And here comes Chapter 4. Thank you to anyone who has read this far.

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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: hybridtheory04.txt

   			   C&A Productions Presents

                       A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion


                                Hybrid Theory


                           Chapter 4: Lying From You



	Akane yawned and stretched as she stepped out of her room. She had
already put on her school uniform and brushed her long hair until it looked
fine, at least in her opinion. She ran her hand through the dark locks as 
she
wandered down the stairs to where Kasumi was setting up breakfast. Doing so
reminded her that it had been a long time since she had seen Doctor Tofu. In
fact, she had barely even thought of him much in the last three or four 
days.
She guessed it was forgiveable, with everything that had happened since 
Ukyou
and Ranma had stepped into her life. But she reminded herself firmly that 
she
was going to take some time after school to go and see him. Maybe she could 
even
arrange for Ukyou to give her a nice bruise or scrape in one of their 
sparring
sessions...
	"Hey Akane," Nabiki drawled from the table. "Your boyfriend's famous."
	"What? Who?" Akane blinked and looked at the table. Her father was
sitting at his usual position at the head, reading his daily paper. Genma, 
whose
face drew a snarl to Akane's lips, was sitting next to him. Nabiki was the 
only
other person at the table now, since Kasumi was busy in the kitchen. Which 
meant
that Ranma wasn't here. Which meant he was...where?
	"Take a look," Nabiki pointed at the paper in Dad's hand. Akane sat
down, allowing her puzzlement to show on her face. That didn't last long as 
she
got her first good look at the huge banner headline and the equally large
picture underneath it.
	MYSTERY BOY SAVES BUS FULL OF SCHOOOLGIRLS FROM MONSTER!
	Underneath the huge block letters was a picture of Ukyou. The girl in
boy's clothing was fighting... something. At first Akane thought it was a 
human
being, but no human had a face like that. It was a monster, like the 
headline
claimed, a groteque parody of a woman with a fanged maw and deadly claws. In 
the
picture Ukyou was catching the thing's kick on the shaft of her combat 
spatula,
a grimace of concentration on her face.
	"I don't believe it..." Akane said after a moment, at a loss to say much
of anything else.
	"Neither do I really," Nabiki buffed her nails on her blouse and
shrugged. "I mean, magical curses are one thing. Monsters that capture
schoolgirls and drag them off to another dimension for who-knows-what?" The 
way
Nabiki emphasized the last words, she most definitely had an idea 
'who-knows-
what' was and thought it was rather naughty. Akane opened her mouth to scold
her, realized Nabiki hadn't technically said anything wrong, and closed it
again.
	"No, that I can believe," Akane said with a shrug. "After all, the
police officer she saved me from wasn't even human either." The rest of the
table stared at her, but she hastily continued before any of them could ask 
any
questions. "What I can't believe is that she DITCHED me! Again! This is 
twice
she's run off to confront some horrible evil danger and left me behind!"
	"And you're complaining about this?" Nabiki pointed out, rolling her
eyes. Akane could only grunt and cross her arms, mentally revising her 
earlier
plan: she was going to give UKYOU a few bruises and scrapes as an excuse to 
go
see Doctor Tofu later.
	"Well I think it's wonderful," Dad called from behind the paper. He
rolled it up in one hand and placed it on the floor beside him, beaming a
cheerful smile at her. It was the same smile he used to give Akane when she
learned a new form of the Anything Goes school. "You've certainly found a
wonderful young man to be betrothed to!"
	"Betrothed!" Akane blurted out. She felt heat rush to her cheeks but she
scowled. The idea of -dating- Ukyou still made Akane a little queasy, even 
if it
was fake. That her father... oh god, what if he found out the truth about 
Ukyou
and Genma? Then Akane would be really in trouble. He didn't seem to mind 
that
Ranma was half-girl when it came to fobbing the boy off on Nabiki. Then 
again,
he might not mind that Ukyou was one hundred percent girl if her special 
past
came up. Thinking about that reminded Akane to glare at Genma again, who 
gave
her a puzzled frown in return. What a pig, she mentally snarled, before 
turning
her nose up at him.
	"Breakfast!"
	Kasumi came into the room with a tray of breakfast foods. It wasn't
anything special, just miso, rice and a few pickles, but Akane didn't mind.
Unlike some people - and here she specifically cited Ranma - she had the 
decency
to be grateful for what was given to her. Thinking that, she remembered to 
thank
Kasumi especially enthusiatically when the food was served in front of her. 
Her
eldest sister blushed a bit at the praise but waved it off. She then stepped
away and went into the kitchen to retrieve her own food.
	"Well, it hardly matters about your fiance now," Dad pointed out. Akane
groused at the presumption but said nothing. Sometimes it was best to let 
her
father live in his own fantasy world. Besides, if she protested too much 
they
might not think she and Ukyou were a couple, and then she could be in 
Nabiki's
position. "What's important is the lack of Nabiki's fiancee." Speaking of...
	"Maybe he just ran out on me?" Nabiki said with a shrug, but her voice
contained an equal mix of wistful hope and sarcasm.
	"Ranma would never do that!" Genma defended his so-called son. "He is as
dedicated to the family's honor as I am!" His words came out slightly 
distorted,
because he was halfway through his own rice at the time. Taking this as her 
cue,
Akane dug into her own bowl. The rest of the family followed her lead.
	"If you say so..." Nabiki commented as she finished one of her bites. "I
just think he might not be ready for a relationship with an actual girl."
	"What do you mean by that?" Akane snapped. Nabiki looked at her oddly,
and Akane closed her mouth. Of course, nobody here, besides Genma and her
obviously, knew about Ukyou's true gender. That couldn't have been a sly 
insult.
Nabiki opened her mouth, presumably to ask Akane what she meant, and the 
younger
sister began to try to formulate a reasonable response.
	Thump.
	Akane and Nabiki turned to see Genma with his head face-down in the miso
soup. Akane opened her mouth to ask if he was okay, but no words came out. 
It
felt like her tongue had swollen up and turned into cotton. Her vision grew
blurry, the lights seeming to both dim and flare at the same time. The room, 
it
was spinning and spinning and Akane saw the table rushing up to greet her 
face-

*

	It was almost too easy.  Slip down from the roof.  Only one person
up...Kasumi, of course, having just dropped her own plate of food, staring 
in
presumable shock at everyone else's involuntary reaction to the drugged 
rice.
Whip out a baton, rap her smartly on the back of the skull.  She never knew 
what
hit her.
	Watching Kasumi Tendo crumple unconscious to the ground gave Chris a
surge of only slightly guilt-tinged satisfaction.  So much for fanfic canon.
Ooooh, nobody can hurt Kasumi!  Well, THIS undead possessing spirit sure 
could!
Not that she was really hurt, aside from maybe a lump on the head, but it 
was
the thought that counted.
	He looked around the room.  Everyone else was definitely nicely
unconscious already.  Ah, Kodachi's extensive practice in chemical warfare 
was
an excellent skill to know, indeed.  There was Soun, Nabiki, Akane, Genma...
	Genma.  Just Genma.  But no Ranma.
	A sliver of fear ran through him.  Was Ranma here?  At this house?
Somehow not at breakfast?  That didn't make sense.  He'd planned on the
possibility of Ranma being there, but of course, had expected he'd eat the
drugged rice.  He certainly couldn't hope to fight Ranma.
	But he wasn't coming.  Maybe...he hadn't done anything too out of the
ordinary for Kodachi yet.  Ranma didn't like hitting girls.  If he was 
around,
Chris could talk his way out of this.  If he was around.  Better find out.  
He
crept up the stairs...man, it was weird, actually being IN the Tendo Dojo, 
cute
little signs on the girl's doors and all.
	There was the room.  He was sure of it.  It was nearly bare, that lamp
hanging from the ceiling, two futons...and two big backpacks.  Just like he
remembered.  But Ranma wasn't there.
	That proved he at least lived there, though.  So why wasn't he here?  He
certainly hadn't left early for school.  Walking back down to the dining 
room,
he considered, then shrugged.  Ukyou.  Had to be.  As the only changed 
variable
in the equation so far, the faux-Ukyou almost had to be the culprit.  Which
meant...what?  Had she anticipated his plan and removed her most powerful
potential ally?  Maybe.  But probably not.  Probably it was something 
unrelated.
Hopefully.  But either way, he'd better get his business over with quickly,
because Ranma - or Ukyou - coming back early was a dangerous possibility.
	He swiftly tied Akane and Nabiki up in ribbon - whee, how kinky - and
dragged them out of the room.  Then he placed the carefully prepared note on 
the
center of the table.  Good thing he'd accounted for the possibility of Ranma
being there, at least.  How the faux-Ukyou responded to this would tell him 
a
lot about how much she really knew, and how smart she was.
	Finally, with a spin that he had never done before but simultaneously
had performed hundred of times, he twirled his ribbon around himself, 
spraying
black rose petals all over the room and the unconscious remaining occupants 
of
the house.  It seemed RIGHT to laugh along with it...and why not?  It was 
kind
of cool to be able to laugh like that, anyway.
	Then he picked up his two captives and bounded away.  Time enough to
learn where Ranma and Ukyou might be once his bait had been properly 
secured.

*


	Ranma blinked and opened his eyes. Something had prompted him awake, and
he sat up rubbing his eyes as he tried to figure out what that was. His back
hurt a bit from having slept hunched over on the chair all night, but that
wasn't what had woken him up. Neither was the vague grumbling that reminded 
him
he hadn't eaten since lunchtime yesterday. It was something moving next to 
him,
or very near him. Something that was making a great deal of noise.
	His vision started to clear and he looked to his left. It was Ukyou, and
she didn't look good. She was awake, or almost so, but her eyes had rolled 
back
into her head and her body was thrashing around like a fish out of water. A
shallow froth was forming along the edge of her lips, and her head kept 
jerking
around. For a few seconds, all Ranma could do was stare in shock at the 
sight.
Then he jumped from his chair, grabbing onto her shoulders.
	"Ucchan! Snap out of it!" he shouted, jostling her, but she only rolled
her eyes over him without even the slightest hint of acknowledgement. She
continued to jerk and gyrate in place, her mouth opening and closing as 
strange
half-formed words erupted from her mouth. "Doctor! Come quick! I need a 
doctor!"
	Ranma continued to call out as he backed away from the girl. She seemed
to be doing nothing to hurt herself, but Ranma had no idea what to do. 
Finally a
nurse rushed into the room, drawn by his shouts. She was a short dark-haired
girl in a modest uniform, and had a harried look about her.
	"Sir, calm down for a moment and tell me-"
	"Ukyou won't stop uh... what you call it, what she's doing!" Ranma cut
her off as he stepped away from his childhood friend and indicated her with
one hand. The nurse took one look at the thrashing girl and stepped forward 
to
check her over.
	"How long has she been like this?" the nurse asked brusquely.
	"I don't know, I just woke up when she started I guess, a few seconds
ago..." Ranma trailed off, unsure what to say.
	"I need you to go get a doctor and-" she cut off as Ukyou gasped
suddenly, her back arching. Then the girl on the bed visibly relaxed. Her
eyes focused on the ceiling and her arms and legs stilled. She took a few 
more
deep breaths.
	"Ucchan? Are you okay?"
	"I'm fine, Ranma," Ukyou breathed out slowly. She certainly didn't look
fine. She sat up slowly in bed, only to find her path barred as the nurse 
placed
a gentle hand on her stomach to restrain her.
	"I'm afraid you can't get up just yet, miss," the nurse pointed out.
"You just had a form of seizure or convulsion."
	"I see," Ukyou said with a frown as she laid back again. "If you say so,
nurse..." Ukyou let her eyes focus on the ceiling again. Her face had become
that cold, expressionless mask.
	"You don't seem surprised," the nurse pointed out slowly as she looked
at the few devices hooked up to Ukyou. There were all kinds of medical stuff
attached to his best buddy that Ranma couldn't even begin to describe, much 
less
explain the purpose of. "Have you had these kinds of fits before?"
	Ukyou took a long time answering the question. "Yes, but you don't have
to worry about it. I have medication for the convulsions, but it is back at 
my
apartment."
	"Medication? What kind?"
	"Anti-epileptics," Ukyou said with a shrug. "I'm not sure of the full
name." The nurse frowned at this, but nodded and made a note on the chart
hanging from the wall near Ukyou. "I think I was brought in here because I
fainted?"
	"Yes, your friend brought you in late last night," the nurse pointed
out. She flipped through the pages of her chart. "You were suffering from
massive bloodloss, subdermal hematomas and... oh dear, you suffered some 
sort of
massive attack. You were bleeding from burst capillaries in the mouth, nose,
eyes, lungs and throughout most of your body."
	"Indeed..." Ukyou sighed and raised her arm up to look at it. There was
still a slight purpling around her limbs. "So, how am I doing now?"
	"Fine," the nurse said. "I should have a doctor speak to you about it,
but from all appearances, your bleeding stopped quickly.  You had a 
transfusion,
and now you should be alright."
	"I thought as much," Ukyou nodded.
	"Let me go get a doctor, he can talk with you more about this," the
nurse offered as she walked out of the room. Ranma released a sigh as she 
left
and sat down in the chair he had vacated earlier.
	"Are you okay, Ucchan?"
	"Hmm? Ranma?" Ukyou turned and looked at him. "You're...here."  She
seemed faintly surprised, as if she had just noticed him there.
	"Yeah! Of course I am! Did you think I was going to abandon you?" Ukyou
smiled a little bit at that and chuckled softly. There was a slight flush in 
her
cheeks when she responded.
	"No, I don't suppose I did." She looked at the towel laid out on the
bedside table Ranma had been using as a pillow. "You really were here all 
night.
How did you manage that?"
	"Ain't nobody tellin' me I can't stay in the same room as my hurt
friend!" Ranma blustered a bit. Then he sighed again and felt his face drop.
"Ukyou, are you really okay? What happened to you last night? What happened
earlier? I have a feeling you don't have any drugs to take care of this."
	Ukyou cast an eye over her shoulder at the door and shrugged. "You're
right, Ranma. I just said that to throw them off the scent. They couldn't 
treat
what I have. It... remember my curse Ranma?"
	"The one that means you can't act like a girl?"
	"That one exactly," Ukyou said as she turned her eyes back to the
ceiling. "What you saw last night, and just a few moments ago, were both 
caused
by my curse."
	"Geez!" Ranma blinked. "And I thought I had it bad. You mean you can
bleed and have a convolution-"
	"Convulsion," Ukyou corrected him.
	"Whatever," he waved that aside. She knew what he meant. "You can have
all that because of what happened to you?"
	"Indeed," Ukyou answered dourly. "But that's for later. For now, I have
to find a way to get them to discharge me quickly. I don't want a bunch of
doctors running tests on me for stuff they'll never find."
	"I see," Ranma blinked. "But you're still hurt."
	"I'm fine, Ranma," Ukyou said with a shrug. "I think I recovered all my
strength last night."
	"Are you certain, I mean..."
	"Ranma! I'm fine, really," Ukyou sighed and placed her hands over her
face. "What I have, modern science can't help me with. I just... I just want 
to
get out of here. Hospitals depress me."
	"Why?"
	She went silent for a moment. "My father died in a room just like this.
it was only five or six months ago."
	"I'm... I'm sorry."
	"Don't be, he died in his sleep."
	"Wow. That must suck, losing your dad like that..."
	"Indeed..." Ukyou sighed into her hands then pulled them away from her
face. "Ranma... remind me to take you on a little trip when we get back to
Nerima."
	"A little trip?"
	"There's someone I want you to meet," Ukyou sat up, the blanket falling
from her shoulders. Underneath she was clad only in a green hospital gown. 
Ranma
blinked as he saw the swell of her breasts underneath the sterile fabric. 
"But I
think I'll leave it a surprise for now. Let's just concentrate on getting 
back
to Nerima as quickly as possible first."
	"If you say so," Ranma shrugged and scratched the back of his neck. He
casually made sure he was looking in any direction but at Ukyou, who was 
still
mainly focused on the ceiling. One of these days, he swore he would figure 
out
what was actually going on with her.

*

	Nabiki had never regained consciousness after being knocked out before,
and she noted with some annoyance that she didn't like it much. Her head 
hurt,
for one thing. Her mouth was also filled with some terrible aftertaste. It 
was
probably the result of whatever drug she had been slipped. There really was 
no
other explanation, unless everyone in her family had come down with a sudden
case of fainting sickness.
	She resisted the urge to swear as she opened her eyes. She was in some
anonymous room, not really traditional Japanese style. There were no 
windows,
and instead of a paper screen there was a solid-looking wooden door. She 
arched
her aching head around, trying to get a good view of things. Where the hell 
was
she? She tried to stand up, but found herself instead toppling over onto her
side.
	She blinked and looked down, noticing that her legs were tied with some
sort of cloth around the ankles. A quick tug with her arms confirmed that 
those
were also tied, behind her back at the wrist. A few seconds of futile 
struggle
followed before Nabiki was forced to conclude that she was quite securely 
bound.
She beat back her panic with a few choice curses, not bothering to try and 
cover
them up now. As she did she twisted and bounced her body back into a sitting
position.
	Oh, whoever did this was going to pay. Nabiki didn't know how yet, but
she was sure of that.
	"Hey! Come here and get me out of these!" Nabiki yelled as loud as she
could. She wasn't sure how thick the walls were, but yelling made her feel
better. There was no immediate response so Nabiki repeated herself, annoyed 
at
the dry aftertaste that left her voice slightly harsh and panicked-sounding. 
She
took another deep cleansing breath before yelling a third time. After that 
she
groaned and leaned back.
	There was nothing to do but sit and wait now. If her first few yells
hadn't caught the right attention, then a dozen more would not do much 
better.
Besides, yelling was exacerbating her headache. Nabiki tried to rub her 
temples,
before rediscovering that she was tied up. She settled for groaning.
	Time passed. Nabiki spent it fidgeting and staring at the walls, trying
to combat the dull pain and the even more dull boredom. She mainly did this 
by
imagining various elaborate and exquisite revenge schemes she would launch 
once
this was finished. Then there was movement at the door. Nabiki snapped her 
head
up as her presumable captor stepped into the room.
	The girl who entered moved with a haughty grace that was matched by her
cold beauty. She was tall, with imperious features well-accented by lightly
applied makeup. Her black hair was tied back in a pony-tail that fell to the
small of her back, and she was clad only in a form-fitting black leotard cut
high on the hips. She was carrying a huge sack tossed over her shoulder with 
one
hand, barely getting it through the door unobstructed.
	She saw Nabiki was awake and smiled. It was an expression that utterly
failed to reach her unblinking eyes. She carefully placed the bag on the 
floor.
"Ah, Miss Tendo, I see you've awakened." Her voice was cool and elegant.
	"I see you know my name. Can I know yours, so that the police can put
the proper one on the arrest warrant?" Nabiki tried to inject as much acid 
and
false bravado as she could into her voice. That sack looked really heavy, 
and
she hadn't failed to notice that this mystery girl hefted it with one hand.
Nabiki lived with the former martial arts champion of Furinkan High...she 
knew
exactly what a properly trained fighter could do. She wasn't, however, about 
to
let that show on her face.
	The woman shifted her grip on the bag and moved it into the corner. It
made a sound like many tiny metallic objects striking each other. "I'm 
surprised
you don't know my name, Miss Tendo.  Perhaps you're not as well-informed as 
you
think."  She flashed an insincere smile.  "I am Kodachi Kunou.  I believe 
you
are acquainted with my brother...in fact, you're in the same class, are you
not?"
	"Tatewaki?" Nabiki blinked. Well, that explained some things. Nabiki did
her best to shrug, a much harder process when you were bound than it looked. 
"I
think you have the wrong sister. Akane is the one your brother is after."
	"Oh no no no, Miss Tendo, I know EXACTLY who I have, and why."  Her
voice lost some of its haughty edge and took on a level of cold malice as 
she
continued. She leaned forward, practically in Nabiki's face.  "I want to ask 
you
a few questions about someone you're also acquainted with. Someone by the 
name
of Ukyou Kuonji." Nabiki refused to be intimidated, but found herself 
wishing
she didn't have to stare into those hard, soulless eyes.
	"Once again, wrong sister. Akane is the one dating Mr. Heroic Stranger,
not me."
	"And because of that, your knowledge is more valuable to me. You are the
one who can tell me the facts, unswayed by emotions, or a willingness to 
protect
the individual involved even at a risk to yourself."
	Nabiki didn't like the implied threat. She liked even less the growing
certainty in the back of her mind that this girl was capable of acting it 
out.
She bit the inside of her cheek surreptitiously, and really wished she 
didn't
have to look at those eyes anymore. They never wavered or blinked. The 
pupils
didn't move at all.
	"Since you seem to already know the facts, why bother questioning me at
all?" Nabiki asked quickly to buy time. She hated to admit it publically, or
even to herself, but she knew very little about Ukyou Kuonji. She didn't 
have
the pull to get a peek at his personal records, nor the money to hire a 
private
investigator. There was practically no rumors about the boy at school aside 
from
the usual lurid ones (half of which had begun to include Ranma, in both 
forms,
among the usual suspects). Gosunkugi had never been able to catch the boy on
film except in the most innocuous circumstances.
	"No no no, Miss Tendo.  I know the facts about you, for I know of you
through reputation and your dealings with my brother...oh, and a few other
things.  But I don't know nearly enough about Ukyou Kuonji.  That's why 
you're
here.  I want you to tell me everything you know about Ukyou Kuonji.  
Everything
you think about Ukyou Kuonji.  Everything you suspect.  Everything."  
Kodachi
moved back, standing to her full height once again. She smiled in a 
patronizing
manner at Nabiki. Nabiki resisted the urge to sigh in relief. It was much 
easier
to keep her eyes on the other girl's face at this distance.  "Don't worry.  
I
don't plan to hurt you...as long as you're forthcoming with me.  I will be 
most
displeased to find out you held something back, though...at any time in the
future."
	"Then I'll have to tell you what I did before," Nabiki groused softly.
There was no hope for it but the truth. "Ukyou is dating my sister. He's 
some
sort of martial artist. He knows Genma and Ranma Saotome from a few years 
back.
And he seems to like playing the mysterious hero coming to the last second
rescue. Other than that, you'll have to ask Akane." Nabiki tried to console 
her
wounded ego by reminding herself that this was all unimportant information, 
the
kind anybody with an ear to the ground and two eyes in their head could find
out. Unfortunately, that only emphasised how little Nabiki knew about Ukyou
herself. She sighed. No point in worrying about it now.  And besides...she'd
really been too focused on getting out of her predicament with Ranma to 
worry
too much about what her sister had going on the side.
	Kodachi frowned, mainly to herself. Her voice took on an impatient tone,
all its haughty elegance fleeing it.  "No, you know more than that. How did 
she
arrive in your happy household?  How did you meet her?  How did Akane meet 
her?"
	Nabiki grit her teeth behind her lips. What was so special about Ukyou
Kuonji that this girl was going to such lengths to find out about her? 
Nabiki
felt her own curiosity aroused now. Damn, her life had gotten much too
complicated since that spatula-wielding boy had entered her life. "She was
looking for Ranma and Genma and followed Akane around. I don't know how they 
met
exactly, but apparently they started dating shortly after Ukyou beat up your
brother the first time. I'm sure he told you about Ukyou, he certainly 
doesn't
stop carping on about him around me. I met her when she came to the house to
confront Genma and Ranma." Again, it was all minor information. But now 
Nabiki
resolved she was going to find out the real truth behind Ukyou Kuonji. No 
boy
had such an extensive list of enemies as this boy did without having 
something
in his past he wanted to hide. And if Ukyou had something to hide, Nabiki 
had
leverage over him. If this worked out well, it could solve her problem with
Ranma at the same time. Nabiki smiled unconsciously, a thin malicious smile 
of
her own.
	Kodachi gave Nabiki an incredulous look then stepped back a bit. She
allowed herself a long pause as she apparently thought. Kodachi reached up 
to
her face and grabbed for something near her eyes, then frowned when she 
realized
that nothing was there. Did she usually wear glasses? "Dating...Ukyou Kuonji 
is
dating your sister, Akane Tendo.  Has Akane said anything about this?  Any
reasons? Your sister doesn't really like boys very much, does she?" her 
voice
was slow and careful as she spoke. Some of her imperious tone had filtered 
back
into her speech.
	"Akane?" Nabiki's smile turned into a sour grimace. She hadn't really
been thinking about Akane much. But now that the girl in front of her had
brought the subject back up, Nabiki couldn't help but consider it. Was Akane 
in
danger because of her relationship with Ukyou? Already, someone had 
threatened
her with a gun since the spatula-wielding mystery man had shown up. Could 
this
be some sort of jilted lover? "I couldn't say. Akane and Ukyou spend a lot 
of
time together, and Akane seems really happy-" Nabiki almost added 'for the 
first
time in years' but cut herself off. "I guess its the same reasons any guy 
and
girl date. Akane may be pissed of with what YOUR brother did to her, but she
likes guys..." Nabiki almost added 'I think' to the end of that statement 
but
allowed herself to trail off first. Honestly, Nabiki couldn't remember any 
time
Akane had shown interest in any guy who wasn't Doc Tofu. And everyone had a
crush on the handsome young doctor at some point, even half his male 
patients.
There was something about this conversation that tickled the back of 
Nabiki's
mind. Something that her captor had let slip and Nabiki had missed.
	Kodachi began to tap her finger on the side of her jaw as she thought
about Nabiki's words.  "They spend a lot of time together, hmm?  And what 
about
Ranma? What does he think of that?  Aren't they..." Kodachi trailed off as 
she
ceased tapping her chin. Then she just stared at Nabiki, apparently 
expecting a
prompt answer.
	Nabiki grit her teeth behind her smile again. She hated not having
control of this conversation, but there was little she could do about it. "I
can't tell you what Ranma thinks. My darling fiancee spends more time 
hanging
out with Ukyou than with me." Nabiki purposefully dropped the bit about 
Ranma,
trying to make it sound angry, which wasn't hard. With narrowed eyes, she
carefully analyzed Kodachi's response.
	Nabiki saw a flash of surprise on the girl's face for a fraction of a
second before she composed herself. Kodachi smirked a little and her voice 
was
full of irony when she asked,  "So, Ranma Saotome is your fiancee, is he?  
That
sounds positively charming.  But you're so young.  How did that happen?"
	"I thought you wanted to know about Ukyou," Nabiki said with another
difficult shrug. "It was an arrangement between our families."
	 "And you just let yourself be pushed into it?"  This made Kodachi
laugh, a slightly crazed cackle while she partially covered her mouth with 
the
back of her hand.  "I'd have expected you'd at least have tried to volunteer 
one
of your sisters for such an arrangement."
	Nabiki blinked. That had been almost exactly what had happened, except
Kodachi couldn't possibly know that. Suspicious, Nabiki phrased her words
carefully. It was time to start skirting the truth, just a little. "I didn't
exactly have much choice in the situation."
	Kodachi's good humour evaporated suddenly. She affixed Nabiki with a far
too intimidating glare from those cold, lifeless eyes. "You're not being 
very
talkative, Miss Tendo.  I get a feeling you're not being entirely 
forthcoming.
This displeases me.  It is not in your best interest to displease me.  I 
have a
very long memory, Miss Tendo.  Now, I want to know everything about Ukyou
Kuonji.  This I told you.  If there is anything...anything at all...in your
thoughts, or in what you've observed that you haven't told me, you would do 
well
to do so now."
	"I told you everything I know about Ukyou," Nabiki answered with
complete sincerity, unable to keep a bit of smugness from her tone. Nabiki 
still
refused to be intimidated, but it was getting harder to ignore the impulse.
"Everything else you could learn by picking up the newspaper or asking 
anybody
at school."
	Kodachi closed her eyes and sighed, than began to mutter to herself.
Nabiki leaned in a bit and was able to just overhear her. "So much for the
vaunted Nabiki Tendo, Super-Know-It-All-Genius."  When she looked up again,
Nabiki was back to her former position, feeling a little insulted on top of
everything else now.  "Very well.  If that's all you know, that's all you 
know.
But I can still make use of you," Kodachi pointed out with an irritated 
growl.
She made an elegant flourish with her hands and was suddenly holding a wide
strip of some green fabric. Nabiki blinked, wondering what this was for, 
then
she began to cringe away as the taller girl stepped towards her. Nabiki put 
up a
token struggle as she was gagged. "Now stay here like a good little girl 
until
I'm ready for the arrival of your friend."
	Kodachi turned away from her, retrieved the sack and stalked from the
room. Her graceful walk had been replaced by a brisk, irritated stride. The
door closed behind her with a dreadful finality. For a few minutes all 
Nabiki
did was stare at the door and focus on her hate for Kodachi Kunou.
	Then, when the silence grew heavy and the adrenaline ran out, Nabiki
Tendo began to cry.

*

	The trip back to Nerima was uneventful and short. Aaron had managed to
bullshit his way out of the hospital, aided a great deal by the fact that 
there
was nothing the staff could do to actually hold Ukyou against her will. 
Ranma
had tried to strike up conversations a few times during the trip, but 
neither
Ukyou nor Aaron were in a very talkative mood. At least, not in the mood to 
be
talking to anyone outside their shared skull at the moment.
	The fact was that they had screwed up. Ukyou wanted to lay all the blame
on Aaron, but was unable to bring herself to do so. She knew every detail 
about
the Sailor Moon anime that he did, whether she liked it or not. The fact 
that
she had agreed with his plan, agreed with all his decisions at the scene, 
and
gone along with them all without hesitation or debate made her as much to 
blame
for this debacle as he was. Aaron seemed willing enough to blame himself for 
the
problems, which didn't make her feel any better.
	But regardless of that, it was clear Aaron had been running on instinct
too much. He had hoped to coast along through all the hassles of living in 
an
anime universe as a secondary character without having to do much of 
anything.
He had been so caught up in trying to preserve his identity that he hadn't 
been
paying attention to the world around him. It was tempting to wallow in self-
pity, but instead he was more annoyed with himself.
	There was the vague hope that this would all blow over, but both Aaron
and Ukyou severly doubted that. Sailor Pluto still had it in for them, and 
now
Jadeite might be interested as well. Not to mention they had probably 
alienated
Usagi as well. It was time to start walking with one eye over their 
shoulders.
It was also time to stop relying on Ukyou's inherent skills and start 
exploiting
some of that encyclopediac knowledge of anime and manga Aaron was so proud 
of.
When next they encountered Sailor Pluto, the Dark Kingdom or whatever other
surprises this universe had in store for them, Ukyou and Aaron both planned 
to
have more tricks up their collective sleeve than a bag of flour.
	Which brought them to their next problem: the mysterious "chi" that they
had tapped into to fight Jadeite's youma. Aaron was still convinced that 
that
energy was somehow 'his' chi, and the fact it seemed to be something 
distinctly
different from Ukyou's chi supported his idea. Ukyou was not convinced. If 
it
was chi, then why had it done so much harm to her when she'd used it in that
fight? Ukyou had been tapping into her chi since almost as soon as she could
walk, and doing so had never caused her to spit up blood, faint or develop
bruises along her limbs that still hadn't faded.
	But believing it was Aaron's chi also made her feel better. If he had a
completely separate energy than her, it meant that this damn merger of minds
wasn't also a merger of souls. Which meant that they could be free of each
other. It was almost refreshing to feel it back there. Now that they had 
found
it once, it was impossible not to feel that pool of energy deep in their 
gut.
	"We're here," Ranma said somewhat reluctantly, causing Ukyou to look up.
Sure enough, they had arrived at the Tendo compound. Ukyou sighed. She had 
put
up a brave front for Ranma, but she still felt half-dead. Her every muscle 
ached
and she was slightly light-headed. It would be good to be able to relax now 
that
they were back.
	"Let's go inside," Ukyou said as she walked through the main gate. "I
have to explain what happened to Akane, at the very least."
	"Thanks heavens you're here!"
	Aaron blinked and looked down as a new growth suddenly atached itself
around Ukyou's waist. It was Soun, with his arms wrapped firmly around her
torso. He was sobbing like a baby into her midsection. Aaron was briefly
thankful Ukyou had thought to "borrow" some medical bandages from the 
hospital
before leaving. But even the best chest binding wouldn't stop Soun from
realizing Ukyou's secret if he kept clinging to her like that.
	With a sigh Aaron flipped Ukyou's combat spatula from his back and used
it as a pry-lever to pop the Tendo patriarch off him. Soun landed in an
undignified sprawl on the path. Ukyou regretted that for a moment, but was 
as
aware as Aaron how irrational the mustached man could be. Hopefully the fall
would jar some sense into him.
	"What's going on?" Ranma asked as he stepped up beside his friend. Ukyou
shrugged, waiting for Soun to recompose himself. She never had that chance, 
as
shortly after his questions Genma appeared on the path as well, looming as 
best
he could over Ranma.
	"Boy! How dare you run off when you're fiancee is in mortal peril!"
	"Mortal peril?" Ranma blinked. Ukyou took a step back. Genma had a
tendancy to overreact, so she and Aaron wanted to hear what was going on 
before
leaping to conclusions.
	"Ukyou! You have to save my baby girl!" Soun wailed as he flipped to his
feet. He was remarkably spry for someone his age. Than again, it was easy to
forget he was also a trained martial artist. Wait, what did he say?
	"Explain!" Aaron barked shortly.
	Soun stared at Ukyou's face for a moment, made a little whimpering sound
and fell back on his ass. The scene almost caused Ukyou to burst out in a 
fit of
laughter. Aaron kept rigid control over their features, but only barely.
	"Yeah pops, what are you two going on about?"
	"Ranma, someone has kidnapped your fiancee and her younger sister,"
Genma explained as he adjusted his glasses with one hand. The light glinted 
off
the lenses. "As the heir to the Anything Goes school and as a man it is your
duty to rescue them."
	"Rescue?" Ranma looked perplexed. "Wait, back up a sec..."
	Ukyou didn't hear the rest of what Ranma had to say. She was already
striding briskly into the house. Aaron knew that getting a straight answer 
from
either Genma or Soun was entirely unlikely, so he hoped that the only other
person in the house might be able to help.
	They found Kasumi in the living room, sitting with a frown on her face
and holding an ice-pack to the back of her head. Warning lights went off in
their mind.
	"Kasumi, are you okay?" Ukyou said in her most consoling tone. She
knelt down next to the taller girl and began to look her over, tapping into
Aaron's extensive medical lore. She didn't look badly hurt.
	"I'm fine, its just a small bump," Kasumi pointed out mildly. Ukyou
noted that Soun was entering the household and allowed Aaron to shoot the 
man a
dangerous glare. This caused him to back off a bit. Apparently Ranma and 
Genma
were still debating manly duties outside.
	"What happened here?" Ukyou asked slowly and softly. Despite Aaron's
preconceptions of her as a boring, one-dimensional character, the two of 
them
had found themselves liking Kasumi the few times they had interacted with 
her.
	"I'm not quite sure," Kasumi began slowly but gradually grew more
confident as she spoke. "I served breakfast, and everyone just sort of 
fainted
in front of me as I was sitting down to eat myself. Then I felt a sharp pain 
in
the back of my head. The next thing I remember, I woke up, and Akane and 
Nabiki
were gone."
	"Gone?"
	"Just gone. Father and Uncle Saotome were still unconscious at the
time."
	"Indeed..." Aaron frowned but only for a moment. Ukyou made them smile
and she patted Kasumi reassuringly on the shoulder.
	"There was a note," Kasumi pointed out as Ukyou began to rise. She
looked down at the pseudo-housewife and allowed a curious frown to cross her
features. Kasumi reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of 
paper.
Ukyou held out her hand and smiled at the long-haired girl, who smiled back 
and
handed over the note.
	"Dearest Ukyou Kuonji," Aaron read aloud. "I, the rising young star of
the gymnastics world...blah, blah, blah, known as Kodachi Kunou, the Black
Rose, am extremely anxious to meet with you, as well as Nabiki and Akane 
Tendo,
who came ahead of you, at the Kunou Estate this afternoon.  The Tendo 
siblings
have expressed their desire that you come alone, for this will be more 
pleasing
to them.  I look forward to your timely arrival."
	"See!" Soun burst into their field of view and snatched the note from
their unresisting fingers. "Someone has kidnapped my baby girls! You... 
you're a
hero! You rescue people! Rescue them!" He was really beginning to tear up 
now.
	"Mr. Tendo, calm down," Ukyou told him with a bit of understanding in
her tone. He had every right to be worried about two of his three daughters. 
It
was just so hard to see the man behind the parody that Aaron knew so well. 
"I
have every intention of helping out Akane and Nabiki."
	They spent the next few seconds fending off the man's enthusiastic
thanks.
	When Ukyou stepped outside she saw Ranma leaning next to the wall and
grumbling. Genma was sitting cross-legged nearby, intently watching him. 
Ukyou
rolled her eyes at the scene but stepped forward anyway.
	"Ucchan, do you have any idea what's going on here?" Ranma blurted out
when she was within a few paces of him.
	"Yeah, we're going to save Akane and Nabiki from a kidnapper," Aaron
pointed out evenly.
	"We?"
	"Yes, we," Ukyou smiled at him. "Or I could leave you behind this time."
	"Oh no! Not that again!" Ranma waved both arms in front of her face.
"I've already missed all the action twice now."
	"Third times the charm," Aaron chuckled. Ranma blinked at this, but was
cut off from responding as the male identity walked Ukyou's body out the 
gate.
Ranma leapt to catch up.
	"Where are we going?"
	"To get supplies," Ukyou said evenly. She wanted to sigh. This was not
fair. She was still feeling weak from yesterday. And now Kodachi Kunou was
deciding to get all-
	Wait. Wait just one second.
	Ranma walked on a few paces before he realized Ukyou had stopped in the
middle of the street. He paused and glanced over his shoulder at the girl. 
Ukyou
was too busy mentally debating with Aaron to really notice.
	This made no sense. There was no reason for Kodachi to kidnap Akane and
Nabiki. It wasn't even her style. No, there was something else behind this.
Could it be the Dark Kingdom? With their magic, it might have been possible 
to
track Ukyou down quickly... but this wasn't their style either. Maybe it was
some other anime that Aaron hadn't yet identified that also inhabited this
universe? Damn, too many unknowns.
	"What's the hold up, Ucchan?"
	"I'm just thinking about this," Ukyou stated simply. "Yesterday I walked
right into an ambush because I forgot the simple lessons of warfare."
	"Lessons of warfare?" Ranma murmured.
	"But I'm not going to make that mistake again," Ukyou sighed. She ran
her hand through her bangs. "Ranma, before we go any further, I'm going to 
tell
you everything I know about Kodachi Kunou."


*


	Chris surveyed the Kunou mansion courtyard with a feeling of smug
satisfaction.  It was, if he did say so himself, perfect.  Or as close as 
could
be reasonably expected under the time constraints given.  Thank goodness he
didn't get tired...ever since he took Kodachi's body, he'd been moving, 
working,
plotting, and training, sometimes all at once.
	But now things were nearly set.  He'd worried 'Ukyou' might show up too
early for the party, but it seemed that wasn't going to be a problem.  What 
WAS
a problem was Nabiki, or rather her unexpected unhelpfulness.  He wasn't 
sure if
she had been holding back, or just honestly was completely ignorant.  She 
didn't
even seem to know Ukyou's real gender.  He'd referred to Ukyou as "her" a 
few
times before realising that, but Nabiki seemed to be too concerned over her 
own
situation to catch the slip.  No matter.
	The problem is, he hardly knew any better than before what Ukyou's game
was.  And what he did know just raised more questions.  Why was Ukyou posing 
as
Akane's boyfriend?  Why had she interfered in the formation of the 
Ranma/Akane
engagement?  And, of course, Nabiki wouldn't know how strong she was, or was
pretending to be, or any unusual abilities she'd displayed.
	Which left his other captive, whom he was now staring down at.  She was
unconscious, of course.  He'd been very, very careful to ensure she would 
be.
Akane was no helpless victim, and the stupid anime movies nonwithstanding, 
had a
habit of rescuing herself from these sorts of situations without outside 
help.
The last thing he needed, during the fight with Ukyou, was Akane breaking 
out of
her bonds and joining in against him.
	But now...continued safety, or information?  He'd decided on the latter.
Akane was strong, but he'd made sure she was tied up very firmly, even for a
superhuman.  She got a burst of strength when enraged...he'd make sure she
didn't get to that point. And if she did, well, there was that bouquet of 
black
roses lying nearby.  Handy, that.  Especially when it couldn't affect you on
account of the whole "dead" thing.
	Moving Akane into a seated position, he uncorked a small bottle, vaguely
noticing the strong smell.  Waving it under her nose a few times, he took a 
step
back and awaited the results.  Kodachi wasn't Pink and Link or anything, but 
she
was more than competent.  Akane would recover quickly.
	She did.  After a few moments, she groaned and her eyelids fluttered.
"Wha..?" she muttered, then seemed to realise her circumstances.  
Reflexively,
her arms moved, muscles bunching...but the bonds held.  Thank goodness for
martial arts death machine-worthy gymnastics ribbon.  Akane was looking 
around
now, blinking away the last of her drug-induced sleep.  Her eyes had 
fastened
upon him.
	He took a step forward, carefully settling into Kodachi's arrogant,
high-class speech pattern.  "Greetings, Miss Tendo.  You seem to have 
awakened.
Did you sleep well?"
	Her expression showed confusion, then flashed to anger.  It was very...
Akane.  "Who the- what do you think you're doing!? Untie me!"
	He burned with impatience, to demand the answers out of her.  Ukyou
could arrive at any moment.  But Kodachi wouldn't do that.  Had to keep up 
the
facade.  Calm and steady.  "I'm afraid I can't do that, Miss Tendo.  For the
moment, you're my guest."  Cover mouth with hand, laugh that 
oh-so-stereotypical
upper-class snob laugh.
	That didn't exactly calm her down, unsurprisingly.  She struggled with
her bonds again, banging the wall a bit. "Guests are usually invited, not
kidnapped and tied up!"
	"Ah, but you are a very special guest, Miss Tendo.  You are more than a
guest, in fact...you are the bait on my hook, which will lure the fish to 
me."
And that's the bait to make you interested, Akane.  He silently shouted at 
her
to take it.
	Bait?" Her anger was again replaced by confusion.  She bit her lip,
clearly considering the words, then looked up at him again. "You... you're 
just
using me to get to someone else!? But who?"
	He leaned forward, affecting a pleased expression.  "Why, none other
than your...purported boyfriend, Miss Tendo.  Ukyou Kuonji."  He put a 
generous
dollap of sarcasm on 'boyfriend'.  Let's see if Akane knew the truth.
	She recoiled slightly from him, opened her mouth as if to say something,
closed it again.  After a long pause, she spoke again, quietly.  "What do 
you
want with Ukyou?"
	Well, she didn't protest the sarcasm.  Or maybe she didn't notice it?
Akane was not exactly noted for that kind of perception.  Still, now she was
concerned for Ukyou, as well as angry at him.  That's what he wanted.  He
crouched before her, grinning. "Would you like to know, my dear Miss Tendo?
Marvellous.  There are some things I wish to know from you as well.  Tell me
them, and I'll reveal my intentions to you.  A fair exchange, is it not?"
	Akane turned her head away, avoiding his gaze.  "I won't help you hurt
Ukyou," she said softly.  She seemed to struggle internally for a moment, 
then
turned back, her face serious but no longer angry.  "Please, just tell me 
what
your problem is here!"
	Oh, it was Akane's Sympathy For The Devil routine.  Drug my family,
kidnap me, be vaguely threatening towards my friend?  You can't be all bad!  
How
can I help you with your problems?  Heh.  Too nice for her own good.  But he
could work with that.  He broke out of his crouch, sitting before her cross-
legged, putting them at the same level.  He let the smirk fade from his 
face,
and looked calm, maybe just the slightest bit sad.
	"I'm sorry, Miss Tendo.  I can't tell you what my problem is, unless you
tell me what I need to know, because until you do, I'm not sure what my 
problem
may be, exactly."  True, after a fashion.  "I can tell you that if I know 
more,
I may not need to hurt Ukyou.  But I need to know more about her."  Damn,
slipped again!  Well, see how she reacted.  "And I need you to help me.
Otherwise..." he shrugged.  "I'll have to find out what I need.  By any 
means
necessary."
	Akane stared at him strangely after the gender-slip.  Now what did that
mean?  But she settled his doubts a moment later.  "I told you I can't help 
you
hurt my friend," Akane said fiercely, gritting her teeth. "Ukyou has done 
too
much for me to betray her!"  So she knew.  And Nabiki didn't.  Interesting.  
But
Akane was still staring at him.  Not angrily, just...determined.  "Maybe...
maybe we can talk about this. Tell me what you want to know. If it isn't
something dangerous, maybe I can help you after all."
	Hmm.  He didn't want to lie to her.  Much.  So what was close to the
truth?  A-ha.  This ought to work.  "I...knew Ukyou.  Before you met her.  
But
she showed up here, and she's...changed.  She's not acting like the same 
person.
I'm worried she ISN'T the same person.  I want to know what you know about 
her.
How you met her.  Anything unusual she's done.  Anything that can help me 
figure
out what's happened to her."
	"Huh? But Ranma seems to get along with Ukyou just fine..." Suddenly,
her eyes widened. "You mean you knew Ukyou from -before- she met Ranma? Back
before Genma ruined her life?" Her expression grew sad. "Yes, she must seem 
like
a different person, after what that bastard did to her."
	What the hell was she babbling about?  Why would he know or care what
Ukyou was like before she was six?  Okay, sure, it sounded like a stupid 
anime
plotline, but...maybe she'd jumped to conclusions.  He shook his head.  "No, 
you
don't get it.  I knew Ukyou before she came here, to Tokyo.  She was a 
different
person then.  And she just...vanished, and came here.  But now she's 
different.
Completely different.  And I want to know why."
	"That doesn't make any sense then." Akane shook her head. "If what
you're saying is true, that would mean Ukyou lied to me. And I'm much more
inclined to believe her than you, considering how she saved my life and you
kidnapped me."
	"And what did Ukyou tell you?"
	"Nothing about changing at all. She's always been... kinda private about
her condition. She came here to find Ranma and Genma."
	This was frustratingly uninformative.  And taking too damn long.  He
strained to hold in his impatience.  "Yes, that's what I want to know.  How 
she
came here.  How you met.  Why you're posing as a couple."
	"She was following me around for a while, trying to see if I knew where
Ranma and Genma were. Then I caught up with her and... well, it's kinda
embarassing. Anyway she told me her story. Then she noticed that I was 
having
these problems with guys at school and offered to help me with it." She 
paused,
and glanced down at her bonds. "I'd be much more inclined to trust you, if 
you
let me go. I promise not to try to run away or attack you."
	Sounded credible, if again, frustratingly unhelpful.  'Ukyou' obviously
wasn't giving much away.  And that promise...tempting.  He wouldn't have to
worry about her escaping to fight against him, as long as he wasn't actually
killing Ukyou.  Which he didn't intend to do.  At least not until he had
answers.  He quickly rethought some plans.  Could work.  "I could believe
you...but if I let you go, you must promise not to interfere at all when 
Ukyou
comes here.  In return, I promise not to severely injure her.  But I will
probably have to fight her.  I tried talking to her before...and she 
wouldn't
tell me anything.  So I'll have to force her to give me the answers I want.  
Can
you accept that?"
	Akane looked torn.  She wanted to help him, wanted to help Ukyou,
clearly...was there something else?  She wasn't as easy to read as he 
thought.
Guess those thought balloons in the manga really helped.  Suddenly, she
brightened hopefully.  "Wait, I have an idea! Why don't you have me talk to
Ukyou? We're really close friends. If I explain what's going on, maybe 
she'll
tell us both?"
	Hmm.  No, if the faux-Ukyou cared enough about Akane to respect a
request from her, she wouldn't be lying to her in the first place.  He shook 
his
head sadly.  "I'm afraid I already tried that, Akane.  She knows what's 
going
on, and what my concerns are.  But she wouldn't tell me anything.  I doubt 
it'll
be any different with you.  No, I'm afraid I'm going to have to incapacitate 
her
before she'll talk."
	"But Ukyou isn't that kind of person!" Akane insisted. "She never lies
to me, she just chooses to keep a few things private. I mean, she's a hero!
Didn't you see what she did yesterday?"
	"Why no, I did not.  I was rather busy yesterday.  What did she do?"
	"She only saved two or three busloads of innocent people from a real
live monster! She even knew it was going to happen, and left yesterday just 
in
time to stop them and everything..." here she trailed off, muttering just 
loud
enough for him to hear, "...of course, she could have taken me along too." 
She
shook off her irritation and was back to defence mode quickly, though. "The
point is, Ukyou is a good person. If she's hiding something from you, she 
has a
very good reason! Maybe if she sees that you just want to help, and I ask 
her
too, than we can get her to open up a little bit?"
	His mind worked furiously.  A monster?  Busloads of people?  The hell?
Some series he didn't know about?  Or...it COULD be Sailor Moon, he 
supposed.
Maybe.  Hell, it could be Blue Seed for all he knew (was that here too?).  
And
either way, no reason for Ukyou to be involved, busloads of innocent people 
or
not.  And 'knew it was going to happen'...ah, but she knew.  She KNEW.  The
dropped Evangelion reference.  So she must have been interfering in the plot 
of
another anime.  But what?  And why?
	And what to do about Akane?  Well, she obviously wasn't going to add
much more to his information stockpile, though at least now he knew where 
Ukyou
- and Ranma? - had vanished to.  He let anger flow into his voice.  It 
wasn't
hard.  "No, Akane, that's just it.  Maybe I just want to help, and maybe I
don't.  Helping Ukyou is one thing.  But that person you know looks like 
Ukyou,
calls herself Ukyou...and is NOT Ukyou.  I'll guarantee it from the bottom 
of my
soul.  Nothing that happened to her would explain the Ukyou I knew becoming 
the
Ukyou you know.  I don't know if she's something else with the shape of 
Ukyou's
body imitating her, or whether she's possessed, or...I don't know.  I don't
know.  But the one thing I DO know is that she lied.  She's NOT Ukyou.  And 
I'm
sorry if you don't believe me.  But I'm sure.  And I'm sure she won't tell
either of us the truth just because we ask.  Like I told you, I tried that."
	"But Ranma's known her since she was six and -he- believes she's the
real Ukyou!"
	He snorted.  "Akane, Ranma knew Ukyou WHEN she was six.  And didn't see
her again until they met here.  He didn't even know Ukyou was a girl.  So I
think I'm a slightly better judge than him."
	"I'm sorry you feel that way," Akane sighed. "I don't know if I believe
what you say is true. If Ukyou has changed so much... what was she like 
before?
I can't imagine her having changed so totally you don't even recognize her
anymore."
	He paused, then decided to go for broke.  Akane already knew enough to
know she wasn't Kodachi anyway, as soon as she and Ukyou talked, and that 
was
under the dubious assumption Ukyou wouldn't find out in the fight anyway. So
let's see what might surprise her and what might not.  He scrutinised her
reactions carefully.  "Well, for starters, the real Ukyou doesn't fight
monsters.  She was training for revenge on Genma, but fighting wasn't her 
thing.
Her only true hobby was cooking okonomiyaki.  She LOVED that.  Wanted to own 
her
own restaurant, and she talked about it a lot.  And oh yes: she's been in 
love
with Ranma for ten years.  She wants to marry him.  She certainly wouldn't 
have
any interest in pretending to be your boyfriend and thus stalling that, even 
as
a favour."
	"Marry Ranma? But... that's just... you must be joking?" Then she
blinked. "Well, there was the time she threw up on him, I suppose..."
	"Threw up on him?  Um...okay, whatever.  Trust me when I say this,
Akane: if that's the real Ukyou, she loves Ranma more than she loves anyone 
or
anything else.  She spent the last ten years of her life pretending to be a 
boy
and training hard in fighting even though she didn't like it because of him.
Though I have no doubt Ukyou could be friends with you, she'd throw you 
aside or
even beat the crap out of you to be with him.  I can't think of anything she
values more."  Ah, nothing could beat the sincere ring of truth, when trying 
to
persuade.
	"Let me get this straight: she pretended to be a boy because she was in
love with another boy?" She didn't sound sarcastic, just understandably
confused. "Uh, right." Again she muttered mainly to herself. "Maybe that's 
why
Ukyou keeps dashing off with Ranma and leaving me behind all the time..." 
Then
she shook her head disbelievingly.
	One more try.  "There are reasons, Akane.  I can't tell you them,
because they're Ukyou's secrets to tell, not mine.  I only said as much as I 
did
because I wanted you to believe me.  But now we've come to the crux.  Either 
you
do believe me, and agree to our deal...or you don't, and I'll have to do 
things
by myself.  The choice is up to you."
	"I'm sorry, I can't stand by while you hurt Ukyou!" She sighed. "No
matter what, she saved my life once. If you're so dead set on this, you'll 
have
to fight me as well." She looked up at him, determined and defiant.
	Zero for two.  He was really stressed today.  No matter.  Back to Plan
"A".  He straightened.  "In that case, Akane, I'm very sorry.  Perhaps, once
it's all over, it will be explained to you.  I guess we'll see if I win, 
then,
won't we?"
	As he turned to pick up the bouquet, he heard her voice again.  "I'm
sorry."  She sounded like she meant it.  But of course she did.  She was 
Akane.
And she was too nice for her own good.  Too stubborn, too.  He'd tried to 
let
her in on things.  He'd let on too much, again, he'd tried too hard.  It 
wasn't
his fault she had absolute loyalty to someone she'd known for a couple of 
weeks
at most.
	So why was it that he felt so utterly rotten about it?
	He angrily shoved that away.  He didn't have time for doubt.  He pushed
the bouquet into her face.  She tried to avoid it, but tied up as she was,
didn't have much success.  Her body slumped bonelessly as she inhaled the 
fumes
released.  Producing another strip of cloth much like he had used on her 
sister,
he gagged her.  She wouldn't be able to speak very LOUDLY while 
paralysed...but
better safe than sorry.
	He didn't speak again as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.
He felt her eyes on his back, but ignored it.  It was time to finish 
preparing.
Ukyou would arrive soon.  And then he'd see just how much better than the 
real
thing she might be.
	Then he'd finally have his answers.


*


	Ranma followed Ukyou along as she stormed down the street. The tail of
her new black trenchcoat flapped along behind her. It had been one of the 
many
purchases Ukyou had made over the last hour as she pulled Ranma along in her
wake. He still wasn't sure about some of the stuff Ukyou had gotten. A lot 
of it
seemed to be standard cooking ingredients, and other stuff she had been 
forced
to buy from people with dark sunglasses and shorter-than-normal fingers. Not
that Ranma was scared of their type; you dealt with them enough when you got 
in
the occasional pit fight.
	"I just wish I had been able to get more than one of these," Ukyou
grumbled as she held up a small metal box in her hands. Ranma wasn't sure 
what
it was, but shrugged as she slipped it into her coat again. "Ranma, if you 
see
any clouds of gas, hold your breath and leap over it and get away."
	"Man, you're being awfully paranoid, Ucchan," Ranma shrugged as he
scratched at the back of his neck. "This Kodachi chick doesn't sound too 
bad.
Maybe a little skewed in the head about the whole fair play deal, but 
otherwise
not that dangerous."
	"Always be prepared," Ukyou said as she ran her hands through her bangs
again. "Anyway, no use crying over split milk. We're here."
	"Yeah, I guess."
	There was no doubt the place was big. It was surrounded by a wall, like
the Tendo compound. But the wall was much longer, and the building which 
rose
behind it much more... well, big.
	"Okay," Ukyou sighed. "Let's get this over with." She looked at Ranma
and smiled, and he smiled back. Her face shifted to its standard cold-eyed 
stare
a moment later and she walked up to the huge gate. Then with a twin snapping 
of
her knuckles she loosened herself up. And finally, she drew back one hand... 
and
knocked.
	There was a loud buzz and the door gradually swung open. Ukyou cocked
her head to the side, then shrugged with a short chortle. She waited until 
the
door was all the way open before stepping forward. Her manner was wary and 
slow
as she moved in. Her huge combat spatula was kept slightly in front of her.
Ranma waited a half-second then shrugged and idled on through himself. He 
wasn't
really as concerned as Ukyou was by some psycho chick with a poison fetish.
	Ukyou stopped Ranma with a raised hand as they entered the threshold of
the compound. It was possible to see inside now. The place looked good 
enough,
Ranma guessed. It had all the traditional Japanese points of interest. The 
yard
was huge, by most standards, but not really impressive to a guy who had been
wandering in the great wilderness wastes of China for the better portion of 
a
year.
	Beyond the front yard was the mansion itself. It was two stories high,
with a traditional sloping roof with those weird tiles Ranma never did like 
the
design of. They made the roof too slippery. The front doors were open. He 
could
see something beyond the front doors, but not very well at this distance. 
Ranma
gave the rest of the area a quick scan, noticing nothing unusual. He made a 
few
mental notes of the tactical options the place offered, then just shrugged.
	This was kinda boring, where was the monster?
	Ranma was about to step forward when Ukyou stopped him by tapping him on
the shoulder. Leaning her spatula on the ground, she cupped her hands around 
her
mouth.
	"Oy, Kodachi Kunou! I believe you've kidnapped some friends of mine. If
you hand them over now, I won't feel obligated to kick your ass!" Ukyou 
yelled
as loud as she could. Ranma staggered back a bit and clutched his ears. 
shooting
a bit of a frown at Ukyou. Man that girl had a set of lun... er, a really 
loud
voice.
	"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!  Welcome, Ukyou Kuonji.  I've been expecting you.
Please, enter my humble abode.  What you see there may interest you."
	Well, that person certainly didn't sound very stable. He glanced around,
trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. Aside from 'in front of him' he
wasn't able to narrow it down at all. Ukyou ran her hands through her bangs 
and
sighed. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking behind that ice-cold
mask she called an expression.
	"Okay, you asked for it," Ukyou said softly as she pulled a small packet
from her coat. She flipped it through the air and the packet unraveled as it
flew. A cloud of dust fell down behind it, slowly settling onto the ground. 
Then
the ground exploded. Ranma yelped and leapt backward as a trail of fire 
erupted
in a straight line between Ukyou and the doorway. "I hope you weren't too
attached to your house, Kodachi!" Ukyou cried out again. "I don't plan on
leaving much of it standing when I'm finished!"
	Ukyou waited for the explosions to die down then started across the
burnt pathway she had created towards the doorway. Ranma rubbed his fingers 
in
his ears and followed her.
	"What the hell was that?"
	"Tempura flakes mixed with gunpowder, at about triple my usual
admixture," Ukyou grinned evilly. Ranma gave her a long, serious stare and 
then
reminded himself never to get on her bad side.
	Another laugh reached them as they neared the door.  "Dear me.  I guess
you're not nearly as good a friend as a certain Miss Tendo told me you were, 
to
so callously risk her life, now are you?"
	"Hey, that's right, you can't exactly burn the place down." Ranma
pointed out.
	"I never planned on doing that... until Akane and Nabiki are safe,"
Ukyou pointed out as they neared the door. "After that, I'll probably beat
Kodachi black and blue, torch a bit of her house and otherwise 'convince' 
her
not to mess with me. Whatever problem she has, I'm going to solve it before 
it
gets out of hand."
	Ranma blinked as Ukyou spoke. Her voice was cold and certain. Those
weren't idle threats. He found himself putting a little more space between 
them.
This was a side of his friend that he had never seen before.
	Ukyou looked around the interior with a critical eye. Ranma looked over
her shoulder past the front hall. He could see that the hall was short and 
led
to a back patio, maybe some sort of centre courtyard deal? There was a bit 
of
smoke left over from Ukyou's stunt, but Ranma could see the bright sunshine
bouncing off two figures standing back to back out there. He couldn't make 
out
any other details.
	"Hey, Ucchan, check it out!" Ranma tapped Ukyou on the shoulder and
pointed towards the figures which were barely in view. Ukyou nodded and then
stepped back a bit.
	"Akane! Nabiki! Can you hear me? Can you respond?" Ukyou called out
again. They waited a few seconds with no response and Ukyou shrugged and 
spoke
in a lower tone. "Probably drugged."
	"Well, let's go get them out of there..."
	"Wait," Ukyou grabbed his shoulder. She reached into her jacket and
pulled out a dozen of her minature spatulas. "Kodachi probably has the 
entire
place rigged with booby-traps. Let's see if we can spring any before they 
become
a problem." With that Ukyou tossed the blades into the house one at a time,
taking special attention to hit any flowers she saw within line of sight. 
Ranma
blinked as a few of the arrangements suddenly exploded into clouds of 
noxious
looking purple smoke. "Way too predictable." Ukyou pulled out her larger 
spatula
and began to wave it around, dispersing the small clouds easily. Then with a
simple efficiency she retrieved her weapons from the walls, making sure to 
clean
them off on the outside of her jacket before returning them to storage.
	Ranma walked forward into the room while she did that. Now that he was
further in, he could get a better angle on the back patio. The outside was
indeed some sort of interior courtyard. The first thing Ranma's eyes settled 
on
were the two girls in the exact center of the open space. They were bound to
some kind of wooden post, black hoods over their heads. They were wearing
Furinkan school uniforms and looked to be about the right height. Ranma 
glanced
around the rest of the area. A few scattered pieces of kendo equipment were
pushed against the walls, and a bunch of other wrapped bundles were 
scattered
about in various places about the yard. The yard itself was grassy, but 
well-
trimmed. It was fairly small, no larger than the Tendo's backyard. Ranma 
looked
up and spotted their enemy for the first time.
	She was standing imperiously on the top of the building straight across
from Ranma. She was long-legged, a fact made evident by her high-cut black
leotard that was tight enough to leave very little to the imagination. Then
again, when one saw such things from Ranma's point of view often enough, 
they
began to lose their carnal impact. Still, it was an interesting outfit. Her 
long
black hair was tied up in a pony-tail that flipped and swayed behind her as 
it
caught in the wind. Her elegant face was smirking down at them... until she
seemed to notice Ranma, and then her mouth fell into a stern frown.
	"It was requested that you come alone, Ukyou Kuonji.  This...
-interloper- was not invited." Kodachi sounded irritated, and her posture
reflected as much. Ukyou stepped in front of Ranma before he could shoot his 
own
response back.
	"And I decided to ignore your request." Ukyou pointed out coldly. "Now,
I'll repeat what I said before. You can give up now and let me and my 
friends
walk out of here, or I can rescue them, break your legs, and maybe burn your
house to the ground."
	"An uncouth response.  I think not.  Very well, Ukyou Kuonji.  I will
not so insult you by offering you the chance to surrender."  She reached 
out,
stretching a long thin ribbon between her hands. Ranma tightened his posture 
a
bit; Ukyou had warned him not to underestimate that weapon.  "I will 
remember
your threat to break my legs.  Let us see if you can carry it out."
	"Ask and ye shall recieve," Ukyou responded frostily. With a snap of her
arms, Ukyou pulled a small swarm of throwing spatulas from her coat and sent
them flying. Kodachi grinned and began to twirl her ribbon in front of her,
obviously expecting to deflect the attack. It might have worked too, if 
Ukyou
had been aiming for Kodachi. Instead the shuriken-like weapons let out a 
series
of hollow thuds as they impacted into the post holding the two girls up. 
With
deceptive slowness the ropes fell away, neatly bisected in a dozen places.
Ranma kept his attention split between Ukyou and the girl on the roof. 
Kodachi
dropped her ribbon, her annoyed frown deepening slightly. She gestured 
behind
her back and came back with a pair of gymnastics batons in both hands. Ranma 
had
also been warned that such batons often carried hidden surprises.
	His companion, however,  didn't even give Kodachi a second glance. Ukyou
was already moving again, her motion efficiently transferring from one throw
back to reach inside her coat. With a cry she flipped her hands out, and 
long
strands leapt from her fingertips.
	"Woah," Ranma called as the bands slapped into the two toppling girls
bodies, and adhered there. Now that Ranma could see the strands, they looked
like super-thick noodles of some kind. He only had a few seconds to notice 
this
before Ukyou jerked with all her strength, lifted the girls off their feet 
and
propelling them through the air. Kodachi gasped in shock and pulled back her
batons to throw them.
	"Ranma, deflect them!" Ukyou barked.
	"Right." Ranma pulled out a few of the minature spatulas Ukyou had
provided him and threw them on instinct. The weapons zinged over Ukyou's 
head,
causing her hair to ruffle in their wake. His aim was true, and each of his
weapons struck one of Kodachi's batons in mid-flight, knocking them off 
path. A
second later, Ukyou grunted as the two bodies slammed into her and she fell
towards Ranma as she tumbled under their weight. Ranma easily side-stepped 
the
collapsing pile of females.
	"You okay, Ucchan?" Ranma asked swiftly as he bent over to check on her.
She was currently buried under a pile of girls. Ranma was about to help her 
up
when he felt something snap tightly around his neck. "Gargh!" Ranma tried to
scream as he hands flew reflexively to his neck. He could feel the thin 
ribbon
rubbing against his flesh with the tip of his fingers, but couldn't get his
fingers under it.
	Then he was flying. He gasped in pain as a force wrenched at his neck.
The world spun around him. His hands snapped around the ribbon and he 
righted
himself. He briefly saw Kodachi as she jerked him skyward. She was standing 
on
the post now. She smiled maliciously as Ranma reached the apex of his 
flight.
	"OHOHOHOHOHO!  You fools!"
	With a vicious tug Kodachi pulled him from the sky, sending Ranma flying
towards the ground. Ranma tried to gasp, but he could barely breathe. The 
ground
was really approaching fast...
	"Ranma!"
	Ukyou's voice caught Ranma's attention and he saw her sprinting across
the grass towards him. Her expression had lost all its cold composure. She
leapt, stretching her arms out and catching Ranma as he fell. Ukyou let out 
a
gasp as Ranma smashed into her stomach. A split-second later they hit the
ground, which gave with a resounding crack. Ranma grunted, barely feeling 
the
impact.
	He snarled, pulling one of Ukyou's mini-spatulas from his sleeve and
slashed apart the ribbon holding him. Immediatly the pressure on his throat
ceased. He took a deep breath and sat up.
	"Dammit," Ranma growled at Kodachi. The girl was still standing on the
post in the center of the yard, a self-satisfied smirk on her lips. "You 
crazy
freak." Ranma looked down at Ukyou before the leotard-clad teenager could
respond. "Ucchan, thanks for the assist, but it really wasn't neccesary..." 
he
trailed off.
	Ukyou was staring at him, her eyes staring glassily and her mouth
slowly opening and closing. Ranma frowned. Ukyou's arms and legs twitched
slightly, but otherwise she wasn't moving.
	"Ukyou? Are you hurt?"
	"Pppp..." Ukyou gasped between vibrating lips. "P-poison!"
	"What?"
	Ranma stepped off of Ukyou and looked down at her. Now that he had a
better angle he could see them. Dozens of tiny caltrops, all sticking into
Ukyou's body from multiple angles. Each one glistened with some sort of 
strange
fluid. Ranma looked around the yard. Now that he knew what to look for he 
could
see them. Tiny pieces of metal glinting throughout the entire grassy area. 
Who
knew how many had been under Ukyou when she had landed?
	Carefully placing his feet, Ranma turned and glared at Kodachi, who was
smiling down at him.
	"You hurt my friend," Ranma informed her cooly. "I won't forgive you."
	Even as he said that, the girl was flipping back up, landing once more
on the far roof. "Dear boy, your friend planned to hurt me rather badly.  Or 
did
you perhaps not hear her threat?  Fair is fair...and I, after all, have not 
hurt
her nearly so badly as that."
	Great. If she left the courtyard, Ranma would have more room to maneuver
without worrying about those caltrops. He grinned. Obviously, she didn't 
know
that the Saotome School focused on mid-air combat.
	"And you kidnapped Akane," Ranma said as he bunched his legs and
followed her. "Don't think you're getting away with this!" Ranma flew 
straight
at her. He cocked back one hand for a punch. But he was already planning 
ahead.
She would likely evade. If she went right, he could tap off the roof and 
spin
into a kick. If she went left, he would continue past her and rebound with a
powerful thrust that should catch her off balance.
	Left.  She was going left, he could see her posture shift towards that,
and her hand was reaching down.  He grinned...but then Kodachi hesitated.  
Her
eyes widened as they focused on his approach - was that fear on her face? - 
and
he was upon her.  His fist slammed into her gut.  He wasn't gentle about 
it...he
didn't like hitting chicks, but this one had kidnapped girls and hurt 
Ucchan.
She folded up and tumbled back, but something was odd.  Something wrong 
about
how she'd reacted to the blow.  Normally, that drove the wind out of 
someone,
but she hadn't...
	His feet touched the roof, and thoughts of Kodachi vanished from Ranma's
mind, because suddenly he was falling.  Had he landed wrong?  He scrabbled 
for
purchase, but his hands slipped over the tiles.  They were greased!  And 
that
meant he was falling...towards the grass.  And those poisoned caltrops in 
it.
He desperately flung out his hands, searching for something that would hold
him...and caught it.  A leotard-clad form tumbled past him as he jerked to a
halt, but he ignored her, looking at what he had grabbed.  It was another 
tile.
But it wasn't greased.  Wait, it was where Kodachi had been standing.  She 
HAD
flipped back to the exact same spot when she returned to the roof.  Hadn't
thought anything of it at the time, but...he reached his other hand up to 
secure
his grip.
	And the tile broke.
	He stared at the broken shard in his hand dumbly for a moment, then
frantically dropped it and reached out with both hands.  But it was too 
late,
because gravity had taken over, and he was falling, towards the eaves of the
house, towards the grass below.  He looked around for something, anything, 
saw
something dark, kicked himself towards it as he slid from the roof.
	The world spun around crazily, then suddenly came to a halt.  Ranma lay
still for a moment.  He didn't feel any pricks, no poison coursing through 
his
veins, no inability to move.  Okay.  He carefully moved to his feet.  Where 
was
Kodachi...oh.
	Kodachi was below him, having served as his impromptu cushion.  Her
haughty face was pale, and her eyes wide.  Her mouth hung open, and she was
still except for a slight twitch of her cheek.  Her eyes stared up, but not 
at
him.  In fact, they didn't seem to be focused on anything, or even conscious
anymore.  Instead, they were glassy and blank.
	It was over already? Damn. That was fast. Ranma was just getting warmed
up.
	"That was kinda disappointing," Ranma grumbled. Well, first job was
getting to Ukyou. Ranma stood up on Kodachi's stomach, not really surprised 
by
her lack of protest, and began to look for some way to go over and help 
Ukyou
without risking getting poisoned himself. That was a bit of a pickle... then
Ranma smacked his fist into his palm and grinned. "Excuse me," he told the
unconscious Kodachi as he reached down and plucked her ribbon from her 
nerveless
fingers.
	Ranma leapt across the yard, landing on the central post. Then with a
snap whipped out the ribbon a few times. The first few attempts didn't do 
much
good, but on about the third try he got the trick of it. With that he 
snatched
the huge spatula lying next to Ukyou and pulled it to him. A few second 
later he
had flung it on the ground next to her. With a sigh of relief he leapt the 
short
distance to land on the large flat of the blade.
	"Hang on, Ucchan," Ranma murmured simply. He used the last of the
miniature shuriken-like spatulas Ukyou had given him to carefully remove the
caltrops from her body. Then he lifted her up and tossed her over his 
shoulder
in a fireman's carry. It appeared the thick leather of Ukyou's coat had kept
most of the caltrops on her back from penetrating all the way through. 
"Right
now let's go get the others and..."
	Ranma cut off as a soft sound came to him. He snapped his head to the
side and saw Kodachi. She was standing on the eave again, carrying a pair of
batons with spiked heads in each hand. She was smiling.
	"What the..." Ranma reached up with his free hand and rubbed his eyes.
"How did you get back up!?"
	 "Silly, silly Ranma.  Do you think I would be so easily hoist by my own
petard?  Now, don't move, dear boy, there's a bit of a problem here for 
you."
She held out the batons, poised for a throw.  "The spikes on these are 
coated
with a very lethal little concoction I've brewed up.  A single hit...a 
single
SCRATCH means certain death.  But, as I am merciful, I do not feel it 
necessary
to use them.  Unless you make me, of course.  I have many of them, including
these four I have ready to throw now.  You quite admirably deflected them
before, but now...unfortunately, you are burdened by your friend, whom you
probably do not wish to drop upon the poisonous little surprises that were
somehow left in the grass.  But you are fast and strong, I can see that.  
You
could probably save yourself and her from being touched by them.  Probably.  
But
could you save those other two girls as well?  They are rather far away, 
aren't
they?  And you certainly can't let yourself be distracted, turning your back 
on
me..."
	Ranma stared at her dumbly for a few seconds. Then shook his head. "Wow,
you are nuts. I didn't believe Ucchan when she told me about you." He 
rotated
his neck. "Well... I guess I'll just have to stop you from using those 
things."
Ranma narrowed his eyes, scanning the courtyard for something, anything, he
could use to stop Kodachi before she carried out her threat.
	With a soft sigh Kodachi flung one of the batons. Ranma didn't flinch as
the weapon snapped into the ground in front of his feet. "Dear boy, you 
didn't
listen.  I said, do not move.  Not a single muscle, save perhaps for that 
lovely
mouth of yours, to respond to what I say.  There will be no further 
warnings, I
am afraid."
	Ranma frowned now. Kodachi sounded serious. But there was no way Ranma
was going to back down. Kodachi had just gone from mildly annoying kidnapper 
to
potential murderer. Worse, she was using the threat of harming his friends 
to
try and get him to back down. Ranma tensed his muscles invisibly under his
clothes, his eyes snapping across the area for some weapon he could use to
defend himself, Ukyou and the two Tendo sisters all at once.
	His hand tensed slightly and he realized he had the ribbon still in one
hand. That could help, but at best he could snatch one baton in mid-air 
before
it reached a target, and Kodachi had three of them left. If only he had a 
bit
more practice with the unusual weapon...
	"Excellent decision," Kodachi purred, cutting off that train of thought.
"Now remember, not even a twitch until I tell you.  You're rather 
troublesome,
boy.  You weren't supposed to be here.  Now what shall I do with you?  It 
simply
wouldn't do to leave you as a proper factor here.  How unfortunate for you 
that
I hold all the cards in this situation, hmm?"  Her voice suddenly grew 
ice-cold.
"You have two choices.  Either leave, right now, or step on one of the 
caltrops
and stay to observe what happens.  Think quickly."
	"Nah," Ranma grinned happily. "You want Ukyou so bad? Catch." Ranma
moved quickly, cutting off Kodachi before she could speak. With a mighty 
heave
he snapped the arm holding Ukyou forward... and suddenly a cloud of 
billowing
black flew towards Kodachi. But Ukyou wasn't in the coat anymore, Ranma 
having
held onto her well enough to prevent that. Ranma didn't wait to see 
Kodachi's
reaction as the obscuring black coat blasted towards her. Instead he 
muttered a
soft prayer asking Ukyou for forgiveness as he spun on one toe... and threw 
her
through a nearby window into the house proper. Ranma transferred the 
momentum of
his spin even further, tapping off the spatula beneath him and leaping in 
the
direction of the doorway Akane and Nabiki were in.
	There was a triple thump as the batons slammed into the coat and the
entire mass suddenly reversed direction. Ranma was barely leaping by the 
time it
reached him, but he grinned as his gambit paid off. He could feel something
brush past his leg as he leapt away, but it was just leather against his 
pants.
Ranma saw Kodachi already reacting, pulling more of those batons from 
wherever
she was storing them. She was reaching back for a throw and Ranma couldn't 
tell
if she was aiming for him or the girls beyond. He grit his teeth. This had 
to
work!
	Ranma snapped his hand out as he flew over the ground. Time seemed to
slow down as the ribbon unrolled towards the house. Was it too high? Had he
missed? Could he adjust it in mid-flight? Should he? No! Trust yourself, 
Ranma!
This WOULD work!
	The ribbon wrapped tightly about its target... the door handle! With a
triumphant yell Ranma pulled the improvised grapple sharply. The door 
slammed
shut. Now, Kodachi was cut off from all three of the helpless girls! His 
leap
had also looked like it was toward the house, but it really was just high 
enough
to allow him to tuck in his legs and land on the roof itself. Unfortunately 
he
had no time to unravel the ribbon, and was forced to drop it as he landed on 
the
roof.
	His triumph was short-lived as his legs suddenly shot out from under
him. He fell backward, and felt more than saw the sudden passage of a pair 
of
poison-tipped batons as they flew through the space he would have occupied 
had
he landed upright. Ranma almost sighed in relief. Then he was falling off 
the
edge of the roof, towards that damn trapped ground again!
	With a yell Ranma punched downward. He could just see the glitter of
metal amidst the grass... and his fist slammed down into the ground, barely 
a
millimeter from the edge of one of the poison-coated spines. For an 
agonizing
instant his muscles fought gravity as he tried to support his weight on that 
one
hand. Then he heard the whistle of incoming projectiles. Gritting his teeth 
and
cursing whatever gods were supposed to be looking out for him Ranma pushed.
	He was airborne again. The batons slammed into the ground where his hand
had been moments before. His push had achieved some altitude, but it 
wouldn't
last forever and he could now see the cursing Kodachi seeming to dance in 
place
as she launched batons at him in sequence, tracking his motion.
	Ranma had lost the ribbon. He had no way to defend himself from the
attacks. In a second his inertia would cease carrying him upward and then 
he'd
be a sitting duck. His mouth cocked into a grin as his brain suddenly 
provided
him with what might be an answer.
	Ranma's hands moved fast. One hand clamped onto each side of his shirt
and with a staccato of popping wooden ties he ripped it open. A quick shrug 
and
the silk garment was pulled from his chest and swinging around ahead of him. 
It
had worked before. But Ukyou's leather coat was much thicker than Ranma's 
silk
shirt. Still he snapped the fabric with as much force as he could, wishing 
he'd
bothered to learn that iron cloth thing.
	The fabric collided with the first baton that would have caught him and
he grinned as it flew off course. Then Ranma spun the cloth again, knocking 
a
second and third weapon out of the way. He could hear the shirt ripping and
tearing as he descended. It wouldn't last two more blows. But Ranma was 
almost
down to the roof again. The slightly shining roof.
	Ranma had almost forgotten the grease -again-. He needed some way to
stay on the roof... to manouvre without restriction. Wait, that might work-
	Ranma had no more time for thinking. He spun in place, putting his legs
beneath him and kicked out with as much force as he could muster. The tile 
of
the roof hit his foot and splintered into dozens of pieces. He was stable!
	His shirt gave out at last, tearing into shreds as he knocked aside one
last baton. Ranma couldn't afford to stay still. With a grin he used his 
stable
footing to launch himself along the eave of the roof. Every time his foot 
came
down it wasn't a gentle tap. His footsteps left a trail of splintered tile 
in
his wake. Not elegant, but definitely effective. Now he just had to stay 
ahead
of those damn batons and circle around to Kodachi's part of the roof!
	It took Ranma a fraction of a second to realize he was no longer hearing
the whizzing sound of projectiles, but instead the rythmic sound of hands
clapping. He slowed his pace a fraction and saw Kodachi applauding him. 
Noticing
she had his attention, Kodachi spoke in a low, amused tone.  "Excellent, 
Ranma,
excellent.  Masterfully played.  Truly, you are a wonder, a martial arts 
genius
far beyond my stature."
	"Heh, I am the best," Ranma grinned as he pulled to a stop. He was
halfway around the courtyard to Kodachi at this point. A good solid leap 
would
carry him to her, but leave him too vulnerable in the air. Best to keep 
running.
But first, he'd give her one last chance to back down. "You might as well 
give
it up. You ain't never gonna beat me. No matter what other tricks you have 
up
your sleeve."
	"However, as superb as you are, you couldn't think of everything. You
got all three of the girls inside the house.  You guarded them.  You slammed 
the
door." Kodachi stopped clapping and drew her hand up to her cheek. Her mouth
dropped open into an overblown O of shock. "Unfortunately for you, you 
neglected
to block the very window you just threw Ukyou Kuonji through.  And more
unfortunately still, my aim was quite good enough to send several of my 
weapons
through that while you were dancing around waving your shirt at me." Ranma 
felt
his heart skip a beat. Ukyou! Kodachi smiled as she saw his reaction. Her 
next
words were oily and slow, making sure he heard every word. "Miss Kuonji, 
most
unfortunately, will expire within minutes.  Far too quickly to take her to a
doctor.  But all is not lost.  I have an antidote, of course.  Merely throw
yourself to the lawn below you and I shall be most happy to administer it to
her."
	"You're bluffing!" Ranma cried as he began to lunge across the roof
towards her. Great geysers of debris erupted in his wake as he pushed with 
all
his speed. She had to be bluffing. Nobody could make that kind of shot. 
Ranma
had thrown Ukyou so she would roll out of the way. Hadn't he? It had been so
fast, he might not have done the throw perfect. Plus Ukyou was a lot of
deadweight at the time. "Dammit! You psychopath!"
	Kodachi flipped down to the courtyard as he approached and Ranma skidded
to a halt on the eave of the roof. Could he follow her down there and risk
searching her for the antidote...  "You're wasting time, Ranma.  Precious 
time.
YOU could have made that shot.  You know I could.  And I did.  I won't let 
Ukyou
die if I can avoid it.  Talking to her is important to me.  But not so much 
that
I'll surrender to you.  Beat me, bludgeon me...even if I break, how much 
time
will it take?  Ukyou's time, Ranma.  What's more valuable to you?  Winning, 
or
her?"
	"I don't believe you..." Ranma growled but he could hear the fear in his
own voice. He tensed his legs, ready to leap. He had to risk going down 
there
blind.
	Before he could move Kodachi's hand flickered to her waist and returned
holding a small vial of something.  "No more negotiations.  Do what I said.
Now.  Or I'll smash it, and we see if you can brew another one in the 
remaining
minutes of her lifespan."
	Ranma could feel it. Feel the fight draining out of him. There was no
way he could get down there faster than Kodachi could destroy that potion.
Especially not with all those poisoned caltrops spread across the yard. He
couldn't surrender! But... it went against everything he stood for. There 
was
always a chance... always a possibility... except there wasn't. Kodachi held 
all
the cards. His fists unclenched and his chin fell to his chest.
	"Alright! You win!"
	"Of course I do.  Now jump down on the lawn, landing with your whole
body, if you please, not your very agile feet.  Don't leap towards me, as I 
am
of course expecting that."
	Ranma growled and nodded. He stepped forward, toppling off the edge of
the roof. He spun once, spreading his arms and legs as he plummeted. The 
impact
didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. He felt the burning points on 
his
back as the tiny metal spikes drilled into his back. He let out an 
involuntary
gasp, and it was the last solid sound he made. The poison didn't creep 
through
his system. It hit like diving into a pool of water, swallowing him all at 
once.
He could feel, feel everything, but couldn't control any of it.
	Ranma tried to scream as he watched three of the batons impact with his
chest, drawing long lines of blood on his bared skin. It came out only as a
strangled gurgle. That bitch! He would kill her! He needed to move, just 
enough
to finish her off... He heard the ground crunching softly under footfalls as 
the
girl approached. He rolled his eyes, trying to get a good look at her. If he
could see her, he could will her dead with just his hatred! She appeared in 
his
line of sight, looking slightly amused at his expression. She crouched down
beside him. Then her entire posture and expression changed. Her shoulders
slumped. Her smile went from gloating to relieved. Everything about her 
changed
except her eyes. Those cold, empty, dead eyes. When she spoke, she sounded
barely like the girl he had been fighting. Every word she spoke was 
different,
less haughty, less HER somehow.
	"Geez, Ranma.  You scared the crap out of me.  I wasn't at all sure if I
could handle you.  To put your mind at ease, neither Ukyou nor you are in
danger.  My batons were poisoned, but only with the same chemical on the
caltrops.  Paralysis, nothing more.  You'll remain perfectly conscious, if
perhaps uncomfortable.  Which is good.  You should pay attention to what's 
going
to happen.  You might learn a thing or two about your 'friend', Ukyou."
	Then she sighed and smiled at him one last time before standing to walk
away.

*

	Being thrown through a window was not ever going to be high on Ukyou's
list of favorite things to experience. Neither was being paralyzed. Landing 
on a
hardwood floor after having both done to you was definitely going on her 
'never
repeat' list. The fall might not have hurt that much, had she been able to 
roll
with the impact. She had somehow managed to land face up in a small pool of
broken glass as well. This was not turning out to be one of her favorite 
days.
	Someone was going to pay, she and Aaron vowed silently. Kodachi wasn't
really to blame, she was just a convenient scapegoat. There had to be 
someone
else behind what was happening here with Kodachi. Once Aaron could figure 
out
who that was, they would find out what it was like to be thrown through a 
window
or two.
	But the first priority was moving. Aaron couldn't remember how long
Kodachi's paralysis concoctions lasted, but he knew moving anytime soon was
probably a slim chance. In fact, he was inclined to wait. Ranma was out 
there,
and he was more than a match for Kodachi in one-on-one combat. Even if 
Kodachi
had booby-trapped every inch of the estate, Ranma was still likely to come 
out
on top.
	Except...
	Except this wasn't just Kodachi. Someone had to have set her up on this
errand.  There was no other explanation for her showing so much interest in
Ukyou, a person she had no reason to have even heard much about. Someone 
else
was behind this, and that someone could decide to step up and tip the scales 
in
Kodachi's favor.
	It was a chance Ukyou just wasn't willing to live with. Which left them
both back at square one. How to start moving again?
	Aaron frowned as an idea came to him, a radical and really stupid idea.
But until they learned "anti-poison fu" then it was all they had. Ukyou 
wasn't
too wild about the concept either, but she wasn't coming any closer to a
solution than Aaron.
	So they reached out, feeling for that small pocket of strange energy
that was Aaron's self-destructive chi. With a gasp they filtered it through
their body. Ukyou really didn't have much control over her chi, just the 
basics
of how to enhance muscle strength, eliminate fatigue and otherwise render
oneself superhuman. But Aaron built on that, focusing the strange energy 
using
techniques he had mastered in 'his world' to control breathing and 
heartbeat.
Aaron then concentrated the painful energy around the dozens of small 
punctures
which Kodachi's hidden caltrops had punched into Ukyou's arms and legs.
	They could feel the bleeding start almost immediately, and with it a
slow release of the vicelike grip of the poison. He had been right, the 
poison
was bleeding out of his system. But they couldn't afford to bleed it all 
out.
Some had managed to work its way in too deep, and they had already lost a 
lot of
blood the day before.
	With some reluctance Ukyou stopped them. She tested her reflexes a few
times and found them slow and sluggish, but there. Good, they could move 
again.
It wasn't much of a struggle to get to her feet. She could hear the sounds 
of
the battle outside the window, but didn't risk a glance outside. In her 
state,
intervening directly in the fight would make her more liability than asset.
Aaron first noted the clubs embedded in the wall nearby. Kodachi had 
probably
missed them by centimeters with that throw.
	Chuckling to herself, Ukyou strode over and plucked the clubs from the
wood. All her tools had been left outside, so arming herself seemed prudent. 
A
quick examination led to her finding a way to retract the spines. Best not 
to
toy with a potentially lethal poison, though Ukyou wasn't sure she thought
Kodachi capable of using something like that.
	Though tempted to go outside and stick the things in Kodachi's thighs,
Ukyou resisted the urge and departed via the handy doorway. She had other
priorities now. Now, which way to where she had left the two unconscious 
girls?
Ukyou had been tossed through a window on the opposite side of the house, 
and
she would have to circle the entire courtyard to get to them. One way had to 
be
faster than the other, however. Well, Aaron always claimed to have an 
excellent
sense of direction, so she trusted him as he guided them down the hallway, 
the
sounds of the battle outside slowly dimming as they left the room. Aaron 
blinked
as the hallway swam for a moment, but managed to keep going. They had really
lost a lot of blood. He sure hoped Ranma could take care of this without 
Ukyou's
help.
	Aaron guessed right, and in short order they entered the foyer. The two
girls were still lying unconscious on the floor. Ukyou knelt down next to 
them
as Aaron quickly went through normal first aid on them... and his hands
hesitated. Something about these two... seemed off. Frowning he snapped his
hands to the hoods and yanked them off without preamble. A brown-haired and 
a
black-haired girl, but neither of them was Nabiki or Akane.
	"A trick," Ukyou groused aloud. "I should have known." Then Aaron
snapped their head to the side. He had felt the telltale trickle of the 
martial
arts danger sense. Walking into the room in the same direction Ukyou had 
come
from was Kodachi. Ukyou cursed under her breath and rose to her feet, 
flipping
the twin batons in her hand into a defensive posture.
	Kodachi did not look happy when she walked in: her pretty mouth was
scowling, and her pace was hurried. Plus she seemed to be following 
something on
the floor... ah yes, the blood trail. Then Kodachi looked up and spied 
Ukyou.
She smirked, raising one hand to her cheek.  "Well, you managed to get up
somehow, but didn't get very far, hmm?  I also see you noticed those aren't 
your
friends. Well, then again, I never said they were.  Assumptions may well be 
the
death of you."
	"You beat Ranma..." Aaron said slowly. He almost added 'that shouldn't
be possible', but his inherent distaste for stock dialogue prevented him.
"You're more dangerous than you have any right to be, Kodachi Kunou."
	Kodachi swung a pair of batons from behind her back. "Which makes us
even, I suppose, since you're supposed to be lying helpless on the ground."
Wait, that didn't sound very much like Kodachi. There was a twin set of 
snaps as
the bulbs at the end of her batons extended their dripping spines.  "But you
know, that's just peachy.  Because, me?  I've been under a lot of stress 
lately,
and of all the people you and I brought here, you are the only one I do not 
feel
the slightest bit guilty letting out all that stress on.  Please don't 
crumple
too easily, and I promise I won't damage your mouth too badly."
	Ukyou gasped as Kodachi leapt across the space between them. A desperate
parry kept the first blow from smashing into her stomach, and a second
deflection prevented the follow-up from catching her. Aaron backpedaled 
away,
trying to gain manuevering room, but Kodachi pursued almost faster than he
could follow. They were in serious trouble. Blood loss, poison and injury 
were
slowing them down. Kodachi was fighting like she was fresh, and they 
couldn't
risk touching those spines again.
	Ukyou kept up a series of parries as Kodachi snarled and lashed out
again and again. She caught a particularly strong swing with both of her own
clubs and the sheer force of it sent her flying back into the wall. The wood
splintered around her and Aaron cried out in pain.
	The world swayed as the injuries and dizziness caught up with them. They
didn't even see Kodachi charge in, just felt the sickening impact of the 
club
driving into their stomach. Ukyou folded over the head of the weapon. She 
saw
Kodachi smirk. The girl had intentionally retracted her spines? An uppercut 
with
the other club caught them square on the chin. Stars erupted across the 
inside
of their eyelids. They didn't even feel the wall behind them collapse until 
they
were already falling into the next room.
	Ukyou propped herself up on one hand. Aaron noted wryly that they had
lost their clubs somewhere in the exchange. Kodachi stepped calmly through 
the
hole in the wall she had created, smirking evilly. Her eyes weren't smiling,
however. Ukyou spit a gob of blood to the side. With tremendous will she 
forced
herself to kick out, trying to catch Kodachi in the ankles. The girl bounced 
up
over the attack. Ukyou watched her curl into a ball to avoid clipping the
ceiling, then vault off it down at them. With a curse Aaron pushed them to 
the
side. Kodachi came down where they had been laying with enough force to 
splinter
the floorboards. But they weren't fast enough to avoid her follow-up kick. 
Once
again stars burst across their vision, this time accompanied by an 
disturbing
darkness at the edge of her eyes.
	"Oh my, are you almost finished already?  That simply won't do.  I
suppose I'll have to take things just a little bit easier."  Aaron was
struggling to lift themselves up while Ukyou tried to get a fix on Kodachi's
position. They had landed on their side against the wall, and could only 
hear
her approaching footsteps. Then an unkind hand grabbed a hold of their hair 
and
jerked their face up. Before they could do more than note Kodachi's evil 
smirk
they were thrust into the floorboards again. The floor didn't give way this
time, but it certainly vibrated.  "Certain types of pain are almost as good 
as a
cold shower for waking up.  Did that break your nose?  Should I try again?"
	"Fuck you," Aaron hissed between clenched teeth, trying to rise. Their
nose did feel bruised, but probably not broken yet.
	"Goodness, such language.  Well, it's not like you weren't warned.  Oh,
and you brought Ranma after I specifically told you to come alone.  Most 
vexing.
This is for that."  Ukyou's head fell to the floorboards again as Kodachi
released it. Then something snapped around her ankle. The ribbon? A second 
later
she was airborne. A long scream erupted from her throat. They didn't see 
what
they hit, but their back exploded in pain as it collided with something very
hard. Whatever it was, it thankfully broke before their spine did. They flew
through the sudden rain of broken statuary, and Aaron noted in one of those
bizarre extremely lucid moments that he could see a bit of Principal Kunou's
face smiling ridiculously at him. Then they collided with the wall again and
collapsed in a heap.
	The sound of footsteps approaching kept them from falling unconscious.
Ukyou was still struggling to lift herself up, but wasn't doing too well. 
Aaron
was just about ready to give up and just let them drift off.  "Well, that 
was...
fairly satisfying.  I guess you probably can't take much more.  Too bad."  A
none-too-delicate poke from Kodachi's foot flipped them over onto their 
side.
She smiled down at them, but her eyes were not reflecting her glee. Reaching 
out
with one hand, she grabbed the front of Ukyou's shirt and pulled them up to 
eye
level. Ukyou struggled to keep her head up, but it bobbed annoyingly. "Or 
not.
It does feel kind of wrong to be beating up someone who looks that much like
Ukyou.  But, c'est la vie."  Huh? Aaron blinked. "You look like you could 
use
some fresh air, and I haven't QUITE paid you back for last night, though,
soooooooo..."  With a grin, Kodachi spun on one heel and flung them through 
a
nearby window. Not another damn window, Aaron groused internally. But the
passage was brief and now they were falling into the yard. The yard laced 
with
poison-caltrops.
	Acting on instinct, Aaron drew on a bit more of his own strange chi,
somehow gaining the strength to push his hands in front of him and land with
both palms against the grass. Tiny metal weapons glinted nearby. Ukyou took
over, using the momentum of the throw and the pivot of their palms to 
complete a
flip. It snapped them into the center of the courtyard. With a cry they 
slammed
into the post there. Again acting on instinct, Aaron draped an arm around 
it,
keeping them from collapsing.
	Now that they weren't flying through the air, Aaron had a moment to
think. What the hell had Kodachi meant there, at the end? Payback for last
night? Was this actually some Dark Kingdom thing, after all? But that other
sentence, it tickled the back of Aaron's memory. There was something here he 
was
missing. He hated that.
	His musing were cut off as the door into the courtyard exploded off its
hinges. Kodachi strode out, stepping into the grass without a hint of worry. 
Nor
did she move with any of Kodachi's characteristic grace, Aaron's critical 
eye
noted.  "And you're moving...again!  Congratulations on your resilience.  
Does
that mean I get to beat you up a little more, or are you just about ready to
call it a match for now?"
	"What do you want, Kodachi?" Ukyou spit a gob of blood from the corner
of her mouth. "I've never done anything to you!"
	"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, Ukyou-who-isn't.  Last night..."
She paused, and frowned.  "No, wait, it was the night before, wasn't it?  
Damn
my lousy time sense.  Well, you try staying underwater for nearly 24 hours 
and
see how well you remember a day.  Anyway.  I told you then we were going to 
talk
sooner than you thought.  And now we are going to.  And you are going to 
tell me
everything.  Everything."
	"Two nights ago..." Ukyou said slowly. Aaron stared at the girl before
them. "No... it can't be. Chris?"
	"Bingo!  Got it in one!  Not quite so arrogant now, are we?  Not quite
so smugly superior, huh?  But gloating, as fun as it may be, is just a waste 
of
time.  Tell me, whoever-you-are.  Tell me what you know.  Tell me why you 
look
like Ukyou but don't act like her.  Tell me how you knew about Evangelion.  
And
while we're at it, tell me just what series you were messing with the plot 
of
yesterday.  In fact, just tell me everything that may be of the slightest
interest to me.  And be very convincing that you're doing so, because I'll 
be
more than happy to try various methods of making sure you're not holding
anything back."  'Kodachi's' voice rose with every word, growing more and 
more
shrill and angry as she went on. By the time she finished her diatribe she 
was
shaking with suppressed rage. Then she took a deep breath and visibly calmed
down. "Heh.  You really did piss me off.  But I'm all better now.  So talk."
	"Chris..." Aaron trailed off. Was he some kind of shapeshifter? No, that
didn't make any sense. What had happened to him? More importantly, to 
Ukyou's
mind, what had happened to Kodachi? Ukyou hardened her face, about to loudly
tell the jerk to go fuck himself until he told her what had happened to the 
real
Kodachi. But Aaron snapped her mouth closed. Why couldn't they tell him a 
bit of
the truth? This was Chris. Aaron had trusted the man with more of his 
deepest
secrets than anyone else on the planet. He needed to know what had happened 
to
the boy. Ukyou was having none of it. The 'trusted friend' had beaten them
within an inch of their life. Threatened her. Kidnapped Akane, twice. She 
could
even see Ranma laying shirtless and bloody nearby. Let the boy beat them
senseless, she wasn't giving him the satisfaction of breaking. The mental
battle of wills waged inside their head, forming a new headache that somehow
managed to make them feel even more pain then they already were. This might 
have
continued for a good long time, if Chris-as-Kodachi hadn't gotten impatient.
	Chris/Kodachi stalked forward, her face twisting into a vicious snarl.
Her hand raised as if she was about to backhand Ukyou... and stopped. For a
moment the hand quivered in the air, then it dropped to her side. When the
Kodachi-lookalike next spoke her voice was weary, but it slowly grew in both
strength and vehemence as she talked. "All right. All right.  Let me put 
things
straight for you.  You had your chance to talk nice-nice with me.  But you
dicked around and held back with clever answers and finally dangled your
knowledge in front of my face like water in front of a man dying in the 
desert.
You ASKED for this.  You damn near forced it, in fact.  And then you came 
here
with Ranma, who was probably ready to kill me - ha! - by the end of this 
fight.
I'm very, very tired of you right now.  You ARE going to give me answers.  
Now,
I'm trying to get you give them willingly.  Believe it or not, I really, 
really
don't want to hurt any of your friends.  I don't even want to hurt you, 
much.
But I will.  So help me, if you push me I'll break every bone in your body 
one
by one, and if that's not good enough Ranma and Akane are next.  And if 
that's
not good enough - because god knows if you actually care about them, or are 
just
acting - I will find SOMETHING.  Something WILL make you talk.  Let that
something be a threat, whoever-you-are, because I will do more than threaten 
if
you force me.  Capiche?"
	"You... you would really hurt all of those people, just to get back at
me because I didn't trust you? What happened to you? The Chris I knew, he
would... well, he would..." Aaron trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to 
say
that the Chris he knew would never do that. Aaron was, after all, a realist. 
He
knew that Chris was only human. But what could drive the man to such 
lengths?
When Chris lost his temper he yelled and screamed and threw video game
controllers at television screens. But no one got hurt. "My god, what 
happened
to you?"
	Kodachi froze.  "The Chris...you knew..." she repeated slowly.  "Who's
the Chris you knew?  Who the fuck ARE you?"
	"My name is Ukyou Kuonji!" Ukyou spat out, a bit of blood flying from
her lips as she did so. Aaron couldn't stop her, nor did he really want to.
Kodachi stared at them as Aaron tried to figure out what to say next. He 
wanted
to tell Chris the truth, really he did. But how could he? What was the 
truth?
Kodachi's face twisted. Her mouth became a vicious snarl, her nostrils 
flared.
Aaron could literally see the bangs of her hair rising and flapping as her 
chi
slowly bled into the visible light. But her eyes didn't change. Those dead,
emotionless eyes. Why hadn't either of them seen those eyes before? Chris 
raised
Kodachi's hands slowly, curled into strangling claws.
	"You... you... you..." Chris hissed between clenched teeth. Ukyou's eyes
widened.
	"Jenn is alive!" Aaron shouted out as loud as he could. It was all he
could think of to hopefully snap Chris out of what looked like a killing 
rage.
	It worked. Kodachi's hands fell nervelessly to her sides. Then she took
a deep breath and looked back at Ukyou again, her face still a tight mask of
anger.	"Damn you, you sneaky...you're toying with me AGAIN.  Not this time.
The truth!  Who are you?  Now!"  Before Aaron could say anything, Chris cut 
in
again. "And I swear, if you say 'I'm Ukyou Kuonji' again, I'm going to go 
over
and break every one of Ranma's fingers before asking you a third time."
	Slap!
	Ukyou stared as she saw her own hand pulling back from the slap she had
just delivered. She hadn't even thought about it. She'd just drawn on 
Aaron's
chi enough to deliver the blow. But now that she saw herself do it, she 
couldn't
help but fell... empowered by it. She was angry. This bastard... he didn't
even... Kodachi was staring at her in mute shock, caught completely 
flat-footed
and Ukyou let loose before she could say anything.
	"My name is fucking Ukyou Kuonji, you jackass!" she shouted. "How the
hell would you know differently?" Ukyou felt the anger building up in her. 
The
frustration that had been mounting and mounting ever since she had woken up 
one
day with this fucking stranger in her head. And here this self-righteous 
geek
voyeur prick was attacking her at the core of her being. "How DARE you! What 
the
hell do you know about Ukyou Kuonji that makes you such a fucking expert on 
the
subject!? What have you really seen about her? Snapshots on a page! Ink on
paper! You know NOTHING about who I am! Can you even name my father? My 
mother?
Do I even have siblings? To you, I'm nothing but a fucking caricature, 
aren't
I!?" Ukyou snarled, she was really working herself into a good fever now. 
Aaron
couldn't do anything to stop her. He was helpless before this sudden, 
unexpected
swell of emotion. "Oh, let's have Ukyou fall in love with Tarou and have him
break her heart! That'll be fun! Or how about sticking her in the body of an
android and making her watch her own body die! Sounds great! No wait, let's
clone her so much she has no identity, make the only person who cares about 
her
a psychopath and drive her so insane she tries to kill all her friends! 
That's
the best part of all! You self-righteous litle prick! You can't see anything 
but
your truth, you can't see anything but what you think is right. You've 
always
been like that. To think Aaron likes you! To think he trusts you! To think 
he
wants to tell you everything! I refuse! Threaten my friends all you want. If 
you
touch one finger on Ranma's body, if you disturb one hair on Akane's head, 
I'll
fucking finish what that truck started!"
	Chris-as-Kodachi stared at them, her hand reaching up to her cheek.
Ukyou snarled, breathing heavily. That attack hadn't cost her as much as she
thought it would. The anger, the sweet anger rolled out of somewhere deep 
inside
her, making the pain go away. Ukyou had never known there was anger like 
this in
her soul. She had never suspected anger like this could exist. It was
liberating. She almost felt like laughing.
	Then it hit her. This wasn't her anger. This was Aaron's anger. He
recognized it. He remembered it. The anger he had locked away, ever since he 
had
understood what it meant. Aaron feared this freeing, satisfying anger more 
than
anything. Feared it so much, he had spent the last decade and a half of his 
life
a virtual robot.
	Control. He needed to control it before it went too far. A grimace of
self-disgust crossed Ukyou's features as she realized what she had tapped 
into.
Yes. They needed to control themselves. Rein in the anger. Concentrate on 
her
heartbeat. Will yourself calm. Emotionless.
	"Aaron," Chris said softly with Kodachi's voice. Ukyou looked at him
blankly. Had he discovered the truth? Did he know? A part of her, she wasn't
sure whose part, wanted him to know the truth. A part of her wanted it 
secret.
"Aaron.  Aaron.  Of COURSE.  But that means..." The girl that had once been
Aaron's friend trailed off and stared at Ukyou with those blank eyes. Aaron
wanted to say something, but he was too busy helping Ukyou control the 
emotions
they felt.  "Aaron was the person you knew that died?  Okay, him and me both
here?  But...wait.  If you knew Aaron, and you knew of me, why the hell 
didn't
you just say so?"
	Here the Kodachi-Chris stopped. Then a look of incredulous disbelief
crossed her face. Her next words came out short and sharp, but without real
force behind them. "Because of -fanfics-?  Because we wrote some STORIES 
about
you as a fictional character?  Holy fucking crap, Ukyou, that might've 
miffed
you, but if you associated with him enough to learn all that...what the hell 
is
going on here?  How did he even die?  As far as I can tell that's next to
impossible.  Unless...did he rot?  Or the body got destroyed or something?
Wait...he WANTS to?  So he's not dead?  Where the hell is he?"  Kodachi's 
voice
grew more and more frustrated as she continued talking, by the end her hands
were clenched into fists. Her knuckles strained and should have turned white
from it, but Aaron idly noticed that her entire hand was already pale. Not
just her hand, either, her entire body was pale. He blinked. Rotted? A 
fleeting
memory of clammy skin against Ukyou's hand as she delivered her slap came to
mind. "Goddamnit, Ukyou, this isn't a fucking game!  If you know him, knew 
him,
whatever, you should know that!  Why the hell couldn't you just tell me the
truth?  Because of STORIES?  Shit, fuck, motherfucking...I'm SORRY I wrote
stories about you.  Does that balance the scales?"  Kodachi's voice had 
become
slightly shrill as real anger entered into it. "Yeah, I'm SO FUCKING SORRY I
read about you in a comic book, Ukyou Kuonji, and never realised you existed
somewhere, somehow.  That really is just as bad as taunting me and 
abandoning me
as a rotting corpse when you could have given me some help and hope, huh?
Jesus.  Fine.  Tell me where Aaron is, or if he IS dead, tell me what you 
know,
and I'll get out of your life.  If you knew me, you should have known I 
never
would have wanted to hurt you, or Ranma, or Akane.  You damn well forced me 
into
this by refusing to tell me a damn thing.  But nobody's permanently injured
or...well, none of your friends have been hurt except for some scratches on
Ranma.  So just tell me what the HELL is going on here, please?"
	Rotting corpse? Abandoning? Pale skin. Clammy flesh.
	("This body is just a vessel."  He looked up at her, stared her in the
eyes.  "Just a vessel.  It doesn't bleed.  It's not even alive.")
	Dear lord.
	"I don't know what's going on," Aaron answered truthfully. He opened his
mouth to answer Chris, to finally tell all. Then the part of them that was 
Ukyou
thought 'And what happened to Kodachi then?' and his mouth snapped shut. 
"You
killed her. You killed Kodachi, didn't you?" they said in mixed shock and
horror.
	"I..." Chris clamped Kodachi's mouth shut and narrowed her eyes.  "No.
No, I see what you're doing.  Getting me to answer questions without 
answering
any of mine, again.  I'll answer you when you answer me, Ukyou.  You still
haven't explained a damn thing.  And you're STILL not acting like Ukyou 
should,
and I'm SORRY where I draw my knowledge from, but nobody else here acts so
utterly different than what I expected.  So, fine, I'll believe you're 
Ukyou,
since you're a damn good actress if you can fake that much anger.  But 
something
obviously changed you.  So what was it?  Meeting Aaron?  What happened?  Why 
are
you so damn determined not to tell me anything?"
	"Meeting Aaron? Meeting him..." Ukyou snickered. She couldn't help
herself. "Yes, it was meeting him. Aaron changed my life. Aaron ruined my 
life.
Because of Aaron I can't tell Ranma how I feel about him. Because of Aaron I
can't get mad at anyone without risking it blowing up into a berserk rage.
Because of him Sailor Pluto is trying to kill me, and the Dark Kingdom is
attacking me. Because of Aaron I've seen myself in ways I never wanted to 
see
myself. Oh... and let's not forget, Aaron's 'friend' is threatening to kill 
me
while in the corpse of Kodachi Kuno!" Ukyou took a deep breath, trying to 
let
Aaron reign in the anger she felt again. "I hate Aaron Peori," she spat 
softly.
She couldn't help it. She didn't want to do it. She could almost sympathize 
with
Aaron. He was just as much a victim here as she was. Except she couldn't.
	Chris stared at them mutely for a moment.  "What the hell are you
talking about?" Kodachi's voice was dumbfounded.  "Because of Aaron, because 
of
Aaron. Obviously he's no mind-controller..." Ukyou burst out into a short,
bitter laugh. But Chris just gave her a funny look and continued."...so how 
he's
doing all this stuff, I don't know.  And you obviously got mad at me just 
fine.
Well, that makes us even, since I was certainly mad at you.  Although, just 
to
make a point, I never threatened to kill you.  ANYway..." Chris reached up 
and
massaged her temples, closing her eyes.  "You're evading the point again.  I
don't think you're doing it deliberately, because you're obviously agitated
about the whole thing.  I don't know why you hate him.  I don't know why you
hate me, previous to today's encounter.  But I'm willing to let bygones be
bygones.  However, you've got to give me a little here.  I need to know 
what's
going on.  Hell, if you're having so much trouble with him, maybe I can help
you."  Her voice was growing bitter. She opened her eyes and stared straight
into Ukyou's.  "But you have to help me first.  Just spit it out, for 
christ's
sake.  Get mad all you want, threaten all you want, but the fact is, you're 
not
getting out of this situation without telling me anything, so let's deal 
with
this situation rationally.  Trust me, no matter how much you hate that I 
wrote
fictional versions of you to be angsty, I've suffered PLENTY for it, okay?"
	"I can't help you, Chris," Ukyou said slowly. "At least, not yet." She
tried to straighten herself up, but her vision swam with black sparks. 
Giving
up, she resumed her slump against the post. "I don't think you can help me
either. Aaron... Aaron gave me a lot of baggage to carry, Chris. Up here..."
Ukyou tapped her forehead. "Up here Aaron has done a lot of damage. But it's
okay. I can help you, in the future. You already know how. The Sword, Chris. 
In
only a few months, it will hit the magic number and I plan to be there when 
it
does. I can help you then."
	Before Chris could reply, Aaron cut in. "Chris. You have to believe
me... I want to help you. But there's nothing I can say that can make what
you're going through better. I have no clue why this all happened to you. I 
have
no clue why it happened to me as well. And I wouldn't look for Aaron either, 
he
can't help you now." Aaron dipped their head. "If that doesn't satisfy you, 
then
I suggest you beat me up some more. Get it out of your system."
	"Oh, trust me, I'm tempted."  The anger was clear in her voice.  "Once
again, once again, you won't tell me CRAP.  And I don't know why, but I'm
getting plenty sick of it.  The sword?  The Wishing Sword, you mean?  Who 
gives
a shit?  Do you even know where it is?  Because nothing ever said that.  And
even if it did..." She sighed and looked at her hands.  "Months.  Probably 
at
least three months, maybe four, given the current circumstances.  I can't 
wait
for that.  There won't be anything left of me by then.  Unless...but I can't
take the risk.  If you want to help me, help me by TELLING ME.  You may not 
know
why this happening - I don't even think you know WHAT is happening - but you
damn well know more than I do.  Why won't you tell me what you do know?  Do 
I
have to get on my knees and beg you?  Jeezus!  Goddamn...JEEZUS!"  She swung
wildly, her fist whistling in the air. Ukyou didn't flinch.  "I don't care 
if
you're Ukyou!  I'm not going to sit here like a good little corpse and, and,
FUCK!  You WILL tell me what you know!  You gave me no reason to do anything
other than twist the truth out of you, but I tried talking.  I believed you, 
I
trusted what you told me.  And you're STILL dicking me around!"  Ukyou just
looked on dully as the Kodachi-corpse turned her eyes back to her. "Don't. 
Don't
do this to me, Ukyou.  You don't know me any more than I know you.  But I'm 
not
the person Aaron knew.  You said it yourself.  What I've gone through...what
I've become...you can't imagine.  I hope you can't.  But don't do this to 
me.
Because I won't let you.  And I'm scared of what might happen. What I 
might...
just tell me.  Please.  I AM begging you.  Tell me.  Tell me what happened 
to
you.  What happened to Aaron.  What's going on.  I need to know.  I NEED 
it."
	"I can't help you, damn it!" Ukyou said in exhaustion, tired of this.
"You want to know what I know. Fine. You and Aaron were hit by a truck when 
he
went to visit you. You died fast, he died slowly and painfully. Now you're 
here.
End. Of. Story." Ukyou stared at the ground. It took her a few seconds to
realize she was crying. "I'm not dicking you around, Chris." She brushed a 
few
tears from her cheeks and noted with distaste that it was mixed with blood. 
"You
want the truth... so do I. I want to know what fucking happened to me. I 
want to
know why I remember things that haven't happened yet. You want to know what
happened to Aaron? He died and I felt him die. I know everything he knew. I
don't know HOW, okay?" Ukyou slumped down, no longer able to hold up her 
body.
"Just, leave me alone. I can't take this anymore. Just leave me and my 
friends
alone."
	Ukyou stared at the ground, unable to work up the emotional or physical
energy to look up and see Chris's reactions. A few seconds passed without 
any
response. "So...some sort of soul-bond.  So you felt him, and you knew what 
he
knew, and...no wonder you act so different.  You're...what, Ukyou with a 
dash of
Aaron.  With all his memories.  And he's dead."  A short bark of bitter 
laughter
erupted from above Ukyou's head. "Well, isn't that rich.  He's dead.  He's 
dead,
and I'm dead, except he's more dead.  Or maybe I'm more dead.  How should I
know?  I'm real good at that, I guess.  You know, having dead friends.  You
should know, if you have his memories."
	Ukyou didn't respond. Aaron didn't feel like doing so either. What was
the point? They just continued to watch tears of blood drip from their face 
to
the ground. "All right.  So you told me," Chris said in Kodachi's voice. She
sounded weary. "Look, I believe you.  I'm not so horrible.  And since I
promised, here's what I am. Yes, I killed Kodachi.  I killed her, and I 
killed
the person whose body you last saw me in, and I killed someone before that, 
and
before that, and before that, and before that I woke up in the body of 
someone I
presume who had just died.  You say I'm dead in the real world?  Or my 
world, or
whatever?  I guess that explains why I'm dead now.  And I AM dead.  I'm a
walking corpse.  I don't breathe, and I don't feel things like I did before, 
and
I don't have bloodflow or, well, any of the other things you probably could
intuit me not having due to being a corpse.  But it gets more fun than that,
Ukyou.  Oh yes.  I can kill people, and take their bodies, take their 
memories,
their skills, and learn them.  You know that.  You've seen that.  You must 
think
I'm horrible.  You're probably right.  But I'm not doing it for no reason.
	"They're dead.  They're dead, and they start to rot.  Rot.  I
can feel THAT.  I can feel myself rotting from the inside out.  It's 
like...I
can't say what it's like without making it sound trivial.  It's...my entire
BEING is hollowing out, becoming softer and softer, decomposing, and then 
the
insects come, and..." Kodachi's voice quivered and Ukyou could almost feel 
her
shudder.  "I can't take it.  I was going insane, in that first body.  I kept
running from place to place so the maggots and flies wouldn't get me.  I ran
across someone, they called out to me.  I think they were making fun of me, 
that
body was of a street bum.  I was so...ANGRY.  I snapped.  I killed them.  I
didn't even realise what I did until I was standing over them...and then I 
felt
it, I felt this void calling to me, and I was in her body, I WAS her, and I
could feel what she felt, remember what she remembered."
	Kodachi started pacing in front of them. Her voice came out in short
bursts, like she was spitting up something unpleasant. "I didn't want to do 
it.
I was horrified, you understand?  I was going to try and get back to Canada,
give myself to the government.  But then I found out.  This wasn't my world. 
  It
wasn't even the right year.  I found out that Sailor Moon existed, and then 
was
pretty sure Ranma did too.  I knew, if I was going to get help, I needed to 
come
to Japan. Because that's where everything was.  Where everything HAPPENED.  
This
was magic, it'd be in Japan or China I'd find a cure for it."
	Another pause. This time the voice that drifted down to Ukyou's ears was
heavy and drained. "But I couldn't get there in that body.  And, in fact, I
realised the problem went deeper than that.  The body was already rotting.  
Two,
three days, they lasted, and then it'd happen again, and I couldn't take it. 
  I
decided I needed a body.  A stronger body.  A superhuman body, like this 
world
was full of.  It was horrible, but what choice did I have?  In a body like 
this,
I hoped, I could stay for weeks, maybe even months.  Then I'd have TIME to 
look
for an answer, for a cure, without it always being in the back of my mind,
rotting, always looking for a new victim.  Less people would die.  The ends 
were
worth the means."
	Chris sighed.  "Small consolation for Kodachi, right?  I don't think my
life is worth more than other people's.  You should know THAT courtesy of 
what
Aaron knew. But I couldn't take just staying in the body while it rotted 
again.
And I didn't know what else to do.  I wasn't even sure if I could kill 
myself.
Yes, as you no doubt have already guessed, Akane was my planned target. But 
I
couldn't do it.  Even before you interrupted...you saw, didn't you?  I 
didn't
take the gun.  So Kodachi was next.  She was the only other target I could 
think
of, that I knew I could have a chance of killing.  And she wasn't Akane.  It
wasn't pleasant, but Kodachi's an evil bitch, and I could force myself to 
kill
her.
	"And the goal, of course: to find out about you.  What you knew.
Because all I knew was that you looked like Ukyou, didn't act like Ukyou, 
and
knew about me, knew something nobody from this world should have, and 
wouldn't
tell me the truth.  For all I knew, you had the key to freeing me from this 
damn
curse.  Or knew what had happened, which I could at least take to an expert.
I'm sorry things turned out the way they did, but you didn't exactly help, 
you
know.  I still don't understand why you wouldn't tell me the truth then. 
Didn't
you realise something was wrong?  I dunno."
	Aaron didn't respond. Let Chris paint them as the villian, if he wanted.
It cost Aaron nothing to let him do so. He knew there was something wrong 
with
what he had done. But then again, how was Aaron to know that Chris had been 
in
such a bad position? It wasn't like he wasn't in a bad situation himself.
	"Maybe you were just resenting getting in contact with someone who Aaron
knew.  Maybe I can't blame you.  But you can't blame me, either.  It's not 
that
I WANT to be like this.  I don't want to kill people, not you, not Akane, 
not
Kodachi, not even the people I don't know.  It's easy to say I should have 
just
tied myself up and sunk to the bottom of the river, or something. I don't 
know."
Another sigh.  "Whatever.  Now you know my story, too.  That's what I 
promised.
Now, I'll help you and Ranma get to a hospital, and free Akane and Nabiki.  
I'll
stay out of your affairs, I guess. If you do get the sword, I guess you can 
let
me know, if I'm still stuck here. Hopefully this body will last long enough.
Hopefully..." Kodachi's voice trailed off.
	Ukyou shuddered.
	"No," she said softly. "Just... give Ranma the antidote. Get Akane and
Nabiki. Let us go."
	When Chris next spoke he couldn't quite conceal the resentment behind
his voice. "Whatever suits you.  I'll go get the girls."  Fine. Let him 
dislike
Ukyou. Maybe it would keep them away. Aaron couldn't stand to see him in 
that
body anymore. It reminded Aaron of everything he had lost. Aaron could 
hardly
stand to think of himself anymore. Ukyou's hatred for him was contagious.
Maybe... maybe Aaron didn't deserve to live either. Was he so different from
Chris, stealing second after second of Ukyou's life?  Kodachi's footfalls 
fell
off slowly as she walked away from them.
	Ukyou and Aaron were left alone, beaten and defeated, each in their own
way.


*


	Chris walked up the stairs with a scowl.  Maybe it was a little petty to
be annoyed at how much Ukyou disliked him and wouldn't help him.  But maybe 
it
was a little petty of her, too.  Everything that had happened was as much 
her
fault as his.  She had figured out who he was, if not what he was, the other
night.  Nothing stopped her from telling him the truth then, except her 
goddamn
resentment of him.  For what?  Because Aaron had known him?  Because he 
wrote
fanfics?  What a joke.
	But he forced himself to calm down.  Ukyou might have been asinine, but
she was a done issue.  Besides, she was young.  Very young.  It was easy to
forget that.  Only sixteen.  So maybe expecting rationality was a bit much.
	It was still very hard not to be angry at her.
	He swung the door open to where Akane had been held captive.  Looking
down, his eyes adjusting to the dimness, she was struggling weakly to free
herself, and then she was staring at him.  Wait.  Struggling weakly?  That
paralysing gas took Ranma out of commission for an entire night in the 
manga.
Of course, Kodachi had caught Ranma by total surprise, whereas Akane could
hardly have been shocked at the thought that the flowers would do something 
bad.
She must have not inhaled much.  Sloppy.  He'd have to be more careful in 
the
future.
	Stepping inside, he opened a dusty wardrobe next to her, and retrieved
the katana he had stored inside it earlier as a weapon of last resort.
Thankfully it hadn't come to that.  Akane was still staring at him.  Not
glaring, for which he was oddly grateful, but just staring, piercingly.
	He unsheathed the sword, and sliced it down with a swift but delicate
motion.  Akane flinched involuntarily, but his aim was superhumanly perfect,
severing every strand of the ropes that bound her without touching even a 
thread
of her clothing.  That made him feel good as well.  This whole thing might 
have
been a total, stupid, useless waste, but at least he had his body, now.  His
martial-arts-death-machine body.  That gave him hope.
	He looked down again after a moment.  Akane has removed her gag, but had
not said anything.  She was still staring at him with a half angry, half sad
look.  For a moment they remained like that, and then she spoke.  "Why?"
	"Why?" he repeated, confused.  "I already told you...oh.  That's right.
You must've heard everything.  That's why I put you in this room."  He 
glanced
towards the small window that peered into the courtyard.  "So you could hear 
the
truth when I did.  Except it wasn't a truth I'd expected."  He gazed down at 
her
again with a wry little smile.  "I guess you were right.  She is Ukyou, 
after
all."
	"Was it worth it? All this?"
	He sighed.  "Who can say, Akane?  Who can say?  But you'll all be fine.
You, your sister, Ukyou, Ranma...none of you are permanently injured.  It
could've been worse.  It could've been much worse.  So, in that way, it 
isn't so
bad.  And at least it's over."
	"Is it?" Akane tried to stand up, and he instinctively reached down to
help her with his free hand.  She flinched away from his touch, staggering 
back
to the window.  Well, he couldn't blame her for that reaction. "I didn't
understand half what you two were talking about. I thought... Ukyou was just 
a
normal girl who had been abandoned by Genma. Now I find out all this. This 
all
seems... bigger now."
	He flipped the katana over his shoulder, tapping the blunt side against
it for a moment.  "I'm not going to apologise for that, Akane.  I'll 
apologise
for kidnapping you.  I'll apologise for beating up Ukyou.  And I apologise 
for
what I almost did two nights ago.  But I won't apologise for what you found 
out
today.  If Ukyou's your friend...well, friends share things.  Friends try to
help friends in trouble.  Now you know more about the trouble Ukyou has.  I
suppose, if anything, that's the one good thing for you to come out of 
this."
	"I have so many... no. I have to help her..." She pushed past him, and
staggered to the door, obviously woozy still. "She needs my help."
	Typical.  He sighed.  "Wait a second, Akane."
	She kept walking, well, staggering anyway. "You said it yourself, I have
to get her to a doctor... thankfully I know someone nearby who can help."
	He walked out behind her.  "Yes, Akane.  A certain Doctor Tofu, right?
A good idea.  But first off, if you won't let me assist you in walking, slow
down a bit, because if you fall down the stairs and break your neck that 
leaves
only Nabiki to take the three of you there.  Second, Ranma and Ukyou happen 
to
be in the middle of a grassy area liberally covered with poisoned spiky bits 
of
metal.  You're going to need some better footwear before you try to 
extricate
them."
	 "I can take care of myself..." she began reflexively, and then stopped
with a sigh. "Fine... wait. You said Nabiki was here?"
	Whoops.  "Yes, actually.  I grabbed her and you both this morning.
She's in another part of the house; I'll go free her while you help Ranma 
and
Ukyou."
	She paused, but then seemed to accept it.   "Okay. I need some sturdy
shoes then."
	He tapped the katana again.  Probably should have put that back.  Oh
well, too late now.  "Yes...if you go down these stairs - be careful - 
you'll go
into the main foyer.  If you then take a...right, you'll see a small door in 
the
hallway on your left, which is a closet.  That's where the servants put the
footwear, I believe.  You should be able to find something suitable."  He
paused, then laughed a bit.  "I'm sorry.  Talking like this...it seems sort 
of
surreal, somehow."
	She looked over her shoulder at him.  Her expression was sad.  She
opened her mouth, closed it again, then turned and walked away.  As she 
vanished
down the stairs, he leaned against the wall and stared up at the ceiling.  
There
was a crack, probably from Ranma smashing up the roof.  A bit of dust 
hovered in
the air.
	Could things have gone differently?
	He shrugged.  It wouldn't have mattered.  Ukyou was prejudiced against
him from the start.  It was too bad Akane had gotten involved.  But he 
wasn't
exactly counting on her help or anything.  And now she knew enough to get 
the
truth out of Ukyou.  In the long run, that'd probably improve any friendship
they had.  Especially since Ukyou had so convienently taken Akane out of the
Ranma sweepstakes.  So, probably, this would end up being good for them.  
Not
that either would likely see it that way.
	Good for him?  Well, he had his body.  Once he got rid of them, he'd get
to work.  Have to feed Kunou - currently tied up, drugged, and stripped to 
his
underwear in his bedroom - a story to explain what happened.  Have to do
something about the bodies of Midorigame and Officer Takashita, hidden and 
sunk
under the bridge of the pond, respectively.  Maybe the police?  Maybe the
yakuza?  Whatever.
	And after that, he'd start using the money and connections he now had.
Maybe he could find another series with the sort of expertise he needed.  If
not...it'd be awhile before Cologne departed to come here.  Maybe a trip to
China would be in order.
	He walked away from the stairwell Akane had gone down.  He'd free Nabiki
and get them out of here.  They could go home and commiserate about how 
they'd
almost been killed by the awful, horrible, hateful monster.  Oh well.  At 
least
they'd stay the heck out of his business from now on.


*


	Getting Ukyou and the others to Doctor Tofu's place took a lot more work
then Akane thought it would. First, there was the problem of the two other 
girls
to deal with. Akane recognized their faces, if not their names. She wasn't 
about
to leave the two of them here with Kodachi, or Chris, or whoever it was that 
had
just done all this.
	It was all so stupid!
	Akane forced herself not to think about that while she worked. A set of
wooden clogs protected Akane's feet while she got Ukyou and Ranma out of the
yard. She remembered gasping when she finally got a good look at Ukyou. 
There
was so much blood, coming from her mouth and nose and eyes and ears and all 
the
small cuts on her body. Her face and hands were covered with bruises. Akane
couldn't see the rest of her, but imagined it was much the same. Akane had 
went
to help her but had been stopped by Ukyou's soft but insistent voice.
	"Ranma first."
	That had been all the girl had said, since Akane had shown up in the
yard until she was back at the office recovering in one of Tofu's beds. 
Akane
wanted to argue, but she just couldn't. So Akane had ended up carrying Ranma 
out
of the yard first. By the time Akane was heading back out for her friend, 
Nabiki
had shown up.
	Nabiki seemed shocked by the level of damage done to both the Kunou
estate and to both Ranma and Ukyou. Compared to that, the rope-burns on her
wrists and ankles seemed unworthy of comment. After that the two of them did
their best to carry/drag the quartet back to Tofu's clinic. Akane ended up 
doing
most of the work, though Ukyou was able to partially support her own weight.
	Tofu took one look at the group Akane lead into his offices and shooed
out the rest of his customers. He wanted to get Ukyou to a real hospital, 
but
the girl refused for some reason. Thankfully, all that Ranma and Akane's
schoolmates needed was a few judicious pokes with Tofu's practiced hand and 
a
dose of some vile-smelling concoction. All three were up and walking within 
an
hour. Akane herself got a good swallow of the potion, and discovered it 
tasted
about as bad as it smelled. It did clear her head.
	Now... now she was just sitting next to Ukyou's bed. Ranma was sitting
on a windowsill, staring alternately at Ukyou or out at the setting sun. A 
few
minutes ago Ukyou had fallen unconscious. Tofu had left to go consult some 
texts
of his. He seemed worried, far more worried than Akane had ever seen him. 
Nabiki
had wanted to come in and speak with all three of them, but Akane had been
forced to keep her out.
	She remembered Ukyou's last words to her, before she had drifted off. "I
don't want... anybody to know about what happened. Keep it secret... 
please."
Akane felt kind of bad about keeping her sister away, and the look Nabiki 
gave
her promised trouble down the line. Akane was just reminded of how stupid 
this
all was by that.
	How could it have come to this? Akane couldn't help but feel that if the
two of them had just been willing to talk with each other from the 
beginning, if
just one of them had been willing to trust the other with their secrets...
	"Dammit!"
	Akane snapped her head up as Ranma leapt down from the windowsill. He
stalked over to the door, scratching idly at the shirt Tofu had been kind 
enough
to loan him.
	"Where are you going?"
	"I can't..." He looked over at Ukyou and dropped his head. "I can't just
watch her like this again."
	Ranma walked out of the room. Akane sighed and set her chin on her palm.
In a few minutes, she would probably have to leave herself. Her father was
probably worried sick about her, not to mention Kasumi. But she didn't want 
to
leave quite yet. There were too many questions swimming around in her head.
Questions only Ukyou could properly answer. She hadn't heard everything the 
two
had been talking about, but she had heard enough to know that there was far 
more
going on here than Ukyou had once led Akane to believe.
	Akane reached out and grabbed Ukyou's limp hand. However it turned out,
Ukyou had friends. Maybe Ukyou had done something wrong. But Akane would be 
here
when she woke up, and Ranma was going to be here too. Whatever problems 
Chris,
or whoever that was, had... they were behind them now.
	She hoped.




				To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:


Blade: Well, that was about as much of us as any sane reader would ever want 
to
handle, so we should probably keep our pretentious self-indulgence short.

Epsilon: And to think people were actually asking us to tone down the angst.

Blade: Feh.  "They don't know us vewy well, do they?"

Epsilon: Well, I really don't have anything to say here.  It pretty much
explains itself.

Blade: What, no translations of Japanese names for Ranma's amazing Shirt 
Shield
technique?  Or Tile Breaking Stance?

Epsilon: That sounds like a Charm from Exalted.

Blade: Oh jeezus.  Shut up about Exalted already.

Epsilon: (gleeful fanboy mode) I statted up Hybrid Theory Ukyou in Exalted!  
It
was COOL! (/GFB)

Blade: Well, this is a reversal of roles.  Anyway, so yeah.  Never fear, 
people
who read this self-insert fic, but not for the self-insert elements!  It 
will be
a good long while before there's as much Chris and Aaron as there was in 
this
chapter.

Epsilon: Yes, other characters will have a chance to angst too!

Blade: Because god knows Ranma 1/2 is certainly well-known for all its
rampaging angst.

Epsilon: Anyway, there's nothing much else to add...

Blade: And I'm horrendously sick, so I'm probably forgetting whatever 
brillaint
geniusosity I normally would...

Epsilon: ...right.  So let's hit the next chapter preview!



	"I woke up almost eight hours ago now. I spent a lot of that time lying
here and getting very familiar with what that ceiling looks like. I also 
spent a
lot of that time thinking. I was thinking about what I was going to tell you
when you came and you had questions. Questions about me, about Chris, about
Aaron and about how all three of us are connected. And I came up with a lot 
of
things I could say to you. I spent a great deal of time refining the message
over and over in my mind, editing it and revising it. I perfected it the 
same
way a politician perfects a speech or a storyteller perfects a tale, 
introducing
the right levels of drama and exoticism, playing to the emotional appeals of 
my
audience. I came up with a brilliant way to give you what you wanted to 
hear.
	"Now, sitting here, looking at the two of you, I can't say any of it.
Because everything I was going to say to you was a lie. Oh, I could call it 
a
subtle half-truth, or just a little white lie, or a harmless omission... but 
I
seem to have lost the ability to decieve myself even as I become a better 
liar.
I look at your faces and I feel like a bitch when I prepare myself to lie to 
you
so openly. I can't do it. You two mean too much to me. So instead I'm going 
to
tell you the truth, or a good part of it.
	"There are parts of the truth I'm not going to tell you. Some of that is
because I don't know the whole truth. Some of that is because there are 
things I
just don't feel like telling anyone. There are secrets in my heart that I 
want
to keep, and if it's wrong for me to hide them from you then I'm wrong, but 
that
doesn't change how I feel."


			Hybrid Theory Chapter 5: Session



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