Wow.

This is the only thing I have to say about the flood of response, both 
positive and negative, Chapter 11 generated. I'll tell you, if you disliked 
Chapter 11, you're *really* gonna hate Chapter 12.

Take the title however you care to. I think its appropriate all the ways I 
can think of...

More notes at the end.

Ch 12 : Tears

	"I know it hurts," Kasumi soothed. Sitting on Akane's bed,
she held the poor girl in her arms. Akane was sobbing
uncontrollably and kept mumbling about Ranma. "He'll come back
once he's had a chance to calm down," she stated.
	
	"H-h-e's n-n-not co-ming ba-a-ack!" Akane cried.

	"Of course he is, Akane!" Kasumi stated cheerfully, trying
to break her sister out of her overwhelming depression.

	"H-h-e s-said h-e-e never wanted to look at me-e-e agai-i-i-
n-n!" Akane wailed in grief.

	Kasumi tightened her embrace. "Shh... Ranma loves you,
Akane. He just doesn't know how to deal with what's going on. *I*
barely know how to deal with what's going on, so I know that Ranma
is having a very difficult time right now."

	"O-h-o-h-oooooooo n-n-n-n-ooooo" Akane sobbed. "I don't want
it any more! Take it back! Take it back!" she screamed.

	Kasumi clenched her eyes, doing her best to keep from
breaking into tears herself. She knew that what they had taken was
a one-way affair. Now Akane was paying the price for her new
abilities.

	"Shh... It will be okay, Akane..." Kasumi cooed. She began
to rock her sister slightly. *Oh, Mother, I wish you were here...*

	Gently swaying back and forth, Kasumi almost missed the
twitch in between Akane's sobbing shudders.

	Her wail suddenly abated, however, Akane stared up into her
sister's face with the most horrible expression Kasumi had ever
seen on any face before in her life.

	"Akane?" she asked quietly, the anxiety rising in her own
voice.

	Akane shuddered once... and began to scream.

	"GGGGGGYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...."

* * *

	Ukyou had never seen Ranma cry before. Not when he burned
his hands on her spatula-ring, or even when he lost his strength
to Happousai's moxibustion attack. Not even when he was six, and
gouged his leg open on the edge of a rail-road track they had been
playing on.
	
	Even though the boy had gritted his teeth with the pain of
the tetanus shot, Ukyou had never thought that it was anything
more for him than just another hurt to be endured.

	It was understandable then, that she was almost to the point
of tearing her hair out in frustration. Ranma was bawling like a
baby, and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. After Ranma had
dragged herself into Ucchan's, she curled up into a fetal ball,
and began to wail.

	Not knowing what else to do, Ukyou dragged the girl up the
stairs and into her bathroom. Biting her lip, she stripped Ranma
completely naked, and used her cold shower nozzle to hose the
dirt, grime and disgusting black goo off the martial artist.
	
	She patted the girl dry with a towel, and, not wanting to
offend Ranma's 'Manly' sensibilities, forwent her old satin night-
gown for a ratty men's bathrobe she used at one point.

	Ranma barely noticed any of her gentle ministrations. Even
if she wasn't crying, she just lay there, apparently numb to the
outside world except for an occasional pained groan.

	She just let Ranma sit on the floor outside the bathroom,
and collected the girl's dirty, stinking clothes.

	"I don't know what you got on these, Ran-chan, but I'm gonna
burn 'em before they mutate."

	Not looking at her, Ranma nodded once.

	Ukyou shook her head in defeat and went downstairs to
discard the clothes. Thinking better of putting them in her trash
can, she walked through the kitchen, and tossed the clothes out
the door and into the dumpster behind the restaurant.

	She then spent several minutes with a disposable scrubber
and several ounces of her industrial dish detergent making sure
that there was no trace of the disgusting black goo remaining on
her hands.

	"Where on earth did you get this crap, Ran-chan?" she asked
aloud.

	From Akane. *Somehow*, she thought, Akane had done something
to Ranma to make him so miserable. It was obvious that she had
beaten him senseless... Maybe it was Ranma pissed her off when she
was sick? Maybe...
	
	Maybe, Ukyou reasoned, he and Akane had finally had it out,
and they had called off the engagement. Whatever the reason was,
though, Ranma was more upset than Ukyou thought was capable. If
*she* were the one to comfort him...

	Ukyou couldn't help but have a brief fantasy about her
fiancee.

	"It's okay, Ran-chan! Akane was no good for you anyway. You
can stay here as long as you need and eat as much as you want, and
I'll take care of you."

	"*Sniff* *Sniff* T-t-thanks, Uc-chan. It's hard, but I know
I can get over Akane as long as I have you!"

	"It's okay, Ran-chan! You know that I love you.

	"And I love you too, Uc-chan."

	Ukyou was so lost in her reverie that she never noticed
sound of the lock, or the front door opening.

	"Ukyou-sama?"

	Ukyou's eyes left the middle distance to focus on the pretty
kunoichi that had just walked in. Konatsu was carrying a shopping
bag full of sundries, shampoo, toothpaste, paper towels and the
like.

	"Ukyou-sama? Your hands?"

	Ukyou looked down in surprise, noting that she was well on
her way to rubbing her knuckles raw.

	"Oh... kinda forgot what I was doing. You mind taking care
of things down here for a bit?"

	The pretty boy nodded, although he was not very sure what
needed tending so late.

	"Good! I got some things to take care of."

* * *

	"Aaauuuu..." Akane finished screaming aloud, clutching at
her sides. She writhed in the bed in obvious agony.

	"Auntie!" Kasumi cried. "Something's wrong with Akane!"

	Within seconds, the entire Tendou clan, plus Ryouga and
Genma had crowded into Akane's bedroom. Most had already been on
their way, alerted by the eardrum-tearing scream.

	"What's wrong with her?!?!" Ryouga demanded angrily, the
same anxiety present in his voice as Kasumi's. A little bit
jealous, but no less concerned than her new lover, Nabiki thrust
her hand into Ryouga's and squeezed tightly.

	Shooing the group out of the way, Nodoka knelt next to the
bed, and wrapped her arms around the shuddering girl, trying to
examine her in some wait.

	"She doesn't smell right," Kasumi stated. "It's... like
she's wounded, somehow."

	Nodoka nodded, and began to pat all over Akane's body,
paying special attention to her back and sides, where the girl was
clutching.

	"Genma!" She commanded. "Put her out."

	Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ryouga stared in shock as Genma
actually lunged, and struck Akane at the base of the skull.

	Soun's eyes widened in realization almost instantly,
however, and he reached to grab Ryouga, before the boy could
attack.

	"It's a shiatsu point," Soun explained as his daughter
collapsed nervelessly in Nodoka's arms. "On most people all it
requires is a slight tap, if you can get the positioning correct."

	"On someone with Akane's strength and healing abilities,"
Nodoka continued the explanation, "It will keep her unconscious
for scant minutes. Nabiki, go get the young doctor. Have him bring
the most powerful pain killer he has. Morphine is best, but sodium
pentathol will work as well."

	Nabiki nodded, and ran from the room, dragging the confused
lost boy with her.

	"What has happened to my daughter, Nodoka?"
	
	"I have no idea," she admitted. "Something has gone wrong
with the process."

	"So you can fix it?" He demanded, anger creeping into his
voice. From the traumatic shocks over the last two days, his
nerves were shot, and the normally docile martial artist was about
ready to break. Even though he had held Ryouga back moments ago,
he was nearing the snapping point himself.

	"Hmmm... No, I cannot--"

	Genma grabbed Soun's shoulder roughly, not allowing the man
to project a full 'Anything Goes Heart-Stopper Demon-Head" at his
wife.

	"I know someone who can, however. She can be here before
dawn."

	Soun calmed slightly, but his expression let it be known
that he would fight for his daughter's welfare.
	
* * *

	Ukyou put Ranma to sleep in her own bed. Not wanting to push
things too quickly, she did not make any move to change Ranma back
into a guy, nor did she crawl into the bed after her, regardless
of how much Ukyou wanted to snuggle. Instead, she laid a spare
futon out on the floor, and pulled out some blankets.

	"Heh..." she whispered to herself, planning her next day's
tasks. *I'll keep the restaraunt closed tomorrow, and nurse Ranma
all day. Then when Akane shows up, because I know she will--*

	Ukyou chuckled out loud as she began to hear quiet snores
coming from her bed.

	*Once she shows up, I'll goad Ranma into choosing, and he'll
choose me, because she's treated him so badly! And everything will
be wonderful, and Ranma will never go back to the Tendou dojo, and
we'll live happily ever after!*

	She almost squealed in delight. Ranma would be hers, and she
knew it.

	Ranma, for her part, allowed the snores to fade off, once
the sound of even breathing let her know that Ukyou had fallen
asleep.

	*What to do?* Ranma asked quietly in the depths of her soul.
She felt so utterly lost and betrayed. Ukyou had taken her in
gladly, but a part of her heart burned cold with depression and
guilt. The things she said to Akane burned with that same cold
flame inside her, yet she could not bring herself to take them
back, even in her heart.

	Akane had let herself become a monster. Ranma knew that that
was the simple truth of it. Her mother, Kasumi, Nabiki and now the
girl that Ranma lo-- was engaged to, had just *allowed* themselves
to become nightmares from the deepest pit of hell.

	*Never goin' back!* Ranma pledged silently.

	But Akane had been crying so profoundly...

	"No!" Ranma whispered. Akane was a monster now!

	She dropped off into slumber herself, her thoughts roaring
around her and in her ears like a whirlwind.

	*tap* *tap*

	Not dreaming, she shuddered awake at the tapping sound.

	Ranma sat up in Ukyou's bed trying to place the sound.

	*tap* *tap*

	There, from the window. Just from looking at it, Ranma
couldn't tell there was anyone there. A bit recklessly, he tiptoed
over, and pushed the swinging pane out. She stuck her head out and
looked around.

	No one was there. But...

	Ranma paused and turned over on her back to peer up at the
roof. There *was* a dark figure standing just on the edge of the
brick railing at the top of the building.

	With one clean motion, Ranma got her feet underneath her,
and flipped up onto the roof from the window. She landed in a
defensive posture, her fists leveled at the mysterious intruder.

	"So, you're awake," she said.

	"You!" Ranma exclaimed. It was the same girl from in front
of the department store by the building site where she had fought
the Ravener.
	
	"Me," the girl answered. She looked just the same, except
instead of her dress, she was wearing a short, sheer chemise. She
wore nylon stockings, but no shoes. Ranma did her best not to
goggle at the sight of the nearly unclad girl.

	"Who are you, and what do you want with me?" She demanded
angrily. "And why did you lead me into that trap earlier? And why
are you dressed like that?"

	Ranma cursed silently for asking that last question.

	"You like my nightie?" she asked, obviously flattered. "Of
course I'm wearing it because it's night and time for bed. Aren't
you doing the same thing?"

	Ranma looked down, and glumly realized that she was in one
of Ukyou's t-shirts and a pair of loose shorts that approximated
her usual sleep wear..

	"You're still not telling me why you're here," Ranma accused
bitterly.

	"There is a great evil afoot in the city."

	"No shit," Ranma sniped. "I spent all afternoon kicking its
ass."

	The girl wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "Perhaps I should
say that there are *two* great evils. There..."

	"Un-uh," Ranma grabbed the girl's outstretched wrist, much
to her surprise. "You're comin' with me this time. If nothin' else
it will teach you to lead me into traps."

	To Ranma's delight, the girl squealed in terror as she
coiled her arm around the girl's waist and leapt off the roof of
the Ucchan in the direction the stranger had pointed.

	"This way?" Ranma asked, as she hit the roof of a
convenience store running.

	The girl squeaked and nodded, her eyes clenched shut.

	"So what's your name?" Ranma asked. Then she thought better
of it. "Are you a ravener?"

	The girl used her free hand to slap Ranma across the face in
mid-flight. Not allowing it to faze her, Ranma landed on the top
of a house and began to run along the ridgerow.

	"How dare you mistake me for such a beast!" the girl cried
in outrage. "Have you so little couth?"

	"My... A close friend of mine was stabbed and nearly raped
by a ravener who looked just like an ordinary man until he made
his move. I can't be too careful."

	The girl sighed in disgust. "They are moving against the
city. I think they want the whole world, you know."

	"'S about what I figured," Ranma admitted. "So what's your
name, and what do you have to do with them?"

	The girl waited until Ranma had leapt off the end of the
roof, and landed on the sidewalk. She wriggled free of her grasp
and began to run along side the martial artist in her stocking
feet.

	"I have no name," she admitted. "I was taken from my mother
by my father before she could name me. I saw that these creatures
were invading, so I had no choice but to fight against them."

	"So you were just waiting for a stud martial artist like me
to--"

	*BOOOOOM*

	"What the hell?"

	"One of the evils I mentioned," the nameless girl explained.
"Over there."

	Ranma jumped over the top of the post office, where the girl
was pointing, and saw the parking lot behind.

	A smoking ravener lurched into view from behind a turned
over postal carrier vehicle. It's normally sickly white skin was
scorched black and brown, and debris littered the path, making the
monster stumble over the piles.

	"There's one evil." Ranma whispered. "Now where's the--"

	"MULTIPLE HAPPO-DAI-KARIN!"

	*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

	"Yup," Ranma stated, after the ringing in his ears subsided.
"Happousai. I don't know which one is worse."

* * *
	
	Tofuu shook.

	Beside him, Kasumi sat calmly. Kasumi who was now a vampire.
In front of him, he was injecting a large syringe full of morphine
in Akane's back. Akane... who like her sister, was a vampire. To
the right, Nodoka and Nabiki watched over him. Nodoka and Nabiki
who were...

	"Ahem..." Tofuu cleared his throat, and pulled the needle
from Akane's naked back. "She has two large cysts on either side
of her spine. They're swelling rapidly and compressing the nerves,
which is what is hurting her so badly. Do you have any idea of
what caused this?"

	"The process *never* goes wrong..." Nodoka wondered aloud.

	"Perhaps it was because she took blood from Nabiki and
myself at the same time," Kasumi suggested.

	Nodoka shook her head. "That only makes the process more
stable," Nodoka countered. "A close friend, the one who is on her
way here, took blood from *five* other vampires at once."

	"T-this 'taking blood'," Tofuu stammered. "What does it
involve?"

	"We take all our clothes off and bite each other's neck,
Tofuu-chan," Nabiki teased.
	
	Tofuu's glasses fogged over. Nervously, desperately trying
to keep from thinking about Kasumi with.... her.... clothes...
and...

	*gulp*

	"Tofuu-sensei?" Kasumi asked. "What do you suggest."

	"The cysts, if they *are* cysts, will have to be removed
almost certainly. With her changed physiology, there's no telling
what that will do to her. Do you grow any extra organs, Nodoka-
san, when... when... ?"

	Kasumi... with her clothes... off.... Her unclad arms
wrapped around his back and his head... Gently nipping at the base
of his neck. The image terrified him, and excited him horribly. He
was quite aware of the waves of steam on his glasses that
threatened to obscure his vision.

	The woman shook her head. "Not to my knowledge. Wait. I have
heard a tale of a woman long ago who had her tongue cut out by her
master for treacherous speak. When she became a vampire, it grew
back."

	"That's still just the healing, though," Nabiki argued.
"Akane hasn't even had her tonsils out!"

	"I agree," Tofuu coughed. "This is something... most
unnatural."

	"Or perhaps more natural than you are willing to admit," a
voice came from behind them.
	
	Every one but Nodoka jumped in shock at the voice.

	From out of the shadows, a diminutive woman in a severe
green dress stepped. Her skin and European features were pale, and
her hair was a natural whitish blonde.

	"One of my dearest friends," Nodoka introduced, "Athia."

	"This is quite a brood you've assembled, Nodoka," Athia
spoke in perfect, but accented Japanese.

	"We've seen two raveners in as many weeks," Nodoka
explained. "And I believe that my son killed one this afternoon."

	Athia nodded. "Impressive. And how much of your son is
left?"

	"Surprisingly, all of him, the last time I saw him," Nodoka
exclaimed, the confusion over Ranma's continued existence present
in her own voice as well. "He came in after school bruised and
dirty, and covered in ravener blood. All of his limbs were still
there, at any rate."
	
	"Most unusual... as is this," Athia commented, gesturing to
Akane.

	For her part, Akane was beginning to come around, even with
the megadose of narcotics she had just been injected with. The
drugs made everything seem abstract, and a low fog seemed to run
through the room.

	Colored lights swirled around everyone in the room, and just
for a second, Akane thought she saw Ranma.

	She pushed herself to her hands and knees, wanting to get up
to find the martial artist. The pain in her back was still there,
but it was dull. She could almost forget about it in her haze.

	"Not just yet, Child," Athia addressed her, holding her in
her kneeling position with one petite hand. She probed gently at
the girl's back, tracing the outlines of the now visible lumps.

	"Ahh... I believe I understand," the blonde woman finally
commented. "In the past, certain members of our group have been
blessed with extra limbs. I believe this girl may be becoming one
of those few."

	Soun shuddered in revulsion. My little girl is going to--"

	Athia nodded, cutting him off. "Yes."

	Then she pulled a long, wicked looking knife from her dress.
"As it is, however, we must end the girl's suffering..."

	* * *

	"Why are you helping him?" the nameless girl asked.

	"Simple case of lesser of two evils," Ranma explained,
carefully balancing the flag pole she had broken off in the front
parking lot on her shoulder. "Frankly, I would *love* to see
Happousai get his from the raveners. The simple fact is, though--"

	"ANYTHING GOES SCHOOL RAINING FIRE!" The tiny martial arts
master bellowed. He took a long draw off a sake bottle and spewed
the contents across his lit pipe. The net effect was to create an
impromptu flame thrower, dousing the ravener with liquid fire.

	While it's skin was beginning to bubble and blister however,
the Ravener failed to be incinerated.

	"--He's doing about like I was against it, and according to
my... to a vampire I know, humans can't normally kill them."

	Happousai was taking his lumps. For some reason, the ravener
was actively pursuing him, and getting in quite a few good shots
while the master was setting up some of his more esoteric attacks.
As in Ranma's battle earlier, only Happousai's long distance
attacks could do any real damage to the monster.

	"Time to go," Ranma noted, and leapt from the top of the
building, gripping the sheared off pole tightly. It was unwieldy,
but he managed to turn it to aim it for the monster.

	"Hey, creepy!"

	Both Happousai and the ravener looked up at her.

	"Not you!" Ranma shouted at the Happousai, as the ravener
began to lunge for her.

	The flagpole impaled the monster neatly, and drove down
several inches into the soft asphalt. While is was still
struggling and lunging, the monster was effectively pinned.

	Happousai exhaled heavily, and began to pant.

	"Whew... haven't had a workout like that since... since the
last time I fought a ravener," he admitted. "Thanks, Ranma-chan. I
could have been here all night."

	"Somethin' like that. C'mon, y'old fart. Let's burn this
thing. I killed one this afternoon that way."

	"Hmm... so. No, Ranma." Happousai shook his head. "It just
doesn't work that way. Unless they kill themselves, they'll
regenerate from anything you do to them. I burnt one to ash when I
was a lad, and it came back out of the fire pit after the next
rain got it wet again. It's a kind of magic that comes from the
deepest pit of hell."

	A cold pit seemed to hit the bottom of Ranma's stomach. She
gulped and started with the dreadful shock that this was in all
probability the same ravener that he had beheaded, dismembered and
burned earlier in the day.

	"Don't let it get to you, son," Happousai said. "Or, if you
want, I'll comfort you!"

	Ranma batted the little letch out of the air before he could
plant his face between her breasts. "No thanks, old fart." She
sighed wearily. "So how do we get rid of this thing? *Really* get
rid of it, I mean."

	"Like I said--"

	"Yeah, it has to kill itself. I've heard it before."

	"You don't happen to have a vampire handy, do you?"
Happousai asked. "They're usually the best at convincing them to
do it, if you can actually convince the *vampire* to do it for
you."

	Ranma averted her eyes, not quite willing to meet the gaze
of the old master.

	"Probably, we have to somehow make up a situation so that
the ravener has to kill itself to get free," Happousai suggested.

	Ranma noted that there was a great deal of scrap metal lying
around from the wreckage of the postal vehicles.

	"We could work up some sort of block and tackle," Ranma
suggested.

	"But something that the ravener triggers itself, or it won't
die," Happousai cautioned.

	The monster, realizing that its wriggling wasn't doing
anything to free it, began to wrench at the pole protruding from
its chest.

	"Uhoh," Happousai muttered.

	"And we better get to work," Ranma barked out, leaping to
action.

	Within minutes, they had looped cords around the ravener's
feet, and tied them to the top of another flag pole, where they
were slip knotted to a swinging line. On the end of the line was a
sharp piece of thick sheet metal that had been tied to two street
lights to make sure it swung the right direction.

	After only a few minutes of work, the ravener managed to
pull the flag pole out of the asphalt, and through its body, and
was starting to get up.
	
	Ranma and Happousai ran in the direction they wanted the
ravener to go.

	"Come and get it!" Happousai shouted. The ravener began to
stand and lurch toward the shriveled pervert.

	"Now why's he goin' for you?" Ranma asked.

	Slyly, Happousai pulled open his coverall to reveal a stash
of young girls' panties. "They operate on smell, don'cha know?"

	Ranma gagged, but began to wave at the monster coyly.
"Yoohoo! Mister Monster! Come get me!"

	The monster lurched to the end of its cords, and stopped
suddenly.

	"Nonono! Keep coming, Mister Monster!" Ranma pleaded in a
disgustingly cute voice.

	"Heh," Happousai chuckled, as the monster turned to gaze at
the intricate arrangement of cords cables and metal. "It knows
it's caught," he stated. Turn on the charm, Ranma-chan!"

	"Monster! Oh Monster, I looove yooooo!!!" She pulled off the
tee-shirt Ukyou had given her, exposing her breasts. "Don't you
want meeee?"

	"Hotcha!"

	Ranma punted Happousai into the side of the building and
turned her attention back to the Ravener.

	"Ooohhh, I'm so alone! And no one will hear me scream if
anything happens to me! Woe is meeee!"

	Unable to resist any longer, the Ravener lurched forward.

	The slipknot pulled open, releasing the metal blade. It
swung ponderously, and caught the monster across the middle of the
back. With a sick ripping noise, it tore through the thing's spine
and into its chest cavity. It didn't go all the way through, but
black gout sprayed behind the monster as it was carried up in the
air, caught on the ragged blade.

	"Yatta!" Ranma yelled in triumph, Again knocking Happousai
away as he attempted to fondle her. She pulled her shirt over her
head and watched the monster fall back. It dragged on the ground
for a second, and was then pulled off the piece of metal. It
collapsed and lay on the ground motionlessly.

* * *

	Athia struck, slashing at Akane's back.

	Soun screamed in rage as his daughter was cut open, but
Genma tackled him and held him down.

	Kasumi and Nabiki gaped in horror as blood began to spurt
from Akane's back. There was a slurping, tearing sound and then...

	The pain was gone, Akane realized in her drug induced haze.
She kept her kneeling position, feeling an odd, but not
uncomfortable weight on her back.

	Ryouga gaped in shock. Nabiki and Kasumi were speechless as
well.

	"Oh my," Tofuu uttered, adjusting his glasses.

	"M-my little girl..." Soun whispered. On the floor, Genma
still holding him down, his hands began to open and close
uselessly in shock. "My little girl is...

	Akane felt a need to stretch... something. Something in her
back. She could feel the new muscles in her sides and under her
breasts. All she had to do was flex them and...

	"My little girl is an angel..." Soun whimpered.

	Still kneeling, her hands on the floor, Akane spread her
wings.

- To be Continued.


*Ahem*

Well. Ahem. Bet you weren't expecting that, were you?

And some readers said that I was letting Akane off easy in this story...

This chapter has had some changes made to it based on pre-reader response, 
but it probably still has a way to go in the error correcting department.

Chapter 13 is yet to come this evening. It's probably not quite so intense 
as Ch 11 was, or even Ch 12. Still, if you like it, let me know.

If you *dislike* either chapter, write down *why* you dislike it, and let 
me know. I won't necessarily change the plot for you, but having a second 
view point does let me strengthen my story.

Ahem.



* * *
Chris Jones - guilty@arn.net
The Ranma 1/2 Gallery - http://cyberwheel.simplenet.com/ranma

It's 1999. Do you know what your children are?