SMARTALECK PRODUCTIONS

Destiny

By arun<arundude1@yahoo.com> <arun2110@sancharnet.in>

Chapter08 <Originally completed on 11/24/2001>
<REVISION #0>

This is a Ranma 1/2 - Sailor Moon crossover with
certain aspects of Ramayana.

Disclaimers:

Rumiko Takahashi and Shogukkan own Ranma and the cast
members of Ranma 1/2. Rumiko Takahashi is one of the
most brilliant people to walk on the face of this
earth. We the fans of the anime world are forever
indebted to her for giving us Ranma and co. Thank you
Rumiko Takahashi for bringing laughter back into our
lives.

Naoko Takeuchi, Toei animation and KODANSHA, owns
sailor Moon and its characters.

I do not own the characters of both these shows, nor
do I even pretend to own them. This work of fiction is
but a tribute to the above anime shows.

Guys:

(...) contents of a letter when Usagi is concerned in
this chapter.

*...* Thoughts.

~...~ represents English.

Author's notes:

Here's the eighth chapter. It is a little dark and
there is a lemon scene in it. So, if you are underage:
Scram! Get lost!

For all of you Akane fans: (Sticks tongue at them.)
Nah! Nah! You can't touch me.

I am sure that all of you will like this story. As
usual, C&C are welcome.

Now, for the story...

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

(Your grandson,) Crumple. Throw.

Sigh.

(My name is Usagi Tsuniko. I was blessed with the
friendship of your grandson,) Crumple. Throw.

Like before the paper landed perfectly in the dustbin.

A single tear. Wipe.

(Your grandson, Mamoru Chiba, was a hero. I consider
myself lucky to have blessed with his friendship and
his love, in this life.) Crumple. Throw.

*Why is it so hard to write this stupid letter?* Usagi
asked herself. She knew the reason, however. This
letter was going to mark of an era in her life and she
could not bring herself to end it, though for all
practical purposes, it had already ended.

It had been like a dream, the time she had spent with
Mamoru. He did not always act like her cared, but she
knew that he loved her with all his heart. The look
that he had given her just before he had gone to meet
that monster was proof enough.

Such tender moments in their relationship were rare.
Mamoru had acted like the perfect Japanese gentleman
till the last minute of his life. He had been
sacrificing, stoic and uncomplaining - just like any
other Japanese male.

*And now he is gone.*

Usagi could contain her tears no longer. It was too
much to bear. Mamoru, her husband to be, was dead and
so was her daughter. She did not need to ask Ami to
know that Chibi-Usa was dead now that Mamoru was too.
Her daughter from the future may have been a pain in
the ass but she loved her dearly. Living with the loss
of two loved ones was tough enough, but that was not
all she had to contend with. She had born witness to
his torture. And what more, she had seen his murder
take place right in front of her very own eyes and had
been unable to do anything about it.

*Come back. I miss you so much. Please, come back.*

Roughly twenty hours had passed since his death and
she was still numbed by everything that had happened.
It almost seemed like a dream. Usagi, reincarnated
princess of a kingdom that once proudly ruled the
entire solar system, had lost her soul mate - the love
of her life, and she felt that she was responsible for
it.

*If I had been faster... a better fighter, instead of
being a klutz I would have been able to save him. Oh,
Mamoru, please forgive me.*

A lone sob escaped her tortured frame. Her right hand
crushed the letter that she had been writing and
punched the table.

*If only I had been a better fighter...*

She had not slept the previous night. How could she?
She felt responsible for his death and her guilt,
which accompanied that thought, was eating away her
very soul.

She was the leader, the one who was supposed to lead
them into battle. She was supposed to be leading them
by setting an example, which they could then follow.

But that had not been the case - that had never been
the case. Sure, she had pulled herself together when
things were really bad and saved them and the Earth
from the monsters that threatened to destroy it.
However, she could not help but feel that things could
have been a whole lot better if Mako-chan of any of
the others was the princess.

How many times had they saved her? She could not
really remember. She had last count after the
thirtieth time. She had let them down always and for
the first time, her shortcomings had exacted a
terrible price. She, who had donned the mantle of
power, she who was supposed to be strong - the pillar
against which the others could fall back on had failed
repeatedly and everyone had paid the price.

She did not need Rei or anyone else to point out that
she had failed as leader. And her failure had cost
them much. Venus, Mars and Jupiter had survived by
some miracle. Ami had gotten away from the encounter
with little injuries because of sheer luck.

Her failures and her misgivings as a leader, were her
crimes and they would haunt her to her grave.

She knew that her crimes were unforgivable and she
felt like hanging herself.

"Usagi..."

She almost missed that voice. But it was hard to
ignore the soft voice now that she had heard it. It
belonged to none other than a trusted friend and
advisor. It was Luna.

Usagi's sobs did not stop however.

"Usagi, you have to stop punishing yourself. It was
not your fault."

Pause. The sobs did not stop, though they increased in
frequency. Luna gave an exasperated sigh. It was going
to be a long day. Usagi wasn't going to stop crying
anytime soon. She was sure of that.

"Usagi, come girl, listen to me. Serenity-sama would
have been ashamed of you, if she saw her daughter
now."

It was the worst thing that Luna could have said given
the situation and she immediately regretted her words
as soon as they had left her mouth, for Usagi's sobs
increased to levels that are even more desperate. Luna
moved closer to the Moon princess and patted Usagi
with her paw.

"I am sorry _Princess._ I should not have said that,"
apologized the cat.

"You were right, Luna. You were right then as you were
right just now."

In Usagi's world, Luna could not have been more right.
She was sure that her mother would have been ashamed
of her failures if she were alive.

"I do not understand Princess." Luna certainly did not
have the faintest clue as to what her charge was
talking about. She seldom did.

"Don't you see, you were right when you thought that I
was not the Princess. I cannot be the Princess. I am a
failure, a worthless piece of garbage that has failed
her friends time and time again. I CANNOT BE THE
PRINCESS."

"Usagi..." tried Luna. She had to get the girl to
listen to her, somehow. The time to mourn would come
later, but right now, they needed to stay focused on
the task at hand. They had a new enemy to fight, after
all.

But Usagi did not listen. All that mattered to her was
Mamoru's death and her own failure to protect him and
her teammates.

"They are dead because of me. Mamoru, Chibi-Usa... Oh
God, how many people must have died because of me?"

The depression and the guilt were starting a dangerous
cycle with one negative emotion feeding of the other,
realized Luna.

"Usagi..." She tried again to get the girl's ever
changing attention. She had to get the girl to think
of something other than her feelings of depression and
guilt. The path Usagi was going down now could lead to
only one thing - suicide and more heartbreak for the
others.

"So many. I am nothing but a murderer. A murderer who
doesn't deserve to liv..."

She had to stop the cycle and since words were not
helping, she decided to use physical means. She took
on her human form, pulled back her hand, and let loose
with a mighty, resounding slap to Usagi's cheeks.

Slap.

Usagi's hand went to her stinging cheeks. The slap had
turned her mind towards more pressing things other
than the depression. Luna had never hit her that hard
before. For that matter, Luna had never intentionally
hit her before. No one ever had, at least not outside
battle, that is. She pressed her hands against her
cheeks, concentrating beyond the ring in her ears. She
looked at her guardian with a sense of despair, shock,
surprise, fear and pain.

Luna, in her human form, sat naked in front of Usagi
with her arm pulled back to repeat the slap at a
moments notice. She hated having to hit anyone, least
of all Usagi, but it had to be done. They were going
to need their klutzy leader in the hard times to come.
Her hysterics, certainly, would not have helped them
any.

"Listen to yourself," she seethed. "You are right. You
are not the Usagi - the Princess that I and the other
senshi know. The Usagi, I know would never have given
up hope and she would have stood behind her friends no
matter how she hurt. You are nothing but a spoiled
brat who can't help feeling sorry for herself."

"I..." *That is not true. I love my friends and I
would give my life to save their own.*

Luna shut Usagi up with a wave of her hands. She
needed to get the girl Usagi's attention before she
drifted into the mourning mode once again. "Sorry, my
ass." Normally Luna would never use or even dream of
using such language, but the situation demanded it.

"Can you not see, girl that we are all hurting as
well? Did you not see the look on Rei's face or the
look on all the others faces for that matter?" she
intoned. She needed to get through her charge's thick
skull that the whole incident had affected them
profoundly as well. She needed to get Usagi to
understand that the others needed her more than ever
before. This was the first time in this life, they
were dealing with the death of a close friend, who was
involved with the Silver Millennium and they needed to
stick together as a team to strengthen the bonds of
friendship and love and to allow themselves to heal.

"Do you think that you are the only one hurting, girl?
Do you? Look at me. Do you really think so?

"If you do then you are right... You cannot be the
Princess. The Princess I know of... the Princess I
remember from the Silver Millennium would not be so
blinded by her emotions as you are right now.

"Those girls, who fight by your side, day after day,
week after week, do so with the knowledge that they
could lose their lives at anytime. They would give
their lives gladly, a thousand times over, if they
could to save you and they know that you would do the
same for them if you were in their position. Look at
me, Usagi."

Usagi wiped the dwindling tears of her face and looked
into the face of her advisor and mentor.

"Better. Usagi, I know that this is a bad time for
you. This is a bad time for all of us, but tell me
this, why did Mamoru sacrifice his life?"

"He... he did it to... to save me."

"There, there, Usagi," consoled Luna and hugged the
blonde teenager. "I know this is a hard time but
everything is going to turn out alright. Now, what did
Serenity-sama do during the final moments of the
Silver Millennium?"

Usagi looked at Luna queerly. Where was the cat
getting too, anyway?

"She sacrificed her life and sent us all into the
future."

"True. Now tell me, why should she have done that? And
do you think that you were responsible for her death?"

Usagi shook her death vigorously. Beryl and Metallia
had been the ones responsible for her mother's death.
She could not see, however, how that situation
compared with the one she had now.

"She did it because... because she loved us and no, I
do not feel responsible for her death... Beryl was."

"Exactly. Likewise, you are not responsible for
Mamoru's death. Those Ashura's were."

"But he need not have helped me if I was strong enough
to face those monsters," mumbled Usagi, nestled safely
on Luna's shoulders. The tears had almost completely
dried up, but she was still feeling guilty about the
whole thing.

"No one is perfect, Usagi. You need to recognize that.
The others will be as willing to make the ultimate
sacrifice for you as Mamoru when the time comes. But,
if you give up now, then Mamoru's sacrifice will be in
vain. Do you want that to happen? Do you want to
dishonor his memory and his sacrifice?"

Usagi shook her head. She did not want to dishonor his
memory.

"Then pull yourself together and act like the Princess
you are."

Nod.

"Alright then. Now, let's talk about our enemies. How
did they look like?"

Usagi released herself from the hug and put her arms
in her lap.

"They had six arms and they could throw energy blasts,
like it was nothing. They were fast, faster than us
and they were just as ready to give up their lives for
their cause as we were." Sniffle. "They... They could
have killed us... would have killed us, if it were not
for Ami and that man, she said the outers fought with.
Oh, Luna, you should have seen the second one... the
one Mamoru fought with. It was evil. Not the kind of
pure distilled evil that we have fought against with,
but of a different kind. It had the presence of mind
to act calculative and it enjoyed torturing us both. I
am sure that it would have killed me, if... if Mamoru
had not drawn its attention towards him."

"Hmmm... I remember legends from the early decades of
the Silver millennium, which resemble the monsters
that we are fighting against..."

Usagi listened attentively to Luna's surprise.

"I do not remember any legends Luna."

"I suspect that the memories will surface once I tell
you about them."

"Uh huh."

"It is said that during the time of Queen Serenity the
first, the founder of the Silver Millennium, the solar
system was invaded by six-handed beings of immense
power. They say that the Moon kingdom was almost
defeated before Serenity-sama defeated the menace and
imprisoned them in the nether world. The legends say
that Kami-sama himself helped the queen and that
one-day the monsters will escape once again. The
legend also says that the monsters will be defeated,
though it is not clear how or by whom they will be
defeated. It was always assumed that the queen would
be the one to defeat them after they escape their
prison."

"Do you think that those monsters we fought yesterday
were the ones that fought my ancestor, Luna?"

Luna nodded. "I am not sure but my instincts tell me
that you are right. If you are correct then we are in
deeper trouble than ever before. The legends say that
the monsters were blood thirsty, killing any living
thing in their path. It is said that not even the
senshi were powerful enough to fight against them."

Usagi listened and did not make any comments even
after Luna had finished speaking. She had much to
think about. If what Luna was telling was true and her
rapidly filtering memories were telling her that they
were, than they had their work cut out for them.

"Do you feel better now, Usagi?"

"Uh huh."

"Good," Luna changed back to her feline form. "Now, I
have got to change back. I feel exposed as I am now,"
she said and blushed.

Usagi snickered at the joke and blushed in return. She
had not realized till then that Luna was naked.

"Thank you Luna, you have been a big help," said the
Moon princess and gave a little smile.

"It's what advisors are for. Now, try to get some
sleep. You can write the letter to his grandparents
later or better yet, I will write them for you."

"No, I want to tell them myself." She wanted to tell
them herself. It was her job, she felt and she was not
going to shirk her duties anymore.

Luna nodded. She understood why Usagi would want to do
that.

"Alright then. Sleep now and you can finish the letter
later."

"Thanks, Luna."

Usagi retreated to her bed and fell asleep as soon as
she had hit the mattress. She had a more sedate
expression on her face. And the guardian beast rested
beside her thinking about the battles to come and
worrying about her charges.

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

Soun welcomed Ranma and Cologne into the room. The
Amazon elder and her escort were dressed in elegant
kimonos that must have cost a fortune to buy. Pushing
thoughts of Ranma's wealth aside, Soun sat down in
front of them.

The tea ceremony had begun.

He took a scarf, made of the finest silk and folded it
as the ceremony required. He took the scarf in his
hand and used it to wipe the wooden spoon used for the
tealeaves.

Then he took the vase containing the tealeaves and
with the same amount of patience and skill that a
master shows in the art, removed a spoonful of green
tea leaves from it.

With extra care, he moved the spoonful to one of the
teacups and emptied the tealeaves into the cup. He
shook the tealeaves off the spoon with expert use of
his fingers and repeated the motion with the other
cup.

Having taken care of the leaves, he used a wooden
ladle to pour boiling water into the teacups. Finally,
he took one of the cups in his hands in the correct
position and with smooth, unhurried motions turned it
around one hundred and eighty degrees in the clockwise
direction.

With a small smile, Soun handed the teacup to elder
Cologne, who received the cup with the same amount of
decorum and ceremony that he had used. She turned it
around one hundred and eighty degrees expertly, in the
clockwise direction and took a relaxing sip of the
beverage. Following the same amount of decorum that
Soun had exhibited so well, she placed the tea cup on
the table, having emptied it and returned Soun's
smile.

Meanwhile, Soun had handed over Ranma's cup and Ranma
repeated the same motions as Cologne before him.

Soun allowed a broad grin onto his face and begun.

"Elder Cologne and Ranma-sensei, I am very pleased
that you have accepted my invitation and attended my
tea ceremony."

"The pleasure is all mine, Tendo-san."

"We are most honored to attend your tea ceremony,
Tendo-sensei," said Ranma. He wondered why Soun Tendo
had invited them to a private tea ceremony, though.

The tea ceremony was typically held to discuss peace
between warring factions, to finalize business deals
and between lovers or family members. He did not
understand why Soun Tendo would want to invite the two
of them, as they did not qualify any of the common
reasons. *Maybe he knows the truth about me?* thought
Ranma. He doubted it very much though as he was sure
of the fact that Ryuu had not spit the beans.

When he had moved back to Japan, nearly half a century
ago, he had found himself a stranger in his own land.
He had long since forgotten the people and the country
and he had taken a crash course about the nation of
his birth, his people and their beliefs. Of the
customs, that he most loved was the tea ceremony. It
was developed from Zen principles - something that he
well versed in, and was practiced for the calming
effect that it had on one's soul and mind. The goals
of the ceremony were lofty as well, aiming for
harmony, respect, peace and tranquility. In many ways,
it was similar to the relaxing exercises of yoga and
tai chi chuan.

"It is my honor that people of your skill and
impeccable honor attend my tea ceremony, elder," he
turned towards Ranma. "And sensei."

"It is our honor sensei," reaffirmed Ranma and placed
his hands on his thighs. This was one thing that irked
him about the Japanese; they never got to the point
directly.

"Another cup of tea sensei?" asked Soun.

"Yes, please. And I think that the elder would like
another cup of your excellent tea as well, wouldn't
you elder?"

"Of course," nodded Cologne.

Soun repeated his earlier motions.

"Your tea is wonderful Tendo-san," intoned Cologne
taking a sip of the tea that Soun handed to her.

"You are too kind, elder. Ranma-dono?"

"Yes, Tendo-sensei." He was intrigued as to why Soun
had abandoned the sensei title he had used before.

"You have been of great help to Tendo-ke and
Saotome-ke," he said, referring to the job that Ranma
had given Genma. "Our gratitude knows no bounds. Both
Tendo-ke and Saotome-ke are indebted to you and that
which is yours."

"I did what I could, sensei. I could not help two such
fine schools of the art disappear. I consider it my
sacred duty as a student of the art to help people
such as you and Saotome-san."

"Nevertheless, Ranma-dono, Tendo-ke and Saotome-ke are
indebted to you and would show their gratitude by
being there beside you in your time of trouble."

"Thank you, sensei."

"Ranma-dono, I invited you and the elder here because
I have another important concern in which I require
the elder's and your help. My family would be most
indebted to you if you would help us with this
problem."

"As a friend and ally of Tendo-ke, we would be most
glad to offer our help in anyway possible, sensei."

"Thank you Ranma-dono and Cologne-san. My gratitude
knows no bounds..." Soun hesitated. The Amazons would
help him now, but he was having second doubts about
drawing them into the problem. The Yakuza had powerful
allies and they did not easily back down.

Cologne interrupted the silence. "What is this problem
about Tendo-san?"

"My middle daughter, actually..."

"What? Nabiki? What is wrong with her?" asked Ranma,
surprised that the middle Tendo had gotten herself
into trouble. He had thought that the girl was wise to
the ways of the world and would be able to take care
of herself. "What trouble had she gotten herself into?
I thought that she was wise to the ways of the world."

"That is the problem. Ranma-dono. She has gotten a
little too wise, it seems."

"I do not understand, Tendo-san."

Soun sighed. He really hated to show signs of weakness
and in his opinion, asking for help was accepting a
weakness but he had no choice in the matter. He could
not achieve what he wanted to do without outside help,
preferably Ranma's and the elder's.

"She... When my wife died, I abandoned my children and
withdrew into myself. I stopped taking classes in the
dojo and I stopped taking care of the house and my
daughters."

Ranma nodded. He understood perfectly. He had been in
that position once before.

Cologne gave a side-glance towards Ranma. She wanted
to see what his reaction to this would be. He had been
in that very same position after all.

"Go on sensei."

"The effects on my children were devastating. Kasumi,
she retreated into her own private world and took up
the mantle of her mother. She is only now beginning to
open up.

"Akane, she did not have the guiding hands of her
father and her mother. After all, Kasumi could not
take over exactly where her mother had left off.
Without the guidance, Akane became a brat and she
still is, though I think that the measures that
Ranma-dono is taking now would turn her back and make
her normal.

"Perhaps... Perhaps the worst effect was on Nabiki.
She loved her mother more than she loved the other
two. To Nabiki, my wife was everything and when she
died, Nabiki withdrew into herself. I was afraid that
I had lost her forever and in my own way, I tried to
change her... I did, but there were severe
consequences. You see, Nabiki was always gifted with
math and I kindled that passion. It was the only time
that I interfered in their childhood. I wish, I had
done more but I did not.

"Nabiki fell in love with math or more exactly, money.
She hid the pain in her mind well and adopted an
emotionless exterior. Her dealings at school were low
scale at first and I did not know. No one thought it
necessary to report me. When I finally heard about her
dealings, she was in too deep. She had begun to deal
with the Yakuza and at first; it was in matters of no
consequence.

"But slowly, the spider spun its web around her and by
the time I realized it, they had their grips strongly
on my daughter. And she became one of them. I did not
care though, deep in despair as I was in and... And I
was afraid of what my own daughter would do to me.

"Now, I want to turn over a new leaf. I want to be the
father that I never was and I want my daughter back,
and you are the only ones who can help me. No one else
is strong enough to face the Yakuza. Please, elder,
help this poor father."

Ranma placed his hands on the Tendo patriarch's
shoulders.

"There, there sensei. We will help you. Just tell us
what family she is working for and I will see what I
can do."

Soun missed the 'I' part entirely. He was oblivious to
everything as joy overwhelmed him. *They are going to
help me with my daughter,* he thought, his synapses
overwhelmed by raw emotions.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Think nothing of it sensei. Think of it as my gift to
your family," said Ranma.

Now, Soun was confused. Why would Ranma want to give a
gift to his family? His face showed the exact thoughts
to Ranma.

Ranma smiled.

"Consider it a small repayment for having destroyed
your ancestral home in the duel with Saotome-san."

Realization dawned and Soun's face lit up. Of course,
he had forgotten. In Japan, you could never apologize
enough.

"Thank you Ranma-dono."

Ranma turned towards Cologne.

"Well, we'd better enjoy the ceremony. Sensei, I would
like another cup of tea."

"And so would I," added Cologne. She had been silent
for most of the meeting for to speak would have been
considered disrespectful, as Ranma was her ancestor.
Matriarch or not, she had to obey traditions.

Soun grinned foolishly, overwhelmed with joy as he was
and prepared tea for the duo.

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

"Are you chicken, girl?"

"Arggh." She hated the training and she hated herself.
Truly, Akane did. Now that she knew what training
under the grandmaster of Anything Goes meant, she
hated martial arts.

And Genma wasn't making things any easier. He was
cooperating fully with whatever the old pervert asked
of him and she hated him for it.

She hated Ryouga, because he was not there to help her
when she needed him the most.

She hated Ryuu for standing in the sidelines and
snickering while she suffered the torture in the name
of training.

She hated daddy for not doing anything to stop his
master and his best friend as well as for not beating
the snot out of Ryuu. Where the hell was daddy anyway?

She already hated Nabiki a little, so hating her now
did not require a lot of work on her part now. It had
to be Nabiki's doing anyhow.

Kasumi, well, she could not hate her. She doubted
whether anyone could.

She hated Ranma, most of all, for having done this to
her. She had wanted to be _his_ student and not the
old perverts. So, why had he dumped the old pervert on
her? One thing was for sure, when she got her hands on
the pervert, she was going to make him pay, lots.

"Come on, Akane-chan, you are not a weak geek, are
you?" taunted Happousai.

"Shut up, freak. What would you know about weak? Oh, I
am sorry you would know, wouldn't you? After all, your
plumbing must be very weak." It was a low blow, but
she was fed up with Happousai's taunts. *Maybe that
ought to get him to shut up.*

"Haha! Very funny, Akane-chan. But you haven't
answered my question. Are you a weak geek?" replied
Happousai. It would be cold day in hell before he let
an upstart little pup like her, get the better of him
in a taunting match.

"Shut up freak," repeated Akane.

"Uuuuh! Touched a sore spot, did I? Maybe poor, little
Akane-chan is just afraid that she truly is a geek."

"Arghh. I am not a weak geek."

"Prove it then, Akane-chan. You sure as hell are
behaving like one right now. Prove it by doing those
five hundred push-ups."

"I will get you for this, freak," she replied and got
on her stomach. "I will make you pay a hundred times
over."

"You will have to stand in line then, Akane-chan. Now,
do it faster, unless you are a wuss of course."

And Akane did do the 500 push-ups while Happousai
stood in the sidelines, wondering how easy it was to
bait the young Tendo.

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

"Ummm... Where am I now?" bellowed Ryouga, with
righteous fury to the heavens above. Why? Oh, Why did
he have to be cursed with such a worse sense of
direction? He could not even find a shop to get the
batteries he needed for the GPS, it seemed.

A couple of hours ago, he had been within a block or
two of the Qin residence. Now, he was hopelessly lost
in a forest in the middle of Kami knew where. Oh, Why
did he have to suffer such a horrible fate?

He missed Akane. He missed her very much.

Ryouga cursed the heavens and everyone in it once
more. If things went on the way they currently were
and one day he met Kami-sama, he would give him a
piece of his mind.

Right now, he had to find his way back to the Qin
residence. Now, which way was East again? How did the
saying go: 'The sun always sets in the east.' Ah, yes,
it was a good thing that he had listened to his
classes at school. Since, it was midday now and the
sun had risen to his left [he looked in the wrong
direction, of course] then that would mean that he
would reach Tokyo, if he kept on walking towards the
right.

Having made that wonderful deduction, Ryouga, the
proud descendant of the eternally lost Hibiki clan,
set out towards Tokyo and amazingly, he walked in the
right direction, for once.

Three hours later...

Ryouga was in Tokyo and it was in no way due to any
accomplishment of his. He was in Tokyo all thanks to
the terrain.

By some strange quirk of fate, the path that Ryouga
had taken had the same slope and things such as that,
which was needed to correct his lifelong problem.
Ryouga, being the directionally challenged Hibiki that
he was, had wandered around and the slope of the
ground had corrected his wanderings so much so that he
had essentially walked in a straight line for three
hours.

Of course, Ryouga was not aware of it. All that
mattered to him now, was a single unanswered question:
How had he gotten to Kobe when he had been walking
towards Tokyo?

Never once did it occur to Ryouga that he could ask
people for help and never once did he step into any of
the hundreds of stores that he walked by to get the
batteries that he needed. So lost in his thought was
he that he kept walking until he had crossed Tokyo.

Two weeks later, he would wonder once again, how he
had gotten to Kobe? Surely, he would not have walked
across the planet inside of two weeks, could he?

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

Usagi dreamt...

Mamoru was there. He was behind some kind of shield
and he was calling out to her.

Everything was black around her and he was surrounded
in a halo of white light.

"Mamo-chan," she cried. "I am coming for you."

And she ran. She ran towards him for hours it seemed
but he was always out of reach, staying just beyond
the reach of her fingers. She ran and she ran, until
she could run no more.

And when she stopped, Mamoru's cage stopped moving as
well. She collapsed onto her knees and wept.

She wept for everything. She wept, for the baby girl
that she never could have. She wept, for never again,
would she be able to feel his arms around her. She
wept, because she missed his speech. And most of all,
she wept, because it hurt.

The cage begun to move away. Usagi staggered behind it
for a couple of steps and collapsed onto the ground
overcome by exhaustion. The cage continued to move
away, slowly gaining speed as it did.

"No, don't leave me alone," she cried, she shouted,
and she implored, but it was to no avail.

"No..." screamed Usagi and woke up. The bed sheets
were drenched through and she was sweating all over.

*It was a dream,* she thought.

Luna was by her side sleeping peacefully. Usagi lay
down near the cat and stared at the interesting
anomalies in the ceiling.

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

"Cologne."

"Yes, old man?" asked the Matriarch of the Amazons.

Ranma glared at her briefly. If anything, she was the
one who looked like a mummy.

"I am not the one, who looks like a dried up mummy
right now," he retorted.

"Grrr... As if that matters. You are my honored
_elder_ after all," she snorted.

Thonk.

"Address your elders with respect child."

"Hai, honored grandfather," replied the Matriarch,
rubbing the sore spot on her head gingerly. Ranma
really did not know his true strength.

"That's better." Pause. "I wanted to ask you about
your great great great great... arghh! My daughter.
Did she grow up into a fine woman?" he asked. He was a
little unsettled by Soun's story. He hoped that
Higashikaze had grown up into a fine specimen of
Amazonian womanhood.

"..."

"Well..."

"How am I supposed to know?" asked Cologne
incredulously.

Ranma looked at her longingly.

"I suppose so. For a while I hoped..."

"You really miss her, don't you?" asked Cologne when
Ranma stopped in mid-sentence.

Nod. "Yes, I do. I missed her from the minute I
stepped out of the village."

"Then why did you not turn back?"

"The _Dragon_ that all of you hold in reverence is a
coward at heart. He was afraid of facing the truth. He
wanted to pretend that everything was all right by
running away. He was a coward... a gutless coward, who
was afraid of facing reality."

"Still..."

"Still nothing, great great granddaughter. I was
heartbroken by her death and I ran away from the pain.
I don't know what they told you, when you were younger
in the village, but that is the whole truth. I ran
away."

"I," Cologne paused and chose her words carefully. "I
always thought that the dragon was something more than
human, but I was wrong. You are as human as any of us,
revered grandfather."

Ranma put his hands around Cologne and hugged her
lightly.

"Come, Matriarch, let us go home," said Ranma and
summoned a cab. The rates within Tokyo were high, but
he had money to spend and he wanted time to think
things over.

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

"No, Akane, you are doing it wrong."

"Huh!"

"You are doing the kata wrong."

"Oh!"

"Need help with it?"

"Oh, alright."

Ryuu nodded. Maybe the girl had come to her senses. He
stood in front of her and told her to do it once more.

This time, he could see the flaws and the openings she
left in her execution. He waited until she was
finished and then gazed at the spot she had occupied,
while lost in thought.

"So?"

"Hummm... I think that I got the mistakes sorted."

"Mistakes... What do you mean mistakes?" she snarled.

Ryuu sighed in annoyance. She had not learnt her
lesson. Maybe he should bring down her ego a step or
three. He had not still recovered from the Sailor's
attack, but he felt that he could take her on.

"If you think that your technique is so perfect Akane,
then why don't you attack me?"

Akane grit her teeth. She would show the boy that she
was a martial artist.

She rushed forward with a haymaker to his face. Ryuu
almost cried at the openings that she left in her
defense. There was enough space to drive a herd of
pachyderms through. With startling speed, he tilted
his head and let the punch through harmlessly. As he
had expected, Akane over-extended her arm.

He ducked under her punch and delivered a medium
strong punch to her solar plexus.

"Oof!" Akane staggered, with her wind driven out of
her.

"Learnt the lesson, Akane?"

*I will not let a boy beat me in a fight,* thought
Akane steadfastly. She concentrated beyond the pain
and tried a jump kick.

To Ryuu, she was painfully slow. He bent backwards and
doubled himself. Just as the surprised Akane passed
over his body, he kicked the small of her back,
holding back his real strength and speed. He let his
inertia take over and somersaulted to a standing
position.

Akane, flew, swift as an arrow and hit the dojo wall
with a crunch. Her right shoulder dislocated on impact
and she screamed in pain. With tears springing from
her eyes, she stood up and faced him. Her right arm
dangled uselessly by her side as she raised her left
arm in defense.

"Your inner-strength is commendable, Akane, but
useless. Yield now, or else..." threatened Ryuu.

Not wanting to leave it at that, he rushed forward for
the first time since the start of the fight. Akane
brought her left hand to block his jab at he kidney,
but he pushed it aside as if it were an annoying twig
and raised his arms to crush her windpipe.

"Yield."

Akane nodded from behind a veil of tears.

"Oh, My!"

Ryuu turned towards the entrance of the dojo. Kasumi
and Nabiki stood by the entrance with surprised looks
on their faces. Kasumi had her hands over her mouth.

"We are only practicing Kasumi," explained Ryuu.

"But her arms?"

"A training accident. I will set it right, now."

Kasumi nodded.

Ryuu turned towards Akane. "Hold still and I will make
this as painless as possible."

Akane nodded through her tears. Ryuu pushed pressure
points; he knew to be involved in muscle relaxation
around the shoulder pad. The effects were almost
immediate and Akane's hands drooped even lower.

"Close your eyes."

When Akane complied, he pressed another nerve cluster
and set the shoulder right. The technique he had used
was one of the few shiatsu techniques that he had
picked up from the Amazon village. Cologne's tutelage
had dislocated his shoulders many a time and the
healer had taken pity on him, and taught him the
technique.

"You can open your eyes now. The muscles are still
relaxed in your shoulders, so I wouldn't try anything
strenuous for another couple of hours at least if I
were you," he warned.

Akane nodded, her head lowered with defeat and walked
out of the dojo.

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

Ranma whistled to himself nervously. Two thousand
years old and still afraid of asking a girl out on a
date, he thought to himself ashamedly.

*It's not like I have much experience in the area.* It
was true. There were perhaps fewer than two dozen
women he had went out during the last two thousand
years and he had kept the relationship that he had
with them on platonic terms.

He entered the kitchen and stared at her.

"Hi, Ranma-kun. Anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, Kas-chan. You would make me a very happy man if
you would have a cup of tea with me," said Ranma.
*Tea... Oh, man. I am going to have one hell of a
stomachache. I have already had six cups within the
last two hours, today.*

Kasumi smiled innocently.

"Of course, I will, Ranma-kun."

"Thank you, Kas-chan." With that, he entered the room
and took a seat.

He sat there, watching her, following every movement
that her body made as she went about her job. He was
absolutely enthralled by her curves, her sinews, her
eyes, her lips, her hands and just about every other
part of the body.

"Here, Ranma-kun." Kasumi placed his cup of tea in
front of him and took a seat opposite him. She took a
little sip of the tea and put it down. She put on a
bright smile and shifted her eyes to meet Ranma. He
was staring at her with glazed eyes, his head, and
bent forward, resting against his hands.

"Oh, my, Ranma-kun," she said, with a red hue
spreading all over her face. It looked like Ranma-kun
had fallen head over heals for her. "Oh, my."

Lost, as he was, in his dream world, Ranma did not
notice hear Kasumi speak. Finally, it occurred to his
overwhelmed brain that her lips were moving. He
strained his ears but still could not hear anything.

"Did you say something, Kas-chan?" he asked
apologetically.

Kasumi blushed at his sugar-sweet voice all the more.
It was so different from his normal voice and dripped
of so much sweet, which was directed at her that she
could not help blushing.

"Kas-chan," asked Ranma in a concerned voice. "Are you
having a fever? You are turning all red flushy." That
was another thing with Saotome men. They were entirely
clueless and most importantly, they were adorable when
they went into clueless mode.

Kasumi felt nearly overcome by how adorable he looked
and she almost swooned.

"I am alright, Ranma-kun. It's just a little hot in
here, is all." Having spoken, Kasumi giggled.

Now, it was Ranma's turn to almost faint. His heart
threatened to jump out of his chest, and his synapses
were overrun by the cuteness factor.

"Ahh... That is... Ahhh..." With his mind processes
shutdown, Ranma begun to stammer.

Kasumi giggled like a little schoolgirl who had just
been told the truth about the bees.

Finally, the stammering died down and Ranma's mind
attained a semblance of order. Deciding that it would
not be prudent to approach the subject of dating for
the next couple of minutes, lest he make a bigger fool
of himself, he tried to turn the subject to other
matters.

"How is Akane?" he asked out of the blue.

Kasumi sobered up at the question and her face
attained a more serious expression.

"She was fine the last time I checked on her. Ryuu did
beat her up soundly."

"Yes, maybe he took my instructions a little too far.
I told him to take it a little easy on her."

Kasumi gaped. How could he do that to her little
sister? "You asked _Ryuu_ to beat up my little
sister," she asked. How dare he? The nerve of him,
beating up her sister and then trying to make a
conversation with her.

Ranma realized that a little explanation was in order
from the look of disbelief and anger mirrored in
Kasumi's face.

"Maybe you misunderstood, Kas-chan, I asked him to
bring down her ego a peg or two. I did not think that
Ryuu would go that far."

"Why? I think that I like Akane the way that she is -
with all her parts right where they should be."

"You do not understand, Kas-chan. I had to do it.
Right now, she had a huge inflated ego and no skills
to match. Tendo sensei tells me that she is the heir
to the dojo. Would you like it if a challenger showed
up one day and beat Akane to a pulp?"

"I suppose..."

"There are other things Kas-chan. Akane is strong -
much stronger than others in her age group. And I
think that you have noticed that she is a bully and a
spoiled brat."

Kasumi opened her mouth to protest, but Ranma shut her
up with a wave of his hands. He was still not finished
with his explanation.

"She has a temper and she has not done anything to
control it, is that not so?"

Kasumi nodded. He was right about Akane's temper,
though she was not sure about the other things that he
had said.

"Akane is a weapon - a ill-trained weapon, but a
weapon, all the same. Most of the boys and girls in
her age group are not as skillful as her in the art,
which isn't saying a lot about Akane's skill. Her
skill is mediocre as so is her control over her body
and her mind.

"This makes her dangerous to herself and to others
around her. Suppose one day, Akane gets really mad and
hits someone near her. And suppose that person is not
trained like Ryuu or Ryouga. What do you think will
happen? The power that she packs in her punches should
be enough to cause serious, if not life threatening
injuries to that someone.

"What I am trying to do now is give Akane a sense of
what a martial artists duty is. If she learns some
techniques during the process then so be it. She needs
to learn control and she needs to learn not to lash
out at someone near her, every time she loses her
temper. I am hoping to accomplish that goal.

"My methods may seem crude but I believe that they
will bring out the best of Akane in the end. The old
maxim - you cannot get something out of nothing - is
true, Kas-chan."

Kasumi thought about it. What he had said did make
sense. Finally, after an entire minute of silence she
spoke, "Though I may not agree with your methods,
Ranma-kun, I can see the wisdom behind them. I will
let you continue this course, but only, if it shows
results soon."

Ranma let out a breath that he had not known he had
been holding. "Oh, the results will be there,
Kas-chan, the results will be there for everyone to
see."

"Now, Ranma-kun, I believe you wanted to have a cup of
tea with me and that cup is getting rather cold."

"Oh, thank you, Kas-chan," said Ranma and lifted the
cup of the table. It was too cold by his standards,
but he did not want to disappoint his host. He had
never been one to love the iced-tea, which some people
found most refreshing. He took a little sip and found
the blend of flavors just right. Truly, Kasumi was a
miracle worker in the kitchen. They had known each
other less than a week and here she was, making him
tea, just the way he preferred it.

"The tea is wonderful, Kas-chan. Your work in the
kitchen is superlative as usual," complimented Ranma,
placing the cup on the saucer with an inaudible sound.

Kasumi blushed a little. It was not everyday that she
received compliments. Her family was rather miserly on
that account.

"You are welcome, Ranma-kun."

Ranma smiled a little.

"Hmmm... That smells nice. What are you making for
dinner?" asked Ranma, leaning back against the chair.

"Just the usual, Ranma-kun, pork teriyaki, tofu and
Soya beans with oyster sauce."

"Sounds wonderful, Kas-chan. Can we expect the same
superlative work at dinner too?"

Kasumi's face reddened in embarrassment. Now, he was
flattering her. What was he going to do next?

"Kas-chan, I wanted to ask you... I thought that if
you were free tonight, we can go to a movie or
something." *There, I asked her.*

"I don't know, Ranma-kun. There's a lot of work to do
and..."

"It will be fun and I am sure that Tendo sensei and
the others can take care of themselves. What do you
say?"

"All right, Ranma-kun," said Kasumi with a shy smile.

"Thank you, Kas-chan. I will pick you up at six-thirty
sharp."

Kasumi nodded.

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

Knock. Knock.

"Who is it?"

"It's I, Ryuu."

"Go away. I don't want to see you."

Ryuu opened the door and got in anyway. Akane rolled
so that her back was facing him and continued to cry.
She had been beaten by a boy, one she had believed to
be a friend.

"Akane..."

"Go away."

"Akane..."

"I said, go away."

"I will, Akane, but only after I have explained
myself."

Sniffle. Sniffle.

"Akane, look at me."

She turned around reluctantly. There were tracks of
tears and her face was all puffy. It looked like she
had been crying for hours.

"I am sorry for hurting you... I wanted to show you
that the real world is different. Look, Akane, I know
that you think of yourself as a martial artist and you
take pride in being one, but the problem is, you have
a high opinion of yourself. In the real world, you
might end up hurt or even worse, if you enter into a
fight not knowing yourself or your enemy.

"I wanted to prove to you that there are others better
than you... There always will be. You can probably get
as good as me in another five or six years, but only
if you train hard and lose that ego."

"But you are confident and that doesn't affect you?"
she asked in a quiet voice.

"I am confident, Akane, but I do not underestimate or
overestimate myself. There lies the difference. You
have a high opinion of your skills, but you lag behind
in the skill department and they do not back you up.
Get what I mean?"

Akane nodded. Her tears dried up and she even smiled a
little.

Outside the room, Ranma paused with his hand on the
doorknob, poised to open it. He listened intently to
the conversation that was taking place inside the room
and smiled. He did not have to speak with Akane, after
all and better yet, Ryuu would make a good sensei for
sure.

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

(My name is Usagi Tsukino. I was blessed with the
opportunity of knowing your grandson as a friend.

(I am sure that by now, you have heard of your
grandson's death through the media and through the
police department. My sincere condolences at his
death. Take comfort in the fact that your grandson was
a true hero, whose acquaintance I was proud to have.

(I am sure too, that the police did not tell you about
the last moments of your grandson's life. They did not
know and they never will. But I am sure that you want
to hearts pine away, not knowing about his last
moments on this Earth.

(Though I may not be able to wipe out the sense of
pain and the loss that you are feeling right now, I
can give you a sense of peace. Know that your
grandson, Mamoru Chiba, is dead because he put the
lives of others over his own. In that respect, your
grandson is a hero and always will be in my heart, and
in the hearts of many others, who have known him over
the years.

(Yesterday evening, I was going for a walk with my
friends and your grandson when we were attacked. One
of the monsters lunged at me and I believe that I
would be dead right now, if it weren't for the heroic
acts of your grandson.

(He pushed me out of the way and he fought against the
monster. He fought bravely, like a warrior born, but
the monster was too much for him. In the end, Mamoru
died. He died valiantly a hero's death.

(I assure you that he did not suffer after the killing
blow had been struck. His heart was pierced and his
death was immediate.

(Your grandson, the man that I hoped would be my
husband someday, died a heroic death trying to save
me.

(-Usagi Tsukino)

Usagi laid down the pen, carefully folded the letter
and cried herself to sleep once more.

She had finished it, but why wasn't she feeling any
better?

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

~The prime minister is asking questions and he wants
answers fast, ladies and gentlemen. I do not need to
remind you how important it is for our national
security and that of the world that we find the
answers fast,~ said Keichi Tetsugo, addressing the
highly trained intelligence gathering team that the
Americans had provided him with for the sake of this
investigation.

Half the team members were Americans and the rest
Japanese. They were some of the best men and women in
the world when it came to analyzing and gleaning
information from any information source that man could
dream of.

Keichi was dressed in a white shirt with a black coat
and pants to match. His hair was uncombed and he had a
shabby, unshaved face, thanks to the many late night
hours that he spent at the office. There were black
spots below his eyes and a couple of beer stains in
his coat.

In fact, Keichi Tetsugo was the typical, know-it-all
nerd that one finds at the consoles of a computer all
over the world. And he had no former experience at
command, but his superiors had made him lead the team
anyhow, much to the chagrin of some of his enemies in
the department.

Keichi had always been a nerd. He had graduated at the
top of his class for as long as he could remember, got
straight A's in all subjects and was one of a select
few among the Japanese citizenry, who were proficient
in speaking English. He had studied at the MIT, got a
PhD in some obscure branch of computers and there too,
he had made a name for himself and got his masters in
'79. He had presented his thesis in front of a group
of nerds like himself and had gotten his PhD after two
weeks of deliberations.

When he returned to Japan, the government was waiting
for him and he had joined them - the perks they had
offered for the job were worth it, or so he had
thought. The rest was history.

Keichi was married all right; in fact, he had two
little kids and a loveable wife. What the loveable
wife did not know about her hardworking husband was
that he worked with the ELINT branch of the JSDF. What
she did not know could not hurt her, right?

The incident Keichi was talking about was the Ashura
attack in Juuban and he was glad that the government
had finally decided to do something about it. There
had been numerous attacks before, but the devastation
and the worldwide media coverage of the last one had
made the higher-ups in the government try to do
something about it. And of course, the paper pushers
at the top had chosen his team.

The members had been handpicked: for both their quiet
mouths and their expertise. And everyone in the room
was adept at speaking Japanese as well as English
except for the lone General from the CIA, who was
attending the preliminary findings meeting. It was for
the above said General that Keichi was conducting the
meeting in English.

He did not want to piss off the General by spouting
Japanese, after all that would be detrimental to his
career.

Keichi tossed a friendly smile towards the General.
*Stinking, little piece of shit.* ~Nice to have you
with us today, General.~

The General smiled in return. ~Nice to be here,~ he
said in a Texan accent. *Stinking, little piece of
Japanese shit. Truman should have bombed the whole
damn nation to kingdom come.* Smile.

The General was not a racist. He was just delusionally
paranoid. He thought that every nation was out to get
the US. *Like they could, the stinking pussies would
have to step over my dead body.*

Keichi nodded and the General sat down. Too bad the
damn Jap security men had not allowed him to carry a
gun into the room. His fingers ached for a chance to
get at the bastards.

With the introductions done - he had met the rest of
his would-be team earlier - Keichi started the
meeting.

~Mario, any updates on the Satellite pics?~

Mario, a kid in his mid-twenties, stopped playing with
the pencil that he had in his hands and leaned in
towards the microphone. Mario was one of the best
image readers on the planet and his insubordination
was one of the most gossiped things on the department.
He had a brilliant mind, though and the top brass
tolerated him. Mario tapped his pencil annoyingly on
the table and got within two inches of the mike. This
behavior was one of his eccentricities. He had a thing
about the microphone and would do anything to get a
chance to speak through one.

~Nope, boss. Last, I heard, the geezers at the
sat-image lab were busy decoding the bit file and
processing it. My team should have got the processed
file about an hour or so ago and I should be able to
give you an update within the course of this meeting,
provided it lasts near half an hour.~ During the
entire speech, Mario's voice dripped with contempt and
arrogance. Keichi chose to ignore it. He would teach
the prick a thing or two about people in positions of
power later.

~What about you, Miss. Palmer?~

Miss. Palmer looked like a geek in every sense of the
word, but she wasn't. She was one of the best field
agents that the CIA had to offer. She was middle-aged
and had extensive experience in the Latin Americas and
in the erstwhile Soviet Union and almost all other
trouble spots in the world. She was trained in about
half a dozen martial arts and possessed third Dan in
all of them. She would be the one leading the HUMINT
side of the team.

~My operatives are making enquiries, but I think that
it will be a day or two before I get any leads.~

Keichi nodded.

~Anything else, Miss. Palmer?~ he asked, seeing her
hesitation.

~Some shit judge is slowing us down by not approving
the paperwork. Without the taps, my operatives will be
that much more hard pressed.~

Keichi nodded. Judges could be a real pain in the ass,
not to mention the lawyers. And apparently, Miss.
Palmer was not a lady, too.

~Have you got his name? I will see what I can do.~

~Name is Morobishi something. He is the session's
judge in Juuban.~

~I'll have my people look into it. Anything more?~

~Nah.~

~Anything new, Mr. Hunt?~

Wolf Hunt was descended from Irishmen. His mother, an
Irishwoman herself had married his father, a street
savvy American with a weird sense of humor while on a
trip to the US. Hunt hated his father's sense of
humor, because it was the reason behind his name. He
worked for the British SAS, but had been transferred
to the CIA as part of some secret government
agreement. He was one of the most brilliant men in the
hacking business and his fingers literally made
computers scream in pleasure. Such was his mastery
over them. He did not look like the nerd you find at
the computer, with his formal dress and impeccable
manners that was the envy of many in the force. He was
married but he was still very much the ladies man,
cheating on his wife at least once a month or more.

~Nah. There is a bunch of garbage floating around the
net and the telephone lines about the explosion, but
nothing useful has come up so far. I'd give it a day
or two for the traffic to settle before anything
important pops up. If something comes up, we will be
the first to know... All Enigma (1) stations are
connected to us.~

Keichi nodded and turned to address all of them.

~I want you to report to me, the second you get any
information related to this matter, be it important or
unimportant.~

Everyone replied in the affirmative.

~Will do boss.~

~I will keep you updated.~

~As you wish, commander.~

~Good. Now get to your...~

An aide entered the room, unceremoniously and almost
ran to Mario. He handed the intelligence operative a
disk, some photos and copies of documents. Mario
whispered something back and the aide went scampering
away.

~Is something wrong, Mario?~ asked Keichi. He and
Mario had known each other for three years and were on
a first name basis.

~Yep. Boss, I just got the info that the satellite
images have been processed. Since I am not fully
briefed on them, I have asked for one of my team to
come and present it. It's all right with you, isn't
it?~ he asked, a little too late.

Keichi shook his head in exasperation. Brilliant or
not, Mario was going to get his ass kicked out of the
agency on these days.

Minutes later, the said team member arrived,
scrambling the passageway.

Mario arose to meet him.

~Everyone, this is Tetsuo, a senior image processor in
my team. Tetsuo is going to be briefing us about the
satellite intelligence that we have gathered so far.~

Tetsuo went to the front and inserted the disk. He
turned towards his audience and begun.

~We got his video feed from two of the satellites that
the NSA owns. One was a radar spectrographic image and
the other was in the visual spectrum. We ran it
through the supercomputer and this is the resulting
composite image. Unlike the normal 24 images per
second that you are used to, this feed has only five
images per second. The picture should look like it's
moving seamlessly, though, thanks to the tweaks that
my team has done to it,~ said Tetsuo proudly.

He started the video and the team members watched
silently for the next half an hour. Though they could
see neither the faces nor the bodies, there were
recognizable blobs that they could follow, the
resolution of the images being that high.(2)

Finally, the video stopped.

~Wow,~ said Mario. ~What the fuck was that?~

He wasn't talking about the video, of course, rather,
he was talking about the actual battle. People, i.e.,
the blobs had moved at extreme speeds and were
literally blurs for most of the time, which did not
help the audience any in following their motions.

He turned to Tetsuo.

~Why didn't your men try to enhance the pictures?~

~That is the enhanced version, sir. We were lucky to
get even this. One of the men, Chris Wilsmore,
stumbled upon it.~

~Amazing. Then those people were moving at hundreds of
miles per hour!~

~Yes, sir.~

~What?~ screamed Miss. Palmer. ~No one can move that
fast.~

~We have the visual proof, my lady,~ mocked Mario.

~Silence... That is better. Anything else, Mr.
Tetsuo?~ asked Keichi.

~Yes, sir.~ He handed a copy of a photograph to every
one of them. ~See that circle in the middle... That is
caused by the bending of space. It showed up on both
the radar image and the visual image.~

~So...~

~Sir, the amount of energy needed to bend space to the
extent we are seeing here is phenomenal. And here is
direct evidence that whoever did this, has technology
advanced enough to let them focus that much energy.
This picture was taken about three seconds before the
explosion. What you are seeing is the weapon that
triggered it!~

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

"Onee-chan!" spoke Akane in wonder. Her ego had
recovered some after Ryuu's apology and she had
decided to fetch herself a sandwich or something. She
was hungry and Kasumi always seemed to have some in
the refrigerator.

Downstairs she had found, to her surprise, Kasumi
dressed as elegantly as can be for a date. Kasumi had
always seemed so disinterested in the opposite sex and
Akane had thought that Kasumi was not interested in
men in that way. Now, with the truth staring at her in
her eyes she found it hard to believe. It was the
first time she had ever laid on Kasumi dressed like
girls her age and she was simply overcome by the
image.

"Oh, hi, Akane."

"..."

"Akane," said Kasumi with growing concern. The girl
was acting so un-Akane like. "Are you feeling fine?"

"Huh! Oh, I am fine, Onee-chan. I was just surprised
to see dressed like this. It is so un-you."

Kasumi smiled softly. "Do you like it, Akane? I am
going to wear this dress for my date tonight."

"It looks great, onee-chan," Akane managed before the
rest of Kasumi's words filtered into her mind. "You
are going on a date?" she asked, shocked at the entire
concept. Somehow, the image of the typical dating
woman and Kasumi did not quite match.

"Yes," replied Kasumi blushing slightly. "As a matter
of fact, my date should be here anytime now."

Akane stared glumly at Kasumi. Then her brain cells
began to work once more. *It's still not six-thirty,
which means... which means I can cook today.*

Stars floated in front of Akane's eyes at the very
idea. She would make her family, a very special home
cooked meal, just for them.

"Can I cook then, onee-chan?"

Kasumi shuddered, though she tried very much not to.
Akane's cooking always managed to give her nightmares.
Kasumi allowed her ever-present smile to wane just a
little, not too much mind you, but just enough to give
the impression that she was disappointed at something.

Akane's face withered under Kasumi's look. She knew
that she was not the best cook in the family, but the
least they could do was be supportive.

Kasumi caught the look and explained the situation to
Akane. "I am sorry, Akane, but I have always prepared
the meal. Perhaps, you can cook some other time."

Akane's face brightened at those words. *Onee-chan
likes my cooking,* she fooled herself into thinking.

Ranma entered just then and gazed awestruck at the
eldest of the Tendo sisters.

Akane glared. What right did he have to lay his
perverted eyes on her sister?

"You stay away from my sister," she warned through
gritted teeth. Normally, she would have attacked him
for his lecherous act, but today, the lessons in the
morning were still fresh on her memories and she
decided to let him off with a warning or three.

"Anything you say, Akane. Oh! Almost forgot. You will
address me as sensei from now on, at school and at
home. Is that understood?" he said sweetly.

*How dare he?* But, Akane knew that she was powerless
against him.

"Hai, sensei."

Ranma gave her a long look as though he was sizing her
up. "Alright then," he turned his attention towards
Kasumi. "Kas-chan, are you ready for the date?"

"As ready as I ever shall be, Ranma-kun," replied
Kasumi sweetly.

Ranma grinned broadly in return.

Akane stared at the proceedings from the sidelines.
Her sister, her very own sister was in cahoots with
the enemy.

"Kasumi, how could you?" she asked in a whisper.

For just a moment, Kasumi's smile disappeared from her
face and was replaced by anger before a neutral look
settled on her face.

"What I do with my time is none of your business
Akane, is that understood?" she asked with slight
venom in her voice.

"But..."

Kasumi cut her off before she could proceed any
further. "But nothing, Akane. What I do with my time
is my business. Understand?"

Akane nodded dumbly. The man had destroyed their home
and her elder sister was courting him. How could she?

Kasumi continued. "The food is all prepared in the
kitchen. Tell daddy that I am out on a date and serve
the food at the usual dining time. And please, do not
try to cook anything. I like the kitchen the way it
is."

With that, Kasumi grabbed Ranma's arms in her own and
rushed out.

Akane stared at the spot that Kasumi had occupied,
shocked at the surprising turn of events and feeling
like dirt for the way that she had acted.

Outside, Kasumi had slowed to a slow pace and Ranma
looked at her quizzically. "What was all of that
about?"

"I am sorry, Ranma-kun, it's just that..."

"I understand," whispered Ranma when words failed her.
"Anyways, I know of a great English restaurant a few
blocks from here. Wanna dine there?"

Kasumi nodded and leaned slightly into him for
support.

The English restaurant turned out to be Maxims. Kasumi
was astonished that Ranma was taking her to Maxims.
Her astonishment grew only further, when the waiters
and the manager treated him like a friend. It meant
that Ranma frequented the place quite often.

"Can I fetch you and your lady friend, a table, sir?"
asked the manager amicably. This particular customer
was one of the more frequent visitors and one of the
most lavish spending too.

"Yes, I would like that very much."

Kasumi inched even closer to Ranma. She had heard that
people spent hundreds of thousand on a single meal at
the world famous restaurant.

"At the usual spot, sir?"

"Yes, of course."

The manager nodded and summoned a waiter, instructing
him to personally attend to Ranma's every whim.

"I like this place, don't you?" asked Ranma as he
pulled Kasumi's seat for her.

"Yes," managed Kasumi through a daze.

Ranma looked at Kasumi and grinned from cheek to
cheek. He was going to enjoy this one.

He waved his hands in front of her eyes. "Earth to
Kasumi, come in."

Kasumi started and looked embarrassed.

Ranma laughed at the look in her eyes. "Really, I
think that this place is wonderful. I like to come
here once in a month or more. This place always
manages to set my mind at rest when I dine here."

The waiter arrived with the menu. Ranma opened his,
and ran his fingers through the list. The only thing
that was new to him was the daily special. God knew
that he had memorized the menu long ago. Unable to
make up his mind, he looked at Kasumi and saw that she
was caught in the same dilemma as him.

"It's hard to decide, everything looks so wonderful.
Why don't you make a suggestion?" he said to the
waiter.

The waiter made his suggestion and Ranma accepted
immediately. The waiter seemed to know exactly what it
would take to make the night memorable.

"Will sir want wine?" asked the waiter politely.

"Yes, I would like that," said Ranma.

Once more, the waiter took the clue, suggested the
vintage and left.

Ranma turned to Kasumi. "So, Kas-chan, do you drink
wine?"

Kasumi nodded. She did.

"Good, because if you did not, you would be missing
something wonderful - the wine they have here is par
excellence."

Kasumi nodded again.

"Ranma-kun, you never told me about your past."

Ranma smiled and leaned back against his chair.

"And therein lies a tale to be told, Kas-chan."

"Tell me," said Kasumi enthusiastically. "I want to
hear it."

"It will take a while," warned Ranma.

*Oh no, you are not getting out of this that easily.*
"It's alright, Ranma-kun, I have all the time in the
world."

Ranma sighed in defeat. If she wanted to hear his
story then she would tell her the story, with a few
minor changes, of course.

"Alright, you win, Kas-chan. I was born Japanese, near
here actually. Early in my childhood, I was separated
from my parents by accident and I was adopted by the
emperor of the Musk dynasty."

Kasumi eyed him suspiciously. Was he telling the truth
or spinning a tall tale, she could not tell.

Ranma caught the look and snickered. The waiter
brought the food and the wine. Ranma waited till they
were alone in their corner of the restaurant before
beginning again.

"I know you find it hard to believe, but that is the
truth. I was raised as the crown prince of the Musk
dynasty, a tribe dominated by males with little place
for women. Anyways, I grew up with my adopted brother,
learning to become a warrior..."

Pause.

"There is a trial in the tribe: you have to beat all
other claimants to the throne in a bloody, no-holds
barred, free for all fight. The emperor... My father,
he ordered the trial and I refused. I did not want to
spill my own family's blood.

"Father was angry - very so. He threw me out of the
tribe, because the laws said so. I could see that it
crushed his heart to see my go, but he was
unrelenting. He was the emperor, after all and he had
to follow the rules."

Ranma's voice became steadily more melancholy as he
continued with the story prompting Kasumi to lay a
hand over his comfortingly. Ranma looked at her and
smiled.

"I am sorry, Ranma-kun. If you do not want to talk
about it, I understand."

"It's alright, Kas-chan. It has been so long that the
pain is but a dull memory."

Kasumi looked at him quizzically. Ranma appeared to be
in his early twenties, which meant that his father had
ordered him to fight his brother, around a decade ago.
It horrified her that anyone would want their children
to spill their own blood. *No wonder Ranma-kun is
still haunted by the memory.*

"I left the village and joined the Amazons: They are a
female dominated society with really weird views of
the world. Elder Cologne and her granddaughter Shampoo
belong to the village. The Amazons took me in and it
was there that I met my future wife.

"Her name was Xas Min and she was an angel, just like
you are in every aspect of the way. She never got
angry or anything, just like you and she loved me as
much as I loved her."

Kasumi felt a little disappointment that Ranma had
been claimed, but then the queerness of his speech
struck her.

"You keep speaking of her in the past tense,
Ranma-kun," she observed.

Ranma became melancholy once more and his face became
haunted.

"She's dead. She has been dead for a while," he
whispered.

"I am sorry, Ranma-kun."

Ranma waved her aside. It had been two thousand years,
now and the wounds were mostly healed. You could never
get over the death of a loved one, but that was
nature. You hold onto the memories and they live on
forever in your mind. Talking always helps and he
wanted to talk about his long lost wife.

Moreover, some part of him wanted to tell Kasumi the
truth for a reason he could not quite fathom.

"She was gentle, kind and loving. She was everything
to me and then some."

"You must have loved her very much."

"I still do. Her death left a hole in my heart and
soul that has never been filled. She was very much
like you, protective of the ones that she loved and
beautiful, too." Kasumi blushed at the obvious
compliment. "After she died, I left the village and
have been wandering ever since," finished Ranma.
*There, I have said everything of importance without
revealing too much of the truth.*

Seconds passed in silence.

"Kas-chan, tell me about yourself?" asked Ranma,
breaking the silence.

"I don't know. There is so little to say," blushed
Kasumi.

"I'd be happy to hear it all the same, Kas-chan. Why
don't you taste some of that caviar? It's absolutely
wonderful."

"No, thank you, Ranma-kun, I think that I'll pass the
offer," replied Kasumi, digging into her plate
daintily as she replied. "I remember the days when I
was young. It was so fun then. Mother was always there
by my side, ready to rush in when I hurt myself.

"I remember father taking classes with me, mother and
Nabiki watching from the sidelines. He was always full
of joy and laughter then. I used to wake up early in
the morning to watch mother prepare breakfast for the
family. Those times were peaceful, but they did not
last.

"About three years after Akane was born, mother begun
experiencing fainting spells. Father was concerned
about them, but mother thought that they were nothing
serious. She was so sure that it was just a case of
not getting your daily dose of calories or something.

"Father agreed, reluctantly, to not take mother to the
hospital on the condition that she would take rest and
leave the housework to us. Mother accepted and she got
her rest, but her fainting spells only increased in
frequency and she health grew worse by the day.

"Finally, father took her to the hospital and they
pronounced that she had tumors in her brain. Her case
was terminal and the news broke father's heart.
Apparently, she would have had a chance of survival
had the tumor been discovered a month or two back...
It broke father's heart. He blamed himself for
mother's death and he withdrew into himself,
abandoning us in the process... I must be boring you
with this story and I, most certainly, have ruined the
mood today."

Ranma shook his head, vigorously, in denial. "No,
Kas-chan, you are not boring me and you certainly
haven't ruined the day. As a matter of fact, I want to
know more about you," he said firmly. "Do continue on
with the story, Kas-chan."

Kasumi smiled lightly. She really wanted someone to
know the real her and Ranma was as good a man as any,
if not better and the timing could not be better too.

"After mother died, I took up her mantle. I knew that
I would never be as good as she was, but I was
determined to be the best that I can. I did well at
school, graduated with honors and I have been staying
at home, keeping it, as the westerners say, in
shipshape condition."

Ranma smiled at the last sentence. After all, she had
been through, the girl still had a sense of humor,
which said a lot about her strength of spirit.

"That's all? What about your friends? Don't you have
any?"

"Well, I have this friend from my childhood. He was
the local chiropractor in Nerima. His name was Tofu
and he was always acting silly whenever I was around,
dancing with his skeleton and such. He was not always
that way, I mean, when we were younger, we used to
play around and he never acted silly then. Anyways, I
don't know where he is now. He moved away a couple of
months ago."

The conversation drifted into more comfortable
territory and both of them found themselves enjoying
the experience more than they had thought they would.

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

Minamoto Yoritomo was not your quintessential early
twenties, Japanese male. Why did he have to be? His
family was rich and he did not need to work like most
of the other men and women in Japan.

In fact, he had never excelled in anything, be it
sports or studies. He had never taken part in any of
the clubs or any of the other foolish things that
Japanese school children endured so that they may get
a chance to get ahead in life. No, Minamoto Yoritomo
had never been the average school going boy.

While at school, he had numerous girlfriends, a source
of constant irritation to the teachers in his school,
and he had always been the among the cool one. So,
what if the schools did not allow students to wear
anything other than white socks. It was not as if
colored socks were the only things that made a person
cool, there were other things and he had found and
used them.

He had stuck the socks to his calf with glue making
him stand among the other students. Once, he had even
shown up for a class with the top half of his head
dyed red and the rest dyed blue. The administration
had made him rinse the dyes of his hair, but he had
made his point: They will never control him.

Sure, his father said that he was ashamed of his son,
but who cared about the old moron anyways? The fool
would have been better off stuck up during the Meiji
restoration or something. And his mother too. Where
the hell did she get the idea that she could act in
that pissant attitude of hers towards her family and
son and get off. *The bitch.*

Minamoto Yoritomo's family was certainly not the
closest knit of Japanese families. In fact, it was
similar to the ones that the rich snobs in the west
had, but Minamoto did not give a damn as long as he
got his share of the inheritance, that is.

Nowadays, he spent most of his time fooling around,
(as if he had ever done anything other than that.) and
generally staying out of his parents way while the two
fools worked themselves to death. He was not going to
take any part in managing the company when they were
dead, that was for sure. He was going to sell his
shares in the conglomerate and retire to a life of fun
and mayhem. Not that his father would allow it or
anything, but Minamoto did not care - the fool would
be long dead and gone by then. *Dead of a heart attack
or something, I am sure. Heck, I would be surprised if
the fool does not pass away in the next year or two.*

Pushing such pleasant thoughts aside, Minamoto grabbed
some popcorn and focused himself on the film. The film
was one of them violence filled Hollywood movies and
the action was choreographed, much like the Chinese
ones. *As if the fools could ever manage to direct a
decent action film,* thought Minamoto.

The film was definitely a waste of time.

Just then, two figures pushed their way through the
seats, politely apologizing for the inconvenience they
were causing. Soon it was Minamoto's turn to let them
pass. Minamoto glared at the man through the dim
light. The man smiled in apology and asked Minamoto to
move aside once again.

Minamoto was about to say something rude when he
caught the glint of something in the man's eyes that
made him pause. It promised him a lot of pain and
Minamoto reluctantly moved aside, grumbling under his
breath.

"Thank you, sir," said the man apologetically as he
and his date sat themselves in the unoccupied seats by
Minamoto's side.

"Think nothing of it," grumbled Minamoto.

Now that he was paying attention, he could see that
the girl was astonishingly beautiful. And it was
clear, even through the semi-darkness in the theatre
that the two were in love with each other. Minamoto,
recognized the signs and realized that the two were
themselves unaware of the depth of their attraction to
each other.

*This should prove interesting,* he thought amusedly
as he concentrated on watching the interaction between
the two. The day might not be a total waste, after
all.

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

Try as he might, Ranma could not keep his eyes on the
movie. Kasumi's outline, silhouetted against the
darkness was so encaptivating that he could not help
getting lost in it.

And Kasumi, well, she knew what his eyes were doing
but she did not seem to mind and as long as she did
not, he decided that there was no reason to not look
at her.

"Ranma-kun, could be please pass me the carton of
popcorn?" asked Kasumi all of a sudden.

Ranma started out of his reverie. *Damn! What the hell
am I doing? I shouldn't be doing this. She is just a
little girl.*

"Sorry Kas-chan. What did you say again?"

Kasumi smiled softly and his heart beat a little
faster, though he hated himself for it. He felt like
he was cheating Xas Min's memory by behaving this way
around her.

"I said, would you pass me the popcorn, Ranma-kun."

"Oh! Here you go then."

"So, do you like the film Ranma-kun?" asked Kasumi,
trying very hard to hide the mirth that threatened to
shake her body apart. Of course, she knew where his
eyes have been all along.

"Oh!" started Ranma. "I like it just fine."

"I think that I like this scene the best," she said,
not taking her eyes of the screen. She knew that she
could not hold her laughter if she looked at him.

"Yes, I like it too."

"Really, Ranma-kun?"

*What is she trying to do?* Ranma asked himself. She
was making him very uncomfortable that was for sure.

"Yes, really, Kas-chan."

Kasumi did not take her eyes of the screen. She knew
that he was still recovering from the loss of his
wife, but she could not help herself. It was so much
fun playing with him.

On the sidelines, Minamoto watched the proceedings and
smirked. Apparently, neither of them have had any real
experience in dating, which was kind of surprising
since both of them were very attractive to the
opposite sex. Heck, even he was feeling a little
jealous of the man. He looked so powerful and majestic
without even trying to.

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

Finally, the movie was over and Ranma thanked the Kami
for it. He would not have survived another hour in
there. Who would have thought that English films would
ever be that long? It seemed like an eternity had
passed since they had entered the theatre.

Kasumi walked by his side, laughing internally at
Ranma's antics. He sure was a lot of fun to be with
once you knew where the right buttons to make him
squirm were.

Ranma was about to hail a cab when Kasumi stopped him
with a tug of her arms.

"Ranma-kun, if you don't mind, I would like to walk
the rest of the way back home."

Ranma looked at her intently and nodded. "Alright
then, Kas-chan, let's get going."

Walking through the streets with Ranma by her side,
Kasumi could not quite believe that this was the same
city that had experienced a huge disaster just two
days back. People were walking around as though
nothing had happened and traffic as well as everything
of importance had been restored to normal.

"The night is lovely, Ranma-kun," said Kasumi, nestled
in the safety of Ranma's arms.

Ranma looked uncomfortable, but he did not object to
her behavior all the same.

"Yes, the night is lovely, Kas-chan and the stars,
too," he replied looking up at the stars.

Kasumi looked at the heavens and sighed out loud.

"I wonder how an eagle flies when it soars through the
sky," she wondered out loud.

"Why don't we find out then?"

"Huh!"

"Come on, I will give you a ride, you will never
forget," said Ranma and picked her up into his arms.

"Eeek! Ranma-kun, what are you doing?"

"I thought you wanted to know how an eagle feels."

"So..."

"So... I was going to show you," said Ranma and shot
up straight up into the sky.

Kasumi 'eeped' in surprise and tightened her grip on
Ranma's neck. Ranma smiled at her antics and continued
to rise into the night sky eventually slowing down and
coming to a stop.

"How do you like the view, Kas-chan?" asked Ranma.

Kasumi opened her eyes, dared to look down, 'eeped'
once again in surprise and covered her eyes. Finally,
after a second or two, she opened her eyes once more
and this time looked awestruck at Tokyo from the best
viewing point ever.

"It is nice, Ranma-kun."

"Nice... Is that all, Kas-chan? I thought that you'd
say more to say," asked Ranma, forming a cute pout.
Normally, he would never dare to do such a thing, but
today was a special exception. There was no one around
to make fun of his feminine-side, was there?

Kasumi laughed at the pout. "This is the real Ranma, I
presume."

Ranma laughed in reply. "How about I take you for a
little ride?" he asked.

Kasumi thought about it for just an instant. Then, her
thoughtful look faded away and she was all smiles.
"'Kay."

Ranma nodded and literally, rocketed through the night
sky. Kasumi, clutched him tighter than ever and
relaxed only after a few minutes had passed and she
still had not fallen out of the sky.

Slowly, she began to enjoy to experience. The air
flowing against her hair and body was refreshingly
cool and wonderful to her senses. She relaxed her grip
on Ranma and dared to look around. They were traveling
about five or six hundred yards above the ground and
she calculated, correctly, at around a hundred
kilometers per hour.

The ground blurred beneath her and Ranma dipped even
further as they cleared the city limits. He dipped
into the trees and zigzagged through the trees. She
could not believe how close to the ground they were.
Most of the trees were around twenty feet or so tall
and she could see the bushes and everything beneath
her.

The trees were young, not more than a decade or two at
most, like most of the forests in her country. The
forests had once been claimed by the people for
farming, but now trees were being planted once again.

Kasumi laughed like a little girl as they zoomed by
the trees, the wind howling in her ear. Finally, Ranma
slowed and rose into the air.

"How did it feel like to soar through the sky like an
eagle, Kas-chan?" he asked.

Kasumi was too happy to answer. Nearly a minute passed
before she was able to control herself and answer
Ranma's question.

"It was exhilarating, Ranma-kun," she replied, her
eyes shining like a little girl who had gotten her
first doll.

"How would you like to do that again?"

"I would love to, Ranma-kun."

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go," said Ranma
and commenced flying once more.

"Whooheeee!" screamed Kasumi in mirth as they dipped
into the trees once more.

Half an hour later, Ranma stopped and landed on the
ground. Kasumi was all smiles and she looked at Ranma
with star-studded eyes.

"Ready to go back home?" asked Ranma.

Kasumi pouted. "Do we have to? I was having so much
fun."

"I know, Kas-chan, but we have to get you back home.
It's already past midnight and your dad will kill me
for sure, if we are any later."

"Daddy knows that I can look after myself. And why
should he be afraid? You are here to protect me,
aren't you?"

Ranma looked decidedly uncomfortable at where the
conversation was going. "Yes, I am here to protect
you, Kas-chan, but still, your father will be worried
all the same. It is only natural, after all," he
reasoned. *Qin, what have you gotten yourself into?*

"Oh, all right then," said Kasumi disappointedly. She
had wanted to enjoy herself some more but as always
duty called. "Let's go."

Ranma caught the disappointment in her voice and his
mouth acted before his brain could think through the
situation. "We can do this again next week. We can cut
the movie then and you can enjoy yourself."

Glomp.

Ranma was surprised that Kasumi had such strong hands.
Her grip was worse then an Amazons and he had thought
that they were bad. Apparently, they were not as
Kasumi was crushing his ribs - something that he had
thought would be an impossible.

"Can't breathe," croaked Ranma turning an unhealthy
shade of blue.

Kasumi blushed and released him. "Thank you,
Ranma-kun. You are the greatest."

Ranma did not what to say. *Heh! Defeated by a mere
house girl.* Maybe he was not as invincible as he had
thought he was.

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

An hour later, Ranma and Kasumi entered the Qin
compound.

They had entered Tokyo nearly half an hour before, but
Kasumi had wanted to eat some ice cream and they had
stopped by an ice-cream parlor on the way home.

Ranma placed his eyes on the doorknob and stopped. He
turned towards Kasumi and looked into her eyes. She
was so much happier than she had been in the morning.

"I guess this is it."

"I guess," replied Kasumi.

"Thank you for a wonderful date, Kas-chan."

Kasumi blushed in reply. *He thinks that the date was
wonderful.*

"Thank you, Ranma-kun. I hadn't had this much fun in a
long while."

"Heh, it was nothing. So, wanna go again next week?"

"I'd love to, Ranma-kun."

"Okay then. I will pick you up at the same time next
week."

Kasumi acquiesced and Ranma opened the door.

No sooner had he opened the door, then Kasumi leaned
in and gave a quick peck on his cheeks, said
goodnight, thanked him for the date once more and
disappeared up the stairs.

Ranma placed a hand where her lips had caressed him
and looked at the spot where Kasumi had stood with
longing eyes. Realization dawned slowly and Ranma
shook his head. *I am sorry, Xas Min. I did not know
what I was thinking. She is just a little kid having
fun. No one can replace you in my heart.*

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

Kasumi entered her room, shut the door and leaned her
back against it. She let the day's events run over in
her mind and let out a sigh of longing and
contentment. She was drawn towards Ranma in a way that
she had not dreamt possible.

Finally, she switched on the light and...

"Hello, sis, how was the date?"

Kasumi started for a second before controlling
herself. It was Nabiki. She scolded herself mentally
for not having anticipated this. Nabiki was always the
most inquisitive in the family.

"What is worth to you?" asked Kasumi.

"..."

Kasumi fell to the ground, clutching her stomach and
rolling on the floor laughing her heart out. Nabiki
stared at her elder sister with a raised eyebrow. She
maintained the look until Kasumi managed to control
herself.

"I take it that the date was great."

"You should have seen the look on your face," said
Kasumi, barely containing another fit of laughter and
trying to change the subject.

"Don't try to change the subject, sis. It won't work
on me. You know that as well as I do."

*It was worth a try.* "..."

"Okay, I am going to answer you questions and I will
keep on asking them until you answer me."

"Oh, alright then. Shoot."

"Where did he take you for dinner?"

"Maxims."

It was Nabiki's turn to hide her surprise. She had
thought that Ranma was rich, but she had not thought
that he would be rich enough to take a casual date to
Maxims. This bore looking into.

"And the movie?"

"Mission Impossible: 2"

"He has got a real romantic sense, huh?"

Kasumi blushed, but said nothing. Nabiki was right,
after all. Ranma could have picked a much better movie
to watch.

Nabiki continued on with the questionnaire, pausing
once in a while when Kasumi's answers caught her by
surprise and filing them away mentally for future use.
Kasumi answered as best as she could, even though she
was nervous about the whole interrogation.

Finally, after stalling for a long time to build her
sister's nervousness, Nabiki popped the most important
question of the night.

"Did you kiss him?"

Kasumi blushed and looked at the very interesting
white spot on her fingernail.

"Oh, my God, you kissed. So, where did he kiss you?
Was he a good kisser?"

Kasumi muttered something under her breath and try as
she might, Nabiki could not catch her words.

"Speak louder, sis, I cannot hear you."

Kasumi muttered again and once again, Nabiki could not
catch her words.

"Speak louder, sis, I still cannot hear you."

"I kissed him, alright," said Kasumi shyly, twiddling
with her fingers.

"Oh, my God." Now, Nabiki was completely flummoxed.
Kasumi, the holy Kasumi herself, had kissed her Ranma
on their first date. *How?*

"What? When? Why? How?" she asked still overcome by
shock.

Kasumi twiddled some more with her fingers before
replying. "How should I know? It just sort of
happened."

"I can understand if Akane did it in her first date -
the girl scarcely thinks of anything but sex. But you,
you'll have to excuse me if I don't believe you."

"It was just a peck on the cheeks. I had so much
tonight and it just seemed right."

The two sisters continued on with the discussion into
the wee hours of the morning and even then, they quit
only because Kasumi had to prepare breakfast.

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

After Kasumi had dashed off into her room, Ranma went
to Cologne's and knocked on her door.

Cologne opened almost immediately and ushered him in.
The room was decorated sparsely and had a Spartan feel
to it. Her bed was not slept in and there were several
sticks of incense burning in the room.

"My, meditating at this hour, Cologne-chan. Something
bothering you?" asked Ranma after he had made himself
comfortable in the futon.

"Sleep does not come as easily to me as it did in my
younger days, grandfather."

"So you tried meditation. Very good, Cologne. You
might learn something yet."

"Thank you, grandfather."

The two sat in silence, each not knowing what to
speak. Finally, Cologne spoke at length.

"How did your date go, grandfather?" asked Cologne.
She had been surprised that Ranma had asked the eldest
of the Tendo girls out on a date. She had not thought
that Ranma would start dating anytime soon.

Ranma smiled a little at the question. "It went very
well, Cologne-chan, much better than I had hoped."

"Oh, it went well, aye. Well then, when can I expect
to see your son, my great grandfather?"

Thwap!

"Perverted child," admonished Ranma and made the cane
disappear to wherever it had come from.

"Ouch! You need not have hit me that hard,
grandfather," whined Cologne. *Where had that stick
come from?*

"Maybe the bump ought to rid you of your perverted
ways, ne, Cologne-chan," said Ranma sweetly.

"Who's the pervert, grandfather? You or me? Am I the
one going out with a girl young enough to be my great
great great great great and then some, granddaughter."

"Insolent child." Thwap!

"Ouch!"

"Now, if you are done playing around, we will discuss
the Yakuza business."

Cologne was immediately all ears.

Ranma continued, having got the Matriarch's attention.

"I think that a visit to the Yakuza might be in order
tomorrow. What do you say, we visit them about
twelvish in the morning?"

"It's a little bit too soon, don't you think?"

Ranma shook his head. "The further we procrastinate,
the tighter their grip around Nabiki will become."

"Then tomorrow it is."

Ranma rose up to leave. "Good night, Cologne-chan.
Have sweet dreams," he said and pressed a shiatsu
point on Cologne's body.

Cologne dropped like a bag of bones. Ranma lifted her
up with care and tucked her into bed before leaving
the room.

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

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The
parents say it, the teachers say it and heck, even the
stomach says it.

The unspoken rule: Never miss your breakfast, holds
true for everyone including martial artists. And
Genma, being the martial artist of high caliber that
he was, followed the rule to the word wherever or
whenever he might be. In fact, Genma treated every
meal of the day with the same tenacity that he treated
the breakfast with. No wonder then that Genma was more
horizontally challenged when compared with other
martial artists.

Genma did not worry about it however, being the fat
oaf that he was. He had gotten a job and thus did not
feel like he was freeloading off the Tendo's. His last
vestiges of self-control gone, Genma was giving
everyone a first hand experience of the awesome might
of Anything Goes Speed-eating.

It was therefore no surprise that even Soun, his best
friend and companion during those horrible years under
the master, was covering his food with a protective
hand and glaring at Genma along with everyone else in
the breakfast table.

Genma did not notice or rather did not care, and kept
on going: Mwaorf! Gwarf! Rwarf! Crunch! Smarf!

So consumed in his quest for the perfect breakfast was
he, that he forgot to pay attention to his younger son
and fellow student of the art, one Ryuuken Saotome,
who was finally fed up with his father's antics and
decided to take some action.

Bam!

"And stay out while we eat!" shouted Ryuu, striking a
dramatic pose as a very wet panda glared at him from
the koi pond. He really liked kicking his father all
over the place.

Kasumi watched the proceedings from the sidelines and
sniggered. She looked around the table and her eyes
met Ranma's. Immediately, she blushed and looked down.

Nabiki nudged her from the side and said, "Way to go,
sis."

Kasumi's cheeks reddened further.

Ryuu's teenage mind filled in the perverted details
and he sputtered in his seat.

Ranma whistled innocently, which was the worst thing
that he could have done for all eyes were on him,
immediately.

Ryuu sputtered further.

Soun caught the interchange and realized what it
meant.

"Waah! My baby is going to get married."

"Ranma, you no invite Shampoo for marriage," pouted
the young Amazon.

"Wha..." gasped Ranma. What had he gotten himself
into?

"Hehe," sniggered Cologne, Shampoo and Nabiki.

Ranma shot them a glare.

Genma seized the chance, jumped into the room and made
a safety deposit box of his mouth for the food on the
table.

"Pops!"

Thus continued another normal breakfast at the Qin's.
Predictably, Ranma ate at double-quick speed, his food
disappearing within seconds of the end of the
imbroglio. He rose up hastily and addressed Cologne.

"Elder, are you ready for the trip?"

Cologne nodded. The day being a Saturday, Kasumi had
taken time to prepare the meal and it was already half
past ten.

"Then finish your breakfast quickly and let's get
going."

"Are you going anywhere, sensei?" asked Ryuu.

Ranma spoke without turning towards him. "Yes, Ryuu.
Me and Elder Cologne have some errands to run."

Ryuu nodded and kept his questions to himself. It was
something in the way that Ranma had said that made him
want to keep quiet.

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

Jisaburo Ozawa was not an Admiral of the JDF. Yes, he
was descended from the famous Admiral, who fought so
valiantly against the Americans during the war for
control of the Pacific, but that was where the
similarities ended.

Jisaburo Ozawa was a crook, a thief, a murderer, a
blackmailer, a sadist and a rapist all packaged into
the body of a normal looking middle-aged Japanese
male. He worked hard like any other Japanese citizen,
but his work was detrimental to the improvement of the
quality of life and society, as a whole.

He was the local chief of the Yamaguchi-gumi for the
Juuban ward and he liked to run his business smoothly,
even if it meant that the occasional fool had to be
broken in. The police could never gather the evidence
to implicate him and he did not care about them. The
situation being the way it was, Jisaburo himself had
tamed several rowdy characters, including a woman, who
thought that she was better than a man.

He still remembered the bitch's screams of pain as he
used the tire iron on her. The bitch was half dead by
then, of course, but that had not stopped him and he
had enjoyed doing it immensely. She had stood in his
path and he had removed her. He had never been the one
to play the game when the odds were even. Therefore,
he had let his men have their fun with the bitch
before he had taken her to task.

The police had found her mutilated body in the canal,
but they were unable to do anything as there was
little evidence connecting him or his crooks to the
crime.

Jisaburo knew that the ever-vigilant eyes of the law
were on him, but he did not care. The Japanese
judicial system maybe a little rough, but the police
were polite people, who hesitated arresting people
without irrevocable evidence.

Jisaburo had not always been like this. Once, he had
been a kind, compassionate and loving child with
loving parents and all the perks that came with them.
He had been one of the top-scorers in his class and
everyone expected a bright future for him. Then, one
fateful day, his world had come crashing down.

Cruising on their car to his grandparents' house, his
mother and father had been killed due to an
unfortunate accident - the result of a drunken truck
driver driving into the wrong lane. His grandparents
were too old to take care of him and with no other
living relative to raise him, Jisaburo had been sent
to a state run orphanage for adoption.

He had absolutely hated the place and everything that
it stood for. Therefore, he had been exhilarated the
caretakers at the orphanage told him the news of his
adoption. He could not wait to meet his new family.

His adopted father was a thin man with pale face and
cold eyes. The man had unnerved him a bit, but it had
not curbed Jisaburo's excitement. That excitement and
joy lasted late into his first night at his adopted
home before it was shattered like a twig.

As it turned out, Jisaburo's adoptive father was a
pedophile and child-abuser. Jisaburo had jumped from
the cauldron into the roaring pits of hell. For the
next eight years, he suffered silently, plotting his
vengeance on his 'father'.

By the time Jisaburo reached sixteen, he was five-foot
eight, weighed around seventy kilos and towered over
his 'father' by five inches. On his sixteenth
birthday, knowing that his father would sneak into his
room at night, he had lain in wait. 'Father' had
slipped into the room, late at night as usual, and got
the beating of his life.

Jisaburo pounced on him with a tire iron and broke
about thirty bones on his body before leaving the
house and his father in a pool of clotting blood.

The police had investigated but had found no evidence
against Jisaburo, thanks to his connections with
members of the underworld. Jisaburo had joined the
Yamaguchi-gumi to show his gratitude and he had worked
diligently, rapidly rising through the ranks unto he
was the local chief of operations.

The damages caused to his psyche due to the years
spent with his 'father' did not heal, though molding
Jisaburo into what he was, now. He enjoyed his work
and he enjoyed hurting people.

Even though he was married now, he was still a regular
visitor at the brothels run by the Yamaguchi-gumi,
spending his leisure time with the prostitutes in S&M
and acts of sadism. It was in one of these brothels
that Jisaburo lay now, naked underneath the sheets
with another of his whores, screwing her for all his
worth.

The woman, handcuffed to the bed, was covered with
cigarette marks and numerous welts where the whip had
made contact with her body. She screamed in pain even
as he pounded into her and had tears running down from
her eyes.

"Scream for me, bitch," shouted Jisaburo, audible even
over her high-pitched screams. He grabbed her right
breast in his arm and squeezed it as hard as he could.

The woman's screams reached a whole new level in
reply.

Jisaburo did not stop. He released her breast, grabbed
a cigarette from the bedside, and looking into her
eyes gleefully, introduced its glowing end to her
nipple.

The woman screamed louder than before and fainted due
to the pain.

"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Didn't your mother tell you to treat
women with respect?"

Jisaburo turned towards the speaker. Whoever said that
was going to wish that he had never been born. The
face that confronted his eyes was not familiar to him
and for a moment, Jisaburo thought that the man was
from one of the other families sent to kill him.

"Wh... Who are you?"

"No one. Let's just say that I am a concerned citizen.
You have been a very bad boy, Ozawa."

Jisaburo saw red. "Get out asshole and I might spar
your life."

Ranma waved his index finger. "Angry, are we?" said he
and shook his head. "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!"

"You had your chance to live, pal. Now, you are going
to wish that you had never been born after my men are
through with you."

Ranma laughed.

Jisaburo could not help but shudder at its hollowness
and the cold voice that accompanied it.

"If you are talking about the three fools that you had
outside your door then you are joking."

Jisaburo paled slightly, but still refused to show to
fear. This was his domain and he was not going to be
pushed around.

"You are lying."

"Do you really think so? Tell me you are not, because
if you are it would be no fun dealing with a dumb-ass
such as you."

For the first time since 'father', Jisaburo was
afraid. Scared shitless would be a better term for the
way he was feeling, but he could not admit it to
himself and put on a brave front.

"So what if you are telling the truth? The Yamaguchi
family is powerful beyond your wildest imaginations.
You might kill me, but Ohaya-bun will revenge my
death."

Ranma laughed.

"And why would I want to kill you?"

Jisaburo snorted in disbelief. "Don't think that I am
an imbecile. Why would you be here if not to kill me?"

"You are funny, Jisaburo-chan. I am here to talk
business, nothing more."

Jisaburo eyed Ranma as though he had grown a head.
"Business? You could have chosen a whole lot better
place to discuss _business._"

Ranma chuckled. "True. But I wanted to talk business
with you alone."

Jisaburo gave him a blank stare.

Ranma chuckled once again at the look on Jisaburo's
face before continuing. "Your family and I have a
common interest in a certain individual."

"Individual? I am sure we can work something out
between us," said Jisaburo. He threw off the blanket
and put on his pants.

"Yes, an individual. I am sure you know of her. Her
name is Nabiki Tendo."

"I don't know of any Tendo."

"Wrong answer, Jisaburo-chan," said Ranma and with a
wave of his hands cut the chair in front of the mirror
in two.

Jisaburo's face whitened.

"Are you sure, you don't know of any Tendo,
Jisaburo-chan?" said Ranma and carved up the wood
between Jisaburo's legs with the ki blade.

Jisaburo laughed nervously. "Ah, yes, the Tendo girl!
How could I have forgotten?"

"Indeed, Jisaburo-chan, how could you have forgotten?"
said Ranma moving the blade really close to Jisaburo's
groin.

"Hehehe. Well, what do you want with this Tendo girl,
you speak about?"

Ranma smiled broadly in reply. The blade disappeared
and he leaned into Jisaburo's face.

"It's not what I want of her, Jisaburo-chan, it's what
I want of the Yamaguchi-gumi in this case that is
important."

"Huh?"

"You see, Jisaburo-chan, I have a friend who is
concerned about young miss Tendo. He does not like her
dealings with your kind and he asked me to deliver
this message to you: Leave Nabiki Tendo alone."

"That is impossible. Ohaya-bun, himself has a special
interest in Nabiki-san."

Ranma noted the respect that Jisaburo gave Nabiki and
grimaced internally. This was going to be a tough one.
The Yakuza did not easily let go of its victims and it
was going to be especially tough in Nabiki's case,
since she had attracted the attention of the higher
ups in the organization.

"Nothing is impossible, Jisaburo-chan. You should know
it yourself," said Ranma sweetly.

"But it is. Ohaya-bun wants Nabiki-san to succeed him
and..."

Ranma's smile broadened. "Nothing is impossible. You
will tell Ohaya-bun to give up any plans that he has
for Nabiki and you will make him agree with you, won't
you, Jisaburo-chan." The blade was now visible,
glowing an eerie blue mere millimeters from Jisaburo's
jugular.

Jisaburo nodded slowly, lest he kill himself
accidentally.

"I am glad that we understand each other well,
Jisaburo-chan. It is nice to see that the Yakuza is
safe in capable hands such as yourself. Now, as much
as it pains me, I have to leave. I have other
concerns, you see, Jisaburo-chan."

Jisaburo nodded dumbly. *How could this be happening?*
he asked himself repeatedly.

Ranma rose up and went to the door, before turning.
"Oh, almost forgot. I am sure that Ohaya-bun will kill
you if you go to him the way you are. So, consider
this a gift of life," said Ranma and closed the
distance between Jisaburo and himself in a flash.

Scarcely two seconds later, Ranma walked out of the
room, leaving Jisaburo, with his right hand twisted
below the elbow at an unnatural angle, stunned by what
had happened.

Jisaburo did not scream until he was sure that Ranma
had left the building. And then he screamed until his
voice box was hoarse.

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

(1): Enigma - I am not sure whether this is the name
of the stations, I am referring to. I think it is
Epsilon, but I am not sure about that, too.

These stations are the ears of the American spy
agency. They monitor every mail, phone call and such
for keywords and when they find these keywords in a
message, they are stored for process. There are seven
such stations in the world and one of them is in New
Zealand. Witnesses reported to have seen the inside of
these installations say that there are rows and rows
of computers stretching for fields.

You might have heard of the stations. They were in the
news within the last two years. It seems that the
Americans used the Intel (that's intelligence for all
of you dummies) gathered by these stations to garner
better deals in the business world for their
companies.

(2): About the Satellites. I am sure that some of you
don't believe what I am speaking about here, but
believe me this is true.

Think of the Hubble space telescope. A perfect piece
of machinery wouldn't you say? Well, the Americans
have numerous 'Hubbles' pointing at the Earth. These
high-resolution satellites are owned by NSA (National
Security Agency) and while the Hubble spies on the
skies for answers to questions about our ancestry or
some bull like that, the 'Hubbles' that the NSA owns
spy on us.

The radar images, well, that is creation. I am sure
that every one of you has heard of the Magellan. You
haven't. Well, good for you, son. ;)

Anyways, these interplanetary probes used radar for
mapping planets from outer space and their resolution
was mind-boggling. It just seems logical to assume
that the NSA has spy versions of these satellites
orbiting the earth for their own devious purposes.

ELINT: This is a real term used by the intelligence
community. It stands for El(ectronic) Int(elligence).
That is, the intelligence gathered from computers,
e-mails, phone taps, et cetera.

HUMINT: Another term used in the intelligence
community. It stands for Hum(an) Int(elligence) - the
intelligence gathered from operatives on the field.

Next on the line, is Maxims. I am not sure whether
they have a presence in Tokyo, but if they do not, sue
me. This is my story and I will damn well do whatever
I please with it.

And most importantly, I do not know how a tea ceremony
is performed. I am just imitating the few bad examples
that I have been unlucky enough to see on screen.

Finally...

I would like to take this oppurtunity to prostrate
myself in front of my pre-readers. Thank you, guys!
This couldn't have been possible without all of you:
jakub [jpilecki@poczta.onet.pl] Kaz
[kazblah945@aol.com] Madcat [madcat08@hotmail.com]
Brain [bmccullough@nucles.com] James Merritt
[j.merritt1@home.com] Philip Penty
[plainswaker@hotmail.com] Nathan Shuker
[rezantis@hotmail.com] Zero [shinzero@home.com]
Alexander Cheezam[cheezeA@CLEMSON.EDU]

The story is hosted at the following sites: 1. Mine
(http://samrtaleck.anifics.com) 2. Lady cosmos
(http://www.crosswinds.net/~ladycosmos/) 3. Rakhal's
Penultimate Ranma Fanfic index
(http://www.rakhal.com/FFIndex/lstmain.html) 4. FFML
archives
(http://miniarchive.dyndns.org:123/cgi-bin/MiniArchive.exe)
5. Mediaminer fanfic archives
(www.mediaminer.org/fanfic)

Hints for you readers from the author:

Hint #1: Arun doesnot write to a schedule, he really
has to spend a lot of time with his psychiatrist.

Hint #2: (for those out standing critics out
there[;)])Call Arun anything you want in your mail
provided (though he won't) he has the right to call
you by these same names. Arun appreciates constructive
negative comments and he really loves the positive
comments. Its the 'Go to hell you mother F***ing Freak
of nature' and such that he hates. Please send me your
negative comments though I would be most grateful if
you would tone down the I hate you part a little.

Hint #3: The truth is out there, hey, don't ask me
where but is out there since Fox 'spooky' Mulder says
so.

Hint #4: There is no hint #4.

Hint #5: Read the author's rants section if there is
one. It would clear some of yer questions as well as
create some totally unrelated ones. 


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