Chapter 6 - I'm Happy To Be Here

"This is very bad."
"No it isn't. Not yet."
"We're about to be eaten by some sort of iguana on steroids 
and you say it isn't bad _yet_?"
"Yup. Our friends haven't arrived to rescue us yet. When they 
do, _then_ it will be very bad."
    - Nicky and John, _The Aberwyvern Chronicles_

   Soun frowned at the board. 

   He and his old friend were playing chess today, having 
decided that a little variety between shoji and go was in order. 
They had played abstract board games for as long as they 
had known each other, and knew well the skill and playing 
style of their opponent. The matches held few surprises 
for either of them; that was, in fact, why they played, but 
still... occasionally there was the need for a real challenge.

   Soun's white pieces, at first glance, seemed to be 
triumphantly marching to glory. A pair of ivory bishops still 
stood, along with a rook that had just been moved into striking 
position. A lone knight, used for a futile ploy, lay off in the 
board's backwater. The queen sat behind a screen of pawns, 
having been hemmed in by Genma's own queen.

   The only pieces Saotome had left were a few pawns, his 
queen, a bishop, and, of course, his king.

   But the positioning...

   If that one particular pawn that had been carefully 
shepherded to his end of the board touched base... then a rook 
would be loose behind his lines, and shielded from his queen by 
virtue of another pawn. He could take the offending pawn with 
his rook this turn... only then his queen would be taken by the 
enemy queen. Whatever his move, Soun was going to lose a 
valuable piece.

   But the game wasn't over yet.

   Perhaps if he used the knight and the bishop, a flanking-style 
series of moves to contain the new rook...

    Kasumi screamed, then, which effectively ended that line of 
thought.

^_-

   Nabiki had just finished sending the report when she heard 
the scream. Her mind tagged it as Kasumi; unflappable, calm 
Kasumi, who's greatest expression of alarm was usually "Oh 
dear.".

   Ranma. Oh God, what had he done?

   She jumped from her bed, grabbed her cell phone, and 
carefully eased open her window. The noise had come from the 
garden....

   Yes, she could see Kasumi kneeling beside the low wooden 
bridge that spanned the ornamental stream, looking at 
something attached to it. Genma, Soun, and Ranma were 
running towards her kneeling figure, looks of alarm on their 
faces.

   Nabiki frowned. Ranma didn't seem to be the instigator of 
whatever the uproar was about, at least not in an obvious 
fashion.

   Closing the window, she made her way downstairs, clutching 
the phone tightly. A few minutes ago she had added in the 119 
emergency dispatch on speeddial. Not that Ranma couldn't kill 
her long before the police arrived, but still... it was somewhat 
comforting, a high-tech security blanket.

   By the time she entered the garden, she could hear that her 
father was bawling. Frowning, Nabiki reassessed the situation. 
If Ranma were presenting a threat, Soun would be angry and in 
combative mode, not crying.

   The four of them stood clustered around the bridge, staring 
at something attached to it's side. Pushing her way past a 
numbly oblivious Kasumi, Nabiki knelt to look.

   It was a knife, sunk to the hilt in the brightly-painted wood. 
Impaled by it, like a butterfly by a pin, was a sheet of writing 
paper. 

   // Saotome Ranma,

     Your Akane is in my possession. You attend will at the 
Ichishi Building, tonight, 8:30 on time. I waiting will be. No 
outsiders. // 

   Aside from a letterhead bearing the Nihon Train Lines logo, 
the paper bore no identification. Just the paper, the Cheery 
Train logo, and the ink in which the message...

   Nabiki swallowed, and looked closer.

   "Ranma," she said, already knowing the answer, "that's 
blood this is written in, isn't it."

   He nodded, his face impassive. Normally, she would say that 
this was his doing, one more sick game he was playing with 
them. But she knew very well where Ranma had been during the 
time in which Akane had been taken. No matter how hard she 
tried, she couldn't forget.

   Taking the knife by the hilt, Ranma yanked it free of the 
wood. Tossing it in the air, he caught it, weighed the balance 
in his hands, examined the handle. A slight frown moved across 
his face.

   "My little girl," Soun wailed. Kasumi, apparantly over her 
initial shock, was patting him on the back and murmuring 
comforting words, rather like a mother to her child.

   Nabiki felt rather than saw Ranma's gaze move from the 
knife to her. He motioned her over, and she came, despite her 
very rational instinct not to. After all, their fathers were 
right there, within sight, within screaming distance... he'd 
have to kill them all in order to hurt her...

   "Nabiki. What the hell is the Ichishi Building, and where is 
is?"

  She shrugged. "It's an office building towards the western 
end of Nerima. I think...." she tilted her head to one side for a 
second, then slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think it's scheduled to be 
torn down in a few weeks. It's completely abandoned at the 
moment."

   "How big? What's the layout?"

   "It's around five stories. Lots and lots of offices grouped 
around a central courtyard. I think the yard's open to the air... 
no, wait, there's a skylight at the top."

   Ranma nodded, and smiled. "Thanks, Nabiki. If you had 
anything to do with this, anything at all, you might as well kill 
yourself now and save me the pleasure. 'Cause I'll enjoy 
listening to you beg me to let you die."

   She forced herself to meet his gaze, and smiled back. "You're 
welcome. And I'd never do anything that involved kidnapping 
my own sister. I wouldn't expect a psychopath like yourself to 
understand, but family is important to us sane people."

   "I'm sure it is." His face suddenly lost the smile. "But I still 
wouldn't put it past you. Now. At 8:30, I'm going to go to this 
Ichishi place, and I'm going to take Akane back. And if she's 
hurt Akane, in any way whatsoever, I'm going to kill her over 
the span of a few hours. If the name "Nabiki Tendo" should 
happen to escape those lips before she dies, I'll take twice as 
long with you." He smiled again. "I almost hope you _have_ 
arranged it."

   "Why the concern over Akane's well-being? One would 
almost think she meant something important to you, that you 
cared about her..."

   One of her feet flew out from under her, and she came 
crashing to her knees. Nabiki stifled a cry of pain as a 
decorative rock stabbed at her shin.

   "Careful, Nabiki," Ranma said just loud enough for their 
fathers to overhear. "The grass is a bit slippery." Taking her 
arm in a painfully tight grip, he pulled her roughly to her feet. 
"Like I told you," he said, voice again lowered, "Akane is mine. 
No-one takes her without my permission. No-one touches her 
without my permission. And no-one had sure as hell better hurt 
her without my permission. Because all of those things are 
mine to do, in the fullness of time. Understand?"

   "Perfectly," Nabiki said, her mind working furiously. He 
actually seemed a bit defensive, there...

   Soun abruptly stopped his crying and stood. "Ranma! Who's 
kidnapped my little girl?"

   With a baffled shrug, Ranma turned to face him. "I dunno, Mr. 
Tendo. But whoever it is, they'll wish they had never been born 
when I catch up to them."

   Liar. He had said "if she's hurt Akane". She. Nabiki doubted 
Ranma was just being politically correct; he knew, somehow, 
that the person who had kidnapped Akane was a woman.

   "So you'll go get her back?" her father asked hopefully. She 
bit down a scream of frustration. Lucky Akane, rescued from 
kidnappers by a psycho.

   "Of course! Don't worry, Mr. Tendo. I'll get her back."

   "Oh, thank you, thank you!" Soun burbled. Genma just sat by 
the bridge, a somewhat ill look on his broad features. He 
obviously knew more than he was telling, and he just as 
obviously didn't like it. She was going to have to have a nice 
long talk with Mr. Saotome very soon.

   But first...

   Akane had been kidnapped by a woman Ranma knew, and who 
presumably wanted to kill or fight him.

   Nabiki knew only one person who fit that description. Hibiki 
Mariko. 

   She swore under her breath. The Hibikis had _promised_ they 
wouldn't hurt any of the Tendos... but, then again, perhaps they 
didn't view kidnapping as "hurt". So they had grabbed Akane in 
another ploy to lure Ranma to his death.

   Trouble was, she had struck a deal with them, even if they 
didn't seem to be living up to the spirit of it. If Ranma won, 
and if he did something to make either one of them talk, well... 
she had no doubt that Ranma had meant everything he said. 
Death would undoubtably be a relief when it finally came.

   Nabiki massaged her temples. How was she going to get out 
of this?

   Well. She knew where the Hibikis were camped, and she knew 
how to get to it. If she went there right away, talked to them, 
threatened them, made them see reason... maybe she could stop 
the entire thing before it happened.

   Of course, if it was a foolproof plan, one that couldn't help 
but succeed... did she really want to stop it?

   Nabiki frowned, upset with herself. Remember what you said 
to Ranma, she reminded herself, about family being important?

   Yes, but if Ranma died and Akane was released unharmed, 
wasn't that good for her sister? Good for the family? It wasn't 
like she had _planned_ for Akane to be kidnapped; she had done 
everything she could to prevent something like this...

   She snarled in frustration. Moral dilemnas were not her 
strong suit.

   Her decision, one way or the other, would be made after she 
spoke to the Hibikis. Maybe Koji, at least, would see reason. 

^_-

   She didn't want to wake up. Her head felt funny, and going 
back to sleep would make everything feel better.

   It was easy to just drift, the fog of sleep blocking out 
everything, keeping reality safely at arms' reach, keeping the 
strange feeling in the back of her skull from actually being 
noticable. And so she slipped in and out, stirring every once 
and a while to twitch, mutter, and fall back into the deep, 
peaceful black.

   Before long, however, the floor started to move and shake, 
rumbling and clanking noices filled her ears, and the pain that 
she had put away began to rise and swell.

   Reluctantly, Akane opened her eyes.

   It was dark. She was in a small, square room, with a dim 
light in the ceiling casting a orange glow about the chamber. 
Chains attached to the wall seemed to rattle as the room 
moved downward. Her head felt like it was going to explode, 
and her vision was moving in and out of focus.

   Where was she?

   Closing her eyes, Akane tried to stand. She couldn't. 
Something was holding her in a sitting position.

   It hurt to open her eyes again. She seemed she was in a 
wooden office chair. More accurately, it seemed she was tied 
to a wooden office chair.

   Why? She didn't know, and she couldn't seem to summon up 
concern over it. The pain in her head was growing, throbbing, 
and she was so tired...

   She wondered if she was dying. Maybe she'd fall asleep and 
go away, and soon there would be a lonely skeleton sitting in a 
chair in a room with no-one to tuck it in and put it to bed...

   The room stopped moving. Akane made a brief, weak effort to 
break free, and then gave up and surrendered herself to 
oblivion.

^_-

   In the wide, tatami-lined hall of the Tendo dojo, Genma sat 
and regretted.

   He wished he had never come to shatter the peace of his old 
friend. He wished he had never gone to Jyusenkyou. He wished 
he hadn't tried to push his son beyond any reasonable person's 
limits. He wished his son could be the happy, good, wonderful 
little boy he had been so proud of.

   He loved Ranma as much as a father could love a son, and he 
wished that his son would die.

   Because, despite the years of denial, he knew that Ranma 
was not well. Was in fact insane, dangerously so. And he, 
Genma Saotome, had taught this dangerously insane person to 
be a living weapon. And had then brought this dangerously 
insane living weapon to live with the family of his oldest 
friend.

   He had taken a calculated gamble. He had hoped that a normal 
life, with a normal, loving family, might possibly bring the boy 
out of the increasingly unstable state he had been in. And 
sometimes it seemed to be working. He got along wonderfully 
with Akane. Soun had even hinted that the marriage of the two 
would be the best possible match he could think of. There were 
times when he saw his son look at Akane in a way that 
reminded him of his long-gone little boy.

   But the look would always turn to a sort of disgust, and then 
to a look that reminded him that there was something 
seriously, seriously wrong with his son.

   And now the Joketsuzoku had come.

   He had recognized the knife instantly. They had seen enough 
of them; kris blades attached to a wooden handle carved with 
the odd geometical patterns that the amazons seemed to favor 
on weapon hafts. Ranma would have instantly known where it 
was from, and that was undoubtably part of the message.

   You have brought the Joketsuzoku to wrath. You will die. 
Genma couldn't think what else it could be.

   Yet, at the same time, he couldn't think of why they could 
possibly be upset with the boy. To be sure, he had badly beaten 
two of their number, one a woman... but he had defeated the 
woman in fair combat, in front of the entire village, and they 
had treated him like a champion afterwards. They had left 
unannouced, it was true... but they for once hadn't stolen 
anything. Surely no culture would chase you halfway across 
Asia simply because you had forgotten to say goodbye? 

   Genma mopped at his head with a handkerchief. No, that was 
ridiculous.

   Perhaps the one boy had been the son of the village leader? 
Or someone important?

   Either way, Ranma would be facing at least one amazon 
warrior. And a large part of Genma hoped that he would fall, 
would never return. Not because he was afraid his son would 
hurt him - although, to be honest, that was part of it - but 
because he didn't know how he would live with himself if 
something happened to one of the Tendo girls.

   They were so much like their mother, each in their own way. 
He could remember sitting on the porch with Soun and Kimiko 
and Nodoka... Nodoka had always approved of Soun... talking 
about politics and films and daily life, with glasses of cold 
sake and laughter and the smell of the falling cherry blossoms. 
They had been young, or at least not old, and little Kasumi had 
gurgled at the grownups from her cradle while Kimiko showed 
her off. And they had talked about the wonderful future their 
children would have, where everything would be better and 
easier than it had been for them.

   Genma closed his eyes tightly. That was what being a parent 
was about, wasn't it? When you squeezed the matter into a 
tight little ball, it all came down to the truth that you want 
your offspring to be better, happier, more successful, well 
liked... everything you were, only more. Because they are you, 
in a way. Genma Saotome, version 2.0.

   Was it love or ambition that had driven him to do it?

   He didn't know. He was afraid to know. 

   He had sacrificed everything for the boy's training. He had 
departed with honor gladly... it had never meant as much to him 
after he had defeated the Oni of the Asuno Brook. He had given 
up the comfort of his wife less easily... but a proper Japanese 
wife babied her son and husband, and Nodoka was nothing if not 
a proper Japanese wife. He had put aside his friends, a ready 
supply of food, his few hobbies... he had given up everything for 
the training.

   And now it seemed he had sacrificed his son's soul to the 
training as well.

   Did Ranma hate him? Genma wasn't sure. He certainly 
showed no outward sign of affection, but that was fairly 
normal for a sixteen-year-old boy. He never mentioned the 
incident... but he never had, not even in the days directly 
afterwards. It wasn't the sort of thing Ranma would wish to 
remember.

  Did he understand? Did he realize that everything Genma had 
ever done to him was with the end goal of making him better? 
The best? The one who would be legend, the one who's name 
senseis would speak of with reverence, long after he was 
dust? 

   Did he realize that his father was not perfect, was foolish 
and overproud, and had thought his son could handle something 
which no-one could, however strong or skilled or good? Did he 
know that his father wished he could take it all back?

   And if he knew all or any of this, did he care? 

   Genma stood.

   He needed time, and he needed to be alone. There was a place 
in Kansai, a hill, where you could see the sky clearly. You and 
the black and the stars and the kami and you.

   He would go, and he would look at the stars, and then he 
would decide whether or not his son must die.

^_-

   She was holding Ranma, and he was holding her, and he 
wasn't crying this time. His eyes were full of love, and, 
bringing her close, he kissed her passionately. She eagerly 
returned it, and the red chinese shirt melted away, revealing 
his muscular chest. A damp cloth brushed against her forehead 
as she pulled him down beside her...

   Damp cloth?

   Akane's eyes opened, and immediately shut again as a wave 
of vertigo and nausea passed through her. The cloth moved a 
second time across her brow, easing the throbbing that seemed 
to be coming from the back of her head.

   What had happened? Where was she? Her mind tried to recall 
the last thing that had happened... she had eaten dinner and 
gone to sleep, and woken up here. No, she had a memory of 
playing lawn golf with Ranma - had that been a dream? It 
seemed so real...

   It was cold, drafty. She shivered, and felt a splinter of wood 
rub against her back. A bit of groping exploration with one 
hand revealed that she was in a chair, and her shirt was 
missing.

   "Who... who's there? Kasumi?"

   "Rest." A female voice, strangely accented. "You been hit on 
head."

   A sense of something akin to panic began to well up. "Who 
are you? Why am I..." She was tied! Someone had tied her to a 
chair! "Let me go!"

   The cold cloth made another pass. "So sorry, cannot. Please 
be calm, yes?"

   Akane braced herself, then quickly opened her eyes. The pain 
and nausea came again, but she forced herself to stare at the 
far wall until it began to subside.

   The sight did nothing to reassure her. The walls of the small 
chamber were made of riveted metal, with chains and ropes 
attached to moorings in it. A dim light in the ceiling cast a 
pale orange glow over everything, making her peach skirt 
appear almost red and turning the skin of her stomach a sickly 
yellow.

   While she had never seen a dungeon or a torture chamber, 
this sure looked like one to her.

   "What do you want? Who are you?" The words came out more 
despairingly than she had planned. 

   Her captor moved into her line of sight. She was Chinese, by 
the look of her clothing and facial features. Akane supposed 
she would be considered attractive... the body was well 
proportioned; muscled but pleasingly rounded. And the long 
purple hair fit her as well.

   About the only jarring note was the embroidered patch 
covering her left eye.

   "I Shan Pu. You no worry, you safe."

   "Safe?" Akane winced as another wave of pain and vertigo 
washed through her. "My head feels like it's been used to test 
nuclear weapons, I'm tied to a chair in a dungeon, and I'm 
safe?"

   The other girl looked slightly embarrassed. "Tsen Wu hit you 
too hard. Shan Pu sorry."

   "Shampoo?"

   Akane saw the amazon grimace. "That close enough."

   "Right. Well, how about proving how sorry you are by letting 
me go, okay?"

   As she expected, Shampoo shook her head. "No can do that, 
sorry."

   Apparantly she was going to have to drag information out of 
her. "Why are you and this Tsen person keeping me here? What 
do you want?"

   "We want Ranma Saotome. He want you. He come, and Tsen 
Wu kill. Then you go free." The amazon smiled. "See? You no 
worry."

   She sat, numb. Yet another pair of lunatics out to kill Ranma. 
Perhaps a new duo would arrive every day? Maybe she should 
invest in housing, because the population of Nerima sure was 
growing...

   "He... why do you want to kill him? He didn't kill anyone, did 
he?"

   Shampoo looked surprised. "Why you think that?"

   "Well, it had to be something pretty bad for you to kidnap me 
and want to kill him," Akane replied. At least, she amended, it 
had better be. Not that she wanted to discover Ranma was 
responsible for a string of deaths - which was ridiculous, he 
was barely able to handle the one accidental killing he had 
been involved it. It was just that her head _hurt_, and there 
had better be a damn good reason for it.

   "No, he no kill anyone. It private reason."

   "You've hit me on the head and tied me up in something out of  
the set of a horror movie. I think I deserve to know why."

   "It Tsen Wu's idea. Shan Pu sorry. Will release you as soon 
Ranma dead."

   She glanced down at herself, again noticing the absense of 
her blouse. Her bra seemed to be in place and untampered with, 
which eased her fears only slightly. "And was it Tsen Wu's 
idea to take off my shirt?"

   Shampoo smiled. "No, that mine."

   Akane's eyes widened. "Look, if you lay even one perverted 
finger on me..."

   Smirking, the amazon held up the missing blouse. A large rip 
had been torn in it, and the fabric around was stained with 
what appeared to be...

   "Pig blood," Shampoo informed her. "Ranma might tempted to 
skip fight, find you. I give him reason to fight, no reason to 
look around. And angry fighter is stupid fighter."

   Akane swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. "And what 
happens if he wins? How will he find me?"

   "He not win." Shampoo hung the bloodstained shirt on a loop 
of chain. "At least, you better hope he not win. Or you here for 
very long stay."

^_-

   Nabiki stormed through the park, making a beeline for the 
island on which the Hibikis were encamped. After vacilating 
between Concerned, Worried, Afraid, and Confused, she had 
settled on Really Pissed Off as her dominant emotion for the 
moment.

   She was manipulative, deceitful, and always ready to take 
advantage of someone. But even her worst enemy would attest 
to the fact that Tendo Nabiki always kept her deals. And 
treated harshly with those who did not.

   And so, while thoughts of Akane's wellbeing were flitting 
through her mind as she stalked grimly towards the side of the 
lake, her main focus was on how they would pay if it turned 
out they had kidnapped her sister.

   Her pole was lying where she had left it, cast to one side in 
a thick clump of underbrush. Picking it up, Nabiki quickly 
leaped along the submerged stepping stones that crossed the 
lake, taking care to avoid the rigged third stone. 

   Hopping onto the island's shore, she strode rapidly into the 
camp. And froze.

   Koji stared back at her. His shirt was a tanish color, his 
pants were forest green, his underwear was white, and all of 
these were currently hung next to a small fire to dry.

   "Um," she said intelligently. Nice abs, she mused absently.

   His hands swiftly shot downwards to cover his vital area. 
Realizing she had been staring at that very spot, Nabiki quickly 
moved her gaze upward. Boy. Nice chest...

   "Uh, Tendo-san? Could you, uh, turn around?"

   "Wha? Why? Oh, right, sorry..." Turning away from the madly 
blushing Hibiki, Nabiki stared out at the lakeside. Damn. The 
angry mood she had been carefully cultivating had vanished in 
the awkwardness of the moment.

   As Koji frantically threw his damp clothing back on, Nabiki 
heard the splashing sound of footsteps on the stepping stone. 
Before long, Mariko walked into view.

  "Oh, hi Nabiki. Hey, brother mine, why's your shirt half off?" 
She raised an eyebrow speculatively. "Have I come at a bad 
time? I'll just go take a walk, how about that..."

   "No!" Nabiki snapped, beginning to blush a bit herself. "I just 
came..."

   "Oh, done it already?"

   If looks could kill, no hospital in the world would have been 
able to save Mariko.

   "SIS!"

   "I was _saying_," Nabiki frostily replied, "I just came to get 
my sister back. Believe me that's the _only_ thing you two 
could possibly have that I want." The angry feeling was back 
nicely, thank you.

   Mariko shrugged. "What, you came looking for Akane? Trust 
me, she isn't here. Our short-lived friendship broke up rather 
abruptly...."

   "Cut the crap," Nabiki said evenly. "I know you have her, and 
I think that kidnapping goes against the little deal we made 
this morning. I have not had a good day, and I want my sister 
returned to the relative safety of her home. _Now_."

   Both Hibikis stared at her.

   "Well?" Nabiki snapped.

   "Tendo-san," Mariko slowly replied, "it wasn't us. We 
haven't left the park all day. Hell, if we had, we'd still be 
trying to find our way back. And we made you a promise."

   "Promises can be broken."

   "Not by us," Koji said firmly. "Not by me. Marichan and I have 
been known to mislead people, like we did to Akane... but we 
don't lie. And we don't kidnap people."

   "Oh, yeah," Nabiki sneered. "You just shoot them."

   He looked somewhat hurt. "There's a difference between an 
honorable fight and abducting someone weaker than you. Akane 
chose to put herself in the line of fire when we fought Ranma. 
No-one chooses to be kidnapped." His face darkened for a 
second. "I know one person who _would_ kidnap your sister..."

   Nabiki shook her head. "It wasn't Ranma. I... I know exactly 
where he... where he was when Akane was taken." She gazed at 
the grim faces of the two siblings, who stared right back at 
her. Mariko... could easily be lying. But Nabiki didn't think she 
was, somehow, and she knew that Koji wasn't the type to 
whom lies came easily. Even if he was willing to, the 
awkwardness of an unpracticed teller of falsehoods would 
have given him away to her instantly. She was no fighter, but 
she could read people like an open book. And these two had 
"Innocent" written all over them in mile-high flaming kanji. 
Damn.

   "Nabiki-san, why don't you tell us exactly what happened?" 
Mariko suggested. "We've known Ranma a lot longer than you 
have. Perhaps we can help."

   Nabiki shrugged. It certainly couldn't hurt. "Ranma came into 
my room and talked to me." She was almost certain that 
neither of them noticed the slight tremor in her voice. 
"Afterwards, he went down into the house. About 20 minutes 
later Kasumi.. my other sister... screams from the garden. 
Everyone comes running, and there's a note written in blood 
stuck to the bridge with a knife. The note says that Ranma had 
better show up at a certain place and time alone if we ever 
want to see Akane again." She sighed, brushed a strand of hair 
away from her eyes. "It wasn't signed, but I think Ranma knew 
who it was. He kept referring to the kidnapper as 'she'. I had 
thought it was you, Mariko. Guess I was wrong." 

   The Hibikis looked baffled. "I dunno," Mariko said, scratching 
her head. "It really doesn't sound like Ranma set it up, tricky 
bastard though he may be. And I don't know who else has a 
score to settle with him... though I sure wouldn't be shocked to 
learn it wasn't just me and Koji."

   Koji nodded. "I don't know who it could be either. Sorry, 
Nabiki-san. I wish we could be of more help."

   Mentally cursing, Nabiki ran the scenarios through her head. 
She didn't like the results. If Ranma lost - she assumed it 
would be a fight, probably to the death - there was no 
guarantee that the kidnapper would let Akane go unharmed. It 
was more likely that they would simply kill her to hide their 
involvement. And if Ranma won, he'd come out smelling like a 
hero to everyone... and Akane would fall even deeper under his 
sway. Whichever happened, Nabiki and her family lost.

    Think, she commanded herself. There's always a way out, 
always a way to turn loss into profit...

   Wait. Wait just a minute.

   "Actually," she said, giving the two a speculative look, 
"Maybe you can help."

   "We'd certainly be happy to," Koji said, smiling. Mariko shot 
him an odd glance.

   Nabiki stretched lazily. "Well... I know where the kidnapper 
wanted Ranma to meet him. And presumably he's got Akane 
stashed somewhere nearby. So I was thinking... why don't we 
beat Ranma to the punch?"

   Mariko stared at her. "You want us to attack someone who's 
after Saotome?"

   Nabiki shook her head. "Not at all. I want you to help me find 
Akane while our friend waits around for Ranma to show."

   "Of course," Koji said. "It'd be our pleasure. If nothing else, 
it'll take the satisfaction away from Ranma."

   "Wait a minute!" Mariko snapped. "I don't see why we 
should..."

   "You don't have to go, Marichan. But I am." The two glared at 
each other angrily, and Nabiki decided it was time to 
withdraw. "Thanks, Koji. I'll meet you here at 8:00 to show you 
the way to this place. Bye."

   Picking up her pole, she again made her way off the island.

^_-

   After Nabiki was safely out of earshot, Mariko rounded on 
her brother angrily. "Damnit, Koji, why the hell should we do 
this?"

   He smirked at her. "I thought you were the one who was so 
fond of Akane?"

   "Not as fond as you seem to be of Nabiki. Try thinking with 
your brain instead of your balls, brother mine."

   His smile widened. "I am. Look, Mariko, we're gonna be in the 
same building as Saotome while he's fighting a death match. If 
he loses, I want to watch. If he wins, I want to take him on, 
when he's hurt and tired from the last fight. Either way, we 
win."

   Mariko considered this. She _did_ think of Akane as an 
almost-friend... a decent person at the very least, even if she 
did hate Mariko's guts at the moment. And Koji was right, it 
would be a marvelous opportunity. Although she still thought 
he was taking up Nabiki's cause a little too easily.

   She smiled an evil little mental smile. If she did see Ranma, 
she'd blow his head off. Koji might want to take him down in 
single combat, but she was just sick of it, sick of the whole 
thing. He'd had his chance. If Ranma entered her line of sight, 
he died. 

   "Okay," she said, nodding. "Would be a real shame if anything 
happened to Akane. And it'd be a pity if Ranma died without a 
Hibiki involved."

   "Good. Saotome dies tonight."

^_-

   Night fell early, this time of year. The sun was already 
turning the street crimson when Ranma strolled out the gate 
of the Tendo household.

   Three anxious figures watched him leave from the front 
window. Nabiki was not among them. This fact had been noted, 
filed, and would be dealt with.

   His tread was slow, his step unhurried. A map was still 
spread out on the floor of the dojo, a Chinese knife stabbed 
through a certain spot on it. He knew where he was going.

   The darkness crept over the sun. The lamps came on, 
windows flashed with light. He kept walking.

   His eyes were calm in the glow of the streetlights. 

   Controlled.

   The lights grew harsher. The people thickened, swarmed. 
Neon and glass. He did not slow.

   Occasionally he was considered by a predator. They all 
decided against it. Not this one. Not tonight.

   The lights dimmed. The people melted away.

   Beyond a high wooden wall, the wreckage of a corporate 
garden. Rising above it, the looming mass of the Ichishi Office 
Building, stark and narrow and grey against the blackness. A 
single light blazed from an upper window, throwing shadows 
down across the ravaged shrubs and uprooted trees.

   He stopped, and glanced at his watch. 8:26.

   Ripping away a board, he walked inside the fence.

   Childe Ranma to the dark tower came.

^_-

   He watched Ranma's approach from an empty office on the 
second floor. Two stories up, the floor lamp he had plugged in 
shone like a beacon, guiding his prey in like a moth to a flame. 
What a glorious blaze Saotome would make.

   Remember, he told himself, fighting down the rising 
bloodlust. Remember that this moth has a venomous bite, and 
has defeated you before. You were the champion of the 
Joketsuzoku, and he brought you low.

   Upon discovering that the building had already had the first 
of the demolition charges placed into it, he had considered 
just letting Saotome walk in and then blowing him and his 
woman to hell. But while cunning and ruthlessness were the 
tools of a true martial artist, that was too much. That was the 
sort of trick an outsider would use, not an amazon warrior. 
Besides, he had no idea what one did to make the charges 
explode.

   No, he had other surprises for Ranma. They would have to be 
enough.

   Saotome walked past the truck parked by the front doors, his 
tread light, his demeanor calm but alert. Soon he would be 
inside. 

   The Chinese boy adjusted the patch over his eye, threw the 
loosely bound tail of hair over his shoulder, and crept out of 
the office. The game was about to begin.

^_-

   "Someone's coming."

   Koji looked up at his sister's words, setting his half-empty 
cup of tea on the fallen tree that served them as bench and 
table. "Nabiki?"

   "No. I don't know who it is." Mariko frowned, and Koji heard 
the slide-thunk of her umbrella chambering a round. "Whoever 
it is, they look like something out a a bad ninja movie." 

   Wonderful. Perfect timing for someone to come poking 
around, right when they were about to go finish Saotome. 
Sighing, he got up and walked over to the perimeter of the 
camp. Sure enough, someone in a black bodysuit and ski mask 
was making their way across the stepping stones, nimbly 
leaping from one to... and avoiding the third, rigged stone, 
damnit. If Nabiki had told someone else the location of their 
camp, he was going to have some hard words with her. Because 
whoever this was, it certainly wasn't Nabiki.

   The figure even now leaping onto the shore was taller, for 
one thing. And there was a bit more bulk to the frame, and a 
cascade of long, purple-colored hair flowed down from under 
the ski mask, ending at mid chest. And the walk was different 
from the catlike strut Nabiki seemed to like.

   Glancing over at his sister, he made a series of hand signals. 
Mariko watched, then nodded agreement.

   Whoever this person was, they seemed to know their way to 
the camp. Without hesitation, or even glancing around to get 
their bearings, the figure in black strode through the rushes 
that served as a screen. Surveying the seemingly empty 
campsite, they sat down on the log with a snort of irritation.

   And froze as Mariko's umbrella pressed into the back of 
their neck.

   Feeling a bit of pride in his sister's stealth, and happy that 
things had gone so easily, Koji strolled out of the trees. "Good 
evening. Mind telling us who you are?"

   The *slide-chunk* of Mariko's umbrella punctuated his 
statement. He grinned; Marichan always did have a flair for 
convincing people, one way or another.

   "Hey Koji, Mariko. Could you point the shotgun at something 
less breakable?"

    He gaped. "Nabiki?"

   The figure pulled off her ski mask. The flowing purple hair 
came off with it. "Yup. You two ready to go?"

   Mariko lowered her umbrella. "What's with the kunoichi get-
up?"

   Nabiki shrugged. Koji stared; it was as if someone had stuck 
her head on another body. "Ranma told me that if I had anything 
to do with the kidnapping, I'd meet a nasty end. If we bump 
into him over at the building, I don't want him to recognize me. 
So I decided to play dress-up."

   "But your height, your weight..."

   "I've had the suit padded a bit, and I'm wearing platform 
shoes."

   Koji rubbed his forehead distractedly. "You don't even walk 
the same."

   Nabiki grinned. "I've got little squares of cardboard taped to 
the inside of my thighs. Not real comfy, but it does change the 
way you walk."

   An image of her taping the squares in place rose into his 
mind, and a trickle of blood began to flow from his nose. 
Irritably, he forced the thought aside. "You sound like you've 
done this before."

   The grin grew wider. "I'm in the information business, Koji-
san. Sometimes people get annoyed when they see you 
indulging in photography, and it's handy if the person with the 
camera doesn't look anything like you."

   Mariko chuckled. Koji frowned. She was fairly attractive - 
okay, very attractive - but he didn't think much of her habits. 
Honorable people didn't sneak around taking photos of... well 
what would they be of? Another series of images popped into 
his head, and the blood resumed its trickle to the edge of his 
nostril.

   He reminded himself of the reason she had come, and the 
flow ceased. "We're ready when you are."

   "Good. The Ichishi building is about two miles away; we 
should get there about five minutes after 8:30. This means 
Ranma will be busy trying to kill this other person, and we can 
slip quietly in the back way and find Akane." Nabiki turned, and 
walked off towards the lake edge. "If you'll just follow me.."

   Koji cleared this throat. Damn, he didn't want to say this. 
"Uh, Tendo-san... I'm afraid you'll have to take our hand. Hands. 
One of our hands."

   Nabiki stared at him skeptically. "You're a big boy, Koji. You 
don't need someone to hold your.."

   His face turned red. "We've got a lousy sense of direction, 
okay? If you don't lead us, literally..."

   "We'll wind up in Kyoto," Mariko finished. She seemed 
outwardly to be a lot less embarrassed about it than he was, 
but he knew from past experience that it actually bothered her 
more than it did him, despite the fact that she was the best 
navigator in the family. Granted, this was like having the 
sharpest vision in a school for the blind, but it was still 
something he envied her. She could stroll through the park, 
remain in it, and only take about an hour to find her way back 
to the lake. He had to stay in camp; a walk in the park would 
end with him wandering Ethiopia.

   No, Mariko hid her annoyance over the direction thing better 
than he did. But it was also easier to get her violent over it, 
and she had an unfortunate habit of overcoming her lack of 
direction by shanghaiing people to serve as guides. 

   To his intense relief, Nabiki didn't make an issue of it. 
"Okay. Here, Koji, give me your hand." She slipped a gloved 
hand into his, squeezed it slightly and began to lead him off. He 
followed, reminding himself that they were holding hands for 
purely navigational purposes. Which didn't mean he couldn't 
enjoy it, of course. Although the goofy smile that was 
threatening to appear would not do, not do at all.

   Mariko took hold of his other hand, and the train of Hibikis 
and Tendo wandered off into the city.

^_-

   The foyer of the Ichishi Building was smaller than it looked. 
The circular shape of it had been designed to create a sense of 
unseen space lying just out of eyeshot, giving visitors the 
impression that the office complex was large. This effect was 
amplified by the placement of mirrors in recessed niches, 
making the casual viewer think that hallways radiated out into 
side courtyards. A fountain played merrily in the center of the 
room, fat carp and goldfish gliding beneath the surface. Above, 
balconies lined all five stories up to the skylight; the 
tremendous height of the room helped perfect the illusion of 
size.

   Despite all this, the building had been bought out by a 
company which required the land for other purposes. And so the 
offices had been cleaned out, barring certain pieces of cheap 
furniture not worth the effort of moving. The first of the 
demolition charges had been placed, and in two days the 
Ichishi Office Building would cease to exist.

   The boy knew most of this.

   He stood crouched in a booth on the fourth floor, gazing down 
at the entryway over the blinking lights of a control panel. 
Below him, Saotome Ranma was entering the hall. And his 
doom.

   He pushed a button on the panel. How nice of the designers to 
label all the switches for him.

   Below, the water recycling system of the fountain ground to 
a halt. The pool it fed began to slowly rise, inch by inch.

   "Hey. Is anyone here?"

   Ranma was slowly moving into the center of the room, his 
eyes scanning the balconies and windows. It wouldn't do him 
any good; the lights in the control booth were off.

   The water began to overflow the fountain. A millimeter-deep 
pool of water began to gradually spread out in a rough circle, 
inching ever closer to Saotome's shoes.

   He hit another switch, turning on the intercom. "Nihao, 
Saotome. You here for fight, yes?"

   Ranma glanced upward, his eyes scanning the upper rooms 
and ledges. "I'm here for Akane, Joketsuzoku. I don't know 
what you want with me, but you've got exactly ten seconds to 
give her back. Or I'll tear out your heart and feed it to you."

   Damn. He was a smart one; his eyes would pick out the 
control booth in a few seconds. And then he would try to find a 
way up; either the stairwell or the elevator.

   Now or never.

   The boy hit a final button, and dashed from the booth onto 
the fourth floor balcony.

   Below, Ranma blinked and reflexively closed his eyes for a 
split-second as the overhead lights, glass spheres hanging 
from a metal framework, snapped on to full intensity. The pool 
of water, unnoticed, engulfed and surrounded the hard soles of 
his shoes.

   The boy threw a knife in a glittering arc across the room. Not  
downward, not towards Ranma, but at an upwards trajectory . 
It slammed into a previously half-cut support strut, severing 
it neatly.

   With a hideous shrieking of twisting metal, the entire 
lighting assembly plunged downward.

   For the Chinese boy, time seemed to slow. His gaze was fixed 
firmly on Ranma, watching the stages of awareness pass 
across him.

   First, as he expected, wide-eyed alarm. The impulse to run 
was obviously strong, but he held his ground. A trained martial 
artist, he would spend the necessary split-second required to 
judge _where_ to run.

   Second, a slight relaxing of the alert stance. Ranma had just 
calculated that if he stayed where he was, none of the falling 
globes or struts would hit him. The most that could happen 
was flying glass.

    The third reaction was dismaying to the boy. Saotome's eyes 
widened again, in horror. He had just realized that he was 
standing in the middle of the best conductor of electricity in 
nature. Damn.

   He saw Ranma make a vaulting leap, and then the first of the 
globes exploded against the side of the fountain.

   The steady, bright light that had lit up the room vanished, 
plunging the foyer into near darkness. The floor below was a 
mass of lightning, twisting and crackling among the metal 
beams that were smashing into the tiles. He watched, 
fascinated, as tendrils of energy curled up the sides of an 
abstract metal statue, whisps of electricity arcing out to 
blast holes in the walls. The room flashed like the inside if a 
strobe light, the alternating light and darkness making it 
almost impossible to see.

   And then, abruptly, it ceased. Darkness engulfed the foyer, 
save for a small fountain of hissing sparks where the wires 
touched the pool. In the dim light it provided, he could see a 
black lump of flesh float by, the remains of one of the carp.

   He grinned. Ranma had undoubtably been parbroiled.

   Standing, the boy walked across the balcony towards the 
stairwell. He would identify the corpse, turn the girl loose 
somewhere, and make his way back to China. He was free.

   He had reached the stairwell door when the sound of mocking 
laughter froze him in his tracks.

    "Nice idea, Joketsuzoku. It was a good try. But not enough. 
And it's been more than ten seconds."

   "My name Tsen Wu," he called into the darkness below. "You 
no leave, I hope."

   "You still have Akane," Ranma's voice echoed up, a hint of 
mockery in it. "And you're still breathing. I'm not leaving until 
I remedy those two problems."

   Tsen didn't bother answering. There was no point in giving 
Ranma a voice to track. Vaulting over the rail of the balcony, 
he swung down beneath it, clinging to the walkway's bottom by 
a decorative strip of metal. Hand over hand, he worked his way 
towards the western side of the building.

   A door shut, somewhere in the ground floor. Saotome had 
undoubtably discovered the stairwell, somehow managing to 
see in the near blackness. Of course, the hissing fountain of 
sparks shed a faint glow...

   But in the upper levels, it was as dark as the belly of a cave. 
The skylight above had been covered by a tarpaulin in 
preparation for its removal.

   Below, in a small office on ground level, a demolition charge 
lay, one of the ones that Tsen Wu had not known how to 
detonate. It was easy, really. You just pressed a button. That 
prompted a small electrical current to run through the charge, 
which made it explode violently. 

   This particular one had been placed on the floor next to a 
important pillar. It would be enough to collapse half the 
building, although in a sloppy and hazardous way.

   On the now empty ground floor, a slowly growing pool of 
water, alive with voltage, spread slowly towards the farthest 
corners of the building. 

^_-

   Akane's head jerked from its resting place on her shoulder as 
a noise reminiscent of a train crash echoed through the 
chamber. What was happening? Was the building collapsing? 
Had something exploded? She didn't feel any vibration, just the 
horrible, earwrenching noise...

   Which suddenly stopped.

   Straining her ears to hear voices, footsteps, anything, Akane 
took stock of the situation. She had dozed off; her neck was 
unpleasantly stiff, and she noted with mild disgust that she 
had drooled a bit on her shoulder. The headache was still there, 
and the back of her head felt... wrong. A mild concussion, 
perhaps?

   She shivered. It was cold in here, especially without a shirt.

   The sound of breathing was noticeably absent from the room. 
Shampoo must have left; perhaps to set the trap for Ranma? 
She hoped not.

   The sound of laughter, cold and mocking, caught her ears. 
Akane held her breath, strained to hear more... were those 
voices? It could be, she supposed; then again, it could be the 
wind. Her heartbeat was echoing in her eardrums, drowning out 
the noises from outside. Assuming those _were_ noises, and 
not her imagination.

   Well. If they thought she was going to sit around and meekly 
wait for someone to let her go, they were sadly mistaken. She 
didn't feel like playing Damsel in Distress today.

   Flexing her muscles, Akane strained at the ropes that held 
her to the chair. There were five of them, she noticed; one for 
each arm, one for each leg, and one around her waist. Securely 
tied, and with good rope, but thankfully not interconnected in a 
manner designed to strangle her if she tried to break free. She 
smiled grimly; if she had been the one doing the tying, her 
chances of escape would have been virtually nonexistent.

   As it was, they still didn't look too good.    

   She opened and closed her hands; the ropes bound her along 
her wrists and upper forearm. Frowning slightly, Akane gripped 
the chair arms and pulled.

   She wasn't sure, but she thought that she felt the right arm 
of the chair pull free a little. 

   Well, Nabiki was always teasing her about her strength. Time 
to see if all those hours spent hefting barbells were good for 
anything. 

   Gripping the chair firmly, she braced herself and pulled 
upwards with all of her might. The ropes holding her right arm 
immediately went taut, began to cut into her skin. She kept 
pulling.

   Three minutes later, she relaxed, panting. Her entire arm 
was sore, her shoulder felt a bit strained, and her wrist was 
swollen and indented from the ropes slicing into her skin. But 
the chair arm was now distinctly wobbly. She estimated that 
the peg holding it to the frame was nearly half out.

   Just a few more tries, and she'd have the arm broken free. 
And then, with her right arm loose, she could untie the other 
ropes. And then...

   Then she'd get the hell out of this prison, and ram the chair 
down Shampoo's throat.

   Bracing herself, Akane once again began to pull at the arm. 
The ropes tightened again, and she could feel a trickle of 
something warm begin to drip from her wrist. Blood, she 
realized.

   Oh well. No pain, no gain.

   She chuckled, the sound slightly ragged, and kept pulling.

^_-

   "It's dark."

   "Good," Nabiki responded. "We don't want to be seen. In and 
out, that's our goal."

   Nodding her agreement, Mariko studied the building. They had 
come around behind it, climbing over the locked gate and into 
the rear parking lot. The office tower had a garage attached to 
it in back, a two-tier structure where the employees had once 
left their cars. It was this part of the building where they 
would make their entry.

   "Nabiki-san," Koji began. He was cut off by an irritable wave 
of the Tendo girl's hand.

   "From here on in, don't call me Nabiki. If Ranma learns I 
came along on this little jaunt, I'm probably going to die. If 
Akane knows, she'll let it slip to Ranma. I'm just someone 
with an interest in getting her out alive, okay?"

   He nodded. "That makes sense. So what do I call you? 'Hey 
you' is a bit awkward..."

   Nabiki smirked. "Call me Azusa. There's a cutesy little 
skater by that name, with big eyes and frilly pink dresses."

   "Indulging in wishful thinking, are we?" Mariko asked 
innocently. Despite the darkness and the concealing mask, 
Nabiki's glare was enough to make the Hibiki girl throw up her 
hands. "Just joking. C'mon, let's grab Akane and get the hell 
out of here."

   The glare vanished, replaced by the businesswoman. "Right. 
Ranma would have entered through the front doors, into the 
foyer. We, on the other hand, are going to enter through the 
garage, go to the top of the building, and begin searching the 
rooms. If we bump into Ranma, we try to stay out of sight. If 
he sees us... we'll decide what to do based on the situation."

   Mariko nodded approval, inwardly smiling. If Ranma showed 
his face, she'd blow it off. Simple enough. "And what if we run 
into the kidnapper?"

   "We either avoid or get around her. Or him, if it turns out 
Ranma was mistaken. Ready?"

   They nodded, looks of grim determination appearing. "Let's 
do it, Na- er, Azusa," Koji said.

   Nabiki shot him a thumbs-up, and melted into a shadow, her 
black bodysuit making her figure almost impossible to trace. 
Keeping her eyes firmly planted on the flitting outline of 
Nabiki's back, Mariko followed. Koji's hand reached out to take 
her's and she squeezed it, then guided it to the belt of her 
trenchcoat. While she could avoid getting lost by simply 
keeping their guide in sight, her brother would be wandering 
off without something to hold onto.

   The garage loomed like a cliff, the gaping tunnel inside 
seeming for all the world like the mouth of a cave. No cars 
were left among the pillars and supports, and the 
contradictory feelings of claustrophobia and being dangerously 
exposed began to make themselves known. Mariko felt her 
muscles tense; this sneaking around was not her style. She 
wanted something to hit, to shoot, something tangible. Not this 
feeling of being watched. 

   Nabiki led them along the walls, obviously looking for a door 
or elevator. She finally motioned for a halt in front of a 
pulldown metal gate.

   "Cargo elevator," she whispered. "Probably goes all the way 
to the top. Let me just find the button..." Her voice trailed off, 
and she motioned them over, pointing at the wall. Looking 
where she indicated, Mariko saw that the control panel had 
been literally blown to pieces. Bits of metal and plastic 
dangled out of a shattered wall panel, swinging by bits of wire 
in the faint breeze.

   "Construction?" Koji asked. Nabiki made a dismissive 
gesture.

   "Lots of heavy moving done during demolition. No-one would 
just wreck a elevator control panel for no reason."

   Mariko shrugged. "Perhaps they did it to keep people from 
breaking in?"

   Frowning, Nabiki slowly shook her head. "No. The elevator 
gate has a lock on it, they could have just used that. Besides, 
why not just lock the Garage doors?" Turning, she began to 
move off towards a nearby automobile ramp. "C'mon. I want to 
see if the one on the second tier is busted too."

   A brief jog upstairs revealed that it was. 

   Koji growled. "I don't like this."

   Chuckling softly, Nabiki patted him on the shoulder in a 
gesture a bit too familiar for Mariko's liking. "No, Hibiki-san, 
actually it's good. Someone obviously doesn't want people 
poking around in the cargo elevator. Which means that's 
exactly what we want to do."

   Eying the door, Mariko frowned. "We could probably rip the 
thing off its hinges...."

   "That's a steel gate in a metal frame," Nabiki pointed out 
skeptically. "You'd need a jackhammer or something."

   She exchanged a grin with her brother. While the directional 
thing was annoying, there were certain benefits to being a 
Hibiki.

   Looking around, she spotted a metal beam lying discarded a 
few feet away. She strolled over, picked it up, and twisted. 
Hard.

   The look on Nabiki's face as she was handed a metal pretzel 
was priceless. It was really a pity, Mariko mused, that the 
mask and dark covered so much of it. "Jackhammers wear out 
too easily."

   Nabiki swallowed. "And Ranma survived the fight. He _is_ 
good."

   Koji laughed softly, glancing nervously around the empty 
garage as he did. "Give us time. He can't get lucky forever." His 
gaze returned to the gate. "Now, did you want us to remove 
this?"

   Nabiki thought for a few minutes, then shook her head. "No. 
It'd make too much noise. Besides, it'd probably just open onto 
an empty shaft. What we need to do is go up, find a way 
inside."

   "How do we do that?"

   "Stairs." Turning, Nabiki skipped off. The two Hibikis 
followed, each taking turns warily glaring at the darkness.

^_-

   Tsen Wu clung to the bottom of a concrete walkway and tried 
not to breathe.

   His heartbeat seemed to echo throughout the darkened shaft 
of the foyer. He was amazed that Ranma couldn't hear it.... or 
maybe he had? Maybe Saotome knew exactly where he was, 
was toying with him....

   Calm, calm, must be calm.

   There, a footstep.

   Another. And another.

   Saotome was walking along the section of balcony that he 
hung under. He was making his way towards the office with the 
light in it, the idiot! As if it mattered to Tsen whether or not 
the Tendo girl sat in the dark!

   The footsteps came closer. Ranma seemed to be walking 
along the middle of the walkway, away from both the railing 
and the empty offices.

   This would take precision, and timing.

   Another footfall, and another, louder and louder. He took a 
breath, tightened his grip on the metal strip.

   A footstep like a gunshot. His arm arched back.

   A heel began to touch the concrete above him.

   "BAKUSAI TEN-KETSU!"

   The walkway above Tsen exploded upwards as his finger 
slammed into the Blasting Point. He was pushed back by the 
impact, swung, struggled to keep his grip as a shower of 
fragments rained down. His eyes caught a flash of red fall past 
him, quickly vanishing in the darkness and falling rubble.

   Bracing himself, he dropped to the balcony below the one he 
had hung from. Above him, an entire section of walkway was 
missing, a gaping hole marring the clean, sterile lines of the 
building.

   Ranma was nowhere to be seen.

   Senses straining, Tsen moved towards the railing. Perhaps 
Saotome had gone over the edge, was hanging from a ledge, 
was slowly roasting in the water below...

   Or perhaps he was waiting to jump out at him the minute he 
looked over the rail.

   Tsen leaped for the railing, glanced over, and quickly rolled 
to one side as his mind processed the information his eyes had 
just received.

   Blackness, a tiny, flickering star of light at the bottom 
where the wires still sparked. A bit of concrete debris 
illuminated, sitting in the water like islands in miniature. No 
corpse, no red, no Ranma desperately clinging to a rail or 
ledge...

   Tsen leaped to one side as a series of punches slammed past 
his head. A foot took him in the stomach, and he lashed out into 
the darkness behind him, one hand brushing a bit of fabric. A 
rapid backflip took him to a position safely away from the 
edge, and he studied his opponent in the little light available.

   He couldn't tell if Ranma had been hurt or not. He was an 
outline, a man-sized patch of grey against the black. "You no 
die easy."

   "I don't die at all."

   "You not Akane, then." Time to play his last card. He would 
either die, or he would leave Ranma's corpse behind as he 
returned home in glory.

   "What's that supposed to mean?" An edge in the voice, there. 
If nothing else, Tsen would enjoy the reaction.

   He withdrew a stained blouse from inside his shirt, threw it 
underhand. Ranma caught it, turned it over and over. Stared at 
it.

   "She scream your name twice, before end."

   A stifled noise, either a laugh or a sob. "Why?"

   "You take something from me. I take something from you. 
Besides, she good ride. Noisy, though."

   The shadow at the end of the walkway dropped the shirt, 
bowed his head for a second or two. Then slowly raised it.

   "You are going to live for an uncomfortably long time, 
Joketsuzoku." His voice was flat, calm; he might as well have 
been discussing the weather with a stranger. "And then I'm 
going to take a trip to China."

   Tsen's blood froze.

   "I understand that village of yours has a long, proud history. 
I've always wanted to do something that would leave a lasting 
impact on the world. Wiping out the Joketsuzoku sounds like 
just the thing."

   He had miscalculated. Before, all that had been at stake was 
his life. Now... if he lost the battle, Ranma would go on to 
decimate at least half the tribe before the elders could put 
him down. He was that good.

   The risks were no longer acceptable. It was time to release 
Akane and...

   Ranma sprang.

^_-

   Nabiki cocked her head. "Did you hear that?"

   "Yeah," Koji replied. "Sounded like another explosion. Or 
something collapsing."

   The three stood on the entrance to the fifth floor. Before 
them, beyond the walkway the stairwell opened onto, the foyer 
shaft gaped.

   Motioning the two siblings to follow her, Nabiki moved 
rapidly along the balcony. The doors of the cargo elevator were 
recessed in a niche, undoubtably to avoid offending the 
sensibilities of the departed office dwellers and their former 
clients. The doors had probably been painted a neutral shade 
that blended with the wall.

   Only probably, because they had been removed.

   The three stared down the empty elevator shaft. Small 
service lights set into the narrow sides showed the top of the 
car, far below.

   Mariko squinted. "Look. On top of the car, there."

   Leaning forward, Nabiki pushed past Koji, not noticing his 
slight flush as she moved her torso against his. "What?"

   "There's a metal bar on top of the upper hatch on the car. 
Looks like it's to keep anyone from getting out. What d'ya want 
to bet we've just found Akane?"

  "Or a trap," Koji muttered. Nabiki straightened, nodded.

   "Right. How are we going to get down there?"

   "Easy," Mariko replied. She pointed at the elevator cables. 
"We just climb down."

   Nabiki stared at her. "You've got to be kidding. That car's at 
least two floors down."

   Koji shrugged. "Me and Marichan can make it easily. We need 
someone to stand guard anyways, why don't you just stay here 
and watch our backs?"

   Tilting her head to one side, Nabiki considered his 
suggestion. While she didn't relish the idea of staying up here 
alone, the thought of descending a deep, narrow chute appealed 
to her even less. "Okay. Just hurry up, and remember - you've 
never met me, the real me. Okay?"

   "Got it, Azusa." Turning her attention back to the abyss 
below, Mariko leaned out and took a rope. "C'mon, Koji. Down 
we go."

   Nabiki watched as they slid silently down the ropes, then 
turned her attention back to the blackness of the upper tower.

^_- 

   Akane crouched in a corner of her cell, the remains of her 
chair clutched firmly in one hand, and waited.

   It had taken her four tries to finally rip the chair arm free of 
its frame. She had badly strained her right arm in the process, 
and her wrist was gashed and swollen, but she had been able to 
use the newly-freed hand to untie the ropes holding her to the 
chair.

    Unfortunately, this hadn't helped her much.

   Standing up, she had discovered that the iron box she was 
penned in had two exits; a set of sliding metal doors and a 
hatch in the ceiling. A panel set in the wall had been smashed 
to bits, and Akane quickly surmised that it's function had been 
to operate the doors.

   This left the hatch. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge; 
probably locked or secured somehow from the outside.

   After several attempts to open each of the exits by force, 
Akane finally had to conclude that she wasn't getting out 
unless someone else opened the doors.

   So she had fashioned the chair into a suitable bludgeoning 
weapon, moved to a corner where she could quickly strike at 
anyone entering, and waited for Shampoo to come back.

  She didn't have to wait long. Two thumps from the roof 
alerted her to the presense of her jailor, and soon the fumbling 
of a bolt made itself heard. Akane tensed, drew her hand back, 
prepared to spring.

   Breathe in, breathe out. She was the heir to the Tendo School 
of Anything-Goes. Whoever this was, she was a match for 
them.

   The hatch opened, and someone dropped inside. Without 
taking the time needed to identify the newcomer, Akane 
slammed the chair forward in a vicious thrust aimed at the 
person's throat.

   To her shock and dismay, the person smoothly parried with a 
red umbrella, smashing her weapon to splinters. Hibiki Koji. 
Her throat tightened; if the Hibikis had joined Shampoo and 
this Tsen person, Ranma would be facing off against four 
skilled, dangerous opponents. All because she had let someone 
sneak up on her. 

   "You," she spat, putting as much venom as possible into the 
word. "I should have known."

   He looked surprised "Huh?" Akane's heart sank even further 
as another person dropped through the hatch. Mariko, her 
erstwhile friend. The person who had sparred with her, laughed 
with her, and almost killed her.

   "You'll never get away with this," she said lamely, defeat 
surging through her in a black wave. She doubted she could 
have beaten Koji, even had he been unarmed and off his guard. 
Against both of the Hibikis.... her escape had ended before it 
had even begun.

    Mariko shrugged. "No need to be so pessimistic."

    A flare of anger cut through the despair. "You won't!" Akane 
snapped. "I never did anything to you. What right do you have to 
kidnap me, tie me in some hole, let some Chinese bitch strip 
me..!"

   Grinning, Mariko shook her head. "You misunderstand. We're 
here to rescue you."

   Akane gaped at the two siblings, her mind reeling. They were 
WHAT?

   "You... why?" she managed. Koji shrugged. 

   "My sister felt bad about almost killing you. And it's the 
duty of a martial artist to protect the innocent." 

   Mariko smirked. "You'll do until someone innocent comes 
along. C'mon, let's blow this joint."

   Dazedly, Akane let herself be pushed up the hatch into what 
appeared to be an elevator shaft. So that's what the room had 
been... she shivered, and hugged herself as a draft of cold air 
whistled down the shaft. Pulling herself up out of the elevator, 
Mariko glanced at her.

   "You're a bit underdressed," she said softly, her voice 
carrying an undertone of concern. "They didn't try anything 
funny, did they?"

   Akane shook her head. "No. They were going to smear my 
shirt with blood and use it to upset Ranma, get him angry so 
he'd fight them." A thought sprang into her head. "Ranma.... is 
he okay?"

   The Hibiki girl frowned, a cold expression replacing the look 
of concern. "I don't know. Frankly, I hope he's dead."

   Akane bit back an angry retort. She had a few choice things 
to say to the Hibikis about their murder attempt, but all of 
that could wait until they were safely out of... of... "Where are 
we, anyway?"

   Koji clambered up from the car. "Ichishi Office Building. 
Scheduled to be torn down soon. Can you climb?"

   Akane looked at the ropes, tested her balance, and shook her 
head slowly. "Normally I could, but... I got hit on the head, and 
I'm still a little woozy. I'd probably fall and break my skull 
open."

   Fingers gently probed the back of her skull, causing her to 
wince. "Ack," Mariko muttered, withdrawing her hand. "You've 
got a knot the size of a baseball back there. You'd better get 
that looked at."

   "I'll see Doctor Tofu when we get out," Akane replied. The 
adrenaline was leaving her system; the anger and fear being 
replaced by a dizzy weariness. "I think it'll be all I can do to 
walk. I don't feel so good."

   Koji frowned, glancing at his sister. "Marichan, could you 
grab some of the rope down in in the elevator? If we tie a rope 
around her, I could probably carry Akane up on my back."

   Nodding, Mariko disappeared back into the hatch, returning 
after a few seconds with a length of rope. "Okay, Akane, just 
grab Koji here around the waist. Don't worry, he'll promise not 
to enjoy it too much."

   Too tired to argue, Akane stumbled over and wrapped her 
arms around his chest, doing her best to keep from pressing 
too much of her upper body against him. She felt the rope 
encircle her again as Mariko tied the two together by their 
waists. 

   Koji glanced back, obviously a bit embarrassed. She wasn't 
sure if that made the situation better or worse. "Ready, 
Akane-san?"

   "Ready," she replied, trying to sound casual.

   And they began to climb.

   The trip up the shaft seemed to take hours. Blackness 
surrounded her, engulfed her, was made all the more noticable 
by the twinkling little lights that shone in the wall. Her right 
arm was on fire, pain moving up and down it from her shoulder 
to her wrist, and she frequently tried to support more of her 
weight with her left side. She figured out about halfway 
through that leaning further against Koji would ease some of 
the strain, and she did, modesty forgotten. She was too tired 
to care.

   Up they went, and their breathing was the only sound aside 
from the squeak of the cables.

   At one point she almost fell asleep, and was only awakened 
in time by the rope digging into the skin of her lower back. She 
refastened her grip, and the climb went on. 

   And then the top of the shaft was in sight, and then within 
reach, and then they were through. Hands untied her, and she 
managed not to fall as she let go of Koji. 

   A quick glance around showed her that she was on a upper-
level walkway, like the ones in the mall, and that there was a 
person in a black bodysuit staring at her.

  Akane unsteadily pointed to her. "Who...?"

  Mariko gently moved her hand away. "That's Azusa. If it 
weren't for her, you'd still be back in the elevator. C'mon, now, 
let's get you home."

   She nodded. Anything dealing with home sounded like a good 
idea.

   She turned to follow her rescuers, and then an explosion was 
heard.

^_-

   Tsen landed on the wider promenade walkway of the second 
floor, one of his bonbori skittering across the floor. Bits of 
concrete and metal fell around him.

   He had used the Bakusai Ten-Ketsu twice already, dumping 
him and his opponent to lower and lower levels. Now, at last, 
they were directly over the ground floor. If Ranma closed, he 
would dump them both into the pool of voltage-filled water 
below.

   It was, he had decided, perhaps his only hope of killing 
Ranma. Without the other technique his Great-Grandmother had 
taught him - which he still lacked the speed for in this state - 
there wasn't much he could do except block and strike until 
Saotome's inevitable victory.

   "You better than I thought," he called out to the grey shape 
slowly advancing on him."

^_-

   "Who the hell is that?" Koji asked, moving to the rail to 
look.

   Mariko followed, her mind noting with disappointment that it 
didn't sound at all like Ranma. The strong Chinese accent 
suggested that it was one of the kidnappers Akane had 
mentioned.

   "You just had to kill her, didn't you? You bastard."

   Aha, she thought gleefully. That's Ranma.

   Dashing to the rail, she surveyed the scene beneath. And saw 
nothing. Except for a flickering wire in a fountain at the very 
lowest level... shit, that thing was throwing electricity all 
over that pool! What had been going on down there?

   "And why not? She just twenty-yen whore, your Akane. No 
good at all."

   Mariko heard two snarls of outrage and surprise from behind 
her. Akane, she guessed, understandably taking exception to 
this description of her, and Nabiki, who hadn't yet been made 
aware that Akane hadn't been... assaulted like that.  

   "She was the most important thing in my life."

   Damn. She could only tell his general position... somewhere 
towards the lower middle of the room. One of the lower 
balconies must extend further out than the upper ones. Trouble 
was, she still couldn't seen him, and all she had loaded were 
the precision AP rounds, not the area buckshot.

   "Ranma!" she heard Akane cry. Damn. Things were falling 
apart.

   An idea struck her.

   Whipping out her umbrella, she quickly pumped it, aimed, and 
fired directly into the dead center of the skylight.

^_-

   Tsen heard a thunderous roar, a tearing sound, and then the 
air was filled with falling knives of glass.

   Throwing himself towards the cover of the overhanging 
balcony, he saw Ranma do the same, only in the opposite 
direction. And he was nearer to the staircase.

   Scrambling to his feet in a run, Tsen barreled down the steps 
two at a time. Saotome would die, but not tonight.

^_-

   As the deafening roar faded, Akane grabbed Mariko, fury 
giving her new strength. "What the hell are you doing? Are you 
a psycho or something?"

   The Hibiki girl coldly pushed Akane away. "I don't think I got 
him anyway. I'm not that lucky. "

   "Damn it!" She was tired, and furious, and just wanted to lie 
down and die. "If you kill him, you're worse than he could ever 
be! At least he didn't mean to do it!"

   "Oh, he meant it," Mariko snarled. "He meant it. I hope you 
never find out just how wrong you are, Akane. I hope I blow his 
head off before then!"

   Akane spat on the ground, turned, and stormed off, not 
knowing where she she was going, not knowing anything, only 
feeling the overwhelming urge to get away.

   A hand fell on her shoulder, stopping her. She spun, angrily, 
and found herself looking at the figure in black that Mariko had 
called Azusa.

   A black-gloved hand pointed her towards the stairwell, and 
motioned for the two Hibikis to follow. Somewhat reluctantly, 
they did, and Akane began to decend the stairs behind Azusa.

   They passed a flickering exit sign shedding a dull green light 
across the steps, and Akane suddenly noticed that the mass of 
hair that fell from beneath the ski mask was purple.

   Shampoo.

   Her first instinct was to run. Where, though? The Chinese 
girl was ahead of her, and the Hibikis were behind. She was 
boxed in. 

   Besides... was it a trap? She had been locked in a steel box 
suspended in a elevator shaft; they had had her. Taking her out 
made no sense at all.

   <"It Tsen Wu's idea. Shan Pu sorry.">

   Had the Chinese girl had a change of heart, decided to let her 
go? If so, why go to all the trouble of...

   Of course. If this Tsen Wu person found her missing, there 
would be hard questions. So she had gotten the Hibikis to carry 
out the rescue.

   Akane smiled slightly, a wave of warm feeling washing over 
her. That had been nice of the girl....

   Yeah, after kidnapping her. Akane shook her head, regretting 
the action as dizziness made her stumble slightly. She was 
starting to think like Kasumi.

   The stairs blurred, then she was in a parking garage, then 
she was walking outside, and the cool night air was hitting her 
face and stomach.

   And then someone screamed her name.

   She turned, and there was Ranma, his face showing pure joy 
and relief.

   Sobbing, she lurched forward in a stumbling run, and heard a 
now-familiar *slide-thunk* behind her.

^_-

   "AKANE!"

   Mariko turned, and, to her delight, saw Ranma standing only a 
few feet away, his attention focused almost totally on Akane. 
He took a step forward as Akane gave a mewling cry and 
hobbled towards him.

  With a speed born of years of practice, Mariko pumped the 
umbrella and raised it. She noted with satisfaction that Akane 
wasn't in the way this time.

  In the small office on the ground floor of the Ichishi building, 
the pool of water touched the demolition charge, sending a 
electric current racing through it.

  The left side of the building exploded in a mass of flame.

   Mariko was flung to the ground by the blast. Standing, she 
saw that the entire western side of the building was on the 
verge of collapse. Which would probably bring a few tons of 
masonry and concrete down upon their heads.

   Ranma had scooped up Akane, and was running like a 
champion sprinter. Damn. She considered trying to shoot him, 
but the ominous screeching noises coming from the building 
convinced her that running for her life would be a better idea.

   Cursing, Mariko raced off, followed by Koji and Nabiki.

^_-

   The figure that stumbled back to the cheap room in Nerima's 
East Side was a bedraggled sight. The loose black clothing he 
wore was marred by rips and tears, and stained with blood and 
concrete dust. His face was bruised; the one good eye sporting 
a rapidly swelling black mark. All in all, he looked like he had 
been mauled by a pack of angry trucks. Big trucks.

   He closed the door to his room, sighed, and began to draw 
himself a warm bath.

   It had not been a successful night, Tsen thought sourly. Not 
at all.

   On the good side, he was still alive, and Ranma was unlikely 
to go on a rampage. Assuming the girl lived. He had gotten a 
quick glimpse of Saotome running off, carrying her.... he wasn't 
sure how she had gotten out of the building, but was very 
relieved that she had. He wasn't sure what had made the 
building explode like that, either.

   The bath drawn, he doffed his clothes and stretched. The urge 
to admire himself in the mirror came, and he posed for a 
second before lowering himself into the steaming water.

   A ripple passed over Tsen's form, as certain places grew and 
contracted.

   Shan Pu leaned back, and luxuriated in the soothing warmth 
of the water. Next time, she told herself. Next time, Saotome 
would fall.
 
-< End of Chapter 6 >-