The port was quiet, even in the afternoon, only the sounds of the sea lapping
against the pier and the occasional gull's cry reached across the docks. Ranma
rose, seeing where the trail of footsteps faded, and then vanished.

"Well, either he went for a swim, or there was a boat here," he murmured to
himself. "But where was it headed?"

At the loud blasting of a foghorn, Ranma turned, catching sight of the sign on
the pier. "South Seas Cruises, eh?" he mused. "Why the hell would he go on a
cruise now of all times?"

Something was definitely wrong and he was going to find out what was happening
to Keitaro. Just as soon as he figured out how to track a boat.

"This ... is going to suck," he sighed.

* * *

# Diamonds in the Rough -- Chapter Fifteen -- Trouble in Paradise

## Disclaimer: Paints in this story are from Rumiko Takahashi, Viz (Ranma
1/2), TV Tokyo and Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and Tatsuya Egawa (Goldenboy).
The easel is mine. That's all.

* * *

After obtaining a record of the ship that Keitaro had presumably left on,
Ranma found another vessel headed in the same direction. Hopefully it would be
faster than a pleasure cruise and he could catch up to the wandering Toudai
examinee in another port.

But first ... he had to call back to the inn. "Hello?" he heard, as a young
girl answered, her voice sounding smaller and more worried than usual across
the pay phone's connection. "This is Hinata-Sou, Shinobu speaking. How may I
help you?"

"Shinobu-chan -- this is Ranma. Is Naru--"

"Hello? Hello? Where is he?" Naru suddenly shouted into the receiver. Ranma
winced and drew the phone away from his ear until she had finished.

"It looks like he got on a boat headed south," Ranma answered. "I, uh, don't
know why."

"Well, wait there -- I'm going after him," Naru replied. "Do you know which
bus route I should use to reach the port fastest?"

"Calm down," Ranma said, shaking his head. "Look, Keitaro's not a complete
idiot; he probably just panicked. That means he's going to call home at some
point and tell us where he is -- I think you should be there to make sure he's
got someone to talk to when he does."

"Don't tell me what to do, Ranma, this is Keitaro we're worried about! He'll
get himself killed inside of ten minutes. I'm sure he'll barely clear the
harbor before he manages to fall overboard!"

Ranma snorted and surveyed the port quickly. His ship was making ready to
depart and he doubted they'd hesitate to leave him behind if he took too long.
"Naru, look, I'm already here and cruises are expensive. I got a temp job
working on a ship that's headed in the same direction. I'm going to try to
beat him to the port he's headed to and catch up. Unless you want to get a job
like me, hauling in fish, or you can afford a cruise, you should probably wait
there."

There was a long pause, with nothing but the sound of Naru's worried
breathing. "Oh," she finally said, in a somehow ... defeated tone.

He winced at the sound of the girl's sniffling whimper. Sighing, he shook his
head again. "Look ... I'm going to keep in touch. As soon as I make port, I'll
update you on what's happening and if I've found him. If I catch up to him
before he contacts you, I'll haul him back. If he calls first, I need you to
tell me where he is when I check in with you."

"I.... Okay. Do you at least know where his cruise was heading?" Naru asked.

Once more, Ranma shook his head, forgetting she wouldn't be able to see the
gesture. "The ship makes port in five places. The closest port is some island
called Pararakelse. Look, I have to go now -- my ship's leaving," Ranma said,
as one of the sailors on the ship called to him and the gangplank retracted
onto the ship.

"Wait! Um ... before you go, did you want me to say anything to Mutsumi?" Naru
asked.

Ranma flinched away from the phone, but paused. "Um. Tell her I said ... good
luck, and I hope she's still here when I get back. Gotta go!" With that, he
hung up, dashing down the pier and leaping onto the small fishing vessel he
was to be working on. "Sorry," he called, as the gap between the pier and the
ship widened behind him.

The captain -- an ancient man who looked to be carved from tanned and
roughened leather -- raised an eyebrow at Ranma. "Quite a leap, kid. I thought
for sure ye'd spend too long talking to yer girlfriend," he said around the
pipe he clenched in his teeth.

"Hey, she wasn't my--" Ranma began, before shrugging. "Er. Right. I'm sorry
about that. Um ... what do you need me to do?"

"Thar be rope to coil, lad. We be hunting the elusive albacore tuna, and we
best be ready," the captain replied. "They be a feisty fish!"

"Boss, can I ask why we're going to Pararakelse if we're going to just be
catching tuna?" Ranma queried.

The captain looked nervous and then sighed, hanging his head in defeat. "Okay,
you got me. I play the part of a fisherman 'cause my wife gets a kick out of
it. I actually run bananas between that island and Sasebo. Then I buy a cargo
of tuna with the profits and my wife is none the wiser. I can't fish to save
my life."

Ranma stared at the man blankly for a long minute. "Okay," he finally said.
"So, uh, what do you want me to do?"

"Look busy coiling the rope! She can't hear us, but I know she's watching from
the pier with her binoculars. Once we're out to sea you can relax until we
make make port. Then I'll need you to help load up crates of bananas."

Shrugging to himself, Ranma walked to one of the other sailors and set to work
winding rope into neat piles.

* * *

Keitaro gazed into the sea sorrowfully, searching the depths of its mystery
for answers. How could he choke up like that at the end of the test? He was so
close! And then to be caught in a daydream and just ... miss it?

"I'm an idiot," he mumbled. "I deserve to be stranded with the arctic wolves.
And polar bears. And penguins."

He sighed, pulling his winter jacket about himself more tightly ... though, it
did seem oddly warm. And come to think of it, most of the couples on board
were wearing light summer clothes. Since when was northern Alaska a getaway
for couples, anyway?

"Waaaait a minute," he said, realization drawing on him.

Running up to the English-speaking crewman who'd originally helped him aboard,
he asked, "Popeye! Where is this ship headed?"

The burly sailor turned and smiled widely. In English he said, "You enjoy your
cruise, okay?"

Keitaro blinked, thinking for a moment to translate, and asked in English, "Is
this ship headed south?"

"Of course! You'll love the beaches -- and since you're alone, there's a lot
of single ladies here just looking for someone to spend time with!" the sailor
assured him.

"Guh," Keitaro replied, falling to his knees. "Man. I can't even get this
right!" he muttered. Hauling himself upright and nodding at the large sailor,
he added, "Um, thanks."

The man nodded back at Keitaro without speaking.

Sighing, Keitaro walked away, stopping at the railing and thrusting his hands
into his pockets. "What's this?" he mused, pulling his photo sticker book and
his exam ticket stub from his jacket. His eyes narrowed at the stub. "Stupid
waste," he grumbled, tucking it into the book and then flinging it overboard.

"Wait, what was I thinking?" Keitaro berated himself, leaping after the
articles with martial skill and deftly snatching them from the air. "Hah!"
Then he looked down. "WHY ME?"

After he managed to claw his way to the surface, the ship was already out of
earshot. "Oh, no," he groaned.

* * *

In retrospect, Ranma thought to herself, she should have tried to book passage
as her female self. There was usually a kettle of hot water in the ship's
galley, but that was the only source of hot water on the ship and it was never
left unattended.

Once they were far enough out at sea that Ranma was relatively sure they'd
hesitate to turn back, she'd gotten splashed. Not intentionally, but at sea,
it was bound to happen. She sighed, hanging onto the railing and glancing back
over her shoulder. Maybe if she was lucky....

Every single member of the crew was on the deck at that moment, and they all
stared directly at her.

So much for luck. "Um," she said slowly, "I ... can explain everything." Why
hadn't she thought to plan for this contingency, anyway? Jusenkyou made it an
inevitability.

"I'm hoping so," one of the sailors said, wide-eyed. "I don't want to get
splashed and then have to convince my girlfriend to become a lesbian!" Another
sailor blinked and turned to look overboard thoughtfully.

Ranma winced. "Er," she managed. "Well, I, uh, was always really a girl. I
just disguised myself as a boy." That sounded reasonable.

"Uh ... why?" another crewman asked curiously.

She frowned. Why couldn't they ask an easy question? "W...well," she said
slowly, sticking with the truth for the moment, "I'm ... looking for this
guy...."

"Oh," the crewmen said in a single voice, nodding knowingly.

"Young love," the captain said, smiling fondly, prompting Ranma to twitch.
Keitaro was going to pay for this. "Well, okay then, girl. What's your name?"

"Ranma," she replied reflexively.

"Okay," another crewman said, nodding. "Even though you won't be able to move
crates of bananas, you're still part of the crew."

"Why wouldn't I be able to move crates?" she asked indignantly.

"Er, well.... When we get to the island, aren't you going to be busy looking
for your boyfriend?"

She made a mental note to pray for long hours that the story never got back to
the inn. "Yeah," she said, nodding. "Good point."

"Okay, then," the captain said, nodding. "You can take over in the galley and
stay on with the crew." After a moment, he added, "If we took you back now,
I'd probably get caught by my wife anyway."

* * *

Sighing, Ranma rubbed the back of her neck and checked the pot on the stove,
careful not to fill it too high. The seas were relatively calm, but the boat
still rolled across the surface. "How much longer to the island?" she asked,
as one of the sailors poked his head in and sniffed at the air.

"Oh, um, we've got another day," the sailor replied. "Is lunch ready?"

"In about fifteen minutes," Ranma replied, checking the kettle and making sure
it was still hot enough for tea. "Can you tell the other men to wash up?"

"Right," the sailor grunted, turning around and vanishing from the doorway.

Sighing again, the redhead ran her fingers through her hair. "Keitaro, you'd
better have a good explanation for this when I find you," she muttered to
herself. "What am I getting into?"

* * *

Keitaro felt sluggish and fevered, as though a great, warm weight was being
pressed onto him. "Ugh," he groaned. "What's going on?"

"Keitaro," a giggling, effeminate voice called. "Keitaro!"

"Who ... Naru? Is that you?" he asked, struggling to see what was about him.
From the formless black that filled his vision, he saw her, a speck of white
light drawing closer from a long distance away. "What ... what's going on?"

"Keitaro! Listen to me, you need to do me a favor, okay?" Naru said, as she
drew closer and wrapped her arms around Keitaro's body.

"W...what?" he asked, bewildered. "But ... I failed! I blew the test -- and
this was my last chance at it, too! What do you want with me?"

"Pay attention!" Naru chastised him. "Open your eyes, Keitaro. You can't give
up here, or I _really_ won't forgive you!"

"Huh?" Keitaro asked, before coming to his senses. His eyes were fogged, his
glasses loose. It was dark and he couldn't breathe. Naru's arms weren't arms
at all -- they were fronds of kelp he'd gotten wrapped up in.

Fighting off the lethargy that seemed to sap his limbs of strength, he swam
upwards, clawing his way to the surface again. The seaweed let go as he moved,
and in seconds he breached the surface, gasping for breath.

The sun glittered overhead, though he could see no land or boats immediately
around him.

"Damn," he swore dizzily, trying to get his bearings. "Think, Keitaro. Think.
Okay. Kelp is seaweed. It grows on the ocean floor. So I'm probably near land,
or at least some kind of reef." Treading water, he turned around in place,
until he spotted something on the horizon that looked promising.

"Just a few miles away," he said grimly. "Oh, boy." It took a long moment for
his survival instincts to kick in -- Seta had told him a story of a time the
man himself had been stranded at sea and gave instructions on how to survive.
First things first, he needed to lose the coat and shoes.

After kicking them off and dropping his heavy winter jacket, swimming became a
bit easier. Holding his breath, Keitaro next pulled off his pants, tying the
ends of the legs in knots and shortly working it into a makeshift float. He
doubted it would last for more than a few minutes, but a few minutes he could
use to catch his breath could mean the difference between life and death.

Resting on his float, he began paddling towards land. "Idiot," he chastised
himself. "And I even lost the stupid book I jumped after."

Then he shook his head again. He needed to save his breath for swimming; if he
lived, there would be plenty of time for self-recrimination later.

As he swam, to his dismay, the kelp fronds beneath him drew away and the ocean
deepened into mysterious blackness. Apparently he'd drifted over some sort of
underwater rise ... but still, he was sure now that the spot on the horizon he
was headed towards was land, even if it was further than he hoped.

"At least," he panted, forgetting his resolve to remain quiet, "it can't ...
get any ... worse!"

It was at that point that the wind began to pick up, and Keitaro looked behind
himself anxiously. A towering wall of dark storm clouds was rolling towards
him on a fierce wind, and he could see lightning flash within its depths.

"At least now it really can't get any worse," he thought to himself grimly.

And that was when the first of the dorsal fins began to pierce the surface,
circling him at a distance of about twenty meters.

* * *

"A bit taller than me, about, um, this high," the redhead said, holding a hand
up to indicate height. "Maybe not quite that tall if he's slouching. Wears
glasses, black hair, kind of unruly but not very long. Ring any bells?"

The burly man in the sailor's costume rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Doesn't
seem familiar," he said after a moment, in halting Japanese. "Sorry, Miss."

"Do you have a list of the passenger's names?" she asked hopefully. "You don't
need to show it to me, just tell me if his name is on it."

"Alright," the sailor agreed. He produced a list and scanned it, before
frowning in dismay. "I ... can't read this." Shrugging, he offered the list to
Ranma, who quickly grabbed it and glanced over it for Keitaro's name.

"There," she said, pointing at his name. "He was on this ship. Is he still
aboard?"

The sailor took the list back and glanced at what was indecipherable gibberish
next to it. At least, it was indecipherable to Ranma. "Oh! I remember him. He
did not get off the ship here," he said cheerfully. "I will ask the crew to
look for him."

Ranma nodded, as the sailor walked back up the ramp to the cruise vessel and
made some inquiries. When the ship's loudspeaker paged Keitaro, she was
certain he'd be found ... but the minutes stretched into an hour before the
sailor returned, his face pale. "Sorry," he said. "Your friend ... must have
fallen overboard. We haven't seen him aboard since before we made port."

The redhead massaged the temple on the right side of her face, shaking her
head. "Keitaro can't be dead," she growled, trying not to remember what Naru
had said about him falling overboard. "He's too resilient. And he's got some
martial training. If he's kept his wits about him, he should be okay."

The sailor made a curious noise, which Ranma distantly identified as a
question in English.

"Uh, no, I'm fine," she said, lowering her hand. "I need to find someone with
maps of the sea around here. If I can figure out where he fell overboard, we
can try and see where the current would take him." This sounded reasonable to
Ranma, but she'd never actually tried to read a nautical chart, and from what
she'd seen aboard the ship earlier, it wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Try the port authority," the sailor said, pointing back to a large building.

"Sounds authoritative," Ranma agreed, shrugging. "Thanks for the help."

The sailor nodded and called back, "Good luck!" as Ranma strolled away.

"Great," she muttered. "How am I going to tell Naru about this?"

As she drew near the vessel she'd arrived on, the crew waved to her, just
finishing loading up their cargo of bananas. "So," the captain said, nodding
to her. "Did the outfit we got you help you catch your man?"

Ranma resisted the urge to grit her teeth and instead smiled wanly. "He fell
overboard on the way here," she replied. Stupid dress. Stupid heels. Stupid
feminine undergarments. And, just for the heck of it, stupid Keitaro. She
lowered her head and sighed. "I'm not giving up hope. But I won't be going
back with you. I need to try and find him. I can't go back until I do. One way
or another."

The crew paled at her announcement. "Oh," the captain said softly. "I'm ... so
sorry. I understand then. Good luck, Ranma-chan. And ... if you need help, let
me know. When you're ready to go back to Japan, you've got a vessel that'll
welcome you aboard at any time."

"Thanks," Ranma said, smiling. "That means a lot to me. I hope I'll see you
around."

The sailors all waved quietly as she turned away and started heading towards
the port authority.

* * *

The phone was answered before the first ring was even complete. Ranma closed
his eyes and sighed in resignation. "Hello, this is Naru, at the Hinata-Sou.
Who is this?"

"Naru ... this is Ranma."

"You made it to port alright?" Naru asked anxiously. "Have you found Keitaro?
I managed to get a hold of the company he took a cruise with -- Haruka did,
really, since she's his aunt. We have his passenger number if you--"

"Naru," Ranma said quietly. "I want you to sit down and take a deep breath,
okay?"

"O...okay," Naru said. "What's going on? What happened?"

"I found the ship he was on, and--"

"Something happened? He got food poisoning? Is he in the hospital right now?"

"Calm down! Look ... the ship's crew remembered him boarding. And they do
checks every so often to make sure all of their passengers are there. Keitaro
... went overboard before he made it to the island."

Ranma winced at the telltale thud of Naru sitting heavily on the floor,
followed by a crack as she dropped the receiver.

He heard her fumble for the phone and then quietly say, "I see."

"I think ... Keitaro probably survived. I mean, he's not entirely hopeless.
And he's got some martial training. There's a storm coming in right now, so
they're closing down the harbor -- I can't get out to look for him yet."

"Oh," Naru said, her voice sounding even more distant.

In the background he could hear someone, Suu, he thought, ask, "Naru? What's
going on?"

"I'm going to try and get someone to help me figure out where he would have
fallen overboard and where the current would have carried him. He could be
clear of the storm, or he might have washed up on shore on one of the other
islands around here. There's dozens of them, so I think he's got a very good
chance of being okay."

"You do?" Naru asked, desperation in her voice. "He could still be okay?"

"Naru?" he heard across the phone from the background again.

"I do. Look, I'm going to stay here until I find him. I'm not giving up hope
yet, and neither should you, alright?"

"Okay. I understand," Naru said. "Is ... there anything I can do to help?"

"I hate to ask this, but ... I'm kind of ... broke. Could you wire me enough
for another calling card? This one's almost out, and I'll want to keep you
updated."

"What? Well, where should I send it?"

"The Japanese Embassy, if you can. Otherwise, well, I'll figure something out.
Anyway. I've got navigation charts to get analyzed, so I'll catch up with you
once I know more, okay?"

"In that case, I'm going to come to Pararakelse. You left your things behind,
anyway."

Ranma opened his mouth to object, but froze before he actually spoke. Why not?
It wasn't likely to be dangerous, just reviewing charts. And even if it were,
as close as Naru and Keitaro had been, what right did he have to deny her?
"Okay. That sounds like a plan, then. I'll see you when you get here -- since
I don't know your ship yet and there's no way for you to call me, just leave a
message at the port authority," he said.

"Okay," Naru said. "I'll see you soo-"

The call was suddenly interrupted by a recorded voice, announcing, "Your
calling card minutes have all been us-"

"Bah," Ranma grumped, hanging up the phone before listening to the entire
recording. "Now to survive until she gets here with only one change of clothes
and pretty much no money." He glanced at the outfit he'd folded away into a
plastic bag. "Hmm."

* * *

"YeeeeeeaAAAAAAH!" Keitaro yelped, clinging on to the dorsal fin of one of the
dolphins that had seen fit to rescue him from his predicament. "Wow! You guys
are awesome!"

The storm was right behind them, but the dolphins refused to abandon Keitaro,
and when one grew tired of hauling him along, it would simply dive and another
would take its place.

"I'm gonna be a good person from now on, I swear," he promised. "No more
failing tests. No more goofing off. I've been given a second chance, and I
feel alive!"

Even better, the land was drawing nearer. What Keitaro had seen in the
distance was not a distant outcropping of rock, as he'd originally thought. It
was a small peak on a much larger island. From here he could see the green of
what would be trees, though the sun was setting and the storm was closing in.

He still couldn't make out much in the way of details, but even if the island
were uninhabited, he should be able to find ... well ... something to eat.
"Island hermit," he mused to himself. "I could make a career out of that."

The dolphin below him chittered suddenly and dove, leaving Keitaro to
flounder. "What? Huh? Oh, I'm close to land, eh?" he asked the dolphin, as it
resurfaced nearby.

It seemed to nod at him.

"Well, I should be fine from here," Keitaro reasoned, starting to swim towards
shore again. "Thanks, my friends! I'll never forget this!"

The dolphins all leapt from the water, flipping end over end before diving
beneath the waves and vanishing from sight. "I was rescued by a pod of eight
dolphins," he muttered to himself, after counting them. "Now that'll make an
awesome story."

Not, he supposed after thinking about it, that an island hermit would tell a
lot of stories, except perhaps to himself.

He paddled his way towards the beach, which was just coming into sight when
the storm reached him. The rain reached him, pounding hard and accompanied by
powerful winds, waves rising higher and more violently than before. "No! Not
when I'm this close!" he yelped, as a massive wave crashed down on him,
shoving him beneath the surface of the water.

And then a current gripped him, clawing and hauling him down and away from the
shore. In a panic, he tried to fight it, only to get slammed into a boulder on
the bottom of the sea. He clung to the boulder, hoping the current would pass
and he could fight his way to the surface for air.

But if anything, the current increased, to the point where he could feel his
boulder rocking back and forth, threatening to pry his grip from it. "No," he
gasped, hauling in a desperate breath of ... air? "Huh?"

He glanced down to see that his 'boulder' was actually a huge turtle, swimming
into the shore against the storm's current. "Lucked out again," he wheezed,
clinging to the turtle gratefully. The rain had been so intense, he'd managed
to not even notice he had breached the surface on turtle-back.

"My awesome failing powers come in handy," Keitaro coughed. "Messed up the
entrance exam ... to a watery grave."

Within minutes, he'd made land and staggered into the jungle a few steps
before passing out.

* * *

"So, that area's an undersea rise. Essentially, a very small dead-zone for
ocean currents. Whatever was there, would stay there," the man across the
table from Ranma explained. "Anywhere nearby, or if he swam to the edge of it
... it depends on which direction he went. East, and the current would move
him further out to sea. West or south, and it'd sweep him near land somewhere
along the east coast of the island."

"Well, that gives him good odds," Ranma mused, studying the charts. "And if
he'd gone north?"

"Coral reef. The current is still dead there, but cruises often have people
snorkel, so they'd probably spot him," the man explained.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Things are starting to sound hopeful," he said.
"Well, it looks like I've got an idea of where to look for him. If I have any
more questions about currents, I'll come back and visit later."

"Any time," the man said, nodding.

Ranma rose from his seat and headed through the doorway, blinking when he
nearly walked into Naru. The girl looked harried and worn, as though she
hadn't rested in days.

"Um. Naru?" Ranma hazarded. "You okay?"

"Just ... tired ... from carrying ... your backpack," she gasped, letting it
slide from her shoulders and crash to the floor with a resounding thud.
"Sheesh, what do you have packed in there, anyway?"

"Almost everything I own," Ranma replied. "Say, since you're here, why don't
we get something to drink? I'll tell you what I've found out while you recover
your strength a bit. There's a cafe nearby ... I've got a part time night-job
there waiting tables."

"Ah!" the man behind the table said. "You get to work with that new redheaded
cutie?"

"Uh ... yeah," Ranma said, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably and then
hefting his backpack from the floor. "Anyway, thanks again."

"Oh, any time, like I said," the man said, as Ranma and Naru left the port
authority.

"So, what do we know?" Naru asked, already seeming to have recovered some of
her strength.

"Well," Ranma said, looking down the steps from the entrance to the port
authority. "The way the guy in there explained it, there's basically two
currents that Keitaro could have gotten into. I don't think if he was washed
overboard he would just sit there, so the big question is which way he went.
From some spots in the area we think he went overboard, you can see this
island, so I expect he'd head towards it. But from others, you can't, so I'm
not so sure.

"Basically, if he went north, he was probably picked up by snorkelers from a
cruise ship. If he went west, or south, he's going to have ended up south and
east of here, on the island."

"And if he went east?" Naru prompted.

"Well ... if that happened, he'll have ended up washed further out to sea,"
Ranma said glumly. "But generally speaking, assuming he didn't see land, he's
got a three in four chance of survival. If he did see land, then I'm positive
he'll have hit the right current."

"That ... doesn't mean he survived," Naru said grimly.

"And it doesn't mean he didn't," Ranma said gently, guiding Naru to a seat at
the outdoor cafe. "Uh ... wait here a second. I'll be right out. Need to
change really quickly."

Naru nodded, her eyes distant and her brow furrowed in thought.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, a splash of water, and a change of
clothes, Ranma emerged and approached the counter. "Hey, Boss," she said.

The man behind the counter nodded, washing out a coffee cup with a wet rag.
"What's going on, Ranma?" he asked.

"Ah, not much. I might be heading out for a bit in a day or two, just wanted
to give you a heads-up. Also, can I get two ice cream parfaits?" she asked,
smiling hopefully.

The man snorted. "Yeah, you get one complimentary drink a day, and you didn't
get yesterday's. I'll let it go this time. Have a seat, I'll bring them to
you."

"Thanks, Boss! You're the greatest!" Ranma said, smiling and batting her
eyelashes.

The man blushed and bowed his head. Ranma returned to Naru's table and seated
herself opposite the other girl. "Anyway," Ranma said, tapping one finger on
the table thoughtfully.

Naru managed a smile at Ranma. "You're wearing girly clothes," she said,
pointing. Ranma glanced down at the red Chinese dress and matching high heels.

"And you're wearing pants," Ranma replied. "It's.... I had no spare changes of
clothes. The sailors I came into port with thought that I was a girl because
as it turns out, there's a lot of cold water in the ocean. Not a lot of hot
water. They thought they were doing me a favor and picked this outfit up for
me." She frowned and added, "You know, my wife wore dresses like this all the
time."

"They've got nice taste," Naru said, smirking. "She did too; it looks good on
you."

"It landed me a job here," Ranma said, shrugging as her boss set a parfait
before each of the pair. "Thanks, Boss!"

"Don't mention it," he said, winking as he made his way back behind the cafe's
bar.

Sobering, Naru took a spoonful of her parfait before saying, "So, we need a
plan of action. Ask the snorkelers, and then check the beach, right? How big
is the beach, anyway?"

"It's about fifty miles long before it gets to some cliffs, according to the
maps. The island's bigger east-to-west than north-to-south," Ranma replied.
"The beach is easy -- if he's been there, I should be able to track him. As
long as the storm didn't wash his footprints away."

"Okay. Then I'll stay here and post some missing persons pictures around -- I
brought some with me, just in case," Naru explained, pulling them from her own
duffel bag.

"Good thinking," Ranma said, nodding. "You could also check with the cruises,
and people in town. I guess that means I'll be giving up the job here to check
out the beach."

"Quitting?" Ranma's boss called from behind the counter. "You can't quit!
Without a cute waitress, I'll get no business!"

Ranma blinked, and then stared at the man in alarm. "How sharp is your
hearing, anyway?" she murmured.

"Plenty sharp when it's about losing an employee, even a part-timer," he said,
frowning. "Do you need a raise? Because if you do I-"

"Actually, can I have his job?" Naru asked, looking at the proprietor. "I'm
going to need to be in town for a few days, and a way to earn a bit of money
while I'm staying here would help."

"What do you mean 'his'?" the man asked quizzically. "Well, if you want the
job and Ranma won't be here, you're plenty cute, too."

Naru smiled cautiously at that. "Um ... just so you don't get the wrong idea,
we're both here looking for this one guy, and-"

The man let out a low whistle. "That's one lucky dog," he said, shaking his
head. "Say no more. As long as I can keep one of you here for a while, I've
got nothing to complain about."

"Thanks," Naru said, smiling brightly, and without reservation. "Can I put up
a picture of the guy we're looking for at the cafe?"

"Oh, sure thing. There's a bulletin board there with public events and the
like. Feel free," the man said dismissively, gesturing to the marquee in front
of the cafe.

"Okay. You should get a room at the hotel down the street and rest after your
flight. I'm going to work here tonight and head out to see the beaches
tomorrow morning," Ranma decided.

"Where will you be staying?" Naru asked.

Ranma shrugged and pointed to her backpack. "It's a bit of a hike, and if I
find him, I doubt he can keep up with me the entire way. I've got a tent and
some other gear, so I'll be back in two days, three at the most. There's
another village at the opposite end of the coast, so I'll give you a call at
the hotel once I get there -- unless I find him before I get that far and it's
faster to come back here," Ranma explained.

"Where will you stay tonight, though?" Naru asked.

Ranma grimaced. "I haven't slept since I got here, but I'm doing fine so far."

"Oe ... thank you for trying to find Keitaro," Naru said quietly, after a few
spoonfuls of her parfait. "You sure are putting a lot of work into this."

"Well, Keitaro's my friend," Ranma replied. She moodily sampled some of her
own parfait, and then added, "And ... you are too, Naru. So I'm worried about
him. And I really want to know why he ran away."

Naru nodded wordlessly in agreement.

* * *

"Ah," Keitaro sighed, relaxing next to the warmth of the fire. If he hadn't
been found by Seta, unconscious on the jungle floor, he had no idea what would
have happened to him. "That was delicious, Seta!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," the man said, laughing. "The way you ate, I thought
you were your friend for a while!"

"My friend?" Keitaro asked, scratching the back of his head and looking out at
the dark sea, stars glinting overhead. "Oh, you mean Ranma."

"Yes," Seta agreed. "Now, Keitaro, what the heck are you doing out here? It's
exam season right now. Shouldn't you be waiting for your test results?"

Keitaro sighed, the joy of surviving his trial diminishing at the memory of
what he was running from. "I ... don't need to wait to know how I did," he
said quietly.

"Hmm, running away from the problem?" Seta asked.

Keitaro cringed and admitted, "Yeah ... I am."

"Hey, that's how I deal with most of my problems! You can hide out with me --
I could use someone to back me up on my dig!" Seta enthused, pounding Keitaro
on the back.

"Well, I ... I guess, I could help," Keitaro agreed, slightly dazed with the
force of Seta's friendly gesture. "But, um ... where will we be going?"

"Oh, just around the island. There's a dig site I'm looking for ... an old
partner of mine said he found something here once. But then he vanished and I
never heard from him again. I decided I was finally ready to start looking for
what he left behind, but when I got here, well...." The man trailed off and
took a puff from his cigarette contemplatively. "As it turns out, desert
bandits keep me from hiring any help. No one else is willing to risk them."

"Desert bandits?" Keitaro asked incredulously. "They have those here?"

"Eh ... yeah," Seta said, nodding. "See, apparently a few years ago, there was
a caravan that used to cross the desert pretty regularly. The west side of the
island is mostly desert, and the west coast has no port. There's a few spots
where a ship could harbor, though. So, this gang of smugglers would send
people on this caravan across the desert to ships on the far side, and they'd
skip customs."

"Okay," Keitaro said, frowning. "I'm guessing the bandits are people who
attacked the caravan?"

"Well, not exactly. See, once the local government found out what was being
smuggled, they declared all of the smugglers would be exiled from the cities
until they agree to make restitution for the taxes they owe, and they've been
hiding in the desert to avoid the law. Because no sane man will enter the
desert, the smugglers can all hide there, and they prey on tourists that
wander too far from the jungle."

"Right," Keitaro said, frowning as he considered this. "So, what were they
smuggling?"

"I won't lie to you, Keitaro," Seta said, flicking his cigarette into the fire
and turning very solemn. "They were smuggling bananas. And nature has yet to
invent a creature that fights as fiercely as a cornered banana smuggler."

Keitaro was about to laugh when he suddenly thought of Suu. "Oh," he said
quietly, instead. "So, what do you want me to do if I help you out, then?"

"Dig, mostly," Seta said, shrugging. "The vast majority of the banana-bandits
have turned themselves in because desert life is hard. I don't think we'll run
into any of them, but it'll be good to have backup, just in case we do. You've
been training under Ranma, right? You can practice with me, too."

Keitaro considered, and decided, "Well, I guess there's no problem with that.
I don't have anywhere else to go. At least if I can earn my way I won't feel
bad about it."

"Oh, I'll pay you," Seta said. "Just, well, not much. Same as last time,
actually."

Keitaro chuckled. "That's fine," he said, shaking his head. "So, what's our
plan, then?"

"Tomorrow we should head into town to pick up some supplies," Seta answered.
"Then we'll head into the desert."

"Okay," Keitaro agreed.

"Excellent!" Seta cheered, gripping Keitaro's hand firmly and shaking it. "You
won't regret this!" More quietly, he added, "I hope."

"What was that, Seta?" Keitaro asked, after his hand was released.

"Nothing! Let's get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a big day!"

* * *

After finishing a shift at the cafe and picking up a handful of the local
currency, Ranma headed south along the beach. About a mile away from the town,
he stopped and set up camp. If Keitaro had landed in that stretch of beach,
he'd have seen the town and gone there, he was sure.

An uneventful night passed, Ranma catching up on some much needed sleep before
trekking along the shore not long after dawn. In the light of the rising sun,
it was easy to see a multitude of footprints. But all of them seemed to lead
from the town and then back; he was looking for a set that came from the ocean
and lead to ... well ... Keitaro.

It was shortly after noon when Ranma found what he was looking for. Footprints
from the sea could have belonged to anyone, but the exam ticket and page from
a photo-sticker-book that had washed ashore next to them ... those were
uniquely Keitaro's. The footprints led to a campground, though someone had
thrown dirt over the fire pit. From there, a line of smashed down trees and
tire-tracks lead to a road, turning north, back towards town.

"Huh," Ranma mused, rubbing his chin as he studied the camp. "This is getting
... weird."

* * *

Keitaro looked around the town. It was pretty big, especially for an island he
had originally planned to become a hermit on. "Hmm," he mused, glancing over a
bulletin board with various fliers on it. "Wanted: assistant for excavation in
the desert." He chuckled, then raised an eyebrow. The bottom edge of the sheet
was cut into little strips with instructions to leave messages for Seta with
the local chapter of the Archeologist's Guild.

Keitaro had never heard of such a thing, but supposed that it must exist, and
would explain how Seta was able to access sites in so many other countries
easily. The curious thing was that someone had pulled one of the tabs off, to
take it with them. That might mean that he and Seta would have someone else to
help them out on the dig.

Nodding to himself, he perused the board further, pausing when he found a
mirror. Why would someone put a mirror on a bulletin board? And then scribble,
"Missing person: Contact Narusegawa Naru at 'Pararakelse North Hotel' with
information if found," on it?

He blinked again, and his eyes widened. "Oh, no!" he whimpered, turning around
and running full-speed back to Seta's van.

He slid to a halt on the gravel before the van only to see Seta talking to ...
Shinobu? Bowing his head, Keitaro sighed. He'd been caught for sure, now. He
had no idea how Naru had known to look for him in such a remote location, but
if they'd gone so far as to bring Shinobu with them, he'd probably best turn
himself in and explain that he was going to stay with Seta due to his failure.

Then the girl turned around, and Keitaro blinked. That girl had too much of a
tan to be Shinobu. After heaving a quiet sigh of relief, Keitaro asked, "Seta,
how quickly will we be ready to head outside of town?"

Seta looked up. "Well, we were actually just about to go looking for you,
Keitaro. Did you want to use the Guild's fax machine to send a message home
before we leave?"

Keitaro was about to say "no," but then caught himself. "Yeah, I should do
that," he said, nodding. He glanced at the square, nondescript looking
building Seta had parked in front of. "Is this it?"

"Yep! Just go inside and tell them you're my assistant."

Keitaro nodded again. "Thanks -- I'll only be a minute."

* * *

Mitsune regarded the new fax warily. "This is interesting," she mused.

"What's that, Kitsune?" Motoko asked, walking into the living room from the
kitchen, where Shinobu was working on the evening meal.

"We, uh, got a fax. From Keitaro," Mitsune replied, waving the paper in front
of her. "It's just kind of funny."

Motoko crossed the distance between the kitchen entrance and the phone in an
instant and held out a hand expectantly. Mitsune gave her the paper without
complaint. Furrowing her brow, Motoko read the fax. "What?" she asked,
incredulously, reading it a second time to ensure that she'd gotten in
correctly.

Shinobu timidly peeked in from the kitchen. "What's going on?" she asked.

Suu jogged into the room from the hallway. "Family meeting time?" she asked.

"Something like that," Motoko replied. "Kitsune, where did this arrive?"

"Haruka handed it to me about five minutes ago, laughing to herself," Mitsune
replied, smirking. "I think I know why."

"Well, that's obvious," the kendoka deadpanned.

"What does the letter say?" Shinobu asked, looking at Motoko curiously.

"Ah ... well, read it yourself," Motoko said, shaking her head and handing the
paper to the girl.

Shinobu took the sheet of paper in trembling hands, and read aloud, "'Dear
everyone. I'm okay. I'm in Australia right now. Please don't come after me.
Keitaro.'"

She blinked. "He's in Australia? But ... but Naru went to Pararakelse!"

"Read the top of the paper," Mitsune instructed.

"Oh," Shinobu said, reading aloud once more. "'This fax was sent from the
Archeologist's Guild Office on Pararakelse Island'." She blinked at that.
"What?"

"Well, it looks like Keitaro's trying to hide where he is," Mitsune said. "But
Ranma and Naru are probably close to catching him. I bet he saw one of them
and got away, then tried to use this fax to confuse us."

"But ... he's alive," Shinobu said. "So he didn't vanish at sea after all!"

"Sure he did!" Mitsune countered. "He just came back."

"Well. We'll need to let Naru know what's going on, then," Motoko decided.

Shinobu frowned at that. If Keitaro were hiding from Naru and Ranma, maybe he
wouldn't hide from someone else. And she'd been working hard on assembling
everyone into a peaceful community. Once Haruka had convinced Ranma to stay
with her own unique brand of persuasion, things had been going very well --
until Keitaro vanished.

Obviously, she needed to get him back. If Naru was there, it couldn't be that
dangerous. And hadn't Ranma been training them all in martial arts? She nodded
to herself, plans percolating in the back of her mind.

Motoko's hand dropped to her shoulder, causing her to emit a startled squeak.
"Don't even think of it," the kendoka warned. "I'm responsible for keeping you
out of trouble right now, after all."

"What ... are you talking about?" Shinobu asked nervously.

Motoko just shook her head. "Naru will bring him back, Shinobu. Just have a
little patience."

Shinobu bit her lip ... but Motoko was right. Aside from which, she'd need to
plan for days to get past the kendoka. "Okay," she said quietly. "Dinner's
almost ready. I should watch the stove." She strode back into the kitchen
contemplatively.

* * *

Ranma took a seat at the cafe's table and nodded at Naru as the girl wearily
sat opposite him. "I'm glad I had practice waiting tables a few summers ago,"
she muttered. "I've got a quick break -- what brought you back so soon?"

Setting the photo-sticker book page and exam ticket on the table wordlessly,
Ranma slid them towards Naru. Her jaw dropped, briefly, and then she smiled.
"So he's okay?" she asked, looking up at Ranma hopefully.

"Well," Ranma said, rubbing his chin, "yes, and ... no."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure what's going on," Ranma said with an apologetic shrug. "I found
some footprints next to these papers. They led to a campsite. It looks like he
met up with someone at the campsite, and then they got in a car or a truck and
drove towards the city. I couldn't really track it once I got into town, so I
don't know where he went from there ... but it seems to me he should be in
town _somewhere_," Ranma explained.

Naru looked at the exam stub and photo-sticker page thoughtfully. "Well, he's
not getting off the island. I filed a missing persons report with the police,
and they won't let him leave the island without letting me know about it.
They'll also want to find him to get his passport, since he washed ashore
somewhere," she said.

"Okay," Ranma said, nodding thoughtfully. "I'm not sure where we go from here,
though. If he's in town, someone should spot him and let you know, right?"

"Right! I'll bet as soon as my shift finishes, we can go back to my hotel and
get a message saying where he is," she said, smiling brightly. "This is
great!"

Ranma nodded, not smiling himself.

Naru caught his lack of enthusiasm and asked, "What's wrong, Ranma?"

"Something just doesn't seem right. Something ... about this island bothers
me," he said, shaking his head. "I don't know what. It just makes me
uncomfortable."

Naru sobered. "You probably haven't gotten enough sleep," she decided. "Here,"
she added, handing him a key. "I got a room with two futons. You can use the
one I'm not, and get some sleep." She hesitated, and quietly added, "Though,
uh, I'd prefer it if you were ... um...."

"Yeah, yeah. Cold water and all that," Ranma said, waving a hand dismissively.
"I guess that makes sense. And if someone calls, I can get the phone while I'm
there. Okay, I guess I'll see you when your shift ends, then?"

Naru nodded, and Ranma took the keys. "Okay," she replied. "See you there."

* * *

When Naru returned to the hotel room, Ranma was in the bed in the far corner,
just a red braid sticking out from under the covers, and sound asleep. The
message light on the phone was blinking, and Naru wondered if Ranma had not
seen it, or just didn't know what it meant.

Shrugging, she picked up the phone and checked with the operator in a hushed
voice, her eyes hardening as she listened. Placing the receiver on the hook
gingerly, as to avoid waking up Ranma, she sank to her futon, drawing her
knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

"That doesn't make any sense at all," she muttered. "What's going on?"

After a night of fitful sleep, Naru stared grimly at the rising sun, as Ranma
woke up, yawning, behind her. The first rays of light were just reaching into
the room, when the redhead climbed to her feet. "Morning," she said groggily.

"Yeah," Naru replied, looking back over her shoulder.

"Something wrong?" Ranma asked, waking up a bit more.

Naru turned around and faced Ranma directly, her expression fading to
neutrality. "I think so. We got a message from Keitaro."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's good. What was it?"

"He said, 'I'm outside of the inn, so it's okay to smack me around for being
an idiot'," Naru replied.

Ranma cocked her head to one side and considered this. "I'm guessing he
spelled it differently?" she asked.

Naru sighed, hanging her head. "He's avoiding us!" she complained. "Why would
he avoid us? Did we do something wrong?"

"Well, calm down," Ranma reasoned. "Let's think about this rationally. The
best source for answers is going to be Keitaro himself, and you can't just
push a friend away without explaining why."

Sitting down, Naru placed both hands in her lap, trying to think. "Okay," she
said after a moment. "What happened, then?"

Ranma pondered briefly, and then said, "Well, we never actually talked to him.
So ... he thinks he did something wrong--"

"Or he really did do something wrong," Naru interjected.

Ranma shrugged, continuing, "And then he sees us, and he thinks he's going to
be in trouble, so he runs away. We just need to talk to him and find out
what's happening."

"Well, he really is going to be in trouble when I get my hands on him this
time," Naru warned.

Ranma grunted. "I'm going to take a shower," she decided. "And then I'm going
to start looking for him around town."

Naru nodded. "I think I'm going to stay, until I find him," she decided. "If
he's not in town, where else could he be?"

"Ah, there's only two towns on the island," Ranma said, smirking. "So, either
in one of them, or the jungle."

"What about the desert?"

"I can't think of any reason that he would want to go to the desert," Ranma
said, shaking her head. "So I'm going to leave looking there for last.
Remember, Keitaro doesn't drive, so he's not alone."

"Hmm," Naru pondered. "I hadn't considered that, but you did mention tire
tracks."

Heading into the hotel room's small bathroom, Ranma shrugged, making sure to
bring a change of clothes with her.

* * *

"Keitaro!" Seta yelled over the sounds of explosives and gunfire. "Take
these!" Rattled, Keitaro reached for what Seta was handing him -- it looked
like a small pile of juggling balls. "Open the sunroof and throw them behind
us!"

Nodding, Keitaro did as told, climbing up onto the middle seat and trying to
stay out of Nyamo's way. The bandits behind them were aboard a trio of dune
buggies, with rockets and machine guns mounted to their frames. It seemed to
Keitaro that the recoil from the weapons should cause the buggies to overturn,
but he supposed the half-dozen bandits wearing identical dust-cloaks, masks,
goggles, and brandishing swords that clung to the side of each buggy might
weigh them down.

He flung the balls into the air, up and behind the van, ducking to avoid an
incoming hail of gunfire. Then he squinted, as he saw a handful of bullets
strike the van's rear window, only to be deflected harmlessly. "Seta, does
your van have bullet-proof windows?" he asked, just before the balls he'd
tossed out exploded, emitting a massive volume of smoke.

"Of course!" Seta replied. "What kind of archaeologist would I be otherwise?"

Blinking, Keitaro made his way once more to the front passenger seat. "I guess
I never really thought about that," he said quietly. "Um, is this normal?"

"Nah, but once in a while it's nice to enjoy a quiet dig without a lot of
resistance," Seta said, shrugging. "That's why I'm able to be here without a
full team."

"That's reassuring," Keitaro sighed, shaking his head. "Um, why are we
bringing Nyamo into this, if those bandits are armed so heavily?"

"Oh, she's been looking for something her grandfather left in the desert, I
think," Seta said, glancing over his shoulder to look at the girl briefly.
"She told me she usually goes into the desert to search a few times a year. Of
course, the other times, she's gone with her older brother."

"Where's he?" Keitaro asked.

"She says he stays in the desert and fights the bandits," Seta offered,
shrugging. "That's all I could find out about him."

"Huh," Keitaro mused. "Maybe if we're lucky, we'll run into him."

* * *

Naru sat at the table the regular customers of the cafe tended not to use,
recognizing it as her own. It was odd, she thought, that she could come to
this island and settle into a routine so easily. Only a week and a half and
she knew a handful her customers by name.

Ranma approached, a bit later than usual, and Naru nodded at him, pushing a
drink towards the opposite side of the table. He accepted it gratefully and
sat down with a sigh.

"Anything?" she asked. Ranma's search of the southern town hadn't turned
anything up so far, though he'd stayed there three days to be thorough. He had
already said he doubted that Keitaro was in the jungle -- and if he were, it
would be near some place that a car could be parked.

That left the desert, which he'd started exploring, or at least, becoming
accustomed to so he could cross it more easily. "I found something out," he
said, before taking a sip of his drink. "Whoa," he said, blinking. "Good
stuff, what is it?"

"Watermelon juice," Naru replied dismissively. "What did you find?"

"I finally did the obvious thing and checked with Motoko-chan at the inn --
there's a clue on the fax we missed. So, they mentioned it was sent from the
island, but didn't mention it was sent from the Archaeologist's Guild," Ranma
said, pointing at a nearby building.

Naru blinked at that. "So, they remembered seeing him?" she asked hopefully.

"Yep. I found something else interesting. Noriyasu-san was in town looking for
a pair of assistants for a dig out in the desert. He hired someone local, but
they remember the other assistant asked to use the fax machine," he explained.
He didn't mention that they also complained about the dozen other messages
that Keitaro had apparently scribbled down, and then thrown away without
sending.

Naru relaxed slightly, leaning back in her chair. "So he's safe," she said.
"That's good."

Ranma grunted, taking another sip from his drink. "Well, this means he's out
in the desert. Which is, incidentally, filled with bandits. I got attacked
while exploring the edges of it -- wasn't expecting that at all," he grumbled.

"Are you okay?" Naru asked in alarm.

"Yeah ... they had guns on them, but they didn't see one on me, so they rushed
me with swords," he said.

"You don't look hurt," Naru said, looking Ranma over. "What then?"

"Eh, I chased them off into the desert and then started heading back. One of
them said he wanted all of my maps and digging tools before they attacked,
which is part of what tipped me off to check the Archaeologist's Guild," he
went on. "So after calling Motoko-chan I did that, got some of the dust off
myself, and came back here."

Naru nodded thoughtfully. "Are we going after him?" she asked. She doubted she
could handle bandits alone, especially if some of them carried guns.

Ranma shook his head. "I'm still thinking about that," he admitted. "Naru, you
know what today is, right?"

"March ... tenth, I think," she said, checking her watch. It was still set to
Tokyo time, but she needed that to know when to call back to the inn, or her
parents.

Nodding, Ranma asked, "And when are the exam results posted for Toudai?"

"March ten-- oh no! We've got to get back to check!" Naru yelped, drawing a
few glances from the patrons nearby. She jumped to her feet, and then froze
for a moment, before sitting down heavily. "What if he got in?" she asked.

"Well, I found his ticket, so we can find out," Ranma said, shrugging. "Or, I
guess, give the number to the girls at the inn. What's the final day for
submission of the ticket stub?"

"March ... fifteenth, I think," Naru said anxiously. "So do we take another
day or two to look for him before heading home?"

"I hate to put Keitaro on hold, especially if he's out in a desert full of
bandits. I think we should ask, uh, Mutsumi or Motoko-chan to check for us,
and then we can mail our tickets from here before we go looking for him. And
heck, if he gets in, we can send his in, too." Ranma sipped at his drink
again, grimacing. "If I got in, anyway," he added quietly.

"Think positive," Naru chastised. "Maybe we'll all make it."

"Here's to hoping," Ranma said, raising his glass and draining the rest of the
drink in a gulp. "I'm going to head to the hotel to call the inn. I'll give
them Keitaro's ticket number. Meet you back there later tonight?"

"Sure thing!" Naru cheered. "This could have a happy ending after all."

* * *

Mutsumi hummed to herself, looking over the lists of names and ticket numbers
for those who had made it into the school. Behind her, Shinobu, Motoko, and
Suu pored over the numbers that Ranma had given them over the phone the night
before.

"Ah!" she exclaimed. "There's ... there's my number!" She felt lightheaded,
nearly enough to swoon, but she kept her feet. "Hooray!"

"Congratulations, turtle-girl," Mitsune said, appearing at her side. "And hey,
look! Naru got in, too!"

"And so did my sensei," Motoko said, pride in her voice.

"Well, looks like everyone got in, then," Mitsune said, clapping her hands
together. "Let's go home!"

"Wait!" Shinobu protested. "We haven't found Keitaro's number yet!"

"Well, you can't find what's not there," Mitsune said, shrugging.

"We'll see about that!" Suu exclaimed, pointing at the far side of the sign.
"Look!"

"Uh, Suu, writing Keitaro's name on a piece of tape and sticking it over
someone else's name doesn't get him into the school," Mitsune said, ruffling
the girl's hair.

"And it's somewhat rude to whomever has their name behind the tape," Motoko
said, frowning at Suu as she peeled it off. "Really, you should apologize to
this," she turned to look at the name beneath the tape, "'Urashima Keitaro'
person."

Motoko froze, halfway turned back to look at the other girls, and blinked.
"That name ... seems ... very familiar," she said slowly.

"No way!" Mitsune exclaimed. "There's another guy in town with the same name!
What are the odds?"

"No, no," Shinobu protested. "That's him! That's the ticket number Oe-san gave
us!"

All of the girls looked at Keitaro's name in subdued awe, except for Mutsumi,
who simply smiled pleasantly. "Now all he needs to do is sign his ticket stub,
and mail it in before the fifteenth," she cheered.

"Yeah, we just need him to- Say, didn't Ranma say he found Keitaro's ticket?"
Mitsune asked.

"And yet, they have not found Keitaro himself," Motoko said slowly. "This
bodes ill."

"So ... they've got to find him and get him to sign his ticket in time to get
back here," Mitsune deduced.

"Oh, will that be a problem?" Mutsumi asked, cocking her head slightly to one
side and raising one finger to rest on her lower lip.

"I think we'd better call Naru and let her know what's going on," Mitsune
decided.

* * *

Ranma was pacing the room when Naru returned. She didn't even have time to ask
what was wrong before he said, "I got a call back from the inn -- what would
you like first, the good news, or the bad news?"

"Bad news," Naru said without hesitation. Best to get it out of the way.

"He's got to sign the ticket stub before we can mail it in," Ranma explained.

Naru looked at him oddly, and then it clicked. "He got in?" she asked
excitedly. "But, that's great! Oh, wait, no it isn't! We've got to find him!"

"I can leave for the desert tomorrow morning. I can probably travel faster
alone," Ranma said quietly.

Naru shook her head. "You think I'm soft?" she scoffed. "We've still been
practicing every morning; I can probably keep up with you."

He looked her over and then nodded. "Okay. We're going to want to leave at
first light. The problem is that we don't know where he is. I checked with the
Guild again, before they closed for the day, just to see if there were any
clues, but Seta didn't say specifically where his site was, just that it was
in the desert," he said.

"Is there an oasis in the desert?" Naru asked. "If they haven't come back in
so long, they must have gotten more food and water from somewhere, right?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Good thinking," he said, shaking his head. "Let's
look." He produced a map from his pack, explaining, "I got this from the
Guild, too. There's three, it looks like. One of them is the bandit's base-
camp. Then there's a river that runs from near town, into the desert. It
submerges about a mile from the road, and runs underground until it reaches
here," he said, pointing to a cape on the southwestern corner of the island.

"Okay. We should go along that river, and head to the oasis on the cape," Naru
decided.

"Sounds fine," Ranma agreed. "It's going to be hard getting there and back
here in time ... but I think we'll be able to make it if Seta's got his van."

"Right. So ... how did we do?"

Ranma grinned and shook his head. "If we can get to Keitaro in time, Naru, we
all made it."

Naru grinned back, her joy held in check only by the need to get to Keitaro
before it was too late. "Great! We should probably mail in our own tickets
first, just in case, though," she warned.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Okay. It's too late to call the inn, now, so we should
call them in the morning before we go."

"Good," she said with a nod. "Now splash yourself with cold water and get some
sleep," Naru instructed. "Lots to do in the morning!"

Snorting, Ranma headed to the bathroom.

* * *

Humming to himself, Keitaro snapped back the rod with his right hand, his left
expertly snagging the caught fish before it could go over his shoulder. "Lunch
is captured," he called out.

Nyamo approached and smiled a little, taking the fish from Keitaro and then
returning to her laboriously maintained 'kitchen' area. Sighing, Keitaro put
down his hand-made fishing rod and turned to Seta, who was still examining
hieroglyphs on a nearby wall of rock.

"So, how's it going?" he asked.

"Well, it's interesting, alright," Seta said slowly, not taking his eyes from
what looked to Keitaro to be nothing more than pictures of turtles in
different poses. "But it's not going to tell me how to get more gas."

"Think we could get some from the bandits?" Keitaro asked, not liking the
idea, but not seeing any alternatives immediately.

"I'm not sure," Seta admitted. "It'd be pretty hard to separate them from
their vehicles. But ... they have to refuel them from somewhere, right? So, we
just need to figure out where that somewhere is."

* * *

Shinobu counted out her life's savings remorsefully. There was no way she
could afford to get to Pararakelse on that meager sum. But she'd need to try,
somehow.

Sighing, she finished packing what she thought she would need and set her pack
on her shoulder. First things first, she'd escape through a secret passage. No
one would expect that.

It took a few tries and two wrong turns before she found the exit she was
looking for -- the one that came up beneath one of the steps to the inn. This
would be out of sight from the inn itself, too. She struggled to climb out,
until someone gave her a hand and helped her up. "Ah, thank you,
Moto...ko...san," she mumbled, looking up at the kendoka. "Um."

"No," Motoko said firmly. "As I said last time, Shinobu, you're not going to
look for Keitaro. I'm certain that Naru and my sensei have everything well
under control."

Shinobu sniffled. "But ... I want to help him, too! What if he's avoiding
Naru, but wouldn't avoid me?" she protested.

Motoko raised an eyebrow at that, and then shook her head. "Then Ranma will
find him, beat him senseless, and carry him home, as appropriate," she
asserted. "You should stop-"

"Motoko!" Suu suddenly cheered, popping up from the same secret passage.
"Catch!" The girl flung a small metal ball at the kendoka, which Motoko deftly
snatched from the air.

"What's this?" Motoko asked, looking at the device curiously.

"My electro-stun-bomb!" Suu cheered, as Motoko's eyes went wide and she
stiffened, the sound of crackling electricity reverberating through the air.

"S-Suu?" Shinobu asked in disbelief, watching the silver-haired girl help
Sarah up through the same exit. "What are you doing?"

"Going with you as backup! Intrepid Rescue Girl Shinobu and her Heavy Weapons
Expert Side-kicks, ready for duty!" Sarah cheered.

Suu smirked and added, "The Hinata's treaties are slowing down my creative
progress. I need to get out in the world and use my inventions, or my talent
is going to go to waste!"

"Um ... okay, we should hurry ... but how will we get to Pararakelse?" Shinobu
asked, as the three girls jogged to the bottom of the stairs.

"Just you leave that to me," Suu replied, grinning.

* * *

Motoko returned to her senses when Mutsumi had patted her on the cheek a few
times. Then she coughed, expelling a small puff of gray smoke. "What
happened?" she asked dizzily.

"You looked stunned," Mutsumi replied, Mitsune behind her. "We saw a flash
from the top of the stairs, and came to look after you. You were just standing
here, frozen, like sleeping beauty."

Mitsune snickered at that.

Motoko blanched, remembering Naru's explanation that her first kiss was with
Mutsumi. It was probably best not to ask for clarification, as her score would
then be rather high in terms of girls and ... at zero boys.

"I take it that Shinobu and the other girls are gone, then?" Motoko asked,
instead.

"Yep!"

Motoko sighed and retrieved the bag from where she had stowed it behind a
nearby tree. "Well, I'm headed after them, then. Are you coming with me?"

"Wait, you were expecting this to happen?" Mitsune asked, her expression
shifting to display confusion.

"I planned for the eventuality, just in case, but I had hoped it wouldn't
happen," Motoko corrected the other woman.

"That reminds me, Motoko," Mutsumi said. "The airline called to confirm that
your flight leaves in an hour."

"That seems pretty thorough for a 'just in case'," Mitsune said, grinning.

Motoko blushed and looked away. "Let's hurry and get to the airport."

"Trying to change the subject?" Mitsune asked. "Come on ... was it because you
wanted to chase after Keitaro? Or Ranma?"

Motoko's blush deepened, and she scowled. "I have no such inappropriate
feelings for my sensei," she snapped.

"Oh, your flight was confirmed, too," Mutsumi added, smiling at Mitsune.

"Ah," Motoko said, sighing. "And what's your excuse?"

"I want a front-row seat for the mayhem!" Mitsune enthused, pumping a fist in
the air energetically. "Let's go!"

Motoko hung her head. "And you?" she asked Mutsumi, raising her head to eye
the girl speculatively.

"It seemed like it was such a nice trend," the girl said dreamily. "I imagine
it's a lovely vacation spot!"

* * *

The most annoying thing about the desert, Naru reflected, was the heat. She
had thought, somehow, that it would turn out that the desert would have some
deeper, subtler cruelty. Sharp sand in her shoes, or maybe horrible cactus
plants that shot needles. Heck, even a swarm of insects would be a welcome
reprieve from the inane dullness of unrelenting heat. But no, after a few
hours, the desert revealed that its deepest complexity was, in fact, the
bounty of the sun's furnace.

"Stupid heat," Naru muttered tiredly. After half a day of trekking across the
sand with only Ranma and the sand for company, she was exhausted. But Ranma
hadn't shown any effect from the temperature at all, just putting on a wide-
brimmed straw hat to shield himself from the sun. At least he'd given her one,
too, which she was grateful for.

It was a struggle to keep up with him, though, and the worst part was that she
had sworn she wouldn't slow him down! "Stop," Ranma suddenly ordered, putting
a hand out behind himself and dropping his backpack.

Naru gratefully sank to her knees, sitting back on her heels and catching her
breath. "What's going on?" she asked, once she was sure she could speak
without gasping for breath.

Ranma shook his head, and grimaced at her. "I ... feel something I haven't
sensed in years," he mumbled, his eyes seeming unfocused.

Naru looked around in confusion. It all looked like desolate, featureless
desert, to her. But she wouldn't complain about the break. While Ranma
concentrated, and looked around at nothing in particular, she sipped lightly
from her canteen, remembering that it was important to conserve.

Ranma sighed and shook his head again. "It was nothing," he grumbled. "Just my
imagination. Sorry, let's keep going. We'll want to go for an hour or two
after sunset, and then make camp."

Naru glanced at her watch. The sun set in about an hour and a half, and that
meant she'd crossed the halfway point. Nodding to herself, she rose to her
feet. "Okay," she said. If she'd made it that far, she'd make it the rest of
the way. And then she'd find Keitaro.

* * *

After a brief two-day detour to Argentina, Shinobu had gotten Suu and Sarah on
the right track, and arrived at Pararakelse.

Shinobu whimpered, looking around. For a remote island, the town was pretty
big. And now she would have to contend with the fact that Naru and Ranma were
already here; undoubtedly, they'd send her home if they caught her. Suu seemed
unconcerned, puttering with one of her devices, and Sarah was looking at a
nearby bulletin board.

"Found them!" the small blonde girl exclaimed, pointing at a row of pictures.

"Eh?" Shinobu noised, turning to look.

There were six pictures there. Four of them looked familiar to her, and she
blinked. Ranma, Naru, Keitaro, and ... Seta? Then, the next picture was a girl
that reminded her eerily of herself, and a much older looking picture of a man
wearing a bandanna over his mouth, and goggles over his eyes. The other girl
was named Nyamo, and the picture of the strange man was simply labeled,
'Desert Hero.' Above the pictures, there was a heading that read: 'Vanished
into the desert and presumed missing.'

"Lost in the desert?" she whimpered. "That's bad! Very bad!"

"Oh, come on," Sarah said, waving a hand dismissively. "Papa says it's not a
real dig if he doesn't get lost in a desert or at sea at least once."

"Don't say that!" Shinobu exclaimed, clasping her hands together, unshed tears
making her vision waver. "What are we going to do?"

"We go after them!" Suu cheered, indicating a sizable turtle-shaped craft.

Shinobu blinked the tears out of her eyes and shook her head. "Where ... did
that come from?" she asked. The thing was the size of a jeep, at least.

"It was in my luggage," the silver-haired girl replied, grinning. "You like
it? It should get us across the desert in no time, and has defensive
capabilities, too! I've heard about bandits in deserts like this. Usually
fierce banana smugglers!"

"Now that's just silly, Suu," Shinobu said, shaking her head. "But if it'll
get us across the desert quickly, we can use it to search for Keitaro, right?"

"Right!" Suu cheered. "All aboard?"

* * *

"You're kidding, right?" Mitsune asked, peering into the sandy wastes. "We're
headed into that? On foot?"

"Do you want to find Keitaro or not?" Motoko asked in annoyance. "If there's
another way across the desert, I'd like to see it."

"Oh, man. Are you sure they went this way?" Mitsune asked plaintively.

Motoko nodded. "Sensei left his route with the Archaeologist's Guild, in case
something went wrong. They also said that Noriyasu-san's daughter stopped by
to ask for his route, but it wasn't listed. So we know that Shinobu is out
there, too. We should be right behind them."

"Hopefully we can catch up," Mutsumi said. "Would you like a slice of
watermelon, Kitsune-san?"

"If we're headed into this offense to fair and moisturized skin, yeah, I could
use a slice," Mitsune sighed. "Do we at least get hats or something? I don't
want to get sunburned."

Motoko's left eye twitched. "The day you spent shopping before letting us
begin our search wasn't enough?" she grumbled.

"Hey, not a lot matches with sand," Mitsune countered. "You gotta coordinate."

"So, why didn't you pick up a hat?" Mutsumi asked, handing each of the others
a slice of watermelon.

"Ah," Mitsune grinned, reaching into her bag and pulling out a trio of white
outfits. "I got us all nice comfy desert ensembles. Tah-da!"

Motoko stared at the light, loose fitting clothing. "That ... seems sensible,
actually," she grudgingly admitted.

"And hats for all," she added, winking. "Now let's get changed so we can get
this over with."

* * *

Shinobu panted for breath. The searing heat was brutal, and the brightness of
the sun threatened to blind her.

After the turtle had depleted its battery, she'd been reduced to staggering
along the sand, hauling Suu and Sarah behind her. "So ... tired," she
whimpered. "Why didn't I listen to Motoko?"

She froze, blinking at the sound of a revving engine. A car? Someone was out
in the desert? Salvation!

She dropped Suu's and Sarah's arms and looked around. There it was again!
Certainly a motor of some kind. No, now there were two of them. Or was that
three?

She'd just determined where the sound was coming from when a trio of extremely
battered and sand-scoured dune buggies shot over a distant dune headed
straight for her. "Saved!" she cheered. "We're going to make it!" Waving, just
in case they'd somehow miss her, she called out, "Over here!"

As the buggies sped closer, she stopped waving and blinked. There were an
awful lot of men on each buggy. And most of them were waving swords, an
assortment of clubs, some hammers, and various other dangerous looking
weapons. This might not be a good thing.

The buggies drew to a halt about twenty meters away, and Shinobu sank to her
knees as the men all dismounted, forming a semi-circle around the three girls.
"This'll be an easy one," one of the men said, sheathing his sword. The only
thing that distinguished him from the other men were his exceptionally bushy
eyebrows. "Give me all of your valuables!"

"But ... but ... I don't have anything!" Shinobu protested. "We're lost out
here all alone! Won't you help us?"

The man snorted, and his bandits laughed to themselves. "What's our motto,
men?" he asked, looking around.

As one, the bandits replied, "What's in it for us?"

"But I don't have anything!" Shinobu protested again.

"Sure you do," the man said, grinning. "We found you by following the pile of
unloaded weapons and bananas you left in a trail behind you."

She blinked in confusion, then looked at Suu curiously. The small foreigner
remained unconscious. "What?" Shinobu asked, looking at the bandit leader. "We
have weapons?"

"Or you did," the man said, shrugging. "But since you've got to have dropped
them all by now, I think we're ready to fight."

"Oh, no," Shinobu moaned. "Why me?"

"Well," the man said, thoughtfully. "We tried getting the old guy in the van,
but he set up a smoke-screen and got away. We tried getting that young couple,
but the guy kicked our butts and threw a tornado at us. So now we're aiming at
a target that we can actually handle -- a little girl and her two unconscious
friends seems about our speed."

"That's not fair!" Shinobu wailed. "Shouldn't you just get another job? Maybe
you're not good at being bandits!"

The man laughed and drew his sword, taking two steps forward. "Now, just--"

He cut off suddenly, his eyes widening. Shinobu looked around, but couldn't
see anything out of the ordinary. She could distantly hear the sound of
something ... a keen whistle, like something flying through the air quickly.
She blinked, wondering if it was all a mirage, as a large red bamboo umbrella
spun into view from behind a sand dune, handle pointing down, edges flaring
outward, straight across the sand in a line towards the bandits.

"CRAP!" the bandit leader yelled. "It's that freaking moron who crashed our
banana smuggling ring! Get him!"

Shinobu only had time to blink, as the men struggled to get their guns from
their buggies, and a slew of yellow streaks began flying from around the
umbrella. The men all dodged the umbrella itself, which turned around and
crashed to the ground heavily near Shinobu, but the yellow streaks all flew
true, hitting the bandits' guns from a distance and slicing them in half.

"Hiko!" a voice bellowed as a figure leap from behind a dune, one fist raised
above his head. "We finish your nonsense today!"

Shinobu blinked, looking up at the figure. He was large, probably taller than
Motoko or Ranma, but not quite as tall as Seta. He had broad shoulders, and
wore boots laced up to his knees. He had a yellow bandanna with black flecks
on his head, another covering his mouth to protect it from dust, and goggles
over his eyes. His shirt was yellow, though heavily smudged with desert dust,
and his leggings were dark brown. A duster flared out behind him like a cape.

As he crashed to the ground, his fist slammed into it, sending out a huge wave
of dust. Thinking quickly, Shinobu scrambled to get the umbrella between her
friends and the advancing wall of sand. It was heavy, but Shinobu had been
hauling Suu and Sarah across the desert for a while, so she quickly got it in
place with enough time to duck behind it before the sand hit. After the
initial blow, she peeked over the top of the umbrella, blinking. Was this the
man who was called the 'Desert Hero'?

He stood surrounded by six men with swords, and snapped his belt off. It
stayed straight, like a rod, and when he blocked a sword with it, the blade
was cut in half. It took him only a few seconds to disarm all the men and
knock each one out with a single powerful blow. Reinforcements came, but fared
no better, until it was only him and the bandit leader.

"Hiko," he growled. "Don't you think it's time to grow up, turn yourself in,
and get a real job?"

The bandit leader fidgeted, and said, "Um, well, normally I'd challenge you
and make some mocking comment. After all, this is only, what, the billionth
time you've beaten us?  So, we're out of weapons now. Either we start to rob
people at rock-point, or give up. But, uh, I'm personally leaning towards the
retirement option."

"Are you forgetting something?" the desert hero asked in a menacing tone.

"Um ... I'm sorry?" he squeaked out, shooting an apologetic glance towards
Shinobu.

The desert hero grunted and shook his head. "You should atone for what you
have done," he said. "Some of us ... do not have that option. Now go."

"Sure thing!" Hiko replied, scrambling to get his men awake and on their
buggies, swiftly headed away from the one who had disarmed all of his men.

Shaking his head again, the man tucked his belt back into place and started
heading towards Shinobu. Then he paused and looked at a nearby sand dune, with
a lower, flatter top than the others around it. "Saotome?" he asked curiously,
though Shinobu was sure it wasn't directed at her.

He sighed and turned to look at Shinobu, though he seemed surprised to see
her. "Nyamo?" he asked, before adding something in English. Shinobu had enough
time to blink before exhaustion caught up to her and she swooned.

* * *

When Shinobu awoke, it was to Motoko's prodding. "Auugh," she said slowly,
blinking up at the kendoka. "Ah! I'm sorry! Please don't be mad at me!"

"I'm glad you're doing well," Motoko said, shaking her head. "We will discuss
the rest later."

Shinobu sat up and hung her head. She was lying beneath a shade that someone
had set up, four posts and a good length of white sheet overhead. Sarah and
Suu sat nearby, munching on watermelon slices while Mutsumi watched.

"What ... happened?" she asked.

"We found your camp," Motoko said, shrugging. "Your skill at desert survival
is superior to my expectations. Perhaps I should not have warned you away from
this place after all."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"You set up this camp, didn't you?" Motoko asked, gesturing to the shade
overhead, and a large canteen sitting nearby.

"Um ... no," she said, apologetically. "We ... got attacked by bandits. Then
someone saved us and I guess he set this up for us."

"Bandits?" Motoko asked in amusement. "This island is far too small to support
any kind of bandit population, Shinobu. Perhaps you were delirious, or it was
heatstroke. Here, eat this. Suu? Sarah, what do you remember?"

Shinobu looked, and accepted the watermelon slice she was offered. Suu looked
thoughtful, then spat out a watermelon seed and said, "I remembered thinking I
should have installed air conditioning on the mecha-tama mark four."

"Yeah, I remember thinking you should have done that, too," Sarah muttered.

"Anyway," Motoko overrode them. "You've gotten almost all the way to the
oasis. Once you finish recovering a little, we'll head there. It's cooler, so
you'll feel much better when we do." The kendoka produced a pair of straw
hats, putting one on Shinobu, and the other on Sarah. Suu was already wearing
her own wide-brimmed cloth hat.

"Okay," Shinobu agreed, nodding. At least she wasn't being sent home before
she'd get a chance to talk to Keitaro.

* * *

Naru looked around warily, listening for the sounds of a bandit dune buggy
approaching. So far, they'd only attacked in small groups, and Ranma said he
thought they were reserving their full forces. He'd been able to fend them off
quite well, but on two of the attacks, Naru had needed to fight off at least
one bandit, as well.

She was glad she'd kept up her training with Ranma once she got to the island,
as she wasn't sure she would have fared as well otherwise.

"Okay," Ranma said setting his backpack down, and clenching his fists at his
sides. "This is driving me nuts." Throwing his head back, he bellowed at the
top of his lungs, "_Ryouga_! Show yourself!"

The silent desert didn't even echo his yell back to him. He glared into the
desert, looking around expectantly for a long while. Naru blinked and raised
one eyebrow. "Um ... what?" she asked.

"I can ... his ... ugh." Ranma shook his head. "Martial artists can often
sense the ki of other martial artists they know well. He's been on this island
for a while -- I can sense him all over it! But ... it's so fleeting ... so
vague. Where the hell is he?"

He spun around, peering at the horizon behind him and sighed. "Well, I guess-"

And then the sound of a revving bandit dune buggy engine interrupted him, and
he blinked. Smacking his forehead, he grumbled, "I'm such an idiot! Naru, when
you see me starting to move in a spiral, throw yourself flat on the ground,
okay?"

"Okay," Naru agreed, not really understanding what was going on. But just as
Ranma had said, a trio of dune buggies burst into sight, pulling to a halt a
dozen yards away and unloading about twenty men. Naru took an involuntary step
back. They'd never faced more than seven at once, before. This was an awfully
sharp increase in numbers.

"Alright," Ranma said. "Let's make a deal. I'm pretty sure I've knocked teeth
out of a few of you already, so I'm going to hope you want to listen, because
I'm in a bad mood and don't want to hurt anyone I don't have to."

"Deal?" one of the men scoffed, stepping forward. "We don't deal. This is our
land. The law holds no claim here, stranger. You may be good in a fight, but
you can't take us all on at once. Give us your money and your valuables."
After a pause and a glance at Naru, he added, "And your woman."

"Hey!" Naru protested. "I'm not his woman!"

"Then you're free for the taking?" the bandit leader asked, grinning.

"Why you- Oooohhh...." Naru shook her fist at him angrily.

"Don't get your temper up, whatever you do," Ranma whispered to her.

Naru's fury faded quickly. She needed to act rationally against this many men;
Ranma was right. "Sorry, Sensei," she mumbled.

"Well, you can try and take things from me, but I don't think you'll have much
luck. The deal I'm offering you is that if you leave us alone, I won't kick
your sorry butts," Ranma replied, smiling pleasantly.

"Ah, how about ... no?" the bandit leader suggested, grinning. "Okay, leave
the woman for last -- GET HIM!" All of the bandits drew swords and charged
Ranma.

Naru quickly backed away to give him room, but he didn't wait for the bandits
to reach him -- he charged in, arcing about in a wide circle. To her eyes, the
bandits were worthless in terms of skill compared to Ranma or Motoko. These
thugs would need to train for years to even bring this fight to the level of
their daily practices.

Though ... there were an awful lot of them. Ranma wove through them
effortlessly, winding his footsteps in a spiral pattern. Naru nodded,
remembering his first fight against Motoko, and threw herself flat just before
he finished dancing around the last few bandits and reached the center of his
route. "Hiryuu Shouten HA!" the cry rang out, and in the desert heat, the
whirling vortex of air was even bigger than it had been against Motoko,
quickly whipping Naru's hair about, and pulling her hat off.

The thugs and their dune buggies were swept up in the storm, along with most
of the upper half of the dune. When it cleared, Ranma was standing in the
center, atop a now slightly flattened rise in the sand, though he too had lost
his hat. He looked upwards and frowned. "I wonder if they reached the ocean,"
he mused.

"Are you kidding?" Naru asked, looking around.

Ranma snorted. "Did you see them land somewhere else?" he asked.

"...you know, Oe-sensei, you're kind of scary when you're angry," Naru finally
said.

"Believe me, that technique requires absolute calm," Ranma said, shaking his
head. "Soul of ice. Anyway. We're close to the oasis. If we press on, we won't
have to spend another night out here."

"Right," Naru said, grunting as she hefted Ranma's pack and held it out for
him. He took it from her, shouldering the burden and consulting his compass
before resuming the journey.

* * *

Keitaro hummed to himself, dusting off the large clay pot that he and Seta had
discovered earlier that day. The oasis was a nice base camp, even if they were
going to be stuck for a while. Truthfully, he doubted Seta was highly
concerned, either. And for whatever reason, Nyamo didn't seem to mind.

Come to think of it, he reflected, this wasn't a bad way to live. "I kind of
think I could get used to the quiet and calm," he said aloud, to no one in
particular.

Seta suddenly cried out, "Ha!" and started running towards his van at top
speed.

Keitaro set down the pot, and rose. "What's wrong?" he called to the man
questioningly.

"Could be bandits," Seta replied, drawing a sword from the stack of supplies
and looking up expectantly. The entire oasis sat at the bottom of a series of
cliffs, only two routes leading down to the basin floor from the desert. One
of those channels was a river, and the other was simply a dry riverbed. The
only other way to come down would have been over the cliffs, but Keitaro
imagined any bandit would scout from there before heading down.

Raising a hand to shade his eyes as he scanned the cliffs, Keitaro blinked,
seeing a blurred form leap from the wall. "Wait, is that-" He had just enough
time to dive to one side as the form slammed to the ground where he was
standing, narrowly evading ... whoever it was.

Sprawled out, he rolled over, looking up in time to see Ranma looming above
him and glaring downward fiercely.

Keitaro's jaw dropped, as he heard Seta approach. Ranma reached one hand in
his pocket for a moment before producing a slip of paper. "You lost this," he
said holding it out, and offering a strained smile.

The junior archaeologist blinked, sat up, and looked at 'this'. The slip of
paper was ... a handwritten note? No, a series of notes! He read through them
quickly. "So ... you came out here to tell me that the girls all wished me
luck on the test?" he asked, looking up at Ranma in confusion.

"Other side, idiot," Naru snapped.

"Oh, right," Keitaro said, flipping it over. "Oh. My exam ticket." He frowned,
and looked up at Ranma. "Why did you bring this to me?"

Naru growled, "Because, you idiot, you _got in_! You _passed_!"

"And then you just ran away!" Ranma grumbled. "I'm not allowed to, so you can
bet I'm not lettin' you get away with it either."

"Well, I-- Naru?" Keitaro turned to look, and sure enough, she was standing
next to Ranma. "When did you get here?"

"A few seconds ago. The cliff looked a bit steep for a jump," she said.
Turning to Ranma, she asked, "Would you like me to hit him for you?"

Ranma sighed and sank to a sitting position. "Nah. I think I wore my temper
out on those bandits," he said. "Hey, Noriyasu-san. How's your dig going?"

"Pretty well!" Seta said, smiling. "Nice of you to drop in! I don't suppose
you brought any gas with you?"

Ranma shook his head. "Sorry, Noriyasu-san. Anyway, today's the thirteenth,"
he said to Keitaro. "That means we've got to get you back to town by the day
after tomorrow."

"Well, actually, you don't," Keitaro said, crumpling the ticket up, and
tossing it over his shoulder. "I'm enjoying my time here. I'd like to be an
archaeologist, like Seta."

"I'm glad to hear that!" Seta said, grinning. "But, you know, Toudai is a
great school for learning to become an archaeologist."

"But I didn't get in!" Keitaro protested, looking at Seta anxiously.

"Okay," Ranma said, covering his eyes. "I take it back. Naru? Can you please
hit him for me? Just once?"

"Gladly!" Naru replied, slapping Keitaro lightly on one cheek.

"Ow," Keitaro yelped. "That was ... well, it kind of stings! What was that
for?"

"Even when I'm nice to you, you whine! Well, fine. I haven't even gotten to
what I'm going to do to you for running away. That was for not getting the
point. Keitaro, you remember that exam you took?" Naru asked.

Grumbling, Keitaro allowed, "Yeah, I do. You keep bringing my failure up."

"Keitaro, you idiot," Naru sighed. "You didn't fail. You passed!"

Keitaro blinked as the realization set in. "I ... passed?" he asked. "ACK! I
crumpled my ticket!" In a panic, he dove for the scrap of paper, quickly
smoothing it out. "It's still okay!" he cheered. "Now, I just need to sign the
bottom and send it in! I can't believe it!"

"Well, here's where we run into a problem," Seta interrupted. "We're out of
gas, Keitaro. And we've got to get back to town to turn the ticket in."

Keitaro's eyes widened. "I'm doomed!" he moaned. "Doomed!"

* * *

Shinobu watched from a few steps away from everyone else. Too much had
happened too quickly, and she was trying to set everything straight in her
mind. Ranma sat to one side, apparently uncaring of the situation as he leaned
against a tree. Keitaro was trying not to panic, and Naru and Seta desperately
exchanged ideas on how to cross the desert. Motoko and Mitsune silently
considered, while Suu worked on her mechanized turtle.

Mutsumi simply sat nearby and watched Ranma, though her nearly perpetual smile
had been replaced with confused curiosity. And then, there was another girl,
who Shinobu thought reminded her eerily of herself. Or would, she suspected,
if she got a tan. Nyamo would be her name, according to the poster she'd seen
in town.

"Okay," Ranma suddenly called, prompting all to fall silent and look at him.
"I've got a plan. Motoko-chan and I will go to the bandit stronghold, and just
get some gas from them. I'm sure they owe us for the hats they made me and
Naru lose anyway."

"This sounds a good plan," Motoko agreed.

"Well-" Keitaro began, before Ranma cut him off, shaking his head.

"We don't have a lot of time. Motoko-chan, you might want to rest up; we'll
head out at about an hour before sundown. It should be cold and dark by the
time we get there," Ranma decided. Then he frowned and glanced across Keitaro,
Seta, and the girls curiously. "In the meantime, have any of you seen a really
big guy on this island?"

"What ... kind of question is that?" Mitsune asked, scratching her head. "A
big guy?"

"I dunno," Ranma said, shaking his head. "Last I saw him he was, eh, a bit
taller than me. But I was shorter, then. He had short black hair, wore a
yellow bandana ... carried an umbrella. Doesn't ring any bells?" He glanced
across everyone, his eyes skipping over Shinobu briefly, before snapping back
and locking onto her.

She resisted the impulse to step back, knowing that the cold spark of anger in
Ranma's eyes couldn't be directed at her, but feeling it anyway. "I ... did,"
she managed tremulously. "He ... saved us from the bandits. And then made the
bandits agree to give up their ways forever."

Nyamo said something in English, then, though Shinobu could only pick out a
handful of the words. She looked at Keitaro in befuddlement, and he offered,
"She's says that he's a local hero, Ranma. Apparently he's responsible for
keeping the bandits down."

Ranma's eyes lit up, the fury igniting within them. "That bastard's toast if I
get my hands on 'im!" he snarled. Shinobu jumped with alarm, momentarily
panicked, and was relieved to note she wasn't the only one. "I'm goin' out ta
the desert ta think for a bit. I'll catch up with you before sundown, Motoko-
chan."

Everyone watched in silence as he stalked away, the shimmers of the air in
desert heat seeming somehow to be more intense immediately near him, until he
reached the cliff top and vanished from sight.

"Oh," Mutsumi sighed sadly, shaking her head. "He hasn't forgotten at all."

All eyes immediately turned to the woman, as she stared wistfully at the point
where Ranma had disappeared from sight. "Spill!" Mitsune demanded. "This is
weird, even for Ranma, and I want to know what's going on."

"I didn't think my education was something he'd get into a murderous rage
over," Keitaro murmured.

"At a guess," Seta warned, cutting off further speculation, "it's nothing to
do with us. I'm sure at this point that if Oe-san wanted us to be involved,
he'd let us know."

"You're right," Mutsumi agreed, climbing to her feet and dusting the sand off
of the flowing white desert robes that she wore. "I'm going after him."

"Er, are you sure that's wise?" Keitaro asked, frowning. "You know, the
desert's dangerous, and- OW!" Then he said nothing clearly for a moment,
though he made several abortive noises that sounded like they aspired to be
communicative. He jumped up and down on one foot while clutching the other in
both hands, shooting Naru an annoyed glance. Naru merely looked innocent and
surprised.

When Keitaro had settled down and said nothing else, Naru quietly said,
"Keitaro. Once I knew where you were, and I told Ranma I was going after you,
he knew better than to stop me."

Keitaro's face reddened, and Shinobu winced. Well, she decided, sighing, that
was it. That final confirmation. She already knew, she was certain, who
Keitaro liked. But if Naru was going to spell it out for him.... She smiled,
feeling a sudden sensation of relief. It wasn't that bad; the clues had let
her know for weeks what was going on. She'd had plenty of time to prepare
herself.

Shaking her head, she dismissed that for the moment, watching Mutsumi slowly
climb the path up the cliff and vanish after Ranma. "I bet they'll be hungry
when they get back," she decided. "Is there anything that needs to be cooked?"

* * *

Some distance into the sands, but not so far that he couldn't get back to the
oasis within a minute or two, Ranma sat atop one of the desert's taller dunes.
He could see no telltale dust plumes to suggest bandit activity, but that
thought only disappointed him. The dust of movement was only a precursor to
the dust of battle.

And Ranma wanted a fight badly; he practically ached for it, and knew better
than to ask Motoko or Seta to spar. Bad enough he had collapsed back through
all of the training he and his brother had done to improve his speech. Bad
enough he'd found his rage at Ryouga so quickly. But to lose it in front of
the girls like that?

To make even Motoko jump in nervous fright, to mention nothing of the moment
of stark terror he'd evoked in Shinobu's eyes. Seta's expression held nothing
more than sympathy and regret, which Ranma couldn't understand. But
Mutsumi....

Such pity! She felt so sorry for him; he could see it in her gaze, and that
sad smile....

He raised his right hand into a fist and angrily punched the desert next to
him. "Stupid sand," he growled. "Stupid ... stupid...." He trailed off,
punching it again, and again, until his knuckles were raw and sore. The sand
was merely slightly dimpled. He stared at his knuckles for a moment, and then
dropped his hand to his side with a sigh. "No. I'm the stupid one," he
muttered.

"You're not stupid," Mutsumi's voice came to him.

He was on his feet in a heartbeat, turning to face her before he finished
rising completely, but quickly sank back to his dune. "Why are ... you here?"
he asked dumbly. To make him realize how low he was by showing more of the
pity he could see on her face? "I don't need your pity," he added quietly,
looking away.

"It's not pity, Ranma-kun," Mutsumi corrected gently, sinking to kneel before
Ranma and taking his wounded hand between both of her own. "It's sympathy."

"How would you know?" he managed half-heartedly.

"Because ... when I used good-girl's exercise number one, I saw exactly why
you're angry right now," she said quietly. "Remember? And I know you're angry
because you're hurt. And because of what you couldn't do. That girl ... you
loved her, didn't you?"

Ranma took a deep breath and closed his eyes, turning his face to the sun. "I
did," he managed in a wheezing voice. "She meant ... a lot to me."

"Do you ... want to talk about it now?" she asked hopefully.

He wanted to scream, to shake his head, to run away, to.... "I think ... if I
don't," he managed, shakily, "I'm gonna explode. I've been running from this
too long. I.... Okay, look, Mutsumi-chan. I can't ever tell this to anyone
else, because I'm breaking my word of honor already by telling you."

She nodded her understanding and promised, "I'll never speak of it with anyone
but you and Tama-chan, Ranma-kun."

He snorted at that and shook his head. "The only reason I'm telling you is
because you'll figure it out anyway, probably. You ... remember some of what
happened to me, right?"

She nodded again, and moved to sit next to him, still clasping his wounded
hand in both of hers, though she set those in her lap, and offered him a
comforting smile.

* * *