This is for the few, the proud, the incredibly patient people who
have been waiting for the other shoe to drop.... ^_^
I didn't know whether to call this a chapter or an epilog, so I did.
James and the Bluejay  jeeades@wanderway.com
www.wanderway.com/cinder/ashes.htm

Disclaimer at end of text.  In addition, no humans have been
harmed in the writing of this fanfic.  The gerbil spokesbeast has
categorically denied malicious rumors that parts of this fanfic
were tested on live human subjects without proper precautions.
Gerbils are nice furry little creatures who come in peace.
Really.




                     ASHES - A Cinderella Story

                      Chapter Eighteen/Epilog

                        Scattered Threads


   Scattered threads, wind-tossed and blown
      How little of our life we own
   O wondrous fabric, cloth of chance
      Fate guides our steps, keeps true our dance

   A fragile line, true love appears, 
      Woven in amongst our fears
   And suits us find, when all seems lost
      A fair someone who's worth the cost
   For love is worth the price they say
      And love will always find a way.




Okay, folks.  That's it.  The show is over.  While we're bagging
up all the stale popcorn and dumping the ice from the drink
machine, you can go ahead and delete this message so you can read
the next one.  All that is left is the wrap-up, and you know how
boring those things are.


WRAPPING UP LOOSE ENDS:

   The scene - a meeting of the Tendo daughters
   plus accumulated potential in-laws:

"I can't believe it!  Daddy, actually taking advantage of
someone?"

"What's so hard to believe?" snorted Ranma, "He ran around with
my Pop for years.  Some of it was bound to rub off on him."

The panda waved a sign, 'I do not shed!'

"What I mean," explained Nabiki patiently, "Was that he has never
mistreated a woman, that I know about.  And, now, with Miss
Hinako...."

"He's been seeing Miss Hinako again?" Akane gasped, "Is that
where he's been going every night?"  Ranma froze at the tone of
her voice, as if undecided whether to run or play dead.

"Hahaha!" Soun rattled nervously, "It's not like that at all!
While Miss Hinako is an attractive lady, I have told her that I
am not ready for another relationship.  However, it was while I
was letting her down gently that we discovered that we have a
mutual interest."

"Oh, really, Father."  When Kasumi spoke, the words seemed to
loom like tethered barrage balloons, shutting out the light in
the room, "And just _what_ was this common interest the two of
you have found?"

Soun appeared to deflate slightly.  "We both share a love of
exotic fish," he explained. "Haven't you ever noticed that the
fish in our koi pond are the rare Carpus Delecti?"

"Naw," Ranma scratched the back of his head.  "I allus thought
they were just real good at dodgin'."

"There are also some lovely specimens at the reserved display in
the museum.  However, I can't get in because it is open only to
members of the Academic Society.  Now, it happens that Miss
Hinako is a member, but she is embarrassed to keep going to the
display by herself, so she gets me in so I can enjoy the fish,
while she...."

Nabiki was the first to understand and fill in the blanks.  "Our
Miss Hinako has a boyfriend at the museum," she smirked.

Akane was nonplused. "I thought she was after Father," she said.

"She was.  About like a bulldog holding on to the seat of your
pants," said Ranma.  Noticing the odd looks he was receiving, he
added with a weak smile, "Y'had to be there."

`You were too slow, boy!' signed the panda.

"She said she found him about the same time we first met," Soun
commented.  "A little after that little girl was visiting you.
Seems she was looking for some very strong fighting fish.  I
can't imagine why."




HIROSHI: (It's My Party)

Hainoko looked very tiny as she put aside her toy tea set and
looked up at me.

I bowed formally.  "I am here for tea," I announced.

"I am very glad you could make it," she said as she laid out the
cups and brush for her ceremony.

"Yeah.  Well, uh...yeah.  Nevertheless, I am here because of a
wish."  I saw the sadness recede - just a little - from her face,
and had an unfamiliar urge to smile. "Why do I feel as if I have
come to a funeral?"

"I miss Cin-chan."

"I...uh..."

"That's all right.  I know you couldn't stay like that forever.
Mommy says it would be bad for your lib...your lib..."

"Libido.  No.  You don't need to know what that means."

"You are my big brother.  I know everything else about you.
Including the fact that you are a klutz.  But I...but...but...."

"Yeah," I shook my head, "I think you're kinda special, too.
You're the only little sister I have."

"Oh, Big Brother!" she cried, jumping up to clamp my neck until I
could not breath.  She released me before I turned blue, tucked
her arms behind her and swung back and forth in her `I've Got A
Secret' pose.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell," she said.

"Tell me!"  I demanded, and she shook her head.  "Tell me?"  I
asked. "Tell your big brother so he won't have to beat on you?"

"Ooookaaay," she smiled all over, totally unfazed by my threats
of violence.  "I may still be your only little sister.  Is it
okay if I'm not?"

I shook my head.  "I don't understand."

"Mommy's not really sick."

"Oh?  Oh.  Oh!  Why didn't she tell us?"

"I heard her tell Poppy that she didn't want us to fight and be
jealous."

"Let's go tell her we won't be jealous, then!"

She hesitated.  "Sit down, first," she said solemnly, moving over
and patting the cushion across the tiny tea table. "You won't
have to come to tea again.  I don't want to waste my wish."

"Wait.  You made a wish?"

"Awhile back, I called heaven.  A nice lady answered and said
she'd fix everything," she forced the solemn frown away with a
shaky smile. "I know you'd rather not play tea with me.  I'm
sorry that my wish forced you to do it."

"Oh.  Yeah, well...those things happen, I guess."

"Anyway, I'm glad you're here."

"Me, too," I said as I sat on the small cushion and accepted a
cup of make-believe tea.  As I took a make-believe sip, I added,
"Besides, who said this was YOUR wish?"

A mischievous grin spread across her face and she said, "Turtle!"

"Little, bitty, smelly insect!" I riposted.

"Crab," she countered.

"Spider monkey."

"Rhinoceros."

"Pekinese!"

"Warthog!"

"Children!" came the call from the kitchen, "Are you two
_fighting_ again?"

"Yes, Mom!" We answered in unison.

"Okay. That's nice. Just keep it down a little.  Daddy's trying
to watch the series."

"Hiroshi-kun?"

"Yes, Hai-chan?"

She giggled.  "It sounds funny when you say that."

I scratched my ear.  "Perhaps I should say it more often.  You
are kinda cute - for a little sister."

"But I was thinking.  Pretty soon I will be a big sister, too.
I'm kinda worried.  What am I supposed to do?  What if he...or
she...runs into bullies like I did?"

"Then you will beat them up.  Or call me.  That's what big
brothers are for, didn't you know?"

"I do now.  Thanks, Hog-breath."

I knuckled her scalp.  "Think nothing of it, Pack Rat.  I want my
Cinderella poster back."

"Biiiiihh!"

I was distracted by the doorbell.  Without thinking, I threw the
door open.  I didn't quite close it in time.

"Good afternoon, Hiroshi," greeted my caller, who had jammed a
shoe to keep the door open.

"Nabiki!  Er...hi!  What can I do for you?  What are you doing
around here?"

"Just in the neighborhood.  Thought I might drop in and see how
the little scamp is doing."

"She's okay, now.  At least those kids at her school aren't
bothering her anymore.  You're pretty good."

"Really?  Are you implying that I am scary?"

"Naw.  Face it, Nabiki.  Even I'm not scared of you any more. The
wishes are over, and you have nothing to use against me."

"Oh?" Nabiki said as she pulled papers from her valise, "How
about nude photos of Cinderella?"

"Ack!!"

"Just kidding!  See?  Blank paper."

"Don't do that!  Why _did_ you come around?"

"Oh, that.  I brought you the bill for all those cameras I gave
to the kids at Hainoko's school, so they could film any bullies."

"Accck!!"

"Expensive, weren't they?  I want you to know that I did not make
a yen profit off this deal and I will never forgive you."

"Oh," I said as I wiped the sweat from my face.  "I can live with
that."




SOMBODY TO LOVE:

Leaving Hiroshi's home, Nabiki picked up a companion and
proceeded to the nearby neighborhood ginza.  There, she tried to
clear up any final misunderstandings with an associate.

"That's it?  No more wishes?" she said, "I won't be left with the
compulsion to hug any obnoxious moppets?"

"No, Nabiki Tendo.  The wishes - except for the ones which were
truly meant to occur - have all been erased."

"That's good," Nabiki sighed. "That's perfect.  You realize how
lucky you are, don't you?  I could have inflicted some real pain
if I hadn't been freed from that wish."

Ryoga gulped and nodded.

"And now...." she was interrupted by someone who bumped into her
from behind.  Since that person was less than a meter tall,
Nabiki had to bend over to address her.

"What is it _this_ time?" she asked.

"Auntie Nabiki!  Can we go fishing?"

Nabiki gently pulled her lip to one side as she frowned and said,
"I suppose so.  And we have to get you back home soon, so your
Mommy doesn't worry.  Sure you don't want a drink first?"

"Nope!  Yaaay!  I'm gonna get a goldfish!"

Nabiki turned back to Ryoga and impaled him with her most
fearsome glare.  "Not. One. Word," she hissed.

Ryoga shook his head solemnly, impressed with the ferocity of
her expression.  He watched them hurry off toward the goldfish
booth before he turned away.

Not until he had traveled for hours and could rest beside a
campfire, in a grove of trees somewhere between Osaka and
Nagasaki, did he allow himself a tiny smile.




HIROSHI (Sugar Shack):

"I know it would make everything simpler, but I'm having trouble
with this whole reincarnation theory," I admitted, splashing
sudsy water over another bowl.

"The Buddhists accept it," Akane offered.  She took the bowl from
me and wiped it with a dry towel.

"Easy for them.  Pops is a devout pragmatist.  Mom believes
whatever the script tells her to believe.  I don't know what to
believe."

"The one I feel sorry for is Kidori," Ukyo said.  She finished
scraping the griddle and used her crutches to hobble over to the
sink, handing the utensils to Akane who dumped them into the
steaming water.

"Yeah," Ranma grunted with his mouth full.  "She really didn't
want to fight."  It sounded like, 'shrlldnwndafggghhht'.

"That poor girl," breathed Ukyo.  "She believed so strongly in
her 'curse' that she thought you were her long-ago lover.  She
gave up her whole career to save you."

"Yeah." I could not look up from my hands.  I was having trouble
seeing them through the distortion.  Where was the water coming
from?  The dishes were washed.  I should be drying them, now.

"It was all because of that cursed mask her wicked stepmother
had," said Akane, removing the drying rag from my hands and
taking up where I left off. "She would never have tried to make
Hiroshi love her if it hadn't been influencing her."

I glanced up at her and then away, stung by the pity I saw in her
eyes.  "She didn't do that," I said.  "I lo...loved her, anyway.
>From the first moment I saw her.  I wish she was still here."

Down the counter, a wayfarer was preparing for a long journey by
stoking down all the food he could hold.  He noticed my glance
and glared back at me.

"Don't expect anything from me!" snapped Ryoga, "I don't do that
kind of thing anymore!"

"Where'd she go, anyway?" Ukyo asked, readying a mixing bowl for
the next batch.

"With those men from the hospital," replied Akane.  "They put her
in...." She paused, puzzled. "Funny.  I can't remember an
ambulance."

"I thought the attendants were women," Ukyo said. "But I've never
seen uniforms like that, with fur jackets.  What hospital uniforms
have metal helmets with birdwings?"

"It was so sad," Akane said. "She was crying and reaching for
Hiroshi as they took her away, but he could do nothing, just 
stand there all alone,  talking to himself."

"I was talking to a woman," I said. "She said I would never see
Kidori again.  But then she said she would be soon be doing all
the things normal girls did."

"Y'were alone," Ranma corrected me.  It was the first clear
words he had uttered since the super-sized okonomyaki had claimed
his attention.

"Okay. I was alone," I said.  I knew better, but I kept silent,
remembering a promise.

Cologne gathered her wrap and motioned to Shampoo.  On her way
out the door, she peered closely at me.  "Strange," she said.  "I
have the feeling they weren't quite through with you.  I can still
sense...."

She raised the tip of her cane and I jumped away from her faster
than I had ever moved in my male life.  From a safe distance, I
called, "I'd rather you didn't examine me again, thank you very
much!"

"Oh, it too, too sad.  Shampoo hope you feel better, soon."

"Thanks, Shampoo," I said. "Me, too."

"Even if flower girl want to kill everyone."

"Err...right."

"Shampoo been working on manners.  Say bye to spatula girl, too.
And violent girl."

"Grrrrr...."

"Shampoo say bye to Ranma.  Is not Shampoo polite and correct?"

"Well, yeah," Ranma said, warily.  "I mean, it's unusual...."

"Ooo!  Thank you, Airen!"

"Urf!  Get offa me!"

Akane glared the Chinese pair out of the building, then spun
about, hands on hips.  "I saw that, Ranma!  You enjoyed it,
didn't you?"

"Whad'ya mean?  She grabbed me!"

"You didn't have to hug her back!"

"I gotta go, fellas," I announced.

"What...I did not!"  Ranma turned aside with Akane's finger
poking at his eye, "Bye, Hirosh.  Try to cheer up, willya?"

Akane halted her attack long enough to wave to me.  "Bye,
Hiroshi-kun!  Don't worry, everything will turn out right!"

"Thanks, I hope so.  See ya."

"Did, TOO!"

"I was pushing her away!  She was all hands!"




GOOD THINGS COME TO HE WHO WAITS:

The door of the temple opened and the master recognized the
wayfarer who had stopped to ask directions.  "Ah!" said Sensei,
"Welcome to the Temple of the Good Deed!"

Ryoga gawked.  "But you're...." he sputtered.

Sensei slapped him on the back and closed the door behind him.
"I am confident you won't tell my students of my 'other life',
will you?  We seem to have worked for the same lady."

"Eh...no, of course not!  But what are you doing here?"

"I have a student about to graduate.  Ah, here he comes, now!"

Basho came into the room and sat beside Ryoga, who shifted
uneasily.  "Aren't you upset with me?" Ryoga asked, "I thought I
disturbed your tranquility."

"Not at all!" Basho beamed in good cheer, slapping Ryoga's knee
in comradely fashion, "That is all done.  I am past such
distractions.  I have finally finished my trials and now I am
qualified to receive the final teaching!"

>From a dusty bin, Sensei fumbled out a tiny scroll of rice paper,
ancient and soiled with the handling of generations.  He
proffered the scroll to Basho with the words, "To you, I present
the scroll which is the last and greatest illumination, the
penultimate teaching of the Temple of the Good Deed!"

Basho unrolled the paper eagerly, only to become red-faced and
slam it to the table.

"Is this what I have been striving to learn?" He demanded.  "Did
I waste years of my life, years that could have been spent doing
something productive, like chasing women?  Is this why I have
deprived myself of the comforts of life?"

"Like another Basho, you have endured much," Sensei told him.
"That Basho once said, 'before I became enlightened, I ate, I
drank, and I farted.  Then I went off to learn, and I became very
knowledgeable about what I ate, and what I drank, and I never
farted in public.  Now that I am enlightened, I drink, I eat, and
I fart.'"

"But what does it mean?" cried Basho.

"Go outside, watch the sun and the clouds for an hour, then come
back.  I will tell you."

Ryoga watched the irate monk slam the door on his way out.  "May
I see the scroll?" he asked.

"Certainly," Sensei handed it to him.  "However, it means nothing
if you have not worked and sacrificed as he has."

Ryoga unrolled the scroll and read.

   -No good deed goes unpunished.-

"What's so great about it?" asked Ryoga, "I know that. Everybody
knows that!"

"Ah," smiled Sensei. "But knowledge is cheap. Truth comes dear."

The door slammed open again. "I'm quitting!" cried Basho.  He
threw open the closet door, yelling, "I'm going into town and
find a woman, and I'm not coming back until...until...."

"I like Strawberry-banana, myself," said Sensei. "How about you?"

Basho stopped as if poleaxed, his face twitching while the older
man's words rattled about in his skull.  Eventually he nodded.
With unfocused eyes he drew off his robe to stand in ragged
shorts, selected a shirt and pants, and put them on as if in a
trance.

"At first I was going to go into town, have a steak and a beer
and chat with the pretty waitresses," said Basho.  "Then it hit
me how selfish I have been, all these years, feeling righteous
because I denied myself, thinking I was helping others.  When all
I was doing was forcing my ideas of right and wrong upon them."

He drew himself up to his tallest obesity and proclaimed, "So, I
have decided to go and apologize to each and every one of them.
And _then_ I'm going into town, have a steak and a beer and chat
with the pretty waitresses!"

The door slammed, then reopened immediately.  Basho popped back
in to say, "Oh!  Yeah! Lime!"

"What the heck is going on around here?" demanded Ryoga.

"Jell-O," said Sensei.  "Care to stay for dinner?  We're having a
treat.  Chitterling bread imported from Tennessee."

"No, thanks," Ryoga shuddered, as he turned to leave.

"Don't go out that gate, though," warned Sensei.  "The creek is
up, and the bridge...." he was interrupted by a splash, "...has
been weakened."




HIROSHI: (The Rain, The Park and Other Things/I Love the Flower Girl):

I saw Hainoko to her school the next morning.  I didn't have to
do it, I just felt like it, okay?  Anyway, as soon as she got
there, that boy who liked to hang around her began to insult her
new hairdo.  When I started to call him down, Hainoko told me, in
effect, "Thank you for walking me to school, goodbye, get lost."

Sisters.  Just when you think you understand them, they get
silly.

The day was breezy and warm.  School was peaceful, which was
unusual but nice, since I wanted some quiet.  Daisuke yawned,
stretched and complained as we waited in line to get a drink of
cold water from the fountain.

"Back to the humdrum," he said.  "Back to the same old thing.
School-days are the pits."

Someone jostled me.  I turned to see a cute but unfamiliar face.
I said, "Oh, excuse me."

"You're excused," she said in a breathy voice, as if she had just
finished a sprint.  "Just don't do it again!"

"Ooookay...My name is Hiroshi.  What's yours?  I don't recall
seeing you around."

"My name is Uchiko," she said gruffly.  "Who is this Miss Hinako?
I'm supposed to get her to assign me a study partner."  She had a
rough-and-ready air, a tough girl carrying an armload of books.
Many of the books were from earlier in the session - this told me
that she had only recently enrolled and was trying hard to catch
up with the rest of us.

"Hey, you'll be in our class!" I indicated myself and Daisuke.

She gave me a look as if I had just crawled out from under a
rock.  Rolling her upper lip, she said, "Like that's a
privilege?"

"Ouch," said Daisuke.  He used his finger-tip to mark the score
in the air:  Girl 1, Hiroshi 0.  Stay tuned for the shut-out.

She was getting under my skin.  She was cute, in a thorny way,
but I was already tired of her attitude.  I didn't know why she
was so angry with me.  I certainly hadn't been the one to dash
all the way across the school yard to talk to her.

That was what was bothering me.  She _had_ gone out of her way to
meet me.  She had ignored several other guys who were more poised
and polished than I, had brushed past Daisuke and started to bug
me as if I had been making faces at her.

"Forget it," I said, feeling sullen and sorry for myself.  I
almost said, 'Buzz off.  I don't need you pestering me,' but the
incongruity of the situation fascinated me.  She was being a pain
in the neck, she was bitching at me, and I had not done a thing
to start it. However, I remembered Hainoko and the little boy who
was picking on her.  She liked him.  I had decided that he liked
her, too.  A light came on, but I dodged it.  Did Uchiko like me?

"Listen, Buster!" she said, "I've dealt with bigger punks than
you, and I can take you on, any day of the week!"

I gulped.  "Then you won't be interested?" I asked, my voice a
triumph of casual indifference.  I was proud of the way it barely
quavered as she waved her fist at me.

She speared me with a razor glance and growled, "In exactly
_what?_"

"We could study together?" I said, hopefully.

"We...." she held my gaze for a moment longer before her books
started sliding out of her hands.  She managed to catch most of
them. One worn volume, decorated with tiny yellow flowers,
flipped opened when it hit the ground.  It looked like a diary,
and the bookmark was a blue ribbon.  I managed to read 'Hiroshi
loves Ki....' before she snatched it away.  "Do you mind?" she
growled, "That's personal!"

No harm in asking a question, "Did you like to listen to
Cinderella?"

Her answer was a suspicious glare.  "What of it?" she demanded.

"I loved Primrose, myself.  She had a special quality."

"...Indeed," she said in an almost-sneer.  "I always thought she
was stuck-up...hiding something, know what I mean?  Now,
Cinderella-chan...y'know, I'd really love to hear her sing again.
She was always so, you know, spontaneous."

I turned my face from her, for I felt a crooked smile starting to
form. "Well, yes," I said.  "There is that.  She was spontaneous.
But no one will ever see her again."  I remembered the silver-
haired woman's face when she had spoken those same words on the
stage, and my smile faded.  I would never see Kidori again.
Kidori was gone. Yet, somewhere, she should be doing the things
normal girls did. Well, the same things nearly-normal girls would
do.

"I mean, it's like I had this dream," Uchiko's voice became warm
and thoughtful, "I'm on stage, there's this killer band playing
like there's no tomorrow, I'm singing this song, and Cinderella-
chan joins me in a duet, and he and I would...get me, would you?
I meant 'she' and I said 'he'.  Anyway, it was just a dream."

The wind had caught up two flowers and pummeled them into the
sky, twirling them high above the soccer field.  Yellow petals
spun like helicopter blades.  They might have been the
slashing swords of dueling samurai, reflecting the afternoon sun.
As I watched them, the pain eased somewhat, floating in the
updraft, and I said, softly, "...or a memory...."

She expelled her breath with a gruff, "Okay."

I looked over my shoulder at her.  "Okay, what?"

"Okay, I'll study with you.  It's not like I need it.  But maybe
I can help you.  You can't be all that bright or anything,
running around with Furinkan's poster child for Lonely Hearts."

Daisuke was close enough to hear this last statement, and he
clamped his jaw shut with anger.  Then he saw her sly glance.
His eyebrow performed a Spockian escalation and I could almost
hear his mental abacus rattle - score one more for the babe.

"Um," he said.

"_What?_"

"Are there any more like you, where you came from?"

A grin lighted her face.  "I can't believe it!" she laughed.  "A
compliment?  G'wan!"

"I don't get many complaints," he said, smoothing his hair along
with his pride.

"Oh, really?  But, I suppose not," she had seemed ready to
lacerate him with a barbed blade of sarcasm, but she pulled
herself back under control.  Her next words were milder, "I'll go
easy on you, seein's how you're a friend of my pal, here."

I felt my heart pause in confusion, then resume beating at an
accelerated pace.

To me, she turned a wicked grin, "A memory.  Do you realize how
damn poetic that is?  Are you a singer?"

"Poetic?  Not me," I said.  "And I can't sing.  Not even a note."

"Ain't it the truth," promised Daisuke.  "Except when he was...."
He shut up when he saw me glaring at him.

"I like to sing.  Come on," she said, grabbing my arm and
dragging me along. "Let's skip this line.  I want to get started
studying."  Daisuke, seeing that he was not included, faded away
before I could call him back.

As we made our way to study hall, she shifted her burden of books
to one side and used her free hand to check out my biceps.  "Do
you work out?" she asked, releasing my arm to fall limply back to
my side.

"Not much," I admitted.

"Go out for sports?  Track?  Lifting more than the absolute
minimum weight you can get away with?"

I glanced over at her, the way she was wearing her uniform cut
dangerously close to school limits, her socks embroidered with
the kanji for 'explosive' and 'ruthless'.  She didn't look like
Kidori.  Unless you saw her eyes, and the way those eyes returned
the gaze.   "What's that you're humming?"  I asked.

"Oh, just something I heard, once, a long time ago.  'Feels like
centuries, lost without a clue, traveled the whole world over,
trying to find you.'  Some old mopey sad song.  It's nothing,
really."  Uchiko jabbed me in the arm.  "You're pathetic!" she
said.  "Let's face it, Haj.  Me and you got some serious work
ahead of us."

I was in trouble.  She was going to wad me up and throw me
against the wall unless I muscled up to meet her standards, which
I never would.  After she had used me up and drained me dry, she
would probably leave me because I was not good enough.

But until then....

I looked into those eyes.  They promised hurt, pain, humiliation,
blood, sweat and tears.  And beyond it all...Love?

Yeah. I could live with that.

We went on, making only a few small detours around a kendoist
chasing a girl in China silk shirt and trousers, an okonimayaki
chef bearing a platter of goodies chasing the girl and the
kendoist, a Chinese girl carrying an order of takeout ramen on a
bicycle who was chasing them all, as well as a curly-haired girl
chasing a little black pig.




I'M SORRY:

"Bored, bored, bored, bored!"

Daisuke sulked along the walkway, pausing to lean against a
column.  Restlessness overcame him and he moved on.  Fooling
around was no fun without your best buddy, and his best buddy was
studying with a girl.  Hiroshi was going to be no company at all,
for a long time.  Until this Uchiko got tired of him being such a
wimp, she was going to occupy all his time.

Dai spied a familiar face coming toward him across the school
ground, a monk in a neatly cleaned habit and an anxious air. "I
am looking for your friend, Master Hiroshi?" Basho asked. "I have
made a vow to apologize to all the people I have made unhappy by
trying to help them, and he is the last one before I can take a
vacation."

"Sure," Daisuke shrugged.  "He's over in the...what did you do to
make him unhappy?"

"I made his wish SO complicated!  I'm here to return things to
normal.  It is my new philosophy at the Temple of the Good Deed."

"Oh.  He's over in the...what do you mean by normal?"

"Exactly the way they were before I met him."

"Oh?  Oh.  Oh!  Now, where did I see him?" Daisuke sputtered for
a moment, before coming up with an idea.  "Try the gym.  Then the
chemistry lab.  If he's not there, he'll be in study hall."




UP ON THE ROOF:

On the gymnasium roof, Mara held the struggling black pig high as
she gloated, "Thought you could get away from me, didn't you?
Well, you can see you're wrong!  Now, give me that control!"

"It won't do you any good," spoke a short, dark and scrawny man.
He was seated on a ventilator shaft cover, buffing his nails.

"Why not?" railed Mara, "When you recruited me for your project,
you promised!  You lied!"

"I never promised.  Hinted, maybe.  Suggested.  Speculated out
loud.  Ran it up the flagpole to see who saluted," Loki looked
straight at her.  "You see anyone saluting?"

When she said nothing except to glare at him, he added, "I'm
surprised at you, Young One. Didn't you recognize the workings of
the Ultimate Force in this game?"

"It's not a game to me, you warped, twisted, perverted piece of
trash!  Why, you'd...you'd...." Mara stopped to pant heavily for
a moment. "I never thought I'd say this!  You're as good as a
demon!  And all the time, I thought you were working for the side
of heaven!"

"Of course!  So were you, in a manner of speaking.  Don't breath
a word of it, though.  If word got out, it'd play...oh, you
know...with the market."

"Hell!"

"Well, whatever."

"And just _why_ won't it do me any good?"

"The PDA has been inactivated.  Your assignment is over.  So is
his,"  Loki pointed at the black pig who had become board stiff
in panic, and tut-tutted.  "No, I suppose you didn't consider the
Ultimate Force.  Still, it's nice to know  you've been exposed to
it without suffering damage.   How'd you like to have your old
age back?"

"What do you mean, 'OLD age'?" Mara sputtered.

"If you can keep still without becoming emotional, this music box
will restore you to your true age."  Loki showed her a tiny
radio, which began playing, 'Go Away, Little Girl.'

Mara jerked, feeling her feet start to respond in a dance step.
She leaped away from him in alarm and grabbed a hammer from
somewhere, flattening the device with one blow.

"What game are you playing now, Old Fool?" she cried, "You've
caused me nothing but trouble! Because of you I've been making a
fool of myself chasing mortals around like a love-sick puppy!
Why should I expect any less from that thing? I'm through with
that!"

"Aww.  It's only made you a couple of years older.  Didn't you
want it to finish the job?  Otherwise, you'll have to wait six
more months, and you've never been a patient demoness, I might
add."

"Your concern touches me, Old Man!" Mara made an obscene gesture
as he turned to go.  "I'll see you in hell!"

"Not mine to decide," Loki said over his shoulder.  "Oh, by the
way, that is no ordinary pig.  In case you are interested, this
fellow happens to be very mortal."

"I know that!  I've seen the signs of magic on him!  I thought it
was your doing!"

"Oh, it's not my curse that he bears.  However, since he saved my
bacon, I suppose I'll have to save his."  Saying this, Loki
produced a kettle of hot water and handed it to her, while
plopping a bundle of clothing down by the pig.

"He's protected, for the moment, Mara.  Pour the hot water on him
and apologize.  He's sort of like one of those little dinosaur
toys you get in your breakfast cereal."

"I don't eat breakfast cereal!"

Loki grinned.  "Then why do I find empty boxes of 'Unlucky
Charms' in your kitchen trash?"

As he poofed out of existence, Mara gave the kettle a doubtful
look and tilted it.




YOU'VE GOT TO STOP YOUR EVIL WAYS:

The silver-haired goddess/norn rested a tanned elbow on her
companion's shoulder and drawled, "Well, Loki-sama, y'got past
me.  I really didn't expect you to pull it off."

"Don't tell me you knew all the details about my task?"  Her
companion asked, a slight man with a whisper of power leaking
from beneath his frail features.

"When you played that prank on that samurai, you pulled a thread
in old Freya's loom.  She doesn't like to have souls split - it
makes her irritable.  Besides, it interferes with the pattern
she's weaving."

Loki gazed at her, his dark eyes twinkling.  "And I suppose she
gossiped to you?  She's _such_ a fussbudget, getting the
bean-counters up in arms.  All because of some harmless joke.
You're the Goddess of Love.  Surely you can appreciate what I did
was for the sake of those two lovers, long ago."

"I am also the Norn of the Past, Loki-baby.  The head bean-
counter that you've been railing about.  The one who called you
down.  And, by the rules, the one who has to mete out your
punishment."  Urd showed her teeth in a bitter smile, "Sorry to
tell you, old chum. Your show wasn't enough, and Freya wants her
pound of immortal flesh, anyway.  I've summoned Cerebus over to
handle the punishment."

"Does that woman never let up?  I'm miserable enough, I might
say!  Can you imagine having to listen to Rockn'Roll for fourteen
fights?" Loki spoke with a sigh, "Ah, well.  If I must go, let me
go with dignity."

"Yup, you got my sympathy, for what little good it will do you.
Better buck up - here comes the mangy beast, now...What?"
Urd brought herself up short and gaped at the tawny yellow
creature which had appeared before her.

Even the normally unflappable Loki was shaken.  "Urd-chan," he
said. "I'm not the sort to belabor a sore point, about some
rumored difficulty you might have with your spells...."

"Then don't!" she snarled.

"...but it appears that this time you may have outdone yourself.
This creature is hideous!"

Urd cried, "I sent for Cerebus!  Who are you?"

"What do you mean, Cerebus!  I am Keroboros!" snapped the
creature. "Can't you immortals get _anything_ right?"

"There went my dignity," Loki said.

"Oh, great," Urd rested her forehead in the palm of a hand for a
moment, then said to the hovering winged creature, "Are you
supposed to punish Loki?  You don't look very imposing."

"Well, I am indeed!  Don't let the cuddly looks fool you!  If you
make me angry, you'll be sorry!"

"I'm very frightened, I might say," quavered Loki convincingly.
"You are one tough cookie...I mean dog."

"Lion!  Lion!"

"Lion, I really meant to say!"

"It'll only make things worse if you try to make fun of me, I'm
warning you!  I've been commanded to punish you for two solid
months, but I can make it longer, if necessary!"  The cuddly
winged lion grasped Loki's collar and pulled the god to him,
which meant that he pulled himself close enough to snarl into
Loki's face, "Now, what makes you most miserable?"

Loki pondered, producing a pained expression, as if he were
indeed thinking of unpleasant things.  Finally, he begged, "The
one place I most fear!  Let me think...oh, yes.  Have you ever
heard of a briar patch?"

The little lion shuddered.  "No briar patch.  My skin would tear
and my stuffing would leak out!"

"Oh.  Then please, please, don't force me to spend time in a
tavern!  The smell of the fermentation sickens me and the sound
of those games are enough to burst my eardrums!"

"Games?  Hmmm...games scare you?"

"Oh, terribly!  Especially those with video - you know,
television screens?  Scare the frost right out of me.  Can't
sleep for a month after I see one of those!"

"Very interesting!  Video games, hah?"

"Now, wait a minute," Urd tried to interpose.

"Terrifying!  And the worst places are game parlors that serve
beer.  Or ale.  Or sake.  Terrible stuff, hard liquor.  I prefer
a nice, tasty root beer, myself."

"It's too late!  You have confessed your private fears to me!
Now, I will force you to spend the next sixty days in one of
those torture chambers!"

"One with video games?  Oh, that is cold-hearted of you, I must
say!"

"Right!  I can't show you an ounce of mercy!"

"Are you two quite finished?" Urd asked, having trouble keeping a
straight face.

"Suits me," Keroboros concluded.

"I'm good," agreed Loki.

Urd sighed, "Then I officially start the festivities...I mean,
the punishment.  Don't be out late."




ON THE ROAD AGAIN:

There was an uneasy peace between them - although it was more
like the hound and the fox gasping for breath on the trail, too
tired to continue the chase.  They sat side by side on the roof
of the auditorium, high above the flow of students, watching life
resume what was considered to be ordinary at Furinkan High.

"It was all for _nothing_!" complained Mara, pounding her knee
with a clenched fist.  "After I finally track you down, I still
did not get what I wanted!"

"What about me?" Ryoga replied, shifting away from her.  "Nobody
even asked what _I_ wanted!  I have been put through hell and it
is all your fault!"

Mara shrugged, "I was _this_ close!  If you had slowed down even
a little, I could have caught you!"  She drew back and slugged
him in the shoulder.  When the blow had the same effect as a
snowflake trying to stop a freight train - that is, none - she
took another frowning look at his muscular arm.

"That was part of my hell!" Ryoga gave her a stony look. "Have
you forgotten that remark about cooking me?"  He turned away from
her, glaring out over the school grounds.

"Spoken in the heat of the moment.  I'm really not that bad a
demoness," her frown was beginning to thaw as she quirked an
eyebrow. "Nice biceps," she commented, to no one in particular.

"I cannot believe that you expect me to just stand here and
listen while you try to explain yourself!  You ran me all over
Japan!"  Ryoga had been staring out over the soccer field at the
far fence when he felt someone watching him.  Gradually, his gaze
slid to the side until, out of the corner of his eye, he could
see that there was a soft demoness leaning on his shoulder.

With her eyes half closed, she smiled at him.  She was so close
that he could feel the heat of her breath on his cheek, her voice
a growl and a purr as she spoke.

"Oooooo.  Fangs!"

Ryoga narrowed his near eye while the far eye opened wide in
panic. 

"Uh-oh," he said.




Almost the end:

   We've had fun weaving words that rhyme
   But we can't mess with Father Time
   While everybody's doing well
   We'll blow a kiss and wave farewell.

But first -

On the wooded rise beyond the soccer field stood a solitary
figure, a sinister smile playing across his face.  He considered
the object in his hand, a device that could spell revenge.  He
could reclaim the old days.  Memories of bygone days tantalized
him as he pondered his next move.

Should he alert Nabiki?

Naaah.  Let her scheme up her own agenda, that's what she was
good at. This was his play.  He would face the challenge alone.

"Just you wait, Hiroshi!" cried Daisuke, "One of these days she's
going to tire of your wimpy vacillations and your prurient
wanderings!  Then she'll drop you and you can be my buddy again!
Heh.  Hehehehehe...heh...hac...cof...." He looked around
furtively to see if anyone had heard.

"Frack!" he muttered,   "My evil laugh sounds crappy.  Guess I'll
have to scratch supervillian off my list of career objectives...
Maybe I'll settle for being a sidekick."

Inserting the tape into his pocket tape player, Daisuke adjusted
his headset as he made his way toward study hall.  Yep, he mused,
things were going to be interesting.  Everything was going to be
fine.  He smiled serenely as he strolled, listening to his
favorite song:

   "You've asked me what I want to do,
    you've wondered from the start....
    I'll tell you what I know is true,
    I have to win your heart!"

If he timed it just right, he could be there when Basho arrived.
Still, he had to wonder.  Where had it all begun?  Who had
started the whole wishball rolling?

Far off in heaven, someone sneezed.




OVER AND OVER AGAIN:

The plaque above her desk read, `He who fails to remember the
past is condemned to repeat it - Hayakawa'.  At the moment, it
was slightly askew, displaced by the force of her sneeze.

[Stupid one-minute viruses,] thought Urd, as she positioned the
plaque and adjusted her headset.  She re-established the
connection and said warmly, "Just wanted to say thanks for the
assist, Sensei."

"'Sensei'," the mortal repeated, his voice conveying a smile
over the telephone - a softer smile than the one his students usually
saw. "I been meaning t'ask you `bout dat.  Now, what an old fool
like this kieke be teaching a young vahine-sama like you?"

"Oh, I don't know," Urd chuckled, "Except that sometimes those
past mistakes are the best kind."

She signed off and leaned back, stretching, relaxing for the
first time in days.  Six months without Mara.  Could she stand
the boredom? "Better not go there," she chuckled, and decided to
take a well-earned nap.




REALLY THE END: 

   I bid adieu, I'm pleased to note
      This last chapter's all she wrote.
   Sing and dance and weave and then
      God keep you 'til we meet again.

END:               ASHES: A Cinderella Story

James and the Bluejay

Disclaimer:  The talented and beautiful Rumiko Takahashi and Viz
and a whole bunch more have dibs on Ranma et al, Fujishima
Kousuke and Animeigo take credit for associating Urd of Norse
mythology with kawaii features and a computer engineering degree,
I borrowed some stuff from Card Captor Sakura in Kerboros' cameo,
Cinderella is an old fairy tale, which leaves me with Hainoko and
Kidori, who are derivative and probably belong to everyone. Basho
belongs to himself.  No reference to any present or past singing
group, rock star, entertainer, or agent is intended.  Jell-O was
a product of General Foods, the last time I looked.  Not to
worry, since I don't intend to make any money off this, anyway.

Partial list of name-droppings:
*It's My Party (and I'll cry if I want to), by Leslie Gore
*Somebody to Love, Jefferson Airplane
*The Rain, The Park and Other Things, the Cowsills
*I'm Sorry,
*Up on the Roof, the Drifters
*On the Road Again, Willie Nelson
*Over and Over Again,



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