The  characters  of the Ranma 1/2 universe  are  the
creation   and   possession  of  the  brilliant   Rumiko
Takahashi.  They  belong  to Rumiko  Takahashi  and  her
licensees   (Shogakukan   Inc.,   Kitty-Fuji   TV,   Viz
Communications   Inc.)  No  copyright  infringement   is
intended.


Many thanks to:
D-chan, for encouragement and invaluable time taken from
her own writing to pre-read for me.
Read D-chan's stories at:
http://www.geocities.com/ayongedarling/

And to Jiro Maeda for pre-reading and pointing out some
fundamental errors in my conception of Filipino fighting arts
among other things.

Also, Gary Kleppe-sama and Donald Lee Granberry-san
for their incalculable help, especially in pointing out
my deficiencies in the matter of punctuation. (And I always
thought all those extra keys were for making emoticons)
and helping me see where my narrative was confusing.

And to all the other readers who have been kind enough
to write to me. Thank you so much. (I'll try to mention you
by name as time and my poor memory allow.)


@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@


           Lure the Tiger from the Mountains


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

Chapter: 8
Fan ke wei zhu
(Make the host and guest exchange places)


      "What do you mean, he's gone!" Ukyou snapped,
glaring around the room as if he could _make_ Genma
appear.

      "He got a phone call about half an hour ago," Souun
explained, looking uncomfortable in the presence of this
intensely angry young man. "and left suddenly." Souun
sounded very unhappy about that as well.


      "I don't believe you," Ukyou leaned forward,
threateningly. "You're hiding that thieving bastard
someplace."

      "I've met Genma's parents," Souun corrected,
instantly. "the last time they were paroled, and they're
_lovely_ people!"

      "No person of _honor_ would have anything to do
with a Saotome!" Ukyou sneered.

      "Now see here," Soun defended Genma hotly,
"You've no call to say that. Genma is a fine man. An
honorable man. He's just," Soun searched for the word he
wanted, "Genma is just . . .free spirited."

      "Only if you mean he doesn't pay for his sake!"
Nabiki muttered under her breath.

      "And when I find him," Ukyou ground out, ignoring
Souun, and Nabiki,  "I'm gonna skin him and salt the
hide----"

      "That's not a friendly thing to say," Akane remarked
mildly, giving no indication that she disagreed ( in principle)
with the thought.

      Ukyou flinched, unconsciously flexing his mangled
fingers, but didn't back down.

      "It's _very_ convenient that he would get called
away, so soon after he arrived in Nerima." Ukyou pressed.
"And before I could get here."

      "It certainly was convenient for Genma," Nabiki
observed. "Almost as if he knew you were coming."

       Kasumi freshened Ukyou's cup of tea, "I suppose if
you hurried you might catch . . .Uncle Genma," she was
moderately proud that she managed the appellation without
gagging, "at the train station. He mentioned something about
Hokkaido." She blinked as Ukyou seemed to teleport out the
door. "Such an energetic young man," She smiled beatifically
at the room, "I'm sure it will be nice for Uncle Genma to
have company on his trip."

      "You are an _evil_ woman, Kasumi." Nabiki grinned
at her sister, who only winked.

      "You can come in now, Ranma," Akane addressed
empty air and seemed unsurprised when Ranma swung off
the roof and into the room.

      "I wish you hadn't told him about Pop," Ranma  said to Kasumi,
looking at Akane from the corner of his eye, appearing puzzled about
something. "I better get down to the train station and warn
him."

      "Would you like to eat before you go?" Kasumi
asked, pausing before clearing away the tea things.

      "No time. I gotta get there before the Hokkaido train
leaves."

      "This isn't the best time of year for Hokkaido,"
Nabiki offered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "too many
tourists for my taste."

      "I ain't goin' there for sightseein'," Ranma explained,
somewhat impatiently. "I gotta get to my Pop before Ukyou
does."

      "Well, I doubt you'll find him in Hokkaido," Akane
said, rising from the table. "That was wonderful tea,
Kasumi."

      "Huh?" Ranma's puzzled look covered a sudden
feeling of apprehension.

      " I don't know your father very well," Akane looked
blandly at Ranma, "but I know how he taught you to fight."
She grinned suddenly. "if he mentioned Hokkaido, I'd expect
him to head anyplace _but_ there."

      Ranma didn't like the direction this conversation was
taking. First Akane sensed him on the roof. Now this. If
_Akane_ could figure out that he had set Kasumi up to
decoy Ukyou away from Pop. . . Was Akane that good? Or
had he simply made a slip that would lead Ukyou to Genma?

      "Ukyou doesn't know how sneaky you are," Akane
seemed to read Ranma's mind. "he hasn't seen you do that
snazzy leg-sweep." She cocked her head, looking at him.
"Would you mind showing that to me, after dinner?"

      "Uhhhh . . .yeah . . .OK." This really was a crazy
family. Especially Akane. But, then again, what did _he_
know about families?

      "Great!" Akane smiled blindingly. "I'll start dinner
cooking."

      "Ummm . . .why don't I cook tonight?" Kasumi
offered quickly.

      "But I was going to try my new eggplant-tuna-kiwi
surprise. And a nice carob-tofu-curry custard for desert."

      Nabiki went a little green. If she _ever_ found the
psychopathic deviant  who taught her innocent baby sister
about "health food", she was going to audit him with a blow-
torch.

      "T . . .that's alright," Kasumi said a little unsteadily,
her stomach roiling as Akane went over her planned menu.
"you should concentrate on your marital arts. You need to
keep in training for the All Japan Tournament."

      "Sometimes I think you don't like my cooking,"
Akane complained.

      "That's just silly," Souun replied, crossing his fingers
behind his back. "we _loved_ your bean-sprout-banana
casserole."

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

      Dinner had been good, if a little strange, Ranma
thought as he made his way through the gathering darkness
to the doujou.  Or maybe it was only strange because it was
so normal . . .he could be himself and not have to wonder if
he was staying in character (and trying to remember what
that character was supposed to be). Didn't have to fight  Pop
for every bite (or worse, have to search through every dive
and gin-joint in town, wondering all the while if Genma'd
finally gotten his throat cut, only to  finally find him, jacked
of their last coin,  slizzered on cheap wine, in a gutter half
filled with sewage.)

      This had been boring by comparison and . . .kinda
nice.

      Lost in his musings Ranma slid back the doujou door,
blinking in the light that spilled out into the dusk covered
yard.

      "Hi," Akane called from the far side of the doujou.
"Be with you in a minute."

      "There's no----" his eyes adapted to the light,
"hurry," he squeaked, as he got a good look at Akane.

      *She's _naked_!* He tensed, all senses on alert.
*Dammit, it's a setup!* His mind raced as he tried to figure
out what her angle was. His attention was taken  the flex and
roll of muscle  as Akane shifted from one leg to the other, as
she bent over some apparatus on the floor. *Nice glutes* he
thought, palm itching as he imagined Akane----

      "Sorry  to keep you waiting . . .,"

      Akane's voice interrupted Ranma's wayward
thoughts. He blinked and saw she had finished what she was
doing and moved almost withing touching distance.

      ". . .but it takes me a while to warm up with this bum
knee," Akane slapped her brace lightly and Ranma realized
she was actually wearing a body-suit.

      *. . .a really thin, skin tight body-suit* Ranma relaxed
slightly,*heh, what was I thinkin'. She ain't smart enough to
run a gag on----*

      "OK, take off your clothes."

      "Meeeep!," Ranma choked, surprised out of his
complacency. * 'th hell? Ain't she heard of foreplay!*

      Akane pounded him on the back, looking concerned.
"Are you alright?"

      "T . . .take off my . . ." *geeze, kiss a guy first, will
ya?*

      "I can't get decent pictures, otherwise," she waved a
hand toward a collection of video and still cameras, and
electronic gadgets that reminded Ranma of a monster movie
he'd once seen in Hong Kong (he and Genma had been
hiding from the Triads over a little misunderstanding
involving three hundred kilos of non-existent cocaine.)

      "Pic . . .pictures?" *Pops! What th' hell have you got
me into this time?* Ranma flashed back to Genma's short-
lived association with an 'art film' producer in Thailand.

      "Yeah," Akane started undoing the ties on his shirt,
and Ranma jerked away, falling into a defensive crouch.

      "Resistance is futile," Nabiki intoned robotically,
from where she was fiddling with a roll of printer-paper.
"You will be assimilated."

      "Huh!" Ranma twisted around, toward the sound of
her voice, and  felt goose-bumps cover his chest as the
movement left his shirt in Akane's hands.

      "I am _not_ a Borg," Akane grumbled as she tugged
at Ranma's belt."

      "HEY!"

      "I dunno," Nabiki commented, "obsessive, single-
minded," she bounced a tiny origami-bird off Akane's knee-
brace, "cybernetic-enhancements . . ."

      "Ha-ha, very funny. . . .lift your arms up." Akane
started pressing a series of silver discs along the inside of
Rama's arm.

      "What th' heck are you doin'!" Ranma jerked his arm
from Akane's grasp, glaring at the little dots stuck to his
skin.

      "You need those to give the laser a good target."
Akane explained, pointing to similar silver dots that ran
along her arms, legs and torso.

      "Kasumi borrowed this stuff from the university,"
Nabiki added, tapping commands into a computer. "to help
Akane with her training."

      "The lasers," Akane pointed at  orange boxes placed
at intervals around the room, "reflect off the targets," she
tapped a silver disc glued to her elbow, "and the computer
maps my movements and then ties it to the digital pictures."
she waved a hand at several cameras, "I can put all of my
moves into the computer and analyze what I'm doing
wrong," she tugged at Ranma's pants, which were firmly
clenched in his hands. "or right. I want to put you into the
computer----" she glared at him in exasperation, "would you
take off your pants, please?"

      Nabiki smirked as Ranma's trousers went to half-
mast under Akane's determined urging. "Nice shorts."

      "These are too baggy," Akane worried. "They'll mess
up the digitizing."

      "Way ahead of you little-sister," Nabiki reached into
a bag sitting beside the computer and came out with a scrap
of blue spandex. "here ya go, beautiful."

      Ranma snagged the scrap from the air and looked at
it blankly as Akane yanked his pants down around his ankles.

      "That's a _very_ expensive Speedo Predator, treat it
with respect." Nabiki commanded.

      "What am I supposed to----" He looked at Nabiki
and Akane. "Oh no! I'm not puttin' this thing on."

      "Why not?" Akane asked, reasonably, holding a pack
of sticky-backed laser targets in one hand.

      "I ain't gonna get undressed around a buncha girls!"
Ranma snapped, feeling not in control and unaccustomedly
shy.

      "Just close your eyes." Nabiki suggested.

      "Oh, OK," Ranma nodded and actually started to pull
down his shorts. "HEY!" He looked indignantly at Nabiki.

      "Well, it was worth a try." She motioned Akane to
her side of the doujou and both girls turned their backs.

      "Just hurry it up," Nabiki ordered, discretely
triggering the cameras. Why should Kasumi have all the fun?
she thought.

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

      "Are you through yet?" Ranma was bored, watching
Akane and Nabiki hunched over a computer screen.

      "Huh?" Akane looked absently over her shoulder.
"Oh, are you still here?"

      Ranma clamped down on a sudden surge of anger.
Akane had made him repeat the arrastao from different
positions, at different speeds---- against a target dummy and
then against her, while she tried different counters. He'd
done the stupid move until his arms were one massive cramp
and his legs felt like dead sticks. And all she had to say
  was . . .

      "Interesting scars," Nabiki had come up behind him
while he was glaring at Akane, who was oblivious to his
anger. "What happened? You wrestle with a barbed-wire
fence?" She traced the hundreds of faint scars with her eyes.

      "No!" He answered shortly, a cold shudder running
through his body.

      "Well it certainly _looks_ like you got dragged
through----" She reached out to touch a parallel row of
puckered scars that ran from Ranma's collar-bone around to
his hip, only to have her hand seized in an iron grip.

      "Leave it alone," he grated,  face cold with anger and
perhaps some fear.

      "Geeez," Nabiki backed away, a little miffed. "I'm
just curious. You're almost family," Akane rolled her eyes as
Nabiki smiled cutely at Ranma, "so I'd like to know _all_
about you."

      "It's training, alright?" He pulled away from her,
reaching down for his shirt. "I got 'em  training."

      Nabiki finally understand just what "form fitting"
meant as Ranma dragged  trousers on over his Speedo's. He
_did_ have dimples, she thought, grinning.

      "Training!" Akane's eyes lit up with eager interest.
She has _no_ appreciation for the finer things in life, Nabiki
thought sadly as Ranma finished tucking in his shirt.

      "What kind of training? Speed, endurance? Is it a
Chinese style? Or that Capoeira stuff or----"

      "None of your business," Ranma had, had enough
and headed for the door.

      "What do you mean, none of my business?" Akane
stormed after him. "You can't just----"

      "He has every right to keep his training secrets,
daughter." Souun corrected from where'd he'd been sitting
with Kasumi for the last hour, watching Akane and Ranma
work. "Once you are married----"

      "_If_ you were to be married . . ." Kasumi corrected,
firmly.

      "Ummm . . .yes, of course," Souun backpedaled
hastily, "If you were to be married . . .if the schools were
joined, there would be no secrets, of course." He started to
enumerate more advantages of the wedded state, but Kasumi
nudged him, gently, in the ribs.

      Akane bit her lip, emotions warring between
revulsion at the thought of a forced marriage and nearly
unbearable curiosity about Ranma's secret training.
Revulsion at being forced to do anything, won, finally.

      "I'm _not_ going to get married just to learn some
stupid training secrets." She turned and stomped off,
stopping only  to shut down the computers and cameras.

      "Akane!" Souun rose to his feet in a panic as she
stomped out of the doujou, following in Ranma's wake.
"Wait, you must----"

      Kasumi put a calming hand on his shoulder."It's
getting late father," she remarked calmly, "I think we'll all
feel better after a good nights rest."

      "But . . .Akane . . ."

      "Will still be here in the morning."

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

Chapter: 9
Zou wei shang
(run away)


      Ranma lunged out of bed, clawing at the air with
frantic savage movements, groaning and panting as if fighting
for his life. He was halfway out of the window before he
came all the way awake. Heart thundering in his ears he
looked down at the ground below and slowly backed back
into the room. Unclenching his hand from the lintel he
grimaced as chunks of mashed bread-and-butter from dinner
fell to the floor. It was just a nightmare. Just a stupid dream.
Nothing to be afraid of he ordered himself and forced his
thundering heart to calm.

      With a shuddering sigh Ranma cleaned up the mess
with a handkerchief pulled from the pack then carefully
stored the small bundle in a side pocket. A glance at the sky
told him it was still a couple of hours until dawn.

      Pulling on his shorts he opened the door and padded
softly down stairs to the bath-room. It always took him a few
days to get used to sleeping without Genma around. He
missed the old-fart, even if he did sound like a rusty gear-box
when he snored. Even if he did steal all the covers when it
got cold, even if he did rummage through Ranma's pack for
spare change while he slept . . .even if . . .he still missed him
when he wasn't there.

      Slipping into the bath-room, after making sure the
"Taking a Bath" sign was hung (and dropping a stick into the
runner, just in case) Ranma pulled off his shorts and turned
the cold water on himself with a sigh, half of pleasure, as the
cold water sluiced away the sticky night-sweat that came
from his sudden fright and half of almost-pain, as "the
change" twisted and shivered his bones and flesh.  He spent
another minute shuddering under the cold spray, then made a
dash for the furo for a quick soak.


      If he couldn't sleep, he'd work out a while, before
the rest of the house woke up.  Drying quickly he pulled on
his boxers and padded  softly through the family room,
wondering what it would be like to wake up to the same four
walls every day. Eat at the same table, off the same
plates - - he even had his own cup - - Kasumi had given it to
him. He made a quick detour into the kitchen and grabbed
some bread and sugar, folding it into a paper towel, before
heading for the doujou.

      As soon as he set foot into the yard he sensed
something . . .and it only took a moment before he located
that something. Noise. From the doujou. He moved stealthily
as a matter of course, unless it was out of character for a
particular con. A stout stick across the shoulders, or the
bottoms of his feet, made an excellent teacher. After ten
years on the road with Genma, Ranma could make a shadow
seem noisy.

      Moving to the rear of the doujou , where cover from
the trees would make him  harder to spot, he made his way
quickly and softy to the roof. Sliding forward on his belly
Ranma hung over the roof and peeped in through the
window.

      Akane! She'd changed from the full body unitard to
what looked like a blue one-piece that left her arms and legs
bare. As he watched, she threw herself onto her hands,
sweeping her legs around to smash into a post, padded with
rice-straw. The doujou shuddered slightly from the impact,
but the post remained upright. The stupid girl had the thing
rooted in the foundations! She was never going to----then he
noticed the thick yellow callous that covered her shins and
forearms.

      *Damn. Thai-Boxing* She wasn't learning to sweep
the legs . . . she was going to use the maneuver to smash
them to splinters. Lacking the speed and flexibility for true
Capoeira, she was adapting the move for what she _did_
have . . .brute strength. Ranma made a mental note to pay
more attention to Akane's technique, even if she was a girl,
then promptly forgot it.

      A harsh buzz and a flashing red screen from the
computer indicated her move didn't match the ideal form
Ranma had inputted earlier. Ranma grimaced-----he didn't
need a stupid machine to tell him when he made a mistake.
He had a stupid Pop.

      He didn't need to look at the screen to tell how long
Akane had been practicing either (though he could read
upside-down and reversed in six languages----a requirement
for the "Dead Son Speaks from the Grave" Con"), the
smears of blood on the floor and post showed where even
her thick calluses had been broken by hours of constant and
unfamiliar impacts. The idiot girl must have started almost as
soon as everyone else had gone to bed. Which meant she'd
had, at most, three hours of sleep.

      Ranma flipped down from the roof, lightly as a falling
cherry blossom. Rule two of The Road, *Sleep is the most
valuable treasure in life. NEVER give it up for anything*.

       *Unless Pop is beatin' a lesson into you, or you're
runnin' from the Triad, or you've got a con in the works
or . . .*

      Stupid girl . . .stayin' up all night when she didn't
hafta. She really _was_ a psycho.

******
     *****

      Trotting along the fence-top, on his way to school a
few hours later, Ranma reviewed his plans for the day. He
didn't like leavin' Pop on his own, especially with that
Ukyou chasin' him. The whole point to this scam was to stay
quiet in one place. (well, that and the money) A moving
target attracted the eye and there were a _lot_ of eyes
looking for them. Pop was pretty slick, and it was almost
impossible to catch Saotome Genma by surprise  . . . except
when the  "thirst" grabbed him . . . Ranma got a cold lump in
his belly at the thought of Genma alone with a bottle. He
shook it off, berating himself for worrying needlessly.

        Ukyou should be in Hokkaido by now, following
the false trail Ranma had set up. Genma was digging a hole
and pulling it in after him, someplace well south of here.
With Pop safe, he'd  have a couple of days to think of a way
to-----

      Ranma's body was already moving, leaving his
wandering thoughts to catch up, when a steel blade sliced
through the space his body had just occupied.

      *Ukyou! Not good.*

      Ranma hit the ground rolling and came to his feet in a
Snow-Leopard crouch, hips inches from the ground,
balanced to move quickly in any direction.

      "You bastard," Ukyou spat on the ground, "did you
think you could fool me!" He slid forward,  shovel bladed
pole arm  weaving a complicated pattern, like the head of a
hunting snake.

      "Uhhhh . . .do I know you?" *Never admit
_anything_*, Rule six of The Road.

      "You thought I would be fooled that easily?" Cold
hard eyes fixed Ranma with unnerving intensity as Ukyou
stalked him, looking for an opening. Ranma, for his part,
kept moving back, taking no chances with twenty inches of
surgical steel on the end of a five foot pole.  He figured he
could take  Ukyou . . .but he didn't know his style or what
other weapons (or allies) he might have. And it would take
only one  mistake . . . Ukyou didn't have to be good, just
lucky.

      Rule Twenty-Three, *only gamble if it's someone
else's money and your dice*.

      "Hey, I don't know you, or what your problem is----"

      "You know me," Ukyou grated, "just like I know
you. And Genma," his mouth worked as if he wanted to spit.
"You almost fooled me," Ukyou made a sudden lunge and
Ranma sprang, not back, but forward and to Ukyou's right,
out of the way of the huge pole-arm.

       "I had a ticket in my hand," Ukyou made a curious
flickering motion with his left hand and light flashed across
the distance between them.

      Ranma lunged out of the way of the spinning steel
blades, then cursed as he realized he'd moved back into
range of the pole arm and threw himself desperately to the
ground.

      " . . .when I realized how _convenient_ it was that
Genma would leave me a clue. I figured Hokkaido wasn't
going anyplace," Ukyou's steel blade hummed as it cut
through the air and blasted a chunk out of the sidewalk,
missing Ranma's head by a fraction. "----and doubled back
to the Tendou's. I waited outside all night," the heavy blade
followed Ranma as he rolled frantically, the blade chewing
up the concrete behind him like some manic mutant
woodpecker. "----until you came out this morning, with your
little school-bag on your back."

      Ranma lunged to his feet, curling to one side as the
blade sliced through the air. With a twist of his wrist Ukyou
turned the flat of the blade ninety-degrees. The instant
increase in sail-area slammed the blade to a halt and, twisting
the blade parallel to the ground, Ukyou sent it sizzling
_back_ toward Ranma.

      The sudden change in direction, faster than should
have been possible for a weapon of that size, caught Ranma
off guard. Fire shot up Ranma's arm as the steel bit into his
flesh and training over-road his conscious mind.

      Unarmed against a blade . . .*fast, dirty and low to
the ground* he heard Genma's voice.   *Stay inside him,
boy.  Keep below the blade. Hit him hard! Hit and move!
Never stop moving, boy!*

      Ranma dove to the ground and lashed out with a
savage side kick to Ukyou's knee, instantly spinning out of
range. Even if he broke the leg, Ukyou could still chop him
into sushi as long as he was alive and Ranma was in reach of
that damned big blade. He came to his feet to see Ukyou,
white with pain, but still conscious and struggling to rise.

      Ranma ran.

      He was sure now that he could take Ukyou. He was
faster and he knew how Ukyou fought and the limitations of
his weapon. It was possible the other boy could fool him, but
not likely. If Ranma ever fought with someone, he knew
them within the first half minute.  Knew what they would do
before _they_ did. He'd never met but two people he
couldn't read, and they weren't in Japan. At least he hoped
they weren't.

      "Flour Bomb!"

      Ranma was diving for the culvert before Ukyou's
shout died out. He'd fought a lot of people who used
"warnings" to unnerve their opponent. Ranma didn't see why
they wasted-----"

      The tiny white-phosphorus trigger ignited the fuel-air
mixture of highly combustible, finely ground powder with a
detonation that would have surprised anyone who had never
seen a grain-silo explode.  Heat flashed over Ranma as he hit
the bottom of the ditch, the overpressure leaving him dazed
and the storm of broken masonry  bleeding him from
hundreds of slashing wounds. Not wasting an instant he
scrambled through the culvert, cursing as the cold water
triggered his change.

      This was getting serious. Ranma tumbled out of the
ditch and lunged for a side street while he was still obscured
by smoke from the blast. If he couldn't find a way to lose this
maniac he was going to have to hurt him. Maybe more than
hurt. Because if he took any more chances, Ukyou was going
to hand him his head.

      Damn! There wasn't any profit in beating Ukyou,
only a loss if the other boy got lucky. Ranma looked around
for inspiration. He'd try going high, a lot of people who
fought well on the ground were off balance if they left the
flats. His book bag banged him in the side as he leapt for a
hand hold on the wall of a grocery store.  He'd forgotten
he'd been wearing it, and that meant he still had his books
and----

      Five minutes later Saotome Ranko was twitching her
dress into line. He . . .she . . . had intended to return the
borrowed clothes and make an end of Ranko. Now, it looked
like Ranko was going to be around for a while. Stuffing her
ruined shirt and trousers into an ash-can she peeped around a
corner to make sure Ukyou wasn't in sight. Tucking her
distinctive hair under a scarf improvised from a scrap torn
from her discarded trousers Ranko trotted towards
Fuurinkan.


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

      "Where's Ranma?" Ukyou had ditched his combat
spatula and other weapons somewhere on his way to school,
so that he appeared to be a perfectly normal school-boy.  All
through class, he'd sat quietly, apparently paying no
attention to Ranko. That changed at lunch.

      "I'm not going to ask you again." The tall boy leaned
threateningly over the dainty redhead.

      "I . . .I don't know _where_ cousin Ranma is,"
Ranko squeaked, almost in tears.

      "Hello Ukyou. How's everything going Ranko?"
Nabiki asked, finishing her tea and tossing the can into the
trash.

      "U . . .Ukyou is being mean to me," Ranko sniffed,
proud of her thespian efforts.  "I've told him and _told_ him
that I don't know where-----"

      "I don't believe you," Ukyou snapped, turning to
Nabiki. "but I'll get back to _you_ later." He took a heavy
step toward the middle Tendou sister. "At least I don't have
to go looking for you." He grabbed Nabiki by her blouse and
jerked her close. "You lied about Genma. And Ranma was at
your house last night." Her lips drew back in a snarl.
"You've got about three seconds to tell me where they are,
before I start to break off little pieces."

      Nabiki stared unblinking at the angry boy, tilting her
head to one side as if examining a new species of bug.

      "What are _you_ lookin' at!"

      "I think you should let go of me, now."

      "Or what? Your sister will beat me up?" Ukyou
sneered. "She took me by surprise last time, but there's no
way a one-legged cripple can keep up with me."

      "Ummmm . . .I wouldn't let Akane hear you say
that." Nabiki smiled, gently. Much as a wolf might smile at a
rabbit she's decided to invite home for lunch. "But I really
don't think you want to hit me."

      "Why not?"

      Nabiki tilted her head right, and Ukyou looked that
way to see a chubby girl with a video camera waving at her,
Nabiki made a tiny motion to her left and Ukyou turned to
see a very tall, cheerful looking girl standing beside a tree,
with another camera.

      "You can hit me," Nabiki seemed unmoved by the
prospect. "You're bigger and stronger than I am----I can't
stop you." She pulled gently at Ukyou's grip which loosened
slightly. "But five seconds after the first blow, a live feed will
go onto the Internet. Ten minutes later, and the police will
have a copy," Ukyou's grip slackened and Nabiki backed
away, smoothing wrinkles out of her blouse. "In an hour it
will be on local TV, by tomorrow it will be national . . .with
a full page spread in all the papers." She looked blandly at
Ukyou, whose face was twisted with rage.

      "You can hit me with your fists . . .and I'll hit you
with charges for assault, kidnaping, robbery, rape . . . hell,
spitting on the sidewalk and high treason. I'll go down the
criminal code alphabetically----and you'll spend the next
forty years in court just filing appeals. That doesn't count the
civil suits."

      "You bitch!" Ukyou's fists clenched, and he trembled
with repressed anger.

      "Flatterer," Nabiki said coyly. "By the time I get
through with you, you won't have a pot to piss in, and the
Emperor will be rollerblading to Yasukuni Shrine on festival
day,  before you get out of jail." She took a step forward and
poked Ukyou in the chest. "And if you call my sister a
cripple again, I'll make you wish your mother had died a
virgin."

      "This isn't over," Ukyou snarled, turning to stalk
away. He shot a venomous look at Ranko, "I'll get you. I'll
get all you Saotomes."

      "I don't suppose you know _why_ Kuonji-san
dislikes Ranma and Genma so much?" Nabiki asked with
deceptive casualness, watching Ukyou disappear into the
school. "Not that I disagree with disliking 'Uncle' Genma
you understand. It's just that I'd like to know if there is
something _specific_ he's done that I should know about?"
She smiled winningly at Ranko, and the smaller girl shivered
as if someone had walked over her grave.

      "N . . .no, I really don't k . . .know anything." Onna-
Ranma said, quite honestly, for once. Nabiki reminded him of
a cobra Ranma found coiled in his bed-roll one night in
Karachi. It had struck, not out of anger, but because that was
it's nature.

      "If you think of anything, you'll let me know" Nabiki
patted Ranko on the head, "won't you?"

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

Chapter: 10
Kong cheng ji
(Fling open the gates to the empty city)


      "I'm home!" Nabiki called, toeing off her shoes. She
waited for Ranko to follow suite, then pulled the redhead
along after her. After dealing with Ukyou's tantrums and
soothing Ranko's fears, Nabiki just wanted to have a nice
cup of tea and a hot soak.

      "We're in here," Kasumi called from the kitchen.

      "What's for----what the hell have you done now?"
Nabiki dropped her book-bag, moving quickly to Akane's
side.

      "Nothing!" Akane groused, trying to get up from her
chair. "Nee-sama is over-reacting again."

      "She was up _all_ night working out in the doujou!"
Her older sister disagreed. "Then she _ran_ to school this
morning. I found her dragging herself home from school."

      "I was not----would you cut that out!" She tried to
bat Nabiki's hands away as her middle sister came toward
her with a thermometer. "There's nothing wrong myth my
tlmptr." she mumbled around the plastic probe.

      "Leave it there," Nabiki slapped Akane's hand as she
reached for the offending instrument, "or I'll stick it
someplace else." Akane glared at Nabiki, but let her hands
fall back into her lap.

      "I'm about ready here, if you want to help." Kasumi
said, setting a small cardboard box and some tweezers on a
counter top.

      "Uhhhh . . .what's going on?" Ranko asked, sidling
into the room. Peering around the two elder Tendou sisters
she got a good look at Akane, seated with her leg stretched
across a couple of stools. She grimaced at the sight of
Akane's distorted, lumpy knee, swollen to twice it's normal
size.

      "Nothing is going on," Akane groused, pulling the
thermometer from her mouth as it beeped. "I'm fine."
Glancing at the reading she handed it to her sister. "Normal!
What are you doing here?" She smiled at Ranko and started
to get up, to be pushed firmly back down by Kasumi and
Nabiki.

      "She ran into a little trouble with Ukyou, so I
brought her home so I could ask her a few questions about
Ranma and Uncle  Genma."

      "Ukyou!" Akane swung her leg off the stools, and
Ranko could see her face whiten with strain. No matter what
Akane might say . . .she wasn't fine.

      "Nabiki took care of everything," Ranko said,
catching Akane's leg before it could hit the ground and
gently replacing it on the cushions. Nabiki looked at her
gratefully and Ranko smirked a little inside. One more in the
plus column.

      "Just sit still," Kasumi said firmly. To Nabiki, "I'm
ready with the first one."

      Ranko looked around to see Kasumi pull a small
wriggling object from the box.

      "How many this time?" Nabiki asked, looking at the
distorted flesh of Akane's knee.

      "Let's try six to start." Kasumi started to press the
wiggling thing to Akane's skin and Ranko's hand shot out to
capture her wrist.

      "That's a _bee_!"

      "Yep," Akane said sourly, reaching out to gently
remove Ranko's grip. "and they're about to give me the
bee's-knees."

      Nabiki groaned. "Puns are a sign of a low and
corrupt mind."

      Akane stuck her tongue out, face tightening slightly
as the first stinger went home.    "Supposedly bee venom is
good for reducing swelling and inflammation," Akane
explained at Ranko's confused look. "but I think they're just
sadists."

      "That's true," Kasumi said cheerfully, pressing home
another bee. "I'm the happiest sadist around."

      Nabiki looked at her sister in shock, before burying
her face in her hands. "I don't know you. We're not related."

      "It's that awful Ranma's fault," Kasumi said with, for
her, a great deal of heat. Ranko blinked in astonishment.
*awful?* What had _Ranma_ done?

      "He showed you that dreadful trick," Kasumi
continued. "and now you're crip----in pain," she corrected
hastily. Akane shot her a darkling look, but decided to let it
pass. This time.

      "Why don't you stick to swimming," Nabiki asked,
"just for a little while," she added hastily as Akane's face
darkened. "until your knee gets better."

      "I've always admired people who can work through
pain," Ranko said offhandedly. She placed her hands on
either side of Akane's leg to stabilize it as Kasumi smiled her
thanks and applied a fresh bee.  "I cry if I get a paper cut,"
Ranko cheerfully lied. "and I've always been afraid of
crippling myself," she pretended not to notice how Kasumi
and Nabiki stiffened at her use of the "C" word. She gave
Akane a lopsided grin, "I always figured pain was natures
way of telling me I'd done something stupid."

      "Are you saying I'm stupid?" Akane asked softly, not
noticing as Kasumi applied the fifth and sixth bee to her
flesh.

      "Me?" Ranko said, all innocence. "I was only talking
about myself."

      "I don't like people trying to use reverse psychology
on me," Akane said, nostrils flaring. "Dad and Nabiki and
Kasumi are always trying that stuff."

      "Don't worry about me," Ranko replied cheerfully, "I
don't know you well enough to care."

      Nabiki sucked in her breath and she and Kasumi both
braced for an explosion.

      "Are you trying to psyche me out?" Akane asked,
eyes narrowing.

      "Nope," Ranko brushed dead and dying bees into the
trash. "It's none of my business what you do to yourself."
She rose to her feet, smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress.
"Maybe you like all the attention." Akane went absolutely
rigid at that, knuckles turning white. "Or maybe you just like
pain."

      Nabiki closed her eyes, not wanting to see what came
next. After a moment, when little Ranko-pieces didn't go
splat all over the kitchen, she opened them again.

      Akane had her head in her hands, her whole body
shaking.

      *Oh shit!* Nabiki felt the blood drain from her body.
*anaphylactic shock!* "Where's the kit?" She lunged for the
refrigerator, only to be brought up short by Akane's hand on
her dress.

      "Y . . .you s . . .see what I have to put up with,"
Akane gasped, "if I sneeze, they want me under observation
for pneumonia."

      She was laughing? Nabiki sank into a chair. She was
laughing.

      "I'm glad you think it's funny," Kasumi said, a little
hurt. "It's just that you were so sick as a baby."

      "I'm not a baby," Akane said crossly, "and I'm _not_
sick, now." Her look dared anyone to disagree with her.
"Now, what's all this about Ukyou?"

      "He didn't go to Hokkaido" Nabiki started to
explain, "but showed up at school. And during lunch . . ."

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

      "I'm going to have a little talk with Ukyou," Akane's
lips thinned and a little frown wrinkle formed between her
eyes as,  as Nabiki finished her story. "I don't think he's
being very friendly." She braced her arms on the chair and
started to get up.

      Ranko noticed that Akane didn't have the dangerous
light in her eyes that she'd had at the swimming club.
Obviously there was a threshold to her anger.

      "No!" Nabiki grabbed for Akane, as if she actually
had a chance of stopping her. "I took care of it already."

      "And what about when you don't have a minion with
a camera handy?" Akane demanded.

      "Minion? Who do you think I am---- Dark Joker?"

      "Well . . ." Akane relaxed fractionally, shooting a
mischievous look at Kasumi.

       "I am _not_ Nurse Angel," Kasumi sniffed. "I've
always considered myself  Fancy La La." She glanced slyly at
Akane, "and you're the  Tonde Buurin type."

      "Oink," Akane stuck her tongue out at her sister.
"Don't think I've forgotten about Ukyou," she glared at
Nabiki.

      "I've got him stymied," Nabiki assured her sister. "If
he touches me, he's going to be in a world of hurt."

      "If he touches you, you're going to be in the
hospital," Akane countered,  "drinking your dinner through a
straw."

      "He wouldn't dare----"

      "I'm sure that will be a great comfort to us while
they're putting you back together with stainless steel pins."
Kasumi said heatedly.

      "Kasumi!" Nabiki looked at her normally unflappable
sister in shock.

      "It's bad enough that Akane's matches are _full
contact_", Kasumi said, in a tone usually used for discussing
prostitution, politics or advertising, "I don't want you getting
into a brawl with a common thug. I think I should call
Ukyou's mother."

      "Kasumi!" Nabiki wailed and Akane gave her a
'now-you-see-what-I-have-to-put-up-with' look.  "I can take
care of myself. Besides, he's only got a post office box listed
for his address. And _no_ telephone." Nabiki ended
triumphantly.

      "Well then," Kasumi said thoughtfully. "I'll call the
principal and tell him you've been having trouble with a
bully."

      "I'll be ruined!" Nabiki cringed at the loss of face if
Kasumi called the principal----as if she were a baby!

      "Hmmmm . . ." Akane mused, "You've got a point,
Nee-sama," Nabiki looked betrayed. "I think we should also
call the Velvet Thunder----"

      "Samurai-Kamen,"Nabiki corrected, a look of unholy
anticipation on her face as she realized what Akane was
doing.

      "Thanks . . .call Samurai-Kamen and let her know her
'Angel-of-the-Morning' needs protection from a real live
_Villain_!" Akane finished in thrilling tones.

      "You wouldn't," Kasumi looked horrified. "I'll never
get rid of her . . ." She turned a pleading look on Nabiki.
"she thought my anatomy professor was a necromancer
trying to steal my soul----"Kaumi's voice became a wail,"
she rode a horse onto campus and pinned his Volvo to the
side of the administration building with a LANCE!"

      "At least he wasn't in the car," Nabiki said in mock
sympathy. Kasumi speared her with a look. "was he?" the
middle Tendou ended weakly.

      "He's still on sabbatical . . .for his nerves." Kasumi
turned pleading look on Akane and Nabiki. "You wouldn't
_really_ tell her, would you?"

      "Just promise to have Kodachi take you to campus
every day," Kasumi looked as if she'd rather eat tacks, "so
we'll know _you_ are safe," Akane continued remorselessly,
"and we won't have to mention . . .Villains or evil magicians
or Quests."

      "I hate you," Kasumi said gloomily, thinking of the
hours and hours of _bad_ poetry she was going to suffer
through. "What about you two?" she said suddenly, looking
between Nabiki and Akane.

      "I hate to do it," Nabiki said slowly, "but I _think_
I'm going to have to let Kuno, father and son, know there
may be an . . . un-Japanese element trying to infiltrate the
hallowed halls of Fuurinkan." She looked as if she tasted
something nasty.

      "Oh no," Akane objected, "I'm not going to let
anyone fight my battles. And I'm _especially_ not going to
let----"

      "It's not just _your_ battle," Kasumi said with
unconscious cruelty. "Nabiki was threatened," she looked
over Akane's shoulder. "and Ranko-chan, and Ranma. And
what about father? Can you protect all of us? All the time?"


      "No," Akane said, almost inaudibly. "No, I can't"
Her shoulders slumped and her face was grey, as if she'd
taken a body blow. "I . . .I think I'll go lie down in my
room."

      "That's a good idea," Kasumi smiled. "You'll feel
better after a nap."

      *Crap* Onna-Ranma hid her amazement, looking
from Kasumi's smiling face to Nabiki's oblivious expression.
Don't they know what they've done?  She could _feel_
Akane's misery as she struggled to her feet, could feel her
flinch from Nabiki's helping hands. *Don't they know she'd
rather be dead than useless?*

      "Why don't I call your father to come pick you up,"
he was so stunned by their  blindness that he missed
Kasumi's first offer.

      "What . . .oh," Ranko laughed a little nervously. "Oh,
that's alright. You don't need to go to any trouble. I can----"

      "It's no trouble," Kasumi went to the phone and
prepared to dial.

      "No, no," Ranko insisted. "I'll just head on home
now."

      "Don't be silly," Kasumi fixed her with a motherly
eye. "You can't go out by yourself with that awful Ukyou-
kun out there. Now, tell me your number and I'll have your
father come get you."

      "He's not here," Ranko said desperately, "He's away
on business."

      "Your mother, then," Kasumi said patiently.

      "She's dead," Ranko blurted, then coloured in
embarrassment. "It happened a really long time ago," she
said quickly, trying to cover Kasumi's shock. "I don't really
remember her." *Only pop's stories* Onna-Ranma thought,
stomping firmly on the anger she always felt at the woman
who had hurt his father so bad and driven him to hide in a
bottle.

      "We'll get you a taxi, then," Nabiki said quickly,
feeling Akane stiffen beneath her supporting hand. "I'll just
call----"

      "You can stay here, until your father gets back."
Akane shrugged off Nabiki's hands.

      "We don't have room," Nabiki countered, knowing
where this was headed. Akane breathed, ate and lived
'martial artists protect the weak'---- to the extent that Nabiki
had 'stolen' most of Akane's stuff, just to keep her from
giving it away to anybody with a sob-story.  "Ranma and
Genma have the only guest room."

      "They're not here right now."

      "But they would be hurt," Kasumi replied, "if they
returned to find we'd given their room away." Although she
wouldn't mind too much if 'Uncle' Genma never came back.
She couldn't understand what her father saw in the man. She
got a funny feeling around him . . .like an itch she couldn't
quite scratch.

      "She can stay in my room," Akane said with finality.
"We've got a spare bed."

      It was not having a mother that clinched it, Nabiki
thought. *Akane never got over mother dying. Well I didn't
either.* She felt the old hurt that had never quite healed.
*But you can't go around adopting everyone in the world
that doesn't have a mother.*

      "C'mon," Akane grabbed her cane from where it was
leaning against the wall, "I'll show you the bath-room  and
everything . . . you can wear one of my uniforms in the
morning," she looked Ranko up and down. "I'm taller . . .but
you're better built," she grinned at Ranko's blush. "so it
should fit."

      "I'll set an extra place at dinner," Kasumi sighed,
knowing that trying to pry the motherless Ranko out of
Akane's hands would be like trying to rob a mother cat with
one kitten. "Nabiki," the middle Tendou looked at her elder
sister, "will you look for the folding bed? And I'll tell Father
we have a guest when he gets home from the neighborhood
meeting."

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


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