Okay, I guess a couple of people out there wanted to read this, so....
^_^

ja ne,
- Rob

rob@mitsukai.com
Mitsukai!- www.mitsukai.com
Tokyo Teleport - www.tokyoteleport.com
Megami Studios - coming soon
"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' -- that is all
Ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know."
- John Keats, Ode On A Grecian Urn
==================================================

A DUET OF PIGTAILS: THE ELEGANT WORLD
PART TWO: THE CONSEQUENCES OF FALLING

Written by Rob Barba

Based on the series by Libby Thomas & Rob Barba 
Some characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi and CLAMP
"The Consequences of Falling" lyrics by Steinberg/Nowels/D'Ubaido
 

~*~

"Are you breathing
What I'm breathing,
Are your wishes the same as mine?
Are you needing
What I'm needing - 
I'm waiting for a sign..."

Ukyo was, in a word, pissed.

*"OOOOOOOOOhhhhh...how dare he!"*  Hands moving at near-rocket speeds as
she put together okinomiyaki after takoyaki after yakisoba after
foodstuffs galore, she made food for the lunch crowd as they filled in
and out of her restaurant, the rush being larger than normal, and she
was busting her buns to keep up with it.  And so far, it wasn't looking
good.  But that was just one of a dozen of problems she had so far this
month.

((First, Konatsu finally decides to move on with his life.))  That hurt
her a bit.  While she never loved Konatsu romantically, he was a close
friend, one of the few she had; kind of like a brother of sorts.  His
decision to found his own school of ninjitsu in Hokkaido was something
he had to do, he said; he had built his confidence over the years thanks
to Ukyo and now it was time to make her proud.  He had left a couple of
weeks ago, and she remembered him leaving, dressed for the first time in
years like a guy and ready to make a life for himself - stressing the
*him*.

To make up for it, she'd had to hire some new help, a couple of girls
from Furinkan High looking for a part-time job after hours.  Rin was a
nice enough girl, if she was timid to the point of barely being able to
speak, but her friend Kazuko was just brash to the point of throwing
herself all over the male - and quite a few of the female - clientele.
Ironically, this was a huge customer draw, as no one had been that
shameless since Shampoo...and that, Ukyo felt privately, was a good
thing.  Regardless of how much they worked, the fact was that Konatsu
worked for room and board and some occasional cash, while these girls
were standard payroll types - and that was already costing her quite a
bit.

Then there was the fact that her supplier was raising the price on all
of his shipments.  Ukyo knew why; it was simply the fact that she was a
young woman with her own restaurant, successful enough to blow away
business at many of the other okinomiyaki-yas in the area, and the rest
of them were run by men.  Moving into a man's world like that upset
their little balance, and all it took was the right word here and there
to make the supplier suddenly complain about "the unfairness of having
to raise the rates on his favorite customer," meaning that she was the
most successful, so she could afford it.  Sure, she could probably solve
the whole thing by going out with that letch - he was single and in his
early 40s and a young thing like her could probably take care of him -
or Kazuko would probably volunteer, knowing her, but Ukyo wouldn't have
any of that.  She had morals, even if it was costing her far extra.  But
still, it pissed her off.

"My hands tremble,
My heart aches,
Is it you calling?
Is it you calling?"

But nothing like that, nothing even close, torqued her spatulas like the
news she got just now.  After two whole years of biding her time, after
everything that she'd spent her life with, and after being so close, and
now, the most important thing in her world was about to slip away from
her hands, and bring her life crashing down on her like so much
fragmented shards...

"If I'm alone in this,
I don't think I can take
The consequences of falling,
The consequences of falling..."

*"WOULD SOMEONE SHUT THAT DAMN RADIO OFF?"*  Before she knew it, she had
turned around, a fierce look in her eyes and her hands clenched in fists
so tight she'd snapped one of her hand-held spats.  All the customers in
the restaurant turned and stared at her; and of her two employees,
Kazuko was leaning over the radio, her face pasty white with shock and
her too tight waitress' outfit looking as though she was somehow smaller
in it.  As for Rin, she shivered in fright and her eyes began to well up
in tears before the terror of the situation overcame her and she passed
out, faceplanting into someone's okinomiyaki platter.

Ukyo shook her head at making a complete idiot of herself.  ((I don't
deserve this.))  

"Well, that went over well," a voice at the counter said.

She stared at the owner of the voice with eyes like daggers.  "Oh, shut
up.  I can't believe you'd come in here and give me news like that.  And
you call yourself my friend?"

Ryoga shrugged.  "Hey, would you rather have found out the hard way?
Don't shoot the messenger, Ukyo; after all, someone had to tell you that
Ranma's dating again - how was I supposed to know it wasn't you?  I came
over to congratulate you.  Jeez, what'd I do?"

Ukyo dropped the broken spat into the trash, then grabbed another and
signaled to Kazuko that she should take Rin and put her in the back
office for the time being.  Turning back to Ryoga, she sighed and said,
"Yeah, I know it's not your fault.  But it bothers me that...Well, you
and Akari are getting married next month, and Nabiki's engaged to Kuno,
and now Ranchan...."

Ryoga nodded.  "Look, I'm sorry.  I know you still love him and I really
did think it was you.  All I heard from Kasumi was that when I talked to
her on the phone last week, she mentioned that he was dating again.  I
just assumed it was you; I mean, why wouldn't it be?"

"Because he looks at me as his best friend," she answered in a soft
voice, "and never as a woman."  The chef looked down at herself and what
she was wearing; the monogrammed UCCHAN'S T-shirt and jeans made her
look even more boyish than her old yukata did, and the only notion to
her womanhood she'd made was that she stopped binding her chest.  Even
the recent haircut she'd gotten made her look like a boy with
shoulder-length hair, rather than a girl of the same.  Turning back to
Ryoga, she gulped and asked, "Tell me: is she beautiful?"

"To be honest, I haven't a clue," Ryoga answered in rare diplomatic
form.  "Other than the fact that I knew, I know as little about the new
girl as you do."

"You know, you're no help, you know that?"  She paused again and moved
back to the grill long enough to grab Ryoga's lunch.  Setting it down in
front of him, she leaned over the counter and said, "I think life hates
me sometimes.  All my life, all I've ever wanted was Ranchan, and now
that I have the chance, I've been beaten out by this new girl - assuming
she is new.  What if it's someone we already know?"

"I don't know," Ryoga said between bites.  "Ranma's not really the
social type, and there are few girls left in the area that were around
at the time of your fiancee wars.  Add to that he's got a kid, and that
tends to turn off a lot of girls our age, and...."  Ryoga shrugged
again.  "Hey, it could be anyone."

"You're right, it could be."  She looked at him, eyes meeting eyes, and
even in Ryoga's view it was clear that she was hatching a plan.  "And
let me tell you, sugar, I mean to find out."

~*~

The phone rang in the Kuno mansion.  Kuno Tatewaki, owner of the
mansion, ignored it; he had more important things on his mind.
Additionally, it didn't go off in that special ring that said it was his
beloved betrothed on the phone, his glittering diamond Nabiki wishing to
speak to him.  That there made it not worth his effort to answer.  There
were, at times, he wished he didn't live alone in that huge manor, that
Sasuke hadn't retired and left him be.  A part of him had even wished
that his mother hadn't passed away, that with her alive his family life
would have been that much more...well, normal, if maybe a tad less
ornate and a bit more pedestrian.

As it stood now, he had the house all to himself, with no retainers or
servants of any kind.  He hadn't spoken to his father in years, and
there was likely no chance of that ever changing.  His demented sister
was locked away in a mental institute, her mind shattered by a
combination of her toxic chemicals and the failure of her attempts to
win the love of that cretin, Saotome.

Kuno shuddered with the shame of his personal failure.  Time and time
again whether through trickery, cheating or luck, Saotome had always
come out on top, despite Kuno's most noble and valiant efforts to stop
him.  It had been Ranma who had won the hand of the fair Akane, despite
the obvious fact that Ranma was a cad of the most superlative kind.  It
had been Ranma who had failed to save Akane's life (and admittedly, the
suffering that Saotome seemed to go through as a result of that was
something that not even Kuno would wish on his worst enemy).  It had
been Ranma that had somehow managed to retain the trust and concern of
the remaining Tendo sisters even though it was he who cost them the life
of their sibling and indirectly, the family patriarch.  

All of those crimes in and of themselves were galling.  But now, the
creme de la creme had been added to them all: the Pigtailed Girl, the
ruby-maned beauty whose name was so breathtaking of angels that Kuno's
mighty mind faltered when he sought to remember it, was once again
falling under the clutches of that rascal.  Just before his marriage to
Akane, that vile charlatan had told Kuno that he had "no more dominion
over the fair Pigtailed One" and that the only one in his perview now
was the most beauteous and graceful Akane; Kuno, in a rare moment of
trust, had believed that.  That had been a fatal mistake on Kuno's part,
and a year later, just a week after Akane had become a mother and he'd
begun to court the beautiful Nabiki, did he find out what his mistake
was.

That was over two years ago, and he had yet to forgive himself.  Perhaps
if he'd been fiercer in his defense of Akane, she would still be amongst
the living.  Perhaps if he'd repelled the horrid knave when he'd first
arrived in Nerima, things would be different, and much for the better.
Maybe if he'd been able to corral that Chinese harridan Xian Pu, she
would have not committed an act that for once made the cretin Saotome
look good.  Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.  These were all shames that Kuno
would carry until the end of his days, with no end in sight.

((Or is there?))  A month ago, Kuno had found out from Nabiki that Ranma
was dating again, and from the descriptions she gave, it was none other
than the Pigtailed Girl herself!  Nabiki had been overjoyed at the news,
probably an indicator that she was glad that he would soon be leaving
their lives and troubling them no more.  But, Kuno had wondered, was it
true?  Was the Pigtailed Girl back?  He wasn't sure, since she had been
seen little in the past couple of years.  But sure as the rain coming
from the skies, that rumor had been confirmed a day later when he and
Nabiki ran into the pair at a rather unsightly Italian restaurant not
too far from the Ginza.  The Pigtailed Girl *had* returned...and she
was, once again, trapped in the clutches of Saotome Ranma.

Something obviously had to be done about that.  Kuno had the grandest
chance now, a great chance to redeem himself for his sins and failure to
protect the Tendos.  He had the chance to free an innocent beauty from
being caught once more in Ranma's spider web of evil (and to be sure,
though she'd clearly escaped once, now that she was back, he was
convinced that Saotome would never let her free again).  But most
important of all, he had the chance to finally drive Saotome away from
Nerima, to send him back to the nether regions from which he was spawned
and to never let him darken the civilized world again.

((Right thought leads to right action, the saying goes, so I must be
careful.))  Finishing his meditation, Kuno stood up and moved to the
wall where he kept his swords.  Grabbing his old familiar bokken, he
began to move in a practiced, deliberate kata, practicing and perfecting
swings, counters, thrusts and strikes that were so familiar to him, yet
something that needed to be done to keep him atop the bevy of his
contemporaries.  He wasn't known as the Blue Thunder of the Olympic
Kendo circuit for nothing, and only a few others, like Shimoko Eiji or
Shidou Satoru could come close to his talent.  Yet he needed to be
better still, because this time there were lives and not just honor
hinging on this.

>From the lightning speed of the Tembatsu Da, to the devastating
whirlwinds of his Sempuken, from the crescent of power that was the
Kosenbado Shogekiha to the pummeling and brutal slam that was the Insen
Ikazuchi Bakuon.  Any of these was good against a lesser opponent; put
together they made for a formidable and fearful arsenal.  Yet still they
always somehow managed to come up short against Saotome's black magic
and ill-starred intents.  At times it almost seemed - almost, because it
was clearly impossible - that Saotome was simply the better combatant.
Yet the score remained, even if by false action, heavily in Saotome's
favor.

((So perhaps a new approach has to be taken.))  That meant to him,
simply put, if he could not gain victory by going through Saotome, the
only other choice meant going through the Pigtailed Girl herself.  He
would have to test her mettle and prove the victor, if he was to free
her.  As he thought about it more and more, it made sense; after all, as
Ranma won, he spread his dark arts to make his foes weaker, how many
times had he beaten and subverted the Pigtailed Girl's true nature?  If
that was the case, the only hope for her lay in the fact that Kuno
Tatewaki and his noble and honorable strength.  After all, as the old
saying went, Did One Not Understand What An Honorable Blade Stood For?
If Kuno were to forget that, then he would be nothing but a pompous,
foolish, vainglorious braggart of an idiot with a wooden sword and too
much knowledge of the classical works.  That was something he was most
certainly not, and the quote was something that was with him always.

He nodded to himself and allowed a smile for himself.  The course was
now chosen, the cause just.  Though it would wound him to cause any
injury or infliction to the Henna-haired belle, the cost of letting her
remain under the nefarious auspices of Saotome Ranma was far, far worse.
If it took strikes of care and assaults of kindness to bring her back to
her senses and away from that wolfshead's ill charms, so be it.

Saluting the air with his blade, he smiled clearly now, the first time
in days that he had.  "Fair Pigtailed Girl, fear not what is to befall
you, for it will be the kindest thing that you have suffered in a while.
You may be bruised but for a small while, but your more dangerous wounds
will be gone forever more!"  Finishing up his kata with a flourish and
moving the bokken to the steady position, he turned and left his
training room.  He had many plans to make and many thoughts to collect
before he worked his plan; all must be perfect lest the damnable Saotome
suspect and put a stop to the rescue notion.  Kuno, however, was sure
that all would be perfect; it was, after all, he who was coming up with
this noble and honorable quest.

~*~

"We have to talk," Satoru said as he addressed his brothers.  The three
Shidou males were seated at an outdoor cafe near Hizarasu AB, where
Kakeru was stationed.  Though they all led different lives now, the
three of them were still as close as brothers were, and were oftentimes
in agreement when it came to such vital issues, as, say, their baby
sister.  Satoru, the eldest, had taken it on himself to care for the
family upon the untimely accident years ago that had killed their
parents, and looking at his siblings, it was clear that he'd done an
excellent job, one that was to be admired by one and by all.  "We have a
situation at hand, and it's up to us to take care of it."

Kakeru, seated next to him in his JASDF uniform, looked at Satoru in his
casual clothes and Masaru in his sarariman attire and smiled.  "Well,
it's gotta be pretty important when all three of us have to meet
together so far away from the home - and without Hikaru-chan.  I take it
this involves her?" he asked, knitting his fingers together and resting
them just under his chin.

Masaru nodded.  "Yes, it does.  It seems our little sister has become a
woman now, and has found another's heart to call her own."  Masaru
grinned, feeling giddy about saying that.  He'd heard it once in a
samurai drama, years ago, and it stuck in his mind as something to say
when the time came about his sister.  Besides, as the lone married
member of the trio, he understood more than the others what love was
about and what it portended.  "Yup, our little kitten's got herself a
boyfriend now."

"Hikaru?  Not Hikaru - she's too innocent for that sort of stuff.  Hell,
I'm only a year and a half older than her and I'm not even dating,"
Kakeru pointed out.  "I just can't see Hikaru with anyone yet."

"Well, she is 22," Satoru pointed out, "and most of her friends are
already married - didn't Umi and Fuu marry foreigners and move to Europe
a few years back?  Besides, it's human nature - we all do it sooner or
later, I guess."

"Yeah, but how are you two so sure that she's dating anyone?  I'm sure
she would have told us."

"Well, I found out through my wife," Masaru answered.  "It seems that
Chidara and Hikaru have been getting along just fine - too fine, which
made me confused, since they normally don't get along too well.  I
talked to Chi, and she confessed that Hikaru's been asking her about
dating advice in regards to her boyfriend.  On the one hand, it's nice
to see them friendly towards each other.  On the other hand, it made me
wonder about what Chi said."

"And?" both Satoru and Kakeru said at once.  A good deal of this
information was new to Satoru, and Kakeru was interested in the whole
thing.

Masaru opened his briefcase, pulling out some papers.  "They've been
talking for quite some time now, and it seems our innocent sister isn't
as innocent as we think."  Both of the faces of the other Shidou men
grew dark, and it was clear they weren't happy about that.  "Oh, relax -
it's not like she's on the pill or anything.  But apparently, she's
talking to Chi because she had a boyfriend back when she was sixteen -
some gaijin, I think - and it didn't work out, so she wants to make sure
she's doing everything right this time.  Apparently, she's really got it
bad for this guy."

"How bad?"

"Well, remember the time she said Kuu and she were going to Hakkone for
a weekend?  Well, it turns out that it was her and her boyfriend, and
she didn't want to tell anyone because, well...."  Masaru shrugged. "You
get the picture."

Both Kakeru and Satoru nodded.  The eldest asked, "Well, then, our
choice is clear: I promised our father that if something were to happen
to our parents, I would ensure that whoever marries Hikaru would be
worthy of her."  He took a sip from the glass that sat in front of him,
then looked at the light that danced in its liquid form as he held it up
towards the sun.  "I think you know what I mean, don't you, you two?"

Kakeru raised his eyebrow.  "Oh, you've *got* to be kidding.  That's
overkill.  What if the guy doesn't know anything about the art of the
blade?  It'll be a slaughter, Satoru!"

Masaru, on the other hand, looked a bit graven.  "Normally, I'd be
inclined to agree with Kakeru, but in this case, I think your comments
are quite justified."

"Oh, really?" Satoru asked.  "You make it sound as though she's dating
someone with some ability.  What, is she dating another kendo artist?"
Masaru was about to respond, but the oldest brother continued.  "If
you're that confident about his abilities, he'd have to be someone top
tier, someone good enough to square off against one of us.  Let me think
of who's single in the Olympic circuit."  He ticked off his fingers,
mentioning names as he did so:  "Let's see: there's Mineta Kaede, Uchida
Kenzo, Watanabe Yoshiaki, Kuno Tatewaki...."

Masaru reached over and covered his brother's fingers, then handing both
his brothers the documents he'd pulled out of the briefcase.  "If it
were only that simple, guys.  It appears that our little sister's gotten
herself mixed up with a bit of a celebrity."  

He inclined the papers, and the two other Shidous began to read.  A few
silent minutes went by as the pair read about their sister's new
paramour.  After Kakeru was done, he dropped the paper and shook his
head, moaning, "Oh, boy.  OOOOOOOoooooooooh boy.  Hey, if you guys want,
I have a friend in the bomber squadron.  Maybe he can swing by and drop
a payload and make things more fair."

"For him?"

"For *us*."  The look in his eyes indicated Kakeru was not kidding.

Satoru gave his youngest brother a patient look.  "Kakeru, he's just a
man.  Trust me on this.  Besides, I promised our father that we'd see to
Hikaru's best interests, and we can't back out on that."

"We're aware of that, and we'd never let Hikaru down," Masaru commented.
"In any case, while I have to agree with you on that one, I have to
admit he's got a point.  This guy's not someone to take lightly."

Kakeru rolled his eyes.  "'Not to take lightly,' he says.  Guys, we're
not talking about some guy off the street, we're talking about *Saotome
Ranma*!  The owner of the Saotome-Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial
Arts!  I've *seen* this guy in action!  He's got some serious moves!"
He shifted in his seat and continued.  "Look, I got to see the guy back
when I was in high school.  Some high school was having a martial arts
competition against ours and he was there with this cute brunette with
short hair - I think he was her coach or something.  Anyway, some guy on
our side got lippy with the girl, and he stepped in and clocked the guy
with one punch.  After that, the entire team got cocky about it and
attacked him.  Well, the end result of that was that our team got
disqualified because they all got cold-cocked by him, and he didn't even
break a sweat!  *Thirty guys*, Satoru, and that when I was sixteen; he's
probably about the same age as me, if I'm guessing right.

"Plus, if that ain't enough for you, these pictures from a magazine, as
well as sports magazines and such, tell you he's famous.  And in the
martial arts, you only get famous if you're a movie star or if you're
really damn good."  Kakeru reached over and picked up a copy of an
American martial arts mag.  "Foreign publications have him on the cover.
He's really made a name for himself as someone who knows his stuff, and
you want to take him on?"

Satoru sighed, realizing his brother had a point.  "Still, I can't back
out, and neither can you."  All three agreed on that.  "This is for
Hikaru's sake, and I'd rather we have problems than for her to be stuck
with someone not worthy of her down the road.  So, are we agreed?"

~*~

Early evening descended on the Saotome-Tendo household, and a familiar
redhead walked from the dojo, onto the engawa and into the house.  She
looked tired, the result of a long, long day of working out and
furthering her martial skills, but as always she was long used to the
grueling workouts, knowing that it was just a part of the lifestyle she
chose long ago.  

"I'm soooooooo exhausted," Hikaru said as she stretched, yawning as she
sat down on the couch.  "You were right, Kasumi - learning kempo is a
lot different than learning kendo.  But if I didn't find it so
fascinating enough to learn on my own, I'll bet that Ranma or Nabiki
would have insisted I learn - they seem to get in a lot of spots, it
seems."  She gave Ranma's oldest sister a sincere smile as she sat down
on the couch.  "And I really appreciate you staying here to allow me to
practice what I've learned while they're out of town.  My own family's
dojo doesn't have the equipment for the hand arts."

"You're more than welcome, Hikaru-chan," Kasumi said as she smiled
beatifically.  "But, to be honest, I love being here at home sometimes
as well.  Of course I love my own family, but there's a lot of times
when I can just come here and remind myself of when I was younger, when
it was just me, my parents, and Nabiki and Akane.  Besides, you're a
wonderful person and a nice friend and someone wonderful to talk with,
so it's no trouble at all." 

"Thanks a lot, Kasumi-chan."  Hikaru gave another sunny smile, and saw
what everyone else noticed about Kasumi - she was absolutely a dear, and
reminded her in many ways of a female counterpart for her older brother,
Satoru.  But where Satoru was overly protective, Kasumi tended to have a
very disarming personality, enough so that oftentimes it seemed she was
in the need of protection.  In Hikaru's mind, that made for the best
sort of defense, and for a wonderful aspect in Kasumi's personality.
Kasumi was kind enough that Hikaru idly wondered for a second if she
could give Kasumi the mantle of the Pillar, as the domestic housewife
would likely make a much better goddess than the redhead did.

"Well, while you were practicing, I made some tea.  Would you care to
have some?"

Hikaru nodded eagerly, getting comfortable on the sofa, noting the
Western-style redecoration that Nabiki had done on the place a few weeks
ago, something that she'd said came in handy when entertaining guests
for her business or handling the affairs of the dojo.  Although someone
familiar with the home could still see the original Japanese lines
within the old Tendo home, much had been changed over the years, such as
the downstairs second bedroom having been turned into a den, and the old
master bedroom converted into an office.  The changes had been
necessary, the younger Tendo daughter had said, since the dojo was now
prosperous enough that an office was needed.  And while many of the cozy
items of childhood were now gone, the ever forward-thinking Nabiki had
tried to make the home as restful as possible.  And on that, the redhead
decided, she had done so in spades.

Kicking her feet up and laying on the couch, Hikaru idly pictured
herself living here.  It was funny, she thought, that she and her
boyfriend had only been together for a matter of months, and she was
already comfortably ensconced in his life.  There was no doubt in her
mind that she was in love with him, and she was pretty sure that he felt
the same way, even though she understood that he still carried a torch
for his deceased first love, the one he'd married and had a child with.
That sort of thing was obviously difficult to get over, especially with
little Akama being around.  

Part of her wondered, would that be her fate, someday?  A mother to
Akama and maybe more children, in this household?  She had to admit it
was possible.  She'd only been with Ranma for four months, but to her it
felt like a lifetime, and for her to contemplate a life here made her
pause to wonder how she could have ever thought of a life
with...with....

((With Lantis,)) she finally thought out.  ((It was only a few years ago
that I had thought about being his wife.  But that was before I found
out what kind of person he was, and before I lost my innocence.))  She
chose to cut that line of thought off; whatever happened in the past was
just that, and whatever the ultimate fate of Lantis and Umi was, it had
no impact on the life of Shidou Hikaru.  That part of her life was over
with, and goddess of Cephiro and its like worlds or not, the past was
the past and she had a different life to live now, maybe even with
this...wonderful man...named...Ran...ma....


"Tea's ready!" Kasumi chirped as she came back into the living room.
She paused and stopped.  "Oh my...."  There, completely asleep on the
couch, was Hikaru, curled up, apparently having worn herself out over
the day's workout session.  Kasumi smiled, remembering all the times
when she'd seen another, similar redhead sleeping the sleep of angels;
that person had become a key figure in her life now, and something told
the lady of the hearth that this redhead might someday become a
permanent fixture around the house as well.  To Kasumi, that would be
just wonderful; Ranma had suffered so much since Akane's death, maybe
even more so than Nabiki and Kasumi themselves, and to see that
happiness was finally coming his way was something that she very much
wanted for him.  Looking fondly at the dozing redhead once more, Kasumi
went upstairs to fetch a blanket for her.

~*~

Ukyo stood at the door of the Saotome-Tendo home, more nervous than
she'd been in quite some time.  A flit of a shadow moved in her
peripheral vision, enough so to make her jump from being startled - way
to go on that calmness, she chastised herself.  ((Ranchan's really going
to find that cute, you acting as timid as a mouse.))  She shifted
anxiously from one foot to another, not knowing what to say or even how
to bring the subject up.  After all, what could she say?  ((Hi, Ranchan,
do you have a girlfriend instead of me, when you know I've been here for
you all my life?))

She was more afraid, however, of what the answer would be.  Would it be
him laughing softly, telling her it was nothing to worry about, that he
had no one - and thus still giving her a chance?  Or would Ryoga be
correct, in that the door to Ranma's heart was shut permanently now, the
key under the hand of someone else?  Or would the worst-case scenario
come about, that he was completely and totally in love with this new
mystery girl and would just forget about her?  That scared her the most
- to her, Ranma wasn't just the man she loved, but also her best friend,
makeshift family and just about the lone pillar of her life in the
world.  

((Does that make me obsessive?)) she wondered, thinking back to the
conversation that she and Ryoga had as she was closing the store.  He
didn't like the idea of her heading to the dojo, he had told her; he
thought it would be best if Ranma had brought it up to her and left it
at that.  Ukyo argued that such a course would be painful for her and
Ranma; she loved him dearly but had no illusions of how imperfect he
was.  Finally, when she made up her mind to go confront Ranma directly
on it, Ryoga bowed out, saying he highly disagreed, but he'd be there if
she needed a shoulder to cry on.  Even now, he was waiting at her place
for her own tearful return, as though he was expecting inevitability
rather than the fact that he could be wrong.  

But what if he wasn't?  

Well, only one way to find out, and sitting out here in the night air
was not it.  Gently knocking on the door, she hoped Ranma would answer
the door directly; she hated to have to involve Nabiki even though she'd
be just as helpful and probably a bit more direct and tactful.  She
stood there for a few more minutes as the door didn't slide open and
nothing moved.  She tried knocking again, only to have no answer.  That
was odd; Nabiki's car was in the driveway, and the lights were on....

((I wonder if everything's okay.))  Well, she was a close friend of the
family; she was sure they wouldn't mind if she just came in.  Sliding
the door open just enough for her to get herself in, she got into the
house, then slid the door shut again, pausing only to take off her
shoes.  As she came in, she saw the redecoration that they'd been
talking about for months; the place that she'd remembered so much during
her teen years was gone, replaced by a nice, if different looking home
that she was sure she'd adjust to being in when she was the lady of the
house here.  But the question remained, even with the lights slightly
dimmed and the unfamiliar furnishings: where were the occupants?

Looking around for a few more seconds gained her the answer.  Asleep on
the sofa, complete with blanket draped over his sleeping form and
looking as peaceful as an angel, was her Ranma.  He was currently in
female form, a small teapot thoughtfully put on the coffee table by
Nabiki for when he woke up.  Ukyo's heart swelled, just seeing her
beloved like that, so innocent and pure.

That brought something to mind that Ukyo hadn't completely thought of
before: spending the rest of her life with the man she loved, also meant
that spending time with that person meant in a sense, she was spending
time with two.  In short, she had to realize that her very loving
Ranchan was, unfortunately, capable of being more "chan" than Ukyo at
times.  Curse or not, whether their circle of friends knew or not, the
public at large didn't, and that could cause problems en masse.  She'd
already been disowned by her family for her failure to win back Ranma -
she didn't need any more ostracism in her life, thank you very much.

Was she ready for this?  Could she be?  Under the most ideal
circumstances it would take the most accepting and tolerant of persons
to handle the morass of dilemmas that came with Ranma's curse; the
undeniable fact that Akane, by no means the symbol of tolerance or
placidity, had been there from the very beginning and through thick and
thin, spoke volumes about her love for Ranma.  No doubt also that had it
not been for Shampoo, she would still be - and Ukyo would not be forced
to make that decision on her own.

But a decision it was, nonetheless; if Ukyo was willing to make the step
of being the future second Mrs. Saotome Ranma, then she had to learn and
accept this aspect of his life.  Besides, if anything, when it came to
Jusenkyo curses, the old adage that it was not the outside of a person
but rather the inside that counted rang truer than ever.  It didn't
matter how the person looked in cursed form if the nature of the soul
remained true; Ranma as female was still very much the soul of Ranma as
normal.  And it was that person that the okinomiyaki chef cherished and
wanted in her life.

Ukyo, pausing to gaze at Ranma's still, sleeping form, realized that it
wasn't the form of her lover that counted so much as the love.  She
could be strong enough to withstand a relationship with him and all that
it entailed, whether good fortune or ill.  Her heart welled up;
something within her told her this was the right choice.  After all,
she'd given up just about everything in her life to be with him, and had
even reconciled herself to being nothing more than his best friend at
one point if it made him happy.  By any indicator, that was a sign of
truest love, always sacrificing for the benefit of the loved one.  And
Ukyo was one who knew sacrifices far too well.

Before she was even aware of what she was doing, she found herself
leaning over her love, debating if she had the strength to do it.  ((A
kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh,)) the words from that old
Western song rang in her head.  Akane had admitted that she kissed Ranma
once or twice as a female and had been no worse the wear for it.  If
Ukyo was going to live her life with Ramna, sooner or later that was
going to have to happen, to show affection and love to her mate.  If she
could do it now, she could prove to herself and her love that she was
serious about their relationship.

Whispering a soft "Ai shiteru, Ranchan," she let herself go with abandon
and leaned forward, kissing the man that she loved. Sighing softly in
contentment that she'd finally made peace with her lover's curse, she
let herself free, knowing that when he opened his eyes, there would be
Ukyo and Ukyo only, and all this nonsensical rumors about other
girlfriends and such banished to the depths of nonexistence as they
deserved to be.

The redhead responded happily to the kiss for all of a portion of a
second.  Then she opened her eyes...and was completely stunned by what
was going on.  Completely stunned by the situation, Hikaru did the only
thing she could do to escape.  Grabbing the arm of the couch, she called
upon the years of kendo strength and gymnastic ability that she had
within her and curling, pulled herself away from her unusual attacker,
rolled out of the woman's grasp and launched herself away from the
furniture, to land unsteadily against a nearby wall and to crash dizzily
against a nearby floor lamp.  Immediately, though, she picked herself
back up and dropped into a standard kendo defense by habit, momentarily
forgetting that she was not armed.

Meanwhile, Ukyo found three interesting feelings within the span of a
minute.  The first was the complete and total love she gave to her
beloved Ranchan through the kiss, waiting for him at any moment to wrap
his arms around her and tell her that she was the only one for him.  The
second was the sudden shock of Ranma being torn out of her grasp; she
had only seen the merest flash of ruby hair jetting by her.  The third
thing she felt was a slamming kick to her face as she was jolted
violently back, spinning out of control for a moment to crash against
the coffee table, breaking it in half.  

It was this noise that brought Kasumi out of the kitchen, headphones not
having been loud enough to mask that kind of noise.  As she walked in,
hand immediately went up to her mouth as she gasped.  "Oh, hello, Ukyo,"
she bowed, acknowledging her new guest before taking note of the
situation.  "Oh my...what a mess, dear me...is everyone all right?  I
can make more tea, if you'd like."

"No, that won't be necessary, Kasumi-chan," Hikaru said, somewhere
between shocked and angry at what just happened to her.  Who was the
stranger, and why did she attack her like that?  How did she get into
the house?  Was this one of the other Tendo sisters that Ranma had told
her about, the two that were busy playing wandering martial artists
somewhere in the world?  Or was this someone else?

Ukyo ignored her, instead looking at Ranma, who was surprisingly in
combat mode.  "Ranchan, what's gotten into you?"

"'Ranchan?'" Hikaru parroted, still confused as to what was going on.

With her perpetual hyper-sunny outlook on things, Kasumi gently said,
"Oh, Ukyo that's not Ranma - he's in Ryugenzawa, remember?"  Looking at
Hikaru, she continued, "You look very tired, Hikaru-chan.  Did you have
a pleasant nap?"

Hikaru nodded but did not answer, as she continued to stare at the
stranger in the room.

Meanwhile, the stranger was even more confused.  "'Hikaru'?  Nani?
What's this all about, Kasumi?"  The okinomiyaki chef suspected she
wasn't going to like the answer, not one bit.

She was correct.  "Oh, that's right - you haven't met each other
before."  Still smiling with that oblivious sweet sunny nature, she
introduced the pair.  "Hikaru, this is Ranma's best friend and a
longtime friend of the family, Kuonji Ukyo."  Then motioning towards the
redhead, she added, "And this is Ranma's new girlfriend, Shidou Hikaru -
it's just amazing how much she looks like Ranma's girl half, isn't it?"

Ukyo barely heard the woman.  Instead, she stared at the redhead
standing in front of her, the shock melting away on her face as she
examined the person before her.  This redhead had a far longer ponytail
than her beloved's; it snaked down her back and stopped just past her
waist.  Additionally, there were less muscles on this girl; though she
was in a combatant's pose, it was clear that whatever martial skills she
had were not of the hand arts variety.  Lastly, where Ranma's eyes were
a beautiful blue that reflected the innate honor of his soul, this
woman's were a red-tinged brown, like a redwood or a light cherrywood,
eyes that might normally show warmth like embers but right now were
showing smoldering, restrained emotions.

"Pleased to meet you," both women said in icy tones simultaneously.   

Pleased that both women had met and were getting along just fabulously,
Kasumi chirped, "Good, I'll go make us some more tea.  I'll be right
back!"  Turning, she headed straight back into the kitchen, leaving the
two combatants to stare at each other with dagger eyes.

"So you're trying to take my Ranchan from me," Ukyo said in a flat,
angry voice.  So the rumors were true - part of her wanted to cry, part
of her wanted to just drop to the floor and die.  The words that Kasumi
had spoken, though never intended to hurt, may have well been a serrated
dagger plunged into her body in a connect-the-dots fashion.  She never
thought that her greatest fear would ever come true.  It took her a
long, long time to get used to the fact that between her and Akane,
she'd lose.  But to find out that between her and someone else - a
newcomer, an unknown - she still lost.  But there was another part of
her that felt that she had to do something, anything, to regain Ranma's
love, and something within told her the only way to do that was to
counter this redheaded little tramp - in any way possible.  

Meanwhile, Hikaru had her own ideas.  Relaxing slightly, a thoughtful
cast crossed her mind.  "Oh, you thought I was Ranma-kun.  Oh, that
probably explains why you tried to-"

"You tricked me!" Ukyo growled, unconsciously dropping into a combat
pose of her own.  "Plus, you're trying to take my Ranchan from me, so do
you think I'm going to give you any slack?  I don't think so."


Hikaru's eyes grew sad as she relaxed from her combat pose, realizing
what was going on here.  It was clear that this Ukyo girl was closer to
Ranma than he thought.  Hikaru, for that matter, didn't realize that
Ukyo was female; he'd mentioned her before, but the redhead had always
assumed that like Ryoga, Ukyo was also male - the gender-neutral name
didn't help things along, either.  Now that she was seeing things in a
different light, it was clear that to Ukyo, Hikaru was an intruder in
their life and had Hikaru not been there, Ukyo might have successfully
pressed her suit.

Not that Hikaru was going to give up on the man she loved, however.
Trying to be as calm as possible, she said, "Look, Kuonji-san, I can
appreciate how you feel.  I...um, I...."  Hikaru paused.  She was
thinking of telling Ukyo about Umi, but the fact was, she didn't think
that trying to show herself as the jilted woman herself would help.
Additionally, the only ones she'd confided to about that part of her
past were Ranma and Kuu - she hadn't told her brothers, and she wasn't
really about to trust this woman with that sort of information.  So
instead, she swallowed her word and replied with, "I know this is
painful for you, and it's obvious that you love Ranma.  But so do I, and
I won't let him go."

Ukyo's eyes narrowed - she knew a challenge when she heard one.  "You
won't let him go?  Sugar, I don't think you have much of a choice."
Reaching behind her, she grabbed her battlespat and pointed it at
Hikaru.  "It's clear you have some sort of talent, though I don't think
that it's hand to hand.  So I'm going to give you this one last chance:
give him up now or I'm going to make you regret it."

Hikaru shook her head sadly; yet another stupid fight because of reasons
not worth fighting about.  It was clear that Ukyo was not interested in
solving things easily, nor was Hikaru going to give up the man she
loved.  But at the same time, she wondered about herself, ironically; it
was only a couple of years ago that Hikaru had been in the same
situation as Ukyo had been.  She'd loved Lantis then; why didn't she
challenge Umi for his hand, especially when it had been clear that Umi
didn't love him, that it would be a marriage of convenience based on a
night of drunken lust?  Hikaru was a goddess; was she any less worthy to
fight for the man she had loved at the time?

But in those thoughts came the answer: ((had loved.))  Those words were
in the past tense, meant that those actions were in the past, a
different time ago that had no bearing and meaning on the here and now,
despite their similarity.  Hikaru was in a different situation, not one
where she'd been rocked by betrayal and misfortune.  In any case, her
feelings for Ranma were much stronger, even though she'd been with him
only four months now; it was the difference between the first love a
person has, and the love of a person that would be there forever - and
there was more chance of Ranma being there years from now than Lantis.

Folding her arms and forcing herself to wipe the look off her face into
something more stoic, she said, "While I understand and sympathize how
you feel about him, Kuonji-san, I will not just simply give up and go
away, dismissed like some dalliance.  Ranma and I are a couple, and you,
whether you like it or not, are his best friend...and the fact that you
are not with him means that such is your role to him."  Hikaru hated
talking in an imperious manner, as it wasn't her style, but considering
the circumstances, she had little choice; if Ukyo wasn't going to listen
to reason, then she'd have to listen to something more forceful.

*"Why you bi....ARRGH!"*  Ukyo bit off the expletive, so angry she was
becoming incomprehensible.  "Okay, if that's how you want to play, I'll
play hardball."  Thumping the sharp end of her battlespat down on the
ground, unaware that she ripped the carpet in the process, she snarled,
"In two days.  Daiba Ward, at Shiokaze Kaihin Park.  Noon.  Winner gets
to keep Ranma, agreed?"

Hikaru crossed her arms.  "Do you really love him?  Because if you do,
you're not showing it very well.  He's a person, not a trophy."

*"Shut up!"* Ukyo snarled, getting so angry that tears of rage began to
well in her eyes.  "If you don't have the courage to show up and fight
for the person you love, then you're not even worth his time, do you
hear me?  Although from the likes of it, considering how you were trying
to trick me, I think that speaks volumes of how little you value him!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, I think you damn well know what I mean, Red."  Ukyo reslid her
battlespat in the holster loops in the back of her shirt.  "And if you
really want to put your money where your mouth is, and you mouth
somewhere else instead of where it shouldn't be, then you better show
up."  Ukyo relaxed her arms to her side, then made a quick motion,
flickers of sliver coming from them.

Hikaru dodged the blades as they came in her direction, though she
didn't need to; they came nowhere near her, instead, hitting property
all over the place.  Angry at this newest attack, Hikaru leapt forward,
and before she was completely aware of what she was doing, her hand came
across Ukyo's face in a sharp, stinging slap.

*"How dare you!"* she shouted.  *"You claim to be Ranma's best friend,
yet you're treating him like an object.  You're supposedly in love with
him, yet you show that love by destroying his home.  And you actually
think that just because you've been around longer that I'm going to give
up my boyfriend as though we're waiting in line for something.  Small
wonder that his first wife married him instead of you - at least she
seemed like a sane person!"*

*"HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT AKANE, YOU HUSSY!"* Ukyo screamed in Hikaru's
face.  *"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HER!"*  Ukyo's hands, at her side,
formed fists so tight her knuckles were white.  Raising them up to
Hikaru's chin, she seethed, "You and I will have this out *now*."

Hikaru just looked evenly at Ukyo with eyes of challenge.  "Ready
whenever you are."  The two tensed, and it became a matter of which
woman threw the first blow.


Fortunately, fate chose to intervene.  Her headphones on again, Kasumi
danced into the room with a new tray of tea, she called out, "Tea is
ready!  It'll give us girls a chance to talk and get to know one another
better, right?"

Ukyo looked at Hikaru, then back at Kasumi, and that was enough to drain
her anger for the moment.  Like so many others, the chef considered
Kasumi like family and wouldn't fight in front of her.  Bowing slightly
to Kasumi, she said, "Sorry, Kasumi, but I have to...um, take care of
some things back at the restaurant.  I just...um, came by to see if
Ranchan was here."

Kasumi somehow managed to look sad at Ukyo's departure while not
removing the smile from her face.  "Oh, it's such a shame you can't
stay, Ukyo, but I understand.  As for Ranma, well, he and Nabiki had
some business to take care of in the southeast and shouldn't be back
home for another week - you know how my brother and sister can be." 

"Oh," Ukyo replied in a monotone.  "Well, I've got to get going now,
Kasumi, but I hope you'll come and swing by my restaurant some time; we
haven't talked in ages."  Looking at Hikaru with an emotionless face
that nevertheless held eyes of anger and rage, she said, "And I'll see
you soon enough, Red."  Nothing further to add, Ukyo showed herself to
the door.

Watching her departing form, Hikaru was able to whisper a "You can count
on it," before she sat down on the couch, feeling physically drained.
Sitting there for a few minutes as Kasumi poured some tea, the redhead
contemplated telling Kasumi about what just happened, but in the end
decided to keep it to herself.  Not only might not Kasumi believe her
old family friend capable of what Hikaru had seen, but she might even
take Ukyo's side.  Aside from that issue, it just felt somehow wrong to
discuss problems around the oldest of the Tendo clan.  So, instead,
Hikaru kept it in, sighing as she drank from her cup.

"You look tired, Hikaru-chan," Kasumi said after a silence of a few
minutes.  "Would you like to stay here the night?  I can make sure the
guest room is set up for you, if you'd like."

"Thanks, but no," Hikaru thought.  "I have to get up early in the
morning and take care of a few things," Hikaru replied, mentally adding,
((Like prepare for battle - and how do I explain to Ranma-kun that I'm
going to be fighting his best friend?  He won't be happy about that.))
"But I am rather tired, though.  Do you mind if I call home?  I'll have
one of my brothers come pick me up, then I should be able to take a
shower before he gets here."

Kasumi nodded.  "Okay.  I'll go ready the furo for you."

Hikaru smiled genuinely; no matter what had happened tonight, somehow
Kasumi always managed to make everything somehow better.  "Thank you,
Kasumi-chan, I appreciate it."

The brunette flashed Hikaru a knowing smile before disappearing around
the corner towards the lower bathroom.  While she did that, Hikaru went
over to the phone and dialed Masaru's cel phone.  There were a few
seconds of quiet while the phone dialed before she was able to connect
with him.  "Oh, Masaru-nichan?  I need a favor, and I hope I'm not
disturbing you and Chidara.  Would you mind terribly picking me up at a
friend's home?  I've had a long day, and...."

~*~

As Ukyo walked home, she felt a tangled morass of emotions.  Ranma, the
man she loved more than anything and was sure that he thought her as
critical to his life, was with another woman.  Again.  Once more, Ukyo
was left adrift, standing as she watched the man she loved slip out of
her hands and over the horizon of life, but willingly this time - for
the second time.

She let herself move on autopilot as she headed towards her new home, a
little house she'd bought across the street from Furinkan High.  She'd
bought the house from the old woman who'd lived there; the woman, with
no family to leave it to and who Ukyo had befriended many a time, sold
it to her on the condition that when the woman had passed on, Ukyo would
take care of her funeral expenses - the price of the sale.  That had
been about five months ago, and though the chef mainly lived at her home
now, she hadn't quite moved out of the old apartment above her
restaurant.  That was soon to be renovated into a second floor for the
Ucchan.  Once, her ultimate goal had been to leave this house of hers as
a temporary respite until she moved into the Saotome home as his wife,
after which she would have given the house to Konatsu as a gift for his
faithful friendship.  Now, it seemed that she might be living in it a
bit longer - possibly until the end of her days, alone and unloved.

((What have I done wrong?)) she asked herself, rounding the corner that
took her past the riverside road that led her to her home.  ((I've been
faithful and loyal, and true to him.  I've saved myself for him, and I
even was willing to be Akama's mother in Akane's place.))  Yet for all
of her qualifications, she was cast away like some okinomiyaki
ingredients than had passed their freshness date.  Somehow, this
redhead, this one-in-a-million person that looked like Ranma's female
half had slipped out of nowhere and taken over his life and heart, not
even giving Ukyo a chance to win it.  She'd hoped that slow and steady,
just like the turtle, would win the race.  Instead, she found out that
while the turtle might beat the hare, it doesn't do a damn bit of good
against weasels like...like...like that damn....

"Pigtailed Girl."   

Ukyo paused; that wasn't her voice.  Moving slightly to her left to
center herself in a light from one of the streetlamps, she called out,
"Okay, who are you and what do you want?  Don't get too cocky, I'll put
you in your place!"

"I said, Kuonji Ukyo," the voice spoke from behind her, "that's it's
clear you don't care much for the Pigtailed Girl."  She turned, ready to
fight, only to find Kuno, walking into the light.  He was wearing darker
clothing than usual, a black polo shirt and charcoal gray slacks, giving
him an almost casual appearance.  "Before you say anything," he added,
"I should apologize to you.  I had been headed towards the dojo to say
hello to my beloved Nabiki, but it seems that I caught you and the
Pigtailed One in an argument...over Saotome, no less."

"I don't see how it's any of your business."

"Oh, quite the contrary, O Beauteous and Magnificent Mistress of
Culinary Delights.  I believe that you and I can be of mutual assistance
to each other, and both find what we are desiring in our heart of
hearts."

Ukyo relaxed a tiny bit - it wasn't as though Kuno was a threat or
anything - and crossed her arms.  A look of skepticism on her face, she
asked, "Spare me the flowery speech, Kuno - I'm not an idiot.  There's
something you want, and I bet it has to do with Ranchan, doesn't it?
You've never liked him, so don't tell me that you're so interested in
doing him a favor.  And besides, you're engaged to be married.  What do
you find so interesting about that henna-haired hussy?"  Apparently Kuno
thought Hikaru to be "the pigtailed girl", and Ukyo was in no hurry to
correct him.

Kuno tousled his hair with his hand while he laughed softly, then
motioned for them to continue walking towards her place.  As they moved
on, he continued.  "Yes, you're correct.  I loathe Saotome, and frankly,
I think he is a curse upon mankind.  But it is also clear to me that you
love him dearly and would do much to be with him.  And while my heart
belongs to my sweet Nabiki, I must needs confess that the fact that the
Pigtailed One has been under his spell for so long vexes me.  I would
like to see her free from his influence."

"And into your bed?" Ukyo asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Granted, she didn't give a damn about what happened to that Hikaru girl,
but Nabiki was a friend and if Kuno was about to two-time her....

"No, never that.  I merely wish to see her on her way, free to live her
life away from the dark influences of that malefactor, Saotome.  Once
that is done, perhaps you, with your charming feminine wiles, could
bring him back to a semblance of humanity, though I doubt it."  

"You're not exactly getting my attention with comments like that," Ukyo
grumbled.

"Again, I apologize.  I know your love for him is strong, and though I
fail to understand why, if you feel it is your fate to be with such a
boorish dolt like Saotome, I cannot stop that.  But my goal is to free
the Pigtailed Girl from her bonds of slavery with that fiend, and if you
wish to place yourself in those bonds, I cannot stop you; that is your
choice."  The pair rounded the corner, approaching Furinkan High and her
place.  "But I caution you: you will find yourself in bonds of doom
should you decide to lower yourself for that scandalous knave.  But that
is none of my concern."

The chef held back a retort, then debated if she should deck Kuno here
and now.  He was insulting both her Ranchan and herself, and she wasn't
entirely sure that he was on the level regarding his feelings for the
Pigtailed Girl and how they related to his relationship with Nabiki, but
those were the problems inherent with dealing with the devil, and this
was certainly one hell of a dark pact of sorts.  As they stopped in
front of Ukyo's home, she asked, "What are you proposing?"

"An alliance, of course.  As much as it pains me to strike the fair
Pigtailed Girl, I heard your duel challenge.  If we can beat her, we can
force her to leave for now and for good, leaving her free and leaving
him with you.  Once that's done, you're free to take him and make him
yours; and the Pigtailed Girl will be free to live the rest of her
natural life in the way she chooses."  Reaching in his pocket, he gave
her one of his business cards.  "Call me in the morning and we'll
discuss details.  We have two days to set the perfect trap for her, and
time is running short."

She held the card as though it were a live snake.  Nabiki's fiance or
not, Kuno wasn't the type of person to trust easily.  Additionally, he
wanted to inflict pain and suffering on Ranma; how could she find
herself in a partnership with that sort of person?  Yet, the fact was,
it meant that Kuno was offering to hand her the keys to Ranma's heart on
a silver platter, and all it would take would be the removal of that
bitch Hikaru, sending her packing and sending Ranma into Ukyo's arms.
But something felt dirty about it, and as Ukyo watched Kuno walk away
into the night, she continued to stand there, in front of her house,
feeling more torn than she'd ever been.  


As she entered her home, she found Ryoga, sitting on the couch, watching
TV.  He took one look at her, and though they'd not discussed it before,
there was somehow something in his eyes that said he knew exactly what
was going on.  His voice spoke honesty, yet somehow there was a tinge of
accusation in it.  "Gee, Ukyo, you don't look to good.  Something
wrong?"

She looked at him, but couldn't meet his gaze for long.  Turning away,
she sighed and said, "Ask me tomorrow, old friend.  Ask me when I can
look in a mirror."  Nothing more to add, she quickly crawled into her
room for a night of fitful sleep.

Ryoga watched as the door to Ukyo's room closed.  ((Hrmm, I wonder what
brought that on,)) he mused as he went back to his television programs.

~*~

"Thank you again for assisting my sister in furthering her skills,"
Masaru commented as he bowed to Kasumi.  "I was not aware that she was
working to improve more than just her sword skills.  You say that she's
actually becoming adept at the hand arts?"  Masaru was surprised.  He
knew that his little sister was capable of learning things very fast,
but from the descriptions of how rapidly she was picking up kempo, it
practically bordered on the magical.

"She is apparently very talented," Kasumi said, returning the
compliment.  "Apparently my brother and sister were able to teach her
the basics, but from there she surpassed them.  I would say that she's
learned a few years' worth in a matter of months, but to be honest, I'm
not an expert on it.   Ranma would be a better judge of that, though."

Masaru nodded, and not just to acknowledge the other's statements; it
was a sign of impression as well.  ((Hikaru-chan's learning abilities
aside, if Ranma was able to make this much of an impression on her, he
must be one talented artist, indeed.))  Masaru rested his hand on his
chin in thought.  ((Though it's the student that is mostly responsible
for the improvement, it is undoubtedly the sensei that nurtures the
effect.))  Continuing, he commented, "Is your brother here?  I'd like to
thank him for what he's been able to show my sister.  Maybe I can even
get him to show me a thing or two as well."

"Oh, I'm sure that he would very much like that, Shidou-san," Kasumi
replied sweetly, "but I'm afraid he's out of town right now.  He's in
the south helping a friend of the family."  A few more minutes passed as
Kasumi explained the current mission of mercy that Ranma and Nabiki had
decided to head off on, and the two continued to chat on while Masaru
digested the information that Kasumi had just given.  

((She knows where he is,)) he thought.  ((Maybe I can get her to tell
me.))  "That's a shame.  I was hoping to meet him."

"Well, if you'd like," Kasumi commented, "I can have him contact you as
soon as he returns from Ryugenzawa next week.  I'm sure that he would
love to meet you as well."  

"Ryugenzawa?  Where's that?  Near Okinawa?"

"Oh, no, not that far.  It's in Shikoku, in the center of the island.
He has a friend there who works as a forest ranger and he needed some
help, so Ranma and Nabiki went there to give a hand.  It's so sweet of
them to think of others first."

"Indeed," Masaru noted, impressed not only by the mention of Ranma's
kindness but also the advantages of forest combat.  The Shidou school of
kendo specialized in close-quarters combat, gleaned from years upon
years of samurai warfare in such locales.  The location, now that he
knew the general area, shouldn't be hard to reach, and the three Shidou
brothers could get there with a minimum of fuss.  Once there, they could
then go on about the necessary but not-too-savory function of
challenging Ranma.

And that, Masaru mentally added, would be a whole new world of problems.
He remembered what Kakeru had said about the brown-haired girl the other
day and figured her to be Ranma's other sister; she would be an unknown
if they attacked and he'd have no idea of how she reacted; it could be a
case of going from three against one to three on two.  If Ranma was as
good as Kakeru said, and certainly good enough to teach Hikaru, it could
be trouble if a sister joined in.  But that would be something to worry
about at a later date.

"Masaru-nisama!" Masaru turned around and noted Hikaru walking towards
him, and what he saw gave him cause for concern.  Before meeting Ranma,
his sister was light and springy, the ideal form for kendo combat.  But
now, as she walked towards him, she was wearing some form-fitting
Chinese clothing...and saw that his sister was becoming well built, her
body slightly more muscular and certainly better toned.  Before, she
could occasionally best him in a kendo contest by virtue of her speed
and skill - where she picked up the extra expertise, he had no idea.
Now, however, she looked as though she could easily outmuscle him as
well.  "Thank you for picking me up.  I appreciate it."  

"It's no problem, Hikaru-chan," her brother replied.  "Kasumi-san and I
here were just talking about your skill in kempo and how much you've
improved since you started.  I have to admit, though I haven't seen
where you started at, it shows on you that you've learned a lot."

Hikaru blushed from the compliment.  "Thanks, Masaru."  She then looked
at Kasumi and said, "Oh, before I forget - I forgot to bring a change of
clothing, so I borrowed...Nabiki's, er, clothing.  Do you think she'll
mind?"  Hikaru felt bad about blatantly lying in front of her brother,
but the redhead knew very well that she couldn't explain that the
smaller, more petite clothing was not Nabiki's, but Ranma's, built for
his female form.  Though it looked very much like his normal attire, it
was clearly made with the curves of a woman in mind.

"Of course not," Kasumi replied, recognizing the clothing instantly and
also understanding why Hikaru couldn't be upfront about it.  Even after
all these years the house matron had a hard time accepting that her dear
brother led a double-gendered life, and not by his choice.  But that was
something to discuss for a later moment and not here and now.  "You can
just return it the next time you're here.  Will you still be coming by
in a couple of days?"

"Actually, if you don't mind, Kasumi-chan, I'd like to come by tomorrow.
I'd like to try out a couple of routines that might allow me to combine
my sword skills with the maneuvers Ranma taught me."  ((And I'll have
only the one day to do it,)) Hikaru mused.  ((No doubt that Ukyo woman
is far more expert at shifting between pure hand, pure weapon and
between, so that'll put me at a disadvantage that I'll have to get over
pretty quick.))  Doubtless the redhead could have used her skills as the
Pillar to compensate, but that was not in Hikaru's nature.  If she was
going to get into a combat situation, she was going to fight as fair as
she could.

"That's no problem at all, Hikaru-chan.  Just give me a call tomorrow
and let me know what time you'll be over.  If I'm not here, you know
where the spare key is located."  Kasumi bowed to Masaru and added, "It
was nice meeting you.  I hope we get the opportunity to meet again."

Masaru returned the gesture.  "I hope so as well, Kasumi-san."  ((Well,
if anything, Ranma's worthy from a family standpoint; his sister could
easily pass for a female Satoru.  I just hope he's as good all around as
Hikaru told Chidara, and as the magazines say he is.))  With a quick
wave and hug between the two women, Masaru and Hikaru headed out to his
car, parked in front of the dojo.

As the pair drove off, a tired Hikaru yawned momentarily, then fell
asleep in the passenger seat.  That was fortunate for Masaru, as it gave
him plenty of time to talk.  Dialing up Satoru and Kakeru on a
multi-line call, Masaru said, "Brothers mine, I have the information
that we need.  Kakeru, how much time would it take for you to get the
next few days off?  We've got some traveling to do, and if we're going
to pull it off...

~*~

[[...it will take imperative timing on your part, Kuonji-san,]] Kuno's
voice answered as it came through the speakerphone.  [[The Pigtailed
Girl may be enslaved, but even still I warrant her to be a powerful
enemy, even if she does not know what she is doing under Saotome's
spell.]]

Ukyo stared out the window of her home office, looking at the iron gray
sky, as though searching for a clue.  Something felt very, very wrong
about doing all of this, but at the same time, it might be her only
chance of getting rid of this newest problem before it was too late.
And that was part of the problem, she realized.  Before, she never had a
problem making deals with the devil; during the period they all referred
to as the "fiancee wars", all the girls at one time or another were used
to scheming together to break up Ranma and Akane.  Ukyo had even schemed
with Shampoo many a time, and that was even as Akane was becoming a
close friend of hers.  

So then why did this feel different?  Why did she feel so dirty about
what she was going to do?  The fiancee wars were long since over, and
this was something entirely different.  It was now just her and Ranma
and this newcomer, and Kuno was merely providing, if unaware of it, a
way for Ukyo to finally shine for once and for all.

"Okay," she finally said into the phone.  "Meet me at the Shiokaze
Kaihin Park in Daiba, tomorrow at 10:30.  That should give us at least
an hour or so before she's there.  We can work out some kind of plan."

[[Very well, Kuonji-san.  I shall see you on the morrow.]]  With that,
Kuno hung up on his end and the line went dead for a second before
resetting back into ready tone.

Like the card, Ukyo held the phone as though it were a snake.  Now
having committed herself to the deception, she somehow felt dirty, as
though she wasn't going to win Ranma's hand the fair way.  Setting the
phone down in its powercradle, she sighed and went back to the
bookkeeping before she opened the restaurant for the day.


"You know," Ryoga's voice came unannounced as he walked into her office,
"we've seen some times, you and I.  And we've probably done some things
we regret when we were younger.  But I don't think I've ever done
anything like what you just did."

Ukyo looked at him, her eyes narrowing.  "Were you eavesdropping on me?"

He shook his head.  "No, just, um, looking for the toire.
Unfortunately, I ended up here...and maybe it's a good thing that I got
lost this time."

"Sugar, I hate to be brusque, but it's none of your business.  This is
between me and Kuno-"

"-and Ranma's new girlfriend," the lost man interjected.  "I'm not the
smartest person in the world, Ukyo, but I remember what it was like to
scheme and plot, even if they weren't great ones.  You and Kuno have
something planned against Ranma's girlfriend, I know it."

"So what're you going to do?" Ukyo said in cool tones.  "You going to
tell Hikaru or something?  Or Nabiki?  Or Ranchan?"

"No, because you're my friend as well, even if you're straining the
relationship like this.  But it saddens me."  The dangerous look on her
face turned to one of confusion, and Ryoga clarified.  "It was two years
ago that Akane was killed by a woman who refused to understand that
there is such a thing as going too far.  Two weeks after that, you were
attacked and scarred by a woman who was also willing to do anything to
get Ranma...and she nearly killed Nabiki as well, remember?  So tell me
this: did you learn from those events...or did you learn how to be just
like Shampoo and Keiei?"

Ukyo reacted as though she were slapped.  "I can't believe you said
that!"

Ryoga shrugged.  "Someone had to.  I don't think you thought of that."

Ukyo's face darkened as she scowled.  She was clearly going to lash out
at Ryoga, but instead mostly held her tongue and snarled, "Leave me the
hell alone, Ryoga.  You're hardly one to lecture me on restraint."

The look in his eyes was sad as he heard that.  "I know, which is why
I'm telling you this: no matter what, you're going to lose this battle,
even if you win.  You just can't see that yet."  Walking over to her, he
gave her a friendly hug, something rare for him and commented, "If you
need me, you have my cell phone number.  I think I'll be heading back
home tonight - you don't need someone to help you adjust, you need a
collaborator...and you and Ranma are too good friends of mine to watch
the dance of betrayals start again."  Before she could say anything, he
walked out of her office, and a few minutes later she heard him leave
through the front door.

((Great, Ukyo, piss off your friends as well as make a pact with someone
you don't trust,)) she derided herself.  ((Is there anything else you'd
like to try?))  Unable to answer her own question, she found no peace
while searching for the answers within.  Eventually she gave up and got
ready to go to work, hoping that a day at the Ucchan would be better
than sitting in an empty house that signified what her life was like
now...and was she not willing to go the extra distance to succeed, the
way her life would always be.

~*~

"So, are we ready to go?" Satoru asked his brothers as the trio stood at
the gate to their plane.  "Masaru, Kakeru, do you have everything you
need?"

Kakeru nodded.  "Yeah, fortunately I have a friend in the colonel's
office that was willing to talk the old man into giving me a week's
leave."  Holding up a camouflage duffle bag, he added, "I also have a
friend in the GSDF who was willing to lend me some of his unit's
navigation maps of the Ryugenzawa area.  He said it's a damn weird
place, but that for our 'training' purposes it should suffice nicely."

Masaru, for his part, held up a small satchel he'd been carrying.
"Yeah, I got us set.  It'll take us about an hour to fly down to
Takamatsu, then we'll stay overnight at the Takamatsu JAL Hotel.  After
that, we'll take a rental car in the morning and drive down to the
southern end of Ryugenzawa.  There's a town there, and mostly where
people enter the place."  A second later, he digested Kakeru's words and
asked, "What's so weird about it?  The map doesn't suggest volcanoes or
hot springs or anything like that in the area."

"No, that'd be normal," Satoru answered as he nodded at his brothers'
research, "but I did some looking up of information on the internet last
night and needless to say, Kakeru's friend's right - the place is
weird."  Pulling out a small book of his own, he added, "The park ranger
is a hereditary job, handled by the Ozusano family.  Normally, that's
useless information, but it seems that the job is hereditary because the
family was placed in charge of it by the Imperial Family themselves -
the Ozusano clan are reputedly the descendants of Susano and Kushinada.
Moreso, Ryugenzawa is supposedly the sleeping home of the Orochi hydras
- there's more than just the Yamata-no-orochi.  How much of that is
true, I don't know, but the Ryugenzawa forest is known for being the
only place in the world with abnormally sized animals."  For proof, he
showed them a picture he printed off the net, a picture of a fox the
size of a tourist bus - with the bus next to it for comparison. "The
animals apparently are trained not to leave the forest, but anyone who
enters there is in for serious problems - probably why the GSDF uses it
as a training site."

Masaru gave Satoru a curious glance, as this was all clearly extra
information that he didn't have before.  "Unusually large animals.  The
descendants of mythical heroes.  Oh, and while we're there, we're going
to challenge our sister's boyfriend and maybe have to fight his sister
as well, maybe even this forest ranger friend of theirs if the
misunderstanding gets out of hand."  Burying his face in one of his
hands, he asked, "I wonder how much else of this is going to turn into a
problem for us?"

"Still not too late for me to call in an air strike first," Kakeru
cracked.  "I know someone at the bomber wing down in Fukuoka, and they
are doing training runs this week...."

Satoru rolled his eyes in a manner that showed parental patience with
his brothers.  "Remember, this is for Hikaru.  Why else would we do
this?" he asked, as he cocked his head to hear the announcement that
their flight was now boarding.  "Frankly, I've also done some reading up
on Saotome-san, and by all indicators, it should be a fair fight, and
one I'd normally avoid.  But this is not a pointless fight; it's one
we're doing for our sister's sake."

"Yeah, you're right," Masaru admitted.

"I'd do anything for Hikaru-chan," Kakeru added.  "Even something this
insane."

Looking at each other once more, the three brothers steeled themselves
in their resolve to do this all for their sister's sake, and with
nothing else to add, changed the conversation topic as they made their
way down the jetway to their flight.

~*~

A flash of silver.  A spark of red.  A blur of black.  As the sun sank
in the sky, sunset began to give way to nighttime and the silvery stars
that graced the nocturne sky over Tokyo with their presence.

A flash of silver.  A spark of red.  A blur of black.  Three targets
fell, downed by relatively fierce attacks that they could not withstand.


Standing in the center of the dojo, Hikaru moved into an arcane
position, a defensive posture that was quite unusual for Terran fighting
stances but perfectly normal for the skills of Cephiro.  Standing on one
foot, she required all her combined skills to pull the move off,
balancing herself on that single foot, while with the other raised,
ready to strike out.  Her sword arm held not her shainai, but rather the
razor-sharp blade of her katana, ready for battle for the first time in
two years.  Arced slightly back from her but pulsing with power, her
left hand held a primer charge of her fire magic, ready to loose at the
next target if need be.  It was clear by any stretch that Hikaru was
readying for combat.

She'd been at this all day, and to be honest, it had turned out to be a
blessing that Kasumi was unable to come by the Saotome-Tendo home.  It
made it easier for Hikaru to ramp up the workouts, and to practice her
fire magic's defensive and low-level offensive spells with a minimum of
explanation necessary.  Though she wouldn't have problems telling
Kasumi, there were some things, such as Cephiro that Hikaru didn't think
best to reveal; even so, everyone thought Hikaru to be absolutely normal
and she was in no hurry to change anyone's mind on that score any time
soon.

As she stood there in concentration, images formed in her mind.  She
could almost hear Umi's teasing, taunting voice again, hearing how much
her "accident" cost Hikaru everything and how "sorry" she was; the
redhead compared that with the fevered imagination of Lantis and Umi
destroying what Hikaru and the swordsman had so very dearly built
together.  The redhead's blood boiled and, as was normal for her when
she was furious, her eyes changed from their normal brownish hue to a
brilliant red, the red of anger.  

((No one's going to do that to me again!)) her mind shrieked.  ((I will
*not* be toyed with again!))  For too long she suffered in the dark,
dank pits of loneliness, only to find herself out once more when Ranma
came into her life.  Now, someone was threatening her happiness, and
Hikaru was not going to stand idly by.  Perhaps the more innocent Hikaru
of many years ago would have found her older self's actions disturbing,
but that Shidou Hikaru had long since been destroyed, torn to bits by
the betrayal of her best friend.

As if the world were in slow motion, Hikaru slowly brought her feet to
even keel, moving her sword arm back and moving her magically-imbued
hand in small circles, creating a small fire shield.  She paused for a
second, ready to hit the next set of dummies, ready to strike them down,
whether by blade, spell or physical prowess.  Her anger was building,
rising, feeling a part of herself that she hadn't encountered in a
while.

Hikaru dropped the sword instantly and sank to her knees, tears rising
to her face.  Once again, she almost fell to her darker nature.  Most
people had a darker part of their soul that they were ashamed of; few
had ever had to face it outright.  Only Hikaru had ever had to face it
in the way she had, in a warped, violent, amorous version of herself
that she called Nova.  ((No.  Never.))  Despite the supposed peace that
Hikaru had made with that fractured part of her soul, she still feared
Nova's existence, feared that someday she might lose control of herself
and loose the psychotic pseudo-elf on an unsuspecting world.  Worse
still, losing control of herself as the Pillar would be far worse than
anything that Emeraude could have come up with.  Emeraude's problems
were caused by a lack of being able to express her emotions as she
should have.  Hikaru's would come from too much of it, all of it
exponated by her own godhood.

Anger was clearly not the way to go.  Feeling dejected about it, and
knowing that she had scant hours to push herself to her limits before
tomorrow's skirmish, she sat down to meditate, searching for her center.
Hikaru focused, closing her eyes, going deeper within, searching for
something truer within herself.  Within herself, she began to walk
towards a light, a bright, warm, all-consuming light.  It shone, within
the depths of her inner being, the lighthouse in the storm of all else.
Knowing what it represented, she continued towards it eagerly.

Memories of the past four months with Ranma filled the girl's head.  A
dozen smiles, kisses, sighs of tender love and all that left the girl
paused in thought.  Months had passed, yet sometimes it didn't feel like
it.  Instead, it felt more like an endless procession of joyful moments,
holding hands in the park, looking deeply into the other's eyes and
feeling sensations and emotions far different than either individual had
ever felt before.  

((I love him,)) she thought as revelation struck the young woman with a
force 10 blow.  ((It's not a matter of not wanting to let go of him,
it's a matter of that I can't.  He's so important to me, so vital to my
life....  I can't let go, I just can't!  He's my world, the man I lov-))

Tingling sensations began to rip and dance through every pore of
Hikaru's being; every bit of her, every cell, every molecule began to
chant with emotional power and something stronger than her fire magic,
something just as pure and dynamic as the mystical natures that made her
the pillar.

((I won't give him up!  I won't give up my love for Ranma!))

Her eyes snapped open, burning red once more, but not with embers of
anger.  Instead, they glowed with a brighter hue, as if they were twin
beacons of light, dual lamps of hope in this challenging time for her.


What happened next happened so fast, it felt to Hikaru as though it were
naught but a dream.  Leaping to her feet automatically, she did a
complete flip in the air, grabbing her katana while on the 180-degree
portion of her cycle.  Landing normally, she slid into an easy, standard
attack posture, in the center between three targets.  Closing her eyes,
she began to glow with a halo of fire, magical flames emanating from her
though not setting anything in the immediate vicinity on fire.

Dropping low, she swung the blade in a sharp arc.  The air burned with
intense energy as her blade ripped a path through its motion and at the
apex, a blast of energy tore along the ground to pound against the
nearest target, waves crashing against the shore.  Before a second had
passed, the strike turned the heavy wooden target into woodchips and
flame, after which it exploded with the force of a pinecone crackling
apart in a forest fire.  

However, Hikaru wasn't quite done yet.  The second she finished her
swing, she released her blade, letting it sink into the dojo floor.
Spinning with an expertise born of years of gymnastics and kendo
training, the swordswoman rushed the second target and the second she
moved into range, assaulted it with as many punches as she could throw
in a matter of seconds.  Though nowhere near as fast as Ranma's Chestnut
Fist (or for that matter, any number of high-speed attacks the local
martial artists possessed), Hikaru's attack left a little extra
something.  As her punches connected, her whole body glowed, and blasts
of fire magic erupted from her fists on contact.  The target was rocked
back, its bulk set ablaze by sheets of flame.  Finally, in a finishing
strike, she spun and hit it with a fierce arc kick, causing a detonation
that turned the item into a momentary bonfire.

Still not enough, by the time the pyre had begun to increase, she
allowed herself to carry through the rest of the kick, to land in a
ready pose.  Bringing her hands back momentarily, she then thrust them
forward as she screamed, *"AKAI INAZUMA!"*  Ripping clear from her
hands, the red-hot bolt of plasma careened towards the target, impending
a violent crash.  As expected, the magical thunderbolt cored the wooden
post easily before shattering it into so much matchsticks.  However, the
force of the blast was more than Hikaru had intended and the attack
continued on for at least another fifteen meters, tearing through the
dojo's back wall, into the neighbor's home and through the ornamental
bamboo fountain that said neighbor had installed.  Between the kinetic
forces and potent magic involved, there was an ear-splitting eruption,
enough so to send plaster, wood, metal and varied other items to the
wind, as water streamed away in an artificial geyser.  

Hikaru could only stare at the destruction that she'd caused, a blush of
embarrassment covering her face and masking the fact that she was
stunned that she caused it.  ((Ano...I guess I should, um, clean that
up,)) she thought, her mind coming back to the present and body winding
down from her instance of battle-readiness.  As she began to magic away
the damage, the first thing that came to mind was how much trouble she
was going to be in for the outright amount of mayhem she created;
fortunately for her, this section of Nerima was long since used to the
chaos and chose to let it be.  By the time Hikaru finished waving her
hands to repair the destruction, no one had even noticed.  

But as she began cleaning up, other things came to mind as well.  She
noticed that all these attacks she'd initiated came down within a matter
of seconds, still not faster than Ranma could move but speedier than
she'd ever done under her natural power, unaided by her mystic
abilities.  The other thing she felt was a pang of shame that it came
down to the fact that in order to prove that she loved Ranma she'd have
to fight his best friend.  Hikaru had no doubts that Ukyo was a nice
person aside from the other night's incident, and that if they'd met
under different circumstances, they'd have been good friends.  Maybe
there was still a chance for that; after all, most of the people she
knew in Cephiro at one time or another had been her mortal enemies.

With a final wave of her hand, the carbon scoring and sword cuts on the
tatami mats were gone.  Sheathing her sword, Hikaru yawned as she went
to the door of the dojo, closing it and heading to the main home.  It
was already midnight, according to her watch, so she'd just stay here
the night and head over to Daiba in the morning; she was sure no one
would mind.  Besides, it would give her a chance to sleep in her
boyfriend's bed tonight, and though he wasn't here, it would give the
redheaded girl a chance to sleep just a little closer to him and dream
about her beloved Ranma.

~*~

Nabiki leapt back, avoiding the massive paw that came towards her.
Thinking ((That was too close,)) she regained her footing and sense long
enough to call out, "Hey, I could use some help here!"

"On my way," someone called from a slight distance behind her.  As she
dashed towards the beast's left in order to allow her more room to move,
she wondered, not for the first time, if what she had been doing was the
right or intelligent thing to do.  After all, she was better than she'd
been in the past couple of years, and yes, she did agree to this,
but....

Nabiki looked up at the huge badger that stood before her.
Approximately the size of a city bus and clearly annoyed at her attempts
to corral it, it had already taken swings at her, more akin to warding
away a pest rather than any attempt at outright attack by the creature.
Still, considered a pest or no, that bothered Nabiki no small bit and
she dashed in, ready to hit the thing and try to drive it back deeper
into the forest, away from the populated edges of the woods.  Peoples'
lives were at stake here, whether the monsters meant to endanger them or
not and it was up to Nabiki to do something about it if she could.


Without even really giving it thought, she leapt to the air and landed a
vicious kick across the nose of the thing.  "Why don't you just turn
around and go back to the middle of the forest?" she shouted at the
thing in frustration.  In response, it swung another paw at her and it
took the martial artist all of her aerobatics to twist out of the path.

Landing on the ground, she stayed on the floor only long enough to prep
for her next strike.  Taking once more to the air, she went straight for
its face again, and as soon as she moved into range she cut loose with a
series of punches and kicks to drive the thing away.  She had no idea if
it would be effective, but it was really the only choice she had left.
Dropping back to the ground twice, she continued her strikes twice more
before the badger, stinging from the small bruises she was leaving,
decided it wasn't worth the effort and turned around, lumbering for the
safety of the deeper woods.

Landing awkwardly, Nabiki smiled as she wiped sweat from her brow.
((Whew...well, that's one less of these beasties that I have to chase
around this forest.))  Behind her, she could hear steps approaching, and
without turning, she announced, "Took you long enough...I thought you
were supposed to be better than me at this."

"Sorry," the voice behind her replied.  "I've been too busy dealing with
checking the Orochi's Lake to see that none of them are waking up.  That
would make a bad situation worse."

Nabiki thought about that for a minute, remembering the tales that
Ranma, Akane and Ryoga had mentioned about their encounter here in
Ryugenzawa against the Orochi, so long ago.  The fact that all three had
nearly lost their lives against the legendary Japanese hydra had been
bad enough, but the fact that this was the second one (after the
mythical one of yore), meant that there were more of them.  The words
she'd just heard confirmed that, and it made her shudder.  Perhaps years
ago, the legend of each Orochi holding a secret treasure (the original
held the famed Kusanagi sword, the one Ranma fought had a moss that
could heal any wound) would have been enough to cause her to have
someone hunt for it.  But that was a different Nabiki ago, and that girl
had none of the experience, pain or maturity of the woman who now
shuddered at the thought.  

Looking at the person who just addressed her, she commented, "So what do
you think?  Is it going to get any worse?"

"No, from what I can tell, the Orochi won't wake up again, and it's too
soon for the younger ones to try to make their way to the surface."

"And that's a good thing, too," a third voice said as a blur leapt down
from the treeline.  "I'd hate to have to deal with that all over again."
Pausing to look around their section of the forest, the person then
added, "Well, it's pretty quiet, if you ask me, Shinnosuke.  A couple
more days of this, and things should be back to normal for you."

Shinnosuke nodded.  "Yeah.  I can't express how much I appreciate you
coming back to help me, Ranma.  Things have been tough around here since
my grandfather died, and I don't have anyone else I can really turn to
yet."  The park ranger grinned.  "Well, at least I have good friends
that I can turn to, like you and Akane."

Ranma winced from that statement, both from the reference to his
deceased wife and Shinnosuke's famed forgetfulness; Nabiki merely rolled
her eyes while she inwardly felt for Ranma.  "Um, Shinnosuke, I'm Nabiki
- Akane's older sister, remember?" she said, giving him an even look.
When that look was met with a blank stare, she turned and the look of
her face changed to one of exasperation.  "I'm getting too old for
this...."

Ranma chuckled at the comment to cover his own sorrow.  It had been
enough of a surprise to him that Shinnosuke had remembered him, let
alone anyone else, after all these years.  Yet somehow, he had
remembered the mongoose horn whistle and Ranma's particular curse, both
of which allowed the park ranger enough memory detrius to note Ranma
from a magazine he'd read.  From there, it was a short lookup in the
phonebook and a plea for help to control an area that had recently
gotten too much for Shinnosuke to deal with.  Ranma was all too eager to
help out an old friend, and since he was looking for a new training
routine for his sister, Nabiki was summarily dragged along.  To her
credit, she hadn't complained too much.

Meanwhile, Shinnosuke had continued talking to Nabiki.  "Well, my
grandfather continued to protect this place, right up until the day he
passed away.  I had to give up my college studies and a girlfriend who
didn't want to live here, following the family ways...some people just
don't understand giri," he answered with a shrug.

Ranma looked at Nabiki, who in turn looked back at her brother.  Giri
had cost them quite a bit, and depending on the whims of life, it could
have very well been that they would have ended up as husband and wife
due to that concept rather than the relationship they currently enjoyed.
Without any prompting, both looked at Shinnosuke and chirped, "Oh, we
know about giri.  *Believe us*, we *know* about giri."  

It was then that there was a rustle in the bushes near them, too
localized and small to be one of the animals.  All three of them turned
to face the green, and as they did, three men walked out of the brush.
Two of them wore jeans and t-shirts, while the third was dressed in dark
military style cargo-pants and a black shirt.  All three of them had
stark looks in their eyes, the frames of their eyes and something in
their faces that looked familiar.  At first, Ranma thought he might know
them, but then that was changed when he saw what they were carrying: all
three men were carrying high-quality katanas of an exquisite design and
probably razor-sharp within their scabbards.  Ranma saw the warrior's
look in their eyes, saw the way they held their swords and instantly
knew them: sword artists, at least on the level of Kuno, if not on
Hikaru's.  It was beyond obvious that they were here for something; the
question was what? - or maybe a question of whom.

"We're looking for a Saotome Ranma," the oldest and tallest of the three
answered, even as he stared at Ranma directly.  He knew exactly who he
was looking for, and everyone around there knew it.  Before he even had
a chance to respond, the three of them fanned out to face him.

Ranma hadn't even bothered to move; they'd shown no signs of attacking
and if he was lucky...if *they* were lucky...they wouldn't do so.
"That's me.  What can I do for you?"

"We're here to see if you're worthy," the one dressed in faux-military
gear answered.  He had a wild look in his eyes, as opposed to the cool
look in the first one and slightly regretful yet determined look on the
second.  "We're here to see if you're really as good as we've been
told."

"A future life hangs in the balance, Saotome," the third one answered,
"and we have to make sure you're worthy enough."

"Hey, this is a peaceful forest," Shinnosuke said, stepping in front of
Ranma to shield him, "and I don't appreciate weapons being in the area
of my authority.  I'm going to have to ask you to leave, if you're going
to continue to carry those around."  Shinnosuke was stepping in front of
the martial artist to protect the swordsmen from Ranma vice the other
way around; he'd seen Ranma in action enough times to know that if Ranma
could beat the Orochi, three guys with pigstickers weren't likely to put
up much of a challenge.

"Step out of the way," the oldest one commented.  "We have nothing
against you; this is purely between Saotome and us three."

"Hey, I don't even know you guys," Ranma said, still not readying
himself for combat.  "You guys care to tell me who you are and what you
want?"

"Look, pal," Nabiki answered, having enough of it.  She had no idea what
was going on, but she knew Ranma couldn't be at the bottom of this.  "I
don't know what you want with him, but three against one is a bit
against fairness, though he can easily take you.  But that's not the
point.  The point is, if you're going after my little brother, one of
you is going to have to dance with me first," she challenged, stepping
in front of Shinnosuke and Ranma and pointing her thumb at herself.

Three people squared off against three others in the clearing of a
forest, each side waiting for the other to make the next move.  The air
was so still, the ground green and lush, and the small lake they were
standing by all combined with the people to make a picturesque scene, a
beautiful landscape that would have been shattered the minute one side
or the other attacked.  Slowly the three pulled out their katanas, the
razor-sharpness reflecting glints of light off the blade.  Across from
them, Shinnosuke brought his bo staff to bear, while orange and blue
hues momentarily wrapped around Ranma and Nabiki.

Satoru, not taking his eyes off the three, addressed Kakeru.  "Are you
sure you can pull of what you said you could?"

Kakeru nodded in response, though his older brother never saw the
motion.  "The timing might be a bit dicier, admittedly, but I don't
think it'll be an issue, overall."  He moved his hand just a slight
increment, scarcely noticeable to most people, though Ranma and company
saw it as clearly as a red flag.  "Although I have to admit, it's not
something I want to do."

"Then why do it?  You haven't even told me who you are or why you want
to take my head off," Ranma snarled.  "Bad enough that you want to take
me down and I don't even know you, but now you're threatening my friend
and my sister as well, and frankly, to me that's grounds enough for
kicking your ass from here to Shibuya and back."  Finally, to let them
know he meant business, he slid out of his stance into a combat-ready
stance, eyes darting from target to target and calculating how many
nanoseconds it was going to take to beat these guys senseless and then
try to get some sort of method to their madness out of them.

"You don't understand, Saotome - we have to find out if you're worthy,"
the one who looked the most regretful responded.

"Worthy of what?" Nabiki snarled.  She didn't like where this was going,
and the one that had moved slightly was likely to be the first one to
attack.  Ranma and Shinnosuke knew that as well, but unlike her, they
probably knew how to counter weapons strikes.  Nabiki had picked up
whole tomes of knowledge and talent in the past few years of training
and was now just as good as her wandering sisters Natsumi and Kurume,
but she still had no idea of how to counter weapons.

"Enough of this," the oldest said curtly, even though he paused for the
merest second as though he was regretting what they were about to do.
"Kakeru, remove the two non-combatants as quickly and painlessly as you
can.

The one named Kakeru, the one who had moved slightly, nodded sadly.
"I'll try."  The man closed his eyes...

That was enough of a warning for Shinnosuke.  Bo staff at the ready, the
ranger charged the three, ready to stop the battle immediately.  If he
won, he'd get some answers out of them.  If he lost, he'd at least be
able to buy some time for Ranma and...Nakiko...or whatever his cousin's
name was.  Thundering towards the trio of swordsmen, he screamed, "This
is your last chance to surrender, because in a second I won't be holding
back!"

Kakeru opened his eyes, and there was a steely, militant gaze in his
sienna-hued eyes, a look Ranma and Nabiki were sure they'd seen
somewhere before.  "You can try," the young man told Shinnosuke, before
he pulled out his sword and struck.  "Enshodan Semetateru!"  In a move
that rivaled Kuno's Tembatsu Da or Hikaru's Ryusei Kenbu, the sword
flickered and moved with the speed of a hummingbird overdosing on
amphetamines.  The blade tore through Shinnosuke's staff like it was
straw, then with precision attacks, struck close enough to the person
itself without hitting him; it was, instead, the small vacuum bursts
left in the wake of the sword's momentum that buffeted the park ranger.
Finally, in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics, the swordsman swung a
tight arc in front of Shinnosuke's dazed body and a column of mint-green
hued energy tore away from the blade's path and slammed into Shinnosuke
full on, with no chance for him to block it.  The end result was
Shinnosuke dropping to the ground in defeat, a mere span of seconds
after he chose to contest the swordsman.

"Shinnosuke!" Ranma shouted.  "What the hell did you just do?"  Ranma's
anger was building, and the situation was forcing him to change tactics.
These three came claiming to not wish to harm anyone else but Ranma (for
reasons known only to them, no less), but now they'd gone and injured
Shinnosuke.  Within his mind, memories flashed from the last time he'd
seen his friend like that, a long, long time ago...and Ranma wished that
things were better this time.  If not, there was going to be hell to pay
- there was likely that going on anyway.

Nabiki didn't even wait for an answer.  Sensing that there was going to
be trouble, she moved in, fists at the ready.  Within seconds, she was
on all three, making them dodge and counter, but as she sensed Kakeru
was the more dangerous of the three, she moved in and focused mainly on
him.  Within seconds, she had all three of them weaving and dodging,
though it looked like they were playing around and not really struggling
to move out of her way.  

"Listen, miss," Satoru answered, "we have nothing against you, but if
you don't quit this, we're going to have to take you down."  To make his
point, he swung the blade in a narrow arc to make her dodge away, then
went for a wider sweep, one that would have taken off her head had she
not taken the instant to duck under the blow.  Instantly she came back,
however, with an uppercut that her opponent barely managed to dodge.  

"You fool!" she snarled.  "Look!  I'm trying to keep you from getting
yourself killed!  If Ranma gets into the battle, you can kiss your asses
goodbye!"  She spun once and delivered a glancing blow to Masaru's head,
which dropped him long enough for her to begin focusing on Satoru.  In
turn, he blocked it and leapt out of the way, allowing Kakeru to come in
close, hopefully bringing enough strength to bear to stop the woman
before things got out of hand.

He never got close enough.  There was a blur of green, and when Nabiki
looked up, Kakeru had been sent flying several meters, crashing
painfully into the ground.  She turned her head a little more, and there
was Ranma, his trademark cocky grin plastered on his face and a devious
look in his eyes.  "Too late, sis," he replied to her without turning
his head.  "I'm already involved."  Looking at the trio, he pointed at
them and said, "Last chance.  Give up or I'm going to have to get nasty
about things."


Satoru moved to help Kakeru up, looking at his youngest brother wince.
Clearly the wind had been knocked out of him, despite being the
strongest of the three, and the one with the most knowledge of combat
arts, due to his military training.  Yet Ranma moved in so fast no one
had seen him and delivered a blow strong enough to send an average-sized
man flying a few meters.  Clearly, he was good.  But that didn't mean
that he was worthy of Hikaru.  Pulling his brother to his feet, he
asked, "Are you okay?  If you want to pull out, say so."

"Not on your life, Satoru," Kakeru answered through clenched teeth.
"He's damn good, and I'm really going to feel that in the morning, but I
have to know if he's good enough for Hikaru."  That was not the whole
truth that Satoru saw in his younger brother's eyes; it was clear that
he wanted payback. "I'm not going to give up until he or I or both are
floored."

Satoru nodded, looking at Ranma standing there, not attacking and
waiting for Satoru's answer - the martial artist had already figured out
the three answered to the eldest.  Meanwhile, Nabiki and Masaru were
fighting each other fast and furiously, and though while Nabiki had
speed and agility on her side and Masaru held the edge in strength and
range, neither side was going to give easily, and the combative dance
between the two could continue for a long time to come.  Thinking out
loud, he said, "We're not going to get anything done if his sister's
playing around like this.  Do you have any idea of how we're going to
calm her down?"

Unfortunately for all, an answer was provided in an uncomfortable
manner.  Landing two fists and a knee to Masaru, the female artist sent
her foe crashing backwards into a large rock.  Dazed from the pain and
an anger building up in him, he snarled, "Okay, little girl, you want to
play rough?  I can play rough!"  Swinging himself back to his feet, he
clamped his hand down on his katana and dropped into a fast draw
maneuver.

Satoru and Kakeru looked at Masaru with surprise.  The least talented of
the three, the fact that he was dropping into an iyaii stance, something
that he wasn't really trained to do, meant that either he was willing to
bluff the female fighter, or that he had slipped momentarily beyond
reason and was angry to the point of doing actual violence.

In either case, Nabiki didn't care.  She was going to put him down and
then go after the other two.  "Let me show you what happens when little
boys like you get their toys taken away!"  She realized that Ranma was
giving them an opportunity to give up, but Nabiki wasn't about to be
that naive.  She trusted that her brother might be able to talk them out
of further action, but from the looks she saw in their eyes, they were
committed to this, though the three had yet to confess why.  Until that
happened, they needed to be stopped, and Nabiki needed to do it before
Ranma got into the act and caused serious damage in the process.

So it came as a shock to them all that Masaru, as Nabiki approached
striking distance, growled inhumanly as he drew his sword and swung in a
wide arc, the unintelligble sound that uttered from his mouth turning
into a raging sonnet of battle: "Take this!  *CHITABI KORASHIMERU
KOGASHUGYOHA!*"  In what seemed to be an impossible move for the young
man, Masaru ripped out his blade and swung with the widest arc he could,
unleashing a torrent of emerald energy at the attacking martial artist,
his move so unexpected, Nabiki had no time to counter it.

The blast hit her head on.  There was a scream, a spray of blood and a
blast of light, and Nabiki was thrown clear of the detonation, crashing
painfully and limply into the nearby lake, where she sank instantly.

*"NABIKI!"* Ranma screamed, his opponents momentarily forgotten as he
dived in after her.  Meanwhile, the three Shidou brothers stood around,
wondering what the hell had just happened, and if things were about to
get worse.  

~*~

Hikaru smelled the tangy scent of the ocean from where she stood.  It
was strange, the park that had been chosen.  On one hand, this seaside
recreation area, built on a manmade berm, was a wide open, grassy space
that led to a strip of concrete that faced Tokyo Bay.  On the other
hand, the park tended to be often deserted because of the view of the
industrial piers, not too far from where the park was.  In truth, there
was a cargo ship berthed across the way, but due to the recent economic
troubles in the country, the ship looked as though it hadn't gone too
far as of recent.  The redhead noted that all in all, it was a beautiful
vista.  She also noted that it was a sad place for such a sorrowful
event to happen.

"There you are, Red," a voice said from nearby.  Hikaru turned her head
slightly and saw Ukyo walking out from under a shady tree, her battle
spatula in her hand and a wild look in her eyes.  "I have to give you
credit.  I thought you would have decided to hide somewhere or hired
someone to do your fighting for you."  Stretching, Ukyo yawned and
added, "Not that it would have mattered.  I'd beat the whole of hell if
it meant getting Ranchan."

Hikaru looked at the tree where Ukyo just moved out from under.  For a
slight second, she thought she saw someone standing underneath there,
but didn't bother to use her enhanced powers to make sure.  Figuring it
to be her nerves, she instead refocused on Ukyo and sighed.  "Look, um,
Ukyo, I don't see why we have to do this.  We're only going to hurt
Ranma by fighting."

Ukyo rolled her eyes.  "Oh cripes, what - did you get that line from
Kasumi?"  A sign of pertinence, Ukyo slammed her blade down onto the
concrete, the edge biting through the cement floor and cracking it.
"I'm going to give you one more chance, Red - back away from Ranchan.
He's taken."

Hikaru looked sad as she unfurled the package she carried at her side.
Tossing the silken cloth aside, she revealed her katana, glittering with
a fiery hue as it caught the sunlight.  Holding the blade before her
once more, she looked at Ukyo with imploring eyes.  "We don't have to do
this.  I don't want to hurt you."

"I think you'd best worry about yourself," Ukyo retorted, "though I
won't try to hurt your pretty little face."  Still holding her
battlespat in an unusual position, she beckoned Hikaru to come forward.
"C'mon and let's see how strong you can be."

Drawing her katana from its sheath slowly, she sighed and said, "So be
it.  I'm just sorry it had to happen this way.  I was hoping that we
could have been friends."  Nothing more to say, Hikaru drew the blade
out, its silvery edge catching the sun as she brought her sheath to her
side and ran in, dashing towards Ukyo.  Hoping not to hurt her, Hikaru
both blade and grip and held it at an intentionally awkward angle.  If
she was lucky, her wide swing would be easy for Ranma's friend to avoid
and Hikaru could move in with a closer strike.

Ukyo, meanwhile, was prepared.  As Hikaru's strike came in, the chef
merely moved her handle to deflect the awkward blow.  In the meanwhile,
she pushed forward with a punch, clearly wanting to take off Hikaru's
head as quickly and cleanly as possible.  However, Ukyo's punch tore
through open air, as the pixie-like redhead leapt into the air and
completely behind Ukyo.  Ukyo swayed back as a kick tore through the
space her head had been just a second before.

"Hrmmm...so you *are* a bit of a challenge," Ukyo said in a cocky tone,
hefting her battle spat completely and charging forward.

"We don't have to do this!" Hikaru shouted, her voice sounding genuinely
sad even as she charged as well.  The two clashed almost instantly,
trading blows left and right.  It was clear, however, that neither of
them was going all-out yet, but rather gauging the respective strengths
of their skills.  However, sooner or later that was going to end, and
when it did, Ukyo would probably go all out, which meant that Hikaru
would have to do much the same to defend herself, let alone fight for
Ranma's hand.  But if they both did that, there would be no coming back,
and it could end up in upping the stakes until real violence came - the
kind someone couldn't walk away from.

"Oh, I assure you, Red, I have *every* reason to do this!" Ukyo seethed,
her eyes lighting up with anger.  She was going to deal with this
redhead on her own, put the girl down and for good...and if not, then
she at least had the backup plan.  She hoped Kuno was ready, at any
case; she didn't trust him worth a damn, but at this point she was
willing to make the deal with the devil to get what she wanted.  She
loved Ranma more than anything, and if that meant having to swallow her
pride and not be able to look at herself in the mirror, so be it.  She'd
be able to live with that for a while.

The battle raged on for minutes more as both combatants moved on.
Ukyo's spatula skills, very similar to spearfighting, were limited to
one or two styles, whereas Hikaru, though primarily versed in kendo, had
a lot more to fall back on, Cephiran sword schools not being the least
of them.  Blending, merging and switching styles in a heartbeat, she was
a blur of twists, whips, strikes, thrusts and reverse snaps.  For a
moment, the irony sank into her mind that for someone who as a longtime
warrior goddess of another reality, she was doing far more fighting in
her own native universe as of late.  However, that thought quickly
melted back into the forethought of swing, parry and thrust once more,
Hikaru's mind refocusing completely on the task at hand.


Stepping back and moving with an underhanded sweep, Ukyo swatted away
Hikaru's forward strike, but the redhead wheeled around quickly with a
strike that the brunette had to duck under quickly to avoid.  Moving
just in time to block a potentially painful blow that seemed to come
from nowhere, she admitted to herself that the redhead was faster and
more skilled than expected; simply fighting the same way she did the
last time she went up against someone with a sword might mean the
results would be the same.  However, most of her primary skills were
based on kendo, her family's naginata-jutsu style and some jigenryu that
she'd learned from Ranma's mother, not nearly enough to outdo Hikaru.  

The outcome could only be changed if Ukyo swapped styles radically, but
if she did, she'd have to do it at just the right time, or she'd leave
herself open.  But there was little choice, and even less so with what
she had at hand; it would have to be fist to fist, or she'd have to
adjust the usage of her spatula.  In either case, she had to do what she
had to do, or she was going to lose Ranma...((and that's something I am
*not* going to allow!)) her mind screamed.

With little choice left, Ukyo knew the only way there was going to be an
opening was to make one herself, and though that might put her in
trouble if she made a mistake, the alternative was a slow, agonizing
loss as Hikaru eventually gained the upper hand.  There was one move
that she knew of that might work for her in this situation (with a
slight adaptation for equipment on hand), but one that wasn't expected.
Taking her chances and throwing caution momentarily to the wind, Ukyo
struck.


On her end, Hikaru felt her arms strain.  Though she knew it was partly
from her putting a bit more bite than normal into her strikes, it was
also clearly due to the natural strength that the other girl had.
Additionally, Ukyo was fast, not as fast as Hikaru, but enough so that
she was a hairsbreadth behind the redhead, which meant the battle
between the two came down to tactics.  As the combat moved from the
higher part of the park towards the old pierside areas, Hikaru kept
pressing the battle. She wanted to end it as quickly as possible, not
only so that no one would get hurt but also so she didn't attract
unwanted attention.  Still watching for a chance, the redhead was
concerned she might have to resort to the use of her fire spells, when
Ukyo brought her weapon up, then down in a vertical strike.  Wondering
why the woman would leave herself open like that, Hikaru moved into a
simple blocking pattern even though it would have been simplicity itself
to end the battle right then and there (which would require bloodshed).
And as she did that, Ukyo corrected her move and as Hikaru realized what
Ukyo was truly up to, the swordswoman knew she'd made a mistake, one too
late to recover from.

~*~

The trio stood transfixed, looking at the space where the two martial
artists had been just a second ago.  There was nothing there now save
for the scorched earth, leading to the small lake where both had been
knocked in.  A short distance away, the third martial artist, the park
ranger, still lay, unconscious and blissfully unaware at the dark events
that were taking place.  

Satoru and Kakeru looked at their brother with surprise.  "Where the
hell did you learn how to do that?" Kakeru spat.  "That was...che, that
was just too seriously potent!"  He grinned slightly, shaking his head
in mild surprise.  "Maybe you should be the one in the military, bro.
No way I could do that sort of thing!"

Masaru looked at his hands as though they'd become writhing, living
creatures of hate.  Dropping his sword, he looked at them helplessly,
seeing the sliver of red that coated the sharp edge.  "I-I-I...I-"  He
paused momentarily to take a breath, then started again: "I...I drew her
blood.  I didn't mean to do it, but...."  He looked as if he'd go into
shock at any minute.

Satoru, instead of looking at him, stared out into the lake.  "He'll be
coming back out of the water any minute," the older man said.  Turning
to his brothers, he sighed and said, "We know you didn't mean to do it.
And I have no idea how you did that, either - as far as I know, no one
in our family was ever strong enough to master our ki like that.  But
that's not the problem right now."  Nodding his head in the direction of
the lake, Satoru added, "Any second now, Saotome is going to come out of
that water, and whether we meant to or not, we just inflicted harm on
his sister.  That's what's going to be foremost in his mind, nothing
else.  I think that it'd be best if we forestall this until-"

The breaking of waters silenced the trio momentarily as Ranma came out
of the water.  The three turned away respectfully, allowing for a moment
between the two siblings to surface.  As soon as it sounded as though
Ranma had reached the shore, gulping for air, the three turned as one,
with Satoru trying to come up with some sort of reasonable explanation
of what had happened and how they were going to resolve it.  The minute
he finished turning and stared at the two people who'd surfaced from the
water, any mote of verbage died on his lips.

A small, all-too-familiar redhead, soaked to the bone, gently and
gingerly set the wounded, unconscious Nabiki on the shore.

"Hikaru?" Satoru breathed, somehow managing to voice what his two
brothers could not bring themselves to utter.  What was she doing here?
And why was she in the water?  Where had Ranma gone to?  Was this some
sort of countertrap?  Had Hikaru found out what they were up to and
alerted Ranma?  Would she go so far as to go against her brothers to
protect him?

Meanwhile, not paying attention to the crowd around them, the redhead
immediately performed CPR on the other woman, until she coughed up
water, her breathing ragged but stable.  Next, the redhead stripped
Nabiki from the waste up, tearing the woman's tang and undershirt into
makeshift bandages and then removing her own tang and set it on her to
cover her.  When she was done, five minutes later, the redhead gingerly
kissed Nabiki on the forehead and whispered in a teary, broken voice,
"This is all my fault, sis.  I haven't a clue of what's going on, but
this is clearly my fault for not protecting you.  I'm sorry."

Then the redhead looked up at the three, and there was complete and
utter hatred in her eyes, a rage so powerful that waves of azure ki
began to ripple away from them like some sort of computer-generated
special effect.  Yet this was all too real, or for the brothers Shidou,
all too surreal.  And as the redhead stood up, eyes narrowing into
flares of fury, the whole thing descended into madness for the trio.

"Hikaru," Masaru began but never even managed to get to the rest of his
sentence as the young woman he addressed moved with an inhuman speed and
screaming, *"EIJONETSUHEKI AMAGURIKEN!"* cut loose with several hundred
rapid punches, each leaving a searing trail of blue power as they ripped
through the air to connect with the young swordsman.  This went on for a
full few seconds, bruising him utterly and shattering his katana, until
the girl, satisfied he'd suffered enough, slammed both palms straight
into his chest, blasting the man away a few hundred meters with a huge
roaring detonation of light and force.

As Masaru's body was flung away like some rag doll, the other two undid
their blades and slipped into combat stances...and not for mere play,
either.  Trying to contain the incredulous look on his face, Satoru
shouted, "Hikaru-chan!  What has gotten into you?"

"My name is not Hikaru, and if you mistake me for my girlfriend, you do
so at your peril," the young woman said, lifting her head and staring
them straight in the eyes.  "I am Saotome Ranma, Grandmaster of the
Saotome-Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and *you will all
pay for injuring my sister*!"  The woman raised her hand and clenched
her fist; a pulse of scorching blue light, strong as the midday summer
sun, erupted from the hand and caused a localized sonic boom that both
Shidous heard easily.  Automatically, Ranma slid into a combat stance;
not one of her normal ones, but instead one of the Saotome Forbidden
Yamasenken Style, an indicator that she meant business.


Yet it was not that which forced them to rethink what had happened, but
rather when then young woman turned to face them, eyes burning with
confusion and hate....

...eyes of blue that burned like the hottest stars of the galaxy beyond,
eternally inflamed balls that in the end probably didn't equate to the
level of anger and fury that Ranma was feeling at the moment.  Eyes of
blue that were nothing like Shidou Hikaru's, but very much so like
Saotome Ranma's, giving veracity to what the woman was saying...and
consequently causing more to fear.

Satoru and Kakeru blinked for just a moment before the surprise wore
off.  Kakeru said between clenched teeth, "Somehow I knew this was going
to be a bad idea.  Do you really think that's Ranma?"

Satoru peered at the woman before him, obviously relieved that it wasn't
his sister.  "I don't know, but regardless, she's still a danger.  She
took Masaru completely down with a matter of seconds, so be on your
guard."

"If I go after Masaru, can you hold her of-uff!"  The soldier's words
were cut off unexpectedly as the redhead tore towards him; only a
quick-thinking, lucky dodge had managed to save him as the woman blasted
past, fist outstretched and blazing with ki energy.  She moved on a few
more seconds before turning and skidding to a halt.

Eyes still blazing with rage, she pulled her arms back, then thrust them
forward and screamed, *"SAOTOME YAMASENKEN ATTACK - KIJIN RAISHU DAN!!"*
Twin arcs of energy ripped through the air, blasting a path straight at
Kakeru.  There was no doubt that whatever behind them was deadly.  But
this time, Kakeru was prepared.  Moving with a soldier's skill, the man
dodged the two with fluid, gracefully skilled moves and smiled the
grimace of one clearly prepared for combat.  

As he completed the second dodge, Kakeru wasted no time in prepping up
his own, military-taught ki attacks.  Bringing his blade up to the
traditional Shinsengumi parallel blade stance, he dashed forward,
launching a battlecry of *"MIBURO TETSUSAIKEN!"* as he moved the blade
forward in a flurry of dashes, each thrust causing a pop as it left a
bubble of vacuum in its wake, the glittering steel of the razor-sharp
sword being reduced to nothing more than a storm of silver as he
repeated the move over and over again in the hopes of stopping the
ruby-maned juggernaut before it was too late.  Flares of deep blue rent
the air as strike after strike flourished, each thunderous move coming
closer and closer to the female artist and the power behind the move
strong enough that despite the relative distance that Satoru stood, he
felt the power behind them keenly.

Yet even still, it wasn't enough to stop Ranma, who effortlessly moved
past each thrust as though he were dancing around turtles.  However,
after a few strikes, the redhead got sick of it and, stepping around one
more, poked at the blade, screaming, *"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"*  As expected,
the shattering attack that Ryoga had taught his best friend worked like
a charm, and as her finger impacted against the burning steel of the
sword, the metal shattered into a million brittle pieces, each sliver
flying in all directions, cutting whatever it impacted against and
drawing countless rivulets of blood.  Losing the weight of the blade,
Kakeru was carried forward by his own momentum, and right into Ranma's
path.

Smiling with a wicked gleam in her eyes, she could have launched a
million attacks, any of which would have been murderously effective.
Instead, Ranma settled for uppercutting the bastard as her wife had done
so many times when Akane had been alive.  The result of that was that a
dazed and stunned Kakeru, went a little too literally into his military
occupation, the JASDF officer vaulted in a very painful Air Akane style
into the lake where Ranma and Nabiki had emerged from seconds ago.
Problem number two taken care of, Ranma brought her arms in front of her
face, crossing one another before pulling them back to her sides quickly
and causing a massive burst of ki energy that was meant to psyche out
her opponent.  The fighter's version of a swordsman's ki stare, it was
effective for ending a battle before it started.

However, it didn't work on Satoru, who had been on both sides of that
sort of stare many a time.  Weighing his options and knowing that
whatever course he took would make or break the next few moments and
perhaps the future, Satoru did what was called upon him, both as a sword
artist and the head of the Shidou household.  Sheathing his sword and
dropping into a fast draw posture, he looked at the redhead before him
and said, "I have no idea who you are, or why you look like my younger
sister, or if you truly are who you claim to be, that of Saotome Ranma.
However, it is clear that you are strong and have done serious damage to
my brothers, and your speed is incredible.  I may, in all honesty, not
be able to defeat you.

"But know this, miss: my name is Shidou Satoru, and I and my brothers
were here to test Saotome for the sake of my sister Hikaru.  What has
happened to the woman over there was a regrettable accident, one that we
had not expected.  But you have appeared where we expected a man, and
you are formidable."

The woman dropped into an offensive pose, her eyes hardening.  Then,
after a few, she spoke, each word bitten off as though the young woman
were chewing on the very essence of fury itself, feeding on its juices
for her anger's nourishment.  "I am Ranma.  I have a Chinese curse on me
that turns me into this body under certain conditions - it's a
coincidence that I look like Hikaru."  Somewhere in the distance, as
though punctuating his sentence, the sound of thunder roared through the
air, a clear sign that rain was on the way.  "I should have known who
you were; your style is just like Hikaru's, and have many of the same
mannerisms.  Yet I didn't think clearly - my sister's been hurt, by your
family, no less!"

Drops of rain began to fall as the sky began to take on the gray shade
of rainstorms.  "Again, Saotome-san, that was not expected, and I
apologize profusely.  My intent had been to test you to see if you were
worthy of Hikaru's attentions, not to hurt your sister.  Yet it is clear
that this has moved on out of our control faster than I would have
preferred it to.  Perhaps we should table this for another time and take
care of measures first, then worry about challenges and trials later."
He moved to raise himself from his pose, doing so just as the sky began
to fall in earnest, the millionfold drops of water racing to the earth
en masse, giving a stony, dim pallor to all as the weather changed.

Ranma shook her head, rage still burning in her eyes.  "Oh no, you're
not getting off *that* easy!  Fight me now!" The rain spattered then
sizzled and fumed away in wisps of steam as it hit Ranma, her ki aura
strong enough to produce heat.  There was a clear and definite anger
within her, and she was going to take it out of them in blood.  She was
already wasting enough time on these three, when she could be getting
Nabiki (and possibly Shinnosuke) to the nearest hospital.  Then after
that, Hikaru was going to owe the martial artist one *hell* of an
explanation as to what was going on.

"I will not fight you," Satoru said, sighing.  "It looks like I may have
done enough damage where none was intended."  Admitting that, he relaxed
from his combat stance and took his hand away from his sword.  He then
fixed Ranma with an even look, standing stock still, expecting to be
downed in nothing flat like his brothers.  There would be no blame on
Ranma, considering what had happened, although the fact that Hikaru's
boyfriend suffered a curse that transformed him into a lookalike of his
girlfriend was interesting and a little unnerving as well.  But that was
another topic to deal with at a later time, once he regained
consciousness after Ranma dealt with him...and being dealt with, Satoru
firmly expected to be.  Closing his eyes, the swordsmaster awaited the
inevitable.

So after a few minutes passed, Satoru found that he was still standing
there, intact and unbothered.  Opening his eyes, he found no one
standing before him in the rain, found the unconscious forms of Ranma's
friend and sister gone...as well as the martial artist.  Near the shore,
protected by a tree, were the still out-cold younger Shidou brothers,
clearly bruised and battered from their ordeal but otherwise unharmed.
There was no clue in which direction the cursed martial artist had went;
the ground here was too hard to turn to mud and the sounds of the
rainfall masked any distant noise save for the occasional rumbling of
thunderheads.  

Walking over to check his brothers, it occurred to him that he'd gotten
his answer about Saotome Ranma in the worst way possible.  Despite what
inadvertent damage they'd done to his - her? - sister, despite the
unbelievable curse that he seemed to be under, despite the fact that the
martial artist was clearly plumbing the depths of his anger, he'd
remained more or less under control, delivering brutal but not crippling
or fatal strikes to Hikaru's brothers.  Despite the fact that Satoru
pretty much moved into a position that left him to Ranma's mercy, he was
left unharmed.  Despite the fact that Ranma's sister was seriously
wounded and an unknown condition about his friend, the cursed martial
artist still took the time to gather up the Shidou brothers and ensure
that they were okay before leaving the area.  And then there was the
undeniable fact that he (and, surprisingly, she, in her cursed form) was
just as much an untouchable fighter as Kakeru had remembered.  All of
which meant two things: that Saotome Ranma, regardless of anything, was
by far and away worthy of being with his sister...

...and the disastrous way in which Satoru had come to that realization
might not only have cost several people more than anyone wished, it
could also cause an irreparable schism between Ranma and Hikaru,
severing the very ideal relationship that the pair built.  As he came to
that conclusion, he was very uncomfortable being in the rain now,
because the next time he saw water patterns like this, it could very
well be his sister's tears.

~*~

>From his vantagepoint behind the clock sculpture, Kuno watched, his
mouth practically agape.  He'd seen his magnificent pigtailed girl in
battle many a time before, and she was an incredible fighter.  But now,
watching her in combat with a sword....  Words simply could not
describe.  It was more than poetry in motion, more than a fleet of
beautiful ballerinas on the stage.  It was, if he had to put words to
the image before him, like watching an angel, glorious and omnipotent in
her beauty, flying with a grace and skill that no human could match.  It
was clear that in the way Kuonji fought against the ruby-maned beauty,
the former stood no chance of victory.  As the redhead continued to duck
and weave, moving her sword about in patterns that were suggestive of
dozens of different sword styles, it was clear that the brunette was
holding out on her muscle alone, and that in the long run, she would not
have the variation in skill in order to keep up with the Pigtailed Girl,
much less defeat her.  There was also something undeniably familiar
about her fighting style, as though he'd come across it before.  Perhaps
she was related to one of his opponents in the kendo circuit, like the
Imagawa brothers or the Hitenno or Shidou dojos.

As he watched, Kuno was torn.  He loved Nabiki, he truly did.  Yet there
was an undeniable attraction to the redheaded wonder; even still, Kuno's
fiancee was not one to share spotlights and sobriquets gladly.  And he
did mean what he said, that he would not pursue the pigtailed girl any
further; to do so might cost him Nabiki's favors, something he was wont
to do.  Besides, there was an equally noble goal here: to rescue the
redhaired one from the clutches of the hellspawn Saotome Ranma before
there was no hope left to save her.

Kuno placed his hand on his blade, slowly sliding into an attack
position where he stood.  If the battle raged on to the point where he
stood, hopefully neither combatant would have the situational awareness
to be able to see as he came out.  That would help Kuonji defeat the
redhead.  She might be good enough to take Kuonji down, but she'd be
fought to a standstill Kuno's dizzying array of awesome power, and
between himself and Kuonji, sad as it was, the Pigtailed One would not
stand a chance.  Clearly that was what had to be done.  Nevermind that
it might cause the redhead a moment's worth of discomfort; to hurt her
would cause Kuno an age's worth of agonizing pain, but all the worth it
if it meant that she'd be free of Ranm-

There was a blur of motion, and to his surprise, Kuonji committed a move
that was inspiring and awesome in its motion, so unorthodox and
unexpected, it caused the juggernaut that was the redhead to momentarily
misread the move - a small yet damaging mistake.  Taking advantage of
the misreading instantly, Kuonji reversed her odd weapon and slammed the
pommel of her weapon right into the chest of the redhead, then quickly
brought it up fast enough to catch her on the chin.  The other combatant
spun, losing her weapon and nearly crashing to the ground, but
staggering back enough to remain upright.  However, in doing so, the
Pigtailed Girl left herself open, and that allowed Kuonji to press her
attack, laying in deep with a three-strike kick move that was painfully
effective and the sort of move that she could have only learned from one
person - the sort of person equally capable of cheating.

Kuno weighed his options.  Kuonji was winning, but in doing so had to
resort to trickery and chicanery, the sort of stunts that the bastard
Saotome used.  It was also clear, from the wild look in her eyes, that
she intended nothing less than grave injury towards the Henna-haired
Heroine and unless Kuonji was stopped, the redhead would be free of
Saotome forever...because she'd be beyond his grasp, as anyone who
crossed through the Jade Gates into the next world tended to be.  This,
Kuno decided, he could not stand for, his alliance with Kuonji
notwithstanding.  Additionally, perhaps in her weakened state, he'd be
able to finally convince the Pigtailed Girl that she was deserving of
much better in her life, meaning anything that did not count itself as
part of Saotome's sphere of influence.

Kuno unclasped his sword from its loop on his belt, bringing it up to
his eyes.  Thumbing it open, he noted that the blade still glittered
sharp, ready for this fight.  It would end in blood that he'd rather
have not spilled, but if it meant that the day would end with Saotome
shattered and the Pigtailed One free, then Kuno Tatewaki would be able
to breathe easier and muse on the next day that it was all worth it.
Quickly pulling the blade completely out and attaching the scabbard back
to its position, he waited for a ready moment, the perfect time in which
he could strike his blow.


The redhead screamed, then bit it off as the next wave of pain tore
through her.  Ukyo had the upper hand at the moment, held that advantage
and was pressing it not only because the chef had cheated, using a
variation of a forbidden attack, but also because Hikaru refused to ramp
up...and right now, it was costing her.  She knew it was costing her
because her sides and eye throbbed where she'd been hit, and if she was
lucky, she'd only wake up in the morning with a black eye and bruises
that she could banish away at a later date...assuming there would be a
later date.  At the rate Ukyo was attacking, the brunette was trying to
ensure that there wouldn't be a later date.

"I'm going to make sure that you learn your lesson, Red!" Ukyo roared as
she swatted at Hikaru with the flat of her battlespat, a move that the
redhead was barely able to dodge in time.  "You're not going to take
Ranma from me - *no one is*!  *I've fought my whole life for him!  I've
suffered and lost everything for him!*"  The woman's cries of rage were
getting stronger, and less coherent.  *"RANMA IS MEANT TO BE WITH ME,
AND I'LL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP HIM!"*  Ukyo paused for just a second, as
though something within her mind was unlatching, coming undone, and as
Hikaru looked into the woman's eyes to see what might be there, Ukyo
reacted fiercely, kicking the redhead in the face and bringing up her
battlespat in a move clearly meant to kill.

Blinking away the sensorial and pain, Hikaru looked up to see her
attacker.  Hands raised in a particular gesture, a weapon brought to a
killing stance only seconds before the final blow, Hikaru's memory chose
a strange moment to drift back a few years as she woozily murmured a
half-dazed comment of, "You're not going to beat me.  I won't lose to
you!"  Even so, Hikaru knew that there was going to be one chance to
survive, or else she would be dead.  And whether or not she liked it,
whether or not she liked the concept of cheating, there was no denying
the fact that she would have to do so to survive, to have to justify and
make peace with what and who she was, regardless of what side of the
dimensional barrier she was at any given time.  Mind set, brown eyes
glowed red with the flames of combat.  "If you're going to try to kill
me, you're not going to succeed!"


Ukyo, on the verge of plunging the blade down on the redhead, suddenly
reacted to Hikaru's words, the tones cutting through like a knife.
Without being aware of it, she paused, having stopped right at the edge
of dark victory.  As though she were stepping outside of herself for the
first time, Ukyo saw what she was about to do, the act that she was
about to commit to.  Several times in her life she'd said that she would
fight for Ranma's hand, to the point of killing someone, if need
be...and here she was, about to prove that to the ultimate point.
Throwing flour bombs was one thing.  Violently disrupting a wedding
using explosives was one thing.  But this, blade held high about to be
brought down in a killing blow for a dazed and unarmed opponent....  

((This isn't fighting for Ranma,)) a part of her suddenly realized.
((This is *murdering* in order to get him.  What have I become?))  She
shook her head, hoping to clear the images from her head...but they
would not, could not come undone.  This was the here and now, this was
here in reality, this was Kuonji Ukyo, one step away from becoming like
Keiei before her, a woman who desired so much she was willing to
sacrifice all for that goal, even another's life if need be.  This was a
path of madness, a path that only lead to darkness and hatred on all
sides...and though she loved Ranma enough to kill for him, was she
obsessive enough to murder for him?

Ukyo fortunately never found the answer at that point.  Hikaru, noting
Ukyo's momentary pause, wasted no time in taking advantage of the
distraction.  Pointing her hand up, Hikaru screamed "Hikaru Myakuha!"
and cut loose with a pointblank fireball that slammed Ukyo straight in
the face.  Knocked back, startled by the sudden onslaught of flame and
heat, Ukyo screamed, more out of surprise than pain.  Meanwhile, Hikaru
dashed past her, her body automatically banishing away the majority of
her injuries as she dived out of the range of Ukyo's close-in attacks.

Hoping that Ukyo wouldn't discover that her "Light Pulse Attack" spell
was nothing more than her fire-magic imitation of a foxfire spell and
thus incapable of doing damage, she was going to have to end this and
end it *now*, before things reached the point of no return.  Not caring
if Ukyo saw the use of the Pillar's Magic of Cephiro, Hikaru reached out
with her hand, calling her blade back to her palm.  Quickly moving to a
ready position as the illusion attack wore off, she stared Ukyo straight
in the eyes, Hikaru's orbs filled with sorrow yet burning with an
incredible determination, the determination that made her the goddess of
another universe.  Ukyo gasped once, catching her breath from the sudden
and unexpected changing of the advantage.  Feeling suddenly dazed, she
said, "Nice, Red, but if the best you've got is fireworks and parlor
tricks, then you may as well give up."

"This is over!" she snarled as she thumbed her blade forward before
slashing out with a skill borne of the Shidou school of sword arts.
*"SHIDOU BITEN HACHIMENGATSU!"*  Hand and blade moving at the nearly
same speed as her Ryusei Kenbu attack, the move a combination of fast
draw, multiple thrust and some inexplicable adjustments that wove
glowing trails of energy in their path, the result looking very akin to
Hikaru waving a sparkler around at high-speed.  Just as quick as it
started, Hikaru ended her attack, leaping back and into a defensive
position, waiting to see what would happen next. 

Hikaru's response to that was to simply stick her blade into the earth,
then cross her arms and draw an imaginary line with her toe.  "You gave
me no other choice, Kuonji-san," the swordswoman answered, her eyes
growing sad.  "It didn't have to get to this point."  

"No, it didn't.  I almost had Ranma, and you had to butt in at the wrong
time!" Ukyo snarled.  "He just needs more time to realize that I'm his
one true love, time he won't have if he's with you!  I can't let you
have him!  I *won't* let you have him!"  Brandishing her battlespat
again, she made ready to break the temporary parley and strike.  "You're
going to leave him alone, or you're going to be in traction for the rest
of your life!"

Hikaru sighed.  "So be it."  Raising a single hand as Ukyo onrushed, she
snapped her fingers and a spark of flame appeared, the very trigger for
the third stage of the attack.

Ukyo took one more step...then stopped, halted in her tracks as though
stopped by a giant invisible hand.  Within her hand, the battlespat
shattered into a hundred pieces.  As surprise began to etch itself on
her face, several nerve clusters began to twinge all over Ukyo's body,
each one tweaking in pain and banishing it in turn, the end result
leaving Ukyo unharmed, but very much dizzy and nauseous, yet still bound
to the spot.

Hikaru lowered her hand.  "You're suffering through the Shidou Heavenly
All-Sides Shearing Attack, a specialty of my family's.  In the time of
the Sengoku, it was used by the clan to mercilessly tear apart an
opponent, from the weapon down to the very nerves in the body.  In the
Meiji period, my ancestors created a variant that will still remove an
opponent's weapon but will do no harm yet still subdue a foe.  You'll be
dizzy for a few hours, but when it goes away you should be able to
move."

"You bitch," Ukyo seethed.  "That's a dirty trick!"

"Yes, it is," Hikaru answered, feeling a bit bad about it.  "But weren't
you trying to kill me just a few minutes ago?  Do you think that Ranma,
regardless of whether or not you or I end up with him, would be happy to
see you kill someone for no good reason other than a rival's duel?  You
know Ranma better than I do: he's an honorable man, and while he'd duel
a true for or spar with his friends, there has to be a reason, a method
to the madness, if you will.  Do you think he'd accept you trying to
kill me as a valid reason, when we could have just talked it out?
That's not the Ranma I know...or the one you do."


Ukyo was about to answer, when a voice behind her called out "Kosenbado
Shogekiha" and a wave of azure energy plowed into the bound combatant,
dropping her to the floor as if she'd been shot.  Ukyo crashed to the
ground, looking as though she was on the edge of her flagging strength.
Speaking to the person behind her, even though she could not see her
assailant, she snarled, "Kuno!"

A familiar-sounding voice rang out, "I daresay that you received better
than you deserve, Kuonji.  You, like your intended, are not to be
trusted, yet I knew that I could use you.  I asked you to defeat and
thus free the Pigtailed Girl, not to send her off to the next world!"
With Ukyo no longer blocking the view, Hikaru was able to see the newest
combatant, noting the fact that he stood in the classic Kashin stance.
But as he noticed her, he grinned to himself, saying, "You've at least
done some good, Kuonji.  She may have worn herself out slightly facing
you, and as such it will be completely an ease for I, Kuno Tatewaki, to
defeat her and put her to peace."

"You bastard!" Ukyo snarled, trying to get up off the floor, though she
still didn't have the strength to do so, and the dizziness shone in her
eyes.  "You used me!"

"Frankly, I'm surprised that you fell for such a simple ploy.  I would
have thought that spending time with my fiancee would have put some
intelligence into your head, but it appears I was mistaken...as your
desire to remain with Saotome clearly shows."  Kuno shrugged.  "Well,
you've done your part, now let me do mine."  Ignoring any further
outbursts from Ukyo, Kuno completely turned his attention to Hikaru.
"Ah, my beautiful Pigtailed One, I wish we could have met again under
such better circumstances, but it is not to be, I guess."

Hikaru mentally paused as she remembered where she'd come across this
man before: he was a regular rival and opponent of Satoru's on the
Olympic kendo circuit, and if Hikaru also recalled, this man was also
engaged to Ranma's sister Nabiki.  As that last bit of data came to
mind, she also remembered that Ranma, Nabiki, Ryoga and several others
had told her about Kuno's inability to clearly comprehend Ranma's curse;
to Kuno, there was the "black sorcerer" Saotome, and his perpetually
injured and wounded target, a fairly talented martial artist that Kuno
simply referred to as the Pigtailed Girl, for he could never remember
her name.

((Well, he clearly thinks that I'm the Pigtailed Girl,)) Hikaru mused.
((If that's what he wants, that's what he gets.  At least he won't get
on Ranma's case as long as I'm around.  But what does he want?))

"At last we encounter one another again," the swordsman said, though
there was no joy or rapture in his eyes, but instead a sort of
melancholia.  "To think that this is the final time, as well.  Yet, I
wish you to know that I would have dated with you, for all of the love
and joy you have brought to my life, though my destiny lies with the
beauteous Tendo Nabiki.  Even still, I wish to do you one last kindness
for what you have done for me, my love.  I will free you from the
ensorcellment of that beastly and scandalous knave Saotome!"  He shook a
fist as he spoke Ranma's name, then dropped his hand to his blade.
"Yes, my dearest Pigtailed One, I know that it will not be easy, for I
have figured out about Saotome's long-standing spell on you that makes
you fight me with all your majestic skill, but as my last act for you, I
will free you by breaking that spell on you!"

Hikaru refrained from rolling her eyes or outright calling him a moron.
>From the times she'd seen him in the past at Satoru's matches, she found
Kuno Tatewaki to be striking and honorable, if a bit old fashioned.
Now, seeing him here in all his puffed-up and vainglorious display of
pomp, self-congratulationism, and utter stupidity, she wondered how a
person as nice and kind as Ranma's sister Nabiki could have ever seen
something in this guy.  ((Well, it takes all kinds,)) she thought to
herself.  After all, even she admitted her boyfriend had rough spots,
though not as bad as Kuno here.

"Are you ready, my beloved Pigtailed One?" he asked, sliding into a
fastdraw stance that seemed similar to her own, but was clearly meant to
take advantage of his greater size and strength; from what she
remembered, he was fairly fast as well.  Plus, with his frequent
tournament encounters with Satoru, it was clear that traditional kendo,
and especially her Shidou family skills, would not carry through to
victory so quickly.  "Though my victory may hurt, it is certainly to be
a joy for you in the long run."

"I'm ready whenever you are," she announced, dropping not into a
traditional kendo stance, but instead the mainstay fastdraw stance of
the primary swordfighting style of Cephiro.  A pose similar to a
prejumping position in some kung-fu variants, it was one of the more
basic and easier to defeat moves in Cephiran swordfighting, but it
shouldn't be on the mainstay skills of anyone earthbound.  "Hajime!"


Kuno nodded and both stood in their battle stances, waiting for the
other to move.  It was a true duel between masters of the blade, the
sort that was commonplace over a hundred years back but all too rare
now.  Though those traditions and actions had mostly passed from the
world, the spirit did not, and the two combatants clearly had that
spirit.  And as each stood there, waiting for the other to make the next
move, waiting for a sign that made it ideal to strike out, it was clear
that the world was not as different as some people might have thought it
to be.

That was the thought process running through the mind of Kuonji Ukyo as
she lay there on the floor, unable to do more than sit there and watch
as the world continued without her.  Between Hikaru's special attack and
the unexpected betrayal by Kuno, she was too worn out now to move, each
motion of movement a small symphony of pain and exhaustion that repeated
over and over that her body was too taxed to continue.  There was little
now she could do, save to see who would win the next battle and solve
the morass of emotions that were turning her mind into a conflagration
of chaos.

She loved Ranma.  This she knew with the certainty of the rising sun in
the morning, with the certainty of a perfectly made okinomiyaki leaving
her grill every time.  Though Akane had married him, Ukyo was first,
something no other person could take away from her.  Despite her anger
at him through the early years, that had been dissipated and she'd
settled into the role of best friend, confidante, and a person he always
knew was there.  

Surely, that would mean that she was meant to be with him, didn't it?
So if that was the case, why was the redhead - Hikaru - here?  Was it
because she could pass for a double of Ranma's girl side?  Was it
because she was, admittedly, cute and very gentle - Ukyo had to admit
the belligerence through this had mostly come from herself, and even the
few times Hikaru had gotten angry, it was a sad, regretful sort of anger
- or was it something more?  

And if so, why did that more draw out the darkside of Ukyo's soul?

((I wanted to hurt her, maim her, kill her,)) Ukyo thought to herself.
((I wanted to destroy her, completely and utterly.  But why?  Granted,
I've done some less than kind things in my past, and even during the
fiancee wars, I gave as good as I got.  But I never wanted to kill
someone.  Even Keiei, who deserves to be in a pinebox, wasn't someone I
wanted to kill.  So why this girl?  Why her?))  

Part of her wanted to watch Hikaru get what was coming to her for trying
to take Ranma away from her like that.  On the other hand, Kuno deserved
some well-needed justice as well.  All this time about his constant
capering and carping about treachery, wickedness and all of the other
bad traits that apparently everyone save him in Nerima had...yet in what
was considered to be an inviolate duel between Ukyo and Hikaru, he
struck at the chef, his supposed ally.  

((Treachery upon treachery,)) a part of her mind answered.  Perhaps it
was karma for having hit Hikaru herself with a vicious and cheap shot.
((Bad turn begets bad turn, the old saying goes - is that what I truly
deserve?  Is this my reward for everything I've done?  Are all my years
of waiting for Ranma undone by this?

((Someone tell me, someone give me an answer, please,)) she moaned
within her mind as she watched the two combatants in front of her ready
for the final strike, a battle that she was, for the worse, not a part
of any longer.  ((I don't know what to do....))  It was then that Kuonji
Ukyo found herself meeting the eyes of Shidou Hikaru for the first time,
eyes that were intently focused on her despite the danger to the
redhead.  And in that simple glance, Ukyo realized that she may have
made the biggest mistake of her life.


Readied for Kuno's imminent attack, Hikaru had enough time to note the
look on Ukyo's face.  It was pretty clear as to what was going on,
already somewhat confirmed by Kuno's earlier diatribe.  Apparently the
two had teamed up to defeat Hikaru, but apparently the reasons for the
alliance had come apart, and the end result of that was that the male
kendo master had blasted away his female "partner" as though she were
nothing more than a disposable trifle to no longer worry about since
Hikaru had beaten her.  To the redhead, that was completely stunning, if
not also completely repugnant.  She'd never thought of anyone being able
to treat anyone like that, yet here was the perfect example, on her own
world no less.  It was clear that Kuno Tatewaki was not the gallant soul
he so claimed to be, and if he was willing to go so far as to remove his
own companion from the situation, then it was enough for Hikaru to get
fully into battle mode.

She peered into Ukyo's eyes intently.  Hoping there would be an answer,
the redhead took the chance and pulled her eyes away from her current
battle in order to ensure that she was doing the correct thing.  What
would she find in Ukyo's eyes?  Would she find that love that existed
for Ukyo's lifelong friend, the same man that Hikaru was dating?  Or
would she find a raw and utter hatred, the elemental loathing that the
brunette seemed to have for the redhead when this had all begun.  Or
would there be something different?  Or would there be anything at all?
Maybe it was just chasing up the wrong path, but Hikaru had to know.  

It was within those eyes that Hikaru found a shame that was building.  A
shame about losing Ranma to the redhead, a shame about resorting to
disgusting and unfair fighting tactics, a shame about bringing herself
to a murderous level of jealousy.  She had humiliated herself, not just
in front of Hikaru and whoever had seen, but also to Ranma's good name
and his ideals.  Ukyo couldn't face him now, and might not ever face him
again.  That was the fear in her eyes, the shame that above all, Kuonji
Ukyo would lose the love and respect of the last person in the world
that mattered to her.  There was something else in Ukyo's eyes that
Hikaru couldn't pin down just yet, something that might be a portent, or
something that could be a key to the whole situation.  Though it would
have been more sensible to pay attention to her current problem at hand,
Hikaru decided to focus more on Ukyo, just as though there would be
communion between the two women just from the gaze the two shared.

"I have you now!" Kuno screamed without warning, leaping back and
causing Hikaru to react with her own strike; had she connected, his
sword would have been cut in two and the battle ended instantly.
Instead, he leapt a respectable distance back, as though he was planning
for a rushing attack...or a ki-strike large enough that he had to have
some distance available for.  Hand moving to blade, both sword and
swordarm lashed out with all the power that was held within Kuno
Tatewaki; he would fight this last solitary battle to free the Pigtailed
Girl, or else it would all be for nothing.  With a scream of *"KUNO
GENRYU FINAL ATTACK - HIRASATSU HIBASHIRADO!"* Kuno tore his blade
across the air, fast enough to leave a scar of energy tearing through
the space before him.  Shifting his hand a little, he then brought his
arm around and sliced down, cleaving the energy arc in two.  The
crescent burst, and a torrent of energy poured from it, racing along the
ground and widening diametrically.  Within the span of nanoseconds, the
attack had lived up to its name: Wave Cutting Column of Flame Sword. 

Ukyo screamed incoherently, unsure if she should warn Hikaru or curse
Kuno.  Then it dawned on her the actual size of the blast, combined with
the fact that Kuno had announced it to be a Final Attack, parlance
usually meant for moves that killed, not to mention that in her weakened
and paralyzed condition, things weren't looking too good for her.
Suddenly warnings and curses seemed rather trivial, as a need to survive
became a bit more paramount in her mind.  Limply looking around at her
surroundings, she tried to find some sort of way of protecting herself,
but any sort of shelter or protection were not in reachable distance and
may as well have been thousands of kilometers away.  As the onslaught of
power came closer, Ukyo desperately began trying to overcome her
condition, to force herself to her feet and dash for safety if she
could.  ((I'm not going to die yet!  There's no way I'm going to go out
like this!))  Yet she could feel the first flickers of the energy on her
sides and back as the nearby air began to crackle and warp from the
sheer power coming through.  Had Ukyo realized it, she would have known
that the strike was vaporizing the very air molecules in its path,
leaving nothing but charged ions as it tore through anything in its path
like a laser cutting butter.  In short, if something didn't give soon,
she was going to be dead.

Wincing to prepare for her fate, she was surprised to see that she was
unharmed, though the sound of energy crackled nearby, the heat of a
blast coming close.  Ukyo turned and saw something that cut to her very
soul: Hikaru, the woman that the chef had tried to kill just a minute
ago moved into the way of the blast, holding her katana at a blocking
angle and essentially cleaving the attack in two as though she were a
fork in a grand river splitting the tributary in twain.  The look on her
face seemed as first as though the redhead was straining, but instead,
it turned out to be a more determined look - the sort of look that Ranma
had on his face when in an all-or-nothing battle.

"Get out of here!" Hikaru screamed to Ukyo, though she didn't take her
eyes off her opponent.  "Things are about to get ugly here, and you're
too hurt to continue!"  The power seemed to increase, the blue of Kuno's
assault growing stronger.  "Well, he's pretty good with ki strikes,
that's for sure," Hikaru grunted as she poured more power into her own
defenses, as an aura of flame began to build around the woman.

What Ukyo saw next came, needless to say, as a complete surprise.  As
helixes of flame - *actual* fire, not ki-energy that seemed to simulate
it, as she couldn't feel the telltale tingling of that inexplicable
energy - began to wrap around the area that Hikaru and Ukyo were in,
Kuno's energy strike was being dissipated as quickly and effectively as
foodstuffs getting pulped in a blender.  Still holding the blade and
blocking, her eyes were closed and her mouth whispering words too soft
too hear, the fire spell continued its esoteric mop-up operation.  As
weakness finally overcame her, she thought she heard the redhead say
something that she'd only heard one other person say, and if this
redhead had progressed to the point where Hikaru was spouting Ranmaisms,
what did that say in the final reckoning?


Kuno strained himself to the max as he poured all of his energy into the
strike.  His face showed visible signs of fatigue, his hair was matted
and clothing stained from the drenching amounts of sweat that rolled off
his body.  Focusing as much as he could, the kendo master knew that he
had to give it his all if there was any chance of beating the dangerous
magic geas the delectable Pigtailed Deity had wrapped around her,
choking her soul like mystical Anacondas pressing the life's breath
away....  There was the sound of an inhuman roar; it took the swordsman
a few seconds to realize that sound had come from his own throat as the
final motes of energy tore away from his body, the end of the ki attack
leaving his body.

Kuno looked up and peered into the haze in front of him, the haze that
just a few seconds ago had been a perfectly clear day.  As the curtains
of shattered ions began to waft away, the electromist clearing to reveal
the damage, any bystander present would have been stunned by what he or
she would have seen.  From where Kuno stood, a sizable chunk of the
ground had been gouged out, a conical crater blasted out by his attack
as though the single claw of a giant tore through the ground for several
feet, leaving that triangular gash in the ground, just over a meter
deep, and stretching out several meters beyond in distance.  A smoking
trench of desolation, the burning ground gave no indication of anything
surviving...

...save for the pulsing circle of flame in the near center of the gash.
Holding her katana before her as though it were a shield, eyes burning
with a red that seethed on the brink of pure violence was the redheaded
pigtailed girl, both fearsome and terrible in that singular moment of
Valkyrian beauty.  Behind her, crumpled on the ground but scarcely the
worse for wear was Ukyo, likely blasted unconscious by the onslaught of
power as well as the fight.  However, Kuno wasn't worried much about the
chef - she was a hearty little peasant who'd little remember the events
of the day, anyway.  His mind was on far greater things...and far
greater persons.

As the last vestiges of Kuno's attack vanished, Hikaru lowered her
blade, eyes blazing with unreadable emotions.  Clothing shredded,
pigtail undone and scarlet mane of hair flowing down to her feet, body
and face covered with several minor lacerations, she stood, unyielding,
unwilling to give even a centimeter more of space to the wave of force
that she'd just countered.  In a tight, controlled voice, she growled,
"Is that the best you can do?"  Slowly, she relaxed her posture and
sheathed her sword in its scabbard, slipping back into fast draw
posture, her eyes blazing with the fury of an enraged goddess.  

It was at that moment that something in the back of Kuno's mind finally
cued him into the danger he was facing.  Years ago he'd fought a
talented swordswoman, nameless, who floored him in a manner of seconds.
Though he knew the power of the Pigtailed Girl, a beloved and
bewildering opponent throughout the years, he'd never seen the true
measure of her strength.  Yet here it was, the Final Attack of the Kuno
School of Sword Arts, a move that had turned the tide in many a battle
during the bygone age of samurai, and she'd shrugged it off, though
clearly with some difficulty.  Instead of freeing her from the bond that
Saotome had wrought, he now knew the truth: that the Pigtailed Girl was
so long absorbed by the dark magics that the cretin Ranma had created,
her soul was lost and she was Ranma's creature now, only able to be
freed by the blissful blades of death.  A part of him began to cry,
though his face gave no sign of remorse; there was only one way to free
her now.

Kuno raised his blade, knowing what had to be done to forever free the
Pigtailed Girl from the dark and monstrous clutches of that roguish,
vile knave Saotome.  It would be a regrettable, almost mad thing he
would do, but he vowed that she would be free of Saotome's clutches, and
as generations of samurai ran through his veins, Kuno Tatewaki would
ensure that it would be so.  Though he barely had the strength left
after expending almost all of his power in that final attack, he felt he
had to do what must be done; no one else could or would do it, nor would
Kuno entrust anyone else to such a critical, important task. 


However, every plan that he would have had slipped their metaphorical
leashes the moment Hikaru closed her eyes.  Knowing what was about to
come, sensing the wounded Ukyo behind her, feeling the anger of two
people within her and above all that the desire to be with Ranma, she
opened them and in that moment, Kuno had lost, for he was no longer
facing a young woman named Shidou Hikaru, but instead was now pitted
against the Fire Knight of Cephiro, though she wasn't wearing her armor.
Eyes burning with the fierce, beautiful intensity that was Hikaru at her
finest, she took one hop forward, then tore at him at a speed that had
he not already been in motion himself would have given pause.  

Kuno, though impressed by her speed, followed it well enough to smile
with no cheer as he brought the blade down in a vicious slice, strong
enough to lop off Hikaru's head.  The slivery slice of metal whistled at
the speed it moved through the open air, its sleek and fatal form
reflecting the glinting rays of the sun.  For a moment, the sky filled
with a soft, mystical light as if filtered through a soft focus lens,
the sort of ethereal glistening that seemed to hint that fate was about
to come about, but perhaps it was a trick of the eyes, or a momentary
flash of the sun.  Then a minor nova, a splash of sparks appeared, and
time moved forward once more.

Kuno looked down at the ground where his blade had impacted, biting deep
into the ground.  The ki attack had been one thing, but this was a
different sort of blow, the kind of strike that was done purely out of
force for killing.  The sword had shattered from the blow, with the
other half sticking well into the pavement.  The blade would never see
use again, though considering it was one of the "antique" swords from
the Meiji era, it wasn't much of a loss to begin with.  The ground,
already damaged in part from the earlier ki-strike, splintered easily,
though it was still strong enough to sunder the katana.  Kuno lifted it,
turning it to inspect what he'd done, something he wouldn't be proud of,
but nonetheless an action that needed to be don-

((Wait.))  He looked at the blade closely, but found no blood, and only
a few strands of a brilliant red on it.  ((There's no blood.))  A
bewildered Kuno looked at the blade once and again, yet found nothing.
Then something within him caught a slight note, a simple whistle that
might come from the tone of a flute...or the sound of the sky falling.
Consciousness drawn to the skies, the swordsman looked heavenward and
caught sight of a crimson shooting star coming straight at him with
terminal speed, the spiraling flames burning with the bright red of
immense power((...and strangely enough, the same shade as the Pigtail
Girl's hair....))

A column of flame splashed down around him, and Kuno suddenly found
himself in the fiery eye of a helix of flames.  As the flames began to
suddenly subside, he stared in abject wonder at a form walking through
the flames, the eyes of the being so bright with energy that it seemed
as though the coronas emanating from the eyes were the very source of
the flames themselves, binary stars feeding off each other and creating
the inferno that permeated the area.  The being moved forward, and as
that happened, the flames dispersed, leaving not devastation in its wake
as his attacks had done, but instead disappeared as if it had never been
there.  The second it disappeared, it left nothing but the twin binary
stars, still glowing with their hot intensity...the eyes of the
Pigtailed Girl.

Kuno blinked, both in shock and amazement.  This was not the Pigtailed
Girl he knew.  This was beyond her, several steps above the girl he
knew, as if she'd been taken away and replaced with an exact duplicate,
one far more regal and dangerous.  He took a step back, his mind
guttering and for the first time since the day had started, not sure of
what he should do at all...though at the back of his mind, something
told him that turning and running might be a good start; the same voice
also pointed out that such a course of action might also be as useful as
getting a sumo wrestler to fit into a phone booth.  But rather than
listen to the voice within his mind or anything else more sensible, he
simply stood there, mouth agape though he was unaware of that, holding a
bent and twisted sword.

The redhead walked right up to him, a neutral look on her face; her
eyes, however, revealed a raging inferno of infinity in her eyes,
threatening to pull him down with a force of gravity he'd never felt
before.  He was so caught up in her raging eyes, he never once noticed
that she raised her sword up, handle towards him, or that it was
sheathed.  He noticed little else save for the billions of stars that
seemed to dance in those reddish-brown eyes of hers.  He might have
heard her as she said in a cold, rough voice, "This ends here and now,"
and thumbed forward her sword, knocking it loose from the scabbard just
a bit, not enough to hang loosely...

...but certainly enough to nail Kuno in the chin.  The resulting hit
left no pyrotechnics, nor sparks of magic.  It left no motes of ki or
smoke or any telltale mark in the air.  Nor, for that matter, did it
leave Kuno, for the simple attack carried enough force from Hikaru's
leap to blast the kendo artist off his feet and several hundred meters
away.  While not strong enough to send him over the horizon, it was
probably enough to propel him to the other side of Tokyo Bay, if not
outright into the Pacific Ocean.  Punted away like a football, Kuno
didn't even have enough time to be startled as he was rendered
mercifully unconscious by the attack.


Hikaru reached over, sheathing her blade again and reattaching it to her
belt.  Taking a second to relax and catch her breath, she looked around
at the remains of the park and the devastation caused.  Almost the
entire park had been destroyed save for minor patches of grass and
pavement; even the industrial park, including the now sunken ship, had
taken some damage in the battle.  Anyone who had been in the general
vicinity of the fight was probably now long since gone, and the police
would probably be here sometime in the near future.  Hikaru didn't have
the magic at her disposal on this end of the dimensional barrier to fix
this much damage, much less erase it from the minds of the people nearby
who may have witnessed the fight.  She sighed, knowing that the sensible
- if regrettable - course of action was to vacate the area and let the
government think it was some sort of freak incident.

A moan sounded from behind her, and the redhead turned to find Ukyo,
wounded but still alive, if fortunately unconscious from her ordeal.
Bending over to check the other girl's condition, Hikaru used more of
her magic to heal several wounds and a broken arm.  Once that was done,
the redhead struggled to lift Ukyo over her shoulder, and pausing to
pick up the remnants of her battlespat, Hikaru groaned as she took step
after laborious step to get out of the park and to a place where she
could hail a taxi.  Sweat rolling down her face, she looked at the
condition that both her and Ukyo's clothing was in, but knowing that any
further expenditures of magic, even to help make Ukyo lighter, was going
to draw on her own stamina and weaken her.  Therefore, there was no
other choice than to muscle both of them, tattered clothing and all, to
their destination.

Hikaru, struggling to carry Ukyo's unconscious form, allowed herself at
least one bit of good news: she'd successfully fought off two threats
for Ranma's hand, even though she still felt that there was something
left unexplained in today's combat.  She'd have wait for later, though,
to get some answers.  Hopefully by that time, Ranma would be back from
his trip and could ask Ukyo himself.

((Sweetheart, I hope you're having a better time than I am....))

~*~

Though Shinnosuke still lived in the center of the Ryugenzawa forest,
multiple changes had been made to the place he called home.  For
starters, that old cabin was no longer there, instead replaced by a far
larger and more modern dwelling, complete with indoor electricity and
plumbing, guest rooms and all the comforts that a solitary and distant
forest ranger would need in his home.  One of those necessities was a
limited-supply first aid room, complete with the equipment to take care
of scratches made by the oversize animals.

Or sword cuts.

Ranma sat next to his sister as Nabiki lay asleep on the medical cot,
her chest bandaged.  It had been close, too damn close.  By the time
he'd finished the battle and gotten Shinnosuke and Nabiki here to the
cabin, she'd lost a lot of blood.  Frantic and not knowing what to do,
Ranma was in a state of panic, when by the blessings of his luck help
had arrived.  Since Shinnosuke's home was so remote from the populous
zones, the local government sent a medical examiner once a month to
inspect the first aid station.  The man, a veteran paramedic, was
running a couple of hours late and in doing so arrived five minutes
after Ranma.  The man had struggled with the limited supplies on hand,
not the least of which had been finding a suitable way to transfuse
blood for Nabiki.  However, four hours and a miracle later, the
exhausted paramedic crashed out in one of the guest rooms, having earned
a night's sleep and his pay.  Nabiki would live, albeit with a scar from
the sword and she'd have to be taken to a hospital later for further
treatment, but she'd live.

He looked at her, so frail and pale.  Tears welled in his eyes, but he
didn't give a damn about that; rather, he was thinking that she'd come
so close to death, an all-too-familiar presence in his life that he was
long since sick of.  He'd lost his wife and father-in-law to the dark
beyond, he wasn't going to give up Nabiki to it - he'd fight death
itself to spare her.  Brushing the hair out of her sleeping eyes, he
kissed her on the forehead, not giving a damn for a change about his
tears or how unmanly he looked or anything like that.  Nabiki was so
much to him: his sister, his confidante, the bulwark to blockade his
sorrows.  Once she'd been a girl that he'd tolerated only because he was
marrying into her family.  Now, she was a woman he'd go to hell and back
for because she *was* family.  No matter how it had occurred, Tendo
Nabiki was his sister and nothing was going to stop him from protecting
her.  Nothing.

Whispering a soft, "I'll be in the next room, sis.  Call me if you need
me," he walked out of the room quietly shut the door and headed
downstairs.


As he walked downstairs, Shinnosuke came over to him, handing him a cup
of tea.  "Well, I have some good news for you, Ranma.  The air base says
first thing in the morning they'll send a medevac helo out here.  We'll
get Akane on there and we can get you and her to the nearest hospital in
no time flat."

Ranma looked at Shinnosuke as he took the cup, not knowing if he should
correct him or not regarding the error.  Instead, he decided to just
simply nod and say his thanks.  "I owe you one, Shinnosuke, I really
do."

The other man ran a hand through his shaggy mane and said, "Least I can
do, Ranma - you, she and whatsisname are probably the only friends I can
count on, and certainly the only ones that can help me in these sorts of
situations.  You're an old friend, and I treasure your company and your
friendship, believe you me.  Besides, to be honest, you're the only
friends I can remember on a regular basis, which is rather telling if
you ask me."  But he also looked at Ranma strangely and added, "I'm not
the only one you should be thanking, though.  If you want to find him,
he's sitting in the kitchen right now.  As for me, I still have to get a
few things taken care of before I turn in for the night, not to mention
make sure that the helopad is ready for tomorrow morning."  Excusing
himself, he moved down the hall, past an open door before turning around
the corner.


Sounds of cooking as well as a pleasant smell came from the room, and
Ranma paused.  He knew who was in there, but he didn't know why.  It
made no sense.  Earlier in the day, he'd been fighting for a reason that
even now was just plain stupid.  Instead of walking into the kitchen,
though, Ranma turned and looked out the window, seeing his reflection in
the mirrored pane, thanks to the lighting behind him.  The man that
stared back at him was much different than he'd expected, one that was
years older than the brash cocky kid that claimed to be the World's
Best.  Almost ten years later, Ranma was well on his way to proving it,
but the still young man that looked at him now, wearing a black T-shirt
and jeans borrowed from Shinnosuke and even in a rare moment letting his
hair hang somewhat loose in a simple ponytail was far less innocent than
that kid had ever thought he'd be.  

Ranma's eyes drifted from his reflection, back towards the door.  The
sounds of cooking were still continuing, and the smell was getting
nicer.  An idle thought crossed his mind; Hikaru's cooking, on the times
when she'd commandeered the dojo stove, was excellent and a joy to feast
upon.  Had *he* taught that to her?  Had he taught her those sword
skills she knew - it was too clear, aside from Hikaru's skills, that the
Shidou family had impressive talents in that vein.  But had he also
taught her to be a loving, gentle person, the very sort of person Ranma
had fallen for?  What parts of Hikaru were due to...?

Before he knew it, Ranma found himself at the doorway, looking into the
kitchen.  Looking more like a shipboard galley than any actual home
cooking facility, the kitchen was spare and almost Spartan, though it
was at least more modern than the one that had been here a while back.
There, in the center of the kitchen, somehow being the center of it as
though he belonged there, as though it was his element, was Satoru,
making dinner, enough for quite a few people.  He seemed in control of
the pots and pans as much as Kasumi was of her own domain, but just like
the mistress of the kitchen, the man acknowledged his presence without
really looking up .  "Are you hungry, Ranma?  Your friend keeps a rather
sparse kitchen, but there's enough to be able to throw some stuff
together."  Satoru looked up and stared at the martial artist with the
same reddish-brown eyes that his younger sister Hikaru had, the same
sort of eyes that held love.

"Satoru," Ranma answered simply, not taking any offensive or defensive
action, but instead leaned against the doorjamb, as though waiting for
his newest opponent.  

The older man poured some ramen into a bowl and set it over by the
table, saying, "You probably haven't eaten anything yet.  I already made
something for your friend - the ranger - and the rest is for anyone else
who wakes up hungry tonight."  He sighed, and in that sigh the weight of
his world seemed to settle on his shoulders in a way that Ranma was all
too familiar with.  "This has been just too long a day, too long a day
indeed."  Pouring himself a bowl, he sat down at the table as well,
across the way from Ranma's setting.

The martial artist looked at the bowl, then at the man who placed it
there.  Ranma slowly sat down, then started eating.  After a few minutes
passed and he drained the bowl, he looked at Satoru and said, "Your
sister's recipe?"

Satoru grinned slowly.  "Actually mine; I taught her how to cook.  Care
for another bowl?"  Without waiting for a response, the older man
grabbed Ranma's bowl and refilled it, then placed it in front of the
martial artist.  "Out of my three siblings, Hikaru picked up cooking the
easiest.  Kakeru, well, he's in the military, so he's used to eating
just about anything.  And Masaru, Chidara is a great cook herself, much
better than my skills.  But even when they were growing up, it was
Hikaru who used to pick up on the cooking easily.  A lot of other
things, too, now that I think about it.  But those skills amongst many
others made her into the woman she is today.  Doubtless, you already
know that."  At the end of this, Satoru fell silent, eating his own
ramen.

Ranma paused for a second, then muttered, "Thank you for dinner."  There
was silence for a few more minutes before he added, "Thank you also for
helping Nabiki."  That was the more important thing, something that had
even made up for today's events, to some degree: the first aid station
had a finite supply of blood on hand, and when it ran out, no one else
had Nabiki's type of blood.  Fortunately, the three Shidou brothers had
chosen this time to find the cabin, and fortunately for Nabiki and her
AB- blood, all three of the Shidou brothers were of the O- universal
variety.  Though all three had donated, the other two were still weak
from their lop-sided loss against Ranma and thus also in infirmary
rooms.  

"It was the least we could do, after the fiasco we made.  I don't
suppose you'll ever forgive us for that, nor likely will your sister,"
Satoru commented.  "But I'd like you to remember something, if you
would.  Please don't blame Hikaru for this.  She didn't know that we
were planning this; this was something that I swore on my father's grave
that I would do."

"You swore on your father's grave that you'd attack my family?" Ranma
growled, more out of surprise than anger, though the edge of that was
clearly present as well.  

"No, not that - I promised my father that I would find out if the man
Hikaru married would be a righteous man, one who would never hurt or
dishonor her.  Now, while I don't know how serious you two are, I can
see that you live up to your reputation, both as a fighter and as a
gentleman of the martial skills."  Satoru looked at Ranma, sienna eyes
meeting blue.  "I hadn't meant to make a mess of it as we did, but the
fact that your friend and then your sister stood up for you before you
even had the chance to get involved spoke volumes about the sort of
person you are.  Admittedly, there could have been extenuating
circumstances, but I digress.  But what also told me is how you attacked
us when you did.

"We hurt your sister, and at the time you didn't know how much - none of
us did.  Yet you heard us mention Hikaru's name, and I guess you must
have made some sort of connection and decided not to harm us
seriously...either that, or what I personally believe, that you're not a
small-minded thug who practices the arts, like many a person I've met in
life."  Satoru realized that his comments might not be perceived as the
positive remarks they were meant to be and hid his comments behind the
glass of water he drank from.  A few seconds passed before he was able
to add, "No, if anything, even with kith and kin wounded like that, you
chose to be merciful to your enemies.  Not many people would be that
noble or obliging in that situation, yet you were.  That, above all,
tells me that you're a good and kindhearted soul, and very much worthy
of Hikaru's affections."

Instead of saying anything further, Ranma merely finished his second
bowl and looked out the window, peering at the dark night and the
shadows of the forest beyond.  A few more seconds passed before he said,
"Okay, now that we've gotten to the chit-chat, I suspect this is the
part where things get ugly.  Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't asked me
anything about my curse, or how it makes me look very much like your
sister, or anything of the sort."

Satoru smiled inwardly, glad to be given an opening that he had no clue
how to create on his own; he was still trying to figure out the man that
was dating Hikaru, and though he was clearly an awesome martial artist,
fighting skills and combat talents said nothing about him as a human
being.  "I figured that if you wanted to tell me, you would.
Additionally, while I don't know much about curses and magic, I do know
that there are reasons that people have them, and I'm sure that there's
a good reason you have yours."

To the surprise of both men, Ranma chuckled as he shook his head, a
slight smile on his face.  "Actually, there's not a good reason I have
it - it's basically the result of my father's hubris and my own lack of
paying attention.  And it's a total coincidence that I look like Hikaru
in my cursed form; I actually take after my mother, or so I've been
told."  Eyes facing the nighttime sky, he said, "It took me a long time
to accept my curse, and I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for my
family - they've been there for me when I need them.  Especially Nabiki
- I probably would have been crushed under my various problems if it
wasn't for my sister."

Satoru nodded, gaining a new opinion of Ranma.  He was more than he
appeared, more by leagues.  From all the hand-based martial artists that
the kendo master had known, the vast majority of them were arrogant,
vain braggarts or rude, brash thugs.  Ranma, he'd already decided, was
quite different, but his statements hinted at a mind far more mature and
eloquent, of a man like the martial artists of old who practiced their
skills for the furthering of the arts vice the ability to beat someone
up.  While it was clear that there was some strength of will in him -
one had to be strong mentally, to carry any sort of curse much less the
particular one he had - the kempo master hadn't abandoned his own truths
and opinions to the concept of the moment and whatever whims suited him
at the time.  Saotome Ranma was clearly someone who would take care of
Hikaru and be by her side, and while Satoru hadn't finished his own
combat with Ranma, it was clear that in the case of dating Hikaru, Ranma
had already won, game, set and match.  A smile crept up on the man's
face as he realized that the younger martial artist might someday be his
brother-in-law, a condition that Satoru thought might not be an
unpleasant occurrence.

"Look, Ranma," the older man admitted as he set down his chopsticks, "I
know you're not going to like me or my brothers anytime soon.  Frankly,
I wouldn't be surprised that when everything is over and done with,
we're probably going to be a point of contention in your relationship
with my sister, but think of it this way: if you were in my shoes,
wouldn't you go all the way to ensure that you did what you could to
make sure that your sister is doing what's best for herself?  I trust
Hikaru's judgment, and she's a wonderful girl that any guy would be
thrilled to date, but I'd be remiss - not to mention lying - if I didn't
say that I just want what's best for her."

"I can understand that, though I think my sisters are more than capable
of taking care of themselves.  And under different circumstances, if
things had been explained better, maybe then I would have taken you on
with no problems," Ranma answered, his voice tight but not hinting at
any sense of anger.  "In fact, I would have kicked your ass from here to
Shibuya, but maybe Hikaru might not have been too happy about that."  A
sudden grin broke on his face as he said, "Besides, I'm not the one
you're going to have to worry about anymore." As a puzzled look crept
upon Satoru's face, Ranma merely smiled wickedly and said, "Don't worry
about me - I love your sister and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize
that.  *My* sister, however, isn't as forgiving."

Satoru groaned slightly.  "Somehow I was afraid you were going to say
that.  I hope your family isn't of the bitter blood feud variety."

"Not at all," Ranma answered, relaxing somewhat in the presence of
Hikaru's brother, and thinking for the first time that everything might
somehow be okay.  "However...."

"However...?" Satoru asked, one eyebrow rising in question.

Ranma crossed his arms as he leaned back into the chair.  "I meant what
I said - now that I understand what's happened, I'm not as angry, and
I'll be more than happy to oblige you with whatever formal combat you'd
like to do for me to prove that I'm worthy of dating your sister."  He
paused for a second, as if dramatically, then added, "However, Nabiki
can hold grudges every now and then.  Your brothers shouldn't worry
about me beating you to a pulp, or for that matter, even her, though I'm
sure she'd love to do that.  No, what I really think you guys should
worry about is your credit ratings."

"Credit ratings?" Satoru parroted, unsure if he heard the martial artist
correctly.  But for a response, all Ranma did was lean back in his chair
with his eyes closed, smiling a secretive smirk.

~*~

Ukyo groaned as her eyes opened, revealing the darkness around her.  Her
body was sore as hell, and it was probably going to take at least a long
hot bath before she'd be able to put in a day of work.  Perhaps she'd
just take the day off tomorrow and close the Ucchan, as she was still
sore enough from her orde-

She suddenly shot up, hair spraying all over the place and the covers
flying, her soreness momentarily forgotten as it dawned on her that she
shouldn't be sore, she should be in intensive care.  Her battle against
Hikaru had ended with her losing...((just before I was cut down by that
bastard Kuno,)) she thought, her eyes narrowing and body suddenly
trembling in anger as she realized she'd been used by him all along.
((He knew what he was going to do, and I fell for it hook, line and
sinker.))  A couple more seconds passed by before she realized that she
was in her own home, in her own bed no less.  ((What am I doing here?  I
didn't bring any ID with me, and I'm not exactly famous, so how did I
get here?))  Ukyo stretched out her right arm, wincing as she did so but
ignoring the pain long enough to turn on the lamp by the nightstand.

The room looked the same as it always had, with a couple of exceptions.
Sitting on a chair on the other end of the room was the clothing she'd
worn during the battle.  The jeans and t-shirt were bloody shreds,
evidence of someone who'd taken mass amounts of serious injury, more
than she felt at the moment.  Ukyo got up and out of bed, noting that
she was completely in the nude (a way she usually didn't sleep)...and
without any indicator of cuts, bruises or wounds.  In all, aside from
the destroyed clothes, her soreness could have been reasonably explained
away as just a long day at work rather than an outright battle in the
middle of a seaside park.

A battle she lost.  At the sudden realization of that, tears began to
well in her eyes.  She'd fought for Ranma's hand, brought herself to the
brink of murderous insanity for the sake of his hand, and yet she still
lost, to a girl who looked like Ranma's girl half yet probably didn't
have half the strength.  The tears slicked her face, and before she knew
it, Ukyo'd collapsed to the floor, bawling in the solitary confinement
of her own house, having lost the one thing most important to her above
all.  She could stand to lose the house.  She could stand to lose the
Ucchan.  She could even stand to lose her own abilities and way of life.
Yet that all paled in comparison to losing Ranma.  To her, he was the
center, the crux of her being, and for him to be removed from that spot
was to shake the foundations of Ukyo's life to the point where nothing
mattered to her except for the siren call of sweet entropy.

She had no idea how long she lay on the tatami mats crying her heart
out, yet by the time she was able to regain control of herself again,
her eyes were red and dry from too many tears, her body shaking more
from cold now than from anger at Kuno's betrayal and Hikaru's victory.
Part of her didn't want to move, but to instead just sit in this spot
until whatever dark fate awaited her finally paid a call to her spot.
Only the increasing soreness of sitting there brought her back to her
feet, and with that came a stinging rebuke of self-hatred; if she
couldn't weather the minor annoyance of discomfort, small wonder why she
lost to the redhead - she didn't have what it took to last for the long
run.

Heart heavier than lead, she brought herself back to her feet, putting
on some sleepwear and intending to go back to bed for a sleepless,
restless night before trying to figure out what to do with her life
next, when she noticed the item propped in the corner, over by the
plant.  Walking very softly over to it, she found the broken remnants of
her old battlespat, sliced in two and a casualty of the battle,
obviously set there for a reason.  But instead, Ukyo reached for the
other item, a brand new battlespat, one that had to have been recently
forged and tailored specifically for her.  Hefting it, she noted it had
perfect balance and weight, even more so than her older one.  Twirling
it softly and slowly as if in a dream, the tears began anew as she began
to realize that it had been her own fault that she lost Ranma, that
she'd let jealousy and desire get the better of her, to the point that
she made a deal with the devil.  Ryoga had been right; she hadn't
learned from Keiei's mistakes, but instead learned to repeat them.

Twirling it once more, she finally noted the envelope tied to the nape
of it, just by the flat portion of it.  Pulling it off the spat, she
opened it and read the note, eyes filling with tears and heart catching
as words seemed to flow into her mind, unbidden, unwanted, yet
undeniable in their strength and sureness.  The words were going to
come, whether she wanted them to or not.

================================================================
Kuonji-san,

I know you must hate me terribly for all of this.  Not just for getting
in the way of a relationship between you and Ranma, but even for winning
the duel with you and breaking your weapon.  Of the duel, I can't do
much about that.  As for your...um - spatula? - I can replace that.  But
as for my relationship with Ranma, that, well, as I told you, I love him
and I'm not going to leave him.  Someday maybe I might marry him, if he
can ever marry again, but that's a different story, one I won't go into
right now.  Besides, what I'd rather talk about is you and I and how we
fit into the scheme of things.

I know this might sound odd, but when you were attacked by your
collaborator, I felt bad for you.  Even those you allied with were
turning against you and you don't deserve that.  Because of that, I had
to step in to protect you; not only because you're Ranma-kun's best
friend, but also because you were victimized by your own allies and left
hanging and no one should ever be alone.  You might not forgive me for
that, and if you feel slighted by that, I apologize for that.
================================================================

Ukyo blinked upon reading that, not entirely sure that she read that
right.  "She just apologized for inadvertently insulting her when I was
trying to kill her?"  Reading the line once more and now sure of what it
said, a puzzled look crossed Ukyo's face as she read on:

================================================================
I really hope that when all things are said and done, Kuonji-san, that
you and I can be friends.  We have something we love dearly in common; I
suspect we have other things as well.  Besides, to be honest, I need
someone who knows Ranma well, and from what he's told me, you've been
there longer than anyone, longer than his sisters, and that if there was
one person who he's closer to than a sister, it's you.  I really respect
you for that, for being there for him when he needs someone.  And I'm
hoping that together we can figure out something that will make him
happy, because that's what I want most for him - to be happy.

Besides, I also have to admit that having someone like you as a friend
would be pretty cool.  It's pretty clear that you know how to use
unusual and esoteric weapons and that you use them in very uncommon
ways, attacks that are effective for your weapon but might be considered
forbidden by some other school.  There are some moves that you made that
were pretty nice, and that I'd love to learn from you if you have the
time.

Think about what I said, because no matter what you think, I do really
feel what I said: I would really like to be your friend.
 Ja ne,
 -Shidou Hikaru
 
 PS - Your injuries weren't as bad as you thought they might be.  I'm no
doctor by any means, but I do know a tiny bit of first aid, so you
should be fine.
================================================================

Ukyo stared at the letter for who knew how long.  The letter was the
worst part about it all, the fact that not only had Red won the whole
thing, but also found a way to be nice to Ukyo without sounding
magnanimous or insulting.  Perhaps she was even sincere in what she
said, meaning every bit of it.  To the chef that would be the final
blow, an olive branch extended by a person who Ukyo had just tried to
kill not long before.

She turned and looked at herself in the dresser mirror, but found she
couldn't look too long.  She could no longer look herself in the eyes.
When she did, all she could see was the madness and jealousy that had
sunken in her eyes, the sort of emotions that had created monsters out
of Keiei, out of Kodachi, out of Shampoo.  That last gave Ukyo pause -
it had been over two years since Akane died, yet what would have been
the case if she was still alive?  Despite their friendship, would it
have been Akane Ukyo challenged today, and not the redhead?  Or what
would have happened if Nabiki and Ranma had grown closer after their
temporary second engagement?  Or what of a dozen other answers?  Ukyo
looked once more in the mirror, searching for answers, but instead all
she saw was self-loathing and disgust, a truth of its own that was ugly
to see but needed to be revealed.

Light crept into the corners of her windows, and it didn't take her long
to realize she'd stayed up the whole night stewing over the whole
situation, a situation that was only going to get worse if she didn't do
something about it.  Sitting here and brooding for days wasn't going to
help, and she didn't want to end up like any of her onetime rivals for
Ranma.  She loved him dearly, but she also didn't want to cause him pain
or suffering.  In turn, this simply led to one simple question: did she
love him enough to let go of him?

((I don't know,)) she found herself answering.  ((I thought letting him
marry Akane was the case, but I never really let go.  I'm still here, I
haven't moved on.  When she died, I waited my turn, as though I was next
in line.  Is that my only purpose here?  Just to wait in line until it's
my turn?))  A chill coursed down her spine as she feared that she was
nothing more to Ranma than a security blanket, not because he abused her
friendship that way but rather because she abused it herself.

As the sun began to outright stream into her home, Ukyo sat there
wondering, for the first time in her life, where she should go and what
she should do.  And as the morning faded into afternoon, she continued
to sit there, pondering the question as though it was the most important
thing in her life, because it was.  It would be the very step that would
decide where Ukyo went next with her life.

Finally, as the afternoon gave way to night and the Ucchan had been
unexpectedly closed for the first time in three years, Ukyo had a flash
of insight, an epiphany that brought tears to her eyes.  But whether
those tears were of joy or sorrow, she had no way of knowing.

~*~

"Ranma!  I'm okay!  Put me down, willya?" a half-bemused, half-annoyed
Nabiki cried out as she was being jostled in the relative comfort of
Ranma's arms, relative also meaning as he dashed on the rooftops on the
way back to their home from the airport.  To be honest, while she was
grateful for all the attention, having Ranma this protective of her was
something she wasn't used to (at least not since she'd relearned the
martial arts) and she wasn't sure that she liked it all that much.  They
had already stayed in Takamatsu four days more than either of them
wanted, and while both were now eager to get home, Nabiki was hoping for
a more traditional trip back to Nerima.

Ranma smiled.  "You remember what Dr. Nagatome told you.  No severe
movement or jostling for the next couple of weeks.  You know how the
roads out in Chiba can be, especially the highways.  No way in hell am I
going to let you get hurt.  It's already my fault that you were, and I'm
not about to let that happen again."

"And you think jumping from place to place, with me in your arms and our
dufflebags swinging around as we move is any less jostling?" Nabiki
sighed, though more out of amusement than bemusement.  "Besides, little
brother, I already told you, you're not to blame for their
choices...besides, when I'm well, I'm going to have a rematch with
them," she added with a wicked tone to her voice.  "Speaking of which,
how are they going to explain it to Hikaru?  She's going to ask what
happened to me, and you can't expect me to lie about it."

It was Ranma's turn to sigh, but his was for a far different reason.  "I
have no idea what Satoru and the others are going to tell her.  I have
no idea how she'll react.  On one hand, I beat the hell out of two of
them, but then again, they nearly killed you, even if by accident.  So I
don't know how she'll react."  He gulped, figuring that he should have
called her during those two extra days in Takamatsu, days he spent
getting to know Satoru and the other two brothers.  Though not in
combat, he'd proven to them that he was the ideal person for Hikaru, and
Satoru had even said, should Ranma ever decide that he and Hikaru would
marry, all three Shidou brothers would be more than happy for them and
would certainly do their utmost to ensure that happiness.  But that was
two days ago, and this was now, back in Tokyo and back in the very
uncertain present.  "I hope she doesn't...."

Nabiki smiled and kissed her brother on the cheek, ignoring the pain
that she felt as she craned her neck.  "She won't, Ranma.  She's as
special as you are."  ((At least I hope not, not if she really loves
him.))  The brunette paused for a second, then after a particularly
harrowing jump that Ranma barely made, added, "Though I gather that she
knows how to use normal transportation?"

The martial artist laughed softly in response.  "Yeah, I don't see her
doing the same things we do anytime soon."  ((Though that would be out
of personal choice rather than lack of ability,)) Ranma added silently.
As the entered the grounds of Nerima, he added, "I hope Kasumi won't be
too upset by all this.  She's usually not happy when I get injured, but
this time it was you."

Nabiki rolled her eyes as they cleared rooftop after rooftop on their
way home.  "Yeah, tell me about it."  As they reached the street on
which they lived, Nabiki caught sight of their home and noticed that the
lights were on, though the house didn't look occupied.  "You did tell
Kasumi we were coming home today, didn't you?"

Ranma nodded as he hopped from the final roof to the mailbox to land
safely on the street in front of their home.  "I called her before we
got on the plane.  She said that she was going to be there tonight, so
that we could all sit down and talk about this.  Also, Tofu said he
wanted to have a look at your wound; you know how he can be when it
comes to worrying about family injuries."  Gently setting Nabiki on her
feet, the pair walked through the front gate, into the Saotome-Tendo
home.  "Tadaima," both martial artists chirped out, glad to be home once
more with family.

Unfortunately, the sight that greeted them was not a very happy one.
Kasumi and Tofu, seated by the television, got up and greeted their
relatives as they came in, but there was something forced about the
smiles.  Dispensing with the usual chit-chat and greetings, a concerned
Tofu immediately looked at Ranma and Nabiki with a doctor's eyes and a
speaking in a flat tone of admonishment said, "You know, Ranma, I'm used
to patching you up, but Nabiki is an entirely different matter."  

Kasumi said nothing, but the look in her eyes, one close to tears, said
pretty much the same thing.  She paused for a second or two, as though
she was about to say something, but held off.  

In a manner that would have looked as adorable as schoolchildren, both
adults shuffled their feet and stammered, "Gomen ne.  We didn't intend
for you to worry.  Either of you."

Kasumi broke into a sad smile as she acknowledged her siblings'
statements.  "That's good to know.  Well, dinner should be ready in a
few moments, so just go ahead and unpack and by the time you're done,
dinner should be ready soon."  Heading towards the kitchen, Kasumi also
paused and added, "Oh, Nabiki - Tatewaki-kun called for you a few times,
but nothing in the last two days.  And Ranma, you have several letters
from Hikaru."  Giving them her trademark sweet smile, the young Tendo
family matron went back into the kitchen, the central point of her life,
while Tofu merely gave them a knowing grin and reached for the remote
control.

Nabiki gingerly hefted her bag and looked at Ranma sheepishly.  "I am
*not* going to enjoy telling Tatewaki about this.  He's going to think
it's all your fault, you know."

Ranma laughed softly, then added, "He thinks *everything's* my fault.
So what's new?"  Both chuckled at that realization, and headed towards
their respective rooms.

As they went to their rooms to unpack and unwind, Nabiki noticed
something about the house.  There looked to have been some recent
damage, and some of the furniture and walls looked patched up - even the
coffee table looked like it was replaced with a similar one.  ((Well,
Kasumi probably did some redecorating and found some old holes from
years ago.  But I'll have to ask her about the table later, when I get
the chance, though admittedly, we were planning to get a new one
anyway.))  Filing it in her mind for a later time, she went up to her
room to unpack.

~*~

Sitting on the curb outside the gate of the Shidou home, Satoru sighed
as he looked at his brothers.  "Well, *that* went over well.  I wonder
how long Hikaru's going to be upset with us."  The look on his face was
still one of surprise as all three Shidou brothers discovered that their
baby sister had a massive temper when angry, something that they'd never
seen before.

"Um, Satoru, would it be impolitic to remind you that *you're* the head
of the family and technically, you own the house?  She can't exactly,
um, kick you out," Kakeru noted.  Of the three, he'd gotten off easiest,
sort of.  Explaining that there had been an "accident" in the forest and
that he'd saved a life via blood donation, the JASDF covered his stay in
the nearby hospital and he was likely awaiting a rescue medal upon
returning to base.  Fortunately for him, Ranma's friend had wisely left
off that it was partially Kakeru's fault that Nabiki's life had to be
saved in the first place, and that was something else that impressed
them about Ranma.  "Besides, we explained to her it was all an
accident."

"I don't know about you two, but I'm not in the mood to go back in there
and tell her that."  Satoru rubbed the spot on his face where he'd been
so angrily slapped by Hikaru.  All three of them had suffered that, and
judging by the still-visible imprints on Kakeru and Masaru's faces, it
was quite clear that the mark was probably going to last a while.
"Besides, when she calms down, I'm sure that she'll apologize profusely
for that.  The question is, how long will it be before that happens."

"Figure it on being the whole night, if you ask me," Masaru grumbled.
"Well, let's head to my place.  Hope you don't mind sleeping on a spare
futon tonight, Satoru."

"Or you, either, over at my place," Kakeru interjected.  As Masaru
stared at his younger brother blankly, the third explained with, "Think
about it.  Hikaru's in there.  She's pissed.  She has access to a phone.
She's also now getting along fine with Chidara.  What does that mean?"

The two older Shidou brothers stood there for a few minutes in thought
before sighing.  "You sure you have enough room in your apartment?"


Hikaru set the phone down after talking with Chidara.  If there had been
one good thing out of this whole mess, it was that she was finally
getting along with her sister-in-law.  After tonight, it might be the
only good thing left for her.  After tonight, once again, she might lose
everything dear to her.  Bad enough that she'd fought his best friend
and may now have caused a major rift in that relationship.  Worse still
was the fact that Nabiki's own fiance had seriously injured Ukyo, and
*that* was certainly going to cause some problems.  But the biggest blow
of all was the words her own brothers had told her, that they had
stupidly challenged Ranma in some sort of idiotic worthiness test that
had ended up with Nabiki nearly dying and two of her own brothers
injured by a justifiably angry Ranma - and to boot, there was the extra
bonus of them finding out about his curse, something that Hikaru herself
hadn't figured out how to her tell her family about because frankly, how
could one explain something like that?

Hikaru slumped her shoulders, feeling the weight of the universe not on
the back of the Cephiran goddess, but on the back of the young kendo
artist.  Was this how life was going to be for her?  Was it better to
end up like Emeraude, shutting herself away from there world because
reality was too much to bear?  The dimension of Cephiro was no longer
welcome to her; she was a goddess in exile.  Was her own reality now
denied to her?

Was Ranma still there for her?

Hikaru reached for the phone, but a flash of a pained, dejecting Ranma
filled her mind.  Images of a maimed and bitter Nabiki crowded in as
well, enough so that it made the redhead pause before reaching for the
phone.  Hand trembling, she felt she was on the verge of losing someone
she loved again, but this time it felt leagues more intense, as though
her life was being cut away from her in chunks.  She continued to stay
there like that for countless minutes.  Eventually she backed off, not
knowing what to say or do.  Heading towards her room, tears welled in
her eyes as she wondered if this was the last night that she would be
Ranma's girlfriend.

~*~

It had been a long, long day, Ranma thought the next day as his students
shuffled out of the dojo.  First off, Hanako from the morning class had
injured herself and had made Ranma feel guilty about letting another
person under his wing get injured.  Then there was that far-too-long
lunch meeting with the French director who was hiring the Saotome-Tendo
dojo as martial arts consultants for a film - the job paid wonderfully,
but did the man have to treat everyone who worked for him like
insufferable peasants?  The Ranma of a decade ago probably would have
told him to go stuff the job and knocked him upside the head as well -
((and I'm certainly tempted to do it now,)) he admitted to himself with
a chuckle.  The lunch meeting ran overly long, however, and he had to
rush back home to start his afternoon class, which meant he didn't have
time to do what he wanted to earlier in the afternoon, namely pop in on
Ukyo to say hello and call Hikaru.

As his students filed out of the dojo, he sighed.  The day was almost
over and he hadn't heard from her all day.  He was worried about that;
did what happen between her brothers and him cause some family strife on
her side?  He had no way of knowing, and he hadn't had a chance to get
in touch with her all day.  

"Ranma?"  The martial artist turned his head and there was Nabiki, out
of bed and in a gi, despite the doctor's orders to take it easy.  Giving
him a sheepish look, she said, "I got bored sitting in my room all day,
and I just didn't feel like working on the dojo's finances today.
Tatewaki hasn't answered his phone all day, and sleeping gets old after
a while."

"Sis," he sighed, though privately he was proud of her.  She hadn't let
her injury get the best of her.  Smiling, he said, "Okay, we'll do some
katas, but we're only going to do the slow stuff - Tai Chi Chuan - and
if you start hurting, I want you to stop, okay?"  Her grin was all that
he needed to know as she moved next to him and into the beginning pose.
As the pair began to shadow each other, both going through the initial
motions, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"To be honest?  I've obviously had better days, but I can manage," she
said, a slight strain on her face.  "But I have to get back to top form
again so that I can get back at those three clowns.  I want my rematch
and I want it as soon as possible!"

"I can give you a list of their weaknesses if you want," a new voice
chimed at the entrance of the dojo, and both martial artists stopped as
one as Hikaru came into the room.  She looked nervous, almost worried.
She was dressed in a blouse and skirt as though she planned to go
somewhere for the night, and was carrying some flowers.  Turning to
Nabiki first, she gave the brunette the flowers, then proceeded to bow
formally and solemnly.  "Gomen nasai, Nabiki.  I never thought...." 

Nabiki, with some difficulty, helped Hikaru back to an upright position.
"It's not your fault, Hikaru.  You knew none of this, and even if you
did, I think you would have told us about it.  Certainly you would have
stopped me from being injured.  There's no need to apologize, really.
But thank you for the flowers, they're lovely."  Looking at both
pigtailed persons, she faked a wince and said in a voice that clearly
gave away her faux pain, she said, "This hurts more than I thought it
would, so I'm going to go soak in the furo for a couple.  I think you
two should talk."  Without even waiting for an answer from them, Nabiki
headed back towards the home, and if they could have seen her face, they
would have noted the relieved look on it.  ((Everything's going to turn
out fine.  I'm glad.))


The next half-hour was spent with the two lovers discussing how their
week had gone.  Ranma was not happy to find out about the battle between
Hikaru and Ukyo and Kuno.  Nor was he especially thrilled that Ukyo
seemed to have momentarily gone off the deep end and tried to kill
Hikaru.  But the part that infuriated him was that Kuno had betrayed
Ukyo and seriously wounded her, then tried to kill Hikaru; he made his
mind up to head over to the Kuno manor and tear him to bits when Hikaru
assured him she'd dealt with the matter herself and protected Ukyo,
which calmed him down a bit.  She also mentioned that she'd used her
Pillar powers to heal Ukyo, but that she'd covered her tracks on that,
and asked if she wanted to do the same for Nabiki, since it was her
family's fault.  

"No, but thank you, love," Ranma said after some thought.  "Though I'd
be happy to have Nabiki back to normal, I think it best that she heal
naturally and work it out - she'll be stronger for the experience,
though I'd love to spare her the pain.  Besides, if you think explaining
my curse to your brothers was a hard idea, how do you think explaining
your, um, 'goddessness' to everyone."

"You're right," she nodded, kissing him on the cheek.  "Besides, I want
to see Nabiki win.  I love my brothers dearly, but after this stunt, I
think I'll be rooting for her, instead - at least just this once," she
said, with a wink.  "Well, sweetheart, go get dressed, because we three
are going out to dinner tonight."

"We are?"

She nodded, then winked before saying in a knowing and highly suggestive
voice, "There's a great okinomiyaki place around here, or so I've been
told, and I hear the owner's a nice person as well.  Know any place
around here like that?"

The smile on Ranma's face was a purely photographic moment.  "I might
know a place just like that," he admitted, putting his arm around his
girlfriend and remembering once again how damn lucky he was to have her
in his life.  "Let me go get ready, see if Nabiki's up for going out,
and we'll head to this restaurant of yours, love."

~*~

Upon approach to the Ucchan, the pair walked slowly, enjoying each
others' company once again and falling in love with each other again
just as couples did.  Nabiki decided to stay home for the night,
figuring on not wanting to be a third wheel and wanting to get in touch
with her own significant other; both Ranma and Hikaru refrained from
telling her about the battle between the redhead and Kuno, figuring it
was too early to cause strife both ways in that particular relationship.
After a quick check to see that Ranma's son was sleeping peacefully, the
pair left the dojo and headed toward Ukyo's.

As they entered the restaurant, Ranma noticed something rather
surprising.  The place was quiet on one of Ukyo's busiest nights.
Usually whenever he came on during times like this, he ended up sitting
in the manager's booth, chatting away with Ukyo since there were no
other tables available; tonight he had his pick of the mostly empty
ones.  Additionally, when he noticed and waved hi to Rin, she said
nothing, but instead looked at him with sad eyes.  Working behind the
grill instead of Ukyo was Kazeko, and when he tried to say hello to her,
the normally flirty girl's response was to look Hikaru once over with a
sneer, then turn back to the grill without saying a word.

"Tough crowd," Hikaru murmured, feeling a chill in the air that had
nothing to do with the air conditioning.  

"They're not normally like this," Ranma said, feeling very bad.  It
didn't help when a figure appeared from the back room, carrying
ingredients from the storage.  The figure wore the usual Ucchan polo
shirt and jeans, and the hairdo was a simple ponytail, but there was no
way it could be Ukyo.  In fact, the only person that it could have been
was-

"Konatsu?"  Ranma blinked, seeing the ninja in male get-up for the first
time.  The former faux-kunoichi looked much different, and while he
still had somewhat of an androgynous look to him, it was now
unmistakable to tell he was male.  

Konatsu looked up and saw Ranma.  He smiled, nodding at his old friend,
but there was no joy in that smile, rather looking more like a wistful
grimace of joy long since gone by.  "Hello, Ranma, how have things been
for you?  I have some stories to tell you, but to be honest, I wish they
were under better circumstances."

((Better circumstances?))  "Where's Ucchan?" he asked, a chill rolling
down his spine.  At his side, Hikaru gripped his arm, and a bad feeling
coursed down her equally.  She could feel Ranma's confusion and worry
setting in, and when she opened her feelings to the room, there was no
denying that something bad had happened.

The smile disappeared from Konatsu's face.  "Ranma, I think you'd better
come to the back office so we can talk.  Bring your girlfriend as well,
I'd like to meet her."  Turning to Kazeko, he commented, "Two Ucchan's
specials for Ranma and um...."

"Hikaru.  Shidou Hikaru," the redhead said, saying her name and feeling
as though it was a bad word around here.

"Thanks," the young man grinned.  "One for Hikaru as well, okay?"

Kazeko threw him a saucy wink and a blown kiss.  "Gotcha, boss."

Ranma caught that instantly.  "Boss?"  The look he received said volumes
more than what was said earlier.  "Okay, where is she?" Ranma asked
again, a worried tone creeping into his voice.  Konatsu's answer was to
merely escort his friend into the office upstairs in what had been the
old bedroom, and his silence during the short walk didn't help much,
either.  "Look, stop playing games, okay?  Where's Ukyo?  I need to talk
to her."  

Konatsu spoke as they entered the office and sat down at the desk, but
it was Hikaru he addressed.  "I have to admit, I wouldn't have believed
it if I didn't see it with my own eyes.  You do look like Ranma's female
half, Shidou-san, and considering how beautiful he looks as a she,
that's no small compliment, either."  Turning back to Ranma, he asked in
a flat and slightly accusing tone, "Ranma, when were you going to tell
Ukyo-kun about her?  Hearing the wrong way from Ryoga wasn't a good
thing, especially since he didn't know you hadn't told her either."

The martial artist's heart froze at the moment.  "I...had planned to,
believe me.  I hadn't figured out how to do it, but I was going to tell
her," he responded, his words sounding to him automatic and unfair.  "I
would never do anything to hurt her."

"I know that, and she does too," Konatsu responded, opening up a drawer
in the desk and pulling out an envelope.  "That's what makes it so hard
to give you this."

Ranma took the letter, opening it and reading the words.  He stopped a
short time after and looked at his friend helplessly, who merely gave
him the same look back.  He read the letter once more, then seemed to
shrink in his chair, suddenly feeling very depressed.  Running a hand
through his thick mane of hair and sighing deeply, he whispered, "Baka.
Dammit, Ucchan, why?"  The letter lay limp in his hands, the words in
Ukyo's handwriting clear to all who could see the letter.  Hikaru turned
to console her boyfriend, and in doing so, glanced at the letter.  What
she read made her feel a thousand times smaller than she'd felt in
years.

================================================================
Ranchan,

I love you.

Goodbye.

-Ukyo 
================================================================

TO EVER BE CONTINUED....

AUTHOR'S NOTES
Since so much of Duet is serious and stern, the purpose of this second
prequel miniseries is to show a lighter side to the series, to give the
point to show that as much as there is darkness in the world of Duet,
there is also light, just like real life.  At least, that was the
original intent.  I'm not sure if I pulled it off.  ^_^;;;

This has actually been somewhat of a challenge to write and construct.
When Libby and I originally came up with the concept of Duet, we
scripted everything down in a syllabus (fondly called by those in the
know as the Duet "Order of Battle").  Over the times it has been
changed, leaning more towards the WWII influences that Duet has.  As I
have taken over the series, I am trying to give a better balance to it,
by giving lighter sessions, something that had not been planned for in
the Duet OOB.  In a sense, we're trampling on virgin territory here,
carving a new niche that can be filled out later, yet will have an
impact on the later chapters as they are reedited (and in some cases,
possibly entirely rewritten).

I hope that you enjoy it as I continue to revise the series, working
towards the long-awaited Part 9.

Ja mata,
-Rob
26 Jul 02

NEXT:
A DUET OF PIGTAILS: THE ELEGANT WORLD
PART THREE - FLUTECATCHER



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