Childhood's almost at an end... but the cost is high.

C&C is always helpful and appreciated.



=======================================================================
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty
Chapter 31: The High Price of Victory

Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by Rumiko
Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permission

Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and
copyright 1998-2000 by Jim Lazar

An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga and anime.

<Speech text in angle brackets is thought by character.>
"Speech text in double quotes is spoken as Japanese."

E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: mailto:jimlazar@animeprime.com

Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for
all released CMD stories, graphics files, and other information:
http://www.animeprime.com/ff/md
=======================================================================
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:


November 3, 2057


     This morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel's restaurant instead of
having room service like we've been getting since we first arrived in
New York. Akane said she was afraid of the reaction if word got out that
she was in New York. Unfortunately her concerns were realized last night
when the local news ran a story about the 'The Matriarch' and the Task
Force being in New York. We think it might have been the robber Akane
and Sanma caught or the police involvement that somehow let the media
find out, but you never know who or what might have spilled the beans.

     So now that our cover was blown, we were free to eat in public.
That didn't stop some of the other diners from staring at us and
whispering to each other about everything we did. There was a lot of
amazement that Akane liked strawberries on her French Toast for some
reason. Personally, I found the flies Sanma ate more worthy of comment.
Of course, he was eating his breakfast in the hotel's pond.

     Before leaving for my mom's place, we walked to the pond in the
hotel lobby to check on Sanma. I sometimes wondered if he was spending
so much time in the pond because he had to keep his skin moist or
because he had trouble communicating effectively as a frog. He had his
little keyboard, but it did make conversations awkward as he typed out
his messages with his flippers. I didn't mind, but I think that Sanma
found it frustrating at times.

     Of course, I know he was also avoiding talking about the events
that happened inside the Three Harbingers. Those were rough times for
everyone and from what I've learned recently, they were especially hard
on Sanma.

     Sanma croaked once as he saw us approach. He was on a lily pad next
to some of the live frogs the hotel kept in the fancy display in the
center of their lobby. In addition to the frogs, there was all sorts of
vegetation growing up the rocks that made up the base of the pond. In
the middle of the pond, a cascading waterfall dropped from the
four-story atrium's roof. Light that shone through the glass roof caused
shifting rainbows to form from the mist generated by the falling water.
Whoever designed it knew what they were doing, it was a most impressive
sight. The effect was particularly impressive just before sunset.

     Akane held out her hand. Sanma hopped off the lily pad and through
the waterfall. Akane was promptly tackled by a small, naked, redheaded
girl.

     "What the?" I gasped.

     Akane opened her eyes and smiled. "San-chan!" She wasted no time in
giving her husband a long kiss.

     Sanma blushed when the kiss broke up. "Akane, please, not in
public." She finally noticed she was naked and squeaked as she covered
her breasts and lap. "Eeek..."

     Jaki was the first to react, but she didn't go to help Sanma.
Instead she grabbed Yohachi's coat--which he was carrying on his
arm--and raced over to the other side of the pond.

     I was a little surprised at this, but I decided to help Sanma out.
I rushed over and put my coat over Sanma's naked body. It was then that
I finally realized something was amiss when I got a very close look at
her body. Accidentally, of course. "Sanma, why are you so young?"

     Sanma looked up at me and smiled with her young face. Before she
could answer someone from behind me did.

     "Because the Spring of Drowned Twins curse got mixed with the
Spring of Drowned Youth curse."

     I looked around and saw Sanma wearing Yohachi's coat. *HE* was also
very young. Just like the female Sanma, he looked to be in his late
teens. "Oh my..."

     The male Sanma looked at the female Sanma. "Hey, sis, Akane kiss
you right away again?"

     The female Sanma nodded. "Yes, she's so dirty."

     Akane smirked. "Well, San-kun likes my kisses, don't you?"

     San-kun--for lack of a better way to call his male form--smiled and
showed his agreement by giving Akane a long kiss that would make a
minister hose them down. "You know it, baby."

     Akane was breathing heavily when the kiss ended.

     I've been told about it, but seeing the personality change between
the two Sanmas was an unsettling experience. The fact that they also
didn't age was also very surprising. "So... this blessed form doesn't
age?"

     San-kun nodded. "Yup, young and virile is my name!" He winked at
Akane.

     Akane snickered. "Well, shall we go get clothes for my two
husbands?"

     San-chan pouted. "I really wish you'd stop calling me that... I'm a
girl, you know."

     Akane smiled. "Okay, I'm just glad you got used to the idea of
being married to me."

     San-chan blushed.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     After going back to our rooms to allow the twin Sanmas to get
dressed and do their hair up in pigtails, we walked out of the hotel and
ran straight into the crowd that had formed in front of the hotel after
the news report revealed that we were in New York.

     The crowd started cheering and shouting. Fortunately, the police
had erected a barricade to keep them away from the entrance to the
hotel.

     Akane smiled and waved to the crowd. Then she turned to me. "We'd
better take a private tube today. Walking will be a problem."

     I nodded as I saw just how big the crowd was. We normally walked to
my mom's townhouse, but I'd prefer it if no one followed us and
disturbed my mother.

     "San-kun... stop that!"

     I looked over and saw San-kun talking to a young, shapely blonde in
the front of the crowd. I glanced and saw that San-chan was curled up to
Akane's side and looked a little frightened of the crowd.

     San-kun smiled at the blonde and then walked back to Akane. "Sorry,
love."

     Akane looked at me. "I can't let him out of my sight for a second."

     I laughed.

     Suddenly, a reporter with a mini-camera broke through the crowd.
"Matriarch, why are you here with the Task Force?" The camera was one of
the steady-holo models. It would reproduce the image and sound with
hardly any jitter caused by the camera's motion.

     I saw Akane cringe. "It's a personal matter."

     "But why such a large contingent?"

     Akane shook her head. "It's just a few members of my family. As I
said, it's personal."

     The reporter pressed his attack. "Is it true that New York is going
to be the target for a Buyierfei attack?"

     Akane rolled her eyes. "No, where do you people get these ideas?"

     "Because whenever you go somewhere the Buyierfei attack."

     Akane sighed. "Not always."

     "Name one place."

     Akane faltered, finding herself unable to come up with a quick
answer.

     San-kun came to the rescue. "Milan, Tahiti, Paris, to name just a
few."

     "Paris was wiped out by a Monolith." The reporter smelled blood.

     Akane sighed. "But it was years after I visited Paris."

     "Where is your partner?"

     Akane tensed at that question. Since the world knew Sanma as a
female, they usually didn't refer to Sanma as 'Akane's husband' despite
the fact that Sanma was legally her husband now that Japan, the U.S.,
and many other countries recognized marriages between people of the same
sex. That didn't stop Akane from trying to set the record straight. "My
HUSBAND is nearby." Apparently she wasn't ready to let the public know
about her twin troublemakers.

     I stepped forward. "Please, the Matriarch is just here to help me
with some research for my next book."

     "Who are you?" My ego took a blow.

     "James Davidson."

     "Who?" My ego was hanging by a thread.

     Hanaki stepped forward. "James Davidson. He's writing the books on
my aunt's life."

     Recognition dawned on the reporter's face and some of my ego was
repaired. "Oh. That fictional account of her life, you mean?"

     That finished off my ego. A lot of people didn't believe some of
the events I detailed in Birth of a Modern Dynasty. Those same people
are really not going to believe the events that I'm writing about in
Childhood. Knowing it was a battle I couldn't win with a quick sound
bite, I decided to give my standard response. "I assure you that all
events I wrote about in Birth were as accurate as possible."

     "You expect the public to believe that?"

     "I hope they do." Plug time, I guess. "The next book will have even
more surprises in it and I have verified as much of the content as
possible in my research." I unconsciously glanced at the two Sanmas. "If
you have any proof that events didn't take place as I described them in
my first book, I'll be glad to talk to you about it."

     The reporter was lost for words. Thank goodness. I wonder if the
people I interviewed ever felt like I did under the persistent
reporter's questioning. Come to think of it, I wonder if Akane ever felt
as pressured as I did at that moment.

     "Shall we go, James?" Akane asked and nodded towards the nearby
tube stop. Yohachi and Jaki had already made sure the way was clear for
us.

     "Yes."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "Good morn... RANMA!!" my mom shouted when she greeted us at the
door. She backed up and stumbled.

     San-kun shot forward and grabbed her before she could hit the
floor. "Take it easy, Deedee." He slid to the floor with her, cradling
her in his arms.

     My mom put a hand on San-kun's cheek and caressed it, trying to
make sure it was real. "Ranma..."

     San-kun smiled slightly. "No, I'm Sanma. One of my blessed forms
doesn't age."

     "You look just like he did..." My mom fingered San-kun's dark red
hair. "Except for the hair."

     "Yeah, we Ranmas are a handsome lot, aren't we?" San-kun struck a
pose that I'm sure he thought drove girls wild. It probably would.

     "If you're done hitting on my mom, can you both get up?"

     San-kun smiled at me and helped my mom up. "Well, I always said
Deedee was a fox, didn't I?"

     Akane cleared her throat.

     Sun-kun laughed and gave his wife a kiss. "You know you have
nothing to worry about, Sparky."

     "Maybe, but I'm not taking any chances with you in this condition."
Akane smiled. "All those raging hormones suddenly rushing around your
young, masculine body is a dangerous combination." She looked at my mom.
"Sorry, Deedee, if I had know it would be this shocking, I'd have called
first."

     My mom waved off any concerns. "No... no, it's fine. I just never
expected to see him again." She finally looked out and saw the rest of
our group. "Oh, I don't think I've met you, but you must be related to
Sanma or Ranko. You have their eyes." She held out her hand to San-chan.

     "I'm San-chan." She bowed very formally. "Very nice to meet you."

     I decided to explain. "Yes, she does have their eyes. This is
Sanma's girl side. Spring of Drowned Twins."

     My mom gasped. "Ah... yes, you told me about that one." She looked
at San-chan. "You're much more polite than I remember Sanma being."

     San-chan smiled sweetly.

     San-kun took offense. "Hey! I got perfect manners." Then he wiped
his nose on his sleeve.


***********************************************************************
January 1, 2000 - South Florida Sea, USA; Various locations


     Yukiko swore when she appeared in mid air and plummeted into the
cold water. Seconds later, a cat bobbed to the surface straining with
the weight of her armor. The straps of the breastplate and the golden
robe had become wrapped around her hind legs. She meowed loudly when she
saw a purple-haired woman surface a few meters away.

     Deeod spat out some water as she looked for the source of the
meows. "Matriarch!!" She swam quickly to her leader and scooped up the
cat. It was then that she noticed that the First Matriarch's armor was
tangled up on the cat's rear legs. She quickly shed her own armor--which
was threatening to drag them both down with the added weight of the
golden armor. She slipped her arm around the golden breastplate, skirt,
and the golden robe.

     The cat wriggled its legs out of the straps that had kept the
irreplaceable armor from being swallowed by the depths. She meowed once.

     Deeod treaded water as she looked around and then spoke in
Mandarin. "I don't know where we are, Matriarch, but I think I see land
over there." She gestured with her chin and the started swimming towards
the blackened mound that rose from the sea.

     The cat sat on the warrior's head as they slowly made their way
towards land. <Well, we managed to destroy the second heart, I just hope
the others can deal with Shuma and the last heart.>

     A blast of air caused Deeod to stop, tread water, and look up. They
both swore when they saw a pair of large avians flying to the north.
They were followed by at least a hundred small pipers. "Lewinski..."
Deeod muttered.

     Yukiko's curse came out more as a meow, but it had the same
meaning.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     All across the world, the thousands and possibly millions of
Buyierfei that had escaped through the open portal before the First
Monolith exploded and destroyed Florida were spreading out and reeking
havoc on a already unsettled world.

     The large avians and smaller pipers were swooping down at the
ground and collecting energy. The avians had spread out fast and within
hours were already attacking targets on four continents. Although there
were less than a hundred of the large avians at large across the globe,
there were at least fifty times that many of the smaller pipers.

     The world's air forces had been very busy since the explosion of
the First had released the legions of avian Buyierfei into the skies.
There were some victories, some loses, but mostly draws as the fast
moving pipers ignored the attacking fighter jets and helicopters and
concentrated on sucking the energy out of whatever life they found.
Large black and brown patches were scattered across the globe as the
avian Buyierfei fed on whatever life it found. There were just too many
avians and the conventional weapons used were too ineffective against
the black creatures.

     The ground Buyierfei advanced across the southeastern United States
at a slower pace. Since they started by sucking the energy out of the
northern part of Florida that wasn't destroyed when the First exploded,
the creatures spread northward at a steady pace. Satellite images could
actually track the advancing Blackness.

     Most of the people in northern Florida had already fled. Even if
the mandatory evacuation only pertained to southern Florida, most people
weren't  willing to stick around and wait for something to happen. That
wariness saved their lives.

     The few hundred that had stuck around weren't as fortunate.

     The evacuation centers in Georgia were quickly evacuated themselves
after the Buyierfei started moving northward. And then the army moved
in. Hand to hand fighting wasn't going to cut it this time and even the
Amazon warriors had pulled back knowing they could help defend against
small numbers, but not the thousands and possibly millions that now
surged northward.

     Saturation bombing and artillery units equipped with flame-throwers
burned the advancing creatures. Unfortunately, the Buyierfei could
survive for quite some time even while totally engulfed in flames. Only
once enough of their mass was burned away would they succumb to the
flames. But for every one that was killed there were ten more right
behind it.

     The ground Buyierfei could also float across the surface of the
water to reach Cuba and other Caribbean islands. Given enough time they
would eventually reach South America, Europe, and Africa.

     And then there was the sea.

     The nations of the world had enough to contend with on land and in
the air, that the destruction caused  by the aquatic Buyierfei went
virtually unnoticed until the sharp reduction in marine life was
documented in the years that followed.

     Like their land brothers, the aquatic Buyierfei were invisible and
only left a small wake in the water as they swam and devoured what life
they found. About the only way to track them was to follow the path of
death they left in their wake.


***********************************************************************
Inside the Buyierfei Monolith


     In a heartbeat they heard seven things.

     A baby's cry. Akane's eyes brightened and tears streamed from her
eyes.

     An okonomiyaki chef's last breath.

     A lover's cry. "Breathe, dammit!!" Desperate, Sanma started pushing
up and down Ukyo's chest.

     A warrior's warning in broken Japanese. "Look out!!"

     A squeal of danger as Ryoga's black body jumped over Akane.

     A rush of air. A large black mass knocked the pig out of the way
and wrapped its tentacles around its target.

     A monster's gloat. "I don't know how you destroyed one of our
relays, but the infant will help us suck the energy out of your world."

     They all looked up to see the crying baby being carried away in the
tentacles of the large avian that had swooped in and grabbed the baby
out of Ranko and Deedee's arms. They followed its path and saw Shuma
standing with new feet just outside the glowing safe zone, that had
shrunk to around fifteen meters across.

     "Give me back my child!!" An angry red chi ball shot from Akane's
outstretched arms towards Shuma.

     As the chi ball exploded against Shuma's body, Ranma snapped his
head around to look at his new wife. He gasped in surprise when he saw
her trying to get up. "Akane?"

     A dark red battle aura formed around Akane. "Don't tell me to stay
out of this fight, Ranma. We have to stop that bastard before he gets my
baby from that thing." She struggled to get up from the bloody spot
where she had just given birth. The remains of her placenta and
umbilical cord were visible in the middle of the blood.

     Ranma reluctantly helped her to her feet. "You just gave birth...
you can't fight now."
 
     "Try me." Akane pushed her borrowed shirt down over her
blood-covered thighs. "We have to do this... *I* have to save my baby!"

     Ranma knew she was pushing herself and could hear the fatigue in
her voice, but also knew that there was no way she would sit back and
let her baby become another monster like Shuma. He knew it  because he
felt the same way. "Okay... but don't try to do it all yourself."

     Akane nodded and leaned against Ranma. Together they sent a series
of blasts at Shuma. They joined blasts already fired by Ranko and Ryoga.
Shuma staggered back a step or two from the blasts, but was otherwise
unaffected.

     Ranko looked up at the large avian which had started to descend
towards Shuma. "Damn, we can't blast that thing while it has the baby."

     "Then we kill the monster who's controlling it." Sanma leaned down
and gave his still wife a last kiss. She stood up and grabbed the large
spatula driven into the ground near her wife's body. "This has gone far
enough. No one else dies." She made it a point not to look down at Ukyo,
but the tears on her face took the opportunity to drip onto Ukyo's ashen
face. "I, Sanma Kounji, will not allow these demons to take another
life."

     The others briefly glanced at Sanma when they heard her take Ukyo's
name.

     Mousse and Rant joined the group just as the fighters were
advancing on Shuma. He took a look at the situation and looked at the
Amazon woman. "Rant, stay here and protect Deedee and..." He looked at
Ukyo, but didn't want to admit what this eyes told him. "And Ukyo."

     "Yes." Rant nodded and took up a position near where Deedee was
leaning over Ukyo.

     Deedee was trembling as she looked up and watched Ranma walk away.
"Don't leave me!!"

     Ranma glanced back. "Don't worry, you'll be safe there. This will
all be over soon." He turned away and added something to himself.  <One
way or another.>

     Deedee dropped to her knees. "But I love you, Ranma!"

     "Sometimes it's better to lose the love of your life."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Those that could were shooting chi balls at Shuma and the avian.
The balls aimed at Shuma were meant to kill, but they were only causing
him to back away from the barrage. The ones shot at the avian were meant
to keep it away from Shuma and, so far, were accomplishing that task.

     "Moko Takabisha-Rapid Fire!!" Sanma shouted and shot a barrage at
Shuma, half of which the Buyierfei's leader dodged. The other half
crashed against Shuma's body, but it only delayed his forming a black
chi ball and throwing it at Ranma and Akane.

     Ranma pushed Akane behind one of the mounds of golden strands from
the explosion of the first heart. He covered her body with his and hoped
for the best.

     The best happened. The black chi ball hit the golden strands and
harmlessly dissipated into the air.

     Ranma looked up and smiled. "Of course, this is what Yukiko's armor
is made out of." He shot a few blasts at Shuma and then helped Akane up.

     The group used the mounds of strands as cover and traded blasts
with Shuma, neither getting the upper hand. The avian kept circling
Shuma, avoiding the chi blasts sent across its path, just like the
attackers had hoped. They had little hope for the baby if Shuma got his
hands on him.

     "You're only prolonging the inevitable," Shuma said, sending a
black chi ball at Sanma.

     Sanma caught the blast on the charged blade of her spatula and
instead of sending it right back, she spun it around and used the edge
of the blade to slice it in half. She sent half of it flying back at
Shuma.

     Shuma easily avoided the blast, but missed the second half. It sent
him crashing to the ground.

     "Now!!" Sanma shouted and a barrage of chi blasts impacted the
prone figure.

     Mousse took to the air and came down with his arm blades to slice
off Shuma's neck.

     Sanma closed her eyes and whispered to herself. "Goodbye, my son."

     "Crap!" Mousse shouted when Shuma had rolled away at the last
second. Mousse tumbled away when Shuma landed a savage kick to his
stomach.

     "Fools. Let me have the infant and I'll let you live."

     "No deal!!" Akane shouted. "Give me back my child!!"

     Akane and Ranma leapt into the air as one. They shot a stream of
chi balls while they descended on Shuma's location.

     "Big mistake."

     Akane, Ranma, and Mousse realized their mistake as soon as what
seemed like fifty Buyierfei wrapped their tentacles around them. A quick
glance at the ground confirmed that they were well outside the glowing
safe zone.

     "Ryoga, now!!" Sanma cried out.

     Shuma didn't see where the huge blast that engulfed him came from,
since the pig had snuck up from behind him before setting off a Shishi
Houkou Dan blast. Unfortunately, Shuma was able to do a high back flip
to avoid the worst of the blast. Even though he wasn't killed, chunks of
black flesh were hanging from his body and his eyes were solid black
when he landed away from the pig.

     Ranko followed up with a huge Moko Takabisha chi blast. She turned
to see how the other three were doing, but suddenly saw the avian with
the baby swoop down and head for Shuma. "Oh no you don't!!" She took off
running and leapt into the air.

     She landed on the avian's wing and tried to grab hold with her good
arm, but she couldn't find anything to grip on the creature's smooth
hide. She slid down the wing, and managed to wrap her arm around the
tail that trailed from the wingtip. She grunted as each flap of its wing
threatened to pull her good arm out of its socket. "Damn... maybe this
wasn't such a good idea."

     Mousse burst from the horde of Buyierfei covering him and the
newlyweds. He swung around in a wide arc, slashing the black demons with
his arm blades. Then he swore when he saw Ranko's predicament. He
glanced back and saw Ranma and Akane burning away the remaining
Buyierfei with chi blasts. "Help Sanma, I'm going to try and help
Ranko."

    Ranma nodded and dragged the very weary Akane with him. He generated
a continuous chi blast to clear the area of attackers. The sight of
Buyierfei bursting into pieces didn't help his dread. He knew there were
many more where those came from.

     Mousse looked around frantically, wondering why there was never any
water around when you needed it. So instead of turning into waterfowl,
he ran after the avian that was now flying low as it tried to scrape
Ranko off one of its tails. Fortunately, it was not headed towards Shuma
as it did this. Unfortunately, it was headed for the last heart instead.

     Just as the avian gave up trying to smash Ranko off its tail and
started to rise away from the ground, Mousse threw a sickle-like weapon
out and managed to snag the avian's underside just behind its mouth.
Mousse grimaced when the chain attached to the sickle was pulled taut
and lifted him into the air. After finding himself airborne, Mousse
started to inch his way up the chain, link by link.

     While Ranko and Mousse were experiencing the unfriendly skies,
Sanma was doing her best to slice parts of Shuma off with her spatula.
That fact that Shuma seemed to be able to read her moves infuriated
Sanma, which wasn't helping her already sour disposition due to
everything that had happened since... well, since she split from Ranko.

     Bruised and battered, Ranma and Akane were clearly not enjoying
their honeymoon as they hobbled towards Shuma together. They managed to
get a chi blast in every now and then when Sanma was not in the line of
fire. Which wasn't often.

     Sanma wiped the red blood off his lip and glared at Shuma. "Why
won't you just die!!"

     "Is that any way to talk to your own child, Mother?"

     "I'm not listening to that shit any more!! You killed my baby long
ago and now you've killed the woman I love. Now I only see a monster in
front of me. A monster that must die." Sanma's eyes burned with rage and
she slashed out with her spatula and followed up with a few well-placed
chi balls to Shuma's face. "You don't deserve to wear that face."

     Shuma smirked, his black eyes revealing his black soul. That is
assuming he had one, of course. "You may damage me, but I cannot die.
The feet took a while and hundreds of my kind to reconstruct, but they
are simple appendages when you really look at them." He wiggled his
toes, which looked more like a cross between the Buyierfei's tentacles
and human toes. Even the color was a mix of black and their normal flesh
color.

     Sanma glanced at Shuma's feet. "Doesn't look like you can fully
re-grow body parts that are destroyed. What say I chop that ugly head
off your shoulders and see if you can re-grow it after I chop it up into
little pieces." Sanma swung the spatula around in a wide arc and grinned
when Shuma actually backed up from her.

     "You tried that before and failed." Shuma punctuated her statement
by tossing a black chi ball at Sanma.

     Sanma easily dodged the ball, and thrust her spatula repeatedly at
Shuma. Neck, arm, leg; Sanma didn't care what came off first as long as
his head was one of them. "I don't intend to let your body and head
reattach themselves this time, you bastard!" Hatred burned in Sanma's
eyes and she leapt into the air.

     Two chi balls from Ranma and Akane screamed underneath Sanma and
impacted hard against Shuma's chest. He staggered backwards from the
blast and right into the blade of Sanma's descending spatula. The blade
sliced through the Buyierfei leader's shoulder. It stopped when Shuma
grabbed the handle of the blade. "I think it's time I killed you."

     "Far past time, but you won't be able to do it!" Sanma said as he
strained to move the spatula, but Shuma held it in a firm and unmoving
grip.

     Shuma held his free hand towards Sanma and generated a black chi
ball.

     "Shit." Sanma tried to wrench the spatula free, but couldn't budge
it. Just as she thought she'd have to release the spatula--something she
was very hesitant to do--she got an idea. She focused energy into the
spatula and it started to glow green.

     "Arrghhhh..." Shuma released his grip on the spatula and fell
backwards, smoke rising from the burning flesh of his hand. The chi ball
he was holding in his other hand exploded and blew two of his fingers
off. It also burned the flesh halfway up his arm.

     Sanma swung the spatula up and then brought it down on Shuma's
neck.

     Or where Shuma's neck should have been. Somehow the soft ground had
opened up and sucked Shuma down into the ground.

    Sanma swore as she saw Shuma vanish from sight. "Damn..." She looked
around just in time to see the avian disappear into the last heart.
"Shit! We've got to get to the heart before Shuma does!!" She set off
running.

    Ranma and Akane were already on their way when they heard Sanma's
cry. "This is it..." Ranma gasped as he jumped into the heart with
Akane.

     "I love you, Ranma."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Mousse had been working his way up the chain when they had entered
the outer aura that surrounded the smaller crystalline orb at the center
of the pulsating heart. When he had finally reached the point where the
sickle was embedded near the avian's mouth he looked around for the
baby. A terrified cry rang out seconds later. "Ranko, you still with
us?" he yelled back.

     "Yes... ooof... barely." Ranko responded. "You got a plan? Because
I can't do much with only one good arm." Ranko tried to use her legs to
move up the tail she dangled from, but couldn't manage it with her
broken arm getting in the way.

      Mousse drew a long hook--like the kind fishermen use to move large
fish around--from his robe. He drove it into the skin of the avian,
producing a warbling growl from the beast. He released his hold on the
chain and pulled another hook form his robe. It was driven into the skin
closer to where he heard the baby crying. "It's more of a shot in the
dark than a plan."

     "Whatever works."

     "Just be ready to blast this thing with everything you've got when
I give you the word."

     "What about the baby?"

     "I'll have it when I yell." Mousse inched his way up towards the
baby's cry, trying to keep the tentacles from ensnaring him. "Damn..."
he cried out as the avian made a wide sweeping arc. Mousse's eyes went
wide as he saw Shuma standing in front of the crystal orb. "No time
left..." He muttered and then screamed at the top of his lungs. "NOW!!"

     Ranko had wrapped her legs and hooked her broken arm around the
tail in preparation for Mousse's shout. Her arm hurt like hell, but she
knew this was the only way to aim her blasts under the circumstances. A
stream of chi balls formed and flashed out from her good arm.

     The avian bucked when the chi balls hit and burned into its flesh.
It tried to shake off the cattle that had been annoying it. That's when
it felt something slice through its tentacles.

     Mousse's swing with his arm blade sliced through the tentacles
holding the baby. Before the baby fell out of his reach, he managed to
snag the baby's leg and pull him into a tight embrace. "I've got the
baby!!" he shouted to anyone who cared and released his hold on the hook
in the avian's side.

     Unfortunately, Shuma was very interested and raced over. He had
almost closed the considerable distance between him and Mousse when a
barrage of chi balls from Sanma, Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga forced him away
from Mousse and the baby.

      Ranko had heard the cry and sent one last blast into the avian's
side before releasing her grip on its tail. The fall to the ground
seemed endless and she angled her body so she wouldn't land on her
broken arm. Normally she would do a roll to cushion the impact, but she
wouldn't be able to do that with her arm broken. When she hit the
ground, a shooting pain went up her leg and her worries about her arm
proved to be the least of her problems. If the pain didn't tell her, the
sharp cracking sound let her know that she had just broken her leg.
"Arghhhhh... you'd think this soft ground wouldn't hurt as much!" Not
being able to do anything else, she rolled over and generated a huge chi
ball. It shot towards the avian and blew a considerable chunk of its
wing off. She strained to see where everyone else was. She winced as she
saw Shuma pick Sanma up by the neck like she was a rag doll.

     "You could have enjoyed such great power, Mother." Shuma squeezed
his hand and dug his fingers into the soft flesh of Sanma's neck.

     Sanma dropped her spatula as she fought to breathe. She focused chi
into her hands and tried to burn Shuma's hands, but the inhumanly strong
hands did not release her even as the flesh of the hands started flake
and burn off.

     Then Shuma stumbled under a barrage of blasts from Akane and Ranma,
but his grip on Sanma's neck didn't weaken.

     Mousse had tucked the baby into his chest and rolled when he hit
the ground. He dodged the lashing tails of the avian, losing his
eyeglasses in the process. He sprinted away in a random direction,
hoping to escape the avian before it could find him again.

     "Mousse!!"

     Mousse turned at the sound of Akane's voice and thus avoided
running right to Shuma with the baby. Instead, he crashed into Ranma and
Akane. They fell to the ground together.

     Akane grimaced at the pain the fall had caused her, but she quickly
smiled when she opened her eyes and saw her baby. She wasted no time in
grabbing the baby boy and holding him tight. She promised herself that
she would never let go again.

     Ranma grimaced when he fell on his bad shoulder, but then saw his
wife overflow with joy as she finally got to hold her newborn son. Then
he saw Shuma and Sanma and knew he had to act fast. "Stay here, Akane."

     Akane didn't even have time to reply as she saw Ranma race towards
the monster who was strangling his own mother. She looked over to see
Mousse pulling a spare set of eyeglasses from his robe. "Help them,
Mousse."

     Mousse nodded and drew a long curved sword from his robe. The sword
dropped to the ground when he suddenly turned into a white duck after
the baby peed on him. It wasn't exactly cold, but it wasn't hot either.
Call it luke-warm and just cool enough to trigger his curse at the worst
possible moment.

     Ranma ran towards Shuma as fast as his aching body could manage. He
jumped forward and spread his body flat to avoid a black chi ball that
had been thrown at him. He slid across the ground, grabbing Sanma's
dropped spatula on the way. In one quick movement, he slashed upwards
with the edge of the sharp blade.

     The spatula had cut though Shuma's groin, stomach, and half way
into his chest by the time Shuma managed to grab it with one hand and
stop its advance. "Nice try." He tossed Sanma away like the weight was
nothing and then started to push down on the spatula with both hands.

     Ranma only had a second to glance at Sanma's unmoving body before
he felt the downward pressure on the spatula. In his position and with
only one good arm, he wasn't able to resist the leverage Shuma had on
the spatula. Then suddenly, Ranma saw a long curved blade hit his
spatula's blade. He looked up to see his wife holding the sword in one
hand and his son in the other, the latter of which was contently nursing
on Akane's breast.

     Akane was in tears. <I'm sorry, Sanma.>

     "I  cannot die..." Shuma sputtered as black blood poured out of his
mouth and ears.

     "Sorry... but you just did." Ranma twisted the spatula and the two
halves of Shuma fell away from the blade in opposite directions. Ranma
grimaced when he saw the black blood bubble and ooze out of the body
that had been literally cut in half by his and Akane's blows. Shuma's
internal organs were mostly human in appearance, but entirely black.

     "Dammit... " Ranma swore when he saw part of the intestines start
to inch towards the other half of the body. "Oh no you don't!! Moko
Takabisha!!" He blasted one half of the body with a strong beam of
energy and caused the flesh to bubble and burn. The beam also pushed the
half body away from the other half. "I need some help here to keep these
things apart!!"

     Akane blasted the other piece with a strong beam from her right
arm. Her left arm still held her nursing child tightly to her chest.

     Mousse squawked and pointed to the heart's crystal center.

     "Yeah... I know. We've got to destroy the heart while this asshole
is out of commission." Then Ranma looked at the center and saw what
Mousse was really trying to tell him. "Get down!!" He pulled Akane to
the ground as the avian--which had plummeted out of the sky the instant
Shuma was halved--crashed into the heart's crystal center.

     There are only a few things that can crack and destroy the center
of a Buyierfei monolith's heart. A large avian with its huge reserves of
energy crashing into it and exploding was one of them.
       
     The crystal center cracked and then shattered outwards, engulfing
them in a huge black void.

     Mousse, Sanma, Ryoga, Ranma, Ranko, Akane, and her baby all found
themselves in the dark. Even the Buyierfei's leader was drawn into the
Blackness.

     Well, half of him at least. His other half had been blasted by
Ranma so hard, that it was outside the heart's outer aura when the
center blew.

     Ranko knew the sensation of being torn apart from when she and
Sanma had destroyed the Australian monolith's heart. That didn't stop
her from feeling the torment as every cell in her body seemed to be
ripped from her body one by one.

      A baby cried in the darkness, adding it's own cries of anguish to
those of the adults around him.


***********************************************************************
January 1-7, 2000 - Nerima, Japan


     It was quiet in Nerima. Considering the residents had evacuated
long ago and that the Buyierfei had spread out to the surrounding wards
in search of the fleeing energy, that was to be expected. The half-lit
moon and the debris that surrounded the disk cast their light onto the
dark, deserted, debris-strewn streets.

     The door to the basement of a department store creaked open,
causing the person that opened it to pause for fear that the squeak
would attract invisible demons from hell. It didn't. At least as far as
he could tell, it didn't. Kang poked his head out and looked around. "I
don't see anything."

     A terrified voice emanated from behind him. "Under the
circumstances, that doesn't mean much."

     Kang sighed. "I know, but we're out of food and I really need a
bath."

     Kodachi made her appearance at the door. "I don't mind."

     Kang stepped out and took a few cautious steps. "It's been quiet
for the past two days. Either they've been defeated, or they've moved
on."

     "Or everyone's dead." Kodachi clutched Kang's arm tighter.

     Kang was expecting her to offer to help repopulate the world after
saying that, but he knew that would have been the response of the girl
she used to be. Over the past few days they'd talked and become quite
close. They didn't have much choice, they only had each other to rely on
and confide in. "There is that possibility," Kang admitted, having
learnt that she could spot a lie. <She may have some mental problems,
but she's not stupid.>

     "Where do we go?"

     Kang looked towards the east and then pointed in the opposite
direction. "That way." With his giant barbecue fork--which had a bent
tine--in one hand, Kang took Kodachi's hand and walked away from the
monolith that towered over the small buildings to the east.

     "Um, Kang?"

     Kang Looked at Kodachi, who was looking into the sky. "Yes?"

     Kodachi nodded upwards.

     Kang followed her gesture and gasped when he saw the Moon. "What
the hell?!"

     "Maybe everyone really is dead..."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Kodachi slid open the door to her house and led Kang in. "Come in.
I'll check the kitchen and..."

     "Foul demons, begone!!"

     Kang got his fork up just in time to keep the sword from slicing
him in half. "What the..."

     "Brother!!"

     Kuno looked over at Kodachi with weary eyes. "Sister?" He was
dressed in the remains of his kendo outfit, which was ripped and covered
in dried black blood, although some of it could have been red
originally. His eyes were haunted and vacant, normal in other words.

     "Brother, are you alright?" Kodachi rushed to his side and checked
him for injuries.
 
     "Of course, nothing beats the Blue Thun... urk..." Kodachi had just
touched his chest, causing Kuno to gasp and collapse to the floor. "The
foul demons thought to drive me from my abode, but they reckoned not on
my noble prowess with my blade of banishing that has been handed down
though twenty generations of Kunos." He lifted his steel sword into the
air and struck a pose. Well, the best pose he could in his doubled over
condition.

     "Brother, You got that for a thousand yen at the local pawn
broker." Kodachi looked at Kang. "He's got at least three broken ribs,
we should take him with us."

     "Okay. Let's not stay any longer that we have to."

     "Come, brother, we have to get going." Kodachi held out a hand to
her brother.

     "Nay! I shan't leave my wife!!"

     "Wife?" Kodachi looked confused and then remembered. "Ah, yes, that
weird cheerleader. Well, she can come with us."

     "Ah! Of course, what a brilliant idea, sister. You are truly
related to my great self." Kuno started walking down the hall.

     Kodachi looked at Kang. "Was I that bad?"

     Kang looked away and shrugged.

     Kodachi pulled Kang around to face her. "Kang, tell me."

     Kang met her gaze and decided he had to tell the truth. "Err... you
were worse, actually."

     Kodachi frowned and then gave Kang a long kiss. "Thank you for
being honest. I will get better for you." She turned and followed her
brother.

     Kang stood stunned by the kiss for several moments, but soon
followed the siblings down to the master bedroom.

     Kuno threw open the door to his bedroom. "Come, wife, we must join
my sister and her boy-toy."

     Kang heard this as he walked down the hall. <Boy-toy?> His grip
tightened on his fork.

     Kodachi looked behind Kuno and grimaced. "Brother, I think we
should go without her."

     "Nay! I can't leave my dearest Mariko!"

     "Brother..."

     Kang slid in behind them. "What's the matter?" Kodachi stood aside
a bit to allow Kang see the bed. "Oh..."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Kang and Kodachi walked down the dark streets. Kang glanced back.
"Are you sure we should leave him?"

     Kodachi stopped in her tracks, but did not look back. "He wouldn't
leave without her and he's too far gone to listen to reason." She
shuddered.

     "The Buyierfei must have gotten into the house and torn..."

     Kodachi cut him off, not wanting to hear the details. Seeing it
once was enough to burn it into her memory for the rest of her life. "I
was like that once... locked in my own little world where I couldn't see
the truth even if it was lying right in front of my eyes. How could he
not see what they did to his own wife?"

     Kang put his arm around Kodachi and squeezed. "Some people block
out bad things and try to ignore them in order to cope." The image of
Mariko's body flashed into his head. "Some people are better than others
at ignoring the obvious."

     Kodachi shuddered. "I never want to be like that again."

     Kang squeezed her shoulder and they resumed walking to the west. As
they walked, they tried unsuccessfully not to take too much notice of
the destruction they saw around them. A collapsed building here, blast
craters in the street there. Although some of the damage could be
attributed to the frenzied Evacuation, a large percentage of it was
clearly due to the Japanese Defense Force's efforts to hold back the
Blackness. Judging by the wrecked jeeps, tanks, and even one crashed
helicopter, they weren't successful.

     "Where are the bodies?" Kodachi asked out of the blue.

     Kang tensed, mostly because he was thinking the same thing but
hadn't wanted to mention it. "I don't know."

     Just then, their legs were pulled out from under them, causing them
to fall flat on their faces. Kang's fork clattered to the ground a
couple meters away from him.

     "Ouch..." Kang looked down at his legs and swore. "Damn..." Like a
coiled rattlesnake going for a field mouse, he reached for his giant
fork, but found that it was out of his reach. The tentacles around their
legs constricted and started dragging them down the street.

     "Kang!!" Kodachi screamed, trying to get her legs loose from the
Buyierfei that had grabbed her. "Where are they taking us?"

     "I don't know... damn, I'd kill for a fork right now." He glanced
at his giant barbecue fork, which was getting further and further away
along with his hopes for survival.

     Kang and Kodachi struggled to get away as they were dragged down
the street. After several minutes they found themselves thrown violently
into a pit filled with small black balls with short tentacles. Akane and
Ranko would have recognized them as the Buyierfei babies they had
stumbled across on their honeymoon.

     Unfortunately, the last thing on Kang and Kodachi's minds was a
honeymoon when they felt their clothes ripped to shreds by the ravenous
little creatures. The blobs started to suck on their exposed skin and
drained energy from their latest victims. The bones of their former
victims--both human and animal--were strewn around the bottom of the
pits.

     Kodachi managed to break free and leapt for the edge of the pit,
but couldn't reach it. She was pulled down by dozens of little blobs.
"Kang!!"

     Kang put his hand through the central mass of one of the blobs, but
there were at least a couple hundred more in the pit to take care of.
"Hang on..."

     "I love you!!" Kodachi yelled as she was buried under dozens of
hungry babies.

     Kang reached for her, but suddenly felt a tentacle slide down his
throat. He started to gag as the tentacle cut off his air supply. He
tried to bite it off, but the tough skin wouldn't yield to his teeth.

     A split second later, the tentacle suddenly slipped out of his
mouth and the other tentacles released him. The sucking sensations
stopped as well. "Huh?" He looked around to see the blobs were just kind
of quivering in place. "Kodachi!!" He dove in where he saw her ripped
blouse and started looking for her. He stopped when he grabbed a soft
squishy object. <It's been awhile since I've touched one, but... I don't
think that's a Buyierfei breast.>

     He released his grip on her breast and then pushed aside the blobs
to reveal the half-naked Kodachi. "Are you alright?!"

      Kodachi opened her eyes to see Kang bending over her. "Oh.. I just
had the most wonderful dream."

     Kang blushed and decided not to comment on that. "Come on.. I don't
know what happened, but the Buyierfei just stopped sucking on us." He
helped Kodachi to her feet and then gave her his mostly undamaged shirt.
"I'll hoist you up to the edge and then you have to find a rope or
something to get me out."

     A few minutes later Kang climbed out of the pit and swore. "Look
out behind you!!"

     Kodachi smiled. "Don't worry, they aren't attacking." She glanced
at all the large Buyierfei that were wandering around aimlessly. Not
only were they visible, they were also not paying any attention to Kang
or Kodachi. Occasionally, they would bump into each other and bounce
off. It kind of reminded her of when she played 'bumper ninja' with her
brother when they were growing up. <Those were such happy times when we
would spend hours telling the family ninjas to randomly smash into each
other.>

     "Weird," Kang commented as he stood up straight and brushed off
what remained of his torn pants. "Lets get out..."

     Before he could finish, a powerful force slammed against them and
knocked them back into the pit of listless Buyierfei babies.
 
                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     All around the world, the ground Buyierfei became visible and
started aimlessly wandering around. Those in combat with the armies of
the world or the Amazons became easy pickings. As usual, the pieces of
the Buyierfei left after the battle was done decomposed into a fine
black dust.

     Those not in battle wandered aimlessly until their energy was
exhausted. Then their bodies started to decompose.

     The avian Buyierfei started to drop out of the sky like flies. Very
large flies. Although the pipers were small in size, the large numbers
of them and the speed at which they impacted caused a considerable
amount of damage to structures around the world. Although nowhere near
as numerous as the pipers, the large avians contained huge stores of
energy. They exploded on impact and left large blackened patches all
around the globe. Or more accurately, they added to the other already
blackened areas.

     The aquatic Buyierfei sank to the bottom of the oceans and
decomposed as their stolen energy seeped back into the sea from whence
it came.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     The area around the Second Monolith was calm. The tower of Furinkan
High School had crashed to the ground days earlier when Yukiko and Ryoga
were knocked into the monolith by a large avian. Since then, nothing had
emerged from the towering black monolith and the battle had long since
moved away from it.

     Until just before dawn on January first, two-thousand, that is.

     The sky was still dark when the monolith folded in on itself. A
bright burst of multi-colored pulses erupted from the singularity formed
by the collapsing monolith and lit up the surrounding area and buildings
in a glorious rainbow pattern. A split second later, a black shock wave
erupted from the singularity.

     The shock wave reduced the remainder of Furinkan High School into a
fine dust in less than a second. The school grounds and the surrounding
buildings were vaporized in the following second.

     The shock wave didn't stop there. Although Nabiki's restaurant was
already in ruins after an avian landed on it, the ruins were
incinerated. Not even a salt shaker was left after the shock wave had
passed over the building.

     By the time the shock wave hit the best okonomiyaki restaurant in
Nerima, nay the world, it had lost a  least half of its energy. As a
result, Ukyo's restaurant  was only reduced to fist-sized rubble. The
explosion sent the stove, counter, tables, and chunks of the building
flying across Nerima. Although most of the pieces would have been
unrecognizable among the other rubble that littered that part of Tokyo,
the mangled and twisted remains of the grill would have been quickly
recognized to the chef who had lovingly used it to cook her specialty.
But that grill would never feel the spatulas of its lover slide across
its smooth surface ever again.

     The roof of a little clinic collapsed after the walls that
supported it were blown away from the weakening, but still powerful
shock wave. The quaint building would never see a young medical school
student treat her first patient as a doctor. It would never welcome a
pair of newlyweds back from their honeymoon. It would never hear the
pitter patter of children running to beg their mother for something good
to eat.

     The fences of the Tendo Compound, as Nabiki liked to jokingly refer
to it, had been strong enough to withstand numerous attacks by Buyierfei
for much longer than the two seconds it took the shock wave to blow it
apart and reduce it to splinters. The four houses at the corners also
quickly became kindling.

     The original Tendo Dojo would have been pulverized by the shock
wave, but Soun had rebuilt it stronger and stronger every time a crazed
fiancee, pack of hairy women, or other routine--for Nerima at
least--event destroyed it. So when the blast wave from the monolith hit
it, the steel-reinforced concrete structure held its own against the
onslaught.

     But the foundation didn't. The entire dojo was ripped from the
ground and sent screaming into the sky. The sound of it soaring through
the sky would be nothing compared to the wailing that would be heard
when Soun returned to find the whole dojo missing.

     The Tendo house was never reinforced to the degree the dojo had
been and was severely damaged by the shock wave. The wood siding was
ripped from the frame and spread across the western part of Nerima. The
frame was snapped into firewood and then snapped again into kindling.
The contents of the house were mangled in all sorts of ways to the point
that most of them would never be identified or recovered from wherever
they happened to land.

     The shock wave had pretty much exhausted itself by the time it hit
the Kuno mansion. A few walls were knocked down, some roof tiles were
ripped off, bushes and trees were ripped out of the ground, and other
minor damage occurred.

     Kuno smiled as he walked out of his front door. "The weather has
been quite odd lately." He ignored the huge black cloud of debris
billowing over the ruins of Nerima.

     And then the Tendo dojo landed on top of his mansion and flattened
it. The dojo was made out of large, steel-reinforced concrete walls
after all.

     Kuno was sent flying across his garden as the blast demolished his
'noble abode'. He looked up and swore when he saw his crushed house.
"Mariko!!" He raced into the rubble and started digging into the ruins
where his wife had been sleeping in their bed. "Don't leave me,
Mariko!!" He tore through the debris. "You're all I have!" Kuno was on
the verge of hysteria as he dug frantically. He lifted a chunk of
concrete up and shuddered when he saw the severed arm underneath.

     Tears formed in his eyes. "Mariko..." He dropped to his knees and
began to sob uncontrollably. "Mariko!!"

     If Kuno was in his right mind, he might have wondered at the lack
of the blood that would have normally accompanied a dojo falling on a
person.

     Of course, if Kuno was in his right mind he would have noticed that
Mariko had died three days earlier when a Buyierfei had slipped by him
and ended her short life as a Kuno.

     Kuno wasn't in his right mind.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Kang and Kodachi crawled back to the top of the pit. They looked
once more into the pit and saw the squealing babies writhing around in
agony as they started to disintegrate. Then they looked at the
surrounding area.

     "Oh.... crap," was Kang's somewhat subdued response as he saw the
black cloud over the blackened ruins of Nerima.

     "Brother..." was Kodachi's barely audible response to the
devastation.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     As the black dust settled over the western part of Nerima, the sun
peaked over the eastern horizon and sent its rays spreading across the
devastated landscape. Giving anyone around a horrified glimpse of the
destruction. The debris at the edge of the blast zone were large and
mostly recognizable as concrete blocks, parts of roofs and walls,
mangled automobiles, and so on. But when one neared the center of the
blast, the debris became smaller and smaller until there was nothing but
a barren plain covered with black dust. That layer of dust was not
unique to Nerima, wherever the Buyierfei had gone, there were now piles
of the black dust littered across the landscape.

     When the dust cloud finished raining down on Nerima, several mounds
of the black dust stirred where Furinkan High School once stood.

     A baby cried from under the dust.

     Ranma poked his head up and looked around. "Where are we?"

     Akane was next to rise from the dust. She looked around. "I don't
know." She brushed her baby off and tried to comfort him. "Shhhh...
shhhh..."

     Ranko winced as shooting pains went though her broken arm and leg.
Then she looked around and saw the black landscape. "Crap... Are we
still in... no, I see the sun." She pointed towards the rising sun.

     A pig squealed and a duck quacked as they tried to dig themselves
out from under the deep dust.

     Akane stood up and looked around. "We did it... we got out." She
trembled as her exhausted legs threatened to boycott their current
vertical position.

     Ranma hobbled to his feet and helped steady his new bride. "Yeah...
but where did we escape to? I don't..." he trailed off as the rising sun
shone its light across the hills surrounding Nerima. Although not
exactly as Ranma remembered them due to the extensive damage suffered,
there were enough large pieces left for recognition to dawn in Ranma's
mind. "It's... Nerima." His words were shallow and pained.

     Ranko looked around from where she sat on the ground. "No, it
couldn't... Oh no... you're right." He looked towards where the Tendo
house would normally be and saw nothing but black. "Daiji!!" She tried
to rise, but winced when her broken leg reminded her that it was broken.

     Ranma looked around. "Yukiko mentioned they were going to escape
from the house while she created her 'diversion' with Ryoga." He looked
own at the pig and duck, who had cleared out a spot in the thick dust to
be able to breathe and look around. "So they should be safe. Hey,
Mousse?"

     The duck looked up at Ranma and quacked once.

     Ranma nodded into the sky. "Can you see if you can find how far the
devastation goes and try to get us some help? We're in no condition to
wander around."

     The duck nodded and took off into the air.

     Akane suddenly heard a soft sob and looked around. "Sanma?" It only
took a short while for her and Ranma to find the quivering mound and
brush the dust off Sanma. "Sanma?"

     Sanma was huddled up with her arms around her knees and rocking
back and forth. She was whispering, "Ukyo... Ukyo..." over and over as
she stared at an arm sticking out of the dust in front of her. The arm
was covered with black blood.

     Ranma rushed over and brushed the dust off the body. He recoiled
when he saw half of his face staring lifelessly back at him.
"Gaaaaahhhhhh..."

     Akane supported her son in one hand and placed the other on Sanma's
shoulder. She didn't look at the remains. "Ukyo isn't here... she wasn't
in the heart with us. Come on... no need to look at that." She tugged at
Sanma's shoulder.

     Sanma didn't move.

     Akane looked up at Ranma. "Ranma?"

     Ranma scanned the area. "I think it's over. The other... half isn't
here as far as I can see, so he can't recombine."

     "No... help me get Sanma away from here," Akane said softly.

     Ranma nodded. "Come on, bro, help me carry Ranko away so we can all
get our wounds attended to." He was mostly trying to get Sanma away from
the half corpse, since they weren't likely to be able to walk far in
their condition. Assuming there was anyplace within walking distance to
walk to. Which there wasn't.

     Sanma kept rocking back and forth. "Wounds? You're all alive... a
few broken bones, some lost blood, cuts and bruises. That's nothing."

     Ranma frowned. "I know. She was my friend too. I'll miss her."

     Sanma snapped. She jumped to her feet and grabbed Ranma by the
remains of his T-shirt. "Friend?! She was much more than a friend to me!
She was my lover! And my... wife." She pulled back her other hand and
clenched it into a fist.

     Ranma stiffened. "I know, man, I... I'm sorry. Hit me if it'll make
you feel better."

     Sanma held her fist for several seconds before dropping her arm to
her side. "It won't bring her back to me."

     Four people, a baby, and a pig stood in the center of the
devastation and mourned their losses. They had no reason to celebrate
their victory over the Buyierfei, it had cost them dearly.

     A white duck flew away from them and was horrified at the
devastation he saw. Even if the exploding monolith had only blasted an
area a few kilometers in diameter, the evacuation, the earthquakes, and
attack by the Buyierfei had already left a much larger area of
destruction in their wake. Just not as total or complete as the ring of
destruction surrounding the spot where Furinkan High once stood.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "Give me back my baby!!" Akane screamed as she sat bolt upright in
her bed and looked around frantically.

     "Calm down, Akane."

     Akane looked over and smiled when she saw her first husband
scratching her breast. "Oh... I just had a horrible nightmare."

     Ranko frowned. "It wasn't a nightmare, it really happened."

     Akane nodded. "I know... but I can't get the Blackness out of my
mind."

     Ranko nodded. "Yeah... I've been having bad dreams since we escaped
too." She saw Akane scanning the room and knew exactly what she was
looking for. "Don't worry, the nurses said they'd be bringing the baby
back right after the doctor ran the tests on him."

     "Oh..." Akane looked around as saw the other two rollaway beds in
the hospital room were empty. "Where are..."

     "Ranma is trying to find out some information. I'd go, but..."
Ranko gestured at her leg cast with her arm cast. "And Sanma..."

     Akane noticed the dark look come over her husband's face. "What?"

     Ranko gulped and knew she had to tell Akane the truth. "He left
overnight. No one knows where."

     Akane almost jumped out of the bed. Only the intravenous drip
strapped to her arm stopped her. "What? And no one saw him?"
  
     Ranko shook her head. "No... things are still pretty chaotic. Their
first priority is getting the wounded treated, so keeping track of one
patient isn't really something they can do under the circumstances."

     "Where could he have gone?"

     "I don't know. Ranma was going to check around as much as he could,
but his shoulder is still bothering him."

     At that moment, Ranma walked in and wasted no time in kissing his
new bride. His right shoulder was in a large cast that extended from his
neck to his wrist. His arm stuck out at a right angle to his body and
then his lower arm pointed downwards. The words 'I'm a little teapot'
would seem appropriate. "Look who I found." He gestured at the open door
with his good arm.

     Akane gasped and jumped out of the bed, ripping the I.V. out her
arm in the process. "Daiji..." She pulled her first child out of
Nabiki's hands and held him and/or her tightly. "Thank goodness."

     Ranko strained to see her baby. "Daiji... is he okay?"

     "Yes, she's in perfect health." Nabiki smirked. "So am I, in case
anyone cares."

     Akane handed her daughter to Ranko and then hugged her sister
tightly. "Sorry... are you alright? Have you seen Mousse? How is
everyone else?"

     While Ranko relished holding her child, Nabiki smiled. "That's
okay. I'm fine. Yes, I've seen Mousse--he's recovering from my kisses in
the lobby."

     Everyone smiled at that.

     Nabiki continued. "I know the Amazons had some losses. Nipplering
is taking care of that end of things, but she sent a squad with me to
help protect you all."

     The three others in the room exchanged glances and then Ranma
spoke. "I don't think the Buyierfei will be bothering us anymore."

     "Huh?"

     "It's a long story. Maybe you can have them track down Sanma, he
ran off this morning."

     "Why?"

     "It's part of that long story. What about the others?"

     "Well, everyone else is okay. Some cuts and bruises all around. Mr.
Saotome broke his arm. Mrs. Saotome missed her last period. Daddy
got..."

     "What?!" three voices cried out.

     "Yeah, looks like she's pregnant."

     Ranma and Ranko shuddered as they got a horrifying mental image.
Akane just smiled at her husbands' reactions.

     "Anyway... Daddy got dehydrated when he heard about the dojo. Mo...
Daddy's wife is shaking off the effects of being possessed by the
Buyierfei. And Kasumi Ono... broke her hip and tibia in several places."

     They all absorbed this information. It had been almost a week since
they returned and had been found by a team searching the remains of
Nerima for survivors or any sign of the Buyierfei. Since then, they had
been trying to find out any information on their family and friends
without any luck until Nabiki bumped into Ranma in the lobby.

     "Will Kasumi be alright?" Akane asked.

     Nabiki nodded. "Yes. Her husband got to her pretty quickly after
the roof of the shelter we were in collapsed." The side of her lip rose
slightly as she let her second hint slip out.

     Akane frowned. "Husband? Wait... you said Kasumi Ono!!"

     Nabiki smiled broadly. "Yup, it only took a world-wide catastrophe
for them to finally tie the knot. Of course, I still have to get it made
official when things calm down."

     Akane looked at Ranma. "You'll have to do it for Ranma and me,
too."

     "Huh?"

     Ranma smiled. "We sort of had an impromptu wedding inside the
monolith. Akane didn't want the baby to be born without us being
married."

     Nabiki smirked. "Kasumi's going to be upset that you found an even
weirder time and place to get married."

     Akane laughed. "I'd trade it all for..." She stopped laughing
suddenly and her face darkened. "Ukyo. You should get Ukyo and Sanma's
marriage formalized too. They both deserve that after all they've been
through."

      "Sanma and Ukyo?"

      Ranko looked up from her daughter. "It's a long story."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     A black pig ran though the snow that covered the ground, leaving
little hoof marks behind him. He screeched to a halt when he saw another
line of hoof marks in the snow at a right angle to his own. <Another
pig?> Deciding that it could be one of Akari's pigs that she kept on her
pig farm, Ryoga started to follow the trail in the fresh snow.

     Akari stretched her arms as she walked onto her porch. She pulled
her heavy robe tighter to block out the cold winter air. "Brrrrr..." She
looked across her farm and gasped when she saw a small black pig running
around in circles in front of her house. "Ryoga?!"

     The pig stopped suddenly and looked around. <Akari!!> He leapt for
the porch.

     Ignoring the cold, Akari ran from her porch and towards the pigsty
that Ryoga had just jumped into. "Ryoga!!" She lifted the muddy pig out
of the sty and started to kiss him all over, oblivious to the mud. "I
was so worried! I'm so glad you're back."

     Ryoga squealed with excitement. <At last I've found her.> He
nuzzled her chest as she carried him towards the farmhouse.

     "Let's get you some hot water," Akari whispered as she stroked the
pig's back.

     Ryoga sighed with contentment. He was home.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "You'll be safe here."

     Kodachi sat in a wheelchair and trembled. "Don't leave me, Kang!"

     Kang looked around the hospital and then knelt down in front of
Kodachi. "I've already spoken to your new doctor and he seems willing to
keep you off the heavy medication your old doctor had you on if you
continue to show improvement."

     Kodachi frowned. "I don't like him... he's so old."

     Kang smirked. "Well, everyone ages."

     "Why won't you stay with me?"

     Kang touched Kodachi's cheek tenderly. "Kodachi, you promised..."

     Kodachi nodded. "Promise me that you'll take me out on a date when
I get out?"

     Kang nodded, knowing that he was scheduled on an evacuation plane
to Australia the next day. <She'll be better off with something to aim
for.>

     "Thank you, Kang." Ignoring the other people in the lobby, Kodachi
wrapped her arms around Kang's neck and gave him a long sensuous kiss.

     After the kiss, Kang smiled and stood up. "Um... take care,
Kodachi." He took a few steps and then paused. "I wonder how the guys in
Mudwart, Australia are? It's been so long since I've been home."

     Kodachi watched Kang's retreating back. "Mudwart, huh?" She smiled
broadly.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

      "I see..." Nabiki could see the pain that recent events had caused
everyone in the room. The physical ones as well as the mental ones.
"I'll get the Amazons out looking for Sanma and then get to work on
finding out about the others who were with you. Hopefully they returned
somewhere safe. It may take awhile, since the world is in quite a mess.
As it was, I was lucky to find you here so quickly. I just hope none of
them reappeared where the Florida monolith was."

     Ranma frowned. "Why?"
 
     "From what I've heard, a large part of Florida doesn't really exist
anymore."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     After Nabiki brought them up to speed on what she knew about the
destruction caused by the Buyierfei, she had left to start her search
for the others.

     Shortly afterwards, the nurse walked in with a baby.

     Akane smiled as she took her son. "Is he okay?"

     The nurse nodded. "Yes, the M.R.I. scan didn't show any problems.
The bruise the doctor was worried about isn't serious. It looks like he
got through everything okay considering the circumstances. But you
really should have evacuated with the others."

     Ranma, Ranko, and Akane exchanged a knowing look.

     <They'd freak if we told them where he was really born,> Ranma
thought.

     The nurse then checked Akane's I.V. that she had replaced a
half-hour earlier. "Please don't rip this out again, Miss. We've got
enough to do without replacing I.V.s every hour or so."

    "Sorry..." Akane nodded absently as she cradled her son in her arms.

     The nurse took her leave and then Ranma sat down next to Akane. He
looked at his son. "I still can't believe I have a son."

     "So do I," Ranko commented, looking at the bundle she cradled in
her arm and cast.

     "Only half the time."

     "Boys, don't fight. We're all a family now."

     "Okay... but don't call my son a girl, Ranma."

     "But she's a girl now, isn't she?"

     "Get me some hot water and I'll show you a son!"

     "I said don't fight!"

     "Yes, Akane."

     "Sorry, Akane." Ranma looked at Ranko. "Sorry, Ranko."

     "It's okay... just watch it. You of all people should be sensitive
to Daiji's condition."

     Ranma nodded. "Yeah... sorry."

     "Ranma?"

     Ranma looked at his wife. "Yeah?

     Akane brushed the hair on her son's head. "We really have to think
of a name."

     Ranma cringed. They had still been unable to agree on a name even
after going though the entire 'big book o names'. "I still like
Onikiraa."

     "I'm not naming my child 'demon killer'!"

     "What about..."

     Akane stopped Ranma before he could spew the rest of his favorites.
"Or Deedee!"

     "But..."

     "Listen, I appreciate what she did for me inside the monolith and I
hope that she's safe and happy, but I'm not naming my SON 'Deedee'."

     "Okay... how about just 'D'? That's a real cool sounding name."

     Akane exhaled. "It sounds like a vampire."

     "Vampire hunter, actually."

     Akane glared at Ranma.

     Ranko cleared her throat. "I know it's not really my place, but...
I have a suggestion."

     Akane looked over at Ranko's bed. "Of course it's your place,
you're my husband too."

     "Hey, I'm number one!" Ranko insisted and looked at Ranma. "If
anyone's the number two husband, it's Ranma."

     "That's not what I meant." Akane took a deep breath. "What's your
suggestion?"

     "I get veto rights since it's my child!" Ranma blurted.

     Akane glared at her number two husband and then looked back at her
number one husband. "What is it, Ranko?"

     "How about..." Ranko paused, her resolve to make this suggestion
wavered. "How about Ukyo?"

     Akane gasped and started to shake.

     Ranma wrapped his good arm around Akane. "It's... not a bad idea."

     Akane looked at Ranma with tear filled eyes. "I don't know... I
wonder if I could feel right about that. I still feel a lot of pain over
what she did to me..."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     The next day, Sanma used a long stick to prod the black dust where
Ukyo's okonomiyaki restaurant used to stand. Her arms and legs were
already covered in the black dust from her searching. "Nothing here.
It's all gone."

     She plopped down onto her butt, causing the dust to billow up from
the ground. She put her head in her hands and tried to picture her life
without Ukyo. That's when the tears started.

     "You shouldn't be here."

     Sanma looked up to see a large man wearing a hard hat and filter
mask. "Where should I be?"

     "Anywhere but here," the construction worker checked his clipboard.
"We're scheduled to clear this area today."

     Sanma clenched her fists. "So... you just sweep away the debris and
go on with your life, huh?"

     "Huh?"

     "Just push the remains of her restaurant into a landfill and the
world forgets that she was here."

     "Look, Miss, I'm just doing my job. The government doesn't know if
this black dust is dangerous or not and wants it removed as soon as
possible."

     Sanma reached down and scooped up a handful of the black dust. "Why
not... there's nothing left here to remind me of her." She threw the
dust down and then walked off towards the rising sun.

     The workman watched her go and then got his crew to work on
cleaning up the debris.

     Sanma wandered aimlessly through the ruins of Nerima until the sun
was high in the sky. "I won't forget you, Ukyo," she repeated to herself
for the millionth time.

     She stopped when she saw a group of army vehicles parked nearby. A
large number of men dressed in radiation suits were circling a large
roped off area. They seemed to be using an odd array of electronic
devices to scan the area. Sanma looked around and realized that this was
ground zero, formerly known as Furinkan High School.

     "Miss, this is a restricted area."

     The voice startled Sanma and she looked over and saw a young man in
a military uniform and wearing a filter mask. "Huh?"

     "We're trying to determine what caused the blast. Please, turn
around and leave." The man touched his holstered handgun. "Now."

     Sanma debated either beating the soldier up or telling them about
what happened, but decided it didn't matter either way. <I would have
boasted about saving the world a year ago. Well, Ranma would have. I'm
not Ranma anymore, am I? Or is it just that there's nothing to boast
about this time. We won... but what's the use of winning without Ukyo?>

     "Miss?"

     Sanma wiped the tear out of her eyes. "Yeah... yeah... I'm going
already. I guess I was just trying to find something I'd lost."

     "Um... there was a mangled body found here a few days ago... I
think they took it to the temporary morgue they set up at Wasada
University."

     Sanma cringed and knew who they speaking of. Half of her lost
child. And half of a monster. But in the end, that wasn't what she was
looking for. "No... she wasn't here in Nerima. I was just trying to find
something to remind me that she existed."

     For the first time, the solider looked genuinely sympathetic. "I'm
sorry."

     Sanma shrugged and started walking towards the north. She had
walked about twenty meters when she saw a pile of rock and debris piled
up nearby. Her arm started to shake as she took small jerky steps
towards it.

     An eternity later, her fingers wrapped around the handle of the
bent spatula. <This... this must be the one Ranma used to slice...> Her
mind went numb when she saw the dried blood on the blade, confirming her
thought. 

     "Ukyo!!" Sanma screamed and held the blade above her head. She
wanted to scream the name of her baby, but she wasn't going to use that
name that belonged to that monster. <I... I have to give my baby a name
so I can say goodbye to him.>

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Nabiki held her newest Nephew in her arms and smiled at the gentle
gurgling sounds coming from him. "Ukyo, huh? I guess it's a nice way to
remember her. But are you sure you can handle it?"

     Akane nodded. "I hope so. I have mixed feelings about Ukyo, but in
the end she..." She paused to wipe a tear out of her eye. "In the end
Ukyo was my friend and didn't deserve what happened to her. This was the
best way I have to honor her memory."

     Nabiki handed the baby to Ranma and hugged her sister. "Take it
slowly. We'll get through all this."

     Akane nodded. "So, any word on the others yet?"

     Nabiki slapped herself for not spilling the news right away, but
she had wanted to see her new nephew right away. "Well, Shampoo and
Deeod turned up in Florida, so our best guess is that Deedee, Rant,
and..." She stopped herself and decided not the mention Ukyo. "Will show
up in the Middle East."

     Ranma looked at Nabiki. "I hope Deedee's alright."

     "Not thinking of cheating on my sister, are you brother-in-law?"

     Ranma stammered. "No... I just... She's just a friend!!"

     Nabiki smirked.

     Ranko was wheeled in on a wheelchair by Mousse. She cradled Daiji
in her arm and cast. "The hospital just got word from Akari. The pig
showed up on her doorstep."

     Akane smiled. "Good. I was so worried when he disappeared right
after we returned."

     Ranma laughed. "He always finds his way."

     "Eventually," Ranko added.

     Ranma nodded. "Well, we somehow found our way into the new
millennium. I guess people were right about it being a big event after
all."

     Nabiki cleared her throat. "You know, Ranma, the third millennium
doesn't really start until January first, two-thousand and one."

     "Huh?"

     Akane looked up. "She's right, but it doesn't really matter."

     Ranma sighed. "As long as we don't have to go through all of this
again next year."

     Everyone else in the room went pale.

     Mousse was the first to speak. "Nabiki, let's find someplace quiet
to celebrate next year."

     Nabiki nodded emphatically. "You've got it."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     A few days later, Sanma opened the hospital room door and frowned
at the empty room. "Where are they?"

     "Miss?"

     Sanma looked around and saw a nurse come out of the bathroom.
"Where are the Tendos and Saotomes?"

     "We're short on space and so they went home once they were stable."

     Sanma frowned. "Their home was demolished." She knew since she had
spent many hours shifting though the ashes without finding much of
anything. <Just that stupid rattle, pieces of wood, and fragments of
memories.> She sighed.

     The nurse frowned. "They said somewhere in eastern Nerima."

     Sanma eyes widened. "Oh... my mom's old house." She paused to
remember when that house was partially destroyed years earlier. "I guess
half a roof is better than no roof and no walls. Thanks."

     "You're welcome. They left just a few minutes ago, so you..." The
nurse stopped talking and grabbed her skirt which had been flipped up by
Sanma's sudden departure.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Sanma raced through the lobby and then outside. She looked around
frantically. "Akane!!"

     "Behind you, Sanma."

     Sanma spun around and saw Akane in a wheelchair to the right of the
door she had just bolted through. Her first impulse was to jump into her
arms and kiss her. Two things prevented that. One, she knew she had hurt
Akane deeply. Two, Akane was holding her new son and Daiji in her arms.
"Akane..."

     "You shouldn't have run off."

    Sanma frowned. "I know... I had some things to think about and
wanted to be alone for a while."

     Akane nodded. "I can understand that. Um... would you like to see
my new son?" She tensed as she realized she had no idea how Sanma would
take the baby's name.

     Sanma gulped and then nodded. She hadn't been much in the mood
after they escaped to pay much attention to the baby. She took a few
steps forward and felt her chest tighten when she saw little Daiji. Then
she looked at the smaller of the two babies in Akane's arms. "He's
beautiful. What's his name?"

     Akane paused and then spoke. "If it's okay with you, we wanted to
call him Ukyo."

     Sanma's heart leapt out of her chest. "U...k... yo..." She took
some deep breaths.

     "We can change it if you don't like it."

     Sanma looked up and noticed Ranma standing behind Akane's
wheelchair for the first time. Then she saw Mousse push Ranko's
wheelchair beside Akane's. She looked back at the baby and smiled.
"No... that's okay. It's a better memory than the spatula."

     Ranma looked around, but didn't see the spatula. "Huh?"

     "I found her spatula and pounded it into the ground where her
restaurant used to be. It's temporary for now, but I plan on putting up
a permanent shrine for her and for Maigo."

     "Maigo?"

     Sanma touched her stomach. "My lost child."

     Akane gasped. "That's a nice thought. I promise we'll never forget
her."

     Sanma looked down at 'Ukyo' and tears formed in her eyes. "Not as
nice as this. Thank you."

     Akane looked up and met Sanma's gaze, revealing her teary eyes.
"Sanma, I know this has been rough, but we can get though it together.
Please don't run away from your family again."

     Sanma leaned down and gave Akane a kiss. "I won't. I know this will
be hard for you to believe, but I never stopped lov..."

     "Ukyo's alive!!"

     Heads snapped around at the shout and they saw Nabiki run up to
them. None of them found their voices and just stared at her in
bewilderment.

     Nabiki stopped in front of them and caught her breath. "I just got
word from Rant in the Middle East, Ukyo is alive. She's..."

     Sanma dropped to her knees and started to shake. "How..." She
wasn't able to look up from the ground.

     Nabiki knelt down in front of Sanma. "I'm not sure. They airlifted
her to a hospital in Kuwait. She's in critical condition, but they think
she'll make it."

     Sanma up looked at Nabiki. "You... you have to get me there."

     Nabiki cringed. "I'm sorry, but the airlines aren't operating
normal flights yet. Only emergency flights and refugee flights are being
flown right now. Maybe in a couple weeks..."

     Sanma roughly grabbed Nabiki's shoulders. "I have to see my wife!!"
A bright-blue aura formed around her. "NOW!!"

     Nabiki gulped.

     Ranma raced around and pulled Sanma away from Nabiki. "Calm down,
Sanma. It's not Nabiki's fault. Just be glad Ukyo's alive."

     Sanma looked up at Ranma's face and started to cry. "I... I am."

     Ranma wrapped his uninjured arm around his sister and held tightly.
He looked back at Akane and saw that his wife was crying as well. He
could tell she was torn between happiness that Ukyo was alive and the
sad realization that Sanma wouldn't be marrying her.

     Akane looked down at her two children, her tears splashing across
their faces. "Goodbye, Sanma," she whispered to herself.

     Ranma looked between everyone and then at his new son. "I guess
we'll have to use Onikiraa after all."

     Ranma was very lucky that Akane was too stunned at that moment to
respond to that.


***********************************************************************
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:


November 3, 2057

     Well at least this time Akane didn't manage to shock me. I was well
aware of Ukyo surviving and my research has even uncovered Ukyo's
medical reports from the hospital in Kuwait. What was it? One kidney
destroyed completely, a portion of her liver, about a third of her small
intestines had to be removed, scarring on her lungs, and three ribs that
had to be replaced with ceramic ones. And I'm sure her body had scars
that plastic surgery couldn't repair.

     All that did leave the obvious question. "How did she manage to
survive that anyway? I've seen the medical reports and the doctor's
notes indicated that even he was amazed that she lived long enough to
make it to Kuwait."

     Yohachi answered for his mother with the technical explanation.
"Well, it's mostly because Buyierfei energy doesn't just burn."

     I blinked twice. "Huh?"

     "You remember what happened in Florida?"

     I nodded.

     "The shock wave seemingly burned away the vegetation and animal
life, but what it was really doing was converting the energy stored
within that life into the black energy the Buyierfei fed on. Normally
the Buyierfei absorb energy slowly by a process similar to osmosis, but
when they can open a portal or generate black chi balls they can convert
life into that black energy much faster."

     Recognition dawned on my face. "So, since Ukyo only received a
glancing blow..."

     Akane nodded and answered me before I even finished. "Yes, the
black energy wasn't as concentrated so it didn't kill her outright or
cause fatal injuries. The energy was still inside Ukyo, causing more and
more damage as it burrowed deeper into her body. " She looked
uncertainly at the Sanmas. "But when Shuma was defeated, the energy
within her started to dissipate as the Buyierfei lost the focus they
needed to function. Her heart did apparently stop several times within
the Buyierfei realm, but she never gave up."

     Sanma nodded. "My first wife had the strongest will of anyone I've
ever known. She wouldn't let the Blackness take her, no matter how
painful it got."

     San-chan looked at my mom. "Mrs. Davidson, Ukyo always said you
helped keep her from drifting away. Thank you."

     My mom shook her head. "No, I just talked to her."

     Akane reached over and took my mom's hand. "Sometimes that's
enough. In your own way, you helped my family survive that nightmare."

     I could see my mom shudder at that and I'm pretty sure why. "And in
turn, allowed them to fight the Buyierfei during the Black Wars."

     My mom wiped a tear from her eye. "I lost so much at that time,
it's nice of you all to tell me that I made a difference."

     Akane hugged my mother. "It's the truth."

     San-kun and San-chan joined in the hug, which went on for several
minutes until my mom spoke. "Sanma, is that your hand on my butt?"

     "Oh... sorry." Sanma tried to look innocent, but we weren't fooled.

     Akane shook her head sadly at her horny husband.

     "That's okay, I liked it."

     "Mom!"

     After we hosed down San-kun, I asked the Sanmas a question. "How
did you feel when you found out she was still alive, Sanma?"

     "Elated, the love of my life was back from the dead," was San-kun's
answer.

     "Relieved, Ukyo was such a great friend. I was devastated when I
thought I'd lost her," was San-chan's response.

     I paused to consider the different responses, but in the short time
I've known the two Sanmas I've come to be able to recognize parts of the
single Sanma's personality in the two of them. Akane had explained on
the short tube ride over here that they didn't know why, but San-kun
seemed to get more of Sanma's original memory and San-chan got a smaller
portion. The gaps in her memory appeared to be filled in with portions
of Japanese soap operas that their mother apparently watched while
pregnant with Ranma.

     Talk about being affected by television at a young age.

     I looked at Akane and she answered my question before I could even
open my mouth.

     "I had very mixed feelings. A part of me was thrilled that my best
friend wasn't dead, and deep down I still felt like she was my friend.
But a part of me wished she had died so I could have had Sanma for
myself." Akane clutched her chest. "It's not a part of me that I'm proud
of."

     "I'm sure most people would have similar reactions. I think it's
normal, considering the circumstances."

     San-kun glared at me. "You calling my wife normal?"

     I smiled. "A normal woman thrust into a life of extraordinary
events. Both good and bad."

     "That's from your first book, isn't it, honey?" Hanaki asked.

     I smiled. "Yup."

     "What are you going to use for Childhood?" Akane asked.

     "Probably something like 'A extraordinary woman thrust into a life
of Earth-shattering events."

     Akane nodded her appreciation.

     San-kun guffawed. "We never really shattered the Earth... but it
was close a few times."

     I looked over at Yohachi. "So, Akane, how soon after that did you
finally settle on Yohachi for a name for your first born son?"

     "I'd have preferred Onikiraa," Yohachi muttered.

     Akane chuckled. "Shussshhh... I know you like your name."

     "How did you finally chose it?"

     "Well, he was born at the end of a storm that had engulfed the
whole world. And he was left in its wake."

     I pondered the meaning of Yoha. "The trail of a storm."

     Akane nodded. "And Ranma came up with the chi part, he had high
hopes for Yohachi to be the greatest master of chi attacks the world has
ever known."

     "Well, after me, of course," San-kun commented.

     "Don't make me prove you wrong again, old man," Yohachi challenged.

     "First one to throw a chi ball in here has to pay for the repairs
and marry me."

     I looked at my mom and laughed. "Still trying to get a Ranma?"

     My mom nodded and smiled devilishly. "Never too old to try."

     We all had a good laugh at hearing that. The laughs stopped when
San-kun slid next to my mom and gave her a long kiss.

     "Sanma!!!" Akane shouted and started to glow red.

     San-kun smiled at his wife. "Just spreading my love around."

     "That's the problem, idiot!"

     My mom was breathing heavy, so I slid down next to her. "Are you
alright, Mom?"

     "Oh yeah... Sanma is quite a kisser. Better than Ranma."

     San-kun puffed out his chest as his ego soaked in the praise.

     Akane smiled. "Yeah, but San-chan is better than all of my other
husbands."

     "She is not!" San-kun yelled.

     San-chan blushed.


[End - Chapter 31]

Coming soon: Chapter 32: The Storm's End; Reunions and Good-byes
=======================================================================
The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings:


I'd like to thank my pre-readers Michael A. Chase, Thomas Kinnen, Johan
Holmburg, David Johnston, and Jyh-I Lu for helping me find and fix
problems with this story. Thank you all. Of course in the end, any
mistakes and botched characters are my fault.


Revision 0.0 - Rough draft began (December 27, 1999)
Revision 0.1 - Rough draft finished (January 6, 2000)
Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (March 7, 2000)
Revision 0.4 - FFML draft (March 27, 2000)

-- 
Jim Lazar

E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@animeprime.com
FanFiction - http://www.animeprime.com/ff
Please sign the Uncut Kite Petition -
   http://www.crosswinds.net/~jimlazar/kite.html
-=-
   "Unit 01, Angel at eleven o'clock."
   "But it's only seven o'clock," Shinji quipped.
   The computer-controlled voice didn't find Shinji's joke funny, so the
AI program inserted ten Angels around Shinji's Unit 01. It didn't take
long for his Eva to be reduced to a pile of scrap metal and flesh.
-=-
Excerpt from Garden of EVA 0:3



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