The year is 2005. For six years, mankind has waged a Secret War against
an enemy from Beyond the Stars. Two new missions take the Nerima gang
back to Tokyo, where an alien-human conspiracy seems to have taken root.
Ranma begins to make an effort to clear up his fiance situation and
streamline his team, Konatsu finds an unlikely source of advice, and
Ryouga and Nabiki meet to discuss recent revelations.
-----

The Road To Cydonia

Chapter X
Ghost Wire

-----

Written by:
Capn Chryssalid
jbraveboy@gmail.com

-----

The entire facility was called a "Psi Lab" but the name was somewhat
misleading. Less than a third of the space was really devoted to pure
research, the majority being given the appropriate label of "Psionic
Gym." It was in this section that the UNETCO staff honed their mental
skills and reinforced their sanity. In all XCOM bases it was located
adjacent to the Mind Shield, and another role it played was to assist in
monitoring and keeping that essential device functional. No one cared
for a repeat of what had happened at Morelbach, XCOM's first European
base, and the only major facility to fall to the Enemy.

There were safe areas designated for Psionic and Physiological Therapy,
Mental Isolation, Telekinetic Development and Experimentation, and
general Psionic Exercise and Evaluation. This last area was the largest
and (arguably) the most important. The psionic capable aliens, the
Ethereals and Sectoids, both possessed sensory organs called amupllae
psionic, which allowed them to manifest their formidable powers. Human
beings were fortunate enough to possess a corresponding set of neural
canals, but far denser and smaller in size. Long term research with
captured aliens proved that they had both a stable level of psionic
power and psionic projection, which neither atrophied or improved with
time and practice.

Humans, however, need to practice exhaustively before they were capable
of mimicking substantial psionic projection, even with the external aid
of a PsiAmp. An alien would be born (more accurately: cloned or
manufactured) with the level of psionic ability it would die with. A
human started out much weaker, but with practice, and the aid of
technology, could eventually rival or even surpass the most powerful
Ethereal. Or so Ranma had been informed in the Introduction to Psionics
Video Presentation.

In truth, he wasn't so sure of the claim.

Ryouga had warned him about psionic attacks, and even told him how the
aliens had easily been able to paralyze him before, when they attacked
the Unryu farm. Ranma had seen his Moko Takabisha, a blast of ki he'd
assumed could only be countered by a similar attack, easily deflected by
a command caste Sectoid. He'd had a wealth of information on the enemy
placed at his fingertips, but he'd still been shocked when they're
reviewed the mission recordings, and seen what the Ethereal had done to
the lost boy and the others.

When he'd arrived in the Psi Gym and looked around, he'd been reminded
of what his mentor had told him. The next war, he had explained
(assuming the aliens would eventually be destroyed and that humans would
go back to killing each other) wouldn't just be fought with weapons and
information to destroy bodies and morale. It would be a war of minds,
where a small elite squad with the aid of psionics could engage and
defeat enemies far out of proportion with respect to numbers,
technology, or even determination.

Ranma had been quick to mandate two hours every day of Psionic Training
for everyone in his Squad.

"We're gonna start from scratch," he'd said.

That had included himself. He'd been tempted to jump right into trying
out telekinetics or PsiAmp familiarity, but that was high level stuff.
To his chagrin, it was probably too high level for him at the moment to
get much out of. So: he would work his way up, like with any martial
art. For most personnel, "mental hardening" was as far as their
development went, but Ranma was confident his group would gain a lot
from even that. Though he hadn't suggested it to the others, he was sure
that basic psionic practice would help them develop their ki as well.

Most of the training took the form of games, which shouldn't have
surprised him. The best training always found a way to make repetitive
behavior entertaining. He sat in a booth facing a digital screen, and
saw an L-shaped block appear in the middle of the display. Above and
below the block, a large collection of its fellows, of many shapes and
sizes, were clustered tightly together. The game itself was a modified
sort of Tetris, but controlled mentally rather than with a controller.
Unlike in Tetris, his goal was to assemble as many complete solid lines
as possible, as the blocks piled up.

However, he had to do so while fighting for control over the block with
his opponent. One block appeared at a time; sometimes his opponent
wanted it, and it wasn't worth fighting over, sometimes his opponent
wanted it, and it was worth the effort to frustrate his efforts by
messing with the block's orientation at the last second (especially when
he was about to complete a full line). Sometimes they both wanted it,
and it would go back and forth before one of them wrested control and
exhausted or tired out the other. Conserving mental strength was
essential, and so was planning and dealing with the element of randomity
produced by not knowing what shape of block would appear next.

He wasn't very good at it yet (he tended to over rotate pieces or lose
control of them when he sensed an opponent's mental control over it
lessen), and that was a little frustrating, but he'd been told that his
progress was remarkable. He'd been keeping tabs on the rest of his team,
too, and while it was a little difficult to gauge progress when all the
other Psi Gym regulars were much more experienced than they were, he'd
noticed a competitive streak developing between them.

Ranma's control over one of the blocks slipped, and his opponent quickly
seized it and sent it flying to his ever growing pile that descended
from the top of the screen (having played many times, he'd learned that
each person saw themselves as the 'bottom' screen, for visualization
purposes). The 'competitive streak' among two of his team mates in
particular was one of the reasons he wanted to take a break and talk to
his opponent once they were finished with this third round. As the match
drew to a close, he began to get more and more desperate, trying to
rapidly build up another row or two before his opponent finished.

He came close to completing another full row before his control slipped
and his haste screwed him over. The 'Z' shaped block had gotten wedged
into the space next to where it should have gone, and it was preventing
any other piece from managing to get into the spot. In a minute, it was
over. He'd managed to build up four complete rows to his opponent's
eighteen.

The phrase "curb stomp" came to mind.

He heard movement from the booth opposite his, and swiveled in his chair
before getting back up. Captain Banks wasn't as quick to leave the
chair, pushing himself up with his hands firmly on the armrests, and
rubbing the back of his neck. The American was a tall man, just over six
feet two inches, and he'd made his thoughts about 'small chairs with no
headrests' well known.

"Good game, Ranma," he said, and offered his hand. Ranma was still a
little unused to shaking hands when meeting someone new, much less
casually doing it after a friendly game, but he didn't hesitate more
than a second. Also a little strange was the lack of formality the man
exhibited or expected; it wasn't as if Ranma was the most polite person
when it came to authority figures, but it would have felt odd addressing
someone he had no reason not to respect, who was his senior officer and
mentor, without a proper honorific. He would have preferred using the
Japanese, but English would have to do.

"Thank you, sir. Captain..." Ranma did hesitate, not used to asking for
the opinions of others in personal matters. "Captain, if you've got a
few minutes, I'd like to ask your advice about something."

"Well, that is why I'm here," Banks motioned with his head for Ranma to
follow him somewhere else, and the two walked over to a small lounge
area separated from the Psi Gym by a glass wall. There was a large snack
machine, and a one with drinks, the latter Japanese and the former
American.

"You did seem a little distracted today..." Banks observed, pressing the
button on the vending machine for a bag of pretzels.

"So what's on your mind?" He asked and smiled, amused by his play on
words.

"Well," Ranma began. "I've been told that there is some... concern about
Shampoo and Ukyou and their behavior."

Banks chuckled as he popped open the bag, and fished inside for one of
the mini-snacks. "The Lieutenant Commander chewed you out about that,
eh?"

"That's an understatement," Ranma grumbled. "I mean: I don't see why
she's on my case about them!"

"Ranma, listen." Captain Banks sighed, and paused before putting an
especially salted pretzel in his mouth. "You're their commanding
officer, so it's your responsibility. That's the way the chain of
command works."

"But...!" Ranma bit back an attempt to turn the conversation into an
argument. It hadn't worked when he'd started up with Commander Yasuda,
and it doubted it would work now. He just didn't get why he was
responsible for what Shampoo or Ukyou said and did. He understood that
he was their leader, sort of like how Genma had been when his father had
supervised his training, but he just couldn't wrap his head around how
that evolved into him getting in trouble for what other people did. His
old man certainly hadn't tried to take responsibility for when he son
had screwed things up, and Ranma hated getting blamed for things that
were his father's fault. A man (or woman) took responsibility for
themselves, in his opinion.

"Ok, so what should I do about it?" Ranma asked, finally. "They've
always been like that with each other, ya know, and I think it's better
for their training to have a rival. I mean, it worked for me and Ryouga.
Ya need someone to test yourself against!"

"There's a certain truth to that, yes. A healthy rivalry can be a good
motivator," Banks agreed, and took a seat in a black fold out chair.
"And I can't say I'm really familiar with what's going on between those
two, but it seems to me like there's more to this than just a
competition to be the best, or to get a promotion or something. Like
this thing about them thinking they're your fiance...?"

"That's... it's complicated," Ranma explained (badly).

"Well, you're going to have to make it less complicated. And soon."
Banks popped a pretzel in his mouth, but kept talking anyway between
chews. "I understand y'all are friends, or at least acquaintances or
something, but when on duty they're not your friends; they're your
soldiers, and they're UNETCO's soldiers, too."

Ranma frowned. That wasn't what he'd wanted to hear.

"You're a smart guy," Banks continued, taking a second to make sure he
didn't use the word 'kid.' "I think you know what you've got to do; you
just don't want to do it."

"You don't know what its like," Ranma replied, and ran his right hand
through his thick hair, contemplating what he'd have to say and do.
"They'll... they'll cry, and... and beg, and they'll hate me. Plus,
there's the family honor at stake..."

"Shit happens. Deal with it," Banks interrupted, and then softened his
tone. "They're adults, Ranma, and so are you. You can't make everyone
happy, and you can't keep things going like they have. They'll respect
your decision, whatever it is, and get back to work."

"This - all this," he said and gestured to the base around them. "...is
bigger than them. Bigger than me, or you, or your family honor. And if
you think I'm wrong, if this responsibility isn't your cup of tea, then
you'd better tell me now so I can get to work on those papers shipping
you out."

Ranma sighed loudly, signaling his resignation to the inevitable. "This
is all my father's fault, you know."

Banks replied in a manner Ranma had never expected.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, simply. "But I know you won't repeat
his mistakes, will you?"

Ranma opened his mouth to answer in the affirmative, but found that he
wasn't sure he could make that kind of promise. He'd made his share of
Genma-esque mistakes in the past, stealing food from any number of
people and causing trouble for everyone months or years later. He didn't
normally dwell on it, and he tried to set things right when they came
back to bite him on the ass, but it just wasn't in his nature to worry
too much about the future or the past. It got him in trouble, but it was
just second nature.

While he was thinking over how, or whether, he should answer, Captain
Banks stood up and walked past him.

"I gotta get going," he explained, and patted Ranma on the shoulder.
"Good luck, soldier."

Ranma watched him go, and wished he could've honestly said 'yes.'

-----

Konatsu noticed it right away.

Something was bothering her, he could see it in the way she walked and
the way she trained. In the months he had gotten to study her, to know
her, he had noticed how talking to her father on the phone, how coming
back from school sometimes, how confronting the truth, how all these
things could drag out the old her. When those times came he'd learned
not to try and cheer her up, instead focusing on being quiet, busy, and
unobtrusive. Ukyou Kuonji did not take advice or anything that struck
her as being grounded in pity very well.

Still, he wished he knew how to make her feel better. Talking had never
really worked before, and they weren't in the store, so he couldn't try
and impress her by working extra hard. It had been three days since the
last mission, and Ukyou's mood had visibly shifted from brooding to
pensive. Almost certainly it was caused by what had happened during the
mission when that alien had mentally attacked her. Unfortunately, he
hadn't asked Mousse or Ryu what they had experienced, not feeling
justified in prying into their personal business, so he could only
imagine what Ukyou had endured.

He was feeling a bit more self assured after having gone through the
mission intact, and when the others had commented positively on his
performance, he'd swelled with pride. But Ukyou had not been one of
those people to give him attention, and she was the one he most wanted
praise and respect from. If only he had some way to cheer her up then
maybe, just maybe...

"Oh, Ukyou-sama..." Konatsu imagined a spotlight representing her,
shining down on him, lighting up the darkness of his life from before
he'd met her. "What do I have to do to earn your trust? Your love?"

"There must be something wrong with the male Japanese gene pool."

"Eep!!" Konatsu jumped, literally, out of his daydream and remembered
where he was. The cafeteria was mostly empty, except for a handful of
people he didn't know (and who were currently staring at him like he was
crazy). The sole exception was Shampoo, who had appeared out of no where
with a tray loaded up with stir fried chicken, veggies, and a dark
chocolate brownie.

Suddenly self conscious, the legendary male kunoichi (a contradiction in
terms in all but his mind) picked his foot up off the chair it had been
dramatically posing on and quietly took his seat at the otherwise empty
table. Fidgeting with his fingers, he watched as Shampoo sighed heavily
and sat next to him. Apparently she preferred to sit next to a weirdo
rather than be by herself, or with complete strangers.

Shampoo pulled her drink closer, but didn't drink from it before adding,
"Then again, Mousse acts the same way." She shook her head sadly.
"Stupid men."

"Sorry," Konatsu apologized, though it wasn't as if he had to. "I got a
little carried away, I guess."

Shampoo grunted a reply, and started to eat. The only utensils available
were metal forks and knives and spoons - western style - which had
caused some of the new arrivals more trouble than others. Konatsu wasn't
used to them, and neither was Shampoo, but Kuno, Ranma, Ryouga and
Mousse were more worldly and didn't show any problems when they'd eaten
together. Konatsu sometimes wondered about them. Despite living in
Nerima for a good while, he didn't really know much about the other
guys, and he always felt like the odd man out in their conversations.

"So, um," he spoke softly, and hoped Shampoo didn't just ignore him.
"That sort of thing happens a lot, huh?"

She took the bait easily enough, putting down her fork. "You kidding?
Ranma is fine, but the other men all act like love sick idiots. Lost boy
used to be really bad, wandering around crying about Akane, being
depressed in store, hugging telephone poles and accidentally breaking
down walls. Stupid! Stick boy was no better, always running around and
yelling about girl type Ranma and Akane. Mousse... Mousse was worst of
them all. Always making stupid declarations, or trying to get me to go
out with him, or trying to save me but instead saving a statue or
something. Stupid, stupid Mousse."

"Oh," Konatsu replied, dumbly. Then, he thought of something that could
actually help him out. "So, you like Ranma because he didn't act like
that?"

Shampoo stared at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Shampoo... I mean
I, love Ranma. I don't just 'like' him."

"Of course!" Konatsu smiled nervously, holding up his hands.

"And... it isn't as if I don't wish he acted like he loved me back,"
Shampoo admitted, after a few seconds of silent indecision. "He's always
so... aloof and indifferent. I don't expect him to act like stupid
Mousse or lost boy, but it would be nice if he..."

Shampoo shook her head. "No matter. Ranma is strong outsider male. The
other traits aren't so important."

Ukyou had explained very clearly (and with no small amount of bias)
about how Shampoo had ended up engaged to Ranma. Apparently, Ranma (in
his girl form) had beaten her in a fight back in China, after his father
had eaten the food Shampoo would have won. Amazon Law said that Shampoo
had to kill an outsider woman who beat her, and she tracked Ranma and
his father across China to Japan.

Once there, she'd discovered that 'girl type Ranma' was really a boy,
and so she'd gone from trying to kill him to trying to marry him (as
Amazon Law stated that outsider men who beat an Amazon in a fight have
to marry into the tribe). As far as Konatsu knew, Ranma had never
returned Shampoo's affections (except for one incident with emotion
reversing jewelry).

Like almost everyone from Nerima, she was cursed to remain in a limbo of
one sided affection. Konatsu couldn't help but compare himself to
Mousse, who loved Shampoo, who in turn loved Ranma. Still, Konatsu
thought of Ukyou as much more reasonable than Shampoo, and so he held
out hope that he could turn the tables and get her to like him back. If
only he could find out where the other boy went wrong in his pursuit of
Shampoo, then it might shed some light on what he could do about Ukyou.

"But... Ranma isn't the only guy who would qualify as a strong outsider
male, is he?" Konatsu asked, risking entry into dangerous waters. He
didn't want to imply that Shampoo was weak or anything, just... weaker
than most (or all) of the guys she associated with.

"Ranma is stronger than any of the others here," Shampoo stated, not
getting angry. "He even beat Herb! And Saffron!"

"So if he lost to someone," Konatsu speculated. "You'd lost interest in
him?"

"Of course not!" Shampoo rolled her eyes, as if she was talking down to
a toddler or something. "Ranma has lost plenty of fights, but he always
gets stronger and comes back to win. That is what makes him strong. That
is why I love him."

"I see," Konatsu mumbled, thinking over what she'd said. "So girls like
strong guys who don't give up when they lose to someone?"

"Exactly!" Shampoo exclaimed, giving him a firm nod. "It shows he is
dedicated! Very good trait in a husband!"

"Interesting. Hmm..." The ninja pondered that for a minute while Shampoo
went back to spearing her stir fry, holding her fork like a knife. What
she had told him made sense. He wasn't sure why Ukyou liked Ranma so
much. He'd always suspected it was because of the family honor thing, or
maybe because he was a lone familiar face from her youth, or because
she'd vilified (and idolized) him for so many years while she trained.
But none of that explained the initial attraction that must have existed
between them.

There was just one problem with it.

"Um, Shampoo?" Konatsu asked, catching her between slurps of her drink.
"What you said before, doesn't that apply to Mousse, too?"

The Amazon girl released the straw between her lips, and closed her eyes
sadly before nodding. "Mousse is very tenacious, yes. But it isn't the
same."

"Oh," Konatsu said, and thought of what it could be. "Is it the
glasses?"

Shampoo smirked, and shook her head. "There is more to it than that.
Mousse isn't an outsider male. It isn't that I hate him... I just can't
be with him like that. He knows it; too, he's just too stupid and
stubborn to let things be."

That didn't really explain anything. "I'm not sure I understand..."

"I know you're trying to win over Ukyou, and anything that keeps that
hussy away from my Ranma, I'll help out. So I'll tell you," Shampoo
said, but spoke quietly so he had to lean a little closer to hear
properly. "You know about the Amazon Laws about outsider men and women.
If an outsider woman defeats an Amazon, that Amazon must kill her. If an
outsider man defeats an Amazon, that Amazon must marry him."

Konatsu nodded.

"However, that does not mean that every Amazon marries an outsider,"
Shampoo continued candidly. "In fact, only the strongest Amazons fight
outsider men. The weaker ones all marry in the Tribe. The strong Amazons
are all from the Great Families."

"Like you?" he guessed.

"I happen to be from the oldest and strongest of all the families,"
Shampoo boasted with a wide grin. "Every woman from my family has
married a strong outsider man. Strong men make the Great Families more
powerful than the others and enforce Tribal Laws. Also important is that
with outsider males, there are no commitments or connections with lesser
families. You see?"

Contrary to what some might think Konatsu was not stupid. He had been
trained to be a master shinobi and a tea house girl in the classical
sense, and that meant he had to understand backroom politics for spying
purposes. He understood what Shampoo had explained very well. These
Great Families were a sort of aristocracy in the Amazon community,
making themselves stronger and those under them weaker, and cutting
their familial ties to that same underclass. The Amazon Laws probably
kept the weaker women from leaving the village, or sent them out on
suicidal vendettas against foreigner women, while the strong ones found
stronger guys and married them. These men would have no connection or
loyalty to the Amazons themselves except for their immediate family
members.

"I do see," Konatsu replied, and added, "How did this system develop?
Who wrote the Amazon Laws?"

"The Amazon Laws were all written by the founders of Tribe, over two
thousand years ago," Shampoo answered, surprisingly forthcoming with the
information. From the pride in her voice, he suspected she was happy
someone was actually interested in her background for once. "Back then,
there were Greek settlers in westernmost China, and they met up with the
Old Amazons who lived in the area. Most of these became the Great
Families."

"The Greeks wanted to marry into other Greek families from colonies
nearby. This is where the Laws come from. Later, when barbarians took
over the area, they moved further east. The tradition of Great Families
marrying outside the Tribe continued, but over hundreds of years more
and more husbands came from the east, instead of the south or west, so
the Great Families eventually became mostly Chinese. A thousand years
later, Old Amazons became Chinese Amazons."

"That's amazing!" Konatsu meant it, too. "So you're...what? Part Greek?"

"Greek, Han Chinese, Indian, Tibetan, Mongol, Japanese..." Shampoo
flicked her violet colored hair and then pointed at her light brown left
eye. "These aren't normal Chinese features, are they? Some Amazons even
have blond hair and blue eyes."

"But enough about that!" Shampoo cut him off before he could say
anything. Pointing at him with her fork, she leaned in even closer.
"Ukyou won't have the problems with you that I have with Mousse. And if
you're serious about getting her to like you, I have a few ideas!"

Konatsu could help but blush as she outlined it for him.

-----

Kuno didn't seem to be handling himself too well.

Ryu whistled as the girl leapt twelve feet into the air, undressing as
she spun head over heels. He'd never even imagined someone could take
off their clothes like that. The only disappointment was that she was
wearing a skimpy black leotard underneath it all. The alternative
would've been even more amusing, though what she currently wore left
little to the imagination.

Next to him, Ryouga coughed, and wiped a trickle of blood from under his
nose.

"Sister, please, be rational!" Kuno cried, chasing after her. Like all
of India Squad, he was in plain clothes, wearing a UNETCO issue black
suit and tie. Sadly, they blended in seamlessly with the tide of like-
dressed Japanese men in Narita International Airport. Well, they had
blended in anyway, until Kuno had gone over to talk to his sister.

She'd seemed nice enough at first. Cute, too, with long black hair and a
traditional kimono. In fact, out of all of the girls Ranma seemed to
associate with, this Kodachi Kuno girl was, in Ryu's opinion, definitely
the easiest on the eyes. The laugh was a little grating, though. And
where had she retrieved that gymnastic ribbon from? That leotard was
skin tight!

"Damnit," Ryouga cursed softly. "They're making a scene. Mousse?"

"I'm on it." The confident male Amazon adjusted the glasses on his face,
and erupted into a burst of speed. Ryu took a look around and noted how
they were starting to draw a crowd of onlookers. People weren't just
trying to get out of the way, they were muttering to each other, and
watching the fight. The mission had gone tits up, right from the get go.

Twisting in midair, Kodachi deftly avoided one of Mousse's chains, which
would have been an impressive feat (he doubted whether Ukyou or Shampoo
could have duplicated it - this girl was flexible!) except that she
failed to take into account the piano wire Mousse had shot out of his
other sleeve. The Hidden Weapons Master was wearing the same outfit as
the rest of them, but he could be stripped naked and still somehow be
armed to the teeth.

Kodachi hit the wires with a yelp, but spun her ribbon around her body
before she could become entangled. Kuno, bereft of being able to carry a
sword (even a wooden one) into the airport, ran backwards to try and
keep pace with his hyperactive younger sister as she leapt to an
overhead metal support beam. The reason for his concern became evident
when her ankles snapped together, caught in another wire, and she lost
her balance.

Sure enough, as they began wrapping things up, a familiar sound came
from behind. Ryu and Ryouga exchanged looks, and turned to face the
onrushing police officers. Neither of them were looking forward to
having to deal with the local law, but they'd been briefed on how to
handle it, and they knew that it could either go over easily or messily,
depending on how bitchy the police who showed up decided to be.

"Hey! Hey you there!" The closest of the trio that were pushing their
way through the crowd, a short athletic young man with brown hair, was
the one who had yelled loud enough to be heard over the crowd. He had
his nightstick out, and Ryouga motioned Ryu forward. It would make them
seem more aloof and intimidating if the local police assumed that the
man in charge of a government operation wouldn't address them
personally.

"What's going on here? What are you doing to that woman?" The man came
up short when Ryu held out his badge.

"Sawada Souji," Ryu said his fake name like he'd been using it all his
life. "National Police Agency Security Bureau. We appreciate your non-
interference in a matter of national security."

The police officer stood there, stunned, and then he stared hard at the
badge in Ryu's right hand. For what it was worth, Ryu let him get a good
look at it. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Kuno and Mousse finally
had Kodachi on the ground. Once her hands were tied in front of her, she
got remarkable placid, as if she finally realized that not only was her
brother here, but two other guys from the Nerima gang. Perhaps she'd
given up once she realized that? He wasn't sure.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Ryu said, tucking the badge back into
his suit jacket's inner breast pocket. "You'll receive information on
what transpired here within the hour."

"What's going on?" Another police officer ran up, a woman this time, at
least ten years older than the man. "Is everything ok?"

"Are we in any danger?" Someone yelled.

"Excuse me." Ryu bowed his head quickly, and caught up with the other
three members of the team. At first, he hadn't been sure why they'd
brought them out for this mission, even if it was Kuno's sister. Surely,
he'd thought at first, they could just send Kuno and maybe one or two
undercover operatives, right?

Wrong!

Who knew Kodachi would turn out to be so troublesome? He doubted Kuno
himself could have handled her, especially without his sword. It was
fortunate that Tatewaki had admitted that he would prefer backup. Ryouga
and Mousse had quickly agreed, and off they'd all gone to get the right
clearance and prepare for her arrival in Japan.

They bulled past more Airport security, and no one pried too deeply into
their activities, which was a lucky break. The credentials would hold up
to any sort of investigation, but the less time spent out in the open
the better. It wouldn't do to be recognized, or recorded. It was bad
enough that some jackass had probably caught half the fight with Kodachi
on his digital camera-phone.

Then the five of them were in the safety of their (illegally parked but
unmolested thanks to the government plates) white SUV. A little
reluctantly, Kuno took the wheel, and a few seconds later they were
driving away from the crowded international airport. It was obvious that
Kuno would have preferred to be in the back with his still shocked
sister, but out of the four of them he was by far the most experienced
and reliable driver. Ryu was poor, and had never bothered to learn,
Mousse could drive but with his vision there was always a chance of
being on the wrong side of the road or crashing into the guard railing,
and Ryouga would be driving around in circles for days with his sense of
direction.

"Well, that wasn't so bad!" Kuno proclaimed, as they got onto the
highway heading west.

"Is there a lot of pot in that dream world you live in?" Mouse asked,
sounding totally serious. Ryouga looked at the Chinese boy out of the
corner of his eye, and Ryu suspected he was a little scandalized by the
remark. Of course, drugs weren't exactly an unknown in the places they
sometimes traveled through, but as far as Ryu could recall none of the
Nerima gang had ever made reference to it before (well, except one time
Ranma had joked that the lost boy was 'as angry as a bull on crack').
The red slap mark on Mousse's face must've stung more than his pride,
and it looked like he was happy to take out his frustration on the Blue
Thunder.

"Come now, even a blind fool like yourself must admit that we handled
things with efficiency and dignity," Kuno continued boastfully. "My only
regret is the shame brought upon House Kuno by my dear sister who
steadfastly refuses to this day to bow before the illimitable wisdom and
experience of her only older brother."

"Brother dear..." Kodachi spoke up then, looking from Mousse and Ryu on
her right and left respectively, to the front of the vehicle where Kuno
drove and Ryouga sat silently in the passenger side seat.

"What sort of trouble have you gotten into this time?" she asked,
sounding infinitely condescending. "And with these coarse ruffians no
less? It is most unseemly to keep such company as this."

Mousse scoffed loudly. "Imagine the scene if Juliet Squad had been given
this mission."

Ryouga shuddered visibly.

"Sister, you must understand that we are doing what is best for you..."
Kuno began, repeating almost exactly what had set her off just a few
minutes before.

"You cut short my trip to Oxford and then begin to dictate where I may
or may not go?" Kodachi interrupted angrily. "You are not father, and
even if you were, I would question the abruptness of your demands! How
do you imagine you know what is or is not good for me, brother dear?"

"It wasn't even my idea," Kuno growled, gripping the wheel tightly. "You
weren't safe there."

"Safe?" Kodachi laughed again, daintily covering her mouth with the back
of her hand. "Brother dear, if I am ever in trouble, my darling Ranma
will so doubt rush to my rescue with great haste! What need have I for
your protection or that of your hirelings?"

Mousse sighed, and Ryouga busied himself by looking out the window. Ryu
was tempted to do the same, but he kept an eye on the potentially
dangerous girl. It didn't do to be careless, when she could still try
and escape or something. Besides, she filled out that leotard very well.

Kuno ground his teeth together. "If you ever need rescuing, it is likely
because of that fiend... that enemy of women...!"

Kodachi dismissed her brother with a contemptuous wave of her tied
together hands. She then spied Ryu, as if for the first time, and gave
him a good look over. He shied back a bit, feeling as if he was the one
wearing the skimpy leotard and not her.

"You there!" She addressed him.

"Ryu," he answered her unasked question.

She didn't dignify it by repeating his name. "How is it that you stopped
those officers of the law? What is your part in this motley crew?"

"I'm pleased to meet you, too," Ryu answered, by this time holding a
completely divergent conversation with her. She stared at him for a few
seconds, then smiled and laughed more softly. Facing forward, she held
out her hands.

"Could one of you please untie me?" she asked politely. "I suppose it
wouldn't hurt to at least listen to what you suggest."

-----

The Umisenken made Operation Ghost Wire a walk in the park. There were
at least a dozen guards on duty, but Ranma wasn't terribly worried about
them. The Art of the Silent Thief would keep them from seeing him...
unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the electronic defenses the
building employed. Cameras would still betray him, and so would any
laser tripwires, tripwalls or infrared sensors. Luckily, steps were
being taken to correct that problem.

Ranma waited behind the stairwell door as another security guard walked
by, oblivious. Even if he had looked through the glass, he wouldn't have
seen the Saotome heir. However, his progress was at a halt for the
moment. Opening the door would set off an alarm, and the mission was
strictly 'dry cleaning'- meaning no use of deadly force, no use of ANY
force in fact, and no being seen.

"I'm in," Konatsu's voice came in over their squad level communications
channel. They kept chatter to a minimum, and the ninja boy didn't say
any more about his progress. Ranma knew where he was, however. Konatsu
had been given the job of slipping down the elevator shaft, going
through the ventilation system and disabling any alarms there (of which
he'd reportedly found two), sneaking halfway down a hall, picking a lock
to Security Office 2-C as soon as the occupant left, and then disabling
the more troublesome security features.

It was a hell of a job, and Ranma would have offered to do it himself if
his Umisenken hadn't been better suited to getting past human opponents,
rather than machines. As it was, Konatsu's ninja training had included
defeating modern electronic surveillance, and he had disabled anything
that got between him and his objectives with the speed and silent
competence one would expect from a 'legendary kunoichi.'

It was just too bad they couldn't have brought better equipment. Being
handed the mission, Ranma had soon learned why his squad was best suited
for this sort of work. Section Seven of the UNETCO Charter forbid the
use of advanced or alien-derived technologies against Earth based
organizations or individuals outside of incidents involving direct alien
intervention. It was a measure designed to protect human governments,
political groups, and economic concerns from UNETCO manipulation. With
the technology and training as its disposal, XCOM could become a threat
to everything it was designed to protect. What military on Earth could
stand against XCOM air and space superiority? What army could so much as
scratch XCOM powered armor? What government could immunize itself
against XCOM psionics?

Section Seven of the Charter prevented that.

Unfortunately, it also made dealing with Alien sympathetic organizations
more difficult. Psionic infiltration was forbidden by Section Seven, and
the fear of a slippery slope, and the most advanced technologies had to
be reserved for the fight against the aliens themselves. This left
conventional technologies and conventional methods. Martial Arts were a
cheat around that restriction.

Ranma suspected that was the reason they had been brought into UNETCO in
the first place. Not to fight aliens, which the organization had already
been doing for years, but to better fight other human beings. The idea
made Ranma a little uneasy, but it wasn't as if they were ordering him
to assassinate anyone.

Yet.

Konatsu's voice returned. "All set. I'm pulling back."

"No silent alarms detected. Nothing on the local police network," Ukyou
said, from her location in a skyscraper opposite Sirius Corporate
Headquarters. "I'm watching the guards now. They're acting normal. I
think we're in the clear."

"Nothing strange on the ground," Shampoo added. She and Ukyou were both
together, working backup and monitoring the situation. They were
coordinating the information coming from Ranma and Konatsu in the
building, along with information passed onto them by operatives in
government agencies and that made available via UNETCO electronic and
human intelligence already in place. Behind them, and miles away, Seiran
Mountain watched everything from a distance, offering their expertise on
demand.

"Ok. I'm moving," Ranma said quietly, and making sure no one was around,
he started to open the door. It was unlocked, and no alarm (silent or
otherwise) sounded when he slipped through. Konatsu had taken care of
the cameras with a lopped feed that had been recorded on the spot. The
little electronic bug would kill itself after a certain amount of time,
and no one would be the wiser.

Another guard, armed for bear with a MP5A2 sub-machinegun, whistled as
he walked by, never noticing the young man pressed up against the wall
just a few feet away. Sneaking along, Ranma passed by a large open area,
like a lobby. Beautiful hardwood stairs led down to the floor below,
where the offices and mainframe were located. The carpeting below was
red, with a massive stylized Silver Star in the middle - the Sirius
Corporation Logo, representing the Dog Star. The walls facing north,
what must have been an entire corner of the floor, were tall panes of
glass, offering a breathtaking view of the world's largest megalopolis
in all its glittering, neon glory.

The lower floor was not as well patrolled, and a greater reliance was
put on non-human defenses. Ranma paused to adjust the eyepiece built
into his stealth suit's mask. Everything seemed to be working properly,
and as he cycled through the vision modes he didn't see any laser trip
wires or tripwalls... there was a hidden camera set into the wall that
he wouldn't have noticed, but nothing could be done about that if
Konatsu hadn't caught it in a video loop. Gaps in the floor indicated
pressure sensitive alarms, which was unexpected.

Looking up, Ranma saw two pencil sized gaps running along the ceiling.
It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. He just didn't have the
clearance to leap down the hall, and jumping from one wall to another
ran the risk of making too much noise. Falling on his hands, he pushed
up and touched his feet to the ceiling. The groove was small; too small
for his big toe to fit in. Luckily, his index toe was able to wedge
itself in place, leaving him as a less than ideal angle.

His Martial Arts Tea Ceremony training paid off again!

The training had been to move without getting up off the seating
position, using your toes to maneuver. Once mastered, it could even be
used to hang from projections in the wall or ceiling, grasping onto the
surface with your big and index toes. This wasn't quite the same, since
he was sticking one toe into a depression, rather than locking both
around a projection, but it would do. Daring to take one step at a time,
he quickly reached the end of the hall, and flipped down onto his feet.

Ducking behind a wall, just to be sure, he got his bearings and
remembered where his targets were. He had several to take care of, and
he had to be fast. A handy bulletin board nearby sported a map with
names for offices, as well as a variety of post-it notes related to work
that was being done. He headed for the nearest office, and frowned at
the electronic card swipe used in place of a proper lock and key.

Genma had taught him to pick old fashioned locks, but nothing like this.

He supposed that, when the time came, the Anything Goes Martial Arts
curriculum would have to be updated for the twenty first century. This
was where the UNETCO toys came in. Each door required an authentication
token to open in the form of a smartcard. Ranma retrieved a device with
a long, thin projection under a flat cylindrical body. Placing it right
against the door, and fitting the thin section into the swiping
mechanism, he flicked it on and waited as a faint series of red lights
began to cycle around in a circle and turn green.

Sixteen tense seconds later, the door bolt retracted, and Ranma was able
to gain entry. The office was large but rather messy, with papers
scattered about in cardboard boxes, and several overflowing desk drawers
open. Still, it wasn't hard to find the phone, next to a few framed
family pictures. Ranma stared at them for a few seconds, wondering what
a man with two kids and a pretty wife would gain from collaborating with
aliens. Then again, this man could have just been an unwitting patsy.

Either way...

Ranma quickly opened the bottom of the phone where the batteries were
held. Intel had gotten the brand of the phones right at least, and Ranma
quickly replaced the foam strip on the back of the casing. Now, it would
report anything and everything that happened in the room or over the
phone to UNETCO. Imbedded in the foam, the bug was all but invisible.
The computer he left alone.

Slipping out, he repeated the procedure; going to all the offices on the
list he'd been given. Sirius was a major concern that allegedly used its
alien connections to corner the market on advanced electronics
technologies. It also financed activities that endangered UNETCO
interests, and by extension the well being of the world as a whole.
Their Japan Headquarters was likely the focal point of their assistance
in locating martial artists and others for later alien abduction.

Finally, Ranma broke into the room with the computer mainframe. There
were more pressure sensitive plates built into the floor in addition to
the usual cameras and inactive laser tripwires. It was likely that the
mainframe had recent backups of all the work done by computers on the
LAN, and UNETCO intended to get a copy of it for themselves. The
computer was vertically oriented, which worked in Ranma's favor. Finding
a small foothold on a wall, he gripped it with his toes and in a second
stood perpendicular to the wall with the face of the mainframe over his
head.

The mainframe seemed to operate on a secure, wired network, to keep
anyone from trying to jump in on their separate wireless system. Or that
was what Intel had told them. Ranma wasn't sure what that meant, if
anything, but he knew what he'd been told to look for and do. Sure
enough, there was a laptop friendly USB port waiting for an
administrator to make use of. Getting into the system from there would
be up to the Tech-heads back at Seiran Mountain; he was just the
delivery boy.

Retrieving a small device the size of a keychain ornament, he plugged it
in.

"Linkup established with Psyche," Ukyou said, keeping her voice quiet
even though she wasn't in any real danger of being overheard from where
she was stationed. "Things look good. 'Five by five' is the term, I
think. Ghost is now communicating with Cupid and Psyche."

Ranma kept quiet and waited. He'd made very good time, so he wasn't
particularly worried. He knew the data linkup, the hacking, and the
transfer would take time. Easing himself back onto the floor in a normal
standing position, he fell into a cross-legged position and concentrated
on centering himself.

His thoughts soon drifted back to Ukyou and Shampoo, and how he was
going to deal with them. He'd used the new mission as justification to
put things off for a few days, but if he didn't act soon it would almost
certainly bit him on the ass sooner rather than later. The two girls
generally behaved themselves when on a mission, but at the base, during
training, almost any other time it was like business as usual for them.

He really had to put his foot down.

If only his stupid old man hadn't stolen the Kuonji yatai as a dowry
then he could've written the whole thing off. Mostly. Then there was
when the dumb ol' panda had eaten Shampoo's prize, and started that
whole mess! And once things had started down that road, it was hard to
stop. He'd wanted to be friends with Ukyou, and mollify her into not
wanting to fight, but complimenting her had just gotten it into her head
that he wanted her as a fiance. He didn't!

Well, he liked the attention he got from her, and from Shampoo (and the
free food was another nice bonus), but he didn't want to marry them. He
didn't really even want to marry Akane; he just wanted to be with her,
and have her pay attention to him (and not Ryouga or P-chan or
Shinnosuke or any other guy). Now, two years later, he had to make some
hard decisions. Knowing Ukyou and Shampoo, only a direct 'no nonsense'
sort of move would settle the issue once and for all.

"Hmm..." Ranma mused. "Maybe if Ryouga and Mousse are there, I can use
them as human shields..."

A couple minutes later, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Cupid has sent a green light," Ukyou spoke up, referring to Seiran
Mountain HQ. That was his cue to head back. Retrieving the device he'd
plugged into the mainframe, Ranma backtracked out the wing of offices,
past the hall with the pressure sensors, up to the next floor, and then
to the stairs where he'd began. From there it was back to the grate he'd
entered from, through that to the elevator well, and then up to the roof
where they'd originally broken in.

Konatsu was waiting there, and he carefully closed up the panel they'd
removed, and reset the wires they'd bypassed to avoid setting off an
alarm. Like Ranma, he wore a black stealth suit that concealed any
potentially distinguishing features. A round lens in the middle of his
facemask, where the forehead should have been, along with two smaller
lenses over the eyes stared back at him. They looked dull and empty,
like a camera with dead batteries. Apparently this technology still
wasn't quite advanced enough to fall under the mandate of Section Seven.

"Let's go," Ranma said, and the two moved off to the edge of the roof. A
fifty four story sheer drop loomed before them, but neither gave it more
than a moment's notice. Walking off the edge, Ranma fell a foot and a
half before stopping, balancing on a thin wire connecting the building
behind him with another smaller one about three hundred feet away.
Normally, a helicopter would have inserted them on the building they
were to infiltrate, but Ranma and Konatsu's skills had afforded UNETCO
more liberty with where they could run an insertion/extraction.

Running along the nearly invisible wire, Ranma still tried not to look
down. A parking lot and garage stretched out below, blending in with
busy roads and small buildings. But it wasn't the height that could have
messed up his balance; it was the disorientation from hundreds of bright
moving lights and the vertigo of focusing on them while compensating for
the movement of the wire due to the wind. A fall of this height (Akane's
fondness for 'orbit punches' and kicks not-withstanding) would have been
most unfortunate. Ryouga could possibly survive it, given his rock hard
head and likewise constitution, but Ranma didn't want to consider the
effect it would have on his body.

Reaching the end of the wire, he jumped, flipped, and landed on the
roof. A minute later, Konatsu joined him. Neither could read the other's
expressions behind their masks, but both were grinning broadly.
Altogether, the mission had been very exciting... and running back and
forth over a shaved tightrope two hundred meters in the air always got
the blood pumping.

A few seconds later, while Konatsu retracted the wire bridging the two
buildings, the door to the roof opened and Ukyou stepped out, waving.
She wore plainclothes, playing the part of a secretary or the like, and
both boys took her presence as the signal to take off their masks and
get a breath of fresh air. It was windy and cold, and a blast of chilly
atmosphere hit Ranma in the face, causing him to wince.

"Everything going ok?" he asked, walking up to her. "When can we expect
pickup?"

"An unmarked civilian helicopter will be by to pick us up in about seven
minutes," Ukyou explained, her eyes darting from Konatsu to him. "So
what was it like? All that high tech ninja spy stuff?"

"Pretty neat," Ranma replied, and looked to Konatsu, offering him an
opening to voice his opinion. He was the only real trained ninja
present, after all.

"The life of a shinobi is five percent preparation, ninety four percent
waiting," Konatsu finally said, after being sure they were waiting for
an answer. "And one percent frantic terror."

"He tells it like it is," Ranma quipped, and offered a friendly nod to
the cross dressing genius ninja.

"Ah," Ukyou began to say, her tone less sure than before. "Ran-chan.
I... I'd like to ask you something. About a few days ago."

Ranma sighed under his breath, and turned to the other guy present.
"Konatsu. Can you go help Shampoo with the equipment?"

"Yes, sir," Konatsu replied crisply, and headed for the door. To his
credit, he didn't even look back.

When he was out of sight, Ranma quickly spoke up, before Ukyou could
continue where she'd left off. "Don't call me Ran-chan on duty, Ukyou.
Just Ranma will do."

Ukyou looked a little hurt by the rebuff, but she relented. "You're
right. The situation and all..."

That was it exactly.

"So what's bothering you?" he asked, looking out over the dancing sea of
lights that was the Greater Tokyo Area. Standing next to him, Ukyou
hesitated before responding.

"I'd like permission to speak freely and off the record," she said,
referring to the fact that normally UNETCO monitored and recorded
everything they said and did when on duty. As the team's commanding
officer, only Ranma could deactivate the devices which watched over
them. He looked at her briefly, considering the request. Anything off
record would be noted with some suspicion (mind controlling aliens
tended to instill some healthy paranoia in any organization designed to
combat them), and he'd have to answer for it later to his superiors.

Still, he gave her the benefit of the doubt.

"The time is twenty one hundred hours and eighteen minutes. Deactivate
Watchmen One and Three," he announced, for the benefit of said devices
and those back at base HQ. Voice recognition software confirmed the
request and the phrase. A second later, the command was carried out.

"Thanks," Ukyou said, giving a few seconds to be sure they wouldn't be
overheard. "I'm... I guess I'm lucky I beat Shampoo in rock-paper-
scissors, or else she'd be here instead of me."

Ranma was glad they'd solved the problem without doing anything that
would cause him trouble later, but he still wasn't sure what this was
about. If she'd asked him to deactivate the Watchmen devices just so she
could share some alone time with him he'd be pissed off, and justifiably
so, he thought.

"Ukyou," he prompted.

"I wanted to..." she closed her eyes and shook her head sadly. She
seemed to be struggling with what to say, but he waited for her to
compose her thoughts.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry. About before, when I... I panicked I guess."

"You want to apologize for that?" He asked, caught off guard. During
Operation Zebra, she'd been psionically attacked by one of the aliens,
maybe even the Ethereal (since they didn't need line of sight to attack
you), but in the end she'd been able to pull together enough to still
fight, and take out a Floater that had been trying to ambush him from
above.

"I told you that you didn't have to protect me, that I could take care
of myself, but... but it wasn't true, was it?" She asked, and sucked in
a sniffle. She wasn't normally the type to cry, and she looked like she
wasn't about to start now. "I couldn't stop it, not by myself. I... it
was horrible, and I couldn't stop it."

She shuddered. "I was the only one who broke down like that."

"Ukyou," he had to resist using 'Ucchan' to try and comfort her. "I
can't imagine what that... that thing showed you when it invaded your
mind, but you saved me back there. When it counted, you were there, and
you didn't hesitate."

He offered her a platonic smile, and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Ukyou, listen: I'd never been more proud to know you than I was at that
moment. You don't have anything to be ashamed of."

To his relief, she didn't try and turn the moment into an excuse for her
to get closer to him. She just stood there for a few seconds before
reaching over with her right hand and resting it on top of his, which
he'd kept on her shoulder. She didn't reply, and they stood like that
for a few more seconds before Ranma sensed a chance to say more.

"I was scared too," he admitted, and she looked at him with undisguised
shock.

"You?" She asked, amazed. "But...!"

"I'm not too stupid to realize when my life is in danger, or when a
situation gets serious. I've been scared before, Ukyou; real scared. Not
all the guys I've fought have been like Ryouga or Kuno, where I never
thought they'd actually kill me. More than a few, like Herb, or Saffron,
or even Pantyhose..." Ranma took a deep breath, and kept his eyes fixed
on the horizon. "Those bastards would have killed me. Herb nearly cut my
head off. Saffron would've burned me to a crisp if not for Akane. Even
Mousse and Ryu could have meant to kill me at one point or another."

"Only an idiot like Kuno wouldn't be scared back there," he said with a
smirk. "And look what happened to him. But you'll get stronger; we all
will. Together. That's how we'll get through this, and that's how we'll
win. Ok?"

"I just don't want to feel like the weak link in the chain..." Ukyou
didn't sound as pained as before, which Ranma was thankful for. He'd
never been very good at cheering people up, but he was trying real hard
to correct that about himself. Maybe then he'd get pummeled by Akane
less often, and maybe, hopefully, he could squeeze out of all the
engagements that entangled him.

Hell, it was worth a try at least.

"I mean," she continued. "I'm not like Shampoo. I'm not going to pretend
I'd stand a chance against you, or Ryouga, or probably even Mousse or
Konatsu. By the way that Ryu guy acts, I'd bet he's stronger than me and
Shampoo put together. And Kuno... well, I'd like to think I could hand
him his ass if I had to."

"Ukyou... if you picked a hundred million people at random, I'd put
money on you being better than any of them, men and women." Ranma hoped
that had sounded as encouraging as he'd wanted it to. Praise wasn't his
specialty. "You're not going to be a weak link unless you start
questioning yourself. You just have to take this seriously."

"I am!" she replied defensively. "I really am!"

There was the chance he'd been looking for.

He popped the Big Question. "If this work we're doing meant canceling
the engagement between us, would you agree to it?"

She seemed about to blurt out an answer, but retracted it before it left
her lips. Her expression and eyes fell, and for a while she just stared
at her feet.

"Don't ask me that, Ranma," she finally answered. "Don't. Please."

"I would," was his only reply. Next to him, Ukyou sucked in a sharp
breath of cold air. Her hands started to wring together, and she went
from looking down to looking at the city below them, to looking at the
stars in the night sky. He could see, even feel, the cascading emotions
running through her ki. She was strong, and her emotions were strong,
but untamed and uncontrolled. If she could harness her emotions, if she
could properly channel her ki, she would be more powerful than she ever
imagined.

But would she?

Could she?

'I would.' He could see her running those words over and over again
through her mind. 'I would.'

"If you want to talk more about this later... I'd make time for it," he
said with an air of finality.

"What about Akane?" Ukyou asked softly, as always identifying her true
rival for his affection as the Tendo girl, and not the Chinese Amazon.

"I don't think I'm gonna marry her either," he answered, honestly. "Not
any time soon. But that's my business... and hers."

Ukyou nodded slowly.

"I'm going back on record, and so are you," he announced, and said the
proper phrase. "Reactivate Watchmen One and Three. Time is twenty one
hundred hours and twenty three minutes."

A few seconds later, Konatsu and Shampoo returned from below, carrying
the laptops and other equipment that had been set up for the mission.
Ukyou kept her back to them, and he left her alone while he went to make
sure they had everything. Two minutes later, a silent black silhouette
descended and picked them up.

-----

A thousand operations a day must have been performed throughout the
Tokyo area. Each hospital was a maze of rooms and suites and labs and
corridors, as vast in scale as any corporate skyscraper. They were
monuments in stone to the profit and power of the medical profession
over human frailty.

Ryouga stayed perfectly still, and didn't even think about moving. He
hated hospitals with a passion, and not just because he could so easily
get lost in them. Whenever he'd ended up in a facility like this, there
had always been questions: uncomfortable questions, questions he
couldn't answer. Questions about how he got such terrible injuries, or
where his parents were, or why he was uninsured, whether he was homeless
and had stolen those credit cards...

There were no good answers to those questions.

The other three members of his team milled around more freely, and even
occasionally wandered off to get a drink or use the facilities. The only
exception was Kuno, who remained stoic, waiting for news. They were
essentially alone in their little corner of the waiting room, and that
was preferred. Ideally, they would blend in and be forgotten by everyone
present.

Ryu returned from the other side of the room bearing a pamphlet. "Hey,
check his out. You know they have a laser eye surgery place downstairs?"

"Isn't that something?" Mousse, the obvious object of Ryu's query,
smirked and adjusted his glasses. They were new ones, much thinner than
those he'd been using before joining UNETCO, but they still stood out on
the Chinese martial artist's face. That said he went back to reading the
newspaper propped up against his crossed legs. The message was clear: 'I
see fine with my glasses, thank you very much.'

Ryu, however, was undeterred. Ryouga had noticed that the Kumon Dojo
Heir had gotten much more talkative over the last few weeks.

"It says here," Ryu continued to say, despite Mousse's dismissal of the
topic. "That the United States military offers free eye surgery and that
the JSDF is considering doing the same. You'd think we'd get a good deal
like that too. I mean, considering... everything else."

Ryu wisely watched exactly what he said; there was no telling who could
overhear a conversation. Mousse sighed, and flipped past a few pages to
the other half the article he'd been looking at. After a few seconds,
though, he shook his head and lowered the paper, keeping his fingers
between the pages to save his place.

"They did make that offer, actually," Mousse said, noting how even Kuno
had given some attention to the implied question and the conversation in
general.

"And?" Ryu asked, sitting down on one of the little blue waiting room
chairs.

"It isn't quite that straightforward," Mousse explained. "I was around
five when I began to suffer from (what I later learned was) acute angle-
closure glaucoma. When I complained about my loss of vision and the pain
I was eventually given over to one of the village healers for...
treatment. It wasn't effective. My mother eventually took me to a
Chinese doctor in a city, where we learned that it was too late to
correct the problem and that my vision was permanently damaged."

"So it can't be fixed?" Ryu asked, and then winced at the question. "I'm
sorry..."

"Don't be," Mousse replied with a shallow dangerous smirk. "Living with
it made me stronger. Not weaker."

"Glasses help a little," he then added, and tapped the rim of the metal
frame over his right eye. "And they're not nearly as much of a pain as
you think. Sometimes it helps to not be able to see things. Everything
else I've tried to compensate for by training."

"So they're nothing more that can be done?" Ryouga asked, speaking up
for the first time in a while. "What about 'the shop?'"

"Lieutenant Tsuchihashi..." Mousse quickly looked around and hoped no
one had overheard him besides the other three guys, even though it was
just a name. "He and I looked into that when I first arrived. The 'shop'
does make replacements, but it would keep me off duty for a few weeks;
time I'd rather spend more productively."

Ryu smirked back at Mousse, impressed by the answer the myopic martial
artist had provided. Kuno nodded solemnly, and Ryouga couldn't help but
also smile in approval. He'd have made a similar choice if solving his
directional dysfunction had kept him off duty for a month or more. It
was a handicap, and a bad one, but it could be worked around... and like
Mousse's bad vision, his damn directional curse had made him stronger.
Much stronger.

It was part of the great divide between the elite cadre of martial
artists, and so many of the extremely skilled but fundamentally limited
individuals he had seen in his travels, and evaluated for UNETCO
intervention. To harness one's ki fully, one had to be willing to throw
away any pretense of a normal life or a human existence in pursuit of
the Art. It wasn't just about suffering through training most would
consider insane, it was about a mentality that valued the Art over
fitting into society.

That was why Akane and so many others would never be stronger than they
currently were.

"Gentlemen," a doctor said as he approached the group. He was a middle
aged man with black hair and squinting eyes, and he was one of many
permanent plainclothes second tier operatives of UNETCO, dispersed
across the world in areas of importance. Many didn't even know who they
really worked for or who their research or work actually benefited. This
man, however, was more in the loop than most.

"How is she, doctor?" Kuno asked, getting up from where he'd sat for the
first time. "Is...?"

"We'll talk about it as you follow me, if you please." The doctor turned
and they followed as he headed down one of a hundred empty white tiled
halls. As Ryouga walked, Ryu stayed close by, keeping a constant eye out
to make sure India Squad's commanding officer didn't get lost. He was
silently very grateful for the other man's help. After the initial
embarrassment of making clear his 'problem' with getting places, Ryu
hadn't once made a crack about it, and if the duty frustrated him he'd
kept that fact to himself.

"I've completed the analysis, and she's clean. No implants, no lesions,
no signs of prior abduction." The doctor gave them Kodachi's diagnosis
with a straight, serious face that belied doing it more than a few times
before. "When I was finished, I also took the liberty of giving her a
'clear conscience' just like the ones you boys have."

Ryouga briefly looked down at his gloved hand, and not because his
recent training had caused some distressing lingering pain there. Like
the others, he had suspicions about where his 'conscience' was, but he
couldn't be sure. Almost anywhere fleshy was possible. The euphemism
'conscience' referred to a sub-dermal tracking device implanted in all
UNETCO personnel and many of their family members under UNETCO
protection. Supposedly, they were kept off line, and only activated
under very specific circumstances. An alien abduction would set one off,
for example, but otherwise they remained silent and untraceable. How it
worked exactly, Ryouga didn't know and didn't really care.

Kuno breathed a sigh of relief. "Hopefully it'll be enough."

"Would you prefer the alternative?" Mousse asked, knowing full well the
answer. "This is the only option we have at the moment."

"So it would seem," Kuno agreed. "But she is not your sister, is she?"

"If she's done here, then we'll want to move her out of this hospital
immediately," Ryouga spoke up, returning the conversation to its proper
topic. "How much longer can we expect her to be asleep, Doctor?"

"You have a good four hours at least," the older man replied, and
crossed his arms behind his back.

"Plenty of time," Ryu said.

"I can not say I like the nature of this," Kuno interrupted. "I will
include my reservations in my report."

"You're free to do so," Ryouga answered, though Kuno had said as much at
least twice before. "But you yourself stated that she couldn't be
trusted to stay in protective custody, and she hasn't done anything that
warrants being put away more securely. So all we can do is let her go
with a warning and keep an eye on her."

"Do you really think the truth would be the best thing to tell her?"
Mousse asked, his glasses glinting from the overhead lights.

"She didn't seem that bad..." Ryu began to argue. "Plus she has some
skills."

"You don't know her like we do," Mousse replied, quickly. Kuno huffed in
response, and Ryouga grunted. A minute later, they were standing around
Kodachi's sleeping form. She was still wearing her leotard beneath the
medical tunic, and the only real difference in her appearance other than
that was her ponytail - it was unbound, letting her black hair fall
freely.

With surprising gentleness, Kuno reached down and picked her up.

It was time to go.

-----

From: SLt. Hibiki Ryouga [mailto: rhibiki@unetco.org] Sent: Tuesday,
November 14, 2006, 02:12 To: Tendo Nabiki [mailto:
nabiki10do@unetco.org] Subject: Anything New?

I've just now gotten back. Anything new happen while I was away?

Nice email address, by the way, "10do."

-Hibiki

-----

From: Tendo Nabiki [mailto: nabiki10do@unetco.org] Sent: Tuesday,
November 14, 2006, 07:04 To: SLt. Hibiki Ryouga [mailto:
rhibiki@unetco.org] Subject: Re: Anything New?

I've just now gotten back. Anything new happen while I was away?

Akane's been trying to cook again. You sure Ranma had a mission too, and
that he wasn't just making himself scarce? She says she'll try again
Wednesday and hopes you'll be there, too. I'm amazed there haven't been
complaints about her cooking melting the waste recyclers given what she
made last night.

I do have some news that may interest you, but I think it would be
better to talk about it in person. How about the cafeteria for lunch? 1
o'clock.

Nice email address, by the way, "10do."

Believe it or not, there's actually another NabikiT working in UNETCO
out there somewhere, and NTendo is just wrong for obvious reasons. I
thought Nabiki10do was a nice compromise.

---

"Supreme excellence is found in breaking the enemy's resistance without
fighting." Sun Tzu

---

Nabiki Tendo Revenue & Finance Division Far East Asia Branch United
Nations Extraterrestrial Combat Organization Ext. 6022 - phone Ext. 8434
- fax

-----

From: SLt. Hibiki Ryouga [mailto: rhibiki@unetco.org] Sent: Tuesday,
November 14, 2006, 7:43 To: Tendo Nabiki [mailto: nabiki10do@unetco.org]
Subject: Re: Anything New?

I do have some news that may interest you, but I think it would be

better to talk about it in person. How about the cafeteria for lunch? 1
o'clock.

I'll be there.

-Hibiki

-----

Nabiki wasn't hard to find.

Even without Shirokuro's able aid, Ryouga would have noticed her. She
was very much like Ranma in that respect. Neither of them really stood
out physically in a crowded place, but they both had an almost palpable
sense of assured self confidence. The eye was unconsciously drawn to
them. It was a strange trait, and one Ryouga couldn't say he envied.
That sort of demeanor just invited trouble.

He walked over to where she sat, alone, looking over a few sheets of
paper laid out next to her half empty plate. She had taken advantage of
the Pad Thai noodles that were on the day's menu much like he had.
Sitting down, he began to eat, the morning training having worn down his
ki reserves. Like Ranma, he had a tremendous appetite as a result of his
accelerated metabolism, but unlike his rival and ex-enemy he didn't turn
eating into a contest, and never rushed himself unless it was necessary.

Good food, after all, was something to savor.

Midway into a bite and almost done with his lunch, he looked up and
noticed Nabiki staring at him.

"You're a little late," she began, sounding like she intended to lecture
him on punctuality, but not actually following through. Something else
got her attention. "What happened to your hands?"

Ryouga's hands were wrapped in white training tape, but hints of red
could be seen under the surface especially around the fingertips. Lying
his fork down on his plate, he held up his right hand in front of his
face, letting her get a better view of it. He wondered if he should
actually tell her...

"Training," he settled on saying.

Nabiki shook her head in obvious aggravation. "What? Have you been
punching metal all morning?"

"Only for an hour," Ryouga clarified, and he smiled at the sweat drop
that slowly traveled down her forehead. By her aghast expression, he
could tell she hadn't exactly been aiming for an accurate guess.
Honestly, though, why was she so surprised?

"An exotic alloy plate is actually much more effective than the lead one
I used to use," he explained a bit more, though he wasn't sure why.
Maybe because he wanted to see that expression of hers just a little
longer. "But that isn't what messed up my hands. A few days ago, I
realized what was limiting my progress in developing the Tenketsu Family
of techniques. Generally speaking, the amount of ki you can accumulate
at any point on your body is limited by the surface area of your skin.
That is why it is easier to build up ki in your hands and feet than it
is your shoulder or knee or forehead."

"So: what?" Nabiki asked, slowly drawing towards the same conclusion
he'd came to. "Wrinkles make it easier to focus ki?"

"I think so. And since I won't be getting wrinkly for a few more
years..."

Her eyes widened as it dawned on her. "Oh no... you didn't? Oh my God,
you DID!" She drew back visibly. "You actually...?!"

He shrugged, and reached for his glass of water. "I imagine that's the
look Doctor Pearson will give me when I tell him, but it was the only
way. I actually got the idea from one of your father's scrolls which
described using bamboo to punch small holes in the palm, and I consulted
with Genma before doing it."

"That... that's just horrible!" Nabiki gasped, staring with morbid
curiosity at his hands. "Doesn't it hurt? Won't it scar?"

"I broke two ribs, the bridge of my nose, had two concussions and bled
internally for three days while I learned the Bakusai Tenketsu. In my
fight with Ranma after that, both of those ribs, which had healed, broke
again." Ryouga actually laughed at that. "He sure got lucky and hit me
on the right side... But I'd gladly do it again. And again. And again.
To become stronger. This is nothing."

Nabiki pushed away what was left of her lunch, her appetite suddenly
absent. "I'm surprised your training didn't shock Akari into a heart
attack!"

"Akari," Ryouga repeated the name, his tone of voice turning melancholy.
"She hated it. It was one of the reasons I had to practice far from the
house... I think she always hoped I'd stop. But... but it was nice to
come home and actually have someone worry about if I was hurt. I don't
think I've ever felt anything that made me feel so... so..."

He struggled to find the words. "So wanted... and cared for... as I did
when I was with her."

"You loved her a lot, huh?" Nabiki asked, resting her cheek on her palm
and propping her arm up on the table. "You know, for a while, I thought
you were going to turn into Kuno, pining over both her and Akane."

Ryouga's expression changed then, becoming confused, then a little
angry, and then finally introspective. It was a strange change, and
Ryouga could see that his response hadn't been the one Nabiki had
expected. She didn't know, he reminded himself. She didn't know about P-
chan, and about how he'd lost those memories. He hardly knew Akane now,
and when he thought about her, he felt...

Nothing.

He still had memories of standing in front of her with flowers, of
stuttering and trying to tell her how he felt, of sitting alone and
thinking about how much he missed her. Those memories were still there,
but they were empty and had no emotional context anymore. He knew he had
pined for her, but he couldn't really remember why. Whatever he had
pined for, whatever he had longed for, it had been so intimately wound
around his experiences as P-chan, her pet pig, that it was completely
gone now.

How much had he forgotten because of his cure? How much had he lost, and
was he really better or worse for the experience? After curing himself,
he had found a manila envelope on his bed, and he knew abstractly that
he'd written down the sins and details of his past life on papers
enclosed within that package, but he couldn't for the life of him
remember what any of it was about. That single unmarked brown folder had
filled him with an almost unspeakable dread, and he had quickly hidden
it away.

Who knew what horrors were inside that Pandora's Box?

Ranma was the only one who came close.

"Nabiki," he said, in the end. "You said you had some news for me."

"Want to skip the small talk and get right to business, eh?" She didn't
sound adverse to the change in topic, but he could sense a lingering
hunger in her for answers to unasked questions.

"Ok," she started to say, after taking a look over her shoulder. No one
was nearby; speaking quietly they wouldn't be eavesdropped on. "It was
tricky, but I found a few little tidbits of information. All the human
remains were shipped down to the Xenobiology Lab. From there, most were
cremated, and I assume the ashes were scattered over one of the nearby
lakes or something. A few of the remains were relabeled as 'Xenogenic
Samples,' given some kind of identification label I couldn't make sense
of, and shipped out. Most of those went to Fry Canyon in the United
States, a few went to Andermatt in Switzerland, and a few were shipped
to a Front operation in Nagasaki."

"So, I called up one of Staples over there to confirm some of the
shipping information, ostensibly to make sure they were delivered on
time, all together, and in good condition, to justify the cost...."
Nabiki paused, seeing that he'd been lost at some point. "What?"

"Staples?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Staple is a term we use for other UNETCO office staff," she explained
briskly, and then went back to where she had left off. "Anyway, he told
me that the 'Transgenetics' were fine and that there wasn't a problem...
I'm no scientist, but I've seen enough TV to guess what that means."

"Alien human hybrids," Nabiki finished with a measure of disgust. "My
guess is that the regular junk got shipped out to the science types over
in the US and Europe bases for research. I've heard that's where most of
UNETCO's lab work is done. The hybrid stuff was sent to a local place,
with access to local DNA records, since any victims would probably be
Japanese citizens."

Ryouga crossed his arms and thought about her conclusion.

"That's my educated guess, anyway, based on what I could find," Nabiki
continued when she realized he wasn't going to immediately respond. "I
didn't break any rules, so don't worry about that either."

"I can't say I'm happy to hear your theory," he admitted a few seconds
after she finished. "I suppose I should tell you why I asked you to look
into this in the first place."

Nabiki just nodded, eager to hear what had prompted him to ask for her
help.

"Akari and I were abducted together, on the same night," Ryouga told
her, his voice soft but laced with a strong undercurrent of pent up
anger. "I think they actually came for the sumo pigs, but when they
found her and me, they took the opportunity. One of the aliens present
was an Ethereal. It... entered my mind, and learned about my martial
arts, about my fights, and about where others like me could be found."

"Nerima," Nabiki supplied. "Us."

He lowered his head in unspoken apology. "There wasn't anything I could
do. I wasn't strong enough to save myself, to protect myself... and I
wasn't strong enough to save her, either. I..."

His breathing started to grow deeper, and his upper lip curled,
revealing an over-large canine tooth.

"I watched, as they cut her open." His hands clenched tightly, and a red
stain grew beneath the white bandages. "Eventually, she stopped
screaming, stopped moving, and up until a few days ago, I'd assumed that
she'd died. She must've died. That's what I thought. But what if they
took what was left of her..."

"What do you mean? Took what's left of her?" Nabiki reciprocated the
loathing he felt for the aliens, but it was only a tiny fraction of what
he felt every time he closed his eyes and saw Akari's face, tears
trailing down her cheeks.

He closed his eyes, and considered not telling her as much as he had
promised. But he was a man of his word, and she had more than fulfilled
her part of the bargain. He really shouldn't tell her, not this, but he
had decided that he would anyway. Nabiki was smart and cunning in ways
no one else he knew was, and it was good to talk to someone about this.
There was always the base shrink, but he had an ingrained dislike of
nosy doctors in general.

Besides, if he avoided the right words, he technically wasn't giving
away any real secrets.

"It is common knowledge that the aliens produce hybrids," Ryouga
replied, looking Nabiki in the eyes. "There are three types: the first
is the result of a Chryssalid attacking and implanting an egg in a human
host, creating a sort of walking corpse. The second is the most well
known... it is a cross between a Sectoid and a human. Sometimes these
look like aliens, with only a few human genes, and sometimes they look
almost entirely human and are used to replace people on Earth and
infiltrate important organizations."

Nabiki faltered at the insidious thought. That someone could look human,
act human, and yet be some sort of... thing spying and working secretly
to destroy mankind from the inside was a grim prospect. How many groups,
how many governments, had been compromised in this way?

"Then, worse than the others," Ryouga finally said. "There are the Human
Ethereal hybrids."

"You think...?"

He nodded in grim reply. "I hope not. But... I suppose a part of me
wants her to be alive, even like that. Because then, just maybe, there's
still a chance of saving her."

Nabiki seemed to be torn between repulsion at the thought of someone she
cared for being in such a state, and understanding that any small
glimmer of hope was something that could never be totally pushed aside
or reasoned away. He watched her, and saw how her eyes focused on his
bandaged hands.

"You'd do anything for her, wouldn't you?" she asked.

"Of course I would," he replied calmly. "She was one of only two people
to every truly justify my existence."

The middle Tendo daughter looked up at him. "Your existence?"

"All my life I've been lost, Nabiki. My family is little more than a
bunch of strangers with the same last name. I ran, every day, but the
one thing I could never get away from was who I was, and what the lonely
road of my life seemed to be, stretched out before me. Why did I exist?
What was my goal? I had no answers for these questions. I was just...
walking. Walking and waiting to die."

"Then Ranma showed up. He beat me, stole my bread time and time again,
and humiliated me in front of the entire school and what few people I
thought of as my friends." Ryouga turned his eyes towards the ceiling,
letting out a pained breath of air. "He saved me... he gave me
something, someone, to hate. You know what happened next."

"I challenged him, and by the time I got there he was gone. But that was
fine," Ryouga was telling the story calmly, with a detached and mildly
amused appreciation. "That was just fine. In the hate he gave me, I
found my existence, and my justification. I poured all my energies and
effort into tracking him down, and becoming strong enough to defeat
him."

"Ranma, you see, was everything... had everything... I'd ever wanted. He
had a perfect sense of direction. He easily made friends. He was
confident and people admired him. He was strong, and fast, and... and he
had his father." Ryouga screwed his eyes tight. "For better or worse, he
had his father."

"But, eventually, my hatred for Ranma... turned into respect. I didn't
want it to. I wanted to keep hating him, to keep envying him. I wanted
to keep dreaming of crushing his hopes, dashing his ambitions to pieces.
I wanted to ruin his life, but in the end I lost my way. That was when
the depression came back, when I realized that even if I became stronger
than Ranma, I couldn't really beat him. Not in any way that mattered.
The Shishi Hokoudan duel proved that. Losing your existence, I learned,
is so much worse than having none to begin with."

"Then, Akari..." He lowered his head so that Nabiki could see his face
again. "She loved me, accepted me, cared for me. These were things I'd
dreamed about, but never really imagined I could have. She became the
only other justification I had for existing, the only thing to validate
my being on this world. I... would have died for her a hundred times
over."

"Do you understand, Nabiki?" He stared at her then with a blazing
intensity. "I would have gladly suffered through all the torments of
Hell for an existence worth having! Akari still justifies my
existence... alive or dead! For the first time in my life, I can see
where I'm going, and I know I'm not lost."

He raised his right hand, mauled fingers curling menacingly.

"What else can I do?" He slowly brought his hand to his face, and hid
behind it. "If Akari isn't dead, if she's alive and there's the smallest
chance of saving her... I have to bring her back, or be there to lay her
soul to rest."

"For what its worth," Nabiki offered, sounding more sympathetic than
he'd ever imagined her being. "I'll help any way I can. Besides, I
think... we can help each other."

Ryouga's expression slowly changed, as what remained of his mercurial
temper flared out to be replaced by perplexed curiosity. "What do you
mean?"

She smiled softly and slid a piece of paper across the table.

"A recommendation form?" He stared at it, and then looked up at her for
an explanation.

"I've been made to understand that they don't entirely trust me and that
they're not quite convinced of what I'm capable of. I need an officer to
vouch for me," Nabiki casually spelled out. "And you're a 'Special
Acting Lieutenant' aren't you? Besides which, I hear the Commander takes
your recommendations very seriously, since you were the one who proposed
organizing squads of martial artists."

Ryouga looked down at the paper again. "You're applying for a transfer?
So soon? To what?"

The mercenary girl snickered at the question.

"Signal Intelligence."

-----

Shampoo pivoted her foot out of the way a millisecond before the kunai
would have struck, pinning it to the Dojo's straw tatami mat. A note
fluttered from where it was tied to the base of the handle, and even
without reading it, she had a good guess as to what it was about.
Casually looking up from the weapon, to the one who had thrown it,
Shampoo made only a half hearted effort at looking innocent.

"Read it," Ukyou growled from where she stood at the far end of the
dueling room. Unruffled by the other girl's anger, Shampoo did as
requested, and slowly reached down to retrieve the steel narrow throwing
knife. She wasn't particularly impressed by it, or any weapon of
Japanese design. Chinese throwing knives were much more elegant, in her
humble opinion.

Unrolling the attached note, Shampoo saw Konatsu's feminine script.

Amused, Shampoo read the note aloud, "Dearest Ukyou, please accept this
invitation with an open heart and mind. I have come to the conclusion
that, for there to be any change in how we see each other, we must find
the truth that exists between us. As you must know, a martial artist can
only ever express his true self in combat. Fighting defines our lives by
whether the steps we take prepare us or lead us astray, and we find our
truth in that struggle. I want to show you the real me, and this is the
only way left. Please accept this notice of challenge for the twenty
first of November, this eighteenth year of the Heisei, barring
interruption on account of an emergency."

The Amazon girl then rolled the note back up, and shrugged. "Boys will
be boys."

"Don't play dumb with me! I know you had a hand in this!" Ukyou jabbed
an accusing finger in Shampoo's direction. "Konatsu would never come up
with something like this himself!"

"Are you sure about that?" Shampoo asked smugly. "Maybe you don't know
him as well as you think."

Ukyou chose to ignore that remark, which could have been truer than she
wanted to admit. "Damnit! Why don't you fight me yourself?"

"Hmf!" Shampoo scoffed contemptuously. "Why should I, when I can get
someone else to make the point for me? This way, I'm left completely
blameless."

"And what point is that? That you're not just a cheap Chinese bimbo?"

As always, that particular comment got a sneer from the Amazon.

"I intend to drive home to Ranma, to everyone here..." She tossed the
kunai back to Ukyou in a lazy arc. "That you're the weakest member of
our team. And when you accept that fact, when you realize you aren't fit
to compete with someone like me, the problems in our group will
evaporate. Don't you get it? To operate effectively, any group needs a
clear hierarchy. It is time we sort out ours!"

Ukyou easily caught the throwing knife in her left hand. "You...!"

"But I consider myself to be a fair person," Shampoo added, enjoying
herself. Her great grandmother wasn't the only one who could come up
with schemes that took advantage of other's wants and ambitions. "Let's
make a little wager, shall we? If..."

"If I beat Konatsu," Ukyou interrupted, before Shampoo could set forth
her own terms. "I want you to put aside your pursuit of Ranma so long as
we work here. And if I lose, I'll do the same."

Shampoo didn't like the finality of what her rival had suggested, and
she immediately wondered if the okonomiyaki chef had already managed to
draw up some kind of backroom deal with Konatsu. It was possible, even
though the ninja boy would have nothing to gain by letting Ukyou
continue to pursue Ranma. Ukyou could be a crafty opponent when she
wasn't blinded by her emotions. Was this a trick or a bluff?

"Agreed, however..." Shampoo carefully stipulated. "The deal will be
annulled if Ranma believes Konatsu has been holding back."

"Fine by me!" Ukyou turned on her heel and glowered at Shampoo behind
her back. "That's the way I want it anyway. I want to fight for
something; I want to see how much it means to me when it counts!"

And with that, she left.

'Watch me, Great grandmother...' As Ukyou stomped out of the room,
Shampoo felt sure she had finally gotten the upper hand on her old
enemy. 'Watch as I finally remove an old thorn from our side!'

-----

Ryouga stared long and hard at the photographs.

Behind her desk, Commander Yasuda cupped her hands together and waited a
few more seconds; letting the young man digest the information he had
been given. She studied his face, but found only a look of rock hard
resolve. There was so smile, no smirk, no anger, no joy, no relief, no
excitement. Against all human norms, he had to be masking his feelings;
it was incomprehensible that he felt nothing at all about what lay
before him.

"These are undoubtedly my parents," he confirmed her earlier question
with a steely tone of voice. There was the proof she had looked for.
Whatever his feelings were, he had buried them in a deep grave and
covered it with a thick layer of concrete. She briefly wondered if he
was the right person to send, but it seemed that his team was currently
the most qualified to deal with uncooperative martial arts types.

When she spoke, her voice was equally impersonal. "We'll wait for them
to show up again. When they do, I want your team ready to move."

A picture of a man and a woman peeked out from beneath Ryouga's fingers.

"Yes, ma'am."



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