***  ###  ***

In Ranma's room at the Medical Centre, the three girls sat around a small
table.  Ukyou was wearing a gambler's visor, and had a peppermint stick
hanging out of her mouth like some caricature of a cigarette.  She had a
pile of candy drops beside her, and an intense expression as she stared at
her cards.  To her right sat Akane, who was scowling at her own hand.
Akane's pile of candies was significantly smaller than Ukyou's.

Shampoo sat to Ukyou's left.  She too was sucking on a candy stick as she
studied her cards.  In lieu of a hat, she wore a bedpan canted at a rakish
angle.  Her own pile of 'chips' was by far the largest of the three.  It
was apparent that she had been winning.

"I'll take one." said Ukyou.  She slid a card face downward across the
tabletop.  Without a word, Shampoo dealt her another card.

Akane studied her hand.  She'd never been any good at cards, either, but at
least she was better than Ranma.  Right now, she had three deuces, a four
and a five.  She opted to try for the full house.  "One," she said,
discarding the four.

"Dealer take two."  said Shampoo as she dropped two cards in favour of two
new ones from the top of the deck.

"Three," said Ukyou, dropping a like number of candy drops in the center of
the table.

Akane picked up the card she'd been dealt and considered her bet.  A seven.
She could read nothing from either Ukyou or Shampoo.  After a moment's
consideration, she pushed three candies from her own diminishing pile
towards the center of the table.

Shampoo looked thoughtfully at her cards for a few seconds, and dropped
three candies into the pot, and added two more.

Ukyou sighed and tossed her cards down.  "Fold."

Akane looked at Shampoo appraisingly.  <She could be bluffing,> she
thought.  <It would certainly be in character...  Oh, hell.>  Akane pushed
two more candies into the pot.  "Call."

Shampoo smirked and laid out her cards, one by one.  "Shampoo have two pair."

Akane grinned.  <Yatta!> she thought.  <Three of a kind beats two pair!>

"Pair of red threes," said Shampoo, "and pair of black threes."

Akane's face fell as she dropped her cards onto the table.  She really
should have known better.  She sighed as she watched Shampoo rake in the
latest pot, adding it to the enormous pile beside her.  At least Akane
could console herself with the thought that if Shampoo actually *ate* her
winnings she would be too fat to chase after Ranma anymore.

Shampoo gathered the cards and passed the deck to Akane.  "Mallet Girl deal
now," she said.

Akane shot her a dark look, but took the cards and shuffled.  She held the
deck out for Ukyou to cut, and then she started to deal three hands.
"Another round of the same," she said, "Jack of Hearts is wild."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing.  She just tossed in her
ante with the other two.

After sorting her cards, Shampoo dropped two candies onto the center of the
table.  Ukyou hesitated for a second and matched them.

Akane looked at her cards.  She had the ten, the jack, and the king of
hearts, the two of diamonds, and the four of clubs.  Possible straight.
She dropped two candies into the pot, and then two more.

"Akane reckless tonight," said Shampoo, but she matched the bet.  Ukyou
shrugged and added her two candies.

Shampoo dropped two cards face down on the table.  Akane passed her new
ones.  Ukyou dropped three, and again, Akane passed out cards.  After a
moments consideration, Akane discarded the two and the four and took two
cards for herself.

Akane fought hard to keep her expression neutral.  She had picked up the
queen and the ace of hearts.  Not daring to speak, she looked over toward
Shampoo.

Shampoo smiled and dropped four candies into the pot.  "Shampoo hope
husband like candy drops," she said.  "Shampoo have too many for just her."

Ukyou and Akane both glowered at the Amazon.  Without a word, Ukyou dropped
in four to match, and four to raise.

Trying to appear nonchalant, Akane pushed eight candies to the middle of
the table.  Shampoo cocked and eyebrow at her.  "Akane sure she want to do
that?  Not have much left to share with Ranma when she lose..."

Akane turned bright red, and pushed another fistful of candies into the
pot.  "Oh, yeah?" she retorted.  "Put your money where your mouth is, China
Girl."

"Hmph." the Amazon responded as she matched the bet, "If Akane was species
of fish, she be extinct!"

Ukyou looked at the other girls and quietly folded.

"And just what do you mean by that?" Akane asked tightly.

Shampoo grinned evilly.  "Simple.  Always take bait!"  She dropped the
cards she was holding.  She had a full house, aces high.  Ukyou started
laughing.

Akane glared at her.  "And what are *you* laughing at?" she asked heatedly.

"Shampoo," chortled Ukyou, "just played a full house when you have a royal
flush!"

Akane bit off her retort as she looked at her cards.  Numbly, she placed
them on the surface in front of her.

Ukyou looked at her curiously.  "Akane-chan?  Are you okay?"  Then she saw
the cards that Akane had played.  Her jaw dropped.

"How...  how did you know?"  Akane managed to ask.

Ukyou replied quietly.  "Actually, I was referring to the way you were
blushing."

Akane's blush returned with a vengeance as she drew in her winnings.

***  ###  ***

Ranma-chan was making her initial survey of what appeared to be the last
leg of her climb when the final attack came.  As she studied the cliff face
she felt that familiar itch between her shoulder blades - the feeling that
she was being watched.  She closed her eyes and tried to listen for signs
of the watcher's whereabouts, but of course, she could hear nothing.  Which
of her tormentors had the Gods selected to send against her this time?  She
turned as the first blow was struck, and only just managed to evade it.

As she realized who it was attacking her this time, Ranma-chan froze.  That
proved to be a mistake;  Akane's next blow just about took her head off.
Ranma-chan fell back, dazed.  For the first time since her arrival in this
strange place, she saw stars.

Like those that had attacked before her, Akane was silent; silent and full
of fury.  Ranma-chan watched in horror as Akane moved towards her, eyes
cold and hard as diamonds.  At least this time, she had enough of her wits
about her to dodge the punch.

Akane's attack was ferocious - it took all of Ranma-chan's speed and skill
to avoid her punches.  Within moments, however, Ranma-chan had been backed
up against the cliff face - there was nowhere for her to go.  As Akane
charged forward, she dropped and rolled to the right.  Akane turned to
pursue, murder in her eyes.

Ranma-chan scuttled backwards trying desperately to avoid letting Akane get
close enough to do any real damage, but that was not so easy to do.  Akane
charged and Ranma-chan sideslipped.  The manoeuvre was successful, but she
was horrified to see that Akane had come within centimeters of the drop
before managing to halt her charge.  Another move like that and Akane too
would go sailing off into space.

Ranma-chan had been reasonably sure that none of her attackers were really
the people that they appeared to be, but after what had happened on the
last ledge, she was taking no chances.  Under no circumstances was she
willing to risk sending Akane into oblivion.  She adapted her evasive
strategy to try and keep Akane always rushing toward the cliff face when
she attacked, rather than toward the edge.  It was working, but she knew
she couldn't keep this up forever.  This had to be stopped, and stopped
quickly.

"Akane," she cried.  "What are you doing?"  Not surprisingly, she received
no answer.

"Why?  Why are you so angry?  Won't you at least tell me that?"  Ranma-chan
was still managing to evade Akane's attack, but she was tiring rapidly.
She could not stay ahead of Akane for much longer.

"Akane, Please! - I don't want to fight you!"  She dodged as Akane lunged
toward her.  Akane might have gone over the edge at that point, but
Ranma-chan managed to grab her arm and swing her back toward the side of
the mountain.  Ranma-chan lost her balance and fell hard, nearly sliding
off the ledge herself.  She got slowly to her feet as Akane prepared for
another attack.  There was no hesitation in Akane's manner, and Ranma-chan
could see no hope for reconciliation in her eyes.

Ranma-chan looked sadly at the girl she might have married.  <In a
different reality,> she thought, <we might have been friends.  I'm sorry,
Akane.>  Ranma-chan sighed as she reached a decision.  She was tired; tired
of always fighting with Akane; tired of all the anger and the hurt.  There
were just some fights that you could never win.  She stood up and dusted
herself off.  She looked briefly at the drop behind her, and then turned to
face her attacker.

"I will not fight you." she said simply.  She spread her arms in a gesture
of surrender.  "If you hate me that much, go ahead.  Finish it."  Akane did
not appear to notice.  As Akane began her charge, Ranma-chan closed her
eyes and waited for a final impact, and the free fall that would follow.
She shuddered as the image of her father's broken body bouncing off the
mountainside ran once more through her mind.  <It won't hurt for long,> she
thought to herself.

The final blow never came.  A full minute passed before Ranma-chan could
bring herself to open her eyes again.  When she did, she was alone.  The
phantom Akane had vanished.  "Akane..." she whispered.

The tears in her eyes made things more difficult as Ranma-chan began the
last leg of her climb, but for once, she didn't even try to stop them.

***  ###  ***

It was quiet once more in Ranma's room.  Ukyou was reading another one of
her novels, Akane was fiddling with her knitting, and actually getting it
right for a change, and Shampoo was poring over a massive tome, busily
taking notes.

Akane reached the end of the row that she was working on and set her
knitting aside.  She thought that she was finally getting the hang of it,
but she was getting tired, and was not in a mood to press her luck.  She
sighed and looked over to see what Shampoo was studying.

Akane was sure that she'd read the title incorrectly.  "Modern
Neurochemistry?" she asked in a surprised voice.

The Amazon looked annoyed.  "Nanda?" she asked testily.

"Gomen ne," said Akane.  "I was just surprised, that's all."

Shampoo put her notes down and closed her book.  "Why surprised?  Akane no
think Shampoo can read?"

"Hey, take it easy," said Ukyou in a calming voice.  "She didn't mean
anything by it.  What's got you in such a snit?"

Shampoo glared at the two of them, but relented.  "Shampoo sorry.  Shampoo
just tired of people thinking that because she come from Amazon village, or
her Japanese not so good, that she stupid.  She NOT stupid."

"Gomen, Shampoo.  I didn't mean to imply anything..." said Akane.  "I just
didn't know that you were interested in things besides martial arts and
cooking."

"And Ranma?"  Shampoo asked innocently.

"She got you with that one, Akane-chan."

"That's just because of that stupid Amazon Law," Akane shot back.

Shampoo bristled.  "Why Akane care?  She no want Ranma.  Say so many times!"

Before Akane could reply to that sting, Ukyou jumped in to calm things down
a bit.  "So if it's not just the law, Shampoo, why *are* you interested in
Ranma?" she asked.

Shampoo looked hard at Ukyou, but could see no threat in her expression.
She looked genuinely curious.  "You really want to know?" she asked.

Ukyou and Akane both nodded.

Shampoo looked longingly at the unconscious figure in the bed.  "At first,
Shampoo just happy to find strong husband.  In Joketsuzoku, most skilled
warriors have trouble finding husbands."

"It's lonely at the top," quipped Akane.

Shampoo thought about that.  "Is so," she said soberly.  "Can be very
lonely for best fighter, and no one of her generation better than Shampoo.
No one want to spend life alone."

"What about Mousse?" asked Ukyou quietly.

Shampoo snorted.  "Mousse... Mousse is child.  Will always be child.  Even
if Shampoo wanted Mousse, Mousse no can beat Shampoo.  No can marry.  Is
law."

"But he loves you," said Akane.  "Is the law really that strict?"

"Shampoo no love him.  But law is good law!  Make Amazons strong!  Because
of law, Shampoo find Ranma!  Now Shampoo no have to be alone!"

"But what if Ranma can't marry you?" asked Akane.  "He does have..." she
looked at Ukyou, "...other obligations."

"Ranma *must* marry Shampoo.  If not, Shampoo can never go back to village.
Can never go home."

Akane and Ukyou exchanged glances.  "But why Ranma?  What if someone else
were to beat you in combat?"

"Shampoo no want anyone else."  She paused.  "Ranma...  Ranma have
everything Shampoo want in husband.  He strong, brave, have good heart.  He
even stand up to great grandmother.  He be father of many strong children."

Akane sighed.  "If Ranma...  No, *when* Ranma gets better, he may not agree
with you.  There are other choices he could make."

"Shampoo just have to make sure that she *best* choice, then, ne?"

Akane looked like she wanted to argue the point, but Ukyou spoke up,
tempted as she was to let the other two kill each other.  "We can all fight
over him later, if you want.  But *not* here." she said softly.  "For now,
he needs us - all of us - to be there for him.  After all, if he dies, then
none of this matters."

The tension that had been building between Akane and Shampoo melted away
with that warning.  Ukyou was right; there would be time for fighting
later.  Right now, they just had to hope that there would still be someone
to fight over.

***  ###  ***

The world around her, such as it was, was beginning to break apart.
Ranma-chan first noticed a fuzziness in the distance, as details blurred
and faded into the void.  Though silent, Ranma-chan could almost believe
that the landscape was breaking up into large, angry swarms of bees,
buzzing madly about.  Whatever it was, it did not look good, and it was
coming closer.

"Oh shit," said Ranma-chan - "Gotta get to the top, NOW."  She looked sadly
toward the top of the cliff, just sixteen or so meters above her.  "But I'm
so tired...  ...so very tired."  Sighing, she reached for the next
handhold.

Ranma-chan looked down, towards the bottom of the cliff.  Once bottomless,
the cliff now disappeared into a roiling grey vortex - Ranma-chan almost
fell as a chunk of the cliff came away in her hand.  The stone fell
noiselessly to be swallowed by the vortex.  <At least it looks soft>
Ranma-chan thought to herself.  <It would be so easy - just let go, and all
my problems would be solved.  No more curse.  No more fights with Akane.
No more tricks from Shampoo.  No more fights with Kunou, or Ryouga, or any
of the others.  No more messes caused by Dad...>  To sleep, perchance to
dream...

"To be, or not to be..."  <Boy, Hinako Sensei was right.  That Shakespeare
had a quote for everything,> Ranma-chan thought.

The more Ranma-chan thought about it, the less attractive that option
sounded.  Never again to see one of Akane's all too rare smiles; never
again to taste Shampoo's special ramen, or Ucchan's okonomiyaki; never
again to hear any of them laugh, or cry; never again to know the simple
pleasure of a good workout...

"To be, I think," said Ranma-chan, as she resumed her climb with added
intensity.

If she had to be stuck with three iinazuke, she would have to deal with
that.  As bad as her problems sometimes seemed, they could certainly be
worse.  Even with the curse, she had just about everything she truly
wanted.  Indeed, her real problem was not what she *didn't* have, but that
she had too much.  Looking at it that way, it seemed silly to complain.

When Ranma-chan had made it up almost eight meters, she looked back down
the cliff.  She was no further from the all consuming vortex - in fact, it
looked like the vortex was gaining on her.  Ranma-chan swallowed hard and
redoubled her efforts.  Where there were no hand holds, she made them,
punching holes in the rock where necessary to obtain purchase.  Using the
last of her strength, Ranma-chan fairly shot up the cliff face.

***  ###  ***

In Ranma's room at the Nerima Medical Centre - Ukyou, Shampoo and Akane
were sitting quietly, maintaining their vigil.  Ukyou was reading a copy of
"Kinen Hi".  Akane was knitting (trying to knit) something, producing a
shapeless but relatively tangle-less mass, and Shampoo was reading an
ancient Chinese alchemical text.  Ukyou was the first to notice that the
rhythm of Ran-chan's cardiac monitor was starting to fluctuate.  She was by
Ranma's bedside in a flash, holding his hand and slapping the comswitch to
summon the nurses.

Akane and Shampoo joined her in short order. The three of them were
hovering anxiously over Ranma as they waited for the nurses to arrive.  Was
this it?  The doctors had told them that when a change came, that would be
the critical time.  Would Ranma live, or was this the end?  Each of them
wanted very badly for him to get better, and an almost tangible expectation
filled the air, like a charge of static electricity.

The cardiac monitor's rhythm was no longer regular, but seemed to come in
fits and starts.  Somewhere on the console behind the bed, an alarm began
to shrill.  Ranma's breathing started to get faster and shallower, echoing
the increase in pace from the cardiac monitor.  A low moan escaped him, and
the hand that Ukyou held twitched briefly.

On the monitor panel, a number of lights went from green, to amber to red.
Ranma took one more deep, shuddering breath, and was still.  A second alarm
rang out as the cardiac monitor stopped registering, displaying only a flat
line.

***  ###  ***

Time was running out.  Ranma-chan had made it to the top of the cliff ahead
of the vortex, but not by more than a few minutes.  If she didn't get out
of here soon, she was lost.  When she clambered over the lip of the cliff,
she almost fell back again at the sight that greeted her.

The landscape that stretched before her now was one that she knew well.
She had visited it often enough in her dreams - and in her nightmares.  She
had even visited it once in person, and on that fateful day, her entire
world had been ripped inside out.

The plateau was covered with small ponds, hundreds of them, stretching as
far as the eye could see.  Bamboo poles rose seemingly at random from the
ponds, and the ground in between.  To one side, she could see the remains
of a thatch hut that had long since fallen to the vagaries of time.

Jyusenkyou.

"No..." she said softly.  "Not this... not again..."

Numbly, she advanced to the first of the cursed springs.  Looking into the
water, ahe could just see her own reflection.  However, it was partially
obscured by another reflection, superimposed over her own.  A duck stared
back at her.  Yahzu niichuan.

One by one, Ranma-chan began to check the pools, looking for some clue,
some inspiration to tell her what she had to do next.  Pool after pool
showed her a reflection, but none of them gave her any ideas.  She found
the spring of drowned wombat, the spring of drowned monkey and the spring
of drowned bandicoot.  She even found the spring of drowned pig.

Another spring showed her the reflection of a nameless tentacled horror
that she was sure would be haunting her nightmares for years to come.  The
sheer, malignant evil that radiated from the spring was all but tangible.

She looked into another spring, and jumped back instinctively from the
reflection staring back at her.  Mao niichuan.  Spring of drowned cat.  She
was so startled that she came within a hairsbreadth of falling into the
spring behind her.  When she turned to look into it, her father was staring
back at her.  Of course, it wasn't really her father; it was Shon-mao
niichuan, the spring of drowned panda.  Still, Ranma-chan could not shake
the sense that there was accusation in the panda's stare.

A breeze ruffled the sleeves of Ranma-chan's shirt as she stared morosely
at the panda's image.  There was still no sound, just the sense of moving
air, and the realization that she was running out of time.  Looking up, she
saw that the horizon was starting to blur and melt, like a water-colour
picture left out in the rain.  Before long, this world would be gone, and
unless she managed to escape, she would be gone with it.  But how?

An answer came in a flash of intuition.  She just had to find the right
pool before it was too late.  Frantically, she renewed her search.  It had
to be around here somewhere!  She just hoped that it was nearby, and not
among the pools that were dissolving in the distance, even as she watched.

Finally she reached a pool whose reflection stopped her dead in her tracks.
The face that stared out of the pool at her was her own.  Not the one that
she was wearing now, but her *real* face; the face of Ranma the boy.  She
had found it.  At long last, she had found the Nan niichuan, spring of
drowned boy.

<This is it!> Ranma-chan exulted.  <This is the one!  Now I can be normal
again, and get on with my life!>  Ranma-chan readied herself, and, taking a
deep breath, leapt into the pool.

Before she hit the surface, she knew that she had made the wrong choice.
In a panic, she grabbed for the bamboo pole that rose from the waters of
the Nan niichuan and swung herself back toward the ground.  For a second,
she didn't think that she was going to make it, but, to her immense relief,
she came down on dry ground.  It was hard, but dry.

Ranma-chan would have been hard pressed to say exactly how she had known
that this was the wrong pool.  A wave of sensations had washed over her as
she dove - a combination of images that her mind was still trying to sort
out.  There had been a sense of peace, and quiet, the likes of which she
had never known, and the warm, rich scent of freshly dug earth.  But there
had been a cold - a bone chilling cold that had pierced her to the very
core.  Instinct had taken over from there.

Ranma-chan got wearily to her feet.  She knew now, or thought she did
anyway, which pool she had to find.  If it still existed here.  She began
to search again.

She headed back the way she had come - the one she wanted had been near the
panda's spring, but there had been so many, and she had been in such a
hurry, that she could no longer remember where it was.  Just as she was
beginning to lose hope, inspiration struck.

On a hunch, she stopped and looked around at the fading landscape.  All
around her, the nothingness was advancing, closing in on her even as she
watched.  Except... no, it was not closing on *her*, but a point just
over... THERE.  Ranma-chan ran for the center of the safe zone as fast as
she could.  She had to be right.  There was no more time, if she was not.

Ranma-chan stopped at the pool in the centre of a rapidly shrinking oasis
in the chaos.  Looking into its depths, she was relieved to see that it
showed her only one reflection.  Her own.  HER own.  <Time's up.  It's
this... or nothing.> she thought to herself.  For the second time, Ranma
plunged into the Nyan niichuan, spring of drowned girl.

The pain was incredible.  Ranma-chan could feel herself stiffening as if
paralysed, a searing agony burning its way across her chest as she sank,
and darkness claimed her.  <Damn.> she thought.  <and I was so sure...>
And there was nothing.

***  ###  ***

Ukyou felt helpless - Ranma was dying before her eyes, and she could do
nothing to stop it.  It wasn't fair!  He had made it through so much!  By
whatever miracles, he had survived the accident, the surgery, ten days in a
coma - Dammit, it just couldn't end like this!  She couldn't lose him
again!  Not like this!

Shampoo just stood in shocked silence, staring at Ranma's still form.  The
shrilling of the alarms, the choked sobs from Akane and Ukyou, she heard
none of them.  With every fiber of her being she prayed to whatever gods
might be listening; Let Ranma Live.

Akane saw the look in Ukyou's eyes and felt her heart in her throat.  Ranma
was dead.  It didn't seem real.  This couldn't be happening!  This wasn't
the way the story was supposed to end!  Akane did what she did best when
feeling helpless.  She got angry.  "Damn you, Ranma," she sobbed, "If you
die now, I'll... I'll... I'll never speak to you again!"

Ukyou and Shampoo turned to stare at Akane, who was staring at the floor in
acute embarrassment.  It wasn't until Ukyou felt Ranma squeeze her hand
that any of them noticed the cardiac monitor was once more reading a pulse.

***  ###  ***

Ranma drifted back into consciousness feeling uncomfortably like a
pin-cushion.  Attempts to move met with little or no success, and his whole
body felt like it was under a couple of tons of stone.  <Damn cliff must've
collapsed on me after all.> he thought to himself.  Finally, Ranma managed
to open his eyes, just a bit.  He was greeted with a blur of light,
partially masked by the three darker blurs hovering over him.  After a
moment, he blinked, and the world slowly began to come into focus.

The first sounds that he was conscious of hearing were ragged gasps, as if
someone had been holding their breath for too long.  There were voices, but
he was having trouble getting a lock on what was being said, and he had no
idea who was saying it.  As time passed and more of his surroundings began
to register on his consciousness, the voices resolved into recognizable
patterns.

Ukyou Voice:  "Ran-chan!  Ran-chan!  Oh, thank god!"

Shampoo Voice:  "Haiyaah!  Shampoo so happy!"

Akane Voice:  "Ranma!"  then more softly, "Ranma... I'm sorry."

Gradually, as his vision cleared, Ranma could make out three very worried
looking faces staring back down at him.

"Where... where am I...?" he managed at last.  His voice was little more
than a whisper.

The only answer he got right away was the relieved sobbing of three very
tired girls, as a week's worth of pent-up emotions broke free.  Before
Ranma could work up to another question, a small army of doctors and nurses
came in, and moving the girls gently out of the way, began to make checks
on their newly awakened patient.

***  ###  ***