+++++++++++++++++++++

	Ranma was walking through the streets of the city with no particular
destination in mind. As it was, he was in the middle of a marketplace,
vendors screamed and held their wares out to the pedestrians and
shoppers. 

	He ducked out of the way as someone shoved a duck into his face and
snorted. 

	"I take it we have some purpose to be wading through such filth?"
growled the demon.

	"Not really, we just haven't got anything better to do," said Gai.

	"We've got all day," agreed Amelia cheerfully. "Maybe we should take a
little break and relax a bit?"

	"That's not a bad idea," agreed Faye. "We're not poor after all!" Faye
was quite pleased with the reward they had been given. A briefcase hung
from their grip as they walked through the streets. One of the thugs had
handed it to them when they exited the restaurant. 

	"We should find a place to put this," growled Gai. "This place is
crawling with thieves."

	"I would not worry about that. Still, it could be bothersome to carry
this thing. I take it what is inside is valuable?" A group of street
urchins was swatted away, sending small dirty children flying in every
direction. It was a common tactic for pickpockets, so everyone ignored
the hostilities of the demons.

	"It's full of money," said Ranma. He seemed quite pleased with himself
as well. He'd never even seen that much money before.

	"Someone should teach those poor children that stealing isn't nice,"
muttered Amelia with a fretful tone. 

	"Yeah. Someone who isn't us," said Gai. "Come on. We can get a bank
account!" 

	"That's a bit of a walk," grumbled Faye.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	Ranma smiled as he walked out of the bank and put his leg back over the
bike he'd stolen. It was a nice bright red street bike with lots of
power. Gai had told him all about it. It was stronger than a whole herd
of horses supposedly. He didn't really see how something so small could
be, but it was definitely fast. Ranma liked fast. He'd always been that
way. It was a good trait to have with his style of martial arts.

	"Well now what?"

	Faye smirked. The boy was very open minded about this sort of thing. "I
think we should go shopping."

	"No!" cried Gai in horror.

	"No, that comes later," grumbled the woman with a dramatic sigh. "We've
just got to find Ranma a woman remember? We should pick something nice
as its his first time."

	Gai grunted his approval in surprise. 

	"Huh?" said Ranma in a very small voice.

	"But, I've never..." said Amelia quietly. 

	"We're next, don't worry," said Faye cheerfully. 

	"Huh?!" whimpered Ranma. 

	"That's not what I meant! Ranma and I aren't ready for this!" cried the
girl defensively. 

	"It's not that big a deal, trust me. You're not losing anything so much
as gaining a new pastime. Not that we'll just pick anyone mind you.
You've got to wait for the right ones to show up, and then learn how to
catch them."

	Ranma felt his face flush incredibly red. He wasn't sure if it was him
or Amelia causing it. Truthfully, it was both of them, but he jumped on
the chance to lay blame elsewhere.

	"Are you sure?" muttered Amelia nervously. "I don't know about this..."

	Ranma stopped at a red light and adjusted his sunglasses. No one was
looking at him, but he felt like the whole city was watching him blush.
"Can we talk about this some other time?"

	"No. You'll always try to duck out of it this way," said Faye flatly. 

	"I'm all for this idea. Trust me Ranma. You should be too. We're not
asking them to help us find a wife after all. Just a good lay!"

	"You can't do that?!" cried the boy in horror. "Little boys who cheat
on their wives get their heads cut off by their mothers!"

	"..."

	"What the hell?" said Gai dumbly. 

	"Genma again," said Faye irritably. 

	"Huh? Naw, Mom told me that a long time ago when she was mad at pop.
She used to ask me why I didn't have a girlfriend yet too sometimes."

	"Your mother?" said Amelia in shock.

	"Sounds perfectly normal to me," said Sesshoumaru. 

	"Well, that's crap. No way are we gonna let some lady cut our head off!
No sir!" exclaimed Gai. 

	"I can't kill my Mom!" cried the boy in horror. 

	"Well, let me put it this way. What mother doesn't know, won't hurt
her," replied Faye calmly. She had pulled up to a flashy looking bar.
Bright neon signs proclaimed this from the windows. 

	"An excellent place to find attractive, loose, and easy human females?
How absurd. Who would want to find such a thing?" muttered Sesshoumaru
in wonder.

	"Me," said Gai as tears of joy started to form in his eyes.

	"I expect we'll find a most excellent assortment of the finest stock
then. This place has the taint of Yokai upon it. I imagine it will suit
our needs nicely, if the demon running it wishes to allow us to use his
facilities freely that is."

	"Darn," muttered Gai as he hung his head.

	"Well, so much for this place then," said Faye as she started the bike
up again. The engine was just as quickly flicked off.

	"What the hell are you doing?!"

	Amelia jumped off the bike and started walking towards the door. Ranma
was helping her do it.

	"You guys wanted to come here. Well, we've come, and now we're going
in. This is what you get for trying to corrupt us! All of you, lie,
cheat, steal, and do whatever you want! I can't stand it any longer! If
I don't do something heroic, I'm going to explode! Even Miss Lina did
heroic things, so she could get away with all the other bad things she
does!"

	"Can't argue with that," said Gai as he helped the forward movement.
"Besides, rescuing a bunch of naked girls will probably do Ranma some
good."

	The boy tried to reverse their course, only Faye was helping him, and
the rest of the group overpowered them. "Naked girls? As in more than
one?"

	"Lots probably," said Gai with a short nod.

	"I see no point to stop here. However, the demonic force within is not
very strong. It should not be much trouble to remove it if need be."

+++++++++++++++++++++

	Thirty pairs of naked breast stood waiting inside the lobby of the
building. It was a large traditional looking structure. It was a
gigantic mansion in one of the more upscale areas of town. It looked
somewhat out of place within the modern architecture. Inside was a small
reception desk, with rows of women sitting on cushions in an adjoining
room. 

	"Hello, how may we serve you this day?" asked the attractive
receptionist. 

	"I wish to speak with your master, is he available?" said the boy
calmly. His features had gone quite cold instantly. 

	The woman standing behind the desk smiled at him. "He will see you. At
the moment he is unavailable, and invites you to enjoy yourself. He will
see you when you are finished."

	Sesshoumaru merely smirked at her. "I'll wait thank you." He calmly
strolled over to the corner and stood within view of the waiting
prostitutes. 

	They all giggled and whispered things to each other as they watched
him.

	"Wha? I thought you had permission!" cried Gai.

	"What gives?" snorted Faye. "Getting cold feet?"

	"I told you of the taint on this place, it is better to be cautious. We
will speak with the master of this place, and then decide our course of
action. I assure you, his schedule is quite clear. There is nothing of
significant power to distract him from us around here."

	Ranma was quite relieved that his pants hid erections so well. He was
also relieved that something had shown up to delay their plans for him. 

	"I suspect you have something to ask me?" said the woman as she frowned
at them. 

	"Not particularly," said the boy as he glanced at her. "I said I wanted
to see your master and I meant it. You're not the one I'm looking for."

	The woman nodded, her scowl never left her face. "You may regret that.
He does not like visitors." Her eyes had changed into catlike slits.

	"He will make time enough to see us. I wish to have an explanation for
this place. To be left alone with so little power on this place, there
is little doubt he is here to serve some service to others of his kind.
I suggest you tell him quickly, as I am not patient. Tell him, that I,
Ranma Saotome, would speak with him."

	"Maybe we should stop letting Fluffy talk," growled Faye.

	"I've got it under control," replied Ranma. The woman gasped as she
realized what their hand was doing. It had a sickly green glow around it
and his fingers were flexed like claws. 

	"What the hell?"

	"Wow," muttered Amelia in a sort of horrified wonder. It was powerful
magic, bad magic. She'd never seen such a force coming from what
appeared to be her own hand. She wanted very badly for it to go away.

	"What? That..." The woman creature backed away slowly in an animalistic
way. The boy was using Yokai magic, very powerful Yokai magic. "As you
wish," she replied as she bowed deeply and scurried away.

	Ranma found himself blinking as he let the power die down and glanced
at the frightened naked girls beside him. They all cowered away from
him, but none had dared to run. The strangest thing had just happened;
the woman from the counter had turned into a rather cute looking demon
monster. She had changed from a very attractive Chinese woman, and into
a cute looking demonic thing. It looked like a young girl, except for
two tiny horns, two small bat-like wings, and a pointed tail. Her hair
had actually changed into an almost blood red from black. She glanced
back at them and growled as she vanished through a door. 
	
	"What the hell was that about?" asked Ranma dumbly. 

	"I dunno," said Gai in confusion. "Say. Those chicks are lookin at us
funny now."

	The prostitutes had actually started scaling the walls around them with
evil leers on their faces. Fangs had grown out over their lips as they
all hissed and screeched angrily. The front door slammed shut quite
suddenly and all the lights outside went out, with the exception of a
small sign that now hung in the window. "Sorry. We'll be back to serve
you in a few minutes!"

	"Shit," growled Ranma. "What the hell is this?"

	"I am not sure, they appear as human souls, but those bodies are not
human. I fear we may have stumbled onto something more than I originally
anticipated."

	"So we get the heck out of here?" cried Amelia nervously.

	They were still standing calmly, watching the women crawl around the
room on all fours. Every muscle in their body appeared strained now as
they moved about, small claws had grown from their fingernails and toes
as well. It was anything but attractive to watch. 
	
	"Heck no! I said I wanted to see that guy, and I'm gonna see him!"
snarled Ranma as his hands flew behind his back. He produced both
pistols and the women on the walls all froze in place, they looked quite
nervous suddenly. 

	"I don't think this is a guy we're going to see," said Gai. "It's
another monster, you know, like the one that almost killed us!"

	"We're much stronger now," was the boy's simple reply. "I got no idea
what this is about, but I already know I won't like it when I find out."

	"I suggest we attack then, our captors are growing brave. Not that it
will last." Sesshoumaru leveled the handguns forward at one of the
creatures. "I am not certain of how this weapon operates."

	"Pull, the trigger," replied Gai as he demonstrated. 

	Everything in the room froze as both weapons reported. Two bullet-sized
balls of energy shot out of the barrels at the same velocity as a normal
shot. They left tracer like trails of light behind the shots, one was a
fire like orange, and the other was a pale blue. 

	The creature took both rounds in the chest and flew back roaring
painfully as it stopped moving quite suddenly. 

	The creatures around them screamed angrily as they charged forward all
at once towards him.

	The boy holstered the red weapon and pulled his staff off of his back.
He spun it skillfully around his arm and knocked three of them back
before thrusting it forward and driving another four back into the wall.
He twirled the weapon around his finger and fired two shots over his
back, sending both of the monsters behind him crashing to the ground as
they jerked violently. The bodies of the monsters on the floor quickly
began to dissolve into a bubbling pile of pink and red goo.

	The creatures were relentless and single minded. 

	"The things I go through to get laid!" cried Gai angrily as he belted
two more of the monsters upside their heads with the staff.

	"Not bad man," said Ranma approvingly.

	"We should end this," said Sesshoumaru as he used the butt of the
firearm to knock away one of the things as it tried to latch onto his
shoulder. He fired at another and sent it to the ground.

	Ranma swept the staff up quickly and caught the jaw of another monster,
sending it flying into a group of others. He put both weapons away and
stood in a combat ready stance. "Come on. I don't want to be here all
day."

	"It is time to teach how to use the attack I just taught you boy." The
demon made their lips turn up ever so slightly, and the remaining twenty
or so monsters jumped back slightly. His fist began to glow with a
sickly green light once again.

	"Ranma. We shouldn't use that attack..." said Amelia nervously. "I
don't like the way it feels."

	"Got a better idea?" he asked quickly. None of the monsters had yet
grown brave enough to do more than lunge forward threateningly. 

	"I've got spells that will stop these things," she said firmly.

	"No time to decide boy! Act now!" snarled Sesshoumaru forcefully as he
drove them forward. 

	Ranma charged with him and slashed his fingers as he jumped through the
scattering demon women. They seemed to pass through whatever he struck
unharmed and he stopped on the other side of the crowd unharmed. Each
and every one of the remaining prostitute demons squirted blood from a
small wound as they fell to the ground screaming. In an instant they
began to melt away as the toxins of Sesshoumaru's magic took effect. 

	"Cool," said the boy in wonder.

	"Gross!" cried Faye in disgust.

	"Well, we killed them, so now what?" grumbled Gai. He wasn't expecting
to be attacked by the beautiful women he was rescuing.

	"Now, we follow that little demon's trail. Stay on guard, this place is
probably swarming with the creatures we just defeated. They stand no
chance against Sesshoumaru's power. We are not far from achieving most
of my power." He flexed his fingers experimentally for a moment and
strolled forward towards the door the demoness had gone through.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	The little demoness gasped for breath as she rushed through the massive
doors of the inner temple within the mansion. "Master!"

	A withered looking spindly demon slowly turned to glare at her angrily.
His gigantic wings spread wide as he turned his rage onto her. The
pathetic creature suffered on the ground in agony. "I told you never to
disturb me Sai. Now you learn the price for disobedience."

	He did nothing but watch her suffer coldly with a deep frown on his
face for almost ten minutes. 

	"Now, what is it that is so important that you forgot to obey my
command Sai?"

	"Someone has come to see the master. Someone too strong for Sai to
stop!" cried the demon fearfully. She didn't seem to bothered by the
torment she had just received, but obviously feared another incident.
"Sai didn't know what to do, so she came to warn the master!"

	The creature stomped over to her. It was almost nine feet tall and
plucked her off of the ground in its claws. The hooked talons on his
fingers easily penetrated her skin as she was lifted into the air and
thrown back at the door. "Go and stop him then. I won't be bothered with
such filth."

	The little demon nodded her head and got a firm look in her eyes. She
stood up as the Chinese woman again, but two jet-black wings protruded
from her back now. She was also wearing a very tight leather miniskirt.
"As the master commands then." She walked back into the doors and
strolled boldly into two handguns as she opened the door to leave. 

	"Damn it," she muttered as she flew back as both weapons reported, one
of her wings fell onto the ground and she did not move again.

	Ranma Saotome walked into the room with a deep frown on his face.
"You're sick!" he cried as he pointed at the demon. He wasn't happy with
his trip through the palace. After he'd gotten about halfway up the
building with no trouble, the women actually started ripping their limbs
off and putting them back onto different places. It was slightly more
difficult to deal with, but not by much. He just had to adjust his aim a
bit more often when going for a headshot. That had become especially
difficult for them when they started shoving their necks into their
crotches. 

	"Hello," said the demon as he ignored his fallen servant and glared at
them. "You did not enjoy my wonderful pleasures? Anything a man can
want, all he has to do is ask, anything at all. I can fulfill any
fantasy, no matter how dark, for a price. "I do nothing more than that.
Why are you here to bother me about this?"

	The boy chuckled as he strolled forward. He was twirling the handguns
around his fingers lazily as he walked. "All these human souls? Surely
you don't expect me to believe they willingly submitted to you?"

	"Such is the price of pleasure," responded the demon coolly. "I am
merely the keeper of this cursed place."

	The boy looked around at the temple he was standing in. That was indeed
what it was after all. "Defiling a temple, by turning it into a
whorehouse?"

	"Of course, it had become particularly bothersome a few hundred years
ago. So we bought it, and made good use of it. We are quite successful,
as business is thriving."

	"This is a soul well then," said Sesshoumaru coolly. 

	The demon narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Who are you? How would you
know of such things? I sense the power of a demon within you, but it is
unfamiliar to me, that is strange indeed."

	"I'm Ranma Saotome," replied the boy with a cocky looking grin. "What's
a soul well?" he asked the demon in confusion.

	"It is a place to hold souls for demons to feed on. They are not taken
by means of judgement either. This place would be well hidden from any
servant of the light. It is one of the reasons hunting demons is so
pointless."

	"Pointless?!" cried Faye in horror. "Are you nuts?"

	"Taking people's souls? We've got to stop it!" agreed Amelia. 

	"I'm all for that," said Gai as he readied the handguns. 

+++++++++++++++++++++

Shu ho frowned as she sat across from an old woman on the outskirts of
town. It was a small temple that was nestled in the back of a
traditional home. "I do not know what to make of him."

	The old woman calmly poured tea as she glanced over at the girl. "You
were wise to seek guidance then. I do not know how much help I can be
though."

	"He was young, only about sixteen or seventeen by the look of him,"
said the girl as she gripped her cup a little tighter. "He's got no self
control that I've seen, but he did kill that demon. He did it using
power I know a demon can't use."

	"Most unusual indeed. You saw him as a demon though?"

	"That's what bothers me. I've never seen anything like that before, it
shouldn't even be possible."

	"Troublesome, but perhaps not as much as we had thought. I am not
gifted with the sight, but I have no ill feelings about this."

	"I just don't..." She paused as a bright blue light flashed in the
city. It was bright enough to see even in the middle of the day as
smaller balls of light shot into the sky from out of a gigantic pillar.

	"You see something child?" asked the old woman with a smirk on her
face.

	"That light?"

	"That light, is a wondrous thing indeed. It is a pity only those like
us may see it."

	"What?" asked the young woman in confusion. 

	"I think this boy, may be something we have awaited for many centuries
my child. That light was something I had not even begun to hope I might
see in my lifetime."

	"What's that?"

	"Freed souls, more than any demon hunter has seen in centuries I
imagine. Probably more than you've seen in your entire career."

	The woman blushed slightly at this and turned back towards the old
woman again. "I guess that settles it then, we've got to send word to
Cologne to back off."

	"That would seem wise, but I fear her pride will not make that will be
an easy task for you."

	The woman simply nodded and put her tea down. "Thank you."

	"Any time Child. You come visit your old Auntie Lather any time you
wish."

	"Yes," she replied with a small blush. It had been some time since she
last spoke with the old woman. She owed the old woman quite a bit of
gratitude for some of the things she'd done for her. Her training was a
good example of that. While not directly involved, she had known whom to
speak too about it. She still wasn't sure of the relationship the woman
had with her mother.

	"I should be going now, I've still got to find him," she bowed and
rushed away.

+++++++++++++++++++++

	It wasn't that big a deal really. All he had to do was beat the snot
out of the demon standing in front of him. Sesshoumaru had explained the
particulars of what he was standing in. He had looked into some of the
magic and seemed surprised, if only slightly by what he had discovered.
It was a net for souls it captured those freed from demons by demon
hunters and held them on earth until they could be weakened enough to
drag to hell. 

	The monster looming over him angrily hissed as his wings spread wide.
"You fool. You cannot defeat me here! This place was created to destroy
your kind should they be fool enough to enter! Why do you think it has
not fallen in thousands of years?"

	"You've kept it well hidden, unfortunately, your lapse in security will
cost you." The boy calmly loaded a clip into both weapons and spun them
around his fingers.

	"Wait. You mean we haven't been using bullets?" asked Gai dumbly. He
had apparently just realized they hadn't reloaded the weapons yet. 

	"It is a bit weird," grumbled Faye. "I'd almost forgotten myself a few
times back there." She had been counting shots out of habit and had
finally given up at around nine hundred. 

	The monster stomped in a circle around them as they paced into the room
and kept themselves facing it.

	"This should pose no problems for us. He is old and weak. His service
to others is the only reason he is allowed to exist. We need stronger
opponents if we are to better ourselves. We should be on the lookout for
something that can suit our needs."

	The demon roared and lunged forward. Ranma merely chuckled as a blaze
of flame formed around his body just before he pulled the trigger. A
massive cannon shot of fire roared out of the end of the weapon. 

	The demon screamed as it slammed into its face as the boy spun around
to avoid the claws that landed where he was standing. Before he even
turned completely around he fired the sister weapon into the monster's
mouth just behind the back of his head by resting the weapon on his
shoulder. The same effect was repeated, but with blue energy this time.

	The demon's head exploded in a rather spectacular display that rained
down pieces and chunks of skull and brain all around them. The boy was
untouched by the mess though and calmly stepped over the monster's body.
He fired two more of the shots into the defiled temple and twirled his
weapons around his fingers as he turned away from the resulting
explosion. Flames raced up the walls as he calmly walked through the
massive temple doors and into the hallway. A blast of blue light tore
through the rooftop and sent a shockwave of power into the stairwell.
The boy didn't seem bothered by any of this as he continued his path
towards the exit.
	
	"Wow! That was cool!" cried Gai as he realized he wasn't dead. 

	He paused as he found himself surrounded by ghostly images of beautiful
women. Hundreds of them were all around them, all smiling at him warmly. 

	Sesshoumaru growled and tried to ready themselves for a fight.

	"They don't look angry or nothin," said Ranma as he forced the demon to
calm the body a bit. 

	One of the ghostly spirits spoke to him. "Thank you. You cannot
understand what you have saved us from." She bowed deeply and smiled at
him again. Most of the spirits appeared to be crying. There were men
appearing around them as well. All of them looked young and healthy as
they stood around the pigtailed boy and bowed. 

	Finally, one of the ghostly women rushed forward and planted her lips
right on his face. A few others decided to join her and Ranma staggered
back as happy female ghosts passed through his body towards the pillar
of light. He felt light headed and stumbled about a bit. It was an
immensely pleasurable feeling they gave him when they passed.

	They all just stumbled back onto the stairwell and ended up sitting on
the stairs as the ghosts all finally passed. He blinked and found
himself alone in the palace. "Woah."

	"Is it just me, or did we just get gang raped by fifty dead women?"
muttered Faye.

	"They were just thanking us!" snapped Amelia. "I'm sure it wasn't
anything like that at all!"

	"Actually, it felt a lot like it," muttered Gai. "I'm not sure about
that though, so don't go getting no ideas about this counting or
anything."

	"It was definitely a strange feeling," grumbled the demon irritably. 

	"You're one of those dogs that pretends he doesn't like getting his ear
scratched aren't you?" said Faye in a teasing tone.

	"Don't speak to me as if I was some pet. I'll make you regret those
words woman."

	"Do ghosts get pregnant? Cause if they do, it was all Ranma. I had
nothing to do with it," said Gai as they finally stood up.	

	"HUH?" cried the boy fearfully.

	"He was kidding," said Faye.

	"We should get moving. The power of our other shot should be catching
up to us soon."

	"It is starting to get a bit smoky in here," said Gai. "Wait. Smoke?
The building is on fire and we're just standing here?"

	Almost in answer to that a huge chunk of flaming debris crashed through
the ceiling above them just as they started dashing down the stairs
towards the exit. Luckily, it was only a five-story building.

	As they rushed down the stairwell another giant timber crashed down in
front of them.

	"Shit!" cried Faye as they turned to look back up. A thick cloud of
smoke was quickly making its way down to them.

	"The wall," growled Sesshoumaru.

	A simple swiping motion with their hand ripped a huge gash into the
side of the building and they dove out the side of the building as a
ball of flames rushed down towards them. The cursed temple was
attempting to take them with it. 

	As they flew across the street in the air the building shattered into a
massive ball of contained fire. None of the nearby buildings were
effected by the mysterious blast. They found themselves clinging to the
side of the building across the street precariously from one of the
windowpanes. 

	"That was interesting," said Ranma nervously.

	"How do we get down?" cried Amelia.

	"We go up. Climbing to the roof should pose no problem," Sesshoumaru
ran his eyes along what looked like a way to climb up the side of the
building from where they were. It would be fairly easy to do along the
pipes and ledges on the building's side. 

	Ranma looked at the burning building from the top of the six-story
apartment building with a deep frown on his face. The fight was his, but
he was just starting to realize what the change had done to him. "I am,
Ronin." He would return home, but only to break his ties. He could not
stop moving, or everything he feared would catch up to him and destroy
him completely.

	"What?" asked Faye in confusion as they all watched the fire below. 

	"I'm ronin. A wanderer, I'll never have a home to call my own, at least
not for a very long time. Sort of like before, but now I can't go back.
At least, not to stay anyway."

	"I'm glad to see you are beginning to understand boy," commented
Sesshoumaru.

	"Yeah. I don't like being here," grumbled Ranma. "At least at home I'll
be able to relax a little bit." 

	None of them saw the tiny shadow hiding in the darkness just behind
them. It did nothing but watch them carefully from the darkness, with
two bat-like wings poking from its back. One of the wings looked
somewhat ragged and pathetic compared to the other one." The
master...will not be pleased with failure. Sai does not like failure.
Sai must be punished by the master." Her eyes stared at the one who had
come and destroyed the master. 

	"Sai..." Tears of rage began to form in her eyes as she snarled at him
viciously. "Sai...must be punished." She spread her wings as she stood
up tall and glared at him. "Who will punish Sai?" She was confused and
afraid. It was the first time in her existence she was really alone. She
glared at the boy as he watched her master's magnificent designs burn.
How dare he have such insolence as to destroy such a thing? She
would...what? She couldn't kill him, that much was certain. "Sai is very
angry. What should Sai do? Sai must serve the master."

	"Hey!" snapped Ranma as he turned around while she was thinking. She
was standing in plain sight and gasped as she realized she'd been
spotted.
	
	"Uh oh," she muttered as she hung her head. "I guess Sai is destroyed
then."

	"I remember you! You tried to trick me!" snapped the angry boy as he
pulled his weapons out and frowned at her. It was clear he was expecting
a fight.

	"Go ahead and destroy Sai. She will be destroyed anyway," she responded
quietly as she sat down and pouted angrily. 

	"Huh?" it was clearly something the boy wasn't expecting.

	"This thing doesn't have a will of its own. It was created to serve the
demon within the temple." Sesshoumaru seemed quite uninterested in the
whole affair. "It is best to kill her now. If we do not, the stronger
demons will do it for us later. It matters not. If you wish to waste
some of your power to be merciful, I will not stop you. Nor will I aid
you."

	"What?" cried Ranma as he lowered his weapon slightly. "But..."

	"She will die either way," insisted the demon. "It is better to leave
her here."

	The little demoness was watching the boy in front of her nervously. She
appeared to be having second thoughts about letting him kill her.
"Please do it quickly before Sai loses her nerve. She would rather be
killed quickly by you, than be found by the others."

	"You're a pitiful servant, you should have died before your master,"
snorted Sesshoumaru coldly. 

	Sai flinched at the tone; it was almost familiar to her. She got an odd
look on her face as she peered at him.

	"Why is she alive? I thought we shot her," asked Faye in confusion.

	"We shot her in the shoulder and the wing remember?" said Gai. "I
thought she bit it when the temple went really."

	"She's like us now though. Those things are after her," muttered Ranma
as conflict started to form within him.

	"She is the personal servant of a demon we destroyed. She cannot be
trusted."

	Finally the demon girl backed away fearfully from him as she hid behind
a nearby wall. "Sai does not know how to ask..."

	"What? Where do you think you're goin?!" snapped the pigtailed boy as
he noticed her hiding. "I ain't sure about you yet."

	This seemed to put a bit more into the demon girl and she poked her
head out a bit more. "Sai was wondering, if you would let her be your
servant. Then you can trust her. Sai's old master is gone, her bond is
broken."

	Sesshoumaru turned them away from her. "Bond? You wish to bond with
me?" His tone had changed, and become very sinister quite suddenly.

	"Yes. Sai must have a master, or Sai has no purpose. If Sai is bonded
to you, she must do everything you command of her. She cannot resist you
master!"

	"What?" asked Gai. This was suddenly a bit interesting. "That sounds
good."

	"Pervert!" snapped Faye angrily.

	"That's not a very nice thing to say Mr. Yamada! We don't need a slave
like that!"

	"I didn't mean it like that!" cried the man irritably. "Jeez."

	Ranma ignored all of this and spoke to Fluffy. "Is she lying?"

	The demon snorted in amusement. "No. She speaks the truth. She will not
be able to disobey us if we allow this bond. I recommend it in fact. She
may be useful, even if she is pathetic and weak."

	"We might be able to get some useful information out of her," agreed
Faye. 

	"She would have to tell us anything she knows. All we must do is ask,"
agreed Sesshoumaru. "I have not had a pet in some time. This one will
probably live a bit longer than the others. I've never taken the time to
fashion my own servant. This one is quite extraordinary, especially if
it has survived without a master for even this long. I'm sure, I,
Sesshoumaru, would do better of course."

	"How do we do this?" asked Ranma.

	"Simple, you must follow my instruction again. It should not take more
than a few moments. Especially since she offered this to us."

	"Anyone else get the feeling things are going a little too well?" asked
Gai.

	"I don't know if this is such a good idea Ranma," said Amelia
cautiously. "I mean, it's hard enough controlling one demon."

	"She's like a slave right?" asked the boy.

	"Yes. She can not willingly disobey our commands," said the demon.

	"Let's do it then," said the boy firmly. 

	He glanced down at the demon girl and smirked at her. "All right. I'll
let you bond with me. Doesn't feel right to just leave ya here this
way."

	The little demon looked quite surprised to hear this and bowed deeply.
"Thank you master! Sai swears that she will serve your every need for
eternity! She expects to be firmly punished for a very long time for
attacking you in such a cowardly way!"

	"Are we sure about this?" asked Faye nervously. She didn't fail to
notice the demon girl's cleavage push forward a bit as she begged and
bowed before them. 

	"Not really, no," said Ranma as he held his hand out over her.

	She smiled and jumped up to her feet, chomping her teeth firmly into
the side of his hand. A bit of blood flowed from between his fingers as
his face ignored the pain. 

	"Mine," said Fluffy.

	"I don't think so," growled Ranma as he suddenly cut the demon off just
as something started to happen.

	"No!" cried the demon as he found himself unable to stop it as Ranma
Saotome became bonded with the little demoness. "You!"

	"Heck. Even I ain't that stupid," said the boy as he shook off his hand
after she had released him. "I ain't givin you no help out here. You're
stuck, and I like it that way for now. I ain't lettin you out till you
start behavin."

	The demon girl looked quite cheerful and didn't really care what he was
saying. "What does Sai do for the master now?" she asked him cheerfully.

	"Huh? I dunno," replied the boy. "I guess you can go now. You're safe
right?"

	The demoness got a blank look on her face. "Master? Sai is very sorry,
and perhaps she is not used to your diction yet. She does not understand
your instruction."

	"Ranma. You dope. She has to come with us if she's our servant,"
growled Amelia. "I told you not to do this."

	"Servant?" muttered the boy dumbly. "We just did that bonded thing
right?"

	Sai stood patiently while her master seemed to think about something.
He seemed to be much slower at it than her older master. She would not
dare voice such an observation though.

	"What?!" cried her master suddenly.

	"Congratulations on your new pet Ranma," said Faye lazily. "I've got to
say, you're definitely the first person I've ever met with their own pet
demon."

	"This pathetic creature is no demon. She is merely a servant, created
to obey without question" growled Sesshoumaru.

	"So, I gotta keep her?" said the boy in confusion.

	"Yeah. You gotta keep her," said Gai cheerfully. "Maybe she can bring
us a beer or something?"

	"Should we go Master? Do you have a lair?" asked Sai quietly. She
seemed confused by him so far.

	"I guess we should go to the hotel or somethin," grumbled Ranma. "We
got that meeting later anyway."
	
	"Sai will follow then," said the demon girl cheerfully. She turned and
started walking after them as they started to make their way off the
rooftop.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	It was early still; they had about four hours before they had to meet
with the Triad boss again. As such, Ranma Saotome sat in his room with
the demon girl he'd picked up a little over an hour ago. She was
kneeling on the floor in the corner quietly waiting for a command from
him. 

	The boy was laid out on the bed with his arms spread out as he stared
at the ceiling. The little demon was trying her best to look miserable
and it was driving him nuts. He looked up at her as she tried to push
herself into the corner. She was quite dirty and pathetic looking at the
moment.

	"What's with you?" he asked her as he hopped off the bed and came to
rest on the top of the back of a chair. He was having trouble sitting
still while she was brooding.

	"Sai is wondering when she is going to be punished for failure,"
muttered the demon quietly. "She failed, and must be punished."

	"What? I ain't punishing you," he grumbled as he frowned at her.

	The demoness gasped in shock. "But...but...Sai must be punished!"

	"No!" snapped the angry looking boy as he turned his head away from
her. "What the heck are you doing in the corner anyway? Go sit in a
chair or something."

	This absolutely horrified the demon girl. "Master? Sai is to sit...in a
chair?"

	"Yeah," said the boy in confusion. He had no idea it was a bad thing
apparently. 

	"Shall Sai sit on her tail uncomfortably?" she inquired hopefully.

	"If you want...I guess," said the boy. She sulked off her spot on the
wall and gently laid out her tail on a nearby chair. With a small jump
she heaved her entire bodyweight on top of it.

	"This is too weird," grumbled Ranma as he shook his head. Finally, he
turned towards the bathroom. "I guess we can take a shower while we're
here." The women had started to complain about the smell since they had
gotten back, but he'd been more interested in keeping an eye on Sai.
Fluffy seemed quite irritated with the boy, but kept telling him that
the creature could not disobey them.

	"Why does she look like that still? I thought she could look like that
older chick too?" He put a towel over his shoulder and walked towards
the bathroom. 

	Sai watched this from her chair and seemed utterly confused by it. "Is
the master going out?"

	"No, the master is going to take a shower," grumbled the boy as he
pushed the door open.

	Sai craned her neck to see, the room was a dead end with no other exit.
She'd never really given much thought to such a room before. She'd seen
them of course, but most demons ignored rooms like those. She had no
idea what humans needed so many different water sources in one room for. 

	Her master seemed to know though. She looked down at the chair and then
back at the door again. Her master had yet to give her specific
instructions about anything. She hopped off and walked carefully over to
the door of the bathroom. It was closed, but not locked. 

	She opened it and peered carefully inside. Steam filled the room now as
her master stood behind a curtain in a stream of hot water. "Sai is
confused." She walked into the room leaving the door wide open and stood
watching him for a long time as he bathed. "What is the master doing?
What is the purpose of this?" She would probably be punished for asking
such questions. Still, a punishment would be something. He'd had her for
a few hours already and had yet to do anything with her at all. Her old
master had started giving her commands as soon as she opened her eyes. 

	The boy was staring at her from the other side of the curtain. "Humans
need to keep themselves clean to keep the odor down to a bearable level.
He opened it calmly and stepped out in the nude while drying his hair. 

	He looked like he wanted to jump back behind the curtain and hide again
for the briefest of moments. 

	"Sai's master is not human though," pointed out the little creature
cheerfully. "Sai could not become bonded with him if he was."

	"That is only partially true," responded the pigtailed boy as he calmly
dried his hair.

	"Oh," said the demon girl. She didn't know a whole lot about that sort
of thing. The bond was there though, if only she could get him to
command her now. "If the master doesn't have a command for Sai, what
should she do?"

	"I dunno, relax a bit? I ain't got nuthin for ya ta do anyway." He
shrugged as he seemed to realize she was neither bothered, nor
interested in his nudity much. 

	"Sai...relax?" The words sounded so wrong to her. She simply stared at
the floor. "How does Sai relax?"

	Ranma glanced down at her for a moment. "What?"

	"Sai does not know how to relax. Sai only knows how to serve the
master."

	"This is getting repetitive," grumbled Gai.

	Ranma ignored him and tied the towel around his waist. "How the heck
would I know? Look...I ain't got nothin for ya ta do. What kind of stuff
did ya do before?"

	"Sai carried out the masters commands! She was told to keep the store
running and tempt any who entered with whatever they desired. Sai was to
make sure the customers were pleasured enough to sell their souls to the
master. She was also in charge of making sure the Well was kept up. She
had to perform rituals for the master to keep the spell strong. Sai
usually sacrificed a few customers. She was also in charge of training
new souls for an eternity of misery and slavery to the dark master."

	"What did you do when you weren't doing that?" asked Ranma. 

	"Sai was punished," said the demon. The look on her face told him that
she thought he should be punishing her quite harshly.

The boy hit his head on the wall a few times. "Anything else?"

"Oh! Sometimes Sai would pleasure the master!" She seemed quite proud to
remember that. "Not for a very long time though. The master does not
care for pleasure much."

"What the heck does that mean?" muttered Ranma in confusion.

	"With that thing? Eeew!" cried Faye in horror.

	Amelia looked quite sick. "I'm so glad we have rescued her from such a
horrible..."

	"Did she like it?" asked Gai.

	"I dunno, let's ask her," said Ranma. It was quite obvious he had no
idea what anyone was talking about. "What kind of stuff do you do for
fun? What about this pleasure thing?"

	Sai stared up at the boy for a moment in shock. "Sai cannot feel
pleasure! Sai is to suffer!" She paused for a moment. "Pleasuring the
master is not bad, but she does not enjoy it. No, Sai does not enjoy
pleasuring the master. He is very rough, and Sai is very delicate. She
was intended that way." She nodded to herself and seemed quite proud of
that fact. 

	"What? He hit you?"

	"Would you like to hit Sai?" asked the demon hopefully. Her tail
started wagging in anticipation of the punishment. 

	"Not really no," said the boy flatly.

	"Oh." The demon was running out of options. If something didn't happen
soon she would have to relax with no punishment. "Shall Sai pleasure the
master then?"

	"What the heck does that mean?" inquired the boy again.

	The girl seemed to think about it for a very long time. She'd never
been asked to explain so much before. It was getting frustrating, and
her new master was incredibly stupid to not grasp such simple concepts.
He was the strangest demon she'd ever met. 

	In the back of Ranma's mind. Faye had enlisted Gai's help in explaining
things to the boy in as simple a manner as possible. The man was quite
happy to help with a simple explanation of what the little demon meant.

	"What?" cried the boy in horror.

	The cute little demon was looking at him. He seemed upset by her
question. She repeated it, hoping to be punished for insolence. "Would
the master like Sai to pleasure him?"

	The towel-clad boy was frozen in place with a shocked look about him.

	"Just get it over with." The boy's face had taken on a rather serious
looking frown. Her master had quickly shifting moods, and it was the
most evil she'd seen him look so far.

	Sai simply shrugged and pulled his towel off his waist before falling
to her knees. As she was unable to speak very quickly after that
occurred she thought to herself as she worked. "I hope the master is
displeased with Sai's performance and punishes her harshly for not being
good enough for him. That was how things usually went after all.

++++++++++++++++++++++

	TBC...

	Next Time: Housetraining.

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