*waves*  Hi.  I'm new here, but I recognise a few of your names from
the times I spent trawling through some of the old rec.arts.anime.*
archives looking for opinions on characterisation and relative
fighting strengths.  Yes, I'm a masochist!

This is a fic I started a couple of months ago.  It is the first piece
of creative writing I have done since I left school (a _very_ long
time ago), and I'm hoping that there will be some experienced writers
on this list who can help me improve my writing.

All C&C welcome.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chapter One: Of Curses and Men

***************

A lone figure trudged wearily through the streets, a huge backpack
strapped to his shoulders and a large glass bottle cradled protectively
in his arms.  He had been wandering for several days, but finally,
against all odds, he had made it to Nerima.  All he had to do now was
find his way to the Tendou Dojo which, for Ryouga Hibiki, was much
easier said than done.

The boy stopped and looked around, trying to find some landmark that was
familiar.  If only all the streets didn't look the same, he thought to
himself.  It was as if someone kept moving the dojo, or the streets, or
Tokyo itself; some grand practical joke the universe was playing on the
lost boy.

Ryouga adjusted the backpack, attempting to give his aching shoulders
some relief.  He double-checked the stopper on the bottle for what
seemed like the thousandth time since he found it.  The liquid inside
was far too precious to risk losing even a single drop; it would be the
end to all of his suffering.

Ryouga had just started to walk again when he noticed a young lady
coming towards him.  She was a couple of years older than him, with long
dark hair tied in a ponytail which hung over one shoulder and an
expression of perfect calm on her face.

"Good afternoon, Ryouga," the woman said.  "Back from your trip
already?"

"Hello Kasumi.  Yes, I just arrived back."

"That's very nice to hear,"  Kasumi gave a beatific smile.  "Did you
need me to take you to the dojo?  Ranma and Akane have just arrived home
from school."

"Thank you," Ryouga said, bowing politely.  "That is, if it's not any
trouble."

"Don't be silly!" she said gently, laughing.  "It's no trouble at all.
It isn't far."

The entrance to the dojo, as it turned out, had been just around the
corner.  Kasumi escorted Ryouga to the gate, and then left, explaining
that she had errands to run before dinner.  He walked up to the front
door and knocked.

The door was opened by a black-haired boy of Ryouga's age and height.

"Hey Ryouga, man!" the boy said, his handsome face breaking into a grin.
"Long time, no see!  Come on in."

"Hello Ranma."  Ryouga stepped into the entryway, kicked of his shoes,
and then shrugged the backpack off his shoulders and placed it onto the
ground.  Beside it, he carefully placed the bottle.  Ranma gave it a
curious look.

The two boys sat together in the living room, chatting.  Not that Ryouga
would have admitted it, but Ranma was the closest thing he had to a
friend.  They had started out as bitter enemies, fighting over bread,
curses, martial arts superiority and the love of a girl, but the past
year had mellowed their relationship into something closer to friendly
rivals.

"...and Kunou's been reciting love sonnets in honour of 'the beauteous
pig-tailed girl' in front of the school every morning ... that wore thin
fast ... and that nut-job principal came up with yet another stupid
haircut policy ... and then there was that Martial Arts Synchronised
Swimming contest ... I won, of course... and then Kodachi made up a
batch of cookies for me with something called... starts with v... she
said it was for guys ... well, anyway, luckily the rest of the guys at
school got them... knowing Kodachi they were probably poison or
something... but that's about it.  Just the usual stuff, really.  How
'bout you?"

"Just the usual...wandering... training.  I've been trying to get back
to Akari's farm for two weeks."

Ryouga caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.  A
slightly older, somewhat effeminate boy with short dark hair, wearing a
scaled vest and pantyhose sash, had hopped up onto the wall, apparently
searching for something.  He paused briefly, idly fingering one of the
longer tendrils of hair that hung from in front of each of his ears.
Apparently, he couldn't see what he was looking for; a scowl darkened
his pretty features and he hopped off the wall out of sight again.

"What's he doing here?" he hissed to Ranma, quietly.

"Oh yeah, and Pantyhose Tarou's been in Nerima the last couple of days
too," Ranma added, as if continuing from his previous story.

"Why?"

"He's after Happousai again."  Ranma laughed.  "Of course the old man
keeps giving him the slip, though.  Thinks it's all great fun."

"So he's got another plan to get his name changed?"

"Yeah, probably.  I wouldn't know what it is though.  I don't ask and he
don't tell.  You know how it is with Pantyhose.  At least he don't have
any Jusenkyou water this time.  I don't even wanna think about a world
with two old freaks in!"

Ryouga cleared his throat, deciding it was time to broach the subject he
had come here to discuss.  "Actually Ranma, there's a reason I'm here.
I need to talk to you about something."

"Is this about that bottle?"

"Yes.  It's a cure."

"A cure?!" Ranma repeated, his voice rising excitedly.  "You mean Spring
of Drowned Man?  Where'd you get it?"

"Shhh, Akane might hear."  Ryouga held a finger his lips, waiting for
Ranma to quiet down.  "Let's go somewhere quiet and I'll tell you
everything."

Ryouga followed Ranma to the dojo, the bottle tucked firmly under one
arm.  Once there, he turned to Ranma and began to talk.

"About a week ago I was lost in the mountains, when I stumbled across an
old shrine.  The old man there told me how the site for the temple had
been chosen because of the sacred spring that flowed through the caves
beneath."

"Spring of Drowned Man?  Here in Japan?" Ranma interrupted.

"No, it's not Spring of Drowned Man," he continued.  "But he believed it
could cure our curses.  The water from that spring is supposed to be
able to get rid of any illness, magic or curse.  The only thing is-"

"Come back here, old man!"

The two boys turned to the door in time to see a tiny old man come
bursting through the door at a surprising speed.  He was being closely
pursued by a growling Pantyhose Tarou.

Happousai ducked between the two boys, cackling with glee.  With a flick
of his pipe, he knocked the glass bottle out of Ryouga's hands, sending
it flying in a high arc towards his pursuer.

Ranma and Ryouga cried out in unison, diving to catch the bottle.
Ranma, slightly in front, ran full-tilt into Tarou and they crashed to
the floor together.  Ryouga tripped over Ranma's leg and landed in a
sprawled heap on top of the other boys.  He flipped himself over in time
to see the bottle descending rapidly towards them.

"Get off me, fem-boy!!!" Tarou snarled.

It was only then that Ryouga heard the fizzing sound coming from
something on the floor beside them.

***************

Tarou opened his eyes groggily.  For some reason, he was laying face-
down on the floor of the dojo.  He sat up slowly, trying to clear his
head.  He'd been chasing Happousai... then those two idiots had tripped
over him... and then he'd been hit in the face by one of the old freak's
Happoudaikarins.  No wonder he was still feeling dazed; those things
sure did pack a punch.

He worked his way to his feet slowly, carefully avoiding the pieces of
glass scattered on the floor.  Pig-boy had been carrying a glass bottle,
and the old freak had knocked it out of his hands; it must have smashed
open.  He looked down at the floor, noticing for the first time that he
was standing in a large puddle of water.

Beginning to feel uneasy, he studied his outstretched hands.  They were
wet.  So were his arms.  Anxiously, he ran his hands through his hair,
over his back and chest; all were wet and cold.  There should have been
enough water to trigger his curse.  Why hadn't he changed?  He bent down
and wet his hands in the puddle at his feet, then smeared the water over
his arms.  Nothing happened.  His heartbeat began to quicken.

What had been in that bottle?  He tried to reconstruct the scene in his
mind.  Fem-boy and pig-boy had been talking intently.  Pig-boy had had
the bottle cradled in his arms, like it was something precious.  Like it
was a cure.

He sniffed his hands.  Whatever it was smelt like plain water, and
tasted like plain water.  Of course, that didn't mean a great deal: the
springs at Jusenkyou appeared to be plain water, that is, until you
splashed yourself with one.

This was not good.  Unlike the other two, he liked his curse.  He liked
his super-strong body, the ability to terrify others, the knowledge that
he could win just about any fight with a splash of cold water.

Stupid pig-boy!  Splashing him with... what, exactly?  His curse wasn't
supposed to be able to be cured.  He had proved that himself when he
splashed himself with the Spring of Drowned Octopus to increase the
already considerable power of his cursed form by adding tentacles.  In
fact, he had long suspected that any attempt to cure their curses with
the Spring of Drowned Man would have resulted in pig-boy and fem-boy's
cursed bodies changing to a grotesque hybrid of their current cursed
forms and their real bodies.  He chuckled.  There were few things he
wouldn't give to see their faces if that happened.

The sky rumbled ominously outside.  A storm was coming.

"That idiot had better know how to get this reversed!" Tarou muttered to
himself, angrily.  Of course, how willing the aforementioned idiot would
be to talk was another matter.  Not that that it would be a problem if
he wasn't; Tarou had no qualms in using more persuasive methods if need
be.  Even without his powerful cursed form, he still felt confident
enough to tackle the likes of pig-boy - and fem-boy too, if he
interfered.  He stepped outside, following the sounds of maniacal
laughter he could hear coming from the street, and chuckled to himself
quietly as he cracked his knuckles.

The thunder rumbled again.  It began to rain.

**************

An enraged bovine bellow echoed through the streets of Nerima.  Akane,
sitting at her desk in her bedroom, looked up from her homework and out
the window to see a monstrous, winged minotaur-like creature with
tentacles along its back - Tarou's cursed form - in the street outside
the house.  He seemed to be having problems controlling his body.  His
eel tail was lashing around wildly and his tentacles were thrashing
around in different directions at once, as though he were dazed or
confused.

'Maybe he and Ranma had a fight', she wondered, 'It looks like Ranma
won'.  Of course he had, she reprimanded herself.  Ranma always won.
sometimes he had a few setbacks, but he always won eventually.

She certainly wasn't sorry to see the back of Pantyhose Tarou though.
There was something about Tarou that made her a little uncomfortable; he
was polite enough - to her, if nobody else - but he was aloof and cold,
and his eyes glittered dangerously even when he smiled.

"Bwee!"

Upon hearing the plaintive noise, immediately, Akane flew up out of her
chair and raced down the stairs to the living room, where a small, wet,
black piglet sat on the tatami floor.

"P-Chan!  You're soaking wet!" she cried happily, reaching for the
little pig.  "Have you lost your collar?"  P-Chan eyed her nervously.
"What's wrong, baby?  Come here", she cooed.  He allowed himself to be
picked up, and was rewarded with a kiss on the snout.  Clutching the
little piglet tightly to her chest for warmth, she carried him back
upstairs to her room.  There was another couple of hours before dinner
would be ready; hopefully she could finish her homework by then.

"Akane.  Dinner's ready!" Kasumi called from downstairs.

"Be right down," Akane called, packing up her school books.  She glanced
down at P-Chan, to find that he had fallen asleep on her lap.  She
gently moved him to her bed, and went downstairs to the living room
where dinner was waiting.

Her family and Genma Saotome were clustered around the table, eagerly
waiting.

"Where's Ranma?" she asked, kneeling by the table.

"I haven't seen Ranma since he came home from school." answered Kasumi,
daintily placing steaming bowls of rice and curry on the table.  "Ryouga
was looking for you two.  Maybe they're off together, they're such good
friends."

"Ryouga?  When did he arrive?"

"Just after I left to go buy some groceries.  You didn't see him?"

"No," Akane said.  She paused, thinking.  "I did hear some noises coming
from the dojo earlier.  Maybe they're just out training."

"That'll be good for the boy," Genma managed between mouthfuls.  "That
Ryouga's a strong fighter.  Keep Ranma on his toes."

That doesn't answer where they are now though, Akane thought.  "I think
I'll go check in the dojo." she added aloud.

She headed out to the dojo, barely missing her father announcing loudly
to the family, "So good to see my little girl worrying about her
fianc�!"

The dojo was dark and quiet, but Akane checked inside to be sure.  It
was entirely empty, except for a large scorch mark and a huge number of
different sized shards of glass lying in a damp patch in the middle of
the floor.  She walked over and picked up a piece; it looked like it had
come from a large bottle.

"Great, more repair bills.  You'd think that they'd clean up the mess...
or at least hang around to help." she muttered angrily.   Still, it
wasn't like Ranma to go missing around dinner time though.  "Stupid
Ranma.  Making me worry like this."

What was that business with Tarou though?  Was he responsible?  She
thought back to when she had seen Tarou-monster earlier.  No, she hadn't
seen Ranma or Ryouga with him, but he had looked injured.  There weren't
many people in Nerima who could hurt Pantyhose Tarou's cursed form:
Ranma and Grandfather Happousai came to mind, and Cologne - although she
tended to keep to herself these days.  She hadn't seen Happousai all
day, but he had been making himself scarce since Tarou arrived.

Akane headed back into the house to slip on a pair of shoes, and then
walked out onto the streets where she had seen Tarou last.

A telegraph pole lay on its side, broken at about chest height.  Caused
by Tarou?  Maybe.  A little further, someone had poked a series of holes
into the concrete...with their finger, apparently.  Ryouga, then.  She
had seen Ryouga gouging out chunks of concrete with his finger before
when he was happy, which admittedly wasn't often.  Further along, she
found a large hole in the concrete, and several scraps of yellow and
black cloth on the ground.  She picked one of them up and studied it
closely.  It was Ryouga's bandana.  It had been shredded.

Heart beginning to race with fear, Akane picked up the bandana and ran
further up the street.  Nothing.  Ryouga had apparently only gotten so
far before something had attacked him.  That would have been Tarou.  But
what had happened after that, and where was Ranma?

"Ranma!" she shouted.  She cupped her hands around her mouth for extra
volume.  "Ranma!  Ryouga!"

She ran back to the house, in time to see Kasumi invite in a cloaked and
hooded figure that had been waiting at the front door.  As Akane neared,
she noticed the pantyhose sash around his neck.

"You!" she hissed.  "What have you done to Ranma?"

"Akane!  Be nice to our guests," Kasumi chided gently.

Tarou pushed back the hood from his face and turned to face Akane,
smiling.  "Your sister has very kindly offered to let me wait here until
he returns," he said dryly.  "I am looking for him as well".

Akane did her best for force a smile in return, for Kasumi's sake.  She
waited until the other two were gone before picking up the phone.

"Dr Tofu?  Its Akane ... I was wondering whether you had seen Ranma or
Ryouga this afternoon ... No? ... It's just that I think they were in a
fight and I thought ... No? ... Yes, I'm sure you're right ... Yes, I'm
sure everything will be fine.  Thank you.  Goodbye."

No luck there either.  Damn Ranma!  He shouldn't just run off like this
without telling anybody.  Akane sighed.  "I hope he's okay."

************************

Tarou was seated in the Tendou's living room, still wrapped in his
cloak.  He had expected the youngest daughter to follow him in and
starting demanding explanations, but she had stomped off upstairs.  A
good thing, he decided, since it was far more convenient to wait for
that cross-dresser and his porcine friend here, and the family might be
less hospitable if they thought he was responsible for their absence.

For the moment however, he was subjected to making small talk with Mr
Tendou.  Thankfully, no-one had brought up the subject of his cursed
name yet.  No doubt it would come up soon.  It always did.

"You haven't managed to change the evil master's mind yet?" Soun asked.


"No," he answered abruptly, fists clenching reflexively.  Calming
himself, he added "Not yet, but I will."

He almost missed the small black shape walking around the outside
hallway in the direction of the bathroom: pig-boy had finally shown up.
Tarou waited until the little pig was out of sight, and then stood up to
follow.  With any luck, he could corner the little idiot in the bathroom
and then find out what he needed to know.

As he approached the bathroom, he could hear the sound of the bathtub
being filled within.

"P-Chan!  Where are you?"  Akane was walking down the hallway, searching
for... the piglet?

"P-Chan?" he enquired, his eyebrow raised.

"My pet pig.  I thought he would be down here."  She turned to him with
a suspicious glare.  "Where is Ranma?  And what did you do to Ryouga?"

Interesting.  Apparently she didn't realise that pig-boy's cursed form
and this P-Chan were one and the same.   "As I said before," he
answered, "I have no idea where he is.  I am waiting for him myself.  As
for Ryouga... I just know he'll be around somewhere."

She opened her hand, showing him a tattered scrap of yellow and black
cloth.  "I found this on the street.  It's Ryouga's." she said, her
voice now hardening angrily.  "I saw you flying away from the spot where
I found it.  Don't try and tell me you weren't involved."

He snorted contemptuously.  The little brat was starting to get
annoying.  "Listen, you know how strong I am in my cursed body.  If I
had fought those two, do you think they could have gotten very far
afterwards?"  He heard the slightly dangerous edge his voice had
acquired and took a moment to calm himself.  "I saw the damage in the
street, same as you.  I'm sure they will be back soon."

She obviously didn't believe him, but turned abruptly and left in a
huff, stomping loudly down the corridor.  He waited until she had gone,
then silently opened the door to the outer bathroom and entered.

Tarou waited until the splash that indicated that the occupant had
jumped into the bath.  He slid open the door to see a human figure
emerge spluttering from the water.  It was Ranma Saotome.

"Fem-boy?"

Ranma spun around and stared up at him, his blue eyes wide with shock.

"What the hell is going on?" Ranma yelled.  He leapt out of the tub.
"How did I end up as P-Chan?!"

Tarou simply sniggered in reply.  Ranma scowled.  Ignoring him, Tarou
answered breezily, "As for how you ended up as a pig, you should ask
your idiot friend.  That's what I was trying to do."

 "And you thought I was him."  Ranma's eyes narrowed quizzically.  "Hang
on.  If you thought I was Ryouga, how did you know anything was wrong?"

Tarou paused, thinking quickly.  "Your fianc� told me that she saw me -
my cursed form, that is - outside earlier today."

"So?"

"I saw the same thing.  It wasn't me."

"So who was it then?  You're saying there's some other poor sap who fell
in that spring?"  Ranma paused again, looking his adversary up and down
curiously.  "Since when did you wear that cloak indoors?" he added.

Tarou scowled, suppressing the urge to fidget under the unwanted
attention.

With a sudden look of realisation, Ranma smiled.  "And didn't you used
to be taller than me?"

Tarou hesitated.  Fem-boy would find out sooner or later, given his own
problem.  With a growl, he tossed his cloak aside, revealing his own
female body.

Ranma struggled to suppress a chuckle and failed.  All those times the
arrogant creep had called him cross dresser and fem-boy, all of those
insults and slights against his manliness, and now he had the girl
curse!  He burst out laughing.  Tarou glared down at him with his fists
clenched tightly, shaking with rage and his cheeks flushed crimson.
Clutching his aching sides, Ranma eventually managed to calm down.

Examining the fuming Pantyhose Tarou more closely, Ranma could see that
the Chinese boy had a less dramatic transition to girl-hood than his
own.  Unlike Ranma's own tiny, buxom female form, girl-type Tarou had a
statuesque, lean, wiry figure which stood as nearly as tall as his male
body.  His voice was perhaps slightly higher pitched than normal but not
enough to have been noticeable.  The most striking lack of change was in
his face; other than a slight softening around his jaw line and chin, it
was identical, and yet it still looked like a perfectly feminine face.
Not that Tarou had been particularly masculine to begin with, he
reflected.

"It's not that bad.  You can hardly tell the difference" Ranma offered
cheekily.  "In fact, you make a pretty good girl... almost as cute as
me!"  He dodged the punch that had been swung at his head, sniggering
loudly.  "The freak might even lend you some of his collection if you
ask nicely!"

With an inarticulate snarl, Tarou launched himself at Ranma, knocking
him backwards into the tub.  He tripped on Ranma's flailing feet; his
momentum causing him to plummet forward on top of the other boy.

All sound was muffled as Ranma was shoved underwater, pressed to the
bottom of the tub by the Chinese boy's weight.  The weight lifted from
him, but a hand pushed down on his chest, prevented him from rising.
Angrily, he swiped at the hand but it did not move.  He heard a muffled
voice; Tarou was leaning over him, speaking roughly.  The pressure was
then lifted from his chest, and he sat up, coughing up the water he had
swallowed.

"What'd you do that for, you jerk!!" he yelled, roughly shoving Tarou
away from him and thumping him over the head with a clenched fist.

Tarou folded his arms and levelled a glare at Ranma, so vicious that the
pig-tailed boy was momentarily surprised that the tiles behind him
didn't start to smoulder.

"What happened?" he growled.  "What was in that bottle?"

"I dunno.  Ryouga said it was a cure.  It must have broken open when the
freak's Happoudaikarin exploded."

"I figured that much out for myself," Tarou said, somehow managing to
look both pleased with himself and irritated at the same time.  "He
didn't say anything else?"

"No.  He was about to when you and the freak came in."  Ranma leaned
back against the bathtub, thinking.  "So, I got Ryouga's curse, you got
mine and-"

"-your moron friend has mine, yes," Tarou cut in gruffly.

"But how?  It must have been that water!"

"Obviously."

"We need to find Ryouga!  It was his water."

"Didn't I already say that, pig-boy?"

Ranma slammed his fist into the water, angrily.  "Hey!  I got a name!
Ranma Saotome, remember?  Unless you want me to call you fem-boy or
something?"  The scowl he received in response indicated that the other
boy was unimpressed.  Grinning spitefully, he added "If the pantyhose
fit..."

Another fist, this one too fast to dodge, impacted with the side of his
head.  Rubbing the sore spot, he said more calmly, "We ain't gonna get
anywhere if we can't stop fighting.  My name's Ranma not... fem-boy or
pig-boy or cross dresser or any of those other things."

Ranma heard a grunt in response.  He doubted it indicated agreement but
at least it hadn't been another fist.

He climbed out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around his waist,
considering his options quickly.  He hadn't spent much time in pig form,
but he hadn't liked it much - even compared to becoming a girl - and he
had no intention of staying that way.

"If Ryouga is flying, there's no point looking for him at night," he
said.  "We should leave early in the morning.  If we leave it too late
there's no telling where he could end up."

"We?  I work alone.  Why would I need you to come along?" Tarou said
haughtily, his customary smirk returning.

"It ain't like I wanna spend time with you either!"

"Good.  That's settled then."

Damn, Ranma cursed inwardly, that hadn't exactly gone as planned.  He
was supposed to be convincing Tarou that they needed to work together,
not giving the jerk an excuse to leave him behind.  He decided to try
again.  "What are you gonna do, then?"

"Find him, and once he tells me where he got that water and what it
does, figure out a way of reversing it," Tarou explained slowly, as
though he were speaking to a child.

"What about a cure?"

"I'm not interested in a cure.  I want my body back."

"Afraid you won't win any fights without your cursed form?" Ranma
grinned.  He received a nasty glare in response.  "Anyway, you'll need
me to reverse it.  You've got my curse."

"He has mine."  Tarou chuckled nastily.  "You never know, he might
prefer turning into a girl to a pig."

Ryouga probably would, Ranma reflected, but it was not something he was
about to admit to the other boy, in case he did decide to search for
Ryouga on his own.  "And what if it does need all three of us to reverse
it?"  Tarou didn't have a response to that, so Ranma pressed on.  "I
know Ryouga.  He's damn near impossible to find.  And he's going to be
really angry when we do find him.  I was the one who knocked him into
the Spring of Drowned Piglet and he's still gets cut up about it.  Kept
picking fights with me for ages, saying things like 'Because of you I've
seen hell'.  Trust me, he's not going to be happy to see you."

"It was his own fault," Tarou interjected.

"Ryouga don't always think too clearly when he's angry.  It's your curse
he got - and he won't like it."

"I can handle him."  Tarou raised an eyebrow nonchalantly.  "He's no
match for me."

"He's very strong - stronger than me - in his normal body.  Add the
strength from that monster body...  And he's really tough.  You need to
hit him a bunch of times for him to even feel it.  But if I'm there, I
can talk to him.  He'll listen to me."

"What makes you think he'll listen?"

"Like I said, I know Ryouga.  He'll listen.  We've been through a lot
together."

Tarou gave a single, stiff nod.  "Fine.  We'll try it your way.  Just
don't think I'm going to wait for you if you get left behind."

Ranma brightened.  It might not have been a ringing affirmative, but
Tarou had given in easier than he had expected.  "You can stay upstairs
with me and Pop."  He offered a towel, adding "I'll find you something
of mine to wear for tonight.  Your clothes are soaked."

He left the bathroom, trying to work out how much to tell Akane.

******************

It was pitch black and his wings were aching.  He had no idea where he
was, but at least he wasn't over the city any more.  He couldn't bear to
hear the screams, to see those people running in terror.  Akari - or
Akane - mustn't see him like this.  If either of them looked at him like
those people had...his poor heart...he'd be better off dead!

No.  He couldn't keep going like this.  He needed to find a place to
hide, to think.  He flew lower, looking for a place to land, hoping he
hadn't flown out over the ocean.

Trees!  He was still over land!

He dropped out of the sky, landing in a small clearing near some rocks.
Trembling, he curled himself up as tight as he could into a foetal
position, replaying the events of the last couple of hours over and over
in his mind until he eventually fell asleep.

******************

Ranma awoke to the customary snores of his father on his left.  He sat
up, blinking the remnants of sleep from his eyes.  It was still dark -
just before dawn at a guess.  Tarou was already awake; he was sitting in
a half-lotus position on his futon with a bored expression on his face.

"Didn't sleep much, huh?" Ranma asked.

"I'm surprised anyone here gets any sleep with the noise he makes."

"Pop?  Yeah, you sort of get used to it after a while." Ranma grinned,
pulling on his black pants and favourite red shirt.

Working quickly, he dug out his and his father's backpacks and stuffed
in several changes of clothes.  He headed downstairs, where he found the
tent and camping equipment from previous training trips.  Entering the
kitchen, a broad smile spread across his face: Kasumi had kindly left
some food and cooking supplies packaged on the kitchen table, which he
packed away carefully.  Nearby, she had left two carefully wrapped rice
balls.

Tarou entered the kitchen with his cloak slung over his arm, having
changed back into his own clothes.  Ranma offered him the remaining rice
ball, having already wolfed down his own.

"Shall we go?" Ranma asked.  Tarou deftly caught the backpack that had
been tossed to him.  After a quick check that everything was in place,
the two boys headed out into the dawn.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rebecca
email: rmthornton (AT) gmail (DOT) com

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