Author's notes:
	This is the first complete part of a three act piece.  It is posted
in it's entirety and will not appear again until the completion of the
third act.

	part 1: Trust nothing.
	part 2: Death is in the details.
	part 3: Face your fear.

	This is a second draft with additional scenes, C&C is still
appriciated.
	Delete all previous copies.

Author's warning:
	This is not a happy fic.
	This is not related to any other fic of mine or anyone else's.

	You have been warned.


Everything Zen Productions presents...

	Ranma 1/2:  Half Truth, (Deadly Lies)

		"Trust nothing."

[part 1]

	Ukyou began to scrape down her grill.  She took a break to wave
goodbye as the last customer walked out.  It had been a busy day, and it
took it's toll on her.  She would have loved to leave the cleaning for
later but she knew the grill wouldn't wait.  It took all her energy to get
the little blackened bits near the edges, Konatsu always missed them which
is why she did it herself.

	She heard the sound of cans crashing down in the back room, she
sent Konatsu back there a good ten minutes earlier.  She shook her head and
hoped that he remembered to lock the back door at least.

	Ukyou stopped and rested her head in her hands, all she wanted now
was a warm bath and a trashy romance novel.  Her thoughts were interrupted
by Konatsu's entrance, she didn't bother to look up.  She turned slowly
towards the storeroom door, "You can take off early, I'll fin.."

	Her words were cut short by the flow of red liquid she saw coming
from the door.  It was deep red.  The most familiar shade of red.  The one
all people have seen at some point in their lives, but rarely in this
quantity.  "..Konatsu?"

	Ukyou stepped through the door, coating the soles of her feet in
the red liquid.  Her instincts threw her back against the wall as she
entered.  Her eyes could see but her mind couldn't register the images into
a coherant thought.

	He was dead, there was no mistaking that much.  The damage was too
extensive, too grotesque for him to be alive.  Reality began to set in on
Ukyou and the realization that the door had opened earlier.

	Konatsu couldn't have done it, but that only left one other option.
She looked once to the open door to the alley and back down to Konatsu's
broken form.  Her attack spatula was sitting in the other room next to the
grill but she reached over to her bandolier hanging from the wall next to
her.

	Ukyou took a deep breath and drew two of her throwing spatulas.
The pool of blood continued to grow, it threatened to reach the alley if
not stopped.  Ukyou pushed the door wide open with her free hand.

	The dining area was empty and the only sound to be heard was that
of blood dripping down the drain behind her grill.  She calmed her nerves
and looked to her grill.  Her attack spatula was missing, she took another
scan of the room.

	She crouched at the edge of the counter and looked to the door.  It
was locked and the shades were drawn.  There were a couple of tables
outside her line of sight, but that meant she was out of it's line of sight
as well.

	She looked down again in the blood she was standing in.  It
extended past her, and past the counter now.  Then she saw them, the
footprints.  The pool of blood was reclaiming them slowly but they were
there.

	Her eyes followed them down the counter and to the door.  At first
she thought they ended there, but then she noticed the faint trail leading
back to the other side of the counter.

	She jumped out from the counter just as her spatula sliced into the
space she had been hiding.  She attacked instictively with the throwers in
her hand.  She saw one slice cleanly into a thigh but the other bounced
harmlessly to the ground.

	Ukyou wasn't as fortunate, crashing into a set of her chairs.  Her
head hit the metal edge of a seat sending a wave of disorientation through
her body.  Her eyes came back into focus as the spatula's edge came down on
her prone form.

[...]

	Kasumi placed the phone gently back into its place.  There was a
subdued silence about her, abnormally so.  She could hear the sound of
fighting in the background, Akane was upset about Ranma missing the dinner
she made for him.

	The sounds grew louder as Ranma rushed past Kasumi standing in the
hallway.  Akane followed shortly, mallet in hand and ready to strike.
Kasumi waited for return path through the hallway.

	Effortlessly she placed her hand on Ranma's shoulder as he passed
for the second time.  He nearly slid out in his effort to stop.  She
motioned to Akane who came barreling in and she stopped as well.  There was
a look in her older sister's eyes that told her simply to wait.

	Ranma saw the look as well when she began to speak, "Ranma..
there's been an accident."

	He searched for the meaning behind her words, "what is it Kasumi?"

	She found it hard to look Ranma in the face, "there was nothing
anyone could do for her, she was too far gone by the time they found her...
I'm sorry Ranma but your mother has past away."

	His legs gave out, he would have fallen if not for the staircase
for him to lean against.  His breathing became heavy as he looked to
Kasumi, "how?"

	"They said it was natural causes, she went to sleep and never woke
up.  Her heart stopped sometime late last night."  Kasumi could see the
pain clearly on Ranma's face, "her body will be with Dr. Tofu for a time if
you'd like to see her."

	Ranma looked like a child clinging to the stairs.  He stared ahead
sightlessly past Kasumi, past Akane.  "Tomorrow morning, right now I just
want to know where my damn father is."

[...]

	The fight between father and son was brutal in it's honesty.
Ranma's words hurt more than any kick or punch.  The fight left him as his
son spoke of the mother he was denied by his father, by uncontrolled
circumstance.

	Genma lost quickly.  His own feelings of guilt and remorse held him
back, not that it could have stopped him.  There was no technique in
Ranma's attack, just blind fury and relentless blows.  He stopped short of
killing, distracted by the appearance of Soun.  Genma could only watch as
his son charged off into the night.

	He leaned heavily on his friend Soun.  Even then his pronounced
limp kept movement just a step above a crawl.  "I have to find him."

	Soun took the weight of his friend as best he could, "just rest now
Saotome, he'll return on his own."

	"No Tendo, I must find him now.  I have to make him understand,
make him understand the things I did, I did for him."

	Soun nodded silently and helped his friend to the front gate, "then
we go together."

	Soun called to his daughters, watching from the doorway, "Kasumi.
Nabiki.  Akane.  Lock the gate when we leave, and watch over each other
tonight.  We may not return till morning."

	All three watched them walk out into the darkness, Akane was the
one to finally close and lock the gate.  Her home of sixteen years felt
suddenly very cold, cold and empty.  Ranma was gone, the fathers had gone
after him, she had only her two sisters to comfort her.

[...]

	Nabiki got the morning paper from the front gate.  Some of Genma's
blood could still be seen where he had leaned against it.  She used her
sleeve to wipe it but with little success, most of it had dried overnight.

	Her wiping turned to scrubbing, and her scrubbing turned to
scrapping.  Kasumi called her to breakfast which seemed to break her
facination with the red, almost black stain.  It reminded her of death, and
that was not something she needed reminding of.

	Nabiki took her place at the table and tossed the paper to the
side, where Akane picked it up.  Their father hadn't returned yet and Akane
was still a bit on edge.  She riffled straight to the sport section and
lost herself in the latest baseball scores.

	Kasumi was the first to notice, Nabiki was the first to act.  Akane
watched as the paper was torn from her hands and slammed to the table.
"Hey, I was reading that!"

	"Well read this!"

	Akane looked back down to the paper and began to read slowly to
herself at first but aloud as the words took hold, "Kuonji Ukyou, owner and
proprieter of Ucchan's Okonomiyakiya was found murdered late last night, in
what police are classifying as a failed robbery attempt.  Also found was
the body of Kunichi Konatsu, part time employee of Ucchan's.  The police
have no leads as of yet but time of death has been placed at late evening
shortly after closing.  There were signs of a struggle and it is now
believed that the assailant may have been injured before..."

	Akane's narrative was cut short by a dull thump and the sound of
floorboards creaking.  The sounds moved in a linear fashion, all three
recognized it as coming from the second floor.  The sisters looked to each
other squarely as Akane picked up a cutting knife from the table.  "Ranma?
Is that you?"

	The sounds stopped as the sisters got up and crept silently to the
sliding door.  Akane opened it in one swift motion revealing the empty
hallway.  She peered out, knife at the ready.

	A door slammed on the second floor, which meant a bedroom.  One of
their bedrooms.  All three scurried in one mass to the hallway, there they
just stared up the flight of wooden stairs.

	"Ranma?"  Akane's only answer was silence.

	Nabiki put her hand on her sister's shoulder, "daddy?"

	Kasumi forced a small smile, "Mr. Saotome?"

	Akane took a step up the stairs but jumped back screaming at the
sound of breaking glass.  She nearly fell into Nabiki causing all three to
panic and run for the door.  Akane made it first and threw the door wide
open.

	The person on the other side screamed, faced with a knife wielding
Akane and her two screaming sisters.  Akane dropped the knife as Ryouga
lowered his arms and tried to keep his heart from leaping into his throat.

	Tears in her eyes Akane hugged Ryouga fiercefully, "My god Ryouga
I've never been so happy to see someone my entire life."

[...]

	Cologne sipped her morning tea and flipped through the paper as
Mousse prepared for the day.  Shampoo had left earlier for her morning jog,
for all three it was like a morning ritual.

	The ancient amazon could feel her age this morning, the ease of her
days was becoming more comfortable with the passing months.  The thought of
settling down and passing on the mantle of leadership became increasingly
appealing.

	She allowed herself the memory of a younger Shampoo, the one she
barely got to know before her training began.  She would have liked to have
enjoyed the child in Shampoo as only a grandmother could.  Those days were
gone, but at least the future remained.  An idle dream, of warm fires and a
child in her lap.

	She turned to the only the sections which interested her, mainly
the comics and obituaries.  Reading them always made her feel younger than
she was.  The obituaries caught her attention, the listings of Saotome
Nadoka and Kuonji Ukyou.  Here were two names which had no place there.

	The tea tasted bitter in her mouth as she kept reading.  There was
something to both articles that disturbed her greatly.  She couldn't place
the feeling but it made her lightheaded, like a light mist covering her
thoughts.

	She began to push the haze aside and called to Mousse who was about
to open the front, "don't bother Mousse.  We're not opening today.  Go lock
up the back, when Shampoo returns we have somewhere to go."

	Cologne needed to see for herself, her intuition sensed a great
danger ahead for herself and everyone.  The more she thought about it, the
more danger she could sense until the haze of thoughts faded back into a
light mist.

	Dreams of children playing would have to wait for another day.

	There was a crash followed by the sound of metal against metal
coming from the kitchen.  Cologne raced her way to the back as Mousse was
thrown to the wall beside her.  His white robes were already stained red
from gashes in his arm and leg.  He was alive but his crumpled form could
do little in the way of defense.

	Cologne easily deflected a volley of knives sent to finish off
Mousse, and stood between him and the thrower.  The haze in her mind was
starting to throb slowly, it returned with a vengance but the amazon matron
stood her ground.  "Am I to be next little one?"

	Her attacker remained silent as another volley of objects were
thrown.  Her sight was starting to fade as motions gained blurs, trails of
reflected light streaked evily across her vision.  She used her staff to
deflect what seemed like dozens of angry projectiles, but even the ones she
could deflect back at her attacker did little to slow the constant barrage.

	She could sense her hearing was starting to fade as well.  The
sounds of projectiles hitting the floor, the clanging of metal on tile,
they all began to drift into the distance.

	It was then she noticed the blood, her own blood, she was bleeding
from over a dozen scratches.  She was slowing down, she was being hit.  She
could barely feel the pain, her senses were leaving her.  Cologne thought
quietly to herself perhaps she could last long enough for Mousse to escape
at least, if he had not done so already.

	She could almost see the children playing, their silent laughter
brought a smile to her wrinkled face.  It was then she felt the breeze at
her neck and both worlds faded to white.

[...]

	Ryouga led the way upstairs.  He didn't have much of a choice with
all three Tendo sisters packed tightly behind him.  "Don't worry Akane, I'm
sure it's nothing but I'll be around just in case."

	"Damnit Ranma, if only you didn't run off last night."

	Ryouga stiffened slightly but proceeded to the bedrooms.  Kasumi's
room was first.  He opened her door a crack and gave it a gentle push.  It
swung in freely to reveil the cleanest bedroom he had ever seen.  He made a
quick scan but the only space large enough for a person to hide was the
closet.  Ryouga walked up to it and placed his hands on the handles.

	"No wait!"  Kasumi said, too late as he swung the doors open.

	Ryouga turned to Kasumi and was knocked back by something large and
heavy.  Many things in fact, they buried Ryouga in a matter or seconds.  He
poked his head out and ended up staring directly at some of Kasumi's
undergarments.  He scrambled out and to his feet like the pile was on fire.

	Kasumi grimaced, "oh dear, I should have warned you earlier about
my closet.  I don't keep it very ordered, I hope my golf clubs didn't hurt
you.  I've been meaning to take them out."

[...]

	They stood in front of Nabiki's door as she fumbled for her keys.
She had a door lock installed recently, she felt she needed the extra
security at times.  Her eyes shot up as she realized the door wasn't
locked.  She knew for a fact she had done so before breakfast.

	She motioned Ryouga to the door and stood back.  Ryouga, for his
part, took a deep breath and kicked the door open.  A strong breeze drifted
through the room, the window had been left open.

	A vase had been knocked over near the window leaving the floor
damp.  It was a sterile and utilitarian room, everything was for the most
part open except for the closet.  Ryouga was about to check it but looked
to Nabiki first.

	She waved him off, "don't bother, it's full of my files, no place
for a normal person to hide."

	Akane sighed and took a seat next to her sister on the bed.  Ryouga
picked up the vase and put it back on the table.  "Well whoever was here
must have gone out through the window.  So what do we do now?"

	Nabiki started checking the files in her closet as Kasumi
responded, "We should go to Dr. Tofu's and wait for Ranma and the others.
He did say he would visit his mother today."

	Nabiki began to fiddle with the security system in her closet while
the others kept talking.  Ryouga sighed and laid his head on Nabiki's desk,
he didn't like stress very much.

	Akane nodded, "right!  I'll just go lock up my room and grab some
things.  We can be there in fifteen minutes."

	Nabiki changed the tapes in her recording equipment, taking the old
ones in hand.  She threw one into her VCR and hit rewind.  Ryoga stood up
from his chair, "need any help Akane?"

	Her voice trailed out the door, "not really, Ryouga.  I'll be right
back."

	Kasumi looked first at the vase and then to the water on the floor,
"Nabiki, your door isn't locked from the inside is it?"

	Nabiki paled as she caught on, there was no broken glass either.

	Akane's scream nearly knocked Ryouga out of his seat, he charged as
fast as he could into the hallway.  Nabiki and Kasumi followed just behind,
the tape forgotten for the moment.

	Akane just stood screaming in the hallway, the door to her room
wide open.  Ryouga ran right up to her and followed her gaze.  She stopped
screaming to bury her head in his chest.  She was breathing heavily.

	Nabiki and Kasumi both had to look away on instinct.  Nabiki
collected herself enough to take a second look into Akane's room.  There
was blood everywhere as if by a giant brush, the floors, the walls, even
the ceiling was painted red.  Not just random patterns, Nabiki began to
read them, almost in a trance.  "Nobody but you.  In the name of love.
There can be only one."

	Ryouga guided Akane to Kasumi's embrace before stepping into the
room with Nabiki.  The window was shattered, but Ryouga headed straight for
the closet.  Nabiki stood right behind him with a bloody baseball bat she
found near Akane's bed.

	He opened this one slowly, even slower as it came into view.
Nabiki dropped the bat as she saw it too.  A dead cat, just hanging there,
it's fur completely red from it's own blood.  It had been gutted, most
likely by the throwing spatula embeded in it's neck.  It's neck had been
broken as well.  It stared at Ryouga with sightless eyes, offering him the
black rose caught in it's frozen grip.

	Nabiki faught the urge to vomit when she saw the little golden fur
ornaments.  Ryouga closed the closet and turned to help Nabiki back into
the hallway.

[so it begins...]