Greetings!

Well, it's been a while since the last Part. Mostly due to 
summer semester classes and a rather virulent stomach 
virus, which still hasn't left me yet...BUT I'M BACK!!!

BWAHAHAHAaaaa...*Hackwheezecough*...Anyway...

Thanks again to Kenneth Payne, my prereader...And to all 
you who've read and enjoyed...Here's more!

Copyright information: Ranma and Akane are owned by 
Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, and many, many others...The REST 
are mine...

C&C to:
gargoyle@glasscity.net
or
gargoyle4@hotmail.com
or
gargoyle9@hotmail.com
Flames, as always, will be filed in the round folder.

So grab a long-necked friend and enjoy!

***

Mythos
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 9 - One of the Living

Mikan looked over the edge of the wagon again. Ijisai was letting 
her take a break in the training for the day, having said that her 
powers needed a day or two to rest and recuperate. Mikan knew 
that she was having a hard time with Hana's death. She had seen 
her ascension, so Mikan wondered what the problem was.

The dirt road they had been travelling was turning sandy as the 
team headed southward. Mikan knew the coast wasn't very far off. 
She was glad that they were getting back towards the ocean. She 
had missed it. The smell of the sea, the birds, the knira jumping at 
the prows of the ships following them like pups out to sea. She 
loved it all.

Her thoughts wandered back to her family. Akamerajh was a big 
town, or so Esu had told her, and perhaps she could use one of the 
distance lenses to get a hold of her family. She wondered about her 
sisters too. Hanasu could take care of herself, but Kakuji seemed 
so lost when it came to something new. She was the one that 
needed to be taken care of in an emergency. And mother with her 
weak constitution to care for both and her father too. Mikan 
wondered at times how her mother ever got the strength to bear 
three girls. But then there were the times that her mother and father 
were together. They seemed so happy together and seemed to give 
strength to the other, while taking away all the sorrows of the 
other. It was all so wonderful.

Mikan blinked a couple of times as a shadow passed over her head. 
She looked up and saw that Tekido had pulled up next to the 
wagon. She smiled at him. He blushed, probably because of the 
warm air and pulled his hat lower over his eyes. Mikan looked 
over her shoulder to Ijisai, who was sacked out on the other side of 
the wagon and stifled a giggle at her snoring. Esu looked back at 
Mikan and then behind her. She smiled and put a finger to her lips 
as she turned back to the reins. Mikan stifled another giggle as she 
turned back to Tekido, who was smirking as well.

"Can I ask you a question?" Mikan asked.

Tekido gathered himself up, as if he were straining or something.

"You can ask," he said looking down at the saddle horn, "There's 
nothing to say that I'll answer it."

"Why did you become a rider?" Mikan asked, "I mean, I heard 
about your father, but is that the only reason?"

He straightened around in the saddle and gave an odd kind of smile 
as his eyes glazed over in thought.

"My dad was a great man," he said, "He worked to be the best 
father he could be. All three of us were working as a herding 
family for the Duke of I'shml. A lazy, fat bastard named Gojinan. 
He worked my father like a demon."

"What did your family herd?" Esu asked from the front.

Mikan turned to face the front as Tekido rode a little closer 
towards the front of the wagon.

"Horses actually," he said, patting his own, "Grandfather used to 
raise pecaricos, but when a raiseable breed of horse was found, 
they came into great demand in I'shml and in the other cities on the 
rim."

"I'shml is known for it's horses and the quality of breeding," Esu 
said, "Is that your father's work?"

Tekido nodded sadly.

"I was just a young kid back then, so I don't remember a whole lot 
'bout it," Tekido said, "I do remember that mom was always sad 
for some odd reason. Now I know it was because father was too far 
in debt with Gojinan to ever work his way free."

"My father was a proud man, so the debts he had from his youth he 
was determined to pay for in his life, so that one day I would get 
the ranch and I could tell the Duke to kiss my-"

"Tekido!" Esu warned.

"Oh yeah," he came back down to reality, "Anyway, one day the 
Duke's soldiers walked into the ranch and demanded that father 
give him ten of his finest stallions for the Duke's stables. Father 
was always willing to help out, but he only had nine that were 
ready. They beat him and took all nine anyway."

Mikan gasped in shock. Tekido noticed and smiled sadly again.

"Eh, we were both used to it actually. The Duke's men were all 
nasty brutes. No, what drove my father over the edge was this." 
Tekido said, pulling off his left glove.

He rolled back the left sleeve on his shirt and Mikan gasped again. 
Esu frowned at the horrific brand that laced across the young man's 
arm.

"I was young and stupid back then," Tekido said, rolling his sleeve 
back down, "I tried to keep the men from taking a colt I had my 
eye on. I didn't quite succeed. They gave me this, but let me keep 
the colt. I guess they liked the way I fought or something."

"I'm surprised that you kept your arm, for as badly as it was burnt," 
Esu said.

Tekido nodded his head as he put his glove back on.

"Yeah, mom was a good healer," he said, "And father tanned my 
hide for taking on men like that. He said that he never wanted me 
to get into trouble like he did. I went to school, I got good grades. I 
did everything they wanted me to. And then the riders came."

"What happened?" Mikan asked in wonder.

Tekido smirked at this and swung his right leg over the saddle. 
With his shin stuck up against the saddle horn, Esu could see that 
he could take the reins and ride again fairly quickly. She smiled. 
Perhaps he could learn new tricks after all. Tekido propped his 
head onto his right hand and looked thoughtful. He caught the way 
Esu was looking at him and grinned like an idiot.

"Well, the town was attacked, along with our ranch," he said, 
"Father fought them to a standstill with his whip and rapier."

Tekido leaned back and drew the rapier from around his waist. It's 
hot light glanced briefly off the wagon and Tekido handed it to 
Mikan. She took hold of the hilt and was shocked at the weight of 
the curved blade.

The sword itself was fairly plain. A curved blade of about two feet, 
it sparkled with a shine of silver and flecks of gold. The hilt and 
pommel were both wrapped in a red kind of wire. The hilt was then 
wrapped in red leather. The guard came outwards and down on 
three sides to form little silver hooks on the bottom of the hilt. 
Mikan hefted the sword back to him and was surprised at the ease 
with which he swung it around and back into the scabbard.

"It's beautiful Tekido," she said.

"Yeah, my grandfather had it made for my father when he was a 
small boy, so it's been in the family for many years," he laid a hand 
on the hilt, "While the other end of the town was burning, the 
leader had called a truce between the riders and my father."

"I'll bet Gojinan wasn't too thrilled by that little arrangement," Esu 
said.

Tekido laughed lightly.

"You could say it that way," he said, "He blamed my father and 
exiled us."

"Why laugh about that?" Esu asked shocked by the young man's 
levity.

"Because it was the best thing that he could have done," Tekido 
said, relaxing in the saddle again, "You see, the leader was so 
impressed by my father that the riders set us up in a mountain 
cabin not more than ten miles from Bulbulyula. In return, my 
father would raise horses for the riders. The riders would give 
protection and allow father to sell any extra."

"I have a cousin in Bulbulyula," Mikan said, she then frowned, "He 
was always so frisky."

"Well, he had much to be frisky over, I'm sure," Tekido smirked, 
pulling his horse closer to Mikan.

"No, I don't think he had an eye on either Hanasu or Kakuji really," 
Mikan said, thinking on it, "We found out later that he had an eye 
for the neighbor's son."

Esu burst out laughing as Tekido just hung his head. Esu wondered 
how Mikan could miss that pass? It was so obvious. She sobered 
slightly and turned back to Tekido. She'd have to keep an eye on 
him, but she did admit that he was the one that kept Mikan 
relatively safe until she and Hana arrived. Perhaps he would make 
a good match for the imadoushin, but Esu didn't know. He 
certainly had a crush on her, that much was certain.

Esu looked to Mikan. She saw the way she was looking at 
Tekido...No; looking at wasn't quite the way she wanted to say 
that. Watching, observing even. The way he sat in the saddle, the 
way he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, even the way he 
blushed when he realized that she was watching him.

Oh yeah, she's got it bad, Esu thought.

"So what happened to bring you to the Cunec area?" Esu asked, 
trying to feel less like a third wheel.

"Huh? Oh, well, we had it pretty good in Bulbulyula until the city 
was destroyed in the Conquest wars. We didn't have anywhere else 
to turn and the riders were moving on. Mother had been in town 
when the battleships pulled into the rim," he paused and waited for 
something, when it didn't come he continued, "They destroyed 
nearly every city on the rim before moving on to defeat at 
Kellenel. They killed my mother too."

Tekido felt a hand on his and he looked to Mikan, who had 
stretched across the small gap between them. He nudged his horse 
closer to the wagon and lightly gave her hand a squeeze.

"It's okay, well now anyway," he continued, "Of course, father 
wanted revenge, just as much as I did. That's where our band of 
riders joined the Cappin and then started to terrorize the north and 
east lands."

Something he had just said made Esu's eye twitch, but she wasn't 
sure what it was, so she dropped it.

"Hey look!" Mikan shouted.

"Mikan, could you please not shout, I have watch tonight," Ijisai 
mumbled.

"We're at the southern cliffs Ijisai, you might want to see this," Esu 
said as she pulled the wagon to a stop.

Ijisai blinked her eyes open at this. The tone with which Esu had 
said that made a shiver run through her. Ijisai pulled her staff to her 
and rolled to her knees in the wagon. The sight that befell her 
simply took her breath away. On the shore below, a ship lay strewn 
on the rocks, the timbers white from the splintered seams in the 
side to the huge central mast, which lay a little to one side.

"Survivors?" Ijisai asked, trying to shake the sleep from her.

Esu nodded.

"Mikan, take the reins and guide the team down to the edge of the 
wreck over there," she said, pointing to a lower slope, "You might 
have to travel down a ways in order to get there, but don't worry 
about that, just get moving okay?"

Mikan hopped over the edge of the wagon and pulled herself into 
the drivers' seat as Esu dismounted. Mikan threw the reins forward 
in a snap and the team wheeled to the distant slope. Tekido turned 
his mount, but found Ijisai and Esu staring at him from the 
roadway.

"What? I should go that way too since I'm mounted," he asked 
more than said.

"No, you just sit there and keep your horse still," Ijisai said, 
adjusting her staff.

Esu came around to his right while Ijisai took up position on his 
left. Both raised their hands and together shouted a command 
word. The world flashed away in an instant and Tekido slammed 
his eyes shut against the blinding light.

"You can open your eyes now," Ijisai said.

Tekido opened his eyes slowly, thinking that he'd have to adjust to 
something, but found himself instead staring at a rock wall. He 
looked up and followed the cliff to the place where he had been not 
a second before.

"You can help us with this anytime now rider-boy," Ijisai said, 
moving off to the wreckage on his left.

"Ijisai," Esu warned, "Tekido, tie up your horse to one of these 
timbers, they're large enough that he won't go anywhere."

Tekido shook himself out of his stupor and dismounted, bringing 
the reins over to the timber indicated. He lashed them together and 
began to climb the nearest pile in front of him, carefully looking 
for places where the rocks jutted out for handholds. If there was 
anyone trapped in here, you didn't want to step on them needlessly.

Esu watched Tekido as he made his way onto the wreck. She 
smiled to herself, he was certainly game to do anything, but then 
she suspected that it was because of Mikan.

When did you get so old? Esu heard herself think. No, not old. 
Mature.

"Right," she answered sarcastically.

Esu concentrated and a section of the ship floated up in front of her 
and clattered to the beach behind. The light on her staff lit briefly 
in agreement and she continued. Small pieces, large pieces, whole 
sections. The work seemed to take forever, but it soon became 
clear that something was extremely wrong. Well, wrong in that she 
hadn't confirmed her fears yet, which only angered her. What the 
hells could be going on?

She concentrated and another section lifted out of her way, as 
Tekido came into view on the other side. She could hear him 
mumbling about something, but couldn't quite make out the 
dialect. Probably something he picked up in the riders. She'd have 
to talk to him about his language around Mikan too. She shook her 
head and stepped lightly over a section to join him.

"Esu-san," he said, climbing over the remaining boards, "I haven't 
found anyone and I've been up to the other end of the mast already. 
There should have been someone...Anyone."

Esu nodded and looked around.

"I agree," she said, "This is much too peculiar for it to be just 
coincidence."

"One more thing-"

"Son-sama!" Ijisai called from the other end of the ship.

"Can it wait?" she asked the boy.

He thought for a second and nodded. Both turned as Mikan pulled 
into view on the wagon. Esu waves at the timbers where Tekido's 
horse was tied and then off along the ship. Mikan nodded and 
dismounted.

"Come on," she tapped his shoulder and they started off over the 
side of the debris.

Tekido looked back and saw that Mikan was having no problems 
following them. They made their way along the side and Tekido 
saw that Ijisai was struggling to keep a large section off the 
ground. Tekido jumped up to the pile next to her and pushed up on 
the section. He could hear Esu mumble something and the section 
slowly lifted up and away, crashing down on the other side of the 
pile. Tekido jumped off the pile and slid down next to Mikan, who 
flashed him a smile.

The section revealed a medium sized man, probably no older than 
Tekido, whose black shirt was in tatters about him. His black hair 
shone hotly in the noontime sun. It could have been the ponytail 
that said something to Esu. It could have been the black etameran 
that he wore, which was now in shreds around him, but it was the 
little gold ring on his left hand that gave it away for Esu.

"I'll be damned...Ijisai, Tekido, pull him free, but for gods sake be 
careful," Esu said pulling Mikan back.

Ijisai magically hefted the remaining pile and Tekido pulled the 
man free of the wreckage. Tekido dropped him and scrambled 
back, as if he were bit.

"What is THAT?" he shouted, pointing to the man.

Mikan looked at the man's face and gasped. Something silverish-
black oozed from his mouth. It almost looked alive in the way it 
seemed to slither around the man.

"Stand back," Esu said.

She raised her staff and shouted a single syllable. An intricate 
symbol flashed around the man and vanished. Esu looked and the 
ooze began to flow from the man's mouth again. Esu sighed and 
turned the man over, carefully leaving his face to the side so he 
could...drain. Esu began to chuckle and stood up. She chuckled 
more and walked back to Mikan.

"Mikan," she said at last, "Meet Ranma Saotome."

***

"I'm gonna kill her," Ikari said slightly and to no one in particular.

Several people passing near took a step away from her and tried 
not to draw a glance from this tall, but beautiful blonde.

"I'm gonna kill her and that's all there is to it," she said again, as if 
the little mantra would help.

She was just glad that Rei had tried to teach her the conversion 
tables that the bank was using for the jade. She remembered 
enough to keep herself from getting shafted, but it had been an 
uphill fight, especially when the bank found out that the people 
they had been dealing with wouldn't be back for a while.

The sun baked overhead as Ikari stopped at one of the local 
fountains. She stopped and sat at the edge. Dipping her hand in the 
water, she splashed herself and wiped the desert grit from her face. 
She turned at the sounds of splashing from the other side of the 
fountain. Three children played happily in the hotness of the 
noontime sun. She looked back down to her pack and sighed 
heavily.

Ikari huffed once as she slung the pack back over her shoulder and 
began her trek back to the hotel, which thankfully was not very far. 
A few minutes later, she doled out a precious sum of money on the 
counter to pay for the rest of their stay at the hotel. The clerk 
smiled in return and gave her a little receipt. She heaved the pack 
once more and began towards the lifts.

"Fifth floor," Ikari said wearily.

"Gods Praise," the little voice chimed back.

The lift slowly rose and Ikari put the pack down on the floor of the 
lift while it chimed away soft music. Ikari could feel the cooling 
effect as they winded their way upward. All too soon the lift 
slowed and stopped, the door chiming open.

"Fifth floor," the voice chirped happily, "Magic Wills."

"Bite me," Ikari muttered walking slowly towards their room.

Ikari put her key in the little lock and a little blue cherub appeared 
in the window above the lock. She took the key out and pushed 
open the door. Ikari set the pack down in the chair against the wall. 
It had been four days since that little bitch took Ranma. Four days 
and Rei still wasn't awake yet. She went to the bedside and 
checked the girl's pulse. Still there, still strong. Healing her had 
been the easy part, as her natural immortality plus Ikari's healing 
stitched her up in no time, less than a day in fact.

But she hadn't woke up. And that was three days ago. Ikari had 
looked into her brain and found that she was still there. The soul 
was there, everything seemed to work just fine, but it was like she 
just didn't want to come out. Ikari was beginning to worry. She 
should have come out and they would have gone yesterday, but as 
it was, they couldn't go anywhere. Ikari heard ice tinkle in a glass 
from the balcony area. The wide doors were open and there was a 
slight breeze ruffling back the light curtains. Ikari got up and 
poked her head outside.

Hanasu was out there, asleep in the reclining chair again. Ikari 
looked at the bottle that lay in her lap. This one was a little heavier 
than her usual brand of poison. Ikari lifted the glass from her limp 
fingers and set it and the bottle back on the table. The first time 
Hanasu had drunk herself into a stupor, Ikari refused to treat her 
hangover, hoping that it would be an object lesson. It seemed that 
the little rich girl, who was no longer so rich, took it simply as a 
challenge and began drinking more.

Ikari placed her hand on the back of Hanasu's neck and extended 
inside. She could feel the alcohol speed the blood along at a more 
rapid pace than normal. Ikari healed the little damage that the 
alcohol had caused on her liver and the dependence it would bring 
into her brain. She drew her hand away. Well, the physical 
dependence anyway. The mental she would have to work out on 
her own.

Ikari trudged back in to the other room and sat down on the second 
bed. The room itself was larger, but just for the fact of the second 
bed, which she shared with Hanasu. The repair bill for the damage 
to the other room was enough to force them to switch to a single 
room with two beds, and neither she nor Hanasu wanted to sleep 
next to Rei, even if she was above room temperature.

Ikari undid the ties on her tunic and tossed it aside. She pulled her 
leggings off and grabbed a towel on the way to the bath. She really 
didn't care how hot it got outside; there was nothing to dissuade 
her from a hot bath. She closed the door and the cooler kicked on. 
She sat on the edge of the tub and tapped on the hot water handle, 
indicating the desired level of heat to her water, which then began 
to fill the tub.

The chill air from the cooler was having a noticeable affect on her 
skin. She waited for the tub to fill and rubbed at her tired arms. At 
least she wouldn't bake in here. Which reminded her to check on 
Hanasu and make sure she didn't get sunburned or anything like 
that, laying out there on the balcony.

Ikari rubbed her chest idly as the water trickled to a stop. She 
smiled and gently lowered herself into the water. It was hot against 
her skin, but she bore it. She sat down and was about to start to 
clean herself off, but the heat felt so good against her as it worked 
its way in her tired body. She wouldn't wash her hair, not until 
tomorrow, for she found that washing it too much dried it out 
worse than salt water. Perhaps it was something in the soap, she 
didn't know. But tomorrow, it should be fine. She reached for the 
soap and began to scrub herself down.

So, Ranma was now a man. Odd, she didn't know how she would 
react upon seeing him in his 'true' form, but she liked him. It didn't 
seem to change his personality, but then that was back then. She 
didn't know what that witch Yoko had done to him. The tub 
drained itself in response to the less than pure water and began to 
refill, bringing in more clean water as Ikari continued to clean.

Ranma certainly cut a handsome figure as a man. Rei had told her 
what he looked like, but there was just no comparison to the real 
thing. Tight. Ikari grinned at herself. That was the best way to 
describe him. From his tight muscles that moved him along so 
gracefully, to the tight style in which he put his hair when he 
would change. And Ikari had gotten used to seeing just the ponytail 
clamp too. She didn't know about that braided look, but then 
Ranma generally only wore that when he was a guy.

Ranma had told Ikari a long time ago that she used to have a pigtail 
because of something that had happened back in his world. Well, 
her world back then. But that since her curse no longer meant 
anything, neither did the pigtail. All of it confused Ikari because all 
the pigs she'd ever seen never had any tails.

Ikari set the little washcloth aside and stretched back in the tub, 
which had completed replacing the water. She sighed as the 
warmth of it swirled around her and she closed her eyes. It felt 
good. Her muscles sighed at the heat of the water. But something 
wasn't quite right. Something...Ikari opened her eyes and 
adrenaline slammed into her veins as she jumped back.

Rei sat on the edge of the tub in her silken robe, just looking kind 
of sadly at the tile. Ikari tried to catch her breath and steady her 
heart as it beat wildly in her chest. She put her hand to her head as 
the adrenaline gave her the beginnings of a headache. She took a 
couple more deep breaths before she found she was able to form 
any kind of coherent thought on this whole thing.

"Dammit Rei," Ikari muttered, "You could knock you know?"

"Where did he go, Ikari?" she asked simply.

Ikari looked back at the smaller girl and shook her head, which 
didn't make it feel any better.

"How the hells should I know? My guess is that he was under 
Yoko's control through that powder of hers," Ikari said, "But I have 
no idea where they are now."

Silence filled the small bathroom. Rei idly brushed back a strand of 
dark hair.

"We should still go to Akamerajh, but this time-"

"To look for Ranma," Ikari finished, "Yeah, I know. There might 
be a problem with your immortality though. You've been gone for 
about five days or so."

"I know," Rei said, too quietly for anyone else to hear.

"I mean, I had to spend a day healing you, but you should've-"

"I know!"

Ikari sat back shocked at the suddenness of the statement. It was 
something that she had never expected. Rei had always been the 
calming force between the three of them and her harsh response 
seemed so out of place. Rei stared back at the tile floor. She folded 
her arms around herself and sunk to the tile, rocking slightly back 
and forth. Ikari thought for a minute that she might be crying, but 
she wasn't. Rei just sat there, rocking.

"He showed me, Ikari," Rei said quietly.

"Showed you what?"

"Death," Rei looked back at the blonde, "Not the fake death that 
my immortality plays on me. Not the rush I get when someone cuts 
me up, or when I drown or something like that. Ikari, this was 
real."

This news didn't sit well with Ikari. If Rei was going insane, she 
sure picked a bad time to begin. Ikari set her arms on the edge of 
the tub and pulled herself out a little so she could look at Rei, who 
was now drawing intricate little patterns on the tile floor with her 
finger.

"Rei, I know it seems real, but listen to me-"

Rei bolted up and Ikari jostled back in the tub.

"You're not immortal!" Rei shouted, "You don't know what it's 
like! I'm telling you, it was REAL!"

Ikari threw her hands up and nodded quickly in affirmation.

"Okay, okay, it was real," she said, "Now tell me how you know it 
was real."

A crease formed on Rei's forehead as she thought about it, but she 
surrendered to the question and slumped down onto the toilet 
instead.

"That's just it Ikari, I'm not sure. I mean, it felt different possibly 
because it was Ranma, possibly because of something else," Rei 
wrapped her arms around herself and began to rock again, "I don't 
know."

Ikari sighed. She reached up and took the dark green towel from its 
place on the small metal rack. Sensing that the bath was over, the 
tub began to drain as Ikari dried herself off. Rei looked sidelong at 
her taller friend and stopped rocking. She looked across from her 
seat on the toilet and picked up the black robe that Ikari had set out 
to put on after the shower. Rei thought on the robe. It was black, 
like the outfit that Ranma had on that night. Rei shut her eyes 
against the flood of emotions and handed the soft robe to Ikari as 
she stepped from the tub.

Ikari put on the robe and helped Rei to her feet. Rei looked to Ikari 
in confusion and she shooed her out of the bathroom with a wave 
of her hands. Rei sighed to herself and walked slowly into the 
other room. She went back to her bed and slumped down onto her 
stomach, curling one of the pillows under her chin.

There was a clink of glass and Rei turned her head. Ikari had 
opened the cold chest at the corner of the room. She brought forth 
two green bottles and handed one to Rei. Rei gazed at the green 
bottle with the white paint on the front. She twisted off the top and 
drained back a swig of the stuff. She licked her lips absently and 
stifled a sniffle. This stuff was good, whatever it was. Something 
tart with bubbles in it, but Rei couldn't place the taste.

Ikari took position on the bed across from Rei and sat there, quietly 
waiting for the raven-haired girl to speak what was on her mind. 
Keep her talking on this death issue. It seemed to bother her to get 
killed by Ranma, though now that she thought about the 
circumstances, Ikari thought that it'd probably bother her too. To 
be killed by the one you love. Betrayal yes, but there hadn't been 
any because he had been under Yoko's control. Rei knew this, so 
Ikari wondered why she was having such a hard time with it.

"It's not like anything I've ever felt before," Rei began, taking a 
careful sip of her beer, "I could feel the anger in him, the hatred 
driving the blade deeper into me. But-that's the weird thing-I knew 
it wasn't really Ranma."

Well, if she knew, then what-?

"Huh?" was as much as Ikari could manage.

"Well, yeah. Ranma was the one that did it, but he wasn't in control 
of himself-and I don't think he knew it was even me," Rei said, 
taking another sip.

She was running around in circles. Ikari sighed. Rei was dead set 
on figuring this out for herself and she didn't want anyone to help.

"Are you going to be okay with this?" Ikari asked.

"Yes, and now I want him even more," Rei took another swig of 
beer.

Ikari barked a short, humorless laugh.

"He drives a long piece of metal through you and it makes you 
want him?"

Rei frowned and looked up at Ikari. The tall blonde hadn't any idea 
what she was talking about, which made it all the more humorous. 
Rei laughed lightly and rolled over, propping the pillow behind 
her.

"No, not because of that," she said, "I want him because he's 
shown me a true taste of mortality."

Rei laughs more, but her laugh grows colder and Ikari shivered 
reflexively. Rei stopped laughing and turned back to Ikari, who 
shrank back at the smile that slid across Rei's face.

"And I want to taste it again."

***

Akuji mumbled to himself as he stared ahead at the pillar. Just like 
the other ones. He reached out and touched the bare surface. 
Smooth, like bezhl, but warm, like the other pillars. These were 
made from the same magic, but something had happened to them. 
And the only thing that had changed was the episode on the top of 
the last pillar. Akuji barked a command to himself and levitated up 
to the scene in question. Once again a thought ran through his head 
that seemed foreign, out of place.

"What the hells is she doing?"

Akuji looked down into the center of the columnade circle to the 
bath of light that still kept his queen locked away from him. It had 
been many a night since Meijin started his tedious work, but Akuji 
could see the results for himself. He turned his attention back to 
the image in front of him.

Akuji wasn't surprised that Yoko had been able to get Shiro to 
down a potion or two, it was her specialty after all. What was 
surprising was the effect. Every time Shiro downed a particular 
potion, the pillar image would fade away immediately and come 
back once the potion had worn off. That made Akuji think that it 
was particularly powerful, which was good. It obscured his view of 
things though, and that was bad. Akuji turned at a slight noise. 
Meijin looked up at him with his golden eyes. Akuji turned his 
attention back towards the pillar as the mouthless Meijin went 
about his tasks. Akuji snuck a glance around the top of the pillar to 
the center below.

"Soon, my queen," he whispered, "Soon."

***

Ikari huffed as he hefted the last of the cases onto the back of the 
small buggy. They banged together with a rather loud clap and 
Hanasu shot a sour look back to her. Ikari grinned at the other 
blonde and went back inside to finish with the hotel. Rei met her at 
the door and gave her a quick nod.

"Everything okay?"

"No," Rei said, adjusting Ranma's coat around her, "That bastard 
wanted double the price simply for all the damage we did."

"Well, did you pay it?" Ikari was wondering if they'd have enough 
to get to Akamerajh.

"No," Rei said, smirking as she got in the front of the buggy, "I 
persuaded him that the price we were quoted was more than fair."

Rei reached behind her and adjusted her blade as she sat back.

"Oh damn Rei," Ikari muttered, getting the hint, "Your blade won't 
solve all problems, you know."

"Maybe," she replied, "But those are too few and far in between to 
matter to me."

Rei laughed slightly, which brought a big wince from Hanasu as 
she wondered what could make these two so loud this time of 
morn...uh, afternoon. Rei laughed again and paid the driver, who 
brought the laden buggy into the lane and off towards the distant 
docks.

Ikari mused as they traveled out to the docks. What a long, strange 
journey is was that Ranma had put her on. She would have told 
her, or rather him now, that she / he was crazy if Ranma said that 
Ikari would be on her way to Akamerajh with an immortal and a 
head case for companions. She would have further scoffed at the 
idea that Ranma wouldn't be there, but that instead a potion-
brewing witch who had succeeded in changing her to a him had 
taken her mental hostage. Ikari shook her head and tried to watch 
the scenery as it passed.

Rei closed her eyes. She could see his eyes. It was something that 
she hadn't told Ikari. Ikari wouldn't understand about it. His eyes 
had been a metallic color that seemed to glow in the dark. Sure, 
Ikari had seen it when they first came into the room, but Rei 
doubted that Ikari remembered. And Rei knew that his eyes were 
the most important part of the puzzle. A smile broke across Rei's 
face as she remembered her attack. It had been perfect and he 
simply seemed to shrug it off, taking her out in the process. A tear 
slid silently down her cheek. He was perfect.

Hanasu mumbled slightly as the sun flashed hotly between the tops 
of the vendors' stands along the marketplace. Why did it have to be 
so bright? She felt a hand rest on her neck and she turned slightly. 
Ikari pursed her lips and closed her eyes in concentration. Hanasu 
began to feel the hangover slipping away to whatever hell from 
which it came. Ikari opened her eyes and sighed at the smaller 
blonde, who mouthed a thanks to her in return. She still had a 
slight headache, but she could stand it. Hanasu thought back on the 
bottle under which she awoke and resolved that Ikari had been 
right. That stuff was nasty.

As the buggy pulled into the docks, Rei opened her eyes and 
stretched slightly. She glanced embarrassedly back toward Ikari. 
Neither she, nor Hanasu had realized that she'd fallen to sleep and 
she wasn't about to tell them. Rei looked out to the massive 
buildings that rose around her. It didn't surprise her that this area 
was set away from the main city now that she was able to see it in 
the daylight. Huge warehouses lined up two by two as large as 
mountains that stretched into the distance. Rei was in awe, this 
place was huge!

The buggy slowed to a stop and the driver turned back to Ikari.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked.

"We need a ship that'll take us to Akamerajh," Rei said, "It doesn't 
need to be flashy, just fast."

The driver turned to Rei and eyed her.

"Eh? Ah well, not my place to ask why," the driver grabbed his 
chin, "Fast, huh? I think I may have a ship for you. 'Tisn't fancy. 
It's actually a merchant frigate that's been converted by her captain. 
Don't know what they transport now, but 'tis always on my list of 
personal vessels."

"So, it is fast then?" Ikari asked.

"Aye."

"Then we'll take it," Rei said.

"Aye."

The driver turned back in his seat and started the buggy rolling 
along again, taking a right turn at the end of the first block. Rei 
marveled at the size of the buildings, thinking that she had been 
among these and didn't even realize it. Between the buildings, Rei 
could see the ocean beckoning beyond. It spoke of life and blue 
peace and perhaps, the destiny of her love. Hanasu poked Rei in 
the shoulder and pointed on ahead. A smile cracked across Ikari's 
face as the same vision came into view. Rei smiled and tried to 
keep Ikari and Hanasu from cracking up.

As they passed it, Rei could see the ocean beyond, through the 
timbers and metal framework of the building that she and Ranma 
destroyed a few nights earlier. Ikari took this moment to try and 
examine the damage that her friends had done. It was truly 
amazing that neither of them had been killed. Well, really killed. 
Well, really dead. Ikari shook her head, clearing it. Blackened 
timbers jutted out at odd angles and the sidewalls, which were of 
metal framework, rose and curled inward like the ribs of a huge, 
gutted creature.

The driver glanced toward the back seat, as both Ikari and Hanasu 
couldn't keep their laughter in. Rei smiled weakly and tried to 
ignore them. The buggy pulled off onto a side alley and soon came 
out of the maze of buildings to a dock. Towards one side of the 
dock was a smaller ship that several big men were loading 
something onto. The buggy pulled up to the ship and the driver got 
out.

"Stay here," the driver told the trio, "I'll talk to the captain."

He turned without getting a response and walked to a burly man 
that seemed to be overseeing the operation. The burly man twirled 
his equally burly moustache and looked back toward the buggy as 
if appraising his new cargo. He said something to the driver and 
turned back to his task at hand. The driver returned and turned the 
buggy off.

"He's said that they're going as far as the Chain Islands, but then 
you can get a ferry to Akamerajh, or Sethett, or wherever," the 
driver said.

Rei looked back at Ikari, who shrugged. It seemed the best they 
could get at the moment. And Rei didn't want to wait. She nodded 
her assent to the driver, who began helping Ikari unload the cases 
from the back of the buggy.

Rei got out of the buggy and made her way to the burly captain. 
Standing to his right, she was surprised to see how tall this man 
actually was. A mountain of a man, he was easily twice Rei's 
height and more than all three of the girl's weight put together. He 
glanced at sidelong at her with dark brown eyes, almost in a 
questioning way. The men in front of him finally got the huge 
chunk of covered cargo on the deck of the ship and began huffing 
it towards the cargo hold. With the cargo onboard, it seemed that 
the captain could spare some of his time. He turned to Rei and 
regarded her.

"How much would passage be?" Rei asked, trying not to be 
intimidated.

"Well, my brother said that you needed to get to Akamerajh," the 
captain bellowed, "We're in kind of a hurry though, so I don't think 
that passengers would be a very good ide-"

Rei held up a smallish chunk of jade and watched the cloud clear 
up from the captain's face as he realized what it was.

"I think that's a fair deal," the captain said, secreting the chunk in 
the folds of the lace at his chest, "But, if you'll hurry on board, 
we're in a bit of a rush."

Rei nodded and helped Ikari with the cases, which a couple of the 
younger men helped get below. 

***

Ijisai propped the head of the young man up, trying to wipe off as 
much of the silverish liquid as she could.

"My Gods!" she breathed, her face alight with wonder, "It is 
Ranma! But, Son-sama, how can this be?"

Esu looked up from the young man that she'd been on a quest to 
find. He had found her, but Ijisai was right in questioning how it 
came to pass. Surely, the gods worked in mysterious and powerful 
ways. She looked out across the wreckage of the ship and saw for 
what she was looking.

"Ijisai, Mikan, take Ranma up to the wagon and try to make him 
comfortable in the back," she said, "It's now more important than 
ever to make it to Akamerajh. We have to get him healed and I'm 
afraid that Cunec won't have the necessary facilities. Tekido, 
follow me."

Tekido began to argue, but silenced his concerns when after the 
look Ijisai gave him. Esu began to climb towards the seaward side 
of the pile of boards. Tekido followed the older woman across the 
seaward pile. Tekido picked his way up over the stiff white boards 
that stuck out at all directions. He wondered how she could move 
so quickly with all those weird robes on. He also remembered the 
separate robes she wore underneath from their fight back home.

Tekido stopped shortly and shook his head. She'd probably blow 
him away if she caught him thinking like that. Certainly Mikan 
wouldn't like it. Now there was something on which he could 
certainly muse. He thought of her shockingly red hair, the way it 
kind of flowed like water around her. The spring in the curls that 
bounced around her face when she laughed.

The boards underneath him sagged slightly and his attention was 
brought back around. He jumped up to the nearer level and pulled 
himself over the lip and slid down the other side. He landed next to 
Esu, who just gave him a resigned look. She pointed out to a 
section of ship that still remained off the beach. It seemed to be the 
back edge of the ship and stuck out of the soft coastal water like a 
hand scraping something from the bottom.

"Okay, it's a piece of the ship," he said.

"Take a look at the far edge," Esu said, pointing out the shadow 
cast from the edge in question, "What's wrong about that edge in 
this situation?"

Tekido stepped closer to the waters' edge. He watched the water as 
it lapped silently into the open space that gaped from the hole. You 
had a piece of ship. You had water. You had that piece of ship in 
the water. He didn't get it.

"Look at the other edge," Esu said, not wanting to be too obvious.

Tekido jerked his head back as he suddenly realized what she was 
trying to say. He looked back at her.

"It's been cut!"

Esu smiled. Maybe Mikan had made a better choice than she had 
originally thought.

"Yes, cut," she repeated, "Now, this means that someone, or 
something cut apart a rather largish ship that Ranma was 
apparently on at the time. He was injured and something entered 
into his system. It looks like he's been poisoned though."

"That what that silver stuff was?"

"Possibly," Esu turned her back from the sun and tried to consider 
a couple things.

"Would we be able to find that out in Cunec?" he asked.

"Well, again possibly," she said, "More likely than not we'll need 
to get him to Akamerajh and some of the professional healers 
there. But it means that someone was really going after Ranma, 
maybe even two someones. I think that the person who poisoned 
him may just want to control him, since he's most definitely still 
alive, I don't know though."

"They'd just not better mess with Mikan," he said more to himself 
than Esu.

She'd heard it though and raised an eyebrow at him as he climbed 
back over the pile towards the wagon. Esu sighed to herself. She 
walked to the pile and followed him. Perhaps she could talk with 
him more later, but for now, Esu needed to heal Ranma and find 
out just what mischief he'd gotten himself into since she last knew 
him. She was also afraid that she wouldn't like the answer.

***

The ocean roiled around them in a surging caldera of green water. 
Or, maybe it was blue. It certainly looked like both. Rei tried to 
ignore the cursing and retching sounds that came from the other 
side of the small ship. How was Rei to know that Hanasu had no 
sea legs? Rei adjusted her wrap around her against the salt spray. 
She smoothed the front edge. It was the same kind of slick black 
etameran that matched Ranma's newest suit. She had picked up this 
piece in Kellenel and she had hoped that she'd be able to show it to 
Ranma, but that didn't seem to be. At least at the moment.

Rei looked up the ship to the front section, which was raised onto a 
higher platform. Most likely for lookout and maneuvering in 
dangerous waters. Ikari was trying to be trained in the use of a 
cutlass. Rei thought it was a brutal type of weapon, only to be used 
by the heavy handed and ill mannered. And among these pirates, 
she could hold her own. They didn't even have the decency of 
modern gentlemen to use the rapiers that had come into fashion in 
the last hundred years with the riders.

Pirates, all of them. Rei had seen the cargo that was hauled aboard 
two days earlier as they got underway. Call it curiosity, call it sheer 
luck that she hadn't been discovered. She had made her way into 
the forward hold and found the huge, tarp covered object. Peaking 
under it, she was shocked and dismayed by the horrible nature of 
her find. She quickly backed out of the hold and promised to get 
off the ship as soon as possible. The only good thing was that the 
Captain was taking them to the Chain Islands and they could catch 
a ferry into Akamerajh from there. She was silently thankful that 
even these stupid brutes wouldn't dare take something like that into 
a modern city.

Rei shuddered and refocused on Ikari's lessons. She seemed to be 
holding her own, and frustrating the men at the same time. Rei 
thought she was better than the men had expected and that was 
good. It meant that she could worry less about Ikari in a fight than 
she originally thought. In a pinch-

"Looks like she can hold her own."

Rei looked next to her. It was the Captain, who also seemed to be 
taking an interest in Ikari's talents with the cutlass.

"Yes, and I believe that your men are somewhat surprised by that 
fact," Rei commented.

The Captain only murmured something in return. Rei smiled 
inwardly. She liked this Captain, even if he was a little slow on the 
uptake.

"Captain!" a voice cried from behind them.

A younger sailor barreled to attention next to them and gave a 
perfunctory salute.

"Sir, I think we may have a problem," he sped along, hopelessly 
out of breath, "Navigation is all off and it looks like we're going to 
hit something big. Thing is, we can't maneuver."

The Captain looked back to Rei.

"Get yourself and your friends below," he said, "You'll be notified 
if you need to get to the lifepods."

Rei nodded and turned to get Ikari. She didn't have far to go, as her 
sparring partners were all quickly manning their stations. They 
climbed to and fro on the many wires and cables that spread like a 
web along the ship. Ikari was just standing at the front of the ship, 
watching something. Rei bolted up next to her and saw what Ikari 
was watching. It was a wall of fog, as high as the clouds, and 
looking almost as solid. Thick, gray roiling clouds that blanketed 
the sea and the sky in all directions. It almost seemed to enfold 
them as they drew ever nearer. Ikari looked to Rei.

"You get to carry Hanasu below," Rei said, smirking at the 
response that got, "I'm going to the shiphouse to check on the 
navigation condition from the Captain. He said we might hit 
something, so be ready to jump to the lifepods, okay?"

"Okay," Ikari reluctantly agreed, "But if she pukes on this shirt, 
then you get to buy me a new one once we get to Akamerajh."

Rei smiled.

"Agreed, now let's move."

***

Rei jumped down to the lower deck and sped towards the 
shiphouse, which held the navigation equipment, the wheel and the 
rudder emplacements. She was so happy to have that guided tour 
yesterday, and now she was putting it to good use. Rei silently 
wondered why she had this sense of impending doom hanging on 
her as they drew near this fog. It was just a bank of water 
vapor...Wasn't it?

Rei scampered across the crowded deck to the door to the 
shiphouse and threw it aside. And stopped. A silence had fallen 
over the ship, except for Ikari and Hanasu whom she could hear 
arguing their way into the lower decks. None of the sailors could 
be seen around the once crowded deck. Even the rigging was 
silent. Rei pushed her thoughts aside and turned back to the 
stairway to the shiphouse. The Captain could tell her what was 
going on, and she would be the judge of when they would abandon 
ship, not he. He had her money after all and she didn't want to get 
shortchanged. This was beginning to feel like a certain time in the 
desert not all that long ago and that was beginning to scare her. 
Sure, she could swim, or even walk along the bottom far below, 
but Hanasu and Ikari were another matter entirely.

Rei jumped up three stairs at a time and quickly came upon a sailor 
who was just sitting there about two-thirds of the way up. He had 
his head cocked to one side, as if listening to the wall. Rei 
wondered at this, since, as far as she knew, there weren't any 
significant structural features that a sailor would listen to in time of 
emergency. Rei moved in closer when she could see that his lips 
were moving slightly. He was muttering something, but it was too 
faint for her to make out. Maybe under the influence of some drug? 
Rei didn't know.

Rei hurried up the remaining stairs and knocked at the door at the 
top of the curved stairway. Silence answered her. Rei knocked 
again, but still no answer. Rei reached down and experimentally 
turned the handle. It was unlocked, so Rei pushed. The door 
opened slightly, but seemed to be stuck, like something was 
jammed against the other side. Rei put her shoulder against the 
door and shoved, but to no avail. She huffed once and drew her 
sword.

"Screw this," she muttered to herself.

Her blade lit with chi as she slashed at the hinges on either side of 
the door. She ducked as they popped outwards and landed 
somewhere down the stairwell. Rei sheathed her sword and pushed 
on the door again. This time, it fell inward with a heavy thunk. Rei 
raised an eyebrow at what had been propped up against the door. 
The First Mate, a handsome man named Van, was splayed out 
underneath the door. Rei excused herself and stepped into the 
room. She helped Van as he crawled out from beneath the door, 
but Van seemed interested in just remaining semi-motionless. He 
ripped his hand from her grasp and screwed up his face in rage, but 
heard something and calmed to his former, placid state.

Rei looked around the room. The Captain, the other sailors, all of 
them had the same look on their faces, almost like...Well, Rei 
couldn't exactly say what they were like. Puppets, almost. The 
Captain seemed to be the only one fully upright against the wheel, 
like he was actually piloting the ship in his state. Rei went to his 
side, but chose not to speak to him as she got closer.

Rei could see the thin trickle of blood the flowed rather freely from 
his ears. As she came to the front of him, she noticed that his eyes 
were open. But they weren't the dark, attentive eyes that 
commented on her friend's sword fighting ability just a few 
minutes ago. His eyes had glazed over and were milky white, as if 
from years of disease. Rei raised a hand to his face and waved it, to 
no response.

Rei huffed once and went to the navigation table, which she had 
been taught how to read the day before by that poor First Mate. 
He'd been so excited about a woman taking interest in his 
navigation skills, or his knowledge of the ship, it was almost sad 
that she told him about her trip to find Ranma. But he seemed to 
take it in stride. Rei looked over to him. It seemed so far away to 
see that same, vibrant sailor standing there, slumped against the 
railing near an instrument console, muttering like an infant.

Rei shook her head and pressed the signet on the side of the panel. 
The screen came alight above the panel, but Rei didn't have a 
chance to read it as one of the sailors who had been standing near 
the panel shoved her aside. She landed on her rump and looked up 
at the man who pushed her. His milky white eyes almost shown in 
the darkening cabin. He screwed up his face in a hideous snarl and 
began to growl at her. Others in the compartment turned to her in 
unison and began a similar growl. Something was very wrong here.

Rei got to her feet and began to back slowly to the entrance, as she 
didn't want to fight in such close quarters. The snarling grew more 
intense and faded, like some of the elder musicians back in her 
village. They would hear new music floating around them and 
slow playing in order to hear it. These men, no these weren't men, 
not anymore. These things were acting the same way, fading in and 
out. Rei slowly brought her hand up to the hilt of her sword behind 
her, which drew greater growls from the creatures. Rei felt the 
door at the back of her foot, one step and-

Something grabbed a hold of her left arm in an iron grip. Rei tried 
to move out of its grasp, but gasped as the First Mate came into 
view. Tears of blood were streaming gently down his cheeks as his 
hands tightened on her arm. She pulled at him, but couldn't get it 
free. As the growling settled around her, she could hear what the 
First Mate was saying.

"My dear, my love..." he muttered thickly, "Can't you hear the 
music?"

"I have no idea what-"

"'Tis the song of the sea," the Captain called out as he stumbled to 
the front, "Raging proud and true..."

"It's my lovely, singing sweetly by the fire," another called out.

"'Tis the bawdy, red-haired wench at the tavern at Ullenel," still 
another called.

Rei tried to cover her ears against the deafening din of voices all 
shouted out only what they could hear and see. Her heart began to 
race faster as she knew that she had stumbled into something. The 
air around her bit harshly into her head, barking at her sanity. Rei 
opened her eyes in time to see the Captain approach her and draw 
his cutlass.

"I can hear it calling-" he said, almost quietly.

It was now! Rei's blade flashed from its hiding place and neatly 
bisected the First Mate's forearm. In the same motion, Rei swung 
to her left as the Captain thrust his cutlass forward in a heavy 
stroke. The First Mate grunted as the heavy blade drove through 
his chest, emerging a full three inches from his back.

"He hears the calling now," the Captain muttered as he tried to pull 
his sword out of the downed sailor.

The sound of metal behind the Captain brought Rei's attention 
back around. The other sailors began to follow their Captain's lead 
and had drawn their swords. Rei ripped Van's arm from her own 
and returned to backing away from the group of sailors that were 
advancing on her.

Rei caught movement out of the corner of her eye and blocked a 
swing at her head from the Captain. She slid easily into the fight as 
they tried to swarm her in the tight quarters. It wasn't really all that 
difficult to fight them, but it was almost impossible to actually hit 
them. As though they could read her counterattack, they would jerk 
away at the last second. She nicked them, but the cuts were no 
bigger than a paper cut. They hadn't touched Rei, hells, they hadn't 
even begun to wear her out, but it did frustrate her that she couldn't 
get in close enough to cause any real damage. It was true that she 
didn't want to hurt these men, but she saw no other way...Unless 
that was it...That she could simply get free.

Rei glanced to the door and blocked a couple more shots to her 
head. Rei fought her way back towards the door, but stopped short 
as the Captain and crew backed off. Like they were anticipating-

A high clicking sound drifted slowly up the steps. It was a wet kind 
of clicking that Rei can almost imagine on the beach for some 
reason. It became louder and Rei backed towards one of the 
consoles near the wheel. A shadow loomed in the doorway and Rei 
pulled her guard back up. It looked like a fish at first, but the thin 
demon quickly showed itself to be much larger. Its wet blackness 
glistened in the wane light of the instruments in the cabin. Rei was 
almost fascinated. It had a longish, flat head with a pair of tiny, 
white eyes set deep into the bony face. The skin was scaled, and 
Rei had a bad feeling that the wetness wasn't something that she'd 
like. As if in response, the demon reached up to steady itself as it 
climbed the stairs.

The edge of the doorframe seemed good enough, but its hand 
slipped slight, probably from the wetness. The red streak that its 
hand left gave Rei the notion that it wasn't here to help them out of 
the fog either. Whatever this demon was, Rei could now see the 
huge muscles that lined it's upper torso and the long row of spines 
along its back. The long, clawed hands were also a weapon. The 
demon swung it's head into the room and looked at the Captain and 
other sailors, who regarded this demon as something of priest 
looking over his congregation.

The demon's lips peeled back in a hideous snarl that revealed to 
Rei the thousands of impossibly sharp teeth. It seemed to almost 
yawn at Rei, who then doubled over as an intense wave of nausea 
hit her. Her ears and jaw hurt as well. Rei looked to the demon, 
who aimed its open maw to the crew. They looked like a wind 
blew in their direction as their clothes ruffled slightly, but they had 
no immediate reaction. They just stood there. Rei figured it was 
something in the demon's breath, or maybe it's voice, something 
with sound, she didn't know. Rei swallowed what had come up and 
tried to gather herself for the inevitable attack.

The Captain twitched. Rei noticed that the demon at the doorway 
almost backed away, as if to just keep her from escaping. Rei 
turned back to the crew and was hit with another wave of nausea as 
a hand broke out of the Captain's middle. It waved black and 
clawed in the air and paused as another broke from the Captain's 
neck, ripping the fragile tissues upward in a spray of blood that 
washed the ceiling red. Another sailor, near the window, lurched 
backward as the demon broke free through his back, folding him 
neatly in half. His intestines splayed grotesquely over the fingers 
like decorations at the Harvest Fest. Rei finally gave in to her 
roiling stomach and threw up on the floor near her. Rei could felt 
like there was a demon crawling out of her insides too, but then, 
she never threw up, so she could understand.

The newborn demons cried and mewled in the remains of their 
hosts as a pool a blood spread quickly across the floor, spilling out 
of the door. Rei could see the spray from the birth covering the 
walls and windows and ceilings. And she knew that it wasn't going 
to get any nicer. She threw up once more before the attack began. 
Her legs felt like lead weights under her as the creatures fought her 
back and forth. These demons were certainly not the slow, almost 
drunkish fighters that were the sailors. They were fast, they were 
ugly and they were mean.

Rei slipped under one swing and pushed herself back against the 
main console. She grunted as a demon leaped at her. She ducked 
and the demon slammed headlong into the console. The power 
from the console coursed through its body. The demon screamed 
once and blew apart, covering Rei and everything else in little bits 
of messy demon. A demon slammed into her side and Rei could 
feel one of the spines sink into her side. She barked a command 
word and her blade bathed the creature's head in chi, decapitating 
it.

Rei back up as she pulled the spine from her side. She could 
already feel the poison slowing her motion and pulling at the edges 
of her consciousness. The beheaded demon flopped around on the 
floor of the cabin like a fish out of water, dying slowly. More 
demon blood, black and foul, spread toward the other three, who 
stood in stalemate. A low growl came from the first demon as it 
joined its comrades.

Rei tightened as two more demons scampered up the stairs and into 
the room. The first demon barked a couple of orders to the new 
arrivals and all five turned to Rei. She straightened and spit out the 
remains of her lunch as she cleared her mouth. She threw the spine 
on the floor in front of them and waved them forward. She was 
pissed and she didn't have time to waste on a bunch of fish.

***

She stumbled again and again Ikari picked her up. Ikari extended 
herself just enough to check on something and snapped back. 
Hanasu began to heave again, but this time, Ikari didn't let go. 
Hanasu shrugged the taller blonde off as they made their way 
below the main deck. They had stopped at the bottom of the main 
stairwell as Hanasu rested on the balustrade.

"Now what?" Ikari asked as she pulled her hair tighter on her head, 
"I've checked, you don't have anything in you to throw up, okay? 
Now let's go!"

Hanasu threw off her arm and poisoned the look on her face to 
match the feelings in her stomach. She looked back down at the 
deck as another wave of nausea threw itself against her brain. This 
one was more tangible, almost like a sound, or a feeling.

"Who are you-" Hanasu breathed out heavily, "To put your hands 
on a princess of my House?"

"What the Hells are you-"

"I was talking to a couple of the fine gentlemen aboard and they 
assured me-" she staggered under another wave, "That my House 
was safe and that the seers in Akamerajh could get a message 
home. And as a royal princess, I can certainly get by a little nausea 
without you."

Ikari counted backward from ten, twice. She unclenched her fists, 
but it was too little too late. Ikari needed to get it out and get it out 
before she took out the ship.

"Why you stuck up little-"

Hanasu raised her hand as she looked down the darkened corridor.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah," Ikari shouted, "It's the sound of my foot being shoved up 
your-"

"No!" Hanasu shouted back.

Her vehemence shocked Ikari out of her anger.

"That."

Ikari stopped her tirade and listened closely. At first, she heard 
nothing, but then it came. A faint, audible clicking sound could 
almost be heard down the corridor, which somehow grew even 
darker. There was another sound and the clicking increased.

"What the Hells?" Ikari muttered.

Both women gasped in shock and revulsion as a thick river of 
crimson blood flowed toward them from the other side of the 
corridor. Hanasu looked up to Ikari to make sure it wasn't some 
kind of nausea induced hallucination. As she saw the look on 
Ikari's face, she knew it was real. The blood swept in around their 
feet and puddled around them. Hanasu hopped lightly to the 
bottom step while Ikari drew the cutlass that one of the sailors had 
given her. The clicking stopped and Hanasu gasped once more as 
the source came into the light.

A low growl emanated from the demons. They were black and wet 
looking, probably from the blood. The lead demon curled back a 
mouth that had rows of very nasty looking teeth. He seemed like 
he had trouble standing, so he reached out to the balustrade that 
lined the halls and pulled himself to a more vertical position. The 
lighting flickered around them as more demons came into view. 
Ikari motioned Hanasu to begin to back up the stairs and turned 
angrily as she bumped into the girl. Two more demons were 
staring down the stairs from the top entrance. Ikari looked back to 
the lead demon and nodded.

"How fast can you heal us?" Hanasu whispered in her ear from 
behind her.

"Not fast enough."

***

It was late that night as they made camp. Tekido had brought back 
a small something from the shore to eat. He said he'd eaten them 
before and they were pretty good, but Ijisai didn't know. She didn't 
trust the young heathen. He had his uses and seemed genuinely 
concerned with Mikan. Too concerned. A girl with Mikan's power 
needed to be trained as soon as possible and the last thing she 
needed was some love-starved nut of a man ruining her 
concentration.

And it didn't help any that Son-sama seemed to be almost 
encouraging it. She brought conversation between the two and left 
them alone while she made Ijisai scout out ahead on Tekido's 
horse, or some other such. Ijisai knew that Son-sama had a greater 
plan, she had to, because she saw a great deal more than Ijisai, she 
always had. She surely knew the danger that this boy represented 
to Mikan's training.

"I'll take watch tonight, if that's okay?" Tekido asked Esu.

She pulled at part of her fish-mammal thing and nodded. He was a 
good boy, could even prove quite useful if she could straighten out 
his priorities. Of course, part of that training would probably not 
even be able to include her. She wasn't the spry young woman of 
twenty that founded the nunnery so long ago. Esu felt older than 
she wanted to feel, but knew that her place had been secured when 
she took the mantle from the teachers. Her own happiness mattered 
little if she couldn't look after her charges. Which meant happiness 
for Mikan, but also for Ijisai as well.

"Hold it," Ijisai said from the other side of the fire, "I trust you 
about as far as I can throw you over these cliffs."

Tekido didn't know what to say. From what he knew of Ijisai, she 
probably could throw him off the cliffs, which were no more than a 
hundred meters distant.

"Well, we need a guard, and Esu-san said that you needed a rest," 
he muttered impotently.

Ijisai looked back at Esu, who was pointedly ignoring the 
argument. Ijisai huffed once and got up from her position at the 
fire. She walked to Tekido, stood in front of him and began to 
unbuckle his belt.

"Ijisai!" Esu couldn't believe what she was seeing.

His belt fell away and Ijisai sat back down at the fire, his rapier 
secure in her possession. Esu looked to Mikan, who also was wide-
eyed in shock and blurted out a short bark of laughter. Mikan 
looked at Esu and began to laugh as well. Tekido hadn't recovered 
from it and remained still where she'd taken his sword.

"Hey Tekido," Mikan giggled, "I think Ijisai likes you."

Esu burst out with laughter as Ijisai and Tekido shared red faces in 
the failing sunlight of the day. Tekido turned and walked to the 
cliffs, not daring to begin his watch by taunting someone with 
Ijisai's power. The laughter died away and, after a time, he looked 
back to the group. They had gone to sleep, which was good. 
Tekido breathed a little easier and began to dream back to the days 
where his father would tell him all about the stars, and the different 
worlds out there.

Tekido awoke a couple hours later as a gust of wind blew his shirt 
open, ruffling the fine hairs at his chest. It was cold too. He 
yawned and straightened, making sure that the party was still 
asleep. He made his way carefully back to the fireside and stirred 
the remaining coals around softly, trying to stir the remainder of 
the warmth from them. He moved slowly to Mikan's side and 
pulled her blanket up over her shoulder, only causing her to stir 
slightly. He found her too good to be real. A beautiful, intelligent 
girl with so much raw power. And she liked him. But did she like 
him as more than a friend? He didn't know, and maybe he'd never 
know.

He knew he didn't have the nerve to ask her about it. To simply 
talk with her, it would have been a very easy thing to do and Esu 
seemed to be encouraging talk between them. But he lacked the 
nerve. Another reason, he supposed, that Cappin put him on this 
trip. She settled back into slumber as the warmth of the blanket 
returned to her and Tekido spent more than a minute just watching 
her. Little Brother was behind Big Brother right now, so there was 
only a single moonlight, but that was more than enough to see the 
beauty of her face.

He slowly backed out of the circle and went to his horse, who was 
also sleeping. The young black stallion breathed heavily in the 
ocean air. He seemed in good health, but Tekido would have him 
looked at when they got to Cunec. He didn't want to go into town, 
as who knows how many of the Riders were up for rewards in 
these smaller towns. And he didn't want to be any trouble for the 
rest of them, especially Mikan.

Esu was nice enough. Almost motherly, in a way, with Mikan and 
Ijisai. With Tekido, she had almost seemed to resign Mikan into 
his care, which he found just dandy. Ijisai was another matter 
entirely. He knew that she meant it when she said she'd throw him 
over the cliffs. Nevertheless, he didn't want to go around all night 
holding up his breeches. And that was why he sat next to Ijisai in 
the moonlight, doing a little trick that he'd done since he was a 
boy. Tekido finally pulled the belt free and got up quietly to go 
back to his post when she cleared her throat behind him. He didn't 
freeze, which he thought she expected him to do. He smiled 
inwardly at his cool. At least he'd die with his pants up.

"What the Hells do you think you're doing?" she whispered.

"Putting on my belt," he muttered back, "Which someone stole 
earlier this evening."

He heard her shift behind him, probably to bring her staff around 
into striking distance. He waited a couple of minutes and, when the 
smiting blow didn't come, turned around. He was surprised and 
smiled in the moonlight. She had just rolled over and settled back 
into sleep.

"Don't get any ideas pal," she muttered from her blanket, "And you 
could have just asked."

He snorted loudly and walked past her towards the cliff edge to 
settle for the night.

"Oh sorry, I'm just not used to women grabbing me and ripping my 
belt off, that's all," he whispered as he walked past.

She said nothing in return as he set himself down at the edge of the 
cliff. He smiled again to himself. It seemed like he won this round 
at least, and that was good. The more he could ease tensions 
between he and Ijisai, the better the trip would be and the more 
time he could spend with Mikan. He looked up to the moon again 
and found that his mind saw her face up in the heavens, but then 
where else would he really expect to find her. She was his angel. 
Her fiery red hair only served to fan the flames of his passion. He 
could feel the heat rising on his cheeks at the thought of her. The 
way her nose turned up just slightly at the end, the way the ends of 
her hair bounced when she laughed. And the way her eyes had 
shined when she looked at him.

Maybe he would take her in his arms and sweep her off to some 
remote island where they could live in peace. No more raids to get 
the simple things they needed in life. No more wars against the 
other Riders. No more mourning the loss of Riders to the troopers 
that the Dukes and Kings and other higher pigs send to kill them.

No more sadness...

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. 
He tried to turn, but something was wrong. He snorted once and 
opened his eyes. He blinked against the sun as it lit the horizon to 
his right. He wondered how the sun had come up so fast when he 
realized he must have fallen asleep. He hated that. It meant that 
he'd let something interfere with his duty. He looked back and 
smiled sheepishly when he realized it had been Mikan that woke 
him.

She grinned at him and stretched in the early morning light. He 
blushed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, which also kept him 
from staring at her. She sat down beside him, which didn't help his 
blush, any, but he calmed when he realized that, in the dawnlight, 
it probably wasn't noticeable. Probably. Something popped up in 
front of his face. It was a little piece of fruit. He took her offer of 
breakfast and smiled back at her.

"I wondered what was going to be on the menu this morning," he 
muttered quietly.

A cloud of wyra was circling overhead, diving into the coastal surf 
for small fish and swooping back, high overhead. The sun glittered 
brightly against the blue in the sky.

"I think that if it were up to Ijisai, we'd just roast you up and snack 
on a little Rider," she said, smirking at him.

"Yeah, I guess, to her at least, I'm not a very nice man," he 
chuckled.

"I think you're a nice man," she said, not looking at him.

He looked at her, but couldn't read her little smile.

"I know I'm not," he said, "I'm a rider. A scoundrel, but I know that 
I'm not even good enough for that. I know I'm still living in the 
shadow of my father."

Mikan tossed the core of her fruit over the edge of the nearby cliff 
and watched as a wyra swooped in and picked it off. She set a hand 
lightly on his arm.

"I don't think you're a scoundrel," she said lightly, "But Cappin 
wouldn't have sent you if he hadn't believed that you could be the 
best."

The lump in his throat made it hard for Tekido to continue eating. 
She just couldn't know...

"You're a sweet woman," he said as he closed his eyes, "But you 
don't know the first thing about the Riders."

He opened his eyes as he felt her arm wrap around his shoulders.

"Maybe," she whispered as she inched her way closer, "But I learn 
fast."

Mikan leaned closer and kissed him lightly. Tekido urffed slightly 
in surprise at the gentle softness of her lips. He closed his eyes, as 
he could taste the sweetness of the fruit. The kiss lingered in the 
early morning light and, for Tekido, broke much too soon. Her 
eyes grew in size as she realized exactly what she did and she sat 
away from him as she felt the heat rise from her toes. Somehow, 
the sunrise paled to the rising blush in both of them. Mikan began 
to say something, but couldn't. Tekido found that his own words 
just died in the breath of the silence between them.

"I-uh," he stumbled finally, "I need to check on Tama."

He got up and quietly made his way to his horse. Mikan smiled to 
herself as she watched him stumble away. Her little plan seemed to 
go well enough, but she was a little shocked at the electric thrill 
that ran through her at the touch of his lips. She smiled even more 
as she remembered. She liked it. It made her feel good in ways that 
she couldn't even begin to describe, so she didn't. She pulled her 
knees to her chest as she blissfully watched the wyra circling and 
swooping overhead.

***

It was dark, like night, but without the stars. Ranma looked this 
way and that, but couldn't see his own feet below him, much less 
anything in the distance. It frustrated him to not be able to see 
where he was going. He.

Ranma stopped and checked himself. A thrill ran through him as 
he found that his closest friends were back. Restored to his 
maleness and whole once again, he wondered if this were just a 
dream, one of the many that he'd had since journeying to this 
strange, new world. Of course, those dreams normally began and 
ended in the Tendo Dojo and house, not in total darkness. Also, it 
didn't feel like a dream. He couldn't describe it, but he knew that he 
was fully awake and aware.

Ranma knelt on the ground, for lack of a better word, and felt 
around. If there was one thing that his father knew, it was martial 
arts. He taught Ranma everything that he knew, after all. Of 
course, most of it was wrong, but that was something for which 
Ranma never faulted Genma. If anything, being wrong half the 
time taught him to think on his feet and adapt quickly to new 
situations. He smirked. He hadn't thought of his father in a long 
time. But here he was, trapped in an odd situation, no clothes on 
and no point of reference. The training, at least, was something on 
which he could count.

The ground felt like stone, but smooth, like marble. He couldn't see 
it, so he just guessed that it was marble and left it at that. Not the 
best of surfaces to fight on, if it came to that. Ranma inched his 
way along the ground, searching for any kind of crack, or fissure or 
surface to follow, but there was nothing. Just smoothness forever. 
He huffed in derision, but something caught his peripheral vision. 
He turned and saw a green glow on the horizon. Well, at least it 
was something to go to.

He stood and began to walk to the glow, which steadily grew 
brighter as he approached. His heart jumped in his throat as he 
came up next to a small depression in the floor that seemed to have 
a puddle of green light in it. Laying, almost peacefully, in the 
center of the green light was Akane. Just as she'd left him, in that 
little floral sundress that she loved so much. A little whimper 
escaped him as he knelt to her. She was just as beautiful as he ever 
imagined.

Ranma reached out to touch her arm and his breath quickened as 
his hand passed right through her. This was just an illusion, but no, 
this was more. He didn't understand, but he knew that this was 
much more than just an illusion.

"Akane!" he muttered, "Akane! Wake up, please, wake up."

She remained still.

"Akane!" he shouted, "Akane, I love you!"

And something happened. Akane stirred from her resting place and 
opened her eyes. Ranma tried to grab her hand again, but again 
went right through. Akane saw Ranma out of the corner of her 
eyes, but couldn't move her head. She lifted her arm, and Ranma 
frantically tried to grasp it, but couldn't. Tears streamed down his 
face in frustration at not being able to hold her. She smiled. A sad 
smile that told Ranma that she knew. She knew that he was still 
looking and still hers. Their love spread between them in that 
instant and flowed from their hands like a palpable force. It grew 
in intensity and brightness until it glowed between them like twin 
suns. Ranma would be damned if he was going to let go and he 
figured he'd rather be blind than let he go now and for an instant, 
just an instant, he thought he could feel her hand in his once 
more...

"Akane!"

***

"So that's what Ijisai originally thought of the sisterhood," Esu 
burst into laughter.

Mikan joined her in laughter. It did seem silly that someone would 
think that sisters had anything more than an ordered agenda.

"Well," Ijisai muttered defensively from the driver's seat, "Did you 
blame me for it? Especially considering your actions?"

"No dear, it was just funny to see your reactions to some of the 
others' work ethics, that's all," Esu said, patting Ijisai gently on the 
shoulder.

Esu looked past Ijisai to about three meters in front of the wagon 
and quickly sobered. Tekido had been riding off them all day long 
and seemed somewhat distant, especially to Mikan, which wasn't 
good. Esu thought that they might even be getting somewhere in 
the past couple days and it was disheartening to see this turn. They 
had both been up that morning by the time that Esu was awoke, so 
she wondered if something had happened, but Mikan assured her 
that it was nothing. So Esu let it rest, but she didn't let it go.

"How did you originally get to be in the sisterhood, Esu-san?" 
Mikan asked.

Ijisai began to giggle for some reason, and Esu just nudged her 
with her elbow.

"As a matter of fact Mikan, I was the one that founded our 
particular order of the sisterhood," Esu said.

"It's been, what?" Ijisai chuckled softly, "Ten years?"

"You hush! Yes, it's been about ten years now," Esu leaned back 
against the side of the wagon, "Geez, how did it all begin? A long 
time ago, when my mother and I were captured in a raid on my 
village by Riders."

Mikan's eyes grew, as did her interest in the story.

"Yeah, that's how I know about customs and how to fight them and 
such, which I thought I did pretty well, at least until I met Ranma. I 
guess my baby charms got to the leader of the Riders because he 
married my mother and adopted me," Esu smirked, "So I grew up 
as a Rider, a regular tomboy."

"What's a tomboy? Was he your father?" Mikan asked.

"No dear, tomboy is an expression that Ranma taught me. It 
generally means a beautiful, but tough woman. Anyway, when I 
was fourteen, I fell in love with a painter from the nearby city of 
Ullenel. I was young and rebellious and not too bright, but I 
thought I was in love," Esu poked Ijisai as she giggled again, 
"Well, my foster father didn't much like me falling in love with 
anyone and stirred up the Riders enough to attack a major city, 
which Ullenel was even back then. They didn't get anything, but 
my father said that he had succeeded in killing my beloved painter, 
which was his only goal."

"Oh, don't worry Mikan," Esu waved at Mikan's expression, "He 
didn't really kill the poor boy, but I didn't know that. So, I got mad 
and left. I ran away, with not much more than the clothes on my 
back. I walked and I walked and I walked some more. Let me tell 
you, without a horse, this is a wide, wide world. And I didn't know 
it, but I was heading steadily northward."

"After days and days and weeks and weeks of walking, I finally 
stumbled upon a nunnery on the shores of the Northern Sea. I 
marveled at the stonework and fine craftsmanship of something 
that was obviously far older than anything I'd ever seen. I 
marveled, even as I was starving and diseased from malnutrition, 
oh Mikan, I was a mess," Esu said as she waved her hand in 
memory, "Anyway, the sisters who were living there took me in 
and healed me and gave me a place to stay. They later told me that 
I almost died two or three times as they healed me, but that my 
spirit was so strong that I wouldn't give up. That seemed to impress 
them, so they offered to let me stay."

"Why didn't you stay?" Mikan asked, peeling another fruit. She 
didn't know what these were, but they were good.

"Don't eat too many of those in a single day dear, they turn your 
tongue green," Esu cautioned.

Mikan yelped and covered her mouth as she shot a pensive look up 
to Tekido, who was still riding out in front.

"Well, I was the youngest one there. All the sisters were in their 
eighties and aging rapidly. But they trained me in the ways of the 
sisterhood, even though they didn't want to," Esu began again, 
"You see, they felt that the sisterhood was no longer of any use in 
the world and it would be better to just let the sisterhood vanish 
into memory, but I convinced them that there were still strong 
spirits in the world. The unfortunate thing is that I would be the 
only one young and strong enough to endure the final training, 
which I did."

"At the end of my training, I was a spry twenty-one and all the rest 
of the sisters had passed on," Esu rubbed her nose and sighed, "I 
burned the old nunnery and vowed that the new one would never 
be complacent in the new world. I met Sesai about three years later 
and we officially formed the sisterhood. Others quickly joined up 
and we moved to the mountains where we are now, there was just 
one problem."

"I kept taking off on missions, dangerous ones, like this one," Esu 
continued, "Four years ago, I met Ijisai. She was a promising girl, 
even at the tender age of fourteen. And two years ago, I met 
Ranma. Since then, everything has changed."

"And the coming of the one from beyond will bring great joy and 
great death," Ijisai muttered quietly from the front.

Mikan looked at her.

"Yes," Esu said, "Ranma was the great joy. She taught us to fight 
with compassion, which I think some of us still lack."

"And the Ijutsu Hoshi," Ijisai muttered.

"The great death," Esu said, "It allows us to greatly increase our 
ability to heal, but it also called the namagoroshi."

"But I sent those away," Mikan chirped brightly.

"I've been meaning to ask you Mikan," Ijisai turned a little in the 
seat, "Just exactly where did you send them?"

Mikan thought for a moment before answering.

"Somewhere," she shrugged.

Esu and Ijisai shared a look that said that the answer was 
something they'd rather not know.

"What I'm trying to tell you is that you're only young and stupid 
once. If being a sister-protectorate isn't what you feel your calling 
is, then follow what you think is your calling," Esu said, "But be 
careful with your heart, because it's the only one you have."

Mikan nodded and looked past the wagon to Tekido, which didn't 
go unnoticed by Esu, who just nodded to herself. A noise behind 
her stirred her to action. Ranma began to cough and choke 
violently.

"Ijisai! Stop the wagon!" Esu shouted.

Esu jumped to where Ranma lay and held his head as he calmed 
from his coughing fit. He began to breathe steadier and calmed 
back towards sleep as they gathered around them, but Esu could 
heard him mumbling as he stirred. Tekido came up to Mikan's side, 
but said nothing.

"At least he's stopped oozing," Ijisai said as she wiped his mouth.

"Ijisai, please," Esu said as she leaned in closer to listen.

"Akane...Akane..."

"He's calling for Akane," Esu said, "At least he's awake and 
seemingly sane. I suppose we should just watch him until he comes 
around fully."

Ijisai rubbed her eyes and reached for the seat as she climbed back 
up. Esu brushed Ranma's hair back from his eyes. The poor girl 
was still going, after two years of non-stop life in this world. Esu 
knew Ranma, and knew her well. She was the type of person that 
gave everything they had until they had no more.

"Come on, let's keep going," Esu said, waving for Mikan to get in 
the wagon, "We can rest once we get to Cunec."

Esu hopped into the back of the wagon. Mikan looked at Tekido 
and he offered her a hand into the wagon, which she accepted with 
a cute smile.

"Okay," Tekido sighed, "So who's Akane?"

The ride into Cunec itself went without consequence, which was 
just fine with Esu. She had too many surprises on this trip already 
and the layover at the Rider headquarters wasn't something she 
expected. They should have already been to Akamerajh by now, 
but she didn't bemoan what came about. Tekido was proving to be 
something of a boon to Mikan's morale, she knew that she couldn't 
keep it up by herself. And she wouldn't leave it all to Ijisai as much 
as she would probably want her to.

"So this guy, isn't really a guy, but now he's-" Tekido began, 
"SHE'S looking for a girl? And now she's a guy...Again?"

Esu thought about what he said.

"Technically," she said.

Mikan looked somewhat confusedly at Ranma, whose head was 
lolling gently back and forth as the wagon rolled along. It was 
difficult to view this young man as someone who would go to the 
ends of the world for someone he loves. It seemed so sweet to 
Mikan. She risked a glance up to Tekido and wondered if he would 
do that for one that he loves. Her heart fluttered at the prospect that 
he might do that for her. She grinned stupidly to herself and turned 
back to the front of the wagon.

"We're here," Ijisai said as she pointed to the distance.

Mikan pushed up above the front seat to get a good look for herself 
and breathed in silent awe at the beauty of it. In a small bay, where 
the cliffs dipped down to meet the sea, a town had been built.

Cunec jutted into the crystal blue-green waters in the bay and 
Mikan blinked as a light flashed silently past. The town was a 
collection of smaller buildings set around the bay. To Mikan, it felt 
like quite a cozy set up, but she knew that it was to serve the dock 
and the ships that came there. About four meters into the bay was a 
largish tower about six meters high, it looked little more than a 
stubby tower. She supposed the fat bottom kept it stable during 
storms. The signal house flashed past their position again and 
Mikan blinked against the sudden light. Mikan smiled to herself as 
the light swept past for a third time. It felt like home. The signal 
house that her family helped run was much larger, but then it 
needed to sweep out to a larger area too.

"Well, I'll uh-" Tekido said as he climbed onto his horse, "I'll scout 
on ahead as you get a little rest in town."

"You'll go nowhere, young man," Esu said, holding his arm in an 
iron grip.

Tekido ripped his arm free.

"Look Son-san, I thank you for your concern, but I'd be 
endangering everyone if I was seen in town," Tekido said, "I'll be 
in the foothills north of town, I have some friends up there. Just 
continue on to Akamerajh and I'll meet up with you out there."

"Tekido," Esu said sternly, "If you leave our group, then you'll not 
go alone. Mikan, don't let him leave without you."

Mikan nodded sharply and moved across the wagon to intercept 
him. Tekido sat back down and sighed slowly.

"Tekido, I know you've had some problems with the authorities in 
some towns, but you're under my protection now," Esu put a hand 
on his shoulder, "And I won't let anyone accuse you of anything. 
As far as I've seen, you've done nothing wrong."

"Yeah, you're an okay guy," Ijisai said without turning around, 
"Just keep your mouth shut and pretend to be someone else."

The wagon continued along into the town of Cunec and Tekido 
had a bad feeling about all of it.

***

The blood dribbled slowly out the door. Rei thought she could hear 
it as it spattered, drop by drop, down the stairs. Her breath had 
become ragged as the poisons seeped into her systems. She figured 
the poisons were designed to wear down prey until it drowned. 
Then the demons could simply rip it up and eat it at will.

The demon to her right let out a short gurgle and clicked his teeth a 
couple times. Rei thought that it was probably some kind of 
communication between the three remaining critters. She risked a 
look around the room. Bits of human sailor lay strewn about. Bits 
of the four fish that she had managed to dice were also lying about. 
Blood mingled with blood as it painted the walls, the floors and the 
ceiling. The acrid haze from the smell of the blood and fish parts 
had long sense been burned away from her senses. In many ways, 
she figured it kept her sharp.

The signet on the navigation table began to beep, which drew the 
attention from the demons. Rei glanced over and jerked her head 
back as a claw flashed in front of her. She brought her sword up 
and cursed a command. The blade lit with blue fire and wiped the 
head of the fish demon from its shoulders. Rei breathed out as she 
let the chi calm from the blade back into her. That had been too 
close.

Sure, she could regenerate, but who ever wanted to regenerate 
from fish poo? And besides, it would take too long and she wanted 
to find Ranma. She moved silently across the deck, trying to get to 
the navigation table. The demons hissed menacingly, but didn't 
attack as she pointed to the, still quivering demon that lay to one 
side. A hum rose in the air that Rei couldn't identify. She thought 
that it was just the poison beginning to take hold in her head, 
which meant that she didn't have much time.

The demons also sensed her urgency and moved closer. Rei tried to 
look out the window near the demon and saw the blue of the sky. 
The ship had finally come out of the fog, so what was the 
humming? Rei reached beside her, but couldn't seem to find the 
signet. She got frustrated and banged on the table a couple of times 
without success. She knew that if she took her eyes from the pair, 
that they'd attack, and she felt that she only had enough energy to 
repel one of them. She couldn't feel the signet though and she had 
to find out what was going on. Damn, she wished she'd listened 
closer.

The back of her foot bumped up against something. She stopped 
and felt it with her foot. It was the edge of the table where it met 
the wall. So, they had fought her into a corner, Rei began to smile 
as the narcotic effect of the poison seeped into her head. She was 
losing, fast and then an idea came to her. She had one shot at it and 
if it didn't work, she was meat.

Rei pushed her foot into the corner as much as she could to keep 
from slipping on the blood-covered floor. She risked a slight 
glance to her left to confirm the proximity of the other main panel, 
which drew a growl from the demons. She snapped her head back 
up and lit her blade once more. Her left foot, now firmly wedged 
against the main panel and her right against the table, she felt she 
was ready.

Rei concentrated and brought the rest of her chi into her blade, 
lighting it white hot. She smirked once and turned her head to the 
navigation table. The signet was lower on the table than she had 
remembered and she tapped it, which was all the opening that the 
demons needed. They leapt through the air together and Rei 
brought her sword around in a single, flashing arc. The first demon 
slammed into Rei as the top of the second blew through the 
window and out. Rei wiped her eyes and pulled herself away from 
the three demon parts that lay around her. And she smiled.

The navigation table was alight with three beacons, as it should be, 
but with three new beacons. One from Sethett, one from someplace 
called Cunec...And the last from Akamerajh. Rei smiled and a 
chuckle escaped her as she tried to claw her way toward the door. 
They had made it into the Midland Sea.

"Too bad," she said as she felt herself finally give over to death, "I 
died within sight of the goal. Ranma will have to wait, though, as I 
can only heal so fast."

She took one final breath as another thought occurred to her.

"Why does this kind of thing...follow...me...?"

***


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

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