 |
free hosting image hosting hosting reseller online album e-shop famous people |  |
  |
||
|
free hosting image hosting hosting reseller online album e-shop famous people | |
|
||
Chapter Seven: The Cure?
“When one is blinded by that which he seeks, it is hard for him to see the lines in between.”
—Unknown
* * * * * *
Akane sat rigidly at her desk, hands clasped tightly in front of her, her dark eyes fixed on some indeterminate spot just beyond Sensei Tanaka.
“Perhaps you did not hear my question, Miss Tendo.”
Oh, she did. She’d heard it loud and clear.
“In that case, I suggest that you pay attention this time.”
Oh, she’d been paying attention, all right. She just couldn’t understand how being put under interrogation was going to do any good now that the real perpetrators were gone.
Along with Ranma. And Ryouga. And Shampoo and Mousse.
Gone. All gone.
This time out of their own accord.
“Miss Tendo, I will ask you one more time—where is Ranma Saotome?”
Her head jerked up, startled. “Uhm, excuse me?”
Sensei Tanaka heaved a tired, patient sigh. “I said, do you know where Ranma Saotome is?”
Akane’s gaze dritfed down to her desktop, absentmindedly rubbing her thumb against its edge. “I don’t know,” she replied softly.
“You...don’t know.” It was more of a question than a statement.
She felt a flicker of annoyance ignite somewhere within her. “No, Sensei Tanaka—I do not know where he is.”
And I don’t care, she added silently. That baka can fall off the ends of the earth looking for that stupid cave for all I care.
“Well, Miss Tendo, I am afraid that will simply not be enough. If you haven’t noticed, he has quite a lot of explaining to do. There is an insanely huge radioactive-spawned pig sitting in front of Principal Kunou’s office refusing to vacate the premises...”
“He belongs to Akari Unryuu. You know, the new girl? I’m sure she’ll pick him up soon.”
“...the schoolyard looks like a war zone...”
“It’s always been that way, Sensei Tanaka.”
“...and we’ve got four people who are unaccounted for.”
Akane plunked her chin on the palm of her hand, her forehead crinkling.
Sensei Tanaka continued. “I know that there were eight people involved in that brawl—including you, strangely enough—and of those eight, only you, Miss Kuonji, and the two young Kunous remain. What I want to know, Miss Tendo, is where the other four are.”
Akane scowled. Damned if she knew. It was just like Ranma to succumb to his masculine pride and go off on his own trying to discover a solution to his troubles by himself. He never even once considered enlisting the help and support of those who cared about him enough to—
At that last part, she scratched her head. Where had that come from, anyway?
“Miss Tendo, I realize that this is not the first time this particular institution has under siege by bouts of lunacy. But this...no, I have never seen anything quite like this. Someone has to answer for this, Miss Tendo, and Ranma Saotome’s the easiest target.”
She glanced down at her hands, alternately folding and unfolding them. “I know...Ranma was the one the clan challenged. And he was the only reason they decided to come here to Furinkan High.”
Sensei Tanaka removed his glasses and leaned back in his chair. “Did you say ‘clan’?”
“Yes, sensei. At least, that’s what they called themselves.”
He panicked inwardly. Great. Another bunch of juvenile crazies taking up residence in this already off-kilter little town. Perfect. He composed himself. “Well, anyway, regarding Mister Saotome’s whereabouts—”
The classroom door’s hinges finally snapped and the door fell in, revealing quite a number of Akane and Ranma’s schoolmates piled outside in various eavesdropping stances.
“Ah...ah...why, it’s Sensei Tanaka!”
“Fancy meeting you here, sensei!”
“We were just...ah...testing the door—yeah, that’s it!”
“Yeah...an experiment...we were conducting an experiment, that’s all!”
Akane closed her eyes, deep in speculation, while Sensei Tanaka proceeded to chase off the eavesdroppers. She was still reeling from the events that had occurred in the last two days—from the Jusenkyoites’ abductions to their night rescue to Ranma’s mixed signals toward her to the furious battle that left her joints aching. And even after all that, Ranma had still found the strength to embark on a journey to find a cure for his gender ailment.
He’d mentioned to her about his intention to find a cave—a cave that supposedly held the answer to all his problems—from his Jusenkyo dilemma to the Dragon clan’s intention to hunt him down unless he was cured. Predictably, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryouga had opted to accompany him. Well, she amended, maybe Ryouga had gone along because he’d promised her he’d watch over Ranma—but Shampoo and Mousse had willingly followed.
Into what?
Akane tucked some stray stands of her bobbed hair behind her ear. Oh, Ranma, she thought sadly. I hope that you do find your cure—I just wish that you’d have trusted me enough to come along with you...
And if there wasn’t a cure, she hoped that Ranma wouldn’t be too disappointed.
Because, whether he knew it or not, she liked him the way he was.
* * * * * *
Ranma grimaced.
His ribs were acting up again where a member of the clan had pummeled him. In fact, his entire torso was practically screaming with those little hurts and pains that had been inflicted in that battle. Even worse, the nausea that had overwhelmed him after that brain-frying rapport he’d undergone with that last Shoryuu lackey was beginning to reassert itself in a very unwelcome way.
“You okay, Ranma?”
Ranma tried to stifle his sense of vertigo as he shook his head. This wasn’t the time to coddle himself. Not when his cure was at stake. “Yeah, just gimme a second.”
Shampoo peered up at him as she took his arm. Her maroon-hued eyes sparkled with worry. “You sure, Ranma?”
Mousse watched them silently, not even bothering to hide the look of jealousy on his face. Shampoo had never looked at him that way when he was hurt—which happened to be about eighty percent of the time he was in her presence. Come to think of it, most of his injuries had been inflicted by her—both physically and mentally. In the past he’d simply overlooked Shampoo’s indifferent and sometimes cruel behavior toward him, instead placing the blame on Ranma.
But months after months of that same painful cycle of rejection, he was starting to notice that the problem lay with Shampoo rather than Ranma.
Mousse shut that part of his brain off, appalled with himself. What had he been thinking? Of course it was all Ranma’s fault. It always was.
Wasn’t it?
Mousse hung his head. Most people would have immediately pronounced him imbecilic just because he had terrible eyesight and kept on misinterpreting various objects. Maybe Shampoo would not know—maybe she would never know—but he was so much more than that.
The problem was, he had no idea how to show her.
“Cut the crap, Ranma.” Ryouga strode forward, jolting Mousse out of his somber cogitation. “What hell have you gotten us into this time?”
Mousse looked around, conducting a careful study of his surroundings. Ranma’s irregular, zigzagging trail had plunked them from the heart of Nerima into the middle of a lush green forest, although Mousse was not certain how it had been accomplished. He and the two other Jusenkyoites had been too absorbed in trying to keep Ranma in sight, though they’d also had to retrieve Ryouga when his sense of misdirection kicked into gear.
Nevertheless, all Mousse could be sure of was that they were somewhere in one of the mountains that overlooked the urban district. The journey there had taken a good amount of time, since twilight was beginning to descend, and the jaunt by rooftop had taken them onto higher grounds without them being aware of it.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere, Ranma,” Ryouga was saying.
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure you’re familiar with that,” Ranma murmured.
“Shut up, Ranma. This isn’t the time for your lame jokes.”
“Whatever.”
“Are you trying to be a wiseguy?”
Mousse suppressed a wince of annoyance. He should have known that Ranma and Ryouga would fall prey to their customary bickering the second they stopped for a break. Though he’d learned how to tune out their arguments pretty much for as long as he’d known them, at times they still got to him. His tolerance for them both was low enough, but the only reason he’d endured them so far—besides the fact that he wanted to watch over Shampoo—was because there was a cure at stake here: a real, honest-to-goodness cure for the Jusenkyou affliction inside the Cave of Yasakami.
Yasakami, Mousse thought. He was certain that he’d heard that word before—a long time ago, back in his village at Joketsuzoku. A strange word, full of connotations he could not grasp at this moment...
He glanced up to see Shampoo, who appeared to be acting as a moderator between Ranma and Ryouga. The two of them were now engaged in a spirited round of name-calling.
“Bacon Breath!”
“Pigtailed Pervert!”
Mousse rolled his eyes behind his thick spectacles.
“Pig-Boy!”
“Half-Girl!”
Their exchange continued even as the four of them resumed their trek to the Cave of Yasakami, with Ranma leading the way.
* * * * * *
“Hey, Akane.”
Akane spun around in one of Furinkan High’s hallways, hearing the patter of footfalls behind her. “Ukyou?” she asked in mild surprise.
“The one and only, sugar.” Ukyou sauntered over, looking vaguely anxious. “So how’d the third degree go?”
Akane shrugged. “Hard to say. Sensei Tanaka wouldn’t believe me when I told him I didn’t know where Ranma and the others were.”
“Yeah, I know.” Ukyou nodded vigorously. “Miss Kaneda couldn’t see the truth even if it came and bit her on the nose.”
“They took you in for questioning, too?”
“Yeah. They called in everyone who was involved in the fight. And trust me, sweetie, they got a line of eyewitnesses longer than the Great Wall of China.”
“What?” Akane sounded astonished.
Ukyou tilted her head to the side. “Seems that we had an audience when we were down there fighting. Those people above us weren’t cheering for the Olympics, Akane.”
Akane stifled a groan and dragged a hand across her forehead. “Oh, no. You mean that the entire school was watching us?”
“I guess they thought we were more interesting than any History or Algebra lecture.”
“Great. Just great.” Akane stopped walking for a moment and leaned back on the wall of the corridor, setting her school bag on the polished linoleum floor. She was still raw from the battering the clan had imparted upon her.
“Where’re Kunou and Kodachi?” Akane queried nonchalantly, determined not to show Ukyou how sore she was.
Ukyou blew a raspberry, her bangs fanning out across her brow. “Well...let’s just say Principal Kunou sent them to Miss Hinako to straighten them out.”
“Ouch.” Akane winced. Miss Hinako was notorious for her extremely nasty habit of temporarily sucking up other people’s auras. “Are they all right?”
“Apparently. Kunou was saying that no consequence was too great for granting his pig-tailed goddess’s request, or something like that. He was really passionate ’bout it, too. I mean, I heard his voice even when I was stuck in Miss Kaneda’s room.”
“I shoulda known Ranma had tricked Kunou into joining this battle by using his girl-form,” mused Akane, undecided on whether she should be amused or irked by deviousness that lurked inside the brain of Kunou’s ‘pigtailed goddess’. “What about Kodachi?”
“She’s okay.” The okonomiyaki chef wrinkled her nose delicately. “Obviously she’s got no regrets about saving Ranchan’s life.”
“I see.” Akane frowned.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Ukyou volunteered. “Principal Kunou called up your house.”
“What?” the other girl screeched for the second time in the conversation.
“They wanted to get in touch with Ranma’s dad, just in case Ranma was there with him.”
“Was he?” Akane demanded urgently.
Ukyou didn’t notice the oddness in the other girl’s tone. “No. He had no idea where Ranchan was. Akari was over there, too, and she said that she didn’t know where Ryouga was, either. Shampoo and Mousse’re still gone, too. And according to your dad, so’s Shampoo’s great-grandmother Cologne.”
“You mean she never came back ever since she left last night?”
The other girl shook her head, her mahogany hair swishing like a bronze halo in the weak rays of the setting sun. “Nope. Your dad said that maybe she was still looking into the Dragon Dynasty or something. Mr. Saotome’s fine, though. He says no one tried to attack him today. Anyway, your dad says that we should get over to the dojo as fast as we can.”
Akane swallowed hard. Last night, when they’d rescued Ranma and the others, it had almost been too late—for Ranma, anyway. What if they were too late the next time that happened?
Ukyou patted her arm sympathetically. “Don’t worry, Akane,” she told the other girl sincerely. “I’m sure Ranchan’ll come back.”
Brushing furtively at the corner of her eyes, Akane managed a tiny smile. She and Ukyou had never really been the closest of friends—perhaps because of the fiancée quandary—but of all the rivals for Ranma’s heart, Akane was convinced that Ukyou Kuonji was the least deranged and the most rational one among them.
“After all,” continued Ukyou, grinning brightly, “He’s gotta come back for me, right?”
Akane facefaulted. Then again...
* * * * * *
“Well,” Ranma announced triumphantly, “here we are.”
Ryouga, Mousse, and Shampoo looked up.
Looming up in front of them, huge and dark and nearly obscured by swarms of leaves and profuse foliage, was the entrance of a cave. The opening so resembled the side of the mountain itself that it was nearly impossible to tell that it was even there at all. The cave entrance and the shrubbery surrounding it appeared wild and untouched, like a place unbreached by humans for a very, very long time.
“You sure about this, Ranma?” inquired Shampoo. There was the smallest flicker of trepidation upon her features.
“Yeah.” Ranma stretched his arms. His gray-blue eyes were sparkling with excitement. “This is the one, all right. Exactly the way the other guy pictured it.”
Ryouga snorted and rubbed the back of his neck. “This could be a mistake, you know.”
Ranma whirled on him, displeased at his lack of enthusiasm. “Jeez, what’s the matter with you? This could be your only chance of gettin’ rid of your curse!”
“Is it?” Mousse wondered. “How can you be certain of that? The only reason you know about this cave is because some random Dragon guy decided to show you how to get here in the first place! Doesn’t that warrant a little suspicion?”
“He’s right, Ranma,” confirmed Ryouga. “Are you really desperate enough to believe something told to you by a guy who’s been trying to kill you? What if this’s a trap?”
Ranma studied the both of them solemnly, then swiveled his gaze back toward the cave. “We gotta try,” he said, carefully avoiding their stares. “I mean, this’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to findin’ a cure. This could be our last shot at removing this damn curse from us, and I ain’t gonna let it slip away. Even if it is a trap.”
And with that, he headed straight into the yawning mouth of the huge cave.
“Ranma, wait!”
Mousse’s jaw slackened as Shampoo ran over to Ranma, entwining his arm in her own as she glanced up adoringly into his face.
“Shampoo no leave Ranma,” she declared. “Shampoo no care if it is trap. In fact, Shampoo think Ranma very brave.”
“Uhm, gee, thanks,” was all Ranma could manage.
Ryouga rolled his eyes and spared a brief glimpse at Mousse, who appeared to be shaking in barely controlled rage. I react the same way when Akane gets close to Ranma, he thought, almost absently. Then he shuddered. Damn, where did that come from?
“Well, I’m not afraid either! I mean, that’s just a stupid cave anyway! What’s there to be afraid of? Shampoo, wait up! I’m coming with you, Shampoo...Shampoo?” Mousse didn’t stop bellowing even as he scurried in after them.
Ryouga exhaled in derision. Bakas. Fine, then. If they didn’t listen to him then that was their problem, not his.
He leaned back against the side of a small tree and shifted his rucksack on his tired shoulders, closing his eyes. Finally he began to notice the smallest hint of a tune drifting into his ears—whether it came from the wind or the rustle of the leaves he couldn’t tell. Gradually he began to hum the notes, and soon his brain supplied the lyrics to the song.
“This little pig went to market;
This little pig stayed at home;
And this little pig cried
Bwee bwee bwee bwee bwee bwee
All the way home...”
Ryouga’s eyes snapped open in horror. Pigs, pigs, pigs.
No more pigs.
He shuffled over to the cave entrance and peered in. “Hey, Ranma? Shampoo? Mousse?”
His only response was a muffled series of whacking noises. It sounded suspiciously like Shampoo’s bonbori pounding in someone’s skull. It was followed by the Chinese Amazon girl’s high-pitched voice.
“Stupid Mousse! Why you hug piece of rock?”
Ryouga sighed. Everything seemed normal—so far. But then again, there was no telling what was waiting for them the deeper they got into that subterranean passage.
Then again, if there really was a cure...
The lost boy felt his reticence crumble. He glanced one more time at the green forest behind him, then plunged into the dimness of the cavern.
* * * * * *
“For the last time, Upperclassman Kunou,” the school psychiatrist probed one more time, “can you tell me what happened out there today?”
Tatewaki Kunou stared down at the diminutive, bespectacled form before him, much like someone studying a canker sore. Then he cleared his throat and swung his badly scuffed bokken, knocking a potted plant off its perch on a nearby file cabinet. “How dare you consider yourself worthy to be in the exalted presence of Tatewaki Kunou! It is surely a miracle that I have chosen to acknowledge thee, though you are no doubt beneath my notice—”
The psychiatrist massaged his balding temples. “Mr. Kunou...sir, all I need to know is what occurred out there in front of the school this morning. Although I know that you have been subject to Miss Hinako’s brand of...punishment, I am certain that there a few brain cells still left in your noble head to understand what I’m trying to inquire of you here—Miss Kodachi, what do you think you’re doing?”
Kodachi looked up innocently, her lashes aflutter. “Why, sir, whatever do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. Stop throwing my table against the wall. That’s not going to break it, no matter what you think.”
“Oh.” She blinked as she felt the gears slowly whir in her head. Then she burst out hysterically, “But—but I simply must get out of here!”
“And why is that, Miss Kodachi?” queried the weary man.
“I must find my Ranma darling!” she sobbed.
“Saotome?” Kunou was instantly alert. “Has that vile sorcerer returned at last to practice his black arts once more upon the fair maidens of the land? Lead me to him, and I shall impart upon him vengeance from the house of Kunou!”
As if to demonstrate his point, he began to thrash his bokken wildly, knocking off more potted plants, piles of documents, pencil holders, paperweights, lamps, and various other supplies.
The psychiatrist gawked in disbelief as the upperclassman shattered file cabinet after file cabinet, leaving him open to being bulldozed by a frantic Kodachi.
“Must get out of here!” she chanted, seizing the leather-upholstered chair that sat behind the school psychiatrist’s desk. She hefted it over her head and proceeded to smash it against the office’s dented wall. “Must find my Ranma-darling!”
“I shall smite thee, Ranma Saotome!” grated Kunou, stiffly hacking up and down with his bokken like an automaton.
The poor man decided that an early retirement wasn’t looking so bad after all.
* * * * * *
The cave was beautiful, Ranma noted. There was certainly no denying that.
Instead of the gloomy, pitch-black interior he’d anticipated, the cave was illuminated with a soft, ethereal blue light that seemed to seep out from the very foundation of the cavern. The roof was a good ten feet above their heads, and it didn’t appear to contain any sort of crevice that would allow even the smallest shaft of sunlight to trickle in. Scattered everywhere throughout the underground chamber were stalactites and stalagmites of every size and shape—some pointed, some blunt, some made of rock, and others made of combinations of unidentifiable minerals. Less widespread were the occasional patches of moss and spindly trees.
The most unusual—and most unique—aspect of the cave, though, were the numerous chunks of crystal that had lodged themselves into the rocky floor and walls. A few were opalescent in appearance, resembling diamonds, but most of them were tinged with a deep blue-green hue.
The overall effect was breathtaking, and Ranma thought it a shame that he, Ryouga, Shampoo, and Mousse were the only ones to visit this place in a long time.
Like more than a thousand years...
Somehow the realization didn’t astound Ranma. Somehow, he already knew that this was the first time in more than one thousand years that the Cave of Yasakami had welcomed any living thing, human or animal, into its surreal atmosphere.
The four of them had now reached what seemed to be the end of the cave. A brief examination revealed that there was a thin opening on the left side of the cul-de-sac, and one by one they went through.
They found themselves in an immense chamber, sealed off from the rest of the cavern by granite walls. Imbedded on the walls were chunks of blue crystal, which lent the room an uncanny yet soothing cobalt glow.
At the end of the chamber was a magnificent underground waterfall. It was rather small—a mere eight feet high—and surrounded by shards of crystal, moss, and some green plant growth. The flow of the falling water wasn’t even strong enough to generate a fine mist. Instead of crashing past rocks into a pool of churning foam, the blue-green-tinted water descended in a smooth, unobstructed path, like sake being poured from a jar. Scattered around the waterfall were several crystal-infested pools of varying size and depth. The glow that emitted from the crystals reflected on the pool surfaces and danced on the ceiling in restless ripples of light.
Everything was exactly as Ranma had expected.
When Shampoo finally spoke, it was in a reverent whisper. “Ai-yah. You... you think this it, Ranma?”
“I don’t think so.” Ranma twisted his head about, taking in every detail of the place. “I know so.”
Ryouga carried out his own little scrutiny of the chamber, appraising it with wary eyes as he set down his backpack. “So...how exactly do we get cured here? Jump in one of the pools?”
Mousse adjusted his glasses. “That would seem like a start,” he agreed, “but I am curious to know as to how we’re supposed to tell which pool is which. I do not wish to turn into anything else.”
“This ain’t Jusenkyo, you guys.” Ranma’s eyes were locked on the waterfall. “All those pools ain’t gonna cure you. It’s the waterfall.”
“You mean all Shampoo have to do is jump in waterfall, and Shampoo cured?” Shampoo blurted out incredulously.
Ranma nodded.
Ryouga blinked. No. It was too easy. After nearly a year of living in dual bodies, all they had to do was take a dip in this waterfall, and then that was it. No more transforming. No more shame. No more hiding.
It was all too easy.
“I’ll go first,” he said aloud.
Shampoo and Mousse regarded him questioningly. Ranma swiveled around and studied Ryouga with narrowed eyes.
“Okay,” said the pigtailed boy.
Ryouga nodded and turned toward the waterfall at the other side of the room.
“But you gotta do one thing first.”
The lost boy stopped and raised an inquiring eyebrow.
“You hafta change into your cursed form.”
“What?” Ryouga yelled in dismay. The sound bounced off the walls of the chamber.
“That’s the deal, Ryouga. Like I said, this ain’t Jusenkyo. We gotta play by different rules.”
“Wait a minute! Why do I have to change into my cursed form?”
“What big deal?” Shampoo queried. “There nothing to be ashamed of. Ryouga make very tasty piglet.”
“I do not! And keep away from me, you pork-loving Amazon! I don’t care what you say, Ranma! Get this through your thick head—I am not going to—”
Ranma grabbed a still-babbling Ryouga by his bandanna.
“—change into—hey, what d’you think you’re doing?”
And tossed him headfirst into one of the pools.
“I’ll get you for this, Ranmaaaa—!”
*SPLASH*
With lightning-quick speed, Ranma reached into the pool, making sure his skin didn’t make contact with the cool water, and pulled out a tiny wriggling, dripping object.
Shampoo and Mousse stared at it.
The little black piglet known to them as P-Chan glared sullenly at them as it dangled in the air. Ranma was holding him by the spotted black-and-yellow bandanna that was now wrapped around the piglet’s neck like a collar.
Mousse glanced into the pool where Ryouga had disappeared into. All he saw was Ryouga’s sleeveless yellow shirt and dark pants, floating limply on the water.
Ranma grinned at them evilly as he began to set the piglet down. P-Chan squirmed around to take a bite of Ranma’s arm, but Ranma sensed the animal’s intent and dropped it like a hot potato. The piglet hit the craggy ground squarely on his bottom and emitted an aggravated piggy squeal.
“Well, you were askin’ for it,” Ranma scolded him. “Now, if I’m right, all you gotta do is go to that waterfall and get under the water.” He nudged the animal on the rump with the toe of his foot. “Well? What’cha waitin’ for, P-Chan?”
The piglet bweed in protest, but it got up and trotted off in the waterfall’s direction, staring daggers at Ranma over its shoulder as it went.
Ranma hurried to the side of the waterfall as P-Chan struggled to clamber onto its bank. Mousse and Shampoo followed, looking on in fascination.
“Upsie-daisy.” Ranma applied a little push, and P-Chan scrambled up onto the waterfall’s edge. The next second the piglet’s hooves slipped on the wet moss and it tumbled headlong toward the water. Ranma lurched forward to grab the animal, but he was too late.
*SPLASH*
“Ryouga?”
The piglet poked its head out of the water and launched into a series of indignant squeals. Then it stopped abruptly and stared down at the water that swirled around its haunches. Its eyes were round as saucers.
“N-nothing happen,” Shampoo breathed. Disappointment clouded her countenance.
“ ’Course not,” Ranma declared. “C’mon, P-Chan, you ain’t even under the waterfall yet. Don’t worry—the water ain’t that deep—even for you.”
P-Chan looked dazed as it got to its hooves and slowly approached the stream of falling water. It paused an inch between the falls, hesitating. Then it closed its eyes and lodged itself between the pouring water and its ground of impact.
There was a sudden explosion of blue-green light.
Ranma squinted in the glare, even as he strained forward to see what was happening. Some seconds later it dimmed a little, and his eyes goggled as he caught sight of P-Chan—or what had been P-Chan.
Where there should have been a thoroughly-soaked black piglet was a glittering blue kaleidoscopic object with P-Chan’s silhouette. And before Ranma’s eyes, the little piglet’s form began to distort and warp itself into a new form.
It grew a little wider, a little bigger, reshaping itself...
An amazed gasp tore loose from Shampoo’s throat.
...into a form that he knew well.
Mousse nearly dropped his glasses in shock.
Without warning, the glow ceased abruptly. Ranma, Shampoo, and Mousse gaped at the spot where, a few seconds before, had been a little black piglet.
Only this time, P-Chan was gone.
In its place was the completely naked figure of Ryouga Hibiki.
He was curled up in a fetal position, perched on his toes, his arms around his folded-up legs. The waterfall continued to pour down his head, trickling down his face, his shoulders, his thighs, and dripping off his eyelashes and the shiny clumps of hair that were plastered down over his bandanna and down his forehead. His wet skin glinted with a pearl-like luminescence, glimmering on well-defined muscles. His eyes were shut.
Mousse decided to protect the innocence of Shampoo’s eyes by jumping in front of her, but she was already blushing badly as she punted him aside.
Ranma, meanwhile stood by wordlessly, somewhat bothered by Ryouga’s uncharacteristic stillness. Maybe he’s in shock, he thought.
Ryouga finally moved his lips, his eyes still closed. “Hey, Ranma?”
“Yeah?”
“Gimme my clothes. I’m freezing my butt off.”
Ranma smirked widely and performed a mock salute. “Whatever ya say, P-Cha—I mean, Ryouga.”
* * * * * *
Shampoo and Mousse took their respective dips after that, although Shampoo tried to convince Ranma to take theirs together and Mousse staunchly insisted that she take her dip with him. In the end, Ryouga exasperatedly threw them all into the pool and challenged them to find their own way into the waterfall while he filled his water bottle.
Shampoo had been second. When she relinquished her cat-form and reverted to her normal one, Mousse-Duck flew out and wrapped a robe around her—much to her annoyance. When it was Mousse’s turn he somehow managed undergo the reformation with his white Chinese robes still on.
It was Ranma’s turn, and he—now a she—approached the waterfall slowly, as if in a trance. Then she stepped into the spray and felt the alteration process run its course.
The entire process was weird—he had to give it that. In that few seconds as he returned to his original form, Ranma was certain that he distinctly felt something rip in two inside of him.
When he pulled himself out of the pool, his clothes soaked but now hundred-percent male, he shoved the disturbing feeling aside and indulged himself in a healthy round of shouting and cartwheels.
“All right! No more bein’ a guh-hrrl! No more bein’ a guh-hrrl! Bwhahahahaha...!”
He even allowed himself an unsettling amount of Kunou-esque laughs before Ryouga, Shampoo, and Mousse dragged him out of the chamber.
They left the Cave of Yasakami, laughing, yelling, high-fiving each other, and simply reveling in the fact they had been forever purged of the Jusenkyo curse. For now, Mousse was not absorbed in his undying love for Shampoo, Ryouga was not wallowing in depression or his hate for Ranma, Shampoo was not clinging to Ranma like seaweed on a rock, and Ranma was not pissing anyone off.
For now.
They were singing as they made their way back to Nerima, with Ranma belting out the lyrics in a horrible falsetto voice and Ryouga letting out a series of vigorous “bwee’s” after every chorus.
They all refrained from looking back.
* * * * * *
The chamber in the Cave of Yasakami was still and silent, save for the sound of the rushing water from the waterfall. The crystals winked, the waterfall foamed, and the ripples of reflected light continued their perpetual dance across the chamber’s ceiling.
The near-silence was broken as one of the pools began to churn. Something reached out of the blue-green froth and grasped at the bank.
It was a human arm.
* * * * * *
Go to Chapter Eight
Go back to Main