Ghosting through
the night the small black cat was only slightly more substantial than
the cloaking shadows. Her belly was full, the loud people were not chasing
her and . . .and . . . There had been something about the big-one- with-sweet-food
. . .something that made her feel angry. She had wanted to attack the
big one because . . .because . . .She couldn't remember. The big-one
had smelled nice. She'd almost gone up to the big-one when the voice
came from the darkness. She shuddered. She'd never been so frightened
as when she'd heard that voice. She remembered it, remembered pain and
fear. She remembered that voice . . .
But the shadows were
deep, there were cracks and hollows for hiding, walls and trees for
climbing. She was safe. The bad voices couldn't find her . . . couldn't
hurt her.
A sudden presence
distracted her from her fears. Whirling, she pounced. A small terrified
shriek answered her attack. Playfully she batted the small, furry shape
tumbling across the ground. The little-squeakers were FUN. The terrified
rodent frantically dogged and twisted away from it's enormous attacker.
With a feline grin the small cat let the rat get almost away almost.
At the very edge of her range the cat would leap, pinning the squirming
animal beneath her claws. Again and again she repeated this play. Once,
the rat turned on it's tormenter razor sharp teeth bared. A lightning
slash dissuaded the cornered rat.
*Hah . . .too slow?
Too slow! I'll show him that I'm not too slow. . .* The cat's thoughts
broke off in confusion. *Show . . .him . . .???* Who would she show?
Who? Shaking her head in confusion she saw a motion on her periphery.
Turning to the motion
she faced a plate-glass door. The rat, sensing her distraction, scuttled
away. Ignoring her escaping play-thing the cat stalked this new thing.
A shadow that moved when she did . . .moved AS she moved. Slinking forward
with a feral growl the cat inched toward the glass.
Suddenly she sprang
thumping painfully against the unyielding surface. Shaking away the
pain in her head . . .the shadow cat did the same. Raising a paw, she
batted at the strange cat. Her paw hit strange frozen air and slid off.
She batted again, with the same result. At the third attempt she froze,
her paw flat against the glass. Glass . . .glass . . .mirror? She snorted
in disgust. Her reflection she was trying to fight her reflection. If
he ever found out, she would never live it down. If he found out? .
. . He? Something niggled at her memory. Why couldn't she remember .
. .him. She knew him as well as she knew her own . . .name.
Name?
What was her
name . . .her name. Frantically the small cat shook it's head, as if
trying to shake loose the elusive memory. Her name was . . . her name
was . . .Rage blossomed and she attacked her reflection in a rage. WHO
. . .ARE . . .YOU?
WHO ARE YOU? . . .WHO!!!
*AKANE! I am . .
.Akane. Tendou Akane.* She latched onto that memory. *Tendou Akane,
daughter of . . .daughter of Tendou Soun and . . .and . . . daughter
. . .Tendou Akane. Sister of Tendou . . . Sister of . . .Tendou Kasumi.*
Panting as if she'd run a marathon Akane sank onto her haunches. *I
am Tendou Akane.
Daughter of Samurai, Grand-daughter of Samurai.
. . .RANMA!!!* A
face burst on her consciousness. *Ranma . . .Ranma.* She wept inside.
For almost losing herself. For almost losing HIM. *Ranma, Ranma, Ranma.*
Chanting the name to herself like a mantra Tendou Akane streaked through
the night
*************************************************
Ukyou was being chased. She couldn't see what was
chasing her but she knew it was getting closer. The harder she ran,
the slower she went. It was like running through mud . . .pulling at
her feet, dragging her back. It was getting harder to breath . . .there
was a weight on her chest . . . crushing her . . .crushing . . .
Her eyes snapped open, to the
starlight dimness of her bedroom.
"Rrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
Ukyou's hand froze on it's way to the
bedside lamp.
"Rrrrroooooooo."
The low growl, like tearing metal was accompanied by a sharp blow to
her cheek.
Her attempt to sit up was halted by another low growl. Five needle sharp
claws snicked into existence just beside her left eye to reinforce the
command to stay still.
"A . . ."
Ukyou flushed in embarrassment at the hollow squeak that came out of
her mouth. "Akane?" That sounded better steady, confident.
"Akane, is that you?"
Ukyou could feel the answering growl deep in her bones.
"I'm glad you're
OK.”
The claws tightened against her skin.
"NO, no. I AM
glad you're OK." Ukyou was encouraged by the stillness of the slight
figure on her chest. "You must have heard Cu Lon. I . . .I called
her." Ukyou could feel the slight figure on her chest tense.
"It was a stupid thing to do. I saw the phone number on your collar
. . .I thought . . .I don't know what I thought. I didn't think."
Ukyou took a long breath. "Cu Lon told me I was stupid and silly."
There was a rumble
of agreement from the shadowed figure. "I've spent so long trying
to get Ranchan . . .with you out of the way I finally had a chance."
Ukyou had spent the
last days in an agony of shame and fear. Shame that she had, in a thoughtless
moment, betrayed Akane to Cu Lon. Behaved with the same kind of dishonor
that had led Ukyou on a ten year vendetta. Fear that Ranma would discover
her betrayal. She had swung wildly between thoughts of confessing
all; throwing herself on Ranchan's mercy. But then she would imagine
Ranma's face turning cold, condemning. Ranma would turn from her in
disgust. Every one would turn away. She would be alone again. She was
so tired of being alone.
Then Ukyou would
try to ignore it all. Pretend it had never happened. It wasn't her fault.
SHE hadn't done anything to Akane . . .she'd just called about a cat.
Just a cat. And for a little while the guilt and fear and
shame would go away. Until the cycle started again.
Three days of self torture . . .
"We . . .I . . .I'll call Ranma. He'll know
what to do" @Ranchan . . .Ranchan . . .I love you.@
. . .seventy two hours waiting for Ranma to discover her betrayal .
. .
"We can go to Cu Lon. All of us.
We'll make her turn you back."
@And then you'll tell. Tell Ranma what
I did.@
"Everything will be all right."
@It's not my fault. I didn't do anything.
I'm sorry. I just called about a cat. Just a phone call.@
. . .four thousand minutes of exquisite shame that shredded her nerves
and filled her belly with bile and acid. Ukyou wanted it to END.
As Ukyou reached for the phone her hand
accidentally brushed against her bandoleer of spatulas.
"It's-not-my-fault.
It's not MY FAULT!!!"
Moonlight glinted off the surgical steel
blade in her hand.
*************************************************
"Please, hurry. Hurry!" The widowed teacher
clutched the phone in a death grip. "Please . . ." She was
almost sobbing. "It's horrible."
"Yes ma'm."
The police dispatcher was calm and soothing. "A car it on it's
way. They will be there soon. Please stay on the line."
"It's horrible
. . .horrible . . ." She pressed her hands over her ears trying
to close out the dreadful keening wail. Like a dying child . . .a dammed
soul in the fires of hell. And it went on . . .and on . . .
"Horrible . . .horrible . . ." She clutched her blankets to
her, trying to block the sound . . . "Horrible . . ."
*************************************************
"Someone give
me a hand here!" Hyobe looked over at his partner, puking in the
bushes. A policeman came up, looked at what lay on Hyobe's stretcher.
He clamped his jaw against a sudden surge of nausea but stood his ground.
"What . . .what
do you want me to do?"
"Here . . .hold
this here." Hyobe handed the policeman a sterile pad and positioned
it over a gaping chest wound.
"Press! Tight
. . .TIGHTER!" The policeman leaned on the pad and the flow of
blood slowed.
Hyobe started an IV in the right arm as his partner struggled back into
the back of the ambulance.
"I'm sorry Hyobe.
It's just . . ."
"Forget it Misao.
Just help me with this bleeder." Miaso grabbed sterile sutures
from his kit.
"Who could have done this? WHAT could have done
it."
"BP's dropping.
Start a Ringers-lactate." Hyobe ordered. "And someone see
about that medivac-chopper. She'll never make it over surface streets."
"Helicopter's
on the way." A policeman called from outside.
"OK, BP's coming
up." Hyobe relaxed slightly, feeling a little hope for the first
time since he'd arrived on the scene.
"Who could have
done this." Miaso repeated as they continued to work.
"Dunno'."
Answered the policeman, wiping a sweat soaked face with a clean towel.
"But whoever did it was one sick son-of-a-bitch. He wrote all over
the walls, in blood her blood."
"That's sick.
What did he write?"
"That's what's
really strange. He wrote 'Tokyo lives' in kanji all over the place."
"Tokyo lives???
What the hell does that mean?" Hyobe finished suturing
one ripped artery, then started another. If he could just SLOW the blood
loss. Enough for the IV's to keep up. If the helicopter got to her in
time . . .
The policeman shrugged.
"With
a sick'o like this, who can tell what . . ."
Miaso hissed in shock. "Not Tokyo
. . .Aka . . ."
"Huh? What do you..."
Miaso pointed to
the mutilated face of the girl laying in the back of his ambulance.
"He wrote it on her face, 'Aka'. On the walls, the blood must have
run, smearing the kanji."
Studying the ruined
face, Hyobe could see where kanji had been ripped into her face stroke
by stroke. AKA. Or maybe, he thought looking more closely, AKANE.
*************************************************
"Did you hear
what happened? Someone's been going all over Nerima and . . ."
"Don't' mind
me ladies." Nabiki had noticed conversations would die out when
she approached, then start again when she left. "I'm just a little
curious . . .what's so interesting in the paper?"
"Uhhhhh . .
.you haven't seen the paper?"
"No!" Nabiki
answered shortly. "We haven't been watching TV either."
"Sorry . . .sorry,"
Mari stuttered. "it's just . . ." Nabiki reached for the news
paper and was shocked when Ruri grabbed her hand.
"You don't want
to see that, Nabikichan." "Have they written something about
Akane?”
"No . . . it's
not about Akane," Ruri hastened to reassure her. "At least,
not directly."
Nabiki's face went
cold. "What do you mean . . .not directly?"
Ruri hesitated, then
reluctantly handed the paper to her. The paper fell open to a well read
section. Nabiki paled, then flushed with anger.
"No one NO ONE,"
the
"Stop talking." Nabiki turned savagely on her friends. "I
don't want this . . ." Her voice dropped, cold and toneless. "Ranma
doesn't need to hear this. I will be unhappy if he does hear. Pass the
word." A humorless smile crossed her face.
"Point out to
anyone not afraid of ME . . .Ranma will NOT be pleased if he thinks
anyone is being disrespectful to . . ." her voice broke, "
. . . to Akane's memory. I don't know what kind of sick joke this is."
She slapped the paper angrily. "But I'm going to find out."
Throwing the paper to the ground Nabiki stalked out of the class room.
Ruri looked after
her departing friend, then picked up the paper. Again it fell open to
a lurid headline and sensational pictures.
AKANE LIVES!!!
Written in Blood.
Bizarre Vandal terrorizes district.
Police seeking link to earlier attack
on local businesswoman.
*************************************************
"Shan Pu!"
The Amazon warrior
looked over her shoulder to see Tendou Nabiki striding toward her. Sighing
she slowed her steps and allowed Nabiki to catch up with her.
"Nihao, Nabikisan."
"Don't Nihao
me." Nabiki thrust a paper in Shan Pu's face. "What do you
know about this!"
Shan Pu jerked back,
startled. Looking at the paper she tried to puzzle out the script. Languages
were not Shan Pu's forte.
"Ummmm. It say
. . ." Her head tilted to one side, then the other. "Ummm.
Shan Pu not read Japanese very well. Look like someone painting on wall."
She grinned. "Some one write rude word?"
Shan Pu's head rocked
back under the force of Nabiki's blow. A second blow stopped short,
held in Shan Pu's fist. She casually wiped blood from her split lip.
"Why so mad,
Nabikisan?"
Nabiki swung her
free hand and it was also caught.
"Shan Pu let
Akane sister hit one time. No let hit again. Unless make Ranma happy?"
"You bitch.
I'll kill you. Ranma will . . .'
"OK, Nabiki
coming with Shan Pu." Dragging the spitting and cursing Nabiki
behind her Shan Pu moved quickly off the main street and down a side
alley.
"Nabiki tell
Shan Pu why mad?"
"This! THIS!!!"
Nabiki thrust the paper in Shan Pu's face again. "How could you
do this to us?" Nabiki was sobbing now and Shan Pu looked on in
concern.
"Shan Pu not
read Japanese good. Not know why Nabiki upset. Please tell."
Something in her
tone got through Nabiki's anger and anguish. "You don't know. You
really don't know?"
Shan Pu shook her head, bewildered.
"In the paper
. . .on the news."She unfolded the paper and smoothed the wrinkles.
"Here . . ." she ran her finger along the column. "It
says 'Vandal strikes again. Grotesque message written in blood. AKANE
LIVES." Nabiki read about the attack on Ukyou, describing her injuries.
Shan Pu stumbled
back, her shock so real that Nabiki was convinced she was telling the
truth. "Who write this? Who DO this bad thing?" She paused,
looking at Nabiki. "Nabiki think Shan Pu do this?" Hurt was
evident on her face. "Nabiki think Shan Pu do bad thing. Try kill
spatula-girl? Write thing hurt Nabiki . . .Kasumi . . . Akane Father.
Hurt Ranma?" Tears pooled in Shan Pu's eyes. "This thing .
. .bad, bad thing. Ranma soul hurt. Spirit bleed. Nabiki, Kasumi, father
soul hurt. Shan Pu Amazon. Fight with honor. No fight when soul hurt.
No make spirit bleed more." She looked Nabiki in the eye. "This
evil thing. Thing make hurt from dark. Coward thing. Shan Pu never do."
Nabiki pulled back
in fright as a blade appeared in Shan Pu's hand. She was stunned when
Shan Pu pressed the hilt in her hand.
"Shan Pu never
do this." She pulled back her dress, exposing her heart. "Shan
Pu swear on life. Nabiki think Shan Pu do this. . . .Nabiki kill."
She pressed forward until the tip of the knife pierced the skin and
a drop of blood welled up. "Nabiki look Shan Pu eye." Nabiki
felt her head wrenched around until she was staring Shan Pu in the eyes.
"Shan Pu not have money, land. Shan Pu not have paper from school.
Shan Pu not have big doujou. All Shan Pu have is Shan Pu. Have honor,
good name. Shan Pu say she NEVER do this evil thing."She grabbed
Nabiki's wrist and started to press forward, driving the knife into
her chest. Nabiki found herself in the odd position of trying to KEEP
the knife out of Shan Pu's heart, when moments ago she'd wanted nothing
so badly as to cut it out of her chest and roast it on a stick.
"You stupid
Chinese . . ." Nabiki panted with the effort of pulling back with
both hands and her entire body weight against ONE of Shan Pu's hands.
And still the blade continued it's slow journey into Shan Pu's body.
"ALL RIGHT. I BELIEVE YOU! Alright? I don't think you did it."She
stumbled back as Shan Pu released her wrists and would have fallen had
Shan Pu not caught her. "YOU," Nabiki growled. "are CRAZY."
"Shan Pu not
crazy, Shan Pu Amazon."
"If you didn't
do this." Nabiki muttered, thinking out loud. "Who did?"
"Why think Shan
Pu do?"
"I couldn't
think of why ANY one would do it. I guess I picked you because . . .well
because . . ."
"Because Shan
Pu not Japanese?"
Nabiki looked down,
shame faced. "Yes," she answered in a small voice. "And
because it's like you're replacing Akane with Ranma."
"Shan Pu no
replace Akane. Shan Pu die, Ranma sad, maybe long time sad. Akane die
Ranma lose part of self. NEVER get back. Maybe learn live, but never
same."
"OK, we still
need to know who would do this. Write this . . .and in blood. AND attack
Ukyou."
"How spatula-girl
do?"
"She'll live
. . .just. And the doctors say they can probably put her face back together.
But she's going to be in the hospital a long time."
"Spatula-girl
no say who do this? Maybe we ask?"
"They're not
letting anyone in to see her. She's still in intensive care. The police
aren't talking but I've got a friend who's father is a police inspector.
She tells me that Ukyou hasn't given the police any useful information.
She just raved about monsters and kept repeating . . .repeating Akane's
name." Nabiki closed her eyes against a sudden stab of pain as
she tried to hold back her tears.
"Is OK Nabiki
cry. Tears honor dead. Help heal own heart."
"I'm not crying."
Nabiki sniffled. "I just have something in my eye."
Shan Pu chose to
ignore that and continued. "Who want hurt Ukyou, hurt Akane family,
hurt Ranma?"
"Alphabetically
or chronologically." Nabiki put in sarcastically. "Or maybe
country of origin? Since Ranma showed up we've had wierdo's visiting
on a regular basis."
"This different."
Shan Pu insisted. "This . . .this evil . . .attack from dark. Attack
when soul sick . . .no can fight back. Strange, dark attack. Who know
crazy for Akane?
Have big hate?"
"Crazy for Akane? Most of Furinkanen was obsessed. So that's not
much help. Let's see . . .obsessed, crazy . . ."
"KUNO!"
Both girls shouted together.
"Oh . . ."
"Shit!"
Nabiki finished.
The two girls looked at one another.
"We'd better
get back to the school."
Shan Pu nodded and the two sped toward
Furinkanen high school.