Neko
by Mark Doherty (mdoherty@mailbox.uq.edu.au)

Chapter 7: Ever Get the Feeling it's Going to be a Bad Day?


Time for a Story Summary! These will be infrequent, I don't think it's really
necessary to write these for every chapter, so expect to see a summary of
what has gone before about every five or so chapters, depending on the
importance of events since the last update.

So far:
 Things proved to be a little hectic at the out-of-the-way tourist spot/
 training site/dangerous place where only the foolhardy go/Jusenkyo Springs
 on one fine day when at least six people (plus 100+ lemmings) happened to
 fall into the cursed waters on the same day.

 As it goes, Akane and Ukyou both got cursed with water from the Spring of
 Drowned Boy. Akane, who had been 'volunteered' to be engaged to Ranma about
 three months ago, had decided to travel to China in order to get Ranma to
 help her to make their parents call off the engagement. On her way to Osaka,
 where Nabiki had arranged cheap and safe transportation for her, she met
 what appeared to be a young man, about her own age, Kuonji Ukyou. A slip of
 the tongue on Akane's part told Ukyou that she was after Ranma. Ukyou,
 having apparently had previous dealings with Ranma, managed to convince
 Akane to let 'him' come along. (In actuality, Ukyou was a girl, who had
 started disguising herself as a boy after Ranma had abandoned her ten years
 ago.)

 During their trip, Akane and Ukyou became friends. Through either fine
 tracking skill, luck, or else knowing where the Saotomes were going to be
 thanks to the fact that Genma had sent Soun a travel itinerary, the two
 teenagers made it to Jusenkyo. There, Akane accidentally fell into one of
 the springs. Ukyou, worried about the fact that Akane wasn't surfacing,
 jumped in and pulled her... well, now _him_ out of the water. After finding
 out how to revert to their normal forms, Ukyou led a shocked Akane out of
 the area, heading towards a village the Guide mentioned. Though Akane was
 naturally badly affected by her new form, Ukyou managed to hide her own
 reactions to having a male body until after Akane had gone to sleep that
 night, simply because she hadn't told Akane that she was a... well, a she.

 So it was that the two half-girls retreated to Japan, although why they did
 not resume their search for Ranma remains a mystery. They found their way
 to the Tendo Dojo, where they soon met a strange panda and cat. Ukyou,
 having saved the cat from the panda and having taken a liking to the small
 beast, took the feline with her when she and Akane sparred, and took the
 cat with her when she went to have a bath afterwards.

 So she wasn't pleased when she found out, not long after, that the cat was
 actually Ranma, her once best friend, turned enemy. She had been left
 behind, so long ago, when Genma had promised an engagement between her and
 Ranma and then ran out on her, taking 'Ranchan' and the Kuonji yatai, with
 him. To make sure that Akane didn't find out about her true gender, Ukyou
 took Ranma into the dojo to have a 'talk' with him. In the ensuing fight,
 Ranma knocked Ukyou unconscious, finding out that she was a girl in the
 process.

 After Ukyou woke up and Ranma made sure that this wasn't some 'cursed body'
 that she'd picked up, Ukyou told him about her life, since she was a bit
 too out of it from the fight to continue attacking him. After Ranma swore
 not to tell Akane that Ukyou was actually a girl, Ukyou decided to wait a
 bit on her revenge, to see if this Ranma was still the Ranchan she knew so
 long ago.

 Ranma has some real big problems with cats. When he was young, his father
 trained him in the Neko-Ken, a terrifyingly powerful technique that had two
 unfortunate side-effects. Firstly, Ranma became deathly afraid of cats.
 Secondly, when his fear of cats became too great, his mind used a defensive
 technique that made Ranma think _he_ was a cat. It was only then that Ranma
 could use the amazing power of the Neko-Ken.

 When Ranma got cursed as a cat, this previous training caused problems. You
 see, if you fear cats so much that your mind makes you act like one if
 you're around them for too long, then what happens when you actually turn
 into a cat? The full facts of what happens to Ranma when he turns into a cat
 haven't been revealed yet, but the following things have been observed:
 - As a cat, Ranma tends to attack his father a hell of a lot.
 - Ranma does not remember his experiences as a cat, just like when in his
   Neko-Ken trance he doesn't remember what he does.
 - Ranma reverts to his normal personality when he changes back to human, but
   for a while he is woozy and generally slow of thinking. This is probably
   some sort of defence mechanism of the mind, to make sure that Ranma
   doesn't remember the change between forms.
 - Ranma REFUSES to believe that he is cursed. He has a fear of cold water
   that rivals his fear of cats, but he can't really explain why, usually
   only giving lame excuses about how cold water makes him black out because
   of 'some weird technique Pop must have used on me when we were at that
   Jusenkyo place'.

 And so it has come to be, that so far the following curses have been
 revealed:
 Ranma - Cat(But I use a Neko suffix because I'm annoying like that.)
 Genma - Panda(I guess some things are cosmically inevitable.)
 Akane - Boy(Or man, she has a male curse anyway. In her boy form, she has a
         rather strange hair shade of bluish brown.)
 Ukyou - Boy(Her male form, luckily for her, doesn't quite gain enough mass
         to cause the bindings that she uses to hide her gender to choke her
         off. Still, they probably make breathing a bit more difficult. As a
         man, Ukyou has red hair and blue eyes.)

 Other people/beings who have come from China, and therefore are at
 least suspect of having been cursed, are:
 - Kunou Tatewaki
 - Ryouga
 - A young woman with purple hair
 - A young man with long black hair
 - Kunou Kodachi
 - A hell of a lot of lemmings, all but one of which came with Kodachi. One
   lemming, for some reason, was accompanying the man with the long black
   hair.

 Anything else? Oh yeah... it looks like Akane might feel more than
 friendship towards Ukyou...

Well, I'm sure you can now see why these summaries won't be put in every
chapter... (Of course I could have made a more compact summary. I did it
this way to aid my conceptualisation, and I figured it wouldn't hurt people
to read it, especially considering how long it's been since I released the
last chapter.)

Characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I deserve to be thrown in
the spring of drowned ferret for even thinking of using them. Please
don't sue me, I am but a poor and penniless student.

C&C's are welcome, wanted and not wasted on me.


My conventions explained:

- The suffix -kun is used to denote a character's cursed male form. No
  suffix indicates that the person isn't in their cursed form. If someone
  turns up with a girl curse, they'll get the -chan suffix. Animal curses
  are denoted by the name of the animal as a suffix. After a couple of
  times, animal suffixes will probably usually be shortened to the first
  letter. For example, Henry-Mockingbird, or Henry-M after the first couple
  of times the name is used in a scene.

- Just to be REALLY annoying, a cat curse will be denoted by a -Neko suffix.
  So, Ralf-Neko for example.

- <> Denotes Chinese.

- [] Denotes thoughts.

- ** Is animal speak when used without quotes, and is sound effects within
  quotes. For example: *Hello.* the duck quacked. And: "*sigh*" she sighed.

- {} Are Panda signs.


"Cruel, but composed and bland,
 Dumb, inscrutable and grand,
 So Tiberius might have sat,
 Had Tiberius been a cat."
                - Poor Matthias by Matthew Arnold.

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

Dawn found Tokyo bathed in a soft, comforting, rosy light as the sun greeted
the new day with its soft ambience. An old woman slowly, carefully, lovingly
watered the immaculately tended plants of her small garden. Young children
were up even before their parents, so that they could watch the early morning
children shows, before the drudgery of school could claim their time. A man
walked his dog along a cool, misty, dimly lit street as he mentally reviewed
the work he had set for the day. And a cybernetic cat-girl fought a large
mecha, causing massive property damage. It was a quiet start to a new day in
Nerima.

In a small tent that was set out on the backyard of the Tendo residence,
Kuonji Ukyou lay on her bedroll, staring at the cloth ceiling, thinking
about life. And love. And vengeance.

The thought of vengeance had driven her for so long, the thought of one day
tracking down Ranma and his father, of forcing them to feel at least some of
the pain she had gone through, of seeing her Ranchan again... Wait, no, that
wasn't it. She... she hadn't gone through all she had, she hadn't gone to
China, she hadn't been cursed just to... forgive Ranma, had she?

But he'd still tried to be her friend, even after she attacked him. He'd
still reasoned with her, when all her reason had fled. He'd held off in
their fight for as long as he could, he seemed genuinely concerned for her.
He'd seemed so concerned about her, when she'd told him her story...

On the other hand, he had used his cursed form to spy on her in the bath.

But then again, in the dojo, he'd been shocked to find out she was a girl.
And right before they'd gone to the dojo, Ranma had claimed he couldn't
remember even being in the bathroom. Perhaps his curse... perhaps all the
curses didn't just give the _form_, but the mind as well. And would a cat's
mind be able to remember much? Ukyou's mind shied away from this line of
thought. She didn't want to think about the curse taking over her mind. She
was having enough of a problem dealing with being a half-boy as it was.

But, but, but... Ukyou sighed. She'd lost that determined focus, that single-
mindedness that had driven her in her training, driven her to accompany Akane
to China. It used to be... hell, just _yesterday_ it used to be that just
thinking about Ranma would make her teeth clench from humiliation, pain and
rage. Now, just like that, she found that she couldn't keep up that hate.
What was wrong? What was she to do?

What to do? What to do?

Why had it seemed so easy to call him Ranchan, just before they had left the
dojo last night? It had just come out, it had seemed so natural to call him
that again. And as soon as she'd said it, she'd wondered why. In fact, she'd
spent the whole dinner, and half the night staying up, wondering why. Why
had it seemed so easy to give up the hurt, the pain, the comforting rage of
vengeance?

[You loved him once. Do you still love him?] her mind challenged her.

"Love? How could I love him, he left me behind. My life was shattered because
of him. Before Akane, he was the only true friend I had and he abandoned me.
Because of him, I abandoned my femininity. Because of him, I'm lying to my
best friend. Because of him, I am a man not only in the eyes of the law, but
in body as well. Because of him, I've lost so much..." Ukyou said, trying to
rationalise her thoughts by saying them out loud.

[Do you still love him?] her thoughts asked again.

"But he didn't know about the engagement. He didn't even know I was a girl,
the blind fool. He... he didn't abandon me. It was his father. And he was
glad to see me, I know he was. He was willing to help me, after all this
time, without a question. He... he's still there for me, even after I
attacked him."

[Do you still love him?] her thoughts repeated.

"He... he called me cute. No-one's ever called me that. No-one. And... and he
meant it too, I'm sure of it. And without him, I never would have even met
Akane. He was my best friend, and now she is. He... he likes me. He still
wants to be my friend. They're my two greatest friends..."

[Do you still love him?]

"May the spirits protect me, but I do..."

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

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-----------

With a satisfying WHAM!, another alarm clock was sacrificed to the great
God of Annoying Ways to Wakeup. Slowly, unwillingly, Akane oozed bonelessly
out of her bed. After three months of sleeping on a bedroll or a sleeping
bag, her body had taken to sleeping in a bed again with perhaps a little too
much glee. She'd need to do something to work out the kinks in her body.
Perhaps a bath, or maybe a light spar, or something like that.

Akane yawned as she stumbled over to her wardrobe, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
With another yawn, she opened the wardrobe's door, and looked at her clothes.
She sighed as her gaze flitted over her school dresses. After three months,
she'd have to go back to that again today. She was dreading the lectures
she'd be getting from her teachers, for skipping out from school for so long.

Akane walked over to the nearby clothes drawers, and opened one. She smiled
as she picked out a light shirt and a pair of shorts. Now here was something
she hadn't done in a while...

A few minutes later, she was out the front door of the house, dressed in
the shirt and shorts, along with a pair of running shoes and a red headband.
After a quick limber up, she was jogging down the local streets, her long
hair streaming behind her.

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

Ranma surreptitiously started stretching his muscles as he followed his
father out the back of the house. It didn't matter where they were, practice
of the Art came first. Today would be no exception. And it'd be nice to spar
in a dojo for once, they rarely got the opportunity on their travels to use
a real training hall.

Genma stopped walking long before they had reached the dojo. He took up an
opening stance as he glanced meaningfully at the nearby pond. "Are you ready,
boy?" he asked.

Ranma looked from his father to the pond several times before his face
hardened in resolve. "Alright. If that's the way you want it." he said as he
took up his own stance.

Genma smiled. Despite all the problems that had developed between his son and
himself, at least the Art still drew them together. And at least Ranma still
had the courage to risk that which he feared, all for his own betterment.

"Defend yourself boy!" Genma shouted as he launched himself into the air.

Ranma's only response was an easy smile as he jumped to meet his father.

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

Ukyou sat in her tent, her arms wrapped around her drawn up knees. She was so
intent on examining her feelings that she was ignoring the shouts and sounds
of combat from outside.

[If you still love him, what do you do?] her thoughts challenged.

"I don't know." Ukyou whispered.

[What about Akane? She's engaged to him too.]

"But she doesn't want to be. Hah, I'm surprised she wasn't the one to fight
Ranma, the way she kept on about how unfair an arranged marriage was. If...
if Ranma kept his engagement promise to me, I'd only be doing her a favour."

[Why would Ranma keep his promise? He left you behind.]

"No." Ukyou said, clenching her fists. "No, I know it wasn't him now. Ranma
didn't even know I was a girl, he couldn't have run out on the engagement.
That means..." Her eyes flared. "That means that if he wasn't the one to
steal our yatai and run out on the promise, it had to be..."

With a muffled yelp, Genma flew threw the loosely closed tent entrance,
landing right in front of Ukyou.

"Pardon me." Genma said as he rose to a crouch, ready to jump out of the tent
to teach his cocky son a lesson.

"You!" Ukyou snarled as she patted the ground next to her, searching blindly
for the hilt of her combat spatula since she didn't want to take her eyes of
the older man. Genma blinked in astonishment at the look of rage on the
okonomiyaki chef's face.

"It was you!!!" Ukyou growled. She felt a surge of triumph as she finally
found the handle of her battle weapon.

"Can I help you with something?" Genma asked, puzzled at Ukyou's reaction to
his accidental entrance. [Perhaps the boy's just a bit private.] he thought.
[After all, he overreacted in the bathroom yesterday as well.]

"Yes..." Ukyou hissed as she rose into a standing crouch, her back brushing
the cloth of the tent's roof. "You can stand still so I can beat you into
next week!" With that she channelled all her rage into a powerful swipe
at Genma with her combat spatula.

Outside, Ranma looked on in confusion at the tent. By now, his father should
have barrelled out, ready for more fighting. What was going on? He blinked as
he saw the sides of the tent bulge in first one place, then another, and then
another, like someone was hitting the cloth from the inside. After a few more
seconds of this abuse, the tent collapsed, to reveal the outline of a thinner
person who looked to be doing their best to strangle a stockier person.

"Does this mean I win?" Ranma called out as he stood down from his defensive
posture.

The only reply from the collapsed tent was a muffled snarl, followed by a
pained yelp.

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

There was an easy familiarity to jogging, Akane found. The sheer, simple
pleasure of running for no reasons other than exercise and enjoyment was a
novelty she'd enjoyed all too rarely in recent times. This, coupled with the
surprising joys of simply seeing old places, sights and even people that she
had not seen in a quarter of a year had, on this day at least, turned a
simple fitness technique into an effective calming method, a sort of
meditation in motion.

And so it was a calm, collected (and barely winded) girl who entered the
Tendo house, half an hour after she had started her jog. Once Akane had
shucked off her shoes, she went up to her room, changed into a gi, and
walked down the stairs and out to the yard.

She stopped short when she saw a panda and a red-haired boy fighting over,
around and sometimes in the koi pond.

"Same old Ucchan." Ranma noted to her from where he was standing nearby. He
wasn't facing her, he was looking at the fight, but he'd still sensed her
presence. "He... I mean sh..." he caught himself from correcting his initial
mistake as he remembered his promise to Ukyou. He coughed in an attempt to
hide his gaff, before he continued. "Uh... like I was saying, he always did
have a bit of a temper. He was a great guy though."

"Ucchan?" Akane asked as she watched the fight. Ukyou-kun had the speed and
reach advantage, but he was obviously fighting angry. Genma-Panda was using
this to his advantage. When this was combined with his greater experience,
strength and willingness to fight dirty, it looked like Genma had the
slightest of advantages.

"Yeah, Ucchan. It was the nickname I gave him when we were young. Sort of in
retaliation for the nickname he gave me."

"Ranchan?" Akane suggested as she remembered some things Ukyou had once said
while dreaming.

"Yep. Guess he told you about me then." Ranma said.

"Not really." Akane admitted. She turned from the fight to look at the boy.
"It looks like they're going to be a while. Do you want to spar?"

Ranma turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "Spar?"

"Yes. Spar. As in combat practice? As in a fight, just not for real? You
know, a spar."

"I don't fight girls." Ranma said.

"What?" Akane asked, blinking. In the background, Genma-P managed to get
within Ukyou-kun's range, and he gave the boy a stunning blow.

"What sort of an attitude is that?" Akane continued indignantly. "Ukyou's a
boy, and he doesn't mind sparring with me. What makes you so special?"

Ranma looked over at Ukyou-kun, who had recovered from the panda's blow and
was now throwing some mini-spatulas at his furry foe. "Well that's... him.
Look, the last time I fought a girl it gave me more grief than it was worth,
ok?"

"It's only a sparring match!" Akane protested. Then she sighed. "Fine. If you
don't want to spar, that's fine. You probably wouldn't have been worth the
effort anyway."

Ranma blinked. He blinked again. The he said "What did you say?"

Akane smiled. It looked like he was going to fall for one of the oldest
tricks in the book. "I mean, since you're afraid of a mere girl, you can't
be that good."

"Right, fine. If you want to spar, we'll spar." Ranma declared as he stalked
off to the dojo. "Come on, with those two out here, there's no room to
fight. We'll take it to the dojo. I guess with Pop occupied I needed someone
else to spar with anyway."

Akane hid her grin as she followed the boy to the dojo, skirting around the
other two cursed fighters. That had been almost too easy.

Back at the pond, Ukyou-kun finally managed to breach the panda's defences,
and he started pounding on the animal with cries of "Argh! Feel the pain I
felt!"

Genma-Panda finally managed to block the blows with a couple of his wooden
signs, upon one of which was written the words {What! What'd I ever do to
you!} and on the other, the words {Oh wait... You're not related to that fish
seller in Osaka?}

Ukyou-kun responded by throwing a couple of his spatula shuriken at the
panda, who blocked them with another sign, which read {You're not the son of
that pickle dealer in Kagoshima?}

The half-boy tried to sweep the panda's legs out with his combat spatula,
but Genma-P just leapt over the sweep, sailing over the combat chef. As the
panda flew past the boy, he bapped him with a sign that said {Uh... are you
the brother of that ramen store owner in Matsue?}

A swing of the combat spatula, which narrowly missed the dodging panda.
Another swing, and it also missed. {I swear I was going to pay for that meal
in Sapporo, there's no need to get angry.}

Three swings, all missing, followed by the thud of two thrown mini spatulas
hitting the earth where Genma-P had so recently stood. {Look, this is
obviously all my son's fault. Go blame him.}

[Argh! Where is he getting these signs!?] Ukyou-kun thought as he continued
to attack. [And how can the old bastard write so much on them in the middle
of a battle?]

{If you're from that store in Kanazawa, I tell you the cheque is in the
mail.}

"Ahhhhh! Stop it with those signs already!" Swing, miss, swing, miss.

{Surely not that sushi bar in Kochi?}

"Arrrggghhhhh!!!!" Swing, swing, swing...

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

Akane eyed Ranma speculatively as she adopted an opening fighting stance. She
stood there, her bare feet set on the hard wooden floor of the dojo, ready
for anything from her opponent. She was in position to start, but she didn't
attack since Ranma was facing her in a pose that was the very image of
nonchalance. It certainly wasn't a fighting stance from any school she'd
seen. After a few seconds of putting up with his totally non-combative
stance, Akane said "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Ranma answered in a tone that could be interpreted as bored. "Just
waiting for you to attack."

[Why that arrogant... fine. I'll show him not to underestimate me.] With a
focussing cry, Akane launched herself forward, putting all her speed into a
set of fast jabbing strikes.

None of them connected. Ranma was like a light ribbon caught in the strong
breeze of a summer's day. Just when Akane thought one of her strikes would
connect, he would ghost out the way, like the ribbon would capriciously
flutter just out of range of its owner's grasping hands. It was, to say the
least, frustrating for Akane. And so she changed her tactics, and tried a
leg sweep.

Ranma leapt over it, with such an air of almost indifferent ease that Akane
couldn't help but lose the calm she had so carefully fostered on her morning
run. She whirled out of her leg sweep and went straight into a high kick,
hoping to tag the boy while he was in mid-air. After all, when you were in
the air, you didn't have the easy dodging options that you had on the ground.

But apparently no-one had ever told Ranma this. He twisted his body like an
Olympic class high jumper, easily clearing Akane's outstretched foot. Then he
turned his body around in a flip, so that he landed on his feet, facing Akane
in the same 'no-stance' that he had started the match with.

Akane breathed hard as she considered her options. [He's so fast. I'm glad I
didn't fight him in my guy form, the loss in speed might have made this
embarrassing.] She clenched her fists as she prepared to attack again.
[There's got to be a way I can get him. Maybe a distraction...]

"You know," Akane said as she attacked, this time with a couple of body
strikes, "we haven't really talked yet, even though we're supposed to be
engaged."

"True." Ranma admitted as he waited until the last moment before he
side-stepped Akane's strikes. "I guess things were a little hectic yesterday.
So what do you want to talk about?"

"The engagement." Akane said bluntly, hoping that would put him offguard for
the crescent kick she followed the statement with.

Ranma dodged the attack without any problems as he said "Yeah. The
engagement. Man, I couldn't believe it. There we were yesterday, me and Pop.
We were just walking along, and out of the blue, he says 'Oh, by the way.
You know the Tendos, the people we are on our way to see? Well,
congratulations boy. You are going to marry one of them.' What sort of a way
is that to find out about an engagement?"

Ranma dodged a couple more of Akane's strikes as he continued to talk. His
eyes narrowed as he noticed that a couple of her blows were actually almost
hitting him. She was actually pretty good at the Arts, he decided, it was
just that she obviously needed to work a bit on her speed. "So, what about
the engagement?"

Akane stumbled, before she recovered and started up another series of
attacks. "What about it!? You've just been engaged to someone you've never
met and all you can say is what about it? Don't you care?" Her attacks were
taking a ferocious turn. "Don't you think _I_ care about being married off to
some stranger?"

Ranma started concentrating a bit more on his dodging. On the good side,
Akane's attacks were getting a little erratic. On the bad side, for some
reason her anger was making it harder for him to read her body movements,
which was how he had been dodging so easily before; he'd been reading the
minute signals her body was sending out about how she was going to attack.
Ranma didn't know how anger could possibly make someone hide their moves
better, usually it became easier to read an angry person's attacks. [Great,
must be some quirky training she's gone through.] he thought. [What is it
with my luck with girls lately? All of them seem to be out to kill me.
What'd I ever do to deserve this?]

"Ok, ok!" he said as he narrowly dodged one of Akane's wilder swings. "I'm...
uh... I'm sorry, I guess. Of course I care about being engaged. Who wouldn't
care? There I was yesterday, with a new problem heaped on top of my already
impressive pile. I was all ready to meet some bucktoothed uncute girl. Hell,
I figured that anyone who needed an arranged marriage wouldn't be too good."

Akane's eyes narrowed. [I can't believe he's calling me uncute! Oh, he'll pay
for that!] She poured her flagging strength into another set of attacks.

Ranma continued talking as he dodged, flipped and side-stepped. "So anyway,
imagine my surprise when I came to in your house to have my father lead me
out and point to you, saying that you were my fiancee. You know what my first
thought was? It was 'Why would she be going through with an arranged
marriage?'"

Akane stopped her attack as she blinked in surprise. [That's a compliment,
isn't it?] she thought to herself, trying to figure it out. [I think it is.]

[Of course, that was because I thought it looked like you and Ukyou had a
thing going, the way you two sat next to each other.] Ranma admitted to
himself. [Now that I know about Ukyou though, I can't believe I thought you
two were a couple.] He looked at the still frozen Akane, and took the time
to reach out and gently tap her forehead. "Gotcha." he said with a smirk.

Akane shook herself out of her thoughts. "Hey! That's not fair! You tricked
me!"

Ranma laughed as he scooted out of the dojo. "Hey, it wasn't me that let my
guard down!" he shouted over his back at the fuming girl. "Thanks for the
spar, it was getting fun near the end!"

Akane clenched her fists as she stared at the door that Ranma had so recently
exited through. "Oooohhhhh... that... that... if he thinks he's getting out
of this conversation that easily, he has another thing coming."

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

Akane adjusted the folds of her school dress as she thanked Kasumi for the
breakfast she had just finished. It felt a little strange to be in a dress,
after having spent the last few months in pants and shirts, often pretty
tight pants and shirts thanks to the curse. Still, it gave a comforting
sense of familiarity to be in her school clothes again.

She looked at Ukyou, who was sitting to her left. The chef had bathed after
the fight with Mr Saotome, and had changed into his spare set of clothes,
the one with a purple shirt. Ukyou was glaring at Genma, who sat opposite
them. The older man seemed oblivious to the stare, he was obviously not at
all worried by Ukyou's annoyed gaze.

Akane glanced over at Ranma, who was sitting around the edge of the table,
next to Ukyou, just as the pigtailed boy quietly said something to Ukyou.
Akane blinked as Ukyou's irritated expression slowly dissolved as it was
replaced by a small smile. She couldn't believe it, Ukyou was getting on
with Ranma. What on Earth had they said to each other in the dojo last night?
She shook her head as Ukyou glanced back at Genma and regained that irritated
look. Well, whatever had happened, obviously Ukyou still had some problems
with Ranma's father.

The Tendo girl glanced over at her family. Her father was reading a paper,
Nabiki had, like everyone else, finished eating and she appeared to be ready
to leave for school. Kasumi was just being Kasumi. She was clearing the
dishes. For such a long time, it seemed like Kasumi would always be doing
something or another around the house. The family would be lost without her.
Which reminded Akane of something.

"Say, Kasumi, I meant to ask you last night..." Akane said, "...where did
you find that tent? I searched through all the closets and I couldn't see it
anywhere."

"Why, I found it in the storage room." Kasumi explained as she gathered some
of the used dishes.

"Storage room?" Akane asked as a sinking feeling descended upon her. "You
don't mean... the room where we keep a lot of our old stuff?"

"Yes." Kasumi replied happily.

"The one that used to be our second guest room?" Akane prompted.

"Yes." Kasumi replied happily.

"The one where we could have put Ukyou, if I'd remembered that we could use
it as a guest room?" Akane suggested.

"Yes." Kasumi replied happily.

If it had of been anyone else, Akane would have happily choked them. But this
was Kasumi, you just didn't, _couldn't_ do anything nasty to Kasumi. It was
one of those unwritten laws of the universe, like the one that said that
redheaded girls and mecha were a combination to be viewed from a safe
distance, such as another continent.

"I really don't know why your friend wanted to sleep outside, since we could
have put him in that room." Kasumi added, smiling. "But you two seemed so
set on your camping idea, it just would have seemed rude to point it out."

Soun looked up from his newspaper and blinked. "We have a second guest
room?" he asked.

"Well, what's done is done, right sis?" Nabiki said to Akane as she stood.
"Your boyfriend can sleep inside tonight."

"Boyfriend?" Soun asked, his eyes starting to dangerously mist over. He
looked like he was about to cry. "What's this about a boyfriend!? How can you
have a boyfriend when you're already engaged!?"

"Hey!" Akane shouted as her cheeks reddened. "He's not my... he's not...
You've got it all wrong! You take that back Nabiki!"

"Boyfriend?" Ukyou asked, annoyed that Nabiki thought of her like that. It
didn't help that Ranma looked like he was barely holding back from laughing.

"Well, whatever." Nabiki said as she gave a slight smile. After three months
of romping around China with some cute guy, Akane was probably in need of a
few jabs to the ego, Nabiki figured. And she was always happy to provide
this particular service for free. "Anyway, I'm off to school."

"School..." Ukyou said as she glanced over at Akane, noticing the school
dress. "I've been away from school for too long myself. I'd better see if I
can transfer over to the school you guys go to."

"What, just like that?" Nabiki asked.

Ukyou shrugged. "Well, maybe not just like that." she admitted. "But at least
I can start the paperwork now, get it done as quickly as possible."

"I'll tell you what." Nabiki said. "Come with me, and I should be able to
speed things up." [Heh, if anyone knows how to manipulate the school
administration to get it working their way, it's me.] "I'll be glad to
help..."

The other Tendos paused in what they were doing as they looked at Nabiki.
They seemed to be waiting expectantly for something.

"For a small fee." Nabiki finished. The other Tendos went back to what they
were doing, safe again in the knowledge that all was normal in the universe.
Relatively speaking anyway. For Akane, that meant that she went back to
glaring at Nabiki. She couldn't believe her sister was embarrassing her in
front of Ukyou and the Saotomes like this.

"But I guess it couldn't hurt to waive the fee. Just this once." Nabiki said
after she'd put up with Akane's glare for a few seconds. She wasn't at all
scared of her little sister, but part of being a family was knowing when to
back down on something so as to keep the family peace. "But you'll have to
come with me and I'm leaving right now."

Ukyou shrugged as she looked down at her okonomiyaki chef's clothes. It was
the best repaired set she had right now, travelling over in China for three
months with minimal changes of clothes, not to mention a curse that didn't
do any good for the seams meant that right now her best clothes still looked
a little tattered. She certainly didn't have her old school clothes on her,
she'd have to go shopping. But for now, these clothes would have to do.

"I guess I'm ready to go." Ukyou decided as she stood.

[Ah, school.] Ranma thought as he looked over at Nabiki and Ukyou getting
ready to leave. [That's one of the good things all those road trips we went
on gave me. A chance to get out of all that unnecessary learning and stuff.]

"You should probably be getting ready as well." Genma noted to his son as
Nabiki walked off to get her bag.

"Ready for what?" Ranma asked back.

"Why, school of course. Didn't I tell you? I enrolled you at one of the local
schools, Furinkan I believe it was called, since we'll be here for a while."

Ranma sighed. So much for his hopes of having an easy, quiet day. Just once,
it would have been nice to spend the day in a real house, with plentiful
food and no worries about having to run for your life because of something
your father had done. [Or because of some crazy Chinese chick.] he added to
himself. And the first time in years that it looked like he was going to
have a good day, his father pulled this 'school' thing on him. It was just
typical.

Akane narrowed her eyes as she looked between Ranma and Nabiki, who had just
walked back in and was looking impatiently at Ukyou. Walking to school with
Ranma would be the perfect way to talk to him about this engagement. Neither
of their parents would be with them, and Nabiki would already be at school,
so there would be no more of her interfering jibes. "I guess I'll meet you
there." she said to her sister. "I'll go with Ranma. To... um... show him
the way. Yes, that's it."

"My, you have learned to be forward since you were gone." Nabiki smirked.
"My little sister's building herself an harem."

"Nabiki!"

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

At Furinkan High School, another school day was about to start. In ones and
twos, friends and couples, loners and groups, the students of this
establishment walked into the yard of the school, chatting away about this
and that and nothing of any great importance.

It was into this normal little scene that Kunou walked. He was wearing what
appeared to be his preferred clothes - kendo clothes sans armour. In his
hand (and again, trends were starting to indicate this was usual) he held a
boken, a wooden training sword. For some reason, his exposed arms and face
were covered in several scratches and small bite marks (Perhaps he was into
some rough 'swordplay', if you get my drift. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say
no more *SLAP* ow, sorry).

The random crowd of students did not take long to notice the kendoist in
their midst, as they parted around him to let him through. As soon as Kunou
reached the middle of the crowd, he struck a suitably heroic pose and started
a speech.

"Mobilise, men of Furinkan!" Kunou shouted as he held his boken above his
head in an heroic pose. "After many trials and tribulations, I, Kunou
Tatewaki, the paramount fighter of this school, have returned."

"I told you we shouldn't have stopped going to the shrine to pray for him to
stay away." one of the students whispered to a friend, making sure the nearby
kendoist couldn't hear him.

"How were we to know?" the second student whispered back. "He was gone for so
long, we thought the prayers were actually working. More fools us, I guess."

"I come with glorious news." Kunou continued, oblivious to the lukewarm
response to his return. "'Tis time, once again, to take up my challenge. For
within the hour, the beauteous Tendo Akane shall surely be here."

This brought interest from the boys in the crowd. Several heads turned to
look at the proud kendoist, before one of the braver boys piped up. "Did you
say that Akane's going to be here today?"

Kunou nodded. "That is right. You know the terms of my challenge. None may
date with her who have not defeated her in the glory of combat. Not that any
of you stand any chance in that, but it would not be fair not to offer you
the chance. And Tatewaki Kunou is nothing if not fair." [Ah... today shall be
the day.] he thought to himself as he watched the boys murmur amongst
themselves. Several of the girls in the crowd, seeing where this was going,
walked off, disgusted that three months of weening the boys off their Akane
fixation had been destroyed in one quick speech by Kunou. [Today will be the
day I show myself worthy to be yours, Akane. Worthy by virtue of defeating
you in battle. Worthy indeed.]

Then, while the boys around him geared for the coming battle, Kunou did what
seemed natural. He laughed long and hard, not noticing the nervous glances
those nearby gave him.

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

"So..." Nabiki said slowly, thoughtfully, as she and Ukyou walked towards the
gates of Furinkan, "...Jusenkyo gave you a second male form? That sounds a
little strange to me..."

Ukyou started to sweat. Her secret was dear to her, she'd been hiding her
gender for ten years now. Lately, she had started to have second thoughts
about her disguise, but then she had gone to China. With Akane.

Friends like Akane didn't come along too often. She was Ukyou's best friend,
they had done so much for each other. They had helped improve each other's
skills, in fighting and in other things. They had saved each others lives in
their time in China. They had fought, back to back, against bandits and
other scum. They shared a fellowship that Ukyou had not felt since Ranchan,
so long ago.

They had told each other things that they had told no-one else. But Ukyou
had never told Akane that she was a girl. At first, it was simply because she
didn't tell _anyone_ her secret. And later, when she had felt the surgings of
guilt start to sit like a heavy stone in her stomach, it was too late. Akane
had already admitted things to Ukyou, secrets about herself, about how she
felt about people, that Akane would not help but feel betrayed if she found
out about Ukyou.

"I guess that's just the way the springs work." Ukyou finally answered
Nabiki's unvoiced question. "I don't know, we didn't stick around to hear
the full explanation. Akane was almost in shock, and I was worried about what
else we could fall into if we stayed any longer, so we got out of there."

Nabiki pursed her lips before she reluctantly nodded. After all, she knew
nothing more about Jusenkyo than what Mr Saotome, Akane and Ukyou had told
her. Ukyou's curse just seemed strange, there was something about it that
niggled at her.

Ukyou inwardly sighed in relief as Nabiki apparently accepted her excuse. It
was bad enough that Ranma had found out, but if he was still the Ranchan
she'd known in their youth then he would keep his word, he would not tell.
The fact that he'd given his word in the first place probably meant that
there wasn't any worry of him telling. But this Nabiki girl was Akane's
sister, surely she would feel bound to tell Akane if she found out?

No. It couldn't, it wouldn't happen. She'd fought through so much to keep her
secret, for reasons far less important than not disappointing a friend. She
would keep her secret until a time came when she thought Akane was ready to
handle the truth.

And that was that.

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

[What a show off.] Akane thought to herself as she watched Ranma walk along
a fence top with the an ease she found herself envying. After a small delay
while Ranma threw together some things into his bookbag, they had started on
their way to school.

[He's probably just trying to impress me or something.] Akane looked around
to make sure that their parents weren't spying on them before she mentally
prepared herself to talk. First, she did a couple of mental calming
exercises, since she was determined not to let this opportunity slip away
from anger, like it had during their spar. She had to get Ranma's support to
end the engagement now. If they delayed in a joint protest for too long,
nothing would sway their fathers from the union.

"We need to talk, Ranma." Akane said as the two teenagers walked along.

"Talk?" Ranma asked. "Uh, sure, what about?"

"About this engagement thing."

"Yeah, the engagement. Look, I know ya must feel about it, Ucchan told me
that you went to China to come after us, so I guess you feel pretty strongly.
Have you already got a boyfriend or something?"

Akane hesitated. "Nnnnnnoooo. No, I don't have a boyfriend at the moment.
But that doesn't mean I want to get married to the first guy who comes along.
I'm not that starved of attention." [Far from it.] she thought as she
remembered the many times that boys had fawned over her.

"So anyway," she continued, "I don't want to be forced into an engagement.
It's not fair to do that to anyone." [Especially me.] a guilty little thought
flashed through her head. "So I need your help." Akane finished.

"Help? So what are ya getting at?" Ranma asked as he leapt off the fence
so that he could walk next to her.

"Look, Ranma, it's just that I..." After a drenching splash of water,
Akane-kun trailed off from his speech. He twisted and turned his head about
to try and find who had splashed him, until he caught sight of an old lady,
partially hidden because she was standing in the alcove/entrance of a nearby
property. The old woman had been splashing water on the path, and had
negligently caught Akane with some of the backsplash.

Akane-kun sighed, trying to ignore the now tight shoulders of his uniform.
It wouldn't do to berate an old lady for an accident like this, it was best
to just deal with the inconvenience. "I guess I'd better get some hot water,
hey Ranma? Lucky I know a doctor nearby, he'll be able to help us."

Ranma gave no reply.

"Ranma?" Akane-kun asked, puzzled, as he looked around for the other boy. He
couldn't see the pig-tailed boy anywhere. "Where did he..." Akane-kun looked
down to see a small black cat struggle its way out of a crumpled red shirt,
which lay atop a pair of black pants, "...oh. Got you too, did she?"

Ranma-Neko looked at Akane-kun, blinked, and then started to groom himself,
licking the excess water off his fur.

"Ranma?" Akane-kun queried when the cat ignored him.

Ranma-Neko looked up from his cleaning, his tongue half-stuck out of his
mouth, ready to lick his fur again. He stared at the half-boy for a few
moments, before going back to his cleansing.

"Well, we'd better go get that hot water." Akane-kun said as he brushed
some water off his face, figuring that Ranma was just annoyed at being
splashed. "Come on, I guess I can carry you..." he said to Ranma-Neko as he
walked over to him.

The cat stopped his grooming when the half-boy started approaching him. When
Akane-kun got too near, he started to back up, clearly nervous.

Akane-kun took a couple of steps closer. Ranma-Neko took scooted back just
as far. The boy edged a bit closer. The cat moved back again. Akane-kun
couldn't help it, he growled in frustration. Ranma-Neko responded by
retreating into the alcove that the old woman had so recently occupied.
Apparently the ancient dame had retreated back inside her house, done with
her path wetting tasks.

Akane-kun saw his chance. Ranma-Neko was trapped. And so the half-boy lunged
for the cat. The feline responded by trying to use his shoulder as a step
to leap off. But this time, Akane-kun was ready. His hands blurred, and he
managed to catch the cat just as it landed on his shoulder. Ranma-Neko tried
to jump off, but he was trapped between Akane-kun's hands and his shoulder.

"Ha! Can't fool me with that one twice!" Akane-kun gloated as he got a firm
grip on the struggling feline. After he was sure of his hold, he pulled the
cat out in front of him.

"Ranma? Are you in there?" Akane-kun asked as he looked into the cat's eyes.
He couldn't see anything to indicate that Ranma-Neko was anything more
than... well... a cat. Last night, before bed, Genma had drawn Akane aside
and tried(in a slightly biased way) to explain to Akane what happened to
Ranma when he got splashed. He had told her about Ranma's cat persona, since
Genma had figured that, as Ranma's fiancee, she had deserved to know at least
some of the truth.

"Maybe there are worse pools after all." Akane-kun sighed as Ranma-Neko
struggled in his grip. He gritted his teeth as the cat kept trying to
wriggle out of his grasp. "Would you stop struggling please?" he asked the
cat.

Ranma-Neko responded by struggling some more.

"Please, Ranma, stop it! You're going to make us late!" Akane-kun said in an
almost pleading tone. When that yielded nothing positive, desperation dredged
up the memories of how Ukyou had handled Ranma's cat form, when they had
first met the cat-boy.

[Anything's worth trying, if it'll quieten him down.] Akane-kun thought. And
so he started to stroke Ranma-Neko's fur as he looked around to make sure
no-one saw him petting the cat(especially his father, the gods only knew how
Soun would overreact if he saw his 'son' petting his iinazuke, but the
chances were it would involve immediate wedding plans).

It was a pleasant surprise to the half-boy when Ranma-Neko responded to the
light stroking by purring. Akane-kun's eyes widened, as a small smile touched
his lips. [Well... that was easier than I thought it'd be. Now I just have
to get to Dr Tofu's so we can get some hot water.]

Akane-kun suddenly had a stray thought pop through his head and say 'hi'. It
went something along the lines of [Say... aren't you a guy right now?]

To which, of course, his mind impatiently answered [Of course I'm a guy right
now, that's what happens when I get splashed.] Akane-kun idly scratched
Ranma-Neko's ears, wondering what his mind was trying to get at.

The stray thought wasn't quite finished with him though. [So...] the stray
thought 'said' a bit too casually. [You're a guy right now. Tell me, you did
wear your school dress today, didn't you?]

[Yes, of course I did. What else would I have worn!?] Akane-kun's mind shot
back. And then he realised the problem. His eyes widened as he looked down at
the now very much higher up on the legs, now very tight on the shoulders, now
very _inappropriate_ dress he was wearing.

"Oh no..." he groaned. "I can't turn up at Dr Tofu's clinic like this, he'll
think I'm a pervert. I need the time to explain the curse to him. What do I
do?" he asked, before his eyes alighted on Ranma's discarded clothes.
"Ahhhh..." he breathed, "I guess that will have to do."

But he couldn't change here, what if someone caught him doing it? There was
only one solution. Find a place to change. FAST. And so, with a speed born
of desperation, Akane-kun picked up the clothes, Ranma's bookbag, and then
raced off to find an out of the way place, with Ranma-Neko cradled in his
arm.

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

Akane-kun panted as he raced into the nearest alley to the old lady's house
that he knew off, cradling Ranma-Neko in one of his arms, Ranma's clothes and
the two bookbags in his other hand. He'd used every bit of cover between the
path wetter's place and here, from trees to lampposts to any shadow big
enough, so that no-one had seen him. The last thing he wanted was to be
branded a pervert for wearing a dress while he was a guy.

Akane-kun set Ranma-Neko down as he fought to regain his breath from the
strenuous dash. [Lucky I had some practice in hiding over in China.] he
thought as he slowly started to breath at a normal rate again. [Don't know if
I would have made it unseen otherwise.]

He sighed as he set down the bags and looked at Ranma's clothes. "No choice,
I guess." he said. "I just hope you cleaned these recently, Ranma."

Ranma-Neko chose not to reply. Instead, he just sat there, looking up at the
boy.

"Don't you even think of looking..." Akane-kun warned the cat in a dangerous
tone as he squeezed his feet out of his (now almost too tight for him) shoes.

Ranma-Neko gave Akane-kun an 'how-stupid-can-you-be?' look. But then again,
maybe it was just a normal cat's stare, it was hard to tell.

Akane-kun blushed as he realised how stupid it was to worry about Ranma
perving at _his_ body, even if what Uncle Saotome had said about Ranma and
his curse wasn't true. "Sorry." he said, "I'm just not comfortable with you
sitting there, even if I am a guy right now. Could you turn around?"

Ranma-Neko just stared back at him.

"Uh..." Akane-kun said when the cat continued to stare at him. "Look, I'm not
asking for much here, just turn around, would you?"

Ranma-Neko blinked, before he went right back to staring at the half-boy.

Akane-kun gave a low throated growl of exasperation before he bent down,
picked up the placid cat, turned Ranma-Neko around so that the feline's back
was to him, and then set the animal down again.

"Now just you stay that way..." Akane-kun warned as he took one last quick
look around to make sure no-one was in sight. Then, he took Ranma's pants and
pulled them on up beneath the dress. Once that bit of modesty was covered, he
shucked off his dress, grimacing briefly at the now totally inappropriate
bra. Akane-kun deftly unhooked the bra and placed it on top of the discarded
dress(he'd learnt over in China that a boy wearing a bra raised questions,
and that somehow circumstances could always come along that ensured that
people found out). He then completed the clothing change by throwing on
Ranma's shirt and buttoning it. Lastly, he squeezed his feet back into his
own shoes. With that finished, he stuffed his dress and bra into his bookbag,
and gingerly put Ranma's boxers and shoes into Ranma's bag.

Akane-kun sighed at the strange clothes. "I guess it will have to do." he
said to himself. "Come on Ranma, let's go get some hot water." he looked
around, and saw that his feline companion was nowhere to be seen. "Ranma?"
Akane-kun called.

There was a clattering from a little way down in the alley. Akane-kun looked
over in the sound's general direction, to see Ranma-Neko exploring a junkpile
of old electronic gadgets. The cat was sniffing around curiously, seemingly
bored.

Akane-kun groaned, before he walked over to the junkpile. "Come on Ranma." he
said, reaching for the cat. Ranma-Neko, apparently still nervous around
people, retreated further into the junk. Akane-kun growled, before he reached
into the junk. "Rrrrrr! Don't do this to me now Ranma! We're late enough as
it is!"

The cat just inched further away. After a few more seconds of fruitless
reaching, Akane-kun growled, and withdrew his hands. "Great." he muttered.
"I can't just leave him here, I'd never hear the end of it from Dad if he
found out." With a sigh, Akane-kun looked around to make sure no-one was
looking, before he crouched down in front of the garbage pile and began to
beckon 'come-hither' with his forefinger.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." he said, embarrassment in his voice. "Here kitty,
kitty, kitty." [I swear, if I ever find out you were faking this 'mind of a
cat' thing, I'll kill you Ranma.] he thought grimly as he continued to make
the hand gestures.

Ranma-Neko peeked out from behind a piece of rusty metal, before he slowly
squeezed out of the junkpile as only a cat could. Then, he cautiously padded
up to Akane-kun, stopping near his outstretched hand. Akane-kun narrowed his
eyes, before he made a grab for the cat.

Ranma-Neko, however, was too fast. He skittered out of the way, before he
scooted back into the junk.

Akane-kun blinked, realising that he was back to square one. With an
heartfelt sigh, he started beckoning again.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty..."

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

Nerima had a certain problem; it was a problem that had plagued the ward for
far longer than most would have thought. The problem was that Nerima suffered
from a martial artist population that reached plague proportions. The gods
only knew why, perhaps the martial artists willingly gathered, so as to
improve themselves through studying other fighters, or perhaps it was an
instinctual thing, like when salmon swam upstream to mate.

In recent times, however, there had been a noticeable drop in the martial
artists living in Nerima. This, to most sane peoples' surprise, was actually
NOT A GOOD THING. It was NOT A GOOD THING because(as any fatalist, cynic or
realist could tell you) it meant that when the Fates finally redressed the
imbalance, chances were that they were going to go... let us say... a little
overboard.

One case in example: St Hebereke Girls Academy. St Hebereke was an expensive
girls-only private school that had the unenviable task of educating Nerima's
'finest' young women. It was an orderly place, the students dressed neatly,
no girl had an hair out of place and no girl wore a piece of jewellery nor an
iota of makeup more than was allowed in the strict school rules.

St Hebereke was, in a word, boring. Really, really boring. The school had no
soul, there was no school spirit to be shared by the girls. Only one thing
had ever given meaning, had given pride, had given reason for the girls of
St Hebereke to hold their heads high when they met students from other
schools.

That one thing was St Hebereke's rhythmic gymnastics team. Ever since the
team's greatest leader had taken over, they had been undefeated in match
after match. But 'had' and 'was' were the operative words. The gymnastic
team's great leader had just disappeared one day, by all appearances never to
return. Without her unique leadership tactics, the team suffered and a long
tradition of Hebereke wins came to a close.

The one thing that the students could take pride in was no longer worthy of
that pride. The school spirit plummeted to an all time low. The girls
entering the school grounds were quiet, listless, their heads were downcast,
laughter was absent... in other words, things were dull.

The almost palpable quiet from the school girls made the sudden mutterings
at the edge of the crowd all the more obvious. Heads rose and turned, to try
and pinpoint the source of the disturbance to the drudgery of their starting
day.

Kodachi idly twirled a black rose in one hand as she absently straightened
her school dress with the other. She looked around at the girls as she
walked into the school grounds, not seeming to notice the stares and comments
she was getting. The other students parted in front of, moving out of her way
with respect in their eyes. Several eyes were drawn to the dozens upon dozens
of small furry rodents that surrounded Kodachi's feet like some weird animal
entourage.

When the black haired gymnast reached a point about halfway between the
school gates and the school's entrance, she stopped and looked around at the
girls who were looking at her. The lemmings took up position around her,
ready for anything.

"I'm back." Kodachi declared as several lemmings looked about at the
surrounding girls with what might have been suspicion on their little faces.

Louder and louder the murmurs rippled through the crowd of girls who
surrounded Kodachi in front of the school. Girls inside the school building
heard the noise and they rushed to the windows, calling friends over when
they saw who had returned. Several girls pointed to the lemmings as the
murmuring started to rise into a crescendo of sound.

More and more students(along with a fair few teachers) were drawn to the
windows, to the entrance, to the school grounds where Kodachi stood with a
slight smile on her haughty face.

It was then that several members of the by now disgraced gymnastics team
pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Hope fluttered in their hearts
as they saw Kodachi. Their leader had returned. True, Kodachi hadn't been
the funnest leader around, but her results had spoken for themselves. With
her back, victory would soon be theirs again.

And so the gymnasts started to cheer. Other girls took up the cheer as they
too realised that their once great pride, the rhythmic gymnastics team, would
once again be the toast of the school. More and more of the students took on
the cheer, as they started to realise that the glories of old school
victories would soon be theirs again. The cheers soon fell into a rhythm of
two words.

'Kodachi!'

'Hebereke!'

'Kodachi!'

'Hebereke!'

Kodachi felt like she was riding on an ocean of sound, the euphoria of the
moment was making her dizzy, so dizzy that she thought she might fall. In an
attempt to steady herself, she threw her arms out for balance.

Kodachi's stance spurred the crowd on, and their cathartic hollering grew
louder and louder, the chanting of Kodachi's and the school's name took on
a deep, vibrating rhythm that massaged the body and pierced the soul.

The lemming horde looked around in awe at the reception their queen was
receiving as the lemming packleader nodded, as if it had expected this. Then,
as one, the rodents looked up to their mistress. They, like everyone else
present, knew what was about to happen.

Kodachi started to laugh. Starting low, her voice rose to a high, bubbly
pitch as her laughter started matching the tempo of the chanting crowd. The
laughter and the crowds' cheers merged into one amorphous, glorious,
incredible sound, a sound that was, in a way, the very symbol of Hebereke's
soul.

Several of the teachers tried in vain to break up the display, but their
efforts came to nothing. Finally, they gave up, deciding perhaps that this
was for the best. After all, at least now the school had it's spirit back.
In the end, the teachers decided, that made having Kodachi back worth the
discipline breach.

And the minutes flowed by, as the cheering continued unabated, and a girl of
questionable sanity laughed and laughed and laughed, finding herself actually
glad to be back.

Oh yes, it was GOOD to be back.

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

And that's Chapter Seven finished. Comments, criticisms and problems are
appreciated.

People might be worried about how slow I'm taking the series so far. Don't
worry, things get a little manic for a while soon enough, the pacing is just
deliberately slow for the moment.

Did anyone find that Kodachi scene scary? I did. Honestly. The image of
Kodachi standing there, arms akimbo, laughing her heart out, as a crowd of
schoolgirls faced her, chanting out 'Kodachi' and 'Hebereke', with a pile
of lemmings looking up at her is burned into my mind. I'll probably have
nightmares about that scene....

Till next time.