Chapter 09 - Redemption
"Ranma ! Nabiki ! Over here !"
Ranma and Nabiki cleared the customs doorway of the Honolulu
International Airport and looked for the origin of the call.
A bouncy well endowed Chinese woman with unusual long lavender hair
peaking out from under a baseball cap waved from where she stood
balanced on the back of a row of airport seats. This was, of course,
Shampoo, but if you hadn't seen her in the past six years you might be
forgiven for mistaking her for someone else. For one thing, she spoke
fluent english. For another, she wasn't wearing her prior outfit de
rigueur of a silk chinese dress or pantsuit. Instead, a pair of tight
cutoff jean shorts and t-shirt with the bottom torn off covered
glimpses of a bikini. A pair of aviator glasses perched atop the cap
and a set of sturdy hiking boots completed the ensemble. Shampoo had
grown a few more inches and a radiant tan during the past years, while
loosing none of her curvaceousness.
If more confirmation of Shampoo's identity was needed, it could be had
with the simple expedient of looking at the person behind her.
Whatever the changes in Shampoo had been, Mousse hadn't changed. He
still work his long sleeve white robes, still had long silky black
hair, and still had cokebottle bottom glasses. Well, okay, he had
changed a little. He actually wore the glasses now, and had filled
out and broadened a little as well. He looked ridiculously
overdressed for Hawaii.
On catching sight of the pair, Ranma's face broke into a smile.
Holding Nabiki's hand he threaded a graceful path through the crowds.
"Shampoo, Mousse ! It's good to see you !" Hugs and handshakes were
exchanged all around. "Been keeping in practice, I see. Good ! We
need some more sparring partners !"
"Thanks for offering to put us up on vacation here. We really didn't
want to stay in Nermia after the first couple of days disaster with
our parents, and didn't really have anywhere else to go." Nabiki
found Ranma's hand again with one of hers and gestured with the other.
"No problem. When I got the note from Great Grandmother saying you
needed someplace to go, I was happy too help. It's also our duty
since Great Grandmother adopted you into the tribe. Besides, you've
fallen into the right company here. I'm running my own charter
touring company with Mousse for the rich Americans and Japanese who
vacation here. Mousse and I can show you all the sights. I even have
my own helicopter now. It's a blast. Better than landing my bicycle
on you, even." Shampoo laughs in memory, and Mousse grimaces.
"That's great ! We really have no idea what to do with ourselves
right now, and we're not supposed to go back for another 13 weeks. So
anyway, what brought you to Hawaii, of all places ? I would have
guessed you would go back home to the village after you left Nermia.
Elder Cologne never told us."
"Since when have you stopped calling Great Grandmother 'old ghoul',
Ranma ? And your English is a lot more polished than what I remember
your Japanese. Looks like ours isn't the only story. Let's get your
luggage, and we can talk on the way, or tomorrow. There's no hurry,
after all. We'll use my chopper to get home over on Lanai island.
You'll like it, there's a lot less people there."
"Don't worry about luggage. We're carrying everything already."
Nabiki responds. "You know, your english is pretty good, too. And
when did you get helicopter of your own ? That's impressive. Where's
it at ?"
Mousse and Shampoo look at the two small bags carried by Ranma and
Nabiki. "That's all your luggage ?" asks Mousse. "I should have known
you'd still have to better me, Saotome. You didn't have to start
practicing hidden weapons, too."
"Mousse, be nice. They just might not have brought much, you know."
Shampoo reproves. "Besides, you only carry that training potty in
your robes for pride's sake."
"Well, actually, I'm afraid it's a bit of both." Ranma admits. "We do
use your technique a lot, but we just didn't bring much this trip. We
really never got much in the way of casual clothing. Hey, maybe you
can give us some tips on that technique while we're here. Some of the
stuff we normally carry gets pretty uncomfortable."
Chattering happily, or in Mousses case following grumpily, the old
friends make their way out of the terminal.
***
Gentle tropical sunlight peeked past the curtains of the guestroom
Ranma was using, slowly illuminating the western style bed. Sometime
during the night, Nabiki had crept into bed with him again. He was
never certain who she did that for, anymore, but he didn't mind in the
least. It'd been a long time since he had last jumped out of bed in
shock and dumped her on the floor, and he'd been waking up in strange
places for a couple of years, now, so that didn't bother him.
Nevertheless, a different sort of panic attack happened. 'Oh shit !
We way overslept ! Gotta get going or else ...' Ranma's mind
sputtered here. What did they have to do ? They always had to do
something, didn't they ?
Occupied by this conundrum, Ranma's mind didn't censor his hands like
normal, and he absently started stroking Nabiki's hair. Eventually,
he recalled Mousse and Shampoo the night before telling them to relax
and sleep themselves out. "Elder Cologne's orders," Shampoo had
smirked. They had mentioned something about having a charter flight
that morning, but said that they'd be back in the afternoon.
Finally realizing the amazing fact that they had nothing they had to
do, Ranma turned his attention back to the beautiful young woman
snuggled next to him. 'Beautiful ? Where did that come from ? Maybe
Hallfreid's little speech effected me more than I thought.' he
ruminated. 'This is Nabiki. The person who made me hurt Ukyo and
Shampoo, and, well, freed me from from my parents and the fiance
situation; and wouldn't let me join Akane, and well, she gave me
another reason to live; and she drove me like a slave for years, but
together we've accomplished more than I ever thought possible; she's
used me for cheap thrills and sold me, even sold my curse for study,
but ever since Akane's passing she's always been here for me, more
than anyone has ever done, even Mom or Pops. Ah geez, I gotta admit I
do like her. Maybe even l, l, love her. Akane, what'm'I gonna do now
?' Ranma breaks off his thoughts, shaking his head in his confusion.
Nabiki finally stirs and wakes, gradually woken by Ranma's increasing
activity. Ranma finds his thoughts derailed by a pair of expressive
chocolate brown eyes gazing into his. It was funny to see the same
initial confusion in Nabiki's expression. "Ranma, why are we still in
bed ? Don't we have to, uuhh, what do we have to do this morning ?"
Ranma laughed, and for the first time in years, relaxed.
***
"So I decided to stay here when I found out that the rains and ocean
are typically warm enough to not trigger my curse. That's why Mousse
and I never bothered with those crazy boxes you sent us. Mousse, of
course, stuck with me like a barnacle." Shampoo grimaces as fire light
dashes across her features in the secluded beach cove. The remnants
of a Saotome sized feast lay decimated in front of them.
"Shampoo my love, that's not fair !" whined Mousse across the fire
from her.
"Quiet you. You're a good tour guide, but how many times do I have to
say I don't love you ! Oh yeah, Nabiki, the other reason, as you've
found out, is that the surfing is great ! It's as much a blast as
flying !"
"Yeah, I love it ! Only, how did you get so tan ? With all the ki
manipulation and self healing techniques Ranma and Elder Cologne have
shown me, it doesn't seem like I can even burn anymore, much less
tan." Nabiki pouts from her own barnacle like position by Ranma's
side.
"Oh, you can selectively turn it off with a little concentration.
I'll show you the trick tomorrow," a half tanned Ranma wearing only a
pair of swim trunks puts down his last plate and stretches. He, too,
had stopped wearing his anti-curse box some while ago, after failing
to have need of it even once since they arrived. "Ah, that was great
!" he sighs and leans back against his own surfboard, holding open his
arm for Nabiki, who promptly takes advantage to snuggle.
"So tell me, what's been up with everyone back in Japan ? I haven't
heard much since Elder Cologne moved back home" asked Shampoo.
"Except from Ryoga, that is. Somehow he manages to show up here every
so often."
"Yeah, he does that to us, too. I still haven't figured out how he
does it. I mean, I've met him literally half way around the globe in
the space of a week," Ranma shakes his head in amazement.
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
Nabiki picks up the narration with a slight frown. "Well, let's see,
we didn't know to much about what was happening back home ourselves
until we started this vacation. We tried to spend at least a while at
home, but Ukyo and Kasumi are the only ones we could stand to be
around."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"Ukyo eventually accepted an offer to be adopted into the Saotome
clan, which means a formal end to the feud and engagement. That and I
still get to see her, which is great. She's still cooking
okonomiyaki, but now Mom sees her as her responsibility, and is trying
to set her up with just about anything on two legs," Ranma matches
Nabiki's expression with his own frown.
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Kasumi's doing great, too," Nabiki takes up her own part of the
story. "She says she was inspired by us, and is in medical school
herself, now. The same one we went to." She giggles. "She says the
faculty there is a little put off by a normal Tendo."
"Anyway, Ranma's parents and Daddy all moved in together, so Ranma's
mother could take care of them," Nabiki continued.
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"And that seems to have allowed the two old men to get even more
stupid, if that's possible," Ranma smoothly interjects. "We hadn't
been home more than 30 seconds, literally, when they started in about
getting a priest, calling it a matter of honor. They only stopped
when Mom 'reminded' me that I should by rights be carrying the Saotome
honor blade instead of her. Apparently dumb and dumber forgot that
I'm clan head, again."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Of course, that just meant they tried the 'subtle' approach. Those
two's idea of subtle was to try to steal our clothes and lock us into
a room together." Nabiki bypasses giggling and passes straight into
laughter for a second. "Not that Ranma's Mom was any better. I
swear, the suggestions that woman tried to pass off on me about her
'manly' son. And I thought he was a pervert."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"Who else ? Oh, yeah, the Kunos." It was Ranma's turn again. "Kuno
was pissed that he hadn't heard from his 'pigtailed girl', although
that ditzy ex-cheerleader Mariko kept him from attacking me more than
once a day. Feh - the one time I've regretted my Hippocratic oath.
'Do No Harm', it says. I'd like to see Hippocrates deal with Kuno
before saying that again."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Come on Ranma, it wasn't that bad. It was almost fun charging him to
call someone to come and pick him up afterward, for old times sake."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"Anyway, it was all driving us nuts. So we were really glad to get
Elder Cologne's message suggesting that we come and visit you two.
Thank God the Kuno's didn't hear we were coming here"
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Um, " Mousse's neck appears to be stuck from following too many
conversational volleys, "do you two do that often ?"
"Do what ?" Ranma and Nabiki respond in perfect chorus, sporting
identical blank looks. Shampoo slowly falls over backwards. Mousse
only works at trying to unstick his neck.
"Do you have any idea what that's about ?" Nabiki whispers to Ranma.
"Not a thing. Maybe it's some weird Amazon thing. I hope it's
nothing we have to learn," he whispers back. Speaking up, Ranma
changes the topic. "So, who's up for a little sparring to work off
that meal? Mousse, Shampoo, wanna try a little two on one ?"
"Hah ! Saotome, you shall never defeat the two of us together !"
Mousse cries as, neck finally fixed, he accepts the invitation and
leaps to his feet, robes billowing around him.
Nabiki sighs unhappily for a moment as Ranma slides away from her,
dodging the opening barrage of, of, pineapples (!?) Mousse pulls from
his robes. 'Well, this Hawaii.' she shrugs. 'Just so long as he
doesn't pull a Kuno.' And even though she knew how it was done and
employed the same trick herself, it was still amazing to watch Shampoo
produce her trademark bonborii from within her one piece swimming suit
as she too, grinned and leaped at Ranma.
Gathering her knees to her chest, Nabiki smiles as she watches Ranma
in action. Even though she could tell that Ranma was holding back
quite a lot, he was grace and power personified. Ranma seemed to fade
in and out of the long shadows of the bright moon and fire, seemingly
barely redirecting Mousse or Shampoos' attack, but always with dire
results for the attacker, sending them flying uncontrollably through
the night sky.
The last couple of weeks had been wonderful. It took them a while to
be able to relax and let go, but Elder Cologne's advice had been
right. The relaxed attitude, lack of pressure, and no schedule had
been just what they needed. For the first time in years, Nabiki had
time enough to think about herself and review her life, without
pressure, without worrying about Ranma, and without being driven
herself by the memory of Akane. It was eye opening. 'I'm not sure
when it happened, but I love him', she admits to herself, broadening
her smile. 'I don't know if I helped him or he helped me more, just
by being there. I just know I don't want to even consider being
without him anymore. Akane, I hope this is okay with you, little
sister.'
At that moment, she was forced to roll sideways to dodge a spray of
sand thrown up by Shampoo's face. "Looks like you could use some
help, Shampoo," Nabiki offered as she gave Shampoo a hand up.
"Aiyaa ! I mean, yes ! I thought he was a doctor ! How in the world
did he get so good ?"
Together, the two friends jumped back into the fray. After some time,
Ranma was finally cornered between the three of them, unwilling to use
any of his more destructive moves, especially on Nabiki.
"Gotcha you baka pervert !" crowed Nabiki, completing a throw of her
own.
"No, wait, don't throw me into the iiicccceee !!" Ranma-chan sputters
as she extracts her head from the ice bucket, severely embarrassing
Mousse at the sight of her bare chest.
"See, I said you were a pervert, Ranma !" Nabiki and Shampoo
collapse in laughter, ending the sparring for the night.
***
Late that night, Ranma and Nabiki lay under the stars in the warm
sand. Nabiki is deeply asleep with her head on his shoulder. Ranma
ponders, one hand in his pocket, holding tightly onto something small.
'Akane, I do love her. I'm sorry. What do I do Akane ? What do I do
?'
Overhead, in the brilliant night time river of stars, a streak of
light suddenly flashes a brilliant path. Ranma slowly nods,
accepting. At peace, he wraps his arm around Nabiki, and he too falls
asleep.
***
Shampoo, in her now typical garb of cut offs, shortened t-shirt,
baseball cap and aviator glasses, points out the window of her
helicopter. "There it is, Kilauea Volcano."
Mousse takes over the narration in a practiced tour guide voice,
speaking over the headset microphone and bug like headphones which
allowed them to hear each other over the noise of the helicopter.
"The volcano has been erupting steadily since 1983. It sends up
130,000 gallons of lava a minute. Over 550 acres of land have been
added to Hawaii island by this volcano."
"Rivers of lava from this volcano has consumed over 181 homes, a
church, and a community center."
"We'll land just outside Volcano village, and catch a bus along crater
rim road, and up to the crater overlook."
Ranma and Nabiki plaster themselves to the windows appreciatively,
dressed in matching outfits of shorts, t-shirts and sneakers. Seeing
the glowing lava spurt into the air, Ranma lets loose a long,
impressed whistle. "I wonder how big of a Hiryu Shoten Ha whirlwind I
could make with that as a source of heat ?"
Shampoo twitches, causing the helicopter to jerk momentarily.
"Don't you even dare, Ranma," Nabiki slaps him gently. "Do you want
red hot lava scattered all over the island ? And how in the world
would you turn it off ?"
"Ow ! Sheesh ! Can't you people take a joke ?"
Shampoo recovers and circles the crater another time before breaking
off to approach Volcano village. As the near the village, a tour buss
can be seen leaving the village and driving up the switchbacks on
crater rim road.
Nabiki spots it first. She points to a spot of otherwise unremarkable
rock south and west of the village, near the edge of the greenery.
"Is that rock bulging there, or am I seeing things ?"
All eyes track the location that Nabiki points in. "You know, I think
you're right", Mousse starts a response, but does not finish. The
goddess Pele has come again to destroy and build the land.
A literally earth shaking rumble splits the air, audible even above
the rotors and engine of the helicopter. The light helicopter itself
is thrown skyward by a blast of air as rock and lava spew explosively
from the new brother to Halema'uma'u crater. From an aerial viewpoint,
concentric circles of earth and dust can be seen thrown up by as the
shockwave travels outward.
Miraculously, the small helicopter escapes being struck by the flying
debris. Shampoo is forced to use every bit of her highly trained
reflexes to bring the small craft again under control.
As the first wave of the explosion passes, however, it can be seen
that the tour bus noticed earlier was not so lucky. A boulder several
feet in size has struck the front of the touring coach, crippling the
vehicle. Ranma, automatically engaging reflexes from the past several
years of rescue work, had immediately started scanning for damage and
sees the crippled coach, caught in the earthquake shockwave, tip on
its side and slide forward and downhill toward the drop off at the next
switchback. The several dozens of kph speed the bus had prior to this
catastrophe now carried it forward uncontrolled toward it's doom.
"Shampoo, get us close to that bus, now !" Ranma commanded in a voice
compelling immediate obedience. As Shampoo tips the nose down, he
continues, "Nabiki, how much stuff have ya got ? I'm just carrying a
basic kit, one or two each of the most basic items. I left everything
else at home."
As he speaks, Nabiki and Ranma both start reaching out with their
finely developed senses, and something truly remarkable starts to
happen. A true master martial artist develops the near spooky ability
to be able to sense her opponents actions almost before the opponent
themselves knows he is going to make them. The intent of action is
sensed in the opponents ki, and the master can even at times project
his own ki to alter the actions of the opponent, controlling the
timing and pacing of an encounter, or defusing or avoiding it
entirely. If you ever find yourself facing such a master, you will
likely never even notice it happening, you will merely loose, badly.
Extended, this ability allows a master to sense nearly all that occurs
around her, by literally sensing the concentration and flow of ki and
intent. Ranma had trained Nabiki well enough that by now they would
both use this trick to locate the victims they sought to treat and
discern which of them would require attention in what order. What
they did not yet realize was that this technique worked with each
other as well. In a crisis (and often normally), they each knew what
the other was doing, what the other intended, and sometimes even
changed the others intent. It effectively allowed them to operate as
a team with unheard of ability and efficiency. They rarely had to
stop and consult the other, they rarely even had to deliberately
communicate with glances, posture or body language. They knew,
without even noticing it, what needed to be done to support the other
at any instant, and simply did it.
Highly trained groups of people could, and did, develop this level of
coordination by training in specific actions, for example a team of
professional athletes in a well practiced maneuver. Ranma and Nabiki,
however, could show this level of spooky coordination all the time,
flexibly adopting it to whatever the circumstance demanded.
"Not much either. Some plasma and saline that's not out of date, a
few I.V's, and some gauze." Nabiki was already, along with Ranma,
releasing her seatbelt, opening the copter door, and edging onto the
landing skid of the diving helicopter.
"It'll have to do. I hate improvising, it uses so much ki. Shampoo,
Mousse, get to the village and send what help you can. We'll be
along as soon as we've secured this."
At that, Ranma and Nabiki simultaneously stepped off the helicopter
skid, still well over a hundred feet in the air.
Mousse, freed from the task of preventing a head on crash into the
ground which occupied Shampoo, gaped at the sight of Ranma and Nabiki
apparently diving to their deaths, turning head down, no less ! Upon
intercepting the roadway the pair's vertical speed was by some miracle
transformed into a synchronized horizontal roll, so fast that it looked
like large human sized balls rather than people. The ball like blurs
ended with an crashing impact onto the front of the sliding bus, and
resolved into Ranma and Nabiki both pushing against the splintered
front of the bus and digging their feet into the ground, digging huge
parallel grooves in the roadway under their feet. The grooves
disappeared under the front of the bus, and reappeared from underneath
the back as the bus continued to slide forward.
How the mass of two people totaling less than 250 kilos made a
difference to the momentum of a multiple thousands of kilo touring
coach was unclear, but apparently it did. The bus could be seen
slowing dramatically. Just before it stopped entirely, safely well
away from the switchback, Ranma slipped to one side and slid one hand
across the length of the buses roof as it passed him. Whatever he did
caused it to open like a can of sardines, split cleanly from front to
back. Nabiki appeared from around the front of the now motionless
vehicle, and Ranma and Nabiki simultaneously grabbed the cut edge of
the roof and peeled it back, rolling it up like a sheet of tinfoil.
Wasting no time, both leaped into the revealed interior of the
vehicle, filled with still screaming hapless tourists. Sensing the
only serious injury among the people inside near the front, Ranma
slid impossibly fast to where the driver was still buckled in the
remnants of his seat, bleeding from the shrapnel like glass, metal,
and rock fragments thrown up when the boulder had struck the front of
the coach. A quick swipe with one hand, flickering with some ethereal
energy, released the moaning mass of flesh into Ranma's other arm.
The hand of the catching arm appeared to blur for a moment near the
back of the driver's neck as it caught him, apparently causing the
driver to fall unconscious.
Ranma leaped again, the driver in his arms, clearing the bus and
setting the man down on the roadway next to a signpost. Just in time
he raised his hand behind him and caught the I.V. and bag of plasma
Nabiki had lofted on a high parabola toward that spot a second before
Ranma landed, between her leap carrying out two young children and
bound returning to the bus for their elderly grandmother.
Suddenly, bloody fragments of improvised shrapnel, some quite small,
started flying off the driver Ranma was kneeling over. The fragments
originated in a wave starting at his head and proceeding toward his
feet, with the tattered remains of the man's clothing peeling back
like an orange. All the fragments landed in a neat little pile a
short distance to the side. During this process, Ranma's arms and
hands were invisible the naked eye. When his hands again resolved
themselves into visibility, like a CGI movie effect, the I.V. was
magical attached to the driver's arm and the plasma bag, now hung from
the signpost, was attached to the I.V.
Ranma paused for just long enough to insure that the unconscious driver
was breathing freely before joining Nabiki in evacuating the remaining
two thirds of the passengers. Any passenger not caught up in shock
might have noticed that driver was no longer bleeding and had a
sparing amount of gauze covering the worst of his wounds, which were
sutured shut. The man was squeaky clean, and a close examination of
the smaller visible wounds would have shown them to be uniformly and
cleanly cauterized, as if by the precise application of measured
amounts of heat or energy.
Seconds later, the evacuation of the bus was complete. None of the
other passengers had suffered worse than a mild concussion or
contusion, and Ranma had already eased these noticeably, apparently by
the simple expedient of a touch. Even more remarkably, the passengers
as a whole had ceased to panic, each in turn turning calm as she or he
was carried out of the ruined vehicle by Nabiki or Ranma.
As the flurry of action surrounding the coach had all happened in less
than a minutes time, the small helicopter above them was still clawing
out of it's hawk like dive. Finally leveling out, Shampoo turned her
attention to the pillar of smoke rising from the new crater, not
wanting her helicopter to suffer a repeat of the tour bus's fate.
What she saw froze her blood. Glancing down, she saw that somehow,
while she had been otherwise occupied, Ranma and Nabiki had apparently
stopped the runaway coach, split it asunder, and evacuated all the
people inside. Mousse was staring openmouthed at the scene below,
apparently in shock. His shock turned to horror when Shampoo prodded
him and pointed out what she had seen.
Making a decision, Shampoo turned around and directed her flight to
pass again low over the bus. Turning on her small P.A. system and
boosting the volume to it's maximum as she approached, she called out,
gaining the attention of those on the ground. "Ranma, Nabiki, the new
lava flow. It's huge, fast, and it's heading for the town."
Nabiki instantly turned toward Ranma, and as the helicopter passed low
over the bus to fast to enter a hover or land, she leaped, receiving a
boost from Ranma which placed the apex of her remarkably leap just
below the whirling rotor and straight into the still open door Mousse
had been in too much shock to close. Before she even stopped moving,
one of her hands had darted into the sleeve of Mousses robe and
reappeared with one of his chains, causing a cute duck like squawk of
protest a few seconds later. Before he reacted, however, the chain
was flung instantly out and down to where Ranma, at the apex of his
own leap from ground to bus to air, was barely able to grab it. She
extended the hand not holding the chain in time to catch Ranma's arm
as he shot through the open door himself, pulling up the chain he had
hung from, and finally closing the door.
Picking up and slipping his headset on, Ranma reaches over Shampoo and
turns off the P.A. "Can we reach the lava flow before it hits the
town ?" he demands of the shocked woman.
Thousands of years of selective breeding for warriors and a lifetime
of training allow Shampoo to react, despite the sudden shock of
Nabiki, then Ranma appearing behind her while still in mid-air.
"We'll try". She again turns her helicopter, tips the small craft
forward, opens the engine throttle, and increases the lift generated
by the main rotor. Shortly, the tiny craft is racing toward the
village at over 200 knots just above tree top level.
"Mousse, contact air traffic control and raise a mayday. Make certain
the people from that bus aren't forgotten about, either. They'll need
evacuation before the new lava flow might change direction. Shampoo,
bring me right over the head of the lava flow, fly Nabiki over the
village, then land and do the best you can to help out, okay ?"
In moments the small craft comes in sight of the village. Much damage
is visible in the village, from both the initial explosion of rubble,
and the accompanying earthquake. Small fires are burning in several
locations, several buildings are collapsed, and the earth seems to
have shifted underneath it, opening up a few crevices obviously not
there before. Even worse, a massive wall of bright red glowing
viscous rock drops down the mountain side toward the hapless village,
cresting like one of the waves the group had been surfing the day
before and moving faster than a normal man could run.
Nabiki turns a worried gaze at Ranma. "You're not seriously going to
try a Hiryu Shoten Ha, are you ?"
"Nah, too bad, though." Ranma grins back. "I would have liked to try
making lava powered whirlwind. Too risky, though. This is gonna be a
bit harder."
As the helicopter passes near the lava front, Ranma again drops his
headset, opens the door, and flings himself toward the still open
ground in front of the massive wave of destruction. A blast of cold
air accompanies his exit. After another death defying dive and roll,
a pillar of deep blue light begins to build around Ranma, standing
seemingly unconcerned in front of the onrushing, incandescent fluid.
A huge turbulence pops into nowhere behind the fleeing helicopter, as
superheated air convecting off the lava flow suddenly encounters a
beyond arctic air flow from Ranma. As the wave of lava approaches
Ranma, it suddenly and precipitously looses it's incandescence,
hardening into solid black rock with a deafening cacophony of
poppings and crackings. The sudden cooling effect builds a huge hill
of cooled basalt out of the lava in front of Ranma, and which begins
to grow out to the sides as Ranma approaches and touches the suddenly
created heap of rock to increase the effect. A half circle of
suddenly cold and solid rock extends out from Ranma, building in depth
and in height as the lava flow continues to wash atop it.
Panting in effort, Ranma sees that the huge and growing solidification
has begin to divert the deadly flow of lava onto a course that does
not directly intercept the town. 'Just a couple more minutes here.
Gotta make certain this lava dam is solid. Nabiki will have to handle
the town until then. Hmm, that ravine over there, if I can get the
lava into it, we'd have a couple hours at least to deal with the town.
I need a ditch.'
Straining even more, Ranma releases one hand from the wall, and splits
his concentration. A brilliant glow begins to coalesce just above
the palm of his free hand, growing in intensity until it outshines the
lava, until it even outshines the sun. Screaming with effort, Ranma
turns the palm of his hand outward, and a brilliant beam of light
springs from his hand, impacting the dirt and rock in front of the
diverting lava flow. A massive explosion seemingly near the size of
the original eruption obscures the lava, and Ranma drags his hand
through the air, walking the explosion in a gentle downhill line out
to the ravine he had noticed, over a quarter mile away.
Dropping his hand and falling to knees, Ranma droops his head, panting
in exhaustion, but careful to keep his other hand still attached to
the new basalt cliff in front of him and continue the cooling effect.
Eventually, he is able to raise his gaze and examine his efforts, now
visible in the settling dust. A massive ditch is taking the diverted
lava flow from the end of his improvised dam, and sending it for now
on a harmless course away from habitations. 'Good, it's working.
Now, I gotta get down there and help.'
Ranma staggers to his feet and stumbles downhill, panting heavily and
moving, for the moment, only as fast as a normal person.
***
In the small village, Nabiki exerts her own not inconsiderable skills
to clear away portions of the collapsed visitor center. Apparently, a
second coach of tourists had still been at the center when the
eruption occurred, and many of them were trapped in the collapsed
shelter. Unfortunately, the large sections of roof and wall were too
ungainly for any one person to lift away cleanly, not matter how
strong that person. Lifting a section at one edge merely allowed the
anything more than a few feet away from the lifter to collapse.
Instead, it had to be chewed away at, beaver like, torn off bit by bit
and tossed aside. Great care had to be taken during the process to
insure that the surrounding debris did not collapse more and further
injure a trapped person.
Nonetheless, a thick, steady stream of material flew from her hands,
interrupted only briefly whenever she reached another person. The
people she found were quickly given first aid, stabilizing any
injuries, then gently passed to Shampoo or Mousse behind her to be
carried clear of the rubble.
Ranma's belated arrival on site heralded an order of magnitude
increase in the speed of the recovery process. By time time he had
made his way down the mountain, Ranma had had a chance to recover to
something approximating his normal speed. Mousse and Shampoo,
therefore, felt the wind raised by his passage before registering him
visually. Even to their trained senses, Ranma still operated at a
high enough level that any difference in his performance was
unnoticeable. To their eyes, he was still an almost untrackable blur.
Nabiki, however, could sense the change. Automatically, she
compensated for Ranma as much as she was able, but several of the
feats he performed were simply still beyond her own level of
accomplishment. She could clear unstable debris in minutes by chewing
it away in pieces, Ranma cleared it in mere moments by disintegrating
it whole cloth with measured infusions of ki. She should stabilize a
wounded person, preventing further damage and halting a march toward
death, Ranma could, and did, perform in situ surgery to repair
internal ruptures and bleeding and knitted together torn and damaged
nerves with his own life force to the point where the remaining damage
would heal on it's own.
What was worse, not only could she feel Ranma at the ragged edge of
exhaustion, but their normal techniques to extend their endurance
depended on their massive stores of internal ki. Ranma's ki was
nearly exhausted in his battle with the primal forces of nature, and
now he was being forced to make far more extensive use of his ki than
normal due to their lack of equipment. Energy gulping ki claws were
needed in place of scalpels, precisely directed ki generated heat was
used to sterilize instead of standard cleansing solutions, torn blood
vessels had to be cauterized or coaxed and provided energy to
instantaneously heal instead of clamped or sutured, blood producing
marrow had to be similarly supercharged to replace lost cells instead
of using standard units of blood.
Ranma, Nabiki knew from past experience, would not slow down until all
of the people present were safe and removed from danger. Neither
would she. She did what she could to help Ranma and compensate for
his unusual weariness. Shampoo and Mousse's efforts were helpful as
well. Today, however, it was not enough.
Several years of close calls finally caught up. Pele, avatar of
creation and destruction was awakened yet again. Seemingly annoyed at
the audacity of a human ant impeding her work, the volcano shook
again, and it did so at the worst possible moment.
Ranma had just dropped into a small narrow gorge cut into the rocky
ground by the first earthquake and eruption. At the bottom, a scared
and hurt child was trapped underneath a splintered tree. With the
little girl clinging to his neck, he had just crouched to leap when
the aftershock struck. The combination of exhaustion and moving earth
caused Ranma to stumble just as the tree he had tossed aside fell back
down and the rocky edges of the ravine crumbled inward. At the last
possible moment, Ranma threw the child upward, clear of the debris
falling in on him. Like a great closing mouth, the vengeful earth
consumed him, driving jagged shafts of splintered palm wood into him,
and crushing him beneath shards of heavy sharp black rock.
Nabiki automatically fields the falling child, despite the still
shaking ground. Something is wrong, however. Why did Ranma throw the
little girl up instead of carry her ?
The feeling of wrongness continues to nag her as she calms and treats
the child. The young one was almost the last person needing immediate
attention, she could only feel one other person with serious injury.
Mousse and Shampoo could probably handle freeing the last few
uninjured but still trapped people.
Setting down the child with her pretty dark haired older sister and
dog (what a strange looking dog, were dogs supposed to have 6 legs and
be blue ?), the feeling of wrongness snapped into sharp focus. The ki
signature of the remaining serious injury felt familiar, far too
familiar, in fact. As weak as it was, it had taken her a moment to
recognize it, but it was Ranma's, and it was fading.
Oh dear God, not Ranma. Please.
Moving faster than she had ever moved before, even with all of her
prior training, Nabiki found herself tearing at the earth, stone and
wood of a collapsed ravine like a demon possessed, with no idea how
she had covered the intervening distance. Right then she would have
given her life for Ryoga's Bakusai Tenketsu technique. Anything to
dig faster. Anything. Dear lord please let him be alright.
At that moment, in one of those cosmic coincidences which prove that
there is a God, Nabiki's prayer was answered. A voice in Japanese is
heard to mutter nearby, "Where in the world am I now ? I didn't think
the Serengeti had any volcanoes."
"Ryoga ! Thank God ! I need your help ! Ranma's trapped ! Please
!" Nabiki turns and screams in a voice made raw with sulfur and
terror.
"Nabiki ? " Ryoga momentarily has to retreat a step from Nabiki's
vehemence. He was closer than she had known. Following the direction
of her shaking finger though, he immediately discerned the problem.
Jumping into the hole Nabiki had started, he touches his finger to the
earth and mutters. The earth answers him with an explosion of flying
rock and dirt. Ryoga touches the earth again, and again, and yet
again, each time answered by a cloud of flying earth. Gently, he
reaches for the body now exposed, and leaps out of the far deeper
hole, setting Ranma's unconscious form down near Nabiki.
Years of professional exposure to trauma somehow allow Nabiki to
operate through her panic. Frantically, she tries to keep Ranma
alive. Dear lord this is bad. Ranma's femoral artery is sliced open
by a spear of wood high up on one thigh, he has several broken ribs
driving into one lung, collapsing it, and she'd swear there's internal
bleeding as well. Fortunately, she can tourniquet the artery, it's
just low enough for her to be able to slip a coil of I.V. line above
it, and she still has a breathing tube and hand respirator left, and a
unit of plasma. Enough to keep him alive, she prays.
Shampoo and Mousse both have heard Nabiki's scream, and come a soon as
they are able. Seeing them, Nabiki cradles Ranma and makes her shaky
demands. "Mousse, squeeze the respirator, slowly and evenly, and hold
up the plasma bag. Shampoo, please, fly us to the hospital. There's
one in Hilo, right ? That's only 40 kilometers ... he can last until
then, he _can_ last until then."
Shampoo nods and runs ahead to start the engine on her bird, followed
by Nabiki and Mousse, forced to move more slowly by the demands of the
unfamiliar coordination between them. "Ryoga, thank you. I owe you.
Can you please help out the last few people needing it here, and then
meet us in Hilo later ?"
Ryoga also nods and turns back to the town, prepared to search it for
anyone else in need of help. By now, the police, fire, and ambulance
services were arriving from whatever the next major population center
was, probably the Hilo Nabiki had mentioned. Stepping forward, he is
caught by surprise by a small, cute, hexapedal dog, who catches his
leg in an impossibly strong grip, improbably smiles, and somehow,
talks. "Stitch help you." Oh well, this was less weird than the last
time he had run into that Djinn in Antarctica.
***
A rumpled doctor speaks to a small group of medical staff in the
emergency receiving room of the local hospital. "Thanks for answering
your pagers so promptly. It hasn't hit the news yet, but I think you
can all see what happened." A nervous chuckle sweeps around the room
at the plume of smoke easily visible out the window of the hospital
emergency room. "We're starting to get radio reports from Volcano
Village, and initially, it doesn't look as bad as it could be.
Nevertheless, it looks like we'll have any number of patients in the
near future. We don't have time for much preparation, does everyone
know what to do ?"
"That's strange," he breaks off as he hears a helicopter approaching
the hospital landing pad. "I didn't think we'd be seeing someone this
early. Why didn't we get a call ahead on this ?" Gathering a pair of
hefty nurses and a gurney, the doctor dismisses the rest of the staff
to their preparations, and proceeds quickly to the helipad.
He is greeted by the sight of a small private helicopter, not a
medical one, emblazoned with the words 'Nihou Tours'. Through the
cockpit window he can see the pilot is a young chinese woman with a
baseball cap covering a mane of highly unusual lavender hair. He
turns his attention to the opening passenger door of the aircraft with
a snort for the odd preferences of youth. First out is a tall chinese
man with long black hair wearing a robe far too heavy for the weather.
He is holding a half empty plasma bag aloft, and doing something with
his other hand not visible through the door. He is followed by a
short brown haired Japanese woman who carefully climbs out of the
helicopter cradling an obviously injured japanese man. It can now be
seen that the chinese man is rhythmically squeezing the ball of a
manual respirator.
The surgeon pushes aside his thoughts at the odd appearance of the
group and moves to help put the injured man on the gurney. The woman
is obviously a health professional of some sort and quickly gives him
an update of the patients condition, in an albeit shaky voice,
supplementing his own quick professional examination. "Prep the
surgery for this one, Ann. Grab Dr. Angles on the way. I'll scrub
and be right in."
Something clicks in his mind as he turns back to quickly reassure the
woman following him. "Excuse me, but is your name Nabiki Tendo, by
any chance ?"
Seeing Nabiki's nod, he suddenly blurts out "Oh my God. Then that was
Ranma Saotome ? I don't believe it. You two are famous !" Despite
his age and professionalism, the doctor suddenly feels like a giddy
first year medical student again. "Wow, I guess that explains why
there are no serious calls coming in from Volcano village."
"Doctor, please, Ranma ..." Nabiki manages to force out, grabbing the
mans arm like a life preserver with her left hand, her right hand
seems to be squeezing something. "Then you know about his curse ?"
She finally manages. "If he should change size dramatically in
mid-procedure ..."
The surgeon nods, winces, and disengages his bruised arm. "I know, I
looked up the journal articles on his curse when you two became better
known for your rescue work. Hard to believe, but it was pretty
irrefutable. Too bad the place was destroyed. No cold water, right
?" He smiles reassuringly at her and enters the surgery.
With events finally catching up with her, Nabiki collapses bonelessly,
barely caught by Shampoo and Mousse and maneuvered onto a nearby
bench.
Softly, brokenly, Nabiki clutches Shampoo and sobs. "Shampoo, oh God,
this is my fault. I made him do this. Was it worth it. Was the last
six years, all that effort worth it, just to see him die anyway ? Oh
please, say he'll be alright, say I did the right thing."
"Mousse, what do I do now ?" Shampoo awkwardly cradles her friend and
looks at Mousse pleadingly. "I don't know what to do."
***
Late that night, withdrawn and pensive in the dark, Nabiki sits beside
the intensive care bed occupied by Ranma. He had been released from
surgery a few hours earlier, but was in a coma and was given an
uncertain prognosis. Illuminated only by the glowing monitors, it can
just be made out that she holds an object in either hand.
In her right hand she holds two halves of a small, crushed, and bloody
box. Something in the box glitters as Nabiki moves. It is a gold
ring, with small but elegant diamond placed in it. When Nabiki had
examined the ring in the light of the bathroom, her name could be
clearly seen engraved in the inside of the band, below the name of her
younger sister. Nabiki had found this box in the pocket of Ranma's
shorts when she was dealing with his sliced femoral artery.
'I remember this ring. I loaned him the money for it, and helped the
baka pick it out before Jusendo, all those years ago. I don't think
he ever paid me back for it, in fact. But for me ? And why Akane's
ring ? Does this mean little sister approves ?'
In her left hand, she carries a ceremonial tanto engraved with the
Saotome family crest. It is the same blade that, all those years ago,
Ranma had made his promise upon.
'And this, this, thing. This blade. This has never been welcome to
me. Why did Kasumi give me this when we visited ? She said I might
need it soon. For what ? To atone for my own failures ?'
Clenching her fists Nabiki looks at Ranma in dark amusement. "How
long have you been carrying this ring, Saotome ? I guess you still
can't talk to women, can you, baka pervert." Slowly, her mood fades
toward despair. "You can't die on me, you perverted baka, you can't.
If the promise you gave me six years ago on this,' she looks at her
left hand, 'means anything, then you have to survive and give me
this.' she holds up her right.
A quiet knock interrupts her revere. "Come in," she says with a small
start.
A large figure wearing an oversize traveling backpack is illuminated
against the hall lights. "Wow. I think this is the fastest I've
gotten to anywhere I wanted to go." Ryoga comments. Walking over to
the bed, and seating himself on the other chair, he looks over Ranma,
then Nabiki, and gently asks "How is he doing ?"
"He's been in a coma since he got out of surgery. There was a lot of
internal damage. They did what they could, but ..." Nabiki trails
off. "It's ironic, you know, if our situations were reversed I'd
already be walking around, he'd have performed a ki transfer and have
jumpstarted my ki flows. I've seen him do it, and he's started
teaching me, but apparently I just can't summon a sufficient focus for
my ki yet. Not that he'd ever let me get hurt, the jerk." Nabiki
pauses to wipe away some tears.
This strikes another, ironic chord in Ryoga, "Heh, deja vue," he says,
as he hands her a tissue. "That sounded a lot like Akane did. Don't
tell me you've fallen for him now, too."
Nabiki only sets the tanto down, reaches over, and grasps Ranma's
unresponsive hand. She opens the other, to show Ryoga it's contents,
forbearing to stop or hide the tears now.
"Ranma, you still haven't changed, have you." Ryoga smiles softly.
"Not that it matters anymore, but I truly forgive you now. That's
probably why I found you so quickly." He turns to Nabiki and gently
closes her hand again. "I never learned any of the rejuvenation
techniques, and I guess I'm not surprised that he didn't teach you
this way, Nabiki, given what happened to the two of us. But you
should know you've got more than enough focus to use your ki for a
transfer technique."
"What ! Tell me ! Please !" Nabiki stumbles up from her chair and
lunges at Ryoga.
"Woah there !" Ryoga grunts quietly as he catches her. Some detached
part of Nabiki notes that Ryoga is still more solid and harder to
move even than Ranma.
"It's simple enough. I'm surprised you didn't think of this yourself,
you've seen both of us do it enough times. Use your emotion as a
focus. You just need a strong, pure emotion as a focus to use. It's
self destructive in the long term, as he and I found out, but it
works."
Nabiki hesitates a second before wrapping her arms around Ryoga and
crying in relief. A short while later, she manages to pull herself
upright, and claiming the tissue she dropped before, cleans her face
ineffectually.
She smiles, tentatively and brokenly, but a real smile nonetheless.
"Ryoga, thank you. I owe you more than I can say. Can you, can you
leave us for a bit ? I think Shampoo and Mousse are still in the
lounge down the hall."
Ryoga nods and gets up. When he's about to open the door, he hears
Nabiki's voice again, in a reasonable facade of her old ice-queen
persona. "Oh, and Ryoga. This didn't happen, got it ?" They both
share a small laugh as the door closes.
Walking down the hall, Ryoga is not surprised to see a gentle warm
rose glow momentarily rise and fall in the window of Ranma's room.
Opening the door of the lounge, sees a sleepy Shampoo and Mousse and
asks. "Hey. Anyone hungry ? By the way, where does Hawaii get those
weird dogs from ?"
Back in the intensive care room, various monitors change their quiet
beeps to a more lively, happier rhythm. Slowly, Ranma wakes up.
Opening his eyes, he blinks away the gloom and sees Nabiki sitting
beside him, apparently caught half way between laughing and crying.
She seems to have a death grip on his hand.
"Biki ? You okay ? Where are we ? Don't cry Biki," mutters a still
groggy Ranma.
Nabiki turns her face away for a moment, and with considerable effort,
gains control over her features. Finally turning back, she picks up
an object from the bedtable and places it atop Ranma's lap. "Ranma, I
release you from your promise."
"What's that ? What are you talking about Biki ?" Still confused,
Ranma sees that he is in a hospital bed, fitted out with nearly as
many monitors as he used to have to wear back as a guinea pig in med
school.
"Ranma, your promise to us, after Jusendo. As a representative of
clan Tendo, I release you. And you know I hate it when you call me
'Biki'."
Ranma levers himself painfully upright into a sitting position.
Looking down, Ranma sees that Nabiki has returned to him the tanto so
symbolic of the path his life has taken since Akane. "Biki, um, I
mean Nabiki ? What's wrong ? Why are you doing this ? "
"Listen you Baka ! It's over ! You've done enough ! You can quit
now ! You almost died, damn it ! You probably would have if Ryoga
hadn't stumbled along !" Nabiki is shouting now, fist clenched and
eyes flashing. "Don't you dare leave me !"
Nabiki's control finally crumbles completely, as she opens her fist
and holds out the ring. "I found this, Ranma. I love you." She can
find nothing more to say.
Ranma looks at Nabiki for a moment. Slowly then, Ranma's hand lifts
the ring out of Nabiki's, and places it on her finger. "I won't leave
Nabiki, I promise."
He gives a small smile and teases "_Biki_". Nothing more is said as
Ranma falls back asleep.
***
Authors Notes
So, okay this should have been several chapters, it the largest one of
this story by far. Still, it's done. Yay !
Credit to Lilo and Stitch for the inspiration to place the story in
Hawaii. I couldn't resist giving the little blue guy a guest
appearance.
As I disclaimed before, I'm not a doctor, I don't know medicine. I'm
also not a pilot. I do occasionally pretend to be a martial artist,
and the description I wrote of a master spookily feeling and effecting
his surroundings is pretty close. I've seen myself recorded on video
reacting to my instructors in the way I describe. I didn't realize it
until they pointed it out to me watching the tape. Sparring certain
of my instructors is like trying to spar a ghost, you don't hit them
unless they want you to.
"Ranma ! Nabiki ! Over here !"
Ranma and Nabiki cleared the customs doorway of the Honolulu
International Airport and looked for the origin of the call.
A bouncy well endowed Chinese woman with unusual long lavender hair
peaking out from under a baseball cap waved from where she stood
balanced on the back of a row of airport seats. This was, of course,
Shampoo, but if you hadn't seen her in the past six years you might be
forgiven for mistaking her for someone else. For one thing, she spoke
fluent english. For another, she wasn't wearing her prior outfit de
rigueur of a silk chinese dress or pantsuit. Instead, a pair of tight
cutoff jean shorts and t-shirt with the bottom torn off covered
glimpses of a bikini. A pair of aviator glasses perched atop the cap
and a set of sturdy hiking boots completed the ensemble. Shampoo had
grown a few more inches and a radiant tan during the past years, while
loosing none of her curvaceousness.
If more confirmation of Shampoo's identity was needed, it could be had
with the simple expedient of looking at the person behind her.
Whatever the changes in Shampoo had been, Mousse hadn't changed. He
still work his long sleeve white robes, still had long silky black
hair, and still had cokebottle bottom glasses. Well, okay, he had
changed a little. He actually wore the glasses now, and had filled
out and broadened a little as well. He looked ridiculously
overdressed for Hawaii.
On catching sight of the pair, Ranma's face broke into a smile.
Holding Nabiki's hand he threaded a graceful path through the crowds.
"Shampoo, Mousse ! It's good to see you !" Hugs and handshakes were
exchanged all around. "Been keeping in practice, I see. Good ! We
need some more sparring partners !"
"Thanks for offering to put us up on vacation here. We really didn't
want to stay in Nermia after the first couple of days disaster with
our parents, and didn't really have anywhere else to go." Nabiki
found Ranma's hand again with one of hers and gestured with the other.
"No problem. When I got the note from Great Grandmother saying you
needed someplace to go, I was happy too help. It's also our duty
since Great Grandmother adopted you into the tribe. Besides, you've
fallen into the right company here. I'm running my own charter
touring company with Mousse for the rich Americans and Japanese who
vacation here. Mousse and I can show you all the sights. I even have
my own helicopter now. It's a blast. Better than landing my bicycle
on you, even." Shampoo laughs in memory, and Mousse grimaces.
"That's great ! We really have no idea what to do with ourselves
right now, and we're not supposed to go back for another 13 weeks. So
anyway, what brought you to Hawaii, of all places ? I would have
guessed you would go back home to the village after you left Nermia.
Elder Cologne never told us."
"Since when have you stopped calling Great Grandmother 'old ghoul',
Ranma ? And your English is a lot more polished than what I remember
your Japanese. Looks like ours isn't the only story. Let's get your
luggage, and we can talk on the way, or tomorrow. There's no hurry,
after all. We'll use my chopper to get home over on Lanai island.
You'll like it, there's a lot less people there."
"Don't worry about luggage. We're carrying everything already."
Nabiki responds. "You know, your english is pretty good, too. And
when did you get helicopter of your own ? That's impressive. Where's
it at ?"
Mousse and Shampoo look at the two small bags carried by Ranma and
Nabiki. "That's all your luggage ?" asks Mousse. "I should have known
you'd still have to better me, Saotome. You didn't have to start
practicing hidden weapons, too."
"Mousse, be nice. They just might not have brought much, you know."
Shampoo reproves. "Besides, you only carry that training potty in
your robes for pride's sake."
"Well, actually, I'm afraid it's a bit of both." Ranma admits. "We do
use your technique a lot, but we just didn't bring much this trip. We
really never got much in the way of casual clothing. Hey, maybe you
can give us some tips on that technique while we're here. Some of the
stuff we normally carry gets pretty uncomfortable."
Chattering happily, or in Mousses case following grumpily, the old
friends make their way out of the terminal.
***
Gentle tropical sunlight peeked past the curtains of the guestroom
Ranma was using, slowly illuminating the western style bed. Sometime
during the night, Nabiki had crept into bed with him again. He was
never certain who she did that for, anymore, but he didn't mind in the
least. It'd been a long time since he had last jumped out of bed in
shock and dumped her on the floor, and he'd been waking up in strange
places for a couple of years, now, so that didn't bother him.
Nevertheless, a different sort of panic attack happened. 'Oh shit !
We way overslept ! Gotta get going or else ...' Ranma's mind
sputtered here. What did they have to do ? They always had to do
something, didn't they ?
Occupied by this conundrum, Ranma's mind didn't censor his hands like
normal, and he absently started stroking Nabiki's hair. Eventually,
he recalled Mousse and Shampoo the night before telling them to relax
and sleep themselves out. "Elder Cologne's orders," Shampoo had
smirked. They had mentioned something about having a charter flight
that morning, but said that they'd be back in the afternoon.
Finally realizing the amazing fact that they had nothing they had to
do, Ranma turned his attention back to the beautiful young woman
snuggled next to him. 'Beautiful ? Where did that come from ? Maybe
Hallfreid's little speech effected me more than I thought.' he
ruminated. 'This is Nabiki. The person who made me hurt Ukyo and
Shampoo, and, well, freed me from from my parents and the fiance
situation; and wouldn't let me join Akane, and well, she gave me
another reason to live; and she drove me like a slave for years, but
together we've accomplished more than I ever thought possible; she's
used me for cheap thrills and sold me, even sold my curse for study,
but ever since Akane's passing she's always been here for me, more
than anyone has ever done, even Mom or Pops. Ah geez, I gotta admit I
do like her. Maybe even l, l, love her. Akane, what'm'I gonna do now
?' Ranma breaks off his thoughts, shaking his head in his confusion.
Nabiki finally stirs and wakes, gradually woken by Ranma's increasing
activity. Ranma finds his thoughts derailed by a pair of expressive
chocolate brown eyes gazing into his. It was funny to see the same
initial confusion in Nabiki's expression. "Ranma, why are we still in
bed ? Don't we have to, uuhh, what do we have to do this morning ?"
Ranma laughed, and for the first time in years, relaxed.
***
"So I decided to stay here when I found out that the rains and ocean
are typically warm enough to not trigger my curse. That's why Mousse
and I never bothered with those crazy boxes you sent us. Mousse, of
course, stuck with me like a barnacle." Shampoo grimaces as fire light
dashes across her features in the secluded beach cove. The remnants
of a Saotome sized feast lay decimated in front of them.
"Shampoo my love, that's not fair !" whined Mousse across the fire
from her.
"Quiet you. You're a good tour guide, but how many times do I have to
say I don't love you ! Oh yeah, Nabiki, the other reason, as you've
found out, is that the surfing is great ! It's as much a blast as
flying !"
"Yeah, I love it ! Only, how did you get so tan ? With all the ki
manipulation and self healing techniques Ranma and Elder Cologne have
shown me, it doesn't seem like I can even burn anymore, much less
tan." Nabiki pouts from her own barnacle like position by Ranma's
side.
"Oh, you can selectively turn it off with a little concentration.
I'll show you the trick tomorrow," a half tanned Ranma wearing only a
pair of swim trunks puts down his last plate and stretches. He, too,
had stopped wearing his anti-curse box some while ago, after failing
to have need of it even once since they arrived. "Ah, that was great
!" he sighs and leans back against his own surfboard, holding open his
arm for Nabiki, who promptly takes advantage to snuggle.
"So tell me, what's been up with everyone back in Japan ? I haven't
heard much since Elder Cologne moved back home" asked Shampoo.
"Except from Ryoga, that is. Somehow he manages to show up here every
so often."
"Yeah, he does that to us, too. I still haven't figured out how he
does it. I mean, I've met him literally half way around the globe in
the space of a week," Ranma shakes his head in amazement.
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
Nabiki picks up the narration with a slight frown. "Well, let's see,
we didn't know to much about what was happening back home ourselves
until we started this vacation. We tried to spend at least a while at
home, but Ukyo and Kasumi are the only ones we could stand to be
around."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"Ukyo eventually accepted an offer to be adopted into the Saotome
clan, which means a formal end to the feud and engagement. That and I
still get to see her, which is great. She's still cooking
okonomiyaki, but now Mom sees her as her responsibility, and is trying
to set her up with just about anything on two legs," Ranma matches
Nabiki's expression with his own frown.
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Kasumi's doing great, too," Nabiki takes up her own part of the
story. "She says she was inspired by us, and is in medical school
herself, now. The same one we went to." She giggles. "She says the
faculty there is a little put off by a normal Tendo."
"Anyway, Ranma's parents and Daddy all moved in together, so Ranma's
mother could take care of them," Nabiki continued.
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"And that seems to have allowed the two old men to get even more
stupid, if that's possible," Ranma smoothly interjects. "We hadn't
been home more than 30 seconds, literally, when they started in about
getting a priest, calling it a matter of honor. They only stopped
when Mom 'reminded' me that I should by rights be carrying the Saotome
honor blade instead of her. Apparently dumb and dumber forgot that
I'm clan head, again."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Of course, that just meant they tried the 'subtle' approach. Those
two's idea of subtle was to try to steal our clothes and lock us into
a room together." Nabiki bypasses giggling and passes straight into
laughter for a second. "Not that Ranma's Mom was any better. I
swear, the suggestions that woman tried to pass off on me about her
'manly' son. And I thought he was a pervert."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"Who else ? Oh, yeah, the Kunos." It was Ranma's turn again. "Kuno
was pissed that he hadn't heard from his 'pigtailed girl', although
that ditzy ex-cheerleader Mariko kept him from attacking me more than
once a day. Feh - the one time I've regretted my Hippocratic oath.
'Do No Harm', it says. I'd like to see Hippocrates deal with Kuno
before saying that again."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Come on Ranma, it wasn't that bad. It was almost fun charging him to
call someone to come and pick him up afterward, for old times sake."
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.
"Anyway, it was all driving us nuts. So we were really glad to get
Elder Cologne's message suggesting that we come and visit you two.
Thank God the Kuno's didn't hear we were coming here"
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.
"Um, " Mousse's neck appears to be stuck from following too many
conversational volleys, "do you two do that often ?"
"Do what ?" Ranma and Nabiki respond in perfect chorus, sporting
identical blank looks. Shampoo slowly falls over backwards. Mousse
only works at trying to unstick his neck.
"Do you have any idea what that's about ?" Nabiki whispers to Ranma.
"Not a thing. Maybe it's some weird Amazon thing. I hope it's
nothing we have to learn," he whispers back. Speaking up, Ranma
changes the topic. "So, who's up for a little sparring to work off
that meal? Mousse, Shampoo, wanna try a little two on one ?"
"Hah ! Saotome, you shall never defeat the two of us together !"
Mousse cries as, neck finally fixed, he accepts the invitation and
leaps to his feet, robes billowing around him.
Nabiki sighs unhappily for a moment as Ranma slides away from her,
dodging the opening barrage of, of, pineapples (!?) Mousse pulls from
his robes. 'Well, this Hawaii.' she shrugs. 'Just so long as he
doesn't pull a Kuno.' And even though she knew how it was done and
employed the same trick herself, it was still amazing to watch Shampoo
produce her trademark bonborii from within her one piece swimming suit
as she too, grinned and leaped at Ranma.
Gathering her knees to her chest, Nabiki smiles as she watches Ranma
in action. Even though she could tell that Ranma was holding back
quite a lot, he was grace and power personified. Ranma seemed to fade
in and out of the long shadows of the bright moon and fire, seemingly
barely redirecting Mousse or Shampoos' attack, but always with dire
results for the attacker, sending them flying uncontrollably through
the night sky.
The last couple of weeks had been wonderful. It took them a while to
be able to relax and let go, but Elder Cologne's advice had been
right. The relaxed attitude, lack of pressure, and no schedule had
been just what they needed. For the first time in years, Nabiki had
time enough to think about herself and review her life, without
pressure, without worrying about Ranma, and without being driven
herself by the memory of Akane. It was eye opening. 'I'm not sure
when it happened, but I love him', she admits to herself, broadening
her smile. 'I don't know if I helped him or he helped me more, just
by being there. I just know I don't want to even consider being
without him anymore. Akane, I hope this is okay with you, little
sister.'
At that moment, she was forced to roll sideways to dodge a spray of
sand thrown up by Shampoo's face. "Looks like you could use some
help, Shampoo," Nabiki offered as she gave Shampoo a hand up.
"Aiyaa ! I mean, yes ! I thought he was a doctor ! How in the world
did he get so good ?"
Together, the two friends jumped back into the fray. After some time,
Ranma was finally cornered between the three of them, unwilling to use
any of his more destructive moves, especially on Nabiki.
"Gotcha you baka pervert !" crowed Nabiki, completing a throw of her
own.
"No, wait, don't throw me into the iiicccceee !!" Ranma-chan sputters
as she extracts her head from the ice bucket, severely embarrassing
Mousse at the sight of her bare chest.
"See, I said you were a pervert, Ranma !" Nabiki and Shampoo
collapse in laughter, ending the sparring for the night.
***
Late that night, Ranma and Nabiki lay under the stars in the warm
sand. Nabiki is deeply asleep with her head on his shoulder. Ranma
ponders, one hand in his pocket, holding tightly onto something small.
'Akane, I do love her. I'm sorry. What do I do Akane ? What do I do
?'
Overhead, in the brilliant night time river of stars, a streak of
light suddenly flashes a brilliant path. Ranma slowly nods,
accepting. At peace, he wraps his arm around Nabiki, and he too falls
asleep.
***
Shampoo, in her now typical garb of cut offs, shortened t-shirt,
baseball cap and aviator glasses, points out the window of her
helicopter. "There it is, Kilauea Volcano."
Mousse takes over the narration in a practiced tour guide voice,
speaking over the headset microphone and bug like headphones which
allowed them to hear each other over the noise of the helicopter.
"The volcano has been erupting steadily since 1983. It sends up
130,000 gallons of lava a minute. Over 550 acres of land have been
added to Hawaii island by this volcano."
"Rivers of lava from this volcano has consumed over 181 homes, a
church, and a community center."
"We'll land just outside Volcano village, and catch a bus along crater
rim road, and up to the crater overlook."
Ranma and Nabiki plaster themselves to the windows appreciatively,
dressed in matching outfits of shorts, t-shirts and sneakers. Seeing
the glowing lava spurt into the air, Ranma lets loose a long,
impressed whistle. "I wonder how big of a Hiryu Shoten Ha whirlwind I
could make with that as a source of heat ?"
Shampoo twitches, causing the helicopter to jerk momentarily.
"Don't you even dare, Ranma," Nabiki slaps him gently. "Do you want
red hot lava scattered all over the island ? And how in the world
would you turn it off ?"
"Ow ! Sheesh ! Can't you people take a joke ?"
Shampoo recovers and circles the crater another time before breaking
off to approach Volcano village. As the near the village, a tour buss
can be seen leaving the village and driving up the switchbacks on
crater rim road.
Nabiki spots it first. She points to a spot of otherwise unremarkable
rock south and west of the village, near the edge of the greenery.
"Is that rock bulging there, or am I seeing things ?"
All eyes track the location that Nabiki points in. "You know, I think
you're right", Mousse starts a response, but does not finish. The
goddess Pele has come again to destroy and build the land.
A literally earth shaking rumble splits the air, audible even above
the rotors and engine of the helicopter. The light helicopter itself
is thrown skyward by a blast of air as rock and lava spew explosively
from the new brother to Halema'uma'u crater. From an aerial viewpoint,
concentric circles of earth and dust can be seen thrown up by as the
shockwave travels outward.
Miraculously, the small helicopter escapes being struck by the flying
debris. Shampoo is forced to use every bit of her highly trained
reflexes to bring the small craft again under control.
As the first wave of the explosion passes, however, it can be seen
that the tour bus noticed earlier was not so lucky. A boulder several
feet in size has struck the front of the touring coach, crippling the
vehicle. Ranma, automatically engaging reflexes from the past several
years of rescue work, had immediately started scanning for damage and
sees the crippled coach, caught in the earthquake shockwave, tip on
its side and slide forward and downhill toward the drop off at the next
switchback. The several dozens of kph speed the bus had prior to this
catastrophe now carried it forward uncontrolled toward it's doom.
"Shampoo, get us close to that bus, now !" Ranma commanded in a voice
compelling immediate obedience. As Shampoo tips the nose down, he
continues, "Nabiki, how much stuff have ya got ? I'm just carrying a
basic kit, one or two each of the most basic items. I left everything
else at home."
As he speaks, Nabiki and Ranma both start reaching out with their
finely developed senses, and something truly remarkable starts to
happen. A true master martial artist develops the near spooky ability
to be able to sense her opponents actions almost before the opponent
themselves knows he is going to make them. The intent of action is
sensed in the opponents ki, and the master can even at times project
his own ki to alter the actions of the opponent, controlling the
timing and pacing of an encounter, or defusing or avoiding it
entirely. If you ever find yourself facing such a master, you will
likely never even notice it happening, you will merely loose, badly.
Extended, this ability allows a master to sense nearly all that occurs
around her, by literally sensing the concentration and flow of ki and
intent. Ranma had trained Nabiki well enough that by now they would
both use this trick to locate the victims they sought to treat and
discern which of them would require attention in what order. What
they did not yet realize was that this technique worked with each
other as well. In a crisis (and often normally), they each knew what
the other was doing, what the other intended, and sometimes even
changed the others intent. It effectively allowed them to operate as
a team with unheard of ability and efficiency. They rarely had to
stop and consult the other, they rarely even had to deliberately
communicate with glances, posture or body language. They knew,
without even noticing it, what needed to be done to support the other
at any instant, and simply did it.
Highly trained groups of people could, and did, develop this level of
coordination by training in specific actions, for example a team of
professional athletes in a well practiced maneuver. Ranma and Nabiki,
however, could show this level of spooky coordination all the time,
flexibly adopting it to whatever the circumstance demanded.
"Not much either. Some plasma and saline that's not out of date, a
few I.V's, and some gauze." Nabiki was already, along with Ranma,
releasing her seatbelt, opening the copter door, and edging onto the
landing skid of the diving helicopter.
"It'll have to do. I hate improvising, it uses so much ki. Shampoo,
Mousse, get to the village and send what help you can. We'll be
along as soon as we've secured this."
At that, Ranma and Nabiki simultaneously stepped off the helicopter
skid, still well over a hundred feet in the air.
Mousse, freed from the task of preventing a head on crash into the
ground which occupied Shampoo, gaped at the sight of Ranma and Nabiki
apparently diving to their deaths, turning head down, no less ! Upon
intercepting the roadway the pair's vertical speed was by some miracle
transformed into a synchronized horizontal roll, so fast that it looked
like large human sized balls rather than people. The ball like blurs
ended with an crashing impact onto the front of the sliding bus, and
resolved into Ranma and Nabiki both pushing against the splintered
front of the bus and digging their feet into the ground, digging huge
parallel grooves in the roadway under their feet. The grooves
disappeared under the front of the bus, and reappeared from underneath
the back as the bus continued to slide forward.
How the mass of two people totaling less than 250 kilos made a
difference to the momentum of a multiple thousands of kilo touring
coach was unclear, but apparently it did. The bus could be seen
slowing dramatically. Just before it stopped entirely, safely well
away from the switchback, Ranma slipped to one side and slid one hand
across the length of the buses roof as it passed him. Whatever he did
caused it to open like a can of sardines, split cleanly from front to
back. Nabiki appeared from around the front of the now motionless
vehicle, and Ranma and Nabiki simultaneously grabbed the cut edge of
the roof and peeled it back, rolling it up like a sheet of tinfoil.
Wasting no time, both leaped into the revealed interior of the
vehicle, filled with still screaming hapless tourists. Sensing the
only serious injury among the people inside near the front, Ranma
slid impossibly fast to where the driver was still buckled in the
remnants of his seat, bleeding from the shrapnel like glass, metal,
and rock fragments thrown up when the boulder had struck the front of
the coach. A quick swipe with one hand, flickering with some ethereal
energy, released the moaning mass of flesh into Ranma's other arm.
The hand of the catching arm appeared to blur for a moment near the
back of the driver's neck as it caught him, apparently causing the
driver to fall unconscious.
Ranma leaped again, the driver in his arms, clearing the bus and
setting the man down on the roadway next to a signpost. Just in time
he raised his hand behind him and caught the I.V. and bag of plasma
Nabiki had lofted on a high parabola toward that spot a second before
Ranma landed, between her leap carrying out two young children and
bound returning to the bus for their elderly grandmother.
Suddenly, bloody fragments of improvised shrapnel, some quite small,
started flying off the driver Ranma was kneeling over. The fragments
originated in a wave starting at his head and proceeding toward his
feet, with the tattered remains of the man's clothing peeling back
like an orange. All the fragments landed in a neat little pile a
short distance to the side. During this process, Ranma's arms and
hands were invisible the naked eye. When his hands again resolved
themselves into visibility, like a CGI movie effect, the I.V. was
magical attached to the driver's arm and the plasma bag, now hung from
the signpost, was attached to the I.V.
Ranma paused for just long enough to insure that the unconscious driver
was breathing freely before joining Nabiki in evacuating the remaining
two thirds of the passengers. Any passenger not caught up in shock
might have noticed that driver was no longer bleeding and had a
sparing amount of gauze covering the worst of his wounds, which were
sutured shut. The man was squeaky clean, and a close examination of
the smaller visible wounds would have shown them to be uniformly and
cleanly cauterized, as if by the precise application of measured
amounts of heat or energy.
Seconds later, the evacuation of the bus was complete. None of the
other passengers had suffered worse than a mild concussion or
contusion, and Ranma had already eased these noticeably, apparently by
the simple expedient of a touch. Even more remarkably, the passengers
as a whole had ceased to panic, each in turn turning calm as she or he
was carried out of the ruined vehicle by Nabiki or Ranma.
As the flurry of action surrounding the coach had all happened in less
than a minutes time, the small helicopter above them was still clawing
out of it's hawk like dive. Finally leveling out, Shampoo turned her
attention to the pillar of smoke rising from the new crater, not
wanting her helicopter to suffer a repeat of the tour bus's fate.
What she saw froze her blood. Glancing down, she saw that somehow,
while she had been otherwise occupied, Ranma and Nabiki had apparently
stopped the runaway coach, split it asunder, and evacuated all the
people inside. Mousse was staring openmouthed at the scene below,
apparently in shock. His shock turned to horror when Shampoo prodded
him and pointed out what she had seen.
Making a decision, Shampoo turned around and directed her flight to
pass again low over the bus. Turning on her small P.A. system and
boosting the volume to it's maximum as she approached, she called out,
gaining the attention of those on the ground. "Ranma, Nabiki, the new
lava flow. It's huge, fast, and it's heading for the town."
Nabiki instantly turned toward Ranma, and as the helicopter passed low
over the bus to fast to enter a hover or land, she leaped, receiving a
boost from Ranma which placed the apex of her remarkably leap just
below the whirling rotor and straight into the still open door Mousse
had been in too much shock to close. Before she even stopped moving,
one of her hands had darted into the sleeve of Mousses robe and
reappeared with one of his chains, causing a cute duck like squawk of
protest a few seconds later. Before he reacted, however, the chain
was flung instantly out and down to where Ranma, at the apex of his
own leap from ground to bus to air, was barely able to grab it. She
extended the hand not holding the chain in time to catch Ranma's arm
as he shot through the open door himself, pulling up the chain he had
hung from, and finally closing the door.
Picking up and slipping his headset on, Ranma reaches over Shampoo and
turns off the P.A. "Can we reach the lava flow before it hits the
town ?" he demands of the shocked woman.
Thousands of years of selective breeding for warriors and a lifetime
of training allow Shampoo to react, despite the sudden shock of
Nabiki, then Ranma appearing behind her while still in mid-air.
"We'll try". She again turns her helicopter, tips the small craft
forward, opens the engine throttle, and increases the lift generated
by the main rotor. Shortly, the tiny craft is racing toward the
village at over 200 knots just above tree top level.
"Mousse, contact air traffic control and raise a mayday. Make certain
the people from that bus aren't forgotten about, either. They'll need
evacuation before the new lava flow might change direction. Shampoo,
bring me right over the head of the lava flow, fly Nabiki over the
village, then land and do the best you can to help out, okay ?"
In moments the small craft comes in sight of the village. Much damage
is visible in the village, from both the initial explosion of rubble,
and the accompanying earthquake. Small fires are burning in several
locations, several buildings are collapsed, and the earth seems to
have shifted underneath it, opening up a few crevices obviously not
there before. Even worse, a massive wall of bright red glowing
viscous rock drops down the mountain side toward the hapless village,
cresting like one of the waves the group had been surfing the day
before and moving faster than a normal man could run.
Nabiki turns a worried gaze at Ranma. "You're not seriously going to
try a Hiryu Shoten Ha, are you ?"
"Nah, too bad, though." Ranma grins back. "I would have liked to try
making lava powered whirlwind. Too risky, though. This is gonna be a
bit harder."
As the helicopter passes near the lava front, Ranma again drops his
headset, opens the door, and flings himself toward the still open
ground in front of the massive wave of destruction. A blast of cold
air accompanies his exit. After another death defying dive and roll,
a pillar of deep blue light begins to build around Ranma, standing
seemingly unconcerned in front of the onrushing, incandescent fluid.
A huge turbulence pops into nowhere behind the fleeing helicopter, as
superheated air convecting off the lava flow suddenly encounters a
beyond arctic air flow from Ranma. As the wave of lava approaches
Ranma, it suddenly and precipitously looses it's incandescence,
hardening into solid black rock with a deafening cacophony of
poppings and crackings. The sudden cooling effect builds a huge hill
of cooled basalt out of the lava in front of Ranma, and which begins
to grow out to the sides as Ranma approaches and touches the suddenly
created heap of rock to increase the effect. A half circle of
suddenly cold and solid rock extends out from Ranma, building in depth
and in height as the lava flow continues to wash atop it.
Panting in effort, Ranma sees that the huge and growing solidification
has begin to divert the deadly flow of lava onto a course that does
not directly intercept the town. 'Just a couple more minutes here.
Gotta make certain this lava dam is solid. Nabiki will have to handle
the town until then. Hmm, that ravine over there, if I can get the
lava into it, we'd have a couple hours at least to deal with the town.
I need a ditch.'
Straining even more, Ranma releases one hand from the wall, and splits
his concentration. A brilliant glow begins to coalesce just above
the palm of his free hand, growing in intensity until it outshines the
lava, until it even outshines the sun. Screaming with effort, Ranma
turns the palm of his hand outward, and a brilliant beam of light
springs from his hand, impacting the dirt and rock in front of the
diverting lava flow. A massive explosion seemingly near the size of
the original eruption obscures the lava, and Ranma drags his hand
through the air, walking the explosion in a gentle downhill line out
to the ravine he had noticed, over a quarter mile away.
Dropping his hand and falling to knees, Ranma droops his head, panting
in exhaustion, but careful to keep his other hand still attached to
the new basalt cliff in front of him and continue the cooling effect.
Eventually, he is able to raise his gaze and examine his efforts, now
visible in the settling dust. A massive ditch is taking the diverted
lava flow from the end of his improvised dam, and sending it for now
on a harmless course away from habitations. 'Good, it's working.
Now, I gotta get down there and help.'
Ranma staggers to his feet and stumbles downhill, panting heavily and
moving, for the moment, only as fast as a normal person.
***
In the small village, Nabiki exerts her own not inconsiderable skills
to clear away portions of the collapsed visitor center. Apparently, a
second coach of tourists had still been at the center when the
eruption occurred, and many of them were trapped in the collapsed
shelter. Unfortunately, the large sections of roof and wall were too
ungainly for any one person to lift away cleanly, not matter how
strong that person. Lifting a section at one edge merely allowed the
anything more than a few feet away from the lifter to collapse.
Instead, it had to be chewed away at, beaver like, torn off bit by bit
and tossed aside. Great care had to be taken during the process to
insure that the surrounding debris did not collapse more and further
injure a trapped person.
Nonetheless, a thick, steady stream of material flew from her hands,
interrupted only briefly whenever she reached another person. The
people she found were quickly given first aid, stabilizing any
injuries, then gently passed to Shampoo or Mousse behind her to be
carried clear of the rubble.
Ranma's belated arrival on site heralded an order of magnitude
increase in the speed of the recovery process. By time time he had
made his way down the mountain, Ranma had had a chance to recover to
something approximating his normal speed. Mousse and Shampoo,
therefore, felt the wind raised by his passage before registering him
visually. Even to their trained senses, Ranma still operated at a
high enough level that any difference in his performance was
unnoticeable. To their eyes, he was still an almost untrackable blur.
Nabiki, however, could sense the change. Automatically, she
compensated for Ranma as much as she was able, but several of the
feats he performed were simply still beyond her own level of
accomplishment. She could clear unstable debris in minutes by chewing
it away in pieces, Ranma cleared it in mere moments by disintegrating
it whole cloth with measured infusions of ki. She should stabilize a
wounded person, preventing further damage and halting a march toward
death, Ranma could, and did, perform in situ surgery to repair
internal ruptures and bleeding and knitted together torn and damaged
nerves with his own life force to the point where the remaining damage
would heal on it's own.
What was worse, not only could she feel Ranma at the ragged edge of
exhaustion, but their normal techniques to extend their endurance
depended on their massive stores of internal ki. Ranma's ki was
nearly exhausted in his battle with the primal forces of nature, and
now he was being forced to make far more extensive use of his ki than
normal due to their lack of equipment. Energy gulping ki claws were
needed in place of scalpels, precisely directed ki generated heat was
used to sterilize instead of standard cleansing solutions, torn blood
vessels had to be cauterized or coaxed and provided energy to
instantaneously heal instead of clamped or sutured, blood producing
marrow had to be similarly supercharged to replace lost cells instead
of using standard units of blood.
Ranma, Nabiki knew from past experience, would not slow down until all
of the people present were safe and removed from danger. Neither
would she. She did what she could to help Ranma and compensate for
his unusual weariness. Shampoo and Mousse's efforts were helpful as
well. Today, however, it was not enough.
Several years of close calls finally caught up. Pele, avatar of
creation and destruction was awakened yet again. Seemingly annoyed at
the audacity of a human ant impeding her work, the volcano shook
again, and it did so at the worst possible moment.
Ranma had just dropped into a small narrow gorge cut into the rocky
ground by the first earthquake and eruption. At the bottom, a scared
and hurt child was trapped underneath a splintered tree. With the
little girl clinging to his neck, he had just crouched to leap when
the aftershock struck. The combination of exhaustion and moving earth
caused Ranma to stumble just as the tree he had tossed aside fell back
down and the rocky edges of the ravine crumbled inward. At the last
possible moment, Ranma threw the child upward, clear of the debris
falling in on him. Like a great closing mouth, the vengeful earth
consumed him, driving jagged shafts of splintered palm wood into him,
and crushing him beneath shards of heavy sharp black rock.
Nabiki automatically fields the falling child, despite the still
shaking ground. Something is wrong, however. Why did Ranma throw the
little girl up instead of carry her ?
The feeling of wrongness continues to nag her as she calms and treats
the child. The young one was almost the last person needing immediate
attention, she could only feel one other person with serious injury.
Mousse and Shampoo could probably handle freeing the last few
uninjured but still trapped people.
Setting down the child with her pretty dark haired older sister and
dog (what a strange looking dog, were dogs supposed to have 6 legs and
be blue ?), the feeling of wrongness snapped into sharp focus. The ki
signature of the remaining serious injury felt familiar, far too
familiar, in fact. As weak as it was, it had taken her a moment to
recognize it, but it was Ranma's, and it was fading.
Oh dear God, not Ranma. Please.
Moving faster than she had ever moved before, even with all of her
prior training, Nabiki found herself tearing at the earth, stone and
wood of a collapsed ravine like a demon possessed, with no idea how
she had covered the intervening distance. Right then she would have
given her life for Ryoga's Bakusai Tenketsu technique. Anything to
dig faster. Anything. Dear lord please let him be alright.
At that moment, in one of those cosmic coincidences which prove that
there is a God, Nabiki's prayer was answered. A voice in Japanese is
heard to mutter nearby, "Where in the world am I now ? I didn't think
the Serengeti had any volcanoes."
"Ryoga ! Thank God ! I need your help ! Ranma's trapped ! Please
!" Nabiki turns and screams in a voice made raw with sulfur and
terror.
"Nabiki ? " Ryoga momentarily has to retreat a step from Nabiki's
vehemence. He was closer than she had known. Following the direction
of her shaking finger though, he immediately discerned the problem.
Jumping into the hole Nabiki had started, he touches his finger to the
earth and mutters. The earth answers him with an explosion of flying
rock and dirt. Ryoga touches the earth again, and again, and yet
again, each time answered by a cloud of flying earth. Gently, he
reaches for the body now exposed, and leaps out of the far deeper
hole, setting Ranma's unconscious form down near Nabiki.
Years of professional exposure to trauma somehow allow Nabiki to
operate through her panic. Frantically, she tries to keep Ranma
alive. Dear lord this is bad. Ranma's femoral artery is sliced open
by a spear of wood high up on one thigh, he has several broken ribs
driving into one lung, collapsing it, and she'd swear there's internal
bleeding as well. Fortunately, she can tourniquet the artery, it's
just low enough for her to be able to slip a coil of I.V. line above
it, and she still has a breathing tube and hand respirator left, and a
unit of plasma. Enough to keep him alive, she prays.
Shampoo and Mousse both have heard Nabiki's scream, and come a soon as
they are able. Seeing them, Nabiki cradles Ranma and makes her shaky
demands. "Mousse, squeeze the respirator, slowly and evenly, and hold
up the plasma bag. Shampoo, please, fly us to the hospital. There's
one in Hilo, right ? That's only 40 kilometers ... he can last until
then, he _can_ last until then."
Shampoo nods and runs ahead to start the engine on her bird, followed
by Nabiki and Mousse, forced to move more slowly by the demands of the
unfamiliar coordination between them. "Ryoga, thank you. I owe you.
Can you please help out the last few people needing it here, and then
meet us in Hilo later ?"
Ryoga also nods and turns back to the town, prepared to search it for
anyone else in need of help. By now, the police, fire, and ambulance
services were arriving from whatever the next major population center
was, probably the Hilo Nabiki had mentioned. Stepping forward, he is
caught by surprise by a small, cute, hexapedal dog, who catches his
leg in an impossibly strong grip, improbably smiles, and somehow,
talks. "Stitch help you." Oh well, this was less weird than the last
time he had run into that Djinn in Antarctica.
***
A rumpled doctor speaks to a small group of medical staff in the
emergency receiving room of the local hospital. "Thanks for answering
your pagers so promptly. It hasn't hit the news yet, but I think you
can all see what happened." A nervous chuckle sweeps around the room
at the plume of smoke easily visible out the window of the hospital
emergency room. "We're starting to get radio reports from Volcano
Village, and initially, it doesn't look as bad as it could be.
Nevertheless, it looks like we'll have any number of patients in the
near future. We don't have time for much preparation, does everyone
know what to do ?"
"That's strange," he breaks off as he hears a helicopter approaching
the hospital landing pad. "I didn't think we'd be seeing someone this
early. Why didn't we get a call ahead on this ?" Gathering a pair of
hefty nurses and a gurney, the doctor dismisses the rest of the staff
to their preparations, and proceeds quickly to the helipad.
He is greeted by the sight of a small private helicopter, not a
medical one, emblazoned with the words 'Nihou Tours'. Through the
cockpit window he can see the pilot is a young chinese woman with a
baseball cap covering a mane of highly unusual lavender hair. He
turns his attention to the opening passenger door of the aircraft with
a snort for the odd preferences of youth. First out is a tall chinese
man with long black hair wearing a robe far too heavy for the weather.
He is holding a half empty plasma bag aloft, and doing something with
his other hand not visible through the door. He is followed by a
short brown haired Japanese woman who carefully climbs out of the
helicopter cradling an obviously injured japanese man. It can now be
seen that the chinese man is rhythmically squeezing the ball of a
manual respirator.
The surgeon pushes aside his thoughts at the odd appearance of the
group and moves to help put the injured man on the gurney. The woman
is obviously a health professional of some sort and quickly gives him
an update of the patients condition, in an albeit shaky voice,
supplementing his own quick professional examination. "Prep the
surgery for this one, Ann. Grab Dr. Angles on the way. I'll scrub
and be right in."
Something clicks in his mind as he turns back to quickly reassure the
woman following him. "Excuse me, but is your name Nabiki Tendo, by
any chance ?"
Seeing Nabiki's nod, he suddenly blurts out "Oh my God. Then that was
Ranma Saotome ? I don't believe it. You two are famous !" Despite
his age and professionalism, the doctor suddenly feels like a giddy
first year medical student again. "Wow, I guess that explains why
there are no serious calls coming in from Volcano village."
"Doctor, please, Ranma ..." Nabiki manages to force out, grabbing the
mans arm like a life preserver with her left hand, her right hand
seems to be squeezing something. "Then you know about his curse ?"
She finally manages. "If he should change size dramatically in
mid-procedure ..."
The surgeon nods, winces, and disengages his bruised arm. "I know, I
looked up the journal articles on his curse when you two became better
known for your rescue work. Hard to believe, but it was pretty
irrefutable. Too bad the place was destroyed. No cold water, right
?" He smiles reassuringly at her and enters the surgery.
With events finally catching up with her, Nabiki collapses bonelessly,
barely caught by Shampoo and Mousse and maneuvered onto a nearby
bench.
Softly, brokenly, Nabiki clutches Shampoo and sobs. "Shampoo, oh God,
this is my fault. I made him do this. Was it worth it. Was the last
six years, all that effort worth it, just to see him die anyway ? Oh
please, say he'll be alright, say I did the right thing."
"Mousse, what do I do now ?" Shampoo awkwardly cradles her friend and
looks at Mousse pleadingly. "I don't know what to do."
***
Late that night, withdrawn and pensive in the dark, Nabiki sits beside
the intensive care bed occupied by Ranma. He had been released from
surgery a few hours earlier, but was in a coma and was given an
uncertain prognosis. Illuminated only by the glowing monitors, it can
just be made out that she holds an object in either hand.
In her right hand she holds two halves of a small, crushed, and bloody
box. Something in the box glitters as Nabiki moves. It is a gold
ring, with small but elegant diamond placed in it. When Nabiki had
examined the ring in the light of the bathroom, her name could be
clearly seen engraved in the inside of the band, below the name of her
younger sister. Nabiki had found this box in the pocket of Ranma's
shorts when she was dealing with his sliced femoral artery.
'I remember this ring. I loaned him the money for it, and helped the
baka pick it out before Jusendo, all those years ago. I don't think
he ever paid me back for it, in fact. But for me ? And why Akane's
ring ? Does this mean little sister approves ?'
In her left hand, she carries a ceremonial tanto engraved with the
Saotome family crest. It is the same blade that, all those years ago,
Ranma had made his promise upon.
'And this, this, thing. This blade. This has never been welcome to
me. Why did Kasumi give me this when we visited ? She said I might
need it soon. For what ? To atone for my own failures ?'
Clenching her fists Nabiki looks at Ranma in dark amusement. "How
long have you been carrying this ring, Saotome ? I guess you still
can't talk to women, can you, baka pervert." Slowly, her mood fades
toward despair. "You can't die on me, you perverted baka, you can't.
If the promise you gave me six years ago on this,' she looks at her
left hand, 'means anything, then you have to survive and give me
this.' she holds up her right.
A quiet knock interrupts her revere. "Come in," she says with a small
start.
A large figure wearing an oversize traveling backpack is illuminated
against the hall lights. "Wow. I think this is the fastest I've
gotten to anywhere I wanted to go." Ryoga comments. Walking over to
the bed, and seating himself on the other chair, he looks over Ranma,
then Nabiki, and gently asks "How is he doing ?"
"He's been in a coma since he got out of surgery. There was a lot of
internal damage. They did what they could, but ..." Nabiki trails
off. "It's ironic, you know, if our situations were reversed I'd
already be walking around, he'd have performed a ki transfer and have
jumpstarted my ki flows. I've seen him do it, and he's started
teaching me, but apparently I just can't summon a sufficient focus for
my ki yet. Not that he'd ever let me get hurt, the jerk." Nabiki
pauses to wipe away some tears.
This strikes another, ironic chord in Ryoga, "Heh, deja vue," he says,
as he hands her a tissue. "That sounded a lot like Akane did. Don't
tell me you've fallen for him now, too."
Nabiki only sets the tanto down, reaches over, and grasps Ranma's
unresponsive hand. She opens the other, to show Ryoga it's contents,
forbearing to stop or hide the tears now.
"Ranma, you still haven't changed, have you." Ryoga smiles softly.
"Not that it matters anymore, but I truly forgive you now. That's
probably why I found you so quickly." He turns to Nabiki and gently
closes her hand again. "I never learned any of the rejuvenation
techniques, and I guess I'm not surprised that he didn't teach you
this way, Nabiki, given what happened to the two of us. But you
should know you've got more than enough focus to use your ki for a
transfer technique."
"What ! Tell me ! Please !" Nabiki stumbles up from her chair and
lunges at Ryoga.
"Woah there !" Ryoga grunts quietly as he catches her. Some detached
part of Nabiki notes that Ryoga is still more solid and harder to
move even than Ranma.
"It's simple enough. I'm surprised you didn't think of this yourself,
you've seen both of us do it enough times. Use your emotion as a
focus. You just need a strong, pure emotion as a focus to use. It's
self destructive in the long term, as he and I found out, but it
works."
Nabiki hesitates a second before wrapping her arms around Ryoga and
crying in relief. A short while later, she manages to pull herself
upright, and claiming the tissue she dropped before, cleans her face
ineffectually.
She smiles, tentatively and brokenly, but a real smile nonetheless.
"Ryoga, thank you. I owe you more than I can say. Can you, can you
leave us for a bit ? I think Shampoo and Mousse are still in the
lounge down the hall."
Ryoga nods and gets up. When he's about to open the door, he hears
Nabiki's voice again, in a reasonable facade of her old ice-queen
persona. "Oh, and Ryoga. This didn't happen, got it ?" They both
share a small laugh as the door closes.
Walking down the hall, Ryoga is not surprised to see a gentle warm
rose glow momentarily rise and fall in the window of Ranma's room.
Opening the door of the lounge, sees a sleepy Shampoo and Mousse and
asks. "Hey. Anyone hungry ? By the way, where does Hawaii get those
weird dogs from ?"
Back in the intensive care room, various monitors change their quiet
beeps to a more lively, happier rhythm. Slowly, Ranma wakes up.
Opening his eyes, he blinks away the gloom and sees Nabiki sitting
beside him, apparently caught half way between laughing and crying.
She seems to have a death grip on his hand.
"Biki ? You okay ? Where are we ? Don't cry Biki," mutters a still
groggy Ranma.
Nabiki turns her face away for a moment, and with considerable effort,
gains control over her features. Finally turning back, she picks up
an object from the bedtable and places it atop Ranma's lap. "Ranma, I
release you from your promise."
"What's that ? What are you talking about Biki ?" Still confused,
Ranma sees that he is in a hospital bed, fitted out with nearly as
many monitors as he used to have to wear back as a guinea pig in med
school.
"Ranma, your promise to us, after Jusendo. As a representative of
clan Tendo, I release you. And you know I hate it when you call me
'Biki'."
Ranma levers himself painfully upright into a sitting position.
Looking down, Ranma sees that Nabiki has returned to him the tanto so
symbolic of the path his life has taken since Akane. "Biki, um, I
mean Nabiki ? What's wrong ? Why are you doing this ? "
"Listen you Baka ! It's over ! You've done enough ! You can quit
now ! You almost died, damn it ! You probably would have if Ryoga
hadn't stumbled along !" Nabiki is shouting now, fist clenched and
eyes flashing. "Don't you dare leave me !"
Nabiki's control finally crumbles completely, as she opens her fist
and holds out the ring. "I found this, Ranma. I love you." She can
find nothing more to say.
Ranma looks at Nabiki for a moment. Slowly then, Ranma's hand lifts
the ring out of Nabiki's, and places it on her finger. "I won't leave
Nabiki, I promise."
He gives a small smile and teases "_Biki_". Nothing more is said as
Ranma falls back asleep.
***
Authors Notes
So, okay this should have been several chapters, it the largest one of
this story by far. Still, it's done. Yay !
Credit to Lilo and Stitch for the inspiration to place the story in
Hawaii. I couldn't resist giving the little blue guy a guest
appearance.
As I disclaimed before, I'm not a doctor, I don't know medicine. I'm
also not a pilot. I do occasionally pretend to be a martial artist,
and the description I wrote of a master spookily feeling and effecting
his surroundings is pretty close. I've seen myself recorded on video
reacting to my instructors in the way I describe. I didn't realize it
until they pointed it out to me watching the tape. Sparring certain
of my instructors is like trying to spar a ghost, you don't hit them
unless they want you to.