Well, a couple of weeks late, but here we go.
replies can be sent to aduetofpigtails@cephiro.com.

Bai bai,
Studio YOGIPIGS staff
The World of Studio YOGIPIGS: http://yogipigs.megami.net (MOVING SOON)
Sailor Moon AX: http://yogipigs.megami.net/sailormoonax/  (MOVING SOON)
A Long Strange Webpage: http://calicatcafe.megami.net/ALSW/ (MOVING SOON)

A Duet of Pigtails
By Libby Thomas (& special guest co-writer Rob Barba)

Based on the characters and storylines of Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi and
Magic Knight Rayearth by CLAMP

Part Eight:
Meanwhile....

FIRST ROUND: The Mist and Roses

"Yes, anata.  I'll miss you, too.  Take care of yourself at the conference.
Until next, my love."  With that, Ono Kasumi tapped the disconnect button on
the cordless phone and sighed.  Her husband was going to be gone to an
acupressure conference in Hawaii for a couple of weeks, and with the
children in her care, there was no feasible way that she would be able to go
on a second honeymoon of sorts.  So a reluctant Tofu had to go alone, and an
equally morose Kasumi had to remain behind.

Kasumi supposed that she could have asked Auntie Nodoka to watch the
children, but that would be unfair, she decided.  Ranma and Hikaru were
depending on her to watch their children while they were gone, and that was
a duty that Kasumi took very seriously.  She loved her brother, his wife and
their children, and she would never shirk on what they asked of her.

Besides, that meant she could live in the old home for a little while.
Since they left a week ago, she moved into her old room, happy that it had
never been remodeled when she and Nabiki moved out.  Ranma left both of
their rooms alone, turning his old room into the twins' room and giving
Akama Akane's old room (it was the right thing to do).  In fact, both Hikama
and Hotaru were asleep at the moment, and Akama and Hiro were both at
school.  The house, all in all, was rather quiet, something that she was
unaccustomed to in this old house.

((Oh, what do I do?  I've cleaned the house and did the laundry.  The boys
won't be back from school for at least another two hours.))  She smiled to
herself.  No one was around.  She could get away with it.  She felt a guilty
pleasure at what she was about to do, but as long as no one was around,
there was no way to dishonor herself.

Kasumi gave herself a knowing smile, and then went back into the house.  She
had two hours to kill.

~*~

"Man, this sucks."  Martin, sitting on a roof across the street from the
house he was watching, was bored out of his skull.  He had no idea how he
got talked into this shit.  One minute, Michael had come here to kill
someone.  The next, Donovan had assigned Martin to protect the people who
lived in the house owned by the person that Michael was going to kill, but
had decided not to.  Now, this was his only job, and had been for the past
week.

What was he guarding against?  The Yakuza?  Some Chinese or North Korean
spies?  Godzilla?  In a neighborhood like this one seemed to be, it wouldn't
be surprising if all of them showed up at the same time.  Yawning from the
relative stretch of boredom, he decided to hop down to a nearby vending
machine and get a couple of cans of coffee.  He was going to need something
to keep him awake from the monotony, and the little cans of brown joy would
do the trick just now.

As he reached a machine, he spied a young woman watching him with a gaze
that could be considered either appreciative or predatory.  She was
apparently in her mid-twenties, and sporting that "Ayanami Rei" hairstyle
that Japanese girls seemed to find so fashionable lately.  She was dressed
in a simple white turtleneck and black jeans, and it gave her an elegant yet
casual look.  He gave her a glance of his own, and she blushed demurely,
somewhat embarrassed by the attention.  But she soon recovered and gave
Martin a winsome, demure smile.  "Hello, sir," she spoke, her voice soft and
innocent.

Martin took one look at her and gave her his "ladykiller" grin; she was
obviously not going to be a problem insofar as work was concerned.  "Well,
what brings you here so early in the morning, miss?"

She looked into the street, and pouted; it looked absolutely adorable on
her.  "I was supposed to meet a friend here, but it looks like she's not
going to show."  She looked at him again and asked with some hesitancy, "So
what brings you to this little neighborhood?"  Pointing at his long-lens
camera set up, she noted, "We don't usually get many tourists coming here.
Normally they tend to stick to the more interesting parts of town."

((Damn, I should have left it on the roof!))  Fortunately, his CIA cover
solved that problem.  "Well, I'm a photojournalist from International
Architecture magazine, and I'm doing an article on Japanese towns."
Pointing at the Saotome-Tendo dojo, he said, "Take for example, that house
over there.  It seems to be a renovation of an earlier pre-WWI design.  Yet
it seems to meld perfectly; only the aluminum window frames give away the
truth that it's not part of the original structure."  He then pointed to two
more houses in the immediate area, giving enough details with a sound of
expertise in his voice that made him sound as though he actually knew what
he was talking about.

The girl looked at him with awestruck eyes.  "That is impressive, sir.  You
must have an interesting job," she said, blushing slightly; Martin thought
that she wasn't used to talking to men in this manner.

"Well, if you're free for dinner tonight, maybe I could tell you about it,"
Martin said, giving her one of his non-CIA business cards.  He'd dropped all
pretense of hitting on her, as the girl was too apparently too na�ve and
innocent to understand things like that.  ((Well, I am going to be stationed
in this country for quite some time, and Donovan didn't say anything about
mingling with the locals, so....))

She took the card, then gave him a friendly smile before handing him one of
her own.  "I'd like that," she replied.  Looking at her watch, she huffed,
"Oh dear, looks like she's really late now.  I'd probably better go looking
for her.  It was nice meeting you," she said, her cheeks flushing, "and I'll
be sure to call.  Goodbye!"  With that, she rounded the corner and headed
off.

Martin watched her go, as something stirred in his heart.  There was
something about that girl that reminded him of his Ivana, back before he'd
heard of Project Renovation, much less defecting to the US and joining the
CIA.  If he'd still remained in Russia, he likely would have married her.
But fate drew other plans for him and her; she was trapped into a situation
where she could not get out of, and was murdered in the end.  An uncaring
government told Ivan Pavlov that she was shot trying to steal state secrets,
unwilling to admit that it had been a Party Official that had her killed
because she would not favor him.  A week later, Donovan Cheng stepped into
his world, and introduced him to a new life.

Since then he'd never found love; he was too afraid of betraying his
feelings for Ivana.  From talking to Michael, he'd gone through much the
same just before he left, with a local girl trying to enter his heart while
it was still filled with the memories of his deceased wife, Theresa.
Michael might have decided that it was time to move on; maybe Martin should
do so as well.  Looking at her card, he noticed where she worked; a
nightclub down at Roppongi.  That caught his attention slightly; she didn't
fit the hostess or Roppo-gal stereotype.  Maybe she was the secretary for
the club; somebody had to do whatever paperwork was there, right?  Besides,
it really didn't matter; she was a nice girl and he'd definitely found
himself wanting to see more of her in the future.

~*~

Rounding the corner, the girl breathed a sigh of relief.  He was cute.
Really cute.  But she didn't come here to flirt with guys; she came here to
do what she was asked to do.  She looked at his business card, then pulled
out her cell phone and made a few discrete calls.  A few minutes, she had
the answer she was looking for: Mr. Martin Aston was apparently on the level
with her, and all he was, was a photographer for the Cerulean Images Agency,
currently on loan to American Interests and Securities of Japan, Ltd.  And
he did know what he was talking about.

She just wished he hadn't pointed out the Tendo home like that; it unnerved
her a little, as though he was watching it for reasons other than he'd told
her.  She was asked to watch the place while the owner of the home was gone,
and besides, she owed its owner a debt she couldn't repay, not in a million
years.  She was obligated to help, and when she was asked, she jumped at the
chance.  It was her last, best hope for redemption in Ranma's eyes, as well
as her own.

In the meanwhile, she thought it best to move to another area to continue
her watch, so Martin wouldn't be suspicious that she was doing something
untoward; she wouldn't be, and she wasn't that sort of girl--not anymore, at
any rate.  Glancing at her watch, she noted that tonight was going to be her
last day at work before her sabbatical; she had to start her training soon.
Looking at her reflection on the glass face of her watch, she sighed.
((Story of your life, girl.  Someday it'll get better; someday there will be
redemption.))  Once again, she ignored the lies she told herself; though
there was peace life now, there was no love, and unless things worked out
with this Martin guy, there wouldn't be for some time to come.

Leaping onto the nearest rooftop, she ran towards another block.  There
would be plenty of time for love, later.  For now, there must only be
vigilance.

~*~

In the private gym of the New Otani Nerima hotel, Keiei completed her kata.
Her targets, all thick iron dummies, were reduced to slagged and hacked
metal, courtesy of her ki attacks and her epic use of the black katana at
her hands.  She'd learned so many techniques over the years, so many
talents, that she was sure that she was likely the best woman martial artist
in the world.  She was also sure, that in the past seven years, that Ranma
had gotten much better.  He'd had to, if only to keep that wicked, wicked
husband stealer Saotome Nabiki from him; Keiei was sure that her beloved
Ranma and their child were suffering.  She'd been gone too long, but it was
a necessary evil, one that she had to do in order to protect the ones she
loved most.

Of course, there were other rewards besides familial love.  For example, to
win Ranma back, she would have to defeat Shidou Hikaru's sword skills, Tendo
Ranko's fighting skills, and every bit of treachery that Nabiki would throw
at her.  But though the three of them were cunning, Keiei was even more
cunning, and that would be the key to her long-awaited victory.

Slipping into the familiar black clothing that she used to fight, she spent
time in meditation, focusing on her power.  These were new koans and yogas
that she'd been taught, these learned during her last seven years of
training, and the majority of these under the master that she'd served for
the past five.  As she drew and channeled her power, her indigo aura seemed
to throb with unnatural strength, as though it was carrying the power of a
million dark suns.

As she felt her power growing, she chuckled in fond memory of her
now-deceased master.  Though he'd been somewhat of a lech when she first met
him, he'd mellowed considerably as he saw her power grow.  He'd told her a
hundred times, "I'm not long for this world, and there is no more time for
pleasure; there is only the duty to the Art."  In that, he'd practically
treated her as a favored daughter, teaching her every talent he knew in his
mind, and when that wasn't enough, they traveled around the Orient, soaking
up all the martial skills that she could ever hope to learn.  Within those
five years, she'd grown from a girl with the purpose of fighting, to a woman
who had the ultimate techniques of a dozen disciplines within her
fingertips.

During those five years, she'd moved on past her family.  Her mother and
father passed away, leaving her younger brother as the head of the Fuitamu
School of Combined Jigenryu and Bushin Arts.  She no longer cared; that part
was long gone in her life, and once she won her husband back, she would
banish the Fuitamu name to a forgotten past, anyway.  If fate had been
different for her, she would have stayed with her master, and taken over his
school; she was his heir now that he passed away, and she was likely to pass
on her skills to her child and future children, regardless.  She owed much
to him.

She thought back to the night that he died, two months ago.  He'd told her,
"You have a strong mind and a stronger fighting spirit.  Take what is yours,
and defend it to its utmost.  But never forget to be nurturing, or you will
only create your own downfall.  You will receive all that is yours in the
end, Keiei--I'm certain of it."  With that, he took his final breath and
went to the ancestors.  The next day, she buried him under one of his
favorite trees by a lake--he said that it reminded him of the place where he
met the only woman he ever loved, so long ago; he'd been a fool not to stay
with her, but the Art was a hard master of its own, and duty required him to
move on.

Standing up and heading for the door, she took one last look out the window,
towards the horizon, and the nations that lay beyond, eventually to a tree
by a lake.  Wiping a tear from her eye, she whispered, "Thank you for
everything, Master Happosai.  I won't let you down."  Taking the black blade
in her hands, she left the gym to head for her room, soon to prepare herself
for the final destiny that would await her in this.

~*~

The Vanden Plaz strike group walked out of the train station, headed towards
their goal.  The Germans, for the most part, tried to hide the looks of
disgust from their faces; inferiors though these people might be, they were
allies, and it was not their fault that the war had gone sour for them--it
was something that the Vanden Plaz would rectify in the end, after all.
Estima, taking the time last night to rob a couple of would-be bandits down
in Daigasu Park, had dressed them in more modern clothing.  Now, she looked
like a young lady about town, while Dacia, Cupra and Astra all had more
modern, genteel looks about them.  Sharan, however, chose to stay with his
robes, stating that it made him look like a priest and would aid them in
their disguises.

At the moment, the kunoichi was trying to gain her bearings in the
much-redesigned Nerima-ku; much to her chagrin, things had changed much
since her prior times in the ward.  The differences were myriad, and if it
were not for the signs, she would have never known that she was in the place
that she would most likely call home in this world.

"Well, now that you've had enough time to reminisce about your school days,
girl, could we get back to our mission?" Dacia snarled, looking somewhat out
of place in his suit.  "What is taking you so long to find our target,
Estima?"

"It has been a long time since I've been home, you idiot," she seethed, her
hand going by instinct to where she usually kept her wakazashi.  "I will
sort it out, soon enough, and when I do--ah, that looks familiar."  Estima
matched up one of the pictures in her hands with the Matsuda house, half a
kilometer from the dojo.

Sharan closed his eyes, sensing some sort of ambient force coming through
the pictures.  There was something all around them, something that tied the
pictures into the weave of life, and would allow them to find....  "The
children.  You are correct, Estima.  They are in that direction.  I can
sense it."

"Then we get them," Astra replied in his brutish, uncultured voice.  Though
he was the pride of Aryan dreams insofar as looks, his mind was a thuggish,
simpleton's one.

"No," Estima replied.  "We scout, first.  Nerima as I remember it was always
a peaceful and quiet ward, and the local constabulary was always quick to
respond to the first sign of trouble.  The children should be in school at
the moment, and not likely to go anywhere.  If we were to react in so brash
a manner, we would have the police on our tails, and we might not be able to
react in time."  Turning to Sharan, she looked at him for confirmation.

"You're quite correct--the spell would take quite some time to set up here,
since magic is far weaker on Earth," he concurred.  "Besides, because it is
weaker, I would need a power source to draw from, and the nearest one we
passed along the way.  About the only thing I can do is sense ambient
sources right now, and I sense unfamiliar, unusual force in small
amounts--those must be the Pillar's children."

Estima nodded.  "The place you're referring to must be Kamakura--it has
always been a sacred place.  That will be good to know, once we ferment our
escape plans.  In the interim, we identify the children, and identify any
possible security and protection setups--the Pillar wouldn't leave her
children unguarded, if she had any sense.  If we stick to our goals, no one
will ever know that we were there, and we'll have the information that we
need.  In the meantime, Sharan, I want you to use your sensing skills to
find the home where they dwell."  Checking her purse to see that her weapons
were firmly in place, and the rest to see that theirs were at hand, the
group went off, continuing their tragic mission.

~*~

"Wow, we get to go home early again," Hiro commented to Akama as the pair
walked home.  It was earlier than the school usually let out, and the fact
that the pair, as well as several other students, was getting out of school
early wasn't a good sign.  "I'm surprised that Principal Ninomiya closed the
school."

"Well," Akama said with as much expertise as a seven-year-old kid could
muster, "I think it's because that missile blew up half of our school,
Hiro."  With a good section of Minami-Furinkan Elementary destroyed due to
an incident at the nearby Furinkan High School, school would be closed for a
few days while the campus was repaired.  Additionally, it would take just as
long as the fighting between Ninomiya Hinako and the principal of Furinkan
High to calm down.  Likely, that wasn't going to happen for a few more days,
so school was effectively out for at least a week.  "So, whatcha wanna do?"

"Well, we could go an' visit Aunt Ukyo.  She'd be happy to see us!" Hiro
chirped, pushing his glasses back on to his face.

"Un," Akama agreed, "but she went off with all the other grownups to that
vacation place."

"Oh, I forgot."  Hiro was silent for a couple of minutes, working on another
idea.  "We could go home and play videogames for a while.  Since we don't
have any homework, we c'n play games for a couple of hours, or maybe go to
the park."

Akama grinned.  "That's great!  We can take Hikari with us!"  He was about
to add more to it when he stopped his cousin, and began looking around.
"Sssh.  I think there's someone following us."  The heir to the combined
schools of Anything Goes, looking around for whatever caught his attention.
The street was mostly empty, except for some gaijin and a woman at a coffee
shop, another woman over at the flower shop on the other side of the street,
and some scattered people here and there.  "Nani?" the young martial artist
said aloud.  "I was sure I thought I felt someone followin' us...."

Hiro laughed.  "Akama, you're actin' like you're on _Maho Sentai
Bushiranger_ or something.  You're not as good as Uncle Ranma or Aunt
Nabiki."

Clearly embarrassed, Akama scratched the back of his head and answered,
"Yeah, I guess you're right.  Let's go."

~*~

Sharan lowered his hand.  "Well, that confirms it: the one with the longer
hair is incredibly powerful for his age.  He was able to sense something was
wrong, and if it weren't for the sensory barrier I just erected, he would
have found us.  That's clearly one of the ones we're looking for, then."

Dacia looked at the two boys as they walked down the street.  "Those two
brats?  Surely you don't expect me to believe that dealing with them will a
problem!"

Sharan looked at his compatriots.  "As I recall, you three said the same
thing of the fairy, and I don't think that I need repeat the results of that
little adventure, do I?"  The man bristled at the memory of his lost eye;
the mage merely shrugged and continued.  "Regardless of the child's
abilities, waiting would be an unwise idea and one that we should not
attempt.  They may be able to expand their defenses against us, whether or
not if they know of our presence."  Reaching into one of the folds of his
robe, he produced a small canister similar to the one that Citroen had
brought to this world, not so long ago.  "I believe that we may need to
increase the odds in our favor, Estima."

Though the three stormtroopers saw the canister and shuddered, knowing the
contents within, the kunoichi looked at him, her face passive.  Finally, as
though resigned to the situation, she said, "Do as you will, Sharan.  You
may be right in this, but I would rather that we used stealth than outright
force."

"I assure you, Estima, it will make our mission that much easier."  Rolling
his sleeves back, the mage raised his hands, then threw the cylinder into
the air, the small object bursting into multicolored flames before the
group.  Looking at the remnants as it began to coalesce, Sharan called out,
"Do my bidding, my creations.  Do what you were meant to do, and find your
new homes.  When you are done, you will come to me, and I will instruct you
further."  The flames began to multiply as though some sort of alchemical
fusion were taking place, and within minutes, where there had only been
three flames, there were now dozens, each flame sporting burning, hating
eyes of unnatural life.  The multitude seemed to bow as one to their master,
and spread out throughout the vicinity.

Sharan turned back to his companions.  "We will give them enough time to
find host bodies, and they will find us.  Once we have them, we'll have
enough soldiers to effect our escape with the Pillar's children, and that
will make our job as easy as anything."

Dacia snorted.  "I doubt it.  I trust no magic, but only my guns."

Estima gave him a look of contempt.  "Then you trust in flaws.  I trust in
my blades, and those will never run dry, until I sheath them, and the blood
of my enemies flows wider than the deepest river."

~*~

Standing at the flower shop, Keiei restrained herself from rushing towards
her child; any of Nabiki's thugs could be nearby, and there would likely be
enough to overwhelm her, numbers wise though not through talent.  Still, she
had to wipe away tears of joy as she identified her son.  ((He senses me!
He's so young, and yet so strong, just like Ranma and just like me.  He
truly is his parents' child.))

As he headed down the street with that friend of his (a non-martial artist,
no less--she'd have to talk to him about not associating with lessers), she
could only vow that tonight would be the night that she would strike.  Too
long Nabiki held her husband in thrall; and as strong as Ranma was, it was
clear that he was honorable enough not to strike against a woman...that was
obviously what Nabiki used as leverage against him.  However, Keiei was a
woman and Ranma's true wife, and had no such compunctions about
fighting--and killing--another member of her gender.  Especially when it was
one of the two women who'd ruined so much of her life.

Feeling the weight of her katana at her side, sheathed within its scabbard
and swaddling cloths, Keiei gave herself a personal smile as she took a few
roses from the vendor.  ((Tonight is the night where I'll have my long
awaited victory, she assured herself, and it will be the night that Saotome
Nabiki will finally go straight to hell!))

~*~

A phone rang atop a house in Nerima.  A young woman tapped the answer button
on her cell phone, delicately trying to balance it while eating a bento and
keep watch on the location she was surveying.  "Moshi moshi."

<<Hey, girl, it's Midori,>> a female voice on the other side spoke, the
tones carrying the demeanor of friendship.  <<Still playing rooftop
hugger?>>

"Mi-chan, there's more to it than that.  This is something I have to do,"
the first girl answered.  "It's been so long...in a sense, I really don't
have much of a choice, you know?"

<<You've always got a choice; it's what defines you in the end.  Just be
careful; I don't want to have to go to your funeral just because you stepped
the wrong way off a roof.  You coming home tonight?>>

"I'm not sure, but I'll try--I could stand a home cooked meal for a change.
But if I don't, can you feed Nezumi-chan for me?"

Midori laughed.  "Can I?  That cat of yours does nothing but eat!  But I'll
make sure the beast is fed.  You just watch your back, okay?  And remember
what Jiro-sensei said: you are in control of your own destiny."

"I'll remember that.  Talk to you later, Midori."  With that, the girl
pressed the disconnect button, and went back to eating her lunch, all the
while continuing her vigil of the Saotome-Tendo dojo, and waiting for a
conflict that some feared was to come.  After all, the house and its owner
were magnets for absolute chaos, it seemed; trouble was always a matter of
when, never if.

~*~

"Hi, we're home!" Akama called out, with his cousin firmly in tow.  On the
engawa, Hikari gave the two a warm, joyful bark as the two boys entered the
domicile.  Setting down their books momentarily to take off their shoes, the
two boys were just glad to be home when they encountered Kasumi and...  "Um,
Aunt Kasumi?  Whatcha doin'?" Akama asked, completely perplexed by the sight
before him.

Kasumi looked at the two, trying very hard to banish the shock and
embarrassment from her face.  They're home early.... her numbed mind managed
to dredge up before the words of doom settled in her mind: You've been
caught.  Her hands shaking a bit from the dread realization and her mind
still unable to take stock of the situation at hand, she managed to stammer
an answer of "Aaaah...hi.  I, er, d-d-dinner will be ready in a-a-a few
hours.  I-I-I have to go check...on the babies now."  Trying not to look as
though she were running for her life, a completely mortified Kasumi hurried
up the stairs towards the twins' room, trying to figure out how she was
going to live with the shame of being caught in such an act, by the children
no less.

Akama and Hiro watched Kasumi all but dash up the stairs, before the younger
one turned to the older one and said, "Grownups are weird."  Turning to the
TV, he sat down in front of the Playstation and looked at the controller
that his mother had just dropped.  "Okasama was acting like she was doing
something wrong."

Akama took a look at the screen, surprised.  "Wow...looks like Aunt Kasumi
got the high score on Tetris.  Neat!  But I wonder why she had to get away
from the game like that?"

Having taken over the game, his fingers flying over the control pad's
surface, Hiro replied, "I dunno.  Hey, you wanna play Street Fighter?"

~*~

Several hundred miles to the south, in the Saotome household in Kyoto,
Saotome Nodoka looked into a mirror, freshening up after working on the
garden during the course of the morning.  Things had gotten quiet in their
lives once more, and between Genma's classes and her own Jigenryu classes,
things were much more comfortable for the pair.  It was only every so often
that Genma would seem wistful about his many shogi games without Soun, or
that Nodoka thought about the past and how things went.  But that was the
way of people in the twilight of their lives, Nodoka mused, as she looked at
her countenance in the mirror, idly counting another gray hair, another
wrinkle or two.

After Soun's death and his wish to see Nabiki and Ranma wed, Nodoka and
Genma moved south to her mother's home in Kyoto.  There were several reasons
for this: one, though both Saotomes disagreed with Soun's dying wish, they
had to respect their old friend's last request, and so moved out of the home
to give the two time to bond (it was a joy for Nodoka that her son and the
remaining Tendo daughters developed the relationship that they currently
enjoyed).  The other reason was that Uyesugi Otane was ready to pass on to
the ancestors, and as such, her only child would be there to help in her
final days.  A few months later, Otane passed from the world peacefully, and
Nodoka and Genma inherited the home that Nodoka had grown up in.

The house itself was a gorgeous, beautiful thing.  The ancestral home of the
Uyesugi family since as far back as anyone could remember, it was built in a
classical style that was an architectural landmark.  From the pathways
littered with sakura petals, to the elegantly built dojo, it was a wooden
masterpiece, filled with warmth and peace.  ((Someday,)) Nodoka thought to
herself as she left the bathroom, ((perhaps Ranma and Hikaru will live here
as well, when their children are old enough to take charge of their
destinies.  Or maybe,)) she thought, ((I still have time to become a mother
again.))  It hadn't been the first time Nodoka had thought of it; it likely
wouldn't be the last.

As she walked into the den, she heard the rustle of the door sliding open.
The sounds of the footsteps were slightly muffled, and without even having
to look, the matriarch of the Saotome family asked her husband, "You tripped
over the rock by the koi pond again, didn't you?"

Turning to the door, she noted the soggy Panda standing on the outside of
the engawa, waiting to dry off before coming in.  Genma gave a few soft
barks before holding up a sign that commented, [[Really, dear, I thought we
were going to get that rock fixed.]]

She looked at her husband, evenly.  "Everything would be fine, if you
stopped trying to practice your mid-air attacks, dear.  You're not as young
as you used to be, you know."  She went over and grabbed a teakettle off a
nearby hotplate, then poured it over her husband's furry head.

The stream of warm water fell earthwards, the crystal clear cascade of water
sparkling as though it held a sort of magic.  And perhaps it did, after a
fashion: while some of it impacted against the wooden surface of the engawa,
the majority splashed onto the fur of the mammal, creating a miniature
tsunami, knocking over the follicles of fur on the head of the beat.  Each
drop fell farther and farther to impact against fur as it changed to human
skin, until a few seconds later, the teapot emptied the remainder of its
contents on an old, slightly portly man who'd changed little over the years.
Saotome Genma gave his wife a respectful look before commenting, "If Ranma
can do it, so can I.  I'm the head of this household, and there's nothing
that I can't do!  I taught that boy everything he knows, and--"

"--and he's nearly thirty years younger than you," Nodoka reminded her
husband.  "Our son is still in his prime, and is the best martial artist in
the world, Genma.  And you did teach him well, dear...though I wish you'd
have taught him a few more things, besides."  Her husband's transformation
done, she went over to sit by the table, where another teakettle--this one
actually filled with tea--stood by.  Pouring two cups, she offered one to
Genma and asked, "So, how well did your students do today?"

Genma had a contemplative look on his face.  "Well, that boy Matsuhara has
incredible potential; he's already working on designing some of his own ki
moves.  And Fubuki's not that far behind him; she's already created a sort
of ki-barrier that she uses for a battering ram attack.  They're not as good
as Tendo or I were at that age, but they'll certainly be world-class when
they reach adulthood."

"That's good," Nodoka replied.  "Many of my students are quite exceptional
as well.  Perhaps, we can call our son and see if his dojo's students would
be up to a small tournament or sorts, to better the training for all?
Besides, it would be nice to see the children again, and I would like to see
how my grandchildren are doing.  We didn't spend as much time in Nerima as I
would have liked to the last time, and with Hikaru so recently given birth,
I don't like the idea of having left so soon."  Her eyes wandered from her
husband to that of a picture sitting on a nearby counter.  In it were Ranma,
a somewhat tired but jubilant Hikaru, and their three kids; the picture sat
next to an older photograph of Ranma, Akane and a newborn Akama, taken only
a few short days before Akane's untimely death.

Without warning, a gust of wind came into the house through the open sliding
door.  The breeze knocked over an antique daruma sitting on a shelf above
the counter, and the daruma fell, slamming into the pictures.  There was a
xylophonic shriek as the glass of the picture frames shattered, and Nodoka
gasped, not expecting the event.  Rushing over to the frames, she picked
them up, inspecting them for further damage.  What she saw worried her
deeply.

On the older picture, while Ranma's side was intact, the section with Akane
had been heavily torn from the glass shards, and the section with baby Akama
was completely gone.  On the other, while the images of Ranma and his second
wife went untouched in the photo, the images of the children were completely
covered by the spiderwebbed damage that the glass had suffered.  In both
cases, Ranma had been left alone, while his children had been ruined by the
broken glass.

Setting the pictures back down, Nodoka looked at the frames with a critical
eye.  If she were as overly traditional as she sometimes appeared to be, she
would have called the incident an omen, a dark portent of things to come.
Worse, it was clear that somehow, Akane and the three Saotome children would
be involved.  But Nodoka was modern in some respects, and chalked it up to
coincidence.  Though she'd loved Akane as though the girl had been her own
daughter, Ranma's first wife and love was dead now for seven years.  And
someone would have called if Ranma and Hikaru were in some kind of situation
that they couldn't handle...not that there was much that her son (or his
wife, to a lesser degree) couldn't handle.

No, Nodoka decided, whatever fates had a hand in this, omens were not it.
Still, she would talk her husband into a visit soon.  Maybe it would be just
the thing that would bring something interesting to their lives.

~*~

In the late afternoon, Nerima was afoot with movement.  Like a steady army
of zombies, people shuffled, seeming like they were not entirely in control
of their own movements.  They moved with a slow, halting pace that seemed
oddly reminiscent of goose-stepping--bankers, salarymen, students, OLs,
policemen, and every other walk of life--moving towards the residential
streets of the ward.  The gathering was likely several hundred strong, as
they were too numerous to count so easily.  However, one thing was clear
about them: they were slowly advancing on one particular house in the
neighborhood.

Each of them moaned or whispered something softly, as though they knew they
weren't in control of their own body.  A few managed to warble out a "may
the kami save me" or "Buddha help me" as they continued their gait down the
streets of Nerima with their fellow mob members.  The looks in all of their
eyes, despite their movements, was one of sheer and complete terror.  The
second, almost microscopic set of eyes on their foreheads, however, looked
and scanned around with gazes of calculating, dangerous determination. Those
second sets of eyes were looking for something.  Or rather, someone--a
select group of someones.

>From where they stood in the distance, the Vanden Plaz team relaxed easily.
This was going to be more convenient this way, Estima admitted to herself,
although she didn't like it.  Too many things could go wrong, and it would
only take one person to change the balance in a situation like this, given
the right person.  Feeling for her blades, she confirmed her earlier
thoughts.  It would only take the one person to deal with situation.

"I'll return shortly," she barked to her teammates.  "I have an odd feeling
something is about to trip us up, lest we're not wary."  Without waiting for
a response, she vaulted off the current rooftop and raced down the street,
the modern clothing she wore practically melting off her as she shucked them
for her more comfortable kunoichi clothing.  As she reached for the air, she
heard the voices of her so-called allies deriding her for being a "cold
fish" and "damnable woman."  Well, she thought, damn them as well.  Damn all
of the Vanden Plaz and this whole situation.  Things would have been better
and more efficient if they'd sent in Lady Botan's team of Nihonjin, and not
this collection of mostly stupid, mindless gaijin.

As she bolted through the throng of possessed, controlled mindslaves, she
finally saw, for the first time, the location where the mob was moving to,
and a part of her own doubtable humanity grew wistful and nostalgic for a
minute or two.  She stood before the place where her entire world had been
shaped, the only place where she'd been truly happy throughout the balance
of her life here in Japan, before she and Lady Botan had to head off to
destiny.  This neighborhood was the only place in her blessed life that
she'd been able to call home, and now it was about to turn into a war zone.

((But enough of that, Aikawa,)) she told herself.  ((It is time to fight.
Lady Botan asked me to do so, and so I will.))   That was Aikawa's duty, to
serve Botan.  None of this nationalist or aggressor ideals that the Emperor
held; Aikawa could care less about them.  Her duty was to the woman who
found her and brought her into her world.  That, more than anything was why
Aikawa tolerated the Germans calling her "Estima," or why she didn't slay
any of them who dared to call Botan "Berlina".  ((I owe my lady a debt that
I can never repay, and I will give my very life in token to prove so, if I
must.))

Scanning the streets, she had the feeling that there was quarry near.
Looking up towards the old Ajisaka home, she noted a photographer or
reporter of some sort--a gaijin, no less--standing on the roof, taking
survey of all that was around him.  Something immediately clued the kunoichi
that he was the intended target: it was the way he looked at the oncoming
crowd behind her.  It was not a look of fear or wonder she saw in his eyes,
but one of determination and challenge.  This was a warrior, not whatever he
pretended to be.  ((He might not be much of a challenge,)) she thought,
((but he's better than those would-be "thieves" I ran into last night.))

As though she lived for the very rush of adrenaline, she leapt towards her
target, unsheathing her wakazashi and roaring, *"Now is the moment of your
death, and I call your life forfeit!  I am kunoichi, and you are not long
for this world!"*  Plunging her blade into the ground, she blew apart a
sizable section of the roof, and had it not been for a well-timed backwards
leap on the part of her opponent, the battle would have been over on the
first blow.

Throwing the camera aside, he dropped into what seemed to be a standard
defensive position; a shame, actually, as she thought he'd be more of a
challenge.  "I don't know who the hell you are miss," he blurted in an
unfamiliar language that was likely English, "but I'm not about to be killed
by the likes of you!"  With a twist, he lashed out in a simple snap kick
that she dodged easily; however, she hadn't expected him to spiral down to a
footsweep, and he'd managed to luck out, connecting and knocking her off her
feet.  Before he could take advantage of it, she rolled back, leapt to her
feet at the end of the roof's spine, then lashed forward, throwing out a
stream of shuriken.  To her amusement, he managed to dodge them, although
the last one nearly clipped him.  With a scream of anger, he charged her,
plodding along the roof as he raced towards her, ready to take her down.

Estima calmly stood there, looking rather bored as he bore down on her, fist
cocked.  She began to walk away from him exposing her back to him, in a
taunt.  As the distance between them shrank to mere inches, the kunoichi
then snapped her delicate fingers, and the world suddenly seemed to warp out
of whatever natural rules it played by.

Moving with the speed of a bullet, Estima dashed towards her foe, delivering
a high-speed series of kicks, punches and chops that drove him back as
surely as if he'd slammed straight into a wall.  Finally, as Estima screamed
"HIZASHIKEN!" she punched her foe straight against the chest.  There was a
burst of light as bright as the sun, and a smoking, unconscious
whoever-he-was fell off the roof.

((He got his wish,)) Estima said to herself with a tone of smugness.  ((I
won't kill him--the fall off the roof will, if he lands incorrectly.))  Her
mission accomplished, she watched as Sharan's insta-army continued their
march on the home of the Pillar, which if she remembered correctly, was the
old Tendo home.  Was the Pillar one of Tendo Matsumoto's offspring?  It
would be interesting to see if that was the case, she decided as she
sheathed her blades.

She continued to keep that look of piqued interest on her face as something
hard slammed into the back of her head, knocking her out.

~*~

((Damn, damn, damn, damn *DAMN*!!!!!!)) the girl told herself as she saw the
crowd only five blocks away from the dojo.  She'd already attended to this
woman, whoever she was--((That was for attacking Martin!  He was just a
photographer!)) she mentally raged at the still form at her feet.  Looking
at the crowd, there was no doubt in her mind that this woman had something
to do with it, and that it wasn't going to take rocket science to figure out
that crunch time was now in full effect.  She had to do something now before
it was too late, before Kasumi was to be brutally murdered and the children
lost.

But that meant that she would have to get directly involved, and to do that
might jeopardize all that she'd spent almost the past ten years working
towards.  But if nothing was done, they would be doomed to a fate that she
had no knowledge of.  And yet, wasn't she doomed to fail, even if she was to
succeed?  Was any of this going to make a difference in the end?

The answer was irrelevant, she decided; the lives of the children and Kasumi
were more important than her own peace of mind...or even her own life.  With
a move that few martial artists could have pulled off, the woman with the
Ayanami Rei hairdo leapt from the rooftop, tossed her arm out, and snagged
the edge of an electrical pole.  Swinging from it, she bolted onto a second
roof, then flung herself straight into mid-air once more.  Spinning once,
she used that momentum to throw herself skyward, even higher into the air
than she'd been.  Tucking into a tight roll to achieve maximum time in the
air, she came out of the roll to allow her feet to connect with the side of
a wooden fence.  Pushing off it, she dived for a group of telephone cables,
and caroming off of those with a skill that came incredibly naturally, she
pushed off them and landed in the Tendo yard, with maybe five minutes to
spare before the crowd came in.  Not bothering with formalities, she bolted
into the house and called out, "Kasumi!  Get the children and get out of
here!  You're in danger!"

There was a growl behind her, and the woman came face to face with Hikari,
ready to attack, and behind him, Akama with a martial artist's look of
challenge on her face.  In the distance, Hiro sat, a surprised look on his
face.  "Hikari doesn't like you," Akama said, "an' if he don't like you, *I*
don' like you."

"Akama-chan," she replied, "this is not the time to be a hero.  Everyone
here's in danger, and we have to get them out now!"  Ignoring the child and
the dog, she called out, "Kasumi!  Get the children and get out of here!"
The sounds of thunder began to roar in the distance, and it was becoming
clearer to her that the enemy, whoever they were, wasn't that far away.
Only a couple of blocks, and as slow as they were moving, they were
inevitably drawing closer to their goal.

Finally, Kasumi came out of the kitchen, where she'd been making dinner.
"Oh, we have a guest!  Hello, I don't think we've--"

"This is not the time for semantics!" the woman snarled.  "Kasumi, there are
three hundred-plus people out there, coming to take the children and kill
you if you're in the way!  *Grab the children and get out of here!*"

"Oh my," she whispered, hoping the children wouldn't hear her profanity;
she'd already had a shameful day as it was.  "But what about din--"  The
roar of more than six hundred steps were coming closer, becoming deafening
in its march.  "W-what is that?"

"Those," the woman said, "are the people who've come here to kill you and
take the children!"  Pushing Kasumi towards the stairs, she begged her,
"Kasumi, please.  Trust me.  I'm going out there and take a defensive
position to allow you to escape.  Meet me at Hoya station.  Run as fast as
you and the children can.  If I'm not there, is there somewhere you can go
to escape?"  Without waiting for an answer, the woman raced out of the
house, towards the street.

Kasumi watched the retreating figure, heard the crashing sounds coming
closer and closer.  She didn't know that woman, yet there was something
familiar about her.  Should she trust her?  Kasumi looked upstairs towards
the sleeping children's room, then down at the two boys and Hikari.  The
sound was getting louder, and despite everything, this time, Ranma wasn't
here to deal with the problem.  He wasn't here, and a problem was coming,
regardless.

There was no time to think.  Kasumi didn't know who the mysterious woman
was, but she didn't have time to react to really find out, either.  There
was danger coming, and only one thing to do.

~*~

The mystery woman stepped out of the front gate of the dojo, stretching with
what little time she had left.  As they neared, she finally dropped into a
Chinese-based offensive pose ideal for kick attacks and called out, "This is
your last and only chance to turn around and go away peacefully.  If you do,
you will not be harmed.  If you don't, well, you can figure it out for
yourself."  The answer was a mass of humans, suddenly charging.  "Okay," she
said with a touch of sadness in her tones, "so be it."

She closed her eyes, as though searching for something deep within.  As
though a mental signal from somewhere sounded, she opened her eyes slowly.
There was a glint of light, a blur, and in less time than it took for her to
open those eyes, the young woman charged forward into the army of opponents.
Lashing out with fist and foot attacks too swift for the eye to keep up
with, she began sending bodies in all directions through the onslaught of
her attacks.  Ducking under the first blow of some teenaged punk, she
reached up, grabbed his arm, and swung him into the nearest crowd.  Leaping
over a pair of bodies, she dropped into the center of another grouping and
removed them with a series of acrobatically elegant spin kicks.

Despite this, more and more of them seemed to boil in her direction, a human
wave about to crash on the shore of the walls with her in the middle.
"Great, you guys just don't want to learn, do you?"  Completing her
hurricane kick attack, she arced her arm, backhanding a giant behind her,
punching him just hard enough that he tipped forward, unconscious.  Grabbing
his shoulders as he fell, she flipped behind him and slammed him in the back
with a vicious kick, propelling him forward into the crowd.  *"Back off
now,"* she roared, *"or I will get nasty!!!!!!"*

Over the din of the crowd, she could hear the bark of a dog, the ring of
bicycle bells.  ((Please, please, let that be them escaping,)) she pleaded
with the powers above.  ((But there's no time to tell, she had to admit as
the crowd continued to surge forward.  Despite their best efforts, they were
going to break through her attack, and into the Saotome-Tendo dojo; there
was nothing that she could do about it except to hope that Kasumi and the
others got away.  ((Now all I have to do is to get away, myself.))  She gave
herself a secret smile as she mentally added, ((easy enough.))

Pirouetting out of the path of a pipe swung in her direction, she called to
the group, "Well, this has been fun, but I've got to protect those wonderful
people you failed to hurt.  But don't worry, I'll be sure to give you a
parting gift in return!" Belting four more back to give her enough space to
maneuver, she pulled her arms back, and her ki aura flared into being.
Streams of bioenergy dancing around her as if she were the nucleus of a
martial atom, the delicate cyan shade of her aura gave no indication of the
depths of her determination.  However, something else did: she thrust both
arms out, bellowing from the depths of her soul, *"SO PLAY WITH THIS,
INSTEAD!  HANABIRA SANDANJU!!!!!"*

Her hands flaring with the concentration of heavy chi, she loosed a snarling
beam of energy towards her foes, an uncoiled dragon burrowing into its prey.
Knocking them away like so much paper, bodies upon bodies were thrown back,
across the street with gale force.  The street cracked under the force of
the energy, and the walls of the house across the street shattered when the
beam momentarily impacted against it.

Not even bothering to watch the multitude recover, the mystery woman leapt
to the top of the Tendo gate, then to the top of the house before calling
out, "Please don't do too much damage to the house while you search in vain.
It would be unfair if the owners had to clean up a major mess, you know."
Nothing further to say, she bounced away on the rooftops, headed towards a
rendezvous that she could only hope would happen.

~*~

Rubbing her head, Estima clambered back to her feet.  The first thing in her
vision was the woman blasting away Sharan's mindslaves with inexplicable
power before vaulting to the top of the roof with a skill that rivaled the
kunoichi's talents.

Despite herself, Aikawa laughed.  ((At last, a true challenge!))  Not even
bothering to signal to her "allies", the warrior woman raced down the
street, then bounded atop the first roof and gave chase, following the
mindslaves agile enough to follow this new target.  There would be no rush,
Aikawa felt; she would let the woman deal with the slaves, then have enough
time to rest.  ((And when the moment is right, I will strike, and my blades
will taste the sweet sensation of her blood!))

Aikawa licked her lips in anticipation.  ((Lady Botan, I do this in your
name, and in your honor.  I will bring victory to us, I swear.))

~*~

Sharan could only stare in utter amazement as the stranger bounced from
rooftop to rooftop with ridiculous ease.  Down on the ground, the majority
of the possessed crowd was slowly shambling to their feet, while the more
agile of the victims--the martial artists, athletes, and the like--leapt to
the top of the roof and gave chase.

Dacia looked at the mage with murderous eyes. "'Simple and easy', Sharan?"
he seethed.  "I don't know who's worse: you or the Japanese bitch!"  From
their viewpoint, the stormtrooper pointed at the two hundred or so left
shambling around.  "One woman--a woman!!!--tossed aside your 'invincible
demon troops' like the useless, wastrel scum they are!"

Sharan looked at Dacia with annoyance.  "And you three could do better?"

Astra and Cupra lunged forward, highly insulted by Sharan's words.  "We are
the finest hunter-trackers trained by the Fatherland, and for you to say any
less is a disgrace to the Waffen!"

Sharan yawned.  "Spare me your platitudes, gentlemen.  Let us catch up with
our own forces; I believe that Estima is leading the remaining mindslaves in
the second wave.  Should she fail--and I doubt she will, as she seems more
talented than all three of you combined--then you will have your
opportunity.  But until then, I suggest you bide your time.  I have a
feeling this is not done quite yet.  Not done in the least.  Let us go."

Cupra looked at the gathering below, standing around without any orders,
completely lost and desensitized to the world.  "What of your creations,
Sharan?"

"The demons will die in a few hours, and their bodies returned to their
control.  Leave them be--as long as nothing comes into the area that
represents a threat, all should be well for these...people.  After all, even
though they are our allies, they're an inferior race.  Why worry about
them?"

~*~

Down the streets, Keiei ran.  She heard the commotion as she stepped out of
the subway station, and immediately tossed aside her kimono for more
comfortable street clothing.  Now wearing jeans and a T-shirt, the woman
known as the Black Blade raced down the streets of Nerima, searching for the
Tendo home, and the place where Nabiki kept her husband and children captive
in her web of deception.  ((The time for suffering is past,)) Keiei decided,
((and my loved ones will suffer no more!))

Turning the final corner and facing the dojo for the first time in years,
she came upon a horrific scene: the house where her family was, being
destroyed by an army of apparent zombies.  "The kami preserve my loves," she
muttered aloud.  "I never realized that I was dealing with such a foul
sorceress, capable of such sinister darkness!"  Edging her black katana
slightly out of its scabbard, she called out to the foul host before her, "I
am the black blade, Fuitamu Keiei, and I command you, servants of Saotome
Nabiki, to tell me where your demonic mistress is."  In a softer voice, she
commented, "Or, I could end your unnatural lives easily.  The choice is
yours."

Despite the fact that the demons controlling the bodies of the mindslaves
were to die within only a couple more hours, they were still in charge, and
two hundred people were summarily forced to attack.  Keiei gave them all
disgusted looks, sighing, "Remember in the afterlife that it was Nabiki who
did this to you.  I have only freed you."  Keiei continued to stand there as
the mob approached.  Then, without warning, she attacked.  Charging the
nearest person, a teenaged girl, she slammed her black sword through the
girl's shoulder blade, pinning her conveniently against a car as though she
were an insect mounted on a box.  Likely, so much bone and muscle had been
cut through in the strike, that the arm would have to be amputated if this
zombie survived the day.  Keiei was going to insure that she didn't.

Moving without her blade at the moment, she cooed, "Okay, face your fates,
creatures!  You are at the hands of the Black Blade, and you will feel your
end!"  Aiming for the next nearest person, she laid a blow to the woman's
ribcage, punching into the woman's heart cavity, Keiei's hand glowing with
energy as she roared, *"Anbu Kensakuban!!!!!!!!!"*  There was an explosion
of ki, and the remnants of the now-dead woman blasted to the four winds in a
grisly display of a sanguine blossom.  Without pausing for breath, she
bolted to her side and engaged the next person, caving the man's face in via
a flip kick.  Still in the air, she aimed towards the head of a third and
slammed him towards the ground.  The person's head burst upon impact with
the street, coming apart as grotesquely as a busted watermelon.

All the while, Keiei's rage and anger were building.  ((How could she do
this to these innocent people?)) she asked.  ((How depraved is that woman?
And what has she done with my family?  Do they even remember me anymore?
Has she used her black magic to make them forget me?))  Repulsed by the
thought and screaming a soundless cry of anguish and fury, Keiei leapt
towards two more people, aiming snap kicks towards both.  Her feet crushed
in their noses, hitting them just precise enough that the bone shards
shotgunned into vital parts of the brain, killing them instantly.  Landing,
she ducks under the fist of a rather overweight brute, spun back, bounced
once, then threw a rapid punch attack against his face, shattering it into a
spray of red.

Not bothering to check on the further tallies added to the body count, she
surveyed her situation.  Some of the zombies were beginning to break off,
somehow having come back to life and realizing the righteousness of Keiei's
situation.  However, most of them continued their rush towards the femme
fatale, not understanding that they were not the predators here, but the
prey.

Keiei retrieved her katana from the corpse of the girl, unpinning her from
the car.  The cadaver slid off the blade cleanly, slumping in a boneless
huddle at Keiei's feet.  Keiei had no time for remorse for killing these
people.  It was Saotome Nabiki's fault that they were dying; Keiei was only
liberating their souls.  With both her and the kata blazing with her indigo
aura, she dived into the crowd, canting, *"Sambyaku Shinkiro Genbu!!!!"*
Becoming a moving scythe of death with her sword, Keiei began methodically
swatting away anyone in her path, cleaving cleanly in two or turning them
into screaming balls of ki-powered flame.  Already soaked red from the
viciousness that had occurred, more blood soaked and slicked the ground,
dying the black of the street in the life of those slaughtered.  Yet Keiei
continued, hacking her way through the host as though they were nothing but
underbrush to be cut through.  Her moves, were it not for the gruesome
results, would almost seem poetic, a geisha's fan movements that was turning
out to be more of a danse macabre than a fan dance.

Something whistled by her head, and Keiei ducked forward, avoiding an attack
by someone who seemed to have a slight talent for fighting.  Spinning to
face her opponent, he punched towards her, the second hit almost connecting
as well. The Black Blade dropped back momentarily, surveying her current
dance partner.  "Hmmm.  You're almost good enough to be an actual challenge.
Almost."  With that comment, Keiei rushed in, grabbed and twisted the
attacker's arm, then delivered a pinpoint strike to paralyze it.  With that
done, she then opened fire with a volley of rapid punch attacks, turning him
into so much pulp.  The remains of her attacker fell to the floor with a
liquid slurp, and Keiei moved on to the next batch.

((This is taking way too long to deal with them,)) she realized.  ((Well, if
I'm going to have my vengeance against that harridan, I've got no choice.))
Calling up her indigo aura once more, she moved into a position where she
could face the remainder of the zombified army she faced.  "Time to end
this!" she said as she slammed her blade into the floor.  Spreading her arms
out, she screamed out the name of her trademark attack: *"TSUGARU
WAVE!!!!!"*  The sunken point of the blade and the palms of her hands became
the focal point for a triangle of force, and a massive lance of ki rocketed
forward, almost as wide as the street itself.  The mob, unable to move in
time to avoid the attack, was swept up in the powerful wave, a river of
energy swatting aside mere insignificant debris in its raging, angry path.
For a moment, it seemed that the whole world in that area was blotted out by
an onslaught of dark, burning ki that obliterated everything in its path.

When the dust settled, Keiei stood at the apex of a cone of absolute
destruction spreading out for a quarter-kilometer distance.  Left smoking
were the scorched remains of houses, slagged and melted cars and mailboxes,
scarred and cracked utility poles...and dozens upon dozens of bodies, all
burnt to a crisp.  Not a single person had survived the onslaught of the
Tsugaru Wave, and it was likely that any aid would be coming from Civil
Disaster agencies, not the police.  None of it concerned Keiei, though.  She
did what she had to, and though she was sorry that some had to die, the
blame for this fell squarely on Nabiki as though the woman had pulled the
trigger herself.  With the distraction gone, Keiei grabbed her katana and
raced through the front gates of the home, ready to face...

...emptiness.  The house had been abandoned, left alone.  There was the
smell of something that had been cooking; the doors hadn't even been locked.
The whole zombie scene had been naught but a ruse, something to delay Keiei
while Nabiki spirited away Ranma and her son.  "No...no...."  Keiei's face
was a mask of total shock.  *"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"* she howled as she dropped
to the floor, her eyes welling with tears.  "Ranma...my baby...she took you
both from me...."  The Black Blade's tears fell towards the tatami mats, her
sorrow and anguished cries heard seemingly for miles around.  In her pain,
she began to punch the floor, not caring that she was leaving increasingly
larger holes in the mats and the foundation beneath.

However, fortune smiled on her.  Out of the corner of her eye, a small, blue
piece of paper stuck out.  Perceiving it to be an omen, she grabbed for it,
hoping it to be a lifeline.  Taking the ticket stub in her hand, she read
and found it to be a ticket stub from Tokyo station, from this morning no
less.  ((Tokyo...that's where the shinkansens are!))

Keiei leapt to her feet, sliding her ebon sword back into its scabbard.  It
was a chance on the level of needles and haystacks, but it was one,
nonetheless.  If she was ever going to have a shot at peace in her life and
to win back the family that had been wrenched from her grasp, she was going
to have to take that risk.  Racing outside of the home and taking only the
time to lock the place that would be her home when she and her family
returned victoriously, Keiei leapt to the roof and began roof hopping
towards the local train station as fast as she could push herself.  Nabiki's
forces, whoever they were, had a lead on Keiei; but she was the Black Blade,
the best female martial artist in the world, and there was no way that she
would lose the most important battle of her life.

She was already well out of the area by the time the sirens began to sound.

~*~

Taking the time to have the boys lock up the bicycles at the rack at Seibu
Hoya station, Kasumi checked the infants.  ((They're fine, thank God.  I was
worried that....))  She shook her head, still unable to believe the words
that the stranger had told her.  Why would anyone want to kill her?  Or take
the children?  Was it related to what the others were involved in?  Might it
even be related to something that involved Ranma and Akane, instead of Ranma
and Hikaru?  There was a precedent of people popping up after an extended
time, from Ryoga and Ukyo to Fuitamu Keiei and dozens in-between.  And why
would they get several hundred people to do it?  It just didn't make
sense--even some of the worst people that Ranma had encountered previously
never stooped to the point of having someone else do their dirty work for
them.

Kasumi took a deep breath, trying to calm down.  There was no reason to get
the children worked up about an already tense situation.  Looking at the
boys as they stared up at her with curious glances, it made her already
wonder how much they knew.  Akama had that look in his eyes that were
similar to when Ranma faced a challenge; considering the events that
occurred at Fujikyu, the boy was no stranger to conflict.  Hiro patted
Hikari nervously, while the dog was still panting heavily from the lengthy
trip here.  The infants of course, were asleep, having no idea that they
were in any sort of danger and not being able to--

Movement came from the bushes by the front entrance, far swifter than the
homemaker could react.  "It's okay; it's just me."  The mystery woman moved
towards them, having landed over by the shrubs.  She looked like she'd fared
well against the onslaught she faced, but there was a look on her face that
was so sad, so...fearful?  Kasumi noted that she was now speaking in soft,
respectful tones to her, as though she were the empress, and wasn't even
looking straight at her, as though the girl bore a great shame.  "I don't
think they'll be after you any longer, if you go somewhere safe for a
while," the woman noted, "though I'll protect you all the way.  Do you have
somewhere where you can go?"

Kasumi, already concerned about the mounting level of danger, answered
immediately and without hesitation.  "I can go to the Saotomes down in
Kyoto.  They'll...protect...us," she said, her mouth moving around the
discomforting words.  "But I have no way to get there.  I left my purse at
the dojo, and it's probably...not safe to go back.  And I don't have a way
to contact Auntie."

"I'll pay for your trip," the woman said, still not able to face Kasumi.
"We'll have to catch the last shinkansen out of Tokyo JR station; it's the
only way to make sure that we get there before the others find out where
we're going."  She looked into the sunset, searching for the enemies that
were clearly coming closer, searching for them and knowing they were
relatively close.  Ushering them through the turnstile with her train pass,
she said, "We'll have to move quickly.  I don't think they're too far behind
us, and it's not going to take rocket science to know we're going to catch
rail out of the area."  The woman held up her cell phone, and said, "When we
get on the train, I want you to call the Saotomes.  They have to know you're
coming, or else we could be in a heap of trouble."

Kasumi nodded, not wanting to take the phone while she was carrying Hikama
and Hotaru.  However, she gave the woman a grateful nod as they moved
towards the track where the train would arrive in just a few moments.
Looking at the woman, a thought finally crossed her mind, and though it was
something she usually wouldn't say, the safety of the children was far more
important right now than appearances.  "I don't mean to sound rude, but why
are you helping us?  As my younger sister would say, what's in it for you?"

The woman jerked as though she'd been shot.  Likely not through conscious
motion, the woman with the "Ayanami Rei gone metropolitan" look turned to
Kasumi, a look of invaluable sorrow and something else--fear.  The woman's
eyes seeming to warble on the verge of tears, she spoke, her voice carrying
the tone of someone whose heart of hearts would break at the next phrase:
"Because you're my last chance to come home, and if I lose that, I lose my
last chance to rejoin the family that I've been separated from for the
torturous part of forever."  There was an eternal second, and the damn
finally broke, a solitary tear trailblazing a path down the frontier of her
right cheek.  "I can't take the loneliness anymore...."

Kasumi, after all this time, finally got a good look at the woman's face,
all sections of the puzzle finally becoming clear.  "Oh my...it's been so
long...where have you been all these years?"

The words from Akama, though, cut even closer to the mark.  "Aunt Kasumi,
isn't that the woman that Otosan has a picture of in the dojo?"

~*~

Over the rooftops they moved, as sure and swift as anything.  Various
martial artists, from several sections of Tokyo, converged towards the area
where they could feel the ki of the young child.  These fighters, though
nowhere as near as talented as Saotome Ranma or his contemporaries, were
still formidable, and they additionally had the advantage of numbers.  Many
of them knew Ranma, even admired him and his talents in the art.  Most of
them felt absolute shame at what was occurring.

But the creatures in their minds did not care, did not even know that
emotion.  They were created for the sole purpose of possessing a body to
capture the children, and removing any obstacle in the path.  They weren't
worried at all about what the martial artists felt, that some of them could
not bear the shame of chasing after small babes and killing an innocent
woman who was their guardian, or the mysterious one who'd stepped in as
their protector.  No, the demons in the minds of the seventy or so martial
artists didn't care...

...but the artists did.  And almost choreographically, each shed a single,
solitary tear to wash away into the dying light of the setting sun, the
chance of the tears surviving as low as the sun reversing course that late
in the day.  And as they arrived at the train station, the tears ran out,
and the terror began once again.

~*~

Thankfully on time, the train rolled towards its destination with the track,
slowing to come to a stop to debark and embark.  People poured out of the
train, headed off to their destinations and completely unaware of the family
reunion now taking place at Track 2 in Hoya station.

Kasumi looked at the woman again, then back to Akama.  She smiled in pride
at her nephew's sharp mind; though he had no idea yet who Saotome Akane was,
he tried to make a connection between his birth mother and the woman
standing before him.  And he wouldn't be wrong; not entirely.  There were
similarities, but...

"No, Akama-chan, this isn't her," Kasumi answered, careful not to make a
reference to Akane.  Though it hurt her to not talk to her sister's namesake
about the youngest Tendo daughter, it was Ranma's business to tell Akama
about the woman that bore and died for him, and not Kasumi's.  Leaning down
by her nephew and including her son as well, she gestured at the woman who
was nervously watching for the sudden appearance of unwanted party crashers.
"Akama-chan, Hiro-chan, this is someone you haven't met before: your aunt,
Kodachi."

"Who?" Hiro asked, still hugging Hikari for support.

"I'm your Uncle Tatewaki's younger sister."  Kuno Kodachi turned back to the
people with her, and it became clear that she was nervous about something,
and it might be more than just their attackers.  Considering what she'd said
to Kasumi half an hour earlier, it might have had an effect on things as
well.  "This is the first time I've seen Kasumi in eight years or so and..."
She paused for a second, cocking her ears as if expecting something.
Without warning, she shoved everyone onto the train while people were still
debarking as she screamed to everyone in the vicinity, *"GET DOWN!"*

The deck to the side of her exploded into shards of concrete as a beam of ki
bored into it.  Kodachi was thrown violently from her feet, but a quick tuck
and roll allowed her to land safely.  Meanwhile, the train doors closed as
it began to pull away from the station, and to immediate if not complete
safety.  Kodachi took a second to look at the back of the train and with a
sigh of relief, caught the words on the marquee: EXPRESS.  ((Good; it won't
stop until it gets to Tokyo.  But I've got to keep these guys away from that
train!  Well, hope all my gymnastics training works.))  With that, Kodachi
bolted after the train, running as fast as she could, her pursuers arriving
in force at any minute.  Dodging other travelers left and right, she wove
through the crowd, trying to catch the train before it completely left the
station, racing against the tail end of the iron dragon as it began to pick
up speed.

The second wave, propelled by their possessors, rushed into the building en
masse, watching for the train.  Seeing what was going on, they gave chase,
taking the time to launch ki strikes towards her, burning and coring through
anything in the path of the projectiles, whether it be pillars, newsstands,
vending machines, or innocent people caught in the crossfire.  Within
seconds, the track ramp area began to look more akin to something out of a
science fiction film than the cold, brutal reality that it had actually
become; unlike a film, there was no way to yell cut and certainly no way for
the wounded and dead to get off the floor and resume normal life.

Blasts of ki exploding all around her, she reached the end of the station,
and with a leap of faith, vaulted towards the end of the train.  Catching
the handle on the door at the end, it snapped off, and with no other
handholds, Kodachi fell towards the tracks, with the train already closing
in on its speed.  By some miracle, she managed to twist at the last second
and grab the car-link at the bottom of the train and held on for dear life,
her body painfully dragged along the tracks as she scrambled against
friction to get onto a safer perch, the ki bursts lessening as she got out
of range of projection.  Somehow, she managed to pull herself atop the latch
and from there, leapt onto the top of the train, gasping heavily as she
surveyed the damage.

Tearing off her sweater, she made quick bandages for the cuts and scrapes
that she'd picked up during her "ride"; she'd have to replace the pants as
soon as she got a chance.  She suffered no serious injuries, but there were
limits to her strength, and she was approaching them.  Flopping back against
the flat surface of the car, trying to regain strength and watching the
shadows lengthen as the sun began to set.  ((At least I'm on the train,))
she mused.  ((I can last out the ride here and take the comfiest seat in the
shinkansen when we head to Kyoto.  The kami know I deserve it.))

That brought mind something else, as well.  ((Now that the danger's over,
what am I going to do?  Once we get there....  I don't know if I can stand
it anymore.))  She was glad that no one else was in sight.  She didn't want
to have to explain her tears, the melancholy caused not by the injuries or
pain she'd picked up in the dash but from something that ran deeper, that
cut to the marrow.

"Awww...the poor girl is crying."  At the sound of that, Kodachi opened her
eyes, leapt to her feet, and turned around.  Standing behind her were the
remaining martial artists that managed to catch up to her; quite a sizable
contingent.  Looking at them, their faces seemed to be a look of shock, as
though they didn't want to do this.  But that wasn't the creepy part.  That
honor belonged to the pulsing twin furnaces of light on their foreheads that
somehow reminded her of a second pair of eyes, like the lost eyes of the
damned.

((What have I gotten myself into?  What have *they* gotten themselves
into?))  Kodachi briefly glanced at the train car beneath her and her
charges within.  ((Demons?  What is going on here?))

Despite the look of abject horror on his face, the one who'd spoken to her
crossed his arms and said to her in a condescending manner, "If you
surrender the children now, I promise that you and the other woman will meet
with painless deaths."  It was eerie, to see a face so sad and submissive
speak to her in a voice that was so dark and threatening.

Kodachi never cared much for threats in any case.  Her eyes narrowed in
challenge as she tensed, ready for the inevitable attack at any moment.
"And if I don't?"

"I was hoping you were going to say that, actually."  Quick as lighting, the
man lashed out with a ki-charged chop, intending to break her neck in a
single blow...

...and hitting nothing but air as Kodachi flipped over the group and
cartwheeled to the end of the train.  "Oh, please--you're going to have to
do better than that to hit Kuno Kodachi, the Dancing Rose!"  Waving her hand
in a taunting manner and grinning ferally, she snarled, "C'mon!"  The looks
on some of their faces became shock as they heard her name; some of them
knew her reputation.  ((All the better, then.))  "Let's start this dance!"

"Attack!" her opponent shouted, urging the enemies to approach her with
deadly intent.  Carrying all manner of weapons and representing several
martial styles, the group at hand was sure of their victory.  She was
talented enough to hold off a general mob, and swift and agile enough to
catch a moving train, but she couldn't defeat a standing group of masters of
the combat arts.  There was no way.

As for Kodachi, she laughed softly and grinned as her battle aura kicked in.
There was an explosion of aqua-hued, glowing rose petals, and they began to
encircle the woman as if she were the center of an atom or the star of a
solar system.  There was a serene look on the face of the woman for a
second, which quickly faded back into the cocky grin.

The martial artists rushed towards her at once, ready to deal with the easy
target at hand.

She just smiled coyly, bowed slightly, and looked at them with eyes of
boredom before calling out,

*"TAIKYOKUKEN SENJU KOMBO!!!!"*

~*~

>From within the train, Kasumi held the twins as close as she dared while
moving to the front of the train.  Hikari growled and barked occasionally at
the commotion on the roof, while Akama stepped in front of Hiro as to defend
his weaker cousin.  "Aunt Kasumi," Akama asked, "is she really Uncle
Tatewaki's sister?"

"Yes she is, Akama-chan," Kasumi answered quickly, while deciding to usher
the children to another car as a massive blow dented the ceiling of the care
they were in.  The train was mostly empty, as most of the people had run
from the commotion; the train engineer, in his soundproofed control room,
had never heard the commotion at the end of the train.  "She's been gone a
long time.  A very long time, even before you were born."

"So she's come to help us, ne?"   There was a roar of an explosion of some
sort, and a bump of something falling from the train.  "She seems good."

"She is, Akama-chan," Kasumi said, opening the door to the next car.  "She's
almost as good as your father, though she has a different style than he
does, from what I understand."  A ki beam, looking like a bolt of lightning
if it were composed with hundreds of turquoise-colored rose petals, bored
into the previous car, slicing off a good section of it.  Kasumi, not
wanting anyone to be in the path of any successive beans, shooed the boys
into the car and then headed to the next, Hikari moving ahead of the pack as
if scouting the way to safety.

Hikama cried out a loud peal as he woke up, also waking up his sister in the
process.  Kasumi tried her hardest not to frown in front of the boys.  ((I
didn't need this,)) she admitted to herself.  Turning her head slightly, she
saw through the car windows into the Tokyo skyline.  The train passed an
electrical pole, but not before she saw someone violently slammed against
the pole, bouncing off it like a plush doll.

"Let's go, you two," she said with a pleasantness she really didn't feel at
the moment.  A serious war was erupting above her, the babies were crying,
her nephew and son were getting underfoot as well as Hikari, and her hair
was loose, having lost her hair scrunchie some time ago.  This was not
turning out to be one of Kasumi's better days, not in the least.

~*~

Racing alongside from a distance, Estima analyzed her future foe.  From
first glance, it seemed that it would be a short battle, and that the
platoon of martial artists were moving in for an easy kill.  The true answer
came as five of them were thrust back and off the train, propelled by a
tsunami of powerful blows that could have only been a high-speed punch of
some sort.  A blur of white, black and blood-red lashed out, tight-rolled in
mid-air, landed and then dived into the next batch, moving in ways that only
a gymnast or a dancer could, not being tagged while she appeared to be able
to score punishing hits in any direction.  A pair of them tried to
double-team her, only to be flung from the train by some sort of diagonal
whirlwind kick, completed with an overhead arc kick that slammed them
completely off the track area.   Unfazed, the woman moved like a bullet,
taking out five more before one could even begin an assault on her.

((Hrm...she seems like a dancer, yet I can see several karate and kung fu
moves in her repertoire.))  The woman nimbly danced out of range of a sai
attack, then leapt over him and threw a punch that dropped the artist.
Without blinking an eye, the girl caught the sai as it fell, used it to
parry a sword blow, then knocked the blade aside with the sai and knocked
the swordsman aside with a vicious spin kick that sent him spinning towards
a station that the train passed through without stopping.  ((That last move
seemed to be ballet-based in origin, yet it was turned into a kick strike.
Interesting.  She's taken martial arts, dance, and gymnastics and woven all
three seamlessly, as well as several other styles that I can't recognize.))

Meanwhile, the dancer in question downed three more with a rapid punch
attack that was fast, though not so fast that the kunoichi couldn't counter.
((Wild, variant style, switches from one set of attacks to another, and
highly unpredictable.  Agile and strong, and able to withstand and
counterpoint a lot of damage.))  Engaging a nunchaku master, she quickly
caught one bar in mid-swing, ripped it from the master's hands, then used it
on him, turning it against three more combatants before flinging them at the
legs of a fifth, a makeshift bolo that tagged him with a combination of luck
and precision.  Doing the spilts, she ducked under two attacks at once, then
spun and leapt up, legs first in a vertical inverted hurricane kick that was
popular with Chinese wu-shu artists.  Completing her move, she got the drop
on two more, using her rapid punch attack on them.

So far, by Estima's count, the dancer had faced some of the best combatants
in the area, all masters in their various arts, and yet she was still in the
running, without taking a hit herself.  Silently, the female ninja started
to cheer on her future enemy.  If she survived this, she would be ideal for
fighting against, every bit the equal to the kunoichi's skills...

...and every bit the perfect sobriquet when Estima took the woman's life on
her wakazashi.

~*~

Moving her hands back from the Grand Attack of 1000 Fists, Kodachi moved
into defensive mode, allowing herself two whole seconds to catch her breath.
So far, she'd managed to hold her own in a situation she'd never been in
before--compared to this, Anything Goes Martial Arts Combat Gymnastics
events were a walk in the park.  The more she took down, it seemed, the more
there were of them.  ((There's got to be an end to this soon; I'm starting
to wear down!))

A piercing whistle shrieked through the air, and the floor evaporated
underneath Kodachi's feet.  Managing to somehow leap at the last possible
second before her footholds disintegrated, she vaulted back as far as she
could, all the way to the next car, and nearly over the side.  A quick
mid-air spin and a lucky grab caught afforded her the side of the train, and
she watched as the car she'd been on detached violently from the train
before exploding in a conflagration of power that shattered the rail bridge
that the train had rolled over a mere second or two previous.  Swinging back
up to the top of the car and having to do the splits immediately thereafter
to avoid the low clearance of a tunnel, as the train went underground.  As
soon as there was standing room again, Kodachi scrambled back to her feet in
the dim light, searching for the attacker or attackers who blew apart the
previous car and jeopardized so many li--

Instinct called her to hit the deck once more, as a great volley of ki
blasts ripped through the air above her.  Wasting no time, Kodachi rolled
forward, out of the line of fire and right into...

...ten people, ki-strikes at the ready.  Kodachi stared at them with looks
of annoyance, then immediately pounced forward, their blasts missing her by
seconds as the burst shredded the section where she'd been a split second
before.  Angry, she didn't even bother to call out her attack as
traditional, merely counterattacking with her Rose Petal Shotgun ki blast,
setting her opponents ablaze and carving a sizable dent in the tunnel's
side.  The last of them fell, the threat apparently over.

As the train passed through an underground station enroute to the goal of
Tokyo station, Kodachi dropped to her knees, gasping with relief and wiping
the sweat and blood off her brow.  She was hurting, but she'd survived this
far, and when they got onto the bullet train, she was definitely going to
commandeer the softest chair they had and put it to good use.

Clapping sounded behind her.  Scrambling once more to her feet, she turned
and saw what must be the master in charge of this whole mess, a woman
dressed in kunoichi gear, carrying two wakazashi and stood there with an air
of supreme confidence.  Her green eyes didn't seem like they belonged on a
person; they seemed too animalistic; likewise, her jet-black hair didn't
seem right, though it seemed natural.  Standing there with a poise of ease,
she seemed more a sort of spirit or mononoke than a person.

"Excellent work, miss.  You've made short work of my men," the woman called
to her in a deceptively calming, almost seductive tone.  "You are a grand
fighter."

"Go away," Kodachi snarled.  "I don't have time for your games, whoever you
are."

"My, my, what a temper.  Perhaps this will calm you.  The woman snapped her
fingers, calling up a sphere of ruby power.  "Know that my victory over you
will make me stronger, and that is a true honor for you."  With that, the
woman placed her hand out palm up, and closed it.  Kodachi hadn't even a
second to react when the woman loosed a red bolt of incredibly powerful ki
at her, as she roared, *"TEMBATSU NO INARI!!!!!!"*

The beam hammered Kodachi into the floor, hard enough to create an impact
crater.  It burned her like nothing she'd ever felt before, as if it
scorched her very soul.  Movement, even breathing, was becoming laborious;
and the majority of her clothing was now nothing but tattered shreds.  She
was in trouble in a way that she'd not been in years, and the question of
whether she was going to survive or not popped clearly into her mind. The
force of the beam began to push her towards the edge, and it was a matter of
whether she was going to die from being crushed by the beam or falling
beneath the train's wheels.  Finally, with a look on her face that was one
of pure defiance, Kodachi passed out.

"I'm impressed.  You've managed to last out the force of my attack," Estima
said, withdrawing her blades.  Raising them to cut off Kodachi's head, the
kunoichi said, "For what it's worth, as an opponent, you were almost as good
as me."  With that, she brought the blades down for the killing blow.

So it was to her surprise, then that her hands were caught by Kodachi, a
dark look on her face.  "I'm not 'almost'," she announced with some acid in
her voice, "I *am* better than you, and I'm going to prove it!  *SUPER
ART--TSUNOYAMA KAGURA MAI!!!!!!!!*"

The universe atop the train detonated with a spectacular burst of ki as
Kodachi fiercely engaged her opponent with her super attack.  The Dancing
Rose became a blur of strikes, slashes, and kicks, a buzzsaw out of control.
Her whole body moving nearly at the speed of the Grand Attack of 1000 Fists,
she finally blasted her opponent back with a flying kick as she began the
aerial phase of her assault.  Within a span of a couple of seconds, Kodachi
added two palm strikes, one knee kick to the face, a short jab to the solar
plexus, and finished it off with a ki-burning whirlwind kick that sent her
opponent flying off the back of the train, screaming like a banshee.  There
was a loud splash, as though the woman had landed in one of the staid
puddles that seemed to litter the underground tunnels every so often, and
with that, she was gone.

Kodachi had just a second or two to weakly smile to herself and pant heavily
as the train skidded to a barely-controlled stop at Tokyo station.  Not
prepared for the stop, she was flung off the train and slammed into the side
of a vending machine, where the heroine of the day and defender of the
moment was placed into merciful unconsciousness by a falling can of Pocari
Sweat.

~*~

Rising from the puddle of water that she'd been unceremoniously dumped in,
Estima watched the receding train with rage in her eyes.  ((She cheated!
That bitch cheated!))  The water, warm and stinky from a nearby sewer
drainage point, made her reek; that was yet another reason she vowed a
vicious revenge against the woman she'd fought.  ((I will find you again,))
she thought as though her mind was projecting her anger to Kodachi, ((and I
will have my vengeance!  Your days are numbered, woman!))

~*~

Tired and spent, Keiei finally arrived at Tokyo station.  Unsure of which of
the two trains Nabiki had taken, she'd just ran as fast as she could along
the most direct route possible.  While the going had gotten tough as the sun
set and nightfall came into being, she was favored by the full moon and able
to make it through the busy streets of Tokyo and towards the station, just
off the Ginza.  Now, entering the station from the Daimaru mall, Keiei began
the search for her enemy, the dark and vile sorceress Nabiki.

Racing through the local lines as fast as she dared, she found no trace of
her quarry.  The only thing that she could see was on Track 3, where a
heavily destroyed train on the Yurakucho line was still smoking, sparking,
and taking up space on the line.  There were dozens of police investigating
a scene that appeared to be the remains of a combat situation.  She debated
checking it out for a second, but thought better of it; it would waste
precious seconds, and likely it was a battleground between two different
martial artists--Nabiki, Keiei knew with surety, wasn't the type to fight
fair, regardless.

After a few minutes, she sat down at a nearby curry shop, burnt out.  She
tried to hold in her depression as the realization sunk in that Nabiki had
defeated her again.  She was losing the most important battle of her life,
and if didn't do something soon, all that was vitally important to her would
be taken away forever.  Everything would be lost to her.  What if it already
was, and she just wasn't aware of it?  ((No, the gods cannot be that cruel
to me,)) she hoped.  ((They have set out a hard path for me to follow, but
surely they would not take away from me what is most dear.))  At the end of
the counter, alone in that little hole in the wall curry joint, playing with
her food in an uninterested, melancholy feel, and dreaming of that miracle
of miracles that would convince her that there was still something right
about the world, Keiei hoped.

And once again, providence smiled on the Black Blade.  Momentarily looking
up from her curry dish to stare forlornly out the window, she was treated to
an interesting sight: two women, with four children and a pet dog, getting
onto the shinkansen at track 17, amongst dozens of others.  The first thing
that caught her attention was the extreme numbers of people that were
heading towards the train; the last bullet train out of the area usually
left Tokyo station at 4:00.  The second thing was that fact that the woman
with the long hair was helping along the other one, as though she was
seriously injured...or being dragged against her will.  But the clincher was
the children at the women's side.  Or more correctly, the child.

Watching with shock, she saw her son, taken onto the shinkansen by the
long-haired woman, as everyone embarked.  Once she'd recognized him, the
spell was clearer to see through.  ((Damn that woman!)) Keiei seethed.  The
other woman had to be her beloved Ranma--she could sense incredible power
from the "injured" woman, now that things were clearer.  The boy from this
morning was there as well--had the boy been zombified by Nabiki as well?
The dog must be a demon of some sort, the foul sorceress' personal servant.
As for the foul sorceress herself, well, Keiei had to admit it was the worst
disguise she'd seen in some time.  Although she'd apparently grown her hair
out and thrown on a dress to look less like a slut than Keiei had remembered
her to be, she'd left her facial structure mostly unchanged and only colored
her eyes green to try to escape Keiei's notice.

Keiei stared at the group as the doors of the shinkansen closed shut.  Where
was it going?  As swift as she could move her exhausted body, she knew she
wasn't capable of catching a bullet train; it would be absolute folly to
try.  Even if she could, there were too many people on that train that
Nabiki could use against her, and being as worn out as she was, attacking
now would be tantamount to suicide.  She couldn't afford to do that sort of
stupidity if it meant that she was going to get her family back.  She would
have to plot a way to intercept them, while she still had the opportunity.

As the bullet train pulled away from the platform, Keiei left the curry
shop, heading over to the shinkansen ticket stand.  From there, she was
easily able to get the information she needed.  The shinkansen from Tokyo to
Kyoto had been delayed due to hydraulic problems, and it was just leaving
now for its next stop.  Due to some issues with the hydraulics, it would
move at a slower speed than normal and arrive in Kyoto at 8:00 the following
morning, instead of the usual four-hour trip.  ((Good.  That gives me plenty
of time to catch a plane to Kyoto and set up an ambush.))  A wicked gleam
sparkled in the eyes of Fuitamu Keiei.  ((That bitch may have won the last
two rounds, but she can't keep my family away from me forever.))  Running as
fast as she could, she bolted towards the train that would get her to Haneda
Airport.  Time was short, and if she wanted to be in place before her quarry
got away, she had to hurry.

Nabiki had gotten away with too many things, Keiei thought grimly as she
hurried down to track 5, to catch the train to the regional airport.  She
would not have the chance to do so again.

~*~

Pain ripped through Kodachi's mind as she slowly swam back to consciousness.
Opening her eyes, she saw nothing but darkness.  Was she dead?  Blind?
Alone, defeated and paralyzed by that last opponent of hers?  She was sure
she won, but the next set of events occurred so rapidly, she really had no
idea what occurred.  She allowed herself to moan softly; if it was going to
be the last thing she ever did, she was allowed it.

"Oh, you're awake.  I'm going to turn on a light now."  Sounding like the
voice of an angel, Kasumi spoke to her in warm tones.  "Don't move.  You've
been through a lot."  A soft light came on, stinging Kodachi's eyes for a
second, and when the spots and blurriness went away, Kodachi found herself
looking straight at the angel herself.

"Wha...what happened?"  Kodachi asked, turning her head slightly and
instantly regretting it.  "And where are we?"

"You saved us, Kodachi.  You fought somebody very strong, because when the
train stopped at Tokyo-eki, half of it had been blown off.  We found you
halfway embedded in a Pocari vending machine, but we don't know what
happened to the other person."  Kasumi gently adjusted the blanket that
covered Kodachi.  "We're alive because of you, Kodachi.  Thank you."  The
older woman's smile was genuine, sunny and joyful.  "Where we are right now,
I don't know.  We left Ofuna station about a half an hour ago.  You've been
resting for about ninety minutes."

Kodachi nodded her head slowly.  "I take it you charged the tickets to my
card?"  She felt the need to sit up a little more, and with some help from
Kasumi, did so.  Finally getting the chance to look around, she saw the boys
asleep in their seats, Hiro leaning on Akama's shoulder.  Sleeping in the
middle like a dedicated sentinel, Hikari was bundled up at Akama's feet.
Completing the picture were the two infants, who, somehow having managed to
survive all the jostling and bumping intact, were sleeping the peaceful
dreams that only newborns could have.  "Did...did everything go okay?"

"Yes.  I also had to buy you some new clothing, since yours had been
destroyed in the fight.  I still have your phone, but I'll have to wait
until the morning to call Auntie."  Kasumi looked concerned as Kodachi
slowly and painfully moved herself to a new position.  She looked at the
younger woman in the dim light for a second, biting her bottom lip and
trying to figure out the best way to say what she had to ask.  Finally, she
realized that there wasn't really a good way to ask; on top of that, there
were some questions that had to be answered.  "Kodachi, I hate to impose on
your kindness to me and the children, but I have to know: you've been gone
for eight years.  Why have you come back now?"

The look in Kodachi's eyes went from one of pain-blurred exhaustion to one
of complete fear.  Kasumi looked at her and wondered instantly if she'd said
something wrong, invaded a personal space where she wasn't supposed to
tread.  "Is there something wrong, Kodachi?"

Kodachi turned away, hoping that Kasumi wouldn't see her eyes tearing.  "You
wouldn't understand, Kasumi.  I don't think anyone would."  Kodachi sighed,
ignoring the pain in her chest again; she needed to say something to the
other woman, or she would think something was wrong.  "I had to come back.
I couldn't take the loneliness anymore."

A look of confusion briefly flitted across Kasumi's features.  "I don't
understand, Kodachi."  Those same features then filled with sisterly concern
as she said, "Please help me to understand.  I want to help, if I can.  I
know you're hurting."

"Kasumi," Kodachi began, "Have you ever known what it was like to be so out
of control that you didn't know what you were doing?"  Kodachi stared at the
closed, shuttered windows for a couple of seconds before she continued.
"That was me, at age 16.  I was already so far gone, I didn't know what was
reality anymore, what anything was.  And I'm deeply ashamed of myself for
that.

"I'm sure that from Tatewaki, you know something about my family: that our
father was insane but functional enough that he could hide it from the
authorities who made him Principal of Furinkan, that he verbally abused all
of us until my mother committed suicide when I was eight years old; that my
mother's death took my father over the edge, until he became the tottering
twit that he is now; that it affected my brother and I until we became
nearly as bad as my father.  Well, the truth runs deeper than that.  Far
deeper.

"I was already hopelessly doomed to my years of psychosis by the time I was
ten, because I had no one to love me, no one to really show me and my
brother what was right.  He had an outlet for years upon years: those silly
Samurai dramas they show on terebi all the time.  I didn't even have that.
So I turned to gymnastics, because it was an outlet.  It was also the
biggest mistake I'd ever committed in my life.

"When I started, there was a girl one year older than me named Murakami
Kaede.  At the time, she was St. Hebereke's Master of Combat Gymnastics, and
the primadonna of the school.  Seeing my potential for the martial arts and
for gymnastics, she taught me everything I knew about gymkata and other
arts, and the most part, I've always been a pretty quick learner.  However,
I shouldn't have learned a couple of things from her: that the poisons and
chemicals that she dabbled in had a negative effect, and that she taught me
brutality.  I guess in the long run, Kaede was the lucky one--she died from
the poisons and potions we played with.  With me, it only drove away the
flagging sanity in my mind.  By the time I'd first encountered Ranma, most
of what was left of who I was had long since been replaced by my darker
side: the Black Rose.

"I suppose in a way I should be grateful that I ran into the Pigtailed Girl
that one day...she was the trigger that began my final slide, the person
that began my orbit around Ranma's world.  I'm sure you already know this,
Kasumi, but for all of Ranma's faults, he's the sweetest guy in the world,
and he would do anything for anyone--he actually did for all of us at one
time or another.  I think whatever part of me that was still sane at the
time wanted him if only because he could protect me and nurture me, be the
catalyst that would bring me back to sanity.  We all wanted him for one
reason or another, but I don't think the others had quite the same reasons
that I did for needing him.  It didn't matter, though; by the time we'd
ruined his and Akane's first wedding, the writing was on the wall; the rest
of us just failed to pay attention.

"Well, the second wedding brought me attention, sure enough.  The night
after the wedding, while Ranma and Akane were already on the way to their
honeymoon, I snapped.  Put my father in the hospital for a month; nearly did
quite a number on Tatewaki, too.  That other boy, Ranma's friend--Ryoga, I
think his name is--finally stopped me, but by then it was too late.  I'd
managed to blaze a trail of destruction all the way down to Shinagawa."
Kodachi turned to Kasumi, tears falling endlessly in a stream of despair.
"And the worst of it was, I had no control over myself at that point.  I was
far too busy wanting to destroy myself than to care about what was going
on."

"I didn't know that was you," Kasumi said.  She'd read about that damage
that had been caused by the unexplained phenomenon; Tofu had even
volunteered his services when a need for doctors had arisen.  From what it
appeared, it seemed as though one of those rubber monsters had come to life
and taken a stroll through a sizable portion of Tokyo.  Fortunately, that
wasn't the case, but the damage toll had run in the billions of yen.

"I don't know if you knew what happened to me next, but I got checked into
the Medical Institute in Tama.  I spent three years there," Kodachi
admitted.  "But that wasn't the bad part for me.  I think the worst of it
was when my father called and in the first time in years, he was coherent
enough to tell me something: that I was disowned, that I had nothing to
return to."  Tears rolled freely now, the younger woman not caring what she
looked like, disavowing the pain of the body for the pain of the mind.  "I
spent three long years there, healing in mind under the care of a wonderful
elderly gentleman, Dr. Jiro--funny, I don't think I ever caught his first
name, unless that was it--well, nevermind.  In any case, he raised me from
my depths, and between that and the medicine I've had to take--"

"I know about that," Kasumi answered.  "I found your bottle while I was
getting the credit card.  Do you really have to take 1200 milligrams of
Prozac, Kodachi?"

"Twice a day."  Despite her sorrow, the Dancing Rose chuckled.  "If you
think that's bad, you should've seen when I first got into the facility.  I
was taking about fifteen pills a day.  I only take two a day now, and I
should be able to be completely off them fairly soon.  But to continue,
after almost three years to the day when I was placed in the facility, I had
reached a point of humanity again that I was able to leave it and be free
again.  The Black Rose was dead to me, dead to the world, and I was better
off for it.

"But I had nowhere to go, no place to turn to.  My family had disowned me,
and I was nothing; I had only my family name still because I was checked in
as Kuno Kodachi.  So with what money I had in my personal accounts, I went
travelling.  I needed to find out who I was and what I should become, so I
tossed away all that I was for the moment, and ironically, did for three
years what Ranma did his whole life--became a wandering martial artist."

"But what about your Olympic wins and gold medals?  How did you do all of
that if you were training?"  Kodachi's last statement didn't seem to make
sense to Kasumi.  If she'd been wandering the world, as she'd said, then who
was it that won the Gold Medal at the Gymnastics World Tournament in Seoul
four months ago?

"Oh, that--believe it or not, that's just another girl named Kuno Kodachi,
though she's not related," the Kodachi that Kasumi was familiar with
explained.  "She's a half-Japanese, half-Korean girl from the area around
Hiroshima, even though she and I look somewhat alike.  I met her about two
years ago, and we keep in touch from time to time.  Very nice girl and a
very talented gymnast, even if she isn't a martial artist."  Kodachi's eyes
twinkled in fond memory of her friend; when this was all over she'd have to
give Dachi a call.  "But anyway, I spent the next three years of my life
wandering the world, expanding my martial arts skills and learning a lot of
dance and ballet as well.  I'd begun to excise the gymnastics from my
life...it reminded me too much of who I'd been and what I'd done, and I'd
begun to take an interest in dance and the arts, as an outlet in addition to
the martial arts that I could never seem to cut out of my life.  Mainly, I
operated out of Paris during that time, though I did travel to many places.
It was an important time for me, one that let me figure out who I was.

"But eventually, all soul searching has to end, and I found myself ready to
return to Japan, whether or not I had anything to come back to.  When I got
here, I found a small apartment in Ebisu.  I had enough money to survive on,
but it wasn't going to last forever, so I went looking for a job.  Found a
nice one in Roppongi, too--an easy bartending job at a place called the
Magic Carpet; I'd picked up that skill from a savate master that I studied
with while in southern Spain, but that's a story for another time.

"Anyways, I was pretty happy with my life and just minding my own business
until one particular day, when a group of toughs started messing with this
one frail little thing that came in.  Before you know it, a couple of them
were starting a slugging match with a couple of the bouncers, and I had to
step in."  Another mischievous gleam entered her eyes, as she added,
"Everyone there, including the thugs in question, had no idea that a slip of
a girl in a tuxedo could beat the living daylights out of them.

"Well, as the police were taking the thugs out, and club security was
staring at me in absolute amazement, the girl came up to me and pledged her
eternal loyalty to me.  It seems that she was an old classmate of mine,
Kamiya Midori, and she'd fallen on some hard times since she graduated from
high school.  She remembered me being the Black Rose, but when I told her
that that part of my life was over with, she said I moved like a dancer, and
it was she who gave me my new nickname--'The Dancing Rose'.  She was coming
to drink herself into depression, since she'd just been fired from her job,
lost her boyfriend and had to move out of his place--y' know, the typical
crap life drops on you.  Well, I told my boss that she was a friend of mine,
and he was already grateful for saving the place from serious damage, so he
hired her on the spot as a waitress.  He also gave me a sizable raise and
made me the backup bouncer in addition to being a bartender.

"Since then, Midori and I moved into a new place in Kawasaki, though we
still work at the Magic Carpet.  She's a really good friend though sometimes
I wonder why she acts so much like Sasuke...she's my friend, not my servant.
But it was her who recommended I ditch the old ponytail when I wanted a new
look some time back; she even got me a kitten for my birthday.  So I'm fine
now, and I really can't complain.

"As to why I've come back now, that's easy to explain: a couple of days ago,
I got a call from someone, saying that if I really cared what was important
in life, I would watch the dojo for any signs of danger, and not let you
know I was there.  I think it was my father who called me, but I can't
confirm that.  To be honest, I thought it was likely some sort of trick, but
it seems to have worked out for the best, and here I am...though I'm not
sure all of me is here at the moment," she added with a weak smile.

"It seems like you've done well for yourself, Kodachi," Kasumi said, with
some happiness for her sister-in-law.  "But that doesn't answer my earlier
question: why haven't you come to see us all these years?  We've wondered
about you."

"Huh?"  Kodachi twitched as though she'd been slapped.  "Wha...what did you
say?"

"We've wondered why you never came back to see us.  Your brother, in
particular, has fought with your father several times over your whereabouts,
but he always told Tatewaki that you wanted to be left alone."

Kodachi's voice became a whisper, and her tears all but stopped, the girl
too stunned by the revelation to cry.  "My father told me that you all never
wanted me around, that after what I did at the first wedding, you all wanted
me dead."

"No, never that," Kasumi said in her most comforting voice.  "You're a part
of the family, Kodachi.  Family's important to we Tendos, especially since
we don't have a very big one."

"All those years...all those years when I thought none of you wanted me
around...all of that for nothing."  A pain worse than anything she'd felt in
years ripped through her very being.  Everything had been taken away from
her for the majority of her life, even when she wasn't aware it was there.
The tears began anew, stronger and almost to the strength of the deceased
Tendo patriarch.  Kodachi had never felt so alone in her life, had never
been that deeply buried by the suffocating, smothering force of her own
emptiness.  She was like that for so much of a stretch of eternity, that she
never felt Kasumi's gentle, loving embrace until a few minutes had passed.

"It's okay, Kodachi, you're with family now," Kasumi said.  "Everything'll
be fine."  Kasumi held the younger woman closer to her, letting her cry out
all the tears of a sorrowful, tragic youth.  Kodachi had been an unfortunate
victim of sorts of what Ranma had termed the "fianc�e wars," and had all
this been known beforehand, she was sure that both Ranma and Akane would
have been a bit kinder to Kodachi from her situation.

Over the course of the night, the spell had been broken, and Kodachi became
more comfortable around Kasumi, beginning to believe the older woman's words
about having family at last.  The two talked about general things and how
everyone else was doing.  Kodachi in particular was happy that her brother
and Nabiki were married: even before there was love between them, they
seemed to be an ideal couple of sorts.  Kodachi also asked about Kasumi's
children.  When she was told that only Hiro was her child, she inquired as
to the identity of the other three.  When she discovered that they were
Ranma's children, she then asked how Ranma and Akane were doing, and got
deathly silence in return.  A few more seconds went by before Kasumi went
into a long explanation of everything that had happened to Ranma, from
Akama's birth to Akane's death, and all that followed, right up to his
marriage to Hikaru and their children.  She also described Hikaru in detail,
deciding that like Tatewaki, it might be for the best that she think of the
redhead as the "Pigtailed Girl."

Kodachi, surprisingly, smiled at the news. "So the Cockroach finally ended
up with Ranma after all.  Good for her."

"Cockroach?" Kasumi asked, curious.

"Just a pet name, of sorts--the first time I fought her, at the Gymnastics
tournament, I called her a 'Cockroach in a Leotard', because I couldn't
squash her like I did all my other opponents previous," the dancer
explained.  "All those times I fought her because I thought she was
'stealing my Ranma-sama,' and all she turned out to be at the time was
nothing more than a platonic friend of his."  Kodachi sighed, feeling
embarrassed about the whole situation.  "I suppose I owe her a big apology
for the whole mix-up, don't I?"

"I'm sure Hikaru...will understand," Kasumi answered, mentally adding to
herself, ((or at least I hope she will.))  "Are you feeling better now,
Kodachi?"

"A bit, thanks."  At least a sizable portion of the emotional pain was gone,
excised through the simple magic of conversation and forgiveness.  Kasumi
had said it in her words: Kodachi was family, and family was something she
felt she hadn't had in the longest time.  While the physical punishment
she'd dealt with was still there from the battles only a few hours ago, she
felt that she was going to get a decent night's sleep for the first time in
a long time.  "Thank you very much, Kasumi."

"You're more than welcome.  Oh, since you're awake now, I'm sure that you'll
want to change your clothing while you have a chance," Kasumi commented.
She handed Kodachi a package and said in an apologetic voice, "I hope it
fits.  I do have to apologize for the ironic choice in clothing, but there
was only one clothing store nearby, and I didn't have time to go into the
mall to pick up something more suitable."

Kodachi gingerly took the package, and opened it.  A second later, after
viewing it in the dim light, she laughed; not the banshee-on-amphetamines
screech of old, but something softer and more pleasant to the ears as she
looked at her newest set of clothing...

...a set of Chinese clothing, with a cyan tang and black pants.

She smiled and opened her mouth to thank Kasumi once again for the clothing,
but she was rudely interrupted as the train suddenly decided to turn on its
side.

~*~

Blown off its tracks, the bullet train buckled in several sections before
snapping off the track like a broken rubber band.  The whole thing, still
smoking from the explosion, skidded a distance off the rails, and into the
water of the nearby stream.  The groans and shrieks of metal twisted
violently into unusual formations, leaving pieces of modern art across the
landscape.  The deafening combined roar of the explosion and the train
dragging along the rock-strewn stream continued its fugue for a few more
agonizing minutes before stopping a few minutes later in a broken,
disheveled mess.  A brief span of time passed and the moon, rising overhead,
shown down its nocturnal coif on the whole of the wreckage, a dying metal
snake far from its home.

Dacia lowered the heavy laser rifle, its barrel beginning to cool down in
the nighttime forest air.  "That's how you deal with them, Estima, not
through your 'hack and slash' methods."  He looked at the Japanese woman
with a smug of pure satisfaction.  "Now my men and I attend to matters, like
we should have in the first place!"  Urging Cupra and Astra forward, he
snarled to the mage and the kunoichi, "You two stay here and behave
yourselves, and we'll be back in just a few minutes with those mewling
brats!"

"And what of their guardian?" Estima retorted.  "She's powerful.  Very
powerful."  ((And I will carve her entrails out, regardless of what it takes
to beat her!))

The two subordinate stormtroopers gave her uncomplimentary looks while Dacia
said with complete disdain, "Estima, unlike you, we have no reason to fear
her.  She is only a woman."  With that, the trio of hunters ran down towards
the train, ready to stop at nothing short of their goal, and kill all save
their captives to be.

~*~

As the train turned on its side, Kodachi moved with the speed of
desperation, despite her injuries.  Spinning and turning, she slammed
against what was the door to the cabin, reaching out to catch Hikama and
Hotaru before they careened into the wall.  The babies, jarred suddenly,
awoke and began wailing at their predicament.  Though Kodachi suffered
through the pain of having the door handle impact violently against the
small of her back, it was far better than one of the twins' heads.  Kasumi
also took a rough landing, twisting her ankle while reaching for the older
children, while Hikari, having already been sleeping against the door,
suffered little trouble at all.

"You saved them," was all Kasumi managed to say as she rubbed her ankles and
checked on her son and nephew.

"I had to," Kodachi snarled between clenched teeth.  "Look, this was
obviously no accident.  We're going to have to get out of here, or we'll be
sitting ducks."  Handing the twins to Kasumi, Kodachi quickly dived under
the blanket, throwing off her torn clothing and replacing it for the tang
and pants that Kasumi had provided.

Akama looked up, out the window that had at one time been the side of the
train.  "It's nighttime," he yawned, "an' I think I know where we are."

"We're in the forest, Akama-chan, somewhere in the Five Lakes area," Kasumi
pointed out as a newly-dressed Kodachi emerged from her cover, "but I don't
know exactly where."

"Wow, Aunt Kodachi," Hiro said sleepily as he rubbed his eyes, "you're
dressed just like everyone else in the family!"  When the martial artist's
face registered confusion, the boy clarified with, "You look just like the
way Uncle Ranma, Aunt Hikaru, and Aunt Nabiki dress."

"Yeah, you look really cool," Akama said, agreeing with his cousin.

"Thanks," Kodachi responded, feeling somehow pleased by the youngsters' seal
of approval.  Not only in her manner of dress, but of how the boys addressed
her: their aunt.  That was a sign of family, no mere term of politeness, and
it was the sobriquet that Kodachi felt she'd needed for so long.  And now
that she had it, there was no way anyone was going to take that away from
her.  "Okay everyone, stand back.  We're going to have to get out of here,
and soon."  She closed her eyes, feeling her ki wash over her, its familiar
warmth a sort of comfort.

"Why can't we wait until the rescue teams dig us out, Kodachi?" Kasumi
asked, even though she already knew the answer to that inquiry.

Sure enough, Kodachi provided her with the words she didn't want to hear.
"Because they're likely dead, injured, or seriously busy helping others, and
in any case, they won't be of any help to us.  Whoever blew this train off
the tracks is willing to stop at nothing to hunt you all down, and do you
really think everyone else in the train is a deterrent?  They'll move in
like a tsunami, sweeping away anything in their paths, and there'll be very
little we can do about it.  We have to get out of here and into the
forest--they'll have less chance of finding us there."  Gently nudging
everyone back, she focused her attention on the wall that had just a few
minutes earlier been the ceiling of the car.  Bringing her hands close
together, she called her ki to her fists, powering up for the breakout.
"We're going to make a break for the forest as soon as we're free, okay?"
Everyone nodded, and Kodachi smiled.

Moving her hands in a circular motion in front of her, she created a sizable
ball of ki similar to that of Ranma's Hiryu Korin Dan, though it was
pronouncedly less powerful.  Pushing it forward with a violent shove, she
called out the attack: "Tenkyu Noroshi Sho!"  The energy barrier hammered
into what had been the train's ceiling, vaporizing the wall on contact.
Turning back to the others, she shouted, "C'mon!  Let's get out of here!"
Running out of the train wreckage, illuminated by the light of the full
moon, the small group ran, with Hikari at the lead, and Kodachi at the back.

>From behind her, Kodachi heard rough, guttural shouts; she didn't catch all
the words, but living in Europe familiarized her with the language.
((Germans?  Why the hell are Germans after us?  What, did Ranma's father
engage him to some Bavarian martial artist's daughter?))  Blasts of energy
came her way, and that only increased the questions in her mind: ((Okay, we
have Germans, who talked an army of dimwits into attacking the dojo, and now
we're being shot at--not as if I haven't been used to it all day, but....))
As the group approached the treeline, Kodachi told them to keep running down
the length of the river on the bank, hoping that they'd be nearing a town or
something soon.  In the cloudless night, the outline of Fujiyama could be
seen, its broad expanse blotting out a portion of the sky, and that could
only mean that they were in the Five Lakes region.  From what she remembered
of the geography around here, though the section was mostly forest, there
were some small towns in the area, like Hakkone, Kawaguchiko, Gotemba, and
Fujishi.  Chances were, if they ran along the length of the river, they
would encounter one.

The world got considerably darker as everyone plunged into the treelines,
but it was still clear to see as energy darts sizzled around them.  Tracer
fire, lasers, ki blasts--Kodachi had no idea what they were, and didn't want
to know.  But whatever it was, it was tearing up the area around them, and
branches and bark splattered in the air, along with hundreds of buzzing
sounds that could have been anything.

Their feet alternately pounding between rock and water, the occasional
rustle of the brush around them, the crying wails of the twins, and the
heavy breathing of the whole assembly was cacophony, in addition to the
other problems they had.  Kodachi wanted to turn and fight, or to drag the
group along faster, as if it would get her away from the barrage of noise,
but there was no way to.

Pain exploded in Kodachi's shoulder, and she spun before falling to the
ground.  In the light of the moon, a creeping spread of darkness blossomed
on her tang, and she could feel excruciating pain coming from the gunshot
wound.  Biting back a yelp of agony, she forced herself back to her feet,
ready to run again.  *"KODACHI!!!"* she heard Kasumi scream--the only time
that she'd ever heard that woman sound completely out of her soothing
element.

((The world's gone topsy-turvy,)) Kodachi thought bitterly, ((and I'm at the
center of it.  Great.))  "I'm okay, Kasumi," she answered.  "I think we lost
them.  I think we can afford to rest."  Noting that they were all gasping
for air, and that by some miracle the babies had quieted down to soft,
snuffling noises-((Really weird, in light of the disastrous levels of noise
around them,)) Kodachi thought--they sat down on a set of rocks, by a river
eddy.  Regardless, she was too exhausted to move much.  Her body, already
suffering through the injuries of the previous battle, now had to deal with
this new, far more serious wound.  She'd have to get them to safety, and
soon.  The question was, though, where around there was safe?

As if things weren't surreal enough, Akama suddenly seemed to brighten with
excitement.  "Aunt Kasumi, I think I know where we are!"

Checking the babies as she held them in her arms, Kasumi asked, "You do?"

Akama nodded, then pointed at a sharply angled shape across the bank from
them.  "This is the place that Aunt Nabiki and Otosan bring me every year.
I dunno why, but I guess it's gotta be import'nt."

As though through some sort of cosmic stage cue, a beam of moonlight settled
on a group of weather-beaten, river-smoothed rocks.  On one particular
reddish-gray rock, a small stone shrine sat there, dozens of dried flower
bouquets strewn around it.  It also appeared to be relatively well kept,
moreso than your usual spot in the forest.  Gently handing the twins to
Kodachi, Kasumi crossed the river and bent down in front of the shrine,
silent as a grave.

Kodachi saw that Kasumi was more silent than she'd ever seen her.  Looking
around to see that their enemies were not around, she also crossed the
river, twins firmly in her blood-covered arms, to stand beside Kasumi; a
second later, the boys and Hikari followed.  After a second or two more,
Akama and Hiro sensed that this was a "grown-ups" type of thing and moved a
bit away to give the adults time to talk.

"Kasumi, what is this place?" Kodachi asked, relieved that the boys had
moved of their own volition.  From Kasumi's actions, she had the feeling
that what the older woman was about to say wasn't for their ears.

"A place that I never thought I'd ever visit."  Kasumi's voice was flat,
almost mechanical.  She held up a bouquet, and the handwriting on the
accompanying card was faint but still legible; Kodachi recognized Ranma's
handwriting.  "This is the site where Akane died."  As Kodachi gasped,
Kasumi gazed into the sky, at the round pearly-white orb nestled amongst the
stars.  "I could never bring myself to come here willingly.  Ranma and
Nabiki thought I should, but a part of me still doesn't want to acknowledge
that my family is mostly dead."

"As you will be as well."  Before Kodachi could react, silenced gunfire
erupted through the area, tearing a serrated line of splashes through the
moonlit riverbed.  The echoing rapport of ricochets awoke the babies once
more, their wailing filling the air, and Kodachi, wanting to keep the babies
safe, leapt back across the river to the point where she'd been initially.
Meanwhile, over by where Kasumi was, three gaijin stepped out of the
treeline, each looking nasty and carrying hardware that looked like no guns
that had ever been seen on this world.  The lead one, a man wearing
sunglasses at midnight for reasons Kodachi couldn't understand, barked
orders in guttural, halting Japanese: "Babies put down.  Stand other woman
by."  Without turning to face his partners, he rattled off something in
German, then turned and faced Kodachi again.  "Do now.  Or you I kill."
Haunched over by the boys, Hikari began to growl, and the man simply dealt
with it by turning the gun on the boys and the dog, shooting three sizzling
verdant beams of energy at them.  Akama, Hiro, and Hikari dropped almost
where they stood, knocked back by the three beams before their collective
legs collapsed beneath them.

*"HIRO!!!!  AKAMA!!!!!"* Kasumi screamed in panic.  *"YOU KILLED THEM!!!!!"*

"Relax, they stunned," the big man said, the grin on his face cruel and
mocking.  "You, I not stun.  Might fun with you two we have."  Despite the
bad Japanese, the implications of his words were clear.

Three years of living in Europe taught the dancer a few choice words of
German, ones she brought to bear right now: "Go fuck *yourself*."  Standing
up gently, she switched back to Japanese and said, "You'll have to kill me
to harm my family, asshole, and rest assured, I'll take you with me to the
grave!"  ((And that's going to be a neat trick, too.))  Kodachi reminded
herself that she still had Hikama and Hotaru in her arms.  She was going to
need full mobility to fight these three, and even if she weren't seriously
wounded, as was the case, the odds were nowhere near favorable.

Yet they couldn't kill her, or else they'd injure the twins.  Additionally,
Kasumi was a factor; if they knew anything about the Tendo family, it was
that they knew how to fight.  Mind, Kasumi was the apparently lone exception
in the family, but there was no way for them to confirm that.  As her savate
and bartending instructor used to say, this was a Moorish standoff if she'd
ever seen one and there was no way out of it.  Nor did it help when two of
the bastards pointed the tips of their gun barrels against the foreheads of
Kasumi and Kodachi.

Kasumi, for the first time in her life, whimpered in total, unabated fear.
There was nothing and no one to save her, and she would never see her loved
ones again.  She'd failed her brother.  It was this last thought that went
though her mind as the stress overtook her and she fell against the ground,
fainting.

As for Kodachi, the last look in her eyes was one of enraged defiance, as
her vision began to tunnel.  She'd lost a severe amount of blood from the
gunshot wound, and the tsunami of everything was now catching up to her,
threatening to deluge her in a sea of sensory disruption that she might not
ever recover from.  She looked momentarily at Ranma's children, still in her
arms, the last family members that she'd likely ever see.  Whispering tender
words to children that she'd never known existed just a scant collection of
hours, ago, she whispered, "Remember that your aunts love you, beautiful
ones."

With that, Kodachi turned back to her soon-to-be killer, daring him to end
it.  She might have failed, but she wasn't going to go down with that in her
mind.  As she saw the man beginning to slowly depress the trigger, she sadly
realized that her defiance was all that she had left, and she wished she'd
get a chance to have more.

*"STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"*

The voice ran throughout the forest area, as powerful as the light of the
moon shining down on the murderous scene.  A second later, chimes
accompanied the dying echo of the voice.  There was a noble, imperial sound
to the tone, as though a great and mighty miracle in flesh had stepped into
the killing zone, determined to save the two women.

The pair forgotten for the moment, the three Germans turned to face the
origin of the bellow, Dacia and his men immediately focusing their view on
the newest target.  Standing in the center of the river and towards the
clearing was a dark figure.  Few details could be discerned from the view,
as the figure was completely silhouetted by a moonlit halo.  The figure's
shape was vague, possibly wearing robes, and he--the Germans thought the
figure to be a he, if only for purposes of identifying their target--carried
a staff with a ring on its top, smaller rings attached to that main ring.
Clearly, this was a priest or monk of some sort.

"You are on sacred ground, and appear to be harming innocents," the figure
spoke, his voice soft and delicate; an irony considering how much power his
earlier demand was.  "I cannot allow this to continue.  You will leave them
unmolested and you will go."

Dacia laughed, then spat on Kasumi's face.  "And if we refuse?"

The figure raised his staff then brought it down, the rings clashing
together and causing a chiming sound that resonated through the whole
woodland.  "Then I must stop you," he answered, "though I would rather have
had it done the easy way.  Violence is not of the eightfold path of
enlightenment."

The trio of stormtroopers lazily walked towards the robed figure, not
bothering to get into a combat position.  After all, this was only a priest
of some kind; how much damage could one man of the cloth do?  Holstering
their weapons and setting the safeties, they walked forward with the
swaggering confidence of men about to beat a priest to death.

Too bad the priest had other plans.

As Kodachi watched, the priest splayed his hands in an odd motion,
whispering something that seemed silent yet thunderous in that silence.  The
next flicker of movement came a second later, as he spun towards the right
in a graceful motion, robes flapping like the wings of a great bird in
flight.  Also, now illuminated clearly, the white and red robes of the
priest shone like jewels, graceful yet not hindering the priest in the
slightest as he began his attacks.

Hefting the staff with incredible skill, the priest slammed the metal end
into the one called Cupra, the crack of the brass against his ribs
resounding through the woods.  Screaming in pain, Cupra lashed out with a
fist, but the priest danced out of the way as if this were more of a game
than deadly combat.  Noting that his opponent had yet to completely recover,
the priest leapt towards a nearby rock, bounded off it, did a tight mid-air
roll, and coming out of the roll mere inches from the Nazi, threw a series
of rapid punches on the way down.  Kodachi counted the attack at the speed
of the Kacchu Tenshin Amaguriken attack, and the end result was that the
lightened assault of 472 punches dropped the stormtrooper where he stood,
mercifully putting him of the battle.

The priest stopped for a second, seemingly brushed the hair out of his eyes
(Kodachi could only guess at the motion, since she could not see his face),
and spoke to the other two in a soft voice, saying, "One of you is down,
taught a lesson for your evil.  Will you give up now?"

Astra, seeing his comrade downed so easily, snarled in response, "You are a
dead man!"

Dacia concurred.  "Attack!"  Both remaining troopers decided to attack at
once, rushing in from different angles to ensure their quarry would not
escape.

The priest shrugged, sighing, "Some people never learn."  Ducking under the
fist of the first attacker, he thrust an elbow into the chest of the first
one, then spun and nailed him squarely with a slice kick that cracked him
alongside the head.  The blow was strong enough to send him flying into the
nearby glade of trees and bushes, smacking painfully against the trunk of a
tree, out of the battle.  Sensing an advantage yet not pressing it, the
priest faced off against the final soldier.

As Dacia neared the priest, he dropped all pretense of doubting this man
before him.  Unsheathing his knife, he was going to cut this bastard into
tiny pieces.  This was a personal matter, and a challenge, not something for
the gun.  It had to be proved that Aryan blood was far more superior to this
jackanapes that stood before him.  As he approached striking distance, he
roared, *"DIE!!!!!!!!!!"* as he put everything into the stab, completely
ready to murder the priest before him.

However, as he delivered his deadly blow, the priest leapt back, softly
canting, "Ohitaki Matsuri Mai!"  The priest began to glow with a soft orange
light, and moved forwards to attack.  Applying vicious uppercut after
vicious uppercut, the priest set Dacia aflame with the force of his ki,
blasting wave after wave of ki-fire into the stormtrooper.  And if those few
seconds of pain weren't enough for Dacia, the next step of the priest's
attack did.  As he brought his arms up to shield himself from the rainstorm
of fire and fists coming his way, the priest launched into a straight
vertical flying uppercut, carrying Dacia along with it in a double-helix of
flame.  At the apex of the attack, the priest initiated a second series of
rapid-punches, before kicking the would-be killer back down to Earth with a
ki-charged ax-kick.  The last thing Dacia felt was the bone-jarring jolt of
being slammed into something hard and solid, as he hit the ground none too
gently.

Dusting himself off, the priest whispered solemnly, "Oh dear...I may have
gone too far on that last one.  I don't think they were ready for combat of
that sort.  Still, they were trying to kill these poor innocents, and I did
what I had to."  Bending down for his staff, he made ready to attend to the
needs of Kasumi and the group, sure that there would be no more problems.

He revised his thought process a half-second later as a foot connected with
the side of his face.

~*~

>From where she stood, Estima was quite impressed with the movements of the
Shinto priest.  Unable to see much more details than the three buffoons that
she'd followed, she'd noted that he moved with a grace and skill that
implied more than just priestly training.  Had he been like the priests of
old, a warrior that had renounced his worldly ways in favor of the cloth?
Aikawa suspected that was the case, and for that, she had more respect for
him.  She would allow his to live.

As the priest downed Dacia, believing the battle to be done, she rushed in,
aiming a kick for the side of his head.  By putting him down in this manner,
he wouldn't be able to walk out of this one, and she wouldn't have to resort
to killing him to meet her goals.  He might be good, but not so good that he
could withstand her blow.

~*~

Feeling her reserves weaken, she saw the woman she'd fought on the top of
the train.  Calling up her innermost well of chi, she struggled to get to
her feet, only to sink back to her knees as the mind-numbing pain slapped
her down.  Barely realizing that the twins were still in her arms, and that
Kasumi and the others needed what little help she could offer, she began to
crawl over to her sister-in-law.  At the worst, if they were all destined to
die, Kodachi was going to make sure that the last thing she'd ever do would
be to die with her family...and the fact that they might all die at the spot
where Akane died years before was the worst fate could play on them.

~*~

Planning to avoid a second attack, the priest cartwheeled out of Estima's
immediate range.  Estima charged in to strike, but the priest moved out of
the way, and in doing so, his hood fell off.

Estima blinked in surprise.  "Hey, you're a girl!"

The priestess nodded gently.  "And you are shinobi--kunoichi, to be more
accurate--so is it truly a surprise that another woman who is not of the
shadow clans knows how to defend those who cannot defend themselves?"
Leaving her staff where it lay, the priestess dropped into an offensive
pose, ready to counter anything that came her way.  "If you are here to
cause harm to that family, I cannot allow it."

"You don't have a choice in this, priestess."  Estima jabbed forward with a
chop that the priestess ducked under to avoid, but it left her open for
Estima's next strike.  Moving in towards the priestess at an incalculable
speed, the shadow warrior called out, "Kagemusha Tokkangyaku!"  Ruby light
spilled everywhere as Estima became blur of lightning-speed kicks that ended
up booting her opponent into the air with a upward roundhouse kick.
Immediately following into the air, she delivered another blazing assault of
high-speed kicks in mid-air before hammering her opponent towards the ground
with a ki-blast.  Gracefully landing on the ground, Estima was sure of her
victory and waited for her opponent's not as graceful crash to the ground.

However, the priestess managed to tumble in mid-air and land on the ground,
safely.  Wiping a scratch of blood off her face, she smiled and said, "You
have talents that you were given by the gods.  It is a shame that you waste
them in the service of darkness.  It is more of a shame now that I must
teach you the error of your ways."

Estima sighed and said, "And I'm going to regret having to kill you, too,
since it's the only way for me to complete my mission."  Calling up her
battle aura, she pushed her palms forward, releasing her ki-blast at full
power, screaming a cry of *"TEMBATSU NO INARI!!!!!!"*  The bolt of scarlet
lightning raced at the priestess with incredible swiftness, giving the
cleric no time to counter it whatsoever...

...so it came as a total surprise as the priestess ducked under the ki
attack, then dashed behind Estima with a sped that had to be impossible--no
person could possibly move at the speed the priestess was dashing at.
Calling up her own aura, the priestess called out, "Now learn the true power
of light!  *RIN, PYO, TO, SHA, KAI, JIN, RETSU, SAI, ZEN--KIRIBI MIKO
MAI!!!!*"  There was a spectacular outward pulse of tangerine-hued energy,
and in the space of two seconds, a fire-enveloped priestess threw 674
ki-explosive rapid punches to the chest, an aerial rounding snap kick to the
face (also charged with ki), an elbow smash, and a reverse snap kick,
staggering Estima where she stood.  Drawing a glowing five-pointed star
where she stood, she began to chant something incomprehensible and barely
audible, entering the final stage of her assault.  Thrusting her palms into
the center pentagon of the star, and roaring with the authority of a
thousand kami, she called out a battlecry of *"SAIKAIJUMON!!!!"* as an
incredible torrent of orange force erupted from the star attack, blasting
trees, water, ninja, and Nazi alike, sweeping them downstream in an
incredible wave of purifying destruction that would fling them for several
kilometers.

~*~

Surrounded by the icy cold waters of the river, Kodachi couldn't hold up
much longer.  If she pitched forward, the children would be seriously
injured.  She couldn't hear the babies--were they still alive?  Was this the
afterlife?  Her body felt cold--too cold--yet she could not afford to put
the children down to wrap her arms around herself.  She was only halfway
through the bitingly cold river and she wasn't sure if she was going to make
it as far as Kasumi...only a few short meters away.

Kodachi felt herself being guided out of the water, the children gently
removed from her grasp as a gentle, soothing voice said, "It's okay, miss.
You're safe.  They can't hurt you now."  For a split second, all Kodachi saw
was a blurry image of the priestess' face.  The priestess was exceedingly
beautiful, with fair skin, eyes that were a soft pale gray in color, and
glowing with a beatific orange halo that seemed reminiscent of the sun's
first rays at dawn.

The priestess gave Kodachi her warmest smile and said, "Let's get you out of
this river.  Your friend and the children have been through a terrible
ordeal, and you need medical attention.  The temperature isn't helping
everyone much, either."

Kodachi gazed at her rescuer, as if there was something familiar about her.
Then it hit her with force of a Moko Takabisha.  "Ara...." she whispered,
unable to believe what she saw before her eyes.  Fortunately for her,
Kodachi's brain went into overload, shutting down and dragging her conscious
mind with it, closing around the final image that she didn't even have the
strength to whisper:

((Shampoo.))

TO BE CONTINUED....



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