A Fiancee in the Grass: part 1: The Gathering Storm a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Andrew Aelfwine ********** The characters and situations of Ranma « belong to Takahashi Rumiko, and I am merely borrowing them for this non-profit work of fanfiction. It may be archived, distributed, and translated freely, as long as this disclaimer and my name are not removed. If you care to translate it into Irish, French, Scots, or Old through Early Modern English, please drop me a note--I'd love to talk about it. C&C greatly desired, public or private. Flames deleted, unless they're exceptionally amusing, or written in idiomatic Middle English. In the latter case, I'll want to carry on a long, boring dialogue about the loss of case structure with you. You have been warned ********** Author's Note: This was written in 1997. I'm not so fond of it these days. I might continue it someday, but think it will neet quite a bit of work- - my understanding of the characters has changed a bit with the years. God alone knows when if ever I'll get 'round to it. I'm including it on my webpage mainly because I've noticed it having a fair bit of readership in the Mini-Archive. As I've said previously, I'm a completist. ********** This work contains sexual situations, although all details take place "off-stage." In later chapters, violence is an increasing possibility. It is not intended for children. ********** It was a quiet evening in Nerima, Japan. Quiet all over. Ordinary folk had for the most part retreated to their houses as night fell, gathering around hearths and televisions, closing doors against the late autumn chill. Even the martial artists who made up an unusually large portion of the small Tokyo suburb's population were spending their time quietly at home, not out challenging each other or searching for lost treasures. In a small dojo attatched to the home of the Tendou family, two young people were engaged in their separate divisions of the art. Saotome Ranma was quietly practicing a set of wu shu forms he'd learned in China, some years before. He hadn't had call to use those techniques in a while, and it certainly wouldn't do for the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts to lose his edge in any way. In the opposite end of the hall, his fiancee, Tendou Akane, was breaking bricks. True, she'd been breaking them since her infancy. But it was always pleasant, to see the strong earthen bricks crumble beneath her hands. Anything could be broken, you just had to find the right place to hit it. Her techniques might not be as impressive as say, Ryouga's flashy Breaking Point, but they did the job they needed to do, without any great fuss or shouting. Ranma kept watching her, out of the corner of his eye. She was glorious, there was no question about it. True, all of his fiancees were beautiful women, all of them were strong and talented martial artists, but there was something magical about Akane, something that made him shrug off her blows and insults with the thought that, well, she'd had a hard life, and lost her mother young, and just needed to work off some anger. Ukyou was gorgeous, yes, and skilled, and he cared for her deeply, but she was his childhood friend, and he could never look at her without thinking of the little kid he'd tussled with in Kansai all those years ago. Shampoo was truly incredible, in some respects, but just a little too brazen for Ranma's taste. Kodachi's beauty was only enhanced by her air of lurking menace, just like the short sword that was her namesake, and he sensed at times that she wasn't half as crazy as everyone thought, but somehow she lacked Akane's finer qualities, to his mind. No, Akane was the one, there was no question. At last, he gave up his own practice and sat where he could watch her. Breaking her last stack of bricks, she turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "You know, Akane, you're kind of cute when you're breaking things." He cringed inside at the sheer banality of what he'd just said, but to his surprise she smiled as if he'd written a poem to match the best of Basho or Li Po. "You've certainly been being nice to me lately, Ranma." He smiled nervously. She was his fiancee, surely it shouldn't be so difficult for him. But somehow he always felt like a clumsy peasant with her, always about to knock something over, accidentally break a delicate piece of porcelain, step on a toe, use the wrong word. "Well, Akane, I've been tryin', I guess." "You mean you weren't before." "No! I mean, it's gotten easier, no that's not what I mean, no...." She was laughing. "Ranma, don't worry. I think I know what you're saying. You've learned, haven't you?" "Well, yeah, I guess. You know I didn't have much of a proper raising, out on the road and stuff. It's taken me a while to...pick up the technique." "The technique?" "Well, that's how I think about it. It took me a while to figure it out. But I think I've got it down, now. Akane, I...like you a lot. More than that, I love..." She cut him off with a kiss, full and hard to the mouth; her hands reached behind his head to grasp his pigtail, twining it around her fingers in a manner he found incredibly erotic. The kiss seemed to last forever, her tongue probing beyond his teeth, seeming to almost reach his throat. He wrapped his arms about her, tried to give as good as he got. When Akane pulled her face away, her smile seemed to indicate that he had been more than successful. "I wondered how long it would take you to say that. Let's go upstairs." Making love was a delight. Even if they were inexperienced, they were two martial artists, well used to new and difficult exercises, strong and tireless, skilled in controlling their bodies. They got through most of Vatsyayana's basic positions before, exhausted, they could only lie in each other's arms. Akane smiled, kissed him one more time, closed her eyes, and instantly fell asleep. Ranma lay awake a moment longer, thinking to himself He'd tried several times, but only gotten as far as "I" or "Lo..." before she stopped his mouth with her fierce kisses. And she herself had never even begun to confess her love. he thought as he followed her into slumber. ***** Kunou Kodachi woke in a sweat. "Dearest Gods," she said aloud, "I'm much afeared some evil doth stalk my lord Ranma." The dream had been horrid, and it hadn't been the first such she'd had of late. >>> Ranma lay in the arms of Tendou Akane, both of them nude...Ranma sat in a quiet dell, writing a poem, and she knew it was for Akane...Akane stalked Ranma with her mallet, creeping up behind him, and Kodachi wanted to scream, cry out to Ranma-sama to run, to block, to do something, but she could not utter a word...Ranma lay on a pyre, shrouded, only his face showing amid the white wrappings...Tendou Akane stood at the head of the wooden stack with a torch, a smile of obscene joy on her face... >>> Kodachi couldn't fall back to sleep, so she sat up and turned on a small light. Pen and paper came from her nightstand, and she began to write and sketch, to try and analyse her dream-images. Something was deeply wrong. Not so much the vision of Ranma and Akane in bed she had dreamt of Ranma and the other fiancees before, sometimes even of herself joining them, and she accepted the possibility, unpleasant as she might find it. "Nay, 'tis the image of Ranma on his burning mound that likes me not. Though 'tis known a dream may carry naught beside the fears of the dreamer, the third night of the same dreaming beareth, methinks, a darker reading." she thought aloud, falling back into her cradle speech. "I greatly fear this Akane doth intend my love some injury." But how could any woman think to do him harm? He was so handsome, so dear, so full of life; she had always assumed that Akane and all the others desired him for the same reasons as herself. ***** In a small apartment above an okonomiyaki shop, another of Ranma's fiancees awoke from dire dreams. "Akane, killing Ranma?" Ukyou Kuonji said aloud to her empty room. "I've always realised she had a sadistic streak, but to kill him? Why?" "Ukyou-sama?" said a soft voice from beyond her door "Are you unwell?" "No, Konatsu," she said "I'm fine. I just had a strange dream guess I shouldn't have been experimenting with the okonomiyaki so soon before bed. Why don't you go back to sleep?" "Yes, m'lady." the transvestite ninja assistant cook said. She strained her ears, could barely hear his footsteps as he returned to his bed. Ukyou thought absently. She lay down and closed her eyes, but sleep did not come readily to her. ***** Even in China, one Xian Pu of the Amazons slept ill on her pallet, despite the homey scent of herbs and earth and tea and woodsmoke that she missed so much in Japan. "I think the violent girl intends some injury to my husband." she said in Mandarin. "What was that?" her younger cousin asked from her own bed. "Nothing, Lao Xin, nothing." she replied. But though she closed her eyes, the dream-image kept haunting her Akane striking with deadly force, striking a blow that the man who had so handily beaten Xian Pu could surely have blocked with ease, but him doing nothing as the Japanese girl took his life... Xian Pu thought to herself. Sure, she could understand the occasional application of a mallet or a fist; Amazon wives seldom needed such measures to control their husbands, but it was accepted that a man might require a mild amount of disciplining at the beginning of a marriage, especially if he were a foreigner who might not understand the natural order of things. But killing such a wonderful catch would be the action of a psychopath, and she had always thought that somewhere in her heart Akane did truly care for Ranma; why else would she so resist Xian Pu's claim to him? ***** But together in Akane's room on the upper floor of the Tendou home, Ranma and Akane slept dreamlessly the sleep of the joyfully exhausted. Akane lay wrapped in Ranma's arms, her face pressed to his muscular chest, and it would have been needful to pry them apart if any observer were to see the strange smile on her face, a smile that might, at first appearance, have been that of any well satisfied woman in the arms of her lover, but a smile which had in some measure that quality which is associated with a cat who has just gained entry to a nest of helpless baby mice. The next morning, Ranma and Akane got up early, to avoid shocking Kasumi, and took a walk before breakfast. Their fathers chose to have a private conversation by the pond. "Do you know where your son spent last night, Saotome?" Tendou Soun whispered to his old friend. "Well, he wasn't in our room, so...did Akane leave him unconscious in the dojo again?" "No, my friend, I think they were in her room." "Are you not upset?" "Surely not. Don't you see this is what we've been dreaming of? We'll have them married before the week is out! Our families will be united!" On that last sentence his voice rose from a whisper to a shout. "Daddy, why didn't you let me make the announcement?" Akane said from the gate. She had an arm wrapped around Ranma, as a child might hold a pet or a favorite toy. For his part, Ranma could seem to look at no-one and nothing else, and his face bore the expression of a worshipper who has been blessed by his favorite goddess. "Wonderful! How soon do you want the wedding? We could have it today if you like." "Can't we wait a week and have a proper wedding?" Akane replied. "But what about...the others?" "Don't worry, Daddy, I'm sure they won't be any problem." Soun might have insisted, but then Kasumi, who had heard her father's announcement and come out from the kitchen to see, chirped brightly "Surely you don't mean to rush things so, Father? A wedding should be special, and I really don't see how we can do it right with less than a week to prepare." Akane smiled brightly at her sister, and they all went in to breakfast. She and Ranma sat down at the table, side by side. They held hands whenever possible, and no-one could help but feel happy when they saw the two so loving. Even Nabiki felt a glow of warm fuzziness in her heart. But somehow, in the back of her mind, she thought to herself As much as she loved her sister, she knew she was a violent and temperamental person; this transition from hammer-wielding fiance-beater to perfect lovebird was just a little too quick for her way of thinking. ***** Later in the morning, Akane sat under the overhang of the roof with a small book, watching while Ranma and his father sparred. Kasumi sat herself down beside her sister, said cheerfully "What are you reading, Akane?" "Just one of Mother's journals, Oneechan. Since she's not here to advise me, I figure that the only way to learn from her is to read her thoughts." "That's nice." Kasumi said, beaming as usual. Their mother's notes toward a history of the Tendou Clan were interesting, but hardly seemed like the most appropriate reading for the times. In all truth, Kasumi was a little bit puzzled by her sister's recent actions. She didn't feel the same suspicions that Nabiki did; Kasumi believed in the basic goodness of people, and most particularly that of her sister, and she had always expected that someday Akane and Ranma would stop fighting, but it did seem to her that Akane had been behaving a little bit strangely of late. This wasn't the first time in the past few weeks that she'd found Akane reading their mother's writings, which she'd never shown an interest in before, and then there was the time she'd found Akane practicing her handwriting, and she'd been writing in two different styles, neither of which was her own, Just last week, it had been: ***** "That's a lovely hand, Akane, but why aren't you concentrating on improving the style you usually use? You wouldn't need as much work to make it really beautiful." "Oh, I just felt like trying this one, Oneechan, that's all. Just for fun." Akane smiled up at her sister from her seat on the floor. "And why that other one? It's really...unusual." In all truth it was ugly and crude, but Kasumi would never say such a thing. "Oh, that's just a joke, that's all. I thought I'd see how bad I could make my characters. Just for fun." "Well, if it really amuses you, Akane-chan." Kasumi went back into the kitchen. She was sure her sister didn't mean anything by it, but why was she trying to write so much like their mother, on the one hand, and Uncle Saotome, on the other? ***** The morning's training ended, as usual, with both Ranma and his father falling into the pond. Also as usual, a panda and a redhaired girl stumbled out of the water. Also as usual, Kasumi called out "Your water is just heating up in the kitchen, Ranma, Uncle Saotome. Just a few minutes and it'll be ready for you to change back." Akane, however, behaved differently. Instead of making some remark about her sex-changing pervert fiance, she set the journal carefully aside and rose to meet him. And, ignoring the dripping clothing, not to mention the female body and the presence of the rest of the family, she embraced and kissed him, saying "Have a nice swim, Ranma-kun?" "Oh, isn't it wonderful to see them so much in love?" Kasumi burbled. "I'd suppose, Kasumi, I'd suppose." Nabiki said. Some minutes later she found an excuse to go out walking for a while. As it happened, her path took her directly to a local restaurant operated by certain members of the Chinese Amazon tribe, certain members whose reasons for coming to Nerima had little to do with a desire to sell ramen. There was little custom at the moment, it being the midafternoon, between the lunch and dinner rushes. She was able to select a table far from the other diners. Not that she really thought a pair of college students flirting with each other or an old man reading a newspaper were likely to be spies, but the habits of secrecy were as deeply ingrained in Nabiki as in any KGB operative or Yakuza arms dealer. The waiter/cook, a young man with thick glasses and a mane of waist-long black hair, smiled to see her; Mu Tsu was genuinely a friendly person, except when it came to those who might threaten his darling Xian Pu, and he rather liked Nabiki, in spite of her mercenary habits and love of yen. "What can I get you today, Tendou-san?" he said, in fluent Japanese with only the slightest hint of a Mandarin accent. "Oh, just tea and an order of dumplings, please." When he returned, she casually commented "I was actually expecting to see Shampoo today." "Oh, she and her great-grandmother have been gone for a couple of weeks now. I do miss her. I even find myself missing Elder Ku Lon, a little bit. If nothing else, it's hard to keep up the restaurant completely by myself. Why do you ask?" "Oh, I was just wondering. I don't mean to pry, but is there any chance that some kind of secret Amazon herbs or spices might have accidentally wound up in my house?" "No. The Elder decided to give such methods a rest some time ago. Why?" "Will you give me your word not to tell anyone? Including Shampoo and Cologne?" "As long as it poses no threat of harm to my beloved Xian Pu or to my people, I swear, upon my personal honour and that of my tribe." "Akane and Ranma have been...unusually affectionate towards each other of late. In Ranma's case, I'm not surprised all she ever had to do was stop beating and insulting him all the time. But in hers, I am. My sister has a good heart, but she's also violent by nature, and this sudden moodswing puzzles me. I'm curious if you might know of anything that could cause something like this." "No. I cannot say that I regret anything which draws Saotome Ranma away from my darling Xian Pu, but your concern troubles me. If some wizardry or druggery is afoot in Nerima, without any known source, it is potentially a threat to all of us. I will keep my eyes and ears open, and report to you anything which I hear and may honourably tell. I hope you will do the same." "I will." He went to refill the old man's tea cup, and then to serve another collegiate couple their udon. Nabiki finished her snack quickly, and left an extra-large tip beside her empty dishes. It felt odd to actually pay for a meal; she usually went to restaurants with people she could convince to buy for her. But this was an investment. She hated to draw the warrior-gymnast into this matter, especially when it might simply be that her sister had experienced a sudden conversion (stranger things had happened in Nerima; Nabiki clearly remembered seeing a flock of winged pigs when she was in elementary school), but something about this gave Nabiki gooseflesh. She had honed her instincts over the years, honed them just as much as the others had honed their martial arts, and she had learned to trust them. When they told her something was suspicious, she listened. And she had never experienced anything as suspicious as this, never. Kunou Kodachi was the only other party in Nerima who was at all likely to use drugs or some form of arcane persuasion. If she had no part in this, it would indicate the possibility of a new player on the field. New players could be deadly; this could just be a feint in some elaborate game, possibly one so vast that only Nabiki would be able to organise the defense of her family. And Nabiki did care for them, whatever the image she might present to the outside world. In her own way, she had a sense of loyalty as strong and deep as that of any samurai. Though a conversation with Kodachi might potentially expose them to a bit of trouble, Nabiki was confident that it would be nothing they were incapable of handling. A new enemy, on the other hand, could strike without warning at any moment, and might be a threat even the combined forces of all the Neriman friends and rivals couldn't handle without preparation. ***** Saotome Ranma, however, had no such thoughts. All he knew was that his dreams were finally coming true. "Akane, after the wedding, how would you feel about visiting my mother? Maybe my father could even go home again!" "Oh, Ranma," she said, smiling, "we can worry about all that future stuff later, can't we? Let's go take a walk." She slipped her hand through his arm as they walked out the door. she thought, ***** Nabiki knew she must move carefully. It simply wouldn't do to encounter Kunou Tatewaki right now. Although he was a good source of income, and a rather dear boy in his own peculiar way, he was unquestionably less rational than his sister, Kodachi. This was going to take something more than just walking up to the gates of their family estate and asking to be let in. She contemplated several stratagems, finally deciding that she would use the offer of photographs of the Pig- tailed Girl, as the Kunous insisted on calling Ranma's female form. Fortunately, she always carried a few new ones that were bound to attract his attention. With any luck he would immediately carry his new icons off to his room, leaving her in peace to deal with Kodachi. "Well, Tendou Nabiki, what brings you to this part of our beloved place of birth? No doubt you intend to sell my brother more pictures of his True Loves?" Kunou Kodachi laughed and twirled her combat ribbon about her fingers. As usual, she wore a leotard beneath her skirt and open jacket. Also as usual, the look in her eye was to Nabiki's mind about one degree removed from utter madness. The wind sported with her black hair, playing it about her shoulders and waist and back. Nabiki thought, "Ohayo, Kunou Kodachi. I was just this moment hoping to meet you. Is there any chance we could find a nicer place to talk than the street?" "There is a public park just down the road, and the leaves are lovely this time of year. I never thought you to have such a well developed sense of aesthetics." They walked there in silence; Nabiki had never cared for small talk, and Kodachi generally considered herself above such ridiculous gambits as talk about the weather and the state of the flowers. "Well, why do you seek the Black Rose?" Kodachi said. "I seek your company for the sake of asking about the odd behavior of certain inhabitants of my household. Have you been playing with your drugs again?" "Certainly not. I have sworn off such things, as true love cannot be created with chemicals. If Ranma were to cleave to me of his own free will, I would be delighted; however, no potion will aid in that endeavour." Nabiki thought to herself. She kept the friendly smile on her face through force of long-trained will. "I'm glad to hear that. I don't suppose there's any way you could prove it, is there? Just for my records, you understand." "Is not my word sufficient, Tendou Nabiki? I swear that I have not drugged any resident of the Tendou household in months, I swear it by the blood of my ancestors and the Goddess Amaterasu." The Kunous did believe in honour, as much as they might be willing to manipulate and scheme, and in their own way they were very devout. "Tendou Nabiki? May I ask you a question?" "Ah, sure. It may cost you, though." "Question for question. As I see it, you owe me three. Then you may start charging me." "Hey! Only one." "Two, then." "Done." "Very well. The first: has Akane treated Ranma-sama in any unusual manner of late, either unusually well or unusually ill?" "Ah, well, she, ah..." "Please, Nabiki? I swear to you that I will not harm her, no matter what your answer might be." "Well, she has been a little bit nicer to him these past few days. Hasn't hit him even half as much as usual." "My second question: do you think it likely that she might attempt to kill him?" Nabiki couldn't even answer for a moment. But in some strange way the idea stuck with her, and wouldn't leave her. This sudden change of behavior, this burst of affection, this taking him to bed and screwing his brains out, could it be part of some bizarre plan to lose this meddlesome fiance? "Please, answer me truly. I'll even pay you, if you like. But I must know. I've been having fell dreams of late, dark and evil. I worry for him." "No, Kodachi, I can't believe she'd kill him. There's no reason for it, none at all." "I certainly wouldn't think so, either. After all, if she wanted rid of him, any of us would take him off her hands in a heartbeat. But my dreams are dark, dark, and I fear for him." "You're just worried about losing him, that's all." Nabiki said, half-heartedly. She was as rationalistic as the next person, and not over-given to belief in dreams. But it was hard to live in Nerima, even harder to be a Tendou, and not accept the possibility of prophetic dreams, given the ridiculous amount of magic that seemed to go on around them. But Akane killing Ranma just didn't make sense, did it? "I hope you are correct, I hope you are. But if not, please, Nabiki, will you call me to help him, if you can? I understand not wanting your sister to face the law, but if you called me she wouldn't have to, I'd simply come and rescue him and take him out of your lives and you'd never have to see him again if you didn't want to. Nabiki, I'd happily lose him to a wife whom he genuinely loved, your sister, Shampoo, Ukyou...Gods, even you yourself, if you two were happy together. But I will do anything in my power to save his life, from anyone who tries to kill him, whether that should be another fiancee or even my own kin, for the simple reason that I much doubt that I should survive him. Do you understand me?" "I guess so. I still don't think she's going to kill him, but if she tries I'll happily call you. The last thing I want is to have my little sister become a murderer." "If you wish some sort of retainer..." "No need, no need. Ranma's one of my best sources of income, no? The favor of my informing you of any attempt on his life would be balanced by your favor of keeping him alive so I could continue to make money off him." "Very well, then, Nabiki, very well. I hope to all the Gods that you are correct about your sister's intentions. Good day." Kodachi turned and left the park, moving at a brisk walk in the direction of her family property. Nabiki shivered. ***** After dinner that night, Ranma and Akane went out to look at the moon. Nabiki did something she hadn't done in a while; she went to talk with Kasumi in the kitchen. "Do you think Akane's acting strange lately, sister?" she said. "Why, Nabiki, why would you say that? She's acting differently, yes, but is that strange?" "I don't know, Kasumi, I don't know. There's just something odd about this. I went and talked with Mousse and with Kodachi today." "And what did they say?" "Both of them insist that they know nothing. And Kodachi seemed frightened. She kept asking me if I thought that Akane would, ah, do something to Ranma." "Kodachi has always been a little bit strange herself, Nabiki." "I know. But I've never seen her so worried before. I don't know what this means, sister, truly I don't." "It probably means nothing. Do you really think Akane would try to hurt Ranma? When he's so much in love with her, and they're being so sweet?" "I don't know, Kasumi, I don't know. But remember when we used to play hide and seek?" "How could I ever forget, Nabiki?" Kasumi looked more than a bit wistful as she stood still for a moment, the dishtowel and wok forgotten in her hand. "How could I ever forget our childhood?" "Remember how Akane won, that one time?" "The time she found that little space under the house, and she covered herself with the plants?" Kasumi's smile showed her thoughts were ten years away. "No, the time she set us up, remember? All those times that she put the pillows under the rug, to make us think she was hiding there? And we always found them, and we thought it was so silly of her?" "Until the one time that we didn't check the lump under the rug at all?" Kasumi's expression changed slightly. "And she was right there all along, hiding in plain sight." They found other things to talk about for the rest of the evening. ***** Ranma and Akane stayed up late in the dojo, sparring. Ranma thought happily as they moved across the floor in elaborate patterns, kicking and punching and blocking. It was so nice to just have a friendly little bout, the way he and Ukyou used to when they were kids. No anger, no rivalry, just...friends. They moved so well together, and in some ways it was closer to dancing than combat. he thought, as her fist moved right through his parry to stop a half inch from his nose. He raised his head and kissed her knuckles. She hugged him, tightly. "Ready to go to bed, Ranma?" "I guess so." "Come along, then." "Akane, ah.... about last night?" "It was wonderful, Ranma. Surely you don't want to go back to sleeping alone?" "No, I don't. But I'm worried, Akane, what about your family?" "What about them?" "What if they catch us?" "Don't worry. My father's content enough that he'll have us married in a week. Nabiki won't make any money off it, so she doesn't care." "Kasumi was the one I was really worried about." "Don't worry, Ranma. She isn't really as prudish as she seems. She won't disturb us." "That's good. I never want to sleep alone again, Akane." "Let's take a bath, and then we'll go to my room. I've got a little surprise for you." The little surprise was a pot of hot water in a teacozy, and a jug of icewater. She switched his form back and forth at least a half-dozen times. Before, Ranma would have said it sounded perverted. But if Akane didn't mind making love to his girl-form, how could he object to her desires? Everything was perfect, except for the little nagging fact that she'd never let him finish saying "I love you," and neither had she even begun to say any such thing herself. he scolded himself. ***** "But Great-grandmother," Xian Pu begged "I truly think she intends to kill him. Shouldn't we go back to Japan to help him?" "Nonsense, Xian Pu, nonsense." the old woman said with a patient smile. "How could she actually harm Ranma? You're a better martial artist than she, and he beat you, didn't he? Son-in- law will be fine. If she actually is plotting against him, so much the better for us; maybe she'll drive him straight into your arms. Now, stop your worrying, dear, it doesn't become an Amazon warrior." "Yes, great-grandmother." ***** During the middle of the night, the temperature began to drop. Clouds travelled in with the prevailing winds, promising a storm to come. Kunou Kodachi sat and watched the sky through the French doors that overlooked her garden. In her hands she held a rosary, the clicking of the beads playing counterpoint to the soft murmur of her prayers. In the tiny bedroom above her restaurant, Kuonji Ukyou reread for the fifth time a novel she hadn't particularly enjoyed on the first reading. Every few pages, her eyes fell again on her favorite photo of her fiance. Xian Pu passed the night in mediation at her village temple. Tendou Nabiki sat up and did figures, a sort of mathematical mantra that allowed her subconscious to wrestle unimpeded with the question of her sister's recent behavior. Even Kasumi had strange and unpleasant dreams. Only Ranma and Akane slept peacefully.