This surprisingly thematically appropriate for the date, but rest
assured that it is merely a coincidence, as I've had this particular
idea lying around for quite some time.

As a side note, further work on Fallen, Shades of Gray Revised, or
Shades of Darkness might take a little longer than I expected because
of... um... schoolwork.  Yeah, that's it.  All those... umm...
programming assignements, yeah.  Definitely not because I'm sinking
perfectly good fanfic-writing time into playing Disgaea.  Nope.

           Aaron Nowack
"Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis."
http://www.geocities.com/anowack/ (for now)


Disclaimer moved to end of fic.

        "idiotidiotidiotidiotJERKidiotidiotidiotJACKASSidiotidiot..."
The woman's unending, repetitive monologue was too quiet for any of the
few other pedestrians to hear as she stalked down the sidewalk.  Unlike
most of the others, she did not cling to the circles of light cast by
the too-far-apart street lamps, instead marching in the shadows without
the slightest sign of fear.  Perhaps this wasn't so surprising, as any
accomplished student of the martial arts could tell from the way she
walked that she was a master of those arts.  Any mugger or rapist that
approached her would almost certainly find that he had far more to fear
than her.
        As she reached a dark intersection, the woman hesitated.
Muttering a few vulgarities under her breath that were just loud enough
for the man passing her to hear, and therefore decide to hasten his
walk, she straightened her too-short skirt, trying to push it down to
cover a fraction more of her bare, chilled legs.  Why, she wondered,
were the targets never women, so she could force that idiot to play the
bait instead?
        She had to restrain herself from glancing about to try and find
him.  It would do no good - how the jerk could hide so well, she could
never figure out - and it might just tip off some theoretical sentry she
hadn't noticed that she was something other than she appeared to be.
The last thought almost set off another round of cursing, as what she
would appear to be was a prostitute, one who was just a bit too high-
class for this district.
        Shivering again as a cold wind reminded her just how little her
ridiculously scanty outfit covered, she forced herself to appear
somewhat calm - though not too much.  Given that a number of her
theoretical co-workers had vanished in the past few weeks, seeming too
nonchalant might tip the targets off just as much as seeming too angry.
Still, she would give that jerk another piece of her mind when tonight
was over, just in case he hadn't gathered that she was displeased with
his plan to sniff out the targets by the way she had given him a few
painful bruises when he had first suggested it.
        With a long suffering sigh, she continued on her meandering path
through this particularly shady district.  None of the few out tonight
seemed inclined to try and purchase the wares she was offering, much to
her relief.  After some time, something prickled on the back of her neck
as she was about to turn down yet another dark, litter-strewn street.
She resisted the urge to tense. doing her best to look as though she
hadn't felt anything.  This was it.
        As she walked down the street, six figures seemed to materialize
from the shadows, surrounding her.  For a few instants they looked
indistinct, but as the approached they solidified, and she could make
out the features of the one closest to her.  She had to struggle to
avoid showing a fierce grin when her keen night vision noted the pale
complexion and red-tinted eyes.  Bingo.
        That one approached her, and the others closed ranks to avoid
leaving a gap in their circle.  "Well, what have we here?" he asked, a
smirk gracing his unnaturally pale lips.
        The woman snorted.  "A businesswoman.  Do you fellows have a
transaction in mind?"
        The leader laughed.  "I think we do."  He moved with alarming
swiftness, darting forward and grasping the woman in a tight but
inexpert hold.  "Though, maybe not what you would like."  He paused,
seeming to consider.  "Though, maybe we'll do that too."  One of his
hands snaked down between the woman's legs.
        Her eye twitched.  Damned if she was going to wait for Kumada
now.  Even as the man's hand began to reach up her skirt, she brought
her muscular thighs together in one swift motion.  She smiled as she
heard the snap of bones breaking.
        The man gasped in pain, releasing his hold and trying
fruitlessly to extract his shattered hand.  "Bitch," he grunted, and his
eyes began to glow a soft crimson, and when he opened his mouth again
long fangs were visible.  The woman averted her gaze to avoid being
caught be the hypnotic glow, instead bringing up one knee into the
vampire's groin.  She had long since discovered that this move was as
effective on undead men as living ones, and felt as surge of
satisfaction as the bloodsucker doubled over in pain.
        All this had taken only a handful of seconds, and the other
vampires were just beginning to react, extracting their own fangs.  The
woman kicked one of her ridiculously high heels off, sending itself
spinning through the air to hit a vampire's face heel first.  She soon
slipped out of the other shoe, settling into a fighting stance.  "Well?"
she asked.  "What are you boys waiting for?"
        One of the vampires leapt at her, only to recoil as a length of
wood sprouted from his chest.  He shriveled and shrunk, his dark hair
lightening to white as he seemed to age centuries in seconds.  The
withered corpse hung in the air for what seemed far too long before
plopping to the ground with a loud thunk.  Vampiric eyes darted about,
searching to find the source of the deadly projectile.
        They soon found it, as a man who had seemingly appeared from
nowhere walked nonchalantly down the street, a wooden stake spinning in
either hand.  As he neared, he tossed one in an easy arc to the woman,
saying, "Catch, 'Kane."
        Akane growled as she effortlessly snagged the stake in midair,
slipping past a vampire who leapt to try and grab it.  "How many times,"
she said as she plunged it into that vampire's heart, "do I have to tell
you not to call me that, Kumada!"
        "Sorry," he replied in a not-very-penitent tone of voice.
        A few moments later, no vampire remained standing.  The man
walked over to the one who Akane had first dealt with, who had remained
lying on the ground throughout the whole fight.  He lifted him up in one
hand, pushing the undead up against a nearby wall.  "Tell me everything
you know about the Count!"
        "W-who?" he stuttered, and the man slammed the vampire's head
into the wall.
        "Surely you don't think I'll believe you've never heard of our
fair city's vampiric yakuza boss?  Spill the beans, now!"  He punctuated
the sentence with another painful shove.
        "I... I was just a college student!  I don't know anything about
the yakuza!"  The man grunted in disgust.  "I'm... I'm just a few days
old!   I haven't killed anyone!  Please, don't hurt me!"
        "Who was your sire?"
        "D-Damien!"
        The man glanced at the vampiric corpses.  "Which one?"
        Akane glanced at the corpses and swore as she counted them.
"One's missing, Kumada."
        He swore as well.  "I be that the one we're missing.  Well,
bloodsucker?"
        "I... I don't see him.  I can help you find him!  Just don't
kill me!"
        "What do you think, 'Kane?" he asked, ignoring the vampire's
pleas.
        "My sister would give you even odds that this Damien was one of
the Count's lieutenants, maybe trying to set up a separate power base of
his own.  We'll have to assume the Count knows we're in town now."
        "You're right.  We'll have to get going before Damien can bring
back reinforcements."
        "W-What about me?" the captive vampire asked.
        Another stake materialized in the man's hand, and he carefully
positioned it over the undead's heart.  "When you join your bloodsucking
kin in Hell, tell them Kumada Yuuichiro and Tendo Akane sent you.
You'll get the group rate."

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

He's an uncontrollable guitar-strumming vampire hunter on a mission from
God. She's a virginal punk bodyguard prone to fits of savage, blood-
crazed rage. They fight crime!

It's.... the Adventures of Yuuichiro and Akane, coming soon in an
alternate dimension near you.

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

Disclaimer: Ranma is Rumiko Takahashi's.  Sailor Moon is Naoko
Takeuchi's.  The blame for this is all mine.

For a tiny bit more explanation as to where this came from, see:
http://www.rain-street.org/fightcrime.htm

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