Beta version sent for C&C.

Draxon's Review Corner Presents
An In-House Production
Ranma 1/2: A Demon's Delight
Chapter 7 : Wasted Hate
Theme Song: Metallica Load - Track 7 - Bleeding Me 

	
	Genma ran down the stairs as quickly as he could, he could clearly hear 
combat, which didn't seem to be going well for Ranma from the pained 
battlecries he had heard since a loud crashing woke him.  He charged into the 
dojo just in time to see Ranma being knocked through a wall.  The floor and 
several walls were decorated with his sons blood.  He looked toward the center 
of the room and froze as he saw a perfect image of himself dusting off an only 
slightly disorganized uniform.  Genma slowly stepped forward as the figure 
finally acknowledged him.

	"Your son should be careful about what he wishes for, he seems to have gotten 
it."  Genma's mirror image balled his right hand into a fist, and smiled,  "As 
for you, however..."

	Genma's combat sense kicked him into motion, he quickly ran forward and 
sidestepped just as a devastating blast of force tore through the place he had 
been standing just a second earlier.  He quickly dodged another blast and 
stepped close to the flickering image.  He punched hard to it's stomach, then 
stepped forward and sent a glancing elbow strike to the back of his opponents 
neck.  The shot connected, and Genma found himself utterly devastating an 
opponent that had just finished defeating his son.  He forced all of his 
strength and momentum into a devastatingly fast crescent kick, which connected 
solidly with the back of his weakening opponents head.  The copy flipped in 
the air before landing on it's back, cracking the hardwood floor from the 
force.

	He looked down to see the copy smiling.  He stepped back quickly as the copy 
raised into a sitting position and began to shake it's head slowly.  

"Tisk, tisk , Mister Saotome... Now you've made me angry."  The copy said, 
shaking his finger from side to side in a fluid motion.

"You don't know the half of it,"  Genma said in an ominous tone as he ceased 
his retreat.

[...]


"Help..."  Haratsu pleaded with his mind as his entire body began to succumb 
to the force which had invaded his very life energy.  Just as all hope began 
to filter out of his slowly degenerating consciousness, a well of heat and 
energy formed among the freezing cold.  Haratsu tapped into it, his mind 
burning with conflict.  Slowly the cold was pushed back.  He began to gain a 
sense of confidence when wrenching pain struck through him.  As the cold once 
again began to overcome him he steeled his nerves and drew upon the source 
once again.  This time, however, he was flooded with energy as the swords of 
Um Yang released a small fraction of their accumulated power.

[...]


Genma desperately dodged to the side, avoiding an open palm strike.  He ducked 
under a sweeping chop, and leaped up and forward, catching the duplicate 
directly in the chin.  The duplicate was knocked slightly into the air as it 
fired another concussion blast, the recoil knocking it through the only intact 
wall in the dojo as the blast slammed directly into Genma.

[...]

Ryouga made out a scream among the early morning noises of Tokyo as he neared 
the dojo.  The sun began to creep over the horizon as Genma Saotome slammed 
into the ground in front of him.  Ryouga looked at Genma, then to the dojo, 
amazed at the distance Genma had been knocked.  Suddenly Genma's face filled 
his vision as he was struck by a glancing punch in the stomach.  He stumbled 
back in surprise as a quick roundhouse collided with his right arm, crushing 
it into the packaged cake he had brought for Akane.  Ryouga looked at Genma, 
cold anger canceling his surprise and disbelief.  Genma threw a punch as he 
stepped forward.

Ryouga's eyes narrowed as he caught the punch in the palm of his hand.  He 
clasped his fingers around Genma's fist, and clenched until he could feel and 
hear the breaking of bone.

"I don't know what's wrong with you,"  Ryouga said venomously, "but I think I 
can probably make it a lot worse."

Genma slowly stumbled into the back yard of the dojo, his entire body battered 
from the shockwave blast he had taken.  His breathing was labored, and a large 
bruise dominated the right side of his face.  After a few seconds, he finally 
reached Ranma, who was laying on the ground three feet from the carp pond.

"Ranma, wake up."  He said as he kneeled next to his badly injured son.  Ranma 
gave no response.  "I hate to do this to you today, but..."  He picked Ranma 
up by his arms and tossed him into the carp pond.

Ranma screamed as the cold water augmented the overwhelming feeling of ice in 
his body, as the change flashed through him, Ranma-chan screamed and erupted 
from the pond, her face a mask of fear, her chest heaving in and out quickly 
as adrenaline became her primary fuel.  She quickly looked toward the road, 
where from an explosion of concrete and dirt Ranma saw the copy emerge, not 
flinching from the shrapnel that slammed into it.  With her emotions 
unleashed, tears began to stream down her eyes as she ran forward, screaming 
violently as she saw Ryouga leaping over the duplicate Genma.

Ryouga quickly turned as he landed.  He began to adopt a defensive stance when 
he heard Ranma's unmistakable voice screaming.  He looked to see Ranma running 
directly toward him.  Alarmed by the prospect of two on one, Ryouga quickly 
turned back to Genma just in time to see the Saotome grasp him by the wrist.  
As he realized the significance of his distraction Ryouga was quickly thrown, 
his back pack slamming hard into the ground, it's contents crushed between the 
concrete and Ryouga's back.  He used his momentum to fling his legs into the 
air, catching Genma's arm in a scissor lock.  He grunted as he pushed all of 
his force to the side.  Genma began to lose his balance when Ranma slammed 
into him, sending him flailing wildly.

Ryouga released his lock as he went airborne, but it was already too late.  He 
slammed through a fence across the street and slid across someone's front 
lawn, scarring it deeply.   He stood, with no indication of injury, and began 
untying several bandannas from around his head.

Ranma landed on top of the duplicate Genma and began to impale it with 
dual-fire punches at Amaguriken speed.  She felt the ground begin to vibrate 
with the force of her strikes.  With lightning speed, the duplicate punched at 
Ranma's stomach, causing her to stumble as she stood and retreated.  The 
duplicate was finally beginning to slow, but it wasn't enough.  Deep in her 
mind, Ranma began to pray that her second burst of energy would hold long 
enough...

Genma ran forward as he saw Ryouga unleash a barrage of bandanna projectiles.  
"Ranma, move!"  He said as the razor-sharp weapons slammed into their target.

Ryouga ran forward after throwing his tenth bandanna.  As the spinning blades 
of cloth struck Genma, a massive pool of blue light began to spill from his 
back like cold air from a freezer.

[...]

The battle of willpower continued inside Haratsu, who had regained his sight 
nearly a minute ago.  He struggled as his worn out mind neared unconsciousness 
again when suddenly the icy touch of death began to retreat from the heat of 
his struggle.

He lashed out, pushing the essence away from his own.  A shiver racked his 
body as he looked down at Apsu, who was literally bleeding chi energy.  He 
pulled his hand from Apsu, who then began to gasp for air, as if suffocating.  
He quickly stood and unsheathed Um and Yang, his only remaining stores of 
power.

"Remove the presence,"  as the last word rolled off of his tongue the swords 
began to arc with small excited bolts of energy.

[...]

Ranma stepped next to the duplicate and launched an inside crescent kick, 
which she converted into a devastating ax-kick as she pushed down and forward 
with all of her strength.  She gasped as her foot slipped through the copy's 
shoulder.  A massive blast of heat and force rippled from the duplicate, then 
it exploded.  Ranma flew back, her clothes disintegrating as flame erupted 
around her.  Genma watched as a ball of fire that was Ranma slammed into and 
through a window on the top floor, near the sections of the house that had 
collapsed.  As he began to run for the house he heard Ryouga yelling at him to 
stop.

"I don't have time for you right now boy, but thanks for the help anyway." He 
said as he continued toward the dojo.

[...]


Ranma coughed lightly as her vision began to blur back into alignment.  Her 
body began to register pain as she started to convulse.  She could make out 
startled gasps as she slumped forward, falling from her position on Akane's 
bed directly to the floor.

Soun covered his mouth to keep from throwing up at the smell of burnt flesh.  
Kasumi and Nabiki both jumped from their huddled positions and stepped away 
from the naked, burnt form of Ranma-chan.  Kasumi's instincts overpowered her 
fears, however, and she was the first to approach Ranma.

"Oh my god, these are second degree burns!"  She exclaimed in fear as she 
looked over Ranma, her entire body was charred, with bits of flesh smoking 
slightly from the heat they had experienced.

"Pull any cloth still on her off," Soun said as he regained his nerve, "We 
need some room temperature water too. Nabiki - get something light that Ranma 
can wear in a minute, Kasumi - Stay with Ranma and keep an eye on her, I'll go 
get the water."  As he stood Nabiki immediately opened the door to Akane's 
closet and began to search for something to put on Ranma.

Ranma coughed lightly as Kasumi kneeled over her, "So much for my... good 
looks..." her voice was rough, a crackling sound was easily dominant over her 
actual speech.

"Shh, don't worry, you'll be just fine."  Kasumi cooed  as she made a pallet 
out of Akane's blanket and sheets.  "Were going to make sure."

"I..." Ranma struggled to continue, "Don't-"

Nabiki found Akane's yellow pajamas and quickly turned to Kasumi as she 
ordered Ranma to be quiet, "Here, this is the best Akane has."  Nabiki sat 
next to Kasumi as she started to take Ranma's shoes-barely intact-off and toss 
them to the side.

[...]

Apsu slowly sat up, a headache racking his thoughts and slowing his movements, 
"I feel... like I was just ran over by a semi..."

"Come on we have to go NOW," Haratsu snapped urgently as he walked to the 
front door.  Apsu found his way to his feet and followed, his right hand 
rubbing his pounding forehead in the process.  As he cleared the front door he 
saw Haratsu already at the van, one of three vehicles the family owned.  He 
stumbled forward slightly as the morning light increased the magnitude of his 
headache ten-fold.  He attempted to use his healing ability but simply 
couldn't concentrate well enough to harness the technique.  When he arrived at 
the van he found the passenger-side door already opened, and he climbed in, 
complaining about his headache as he did so.  He closed the door and started 
to pull his sunshade down when his father started the car.

"Hold on,"  The comment didn't have much time to register with Apsu as he was 
slammed into his seat as the van accelerated.  He looked over at Haratsu, who 
had a jelly-filled cream pie in one hand, and was steering with the other.  
Apsu didn't bother to ask what was going on as Haratsu annihilated the pie, 
and proceeded to pull a Surge cola from one of his cloak's inside pockets.  In 
a little over two minutes Apsu stared at the devastated Tendo Dojo.  People 
from the neighborhood were fighting a fire that encompassed a  fence as well 
as a rather large tree to his far right.  He saw Haratsu exit the van less 
than a second after parking it, and he followed closely behind.  Haratsu 
bypassed the formality of knocking and simply entered the dojo.

As Apsu entered the mainroom of the residence he looked at the destruction on 
the  back side of the house, the stairs were badly damaged, and wood and 
sparking wires completely blocked one of the exits to the room.  

"Welcome to the waiting room," A teenage boy who looked very similar to Ranma 
said sarcastically.  Apsu looked him over and noted dirt and mud strewn across 
his shirt and pants.  Haratsu was hurrying up the stairs for god-knows-what 
reason, when he turned and tossed his half-finished bottle of Surge to Apsu.

"Drink the rest of that and get up here, I don't like the way this looks at 
all,"  Haratsu said as he reached the second floor.  Looking down at the sugar 
and caffeine-packed drink in his hand, Apsu wished he had asked what was going 
on.  He shrugged, and proceeded to down the rest of the drink as he followed 
his father upstairs

Kasumi and Nabiki were slipping the pajamas onto Ranma when several quick raps 
sent an audible bang through Akane's bedroom.  Soun was using a sponge to drip 
relatively cool water onto Ranma's badly burned face.  Genma immediately 
opened the door and motioned to Apsu and Haratsu that they could enter.  

"It happened just a few minutes ago," Genma explained  as he took the top of 
Akane's pajamas and began slipping one of the sleeves onto Ranma.

Haratsu sat next to Ranma, crowding the re-clothing operation that was taking 
place.  She was burned badly, but most severely from her face to her chest.  
"I need sugar, in an easily consumable form, and I need a LOT of it.  Apsu, 
hold her by both sides of her hip, but be careful,"  He placed his left hand 
just above Ranma's breasts, checking her heartbeat and breathing. "On three I 
want full healing. One, Two, Now!"  He closed his eyes as he concentrated on 
repairing Ranma's body.

Apsu struggled at first to use the healing technique, but after a few seconds 
it flickered to life and began repairing some of the damage caused by the 
burns.  He saw a brighter, more focused aura emanating from Haratsu's palms.  
After a few seconds he began to feel dizzy and his vision began to blur, he 
then fell forward, his head landing softly in what would have been a rather 
embarrassing position had anybody been paying attention.  He struggled to 
raise himself back up, but he simply couldn't.  His body refused to cooperate 
with him as he began to feel groggy.

Ranma felt something fall on her rather heavily as she began to regain her 
senses.  As she realized what (or rather who) had fallen between her legs she 
attempted to move, but was held firmly paralyzed by the overload-level healing 
technique.  She could feel her body changing, almost like when the curse 
changed her forms, but more slowly.  A few more seconds passed until Haratsu 
withdrew his hold on her.  She slowly sat up, bearing large amounts of pain in 
the process, and pushed Apsu to the side while Haratsu sat to her right, 
suffering from a concentration headache.  It took her a few seconds to realize 
her exposed chest, when she simply finished putting on the top of the pajamas.

"If I hadn't seen it myself I wouldn't believe it," Nabiki said as Ranma began 
to stand.

"OW!"  Ranma complained as her body assaulted her with waves of acute pain and 
soreness.

"Be careful," Haratsu said lightly, but firmly, "Your body couldn't handle any 
more repairing, so you are not nearly fully healed... Where's that sugar?"  He 
asked as he looked at Genma, Soun, and Nabiki.

"Kasumi went to get some over-sugared tea,"  Soun said as he began wiping 
tears from his face.

"Anybody know what the hell that was we fought?"  Ranma asked as she  
collapsed onto Akane's bed.

"I'm not completely sure," Haratsu cautioned, "but I think you were fighting 
me and Apsu combined.  We were 'attacked' as well, but not physically.  
Talarath practically sapped us of all of our chi, nearly killed us,"  He 
placed his hand on Apsu's right foot and released a blast of healing energy to 
sustain the boy until he could get some form of food.  "We have to leave 
immediately.  I'm surprised the police haven't arrived, but it is unlikely 
they will believe a Demon was responsible for the damage to this area."

"You might be surprised by what they will believe happens around here," Genma 
stated, "but to be on the safe side, I think you have the right idea."

Apsu slowly pulled himself to a sitting position, and after exchanging an 
embarrassed look with Ranma, he sighed, "Just how are we going to beat a 
demonlord in the shape were in?  I probably couldn't beat a practice dummy 
right now."

Haratsu responded immediately, "He have to drive to Mt. Fuji, so everyone has 
time to rest and replenish their energy," He turned to Genma, Soun, and Nabiki 
as Kasumi re-entered the room, "As soon as Apsu and myself have had something 
to eat, on the way of course, we can function somewhat as healers."  Everyone 
nodded their general agreement as the door opened and Ryouga poked his head 
in, "I finally found you, how many bedrooms  are in here, anyway... and Ranma, 
why are you wearing women's pajamas?"

Ranma sighed, "Don't act stupid, Ryouga.  I know you saw what happened to me 
out there."

Ryouga dropped the subject, he would confront Ranma on his dressing 
preferences later, "Speaking of what happened out there, just exactly what DID 
happen."

Ranma put her thoughts together as Apsu and Haratsu began drinking tea like 
their lives depended on it, "Lets see, Ryouga... I'll give you the short 
version - Akane's been kidnapped by a demonlord named Talarath who wants to 
kill everyone in this room right now so he can take their souls and increase 
his power, sound clear enough?"

"You let Akane get kidnapped AGAIN?  Just what kind of fianc� are you, Ranma?" 
 Ryouga managed to squeeze into the already crowded room as he finished 
chastising Ranma.

"Just what were you implying by that?  I hope for your sake you aren't trying 
to say I didn't try to help her."  Haratsu kept a close watch on the two as 
Ranma replied, taking tome to continue to drink massive amounts of 
overly-sweet tea.

"I don't know what happened, so I guess you're off the hook for now.  I've 
been training a lot in the past few months, and if Akane's in danger I will 
gladly put that training to use if it helps to save her."  He cleared his 
throat, giving the sentence an official feel to it.

"I guess we need all the help we can get," Ranma said before raising her right 
arm to her eyes to block two growing auras of blue healing energy.  She looked 
at the pajamas as the blue auras filled the room, albeit lightly.  Ranma 
sighed as she thought about Akane's battle aura, the memory triggered by the 
now dissipating blue light, and found it strange that she missed even that.  
"When are we leaving?"

Haratsu was manipulating a small ball of chi energy in his right hand, testing 
his recharge.  The healing technique was different from most techniques in 
that it didn't use chi, but rather tapped directly into the energy released by 
cells conducting Aerobic Respiration.  The by-product of lactic acid was 
eliminated, and the rate of glucose and ATP consumption drastically increased, 
giving the body more energy than it could use at a given time in one place, 
the healing aura then spread the energy to damaged cells and effected repairs. 
 Through mysterious means, it could also replace expended chi with a 
sufficiently large supply of fuel.  Haratsu re-absorbed the ball of chi after 
a few seconds and looked from Ranma, to Mr. Saotome, to Mr. Tendo.  "I'm ready 
to leave whenever everyone else is.  Considering how weak everyone is in 
general, we will need more food and drinks to function as fuel if everyone is 
to be up to full strength when we reach Mt. Fuji.

"Alright, let's go then!" Ranma said enthusiastically, "All I need is some hot 
water and some clothes and I'm ready."

"I seriously want you to consider remaining in your cursed form for at least 
the next hour.  You aren't physically very strong right now, and nobody but 
you can tell the state of your mind right now.  If  Tal has anything waiting 
for you when you change forms you wont be able to resist it very well."  
Ryouga squeezed his way into a position to open the door as Haratsu spoke.

"Okay," Ranma said, nodding.  An hour was nothing, "Well, let's go!"  She 
stood and stepped forward, before doubling over in pain in the middle of the 
room.  She squinted her eyes as she struggled to stand.  Suddenly, her legs 
went numb, and she lay still, her willpower attempting to keep the shame from 
reaching her face.

"Where was the pain?" Haratsu asked as he withdrew his hand from a pressure 
point located just above Ranma's right knee, "Sorry if I overstepped my 
authority, Mr. Saotome, Ranma was going to hurt herself very badly in about 
two seconds if I hadn't done that."  Genma nodded slowly, cautiously as Ranma 
felt along her stomach.

"Lower ribs, stomach, lower back." Ranma stated as her legs began to feel 
again, a tingling sensation rippling through them.

"Damn," Haratsu said matter-of-factly, "My mistake, I assumed Apsu would be 
able to cover an area equal to my healing area, and didn't think to move down 
on your chest because of your-"

"-I think we get the picture," Genma laughed as he eyed the general direction 
of Ryouga

"Apsu."  Haratsu stood,  "Help Ranma to the van, then get her a back bracer.  
That should suffice for now."

"Hai," Apsu said as he flashed a military-style salute.

"I'd like to speak with Mr. Tetsumi for a moment in private," Genma said, 
everyone began to file out of the room, save Apsu, Ranma, Genma, and Haratsu.  
"Lets go to the next room, this needs to be between you, me, and nobody else."

Haratsu nodded and began following Genma as he walked out of the room.

"Hey!" Ranma yelled at Haratsu before he closed the door.

"Yes?"  He asked as he poked his head through the door.

"Just what am I going to -wear- once I get down to your van?"  She twisted 
into a sitting position, with Apsu supporting her.  Haratsu wished he had 
brought his Polaroid with him, the pair actually looked what the teenagers 
called 'cute'.

"Oh yeah, as of now the school of Various Martial Arts is offering free 
uniforms and up to one month of classes to anyone going on this trip should 
they ask.  They're in the van, too.  Apsu knows where."  

"Thanks," Ranma said as she tried to stand on her own again, failing again but 
giving up before causing herself any major pain.  She felt Apsu grab her by 
her armpits and lift her until she was in a standing position.  "And will you 
please start TELLING ME before you do something like that?"

"Sorry," Apsu said as he looked Ranma over, thinking of how to help her walk 
with as little injury as possible, "Your not going to like this, but it looks 
like I'm going to need to carry you.  There is just no way for you to walk 
with the injury in your ribs and your stomach."  

Ranma sighed as she was swept into Apsu's arms by one fluid motion, "Are you 
forgetting I'm a guy or something?  Or do you normally flirt with guys like 
this?"  Ranma said, reasonably frustrated but glad that it wasn't Kuno she had 
to deal with.  She felt Apsu's 'comfortable' grip instantly weaken.

"I have a fianc�e," Apsu defended.

Ranma's face suddenly became very evil, "And it even passes through my mind 
again that you might be trying to make a pass at me again I will tell her all 
about where your face was a minute ago."

Apsu's stomach fell through his feet as Ranma continued, "And if nobody gets 
any hentai ideas about us as you take me down those stairs, I might, MIGHT not 
kill you over this. "

So slowly, and very, very carefully, Apsu carried Ranma to the door.

[...]


"What was it you wanted to speak about?" Haratsu asked Genma as Mr. Saotome 
closed the door behind him.

"I must ask you to be much more careful about what you say about Ranma," Genma 
said quietly but seriously, "There is a growing rivalry between him and the 
boy named Ryouga Hibiki.  Just a moment ago you practically knocked him into 
the ground, first by saying he was weak physically and inferring he was weak 
mentally as well, then you emphasized his female anatomy in one of your 
explanations.  The curse is NOT something he is able to tolerate well.  If it 
doesn't seem to affect him now, it will sometime later when he least needs it. 
 I don't blame him either, with what he goes through in that girl's body."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know about Ryouga.  If you think we should leave him 
behind, I can-"

"-by no means," Genma interrupted,  "Out of all of the people of Ranma's age I 
have met, only your son and the Hibiki kid can come close to matching his 
skills.  Ryouga will be a great help when we actually get down to combat."

"Fine.  Let's get going, then."  Haratsu motioned to the door, Genma nodded 
and quickly walked through it.

[...]

Ranma made sure to look very dissatisfied as he was carried to the van.  
Several police and fire department officers were busy questioning people and 
fighting fires, respectively.

"Act hurt," Apsu said quietly as he noticed one of the neighbors pointing in 
their direction.

"You jerk, you think I'm letting you carry me around for nothing?"

Apsu slowly shook his head, "Damnit, act real hurt, like you need to go to a 
hospital, we have cops coming this way and I'm going to make like we need to 
get you to the hospital so they won't keep everyone here for the next 12 
hours."

"You there," one of the police officers said officially, "What is your name?"

Apsu turned, "Apsu Tetsumi, Sir"  He then walked to the van and laid Ranma out 
across the floor.

"One of the neighbors said that the girl you were just carrying was involved 
with the disturbance here several minutes ago."

"Yes sir, she was attacked, and she sustained some pretty major injuries.  I'm 
getting her braced and waiting on our families so we can take her to a 
hospital to be checked out."

"Is there a need for an ambulance?"

"No sir, she's stable, just got hit one too many times so were going to get 
some X-rays done and go from there."  He glanced to the door of the dojo to 
see Haratsu walking out, followed closely behind by Genma.  "There's our 
fathers, if your done with me, sir, I'd like to get her braced so she doesn't 
get hurt anymore." An 'ow' from Ranma followed the statement.  

"Very well, you've been very cooperative, your free to go."  The officer 
turned and began walking toward his partner, who was surveying the damage to 
the concrete.

Apsu climbed into the back of the van, thankful that nobody else had gotten 
there yet, and retrieved a back-brace.  It looked a lot like a police style 
bullet proof vest, with velcro straps across the front of it to keep it in 
place.  He handed it to Ranma, then climbed to the front seat and closed the 
back of the van from the front.  Ranma took the cue, and grudgingly put on the 
brace, pulling her pajama-shirt up as she strapped it into place.  She found 
herself barely able to stand, so she looked through the closet and found a 
still-wrapped, un-used uniform. 

She thought about taking the rather kawaii pair of pajamas off, but then 
decided to keep them for good luck when she would be fighting for Akane.  The 
thought occurred to her that she would be a guy when she was actually 
fighting, but she shrugged it off.  Having some sort of link to Akane seemed 
more important to her, so she proceeded to put the uniform on over them. 

A few minutes later, the back of the van was loaded up.  The set of sofa-like 
seats on either side of the van provided for a rather comfortable seat.  There 
were just enough seats for everyone, as there was room for three people on 
each side in the back, with two seats in the front.  Ranma was given the front 
passenger seat to ease the strain on her back, Haratsu ended up being the only 
person available with decent driving experience, so he took the wheel.  Genma, 
Soun, and Ryouga took the passenger side seats in the back, with Apsu, Nabiki, 
and Kasumi on the drivers side, after the attack earlier it was universally 
decided that the remaining Tendo girls needed to stay with everyone else to 
eliminate the risk of another kidnapping.

"Is everyone ready?" Haratsu asked as he keyed the ignition to the van.  He 
waited for a few seconds in case anybody had forgotten something, then shifted 
into drive and pulled out.

As the van drew further away from the dojo, Ranma watched in the rearview 
mirror. She made a silent vow that she *would* see it again, then focused her 
sight forward.  There was nothing she could do now wait now.