TROOPERS � INTERLUDE
TOUMA'S STORY
by SHIN-CHAN


It has been quite the while since I had so desperately wanted a day to end as I did for today to end. I ran my hand through my hair, light shining off of the ring on my little finger. I shivered. It was a reminder of what I so desperately did not ~want~ to think about.
"Touma?"
I turned. My cousin Akane had placed a ladder against the house and climbed up to the roof, to check on me I presume. There wasn't any other reason for her to climb to the roof. She was the fourth person to do so in the past hour. To come up and check on me. Seiji would be next, I thought. Shin, Shu and Ryo had already been up here. I was not expecting Ranma, and as for Arial . . .
"Touma?" she repeated softly.
I blinked. Akane. I had forgotten her. "Yes?"
She was giving me a concerned look. Normally this is not something that I would have noticed, not being very good at reading what people are feeling, but having seen that look all day, directed at me, it was getting distressingly easy to recognize.
"It is getting late," she said gently. "Are you coming in?"
Late? I looked around, for the first time paying attention to my surroundings. Lost in my thoughts, I had not noticed that the sun had set and the stars were out. I grimmest with the unsettling realization that the light that had shone off of my ring was moonlight, now overtly bright due to my changed vision.
"Touma?"
Damn. Did it again. For some reason I was having the hardest time keeping focused on things. It had been getting worse and worse as the day progressed. "I will be down in a while." Hopefully. "There is no need to wait up for me." Because I have no idea when I will be down. I looked away from her then, but not before I saw the worry clouding her brown eyes. Seiji would probably be up not too long from now, judging from that look.
"Okay," she whispered, face adverted. I heard her just fine. "If you say so."
I nodded, not saying anything else. I managed to keep my mind blissfully blank while she climbed down and removed the ladder. Peaceful silence filled the night, encompassing me in its comforting stillness. For three minutes and forty-seven seconds, by my calculations.
Maniacal laughter came from the yard below, along with the raised voice of my cousin.
"Ranma no baka!" I winced. With my hearing the way it was now, that ~hurt~.
After the ringing died down, I heard movements in the house below. People wandering to the deck to see what was going on. I didn't feel like moving, didn't feel like doing anything really. But unless I moved, I had no choice but to listen.
"Leave, harridan! My beloved Ranma-sama and I wish to be left alone."
I did not know who the strange female was, but knowing my cousin's temper, things were about to take a turn for the worse.
"Why you . . . "
I was right, as immediately after the sounds of a fight reached me, as did the sound of a loud splash. That brought up bad memories. Then came the sounds of Ranma screaming in a high-pitched soprano voice, which also hurt my ears. Akane still yelling, at him and at someone named Kodachi. Her laughter and demands, where had her darling Ranma-sama gone? Why was the red-haired witch here? The muted sounds of my friends talking on the deck . . .
I didn't care. I closed my mind to what was happening below and let my thoughts drift . . .

. . . and the scene shifted. I was sitting on a rock at Ama no Hashidato. I quickly looked around, eyes wide in confused surprise. I had just been sitting on the Tendo rooftop, at night. It was daylight here, at a place miles away . . .
"I must have fallen asleep," I murmured, my voice filling the silence. I didn't remember falling asleep -had I closed my eyes?- and the sunlight felt very warm, real, against my skin. The subconsciousness is an amazing thing, really. I took a deep breath, it smelt exactly as it did the last time I had been here, during the invasion. And it was quiet here, peaceful. I smiled and shook my head. Where else would I go, with my life in the mess that it is now in? This was where I received Tenku, where my soul had gained the strength and I the understanding needed to fight Arago. It was only fitting that my mind would re-create this place in my dreams. A place where I could try to come to terms with what had happened to me.
"Anio?"
What? A voice? From behind me? In my dreams? Strangely familiar . . . Slowly, cautiously, I turned. And faced myself.
No, not quite 'my' self. Standing before me, was me as a youko. As the others would have seen me. The image before me was dressed the same as I, wearing jeans and high-tops. The same colored long sleeved shirt, unbuttoned and hanging loose, with a white undershirt. Its white tipped blue fox ears were standing at attention, and for the first time I got a good view of 'my' tail, long, blue and bushy. Its white tip reached the ground, and it was twitching to and fro nervously. For the life of me, I could not figure out what Shan Lai thought so cute about my new form.
I looked up, and met golden eyes, quizzical as my own. I blinked. Its head tilted to one side. We stared at each other, just stared, for an unmeasurable amount of time. I had not expected, in coming to terms with what had happened to me, to face what I had become in quite this fashion.
Suddenly 'he' gave a start. "Behind you," 'he' said, in my voice. More out of curiosity than anything else, I turned . . .

. . . and ducked as two figures came flying toward me.
"Gomen!" Ranma hollered as she bolted past me and leaped to the next building. Behind her/him was another girl, dressed in a leotard and welding a . . . ribbon? She laughed, the half-crazed laugher I had heard before, and leaped after her. On the ground I could hear Akane raging. I turned back around, half expecting to see my youko self at Ama no Hashidato. The scene did not change.
"What happened?" My soft whisper barely reached my own ears. A waking dream? Brought on by the stress of the day? Possible. But for some reason, I did not think so.

*******

"Good night."
"Good night Touma."
Things had quieted down at the dojo after Ranma lost Kodachi. When I came down from the rooftop, everyone was in a state of confusion. Akane had stormed to her room, and that had left Nabiki to explain what had just happened. It turned out that this Kodachi girl was Kunou's younger sister, and that she was as enamored with Ranma as Kunou was with his feminine form. And like Kunou, she had no idea that they were the same person.
Ranma showed up a half hour later, in male form, with a half-eaten okonomiyaki. Saotome-san made some comment about Ranma not bringing enough to share, and that caused an argument between the two of them, which resulted in Saotome-san being turned into a panda and Ranma disappearing upstairs. Uncle Soun (who still could not look at me without bursting into tears and wailing about his poor nephew), Kasumi and Nabiki acted as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. I decided it was time for bed. I did not want to see anymore.
"Going up Touma?" Arial asked, drawing all eyes to me. I didn't think she had meant to. I nodded at her, avoiding looking at anyone else. My going to bed this early was not normal in the least bit. I did not want to see their stares.
"Yes, I am a bit tired." She nodded, as though nothing was wrong, and went back to the book she was reading. She had hauled it out after dinner, and had her nose stuck in it all evening. It was written in ancient Chinese, I thought, and it ~felt~ weird. I had a feeling that I really didn't want to know anything about it, or where she had gotten the ring. Shaking my head, I went upstairs.
It didn't take long to get ready for bed. I pulled on an oversized T-shirt to sleep in, I was going to have to do something about that tail, and crawled into my futon. I laid down on my side, and closed my eyes.

*******

"Back?" a soft voice asked, back in the recess of my mind. Sleepily I opened my eyes. I was no longer in the Tendo residence.
"What the . . . " I sat up. I was back at Ama no Hashidato. The sun was still shining, it looked the same as it had earlier. I ran my fingers through my hair, uncovering my eyes and looked again. No . . . it was real. Just like earlier.
"Are you going to be here for a while this time?" the same voice asked. Swallowed hard, I turned.
Crouched on the ground six or so feet away from me was my youko self. 'His' outfit had changed from earlier. This time he was wearing a dark-blue Chinese tunic with a cloud design on it, black peasant pants tied at the ankles and dark blue slippers. I sucked in my breath. Where had my subconscious come up with that outfit?
'He' stood up, and gave me a quizzical look. I looked down. I was seated on the ground, wearing only the oversized T-shirt I had went to bed in. A moment later, it changed. Now I was in the outfit I had been wearing earlier in the day. I raised startled eyes to my youko self, he mirrored it.
"I guess that could be considered an improvement," 'he' said. Slowly I got to my feet, a tail did strange things to ones balance, and made a discovery. I had no tail.
I quickly looked, no, no tail. And, as my hands quickly discovered, no ears either.
"You still think of yourself a human. Naturally you would appear here that way."
I looked at my youko self, eyebrows raised. "Pardon?" I asked. Just what was going on here?
My youko self seated himself on a nearby bolder, it looked to be the one I had been on earlier, and pulled his legs up against his chest. "In your mind. You think of yourself as a human, so your mental representation of yourself in our mind would be of yourself in that form."
"My mental representation?" I repeated. Then 'his' wording sank in and registered in my mind. "In ~our~ mind?" 'He' nodded.
"Yes. Our mind. Yours . . . and mine." 'He' took a deep breath, slowly releasing it in a calming manner. "I am . . . I am you . . . in a way." 'He' took another breath, obviously a bit uncomfortable. "I am the youko you, the you that came to be when you became a youko."
Interesting. And a bit unsettling, if you wanted to get right down to it. "A second mind?" I queried.
'He' nodded rapidly. "Yes. A second mind, a second personality. But," 'he' gave me an earnest look, "with the same soul. Twins, in a way."
"With you being born when I was splashed with the cursed water." 'He' nodded again, obviously relieved that I understood. Nice to see that someone was.
"I need to think." I turned away, staring blankly ahead of me. This was a lot to deal with. I was a demon. A youko. My very self had been changed against my will. I had felt that occur when I had been splashed, that is what I had withdrawn from, in shock and horror. What I had experienced when captured by Arago no way compared to how that had felt. A pulling/ripping sensation of being turned inside out that had seemed to go on forever. Changing what I was until I didn't think that I would recognize myself . . .
I desperatly ~reached~ inside, seeking stability . . . as the memories of what had happened threatened to overwhelm me once again, and found it. My soul link with Tenku. It still existed. My mind touched it, calling to it, with a desperation that I had never felt before. Tenku answered, recognizing me. That had not changed. Nor had, I recalled with relief, my soul link with the other Troopers.
"Miko would know, you know." I turned to 'him'. I had a hard time thinking of him as me. Holding a conversation with 'him' was a good part of it, I was sure.
"Who?"
'He' sighed. "The Dragon Gods' priestess. I am sure she has a good understanding of what occurred to us today. You probably ought to talk to her." I gave 'him' a blank look. Who??? "Arial." 'He' said, answering my unspoken question. "Remember, she told us about it, after we fought the akuma last year, when we discovered her yoroi."
Us? Well, that would make sense. If what 'he' was saying was true, and that he was 'born' when I was splashed, than he would have the same memories that I would, up to that point in time, and maybe after as well . . . It was something to look into later. "She did say that . . . " I murmured, thinking back. It was a wild story she had told us, of gods and magic and mystical armor. The armor did exist, we had fought her in it, but for the rest . . . I had thought it was a wild story. We all had, actually. Why would 'he' believe that, when I didn't, if we were the same?
" . . . and you thought it nothing but a wild tale, told by a high-strung girl." 'He' finished. "I . . . " 'he' frowned in consternation. "Strange, I know what she said to be the truth, but not why. And that she knows more than she has yet to tell." 'He' glanced down at his right hand. On the little finger was a ring exactly like mine. "This, for instance . . . "
Indeed. Where had she gotten it from? She had avoided talking about it earlier, and I hadn't been in good enough mental shape to bother her about it later.
"It has been touched by the Gods, I can feel their auras on it. Can you?"
I looked down at the ring. Touched by the Gods? How would that feel? Tenku was created from a demon armor, would there be a similarity? Somehow, I ~touched~ the ring with a sense I had not been aware that I possessed until that very moment. In all likelihood I hadn't the day before. It felt, warm . . . not a physical warmth, more in the way of a mental one. Soothing, but with a strong sense of nature to it. I was drawn to it in a way I was unfamiliar with. Overlaying it was a different touch. Strong, vibrant. Flames. What the heck . . .
I drew back, shaken. The presences I felt, they were so different from Tenku and the other yoroi. Or even my friends. The yoroi were different, but not like that. Overpowering, encompassing, no comparison . . . An image of Arial's new reading material came to mind, and how it had felt, and it had the same overtones as the second presence who touched the ring.
"It seems Miko went to them on our behalf." 'He' said. I looked at him. 'He' was still looking down at the ring. "Or possibly on everyone's behalf. Jhusenkyo is in China, and that is where the Dragon Gods originated from. She may have been asking them about the Cursed Springs."
"Arial . . . summoned a God . . . " Little Arial? I found that hard to believe. Shin's fiancee. Seiji's younger cousin. The Priestess to the Dragon Gods. Avatar really, if you believed what she has said last year. Their hand on Earth. And she had gotten a ring to protect me from demon wards from them . . . This was almost more of a shock than realizing that I was a demon. But it would explain why she seemed to be different now, to my senses. I was picking up on the touch her Gods had placed on her.
I looked at, well, what would I call him? 'He' was/wasn't me. My personality and memories, mirrored and changed, a new persona, but somehow, still me in a way. "He' had called me 'Anio', elder (brother) tail . . . which ~felt~ right, for some strange reason. Weird. I couldn't bring myself to call him Touma . . . "What shall I call you? What is your name?" Well, when all else failed . . .
'He' looked up at me, startled. "Name?" He titled his head, his golden eyes narrowing as he thought. "I . . . a name?"
I nodded. "I would like to call you something, you are a distinct personality after all, no matter how you were created or how similar you are to me. Something," I gave him a wry smile, "besides Touma. After all, it looked as if we were both 'Touma'."
'He' returned the smile, "Hai, Anio. Ummm . . . " He looked up into the sky, then at our surroundings. A glint of mischievousness shown in his eyes, and it looked fitting on him, whereas it would have looked out of place from me. There were some dramatic differences between the two of us, I realized. It would take time, though, to find out what they all were.
"Sorabai," 'He' said with a bit of relish, saying the name with a tone of satisfaction. "I like Sorabai."
Sky double. My lips twitched into an unexpected smile. That would fit. And apparently he was going to call me Anio. I had no problems with that. "Hai, Sorabai."
Sorabai curled his tail around him, a satisfied look on his face. "So, what now Anio."
Good question. "This place, it is a creation of our mind?"
He nodded. "Hai, our private world."
"Hmmmm . . . " Several things were running around in my thoughts, but I would need time to sort through them all. This world, it was as real to me as the physical world was. My own world . . .
Something intruded then, a familiar presence. I opened my eyes, with both Sorabai and I looking through them. Seiji was bent over me, his hands on my shoulders, a worried look running across his face as I blinked up at him.
"Touma . . . " he was still looking at me strangely. What had he seen? "Are . . . you okay?"
Sorabai withdrew, and I saw Seiji pale a bit. I had the feeling that the two were connected in some way but wasn't really sure how. "Yes, I am fine. Is there something wrong?"
He shook his head and drew back. "No, nothing. It's morning."
I glanced around the room. Seiji was right. It was morning. My conversation with Sorabai had lasted all night. I looked around again. As usual, everyone else was already up. "What time is it?"
"Seven-thirty."
I turned to him, blinking. Seven-thirty? In the morning? And I wasn't sleepy? How unusual. I watched as Seiji stood up, looking a bit uneasy. "I will see you downstairs."
Seiji silently left the room, and I realized then, that even with my new senses, the only way I knew he was present was by sight and sound.
I stretched and stood up. Once again, I was in youko form. My human form had only been in my mind . . . I frowned, a whisper of an idea returning. I closed my eyes, focusing on myself. In the back of my mind I felt Sorabai watching with interest. I recalled the memory of my human form, I could never be human again, but I knew -how I did not know- that I could appear human . . . A shiver across my skin . . . prickly warmth, then a chill. A feeling of being muffled in a thin blanket . . . I opened my eyes, and swayed slightly as vertigo hit me.
<Sugoi . . . >
I blinked, and the room stilled. I turned around and looked down, no tail. My seeking fingers said that my ears were now human ears. But this form ~felt~ wrong, like cloths that didn't quite fit. I took a halting step. Then another, my balance adjusting to my 'new' form. After a few minutes I got dressed and combed my hair. A strange sound came from outside through the window. I gave it a mild curious look, then shook my head. I didn't feel like looking. In all probability it was Ranma and his father.
<-Lets look anyway.->
"Lets get breakfast instead." I said out loud instead. "Shu is downstairs, and I am sure you 'know' how Ranma and Saotome-san eat. If we delay, there won't be anything left for us to eat."
<- . . . good point.->Sorabai grudgingly conceded. Smiling, I opened the door and stepped out.
You know, this just might work out, and it would be nice to have a brother . . .

The End