yeah, well," Ryouga-chan scratched the back of
her head, "I have gone sightseeing a lot."
"Don't ya mean gotten lost a lot?" Ranma-chan
asked.
"Shut up, Ranma! It's not my fault all those
maps were wrong!" Ryouga-chan growled.
"The maps were wrong?" Ranma-chan asked
innocently, "Then why exactly were you trying to use
a map of Kyoto in the middle of downtown Tokyo?"
"Oh, leave him alone, Ranma!" Akane snapped.
"You know you shouldn't tease Ryouga like that."
"I like the idea of training as we go along! I
learned so much from Ryouga when we first trained
together." Feather said happily between sips of her
soup. "We didn't have much more food than we have
right now as well."
"We'll see... It's a bit harder to live off of
the land at this time of year. We really need as
many supplies as we can carry from that village, even
if..."
"Even if you have to follow your father's
example and steal, beg or promise your first born off
in marriage to get all the food your greedy gut can
hold?" Ryouga-chan said just a little snidely.
"Look you..." Ranma-chan gave a laughing
Ryouga-chan a dark look, "I was gonna say even if we
gotta work as waitresses for a while."
"Here, Ryouga, let me take another look at that
hand of yours." Feather beckoned her over. She
carefully unwrapped the cloth and peered at the cuts
underneath. "Hmm... These are looking better. You
did say you can still use all your fingers without a
problem, right?"
Ryouga-chan nodded.
"We'll just have to keep your hand clean then.
Try not to change into a wolf too often, 'kay?"
"Uhm... Sure..." Ryouga-chan started to twiddle
her fingers, incidentally mangling a spoon.
"Hey! Watch it ya jerk!" Ranma-chan yelped as
she snatched the spoon and tried to straighten it
out, "We ain't got much in the way of utensils."
Ryouga-chan looked up in embarrassment, only to
look startled a moment later when her wolf ears and
tail popped out. Akane and Feather merely stared for
a moment while Ranma-chan collapsed laughing.
"The, hee hee, look on your face!" She howled
with laughter. Slowly, the rest of them joined in
laughing, including Ryouga-chan.
"I wonder why that happened." Akane asked
Feather much later as they were preparing to go back
to sleep.
"Why what happened?" Feather yawned.
"Ryouga's ears. Why'd they change like that
all of a sudden?"
"Search me." Feather shrugged, "A Jusenkyo
curse is weird enough by itself, but a curse within a
curse? Who knows how it works."
"Yeah. I guess your right there," Akane
smiled, "Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to
be a long day."
Ryouga woke them up before dawn the next
morning, much to their complaint.
"Come on, Ryouga, lemme get some more sleep."
Feather grumbled as Ryouga forced her and Akane to
sit up.
"Sorry, but we want to try and make it to a
village today," Ryouga said firmly, "So we need to
get an early start."
"We're moving, we're moving." Akane muttered
as Ryouga turned his attention to Ranma. Any
semblance of courtesy he might have been showing went
straight out the window as Ryouga simply grabbed
Ranma's feet and dragged him out of the tent and into
the snow.
"YOW!! Geez, Ryouga, what'd you go and do that
for?" Ranma yelled as he hurriedly brushed the snow
off of himself before it had a chance to melt and
effect the change.
Ryouga shrugged and gave him a toothy grin.
"Fastest way I could think of to get your lazy behind
out of bed."
Ranma grumbled a little before Akane and
Feather emerged from the tent, each of them wearing
several layers of clothes. Ranma ducked into the
tent to get changed while the rest of them got to
work on building the fire.
"It's kinda cold out here this morning, isn't
it?" Feather said as she poked at the fire with a
stick.
"Sure is," Akane agreed, "I just wish Ryouga
had grabbed more of your warm clothes."
"Sorry, I was in a bit of a hurry." Ryouga
apologized.
Ranma emerged from the tent wearing some of
Ryouga's clothes, although he had purposely avoided
tying the cords around his calves.
"Ok, what's for breakfast?" he asked.
"Dry rations, Ranma. We wanna get going as
soon as we can." Ryouga replied as he divvied out
the food.
"Well, after we eat, we'll break camp and set
out towards those power lines." Ranma spoke between
bites, "Feather, be ready to fly and scout a bit.
We'll want to know which way to go."
Feather blushed a little, "Uhm, well..."
"What's wrong?"
"I can't find my halter."
"So?"
"So, what will I wear while I'm flying?"
Ranma gave her a blank stare while Ryouga
struggled to stay conscious.
"Uhm... Your bra I guess, unless we can get
that jumpsuit dried out." Ranma said as he rubbed
the back of his head.
"Let's see if it's still wet." Akane said as
she walked over to where they had their clothes
hanging up. She felt the material for a moment
before pulling it off of the line. "It feels fairly
dry, what do you think, Feather?"
Feather felt the material and nodded. "Feels
dry to me. That means the other clothes should be
dry as well."
"That and you won't be flying around in just
your bra." Ranma cracked. This time, Ryouga did pass
out while Feather stuck her tongue out at Ranma.
As they began to break camp, Feather ducked
into the tent to put the jumpsuit on underneath her
other clothes. They had finished breaking camp
shortly after sunrise and they headed off to the
south. They reached the power lines fairly quickly,
and continued in a southeasterly direction. As they
walked, Ranma and Ryouga would drill the girls on new
moves and insisted on jumping from tree to tree as
much as possible. On occasion, Feather would fly
above the tree line to see if there was a village in
sight. After one such flight, Feather landed with a
huge grin.
"Good news! We are headed straight for a small
village!"
"That's good to know," Akane smiled, "At least
we picked the right direction."
Ranma nudged Ryouga in the ribs, "I told ya
this was the way to go."
"Oh shut up!" Ryouga growled.
When it was finally time to stop for lunch,
Akane and Feather collapsed underneath a tree and
leaned against the rough bark.
"I'm beat." Akane groaned.
"You and me both."
"You guys can't be tired yet!" Ranma teased,
"We've barely been training for half of the day."
"Leave them alone, Ranma, and go get some
firewood. It'd be a good idea to warm up a bit
before we press on." Ryouga growled as he set down
his pack.
"Why do I hafta?"
"Because I'm getting the food out, and the
girls are too tired."
"In other words, you don't want to get lost, eh
wolf-boy?"
"Just go!"
Ranma chuckled as he walked a bit further back
into the woods. Ryouga snarled at his back and
turned his attention back to the rapidly dwindling
supplies in his pack.
"Just how much food do we have left, Ryouga?"
Akane asked.
"If it was just me, I'd say I had enough for a
little more than a week. At the rate the four of us
are eating, it may last another two days," he
replied.
"I hope we get to a village before then. I
hate being hungry," Feather said softly as she leaned
a bit more onto Akane's shoulder and began to softly
snore.
Akane gave her a brief look and smiled gently.
"I guess she's more worn out than we thought. The
last few days have been really rough for you two,
hasn't it?"
Ryouga nodded. "Yeah. I think it got to
Feather more than me, since they had me drugged for
half the time. She won't talk about what happened,
but I get the feeling that they triggered another
unpleasant memory."
"What makes you think that?"
"Right after they took her from the cell we
were sharing, a guard came running back for the
scientists yelling something about Feather having a
fit," Ryouga stared for a second as Ranma-chan
returned with a small amount of firewood. "What
happened to you?"
Ranma-chan shrugged, "Some slush fell off a
tree and got me. Don't bother waiting on water to
heat up for me, I'll be fine."
"Ok. Anyway, I escaped from my cell right
after that and ended up wandering around the guts of
that building and crawling through the vents until
you guys showed up. Things may have happened a
little differently if you had ended up talking in
that lobby for another minute or two."
"Oh? How come?" Ranma-chan asked as she
helped get the fire started.
"The vent gave way out from under me," Ryouga
shrugged, "I landed in the fountain and the people in
the lobby seemed to think I was part of the
maintenance crew."
"Heh, saved by your curse, huh?" Ranma
chortled, "It's happened to me a time or two."
Ryouga merely grunted before gently waking up
Feather and passed out the cold food.
"We're better off taking just a short break,"
Ryouga said, "I think we could all agree that we want
to be in that village tonight or early tomorrow."
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
They didn't linger too long after eating before
putting out the fire and walking on. After another
hour of walking, they found a dirt road that appeared
to lead to the village.
"This is a stroke of luck!" Feather laughed
after she got back from flying along the road, "If we
run, we could be in that village before it gets
dark!"
"Sounds good to me." Ranma-chan grinned, "The
only question if whether or not you two have enough
energy left."
"I'll be fine, Ranma." Akane said.
"I could just fly most of the way, and then run
in with the rest of you once we're close." Feather
said. Ranma-chan frowned when she heard the
exhaustion creeping into her voice.
"Stay on the ground. I think all this low
flying's been wearing you out more than you think."
"But..."
"Don't argue with him, Feather. You look
exhausted, I'll carry you for as long as necessary."
Ryouga said firmly.
Feather shook her head. "I'm not _that_ tired.
Let's get going," she said with a fair amount of
annoyance in her voice.
"Fine, just don't push yourself too hard."
Ranma-chan said before she started running.
They ran down the road at a good pace for
almost two hours before Feather began to fall behind.
Ranma-chan called a halt and circled back to where
Feather was gasping for breath.
"I told you not to push yourself too hard."
She said gently as she offered her shoulder for
support.
"I'll... be... ok. Just give... me a... second
to... catch... my breath." She gasped out.
"You ok, Feather?" Akane asked when they had
regrouped.
"I'll be ok... I'm just winded."
Ryouga grunted as he adjusted his pack. "How
much longer do you think you can run at this pace,
Akane?"
"A while, I think," she looked thoughtful,
"Several more hours at least."
"Ok, when you get tired let us know, Akane,"
Ryouga said as he picked Feather up, "We'll keep
running until then."
Twilight was beginning to settle in when they
reached the outskirts of the village. Ryouga put
Feather back on her feet and looked around.
"Looks like a small farming or logging town to
me," Ranma-chan said as she led the way.
"If you say so, Ranma," Akane said as she
looked around the quaint village.
"Let's look around and see if there's someplace
that's willing to put us up for the night." Feather
said and then looked up at Ryouga, who was looking
around with a frown on his face. "What's wrong,
Ryouga?"
"This place looks familiar."
"You say that about everywhere, Ryouga."
Ranma-chan chided.
"Shut up, Ranma! I'm serious! This place
looks really familiar." Ryouga half yelled.
"Well now, y'all came back again!" a villager
greeted Ryouga. He peered closely at them all before
he chuckled. "Looks like you brought all your
friends this time!"
"Ah, well... I guess you could say that..."
Ryouga said nervously as he rubbed the back of his
head.
"Excuse me," Akane said. "But is there any
kind of work we could do around here? We've been on
the road a long time, and we're low on food and
money."
"Y'all came at the right time!" He laughed.
"We's need a goodly amount of strong backs to be
helpin with the last of the harvestin' and loading up
the trucks."
"Sounds good..." Ranma-chan smirked until the
villager shook his head. "What?"
"The boss won't hear of pretty young things
like yerselves to be workin' in the fields! I'm sure
we's can find somethin' else fer ya to do."
Ranma-chan glared at him for a moment before
she chuckled. "I'll bet we're all stronger than you
think."
"We're martial artists," Akane announced
proudly.
"I reckon you are. Still, ya gotta consider
how the other hands would feel if a tiny thing like
you were to be doin' more work than 'em. They'd get
mighty riled up, and I'm sure you don't wanna fight
all of 'em just fer that."
Akane and Feather sighed while Ranma-chan
dashed out of town.
"Where's she goin'?"
"Maybe she went to see how far behind her
brother is," Feather said evasively.
"Two strong backs would be a mighty big help,
seein' as how we just lost a few hands that
volunteered to help fight that forest fire last week
over near Osaka. That was a bad one."
"Last week?" Ryouga asked intently.
"Yeah, tho' it be a bit closer to two or three
days ago. They say that it almost took out the
Unryuu farm. Our boys came back mighty burnt, but
they'll be ok next year. They was sayin' that Old
Man Unryuu was in a fit until he learned that his
granddaughter Akari was just fine."
"Is there an inn or something here?" Feather
asked as Ranma came trotting back up to them,
apparently having found some hot water. "We all
really need a bath."
"Well, it ain't fancy or nothin', but you can't
miss it. Biggest building in this here village,
other than the temple up the ways," He pointed to a
two-story building down the road. "You just go in
there and tell 'em that you two young men wanna help
in the fields, and they'll hook you up with a room or
two and dinner. After that, you'll have to pay, but
you'll be getting paid daily after workin' the
fields," He stopped and gave Ryouga a lopsided grin.
"Unless, a course, another boar comes chargin' out of
them there woods and you stop it like ya did the last
one."
Ryouga rubbed the back of his head nervously as
Ranma thanked the villager and they made their way
towards the inn.
"Rampaging boar?" Feather asked as they walked
slowly towards the inn.
"It's a long story..." Ryouga sighed as yet
another villager shouted a greeting from the rooftop
he was repairing.
"Looks like your pretty popular around here,"
Akane said.
Ryouga chuckled nervously as he opened the door
to the inn. Inside, there was a number of tables
being attended to by a lone, rather harried looking
waitress. When she approached their small group,
Ranma gave her his most charming smile.
"Hi, we were told to come here and let you know
that we want to help in the fields," Ranma said.
"Y'all got good timing then," The waitress
smiled as she led them to a table. "Usually we don't
need no outside help, but what with that fire burning
a few of our boys as they helped to fight it...
Nevermind. I'll bring y'all the same dinner all the
hired hands get on the first night and hook you up
with a room. I'll call the farmers, they'll be here
in the mornin' to pick you boys up."
"Sounds good to us," Ryouga said.
"Waitress!" A man at one of the other tables
called. The waitress waved at him to quiet down
before she turned back to them.
"I'll be back with your food in a moment," She
said before she hurried off.
"Seems busy in here," Feather commented.
"One waitress," Akane said. "She's probably
really overworked in here."
After dinner, they led to an upstairs room.
The furniture seemed antique, and there were two
fairly large western style beds laying out. They sat
in a tight circle on the floor and spoke in low
tones.
"This is really weird." Ryouga said, "That
forest fire happened close to three weeks ago, and
everyone is talking about it like it happened only a
few days ago."
"Yeah. When we were at that lake, I noticed
that the trees on the far side of the lake still had
a lot of their leaves. We didn't see that right away
because we were in a pine forest." Feather added.
"So what do we do about it?" Akane asked, "We
know where we are now, and it shouldn't take us more
than three days to get back home." She leaned back a
little with a worried look on her face. "I don't
know about you, but I'm not thrilled with the idea of
seeing myself right now."
"Then we stay here in the mountains and train,"
Ranma said, "We have about two weeks or so before we
disappeared, and since it's probably not a good idea
to go home, so we might as well stay around here and
train."
"And what will Feather and I do while you two
are in the fields?" Akane asked.
"Well..." Ranma drawled with an evil looking
smirk.
"How did we get stuck doing this?" Feather
asked as she attempted for the twentieth time to pull
the very short skirt of the waitress uniform lower
the next morning.
"How should I know?" Akane grumbled as she
passed by carrying a tray of drinks, "But at least
these people are cheerful and tip well."
"In these getups, how can they not be
cheerful?!?" Feather gestured at what she was
wearing. The dress had wide blue stripes on it and
was very low cut around the neckline, showing off a
fair bit of cleavage. The skirt was ruffled and very
short. A light blue apron covered the front of the
dress and it was tied in the back in a huge bow.
Feather's hair was tied into two wavy ponytails that
reached to her ankles. The almost petulant look she
had almost made Akane drop the tray from laughing too
hard.
"Just get to table eight, they're waiting to
order." Akane urged before she hurried to her table
with a cheerful smile on the outside, but silently
fuming on the inside. When Ranma had made the
suggestion the night before, it had seemed
reasonable. After all, the more money they earned
during their stay, meant that if they could afford
train tickets once they leave.
Akane's smile was rather fixed in place by the
time the lunch crowd came in from the fields. She
had heard from the head waitress that a lot of these
men were not the usual help they had in the fields.
Invariably, they were dirty, crude and just this side
of rude. Akane found herself looking for Ranma and
Ryouga to come in with them, but remembered that they
had used what little money they had on hand to buy a
bag lunch.
"Waitress!" One of the men yelled as he
plopped down into a chair in Akane's section. Akane
shoved her thoughts to one side as she hurried to his
table and pulled out her pad and pencil.
"What can I get for ya, hon?" She dutifully
repeated the phrase she was told to use when taking
orders.
"I could use a little cheesecake," the man
leered up at her.
"Cheesecake?" Akane asked in confusion.
"That's not on the menu."
"Sure it is. It's right here," the man
continued to leer as he reached up under Akane's
dress to pat her on the rear. Akane's smile turned
into a look of pure rage.
"Pervert!" Akane screamed as she grabbed the
offending hand and tossed the man towards the door.
Feather opened the door and smiled at the startled
man.
"Please, come again soon!" She waved at him as
he passed before firmly closing the door. The other
people eating applauded loudly as Akane and Feather
returned to serving them. For some strange reason,
Akane felt a lot better after that.
That evening, they gathered in one of the
outlying fields. Akane and Feather glared as Ranma
and Ryouga approached.
"What was the big idea of having us get into
those embarrassing uniforms and work as waitresses?"
Akane demanded.
Ranma and Ryouga looked at each other for a
moment before replying.
"Well, you two are the girls here..." Ranma
started.
"There's two more just a splash away..." Akane
said acidly.
"Now hold on a second!" Ranma snapped, "Fer
one thing, I had enough of waitressing for the old
ghoul. Fer another, Ryouga and I are makin' a heck
of a lot more doin' heavy liftin' and stuff!" Ranma
stomped angrily forward as she made each point.
Akane stood her ground; chin lifted defiantly, but
Feather slowly edged her way behind Akane.
"Even if there was nothing to be done in the
fields, there's no way I could have safely done that.
What would have happened if I had spilled hot coffee
on myself?" Ryouga sighed. "Also, I never would have
been able to find the tables."
Akane looked startled at his admission. ::Wow,
admitting that must have been a real hit at his
pride! I guess I better lay off him for now...:: She
thought. "Ok, Ryouga, you're off the hook. That
still doesn't excuse Ranma," She finished with a
glare at Ranma.
"I thought I already explained why! Let's just
forget about it for now and get to training while
there's still some light left!" Ranma waved his arms
in the air as he shouted.
Ryouga shook his head and sighed. "I think I
know what you're getting at, Akane, but Ranma's
right, we are running out of light. Feather's not
ready for blind fighting yet." He turned to Feather
and smiled a little, "I want you to work with Ranma
on your speed until we get back to the dojo. Akane,
since you already know a good deal, I will be
coaching you," he gestured with his still bandaged
hand, "Until this heals up, that's going to be about
the limit I can do."
"Does it still hurt?" Feather asked quietly.
Ryouga shrugged. "A little. It should be
healed up in a day or two. Let's get started."
It was well after dark before they made it back
to the inn. Akane was practically glowing with
pride; she had managed to learn every single one of
the new moves that Ryouga had demonstrated. Feather
trudged along behind her, more tired than anything
else. Ranma had put her through almost every speed
drill he could think of that evening. It seemed to
her that the session was never going to end. The
non-stop speed training left no muscle untouched, and
apparently no tree in the area undisturbed by their
rapid maneuvers.
"I feel like I'm dead." Feather said as she
collapsed across the bed. Akane snickered at her.
"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad," she
shook her head a bit. "Just wait until the boys are
done with their bath and you can get a nice long
soak."
"Why did they take the bath first anyway?"
"Something about not wanting to rush us or
something," Akane shrugged.
"Whatever. Didn't Ranma say something about an
early morning workout as well?"
"I think so..." Akane frowned a little, "He
may be pushing you too hard though."
"I don't mind," Feather smiled and sat up.
"Ever since I've started training in the Art, I've
had so much more energy. It's a great feeling."
"We should stretch some more until the boys get
done. We don't want you to cramp up after all."
The next two weeks seemed to pass in a blur.
Early in the morning they would jog out to a more
remote location and train for several hours before
sprinting back for a quick bath. They would then
spend the day working their various jobs before
training again in the evening. At the end of the
second week, they pooled their money and purchased
the supplies they needed for the trip back.
"OK, let's go home!" Ranma said cheerfully as
he led the way out of the small village.
Ranma and Ryouga continued to train the girls
after they had left the village and nearing the end
of their second day on the road, Ranma and Feather
faced off for a sparring match.
"Ok Feather, do your best! I ain't going to go
easy on ya, but I ain't gonna overwhelm you either!"
Ranma smirked as he took up his stance.
"You can do it!" Akane cheered from her seat
at the edge of the clearing.
"Remember your training!" Ryouga admonished
from where he stood before he lowered his arm in a
chopping motion, "Fight!"
Feather leapt at Ranma with a kick that he
blocked easily. They began to trade blows in earnest
then, Feather going all out while it was obvious to
Ryouga that Ranma was holding back considerably.
"Wow, she didn't move that quick when we
started out almost a month ago." Akane breathed.
Ryouga nodded. "Ranma's been pretty focused on
improving her speed. He hasn't tried training her in
the Amaguriken yet, but she is getting faster."
As they watched, another figure appeared out of
the woods on the opposite side of the clearing. The
young man dropped his pack with a disgusted snort and
sat on it to watch. Akane glanced his way and saw
that he was of strictly average height and build. A
steely gray seemed to be his favorite color, since he
was dressed entirely in that color. His jacket had a
patch with a geometric shape only vaguely resembling
a yin yang on the left shoulder.
"Hey Ryouga, check out that guy over there,"
Akane pointed to the young man. Ryouga gave him a
glance before he turned his attention back to the
sparring match in front of him.
Ranma smirked at Feather, as it became more and
more obvious that she was getting frustrated. He
half considered something spectacular to end the
match, but then decided that it would be better if he
just swept her feet out from under her. He suited
thought to action when Feather tried an ill-timed ax
kick. She tumbled to the ground in a tangle of arms
and legs, but was unable to get up thanks to Ranma
sitting on her back.
The sound of half hearted clapping reached
them, and they looked over at the young man at the
edge of the clearing.
"Very nice..." His voice practically dripped
with sarcasm, "That was probably the most pathetic
display of martial arts I've ever seen. Maybe you
should give up with the little fighting act pal, you
would make less of a fool of yourself." With those
words, he hefted his pack and turned to leave. Ranma
got off of Feather's back and helped her up.
"Geez, what a jer..." his words trailed off
when he saw the devastated look on her face, and the
tears flowing down her cheeks while she sobbed
silently. Anger rushed to the fore and his battle
aura sprang up around him.
"Hey, you! Why don't you come back here and
say that to my face, ya jerk!" Ranma shouted as he
walked in front of Feather.
"Ranma, you don't have to do this..." Feather
tried to reason with him.
"Like hell I don't!" He snarled back. "Why
don't you bring your attitude with ya! I'm gonna
wipe that smirk offa your face!" he yelled at the
stranger.
"Why should I bother? You suck pal, plain and
simple. That light show ain't impressive at all," he
stifled a yawn.
"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of
Anything Goes Martial Arts, and I challenge you!"
"Very well, I'll show you what a perfect
martial artist can do," he lazily dropped his pack
and approached Ranma with a strut, "You'll rue the
day you crossed paths with Tsin."
"Ain't no such thing as a perfect martial
artist!" Ranma growled as he took up his stance and
waited. Tsin smirked again and attacked with a few
lazy looking kicks that Ranma easily dodged before he
got in so close; their noses were almost touching.
"If this is what you call perfect," Ranma said
as he sent Tsin sprawling with an elbow to his cheek,
"Then I'm beyond perfect."
Tsin got to his feet and wiped a bit of blood
from his lip in disgust. "I underestimated you, that
won't happen again."
"Bring it on!"
Tsin smirked again and attacked his punches and
kicks showing no sign of laziness or condescension
now. Ranma dodged them just as easily and tapped him
on the cheek a few times.
"Too slow man, too slow! Boy, even Akane is
faster than you!" Ranma taunted.
"Shut up and pay attention, Ranma!" Akane
yelled from the sidelines.
Tsin began to scowl and with a sudden burst of
speed that caught Ranma by surprise, he landed a few
kicks on his chest. He tried to press his advantage
by jumping at Ranma only to be met mid-air by the
pigtailed martial artist.
"Bad move!" Ranma yelled before he kicked a
startled Tsin in the face and then twisted around
fully to do a mid air roundhouse to his temple. When
they came down, Ranma landed lightly on his feet his
hands in his pockets while Tsin performed a perfect
face-plant.
"Had enough, pal?" Ranma asked as he looked
casually over his shoulder at the other boy.
"I haven't even begun to fight!"
"I noticed."
Tsin's gray battle aura finally sprung into
life around him.
"I'm not impressed with the little light show,
pal," Ranma taunted. Tsin merely smirked and rushed
forward. Ranma dropped back into his stance as he
closed in. With a piercing cry, Tsin's aura flared
into a blinding flash, forcing Ranma to cover his
eyes. He felt a kick connect on his un-guarded
stomach, doubling him over. A split second later,
Tsin kneed him in the chest and brought both his
fists down on his back in a crushing blow. Ranma's
breath whooshed out of him and he collapsed, only to
roll away from a follow up ax kick.
"The Blinder and Pile Driver Punch
combination," Tsin smirked, "how'd you like that,
amateur?"
"I'll show you amateur!" Ranma snarled as he
rushed towards him again and casually blocked the
kick sent his way.
"Kachuu Tensin Amaguriken!" Ranma yelled as he
unleashed a furious assault of punches. Tsin tried
desperately to block or dodge, but the punches seemed
to be coming from everywhere at once. He was thrown
backward from the force of the blows and landed flat
on his back. Tsin struggled to his feet and glared
at Ranma.
"Fine then, you force me to unleash my ultimate
attack! Tankit Duxen!" A ball of swirling gray and
black energy raced from his palms at Ranma.
"Mouko Takabishi!"
The two spheres of energy met in the space
between the dueling martial artists and exploded in a
dazzling display of light and energy. Ranma didn't
wait for it to die down, but rushed through the
middle of it and clashed with a shocked Tsin. When
the light died down, the others were able to see a
victorious Ranma standing over the beaten form of
Tsin.
"That's what ya get, jerk!" Ranma said as he
stormed over to where the others were waiting.
"Don't you worry about what that guy said. You're
improving a lot!" Ranma said to Feather, "There are
still a lot of things you've got to learn, but that
will come with time."
Feather nodded once, a confident gleam back in
her eye.
"That's the spirit!" Ranma patted her on the
shoulder, "So, shall we pick up your training where
we left off?"
"So that's it," Tsin's weak voice interrupted,
"You were training her. I guess I must apologize to
you both for interrupting the training."
"You got that right!" Ranma snapped.
"Ranma..." Feather admonished him.
"Still, I thought I had perfected my art."
"Ain't no way the Art can be perfected!" Ranma
turned to glare at him. "The Art continues to grow
and change as new techniques are made. Anyone who
thinks that they have perfected their art are simply
too lazy to put forth that extra bit of effort to
learn something new. They are the ones that get
stagnant and will never become a true martial
artist!"
Tsin looked taken aback for a moment before he
nodded. "I see. Then I must be on my way then, it
seems that I must continue my own training." And
without so much as a wave, he turned and limped off
into the woods.
"Do you think he'll learn from what you told
him?" Akane asked.
"Who knows and who cares?" Ranma snorted,
"Let's just worry about ourselves for now."
The mood in the Tendo Dojo was somber as
Shampoo and Mousse finished telling everyone gathered
there what they had seen towards the end of their
disastrous assault. Soun had been taken outside due
to his wailing drowning out the soft, hesitant words
coming from Shampoo.
"There's still a chance they are alive,"
Ryuunosuke said as he sipped at his tea.
"What are you talking about?" Naoli snapped.
"No-one knows what happened to them when they went
through that... that thing!"
"I think that that is his point," Moiri said
as the diminutive ninja master began pacing up and
down the table. "You said that they were trying to
build some kind of transportation device, boy?" he
asked Ryuunosuke.
"Yes, they had stolen the plans from my
organization."
"Then that means they could be anywhere by
now," Nabiki said.
"Oh dear, and they don't have their winter
coats with them," Kasumi lamented as she looked
outside at the gently falling snow.
"I'll contact my people and tell them to keep a
look out for them," Ryuunosuke said as he stood.
"We..." His voice trailed off as they heard the
front door open and then shut.
"We're home!" Akane's weary voice announced.
No one in the room moved for a split second
before Shampoo leapt down the hallway.
"Airen! You is home! Shampoo so happy!" She
said gleefully as she bounced down the hall and
disappeared around the corner.
"My little girl! She's home!" Soun yelled as
he ran down the hall after her.
"Shampoo!" Mousse called after her, tears
running out from under his glasses. "You said..."
he broke off and blushed as he looked guiltily at the
curious people in the room.
"What did she say, Mousse?" Cologne asked as
she snickered. "I'm sure we'd all just love to
know."
"Ah, nothing," He said as he sat back down.
As they entered the living room, Kasumi gasped
in shock. All of their clothes were ragged and
dirty, like they had been wearing the same clothes
for almost a month, rather than the day or two that
they were supposedly missing. Akane and Feather's
hair were disheveled and in much need of a thorough
washing.
"C'mon Shampoo, let go!" Ranma complained as
he tried to get her to release him.
"Shampoo not ever want to let Airen go again!"
she purred.
"That's enough for tonight, Shampoo. Come, we
must see to the store before opening tomorrow,"
Cologne said as she led the amazons from the Tendo
home.
"You must be very tired," Kasumi said firmly
as she hugged Akane in greeting. "But I insist that
you all take a bath first!"
"What? No welcome home?" Ranma quipped.
Akane elbowed him in the gut almost absently.
"Welcome home Akane, Ranma, Ryouga, Feather,"
Kasumi smiled before she held up a stack of towels.
"Now go take a bath, all of you."
"Uhhh... You don't mean at once, do you?"
Ryouga asked in a very small voice as he turned a
very bright red.
To everyone's surprise, Kasumi gave him an arch
little smile and winked. "If that works for you..."
Ryouga immediately started backing away as
Ranma and Akane started giving her shocked looks.
"Kasumi? Are you all right?" Akane asked.
Kasumi giggled a bit. "Of course I'm all
right, Akane. Now why don't you and Feather go take
your bath now. I'll send the boys to the bathroom we
had put in upstairs a while back."
"Gee Akane, did you forget about that?" Nabiki
said with a smile.
Akane blushed a little in embarrassment before
she walked off with Feather right behind her.
"Hey, where's pop?" Ranma asked as he looked
around.
"Genma has been staying out late every night
running around town looking for you," Kasumi said
softly. "He usually gets back very late, and he
leaves shortly after breakfast every morning."
"Wow..." Ranma said, wide eyed. "I had no
idea he was gonna be like that. C'mon, Ryouga.
Let's get cleaned up."
"Just a sec!" Ryouga said as he dug around in
his pack for a minute before pulling out a slightly
battered briefcase and handed it to a startled
Ryuunosuke.
"What's this?" he asked.
"It's got the only copy of the plans for that
machine in it that Akane apparently found," Ryouga
said with a grin. "Don't lose them this time."
It was almost midnight when Genma Saotome
stumbled into the Tendo Dojo that night. He was
still wracking his brains trying to figure out how he
could explain to his wife that he allowed not only
their son, but their newly adopted daughter to get
themselves killed. He hadn't given up all hope,
however. He had spent the entire day running from
train station to train station, hoping that they
would come in on one of the trains. The previous
day, he had watched the major roads into Tokyo.
"I'll find you, my son," he swore as he walked
into the house. "I'll pack my bags tonight and leave
in the morning to find you!"
"No need for that," Soun said as he walked out
of the kitchen with two beer steins. He handed one
to Genma as they sat at the table.
"But Ranma is out there, and I need to find
him!" Genma exclaimed.
"They came home today," Soun said softly. "A
little rough looking and tired, but they are all home
safe now."
"My friend," Genma said, his voice thick with
emotion as he raised his stein.
"Our schools will be joined!" Soun said as he
clinked his stein against Genma's and they drank to
their good fortune.
"Knock it off! Some of us are trying to
sleep!" Naoli snapped as she flung a shoe at Genma.
"Tell me again why she's still here?" Genma
asked in a low voice, ignoring the shoe that bounced
off his baldhead.
"She had a case of hypothermia," Soun
whispered. "Dr. Tofu thought it would be better if
she stayed here where it's warm for a week or so to
recover." He paused and gave Genma an odd look. "At
least she's paying full rent."
Genma coughed a few times uncomfortably before
he stood and retired to his room. Soun grinned as he
drained his beer before he too sought his bed.
Once they were gone, Naoli smiled to herself,
stood, and walked over to the window, her lithe form
covered only by a pale blue negligee. She sighed
slightly to herself as she watched the snowflakes
continue to fall.
"I wonder what it would have been like to have
a loving family like this?" She asked herself
softly. Outside, the snow continued to fall in a
continual display of the purity in nature, oblivious
and uncaring of mankind.
The next morning found Ranma, Ryouga, Akane and
Feather dashing towards Furinkan High.
"You know," Ranma grumbled as he ran along the
fence, a rather ratty looking scarf around his neck.
"We coulda stayed away another day and arrived here
on Sunday. You were the one that didn't want to
spend even one more night camped on the roadside."
"I forgot that this was the week we had to come
in on Saturday, ok!" Akane countered. She smiled to
herself, pleased to see that Ranma was wearing the
scarf she had knitted for him last Christmas.
"I just hope that Kuno don't slow us down
today," Ryouga said.
Feather merely smiled to herself as she ran
with them. More than any crazy adventure, this was
where she wanted to be; amongst friends, family and
the occasional annoying idiot.
End Chapter 13
Author's notes:
Yes, I know, it's short. I'm sorry. After the
severe case of writer's block that I fought on this
chapter for months, I decided to cut a lot of what
had been written out. Once I had done that, things
became very clear on where I needed to go with this
chapter. I adjusted and re-wrote certain parts, and
wrote quite a bit more elsewhere. Chapter 14 is
fully planned out, and shouldn't take as long to
finish.
Sneak preview of chapter 14:
"Pigtailed girls! I challenge you!" Kodatchi
screamed as she leapt towards Ranma-chan and Feather.
"Do you want to, or should I?" Feather asked
with a smile.
"Go ahead," Ranma-chan said as she idly
stepped aside and let Kodatchi fly past. "You could
use the practice."
"Alright, Kodatchi. I accept your challenge!"
Feather said as she fell into her stance, her own
pigtail swaying in the stiff breeze.
"I had not intended to fight either of you
today, but merely sought to issue my challenge,"
Kodatchi said as she waved a flyer in front of them.
"I would defeat you both in this!"
"This..." Feather said as she grabbed the
flyer.
"This is outrageous!" Ranma-chan finished as
she read the flyer. "You want us to compete in
that?"
"Oh my," Feather blushed as she took in all
the implications of competing in...
Stay tuned for the chapter 14, coming a heck of a lot
sooner than before!
Comments and criticism welcome, E-mail me at:
ryouga1100@hotmail.com
All previous chapters are stored at:
http://www.okami-san.net
E-mail me!
