Under the Crescent Moon

by Lord Overon

Part IV

School was school as usual but today after school, Akane ran directly to the Dojo taking only a small detour to her room to don her gi. She was bristling with energy at the moment and she felt like doing something with that energy. Akane being Akane, the best option was martial arts.

She began with a kata her father taught her early on when she first began her training. She began slowly as she had always since she could never get this one down perfectly. As she continued she knew she missed a kick causing the kata to become unbalanced but soon she was so focused into completing the patterns of the kata, that she did not even notice someone entering the room and sitting down contemplatively at the foot of the doorway, watching.

He sat there and watched with a discerning eye. He watched every move she made critically for flaws and was surprised at the substantial lack of them from the last time he had seen her practice this kata. Unknown to her, he had watched her from time to time when she wasn't looking and today he was very proud of his little girl.

Before, she just used her brute strength to power her way through the kata. All that power made it so jagged and coarse that he had no idea how to get her to calm down in order to produce a smoother flow of motion. That was one of her primary faults, the other was that she was prone to becoming angry. The boy was an excellent teacher from these obvious results. He had gotten his baby girl to calm down. He would take a look into certain prospects later. Now was not the time. Not as yet. Akane had improved but there was still much to be done.

*********

While the slayer was at her play another of the factors into a very compounded equation was in a hot kitchen. And yet another of those factors, this time a girl, was also in the said kitchen cooking.

At the front of the establishment, there was a slightly long queue of patrons waiting to get into the establishment. At the door a wizened old woman sat on a chair near the counter. To even the passive observer one would have seen the drastic changes that had been wrought to the doors. Instead of the small hidden away sliding doors, there were now two real doors: the smaller one the entrance and the larger the exit. Between the two doors the woman sat in the counter's booth. She flashed the patrons a toothy smile as they entered and exited while she collected the appropriate payments. Business with the new cook had been booming and she could hardly hold the customers back.

She really didn't need to keep the restaurant open. She had enough saved up to keep her going, but the business was a part of her she did not want to let go. Her children did not care about it as much as she did but that had never deterred her before.

The two teens in the kitchen were really weaving their way into her heart. Before it had only been her and the cook. Now, Ranma waitered and Ukyou cooked. She had to admit; the girl created culinary masterpieces. They had raised the prices to deter some of the new customers while keeping the prices low for the regulars but even that had not stemmed the tide. It seemed that she was making good on her all her investments especially the one upstairs. They were only open for two hours in the afternoon but two hours seemed to be more than enough time these days to create a huge profit. She wondered if the pair would consider taking over the business when she passed on.... as a front of course. She did love her little business dearly.

Two hours later, the two teens breathed a sigh of relief as the entrance door closed. The place was still packed but at least there wouldn't be any more customers to serve after these. As the orders came in, Ukyou slapped the batter on her grill to prepare them, sending them flying out of the window from the kitchen into the midst of the tables. She did not bother to know if they had been caught and served to the correct tables. She knew better.

In the long line of people waiting to get in stood one Nabiki Tendo. She was silently fuming as she found herself behind a hulk of a man who refused to give in to her gentle persuasions to let her skip in front of him. Many of the people who had been in the line had owed her and had allowed her to skip in front of them as a partial payment much to the annoyance of others in front of them. The man in front of her though had been the first to do anything about it. When she had skipped a couple of places in front of him. He had asked the boy, who had let her skip, to take back the offer. The boy had, wisely or unwisely, from your point of view acceded to the demand. If it were me, I would have done the same. There's something wrong with angering someone who has a biceps just slightly smaller than the size of your head. After that, no one let her skip in front of them so there she was standing behind him. If that wasn't insult enough, the man was whistling an awful tune. She had been wise enough though to keep herself in check. She would get back at him some other time. She never forgot her debts.

For thirty minutes she waited until she was shocked to see the doors closing. Why would the doors be closing? There was still light out! They shouldn't be closing at this time. It was preposterous! Reality hit her squarely in the face though as more than half of the customers began filtering out of the line. The only people who stayed back were a few less than well dressed older folk, including the man in front of her. After recovering from her initial surprise, she decided to wait a while and see what was really going on. After a few minutes she was rapidly growing impatient but almost immediately as she turned to walk away the doors opened again.

That was not very polite of them, although she certainly did not mind. She had jumped quite a bit up the line. The queue began to thin out rather quickly much to her amazement until she finally reached the old woman who regarded her curiously.

"What are you doing here young lady?" the old woman asked.

"I'm here to eat," Nabiki replied.

"I'm sorry, but the restaurant is closed," replied the old woman while pointing to a sign above the door. On it, marked in bold letters and numbers, were the times of business and clearly they had passed the allotted time.

"So why are these people here?" asked Nabiki and she indicated the line behind her with a flick of the wrist.

"Those people," answered the woman, "are my regular customers. Now dear if you would just move to the side. I have a business to run."

Nabiki's usual smirk turned into a tight line across her face as she moved to the side, however, as the old woman turned her back, Nabiki slipped inside.

"Are you going to get her?" asked one of her regulars.

"Nah, the children will take care of her," she replied confidently.

Inside, Nabiki found a seat at one of the deserted corner tables and sat down to be served. She was pleasantly surprised when lo and behold, she saw out of all people Akane's trainer in the corner of her eye catching various dishes as they flew out of the open window from the kitchen.

She appraised his movements appreciatively, watching his muscles as he leapt from side to side, catching all the dishes effortlessly and with a certain grace more characteristic of a dancer than a martial artist. He certainly did have a very nice physique. She saw him stare at her for a second out of the corner of his eye and waited for him to approach and collect her order. Within the very same movement though, he turned away and headed into the kitchen with a few slips of paper in his hand. Slightly annoyed but not showing it, she undid the first two button of her blouse, allowing the fabric of her brassiere to show through. She knew the weaknesses of men and she knew without a doubt that he would also fall to the same temptation. Many of the boys of Furiken had fallen to her charm, or her sister's.

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

The sun was yet to set but the nightlife was already stirring. Certain elements had traveled during the day through the thick forests under the cover of the lush vegetation. The master had summoned it and it came without thought. It panted as it walked through the forests nearing its destination with every step. Saliva coated the side of its face in a sticky, smelling glob, running down the side to eventually splatter on the ground, burning a hole through any vegetation the saliva landed on. Most of the forest creatures were wary of it, giving it a lot of room. Most of the creatures except the cats. They were the perfect predators, but they knew a more powerful predator when they saw one and as such stayed out of its way. Instead they chose the safety of the trees as their perch, hissing as the intruder waltzed through their respective territories. Warnings were passed through the forest, warnings that would eventually foretell the arrival of the intruder in the city suburbs.

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

Thirty minutes later Nabiki found herself tapping the table anxiously with the complementary chopsticks. Ranma had yet to serve or even approach her. There was only one customer remaining and he had the gall to sit next to the old man and talk with him. He was supposed to be the waiter, he was supposed to wait on her.

The last of her patience finally wearing thin, she got up from her seat and proceeded to strut over to wear he was seated just after Ukyou popped out of the kitchen and sat next to him.

"Excuse me?" she interrupted.

"Yes?" asked Ranma.

"I think you should serve me," she stated dryly.

"And why should we do that?" asked Ukyou, sensing a bit of trouble but curious as well. She had traveled long enough to recognize an unspoken threat.

"Because I can help you increase your business within the week," she replied with the later amendment, "for a price."

"Not interested," replied Ukyou and turned back to Ranma.

Nabiki was truly surprised at that answer. Didn't they know who she was?

"You should be," Nabiki stated brusquely initiating a challenge.

"Really...well I heard that you skipped by the door today after closing time. Do you know what that makes you?"

Nabiki was slightly confused at the question but instead of showing her ignorance she decided to keep quiet.

"A trespasser..." replied Ukyou evenly, then she roughly grabbed Nabiki by the collar and dragging her to the doorway and under much protest, tossed her out and slammed the door in her face.

As Ukyou returned dusting her hands off Ranma had to ask her. "Was that really necessary?"

She frowned slightly and pecked him on the cheek. "I don't know about you sugar, but that girl smells like trouble."

"Well, you didn't have to toss her out. I mean, she is the slayer's sister."

"That's what you think Ran-chan. Call it woman's intuition but I know she's up to something."

Ranma shrugged and returned to his previous conversation with the man wearing an eye patch.

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

Nabiki fumed all the way back to her room, disregarding even the pleasantries of her sister. Her mind was too preoccupied with the enigmatic brother and sister team but they weren't as much of the problem as was that other girl Ukyou. The most annoying thing about the trio was the lack of information she had on them. There was almost nothing on the Saotome's and the Kuonji file was patched here and there making it almost illegible to read to the best of eyes. Something was definitely going on there that she could take advantage of. This time she did not want to do it for purely business' sake. This time she really wanted to find something she could hold over them. She had been humiliated twice by them and twice was two times more than she could stand.

She sat in her room and mulled over the papers she had collected. The brother and sister had a covered past and it was really strange that Ranma Saotome at school was registered as a boy and not a girl. That could have been a clerical error, but it was also present on the birth certificate. That was the reason she though that the Ranma Saotome in school was a fake. Then there was the other Ranma Saotome the boy who trained Akane. They could be brother and sister. She could see the resemblance, but there could be more than that. She would have to think, and plan. They were bound to slip up sometime and give her a tiny piece of information she needed to start the ball rolling.

She was shook from her thoughts by the vibration of her phone against her thigh. She pulled it from the holster and flipped it open.

"Moshi moshi."

"Moshi moshi. Tendo-san I have some news about that woman you were looking for."

"Which one is that Nakoma?"

"Saotome-san. She lives at this address..."

Nabiki quickly scribbled down the address being careful not to sound too excited on the phone.

"Thank you Nakome. We will discuss your debts later."

"No no Tendo-san, thank you!"

The phone died moments later and Nabiki knew that the girl on the other line had been excited at the prospect of digging herself out of debt. She sighed at the naivete of that amateur. She had given up her advantage on the first word after the greeting. She had better things to think about though. Namely the address on the page... a one Nodoka Saotome.

Finding the place had not turned out to be quite as difficult as she had previously thought. The house was in a middle class area that she found tasteful in both architecture and design so she knew these people had money. The area though was a bit strange. She had not seen or heard any children and only saw the average John Doe pass by occasionally. The place was calm and silent. She briefly wondered if she should look into the real estate prices of the area. She might be able to use this place as a long-term capital investment. She knew she could get the capital easily. The Kuno's were easy to manipulate and with their capital she would buy some of the houses that were not occupied in the area and arrange to have them sold them at a reasonable turnover. Of course she would have to return the initial sum to the Kuno's with a slight interest but that sum would be a pittance compared to the amount of money she knew she could make. While smiling at the thought of her new long-term project, she finally found the address.

 The house was a quaint, traditional home that had perhaps seen better days in its youth. The economist in her told her that it would fetch a handsome price on the market with just a little tweaking here and there and a coat of varnish and paint. Ignoring her thoughts for the moment, she settled to the business at hand and knocked on the door as per the instruction written in cursive handwriting on the plate hanging from the door.

After knocking a few times and not receiving a reply from within she did what she normally did in those situations, she turned the doorknob. She was not surprised at the result and quickly entered, softly closing the door behind her. In the darkness she reached for area where light switches were normally kept in houses. Finding what felt like one, she flicked on the light. Turning around she gasped in fright.

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

While Nabiki was on her twilight foray into the suburbs, Ranma and Ukyou had joined Akane in the Dojo and the latter was still trying to avoid being hit by the spatula-wielding woman. To say Akane was hurting would be belittling the pain she was feeling.

She was hurting. Hurting a lot!

They had started out doing plain and simple exercises that consisted of simple sparring using the katas Ranma had taught her the other day. It was becoming repetitive and again she had to go and open her big mouth and complain. Ranma decided to change and go for a more combative form of kata that he thought she would be more familiar with. Thus, she was currently trying to dodge a huge cooking utensil and failing miserably. That wasn't what hurt her though. The shots Ranma was taking at her hurt her pride a lot. She didn't like it when he said that geriatrics could dodge faster but every time she got angry with him, Ukyou would remind her that spatulas were indeed solid objects and you should not turn a blind eye towards them.

As a result she had droned out Ranma's continuous insults and had begun focusing on Ukyou. Surprisingly she had been able to dodge most of the girl's strikes but the occasional one did get in. She had the extra bruises to prove it. At the end of a long return of blows though, her luck had finally run out, and she found herself plastered against the wall.

The next thing she knew, she was in her room lying on the bed she knew so well. She other thing that came to her senses was the slow rhythmic motion of someone's hands against her bare back. Her face was trapped in between two of her pillows and she could see nothing behind her, that made her wonder who was doing this to her and the only conclusion she could come up with was one very handsome doctor. She was not in the mood to interrupt the good doctor's ministrations so she just lay there and enjoyed the play of his hands against her skin. She had no idea when she actually dozed off to sleep that night.

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

She jumped back and almost hit her head against the doorframe as light flashed from the sword on the wall. That had really scared her! Why in kami's name did they have an unsheathed sword in the house?

Intrigued she walked closer to inspect the blade that hung over the mantle. As she passed her hand over the edge of the blade, she noted that it was extremely sharp. Changing her focus, she examined the room. Clearly someone had cleaned the house recently and there were traces of recent use. As she searched, she came upon a photo-book and as soon as she opened it, she knew she had found the jackpot. Within were pictures of the Saotome family and Nabiki pulled out her little camera and merrily snapped away. Now she might have something to work with.

She began to search around a bit until she heard a noise from the second floor.  Caution before valor, she sneaked out of the house with barely a sound. She closed the door softly behind her and stepped timidly away from the stairs. She smiled at her own craftiness and turned about to walk out of the residence. As she reached the street, she noticed a lovely red chrysanthemum bush peeking out from behind the fence. She noted that some of the blossoms ventured out onto the sidewalk. That meant they were free pickings.

She reached into the bush and pulled at the stem a little way down from the blooms while pinching the stem between her fingernails. Unfortunately for her, she disturbed one of nature's pollinators who had stopped off for a brief snack. The said pollinator, a bee, irritated at her intrusion stung her on the hand.

"Oww!" she exclaimed as she retracted her hand. She scratched it a little and saw the bee as it flew around her. She swatted it away with her hands and reached in again. This time she successfully managed to split the stem. Satisfied and slightly annoyed at the bee's sting, she walked away with the blossoms in her hand. They would certainly brighten up her room.

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

As they walked through the door, the old man sat there waiting. Most would have thought that he was someone not to be associated with. The tattered, gray cloak he always wore made him look more like a vagrant than someone of importance. His personal appearance was also not very flattering, having chosen to wear his hair and beard in long unkempt bundles. No he was definitely not the acme of personal hygiene or appearance.

Appearance though had a way of deceiving even the best of people and this man was no different. He had chosen his path a very long time ago, long before colonial politics divided the lands he once freely walked.

A doctor would have been aghast at the very thought of the age of the man sitting there waiting for the two teens. His eyesight had been failing him for quite a while now and he preferred to wear a patch over the worse eye. For some reason he felt it helped him to focus better in the other. He had lost most of his teeth having only enough to be counted using his fingers. The wrinkles on his old skin seemed deeper than the crevasses that could be found in glacial ice flows and the large black mole on the right cheek of his face just off the bridge of his nose was not very flattering. All in all, he looked uglier than that old ghoul and twice as repulsive. But, as I stated before, looks can be deceiving.

The man sitting waiting was almost twice as old as Cologne and had recently started travelling once again after a rather prolonged siesta of mediation on the peaks of the Himalayas. The clothes he was wearing were the remnants of things he had found along his haphazard travel though Asia and he continued travelling until he had felt something pulling him to a certain little cave hidden in the valleys around Jusenkyou. There he was surprised to find something or someone -depending on your point of view- and after a prolonged visit with that someone, he followed a trail led him here, to a little shop hidden within the huge urban jungle that was Tokyo.

There he sat on the stool, waiting.

"Ah, finally you're back!' he exclaimed as he saw them. "I was wondering if I should have come looking." He finished jokingly. He slapped his hands together and rubbed them in glee. "So are you ready to start training?" he asked.

'Training?" they replied.

"Of course. Why else would I stick around here?" Ranma and Ukyou glanced at each other and realizing neither had any idea of what was going on, they both shrugged.

"Good, you agree. Then I will meet you on the roof after you change."

They nodded and slowly walked up to their room.

On the roof the old man waited for them.

"I spoke to your mother," he told Ranma. "She told me of your training. Your training though, is not yet complete. You are powerful but you are not as powerful as you can be. You are still a kitten compared to the cat you hunt. As for you huntress, your job has just begun. You have already felt the compulsion that drives you with each passing day. I will help you to harness your strengths."

The old man sat down in a lotus position and began to meditate. A soft glow emanated from around him and when he was finished, there appeared to be no real difference. However, when he opened his eyes, something appeared behind him.

The luminescent body flew towards Ukyou and stood in front of her. "It's time to begin your training," it told her and attacked.

The other body walked towards Ranma and sat down in a lotus position. "For you, your training is very different." He fell into a meditative trance and Ranma followed his example.

Ukyou faced off against the specter.

"Okay little kitten, are you ready?"

Ukyou pulled out her spatula and tensed herself for the upcoming battle. The old man just smiled at her. "Then let us begin."

He came at her directly and she moved to intercept. Not wanting to hurt the old man too much she just planned to slap him on the thigh with her spatula. That was her first mistake in many. As she brought her weapon down, he jumped and she felt a burning sensation at the side of her face where he kicked her, sending her sprawling.

"Now then, let's try that again shall we." He noticed that she was still cradling her bruised face. "Come now, enough of that. You've only just begun."

He came at her again and this time she did not try to intercept, instead, she waited and they sparred, or at least Ukyou tried to spar. The old man wove in and out of her attacks landing many of his own. Ukyou tried to compensate for his speed but another hit on the side of her thigh had her falling, hard. The old man shook his head.

"You have strength and speed, but you rely on your weapon too much. It makes you slow."

"Hey!" she replied indignantly. "This is my family art!" she protested.

"Is it?" he asked. "Is it really? Where is your family? I don't see them around?"

Ukyou quieted, as she had no response. The remarks had definitely jarred her.

"You must understand young kitten. You cannot use weapons before you know how use your fangs. Now put away that weapon and bare your fangs."

Ukyou replaced the spatula on its holster.

"Now, let's try that again."

As they fought, Ukyou found a lot of sympathy for her sparring partner earlier that day.

The shared aura that surrounded the two dissipated and Ranma opened his eyes, as did the old man. Ranma however felt tired, while the old man only showed a little wear. His mind began to digest what he had seen and what he had been taught and he stayed there in a stationary position staring into the darkness for an extra hour. As he finally became aware of his surroundings from his self-imposed stupor he allowed his senses to roam and found Ukyou lying on the ground. Even from here, he knew she was not in very good condition.

He rubbed his calves and thighs before rising and walking towards her. The old man had really done a number on her. There were rips and tears on her clothes and a mass of bruises on her body underneath them. As he held her and carried her to the window above the bathroom, he could hear her painful moans. He was all too accustomed to those. More often than not, after training with his father he had been left groaning in pain on the floor.

He stripped her and washed the dried blood from her skin, then covered her with a towel and carried her to their small closet-room. He grabbed a jar of the same mixture he had used on Akane and began to rub it into her skin. This time though he rubbed in on both sides of the body, not just on her back as he had done with Akane. Finally finished, he lay down next to her trying to will himself to sleep. Try as he might, he couldn't drift to sleep then he felt an arm brush along his side, hugging him. He leaned into her a little bit until he could feel the soft skin of her breast pressed up against his neck and then finally he drifted off to sleep.

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

For the next few days Akane and Ukyou would battle and then Ukyou would battle the old man while Ranma did whatever Ranma was doing with the other copy of the old man. Akane found herself blushing every time she had to report to Dr. Tofu to the total confusion of Tofu and those who saw her; well everyone except Nabiki. She of course knew exactly what was going on, but there was no profit in telling anything.

She knew Akane had a crush on the good doctor and probably the good doctor had treated her sometime. Akane had always been a shy girl. Nabiki scratched her hand again. That darn bee sting was still hurting her and there was quite a sizeable sore on the palm of her hand where it had stung. Maybe tonight she would finally take Kasumi's advice and dab some iodine on the swelling. She supposed it would do no harm but she didn't particularly like pain.

The next few days were also very interesting for Kasumi. As always it fell to her to soothe Akane after her beatings. She did not condone Akane's violent behavior or Ranma's treatment of her but she guessed it was good that Akane was getting better at her martial arts. Plus she guessed Ranma and Akane had worked something out. It was nice that Akane and her boyfriend had the same interests. It was also nice that she trusted him so much that she allowed other girls to train with them. Finally Akane had a boyfriend. She wondered who would be interested in her. She sighed longingly. She had to wait, wait until the others had been married off. Then maybe she would find the right man.

The last few nights had been strange. She heard strange sounds in the night but when she tried to investigate, she found nothing; there was no one about. But she had a sneaking feeling that someone was walking through the house late at night. She wondered who it was. She hoped Akane and Ranma were not doing anything untoward. They were not married yet. Maybe if they were engaged she would understand but she certainly would not condone such behavior.

No, that wasn't right. They would not do that. Ranma was a nice boy. It had to be something else. She guessed father might have been about the house late at night. He had walked about the house late at night after mother died.

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

The old man sat at the table with Ranma and Ukyou. Over the past week, Ukyou's unarmed skill had increased remarkably. Notwithstanding that she still had to learn some tricks from Ranma. The old man was not training Ukyou in any martial arts. That was probably because he did not know any. However, he did know that her new body made her faster and stronger and she had not pushed it to its limits. That was his job, and he knew he was succeeding. She was a lot faster and stronger than she had previously been. She had taken up using her spatula again but she did not rely as heavily on it for attacking. Instead she had begun to use it more as distraction to hide a combination of kicks or punches.

Ranma was teaching her martial arts now, and his tutoring was visible in her training. She had begun to use all three dimensions more efficiently. The first strike may have used the oversized cooking utensil but she backed it up with a plethora of skills wrought from a few nightly sessions of sparring.

"What do you mean it feels strange?" the old man asked

"I don't know, every time I go there I have a feeling that something is wrong but I can't put my hand on it," replied Ranma.

"What do you mean that you felt something?"

"Something is different at the Tendo's. It feels more open that it was last night..."

"More open?"

"Yeah, I dunno. It just feels that something has been taken away every time I visit."

"Hmm... that's interesting. I think I will visit them with you tomorrow. There may be something to it. Your senses can pick up things no normal human can. Maybe mine will as well."

The plastic clock on the side of the wall gave off a small chime.

"Enough talk," he told them. "You two had better get to bed. You have school tomorrow."

For the umpteenth time Ranma protested. The old man was adamant.

"There are some things in this world you need to know. What better way to find out about them than at school? School has already helped you. Didn't you find out the legend of the red claw through their library?"

Ranma frowned but the old man did have a point. The discussion was ended when Ukyou took his hand and started pulling him towards the stairs.

"Come on Ranma, its time to go to bed."

The old man smiled as he watched Ukyou forcefully drag him up the stairs.

"It doesn't seem to affect them that much," remarked the old woman.

"You'll be surprised at what they hide."

"Oh, I know."

"Yes, I guess you would."

Above them in the small closet-room, or rather on the roof above the closet-room, the two teens faced off. Ranma was dressed in a sleeveless shirt that left his arms bare up to the shoulders. Ukyou was currently wearing a dark blue shirt with an exact copy of the black drawstring pants that Ranma was wearing. Earlier, they had sparred for a while and Ranma had shown Ukyou a few of his more complicated katas that he had yet to show Akane. Now though, they faced off against each other.

"I'm going to get you this time, Ranma."

Ranma smirked. "You've got lots of talk," he taunted.

"Same game?" she asked.

"Same game," he replied.

"Then let's play!" she cried as she attacked. Ranma easily evaded her fist and follow-up crescent kick. He amusedly ran his hand up the length of her inner thigh showing her how easily he was managing to weave into her defenses. She growled and again came after him with the spatula this time swinging and following up with a fury of kicks, but again as like the nights before, her strikes missed him by millimeters and he continued to taunt her by passing his hand over her body as he dodged. That was primarily why she was wearing a thick long-sleeved shirt but even through the fabric she could feel his touch and it was unnaturally appealing to her. She knew he was using that as a distraction just like he used insults to distract Akane. The thing was, Ranma's plan was working. She was always becoming too distracted whenever he touched her like that.

For a whole hour, she attacked and for a whole hour Ranma dodged, or blocked, or even in the very least tapped her or tripped her up. She knew he would not really hit her. This was after all his idea of speed training. He said the toughening up would come later. She had really wondered what he meant by that but was not terribly in a hurry to find out.

There had to be a way to beat him. For three nights she had chased him around on the roof without mercy and for three nights she had slept on the floor beside the futon. There was no cuddling or anything and if there was one thing she appreciated about sleeping with Ranma, it was the cuddling. She never knew she would love cuddling so much. Three nights were a long time. She resolved that it was going to end tonight.

She felt something behind her and was surprised when she hit Ranma with a backhand as he tried to sneak up on her. He was surprised as well then he started grinning madly. As she stalked him she tried to wonder why she had hit him. She attacked again with the same results as before. Ranma had managed to evade all of her attack. Why had she hit him the last time? What was the missing equation? She had felt him and she was still feeling his presence, so what was the difference. She closed her eyes to try and focus and then the answer hit her. It was so simple. So simple! She waited for him to get closer.

Ranma watched her close her eyes and saw her change her stance into a more open one. He wondered if she had learned that little trick as yet. He decided to test the theory. He snuck up behind her and was only a foot away when she whirled around and attacked. Momentarily surprised, Ranma lapsed in judgement and she was able to hit him once. She pressed her advantage, but as always Ranma blocked every one of her attacks. This time though, he kicked out her feet and let her fall down on top of him. He pinned her legs down with his own and when he felt her relax, he removed his hands from where they were blocking hers and cupped her face. Her eyes were still closed.

"Do you fell it now?" he asked.

Ukyou smiled. "I can feel you. I can sense you, your movement, your scent, everything..."

"Then you have finally learnt the lesson and had some speed training along the way too," he remarked as he grinned.

Ukyou giggled, eyes still closed. "Only you would think of something like that."

"I would, and only I would do this!"

"Ahhh...!" she cried out as Ranma flipped her over with his feet. "I'll get you for that!" she threatened as she landed with a thump on the roof.

"I'd like to see you try," he replied and flipped off the roof, landing on the side of a newly made additional window to the house. It really wasn't a window, but more like a side entrance as some of the wooden wall was cut in a fashion to allow it to slide inwards. Ranma's eyes immediately adjusted to the dark.

Ukyou followed entered the closet-room and felt for Ranma. She could pick up a trace of him but he was disguising himself from her somehow. That meant she would have to be extra careful. He was somewhere in the room for sure. It wasn't a large room but she knew he was up to something. She took a step inside and noticed the drawstring pants and the shirt on the floor. She bent down to pick them up and that move proved to be her undoing.

She felt something behind her and turned around quickly only to be assaulted by Ranma who had dropped from the ceiling. He was attacking at a speed that she could not cope with and soon she had no inclination to stop him as his speedy little fingers undid her shirt and bra quite effortlessly and were dancing around her bare chest in very soothing and arousing motions. Having her fill of his playfulness, she lunged at him, landing on top of him as they fell. She felt bare skin against her chest and smiled inwardly. Finally Ranma had made a move. Maybe all he had needed was a bit of time? Those thoughts were the last before she was totally focused on defeating Ranma in a tongue-of-war.

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

"So this is the Tendo Training Hall," remarked the old man. "It's very traditional."

"The Tendo's are a traditional family," responded Ranma.

"Do you feel the same thing today?" the old man asked him.

"Yes, it's even more open this time."

"Hmm..."

The old man walked around then, finding a seat near the koi pond, he began to meditate. Suddenly his eyes flicked open and he ran inside the house much to the amazement of Ranma and Ukyou. They found him inside holding something old and moldy in his hand that he had pulled out from under the carpet. It looked like it was slowly dissolving away

"These are wards," the old man told them. "Someone or something is destroying them one at a time. Someone is targeting the slayer."

Back to the Scrolls