Part IV

    Ryouga didn't take long to adjust to his new lifestyle.  It was certainly a step up from running all over Japan trying to get somewhere.  The dojo had the feeling of home, and he slowly learned bits of the past, both general history and how the residents had all met, and the adventures they shared.  He also noticed they all seemed to avoid cold water, sending Yahiko out on most errands or taking an umbrella.
    He wondered if they knew of Jusenkyou, and if they did had they found a cure?  It didn't occur to him that if they had, there would be less of a need to avoid cold water.  Training with Kaoru wasn't as hard as Yahiko complained it would be, but then Ryouga also had fought with his umbrella.
    Yahiko told him about a circus that had passed through town some time back and been under pressure from a rival entertainer.  The owner had a cute daughter who was shot out of a cannon as the highlight of the show, which of course was not Yahiko's main interest.  Of course.  Unfortunately, the proprietor had been attacked by his rival and the circus had been in dire straits until, of course, the Kenshingumi came to the rescue.  Kenshin had known tricks with an umbrella that astounded his audience -- and felled the attackers while making it look as though it was part of the show.
    Kenshin refused to demonstrate, blushing furiously until the others pressured him into it.
    It was a couple of days after that when the inevitable finally happened.
    Ryouga had been staying with the Kenshingumi for about two weeks.  He was impressed -- unlike the world he knew, water did not always conveniently fly out at him at the worst possible moments.  In fact, in the two weeks he'd been in the Meiji era, he'd managed to avoid cold water flawlessly.  And there was almost always a kettle up to boil in the dojo; he'd assumed it was in case anyone wanted tea.  He was about to suffer a revelation.
    Megumi had asked Kaoru to come to the clinic for the morning to help her out with some research.  Sanosuke had vanished at the first sign of work, and Yahiko was given chores to do by his sensei.  She also asked Kenshin to do some shopping.
    "You have two choices, Ryouga.  You can help Yahiko around the house, or you can go with Kenshin and maybe try to learn your way around.  But no matter what, if you decide to go with him don't you dare take more than three steps away from him!"  Kaoru was adamant.  "Although I'm sure you and Yahiko would love to chat about me behind my back."
    "Oh no, I would never!  I think I'd like to help with the shopping, anyway."  Actually, what he really wanted was tips on how to win Kaoru's heart, and he figured Kenshin would know her well enough to give him those pointers.  Not that he was forgetting about Akane, of course.  But he could never tell her that.
    "Figures."  Yahiko already seemed to be scheming ways to get out of doing housework.  None of them would be very successful in the long run, but he figured it was worth a shot.  He glared at his fellow student.
    "Well then, I'm off to help Megumisan.  You'd better behave yourselves, and we'll have an extra hour of practice this afternoon.  Of course, if there's any trouble..."  Kaoru let her voice trail off as she smiled brightly, glared warningly, and sauntered off.
    "Well, I suppose we'd better go.  If we're back soon enough, I'll help with the chores."  Ryouga actually meant it.  Yahiko looked at him intently.
    "Yeah, sure, I'll bet you're so eager to do women's work.  Not like the ugly toad ever does any--ITAI!!!!"  Ryouga's umbrella cracked down on the youngster's head -- rather lightly for the strong young man.
    "Don't you DARE talk about Kaorusensei that way!  She's your teacher and you treat her with respect!"  Ryouga was furious enough not to even notice that he'd used the same technique as Kaoru herself, only with the umbrella rather than a bokken.  Kenshin did notice, however, and was impressed at how quickly the young man was learning.  He was willing to bet the other had no idea he even knew as much as he did.
   Yahiko grumbled and went off to begin scrubbing floors.
    "I think we should go now.  It may rain later, and I'd not like to be out in it if it does."  Kenshin smiled as though to diffuse tensions.  Ryouga nodded and they set out.  The sky was fairly clear when they left, and there was not much to be done, but the winds were against them and the overcast sky darkened quickly.
     Kenshin seemed hurried.  "We'll get tofu and we'll go home.  It's on the way, so we're in luck, but we shouldn't take too long."  He led the way through the streets.
     They were very fortunate in that the rain didn't hit until they were most of the way home.  Ryouga noticed that Kenshin did seem to pull his shirt tighter around himself before their return trip.  But not five minutes before they arrived back at the dojo, the first raindrops fell.  And they brought their friends, family, and insurance companies.  Or they would have if raindrops in the Meiji era had insurance companies.  Either way, they came with a vengeance.
     Ryouga opened his umbrella, shielding himself and the purchases he carried from the rain.  Kenshin, however, was too busy to notice how paranoid the rain was making Ryouga as he hurried towards home.
     "We're almost there."  Kenshin's voice seemed higher, Ryouga noticed, and the long red hair now getting soaked by the rain looked black.  He shrugged it off, too eager to get back himself to worry about it.  Although it was interesting; Ranma's hair went from black to red.  Kenshin started out with red hair...
     "Nahh."  Ryouga decided he must be seeing things.  It had never occurred to him to share the umbrella with Kenshin.
     "Oro?"
     "Oh.  Nothing."  He hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud, but then conversation was cut short by their arrival at the dojo.
     "I'm so glad you two are back!  Sano's inside.  He had just beaten the rain.  I guess you two didn't."  Yahiko grinned.  "Serves you right for leaving me to do the chores."
     "Oiy, oiy.  My roof's leaking again.  Besides, I'm hungry.  What's for lunch?
     "Sano, you're always hungry."  Kenshin wrung out her hair.  "Now can you please go get me the hot water?"
     Ryouga blinked at him.  "You're a --"
     "Kenshin's a guy.  Or at least he used to be.  Then he got knocked into some spring.  He don't like to talk about it."  Sanosuke glared.  It was one thing for him to tease Kenshin, another entirely for this upstart kid from where- or whenever to try.  He himself liked to talk about it even less than his friend did, that much was obvious.  Only, Ryouga knew how it was.  Somehow, he felt relived that he didn't have to suffer alone -- maybe these people needed the same reassurance.  He hesitated.  It was not a pleasant prospect, and it was admittedly uncomfortable, but at least he could be open with his secret among these people.  He took a deep breath.
     "I'd like to show you something."  Ryouga resolutely laid his umbrella down as Yahiko handed Kenshin the hot water.  "Come outside, please."
     Sano cracked his knuckles.  "I'll just bet."
     "Please.  I...  This is something I have to show you."  Ryouga went outside to the porch and began to strip off his shirt.
     "Whoa, I ain't into that!  None of us are!"  Sanosuke was panicking, which brought Kenshin and Yahiko out.  Kenshin was wringing out his hair -- red -- again.
     "Wait."  Ryouga, now shirtless and umbrella-less, bowed his head and stepped into the rain.  The others blinked.
     "Bweee..."  A mournful little black pig with a yellow and black bandanna around his neck sat looking up at them from where Ryouga had stood a moment before.
     "Oro?"
     "Hey, kid?"  Sanosuke blinked.
     There was a moment's pause.  "I'm still the only one!  I'm still the only one!  I'm still the only -- oof!"  Yahiko's chant was cut off because he was finding out that it was difficult to speak with a foot planted in your face.  Not only that but it was painful.
     "Bwee?"  Ryouga (who wasn't exactly P-chan since no one here knew to call him by that name) crawled up onto the porch.  Yahiko gathered the rest of his clothes out of the rain just as a very unhappy fox trotted up alongside a rather depressed-looking raccoon.
     "Wow, it's a regular convention around here."  Sano sighed and rolled his eyes.  No way was he going to go through that willingly!
     "Sano turns into a chicken.  He even looks like a chicken."  Yahiko grinned and ducked Sanosuke's unenthusiastic swipe.
     Kaoru-raccoon and Megumi-fox looked at each other and went to the room they shared.  Kenshin followed with the teapot and emerged a moment later.
     "Kaorudono and Megumidono will be out in a moment."  Kenshin looked at the floor.  He could never quite stop himself from blushing whenever it was up to him to change them back.  And of course, it was usually very difficult for Sano and Yahiko to resist teasing him about it.
     "Bweee?"  Ryouga looked confused and forlorn.
     "Is there any more of that water left?  We shouldn't leave him like that."  Sano looked uncomfortable.
     Kenshin nodded and poured the last of the kettle over Ryouga.
     "Ano... Ryougasan?"  Megumi and Kaoru, both fully dressed, had walked in at the same moment Ryouga stood up.  "Don't you think you're forgetting something?"  Her face was nearly as red as Kaoru's, yet she looked away first.  Kaoru kept sneaking peaks at the man who had recently been a pig but now shaped up quite nicely.
     "Uhhhh," Ryouga said intelligently.  Yahiko tossed the young man's clothes at him, grinning wickedly.  Ryouga wasn't that slow and grabbed them with one hand, managing to hide himself even though Kaoru and Megumi had turned away.  Knowing it wouldn't do much good, he turned his back and dressed quickly.  It was a bit of a relief, however, to know he wasn't alone and he did not have to keep it a secret.  Some things were simply easier to bear when one didn't have to bear them alone.  This was one of them.  Ryouga's secret was out and he no longer had to shoulder that burden.  Of course, he hadn't had to do so back at home either, but he had hidden his identity from Akane.  Here, there was no hiding.
     "So what does Yahiko become?"
     "Nothing.  Unsurprisingly," Sano growled.
     "Hey!"  He was on top of the taller man's head, chewing in an instant.
     Kenshin smiled, embarrassed.  "Yare, yare.  Yahiko is the only one of us who didn't fall in a spring."
     "You'd think he'd learn some real responsibility between that and learning Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, but some lessons he just won't learn!"  Kaoru looked irritated.
     Yahiko showed no shame.  Not that he didn't care, but it wasn't worth the effort of being bashed by Kaoru or Ryouga for saying the wrong thing.  He tended to do that a lot, he noticed.  And he didn't even have to try.  Much.
     "I'm just glad it's over."
     "What is, Ryouga?"
     "That I don't have to hide my shame anymore.  I'm still going to kill Saotome, but at last I no longer need live in shame!  Finally, my secret is revealed and I no longer need bear this burden alone!  Ahh, Ranma, you think you've defeated me but I will find you one day!"
     "Ryouga!"
     The startled look on his face as he stopped his tirade was priceless.  He hadn't made a speech along those lines in more than a week.  Now, he colored with shame.  It was bad enough that he had to deal with the curse of Jusenkyou.  Knowing Kaoru and the others shared it made it better.  He had thought he was getting over his resentment at Saotome Ranma.  So, it seemed, had Kaoru.
     "It's silly to hate someone who won't be born for another hundred years.  I know it is.  But to me he's just a few more hours' journey, and I though I cannot forget where I am, or when, part of me will not accept it.  To never see Akane again, to never know the glory of defeating Saotome Ranma..."  Ryouga got caught up in the spirit of revenge until he got another glimpse of Kaoru's very displeased expression.  Not, of course, that it made any sense.  Why should she look like she was ready to cry?
     Kenshin took note of it too and tried to send a message to Megumi.  The doctor's compassion kicked in.
     "I'm sure we're all hungry.  Why don't I make us some sweet potatoes and we can all sit and rest.  The rain is not going to let up for a while yet, and there's no sense in fighting each other."
     Heads nodded.  "Megumisan?"
     "Yes?"
     "I'm sorry I wasn't much help this morning."
     "It isn't your fault, Kaoruchan.  This isn't one of the easiest projects I've ever asked you to help me with."  Megumi smiled reassuringly.  "I'll find something, or we'll adjust.  Even the chickenhe--  I mean Sanosuke."  She smiled sweetly at him as she spoke, and he growled at her.  Ryouga thought he saw the merest hint of a smile on the former gangster's face as he turned away.  Megumi went into the kitchen.
     Ryouga followed her in.  "May I help?"
     "Certainly.  If we both wash the potatoes, it will go faster."  Megumi smiled and handed him an armload of potatoes.  "Now, what's on your mind?  I'm fairly sure you didn't come to help simply because you love washing potatoes above all else."
     Ryouga looked embarrassed.  "Well, I...  I was wondering if you might give me advice."  He was slipping into more formal speech patterns, looking down as he began to speak several times and changed his mind.  "It's.. It is about Kaorusensei I must ask."
     "I see.  Well, what would you like to know?"
     "How may I woo her and win her heart?"
     Megumi blinked.  Well, at least it wasn't Kenshin asking her that impossible question.  She didn't think she could handle hearing that from him.  Young Ryouga, however, was a different story entirely.  "Win her heart?  Well, you could start by studying Kamiya Kasshin Ryu very diligently, which you've already been doing.  She admires a man who can fight, but also knows when to let her fight her own battles.  She wants to be protected, but at the same time she's very independent.  I think that's why she --"  Megumi cut herself off before she admitted what was generally accepted to be true.
     "That's why she what?"
     "Why she...  That's why she wants someone...  Someone who..."  Megumi found it very awkward.  "Maybe you should ask Kensan."
     "But Kenshin's another guy!  How can he truly understand what a woman wants as well as another woman?"  Ryouga blinked as he realized what he'd just said.  "Uhh, I mean..."
     "He knows what matters."  Megumi suddenly made herself very busy with the sweet potatoes Ryouga had finished washing.
     "What are you saying?  That Kaorusensei cares for Kenshin?"
     Megumi said nothing at first.  "We all care for Kenshin.  We all owe him our lives, or at least our livelihood.  If not for Kenshin, quite likely none of us would be here, and some of us would be dead.  I certainly would, and probably Kaoru.  Yahiko might have been killed or might have survived -- he was a pretty street-smart brat when Kensan and Kaoru found him.  And Sanosuke, who can tell what that brute would be up to if not for Kensan?  So of course Kaoru cares about him.  He saved her life and her dojo."  She still did not look directly at Ryouga.  It wasn't as though she wasn't obvious about it anyway, even though she acted like she was teasing, and it was just as obvious that Sanosuke cared about her in the way Ryouga meant, but there was something about Kenshin that Megumi didn't want to discuss with him.  He began to get an idea.
     "You're right.  I shall ask Kenshin.  He shall aid me to win the fair Kaoru's heart!  Fear not, Kaoru!  I can replace even Kenshin in your estbweeee!!!"  A startled looking black piglet sat where Ryouga had been standing in the kitchen.
     Megumi stood over him with a dripping, empty bowl of water.  "Ryouga, you're a nice kid, but you've GOT to learn when to shut up!  How your Akane ever put up with you I'll never imagine!"  She glowered at him a moment longer and returned to her cooking.  It dawned on Ryouga that he did sound like Kuno when he got on one of his kicks.