Ranko yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.  What a 
weird dream, she thought.  She'd had a horrible nightmare about 
being a mech pilot with two complete weirdos for partners.  One 
of them was a spineless boy who reminded her of Gosunkugi, 
except without any good points, while the other looked sort of like 
his second cousin, Arimi-chan, but without any emotions.  I 
wonder what Arimi is doing right now, anyway, Ranko wondered.  
I bet she'd freak if she knew about my curse.

	She looked out at the snow-shrouded landscape outside the 
cave, and laughed faintly.  "Not much danger of her finding out 
anytime soon."

	Ukyou mumbled, "Not much danger of me finding out 
what?"  He rolled over and rubbed his eyes.  

	"Not you, my second cousin, Arimi."

	"Huh?"  Ukyou sat up and stared at his flat chest.  The only 
good thing about being stuck in this boy body is that it makes 
sleeping on your stomach a lot more comfortable, he thought.  He 
went to scavenge some food to make breakfast.  "I had a weird 
dream, Ranma.  I...uh...got a message from a past life about a 
treasure trove." 

	"Doesn't do us much good even if it's true, since we're in the 
wrong world for any of your past lives to have left a treasure 
hanging around."  Ranmaa-chan got up and began doing some 
stretching exercises.  "The snow's stopped."

	"A white Christmas,"  Ukyou said, smiling.  "The treasure 
trove's in this world, though."
   
	"How did one of your past lives get here supposedly?"

	"I dunno.  It seemed so real, though.  I also went to where the 
False Dragon is living, in the dream, and found a map with 
KANJI written on it.  In Akane's handwriting."

	Ranko spun, looking excited.  "So you know how to find it?"

	Ukyou tinysweated.  "It wasn't a very good map."  He started 
a fire and put a few more spices in the broth of last night's soup.  
"And I...uh...sorta wished myself there in the dream."

	Ranko sighed.  "I know there's some kind of Aes Sedai trick 
for hopping around in dreams and stuff, but no one knows how to 
do it anymore."  She paused.  "Or maybe they just don't tell 
anyone.  There are people in the Tower who could eat Happousai 
for breakfast, but no one ever teaches you anything unless they 
have to, or unless they want to bribe you into doing something 
you shouldn't be doing."

	"So it's like an entire school of Happousais in dresses?"  
Ukyou asked, laughing a little.

	Ranko laughed.  "Yeah, I guess it was sorta like training with 
Happousai would have been if he wasn't a pervert.  More like an 
entire school full of Colognes, really."  She returned to her 
exercises, which were comfortable from long practice.  Talking 
and exercising at the same time was child's play for her.

	Ukyou shuddered.  "So they only train women there?"

	"Men who channel go mad."  Ranko paused in her exercises 
and fell silent.  

	"But you..."

         "Girl-form only.  I couldn't channel a candle alight in male 
form and I'm glad."  When it didn't gall her, anyway.  It was 
completely unfair.  "The last time they fought the Dark One, 
who's this big nasty evil guy they locked up under a mountain or 
something, he somehow buggered up magic for all guys.  Drives 
them all mad and they kill everyone they know."

	Ukyou suddenly didn't feel so bad that he couldn't channel.  
"But isn't the Dragon a male channeler?"  He stirred the rabbit 
stew slowly as it warmed.

	"Well, you kinda go mad by inches, I guess.  Rand seemed 
pretty sane when I met him."  Ranko said, returning to her 
exercises.  

	"But isn't this False Dragon probably Akane?  She's been 
channeling for months, it seems and so..."  Ukyou's stomach 
churned.  I want Ran-chan, but I don't want to get him because 
Akane-chan drove herself mad because of some curse on magic.  
It just...if we find her like that...

	Ranko's eyes widened.  "Shit."  Clearly, she hadn't even 
thought of that.  "AKANE!"  She turned and sprinted off into the 
snow.

	"Ran-chan!"  You don't even have your coat on, Ukyou 
thought.  He took off after Ranma.


************

Parallel Lives #1:
Book One:  For Remembrance Lost

Confrontation

A Wheel of Time / Ranma 1 / 2  crossover, 

by John Biles

Other chapters available at
http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/PL/


************

	Alyssa snuggled close to Kaneda, feeling the warmth of his 
body.  He was still sound asleep, and she let him slumber, pulling 
the covers back up over their bodies.  I bet you're tired out from 
hauling all those presents, she thought.  Or maybe from our 
celebration.  

	A thought had been haunting her for a while, and she 
continued the process of screwing up the courage to bring it to 
life, so to speak.  I want to marry you, Kaneda, she thought.  Even 
though we may not have a lot of time together.  Alyssa knew what 
happened to male channelers.  She'd seen one hauled into the 
Tower, and seen him dwindle away after he had been gentled.  
The Reds had made them study several more who had gone on 
destructive rampages.  While she had never met a Red she liked, 
she respected them for being brave enough to face rampaging 
powerful channelers and for guarding the world from another 
breaking.  She knew that sooner or later, Kaneda would snap.

	She didn't care.  She had had other loves, but not one like 
this.  He was so kind and gentle and understanding.  Sometimes, 
he seemed more like a girl than like any boy she had ever met.  
She had quite personal proof that he was no boy, though.  Not that 
he was experienced, mind you.  She was quite certain she had 
been with more men than he had been with women.  His old 
fiancee and he might have slept together, she thought, but that was 
it.  Even that didn't seem very likely, although it was somewhat 
confusing.  He had known what to do to give her pleasure, but 
hadn't seemed to really have much of a clue of what to do with his 
own body.  

       It scared him.  Sex, that is.  She could tell.  Once he got 
started, he was quite enthusiastic and happy, but just before they 
got into it, she could always see that he looked very nervous.  
Maybe he was just modest.  Even when he started it, which was 
becoming more frequent, he seemed scared.  None of her other 
lovers had ever been scared.  On the other hand, they had mostly 
been rat-bastards in the end, so perhaps it was a sign of a good 
man that sex scared him.  It certainly scared her sometimes.

	She ran her fingers up and down his chest, which was smooth 
with just a little chest hair.  Kaneda was much less shaggy than 
most men she knew.  His leg hairs looked strange as well; where 
his chest had little hair, his leg hairs were thicker and fuller than 
was normal for men, as if he had been in the habit of shaving his 
legs, although he had never shaved them that she knew of.  His 
arms were the same way.

	He could have been kidnapped by Trollocs and had extra 
hairs implanted in a Shaol Ghul torture room for all she knew.  
Despite being his lover, she knew little about Kaneda's past.  He 
had grown up in a village of super warriors, had been engaged to a 
girl named Ranko who had gone to the tower, who Alyssa had 
met there, had a father named Soun, and two sisters named 
Kasumi and Nabiki.

	Alyssa wasn't certain, actually, that the Ranko she knew was 
the same Ranko who had been engaged to Kaneda.  For one thing, 
the Ranko she knew had NO interest in men whatsover, and hadn't 
acted much like Ranko did in the few stories that Kaneda had told 
about her.  I wonder what their relationship was like, she thought.  
A pang of fear struck her once more.  Sometimes Alyssa would 
wonder what Kaneda would do if Ranko ever found 
them...assuming she was still alive.  Kaneda had never been sure 
if she had survived whatever accident had separated the two of 
them, which was another topic he would never talk about.  Alyssa 
worried whether she was just someone Kaneda had turned to in 
order to avoid being lonely until Ranko showed up.  

	I don't know what I'd do without you, Alyssa thought.  I love 
you so much, Kaneda.  I want to be with you forever, to go 
wherever you go.  And yet...as long as he held back, she would 
never be sure.  She had no secrets from him, but she didn't know 
how to pry out his secrets...or if she should.  The unhappy 
thoughts pelted her and she began to cry from frustration.  I don't 
want to think about this.  This should be a happy day.  I'm with 
the man I love...I shouldn't be crying.  The tears simply came 
harder.

	Only one thing could stop them, and that thing did.  A hand 
came up and brushed her cheek, tracing a line under one eye.  
Kaneda's hand.  He mumbled, "What's wrong, Alyssa-chan?"

	She wondered again what a 'chan' was, although it was 
clearly a term of endearment, for he only used it with her.  
"N...nothing..."  She tried to wipe her eyes with the edge of the 
blanket.

	He sat up, wiggling about to place her in his lap, wrapping 
his arms around her, kissing her cheek.  "People don't cry before 
breakfast for no reason."  Sometimes AFTER breakfast maybe, he 
thought, then tried to not think about his own cooking skills.  "Did 
you have a bad dream?"  

	She gulped hard, then decided to be honest.  She had to 
know.  "Kaneda-kun, do you still love Ranko?"

	His eyes widened and for a moment, he looked like she had 
bashed in his head with a two-by-four.  "If Ranko was going to 
show up, she'd have shown up by now.  She must think I'm dead."  
He was certain of that now.  It had been months, and he refused to 
think of the alternative.

	"Kaneda-kun, that doesn't answer my question."  He got 
evasive sometimes when he didn't want to answer a question.  For 
a moment, she wondered if he had trained in the Tower, but at her 
most paranoid, she knew better than that.

	"Would you be sitting in my lap if I loved another woman?  
Do you think I could really do that?"  He said.  "I love you, 
Alyssa."  Loving another man...now that's another question, he 
thought, then sighed mentally.  He had never quite been certain of 
what exactly the relationship between he and Ranma had been.  If 
Ranma did show up, did take him back to their world, enabled 
him to be a girl again...he didn't know what he would do, or what 
it would be like.  Not like it was.  The fiancee thing would have to 
be settled.  After Alyssa, he could never go back to the way it had 
been.  

	So am I lying to her?, he asked himself.  It was hard to think 
clearly about Ranma anymore.  Okay, it had NEVER been 
possible for me to think clearly about Ranma, Kaneda thought.  
More and more, his mind seemed to be bifurcating Ranma and 
'Ranko'.  Ranma was increasingly a phantom memory.  It was 
getting harder to remember how he sounded, how he acted, how 
he had felt about Ranma.  'Ranko', on the other hand, was quite 
vivid.  

	He could tell at times, that he was remembering Ranko doing 
things that he KNEW Ranma had actually done as a boy.  It had 
been Ranma, not Ranko, who had seen hi...her naked on the day 
they met.  It had been Ranma, not Ranko, who had helped her 
fight the horde of Trollocs that attacked her ever day before 
school.  It had been Ranma, not Ranko, who had challenged 
Mikado for trying to kiss her.  It had been Ranma, not Ranko, who 
had played King Aemon to her Queen Eldrene in the school play 
'The Fall of Manrethen'.  She could clearly see him waving his 
sword as their classmates pretended to be dying around him, while 
she stood up on the balcony that was supposed to be part of the 
capital, watching the battle from afar.  Although how Queen 
Eldrene had seen hundreds of miles...well, that wasn't important.  
It was just a play, after all, if a historical one.  But its events had 
happened 2000 years ago, so who knew how it had REALLY 
gone, right?  

	And yet, it was Ranko she thought of as being her fiancee.  
After all, I'm a boy.  No, I'm a girl!, she told herself, but she knew 
it was a losing struggle.  Her body, her lover, the people around 
her...even the air she breathed sometimes, told her that she was a 
boy now.  Holding Alyssa in her lap would have scared and 
probably disgusted her once, but now it was a turn-on.  She loved 
Alyssa in a way that would have been impossible for her before 
her trip here.  Intensely familiar with what it felt like for a man to 
be aroused, she could no longer remember except in the most 
abstract way what it had felt like to be aroused as a woman, not 
that she had ever done anything like this in her girl-body.  The one 
time that Akane, rather than Kaneda, had come close to having 
sex, she had been in her boy-body anyway, and Ranma had 
basically been insane, and in his girl form.

	I wonder if Kunou feels like this, she thought.  I love Alyssa, 
but I can't get Ranko...Ranma out of my head.  Maybe if we'd had 
some kind of real breakup...but not like this...but I can't tell Alyssa 
that.  Ranko will almost certainly NEVER show up, and I refuse 
to spend my life waiting for her.  Alyssa deserves better than me 
being a bozo when I can be her boyfriend.  He steeled himself and 
kissed Alyssa fiercely.  "I can't say I've forgotten her; I don't think 
I could if someone used the Power and wiped my brain, but I love 
you.  I won't abandon you, Alyssa."

	Alyssa's sobbing slowed and stopped.  The kiss was sweet on 
her lips, and suddenly, she yearned for him terribly.  She wanted 
to say something, but she suddenly knew that anything she said 
would sound twice as corny as the romantic novels she had read 
when she was younger.  Maybe four times cornier...they had been 
professional authors, after all.  Another kiss was more enjoyable 
than speaking, and might have lead further, except that then...

	Her eyes widened.  "I feel channeling.  It must be REALLY 
powerful unless somehow an Aes Sedai snuck into the castle."

	Kaneda blinked.  "Which way?  How close?"

	She pointed off towards the front gate and away off down the 
path that lead up the mountain slope to it.  "That way."

	"Get dressed.  We have to check this out."  The trembling in 
his voice had stilled and become a voice of command.  He kissed 
her cheek and scrambled out of bed, then froze in place.  "COLD 
AIR!"

	She giggled and started looking for her clothing, wishing it 
hadn't been lying on the floor all night.

************

	Corwin stared off down the mountainside, trying to make out 
the two figures he could see coming up it at high speed.  One of 
them was screaming louder than humanly possible, although he 
couldn't understand what she was shouting.  What did 'Akane' 
mean?  Maybe it's the Old Tongue, he thought.  

	The voice sounded loud enough to be in his face, but the 
woman was little more than a dot.  He couldn't tell which one was 
the woman, or whether both of them were women, for that matter.  
One seemed to be chasing the other.  Maybe the woman running 
away was named Akane?  He had already sent Charl to alert the 
Lord Dragon, but he gripped his quarterstaff tightly.  The woman 
might need help...

	Her voice continued to echo off the mountainside, and he 
saw the snow shake slightly.  He frowned, the snow shook more, 
and he stopped frowning for a second until his brain reassured 
him he hadn't caused that by frowning.  "Surely she can't cause an 
avalanche just by shouting."

	He almost fell over the side of the wall when Tyr said, "Yes, 
you can...especially if you're that loud.  If we can hear her from 
here..."  He shuddered.  Tyr was a young blond prospector from 
Ghealdan.  At least supposedly.  He didn't look Ghealdanese, or 
sound like it, to Corwin, anyway.  With that hair, he probably has 
some Andoran blood, Corwin thought.   Corwin was from 
Amadicia himself.  

	Several more people were crowding up onto the wall, as did 
the Lord Dragon Kaneda and his consort, Alyssa Sedai.  At least, 
Corwin assumed she was an Aes Sedai.  She claimed she had left, 
or been thrown out, or something, but he didn't believe it.  She 
was too good with the Power to have been some kind of failure.  
On the other hand, would a real Aes Sedai become the lover of the 
Dragon?  He wasn't sure of anything anymore, but the Dragon had 
saved his sister's life, and Corwin was ready to follow him to 
Shaol Ghul and back if need be.  

	Kaneda looked down at the two figures, mumbling strange 
words under his breath.  More Old Tongue, Corwin guessed.  I 
never realized he was a scholar too.  

	Alyssa said, "That's Ranko!  I recognize her voice?  But what 
does Akane mean?"

        Tyr said, "Whoever she is, if she doesn't stop shouting, 
there's going to be an avalanche."

	Kaneda's eyes widened.  "Alyssa, link with me!"

	They grasped hands.  Corwin's arm hairs stood on end, and 
like everyone else, he stood back a step.  He might not know 
anything about channeling, but like everyone else, he knew how 
to read their faces to tell if they were channeling.  Kaneda got this 
creepy blank look as if he had lost all his emotions, and Alyssa 
always looked like a girl who had just been kissed.  I wonder if he 
does that in bed, he thought, then laughed at the thought.  When 
several people stared at him, he realized he must have laughed out 
loud, so he tried to look even blanker than Kaneda so they would 
think they'd imagined it.

	The two of them turned to the mountainside too late, as it 
almost shrugged and a huge wave of snow flowed down it 
towards the tiny figures below.  Corwin caught a glint of sunlight 
off some sort of metal axe strapped to the back of the pursuing 
figure and just barely heard a male voice that might have 
belonged to it before the ocean of snow swallowed both of them.  

	Several people shouted inside the castle, and they turned and 
saw the snow had slid down into the castle as well, down the slope 
of the mountain that formed its rear wall, pooling up against the 
walls of some of the buildings.  

	For a moment, all was silent, then Kaneda lifted Alyssa into 
his arms, gave a scream that curdled Corwin's blood, and leaped 
over the wall to the ground below.  Alyssa gave a cry of surprise, 
and the snow around them melted to steam in an instant.  They 
whispered something, then began to plow through the snow, 
clearing a road.

	Cerise, a female tanner from Amadicia and one of the 
Dragon's prize pupils in the fighting style he had been teaching 
everyone, turned to the people gawking from the wall.  "Alright, 
looks like the Lord Dragon is going to take care of this.  Let's get 
the snow out of our town.  Tyr, go organize everyone who isn't up 
here."  She turned to Corwin.  "Corwin, pick a small group to go 
help the Lord Dragon."  Turning back to the others, "Everyone 
else is going to go grab a shovel and come help move the snow 
out of the castle."

	Corwin picked a few volunteers and took off.  At least it will 
be easy to find them, he thought.

*********************

	Ukyou finally understood why Akane had hit Ranma so 
many times.  The concept of strangling Ranma was looking 
REALLY good.  He was buried in snow, and slowly smothering 
as he tried to dig his way out, and at the same time, he could feel 
Ranma's abject terror.  If it had been terror over being buried 
alive, it would have been some small comfort, but Ranko had 
been feeding terror through the bonding link from the moment 
she'd realized Akane might be going mad.

	She's also channeling too much, Ukyou thought.  Ukyou only 
had a very vague idea how dangerous this could be, but Ranko 
seemed to have forgotten entirely.  I wish I could channel.  Going 
mad would be better than freezing to death because Ranko 
decided to become the loudest woman on Earth.  

	Cold was numbing his body, but he struggled to dig the snow 
out of the way.  It was loose and compacted easily, but he had no 
idea how deep he might be.  Or if his air would last long enough.  

	How long he kept digging, he never did know.  Before he 
died, but after he felt like he should die, the snow suddenly parted 
and two slender arms pulled him up out of the snow, while more 
snow flew away from him, struck by something invisible.  

	A quite attractive woman, dressed in yellow clothing that 
shouldn't have been warm enough, stood in front of him.  Her 
blond hair matched her dress, which did have long sleeves and a 
skirt to the ground, but looked like cotton, not winter wool.  She 
didn't have a proper cloak on, even.  Long hair couldn't really 
make up the difference.  Ukyou knew this from experience.  Her 
face was worried, and her eyes were a soft blue.  "Hello, I'm 
Alyssa."  She looked at Ukyou, then said, "Are you Ukyou?"

	Ukyou blinked.  She knows me?  "Um, yeah.  Do I know 
you?"

	"I hadn't realized you were a boy from the stories Kaneda has 
told us,"  Alyssa said.  "You looked like a girl in the picture, 
but..."

	Ukyou laughed nervously.  "I...uh...have a twin sister.  With 
the same name."  That must be the most incredibly stupid lie 
anyone has ever told in the history of the universe, he thought.  
"It's a weird custom from our w...town.  I'm Ukyou-kun, she's 
Ukyou-chan."

         Alyssa started for no apparent reason.  She stared at Ukyou 
as if trying to read some secret in his face.  "So a chan is a female 
twin?"

        "Among other things, yes."  Shut up before you bury yourself 
deeper, Ukyou told himself.  

         "Or a...t...term of endearment?"

	Ukyou nodded seriously.  "Yeah."  Smart girl, he thought.  
Now that he was no longer freezing to death, the little Ranko that 
now lived in his head filled his attention.  She was nearby.  He 
turned and saw Akane-kun, kneeling by an also kneeling Ranko, 
who was crying and pounding on Akane-kun's chest and babbling 
incoherently about not going mad.  Akane-kun's back was to 
Ukyou, sso he couldn't tell how Akane was reacting.  

	Alyssa turned and looked very sad.  She must have a crush 
on Akane-kun, Ukyou thought.  I bet she'd die if she knew the 
truth.  He got up and went over to her.  Akane's going to kill me, 
but I have to help her, he thought.  He would have done it even 
without the little Ranko in his head, but having her there made it 
imperative.  He could just barely think through her panic.  He 
knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, and through Akane 
as well, effectively, almost crushing Ranko in a sandwich between 
them.

	He heard Alyssa give a tiny cry, and heard footsteps in the 
distance, but he ignored them, trying to beam reassurance to 
Ranko through his bond, although he had no idea if that was 
possible.  "Don't worry, Ranm...Ranko.  We've found he...him.  I 
won't let him go mad.  A little of my home cooking, and he'll be 
fine."  Ukyou was babbling now, and knew it.  "I'm sure Dr. Tofu 
knows a pressure point or something..."  

	Akane-kun finally spoke with a deep voice.  "Ukyou's right, 
Ranko.  I'll be just fine.  Don't worry.  Dr. Tofu will fix me right 
up, no doubt."  His voice was wobbly.

	Alyssa slowly came over.  She was crying, although Ukyou 
had no clue why she would look so miserable.  "R...Ranko?  Is 
that really you?"

	Ranko turned her head and stared almost mindlessly through 
tear-blurred eyes.  "Alyssa?  Is that you?  Wh...what are you doing 
here?  I...I must be starting to hallucinate...no, I'm going mad 
too!"  Ukyou had never heard Ranma sound so terrified until 
today.  He hadn't thought it could get worse, but now it was 
getting worse.  His head was throbbing with her fear and he could 
scarcely think.

	The tears slowed and compassion began to struggle with 
anguish for control of Alyssa's face.  "By the Creator, what's 
happened to you, Ranko?  I've never seen you so scared."  She 
leaned forward, and her arms began to come up to mid-body, then 
dropped down again.

	Ukyou looked up at Alyssa and tried to beam the thought to 
hug Ranma into her head.  He scooted around a bit and so did 
Akane-kun, who seemed to have gotten the thought he tried to 
send Alyssa.  Alyssa knelt and wiggled her arms in, resting her 
forehead against Ranko's head.  "Don't worry, Ranko.  You're safe 
here."

	"But...they threw you out of the Tower.  What are you doing 
as one of the Sitters?"  She stared at Alyssa.  "You've got to help 
me, Alyssa!  Akane is going to go mad from channeling!  I don't 
know what to do...if she doesn't channel, she'll wither away and 
die, but if she channels, she'll go mad and break the world!"

	For a moment, Alyssa looked intensely confused, then 
compassion won the war for control of her face.  "Don't worry, 
Ranko.  Everything is going to be alright.  The Amyrlin Seat will 
take care of everything."

	"No!  You can't tell her!  She'll have to gentle Akane, and 
she'll DIE!  I don't want her  to die!  She's my fiancee!"  Ranko 
shook Alyssa, who looked baffled again.

	Despite her bafflement, she spoke soothingly, "Don't worry, 
Ranko.  Only men go mad from channeling.  If Akane is female, 
she'll be fine.  She just needs to go to the Tower for training."

	A light of hope dawned on Ranko's face.  "Really?  
You...you'll help her, won't you?"

         "Of course I will."  Alyssa's hands brushed the hair out of 
Ranko's eyes.  "You'll help her too, won't you, Ranko?"

	There was a small knot of people lead by a weatherbeaten 
man wrapped in a black cloak standing over them now.  This 
group hadn't rushed off into the cold without adequate clothing, 
Ukyou thought.  Ukyou relaxed a little, for he could feel Ranma 
relaxing.  I can't believe we were lucky enough to find someone 
Ranma knew in this world, he thought.  It must be a blessing from 
the Kamis.  

	Ranko almost shrank as the tension flowed out of her, and 
she sounded like a small child as she said, "'Course I will.  Getting 
that tomboy to obey the Tower rules though...the first time an 
Accepted gives her an order, she's gonna pull out a mallet and 
whack her in the head.  She'll probably try and clobber the 
Amyrlin Seat."  Her voice was fading as her body relaxed.  Ukyou 
could tell Ranko was exhausted and sinking into sleep.

	Akane-kun was laughing faintly.  He muttered, "I never 
thought I'd be happy to be called that."  A little louder, he said, 
"Corwin, may I borrow your cloak?"

	The cloak was off the leader of the group of standing people 
faster than Ukyou would have thought possible, and into Akane's 
hands.  He wrapped it around Ranko, then stared at Ukyou for a 
moment and said, "Hari, yours too, please."  Hari was a little 
slower than Corwin, but soon Akane-kun had the second cloak, 
which he put on Ukyou.  He helped Ranko to her feet.  She was 
clinging to Alyssa and drowsing, mumbling something about 
pulling someone's braid.  Alyssa stepped to one side, holding 
Ranko, and Ukyou and Akane-kun stared at each other silently for 
a moment.  The men and women of the posse, or whatever it was, 
stared at Ukyou too.

	Silently, Akane-kun suddenly lunged forward and hugged 
Ukyou, who blinked and hugged back.  "You're alive.  You're all 
alive.  I thought you all died."  Now Akane-kun began to cry as he 
gripped Ukyou tightly.  

	Ukyou didn't know what to say.  "I'm sorry we took so long, 
but..."

	Corwin cleared his throat.  "Heavens forbid I tell the Lord 
Dragon what to do, but perhaps we should go to the castle where 
it is warmer."

	Akane-kun laughed and released Ukyou.  "Please, call me 
Kaneda."  He turned and faced Corwin and the others.  "These are 
friends of mine from my village, everyone.  This is Ukyou and 
Ranko...Sedai."  

	There was a gasp of disbelief from the group, who couldn't 
believe they had seen an Aes Sedai in such a state of hysteria.  
Ukyou could hardly believe it himself.  He studied Akane-kun.  
Something was different about him.  The way he carried himself.  
It was a confident stance, and his voice was confident too.  "Uh, 
nice to meet you all,"  Ukyou said.

	"Alyssa, take Ranko to our quarters.  Ukyou and I will join 
you in a little while."  Akane-kun thought for a moment.  
"Corwin, you can go back to watch duty.  Everyone else, I guess 
we need to go clean up the mess inside the castle, then.  I'll come 
help once I get Ukyou settled in."

	Ukyou noticed a woman in the group was eyeing him 
appreciatively.  She was tall and thin, with long black hair.  
Ukyou recognized the kind of look she was giving him and 
blushed just a tiny bit.  I wish Ranko would look at me like that, 
he thought.  

	Akane-kun turned back to Ukyou as the crowd started off.  
"So tell me about your adventures on your way here.  Anything 
exciting happen?  What..."  He hesitated.  "What took you so 
long?"

	Alyssa walked ahead of them, half-carrying Ranko, who 
looked zoned out.  Ukyou glanced at Alyssa, then whispered to 
Akane-kun, "Does she know about...the curses and all?"

	Akane-kun turned beet red.  "Since I can't change back, I 
didn't ever talk about it.  Everyone would have...uh..," he 
whispered.

	Ukyou nodded and whispered, "I can't blame you.  We 
haven't told anyone we've met here either.  And of course, you 
know about Ranma in the Tower...how he pulled that off, I don't 
know.  Anyway, time seems to flow faster in this world than ours.  
It took us a week or so to figure out what went wrong, and it's 
been months here, I guess."

	Akane-kun whispered, "I'll get us a private room so we can 
discuss this without having to whisper, okay?"  Ukyou nodded, 
and Akane-kun went up and whispered to Alyssa, who nodded in 
the affirmative.  They spent the rest of the walk to Akane-kun's 
house getting what passed for a guided tour.

***************

	Ranko woke up on a nice soft bed with a nice soft pillow and 
stretched.  Her head hurt like she had drunk an ocean of sake the 
night before.  Are we at an inn?  She had a dim memory of 
screaming a lot and running through snow.  "Ucchan, did I bump 
my head on something?"

	"Your friend is in the living room with Kaneda, Ranko,"  a 
voice said.  

	Ranko remembered the voice vaguely.  Alyssa?  Am I back 
in the Tower?  "My head hurts."

	Someone grasped the Source and brushed Ranko's forehead 
gently with her hand.  The pain washed away for the most part, 
leaving only a dull roar.  "Is that better?"

	"It is you.  Am I back in the Tower?  Was this all a dream?"  
Probably some Brown tried to make me wash her cats again, 
Ranko thought.

	"It's not a dream, Ranko."  It was Alyssa, as Ranko found out 
when she turned her no longer aching head.  She was smiling, but 
she looked nervous.  This didn't surprise Ranko too much...being 
nervous was Alyssa's natural state as far as she could tell.  "You 
called an avalanche screaming for someone named Akane.  Who 
is that?"  

	"No one you know,"  Ranko said.  I guess this 'Kaneda' IS 
Akane.  I hope.  Or I'm going to bury myself pretty deep here.  
"Where is Kaneda?"

	Alyssa frowned slightly.  "Your...fiancee?"  Her 
shoulders sagged slightly.

	"Has he really...set himself up as a Dragon?"

	"He is our leader."  Alyssa paused, and stared at the wall as if 
trying to read a cue card.  "And he may be the Dragon.  We plan 
to go confront Al'Thor and settle the matter in the Spring."

	"Al'Thor IS the Dragon.  I saw him draw the Sword that is 
not a Sword.  I helped him fight Ishmael.  I was there when the 
Stone fell.  And more importantly, I've known ...Kaneda for a 
long time, and there's just NO way he could be the Dragon."  
Surely the Dragon would be a better cook, Ranko thought.  

	"Ranko....can I ask you a question?"  Alyssa sounded scared 
now, but there was an edge of determination creeping into it.  

	"You just did,"  Ranko said.

	"..."

	Ranko laughed.  "Didn't Nene-sedai ever do that to you?  
Every time we had class, she'd pull that on someone.  The most 
whacko Brown I've ever met."

	Alyssa laughed at the memory.  "Maybe that's why I saw 
Karla Sedai chasing her down the hallway with a stick that time.  
She had no sense of humor."

	"I don't even want to THINK about her,"  Ranko said, 
shuddering.  Karla Sedai had nearly caught her in boyform in the 
Tower once after a bathing accident.  She also had four cats.  
Luckily, they couldn't talk.  She hoped.

	"Anyway..."  Alyssa took a deep breath.  "Do you still 
love Kaneda?"

	Okay, Kaneda has to be Akane, unless this is the coincidence 
from Hell, Ranko thought.  Of course, my life is full of 
coincidences that come back and bite my head off.  Creeping 
paranoia began to set in.  Why's she even asking me a question 
like this?  Unless she...  Ranko could be dense, but she wasn't a 
moron.  Sometimes, anyway.  She must have a crush on Kaneda, 
Ranko thought.  I know Alyssa.  She won't even be able to try to 
give him a flower while she thinks someone else is ahead of her.  

	Poor girl, Ranko thought.  She doesn't have a chance, and she 
doesn't even know it.  Even if Akane liked girls like that, which 
she doesn't, she's going to be leaving.  Which is another reason 
Akane can't be the Dragon.  Wait...Akane is in charge of these 
people?  Urk...they're not going to like it if we take her...what do I 
say?  

	For that matter, Ranko had never given this question a 
straight answer under better circumstances.  "Well, I...uh...er... 
we...she...I mean he...uh ...our parents....engagement..."  She put a 
hand behind her head and tried to pull herself together.  
"I...uh...why do you want to know?"

	Alyssa looked a little worried.  "Are you okay?  Maybe you 
need to lie down again.  You're babbling."

	"I'm fine."  Ranko tried to figure out what to tell Alyssa.  "It 
doesn't really matter who I love, anyway.  My dad engaged me to 
two men.  I can't marry both, and I can't marry just one, so it 
doesn't matter which one I prefer."  And now one of them is in my 
head.  The little Ukyou that now rode around with her everywhere 
let her know Ukyou was on the other side of the wall and feeling 
pretty good.  She smiled a little.  "The other one is Ukyou, who 
you just met.  He...He's my warder now."

	Alyssa perked up a little, and smiled.  

          She must think I prefer Ukyou, and that's why I bonded 
him, Ranko realized.  Whew.  Situation defused.  I don't have to 
tapdance on her dreams anymore than taking Akane away will, 
anyway.

	"Ranko, then...would you...mind if your fiancee problem 
was...solved?"  Alyssa was hesitant, but hopeful.

	Ranko decided to play dumb.  "Huh?"  Then again, maybe 
this isn't over yet.

	"You see...I...I..."  Alyssa clutched the sheets of the bed with 
one hand and stared at them.  "Ka...Kaneda and I...We...In this...I 
love him, Ranko.  We...We sleep in this bed together."  Her voice 
was trembling, and her body was shaking.  "I'm afraid he's going 
to leave me for you, but...if you...if you want to let him go..."  She 
gulped and looked up at Ranko.

	Ranko stared at Alyssa in shock.  They... they... sleep 
together?  Akane and Alyssa?  Akane with a girl... with someone 
else...with a girl....This can't be Akane... it must be some other 
person...yes, that has to be it.  Ranko began to laugh nervously, 
sounding like every trace of mind had drained out her ear and 
puddled on the floor, then been drunk by a passing wildebeast.  

	Alyssa's shaking sloowed, and she started to lookconcerned 
again.  "Ranko?"

	"You...you and Akane?  In a bed?  Together?  Like..."  
Hysterical laughter overwhelmed Ranko's vocal cords.

	"Akane?  Is that a nickname for Kaneda?  I don't know any 
Akanes..."  Alyssa's eyes narrowed a little.  "Ranko, I think you 
DO need to lie down and rest.  You're acting strange."

	"Hahahahahahhaha.  Strange?  Me?  No, I'm just a guy who 
turns into a girl engaged to a girl who turns into a guy and is 
sleeping with a girl I met while I was in the Tower pretending to 
be a girl so I wouldn't die from learning magic and now I'm sitting 
on a bed where my fiancee made love to a girl.  
HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHHAHAHAHAHAH.  This is perfectly 
NORMAL for my life!"  Ranko stood up on the bed and tried to 
grab the Source so she could go on a destructive rampage, but 
hysteria is not an ideal state for trying to grasp the Source, 
whatever your sex.

	"Ranko, you're getting hysterical."  Alyssa grasped the 
Source and prepared to wrap Ranko in air if she had to.  
"You...you need rest."  She sounded like she was trying to 
convince herself.

	Ranko lunged forward and grabbed Alyssa's shoulders since 
she couldn't seem to grab the Source.  It kept hiding from her.  "I 
guess next you're going to tell me that Pop engaged me to you too, 
and then you're going to turn into a boy and make love to me like 
I wish Ukyou and Akane would!"  Her breathing was speeding up 
and she laughed hysterically again.  "And maybe that cute 
guy...was his name Tyr?  Heck, invite ALL the men!  If I'm going 
to start sleeping with guys like Akane is sleeping with girls, I'm 
gonna have to go WHOLE HOG!"

	Alyssa began to wonder if there was some way that female 
Aes Sedai could go mad from using the Power the way men did.  
A stab of panic and her old feelings of helplessness tried to flood 
over her, but she fought them back.  I wish I'd stayed long enough 
to learn how to help someone who is like this, she thought.  

**********

	Akane-kun and Ukyou sat down in some simple wooden 
chairs in the 'living room', which was basically a combined 
kitchen and dining room with a simple table, some counter space, 
a large tub of water, and a fireplace with chimney.  Ukyou had 
just finished explaining the whole situation to Ukyou as best he 
understood it.  "Anyway, before we go...we might want to check 
out that mountain I saw in my dream.  If it's real, it might have 
some important stuff.  Probably it was just a dream, but I thought 
I saw the mountain way off in the distance as I was chasing 
Ranma here."  He sipped what passed for tea here.  It was fairly 
bland, although the sugar was nice.  

	Akane-kun drank his tea and nodded.  "Could be ter'angreals, 
or angreals, or...a sa'angreal."  So much I could do with one of 
those...if I could figure out how to use it.  I'm strong, and so is 
Alyssa, but we both wear out fairly quickly and there's pretty 
sharp limits, even linked.  "We could use them for our trip."

	Ukyou blinked.  "We can't wait too long to take you home, 
Akane.  Dr. Tofu wasn't sure how long you would last, separated, 
and..."

	"I can't go home,"  Akane-kun said quietly.

	Ukyou blinked.  "What?"

	"One, they need me.  I can't desert my people.  They're all 
here in the middle of nowhere, and I can't go anywhere until 
they're safe."

	"But you're going to die!  If you don't go back to our world 
and rejoin your female side, you'll both die!"  Ukyou was in 
shock.

	"There's a second reason.  I'm going to die anyway.  Every 
male who channels slowly goes mad and dies.  At least my female 
side won't have to go through that."  He stared at the floor.  "My 
only hope is to stay here and try to find a cure."

	"But it doesn't happen to people who use magic in our world!  
So if you go back..."  Ukyou said.

	"Then I'll slowly wither away because I can't channel... once 
you start, you can't stop,"  Akane-kun whispered.  "I think 
Ranma's going to have this problem too...you should be glad you 
can't channel, Ukyou.  It's the most wonderful thing in the world... 
and the most horrible."  His voice strengthened a bit.  "I'm sorry.  
I just...I can't go.  I want to.  I want to see everyone, but there's so 
many reasons I have to stay.  I just...I'm so glad that you're all 
alive."  His voice was steady but quiet now.  "I was afraid you  all 
died.  That there was noone left to remember us all but me."

	"There has to be some way you can come back with us."  
Ukyou said, thinking hard.  Suddenly, she realized that Ranko was 
becoming hysterical.  "Something's wrong with Ranma."  He 
stood up.  She was just on the other side of the closed door that 
lead to the bedroom, Ukyou could sense.  

	Ranko screamed something incoherent.  All they 
could hear of it was, "If I'm going to start sleeping with guys like 
Akane is sleeping with girls, I'm gonna have to go WHOLE 
HOG!"

	Ukyou stood and stared blankly at the door.  What?  Now 
what's she babbling about?  After a moment of shock, he sprinted 
for the door.

	Akane-kun wasn't far behind him.  He had a weird blank 
look on his face, and Ukyou wondered how he could be so calm.

	Ranko was frozen in a weird pose on the bed like she was 
trying to rip off her own clothing, but had fallen over in the 
middle.  Alyssa was hoveringg over her, looking worried.  "I...I'm 
sorry.  I shouldn't have said anything...this is my fault.  I...I didn't 
realize she'd freak out...I should have let her get more rest first..."

	Akane-kun put a hand on Alyssa's shoulder and looked into 
her eyes.  They stared at each other, and Alyssa nodded.  Is 
Akane-kun telepathic now, Ukyou wondered.  Akane-kun sat 
down by Ranko on the bed.  "Ranko."

	Ranko stared at Akane-kun, and stopped her hysterical 
screaming.  "Akane..."

	"Sleep,"  Akane-kun said quietly, and brushed her eyelids 
with his fingers.  Ukyou could feel Ranko's hysteria, which was 
starting to infect him, wink out like a snuffed candle.  Her body 
relaxed, though it remained in the odd pose for a  few seconds, 
then sagged into a more comfortable sleeping position.  He 
sighed.  "I should have known she wouldn't be happy...but I 
just...I didn't realize it would be this bad."

	"I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have said anything until she had 
enough rest to deal with it...this isn't like her."  Alyssa leaned on 
Akane-kun, who stood up and embraced her.

	Ukyou wondered for a moment if they had forgotten he was 
here.

	Akane-kun gently kissed Alyssa on the lips.  "I should have 
dealt with this.  I should have been there, waiting for her to wake 
up.  This wasn't the right way to do this.  I'm sorry."

	Ukyou stared at them kissing and felt bits of his brain 
exploding.  Ranma would die if she saw...she must have told 
Ranma, Ukyou realized.  No wonder she freaked, Akane's in love 
with a girl...As his knees crumpled, Ukyou finally realized what it 
was like to faint at shocking news.

*********

	Kaneda sighed.  Ranko's gonna do something whacko when 
she wakes up, he thought.  I can't blame her...I'd have been just as 
whacko if I'd gone on a long quest to find Ranma and then found 
Ranma had hooked up with some guy.  He sighed more, and 
Alyssa hugged him.  "I'm going to need to talk to Ranko in private 
when she wakes up," he said quietly.  "Even though I think I'd 
rather go charge Shaol Ghul with a butter knife."

	Alyssa nodded.  "I'll entertain your friend Ukyou when he 
wakes up."  She looked Ukyou up and down.  "Is everyone from 
your village so gorgeous?"

	Kaneda laughed a little.  "I suppose so.  Happousai's ugly, 
though."

	Ukyou woke up faster than Ranko did.  "Did I really just 
faint?"  Ukyou asked.

	Alyssa took Ukyou by the hand.  "Come and talk with me.  
Kaneda needs to talk to Ranko."

	Ukyou frowned and looked at Kaneda, who nodded 
nervously at him.  "If I sense she's freaking out,"  Ukyou began.

	"You can feel her emotions through the bond?"  Kaneda 
asked.

	"Yeah.  Whether I want to or not...having someone hysterical 
inside your head...isn't fun."  Ukyou sighed.  "C'mon Alyssa.  You 
can tell me how you and Mack Daddy Kaneda here hooked up."

	"HEY!"  Kaneda said.  "I am not a...uh...whatever that is."

         Ukyou grinned and walked out of the room with Alyssa, 
then stuck his head back in.  "And you'd better not call her 
kawaiikune, or she'll mallet you."

	Kaneda stuck out his tongue at Ukyou, who scampered off 
laughing.  He looked down at Ranko, who was sleeping 
peacefully, her bangs down her face as usual.  He hesitantly 
reached over and brushed them away, staring at her face.  I never 
thought I'd see you again, Kaneda thought.  I've missed you so 
much.  He sat down on the bed by her, almost taking her hand, 
then pulling his hand back.  I can't take your hand.  I don't have 
the right, he thought.

	What am I going to do?  I can't leave...I want to...I want to 
see my family, my friends...but they need me here.  And if I leave, 
I'll die anyway.  Either the Power kills me, or this kills me, or I go 
back and I wither away because I can't use the Power that would 
kill me.  Kaneda's thoughts whirled about his three potential fates.  
Of course, Ranma may kill me when she wakes up, and spare me 
the trouble.  

	Ranko's arm twitched and drew his eyes.  For the first time, 
he realized her arms were covered with fine hairs.  He laughed 
faintly.  Of course Ranma doesn't shave her arms, he thought.  
When the curse came over him, his arms became silky smooth 
like he had just shaved, but apparently the hair would grow back 
if Ranma stayed female long enough, just as Kaneda had learned 
that he would grow facial hair if he stayed male long enough.  

	Kaneda ran a finger up and down her arm, although he knew 
he shouldn't.  It was just so reassuring.  It made her real to him.  
You're alive.  Alive!  

	Ranko stirred and muttered something incoherent.  

	Kaneda drew his hand back hurriedly.  "You awake, 
Ranma?"

	"Potato."  Ranko replied, her eyelids fluttering.

	"What?"  

	Ranko said, "We found you..."  Her voice was faint.  She 
turned her head and stared at Kaneda, then smiled a little.  "I had 
the craziest dream."

	Kaneda smiled and leaned a little closer.  "About what?"

	"I knew this girl in the tower.  Her name was Alyssa.  She 
was really nice, but shy and kinda got bullied a lot, so I watched 
out for her.  I dreamed she was living here, and that she told me 
that you were her boyfriend."  Ranko laughed a little louder, and 
her voice came up to a more normal level.  "Musta whacked out a 
little after I hit that snowbank...okay, I was acting a little nuts 
before that.  I was just so worried that you'd go mad before I got 
to you.  Pretty nuts, huh?  Not like you'd go mad in one day."

	"I haven't done anything half as nuts as you did, calling an 
avalanche down on yourself.  You nearly burnt yourself out with 
the Power too."  Kaneda felt his arms goosepimple.  She must be 
touching the Source, he realized.

	"I'm fine.  Did Ukyou tell you she dreamed about some kind 
of treasure trove?  Anyway, we gotta get you home before you die 
from being split in two."  Ranko sat up.  "Assuming we can 
remember that rite Dr.  Tofu taught us."

	"I can't go, Ranma."

	Ranko blinked.  "What?  You've got to go!  You'll die if you 
don't!  Sure, your female self is a great cook, and really cute, and 
we stopped fighting...but I don't want you to die...I mean...uh..."  
Ranko got the 'I'm going to get malleted' look. 

	Kaneda smiled a tiny smile, then sighed.  "I have 
responsibilities, Ranma.  These people are counting on me, and I 
can't abandon them.  I don't think I'm really the Dragon, but they 
need me."  Alyssa needs me.  He couldn't quite bring himself to 
say that.

	"You won't do them any good if you're dead."  Ranko stared 
at Kaneda for a long moment, then said, "If you want to come 
back after we fix you, then I'll come with you.  I can fight AND I 
can use the Power."

	"That's another reason I can't leave,"  Kaneda said quietly.  
"If I didn't come back, I'd wither away and die because I couldn't 
reach the Power.  It'd be just like being stilled."  He paused.  "So 
you may not be able to stay if you go back either.  At least Ukyou 
isn't caught in our trap."

	"There has to be some way to get around it.  I was fine when 
I went back."

	"For a week.  Do you really think you could live without the 
Power for the rest of your life?"  Kaneda stared intently at Ranko.  
"Especially given it doesn't leave you with a bad taste in your 
mouth like it does for me?"

	Ranko's face paled slightly.  "The Taint...I...there has to be 
some way to fix it."

	"I hope there is...but I also know I'm not likely to find it."  
Kaneda stared at the floor.  "I never expected my life to come out 
like this."

	"Look, why don't you come back, we reintegrate you, then 
you can come back here and we can try to find a cure for the Taint 
so you don't go mad?"  Ranko said.  "Then we're all happy.  I'll 
come back with you.  Also, I can help you hook up with the real 
Dragon.  I've met him."

	"You've met Rand al'Thor?"

	Ranko grinned.  "We kicked Bel'al's ass together."  Her grin 
faded a bit.  And then Rand killed him.  And Moraine balefired 
Ba'alzemon.  They play for keeps here.  That made her 
uncomfortable.  Ranko didn't like killing.  Trolloc stomping was 
one thing, but the Forsaken were human.  So evil they made 
Happousai look like Kasumi, but it still bothered her.   

	"You shouldn't brag."

	"I used the Hiryuu Shouten Ha on him, tossed him into the 
ceiling of the Stone, then Rand burned him to death."  Ranko's 
voice was quiet.  Part of her was proud, but another part was 
ashamed.  At least this time, I didn't abandon him, she thought.  I 
did the right thing, dammit.  I shouldn't feel guilty.  Not over a 
murdering bastard like Bel'al.  "Rand drew the Sword that is not a 
Sword.  He IS the Dragon Reborn."

	Akane nodded.  "Do you think he'll accept us?"

         "I think he'll take any help he can get.  We've heard rumors 
that he's offered asylum to male channelers."  Ranko said.  "So 
how strong a channeler are you, anyway?"

	Kaneda grinned.  "You want a demonstration?"  He grasped 
the Source.  It came easily to him now.  Weaving fire, he formed 
an illusion of Ryouga kicking Ranma's butt, then surrounded them 
with a panorama of images:  the Dojo in miniature, Kasumi 
sweeping, Nabiki selling pictures to Kunou, Kodachi handing a 
bouquet to Shampoo who was passing out, Gosunkugi pounding a 
voodoo doll into the wall, Koucho shaving Miss Hinako, Soun 
and Genma playing Shogi.  "Illusions are my strongest talent.  I 
think I'm best with Fire and Air."

	"Water and Air for me,"  Ranko said quietly.  She condensed 
the moisture in the air into a tiny cloud, which rained on Kaneda's 
head for a few seconds, then effectively died, since such an act 
was suicidal on its part.  The water suddenly slorped out of 
Kaneda's clothing and formed a puddle on the floor, which 
condensed into a small sphere and rolled about, then froze to ice. 

	Kaneda applauded.  "Wow.  I wish I could see how you do 
that."

	"Well, maybe I can teach your female side to channel once 
we get you back together again."  She thought for a moment.  
"Yeah, then you could use the Power and not go mad!"

	Kaneda nodded.  Ranma was right...I do need to reintegrate 
myself...If I could do that...Then I wouldn't have to fear the Taint.  
Although everyone would freak...Well, I shouldn't lie to them 
forever...Alyssa...what is she going to think?  What am I going to 
think about her when I'm a girl again?  And what is Ranko going 
to think?  I have to tell her.  Kaneda steeled up his strength.  "I 
have to tell you something, Ranma."

	"What?"

	"You didn't dream Alyssa.  She's really here, and I'm really 
in love with her."  

        "You...you're...in love...with a girl?"  Ranko was staring in 
shock.

         "We've been lovers for over a month now.  And I had 
feelings for her for a while before that."  Kaneda was shaking.  
Guilt, fear, and faint stirrings of desire were running through him.  
Memories of what he and Alyssa had done in this bed flitted 
through his mind, and a brief fantasy of himself doing the same 
things with Ranko flitted into his mind.

	"It must be because you've been a boy for too long.  It's 
making you like girls.  No wonder I..."  Ranko suddenly clammed 
up and looked guilty.  She was shaking as well.  "Well, once we 
get you back with your female self, you'll be back to liking boys, 
and everything..."

	"I don't want to stop loving Alyssa,"  Kaneda said quietly.  
"Although she'll probably dump me when she finds out I turn into 
a girl."

	"You don't turn into a girl!  You're a girl who turns into a 
boy!  And I'm a boy who turns into a girl!"  Ranko said.  She 
reached out and took Kaneda's hand.  "Even though your boy 
form is really...Anyway."

	"Did you hear me?  I said that I love Alyssa."

	"That's just 'cause you're nuts right now because you're just 
Akane's boyside.  Noww come with me and..."  Rankogot up off 
the bed.

	Kaneda frowned.  "RanKO, right now, I'm a boy, and you're 
a girl, and that's it.  Neither of us can change, and while we may 
remember having been a girl and a boy instead of a boy and a girl, 
I'm not NUTS because I love a girl."  He was starting to get angry.  
Having Ranma be mad because he loved someone else was one 
thing; being told he was insane was something else.  

	"You're really a girl!  I'm really a boy!  Even if we both got 
stuck like this for ten years, it wouldn't change how we were 
born!"  Ranko shouted.  "I'm a boy!  A BOY!"

	"It doesn't matter if I'm really a potato, Ranma.  I love Alyssa 
and I don't want to stop loving her.  Maybe I will.  Maybe once 
I'm a girl who turns into a boy again, I won't love her.  Maybe she 
won't love me.  But I love her now.  We've had sex, Ranma.  And 
I liked it.  I liked it a lot."  His voice shook a little. "And the more 
we do it, the more I like it."  He stared into Ranko's eyes.  "And I 
bet you'd enjoy it, if you made love to a guy."

	Ranko turned beet red, and her voice held a mixture of 
embarrassment and anger.  "I would NOT enjoy it.  I have NOT 
thought about making love to Ukyou or you."  She paused and 
turned even more red.  "I'm a boy!  A boy!"

	Kaneda was getting angrier.  "Is that all you can think about?  
If you could never love a boy, how could you marry me or 
Ukyou?  We both turn into boys, and that's not likely to change!"

	"But...but...that's different.  I'm really a boy.  You're really 
girls.  So it doesn't matter."  Her voice was unsteady.

	"What if we were stuck this way?  If we could never be girls 
again?"  Kaneda closed in on Ranko.

	"But that's not the case!"

	"I've been a boy for eight months, Ranma.  I can only barely 
even remember what it feels like to be a girl.  I could have been a 
boy forever for all I knew.  Did you expect me to never love 
anyone?  Or to find some gay guy?"

	Ranko shook.  "You're a girl," she said faintly.

	"Akane's a girl.  But I'm Kaneda.  I remember Akane, but I'm 
not sure if I'm really her anymore.  And if you stay a girl long 
enough, you're not going to be so sure you're Ranma anymore."  
He put his hands on Ranko's shoulders.  She was shaking almost 
as much as him.  

	"We just have to take you home.  You'll be back to normal."  
Her voice was wobbling.  "You have to go home.  You'll die if 
you don't.  I...I don't want you to die.  I want you to live, Akane.  
I...I...l..."

	"Would you love me if I was a boy most of the time, Ranma?  
Or always?"

	Ranko shuddered.  

	"I'm part of Akane too, Ranmaa.  You can't love her if 
youdon't love me."  Kaneda took a deep breath.  "Just as I couldn't 
love Ranma without loving Ranko."

	"You said you love Alyssa,"  Ranko said faintly.  

	"I do love Alyssa.  But part of me loves you too."  Kaneda 
could hardly believe he'd admitted that.  "Did you ever realize 
you're nicer when you're a girl, Ranma?  You can be a lot worse 
too, but some of the moments I've loved you most came when you 
were a  girl.  That was one reason I could never admit how I felt.  
Especially after I started turning into a boy.  I had moments when 
I'd look at your girl body and it would turn me on."  It was turning 
him on right now.  

	Ranko crossed her arms over her breasts and hugged herself.  
"I don't want to turn men on.  I'm a boy.  A boy.  Boys don't turn 
other boys on."

	"Do you not find me attractive at all then?"  Kaneda stared 
intently at Ranko.  I have to make her understand, he thought.  

	Ranko gulped.  "You're very handsome as a boy."

	Kaneda slid a hand down Ranko's right arm, then grasped her 
right hand with his.  "But do I turn you on?"

	Ranko would have turned beet red, but she already was.  
"A...an uncute girl like you?  No way."

	Kaneda would have gotten mad and malleted Ranma at this 
point, once upon a time, but the person who would have done that 
was long gone.  "I won't let you wiggle out like that.  Do I turn 
you on?  Do you want me?  Do you love me?"

	Her answer was a tiny whisper.  "I can't want you.  I'm a boy.  
Boys don't want boys.  But...I...I..."  Her left hand clenched and 
unclenched, and her right hand tightened around his hand.  "I...do 
you...want me to like boys?" she whispered.

	"What I want isn't the question.  Do you love me, Ranma?  
Do you want me to give up Alyssa for you?  Or are you just 
opposed to me liking a girl?"

	Ranko stared at the ground.  "I...d...Do you think I would 
have come all this way if I didn't care about you?"

	"But do you love me?  Can you love me both ways?  As a  
boy and as a girl?  Because that's what I am."

          "Can Alyssa love you both ways?"

	Kaneda sighed.  "I don't know.  This may all be moot.  She 
may stop loving me as soon as she finds out.  But will you love 
me if she stops?  Can you love a boy?"

	Ranko shuddered, on the verge of crying.  "Why am I 
crying?  I want to get angry, but I can't...I'm so scared...I can't 
believe I just said that...Maybe I'm going mad instead of you."

	"You need rest.  A LOT more rest."  He sighed.  "And I'm 
pressuring you.  This may all be moot soon.  We can have this 
fight again when we're both back to normal.  But I tell you this 
now.  I love Alyssa.  I AM going to come back and let her decide 
if she still wants me.  And I HAVE to come back.  I can't abandon 
her and I can't abandon my people."

	"Okay, okay,"  Ranko said shakily.  "I'm hungry."  Her 
stomach rumbled.

	"Now THAT, I can do something about,"  Kaneda said.

*************

	Kaneda was brooding when Alyssa returned from escorting 
Ranko and Ukyou to the 'guest house', which was really a store 
house, but would have to do, since none of the houses in the castle 
really had much spare room.  He was waving one hand back and 
forth like a conductor, and little flame people were dancing 
around the fire place to the beat.  Little illusionary people were 
scattered about the room, playing out various tableaux.  One 
especially caught her eye.  A tiny teenager with short black hair, 
who bore a strong resemblence to Kaneda, except for being 
female, was chasing a tiny Ranko round and round Kaneda's chair, 
bopping her in the head with a mallet over and over.  

	A faint chill ran through Alyssa.  Is this how he's going to go 
mad one day?  Will he just sink into a haze of illusions from 
inside his mind?  No!  He's not mad yet.  He can't be.  I won't let 
him.  "Kaneda?"

	Kaneda started and looked around at the illusions, then 
cursed loudly.  "Dammit."  They vanished like popped soap 
bubbles.  

	Alyssa walked over to him slowly.  "They're settled in okay."

	"We haven't seen each other for months, and we had a fight 
right off the bat,"  Kaneda said quietly.   "But not as bad as our 
old ones."  In some ways, anyway, he thought.

	Alyssa sighed, then got a chair and pulled it over by 
Kaneda's.  "Because of me."

	"Don't blame yourself.  Ranko and I would find a reason to 
fight if we were the last humans on Earth."  He sighed.  "We have 
a weird relationship.  We never said 'I love you', but we've risked 
death and crossed...gone anywhere anytime, for each other.  And 
fought constantly."

	Alyssa listened and tried not to cry.  She had a feeling she 
knew where this was going.  "Like her trip to come find you?"

	"I should have known she'd show up...she always does.  You 
can't count on her to do her chores, but you could count on her to 
fight an army by herself to save you.  Weird, huh?"  Kaneda's 
voice was very quiet and calm, though it was a strained calm.

	Gulping, Alyssa said, "So what is this going to do to...us?"

	"I don't know,"  Kaneda said quietly.  "She's probably going 
to do something crazy like challenging you to a duel with the 
Power, with me as the prize."  He sighed.  "I love you, Alyssa.  
I...I don't know if you'll still love me when this is all over, but..."

	Alyssa cocked her head.  "What?"

	"I can't explain.  Not yet.  I have to...I have to go somewhere.  
As soon as I'm back, I'll be able to explain everything."  He 
sounded pained.  "I wish I could explain, but I'd sound crazy.  I 
have to have proof."

	"Proof of what?"

	Kaneda took a deep breath.  "You trust me, don't you, 
Alyssa?"

	She nodded slowly.  He looked relieved.  "I can't tell you yet.  
I'm sorry.  I swear I'll tell you everything."

	Alyssa could hardly sleep that night as her mind dreamed up 
a million paranoid fantasies.  

********************

	Ukyou couldn't sleep either.  He lay in the large lumpy bed 
they'd rigged up, and stared at the ceiling.  At first, he'd been quite 
content that Akane had apparently fallen in love and had no intent 
of abandoning that person.  Akane was his biggest rival for 
Ranma, after all.  And she seemed to be happy with this girl, 
Alyssa, who seemed nice enough.  

	The fact that Akane was dating a girl didn't bother Ukyou at 
first.  What Akane did with her love life was Akane's business.  
After listening to Ranma babble, and thinking about how her body 
had been aroused a little by some of the more attractive 
inhabitants of the castle, however, he was starting to wonder if the 
same thing was going to happen to him that had happened with 
Akane.  Ranko's body was increasingly arousing him, but he 
didn't entirely count Ranko...He was already in love with Ranma 
before being stuck in boy form for this last month while on this 
quest.  

	I shouldn't be worrying about this, Ukyou thought.  We're 
going back to our world tomorrow.  I'll be a girl again.  And Ran-
chan will be a boy and everything will be okay.  

	All the assuring words to himself in the world didn't help him 
sleep, though.

************

	Kaneda had made all the necessary arrangements.  As best he 
could without quite explaining what was really going on.  They 
believed he was taking a brief trip with the Power to visit his 
father, using a ter'angreal that Ranko had.  He hated lying to them, 
but the truth would have sounded far too insane.

	He was nervous about the whole thing.  I shouldn't be 
leaving, he thought.  Only the fact that he was coming back 
immediately let him reconcile himself to the idea of leaving even 
briefly.  He'd use the D-hopper to come back.  It would be several 
months before the group could leave Castle Mist, anyway.  

	He had another reason to be scared.  The idea of turning back 
into a girl terrified and excited him at the same time.  Only tiny 
bits and pieces of what it felt like to be a girl were left to him.  He 
was sure that part of that was that he literally was 'Akane's boy-
side' and that scared him as well.  What is this going to do to me?

	He loved Alyssa.  Would a reintegrated Akane still love 
Alyssa?  He hadn't ever felt this way about a girl before being 
split.  What was meshing two sets of memories, of feelings, of 
identities going to do to him?  Would girl-Akane just swallow him 
up and destroy him?  Would they merge somehow?  He had 
changed since coming here, and not just loving Alyssa.  They 
were good changes, and he didn't want to lose them.  

	And yet...he wanted to be Akane.  If only for a day or two.  
To be a normal person, with no worries, no duties, except those of 
any teenage girl.  The thought of just chatting with Yuka and 
Sayuri, of going to class, of seeing his father and sisters thrilled 
him.  

	Ukyou finished drawing the big runic circle on the floor.  
"Okay, we get in the middle."  He was reading from a book.  
"Follow my instructions."

	Kaneda and Ranko did so.  The ritual was long and rather 
silly, reminding Kaneda of the sort of dances you learned from 
watching shows for five year olds.  He half expected to have to 
sing 'I love you, You love me.'  

	As it continued, the world began to blur outside the circle.  
They kept chanting, and then a burst of light devoured the 
universe.

**************

	Kaneda found himself standing outside the Tendo Dojo.  The 
street was strangely silent.  All the buildings of the area looked 
fine, but they seemed lifeless.  He ran inside.  "I'm home!"

	Hot water, he thought.  I have to get hot water to change 
back.  He went to the kitchen, and doused himself with a handy 
kettle.  Nothing happened.  Oh great, he thought.  The ritual 
probably buggered up and dumped me back in Nerima and my 
girl-side is confused in Castle Mist.

	Wait a second...where's Ranma and Ukyou?  Shouldn't they 
be here?  He ran out to the living room.  No one was there, 
although there was a half-finished game of shogi on the shogi 
table.  Someone was singing in the garden.  He couldn't recognize 
her voice, but she was a fine singer.  "Hello?"  he shouted, 
heading for the porch.

	The girl said, "Hello?  Ranma?"

	Kaneda laughed and opened the porch door.  "It's me."

	He found himself face to face with...himself.  Or herself...it 
was girl-type Akane, clad in a pretty blue sundress decorated with 
yellow flowers and a big blue floppy sun hat.  She was singing 
with a karaoke machine on the porch.  Putting down the 
microphone in her hand, she said, "I never realized I sounded like 
that in boy form."

	Kaneda was shocked to realize he hadn't recognized his own 
girl voice.  Although when he combed through his memories, it 
just didn't sound right.  I always thought my voice was a little 
deeper.

	"I always thought I sounded deeper."  Akane said.

	Kaneda blinked, then laughed, and so did Akane.  "This isn't 
what was supposed to happen, was it?"

	"I don't think so.  I was at Dr. Tofu's, snuggling with Ranma-
kun,"  Akane blushed a little, "and then suddenly I was here.  I 
was all alone and I couldn't find anyone, so I got the karoaoke 
machine and sat down to wait for someone to find me or come 
home."

	"Maybe we should go down to Dr. Tofu's,"  Kaneda said.

	Suddenly, they were in Dr. Tofu's.  No one was here, 
although there were signs of some ritual that had been performed 
there, with runes all over the place and a familiar circle on the 
floor.  "I think we're the only people here,"  Akane said.  "I 
already did this once."

	"You're quick,"  Kaneda said.  "You did that and came back 
and moved the Karoake machine in the time it took me to get 
some hot water and find you."

	Akane looked Kaneda up and down.  "No good barbers in 
that universe?"

	Kaneda blinked, then laughed.  "I had other things to do."  
He stared intently at Akane.  "I guess it's time to...uh...merge 
together, or whatever happens next."

	"I haven't got a clue."  She reached out a hand hesitantly and 
clasped his.  "Your hands are rough."

	He laughed nervously.  "Yours are soft...geez, we sound like 
we're in a shojo manga or something."

	"Concentrate on being one person?"  Akane guessed.

	Kaneda fought down a surge of fear.  "Right."  Join.  Merge.  
Wonder twin powers, deactivate, he told himself.  Alyssa...I swear 
I won't forget you.  

	He felt her hand quiver, and then he felt her mind.  Or heard 
it.  Smelled it, maybe.  Their thoughts intermingled.  I love you, 
Ranma.  I love you, Alyssa.  I won't forget that.  I'm going to turn 
into a girl/boy again.  I feel so strange.  Will I forget who I was?  
My body, it's tingling.  I can feel the change.  Will I still be able to 
cook?  Will I still be able to channel?  Oh, Daddy, I've missed you 
so much.  My arm hair is gone.  I can't believe I have such hairy 
legs.  

	Kaneda felt the change rush over him for the first time in 
seven months.  His body was changing into a girl.  He had breasts.  
His body hair was mostly gone.  She had different balance, a 
different height, a different way of walking.  

	Akane felt the change rush over her for the first time in a 
week.  Her body was changing into a boy.  Her chest was flat, her 
arms and legs were hairy, and his panties didn't fit right for 
obvious reasons.  He felt stronger, his balance was awry, and the 
tight waist of his skirt was trying to cut him in half.   

	Thoughts and memories flooded Akane and Kaneda's minds.  
Love for Alyssa.  Love for Ranma.  Memories of playing in the 
park with Kasumi and Nabiki and Mom.  A disastrous effort to 
make Valentine's Day chocolate for Ranma.  Picking flowers in a 
field for Alyssa.  Spending the night at Yuka's house and sneaking 
out to take a cab to the beach and swimming under the stars.  
Growing her hair out long enough to match Kasumi.  Teaching 
Cerise a martial arts move and being proud when she mastered it.  
Singing Karaoke at the Christmas party.  Kissing Ranma.  Making 
Love to Alyssa.  Chasing off a bully who tried to beat up Sayuri.  
Fighting the horde of boys at the school gate.  The first time she 
saw Ranma change form.  The first time she changed form.  

	And then the change rushed over Akane again.  Back to boy 
form.  And to girl form at the same time.  She was in two bodies 
at once.  She was Kaneda.  Kaneda was Akane.  She closed her 
eyes, because looking at herself was too disorienting.  Her minds 
and bodies whirled, trying to reconcile with each other, but 
clashing on the rocks of contradictions.  They were no longer 
entirely the same.  Boy form and girl form had seen different 
things, done different things, felt different things.  And yet...

	They wanted to be one.  Most of their memories were the 
same, both were born of the same person, and their separation had 
not yet become irreconcilable.  So many memories were important 
to both of them.  So many people.  

	And so the change washed over them, again and again, faster 
and faster, blurring their sense of self.  Akane was Kaneda was 
Akane was Kaneda was Akane...

	The merry-go-round suddenly stopped, and someone flew off 
it.

**************

	Akane groaned and clutched her head.  I feel like elephants 
just did the tango on my brain.  She opened her eyes and looked 
around.  She was still in her house.  Her house as Kaneda, that is.  
It was her house.  She was Kaneda, after all.  As well as Akane.  
She was wearing Kaneda's clothing, but she was definitely a  girl.  
It didn't fit right at all.  

	Looking around, she could see Ranko sprawled out on the 
ground, and Ukyou-kun crashed out nearby as well.  Ranko very 
feebly muttered something about freight trains, and Akane 
laughed just a tiny bit.  Time to test if this ritual actually reunited 
me, or just body switched me for real, she thought.  Although it 
FEELS like I'm reintegrated.  

	She wobbled a tiny bit as she went to the 'kitchen' part of the 
'living room', and got some water.  Her body felt just a tiny bit 
alien to her, although she was fairly comfortable with it.  She 
dumped the water over her own head, and felt the rush of the 
change strike her.  

	Akane-kun gave a sigh of relief.  Now I have to heat this 
up...this is gonna take forever.  And why are we here?  Shouldn't 
we be back in our world?  At least I won't have to worry about 
getting back, but...I wanted to see Daddy.  And Nabiki and 
Kasumi and Sayuri and Yuka and everyone.  He sighed.  Ranma 
and Ukyou probably won't be too happy being stuck here.

	Wait...I can heat the water quickly!  He grasped the Source, 
gargling on the taint, and quickly heated the water with it, then 
released it.  Next time, I'll wait, he thought.  He walked over to 
them, and poured some hot water on each of them.  Nothing 
happened.  

	He blinked, and then something did happen.  They both woke 
up, but Ranko stayed female, and Ukyou-kun stayed male.  Ranko 
said, "You didn't have to make it so..."  She looked down at 
herself.  "I didn't change."

	Before Akane-kun could do anything, Ranko emptied the 
entire kettle over her head.  She still didn't change.  Akane-kun's 
arm goosepimpled as the hot water suddenly formed up into a 
large ball and rolled up Ranko's side and poured over her again.  
Still no effect.  Ranko babbled wordlessly.  The water went flying 
again.  Still no change.

	Ukyou simply stood and stared.  "I don't understand."

	Akane-kun looked at himself.  He grasped the Source again, 
and drew some of the hot water over to himself.  The change 
rushed through his body, and he became a girl.  The Source 
vanished, and she staggered.  "Well, now I know not to do that," 
she muttered to herself.    

	"Why can you change and I CAN'T?"  Ranko howled.  

	Ukyou said, "Maybe it's because...uh...all the magic got eaten 
up putting Akane back together?  Maybe if we do the ritual again, 
it'll reintegrate all of us and put us back in our own universe?"

	They tried the ritual forwards, backwards, and even with 'I 
love you, you love me' thrown in for luck.  They didn't have any.  
An hour later, they were all exhausted, and Ranko was sitting and 
staring at the floor.  

	"Wait!"  Ukyou said.  "We could use the D-hopper!"

	"I didn't bring it, because I didn't think we'd NEED it!"  
Ranko shouted.  

	"Maybe that cache of stuff I dreamed about would have 
something that could help,"  Ukyou surmised.  "Assuming it 
wasn't just a dream, but still...it seemed so real."

         Akane-kun walked over to Ranko.  "Don't worry.  I'm in no 
danger of dying now.  We have lots of time to find a solution.  I'm 
sure Ukyou is right, and we'll all be able to get home in no time, 
or at least get you back able to be a boy."  

        Ranko perked up.  "Right.  Let's go find that mountain."

        It was, of course, not that easy.

********************

End Part 4