Subject: [FFML] [Ranma-SM x-over] Destiny chapter 12a
From: arun prabhu
Date: 3/1/2002, 7:01 AM
To: ffml@anifics.com


here's the first part of the twelfth chapter. Hope
everyone likes it...

Arun

            Guys:

            "..." Normal Japanese speech.

            *...* Thoughts.

            <...> Chinese speech.

            {{...}} Telephone conversation.

            ~...~ Regular English speech.

            I have used a section which is a
combination of the telephone conversation and regular
English speech and it means exactly 
that. ^_^

Dedication:

            I'm dedicating this chapter to a very
special person in the
Ranma fanfic writer community, a man who created such
delectable
wonders like 'A Couple of Angels', 'Ranma: Prince of
Rhostaria', 'For
his was a genius...' etc. He is none other than Corwin
and I would like
to salute him and his genius, FOR HIS IS ONE THAT FEW
IF ANY CAN EVER
HOPE TO MATCH!

	Now, on with the story...



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



The warm, life-giving rays of the sun streaked across
the early morning sky and cascaded through the windows
of one Usagi Tsukino's bedroom, lighting the room and
her face with a golden glow.

	Usagi for her part, sat motionless by the window,
looking out into the horizon, her mind brooding over
things that needed to be done. She found it hard to
believe that scarcely two weeks before everything had
been calm and peaceful. Now... Things were just calm,
but peaceful, they were not.

	Mamoru was dead and Chibi-Usa was too. The thought of
never seeing the two of them again as long as she
lived was like a vise crushing her heart in its cold,
metallic grip.

	She supposed that she could deal with it... she could
not afford to live in the past, after all, and had to
move forward with her life for the sake of her kingdom
and for the sake of her people, but still, she could
not bring herself to close that particular chapter of
her life. There were too many memories, too many happy
moments and too much love to just move forward as
though nothing had happened.

	The pain could be dealt with, and with the course of
time, it would be pushed to the dark corridors of her
consciousness where the stuff of nightmares lurked.
But the sense of betrayal and failure - she was not
sure whether she would ever be able to get rid of
those. There was one thing she could do, though to
sate the restless souls of her prince and her
daughter, and that was protecting the masses from the
hell spawn that had taken their lives, but here too,
she had failed. The events that had transpired the
evening before had been more than enough proof of
that.

	What then was she supposed to do? Was there no
redemption? Sure, Luna and the others did not think
that she was a failure, but then, why did she feel so
low about herself?

	Usagi may have been willing to lay down her life for
the life of an innocent, but even then, who would be
there to protect the innocents after she was gone?
There were so many questions and only one answer for
all of them, and it was not a simple one. The kami
must have really hated her in her past life!

	The horrors of death she could bear, but the pain of
betrayal, she definitely could not and that was what
she felt her advisors, both the inners and the outers,
had done the day before.

	They had fought amongst themselves when they should
have been helping the wounded and the outers had
downright declared that they were willing to kill
anyone to protect their goals. It was unbelievable,
their audacity, but could she really fault them. After
all, was she not the one who had let them roam around
without their leashes to guide them for so long?

	"Usagi."

	Usagi, though startled out of her thoughts, did not
sputter and jump up, as she would have done only a few
days back. Instead, she tapped the seat beside her,
inviting the intruder to sit.

	"Yes, Luna," she said, without turning her eyes from
the window.

	The Moon cat padded on the floor and jumped onto the
proffered seat, where it sat on its haunches.

	"Are you all right?" Luna asked.

	Usagi did not take her eyes off the beautiful sunrise
and she did not answer, opting to remain silent for an
entire minute. Luna waited for an answer, her eyes
focused on Usagi's face in a vain effort to divine the
Moon princess's thoughts.

	"No, Luna," Usagi said at length, "I'm not all
right."

	"Oh!"

	Silence.

	"So... What's bothering you, Usagi?" Luna asked.
*Please, let it not be about Mamoru.*

	Usagi looked at Luna for the first time since the
beginning of the conversation and gave her a gentle
smile.

	"Thank you, Luna, for caring about me," she said and
paused. "I'm worried, Luna..."

	"Worry is, but a part of life, Usagi."

	Usagi's face lit up with a little grin, little but
genuine nonetheless.

	"Ah, Luna, I did not know that you knew philosophy."

	Luna waved the comment aside.

	"It comes with age, Usagi," she said with a shrug.
"It comes with age. So, what are you worried about?"

	"You know, things in general and the sailors in
particular..."

	"Sailors? Was anyone hurt yesterday, Usagi?" Luna
asked. The sailors were in deep trouble as things were
with Pluto gone and if one of them got hurt in a
battle then their chances for survival through the
coming storm would drop to nil.

	Usagi shook her head slightly.

	"No, Luna, none of the sailors got hurt... well,
Haruka got hurt pretty bad, but Hotaru healed her..."

	"How? Will be she able to fight?" Luna asked quickly.

	"Unfortunately, yes," Usagi muttered. "She will be
able to fight."

	"Huh!"

	"The outers attacked us, Luna. We weren't their
targets, but we were in the way and..."

	"Oh!" Luna said, things dawning to her. *Why does
this not surprise me? The outers had overreacted...
once again.*

	"You should've seen them, Luna... It was
frightening."

	"Surely, Usagi, things can't be that bad."

	Usagi laughed a soulless laugh.

	"Believe me, Luna, things couldn't be any worse... We
were in deep trouble with the daemons yesterday -
especially with the last one... it was powerful enough
to resist even the most powerful attack that I could
summon and I thought for a minute that we were done
for..." Usagi said.

	When Usagi did not continue, Luna prodded.

	"So, what happened? How did you defeat the daemons?"

	"We didn't," Usagi stated.

	"Huh?" Luna was beginning to think that she liked the
old Usagi much better. The old one did not speak in
riddles and she did not give her anywhere near as big
a headache as this one was giving.

	"The stranger... the one who saved us from the
Ashuras and a couple of his friends rescued us, Luna.
If it were not for them, I am sure that I wouldn't be
alive. I would be resting in the city mortuary instead
of talking to you."

	"..."

	"Luna, what were the outers like during the Silver
Millennium?" Usagi asked, turning and looking into the
Moon cat's eyes, and through it, her very soul.

	"The outers were some of the staunchest supporters of
the house of Serenity in the realm, Usagi, though they
were more fanatics than anything else. Many an outer
had lain down their life to protect your ancestors and
all of them did it without a thought about their
personal safety."

	Usagi nodded, filing away the information.

	"Go on."

	"Like I said before, they were fanatics... They had a
rather harsh view on life and you could see it in
their actions. The rules in the outer planets were the
most stringent in the Moon kingdom and they never
outlawed capital punishment... In fact, it was quite
popular in their courts and was frequently practiced
for even some of the less serious crimes, that is, if
the rumors were true, of course."

	"Of course," Usagi said and smiled. The tone in which
Luna had spoken the sentence was more than enough to
tell her that what the Moon cat was telling her was
the official version of events, which meant that the
rumors were most probably true.

	Luna looked at Usagi with a raised eyebrow for an
entire minute before nodding and continuing with the
story. It was nice to see the princess grow up and
mature by leaps and bounds right before her eyes,
though it was sad that it had taken the death of
Endmyion to bring about this growth.

	"And their troops were amongst the most efficient in
the empire. In fact, there are incidents where
opposing armies ran from the battlefield, once they
saw the colors of the outer's armies"

	Usagi nodded.

	"What about the senshi of Neptune and Uranus, Luna?"

	"Well, most of the senshi for those two planets
behaved in much the same way as the general populace,
but there were one or two exceptions, each at the
opposite ends of the spectrum..."

	"And where does our Uranus and Neptune lie in this
spectrum?"

	"Both of them are trigger happy, but so were almost
all their predecessors. Haruka appears to be quicker
to the gun than anyone I can remember though... You
aren't angry with them, are you, Usagi?"

	"Hmm... Yes, I am, Luna," Usagi said. "They crossed a
limit yesterday, Luna, maybe they have crossed it
before, but this was the first time I have seen them
do it with my own eyes and I think, I'll have to make
sure that they don't do it again."

	"What happened yesterday, Usagi?"

	"Like I said before, we were getting pretty beat up,
Luna, i.e., until the stranger and his friends came
and rescued us. Then the outers showed up and I think
you can guess what happened from thereon."

	"They attacked the stranger and his friends?" Luna
asked quietly.

	Usagi nodded.

	"Yes, they did, but that wasn't it... I mean, the
outers have always been over-reactive and they are
likely to remain this way for all of eternity. But,
yesterday, Luna, was somehow different. It wasn't the
first time that the outers had attacked someone or
something without regard for property or lives, but
they almost attacked me, Luna and they would have
attacked Rei too."

	"I find that hard to believe, Usagi and if anyone
else had said the same words, I would've called them a
liar, but you being you, I can't help but believe what
you are telling me."

	"Oh, I am telling you the truth all right, Luna. I
just wish it were not..." Usagi said in a melancholy
voice, before continuing. "One of them... the ones
with the stranger, retaliated and he almost killed
Haruka with a single blow."

	"Wha..." Luna said with wide eyes. How could anyone
nearly kill a senshi with a single blow? It just was
not possible.

	"I find it hard to believe too, Luna, but I was there
and I saw it with my very own eyes."

	Luna nodded slowly. She would ask Ami to confirm what
Usagi was saying. If what the princess was saying was
true, then they were going to face some truly powerful
entities in the battles to come.

	"Then they left, and Ami and the others started to
fight with the outers. They started accusing the
outers of planning to kill them and things started
deteriorating from there.

	"I was disgusted, Luna. There we were, with people
bleeding to death all around my friends and us were
fighting amongst themselves without trying to save
lives. I intervened and ordered the outers to get
lost..."

	"You weren't too harsh on them, were you, Usagi?"
Luna asked.

	Usagi shook her head.

	"I didn't punish them, Luna, if that is what you
mean. I just sent them away, though I plan to meet
them this evening and give them a piece of my mind."

	"Oh!"

	"And then, after they were gone, we got down to
business and helped who we could. Of course I brought
down the inners a peg or two and I think they won't be
a problem anymore in the future."

	"And..."

	"And I am going to deal with the outers. I don't know
how and I don't know what I'll say to them, but I will
say something and I will make sure that I'll never see
this kind of behavior in their ranks, or in the ranks
of any of my soldiers ever again," Usagi said with
cold conviction, her eyes sparkling with unspoken
anger.

	Luna nodded. Usagi was right, of course. The outers
needed to be brought down and made more accountable
for their actions. Now, all she had to do was make
sure that Usagi did not take things too far while
confronting them.

	"I understand, Usagi," Luna said in a supportive
voice.

	Usagi looked at Luna and smiled gently.

	"Thank you, Luna," she said.

	"It is my duty to help you, princess."

	Usagi nodded.

	"Luna, I want you to do something for me today..."

	"Just tell and I will do it, Usagi."

	"I want you to find Artemis and tell him everything
that I have told you. I want you to tell the outers to
meet me at the park this evening, and I want you and
Artemis there."

	"Of course, Usagi, I will be there. Where else would
I be?" Luna asked.

	"No, Luna, you don't understand. I want you there,
yes, but I don't want the outers to know that you're
there."

	"Huh?"

	"I want you and Artemis to change into your human
forms and I want you to observe the meeting from a
safe distance... say a fifty feet or so. Can you do
that?"

	Luna nodded.

	"Excellent. Now, I have to get ready for school. So,
off with you."

	"Yes, Usagi," Luna said and jumped off the chair.

	"Luna..."

	"Yes, Usagi."

	"Go find Artemis now and when the meeting is over,
come to Rei's shrine. I will be with the others
there."

	Luna nodded and padded off.

	Usagi looked at the Moon cat's disappearing form
until she could see it no longer. Then she let out a
deep breath and stood up. She had to hurry or she was
going to be late at school.

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

	"What are you making?"

	Michiru looked up and smiled at Haruka.

	"Good morning to you too, sleepy head."

	Haruka had the decency to look embarrassed.

	"Heh. Good morning, Michiru," she said, grabbing
Michiru in a hug and giving her a little kiss.

	"How did you sleep?"

	"Fine," Haruka replied with a yawn. It was not one of
her best, but considering the things that she had seen
during the attack; it was not bad at all.

	"Hmmm..."

	"So, what are you making?" Haruka asked, once again,
helping herself to a cup of black coffee.

	"Nothing special... you know, just the usual."

	"Oh!" Haruka said, taking a sip and grimacing at the
taste. Michiru really had to learn how to make a
decent cup of black coffee. It was just too strong. "I
thought it was something special."

	"Why would you think that?" Michiru asked playfully.

	"I don't know... It smelled wonderful, I guess..."

	"Are you saying that my cooking is not wonderful
everyday?" Michiru asked, gripping the knife she had
in her hands, just a little tighter.

	"Hehehe," Haruka laughed nervously. How did Michiru
manage to get her into that trap so easily? "Of course
your cooking is wonderful everyday... It just smells
more wonderful today..."

	Michiru eyed Haruka for a couple of seconds before
smiling at her and returning to her work. Haruka let
out a breath, glad that she had escaped that time
around. She went to the table and sat down, taking
care to place the cup away from the edge.

	"Want some?" Haruka asked, gesturing to the cup on
the table.

	"Nah!" Michiru shook her head. "I already had some."

	"Oh!"

	"So, what's in the newspaper?"

	"Well, let's see..." Haruka said, taking the
newspaper in her hands and turning to the sports
section.

	Michiru shook her head. Haruka was such a tomboy.

	"There's nothing important that I can see at a
glance," Haruka reported, not noticing the weird
glance Michiru was giving her.

	Michiru kept on shaking her head, which made Haruka
look at her with apparent concern.

	"Is everything all right, Michiru?" she asked
innocently.

	Michiru did not answer, as she did not trust her
mouth to not call Haruka a number of names that no one
wanted to be called by. Rather, she nodded once. Yes,
she was all right.

	"Good," Haruka continued, "For a second there, I
thought you had a cramped neck or something."

	Silence.

	"You really should take care of your neck, you know,"
Haruka continued, quite unaware of the danger she was
in. "They always give you such a big pain in the
neck..." she said and sniggered at her own joke.

	Michiru's grip on the knife grew tighter as she
debated whether she should skewer Haruka with her
knife or not. Thankfully, Haruka was saved by the
timely arrival of Hotaru.

	"Good morning," Hotaru mumbled as she opened the door
and walked into the room. She took her usual seat,
yawned and stretched herself.

	"Good morning, Hotaru-chan. How's my little angel
doing today?" Haruka asked.

	"Fine, poppa," Hotaru answered.

	"That's wonderful, dear."

	Hotaru nodded.

	"Haruka-poppa?"

	"Yes, dear."

	"Can I ask you a question?" Hotaru asked shyly.

	"Of course you can, dear," Haruka assured her. "What
is it about? Boys?"

	Hotaru shook her head. Of course, Haruka-poppa wanted
to embarrass her by asking about boys. Like she had
nothing better to do than to chase the scrawny, little
boys at school.

	"No, Haruka-poppa."

	"Then what is it about, dear?" Haruka asked.

	"Umm..."

	"Go on, Hotaru-chan, you can ask me anything."

	"Well... It is about yesterday night and..."

	"Yesterday? Oh, you mean the fight," Haruka asked.

	Hotaru nodded.

	"What do you want to ask about the fight,
Hotaru-chan?" Haruka asked.

	"The inners looked pretty mad at us, Haruka-poppa and
I was wondering why they were so."

	"Oh, that!" Haruka said and neatly folded the paper,
placing it on the table.

	Michiru seeing Hotaru's confusion took a seat beside
her and put her arms around her.

	"Why do you think they were angry at us,
Hotaru-chan?" Michiru asked.

	Hotaru twiddled with her fingers. She was the one
supposed to be asking the questions, and Michiru-momma
and Haruka-poppa were the ones who were supposed to be
answering them. But this was going the other way
around.

	"Umm... They were angry because we attacked
Usagi-chan?" Hotaru volunteered.

	Haruka nodded. Hotaru was right, though she would not
have put it that way, if it were she, who had answered
the question.

	"More or less. You see, Hotaru-chan, our duty is to
protect the princess and the inners. Isn't that
correct?"

	Hotaru nodded.

	"And what did you see yesterday, when we arrived at
the battle scene?" Haruka asked.

	"I saw that strange man standing by Usagi-chan with
that dark shadow around him..."

	"Precisely," Haruka said. "He is the enemy,
Hotaru-chan. He is the enemy that Setsuna-momma warned
us about."

	"Uh!"

	"And when I saw him standing near the princess, I
thought that he was going to kill her. Maybe he was
and maybe he wasn't, but right then and there, I
couldn't take a risk and see whether he wanted to harm
the princess or not. It was either do or die and I
certainly did not want the princess to die. So... I
attacked him."

	"But, Haruka-poppa, why would the Ami-chan and the
others be angry with us if we were just doing our
duty?"

	"They were angry because we attacked when the
princess was near to him. They do not want the
princess injured if they can help it and we don't want
her dead if we can help it. By attacking the enemy
when he was near her, I was trying to save the
princess's life, but the inners didn't see it that
way.

	"The fight we had with the inners yesterday was a
good example of what happens when there is a conflict
of interests in a team. The inners want to save the
princess from injury and we want to save the
princess's life. Ultimately, we have both got the same
goal, wouldn't you agree?"

	Hotaru nodded.

	"Even though, we both have the same goal, the paths
that the inners and we take to reach it are quite
different. The inners want to protect the princess
from the slightest of injuries, but we want to protect
her... to keep her alive at all costs, even if it
means that she has to get hurt in the process.

	"What happened yesterday was the conflict between our
two paths. I wanted to save the princess's life and I
was willing to take a risk and in all likelihood, hurt
her so that I could kill the enemy, who might end up
killing her, but the inners did not see it that way.
To them, hurting the princess, either willingly or
unwillingly is a definite no-no, something I crossed
when I attacked the stranger without regard to the
princess's safety and therefore, they're angry with
me..."

	"So, it is not bad..." Hotaru asked at length, after
she had mulled over the new information for sometime.

	Haruka and Michiru smiled gently and put their arms
around her.

	"It wasn't bad at all, Hotaru-chan. These kinds of
fights happen all the time, but in the end, things
will turn out all right. You'll see."

	Hotaru smiled.

	"Thank you, Haruka-poppa and Michiru-momma," she
said, beaming her brightest smile.

	Michiru smiled at got up.

	"Now, off you go. Get ready for school and then come
down. Breakfast will be ready in a minute or two."

	Hotaru nodded, blew both of them a kiss and dashed
off.

	Michiru waited until Hotaru was out of hearing range
and then spoke.

	"You know that you're being optimistic, don't you?"

	"Yeah, well..." Haruka stammered.

	"Just wanted to know that you knew that," Michiru
said and returned to cooking.

	"What am I supposed to tell her then, Michiru?"
Haruka asked, quietly.

	"The truth..." Michiru replied.

	"I told her the truth," Haruka replied, raising her
voice a little.

	"You didn't tell her the complete truth, Haruka,"
Michiru said, sternly.

	"What am I supposed to tell her? That the
relationship between the inners and outers was shot to
hell, yesterday... That things would never be the same
between us again?" Haruka asked.

	Michiru nodded.

	"Yes."

	"You can't be serious," Haruka proclaimed.

	"Believe me, Haruka, I have never been more serious
in my entire life. She's part of the team, Haruka and
it is high time you realized that."

	"C'mon, Michiru, she is just a child."

	"A child with the power to blow up the entire
planet... A child, who we were eager to kill once upon
a time..." Michiru replied.

	"You don't mean that, Michiru."

	Michiru stared at Haruka for what seemed like an
eternity.

	"No, Haruka, I do. I have been thinking about things
and..."

	"And..."

	"I have made a couple of decisions," Michiru replied,
returning the look that Haruka was giving her without
backing an inch.

	"And what would this decision be, Michiru?" Haruka
asked.

	"I'm going to apologize to Usagi and the inners..."

	"Why? Didn't you see the way they treated us? We're
members of their team, for Pete's sake, and they
treated us like shit," Haruka said, raising her voice
once again.

	"Did we give them any reason not to, Haruka?" Michiru
asked calmly.

	That brought up Haruka short.

	"Well? Tell me, Haruka, did we give them any reason
not to?" Michiru repeated.

	"No," Haruka said finally.

	Michiru sighed.

	"Maybe it is time things changed, Haruka. Maybe it is
time we got to be more friendly and open with the
inners..."

	Slowly, Haruka nodded.

	Michiru went up to her and pulled her into a hug.

	"Thank you, Haruka."

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

	*A brand new day and a brand new sunrise...* Rei
thought to herself as she threw the covers off her and
stretched her arms. Almost no one would wake up
thinking so, after having witnessed what she had
witnessed the evening before, but Rei was not your
everyday customer. She did not like being moored down
by the troubles of yesterday and would rather let the
past slip out of her fingers then let it hurt her and
her friends. Unfortunately, there are things in this
world that one cannot just let go of.

	*I wish...* Rei allowed her thoughts to trail off.
*Why am I feeling so down?* she asked herself, even
though she knew the answer.

	The events that had transpired in the last couple of
weeks were enough to send even the most optimistic
people into the deepest throes of depression, she
supposed. And those events affected her even more than
they would have affected any commoner, since she had
been there at each and every one of them. She had
watched innocents die useless deaths, she had been
there when Usagi had lost Mamoru... Endmyion and her
daughter, she had been there when they had learnt of
Pluto's fate... So many terrible things had happened
in too short a time.

	The attack the night before had not helped matters
any. It had had been particularly gruesome... Who was
she kidding? She had never seen such bloodshed in her
entire life and all of it could have been avoidable.
She now realized what a true battlefield looked like
and she still wanted to puke at some of the things
that she had seen. Never before, had she laid eyes on
a true battlefield and she was sure now, after the
nightmare that was yesterday, that she never wanted to
again. She could still taste the metallic taste of
blood in her mouth and she could smell the stench of
death, which seemed to never leave her. It made her
want to puke all the more.

	With a partly disgusted and a partly horrified snort,
Rei pushed the thoughts of the killing field aside and
pushed her thoughts in another direction, one she had
traversed a lot during the last couple of days.

	*Poor Usagi...* Once again, her thoughts drifted back
to her best friend and Rei let out a sigh of regret.

	The girl was going through so much, she knew, and
yet, instead of helping her like good friends were
supposed to, she and the others had made things worse
by quarrelling openly with the outers. She had never
seen Usagi look so torn apart as she had looked after
the fight, the night before, when she had thought that
no one was looking at her. The knowledge that she was
partly responsible for her friend's pain brought a
dull pain to Rei's heart - a pain, which she thought
she well deserved.

	*I'm sorry, Usagi...*

	Rei's heart went out to her friend, but there were
things that one had to endure by oneself and what
Usagi was going through in her life right now was one
of those things. All she could do was remain by
Usagi's side through the hard times as a comforting
pillar and that itself, was proving to be hard enough
as the outers just kept making things worse with their
stupid antics.

	*Couldn't they see that she's hurting?* Rei asked
herself, though she knew the answer to her question.

	Of course, they knew that she was in pain, but it
wouldn't matter to them.

	It wouldn't matter whether the outers saw that Usagi
was hurting or not, she knew, for they would keep on
doing the same things they always did because they
thought of themselves as soldiers. *What a laugh?
Those idiots... soldiers, indeed!*

	Rei knew that she shouldn't be angry with the outers,
though she couldn't bring herself to not be angry with
them. They were just that way, she supposed, but she
wished that for once, Haruka and Michiru would act
like grownups instead of acting like spoiled children.

	*If they don't... Well, we'll have to just behave
better to even things out...* she thought, thinking
about the way the inners had behaved for the past few
days.

	*Yes,* she nodded. *That would work. From today
onwards, I will not fight with Usagi or pick a fight
with any of the others in front of her. I will be
there for her always and I'll be the pillar against
which she can lean on until she is through this mess!*
Rei swore to herself and allowed a small, sincere
smile to adorn her face for the first time in many
days.

	*Everything's going to be all right!* she thought and
stood up.

	Now, where did she put her toothbrush yesterday...

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

	"Begin!"

	Slash, kick, duck, block, duck, punch!

	"Is that all you can do, little brother? I have seen
caterpillars move faster," Ranma taunted, standing
just out of Ryuu's reach and looking straight into his
face.

	Ryuu replied with a grunt of exertion and increased
his speed to his utmost limit. Within seconds, beads
of sweat formed in his brow and his eyebrows furrowed
in intense concentration.

	"C'mon, Ryuu, I know you can go faster," Ranma said,
still dancing just out of Ryuu's reach and never
taking his eyes off him.

	"I am trying, sensei," Ryuu managed to grunt through
the kata.

	"Trying isn't enough," Ranma replied, sternly. "If I
wanted you to try I would let you crush bricks, but I
don't want you to try. I want you to do it. Can you,
little brother?"

	"Yes."

	"Good. Now, faster."

	The kata continued with Ryuu pushing his speed limits
to the absolute boundary and then some, sacrificing
all his form and power for speed. Cologne, Happousai,
Genma, Shampoo and Akane continued to watch from the
sidelines, each squinting their eyes as Ryuu's form
blurred until he seemed to fade in and out of
existence between blows.

	"He is fast," Cologne observed.

	"And he's getting faster," Happousai added.

	"Definitely."

	"I wonder, though, what purpose this exercise will
serve him?" Akane asked aloud.

	"That is quite simple, dear. This is similar to the
Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken. Sensei is trying to boost
his natural speed to new levels," Cologne replied.

	"But I thought that Ryuu was already super fast,"
Akane muttered. Why would Ranma-sensei want to
increase Ryuu's speed when he was already faster than
almost any other martial artist in the world was?

	"The answer is very simple, dear. Young Ryuu is fast,
but he is just not fast enough."

	"Huh?"

	Happousai smiled at the confused look on Akane's
face.

	"Oh, you don't understand, do you?" he asked.

	Akane nodded.

	"Well, you see, Akane-chan, Ryuu is very fast when
compared with most of the martial artists his age...
In fact, I think that many martial artists twice his
age would have trouble keeping up with the tempo he
sets in a battle, but not all of them will find
themselves hard pressed.

	"There is a speed reserved for elite martial
artists... speeds that Ryuu is now approaching with
the training that he is undergoing right now... he
would have been able to reach it in another four or
five years with his normal training, but Ranma does
not want to let nature take its course... The way he
is pushing Ryuu, Ryuu's speed will increase
tremendously in the next week or two, but his power
and form will be sacrificed. When Ranma is done with
the training, it will be up to Ryuu to slowly bring
back the power and form into his katas. This method
may seem stupid at first glance, but this was the way
we were trained, when we were young," Happousai said.

	"So, you're saying that Ranma-sensei considers speed
so important that he is willing to sacrifice
everything else just to get Ryuu to increase his
natural speed?" Akane asked.

	"Yes. Blowhards like that Ryouga Hibiki can take a
lot of hits in a battle, but above a certain level,
strength just isn't enough to win a fight. There are
men and women who can work Ryouga over like a piece of
trash without receiving a single scratch on their
bodies. Ryouga might be strong enough to beat them
with a single blow, but he would never be able to lay
a hand on them, because they'd be so much faster than
him," Happousai explained.

	"Oh!" Now, she was beginning to understand things,
but then, why were Ranma-sensei's teachings focusing
on her strength and endurance rather than her speed.

	Happousai looked at her with a glint of a smile
through the corner of his eyes.

	"Any other questions you want to ask, Akane-chan?"

	Akane hesitated for a single moment.

	"Yeah, I have another question, grandfather
Happousai," she said, causing Happousai to raise an
eyebrow at the grandfather bit. She usually did not
refer to him in such a respectful manner and he
wondered what must have been bothering her so to cause
her to refer him thus.

	"And..."

	"If speed is all important in a battle, grandfather
Happousai, then why does sensei not teach me to
increase my speed?"

	Happousai took a puff off his pipe, his eyes glinting
with mischief. *So, the little girl is finally growing
up and realizing that the world doesn't revolve around
her, aye.*

	"Why indeed, Akane-chan, why indeed?" Happousai
repeated, enjoying every minute of the conversation
inside.

	Akane did not provide an answer, rather she looked at
him with despondent eyes.

	*Oh well, it was fun while it lasted,* Happousai
thought. *Children today are no fun at all!*

	"Don't look so disheartened, Akane-chan. I can
honestly tell you that Ranma had a reason for not
training you to increase your speed."

	Immediately Akane's eyes brightened.

	"Though I think it is best that Ranma takes up the
subject with you when he feels you are ready for it."

	Akane did not even waste a moment beating about the
bush. Instead, she dove in straight for the kill,
uncaring about the consequences her actions were sure
to have. Her face assumed a hurt puppy dog look and
her kawaii factor went into the uber-high zone.

	"Please, grandfather Happousai, tell me, please."

	"Uh... well..." Happousai stammered, *Three hundred
years and you still haven't found a useful defense
against a girl's hurt looks!* he thought, cursing
himself and his weakness.

	"Please..."

	Happousai did not get to be one of the best warriors
in the world by being stubborn and refusing to accept
when he was beaten. He knew when he was beaten, and he
had always retreated to regroup and attack later. This
time was no better than the others were. He would
confront Akane when he had perfected his anti-cuteness
arsenal, but until then, she was the master and he was
her slave.

	"Alright, I can tell you, I suppose. You see,
Akane-chan, in order to undergo the training that
Ranma is putting young Ryuu through, one has to be
reasonably strong... a boundary must have been crossed
and you aren't anywhere near it... so..."

	Cologne looked at Happousai out of the corner of her
eyes and shook her head. *Men!* she thought
disgustedly. Happousai should know better than to tell
Akane the curriculum that Ranma had planned for her.
Happousai was in for a world of pain should - no, when
Ranma learnt about his moment of indiscretion.

	As soon as she heard those words, Akane felt a little
amount of anger flowing into her system. She would
have embraced it wholeheartedly were it not for one
thing - she realized that the perverted grandmaster of
Matsubetu Katuto Ryuu, as big a panty thieving, girl
glomping pervert as he was, was right. And with
realization comes acceptance.

	"Then all I have to do is train harder and sensei
will teach me to increase my speed too?"

	Happousai nodded.

	"Yes, Ranma will most definitely teach you once you
have mastered the fundamentals of the art right and
crossed the threshold."

	Akane opened her mouth to reply, but Ranma, who had
been listening in on the conversation while continuing
to spar with Ryuu, beat her to it.

	"Oh, thank you, grandmaster Happousai, for giving my
pupil wise guidance," he said, sarcastically.

	"Umm... Uh..."

	"What did you say?" Ranma asked, directing all his
mental faculties on the grandmaster of Matsubetu
Katuto Ryuu and not bothering to even look at Ryuu as
he dodged the whirlwind of kicks and punches.

	"Umm..."

	"Oh yeah, I forgive you..." Again, the sarcasm was
unmistakable.

	"Um... sorry."

	"Sorry ain't good enough, grandmaster," Ranma
replied. "You should know better than to do what you
just did, right now."

	"But..."

	"No buts, grandmaster. And you," Ranma turned to
Akane. "What were you thinking, doing that to a poor,
helpless old man like grandmaster Happousai?"

	"I-I-I..." Akane stammered. *Poor, helpless old man,
indeed. Why, the pervert is as helpless as a four
hundred kiloton nuclear warhead primed to blow!*

	Ranma raised his hand, stopping her in the middle of
her speech. He wasn't done with her yet, and boy, was
she wrong if she thought that she could speak her way
out of this mess.

	"I'm not done with you yet, young lady."

	Akane nodded slowly in resignation. It looked like
Ranma-sensei was not in the mood for listening to
excuses and she might as well withdraw herself to her
fate, however sad and pitiful it might be.

	"Good. I am glad that you show a little bit of
self-restraint," Ranma said, "Now, get your lazy butt
in here and do three thousand push-ups extra as
punishment."

	Akane bowed her head in shame, nodded once again and
went to her corner of the dojo.

	Ranma watched her form with a little smile and turned
his attention back to Ryuu.

	"Care for another go, Ryuu-chan?" Ranma asked,
placing stress on the suffix.

	Ryuu, who had by then collapsed onto the ground,
stood up shakily with as much macho-pride as he could
muster. Call him a girl, will he? Well, he would show
big brother who was the real girl among them!

	"Grrr! You are on, sensei," Ryuu replied, his wounded
pride calling for revenge.

	"Then, let's dance, shall we?" Ranma said and resumed
his place in front of Ryuu.

	The morning training session continued thus.

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

	Breakfast...

	Nodoka sat at one end of the table and Genma sat at
the other end. Ranma sat to Nodoka's left and to his
left sat Kasumi, Soun, Happousai and Shampoo. On the
other side of the table, to Nodoka's right, sat Ryuu,
followed by Cologne, Nabiki and Akane. A full spread
of food, cooked and uncooked was spread before them.

	"Would you pass the soy sauce, Kas-chan?" Ranma
asked, taking a second to pause while eating.

	Kasumi beamed him a big smile, which did not go
unnoticed by the others at the breakfast table.

	"Of course, Ranma-kun, here you go."

	Ranma replied with a huge smile, his fingers
lingering just a moment longer than was necessary when
it came into contact with Kasumi's.

	"Thank you, Kas-chan."

	Soun blinked at the interaction between the two.
Something did not seem quite right as the Kasumi, he
had seen the day before, was almost an alien to the
Kasumi, he was seeing right now, and he wondered
whether something important - something he had no
inkling of - had happened during the course of the
night.

	"Ummm... Excuse me," Akane said, "but could you keep
your hands off my sister, sensei."

	"Hmm..." Ranma managed thoughtfully, as he continued
eating.

	"I said, could you keep your hands off my sister,
sensei," Akane repeated, trying her best to remain
cool. Of course, sensei was a pervert too! How could
she have missed all those obvious signs?

	"Oh! Kas-chan, do you feel revolted or some other
similar emotion when I touch you?" Ranma asked.

	Kasumi shook her head.

	"Do you want me to keep my hands off you?"

	Again, another shake.

	"There you have it," Ranma proclaimed to everyone.
"The lady does not object... So, there is no reason
for me to stop." Then he turned towards Akane. "It
seems, my dear Akane-chan, that your sister does not
object to my behavior... So..." Now, Ranma did the
unthinkable, sticking a tongue out at Akane playfully.

	"Wha..." Akane sputtered.

	Ranma took up this chance to caress Kasumi's cheeks
with the back of his hands. Kasumi's face blushed
bright red and he smiled challengingly at Akane.

	"Stop doing that," Akane said.

	"Go get a room," Cologne muttered crankily, which
incidentally caused Kasumi to blush even some more.
Cologne noticed this and smirked a little.

	"That might be a good idea," Ranma said off-handedly,
playing Akane like a fiddle.

	"What?" Akane all but screamed.

	"Do you think we ought to do that, Kas-chan?" Ranma
asked of Kasumi, not paying the least attention to
Akane, which only served to increase her anger.

	Kasumi shook her head.

	"I think it wouldn't be proper, Ranma-kun," she
replied, thinking that he was seriously considering
the matter. Then she caught the twinkle in his eyes
and nodded, albeit slowly to make the whole thing look
as reluctant a decision as possible. "Okay," she said
finally in a whisper.

	"Great," Ranma proclaimed loudly, with as much pride
as he could muster into his voice. "Want me to buy
some protection or something?" he asked.

	Kasumi turned crimson with embarrassment. Nabiki
paled at the thought of having Ranma as a
brother-in-law. Akane saw red. Nodoka and Genma saw
grandchildren. Happousai and Cologne could barely keep
a straight face as they force fed themselves at warp
nine to keep themselves from laughing out loud. Soun
was halfway into full bawling mode. Ryuu just stared
with wide-open eyes at his elder brother, and sweet
and innocent Kasumi. Shampoo blinked once and then
blinked again as she tried to understand what was
going on. Could it be that the outside world did not
know of the pleasure that was involved with the sexual
act? If that were so, then she had to teach the eldest
Tendo daughter the tricks of the trade, not that she
had ever used them. But still, it would help Kasumi
get rid of her shyness...

	"Wha?"

	"Waaaah! My baby's all grown up!"

	"You two should definitely get a room," Cologne said
with a sage-like nod.

	"Kasumi-chan, I am sure that my son would make a very
fine woman out of you..."

	Ranma paid the looks and the speeches no attention
and focused his attention entirely on Kasumi.

	"You want to go out shopping, Kas-chan?" he asked,
completely changing the topic and driving everyone,
including Kasumi, off balance.

	Kasumi's blush, as improbable as it seemed, grew
bigger.

	"Sure, Ranma-kun. When do we leave?"

	"Say nine-ish?"

	Kasumi nodded.

	"Great," Ranma said and turned his attention back to
the meal as though nothing had happened.

	Cologne and Happousai sniggered in the background.

	Shampoo decided then, to give some practical advise.

	"Shampoo help Kasumi pleasure Ranma," she said, not
quite meaning what she ended up saying.

	"Oh my!"

	More sniggers, plus a cackle or two.

	"Heheh! No, thank you, Shampoo," Ranma said,
uncomfortably. Who would have thought that his great
great great to the n-th power granddaughter was such a
pervert?

	"But Shampoo want to help..."

	Nodoka's eyes glazed on hearing those words. More
visions of grandchildren and manly sons floated around
her head.

	"Wha..." Ranma sputtered.

	That proved to be the final string for Happousai, who
could not hold it any further and collapsed into a
mess on the floor, laughing his ass off. Cologne had
to take, but one look at him, before she too joined
him on the floor.

	"Shampoo promise to help," Shampoo said in
well-meaning tones.

	Ryuu's brain supplied all the perverted details and
twin spurts of blood came gushing out of his nose.
With a blissful smile on his face, collapse he did,
right into his breakfast, which made a wet slurp as
his face disappeared into it.

	"I am thankful for your offer, Shampoo-chan," Kasumi
said, finally understanding what was going on inside
the Amazon teenager's mind. "But I assure you that I
can take care of Ranma-kun myself..." Blush.

	Akane with wide open eyes, looked at Ranma and then
at Kasumi and then again at Ranma before she fainted
at the thought of Kasumi doing it with her sensei,
with a very nice, almost swan-like swoon.

	Kasumi surveyed the room with a small, innocent
smile, before her eyes came to rest on Nodoka.

	"Aunty, I can go out with Ranma-kun, can't I?" she
asked, her face glowing red for all to see.

	Nodoka sputtered, surprised that Kasumi would ask her
such a question. Of course Kasumi could go out with
Ranma any time she wanted. *Why, I can't wait to see
the grandchildren such a union would produce!* Nodoka
thought dreamily and nodded.

	"Thank you, Aunty."

	"You're welcome, dear," Nodoka replied with a
beatific smile.

	Kasumi returned the smile and introduced a piece of
sushi into her mouth. She chewed on it with a
thoughtful look on her face and then, started.

	"Oh my, I almost forgot," she said.

	Everyone at the table stared at Kasumi as though she
had grown a horn.

	"What gives, Kasumi?" Nabiki asked. Kasumi never
started and if she did, then it had to be something
big.

	"The battery in the wall-clock has almost run out and
the clock is not keeping time."

	There was a momentary pause as everyone digested this
crucial piece of information, which was immediately
followed by a mad dash through the breakfast. In mere
seconds, Shampoo, Akane, Ryuu and Nabiki were off,
running off to the school as fast as their legs could
carry them.

	"You're wicked, Kas-chan," Ranma said, looking at his
wristwatch and then at the wall-clock.

	Kasumi did not reply, opting rather to immerse
herself in her breakfast, which was proving itself to
be very interesting all of a sudden.

	"Tendo-san, you don't have any objections about my
date with your daughter, do you?" Ranma asked of Soun
Tendo.

	Soun shook his head.

	"Not at all, Ranma-sensei, not at all," Soun replied,
visions of grandchildren flying tight circles around
his head.

	"Thank you, Tendo-san," Ranma said and turned his
attention back to the meal.

	The group remained silent for the next couple of
minutes, except for the snaps of chopsticks and the
chewing sounds that a masticating motor mouth by the
name of Genma Saotome produced. Finally, Nodoka broke
the silence.

	"Where do you plan to take Kasumi, Ranma?" she asked.

	Ranma's chopsticks paused in midair.

	"Ummm... I don't know. Where do you want to go,
Kas-chan?"

	"Well... I can go out shopping for dresses..."

	"Great," Ranma interrupted. "We are going dress
hunting, mother."

	Nodoka nodded, trying very hard to keep a straight
face. Ranma did not know what he was getting himself
into, and she did not want to ruin the torture...
err... shopping trip by spilling the beans.

	"Master Happousai?" Ranma asked.

	"Yes."

	"Would you please not tell Akane what I am trying to
teach her... It sort of spoils the whole purpose of
the thing and..."

	"I understand, Ranma. It will not happen again."

	Ranma nodded.

	"And I am sorry for riding you hard in front of her,
grandmaster."

	"No offense taken, Ranma. I would have reacted the
same way myself."

	And so continued another breakfast at the Qin
residence.

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

	Ranma and Kasumi did not step out of the house until
it was near to nine-thirty. Ranma grumbled about
having to wait while she dressed, but she paid no
attention to his mutterings and took his arm in hers.
With him in tow, she marched, proud as a queen and as
graceful as one too, into the outside world.

	The spirits that resided in nature shivered in horror
at the sight. Ranma was going to suffer today and
there was nothing anyone in the world could do to save
him from the worst fate that could ever befall a man:
go out shopping with his girlfriend.

	The two of them walked in silence for the first
couple of blocks. Kasumi was all smiles, giggling at
the smallest of things and pointing at displays and
having a really good time. Ranma endured Kasumi's
childish antics good naturedly as boyfriends often
tend to do, though he was a little embarrassed by all
the looks that every other kind old lady shot him, and
smiled back at Kasumi's friends, who were surprisingly
many in number, considering the relatively small
amount of time that had passed, since she and had
family had relocated from Nerima.

	On the third corner, Ranma stopped by one of those
insignificant small shops, which seem to litter every
nook and cranny of all the countries in the world, and
bought a tin of dates. Kasumi let go off his hands and
he paid the shopkeeper, exchanging pleasantries and
small talk while he waited for the owner to hand over
the change. After a couple of minutes, the duo left
the shop, with Ranma walking besides Kasumi at arm
length. He popped a date into his mouth every couple
of steps and remained silent as he had been throughout
the walk.

	Finally, Kasumi could bear it no longer and broke the
spell.

	"Ranma-kun?"

	"Yes, Kas-chan?" Ranma asked, stopping in mid-step
and pausing to look at her. He noticed the slightly
forlorn expression on her face and recognized it.
"Want some dates, Kas-chan?" he asked, pointing to the
tin in his hands.

	"Huh? No, thank you, Ranma-kun," Kasumi replied.

	"Don't be shy now," Ranma said well naturedly,
extending his tin to her. "They are very good for your
health..."

	"Okay, then," Kasumi said and took a little of the
proffered processed fruit.

	"The stuff sure might look disgusting, but I can
assure you that it is not. Why, you can probably
survive on the dates alone for however long it might
take in a desert," Ranma continued as he resumed
walking.

	"Really?" Kasumi asked with genuine interest. She had
not known about that. Sure, she remembered somewhere
that dates were rich in iron or some such mineral, but
to survive only on that...

	"Oh, yes! The fruit looks like it is made in hell,
but it tastes great and it is very filling. I should
know..."

	"You survived on it?" Kasumi asked.

	"Oh yes, those were some of the best days of my
life," Ranma said with a smirk, "and some of the worst
ones too," he added almost as an after thought.

	"Worst?"

	"Oh yes, Kas-chan, you didn't think that I could
survive for two millennia without once losing my grip
on sanity, did you?"

	"..."

	"The times I spent as a trader in the silk route
changed me, Kas-chan. I had to live for months...
sometimes years at a time, all alone in the deserts
with no one to speak with. I've spent longer intervals
without any contact with humans in some parts of India
and in China, but nothing could rival the time I spent
in the Gobi desert. It was almost enough to drive me
insane... the shear desolation in the desert and
uniformity of the sand dunes, the rocks, you know, the
works; would be enough to drive anyone mad, and I
suppose it did to many a man and animal before the
lack of water claimed their lives, but I was
fortunate.

	"I survived by eating scorpions and snakes...
whatever I could catch in the desert. I was foolish
then, I suppose, and I think that I still am now, to a
lesser degree," Ranma said with a smirk. "I thought
that I could conquer the Gobi, what with me being a
true master of the art and all, but I was wrong, and I
paid very dearly for it..."

	Ranma paused in his speech, continuing to walk a
snail's pace with Kasumi beside him. She did not dare
to speak, lest she destroy the sanctity of the moment
and therefore, she waited, curious as she had ever
been in her life, for him to continue.

	"You see, Kas-chan, the Gobi desert, it's somehow
different from all the other ones in the world... I
think it's cursed, though it was probably my luck that
almost did me in. I set out from Beijing - I think -"
Pause. "- Yes, Beijing it was. I crossed into the Gobi
a month later and no sooner had I gotten into the
desert than things took a turn for the worse," Ranma
said with a haunted look on his face.

	"What happened, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked with a
concerned look on her face. She definitely did not
like the look on his face. It reminded her of the time
she had lost her mother and for all practical
purposes, lost her father too.

	"Like I said, the ki and mana in the desert was
screwed up. There was something not right about it.
When I had first set out, I had thought that I would
survive the journey on my ki and mana reserves alone -
such a thing is possible once you become skilled
enough - but when I got there, I realized that my old
plan was toast. I refused to back off, though... My
pride was great even then, and I decided to go through
with the journey.

	"It turned out to be a nightmare... Well, the first
time did..." Ranma reminiscenced.

	"First time? How many times have you returned to the
Gobi desert, Ranma-kun?"

	"Five... No, make that six. And every time it was
different," Ranma replied, casually with an air of
indifference.

	"But why would you want to risk your life by going
there?" Kasumi asked.

	Ranma looked into her eyes and smiled, baring his
soul to her.

	"It's very simple, Kas-chan. I wanted to stay sane...
You'd think that living forever was a gift... I can
tell you that it's more like a curse than anything
else... You see the people around you... You remember
their faces, you remember their hatred, you remember
their loves, you remember everything and the memories
can drive you insane."

	Ranma paused.

	"I worked as a mercenary for sometime... I was young
and there was evil all around me, or so, I thought. I
wanted to hunt the spiders that preyed upon the
innocents..."

	Ranma paused, thinking about what he should say next.
Why was he even revealing one of his darkest secrets
to this young woman besides him? he asked himself. He
knew the answer, of course. He was in love with her
and the secrets had been a part of him for so long
that the weight that they placed upon his chest had
become unbearable through the course of the ages. He
needed someone to share these secrets with and he did
not think that there would ever be a better choice
than Kasumi, the woman he was in love with, in the
entire world.

	"'Kill the spiders to save the butterflies.' It
sounds so simple, doesn't it? That is until you
realized that while you strive for it, you might
become a spider yourself [1]... Well, that was exactly
what happened to me... For a time, I was the spider, I
was the spider that preyed on both the spiders and the
butterflies. I killed the spiders, yes, but I gave up
caring for the butterflies that I was supposed to
protect in the first place.

	"You have to remember Kas-chan, the Ranma that you
see in front of you today is not an innocent man. He
never was and he never will be. I have killed
thousands; thousands and I don't regret killing a
single one of them. Most of them deserved to die...
Some of them were plagues on the Earth, but not all of
them deserved to die... I made some choices... I made
mistakes... If I've to make the same choices again, I
would do the exact same thing as I did before... I
wouldn't change things one tiny, miserly bit, but
there is a difference between what I was then and who
I am now.

	"That Ranma, that mercenary never gave more than a
moment's thought about taking a life... be it innocent
or guilty, but I do. To him, both were the same and it
didn't make the smallest difference whatsoever about
who died, or who survived in the end. To me, it does.
And Gobi made me see this..."

	Ranma paused for a moment to let Kasumi digest the
information that he had just revealed before
continuing.

	"The eight months I struggled to survive in the Gobi
were a real eye opener, Kas-chan. It made me look at a
lot of things I had taken for granted differently. It
changed... no, somehow forged me into a better human
being. So, every century or two, whenever I feel like
I am losing my grip on things... whenever I think that
I am turning into a 'spider', I go there and I attempt
my epic journey once more.

	"The first time, I nearly died... I would've were it
not for some kind souls who rescued me near the end of
those eight months. The other five times, I got out
myself," Ranma said with no small amount of pride in
his voice.

	Kasumi walked in silence for a couple of dozen yards,
taking the time to mull things over.

	"Did you ever kill people intentionally, Ranma-kun?"
Kasumi asked finally.

	Ranma let out a deep breath.

	"I killed everyone I've ever killed intentionally,
Kas-chan. It was a choice I made..."

	"Why?"

	"Why?" Pause. "How can I ever answer a question like
that, Kas-chan? I've my reasons, and I am sure that
Hitler and Stalin had their reasons too. But there are
some people who don't deserve to live and most of the
people I killed belonged to that criteria."

	"And you made that decision?" Kasumi shot back.
"Whatever gave you the right to chose who lives and
who dies?" she asked. Gone was the innocent looking
girl that Ranma had known. The woman who stood in
front of Ranma was an inquisitor and Ranma did well to
recognize her for what she was.

	*So, this is the real you, Kas-chan. You look even
beautiful when you are like this,* he thought calmly
as he faced his accuser.

	"No one has the right to make that decision,
Kas-chan, but sometimes you're forced too. I'm not
defending myself for what I did, though I think that
in a sense, what I'm doing right now amounts to
exactly that, but there are things, and there are
people that are better off dead and burnt to a crisp.

	"There was that one bastard... Zhu Lee, I think... He
was the worst animal that I've ever laid my eyes on...
He killed a poor girl's family right before her eyes
and married her so that she could not testify against
him in the village council. Then he had her raped and
killed while he watched the whole thing take place...
I couldn't just stand by and watch such things happen,
Kas-chan..."

	Kasumi opened her mouth to reply, but Ranma raised a
hand and stopped the reply that was forming in her
lips.

	"I just could not stay there and watch such things
happen. I had to do something and I did what I
could... I took the law into my hands and I killed
him..."

	"But what you did made you into the same animal that
he was," Kasumi replied.

	"I suppose... But I could not just stand by and let
that happen..." Ranma said, repeating what he had said
before. "If I had, then I wouldn't be able to think of
myself as a human being."

	Kasumi nodded.

	"C'mon, Kas-chan, let's move on to another subject...
All this talk about murder and such is spoiling our
date," Ranma said, though he knew that he had already
spoiled the date when he had started the conversation
about his past.

	Kasumi nodded once again.

	"So, which shop do you want to go to first?" Ranma
asked.

	"Ummm... I don't know," Kasumi replied. "There are so
many and..."

	"Then we will go to all of them," Ranma announced,
lifting Kasumi off the ground. "And off we shall go,
my lady," he said and jumped into the rooftops.

	They arrived at the first store a couple of minutes
later and only when Ranma saw the dresses and stuff
that were littered before him did he realize the true
magnitude of the situation. All the Shinto priests in
Tokyo would swear that they heard a God's cry of
anguish in their heads that very day for many years to
come.

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

	"Who has the cutest butt, that is the question?"
Minako proclaimed dramatically, standing up and
pointing her right hand at the sky.

	Ami just shook her head and returned her attention
back to the book she had in her hands.

	And as expected, it was Makoto who answered the
question, not that there was anyone else to answer it
since, Rei was late and Usagi was not with them.

	"I think Ranma-sensei has the cutest butt in the
school," she declared. *And I am willing to bet my
life's savings that he has the cutest butts in all of
Japan.*

	"That's a given," Minako agreed. "But who do you
think has the cutest butt amongst the student
population?"

	This brought Makoto up short. Try as she might she
could not decide upon an answer. Henji has the most
shapely butt, but he was well, fat; Mitsukake had the
build, but his was not shapely; Ryuu, well, he was a
little young, though his butt fulfilled all the other
necessary qualifications.

	"That's a tough one," Makoto said after some thought.

	"Yeah, it is. But it is one question we have to know
the answer for," Minako said with gravity.

	Makoto nodded.

	"I wholeheartedly agree, Mina-chan." Makoto turned
towards Ami. "Ami-chan, who in your opinion, has the
cutest butt on campus?"

	Ami folded her book slowly. She had tried to stay in
the sidelines by focusing her attention on the book,
but it looked like she was being strung along for the
ride. *Oh well, it was worth a shot,* she thought,
closing the book and eyeing the hardcover with regret.
She had hoped to finish the book before the morning
classes started, but now, she wouldn't be able to.

	"Umm... I don't know," she tried, meekly.

	"C'mon, Ami-chan, don't joke around. This is a
serious matter."

	"Err... Yes..."

	"So, tell us already? Who has the cutest butt on
campus?"

	"I think Ryuu does," Ami said, blushing a little as
she did so.

	"Oh... Ami-chan has a crush on Ryuu," Minako
announced.

	"It's not like that," Ami said, quick to defend
herself.

	"Then what is it like?" Makoto asked.

	"Err..."

	"Oh, girl, you're smitten with him," Makoto replied,
placing stress on 'you'.

	Ami blushed some more and crossed her fingers behind
her back, wishing that the kami would send someone
else, for her friends to focus on. Thankfully, Ryuu,
Akane and Shampoo made their entrance just then.

	"Hey, guys," Ryuu said cheerfully as he caught sight
of the three inners.

	"Oh, hi, Ryuu-kun," Minako said, shooting glances at
both Ryuu and Ami. "So, why were you absent
yesterday?"

	"Sensei told us to take the day off," Akane replied.

	"Oh!" Ami said, not quite understanding why someone
would not want to attend school.

	"So, are there any tests today?" Ryuu asked, fearful
that there might be one he was not prepared for.

	Ami shook her head.

	"No, you were lucky yesterday. The teachers didn't
give any homework and you're free today."

	"Great," Ryuu said, breathing freely once more.

	"Will Ranma-sensei be coming to school today?" Minako
asked.

	Akane shook her head emphatically.

	"No, I don't think so. He is... umm... busy."

	"Busy? Akane-chan, he stays at your house, doesn't
he? Can you tell us why he is busy?" Minako asked. She
had so hoped that she would be able to gaze at
Ranma-sensei's butt today during PE class.

	"Umm..." Akane stammered.

	"Sensei is taking Akane's eldest sister out shopping
today," Ryuu replied for Akane.

	"Yeah, he pleasure her," Shampoo added.

	"Oh!" *Damn!* Pause. "*Hey, what did she mean by
pleasure?*"

	"Ummm... Well... Ah... It-is-a-mistake-really," Ryuu
said in rapid-fire speech.

	"Huh?" all three of the senshi said at once. They
looked at Akane for an explanation, but she too,
looked as fidgety as Ryuu.

	"It's nothing," Akane explained in a silent voice.
"Shampoo is confusing words, is all."

	"I do not," Shampoo replied.

	"Heheh... Yes, Shampoo is just kidding," Ryuu
nervously added.

	"What are you guys trying to hide?" Ami asked
curiously.

	"It's nothing. Look, will you guys quit it already,"
Ryuu said with a note of finality in his voice.

	The girls nodded. If Ryuu did not want to tell them,
then they were willing to let it go. It was not as if
they were entirely truthful with their friends.

	"Okay."

	Ryuu and Akane let out a visible breath of relief.

	"Hey, Ami-chan, sensei says that I will have to score
high marks in the tests if I want to be his student.
I... I'm not good at studies and stuff, and the guys
at class told me that you are the brightest in the
school... So... I... I was wondering whether you'd be
my tutor or something..."

	Ami thought about the proposition, but for a moment.

	"Sure."

	Ryuu's hand immediately went to scratch the back of
his head.

	"That's great," he replied. "So, when does our first
session start?"

	"How about tomorrow evening?" Ami asked.

	"I don't think that is soon enough, Ami-chan," Akane
said with a smirk. "Ryuu is as dumb as a rock, after
all and I think that every second he spends at his
studies will help to increase his IQ by just that
much. Therefore, I'd start tutoring him from today
onwards if I were you."

	Ryuu glared at Akane while the other girls sniggered.

	"You are so uncute," he replied back.

	"Grrr."

	"I think Akane-chan is right," Ami said.

	"Yeah, me too," added Minako.

	"Shampoo think so too."

	Ryuu opened his mouth to reply, but then decided that
he had best relent when confronted with so much female
hormones. He threw up his hands over his head in
exasperation.

	"I give up," he said and walked off, leaving the
giggling girls behind him.

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

	"Artemis?" Luna shouted at the top of her lungs.

	No reply.

	"Where did that darn cat go to?" Luna muttered and
continued her search.

	She had been searching for Artemis for the better
part of an hour now and she had not found a single
trace of him anywhere. Her annoyance, not to mention
her temper, were increasing with each passing minute
and she was sure that she'd pound the male cat to
kingdom come when she found him.

	"Oh, Artemis, where are you?"

	There was a jerking sound from somewhere to the left
and Luna stopped in mid-stride, tilting her head to
hear better. She did not have to wait long before she
heard the telltale whisper of a cat's paw brushing
against the cold concrete floor. Yes, there was
someone out there and that someone was most probably
Artemis, Luna concluded.

	"Oh, where could he be?" Luna said, theatrically. "I
don't know where Artemis is, and I need his help
so..." Luna left her voice drift off intentionally to
appeal to Artemis's sense of chivalry.

	There was a very distinct snigger from the
above-mentioned cat.

	*Laugh all you want, but when I get my hands on
you...* Luna left the thought hanging. She was going
to punish him that was for sure. Hell, it made her
blood boil on being played with, but if Artemis wanted
her to play, she would play and she would make sure
that he suffered for it later on.

	Smile.

	"I wonder if he could be behind that outcropping?"
Luna said with feigned excitement, adding more than a
little theatrical embellishments for dramatic effect.

	More sniggers.

	Luna stomped to the outcrop, intent on making Artemis
think that she was every bit the fool and even managed
to act surprised when the white cat jumped from behind
it, ending just a few scant centimeters from her face.

	"Wha... Don't startle me like that, Artemis," Luna
said angrily. She did not have to fake the anger,
since Artemis had always made her angry for some
reason that she could not quite fathom.

	"Hehehe... Sorry about that, Luna," the said Moon cat
replied, doing the feline equivalent of the cute
'scratch-the-neck-and-pretend-you're-innocent' thing.

	"Grrr..." *Why does it feel hot in here all of a
sudden?*

	Artemis waved his arms around in a vain warding
gesture. There had to some way to get out of the
summary beating that he was going to experience in a
few moments. Oh, the inhumanity of it all! There just
had to be!

	"Hehehehe... Chill, Luna. I was just trying to have
fun and maybe cheer you up some." *And a whole lot of
good it did me.*

	"Artemis," Luna said with authority and conviction.
"We've no time to lose. The princess sent me to inform
you of some disturbing developments..."

	Immediately, Artemis was all business. This was one
of the few things that had endeared him to Luna during
the Silver Millennium. That and his cute butt.

	"So... What's wrong?"

	"Well..." Luna begun.

	Artemis sighed inwardly to himself. It was going to
be one of those very long days, he thought sadly and
he was right. It turned out to be a very long day,
indeed.

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

	"You like this dress, huh, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked
with a very cute face.

	Ranma did not even bother to look at this latest
selection. He just flipped the page of a decade old
edition of Sports Illustrated or was it Cosmopolitan
that he held in his hands and nodded.

	"Really? Do you think this will match with that red
one?" Kasumi asked, still not entirely convinced about
the dress. The threading was a little too soft in her
opinion and she did not even want to get started on
the texture.

	"Yeah, Kas-chan, it would look great on you," Ranma
replied in as serious a voice as he could muster,
which wasn't very serious at all. To say Ranma was
bored would be the understatement of the year, if it
were used to describe the way Ranma was feeling right
now. All morning long, he had been stepping in and out
of showrooms, doing nothing, but reading a decade old
and in some cases, older editions of some crappy
magazine, while Kasumi checked out and tried almost
every bit of clothing in the shop.

	"But I think..."

	Kasumi did not get a chance to finish her sentence.
Before she could, Ranma had brought his forefinger to
his lips.

	"Hush!" he gestured. "I know you enough to know that
no matter how you look on the outside you are always
the most beautiful person on the whole wide world in
the inside, Kas-chan, and that is all that matters to
me."

	Kasumi would have wilted under the words, but her
feminine vanity was not yet ready to give up.

	"But..."

	Again, Ranma hushed her.

	"You'll look beautiful in that dress, Kas-chan, trust
me."

	Nod.

	"Great," Ranma said, letting his arms drop to his
sides. "I think your wardrobe is just about done,
isn't it?"

	"Yes... For the most part. I still have to get
matching footwear and..."

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

	Economics class was boring.

	It was Nabiki's favorite subject, but still, there
was only that much you could learn and Nabiki had
learnt everything that she could learn about the
subject a long time ago. And she had learned some more
too, from her business dealings mostly, which made the
whole class seem entirely pointless.

	Now, even as the teacher, some wise-ass, fresh from
the university, droned on about the virtues of some
model, Nabiki could not help but think that the class
was a waste of her precious time. She wasn't learning
anything new and she sure as hell wasn't earning money
while wasting her time in this godforsaken classroom.

	Yawn. *How much time is left?* Nabiki thought lazily
and checked her watch. *Oh great, looks like I'll have
to endure another half an hour of this nonsense.*

	Nabiki's eyes darted to the board lazily and she
yawned once more, though she did it just for the sheer
fun of it, this time around. If the teacher thought
that he could bore her and her stupid classmates with
stuff that even a toddler should have found easy to
understand, then she felt that she had the right to
show her annoyance at him and his lessons.

	The teacher, for his part, acted as though he had not
noticed the challenging look in his most infamous
pupil's eyes. He had heard a lot about that one -
Nabiki Tendo, her name was, and he felt a little awed
and disgusted by what he had learnt.

	He knew that brilliant minds were hard to find and
sharp ones like hers were even harder to come by, but
the girl obviously had both the looks and the brains
to make it big in some corporation in Tokyo or for
that matter in any of the really big corporations in
the world. She could have that a whole lot more, but
instead, she had decided to squander her future by
associating with the Yakuza and getting caught in
their murky deals and activities.

	*Such a loss of talent,* the teacher thought to
himself, but it couldn't be helped. People like her
could not be dissuaded from the paths that they had
chosen for themselves and Nabiki Tendo already had a
mean reputation. Stories, not all of them untrue, he
told himself, circulated around campus of her dealings
with the underworld and the power that she wielded
there.

	He had heard a little about her before she joined
Juuban high. But as soon as she had joined the school,
Nabiki Tendo's reputation had spread faster than
wildfire and the entire campus had been awash with it
even before she had finalized the transfer papers from
her old school.

	And understandably, the principal had ordered him and
the other teachers to leave her alone to her devices
for the most part. He had made it very clear to them
about the dangers of crossing Miss. Tendo's path and
had even went to the extent of saying that he'd rather
fire them than face the wrath of the Yakuza.

	And right now, that very girl was challenging him in
his own playground. If it were anyone else, Kenji
Satake, Economics teacher of Juuban high would have
taken her up on her offer and seen the battle through
to the end, but this one he had to let go, as much as
the thought sickened him.

	He tossed Nabiki a little glare to show that he was
not at all pleased with her behavior in his class and
turned to the board to show some calculations about
predicted market behavior. His chalk piece had
scarcely touched the board when he was interrupted.

	Bee-boop! Bee-boop! Bee-bo...

	Nabiki shuffled inside her bag and took out her cell
phone. She smiled apologetically and stood up.

	{{Tendo... Please hold for a minute.}}

	*Of course, she wants to go out of the room to
receive the phone call,* Kenji thought tiredly.
Normally, he would not allow such a thing, but this
was Miss. Nabiki Tendo and she was anything, but
normal, and so, he supposed, she got to do damn near
anything she wanted. That didn't mean he had to like
it, though and he made his displeasure known in the
form of a frown that formed, once again, across his
ruggedly handsome futures.

	"You're excused, Miss. Tendo - this time. See to it
that such a thing doesn't happen in the future."

	Nabiki nodded knowingly. That was part of the show.
They always did that, for it would not do if they lost
the respect of their students. Of course, she wasn't
going to give a twit about what the damn fool of a
teacher thought, but she had to keep up appearances,
though and she'd act as though she'd heard every word
he had said.

	"Thank you, sensei," Nabiki said and walked out of
the classroom.

	Kenji looked at her retreating form for a moment
longer than was necessary, before returning to the
subject at hand. Oh yes, where had he been before he
was interrupted, again?

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

	Nabiki walked out of the room and marched straight
into the ladies room. She needed some privacy and the
ladies room was as private a place as they came in a
school.

	Finally, she pulled the phone up to her ear.

	{{Tendo...}}

	{{Hello, Tendo-san.}}

	Silence.

	{{Who is this?}} *It'd better not be some stupid,
psychopathic son of a bitch!*

	{{It's I, Jisaburo...}}

	{{Oh... How are you, Jisaburo-san?}}

	{{I am fine, thank you, Tendo-san.}}

	{{So... What's new, Jisaburo-san? Don't tell me
you're breaking oyabun's orders by calling me?}}
Nabiki asked in a slightly amused tone. If
Jisaburo-san was, then he was in for a lot of hurt,
both from oyabun and from herself, or rather, some of
her thugs.

	{{Hehehe... Still haven't lost the humor, I see,
Tendo-san?}}

	{{It is, but a part of me,}} Nabiki said patiently,
though inside she was losing her thin vein of
patience. Why couldn't the idiots get a hint and get
to the point? And how many times did she have to beat
it into their hard heads before they understood the
importance and the value of time?

	The smile that crowned Jisaburo's face on the other
end of the life was almost visible on this end of the
connection. So much so, that even Nabiki could feel
it.

	{{I am sure it is, Tendo-san. As for why I am calling
you, it seems that oyabun may have found a solution to
our mutual problem -one, which would provide a
permanent solution...}}

	That perked Nabiki up.

	{{Really?}} she asked, and immediately felt like a
complete idiot.

	{{Yes, Tendo-san. Oyabun has recently come in contact
with some... progressive elements, who're interested
in Ranma Qin in very much the same way we are. He is
assuming that these new... err... allies would be able
to deal with the problem.}} And, hopefully, provide a
permanent solution, he did not add.

	{{Wonderful.}}

	{{Yes, it is,}} Jisaburo replied from the other end,
feeling the cast on his hand as he did so.

	{{So, tell me, Jisaburo-san, when will the problem be
taken care of?}} Inside, Nabiki felt a little bad for
Kasumi, but that could not be helped now, could it? If
all worked out well, Kasumi would find a better man
and she'd end up much happier than she could ever be
with Ranma 'Saotome' Qin.

	{{Presumably by next week...}}

	{{That soon?}} Nabiki said in amazement.

	{{Yeah, I'm not sure about the timetables and stuff,
but oyabun and his 'allies' want to move as soon as
possible...}}

	{{Oh!}} *Why would they want to do that?* Nabiki
asked herself. You did not plan these kinds of things
on a whim... It was a guarantee for failure to rush
into things, she had always felt.

	{{Yeah! I think it's strange too.}}

	*Maybe he has a brain inside that sick little skull
of his, after all.*

	{{Why would you think that, Jisaburo-san?}}

	{{I don't know... It's just that I feel that we'd
fail in this... err... venture, if we rush into
things.}}

	{{Fail? I'm sure oyabun would be glad to hear it from
the mouth of one of his closest friends, aye,
Jisaburo-san?}}

	{{Err... Tendo-san, It's just a gut feeling I have,
you know that, don't you?}} Jisaburo said nervously.

	Nabiki smiled. When the cat is away, the mice will
play, the old saying went. *Well, when this cat is
away, the mice will still think thrice about playing,*
she thought to herself.

	{{Of course, Jisaburo-san. Your secret's safe with
me... I mean, what're friends for?}}

	Somehow, those words did little to settle the queasy
feeling that Jisaburo felt in his stomach, just then.

	{{I'm glad, you think of me as a friend, Tendo-san.}}

	{{Me too, Jisaburo-san.}}

	{{Thank you, Tendo-san.}}

	Pause.

	{{Is there anything else,}} of importance,
{{Jisaburo-san?}}

	There was a momentary pause as Jisaburo thought
things over on the other end.

	{{No, I think that pretty much covers everything,
Tendo-san.}}

	{{Well, then, Jisaburo-san, I guess it is time to say
goodbye.}}

	{{Goodbye, Tendo-san,}} Jisaburo said, thinking that
he'd caught the drift.

	{{Wow! Hold your horses, Jisaburo-san,}} Nabiki said.
She did not often use western sayings and phrases in
her spoken language, but it seemed as if the situation
warranted her use. {{I didn't say that I'm done with
you, yet.}}

	Jisaburo chuckled nervously on the other end. Of
course, the Tendo-bitch had the final say in any
conversation that he had with her. She outranked him
by a mile, after all.

	{{My humblest apologies, Tendo-san.}}

	Nabiki waved the little slip aside - for the time
being. She had more important things to worry about
and later, when this mess was all behind her, she'd
take the time to take little Jisaburo-san to task.

	{{Actually, Jisaburo-san, I wanted to know the
situation the market is in. I've been a little out of
touch with events, this last day or two...}}

	Jisaburo breathed out a huge sigh of relief. *Thank
the kami she didn't take offense at my mistake.*

	{{The last two or three days, you say, Tendo-san?}}

	{{Yes.}}

	{{Well, I don't think that I have the materials with
me right now, but I can get it to you in another hour
or two...}} he said, trying to cover up the fact that
he, too, hadn't been up to date on events.

	Nabiki, of course, caught the hidden meaning in his
words. She decided not to say anything, though, filing
the information away into a safe nook on her brain
from where she'd retrieve it and use it on a later
date, when she had taken over oyabun. Things would
change a great deal in the family then, and
incompetents like Jisaburo and his lot would find
themselves out of job, or out of heads, whichever they
might prefer.

	{{I suppose I can wait...}} she drawled out, implying
that she wasn't exactly pleased with the answer that
she had received. {{Yes, I suppose I can.}}

	{{I'll get back to you in an hour then, Tendo-san.}}

	Nabiki thought about it.

	{{No, I've got a class in an hour and the school
administration would be pissed off if the teachers
reported to them about frequent phone calls to me...
How about an hour and a half? Is that all right with
you?}}

	There was no hesitation on the other side of the
line.

	{{Yes, it is, Tendo-san.}}

	{{Wonderful.}}

	{{Or I can have one of my men drop it at your
place...}}

	Nabiki thought about it. *No doubt, he has realized
that I'm not entirely pleased with him. Oh well, it'd
make him work that much harder for the next month or
two...*

	{{No... Your men will be taking an unacceptable
amount of risk with the operation oyabun had planned,
if they did that...}}

	{Oh! ...}}

	{{You can give me the summary on the phone and send
the full report to my e-mail address... You can do
that, can't you?}}

	{{Of course, Tendo-san. It'll be done at once.}}

	{{All right, then. I think that about ends the lot,
Jisaburo-san.}}

	{{Yep. I think it does, Tendo-san.}}

	{{Goodbye then, Jisaburo-san. Hope to hear the good
news from you pretty soon.}}

	{{Thank you and goodbye, Tendo-san.}}

	Click.

	Nabiki pocketed her cell phone and checked her hair
and make-up on the wall-mounted mirror. Everything was
fine and she did not look like one of those witches
from western cartoons.

	*Now, do I take the rest of the class off, or do I
attend it and sleep through it...*

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



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