Ukyo gently and tenderly laid a hand on his arm, them wormed her way into his grasp before she dared to say, "Ranchan... I... I don't know how to say this, but those amazons scare me... sometimes," she added quietly. "You know they'd never do anything to really hurt you, or Akane who's always had your protection, but I think I might fall under Cologne's 'enemy' list and get defended against some time when you aren't there to back me up. No matter how hard you'd try to say to leave me alone I think they'd test your devotion once or twice, and I might end up in China or tied up on a slow boat to Africa or drugged to be in love with Mousse something equally nasty. Could we go someplace else for now? Just until they know the wind has changed and I'm the one you'll be protecting?"
Ranma's heart felt both warm and tight at the same time, sensing somehow how much it meant, how hard it was for her to admit she'd needed protecting. She'd been alone almost as much as he'd been (although you couldn't count the panda decent company), and trust came hard for the orphan girl abandoned by her fiance and teased by her peers.
"Sure, Ucchan. But where? You know, Tofu's been laying low for a while. He may even be gone. Let's check out his clinic and see if we can sneak in. No one should find us there."
Once again Ukyo shook her head. "Won't work. Sorry, Ranchan. One of the nurses at school has a set of keys and she's been doing part time work helping out a new doctor who stops by the clinic after school hours to keep Tofu's patients cared for while he's away. We'd get discovered in twelve hours, tops."
He looked at her helpless, out of ideas.
"We could stay at a hotel," she offered, feeling a bit lame about it herself.
"Safest place to hide, always is in the mind of your pursuers," Yoda's wise figure faded into view on top of Ranma's pack. "Think, must you, where would these hunters never believe to find you, hm? Where would you never go for safety? This place, search they would not."
Both teens shared a long moment meeting eyes before they both pronounced a single word in perfect stereo: "Kuno's."
"Dangers there," Yoda nodded. "Could you master them, turn them to your ends? Let one threat shield you from another?"
Ranma pursed his lips and thought hard, sucking in a long breath before exhaling. "Master Yoda has been talking about how I need to practice my sword techniques. An opponent, even a lame one like Kuno, can help teach me faster than I could alone. All I'd have to do is go up there and ask him. He'd boast for hours, but it'll end the feud between us... mostly."
"You'd just have to promise to give him Akane and the pigtailed girl." Ukyo sourly remarked as they both, grudgingly, turned their steps toward that hill where Kuno's mansion stood.
Sighing and centering himself once again, dismayed at how quickly these topics cost him his focus, Ranma corrected, "All I've got to do is promise not to stand in his way if he can win Akane's love on his own. He'll be so happy that it'll be a few days before he even thinks to ask for his 'pigtailed girl' and I can just say the same thing."
"Or better yet, that the pigtailed girl got engaged to another by her family, and you have no more hold over them than he does." His best friend suggested slyly.
"Mhmhmhmhmhm!!" Yoda laughed. "Wise in the ways of this world is she. Tells the truth when no lie would serve. But one problem you forget."
"Kodachi," both teens again breathed out that one word in unison.
"She's got most of the same problems as staying with Shampoo would have, for me," Ukyo groaned, but still bravely walked forward beside her best friend.
Ranma extended an arm to put around her shoulders and hold her tight, even as their feet kept moving. "I'm sorry, Ucchan. This ain't gunna be great for me, either."
"A problem, but a resolution this has." Yoda offered. "Think you must, what form does her obsession take?"
"Same as mine," Ukyo managed a slight giggle as she gave a sidelong glance, warmed both heart and soul by the man whose arm lay around her shoulders, and whose face she carefully examined.
"Shield her you must," Yoda told his student, "but not in your presence would Kodachi hurt your friend. Then Kodachi's heart you heal, an ally gain. Devoted to you she would be, even more than now. Difficult and dangerous, yet same as healing your friend. Her heart, the same wounds it has. Much fear, fear of loneliness. Ahhh, always alone has she been." The tiny alien nodded to himself, confirming his diagnosis.
"Kinda makes you feel sorry for her." Ukyo mumbled, never having though of why Kodachi had always been so lunatic crazy about Ranchan. Sheesh, had no one else ever been kind to her before?
"No." Yoda read her thoughts. "Kindness, Kodachi known has not. Strangers or enemies, never friends. A tiny gesture, her heart wins. Loyalty forever she returns." The Jedi master sighed deeply. "So much sadness, she has."
Ukyo started hurrying their small group's pace, but once they'd come to a high point on the hill they turned about to look at the fire in the distance. Ranma stopped her and asked. "Ucchan, you didn't leave anything important behind, pictures or anything? I'd hate to think that I was behind you losing everything."
Ukyo laughed. "Are you kidding? The most important thing in my life is standing right next to me, holding my hand! Don't worry about it, all of my keepsakes are in a safe deposit box in Yokohama, and I'm heavily over-insured with mob violence covered by my policy. This is Nerima, after all. You can expect it weekly."
She giggled in his arms. "Konatsu keeps sneaking in to file paperwork restarting my policy whenever they cancel it from cashing in too often. Heck, at this rate I'll have enough to retire on before I graduate high school!"
Laughing together, the pair of friends (and perhaps more) went on to face the looming gates of Kuno manor.
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(Posted Sun, 17 Jul 2005 05:02)
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