Magical Interludes:  December's End
Fanfic by J.K. Hayashi

Chapter 8:  The Festival - Part V

Sentaro runs into the main room of the teahouse.

Sentaro:  "Grandmother, someone has stolen some tea!"
Grandmother:  "How much?"

Sentaro is about to reply when the monk shivers.

Grandmother:  "Holiness, what's wrong?"
Monk:  "I felt... I feel the presence of a demon nearby..."
Sentaro:  "A demon!"

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

Ranma jumps from rooftop to rooftop, looking for some private 
place with cold water so that he could change forms.  He passes a 
sign that says "Martial Arts Tea Ceremony Demonstration" and 
mutters to himself before going into the small teahouse.

Ranma:  "Perfect!  There's got to be a faucet somewhere in there."

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

A small white cat and small black pig stood in the middle of the 
street.  They had followed Happosai to this location and lost him.  
The white cat looks at the sign that says "Martial Arts Tea 
Ceremony Demonstration", then mews at the pig, leading the both 
of them inside.

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

Happosai sits drinking a cup of tea out on the walkway facing the 
garden, breathing a sigh of relief that he was again safe.  He sees a 
figure flying toward him and thanks the gods that were watching 
over him; it was Ranma!

Happosai did what he always did in situations like this.  He finds the 
nearest bucket of cold water and hurls it at Ranma, who hadn't seen 
him (because he was looking for a faucet).  The bucket hits Ranma 
and spills over him, changing him to his girl form.  Happosai 
immediately latches on to Ranma's breasts while Ranma reacts 
typically to the old man's fondling by getting mad and hitting him (a 
lot).

Unfortunately Ranma forgets about Kodachi, who lands nearby.  She 
sees Ranma's female form and hisses.

Kodachi:  "You!  What have you done with my Ranma?"

Kodachi moves to attack Ranma but is forced to dodge three 
shuriken thrown by the inspector.  Happosai takes advantage of the 
situation by once again latching onto Ranma's breasts.  Ranma kicks 
Happosai toward Kodachi and she shrieks as the old man latches 
onto her body.  Attracted by the commotion, the monk, Sentaro, 
Satsuki, and Sentaro's grandmother arrive at the scene.  The 
inspector takes out his identification.

Inspector:  "Police!  That girl is a criminal!"

Kodachi manages to knock Happosai toward the wall.  The monk 
shivers and points at Happosai.

Monk:  "That one... that man is the demon!"

Kodachi and the inspector face off in preparation to fight.  Happosai 
pulls out one of his Happodaikarin, but it is knocked loose from his 
hand, the fuse lit, when Mr. Turtle and one of the zookeepers enter 
through the wall behind him.  The bomb is knocked from Happosai's 
hand and bounces past a pig and cat that attack Happosai, and rolls 
next to the box containing the tea.  Kodachi takes advantage of the 
distraction by attacking the inspector, hitting him several times with 
a tea ladle that she finds on the floor.  She also manages to find her 
ribbon in his jacket pocket and steals it back.

Sentaro:  "That bomb will set off the explosive trap in the tea 
	bushel!"

The lit fuse disappears from sight.

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

Ayuki:  [sighing]  "I wish Ryoga were here."
Keiko:  [sighing]  "Things are so busy!  Do you think we'll get a 
	break?"

Midori looks off into the distance, where cries of "alligator" can still 
be heard, followed a few minutes later by an explosion and a giant 
cloud of (tea) smoke rising into the night sky.

Midori:  [sighing]  "Maybe."

Midori starts to close down the cart in spite of the crowd.  Nabiki 
and Ukyou walk up to the shop.

Nabiki:  "Are you closing already?"
Midori:  "I thought I'd better."

Midori points in the direction of the explosion.

Midori:  "These things have a nasty habit of spreading to where we 
	are."
Ukyou:  "I think you're probably right."

All the girls quickly relocate everything back into the building.

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

Kodachi, being the farthest from the explosion, was the first to 
recover.  Her trusted ribbon back in her hand, she looked at the 
unconscious figures around her, deciding what course of action to 
take.  Darling Ranma was still nowhere in sight, so she decides to 
take her brother's "pig-tailed girl" and torture her until she revealed 
his location.  She wraps the redhead up with her ribbon and jumps 
for the roof so that she could lose the inspector.

The inspector regains consciousness as Kodachi wrapped a red-
headed girl with her ribbon.  As she started to leap he throws the 
bokken at her legs, hoping to trip her up.  It partially worked as 
Kodachi stumbles while landing on the roof of the encircling wall, 
falling into the street below.  He quickly looks for a weapon to 
counter the ribbon; he picks up the partially burnt water ladle, then 
notices the fallen tranquilizer gun by the first zookeeper (the second 
one had arrived and was struggling to take off the sweater from the 
alligator), he picks it up and continues the chase.

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

Akane runs up to Uc-chan's to find that Ranma hadn't arrived yet.  
When questioned by Ukyou about where Ranma was, she explains 
Ranma's plan to lose Kodachi.

Ukyou:  "Well, in light of that,"  [indicates lingering effects of the 
	explosion]  "We'd better be prepared if Ran-chan doesn't 
	lose Kodachi."
Akane:  "Ranma..."

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

The monk awoke to a very strange sight.  The old man whom he 
identified as being possessed by a demon was lying unconscious on 
the ground (which wasn't in itself strange - just before the explosion 
the pig and cat had kicked him next to the bomb) while the angry 
cat and pig jumped repeatedly on his body.

It was undoubtedly a sign, but the Buddha wouldn't grant him 
enlightenment about what.

The monk sets the two animals aside and wraps the demon up.  It 
felt like the demon and the old man had been fused for some time.  
The monk doubted whether the two could be separated and the 
demon exorcised, but it would be worth a try.  If nothing else, it 
might provide some laughs for the other monks.

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

*****************************End Chapter 8, Part V

Magical Interludes:  December's End
Fanfic by J.K. Hayashi

Chapter 8:  The Festival - Part VI

Kodachi avoids her twisted ankle as much as she can, but tries to 
escape quickly by hopping from rooftop to rooftop on one leg.  
Ranma regains consciousness, but Kodachi realizes the attempts to 
escape by the additional pull on her ribbon.

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

Inspector Muramoto was only a minute behind Kodachi, but she had 
disappeared.  He decides to stand absolutely still and listen.  The 
sound of impacts come from the rooftop level and he springs to the 
nearest rooftop.  He can see the jumping (injured) Kodachi in the 
distance, her prisoner's body thumping on the rooftops as the ribbon 
flung it back and forth over her head.  He follows her, but is 
currently too far to effectively use the last shot of the tranquilizer 
gun.

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

Akane paces around the restaurant, nervous at Ranma's continued 
tardiness.  Nabiki sits at one of the tables nibbling on an 
okonomiyaki.

Nabiki:  "Sit down, Akane.  You aren't making things any better by 
	working yourself up."

Akane looks at Nabiki with an angry retort, but bites her lip to keep 
it from coming out.

Akane:  "You seem awfully calm about things, Nabiki."
Nabiki:  "Ranma can take care of himself.  Besides, he's not my 
	fiance."

Ukyou thinks about Nabiki's last comment.

Ukyou:  "Akane..."
Akane:  "Yes, Ukyou?"
Ukyou:  "About what we were talking about earlier..."

Ukyou notices everyone starting to take more interest in their 
conversation.  She starts to shove everyone but Akane out the door.

Ukyou:  "Out, out, all of you."

Akane and Ukyou are left alone in the room, sitting down at one of 
the tables.

Ukyou:  [whispering]  "I've been thinking about what you said.  I 
	don't know if I'll ever feel differently toward Ranma.  But 
	Midori told me that you and I were friends when I married 
	Ranma.  I'd like to try."

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

Inspector Muramoto judges that he had gained enough ground to 
attempt the shot.  As Kodachi jumps from one rooftop to the next, he 
plants his feet and squares his body, the gun barrel following the 
moving torso.

Inspector:  "Kodachi Kuno!  Stop or I'll shoot!"

Kodachi keeps on jumping.  The inspector fires the gun.  The 
tranquilizer dart hits Kodachi's body, which immediately starts to 
fall to the street below.  Ranma, feeling the sudden slack on the 
ribbon, rolls his way out of it and lands in the street below.  The 
inspector rushes to make the arrest.

As Kodachi's body falls to the street below, four girls watch.

Nabiki:  "I'm not catching her."
Ayuki:  "Keiko, you're the closest, catch her."
Keiko:  "No way.  I hate her."

Kodachi's body lands at Keiko's feet while the girls are arguing.  
Inspector Muramoto quickly lands next to it.  Ranma rushes into Uc-
chan's and hugs Akane, then (hesitatingly) Ukyou.

Inspector:  "Finally!"

The inspector picks up Kodachi's ribbon and ties her wrists and legs 
together.  He suddenly jumps up.

Inspector:  "Hey!  Who grabbed my butt?"

He looks around, but only encounters a bunch of innocent faces.  
Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou come out of the restaurant.  The 
inspector picks up the unconscious body and starts walking toward 
the police station.

Inspector:  [muttering]  "That's got to be the most unnatural thing 
	someone can do to a guy..."

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

Kasumi walks up to Uc-chan's, a smile on her face, carrying a small 
black pig, which she hands to Ayuki.

Akane:  "Where's dad?"
Kasumi:  "Tofu wants him to remain in the first aid station until 
	tomorrow morning."
Nabiki:  "You mean we're unchaperoned?  Yay!"
Kasumi:  "Father made me promise that I'd make sure everyone gets 
	home, so I'll be your chaperone."

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

The monk frowns to himself.  It seemed that nothing he did would 
separate the demon from the old man.  He thought to himself that 
there was only one other option for the next night.  If that didn't 
work he'd have to let him go, still cursed.

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

At Keiko's request, the group went by the fortune teller's booth.

Teller:  "So its you again.  All right, pick your cards."

Keiko steps up and picks a single card, placing it in front of the 
teller, who flips it over.

Teller:  "Gaji... the choice.  You will be confronted by an important 
	choice that will determine the direction of your life."

Keiko looks down at the teller with disbelief.  Ayuki persuades the 
untransformed Ryoga to pick some cards.  As the teller flips open 
the first one, it is found to be the card depicting the bush clover and 
pig.  Off to one side, Midori attempts to persuade Ukyou to be next.  
Ranma shudders and turns away.  Akane walks up to him and puts 
her arm around his waist.

Akane:  "Ranma?  What is it?"

Ranma places his arm around Akane's shoulders, looks back at the 
booth, his face a mixture of revulsion and sadness.  He then starts to 
walk toward the dojo.

Ranma:  "I don't want to know."

*******************************************finis Chapter 8

[Author's note #1:  The photos of Kodachi and Ranma kissing are 
the photographs that Ranma didn't eat in the "Akane's Cookies" 
storyline (american manga vol. 4).  The life-size picture of Ranma is 
new, but not outside the realm of possibility given that Kuno's room 
was filled with giant pictures of Akane and female Ranma.]

[Author's note #2:  Ranma and Akane's "making love" refers to their 
kissing in Chapter 7; Kodachi's mind has obsessed to the point of 
exaggeration.]

Next:  
Chapter 9:  Reflections

New Year's Eve!