Furinkan


Mousse was not the only person watching Ranma's behavior with curiousity
and concern. Cologne had trailed Ranma when he left, hoping to see more
that would reassure her about his reasons for watching her restaurant.
That he left after seeing Shampoo had been heartening, but she had too
little information about so important a matter. She had not suspected
that he felt the pressure so keenly as to be willing to give up his
name, an act which she, unlike her younger charges, fully understood the
consequences of.

She would have said, in her judgment of the boy, that he was the sort
who would never give up. That he had apparently defied her understanding
of him was cause enough for concern; the implications it held for her
heir made it a matter of immediate import. 

She watched from a distance as Ranma at first fought with Mousse,
showing only slight signs of differences in his usual pattern. He had
taken up one of Mousse's weapons, but that was of no great concern.
Son-in-law was a very adaptable fighter. Then something that Mousse said
seemed to at first anger him, and then send him, in the middle of a
fight, into contemplation.

Her eyebrows raised as Ranma seemed to slip into a state of effortless
skill, knocking Mousse out with a mere two moves, using an elegant
economy of motion, then moved smoothly into sword forms. The odd thing
about the situation, which led her to draw nearer for a better view, was
that his face did not match the seeming zanshen or no-mind serenity of
his body. It was contorted into anger and confusion, passing through
state after state as Ranma seemed caught up in his thoughts. To her
surprise, she actually saw happiness and, if she was not mistaken, desire
pass across his features.

She noted Mousse recovering and rising behind the boy, turning to stare
at him in disbelief and building anger. She quickly moved to where she
could intervene, but held back. Mousse would very likely attack the boy,
angered by his apparent disregard of the threat Mousse posed, an insult
the myopic boy would not be able to tolerate, by her judgment.

She was proven correct as Mousse silently recovered the sword Ranma had
knocked from his hand, then waited for an appropriate opening in Ranma's
kata. Cologne tensed. Mousse lunged forward, sword diving for the hole in
Ranma's guard, but Cologne had already relaxed and was shaking her head
as she regarded her son-in-law. She had read the tension in his muscles
and was unsurprised when his sword casually deflected Mousse's attack.

She darted forward, tapping a shiatsu point on Mousse's back, dropping
him again, then looked at Ranma with worried eyes. Contrary to her hope
and expectation, not only had he defended himself in spite of his
preoccupation, he had also not come out of it. An attack had been made
against him with deadly intent, and it was not even deemed important
enough to draw conscious attention. She sighed, settling in to watch
over him, from a once more hidden vantage point, of course. If anyone
else found him in this state, she wanted to be present for his reaction.

She was disappointed in this, however. He came out of his trance-like
state by himself a few minutes later, glancing at Mousse and not seeming
to notice that he was not in the same position he had lain in when Ranma
had first knocked him out. Not that that was necessarily surprising,
Cologne considered, since Ranma had apparently already entered the
trance before knocking Mousse out in the first place.

---

Akane doesn't seem to want to be my friend, even if I think of her that
way. Well, no, I can't really say that. After all, she did apologize. I
guess she really did just not want to marry me. But still, she's never
shown me the slightest trust; no, that's what she had to do damnit. I
just can't decide about her, if I should try to be her friend, or just
let her go.

Rouyga... man, I thought after the failed wedding things would finally
get better between us. Well, maybe they will now, once he really comes
to understand what happened between Akane and me. I guess I just didn't
know how to make friends right. He sighed inwardly. 

Ukyou. I don't know if she's ever going to forgive me for not marrying
her. I wish I could have my friend back, the one I remember. But then, I
remember a boy, and she was never a boy, so... did my friend even exist?
That doesn't make any sense... of course Ucchan existed... but was she
ever actually my friend? Or was she even then wanting more?

Maybe I should just give up on Nerima. I can make new friends. After
all, I already got two! 

A surge of happiness filled him as he thought of Hotaru. He could not
think of a time when he had felt as fulfilled as when he had saved her.
No, that was not true. He had felt fulfilled like that before, but... it
had never lasted. Everyone he helped around here seemed to turn against
him. Kodachi had turned everything into some perverted, twisted dream of
romance. Akane was constantly angry with him because she did not think
she needed saving, no matter how much she did. Hotaru... she had been
happy, then and after. 

I want to see her again. And Setsuna... 

His thoughts took on a tinge of desire once more, as he thought about
the one woman that his mind felt safe feeling that way about. He could
safely want her, knowing that it wouldn't end up with him betraying
everyone else by bedding her, or getting beat to a pulp when she claimed
to be his fiancee, and flaunted his affections. He felt a tremendous
freedom when he thought of her. She knew about his curse and his weakness
towards cats, and not only did she not try to take advantage of him, or
think he was a freak or a pervert, she was actually trying to help him!

When he thought about his two new friends, he could not help wishing he
could have had friendships like that with the people he knew in Nerima.
But was it too late? He still wasn't that skilled at dealing with people
and he did not think that Nabiki was likely to keep training him now
that he was not welcome in the Tendo home. He understood why Akane had
felt it necessary to always blame everything on him, but it seemed like
everyone else in Nerima had picked up the same idea. 

Maybe it's fate. Maybe that's why Tendo-san kicked me out, just after I
found out that I had friends and a supportive family outside of Nerima.

That final thought reminded him of why he had been in Nerima in the
first place, and that Mousse might be waking up at any time. Ranma was
somewhat startled to realize that he was engaged in a sword kata, and
quickly stilled. He glanced about and saw Mousse lying in a sprawled
heap. Oh well, he would wake up soon enough. And unlike Ranma, he did
not have a slew of enemies who would be all too happy to take advantage
of a moment of weakness.

Ranma shrugged and leapt away, heading for Furinkan.

---

Shampoo pondered her great-grandmother's behavior as she pedaled towards
her first stop. Why is she being so nice to me? I failed! I admitted
it, finally. She should be packing everything up to go back home, back
to the mountains. Shampoo's pleasure at the thought of her home was
distinctly marred by her expectations of what would happen when they got
there, so she was not exactly disappointed at Cologne's failure to act
true to form.

It hit her just as she left her first delivery. Cologne must know
something, must have learned something that would put her airen's
behavior in a different light! But why had she not told Shampoo about
it? Why had she just let her cry herself to sleep? How could she find
out? Nabiki! The mercenary would certainly know everything there was to
know about Ranma's disavowal of his family.

Shampoo poured on the speed. If she was early with her next two
deliveries, she would have time to swing by the school before heading
to finish the rest. It was still early, Nabiki would not yet be engaged
in class, though she would probably be in her classroom. 

---

Ranma landed on the Furinkan's outer wall, noting with some disgust that
a large crowd of jocks had gathered near the front doors. His disgust
deepened when he noticed Kuno waiting behind a tree. Would they never
learn? Briefly he considered doing something about them, disregarding
Akane's words about not needing help. 

He decided not to though, and jumping down, strode for the doors,
ignoring the crowd as they parted before him. He felt the surge of angry
ki where Kuno was but ignored it. Kuno did not come out nor attack.
Apparently the opportunity to once more ambush his fierce tigress was
worth more than gloating over the sorcerer's defeat, or some such
excuse. Ranma didn't really care, he would just as soon not deal with
the buffoon again.

He felt a qualm of conscience at leaving Akane to them, but he knew it
was what she would prefer. Besides, if he did help, they would just
scatter, giving up as they had when he first showed up, after he beat
Kuno. They were only out there because they thought he had given up his
claim on her. He could protect her this once, again, but she would not
appreciate it, and the next day, when he did not come again, or as soon
as they learned that he was leaving Furinkan for good, they would be at
it again.

Besides, there was no question that while she might not be in Ranma's
league, she had unquestionably improved from when she had first faced
this fight. She could handle them.

He heard the gloating comments of some of the boys as he passed and they
realized that he did not intend to interrupt their fun and he smirked.
It was more, he realized then, than people simply agreeing with Akane
and treating everything as his fault. If they could truly gloat about
their imminent victory in spite of having spent time in the nurse's
office or, for all he knew, the hospital, from trying to beat Akane,
then they were hardly less delusional than Kuno. Yet another reason to
get away from Nerima; maybe that sort of stupidity was contagious.

Noticing the looks he was getting from the students in the halls, Ranma
concentrated on the Void and the Flame again, irritated with himself for
forgetting to hold it. He would have a much easier day of it if no one
noticed him, but he just had to go and blatantly walk into the school
through the midst of those idiots.

In spite of that mistake, the void did its job. He walked right past
Nabiki Tendo without her noticing him. He grinned at that, wondering if
she knew about the fight waiting outside and had come down just because
she had seen him, or if she was actually unaware of it. Not that he
particularly objected to her at the moment, she had been pretty nice for
a while now, but still, he had found her habit of popping up at
inconvenient times irritating. To walk past her in the open, not
invisible, just unnoticed... that was nice.

An instant later he had his back against the wall. "Shampoo? What's she
doing here?" he groaned. He had recognized her voice the instant he
heard her accosting Nabiki. Wait a minute... I didn't hear anything
being broken. What happened to her usual wall-bashing? 

He peered around the corner in time to see Shampoo and Nabiki slipping
into a locked room, the keys glinting in Nabiki's palm as she turned to
close the door. "What the hell is going on?" Ranma felt a sudden fear
for Nabiki. If Shampoo had heard about last night... she might have
decided that it neatly explained why Ranma had fled from her even though
he was technically free of the other engagements.

Once again setting aside his purpose for the moment, he darted out of
the building, still holding onto the void. He didn't need to deal with
anyone noticing him at the moment. In fact... considering the danger
Nabiki might be in, he invoked the Umisenken alongside the Void and the
Flame. Moments later he was crouched in the window of the room where
Nabiki had taken Shampoo.

To his surprise, there was nothing threatening in Shampoo's manner. If
anything, she looked almost... pleading? Pressing his hands tightly
against the windowsill to maintain his position, he leaned forward and
rested his ear against the cold glass, shivering at the contact.

He could not hear Nabiki clearly but Shampoo's higher sing-song tones
carried better.

"You is for sure?"

Any further words she might have spoken and any response that Nabiki
might have proffered were drowned out by the sudden chorus of battle
cries and pledges of devotion and determination from the front of the
school. Ranma sighed, shaking his head, and dropped from the window to
make his way back inside. Shampoo had not seemed to be threatening
Nabiki nor had Nabiki seemed nervous, so leaving them together seemed
safe enough.

Besides, he had other business here, and having them occupied while he
went about it was all to the good.

Holding to the void, he passed unnoticed through the halls and into the
office, where he dropped the technique and stepped up to the secretary's
desk. Somewhat to his surprise, she looked up and smiled on seeing him.
"Oh, Saotome, I've been expecting you," she said as she busily flipped
through a pile of folders on her desk before pulling one out. "Nabiki
mentioned that you might be dropping by to withdraw. Moving in with your
mother finally?" She smiled as she proffered the folder, neatly tied
with string.

Ranma nodded dumbly, reaching out, but it was snatched away before he
even realized the room had garnered another occupant.

"No, no, no keiki gonna be leaving da Big Kahuna's school so easy!"

Ranma groaned as he turned to face the principal. "I thought you were
gone, you crazy nut!"

"Heh heh, you think da Big Kahuna not gonna hear about one of his
problem keiki trying to get away? You really wanna leave? Fine!" With
that, the principal cracked a coconut he held, splashing Ranma with the
cold water that had been in it. "Then you can go to school with my
little wahine!"

The insane head of Furinkan held the folder up, gripped loosely in the
jaws of his ubiquitous shears. Ranma tensed and growled when the water
hit her, then shook her head, sending droplets flying. She stared at the
folder full of papers, her ticket to freedom. All it would take was one
twitch at the wrong moment and they'd be snapped in half. What would she
do then?

"Fine," she growled. "We'll see how you do against my lawyers," she
snarled, then turned and raced out of the building, furious at him and
at herself for not having anticipated his interference. She had been so
ready to have to convince them to give her the papers that the
secretary's quick action and her mention of Nabiki had made her drop her
guard.

Kochou Kuno stared after the fuming redhead doubtfully. "Wahine been
taking lessons from Nabiki?" he asked as he dropped the papers back on
the secretary's desk. He ignored her irritated glare as he walked
bemusedly back into his office.

Ranko stopped in front of the school doors. The grounds beyond were
covered with groaning boys, victims of a furious Akane. Kuno, in their
midst, was already staggering to his feet. Ranko darted back in the
school, wrapping herself in the Umisenken to avoid him. That's just what
I don't need right now, she groused silently. Another Kuno. She was
staring at the ground, trying to calm her breathing, when Kuno entered
the school and passed by her, mumbling something about 'where the
mercenary is.' Ranko snorted indelicately. That was right, wasn't it?
Kuno was usually dragged inside by Nabiki after she took her cut from
his wallet.

Ranko turned suddenly and ran her head into the wall, cracking the tile.
"You idiot," she hissed. "You're not bound by promises in the name of
Saotome anymore. Just walk in there invisible and take it. There's no
loss of honor in avoiding a dishonest challenge anyway."

With that she marched back into the school. She had convinced herself
that Kuno had not really made a challenge yet, so her honor was safe in
backing down and asking Ishida for help, but now she realized that just
as her father's request to not use the Yamasenken and Umisenken no
longer bound her, so too was she free of the stricture that a Saotome
must accept every challenge. Finally she could ignore the blatantly
stupid. It was foolish anyway, in her opinion, to lend credence to
pointless or honorless martial arts or artists by honoring their
challenges.

Unseen, she entered the office and smirked when she saw that the
secretary had apparently taken a walk without having put away the folder
yet. She slid up to it and verified the name, Ranma Saotome, before
snatching it up and slipping out.

Once beyond the walls of the school she couldn't help but let out a
victorious shout. It felt so good to have outwitted that ignorant
buffoon. Go to school with his daughter, indeed! Setsuna's face came
into her mind as she remembered Setsuna's casual acceptance of her as a
man in spite of her rather... intimate... examination of her female
form, and for once, she said quietly, "I am a man," and meant it without
reservation, in spite of the soft female tones that spoke it.

Papers securely in hand, Ranma wasted no time in getting back to Juuban,
though she employed no special techniques, not wanting to take any
chances with losing or damaging her records.

She reached the park without incident, and was about to stow the papers
in her backpack when she realized that this was an unnecessary risk.
Setsuna would most likely be willing to store them for her. That brought
to mind Setsuna's comments the night before, about bathing to make a
good impression at school. Surely Setsuna would have realized that Ranma
couldn't get enrolled until she found out where she would be staying?
Not to mention who would be paying for it, though she had the impression
that would be taken care of by Ishida-san. Still, he wouldn't be able to
do much if she got enrolled at the wrong school.

Ranma briefly considered finding a sentou and bathing before going to
Setsuna's, to demonstrate that she had listened to her, but decided
against it. The risk of losing the papers, or getting them soaked, or
having them stolen if she left them in the backpack, was just too great.

She reached the small clearing where she had left her backpack hidden
before she had quite decided what to do or where to go, but as she
entered it, the question fled her mind.

She looked around warily. Someone else had been in the clearing, of that
she was sure, and unless her senses misled her, it was still being
watched. Clearing her mind, she moved closer to the center of the
clearing. There, in that tree!

Just as she identified the position of one of the hidden watchers, he
dropped out of the tree and took a step toward her. She paid the
well-dressed man little attention, concerned with finding the other eyes
she could still feel. Then they too stood up and stepped out of the
brush to stand behind the first man.

He stepped forward again and then bowed low. Seeing that all three men
were nicely dressed and now that she could no longer feel hidden eyes on
her, she relaxed slightly, and matched his bow, keeping her eyes on one
of the other men to catch any signs of movement.

"Saotome Ranma?" The question was asked in a pleasant voice that belied
the somewhat tense situation but nevertheless held a distinct note of
uncertainty and disbelief. At the same time, it narrowed down the list
of possibilities for her accosters, though not substantially, since
anyone in Nerima would know of her curse. Still, she now had a pretty
strong suspicion as to whom she faced. At least it wasn't suffixed with
"Prepare to die!"

Ranma shook her head violently. "I am a Saotome no longer," she said
sharply. "If you have any complaint against the Saotomes, you can take
it up with them."

The men relaxed, the man in the middle nodding. "My apologies.
Nokomura-san sent me, Ishida-san, to retrieve you. He wishes for you to
go somewhere with him today, but first," and here he paused to look her
over, "you need to change, bathe, and be dressed appropriately.
Nokomura-san asks that you please come with us. We will take you to
where you may bathe and prepare before meeting him."

Ranko looked at them uncertainly but before she could speak, the center
man had snapped his fingers. The man to his left, her right stepped
forward and presented the first man with a sealed scroll, which he then
held out to her.

She stepped forward warily and, sensing naught amiss with the scroll,
took it before backing away again. She examined the seal, cursing
silently to herself for not having looked when in Ishida's office to see
with what he sealed his correspondence.

Cracking the wax seal, she unrolled the scroll by feel, keeping her eyes
on the three men. Lifting it up to where she could see it and still keep
the men in her peripheral vision, she quickly read it. It said basically
what the man had, but it added two things. First, it said that she was
to go today with Ishida to meet her new family, the Tsukinos. Second,
and most importantly, it mentioned Setsuna and the part she had played
in their little drama.

Some enemy of herself or the Ishida-ke might have known about the plans
of Ishida-san, but they would not be likely to have understood the part
Setsuna was playing.

She rerolled the scroll and bowed again to the three men. "Alright," she
said, "let's go."

The third man, who had yet to speak or take part, stepped forward now.
"You were seen heading to Nerima. Have you obtained your transfer papers
from Furinkan?"

Ranko nodded, a bit disturbed at realizing that she was still being
watched. Of course, she had known that it was going on since she first
talked to Ishida, but hearing such direct and immediate evidence was
still startling. Was she really that important to them?

"If you would like, Ishida-san, I will take them for safe-keeping."

She eyed him narrowly. "Why?"

The man laughed. "One of my boys just dropped by Furinkan to get your
papers so Ishida could do the transfer. He said they were gone when he
got there, though the principal insisted that you had been there and
been rebuffed."

She nodded, mollified. If he knew that, then he probably had done just
as he said. They were with Ishida. She had no reason to believe Ishida
was trying to do her harm, and the fact that they had even tried to
recover her papers for her was more help than she had received in a long
time, aside from Setsuna.

She pulled out the papers and handed them to the man. They turned and
led her through the park to where a grey compact car was parked. She
looked at it in mild surprise.

"Expecting a limo?" laughed one man. "Sorry, field work doesn't rate
quite so high. And leaving a limo outside a park for hours is not a good
way to avoid attention." He pointed at the bike rack atop the car. "You
can ride with us, or Ishida said to offer you the rack." He laughed, as
if he had made a joke, but Ranko nodded and leapt to the top of the car,
one hand catching the rack.

The men shook their heads, laughing, but made no objections as they got
in the car, leaving Ranko alone atop the car as they pulled out into the
traffic. Ranko's thoughts turned to the words of the scroll as the car
steadily made its way through the streets. "Tsukino?" she wondered. "He
picked the family that Pop sold me to?" At least there she had been sold
not as a husband but to protect. It had to be the same Tsukinos, didn't
it? Why had they made such a request in the first place? Who were they,
that they needed a great martial artist to guard their honor?