Author's Notes Hi everybody! I just wanted to clear up some things. First of all, Ranma and Hotaru are 15 in here. I've noticed that most fanfics put Hotaru as pretty young around the S season, but I honestly believe she is around this age. Also, this, my third fanfic, is the first that I consider anywhere near good. *Waves a hand across your eyes and says, "You will love this fanfic..."* Enjoy! -KaosQu kaosqu@hotmail.com Sound Hearts A Ranma 1/2/Sailormoon S crossover fanfiction By KaosQu Chapter 1 Ranma and Genma Saotome entered the small apartment and threw their packs on the floor. It was a small place. A very small place. One main room, with a kitchen and a bathroom attached. Ranma didn't know how his old man had gotten a hold of the place and he didn't care. It would be nice to be living under a roof for a while. The young martial artist loved traveling, but it got, as with most good things, tiresome after a while. Especially after, what? Nine years of it? Ranma sighed. Had it really been that long since he had left? Since he had last seen his mother? Ranma shook his head to clear his thoughts. The old man was saying something. "You'd better appreciate this boy," Genma said, waving a hand around the room casually. "You have no idea what troubles I endured to get us this place." Ranma shrugged. "Whatever." Pops said something like that every- time he did something even remotely useful. "So what're we settling down for?" Ranma was a LITTLE curious as to why Genma had suddenly decided to halt their training journey. "Hmph. We're not settling down," Genma replied. "We're just... postponing our travels temporarily." "What the heck for?" "First of all, you need to go back to school," Genma answered. "School?" Ranma said incredulously. "I haven't in been to school in god knows how long!" "Which is why you're going back now." Genma said simply. "B-but why?!" Ranma sputtered. "I thought we were just going to train in the Art!" "A true martial artist must have a sound mind as well as a sound body," Genma replied knowingly. "You're going to have a lot of catching up to do in school, boy." "So what's YOUR excuse?" Ranma demanded, poking Genma in the belly. "You don't have neither." "We're talking about you, boy!" Genma replied, pushing Ranma's hand away. Ranma muttered something and walked to the other side of the room; which wasn't all that far away. "You're sulking about this, boy?" Genma taunted. He knew exactly what buttons to push to get Ranma worked up. "Why, oh why am I cursed with such a weakling for a son?" Genma dramatically turned his head sky- wards and stared at the ceiling. "My own son is being cowed by..." Genma pretended to shudder. "School." The results were instantaneous. "What?!" Ranma shouted. "No way am I gonna let some stupid thing like school bother me! You just watch, old man, I'll even catch up with the other kids!" Genma crossed his arms and snorted. "We'll see boy." Genma waited a moment for Ranma to calm down before speaking again. "Well Ranma, you just wander around and get to know this place, school starts tomorrow so you may want to go to a library or some such thing. I'm going to go... buy you a uniform, here's a key to the door." Genma tossed a small metal key at Ranma and quickly disappeared from the room before anything else could be said. Ranma watched the empty doorframe for a while, fingering the small key. He eventually closed the door and then walked over to an open win- dow. Ranma thought, pocketing away the key. Ranma looked out the window and down to the alley below. Third floor. It was a little higher than he was used to, but no problem. With that last thought, Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts leapt out the window. Somewhere not too far away, a young girl with shoulder-length black hair coughed one more violent cough and collapsed onto her bed. She curled up and felt tears coming to her eyes. The sei- zures, her loneliness... everything... Almost everything was wrong with her life... After laying in the fetal position for a few more minutes, eyes shut tight, she slowly sat up. She needed to go outside. She'd been even more depressed than usual, lately. So thinking, Hotaru Tomoe got off her bed and left her dim room. Ranma glanced around as he walked the streets of Juuban, commit- ting his memory to remember the way... home. Ranma smiled slightly. It would be a nice to have a place to call home; even if it wasn't much. Even if he'd probably be gone before too long. He'd been getting tired of calling he and Genma's beat-up old tent "home". Ranma turned a corner, taking in everything in and getting a feel for the place called Juuban. After a while, however, he noticed that his arm was starting to get irritated. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he tore off his black armbands and pocketed it. Maybe he should've stuck with the white Gi and pants instead of the sleeveless red Chinese shirt, black pants and armbands. But he decided that he had enough of looking like his father and managed to scrounge up enough money to get the shirt. He could only afford the sleeveless one, however and so got a hold of the armbands. It had worked out fine. For awhile. It got cold sometimes, and his armbands were too small. Ranma thought about it for a second more, which was rather unusual for him. He really had bet- ter things to do than get a job. Ranma mused about his clothing predicament for awhile more, barely paying attention to his surroundings as he walked around Juuban, the sun slowly setting. After a long while of wandering, Ranma snapped out of his thoughts when he realized that it was getting cold and that he still hadn't deci- ded what to do about his clothes. Ranma thought in surprise. Ranma stopped walking and took a look around to see where he was. It was dark now and there was only a little moonlight and some street lamps to illuminate the way. There was nobody else around in sight and Ranma guessed that he was in some kind of Park. "Well," Ranma said to himself. "Guess I should be heading back." Ranma turned around and was about to head off when he suddenly had a change of heart. "It's a nice night," Ranma mused. "I'll just take a little walk." So Ranma turned back around and headed deeper into the park, whistling a cheerful tune. Hotaru fell to the ground as the brown-haired boy pushed her to the ground. She had just been walking around her favorite park, enjoying the cool night air and, for awhile, forgetting about her lonely life, when this group of boys had seen her and started calling her names. She had felt tears coming to her eyes and turned away, when this boy had pushed her down. "You freak!" one of the boys shouted. "You're some kinda witch!" another accused. This one, she recog- nized seeing somewhere in her school. Hotaru crawled backwards, afraid. They had always been scared of her, and called her names, but they had never done THIS before! Then she felt it. She could feel another seizure coming up. But she knew that even if she were fresh, she still wouldn't get too far with running. Gage cracked his knuckles and smiled. Ranma stopped whistling and glanced around cautiously when he heard something. Voices. Normally, he wouldn't have paid much attention to something like that, but it was just so out of place from the quiet he had enjoyed for the past ten minutes or so. Also he felt something else. A dark wave of... power. The average person wouldn't have noticed it, but Ranma was a martial artist. And a pretty damn good one too. Using some of the sneaking skills that Genma had taught him,("You'll find It very useful one day, boy. I know I have.") Ranma silently melted into the many shadows and, very quietly, headed towards the voices. Ranma peeked out from behind a bush after he had reached the voices and grit his teeth in anger. He saw six guys around his age, some with baseball bats, calling some black-haired girl names. Then a par- ticularly big guy pushed the girl down and cracked his knuckles. Ranma gave himself a mental smack to his head. Ranma was about to leap in to help the girl when he noticed some- thing. Something only keen eyesight like his could see. Even the guy in front of the girl probably couldn't see. Ranma could tell that the girl was about to cry. That was the last straw. He had been considering using strategy to take out the punks quickly and with minimum force, but now he didn't care how much pain the guys would be in. Leaping into the air, Ranma sent a flying kick into one of the boys head, sending him down hard. He was bleeding, but it wasn't any- thing TOO serious. The boy's cry of pain before he passed out, however, alerted the others to Ranma's presence. Not that it would make any difference on the outcome of the battle whether or not the guys were facing him. Ranma absently noticed the girl staring at him as someone shouted out some- thing that sent the rest of the boys advancing on Ranma. Hotaru could feel something strangely familiar stirring inside of her as the boy named Gage stepped forward. She crawled backwards, feel- ing tears come to her eyes. Tears that never fell because she saw some- thing. The red figure of a young boy about her age flying at one of the boys in the back and sending him to the ground with a kick. Before she could feel surprised, the other boys had turned around and were advancing on her savior. Then, though Hotaru didn't notice, the seizure that had been coming suddenly disappeared. "You're gonna pay for hurting my pal!" one of the boys cried. "Ya shouldn't be picking on girls," Ranma replied, quickly asses- sing the remaining five boys. Ranma then dropped into a loose stance and smirked. First, the two stronger guys ran up to Ranma, one of them wielding a bat. Ducking under a wild swing, Ranma twisted slightly and sent three rapid punches into the other boy and, just as he finished his last punch, sweep kicked him down and flipped over his body. A bat was swung at Ranma again just as he landed. Noticing the shift in shadows and the whistling of air behind him with his keen sen- ses, Ranma reacted instinctively and shot out with his left hand, grab- bing the wooden weapon as it flew towards his right side. It stung a little, but he knew that the pain would be gone in less than half-a- minute. In fact, the only reason he noticed it at all was the thought that that weapon might have been used on that poor girl watching him. A flash of anger and Ranma pulled hard, throwing both bat and stubborn wielder into a conveniently placed tree. Gage grit his teeth as two of his friends went down. But there was still him and his other two friends. Without even a gesture, he rushed forward, his remaining companions right by him Ranma jumped up about five feet over a bat swing and landed on the smart-looking kid's head, sending him down into the ground unconscious. He then turned his attention to his other two opponents. The one who looked like he knew martial arts tried to roundhouse him. That was about the second most basic kick in martial arts and wasn't executed that great or fast either. And as such, Ranma easily caught it and sent the boy flying onto one of the unconscious kids as he caught a punch from Gage. Ranma felt a particular distaste towards that kid as he had been the one who had been threatening Hotaru. Ranma caught another fist that was swung at him and slowly applied pressure to both of his opponents fist. Gage clenched his teeth and tried to push Ranma away. What the guy didn't know was that Ranma was strong enough to break concrete. That meant Ranma didn't even break a sweat as he stood his ground. "Why were you picking on her?" Ranma demanded. Anybody who picked on girls better had a pretty damn good reason in Ranma's book. Something along the lines of 'She's a psychotic alien cat-monster in disguise, bent on the total destruction of the world!' And Ranma sincerely doubted the boy before him had a good excuse like that. Gage said nothing and just tried to push harder. Ranma rolled his eyes. The guy just didn't know when to give up. Reminded him of himself, actually... Well, he'd just have to learn the hard way. Then he heard the swing of a bat from behind him. Reacting instinctively, Ranma pushed off into the air until he was upside down, parallel with Gage. That all happened in about a quarter of a second. That meant that the bat that was swung hit Ranma's foundation by the time he was up there. Quickly letting go of his now unconscious support, Ranma propelled through the air. Of course, as he hadn't gotten that much of a boost when he let go, Ranma landed rather awkwardly and scraped his arm. He'd taken a hell of a lot worse in his short fifteen years and just ignored the 'scratch'. A quick glance at the guy who had swung at him showed that he was on the ground, unconscious. Probably knocked out when the other guy fell on top of him. "Great," Ranma muttered to himself, absently touching the scrape. "That's what I get for underestimating the thickness of his head." Then Ranma turned to the girl he had rescued in "You alright?" he asked worriedly, walking up to the staring girl. The 'scratch' was more injury to his pride than anything. The girl was more important; she was the whole reason he was here in the first place. "F-fine." Hotaru answered, getting up to her feet. "T-thank you for helping me." "No problem," Ranma replied casually. Then Hotaru noticed that Ranma had a scrape on his arm. He had gotten hurt helping her! She suddenly felt very guilty. "You're injured!" "This?" Ranma asked, raising up his arm and glancing at it. "It's nothing, should be gone by tomorrow." He said, unconcerned. "Tomorrow?" Hotaru asked doubtfully, momentarily forgetting her worry for her savior. "I heal fast." Ranma shrugged. Hotaru thought. "Here," Hotaru said, reaching out to the wound. "Let me help you." Ranma stood still, his right arm still outstretched. For some reason, he trusted the girl like... like he had never trusted anyone before. It just felt... right to do so. Besides. He had rescued her, so she probably wouldn't do anything weird to him. "Um, sure. Whatever." Cupping her right hand over the wound, Hotaru concentrated on her gift and a pink light burst out form the outstretched hand, covering the scrape, healing it over in a matter of seconds until there was nothing but healthy skin left. Once the light disappeared, Hotaru withdrew her hand and looked at Ranma expectantly, waiting to see what his reaction would be. Everyone else had shunned her. Ranma stared in a bit of awe as his scrape disappeared and, after the girl retracted her hand, reached out and touched the spot where the scrape had been. It was a was a little warm, but there was nothing there. Not even a trace of the wound. Even his fast healing couldn't do that in a matter of seconds! "Wow... what did you do?" he asked. "It's a gift I have." Hotaru replied, happy that she could help him and that he didn't seem to be scared of her. Then her face suddenly became despondent. "All of my classmates are scared of me because of it. They won't even talk to me and now, this." Hotaru gestured to the six unconscious boys lying on the ground. Ranma looked surprised. "Well, they're all idiots." He said confidently. "You're lucky to be able to do something cool as that." Hotaru seemed uncertain for a moment. "Y-you aren't scared of it?" Ranma scratched his head in a bit of confusion. "Eh? Why should I be scared of something like that?" he wondered. "I ain't scared of nuthin', 'specially not something that helps me." "Really, you don't think it's... strange?" "Well, yeah, it is kinda weird that you can... uh... do whatever you did, but so what?" Ranma was starting to get confused. It was almost like the girl wanted him to be afraid of her or something. But that was stupid, he wasn't afraid of anything. Especially not a girl, even if she could do little magical, pink light-show thingies. "R-really? Y-you don't think it's...bad?" Hotaru asked, daring to hope that she had finally found someone who wasn't afraid of her. "Yeah, sure," Ranma replied, wondering why the girl was asking such a stupid question. He was a martial artist and would have been ecstatic to have been able to heal himself after all those injuries he sustained from his training. "Actually, I wish I could do that too." Ranma's mind suddenly started turning. Maybe he could do it? Maybe it was some weird martial arts like technique he could learn. No, she had said it was a gift or something like that. He was distracted from his train of thoughts however, when he caught sight of the sad look that crossed the face of the girl before him. "No you don't," she said softly. "You don't want it." "Huh? Why not? Healing people's pretty cool," Ranma said confus- edly. How much further could he have taken his training if he had been able to do something like that? "I'm all alone because of it... No one in my school except the teachers talk to me. And when my classmates do say something, its always an insult." "Huh? But that's stupid! Besides, I really don't care what they think, that's a pretty useful trick ya got and you should be glad you can, um... help people and stuff 'cause of it," Ranma continued with absolute certainty in his words. "I don't know..." Hotaru trailed off, not completing her sentence as she realized what a fool she was being. Here was someone that rescued and was trying to be nice to her and she was trying her best to convince him she was a freak and scare him off! "Hey, trust me," Ranma said, smirking arrogantly. Then he dropped it into a slight frown as he realized he didn't know the girls name? Would it somehow be rude to ask? Why was he even caring? Hell, rude to ask the name of someone you rescued? What kind of crap was that?! Ranma shook his head, annoyed. His mind was starting to get 'screwed up' as he put it. Hotaru bit her lower lip as she saw the boy who had rescued her frown. Ooohhh... She hoped she hadn't scared him away. In order to try and fix things, somehow, Hotaru decided that she should be polite and introduce herself. In fact, she should have done that awhile ago. "I suppose you're right." She said quickly, and putting on what she hoped was a nice smile. She remembered someone, who she couldn't quite remember right then, saying that she looked nice when she smiled. "My name is Hotaru Tomoe. Thank you for your help." "Ranma Saotome," Ranma said, extending his hand, smiling as he saw the girl, Hotaru, smile. She looked so cute when she did and Ranma was glad that he had found her. Maybe they could be friends. Hotaru took Ranma's extended hand and shook it. "I'm pleased to meet you Ranma." Maybe she finally had a... friend? As Hotaru dwelled hopefully on that thought, however, she suddenly felt... faint. Ranma heard Hotaru moan and start to fall backwards. In a flash, he caught her from behind and gently sat her down. Kneeling before her as she clutched her chest with one hand and the ground with another, Ranma wondered what was happening. Had those bastards injured her? "You alright? What's wrong?" "N-nothing... I-it's just a... fit... It'll go away... soon..." Hotaru gasped. Ranma knelt by uncertainly as Hotaru continued to pant. Before Ranma could think about it anymore, Hotaru abruptly fainted. "Hotaru!" Hotaru slowly opened her eyes and sat up, blinking slowly. She looked around and saw that she was apparently in a hospital room. She wondered. Hotaru bit her lip sadly at the thought and considered it. Hotaru looked over the room again, searching for Ranma. There was a chair nearby with that had obviously been sat on, but Ranma was nowhere to be seen. "He must have left." She concluded sadly, getting off her bed and putting on her shoes, which she found nearby. Then she opened the door out and bumped into Ranma. "You're awake!" Ranma exclaimed. And in two seconds flat, she found herself lying back in bed and holding a cup of water. "What hap- pened? You just fainted so I took you here." He quickly explained. "Are you feelin' alright? Did those guys hurt you?" Ranma asked, the last part with a hint of hostility. Hotaru took a moment to pick apart all the questions that she had been bombarded with and then answered, "I'm okay, I get fits like that a lot." She then carefully slid off the bed again and put down the glass of water on a table. "Thank you for helping me." "Hey, no problem, we're friends... right?" Ranma asked with a hint of hope in his voice that Hotaru barely noticed. And when she did, she dismissed it. "Friends..." she murmured thoughtfully. Hotaru smiled, brightening the room. "Yes, friends." Abruptly, she then turned around and looked at the door. "I should go home now. My father will be worried." "Hey, hold on!" Ranma protested as Hotaru headed towards the door. "Aren't ya gonna wait for the doctor?" Sure, HE wouldn't have waited for no doctor, but this was Hotaru here. A girl. Who seemed even weaker than he thought girls were. Hotaru shook her head as she exited the room, Ranma close by. "I was specifically told not to see any doctors." Ranma frowned. He couldn't understand why someone would say some- thing as stupid as that. Even his father wasn't as stupid as that. Especially since this was a girl. They, well... needed more help than guys. "Well, I'll walk ya home. Those guys may have some angry friends or something out there, and it's pretty late." Hotaru regarded Ranma for a moment and smiled again. "Thank you, I would like that." "Let's go then," Ranma replied as he took lead and led his new friend out of the hospital. Ranma smiled. Ranma and Hotaru walked down a dark street quietly. Hotaru was walking at a leisurely pace, a small smile on her face. It was cold out, and she was glad that she was wearing pants. Actually, now that she thought about it, her leg were almost always covered. Actually, they were always covered. She wondered, frowning sligh- tly. Hotaru glanced at Ranma and was surprised to see that he was walking on top of a chain-link fence, thoughtfully staring at the sky and what stars could be seen. Then she realized that they hadn't said anything at all to each other since they had left the hospital about ten minutes ago. And so Hotaru decided that she wanted to have an enjoyable conversation with her new friend. Her only friend... And she had been given the perfect opening topic too! "Why are you walking up there, Ranma?" "Huh?" Ranma snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Hotaru apologetically. "Sorry, I wasn't listening, what didja say?" "I was wondering why you were walking on a fence." Hotaru answered. Ranma shrugged. "Balance practice, I guess. It's kinda fun, too." "Really? I wish I could do that." Hotaru said, watching interest- edly as Ranma hopped onto a taller fence without even slowing down. "Well, what's keeping ya?" Ranma inquired calmly. He was pretty sure girls could walk on fences. It wasn't exactly a thing only manly men could do. Hotaru's face suddenly took on a despondent look and Ranma felt guilty for bringing up the subject, his other thoughts taking a quick dive down a cliff. He was about to apologize when Hotaru spoke up. "I get tired very quickly." Ranma gave a mental sigh of relief. He didn't have to apologize and this, he could do something about. "That's no problem. Just come on up, I'll catch ya if you fall or something." Hotaru stopped walking and looked at the fence doubtfully. "I'm not sure I can do it..." "Not with that attitude you're not!" Ranma interjected. "Just give it a try, I promise you won't fall or nuthin'. Here, I'll pull you up." Ranma said, bending down and extending a hand towards his new friend. Hotaru hesitantly nodded. "Okay..." she said, taking Ranma's hand gently and gasping as she found herself instantly pulled ontop of the fence. At first, she felt herself losing her balance, but two strong arms held her gently by her shoulders and steadied her. The fence top was very narrow she observed. "Just stay still for now," Ranma commanded. Hotaru nodded and stood still for a few seconds until she got her bearings back. Then she slowly took a look around and gasped in wonder. "I didn't know things could look so different up here." She turned her head around, slowly scanning her surroundings, taking in all of the familiar sights that were no longer so familiar. "It is kinda cool," Ranma agreed. The double-meaning to what he said flew right by him. Hotaru turned slowly and gracefully around, taking in everything around her. It was surprising how different things could look from up on a fence. After a short while she then started slowly walking forward, Ranma close behind, ready to catch her if she happened to fall; which didn't seem likely as Hotaru slowly walked forward, gradually gaining speed. "Not that YOU need it," Ranma began, having seen Hotaru's graceful and precise steps. "but it's easier to keep your balance if ya run." Hotaru paused, a warm feeling filling her because someone had complimented her. "Really?" she asked. Ranma nodded, and there was a long moment of silence. Then, Hotaru abruptly broke out into a sprint and rushed down the fence. It was true, it seemed so easy for her to run ontop of the fence. She could feel the difference between this and walking. The world passed by her in a dark blur and she could hear Ranma's light steps almost directly behind her. With the cool air rushing by her face she felt wonderful! She felt invigorated! She felt... tired. Ranma was startled when Hotaru suddenly ran down the fence, but got over it quickly. In a flash, he was running behind his new friend, ready to catch her if she fell. He kept a close eye on her footing and noticed her still sure and precise steps. He was mildly surprised to see how fast Hotaru was running. It was certainly an above-average speed. Just as he finished the thought, however, Hotaru abruptly stopped and started to fall backwards. Because he was running too fast, Ranma flipped over the girl and spun around, catching his friend as she fell down with lightning speed. Ranma recalled. "Are you alright?" Ranma asked worriedly. "That... That was fun..." Hotaru panted. Ranma smirked. "Didn't I tell ya?" Hotaru tried to smile through her gasps. "T-thank you Ranma... I haven't... had that much fun... in a long time." Ranma shrugged and gently lifted her up. "You're welcome." "W-what.. are you doing?" Hotaru asked, surprised. "I'm gonna carry you home, of course." Ranma replied. Then he realized something. "Um, where exactly do you live?" he asked sheep- ishly. Hotaru, having gotten some of her breath back, giggled. "It's... down this street... some more... I-I'll tell you when we... get here..." "Alright," Ranma said. "Hold on." And with that he broke into light jog, Hotaru held gently in his arms. "You... don't have to... carry me... you know..." Hotaru gasped out. Ranma looked down at her. "Don't worry about it, you just sit back and rest." He then turned his attention back to running, the smile still on his face. Hotaru shifted into a more comfortable position and watched lazily as the world blurred by with Ranma's increased speed. She silently mar- veled at Ranma's strength and skill. He was running down a narrow fence with a girl in his arms at high speeds and wasn't even slightly winded. She began to wonder if she could ever become like that and quickly stop- ped that train of thought. Thinking about her weakness usually led her to other thoughts that ended up making her even more depressed. Instead, she focused on enjoying the cool night air and the scenery passing by as she regained her strength. Ranma, too, was having a good time. Whenever he and his father had stopped in a town or city before, he would always like to walk on fences and, later on, go rooftop hopping. At first, it was to help train, but Ranma soon found himself doing it just for the heck of it; it was fun up there. A great part of it, he supposed, was because his school of martial arts specialized in mid-air combat and so her naturally sought out higher ground. But whatever the reason, he enjoyed going to high places. And now he could share that feeling of... of... rightness with someone. His first friend in nine years no less. Life was just grand sometimes. Ranma ran sown the fence for what seemed like and eternity and, all too soon for her tastes, Hotaru realized that they were nearing her house. "We're almost there, Ranma. You can put me down now." Ranma came to a sudden stop and gently let Hotaru down. He had noticed awhile back that they had started walking on the more stylized, very narrow metal fences of houses. Big houses. Hotaru walked forward on the narrower fence-tops, getting a feel for them. Then, she proceeded to pick up speed, a little surprised that she could walk at all up there. Then Hotaru stopped and looked down, apparently realizing something. She was very near her house and not quite sure if she should jump down. Ranma, however, guessed what she was thinking, scooped her up in his arms and jumped down, making the decision for her and then set her down before she could even be surprised. Hotaru stood, staring at Ranma in surprise for a few moments. It had all been so fast! Then, abruptly, like light a street lamp suddenly switching on, she burst out giggling. Ranma stared at Hotaru in confusion as she Hotaru giggled for apparently no reason. "What's so funny?" he asked, feeling a bit of Deja Vu. "Nothing..." Hotaru slowly ceased her giggling and looked at Ranma a little more seriously "Thank you, Ranma. I haven't had so much fun in a long time." Ranma shrugged and grinned at Hotaru. "Hey, what're friends for?" he asked, unconsciously emphasizing the word "friend". Hotaru noticed the emphasis and smiled slightly. "Well, let's go." She then turned around and walked towards her house, Ranma by her side. Once they reached the gates to her home, Ranma whistled as he fi- nally noticed that he was surrounded by pretty damn big houses. "Wow, you've got a pretty nice place." "I suppose..." Hotaru said slowly. It was a nice house. Big and spacious. But, except for in her room, she didn't really feel comfor- table in the building. Especially with Kaolinite around. Especially since her father had been so distant. Ever since that explosion... At that moment, the door to the Hotaru's house opened and a man, with pure white hair and glasses appeared. He looked nice enough, but Ranma, thought he had sensed... something for a brief moment when the man had stepped out. Ranma shook his mind free of his thoughts and paid attention to Hotaru and the man. Hotaru didn't seem to be bothered by anything. "Poppa!" Hotaru exclaimed, smiling. The man walked forward and looked in concern at Hotaru. "Hotaru, where have you been? I was worried because you were so late." "I had a fit." Hotaru answered, a little sadly. "And some boys were picking on me." Then Hotaru gestured to Ranma, who stood by regar- ding Hotaru's father curiously. "This is Ranma, he helped me and walked me home." Hotaru's father smiled at Ranma kindly. "Thank you, Ranma. I am grateful for your help." Ranma smirked. "No problem." Then Hotaru walked over to her fathers side and turned to look at Ranma. "Will I see you again?" "Sure!" Ranma replied enthusiastically. "We're friends, right?" "Friends..." Hotaru said, still not used to the word. Then she turned to her father, a joyful expression on her face. "Poppa!" "I'm happy for you, Hotaru," the man said. Then he looked at Ranma. "Come by anytime, you're welcome here." "Sure, I'll drop by tomorrow after school," Ranma replied. Then he looked at Hotaru. "Well, goodnight!" Then he turned around and jogged out into the street, Hotaru wav- ing at him from behind. "Goodnight, Ranma!" As Ranma hopped onto a fence and ran towards he and his old man's new home, Ranma thought silently about his day. As he ran on, his thoughts turned towards Hotaru. Ranma then headed to his pack and took out a package of cupped noodles. He quickly opened it, put on a counter on the kitchen and, after locating a kettle in his pack, started to boil some water. Then he sat down, small part of his mind keeping on a vigilant look-out for Genma. Another, much smaller part, waited for the kettle to whistle. The rest of his active mind, went over his day. And so he thought about Hotaru, of course. He thought of how nice she had been, Her pretty smile and kind eyes. How great it felt to have helped her out and, most of all, he thought about the funny feeling he had when he car- ried her over the fences. That was... different. But Ranma just chalked it up to his gratefulness for finally having a friend. Although he did that a little reluctantly. He was happy to have a friend. Very happy. But he was loathe to admit that he had any weakness as some part of his mind that was tainted by Genma's influence told the rest of him that to need anything was a weakness. Of course, that part was pretty damn small and he didn't exactly pay too much attention to those particular words. He needed a lot of things in his life. Food and rest for starters. And friends was somewhere way up there as well. Ranma was then quite rudely snapped out of his thoughts as a certain part of his mind informed him that the kettle had started whistling. Ranma went over, turned off the fire and then poured the boiling water into his cup noodles. He then dug into his small meal with light- ning speed, sucking up all the food within a minute. Finally, he decided to make good use of his new home and went to fill up the bath. Ranma sank into the hot waters blissfully. It was wonderfully soothing to his tense muscles, especially after that cold water. The fight was one reason. The long hike to get to Juuban was another. Ranma lay idly in the tub, thinking about nothing. Normally, he would have probably been trying to come up with new ways to help his training, but not now. He had had a good day and he wanted to relax right then. After awhile, Ranma reluctantly got out and dried up, his martial arts training enabling him to dress in some boxers and a white shirt in a matter of seconds. He then went out into the... living room, he sup- posed and set up his sleeping bag. After he finished, he immediately dropped down, pulling the cover over him and dropped into a blissful sleep. About five minutes later, Genma, panting, came in, tossed a blue, school uniform to the side of the room and went into the bathroom. Some time later, a much less smelly and sweaty Genma came out and, after set- ting up his sleeping bag, also fell asleep in a matter of seconds. He snored. Loudly. The grating sounds, however, fell on deaf ears. Over at the Tomoe home, Hotaru Tomoe said goodnight to her father and also fell into a blissful sleep, a small smile appearing on her normally sad face. People who knew her(There were about two, and one of them was crazy) wouldn't have thought much about this as she usually smiled when her father bid her goodnight. This time, however, the rea- sons behind her change in expressions were different than usual. Outside Hotaru's room, Professor Tomoe slowly walked down the hall quietly. Once he reached the end of the corridor, he reached out and pressed a concealed button. With a swish, a section of the wall pulled upwards, revealing stairs that led down into a dark and morbid chamber. A huge chamber that was filled with all sorts of machines. But mostly, all around the room, were tubes that were constantly being filled with some strange pink liquid. And at the center of the hundreds of tubes were very small, white, egg-like things with grooves running down it's sides. At the center of the dark and mysterious room lay, prone and strangely foreboding, a table with a phone and several other contraptions on it. A machine on the center of the table was apparently attached to all of the other hundreds of tubes in the room. It was to this table that a now dark and rather evil-looking Professor Tomoe walked to. "Soon, soon..." he said with a maniacal edge to his voice. "Soon the Death Busters will be ready..." He paused and look over the hundreds of eggs. Eggs. For that was what they were. "Once everything is ready, the world will be ours!" The man reared his head upwards and burst out into maniacal laughter. It was fortunate that the room was sound-proofed, or the wicked laughs may very well have turned Hotaru's dreams into nightmares. ************************* The sun lazily rose over Juuban and with it, Genma and Ranma. Genma had awakened first and thrown Ranma out of the, fortunately, open window and jumped out after him. This would have probably sent an ordinary man to a hospital, but Ranma was awake the moment he was air- borne and instinctively flipped to an upright, defensive position as he shot through air. And although he would never admit to the old man, he was glad that Genma had thrown him out the window. The Saotome School specialized in mid-air combat and if any human were meant to fly, they'd probably be a Saotome. Ranma was exhilarated. It may have sounded crazy to any other person, but he did secretly loved to wake up flying, although he wished he was dressed in something a little different than boxers and a shirt. Yes, flying. It felt like flying, and Genma had devised ways to allow one to stay in the air for much longer than usual. A slight shift in weight here, a slightly different stance there... There were hundreds of things to do and different positions to take in the air to help one stay up longer. And Ranma's quick mind was planning all of the possible ways he could scrape up a few extra seconds of air-time as he grabbed Genma's flying kick and flipped himself up with all his strength, more intent on getting a boost upwards than forcing the old man down. Getting a good shove up was the best way to stay in the airborne longer. Ranma felt himself rushing upwards and he forced his head up to look at the bright blue sky above. He got closer. And closer. And clo- ser. And it felt like he could go on forever; like the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts had no limits! But finally, gravity took it's hold and he slowed down; then started to fall. Ranma reluctantly tore his gaze downwards and saw that he had pushed himself up about two stories above his window. A new record! Ranma smirked, feeling good about himself and temporarily for- getting that he was pretty much in the middle of a battle. Then he noticed that his father had somehow managed to launch him- self up into the air and was flying towards him with an arm outstre- tched, his hands forming a spear. A burst of pride at his accomplishment and the knowledge that he had gravity on his side and Ranma decided to take the challenge and kick the old man back to the ground. Genma gaped in surprise when he realized that his son was going to take him head on. There were many things going in the boys favor, cer- tainly, but still... Ranma had never done this before as Genma still had more experience and could beat him quite easily in the air. Then again... They hadn't had a mid-air battle since Ranma had started to win regularly yet. Well, he'd put the boy back in his place. Well, he'd just have to remind Ranma who was still master of the Saotome School. Ranma and Genma flew at each other at lightning speeds and im- pacted hard, drawing grunt from both combatants; Ranma had managed to get his father in the head and Genma had stabbed his son in his stomach. Which injury was worth more 'points' is debatable. Ask a male Saotome and they'd probably say the stomach. Ask a more normal person, how- ever... The two pushed away from each other and plummeted towards the ground at high speeds. Genma turned slightly and took the fall on one side, manipulating some Ki to absorb the impact. The ground still cracked slightly from the landing, however. Ranma, on the other hand, merely flipped around and landed ligh- tly on his feet. Spinning around in a swift motion, he proceeded to start taunting his father. "Hah! What's the matter old man? Getting old? Ya can't even land right anymore, huh?" He then dropped into a defensive stance in preparation for his old man's attack, his mind calm and prepared. A part of Ranma's quietly wondered how the old man had managed to soften a fall like that while the rest was ready for anything. "Bring it on, old man." Ranma taunted. Genma grunted and replied. "Don't get cocky just because you managed to knock me down, boy. I'll show you just how much more you have to learn." "I'm waiting, Pops," Ranma replied, smirking. Unless Genma had been hiding some kind of weird secret technique or something, Ranma thought he had a damn good chance of winning. It sure as hell wouldn't be easy; Genma was a pretty good martial artist after all, especially in the air, but he could win. Genma tensed and took a defensive stance. The boy was good. Very good. He would be a true master of the Art one day soon. Very soon. There wasn't much left for Genma to teach Ranma now, in terms of fight- ing; but he wasn't about to admit that even to himself, much less Ranma. There wasn't much left to teach Ranma. That was true. But what was left was incredible: Ki manipulation. Or, more importantly, as Ranma already knew a little about that, Ki projection. But that could wait until later. He still hadn't decided if he should reveal the Forbidden Techniques to the boy. Sometimes, when he went to sleep, he still dreamed of their horrible power. But Ranma might need the techniques; especially with what he had planned for he boy... "Alright boy, get ready to lose!" And with that, Genma charged Ranma, his thoughts taking a back seat to the need to beat-up a certain son. Ranma blocked and weaved through a quick combination of kicks and punches, never losing his smirk. He was on a energy high from meeting Hotaru and the short but invigorating mid-air fight had only enchanced that. About an hour or so later, a sweating Ranma and Genma entered their little apartment. Through the door. Genma had conveniently remem- bered to bring his key with him before throwing Ranma out the window. Quietly, they boiled up some water for more cup noodles and ate in silence. Then Ranma took a quick bath and brushed his teeth when his father reminded him that he had to go to school. Genma was feeling surprised that Ranma hadn't protested and put on his uniform without complaint be- fore heading off to the window. Despite what those who 'knew him' might say, Genma could be rather observant; especially when it came to making sure his son would be a 'man among men'. And he noticed that Ranma was acting quite strangely right then. The boy was in a very good mood as he hadn't made one negative comment since their morning spar. It couldn't have been just the mid-air sparring. Genma knew that Ranma enjoyed being in the air, as any practitioner of his school should. That was one of the reasons he threw Ranma out: It always cheered him up despite Ranma's protests otherwise. And that was another thing that was missing. Ranma hadn't raised a word of false objection to being thrown out the window. "Son, are you feeling alright?" Genma asked, a bit concerned. Ranma turned around in surprise. His father was actually worried about him? Ranma wondered if Genma was feeling alright. "I'm fine, why?" "You haven't complained about anything all morning, I was won- dering if anything interesting happened to you to change your mind about school," Genma answered. Ranma shrugged. "I beat-up a buncha bullies yesterday, but I didn't go out and save the world or nuthin'." Genma looked at Ranma intently for a few seconds. Then he straightened and nodded. "Very well, then boy." Well, if Ranma was more cooperative, so much the better. Ranma shrugged and jumped out the window and to the street below. He then hopped onto a fence and walked off to where his father had said school was, whistling. A few passing pedestrians stared at Ranma in shock, but otherwise said nothing. After all, the Sailor Senshi operated here and a boy jumping down three stories unharmed wasn't TOO strange. Anyone but the most observant who happened to look at Ranma as he walked along the fencetops of Juuban right about then, headed towards his school, whistling cheerfully, would have thought something along the lines of: "What a cheerful-looking young man." But despite outward appearances, Ranma was also deep in thought. After a moment, Ranma shrugged to him- self. Ranma continued walking along the fences, drawing a few stares from pedestrians but not much else. He was also silently grateful that Genma had gotten him loose-fitting clothes. He didn't think he could stand anything too restrictive of movement. After that thought, Ranma shook his thoughts clear and became cheerful for real. After awhile of whistling his jaunty tune, Ranma eventually caught sight of his school. Hopping off the fence he was on, Ranma walked across the street to the all-boys junior high school with a slightly wary air about him. He wasn't usually like this and he supposed it had something to do with running into a bunch of guys trying to beat up on a poor girl. He walked through the gates and quickly scanned his surroun- dings. The few people who were there were all boys, of course. So Ranma entered the school building and up to the second floor. He strolled down a long corridor, bright sunlight shining in through the windows to his left. His search was made simpler because of this as he only had to keep an eye open on one side of the hallway. Ranma entered the room with the appropriately marked door and looked around. There was a middle-aged standing at the other end, his back turned to Ranma. Apparently, he hadn't noticed Ranma come in. Then again, Ranma hadn't made a sound as he entered the room, despite his slight nervousness. "Uh, 'scuse me?" Ranma began, trying to get the man's attention. The man turned around and regarded Ranma for a few seconds in surprise. "And you are?" He questioned. "Ranma Saotome," was the quick reply, accompanied with a small, stiff bow. "Ah, the new student." The man said realization dawning on his slightly wrinkled face. "You can call me Mr.Kumagai. And how may I help you." The old man stared at Ranma curiously, awaiting and answer. It wasn't often that a student, even a new one came to see him personally. "Er, well..." Ranma began nervously. He wasn't really sure why he was here right now. It wasn't like he needed help or anything, after all. Yeah, he could handle things... Still, well... "I'm new, an' all... So I thought I er..." Ranma trailed off, trying to think of something that didn't have the word "help" in it. "Thought might need to, uh... see how far I'm behind." Ranma mentally sighed in relief. He had gotten through the whole thing without using the word "help". Mr.Kumagai blinked. Then he blinked again. None of his students had EVER come to him for help personally. Then he smiled. The boy had obviously swallowed a lot of his pride to come to him. Actually, the bot hadn't actually asked for help, but he could tell. Ranma wanted help, but was too proud to actually say it. In fact, he remembered the prin- cipal mentioning that the father had said the boy would need extra help. Well, then he would help. "Well then, you just take a seat over there and I'll give you a test to see how much you know." Ranma nodded, his face alit with relief, and took a seat by a window while Mr.Kumagai rummaged around in his desk. After a short while, the teacher came over to Ranma's desk with a paper booklet, a piece of paper and a pencil. "Just go through this booklet and fill in the correct bubbles here." The man said. "Don't worry. Just take your time, we aren't doing anything important in class today." "Um, okay." "And good luck," the teacher added before he turned around and headed back to his desk. Ranma looked after the man for a second before turning back to his test. He almost fearfully opened the small booklet to the first page. "History" it read in big, bold letters. Ranma sighed in relief. He knew he was pretty good in history. Traveling around with Genma, he had learned a lot about the history of the various places he had been to. He had tried talking to every new person he met in an attempt to make friends and got a hefty amount of knowledge instead. Ranma quickly breezed through the first few pages of the book, gaining confidence with each answer, then he suddenly cringed. "World History." He whispered. Ranma slowly went through the World History pages, only half sure at best on most of the answers. The rest he just guessed. There were only four choices, after all. After he finished that section, Ranma turned the page, read the words "Science", and cringed again. The sweating martial artist slowly worked through the book, absently aware that the bell had rung and that students were shuffling into the class, some of them staring Ranma curiously. The teacher just told them all to sit down and leave the new student alone. About two and a half hours later, Ranma was finally done. And so he put down his pencil and stretched, glad that the ordeal was finally over. Some of the parts on the test he had easily breezed through, but most of it took, well... a little longer. The teacher noticed that his new student was finished and went over and took his paper away. "You just sit here and try to pay atten- tion until I can correct this." Ranma nodded and the teacher walked back to the front of the class and put Ranma's paper on his desk. Then he returned to his lecture on history. Surprisingly, Ranma found himself very interested in the lec- ture. It really expanded on what he already knew about history and Ranma found discovered answers to some of the questions he had about what he had learned from the various people he had meet. He also found himself particularly interested in all of the battles and assassinations back then. He kept thinking about what he could have done with his martial arts skills if he were there. All too soon, Ranma found the bell that signaled lunch ringing and interrupting the teachers lecture. He sighed and stood up, stretching. Ranma then proceeded to follow the flow of students to the lunch room while Mr.Kumagai took out a dusty answer sheet, blew it clean and started working on Ranma's test. After following the rolling mass of blue-dressed teens, Ranma eventually found himself in a large room that was obviously the caf- eteria. It was packed tight and Ranma stood in the back, looking at everyone curiously. He wouldn't be able to get to the front without doing a lot of punching. Unless... Ranma smiled. If he couldn't go through them(which he actually could.) he could go over them! And so thinking, Ranma jumped up, ready to hop on heads to reach the food. He was hungry damnit! At that exact same second, he saw another boy, wearing a bandana jump up, not as high as Ranma, but he could tell the boy was a pretty good martial artist by the fact that he was able to do what he did at all. Then he saw that the boy was reaching for something as a voice rang out in the background. "Last curry bread!" Ranma twisted slightly, changing his course sufficiently that he would be sent right over... there! Ranma reached out with one hand and... yes! He got the bread! And then, hit- ting the other wall on the other side of the room, he rebounded back clear across the room and landed on his feet, quickly unwrapping the bread and devouring it ravenously. The rest of the students turned and looked at Ranma surprise. They obviously hadn't expected him to get the bread. The bandana-clad boy landed and spun on Ranma in rage. "Who are you!" He demanded, a fist clenched tightly shut. Ranma looked up from his eating, surprised that someone was talk- ing to him. "Ranma Saotome." He said, assessing the other boy. Ranma then noted the cracking floor beneath the boy Ranma smiled. Maybe the guy would spar with him. The bandana-clad boy was momentarily startled out of his anger when he saw Ranma smile, but he quickly bared his- Ranma thought in surprise. And shouted out, "Ranma Saotome, that was my bread! I'll make you pay for this!" Ranma blinked. Had that been a challenge? "Let's go outside!" And with that, the boy stalked off somewhere. Ranma shrugged, finished the rest of his food in a few seconds and quickly ran after the fanged-boy. "Hey, wait up!" He called after the boy as the rest of the students slowly exited the cafeteria, there being no food left. The bandana-clad boy turned and regarded Ranma with an angry eye as he ran to him. "What do you want?" he demanded angrily. "Aw c'mon," Ranma said, rolling his eyes. "It's just bread ya know?" "I haven't eaten in days! Only a dishonorable thief like you would steal my fair share of the bread and let me starve!" The boy returned hotly. Ranma narrowed his eyes at the comment on his honor but decided to let it slide. "Alright I'm... sorry, alright?! I didn't know you were that hungry! I was pretty hungry too ya know!" The bandana-clad boy's anger filled faced softened. "Well, I suppose I can forgive you this time." Ranma gave a mental sigh of relief. He wasn't afraid of the boy, but he wanted friends, not enemies. "So what's your name?" "Ryoga Hibiki," the bandana-clad boy replied proudly. "So..." Ranma trailed off, trying to think up something to say. Maybe they could be friends. "You wanna spar?" Ryoga blinked. "You still want to fight me? Didn't you just apologize to me?!" Ranma shrugged. "That's because I don't want no enemies. But I can tell you're a pretty good martial artist." Ryoga smirked, confident that he'd pound this Ranma into the ground. "Fine then. You asked for it, Saotome." "Alright, let's go outside." Ranma said, smiling. "Um..." Ryoga began nervously. "You better lead the way." Ranma looked at Ryoga oddly for a second before shrugging heading towards the front the nearest exit. Ryoga fell to the ground with a grunt and quickly rolled back to his feet, wiping sweat from his brow. Ranma, meanwhile, was sweating and having a great time! "So, you had enough yet?" Ranma taunted. "Yeah right!" Ryoga shouted, Then he charged Ranma with a light- ningfast series of punch and kicks, most of which Ranma dodged or blocked. The few that got through, however, managed to bruise him. Ranma then grabbed a kick, wincing slightly at the pain and sent Ryoga flying behind him. Ryoga rolled and immediately spun around and charged Ranma, kicking and punching expertly. One of his punches managed to get Ranma on the shoulder, distracting him long enough to send a kick to his ribs. Ranma rolled with the kick and quickly jumped back up, sending three lightning-fast roundhouses that Ryoga may have been able to stop if it just weren't so damn fast. Ryoga soon found himself on the defensive as Ranma actually in- creased the speed of his attacks and pressed him back! Many of the hits got through Ryoga's defenses as he steadily got more and more tired, until he realized that this was a quick way to losing. So he decided that taking a few of Ranma's hits(which weren't as strong as Ryoga's, of course) would be acceptable if he could pay Ranma back with interest. Of course, there was the very high chance that that would backfire and leave Ryoga open to a long and painful combo, but he was hoping that he could surprise Ranma with his endurance and get a good hit in. And so Ryoga took one of Ranma's punches and, not bothering to block the next attacks, kicked a surprised Ranma at the side as he wondered why his punch had made it through. Ranma blocked, but was still sent stumb- ling back a few steps. Before he could recover, Ryoga pressed the ad- vantage with few more punches and kicks which dazed Ranma. But when he sent the last kick, however, Ranma had flipped over the fanged-boy. Ryoga immediately jumped upwards, expecting Ranma to try to sweep him; instead, he found himself hit by several quick kicks to his side and sent flying to the ground, He stood up and looked at Ranma. He was standing in a loose stance, breathing hard, probably with a few bruises under his uniform, and grinning widely. Ryoga continued staring at Ranma. Then, slowly, as if he weren't used to it, he too smiled. "I haven't had such a good fight on ground in a long time!" Ranma said before he walked over and patted Ryoga on the back as he seemed to be in a good mood. He was smiling, after all. Ryoga stood still, as he was in no better condition than Ranma, and tried to catch his breath. "You're pretty good," He said simply. "Of course," Ranma said, smirking, although he was a little an- noyed that he had been distracted by his punch going through. Then he noticed the crowd of students staring at him and Ryoga in awe. "Um, maybe we should go inside." Ryoga nodded and headed off in the opposite direction of the school building. "Um, Ryoga? The school is in the other direction." Ranma pointed out. "Oh, okay." Ryoga then headed in a different. "No, THAT way!" Ranma said pointing at the school. "Oh." Ryoga headed off in the direction of a tree. Ranma shook his head and wondered if this was Ryoga's weird idea of a joke. One of the students decided to help Ranma out and walked up to him. "You see," The student began as Ranma turned to him. "Ryoga has a VERY bad sense of direction. In fact, he's absent from school a lot of times because of it." "It can't be THAT bad," Ranma argued disbelievingly. "Take a look for yourself," the student replied, pointing at Ryoga. Ranma looked over at Ryoga, who was looking at a tree and scra- tching his head, asking where the school was. "Okay, maybe you have a point," Ranma said before he jogged over to Ryoga and pulled him in the right direction. "School is THIS way, Ryoga." "You can let me go!" Ryoga shouted, yanking his arm free and fol- lowing Ranma. "I can walk by myself!" Ranma shrugged and led his friend inside and back into the caf- eteria. Once there, he turned back around and looked at Ryoga, deciding to ask about his direction problem later. "You're pretty good, Ryoga, what style do you practice." Ryoga looked at Ranma and answered proudly. "It's a family school!" Ranma smiled. "Cool. I know some other styles but I mostly use the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. It's my family school." "Really?" Ryoga asked, his slight anger at Ranma forgotten for the moment as he had finally found someone as good as him at martial arts. "Most of the people here aren't good at martial arts, you're the first one to give me a good fight." "Hmph, I could have won," Ranma said confidently. "Are you insulting my school?!" Ryoga demanded, starting to get angry. "Huh? Where did that come from?" Ranma asked in surprise. "You said you could beat me," Ryoga said slowly. Ranma blinked. "Yeah, so? It just means that I'm better than you, it doesn't have nothing to do with your school." Ryoga clenched his fist and growled. "You." He began. "Are in- sulting." He pulled back a hand and Ranma suddenly realized that maybe he had said something wrong. "My skill!?!?" Ryoga was just about to send a punch that would have broken through solid rock at Ranma when his sto- mach suddenly made known it's need for food. Ranma quickly backed off as Ryoga looked down at his stomach and tried to repair the situation. "Um, look, I'm... sorry... 'bout what I said. How 'bout I treat ya to some food after school?" Ryoga looked at Ranma for a long second. Could he trust the little thief? The guy had stolen his food, after all. But he was offering to make amends... Ryoga he slowly nodded. It wasn't like there was anything else for him to do after school. "Fine then. Where's your room." An image of Ryoga staring at a tree flashed through Ranma's head and he sweatdropped. "Um, I'll come to your room, where is it?" Ryoga pointed out a window and replied, "Room 1-C." Ranma's sweatdrop got bigger. "Oookay... How about I take you to your class?" Ryoga snorted. "I think I can find my way to my own class." Ranma decided to try a different tactic. "Yeah? So where is it?" Ryoga pointed in a direction. "That's a tree you idiot!" Ryoga started to get angry again. "What did you call me?" Ranma sighed and shook his head. "Never mind, let's go to your class." And with that, he grabbed Ryoga and dragged him off. "Let go of me!" Ryoga protested again, snatching his hand back again and expecting Ranma to grab it and start dragging him around again. To his surprise, Ranma didn't. "Well, here you are, Ryoga" Ranma said. Then he lead the bandana- clad boy to a seat and pushed him onto it. "Sit." Ranma commanded. Ryoga reluctantly obliged as, although he hated to admit it, he probably wouldn't have gotten there without Ranma's help. Once Ranma saw that Ryoga was apparently not going anywhere, he let go of the boy. "I'll drop by after school, see ya." And with that, Ranma headed off to his own class. Mr.Kumagai munched on his biscuit thoughtfully as he looked at the results of Ranma's test again. Ranma had done wonderfully on History. World, History, on the other hand, was considerably worse but still acceptable. The boy had done fairly well in Physical Science, however. Not award-winning good, but good enough. The rest of the science area was completely bombed. In all the math that weren't word problems, anything that was more complicated than adding fractions, with the exception of geometry, was absolutely horrible. His vocabulary wasn't that great either. From all this data, Mr.Kumagai was able to decide what books to start Ranma off with. A lot lower level than what he had expected, but it didn't really matter in the end as long as the boy cooperated. Then the bell rang and the room started filling with students. Ranma entered his room and made his way to his desk by the window again, the students who had seen his 'sparring match' with Ryoga looking at him in respect. Ranma dropped down on his seat and looked at the tea- cher, wondering if he was going to teach history again. To his disap- pointment, Mr.Kumagai started talking about Math. Something about isola- tion or something like that. That sent Ranma on a long train of thoughts about loneliness before he finally collapsed on his desktop and fell asleep. A thrown eraser knocked him back to consciousness. "Mr.Saotome, I know you're new here," the teacher said. "But try to stay awake." Ranma apologized and returned the eraser back to the front while all the other students snickered. Ranma ignored them and tried to pay attention to something about bonds or something like that. That sent him on a train of thoughts that lead him through everything he had done with Hotaru the previous night and he sighed, impatient for class to end. After what seemed liked an eternity later of more lectures later, Ranma was about to fall asleep again. However, the bell rang and he jumped to his feet, ready to spring out of class. "Ranma, come here," Mr.Kumagai called. Ranma halted and walked slowly over to the teacher as the other students all pushed their way through the door at the same time, eager to get out of school. Ranma wished the exact same thing. "Um, what is it?" The teacher, in response, took out three thick textbooks and han- ded them over to Ranma. "History, math and science. I believe I'll be able to teach you literature and history in class. ." "..." "I think you should stay after school for help," the teacher con- tinued when Ranma didn't say anything. That got a response. "What?! I can't stay after school!" Ranma protested. "Be reasonable, Ranma," Mr.Kumagai said calmly. "If you want to catch up with the others, you'd best cooperate." "Isn't there another way?" Ranma asked, more calmly this time. "I could read the books at home." He suggested hopefully. He really did NOT want to spend any more time at school than necessary. The teacher shook his head. "For history, perhaps, but the others, I think you'll need help. Unless you get a tutor, you'd better stay af- ter school." "Well, let me try first!" Ranma protested. The teacher shrugged; this was what he was used to students doing. But he'd be more giving with this one. He seemed like the stubborn type, anyway. "Very well, just learn what you can starting at the beginning and I'll give you a test at the end of the month to see how much you've improved." And with a gesture towards the door, Mr.Kumagai turned to his desk to start grading papers. Ranma sighed in relief, confident that he would be able to master everything easily. He had two weeks, after all. Picking up his books, he exited the room and headed down to the first level, towards Ryoga's room. Ryoga sat at his desk fuming. At that moment, Ranma stepped into the room, three books held at his side. "Hey Ryoga, let's go." With his free hand, Ranma rooted around in his pocket to see how much money he had with him. "What took you so long?!" Ryoga demanded. Ranma blinked. Was he always angry at little things. "Hey, I was held up by the teacher! This is my first day here, ya know?" Ryoga muttered something and stood up. "Well, lets go." Ranma nodded and walked out of class, leading Ryoga through the hallways of the school until he was finally outside. From there on he headed to the gate. Ranma stopped for a moment as he neared the main gates and glanced behind him. He saw, as he half-expected and half- dreaded, Ryoga wandering somewhere off to right side of the school, yelling about that coward Saotome. Ranma sighed and ran over to Ryoga, whacking him on the head. "Ya don't have to go around calling me a coward just because ya got lost, you know!" "I bet it was you who got me lost in the first place!" Ryoga shouted in reply. Ranma shook his head. "Aw give it a rest already Ryoga, do you like being angry all the time, or something." Ryoga froze for a moment, his anger starting to seep away. Ranma's words managed to strike a nerve. Then Ryoga forced his thoughts away and glared at Ranma. He wouldn't let a little thief like Ranma get to him. "Whatever, let's go." "Okay." Ranma grabbed one of Ryoga's wrists with his free hand and dragged him out of the school and into the streets. Ranma looked around for several moments before finally deciding to take a left. "Where are we going, anyways?" Ryoga asked after calming down a bit from his anger at Ranma's casual treatment of his hands. "And you can let me go." Ranma let go of Ryoga and continued walking, glancing behind to make sure the boy was following. "We're going to see a friend of mine's. I wanna see if she want's to eat too." Ryoga noticed the use of a female pronoun and raised an eyebrow. "You have a girlfriend?" He asked incredulously. What kind of girl would like a little thief like Ranma? "Huh? Where'd you get that idea?!" Ranma asked in surprise. "Hey, I was just asking!" Ryoga said a little defensively as Ranma took another turn. "Well, I just met her yesterday so what do YOU think?" Ranma asked as he decided to hop onto a fence as he could better keep an eye on Ryoga from up there. "Um, yes?" Ranma groaned. "We're not! Okay!" Ryoga smirked. So the little thief had a sensitive point. "Why would you get so angry if you weren't?" "Ah, shut up," Ranma said, shaking his head. "And I am NOT angry." "So then you won't mind if I go out with her?" Ryoga asked. Ranma thought about what to say for a quick second. Then, Ranma suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Look Ryoga, I know it'll be hard for ya, but try ta be sensitive; I met her by beating up a buncha bullies so... maybe she's in shock or something." Ranma stopped congratulating himself and gave himself a mental smack. Fortunately for Ranma, Ryoga seemed to have missed anything that might appear suspicious and become more thoughtful. "Don't worry, I'm not planning to do anything." "Heh heh heh..." Ranma stared at Ryoga nervously for a few seconds. He didn't like the way Ryoga was laughing silently to himself. Pushing it out of his mind, he turned back around and continued walking, glancing at Ryoga every now and then to make sure he was still following. Every now and then, he had to shout at Ryoga to come back be- fore he wandered off. Each time, Ryoga muttered something about humil- iating Ranma. Ranma decided to ignore the comments and kept on walking on the fence. "Why are you walking up there, anyways?" Ryoga asked curiously and with a touch of annoyance. He was probably just trying to show off. "Well, it's fun," Ranma replied, shrugging and glad that Ryoga wasn't saying anything weird. "And balance practice, I guess." "Practice..." Ryoga said thoughtfully. "You wanna spar tomorrow?" Ranma smirked. "I'd love to." Hotaru nearly ran home but decided against it as it would make her tired. She had also considered walking on a fence, like Ranma, but had decided against that too. The students around her would have probably considered it weird, but she really didn't care; she was already beyond redemption in their eyes. No, she more afraid that she may have a sei- zure up there, and Ranma wouldn't be up there to catch her. So she set- tled for a brisk walk home. Ranma said that he would visit after school and she wanted to be home when he did get there. The school day had gone by so very slowly for her. She was already very far ahead of her classes so she didn't pay much attention to the teacher. And the other students were just as cold and scared of her as ever. In fact, some of them seemed even more scared. Hotaru also noticed that the student who Ranma had beat up was absent. Reaching her house, Hotaru unlocked the door, immediately sprinted into her room and put her books on her desk. She then turned on all her lamps and took a moment to admire the way it made her room look so... mysterious. Then the pale girl heard the bell ring. She quietly berated herself for an idiot for that thought. Hotaru changed out of her school uniform. The snug outfit she now wore covered everything except for her hands and face. And except for the short skirt, which was more of a gray color, it was all black. After checking to make sure everything was neat and tidy in her room, she opened her door and walked down the stairs towards the living room, where she was sure they would be. Ranma and Ryoga walked up to the door of Hotaru's house slowly, both of them a inspecting the huge place with some awe. "She lives here?" Ryoga asked as he reached the door. "Yeah, the place looks even bigger in daylight..." Ranma said. Then he snapped out of his thoughts and decided to ring the bell. "Alright Ryoga, best behavior." Ranma commanded, his voice full of mock sternness. "What?! Are you implying that my behavior isn't good?" Ryoga de- manded, turning to Ranma with a clenched fist. "Shut up!" Ranma hissed. "This is NOT the time!" Ryoga reluctantly turned back around, mentally swearing that he would humiliate Ranma later. Just as Ryoga finished that thought and turned back to face the house, one of the large doors to the house slowly sung open. Ranma nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw who had opened the door. A woman dressed in red with long, red hair pulled back in some sort of a pony-tail. His danger-sense(which wasn't too much at his cur- rent age of fifteen.) had suddenly skyrocketed into the very-bad-things section when the woman had appeared. It took all of his will power not to immed-iately launch into a devastating offensive combination of at- tacks that would have killed her five times over. He didn't like to fight with girls, but if his fledgling danger-sense could sense some- thing of that magnitude, well, it's gotta be bad. "May I have your names, please?" the woman asked, her voice soft and polite. Ranma felt his danger-sense slowly inch back into the normal range as he stood there, speechless for a few seconds, in a slightly defensive position. He glance over at Ryoga and saw that he, too seemed a bit edgy. Then, Hotaru's father appeared and Ranma relaxed a little bit more, as nothing involving mass violence had yet occurred. "What is it? Do we have guests?" Then he noticed Ranma. "Oh, you're Hotaru's friend." He said, smiling kindly. The woman seemed a bit surprised. "Hotaru's friend?" Everybody ig- nored her. Ryoga was the first one to respond. "Uh, g-good afternoon, sir." "Good afternoon, young man." Hotaru's father replied. Ranma shook his head and spoke. He was being edgy over nothing. "Um, yeah, good afternoon." "This is my assistant Kaolinite." He gestured to the red-haired lady. "Kaolinite, please show our guests to the living room to wait for Hotaru." "Yes, Professor," the lady replied as Professor Tomoe turned around and walked away. Then she turned to Ranma and Ryoga. "Please fol- low me." The lady turned around and started walking away. Ranma and Ryoga took off their shoes and followed her, Ryoga closing the door be- hind him. Once they were in the living room, Kaolinite pointed to a sofa, "Please wait here." "Uh, sure," Ranma replied as the red-head walked away. When he was sure the strange woman was out of hearing-range, and then some, Ranma to Ryoga. "Um, did you..." He trailed off. Ryoga nodded. "She... she's..." Ryoga struggled to find the right word to describe what he had felt. Evil? Dangerous? A very bad thing? "There's something about her," he said at last. Ranma mentally sighed in relief, glad that he wasn't the only one who felt something. Then he leaned back comfortably on the couch, allow- ing himself to forget about Kaolinite and looked around the living room with curiosity. "Nice place..." he commented. "Yeah..." Ryoga agreed, his earlier tenseness quickly fading. He wasn't used to feeling... like that and was glad to forget about it. "Lot of it's just useless junk, though." Ranma continued, noticing the vases, dishes and paintings. "They're supposed to make the house look better," Ryoga replied. "Well, then I guess they're aren't all that useless..." Ranma trailed off. "But I wouldn't buy 'em." "You'd probably steal it." Ryoga said, scowling. "Will you just forget about that damn bread already?" Ranma asked in irritation as he reached for a plate of candy on the table. "No!" Ranma popped the strawberry-flavored piece of candy in his mouth, pocketed the wrapper and sighed, sucking on the food. Then the one of the doors opened and Ranma and Ryoga both turned around as Hotaru stepped out. Ranma choked on his piece of candy and had to force it out of his throat and crush the thing with his teeth before swallowing it. "Ranma!" Hotaru exclaimed, walking over to Ranma. "You came!" Ranma took in a few deep breathes before speaking. "Uh, yeah. You, er look nice," he said nervously, taking a few more breaths. Hotaru gave a slight blush, barely even noticeable and certainly not seen by Ranma, who was busy catching his breath. Then she looked over at Ryoga, who was snickering silently. "Is he your friend?" Hotaru asked a little nervously. All the boys she knew before Ranma had always treated her coldly at best. The reaction from Ryoga was instantaneous as he jumped to his feet, shaking a fist at Ranma. "Ranma is NOT my friend!" Ryoga shouted. Then he turned to Ranma. "I'm only here so you can repay me for stealing my bread!" "Aw, give it a rest already, Ryoga!" Ranma replied in irritation. "That piece 'a bread was in the air, it wasn't nobody's bread, and it sure wasn't yours!" "Of course it was!" Ryoga argued. "Only a thief like you would steal it like that!" "I am NOT a thief!" "Then why did you steal my bread!" "It was NOT your bread!" "Yes it was!" Ryoga dove at Ranma, trying to strangle the 'truth' out of him. "Admit it!" Ranma nimbly jumped aside, letting Ryoga hit the sofa with a soft and cushioned thud. "No, that bread was in the air! It was fair game!" Ryoga spun around, just about ready to rip Ranma's head off. Before he could, however, Hotaru burst out in giggles. Ranma and Ryoga instantly froze as the cheerful sound reached their ears and slowly turned towards Hotaru. "Uh, what's so funny." Ranma asked slowly. He hadn't known Hotaru too long, but from what he had been able to gat- her, she didn't seem like the kind to giggle a lot. "It's funny the way you two argue," Hotaru replied, her soft and uplifting giggles still trickling forth and easing the tension between the two martial artist before her. Ryoga and Ranma simultaneously blinked. "It is?" Hotaru stopped her giggling and straightened up, smiling. "I'm sorry, my name is Hotaru Tomoe, welcome to my home." Then she gestured to the Sofa. "Please have a seat." Ranma and Ryoga both sat back down. Then Ryoga remembered his plan to humiliate Ranma. "So you're Ranma's girlfriend?" he asked, smirking. Hotaru blushed and looked at the ground while Ranma whacked Ryoga on the head. "Shut up Ryoga!" the boy shouted. "We just met yesterday!" Ryoga ignored Ranma and continued on. "Ranma and I just met and all the way here, Ranma kept blabbing on and on about how cute you were. And how nice you are and all these other corny stuff." Hotaru's blush deepened and she stared at the ground in embarrassment. Ryoga thought. "And he was also telling me about how he fanta- sized about kiss-" Ryoga's words were cut off when Ranma pounced at him and knocked him to the ground. Ranma then pinned the boy down and clasped a hand over his mouth, expecting the him to try to break free. Ryoga didn't. Ranma looked at Hotaru nervously. "Heh heh, ignore him, he's just trying to get back at me for beating him or something." Hotaru nodded and looked back up. However, she still avoided trying to make eye- contact with Ranma. Ranma looked down at Ryoga, who was obviously trying laugh. The young martial-artist didn't see what was so funny about embarrassing both him and Hotaru, however. "Are ya gonna shut up now, Ryoga?" Ryoga nodded and Ranma stood back up, releasing Ryoga. Ryoga immediately burst out laughing and Ranma chose to ignore him and scowled. He instead went over to get his books as Ryoga got to his feet and sat down on the sofa, chuckling. "Can I leave these somewhere?" Ranma asked, indicating his books. Hotaru took a few seconds to compose himself before answering. "Yes, let's go to my room." Ranma nodded and Ryoga was about to say something to embarrass Ranma when a cold voice that sent shivers down both their spines spoke out by the door. "I'll take this tea to your room then," came Kaolinite's emotionless voice. Ranma once again resisted the urge to start pounding the woman and, instead, inched closer to Hotaru and shifted his weight slightly to allow quicker access to Hotaru in case Kaolinite did turn up to be a monster in disguise or something. Ranma glanced at Ryoga and could tell that he had slipped into a more defensive position, the amused expres- sion on his face gone. The biggest surprise, however, was when he looked at Hotaru. Her face was narrowed in anger and she seemed, well, angry. After a few seconds, Hotaru walked forward, grabbed the tray of tea from Kaolinite and said, her voice filled with ice, "It's alright, don't stick your nose into my household Kaolinite." Then she stepped past her disappeared into the hallway behind her. Ranma and Ryoga looked at each other questioningly as Kaolinite also disappeared somewhere and quickly ran to catch up with Hotaru. They followed her up to the second floor of the house where she finally slowed down back to a normal pace. Was Kaolinte really so bad that a sweet girl like Hotaru would... dislike her? "I'm sorry," Hotaru apologized. "My father is a Scientist," she said as she headed down the hallway, Ranma and Ryoga listening to her intently. "He's so busy with his projects that she comes over to help. But..." Hotaru trailed off, remembering all the times Kaolinite had been mean to her. Ranma spoke up. "Well, if it makes ya feel better, I don't like her. She..." Ranma trailed off. "I just don't trust her. Ryoga too, I think." The Lost Boy nodded when Hotaru looked at him. Hotaru smiled. "Thank you, Ranma." Then Ryoga realized something. "Hotaru, don't you have a mother?" Ranma and Hotaru both paused. Ranma never though much about not seeing Hotaru's mom around because he had been living with just his own father for so long. Then he noticed the sad expression on Hotaru's face and was instantly worried. "My mother..." Hotaru began. "She died a long time ago." Ryoga immediately felt guilty for bringing such an obviously painful subject up. "Um, I'm sorry for bringing up the subject..." Hotaru continued walking again. "It's okay." She said as she stopped in front of a door and opened it, stepping inside. "Besides, I want to know more about you two." Ranma followed Hotaru inside and looked around, his face lighting up with awe as he took in the dimly-lit room. It was pitch black, with the windows covered by curtains. Or it would have been, if not for num- erous lamps were placed at various locations, shining softly and in- stilling a sense of mysterious peace to those watching. The peace of calm, soft silence and soothing, resting darkness. The mysteriousness of the lamps, glowing softly like miniature stars, some apparently in mid- air at first-glance. Ranma stared around, caught unprepared for such a unique atmos- phere. "Wow," Ranma breathed out in awe. The room reminded him of the nights he had traveling on the road. "This is... cool. I didn't know you could get a place to look so... cool with just a buncha lamps." Hotaru smiled. "Thank you." She then went over to put the tea down and walked over by Ranma. "I like to collect lamps," she said simply. "Well, I like your room," Ranma replied simply. "So do I," Ryoga added, as he looked around. He would have never been able to make his room like this. Especially with his sense of direction... Hotaru then reached out and took hold of Ranma's books, wanting to have a look at them. Ranma just reacted on instinct and released his hold on the books when he felt it being tugged with barely a thought other than to identify that it was Hotaru who wanted the books. Hotaru was clear, and so the books were given. Hotaru quickly glanced over the covers of the books curiously. She was pleased to see that the History book was a high-level one. Not that that meant much as there weren't really 'levels of History'. The Math and Science books, however, weren't exactly Junior High School level. She immediately had a sneaking suspicion as to the reasons. "Ranma," Hotaru began. "You and Ryoga go to the same school, right?" Ranma shrugged as he looked over the room in fascination, "Yeah, so?" The similar uniforms was a dead giveaway to someone with a brain. And Hotaru seemed like the type to specialize in that area. "Why do you have books and not Ryoga?" Hotaru asked. Ranma stopped inspecting Hotaru's room and sweatdropped. "Uh..." Ryoga turned his own gaze and looked at Ranma curiously. "Yeah, Ranma, why DO you bring all those books home?" Ryoga inquired. "That is..." Ranma said nervously. He didn't exactly want them to think he was stupid. Hotaru looked at Ranma curiously. "Hmmm?" "I'm, uh, a little behind 'cause I haven't been to school this school before, so I, uh, gotta... catch up," Ranma said, not going into too much detail. He couldn't bring himself to lie to Hotaru, but he wasn't about to embarrass himself in front of Ryoga either. Hotaru looked back down at the books in her hands. Then she looked back at Ranma and saw that he was staring nervously at Ryoga and she suddenly understood. She put the books down and shot Ranma a look that said they would have to talk about it later. Ranma mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Hotaru understood. Then he cringed. The three stood in silence for awhile before Ryoga spoke up. "So when are you going to pay me back for stealing my bread, Ranma." He demanded. "Oh yeah!" Ranma snapped his fingers and spun to face Hotaru. "Hotaru, you wanna go and eat?" "W-what?" Hotaru asked. That had been a little fast and she didn't think she had heard correctly. He couldn't have invited her to go eat with him; nobody ever did anything like that with her anymore. Even her father... "Would ya like to go eat with me an Ryoga?" Ranma repeated his question, eager to get a move on. He was pretty sure Hotaru wouldn't refuse. He would never have refused a free meal. Then he realized some- thing else and sighed. Free for them, maybe... "Don't worry, I'm pay- ing," he added, a little despondent. Hotaru stared at Ranma. Somebody was being... nice to her. Nobody had ever been so nice to her for the longest time. And here was this boy, asking her to go eat with him and his friend. In her experience, boys tended to be the more cruel of her classmates. Last night had proved that. And yet here was a boy, who had rescued her and carried her to a hospital. And here he was... Hotaru smiled. Here was Ranma, her friend. And Ryoga, someone who had been much kinder to her than most other people. "Uh, so... do you?" Ranma asked, starting to feel weird with Hotaru staring at him like that. Not that he really minded, but it didn't look like she was really seeing him. It was more like she was deep in thought or something. Hotaru beamed her cutest smile at Ranma, who actually staggered back a step, overwhelmed by the sight. "I'd love to!" She then hurried over to her wardrobe to dig out a coat as Ranma tried to recover from her unintentional assault. His mouth almost opened up for an insult against the girl as that had been a sort of attack and he had been trained to fight back against any and all attacks. However, all thoughts about Hotaru that had even a touch of negative power were quickly melted down and converted to something useful by the facts that she was his, probably only, friend and hadn't attacked him. In fact, the smile had been rather pleasant... Ryoga snickered, walked over by Ranma and whispered into his ear. "You're already asking her on a date? I thought you just met yesterday?" Ranma elbowed Ryoga in his gut with enough force to show him he was serious and told him to "shut up." An hour later, Ranma, Hotaru and Ryoga walked out of the donut shop, Ranma a little disgruntled because he had just spent all of his money. One look at Hotaru's happy face immediately made up for all of that. The money was just going to go towards food or clothes, anyways. And his current dress was apparently fine as it had survived the several small fights that had broken out between him and Ryoga and de- layed them on the way to the store. "Well, what now?" Ranma asked no one in particular. Ryoga shrugged. "You kept your part of the bargain, so I suppose I should be heading back home now." An image of Ryoga trudging through snow-covered plains in the middle of a storm flashed through Ranma's head. "Um, I think we'd better walk you home," he said. "Ryoga has a lousy sense of direction," he explained when Hotaru looked at him questioningly. "I do not!" Ryoga protested. "Fine, whatever, where do you live, then?" Ranma asked. "That way," Ryoga pointed back at the store they had just come from. Ranma and Hotaru both sweatdropped. "Um, why don't you just tell us where you live," Ranma suggested. It was Ryoga's turn to sweatdrop. Several hours later, Ranma, Hotaru and Ryoga stood in front of a large house. Hotaru was breathing a little faster than normal and Ranma and Ryoga's clothes were in disarray. The place wasn't as big as Hotaru's but it was still a nice, two story home. "You've got a nice house," Ranma commented, glad that they had finally found the blasted place, as it was starting to get dark. He had had a general idea of how bad Ryoga's sense of direction was, but he hadn't really seen it in action on this scale; it was almost unbelievable. Still, it had been pretty fun, in his opinion. Running away from large, vicious animals or guards was actually enjoyable when he was with people other than Genma. People he really liked. Even having Ryoga curse at him as he ran across the fencetops, Hotaru in his arms, had been exhilarating. And Hotaru. Good ol' Hotaru. At first, he had been worried that she wouldn't like wandering around town so much, running away from or brawling with various mammals. But she had enjoyed the whole thing, she had even said so herself once they had found Ryoga's house. Sure, she was tired, but not that much, as Ranma had carried her whenever they ran for anything other than short distances. And they had run a LOT. "I suppose," Ryoga said in answer to Ranma's comment. "Whenever I can find it." He admitted ruefully. "And even when I do, there's almost always no one home." Then Ryoga walked up to the door to his house and reached into a pocket, searching for something. He eventually took out a small key. "I haven't used this in weeks." After unlocking and opening the door, he stepped inside and immediately turned towards the kitchen. "Where are you going?" Hotaru called after Ryoga. "My room," was the reply. Ranma and Hotaru stepped inside the dark house, locking the door behind them, and went after Ryoga, who was standing in the kitchen scratching his head. "Where'd they move my room?" he asked in confusion. "Where exactly is your room?" Hotaru asked. "Second floor, third door to the right," Ryoga replied. Ranma smacked his head and grabbed Ryoga, pulling him towards the stairs, Hotaru following behind. Once they reached the correct door, Ranma opened the door and turned on the lights inside the room. It was a pretty bare room with a bed, dresser, a LOT of weights and a desk with some books and pencils on it. There was also a closet and a door that probably led to a bathroom. "My room..." Ryoga said softly. "I haven't been here in almost a month..." "Yeah, well you just stay here, Ryoga. I'll drop by ta take you to school tomorrow. Just leave your window open," Ranma said. "I don't need your help." Ryoga said, some anger showing. "Yeah, whatever Ryoga," Ranma replied. "We'll be going now." "Goodnight Ryoga," Hotaru said, smiling. "Windows open!" Then the two were gone, the door closed. Ryoga stood there for a few moments, staring at the closed door. "I don't need his help," he repeated. After an introspective moment, he went over and his window open. "But I'll take it anyways." Outside, in the darkening streets, Ranma and Hotaru walked towards Hotaru's home, Ranma whistling cheerfully. Once he saw some fences, he jumped ontop and turned towards Hotaru. "You wanna come up?" Hotaru nodded. "Of course." Once again, Ranma bent down and pulled Hotaru up, startling her with his speed and gentleness yet again. Again, he let her walk in front of him. The two walked on in comfortable silence as it got darker and Ranma decided that he would have to take her rooftop hopping one day. A few passing pedestrians also glanced at the odd couple curiously but said nothing. After awhile, however, Hotaru said something. "Are you having trouble in school Ranma?" Ranma started sweating. "Um, not exactly..." He trailed off. "You said you were trying to catch up with the other students," continued Hotaru. "Uh... so?" Ranma tried. Hotaru suddenly giggled. "Don't be so nervous, Ranma. I'm not going to think you're stupid." "The truth?" Ranma said hesitantly. "Yes, you haven't been paying attention in class, have you?" Hotaru asked teasingly. "Well, not exactly..." said Ranma again, trailing off. Hotaru frowned a bit. "Exactly what do you mean by 'not exactly'?" Ranma was acting too nervous for this to just be problems in school. Even if he was pretty far behind in Math and Science. Ranma sighed in defeat. "Alright, to tell you the truth, I haven't been to school in more than nine years." Hotaru almost fell of the fence in surprise, but was caught by Ranma. "Nine years?" she repeated, getting back up and facing Ranma. Ranma looked ashamed. "Well, me and my old man've been traveling around since I was six or something. We never stayed in a place too long before, so I never went to school." Hotaru regarded Ranma for a moment. She supposed it wasn't too surprising that someone as good at martial arts as him would be lacking in the academic area. He must have studied martial arts exclusively all his life. Then again, his history was good and the other areas were higher than what you would expect for someone who hadn't been to school for... How long? Nine years? That meant he hadn't been to school since he was six! It was amazing that he was where he was considering that! Well, Ranma might need some encouragement. "Don't feel so bad, Ranma. You're very smart, especially for someone who hasn't been to school in nine years. That history book was a very high-level one," she said comfortingly. Ranma snorted. "What about Math an' Science? And I'm still pretty far behind in everything else. And on toppa that, I gotta take this test or something in, what? Two weeks? Geez..." "I'm sure you'll do fine," Hotaru assured Ranma. "You're very intelligent." "Huh?" Ranma said in surprise. "Me? Intelligent?" Yeah right. His ego was big, but Ranma could admit to himself that he wasn't exactly an... what was that guys name? Einstein? Yeah, that guy who made that stupid bomb. "Of course." Hotaru said confidently. "Uneducated but intel- ligent." "Um... is there a difference?" Hotaru thought for a quick second on how to explain it to her friend. "I mean that you're bright, but there are a lot of things you don't know." Ranma nodded his head in understanding, seeing what Hotaru was getting at. "Oh." It was like when he first started out in martial arts. Or even just a few years ago. He had a lot of talent in the Art, he just hadn't learned a lot about it yet. Heck, that was still true now. But for all that school stuff? Him? Seeing that Ranma apparently understood what she had said, Hotaru turned back around and started walking gracefully forward again, Ranma close behind. "Are you going to stay after-school for help?" she asked after awhile, already knowing pretty much exactly what had happened. But she decided she need to be inconspicuous in doing what she was about to do. Ranma shook his head. "No way! I don't wanna stay in school any longer than I have to." "So what did the teacher suggest?" Hotaru questioned. Ranma shrugged. "He said something about getting a tutor, but I'm just gonna try to figure it out myself." Hotaru smiled and became thoughtful as the two walked on some more in silence, the sky getting darker and darker. After a short while, Hotaru spoke again. "I'd be happy to tutor you, Ranma." Ranma froze in mid- step. On a fence. Which is a LOT harder than it sounds. But defying gravity was a Saotome specialty. Hotaru, not hearing Ranma's footsteps behind her, turned around and looked at Ranma worriedly. "What's wrong Ranma? You... don't have to let me tutor you if you don't want to." The last part coming out a little sadly. Pros and cons regarding accepting Hotaru's offer flashed through Ranma's head. Foremost on the cons section was: He didn't need help and he didn't need help from a girl. Then on the Pros: You DO need help. And you're going to get help from Hotaru. Hotaru is you're friend, you should spend more time with you're friends. "I don't wanna bother you or nuthin'," Ranma said after a long second. Hotaru smiled. Was that all? "Don't worry about that, it'll be fun, anyway." Ranma thought, not liking the idea of studying. Then he realized something. Ranma looked back up into Hotaru's kind, purple eyes. In them he could see concern and hope. Hope? Thinking about it a little longer, Ranma came to a decision. Hotaru was his first friend in nine years. Even if they'd only known each other for about a day, Ranma felt... a bond with her. If Hotaru wanted to tutor him, how could he refuse? So Ranma smiled. "Sure, I'll be glad to let ya tutor me." And didn't that Einstein guy study at home and fail math or something? Hotaru smiled back. "Let's start today, okay?" Then she started walking gracefully down the fence again, this time with a much faster pace. "Today?!" Ranma asked incredulously. Hotaru nodded. "The test is in two weeks, right?" "Uh, yeah. I guess." "Then you have a lot of catching up to do and not much time to do it in." Hotaru concluded. "Let's go back to my house." With that Hotaru broke out into a sprint. Ranma was instantly worried. "Hotaru, slow down, you'll get tired!" Hotaru shouted back. "Then you'll catch me, right?" "..." "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Hotaru said, continuing with her run- ning. Ranma, followed behind, careful to catch Hotaru should she get tired. Hotaru ran, secure in the knowledge that her friend would help her when she got tired. It was fun running up here. She loved it. she thought sadly as she ran on, looking to her side every now and then to enjoy the view. Ranma ran behind Hotaru, a little annoyed but otherwise enjoying himself. The two continued running along the fence for awhile longer and Ranma noticed that Hotaru was starting to slow down and breathe harder. Hotaru gasped and fell, down: Into Ranma's arms. She stared into Ranma's eyes, catching her breath as he lifted her up, carrying her again. She observed as she felt herself moving. "Geez, why'd you do that, Hotaru?" Ranma asked as he hopped over onto a fence and headed towards his friend's home. "W-why... do you do it?" Hotaru said through her quick breaths. "Yeah but..." Ranma trailed off, trying to think of a polite way to say that Hotaru was weak. It was strange, actually. Normally, Ranma would have just said exactly what was on his mind and to hell with the consequences. He had even thought a little bit when he had talked to Ryoga. Hotaru looked at Ranma intently, catching her breath. He was ob- viously trying to think of something to say that wouldn't insult her. Nobody had been that considerate of her in a long time. "But I'm... weak, right?" Hotaru asked. "Uh, I didn't mean ta hurt your feelings or nuthin'," Ranma said nervously. "That's... okay... I'm used... to it," Hotaru replied tiredly. Ranma mentally sighed in relief and then mentally kicked himself a moment later when he realized something. "No, Hotaru, it ain't okay. It ain't right for someone ta insult ya. I'm... sorry... okay?" Ranma said, the last part more defensively than he wanted. Hotaru stared at Ranma in surprise for several long moments as he purposely looked at something other than her nervously. Then she shifted into a more comfortable position. She had figured that Ranma wasn't the type to have an easy time apologizing about anything. "Thank you, Ranma." Ranma laughed weakly as he ran onwards. "Uh, yeah. No problem." Hotaru smiled and relaxed, deciding to enjoy the trip home. Ranma sat on a chair at Hotaru's desk, silently mulling over the problem before him. Hotaru was on another chair next to him. In front of Ranma was a piece of paper with a few messy equations scribbled on in pencil. Ranma stared at on of the equations intently. Hotaru waited pat- iently. Ranma stared intently. Hotaru waited patiently. Ranma stared intently. Hotaru waited patiently. Ranma stared- "Argh!" He shouted in frustration, ripping his gaze from the incomprehensible problem before him. "I don't get it!" Hotaru smiled. "It's easy, Ranma-" Ranma cut her off. "See, even you think I'm stupid! I can't even get something as easy as that!" He gave a sigh filled with frustration. Hotaru frowned. That just wasn't true. Ranma had been picking up the concepts rather quickly. He just tended to vent his frustration rather loudly when he didn't understand something. "That's not what I said, Ranma," Hotaru said. "You're doing very well, you just have to keep trying." Ranma looked at Hotaru doubtfully. "I don't know." "Trust me." Hotaru smiled softly. Ranma looked at Hotaru for a few seconds. "Well, if ya say so." Something about her made him want to trust her. Maybe it was because they were friends. Only for about 24 hours so far, but that hardly mat- tered. Hotaru nodded. "Here, let me go over the it again." Ranma entered he and Genma's apartment and immediately headed for the bath. He had already had dinner; Hotaru had dug up some food for him when she heard his stomach mentioning it's need for sustenance. Soaking in the warm bath, Ranma smiled. The last two days had probably been some of the best of his life. He hadn't felt this good since... since Ucchan. He now had one, hopefully two new friends. His only friends, actually. Ranma let his thoughts wander for a little bit. He had left his books at Hotaru's house as he was going to go there everyday after school to study with her. Hotaru was just so nice. He felt like he should do something in return for her. Ranma mused over that for a bit. After awhile, Ranma stood up. Quickly drying and changing into his boxers and shirt, Ranma headed to his already set sleeping bag and fell asleep two seconds after he was in. The two seconds used to get comfortable. Shortly after, Genma entered the apartment and, after tossing a P.E uniform nearby, he went into the bathroom. A little while later, a much cleaner Genma came out and dropped onto his sleeping bag, falling asleep on contact and snoring loudly. Over at the Tomoe household, Hotaru Tomoe was in a bliss-filled sleep involving her 'adventures' that day. Professor Soichi Tomoe was laughing maniacally as a silent Kaolinite stood behind him. ************************* Ranma sat in his chair, listening intently to the lecture about the Second World War. He already knew a lot about Japanese history, but World History was a bit dim to him. "And as the Americans had so much of their fleet in Pear Harbor the Japanese military launched a surprise attack early that morning." Ranma thought about it. It was smart, he gave it that much. Laun- ching a surprise attack when most of the enemy was in one spot. "However, the Japanese government had not yet declared war..." Ranma frowned. Launching a surprise attack at non-hostile people wasn't right: a coward's way. It was almost the same as fighting a non- combatant. "The United States declared war on Japan the next day and on Germany and Italy soon after..." He didn't blame them. If someone just attacked him outta the blue for no reason, he'd be pretty pissed. "Some people excuse the whole thing with the old saying 'All is fair in love and war'." Ranma frowned again. There was a point, he supposed. War wasn't like a man to man duel. There were many more lives at risk and there wasn't room for things like 'being fair'. But then... Ranma raised his hand. Mr.Kumagai was pleased that his new student was paying attention in class. He was even more pleased when that same student raised his hand. If only he would pay attention in the other classes. He had al- ready had to knock the boy awake twice that morning. "Yes, Mr.Saotome." "But we weren't at war with the United States yet so that's kinda dumb ain't it?" Mr.Kumagai smiled. "Yes, Mr.Saotome. I'm glad to see that you're being observant." Ranma shrugged. He would've thought that the other students would have noticed something so blatantly obvious. Some of those other students were surprised that Ranma, who had fought with Ryoga yesterday and was still standing was so interested in such a boring class. They had expected him to be some kind of dumb jock interested only in fighting. Even though Ryoga had proven that he wasn't an idiot, they had known him for a long time and been used to it. Ranma stood in front of Ryoga, finishing up the piece of bread. The later was standing there with two footprints on his face and glaring at Ranma with anger. "Ranma you little thief!" He screamed in rage, the rest of the students in the cafeteria backing away nervously. "That was my bread!" Ranma smiled, which only served to further enrage the Lost Boy. "It was in the air, Ryoga; it was fair game. And don't tell me you haven't eaten for three days or nuthin' either 'cause I fed you yester- day." "Damn you Ranma!" Ryoga shouted, shaking his fist, not knowing what else to say as Ranma had a point. Ranma, after tossing a piece of plastic wrapping in a conven- iently-placed trash can, dragged Ryoga outside. Once out in the open, Ranma let go and turned to Ryoga who, by now, had calmed down a little bit. "So, you wanna spar?" Ranma asked. Ryoga smirked and, without answering, rushed at Ranma and threw several punches capable of breaking through walls at his head. Ranma, though a little surprised, dodged all of them and jumped back to a safe distance. "Geez, ya coulda warned me. I did take ya to school in the morning." Ranma remembered what happened then, though. After knocking Ryoga awake, they had proceeded with another 'sparing' session and nearly been late for school. "A real man wouldn't have needed a warning," Ryoga responded, adrenaline pumping through him. This was an opponent he didn't need to hold back on. Someone who could take one of his punches if they hit. Ranma's thoughts quickly turned to Pearl Harbor when he heard what Ryoga had said. He just as quickly dismissed all those thoughts. He had said what he said out of reflex more than anything. At the end of the Lunch period, Ranma pulled a shocked Ryoga to his feet and proceeded to drag him to his class. Was Ryoga's only thought. Ranma whistled cheerfully as he walked down the fence, Ryoga fol- lowing along. "What're you so happy about?" Ryoga asked, annoyed that Ranma could be so happy when he was so frustrated. He had just lost a fight, damnit! Images flashed through Ranma's head as he considered an answer to Ryoga's question. There were many images, and many of these images had Hotaru in them somehow. So Ranma just shrugged. "Life in general." Ryoga nodded and decided to ask Ranma what had been on his mind for quite awhile now. "Lets have a rematch." Ranma, his clothes in disarray and his hair a mess walked away from Ryoga's house, breathing heavily and then, when he was sure he was far away enough from the house that there was absolutely no chance Ryoga could see him, he slumped down and leaned back on a fence. "I showed that... idiot... Ryoga who's best..." he panted. He had won again, but Ryoga had put up a heck of lot more fight this time around. After catching his breath, Ranma stood up, straightened his clothes and fixed his hair somewhat. Then he smiled and hopped on the fence, heading towards Hotaru's house. Hotaru sat patiently in the living room, waiting for Ranma to come by. After she had come home from school, she had breezed through all of her homework, changed clothes, and ran down to the living room to wait for Ranma. She was a little disappointed that she had been waiting for ten minutes already and Ranma still hadn't come. Then, Kaolinite entered the room and Hotaru was instantly stiff. Maybe if she just ignored her, Kaolinte would go away. It didn't work. It never worked. "What are you waiting for, Hotaru?" Hotaru looked at something other than the red-headed 'lady' and coldly replied, "Mind your own business, Kaolinte." "My my, I'm just curious," Kaolinite said with mock hurt. "..." "Are you waiting for that young man to come?" "..." "Don't tell me you're in love with him?" Kaolinite raised a hand to her mouth and seemed to radiate shock. "What would your father think?" "W-what?!" Hotaru finally responded, turning to Kaolinite, shock written on her face. Kaolinite smirked. She, of course, knew what the girl was think- ing, but she enjoyed irritating the brat. "Don't act so surprised, it's obvious that you're in love with him." Hotaru composed herself and realized that Kaolinite was just being mean to her again. "Leave me alone and mind your own business, Kaolinite." But the red-head wasn't quite done yet. "He probably doesn't even like you." "Leave me alone!" Hotaru shouted, getting angry. "And I'm NOT in love with him!" Why did Kaolinite always have to pick on her?! Kaolinite gave a smirk that she knew Hotaru hated and walked off, laughing. "You don't even have the courage to admit it to yourself." Hotaru turned around, staring at a Vase intently, trying to think calm thoughts. Just as Hotaru was about to sink into a chain of familiar depressing thoughts, the doorbell rang. Hotaru shot to her feet and ran to the door, her negative thoughts floating away into nothingness like a hydrogen-filled balloon. Hotaru swung the door open and promptly fell down, gasping, into two strong arms. "Hotaru, what's wrong?" Ranma asked in concern as he carried the gasping girl to the living room, shutting the door with a foot. "N-nothing..." Hotaru replied as Ranma put her down on a sofa. "..." Ranma looked at Hotaru doubtfully but didn't argue. Ranma sat down and waited patiently. Ranma determined. Ranma stared at Hotaru and waited. And waited. After a few more moments, Hotaru caught her breath and stood up. "Shall we go now?" Ranma shrugged. "If you're alright, I guess." Hotaru smiled and turned around, heading to her room. Ranma stared at the picture of the human skeleton in the book for a second before he started pointing at particular bones. "That's the, um... Clavicle. Er... Vertebrae. And... Humerus." Ranma continued naming bones that he randomly picked out until he was finally through with the whole diagram. Then he turned around and looked at Hotaru questioningly. The girl smiled and nodded. Ranma had quite a good memory. "That's all correct, Ranma. But you should try to do it in a specific order. Try going from top to bottom, for example..." "Hmmmm..." Ranma stared at the strange shape in front of him for a quick second. Then he quickly started scribbling down several messy equations on a half-filled piece of paper. "There!" He pointed at the answer, which was circled with a dark pencil mark, proudly. Hotaru giggled for a few seconds and pointed at the paper. "Twelve times twelve isn't twenty-four, Ranma." Ranma scratched his head sheepishly. "Uh... must be a typo." Hotaru burst out in a fit of giggles. Ranma stepped out of the bathroom and found Genma sitting on the floor, looking at him in irritation. "Why didn't you take a bath earlier, boy?" Ranma shrugged. "Hey, I just got here." Genma blinked. Then he shouted, "Foolish boy! I have a job and I just got here! Where have you been all day?!" Ranma blinked. "You got a job?" Genma scowled. "Yes, now tell your father where you've been all day." "I'm just going to get tutored by someone after school. And I was sparing with this guy, too. He's pretty good." Ranma replied casually as he walked towards his sleeping bag. "Really?" Genma asked. His attention instantly diverted. "Who is he?" "Name's Ryoga Hibiki." Ranma replied as he lay down and shifted around until he got into a more comfortable position. "You won, of course?" Genma asked. Silence. "Boy?" Genma walked over to check on Ranma, actually a little wor- ried, and scowled. Then he headed towards the bath- room. Hotaru Tomoe slowly opened her eyes and looked around her room, finding comfort in it's familiarity. Strangely, she found that she wasn't all so depressed about it anymore. Hotaru smiled. She knew the reason why. And it was dressed in red, long-sleeved Chinese shirt. She blinked in surprise. ************************* Hotaru sat in her class, paying scant attention to the teacher's lecture. The last two days had probably been the best in her life. No- body had ever talked to her like Ranma. Hotaru smiled for a moment as she remembered a part of the previous night. *FLASHBACK* "You must have traveled a lot, Ranma." Hotaru said suddenly, try- ing to strike up a conversation. She wanted to know more about Ranma. Ranma finished his current piece of chicken and looked up at Hotaru. "You have no idea," he said. "I've been all over Japan. Man, you ain't got no idea how far ya can walk, no, run in nine years." "Was it fun?" Hotaru asked curiously. "Most of the time, I guess..." Ranma suddenly remembered the Cat Fist training. He shuddered and tried to forget about the experience. Not that he ever would, but he could just pretend it never happened and life would be just fine. Hotaru noticed the small shudder and the slight terror that creeped into Ranma's eyes, however. "Is something wrong?" Hotaru thought that she knew Ranma well enough that she could confidently assume he wasn't the type to easily show any fear, much less terror. To have it come spontaneously like that... Ranma shook his head. "I... don't wanna talk about it." He thought for a moment. "It's kinda embarrassing, actually." Hotaru nodded. "Well, I guess it was pretty fun; I really like martial arts and, well... I love doing it. Yeah, Pops could be pretty stupid sometimes, wait, make that mosta the time; but it was nice." "What exactly did your father do?" "Stupid stuff." Ranma said, as if it explained everything. Then he noticed the questioning look on Hotaru's face. "He'd make dumb bets or run off on a tab or something. But, well, he IS my father and he always looked out for me, so he's okay." "At least your father spends a lot of time with you..." Hotaru said a little sadly. Then she brightened. "I'm glad you're my friend, Ranma." Hotaru blinked in surprise. Ranma smiled and cleaned off another piece of chicken. Hotaru looked like she needed some cheering up. "You know, you're the first friend I've had in nine years," Ranma admitted. He remembered the last friend he had: His buddy Ucchan. Hotaru looked surprised. "R-really?" Ranma nodded. Hotaru became quite and thought over that bit of news for a few moments. So he knew what it was like to be that lonely. "You're my first friend in years, too." Hotaru finally said. Ranma scowled. "I can't believe those idiots at school are scared of ya." Hotaru nodded. "I never want to hurt them, but... they say that I do. I never remember any of it." "Well, you're really nice. They're all just stupid or something," Ranma said comfortingly. Hotaru smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Ranma." "It's easy ta tell the truth," Ranma replied. Hotaru chuckled inwardly. Ranma ate in comfortable silence for awhile before he noticed something. "Hey Hotaru, you gonna eat that?." Hotaru looked down at her plate and noticed that, unsurprisingly, she hadn't eaten too much. "I'm not that hungry." she said. Ranma blinked, not used to people turning down food. "Well, I'd be glad to eat it for ya, but you should eat more." Hotaru face took on a sad look. "You're right. I'm very... frail..." Ranma mentally blanched. "H-hey, that's not what I meant!" Ranma protested. Hotaru looked up at Ranma, curious. She hadn't meant to sound like she had been insulted or anything. She had just been stating a fact. "You're not too skinny or nuthin', you look fine." Hotaru blinked. Had Ranma complimented her looks? "You're, uh... cute. Yeah, that's it! You're really cute!" Hotaru blushed scarlet and stared at the her plate, her hands gripping the table-cloth tightly. "R-really?" "Yeah, sure." Ranma said, his courage gathering. "You're the cutest girl I ever met, and ya dress great, too!" Hotaru looked back up at Ranma, still blushing profusely. "T-thank you Ranma." Ranma gave a friendly smile, not noticing Hotaru's blush for some strange reason. "Like I said, it's easy to tell the truth." Hotaru giggled, the redness on her cheeks starting to fade away. The words sounded strangely prophetic to her. Not that she knew what prophetic words sounded like; she just felt that that was how they would sound like. After awhile, Hotaru stopped giggling and Ranma spoke up. "You really should eat more, though. It'll help ya get stronger." Then Ranma smiled. "Then I'll show ya something really cool. Especially if ya like walking on fences." Hotaru giggled again and forced herself to start finishing the rest of the meal. "I can't wait." *END FLASHBACK* Hotaru sighed and forced herself to pay attention to the class. She sighed again. Nothing she didn't already know. Mugen Academy had high-standards, but as she never had any friends until Ranma came along, she devoted much of her time to studying. Ignoring the whisperings around her, she instead tried to think about nothing in particular. She failed and ended up thinking about Ranma and, occasionally, Ryoga. "What do you suppose she's so happy about?" a girl asked her neighbor, trying not to look too conspicuous. "Did you hear the rumor that she has a boyfriend?" was the whis- pered reply. Before she could receive an answer, an eraser was thrown at her head and, a reprimand by the teacher later, the girl stayed very quite. "Hey!" One boy whispered to the guy in front of him. "Did you hear? That freak has a new friend that beat up Gage and his pals." The boy in front tilted his head slightly back and whispered, "Yes, I heard it from one of the guys that were there; he said the guy was like some kind of monster! Not surprising considering he was helping HER." An eraser also impacted the skull of this student, giving him a face full of chalk. A threat to be sent to the principal later, the boy was joined the rest of his class in being quite. The principal usually seemed nice enough, but most people did not want to have to see him. It wasn't him, but his... scary office and the strange woman who were often found there that was disturbing. Also, their current teacher was one of the more light-hearted ones and tended to like to do strange things like throw chalk-filled erasers at people's head. Hotaru was in an oblivious, 'deep-thinking' mode. Ranma pulled himself up, then let gravity pull him down. Then he pulled himself up, and let gravity take him back down. Then he pulled himself up, and let gravity take him back down. Ranma had been repeating this simple action for what seemed like an eternity. In reality, it had only been about a minute. He was a little beat-up because of his 'sparing' session with Genma in the morning and Ryoga in both the morning and at lunch; but he had long since recovered from any inconveniences caused by little things like rock-shattering kicks. After another minute or so, Ranma got bored and released his grip on the metal bar, dropping to the ground. What he didn't expect was to see everybody, including the phys-Ed teacher, staring at him in a mix- ture of shock and awe. "Uh, sorry 'bout that. I just got bored. You want me to get back on?" Ranma asked nervously. He wasn't really used to getting all this attention. Everybody continued staring at him. "What?" Ranma asked, his nervousness slowly being replaced with annoyance. There was several more long moments of shocked silence. Finally, the teacher spoke. "Y-you did 103 pull-ups..." Ranma laughed weakly. "Uh, yeah... I guess I should get back on... Sorry, I just got bored of doing the same thing over and over again." Then, the teacher said something else. "O-only Hibiki ever did more than that..." Ranma narrowed his eyes, a little annoyed. "So I'll admit, strength's his specialty, not mine; ya don't hafta rub it in my face! Sheesh!" The teacher shook his head and absently gestured for Ranma to sit down. He wondered how fast the boy could run. Ranma walked towards Hotaru's house, biting on an apple he had gotten from Ryoga's house. He considered it his reward for helping Ryoga out by bringing food from the kitchen to the Lost Boy's room so that he wouldn't starve. A hungry martial artist was a weak martial artist, as he had learned on his travels. And Ranma had noticed that the several fights that had occurred on the way to Ryoga's house were considerably easier. Probably caused by hunger, though Ryoga would most-likely never admit to something like that unless it came to one of their lunch-time brawls. Hopping up onto a fence, Ranma started to whistle, actually deep in thought, as he headed down a now very familiar path. "Um, that's the uh... arctic valve?" Ranma looked at Hotaru questioningly. Hotaru giggled and shook her head. "Aortic Valve," she said. Ranma laughed weakly. All of those organ parts looked practically the same to him. "Yeah, aortic valve..." "6 times 8?" "48." "11 times 1?" "121." "12 times 12?" "22." Hotaru giggled. "Try again, Ranma." Hotaru stared across at Ranma as he gobbled down another piece of chicken. His table manners were certainly lacking, but she didn't mind. It was actually kind of fun to watch her friend eating. Ranma and Hotaru were sitting at the same table that they had used to eat dinner on for the last three days. A small one down in the kit- chen. They also ate alone as both Ranma and Hotaru had noticed that, for some reason, the two didn't see Kaolinite or Hotaru's father that much since Ranma had started staying over to be tutored. In fact, Ranma had only seen the Professor once since then. And all he had heard were two words: "Oh, hello." As for Kaolinite, whenever Ranma saw her, he always felt shivers run up his spine. The red-head never even said much. She would just give a basic greeting and then look at him for a long second with those piercing eyes of hers, smirk, and walk away. Ranma was secretly grateful that he hadn't seen Kaolinite all that much. He also took a guilty pleasure that Hotaru was also very obviously bothered whenever the woman appeared. She almost looked like she was waiting for Kaolinite to burst out laughing and do something. Ranma secretly felt the same way. "So Hotaru," Ranma started as he swallowed down some of the noodles. "Tell me 'bout yourself." Ranma was quite curious to Hotaru's background, although he guessed that it was a pretty lonely one. Hotaru's eyes bright eyes filled with a touch of sadness and, before Ranma could say anything else, she spoke. "It's... nowhere near as interesting as your life." Ranma opened his mouth to speak, but was beat to it by Hotaru. "You already know that I don't have any friends besides you." Her thoughts briefly flashed to Ryoga, but he was really an acquaintance, even though she desperately wanted another friend. "Ya know my thoughts on the matter." Ranma had also thought about Ryoga, but decided that the two didn't know each other enough. He made a mental note to remedy that. Smiling briefly at Ranma's comment, Hotaru continued, a far-off look appearing on her eyes. "But when my mother was still alive and my father was closer, I really enjoyed life." Images of the three of them in a field of flowers, laughing, came to her. Hotaru then turned sad again. "About 4 years ago, there was an accident." Ranma blinked. Was this why she was so frail? "I was with my father and some other scientists at a genetics lab." Hotaru took a breath. Ranma's eyes widened. They didn't dissect her or anything did they? "And there was an explosion." Ranma almost sighed in relief. Then he gave himself a mental boot to the head. "You were in an explosion?!" he asked, shocked. Hotaru nodded before continuing. "Everybody died except me and my father." "That's horrible..." Ranma trailed off. He didn't like the thought of seeing the people around him suddenly die. "Is that why you get tired so easily." Hotaru shrugged. "I've always been a little frail, but ever since, I've had these seizures." Ranma was, once again, shocked. "Seizures?! I didn't know you got seizures." An image of Hotaru, convulsing on the ground with white fluid flowing from her mouth came to Ranma's head and he shuddered. Hotaru guessed what Ranma was thinking and giggled. Ranma snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Hotaru questioningly. "Huh?" "I know what you're thinking, Ranma." Ranma blinked. "You do?" Hotaru nodded and smiled. "In my seizures, I just... pass out or something. I don't know because I don't really remember what happens to me then." An image of a dark chamber filled with dolls flashed through Hotaru's head and she mentally shuddered. Ranma thought to himself. "I know how that feels like." Ranma said to Hotaru. "To go into seizures and not remember anything?" Hotaru asked with curiosity. Ranma seemed very healthy. Ranma looked around him to see if anybody was listening and then leaned closer to Hotaru. "Remember that thing I said was embarrassing?" he whispered out. Hotaru nodded. She did remembered Ranma saying that last night. She also remembered the subject sparking a little curiosity within her. Now she was very curious indeed. "Well," Ranma continued, relaxing back into his chair. "When IT happens, I don't remember much either." Ranma was mildly surprised he could recall that a little detail like that. Even though it wasn't ex- actly easy to forget something as big as that, he had always managed to steer his thoughts clear of the Cat Fist training. And he had only gone into 'Cat Mode' once before: When he had first learned the technique. Every other time, he had ran away screaming in terror in time to retain his sanity. It was always embarrassing to look back on those times. Hotaru looked at Ranma thoughtfully, wondering exactly what 'It' was. Then she decided that maybe asking Ranma would satisfy her curi- osity. "What happens to you, Ranma?" Ranma stared at Hotaru. It was so hard to refuse her an answer. Just four little words: I'm afraid of cats. Her questioning, purple eyes alone almost made him say it. Then, there was everything else. Ranma opened his mouth. Hotaru waited patiently, an encouraging smile appearing on her face. Ranma snapped his mouth shut. He had almost said it. Almost. Her smile was what had broken him out of his trance. Her smile. He didn't want to see that smile turn into a condescending smirk; to hear mocking laughter come from those perfect lips. Strangely, he just couldn't envision Hotaru doing that, but just the thought alone that it could happen stopped him. Maybe he had even already said too much. "I don't wanna talk about it," he quickly blurted out. "It's embarrassing," he added after a moment to lighten the serious tone of his words. Hotaru was silent for a moment. What had his father done to Ranma? Then she nodded. "It's okay Ranma, you don't have to tell me." Inside, Hotaru almost burst with curiosity, but she beat it all down and shoved it far, far away. She didn't want to force Ranma to do anything he didn't want to. Ranma mentally sighed in relief when Hotaru didn't press the mat- ter. Before he could relax, however, he was suddenly struck with a thought. Ranma looked at Hotaru and briefly considered asking her about it before he remembered his earlier decision. He told himself. Hotaru noticed that Ranma suddenly seemed disturbed, as if he had just made a horrible discovery. "What's wrong Ranma?" Ranma forced his thoughts away and smiled at Hotaru. "Don't worry about it," he said, his voice sounding more confident than he felt. Hotaru looked at Ranma carefully for a few seconds and then re- turned to her eating. "Okay..." Ranma also returned to his eating, feeling guilty that he had killed the conversation. A minute of uncomfortable silence painfully ticked by. The only sounds being those of food being chewed upon. That was just too much for Ranma. He was attuned to silence more than most other people, but he was also used to action. And though he could enjoy just being in Hotaru's company alone, this time was different. This silence left Ranma on edge and he felt an almost urgent need to end it. Ranma scolded himself. Ranma shuddered. Just the thought of those... things... scared him. Best to just ignore it. Ranma didn't like admitting he was scared of anything. Especially not of some stupid little furball. A scary stupid little furball... A furball with sharp claws... Scratching... Biting... Trying to- To his immense relief, Ranma was able to push all thoughts of cats far, far away and come up with a way to start a new conversation with Hotaru at the same time. "You know," He began, swallowing down the last of his noodles as quickly as he could, which was unbelievably fast. Hotaru almost wept with relief. The silence had been almost un- bearable for her. And for some reason, the thought of that being so seemed odd to her. She usually enjoyed silence. Even after, when Ranma and her had just been near each other, doing nothing, she had enjoyed that. This... She had been beginning to feel that maybe she had offended Ranma somehow. Especially with those strange looks that had passed over his face for awhile there. She had never seen that particular emotion displayed by Ranma before. But she felt that it had seemed familiar; like she had seen something like it long ago, very often... Hotaru pushed all stray thoughts out of her head and focused her attention on Ranma. "I haven't seen my mother in more than nine years," Ranma finished, a tinge of sorrow in his words. Hotaru was surprised. Surely he must have visited? He still had a mother and hadn't seen her for longer than she had last seen her own! "Why not?" Ranma shrugged, a little bitter about the whole thing. "Pops just never took us back. I think he sent her a postcard every now and then, though." Hotaru was silent for a moment. A very long moment that made Ranma nervous. Then she spoke, almost too quietly to hear. "You must miss her." She said simply, with an air of knowing. Ranma smiled glumly. "Yeah, I guess I do." Hotaru sighed wistfully, staring at her bowl of noodles. "You're lucky to still have a mother." Ranma said nothing. What could he say? Then, Hotaru abruptly smiled and looked back up at Ranma. "Maybe I'm being selfish..." Ranma listened intently. He was the one who was being selfish. He was freeloading off of her and being tutored free of charge in her comfortable room. Normally he wouldn't have thought much about something like that, especially since he did rescue her, but Hotaru was his friend. His best. He felt that just being with Hotaru was payment enough for that little deed. "But I'm happy that you can relate to me." Despite the light- hearted way in which she had said that, Hotaru was indeed guiltily glad that someone could relate to her somewhat. She took comfort in the fact that Ranma had been through some of what she had been through. Even if his experience was considerably different. He knew his mother was still alive and had been distracted by his travels and training. And despite Hotaru's suspicion that Ranma's father had done some- thing VERY stupid, she knew that he had at least been there for Ranma; to protect and raise him. Her own father had been so distant since the explosion. Ranma mentally sighed in relief. This was why he had mentioned his mother in the first place. That and to get rid of the uncomfortable silence. "I'm, uh, glad too." "Tell me about some of the things that kept you away from your mother." Hotaru said, having figured out that Ranma had been trying to break the silence. "Well..." Ranma strained his brain and trailed off in an attempt to buy time. What to tell her? "I've been to a lot of forests." Yeah. That was good. Forests. Had nothing to do with cats. Well, maybe a little... "Forests..." Hotaru said, trailing off into thought. "I've only been to the park. I don't think I've ever left Tokyo." Ranma looked at Hotaru incredulously for a few seconds. Then he remembered that Hotaru got tired easily. That must have been what kept her. "Well, I'll take ya sometime then." Ranma decided. It would be to a shame if her health kept her from seeing the outside world. Cities were fine, but it got sore on the eyes after awhile. Especially for Ranma, who had been on the road for almost longer than he could remember. Hotaru shook her head. "I'm too weak-" Ranma cut her off. "Hey, I'll protect ya." Then he thought for a moment more. "But if you're so worried about your health..." Hotaru listened intently. She would love to go see a forest, especially if Ranma was taking her. Ranma snapped his fingers, inspiration hitting like a well aimed bullet. "I've got it!" "What?" Hotaru was very curious to what Ranma's solution would be. "I'll train you!" Ranma answered, beaming with pride at his bril- liant idea. It was all so perfect! Hotaru was weak not just because of her sickness, it was also because she didn't eat or exercise enough. And with training in the Art, she'd be able to defend herself too. There were a few problems, though. Ranma had NEVER had to teach anybody be- fore. But hey, he was Ranma Saotome, he'd figure it out. As Ranma was musing over this, Hotaru was gawking at Ranma, her mouth hanging open. "T-train?" Ranma snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Hotaru, smiling. "Sure, I'll teach ya how to defend yourself and get you to do some ex- ercise. Piece a cake!" Hotaru had her doubts. Very many doubts. But Ranma just looked so enthusiastic right then that it was hard to disbelieve what he said. He was full of confidence. Something she had noticed he lacked while she had been tutoring her. "I don't think I can..." "I'm sure you'll do fine. Especially with me as your teacher!" Ranma smiled broadly. "I'm not sure..." Ranma sighed. "Alright, how 'bout we talk about it after I take that test." He couldn't see why Hotaru was so reluctant, but she pro- bably had her reasons. Probably a girl thing. "Alright then Ranma." "But meanwhile, you eat up and I'll make sure you get some exer- cise, alright?" *Sigh* "Okay..." "Hey, ya don't have ta be so moody. It'll help ya out in the end, trust me." Ranma looked at Hotaru carefully, wondering if anything was wrong. He would have jumped at the chance to get good training. Hotaru looked up to try and force a smile. It didn't work because, Gazing into Ranma's concerned eyes, Hotaru was filled with warmth and a real smile bloomed across her delicate face. "Okay, but you promise to take me to the forest, right?" Ranma leaned back in his chair and nodded. "It's a promise." "Well, now that we're finished, let's go back upstairs." Ranma nodded and stood up. Then he froze as he realized something. "Hotaru..." Hotaru looked up at Ranma. "Hmmm?" "Ya didn't finish your food." Ranma Saotome sank into his sleeping bag and promptly fell into a dream involving him, Hotaru, and trees. With Ryoga lost somewhere in- between. A little later, Genma came in, tossed a bag of various foodstuffs to the side of the room, and entered the bath. Hotaru Tomoe was dreaming about the same thing Ranma was, minus the Ryoga bit and plus a much nicer outfit for herself. Ryoga Hibiki was soundly asleep in his room, dreaming of beating Ranma up and dining on delicious cafeteria bread. But since Ranma had been helpful, disregarding the stealing bread thing, for the past few days, the pig-tailed martial artist wasn't beaten up TOO badly. ************************* "Take this you thief!" Ryoga sent his red umbrella flying at Ranma, spinning like a buzzsaw. Ranma casually leaned over to one side as the whirling weapon went spinning past him, rustling his hair slightly. Then straightened, look- ing at Ryoga curiously. "What are ya using the umbrella for?" Ryoga smacked his head. Wasn't it obvious? "I'm trying to kill you, you idiot!" Ranma froze. The crowd that had assembled to watch the fight slowly, so as to not remind a certain powerful and skilled martial art- ist to their presence, backed further away from the two combatants. "You're trying to KILL me?" He asked incredulously. Maybe this bread feud thing had gone too far. Not that he couldn't handle Ryoga, he just wanted to be able to sleep soundly at night. Without having to worry about midnight attacks or anything stupid like that. Ryoga stopped and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, not exactly kill you, but... you know what I mean!" Ranma mentally sighed in relief. He didn't want a blood feud or anything like that. "Well, ya ain't gonna beat me." "And why not?" Ryoga asked, clenching his fist. Ranma was insul- ting his skill again. Even though Ryoga now had the upper hand with the superior reach and the strength of his umbrella, Ranma was still being cocky. "Well, for starters, you ain't got the umbrella no more," Ranma answered, gesturing to the red umbrella about 30 feet behind him with a smirk. Ryoga's eyes widened in shock as Ranma shot forward with blazing speed to severely beat-up the bandana-clad martial artist. Kaolinite watched from the shadows as Hotaru shook off her shoes and walked with quickly to her room. Most people wouldn't notice a difference form this and the Hotaru from a week ago, but Kaolinite was very observant. The professor's daughter had been acting most unusual ever since she had met those two boys. She seemed much more alive and moved with an energy that had previously been absent. And now she was tutoring one of them. Kaolinite had mentioned it to the professor and he didn't appear worried. But despite that, Kaolinite was... not worried, but wary. The boy, and the other one for that matter, had seemed very nervous everytime she appeared. Kaolinite reprimanded herself. So Kaolinite decided to go bring the professor some tea. Even if Hotaru had a boyfriend, which didn't seem to be the case with this Ranma, it didn't matter. Ranma flipped to his feet and dusted himself off. 20 feet away, Ryoga was looking smug, his umbrella held defensively before him. "So ya can take me on with an umbrella." Ranma admitted in annoyance. "Admit it Ranma, you lost," Ryoga said tauntingly as Ranma glared at the Lost Boy. Ranma composed himself and dropped into a ready stance. He had been having a good day. He had actually understood a lot of what Mr.Kumagai had lectured on outside of History and Literature and had a good meal. Then there was that great fight between he and Genma in the morning. And he had won as had recently become usual. On top of that, he was about to visit his best friend. No way was he going to lose now. "That was just a lucky shot. Just try it again." Ryoga smirked. "You asked for it, Ranma." Ranma whistled cheerfully on the fence as he lead a battered and angry Ryoga to the boy's home. "Stupid Ranma..." Ryoga muttered. "He just got lucky..." Ranma chose to ignore the fanged boy's dark mutterings. Life was great and the guy wasn't about to get Ranma feeling down. Even if everything in his life suddenly got screwed up, as long as Hotaru was there to be his friend, everything would be fine. "Ooookay..." Ranma said, trailing off to buy himself some time. "It's..." "Stop stalling, Ranma." Ranma sweatdropped. "Uh... Who says I'm stalling?" Hotaru giggled. "Me." "Ya should eat more, Hotaru," Ranma suggested casually, noticing the small portions of food that Hotaru was slowly chewing. "I'm not really hungry," Hotaru replied after swallowing. Ranma sighed. "Hotaru, you ain't gonna get healthier eating just how much you need. Ya gotta eat more. Ya know, go above and beyond and all that stuff." "..." "Ya know, back when I was still on the road with Pops, half of what you're eating now would be like... well, a lot!" Ranma continued when Hotaru was silent. "You mean you had to eat less than this?" Hotaru asked, startled. She had seen how much Ranma could eat and the thought of him eating so little on a regular basis was just... Hard to imagine. "Yup," Ranma confirmed. Well, on a lotta days, anyways. "Oh, that's horrible." "Yup, back then, it was a struggle just ta get by." Ranma realized in surprise. "You talk like this happened years ago." "Uh..." Ranma thought nervously. Sometimes he felt like Hotaru was a mind-reader or something. "Stop changing the subject!" Ranma snapped quickly. "And eat some more." Ranma proceeded to scoop generous portions of mashed potatoes and chicken onto Hotaru's plate. Hotaru smiled. It was so simple to figure out what Ranma was thinking sometimes. Then she frowned. That was a lot of food. "Why the heck is it inorganic?" Ranma asked no one in particular. Hotaru, as she was currently right next to Ranma and reading the same book, however, heard. "Carbon Dioxide?" She asked of Ranma. "Yeah," Ranma nodded. "It's got carbon in it, don't it?" Hotaru wondered herself why they had deemed carbon dioxide in- organic. "The scientists just decided that it is, Ranma." Hotaru said. "It's not a big deal." "I guess..." Ranma said. "I still think it's kinda stupid, though. They shoulda at least given a reason." "Can't handle it, Ranma?" Hotaru asked teasingly. "Huh?" Ranma's head spun around faster than the eye can see. "What are ya talking about? I just think it's stupid, that's all." Hotaru giggled. "Relax Ranma." "Maybe it's 'cause it's a gas or something..." Ranma muttered. Hotaru blinked. Did she hear correctly? Did Ranma say what she thought he said? "What did you just say, Ranma?" Ranma blinked. "Uh, that it's stupid?" "No, after that," Hotaru said anxiously. "Um, that it's not organic cause it's a gas?" Ranma said slowly. Hotaru sat still for several seconds, staring at Ranma. Ranma fidgeted nervously, wondering what Hotaru was doing. Then, slowly, a smile spread across Hotaru's face and Ranma almost sighed in relief. He had no idea what the heck was going on, but if Hotaru was happy... Long before Ranma could think up of something to say, however, the boy abruptly found himself wrapped by two slender arms and knocked to the ground. Ranma thought in shock, raising his head and discovering Hotaru had him in an enthusiastic hug. "Uhh..." Ranma had no idea what to do. He tried to think back to the last time he had been hugged by a girl and came up with nothing. Besides, if Hotaru felt like hugging him, who was he to argue? Might as well enjoy it. Yes, enjoy the slender arms wrapped comfortably around him; the warm head pressed against his chest: the soft- Before he could think any further however, he felt the pressure around him relieved and he quickly got to his feet, feeling strangely disappointed. He pushed the feeling aside and looked at Hotaru. The girl had her head down and looked a little embarrassed. "..." "..." Ranma strained to think of something say. But he didn't know what had brought on the spontaneous hug, so decided to remain silent Hotaru continued staring at her feet intently for a few more agonizing seconds before she said something. "I'm sorry, I just got overenthusiastic." Ranma blinked. She was sorry? "Uh, it's alright. I don't mind." Hotaru slowly raised up her head and looked a Ranma for a quick second before spinning around and staring at the open science book on her desk, without really seeing it. She just needed a little time to compose herself. That one stupid hug had thrown her mentally unbalanced. She amended. And then Ranma's comment didn't help her calm down one bit. A small part of her mind, the... dark... part, knew Ranma enough and was calm enough not to misinterpret, but the rest of her... As Ranma was not enjoying the silence, he decided to break it and asked. "Um, what the heck was it for?" He mentally added. Hotaru slowly turned back around after a few more seconds and looked at Ranma, trying hard not to jump onto her bed and bury her face in it in embarrassment. Ranma was so calm. Or at least he put up a calm front. And here she was all flustered because of one overenthusiastic hug that had knocked Ranma down. Hotaru said to herself. Before that last thought could start to embarrass her further, Hotaru quickly shoved it off a mental cliff. Ranma was starting to get nervous. Actually, he was already ner- vous but had been able to hide it well enough. Actually, he didn't hide it too well, but Hotaru just didn't notice. Ranma started to fidget. He had no idea what was going on; he'd just asked a question, that was all. "Um..." Hotaru said finally, breaking the awkward silence, but not her gaze. "I was just... glad that..." her mind screamed. The answer was right on the tip of her tongue, she was just too flustered to remember it. She star- ted repeating to herself. Of course, this may have had more effect if she had hugged more people in her life. Or been shown more affection. And a hundred other little things. Ranma continued looking at Hotaru. She was trying to say something but seemed very nervous. So Ranma looked in Hotaru's nervous eyes and waited for an explanation. Not that he needed one, but he was curious. "Glad that..." Hotaru stared right back into Ranma's gray-blue eyes and tried getting out an explanation. Of course, Ranma's curious, nervous, and with a touch of concern here and there eyes were quite distracting. Ranma, meanwhile, was starting to think that maybe something was wrong. Maybe Hotaru was getting sick again. He was about to open his mouth to ask when the girl in front of him spoke up, never averting the gaze that made Ranma so nervous. The gaze that seemed to stare right into his soul and reveal secrets that he didn't even know existed. Be- fore he could say anything, however, Hotaru finally spoke. "Glad that you were thinking for yourself," Hotaru got out quickly, immediately feeling a lot better. But she still continued staring at Ranma's eyes. The eyes that seemed to know all. To know the secrets that were hidden even from herself. Hotaru subconsciously leaned closer to Ranma, making real her desire to look closer at those all- seeing eyes; the sharp eyes of a martial artist. A small part of Ranma noticed that Hotaru was coming closer to him and he ignored it, more intent on gazing at the lovely girl. With a sud- den rush that almost startled Ranma out of his gaze, he realized just how much of an understatement a certain compliment to the girl before him was. And he was subconsciously drawn closer to the figure before him that radiated a quite but powerful aura. An aura that seemed dormant but added a... mystical quality to Hotaru. The mysterious atmosphere of the room they were in also helped. Ranma leaned in closer, his subconscious trying to make one of Ranma's unknown desires come true. Hotaru stood still, her subconscious hoping that one of Hotaru's secret, even to herself, desires would come true. Ranma seemed almost like a mystical apparition in the mysterious atmosphere of her room. And a very handsome one at that. She almost blushed again. Ranma came closer, not really noticing what he was doing; en- tranced by Hotaru's eyes. Hotaru waited, leaning towards Ranma a little, not really knowing what was going on. She was enraptured by Ranma's eyes and wasn't willing to break out of it. Closer. Closer. "I apologize for interrupting anything, but I thought you would like some coffee," Kaolinite looked at the two with a smug smile. Ranma nearly jumped out of his skin as his sleeping danger-sense suddenly skyrocketed. Spinning around and dropping onto a defensive stance, Ranma nearly shot forward with a kick to Kaolinite's head for more than one reason. Hotaru also snapped out of her trance and spun on Kaolinite an- grily. "What do you want Kaolinite?" She snapped. "I brought you coffee," the red-head replied with a condescending smirk. Ranma slowly got out of his stance as he realized that it was just Kaolinite. "We don't want it," Hotaru replied with the coldness of death. "Uh, it's bad for your health," Ranma added as he composed him- self. He wanted the red-head out of there and some time to think. The red-head said nothing and left, closing the door behind her. Then, Ranma and Hotaru simultaneously turned around and faced each other, both deep in thought. Hotaru had no idea what had just hap- pened. Ranma, on the other hand, realized it about a five seconds later. First, his eyes widened in shock; next, he glanced at Hotaru. She apparently didn't know what had happened. "Uh..." Ranma began. "It's getting late, I think I'd better go now." Ranma had just decided that the Saotome Final Attack could be effectively applied here. Hotaru absently nodded and Ranma practically burst out running to Hotaru's window. Going under the curtains, he pulled open the long unused windows and jumped outside. "Bye!" A confused Hotaru stood very silent for a moment, the wind blowing her window curtain gently. "What just happened?" She wondered. Ranma pulled exited the restroom and then made his way to his sleeping bag. He was home a lot earlier than usual these past few days and Genma hadn't come home yet. So Ranma plopped down on his sleeping bag and stared at the ceiling. "Let's see..." He started recalling what had happened. The minutes ticked by and Ranma lay there. It was almost all a blur to him. The only thing he could remember clearly was Hotaru's eyes, filled with... with... a mixture of things. But he knew that he had almost kissed the girl. Almost. Ranma didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. The pig-tailed martial artist some thought more. "Let's see, she hugged me," Ranma smiled. "Then she was really..." Ranma sighed. His body wanted to get some rest, even if it was early, but he really wanted to know exactly what had happened. "Then she said I was thinking for myself..." As the next memory came, Ranma didn't blush, but instead, just felt very uncomfortable. He had a sneaking suspicion that blushing wasn't anywhere near a manly thing to do. Ranma frowned suddenly. This time, Ranma did feel his face heat up and burrowed deep into his sleeping bag. If Genma saw him now, he'd never hear the end of it. "Goodnight Poppa," Hotaru called out as her father closed the door and walked off. Her father always seemed to know exactly when Hotaru was going to sleep. It was strange and Hotaru decided not to think about it. It just meant that he still loved her. That was why he would pay close enough attention to know when she went to bed. Yes, he loved her. Even though he had stopped kissing her good- night on her forehead. Hotaru absently touched her forehead and suddenly had a nagging feeling that she had just stumbled onto something impor- tant. Something to do with kisses she guessed. Hotaru trailed off and thought hard. She was getting close, she knew it. The answer was within her grasp. An image of Ranma's enchanting eyes flashed through Hotaru's head. Before she could think any more on the matter, however, Hotaru suddenly didn't feel too good. "*cough* Not *cough* now..." Hotaru then passed out. "Then I..." Ranma sighed and, to his immense relief, he could feel his face returning to normal. "Then I almost kissed her..." Ranma had no idea what that meant or what to do. Ranma thought a little harder, thinking back to some advice his old man had given him. Had Ranma been mentally balanced right then, he may have realized that that wasn't the best of ideas. And so the decision that Ranma made, naturally, involved shirking any forms of work. ************************* Ranma found himself flying out a window again, as he had been doing for every morning since he and his father had move in and quickly did a few mid-air stretches before stretching out a leg and using his father's head as a stepping stone to propel him upwards, mildly sur- prised that the same trick had worked two days in a row. That was when Genma did something new. Ranma found himself sud- denly pulled to the ground with his father as the balding man grabbed Ranma's ankle. Ranma looked down in shock and saw his father smirking. "Not so easy today, boy!" Ranma's last thought before the two impacted the very hard ground was about how he was really going to hurt the old man. Hotaru hummed happily to herself as she walked to school. Her head was still held down, but the usual depressed expression was gone. She wished that school was out today. She never liked going to school on Saturdays much before as all her classmates were mean to her; but now, she almost despised it. Some of the students who were walking nearby glanced at Hotaru nervously and kept their distance from her. Hotaru chose ignored them and continued walking and humming. Hotaru slowly, almost suspiciously turned around and stared at something through the window of a shop. Then, slowly, she smiled. Ranma would love it. The place was closed now, but she could get it on the way back from school. With a hint of worry on her face, Hotaru rooted around inside her bag for a bit and then nodded happily to her- self. She had enough money. Ranma forced himself to pay attention to class. It had been get- ting much easier with each passing day, but he still had a lot of trouble understanding most of what Mr.Kumagai blabbered on and on about in class. He shook his head. He couldn't wait till lunch. Ranma spin kicked at Ryoga's head and followed up with two quick jabs and then a lightning-fast snap kick. All of which were blocked by the Lost Boy. Ranma felt better already. Although he hadn't landed a hit at his rival and hopefully friend yet, he had gotten out a lot of the frus- tration in his system. Despite his decision concerning the matter, he felt that Hotaru might know what he had did. She was pretty smart, after all. He couldn't picture an angry Hotaru, except for at Kaolinite, and, for some strange reason that made him even more nervous. Ryoga thought angrily as he blocked another series of lightning-fast kicks and punches. Then Ryoga felt a familiar surge of confidence flash through him. Ranma pulled a reluctant Ryoga to his feet. "Thanks for the match, Ryoga." Ranma said, smiling. He felt a little bad for venting on the poor guy, but shrugged the feeling off. Ryoga was a martial artist. If anything, the beating probably helped him. And it had done wonders for Ranma's mood. "You just got lucky, Ranma," Ryoga grumbled as he stared at the boy before him with open hostility. Ranma seemed amused, and that only enraged Ryoga even more. "For everyday this past week?" "Yes!" Ryoga shouted. Ranma rubbed his ears and looked at Ryoga, annoyed. "Ya didn't hafta yell you know?" Ryoga glared at Ranma. Ranma sighed. All this anger wasn't doing either of them any good. He just wanted a sparring partner and maybe a friend. "Look Ryoga, why are ya always so angry." "Because you're always stealing my bread!" Ryoga replied automatically. Ranma took a few deep breathes to calm himself and not start another exchange of insults with Ryoga before continuing. "Why is it your bread?" "Because I saw it first!" The boy replied, starting to cool down as his anger seeped away what with Ranma not provoking him in any way he could discern. "So if I saw 1000 yen on the ground and you picked it up first, it's still mine?" Ranma asked, trying to be logical; something that Hotaru had taught him of. Before he would have just said to hell with it and let things continue to rot. "No, it's mine!" Ryoga answered hotly. Ranma took another breath. "So why's the bread that's in the air and no one except me has touched yet, yours?" Ranma asked. The rest of Ryoga's remaining anger evaporated as he pondered that question Ranma had asked. Could it be? Could the thief have a point? Ranma saw Ryoga's thoughtful look and almost wept with relief. "Tell ya what, Ryoga. How 'bout you come with me to visit Hotaru tomor- row? We can spar and stuff too. I know there's not much ta do in that house of yours." Ryoga looked at Ranma curiously. "Hotaru? You mean your girl- friend?" Ranma smacked his head and took a deep breath. "No. We're just friends, okay?." Ryoga smirked. He was sure he had heard disappointment in that voice. He, of all people should know. He had heard that arrogance-filled voice for the past few weeks and was no stranger to disappointment. Even if it was barely there, Ryoga could tell. "Fine," Ryoga answered. Ryoga's train of thoughts was broken by voice of the very person he was thinking about. One of them, anyway. "Well, see ya later Ryoga." Ryoga blinked. Not that he needed Ranma's help, but the little thief usually insisted on dragging him to his classroom. He only went along with it because he felt Ranma needed to do something to make up for his crimes, of course. "Aren't you..." Ryoga trailed off as he finally noticed that he already was in his classroom. "Excuse me," Hotaru said, getting the attention of an gray-haired man who apparently either worked at or owned the small clothing shop Hotaru was currently in. "I would like to buy that shirt over there." Hotaru pointed to the long-sleeved red Chinese shirt that was currently on display. The man looked towards the indicated direction and smiled when he saw what Hotaru talking about. "Ah... Excellent choice, miss," the man commented as he walked over to where the shirt was. "It is both a very durable and comfortable piece of clothing. I'm sure you will find it satisfactory for your needs." "Oh, it's for a friend, not me," Hotaru said as she pulled out a bunch of yen notes and handed the appropriate amount to the man. "Then he's very lucky to have a nice girl like you for a friend," the man amended. He had thought the girl was a little too small for the shirt. "..." Hotaru thought it was the other way around. She was lucky to have Ranma as a friend. The least she could do was buy Ranma the shirt. Then her mind picked up on something. "How did you know this was for a boy?" The old man shrugged. "Although able to accommodate either gender, the shirt was made for a man." "Oh," Hotaru said. It made sense. The man had basically made an assumption. Well, it didn't really matter, anyway, she was just curious. The man folded up the shirt and tucked it in a bag, handing it over to Hotaru. "Thank you for your help, miss. Come back soon." He smiled at the girl. "And may you find happiness in your life." Hotaru blinked. What did that have to do with anything? Oh well, it was a nice thing to say, anyway. Nodding and giving a grateful smile, Hotaru was then was gone. The man watched as the young girl quickly left the store the glass door swinging shut behind her. He smiled as he noticed how much more alive and energetic she seemed to be. And his heart warmed when he saw that her smile had not left her face once she was outside and walking home. He had watched the young girl walk by his shop many times for the past years. Everytime she had been so sad that he almost wanted to cry. At first he had wondered why, but the many conversations from students who came to his store and the looks they gave her when they walked past her soon gave him an answer. She was 'different'. Cursed with a bles- sing. But for the past week, the girl he had learned was Hotaru had changed. She was happy. And now he knew why. He could sleeper happier at night now, knowing that not all of today's youth were cruel. Whoever this young lad Hotaru had met was, he wished him well. "Ranma, I have a surprise for you!" Hotaru exclaimed cheerfully as she opened the door. "Eh?" Before anything else could be said, Ranma found himself being dragged by a smiling Hotaru towards her room. He hadn't expected Hotaru to want to start tutoring right away. They usually spent a few minutes just chatting before they started any studying. Hotaru had said something about a surprise... Once they were inside Hotaru's room and the door was closed behind them, Hotaru pulled out a brown paper bag off her desk and handed it over to Ranma. "Huh? What's this?" Ranma wondered aloud as he took the bag. From the feel of things, it was some kind of piece of clothing. "It's for you, silly," Hotaru giggled. "I just saw it today and knew it would be perfect for you." Ranma reached inside the bag and pulled out the red Chinese shirt, his eyes widening in recognition. "Hey, this looks just like a shirt I saw awhile back that I wanted!" He exclaimed. "It's perfect, then!" Hotaru beamed. "I knew that I should have bought it!" She even remembered herself imagining Ranma wearing a shirt exactly like it. Ranma smiled and put the shirt back into the bag. "Thanks, Hotaru," he said. Hotaru beamed and any worries about accepting help from a girl were cleanly wiped from Ranma's head. This wasn't just a girl, after all. This was Hotaru. "I'll wear it tomorrow," Ranma said as he placed the bag ontop of his friend's desk. Hotaru nodded. "And speaking of Tomorrow, could we have the day off?" Hotaru blinked. "Why?" Ranma shrugged. "So we can go and do something fun." Not that what he had been doing the past week hadn't been fun, he enjoyed doing any- thing with Hotaru. "C'mon, we need a break from school. I'll bring Ryoga, too." Hotaru was thoughtful for a moment. Ranma could really benefit from a full day of tutoring, but he didn't need it. He already had more than enough time to catch up for that test at the end of the month as long as it wasn't honors-student difficult or some other such thing. And she really wanted to go anyway. "Okay Ranma." Ranma grinned. "We'll be here first thing in the morning." "Now let's study." Ranma groaned. Ranma whistled merrily as he walked home via the fencetops. He could hardly wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow he, Hotaru and Ryoga would just go out and have fun. Just a buddy thing. Actually, Ryoga would pro- bably find something to get angry at and take it out on Ranma, but he didn't mind. Hotaru was there so everything would be dandy. Hotaru closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. She wanted the night to be over with and morning to come. The fastest way for that to happen was for her to go get some sleep. But it seemed that the harder she tried to fall asleep, the harder it became to even try. Hotaru sighed. She thought that her, until recently, isolated life-style had taught her something of patience. She was beginning to wonder. Hotaru sighed again. Hotaru scolded herself. She was going to see Ranma in the morning, not in the afternoon like usual. She should be able to wait no problem. And Ryoga. She wondered what Ryoga wold do. He had seemed like nice enough when she had met him. But then again, she never told him about her 'powers'. Hotaru sighed again. Two seconds after she finished that thought, Hotaru was soundly asleep. ************************* "Stupid old man!" Ranma yelled as he was once again pulled down by Genma. He couldn't believe Genma was able to pull the same trick over him twice in a roll! The two impacted the ground again, creating small craters at their landing spots. Ranma quickly flipped to his feet and dropped into a defensive stance, wincing slightly. He hadn't had time to even land correctly. Ranma looked at Genma and wondered how the old man had managed to take a fall like that and be smiling. "I am really going to hurt you," Ranma said slowly. Although he would never admit it, that fall had really hurt. More pain than actual injury, but that hardly mattered. "Don't be so sure, boy," Genma replied, smirking. The two stared at each other for a few more seconds, saying nothing. they were both waiting for the other to make a move. Neither of the two were very patient persons, and both of them knew it. However, Ranma had a very annoying pain coming from his back and that was enough incentive for him to rush forward and try to take out the old man. "Take this old man!" Four lightning-fast roundhouses to Genma's mid-section were easily blocked and Ranma found himself suddenly put on the defensive as Genma grabbed one of his kicks sent Ranma flying over his shoulder and to a rough and slightly painful landing. "What's wrong, boy? You're getting weak," Genma taunted as Ranma got back to his feet. Ranma clenched his teeth. What was wrong with him? The stupid pain had probably done something. He knew he'd been getting better what with all the fights with Ryoga, so he knew it wasn't his skill that was slip- ping. "You just got lucky, old man. It won't happen again." "Overconfidence will be your downfall, boy." Ranma's response was a flying kick to the Genma's head that was blocked followed by a quick sweep kick that wasn't. Genma rolled back- wards and was soon on his feet, but before he could do anything else he found himself blocking a flurry of kicks and punches. One of Ranma's front kicks hit Genma hard in the stomach. "Stupid." As Genma staggered backwards, Ranma spin kicked him, sending him staggering to the side. "Old." Trying to keep perfect concentration, Ranma put everything he had, all his strength and willpower, even his anger and pain, into one uppercut. "Man!" Genma was sent flying high into the sky and far off into the horizon. Ranma froze and stared at Genma's rapidly disappearing form in shock. After the old man had faded away from sight, Ranma slowly turned his gaze to his still clenched fist, the pain in his back forgotten. "Wow." He didn't even notice the yellow aura around him that started to fade away. Ryoga pulled down his yellow shirt and hefted his umbrella, making a few practice swings with the heavy red weapon. Ryoga smiled. He wasn't about to admit it to Ranma, but he was looking forward to the day. "Yo Ryoga, you awake yet?" Ryoga spun around and raised his umbrella defensively. There, leaning next to his open window, was Ranma. Ryoga was usually able to at least 'sense' his rival's approach, but he hadn't been paying too much attention right then. Ryoga mentally berated himself for his lapse of attention and then noticed something. "You have a new shirt Ranma." Ranma wasn't wearing the school uniform that he was used to seeing him in, but a large, red Chinese shirt with the sleeves pulled up and loose, black pants. The shirt appeared to be of good quality and was obviously new. Ranma smiled slightly. "Hotaru gave it to me yesterday." He said. "She must really like you." "I guess..." Ranma said, trailing off, wondering what all this was leading to. "What have you two been doing lately?" Ryoga asked, smirking. "Um, studying?" Ryoga's subtle insinuations went right over Ranma's head and out the window. Ryoga gave an exasperated sigh. "Well, let's go." Ranma nodded, a little surprised that Ryoga had not attacked him yet. "Yeah, sure." Well, he'd ask for a little match on the way to Hotaru's. A nice soak had taken freshened Ranma up after his fight with Genma and he was itching for a good fight. Ranma smoothed out his slightly ruffled shirt and glanced at Ryoga, who was doing the same with his clothes. "Well, now that we're done with our daily match, let's go." Ryoga nodded and followed Ranma as he walked through the gates of the Tomoe household and to the front doors. Ranma rung the bell and the two waited in silence. Shortly after, the door opened and, once again, the two martial artists tensed as Kaolinite appeared, looking at the them with an un- readable expression. "I-is Hotaru home?" Ranma asked. "Hotaru is busy right now. You can come back later." Kaolinite answered curtly before shutting the door. Ranma and Ryoga stared at the door. Slowly, Ryoga turned towards Ranma. "Busy?" he said. "No offense, but Hotaru doesn't seem like the type to be busy." "Well, I definitely don't trust that red-head," Ranma replied. "So what do we do?" Ranma was at a lost. If they rang the bell again, Kaolinite would get it and send them off. They could just hope that Hotaru or her father would answer it next, but if Kaolinite answered it, well... they'd look weird. "You got any ideas?" Ranma asked finally. "Hey, you've spent most of the week here, right? You come up with something." Ryoga replied. "Um..." Ranma thought about it. "How about..." What to do? The day just didn't seem as bright without Hotaru. Then it clicked. He'd just do the opposite of what he did two days ago! "We can go to her window!" Ryoga wasn't quite so enthusiastic about the idea. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" "You've got a better idea?" Ranma asked impatiently. "But what if she's... well... you know?!" Ryoga said in frus- tration, blushing. Ranma looked at Ryoga oddly. "What the heck are you talking about, Ryoga?" "What if she's changing!" Ryoga hissed, glancing around to make see if anybody heard him. Ranma turned slightly red at the thought and coughed. "Don't worry," he said quietly. "Her windows are always covered, remember? We'll just knock, that's all." "Why don't you just go then?" Ryoga suggested. "Uh, I need someone to cover the rear." Ryoga looked at Ranma strangely. Ranma sighed. "Alright, so that you won't be around if Kaolinte suddenly decides to go shopping or something." Ryoga thought about that. The last thing he wanted right about then was to be seen by Kaolinite. "Good point. Let's go." Ranma nodded and the two martial artists leapt onto the roof. Hotaru hurried down the stairs and to the living room. She had heard the doorbell ring and that, more likely than not, meant Ranma had come. Therefore, she was rather surprised when she didn't find him yawning on the sofa when she reached the room. "Ranma?" She said confusedly. "Where is he?" Hotaru then slowly made her way to the front door. Maybe he was waiting at the door. The thought that it could have been someone else never crossed her mind. Unfortunately, Hotaru instead bumped into the last person she wanted to see any day. "Kaolinite." She said coldly. Then Hotaru took a deep breath and composed herself. She wanted answers and she supposed that being harsh with Kaolinite wouldn't get them. "What is it?" "Was Ranma at the door?" she asked, trying not to snap at the lady in front of her. Even when Hotaru tried to be act polite around Kaolinite, the red-head's voice always managed to sound... so... superior! "Yes." The lady replied, her face showing a slight amount of an- noyance and impatience. Hotaru took a deep mental breath. "Where is he?" "I sent him away." "What?!" Hotaru wanted to throttle Kaolinite, but there was no time. She had seen how fast Ranma could move and even though he wasn't likely to go that fast right now therewasnotellingand- "You are so selfish..." Kaolinite trailed off and closed her mouth when she realized that her words hadn't kept Hotaru and that she was already running towards the front door. Kaolinite frowned, turned back around and continued down the hall. Oh well. It wasn't important anyway. Hotaru threw her front door opened and ran outside. There was no telling where Ranma could be by now. Hotaru stopped running and turned back around to look at her house. She thought he had voices. On the roof... Hotaru slowly turned her gaze upwards. "Are you sure it's this way?" "Yes! I've been to her room for the past week, of course I'm sure!" "I think it's this way." "Argh!" Hotaru could see the backs of two figures. One of them was wearing a yellow shirt and the other... Could it be? Yes, it had to be him! Either the red shirt or the pig-tail alone were dead give-aways. "Like I'm gonna listen to you with your lousy sense of direction!" "What?!" "I said you have a lousy sense of direction! Geez, is your hearing screwed up too?" "Die, Ranma!" The red figure was quickly grabbed and thrown off the roof, right in front of Hotaru. Ranma twisted in mid-air and landed safely on his feet, shaking a fist at Ryoga. "What the heck did you do that for?!" he demanded. Ryoga said nothing and stared at something past Ranma's shoulders. "Huh?" Ranma slowly turned around when he heard a familiar girlish giggling behind him. He had been so preoccupied with getting to Hotaru's room and now this verbal and physical argument with Ryoga that someone had managed to go by his notice! Then he found out the someone he had missed was also the same person he had been looking for! "H-Hotaru?!" He sputtered. Ryoga jumped down by Ranma and Hotaru cut off her giggling and looked at Ranma, smiling. "What were you doing on my roof Ranma?" "Ah... It... Kaolinite.... and, er..." Ranma said nervously. Hotaru gave a mental sigh of relief. She should have known Ranma would have been smart enough not to fall for whatever Kaolinite said. She suspected it once she saw him on the roof and now, even though Ranma was just babbling, she knew it. Ryoga too, she supposed. Ryoga decided to say something as Ranma was obviously to busy making an idiot of himself. "We were just going to call you because Kaolinite said you were busy and we didn't believe her," he said, stop- ping to take a deep breath. "Yeah!" Ranma nodded fervently. "You know we don't trust Kaolinite!" Hotaru looked at Ryoga for a moment. Then she looked at Ranma. Ranma and Ryoga both looked back, Ranma a little nervously. Then, Hotaru smiled. "I should have known Kaolinite couldn't have tricked you." "Um, yeah." Ranma said. Hotaru giggled again and gave both Ranma and Ryoga a quick hug. "Thank you for believing in me." Hotaru said. "Shall we go?" Ranma and Ryoga blinked, the same question crossing their minds. "Yeah, let's go," Ranma said after a second, stepping behind Hotaru and facing the gate. "And don't get lost, Ryoga." "Shut up, Ranma! Just go already!" Ryoga snapped, glaring at Ranma. Hotaru watched amusedly as Ranma stuck his tongue out at Ryoga and quickly sprinted away as Ryoga chased after him with his umbrella. She jogged after them and, fortunately for her health, the two rivals had stopped running too fast once they had exited the Tomoe estate. Ryoga, getting frustrated at running after the faster Ranma, stopped and tried another tactic. "Come back here, Ranma you jerk!" Ranma laughed and turned around. "Yeah right, Ryoga. Why don't YOU come over HERE, huh?" Ryoga smirked. "If you don't, I'll tell Hotaru here the real reason why you went to her roof." Hotaru turned towards Ranma and looked at him with an inquiring look. Ranma just stood there scratching his head. "Huh? What the heck are you talking about, Ryoga? We came up there to call her." Ryoga's eyes seemed to gain an evil glint and he said, slowly. "Are you sure?" Ranma looked at Ryoga oddly. "Ryoga, are you feeling alright?" Ryoga mentally screamed but tried not to show an outwards change. "Do you want me to tell Hotaru?" "Why dontcha, I'm kinda curious myself about what the heck you're talking about." Ryoga couldn't take it anymore. Could Ranma really be this stupid?! "Don't you remember, you idiot?!" Ryoga shouted in frustration. Ranma rubbed an ear slightly and Hotaru steadied herself. "You didn't have to yell, you know?" "Just tell us what you're talking about," Hotaru suggested. Ryoga smacked his head and groaned. There was no being subtle with Ranma, he supposed. "Don't you remember what I said before we went on the roof?" He asked slowly. "Uh..." Ranma thought about it. "That it wasn't a good idea?" "And why did I think that?" "Um..." Ranma picked his brain. "Um... because you'd get lost on the way up?" Ryoga threw a punch at Ranma, which was easily dodged. "No you idiot!" Ranma made a show of dusting himself and looked at Ryoga an- noyedly. "Geez, then just tell us what you're talking already." "Argh!" Ryoga screamed. "Never mind!" Hotaru backed off, and Ranma rubbed his ears again. "Didja hafta yell again? Geez..." Ryoga glared at Ranma. Ranma stood there for a moment, looking at Ryoga as his ears re- covered from the yelling. Hotaru waited patiently. Then, a look of realization crossed Ranma's features and he snapped his fingers. "Oh, I remember!" Ryoga lifted his head and looked at Ranma hopefully. Hotaru leaned closer to Ranma, as if she were afraid she might not hear. "You were afraid we'd be pee..." Ranma trailed off and his face took on a nervous look. "Well, we've wasted enough time. Let's go!" He then started walking off. Ryoga and Hotaru quickly ran after him. "What is it, Ranma? Tell me," Hotaru pleaded. "Yes, Ranma. Tell her." Ryoga agreed. "Shut up Ryoga. Besides, it was you who thought of that anyways. And I knew the windows were covered, remember," Ranma replied, not looking at either Ryoga or Hotaru. "If you're not worried, then tell her," Ryoga replied. "What are you talking about, Ranma," Hotaru asked. "Nothing, never mind!" Ranma said quickly, covering his ears and shaking his head. "Lemme alone!" "Ha ha! Just tell her Ranma!" Ryoga laughed. Hotaru looked at Ranma, her face alight with curiosity. "You were the one who thought about it, not me! Why don't you tell her?!" Ranma shot back at Ryoga. Ryoga stopped his laughing. He had forgotten about that little part. He had just intended to say it and get Ranma flustered up. "Uh, no!" "Tell me what?" Hotaru asked, impatiently. "Nothing!" Both martial artists said at once, immediately turning around and starting to walk off. Hotaru stood behind for a moment, startled. After a second, she hurried after the two. Hotaru sat down at a booth by the window and Ranma sat down right by her. Ryoga took the other side. "You're sitting with me, Ranma?" Hotaru asked in surprise. Not that she minded, but she would have thought that Ranma would... well, sit with Ryoga or something. Anything but sit with her. Ranma scratched his head sheepishly. "Um, I guess I'm just used to sitting next to you. Hehe, sorry." "It's alright, I don't mind," Hotaru smiled. Ranma seemed relieved(that he didn't make a fool of himself) and sat back down. Ryoga looked at the two sitting across from him curi- ously. "He's sitting next to you because he likes you." "Well, we are friends," Ranma said as Hotaru looked at Ryoga oddly. "Friends usually like each other," Hotaru pointed out, a small part of her relieved that Ranma had said what he did. The memory of her previous, lonely... existence... was still strong in her mind. Ryoga scowled. "Let me rephrase that..." "Yes?" Hotaru listened interestedly. This was so different from anything she had done with her free time before and she was enjoying every bit of it. "Ranma wants to sit next to you..." Ryoga paused for effect. "Go on," Ranma said, taking a sip of his milk. He more interested in eating his food than listening to whatever dumb insult Ryoga had come up with. Although that look in the boy's eyes seemed familiar somehow. It was like the one he had on when... "Because he's in love with you!" Ryoga finished, grinning. *ppphhhsssssssstttttt* Ryoga silently wiped milk off his face. Ranma wiped his mouth cleaned and turned over to look at Hotaru, who was staring at the tabletop with a blush on her face. "H-hey, don't listen ta him Hotaru! He's always doing that for some reason." Ranma cast Ryoga a dark look. Hotaru barely registered Ranma's words and tried to think her face clear. "Hotaru? You listening?" Ranma waved a hand frantically in front of his friend's face, still getting no response. Hotaru shook out of her thoughts as she felt someone shaking her. "W-what?" "Hotaru," Ranma sighed in relief. "I was starting to think you fell into some kinda weird seizure or something." "I-I'm fine..." Ranma cast another dark look at Ryoga. "Sorry 'bout Ryoga, he's always trying to get back at me cause I always beat him when we fight." "F-Fight?" Hotaru's face took on a sad look. Was she just another instrument in some person's game? Was that all she was to people? Ranma even seemed to be... to strongly dislike the idea of loving her. "Not that you're not cute or nothing," Ranma continued. "But I am NOT in love with you." Hotaru smiled. Maybe she had taken things a little to the extreme. "R-right." Then she looked across her. But there was still Ryoga... "Yeah right, Ranma," Ryoga snorted. "You know you want her." Hotaru looked closely at Ryoga's face, trying not to think to much about his comment or she might get embarrassed. Ryoga seemed so con- vinced. And Hotaru could tell that Ryoga, like Ranma, didn't lie a lot. And from what she could tell, he was like Ranma when he did try to lie. It was never too believable. Maybe she had she was wrong again. "Put a sock in it," Ranma replied, waving a hand in irritation. Ryoga became quite and sat very still, barely moving at all. A minute of uncomfortable silence passed. "You didn't deny it, Ranma." "Shut up!" Ranma glanced at Hotaru as he was looking through his menu and found that she was finished already! "Um, Hotaru?" Hotaru turned around and looked at Ranma. "Yes, Ranma?" "I know you're paying for this, so maybe I shouldn't be saying anything..." Ranma remembered THAT little argument. Actually, it was an argument between him and Ryoga over who'd pay. Ryoga saying the thief should pay to make up for stealing his food and Ranma saying he paid last time. Hotaru had then intervened and declared that she would pay, to both Ranma and Ryoga's protests. But there was no changing her mind, so they had reluctantly accepted. "Don't worry, Ranma. It's nothing," Hotaru assured, smiling. Ranma looked apologetic before he shoved those thoughts away. "Um, actually, I was just wondering what you were ordering." Hotaru pointed at something on the menu. Ranma sweatdropped. "Um, remember that chat I had with you?" Hotaru began to get a strange feeling of Deja Vu as she looked at Ranma. "Which one?" "The one where I said you should eat more." "..." "If you don't want to, it's okay." Ranma said quickly. "But I just think you should eat more." Hotaru stared at Ranma and Ryoga watched on with interest. It wasn't that she didn't want to get healthy; it was just that she wasn't that hungry. "I'm not really hungry." "You sure? 'Cause you could be not hungry and really be hungry. It never happened to me but I heard some guy say something like that at school," Ranma said, trying to convince Hotaru to get more food. What was the point of going out to eat if you ate so little? Hotaru tried a different tactic. "What are you ordering, Ranma?" "Um, that." Ranma pointed at one of the cheaper items. "That's not that much food either," Hotaru pointed out. "Yeah, but-" "But what?" "That's different!" "Why?" "I don't wanna freeload offa ya, that's why!" "I said it would be okay." "But..." Ranma trailed off helplessly. If this were, say, Ryoga; he'd just go and take advantage of the generous offer and order what he REALLY wanted. But this wasn't Ryoga. This was Hotaru. He couldn't do something so... so... evil to her! She was... special. Hotaru mentally smiled. She didn't really like to manipulate Ranma. She was really afraid he might hate her if she did that, but... it was the only way she could think of to talk Ranma into letting her eat only a little bit of food. But she still felt bad. Especially as a part of her actually did like doing that. "Okay Ranma. If you order a lot of food, so will I." "..." "Well?" Hotaru looked at Ranma, who was being very silent and fidgeting nervously. She felt so bad, doing this to Ranma. Ranma was frustrated. He had no idea what he should do. "Just order more, Ranma." Ryoga decided to interrupt Hotaru and Ranma's staring contest. It was interesting at first, but got boring after awhile. And Ranma wasn't exactly something he liked to look at for prolonged periods of time. Hotaru was okay, but Ranma was a big, thieving jerk. Ranma snapped out of his thoughts and he and Hotaru both tuned around and looked at Ryoga. "Huh?" "You heard me, just order more," Ryoga replied with a bored wave of his hand. "But..." Ranma trailed off and gave Ryoga a meaningful look. Hotaru waited for a reply from Ranma. "She said not to worry to worry about it so don't." Ranma looked from Ryoga's almost bored expression and then to Hotaru's patient one. What should he do? "Hotaru?" "Do whatever you want, Ranma," Hotaru said, smiling. "Whatever makes you happy makes me happy." Ranma stared at Hotaru for a moment and then down at the menu in his hands. That was a really sweet thing for her to say. "Okay," he said finally, looking up at Hotaru. "I'll order more." Hotaru looked at Ranma's expression and burst out giggling. Sud- denly, eating a lot of food didn't seem so bad anymore. "W-what's so funny?" Ranma asked worriedly, reaching for a napkin. "You don't have to sound so serious!" Hotaru replied between gig- gles. Ryoga was even chuckling slightly. Ranma rolled his eyes and sat back. "Hey, what're you ordering Ryoga?" Ryoga froze and slowly looked up at Ranma. "Um..." Hotaru looked at the assortment of food before her in awe. There was a LOT of food. She wasn't worried about the price, it wasn't that much. But this was a LOT of food. "Are you sure we can finish this?" She asked. Ranma nodded. "No problem. The only thing we hafta worry about is making sure you eat a lot." "..." Ranma looked down a the 'meal' before him and nodded in satis- faction. If Hotaru didn't mind the price, then he was happy. And she said whatever makes him happy made her happy, right? Then everything was perfect since they were both happy. "Alright Hotaru, Ryoga... Let's eat!" Three very stuffed teenagers walked out of a restaurant and headed down a random direction. Ranma belched and sighed in satisfaction. He felt just great. He glanced over at Ryoga. He was keeping himself 'gentleman-like' or what- ever, but he could tell that the boy was quite full. It took a martial artist like Ranma to tell that the Lost boy was stuffed, but he could tell. It would take more than a big meal to impede a martial artist's performance. Hotaru, on the other hand, was stumbling a bit. She was positive she had never eaten so much in her life. Whenever she had finished a plate, Ranma was there with a smile and another plate of food. She couldn't refuse him. He just seemed so happy when she ate. The best she could do was eat slower. But Ranma NEVER wasted food and he made sure she ate a lot, so the trio was at the restaurant for quite awhile. "I'm... so full..." Hotaru said, stumbling next to Ranma. "I don't think I can walk any-" Hotaru stopped talking when she started to fall. Into Ranma's arms. "Just lean on my shoulder," Ranma suggested. "I think maybe you ate a bit too much." "And... who's fault... is that?" Hotaru asked slowly as she was put back on her feet. She immediately grabbed onto one of Ranma's shoul- ders for support and leaned on it. After Ranma was sure that Hotaru was okay, he started walking again. Ryoga looked on, amused. "Why don't you carry her?" "She need's the exercise," Ranma replied quickly. The truth was, he didn't exactly know why he didn't carry Hotaru. He knew he certainly wouldn't mind it. But maybe Hotaru would. Maybe that was why. Or maybe it was because of all these pedestrians looking at them. No. That wasn't it. Ranma could care less what everybody else thought of him carrying Hotaru. It was people like them who tormented Hotaru. Ranma shook his head. Maybe he was saying "maybe" too much. "Maybe she needs the rest more," Ryoga suggested. "If she wanted to be carried, she'd ask okay?" Ranma replied in annoyance. He then looked down at Hotaru. "Right Hotaru? If ya want me ta carry you anytime, just say so." Hotaru smiled. "Right." Ranma looked up at Ryoga. "There, so shut up." "Whatever," Ryoga answered, rolling his eyes. "So where do we go now?" Ranma shrugged and looked over to Hotaru. "I dunno. Where you wanna go, Hotaru?" "This was your idea... You can decide," Hotaru answered. Ranma thought about it. Exactly where did he go whenever he went out just to have fun? The answer he came up with was "no". "Um, hey. You two live here, you tell me where to go." Ryoga thought about it. He never did much. He always trained on his spare time. "I don't really go out much," he said You all know about my direction problem." He added darkly. "Well, I guess we both have an excuse," Ranma said. Then he looked at Hotaru. "Well, what do you do with your spare time?" "Read or study." Hotaru replied. "Oookay..." Ranma said slowly. "Do you ever go out?" He asked. He suspected the answer was no. Hotaru was a little on the pale side. "I go to the park sometimes," Hotaru said brightly, glad that she had an answer for Ranma. Ranma snapped his fingers. "Perfect! We'll go to a park! Ryoga and I can spar a bit and we can give Hotaru a few tips on self-defense. What do you guys think?" "Hmmm..." Ryoga rubbed his chin. he went to the park sometimes. Or, actually, he got lost and ended up in one. "I don't have any other ideas." "Are you sure you two should be fighting so soon after eating?" Hotaru asked worriedly. Ranma slapped her on the back. "Don't worry about it! We're mar- tial artists, we'll do fine," He said enthusiastically. Hotaru smiled. Ranma seemed so eager. "Well, let's go then." Then she added. "Ryoga... The nearest park is THIS way." Hotaru smiled as Ryoga yelled insults at Ranma as he pulled the Lost Boy up. She thought wonderingly. She had been doing that so much more lately. It almost felt natural to smile when Ranma was around. She even laughed sometimes.(Well, giggle, anyways.) She even felt that she had smiled and laughed the past week more than she ever had in the rest of her life. Or at least since her mother died. After that, she still had fun when her father spent time with her, but he didn't do that too often. And after the explosion, he stopped doing that altogether. Since then, she had really started becoming depressed. And now that Ranma and Ryoga were here... Life was enjoyable again. She no longer found happiness in just the solitude of her room or the pages of a book. "Hey Hotaru!" Hotaru snapped out of her thoughts. "W-what is it?" "Now that Ryoga and I are done." Ranma indicated the bruised up boy next to him. "Let's get you learning." "..." "Hey, don't worry 'bout nothing. We ain't gonna fight with you, just give you some training." Ranma mentally added. "If you really want me to..." Hotaru said slowly, getting up from the bench she was on. "Of course WE want you to!" Ranma exclaimed. "You gotta be able to beat up those guys if they try to attack you again." That was the reason he was even training Hotaru in the first place. He was a little re- luctant to do it, but his friends safety had priority over his male pride and pretty much everything else. "Ranma's right, Hotaru,." Ryoga added reluctantly. He didn't like to give anything to the little thief, but this was for Hotaru's benefit. "You need to be able to defend yourself." "And go to the forest!" Ranma added with a cheerful smile. "Um, right. That too," Ryoga amended, glancing at Ranma oddly. Hotaru giggled and walked over to the two martial artists. Ranma seemed a little ruffled but otherwise okay. Ryoga was in about the same shape. "So what do I do?" Ranma thought about it. "Um, what do you think Ryoga?" Ryoga thought about it. Hotaru looked like she needed to build up her physical attributes more than anything else. "Well, I'd say she should run or something." Hotaru cringed. She hated running. She was fast, she knew. But could only last a very short period of time before her sides hurt and she started feeling faint. "She can do all that strength training and stuff later. Right now, I just want to get her more skilled," Ranma said in reply to the sug- gestion. Ryoga looked at Ranma doubtfully. There was not much point in being very skilled if you couldn't last long. "Well, I'd say teach her how to block first." Ranma snapped his fingers. "Great idea! We'll teach you some blocks and stuff." "Okay..." Hotaru said. She supposed she should learn defense before anything else. "Alright then. Ryoga, you step back and DON'T MOVE. You're... stronger than me... so I'll do this." Ryoga raised an eyebrow and stepped about ten feet under Ranma's watchful eyes. Had he just been complimented by Ranma? After he was sure Ryoga was still there, Ranma turned back to Hotaru. "Okay, I'll just throw a punch or something and you try to block it, okay? Don't worry, I wont hurtcha." Hotaru nodded. She wasn't sure she could do this, but Ranma had said it would help her, so she had to at least try. "Okay Ranma." Hotaru fluidly dropped into a defensive stance and tensed, ready for a fight. Ranma blinked. "Huh? Do you know martial arts already?" Hotaru looked at Ranma oddly. "What are you talking about, Ranma?" "You're in a pretty good stance right there," Ranma said, ges- turing at Hotaru. Hotaru looked down at herself and she found that Ranma was right and she was indeed standing, with her feet spread out, knees bent and hands held up before her, in a ready stance. "Wow..." she whispered. "I must have copied you and Ryoga..." That was the only reason she could think of for her knowing it. Ranma shrugged, a little doubtful. "Well, whatever. Ya seem to have everything right so, moving on..." Ranma dropped into a loose stance, just so Hotaru would know what to expect. "Okay Hotaru, you just watch me very closely and try to predict what I'm gonna do, okay?" Hotaru nodded. "Okay, Ranma." Ranma smiled and stayed very still for a few moments. He then made a very exaggerated show of tightening his right fist and shifting his weight to his left leg. He was both satisfied and disappointed when he saw Hotaru widen her eyes. She had recognized what he was about to do, but she should have kept better control of her emotions. Hotaru immediately realized that Ranma was about to punch at her with his right arm. For some reason, she knew that what Ranma was doing should be blatantly obvious and was almost embarrassed by it, but she shrugged that off. Hotaru tensed and waited. Ranma sent an average speed punch at Hotaru's face. It was average by average martial arts standards, but was incredibly slow by his own. He could still, however, put a lot of force in that one punch. But he didn't. He made sure that the punch was so weak it couldn't break tissue paper. He could never forgive himself if he hurt Hotaru. A flash of memory from a previous fight she had, and Hotaru instinctively raised her right hand, fist closed, and pushed the in- coming arm aside. Stepping up with her left foot, she then gave two quick punches to Ranma's ribs. She never realized that she had never been in a fight before and the memory was soon gone. Ranma was shocked. Shocked that Hotaru had just did what she did. It certainly didn't hurt and he knew about a fifty ways to counter what she just did right off the top of his head. There were plenty of ways to counter punches, after all. But still... Hotaru wasn't supposed to know ANY martial arts. And he didn't recall him using a basic maneuver like that on Ryoga, or vice-versa. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ranma!" Hotaru exclaimed. "I didn't mean to hit you! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Ranma pushed all of his surprise away and turned around to face Hotaru. "Don't worry, it didn't hurt at all." Ranma took a deep breath. "Um, Hotaru..." "Y-yes?" Hotaru asked. She was afraid Ranma was mad at her. He had said it was okay, but why was he all serious now? "Are you sure you don't any martial arts?" Hotaru seemed very surprised. Why would Ranma ask her something like that? "No, why?" "Because you just executed a martial arts technique." Ryoga an- swered, joining the two. It was something almost all martial artists learned waaay in the beginning, but it WAS still martial arts. Hotaru blinked and thought back. Hotaru's jaw dropped down. She HAD done something! "I-it just came naturally..." She said wonderingly. Ranma was very silent for a moment. Then at thought struck him and he smiled. "Well, that's great!" "W-what?" Hotaru looked at Ranma questioningly. "Martial arts must be in your blood or something, that's why you know what you do! You just... um, whatchamacallit... subconsciously! Yeah, subconsciously picked up some martial arts! Happens to me all the time, I just know I'm doing it." Ryoga seemed thoughtful for a moment. Then he smiled. "That makes sense, you must have a lot of potential." He patted Hotaru on the back in congratulations, glad that Hotaru seemed to have some talent. Only Hotaru was doubtful about Ranma's theory. Subconsciously learning martial arts? She supposed she wasn't an expert on either the human mind or martial arts, but still... "I'm not so sure..." Ranma shrugged. "Well, you got a better idea?" "No..." "Then let's see what else ya... um... subconsciously learned!" Hotaru lay back down on the bench, Ranma and Ryoga to her right. She wasn't tired, nor were her 'teachers'. The techniques she had l earned were easy to perform and she got a lot of rest in-between each one. The only thing that could have been a little troublesome was lear- ning how to take a fall. But it appeared she had 'subconsciously l earned' that as well. Hotaru smiled. She had her doubts about Ranma's theory, but couldn't think of a better one. So she was, instead, happy that Ranma was using his head. Ranma looked at Hotaru thoughtfully. She had learned so much in an hour. He smirked. 'Learn' indeed. Ranma felt he was just reminding Hotaru. She already seemed to know about martial arts. All he had done so far was remind Hotaru of the basics and help her polish it up a bit. He was glad. This meant it would be a lot easier to train Hotaru. "Well, whaddya guys wanna do now?" Ranma asked as he stood back up. He had expected to spend a lot more time training Hotaru. It wasn't even Lunch time yet and he had finished! For now anyway... Ryoga shrugged. Hotaru was silent. "Oookay..." Ranma said slowly. "Let's just walk around for awhile then." "Sounds good to me," Hotaru smiled, getting up. Ryoga yawned. "Whatever." "So then I beat up Ryoga real good," Ranma finished proudly, looking at Hotaru with a smirk. Ryoga scowled. "You just got lucky that time, Ranma." "Yeah yeah, whatever." Ranma replied rolling his eyes. "It sounds like you do this often," Hotaru commented with a giggle. "Do what? Fight?" Ranma asked in confusion. Hotaru nodded. "It's all in the spirit of, um..." Ranma picked his brain; exactly what was it in the spirit of? "Er... It's all in... good spirit! Yeah, that's it. All in good spirit. Right, Ryoga 'ol buddy?" Ryoga glared at Ranma. "I am not your buddy." He said slowly. Hotaru giggled. "Don't be so serious Ryoga. Ranma does some stupid things sometimes, I suppose. But he's really a nice person." "Yeah, Ryoga. Listen to Hotaru," Ranma added smirking. Ryoga muttered something about pony-tailed thieves but was other- wise silent. The trio continued walking on, this time in a mostly comfortable silence. "Hotaru?" Ranma asked suddenly. There was something he was curious about. "What is-" Hotaru abruptly stopped walking and clutched her side in pain, falling down on one knee. Ranma shot down by her side, Ryoga behind him. "Hotaru! What's wrong?" "R-Ranma..." Hotaru gasped out. "I-it's just... I'll be... fine..." Hotaru's eyes shut and with a gasp, she fell forward. Ranma gently caught her and lifted her up in his arms. "W-what's wrong with her?" Ryoga asked, his voice full of concern for the girl's welfare. She was HIS friend as well, after all. "She gets these seizures sometimes," Ranma replied quickly, his eyes never leaving Hotaru's unconscious form. "It's happened ever since she was in this lab explosion with her dad four years ago." "Hotaru was in an explosion?" Ryoga asked in shock. Ranma nodded. "Yeah, the explosion caused the seizure, but she doesn't know why. Some idiot told her she's not supposed to see a doctor." "What do we do?" Ranma sighed. "I guess we should take her back home. Follow me and don't get lost." Ryoga didn't give his usual scowl but, instead, just numbly nodded as Ranma led him to Hotaru's house. A city. Dark and foreboding, covered by a red sky that spoke of death. People, frozen in stone, expressions of terror marking their faces. Girls. Faces of girls that she had never met before. And yet they seemed so familiar. She felt she should know them, trust them. But that was silly, they were just statues, like the millions of others dotting the dead and deserted city. And yet... she HAD seen them. On television, on the newspapers, everywhere! Sailor Senshi, defenders of Love and Justice; protectors of Tokyo. Particularly Juuban. THEY would help her! They would turn ever- yone back to flesh! But wait... They, too, were stone. She shook her head. She didn't know any Sailor Senshi. She barely even had any friends. And then, as if her thoughts had summoned those very same people, they appeared before her, their faces marked with that arrogant smirk she had become so used to. She reached out a hand to one. The one she felt closest to. Then she faltered. Her arms were bare. And more than that, there was something in one of her hands. A long weapon of strange, gleaming metal that sparkled with power. It felt so right in her hands, as if it belonged, and whispered to her that it cared not what it was used for; Good or Evil, whatever it's master desired. She shook her head again. Evil? She wouldn't do anything evil. Almost everybody thought she was evil, but she wasn't. Almost everybody. She looked again at the two who were her friends. Once again, she reached out to them. The one she felt closest to reached out a hand, his smirk shifting to a kind smile. The other watched on with that amused look he wore every now and then. Then, she felt it. A darkness came over her and she felt her control ripped from her; her being pushed back into a dark corner as she screamed out in pain. Her friend, immediately breaking out into a run towards her. Ready to help her, protect her. The other, close behind, worry marring his features. She smirked. She smirked and yet she didn't. It was her and it wasn't. She never smirked. And her friends knew that. With fluid ease they stopped and dropped into defensive stances, worry and determination on both of their faces. She raised her weapon, the cruel smirk never leaving her face. Her friends tensed. They knew the danger they were in but they would not abandon her while they still felt hope. And even then, maybe not. She knew them enough to know that. "No!" she wanted to scream. "Run away!" she wanted to shout. But she didn't, couldn't. She no longer had control. Her friends would stay and they would die something told her. Herself and not herself. Only four years of herself. A word echoed through her being: Messiah. The weapon flashed downwards with lightning speed. Both of her friends reacted with reflexes born from a life spent in training, leap- ing skillfully out of the deadly pole-arm's path and to safety. A surge of hope. They were good, perhaps they would not die. They ran towards her. Obviously with the intent of restraining her. The weapon flashed again. Hope was cut down with it as one of her friends fell down. The other one. Strong as an ox and as unyielding as a mountain. And he was down. Her other friend was by his side in and instant, pulling him back to safety. Words were exchanged. Perhaps last words. The remaining one came back to his feet, determination lighting his face. The other remained on the barren ground, his life essence flowing away despite the crude bandages made. Her weapon. No, the weapon moved again. With lightning speed and precision it flew towards her remaining friend. He dodged. Another strike. Dodged. Another and another. All missed. She despaired. He would never win if he did not attack her. What was he doing? Strike after strike, all missing. Her friend moved as the wind, flowed like water. The weapon did not hit him. She would have cried if she could. Her friend would die if he did not attack her, something whispered to her. But he would not attack her. Even while his comrade lay dying on the ground, he would not attack her. A moment of control. Her voice regained for but a second. Breaking the dread silence, she screamed. "Run!" Her friend faltered, his eyes widening in surprise. He jumped back a second later as the weapon flew at him again. She could not speak again, but she pleaded to him with her eyes. Pleaded with him to take the other and run. He stared at her hopelessly. Then, he nodded, his eyes promising he would return. Lifting his fallen companion up, he turned and ran. She pursued. Hope came that her friends would survive. That she would see them again as herself. That it would be like before, when she was happy. Then she felt it. Her friend likely did to as he faltered for a second in his flight. But that was all. She stopped and turned around. Three objects, glowing with celestial power. So much power. One part of her, the part in control, raised a hand, reaching towards the objects of power. The other part, herself, wanted to run away. Run to her friend and escape from this nightmare with him. But she didn't. The objects came closer. To her and each other. Closer. Closer. A twisted parody of a half-forgotten moment of her life. One she still didn't understand. But she felt it was important. That it would reveal some piece of information that would fix everything. Some so- important piece of information that she could not remember! She strug- gled with it. If she could just figure it out! So close! Too late. The objects became as one and the light intensified. Bright. Blinding. But she could still see it. Just barely. A cup, beautiful and adorned with jewels. It came down. She touched it. Power. Pure, unbelievable power. It flowed to her, from the cup and to her fingertips. Then, throughout her entire body. Every fiber of her being was filled with strength unimaginable. And it was all use for one thing. The silence seemed to be become more intense. Then it ended. A loud, deafening rumbling from behind her. She turned. One part triumphant, the other fraught with fear. She saw her friend. He had stopped running and was staring at... The End. Of everything. A rolling mass of dark destruction, destroying everything in it's path. The buildings, the statues, everything. She wanted to scream. There must be a way! A word flashed through her mind: Messiah. "Too late," The other part of her taunted. An image of a young girl, so familiar, flashed through her. Every- thing about her from the buns on her head to her strange clothing was so familiar. Her face calm and her eyes friendly and sad. Someone she could trust, she felt. Someone that could fix everything. Someone that was frozen in stone. She despaired. Her friend turned back to her, his eyes pleading. She felt like dying. Perhaps she would, along with everything else. "Your friend will die..." The other taunted. Tears fell to her eyes and down her face. A face once twisted with an evil smirk. Now sad. But that was all she could control. "We may not kill him ourselves, but he cannot escape the inevitable... The Silence..." Silence. The word felt strangely soothing and repulsive at the same time. Tears fell. From her face or his, she could not be sure. How could she make things right? Messiah? Hotaru snapped awake, grabbing onto the nearest solid thing with a strength born of fear. Fear born of something she could not remember. Something she, perhaps, did not want to remember. "Hotaru!" Ranma exclaimed as his friend shot awake and wrapped her arms around his torso with in an iron embrace. The voice. She felt so much relief at hearing it. Hearing it say her name. Say HER name. Unbidden, tears came. Ranma almost panicked. Crying girls was some- thing he could not, apparently, handle. "W-what's wrong, Hotaru?" He asked worriedly, setting her down on her feet and nervously returning her hug because it felt like the right thing to do, even if it felt 'unmanly'. Ryoga watched on, concern in his eyes. Both he and Ranma had noticed that Hotaru seemed to be having a nightmare. He could tell this was no time to try to humiliate Ranma. Hotaru said nothing and continued to cry. A thought she did not understand echoing through her mind: He's alive... To make sure, she tightened her hold on Ranma and took comfort on his own hold on her. She let the tears run loose. She needed to let it out. "Hotaru..." Ranma said slowly as the girl he held slowly to stop crying. "What's wrong?" Hotaru sniffled a few more times and reluctantly broke out of Ranma's gentle hold. "I just... had a nightmare..." She said slowly. It sounded silly, even to her. She couldn't even remember what it was about, but she could, however, still feel the fear, the helplessness. And then she felt an unbelievable sense of relief that both Ranma and Ryoga were standing before her, safe and sound. "Um..." Ranma trailed off, trying to think of something properly reassuring to say. He wasn't any expert on this; especially with Genma as his father. Nightmares were considered unmanly and resulted in even more intensive training the next day. As a result, Ranma had stopped mentioning anything about nightmares to his father. Even the ones about the... cats... "Don't worry, it was just a dream," Ryoga interjected quickly as Ranma didn't seem to know what to say. "Yeah, it was just a dream, everything's alright now," Ranma ad- ded, picking up on what Ryoga was doing: Reassuring her. Hotaru took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "T-thank you," she said softly. Ranma and Ryoga smiled reassuringly. Hotaru's forced smiled became genuine. She felt so safe with Ranma and Ryoga with her. "I'm sorry about your shirt, Ranma." Ranma glanced down at his tear-stained shirt. "Ahhh, it's alright. You're the one who gave it to me anyways." Several moments of uncomfortable silence passed. "Where are we?" Hotaru finally asked, breaking the silence. The silence had seemed so familiar. So frightening, that she just had to END it. "Um, we're pretty close to your house," Ranma answered. "You passed out so I thought we should take you home..." "Thank you," Hotaru replied simply. "Yeah, no problem..." Ranma said. "Um, maybe we should take you home." Ranma didn't really want to leave Hotaru, but her health was first priority. It was his job to protect her, her felt. "It's alright," Hotaru quickly said. Leaving Ranma and Ryoga and being... alone... was the last thing she wanted right then. "I'm fine now." Ranma shrugged and pretended indifference. But he was secretly grateful that Hotaru wanted to go on with their day. Ryoga just stood, a passive observer. He, apparently, had no say in the matter. Ah well. He didn't mind going on with the day. "So what do we do now?" Ryoga asked. Ranma shrugged. "How 'bout we let Hotaru decide?" Hotaru looked at Ranma and Ryoga's expectant eyes and smiled. They were okay. She felt the fear and helplessness slowly drift away and took a deep breath. "How about we just walk around for a little bit. Maybe we can find a place to eat lunch, too." Ranma nodded enthusiastically. Ryoga practically copied Ranma. Hotaru giggled, the last remnants of her nightmare drifting away. Okay, let's just walk." "It was pretty strange," Ryoga continued, his two-person audience listening interestedly. "There were ones a foot high!" "I dunno Ryoga..." Ranma said, not to sure about the credibility of Ryoga's story. "I ain't no expert, but a foot's pretty big for a mushroom..." "Are you calling me a liar!" Ryoga demanded angrily. "Of course not!" Ranma quickly replied, his hands raised up before him defensively. Ryoga relaxed. "You don't drink, do you?" "Ranma..." Ryoga growled dangerously. The pedestrians that were around the three teenagers quickly moved away from the martial artist. His anger was almost tangible. Some of the more cowardly even ran across the street just to be sure they were safe. Of course, what they didn't know was that if Ryoga did attack Ranma, the third thing he'd try would involve Ranma flying to the that side of the street. "It's okay, Ryoga," Hotaru said, smiling amusedly. "Ranma's just teasing you." Ryoga scowled, but unclenched his fists and settled down, calm for the most part. "I'm only letting you go because of Hotaru." "Hmph. Ryoga Hibiki, taking orders from a girl." Ranma smirked. Hotaru frowned. Ryoga snickered. "Do you have something against girls, Ranma?" Ryoga asked. Ranma blinked. He had been expecting Ryoga to get angry and try to 'kill' him. "Huh?" "Do you have something against girls?" Ryoga repeated. "Uh, no," Ranma answered. "Hotaru's a girl and I like her." He added after a moment. Hotaru lost her frown and Ryoga smirked. Ranma looked at both of them, a confused look on his face. For a moment there, he had been afraid he had said something wrong. Normally, he wouldn't really care, but he didn't like seeing Hotaru unhappy for any reason. Especially not because of him. "Man, I don't get you guys at all..." Ranma muttered. Ryoga laughed and Hotaru giggled at Ranma. Ranma tried to ignore him and walked on. "Hey, guys," Ranma called as he noticed something. His two companions composed themselves and looked at Ranma. "What is it now?" Ryoga asked, prepared to be sucker-punched by Ranma or any number of other violent things. "What's an arcade?" Ryoga blinked. Arcade. The word brought back flashes of memory from his childhood. When his parents had been around more often. When he had enjoyed life and had fun. Flashes of bright lights and unceasing high-pitched noises. Fun. "I think I've been to one before, but I don't really remember it." "It's a place filled with gaming machines," Hotaru supplied. "Gaming machines?" Ranma asked. What the heck was a gaming machine? Hotaru tried another answer. "Arcade machines." "Arcade machines?" Ranma asked. What the heck was an arcade machine? Gaming machine made more sense than arcade machine. "A machine that you play games on," Ryoga interjected. "You play games on a machine?" Ranma asked. Ryoga and Hotaru nodded. "So is it fun?" Ryoga and Hotaru froze. "I've never actually been to one before," Hotaru said after a moment. "I haven't been to one in years," Ryoga admitted. "So was it fun when you were there?" Ranma asked, turning to Ryoga. "Um, I think so," Ryoga replied slowly. "So what, exactly, do we do in there?" "You put money in a machine and play the game on it," Ryoga replied. Ranma frowned. He wasn't exactly keen on spending money. "Well, I was gonna say to go in here, but I don't wanna spend my money on games..." "Well, personally, I'd like to see an arcade again," Ryoga said. Ranma turned towards Hotaru. "How 'bout you?" "It sounds like it could be fun," Hotaru said. Ranma thought about it. They had zero to little experience with arcades. That meant it could be fun trying out something new with his friends. And he was a little curious himself. But then there was the little thing about money... Ranma glanced back at Hotaru's eager face and the choice was made for him. "Well, let's check it out!" He an- nounced. Hotaru smiled and Ryoga nodded as Ranma walked through the now open, automatic doors of Crown Arcade. It wasn't exactly as Ryoga had expected. He remembered a dark place full of flashing machines. This place had ample lighting, though there were plenty of machines. There were many people, too, but he remembered a lot more. Ryoga shrugged to himself and looked at his... company and saw that they too were looking around curiously. "So what do we do?" Ranma asked. "Find a game we like and play it." Ryoga answered, walking towards a machine. A hand quickly shot out and pulled him back. "What are you doing?!" Ryoga demanded. "Let go of me!" Ranma rolled his eyes and released the Lost Boy. "You were heading for the door, brick-head." "What did you call me?" Hotaru giggled and Ranma and Ryoga both stopped what they were doing. They had just become so used to stopping their little fights when Hotaru did something that it was now natural. "So what's so funny now?" Ranma asked tiredly. "Just the way you two always manage get into fights," Hotaru re- plied. Ranma and Ryoga both sighed. "Well, let's go this way," Ranma suggested, pointing to their left. Ryoga shrugged, his anger at Ranma forgotten as he followed Ranma. Hotaru grabbed him and turned him in the right direction when he started heading for the right instead. As the three walked along, they studied the various machines they passed. "There's a lot of these Sailor V games," Ranma pointed out. "That's most likely because she's a real person," Hotaru sug- gested. "Oh yeah." Ranma snapped his fingers in recollection. "I remember hearing something 'bout some girls running around fighting monsters or something." "The Sailor Senshi," Hotaru said, a feeling of Deja Vu creeping along her spine. "I can't believe they dress in those little skirts," Ranma said. "I mean, do they actually FIGHT like that?" Hotaru giggled. "They've been doing for a long time now, Ranma." "So I guess they've got some experience with monster-hunting; I bet I could kick their butts. Not that I would 'cause they're girls an all, but I could." "I'm not so sure, Ranma," Hotaru said, feeling that she should defend the Senshi for some reason. "Sure I can," Ranma replied confidently. "I-" "Hey, this looks fun," Ryoga said, cutting off Ranma's sentence. "What?" Ranma and Hotaru asked simultaneously, turning to what Ryoga was looking at. "Enforcers: Lethal," Ryoga answered as he walked up to a machine. "What's so fun about that?" Ranma wondered as he walked next to Ryoga. "How the heck are you supposed to play it anyways? There ain't no sticks or nothing on it" "I think you use those guns," Hotaru answered, pointing at a plas- tic, red gun next to Ranma. "G-guns?" Ranma sputtered. "You use guns in this thing!" "They're not real, you idiot," Ryoga said, whacking Ranma on the head for his stupidity. "I suppose I use this blue one, then." Ranma rubbed the back of his head, annoyed and picked up the gun, noticing that there was a cord connecting it to the arcade machine. "So what do we do, oh wise one?" he asked sarcastically. Ryoga shrugged. "I guess we shoot things on the screen" "Doesn't sound so great," Ranma said, looking over all the char- acters popping up on the chaotic screen, various firearms held in their digitized hands. "Consider it reflex training." Hotaru suggested. "Reflex training, huh?" Ranma said thoughtfully. "Guess I could try it. Whadda we do?" "You put some coins in there," Ryoga pointed at a slot next to Ranma's hand. "and play." "Money?" Ranma said slowly. "Great..." he muttered sarcastically as he slowly rooted around in his pants for the correct amount of change. "It's not that much, Ranma," Hotaru pointed out with an amused smile. "Yeah, yeah..." Ranma replied in annoyance as he inserted a coin into the machine. "Tell me that when I'm starving on the road, why dontcha?" "Oh shut up, Ranma," Ryoga said in irritation. "Just enjoy the game." "..." "It's starting, you two," Hotaru pointed out as the screen changed. "I think you're supposed to shoot at the level you want to go to." *BAM* "Okay." Ranma smirked. "This game should be a 'cinch." "Especially with me helping," Ryoga added. "If it were possible, you'd probably get us lost in the game," Ranma commented, snickering. "Why you..." Ryoga growled, ready to drop his gun and pound Ranma. "Whoops, no time to talk, game's starting!" Ranma quickly spun towards the screen. *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* "Heh, that was almost too easy," Ranma commented, smirking. *BAM* "I just saved your life, Ryoga." "Ah shut up!" Ryoga growled. " And leave some for me!" *BAM* *CLICK* *CLICK* *BANG* *BANG* "Hey! What gives?! My gun ain't working!" Ranma shouted angrily as Ryoga laughed and blasted the two terrorists who had shot Ranma. "Ranma, you have to reload," Hotaru said, pointing at some writing on the arcade machine. "Reload by shooting off screen?!" Ranma read in disbelief. "Why the hell didn't they say that earlier?!" *BANG* "Argh! Why weren't you covering me you idiot?!" Ranma demanded as Ryoga burst out in more laughter and shot down several more ski-masked terrorists. "I have my own problems to deal with," Ryoga answered, still laughing. "Just reload and do something!" "You're just lucky I ran out of bullets first," Ranma muttered as he reloaded. "Or you'd be the one with-" *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* "Holes," Ranma finished as he reloaded early and proceed to mow down several more masked evil-doers. "Yeah right, at least I now how to read, unlike some thieves..." Ryoga replied as he blasted and reloaded. Blasted and reloaded. Hotaru giggled and sat down on a conveniently placed chair. She was glad they had decided to come to the arcade. It was so funny watching Ranma and Ryoga play. "Um..." Ranma shot down some more masked terrorists and reloaded. *BANG* "Ranma!!!" Ryoga shouted in anger. "Why didn't you shoot that psycho! I'm injured now!" "But it's a girl..." Ranma pointed out. Indeed, the black-garbed terrorist had several important things that a male one didn't. "See, she's got long hair, red-lips and everything!" *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* "It's just a game, damnit!" *BAM* *BAM* "Then don't take it so seriously, sheesh..." Ranma said, hesi- tantly putting a hole in a few female terrorist's heads. *BAM* *BAM* *BEEP* "What the hell!?" Ryoga shouted as he lost another health point. "Why did I a lose a heart?!" "Hahahaha!" was Ranma reply. *BAM* *BAM* "You..." *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* "Probably..." Ranma reloaded. *BAM* *BAM* "Just..." *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* "Suck!" Ranma finished as he reloaded and the camera view showed them, apparently, running outside. "Damn you, Ranma!" Ryoga dropped his gun, and drew back a fist, ready to beat Ranma into a pulp. Hotaru quickly jumped to her feet and interfered. "Ranma's just teasing you, Ryoga!" Hotaru said quickly. "You lost a point because you shot a bystander." "Bystander?" Ryoga said questioningly as he picked his gun back up. "Hahaha!" Ranma laughed. "Man, I'd hate to give you a gun in real life! Shooting innocent people!" Ranma continued laughing as he expertly put holes in five foreheads that popped out of some widows. He had made the interesting discovery that he had a very good aim when he put his mind to it. "Shut up!" Ryoga snapped as he turned his attention back to game. *BANG* "Hahaha! Ya shoulda been paying attention, Ryoga!" *BAM* *BAM* "I wish they'd let me shoot my partner..." Ryoga muttered as a large helicopter filled up the screen. "Do we shoot that?" *BANG* "Hahaha! That answer your question?" "Shut up!" "Well, that was pretty easy," Ranma decided as he put down his gun and stretched. "You know, I didn't expect us to beat that thing in one try," Ryoga commented, rubbing his neck. Even the ending had been kind of stupid. "Well, whaddya expect, what with my superior reflexes helping ya," Ranma answered with an arrogant smirk. "Don't get cocky, Ranma," Ryoga replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I think you both did great," Hotaru interjected. "You two make a good team." "Both?" Ranma said incredulously. "Ryoga's the one who shot that innocent bystander, remember? And he almost got me killed with that stupid tank!" "It was one lousy accident! You're-" "Calm down, you two!" Hotaru said in exasperation. It was amazing how quickly those two could get into an argument, sometimes. Extremely annoying but amazing nonetheless. "Let's go to a different machine, okay?" Ranma decided to ignore Ryoga and nodded at Hotaru. She was one person whose ideas he couldn't just ignore. Even if he acted like he didn't, he always paid attention to Hotaru's ideas and opinions. Ryoga glared at Ranma for a few seconds but turned away when Ranma ignored him. He nodded at Hotaru. "Let's go then. Hotaru gave each of her two friends a quick smile and turned around, heading down the aisle of machines. "What do you two want to play now?" "What do you want to play?" Ranma asked in return. Ryoga and he had already played a machine. He felt Hotaru should do something now. "Me?" Hotaru asked in surprise. She was still a little unused to people thinking about her feelings on matters. "It's okay, you two just play. I like watching." "Hey, you gotta do something too, ya know?" Ranma replied. "It ain't fair if we do everything and leave you outta it." "I don't mind-" "C'mon Hotaru! I'll play a game with ya," Ranma pleaded. Hotaru really needed to enjoy life more. And arcade games were perfect fine to help her accomplish that. "What about me?" Ryoga asked. "Huh? Um..." Ranma thought about it. What to do with Ryoga? "I know! We'll just leave you at some machine while we play. Or you can watch us if ya want." Ryoga grinned broadly at Ranma and Hotaru. "No, you two have your fun... heh heh heh... I'll just go play some other game... heh heh heh..." Ranma fidgeted nervously. He didn't like the way Ryoga was chuck- ling to himself. It was... no. It couldn't be scary. Ryoga did NOT scare him. It was just unusual to see the guy like that. Hotaru looked at Ryoga curiously. He certainly seemed happy. Well, as long as he wasn't fighting with her Ra- Hotaru shook her head. Kaolinite must have been rubbing off on her. As long as he wasn't fight- ing with Ranma. "Okay then. It sounds fun." She gave a bright smile. Ranma's breath caught as he saw Hotaru smile and he took a moment to compose himself. It was strange. Hotaru never affected him like this before. At least not her smile. Deciding to ignore the incident and the other, similar past incidents, Ranma turned his gaze to Ryoga. Looking at Hotaru was proving too... pleasant. Ryoga snickered as Ranma quickly turned away from Hotaru and looked at him. Hotaru may not have noticed, but Ryoga certainly did. Ranma was... what was a good word? Well, whatever. It would be best to leave the two alone now, Ryoga told himself. "I'll just go to that one over there." Ranma thought as Ryoga walked away. Shaking his head he started to go after the Lost Boy. "Hold on-" "Wait, look." Hotaru pulled Ranma back and pointed. "Look, he made it." Ranma stared. Indeed, Ryoga had made it to a machine! Some kind of large one that looked like a car. Ryoga had walked, what? 40 feet! "H-he made it!" Ranma sputtered. Had he exaggerated Ryoga's lack of a sense of direction? An image of a Ryoga staring at tree stupidly passed through Ranma's head. "Yes, now let's find a game, okay?" Hotaru asked, smiling. Ranma looked over at Hotaru, saw her smile, and nodded dumbly. "S-sure thing..." Hotaru looked around the her for an interesting game. "How about... That one?" Hotaru pointed at a machine. "O-okay..." "Let's see... Some kind of driving game..." Ryoga said to himself as he sat down on the chair, his umbrella on the ground. "One pedal for the gas, the other for the brake," he noted as he looked down at his feet. "Um... Ignore those..." Ryoga decided as he couldn't figure out what 'gears' were. "And the steering wheel." he finished as he placed a hand on the wheel. He deposited a coin into a slot with his free hand and waited. "Ready," the game announced through speakers. "Ready..." Ryoga said, gripping the steering wheel. "Set." "Set..." "Go!" Ryoga slammed down on the pedal and the car on the screen was off. He almost kicked a hole through the floor of the machine, but Ryoga didn't notice that. What he did notice, however, was his car crashing into a large fence. "Damn, where'd that stupid fence come from?!" *BOOM* "Damnit! I died again!" Ranma shouted in frustration as his red aircraft blew up in a large, orange explosion before his eyes. "Don't give up, Ranma," Hotaru said with a reassuring smile as she effortlessly maneuvered her blue craft through large plasma blasts and energy beams, weaving a path of destruction through the level. It may have had more effect if Ranma had been looking at her right then as op- posed to cursing at the monitor before him. "Easy for you to say, you've died ONE time since we started play- ing this! Look at that!" Ranma pointed to Hotaru's craft with one hand as he pulled hard to the left. "You've got that big purple thing! It's... It's blowing everything up!" Indeed, Hotaru's craft was firing forth a constant beam of fluctuating energy, homing onto any enemy and effectively destroying them. Ranma's new, blinking red craft flew forth from the bottom of the screen and quickly picked up a few floating M's and H's. "And all I've got are a couple 'a missiles and this little pea-shooter!" "And three bombs," Hotaru added. "And three bo- Shit!" Ranma quickly slammed a palm down on second button on the arcade machine, nearly breaking through it. A large ex- plosion soon erupted from the screen, shielding Ranma's craft from all forms of enemy projectiles. "Two bombs," Hotaru said, giggling. "TWO bombs," Ranma repeated, rolling his eyes. "Keep trying, Ranma. You're not doing so bad." "Yeah yeah..." Ranma replied. "If YOU say so..." "You're so silly, Ranma," Hotaru giggled. "I don't know wha- Mine! That power-up is mine!" Minako Aino slowly peeked out from behind the arcade machine she was hiding behind. He was so cute! What a coincidence that she would run into someone like this now! The little study session thing could wait until later; this was obviously the work of fate! It must have been her reward for helping with that Black Moon Family incident or something like that. Taking a deep breath, Minako walked up to the boy in the racing machine with a cheerful smile. Who could fight destiny, after all? "Argh! Not again!" Ryoga shouted in frustration as his shiny new racing car exploded into many flaming pieces of wreckage on the screen before him. "That jerk! How does he always managed to ruin my life?! Even when I'm trying to be nice to him!" "Having trouble?" came a cheerful and obviously female voice. Ryoga blinked. He didn't have that many... acquaintances. And only one of them was a girl. And she was with his other... acquaintance. And the voice he had just heard was quite different from hers. Ryoga thus said the first thing on his mind. "Huh?" He slowly turned his head to the direction of the voice. Ryoga looked at the smiling girl before him curiously. She was smiling at him and gave him an impression of... niceness. Much like Hotaru had given him when he first met her. But this one seemed a lot more cheerful and happy. Her smile made Ryoga relax and her blue eyes told him that she was someone he could trust. All in all, almost the exact opposite of what Kaolinite had constantly made him feel. "Um... Could you please repeat what you just said," Ryoga asked sheepishly. He had been so absorbed observing the strange girl that he had forgotten what she had said. "I was just wondering if you were having trouble with the game," The girl replied, still smiling as she took a seat at the racing machine next to the one Ryoga was on. Ryoga rubbed his head sheepishly. "Um, well... er... maybe a lit- tle." He admitted. Minako sighed wistfully to herself. He was acting soooo cute! Then she took a hold of herself. She had to stay in control. She couldn't let herself wander off into some daydream like Usagi or she would never catch herself a boyfriend. Then again, with her luck, this guy probably already had a girlfriend... "Mind if I help you?" Minako asked cheerfully, putting on her best smile. Ryoga's brain almost melted. Hotaru had smiled at him before. And she was also cute; but she had never affected him like this. Ranma had been there with him and Ryoga had used him as sort of focus to cling to n order to remain... ah... normal. That and he felt that Hotaru liked Ranma a LOT more than him and thus wasn't affected so much anyways. If Ryoga had realized this, he might have almost wished Ranma was there. As he didn't, there was only one thought going through his head right then. "Um... okay." Minako smiled. "My name is Minako Aino." "R-Ryoga Hibiki..." Minako waited a moment to see if anything else would be said. Ryoga only seemed to stare at her. Minako quelled a little blush and composed herself. "Move over, I'll help you." "Gah?" Minako almost giggled. The boy, Ryoga, was obviously overcome by her beauty. Ryoga, in truth, was actually trying to handle that someone other than Hotaru and possibly that jerk Ranma-but-let's-not-think-about-that, was being nice to him. Here was this beautiful girl and she was being nice to HIM! With his luck, it seemed incomprehensible. Minako decided that Ryoga hadn't said "no" and slid down on the seat by Ryoga, nudging him to the side a little. It was a little tight, but SHE certainly didn't mind. There are many males on the world who can handle sharing the same seat with a girl. Even if they are incredibly beautiful girls(All in the eye of the beholder, of course.) Ryoga, wasn't among them. He could hardly handle a girl being nice to him, much less sharing a small arcade machine seat with them.(He even went to an all boys school! Even if he was absent many times, it still counted for something.) And he con- sidered Minako to be quite beautiful. And now she was squirming. Ryoga, naturally, had blood rush out of his nose and passed out. Minako slowly turned around and looked at Ryoga. The first sign that something was wrong had been the splash of crimson that suddenly appeared on the screen before her. The suddenly limp body next to her was also an indication. "R-Ryoga?" Ryoga was passed out with some blood flowing out of his nose. Maybe she had gone a little too far. But she had honestly been trying to help! Minako was a bit miffed. She finally found a nice looking guy who seemed interested in her and he passed out. Then she brightened. This meant he liked her! "Hmmm... I'd better wipe off that blood." "This is too much," Ranma said simply as he maneuvered his little red craft behind Hotaru's and tried to do the exact same thing she did while rapidly and constantly tapping the big red button next to the joystick. He had learned that keeping behind Hotaru and copying her tended to keep him alive longer in the game. That, of course, saved him precious money. Of course, he had been dying a lot less lately. Of course, this didn't work most of the time when going against those annoying boss ships as many of their blasts were shot at an angle. "Ah, Damnit!" Ranma had lost yet another ship. Another ship came up from the bottom of the screen and, Ranma de- cided to hide in a corner and watch Hotaru play. She was still on her first credit! He stared disbelievingly as Hotaru smoothly maneuvered through a dizzying torrent of energy blasts and beams and sent bomb after bomb and that constant purple energy beam at the boss. He added some of his own bombs occasionally as well; when there were slightly less projectiles to dodge. It wasn't too long before the strange, fly- ing, space-ship thing was dust. Hotaru had picked up quite a bit of bombs throughout the game, what with her dying only once through the whole thing. "We won." She said, turning to Ranma with a smile. Ranma rolled his eyes. "Yeah, WE," Ranma said, making sure his voice was appropriately sarcastic. "Yes, WE," Hotaru repeated as she turned back to the screen. "Oh, I have a first place ranking!" "Why am I not surprised," Ranma replied, turning back to look at the screen. "You have second place, Ranma!" "Eh?" Indeed, right below the first place line was a blinking A. When Ranma reached out and nudged the joystick a little, it changed to an B. "Well, whaddya know..." Ranma said as he moved his joystick around until the letter R appeared. "I did get in the top ten..." "You beat everyone below you by at least two digits." Hotaru pointed out as she inputted her initials. Ranma snorted. "Well you beat EVERYBODY by at least FOUR digits!" "..." "Congratulations!" Ranma said as a smile quickly appeared on his face. He gave Hotaru a friendly pat on the back. "Now aren't you glad we came here?" Hotaru smiled. For a moment, she had thought Ranma had been... miffed that she had done so well. "Yes, I am." "Just another one of my genius ideas," Ranma replied with a slight wave of his hand. "H.T..." Hotaru said, ignoring Ranma's comment. She already knew how arrogant he could be. "And R.S..." Ranma finished. He smiled slightly. "I like it." Hotaru turned to Ranma. "We make a good team, don't we?" "Yeah, we do," Ranma replied simply. A moment of silence passed as they both stared at their initials initials on the screen before them, leaning on the machine. It was a perfect moment of peace and they both appreciated it greatly. Even Ryoga had "shut up" as Ranma thought; and "stopped shouting" as Hotaru would have said. The moment ended when the screen changed to show the top fifty. "Let's go see what Ryoga's doing," Hotaru suggested as she looked at the screen before her with a smile. "Yeah, I noticed he shut up about a minute or so ago," Ranma re- plied. Ryoga had been quite vocal whenever he died or whatever on his machine. Ranma turned around and looked for the boy. He found him. "Huh?" Hotaru turned around curiously, wondering what had surprised Ranma. She saw Ryoga apparently passed out on his chair and being gently shaken by a some blond-haired girl. "Did Ryoga... pass out?" "I dunno, let's find out," Ranma suggested as he walked towards the odd couple, Hotaru right behind him. Minako shook Ryoga gently by his shoulders, at the same time re- sisting the urge to touch any other parts of the boy. "Ryoga, wake up." The blood had stopped flowing from his nose and she had wiped away the rest. This had been a bit of a strange meeting, but she had to admit there had been stranger ones. Usagi had been one of those... "Hey, what's wrong with Ryoga?" Minako blinked and slowly looked up. Ooohhh... Another handsome boy! She was really glad she had skipped out on the study session today! Then Minako narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she noticed the girl by the boy. "Yes, Ryoga doesn't often pass out for no reason," The girl said. "And even when I give em one, he STILL stays up," The boy added with a smirk. Okay. They both apparently knew Ryoga well. That meant there was a chance the girl could be one of their girlfriends. But that still left one free. Unless they were both chasing after her or something... Minako shook her head. That was highly unlikely. If the girl were anybody's girlfriend, she'd probably the one in red's. She was with him, after all. That was good. Even though either one would have been a suitable catch for Minako, she still preferred Ryoga since she had met him first. "He had a nose-bleed and then just passed out," Minako said. The boy scratched his head in confusion. "Just like that?" Minako nodded. She was holding back the reason why he had the nose-bleed in the first place, but she was still telling the truth. It was cute, but still embarrassing to talk about it. "That's weird..." Ranma muttered. Ryoga usually took on a LOT of damage, and he had yet to knock the boy out. Actually, if victories were determined by state of consciousness, he supposed he hadn't actually beaten Ryoga yet. Hotaru was also surprised. She had seen some of Ranma and Ryoga's fights. Actually, she had seen a lot of fights between the two. Not only was Hotaru surprised that Ryoga had passed out from a nose-bleed, she was surprised that he had even bled in the first place. Hotaru knew that Ranma punched REALLY hard and the only time Ryoga bled, was with the internal bleeding of bruises. "Do you know why he bled in the first place?" Hotaru questioned. "Ryoga is very strong and doesn't hurt easily." The girl coughed and stared at the floor. "Um, never mind, let's just wake him up, okay?" Hotaru narrowed her eyes suspiciously. The girl was obviously hiding something. Well, she would just have to see what Ryoga said. Hotaru glanced at Ranma to determine what his reaction was. Ranma slapped Ryoga's face. "Yo, wake up Ryoga!" Hotaru blinked. It had apparently passed right over his head. She giggled. It was a kind of cute, really. Both Ranma and the girl turned to Hotaru curiously. "What's so funny?" They simultaneously asked. "Nothing," She replied simply. But she gave the blond girl a meaningful glance. Minako smiled weakly and turned her attention back to the boy and Ryoga. So the girl knew she was hiding something. Well, it really wasn't TOO important anyway. "Should you really be slapping him like that?" Minako wondered aloud. "Ahh, he can take it," Ranma relpied. "He may have a lousy sense of direction, but I'll admit he's pretty damn strong." "Well, he certainly looks like it," Minako muttered with a sigh. "My name's Minako Aino, by the way," Minako added after a moment. "Ranma Saotome," Ranma replied, stopping his slapping and shaking for a moment to smile at the girl. "And I'm Hotaru Tomoe," Hotaru said as Minako looked to her. "So, you two are Ryoga's friends?" "Yes," Hotaru said, smiling and looking at Ranma. She could guess what his answer would be. "Um... I guess... I mean... maybe..." Ranma said hesitantly. "He's... no friend of mine!" Ryoga cut in groggily as he pushed Ranma away and sat up. He slowly looked to his left and saw Minako, looking at him with concern. He thought wistfully. Then he looked at Ranma and Hotaru. Then Ryoga suddenly had a dark thought. "Ranma..." Ryoga growled. Ranma backed away from Ryoga, his hands held up defensively. " What?" Not that he was scared of Ryoga, it was just that the guy looked very angry right now. "Grrr..." Minako looked from Ranma to Ryoga and blinked. They were friends, right? But she was getting negative vibes from Ryoga; what was going on? "Well, now that you're awake, are you ready for me to help you?" Ryoga forgot about his mounting anger towards Ranma and looked over at Minako. "S-sure." "Okay." Minako beamed and slid next to Ryoga while Ranma and Hotaru watched curiously. "Now what's the problem?" Ryoga remained silent, staring at Minako. Minako waited patiently; she had PLENTY of time and it was flattering the way Ryoga was staring at her. Ranma took a breath, boredom starting to appear. Ryoga was just... sitting there. He was starting to wish he HAD pissed Ryoga off. Hotaru herself was wondering what Ryoga was doing. Ranma and her- self sometimes spent quite moments like this together, and she had en- joyed it, but... Ryoga had just met this girl! He was just... sitting there! Staring at her... Staring at her... Why did that remind her of something? Ranma took a deep breath. He wanted to patient, he really did! But this was just too much. "Yo Ryoga! You awake?!" Ryoga snapped out of his trance and tore his gaze from Minako. "W-what? What?!" "Geez, so you ARE still alive," Ranma replied with a smirk. "You were staring at Minako," Hotaru added helpfully. Ryoga could feel his face heating up and quickly turned his at- tention to the arcade screen. "Ahem, sorry. I was... er... nevermind!" Minako sighed. Ranma and Ryoga seemed to overlook it, but Hotaru looked at Minako curiously. That wasn't a 'This is really dumb' sigh; it was a 'I wish...' kind of sigh. Hotaru herself had used that same sight so many times before she met Ranma. Could it be that she and Ryoga were... "So why did you pass out, Ryoga?" "Um... well... I, uh..." Ryoga strained for an answer. He couldn't tell why! At least not with Minako there! It was... well... It just wouldn't do! She'd probably think he was a pervert or something! Not to mention what Ranma would do... Ryoga suppressed the urge to shudder. "I was, uh..." "Well, would you like me to help you now?" Minako asked, trying to take pressure off Ryoga. The poor guy was obviously very uncomfortable about what had happened. But then again, why should he be uncomfortable with saying that he had been overcome by her beauty? "Sure!" Ryoga exclaimed, grabbing at the opportunity to change the subject. Hotaru frowned and Ranma yawned. "What's wrong now, Ryoga? Don't tell me ya get lost in games, too?" Ranma questioned with a smirk. "Shut up Ranma!" Ryoga snapped back. The guy could be so annoying sometimes! Scratch that. Make it most of the time. "Geez, don't blow an artery, Ryoga." Ranma replied in annoyance. Ryoga could be so serious sometimes. Scratch that. Make that most of the time. "Ranma," Minako said, catching the pig-tailed martial artist's attention. "Huh? What?" "Please shut up and leave Ryoga alone." Ranma rolled his eyes "Yeah right, like I could do something like that..." Ryoga and Hotaru froze. "He'd probably get lost, blame it on me, and start hunting me down or something." Hotaru shook her head, smiling to herself. She should have known better than to think Ranma would even suggest that he and Ryoga were friends. Ryoga scowled and Minako was starting to get confused. Why did Ranma keep insulting Ryoga's sense of direction? "Well, you go and do whatever," Ranma said, making a dismissive motion with his hand. "I'll just take a seat right over there." Ranma walked over and plopped down on the machine next to the one Ryoga and Minako was on. Hotaru followed Ranma propped her elbows on the back of the chair, resting her chin on the back of her hands. Minako turned back to Ryoga and smiled cheerfully, happily notic- ing that Ryoga was had a small blush on his face. Well, before she could teach Ryoga, she needed a little information... Ranma turned his eyes away from Minako and Ryoga and looked at something much more pleasant in his opinion. "Hey, Hotaru, you wanna sit down or something? I can get off." "Oh, It's alright Ranma," Hotaru replied, smiling at Ranma. It was so sweet of him to worry about her like that. "Ya sure? I mean, I know you need it more than me." Ranma regret- ted saying those words as soon as it left his mouth. He hadn't meant to insult Hotaru, it just happened! "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean ta..." Hotaru shook her head. "Don't worry Ranma. It's just the truth." "Y-yeah, but..." Hotaru smiled reassuringly at Ranma. She didn't mind that Ranma had said indirectly said she was weak; she knew she was. She was just glad that he thought about her feelings at all. From what she gathered, Ranma was never so considerate to anybody else. "Ranma, it's okay. I know I'm frail." "But..." "Just drop the subject, please?" Hotaru pleaded. She didn't like seeing Ranma look so guilty; she liked the cheerful, smiling Ranma much more. Ranma forced a smile because he felt that that was what he should do. He could never refuse those purple eyes. Well, most of the time any- ways. Or at least if it didn't involve little four-legged, furry mam- mals. "Um, well, standing's good for your health," Ranma said. Hotaru smiled amusedly. Not the best way to change the subject, but it worked, she supposed. Minako stared disbelievingly. Ryoga, somehow, constantly managed to get his car turned backwards whenever they played the game. And when he didn't, he ended up a piece of flaming wreckage next to some fence. "Um, I guess I died again..." Ryoga said, trailing off and chuck- ling weakly while trying not to have a nosebleed from being in contact with Minako's side. If he just ignored her and focused on the game, he was sure he could stop crashing into those annoying walls. The fact that he had been crashing into walls even before Minako came eluded him. "Are you sure you want to keep trying, Ryoga? Maybe we could play some other game, Hmmm?" Minako asked, trying to radiated cuteness as she smiled at Ryoga. "Ah... whatever you say..." Ryoga replied, not really thinking much as he stared at Minako. His brain was currently a little whacked- out due to the overload of cuteness. "Okay." Minako beamed. "What would you like to do?" "Ah... whatever you want..." Ryoga replied. Minako suppressed the urge to smirk. Makoto would be sooo jealous! But then there was that other little detail that had crushed her dreams so many times before. "Ryoga, do you have a girlfriend?" "G-girlfriend?" Ryoga sputtered, his brain overcoming the excess sugar with a nice dose of insulin. Minako despaired. "Is she... Hotaru?" Minako asked softly, hope all but gone. If it weren't true, Ryoga would have denied it all by now, right? "H-Hotaru?" Ryoga repeated, trying to get his brain to come up with a good reply. "No" would have worked nicely, but he, apparently, had other plans. "I... see..." Minako said, getting up slowly, her dreams shat- tering into so many pieces. She had just made a fool of herself once again. She should've known better than to think she could find love so easily. "W-what?" Ryoga managed to get out. "Well, I guess I shouldn't have been chasing after you, huh?" Minako asked, trying to work up a small laugh. But she was far too de- pressed for that. So depressed that her brain hadn't figured out that if Ryoga had Hotaru, then Ranma would have been free. "C-chasing me?" Ryoga said disbelievingly. She really did like him?! This time, Minako did laugh. A bitter laugh full of self-pity that caught Ranma and Hotaru's attention. "Well, maybe I'll see you around, Ryoga." She turned around and walked away, heading for the exit, her feet practically dragging across the ground. Ryoga stared after her, trying to figure out something to say. What he should have done was so obvious, that he missed it. Ranma stared after Minako curiously, as did Hotaru. He was won- dering exactly how she had managed to get that weird expression on Ryoga's face. Maybe she could teach him? "Where is Minako going?" Hotaru asked, turning to Ryoga once the glass entrance swung shut behind Minako. "S-she... Me... you..." "Huh? What about Hotaru?" Ranma asked, jumping to his feet at the mention of his friend. "Me... Hotaru?" "Ryoga," Hotaru said. "Take a deep breath and count to ten." Ryoga nodded numbly, taking in a deep breath. Minako thought he and Hotaru were a couple. Even after all the trouble he went through to get her and Ranma together! She had liked him! And now... Why?! Why?! He must be cursed or something... Waitaminute... The pieces of the puzzle slowly fell together. That it was a totally screwed-up puzzle passed by Ryoga's head. This had to be... "This is all your fault Ranma!!!" Ryoga shouted in rage, spinning to Ranma and glaring him, fangs bared and fists clenched. Hotaru was beginning to have doubts about her idea. She had thought that Ryoga would have composed himself after he took her sug- gestion to heart, but... She had, instead, watched as Ryoga's expression slowly shifted from confused, to suspicion, and finally settling on all too familiar rage. At Ranma. Ranma stared at Ryoga, picking his brain. As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything to anger Ryoga recently. Or maybe he had done it and not realized it or something? Or Ryoga might just be automatically blaming him for something someone else did... Or Minako could have... Ranma shook his head. This was getting stupid. Ranma snapped his fingers, a smirk appearing that only fur- thered angered Ryoga. "What the hell are you mad at now, Ryoga? You should calm down be- fore ya have a heart attack or something." Hotaru suppressed the urge to laugh and, instead, wondered if she should intervene. Ryoga looked like a volcano ready to explode and Ranma would most likely be the one to suffer because of it. But Ranma had a lot of pride and probably wouldn't want help anyway... "It's like they say, every man is a... um... dumb moron... Yeah, I think that's it... Course, that only applies in your- Ahhhhh!" Ranma's sentence was cut off as he found himself grabbed by Ryoga with a light- ning speed that surprised even Ranma, who was the expert in that area, and thrown flying out the door. After a shocked moment, Hotaru decided that she should follow Ranma and Ryoga. Ryoga seemed a lot angrier now than he usually was towards Ranma. She might have to interfere. A short distance away, Minako froze as a realization hit her. she thought, determination surging through her. Ryoga did seem like he was interested in her, after all. she added after a moments thought. So Minako spun around and started heading back to the arcade, determined to win over Ryoga. Minako noted that information in case Ryoga proved a failure. A huge, almost scary smile bloomed across Minako's face as she headed back towards the arcade. "Aaahhh!!!" Ranma flew out the thankfully open doors and across the street, impacting a conveniently placed wall and making a few nice, long cracks. He quickly flipped back to his feet, wincing slightly. "What the heck's the big idea, Ryoga ya idiot?!" Ranma demanded as Ryoga burst out from the arcade. "This is all YOUR fault Ranma!!!" Ryoga shouted back in reply as he launched his umbrella at Ranma like a missile. Ranma quickly leaned back, allowing the projectile to fly over him. Once people got a look at the red weapon that was imbedded in the wall behind the pig-tailed martial artist, they quickly backed VERY far away from Ranma. None of them thought that having an umbrella sticking out of their heads was very appealing. That other guy might have more umbrellas tucked away somewhere, after all. "What did I do now?" Ranma asked, rolling his eyes and dropping into a defensive stance despite the fact that Ryoga was across the street and cars were still passing by. "Damn you Saotome, die!!!" Ryoga shouted as he ran across the street, ignoring the cars that swerved wildly around, attempting to avoid hitting the boy. Ranma shook his head in disbelief and flipped into the air as Ryoga barreled past him and embedded his fist in the wall behind the pig-tailed martial artist. As Ryoga retracted his hand and spun around to face Ranma, Hotaru also burst from the arcade. She easily located Ranma and Ryoga as they were directly across from her. Stopping, she watched worriedly; this somehow seemed different from the fights Ranma and Ryoga had had before. She wondered. Ranma ducked under a punch and blocked a kick from Ryoga, wincing a little from having to absorb such a powerful blow. He barely had time to do even that, however, as he was forced to hop to his left and back as Ryoga tried to crescent kick him, and then skillfully weave through a quick flurry of punches and kicks. Ranma was then pushed back further as Ryoga increased the power of his attacks and he had to block a few. "What-" Ranma shifted his head slightly to one side and one of Ryoga's punches flew by his head. Not letting it distract him, Ranma grabbed a kick that Ryoga sent immediately after, sending the boy flying behind him. Rather then rush forward and attack the downed martial artist, Ranma waited in his best defensive stance, not winded but def- initely bruised up. Besides, his hand kind of stung from grabbing that stupidly powerful kick. "What the heck's the problem, Ryoga?! Will ya at least tell me that?!" Ranma demanded. This was getting out of hand; Ryoga had NEVER been this mad at him before. "This is all your fault." Ryoga replied, his teeth clenched and a red haze of anger coming over him. "What's the heck is 'this'?!" Ranma almost shouted in frustration. "Shut up and take your beating like a man!" Ryoga shouted in return, shooting forward with a complicated series of kicks and punches that even Ranma had trouble reading. Ranma thought as a kick got through his defenses and sent him stumbling to the side. Ryoga pressed the advantage with a quick open-handed strike to Ranma's chest and knee to his stomach. Trying to ignore the pain, Ranma rolled backwards, flipping to his feet and jumping a good distance away from the enraged boy before him. THEN he tried to catch his breath. Just as Ranma managed to get his breath back, he noticed that Ryoga was about to crash into him with a devastating flying kick. Knowing that taking or even blocking such an attack from an angry Ryoga would not be a good idea, Ranma pushed all of his pain away and, reaching out with a hand, grabbed Ryoga's ankle, redirecting the lost boy towards a nearby wall and almost jerking his arm out of it's socket in the process. But despite the flash of pain, he didn't stop there; calling forth from his knowledge of the Saotome specialty of mid-air combat, Ranma shot out with his other hand before the boy could react to being redirected and grabbed Ryoga's shoulder, swinging himself up onto the lost boy's back and pushing him down. Giving a nice shove to add to the power of gravity, Ranma soon had, to his immense relief, Ryoga's face embedded in concrete. And not exactly willing to let a psychotic Ryoga free, Ranma quickly grabbed both of the bandanna-clad martial artist's arms and twisted them back- wards while placing a knee on his back to hold him down. "Ryoga, calm down!" "Damn you Ranma!" Ryoga replied in rage, as he spit bitter con- crete from his mouth. "You're trapped, Ryoga! Calm down!" Ranma shot back angrily. Ryoga's attitude was really starting to get to him. Especially since he had no idea what was bugging the idiot this time. "What's yer problem anyways?" Ranma asked in annoyance as Ryoga tried shrugging Ranma off, only to have his arms twisted quite painfully. "This is all your fault!" Ryoga replied, his voice filled with malice. "What exactly is my fault?!" Ranma demanded, starting to get angry with Ryoga's annoyingly cryptic answers. "Damn you!" "Just answer me, you idiot!" "It's your fault Minako left!" "Eh?" Ranma froze, confusion coming over him. He almost relaxed his hold on Ryoga, but the immediate struggle for freedom from the boy snapped him back to his senses. "Why the heck is it MY fault that Minako left?!" Ranma demanded, pressing down with his knee to still Ryoga. Ryoga thought in rage. "Don't play dumb with me, Saotome!" Ryoga replied accusingly. "I don't know what the heck you're talking about!" Ranma yelled in anger. Ryoga was such an annoying idiot sometimes! "Shut up!" Ryoga hissed as he grit his teeth and put all his strength into breaking free. He felt Ranma twisting his arm and pressing down with his knee to push him back down, but he would NOT let that stop him. The pain didn't matter... All that mattered was punishing Ranma... "Damn you Ranma..." Ryoga gathered all his strength and pushed upwards, pulling his arms over his head, along with Ranma. Ranma thought as Ryoga pushed backwards with unbe- lievable strength and started to flip him over his head. Two ideas flashed before Ranma now: He could continue holding on to Ryoga and become one with the ground, or he could let go and flip away, landing safely on his feet. Half a second later, Ranma was still holding onto Ryoga's arms and landed on his feet, the ground cracking slightly beneath him from the force of the impact. Using the momentum from Ryoga's attempt to smash Ranma into the ground, he then sent Ryoga flying over his head and into a familiar wall. "Stop it Ryoga!" Ranma demanded in irritation as his rival stood back up. Ranma shook his head in despair as Ryoga stood up and pulled his red umbrella out of the wall Ranma had conveniently thrown him at. Hotaru was starting to worry. Ranma and Ryoga fought a lot, sure, but they had never caused property damage before. Or at least not any- thing noticeable. And she could tell that Ryoga was VERY angry. She hadn't caught much of what the two were saying and was a little confused as to what Ryoga was angry about, but then again, Ryoga seemed like he always angry at something. Hotaru bit on her lower lip and wondered what she should do. It would be best to let the two get everything out of their system, but... "Gah!" Ranma yelped as the umbrella that he had jumped over a second or so ago U-turned and ripped a pant leg as he rolled to the side. "Fine, if you won't calm down, than don't expect me ta go easy on you!" Ryoga caught his returning umbrella with an outstretched hand and hefted it up with a smirk. "Just get ready to lose, Ranma." Ryoga's smirk was effectively wiped off his face when Ranma's foot impacted it and sent him into the rubble of a familiar wall. "Ha! What's the matter Ryoga, I thought you were gonna beat me." Ranma taunted as jumped back a few feet. Forget about calming Ryoga down, it was time to beat some sense into that stubborn idiot! "Shut up Ranma!" Ryoga shouted as he jumped to his feet and charged Ranma with the intention of skewering the young martial artist with his umbrella. Ranma smirked and jumped up and onto Ryoga's head, propelling him- self to safety and kicking the Lost Boy into the ground at the same time. Ryoga extracted himself from the sidewalk, spun around, and charged Ranma again. Ranma sidestepped a thrust from Ryoga's umbrella and ducked one of his punches, sending a quick one of his own at Ryoga's chest, which was intercepted by his umbrella. Ranma then jumped up a few feet and kicked at Ryoga's head as he noticed the almost invisible signs that Ryoga was about to try to kick his feet out from under him. What he wasn't expecting, however, was for Ryoga to actually dodge his kick by leaning his head slightly over to one side. Reacting in- stantly, Ranma reached out behind him and handsprung off the ground and into the air as he fell back. This, however, left little room for de- fense and Ryoga happened to choose that moment to swing his umbrella at Ranma's side. The umbrella impacted Ranma even as he tried to somehow twist and avoid it. Pain immediately followed as Ranma found himself flying towards the middle of the street. The pain burning his side was incredible but Ranma had taken worse on the training trip with his father. Wincing, Ranma forced himself to focus on more important matters: Like avoiding that yellow car he was about to imbed himself into. "Ranma!" Hotaru gasped as Ryoga managed to hit Ranma with his um- brella and sent the boy flying into the street. Right towards that yellow car. Hotaru's shout registered somewhere in the back of Ranma's mind as he expertly twisted around in-mid air and landed on the roof of the yellow car, propelling away half a second later and landing safely on the street. He turned towards where he heard Hotaru. He saw his friend stand- ing with a look of extreme concern that immediately turned into exas- peration as he started to bow, a grin plastered on his face. A second later, the look, much to Ranma's confusion, changed again. "Watch out!" Hotaru shouted in horror, a hand extended and point- ing at something. "Eh?" Ranma turned around, wondering if Ryoga was trying to ambush him. And what was that annoying honking sound? Ryoga's jaw dropped and his anger disappeared as Ranma jumped off the yellow car he had sent him flying at. Was he the only one that no- ticed that a very large truck was about to go through Ranma's landing zone? Ryoga thought as he rushed towards the idiot, knowing he would make it there a second or so before impact, but going anyway. Nobody but HIM was going to kill Ranma! Or so he told himself. "Aaahhh!" Ranma screamed as he leapt as fast as he could to the side, hoping to avoid a long trip to slumberland. He didn't quite make it, however, and the front of the truck knocked hard into his left shoulder, sending him flying away and into blissful unconsciousness. Reacting instinctively, Ryoga jumped forward and reached out with both arms catching Ranma and landing safely on the sidewalk as the truck rushed by behind him. Ryoga thought as he lay Ranma gently on the ground, Hotaru suddenly appearing on Ranma's other side. "Ranma! Are you alright!" Hotaru exclaimed, afraid to touch Ranma for fear of further injuring him. He had been hit by a TRUCK after all, even if it did look like the truck had barely touched him. In fact, the only thing keeping Hotaru from immediately trying to heal Ranma was that she didn't know exactly where his injuries were. And the only thing that kept her from just trying to heal all of Ranma's body was that she didn't think she could handle it. So Hotaru resisted the urge to tear off Ranma's new shirt and looked up at Ryoga expectantly as a small crowd gathered around the three teens. With a gentleness that would have surprised any who knew of the Lost Boy's rivalry with Ranma(such as Hotaru), Ryoga undid Ranma's black cloth belt and untied the unconscious boy's shirt. He then pulled the red cloth off with a few quick tugs and put it to his side. Ryoga then slowly examined Ranma, as if the area of injury weren't obvious. Ranma's entire upper left arm was an ugly mess of black and blue bruises and the right side of his mid-section was also a little bruised, along with a few other small areas around his body. It was amazing that there was no external bleeding at all. "His arm is just very badly bruised," Ryoga reported. "I don't know if anything's broken, but he won't be using that arm for awhile..." Ryoga trailed off, looking up at Hotaru. He knew the injury probably looked bad and ugly, but it wasn't really anything serious. Especially if Ranma's healing was anything like his own. And that was WITHOUT proper treatment. With the help of modern technology, Ranma would be back to his annoying, thieving self in a matter of days. Or at least he better! Hotaru stared. She would have immediately launched into healing Ranma in another situation, but now, she stared. Under other circum- stances, she might have been embarrassed of staring at Ranma's strong, well-built chest, but that wasn't what was on, or rather in her mind right now. Another part of her was striving for control now, enjoying the pain, suffering and all-around negative vibes coming from the im- mediate area. "We should get him to a hospital or something..." Ryoga suggested after noticing that Hotaru wasn't going to do anything. Hotaru snapped out of her trance and felt the dark part of her recede once a familiar groaning reached her ears. A voice that was much more important than anything else. "W-what hit me?" Ranma asked groggily as he regained conscious- ness. He tried to lift himself off the ground, but pain immediately surged through his left arm and he fell back onto the ground. "T-that hurts..." He admitted ruefully. Tears filled Hotaru's eyes and she flung herself onto Ranma, burying her face into his chest. Ranma winced as someone whom he somehow knew was Hotaru embraced him. He was just glad that she avoided touching his arm. He didn't know how bad it was, but it hurt like hell. "N-no need ta... cry..." Ranma choked out as he felt tears run down his side. A small part of him noted that the crystalline drops that touched the injury were soothingly cool and dulled the slight pain. The rest of Ranma was trying to ignore the pain from his shoulder and noticing that his favorite shirt was gone. "I-is my shirt okay?" Hotaru lifted herself off of Ranma and wiped away her tears, won- dering herself why she had gotten so emotional. Ranma's life wasn't in danger. Even if it were, she would have killed herself healing him if she had to. "You idiot..." she whispered, her voice full of a jumbled array of emotions. "What about you?" "I-I'm fine..." Ranma answered hoarsely, barely hearing Hotaru's words though his headache; but the tears told him all he need to know. "W-what about the shirt?" Hotaru resisted the sudden urge to yell at Ranma and looked over at Ryoga. "Ryoga?" Ryoga lifted up the red Chinese shirt for Ranma to see. "It isn't even wrinkled," he announced to Ranma, who smiled weakly in satis- faction. "I feel... pretty bad..." Ranma stated, shifting his gaze to the sky and simultaneously realizing that he had just made a huge under- statement. The pain was limited to his left arm and right side, but the knew it was mostly just that: pain. It wasn't a serious injury. Heck, he didn't even feel any bleeding. But he still felt like he had just gone through an all-night free for all sparing session with both Ryoga and Genma. "Stay still." Hotaru commanded firmly, leaning forward slightly and extending her right hand over Ranma's injured arm. Ranma's eyes widened as he realized what Hotaru was about to do. "I-I don't think you should... It's a... big injury..." He hadn't tried to look at the injury, but the pain had told him enough. If anything, that only strengthened Hotaru's determination to heal Ranma and she just ignored him and closed her eyes, concentrating. She had never healed anything this big before and wasn't sure she could do it. Heck, she didn't heal people often period. But she sure as hell was going to try! At the very least, it would ease Ranma's pain. Ryoga's question as to what the heck Hotaru was doing died off in his mouth as a pink light burst out from Hotaru's hand and bathed Ranma's upper arm, slowly replacing the ugly blob of black and blue with healthy skin. Ranma couldn't help but sigh in relief as his headache blissfully disappeared and the pain receded from his arm, leaving a soothingly cool sensation behind. This was different from the first time Hotaru had healed him and he was practically in heaven. There was still that slight, annoying throb by his side, but that was okay. A moment, later, that disappeared too as Hotaru brought her hand and that blessed, pink light over to that area as well. Ranma sat up to give his undying gratitude to Hotaru and found he didn't need to as she collapsed into his arms. "Hotaru!" He gasped, slowly standing up and cradling his friend gently in his arms. Ranma berated himself. Ranma shook his head, trying to clear all negative thoughts from his mind and concentrated on Hotaru's angelic and unconscious form. Ranma told himself as he noticed the rise and fall of her chest. Trying to prevent a blush and/or nose-bleed from his discovery, Ranma turned his gaze away from that particular area of Hotaru and to her softly smiling face. All his thoughts slowly melted away as he took in Hotaru's content expression and smiled. He slowly got back to the ground and continued staring at his friend, content with the peace that had enveloped them. Ryoga shook his head and snapped out of his shocked trance after Ranma sat back down again. He then glanced around him, wondering how the 'spectators' were taking this. He sadly noticed a vast majority of them walking away, some mut- tering the words "demon" or "witch". He noticed one person, a young lady, snap her cell phone shut and walked away, a mystified expression on her face. The few people that were still around were, for the most part, staring at Ranma and Hotaru in shock. Hotaru's feat had been... unexpected... But it wasn't bad or anything. It had healed Ranma and Ryoga, for one, would have been glad to have someone who could do stuff like that travelling with him. And speaking of the two... Ryoga turned back to see what Ranma was doing. Last he saw, Ranma had caught Hotaru as she... fainted... "Ranma!" "Huh?" Ranma snapped out of his thoughts in annoyance and turned around to look at Ryoga in irritation. "What?" Ranma asked, although he already knew the answer was going to be about Hotaru and her 'powers'. He hoped he wouldn't take it like those other kids Hotaru had told him about. If he did, then a fight could be arranged. Then again, he was feeling a little tired... "You'd better put on your shirt." Ranma blinked. "Uh... Sure..." "Then we'd better leave." Um... yeah..." Ranma replied, turning back to Hotaru. Several moments passed and Ryoga was losing patience. "Let's go already!" he snapped. Ranma snapped back into reality and tore his gaze from Hotaru's lovely face and back to Ryoga's considerably less enjoyable one. "What didja say?" "Put your shirt on and let's get out of here!" Ryoga almost shouted. Then he indicated the shocked people that were standing around staring at the three. "I'd bet money that somebody called the police already." "Oh," Ranma said intelligibly, placing Hotaru gently on the ground and slipping back into his shirt. After quickly tying his shirt close, he then wrapped his black belt around his waist and tied it with several quick tugs. After his clothing was secured back on, he knelt down on one knee and gingerly lifted Hotaru back off the ground. Glancing around, he noticed the people staring at him. Ryoga was right, it would be best if they left now. Ranma broke into a light jog away from the area, Ryoga close be- hind. It was much easier for the Lost Boy to follow as Ranma kept in a straight line, jumping over people who were in his way and gradually gaining speed. The fast, almost inhuman sprint lasted for a few minutes longer before Ranma started to slow down. A minute or so later, he had stopped completely and was panting for air. Ryoga looked at Ranma for a moment in surprise as he wasn't any- where near tired. "You're tired already?" Then he sneered. "What's the matter, you can't even run while carrying someone anymore?" "Shut... up," Ranma replied tiredly. "Hotaru may've healed all that other crap... but I'm still beat from my little... disagreement with... that truck..." Ranma then narrowed his eyes accusingly at Ryoga. "Just what was the... big idea anyways? Throwing me at a truck?" "Hey!" Ryoga said defensively. "I threw you at the yellow car; you're the one who jumped in front of a truck! If you had just taken your beating like a man, you wouldn't have been hit in the first place anyways!" Ranma rolled his eyes and shifted Hotaru slightly into a more comfortable position. "What kinda dumb... excuse is that? I coulda been killed!" "..." Ryoga flinched and stared at the ground in a bit of guilt. Just a LITTLE, mind you. "Well, since ya did go and catch me..." Ranma started. Ryoga raised his head and looked at Ranma oddly. "How did you know I caught you? You were unconscious!" Ranma shrugged slightly, still trying to regain his strength. He hadn't felt this tired since the times Genma had forced him to train days straight without sleep when they reached that one training ground. He had trained HARD that time while Genma 'supervised'. In fact, if he hadn't known that the whole ordeal would had, indeed, made him a lot better, he would have strangled the old man then and there. And now he had just been hit by one stupid truck and was already dead-tired. Maybe he was losing it. "Some- body had to... have caught me... Or I woulda been... roadkill..." "I'm not so sure..." Ryoga said, glancing at Hotaru meaningfully. "I'll tell you... later," Ranma said, actually realizing what Ryoga was wondering about. "But anyways... since it is sorta... my... fault... and ya did save me..." Ranma had to force the last part out with teeth clenched and muscles tensed. Long moments passed and Ranma stared at Ryoga with an unwavering gaze, as if judging him. Ryoga almost flinched, but managed to restrain himself from showing any signs of weakness. "I'll let it drop," Ranma said finally. "But Hotaru..." Ranma trailed off, letting it be known that he did not approve of Hotaru being hurt even as an indirect result of Ryoga's actions. "... I understand..." Ryoga said quietly, staring at the ground in shame. Ranma nodded and rested leaned back against in the shad of a fence, by the fell of wood behind him, to rest, absently noticing that they had somehow made it into a residential area of Juuban. A few seconds later, he decided to heck with it and slid to the ground, still carrying Hotaru. He then laid her in his lap but blushed red and quickly set her by his side instead when he realized something about where he was placing a certain part of his friend... Soon, Ryoga also took a seat, deciding that he shouldn't let Ranma get to much more recovery than him somewhere in the back of his mind. Glancing to his side to check on that self-same martial artist, he saw, to his slight amusement, that Hotaru was serenely asleep with a slight smile, and resting her head on Ranma's shoulder- The latter wearing a content expression on his face and staring thoughtfully at the clouds. Ryoga gave several quick coughs, successfully catching the Ranma's attention. The pig-tailed boy, however, did not turn over to look at the Lost Boy for fear of disturbing the girl contently resting by his side. Instead, he asked in a quite and content voice, "What is it Ryoga?" No taunts, no insults, no mockery. Just a simple, non-patronizing question. A simple, untwisted name, like they were friends. "Um..." For a moment, Ryoga was at a lost for words. He could not recall a single moment before when Ranma had answered him so... peacefully. So much like a... friend... Ryoga shook his head and forced his thoughts away. "I was wonder- ing about the thing Hotaru did," Ryoga replied, keeping any negative tones or comments from his words for once. Ranma was silent, his gaze never averting from the clouds far above him. Eventually, he spoke, his voice still soft but now with a hint of amusement tingeing it. "I'll tell you 'bout that if you tell me why you attacked me." Ryoga's eyes narrowed, his anger threatening to rise once again as he was reminded of that. "..." "Now don't get angry, Ryoga," Ranma said, his voice seemingly tired. "We just went through that and look what happened." Ryoga forced himself to calm down as he realized the truth of Ranma's words. Pretty much because of the fight, Ranma had almost been road pizza and Hotaru had been put in danger because she tried to help him. The feeling of shame at being the one responsible once again flooded Ryoga's being and he lowered his head, subdued. "R-right..." "You said something about Minako." Ranma continued with that same tone of voice used earlier. "What about Minako?" "S-she left because of you..." Ryoga said, somehow unable to be- come angry. Or maybe it was because Hotaru was in the way of his pounding Ranma to the ground... Yes... That had to be it... "Why's that?" A simple, simple question. One, that if answered a little earlier, might have averted the chaos that had erupted not even half-an-hour ago. "She was chasing after me..." Ryoga replied, not feeling and embarrassment, too busy feeling bad for everything he had caused. "Ain't that a good thing?" Ranma asked, not really an expert on things like that, but in a relaxed and logical state of mind that wanted to put an end to all this confusion and have a bit of peace and quite with his best friend and his, hopefully, other friend. "But she thought Hotaru was my girlfriend." "I... see..." Ranma didn't know how to react to that. His first instinct had been to challenge Ryoga and beat him up, but once again, that calm and content part, nurtured by Hotaru, cooled down his hot temper and prevented violence. Still, the urge was still there and Ranma tensed a little. Besides, he was still way too tired for his likings. "So she left." There was a tinge of bitterness in Ryoga's words. "And why is this my fault?" Ranma asked. Everything seemed to be his fault in Ryoga's book. Ryoga bit his lip. His previous retort would have been somewhere along the lines of, 'If you'd just accepted Hotaru like a man, this never would have happened.' But... Ranma's unusual attitude was having a strange effect on his anger. "I... guess it's not..." He muttered. "Sorry..." It was barely even a whisper and most people wouldn't have even heard it at all, much less make it out. Ranma was silent. If Ryoga had looked over, he wouldn't have no- ticed any difference from Ranma now and Ranma a minute ago. He might have even thought Ranma had not heard him. But he had. This time, Ranma was frozen in shock,. It was... unbelievable! From the day he met him, Ranma had realized that Ryoga was even more apology-avoidant than he himself was. The closest thing to an apology Ranma had gotten from Ryoga had been: "Good point." "..." Ryoga was starting to get a little annoyed. No, not angry, annoyed. Here he had swallowed his pride and apologized and Ranma wasn't even going to say a lousy word! "Apology accepted." "Huh?" Ranma's words, though making little sense to the fanged martial artist, had effectively burst the bubble of negative energy building around Ryoga's mind. "I said I accept your apology." Ranma replied, smiling this time and actually turning his head slightly towards Ryoga. "Oh," Ryoga said, leaning back on the fence and staring at the clouds. Now there was nothing to hold against Ranma. If anything, Ranma had a reason to be angry at him. The only thing he could blame on Ranma was... nothing. Everything from before had been settled with a fight and now this was finished. So what now? "Feeling good, Ryoga?" Ranma asked out of the blue. "W-what?" Ryoga stuttered. He had indeed been starting to feel good. "Ain't ya glad that everything's settled?" Ranma replied with a smirk. in truth, he could have asked that question any number of times before. Usually after a fight. But Ryoga seemed to be in a rare, intro- spective and rational happy-mood right now. Before, the question would have probably been twisted around into an insult and another fight would have broken out. "..." Ryoga said nothing and continued to stare at the clouds, deep in thought. Everything was settled. That led him back to his earl- ier question: What now? But before he could figure that out, he needed an answer to Ranma's question. He hated to admit it, but his life had practically centered around Ranma since he had met him. Centered on beating him, that was. It had only been about a week, but he felt like he had been doing it his whole life. What was life like before Ranma? Boring and dull with some friends that didn't understand him. All there was was martial arts. And to be used for what? Beat up the occasional new kid who thought he could be a bully and terrorize his friends or classmates. In short, it had been, pretty much, a pointless existence, brightened by the occasional visit or run-in with wandering parents or relatives who had been his only real challenge. And then Ranma had come. Someone who he couldn't beat. And there was a meaning to life. A meaning that wasn't 'protect the people who you sometimes talk with' or 'beat your family and learn some new techniques from them as a reward.' He had a rival. And now that was gone. No, Ryoga realized. He still had a rival. He would always have a rival from now on. Ranma would always be his rival. He would always have a purpose now: To beat Ranma Saotome. Ryoga smirked. He liked that: Just rivalry. So he turned to Ranma, who still had his head slightly turned and was looking at Ryoga curiously. Ryoga realized suddenly that he had been thinking for a rather long time and looked a little embarrassed, but managed to say what was on his mind anyway. "Yeah, I'm glad." "Good. So am I," Ranma said, smiling. Then Ranma snorted. Ryoga was too busy staring at the clouds and being deep in thought to notice. Hotaru just stirred slightly and her breathing eased some more. Ranma shrugged and figured it didn't matter as long as Ryoga acted like a friend. Or maybe a friendly rival. That would be nice. A minute of silence passed, only the soft sounds of Hotaru's breathing reminding the two martial artists present that they were still alive. After awhile, however, Ryoga decided to end it. "By your breath- ing, I'd say you've got you're strength back." "Yeah," Ranma replied. He had indeed regained his strength. Well, he caught his breath and was feeling a hell of lot better, anyway. He had been afraid to have to spend the whole day sleeping to get back into good health. It had taken him twenty four hours of non-stop sleep in a cozy bed for him to recover after that days long training-ground thing (He had insisted his father give him the bed. Ranma's skills were, apparently, good enough then that threats of beating the living crap out of the old man if he did otherwise were effective.) "Should we take Hotaru back to her house now?" "I... guess..." Ranma replied hesitantly. He knew he really should take his friend home what with her being unconscious and all, but... he just wanted to spend more time with her. Ranma berated himself. He was being selfish. He just couldn't be selfish with Hotaru. She needed to rest and here he was wanting to be with her. "That doesn't sound like what you want to do," Ryoga commented, having noted Ranma's hesitance and studied his face carefully. The Lost Boy could be quite observant about some things. "O-of course I do! She needs to rest..." Ranma replied, desper- ately putting up a defense. He hoped that Ryoga's usual thick head would cover for his rather poor acting skills. He didn't want to leave Hotaru, but he didn't want Ryoga to know that. He'd never hear the end of it no matter how Ryoga interpreted it. And there were actually only two ways Ryoga would probably interpret it. One of them would probably lead to a fight. Ryoga smirked. "You don't sound like you want to bring her home." He said. "I'm only worried 'bout Hotaru, okay? So I think... we should take her home," Ranma replied edgily. It was hard not to just spill it and say he actually did prefer that they wait a bit more. But then again, Ryoga had THAT look. Maybe he already knew? "Heh. Noble words, Saotome, but I know the truth," Ryoga said, a smirk still plastered on his face. "Man, what the heck are ya talking about Ryoga?" Ranma asked, getting both nervous and annoyed at the same time. "I ain't into all this cryptic stuff." "Let's rest awhile more, shall we?" Ryoga suggested in reply before turning his attention back to cloud-watching and effectively ending the conversation. Rather than pursue the rather pointless conversation that Ryoga had ended, Ranma smiled. So Ryoga knew... Well, at least he wasn't making a big fuss of it. No, instead, he had taken the pressure off of Ranma and suggested they stay here a little longer. Which was exactly what he wanted. Just a little more time. The little truck incident had ended their day early and he just wanted a bit more time with them. With his friends. With Hotaru and Ryoga. With Hotaru... Ranma turned his gaze back to the clouds and the skies. The skies. Where his school specialized. The infinite, beautiful sky. Beautiful... Like... Hotaru... Ranma felt a sudden, rushing desire to look at Hotaru's face. Her lovely face. So he turned around and gently took her by the shoulders, turning her gently away from him and then and cradling her upper-body his lap. Ranma stared at Hotaru. She was angelic in her sleep. Her petite lips were parted slightly and formed a small, cute oval. Her closed eyes gave him an impression of innocence and were highlighted nicely by her fine eyebrows. Half of her raven-black hair was tossed wildly, over her face while the other half fell on Ranma's arm. Ranma resisted the urge to move the hair away for some reason. It just felt wrong to him to disturb the beautiful girl before him in anyway. In fact, he even felt a little guilty that he had moved her just so he could look at her. Ranma continued staring at Hotaru for a few minutes longer. He could have passed the whole day just staring at that face. The person whom he had rescued. Whom had been there to help him with his school- ork. Whom had been there for him to talk to. Whom he had shared the joys of fence-walking with. Hotaru. His friend. Ryoga turned around and noticed that Ranma was holding Hotaru over his lap and staring at her. He smirked and watched, wondering what Ranma was going to do. He watched. And watched. And watched. Eventually, Ryoga decided that nothing was going to happen anytime soon and decided that even though Hotaru was easy on the eyes, he would have more fun looking at clouds. And after Ranma was finished drooling on Hotaru, he could ask him about that thing she did. Ranma sighed for some reason, unknown even to him, and gently placed Hotaru back beside him. Her head instantly fell back down on Ranma's shoulders and the pig-tailed martial artist just smiled and turned back to cloud-watching. Several minutes of more or less comfortable silence passed and Ranma and Ryoga still sat comfortably on the sidewalk, watching the clouds. Hotaru was still unconscious, resting her head on Ranma's shoulder. Ranma didn't really mind the whole situation, but he was a little curious about one thing. "Yo Ryoga," Ranma called out, his voice seemingly undifferent from the casual and almost bored one he used so often. But if someone who knew Ranma well would have listened carefully, they might have noticed the curiosity and wariness in it. And the only person who knew Ranma well enough for that that wouldn't have cared and thus not noticed it anyway. Ryoga slowly turned back to Ranma and noted that Hotaru was back to Ranma's side. "What?" he asked. "I was wonderin' if you were ever going ta ask about Hotaru." Ranma replied, tensing a bit and ready to pound Ryoga onto the ground, despite the fact that he was still a little tired. Sure, It may have seemed like Ryoga had taken the whole 'healing thing' alright, but Ranma wasn't about to take any chances. "I was going to ask you about that after you finished with having your perverted thoughts about Hotaru," Ryoga replied, smirking. "What?!" Ranma demanded, almost jumping to his feet before he realized that would have given Hotaru a rather painful introduction to the sidewalk. So he settled for glaring at Ryoga. "What the hell are you talking about now?" "I saw you staring at her a moment ago." Ryoga replied with a casual wave of his hand. "There's no need to get so upset." "I was just checking on her!" Ranma almost shouted. "And I'm not upset!" "You don't have to lie, Ranma," Ryoga said. "There's nothing wrong with staring at Hotaru like that." "Just shut up," Ranma hissed, turning back and staring ahead of him in silent anger. Ryoga just laughed and Ranma resisted the urge to pound him. After this went on for the next minute, however, Ranma's patience was starting to wear thin. "Will you shut up already!" He shouted, forgetting that he might have wakened Hotaru. "Hahahaha!" "Shut up ya stupid moron!" "Hahahaha!" "Shut up!" "Make me, you pervert! Hahahaha!" "Grrrr..." Ranma clenched his fist so hard that it might have ac- ually hurt if he had been calm enough o notice the pain. "I am NOT a pervert!" Ryoga stopped laughing and turned to regard Ranma. The pig-tailed martial artist was glaring at Ryoga, his whole body tensed and his fists clenched so hard the Ryoga could clearly see the veins. And his face... His brow was furrowed and his eyes now mere slits. But even that failed to hide the anger that radiated from those blue orbs. And Ranma's teeth were bared, like a wild animal ready to attack. All he was missing were Ryoga's fangs. Ryoga stared a little longer, comparing this face to what he ima- gined he looked like whenever he was angry. Ranma continued to glare at Ryoga. Slowly, however, the anger started to drain away as Ryoga hadn't doing anything yet. And then, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The anger in Ranma ignited uncontrollably; a burst of flame so powerful that if Ranma had been fighting right now, nothing short of Hotaru could have calmed him down. And all of this was directed at one person: Ryoga. To put it lightly, Ranma was mad. Nobody called him a pervert! He KNEW he was the farthest thing from that and NOBODY called him that! It was time to fight. Time to call forth the secret techniques of the Saotome School that he had never had to use before. The art of fighting that he had rarely even practiced, much less applied in real life. "Who's the pervert?! You were the one who was cuddling up to Minako!" Then again, he did have a little more practice than usual with these techniques lately. "What?!" Ryoga froze. He hadn't expected retaliation. "Yeah you heard me! I bet that's why you passed out! You're per- verted fantasies were probably getting too much for even your sick mind to handle!" "Why you..." Now it was Ryoga's turn to get mad. Ranma hadn't actually called him 'that word' yet, but... "Pervert!" That did it. Nobody called Ryoga a pervert and got away with it. "Look who's talking! You were the one who was practically drooling on Hotaru just a few minutes ago!" "I was just worried about her!" Ranma snapped back. "And what about you huh? You were the one going 'What if she's changing?'" "That just proves I'm not perverted like you!" Ryoga shouted in defense, wishing he could pound Ranma into the ground right about then. But as Hotaru was in the way, he restrained himself. "Yeah right!" Ranma shouted, radiating disbelief. "You've got a sick mind, that's why ya even thought about that in the first place!" "I'd bet you didn't mention it just so you could peep on her!" "That's stupid! And you were the one being all cozy with Minako!" "You're probably just jealous!" "Of an idiot like you? Don't make me laugh!" "I guess you're right..." Ranma smirked, glad that Ryoga finally saw things his way. "Hmph, about time you got some sense knocked into that thick head of yours." "Because you're after Hotaru!" "What?!" "Pervert!" "I am not!" "Then why are you so angry, huh?" "Maybe it's because you're shouting a buncha stupid lies 'bout me!" Ranma suggested angrily. He wasn't a pervert! If anybody was a per- vert, it was that idiot Ryoga! And him going after Hotaru? That was just... just... He just wasn't! "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Ryoga reverted back to his highly amused state and started laughing at Ranma as the pig-tailed martial artist attempted to bombard him with insults. "Damn you!" Ranma wanted to scream in frustration. How could the stupid techniques work if the opponent wouldn't fight! He was doing so well just a minute ago too! And now Ryoga was just laughing at him! "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Ryoga continued laughing. He had found that arguing with Ranma was next to pointless and that laughing at his rival had much more effect in annoying the boy. And Ranma had gotten so frustrated, he had even stopped calling him a pervert! This was perfect! "What's so funny?" "Haha... ha..." Ryoga's laughter trailed off and then died alto- gether as he heard a familiar, quite feminine voice reach his ears. Ranma's prepared insult died on his lips as he felt a now familiar, soft lump move from his shoulder and a curious, soothing voice reach his ears. And Ranma felt fear. Hotaru looked at Ranma, and then at Ryoga. And then she turned back to Ranma again. Both of them were frozen in what appeared to be a state of shock. Actually, it was really a state of, mostly, fear, but she didn't know that. "What's so funny?" she repeated, wondering why Ryoga had been laughing so much when she woke up. She had felt refreshed after her little nap and it had been refreshing to hear a positive sound coming from Ryoga. "Die Ranma"s got old after awhile. Hotaru looked at Ranma, deducing that he had been the one to make the joke or whatever. Oh! She had been sleeping on his shoulder! The injured arm! Ranma watched as Hotaru's curios features shifted into shock and started to fear the worse: That Hotaru had heard something and really thought he was a pervert. If she did, he was going to have a long 'chat' with Ryoga. "Is your arm okay?" Hotaru asked worriedly, reaching out with a hand and touching the area were the wound had been gingerly. When Ranma didn't fall over dead, she gave a small, relieved smile. She had been able to heal him. And she was still alive too. "Its fine..." Ranma said, Hotaru's smile relieving him of his fears. She couldn't be angry if she was smiling so cutely, right? "Thanks to you." "You're welcome," Hotaru replied, leaning back on the fence and looking at the clouds, still smiling slightly. Ranma was so sweet to remember to thank her. Ranma and Ryoga both gave a simultaneous sigh of relief. That wasn't such a good idea, however, as it reminded Hotaru of her earlier question. "What were you laughing at earlier, Ryoga?" came the innocent voice. "Uh..." Ryoga started to fidget nervously. He just couldn't lie to such and innocent and sweet voice. He cast Ranma a pleading glance. Ranma decided that helping Ryoga out would be in his best inter- est, considering what Ryoga had been laughing about. "He was laughing at me." Ranma supplied quickly. "Oh." Hotaru cast Ryoga a quick, disapproving glance. First he had virtually thrown Ranma in front of a truck and now he was laughing at him. She turned back around before she could notice the way Ryoga cringed. Ranma himself was fidgeting nervously, wondering if he was next. Sure, it was just a look, but it was from Hotaru! That was just... scary. "You really shouldn't have done that, Ryoga," Hotaru reprimanded. "Wasn't throwing him into the middle of the street enough?" Hotaru had never ever scolded, chastised, or even anything similar to that, one of her peers before. The Hotaru of a week ago would have shied away at even the thought of doing such a thing; but this Hotaru was filled with concern for a certain pig-tailed martial artist and... anger at his being endangered. "I-I'm sorry..." Ryoga mumbled, staring at the ground in shame as he was reminded of the incident. And it felt so much worse hearing it from Hotaru. "Um, Hotaru?" Ranma asked, trying to get his friends attention. "Yes Ranma?" Hotaru turned to Ranma, her face softening as she did. "Um, I already... uh... talked it over with Ryoga, and I decided to... well... forgive him an' all for that," Ranma replied nervously. "It was sorta my fault, since I jumped in front of the truck. And Ryoga did... catch me..." Hotaru looked back at Ryoga and noticed, to her surprise, that he actually looked sorry for what he did. Well, everything had worked out in the end... And Ryoga actually seemed sorry for what he did! A far cry from the Ryoga who was more willing to starve to death than saying he was sorry for something. If Ryoga was, in fact, remorseful, then that meant he must have really regretted what he had done. That was all Hotaru hoped for. The young girl smiled at Ryoga, immediately relieving him of several nega- tive emotions. "Well, if Ranma forgives you, so can I. Just be more careful in the future, okay?" "O-okay," Ryoga returned meekly. Hotaru smiled again and resumed looking at the sky. Everything was taken care of now. Or at least she wanted it to be. Hotaru didn't want any past mistakes to interfere in her and her friend's friendship later on. Wait... Almost everything. Ryoga had seen her heal. But he hadn't run off in fear or anything yet, so maybe he was like Ranma? Hotaru sure hoped so. "Ryoga?" "W-what?" came the nervous reply. Hotaru almost frowned. Maybe Ryoga was afraid of her? He had been acting strangely since she had woken up. She looked over at the bandana- clad martial artist, studying him carefully. He didn't really seem afraid... Just nervous... But that could still be bad if it was related to her 'powers'. And 'bad', in her vocabulary, included a lot of name- calling, ugly comments and hurt feelings. "What do you think... about my healing Ranma?" Hotaru asked softly, subconsciously scooting closer to Ranma. She just felt safe around Ranma, and almost everybody else who had learned of her ability to heal had shunned and even scared her. But Ranma hadn't. Ranma would protect her and make it seem less scary if Ryoga turned out like the rest of them. Even if it didn't look like Ryoga was going to be like the others, it still felt nice, at least, to be close to Ranma. Ryoga mentally sighed in relief. He had been afraid that Hotaru had been about to call him a pervert because she had heard all those things he and Ranma had argued about earlier. His only solace would have lain in that Ranma would have been dragged down with him; Ryoga would have done it himself if he had too. No way was he taking a fall like that alone when there was someone else to blame. So it was to his im- mense relief that Hotaru asked his how he felt about the whole 'healing Ranma' thing instead. "Um, yeah..." Ryoga said, composing himself and managing to con- vince himself that Hotaru hadn't heard anything 'bad'. "What did you do?" "I healed him," Hotaru replied softly. To her surprise, she didn't seem to feel scared or anxious. She had just known Ryoga so well, that she just couldn't be scared by him unless he outright took a knife to her throat or something equally drastic. "It's a... gift... I have." "Oh," Ryoga said simply. "That's nice." No matter how hard he tried, Ryoga just couldn't get himself to feel surprised. He had already pretty much figured out what had happened; it had been rather obvious. He had just needed to hear it from Hotaru or Ranma's own lips. Hotaru was in a similar state as Ryoga. She just couldn't feel surprised. Deep down, she already knew Ryoga didn't really mind her 'power'. All the signs were there: Ryoga had still been with them when she had woken up and had even been laughing. So Hotaru just smiled. Ryoga looked at her for a moment more before returning Hotaru's smile quickly and turning back to the skies. Watching everything silently, Ranma nodded in satisfaction as everything appeared to work out and then also turned back to watching the skies. It looked like everything had been settled. Well, Ryoga would likely still be after him after again before the day was done, but he was used to that. What mattered was that Ryoga wasn't scared of, or more importantly, trying to beat up Hotaru. Ranma's face darkened briefly as he thought of that. If Ryoga had tried that, well... There wouldn't have been enough left of him to make a pork bun. Ranma blinked. Pork buns? Where had he gotten that from? Well, Ryoga was pig-headed most of the time... A smile appeared on Ranma's face then. Well, Ryoga was, appar- ently, smarter than he looked. Everything was okay for the moment and that suited Ranma just fine. Ryoga would probably be after him again soon enough, but then again, Ranma wasn't sure if he could go too long without a little action anyway. As long as Hotaru was okay; that was all that mattered. He could put up with, or even enjoy whatever other crap was thrown at him as long as she was okay. Ranma's musings were interrupted as he once again felt a familiar lump fall on his shoulder. Confused, Ranma turned his head over to his left. Was Ranma's unspoken question. Once he looked at Hotaru though, it was obviously apparent that she wasn't asleep. It was a bit harder to see his friends face from the side, but Ranma quite clearly noticed that Hotaru's eyes were open, staring off at nothing. Ranma's first thought was that Hotaru had fallen into some kind of weird seizure. Immediately after that thought came the realization that Hotaru had a smile gracing her face. The smile in itself would have been enough to stop Ranma, if only to admire it. Instead, Ranma wondered why Hotaru would be smiling in the middle of a seizure. Hotaru felt the eyes of her friend rest on her; likely worried about her. Once, her smile would have slipped and disappeared right then, replaced by the nervousness of being studied by someone. Someone who would likely end up fearing and hating her. Heck, once, a smile wouldn't have even been on Hotaru's face. But Hotaru knew Ranma; he would not fear or hate her. And being near him only made her feel safe; much like her father used to make her feel, still made her feel whenever he tucked her in at night. And her smile stayed. If anything, Ranma's gaze only encouraged it. Hotaru almost giggled at what Ranma was probably thinking right now. Likely something along the lines of her having another one of her 'fits'. Hotaru's smile almost did drop at the thought of that. The fits had been getting less frequent, for some reason. Perhaps because she was eating more she theorized; thanks would have to go to Ranma for that. But that wasn't important right now. What was important was that Ranma, and possibly Ryoga was likely to ask questions right about then. "Uh... Are you awake?" came a questioning, and confused voice from her right. "Yes," was her simple reply. "Um... Not that I... I mean, uh..." Ranma tried, frustratingly. He couldn't see what the big deal about his question was; just ask his friend why she was resting on his shoulder. Except, he didn't want to be... um... rude. Yeah. That was it. A part of Ranma's mind snorted. It was true, Ranma was a lot more polite and kind to Hotaru than any other person he knew, but he was far from being a perfect gentleman around her. In fact, Ranma believed he might even accidentally taught Hotaru a few inappropriate words he'd picked up from his father. By this time, Ryoga had noticed that something vaguely resembling a sentence was coming from Ranma. Turning away from the clouds, Ryoga looked over at the duo consisting of his friend and his rival. He no- ticed, no big surprise, that Hotaru's head had somehow found it's way back onto Ranma's shoulders. After another moment of studying, he realized, with slightly more surprise, that Hotaru looked rather awake. The smile wasn't anything special, although Ryoga thought the girl looked rather cute with in on. The problem was that Ryoga couldn't think of a single way how Hotaru could have been asleep with both her eyes open and occasionally blinking. Unlike Ranma, he came to the right conclusion rather quickly. And her head was on Ranma's shoulder. Another speculative moment later and Ryoga shrugged to himself. Ranma was currently babbling incoherently and Ryoga enjoyed watching Ranma making a fool of himself more than pondering rather pointless thoughts. "Ranma..." Hotaru said softly, interrupting Ranma. The pig-tailed youth shut his mouth, effectively silencing his "uh"s, "um"s, and etc. "You're not making sense." Ranma gave a frustrated sigh. "Nevermind." He muttered, turning away from Hotaru and looking back up at the clouds. A worried frown instantly formed on Hotaru's face at Ranma's curt reply. Raising her, she looked at Ranma carefully. Had she somehow in- sulted him? Hotaru was almost scared of the thought. She decided, shaking her head as she took in Ranma's tense expression rather ner- vously. Hotaru kept repeating the mantra to herself, trying to calms her nerves enough to look up and actually ask Ranma if something was wrong. Ranma the slight pressure lift from his shoulder and then felt the his friends eyes watching him. He couldn't help but feel a little empty with the now-familiar lump gone. A small part of himself worried that he might have somehow insulted his friend, he turned to look at Hotaru, tensing a little bit. Having Hotaru angry at him scared him more than almost anything else he could think of. Where would he be if his only friend(unless you counted Ryoga) was angry at him? Upon catching sight of the slightly fearful expression on Hotaru's face, he felt a bit of anger creep into him. If someone was going to scare his friend, well, then it was his sacred duty to beat that idiot into the ground. At the same time, however, Ranma couldn't help but feel a little relieved; Hotaru wasn't angry at him. After all, he hadn't done anything to scare her, right? "What's wrong Hotaru?" Hotaru stared at Ranma's face. There wasn't any anger in the face. Or if there was, she didn't notice it. Hotaru sighed in relief, causing to Ranma to grow more perplexed. "Ahhh..." Ranma said intelligibly. It almost looked like Hotaru was glad at something. He had been half-expecting that someone had some- how mugged Hotaru while he wasn't looking. Now that that theory proved incorrect, Ranma wasn't sure what to do. Catching Ranma's confused expression, Hotaru smiled, also in relief. Same ol' Ranma. Same ol', never-angry Ranma. Annoyed? Yes. angry, no. "I'm sorry, Ranma..." Hotaru said, smiling reassuringly up at Ranma. "Uhhh..." Was Ranma's reply. The pig-tailed martial artist sud- denly had flash of memory from a few years back. He had been looking at a TV through store window, watching some kind of movie or something curiously. He remembered that right after the girl said she was sorry, she ran off into the rain crying. Ranma had promptly forgotten all about the whole thing as Genma had entered the scene and dragged him off to train for the rest of the day. Now, as the whole thing flooded back with vivid clarity, Ranma wasn't so sure he wanted to know what Hotaru was sorry about. "I thought you were... angry... at me..." Ranma barely even registered the words, much less their meaning. "Uh, yeah, 'course I am." He quickly turned back to looking at the clouds, hoping he had a done a good job dropping the subject. Hotaru stared, speechless and not sure how to react. It wasn't an insult or anything, really... But... Did it mean he was really angry at her? It couldn't be, could it? But... After Ryoga managed to stop gaping, he wondered exactly how stupid Ranma could get. Okay, Ryoga could admit that he himself could be a lit- tle thick-headed; but this was... Geez, talk about insensitive. Ryoga didn't know much about girls, but he was pretty damn sure what Ranma did wasn't exactly anywhere near the lines of tactful. But still, he had recognized that look on Ranma's face. He had... panicked? Well, at least Ranma had a reason... "Y-you're just joking, r-right?" Hotaru asked, her voice shaking. Indeed, the outcome of her life hung on Ranma's next words. Ranma wasn't angry at her, he wasn't! "W-what?" Ranma asked in confusion, twitching a little as Hotaru suddenly clutched one of his hands. It wasn't that he minded the act in of itself, but there was... He could feel something was wrong. Something that vaguely resembled his danger sense was telling him that he had just screwed up somewhere. "I-I know you're joking..." Hotaru almost whispered, more to her- self than anybody, although she had suddenly developed a deathgrip on Ranma's hand. "W-what?" Ranma repeated. Tears began to form in her eyes and Hotaru's tightened her grip, clinging desperately to Ranma. She couldn't imagine how things had turned out so bad. Everything had been fine just a minute ago, and now... now... NO! Ranma didn't hate her, wasn't angry at her! He wasn't! Ranma almost panicked. He couldn't even imagine what had brought things to this. Everything had been fine just a moment ago, and now, Hotaru was almost crying! And he just knew it had to somehow be his fault. A flash of inspiration struck and Ranma grabbed onto the idea like his life depended on it. And in his opinion, it did. He looked up at Ryoga pleadingly, desperately. Ryoga had probably been watching, he'd know what to do? "R-right Ranma? You're just... joking..." came Hotaru's small voice, desperate for an answer. No, desperate for a certain answer. Ranma glanced down at Hotaru, and immediately looked back up at Ryoga. He needed to know what was going on! Hotaru looked... damn, Hotaru looked even worse than when he had first met her, when those punks had been picking on her! Ryoga started nodding fervently, mouthing the words "Say yes!" "Uh, yeah! Yes, you're right!" Ranma blurted out quickly, hoping that Ryoga hadn't tried to trick him or something. Because if Hotaru cried because of this... Well, Ryoga would be in for the beating of his life. No, make that beatings. At Hotaru's relieved smile, Ranma felt a great burden lifted from his shoulders and relaxed his tensed muscles. Ranma gave a small chuckle. He hadn't even realized he had been tense. Ranma quickly tensed again as he felt something shoot onto and wrap around his chest. Slowly, he looked down. And just as he half-expected, there was Hotaru, her arms wrapped around him in a fierce hug and her face buried in his chest. He beat down the reflex to break free and run away and instead, sat very still, twitching nervously every now and then. "I knew it!" came the soft but strong voice. Ranma slowly relaxed his muscles and let out a sigh of relief. He didn't know what had happened, but it looked like everything was okay again. "I knew it!" Hotaru repeated. "Yeah..." Ranma said slowly. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt he should say something... reassuring, or some such thing like that. "I knew you weren't angry at me..." Ranma blanched. That was what the whole thing had been about?! Well, if he had been dumb enough to do something that almost made Hotaru cry, well, it was his sacred duty to fix it then! Now how to go about accomplishing that was another matter altogether. "Uh, 'course I wasn't mad at you," Ranma said, his words soothing to Hotaru's ears. "How could I get mad at, uh, you?" Hotaru just gripped Ranma tighter, as if afraid that she might lose him and whispered back. "I-I'm sorry, I just thought... You said..." Hotaru trailed off, closing her eyes and letting the feeling of security envelope her. "I'm sorry..." "It's... my... fault..." Ranma said, slowly, twitching slightly. He wasn't exactly found of admitting he was at fault at something, especially when he had no idea what he had supposedly done, but this was Hotaru! She was... well... she was probably right! After all, she was so smart, and he was... well... behind! Ranma twitched again. Now he had just admitted to another weakness. Well, actually, he had already ad- mitted he was behind in class, but he didn't like reminding himself of the fact one bit. Before Hotaru could say something in reply, Ranma continued. "I'm sorry, okay?" Hotaru loosened her grip a little and nodded slightly, as small smile actually forming. Ranma sighed in relief and slowly wrapped his arms around Hotaru twitching a little every now and them. He wasn't sure what to do, and he didn't feel hugging was very manly, but this was the only thing he could think of to make Hotaru feel better. From what he had seen, girls seemed to hug each other a lot, so he supposed hugging Hotaru was would be appropriate, even though he wasn't a girl. "Uh, yeah... Lets just forget 'bout the whole thing, okay?" Another nod and Ranma smiled slightly, unconsciously pulling Hotaru closer to him. Instead of looking at the clouds this time, he gazed down at the girl currently wrapped around his chest, her legs curled up and resting on his lap. The pig-tailed young man sighed, content that everything was alright. Hotaru nestled back into Ranma's chest, pulling her legs up and relaxing herself. She had been so afraid and scared, and she wanted to be close to Ranma right then. He made her feel safe, like her father did when he tucked her in, but this was still more... more real. Because not only did she feel safe, but she knew Ranma could take on anybody that might hurt her. She felt Ranma wrap his own arms around her and sighed in content. A warm feeling, like a blanket, enveloped her as Ranma's arms did, and she felt like nothing could hurt her, as long as Ranma was there. The feeling of being safe was absolute, and if the world had suddenly started to explode around her, she wouldn't have cared, because as long as Ranma was there, she knew that she would be alright. Ryoga watched as Ranma slowly pulled Hotaru to him with a smirk. He noticed the twitching, but dismissed it. He was pretty sure that he himself would have had trouble hugging a girl. Especially one he liked. Ryoga chuckled as he realized something: He was probably the only one who knew what had happened. Far overhead, a flock of white birds soared through the skies, the sun reflecting of their pure-white feathers. They shot through white clouds and rode the wind-currents with years of experience, mocking those below with their freedom and daring any to try to challenge their skill as they flew towards their unknown destination. And if one had inhumanly good eyesight, and looked closely enough, one might have been able to make out the dirty white piece of almost- camouflaged cloth fluttering bravely from a feathery neck. To be continued... Author's Notes Wow, you read the whole thing! I hoped you liked it. And about that last paragraph; no, Genma hasn't been somehow Jusenkyo cursed. Anyway, tell me what you think about the story and should do. It seems like I'll be trying to pair up Ryoga and Minako, but I dunno. I was thinking about bringing Akari in, when I just spontaneously decided to bring in Minako. As for who Ranma's ending up with; well, I think I made my preference rather obvious. And, also, this isn't the first fanfic I've written, it's my third. My second one was stupid, and although I liked my first one, it wasn't very good at all. Finally, please send me your comments and all that good stuff. Actually, even if I get a lousy response to this fic, I'll probably stubbornly continue with it anyway... -KaosQu kaosqu@hotmail.com -As you slide down the banister of life, may there be no splinters be pointing the wrong way. -???