Inertia

by John Rossmaier
the_rossmage82@hotmail.com

Disclaimer:

The series Tenchi Muyo is not mine, but I'm sure you guys know that
already.  Plus, suing me will get you nothing.  Just don't try to sell
this.
As if it has any monetary value anyway.


     *        *        *        *        *


Ranma took a deep breath as he peered down the large hill.  A rustle
of wind tugged at the large obstruction on his shoulders, the backpack
swaying slightly in the wind.  Ranma tugged casually at the straps,
finally admitting to himself that they were beginning to get annoying.
The idea of toting the massive weight was ultimately sounding stupid
in his ears, martial arts or not.  There was a much more important
reason for his being here, and it wasn't his training.

"Ranma?"

He turned slightly and watched as Akane approached, a similar backpack
crowding her shoulders, a familiar tired expression on her face.  He
smiled as he recognized another expression on her face, one that he'd
been hiding for the past year.  "What is it, Akane-chan?" he asked,
still peering over his shoulder.

Ranma felt his heart warming as a giddy expression crossed her face;
he enjoyed calling her that, even though it had only been a day since
they'd been married.  She smiled brightly, and rushed forward,
crushing Ranma in a tight embrace.  "I love it when you call me that!"
Her eyes twinkled mischievously.  "It's a whole lot better than
'tomboy'."

Ranma returned her smile.  "I couldn't agree more."  He fell silent as
he became incapable of conversation, what with his lips pressed
against hers.  They deepened the embrace as they paused atop the hill,
a slight breeze tugging their tunics and the branches of a few nearby
trees.  The kiss lasted for a few long moments, until they slowly
disengaged, but remained in each others arms.  Ranma smiled down at
his wife, then began to tousle her soft hair.  "What did you want?"

She smiled up at him, causing his heart to beat a little faster.  "Are
we almost there, Ranma?  I'm getting tired of all this hiking."  As if
to agree, her body leaned farther into his, and he could feel the
added weight of her own pack pressing against him.  Grinning rakishly,
he reached around her waist, grabbing the bottom of her pack in his
hands, and lifted it.  She gasped as the weight was removed from her
shoulders, then returned his gesture with a grin.  "Thanks."

"No problem, Akane.  I'd put it down too, if we weren't here already."
He gestured with his head towards the valley below.  "Take a look, and
tell me what ya think."

Smiling, she peered over Ranma's outstretched arm.  Ranma followed her
gaze, taking a second look at their destination.  The evening sun
sparkled over the large lake spanning the lowest portion of the
valley.  A small ring of clear land surrounded the lake, and a house
was visible, even from this distance.  A long set of steps lead from
the house back up the hill, until they met a pair of buildings
stationed in a bricked enclosure.  The surrounding hillside was
blanketed with thick foliage, tall beautiful trees laden with summer
leaves.  A breeze crossed the expanse, sending waves rustling through
the leaves in the upper branches of the trees.  The setting looked
calm, peaceful.  Ranma grinned.  It was just like the brochure said it
would be.

"It's wonderful, Ranma..."

He turned back to Akane, his smile widening further.  On the spur of
the moment, he graced Akane's cheek with a light kiss, then proceeded
to lift her pack off her shoulders.  Surprised, she released him, then
pulled her arms from the straps.  Casually, Ranma secured her pouch
atop his own, wincing as the weight struck home.  He was more tired
than he thought.  Akane's voice pierced his concentration.

"You don't have to carry that.  I can handle my own stuff, I carried
it this far, didn't I?"  The tone wasn't admonishing, more teasing
than anything.  Ranma smiled.  At least she wasn't trying to pick a
fight with him, although he was also trying hard not to give her any
reasons to.  Deftly, he scooped her into his arms.

"If I hadn't taken your pack, then I couldn't carry you down, could
I?"

She giggled and placed her arms behind his neck.  "You're such a
romantic."  Sighing softly, she rested her head against his chest.
"It seems so peaceful, Ranma.  We haven't had much peace in a long
while."  Ranma nodded in reply.  "Hopefully, we won't have any trouble
here.  It seems too quiet and serene."

"Yeah.  That would ruin our nice honeymoon, wouldn't it?"  Brandishing
a reassuring smile, he began to descend into the valley.  "That
pamphlet said that this place was a relaxing quiet shrine, just the
place to get away from all the weirdness at home.  Now, I know that
brochure was a few years old, but the Masaki shrine couldn't have
changed that much, could it?"


     *        *        *        *        *


Washu leaned back on her pillow and yawned loudly, tossing her head to
each side to alleviate the crick in her neck.  She blinked twice,
staring at the terminal screen before her, and wondering for the life
of her what she had been doing.  Her brows furrowed for a moment,
until a grin spread across her face.  "Of course," she exclaimed
brightly, "my subspace multilayer neo-molecular phasing ray.  The
universe's greatest genius must be getting tired.  I wonder when the
last time I've slept?" she puzzled, her finger resting on her chin.

"Oh well," she sang, jumping from her seat.  "I'll just step in here
for a while, and I'll come back fresh and receptive!"  She managed her
way around various pieces of equipment until she reached a large blue
booth.  Her fingers snapped as she flexed them, and she leaned forward
in zealous anticipation.  "By managing a separate domain of time and
space, I can take a ten hour nap in the span of a few minutes.  Washu,
you are such a genius!"  Grinning despite herself, she reached forward
to toggle the entrance switch.

Suddenly, a soft resonance floated her direction, the sound
originating somewhere near her terminal.  Washu paused, her face
showing distinct signs of fatigue and curiosity.  Being a mad
scientist, the rigors of daily maintenance were trivial when compared
to your basic phenomenon, even if it was a minor incident.  Without
further ado, she sprang from her ready stance towards the origin of
the resonance.

A small window had opened up on her screen, flaring a bright red
message.  A few technical readouts had appeared next to it, with
various graphs and charts calculating the levels of something.  Washu
glanced at the monitor, and took a double take.  'Some large source of
Jurai power has approached this area,' she thought, her hands
beginning to grow slack.  'Some really large source.  I wonder what it
is.'  Curious, she returned to her pillow and toggled a viewport.

The overhead of the Masaki shrine appeared a few moments later in a
neighboring screen, one slightly larger than the first.  She scanned
the grounds for a moment, then toggled a wave distribution of Jurai
resonance.  The terrain faded to white, leaving behind a contour
design, as well as grid markings.  Blue spikes began to rise on the
three dimensional graph, showing the signatures of powerful Jurian
forces.  Briefly, she scanned the spikes, placing a name with each
source of power.

Three spikes were present in the Masaki home, those belonging to
Tenchi, Ayeka, and Sasami.  Another nearby spike signaled Funaho, and
Yosho's spike was located back at the Masaki shrine.  Everything was
as it should be, except for a surprisingly powerful spike approaching
from the corner of the map.  Washu stared intently at the moving
spike.  'What could this be?'


     *        *        *        *        *


A brief gust of wind passed through the shrine office, and shivers ran
up the elder Masaki's spine.  Katsuhito paused for a moment, his
glasses sparkling with the orange glow of dusk.  Cautiously, he
glanced over each shoulder, masking his concern and attention with a
stony expression, and a slight motion of his head.  Abruptly, his
senses pinged, and he whirled about, rising upon one knee.  "Who is
it?!?"

There was a shuffling outside the door to the shrine, and moments
later, it slid open.  Outside stood a pair of teenagers, each clad in
hiking gear and a large backpack.  A dark-haired young man stood in
front, his Chinese style clothing flapping slightly in the evening
breeze.  He was strongly built, and instantly, Katsuhito could tell he
was a martial artist who harbored a lot of power.  Beside him was an
equally intimidating female, her features softer and less overbearing
than her companion.  The two seemed tired and surprised that their
approach was detected from the other side of the door.

"Ah," the elderly man said, a smile creeping onto his stony mask.
"Welcome to the Masaki shrine.  I am the caretaker, Katsuhito Masaki.
How may I help the both of you?"

Thee young man gaged him for a moment, then relaxed slightly.  "My
name is Ranma Saotome, and this is my wife, Akane."  He cast his gaze
to the side.  "We've just been married for a day or so, and we've been
hiking ever since."  She nodded in agreement, a shy smile on her face
as she glanced at her companion.

Katsuhito smiled again.  "Must have been a tough journey.  You both
look haggard.  Why don't you step inside for a moment?  Take that load
off your shoulders and rest for a while."

The pair grinned.  "We were hopin' you'd say that," Ranma called,
stepping back to let Akane into the room first.  They dropped their
packs near the door, then sat down opposite Katsuhito.  The room was
silent for a few moments, save the light sloshing of tea being poured.
The elder Masaki then passed a cup to each of his guests.

"So, where are you two from?" Katsuhito inquired before taking a sip
from his own cup.

"We're from the Nerima district, around Tokyo."

"Ah, quite a ways, I see.  From what I've heard, it's pretty busy down
there."

"Yeah," Akane replied, sheepishly.  "I think that we have a lot to do
with that.  They're all after him, though," she added, jerking a
finger at her husband.

"Hey!" Ranma exclaimed, his face bunching into mock anger.  "Not all
of 'em are after me, ya know.  You can't blame me, it's their fault."

"I know, I know," she soothed, a grin spreading across her face.
"It's all their fault."

Ranma crossed his arms in disgust, casting his gaze upon the other
side of the room.

Katsuhito chuckled at their antics.  "I see.  Are you up here to get
away from all that?"

"Kinda," Akane replied.  "I guess it was a side benefit.  You see,
there aren't too many fans of this marriage, here."  Ranma nodded in
agreement.

"Yeah, between all those other martial artists, the only way we'd
survive the ceremony was to elope.  No way they'd stand for it, if
they knew."

"Couldn't you just not tell them?"

The couple gave Katsuhito the 'look'.  He laughed nervously and
decided to drop the subject.  "Well," he continued, refilling his
glass, "how did you find out about this place?  And what made you
come here?"

Ranma paused for a moment, taking another sip of tea before
continuing.  "Well, I was leafing through some of my pop's old stuff
and ran across this."  He reached into his pocket, drawing out a
crumpled pamphlet, which he handed to his host.  "I took one look at
it and decided that would be a great place to spend a week or so.  It
seemed so peaceful and quiet, just the right place... for... uh, did I
say something?"

Ranma glanced nervously across the table, Akane's gaze matching his
own.  The elder Masaki's glasses had flashed brightly, reminding them
both of a Tofu in love.  They shared a quizzical glance before
attempting to breach the abrupt silence.

"Um... Mr. Masaki, sensei..." Akane tried, raising her arm towards
him.  He blinked, the glint in his lenses fading.  Another moment
passed as he glanced at the two, then broke out into boisterous
laughter.  Ranma set his jaw.

"What's so funny?"

Katsuhito tried valiantly to stifle his cries, barely managing to keep
his voice within reasonable decibel levels.  He opened his mouth to
speak, but another burst of laughter interrupted his reply, and he
tossed his head back to wallow in his own delectation.  After another
moment, he regained his composure, chuckling every moment or so.
"Well, if you two are looking for a nice quiet place to spend the
week, I think you'd better look elsewhere..."


     *        *        *        *        *


Tenchi sighed, trying his best to look like he didn't mind what was
going on.  Opening an eye, he glanced across the room, catching
matching expressions of sympathy from Sasami and Ryo-ohki.  He sighed
again, and opened both eyes, becoming aware of what his senses told
him already.  Ryoko and Ayeka glared at each other from across the
table, a spark or two flaring between the two determined faces.
Tenchi bent forward, casting his face into the relative haven of his
cupped hands.

"I wish for once that they'd just stop..." Tenchi muttered to himself.
Trying to wash away the stream of helpless tears flowing from each
eye, he stood and made his way to the back door.  Taking a deep breath
to clear his thoughts, he stepped out onto the patio, closing the door
behind him.  He stood there for a few moments, willing his heart to
slow and his mind to relax.  Above all, he tried to ignore the thought
of two enraged aliens wrecking his house.

The attempt was practically wasted, but it did help Tenchi clear his
mind a bit.  Slowly, he began to wander along the side of the house,
keeping an eye on the trees in the distance as he rounded a corner.

Suddenly, he stopped, squinting as he attempted to fathom a
particularly inky blackness surrounding a nearby grove of trees.  The
darkness seemed too unnatural at this time of day, even if it was
early evening.  The longer he stared, though, the lighter the region
seemed to grow.  Or maybe it was because the sun was going down...

"Ugh!"  Tenchi remarked, striking himself in the forehead.  "You're
letting your mind play tricks on you, Tenchi.  Better get inside
before I lose it."  He paused, considering the territory he was
preparing to flee to.  "Well, maybe another few moments out here
couldn't hurt."

Sighing loudly, he leaned back against the corner support of the
house, raising his gaze to the sky in mid-motion.  He caught a brief
flash of lighting in an approaching cloud.  Hmmm, he thought.  I guess
it's gonna rain soon.


     *        *        *        *        *


"How on Earth can that be true?"

Katsuhito shrugged his shoulders.  "On Earth, by itself, it couldn't
be.  Other planets, however..."  He trailed off, catching the
incredulous looks on their faces.  The room was silent for a long
moment as he watched the slacking of the couple's facial muscles.  The
outdoor chimes sounded, caught by a gust of wind that barely squeezed
through the crack in the door.  The gust of wind snapped Ranma out of
his reverie.

"Well then," he breathed, his muscles tensing slightly.  He glanced
sidelong at Akane, searching for her eyes.  She seemed to be lost in
thought.  He sighed, returning his gaze to his host.  "If it's really
like that here, then, well... I don't think we'd want a part of it.
We've had enough craziness to last a while."  He glanced at Akane
again.  "And it'll get a little worse once the others find out that
we're married now."

"Hmmm... I'm sorry I couldn't be of better service.  At least you
could stay for the night.  It would be a pity for you both to have to
spend the evening on the road."

Akane blinked.  "We wouldn't want to get in your way or anything..."

"Nonsense.  You can stay here at the shrine.  I myself live in the
neighboring office.  I believe I even have a futon for you to use."

"If you really don't mind, then we accept your offer."  Ranma shook
hands with the elder samurai.  "Now, asking for a bath wouldn't be a
big problem, would it?"  Akane's eyes lit up at the mention of the
modern commodity.

"Of course."  Katsuhito's eyes twinkled mischievously.  "And there's
just enough room for two people."

The two teenagers paused, their faces tainting a deep red.  They
looked at each other, the redness seeping further across their faces.
In time, however, they shared a tentative smile, and returned to face
their host.  He was grinning broadly, teeth bared.  "Ah, to be young
and in love.  I miss the good old days..."  Chuckling, he motioned for
the two blushing martial artists to follow him outside.

They were already beyond the shadow of the overhang before they
noticed the abrupt rainfall.


     *        *        *        *        *


Washu stared at the computer monitor in frustration.  Despite her best
efforts for the past hour or so, she hadn't turned up any information
about the large pocket of Jurian power.  In fact, it seemed to
dissipate and sink into the environment.  Her instruments couldn't
pick up any future trace of the energy, with the exception of a bland
manifestation somewhere outside the level grounds surrounding the
house.

"I just hate not having the answers," she muttered to herself as she
began to close the windows on the screen.  "Best to save this for
later."  The hard studying had left her far more tired than the long
period of time spent without sleep earlier.  She yawned, glancing at
her screen one last time before turning away and retreating to the
welcome relief of her alternate dimension.

If she had continued to pay attention, she would have noticed a new
spike suddenly appear beside Yosho's.


     *        *        *        *        *


Ranma grabbed her soaked shirt in disgust.  "Damn.  Why can't I go
anywhere without getting hit with water?"  She turned to catch a
glimpse of her host staring at her with interest. "Um... you might
want an explanation, huh?"

The elderly man just smiled.  "I don't think that's necessary.  I've
heard of Jusenkyo and the horrors of being cursed.  Just haven't seen
it happen, though.  'Spring of drowned girl', ne?"

Ranma nodded, scowling.  "I can't stand it sometimes.  Nothin' against
girls, Akane, but I just hate turnin' into one."  She glanced at her
partner, checking that she had received the correct message.  Akane
wasn't even paying attention as she tried to wring her clothing out as
best she could without taking it off.  Swallowing hard, Ranma found
himself trying to keep his eyes off of her... for now.

Katsuhito made a motion for Ranma to step towards him.  As Ranma
crossed the office, her host fished out another towel for the cursed
boy.  "Now, I know that you hate it, Ranma.  And you've probably heard
this a hundred times already, but you might just have to accept it.
If you haven't been cured by now, it just might be permanent.  Are you
sure that you want to spend half of your life being miserable about
the other half?"

Ranma's face bunched up in indignation, but it quickly subsided into a
grudging acceptance.  Sighing, she turned to glance out the window as
she dried her hair.  "You're right.  It's just that... that I'm not
sure about what people would think of me.  Akane called me a pervert
for at least a year, and a lot of that was 'cause of my curse.  No
tellin' what others'll think about me turnin' into a girl."

Katsuhito nodded in reply.  Still facing the outdoors, Ranma
continued.  "There's other stuff I can't do as well, like swim, or
practically do anything near water.  It's like I attract it or
somethin'."  She paused for a moment, glancing back at the old man.
"Do you think I could get some hot water?"

"There'll be some in the furo.  Now, you two had better hurry.  If
you're fast enough, you'll have each other cleaned up by the time the
water's comfortable."

The response was predictable, and moments later, two red-faced girls
left for the bathroom.  Katsuhito bore a grin until they had left the
room, when it dissolved into a thoughtful frown.  'I'm feeling
something.  It's as if one of those girls held a submerged power, much
like Tenchi.  I wonder, it feels like the power of Jurai.'




To be continued...?



     *        *        *        *        *


Afterward stuff:

This is all I've written so far.  I'm just kicking around ideas for
now.  My real projects are AAM˝! and Eva ˝.  Well, they were.  Now I'm
busy with Dragon and Serpent.  But if I get enough of a response for
the continuation of this one, I just might.  Email me at
the_rossmage82@hotmail.com.