Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!!
This story gets crazier and more confusing as time passes by. I should know.
I'm on Book 2 and I'm going bonkers trying to keep track of a large number
of plots, subplots, and even more subsubplots.... Nah! Just Kidding.... :)

I trust someone is reading the clues found in the story.....
If you are and are not wondering just how strange some scenes may be,
Congratualtions... Although, I still think my fanfic is seriously in need of
some humor agent.... got anyone for hire?

This is Chapter 8. If I'm missing or skipping chapters, tell me. I'm
chalking it up to Basic Accounting Exams.... Also from being unable to sleep
these days.......

Till the next installment, Ja ne!!!

========================

-------------------
CHAPTER EIGHT

	It was getting chilly. She paid it little heed. She was bone tired to care
about the weather.
	The woman tried to relax her tired body. She sat by the table of an outdoor
cafe  sipping tea with the proprietor. For once, she was glad that Ami-chan
had decided to teach her  those utterly boring sessions on tea rituals.
Even the English-born proprietor was surprised at this show of knowledge. 
Still, she needed a job. Only problem was where to find it. She  desperately
needed a job since what money she had with her when she first arrived was
almost  used up. 
	Somehow, the man managed to read what was in her mind.
	"Madame," he spoke in perfect Japanese, "I am in need of the services of a
helper in my business especially during peak hours of the day. The pay is
good as it gets and I can at least offer you a decent place to live while
you work with me." 
The man emphasized his point by  glancing at her travel gear.
	The woman's elation was apparent by the smile she gave the man. She
resisted to urge to kiss the guy for his foresight. She was glad to be able
to have a roof under her head,  even if it was a temporary arrangement. All
thoughts of Chibi left her mind as she haggled with the man concerning her pay.
	"Very well," the man relented. "I agree." The man paused a moment to
consider what to say to her. "Can you start tomorrow. You can stow your
things in the guest room on the top floor and freshen up afterwards."
	The woman bowed her head in thanks to the man's generosity. Indeed, such
generosity was hard to find in a city. The man watched her take her leave.
He felt the stirring of his heart. The woman intrigued him and God knew he
wanted her! 


	She sat outside the cafe once more, her thoughts pondered her dilemma.
Chibiusa was  nowhere in this city and subsequent searches had led her to
the Tendo residence. Already, she  had found traces of a fight by one of
Rei's pets and another man. The danger to the princess  rose day after day.
She was getting frantic as to how she would find her. Her instincts warned
her of coming trouble. If only she could find her in time!
	She didn't like that one bit.
	Her thoughts were momentarily disturbed as a bunch of rowdy teeners passed
by. One of them noticed the woman sitting alone by the table. He signaled
his friends to halt as he walked towards the woman. She paid no heed to him
and returned to sipping her tea. 
	"Wanna play with us, sister?" he asked.
	"Get lost." was all she said to him; returning to her contemplation.
	She did not want to maul anyone right now.  Christmas had just ended, after
all.
	The young man; however, took this rather 'polite' request as an insult. He
pulled out a  fan knife from his pants. She blinked once and before the guy
knew what hit him, he was lying  flat on the pavement nursing a bruised
back. The woman returned to her seat and drank from her  cup once more.
	"I wish to be alone. Get lost before I loose what patience I have left."
This she  delivered in a cold voice. 
	The young man was unperturbed by her 'request' and rushed towards her.
Caught unawares by  this attack, she soon found herself being manhandled by
him. 
What really ticked her off was when he started squeezing her chest. Seeing
red, she loosened the man's hold on her and threw him a good hundred feet.
His companions took off after that and left their compatriot lying on the
pavement, unconscious.
	"So much for that." she said to herself. 
* * * * *


	Ranma and Mizuki were busily tidying the mess they made of the dojo while
Genma, in  panda form, tried his usual best to shrink from his chores. Ranma
still nursed his bruises from the attack his sister had made. She too was no
less bruised than he. 	
	"I hate this." grumbled Ranma.
	Mizuki stopped from her sweeping to give a nod. "Wish we didn't have gone
too far with that fight." mused a still aching Mizuki.
	"What are you two doing?" asked a Soun in demonic form. 
	Both brother and sister hurriedly went back to their sweeping. 
	By the time they were finished cleaning up the mess, it was time for dinner
with the  both of them famished from the lack of food. Ranma's mouth was
watering at the food laid out at the table. 
	"Dinner." Kasumi called to them all.
	Ranma and Mizuki were the very first at the table and were already gobbling
up the food at an alarming rate. Soun appears and sees the two finishing up
everything at the table.
	"Arghh!" screams an enrage demon-Soun. "What are you two doing!"
	Seeing this, both brother and sister finish up what they were eating and
take their  leave. Kasumi sat there, shaking her head in amusement. Soun sat
down and began eating what was left of dinner. The panda is absent for some
reason.
	

Later on, after having eaten their fill from Ucchan's, Ranma and his sister
head back to the dojo hoping that Mr. Tendo had regained his temper. As a
peace offering, they had bought a  large deluxe okonomiyaki from Ucchan's. 
Hopefully, this would curb his wrath.
	"You're not bad yourself, brother." she told him while they walked backed
to the dojo. 
	"Where'd you learn that technique you used against me?" he asked curiously,
remembering  the power of that attacked. "It went through my attack easy."
	"I mixed my attacks." she answered.
	"Huh?" 
	Mizuki rolled her eyes heavenward wondering at the same time how her
brother could ever have become a martial artist with a brain like a rock.
She tried to hide her exasperation from him. No telling how that might
affect him or their relationship as brother and sister. 
	"Martial Arts. The_one_we use, Ranma, can be mixed with other forms or
techniques to  make a new one. My attack's a mixture of most of what I've
gleaned from my brief training under the tutelage of a master. If you just
practice your martial arts a bit more seriously. And maybe_ you'll be able
to beat me the next time."
	Ranma chose not to make a comment. He just glowered at his sister’s amused
expression. <Note: She’s trying to look innocent.>
* * * * * 


	Three weeks had passed since Ranma had left the dojo without anyone’s
knowledge. No one visibly cared where he went. Everyone knew that they were
worried. They just hid it anyway. No sense in ruining one’s reputation over
a single disappearance.  
It was pretty peaceful in the  neighborhood right now. 
No Ranma to make Akane scream like a harridan. No Happosai to go around
making female lives miserable. No Shampoo to go around bicycling into their
house and running over people or walls. No new sudden appearances of fiancée
or enemies. No new momentous and extremely laughable events had transpired
since then. 
There is a word for this kind of event. 
	That word spelled out as B O R I N G. 
	Nabiki and Yuriko spent the time going around Nerima and visiting every
place. Nabiki was almost regretting the peacefulness back at the dojo. At
least with Ranma, things were never  that dull. 
She sighed in barely kept remorse in her voice. Yuriko noticed this and
hoped that  Nabiki wasn't sinking back into her depression. 
	For Yuriko, these days left her feeling strange. It was as if something had
been erased in her mind. something that made her uneasy and worried. For all
her knowledge in sorcery, she wasn't that good as Prof. Miyabi or Naoko. And
her gut instincts told her she might be  needing them soon. She made a
mental note of asking them to come visit them at Nabiki's house soon.
Hateful as it was, she decided to keep it a secret from her friend.
	"Yuriko." Nabiki called to her deep-in-thought friend. "Thinking about
something?" she  asked.
	Yuriko gave her a smile and followed her friend back to the dojo. 
	"I miss him." Nabiki said suddenly.
	Yuriko took a few moments before she realized who she was talking about. 
	"You thinking too much about him again." she reprimanded cautiously, afraid
that something within Nabiki might snap.
	Nabiki bobbed her head up and down. She fought to hold back the tears in
her eyes. After close to a year since his supposed death, she still could
not get over him. Her heart ached to  see him once more. Yuriko did not need
to be a telepath to read her thoughts. She sympathized  with Nabiki. Not
many people could see through her more than she or Nabiki’s late boyfriend
had. She prayed that someday things could be different for her.
	Both girls found themselves heading straight for a cafe and sitting down on
one of the cafe's outdoor tables. Both rested tire feet and stuffed their
bags on a chair and called for  the waitress who was serving a nearby customer. 
	Yuriko gasped at the woman who approached them both. The woman radiated
some form of aura which shone every so often to her trained sorceress eyes.
It glowed a brilliant blue-gold. whoever she was, she was definitely powerful. 
	Nabiki stared at her friend who was looking wide eyed at the waitress
before them. She  was tempted to think that her friend was a lesbian by the
way she looked at the woman. She kept the thought to herself. She decided to
look at woman as well while she waited for her friend to  snap out of her
trance. 
	The woman was definitely someone whom a lot of people would pant after.
Even with the  gaudy black and white frilled uniform, the woman looked
positively enchanting. Her blue-black  hair tied in a single thick braid
down her back. Her eyes were the color of the sky. 
	For her part, the waitress calmly and most patiently waited on the two as
they stared at her with wide and awe-struck eyes. She was used to this
common enough occurrences and she took no notice of it anymore since it
attracted business to her employer. The proprietor could say  nothing or
fault them for their reactions to his employee. Since who cared as long as she 
attracted people to his cafe.
	"Would you two like anything?" she asked them both after a reasonable
amount of waiting  on the pair. Both snapped out of their trance. Nabiki
ordered the house special while Yuriko ordered nothing more than a big
boiling pot of lemon tea.
	"You're going to starve with the way you're eating." Nabiki scolded her
companion.
	"I don't eat much for lunch." was her only reply.
	Nabiki left her alone and waited for her ordered food.
* * * * * 


	Somewhere in a deserted back alley, a lone, shrunken figure emerges from
out of nowhere, a bulging sack slung behind his back. A close inspection of
the sack reveals quite an assortment of silky women's wear -- lingerie to be
more precise. The man wore a large grin in his rather weathered face. His
small hands grasped the sack with loving care. Truly he had quite a large
haul  from his escapade in that place he went into. And without any Ranma to
spoil his fun, it was a place of heavenly delight. He still recalled with
clarity of the countless women he had fun with during his temporary sojourn
in that place. Too bad it had to end so soon.
	He had an evil grin on his weathered face as he envisioned Ranma's reaction
when he uses his new technique on him. Indeed, it would be such an immortal
moment. His thoughts were still trying to contrive up ways to humiliate
Ranma when his other enhanced senses warned him of  women close by. 
	The grin on his face took a more lecherous form as he bounded across the
street where he sensed them. He halted a few meters away from a cafe and
indeed, there were two new female bodies to make his acquaintance with. All
thoughts of Ranma were erased and replaced by a burning desire to bury
himself between a pair of breasts....
	"Pretty lady!" he called out to the closest of the two, a blue-haired
woman. The woman turned around, as expected, and he eagerly awaited his
landing on her chest. He lands smack in the middle of her chest and marveled
at the suppleness of her flesh.
	"Ah.. Pretty lady..." murmurs Happosai in contentment
	SMACK! POW! CRASH!
	Happosia finds himself lying flat on the ground and feeling just a tad bit
battered by the trashing he took. He raised his eyes to see a woman towering
before him, a red tinged aura surrounded her form. 
	"You crazy old pervert!" screamed the woman, punting him --sack and all--
to greet  heaven's angels.
	"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
	The waitress returned to clear away their meal. Yuriko was still breathing
a bit hard  from rage. She could not believe at the old man's audacity. She
gripped the cup tightly in her hands, wishing she had more thoroughly
punished the old man. 
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted as a pair of hands had grabbed her
breasts from  behind. She cried out in outrage; feeling the sudden urge to
rip apart the person responsible for defiling her. As it was to be expected,
Happosai is now severely beaten up by Yuriko who used her skills as a
sorceress to extract the sweetest of vengeance upon the old man. Nabiki
watched in wry amusement as Happosai got what he so deserved. 
	As she was about to deliver her final blow upon him, he escapes. Yuriko
blinked in  surprise wondering how the lecher had escaped her ward. She
looked around trying to find the old man. A sudden scream from the waitress
alerted her to his whereabouts. She took off in hot pursuit only to see the
waitress efficiently get rid of her unwanted burden by tossing him inside a
large pressure cooker and sent it along a path that would take it to the river.
	"Wow." was all Yuriko could say as she watched, her own rage slowly
draining away.
	"Damn fool." uttered the furious waitress as she stomped off towards the
kitchens.
	Yuriko shivered in dread. She felt a keen sense of awe and fear for the
waitress. What she saw around her was no ordinary aura. It glowed and
flickered about her in a way that was  supposed to be impossible. Even
normal people had an aura that exhibited no variations in its color makeup.
But hers did. Varying from blue to gold to blue-gold and even black. Most
ordinary  people's aura was colored a light shade of blue. What did the
woman's color shifting aura mean?
It was time to find some answers.
	The waitress returned at their table and collected the bill from the two
and departed only to find the persistent old lecher rubbing his face on her
breasts. Unable to contain her anger any longer, she blasts the old man into
a dimensional warp carrying him to the deepest, darkest pit there is. 
	"Wow." breathed an awed Yuriko. 
	Without thinking why, she stepped towards the still furious waitress. She
wondered why  she was doing this; but a part of her seemed to know the
reason and refuses the rest of herself to know. "Uh…… Excuse me...."
	The enraged waitress whirled around. "WHAT?!" she demanded in a furious tone.  
	"Can we talk somewhere private?" Yuriko wanted to know.
	The woman wondered who the blue-haired lass was. She felt a pang of sorrow
for how closely she resembled Ami-chan. 
"Come again?' she asked in a more modulated, less furious tone.
	"I need to talk to you for a sec." She eyed the crowd a while. "In
private." she pressed.
	The woman caught the urgent tone in her voice and nods, leading her to a
corner of the  cafe.

	"What was that you told her?" asked a curious Nabiki later on as they
traversed the road  back to the dojo.
	Yuriko shifts her gaze to her companion. "Hmmm?"
	"I want to know what you told her." repeated Nabiki.
	"Nothing." she answers. Nabiki gave her her patented gaze of disbelief. "I
just told her I wanted to find out who she is and where to find her should I
have need to ask her some rather private things."
	"Sorcerous stuff again?" Nabiki asked in disbelief. "Honestly, Yuriko, I
think you're getting addicted to sorcery more quickly than you are to your
college course."
	"Yep." she answers cheerfully.
* * * * * 


	"At last, we're back in Nerima." sighs a very tired and haggard Ryouga
Hibiki to his equally tired and very vexed little companion. 
	The little girl just mumbles an incoherent curse; wishing she was a bit
smarter in choosing her protector. Having lost Radler was a terrible blow
for her. But this new one was making her think twice about that loss. How
she missed the cheerful presence of Radler. Come to think of it, she never
really new of his name except for what he gave her. She stared at  the
heavens briefly, offering up a silent prayer to the man who'd sacrificed all
to see her safe. She felt hot tears streaming down her cheeks. 
	"Uncle Radler..."
	She suddenly remembered just why she was angry.
	She turns to face a very tired Ryouga.  A terrible rage takes hold of her
as she grabs Ryouga by his collar. "Ryouga, you stupid jerk!" she
practically screamed in his ear. "Did you have to just take me for a walk in
that rain forest?!" she demanded, shaking him like a rag doll. "What the
heck is the matter with you? It's a miracle we even made it out of there!"
She continues to shake him until her anger drains away. 
	She drops him with a loud thud as she contemplates her surroundings. It
appeared to be the outskirts of Nerima but she wasn't sure since she grew up
mostly in Neo-Tokyo. She lets her senses drift in the winds, letting it
scout her way and 'see' any potential danger that  may lie ahead. She was
still very wary  and confused as to why her mother hadn't bothered to  send
some of the others to hunt her down. It made her very edgy and traveling
Asia's remaining tropical rain forests and visiting Leningrad and Greenwich
did not help her at all. 
Right now, she wished she had her uncle with her instead of a boy who gets
lost just trying to get out of a bathroom! After spending all those time
with him in that unexpected little 'trip,' she found her current protector
to be quite strong but definitely lacking some neurons in his brains which
would go a long way in explaining his deficiency. Still, Ryouga was at least
kind and caring at times which painfully reminded her of her lost foster uncle.
	She looked back at the still dazed Ryouga. She sighed and proceeded to drag
him towards Nerima.	 
	After hours of negotiating the roads of Nerima, she finally managed to drag
the still inert form of Ryouga in front of the gates of the Tendo Dojo. She
dumps Ryouga beside the dojo's sign.  She starts searching for a doorbell to
announce her arrival.
	As it so happens, Kasumi had just returned from her shopping and on her way
home that same time.  As she neared the dojo, she notices a little girl
barely ten of age and had  strange red eyes looking for something.
	"Excuse me," she asked of the little girl. "what may you be looking for,
little girl?"
	A very vexed Chibiusa whirled around to face a  demure-faced young woman
with long brown hair. "Do you happen to know where the doorbell  might be?"
she asked furiously.
	"Doorbell?" Kasumi echoed back. She looks at the pink-haired girl. She then
notices a very unconscious and bedraggled Ryouga Hibiki lying behind some
bushes.  "Oh my!" she gasped, placing a hand to her mouth.


	Kasumi smiles at this and leads the little girl towards the dojo's gates.
On her way in, she instructs <bullies -- Kasumi style> Mr. Saotome to fetch
Ryouga. She rummages in the fridge and comes up with three not-very-cold
strawberry pies. She pops it into the microwave and hands the girl a glass
of lemonade while waiting for the pies to come out of the microwave. 
	Ting! 
	Kasumi removes the now hot pies and them to the starving girl and
admonished her not to burn her tongue. She smiles at the girl before going
back to her chores of cooking.
	"Hey Kasumi," calls Nabiki from the kitchen entrance, "Do you happen to be
using those old teddies of yours?" she asked.
	Kasumi blushed visibly at this. 
"Nabiki!" Kasumi cried out in shock. "You don't cry out such things in
public! I have a reputation to uphold and it won't do well for you to go
around yelling things like that." 
	Nabiki smiled at this. Not many people knew of this, certainly not their
dad or even Akane. it was one of  Kasumi's little secrets. Ever since she
caught her elder sister wearing one in her room years ago, she had kept
quite under the condition that Kasumi give them to her should she tire of it. 
It has to be admitted that Kasumi had good tastes and those teddies she gave
Nabiki had earned her a lot of yen selling it inconspicuously to her fellow
students. 
	Nabiki then notices their guest sitting by a corner of the kitchen stuffing
herself with what was supposed to be her midnight snack for the night! She
resisted an impulse to snatch them out from the girl since it was obvious
that she needed it more than she did right now. "There goes my snack!" she
wailed silently. 
	Within Nabiki's inner most consciousness, something is roused from its
slumber.....
* * * * * 
	

Ranma had finally returned to the dojo after having taking three weeks off
to himself to train himself in order to match his sister's skill. Never had
he thought to lose to a younger person especially not to his own sister not
after beating that Predator that came hunting him down some time ago! He
discards his cumbersome backpack and trudge tiredly to the baths eager to
ease his tired muscles and rid himself of three weeks of accumulated dirt
and sweat. 
	Ranma, true to his usual unlucky streak or just plain old clumsiness, did
not bother to even check to see if anyone was in the baths. Fortunately for
him, or rather a bit unfortunately, it was his sister, Mizuki, rinsing
herself with cold water.  Unlike Akane, however;  Mizuki just splashed Ranma
with cold water from the bucket she held and instant girl! 
	"Gha!!" protested a shivering Ranma.
	"Lucky for you it wasn't Akane or else she'd have given you another flying
lesson." she told her transformed brother. She stood up and helped herself
to the warm water in the tub while a still shivering Ranma tried hard not to
stare at her sister.  "You really do not need to avert your eyes on me you
know."  informed Mizuki from the tub. "Right now, you're a girl and as a
girl, you've got absolutely nothing to worry about. Now quit this demure act
and take a bath! You stink!" 
	While Ranma washed herself , Mizuki watched her brother ..sister <Geez! how
the heck do you do this?>. She marginally envied her brother for having this
female side of his have such an incredibly well-built form. Still, envy for
one's own brother wasn't worth pursuing since it would lead to fights. She
closed her eyes and waited for Kasumi's call to dinner.


	Mizuki woke up half an hour later to find herself all alone in the baths
with the water having turned cold. She eased herself out of the tub and
rubbed herself dry with one of the bath towels nearby. She left the baths
clad in a pink bath towel with her bath implements on one hand and the other
busying itself with combing her  long brown hair. She heard Kasumi's call to
dinner and hurried to her room to get ready before the wolves finish off
dinner without her. 
	At the dinner table, Ranma looks wide-eyed at the young girl who sat beside
Kasumi. Ryouga sat next to her and was severely tight-lipped about anything
concerning the little girl. Akane sat there, taking in this new development
in the their lives in stride. Mr. Saotome and his father paid no heed to
their visitor and simply gobbled  up dinner to quickly return to their
rather stimulating game of go. 
	Mizuki entered the living room to find a pink-haired little girl sitting in
with Kasumi. Her mood brightened upon seeing Ryouga Hibiki and quickly
latched herself onto him. Ryouga reacted as usual by nearly collapsing in an
incoherent heap. Girls seem to affect him so, observed Nabiki. 
	Yuriko stared hard at the little girl. Her enhanced senses felt the golden
aura that surrounded the little girl. She stared hard upon those red eyes.
Whoever this girl may be, she was far older than her looks suggested. 
	"Who are you?" asked Yuriko. 
	The little girl looked up from her bowl to look upon the woman who had
asked the question. She opened her mouth as if to speak but thought better
of it and held her silence. She stared down at her food, deciding if she
were to tell them anything about herself. Her uncle had warned her of the
inherent dangers of trusting anyone. 'Trust is a double-edged sword. To
trust a person means that you have to trust all whom that person knows.'
That was something that her uncle always reminded her of. Would it be wise
to trust these people whom she barely knew? Still, without help, she could
never have her vengeance. 
	"My name is Chibusa. I come from a place that your people would someday
call Neo-Tokyo. Suffice it to say that things have gone horribly wrong in my
time and I am seeking people to help me put it back together again."
	"Come again." a disbelieving Ranma asked. 
	Chibiusa gave him a small smile. She understood his reclutance to believe.
It took her the better part of a day to hammer understanding into Ryouga's
brain. She wondered how long it would take to finally convince this group.
She sighed and began to tell her tale of woe upon the people gathered around
her. 
  
* * * * * 

	"At long last!" Rei exclaimed excitedly. "The little wench has fallen into
my trap. Time to spring it on her. Hahahahahaha!!!!"
	She called forth her minions and ordered them to battle and slay the Moon
Princess once and for all.
	"This should be fun." she told herself.


************************
Radler

        You guys just have to wait for more.......
************************

        Anyone to criticize or flame or roast me? Now is a good time... I
feel like hell and in need of a new brain for that matter. College! Can't
live with it, can't work without it.
        Someone shoot those people who made schools!