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Forward:

  Oy, it's been a while.  I wish I could say that I've been too busy
to write this, but in reality my life is too damn irritating.  Anyway,
this file has been sitting on my computer for a bit of time.. but I
wrote parts of it when my mood was considerably darker.  So I reedited
parts of it.  I wish I could say when the next part will be done, or even
when the thing will be finished, but I honestly have no idea.  Shit
happens, and that is the best way of putting it.

C&C is always welcome, but the more specific the better.  Otherwise I'll
just scratch my head and keep going.

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Ranma-chan

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Luigi mattera

mattera@tiac.net
* Web page soon, I hope.  Depends on how my life is going. :-/ *

- Chapter 5 -

  Onishi Yohko had just returned to Nerima via train, accompanying her
cousin back to her apartment.  Mina's parents were in Kyoto on
business. Mina's father usually made all his trips by himself, but
this time Mina's mother decided to go as well.  They did not expect
Mina to throw any parties while they were away, as the apartment they
shared was simply too small to hold any significant number of people. 
They really did not mind, because Mina was responsible enough to clean
the place up afterwards.  Mina laughingly mentioned that her parents
always knew when she had guests over: The apartment always wound up
cleaner than it originally was.  Her parents apparently considered
this an acceptable tradeoff.
  Mina and Yohko had left the apartment shortly after arriving.  Mina
had changed into a nice outfit, and the two went to the center of
town. They hung out together for about an hour, when Mina promptly
dumped her so she could go meet her boyfriend, who suddenly appeared
at a nearby cafe.
  Yohko knew the city well enough such that Mina did not mind leaving
her friend behind.  Yohko was not bothered by the surprise visit of
Mina's boyfriend.  He was expected to show up eventually -  he was
just early in arriving.  She was a bit jealous, but that did not cause
her to take it out on her cousin.
  Yohko would see her again soon anyway.  While Yohko knew how Mina's
parents felt about their daughter's boyfriend, she knew that they
would not be quite so happy if they knew what she knew about the two
of them. So Yohko would be covering for her cousin tonight, in case
her parents decided to call.  A phone call from them was not likely.
  Yohko spent her time window shopping, looking through the various
shops, wishing she had enough money to buy something.  In reality she
was short on money.  She had to leave her part time job behind to come
to Nerima.  Her parents wondered how she could keep up with both
schoolwork and a job, but Yohko managed, and took some of the
financial burden off of her parents as well.  Because of this, they
could not complain about her having the work.

....

  Hibiki Ryouga was lost.  Hibiki Ryouga was _always_ lost.  Under
normal circumstances, this simply should not have been possible. It
was impossible for a person to move that far that quickly. Ryouga
managed to do away with that theory quite nicely.  He could easily
travel a thousand miles in a week and cross bodies of water without
even noticing.  Some people would consider this ability a blessing, in
being able to move such distances.  In reality, all that it ever
succeeded in doing was getting Ryouga utterly and totally lost.
Ryouga could not even walk a single block in a city without instantly
getting lost.  To say that this had an emotional effect on Ryouga was
an understatement. Ryouga was depressed.  _Always_ depressed.  As
guaranteed as it was for Ryouga to be lost, it was guaranteed for him
to be depressed.
  Ryouga had a semi normal life up to a certain point in high school.
At that point, he met one Saotome Ranma, who beat him very thoroughly
in a bread eating contest.  Ryouga wanted a duel to settle his honor,
but it had taken him four days to make it to the meeting grounds. 
Ranma had fled for China before he made it to the vacent lot, or so
Ryouga believed.  Ryouga followed him to China, and the resultant
fiasco only deepened Ryouga's depression and situation.
  Ryouga for the life of him could not beat Ranma.  Whether it be by
accident, luck, or just plain cheating, Ranma won most of the fights
they had.  Ranma also had the attention of Tendo Akane, something
Ryouga disliked.  Unfortunately, to her, he was nothing more than her
pet pig P-chan.  Ryouga simply could not be around long enough for
anything to happen between them, and the rare chances when something
could have happened, either Ranma or something else thwarted it.
  Ryouga was not all that upset today.  He had actually managed to
keep Ranma and Akane apart yesterday.  After the wedding, Ryouga had
almost believed that Akane liked Ranma.  Then the situation started to
go downhill.  With all the pressure off, the two of them started to
argue more and more.  Everything exploded one night, and Akane was
depressed for a week after the incident.  Ryouga wasn't certain if
Akane was happy any more, and after that incident he swore that he
would teach Ranma a lesson.
  It had cost him an injury to the head, but from how Akane talked to
him afterwards, he definitely got the better end of the deal.  That
made his day.. except for this nagging feeling that he had done
something wrong in keeping them apart.  Akane despised Ranma.. the two
got into fights all the time.  Even as P-Chan, Ryouga seldom heard a
good word out of Akane about Ranma.  He always heard the opposite,
with Akane fuming over Ranma about something.  Only one thing ran
through Ryouga's mind these days: beating Ranma.  The fact that Ranma
only welcomed the conflicts made it very easy for him to attempt.  His
fights with Ranma were at times the only interesting things which
happened in his life. 

  Ryouga's wandering nature was highlighted by the fact that he spend
a good deal of time immersed in his thoughts, paying no heed to where
he was traveling.  A city was a city, a mountain range a mountain
range, a forest a forest.  Ryouga could not tell the differences
between any of the areas.  He could be in Tokyo, Kobe, Hong Kong, or
even New York and would not notice the difference.  It was of little
surprise that Ryouga did not realize that he was in Nerima.  The only
time Ryouga managed to figure that out was when he found the Tendo
residence.  For some unexplained reason, perhaps subconscious feelings
for Tendo Akane, the Tendo residence was the one place where Ryouga
could be guaranteed to regularly make appearances at.. Whether it be
as P-Chan or Ryouga.

....

  Yohko found herself quietly wandering around town.  It was not a
horrible way to spend the day, considering how nice the weather was.
Considering how bad the weather had been just the day before
yesterday, Yohko was happy about being outdoors.  She did not want to
stay cooped up inside for too long.  Staying inside drove her nuts.
Even during the winter, Yohko liked to be outside for at least an hour
every day.  She would have loved to go skiing, but the indoor ski runs
in Japan were very expensive.. far too expensive for a normal high
school student to afford.  Yohko also would have loved to have taken a
trip out of Japan, but was unable to.  Perhaps after college she would
travel for a while.
  Yohko's thoughts shifted.  She idly wondered where all the supposed
martial artists who called Nerima home were.  Supposedly there was
quite a number of them, and Yohko wanted to meet one or two of them.
She was curious what it was about this section of Tokyo which drew
them all to it.  So far, it looked like a normal neighborhood. Nothing
anywhere was out of the ordinary.  Nothing.  Could this have been a
pipe dream?  No, her cousin would not have made such a big deal about
the situation otherwise.  So where were they?  Despite the size of the
city, people should have been talking about what was going on, but
Yohko had heard nothing in the way of gossip.

....

  Ryouga continued to walk the streets of Nerima.  He had this strange
feeling that he was coming close to something he recognized.  Rarely
did he have these feelings.  Usually they dealt solely with Tendo
Akane, but as of recently, things did not quite work that way.
Perhaps he would even fight Saotome Ranma today.  Ryouga's thoughts
rumbled through his head as he saw Saotome Ranma walking down the
street.
  Ryouga paused, very confused.  Saotome Ranma was wearing a school
uniform?  Then he realized that Ranma was a woman.  He was wearing a
dress of all things?  That made no sense to him at all.  What was that
hentai baka up to this time?  Ryouga grumbled to himself.  With all
the women chasing Ranma, he had the nerve to go and do something like
this?
  Things had happened in between Ranma and Ryouga in the past.  The
number of times the two had fought had reached an uncountable number.
Ranma and Ryouga had even saved each other at various points in time,
but those incidents were forgotten the very next time they fought.
Ryouga frowned to himself.  He could verbally taunt Ranma, since Ranma
was very uptight about the fact that he turned into a woman.  It was a
very easy way to attack him.  This would be a perfect time for him to
do it.  Ryouga followed Ranma, thoughts running through his head.
  While taunting him would have been easy, there was no satisfaction
involved in doing so.  Ranma also recovered from it rather quickly.
Ryouga decided against doing that.  Perhaps the idiot needed to be
taught a lesson.  It would certainly ruin whatever half baked scheme
he came up with, and Ryouga would find a reprieve from bordom.

  Ryouga pulled his umbrella from his back, chuckling to himself. 
Maybe he'd actually win a battle this time around.  He watched as
Ranma walked completely unaware of his presence just down the street.
Time for the old standard, he decided.  He couldn't make it too simple
for himself to win.  With a cry of "SAOTOME, prepare to DIE!" Ryouga
rushed at Ranma.

....

  Kuno Tatewaki emerged from a store, carrying several presents in his
arms.  He smiled to himself, and decided that the gods must be on his
side to have the appropriate store open when he finally made it here.
The fact that he had to threaten and finally bribe the store owner to
stay open later made little difference in Kuno's mind.  Kuno walked
down the street, carrying his packages.  He was looking for a
telephone so he could call for a taxi to drive him home.  He did not
want to be bothered with carrying all his packages home.  That was the
work of a commoner, not a nobleman.

  Tendo Akane turned the corner, walking down the rows of stores.  She
saw people around, but she did not see Ranma.  She did see Kuno
Tatewaki, striding down the street with an armful of wrapped presents.
Presents?  Why was he carrying presents?  Akane paused.  There were
two people who Kuno gave presents to.  She was one of them,
and.. and..  Ranma was the other.  Akane walked up, glaring at Kuno
the whole way.

  Kuno Tatewaki walked down the street, searching for a telephone.  He
cursed himself for not carrying his own telephone, and decided to
rectify the situation once he got home.  Kuno then looked up.. and saw
Tendo Akane walking down the street!  She had come all the way out
here to admit her love for him!
  Kuno ran to Akane and dropped his packages, completely ignoring the
look of anger on Akane's face.  "Tendo Akane-san!  I am pleased that
you have finally come to realize the horrors of that foul sorcerer
Saotome!"
  Akane paused, trying to keep her temper from getting the better of
her.  *Kuno knows what happened*, she told herself.  *Don't get angry,
you need to know how he found out.*
  Akane spoke slowly and carefully, strain evident in her voice.
"What do you mean by that, Kuno-sempai?"
  "I mean by how you rose up and overthrew the oppressive sorcerer
Saotome!"
  Akane tried to calm herself.  "Who.. told.. you.. that..?"
  "Your sister, Tendo Nabiki, was the relater of the news."
  Akane let out a scream.  How _dare_ her sister do something like
that?  She knew that Nabiki was unscrupulous, but to go and deliver
the message like that.. did Nabiki even care about her feelings?  She
_knew_ how Akane felt about Ranma.  She had seen it well before Akane
herself accepted it.
  Kuno smiled.  "Yes!"  He stated.  "Let out your hatred for the vile
Saotome!"
  Akane laughed through her tears, unable to control her emotions.
"You baka!" she screeched.  "It was a mistake!  I did not want to hurt
him!"
  Kuno frowned.  "What?  How is this possible?  Surely there can be no
mistake in doing what you did, which is right by all that is good."
  Akane continued to laugh, but her laugher died shortly and she
started to cough on her tears.  "How can you be so dense, Kuno-sempai?
Ranma was not my enslaver.."  Akane's tears died down quickly.  She
had very few tears left to shed since first learning about what
happened to Ranma.
  Akane stood up quietly, eyes red from her crying.  She looked Kuno
directly in the eyes.  Her voice was barely above a whisper, said
straight into the air more so than to Kuno.  "I.. loved.. Ranma.."

  Kuno's mind boggled at what Akane said.  Could it be possible?!?  It
couldn't be!  Saotome must have cast an evil spell on her!  Kuno
charged forward, bokken raised.  "I'll free you, Akane!"

  Akane glared at Kuno, finally losing her temper.  With a cry, she
started to attack Kuno.. and the memories of Ranma crashing into the
koi pond came flooding back to her, more vivid than ever.  She
collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by the memories.

  Kuno was taken aback at the sudden display of timidness from Tendo
Akane.  He had never known her to react in such a way to anything
before.  Could Saotome really have put her through so much pain?
"Tendo Akane-san, did the vile Saotome cause you this much discomfort?
Perhaps that vile cur needs to be taught another lesson!"  With that
cry, Kuno bolted off down the street, forgetting about Akane sitting
on the ground in front of him.

  Akane stood up slowly a few minutes after Kuno left.  *That idiot of
a baka!  Damn Nabiki!*  One of these days she would have to find out a
way to deal with him, to get him off of her back permanently.  Her
thoughts shifted away from Kuno.  Right now he was not important.  All
that mattered in her mind was finding Ranma before someone like he
did.  Akane could not begin to imagine what would happen if she was
too late.

....

  Yohko jumped up at Ryouga's shout.  She looked at him, wondering she
had finally found one of the supposed martial artists.  The boy was
wearing black pants and a brown shirt.  There was a bandanna wrapped
around his head, and an umbrella in his hand.  Looking down the
street, Yohko's eyes widened as she saw the target of his attack.  Why
the hell was he attacking a red headed girl wearing a fuku?  Yohko
immediately bolted down the street, trying to intercept the man before
he struck the girl down.

  Ranma froze in shock as she heard the voice behind her.  Her entire
body froze.  Ranma tried to will herself to move, but her body froze. 
She heard the footsteps coming closer and closer, and finally willed
her body to at least turn to see who was coming up behind her.

  Yohko continued to run down the street, watching the man close in on
the woman.  She realized that she had no chance of getting in between
them in time.  Yohko flicked her wrist, causing a shuriken to slip out
of her sleeve.  At this range, she estimated that she was not likely
to cause much damage to her target, but a direct hit would hurt enough
to get his attention away from the girl. Yohko raised her arm, ready
to throw.

  Ryouga charged Ranma, surprise on his side.  The anticipation of
battle caused Ryouga to subconsciously switch his mental state to one
of acute readiness. As a result, there was not a single thought in his
mind as he ran.  Ranma had just barely started to turn towards Ryouga
when he drove his hand down towards the ground, finger extended.  With
a shout of "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryouga struck the concrete pavement
between them.

  Yohko watched as the man dropped down towards the ground, and
readjusted her aim.  She could not understand what he was doing, but
it did not matter to her at all.  Yohko threw her shuriken at the
moment Ryouga's finger struck the pavement.

  The ground exploded violently, shards of concrete ripping through
the air.  Yohko immediately threw herself into a forward roll, diving
under the explosion.  She could not see what happened to the shuriken
she threw, but she didn't believe that it made much difference.  There
was no chance it could have made it through the hail of fragments.

  Ranma was at the center of the explosion, the attack detonating the
ground at her feet.  The shards tore through her clothing, tossing her
through the air.  She flew backwards a few feet before crashing to the
pavement.

  Ryouga froze in his attack as he watched the woman collapse to the
pavement.  That was the last thing he expected from his foe.  Could
the battle really have been over that quickly?  Ryouga's heart jumped.
Could he have injured an innocent woman?  Ryouga took a step towards
the person, wanting to find out if it really was Ranma that he
attacked.  He had been so damn sure of it just few seconds ago. 
Ryouga barely had time to consider what had happened before his legs
buckled and he fell to the ground.  He blacked out a second later.

  Yohko twisted through her roll, eyes watching the scene in front of
her as the woman collapsed to the pavement.  She realized that she had
to take the man out and take him out fast.  Yohko came up just behind
her opponent, her legs coming down as she rolled across her back.  She
immediately flared her legs out, catching him across the ankles. One
twist later, he dropped backwards to the pavement, his balance lost. 
Yohko shifted her position, catching his arm and shoulder as she
lifted herself up.  With all of her strength, she leveraged his fall
and slammed his head into the pavement.

  Hibiki Ryouga had been in dozens of fights in the past.  At times,
it was all he really lived for.  As a result of the almost constant
battles and training, his body had adapted to the pounding.  He was
far tougher than a normal human.  Compared to things that happened to
him in the past, getting his head slammed was nothing major.  A few
minutes later, Ryouga started to wake up.  Once the process had
started, it took a few scant seconds before his eyes fluttered open.
  Ryouga looked up into the sky as his eyes opened.  All he could see
was a dark blur in front of a very bright blue blur.  He recognized
the sky, and blinked a few times as his eyes came into focus.  A woman
stood over him.  Ryouga immediately flushed and sat up.  The woman
jumped back as he sat up, and he waved his hands.  "Wait!" he began,
"where am I?"
  The girl blinked, face pale.  "You're in Nerima.  Are you hurt?"
  "No, no," Ryouga stuttered.  "I'm fine.  Nerima, you say?"
  "Hai."
  Ryouga looked around him.  He could not see the impact from his
attack anywhere nearby.  What had happened?  What caused him to black
out like that?  What happened to Ranma?  He focused on the girl again. 
She was saying something.  "Umm, could you please repeat that?" he
asked.
  "I said, do you need a doctor?  Do you want me to call an
ambulance?"
  "Err, no!  I'm fine!  Thanks for the help!"  Ryouga immediately got
up and bolted down the street.  What the hell just happened to him? 
Did he imagine the entire fight?
  Onishi Yohko watched in amazement as he ran off down the street,
unhurt.  She slowly turned around, and walked to the corner of the
street.  Turning the corner, she locked her gaze on the blast crater
in front of her.

....

  Kuno Tatewaki jogged down the street, the packages he had bought
still in his arms.  He travelled for about a block, and halted at a
street corner.  Placing the packages down, he decided that he had
enough of the commoner's task of running.  He idly wondered why he
would succumb to doing something so beneath him.  Kuno's mind worked
at what he had learned from Tendo Akane.  Somehow the vile Saotome had
done something to her, causing her to fall erroneously in love with
him.  Kuno wondered how Saotome could have possibly have picked the
power to work such a black magic.
  Kuno paused in his thoughts, and realized what he had done.  He was
carrying presents for Tendo Akane and had forgotten to give them to
her!  Could that be the reason why Akane had been less than pleasant
to him?  Did she believe that he had forgotten to give her the gifts?
Tendo Akane knew of his affection for her.. he had displayed it
openly.  She could have recognized the gifts, and have been upset when
he did not give them to her.
  A thought pierced Kuno's mind.  If Saotome did lay a spell on Akane,
then no simple gift could possibly ever break its power.  Kuno would
have to deal with the source of the spell - Saotome Ranma.  Until the
source was cut off, the spell would continue, regardless of what he
did.  Kuno looked down at the presents, and frowned.  He had split his
attention evenly between Tendo Akane and the pig tailed one.  Perhaps
in this case, it was better that wait until after he broke the spell
between Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane before giving out the presents.
In Tendo Akane's current state of mind, she might take the acceptance
of the presents by the pig tailed one in a very bad way.  That could
cause him to lose her forever - and he could not allow that.

  Kuno glanced out into the street, a concrete idea forming in his
mind about what to do.  Finally, he settled on something which could
aid in his task.  It was imperitive that he accomplish what he had to
do, and quickly.  For once, his skills as a samurai warrior would come
in very handy.  Samurai had vanquished demons in the past.  It was
time for this to happen again.  Raising his arm, Kuno hailed a cab,
ignoring for the moment that he would be travelling in a commoner's
vehicle.  For now, such things would have to be tolerated.  He had to
make it home to store his presents away before setting out on his
journey.

....

  Yohko walked back to the crater, glancing at the damage done.  The
crater was a good half foot deep, and eighteen inches wide.  She knelt
down to get a closer look.  Nothing showed the possibility of a
chemical which caused the explosion.  The man had done it with his
_finger_.  Yohko gulped, as she stood up slowly, eyse examining the
wall beside the crater.  Shards of rock were embedded across it, the
blast pattern clearly fanning out from the point of origin. The wall
actually had been weakened by the damage done.  Her eyes traced it
back, and she found her shuriken sitting quietly off to one side. 
Several shards were embedded inside of it. She picked it up, turning
it over.  She licked her finger and gingerly touched one of the
shards.  It was razor sharp, sharper than the steel edge of her
shuriken.  She had no idea how that could be possible.
  Her mind shifted back to the man who had caused the damage.  He was
directly _over_ the point of impact.  He was unhurt by the damage.
Not only was he unhurt, but his clothing was intact as well.  Yohko
wondered who could withstand such a blast and walk away to tell about
it.  She then recalled what she had to him.  Her sensei had warned her
against doing that very take down.  He stated that there was a very
good chance that the person would have been killed by the impact..
Especially against a concrete surface.  Not only had he lived, but he
woke up so quickly that it scared her.  If he hadn't been so
disorientated, Yohko felt that she would have collapsed from fright.
  Yohko walked over to the garbage cans sitting idly on the street.
Looking behind them, she saw that the girl was still unconscious.  Her
clothing was ripped, yes.  Somehow, some way, the damned explosion had
not even managed to prick her skin!  She was breathing normally,
suggesting that she was asleep.  Asleep after an attack like what she
had witnessed?  She should have been ripped to pieces.  Yohko shook
her head, and made a decision.  Slowly, she picked the girl up, and
carried her off.  She would figure out what was going on here, one way
or another.

....


  Akane continued down the street, a foul expression on her face.  She
could not believe what had just happened.  Sure, Kuno had been a fool
for as long as she could remember him to be, but he had managed to
irritiate her far worse during the last encounter.  How could she let
Kuno get under her skin like that?  Akane halted in her steps, a sad
expression on her face.  Kuno had never hurt her like that before
because she never accepted her true feelings before.  She found it
bitter that it would take such a grevous injury to Ranma to cause her
to realize what was going on around her.  Akane started to walk again,
a sad smile on her face.
  At least Ranma had nothing to worry about from Kuno..  She froze in
her tracks.  This Ranma had never met Kuno!  How would she react to
him?  Could it be even remotely possible that she would like Kuno like
most of the other women did?  Akane knew that Kuno was liked by some
of the girls from other schools.. they did not know what he was really
like.  Akane gasped, panic in her heart.  She did not want to lose
Ranma to Kuno of all people..  Gritting her teeth, she forced herself
to calm down.  Panicking would not do anyone any good, least of all
Ranma.

....

  The cab dropped Kuno Tatewaki off in front of his father's mansion.
He quickly grabbed his presents, paid the driver, and walked off to
the mansion.  The driver was dissapointed at not recieving a tip, but
decided against asking it of someone who appeared to be of a higher
class.  Kuno was ignoring him anyway, his steps taking hime well past
the front gates of his mansion.

  Kuno Kodachi sat in her room, flipping through a book on plant life.
Most of her experiments with plants consisted of a few changes to
ideas she found in books and journals.  She would come up with an idea
from somewhere, and somehow twist it into having to do with plants.
While the garden she kept in the greenhouse appeared to be normal on
the surface, there were a few things which were different about it.
Kodachi loved to use deceit and trickery, and the mansion and
greenhouse were where she implemented her ideas.  While trapping the
mansion was fun to do, she was more interested in tending to her
plants.  As such, the traps became more viscious as one approached the
garden.
  Kodachi also had a mind about some tales of fantasy.  She was
especially interested in spirits which could summon and control
plants.  That would make her matches much easier to win.  Her opponent
would be eliminated before the event, and no one could ever trace the
results to her.  Although being attacked by a plant was downright
bizarre as things went, the police in Nerima had long learned to
ignore bizarre incidents.  With all the martial artists running around
Nerima, her Ranma-sama included, there was little the police could do,
even if they wanted to get involved with what was going on.  People
either ignored what was happening in Nerima, or moved somewhere else.
This made the stage for such an idea perfect.
  Kodachi wondered where to find information on such an idea,
considering how all the books she had managed to locate had little
information which was of any use to her.  Sighing, she closed her
book.  If there was any such information, she would find it.  Kodachi
was lost in thought until a panel on her desk beeped.  Bringing it
to her attention, she turned on the security camera, and noticed that
her brother had just stepped through the front door.  Curious as to
why he was carrying so many gifts, Kodachi focused her attention on
him.

  Kuno walked up to the front door and opened it without stopping.  It
would be beneath him to carry keys, and his sister's traps and other
assorted irritants scattered throughout the building would do their
job well against anyone who intruded.  It was the one instance in
which Kuno did not mind his sister's devious methods.  His father, was
not home enough to even notice the traps.  He was usually out, at some
club in downtown Tokyo.  The few times he did show up at the mansion,
he walked through the traps like they were not even there.  Kuno could
not figure out how his father did it.  Then again, his father was
bizarre enough in his own right that for him to be able to do such a
thing was not surprising.  He believed that his sister had a hand in
the situation.  She seemed to be able to change the traps in the
mansion almost at will.
  Kuno walked quietly through the mansion, avoiding the traps his
sister had laid down.  Luckily for him, she had not changed the traps
since yesterday.  Traps, plants and bizzare pets were all part of
his sister's hobbies.  Rhythmic gymnastics was her other hobby, even
if she had a tendancy to defeat her opponents before a match even took
place.
  Kuno made it to his room in one piece.  He opened the door and
stepped inside.  This was one of two rooms in the entire building
guaranteed not to be trapped.  The other room belonged to his father,
and neither he nor his sister ever entered it.  They could not get in
even if they tried - he had done something bizarre to the door and
made it impossible to open.

  Kodachi watched as Tatewaki quietly walked through the halls of the
mansion.  Strangely enough, he was not in his usual mood.  This time,
he seemed almost pensive in nature.  Kodachi snorted.  When was her
brother capable of rational thought for an extended period of time?
There was something serious on his mind.  Usually, things rolled over
and around him.  Kodachi got plenty of amusement out of her brother in
that regard.  The fact that he could not tell that his pigtailed one
and Saotome Ranma were the same person spoke volumes about his
denseness.
  Kodachi saw Tatewaki walk up to his room.  She watched as he opened
the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind him.  Tatewaki usually
left his door open when he was home.  It was his way of announcing his
presence.
  Kodachi knew that once Tatewaki was in this type of a mood, the
actions which resulted from it were usually very different than his
normal responses.  It had been years since he had last been in such a
mood.  She would have to find out what he was up to. This did involve
violating the unspoken truce between them about not entering each
other's rooms, but in this case, Kodachi felt that she had no choice. 
It was not like Tatewaki would believe that she had entered his room
in any case.  He would automatically come up with some exuse as to
what had happened in his room.

  Kuno placed the packages down on a desk next to his bed.  He walked
over to his bookshelf, and scanned it quickly.  Kuno knew that he had
a book dealing with the material he was interested in, but could not
remember how much actual information it had.  Locating the book in
question, Kuno hastily grabbed it and sat down at his desk.  Pushing
aside the packages to make room, he carefully set the book down.  Kuno
had forgotten how exactly he came across the book, but remembered that
he had purchased it fairly recently - some time after Saotome arrived.
He had been looking for a way to free his two loves' from Saotome's
clutches, but decided against doing what he had read.  Now, he felt
that he had no choice.  Kuno briefly glanced at the cover of the book,
entitled "Demons and Exorcism" before he opened it.
  After about an hour of reading, Kuno closed the book.  There was
simply not enough information in it for his liking.  Sure, it spoke of
such things, but nothing inside of it was remotely useful.  Kuno
frowned, wondering what to do.  He wanted something to guarantee
results, not theoretical information.  Kuno pondered who would know
about such details.  Hmm.. what was the name of that commoner, the one
who pretended to practice magic?  Gosunkugi.  That was it.  While Kuno
knew that he had no real skill, perhaps he could point to someone who
did.  It would be worth the effort if it got him some kind of
information.  Standing up, Kuno decided to go look for him.

  Kodachi watched as her brother left his room, hurring down the
hallway.  Now was the time for her to go take a look at what he had
been doing.  He was so involved in whatever it was that he could be
gone for a while before returning to the house.  A minute later,
Kodachi was standing in front of the door to her brother's room.  She
knew that he left it unlocked.
  Kodachi walked up to the door and paused for a minute.  How long had
it been since she had entered?  Years..  perhaps even as long as a
decade.  The two of them rarely saw each other aside from when they
ate together.  Kodachi loved to dump things in Kuno's food.. it was a
game they played back and forth.  It made her brother tougher and
harder to hurt.  So much that he recovered very quickly from whatever
happened to him.  She enjoyed the game, and if it helped her brother
after he learned how to respond, then that was only a plus.
  However, they could not return to the past.  What happened to their
parents made sure of that.  When their mother walked out on them, the
repercussions on their father drove him to Hawaii.. and practically
into the depths of madness.  He cared for his money first and never
had time for his children, or even his family.  Then kaasan left, and
he went off the deep end.  He simply could not accept what had
happened, and he could not care for the two of them.. so he left.
That was all in the past.  This was the present, and Kodachi had to
find out what her brother was up to.  She opened the door and stepped
inside his room.
  Her eyes took a few seconds to readjust to the light.  Tatewaki had
currently only two small candles lit as a source of light for the
room. Kodachi sighed, and flipped a rarely used light switch on the
wall. The lights flickered on, only to sputter and short out a few
seconds later.  Kodachi scratched her head, and chuckled in amusement.
Leave it to Tatewaki to ensure that his room mirrored his personality.
She was prepared for just such a case, having believed that her
brother would have removed the normal lights from the room. Reaching
into a bag she carried, Kodachi pulled out a flashlight and turned it
on.
  Kodachi looked around the room, using the flashlight to sweep under
her brother's bed and into the various places in the room where things
could have fallen.  She halted in her search as she saw the book laid
out on Tatewaki's desk.  Reaching out, she flipped the book to the
cover.  Demons and Exorcisms?  Why was her brother interested in such
nonsense?  Kodachi paused for a second.  Could her brother be hatching
another scheme against Ranma-sama?  It seemed to be something that he
would do.  Yet to try and exorcise Ranma?  The idea seemed humorous at
best.
  A sudden memory came back to Kodachi at that moment.  She must have
been seven or eight at the time.  She could remember her mother and
father arguing over one of the latest frills that tousan had
purchased.  They were in the den in the west wing, and tousan was
insistant that he keep it.  The issue was never about the money that
they spent.  It was of who could excert more control.  This time, her
father had purchased some kind of old scroll.  It was sealed in a
glass container, and after the fight, he placed it in the wallsafe.
  Kodachi remembered her and her brother standing in the hallway,
listening to the arguement.  Why would she remember this now?  Kodachi
headed over to the room, glancing inside.  The wallsafe was open.
Kodachi walked up to it, and shined her flashlight inside.  From the
dust around it, she could tell that it had been opened recently.  The
glass case was missing.  She scanned around the room, and found the
case on the desk.  She noticed an old piece of paper lying underneath
it.  Picking it up, she read it.  It was an invoice, indicating the
purchase of a scroll.  The title of the scroll was "Demon
destruction."
  Demon destruction?  Her father had loved odd items.  Could Tatewaki
have taken it?  Kodachi assumed that he had.  There was no other
reason for it to have left the room.  Tatewaki did not seriously
believe that the scroll would work, did he?  No.  Her brother was just
being bizarre, as usual.  Dropping the paper on the desk, Kodachi
took a step towards the door.  She promptly stumbled forward, her foot
caught on something.
  Glancing down at what she had tripped over, she saw a book lying
idly on the floor.  Grumbling, she kicked the book, sending it flying
into the wall.  The book flopped open and a scrap of paper fell out.
Kodachi's curiousity piqued, she looked at the paper.  It read:

"To whoever owns this scroll of power:
  Be very careful with it!  Such power as it contains has not been
seen in this day and age!  Using it could cause more harm than good!
Do not remove the scroll from the case!  Dangerous things will
happen!"

  Kodatchi scratched her head.  Someone obviously had removed the
scroll from the case.  Her brother was probably behind this.  Why did
she care about what Tatewaki was trying to do anyway?  Ranma was not
posessed by a demon.  The scroll would have no effect on him.
Kodatchi was busy enough reading the note that she did not notice the
red glow coming from behind her.  The glow expanded, filling the room
in seconds.  Kuno Tatewaki's door slammed shut.

.....  To be continued .....