Hello all.  It's been a while since I published the last chapter of
this story, hasn't it?  If anyone was worried, the story is not dead.
It simply went into hibernation for a time.  This is the rough draft
that I would normally send to my pre-readers, since I was not sure if
my address book was still accurate.  I welcome all C&C, except for any
flames. ^_^

Now, on with the show...
____________________________________________________



*** Earth  +1.612,+1.509  (-3,852.74105 Years)

A mirage sparkled in the distance across the sea of sand, a simple
trick of light caused by light reflecting from the rising heat waves in
the air.  A wind blew gently across the sun-scorched sands, rippling
the silvery image as it would have across a pond of real water.  Then,
briefly, the illusion of water was briefly disturbed by a robed figure
suddenly cresting a high dune, garbed in typical desert nomad fashion,
to protect the flesh hidden beneath from the effects of the desiccating
orb slowly lowering in the western sky.  A single waterskin of sturdy
leather swung at the figure's waist, and a simple wooden staff was held
clutched in a firm grip, the skin on the hand holding it the color of
sun-ripened wheat.

The wind suddenly died, and the figure paused, sensing something else
rising like a storm even as the air fell silent.  A faint upwelling of
power could be sensed nearby, a unique enough occurrence to cause the
figure to tarry briefly on its journey to parts unknown.

                  ******************************

*** Earth  +1.612,+1.509  (-3,852.74104 Years)

Taking a drink of water from the skin, the hood of the robe fell back
to partially reveal the face of a man of Asian descent.  The strange
emanations of power in the nearby air had faded away to nothingness
mere moments after first being detected, the disturbing sensation of
feeling something pressing against the skin of reality from outside
vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.  But he had waited and cast
out his senses to see if a clue as to its nature could be determined.

Letting the waterskin drop back to his side, the man shrugged once and
continued on towards his destination, feeling that he had wasted his
time in pointless delay.

                  ******************************

*** Earth  0.000,0.000  (-3,852.74104 Years)

There was a lingering smell of ozone in the oddly still air, a mute
counterpoint to the heat of the day scorching the sands.  A smoking
corpse lay sprawled out across a rolling dune, appearing to have been
quite recently struck by lightning despite the cloudless sky above.  A
few faintly lingering wisps of vapor still trailed upwards into the
air.  Next to it was a second body, this one the naked form of a man
lying facedown in the sand, still alive, if only just barely.

The second figure suddenly stirred spasmodically, coughing to clear the
grit and sand from his throat.  He was a man of Asian descent, tall and
muscled like an athlete, with his skin lightly darkened from the sun
and wind.  A look of confusion suddenly marred his face when the spasms
finally ceased, and he gazed upon the features of the corpse, a corpse
whose features were identical to his own.

Still coughing occasionally, feeling random bits of rough sand continue
to grate against the soft tissues within his throat and mouth, he spat
out phlegmy grit and quickly wiped his face with his forearm.  Standing
up on unsteady legs, he moved closer to the corpse, its eyes wide open
and staring.  A few insects had already begun to emerge from the sands
to investigate this new development in their midst, and it would not be
long before other sorts of scavengers emerged as well.

Closing his eyes, the man concentrated for a moment upon his breathing,
feeling the dry air filling and evacuating from his lungs.  Before this
moment, his last clear memories were of pain and fear, and a beautiful
girl wielding a naginata seemingly made of energy and light.  But that
was all he could recall for the moment, feeling that blade cleaving
through him, and knowing death was coming to claim him.  Then he had
found himself here, in a desert somewhere, standing next to a body that
looked like his own.  Memories of what had happened between those two
instances were vague and blurry right now.

He looked around, but only the shifting sands and the slowly rising
winds met his gaze.  Lifting a hand, he began incanting a spell that
would clothe him, and suddenly his skull was filled with white-hot
knives of stabbing pain.  Collapsing to his knees upon the hot sand,
his body was consumed with dry heaves for several agonizing moments.

When the pains and convulsions had finally passed, he shakily rose back
to his feet and eyed the corpse.  Shrugging his shoulders, he began to
strip the body of its clothing and other accoutrements as he took stock
of the situation he now found himself in, as his fragmented memories
gradually coalesced.  Once he had been far more than this, a being able
to span time and space as easily as one could step from street to curb,
an entity of such raw destructive power that its very name was a hiss
and a byword across a galaxy.

Kain.

Desperation had driven him to attempt something he had never attempted
before, separating a portion of his essence from his body at the brink
of his own destruction and blindly casting it out across time and space
to escape his own impending death.  He had succeeded, but at a terrible
price, losing most of his powers and accidentally destroying his other
self in this time in the process, forcing him to seek out a suitable
vessel that would be able to contain his remaining might.  His essence
had scanned this miserable rimworld in the span between moments for any
being of sufficient strength to suit his purposes, but he could find
only one.

A human who would someday entitle himself as the Shogun of the Dark.

Even as he felt his essence losing its remaining cohesion and beginning
to dissipate, he had attempted to possess and assimilate this human,
who had been travelling by foot across the edge of a vast desert
wasteland.  In an instant, he had absorbed and experienced the temporal
lifepath of the Shogun, from its auspicious beginning to its
ignominious end, when it was snuffed out beneath the wheels of a common
city bus.  But the backlash caused by the commingling of their powers
had proven to be too much for his chosen vessel.  The Shogun of the
Dark was killed almost instantly, and even more of his own precious
energies had been lost.

His memories were clearer now, and he could now recall more of what had
happened afterwards.  Having tried and failed to possess the body of
the Shogun, a daring attempt to cheat death of its victories over them
both in the future, he had now become a phantom haunting his own past.
The journey here had been a huge gamble, one he knew his essence would
not survive a second time.  The chances were too great that he would
lose cohesion completely if he attempted another timejump to a point
even further back within his own existence.

However, a singularly fortunate side-effect of his momentary
commingling with the spirit of this human had been the reaping of a
rich harvest of energies from its dying body that the Shogun had been
accumulating over centuries.  These energies granted him a more
attractive alternative to submitting meekly to death.  Even as the
final portions of his essence had begun dissipating away into
nothingness, he had used the entirety of that stolen storehouse of
power to conjure a special sort of tulpa, a simulacrum vessel
constructed of magic in a close resemblance to the flesh and blood form
he had sought to inhabit, capable of housing and sustaining him.  But
this action had rendered him into being something not quite dead but
also not quite alive.

However, having done this thing, he had burned out the remainder of his
energy reserves, possibly permanently, but perhaps the fullness of his
powers would restore themselves in time.  Still, being here in the past
gave him a most rare opportunity.  He no longer cared about revenge
against the hated Juraians.  Survival was all that mattered now to him.
Despite the many annoying gaps existing in their combined memories,
Kain knew he had usurped a most useful identity to exploit in regaining
his once-godlike powers.  It would allow him to move unseen through the
shadows of this world's unrecorded history, a law unto himself alone.

Yes, that was what he would become, a shadow law, stalking down through
the ages and slowly shaping the world into one more to his liking.  But
until he deemed the time to be right, he would refrain from altering
any significant historical events, instead quietly profiting from his
foreknowledge of them, amassing wealth, political influence, and a
secret army of loyal followers, even as he worked behind the scenes of
history to ensure his future place in it.  He would raise up kings and
nations and see them cast down at their proper moments, so that the
timeline he remembered would remain relatively unaltered.  And while he
did so, he would use his foreknowledge of this world's future to build
his forces throughout the many hidden corners of unrecorded history.

Then, when he deemed it to be the proper time, he could begin slowly
consolidating his control of this world under one nation to form an
empire.  And when its hold over the globe was nearly complete, aided by
his efforts from the shadows, he could then quietly step in and assume
absolute control, enjoying the final steps to the final domination of
this tiny rimworld, beginning an immortal reign that would eventually
reach out across the galaxy and would last for an eternity.  He would
also find a means to regain what he had sacrificed here this day, by
whatever instrumentality was necessary, to once again have a body that
was more suitable to his needs, one that was real and alive, not this
pathetic ectoplasmic puppet he was now forced to inhabit to survive.

He would become emperor of the galaxy.

No.  Not merely an emperor.  He would become something greater than he
had ever aspired to before, a power that none would ever overcome.

He would ascend from this modest beginning amidst the mire and detritus
of a forgotten rimworld, and he would become God.  And once he had done
that, he would gather together the infinite reaches of eternity into
his hand and render them all into nothingness, clearing the way for him
to rebuild reality into his own image.

After rising back to his feet, he paused a moment and turned back to
briefly gaze at the corpse.  A cold smile lit his features.

The Shogun of the Dark was dead.  Long live the Shogun of the Dark.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Quantum Destinies
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Jurai Knight (sthesken@earthlink.net)

Ranma 1/2 and its characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.  This story
is inspired by her works and the stories from some of my fellow fanfic
authors.  Among these are D.B. Sommer's "Shampoo 1/2", Jim Bader's "A
Very Scary Thought -aka- Nabiki 1/2", and John Biles' Elseworlds
series.  All C&C is welcome.

Other chapters of this story may be found at this website, or you can
email the author for them:

The Quantum Destinies Homepage
http://home.earthlink.net/~sthesken/fanfics/qd.html


The list of worlds reoccurring in this chapter:
Earth  0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster)
Earth  +1.612,+1.509 - The world of Shampoo 1/2 (Shampoo 1/2 cluster)


What has gone before in this story (or at least what will help you
understand what is going on):

On a parallel Earth that diverged from the standard Ranma timeline over
five hundred years ago, the Empire of Japan rules almost half the world
and has done so for almost a century.  A young scientist named Ranma
Saotome, through a device of his invention, is now possessed of the
skills and memories of a martial artist version of himself.  Further
changes came to the "Shampoo 1/2" variant timeline that was created by
Ranma's first visit, instigated by an unexpected visitor who was just
passing through.  Secrets of Project Phoenix were unveiled, as well as
some of the ties that bind together the diverse group coming together
in Imperial Earth's version of familiar Nerima.  Finally, this world's
version of Shampoo made her appearance, proving herself an extremely
formidable foe in the process.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 17 - That Old Black Magic

        Dare with determined will to burst the portals
        Past which others fain would steal!
        Now is the time, through deeds, to show that mortals
        The calm sublimity of gods can feel.

             -Johann Wolfgang von Goeth, Faust, Part I


        When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.

                                          -Oscar Wilde

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


*** Netherworld  0.000,0.000

Hell has been described as a place where hope is dead.

Waiting rooms can also conjure up that sensation.

One can only imagine what a waiting room in Hell would be like.

A sense of despair filled the plain room.  It was a place quite devoid
of any sort of creature comforts, even one so little as some raggedy,
old magazines.  Bare wooden benches sat pushed against the walls.  They
hid a few of the mangy-looking, peeled away patches of the otherwise
monotonous lime-green enamel.  A single bulb hung from the ceiling on a
slender wire, casting out a harsh light across the room and its sole
occupant.  It swayed gently in the uncomfortably warm air gusting out
from a crusted grate, the rusty metal noisome with the accumulated funk
of millennia.

Mara, Demoness First Class, waited pensively on one of the benches, a
seething resentment quietly filling her.  It was practically an open
insult to one of her rank to make her tarry like this while waiting to
be briefed on her next assignment.  To make matters worse, her current
overseer enjoyed any and all chances she was given to lord her superior
position over her and could leave her here to wait for a very long
time.  Mara could complain about it, but her rank was presently on thin
ice after her last few, less than successful, missions.  The shadowy
overlords of this place did not tolerate failures in their minions very
well, so it was better to just quietly take all the petty abuses and
strive to remain unnoticed by the higher-ups until her luck improved.

Tugging slightly on the front of her tight minidress, she absently felt
the skin-warmed leather slide across her flesh, an almost erotically
sensuous sensation that went all but unnoticed by Mara.  Her long legs
uncrossed and then recrossed the other way, as she made another futile
attempt to shift her position on the bench to a more comfortable one.
That goal still eluded her, but at least her derriere was now finally
growing numb from the wait.

At that moment, the door leading into the inner office regions came
open with a loud bang.

"Mara!  Front and center!" barked the voice of her supervisor.

Almost lazily, the platinum-blonde demoness gracefully uncoiled herself
from her seated position and rose to her feet.  Her perpetual sneer of
disdain was muted somewhat as she attempted to appear more obsequious.

Morrigan the Succubus, a beautiful princess of these nether realms,
eyed her subordinate with a jaundiced eye.  Her own light-blue locks
bobbed gently in the fetid breezes emanating from one of the nearby
vents, even as her batwings furled and unfurled slightly behind her,
reflecting her present dark mood.  She waited as the other demoness
sauntered over, outwardly calm but simmering within, somehow managing
to hold down the urge to rip out Mara's spine and vital organs by sheer
willpower.

"Come with me," said Morrigan with an almost unfeminine growl.

"Right behind you, Milady," replied Mara with a tight smile.  All the
better to plunge a blade into your back, she continued in the privacy
of her thoughts.  It was a most pleasant fantasy of hers that recurred
from time to time.

With a gesture from the blue-tressed succubus, the scenery around them
shifted to that of Morrigan's private office.  She could have summoned
Mara there without leaving it, but she preferred a more personal touch
in dealing with her assigned lackeys, even one as insufferable as the
present one constantly was.  She furled her batwings behind her as she
walked over and gracefully seated herself in the comfortable-looking
chair behind the large desk.  She settled herself into the supple,
black leather covering it, composed of skin flayed from the soulstuff
of the damned.

Mara dropped into a much less comfortable chair on the other side of
the desk.  She was a bit tempted to put her feet up on Morrigan's desk
but held off.  She was still on probation, after all.  But it would
have almost been worth it to see the reaction on the other's face.

"There is a new development now brewing in the mortal realm," Morrigan
began without any preamble, perfunctorily flipping open a file folder.
"Our latest scryings into Elysium revealed that they are monitoring
something, a gestating change of some sort that is gradually emerging
in the mortal world, apparently initiated by the appearance of two new
probability nodes.  Our own agents in the region in which they appeared
have confirmed this fact, reporting that a vortex of spiritual energies
is slowly building in power around them, a worrisome sign of a critical
paradigm shift in the makings.  Senior management is very concerned by
this, and it is a concern I share with them.  If we lose control of
events at this juncture point, it could force a profound delay in our
timetable, or even manage to totally derail many centuries of work."

"Why not simply destroy them?" came Mara's calm reply.  The solution
seemed obvious to her.  If something bothered you, kill it.  After all,
none of these mortal vermin could ever become a concern.  The human
animal was a weak-willed, pathetic creature of barely-controlled lusts
and passions from the time of its birth into the world, when it first
began loudly squalling its desires.  Each one of the miserable beings
was practically begging to finally yield to the dark potential that lay
buried within them all.

Morrigan paused thoughtfully for a moment before replying.  "Such an
act was considered, but simply killing them could yield undesirable
results."  She swiveled her chair around for several long moments, to
face outwards into the great abyss that her office overlooked, the tips
of her fingertips gently tapping against each other.  Beyond the glass,
flying creatures combining both human and bestial forms maneuvered
through darkened depths lit only by vast gouts of flame that rose up
from somewhere far below, a rather soothing image to Morrigan's eyes.

While the succubus mused, Mara grew more and more impatient.  Even so,
her outward appearance remained calm.

After a time, Morrigan swiveled back to face Mara, her eyes stern as
she studied the other demoness.  "Your next assignment is to obtain
more detailed reconnaissance concerning these two mortals, to learn
their strengths and their weaknesses.  Then, when you feel you have
learned enough about them, you are to try turning them to our cause.
They would make useful allies."  Morrigan paused for a moment, before
continuing in a more thoughtful tone.  "However, if they will not be
turned, then they must be neutralized."  A casual gesture caused a
three-dimensional image of Ranma and Nabiki to form in mid-air over the
desk, slowly rotating counter-clockwise.

"They don't look like much," commented Mara disdainfully, looking at
the pair.  "They're just a couple of stupid brats."  This assignment
was looking more and more to be a waste of her abilities.

Morrigan leaned back in her chair and smirked.  "Hardly.  Events have
already begun to move around them in strange ways, like ripples on a
pond.  This is only a precautionary move on our part.  After all,
despite the potential influence of these two children upon future
events, they're still only mortals, with all of the weaknesses and
foibles inherent to their kind."  A smile lit Morrigan's face.  "And,
at the very least, your new assignment promises to not be boring."

Mara could almost smell the change in her fortunes, but caution rose up
within her.  "Why me?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because the Powers of Elysium will be sending at least one emissary of
their own to monitor events up close," replied Morrigan coolly.  She
calmly snapped her fingers and a faintly translucent image of Belldandy
appeared in mid-air.  "One that you are quite familiar with, I'm sure."

Mara stared hatefully at the still image of the Goddess of the Present,
as an evil smile curled her lips.  She nodded.  "I'm your demoness."

"Excellent," said Morrigan, leaning back in her chair and steepling her
fingers.  "But I warn you, Mara.  This is your last chance.  Screw this
one up, and there won't be anyplace in the universe for you to hide."

"I _won't_ fail," Mara coldly replied.  "I will destroy Belldandy, once
and for all.  And as for these new probability nodes, I will deal with
them in my own way.  I can be very creative when I try."

                  ******************************

*** Earth  0.000,0.000

Ranma carefully placed the quantum flux coil into its designated spot
upon the main circuitboard and affixed it with a couple of small daubs
of solder.  When that was finally done, he released the breath he had
been unconsciously holding and set down the soldering iron into its
rack.  A smile lit his face, and he turned to see how Kodachi was doing
with the control unit's programming.  Nabiki had lacked the skills to
help them with any of the technical work, but she had seemed content to
simply watch, even though Ranma was certain she spent most of her time
studying him.

Her hair pulled back tightly into a single ponytail to keep it out of
her way, Kodachi typed away on the keyboard in front of her and frowned
slightly at the results she was getting on the screen.  She brushed
back a stray lock of her hair absently, unaware of Ranma's regard.  The
program was giving her compiling errors, and it was very irritating to
a programmer of her abilities.  Still, she had been pleased to discover
she was able to contribute something useful to their task, and her
prior efforts with Ranma's otherworld analog had given her an in-depth
understanding of the mathematics involved and the underlying software
controlling the transceiver.

Kodachi had spent the majority of the day refining the subroutines from
the surprisingly snarled piece of coding work that Ranma had used with
his prototype unit's setup.  The changes he had since added to try and
correct the memory backwash problem had made smoothing the software
code even more challenging, but her own skills had fast risen to the
challenge.  She was even adding a few elegant touches of her own here
and there to his admittedly brute force solutions.  They improved the
measure of safety only slightly, but every little bit helped.  Even so,
one of the very worst things that could happen would be for the control
software to freeze or crash, a potentially fatal risk to the user that
was simply unacceptable, so she was working hard to render it into a
flawlessly stable program.

Turning away from looking at Kodachi, Ranma was again struck by the
vast differences between this version of the noblewoman and her analogs
in other timelines.  She was gentler and kinder by nature, a very
different sort of being from the mean-spirited and incredibly spoiled
brats that those other versions of herself had each become.  Still, it
was sometimes difficult to look at her without overlaying those images,
especially with the memory of nearly being killed by a plant monster
while he had been inhabiting one of his analogs still so fresh in his
mind.  But this Kodachi was not a violent, borderline sociopath, far
from it.  She was a beautiful girl, intelligent and introspective, and
his fianc�e due to a strange set of circumstances.  And she was someone
he also felt a strong attraction for, but attraction was not love.

That brought Ranma to the other half of his current dilemma, Nabiki.
The middle Tendo daughter also raised ambivalent feelings within him.
Yes, she was undeniably attractive and well-built, but even before her
download of that martial artist version of herself she had been the
source of numerous verbal taunts and repartee at his expense.  Now that
she was possessed of fighting skills roughly equivalent to his own, an
entirely new dimension of complexity had been added to their already
weird relationship, especially since that useless excuse for a human
being now inhabiting his father's brain had gotten him engaged to the
middle Tendo daughter.

Nabiki had become both his rival and his fianc�e practically overnight,
and now the two of them played a rather strange game of dominance and
seduction between themselves.  He refused to humbly submit and be like
the Ranma her analog's memories were used to, and that was the source
of the conflict that simmered between them.  Both of them possessed the
downloaded skills and memories of lives where their other selves had
been highly-trained fighting machines par excellence, the heirs to the
Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts of their respective worlds, and
also the stubborn pride that went with that title.  But here, in this
world, both of them had an arguably equal claim to that title, since
the Anything-Goes School did not appear to exist as far as he knew.

Ranma had defeated Nabiki in a closely-fought duel, their only real
fight with each other, but he knew that could not be the end of it.  It
also bothered him now and then, when he thought about it, how much he
had relished the fierce battle at times, enjoying the primitive test of
dominance as he had proven his might to be superior to Nabiki's.  It
was an unexpected aspect of himself that he sometimes worried about,
albeit less and less as time went on, this awakened desire within him
to prove he was the Alpha Male.  So far, he had proven himself able to
meet any challenge that had come his way, from the Wolf Pack to Utena
Tenjou.

Recalling Utena raised another problem rapidly developing in his life.
The list of girls complicating his previously quiet existence seemed to
keep growing by leaps and bounds ever since his first mnemonic download
through the resonator.  At first there had been only Akane and Nabiki
Tendo involved in his life, and then Kodachi Kuno, Ukyo Kuonji, and
Utena Tenjou had quickly entered into his orbit.  However, out of the
entire group, the last two girls were the ones he felt most comfortable
with.  But he felt a surprisingly strong physical attraction to all of
them, even Akane.

Then there was the enigmatic Tiger.  The redheaded catgirl had been
assigned to him in order to prepare him for his recent rematch against
Utena.  Tiger was a product of genetic science at a level unknown on
his analog's worlds, a synthetic human, a replicant, commonly called a
Lilith.  She had tested his martial arts abilities to their previous
limits, beating him up mercilessly for days, forcing him to improve in
the fiery crucible of battle.  And in the end he had triumphed over
her, although the memories of his victory were vague, a victim of the
amnesia caused by giving himself up to the Neko-ken.  She had been long
gone when he had awakened several hours later on that last day of his
training, like a beautiful, terrifying dream.

The memories from his other selves were of little help when it came to
dealing with girls, since those troubled analogs of himself were far
and away more stunted in their awareness of the concepts of sex and
romance than he was, and he adamantly refused to explore whatever help
Ranko's memories might have to offer him.  It still disturbed him a bit
that there was a complete female psyche lurking within some dimly lit
corner of his consciousness.  Maybe that was why he felt so much more
comfortable with Ukyo and Utena.  Since they tended to act like guys,
it was easier to relate to them and talk to them.

Ukyo raised another question as well.  Was he engaged to her too?  It
was a delicate question to ask the ninja girl, and he did not want to
give her the wrong impression.  That sort of misunderstanding would
likely end up with him getting beaten up, the way his luck had been
running recently, and there had been far too much of that going on
already.  No, it was best to just ignore the whole situation for now
and concentrate on rescuing his father.  With that in mind, he pulled
out a circuit tester and began going over every connection carefully.

Nabiki had spent the last several hours playing fetch and carry for
Ranma, and she was more than a little irked that Kodachi had proven
more useful than she had anticipated.  Once he had been made aware of
the young noblewoman's abilities with a computer, Ranma had placed her
in charge of the software, and he had begun assembling and testing the
hardware.  That had left Nabiki with little to do other than grabbing
components from boxes and bringing them over to Ranma, and she had
filled her idle moments by casting resentful glances at Kodachi.

Closing her hands briefly into fists and then relaxing them back open,
Nabiki mused about the future.  Her secret training in the Amaguriken
Technique was now complete, adding a powerful new weapon to her arsenal
that she was looking forward to surprising Ranma with.  She had even
spent part of the day practicing her calligraphy, composing a formal
letter of challenge that she was planning to give him when he walked
with her to school.  It was a little out of her way, but Nabiki did not
trust Kodachi to keep from pressing her claim.  Picking Ranma up and
chauffeuring him to the Academy in her family's limousine would be just
the sort of thing that the Kuno girl would do to try and impress him.

"I'm finished," announced Ranma, startling Nabiki out of her reverie.
She glanced over to see him closing up the case to the resonator unit.

Kodachi glanced up from her screen.  "Give me but a moment to finish
compiling my last program build, and I shall be finished as well.  I
think you'll be pleased with my efforts, Saotome-kun."  She flashed a
brief smirk at a suddenly scowling Nabiki, an exchange of looks that
Ranma did not appear to notice, caught up as he was in putting the last
screws into the case.

At that moment there was a brief knock at the door.  One of the many
household servants entered, bowed deeply, and announced primly, "Dinner
is now being served in the main hall, Kuno-hime.  His Lordship has
extended an invitation to both of your guests to join the family at
dinner."  He turned to look at Ranma.  "Saotome-san, your parents have
already been notified that you have been invited, and your mother has
offered her permission."  And turning briefly to face Nabiki, he said,
"Tendo-san, your father has also been notified, and he has extended his
permission for you as well."  After bowing once more, he waited at the
door, the picture of the perfect houseservant.

"Oh, I had no idea that it had grown so late already," Kodachi stated
in surprise.  She got up from her workstation and smiled at Ranma.  "I
would be most honored if you would join me and be my escort to table,
Saotome-kun."  Pointedly ignoring a simmering Nabiki, she offered her
arm to Ranma.

Taking it by reflex, Ranma stammered out, "Uh, y-yeah.  O-of course.
I'd be honored.  We can finish this tomorrow after school."

"With your permission then, Milady.  If you would all follow me?"

Ranma and Kodachi exited the room arm in arm, and behind them came a
wrath-filled female figure, her true state of emotions barely concealed
behind a cool-eyed mask.  And so the trio went to join the rest of the
Kuno's at dinner.

                  ******************************

The ringing of the telephone disturbed the peace of the after-dinner
quiet in the Saotome household.  Hurrying slightly, Nodoka emerged from
the kitchen, her slippered feet making soft, shuffling sounds against
the wooden floor of the hallway.  She grunted once as the pains of her
injuries briefly made themselves known, and then put it out of her mind
once again.  She and Genma were alone in the house, since Ranma had not
yet returned from having dinner at Kuno Manor.  Perhaps it was just as
well.  Things had been somewhat tense around the house lately, whenever
both Saotome men were present.

The situation simmering between Genma and Ranma perplexed Nodoka, and
she was becoming worried it would never end.  After such a brief time
of joy at having them back in her life, it was like two strangers had
suddenly replaced her beloved family.  She still had no idea what had
caused the rift to spring up between the two most important men in her
life, but she wanted it to end.  It hurt her deeply to see the tension
that existed between them now, remembering how happy they had been
together just a few weeks ago.  What had changed?  Neither one would
speak to her about it, and Ranma became especially evasive whenever she
broached the subject.

Nodoka picked up the telephone, stilling the shrill ringing sound.  She
paused less than a moment to calm herself before speaking.  "Hello?
This is the Saotome residence."

"Saotome-san, this is Doctor Tofu Ono," came the voice from the other
end of the line.  There were muffled sounds of some sort of activity
nearby.  "I'm afraid I don't have much time to talk, but I wanted to
pass on the results of the tests I ran."

Nodoka caught her breath.  In all of the excitement at having Ranma
back after his week away training, she had forgotten all about that.
The nausea had reoccurred only once since causing her abysmal showing
against Kenseiko the other day.  She quickly banished away the memory
of her speedy defeat, before it could cause further erosion to her
already precarious mood.

"Saotome-san?" asked Tofu.

"I'm here."  Nodoka took a deep, quiet breath and calmed herself.

Tofu said, in his best, most professional voice, "As I first suspected
from hearing your symptoms, one of the tests came back positive and
confirmed, Saotome-san.  So let me be the very first person to offer my
congratulations to you on what I hope is pleasant news to you.  You're
pregnant."

Nodoka blinked several times at hearing those words and suddenly felt
faint.  She mumbled some inane response she would not later recall and
set the telephone back into its cradle.  Her eyes suddenly began
filling with tears of happiness as she absorbed the thought of having
another child.  Pregnant.  Hearing that had been a shock, but she was
certain this joyous news would be just what was needed to bring her
family back together.  She should have suspected something like this
when she missed her last period, but she had missed them on occasion
before during times of high stress in her life.  In fact, shortly after
beginning her marriage to Genma, she had missed one, falsely leading
her to conclude she was with child.

Now she was pregnant again.  Perhaps it would be another son, but she
found herself hoping it was a daughter.  She had always wanted a little
girl of her own, a daughter to treasure and to teach how to be a proper
Japanese woman.  And any daughter of Nodoka's would be a proper girl,
she silently vowed, remembering with dismay her own rambunctious youth.
No, her daughter would be different, and she would grow up to be a
paragon of demure and gentle femininity.

Nodoka hurried to tell Genma the good news.

                  ******************************

Tofu slipped his cellular telephone back into his jacket pocket and
sighed.  The commotion behind him involved two paramedics finishing up
attaching an IV bag of artificial blood replacement to the youth lying
on the gurney, as well as sensors to monitor brain and cardiovascular
functions.  With only a portion of his attention, he listened to them
listing off the vital signs of one Ryu Kumon, whose presence was the
reason why he had been on standby here at the Arena.

Most of his attention was occupied by the two sets of blood tests he
held in his hands, one from Nodoka Saotome, and the other from his own
wife, Kasumi Ono.  Informing Nodoka of her pregnancy had only deepened
and exacerbated his own disappointment that Kasumi's was negative once
again.  It was becoming obvious that he had been wrong about the eldest
Tendo daughter's genetic suitability, and he would never be able to
father children upon her.  It was a pity.  His mother had always held
such high hopes for the girl, especially with two of her sisters having
been accepted by the Project, and her family having such an excellent
political placement in the Empire.

He had chosen Kasumi for those reasons willingly, as she was also quite
lovely and as properly demure as a woman could be.  The other two girls
would have been superior choices, if he had chosen a bride purely on
the terms of their genetic compatibility, but neither of them could be
described as demure or properly obsequious to a man's superior station
in the world.  And there was also the centuries-old tradition that the
eldest daughter should wed first.  So Tofu Ono had gambled and lost,
and now he had to figure out a way to somehow extricate himself from
the marriage while still retaining his honor.  It was a shame, for in
all other ways Kasumi was a paragon of what was considered a proper
wife in a Japanese woman.  But the Ono line had to continue on, and for
that to happen would require a wife who could give him an heir.

If only his father had not exposed him to one of the early batches of
the serum.  If only he had not kept it a secret.  If only he had not
sworn upon his honor to keep his father's secret.  So many "if only's."

"Doctor?" said one of the paramedics.  "The patient is ready."

Crumpling the paperwork in his hands and thrusting it within a pocket,
Tofu took a moment to replace the mask of compassion he normally wore
upon his features.  He then turned around and resumed the role that
life had crafted for him.

                  ******************************

Akane not so gently shoved and elbowed her way through the press of
people that were queuing up to try and get autographs from tonight's
batch of fighters.  In her hand she held tightly clutched her precious
autograph book, hoping to finally get the signature of the one Arena
fighter that she most admired in the world, Shampoo.  The violet-haired
Amazon was her hero, exploding onto the Arena landscape with a strength
and fighting skill that the youngest Tendo had not so secretly envied
for several months.  Shampoo personified the martial artist that Akane
had always aspired to be, and she was an icon of female strength that
still remained undefeated to this day, despite over three hundred
Arena-sanctioned matches under her belt.

Sakura had gone off in pursuit of her fallen Ryu-senpai, leaving Akane
to her own devices for the time being.  So the youngest Tendo had
decided to make the most of it, joining a small throng of Arena fans at
what was commonly known as "Signature Row."  There, the fighters were
separated from the fans by bars wide enough to permit autograph books
and small gifts to pass, and numerous peaceforcers stationed nearby in
the area kept the crowds in relatively good order.  Akane, through
judicious use of her knees and elbows, had managed to get up to the
bars, just in time to see the first of tonight's fighters pass by on
their way to the locker rooms and baths.

Keeping her eyes open for her idol, Akane kept a small amount of space
around her clear through judicious use of force.  One girl with bright
blue-dyed hair had received a tooth-jarring elbow to the face when she
had tried to get between Akane and her staked out position at the bars,
but a single cold glance from the youngest Tendo's eyes had quelled any
interest the other girl had in fighting back.

"There she is!" suddenly came a shout from Akane's right.  "Shampoo!
It's Shampoo!"  And those words set off a chain-reaction through the
crowd, which immediately took up chanting the Amazon's name, Akane's
voice one among many.

Catching a glimpse of her hero walking with another one of the female
Arena fighters, Akane gazed in adoration.  When Shampoo passed nearby,
she thrust her arm through the bars, her hand still tightly clutching
the autograph book.  "Shampoo!  Can I have your autograph?  I'm a big
fan!"

The Amazon paused amidst the flurry of shouts for her attention, and
she saw a short-haired Japanese girl holding out an autograph book and
looking a bit desperate.  She had heard such things said to her before,
finding it amusing that the conquerors of her people were so enamored
of her own fighting exploits in the Arena.  What set this girl off from
so many other fans, Shampoo could not say.  With a smile, she nodded
and reached out for it, setting off a feeding frenzy on the other side
of the bars.

"Back off!" shouted Akane, elbowing the ribs of an older boy who tried
to shove her out of place with her free arm.  "She's signing my book
first!"  When that did not dissuade him, she stomped down on his instep
and shoved him back bodily, where he vanished behind her into the press
of bodies.

Shampoo took the proffered book from Akane and scribbled her name into
it, handing it back quickly as even more hands holding autograph books
were being thrust in her direction, trying in vain to keep up with the
demand, even as camera flashes nearly blinded her.  Beside her, Running
Deer was doing a brisk business as well, signing autograph books and
even posing for the occasional camera shot from her own small crowd of
fans.  A little ways down the line, Mina Li was practically holding
court, signing books, posing seductively and even blowing kisses at the
crowd, and generally basking in the raw adulation of her fans.

Receiving back her book from the Amazon, Akane's eyes shone brightly as
she pulled it in and held it clutched tightly to her chest.  She had
finally gotten her idol's autograph, and Shampoo had even smiled at
her.  There had even been a moment, when their hands brushed against
each other, that the youngest Tendo had felt an odd sort of recognition
towards the Amazon, something she had only felt a few times before,
such as with Sakura or those three girls foolishly pursuing her Ranma.
It was an odd sensation, but it also gave her the feeling of being a
kindred spirit with Shampoo.  And that thought made her feel happy.

                  ******************************

Hikaru Gosunkugi closed the book on the last of his assigned homework
and set the text aside, glad to finally be free from dealing with such
dull material.  He crossed his forearms and rested them on the desk
before lowering his chin atop them, gazing out at the rising moon.  The
window to his room was open, and he could hear the neighbors involved
with their respective dinners.  His own dinner had been take-out from
the corner noodle shop.

Hikaru rolled his head to gaze at the single photograph near his small
shrine to Akane Tendo.  It was a framed picture taken many years ago,
of his father holding a toddler in his arms and laughing.  The infant
was himself, and the picture had been taken less than a year before his
father's last mission for the Mobius Institute, the one that resulted
in his disappearance.  His mother had simply fallen apart at the loss
of her husband, and he had been sent away to live with relatives for a
time.  But she had recovered, and he had returned to live with her less
than a year later.  They now lived on a modest stipend from the Empire.

The awakening of his esper powers had even been due to his sire.  His
father had been an artifact hunter for the Institute, one of many such
people whose job it was to find lost objects of antiquity from around
the globe.  One such minor relic had brought his esper powers to life,
although it had taken a few years for them to manifest enough to alert
the Institute.  He had been taken from school and enrolled in classes
there, meeting the girl who would become his friend and nemesis, Manami
Minami.  She had both bullied him and looked out for him ever since,
for reasons she kept to herself.  When they were ten, he had wondered
out loud why she kept hanging around him, and she had slugged him, one
of many mysteries concerning Minami he knew he would never solve.

Now she was nearing the final phase of being a Ghost Sweeper trainee,
and he was coming to the end of his own training as an esper-enhanced
information gatherer for the Empire.  Unfortunately, his abilities were
so weak that it was entirely likely that he would be spending all of
his future career sifting through piles of information gathered by
other agents with stronger abilities.  He would also likely never see
Minami again after graduation in a couple of years, and that thought
filled him with a mixture of both relief and sadness.  She had been
such a fixture in his life that he found it difficult to even imagine
existence without her being nearby to boss him around.  But they had
already started drifting apart, the young Ghost Sweeper now spending
her time with her new friends and dating as many different boys as she
could seem to fit into her schedule.  It was pretty obvious she had
already forgotten about him and had no need for him.

Hikaru's gaze drifted to land on one of the many pictures he had of
Akane Tendo, his beautiful dream girl.  He sighed wistfully once, as he
studied her lovely features intently, feeling a sense of longing for
her fill his being.  His hand moved almost of its own accord, arriving
at his lap as he studied her framed image intently, before beginning to
gently fondle there.  She looked so strong and capable, an intoxicating
mixture of indomitable beauty and sheer physical might.  Until that
miserable villain and his pet noblewoman thug had brutally beaten his
beloved goddess, she had seemed invincible.

Poor Akane.

Reluctantly tearing his gaze away from a picture of one of Akane's
private training routines, the youngest Tendo's image forever frozen,
split-legged in mid-kick, her foot impacting hard into a dummy, Hikaru
noticed the tome he had removed from the Institute seeming to beckon to
him.  He had studied the writings contained within its pages from cover
to cover, detailing a ritual that would unlock abilities within himself
that would propel him down the road to becoming a true mage.  The stars
and planets would be in their proper alignment tonight.  After all of
his waiting and preparations, tonight would finally see the beginning
of the end for Ranma Saotome and Kodachi Kuno.

A short burst of psychotic-sounding laughter erupted from his throat,
cut off at the end by coughing.

                  ******************************

Out of the corner of her eye, Ryoko studied her travelling companion of
the past two days, currently seated on a flat rock on the other side of
the campfire and consuming his meal with gusto.  They had been making
good time hitchhiking, much better than she had been anticipating.  And
today had been a good match for them both, their last before the pair
finally reached Tokyo city proper.  Ryoko felt a surprising pang of
regret that their journey together was ending.  The Hibiki boy had
grown on her quite a bit, ever since he had first stumbled into her
camp, and she was starting to realize that she would miss him when
their trek together was over.  But only as a good friend, she quickly
amended, startled to discover a blush briefly rising on her cheeks.

It was fortunate for Ryoga that he was too engrossed in eating his meal
to spot her momentary discomfiture, or she would have had to pound on
him out of general principles.  For one thing, her travelling companion
was almost a full year younger than she was, nearer to her brother's
age.  She had been a bit surprised to find herself feeling attracted to
someone who was younger, but the innocence and naivete he had sometimes
displayed during their time on the road together were oddly appealing.

Ryoga's physical strength also rivaled hers, which was an attractive
quality on its own merits.  One of the reasons she had so far resisted
her mother's will about accepting an arranged marriage was that she was
a little afraid of her own freakish strength.  How could she ever be
intimate with a guy when she could unintentionally break his spine with
a hug, let alone anything more passionate?  But she quickly banished
that particular thought to the back recesses of her mind, before it
could cause her to blush again.

Ryoga's skills were marginally less than hers, and his combat style
still favored a more brute force approach, but he was proving to be a
fair sparring partner despite these flaws.  She absently ran a finger
along a particularly livid bruise on her jaw as she paused in her own
eating, a thoughtful look on her face.  She found herself at random
moments to be oddly envious of his rather intense rivalry with this
Ukyo boy he constantly seemed to rant about.  It gave him a clear focus
for improving himself that she herself had never had.  By striving to
defeat a strong rival, she could ascend even higher in her mastery of
the martial arts, but there was no one to really challenge her.

Noticing him glance up at her, she looked more openly at him and said,
"I thought we might trade stories tonight."

"I don't know any stories," replied Ryoga with a slight shrug of his
shoulders, after swallowing a large mouthful of food.

"Well, have you ever heard the story of my ancestors, Hibiki-kun?"

Ryoga shook his head in negation.

Ryoko blinked in surprise, not really expecting that.  "You're serious?
You've really never heard the story?  But it's almost mythical!  A tale
of great heroism and the power of true love!"  She shook her head when
she saw the blank look remain on Ryoga's face, unable to believe that
her companion was unfamiliar with the story of two of the Masaki clan's
greatest heroes.  After all, as far as she knew, it really was a legend
in the region they both came from.

"Well, then allow me to change that," said Ryoko with a smile, warming
to the opportunity of playing teacher.  She tossed another log on the
fire, its flickering light enhancing the otherworldly features she had
inherited from her namesake ancestress.  When that was done, she looked
over at Ryoga and smiled, revealing slight fangs.  "It all began some
seven centuries past..."

And so she began telling the tale, of a time long ago, when a mighty
demon and a valiant samurai came together in savage battle.  A smile
came to her face as she saw the interested look appear in Ryoga's eyes.
It reminded her of the time she herself had first heard this epic tale
from her elderly grandfather, Katsuhito Masaki.  He had told it as if
he had lived it himself, the meeting of the original Ryoko, and her
samurai foe, Yosho.

The campfire burned brightly between them as the green-haired girl told
the tale in grand fashion, of the original Ryoko's first appearance on
Earth from the realms beyond the sky, the demoness possessed of powers
capable of shattering mountains in twain.  And pursuing her came a
mighty samurai hailing from a far-off land, a clean-limbed warrior of
noblest bearing, his features as handsome as a demigod, and whose sword
skill was the very stuff of legends.  Within moments of their mutual
arrival, Ryoko turned to face her enemy, and they clashed together in
fierce and blood-soaked battle.  But, armed with the power of his holy
blade, Tenshi-ken, Yosho proved an equal match for the fearsome might
of Ryoko.

They battled for three days and three nights, neither combatant able to
attain a clear advantage.  Quarter was not asked for, nor was it given.
Strange fires and curious lightnings raged between them.  It seemed as
if their struggle would never end, but, for a single instant, Yosho's
blade came quite near to impaling Ryoko's savage heart.  However, that
precious chance for victory was lost when the samurai hesitated at the
very last moment to deliver the killing blow, to strike the demoness
down.  That twinkling of doubt nearly cost him his life, and Ryoko's
blade came within millimeters of severing his head from his neck.  And
so their struggle continued, as fierce and unyielding as before.

However, their battle had attracted the attention of the spirit realms,
and an entity appeared amidst them in a globe of green fire.  He was a
most cold-hearted and vile beast, a Yama King, possessing strength
enough to rend the entire earth into rubble in his hands.

His name was Kagato.

The fire snapped at that moment, and Ryoga twitched in surprise.  He
bit back an angry retort at the gleam of amusement in Ryoko's eyes, and
he gestured for her to continue her story.

With a smile, she picked up right where she had left off, with Kagato
the dark god appearing amidst the two struggling foes.

Kagato spoke with Yosho, engaging the samurai in conversation and even
plying him with taunts and jibes.  While doing so, the dark god snapped
his fingers to summon Ryoko to his side, and she obeyed him like some
kind of a faithful hound.  And that act was the beginning of Kagato's
downfall.  Her eyes blazed green in the Yama King's presence like the
fading fires of his first appearance as she went to the dark god's
side, and Yosho came to a most startling realization.

Ryoko was not a demon, but a lady samurai, a samurai-ko, her very will
stolen by foul magics and her body forced to serve this evil creature
against her desires.  This sudden realization set Yosho into a rage,
and he attacked Kagato with all of his fury and skill.  But his body
was still weakened from days spent fighting Ryoko without rest, and the
dark god slapped him aside with a contemptuous gesture.  The pair left
Yosho in that fallen state, Kagato summoning another globe of green
fire to carry himself and Ryoko away.

Yosho lay still, for his strength was all but depleted, but his will
yet remained undaunted.  After a time, he slowly managed to regain his
feet and stumble to a nearby stream, almost falling into it.  He knelt
down, allowing the coolness of the icy water to slake the terrible
thirst racking his body.  And as he drank his fill and rested there, he
plotted a grievous revenge upon Kagato for his crimes.  Yosho swore a
mighty oath upon Tenshi-ken, the great sword of his ancestors that he
carried, that he would destroy Kagato and redeem the beautiful Ryoko
from her hellish bondage.

The heavens themselves were moved by Yosho's vow, and the veils of the
spirit realms parted once again to reveal the sparkling, eldritch form
of a goddess, whose beauty was unmatched throughout both heaven and
earth.  With wondering awe, the battered Yosho stood up from where he
had been kneeling and slowly approached the now beckoning goddess.  He
knew who she was to the very core of his being without asking, and he
addressed her by name.

"Tsunami-dono," cried Yosho, his soul aching to destroy the demon lord.
"Give me the power to vanquish Kagato.  I beg of you this boon, with
all my heart and with all my soul."

The goddess Tsunami was greatly moved by the passions of this valiant
samurai, and so she granted his boon.  She touched him with only the
tip of one finger, for so great was her power that to do the same with
her full hand would have burned him to ashes.  Yosho felt an answering
power suddenly bloom within him at her touch, and so great was his
sense of wonder at this gift that he failed to notice the shadow of
sadness that crossed her features.  Later on, he would come to know the
reason why.

Filled with power, Yosho single-handedly stormed the ramparts of the
demon lord's castle.  He slew Kagato's soulless guardians by the score,
making his way inward to the festering heart of the fortress, where his
true enemy lay.  His heart was filled with only two desires: to avenge
himself upon Kagato, and to rescue the beautiful Ryoko.

Fearing Yosho's new strength, Kagato sent Ryoko against her would-be
paramour, her mind still clouded by his power.  Desperate, Yosho loudly
proclaimed his newfound love for the girl, to try and snap her out of
her trance.  Never having heard such words directed at herself before,
Ryoko broke off her attack and stumbled back in confusion, her mind
going to war with itself as it began struggling against Kagato's iron
control.  Deep within her soul, she felt an answering passion for the
samurai kindle, but her will was far too weakened by years of enforced
servitude to the dark god to break free.

Kagato laughed cruelly as Ryoko's will was beaten down, and her body
became a puppet once again to the dark god's desires.  Her blade met
Yosho's in ringing clash after ringing clash as the two fought from one
side of Kagato's throne room to the other.  Yet despite his unyielding
hold on her mind, tears began to trickle from the corner's of Ryoko's
eyes, even though they appeared to hold nothing but animalistic fury
against Kagato's enemy.

It was at this time that a second goddess chose to act, a trickster and
mischief-maker, imprisoned by Kagato long ago through treachery.  Her
name was Washuu.  Using what little power still remained to her, she
summoned Ryoko's spirit form into the prison which bound her.  Bereft
of her soul, Ryoko's body collapsed into unconsciousness.  And having
been cheated of his game, Kagato raged against the imprisoned goddess,
and his fury was awe-inspiring.

Kagato drew forth his mighty blade and attacked Yosho, to strike down
this warrior who had caused such frustration to his schemes.  So it was
that Yosho and Kagato came together in mortal combat, blade against
blade, and both of them knew that one of them would not walk away alive
from this encounter.  A storm of lightnings and fires blew throughout
Kagato's throne room, a hurricane of elemental destruction centering on
the two struggling beings.  Yosho gave it his all, but his great skill
and desire to win were not enough.

A slash of Kagato's blade relieved Yosho of his weapon, and even came
near to ending his life.  The demon lord struck Yosho hard in the face,
downing him with a contemptuous blow of his fist, but in his arrogance
could not resist taunting his fallen foe further.

"You are beaten," said Kagato with scorn.  "It is useless to resist me,
Yosho.  Ryoko is my creature, my property, to do with as I please.  And
she will never be more than she is now, a tool of destruction that I
control.  You were a fool to believe otherwise.  Your feelings for her,
your feeble proclamations of love, have no place within her existence.
This foolish thing you call love has made an otherwise capable warrior
into something weak and stupid, for she can never return this feeling
you profess.  She is simply not capable of it."

Watching from within the trickster-goddess' prison, Ryoko saw Yosho's
will to resist begin faltering.  Heedless of the potential consequences
to herself, she fell upon the trickster-goddess, grasping Washuu up and
shaking her with all her strength, demanding that she help Yosho.  She
did not know what this feeling was within her that Yosho's words had
awakened, but she knew she could not have him die.  She cried Yosho's
name loudly even as her hands tightened their grip and continued their
throttling of the trickster-goddess, and somehow her words wended their
way beyond the prison to the samurai.  And her words were heard.

Kagato raised his blade over Yosho's head, holding onto it with both
hands, his lips twisted into an expression of mockery for the samurai's
broken appearance.  "So much for the power of love."

At that moment, a miracle happened.

Hearing Ryoko's voice encouraging him to not give up, as if coming from
a great distance, Yosho's right hand tightened into a fist as Kagato's
sword reached the apex of its ascent, and within its grip a sparkling
of energy coalesced into a new blade.  In the blink of an eye it was
fully formed, and Yosho moved without thought, his body reacting purely
on instinct alone as Kagato's blade began to come down.  An upsweeping
slash of the samurai's weapon opened the dark god's midsection from hip
to opposing shoulder, almost bisecting him.

"I-impossible," murmured Kagato, the sword falling from his grip as he
stumbled back.  "I had defeated you.  You had no power.  This can't be
happening."  And Kagato's form began to dissolve as he spoke, from the
path of Yosho's strike and spreading outwards.  The Yama Kings's eyes
settled on Yosho's for one last instant, and no one can say what passed
between them.  And then Kagato was gone, as if he never was.

"With Kagato's death, the dark god's power over the trickster-goddess
was ended," said Ryoko with a smile.  "Ryoko was forever freed of her
geas, and she wasted no time in making her own desires known to Yosho.
Despite setbacks, the samurai eventually fell victim to her feminine
wiles.  They lived together and had many more adventures together."

Ryoga blinked, surprised to find that he had been caught up in Ryoko's
story.  He shrugged his shoulders, posturing a bit as he grunted, "So,
whatever finally happened to Yosho and Ryoko?"

"Well," said the green-haired girl, staring upwards at the heavens for
several moments as she paused.  "One of the setbacks that Ryoko had to
deal with was a young priestess named Mie Masaki, the daughter of an
influential priest and quite beautiful by all accounts.  She had been
offered to Yosho, along with the guardianship of the Masaki Shrine, as
a reward for ending the threat to the region.  In my grandfather's
tales, Mie and Ryoko took a strong disliking to each other from the
very beginning, perpetuating a rivalry with each other for Yosho's
affections.

Despite this, Ryoko settled down with Yosho for a time.  And, although
they never married, Yosho fathered a child upon her, and Ryoko gave
birth to a girl with hair and eyes like her own.  But a settled sort of
life was not her way, for she was a proud warrior and possessed of a
strong wanderlust.  So she left the young infant in Yosho's care and
departed for realms unknown, promising to return someday."

"Sounds kind of sad," commented Ryoga, unsure what else to say, his
gaze watching the fire as it continued to die.

Ryoko nodded a moment and said, "Yosho eventually married Mie and
adopted the young infant as a Masaki, but a piece of his heart was
forever Ryoko's.  When Mie eventually died of old age, he left the
shrine in the care of his children and grandchildren and went away,
vanishing into legend.  But it is said that Yosho's spirit returns to
the shrine from time to time, waiting for the return of his beloved."
Sighing wistfully, she crossed her arms over her breasts and hugged
herself.

Watching the normally much tougher-acting girl he had been travelling
with go all teary-eyed just from thinking about some old story, Ryoga
shook his head.  He would never, even if he lived to be a hundred years
old, understand girls.  They were a complete mystery to him.  Not one
of them thought like a guy did.

Ryoga looked up at the stars, his hands tightening into fists.  He was
finally almost to Tokyo, finally nearing his goal, thanks to Ryoko's
help.  A day or two of travelling left, and Ukyo would finally pay for
making him endure the cruel hardships he had suffered on his journey to
find the other boy.  Nothing could be more aggravating than having a
girl beat him up, but every bruise dealt to him by Ryoko during their
sparring sessions he fully intended to pay back upon Ukyo with immense
interest.  The ninja boy would know who the better man was when he lay
bruised and bleeding at Ryoga's feet.  Laying back on his bedroll, he
began to smile wolfishly.

Nothing could keep him from exacting his righteous vengeance now.

                  ******************************

Ukyo felt an irrepressible sneeze suddenly assault her nose, a small
explosion of air erupting from her lungs that distracted her at a
critical moment.  There came the distinctive clang of flattened steel
impacting against the bones of her skull, knocking her to the ground.
She got up a moment later, rubbing the back of her head.

"What's the big idea of hitting me like that when I wasn't ready?"
grumbled Ukyo.  She could feel a large lump appearing on the back of
her skull.

A grinning Yumi was quick to admonish her niece.  "You've been acting
cocky all afternoon, thinking those other girls don't hold a candle to
your fighting skills.  But it's a mistake to underestimate an opponent
before facing them.  If you truly think Ranma Saotome is a prize worth
fighting for, then I want you to show these other girls that they have
no chance against you.  You are a Kuonji Ninja, the heir to our clan's
teachings and techniques, and I will help you as best I can.  Arrogance
could prove to be your undoing, but the fight is ultimately yours to
win."

"I'm not going to lose my fianc� to any of those city-bred girls," Ukyo
stated defiantly.  "He's mine, and I've never lost a fight in my life
when it really counted.  Ever.  I'll show those other girls that I'm
going to be the one that Ranchan is going to marry, and nobody better
stand in my way!"  To punctuate her point, Ukyo formed a tight fist
with her hand, causing the tendons to crack and pop menacingly.

Yumi nodded.  She had come up during a brief break after the initial
dinner rush to see how her niece was doing.  The girl had been up here
training all day, practicing on her polearm techniques with the Kuonji
Clan's preferred weapon.  She had given her niece the day off to train,
wanting the girl to arrive at her first day of classes at the Academy
ready for any trouble.  She had quietly snuck upstairs to test her
young niece's ability at reacting to a surprise attack.

Admittedly, striking an opponent from behind in the midst of a sneeze
had been a sneaky thing to do, but Ukyo had to be prepared to deal with
any and all eventualities that could happen in a fight.  It was amusing
in a way that her niece was just like she had been at that age, full of
confidence that she could take on the world.  Yumi only hoped that Ukyo
found the happiness that she never had.

Yumi shook her head.  She was not normally this introspective.  Maybe
that was because she was finding herself in the unfamiliar role of a
mother figure.  She patted Ukyo on the head, pointed out a few of the
potential weaknesses in her niece's technique that a crafty enemy could
exploit, and went back downstairs with a wry grin on her face.

                  ******************************

"More tea, Tendo-san?"

Nabiki nodded in reply to Kenseiko's primly polite question from her
place at the dinner table, seated across from Tatewaki and next to a
simmering Kodachi.  Taking a brief break from eating the sumptuous meal
that had been set out before her, she observed one of the Kuno family
servants quickly hurrying to pour more tea for her.  Having been rather
unexpectedly invited along with Ranma to dine with the Kuno's had been
testing her diplomatic skills a bit, especially since she could not
manage to ignore the unmistakable vibes of hostility that she was
getting from both Kodachi and Lady Kuno, hidden beneath their polite
manners.  As to the lust-filled glances she was getting from Tatewaki,
even less needed to be said about how disturbed they made her feel.

At his own place at the table, across from Kodachi and seated next to a
coldly-polite Tatewaki, Ranma's thoughts were kept busy studying a few
quantum dynamics theorems in his mind.  He was gamely trying to use the
mathematical puzzles to distract him from the doe-eyed glances he was
getting from the young noblewoman, who had spent the entire meal gazing
at him just barely within the modicums of politeness.  Each one of her
smoldering glances kept causing him to make errors now and then in his
mental calculations and forcing him to start over.  At the same time,
he was also quickly consuming plate after plate of the delicious meal
set before him with polite gusto, restraining himself with effort at
times to keep from simply guzzling it down like one of his counterparts
would.

Kodachi noticed that Ranma was looking at her again, and she shifted
her gaze away from him shyly.  Having Ranma here at her home for dinner
was causing nervous butterflies to spout up within her, distracting her
terribly.  She had not been troubled by such nervousness while she had
been focused on her work, but now she was.  Kodachi quickly shifted her
attention, only to arrive at the wholly unwelcome sight of the middle
Tendo girl seated next to her, causing her fingers to whiten slightly
as their grip on her chopsticks tightened.

Distracted from eating by their table guests, Tatewaki struggled hard
to maintain the stoicism of a true samurai lord, but it was difficult
when he was seated so near his true beloved.  One of them, he quickly
amended, not wishing to slight the fair yet high-spirited Akane Tendo,
even in the privacy of his own thoughts.  But how could both of them,
not to mention his shy and foolishly naive younger sister, have become
so captivated by the lowly knave now seated to his right?  What madness
filled these wonderful members of the fairer sex, that they would all
set their sights on such an ill-mannered peasant as Ranma Saotome?  It
was utterly inconceivable.

Lady Kuno spared her only daughter a sympathetic glance.  Watching her
precious Dachi-chan act so shyly around the Saotome boy, it was quite
obvious that she had fallen in love with him.  And they made quite a
nice-looking couple together, which made the odd telephone call she had
received from Lady Karou even more puzzling.  The woman had somehow
become even more vacuous over the years, and she had gone on for some
time about inanities before finally coming to the point.  Even talking
with Nodoka had been less irritating, but that was beside the point.
The Karou's were officially requesting that Kodachi attend a formal
dance with their son, Miki, to take place at Ohtori Academy.  Due to
the complex web of fragile alliances that were always a factor in the
dealings among the nobility, she had found herself unable to simply say
no.  To do so would be to risk alienating an ally, and that she was not
prepared to do.

What was puzzling about the request was the indication that Kodachi and
Miki had already been spending time together, and Miki desired to spend
some more with her.  It was all being done according to protocol, but
there had also been an undercurrent of threat to the matter.  Since
Kodachi was not officially engaged yet, it would not be considered a
breach of decorum for her to attend a function with another young man,
so Kenseiko had eventually given her permission.  It was possible that
the Karou's were seeking to formalize their alliance with the Kuno's
through marriage, but the timing was inconvenient.

Shifting her gaze to Ranma, Kenseiko mused at how the passage of time
could change so many things.  It was an ironic twist of fate that the
daughter of her own womb was now involved with the offspring of her
arch-rival, but she found it difficult to dislike the boy.  Despite his
humbler origins and rather coarser manners, Ranma had impressed her
with the way he treated Kodachi, and she knew he would make a fine
addition to the family as a future Kuno.  She could tell that he would
defend Kodachi if need be, and that was a great comfort to a mother who
loved her daughter like she did her precious Dachi-chan.  But it was
still astonishing how such a one as Ranma could have ever sprung from
the ill-mannered thug that Nodoka had always carried on like in her
youth, and most likely still was.  But the boy carried a great deal of
her in his facial features and the structure of his frame.

Kenseiko had been noticing the looks being exchanged by her daughter
and the Tendo girl, and she found it a pity that a daughter born of
grace and blue-blooded nobility should have to put up with interference
to her desires from such a one.  Still, in her own youthful follies,
when she had still carried the family name of Idomo, dealing with such
annoyances had motivated her to grow stronger than she otherwise would
have been capable.  She mused with a slight smile on the memories of
her three greatest nemeses in those past, gloriously misspent days of
their youth: Nodoka Himura, Achika Masaki, and Kimiko Nakakami.  How
she had despised Nodoka and Achika, and still did.  Only the soldier
cadet, Kimiko, had been an occasional ally at times, in innumerable
doomed plots seeking to finally crush Nodoka, schemes that always
seemed to unravel at the very brink of victory.

It was perhaps ironic that Kimiko's ghost was still frustrating her
plans from beyond the grave, in the personage of her daughters.  Her
old ally was having one last laugh at her expense, but Kenseiko would
turn the tables if she had any say in the matter.  Ranma would marry
her beloved Dachi-chan, completing her revenge against Nodoka by taking
the boy's names from the Saotome register when he became a Kuno.  And
as for Nabiki Tendo, she would be wise to leave Ranma to Kodachi.

Kenseiko studied Ranma speculatively between bites of her meal, her
thoughts on her daughter's recent request.  The Kuno's maintained a
fairly sizable pineapple plantation in the Prefecture of Hawaii, and
Kodachi had asked if she could take Ranma there on a vacation during
the upcoming class break in a month or so.  A romantic getaway in an
island paradise would give her daughter time to cement her hold on the
Saotome boy, likely by Kodachi seducing him into her bed.  It was a
bold scheme, and she was secretly proud of Kodachi for having come up
with it.

Ranma came near to swallowing his chopsticks when Kenseiko suddenly
burst out into a loud gale of evil, feminine laughter.  He glanced at
Kodachi, thinking it was her at first, but she was eating her food as
if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.  A glance at Tatewaki and
Lord Kuno showed the same calmness.  Shrugging, he went back to eating
his meal, grateful once again that this version of Kodachi did not seem
prone to laughing like that.

Lord Kuno looked down the table and smiled at his wife affectionately.
It was always nice to hear Kenseiko laugh like that, and it usually
meant she was plotting something fun.  That boded well for him tonight,
since his beloved wife was far more amorous when one of her plans was
coming together.

                  ******************************

A staccato pattern of heavy thudding sounds resounded from one of the
exercise rooms in Furinkan's gymnasium.  The sound occasionally sped up
in its rhythm and then slowed back down, but it never stopped.  And on
the lower edge of audibility was a single muttered word, like a mantra.

Shampoo.

Within the exercise room, Sakura powered another series of kicks and
punches into the heavy leather bag.  Each time she slowed down, the
memory of Ryu's brutal defeat at the Amazon's hands blazed within her
memories, reigniting her fury.  She had been at this ever since her
return from the Arena, holding the rage within her during the ride back
on the bus with Akane.  She had only half-listened to Akane's happy
babbling about how much fun it had been to visit the Arena during the
long trip back, contributing the occasional grunt for her part of the
conversation.  Her thoughts had been elsewhere, plotting the downfall
of a certain purple-haired Chinese Amazon.

"Shampoo."  Picturing it as the other girl's face, Sakura drove her
fists hard into the punching bag with all of her strength, again and
again, trying in vain to distract herself from the ache filling her
heart.  Her hands, toughened over the years from her training, were
starting to go numb from her efforts, but Sakura didn't care.

Her beloved Ryu-senpai would be fighting in the Arena for the next six
months, unless he had been crippled during his fight with that Chinese
bimbo.  Nobody would tell her anything when she had left Akane to try
and find out how he was, and she had been tempted to start breaking
heads until someone did.  And it was all that damned Amazon's fault!

If she hadn't run across that nice doctor who had been treating her
Ryu-senpai, she was not sure what she might have done.  He had calmed
her down enough to allow her to reclaim her focus enough to continue
calming on her own, or she might have gotten herself into some real
trouble.  Unlike Akane, she did not have any family to pull strings if
she had given into her impulses and started trouble.  She was grateful
to Tofu-sensei for his kindness.  Her Ryu-senpai had not been injured
seriously, but he had lost some blood from some of his injuries and was
now sleeping and recovering.

"Shampoo," Sakura growled, low in her throat like an animal.  Her feet
slammed into the bag, rocking it back and forth on its chain as she
spun back and forth to add power.  She would start by smashing into
pulp Shampoo's pretty features, so that no man would ever desire her
again.  She would break every one of the Amazon's limbs into so many
places that she would never be able to fight again.  When Sakura was
through, that damned Shampoo would be lucky if she could still eat
through a tube.

Blows continued to rain into the bag as a young girl fantasized about
destroying the object of her wrath.

                  ******************************

Ryu Kumon's return to consciousness was a slow process, and he blinked
his eyes open to behold a plain ceiling overhead, in a room dimly lit
by light leaking under a door.  The mattress under his back was a very
firm one, feeling so much like his regulation-issue cot in his room at
Furinkan's dorms that he thought he was there at first.  But, moving
his gaze around, the illusion of familiarity was quickly dispelled.  He
was in a hospital?  It was hard to think as his brain gradually lurched
back into activity.

Moving very slowly, Ryu sat up, and his vision swam as he felt a moment
or two of vertigo, almost causing him to throw up.  His thoughts felt
fuzzy and disjointed, like his brain was wrapped in cotton batting or
something.  His face also felt oddly numb, and his nose appeared to be
plugged up, as he quickly discovered when he made an attempt to take a
shallow breath.  Feeling a throbbing pain in his ribs, experience told
him that a deeper one would be a definite mistake.  Various areas of
his body were bandaged, an intravenous tube was hooked to one of his
arms, and he was attached to a monitoring device by several wires.  It
gave off a gentle beeping sound in time with his heart rate.

The memory of his fight with Shampoo suddenly blossomed in his brain,
and he hung his head in angry dismay, almost gnashing his teeth.  He
had failed!  The Amazon bitch had beaten him soundly, mercilessly, and
he clenched his fists tightly in utter shame at the thought of that
humiliating loss.  The Kumon School of Martial Arts was all that he had
left of his family legacy, and he had now dishonored it by his absolute
failure to defeat the Amazon, a loss that had been seen by countless
millions of people across the globe.  He could almost feel his father's
spirit staring at him disapprovingly from the shadows, adding to his
tremendous feelings of grief.

Why had he failed?  Why had he weakened in his resolve?  The answer was
galling to him when it came.  Having finally come face to face with the
famed Amazon, after studying numerous tapes of her fights for weeks in
search of the slightest flaws to exploit, he had discovered in himself
an unexpectedly strong desire for her, and his carefully cultivated
focus had been lost.  All of his many sparring matches against Sakura
Kasugano, in order to inure himself against any sort of hesitations
when fighting against a girl, had apparently been for nothing.  He had
felt similar pangs of desire for Sakura, but not quite as strongly as
those he had felt for Shampoo on the floor of the Arena.  Simple lust
for the barbarian girl had cost him his victory, as well as his chance
to glorify his family's name, and he found himself hating Shampoo for
that, with a level of passion that he had never before felt for any
opponent.

"Shampoo," whispered Ryu into the quiet darkness of his room, his voice
dripping with barely-suppressed rage.  "I will see you defeated for
what you have done to me, as utterly humbled as you have left me, and
then, when I have attained that revenge, the barbaric customs of your
own tribe will make you my bride."  He laughed softly at that pleasant
thought, salving his wounded ego with thoughts of the Amazon's ultimate
fate at his hands.  He would redeem the honor of his ancestors using
the beautiful Shampoo's beaten body as the coin, and, as an added
bonus, she would then be his to possess for his own.  The thoughts of
what would take place upon their marriage bed were nearly as pleasant
as those of his hoped for revenge against the girl.

Ryu lapsed once more into silence, his mood darkening even further for
several moments.  Then a wolfish smile crossed his face.  The challenge
of defeating a strong opponent was all that he had ever lived for, an
attitude that his father had gone to great lengths to beat into him
over their many years of wandering the Empire together, while his sire
trained him to be the greatest martial artist that the world had ever
known.  And he would show everyone that he was the best, or all of that
pain and effort would have been for nothing.  So if the Amazon desired
a man to conquer her, then he would be that conqueror, and force her to
yield to him in single combat.  Then, Shampoo herself would be the
sweet spoils of his victory.

The door suddenly opened while Ryu was still brooding, and he blinked
his eyes rapidly for a few moments at the change in brightness before
they quickly adjusted.  Thoughts of his revenge upon the Amazon were
temporarily set aside as he glanced at the man now standing in the
doorway.  Ryu did not recognize him, and his face took on a guarded
expression when the man casually reached up and adjusted his glasses,
but the friendly smile on the stranger's face was putting him more at
ease.

"I'm pleased to see that you're already awake, Kumon-san," said the man
cheerfully as he walked closer, setting aside a clipboard.  "I'm Doctor
Tofu Ono.  I was on duty here when they brought you in."  Tofu set down
the clipboard and pulled a small penlight from his pocket and flicked
it on.  "Follow this with your eyes, please."  He waved the penlight in
front of Ryu's gaze, moving it from one side to the other.  When he was
done, he flicked it off and returned it to his pocket.  "Good."

"I'm all right, Ono-sensei?" Ryu asked, curious.

Tofu smiled again.  "Well, I wouldn't say you're all right.  When they
brought you in, you had a moderate concussion and some deep contusion
damage, not to mention quite a few bruised and cracked ribs."  Tofu
paused for a moment, and then he pressed several points on Ryu's torso
in rapid succession.  He then began removing the IV drip and cardiac
sensors.  "However, your concussion's already faded after only a couple
of hours of rest, which is quite good, and I've done what I can to
relieve your pain and speed healing of your other wounds.  But you're
still going to be injured for some time yet."  Tofu suddenly paused a
moment, as if sensing something.

"I guess the Amazon proved to be a bit too much for you, eh, new meat?"
suddenly said a coolly sardonic voice from the doorway.  Both Ryu and
Tofu glanced over to see an athletically-built youth with pretty-boy
handsome features casually standing there in the opening, leaning one
shoulder against the door frame as he stood posed with arms folded and
hip half-cocked.  He was dressed well, in black silken pants and shoes,
and a silver leather vest of costly material.  Small golden loops of
earrings adorned each of his ears, and a mocking smirk seemed to be a
permanent fixture upon his face.

Ryu definitely did not like the looks of this new arrival.  Never the
most diplomatic person even at his best, he snapped, "Who the hell are
you?"

"I'm sort of the welcome wagon around here, new meat," casually sneered
the stranger.  "The name's Tarou, and it's a name you'd be well-advised
to remember from now on with respect.  After all, in just a few months
I'm going to be the crowned champion at the upcoming annual tournament,
so consider yourself pretty lucky to be meeting me, especially outside
of an Arena match.  But for now, I'm here to introduce you to your new
home, since it looks like you'll be staying with us for awhile."  As he
spoke, the mocking smile never left his face.  His gaze slid over to
meet Tofu's.  "The Arena Director wants to see the new arrival."

Tofu's expression was calm, but his usual smile was momentarily absent
as he met Tarou's gaze levelly.  "I understand.  Please give my regards
to the Director."  He turned back to face Ryu.  "Take care of yourself,
Kumon-san."  With that, he gathered up his clipboard and walked out
past Tarou as if he wasn't even there.

Tarou disdainfully puffed out a brief burst of air after Tofu had gone
past him.  He glared intently at the doctor's departing form, incensed
that anyone would ever try and ignore him.  But he quickly calmed
himself by casually slipping a hand inside one of his pants pockets,
his fingers fondling the sheer silk of one of his latest acquisitions.
The touch of pantyhose was his secret pleasure, but it was one that no
one could ever discover or reveal.  After all, he was known in the
Arena rolls as Ikasu Tarou (Cool Guy Tarou).  He had carefully chosen
that name for himself when he had first started out in the dog pits,
where every Arena legend had begun.  It reflected a certain image he
wished to present to the world, not to mention his extreme confidence
in eventually winning the prize of citizenship.  But if his secret was
ever discovered, he was certain he would very quickly become known as
"Pantyhose" Tarou, for the world of the Arena was an unforgiving one,
and nicknames had a way of sticking.

When Ryu did not join Tarou quickly enough for his tastes, the Chinese
boy smiled coldly and went into the room.  Ryu glanced up just as Tarou
came near, and he was surprised when the other boy suddenly grasped him
by the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet.  His ribs flared
with pain at the sudden movement.

"When I tell someone to move, new meat," said Tarou in a conversational
tone of voice, "I expect them to be quicker."  Seeing the defiant look
in Ryu's eyes, Tarou smiled even more.  "I'd teach you proper respect
for your betters, Citizen Boy, but the Director's waiting for you.  So
get going!"  Shifting his grip, Tarou shoved Ryu in the direction of
the open doorway.

Sullenly, after quickly regaining his sense of balance, Ryu obeyed
Tarou's instructions and headed out into the hallway.  The pair walked
to the nearby elevator and waited for it to arrive.  Ryu ignored the
other boy as best he could.

When they arrived at the outer office of the Arena Director, Tarou had
Ryu sit in a chair by the simple expedience of shoving him down into
it.  He went over to the secretary, an attractive woman with red hair
pulled back into a ponytail, dressed in a conservative business suit.
The name on the desk plaque read "Mai Shiranui."

"Hey there, Mai-chan," said Tarou with a lecherous grin.  "I've brought
the new guy here to see the Director.  He's expecting us."

"Go right in, Tarou-san."  She nodded primly at the set of double doors
leading into the inner office.  "You know how the Director hates to be
kept waiting."  She then turned her head back to her work with a sniff,
pointedly ignoring the Chinese boy.

Grinning, Tarou stood up straight and glanced at Ryu.  "Follow me," he
commanded.  He glanced back at Mai briefly.  "When I'm done in there,
how about you and I going out for some tea, gorgeous?"

"I don't think so, Tarou-san," replied Mai coolly, as if it was a line
she had delivered often enough to have grown tired of it.  Noting Ryu's
regard of her, she added, "You know I don't date younger men."

"Your loss, sweetie."  Tarou grabbed Ryu by the back of his collar to
hurry him along and opened the door to the Arena Director's office.
"She wants me," he whispered so that only Ryu heard.  "It's only a
matter of time until I break down her resistance."

Stepping into the Arena Director's office, the first thing that caught
Ryu's attention was the decor.  It was simple, almost spartan in many
ways, which made the few items of ornamentation stand out in stark
contrast.  Classical ink brush sketches adorned the walls at several
key points, and sculptures of both eastern and western design rested at
each corner.  There were even flowers and other decorative plants set
in the room.  And everything was placed in such a way to give a sense
of good feng shui permeating the room.

The second thing that caught Ryu's attention was the matching pair of
statuesque women standing to either side of the figure seated behind
the large desk on the far side of the room.  They were near identical
Liliths, both Puma-class security models, each of them standing a bit
less than two meters in height.  Both were impressively built, broad of
shoulder, lithely muscular, and well-endowed.  They each wore their
long manes of hair pulled back into a single thick braid that ran down
almost to the small of their back.  The single distinctive feature
between them, aside from their catlike ears, were their catlike eyes.
Both of them had mismatched eye colors, one eye blue and the other
green, but one had a blue left eye and the other had a green left eye.

Dressed in short-sleeved dark-green uniforms similar to those worn by
the Imperial Arena's security forces, they stood with arms folded
beneath their breasts, solemn expressions on their faces.  From where
he was standing, he could just barely make out the names stenciled into
patches on the right-front breasts of their uniforms, "Ana" and "Uni."

In comparison to the woman, the figure seated behind the desk was not
quite as imposing, but he carried an air of quiet menace nonetheless.
He was a pale-skinned, somewhat corpulent figure of a man, apparently a
half-breed, with the locks of his blond hair worn straight and curling
outwards at his collar, dressed in a well-tailored business suit.  He
looked up and eyed the two arrivals, spending most of his attention on
Ryu.

"Come in, Kumon-san," said the man with gruff affability.  "I'm sure
that you've guessed who I am by now.  I am Kakedo Sasaki, the Director
of this facility.  Please, come in and have a seat.  You and I have a
few items to discuss regarding your fulfillment of the specified terms
of your contract.  Tarou, you're dismissed."

At a nod from the Director, both Ana and Uni broke ranks and strolled
over to the door, one Puma less than gently shoving a surprised Tarou
back out the door before closing it in his face, and the other grabbing
Ryu up by the back of his collar and almost frog-marching him towards
the chair in front of the desk.  She then shoved him down into the
seat.  Through it all, the only change of the Director's expression had
been the brief appearance of a slight smirk on his face.

As the two Puma's returned to their original positions, Director Sasaki
smiled blandly at Ryu and said, "Now, shall we begin?"

                  ******************************

Lieutenant Yusaku Godai sighed tiredly as he fumbled with his keys for
a moment, before finally finding the right one for the lock.  He could
hear the sounds of a raucous party drifting across the hall, and he was
a little tempted to join in the festivities.  After his interview with
Furinkan's new headmaster, he had spent the entire weekend immersed in
the history section of the academy's library.  He was determined to do
his best by his students, to instill within them a pride in the great
undertaking that the Empire represented, to unify humanity under one
leadership, guided by the divine mandate of the Emperor.

Besides, if he did well, it would likely mean a promotion.  A higher
rank would bring with it the opportunity to move into a much larger
apartment by means of a greater subsidy allowance, and it would finally
enable him to satisfy his parents' urgings for him to settle down with
a good woman.  As things stood now, Yusaku had very little to offer a
woman, other than an embarrassingly small apartment in a dumpy little
rooming house, with a shared bath down the hall.

As he tiredly pushed open the door to his room, Yusaku heard the sounds
of carousing across the hall suddenly grow much louder as the door to
his neighbor's apartment suddenly flew open.  With a long-suffering
sigh, he turned to see a drunken Akemi Roppongi smiling at him in a
rather sultry fashion, her body poised in the open doorway.  Her dark
blue yukata was an attractive counterpoint to her hair, dyed a deep red
ever since he had first met her.  Both were somewhat disheveled.

"Godai-kun," purred Akemi with a slight hiccup.  "You missed most of
the party.  Where have you been, you naughty boy?"  She leaned back
against the open doorway and sighed dramatically.  "I missed you,
Little Tin Soldier."

Yusaku grimaced slightly at the nickname.  Seeing his reaction, Akemi
smiled with even more smoldering sensuality in her gaze.  He knew she
enjoyed teasing him.  Everyone in the rooming house did.  They saw him
as a fake soldier, a man who wore the uniform of an Imperial officer,
but one who would likely never see combat.  He nodded slightly to Akemi
and continued on into his room, shutting out her pursuing laugh.

Slumping up against the inside of the door, Yusaku smiled in a rather
self-deprecating fashion.  Maybe he really was only a tin soldier, but
he was also a man of dreams and ambitions.  Someday, he would realize
them.

As he began walking deeper into the light gloom of his apartment, he
turned on the lights with an absent flick of his finger against the
wall switch.  He pulled off his jacket and carefully hung it up in his
closet, briefly recalling the proud look in his father's eyes when a
not much younger Yusaku Godai had first returned home, dressed in the
uniform of an Imperial officer.

Noticing the blinking light on his answering machine, he walked over
and tapped the button to play back his messages.  The first one was
from his mother, wondering if he was going to be paying them a visit
during the upcoming spring break.  Knowing her as Yusaku did, she
undoubtedly had a number of girls picked out for him to meet.  That
sort of pressure he really did not need when he was supposed to be on
vacation.

The other one sounded like a recorded announcement, or perhaps that of
a well-practiced telemarketer, since it lacked the pauses that a live
speaker normally had.  He listened to it, wondering what the catch was
going to be.

"Congratulations, Godai-san," said the anonymous female voice.  "You
have been selected to receive a wondrous gift, and I am authorized to
bestow it upon you at your earliest convenience, should you choose to
accept it.  You can be assured that there is no obligation involved,
and I will be available at any hour of the day to deliver your gift in
person."  The voice went on to recite a fourteen-digit telephone code
that he could use to reply to this message, before wishing him a good
evening and hanging up.

Shrugging his shoulders, figuring he had nothing to lose, Godai played
the message back a second time and quickly scribbled down the telephone
code.  He idly wondered who the voice represented, not to mention why
they were going to give him a gift, but maybe it was a sign that his
luck was about to change.  He carefully dialed in the telephone number
and waited while the line connected.  He heard the telephone ring twice
before being picked up.

"Good evening, Yusaku Godai," said the same pleasant, female voice that
had left the message on his machine.  "You have reached the Goddess
Relief Office, and a representative will be there shortly to deliver
your gift."  A moment later, the other end hung up, leaving Yusaku
puzzled.

He was still staring at the telephone in his hand when he suddenly
noticed a faint glimmering coming from the mirror on his closet door.
Yusaku stared at the startling sight, hardly daring to blink as the
glimmering quickly brightened, and a beautiful girl with light-colored
hair and complexion, not to mention the deepest blue eyes that Yusaku
had ever seen, suddenly appeared from within the depths of the looking
glass.  Odd tattoos of some sort adorned each of her cheeks, and her
forehead as well.  Her slender form was swathed in an elaborate outfit
of semi-diaphanous silks and a flaring skirt of strange materials, and
her tresses were held in place by a scarf.  She poked her head clear of
the surface of the mirror and smiled innocently at him.  Ripplings of
light rolled outward across the surface of the looking glass as more
and more of her body emerged.

                  ******************************

Deep within the demesne of the Mobius Institute, a young woman suddenly
blinked her eyes open and stared outwards into the silent darkness of
her room.  A brief smile curved her lips slightly as the whirling chaos
of her mind almost stilled, and Setsuna Meioh knew a brief moment or
two of peace.

"And the fates of both Heaven and Earth shall become intertwined," she
whispered, ever so softly.

Then the moment ended, and her mind once more dissolved into the vast
sea of possibilities constantly washing against her consciousness.  Her
smile faded away, and she returned again to a troubled sleep.

                  ******************************

Yusaku stared for several moments at the unexpected vision that had so
suddenly appeared in his room, but then his training took over.  His
hand dropped to close on the butt of his sidearm, still holstered at
his waist, even as he felt an odd reluctance to draw it.  He gazed in
awed rapture at the sight laid before his eyes, before slowly removing
his hand from the weapon.  A sensation of peace filled his soul as he
beheld the beautiful girl finally emerge fully from the glass to hover
in mid-air before him, her feet suspended several centimeters above the
floor.

"Wh-who are you?" asked Yusaku, when he finally found his voice.  "What
are you?"  Even as he spoke, he felt himself held captivated by her
beauty and the sense of innocence she projected.

The vision before him smiled gently, bowed her head slightly, and she
replied, "Good evening, Godai-san.  My name is Belldandy, and I am a
goddess.  You have been chosen from among all other mortals to receive
a great gift, a wish for anything that your heart might desire."

Yusaku's brain came close to stalling out for several moments as it
attempted to process that particular input.  A wish?  For anything he
desired?  Anything at all?  Instantly, visions of fame, power, and
wealth, not to mention crowds of adoring women, washed across his mind
for a brief moment.  The entire world had just been offered to him, and
his imagination savored the possibilities.  But then he quickly shook
his head.  This could not be real.  He was just an ordinary man living
an ordinary life in an ordinary world, and such things as goddesses
appearing and offering wishes did not happen to men like himself.

"You're wrong, Godai-san," reproved Belldandy gently, still smiling her
sweet smile.  "Any of your desires could be met.  You have been offered
this gift as a reward for having a good heart and a kind nature.  All
you have to do is wish for it, and whatever you desire shall be yours."

"A-are you reading my mind?" Yusaku stammered out.  A thought suddenly
occurred to him.  Perhaps the woman was an agent sent from the Mobius
Institute for some obscure purpose.  That could explain her abilities.
Perhaps this _was_ some sort of Security Directorate test.  He saw a
look of mild consternation lightly brush across Belldandy's beautiful
features, and he smiled suddenly.  He was certain he knew just how to
turn this situation around and show this woman from the Institute just
what he was made of.

Yusaku pointed at Belldandy and said with a smile, "I know what I want
for my wish.  I wish that a beautiful girl like you would fall in love
with me and stay with me forever."  He lowered his pointing finger and
waited for the strange woman's act to end.

After looking quite startled for a moment, Belldandy's smile returned,
but now with an added element of shyness added into it.  The marks on
her face flared brightly, and an aura of divine power suddenly surged
up around her.  Yusaku quickly averted his gaze from the intense burst
of brilliance, trying to shield his face from the light with upraised
hands.  What was happening now?

Belldandy closed her eyes and spread her arms wide, a ball of energy
quickly forming before her, as her entire body became almost suffused
with a beatific glow.  She held that rapturous pose for a moment or
two, feeling her spirit link up with the Yggdrasil main system as she
prepared to upload the specified request.  A coruscating column of blue
iridescent energy suddenly roared up through the ceiling, yet there was
no damage left in its wake in even the slightest way.

                  ******************************

Within the Mobius Institute, a young woman with pale hair, barely more
than a girl really, blinked her eyes open suddenly and looked around.
She sat up in her bed, her slender form lit only by the silvery light
of the moon shining upon her.  Dropping her bare feet to the floor, she
stood up gracefully, her white, sheer silk nightgown hiding little of a
trim and finely-formed figure.

After calmly striding over to the window, the girl threw it open and
looked outwards across the city, her gaze absent of any hint of emotion
other than mild curiosity.  Something was happening, she could sense
it, something powerful and magical.  A wintry half-smile crossed her
features as she felt the energies fading away.

The sorceress known as Frost would know what it was, and if it was a
threat to the Empire she had sworn upon her honor to serve.

                  ******************************

Ayaka Kisaragi blinked in pain at the sudden headache exploding behind
her eyes, abruptly halting her drifting off into sleep.  She cursed out
loud from the pain, immediately regretting having spent another weekend
of drinking and partying with her three best friends in the world: Yui
Ikari, Natsumi Tsujimoto, and Miyuki Kobayakawa.  It had been wonderful
fun, but she had to be up early tomorrow, to begin another week spent
at her current assignment at the Imperial Academy.

As the pain in her head gradually receded, she sensed that the brief
surge in the local ambient ethereal energies was already beginning to
fade away.  Ayaka lurched out of her bed to her feet, weaving only
slightly, her body clothed in one of her favorite silken nightgowns.
Something major had just happened, and it was nearby.  She stumbled
over to her window just as her cellular telephone rang shrilly.  She
snatched it up quickly, even as her other arm swept back the curtain
over her window.

"Kisaragi here," she said, her eyes studying the Tokyo skyline for any
visible sign of the source of that energy surge.  But she saw nothing.

"Kisaragi, I've just received a report that some sort of immense energy
pulse has taken place in your vicinity," said the voice of Director
Kasuga over the phone.  "Did you sense it?  The power levels went off
the top of the scale."

Ayaka grimaced, but kept most of the sarcasm out of her voice.  "Sense
it?  Yeah, I felt it all right.  Very powerful."  Ayaka's voice trailed
off as she cast her senses out into the nearby vicinity.  There was a
fading echo of the surge still resounding in the area.  If she was very
lucky, she would be able to find the source before it faded completely.

"Find out what you can, Kisaragi," said Director Kasuga gruffly.  "I'm
counting on you."

Ayaka replied, "Yes, sir."  She heard an acknowledging grunt from the
other end of the phone and then it was abruptly hung up.  She clicked
off the cellphone with her thumb, her attentions still probing outwards
into the surrounding night.  She would discover the source of that odd
energy and determine if it was malevolent or not.  If it was, then she
would destroy it.  It was part of her job, after all.

Going over to her nightstand, Ayaka opened the drawer and pulled out
several items: a small bottle of pills, a gun, and a metal cylinder.
She gingerly popped open the bottle and quickly shook out a couple of
pills from within.  She dry-swallowed them and braced herself.  As the
chemical concoction abruptly hit her system, she snapped fully upright,
feeling her body burning off the toxins remaining within her.  The
experience quickly passed, leaving her mind clear and her body ready
for action.  Combat drugs were a wonderful invention, but she knew in
the back of her mind that she was going to regret this later.  Still,
for an hour or so, she would be at the top of her abilities.

Ayaka continued her preparations, feeling her stomach burble once or
twice in complaint, but she ignored it.  The pistol she picked up was a
short-barreled 9mm automatic in blued steel, standard Institute-issue
for an undercover operative like herself.  However, the cylinder was a
family heirloom, the Red Dragon Spirit Capture Star Sword.  After
quickly ejecting the magazine currently in the gun, she reached into
the drawer and pulled out a different one.  The bullets contained in
this magazine were special-issue ammunition made by the Institute, the
tips composed of a unique alloy of silver and orichalcum.  Very faint
runic traceries added to their lethality to supernatural beings.  Each
round was very expensive to create and was only meant to be used in
emergencies.  However, the current situation seemed to warrant it.

Ayaka slapped the magazine into her pistol and worked the slide, easily
chambering a round.  Flicking the safety on with her thumb, she set it
down on her bed with the sword pommel and went over to her closet to
find something appropriate to wear.  She had a very general sense now
as to where her quarry was located, the echoes of the energy pulse
leaving an afterimage on her senses like a flashbulb on a retina.

                  ******************************

Ghost Sweeper Minami blinked and gasped suddenly, her attention yanked
from the textbook spread open in front of her.  Something big had just
happened nearby, and that spelled an opportunity in her eyes.  Other
than Kisaragi-sensei, she was the only Ghost Sweeper (albeit still a
trainee) in the local area.  So it was her duty to investigate whatever
had caused such a disturbance, and she hoped that it was something a
little bit challenging.

So far, Minami had been a bit disappointed at the level of supernatural
activity in the area.  It was going to take her forever to upgrade her
license from trainee-level at the rate she had been going, and beating
up on low-level ghosts and minor spirits was getting boring.  Where was
the adventure in that, let alone the glory?

Still, recalling how powerful that disturbance had felt, it was better
to play it safe.  She picked up her telephone and dialed, waiting a bit
impatiently as it rang four times before finally being picked up.

"Uh, hello?  Mano residence," came the distracted-sounding voice of
Yohko Mano.

"Yohko, this is Minami.  Get dressed and bring your stuff.  I'll be
waiting at the corner near your house.  We've got a case."

                  ******************************

Yusaku dropped his arms slowly when the bright light in his room faded
away.  Hearing the sounds of the party across the hall still going on
made his present situation feel even more surreal.  Still, he was not
very surprised that the commotion in his room had not disturbed the
party in the slightest.

"Your wish has been accepted by Yggdrasil, Godai-san," said Belldandy
pleasantly.  "I knew you would make a good wish."

Yusaku blinked rapidly for several moments.  "It was?  You did?"

Belldandy nodded, smiling even more brightly.  Her feet dropped down to
touch the ground, revealing that she was actually somewhat shorter than
Yusaku's own height.

"So, uh, what happens now?" asked Yusaku.  He had expected the girl to
reveal that he had passed and then leave, but he was becoming more and
more certain with each passing moment that this was not some sort of
Security Directorate test.  He noticed her looking around his room with
interest, and he was suddenly embarrassed at the mess.

Belldandy suddenly looked uncertain when she turned back to face him.
"I'm not sure, Godai-san.  You asked for a beautiful girl like me to
fall in love with you and stay with you forever."  For a brief moment,
she blushed, then asked, "Do you really think I'm beautiful?"

"Yes!  Yes, of course!" Yusaku quickly blurted out.  He suddenly looked
embarrassed and continued in a softer tone.  "I think you're the most
beautiful girl I've ever met."

Belldandy smiled her shy smile again.  At that moment, the telephone
suddenly rang, startling the pair, and Yusaku laughed briefly.  The
juxtaposition of normal and abnormal events taking place seemed to
justify it.

"I think that might be for me," said Belldandy thoughtfully.  She went
over to the telephone and picked it up.  "Hello?"

While he waited and listened, Yusaku tried to figure out who she could
be talking to, but no answer came to mind.  Her end of the conversation
mainly consisted of brief statements like "Yes" and "I understand."

After a minute or two, Belldandy hung up the telephone.  She turned to
look at him with an enigmatic expression on her face.

"So, who was that?" asked Yusaku, unable to contain his curiosity any
longer.

"That was Kami-sama," replied Belldandy in a matter of fact tone.  "He
had some instructions for me, so that I might best fulfill your wish
and also take care of another task he wishes for me to do while I am
here on Earth."

"K-kami-s-sama?" Yusaku stuttered.  He stared at Belldandy for several
moments as the enormity of this situation finally sank in.  His mind
decided to take a brief break from things, and the world spun for a
moment before going dark.

                  ******************************

Ayaka paused on a street corner and looked around.  The night air was
cool against her skin, typical for spring weather, and she was grateful
that she had dressed more warmly than was her usual wont.  She belted
her trenchcoat shut for a little more warmth and grunted.  While a low-
cut evening dress was her preferred outfit when the weather was warmer,
she was glad she had opted for practicality over style in her present
situation.  That was also why she was presently wearing a light suit of
body armor under her coat, just in case.  Not only was it quite
comfortably warm on such a cool night, but Ayaka would be the first to
admit that she struck an attractive figure in it.

The source of the etheric disturbance had been nearby, of that much she
was certain.  However, the trail she had been following, the dwindling
echoes of the initial immense pulse of energy, had finally faded away
almost completely.  She had gotten here as quickly as she could, but
still too late.  Her quarry was proving to be more elusive than she had
been expecting.  Still, if she was lucky, perhaps it would give itself
away again.

It was at that moment that something else suddenly tingled against her
spiritual senses, another disturbance in the local energies.  After
quickly unbelting and opening her overcoat, Ayaka drew her gun from her
shoulder holster.  She thumbed off the safety as she glanced around at
the surrounding buildings, trying to get a more precise fix on the
source.  She was in a residential district, surrounded by a number of
apartment complexes and rooming houses.  For several long moments, she
cast her senses about, finally locking on to what seemed to be the
origin point of this new disruption.  With a wolfish smile, Ayaka
headed off towards the source at a run.

                  ******************************

Frost alighted softly on a rooftop as she paused to cast her senses
about.  The white silken robes she wore billowed slightly in the faint
breeze, giving her a ghostly appearance.  The glowing staff she held in
one dainty fist faded slightly in the moonlight, until only the odd
runes inscribed in metal along its length gave off any light.  Flying
here from the Mobius Institute had taken her much longer than she had
anticipated, and she had lost the scent.

The normally bland expression she wore on her face took on the faintest
note of perturbance as she looked back and forth without sensing her
target.  Her powers were not as well refined in such things as sensing
as she was in her mastery of other magics, but she would begin working
harder to overcome that flaw at her earliest opportunity.  Luckily, she
had the resources of the Institute to draw upon for improvement, adding
to her already impressive capabilities as a sorceress.  With perhaps
one or two exceptions, she was far superior to anyone else near her age
when it came to the mystic arts.

Still sensing nothing, Frost pursed her lips slightly.  Growing up in
the care of the Mobius Institute had taught her to be patient.  She was
very near her target, so it was only a matter of time before something
led her to it.

                  ******************************

Minami gazed in mild surprise at the unexpected figure walking up with
a battle-ready Yohko and blinked.  "Uh, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, Kasuga-kun was at my house when you called," quickly declared
Yohko in explanation, indicating her companion.  She then looked a
little nervous when Minami adjusted her glasses and studied the pair a
bit more closely.  A light blush appeared on the young Devil Hunter's
cheeks as she suddenly realized how bad this could look.  The blush
deepened when she recalled what she and Kyosuke had been involved in at
the time Minami called, especially since she had been the first one to
initiate things.

Kyosuke nodded and put one hand behind his head, also looking somewhat
flustered at Yohko's statement.  He smiled at the robed Ghost Sweeper.
"Yes, that's right.  I was studying with Mano-san.  She and I have a
big test tomorrow."  However, the fact that he and Yohko had not been
studying right at the moment Minami called went unspoken.  It had just
been a brief break from the books, but one innocent kiss had quickly
led to much more passionate ones.  If duty had not called in the form
of Minami, who knew what might have happened between himself and Yohko?

It was a rare night that he had been able to visit the beautiful Devil
Hunter without her old dragon of a grandmother being around to glare at
him.  Glancing briefly at Yohko, and trying hard not to stare at how
well she filled out her battle uniform, he still wondered why his
thoughts had kept drifting to fantasies about another girl, namely
Madoka Ayukawa, even while he was kissing with her.  Yohko would have
surely decked him, or worse, cried, had she known where his thoughts
had been.  But it was almost as if the street-tough Madoka had cast a
spell over his feelings of late.

For her part, Minami was a little put out to see the Esper boy there,
even if he was her senpai at the Academy.  Having someone else around
from the Institute on a case would lower the points she could earn, one
reason why Yohko had proven almost ideal to have as a partner.  The
young Devil Hunter had proven quite useful on the few matters they had
worked on together so far, with her soulsword and fighting skills
backing up Minami's magics.  But what had been a surprise to the Ghost
Sweeper was that the older girl was also becoming a good friend.

"Anyway, Kasuga-kun volunteered to come along and help," stated Yohko,
wrapping her arm around his rather possessively.  She smiled at Minami.

"Well, all right."  A hint of peevishness was in the Ghost Sweeper's
voice.  She took a quick scan of their surroundings and then headed off
in one direction.

Yohko yawned in boredom, even as her longer legs easily kept pace with
Minami's stride, regretting having been interrupted from her quality
time with her boyfriend.  She eyed the redheaded Ghost Sweeper and
wondered how much longer this was going to take.

Minami paused as she felt a sudden etheric disturbance brush against
her spiritual senses.  "We're close," she announced.

"Yes," Kyosuke agreed.  He had felt something as well.

"Well, it's about time," grumbled Yohko.  The sooner this was taken
care of, the sooner she and Kyosuke could get back to more important
matters, like some serious snuggling time.  A girl her age had certain
needs, but she would settle for a little exercise to work off some of
her tensions in the meantime.  She waited for Minami to point her in
the direction of their target, musing about her relationship with the
Ghost Sweeper.  Despite her grandmother's initial misgivings about her
spending any of her time with a "glory-seeking pawn of the Mobius
Institute," she enjoyed being friends with a girl who understood what
it was like to hunt the night's creatures.  Even though she viewed
Nabiki as her best friend in the world, Minami was quickly becoming a
close second.

The Ghost Sweeper paused and said dramatically, "A powerful presence
disturbs the ether."  As she looked around, she was surprised to see
Kisaragi-sensei going into one of the buildings, the very same one that
she could sense spiritual emanations coming from!  Seeing her, Minami
abruptly cursed in her thoughts in an un-ladylike fashion.  "Quick!
This way!"  She grabbed Yohko by the arm and took off running as fast
as she could, almost dragging the taller Devil Hunter.  Kyosuke kept up
as best he could.

                  ******************************

Frost happened to glance down and spotted Minami and her little posse
as they made their way down the street towards one specific building.
She cocked her head slightly to one side as she considered her options
with this new development.  Minami was well-known in the Institute as a
glory-hound and something of a hothead, her personality far from having
the emotional reserve that a true mistress of spellcasting should have,
like Frost herself had in abundance.

Minami would always be second-best to Frost for that reason.  The other
girl's magics were fueled by her passions, and that made her weaker in
Frost's eyes.  Still, Frost mused, another wintry smile appearing upon
her face, the Ghost Sweeper made a most excellent decoy to flush the
prey out of hiding.  She settled down to wait for the inevitable blast
of fireworks that Minami was sure to bring forth any minute now.

                  ******************************

Yusaku lazily blinked his eyes open, feeling a very pleasant warmth
suffusing his body.  He glanced upwards and realized that his head had
been resting in Belldandy's lap, a soft glow emanating from her hand.
At that moment, she looked so kind and maternal that he could not bring
himself to move from this position.  It was a perfect moment.

The sounds of a wild party drifted around the corner as Ayaka paused on
the landing.  She could hear a woman laughing drunkenly, and muted
comments from other individuals, but that was not the source of what
she sensed.  While creeping forward as silently as she could, Ayaka
cocked her gun, feeling ready for anything, adrenaline giving her an
intoxicating rush.

She paused outside the door across the hallway from the party.  From
the sounds of things, a bomb could go off and no one in there would
even notice.  She took several deep breaths, trying to prepare herself
for a possible life and death struggle with some horrific netherworld
abomination.  Taking one last swallow of air, Ayaka whirled her body
around in a spin kick and drove her booted foot against the door.  The
lock splintered open with a sharp cracking sound, and she threw open
the door the rest of the way with her shoulder.

"Freeze!  Mobius Institute!"  Ayaka immediately pointed her gun at the
oddly-dressed woman currently kneeling on the floor, her thighs forming
a sort of pillow for the man laying back against her, a washcloth still
draped across his forehead.

Yusaku stared at the striking figure framed in his doorway, surprised,
for a moment thinking it was Akemi.  But he heard the party still going
strong across the hallway, and a laugh he recognized as the redhead�s.
Had he been right all along?  Was this some sort of loyalty test being
proctored by agents of the Mobius Institute?

Belldandy gazed at the stranger standing in the doorway and was a bit
perplexed.  So far, her current wish-giving assignment had been more
complex than most, but she did not mind.  She smiled innocently at the
woman now pointing a weapon at her, uncertain what to do or say.

Ayaka watched the strange woman with an outward expression of control,
but her spiritual senses were already going berserk.  She had rarely
felt such incredible levels of power before, a Class Four preternatural
entity at least, and never combined with such innocent purity as she
could detect in the other.  This was no demon or astral horror.

This was a _goddess_ before her, and Ayaka was not sure how to act now.

                  ******************************

"We're too late," Minami groaned, pausing on the stairway leading to
the second floor.  Behind her was Yohko, lightly bouncing on the balls
of her feet, and a somewhat winded Kyosuke.  The trio heard Ayaka make
her dramatic entrance.

"Let's just go in there and kick demonic butt anyway."  Yohko started
up the remainder of the stairs, her soulsword at the ready.  With a
shrug, Kyosuke followed her.  He glanced at Minami.

The Ghost Sweeper was debating the matter when she sensed something
else suddenly make its presence known.  What was going on here?

                  ******************************

Not too far away from the apartment building, in a quiet section of a
nearby park, a glowing sphere of energy swelled up and then just as
quickly dissipated, revealing Mara, Demoness First Class.  She took a
deep breath of the crisp air, doing impressive things for her figure,
if anyone else had been around to notice.  An evil smile lit her face.

"First order of business is to destroy Belldandy before she can get
settled," Mara commented out loud to herself.  Her body rose into the
air as she took a brief sniff of the air, sensing the faintly lingering
traces of a recent etheric energy discharge.  Her skills at tracking
prey had always been among the best of her kind, comparable to those of
a shark sensing blood.

Only it was not blood she was sensing.  At least, Mara amended with a
harsh chuckling sound burbling up from her throat, not yet.

                  ******************************

"Uh, can I get up?" Yusaku asked the strange redhead, wondering if this
utterly bizarre evening was going to end with him getting shot in his
own apartment.

Ayaka glanced at Yusaku, suddenly feeling even more uncertain about her
present circumstances.  She was in a strange man's apartment, holding a
gun pointed at a goddess.  Life as an agent of the Mobius Institute
certainly had its moments.

"So, do we go in?" Kyosuke asked Yohko, the pair standing right outside
the open doorway to Yusaku's room.  He began raising his energies up,
just in case, feeling the Power swelling within him.  He heard Minami
come up behind him.

"On my signal," whispered Yohko, carefully peeking around the edge of
the doorway.  "We go on three."

Minami kept casting her senses about.  Something was wrong, but she
could not figure out what.  All she was detecting now was a Class Four
entity within the room, and that was bad news.  But there had been a
second source of almost equal power for a few moments.  Where was it?

Meanwhile, hovering in the air outside the rooming house, Mara could
sense her target within.  She had carefully cloaked her presence as she
made her approach, to prevent the simpering, weakling goddess from
being forewarned as to her approaching doom.  Now, it was all going to
be so easy.  With a laugh, she quickly began forming a ball of energy
between her hands, feeling the power surging in strength within it as
she fed all of her rage and hatred into it.

"Damn!" cried Minami suddenly, sensing the power building up outside.

Fortunately, prepared for combat as she had been, Ayaka's own senses
gave her a moment's worth of warning that there was any danger, but a
moment was all she needed.  She could detect a sudden flaring of power
outside, and the heirloom of her ancestors was in her free hand, drawn
by reflex alone from the sheath at her hip.  Her overcoat billowed
dramatically open behind her as she leaped forward to stand between the
pair on the floor and what was outside.

"Red Dragon Spirit Capture Star Sword!" shouted Ayaka, the blade of the
weapon immediately igniting in response.  She desperately wove it in a
pattern that erected a defensive rune in midair, praying it would be
powerful enough to deal with what she sensed was coming.

"Die, Belldandy!"  Mara released the blast she had been preparing, the
ball of crackling energy launching out from between her hands like a
torpedo.  It streaked across the short distance towards Yusaku's room,
filled with all of the hatred and rage that Mara could fuel it with.
The demoness watched with satisfaction as it burst through the window
she had been aiming at, just before detonating with a powerful blast,
one that scattered glass and wood debris outwards over a large radius.

Ayaka was lifted off her feet by the concussive force of the blast, her
hastily-erected defensive spell shredding from the sheer magnitude of
the power used against it, but it still managed to deflect enough of
the energy away so that she and the other occupants of the room were
not killed outright.  She impacted hard with a now standing and gaping
Yusaku, and the two of them tumbled together across the floor of his
room.

Out in the hall, Kyosuke yanked Yohko back and shielded the three of
them with the Power, straining his abilities to the limits to cover
them all.  He hugged the Devil Hunter to him as the muted blast licked
at his shielding.  He was dimly aware of Minami huddled up behind him.

Belldandy had been caught by surprise by Mara's merciless assault, and
she could see the grinning demoness hovering in the air outside when
the smoke quickly began to clear.  She cast a brief glance at Yusaku,
grateful to see that he was only stunned.  She also noted that both of
his arms were half-wrapped around the strange redhead.  Could this
woman be the one to fulfill his wish?  But now was not the time to
dwell upon such things.

                  ******************************

Frost contemplated the explosion that had just engulfed a portion of
the building she had been watching, outwardly calm and collected, but
inside she was startled.  A globe of energy surrounded the entity that
was hovering outside, a defensive shield that was invisible to normal
senses.  Things were becoming more serious, and the region could be
severely damaged if the situation was not contained quickly.  Minami
was in way over her head, along with the Director's grandson and the
Devil Hunter, so it looked like it was up to her to rescue the Ghost
Sweeper trainee from her own arrogance.

The first thing that needed to be done was to get closer to the action,
where she would be more effective.  Frost began to incant, and her body
lifted from the rooftop.

                  ******************************

As the smoke cleared, Mara was dumbfounded to see that Belldandy and
the two human vermin with the young goddess had somehow managed to
survive her assault.  It was simply inconceivable!  Belldandy couldn't
have had enough time to erect any sort of barrier!

Quickly, Belldandy began an incantation.  "Spirits of light and air, to
my aid and defense I appeal.  Let your power be with me, and protect us
with thy seal."  Twinkling lights began forming a glowing shield of
energy across the opening.

"No!" shouted Mara.  She quickly began her own incantation.  "Spirits
of darkness and hatred, heed my call!  Gather the energies of death and
destruction into my hands!  Let me be the agent of my enemy's fall!"  A
second sphere of wild lightnings and festering darkness quickly formed
between Mara's hands once again, one even more powerful than the first
had been.  She released it at Belldandy with a look of glee, sensing
that the goddess's shield would not be strong enough to fully deflect
the damage of this attack.

There was a clash of powerful energies, of forces holy and unholy, and
Belldandy poured all of her power into maintaining the shield.  But it
was not going to be enough against the strength of Mara's attack.  With
a crackling and then a roaring, the barrier suddenly shattered, and
Mara's energy strike rushed though to impact against Belldandy's form.
The goddess managed to utter a single, brief cry of pain, before her
body launched backwards to crash into the rear wall with enough force
to knock her senseless.

During the momentary lull, Yohko and Kyosuke entered the room, standing
almost shoulder to shoulder.  Behind them, readying one of the wands
from her kit was Minami.  All three had serious looks on their faces.

Yohko stepped forward and brandished her soulsword dramatically.  "I
hold no enmity against those coerced into evil.  But to those vile
beings who toy with the hearts and souls of men, since the time of the
Ancient Gods, we have been your destroyers!  Now, the 109th Devil
Hunter, Yohko, is here... Beware!"

"Oh, how cute," taunted Mara.  "One of you human vermin still wishes to
play.  Killing you will be an added bonus for this trip.  Ordinarily,
I'd make this last for a bit, but I have to destroy Belldandy quickly
so I'm afraid that I'll have to kill you fast.  So, if you don't mind,
kindly die."  With that, she unleashed a beam of hellfire directly at
Yohko.

The Devil Hunter grunted from the effort, speedily swinging her weapon
around and managing to deflect the bolt of energy.  It rebounded off
the blade of her soulsword to incinerate a small car parked across the
street, blasting the unfortunate vehicle into numerous fragments.  But,
even as Yohko hurriedly brought the blade back into a guard position,
the demoness was already launching another assault.  The Devil Hunter
knew she only had to miss once, and it was all over.

                  ******************************

Frost hovered outside, a spell of invisibility concealing her presence
from both sides of the combat.  There was a second entity inside the
building, apparently defending itself against the one hovering outside.
She studied the situation, coolly analyzing her options.

                  ******************************

Kyosuke moved to protect the three people laying on the floor, a shield
of Power flaring to life in front of him.  Yohko and Minami were better
suited to take the battle to the enemy, but his prayers went with them.

"You ignore me at your peril, hellspawn!" shouted Minami, unleashing a
blast of lightning from the wand she was carrying.  Mara danced lightly
to one side in mid-air with a gleeful laugh, deflecting the lightning
with one outstretched hand.  The Ghost Sweeper winced as her attack
spell lanced downwards and blew up a second parked car.  Then she had
her hands full dealing with some of Mara's blasts as well, trading
energies with the demoness as the two tried to obliterate each other.

Having just recovered from Mara�s surprise attack, Ayaka quickly became
aware of her surroundings once again, hearing sounds of battle going
on, and she found herself underneath the man who had been in this room.
He appeared to be dazed, which was fortunate for him, since one of his
hands had come to rest firmly upon one of her breasts.  She scrambled
free of him, snatching up her Red Dragon Spirit Capture Star Sword, and
it flared to life in her hands once again.  She stepped back into the
battle just as Yohko missed a parry with her soulsword, and a blast of
lightning knocked the Devil Hunter out of the fight.

"Yohko!" cried Kyosuke.  He ran forward to pick up the girl tenderly,
noting her injuries.  Luckily, her Devil Hunter form seemed to add to
her natural resiliency, and she did not appear seriously harmed, only
knocked unconscious.  Sensing sudden danger, he redoubled the strength
of his shield, a mere moment before another of Mara's blasts would have
rendered the couple into ashes.

Minami's look became grim.  This creature had harmed her best friend
and tried to do the same thing to her senpai!  She quickly unleashed a
withering array of attack spells at Mara.  Lightnings, fire, and ice
lanced at the demoness, but Minami was dismayed to see her best efforts
deflected.  She glanced at Ayaka, seeking guidance from someone more
experienced, and she noted the look on the other woman's face.  But her
moment of inattention proved to be her downfall, and a blast of wind
knocked the young Ghost Sweeper into a wall, stunning her.

Ayaka brandished her weapon, the red glow of the blade lighting her
face eerily.  "If you're done fighting with children, then you and I
have some unfinished business."  With that, she attacked.

                  ******************************

Frost had finished her analysis of the situation, and things did not
look promising if she did not enter into the combat.  She began a spell
that would weaken the entity's defensive barrier before she launched
into her own repertoire of attack spells.

                  ******************************

"Belldandy?" whispered Yusaku, still hearing a loud ringing within his
skull as he slowly crawled over to the still-stunned goddess.  Behind
him, he could hear the strange redhead from the Mobius Institute waging
a desperate struggle against the demoness hovering just outside.  He
quickly laid his ear down against Belldandy�s chest and, after a brief
moment of fright at not hearing anything other than the ringing in his
head, was quite relieved to discover that her heart still beat quite
strongly.

Mara was rapidly growing tired of these irritating humans with magic
swords.  It was looking like it was time to get up close and personal
in this battle, if she was going to be able to finish it anytime soon.
She knew she could not afford to waste any more time and risk Belldandy
coming awake again, even as amusing as it had been so far.  She had to
finish this now.

Expecting a fresh round of fire from their enemy, Ayaka was surprised
to see the demoness suddenly disappear from where she had been hovering
outside, only to blink back into reality less than a meter from where
the tall redhead was standing.  A lightning-fast swipe of Mara�s hand
removed Ayaka's weapon from her grip, and the Ghost Sweeper watched it
spinning away with dismay.

"You and your friends have delayed me long enough, mortal," said Mara
with a grin.  "But I have a goddess to kill now."  Firing off a burst
of power from her hand, Mara sent Ayaka tumbling to one side.  "But
I'll be back for you soon enough.  And I promise to make all of your
deaths last.  Your cries of suffering shall be a symphony to my ears."

At that moment, there was the distinctive sound of a pistol chambering
a round.  Mara looked over at Yusaku with evident bemusement.

"You're not hurting anyone!" cried Yusaku.  He quickly drew a bead on
the center of Mara's body, aiming right at her chest.

"What is it with you mortals and these grand heroic gestures?" Mara
asked, shaking her head.  "Go ahead and shoot, if you think you've got
the balls for it."

Angered by Mara's taunt, Yusaku squeezed the trigger three times in
rapid succession.  However, each bullet was deflected away from Mara's
body at the last instant, bouncing off of some sort of invisible shield
around the demoness.  He fired twice more, still not believing that
such a thing was even possible.

"Now it's my turn," said Mara calmly.  She fired off a blast of energy
that forced Yusaku to dodge.  Smiling, she brought her aim closer with
each succeeding blast.

"Somebody!  Anyone!  Help!" cried Yusaku, certain that his young life
was soon to be over.  The demoness' blasts had quickly backed him up
across the room, and he was dangerously near the blasted out opening to
the outside.

Outside, Frost unleashed the spell she had been crafting.  With any
luck, the demoness would not notice her shield's power levels dipping
for several moments.  She was confident that her next spell would be
able to finish the creature.

"Hey, demon wench," Mara suddenly heard from right behind her.  It was
that redheaded bitch again.  She half-turned and saw Ayaka laying on
the floor by one wall, a pistol propped up in both of her hands.  But
the redhead looked slightly concussed, her eyes tending to unfocus and
her hands to waver.  Mara smiled very coldly.  Didn't these mortals
ever learn?

"Deflect this," said Ayaka angrily, and she pulled the trigger.  She
had sensed Mara's shields weaken, and the silver and orichalcum-tipped
slug ripped through what was left like it wasn't even there.  A couple
of centimeters further over to one side, and it would have taken a good
portion of Mara's head with it.  As it was, it only managed to graze a
shallow furrow across one side of her skull.  A second shot quickly
rang out from Ayaka's gun before the echoes of the first had faded,
narrowly missing Mara's chest as the first shot spun her around.

Mara's body jerked involuntarily from the pain, her senses reeling from
the injury.  However, before Ayaka could pull the trigger a third time,
Mara recovered with inhuman speed and teleported across the room.  She
lashed out with a blast of energy at point-blank range, taking the
redhead by surprise and knocking her back hard against the wall.  The
gun flew from her hands and away into a corner.

Mara was astonished once again.  One of these lowly mortal vermin had
severely injured her!  And her shields had somehow fallen!  She could
already feel the cold numbness of shock filling her system as blood
dripped into her hair and one eye, and she reluctantly realized that
Belldandy's human companions had cost her victory here.  Someone would
pay for this!

"Another time," promised Mara with a hiss, her body vanishing in a
flash of flame and power as she departed.  All that remained of her
presence was the destruction left behind in her wake.

                  ******************************

Frost hovered in the air outside, still invisible, allowing the attack
spell she had been holding to dissipate.  Her first spell had weakened
the demoness' shield without her presence being noticed, allowing the
others to deal with it more effectively.  But the creature had escaped,
and she was the only one with sufficient mobility to follow.  Her body
streaked away into the night.

                  ******************************

In the aftermath, Yusaku sat a bit stunned, staring at the remnants of
what had once been his apartment.  Belldandy sat next to him, looking
quite exhausted as she slept.  She had managed to heal everyone, even a
suspicious Minami and Yohko, before passing out.  It was a shame that
she could not have done the same for his room.  He saw Ayaka talking
with someone on her cellphone, but the trio of teenagers had already
left.  A sigh escaped his lips.  Where was he going to live now?  Why
was this all happening to him?

"Wow, Godai-kun," came Akemi's slurred voice from the doorway.  "No
wonder you didn't want to come to my party."

                  ******************************

Reappearing in an alleyway located in a somewhat disreputable section
of Tokyo, Mara cursed the recent turn of events.  She sagged against a
grimy wall as the pain in her head threatened to overwhelm her, and
blood began leaking again from her wound.  Grimacing painfully, she
began chanting a healing spell.  Feeling her knees involuntarily
buckle, she struggled to stave off shock and forced herself to remain
conscious by sheer will.  Her mind slowly cleared as her magics took
hold, beginning the torturous process of knitting her tattered flesh
back together.

"I would have won, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids," Mara
muttered, weariness filling her as she slumped against the filthy wall.
Before she passed out, she burned the memory of all three firmly into
her mind.  They would all pay, in blood and pain.

As her consciousness faded, Mara was only dimly aware of a dark figure
suddenly looming out of the shadows.  She struggled to rise, refusing
to believe that a demoness of her lofty stature would meet her end in
some puke-fouled alleyway in the mortal world.  But her knees quickly
buckled beneath her once again.  Despite the spell still mending her
broken body, she was still too exhausted to offer up any resistance.
The unfairness of her fortunes grated at her.  She should not have
lost!  She should not be here!  She was Mara, Demoness First Cl....

The figure was silent as it stared at Mara, gazing dispassionately from
out of the shadows as the last of her reserves finally gave out, her
eyes rolled back in their sockets, and the demoness quietly slumped
down unconscious against the wall.

                  ******************************

The last syllables of the incantation rolled off of Hikaru's tongue,
the tome he had been reading from laying spread out before him on his
desk.  He was surprised when a sudden wave of weariness overcame him,
for such a thing was not supposed to be part of the spell.  Even as his
eyelids drooped, he somehow managed to stand up and take two faltering
steps towards the door before falling unconscious.  His last thought
was oddly of Minami, certain that the redheaded Ghost Sweeper would
have berated him harshly for attempting something so risky.

As Hikaru's body collapsed limply to the floor of his room, it was
silent for several moments, then a robed and cowled figure emerged
soundlessly from the wall, translucent silver in coloring, its ethereal
shape hovering slightly in the air.  Without any delay, the ghostly
apparition dove into Hikaru's slumbering body, vanishing within his
body and causing it to jerk once slightly before it fell still once
again.  For several long moments, the only movement was the steady rise
and fall of the unconscious boy's chest.

The tome resting on the desk shimmered slightly, swiftly transforming
itself back into its true appearance, that of a more ordinary-looking
book, the words on the open page reforming into a dry dissertation on
the history of Gnosticism.

                  ******************************

Frost had come up empty on her search of the nearby Tokyo area.  It was
as if the demonic entity she was seeking had somehow been swallowed up
by the city, but the white-haired sorceress vowed to keep a watch for
its return as she wended her way back to her room at the Institute.

                  ******************************

The still figure on the bedroom floor suddenly began to move, blinking
open his eyes.  Then, a throaty chuckling emerged from the throat as
hands shifted to beneath the chest, slowly levering the body up from
the floor.  Standing up shakily, the figure gazed about the room, a
smirk adorning his face.  A faint glimmering could be discerned in the
irises of Hikaru's eyes, like minute electrical storms.

"At last," said the figure, an almost rapturous expression on his face
as he moved about the room, somewhat clumsily at first.  He held one
hand up before his face, sparkles of energy dancing from fingertip to
fingertip.  "I know that you can't hear me right now in your slumbering
state, Hikaru Gosunkugi, but I thank you for the loan of this body.  It
will do nicely for my needs.  My apologies for the subterfuge, but even
your will was too strong for me to overcome in my current state.  And I
need the access your body will give me to the Mobius Institute.  This
is a matter of life and death, Gosunkugi-san.  Mine, to be precise.  So
know that you have the gratitude of Simon Magus, the Lord of Illusions
and the greatest wizard who has ever lived.  Using this body, I will
finally obtain the key to my long-sought victory, the Nanban Mirror,
and Simon Magus will live again."

The figure paused, feeling its spirit becoming accustomed to its new
vessel.  A few more moments of uninterrupted peace, and this body would
be his to command until it was no longer needed.

                  ******************************

Frost paused on her way back to the Mobius Institute, suddenly sensing
a surge in etheric energies nearby.  Banking sharply, she circled the
building she had just passed, an apartment complex near the Institute.
She quickly zeroed in on one window in particular and swooped up to
peak inside.  She hovered just outside the glass, holding her staff
across her body to render it less visible, only her head rising high
enough to see inside.

                  ******************************

It was at that moment that Simon Magus chose to fling open the window
to Hikaru's room for some fresh air.  He was quite astonished to see a
white-robed albino girl with pretty Asian features and white-blonde
hair hovering just outside the window.  He blinked several times in
rapid succession.  Had the Mobius Institute found him out already?  It
wasn't fair!  He had planned so carefully!  He was so close!

Frost was startled to see Hikaru Gosunkugi staring at her, realizing
that he was the being radiating the faint etheric energies that she had
sensed.  But he was no wizard.  What was happening here?  Had this boy
managed to hide his true talents all this time?

Despite the risk, Simon decided to take the initiative, hoping to deal
quickly with this encounter.  He had to be careful though, too much use
of power could disrupt his still tenuous hold on the Gosunkugi boy's
mind and body.  But he was confident that a wizard of his experience
could deal with a mere slip of a girl.  Besides, it had been far too
long since he had engaged in a duel of sorceries.  It would be good to
make sure that he had not lost his edge.  He teleported outside, not
wishing to damage his new home.

Frost backed away from the window when Hikaru suddenly vanished from
before her eyes, even as she raised a defensive screen.  She could not
tell if he had gone invisible or teleported.  But, either way, seeing
the esper boy do such a thing had caught her off guard.  Her eyes
scanned the air around her, seeking her foe.

After appearing in the air over the albino girl, Frost was the name he
pulled from Hikaru's memories, having finally begun to gain access to
them, Simon Magus cloaked himself with a veil of invisibility and then
allowed himself to drop down.  Using his powers at such a minimal level
made it that much more difficult for the girl to detect his presence.

Frost was caught by surprise when Hikaru hit her from above, his knees
slamming into her back and nearly causing her to bite her tongue.  Now
angry, she shot away quickly from her previous position, an attack
spell on her lips.  The wintry look she normally wore on her face had
been replaced by annoyance.  He was making her look like a fool, and
she did not care for it.

Appearing behind the girl, Simon saw the globe of energies forming on
the tip of her staff.  Good.  The albino girl still had some fight in
her after all.  Casting a quick spell, he smirked and whistled to get
her attention, waving when she turned his way.  Despite his cocky look,
he could feel his energies beginning to lose cohesion.

Her wintry smile back, Frost released the globe of freezing energy at
her target.  She had noticed that Hikaru was not using any actual
attack spells of his own, wondering if he was simply toying with her.
That was his mistake.  She was an Amazon sorceress, and she would not
be mocked.  She was gratified to see the globe engulf her target, ice
forming on his body, freezing him into place.  She allowed herself a
cool grin, seeing the globe of ice floating in the air, her target
cocooned inside.

"Nice spell," remarked a familiar voice right behind her.  "You must be
an elemental wizard."

Reacting by reflex, Frost amped up her defensive barriers into a full
globe, but she was a fraction of a second too late.  A hand touched her
shoulder, and electrical energy surged through her body.

"I win, you lose," remarked Simon jauntily.  He had a moment to enjoy
his victory, and then Frost's shields collapsed, discharging their
energies into him.  The unexpected surge of power into his system had
disrupted his astral form, and he could feel his soul coming apart at
the seams.  The ground began rushing up, a moment of terrifying deja vu
that enabled him to focus enough to teleport himself and the girl back
to his room.

Even as she slipped into unconsciousness, having been defeated through
the basest of magical trickery, Frost still had the satisfaction of
hearing her foe gasp as her defensive screens discharged into him, a
special modification she had made to her shield spells long ago, just
in case someone ever engaged her in melee combat.  Her body went limp
in the arms of her conqueror as her staff went spinning away into the
darkness to drive half of its length into the ground far below.  The
finest Amazon sorceress in generations, bested by an outsider!  As her
thoughts fell into darkness, she vaguely recalled that that should mean
something to her.

Moments after reappearing in Hikaru's bedroom, Simon clasped his hands
to his skull, feeling a tugging that rapidly grew stronger.  It wasn't
fair!  He had won!  But his mental cries went unheeded by the universe,
and he could feel his astral form beginning to be pulled back through
the millennia, to when history recorded his death in the marble streets
of Rome, having tried and failed to defeat the magics of Simon Peter,
the Apostle.  He fought with all of his strength, latching every ounce
of his magical powers into this body to hang on against the tides of
history that pulled against him.  But that proved to be a mistake, and
he felt his powers wrenched free of his astral form to lodge within the
body he had sought to inhabit for a time.

With a fear-filled cry worthy of the damned, the illusionist known as
Simon Magus was whisked back through the millennia, his astral form
finally reuniting with his physical body to fulfill his destiny in
history.

                  ******************************

"Are you sure this is going to be all right?" Yusaku asked the redhead
currently driving the vehicle he was riding in, a taxicab that had been
commandeered for this trip.  Next to him in a small suitcase were the
few pathetic remnants of his life that he had managed to salvage from
his shattered apartment.  Luckily, his spare uniform had survived.

Belldandy was still slumped unconsciously but apparently comfortably
against his shoulder.  However, after seeing what the slumbering deity
sleeping next to him had been capable of, her nearness was making him
nervous, like sitting next to an armed nuclear warhead or something.
She snored softly and occasionally snuggled against him, and she had so
far ignored all efforts at awakening her.  He turned his head back to
face Ayaka.  "Why don't you just take me to a hotel or something?  I
won't say anything."

"Look, stop worrying, will you?" replied Ayaka, glancing at the pair in
the car's rear view mirror.  She smirked as she watched the hapless
Yusaku, finding it hard to believe that he was a soldier of the Empire,
even though he had been very brave in facing down that demoness with
only an ordinary sidearm.  "I already explained it, but you don't seem
to be hearing me very well as to how things are going to be handled
from this point on, Lieutenant Godai.  My boss has arranged for some
semi-permanent lodgings in the area for you and your... companion, and
that's all you should be concerned about.  In a way, she's a visiting
dignitary of sorts, and she's going to be treated as a special guest of
the Mobius Institute."

Realizing he was not going to win this argument, Yusaku settled back
into his seat and waited to arrive at his destination.  He watched the
streetlights going by, musing at how quickly his life had been turned
upside down.  Why was this happening to him?

Glancing back briefly at Yusaku in the rearview mirror once again,
Ayaka mused about her passenger.  He seemed to be about as ordinary a
man as she had ever met.  So why had he been granted a wish by the
higher powers?  It just did not make any sense.  And what did he wish
for?  Fame?  Power?  Wealth?

No, he had asked for none of these things.  All Yusaku Godai had wished
for was for a woman to fall in love with him and stay with him forever.
It had been a surprise to Ayaka to hear those words come out of a man's
mouth.  Based on her experiences with men, that would have been about
the very last thing she would have expected one to want above all other
things in the world.

Dropping her gaze back to the road in front of the car, Ayaka shook her
head.  Maybe it had all been as Yusaku had claimed, that he thought
this was some sort of scam being run by the Institute.  Even if it had
been some sort of loyalty test (and Ayaka found it hard to believe that
the Mobius Institute did not have better uses for its resources), he
could have asked for something else equally innocuous.  But all he had
asked for was the love of a woman.  As she continued driving, she kept
wondering why his asking for that kept nagging at her.

                  ******************************

"Tendo-san?  Ono-san?  Would either of you care for some more tea?"

Soun glanced up from the paperwork he had been studying, and nodded
brusquely before returning his attention to it.  In truth, none of it
was really very important, but he was using it to keep his mind off of
wondering about the change coming to his household.  A special request
from the Mobius Institute was difficult to refuse.

Kasumi looked up from her place across the table from her father and
smiled at Kyoko.  "I would love some more tea."  She moved the thick
textbook on cytology in front of her aside, welcoming the interruption.
She had been reading the same page five times now.  She looked at Soun.
"Father, I appreciate your letting me remain tonight.  I did not know
that you would be expecting guests."  Kasumi did not like being home
alone, so when her husband had called saying he would be working a
shift at the Arena tonight, she knew that he would not return until
morning, unless he used one of the cots at the hospital as he had been
doing more often of late.

"You are always welcome in this house, daughter," replied Soun with a
warmth that would have astonished the agents under his command.  His
other daughters had already gone to sleep, Akane looking happy and
Nabiki looking irritated about something, and he and Kasumi had been
keeping each other company for the last little.  He could tell that
there was something troubling his eldest daughter, but he trusted her
to tell him on her own in time.

Kyoko, dressed in a kimono, quietly poured tea into their cups as she
knelt next to the table.  She left the pot behind as she stood up and
withdrew from the room, leaving her employer and his daughter to their
conversation.  She still had to make up the remaining unused bedrooms
for their unexpected guests.  She had been told little as to what to
expect, only that there would be a young man and woman.  The man would
be staying for a time, but the woman would only be spending the night
before moving on to other lodgings in the morning.

It was odd that the Tendo household would be taking in a boarder on
such short notice, but apparently it had something to do with some sort
of Security Directorate business.  Kyoko found herself wondering what
the young man who would be staying with them was like.  Perhaps he was
some dashingly handsome agent of the Directorate, and the woman was a
foreign spy defecting to the Empire.  She smiled at her brief fantasy
as she gathered up the bedding materials.

Whoever he was, he would be someone new to talk to in the household,
and that would be good.  The girls did not usually talk with her much,
although Akane had started to open up a bit lately and begun asking for
advice on attracting the attentions of a man and being a good wife.  In
fact, the youngest Tendo had even expressed a desire in learning how to
cook.  Kyoko was looking forward to teaching the girl, since it would
give her something different to do for an hour or so each day other
than her usual chores.

While she was finishing up the second room, she heard the sounds of the
front gate opening and closing.  Kyoko hurried out into the hallway and
down the stairs in order to meet their new guests properly.  Pausing
before the hallway mirror, she checked her appearance for a moment.  A
good first impression was important.

                  ******************************

Yusaku walked alongside Belldandy as they approached the front door of
the Tendo household, and Ayaka led the way.  The combat drugs had faded
from her system, and their absence left her feeling lethargic and a bit
irritable.  She would drop her charges off quickly, make her report to
her boss, and then go home to collapse for a few hours of needed sleep.

"Your guests are here, Father," said Kasumi, hearing footsteps on the
front walk.  Kyoko was still upstairs working on getting the bedrooms
ready, so she stood up.  "I'll go let them in, if that's all right."

Soun nodded.  "Thank you, Kasumi.  Please greet them and bring them in
here while I put this away."  He began stuffing the paperwork her had
been perusing into his briefcase.

Kasumi stood up from her kneeling position and made her way to the main
door, just as there was a knock.  She slid open the door, a smile on
her face, ready to greet these guests to her father's house with all of
the grace and decorum she had within her.

Yusaku shifted the small suitcase he was carrying to his other hand,
worried about his first meeting with Assistant Director Soun Tendo.  He
struggled to hide his nervousness, and a brief touch on his arm from
Belldandy was surprisingly calming.  If only he could meet a mortal
woman who was as kind and sweet.

That thought had barely registered when the door slid open and an angel
stood there.  For a moment, Yusaku felt a sort of electric shock surge
through his entire body, and an odd half-smile appeared on his face.

The vision of immaculate loveliness then spoke, while smiling gently.
"Welcome to the Tendo household.  My name is Kasumi.  Please, come
inside and be welcome in my father's home."


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Well, it's been a long time between chapters, but another one is at
last completed.  Between work and my recent addiction to Everquest my
time spent writing has dwindled significantly, but I still kept poking
away at this story.  This chapter ties up a few lingering plot threads
and adds a few more.

A special thanks goes out to DB Sommer, whose writings on side-stories
set in this universe are one of the reasons I kept writing.  Kudos!

Stay tuned for next chapter, "The Dragon's Apprentice."

Jurai Knight
September 3, 2001


         .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
           | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
           | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
           |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
           `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'