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PART IV
Sleepless in Tokyo.
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"Magical Guy Makoto?!! What were you smoking when you thought up _that_ one, Skuld?!!" Ryoga
muttered under his breath. 
Mini-Skuld shrugged. "It was all I could think of a such short notice."  She pointed to the demon,
who was carefully studying them with a Look. A kind of look that implied that it was wondering
whether to bother attacking them or continuing it's attack of Akane. "Take it out with an energy
ball."
"How?"
"Point the wand at it. And hope genetics helps you grasp magic."
The demon decided to attack them. After all, it's orders were to kill anyone who interfered, and
they'd interfered. "Prepare to..."
Ryoga pointed the wand at it. The energy ball struck it and it disappeared. "Huh. That was easy."
Mini-Skuld shrugged. "That was a boring, insignificant demon. Don't expect the rest to be so easy to
take out." She posed dramatically. "Back to the soup!"
Akane and Ranma-chan gaped at them as they disappeared back into the Dojo. Upstairs, Nabiki switched
off her camcorder and phoned a few contacts. *Magical Guy Makoto, hmm? Interesting.*
"Hey, Akane?" Ranma-chan said finally.
"Yes Ranma?"
"Did you see some guy in a tux just blast away a demon thing?"
"No."
"Good. Neither did I."

"Power down."
Mini-Skuld watched Ryoga lose the disguise. "Well, that went well for a trial run," she said
cheerfully. 
Ryoga looked at her. "What was it you were saying about more demons?"
"What, you think that's the best they could come up with? That demon probably wouldn't be a match
for Magical Girl Pretty Sammy!" She grinned at him. "You did good back then. Some people find it
harder to grasp magic powers than others. Even with magic in their blood."
"All I did was imagine what I wanted the attack to do," Ryoga said in response.
Mini-Skuld nodded. "That's how it's done. Easy in theory, not always so easy in practise. Good thing
you've got it though." She stood up and stretched. "Come on, lets go downstairs. I wanna get back to
the rest of me."

Later that night, Skuld tapped a few numbers on her calculator, mumbling measurements under her
breath. She was presently working on a way for Ryoga to detect the arrival of demons himself,
without her around. "3 times by 5.78 divide by cos 92 equals ... 666." She frowned at the output.
"No it doesn't!" She tried again. "66.6? That can't be..." It finally clicked.
666. The sign of the devil.
Footsteps above her made her drop the calculator. *They can't have realised Magical Guy Makoto is
really Ryoga yet, can they?!!* She looked at the clock. *Ten past three. Couldn't they've waited
till morning?* she wondered, making her way up the stairs.
Ukyo turned to face her. "Skuld! I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
"Nah, I was already awake." Skuld looked at the chef. "But what are you doing up so late?"
Ukyo looked at the floor silently. Finally, she decided she could trust the goddess. "You know Ryoga
and Aiko were hit by a truck?"
"Of course. Aiko died, didn't she?" *Damn those Amityville bastards! That kid was innocent!* Skuld
knew it was because Ryoga was the biggest threat to their plans - his father was a very powerful god
..
"Yes. But since then, he's had nightmares every single night. And each time, he wakes up at exactly
three fifteen. Spooky, but true." Ukyo sighed. "I figured if I get up at ten past, I'll be there
when he wakes up."
Skuld nodded slowly. *So _that's_ where these faint waves are from... demons playing in his sleep.*
The revenge of the Amityville demons. If he was going to screw up their plans, they were going to
screw up his mind. She was going to have to find a way to stop that. "Well, I hope he's OK. Do you
want me to come along too?"
"No, that's OK. You should get some sleep," Ukyo quickly insisted. 
Skuld nodded, smiling a little. *Urd would just love to poke her nose into all this! Still...* She
decided to take Ukyo's advice and go to bed. 
Ukyo waited for a moment, before continuing to Ryoga's room. Settling down on the edge of the futon,
she watched him in the dim moonlight. He looked so peaceful ... *Pity he's gonna wake up in about
three minutes.*

Ryoga walked forward, looking cautiously from side to side. *I _know_ they're out there ...* he
thought to himself, trying to see through the dense blackness. The air felt thick, like it hadn't
been breathed for a while, and there was a faint smell, like flowers. He pricked his ears up at the
sound of a pipe organ. *What is a pipe organ doing here?!! Where am I anyway?* 
A faint glow flickered in the corner of his vision. A candle. The glow grew brighter as more candles
ignited, forming a trail. He followed it curiously, half noticing that the smell of flowers was
getting stronger and the music from the pipe organ was getting louder. He stumbled into a clearing,
lined with flowers and candles. To one side, a figure was playing a wedding march and a girl in a
wedding dress had her back to him.
"A-Akane?" he whispered, walking forward.
She turned around. "Ryoga, you jackass! You promised you'd try not to get lost this time," she
cried, smacking him over the head with her spatula. 
"Ouch!" Ryoga looked at her in surprise. "Ucchan! What did you do that for? Where am I?"
Ukyo giggled. "It's a wedding, silly. Took you long enough to get here."
"And I'm the best man, right?" 
*CLANG*
"Ouch!!!"
"You're the groom!!"
Ryoga blinked a few times and rewound the words through his head. "G-groom? W-who's the bride?"
"Me, idiot!!! Oh, for goodness sake!" She grabbed the stunned boy by the arm and dragged him over to
the alter. "Hey, Mousse, get on with it!"
Mousse, who was now a priest, grinned happily. "Glad to see you finally came to your senses and gave
up on Shampoo, Ryoga. Now, Ukyo, do you take Ryoga to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"Sure do."
Mousse turned to Ryoga. "Do you take Ukyo to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
Ryoga looked dazed. "Me? Well ... um... I..." 
Ukyo hefted her spatula. "Saying something, Darling?"
"Yes, I do!!" *After all, it's only a dream...*
Mousse grinned. "And it's about time too! I pronounce ... oh, wait. Does anyone know of any reason
why these two should not be wed?"
Ukyo groaned. "Mousse, we're the only people here, except for Ranchan and Akane, and they're not
gonna say..."
"I know."
Ryoga and Ukyo spun around at the voice. "Who's there?!!" Ukyo cried, on guard.
A small figure stepped out of the shadows and Ryoga's heart almost stopped. It was Aiko. "I know why
they can not be happily married," the little girl said solemnly. She pointed at Ryoga. "Because he
killed me! He can never be happy now!!"
The flames of the candles increased in intensity as Ryoga fell to his knees. "No... Aiko, I
tried..." "It's your fault I'm dead! You could have saved me and You Know It." she snarled, walking
forward. He didn't notice everyone else dissipate into mist. "I'll never let you be happy. Not now,
not ever."
"Please, Aiko..." 
The flames drew closer around him. "Not even in the eternal sleep of death." The flames engulfed him
and Aiko smiled. "As you will soon find out."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ukyo watched as the young martial artist screamed and sat up. "Hush Ryoga. It was only a dream," she
murmured, placing her arms around him comfortingly.
Ryoga jerked away from her and stood up. "Don't." He walked over to the door.
Ukyo was puzzled. "Ryoga, what's the matter?" She stood up to follow him. "Tell me what's wrong."
"Stop feeling SORRY for me!!" he shouted at her, before running out of the room and making his way
up onto the roof. *Why are you doing this? I don't _want_ your sympathy, Ucchan! I don't deserve
it!* He shivered a little - it was a cold night and he was only wearing his boxers. He didn't care
though. He didn't deserve to sleep in a nice warm bed when he'd killed Aiko. He didn't deserve to
stay here, in the restaurant, when he was guilty for her death. *I could have saved her. If I'd just
been a little faster, she'd be alive now...* Sobs wracked through his body as he remembered the
little girl.
"Hey."
Ryoga glanced up at the okonomiyaki chef and tried to stop the tears. The last thing he wanted was
for her to feel sorry for him. "I thought I told you to leave me alone," he mumbled.
Ukyo sat down next to him. "Hey, I was worried about you, jerk! And cover yourself up a little,
you'll freeze." She ignored the part of her mind that reminded her that she only wanted him to cover
himself up a little so she wouldn't be able to ogle him any more, because it seemed kinda unfaithful
to Ranma. *Then again, I'm not engaged to Ranchan, I'm engaged to Ryoga. But I'm only engaged to
Ryoga because I feel guilty for getting Aiko killed and it meant I could visit him all the time.
Sooo ... I should dump Ryoga. Before he gets the wrong idea and thinks I actually like him or
anything... but not yet though. Later, when he's better...*
"I don't care. Just go away," Ryoga muttered.
Ukyo fixed him with an angry glare. "I got up at three fifteen in the morning to keep you company,
jackass!"
"What for? I don't need you. I'm only here so I can earn enough money to pay back Mr Tendo. Not for
the good of my health, you got that?"
Ukyo looked at him with even more concern, her little spurt of anger forgotten. "Ryoga, please tell
me what's wrong, I can help you..."
"Fffft. I don't _want_ your help," he growled. "I never wanted your help. If I wanted help, I'd have
asked for it!!" He jumped to his feet. "I'm going back to bed."
Ukyo watched him walk away, worry apparent on her face. *Ryoga? What happened to you...?*

"Anything interesting in the news?"
Ukyo looked at Ryoga in surprise as he walked into the main part of the restaurant the next morning.
He appeared to have forgotten the events of the night before, and was acting normally. Which was
strange.
"Ukyo? Are you awake?" Ryoga waved a hand in front of her eyes.
Ukyo shook her head. "Yeah, sorry." She flicked through the paper. "Just normal stuff, mass property
damage from the Hyperdolls, the Sailor Senshi took out more of the dark kingdom and most of Tokyo
Tower, Magical Girl Pretty Sammy blew up Riaoh Academy _again_, Mishima Heavy Industries created
some more robots and are suing Compiler and Assembler for destroying them...." She groaned. "Ugh.
Japan has far too many super-heroes. Look, here's a new one."
"What, SuperTed?" Ryoga picked up his cup of tea and raised it to his lips. 
"No, some guy called Magical Guy Makoto ... Ryoga, are you all right?" she asked, seeing him choke
on his tea.
Ryoga coughed in embarrassment. "Sorry, drank it too fast. So, Magical Guy Makoto, eh?" he asked,
trying to sound nonchalant. 
Ukyo, luckily, didn't pick up on his mood. "Yeah... Oh, I can't believe these guys were dumb enough
to swallow a story from Nabiki!"
"Nabiki?" *I hate her, I hate her, I hate her!!!!!*
Nod. "Apparently a weird creature attacked Akane yesterday and this Makoto guy rescued her and
Nabiki got it on film." She folded up the paper. "I mean, how dumb is that? Ranchan would've told me
if something like that had happened."
"So you don't think this Magical Guy is real then?" he asked quickly.
Ukyo shook her head. "Nah. I bet it's one of Nabiki's get rich quick deals."
Ryoga sighed in relief. *Thank goodness for that!*
Pausing to write a quick note for Skuld when she woke up, Ukyo headed towards the door. "You don't
have to come back to school yet, you know."
Ryoga shrugged. "I've missed too much school already. Lets go."

End Part IV
Final song - It's A Kind Of Magic
Member 30 of SSoAGMA, Deadly Everyday Object Weaponary Technique, Dragon Warrior Style
Mousse no miku; Generally dangerous English otaku; Supporter of cliched pairs;
Member of the Chan club; WoS; SCG; COURT; SOotCiP;CotMHW - Launderer of the Robes of Death;
Head Castrator of the Hotnit Feminisation Project; Keeper of the Moneybags for the Hotnit Fan Club;
4th Gen. EOE; Image Consultant For "That Guy"; #WASHU#;AKPReSS, Gen. Div.; SLAP;
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