Adjusting her blouse once more, Mihrna took a final look in the mirror before stalking back to the computer desk and activating said appliance. Not bothering to sit down, she logged on to Eimii's e-mail account and began to type.

"I know that I was supposed to be reposting this story for Eimii, but I had to attend to some other things for a while, and since Eimii isn't here to do it herself-" Mihrna cast a fleeting glance at the boquet of flowers and the small stack of 'Get Well' 
cards sitting on the bunk bed, "-we seem to have gotten a bit behind. As such, I'm just going to repost the next two chapters together, to save time. If anyone reading this didn't see the first chapter and the prologue, this is an Ah, Megami-sama, Ranma 1
/2 crossover. These chapters, as well as those preceeding this, were posted well over a year ago, and since I've been _told_ that Eimii has chapter four done," the espression on Mihrna's face momentarily twisted into a mask of irritated skepticism, "we're
 reposting everything that's gone before. If you'd like copies of the other parts of this, please e-mail Eimii privately."

Straightening, Mihrna reached into the pocket of her skirt and produced a computer disk. Inserting it into the disk drive, she resumed typing.

"As per standard proceedure with fan-fiction, very few if any of the characters in this story actually belong to Eimii. Most of them were created by either Takahashi Rumiko or Fujishima Kousuke. As Eimii hasn't asked either of these creators for their per
mission, we must assume that Eimii is using them <gasp> without permission. Therefore, we would truly appreciate it if you would refrain from suing Eimii, or else alerting any federal law enforecement agencies of this gross infraction of the law. Eimii wo
uld get kicked out of school; not that she's doing all that well anyway, but it really wouldn't be that nice. As usual, if you have anything to say- anything at all; flames, C&C, whatever- I'm sure Eimii would appreciate hearing it..."

With that, Mihrna clikced on the 'send' button and shut off the computer. Turning, she picked up the items on the bed and, checking to make sure she had her keys, strolled out of the dorm room, a petulant frown on her lips. "Those quacks had better releas
e her soon; I really hate hospitals..."









                     --SHATTERED HEARTS ON THE ROAD--

                             ..CHAPTER TWO..




                                 -ECHOES-

SUNDAY
JULY 7th, 1996
6:45 AM

A ragged, shadowy figure trudged down an empty, suburban street. his
echoing footfalls pierced the otherwise perfect silence of the still
morning air. The morning was crisp and damp, mist still hanging in the
twilight of pre-dawn.

The figure stopped, extending his senses in all directions. He turned and slowly scanned the street from under the drawn hood of his dust cloak. The cloak seemed to sense his agitation, rippling and writhing in some unfelt rush of wind. But the stranger d
idn't notice

*Something is following me.*

Warily, the stranger turned back to the street ahead and continued
walking.

*Could it be them? Have they found me again?*

His presence sense piqued again, but he schooled himself to calm, waiting for the proper moment. Unconsciously he clenched his right hand into a tight fist. 

*Why?! Why must they follow?! Why can't they leave me in peace?!*

A flicker of motion in the corner of his right eye interrupted his
thoughts. He turned, instinctively drawing his weapon. A blur streaked
across his field of vision, rising from the ground into the air just as
his weapon struck the spot at which it had been standing. A crash rang
through the air as debris flew in all directions. In less than the
space of a single thought the stranger was leaping into the crater that
his weapon had made. In midair he spun to the right. His weapon, which
was held upward in his right hand, was brought down and around then back
up again in a long tilted circle. As he landed, his backhand swing caught the blur as it descended from its leap.

For a moment frozen in time, the stranger could see the multi-legged
monstrosity that was his pursuer. Then the creature flashed into
blinding green light and exploded.

A titanic roar shattered the last of the morning's calm as a solid wall of air coursed down the street. When the air calmed the figure lowered his weapon, but kept it readily in hand. Once again he scanned his
surroundings. 

The wall that he had been walking along had a seven foot hole in it. He
could hear the sounds of the rubble settling. It mingled with the barks of the neighborhood dogs and the angry protestations of the rudely awakened citizenry. But the presence was gone.

*Only one. Maybe the last one?*

The stranger heaved a bone-weary sigh and replaced his weapon. Then,
slowly, he resumed his journey. As he pressed deeper into the suburbs, his mind alerted him to another sensation. It wasn't a presence, but he
stopped to peer around just in case. 

He couldn't recall that he had ever felt anything like this before. Yet,
somehow, the sensation was hauntingly familiar. It was a heavy, oppressive feeling. It seemed to drag at part of his soul. But it didn't seen to originate from inside of him. Rather, it was like an echo, if something unheard could have an echo. It resonat
ed with part of his being that he knew quite well. A part that felt the walls crumble, a part that flourished in the darkest hours of his life. Now he knew what he was feeling. It was despair. 

As he puzzled through this familiar yet alien sensation, the figure
unconsciously began to walk, the echo drawing him onward. As he walked,
the sensation became clearer. The sorrow was as deep as he had ever felt
himself. Such agony was it that even its echo seemed to gnaw at his soul. He probed further in morbid fascination. *I must be going insane. There's no way this sort of thing can happen.* Yet, try as he might, he couldn't deny that this emotion was as real
 as his own.

His feet halted of their own accord before a medium sized building.
Startled out of his distraction, the stranger looked around. He was in a
shopping area of some sort. Closed shops lined both sides of the still
quiet and empty street. The shop he stood before seemed to be a 
restaurant.

*This looks familiar.*

The stranger backed away a couple of steps and looked up at the sign above the door.

*Ucchan's. But why would this feeling be coming from here?*

Suddenly, a sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.

*No...No, it can't be...*

The stranger sprang forward and started banging feverishly on the door of the restaurant.

"Ukyou!! Ukyou, are you in there?! Open the door!!" 

-|-|-

Ukyou woke with a start, the dream thankfully fading quickly. All too
soon, however, it was replaced by harsh reality. She curled up on her bed, not wanting to face the world. As she tried to puzzle out what had woken her so early, she heard a banging from the direction of the restaurant downstairs. 

"Ukyou!! Open the door!!"

The words carried through her window. Stumbling to her feet, she looked
out the window down onto the street below. Whomever was making the
racket was standing too close to the door for her to see them. The banging started again. 

*Damn it, can't they see I'm closed?!*

Ukyou was in no mood for this sort of thing. She was feeling awful. Her
whole world had been crumbling around her for more than a week now.
Why couldn't she have any peace?

She wrapped a bath robe around herself and hefted her combat spatula.
Who ever it was, they were in for quite a bit more than breakfast this
morning. 

As she reached the bottom of the stairs the banging stopped, but Ukyou
could see that the person had not left. Holding her spatula at waist level in her right hand, she unlocked the door. Then, swinging the door open, she trust forward quickly with the spatula. She was surprised when the figure in the door caught it, and was
 almost pulled off balance when he quickly yanked it away. 

Steadying her footing, she glared angrily at her visitor. He was wearing a large backpack, soft cloth shoes, and loose brown pants which were bound with leather cords around the calves. The rest of his clothing was covered by a tattered, dark brown dust c
loak. The hood of the cloak was drawn over his head, his face hidden by the shadows within. The ripped ends of the cloak streamed and curled around his legs, seeming to reach for her in the breeze blowing through the open door. But Ukyou felt no breeze. D
espite herself, Ukyou shivered and backed up a step. 

"What the hell was that for?!" the figure said, hefting Ukyou's spatula in his left hand. 

*Wait. That voice...* Ukyou's mind snapped into focus. *That voice is
familiar. And is that an umbrella on his pack?*

"Ryouga?"

"Who'd you think it was?" Ryouga said, pushing back the hood of his cloak. "Can I come in?"

Ukyou nodded and made way.

As Ryouga entered the restaurant, he handed the spatula back to Ukyou.
Accepting it, Ukyou immediately smashed Ryouga upside the head.
Ryouga, for his part, blinked once or twice and looked back at Ukyou.

"Hmm? Is there something wrong, Ukyou?"

Ukyou shifted her gaze from the head shaped dent in her spatula back to
Ryouga, a very irritated look on her face.

"Do you know what time it is you moron?! What's the big idea, banging on
my door like that?!" Ukyou hissed as she tried to press the dent back out.

*She'll think I'm a nut if I tell her the truth. She might be right,
considering how ludicrous it sounds.* "I was just passing through town. This is the first place I recognized." he said lamely. 

Ukyou gave up trying to fix the dent and sat down on a stool in front of the grill. "It's seven in the morning you jackass. Couldn't you have possibly waited outside until later?"

"You're usually open for the morning crowd. I was wondering if something
was wrong." *Yeah, that sounds good.* Ryouga congratulated himself on
his quick thinking as he sat down on a stool near Ukyou. When his hand
brushed the counter, he noticed that it was covered with a fine layer of dust. He looked around the room. All of the tables were in a similar state; at least, those still intact were. Several of the tables looked as though they had been chopped for kindli
ng. Most of the chairs looked like they had been used as blunt instruments; they lay in crumbled heaps on the floor. Ryouga could make out numerous gouges in the walls, as well as one or two fist sized holes. In all the room, only the grill seemed to be i
n order.

"There isn't anything wrong, is there?" Ryouga hoped vainly, but the feeling persisted. *Please let it be my imagination.*

Ukyou looked away and didn't answer. The room was silent for several
moments, until Ryouga's empty stomach decided to make itself known.
Ryouga flushed slightly with embarrassment as a loud growl filled the room.

Seizing the chance to change the subject, Ukyou stared at Ryouga for a
second before speaking. "Sheesh hon, when was the last time you ate
something?"

Ukyou stood and walked around the grill. As she walked, she examined
Ryouga more closely. His clothing and pack were covered in a fine layer of dust and road dirt. On his face and hands the dust had mixed with sweat, caking his features with grime. *I wonder where he went this time.* "Ryouga, you're an absolute mess."

"I've been traveling for more than two months straight. I haven't exactly had time to worry about how I look."

"I'll get something for you to wipe your face with after I finish making
breakfast. I'm wide awake now, thanks to you." Ukyou said as she turned
to prepare the ingredients for a breakfast okonomiaki.

"Thanks. Um, no pork please."

"You got it."

Ryouga watched as Ukyou skillfully prepared the okonomiaki. Somehow,
the image didn't seem right. He'd watched her many times before, as Ukyou often gave him free lunches when he returned from his travels. She had always seemed so vibrant, so alive whenever she practiced her art.
Sometimes she would hum a tune, or joke, or simply smile to herself. Now, she seemed so... so subdued; listless. She went through the motions
precisely, mechanically. There was none of the usual vigor or flair that she normally displayed. Ryouga could tell that something was troubling her. Still, he struggled to accept that what this tugging at his soul had been telling him was true. What could
 make Ukyou like this?

"Here 'ya go." 

Ryouga started as Ukyou set an okonomiaki before him, then sat back down
on her stool and began eating her own okonomiaki. 

"Huh? Oh, thanks."

They ate in silence for several minutes, neither one willing to break the unspoken tableau. Then, unable to bear the weight of it any longer, Ukyou spoke up. "So, where have you been trying to get to for the last two months?"

"I've been trying to find the Tendo Dojo. I have to stop that damn
wedding." 

*My god, he doesn't know.*

"Um, Ryouga..." Ukyou began, struggling to say the words; unwilling to
hear them herself.

"Yes, what is it?" Ryouga looked at Ukyou. Her face was beginning to
show some of the sadness that he had felt in her. The pain had become
much more distinct, much sharper when he had mentioned the wedding.
Ryouga's own fear and depression surged as a thought occurred to him.
*No, please don't let it be so. Please don't say...*

"The wedding was ten days ago. Akane and Ran-chan are...married."
Ukyou paused again, her will almost failing her. *I will not break down in front of Ryouga, I won't.*

"No...it can't be. How...?" Ryouga pleaded, his voice barely a whisper. He could feel the dark tide rising, from within and without, threatening to dash his heart of glass upon the rocks. He could only sit numbly as the walls of his world crumbled around 
him again.

*How could it happen?* Ukyou wasn't sure of that herself. She had been at the ceremony, and still she had trouble believing it. *Ran-chan...*

In the beginning, two months ago, she had been certain that it would fail. There was no way her Ran-chan could choose Akane over her. None.
Considering the invitation, it had to be another plot by their fathers. Ukyou didn't believe for a second that Ranma would actually go through with it. Then, he came. 

One night, as she was closing up shop, Ranma came to her. At first she had been delighted that Ran-chan had come to visit her; at first. Then, against all odds, he had tried to explain his feelings for her, and for Akane. Ukyou had sat mute the entire tim
e as Ranma awkwardly tried to articulate his feelings, trying to make the blow as gentled as possible. He didn't love her; not it that special way that she had cherished him for the last year. He loved Akane. Why? 

Ranma had left when he couldn't get a response from Ukyou after five
minutes of trying. As he walked out the door, part of her walked off with him. Then the tears had come. She had cried herself to sleep that night, and nearly every night thereafter. 

Ukyou had turned to her work, trying to drive the thoughts of Ranma from
her mind. It hadn't worked. Every day was torture; every night was hell. He couldn't mean it, she had told herself. It couldn't be true. But the sincerity of Ranma's words and Ukyou's own subconscious doubts had already weakened her resolve beyond repair.
 

The final blow had come a month before the wedding. She hadn't seen
much of Ranma lately. He had stopped coming to her restaurant for free
meals. He seemed to be avoiding her. Then, one day, he walked in the
door. With Akane. Anger, pain, and jealousy fought for control of Ukyou
as she saw her: the girl who has stolen her Ran-chan. They had walked in
hand-in-hand. As Ukyou watched, she could see the subtle signals that
passed between them. Ranma was obviously nervous. Akane was too, but
she steeled herself and gave Ranma's hand a squeeze, trying to lend him her strength. They stood for several moments, gathering themselves for what was to come. Ukyou's last hope died. As she stood behind the grill, broken and alone, Akane broached the qu
estion: As it was going to be a western style wedding, she was going to need bride's maids. Would Ukyou be willing to do that for her? 

Ukyou had just stood, the coldness settling in her.. Then she had looked at Ranma. He tried to put on a friendly smile. For Ukyou, it was like a tiny flame, beckoning to her through a raging storm. She agreed. Akane and Ranma had relaxed slightly then, ea
ch had given her a reassuring hug. They talked of the ceremony and of inconsequentials, Ukyou basking in the warmth of the affection between Ranma and Akane. Then they had to go. Ukyou had seen them to the door and bid them farewell, and was alone
again. The coldness returned, and this time there was no light, no warmth. Just the empty pit of her soul, into which all of the joy of her life had just descended into darkness. 

The time had flown by until the wedding. Ukyou went through the motions
of living, but was not really there. The day had come, and she had gone to the dojo to prepare. She never did figure out how they had prevented the Kunous or Happosai or Cologne and Shampoo from interfering, but no
disturbances arose as they readied themselves. Mousse was there, serving as best man in lieu of Ryouga, though he looked as though he would really rather have been elsewhere. Ukyou, on the other hand, had nowhere else to be. 

Beyond all expectations, the ceremony had gone off without a hitch. Ukyou had lingered at the reception for about an hour, then departed, explaining that she had to open the restaurant. She said goodbye to Ranma and Akane, wishing them well, and had retur
ned to her restaurant. She closed the door, and didn't open it again for a week. After releasing her frustrations, she would just lie in bed and let the emptiness consume her. When she had finally left the restaurant, after having gone two days without fo
od, she had learned that Ranma and Akane had left right after the reception, and that nobody knew where they had gone. The Tendos and Mr. Saotome had left then as well, going to visit some of Mr. Tendo's relatives in Hokkaido. They weren't due back for a 
few weeks, and nobody had any idea when Ranma and Akane would return. 

As Ukyou looked up at Ryouga, she suddenly realized that she had been
reminiscing aloud. The ashen expression on Ryouga's face could have been
carved from stone. Ukyou couldn't tell whether he was breathing or not.
*Oh no...Don't tell me he's dead.*

"Ryouga? Ryouga, are you alright?"

Ryouga heard his name being called. Slowly, he turned to face the sound.
Ukyou looked so fragile, just then; like an errant breeze could blow her
away, destroying her forever. Ryouga knew why. He could feel her
depression growing with his own as she told her story. He could feel her
heart shatter into a billion pieces alongside his. Now the dark tide stood at its highest, towering greater than it ever had before. As it threatened to crash down upon him, scouring him from existence, he had one final fleeting moment of lucidity.

"Excuse me."

Ukyou watched as the stone facade crumbled. Even as he drew himself up,
Ryouga seemed to sink deeper into the abyss. When he seemed to feel that
his legs would support him, Ryouga walked out the door of the restaurant
and into the middle of the street. There, he gazed up at the sky. Tears
streaked down his dirty cheek, the grime not hiding the look of utter
hopelessness on his face. Ukyou could feel the anguish radiating from him as he raised his palms to the sky, looking as though he supported the entire weight of the world above his head.

"AKAANEEE!!!!" 

Ryouga's cry rang through the morning air like the hammer of god striking the earth. It continued to reverberate as a column of white light lanced up from the lost boy's outstretched palms and into the heavens above. A thunderclap shook the street as the 
air around Ryouga blasted outward. Then, with the screech of tearing metal, the air began to spiral upward along the beam of light. The windows of the shops along the street exploded outward as the air pressure around the cyclone plummeted. The Ucchan was
 spared, as it's door was open, though Ukyou had to brace herself against the door frame to keep from being blown into the street. 

-]()[-

High above Tokyo, MHI multi-purpose satellite XLB-117c watched and
waited. It was equipped with the most advanced defense system that money
could buy. Armed with laser cannons, scores of missiles, photo-reflective armor plating, and a powerful electromagnetic p-beam deflector, it could defend itself from nearly any menace that it might confront. It was blasted to vapor in less than a second, 
it's particles scattering like autumn leaves on the solar wind. 

-]()[-

After about ten seconds, the beam subsided. Ryouga knelt silently in the
street, weeping. He let his arms fall to his sides and pitched forward. Ukyou caught him before his head hit the ground. 

"C'mon hon. Let's get you inside." she said as she lifted the lost boy to his feet. "Hurry up. If anyone see's us, they'll probably try to make us pay for the windows."

"I'm sorry..."

"Shh, don't worry about it. Now move your feet."

Ukyou led the unsteady Ryouga into the restaurant and set him down in a
chair, then went back to close the door. When she turned to him again,
Ryouga was looking at her in an odd way, his eyes seeming to peer beyond
her face and into her soul. His gaze made her uncomfortable, but Ukyou
stared right back at him.

"What are you looking at?"

"It hurts, doesn't it? Will it ever stop...?" Ryouga whispered, an expression of deep understanding and sympathy mingling with the despair in his features. 

Ukyou's knees gave, forcing her to collapse into a nearby chair. New tears welling up in her eyes, all she could do was look at Ryouga and shake her head.

"I don't know..."


-|-|-


Mihrna wasn't feeling well at all. While this in itself wasn't an
abnormal occurrence, the situation which induced it most
certainly was. Though Yggdrasil had been up and running for
several days now, Skuld was convinced that they still hadn't
completely eradicated some of the more elusive system bugs. This
meant that external and internal communications through the
Yggdrasil system were being kept to the barest minimum.

Mihrna, being the system administrator for the Communications
Department, had been having an especially hard time lately.  Her
resources and access had been severely curtailed, yet still the
other departments expected their mail to be delivered yesterday,
if not sooner.  Without access to Heaven Net, this meant that she
and all of the other deities in the Communications Department had
been delivering messages by hand all over heaven and earth. The
Morale Department, in light of the often unpredictable
temperament of the various deities in the over-worked and 
under-appreciated Communications Department, was beginning to wonder
if they might not have to deal with more than one rogue deity in the
near future.

They wouldn't have been encouraged by Mihrna's current state of
mind. The page from the Monitoring Department almost turned
around and left when he saw her slumped over her desk in the
otherwise empty communications complex, her fist clenched tightly
around the handle of a rather worn looking coffee mug. Still, he
had a job to do. He steeled himself and strode rigidly up to the
desk.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

"Yess....?"

For several moments, the page considered turning where he stood
and running away. It wasn't that Mihrna was a particularly
imposing goddess. Standing just over five feet tall, with a
petite frame, shimmering violet eyes, waist length dark brown
hair, and a deep tan, Mihrna was generally regarded as cute. Nor
did she have a reputation as being a particularly violent person.
Just a rather depressed person. A _very_ depressed person. She
was under special observation by the Morale Department for
chronic depression. It was only her superb performance that
allowed her to keep her position as Comm. Sys. Administrator.
Still, many of the deities in the nearby departments lived in
fear that one day she was going to decide to end it all, and that
she was going to take a small part of heaven with her when she
did.

The central monitoring complex was rather close to the
communications complex, so this particular page had been
inundated with the many unpleasant stories surrounding the
communications deities. He took another look at Mihrna and
considered what he was about to do. She was quite evidently very
depressed. She also looked like she had just run the iron man
triathalon in plate mail. He was beginning to feel almost
suicidal just looking at her. His chances of living beyond the
next five minutes seemed to him to be rather slim, but the
importance of his message precluded any personal concerns he
might have.

"Ma'am, we've found the rogue god."


-|-|-


Kunou Tatewaki was in a smiting mood. He had been this way for
quite some time now. Ever since that ill fated incident in the
bath.

It had been two days before the supposed wedding of that accursed
cur Saotome and his beloved Tendo Akane. Kunou Tatewaki had spent
the greater part of the day searching for Saotome, fully
intending to unleash his righteous wrath upon the fiend. But when
he finally cornered Saotome, the coward had once again resorted
to dark sorcery to put the great Kunou Tatewaki to sleep long
enough for him to make his escape. By the time the scion of the
House of Kunou once again strode through the halls of his
palatial abode, the mighty Blue Thunder of Furinkan High was
mightily tired. Kunou Tatewaki wished for nothing more than a
long soothing bath.

He was therefore quite unpleasantly surprised to find that not
only was the bath water cold, but that the foul Saotome had
arrived in his absence and enchanted it. No sooner had Kunou
stepped into the bath that he suddenly found himself treading
water far deeper than it should have been. When he finally pulled
himself ashore, Kunou discovered that it was not the bath that
had gotten deeper, but he that had gotten shorter. Much shorter.
Kunou had, in fact, been transformed into a small white mouse.

Bitterly enraged by Saotome's effrontery, Kunou immediately
launched into a rodential rant. So enraged was he that he didn't
notice his sister entering the bath room until mousy screams of
panic once again began to emanate from the bath. 

After Kodachi made her way to shore, Kunou continued his rant.
Kodachi, however, could not accept that the foul sorcerer Saotome
was responsible for their untimely transformation. She believed,
rather, that his beloved pig-tailed goddess had perpetrated this
most heinous act. For a moment, Kunou entertained the notion that
perhaps his goddess had indeed done this. Perhaps she had stolen
some of the vile sorcerer's magic, in the hopes of preventing
himself from interfering in Saotome's unholy union with Tendo
Akane, so that she might have the great Kunou Tatewaki all to
herself. He dismissed the notion immediately, knowing truly that
his goddess was far too pure and innocent to contemplate such a
thing.

Nevertheless, both of them were currently entrapped in the form
of small white mice, which effectively nullified any hope they
might have of preventing the wedding. Matters went from bad to
worse when Sasuke came to clean the bath. The fool was apparently
unable to recognize his master when he saw him, thus forcing the
unlucky siblings to flee for their lives with Sasuke and Mr.
Green Turtle in hot pursuit.

Several days later, the Kunous found themselves in a small
Mishima Heavy Industries research complex on the outskirts of
Nerima. They were sharing a cage with a most peculiar pair of lab
mice. Never had Kunou met anyone with such delusions of grandeur
as the mouse with the oversized head. And the other mouse, who
apparently served as the first's lackey, was obviously quite mad. 

Still, when the odd couple readied to leave the lab, in order to
carry out some absurd plan that the egotistical one devised, the
Kunous gladly accompanied them, both secretly intending to flee
in search of Saotome at the first opportunity.

This opportunity never came. Shortly after exiting the complex,
the four were scooped up by a deadly kawaii girl on roller
skates. Not only was she sickeningly cute and absurdly strong,
but she insisted on calling Kunou "Josephine." 

Shortly before the four succumbed to terminal, cute-induced tooth
rot, the girl decided that her new little friends needed a bath.
Having has previous unpleasant bath experiences, this brought the
Kunous back to their senses immediately. They were therefore
quite alert and aware when they were suddenly returned to human
form upon contact with the hot water in the tub. The same
couldn't be said for their companions and the uber-kawaii girl,
who were still in a state of mild shock several minutes after the
Kunous had raided the closets and fled.

When Tatewaki and his sister had returned to their estate,
wearing frilly pink nightgowns no less, they immediately had a
serious talk with Sasuke. After severely punishing him for their
hasty departure, they learned from Sasuke that the wedding had
indeed proceeded in their absence. What's more, the newlyweds and
their families had disappeared immediately afterward.

All of this compounded had put both the Kunou siblings in a
rather inhospitable state of mind. It had been a week since Kunou
had sent Sasuke out to locate his beloveds, and still the man
hadn't returned. The Blue Thunder was growing restless. He was
also developing a rather unique body odor, being that he had not
bathed once during that entire period, but that was beside the
point.

All other concerns were forced from Kunou Tatewaki's head when,
on this fine morning, he witnessed a towering column of light
rising from the vicinity of the restaurant area. Surely this must
be the demon spawned Saotome announcing his return. Never one to
decline a challenge, Kunou Tatewaki. Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High, strode purposefully towards the light.


-|-|-


Gosunkugi Hikaru stopped shoveling clothing into his suitcase for
a moment, and thought about recent events. Despite what many
people would have expected, had they bothered to even give it a
thought, Gosunkugi Hikaru had taken Ranma and Akane's marriage
much better than most of the unfortunate couple's potential love
interests. 

This was because Gosunkugi had inherently low self esteem. He had
long ago given up almost all hope that Akane would ever be his.
When the wedding invitations had gone out more than two months
ago, it was just a confirmation of everything that he had feared.
He had lain about depressed for a time, certainly; but possessed of a
weak will, Hikaru was forced to accept reality far sooner than the
others. In a manner of speaking, anyway. Deprived of his greatest
passion, Akane, Gosunkugi turned his attentions towards his other
passions, photography and magic.

This actually worked out rather well. Despite the almost
nonexistent amount of profit that Hikaru could plead out of
Nabiki for the sale of his photographs, he soon had enough money
to start sending out for the more exotic and esoteric magical
implements that he desired. Thus, by the time of the wedding,
Gosunkugi had a rather unimpressive but still functional
understanding of basic magic. While nobody else realized this,
all of the people who attended the wedding would later admit that
Gosunkugi Hikaru's wedding photography was by far the nicest that
they had seen. It almost seemed as if the pictures were alive
somehow.

In hindsight, Gosunkugi wondered what the guests would think if
they knew how he had achieved that effect. Admittedly, binding
the life force of insects to the photographs wasn't the most
pleasant way to produce that life-like quality, but it was the
best he had come across so far. And the people seemed to think
that the strange runes on the backs of the photos were just one
of Gosunkugi's little eccentricities. 

*Well, let them think what they will.* It was a harmless effect,
and the neighbors clearly didn't mind Hikaru coming by periodically to remove any unwanted pests from their basements or attics. 

*But when Holy Fire starts erupting from the center of town,
that's as good a time as any to find somewhere else to live.*

Gosunkugi had, in his studies, learned how to recognize the power
of the gods. As if the sheer amount of power involved wasn't
enough of a clue. He had just barely seen the thin column of
light rising into the heavens from across town, but the wave of
the magical backlash, when it struck him, spoke of something big.
Frighteningly big.

Hikaru resumed packing with increased fervor. Best not to be
around when things like that are happening. He checked his watch
again. His taxi was due to be here in five minutes. He couldn't
afford to go far, but anywhere was better than here right now.

*Please don't let this be Saotome's fault again. I couldn't bear
the thought of Akane being anywhere near an angry god...*


-|-|-


*He seems to be taking this quite well.* Though Ukyou as she
looked at Ryouga's still form. *He's not throwing a tantrum, or
swearing vengeance, or anything.*

This, while disturbing, was definitely a good thing. After seeing
what Ryouga had just done outside, the thought of him out hunting
Ranma made Ukyou rather ill. 

*And* Ukyou admitted to herself, *It's nice to have company again. 
Someone who understands.*

Nothing had been said since Ukyou had sat down . They had just
watched each other and cried a little, breathing in each other's
sorrows. There was a strange peace here. The peace of those who
have nothing left to fight for.

The emptiness in the room wasn't quite complete, thought Ryouga.
While sorrow was the pervading emotion, something else, something
warm, was glowing in the corner of his mind. A connection of a
sort. Fellowship; sympathy. Ryouga had a friend here; someone who
understands. 

But there was something else. Something that wasn't right. It had
a far away feel to it, so he knew that it wasn't his own or
Ukyou's, but it was getting closer. Quite aside from the cold
emptiness, or the small warmth he felt from Ukyou, this feeling
was almost a blazing inferno. It swirled in manic intensity, yet
it was focused to a single, fine point. The feeling was driven,
unwaveringly, towards a single purpose.

"SAOOOOTOOOMEEEE!!!"

Ukyou started and looked out the window towards the street. "That 
sounded like...."

"Kunou." Ryouga finished.

"C'mon, lets see what he's carrying on about now." Ukyou said as she 
grabbed Ryouga's hand and fairly dragged him up the stairs in the back of the restaurant. She led them to her bedroom, which had a window that
overlooked the street below. From this vantage point, they could see Kunou striding arrogantly down the street towards the Ucchan.

*Yup, it's definitely coming from him.* thought Ryouga as he observed
Kunou's expression and body language. "I wonder what's got him all 
worked up."

"Shh! It looks like he's going to say something." Ukyou hissed as she 
waved Ryouga to silence.

Indeed, Kunou had stopped walking, and seemed to be gathering himself 
for something. Most likely one of his pointless, long winded speeches 
about the evils of the foul sorcerer Saotome Ranma.

"Whence, WHENCE HAST THOU FLED! Oh Foulest, Darkest, Misogynist Villain,  known to the world by that so undistinguished name: Saotome Ranma?!!"
 
Kunou turned in a slow circle, raising his bokken defiantly.

"In that base and filthy company, composed of all the cowards ever to
infest and to besmirch our nation, no, our PLANET wide and fair, surely
you, Saotome Ranma, rank lowest, even among those!  Call forth what
sorcery you will, cast fire and brimstone, summon the very Demons to do
thy bidding. Yet shall I find thee, and then shall I smite thee truly and finally from face of all the earth. Long though you have fled and hid from me, yet shall our duel of Honor, lingering upon the threading finger of a careless Fate, still shall it co
me and in that moment, full mightily shall I smite thee! THE BLUE THUNDER WILL NOT BE DENIED!!!" Kunou shouted as he raised his bokken to the cloudless sky. He was momentarily backlit in this dramatic pose as a lightning bolt arced across the sky behind h
im, thunder rolling ominously.  


*Someday, I'm going to figure out how he does that...* mused Ryouga to 
himself. "Why on earth would he think that Ranma was here?"

"Oh, I don't know... Maybe it was that little light show that you put  on earlier. That sort of thing _does_ tend to happen a lot around Ranma, you know." Ukyou said sarcastically, favoring Ryouga with a mildly accusing glance.

Ryouga had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed before turning 
his attention back to Kunou. "Regardless, someone is going to have to go down there and shut him up, else he's going to be raving and ranting up and down the street all day." Ryouga muttered. As he was preparing to jump out the window, Ukyou caught his ar
m and pointed down the street.
Ryouga turned to see what appeared to be a large, black rat scurrying down the street towards Kunou. Upon closer inspection, Ryouga realized that it was, in fact, Sasuke.

"Master Kunou!" Sasuke shouted as he waved his arms about, trying to 
get Kunou's attention. Upon reaching Kunou, Sasuke went to one knee and 
bowed his head.

Eventually, Kunou noticed his servant kneeling at his feet. After further deliberation, Kunou decided that there was probably some reason for Sasuke being here, rather than undertaking the most important task on locating his beloveds.

"Base, clumsy serving man, Dare you interrupt Blue Thunder in the full
vigor of his warrior-like pursuit of honor!?!  Say to me again that thee
have dallied in pursuit of clues to foul Saotome's lair and I shall 
pause to smite thee in his place!"

"I've found them, Master Kunou."

"WHAT?!  Thou claim success?  What bliss, What music to mine ears,
noble Sasuke, how welcome and how manlike does thy stature seem.  Tell
me, how fares my beauteous, my courageous, Tendo Akane, raven-haired
compilation of all virtue..  And what of the Pig-tailed Goddess; do her
flaming tresses, even now, grace the space where I would rest my
chivalrous head, Tendo Akane's lap?  I have a vision of them, horrible and sublime, cowering in some dungeon of Saotome's making.  Brave Akane
seeks even now to comfort the lively Pig-tailed one, whispering in her ears how soon, ah very soon, the terrible BLUE THUNDER shall strike their captor, heinous Saotome, down to the depths of Hell!  That day, that glorious day too long has been delayed! O
ut, OUT with it Sasuke! Where hides, where cowers, STINKING SAOTOME RANMA!?!" 

"They reside at this address." Said Sasuke as he held forward a 
folded piece of parchment.

Snatching up the parchment, Kunou unfolded it and scanned it quickly
before clenching his fist around it and holding it up to the heavens in
triumph.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!!  Behold Ye Gods, the worm Saotome's end at last is
nigh!  At once I shall avant, with swift and noble strides, unto the
blighted  earth wherein Saotome lurks.. His wicked sorceries shall not
prevail, and finally and for all time, my two beloved goddesses in 
mortal guise shall with their deserving protector be united! At once I
go!"

With that, Kunou spun on his heel and stormed off down the street.
 
For a moment, Ryouga and Ukyou stood silently at the window, watching
Kunou's departing figure. In that moment, several thousand arguments 
and counter-arguments waged war for control of their minds and wills... In the end however, there was only one real choice.

"If he really does know where they've gone..." Ryouga started.

"Then maybe we ought to follow him." Ukyou continued. " Just to make
sure..."

"That Akane and Ranma are alright." Ryouga finished.

Ukyou nodded in agreement before ducking into her closet for a change 
of clothes. "Watch him, so that we don't lose him." came Ukyou's muffled
voice from behind the closet door. Ryouga grunted his assent.

As a sign of how preoccupied both of them were, neither one gave any
thought as to how well Ryouga would be able to keep from "losing" 
someone. Ryouga leapt out the window and onto the roof of the Ucchan.
He scanned down the street, searching for Kunou. He couldn't see him, but that didn't matter at the moment. Ryouga could have pointed at that intense, single minded determination blindfolded and unconscious. It was departing quickly in the direction of th
e rising sun. *Damn it! What's taking her so long?*

"Okay Ryouga, where is he?" Ukyou said as she joined Ryouga on the 
roof. She was wearing a traditional okonomiaki seller's outfit and a 
bandoleer of mini-spatulas. Her combat spatula was strapped to her back
and she was carrying Ryouga's pack and one of her own.

"That way." Ryouga replied as he accepted his pack and pointed towards 
the direction of the quickly diminishing feeling.


Ukyou nodded and leapt off in the direction that Ryouga pointed, jumping
from rooftop to rooftop. Ryouga followed, catching up quickly after
shouldering his pack and tightening the straps holding his umbrella. As the feeling grew stronger, Ryouga took the lead for a time, correcting their bearing slightly. Eventually, Ukyou realized what she was doing. She was following Ryouga, the lost boy of
 Nerima. She was following a boy that could get lost in an empty room with one door and no windows. She was about to slap herself upside the head and scream in frustration, when Ryouga stopped abruptly and pointed down at the street.

Hardly believing it was possible, Ukyou bounded up to Ryouga's side 
and looked in the direction he indicated. There, running quite quickly down the street, still clutching the crumpled piece of parchment in his upraised hand, was Kunou.

"All right. It looks like he's heading towards the train station." Ukyou 
said as she continued pursuit. Running carefully along the rooftops, trying to keep out of sight, Ryouga and Ukyou were unaware that yet another figure was following them. Creeping along in the shadows, Kodachi smiled to herself.

"OHOHOHOHO... So brother dear has located my Ranma-sama and the
wicked Tendo Akane, has he? Soon, horrid girl, soon you shall pay for
trying to steal my Ranma-sama! OHOHOHO!"

Ryouga paused for a second. There was something decidedly... disturbing... emanating from somewhere a bit behind them. It was much like what he was feeling from Kunou, but somehow... twisted; warped into a sickening parody of itself. It made Ryouga's stom
ach turn sour, so he quickened his pace to match Ukyou, trying to keep as much distance between him and this new feeling as possible. That it seemed to be moving in the same direction as they were started to bother Ryouga Greatly, but Ukyou was too intent
 on following Kunou to notice his distress. Soon they reached the train station, as Ryouga and Ukyou made their way to the ground, Kunou entered one of the ticket counter lines.

"Here," Ukyou said as she shoved a wad of bills into Ryouga's hand, " Pull up that hood of yours and get in line behind him. Buy us two tickets to wherever he's going."

Ryouga complied and began to elbow his way into line. A few of the people behind Kunou began to protest, but after feeling the cold glare from within the shadows of Ryouga's hood, they backed off timidly and gave way. They gave Ryouga plenty of room, in f
act, staying several feet behind the streaming and swirling ripped ends of his dust cloak. Into this space, Ryouga felt the twisted presence enter. It stayed there for a good second too, before quickly backing up to a more comfortable distance. Ryouga tur
ned his head slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of his pursuer through the corner of his eye. The hood, however, limited his field of vision such that he couldn't do so without being obvious.

With a sigh, Ryouga turned his gaze forward again and attempted to 
patiently wait out the line. Try as he might, though, his mind kept returning to the presence behind him. It was so close. He _knew_ what he was feeling from Kunou was somehow related to the feeling emanating from whoever was standing behind him, but he c
ouldn't put his finger on  how he knew. But Ryouga couldn't deny that there was something... wrong... with what this person was feeling. *Hell, I can't even figure out how I can feel these... things... in the first place. This whole situation is insane. S
ome weird things have happened to me in the past, but never anything like this. I can _feel_ whatever Ukyou and Kunou and whoever this is are feeling. I shouldn't be able to do that, but I can. It led me to Ukyou, then to Kunou. Now, this... person... is 
following me, I'm sure of it. And I can't even bring myself to face them because whatever they're feeling is so warped it's making my stomach turn. If I have to stand here much longer, I think I'm going to be sick.*

Ryouga fidgeted irritably, trying to block out the invading sensations. The presence seemed to be getting agitated as well, for both this new _thing_ that Ryouga had and Ryouga's presence sense told him that the person behind him was moving around quite a
 bit. In fact, if Ryouga didn't know better, he'd have guessed that they were dancing a jig of some sort.. It would have been quite an amusing image if Ryouga didn't have to swallow hard every time the presence came within arm's reach. 

"One for Shinohara station." Kunou intoned as he reached the ticket 
booth.

"Thank you sir. Have a nice trip."

The presence had come _extremely_ close when Kunou had reached the
counter. The resultant wave of nausea left Ryouga quite distracted for
several seconds afterward. 

"May I, er... help you?" the attendant asked Ryouga uneasily, unconsciously trying to scoot farther back into the booth.

"Hmm? OH! Yes... two for Shinohara station." Ryouga said absently, trying to clear his mind. Eager to put the presence as far behind him as possible, Ryouga quickly paid for the tickets and walked in the direction that he thought he had left Ukyou.

"Psst. Hey! Ryouga, over here!" came Ukyou's voice from somewhere off 
to his left. Ryouga spun, trying to lock onto the source of the voice. He didn't see Ukyou, but he knew that she was there. The familiar resonance of her depression to his own was once again very clear in his mind. As he started towards it, someone brushe
d quickly past him. Ryouga realized that it must have been the presence he had been feeling when the wave of nausea struck again. Ryouga grunted and stooped over slightly, clutching head and stomach.

"Ryouga, are you all right?"

As the other feeling retreated, the cold, heavy emptiness of Ukyou's
depression settled over him. As the small, warm feeling behind the despair seemed to reach out for him, a hand  landed on Ryouga's shoulder. He looked up at Ukyou. 

Apparently she had gone off to change somewhere. She was now wearing
jeans, a sweater, and a pair of dark sunglasses. She had let her hair down from the usual ponytail and her combat spatula was wrapped loosely in a large cloth and secured to the top of her pack, which she was now holding in her right hand..

"I'm... fine. Just a slight headache. Ukyou, did you see who was in line
behind me?" Ryouga asked evenly, trying to sound nonchalant.

Ukyou gave Ryouga a puzzled look. "Someone in an oversized hat and
trench coat. I couldn't really see what they looked like, but they seemed to keep getting their feet tangled in the ends of that cloak of yours. Why?"

"Nothing. Maybe nothing..." * If I tell her we're being followed, she'll want to know how I know.* "Don't worry about it. Just an odd feeling. It's gone now." *The hell it is!* chimed a small voice. *It's there, right over behind that support column.* "He
re's the tickets. He's going to Shinohara." Ryouga said as he handed Ukyou one of the tickets and her change.

Ukyou looked over the ticket and frowned. "This train leaves in five
minutes. C'mon, the terminal is this way." Ukyou almost grabbed Ryouga's
hand, but then seemed to decide against it and instead waved Ryouga on in the direction of the terminal, always keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't wander off. For some reason, Ukyou seemed to be maintaining an unusual distance from him.

*Better to worry why people keep doing that later.* Though Ryouga. The
other presence wasn't getting farther away anymore. When they reached the train, they only had about a minute left to board.

"Damn. Now we're going to have to find him again when he gets off the
train." Ukyou growled.

Ryouga looked up and down the train, and could feel that Kunou was in the car second from the front. "Um, I think I saw him go this way." Ventured Ryouga tentatively before indicating the correct car. Ukyou peered at him quizzically for a second before sh
rugging and walking quickly towards the car. As they boarded, Ryouga released a small sigh of relief when he felt the other presence enter the car behind them.

"There he is! Good job Ryouga." whispered Ukyou as she nodded slightly 
towards Kunou's quite obvious form. Ukyou led them to another set of
seats a bit closer to the rear of the train than Kunou. Ryouga would have preferred to sit closer to the front, to get away from the other presence, but he couldn't think of any sane way to justify it to Ukyou.

A few minutes after the train started moving, Ukyou looked over to Kunou, then back to Ryouga. She removed a damp washcloth from a plastic bag in her pack and offered it to Ryouga. "Here, he's not watching. Clean yourself up a bit."

Obliging, Ryouga first wiped his hands as clean as he could get them, then pulled back the hood and started wiping his face. Ukyou relaxed slightly when Ryouga doffed the hood, though Ryouga didn't notice. When the cloth stopped coming away from his face 
and neck dirtier than it started, Ryouga handed it back to Ukyou. "There. How's that?"

"Better. Hmm... I didn't know you were into tattoos, Ryouga." Ukyou said
as she peered intently at Ryouga's face.

"Tattoos? I don't have any tattoos."

"Then what are those weird marks on your face?"

"Marks?" Ryouga blinked and brought his hand up to his face. "Where?"

"On your cheek bones, near your eyes. And there are some more on your
forehead, though those are mostly covered up by that bandanna of yours
and your hair. Here, look." Ukyou offered Ryouga a small compact.

"I didn't know you wore makeup." Ryouga said. As he accepted the
compact, he took a closer look at Ukyou's face.

"I don't, usually. I'm not wearing any now; I didn't have time."

"Ah well, you don't need it anyway." Ryouga mumbled absently as he
peered into the small mirror in the compact, completely missing Ukyou's
slight blush. Indeed, there they were. Right where Ukyou had said they
were. In the middle of Ryouga's forehead, slightly covered by his bandanna, were three small golden diamonds, arranged in a pattern somewhat reminiscent of a flower blossom. At the corner of each eye were two more golden diamonds, these arranged to be a p
artial mirror of  the design on he forehead, with one diamond pointing down and the other pointing away from the center of his face. Ryouga brought his hand up to touch one of the diamonds near the corner of his right eye. It didn't feel any different fro
m the rest of his skin, but the diamond had a slight but distinct chrome-like sheen to it.

"Where the hell did those come from?" Ryouga muttered to himself.
"Ukyou, could you give me that cloth again?"

"Here's a new one." Ukyou said, handing Ryouga another cloth.

Ryouga began scrubbing at the marks, to no noticeable effect. "Grr... come off..." Ryouga growled under us breath as he started scrubbing harder. People began to stare at this bizarre spectacle, much to Ukyou's dismay. She reached out and grabbed Ryouga's
 hand.

"Quit already, you moron. You're making a scene." Ukyou hissed.

"They won't come off. Damn it, they wont come off." Ryouga grumbled
disbelievingly as he returned the washcloth to Ukyou.

"They don't look bad Ryouga. They actually suit you rather well. But you
have no idea where they came from?" Ukyou asked as she leaned back and
glanced over to see that Kunou hadn't noticed.

"I can't think of anything that might have caused it." Ryouga said, thinking back upon his recent journeys. "Well, there was this time a couple days ago when I fell asleep and woke up somewhere else. I was in this damp, marshy forest, and I had seen some 
natives the day before, so I assumed that they had moved me during the night. They left all of my stuff, so I never bothered to check if they had done anything else to me." Ryouga rubbed at the design on his forehead. "But I'd think that anything permanen
t would at least hurt a bit. I don't think it's any sort of paint..."

"Hmm..." Ukyou nodded as she examined the marks. "Where else have you
gone during the last two months?" She asked, a bit of idle curiosity
surfacing.

"Well. By chance I was at home when the invitation arrived. After reading it, naturally I set out immediately in search of the Tendo Dojo..." Ryouga dove into a long and detailed account of his most recent trip. Both absorbed in Ryouga's story, they quick
ly lost track of time.

A trench coated figure, sitting across the car and slightly farther back, discreetly eavesdropped on the peculiar pair of young people. A most peculiar pair of young people indeed, if any of the boy's story was true. Periodically, one or the other would g
lance over at a second young man, this one sitting towards the front of the car.. Wearing traditional samurai garb, carrying a bokken, and looking quite dignified if rather unkempt, that was truly an odd one. Then there was the fourth. A girl, if he wasn'
t mistaken. Wearing an oversized hat and trench coat, and riding in the front of the car just behind them, she divided her attention between the previous two parties.

Mr. Yotsuya shook his head and leaned back in his seat. Now, the samurai
wanabee he knew as Kunou Tatewaki. A man of great prowess, and a
greater ego.   Kunou Tatewaki was also renowned as the biggest fool in
Nerima, if not all of Tokyo.  "Ahh, but who is truly the fool? One who
commits foolhardy actions, or those who would follow him?" Yotsuya
mused to himself as he returned his attention to his newspaper. "What we
have here is a veritable parade of fools..."


-|-|-


Urd, sitting up in her bed, looked up from her romance novel and checked
the clock on the dresser once again. Setting the book in her lap, she heaved a sigh of relief. It had been more than ten minutes since she had felt the wave of divine power wash across her, and still she hadn't been contacted. This most likely meant that 
someone else was handling it. It was worrying though. If that backlash was any indication, whomever was summoned to deal with the Rogue was going to have their hands full. That was a class two blast at least. *I hope it isn't Belldandy that they summoned.
* But no, that wasn't possible. They would have contacted the nearest available deity, and that blast had definitely come from somewhere in Tokyo. Belldandy and Keiichi were still in Yokohama, and not due back until tonight. Urd peered speculatively out t
he window. *I wonder who else is operating out of Tokyo...*

Her train of thought was abruptly derailed by a faint hissing noise
emanating from somewhere nearby. After peering around the room, Urd
looked down to see that a thick, shimmering mist was issuing from her
book; or, more specifically, from the words on the page. Urd hastily flipped the book off of her lap. It landed face down on the floor to the left of her bed, and then proceeded to rise off of the ground on a column of fog-like mist. Urd rolled off to the
 right side of her bed and began preparing a simple lightning spell. As she watched, the mist coalesced into the form of a kneeling human female. Urd relaxed and released the spell as Mihrna stood up slowly, Urd's novel still perched atop her head. 

"Well, if it isn't the prozac pin-up girl,"Urd remarked sarcastically as she leaned up against the wall. 

"It's nice to see you again too, Urd," Mihrna sighed, carefully removing the book and setting it on the bed. "I assume you know why I'm here?"

Urd blinked. "No, please enlighten me."

"You didn't feel the backlash wave? You're surely close enough here..."
Mihrna cast Urd a puzzled glance.

"What...?" Urd's mouth opened and closed several times, her mind reeling
in confusion. "But...But that was ten minutes ago! Someone _must_ have
been assigned to it by now!" Urd fairly cried in disbelief. 

Mihrna's mood seemed to darken yet further, a feat that Urd would have
previously thought impossible. "I got your notice of assignment seven
minutes ago. It took that long to get authorization to come down here and inform you. I would have used a prime temporal shift to come earlier, but they suspect the Rogue to be capable of innate temporal shifting  capability, so a distortion might have gi
ven them an advanced warning." Mihrna looked up at Urd, a look of regret and apology on her face. "I'm sorry Urd. You've been assigned to pursue and contact the Rogue."

"That can't be! Me?! Just me??!" Urd bounded over her bed in a panic,
grabbing Mihrna roughly by the shoulders.

"At this point, there's no one else available to assist you that's also close enough to come without further unnecessary delay." Mihrna recited
mechanically, trying not to meet Urd's gaze. 

"What about you?! You're here!" Urd stared intently at Mihrna, her eyes
pleading for some chance, some avenue of escape. 

Mihrna turned away. "I... can't.. I have previous obligations. I'm sorry Urd, my hands are tied." She replied, her voice almost a whisper.

Urd released Mihrna and let her hands fall to her side. She stood for a
moment dumbstruck, her mind slowly absorbing the responsibility that had
be put upon her. Upon _her_, and only her. It was almost too much to
believe.

Seeing a chance to escape without making the situation any worse, Mihrna
grabbed Urd's left hand and pressed a small disk into it. "Here are the exact coordinates of the sighting, as well as power level estimates of the blast, a list of viable entry points, and instructions on how to proceed once you've made contact. Good luck
." She gripped Urd's hand tightly, not wanting to let go, to abandon Urd to fate. Then, silently, she turned away from Urd and picked up the now forgotten book. Opening it to a random page, Mihrna set it face up on the floor and departed, the whole time u
nwilling, unable to face Urd.

When she had gone, Urd peered for a moment at the empty space in which
Mihrna had stood. She was alone now. She examined the disk, her face
locked in the morbid expression that one might have while standing over a tombstone with your name on it. Then, expression unchanged, she marched out of her room. There wasn't time for regret. In the breeze caused by her passing, the pages of the book fli
pped by rapidly until, finally reaching the end, the book shut.

-|-|-

Marler gave the street another once over. There was some residual trace of the power that had been used, but it had been a very clean and efficient blast. Most of the effective energy had been channeled out into space. Still, there was enough to confirm t
hat it had indeed been the Rogue. *But why on earth would they do something so obvious as that?* 

There had been little actual damage to the area around ground zero, other than several broken windows. Curiously, one building directly adjacent to the blast didn't seem to have any apparent external damage at all. When Marler entered the building to inve
stigate, she found that the inside of the building was in much worse shape. It looked as though there had been some sort of fight in the front room of the building, which was apparently a restaurant. Tables and chairs had been smashed and scattered about,
 and there were several oddly shaped holes and marks on the walls. When Marler did an active scan of the building, she discovered residual traces of the Rogue's energy signature in the front room as well, though the damage was nowhere near the extent of w
hat she would have expected had the Rogue released in there. 

*So he builds up in here, then he goes outside and releases. But why? He
didn't actually _do_ anything. Well, nothing serious. This seems like
random destruction, with the destruction part left out. He just fires off a blast into space and leaves? That doesn't make any sense. Is he insane or something?*

Marler sat down in a chair and leaned back, glaring irritably around the
room. It had taken her forever to fly out here from Nekomi when she had
felt the backlash wave. Still, it seemed that she was the first to arrive. A lot of good it did her. She came all this way just to find a few broken windows, some faint energy traces, and a scene in a restaurant that makes even less sense than anything el
se. 

"Unless... unless the blast was just bait." Marler stood up and glanced
cautiously around. Suddenly she felt an powerful active scan play across her skin, originating from the outside of the restaurant. "Oh shit..."

-|-|-

Urd had arrived a few minutes ago inside an electronics store about a block away from ground zero. Fortunately the store was still closed, so she didn't have to bother with any explanations. Still inside the store, she steeled herself for the task at hand


"All right, the file said that it was just above a standard, unrestricted class two spirit blast. I'm stronger than most class twos, so if that's all they've got then it shouldn't be a problem." There was still, however, the suspicion that the Rogue could
 draw on the Ultimate Force without authorization.. *No! Can't think like that. They must have adjusted the protocols by now.* Urd glanced down at herself and clenched her left hand into a tight fist. "Right! Lets do this." With that, Urd exited the store
 and proceeded to stride down the street, her passive senses as wide open as possible.

She slowed when she approached the area where all the windows were
broken, but she still wasn't sensing anything abnormal. Eventually, she
reached ground zero. Glass and other debris were strewn about in circular pattern around a small empty space in the center of the street. Still nothing. The circle looked to have been disturbed by something, for the debris was brushed out of place in a ro
ugh line leading from the center of the circle to a building on the right side if the street. That building didn't appear to be damaged. Urd took a deep breath. *Okay, here I am.*

She initiated an active scan spell, sweeping it over the center of the circle, then over the building. In the circle she found residual traces of the Rogue's power signature. When she swept the building, however, she sensed something rather different. A d
emon. *Damn it! Someone beat me here!"* She sensed the demon moving towards the back of the building, probably seeking some avenue of escape. *No you don't!*

Urd rushed towards the building, slamming the door open and scanning the
room. It was a rather large mess, with broken furniture everywhere. The
demon had been in here, and so had the Rogue. Momentarily, she worried
that perhaps the Rogue might be in league with the demons. But she could
tell by the scan that the Rogue had probably been here and left a few
minutes before the demon had arrived. Curiously, the energy signature of
the demon seemed... familiar, somehow. She felt as though she had sensed
this demon before. Now, what demons did she know that she had dealt with
often enough to recognize by energy trace, and were also usually operating close enough to this area to sense the blast. With a snarl, Urd rushed towards the back door and shouted at the top of her lungs, "MARLLER!!"


Halfway up the wall in the back yard, Marler paused and looked back. *She knows my name?! Then this _was_ a trap! Damn it all, I wasn't prepared for this!* She turned back to the wall and continued climbing. *Shouldn't have used so much strength on those 
scans and on flying here so fast.* She nearly lost her grip as a lightning bolt impacted on the wall next to her. *Shit!*

Marler let go of the wall and, turning around in midair, landed facing the across the yard at the house. There, just outside the back door, stood a familiar platinum haired goddess. Small bolts of lightning arced around a blue luminescent sphere in her ha
nd, and she was looking rather peeved to boot. 

"YOU?!" Marler shouted in surprise, quickly readying a force bolt. 

"Marler! What the hell are you doing here?!" Urd growled, raising her hand and pointing it at Marler.

"Oh, just sight seeing. Nothing for you to get out of bed over." Marler
smirked and glanced over to Urd's left. 

"What have you seen?!" Urd shouted back, trying not to be distracted by
Marler's glance. 

"What makes you think I've seen anything? My, but you seem to be in a bad mood today. Get up on the wrong side of the bed?" Marler grinned,
assuming a more relaxed posture. 

"Grr...you..." Urd took a step forward, giving Marler the opening she
needed. 

Marler quickly dropped to one knee, sending the force bolt flying at a spare grill top that was leaning against the wall on Urd's left. Urd, expecting an attack, jumped to her right and adjusted her aim on Marler. Meanwhile, the force bolt flew swiftly to
wards the grill top, then ricocheted off of it and flew back at Marler. The bolt impacted with the wall a few feet above Marler's head, sending a cloud of dust and debris flying into the yard and spoiling Urd's aim. When the dust settled, Marler was nowhe
re to be found.

Urd stood slowly and clenched her fist, causing the ball of lightning to blink out of existence in a crackling hail of sparks. "Damn. Now I have to worry about her as well. This whole business is getting more interesting by the minute..."

















                     *SHATTERED HEARTS ON THE ROAD*

                            =CHAPTER THREE=

                             -VIEWPOINTS-

"Aw, c'mon Ryouga! A tree with a computer monitor stuck in it subjects
you to some silly questionnaire, then blasts you when it's done? Now that's just plain absurd. Things like that don't happen." Ukyou favored him with a wry smirk, a welcome hint of mirth entering her voice.

"Oh sure. And people in Nerima don't transform into the opposite gender or animals whenever it rains. A century old pervert doesn't rampage about at night stealing women's underwear, there isn't an eight-headed dragon sleeping at the bottom of a spring un
der a forest of giant animals, and you can't sometimes see two moons rolling across the night's sky if it's especially clear." Ryouga crossed his arms with a look of satisfaction.

He was answered by an extremely dubious look from Ukyou. "You can't,
Ryouga. At least, I've never seen two moons when I've looked up at the
night's sky."

"Really?" Ryouga blinked. "But I could have sworn..." Ryouga thought
back to a couple of extremely clear desert nights when, when he had looked up to admire the distant stars, he had seen an angry red moon traveling in it's plodding, incontrovertible course alongside the regular, looming, emerald green moon. *Wait. Emerald
 green moon?* Ryouga shook his head. *Naah... That part must have been just some odd trick of the light.*

Once, while traveling through some bizarre ruins, Ryouga could have sworn that he had seen the _earth_ looming on the horizon while he stood on the lip of the circular valley in which the ruined city had rested. *Now _that_ was a weird sight...*

Meanwhile, Ukyou had continued speaking. "Now, I'm not sure what to
make of that dragon in the forest part, but you've got a point with the rest of it. Some truly bizarre stuff has happened in the last year." Ukyou placed a finger to one side of her jaw in a look of contemplation. "Still, I can't recall any of it having a
nything to do with nosy computers imbedded in tree trunks."

"But that's not saying that it couldn't have happened that way, right?"
Ryouga pressed.

"I suppose not." Ukyou conceded. Then she narrowed her eyes and peered
at Ryouga. "But I still say that I've never seen more than one moon when
I've looked at the sky."

Ryouga sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Never mind. Forget I ever
mentioned it."

Ryouga stole a glance over at Kunou. The pontificationally inclined
kendoist in question still appeared to be completely unaware of them.
Indeed, he seemed to be absolutely oblivious to anything and everything
that was going on around him. This included the sour looks and disgusted
mutterings that his unwashed form elicited from the other passengers on the train. Most of the people around Kunou had been rather un-subtly
relocating themselves since the trip began.

"Looks like Kunou needs a bath." Ryouga remarked, turning back to
Ukyou. 

"You're one to talk, Mr. 'two months on the road.'" Ukyou quipped, clearly enjoying needling Ryouga. 

Ryouga snorted and turned away. "Hmph. It's not like I could help it. I
didn't have enough money or time to spare to go to a bath house. I wasn't even in Japan most of the time, as far as I can tell. He, however, has no excuse."

Ukyou just nodded and smiled. "Sure hon, whatever you say."

Ryouga gave up trying to justify himself to her, as it clearly wasn't doing any good. *Still, it's nice to see her smile.* He knew that Ukyou wasn't trying to be malicious in her ridicule. It helped her forget some of the cold emptiness that she was feeli
ng; for that, he took her jibes with good-natured humility. Feeding the small warmth in the bottom of Ukyou's soul seemed to somehow lighten his own burden, pushing back the cold emptiness in his own soul. Examining that warmth, and the amusement on Ukyou
's face, Ryouga decided to continue playing along; He scowled for effect and dusted his cloak off some, directing he gaze out the window towards the swiftly passing scenery. Ukyou bit back a giggle and looked out the window as well, seeming to decide that
 he had had enough, for now.

As the countryside passed in a hypnotic pattern of greens, browns, and
reds, bounded on the horizon by the infinite blue of the sky, Ryouga
allowed himself to relax a bit. He didn't often get to ride on trains. He couldn't usually afford the luxury; when he could, he invariably got lost on the way to the terminal from the cashier. There was something comforting about the idea of a train. To t
he eternally wandering Ryouga, the set path that a train traveled seemed to have a concrete certainty that the rest of his life lacked. No wandering off the path, no unannounced course changes; just a swift, soothing respite from the chaos of the world. 

But, like every small relief that he received, it was over all too soon. About an hour after the sun began it's slow, inevitable descent into darkness, the conductor announced over the comm that their final destination was near. People busied themselves w
ith the preparations to disembark; retrieving bags, donning coats and hats. Ryouga drew up the hood of his cloak and checked all the straps on his pack while Ukyou continued to discretely observe Kunou from behind the darkened lenses of her sunglasses.

Presently the train drew itself to a stop at Shinohara station. Kunou
disembarked hastily, followed at a short distance by Ukyou and Ryouga. At a slightly greater distance, Ryouga could feel the disquieting presence leave the train and resume pursuit. It fell into a seemingly random pattern of approach and retreat; random a
t least, until Ryouga determined that it was varying it's distance in relation to the availability of cover. When they walked through crowded areas it would come closer, only to fall back again as the chance of observation grew greater. 

*Damn it! Who the hell is following us?!* Ryouga cast a glance into an
approaching blind turn mirror, but sure enough the presence was being
careful enough to avoid his notice. He couldn't pick out any particular
person in the mirror from whom the feeling seemed to be emanating.

Already ill at ease, Ryouga became even more wary as he tried to ignore the presence by taking in his surroundings. There was something disturbingly familiar about this particular small town through which they walked. A foreboding feeling of deja vu settl
ed over Ryouga. There was something gravely important about this place, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

A passing jogger seemed to pale slightly as he adjusted his course to
circumnavigate the small group that he and Ukyou made. Actually, Ukyou
was again keeping him at around twice arm's length. There was something
about how people kept doing that, that tugged at Ryouga's memory.
Something about that jogger as well. Ryouga had seen him before
somewhere, and he was sure that the jogger had done that same thing
before. *But when...?* Suddenly, unpleasant memories flooded into
Ryouga's over stressed mind. He knew where he had seen this town and
that jogger before. He could remember when people had started avoiding
him as though he had some sort of plague. *No... It can't be. That was only a dream...*

"Psst. Hey! Earth to Ryouga!" Ukyou prodded Ryouga out of his reverie.
"Kunou just went into that inn down the street. C'mon."

He and Ukyou approached the inn and looked up at the sign above the gate. A feeling of dread settled over Ryouga as he read the sign aloud. "Doll Inn."

Ukyou nodded silently, also remembering. "What would compel them to
choose this, of all places, to spend their honeymoon?"

Ryouga shook his head, swallowing the bile that had suddenly risen in his throat. "I dunno...fate?"

Puzzled by his remark, Ukyou peered into the a shadows of Ryouga's hood,
trying to gauge the lost boy's expression. Though her vision couldn't
penetrate the veil of darkness, Ukyou could almost swear that she could feel the apprehension rolling off of her companion at that moment. She
shuddered involuntarily, though Ryouga seemed too disturbed to notice. 

"Maybe, or maybe not." She offered, thankful that her voice remained
steady. "Regardless, this is where he went. Lets check it out." Without
waiting for Ryouga to answer, Ukyou strode in through the gate and
towards the front hall. After a moment, Ryouga followed. 


-|-

The vengeful spirit stirred in it's resting place. Something had entered it's domain. Never before had if felt anything of such... presence as this which it felt now. It swirled uneasily in it's shell, it's prison.
This presence could mean many things; freedom, peace, damnation. The
stench of destiny hung heavy in the air on this day...

-|-

As the two young people walked down the hall, the desk clerk of the Doll
Inn heaved a sigh of relief. He had just recently received a particularly disturbing string of customers. The first had been an intense young man in samurai garb with a serious body odor problem. When he had asked the man if he needed assistance, he had b
een caught completely off guard by an avalanche of near-incomprehensible prose that apparently constituted the man's method of speech. After a minute or so of ranting, punctuated by several threatening motions with a bokken, the clerk was able to ascertai
n that the man was looking for a particular newlywed couple that had checked in a bit more than a week ago. Though the couple had requested privacy, the clerk didn't particularly fancy the notion of being skewered by a raving madman with a bokken, so he b
ooked a room for the man and informed him that the couple was out at the moment. Seemingly appeased, the man had stalked off towards his room. 

Next came an attractive young woman carrying an oddly shaped bundle.
She had walked up to the desk and asked politely if a certain couple of
newlyweds was staying at the inn. Feeling the need to at least partially
honor the couple's wishes, he was about to deny that they were there when a cloaked figure walked up behind the young woman. The clerk's words died on his lips as the air temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. He wasn't completely clear o
n what had happened next, but apparently he had told them what room the couple was staying in, and they had checked into a room just down the hall. Whenever he tried to think about what exactly had been said or done, the memory slid and slithered out of h
is grasp like the wind through his fingers.

He shook his head, resigning himself to the loss. Whatever it was that was going on, the less he knew, the better. He thanked the gods that he would probably be off duty before the couple returned. As it was, likely only the gods knew what was in store fo
r Saotome Ranma and Akane when they returned this evening. 

-|- 

Ukyou pondered what had just occurred as she walked down the hall,
leading Ryouga towards the room. Several things about the lost boy were
beginning to disturb her. The first thing that she had really noticed was how much stronger he had become since she had last seem him. When he had fired off his depression into the sky outside of the Ucchan, he had held onto the blast for a full ten secon
ds. Now, Ukyou would be the first to admit that she didn't know a lot about ki attacks, but she _could_ say that she had never seen either Ranma or Ryouga hold onto a pure ki blast for that long. Usually, the shishi-houkoudan or the moukou-takabisha techn
iques simply projected a sphere of focused ki at their target. Even the first stage of the perfect shishi-houkoudan only lasted about two seconds before it stopped building. The technique that Ryouga used at the restaurant had projected a solid beam of ki
 of frightening intensity for a full ten seconds. Ukyou doubted that even Herb could have stood against that. She didn't want to think about what would happen if Ryouga turned it against Ranma.

Then there was the fact that the "lost boy" didn't seem to be getting lost as much as he usually did. He actually _followed_ Kunou halfway to the train station, not losing the trail even when Kunou was no longer in sight. Not to mention the fact that he f
ound the exact car that Kunou was riding in, and he hadn't wandered off once since they left the restaurant. While convenient, this new aptitude was definitely not like him.

But even that didn't bother her as much as the last new thing that Ryouga seemed to have picked up on his most recent journey. That cloak of his bothered her. There was just something eerie about it. Part of it had to be how the hood completely concealed 
his face, even when they were in direct sunlight. Then there was the way it tended to swirl about in the wind, curling and streaming about his legs almost as if it were alive. Ukyou shoved aside the nagging voice in the back of her mind that kept telling 
her that there was no wind. There was something else about the cloak, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was almost... almost like a sort of aura that Ryouga seemed to project whenever he donned the hood of the cloak. But it wasn't ev
en that, exactly. It was... unsettling to be near him when the hood was drawn. When he passed, it was almost as though a cold wind were blowing along in his wake, piercing her flesh and caressing her soul in a chilling ephemeral embrace. 

It wasn't just her either. Everyone else that came near them seemed to sense it, seemed to feel the deathly cold hands of the wind reaching into the center of their being. The desk clerk in particular seemed to have been badly effected by the experience. 
He had been pleasant and responsive when she had entered the inn. He had been about to answer her question about Ranma and Akane when she had... felt... Ryouga come up behind her. The clerk had stopped dead, all the blood draining from his face and his ja
w hanging slack in mid utterance. Ryouga had turned to her and asked if Ranma and Akane were here. Before Ukyou had had the chance to answer, the clerk had reached into the desk and produced the guest book, his hands moving with almost zombie-like letharg
y as he pointed to a room number with the name "Saotome" written by it in Ranma's characteristic scrawl.

"Are they here now?" she remembered asking, trying to bring the clerk out of the trance-like state that he seemed to be in. He had simply shaken his head, not even bothering to shut his mouth which had been hanging half open since Ryouga had arrived. He d
idn't seem to be improving, so Ukyou had decided that perhaps it would be best if they moved on. She had signed them into an empty room a few doors down from Ranma and Akane, then handed the book back to the clerk and began leading Ryouga down the hall. S
he peered at her companion now, his face still hidden by the darkness that dwelled within, and wondered. What secrets did the shadows hide? Did she really wish to know?

Suddenly Ryouga stopped walking. He reached up and drew back the hood,
dispelling the hands of ice and scattering the shadows to the four winds. Again could she see the handsome, honest, be-fanged countenance of the lost boy. Ukyou began to relax again until she read Ryouga's expression, one of dread and worry. She followed 
his gaze a bit down the hall until she spied the object of his distress. On a small pedestal at the corner of the hall rested a porcelain doll clothed in a black, floral patterned silk kimono. The same pattern as the kimono that Akane had worn when they h
ad last visited here. The vengeful spirit doll gazed back at them in perfect, death-like serenity.


-|-|-


Ryouga forced down the rising dread as he stood outside the gate of the
inn. *It's just a coincidence. It doesn't mean anything. If it were like the dream, Akane would be here now.* Ryouga glanced back and forth
quickly, verifying that he was alone. Ukyou had already gone through the
gate to the inn. *She wouldn't be here either, if this were the dream. Neither would Kunou, for that matter. It has to be a coincidence.* Ryouga latched firmly onto that thought, driving off the panic and doubt as best he could. *What about the jogger...?
* Chimed the small voice in the back of his mind, but Ryouga refused to listen. Taking a deep breath, he strode over the threshold and down the stone path toward the main hall of the inn.

Ukyou was already talking to the desk clerk when he arrived. She stiffened noticeably as he approached; a mild reaction compared to that of the clerk. The man had gone white as a sheet, his jaw hanging slack as if he were about to say something. The pupil
s of his eyes had dilated until the irises were all but invisible; empty, dull grey rings like open portals into his soul. 

*I wonder what happened to him?* Thought Ryouga as he appraised the
catatonic man, again ignoring the incessant voice that was now telling him that _he_ had caused this. Ryouga concentrated, focusing his mind and killing that train of thought right there. *Better things to worry about right now...* The clerk certainly did
n't look like he would be much help. Perhaps Ukyou had already found out if Ranma and Akane were here or not. He stepped up beside Ukyou and turned to her.

"Are they here?" He asked, observing the peculiar expression of discomfort that seemed to be creeping into Ukyou's features. 

Ukyou opened her mouth, but before she answered the clerk backed away
from the desk a bit and began rummaging around under the counter. After a second he straightened, producing a thick, well worn, wood bound book.
As the clerk opened the tome, Ryouga realized that it was the guest book. The clerk flipped through the pages very slowly, almost as if his hands weren't working correctly. Or perhaps the deficiency was elsewhere, Ryouga mused as he peered into the clerk'
s blank eyes. Eventually, the clerk stopped leafing through the book and turned it to face him and Ukyou. He drug his finger left along the top of the page until it rested by a neatly written room number. Below the number was a short string of barely legi
ble characters which, after a moment, Ryouga made out to be the name "Saotome." He marveled at how Ranma could mangle his own name so badly; Ryouga had seen second graders with better hand writing.

Ukyou looked into the clerk's face and asked if they were here now,
carefully enunciating her words as if she were speaking to a small child. She was answered with a simple shake of the head, the clerk's eyes never moving in their sockets. After peering at the clerk for a couple more seconds, Ukyou seemed to come to a dec
ision. She took the book from the clerk's limp hands and grabbed a pen off of the top of the counter, proceeding to flip through the more recent pages of the guest book. Looking over her shoulder, Ryouga saw her finger rest for a moment on the number of a
 recently vacated room near the room where Ranma and Akane were staying. Ukyou then turned to today's page and signed in her name and the room number before handing the book back to the clerk. That
done, she nodded for Ryouga to follow and began walking down the hall.
Casting a final glance at the pitiful form of the clerk, still holding the open guest book that Ukyou had handed him, Ryouga complied.

As he walked, Ryouga examined his companion. Ukyou seemed lost in
thought at the moment, though she was still keeping him at arm's length.
That tendency was beginning to really bother Ryouga, but he saved that
question for later. He was about to ask Ukyou what was on her mind, when
a somewhat familiar feeling assailed his senses. It was almost like his sense of spatial awareness, the presence sense that signaled when someone was nearby, but that wasn't quite it. He was sure it was a presence, but in some indescribable way, it didn't
 _feel_ like any person he had ever sensed before. It was almost... almost as if the physical component wasn't there; the motion of the air as the person moved and breathed, the slight vibrations sent through the floor by the person shifting their weight.
 It wasn't like how doctor Tofu disguised his presence, erasing from the minds and senses of the observer any trace of his existence. There was _something_ there, and it was getting closer; or rather, it was standing still and they were getting closer. A 
few meters up, another corridor intersected on the right with the one that they were walking down. It was waiting in that corridor, he was
certain. 

Ryouga tensed, but kept walking.. He could usually tell if the presence had hostile intent, and he did not feel that now. Still, this was not exactly a normal feeling in the first place. He rolled his shoulders to re-situate his pack for ease of removal, 
his right thumb hooking into his belt, the nearest available weapon. Better to be prepared without actually appearing to be so. As they neared the corner, Ryouga subtly moved around Ukyou until he was walking on her right, standing between her and the int
ersection. As they reached the corner, Ryouga turned his head to search down the hall for the source of the sensation. At first, he saw no one from which it might have originated. Then his gaze caught on a small wooden pedestal at the far end of the hall.
 On that pedestal rested an antique porcelain doll; the namesake of the inn in fact. Clothed in a fine silk kimono, and holding a small fan slightly concealing her face, the vengeful spirit doll surveyed Ryouga impassively, her cold glass eyes revealing n
othing.

There. That was where it was coming from. Ryouga stopped and turned to
face down the hall towards the doll. He pulled back the hood of his cloak, his mind reeling in remembrance of his last encounter with the ill-tempered spirit that resided within. Ranma had failed to show it proper respect, and Akane had paid the price. Th
e spirit had used her body as it's instrument of vengeance, trapping Akane in the body of the doll. It had not been a pleasant experience by anyone's account, unless you counted Ranma's comments that the spirit possessing Akane's body was much sexier than
 Akane usually was. But that, like most of the thoughtless things that came out of Ranma's mouth, could be discounted without much consideration.

For a moment, Ryouga considered what his next course of action should
be. He definitely didn't want to be on the spirit's bad side, and he _had_ assisted Akane in foiling it's revenge the last time. He couldn't know whether the spirit held him any ill will, or even if it was aware that he had helped; he had been P-chan at t
he time. *Damn! Why can't this emotion sensing thing work when I want it to?!* Try as he might, though, Ukyou's emotions were the only ones that he could clearly sense at the moment. He could still feel Kunou and the twisted presence somewhere on the othe
r side of the inn, but he sensed nothing from the doll. Did that mean something? 

He couldn't feel all of those other people on the street either. Just Ukyou, Kunou, and... whoever it was that had followed them there. And all of them were feeling something, some particular emotion that dominated everything else. Perhaps the spirit wasn
't feeling any especially intense emotions at the moment. Considering how fanatical it had been about killing Ranma, that was probably a good sign. Still, Ryouga didn't want to take any chances. Facing the doll, Ryouga returned his hands to his sides and 
bent down into a low, formal bow. After a moment, Ukyou did as well. 

-|-

"Do you suppose that did us any good?"

Ryouga turned to face Ukyou, who was currently sorting through the
various complementary robes that the inn provided. "I don't know, but I
think it would be best to keep on it's good side as much as possible."
Ryouga dropped his pack in the corner and removed his cloak, placing it on top of the pack. "I don't really feel like being possessed any time soon."

Ukyou simply nodded, then began digging through her pack for something.
She paused, hands still in her pack, and looked up at Ryouga. A rather
amused expression crossed her face. "Actually, considering how you usually carry on around Ranma, I'm not sure it would make much difference whether you were possessed or not."

"Oh, _thanks_. I really needed that..." Ryouga snorted and leaned against the wall. "Well, they're not here now, so what are we supposed to do?" Ryouga ground out irritably.. 

Ukyou's hand whipped out, tossing something in Ryouga's face. Ryouga
was startled, but still managed to smoothly snatch it out of the air before it hit him.. Quickly examining it, he saw that it was one of the robes from the pile that the inn had left in their room. 

"Grab your bath stuff. We have some time, so we might as well enjoy the
outdoor baths. And you _really_ need it, if you want to be even barely
presentable when they get back." Ukyou stood, carrying a robe of her own, as well as a towel and a small bag of toiletries.

Ryouga sighed, then turned around and began sorting through his bag,
looking for his long-untouched bathing supplies. As he found them, an
unpleasant thought struck him. "Great. Now I'll probably get to see Kunou again..." Ryouga growled to himself and he finally located his shampoo and soap. 

Ukyou just smirked at the lost boy, wondering if he'd even be able to find his way to the outdoor baths from the washing area.

-|-

As it turned out, that wasn't so much of a problem as Ukyou had
anticipated. After washing his hair and thoroughly scrubbing down until he was sure that he had removed every last speck of dirt and grime, and noting in dismay that the marks on his face still hadn't come off, Ryouga had waited in the wash area until he 
saw someone else who was obviously also heading out towards the baths. Following the man, Ryouga soon found himself standing on the men's side of the outdoor baths. Carefully skirting wide of the cold spring, Ryouga lowered himself into the soothing hot w
ater of the bath. 

It didn't appear that he would have to worry about Kunou either. He could _feel_ that Ukyou was on the other side of the tall wooden wall that separated the men's and women's baths, but for some reason both Kunou and the other presence seemed to be giving
 the baths a wide berth. *Ah well, good riddance. Their loss, though.* Ryouga thought as he sank deeper into the water. 

For a while, Ryouga just let the hot water soak away his body's aches and pains, loosening his muscles and cleansing him of the transitory stresses of the world. It had been too long since he had simply been able to relax; to sit down and let the world pa
ss him by. Hazardous as it was, this inn did indeed had a very nice outdoor bath, as Ryouga was coming to appreciate. Still, though he let his mind wander, it eventually returned to their reasons for being here.

*Why did we come here?* That was one question that he had been avoiding since before they had gotten on the train; shoving it out of his mind whenever it arose, not feeling ready to face the implications of the
answers. *Ranma and Akane are here.* That was one of them. But why
would they want to come and see Saotome Ranma and Akane. At first, he
had almost been able to convince himself that he had only come to make
sure that they were alright, and to keep Kunou from causing any trouble. 

He couldn't completely convince himself that that was the only reason
though, however he tried. *I have to make sure... have to see for myself...* He was afraid to finish the thought, as though thinking it would make it so. With a start, he realized that with this strange ability he had picked up, he might be able to know, 
beyond a doubt, if it were so. That thought chilled him to the bone. He had long suspected that the feelings that Ranma and Akane expressed in public were far from what they really felt. As P-chan, he had comforted Akane on many a night when she would beg
rudge the insensitivity of Ranma's words and actions. Still, it hurt her; the way Ranma acted sometimes. And Ranma, despite his vocal protestations of indifference, _always_ came to Akane's rescue; always stood at her side when it really mattered.

But to _know_, beyond a doubt, that Ranma loved her, and that Akane...
that Akane... returned his love... It was too much to bear. Ryouga didn't know if he could face that. His mind turned to the tug of Ukyou's
depression upon his soul. He couldn't doubt, after traveling with her all this way, that those feelings were true. *I wonder how Ukyou is dealing with this...* She had actually been at the wedding; had actually watched and listened as Ranma and Akane had 
proclaimed their eternal love and devotion to each other. Ryouga doubted that he could have done that. To stand aside as the first love of his life gave herself to another, and his greatest rival at that.

But Ukyou had done it. She had even been one of Akane's bride's maids, if he understood correctly. Even in the state that he had found her in, Ryouga had to admire her strength of will. Ukyou had devoted her life to Saotome Ranma, in one form or another, 
since she was six years old. To have the pillar of her existence removed before her eyes like that... That Ukyou had survived it as well as she had was enough to inspire a type of respect that Ryouga accorded to few people.

His focus shifted to the swirling bundle of sensations that was Kunou. That one certainly didn't deserve such respect. Ryouga could admit that he had deluded and lied to himself on several occasions, in order not to see the painful truth presented to him;
 but the veil of madness that Kunou erected around himself was something else entirely. Kunou lived in a world of his own making, unable to face reality on it's own terms. Ryouga wondered how they had managed to keep him from interfering with the ceremony
. In fact, hadn't Ukyou said that neither the Kunous nor the Amazons, save Mousse, had attended the wedding? *I wonder how they managed to keep that entire lot out of the affair? That would certainly take some doing...*

The twisted presence intruded upon his senses, the sickeningly warped
emotions curdling his stomach and tainting the atmosphere of the baths.
*God damn it! Who the hell is that?!* The presence was still far off,
lingering in the vicinity of Kunou, but it was still close enough to pollute the air with it's madness. *Nothing good can come of that. Still, at least it seems to be sticking to Kunou.* A lot good that did him, being that Kunou showed no inclination towa
rds leaving the inn. Growling to himself, Ryouga stood and toweled himself dry before donning the robe that Ukyou had given him. "Damn. I need to clear my head..." He cast one more glance in the direction of Ukyou's depression. *If I get lost, I can alway
s follow that back here. I hope she leaves the women's baths before then, though...* He thought, as he began wandering down one of the paths leading away from the baths.

-|-|-

Leaning on the railing of the small balcony that opened out of their room, Ukyou sighed contentedly. So far, this trip had proven to be quite
uneventful. She had enjoyed a nice, long soak in the wonderful outdoor
bath of the inn. Signs of combat on the men's side of the baths had been
conspicuously absent, indicating that either Ryouga was taking care not to be noticed by Kunou, or one of them hadn't managed to find their way to the baths yet.

*I led him right to the men's wash room. If it's like the women's side, it only has two entrances and one leads to the baths. If he can't figure _that_ out, then I have no idea _what_ I'm going to do with him.* Ukyou had stood half an hour outside of the 
men's wash room, waiting for Ryouga to come out. Eventually, she had gotten tired of waiting. She had gone back to the room, bound her breasts, tied her hair, and put on a dark green kimono. After a few other slight appearance adjustments, a very bishoune
n looking young man had strode through the men's bathing area. Much to Ukyou's chagrin however, Ryouga was nowhere to be found.

*That idiot. Why couldn't he have just stayed put?* Ukyou thought irritably as she walked back into the room. *It'll probably be weeks before I see him again.* She stopped walking half way across the room as her eyes caught on Ryouga's dusty and travel wo
rn pack; or, more precisely, on the tattered and equally dusty cloak that was draped over it. Peering at it warily, Ukyou remembered all of the unusual changes that had occurred in Ryouga since she had last seen him. *Perhaps he won't get lost. He hasn't 
gotten lost once since he got back, and he _did_ lead us to Kunou.* Were it any other person, Ukyou would have dismissed this little fact without a thought. But this was Ryouga. His ability to become misdirected bordered on the supernatural. For it to hav
e simply cleared up like that; the idea was unthinkable. 

Tentatively, Ukyou crept towards Ryouga's pack. The sensation that she
had felt whenever Ryouga had donned the hood of the thing was not
present now, but Ukyou wasn't going to take any unnecessary chances.
When she reached her own pack Ukyou paused again, kneeling to retrieve
her combat spatula from it's resting place beside her things. After
unwrapping the large cloth that she had draped around it, Ukyou hefted the spatula in both hands and continued moving towards the corner in which Ryouga had dropped his belongings. When she was within range, she
carefully lifted the cloak from it's place with the flat of the spatula, still keeping it as far from her body as possible. Nothing; no movement, no strange sensations. She caught it on the corner of the spatula head and shook it for a few seconds. Still 
nothing.

Finally, taking a deep breath, Ukyou set the cloak down on the ground and slowly extended her hand towards it. An errant breeze sent a ripple through the fabric, causing Ukyou to jump back hastily. *Damn it. Forgot to close the balcony door.* Ukyou steppe
d forward again, a look of determination on her face. *One... two...* Ukyou's hand shot out and tagged the cloak. _Still_ nothing.

Ukyou examined her hand. It was unchanged, as far as she could tell.
Turning to the cloak, Ukyou knelt and, more evenly this time, reached for it. Ukyou let her hand rest upon the well worn fabric for a couple seconds before she carefully picked up the cloak and began to inspect it. It appeared to be nothing more than a he
avy wool travel cloak. It was badly worn and simple, but appeared to be well made. Hand made probably, Ukyou guessed as she examined the stitching around the edges. Knowing Ryouga, he probably bought the wool and sewed it together himself while he was tra
veling. 

Ryouga seemed a lot better than Ranma about that sort of thing. Constantly being on the move had taught him to make and repair his own clothing, cook, and clean up after himself. To Ranma, many of these things were simply too feminine for him to be bother
ed with, although he _was_ an excellent cook. For Ryouga, they were the simple necessities of surviving on his own. 

More than surviving, Ukyou thought. As far as she could tell, Ryouga had
no steady source of income. Yet still, every time he would return from one of his journeys, he would have some sort of souvenir or gift to give to Akane. The money for those had to come from somewhere. Ukyou suspected that Ryouga probably sometimes sold c
lothing or handicrafts to people that he met on his travels. Still, judging by the things that Ryouga usually brought, exotic foods or interesting trinkets, he probably didn't save much for himself.

Ukyou draped the cloak back over Ryouga's pack and returned to the
balcony. Standing in the warm breeze and watching the setting sun, Ukyou
thought back to a few times when Ryouga had arrived at her doorstep
before finding the Tendou dojo. In discussions of courtship strategy over free okonomiaki, Ukyou had also found out that Ryouga was a rather
hopeless romantic. He would often have poems that he intended to give to
Akane with the various gifts that he brought. Some of them were really
quite good, though it was apparent that none of them ever actually reached Akane. 

That was one thing that she could never quite understand about Ryouga.
Whenever Akane wasn't around, Ryouga's drive and confidence was
unwavering. The certainty and honesty of Ryouga's emotions was one of his more endearing traits. But try and get him to admit his feelings to Akane, and Ryouga would fall all to pieces. Maybe it was that same certainty of his emotions that was at fault. R
youga _knew_ that he wouldn't be able to bear rejection, so any uncertainty of feelings on Akane's part probably scared him to death. 

*Why couldn't she have fallen for him...?* Ukyou stopped that line of
thought right there. Could-haves and would-haves didn't do her any good;
she couldn't change the past, and she would be damned if she was going to live in it. She had enough to worry about in the present. Right now she had to worry about what they were going to do when Ranma and Akane got back. 

Ukyou couldn't quite describe why she had wanted to come here. Part of it was to make sure that Kunou didn't endanger Ranma and Akane on their
honeymoon, but that was only a small part of it. There was more to it,
though Ukyou was ashamed to admit that the most likely reason was so that she could see Ranma again. She... needed this. Ukyou couldn't live in the past, but she couldn't let go either. She needed to see him once more; to see that he was happy and well, e
njoying his new life with Akane. With his wife. 

But they weren't here now, and the anticipation was starting to undo all of the good that her soak in the baths had done. *I guess I have a little more time to relax. They will come when they come, I suppose...* Ukyou thought, as she re-entered the room a
nd slid shut the door to the balcony, cutting off the warm summer breeze and the light of the setting sun. *Perhaps a walk will do me some good. I might even find Ryouga before he get's himself _completely_ lost...* With that thought in mind, Ukyou shut t
he door of their room and proceeded down the hall towards the entrance, heedless of the currents of fate flowing around her as the cloak, now forgotten, began to ripple in the rising wind. 

-|-

"Baka!" <<thwak>>

Ukyou stopped dead in her tracks, turning all of her attention towards the direction from which the cry of indignation had originated. That voice had definitely sounded familiar, and Ukyou could almost swear that she could recognize the sound of a hand hi
tting the back of Ranma's head. *That's them. It has to be.*

Slowly, being careful not to make too much noise, Ukyou crouched down
and started to press through the bushes and foliage along the left side of the path she had been walking along. As she neared the clearing on the other side, she could begin to make out the low tones of Ranma's voice. 

"ouch... Sorry Akane, force of habit. Umm... if you're _really_ serious
about cooking dinner tonight, uh... How about if I _help_ you cook it." 

"Hmph. Are you suggesting that I can't handle cooking _one meal_ for my
husband. We can't order out all the time, you know." Akane's voice was still irate, but had seemed to soften slightly after Ranma's sheepish apology. 

Ukyou crept closer, until she was crouching just behind a small boulder, a bit to the side of the path that Ranma and Akane were standing on. Peering carefully over the top of the stone, Ukyou saw Ranma, clothed in a blue silk shirt and loose, black cloth
 pants, rubbing the back of his head, a slightly harried look on his face. Standing before him, in a cheery yellow sun dress, was Akane. The look on Akane's face was something between irritation and exasperation, and it was clear that she hadn't forgiven 
him quite yet. 

"NO, no!" Ranma replied hastily, waving his free hand in front of his face. "It's just that... well, it's our honeymoon. This is probably the only chance we're going to get to relax. You really shouldn't have to do that sort of work now."

For a moment, Akane actually appeared to consider Ranma's words before
renewing her efforts. "But I _want_ to do this. I... I know that I'm not very good at it, but can't I at least _try_ to make something nice for you."

Ukyou marveled at Ranma's new found self control. He was certainly
getting better about knowing when to keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately,
at the moment Ranma seemed to be having trouble thinking of _anything_
to say. Split between denying Akane and facing her wrath, or agreeing with her and facing her cooking, Ranma was spending a dangerously long time just looking dumbly at Akane, his mouth clenched in what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile. Just
 as Akane was about to deliver the final blow, one way or another, Ranma's salvation arrived in the most unlikely form imaginable.

"SAAAOOTOOMEEE RAANMAA!!!! TURN AND FACE THINE END!!!!"

Ukyou blinked and turned to face down the path. She was met by the sight
of Kunou Tatewaki, screaming in a full battle rage with his bokken raised high above his head, storming down the path towards them.

In the mean time, Akane was turning a rather ugly shade of red, her fists clenched in white-knuckled fury. Ranma was just looking down at the ground, shaking his head and muttering ruefully "why him? why did it have to be him...?" under his breath. 

Kunou covered the remaining distance swiftly, drawing himself up just
short of the unfortunate couple. He turned to face Ranma, his face a visage of pure rage and determination.

"Turn unkempt jackal!  Thy smeared, unworthy face shall see the most Brave Light of Justice!   I have found thee out, foul sorcerer 
Saotome, and now thy reckoning is nigh!  The poison of thy coward's 
feet shall blight no more the Sun blessed regions of the living!  Behold, in righteous wrath, Kunou Tatewaki, Full Mighty Blue Thunder of 
Furinkan High.  And now, the gentle institution of Marriage itself shall 
lift her head, up from the filthy mire where you have pressed her face 
and the face of Tendou Akane!  Reclaim thy Hope, beautiful and beloved!  
This unholy soul now takes his final breaths!  Soon every pure and 
innocent slave who once had suffered the turgid indignities of Saotome 
Ranma's putrid touch shall burst free into new and passionate glory! 
Tendou Akane!  After today, only the tears of Joy shall wet thy cheeks!  
Now in this hour Kunou Tatewaki rescues thee!  Saotome's many 
wrongs upon you now shall be avenged!  And the horrid enchantment 
that was placed upon the house of Kunou shall be washed out with 
the spilling of his FINAL BLOOD!  SAOTOME RANMA! NOW STRIKES KUNOU, WITH THE TERRIBLE VENGEANCE OF THE HEAVENS IN HIS WAKE!!!" With that, Kunou launched himself at the spot in which Ranma had been standing, the downward strike of his bokken cracking the s
tones of the path and echoing through the night air like a peal of thunder, shattering the peace once again.

Ranma, from his new position atop the rock that Ukyou was hiding behind,
glared malevolently down at Kunou, an ugly smile spreading across his
face. "I don't know how you found us, but if you thought you could bother my wife and I on our honeymoon, running off at the mouth and swinging that stupid wooden sword of yours around like you always do, and still be able to leave under your own power af
terwards, you thought wrong." Ranma cracked his knuckles deliberately, glancing momentarily over at Akane's infuriated form before launching himself at the advancing kendoist.

-|-|-

Ryouga knocked the tree out of the way and pressed onward, mindless of
the damage that he was causing the wilderness around him. Seconds ago, he had heard Kunou shout twice, followed by  what had sounded like a
gunshot. *Damn it, it can't be that much farther now. Hold on Akane.*
Ryouga thought as he plowed his way towards the commotion. He knew
that he was going the right direction, for the echoes of Ukyou's depression and Kunou's rage were steadily becoming more distinct. The warped presence was steadily becoming more evident as well, but Ryouga tried to ignore that one as much as he could. No 
doubt now that it had come seeking the same thing that they had. If all of them were in the same place at the same time, Ranma and Akane had to be there as well. Urgency drove all questions of what-to-do or what-to-say from Ryouga's mind as the rush of hi
s blood roared in his ears, drowning out the howl of the wind as he flew onward, his course more straight and true than that of any arrow.

-|-|-

Akane watched in wonder as the fight raged onward. It was taking much
longer than she had originally expected it to. Kunou fought with the fervor and tenacity of a man possessed. Though Ranma wasn't holding back, as far as she could tell, his blows only seemed to enrage Kunou further. Twice now had the kendoist had been kno
cked down, so far. Each time he had sprung to his feet again immediately, roaring epithets and charging again into the fray. He hadn't yet landed a solid blow on Ranma, but it was still worrying. 

As she watched the fight, an object dropped down toward Akane from the
tree above her. Instinctively, she caught it. Akane looked down into the
paper funnel in her hands. *A bouquet of black roses? Wait...* Suddenly, a cloud of fine powder erupted from the flowers into Akane's face. Despite herself, Akane inhaled sharply in surprise. The bouquet fell the ground, Akane's hands already going numb. 
*Paralysis powder. Kodachi.* Akane frantically tried to wave at Ranma to get his attention, but her arms wouldn't obey her. A sharp whistling sound was all the warning she had before something wrapped itself tightly around her neck. The ribbon tightened t
o strangling constriction as it pulled taut and lifted her roughly off of the ground. 

Within a second Akane found herself dangling by her neck several meters
above the ground, the ribbon cutting into her throat viciously. The ribbon ran over a branch above her head like a gallows, and attached to the other end of the ribbon, standing on a thick branch and grinning wildly, was Kunou Kodachi. Akane stared at her
 in horror, unable to do more than wriggle painfully as her lungs and throat began to burn. Seeing this, Kodachi's grin widened yet further. Tying the ribbon to the branch, she advanced on her helpless captive, taking Akane's chin in her hand and turning 
it until Akane was staring directly into her eyes. 

"Why, hello my wicked, wicked child. Did you really think for a single
second that you could steal my dear Ranma-sama? That I would not hunt
you down and retrieve what is rightfully mine? Foolish, foolish girl." As Kodachi leaned closer, Akane recoiled internally from the madness in the gymnast's eyes. "Now you shall have to be punished for your effrontery. It is such a pity that you will not 
be able to witness the joyous moment when I liberate my beloved Ranma-sama from whatever horrid enchantments that you and the red witch have placed upon him, but rest assured that she will tell you all about it when she joins you."

Akane just barely caught the end of Kodachi's tirade, as she was beginning to loose consciousness. The burning in her chest had intensified until it was almost unbearable, and her vision was starting to go gray. But Akane could do nothing, her body still 
numbed from the paralysis powder in the roses. *Ranma! Help me! She's going to kill me! Ranma! Kunou! Someone; Anyone, HELP MEE!!* Akane's train of thought was cut off abruptly as a small object whizzed above her head and imbedded itself in the trunk of t
he tree. Then she was falling. Before she hit the ground, strong arms caught her and set her gently on the ground. She was barely aware of the hands that quickly unwrapped the ribbon from around her neck and checked her pulse. Struggling to retain lucidit
y, Akane latched onto the last thing that she had seen clearly: a small metal spatula imbedded in the trunk of the tree and Kodachi's expression of surprise and rage.

-|-

The fight was not going quite as well as he had expected it to. Kunou, while normally possessed of a resilience far above average, should still have been out for the count long ago. Ranma knew that he hadn't increased his resistance to damage, for painful
 looking bruises now decorated the majority of the kendoist's body. That meant that he was probably running on adrenaline.

*What on earth could have possibly made Kunou this mad? It _can't_ be
just that Akane and I got married.* Ranma quickly ran through his recent
memories of Kunou, and found that he had neither seen nor heard from
either of the Kunou siblings since several days before the wedding. As
Kunou brought his bokken down again, in another deadly arc that missed
Ranma by only centimeters to the right side, Ranma got close enough to
discover that, in addition to looking like he had just gotten run over by a herd of bison, Kunou smelled like it as well. Ranma kicked him hard in the sternum, knocking the Kendoist off the path and into the trees. *Maybe we should have asked Nabiki exact
ly how she arranged for them to be absent from the wedding.*

A feminine cry of indignation behind him caused Ranma to divert some of
his attention away from Kunou, as he turned his head and body slightly to the side so he could look back. What he saw sent a dagger of ice through his heart, almost stopping it dead. Akane, lying on the ground, unmoving. A length of ribbon lay a few feet 
away from her body, and he could make out a bit of blood seeping from the angry red band that encircled Akane's neck. *A ribbon. Kodachi. No!* "NO! AKANE!!!"

"AN OPENING!" Kunou cried as he launched a vicious, upward diagonal
slash across Ranma's exposed side. Ranma, who hadn't realized that Kunou
had recovered and was otherwise occupied at the moment, failed to defend
himself from Kunou's assault. The strike, propelled by the adrenaline and rage of a madman, opened a ragged gash along Ranma's side and spun the stunned martial artist completely around before he fell on his back, roaring in pain and clutching the bleedin
g wound. Unrelenting and far beyond reason at this point, Kunou raised his bokken in preparation for the final blow. 

-|-

"NO! AKANE!!!"

*That was Ranma's voice! Something's happened to Akane!* Thought
Ryouga as he smashed through the last of the trees separating him from the path that he sensed Kunou was on. When Ukyou and the other presence
had broken off a second ago, he had been tempted to follow them. But
Ranma's cry had emanated from just ahead, which meant that he was still
with Kunou. Perhaps Akane had been kidnapped, and Ukyou was in
pursuit. Ryouga was about to change course when a roar of anguish pierced the air, again coming from just ahead. Quickly deciding that he could change course after he reached the path and found out what was going on, Ryouga broke through the foliage and l
eapt to the top of a nearby rock.

What he saw was a scene out of his darkest dreams and nightmares.
Ranma, lying prone and clutching his bleeding side, Kunou standing over
him with his bokken raised high above his head. Akane's still form lying off to the other side of the path, a wet red line traced around her throat. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Ryouga looked on, his entire world turning to ash before his eyes. Then 
something unexpected entered the silent drama that was playing itself out before him. Ryouga _felt_ something from Akane. *She's alive! Thank the gods, she's alive!* This new feeling was a chaotic jumble of sensations, some familiar and some not. The most
 unusual thing about it was that part of it seemed to be coming from somewhere else. Not just the... otherness... that all the emotions that Ryouga got from other people bore, but it was similar. It was like an echo of an echo, as though Akane's emotions 
were resonating with someone else's.

As Ryouga glanced around the scene, his eyes locked onto Ranma's
bleeding form. The resonance that he got from Akane resolved itself into
sharp focus as he turned his attention to the prone martial artist. It was joined by a roaring tempest of emotion that momentarily threatened to overwhelm Ryouga's senses, but he could immediately recognize the same feeling of resonance in part of the sto
rm that raged in Ranma's soul. It was the same part that he could discern in Akane, and the two echoes seemed to merge with each other until it was difficult to tell them apart. 

As Ryouga felt the sense of warmth, of completion that this link seemed to provide, realization of what this feeling must be crashed in on his
consciousness. *It's love...* Time, which till now had seemed to have
stopped dead in it's tracks, slowly began to flow around Ryouga again, as if preparing to wash away the broken pieces of his heart as they fell. Ryouga watched in personal and shared anguish as the wooden sword began it's terminal descent towards Ranma's 
head. As he did so, the pain began to fuel a strange resolve that sprang up in the remains of his shattered soul. *This must not happen...* Unconsciously, Ryouga began to raise his hands as the blade fell. *I can't let him destroy this...* His
outstretched palms pointed at the swordsman, a nimbus of white light began to form between his hands. *Have to stop it...* Halfway through the swing, the light in Ryouga's hands resolved into a tiny, perfect sphere of blinding luminescence. *Now...*


"SHISHI-HOUKOUDAN!!!" 


Ryouga's roar reverberated louder than should have been possible, shaking the trees around the path and echoing through the bones of whomever heard it. Kunou, the immovable wall of his single-minded focus blasted to dust by the onslaught, has just enough 
time to glance over at the glare masked form behind him, before the world went white. 

-|-

As Ryouga yelled, the sphere of white light flew from his hands towards
Kunou. Once it had gotten about a foot away from Ryouga's palms, it
expanded into a two meter wide, vertical ring of... It could really be called light anymore, as one couldn't quite _see_ it. Nevertheless, one could tell that it was still there, and still flying rapidly towards the swordsman. When it reached him, it stop
ped for a moment, seemed to begin rotating around a vertical axis centered around Kunou. From the position where it started to where the ring was currently, a sphere of pure whiteness began forming. This too couldn't really be called light, as no light ex
isting in this universe was ever that pure a shade of white. As the edges of the whiteness met each other and the sphere was completed, suddenly the whiteness exploded outward in a blinding wash of pure force.

Ranma's body was driven along the ground for about three meters,
displacing the stones of the path and digging a bloody furrow in the
earth. Where the sphere of whiteness had stood was less than nothing. A
gaping void, an basic absence of existence blacker than any black hole and emptier than deepest space began to pull at the fabric of reality around it, twisting and warping the space around where the edge of the sphere had been, until a corona of sucking 
non-existence began to expand outward, drawing all of reality towards it's embrace and devouring everything that came within range. The stones along the path, as well as various small plants and bits of the earth itself began to gravitate towards the void
.

Seeing Akane's limp form being dragged towards the monstrosity, Ryouga
leapt... around... the space destroying void and held her body close to his. Strangely, the pull of nothingness didn't seem to be affecting him at all. As he looked down to examine Akane's injuries, Ryouga felt a terrible tearing sensation grip his soul. 
Nothing he had ever felt, nothing he had experience before could have compared with the searing pain that lanced through his being. It was as though ragged and twisted claws of darkness were ripping his soul in half. He collapsed to his knees, cradling Ak
ane's body and trying to block out the tide of pure agony that coursed through him. It was only when his efforts seemed to be succeeding that he realized that the feeling wasn't coming from within himself. 

Fighting through the torture, Ryouga peered into Akane's eyes. Reflected
there was one hundred fold the loss and anguish that Ryouga had felt. He
followed her paralyzed gaze towards the path: the corona of advancing
nothingness had expanded past the point where Ranma had been lying, and
suddenly Ryouga realized that he couldn't feel him anymore either. Unable to do anything else, Ryouga gripped Akane's body more tightly and turned his body to shield her from airborne debris. *Akane... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...*