Ryoga ½
by George Masologites
guilds@mail.serve.com [Hunter Kid]
© 07/19/1997  All Rights Reserved
7
A Game of Poker

    Ryoga closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.
    She was in her girl form currently.  Not because she particularly liked
it; she was actually attempting to learn to draw on the water element, as
Ryako had told her was possible with practice.  Besides, she reasoned, I
might be stuck this way during a fight.  
    She clenched her teeth, focusing hard and showing her sharp fangs.  It
felt like she was grasping for something within her mind...and then,
nothing.  Ryoga sighed and opened her eyes, grumbling to herself. 
    "Remember what I told you," Ryako told her, watching her like a hawk
with her sharp grey eyes.  "Spirit, as you're used to, flows as one long
continuous stream.  Water comes in swirling waves.  Concentrate on that.
Try to pull the water into your being, focus on its strong swirling tug on
your veins..."
    Ryoga tried again, but with still no success.  She could -feel- the
water element, that was what made it so damn frustrating.  It was there, in
the depths of her consciousness, and when she reached out to draw it in, it
would pull away, breaking up into smaller flows, always just beyond her
mind's grasp.
    "Clear your mind," Ryako stated irritatedly, her arms folded underneath
her breasts.  "You're not going to get it unless you clear your mind."
    This was just like before, Ryoga realized with a start.  When she had
trained on that mountain with Cologne, the old woman, and had been unable
to master the bakusaitenketsu technique for several days because she kept
thinking of Akane.  This time, though, she knew she wasn't thinking of her.
    "You are," Ryako told her flatly.  "Whenever I read your thoughts, I
see an image of this 'Akane' in your mind."  As if to prove it, she added,
"Long brown hair, large brown eyes, and an outfit with a snowshovel
strapped to the back."
    "It's a giant spatula," Ryoga told her absently.  "Wait - a giant
spatula?  Long brown hair?"  She blinked.  "That's not Akane."  It was
Ukyou, she realized with a start.  She had been thinking about Ukyou?
    Ryako shrugged.  "Well, it's someone, and if you don't get your mind
off her, you're never going to draw the water."  
    It was an irritation not to be able to use the spirit barrier to keep
Ryako out of her mind, but Ryoga's girl form couldn't draw spirit, no
matter what she tried.    Her thoughts drifted, and she realized she was
thinking about Ukyou.  Why would that be?  She wondered.  It wasn't like
she was in love with Ukyou or anything...Akane was the only girl for her.
    A small smack in the face startled her out of her thoughts.  "Hm?"  She
looked up, and saw Ryako frowning at her.  She hit me with a fist of air,
Ryoga noticed, surprised.  
    "Come on, Ryoga, focus your thoughts," Ryako grumbled.
    Ryoga tried to, and managed to rid herself of the image of Ukyou's
smiling face.  She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the swirling water
that she knew was there...

    Ranma-chan looked up from the puddle where Kai had tossed her.  "I'm
who after all?"  She asked him, puzzled.
    Kai shook his head sadly.  "You are her," he repeated to himself
several times, a remorseful look on his stern features.  "This I cannot
believe."
    "Who?"  Ranma-chan demanded in an annoyed tone, clambering back to her
feet and wiping the rain from her brow without much success, as it was
still coming down steadily.
    For a moment, there was only the soft patter of rain, then Kai spoke.
"You're my fiance," he said, his face changing into an odd expression of
confusion and anger.  "But how can this be?  The old man said you were a
woman," his voice had taken on an ominous growl.  
    Ranma-chan slapped her forehead.  The old man.  Her father.  He had
gotten her engaged again...this time as a girl?  She walked back into the
dojo, and ran a hand through her crimson bangs, pushing them back from her
forehead.  "I'm your fiance?"  She asked him, a little disbelievingly.
    Kai slumped downward, clenching and unclenching his fists almost
rythmatically, a hurt expression on his face.  "I knew you had left me, but
I didn't know why," he said softly.  "But..."  His voice trailed off.
    "I've never even seen you before," Ranma-chan protested, trying to make
the distraught Chinese boy feel better.  "I...well, I'm sure the old man
has an explanation for all of this."
    The other three people in the dojo had just been watching all of this,
slightly wide-eyed, when Akane spoke, slightly angry.  "Ranma," she said,
glowering at him, "you got engaged?  As a girl?"
    "Hey," Ranma-chan stated defensively, backing up against the wall.
"Calm down, Akane.  I've never even seen this guy before..."
    Soun Tendo stormed back into the dojo, dragging a growling panda behind
him, who just growled confusedly.  He poured hot water from a kettle onto
the panda, who transformed instantly into a slightly bedraggled Genma Saotome.
    "Shonmaoniichuan," Jeikar acknowledged.  "Spring of the Drowned Panda."
    Ignoring Jeikar, both Soun and Ranma-chan held up the confused Genma by
the scruff of his white gi.  "What is the meaning of this, Saotome?"
Master Tendo demanded, at the same time Ranma-chan asked, "Hey pop, you got
me engaged again?  What for this time?  Rice cakes?"  She glowered at
Genma, who just looked back, narrowing his eyebrows.
    "You two aren't making any sense," Genma said, sitting down in a
cross-legged position.  "Who is Ranma supposed to be engaged to?"
    Ranma-chan pointed to Kai, who was examining Genma closely.  "You
engaged me to him, while I was a girl!"  She shouted angrily.
    Genma only looked more puzzled, and Kai shook his head.  "This isn't
the old man," he said, frowning.  "The old man was a -really- old man.
Short and kind of dried up; said he was your grandfather, Ranma.  I...I
fell in love with you," he admitted shamefacedly, "and asked the old man
for your hand in marriage.  He agreed, and said that you were waiting for
the proper man."  He bowed his head.  "He told me you were out that
particular night, and I could speak to you the following day.  He asked me
to buy him dinner, and I agreed.  But when I awoke the next morning, the
old man was gone, you were gone, and all my money was gone as well."  He
clenched his fist.  "I never saw you again..."
    Soun had started to sweat, as had Genma.  "A...a dried up old man?"
Genma stammered at last.  "You...don't suppose he's talking about
Happousai?"  He said the last part to Soun, who only shivered.
    "The old man you met," Soun told the despondent Kai, "...we know him.
He's a perverted old lecher, and it's not a surprise to us that he stole
your posessions."
    "But who was the girl, if it wasn't Ranma?"  Genma wondered
thoughfully.  "I certainly never saw the mas...Happousai while in China."
He suddenly looked a little nervous.  "D...did the girl you met there give
her name?"
    "The old man told it to me," Kai stated, a far-off look in his slitted
eyes.  "Ryako.  Just Ryako, no last name that I ever heard."
    Genma Saotome swallowed.  He suddenly knew who this person was, and if
they came here, he knew he was in for it.  
    "Well, old man?"  Ranma-chan demanded.  "The name Ryako ring any bells?"
    Genma shook his head.  "Never heard the name before," he said,
surprising even himself at how sincere the lie sounded.

    Down a small road on the Kanto plain, a small, compact car raced down
at speeds surely too high.  The roughly paved road was the link between
Tokyo and Yokohama, surrounded on either sides by endless lengths of green
and brown farmlands, where soft rains poured quietly down onto the thirsy
earth.
    The car contained two young men, the one driving was dark-skinned and
stripped to his waist, his dark trousers secured firmly by a black band
belt and bound tightly at the calves, and he appeared fairly tense, always
glancing over his shoulder to look out the back window of the car, as if
making sure they weren't being tailed.
    The other young man, lighter skinned with chestnut brown hair, was
resting in the passenger's seat, but looked to be a nervous wreck.  He had
a black shirt on made of a tough material, with a net bound across his
chest, and wore the same trousers as the other young man.  
    "I guess it's our only choice, eh?"  The darker complexioned of the two
said remorsefully, trying to appear relaxed; an effect that was utterly
ruined by his white-knucked grip on the steering wheel and the way he
stared ahead, his eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead of them.
    "We'd be fine if it wasn't for that damned fool of a police officer,"
the light-haired fellow managed to say in a torn voice, shuddering.  "They
know who we are, now."  He looked on the verge of tears.
    "It wasn't your fault, man," the other young man said, in a voice meant
to be comforting.  "You saved my life, Hiroshi, calm down.  It's going to
work out okay, man."  He repeated this last line several times, as if
trying to convince himself as well as his friend. 
    The brown-haired fellow, Hiroshi, clenched his fist.  "But what could I
do?"  He said, his eyes closed, trying to stop the tears.  "He was going to
take us in, Jun.  Jail us for our teenage years, I just know it, man."  A
small teardrop rolled down his cheek, and he hurriedly wiped it away with
one of the soft black sleeves.  
    "Don't worry, Hiroshi," the other boy, Jun, told his friend, smiling
slightly without taking his gaze from the road.  "They'll never catch us.
And you did what was right."
    "Did I?"  Hiroshi retorted bitterly.  "The officer was just trying to
do his damn job...and I..."  He swallowed, wiping away another tear.  "...I
killed him.  The knife was just there, man, and he had his back to me..."
He leaned back, breathing hard.  "I had no choice."
    Jun and Hiroshi fell silent, then, each replaying the night's events in
his own mind, both regretting that they had ever gone to Kira Shintori's
apartment.
    It was going good, at first.  They had slipped in, apparently
unnoticed, and wandered around the upstairs of the mansion for a few
minutes, wondering where the stairs were.  They hadn't found any when they
had heard the sirens blaring from outside, and the loud voice telling
everyone to come out with their hands up.
    Hiroshi had gone into a panic, but Jun had calmed down a little and
suggested they bluff their way out, pretending to be two of the Kunou
family guard ninja, and Hiroshi had agreed.  When the policeman had come up
the stairs, however, everything had gone wrong.
    Jun began to say that he was a loyal ninja to the Kunou family, when
the police officer pulled a gun on him and told him to put his hands in the
air, which Jun had complied with.  The officer never noticed Hiroshi,
sulking in the background in his dark outfit, with his hood and mask, as he
didn't have a flashlight and apparently the lights in the hallway were
burned out.  
    Hiroshi wasn't sure what to do, and suddenly the sharp dagger that hung
on his belt was in his hand, and a moment later, he had buried it in the
policeman's back, the policeman's death scream echoing in the hall, his
face frozen in shock as he fell down, dead.
    Jun was quick thinking, though, and he snatched up Hiroshi's knife and
given it back to him, and they both ran for the window at the end of the
hallway, racing for their lives as two more policeman appeared near the
dead body and shouted at them to halt or they would be fired upon.
    We're wanted for murder now, Hiroshi had remember thinking grimly in
his numb mind, as he jumped out the thin glass window, the shards flying
around them, Jun quickly following as bullets buzzed around them, none
hitting them; figures dressed in black moving quickly in a lightless
hallway are hard to hit, he supposed.
    Once they were outside, they had leaped the garden wall with strength
borne of desperation and escaped into the forest surrounding the mansion,
running for dear life, when they suddenly found themselves near a store in
Nerima, with an untended small blue car outside it.
    Jun had almost no idea how to steal a car, and neither did Hiroshi, but
their need to flee was so great that Jun took out his belt dagger with one
hand and smashed the window with his other, quickly opening the lock as the
two had scrambled inside.  No alarm.
    Jun had looked momentarily puzzled, then realized that all he had to do
was slash open the plastic covering.  He did so quickly, and fiddled with
the ignition for a second before the car roared to life.  He stepped on the
gas, which had a full tank, Hiroshi remembered thinking with relief, and
seconds later they had fled town, fugitives from the law, wanted for
killing a police officer.
    As they sped south, Jun had suggested that they go to Yokohama and skip
the country.  Go to China and stay there.  
    So here they were, heading for the port city of Yokohama, halfway
there, and it was two in the morning.  Both were still wide-eyed awake, not
daring to sleep until they had reached their destination.
    "I killed a man," Hiroshi kept repeating to himself in a terrified,
remorseful voice, and Jun didn't have the heart to stop him.  He had killed
that officer to save them both from what would be probably ten years in
prison, and Jun was thankful to his friend for it.  
    Jun patted his light-haired friend comfortingly on the shoulder as they
continued to speed southward, towards Yokohama.  Towards China.

    "China?  Why?"
    Kira Shintori and his slick-haired friend, Kenji Tarouna, were flying
southward in the jet that they had stolen from the Kunou mansion, moments
before the policemen there had opened fire on them.  The personal jet,
though, had reinforced metal plates covering it, so the bullets didn't so
any irrepairable damage.
    Kenji had been startled when Kira started the jet, asking him how he
knew how to fly an airplane.  Kira had just grinned and said he didn't know
how, but the keys were right there, and they needed to get out of there or
face about ten years in prison. 
    It wasn't as hard as most people thought flying a jet would be,
especially since it was a small one - and Kira had taken a few courses on
aviation during his last two semesters, and had gotten good scores in all
three of his classes.  Actually, he had the knowledge to fly a small plane.
 And he was using it.  He started the jet and bursted out the side of the
Kunou house, using the long driveway as a runway as everyone down below
looked on in amazement, and taking off with plenty of room to spare.
    "These small planes take off pretty good, eh?"  Kira remembered saying
with a broad grin, as the stunned policemen below realized what had
happened and had looked upwards, firing a few inpotent shots, as the jet
had already been far too high and was already almost out of sight.
    "China," Kira responded, as they set into a southeast course, "is the
most logical destination.  The Japanese authorities won't chase after a
couple teenagers that stole a personal jet..."  he paused, grinning
mischieveiously.  "...especially if the plane's found in a smoking wreck.
See, this plane's got a surprisingly big tank, so I figure we have just
enough fuel to make it to the Shantung Peninsula, so we land there in some
deserted field, and throw a match into the gas tank, and leave.  There's a
city there, Tsingtao, where we can buy come Chinese clothing and no one
will ever know."  He grinned.
    "It's a good plan," the slick-haired Kenji admitted, "and I have always
wanted to see the Chinese countryside, but first of all, I don't know if I
want to spend my whole damn life there.  Second, this's all easy for you
because you're three-fourths Chinese, Kira Shintori.  Or should I say Li
Chekiang?  That's your Chinese name, isn't it?  And third, dammit all, I
can't speak the language."
    Kira smiled at him.  "The last one you don't need to worry over, Kenji,
because I'm going to start tutoring you here in just a second, and once you
start catching on, we speak nothing but Chinese.  Got it?  As for the first
one, you'll love China.  It's really beautiful, especially in the western
provinces where we're going to be going, and there's plenty of open space.
Unlike Japan."  He paused, then went on.  "And the second one - yes, that's
correct, I am three-fourths Chinese, and my real name is Li Chekiang.
Speaking of which, you look as if you may have a little Chinese blood in
you.  Do you?"  Kenji shook his head irritably.  "Well, just so long as you
look it."  Kira grinned at him.
    "And, you'll need a new name.  Hsiao Kuo," he said after a moment with
a nod.  "Name of my great-uncle, who's dead now.  We're travelers, and are
just sort of drifting across the country.  And, if they require it, we're
from a remote village in the Bayankala Range of mountains in the Qinghai
province.  That's roughly the place we'll be heading, in any case."
    "Why?"
    Kira chuckled.  "Let's just say the scenery there is nice, and we'll
have a choice to make there.  No sense worrying you with those choices now,
though, is there?"
    Kenji grimaced slightly and couldn't help but worry just a little as
the plane rushed through the air to the Shantung Peninsula, listening to
the sound of the rain pattering against the small plane's windows.

    Ukyou tossed restlessly on her bed.  She glanced over at the clock - a
little past midnight, she noted with a sigh.  Why couldn't she sleep?
    She rolled over onto her stomach, her cheek against the pillow, and
closed her eyes again.  She needed sleep, and was exhausted.  What was
wrong?  She knew, of course, the reason.  She was thinking about Ranma.
She realized she was now thinking of him as plain 'Ranma' instead of
Ran-chan or Ranma honey; even in her mind, that was how she had always
thought of him.
    Ryo-chan.
    She blinked.  Now what had brought -that- thought on?  Ukyou stared at
the ceiling, getting a firm mental picture of Ryoga's face.  It was always
so grim and determined, and he had that cute, shy smile...she could only
feel puzzled.  There was nothing between her and Ryoga, she knew that.
Ryoga was deeply in love with Akane, and Ukyou was in love with Ranma.
    Ranma.  There, it had come again, this time easier into her mind.  Not
Ran-chan, just Ranma.  She closed her eyes and tried to get a picture of
his face into her head; that always helped her sleep.  But though there was
an image of Ranma in her head, it was slightly fuzzy.  His smile no longer
seemed so enchanting, and his blue-grey eyes no longer seemed to stare so
intently at her.  Then the eye color changed to a dark brown, and gazed at
her with a certain intenseness to them.  It was Ryoga, and his fanged mouth
smiled at her, that cute, embarrased smile that he sometimes wore.
    She cleared her mind of the jumble of thoughts.  Ryoga.  Why did she
keep thinking of Ryoga?  There was no way she was going to fall in love
with him; he didn't love her back, and that would only hurt them both in
the end.  She sighed, pulling the covers around her slender figure into a
more confortable position and relaxed onto the soft pillow, knowing that
sleep would be long in coming.
    Lost in thought, the gentle sound of the rain outside gradually calmed
her as she drifted off into peaceful slumber, dreaming strange dreams where
Ranma's face kept blurring and changing to Ryoga's warm smile...

    Ranma was also trying to get to sleep, and having less success than
Ukyou.  He looked over irritably at his father's sleeping form, not a
panda, just his father.  The panda, at least, didn't snore.  Whatever
calming effect the soft rain might have had outside, the snoring canceled out.
    He couldn't get his mind off that name - Ryako.  He knew he'd heard it
somewhere before, but couldn't place exactly where...
    "I'm just imagining stuff," he muttered to himself.  It was probably
just another Nyaniichuan victim that Happousai met in China, and used for
his own ends.
    Still, the name sounded strangely familiar to him.  Maybe he had called
himself that once...no, the only alias he had ever named himself was Ranko,
and that was so his mother didn't find out that he was a half-girl.  Ranko
Tendo, he thought to himself, mumbling bitterly.  He was starting to hate
that name.  No, he thought despondently, I've always hated that name.
    He still had a vague hope in the back of his mind that he might be
cured one day, but he knew that it was a vain wish.  Sungchuan wouldn't
work, there was nothing Jusenkyo or Nannichuan could do for him...there was
nothing.  He sighed bleakly.  The curse seemed to rule his thoughts of
late; especially since he had heard of the 'other victim' from Ukyou.  He
had returned to ask her more about it, but she had simply shrugged it off
as not being anything, to his frustration.
    "I just want to meet that other person," he mumbled quietly.  Just to
talk to another person with the same curse...to exchange thoughts about it,
to get some understanding.
    As it was now, the only other people that were cursed that he saw
regularly were Ryoga, Shampoo, and his father.
    Ryoga was trying to kill him, Shampoo wanted to marry him, and his
father didn't seem to care about anything except his stomach and getting
Ranma and Akane together.  He probably likes his panda form, Ranma thought,
grumbling.  
    He wished that Shampoo would speak to him more often as a human instead
of seeing him only as a 'potential husband.'  There was no way he could
ever have a heart-to-heart conversation with her, especially since she had
a hard time speaking Japanese in any case.
    Oftentimes, he felt sorry for Ryoga.  It couldn't be easy turning into
a pig, and knowing that it was his own fault didn't make it any better.  He
had actually kicked Ryoga from the cliff, according to Ryoga.  Ranma didn't
have any recollection of kicking someone off a cliff, but he really did
feel sorry for Ryoga.  He had tried to make it up to him by keeping his
secret, but sometimes he tried to indiscreetly point it out to Akane, who
was always too thickheaded to notice.
    He could never have a conversation with the bandanna-wearing traveler,
though, let alone a heart-to-heart talk about their curses.  Whenever Ranma
brought up the curses when Ryoga was in a good mood, Ryoga would suddenly
grow angry and start raving about it all being Ranma's fault and attack him.
    "Damn that pig," Ranma grunted to himself.  "I told him I was sorry,
didn't I?  There's not much I can do."  He sighed and leaned back into his
soft pillow.  "And keeping his secret from Akane is beginning to get
annoying..."
    His voice trailed off as he cleared his mind, trying to relax and get
to sleep.  He rolled over, looking balefully at his easily slumbering
father, who paid him no attention.
    Genma Saotome snored.

    It was raining in Yokohama, too.
    Now three in the morning, there were a few lights scattered around the
city, and only a small amount of cars that roamed the streets, their sleepy
drivers trying to reach their houses from late nights at offices.  The rain
fell harder here than in Tokyo; there, it was a soft, relaxing patter.
Here, it fell like a sheet.  Things were, however, fairly peaceful at three
in the morning for the busy port town.
    At the docks, the lifeblood of the city, a large ship had just arrived,
pulling into the pier with a great deal of racket.  Sitting peacefully in
another pier was a similar ship, though with the commotion on deck, it
appeared to be getting ready to leave rather than anchor, its crew
preparing wearily to haul an assortment of goods to a large port in the
Shantung province in China, Tsingtao.
    The captain of the ship walked to its front and shouted something
loudly, and six young men dressed in varying working clothes came out of a
small shack near the pier, one of them hastily concealing a small deck of
poker cards.  Unnoticed, two shirtless figures dressed in black trousers
joined them, and three of the other sailors looked at them quizically, then
decided they were new recruits, and made no comments.
    As the last of the group of eight men scrambled aboard, chatting idily
to each other, there was a loud cry of, "Cast off!", and the large ship
shuddered into motion.
    The captain, a middle-aged clean shaven man, walked up the the group of
eight and addressed them irritably, not paying any special attention to any
of them.  
    "Lazy slobs," the captain snorted testily.  "You're late."  He pointed
to a small staircase leading into the cargo hold.  "Now get down there and
scrub the cargo hold, y'hear?"  With that, he grumbled something under his
breath and stalked off, walking up some steps to the navigation room.
    One of the sailors, a muscular young man of probably eighteen years of
age, looked unhappy.  "Dammit, Rei, you just had to insist we play that
last round, huh?"  He glowered at another young man, a dark-skinned boy of
maybe sixteen with close-cropped black hair, who just grinned toothily at him.
    "Aw, you're just mad because I won, aren't ya?"  The short-haired boy,
Rei, tweaked his nose and snickered.  He looked around to make sure the
captain wouldn't overhear, then said softly, "C'mon, guys.  We can get
another game started below."
    The group of boys all grinned to each other, except the last two that
had joined them, who just looked nervous and made no comments as they
followed the original six who swaggered down the stairs, talking loudly to
one another.
    As soon as they were below, five of them sat down and motioned to a
sixth who grabbed a mop from a pile in the corner and feigned cleaning,
watching the stairs in case the captain should come down.  The two
shirtless young men looked uncomfortable and sat down with the other five,
looking around at the numerous boxes and sacks of cargo, and the small,
incandescent light bulb that lighted the room.
    "So," the muscular young man who had been glowering at Rei looked
closely at the two young men that had joined the group on their way on
board, "you those two new guys that the captain was talking about the other
day?"
    One of the two, slightly taller than the other and darker complexioned,
nodded.  "Hai.  Needed the money, you know.  Ain't much else you can do in
the area near the docks."
    The muscular boy nodded.  "You can say that again.  So, you guys are
from there?  I ain't, personally, but I had a close friend who was.  Rough
neighborhood, huh?" 
    The dark-complexioned young man made a face and copied the muscular
boy's words.  "You can say that again."
    Rei grinned in a friendly fashion to them.  "So, what're you guys
called?  I'm Rei Shigawa, and this's my big brother Kaneda."  He poked the
larger boy's side jokingly.
    "I'm Makoto Yokoyama," the dark-skinned boy stated, and gestured to his
similarly dressed partner.  "And this's my friend Hiroyuki Shu."
    Rei nodded.  "Yeah, well, welcome aboard and all that."  He grinned.
"So...you guys like poker?"
    The dark-skinned young man man, Makoto, grinned.  "Love it.  I only got
a little money on me, though, and I want to keep it.  Thinking of buying a
little something in China."
    Rei grinned back at him.  "Yeah, I know where you're coming from."  He
leaned closer to Makoto conspiratorily.  "These guys are terrible," he
whispered with a smirk.  "I won three thousand yen off em already.  Play
just a couple rounds, eh?"
    Makoto let himself be convinced.  "Okay," he agreed, smirking at Rei.
"I'm game.  How much is the ante?"
    "Fifty yen," Rei's older brother Kaneda said, throwing a fifty yen
piece into the center of their circle, and the other four did the same.
Makoto grumbled something incomprehensible as he pulled a fifty yen coin
out from a small pouch on his belt and tossed it into the center.
    "You're not in?"  Kaneda inquired of Hiroyuki, who had been staring
dismally off into space.
    Hiroyuki shook his head.  "I stink at poker," he said, giving a laugh
that sounded a little forced.
    "Okay, then, grab a mop and watch the door with Kaeru over there."  He
gestured to the bored-looking young man of maybe seventeen who lounged near
the doorway, looking up them nonchalantly every few minutes for signs of
the captain.  Hiroyuki shrugged and went to join him.
    "Me too," a short boy who was maybe fifteen stated, and leaned back,
sighing.  "I really stink at poker."
    It was five card draw, and Kaneda dealt first.  Makoto picked up his
cards slowly, glancing around the small circle to make sure no one was
looking at his hand.  He fanned his cards out in his hand and looked
skeptically at them.  Two jacks, both red, but nothing else any good.
    Rei, who sat to the left of his older brother, sighed as he looked at
his hand.  "Erm..." he looked thoughtful.  "One hundred yen," he said,
tossing two fifty yen coins into the small pile.
    Makoto nodded.  "I'll see that."  He pulled a hundred yen bill out from
his pocket and put it down.  The other two boys that followed Makoto both
put in their bills, and Kaneda did likewise.  No raising, though.
    Rei rubbed a hand through his short black hair, and threw down three
cards.  "Three," he grunted, as Kaneda handed him three cards off the top
of the deck.  
    Makoto was next.  He shook his head, and put down three cards as well.
"Three for me, too," he stated, taking them from the muscular boy's hand
and looking at them.  Another jack; not too bad.  
    The next boy, a skinny sixteen year old named Ryoe, asked for two
cards, and the last boy, a tall, bronze-skinned  young man named Taro,
grumbled quietly and asked for three.
    Rei grinned.  "Bid another hundred yen," he said cheerfully, placing a
hundred yen bill into the center.
    Dark-skinned Makoto put on a thoughtful expression.  Three jacks wasn't
bad, but... "Okay, I'll see your one hundred yen."  He tossed out two fifty
yen coins.
    Ryoe nodded.  "I'll see it, too," he stated, throwing out another one
hundred yen bill.
    "Er..."  Taro mumbled, looking unhappy.  "I guess I can do one hundred
yen..."  He sighed and threw out two fifty yen coins.   
    Kaneda had on a perfect poker face.  It made Makoto a little nervous.
"I'll see that one hundred -" he tossed out a bill "-and raise it five
hundred."  He grinned toothily, pulling out a five hundred yen bill and
setting it down.
    "Urk," Rei said, looking as if someone had just punched him.  "Pass."
    "Pass," Makoto stated, sighing.  He only had one thousand yen total;
five hundred yen bets were a little high.  
    Ryoe smiled viciously at Kaneda, pulling out a five one hundred yen
bills.  "I'll see that bid."
    "Call," Taro stated, tossing his own five hundred into the pile.
    Makoto and Rei both grumbled at the same time and almost simultaneously
said, "Fold," setting down their cards with dour expressions on their faces.
    Makoto looked over.  Rei had only had two aces; no wonder he had
folded.  Rei looked over at the three jacks and grinned, obviously happy
with his decision.
    "Full house," Kaneda said, grinning broadly as he set down two black
tens and three kings.
    Ryoe pouted slightly.  "Aw, no fair," he said with a sigh, setting down
his cards.  "Three nines."
    Taro grumbled to himself.  "Two pair," he muttered sourly, throwing
down his cards, as Kaneda smiled toothily and swept up the money into a
leather belt pouch that was tied tightly to his side.
    Rei dealt next, and won the hand without too much trouble.  Makoto had
now lost four hundred yen, and was beginning to get the feeling that the
two brothers were cheating.  He could have almost sworn Rei was dealing
from the bottom of the deck, but as he wasn't sure, kept silent.
    Well, I can play at that game, too, Makoto told himself, smirking
inwardly.  I'm going to need to money, after all.
    Makoto dealt quickly, occasionally passing himself a card from the
bottom of the deck.  I should have two aces, both red, he told himself,
looking down at his cards.  Good, he thought satisfactorily.  
    The betting was fast, Ryoe having bid fifty yen to start.  Makoto
didn't raise him, yet.  When the draw went back around to him, Makoto put
on a pondering expression and hesitated.  "Three," he said at last,
flipping three cards from the top of the deck...or so it seemed to the
others.  He now had three aces and two jacks.
    Ryoe passed, and so did Taro.  Kaneda folded his lower lip
thoughtfully, and bid three hundred yen.  Rei nodded and saw his bet, and
Makoto smiled inwardly and raised him another two hundred, Ryoe and Taro
folding with heaving sighs.
    Kaneda raised him again one hundred, and Rei folded with a grunt.  
    "Call," Makoto said, expressionless, as he set down his cards.
    Kaneda glowered at Makoto.  He's probably got the deck rigged, Makoto
thought, laughing to himself.  I just screwed up his plans.  The muscular
boy set down his cards sourly, showing that he also had a full house - two
tens and three fours.  Makoto smiled ever-so-slightly as he gathered the
money and put it in his own belt pouch, secured with a brown leather cord.
    Rei looked on with interest.  "I see this's going to be more fun than I
thought," he murmured quietly.

    After a couple hours of poker, Rei and the others began to get worried
that the captain might happen by any minute, so they decided to wrap up the
game, and Kaneda took the deck of plain-backed poker cards and put them in
his belt pouch.
    It had been a good time for Makoto, who now had a total of four
thousand yen; he had only started with one thousand.  Of course, he had
cheated, but since he knew that Rei and Kaneda were both cheating, too, he
didn't feel especially bad about it.
    "Looks clean, hm?"  Kaeru stated, grinning and throwing his mop into a
corner.  "Let's go, guys.  Maybe we can hang around up on the deck and
pretend we're exhausted from cleaning this place, and the captain'll feel
sorry for us."  With that, he swaggered up the sharp staircase, the others
quickly following him.
    Rei grinned back at Makoto.  "Hey, you coming?" 
    "Yeah, in a minute," dark-skinned Makoto said ruefully.  "Hiroyuki over
there don't look so good, so I'm going to stay down here for a few minutes
and see if he's alright."  He nodded towards Hiroyuki, who was leaning
against the wall, somewhat pale, and looking oblivious to the world around
him.
    "You're right," Rei stated, looking concernedly at Hiroyuki.  "Well, I
guess you know him better than me.  Later, Mak."  He bowed jauntily to
Makoto and disappeared up onto the deck.
    "Hiro, man, you okay?"  Makoto asked his friend, biting his lip
worriedly as he looked his light-haired friend over.  "You look pretty
pale."  He paused.  "Hey, Hiro?  Hiro!"  He shook his friend on the shoulder.
    Hiroyuki came out of his trance-like state and looked startled at the
sight of Makoto.  "J-Jun," he managed to stammer.  "Are...are they gone?"
    Makoto sighed.  "My name is Makoto Yokoyama," he stated grimly.  "You'd
better not mention the name Jun until we're safely in Tsingtao, and on our
way west.  Likewise, you're Hiroyuki Shu.  You understand?"  He sighed,
lightening his voice slightly.  "Look, man, you've got to snap out of this
depression stuff.  I know what you did was rough on you, but you had to,
right?"  
    Hiroyuki just sighed despondently.
    "C'mon, Hiro," Makoto said fiercely, putting his hand on his friend's
shoulder.  "We've made it this far.  And what's done is done; you can't
change it.  Now all we got to do is sit back and enjoy the boatride, just
so long as we don't blow our cover."
    "Ju-Makoto," Hiroyuki corrected himself, still speaking hesitantly and
nervously, "...do you think that Rei and his brother would...turn us in?"
    "Maybe," Makoto said, a glint in his eyes.  "But what they don't know,
they can't turn in.  How, come on, Hiro, we got to join them on the deck
before they get suspicious."
    Hiroyuki put on a determined face, and they both strode up the stairs,
putting on a sailor-like swagger and preparing to bluff their way to China.

    "Today, Ranma," a low growl eminated itself from Ryoga's throat.  "Now
is the time I take my revenge on you!"
    Ranma rolled his eyes and smirked.  "Ryoga, get it through your thick
head.  You can't defeat me.  You never could.  You never will."  
    Never will.  Never will...
    The words echoed through Ryoga's head again and again, as he screamed
and clasped his skull in agony.  Coming without effort, the powerful energy
was starting to build up in him; energy fueled by depression and anger.  He
gnashed his teeth, smiling a malicious, bloodthirsty grin.  
    "Ranma..."  He snarled, cupping his hands and gathering the powerful
energy.
    An image of Akane appeared into Ryoga's head, the same time as an image
of P-Chan did.  Suddenly, the pig form changed back into a man, and Akane
stared in shock.  
    "Ryoga," the imaginary Akane in his head whispered in amazement,
"you...you were the pig!  How dare you!"  She seemed to slap him, sending
his mind into chaos, the last coherent thought was Akane crying and saying,
"Ryoga, I hate you!"
    "NO!"  Ryoga screamed, collapsing to his knees, clutching his head,
tears of bitterness streaming down from his eyes.  "Akane, you don't
understand..."
    ...Ryoga, I hate you...
    Ranma looked on in amusement as Ryoga's heavy chi gathered inside him.
"Akane is my fiance, Ryoga," he stated, grinning.  "And I love her."
    Akane appeared at Ranma's side, smiling up at him.  "I love you,
Ranma," she said, kissing him full on the lips.  
    Ryoga's tenuous hold on sanity broke as he unleashed a blast of pure
force upwards, burning fiery, dimming the sun in its radiance.  The blast
of energy swirled outwards, then rushed down, smashing a crater into the
ground the size of a small valley.
    Ranma and Akane were gone, vaporized.
    And Ryoga had killed her.

    Ryoga sat up in bed, soaked in sweat.
    She swallowed.  "A...a dream," she gasped.  "Just a dream.  I didn't
kill Akane."  She repeated the last line several times to herself
frantically, and began to slowly calm down.  "She's alive."
    Ryoga lay back down, breathing hard.  Someday, she vowed silently.
Someday I'll have my revenge on you, Ranma.  She inhaled deeply, then
exhaled, trying to clear her thoughts.  She wished bitterly for the calming
comfort of spirit, and looked around, knowing that there wasn't any hot
water nearby.  She entertained thoughts of going down to the stream that
ran nearby for water and heating it up, but she knew it wasn't worth the
effort.
    Tomorrow morning, however, she would be a boy.  Still not having
succeeded in even touching the water element, she had all but given up on
it.  Spirit would calm her nerves, anyway, and Ryako wouldn't be able to
'walk amongst her thoughts,' as her teacher often put it.  
    -Magic, Ryoga-san?  Very ambitious young man, aren't you...?-
    She sat up, startled.  "Voice?"  She asked hesitantly.  "Why are you
speaking to me now?"
    Ryoga was afraid that the Voice inside his head was going to vanish as
it always did, but this time it answered him.  -Why, Ryoga-san?  Let us say
I am concerned for your welfare.-
    "So you said before, too," she remarked bitterly.  "Has it helped?"
    Rather than answering her question, the Voice brought up an old topic.
-Akane Tendo.  I still cannot believe that you continue to dream about her.-
    "Who would you have me love?"  Ryoga demanded, clenching her fist.  I
am in love with Akane, she told herself fiercely.  Akane...
    -You know who you love, Ryoga-san,- the Voice responded, the soft
whisper echoing through her head like a soft wind.  Then it was gone.
    "Who?"  She asked, her eyebrows knotted in apparent frustration, though
she knew the answer. 
    And the answer came in the form of a brown-haired girl with a spatula
strapped to her back...
----------------------------------
This one may seem short, but it was just that chapter six was really long.
:)  This one was actually quite average in length.  Yes, Ryoga and Ukyou
are falling in love with each other.  I think they're a perfect
couple...both lonely, both looking for some affection.  What better choice
than each other?

Ryoga's supposed to be becoming slightly more stable here, as he has lost
his original curse.  I know he still seems like a crazed madman, but bear
with me here.  Pretty soon, he'll start improving.  The spirit seems to
help him, doesn't it? :)  Well, next chapter due out not too long in the
future, I hope.  Zai jian!