Greetings all,

It's been a while...Well, at least for me.

C&C is, as always, wanted and appreciated at:
gargoyle@glasscity.net
or
gargoyle9@hotmail.com
Flames will be filed in the round folder...

Ranma and Akane are owned by Rumiko Takahashi...The rest are mine..

Sit back and enjoy! This one gives an important piece of backstory...I
thought, hey, it's the fifth chapter. I might as well...;P

***

Mythos
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 5 - The Long Way Home

Ranma put her right arm around Rei's waist as she stumbled on the 
sands. She hadn't realized that the battle had ranged as far from the 
camp as it had. Burns raked the landscape and criss-crossed for 
hundreds of the meters. Ranma's right arm felt like it was still on 
fire from the burns on it, but Rei needed her help. She had taken a 
hit, one that she hadn't even realized until the end of the battle.

As Rei bounded backwards, avoiding a flare strike, it had taken off 
her foot in the process. The nerves had cauterized instantly and had 
no time to send the impulses to her brain. Ranma had needed to 
carry her in order to finish off Gouka. Ranma huffed in the 
sweltering afternoon heat as she helped Rei back to camp. Rei 
wasn't exactly the lightest girl she'd ever known, but Ranma 
figured it probably could be worse. At least she wasn't tall. Ranma 
cursed her female again. She stopped as Rei begged for a rest. 
Ranma smiled as she let Rei rest against a shadowy rock.

Rei hadn't complained once since the end of the battle and Ranma 
thought that she could do no less. Ranma sat down and thought 
back to the man they had just defeated. Gouka. He hadn't been the 
nastiest person Ranma had defeated since arriving here, but he had 
certainly been one of the toughest. Ranma thought about the way 
he would regenerate from a decent hit. Certainly they were able to 
eventually beat him back, but she got the edge when she finally 
realized it was the sun that was giving him his regenerative 
abilities. It was probably an edge that she wouldn't get twice. She 
hoped the she had been wrong in telling Rei that he wasn't gone. 
She hoped his absence would prove her wrong. Spending two 
years in this world had made her less naive to such thoughts, 
though.

She had never used the Rumble Seat in that way before though and 
hadn't been entirely sure that it would work. One of the neat kinds 
of things he'd learned since coming to this world. One of hundreds 
of things. Big things too. Some of them bigger than Ranma would 
really have liked. Like the Star Fire. Too big, if you asked her.

Both of them were panting and sweating as the sun beat down. 
Ranma looked to the west again. The clouds were closer, but still 
achingly far. Something was different about these too. Ranma 
couldn't say what, she was no weatherman. Ranma just knew they 
looked different.

Ranma got back up and helped Rei to her feet. They both grunted 
and wheezed with effort trying to get their stability with their 
injuries. Back to their feet, Ranma looked at Rei. She broke a smile 
and Rei laughed weakly in response, but neither could talk in the 
heat.

Over the last dune, they saw that Ikari was helping the blonde to a 
sitting position. Ranma's heart began to beat faster and she 
gathered Rei into her arms and jumped against the pain in her body 
to the camp below. Her knees went out as she landed and buckled 
under her. Rei went tumbling towards the tent. She sat up and 
brushed herself off, sighing lightly at Ranma's exuberance, and at 
her own breaking heart.

"No, Hanasu, it's okay," Ikari said to the blonde, "These are the 
friends that I was talking about."

Rei looked up and saw the Ranma, bruised and battered that she 
was, sat in front of the girl that Ikari called Hanasu, holding her 
hand. Ikari was trying to get a look at Ranma's injuries, but kept 
getting her hands batted away as all of Ranma's attention was on 
the girl. Rei could see that she was quite frightened by Ranma's 
action and Rei put a hand on Ranma's shoulder. Ranma looked 
back in annoyance, but helped pull Rei the rest of the way onto the 
tarp.

"Damn Rei, what happened?" Ikari asked ignoring Ranma as she 
began to babble at the blonde girl.

"Pretty nasty, huh?" Rei asked, examining her burnt limb, "Aw 
damn. He got my shoe."

"Rei, was he that tough?"

"He was tougher," Rei said, "We outflanked him and he still fought 
us both off at the same time. This bastard was tough. Not to 
mention the fact that he was using the sun to regenerate himself. 
Ranma! Leave her alone for a while, okay?"

Ranma, startled out of her reverie, shot a nasty look towards Rei. 
She then thought about what she was doing and just smiled 
sheepishly at the blonde girl. For her part, the blonde girl just 
backed towards the outer edge of the tent in an odd mix of fear and 
fascination. She didn't know what to make of these weirdoes. She 
inched her way over to Ikari. The tall blonde at least seemed to 
have her shit together intellectually. Not like these two odd ball 
friends of hers.

They looked like a wagon had just run over them, apparently they 
were in a big fight with a real nasty. Hanasu didn't know, she had 
woke up to a rather loud explosion coming from where she had 
collapsed. Ikari had just finished healing her and calmed her down. 
It figured that people like this would need a healer along. Picking 
fights with strong people was dangerous.

Images flashed through Hanasu's head and she grasped the bridge 
of her nose as the pain pushed towards the front of her head. Ever 
since she found herself in the desert the other day, she'd been 
having these weird flashes. Visions of other places. Other people 
she had no idea about. A man. Flowers. A huge, black and white 
furry thing.

The images would come and go just as quickly as a passing 
thought. The pain they left behind lingered though. She felt a hand 
on her shoulder. It was Ikari. Hanasu smiled at her and waved her 
off. Ikari certainly did have the healers' touch. The pain was gone a 
little while later. Hanasu smiled inwardly. Hanasu pulled her bag 
to her from across the tent. She had been very glad that it had not 
been separated from her when she was thrown into the desert.

Hanasu stopped at that thought. Yes, she hadn't been transported or 
kidnapped. She had been thrown. This rattled her somewhat as she 
continued to look through her bag. She could hear the dark haired 
girl, Rei was her name, telling Ikari about the battle. This guy they 
had been fighting didn't seem so tough, even if he could use the 
sun to regenerate.

"Well, if you had the chance, why didn't you simply knock him 
down and bury him with the little Rumble-whatever thingy of 
yours?"

The red haired girl looked at her and raised an eyebrow in 
question. Rei rolled her eyes at Hanasu.

"If we could get close enough to knock him down, we would have 
been fried by the heat his skin was generating," Rei explained, "I 
mean, look at what happened to Ranma's shoulder when she tried 
it."

It was true that Ranma's right shoulder was almost as badly burned 
as her arm. Rei had said it was because she had shouldered the man 
away in order to protect her. Hanasu thought that it was more like 
she got careless. Ranma held up her hand and silenced Rei.

"Look Akane," Ranma began, "I know that it's been a long time 
since we've seen each other, but I've learned so many new things in 
this world. I've also had some pretty interesting experiences. But 
Akane, I'm ready to go home and-"

"Why do you keep calling me Akane?"

Ranma looked confused.

"'Cause that's your name?"

Hanasu shook her head.

"Sorry Ranma," she said, "My name is Hanasu Munesanzun."

"But I...You, I mean-" Ranma began to blubber.

"Ranma, that's what I wanted to tell you," Ikari said, working on 
Ranma's shoulder, "This isn't Akane. Her name is Hanasu and she 
comes from one of the wealthy trading families in the Eastern 
Seas. She doesn't know how she got in the desert, but she's only 
been here for about two days. She's not Akane."

"But, your face..."

"What of it?" Hanasu asked, slightly taken aback.

No one had ever accused her of being ugly, by any means. Her 
sisters, on the other hand, were no beauty queens in comparison.

"I know she looks like Akane," Ikari continued, "I remember the 
picture too, you know. It's not Akane, though. I'm sorry Ranma."

Hanasu looked around at the assembled people. Ikari looked tired. 
That was from all the healing that she'd done recently. Rei looked 
hopeful for some odd reason. Ranma looked absolutely crestfallen. 
Ranma began to cast about for something, like her sanity depended 
on something to be found in the tent or on the sands surrounding. 
Hanasu sighed. How sad.

She went back to her bag, as she tried to ignore the whimpering 
that came from Ranma. How this girl could have defeated anyone 
was really beyond her understanding. She was so weak in showing 
her feelings like this. It reminded her of her sister Mikan, actually. 
She was the same way.

Ranma shoved something in Hanasu's face and she backed away 
suddenly. Hanasu looked at it. It was a little gold ring.

"Here," Ranma gasped through a tear-streaked face, "Look at this. 
Your wedding ring, look at the inscription. Maybe that will bring 
your memories back."

Hanasu took the little bauble and looked hesitantly at the 
inscription on the inside. The little characters were in a language 
that she couldn't understand. Lots of little straight lines and hard 
edges, not at all like the fluid, smooth hand of her island. The pain 
jumped up behind her eyes again as another flash of images hit her.

More of those damned little yellow flowers. And...laughing...

The light reflecting off the metal shone briefly in her eyes. Hanasu 
lowered the ring and threw it back at Ranma as she rubbed her 
eyes again.

"There! You see?" Ranma said excitedly, "The memories are 
trying to return..."

"No, I just...Have a headache. It's probably from the heat," Hanasu 
spat at her.

"Ranma, don't push her. You've all had a very hard-"

"Shut up Ikari!" Ranma barked at her, "Akane, you've got to 
remember! You've just got to-"

And Ranma fell to her face in front of Hanasu, unconscious. Ikari 
picked up the little ring and tossed it back to Rei, who put it back 
with the machine, where Ranma had been keeping it hidden.

"Wha'?" was all Hanasu could manage.

"A little healer trick for unruly patients," Ikari said, smiling as she 
pulled Ranma towards the center of the tent, "I can't blame him 
though. You do look exactly like his wife."

"His-who?"

Ikari looked back at Hanasu.

"Ranma, of course. Who else would I be talking about?"

"But Ranma's a woman."

Ikari looked back to Ranma as if that fact would somehow change 
with the breezes that were picking up in the desert outside. Ikari's 
forehead wrinkled in anger and she lightly smacked Ranma on her 
head.

"It's probably your fault," she said, "Damned pronouns..."

Rei chuckled softly as she lay on the tarp next to Ranma. Hanasu 
looked confused but decided not to force the issue. These three 
were too weird, but they were nice people she supposed. And they 
were going to Kellenel, at least that was what Ikari had told her. At 
Kellenel, she could contact her father and get passage back to her 
home country, hopefully.

"Come on Hanasu, you should get some sleep too," Ikari said, "I've 
got to stay up and continue the healing. Tonight we roll out and 
Rei says that we should reach Kellenel by day afterward. Sleep 
during the day, travel at night."

"Well, okay. Just keep that lesbian over there sedated okay? I don't 
want her-"

Hanasu heard the sound of a blade being drawn almost 
immediately before the blade was at her throat. Rei's cold eyes 
stared into her own and she realized that Rei could and probably 
would kill her if she so desired.

"You will NOT call Ranma that again," she said softly above the 
blowing sands, "Do you understand?"

Hanasu nodded slightly as Ikari gently plucked Rei and her blade 
away from her throat. Rei settled back, keeping her cold stare on 
Hanasu. Hanasu began to shake as Ikari looked to the small cut on 
her throat. Her mind raced and the pain came back as more images 
flooded into her vision. Ikari had healed the little cut, but couldn't 
stop the shaking as Hanasu lay down, her back to Rei. She didn't 
want to see the cold gaze.

She could hear Ikari argue softly with Rei, but she didn�t care. The 
blood pounding in her ears was more than enough to cover 
whatever argument went on behind her. As the images muttered to 
a halt in her brain, Hanasu quieted into sleep. A little patter of rain 
on the edges of her hearing, awakening the desert beyond.

***

The man stirred, so she stuck the knife in him again. The naked 
girl on the bed squeaked as he gasped his last breath towards her. 
The light went from his eyes as the taller woman turned the knife 
sideways in his back. The girl on the bed sighed as he slumped 
silently to the floor and began to gather her clothes together. The 
taller woman took out her knife and wiped it clean. She looked at 
the girl and gave her an inquisitive eyebrow.

"What?" the girl asked as she laced her leggings, "It wasn't my 
fault the poison didn't work fast enough for you. It wasn't supposed 
to kill him anyway, it was only supposed to erase his memory."

"And what would happen if you used that kind of thing on Shiro?" 
Kowaku asked, "You know that those powders of yours don't work 
on the Senshuken."

"The Senshuken..." the girl said softly adjusting her tunic, 
"Kowaku-san? What should I do then, if I can't use my powders?"

Kowaku smiled as she rifled through the dead man's pockets. 
Kowaku would have to talk to her about her choice of colors as far 
as clothing went. The smile faded quickly when Kowaku thought 
back to the castle. Akuji had this little tart in his 
chambers...Kowaku swallowed her anger. She was here to put this 
girl in Shiro's group and she would be the last person to go against 
her lords' wishes.

"Yoko," Kowaku said softly, "There are powders that will work. 
You know them. You've been taught by the best, all you have to do 
is find something that will work."

"But-"

"Yoko!" Kowaku snapped.

The girl shrank back under the assault, but said nothing.

"Yoko," Kowaku repeated softly, "You must learn to complete 
what you begin. Take this little project of yours..."

Kowaku tapped the flat of her blade on the dead man's scalp.

"This man would have killed you had I not intervened," Kowaku 
flipped the little blade that the man had along his wrist toward 
Yoko.

Yoko caught it lazily along its' edge and examined the glint of 
poison that was readily apparent to her. He HAD been planning to 
kill her. Yoko wondered to herself why she hadn't noticed it 
before. Certainly she chose him because of the money that he 
readily carried. Kowaku had the same aims in her prey. Yoko 
couldn't help it that she naturally took longer. She supposed it was 
the reason that Ten'imuhou-sama chose her to get into Shiro's 
group. To take her time in taking him out. She flipped the knife 
across the room, sticking it in the wall adjacent.

Yoko also knew that Kowaku wasn't all that pleased with his 
choice, but that she wouldn't go against his wishes and neither 
would Yoko. Yoko ruffled her short, ash blonde hair and set her 
hands on her hips. Kowaku finished with the rifling and gave 
another questioning look towards the youngster. Yoko sighed. She 
hated this part of her job.

Job. It was beginning to be more like a career. She didn't mind it 
though. All these lovely men making Yoko feel so good inside. 
Too bad she had killed them all. They really were lovely little men. 
She swallowed a giggle as she searched through her backpack. 
Some of them weren't all that little. There it was. Yoko took out 
two small black bags. One was wrapped with a green piece of 
string, the other with a red string. Kowaku turned and left the room 
to let her trainee do her appointed duties. She would get rid of the 
body and meet her outside as was agreed upon earlier. All things 
done nice and neat.

The door shut behind Yoko, who sighed at the sound. It sounded so 
lonely and she hated to be lonely. She opened one of the bags and 
sprinkled the silver powder across the mans' body. She tied the bag 
away and began to chant. The little magic dust began to heat and 
smoke through the mans' corpse, eating away at all the layers of 
flesh and bone. Yoko wrinkled her pert little nose at the stink, this 
was always the worst part.

She opened the other bag and shouted the command word as she 
threw a handful of dust on the man. The activation cycle took place 
and the second powder threw the first into high gear, eating the 
man down to his base components. After a few seconds of stinky 
smoke, the salt that outlined the floor was the only thing remaining 
of her once-lover. Too bad too. This one had lasted nearly forty-
five minutes, which was vastly longer than most.

Well, that was until the powder took affect. Then he...well, 
impotence was one of the shortcomings of her powders. 
Ten'imuhou said that Shiro would not be affected in that way, 
which thrilled her to no end. It also scared her somewhat because it 
was the powders that made her victims susceptible to her will. 
Victims? She shook her head. They all walked into her arms 
willingly. Kowaku was right, all she had to do was find the right 
combination. She hadn't been thrilled with the idea that Shiro was 
a woman either, but so be it. Sometimes women were better 
anyway.

Yoko coughed lightly as the smoke began to get to her. This one 
had been kind of fatty. The smoke cleared as Yoko dug out a small 
brush from her pack.  She knelt to the layer of salt and hummed 
happily to herself as she swept up as much as she could into an 
empty bag. There. Nice and tidy. Yoko had checked her monies 
before she went after this one and found that they would have 
enough to set up a small shop here, waiting for Shiro to arrive.

Perhaps she could even set back a little nest egg in the meantime...

***

Rei sighed again. It was wet. Not the kind of wet to make one say 
'Oh, perhaps we should get indoors.' or 'Hmm, I think I need an 
umbrella this afternoon.' No, this kind of wet permeated you down 
to your bones. It waterlogged bits that you never even knew you 
had. For the sake of the gods, even her etameran jumpsuit was 
soaked through, and she had no idea how that was even possible!

Rei had always had the impression that the storms in the desert 
were supposed to be quick and dangerous. Heat lightening, 
tornadoes, flash floods and the such. Not like this. Not this huge 
amount of rain. Just rain and more rain. Rei didn't understand it. 
She looked to the rear of the other seat at Hanasu, who just stared 
ahead out into the desert.

She hadn't wanted to scare the girl like she did, but there was no 
other way around getting respect from her. Talking certainly wasn't 
working, and Ranma wasn't being any kind of help. She had 
accepted Rei's apology, but still seemed reluctant to talk to her. Rei 
supposed that wouldn't be likely to change. Rei didn't care actually. 
Hanasu was a brat. That little 'lesbian' line did nothing to endear 
her to Rei by any means. If this person was Akane, she needed a 
good scare to straighten her out.

Ranma was still asleep in the back. As was Ikari, though she had 
been up for the rest of the day. They had been able to create a 
makeshift tent inside the wagon that allowed the water to flow off 
the sides. Quite ingenious, if she did say so herself. Since the tarp 
was etameran as well, it made it all the better. Unfortunately, the 
tent only covered the wagon itself and didn't extend up to the 
drivers' seat. Rei was just glad that the rain wasn't cold.

Rei tried to concentrate on the road ahead of her once more. It was 
not only wet, it was dark. Real dark. She could hear Yuubi ahead 
of her grunting in the darkness, but couldn't see the pecarico's head 
in the inky blackness of the desert night. She cursed silently to 
herself. If they came across Tsute's body, she'd have to get out and 
cross out a line of text she had written on him.

He had left them something of use. Rei checked the little lamp 
again. The compass needle on top still pointed towards Kellenel. 
The little lamp was ideal for night travel that Tsute had apparently 
been used to. The crystals in the lamp itself gathered ambient and 
direct light during the day and gave it off at night, and it lasted 
until well past dawn. On the top of the lamp was a magic compass. 
Not magic in that it had magic in it, but that it always pointed to 
the strongest, nearest source of magic. Which happened to be 
Kellenel. Never mind that most of the magic compasses in the 
southern continent pointed to Kellenel, that wasn't the point.

There were slight murmurings from the back that signaled to Rei 
that Ranma was waking up from another one of her dreams. Rei 
sighed. She wished that Ranma would talk about them with her. 
Perhaps she could even help.

Ranma yelped as she sat up. The visions flooded back to where 
they had come from. The dream. They were always there. Ranma 
wiped her eyes and looked at her hands. Feminine once more. She 
hated that part of her dreams the most. Coming back to this reality. 
Ranma pulled her coat around her and moved forward toward Rei, 
who was guiding the wagon towards the distant city.

Ranma sat behind Rei, who offered her hand back to Ranma. It 
was cooler and wet, so Ranma let her brush her hand across 
Ranma's forehead. It cooled her off and the touch comforted the 
visions away. Well, most of them anyway. Ranma patted her hand 
in silent thanks and sat forward. She realized that Hanasu had been 
watching her from across the wagon. Ranma pulled her coat 
around her bare top and tried to ignore the looks from Hanasu.

Ranma had given up her robe in order to cover Yuubi's head out in 
the rain. Yuubi seemed happy enough to have the cover, but 
Ranma's coat was a little heavier than she would have liked for 
desert travel. In fact, it was damned hot. Ranma pulled the pouch 
with the machine out of it's hiding spot in her coat. She fished 
Akanes' ring out of the little side pocket.

The little gold ring sparkled in the flashes of lightening that raged 
outside. Ranma wiped off the water with the cloth from the pouch. 
She sighed as it just got wet again. Ranma could see the inscription 
on the inside and she felt it with her finger. Ranma knew what the 
inscription read. It was the same thing that Ranma said on their 
wedding day. Just something impromptu that Ranma thought was 
romantic.

Ranma sat back in the wagon and closed her eyes. It felt good to 
remember. Ranma absently slipped the ring on her thumb. She 
smiled. This was Akane's ring, which was too big for her own ring 
finger. It fit on her thumb though. Ranma smiled again. It was 
good to remember.

***

The cherry blossoms had all fallen off by the time the decision had 
been made. Really, it surprised Ranma how easily they both agreed 
to the ceremony. After all that had gone on, from the failed 
wedding the year before, to all the hushed rumors in the halls of 
Furinkan that fall.

Ranma had tried to quell as many rumors as he could. Akane had 
done the same, but some rumors were more persistent than others. 
Especially the one that said that Ranma had his own harem. It was 
a rumor that neither Shampoo, nor Ukyou seemed overly eager to 
dispel. Early on in the year, Akane took Ryouga aside after one of 
her play performances and talked to him.

Ranma felt bad for the man. He wasn't seen around Nerima for the 
next few months. Not really until Christmas, when he came back 
for the party at the dojo. She had told him that the wedding was 
going to happen no matter what he would do, and she still wanted 
to be friends and other things. The sort of thing that made the 
hearts of most men crumble away. Ranma couldn't blame him for 
going off for a time, he just hoped that Ryouga wouldn't try to 
crash the second wedding.

Of course, Nodoka made sure that the only thing Nabiki had her 
hand in this time was catering the reception. Nabiki was upset and 
hurt by the whole thing, but realized that she was the only one to 
blame. Akane tried to help her through it by helping her with the 
cooking. It lightened the mood by the banter that ensued between 
them. Nodoka had also thought that it was a good thing that her 
son hadn't been there. Having an extreme case of someone else's 
foot in his mouth and all.

The list of guests had been short and sweet. All the parents, 
Kasumi and Doctor Tofu. Nabiki would be one of the bridesmaids. 
Ranma was highly shocked when Akane told him that Ukyou 
would be the other one. He had reminded her about what happened 
the last time and Akane had told him that it was up to him to make 
sure it didn't happen a second time.

He mulled the problem around in his head until he couldn't see any 
other way around it. He went to Ucchan's and talked to her. It had 
been bad. Really bad. Well, really bad for Ranma. She had cried 
and cried. Then she beat the shit out of him and cried some more. 
Ranma thought she took it much better than he expected. In the 
end, she would agree only if he promised to remain her friend. 
Ranma immediately promised, as that was what he wanted in the 
first place. He hated it when any woman cried, especially when he 
was to blame.

There was one final thing that would make the whole party 
complete. A best man. Tofu had volunteered, but Ranma knew that 
there was really only one man that he wanted to back him up in all 
this. Of course, it was the same man that would be most likely to 
stick a knife in it.

It wasn't until Christmas that Ranma talked to Ryouga. He had 
been with Akari for the last month and Ranma could see that there 
was a change about him. He could tell that it still pained him to 
give up on the ideal that Akane was for him, but said that Akari 
was his future now and he'd be glad to be the best man. Akari was 
busy with raising some of Katsunishiki's brood, so she couldn't 
come, but Ryouga would be glad to make it. Ranma was so happy. 
Not just because Ryouga said he'd do it, but also because it was 
much less painful.

The months went by and the end of February rolled around. The 
snows melted and spring was breathed back into the land. The 
ceremony itself was set for early March. Spring break from 
Furinkan. Akane also agreed that they would leave for their 
honeymoon as soon as classes were over, which was in May.

Their fathers, of course, had wanted to ship them off for a quick 
weekend in Okinawa, but Nodoka had other ideas and the Saotome 
family katana backed up her words. She asked Akane where she 
wanted the honeymoon and Akane had no idea. She knew that she 
wanted to get out of Japan for the short time at the beginning of the 
summer. Probably a good idea since carnage would ensue when 
word got out.

The days of April rolled past like so much honey against a tree. 
Slow and painstaking were the preparations. Ukyou and Ryouga, 
when he was around, were better than their words. They kept their 
mouths shut and played along, though Ranma suspected that 
Ukyou enjoyed playing along a little more than she should.

About two weeks before the wedding, Ryouga disappeared. This 
wasn't unusual, but as the wedding drew near, Ranma began to 
worry as no one had seen him. Two days before the wedding, a 
little package arrived from a small village west of Kyoto. Akane 
opened it and began to cry. Showing it around, she read aloud the 
small card from Ryouga. It read that he wasn't able to make it back 
for the wedding, but hoped that, at least his present would 
somehow make up for his absence.

Ranma felt an unusual surge of sadness as he looked at the little 
bank. It was a little piggy bank. A salt glazed, black piggy bank. 
Ryouga had tied one of his bandanas around the neck, which made 
the little bank look very much like P-chan. Ranma smiled. He 
supposed that it was Ryouga's way of saying goodbye.

March came and the cherry blossoms were back on the trees when 
the time came. Akane looked radiant in her white kimono. Soun 
had told her that it had been her mothers' when she married. Akane 
had to take it into the next room in order to keep it dry, but she 
enjoyed it anyway. Nodoka had asked Genma where his tuxedo 
was, but Ranma intervened before there was any blood shed over 
it. He got his own tuxedo and was glad that it still fit him, after a 
couple years he hadn't been sure.

Even with Akane in a kimono, the ceremony itself remained 
western. They had decided on the western version for the same 
reasons that they chose it the first time around, the speed. Ranma 
had wanted a more formal wedding, but Akane convinced him that 
speed was more important than formality.

The ceremony proceeded smoothly, all along until the point where 
several of the fianc�s burst in before. Akane glanced sidelong at 
Ukyou, who was crying heavily. Ukyou shook her head in negation 
and Akane mouthed a thanks to her. Ranma smiled, which made 
her cry even more, and the ceremony continued towards the end.

Akane stopped the priest before the end in order to give her own 
vows.

"My love will forever be yours," Akane said, the solemn love in 
her eyes, "Ranma Saotome, I love you."

"For you, Akane Tendo, there is but my love...For you, forever," 
Ranma replied returning her look, "I love you, Akane."

The priest nodded and finished the ceremony. Ranma remembered 
his first real kiss with her as if it was just yesterday. The softness 
of her lips as they met with his. It startled him because she was 
so...warm. He didn't really know what to expect, but knew that the 
tenderness that she showed him was what she truly felt. And, at 
last, he could express them in return.

They ignored their fathers, dancing and acting like fools in the 
background. They ignored Ukyou's continued sobs, especially 
when Akane tossed her bouquet behind her, right into Ukyou's 
hands. They ignored the looks of longing that Tofu and Kasumi 
gave each other. And it wasn't until everything settled down and all 
of them cleared their throats at once did they break their kiss. 
Ranma remembered the laughter and joking of it all. The sheer 
happiness.

The happiness...

***

Rei snorted as she awoke in the waning light of the second day. 
She looked next to her and slightly forward, in the drivers seat. 
Ikari was snoring at the reins and in danger of slipping forward 
under the wagon itself. It was second time Rei saw her like that 
and every time Ikari swore it wouldn't happen again. She was so 
damned stubborn. Rei looked towards the back of the wagon. Just 
like Ranma.

Rei moved forward and took the reins from Ikari, which startled 
her awake. She rubbed the sleep at her eyes and sheepishly helped 
Rei into the drivers' seat. Rei could have done it herself, but it was 
still nice to get some help, having only one good foot and all. 
Yuubi churtled a greeting from the front and Rei reached forward 
to pat the animal on the rump. Somehow Yuubi always knew when 
Rei was at the reins.

Rei looked down and studied her foot, which had grown in about 
halfway since the battle in the desert with Gouka. It was still tender 
all over and would it probably take another week before she could 
walk on it again. Rei sighed and straightened in the seat. She 
looked down at the compass and corrected their course slightly to 
the east. Ikari always seemed westbound when she slept.

Rei's tribe believed that a person's true direction in life could 
always be ascertained when they slept. There were a couple of 
somnambulant spells that could be cast on the person, which would 
make them get up and walk around. Most people walked in one 
direction. Some disturbed people walked in circles. Rei always 
walked to Ranma's room, which angered her grandfather. Ikari had 
begun to walk west. Both Ikari and Ranma were really honked off 
that grandfather had cast them, but when he explained himself, it 
seemed to calm Ikari.

Ranma wasn't too thrilled with idea though. Kept muttering 
something about 'gools', whatever 'gools' were. Odd though, 
grandfather never told Ranma what happened to her. Rei didn't see 
the big deal of it. It was just something else that proved Ranma 
wasn't from this world. Ranma began to glow with chi as she slept. 
The chi was so strong; it forced Ranma's body up and held it aloft 
for several minutes before dissipating. Grandfather did that twice 
with Ranma and always the same result. Grandfather had called 
Ranma 'genkimono', which he told her had something to do with 
being a 'conduit', whatever 'conduits' were. Grandfather had some 
strange notions sometimes.

The rain had let up and was now little more than a drab drizzle 
sprinkling down on them. Just enough to keep them wet. Ranma 
had recovered her robe from Yuubi's head and was curled up in the 
back with Hanasu. Rei didn't understand how they didn't wake 
each other up with all that snoring. It certainly kept her awake.

Ikari muttered something and Rei noticed that she'd taken up her 
spot behind the passenger seat. She had dug into Rei's bag and 
swiped a molin, which she ate despite her disgust of them. Rei 
smiled inwardly. She knew that molins weren't the tastiest survival 
foods in the world, but they were just that. Survival foods. One 
molin was enough for a normal person for up to twelve hours. And 
they packed down nice and tight.

"Hey, could you hand me one of those?" Rei asked lightly.

Ikari muttered something and handed one up to Rei.

Ranma snorted and turned over, smacking Hanasu with his arm. 
She muttered something in return, shoved the arm away and kept 
sleeping. About an hour later Hanasu would return the favor, 
smacking Ranma. This strange ballet had been going on since mid 
afternoon and would probably continue until about midnight or so, 
when Ranma got up.

"They do make a cute couple," Ikari said, finishing her molin.

"I'd rather not think about it," Rei said, adjusting course slightly.

Ikari thought on that for a second as she drank a bit of rainwater. 
They had set the barrels out as they were packing the wagon and 
while the water wasn't exactly the purest they could hope for, it 
was still drinkable. Ikari purified it as much as she could. They 
were only able to load three barrels onto the wagon, but Ranma 
and Rei both figured that this would be more than enough to get 
them to Kellenel.

"I thought you would've killed her back at camp," Ikari said 
carefully.

"No," Rei said softly, "Just frighten her into respecting us."

"Don't you think it would be easier and a lot less...scary...if you 
just made friends with her?"

"I'm not out here to make friends, Ikari," Rei said as she took 
another bite.

"Ya, whatever," Ikari tried again, "You know, you could be a little 
nicer."

Rei said nothing. The silence penetrated only by the turning of the 
wagon wheels. The squish into the rain soaked earth. The almost 
silent huffs from Yuubi up ahead of them. The desert coming alive 
as it surveyed the storm damage.

"I mean," Ikari continued, "What if she really is Akane..."

"She's not!" Rei snapped.

Rei softened her expression; "She's already explained who she was 
but not where she came from. And I don't buy this crap that she 
just appeared in the desert. She won't tell us what's in that damned 
bag of hers either."

"Rei," Ikari tried to explain, "If you were carrying all your worldly 
possessions in a bag, would you be so anxious to share it with 
strangers?"

"But-"

"Rei!" Ikari said a little too loudly.

"Rei..." Ranma mumbled softly from the back.

Ikari and Rei exchanged glances as they settled their attentions 
back towards the distant horizon.

"I know you love Ranma and while it personally grosses me out, 
it's your life," Ikari said, "But you knew what would happen when 
we found-"

"If."

"No Rei, when. I've been travelling with Ranma for over a year 
now and I can tell you there's no one else in this world, or I think 
any other, that has more single-minded, painstakingly idiotic, 
dogged determination as Ranma Saotome," Ikari continued, "When 
she sets her mind to something, it gets done. Period."

"Period..."

"Shut up Ranma," Ikari said towards the back.

"Okay..."

"And when exactly were you going to tell him you're ageless as 
well?" Ikari said as she turned back to Rei.

"I'm not ageless, Ikari."

"But-" Ikari was confused now, "The immortality-?"

Rei giggled as she realized what Ikari was saying.

"Just because I'm immortal doesn't mean I don't age. It just means 
that I can't die," Rei thought about what she just said, "That sounds 
odd, doesn't it?"

"So...You can die by...?"

"Old age," Rei smiled, "Naturally, we live quite a bit longer than 
your average person. I think great-grandfather was twelve hundred 
when he died."

"So what were you going to do when Ranma died after about a 
hundred years or so?"

Rei remained silent as she stared forward. She bit slowly into her 
molin.

"Yeah...I thought so..."

***

Ranma yawned once as she checked the compass. Rei had gone 
ahead and come back with good news. They weren't all that far 
from Kellenel. The light from the third day was waning in the 
distance. Ranma had been driving Yuubi for nearly six hours and 
both of them were ready for breaks. She pulled the reins to a halt 
and Yuubi gurgled her assent. Ranma looked in the back at all the 
sleeping girls and huffed to herself. The more things changed...

Ranma jumped down and made her way to the side of the wagon. 
She uncovered one of the barrels and put it over her shoulder. Sure 
it was heavy, but she wasn't taking it far. She set it down in front of 
Yuubi and undid the binding on the top of the barrel. Yuubi 
happily nuzzled Ranma and began to drink. Rei had a real 
attachment to Yuubi for some reason, but Ranma couldn't argue 
that she also had a soft spot for the pecarico. She patted Yuubi on 
her neck and walked a little forward into the desert.

The ground was firm, but not quite dry in some spots. Ranma 
could see the little puddles here and there that marked the storm 
that had finally stopped just a few hours before. Ranma could hear 
the creatures pitter and patter about, trying to take advantage of the 
unusual surplus while it lasted. Ranma watched as a family of 
beetle-like things rolled stones into a carefully arranged semi-circle 
around its burrow. She could see that the other beetle, the mate 
perhaps, clearing out the hole of excess dirt. The dirt occasionally 
pushed one of the stones out of alignment, to which the beetle in 
charge of the stones would simply stop and realign them.

Ranma watched this little dance, lost in her thoughts of home and 
Akane. The Akane she knew. Two years ago. Would the two years 
apart create a rift between them? Would she have fallen in love 
with someone else in this world, having given Ranma up? Ranma 
didn't know. She hoped that the love they built in the couple of 
short months before being pulled here would be enough to hold 
them through this strange time.

But two years. Ranma didn't know. She sighed to herself. She had 
been so used to the time that she thought they had together. Their 
marriage meant a lifetime together, a lifetime where she could 
make up for everything that had happened before they married. All 
the hurtful things...Ranma closed her eyes against the pain in her 
heart. Two years hadn't done anything to diminish the pain. The 
loneliness hadn't lasted long as she found a friend in the travelling 
sisterhood. Esu had been the only one to believe Ranma's 
incredible story. Esu trusted and believed in Ranma when she 
didn't believe in herself. And it was just the thing that Ranma 
needed. No, the loneliness was long gone, but the pain was still 
there.

Darkness quickly set as the sun made it's way below the horizon. 
Ranma didn't care. The coolness of the desert would help as they 
made their last leg to Kellenel. Then they could all rest as they 
tried to figure out where to go next. Ranma had a couple ideas, and 
perhaps one would pan out in Kellenel, but she didn't know.

"Ranma?"

Ranma spun at the word. It was Hanasu. Ranma cursed herself at 
being so careless. Not hearing this girl as she snuck up on her. 
Well, she didn't really sneak. Ranma had just been so lost in 
thought that Yuubi could probably have snuck up on her and 
Ranma wouldn't have noticed. Ranma turned back to the open 
desert.

"Yeah, I know we need to get underway, I was just resting Yuubi 
for a second."

"No...I..." Hanasu folded her arms around her against the chill in 
the air.

Ranma noticed this and took off her coat. She folded it around the 
blonde girl and returned to her thought. Hanasu smiled and pulled 
the coat close.

"I never got a chance to thank all of you...And to say I'm sorry," 
Hanasu said, looking towards the distant horizon, "I know that 
Ikari could have left me out there, but that she risked herself to get 
me. I know that you and Rei risked your lives against that monster 
for me. I guess I've been a terrible guest in the meantime."

Ranma laughed softly as she picked up some stones.

"That's okay...Hanasu," Ranma had difficulty not calling her 
Akane, "I was so sure that you were my wife. I guess I got a little 
out of hand. I've been looking for her for almost two years now 
and I'm becoming a little desperate."

"Uh...Ranma?" Hanasu asked quietly, "Can I ask a personal 
question?"

Ranma nodded, more to herself than to Hanasu. She even sounded 
like Akane...

"What family would let two women marry?" Hanasu asked, not 
hiding the disgust in her voice, "I mean, the reason to marry is for 
children, isn't it?"

Ranma looked at Hanasu; a little shocked at the vehemence she 
had in her voice. Ranma began to smile, then giggled and finally 
couldn't contain her laughter any more.

"What's so funny about it?"

"I'm not a woman," Ranma laughed, pointing to her chest.

Hanasu began to laugh at the absurdity of what Ranma just said 
and pointed to Ranma's chest.

"Then what do you call those?"

Ranma stopped laughing as her hands went to her chest. She turned 
back towards the desert once more.

"I..." Ranma muttered, "I forgot."

How can you forget that you're female? Hanasu thought, What an 
idiot...

Ranma sighed heavily and tossed one of the stones into the air. The 
stone lit briefly it the air and faded out as Ranma caught it. Ranma 
examined it. It looked like an ordinary little stone in the light of the 
two moons.

"Oh!" Hanasu exclaimed, "Aerials! I didn't know they came down 
this far west."

"What are aerials?" Ranma asked.

"These stones..." Hanasu picked one out of Ranma's palm, "Are 
aerials."

She tossed one up into the air, watching it's path light and fade in 
the air between them.

"I don't really know how they work, nor where they come from. 
All I know is that they come down over the Sea of Merinin to the 
southwest of my families' estate," Hanasu looked at the stone in 
her hand, "The House Meri use them as long distance 
communications device. A kind of code."

She held the rock in her palm and blew on it. The stone lit under 
even the gentlest breath. Hanasu varied her breath and the stone 
responded, growing brighter and dimmer. Hanasu said something 
lightly on the stone, which brightened with her voice. Ranma 
couldn't make out what she said, but the twilight beheld to her that 
it could be used in the way she described. Ranma sighed. So many 
more alien things in this world. So many more ways that she 
realized she didn't belong.

Hanasu noticed the cloud that set across Ranma. She wondered if 
she had said something that caused it. Hanasu also wondered what 
could weigh so heavily on a girls' mind. Ranma had some good 
qualities, especially her body. Hanasu bet she could even land one 
of the princes from the Outer Islands. They usually didn't care 
about lineage and it was apparent to Hanasu that Ranma's wasn't 
exactly stellar.

But despite her questionable breeding, Ranma still struck a chord 
in Hanasu. Something buried that she hadn't even realized was 
there. Hanasu would call it attraction, but for the fact that Ranma 
was a woman, even if she claimed otherwise. She didn't know, 
maybe it was Ranma's unstable mental condition. Hanasu was 
always a sucker for hard luck cases. These three were no 
exception. Hanasu sighed. She tossed the stone out into the desert, 
watching the trail as it sailed into the distance.

Ranma laughed slightly. She wondered...

"Watch this," Ranma said.

She charged one of the larger stones with a small amount of chi. 
She wound up and tossed it high into the air. The stone shined 
brightly into the night sky, mingling briefly among her sister stars. 
The chi released at the perihelion of the stones' flight and shattered 
it into a shower of dust. The dust sparkled down in a rain that 
covered the area around them. Ranma turned as more laughter 
fluttered in from the wagon. Rei had her hands outstretched, while 
Ikari rubbed her eyes in annoyance. Ranma looked to Hanasu, who 
was laughing and twirling in the artificial light rain.

Laughing and twirling. Like in a field of golden flowers, Ranma 
thought to herself, Oh Akane...

Ranma bit back her tears and walked back to the wagon. Hanasu 
stopped her dancing and watched Ranma as she wound the binding 
on Yuubi's barrel and dragged it to the rear of the wagon. Hanasu 
got aboard as Ranma took the driver's seat once again. Ranma 
shrugged off any attempt at explanation and Rei shrugged. 
Sometimes Ranma got like that. Rei looked to Hanasu, who sat in 
the back looking up at the remaining dust that drifted down.

The wagon got underway towards the far off lights. And each one 
wondered what it would take...to get home.

***

In Part 6!!

More on Yoko Renbo and her whole deal in this mess...The group makes it's
grand entrance in Kellenel...Esu and her group get underway...And one of
Ranma's wishes comes true!

Sort of...


Joshua "Gargoyle" Trujillo
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"Owner of The Anime Bar and Grille - The Best Ribs in the Multiverse"

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