When did Akane begin to dream of Ranma?  She did not know herself. She
did know that any dream with Ranma inevitably turned out to be a
nightmare.

In one of Akane's recurring dreams, Ukyou cries.  Ranma is there,
holding her, brushing her hair away from her eyes, kissing her tears
away.  "There, there," he says. "Everything'll be alright.  I'm here."
And Ukyou stops crying, and gazes into Ranma's eyes.  And gently, Ranma
kisses Ukyou.  Whenever Akane had that dream, she would awake with a
mixture of fear and rage.

In Akane's worst dreams, it is she that cries, and she who Ranma
comforts.  Whenever she had that dream, she would wake just before Ranma
kissed her, and she would awake with a mixture of fear and rage.

This morning, Akane awoke without rage.  She dreamt that she was
looking into a clear lake.  By the light of the full moon above her,
she could see Ukyou and Ranma in the lake.  Ukyou was crying, and Ranma
was holding her, talking to her gently.  Ranma untied the bow in
Ukyou's hair, but when her hair came tumbling down, it was no longer
Ukyou, but Akane, wearing the long hair she had before Ranma came into
her life!  Ranma tried to kiss Akane, but before he could do so a talon
grabbed Ranma's ponytail and pulled his head back.  A large red bird
dragged Ranma up through the lake, and Ranma held on to Akane and
pulled her along, and they broke through the surface of the water and
flew towards the moon and Akane woke up.

She did not know what to make of it.  Her heart was pounding, but
she attributed it to the splash she made as she broke out of the lake,
and the chill wind she felt rushing through the air.  She wondered why
she felt that so keenly.

It was 5 in the morning, and she knew she would not be able to get to
sleep.  When Akane had nightmares about Ranma, she would try to spar
with him.  It usually made her feel better.  But Ranma wouldn't be up
at this hour, and besides, this morning he was out on another training
mission with his father.  So Akane went out jogging, and tried not
to miss him.

Ukyou woke up at the same time Akane did.  She also dreamt about Ranma
that morning.  She dreamt she was a child again, was running after her
okonomiyaki cart, and Ranma was sitting on top of it, sticking his
tongue out at her, and laughing.  She had that dream before, although
she had not had it since she moved to Tokyo.  But this dream didn't end
like the others.  This time, she caught up to the cart, and leapt onto
it.  Ranma slipped inside the cart when he saw her get close.  When
little Ukyou followed him inside, she found, not Ranma, but a giant
bird there.  It lunged at her, beak headed for her eyes, and Ukyou
screamed and woke up.

Ukyou did not put much stock in dreams anymore.  She went downstairs
to prepare her okonomiyaki restaurant for the day's business.

----------------------------

Genma could not decide whether Ranma was playing some cruel joke on him
or Ranma was executing an elaborate battle plan.  He sincerely hoped it
was the former, but after three days of waiting for Ranma to show up to
continue their training, he had the seriously consider the possibility
it was the latter.

The Saotome father and son had journeyed to the mountain forests to
train.  The evening of the first day out, the separated to forage for
food.  That was the last Genma had seen of Ranma.  This usually meant
that Ranma had found a particularly tasty source of food, like a
traveling okonomiyaki cart, but in such a remote region, Genma could
not figure what source of food would keep Ranma away for so long.

"Ranma!  Where are you?  Where is that lazy boy?  Ranma!"

"Over here, Pop," said Ranma as he rebounded off a tree trunk and flew
towards Genma's unprotected back.

"Where have you been?" asked Genma as he flipped over Ranma and struck
at the back of Ranma's head.  Ranma ducked the blow, which damaged a
tree and dislodged a bird's nest.

Ranma swept his legs under him.  "Preparing to take over the Saotome
Indiscriminate School of Martial Arts," he said, as Genma leapt over
Ranma's legs, grabbed the bird's nest out of the air and scaled the tree
where it came from.  Genma put the nest back and started to chuck dead
branches like spears at Ranma.

"You've a long way to go, son," retorted Genma, although he was very
impressed with the way Ranma avoided the projectiles. It almost looked
like they passed through Ranma.  Genma knew Ranma was quickly, but he
did not realize how quick. As an afterthought, Genma added, "You also
have to marry Akane and take over the Tendo Doujou."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that," said Ranma.  In a single
bound, he leapt onto the branch on which Genma had perched.  Genma
backed up defensively, too late remembering the likely consequence of
adding Ranma's weight to an old tree branch and moving further away from
the trunk.  Genma braced for a fall.

But Genma did not fall, and Ranma did not press the attack, though he
held an offensive position.  "I know I've yelled at you -- a lot -- for
promising me to the Tendo family before I was born.  But during this
training trip, I -- well, I understand better what you're trying to do."

Genma was pretty sure that Ranma was planning an attack of some sort,
but he couldn't see it yet.

"So I want to apologize to you, Pop," Ranma continued.  "There are some
promises that have to be kept.  Even obligations made a long time ago. 
Even obligations to marry."

Genma had heard of people having epiphanies while training alone in the
woods.  He had never experienced it himself, and he certainly never
expected his son to have one, but when Heaven grants one good fortune,
one should not question it, lest one be thought ungrateful.

"Ranma!  This is wonderful!"  Genma lowered his guard and turned
heavenward. "Your father has waited so long for this.  We must return to
the Tendo Doujou and make preparations...."  Ranma suddenly leapt onto
Genma's head and launched himself deep into the forest.

"I'll go back to talk to Akane, Pop," Ranma called back as he ran out of
sight. "Good-bye!"

Genma picked himself off the ground.  "You're leaving without your
father? What are you thinking, son?" he yelled.  If Genma had not been
so elated by Ranma's announcement, and so surprised by Ranma's sudden
departure, Genma might have noticed that Ranma's weight on his head
which knocked him out of the tree was much less than it should have
been.  Instead, all Genma noticed was that his son had left again, and
he would have to find his own lunch.

----------------------------

Okonomiyaki Ucchan's was enjoying a very good lunch crowd.  It was
keeping Ukyou pretty busy, but it was well within her capabilities.  She
was flipping over a dozen okonomiyakis while pouring the batter for
another dozen when she was started by Ranma's voice.  "Hi, Ucchan!" it
said.

"Gahk!" went Ukyou's voice as she accidentally flipped two okonomiyakis
three feet further than she intended.  Ranma leapt to his feet.

"I'm sorry, Ucchan!  I didn't mean to scare you!" explained Ranma
rapidly.

"No, Ran-chan, it's okay."  Ukyou gathered herself and caught the errant
okonomiyakis. She had them back on the grill before any ingredient was
disturbed. "It's just that I didn't notice you come in."

"Well, you were busy...."  Ranma sat back down.

"It never stopped me before," said Ukyou earnestly.  It was true.  No
matter how busy Ukyou got, she always exclaimed "Welcome, Ran-chan"
before Ranma could set both feet inside her shop, and she had a special
okonomiyaki on the grill before Ranma could take a seat.  But here he
was, sitting at her grill, looking just like he usually did, except for
a dark flower attached to his shirt.  She wondered how he did it.

"Well....  It's a new martial arts technique."

"Really!  Did you learn that that in your training trip?"

Ranma said "yes," but with more hesitation than could be expected for a
simple yes/no question.

"I thought you weren't supposed to come back until tomorrow, though?"

"Uh, well...."  Ranma seemed to have trouble figuring out what to say
next.

"Oh, Ran-chan!"  Ukyou didn't wait for Ranma's answer.  "I almost forgot
about your okonomiyaki!  You must be hungry after your trip."  She moved
to make a special okonomiyaki, but Ranma interrupted her.

"No, not right now.  Just keep on what you were doing."

"Ran-chan?"  This was not something Ukyou expected to hear.

"It's OK.  I'd just like to watch you work for now.  You're very good,
you know."

"That's very kind, Ran-chan."  Ukyou wondered why Ranma decided to
compliment her all of a sudden.  She decided he had something to tell
her, but she couldn't imaging what.  She went back to work, but kept
sneaking glances at Ranma. Every time she looked up at Ranma, she saw
him smiling at her, encouraging her to go on, but he didn't say
anything.  Eventually she decided that he would talk when he was ready.

Only a few stragglers from the lunch crowd were left when Ranma was
ready.

"So, Ucchan....  I guess business is going well," said Ranma.

"Yes, it is.  It certainly hasn't been quiet today.  Although you have,"
replied Ukyou.

"I've had a lot on my mind lately.  I've been thinking...."  Ranma
didn't continue.

After a pause, Ukyou tried to prod Ranma.  "Well, that's your problem
then!" she teased.  "You know if you use your head too much, you'll get
a toothache." Ukyou smiled.

Ranma chuckled, remembering that incident ten years ago.  "No, it's not
that again...."

"Well, what is it?"

"This isn't easy for me to say...."

"Oh, come on, we've known each other for a long time."

"That's kind of the problem."  Ranma took a deep breath. "Lately, I've
discovered that there are some promises that have to be honored, even if
you didn't make the promise in the first place.  Even if you didn't know
about it.  Even if you were just a kid."

"What are you talking about?"

"When we we kids, we thought we'd be best of friends forever..."

"I still think that, Ran-chan."

"...and that we'd grow up and go off and have great adventures
together..."

"It's not too late for that," said Ukyou.  She started to pulled out
some travel brochures from behind the cash register.  "I know this
really nice place...."

"I'm afraid it is too late."

Ukyou picked up the few brochures that tumbled to the floor.

"I can't stay here with you, Ucchan. I'm sorry.  I haven't been a very
good friend to you, have I? Ten years ago, my Pop took your okonomiyaki
cart..."

"I've already forgiven you for that, Ran-chan."

"But not for me leaving you behind, right?"

Ukyou didn't answer.

"There are things that happened ten years ago that have come back to
haunt me now.  I didn't want to hurt you then.  I don't want to hurt you
now.  I know my Pop promised me to you, but there was another promise
made before then.  And even though I didn't make it,  I have to honor
it.  I just hope someday that I can make it up to you."

Ukyou knew of only one promise that bound Ranma before she met him.

"So... so... so that means that Akane...?"  Ukyou did not complete the
question.  She found herself unable to speak when Ranma clasped his
hands around hers.

"You get along with Akane, right?" asked Ranma.

"Akane and I are friends...."

"That makes things easier....  When you see her next, could you be nice
to her?  I'm afraid that...."

Ukyou heard concern in Ranma's voice, but she could not bring herself to
look into his face.  Instead, she kept her attention focused on Ranma's
hands around hers, and tried to imagine Ranma asking something else of
her.  Something more of her.

She did not let Ranma finish.  "Of course!  Of course I will!"  Even
then, she knew she could not refuse him.  She disentangled her hands
quickly from his.  "Now, let me make you a special okonomiyaki."

She turned back to her grill, and took her spatulas back into her hands,
hoping to keep them from trembling.

"I won't be able to eat it," she heard Ranma say.  "Goodbye."

He looked up, but the only person there was a customer who walked up to
settle her bill.

"Did you see that boy leave just now?" Ukyou asked her customer.

"The one with the ponytail?  I saw him a little while ago. I didn't
notice him leave, though."

"Oh."  Ukyou collected her money.

"Was this his?"  The customer pointed to a dark flower left on the
counter where Ranma was.  Ukyou picked it up and sniffed it. She had
smelled it before, but she couldn't remember where.

"I guess it was," said Ukyou.

"He didn't leave without paying, did he?"

"No..." replied Ukyou.  Not in the way her customer meant, anyway.

----------------------------

Akane tightened the belt on her gi as she prepared to prove her martial
artistry against several blocks of concrete and a wooden horse.  She
vaulted over the horse, spinning her legs around and landed on a group
of blocks.  They shattered under the impact, but Akane did not let that
affect her motion.  She continued her pirouette and landed in front of
the second group of blocks.  She brought her hand down, and shattered
them as well.

"That was nice," a voice said.

Akane threw a piece of concrete at the intruder before she saw who it
was. It was Ranma, dropping from the corner of the ceiling of the
doujou. Akane had not seen him come in.

"That was a bit wild," Ranma said.  "You could have hurt a slower
person."

"How long have you been there?" snapped Akane.

"Just a few minutes."

The idea that Ranma had been watching her bothered Akane. She imagined
him silently laughing at her clumsiness.  But that wasn't what he
said.  But you never could tell with Ranma.  She looked at Ranma,
trying to figure out what he was thinking as he watched her.  She
couldn't figure it out.

"What are you doing?"

"I was just watching you practice," said Ranma.  "What's wrong with
that?  Why shouldn't I watch?  You look good in your gi."

Was he trying to appease her by offering her a compliment, or was he
implicitly implying she didn't look good in anything else?  She didn't
dare ask him.  She thought for a second that perhaps wasn't laughing at
her as he watched her before, but trying to imagine what he was thinking
in that case made Akane very uncomfortable.  She put that thought out of
her head.

"You don't just sneak up on people and watch them without them knowing
it. That's spying.  It's perverted!"

"What's so perverted about martial arts practice?"

Akane wasn't really sure of that herself, so she turned away from Ranma
with a small "Hmph!"  Nothing happened for a while.  She glanced at
Ranma out of the corner of her eye.  He was standing there.  The
unanswerable question still hung in the air.

Akane might have stood there for hours had not Ranma bent down to pick
up a flower that loosed from him when he dodged Akane's throw.  It was a
red and black flower, with its petals arranged in a curving spike.  It
was not a flower that Akane had ever seen before, and Ranma was wearing
one of the same kind pinned to his shirt.

"Why are you wearing that?" asked Akane.

"It's the reason I'm here," said Ranma.  He tossed the flower in his
hands to Akane.  "Take it."

Akane cradled the flower in her hands.  She walked up to Ranma and felt
his forehead.  "Do you have a fever or something?" she asked.

"No!"  (In fact, Ranma's forehead was decidedly cool to the touch.)

"Well, you're not making any sense.  What do you mean, this flower is
the reason you're here?  Why are you here?  You're weren't supposed to
come back from your training trip until tomorrow."

"I got the flower during my training...."

"You were practicing martial arts flower picking?"

"No!"

"Well, you didn't came back early just to give me a flower," accused
Akane.

"Forget the flower!" cried Ranma.  "I came back to talk to you."

Ranma delivered his prefatory remarks about the sanctity of certain
promises for the third time that day before Akane was able to adjust to
the idea that Ranma left off his training just to talk to her.  As
usual, Ranma's intentions were not clear to Akane.  She tried to study
his face for some clue as to what he was feeling, but Ranma just looked
serious and was staring straight at her as he talked.  Whenever he did
that, Akane found she could not look at Ranma's face and concentrate on
solely his feelings.

But if Ranma was talking about keeping promises he did not make -- and
talking about it to her -- Akane could think of at least one thing Ranma
might be referring to.  She was not sure she liked where this was
heading.

"Things are different now," Ranma was saying.  "We've had problems
before, I know, but now that--"

Akane cut him off.  "You shouldn't feel that you have to do something
because of someone else's promise.  It isn't fair."

"It's not just because of a promise," said Ranma.  "There's more."

The flower that Ranma gave Akane was no more than a couple of ounces,
yet she could feel its weight pressing down hard upon her hand as she
waited for Ranma to continue.

"While I was training, I met this woman who wants to marry me..." Ranma
began.

Akane felt the stem of the flower snap in her hand.

"Ranma, did you came back to tell me you got some other silly girl to
chase after you?" she asked.

"I didn't get her to chase after me, it was her idea!"

"So that's it!  You've picked up another poor girl!"  Akane was yelling
now.  "Did you give her stolen flowers?  Will she come here looking for
you? Is she going to distract you from your training?  Is she going to
move in with you?"

"It's nothing like that!  I don't want to marry her...."

"Because your training is all you care about?  Is she going to distract
you from your training?"

"I'm not worried about her distracting me..."

Akane waved the flower accusingly in front of Ranma's face.  "You said
you didn't pick flowers.  So why are you wearing one now?  Did she give
it to you?"

Ranma set his jaw and stared at Akane, but he could not answer that
question. Instead, he let out a yell of exasperation.  "Geez!  Why do
you have to be so jealous?"

"Jealous?  Me?  I've got news for you Ranma -- I don't care who you
think is your fiance of the week.  You can go back to your training or
whatever it is you call it, and leave me out of it!"

Akane left the doujou, asking herself "Why do I let Ranma do this to me?"
She left Ranma behind, but she did not abandon the flower.  Ranma
watched Akane leave, unable to follow her.  Then he too was gone.

----------------------------

Between the bustle of the day and the respite of night comes twilight. 
It had been a hot summer day, people engaged in the business of making
money and running the household.  Soon, it would be dark, and people
would be inside, huddled around the television, watching shows, playing
video games, or doing homework, and getting ready for bed.  But at this
moment, it was twilight.  No one had any particular place to go.  The
sun had dropped below the horizon, but was taking its sweet time in
removing its light from the sky.  A lazy wind blew some leaves in
circles, not deciding where it should take them.  Waves splashed up and
down the canal bank.

Ranma sat on the fence separating the street from a man-made canal.  He
had been watching the sun's reflection in the water move across the
waves to meet the horizon and admire it.

It was the kind of sunset that causes people to stop on their way home
from work and reflect upon their lives.  Either drinking in the warmth
and noting what a wonderful live he leads, or wondering why he had never
stopped to enjoy more sunsets.

Behind Ranma, a salaryman walking the last couple of blocks from the
train to his home had also stopped to watch the sunset.  Perhaps he
thought about how good his life was, and how nice it was to return to
his home.  Perhaps he was regretting that the life he had chosen for
himself had left him so few times to watch a sunset such as this. 
Whatever he thought, he kept it to himself, and he continued on his way
when the last rays of sun vanished from the sky.

Ranma of course noticed when the man came and left; years of martial
arts training taught him that much.  But Ranma did not try to speak to
the man.  He was waiting for someone else.

When the third star was visible in the sky, Ranma's visitor arrived.  He
had neither seen nor heard her arrive, but he knew when she arrived all
the same.

"It's time, Ranma."

"So it is." said Ranma.  He jumped off the fence and faced his young
visitor. She did not look to be over thirteen years old.  Ranma stood two
heads taller than her, so she had to look up to him.  She felt
uncomfortable with what she had to do, though, so she dropped her head
before she spoke again.

"I wish I could let you stay longer.  I really do," she told the street.

Ranma knelt down to better see the girl.  "I know, Junko." he gently
told her.

"Did everything go OK?" she asked, still looking at the ground.

"I hope so.  I hope Akane will understand.  She was stubborn to the
last."

"What were you looking at?  I mean, when I came, just now?  Was it
something sad?"

"Just the sunset, and yes, it was sad."

"You should have been looking at happy things."  She looked at Ranma and
smiled, hoping it would be contagious.

It was not.  "Well, it's also very beautiful here, and I wanted to see
it one last time.  I would have preferred a sunrise, but...."

She dropped her head again.  "I'd let you watch the sunrise if I
could...."

"It's all right.  I've done all I could here.  Now don't pout.  There's
not much time left."

Ranma unpinned the flower from his shirt and held it out for Junko to
take. Junko raised her head and reluctantly took it from Ranma's hand. 
As she did, Ranma's eyes closed, the body of Ranma listed to the side
and fell onto the street.

Junko knelt down beside Ranma's body and checked for breath.  She found
none. She brushed Ranma's hair away from his forehead and kissed it. 
"I'm really sorry, Ranma."  Then she gently blew on the flower.  The
petals removed themselves from the stem and floated into the air.  A
lazy wind caught them and they flew in circles above Ranma and Junko. 
Junko pointed to the west and when she whispered "return," the wind took
the petals over the river.

Down the street a schoolgirl who had tired of playing video games with
her brother wandered out of her house to look at the stars.  She
stretched, and wished for a breeze to bring relief to what looked to be
a hot night.  She noticed a motion out of the corner of her eye, and
turned to see what it was. Whatever it was, she missed it.  All she saw
was a young girl remarkably balanced on the fence by the street, but
that was odd enough.  She had never seen the girl before, and had no
idea why she would be sitting there or why she would be smelling a
flower, Most puzzling was her clothes, a long white and pink cloak that
seemed to be made from feathers and seemed almost to shine underneath
the street lamp.

The schoolgirl spent several minutes puzzling over the stranger, who
simply looked over the canal to were the sun had set over a half-hour
ago.  Then, her sister called out "Come inside now; you've homework to
do."  The girl turned to yell back "Coming!" As she did so, a wind
kicked in.  When she turned back to take a last look at the stranger,
she found that there was nothing there but leaves and flower petals
moving in the wind.  She went back into her house to prepare for yet
another day of school.  The next day of school would be much like this
days, as would the one after that.  She sighed, wondering if the
monotony would ever end, and did not realize how fortunate she was.