This is meant as a continuation of my earlier works: My Promise, Acting,
One Day, and Scars.  The Ninja will take place before, during, and after
One Day and will go right through Scars and after.  Got all that?
None of these characters belong to me, with one exception.  As it stands,
this fic will take elements from: Ranma 1/2, Eric Van Lustbader's "Nicholas
Linnear" books, and will touch on information from the G.I. Joe comics.
*Warning* There is the possibility that some lemony-limeny stuff may work
it's way into here, but not much.
At least a passing knowledge of my earlier stories is suggested for maximum
understanding.

The Ninja

        "WAACHOO!"
        Tatewaki Kuno turned the corner of the street on his way to school,
and let off another violent sneeze.  He'd missed the first half of the day
to ward off a little cold; actually, according to his sister, the cold
wasn't so little.  He had finally levered himself out of bed and started on
the way to school.  He reasoned that he had little time to waste, as
graduation was fast approching.
        He was recovering from the explosion when he was in mid-turn, and
his head was down and he was wasn't looking ahead.  Dumb mistake.  The
other person was in a big hurry and ran around the corner.  At the same
time.  They slammed right into each other.  Kuno went reeling back,
windmilled his arms in a futile hope of balance, failed miserably, fell and
cracked the back of his head on the concrete; the other person had too much
momentum and fell on top of him.  The result was a tangle of arms, legs,
and violent protests.
        "Why doth thou not observe thine destination!?" Kuno asked crossly,
bright spots dancing before his eyes.  "I should punish thee for ruffling
mine royal and regal clothes!"  He entertained a few dark thoughts of
revenge as he continued yelling at the other person.
        "I am the Great Tati-."  He was finally interuppted in mid-rant by
the other person.
        "You don't have to shout, Kuno-baby.  I'm right here," a female
voice said, muffled slightly from his body.  At this, Kuno blinked the
stars away, sat up, and got his first good look at his attacker.
        "Oh.  'Tis you, Nabiki Tendo.  Had I known, I would't have yelled
so hard.  What hath possessed thee to leave school at this hour?  'Tis only
the half-way point of the day."
        "It's called lunchour, Kuno," Nabiki said a little impatiantly.
"And I'm leaving to get information about that body they found," Nabiki
said as she got to her feet.  Kuno stayed on the ground, looking up at her.
She moved so she stood above him, blocking out the sun, and casting her
shadow on his face.  Kuno closed his eyes, then opened them after a few
minutes.
        "You mean they have found my handiwork?" he asked eagerly.
        "Huh?"
        "They must have found the body of that accursed Saotome!  Now all
shall know the greatness of I, Tatiwaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High, have finally freed the hands of Akane Tendo and the Pig-tailed
Goddess!" he said, laughing madly, eyes glinting.  Nabiki, who'd seen Ranma
that morning, only rolled her eyes before she stepped closer to him and
raised her foot to kick some sense into the poet.
        Kuno looked up and then quickly rolled his head, averting his eyes.
Lifting an arm, he said: "Nabiki, move three steps thataway," rather
quickly, pointing away from him.  She frowned as something started to
tickle the back of her mind.
        "Why?"
        "Look at what you're wearing," he said, and she did.
        "It's only my school uniform.  What's wrong with it?" she asked
after a moment of trying to figure out what he was getting at.
        "And what makes up thine uniform?" A touch of exasperation coloured
his voice.
        "Only a blouse, skirt, an..." her voice trailed off as she realized
what he meant.  A smear of red slowly made it's way across her face as she
stepped in the indicated direction.
        "I thank thee, Nabiki Tendo.  Now then, you said something about a
body that wasn't the Sorcerer Saotome's?"
        "Yes," she said after a few moments spent trying to regain her
cool.  "It was found in the ocean near where those Americans live.  Kuno?
What's wrong?  Your face is all twisty."
        "'Tis nothing for you to be concerned with.  Take me there," he
said after a moment, but his voice had changed from the manaical edge it
usually had to one that was oddly calm, self-assured.  Cold.
        "But, Kuno-baby, you'll miss school," Nabiki said with a glint in
her eye.  'Then you'll have to pay me to get the notes,' she thought with
images of money dancing around in her head.
        "Take me there!" Kuno yelled at her.  The images within her head
vanashed as she looked at him, startled.  Never before had she heard him so
intent on anything.  "Now!" he snapped when she didn't do anything.
'What's his problem?' she thought.  He looked at her, and, though impatient
to get on the move, couldn't stop himself from taking in every part of her
body.  The last few years of high school had been good to her, physically.
She'd grown a few more inches, and filled out a little more; but not much.
She'd kept her hair in the same style as always, he could never remember
her having different hair.
        "Are you sure, Kuno?  With exams only a few months away?"  In
response, he only lifted his head to look at her eyes, not her body.  That
look told her volumes of information about how serious he was about this.
'Odd.  I wonder what's caused this change in his behavior?' she asked
herself, and then made a mental note to check around about that at school.
She tried to close in on that nagging piece of information that was still
hovering in the back of her mind.
        Kuno stopped staring in her eyes and went back to her body.  Now,
normally he wasn't one to stare, but this was special case.  He'd known
Nabiki for years, since elementary school, and she'd never shown signs that
she'd be this pretty.
        "Ohhh, Kuno-baby," she called out.  "Are you coming?"  He'd been so
intent on staring that he'd missed her turning around and leaving.  He
jogged to catch up.  "And, by the way, must you stare at me?"  His reply
gave her heart a little flutter.
        "Why not?  No one else is," he said, matter-of-factly.  She cast a
sideways glance at that comment, but only for a moment, then grabbed him by
the wrist and took off again, dragging Kuno behind her.  All thoughts of
Nabiki's apperent beauty fled his mind as it tried to comprehend what was
going on.  'I only hope it's not as bad as I fear,' he thought, sending a
silent prayer to anyone who was listing.
        Had anyone from Furinkan High seen them, they would've thought that
it was Akane dragging Ranma to school.  Even though he'd lived there for
two years, he still had the tendancy to sleep in.  "Preferably until noon,"
was what he usually said on the subject.  And so, more often than naught,
Akane had to drag him to school.
        But Nabiki dragging Kuno somewhere, dragging _anyone_ anywhere,
would have been news.  Nabiki had refuted every boy that tried to date her,
the only excpetions being when it suited her purposes or, on the extremely
rare occasion, they offered her large sums of money.  In those cases, she
would take their money, make a cursory date, just a movie or something, and
then give them the cold shoulder.  It had been several years since her last
date, and she was in no mood try and rectify that situation as exams were
looming in her direct future.
        Kuno finally started to run, and paced Nabiki.
        "Why the rush, Nabiki Tendo?"
        "So we can get there before anyone else can and steal all the
saleable information for themselves."  'As good an answer as any', Kuno
figured, and then he opened his mouth to add something, but changed his
mind.  The silence that grew between them lasted as they ran along a dozen
streets and back roads to cut down on their travel time.  It was good
half-hour, though it seemed much longer to Kuno, who was dreading the
worst, until they rounded one last corner, and found themselves on a large
beach.
        It was long, but not that wide, only a dozen meters or so, with
ocean on one side, and a huge cliff on the other.  In the distance, they
could make out several dark specks against the dirty brown of the beach.  A
cluster of the specks were crouching on the ground, examining something.
        The closer they ran up to the scene, the more Kuno's heart pounded
in his chest.  He hoped that he was wrong and that it was just his
imagination playing tricks on him, but somewhere in the back of his mind,
he knew he was simply fooling himself.  They ran right up to the police
line; they'd closed the area from most people.  Kuno saw the body first,
being lifted onto a stretcher to be put into the ambulance.  He started to
walk toward it when a burly uniformed cop stopped him.
        "Sorry, no one is allowed into the crime scene," he said.
        "Let me through," Kuno said, his jaw starting to tighten.  Nabiki
looked between the two for a moment, before she tried to intervene.
        "Now, look.  I'm sure we can come to some sort of agre-"
        "Let me through," Kuno repeated, cutting Nabiki off.
        "As I said before, no one is allowed into the scene," the cop said.
He didn't see Kuno's fist lash at at his temple, and it caught him off
guard.  The big man fell back onto the sand and groaned.  Kuno, not wasting
any time, stepped over him and stalked over to the paramedics.  Nabiki just
stared at his back for a moment before following him.
        With each step Kuno took towards the dead man, the more his heart
pounded.  By the time he got to the white van, he was almost certain of who
it was they were attending.
        Just as he got close enough to see the face of the dead man, a hand
put itself on his shoulder and roughly spun him around.
        "This a secured area, no civilians are allowed here," the woman
said.  Looking at her, Kuno knew that she would pose no problem.  She
looked no older than Nabiki, maybe two or three years older.  About the
same height as Nabiki.
        "Get out of my way," Kuno threatened through clenched teeth.
        "No.  This a crime scene.  No unauthorized personnel allowed," she
answered, not budging an inch.
        "Get out of my way, or else," Kuno said, getting angrier by the minute.
        "Or else what?" she taunted.  Then the cop he attacked earler
started to stirr, groaning loudly.  She looked over at him, taking her eyes
off Kuno for a moment.  And in that moment, he was gone; ran up to the
body, and ripped open the bag.
        What he saw made him grip the metal bar so hard that his knuckles
turned white.  Nabiki, seeing his reaction, sneaked past the female cop and
walked up to him.
        "You know him?" she asked.
        "A family friend," he answered.
        "I'm sorry," she said after a few moments digesting the
information.  Then the cop came up.
        "I'll have to talk to you about this, then," she said.
        "Not right now," Kuno said.
        "Then I'll have to come by later and talk then," she said.  Kuno
gave his address and then turned around and left.
        When Kodachi heard the news, she fell to the floor and wept.  Kuno
held her, also crying.  The two siblings held each other for a few hours.
Then Kodachi sat up and asked her brother:
        "How do you think Uncle will react to this?"
        "I don't know.  I do know that I don't want to be anywhere near him
when he does find out," and Kodachi laughed a little at that.
        "True.  But I will miss Barry."
        "So will I.  But, I do have some good news: Ranma and Akane have
agreed to marry after they graduate."
        "Good news!  That's great news!" Kodachi said after swiping a hand
across her face.  Kuno got up and picked up the phone and dialed a number.
        "Uncle?" he said when the other end was picked up.  "Barry... oh,
you know?  I..." he trailed off, grief starting to take over again.  After
spending a few more minutes talking, he hung up.  He started looking
himself over before going to get one of the blades hanging on the far wall
in the living room.
        "What are you doing?" Kodachi demanded.
        "Uncle wants to give his friend a proper funeral," Kuno answered.
Nodding, Kodachi went to the wall and picked out a smaller blade and put it
into her hand back.  Kuno's long Katana went into a golf case.
        Then, together, brother and sister walked out of the house,
preparing themselves to give a friend his final remeberances.

end

Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca