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 ^_- I L L   M E T   B Y   S T A R L I G H T ^_-
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by Susan Doenime and Mike Loader

Based on characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi, and used
without knowledge or permission.
We ask that you obtain permission from us before printing, posting, or
storing this story in any form.
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Previous Chapters At: http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/imbs.html
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Chapter 9 - A Gathering of Ravens

 Ignacio, lay dying in the sand
 A single red rose clutched in a dying hand
 And the women wept, to see their hero die
 And the big black birds gathered in the sky
 Mother of our joys, Mother of our sorrows
 Intercede for him tonight
 For all of our tomorrows.
   - The Pogues

   Nabiki ran.

   He had lived. Akane, _Akane_ of all people had showed up 
with that strange boy, like a damn knight on a damn white 
horse, and pulled Ranma to safety. Pulled him to safety with 
the very rope Nabiki had so thoughtfully provided as an artistic 
touch.

   She winced. Her own overconfidence had tripped her up, her 
desire to add insult to terminal injury. Arrogance when dealing 
with Saotome was fatal; her first attempt should have driven 
this fact home.

   Still... Nabiki shook her head. Even if the rope hadn't been 
there, she was pretty certain Akane would have found a way to 
get him out. It wasn't Ranma she had underestimated, it was 
her little sister.

   The thought caused her to smile slightly in spite of herself. 
Hopefully, she wouldn't be the last one to make that particular 
mistake.

   The downtown bus was just about to leave as she barreled up 
to the route stop and through it's closing doors. Straightening 
her toggle coat, trying not to pant, she took a seat by the 
window as it pulled away from the curb.

   Good and Bad needed totaling. On the Bad side... she winced. 
Where to begin.

   Ranma was still alive, that pretty much topped the list. 
Akane was playing a much more active role than she had 
expected; future ambushes might see her coming again into the 
line of fire. And a new boy, one with a bladed weapon, was 
with her. Nabiki had absolutely no idea who he was, which was 
extremely unsettling. All in all, not wonderful news.

   On the good side, it had been a clean failure. She had left no 
traces of her presence, and her voice through the speaker had 
been distorted enough to defy recognition. The speaker itself 
was now at the bottom of a very deep chasm, along with the 
straw dummy. No-one had seen her enter or leave, not a empty 
candy wrapper had been left to mark her stay. Let Ranma scour 
the grounds; phantoms might have engineered the deadfall for 
all he'd discover.

   In short, there was absolutely nothing that tied her to the 
attempt. And the setup - a challenge to an abandoned building 
that resulted in a trap - was very similar to Tsen's try. If she 
was the one putting the pieces together, the Amazon would be 
the first suspect on her list.

   She shivered slightly. Not that Ranma wouldn't suspect her; 
on the contrary. She knew with a sort of sick certainty that he 
wanted her to be the guilty one, wanted her to slip. He would 
probably arrange to talk to her some time when no-one else 
was around...

   A wave of sudden nausea swept over her, and she doubled 
over, gagging as her lunch threatened to come up. Forcing 
herself to straighten in her seat, she firmly shoved the panic 
aside, making her mind run through account balances, debts 
owed, anything but the bile in her throat and the fear in her 
soul.

   Someone chuckled, and rustled a newspaper. Two women 
bickered over their husbands a few seats away. A thin man in a 
black coat sadly stared out the window, gaze fixed on 
something only he could see, while the woman sitting next to 
him chuckled over something in her paperback and absently 
folded an origami crane with her free hand.

   Nabiki sat, a slender girl with an impassive expression, and 
waited for her stop. She looked very fragile, one passenger 
thought.

   It was time to see the Hibikis. She had made her solo 
attempt, and it had been a good idea, but she saw now that she 
should have involved them from the start. Had Koji been there, 
he could have prevented Akane from reaching the chasm until 
it was too late to help.

  Well. No use crying over spilled milk. Ranma was going to be a 
lot less eager to walk into traps from now on, which meant 
that motivation would have to be provided in the future. 

   About the only thing that she knew he would go after was 
Akane, and that was out of the question.

   Wasn't it?

   Nabiki bit her lip. If she could trick her sister somewhere, 
lock her in... It wasn't as if she were actually going to _hurt_ 
Akane. Not knock her on the head, like Tsen had. A few hours in 
a locked room would do no harm, right?

   She closed her eyes tightly. Not so long ago, she would have 
laughed at the idea of kidnapping her little sister in order to 
murder a houseguest. The idea somehow didn't seem very funny 
at the moment.

   Well. She would meet with Koji, and see what she could see. 
Maybe they had news, or ideas, or at the very least might know 
who the boy with Akane had been.

   The bus pulled up to Tai Park, and Nabiki stood to get off. 
Someone's elbow jostled the arm of the woman across the 
way, and the delicate paper crane tumbled to the floor. 
Unseeing, Nabiki's shoe came down on it as she left, the 
colored paper crumpling.

   The sad-faced man tsked. His seatmate smiled, winked, and 
resumed reading her paperback, right hand already fumbling for 
a fresh sheet of paper. 

  Unnoticed, the broken crane slipped from the bottom of 
Nabiki's shoe to fall, forlorn and discarded, in the gutter.

^_-

   "Hello, Ranchan."

   Ukyou watched as her old friend blinked, his face moving into  
something between a smile and a puzzled frown.

   He laughed, the sound thin and confused, and then slumped to 
the ground like a puppet with cut strings.

   Concerned, she quickly walked over to kneel beside him, 
Akane a few steps behind her. He looked so different... 
something in her mind had expected to find the same six year 
old, wearing a white gi and a mischievous smile, waiting to 
snatch an okonomiyaki from a portable grill. Instead...

   Her hand moved to his side, measuring the rise and fall of his 
breathing. A bit shallow, but regular.

   He had kept the tail, she saw. It looked good on him.

   "Hey, Ukyou. You, um, should probably take your hand off 
really slowly."

   Frowning, she looked up at the other girl. "Excuse me?"

   "Ranma's... got these reflexes. It's probably not a good idea to 
touch him when he's asleep."

   Oh. Carefully, she slowly drew back her hand. "What's wrong 
with him? He doesn't look hurt..."

   Akane bit her lip, worry plain. "I think it might be a healing 
trance. He once told me that you can push yourself further than 
most people think, but that the body always demands you to 
pay for it. I'm wondering just how long he had been hanging 
there."

   Nodding, Ukyou stared at Ranma's prone form. "It couldn't 
have been for more than ten minutes; not if he was holding on 
with one hand."

   "I wouldn't be surprised if it was half an hour." Akane's voice 
seemed unnaturally calm in the ruined chamber. "He has a way 
of surprising people."

   "So what do we do now? If we shouldn't touch him..."

   Akane shrugged. "I guess we wait. I don't know how long he'll 
be like this, but it's not going to hurt us to stick around for a 
bit."

   Nodding agreement, Ukyou sat down beside Ranma, taking 
care to keep out of his aura. She could feel it even from where 
she sat, a charged, tingling quality in the air; the sign of 
someone skilled in the art.

   Akane had moved to stand by the pit, a coldly angry 
expression on her face as she stared into the black. She almost 
looked, Ukyou thought, as if she expected the cause of the 
ambush to rise from the chasm like a demon from a fable.

   "Tsen," the Tendo girl finally said, pronouncing it like a 
curse. "Again. Why don't they just leave him alone?"

   Ukyou blinked. "Who?"

  "Tsen Wu. The Chinese maniac I mentioned earlier. This just 
reeks of his style." Moodily, Akane walked over to examine her, 
eyes full of a sort of hard intensity. "How serious are you 
about this visit, Ukyou-kun? If you don't want to fight, you 
should probably keep it short. This sort of thing is almost 
normal around here."

   Ukyou glanced at the sleeping form next to her. "I was his 
best friend. No-one's going to hurt him until I get a chance to 
catch up on old times."

   The other girl smiled slightly. "I'm glad. The way the crazies 
have been pouring in, I've been beginning to feel a bit 
outnumbered." She paused, her gaze moving to the bandoleer of 
throwing spatulas. "Uh... I'm almost afraid to ask, but what 
sort of martial art form involves spatulas?"

   Boy, Ukyou thought ruefully, if I had ten yen for every time 
someone asked me that question. "It's a family school. The 
Kuonjis were a sort of local legend in the old days... we made 
the best okonomiyaki in that part of Kansai. Then times got 
difficult; bandits, Ronin, desperate people... for a line that 
depended on sitting by the side of the road and collecting 
money as the day went on, it was a bit of a problem. Luckily, a 
solution came along in the form of Masamune Shiri."

   Akane blinked. "THE Masamune Shiri? Founder of the 
Tetsutakido-ryuu schools?"

   She nodded, only slightly surprised that the other girl had 
heard of the long-dead master. "This was before he set down 
his Rules of Steel Water, or founded any of the schools he 
started. At the time, he was simply wandering Japan in search 
of enlightenment, wisdom, and a good fight. He and Shin Kuonji 
struck a deal - Shiri would teach his art, and Shin would feed 
him for as long as the training lasted."

   "And so he developed a style based around cooking 
okonomiyaki?"

   "Yup. Actually, a lot of the groundwork had already been laid; 
a oversized spatula isn't that much different from a naginata 
in form." Although the thing was a damn sight trickier to 
reverse in midswing, she mentally added. "We like to think that 
he developed many of his later ideas from building the Kuonji-
ryuu. In any event, none of our family ever had trouble with 
bandits again. We sold our okonomiyaki in places no sane cook 
would dream of going, and the family prospered from it. At 
least, until recently."

   "What happened?"

   She winced. Over the years she had gotten a pretty good idea 
of why the family had gone into decline. "Times turned good, 
that's what happened."

   Akane looked puzzled. "Good for Japan," Ukyou hastened to 
add. "There's a distinct shortage of bandit gangs and feudal 
wars going on. Everywhere's safe, so there's no real business 
benefit in being a martial artist. All we had left was our 
culinary skill, and even that wasn't enough, with the food 
chains stealing away business. We were making just enough to 
eat and buy the essentials, and that's when Saotome Genma 
came along." The familiar rage rushed over her, and she felt 
her face twist into a snarl.

   "What did he do?" Akane asked, taken aback by her 
vehemence. Ukyou mentally froze... should she tell Akane the 
truth? More to the point, should she tell Ranma that his 
childhood friend wasn't really a boy?

   She remembered Akane saying that he didn't like 'sudden 
moves'. Perhaps it would be best to go gradually; slowly 
revealing things to him over time.

  "My father was getting a little desperate, and when Genma 
showed up, a wandering martial artist of great skill, with a 
son my age who showed even greater promise... I guess it 
seemed to him like Masamune Shiri all over again. He made a... 
pact with Genma, giving him the yattai in exchange for certain 
assurances. Only Genma didn't live up to his end of the bargain; 
he took the cart and ran away with it. It was like the end of 
the world." And, in a way, it had been. It was the end of her 
femininity, her self-identity. Ucchan is dead, long live Ukyou-
kun, strapping young fellow.

   The other girl winced. "I can see why you were upset at him. 
Did Ranma...?"

   She shook her head. "Ranma didn't know. I thought he did, for 
a long time, but I finally beat the truth out of Genma. It was 
all the old man's fault." She laughed suddenly, a funny thought 
striking her. "Y'know, I was almost to the point where I was 
ready to seek them out and make them pay for what they did. If 
Genma hadn't blundered into my backyard, I might have shown 
up looking for revenge, just like the others."

   Akane shook her head. "Not like the others. You wouldn't want 
to kill him. The others do." 

   "Yeah. I guess." She glance over at her old friend, watching 
the almost hypnotic rhythm of his breathing. "I don't 
understand how Ranchan could get so many people that mad. He 
could rub on my nerves some times, but you could tell he didn't 
mean to. He's just... insensitive."

   To her surprise, the other girl chuckled. "He's changed, then. 
Ranma's many things, but not insensitive. Blunt, at times, but 
he always knows exactly what he's saying." The chuckle faded, 
and Akane's expression turned thoughtful. It was not, Ukyou 
felt, a pleasant thought that was being mulled over.

   "As for mad," Akane finally continued, "that's an 
understatement. These people are obsessed."

   You don't exactly seem uncommitted yourself, dear. "Who 
exactly is after him?"

   "The Hibikis, Koji and Mariko. Nice people, really. They just 
want to kill Ranma. Mariko tried to blow a hole in me a few 
weeks ago with a shotgun."

   Ukyou froze, brain temporarily locking up. "She WHAT?"

   Akane shrugged with studied indifference. "Yup. She saved my 
life a little later, which pretty much makes us even."

   Had she wandered into some weird schoolyard version of the 
Old West? Ukyou got the impression that the other girl, faced 
with a choice of treating it casually or panicking, was 
choosing the former. With difficulty. "Okay... they martial 
artists?"

   "Good ones. Style focusing on endurance and strength. 
Another odd family school; uses umbrellas as a weapon. Good 
unarmed ability as well."

   She nodded, mentally filing the information away. "Slow, 
though?"

   Akane winced. "Not exactly. Just... not really fast. It's more 
of a lack of speciality than a weakness."

   Ukyou snorted. "Heh. Okay, so what are their weaknesses?"

   "They don't have any that I've seen. Hit them hard enough, 
repeatedly, and they fall down. Don't trade hits with them; 
they're stronger and tougher."

   "Great."

   "Yeah."

   They sat in silence for a while, gazes slipping from Ranma to 
each other.

   "Hey, Ukyou-kun?"

   She hated that appelation. Just one more reminder of what 
she wasn't. So many boys who had called her that in 
cameradrie, so many girls who had tried to use it flirtingly 
with the handsome young Kuonji son. At least Akane was 
already in love with someone... the kami had an ugly sense of 
humor when it came to other girls and her. Perhaps she was an 
ugly girl... she suspected that that was why Genma had left... 
but she was a rather attractive young man.

   "Yeah, Akane?"

   "Could you tell me a bit more about what Ranma was like?"

   An easy request. "Sure," she slowly replied, inspiration 
striking her, "if you tell me about that he's like now."

   "Fair enough. You first."

   With a final glance at her old friend... who was really quite 
attractive, lucky girl, Akane... Ukyou leaned back against the 
wall, settling herself. "I first met him on a rainy day in June. 
He loves the rain, you know...."

^_-

   Nabiki had worn canvas running shoes that day. It was, she 
reflected sourly, probably a bad choice. The hidden stones 
under the water were far enough down to thoroughly soak the 
lower part of her shoes before she finished crossing.

   Still, she glumly thought as she stared irritably at the island 
in the lake, it had to be done. And never mind that the scummy 
water would probably ruin a rather stylish pair of footwear.

   The balancing pole was in the clump of underbrush where she 
had left it. That was a relief; she still had a bruise on her hand 
from breaking it off the tree. Destroying inoffensive objects 
was really more Akane's forte.

   Tensing her leg muscles, Nabiki jumped to the first stone. It 
was almost deceptively easy, actually. After making the 
crossing several times, she knew exactly where the stones 
were. The tricky part was the algae that had been steadily 
forming on the tops of the rocks; the scummy water was a 
natural breeding ground, and the slimy green stuff made the 
stepping stones slippery.

   Luckily, she had excellent balance. And a nice long pole to 
use as a support if her balance turned out to be unequal to the 
task of landing on slick moss.

   Her foot skidded a bit as she landed heavily on the fifth rock, 
and her free arm windmilled frantically has she fought to keep 
from falling. Digging the pole firmly into the lake bottom, 
Nabiki leaned into it, using it to steady herself.

   She paused for a moment, catching her breath. Why the hell 
did they have to make camp in such an inconvenient place? It 
wasn't like a shallow lake would stop Ranma if he wished to 
pay them a visit.

   Sighing, she nimbly leapt to the sixth and last stepping 
stone.

   Her foot entered the water, which she had expected.

   It kept going, which she hadn't.

   Yelping, Nabiki gracefully plunged into the scummy water. 
She surfaced a second later, spitting out lake water and 
curses. The stone was gone. Someone had removed the damn 
sixth stone. Someone was going to DIE. 

   She quickly trudged the few feet out of the lake, and 
surveyed herself. Her clothes were soaked and stained, her hair 
was coated with a thin sheen of algae, and her wallet...

   After feeling about frantically in her pocket for a few 
seconds, she confirmed that her wallet had indeed taken it's 
leave of her. A week's allotment of cash, her ID, a almost full 
phonecard...

   She stamped her foot angrily. The squishing sound it made 
was less than impressive, and did nothing to improve her mood.

   It was hard to decide whether to scream or cry. In the end, 
she did neither; muttering angrily, she stomped through the 
underbrush towards the campsite.

   The two Hibikis were in the middle of it, scraping something 
off the top of a rather large boulder. At least, she thought they 
were; it was becoming rather hard to see through the red haze 
obscuring her vision.

   Koji looked up as she stepped out of the trees. "Good 
morning, Nabi... uh oh."

   His sister glanced up and blinked. "Whoops."

   Nabiki counted to ten under her breath, and reminded herself 
that these people were not only her allies, but capable of 
bending metal bars with their bare hands. Trying to strangle 
them would be counterproductive.

   That didn't stop the thought from being extremely attractive, 
though.

   "It's been a bad day," she finally said, picking a strand of 
algae from her sleeve. 

   "Er," Koji managed. "The boulder was getting all slick, and so 
we decided to clean it so that no-one would, uh, fall in..."

   "Thank you so very much."

    Mariko winced.

    Koji flushed bright red. "Er. Sorry. Would you like some dry 
clothes?"

   "Yes, I _would_ like dry clothes. My own. Sorry to disappoint 
you, but I really don't feel like stripping for your amusement 
today." Perhaps she was overdoing the amount of frost in her 
voice, but she didn't give a damn at the moment. Life was 
giving her lemons, so Nabiki was making lemonade and 
throwing it in people's faces.

   "There's a clump of trees over there that do perfectly well 
as a screen, y'know. And," Mariko tactfully pointed out, "you 
ARE wearing a white T-shirt under that coat. Light-green 
translucent at the moment."

   Nabiki turned a deep shade of red. Koji quickly moved his 
gaze elsewhere. Mariko carefully kept a straight face.

   "Right," Nabiki finally said. "Do you have a spare change of 
clothes, Mariko-san?"

   Digging about in her backpack, the girl tossed her a scuffed 
pair of jeans and a grey sleeveless shirt. "Sorry, but I make it 
a point never to loan my undergarments to strangers."

   "No problem," Nabiki muttered sourly, glancing towards the 
copse of trees surrounding the clearing. On a whim, she 
removed her waterlogged toggle coat and began to pull off her 
shirt.

   Mariko blinked. "Er, I did point out the trees, right?"

   Tossing the damp T-shirt on the ground, Nabiki slipped out of 
her jeans. "So? Your brother isn't watching. Much. Besides, I 
got a good look at him the other day; only seems fair to return 
the favor."

   Smirking, the other girl glanced over at her redfaced brother, 
who was resolutely staring in the opposite direction. At the 
shiny metal coffeepot. "Koji, thank the nice lady."

   "Shut up, Marichan."

   Nabiki smirked slightly in spite of herself, and pulled on the 
dry clothes. The fit wasn't the best; Mariko's frame was 
considerably bigger than hers. Still, it was dry, which was 
what counted.

  Picking up some dry reeds from a neat pile next to the 
cooking gear, Koji carefully placed them in the smoldering 
embers of the campfire. They caught; and he added sticks and 
branches to feed the fire, heaping a thin layer of sod over it to 
mask the smoke. "You can set your things over here to dry," he 
mumbled. "Shouldn't take more than half an hour, although 
you're going to have to get the stains out with detergent or 
something."

   She carefully wrung out each article of clothing, noting with 
amusement the flush that appeared on Koji's face when she 
reached the undergarments, and draped them over one of the 
logs by the fire. "There. Now we can talk business."

   "Right," Mariko said cheerfully. "We have a job for you."

   Joy. Now she was playing hired lackey to an overmuscled 
jock and his psychotic sister. Heh. Well, she supposed it beat 
working for the Kunos. The more things change... "And what, 
pray tell, is this job?"

   "Keeping your sister home tomorrow," Koji said bluntly. 
"We've made an arrangement with Tsen. Saotome will not reach 
the gates of Furinkan High alive."

   Nabiki slowly nodded, mind racing. "You're going to triple-
team him, then?"

   He nodded. "It isn't the most honorable tactic, but we're 
running out of options. He is good, but not good enough to stand 
against three skilled practitioners of the Art."

   "We'd really like it if Akane were to stay home that day," 
Mariko added. "You know, safely out of harm's way. Somewhere 
where she won't try to stop us, and where she won't have to 
watch us killing her boyfriend."

   It was a good plan, Nabiki thought. It was a simple, 
uncomplicated, reasonable plan that would probably succeed if 
one certain little variable didn't get in the way....

   "Akane may not be the only person we need kept away," she 
said slowly, carefully keeping her face impassive. "Someone 
else has entered the picture."

   "Oh joy," Mariko muttered. "Does this one change genders 
with water too?"

   She blinked. "You knew about that?"

   "Just found out recently. You could have told us, you know."

   Nabiki shrugged. "Would you have believed me?"

   The other girl grinned mirthlessly. "Probably not. I still don't 
quite believe it. Okay, so who's this mysterious newcomer, and 
why should we care?"

   Wincing, Nabiki began running over the story in her head. "I 
tried to kill Ranma this morning. Akane and some boy with a 
bladed weapon saved him."

   Mariko coughed. "Excuse me, I thought I just heard you say 
you tried to kill an incredibly skilled psychotic martial artist."

   "I lured him into a deadfall. If my sister and her new pal 
hadn't shown up, he would have fallen about half a mile to his 
death." You didn't have to be a martial artist to get things 
done, she thought fiercely. She had come closer than any of the 
others, even if she couldn't stand against any of them in 
combat. It was the quicker mind that inevitably won; that was 
why humans ruled the planet instead of lions or bears.

   She wasn't finding Ranma's death inevitable at all, though. 
Did that mean that _he_ had the quicker mind, or that he was 
simply a very, very good predator used to taking down more 
intelligent prey? Neither was a particularly attractive answer.

   The Hibikis stared at her in shock.

   "Er, when you say 'almost had him'...." Koji began.

   "I mean he was hanging by one hand over a crevice for about 
45 minutes. And I think he was starting to lose his grip."

   "Yeah, that sounds like an almost to me," Mariko finally said. 
"So you're going to need some protection, huh?"

   Nabiki shook her head. "He doesn't know it was me. I'll be 
fine." Please, God, please let him not guess.

   Frowning, Koji leaned forward slightly. "Are you sure, 
Nabiki-san? You know what he'll do if..."

   "Yes, damnit, I know!" she snapped. "He'll kill me or rape me 
or both! Believe me, I know that I'm walking a thin line. I'll get 
out when and if the time comes, and I don't need you reminding 
me how close I am!" She sagged, and slumped down on the log. 
She wasn't going to cry. Not in front of people, not in a 
borrowed shirt and jeans.

   "He scares you, doesn't he," Mariko said quietly.

   She nodded, the motion almost imperceptible. "Yeah. He does. 
Not you?"

   The other girl shook her head. "No. I hate him, I recognize 
that he's better in the Art than me and dangerous, I see that he 
can do a lot of harm to people I care about. But I don't fear him. 
I wouldn't give him the satisfaction."

   The satisfaction. She knew that he was aware that she was 
terrified of him, and she also knew with a horrible certainess 
that he enjoyed this, savored it. 

   "Well, I'm not you, and he scares me. I can't help it, and the 
worst part is that I think he knows it. I'm not a fighter like 
you two. If he decides to get rid of me, he can take his time 
and _enjoy_ himself, and there's not a damn thing I can do 
about it."

   The image of just what he might do rose again, and the 
cramps in her stomach returned with unnatural speed. Choking, 
she stumbled towards the underbrush, the mochi Kasumi had 
packed for her surging up. She stood doubled over, eyes burning 
with tears as she brought up everything in her stomach.

   She could feel the two pairs of eyes on her, and that 
awareness helped pull her out of it. Dabbing at her lips, and 
spitting to lessen the bitter taste in her mouth, she 
straightened and glared at the worried looks she was getting 
from the Hibikis. "Something in the food was a little off this 
morning. I'm fine, okay?"

   "Glad to hear it," Mariko commented mildly. "Lots of that 
stomach bug going around these days."

   Koji just looked at her sympathetically, a hard edge hidden 
close beneath the concern. 

   The defiant posture vanished. She wasn't fooling anyone.

   "It's stupid," she mumbled. "He'll die tomorrow anyway, 
right?" 

   They nodded, and she forced a smile. So many things that 
could go wrong, so many things that could happen between now 
and tomorrow morning. Perhaps she should just stay away, 
come home late that night....

   No. For one thing, it would certainly make him suspicious. 
For another, well... she needed all the information she could 
get on this stranger, and the best source of information would 
be Akane. 

   Besides, she didn't think she could handle coming home to 
find him waiting, standing in the darkness of her room.

   "I'm gonna go back and change now," she finally said. "I'll 
make sure Akane stays home. I'll keep her there if I have to 
break her ankle."

   Mariko nodded. "Good. I don't think we could make an attack in 
her presence without putting her at risk."

   She almost sounded concerned, there. "I'm glad to hear you've 
got such regard for my sister's welfare."

   The other girl winced. "Yeah, well, we had a talk, and I've 
been thinking. And I like her, and she doesn't deserve this. None 
of us do."

   "Right." She pulled off the shirt, causing Koji to once again 
gulp and avert his eyes. Repressing a smile, Nabiki quickly 
dressed, her spirits rising slightly. The poor guy was cute 
when he turned red like that. Her own clothes were still a bit 
damp, but were suitable to wear until she got home.

   On an impulse, she turned to him after pulling on the last 
article of clothing. "Hey, Koji, after this is all over... care for 
lunch?"

   "Huh hah uh sure?"

   "Cool. You're buying, right?"

   "Yes, um, of course...."

   Mariko rolled her eyes. "That's my brother, Mr. Suave. Try not 
to completely crush his will, ne?"

   Nabiki smirked. "We'll see." Her face sobered suddenly. "I 
expect this to end tomorrow, one way or another. I'll do my 
part."

   "And we'll do ours," replied Mariko. "Just be careful."

   "Careful enough." And with that, she strode briskly off, 
trying not to wonder about what waited at home.

^_-

   "...so the agreement with my Dad and Mr. Saotome was 
made..."

   Akane broke off, noticing Ranma stirring. Was he waking up?

   His eyes flicked open.

   "Akane?" The tone was questioning and unsteady, yet 
strangely relieved.

   She felt a warm feeling come over her. "I'm here. What 
happened? Was it Tsen?"

   A faint smile moved across his face, and he sat up. "Dunno. I 
never saw the person who...."

   He froze, staring in shock at Ukyou.

   The other boy smiled, somewhat shyly. "Hello again, 
Ranchan."

   Akane watched as Ranma's face slowly moved into an 
impassive mask. "Hi, Ucchan. Long time no see."

   Ukyou looked slightly hurt. "Boy, you sound happy to see me."

   The mask gave way to the crooked smile. "Sorry. Attempts on 
my life make me impolite. So... what brings you to Nerima?"

   She could almost feel the tension rolling off him, crackling 
in the air, and for a second she was sure that he was going to 
attack Ukyou.

   The okonomiyaki chef gave him a strained smile. "I came to 
visit you, actually. Your father passed through Kansai not long 
ago, and I... persuaded him to tell me where you were staying."

   Ranma nodded, watching him carefully. "I thought you might 
be upset. Over the yattai."

   "I thought you didn't know," Ukyou said, his voice shaken. The 
crooked smile bent further. 

   "I didn't, at the time. When I got a little older, I figured out 
that he had stolen the thing. And that led to the thought that 
Ol' Ucchan wasn't running after us to say goodbye." The smile 
twisted. "A real nice cart, your yattai was."

   "Yeah. It was," Ukyou replied flatly. "I had a nice long talk 
with your father over it."

   Ranma raised an eyebrow, and Akane almost shuddered at the 
somehow eager expression on his face. "Didn't kill him, did 
you?"

   The other boy just stared at him. "No, of course not. Does 
everyone kill everyone else over trifles around here?"

   Chuckling slightly, Ranma smiled. "Only on weekdays. So. 
You've grown."

   "Well, it _has_ been ten years," Ukyou returned, beginning to 
relax again. "You didn't expect me to stay six years old, did 
you?"

   Ranma laughed, and she was pleased to note the actual mirth 
in it. "I suppose I did. Something in me thought that you'd be 
there by the side of the road forever, getting an okonomiyaki 
ready for me..." His voice trailed off. "Silly of me."

   "Not at all," Ukyou said, shaking his head. "I was a little 
surprised to find, well, you. As opposed to a six-year-old in a 
gi."

    "Oh, that little fellow. He met a bad end some time ago." 
There was amusement in his eyes.

   This was not going quite as well as Akane had hoped. Or 
maybe it was. For the hundredth time, she wished that she 
could read Ranma more accurately.

   "Why don't we all head home?" she suggested brightly. "This 
isn't exactly the place I'd pick for a reunion."

   Ranma glanced at the chasm and shuddered. "Yeah. Good idea, 
Akane."

   She smiled, and headed for the door. "We can follow the same 
path we went in with, and avoid the pits that way." At least 
the physical ones, she mentally added.

   Ukyou followed. Ranma took a last glance at the blackness, 
stared speculatively at the okonomiyaki cook's back, and 
walked after them.

^_-

   Nabiki heard the front door open, heard the familiar and 
unfamiliar voices raised in conversation. Ranma was home.

   She had been unmeasurably relieved to discover that she had 
made it back to the house first. Not that it really made that 
much difference, but there had been something about the 
thought of him waiting for her that just... wasn't pleasant. Nor 
did she want to have to explain the waterstained clothes; at 
least now she had been able to change into a dry outfit.

   Kasumi's voice floated up, saying something about lunch. 
Gritting her teeth, Nabiki closed her laptop, and leaned back in 
her bed, thinking furiously. Her initial plan had been to hide out 
in her room and hope that he wouldn't come in, but on second 
thought... on second thought she could see that her "plan" was 
no plan at all, just instinct and wishful thinking. The absolute 
safest place for her to be was right next to Akane, and the 
most effective place for her to be was talking to the stranger. 
In fact, cowering here in her room was isolating herself and 
giving Ranma a nice, private place to trap her in...

   Nabiki quickly got up, furious with herself. She was letting 
fear blind her into making stupid mistakes, which was not a 
luxury she could afford.

   She walked to the door, and had almost put her hand on the 
knob when it opened. She took a step back. Ranma took a step 
forward, and carefully shut the door.

   And he smiled.

   "What is it now, Ranma? I've got a test this Tuesday, and I 
need to study." The tone was mildly exasperated, slightly 
sarcastic, without a hint of sheer, blind panic. She wasn't sure 
how she was managing it.

   Ranma's smile grew. "I've had an interesting day, Nabiki-
chan. It's been very busy, and I felt like sharing it with you."

   "I feel so privileged."

   He pretended to wince. "I'm touched by your interest." His 
voice grew softer, a velvety whisper. "Someone tried to kill 
me today. It was a very clever little trap, and I fell right into 
it. And... they could have finished me off. But they didn't. They 
waited. Now, why do you think that is, Nabiki-chan?"

   She shrugged. "I'd have killed you right away. If I intended 
to." 

   "Hmm, yes, I really think you would." He smiled at her, and 
she shrank back, the feral glow of his eyes overcoming her 
careful pretense of boredom. "Except even if I was hanging 
over a PIT with one hand, I don't think you COULD, and so you'd 
have to WAIT." His voice had risen to a snarl, and he stepped 
forward.

   "You're crazy. Whatever it was, I hadaaaugh...." Her voice 
choked off as one hand clamped around her throat, and she felt 
her feet leave the floor. Seconds later, her back slammed into 
the wall, his fingers never leaving her neck.

   "I think you did it, Nabiki-chan. And even if you didn't, I think 
you know who did." She stared at his smiling face, saw the 
horrible eagerness in it, and tried to scream. All that came out 
was a low gurgle.

   "Akane and Ukyou are downstairs. I told them I was coming 
up to change, and then to ask you about the calc test. If I were 
to yell, and they were to find me standing, horrified, over your 
dead, gutted corpse, with a message of challenge scrawled in 
the blood... well, that sort of thing has been happening a lot 
lately, and I don't think they'd doubt me for a second."

   His left arm twisted, and a familiar-looking Chinese knife 
slid down into his hand from a resting place in his sleeve. The 
light glinted off of it as he slowly raised it to her breastbone.

   Nabiki stared at the blade, fascinated, and again tried to 
scream.

   There was a prick as the tip broke the skin. A thin trickle of 
blood slowly began to creep down her chest.

   She looked up from the knife to his face, desperately trying 
to find even the slightest hint of mercy.

   And the part of her mind that wasn't screaming in terror was 
very surprised to see the raw fear in his eyes, directed at her.

   Slowly, almost carefully, he set her down. Removing the 
blade from its place at her chest, he wiped the tip along her 
hair, carefully cleaning off every particle of blood. The fear 
still shone in his face, even as he kicked her legs out from 
under her. 

   "Find out who it was, Nabiki. You have three days."

   And then the door opened, closed, and he was gone.

   She lay there, arms and legs at an angle, for what seemed 
like a long time, trying to get her heartbeat back to a normal 
rhythm.

   And then she mechanically stood up, daubed at the small cut 
on her chest with a tampon from her dresser, and sat back 
down on her bed to regain her composure. 

   Choking back a sob, she flicked on the radio, and listened to 
the cheery plastic pop music. Oddly enough, it made her feel a 
little better.

   It was time to run.

   It was time to run because he had wanted to kill her, wanted 
to so badly she could feel him almost shaking with the 
eagerness to do it. He had wanted to slowly, painfully gut her 
like a fish, savoring every minute of it, and the only reason he 
hadn't was because something had scared him off. Nabiki 
wished to hell she knew what it was. Ranma had looked almost 
as scared as she had.

   And so she really had no choice, did she? It wouldn't do 
anyone any good to remain here and die, and at the moment she 
really, really wanted to stay alive. So the only intelligent 
thing to do was to go down to the train station, buy a ticket to 
Osaka, and get a one-room to live in while she waited for 
Ranma to be killed.

    o/~ Warm bodies, I sense, are not machines that can only 
           make money o/~

   After all, it wasn't as if she was going to spell the 
difference between her sister living and dying. Koji and Mariko 
and the Chinese fellow who had kidnapped Akane were there 
to save her.

   Except she was the only one who really gave a damn about 
Akane's life, and if she ran away they might not mind killing 
Ranma's girlfriend if it meant they got him in the bargain.

   o/~ Cold dead eyes, almighty fear o/~

   And if she ran away now, there'd be no-one to keep Akane out 
of harm's way tomorrow. Which might foul everything up, get 
her sister killed, or give Ranma the time he needed to get out 
of the ambush. 

   Nabiki swore under her breath. This was stupid. She had to 
get the hell out of Tokyo right NOW, and none of this worrying 
over whether or not her little sister was going to become the 
prey of a sadistic killer...

   Yeah. Who was she kidding.

   o/~ The shepherd won't leave me alone
          he's in my face and eyes
          the shepherd haunts my days o/~

   One more day, and then Ranma was dead or she was on a train 
to Hokkaido.

   o/~ I make my stand here
         with my heart and my head
         I can't stop 'til I'm dea

   She clicked off the radio.

   One more day, one more day...

   She really had no choice, did she? Her little sister, who she 
insulted and photographed and took advantage of and lied to 
and profited off of and loved... needed her here. And duty to 
family had nothing to do with the silly, outmoded concept of 
honor, and Tendo Nabiki would _not_ give in to some grinning  
madman.

   One more day. One way or another, it all ended tomorrow.

^_-

   "Hey, Ucchan."

   Ukyou turned, smiling. "Hi, Ranchan. Did you talk to, uh..."

   "Nabiki. Yeah, I did."

   Watching him descend the staircase, she couldn't help but 
notice how pleasingly his form had turned out. Different, yet 
the same. Just like his personality. She could see her old 
friend in every movement, hear him in every inflection, and 
yet...

   And yet there was something wholly alien about him, 
something that was completely different than the boy she had 
played with ten years ago.

   "Where's Akane?"

   "Kasumi sent her to the grocery store." She almost giggled 
before catching herself; boys don't giggle, they laugh. Except 
for six-year-olds. "Is it just me, or is Kasumi-san a little out 
of it?"

   "Kasumi sees good in everything. She's a nice person. I like 
her." He smiled faintly. "So, did you become a great 
okonomiyaki chef, like you told me you were going to be?"

   "Yes." She said it proudly, knowing that it was no idle boast. 
"I'm one of the best in Japan."

   Ranma grinned. "Doesn't surprise me. I thought you were the 
best ten years ago... not that I would have said that in front of 
your dad."

   No, not that anyone would ever say that in front of Shin 
Kuonji, who's parents had gifted him with an auspicious name, 
a declining heritage, and very little natural talent in the 
making of okonomiyaki. Practice goes a long way. Talent goes 
further. Ukyou had both. Shin only had one.

   "How is he, anyway? Doing well?"

   No, he was half-insane, and believed his 'son' really _was_ 
male, and stayed up nights worrying that his handsome boy 
would get a girl pregnant. "Father's doing fine. He works in a 
restaurant, as the head chef." Although that was a bit too 
glamorous a title, really. Him and three others in a place 
somewhat fancier than a roadhouse.

   Ranma tsked, the smile still firmly in place. "Never got 
another yattai, then?"

   "No." There _was_ no other. It had been in the service of the 
Kuonji line for hundreds of years. The grill had been made by a 
master craftsman, the wood carved with symbols of fortune 
and skill. It was a shrine to their art. "No, we never did."

   "It got bogged down in the mud, in the bad part of Nagasaki," 
he said, shaking his head. "I don't know why the old man took it 
in the first place; he can't cook very well, and he certainly 
can't do okonomiyaki. He spilled hot oil over the wood the first 
time he tried, and ignited it." He laughed. "So it got bogged 
down in a vacant lot, and sunk halfway into the muck. I guess 
he had gotten tired of it by then."

   "And did he sell it, then?" Ukyou said, keeping her voice 
calm, her tone even.

   "Not really. He was going to leave it there to rot. But then he 
remembered the eta."

   "Burakumin," corrected Ukyou numbly.

   "So he found the poorer ones of them, the ones who dealt in 
firewood and scrap metal, and he brought them to the yattai." 
He smiled slightly at her look of horror. "And they took their 
axes, and they broke it up. I think father made a few hundred 
yen off of the deal..."

   "Shut up!" she snarled, turning away. The pride of their 
family, the symbol of their art - firewood to be pawed over by 
scavengers. She felt like killing someone.

   "He used the money to get drunk for a day, so I suppose he got 
some use out of the yattai after all..."

   The combat spatula whipped from its sheath as she spun, 
enraged. "I said, shut UP!"

   And he had the gall to chuckle. "Upset, _Ucchan_?"

   Every muscle in her body was screaming at her to swing. "You 
make light of my family's..."

   "Firewood."

   Disgusted, she lowered the spatula and headed for the door. 
Her old friend could rot in Hell for all she cared.

   As her hand touched the doorknob, she suddenly turned, 
knowing in a flash of insight what she would see.

   Ranma, a hopeless look in his eyes shining through unshed 
tears.

   Returning, Ukyou sat down next to him. "That's not really 
what happened, was it?"

   "It was," Ranma whispered. "I knew it was wrong. I didn't say 
anything."

   "Even so. Ranchan, why are you trying to get rid of me?"

   He looked at her. "People die here, Ucchan. Or will."

   Shrugging, Ukyou replaced the combat spatula. "'Be prepared 
to lay down your life for the training' was drilled into me as 
well, you know."

   "This isn't training. This is the real thing. They want to kill 
me, Ucchan. I want to live. I don't want to hurt them, but so 
help me, if they threaten Akane or me I'll make them _suffer_." 
A ugly sort of expression moved across his face. "Akane's 
nearly been killed twice, y'know."

   "She mentioned that. Apparently someone called Mariko was 
involved in both attempts."

   Ranma laughed briefly. "I have a special place in my heart for 
Mariko. Can you believe I once didn't like to hit girls? I'm a 
real goddamn feminist now."

   Ukyou desperately winked at him, attempting to insert some 
levity. "Speaking of girls, nice catch with Akane. You're a lucky 
guy."

   He smiled, and it almost looked like the Ranma she 
remembered. "Yeah. Real lucky. Akane's... she's..."

   "Special?" The core of your life, and you didn't know it until 
he left? She, of course, and she hadn't left him.

   "Yeah." He smirked. "So don't get any ideas, okay, Ucchan? 
You've got one of those faces the women go nuts over, like one 
of those bishonen guys."

   Yeah, she was a real ladies' man. "Don't worry. Akane's nice 
enough, but she's not my type." She was female, for one thing.

   "Heh. So. What now?"

   Ukyou rubbed her chin absently; it was a very male gesture 
she had purposely learned. "Remember our shogi games?"

   He laughed, a spark of amusement in his eyes. "Yeah. We had 
no idea how to play."

   "But we made up some pretty interesting rules, you have to 
admit."

   "Oh, definitely. I always liked the one with the ants and the 
creek."

   She laughed. "Your dad gave us hell for getting mud on the 
board. Anyway, I eventually did learn how to play, for real. Did 
you?"

   Grinning, Ranma stood and walked towards the dining room. 
"The board's over here."

^_-

   Akane got home to find Nabiki waiting for her at the door. 
"Hi, Oneesan. Care to give me a hand with the groceries? 

   Her sister said nothing, but took one of the brown cloth bags 
and moved towards the kitchen. Frowning slightly, Akane 
followed.

   They set the bags down on the kitchen counter, and began to 
unload the groceries. Soba noodles went in the cabinet, slices 
of beef in the refrigerator, bread in the bin by the counter...

   "So. Who's the new guy?"

   Akane glanced at her sister. "Ukyou? He's an old friend of 
Ranma's. They were kids together."

   Nabiki frowned slightly. "Really. What's he doing here?"

   "Just visiting. They haven't seen each other in ten years, and 
they're catching up on old times." A thought struck her. "Did 
they go somewhere?"

   "Unfortunately, no. Both of them are sitting at the shogi 
board sipping tea and smirking."

   She knew Nabiki didn't like Ranma. Apparently that dislike 
extended to his friends as well, which was intolerable. 
"Nabiki, leave them alone, okay? I imagine seeing an old friend 
after years apart is very special."

   Her sister stared at her incredulously. "Me. Leave Ranma 
alone. Why, sure, Akane, I'll do that. Make sure you tell him the 
same thing." The bitter tone in Nabiki's voice surprised her.

   "Nabiki, why do you hate him so much?"

   "He's insane, Akane." It was said flatly, as if it were a 
proven fact. "He's an insane monster using all of us for some 
private little game. And he's using you more than anyone."

   Akane turned away in disgust. "He's hurt. What he's been 
through... I don't think you can imagine it. Ranma's not using 
anyone, Nabiki; he's trying to keep his head above water." 
Imagine, Nabiki having the gall to accuse someone of 
manipulating people! Nabiki! "I've only seen one person in this 
house playing games, and it isn't Ranma."

   Her sister winced. "I'm not doing..."

   "Oneesan, you've been manipulating and taking advantage of 
me for as long as I can remember. Don't bother denying it, 
because we both know it's true. Just like it's true that you'll 
rip off anyone you meet, with no regard to how they might feel. 
You lie, you con, you use me and my friends and everyone you 
know like they were some kind of private bank account. So tell 
me, Nabiki, why the hell do you expect me to believe a word 
you say?"

   Nabiki looked as if she had been slapped. Part of Akane's 
mind felt guilty for the harsh words, but... enough was enough.

   "I'm your sister, Akane. Doesn't that count for anything?"

   "Yes. Yes it does. I would have put anyone else who did the 
things you've done in the hospital." Years of something that had 
been buried deep inside her swelled, rose up, burst. "Do you 
have any idea how much easier my life would be without you? I 
know who got Kuno interested in me to begin with. I know who 
humiliated one of my best friends and caused her to have to 
transfer to another school! And I know all about the 
photographs and the rumors and the information about me that 
you sell, and you don't give a damn what it does to my life!" 
Enraged, she locked eyes with her sister, almost oblivious to 
the agonized gaze she was meeting. "I've put up with it all, 
_sister_, because we're of the same blood. But so help me, if 
you do anything to break Ranma any further I _will_ make you 
pay. He doesn't need you blackmailing him. None of us do."

   "Damnit, Akane!" Nabiki's voice was a tortured whisper. "He's 
going to kill you! Don't you fucking get it? He's going to rape 
and..."

   She wasn't sure whether to feel pity, disgust, or sadness. 
"Give it up, Nabiki. I remember how you "warned" me about 
Yuki. I thought he was some sort of pervert! I even warned my 
friends, and that rumor spread until he was practically a 
pariah in Furinkan. And it wasn't until almost a month later 
that I found out that it was all a lie, you just wanted me to 
stay away from him in case I let slip that you were conning his 
girlfriend. Do you have any idea how guilty I felt? And the 
worst part is that _no-one_blamed_me_. I ruined his teenage 
life, Oneesan. I think he eventually had to transfer to another 
school too." She glared at her sister, who looked away. "Sorry, 
Nabiki, but you've been handing me the same lies for sixteen 
years. You can't fool me any more." 

   "Please, Akane. If you ever trusted me in your life..."

   "I haven't, Nabiki. I haven't trusted you since I was old 
enough to know better. Because you've spent your entire life 
selling me out, and I don't see any reason to doubt that now. If 
you'll excuse me, I've got English homework to do."

   The tide of rage faded halfway up the stairs, and for a 
moment she considered going down and apologizing. Nabiki had 
looked as if someone had punched her in the stomach.

   But the simple fact of the matter was that everything she 
had said had been true. And she should have told her sister that 
a long time ago.

   All the same, it hurt. A lot.

^_-

   Nabiki found dinner that night to be a slow form of torture.

   Of course, Ukyou was staying for dinner. He and Ranma and 
Akane chatted idly back and forth about things of no 
significance, while Soun and Kasumi smiled pleasantly. It was 
almost frightening how normal Ranma appeared.

   And then it was discovered that Ukyou, as of yet, had no 
place to stay. And so of course he was offered the second 
unused room.

   She was unsure about Ukyou. He _seemed_ like a nice guy, 
but then Ranma often seemed like a nice guy. And she could tell 
that he was a martial artist, and that there was some sort of 
tension buried under the smile and the conversation.

   Nabiki finally concluded that Ukyou was a lot like Akane; 
unable or unwilling to see what his friend was. But a lot more 
dangerous than Akane. When her sister got mad, she yelled and 
snarled and shouted, and then forgot about it. Ukyou, though...

   Ukyou struck her as the type who got mad, and waited, and 
planned, and prepared. And then settled the perceived score.

   Was the boy an asset or a liability? Liability, at the moment. 
She had little doubt that he'd fight at his old friend's side.

   But Ukyou wasn't blinded by love, as Akane was. Give him 
enough time to get to know the real Ranma, and then... even if 
he didn't see the need to get rid of Saotome, he might at least 
stand aside and not interfere.

   Time, damnit, was the trouble there. Ranma was due to die 
tomorrow. Hopefully without Ukyou anywhere near him. Or 
Akane.

   She sighed. Her sister had refused to so much as look at her 
during the entire meal. Akane was really pissed.

   And the worst part about it was that everything she had said 
about Nabiki was the truth.

   She didn't mind some of it. She knew that what she did hurt 
other people. Tough. That's how life works. The people she 
conned had it coming for some reason.

   Yuki had been an arrogant bastard who deserved to fall from 
his place in the sun. His girlfriend had been a snobbish bitch 
with more money than her limited mind could handle. They 
deserved it.

   And Akane... she wasn't the only one who had troubles. Akane 
had friends and was popular and liked, Akane had boys chasing 
her by the truckload, Akane didn't have to worry about 
anything, and so Akane deserved it for being everything that 
Nabiki...

   That thought was carefully buried.

   No, Akane had been right about everything. But Nabiki had 
already known it for a long, long time. Her deals caused Akane 
pain and distress: boy, who'd have guessed. She was just sorry 
that she had allowed the rift between her and her sister to 
open so far. Because it was putting her sister in a lot of 
danger, and because it hurt.

   Too bad. Do the best with what you have.

   Dinner ended, and Kasumi showed a yawning Ukyou to his 
room. The poor fellow apparently hadn't had any sleep in 36 
hours.

   Ranma and Akane headed for the dojo. More 'training'. She had 
seen the way Akane had moved after their last session.

   That was fine with Nabiki, though, tonight.

   Sneaking upstairs, she crept into Akane's room and turned 
the volume on the clock radio down to nothing. Her little sister 
was going to oversleep tomorrow. 

^_-

   Akane sprang forward in a kick, shouting. A hand almost 
lazily clamped around her ankle and swung, sending her flying 
into a wall.

   Without waiting for the ringing in her ears to fade, she slid 
to one side seconds before Ranma's foot passed though the 
place where her head had been. Executing a flip, she thrust out 
in a series of straight punches at his midsection.

   To her vast surprise, one of them connected, causing a grunt 
of pain. She began her backwards dodge even before the attack 
pattern had finished.

   Not quite fast enough. A feint with one arm put her attention 
in exactly the wrong place for a split-second, and then his foot 
slammed upwards into her stomach. Gurgling, she doubled over 
and a elbow pounded into her from above...

   She lay on the ground for several seconds, retching, gasping 
for breath, using all her self-control not to scream in agony. 
Finally the pain receded to managable levels, and she pulled 
herself to her feet.

   "What did you do wrong?"

    A wave of white hot fire ran across her nerve endings, and 
she almost passed out. "I didn't... I used the aerial jump, which 
I didn't know very well, against an opponent who is very good 
at such attacks."

   "What else?"

    "I failed to view the entire person, instead of parts of the 
person."

   "Try again."

   She screamed and charged, envisioning Tsen collapsing under 
her onslaught, Mariko falling to the ground with a bloody nose...

   Seconds before she met his defense, she snapped into 
another form altogether, and launched a series of spinning 
kicks. 

   And before those could connect, she dived forward and 
crashed into him.

   One fist pummeled down, hitting him in the stomach, while 
her other hand blocked the palm strike at her face.

   When she woke up, she was lying face down on the mat, a 
thin trickle of blood running from one nostril.

   "Very good. What did you do wrong?"

   With great effort, she turned on her side to look at him. "I... 
don't re... member..."

   Ranma smiled at her, and she noticed with pride the bruise 
on one arm. "Never mind. You did well. Real well. Your speed is 
up a lot, and you're actually using your head instead of relyin' 
on what you were taught."

   She grinned raggedly. "What time is it?"

   "About one o' clock."

   Without warning she sprang, and the kata she had laboriously 
planned out over the last day leapt to life.

   Her foot caught him in the chest, and as he compensated and 
struck she swiveled around, twisted and pulled him forwards 
in a throw as her fist shot forward.

   Except that he didn't fly over her and into the wall, but 
landed heavily atop her, his elbow impacting her side.

   She gave a sharp cry of pain, and then their eyes met.

   Suddenly, she was aware of every twinge, every ache, every 
bruise, and aware of his weight on her body.

   He opened his mouth to say something, and she surged 
forward and kissed him fiercely, her arms tightening around 
him. His weight fell more heavily upon her, pushing her back 
down. She mewled slightly as his lips eagerly pressed against 
hers, his tongue flicking out as his hands slid against her torso 
and began to roam...

   The world seemed curiously hazy, dreamlike, and her nose 
was filled with the smell of blood and his scent as she 
fumbled with buttons, ripped open his shirt. Those wonderful 
hands pulled open the fabric of her gi top, cupped her breasts 
through the thin undershirt, and she felt as if she was going to 
faint from the sheer intensity of the feeling washing over her.. 
His tongue thrust into her mouth as one hand tore the 
undershirt open, freeing her breasts, and another gently, 
slowly pulled down the pants of her gi...

   And then he ripped free from her embrace, a wild look in his 
eyes replacing the warm glow, and lurched away unsteadily.

   "Wait, please, I want..." she slurred, struggling to raise 
herself.

   "The training is over for tonight," he whispered, face 
contorting, and then he fled.

     Akane sat up, numbly pulled her gi shut to hide the torn 
undergarment, and slowly began to cry.

^_-

   Ukyou stumbled into the kitchen, yawning and squinting her 
eyes in the morning sun. Ranma was already at the table, 
poking at his food with an empty expression.

   She waved to him. "Good morning, Ranchan."

   "Morning, Ucchan. Sleep well?" His tone seemed to indicate 
that whether she had slept well or not was all the same to 
him.

   "Yeah, I did. I guess I was tired." She glanced around; Kasumi 
was cleaning up, the other sister - Nabiki? - was just getting 
ready to leave. "Where's Akane?"

   "She's not feeling well today," Kasumi said brightly. "I think 
she's going to stay home and sleep."

   "Oh." She had seemed fine last night... Ukyou shrugged. "So, 
are you going to show me your school, Ranchan?"

   He smiled wanly. "Sure. It's very... schoollike. Maybe I'll 
introduce you to Kuno."

   "Kuno?"

   "Yeah. You're going to love this guy."

   "Oh? Witty?"

   "Not that you'd notice. But he's funny as hell."

^_-

   Nabiki swore, and hurried on her way.

   Ranma was walking to school with his old buddy Ucchan. 
There wasn't going to be a three on one fight. It would either 
be three on two, or nothing.

   At least Akane wasn't going to be in the middle of things. 
She permitted herself a slight smile. Ranma seemed to like and 
trust Kasumi for some reason; and so when Oneechan had told 
him Akane was sick he had accepted it as a statement of fact. 
He had never even thought to ask _why_ Kasumi thought this.

   If he had, he might have found out that Kasumi thought Akane 
wasn't feeling well because A) Akane was still in bed, asleep, 
and B) because Nabiki had told her older sister that Akane was 
unwell, and would be missing class today. And Kasumi believed 
everyone.

   Ranma would have been alone and isolated if it weren't for 
that damn Kuonji boy.

   Cursing again, she dashed through the gates of Furinkan. 
Perhaps Hikaru's news would help solve things.

^_-

   Koji watched as Ranma and the other boy walked to school, 
one on the fence and one on the ground. Damn.

   He turned to face Tsen and Mariko, both concealed further 
back in the trees. "He's got that newcomer 'Azusa' mentioned 
with him. And I can tell just by looking at him that he's a 
martial artist. What do we do?"

   Silence. His sister scowled, and absently swung her 
umbrella. "I could shoot one of them in the leg."

   "No," he said flatly. "Tsen?"

   The amazon shrugged expressively. "Is no hurry. Today Ranma 
with strange boy. Tomorrow, maybe he not. Ranma not can be 
with other people every minute of day. Is time."

   Koji sighed. He wanted to end this, to finish the job once and 
for all. But while an attack now might very well finish it, the 
outcome probably wouldn't be one he'd like.

   "Okay. We wait. But not much longer."

   Mariko smiled sourly at him, and hefted her umbrella 
meaningfully. "That's right, brother mine. Not much longer at 
all. You have one week."

^_-

   School passed slowly for Nabiki Tendo. Finally, just after 
fifth hour, she snuck into the Furinkan computer lab. Seating 
herself at a run-down terminal, she logged on to her account 
and waited.

--

Message from Talk_Daemon@furnkn at 09:47 ...
talk: connection requested by hikarut@LOCALHOST.
talk: respond with:  talk hikarut@LOCALHOST

ntendo@furnkn8%: talk hikarut@localhost

[Connection Established.]
    
:: hello, nabiki. i'm afraid i haven't got much time, this netcafe 
:: is expensive.

>> Any news on Saotome? Or on this newcomer?

:: yes. it seems ranma is suspicious of you. his friend is 
::harmless, from what i've seen.

>> Suspicious?

:: he seems to think you tried to kill him.

>> Well. What a suspicious little prick he is. ;) Why do you think 
>>Kuonji is harmless?

:: i've seen him speak to saotome.

:: he's a nice guy. just a nice guy looking out for a friend.

>> Well, he picked the wrong friend. 

>> Do you think he can be steered away?

:: oh, i'm, certain i can get him moving in the right direction. no 
::worries on that score.

>> Good. 

>> What about Tsen?

:: no idea, i'm afraid.

>> Damn. 

:: nabiki, i saw you try to kill saotome yesterday.

>> Really.

:: mmmmmm-hmmm.

>> It doesn't concern you, Hikaru. And don't even think of trying 
>>to use this as blackmail.

:: blackmail?

:: you have a one track mind, nabiki-chan.

>> Hikaru?

:: oh, i'm sorry, did you think this was hikaru?

:: he's occupied at the moment.

>> Is he okay?

:: not really. nabiki-chan, i warned you.

:: remember what i said?

:: too late now.

:: goodbye, nabiki-chan. see you real soon.

[Connection interrupted.]

ntendo@furnkn8%:
--

   Nabiki stared in horror at the screen for a minute, then 
turned the machine off, grabbed her bag, and ran.

   The game was up. Ranma knew to his satisfaction that she 
had tried to kill him; it was no longer possible for her to stay 
in Nerima. She would die if she did.

   The halls were empty; classes wouldn't get out for a few 
more minutes. Her feet slapped against the tile floor, the 
echoes ringing like gunshots in her ears.

   So many alcoves, so many doorways, so many places for him 
to be hiding, waiting for her, smiling...

   She turned the corner, and ran smack into someone.

   She frantically backpedaled, opened her mouth to scream, 
and then swallowed and ran past the puzzled student she had 
just knocked down.

   There, just ahead, the gate! Panic seized her completely, and 
she fled out the door, expecting at any moment for Ranma to 
jump out and drag her into the shadows. Drag her away to some 
place private, where it would be a long, long time before she 
was allowed to die.

   She cleared the door, and burst out into the open air. The 
schoolyard had a few people in it, and she felt slightly easier. 
But she didn't slow.

   Running, she turned left and charged up Ogawa Street, 
pushing through the crowds of shoppers and salarymen. The 
train station was only a few blocks away; if she could just 
reach the station she would be home free. The people, the 
noise, the roar of the cars all comforted her; she was 
surrounded by witnesses.

   And it wouldn't be over, either. She could use the net 
terminals in Osaka or Kyoto or wherever she wound up to use 
her remaining spies against Saotome. And the very fact that 
she had fled the city might help convince Akane that this was 
real, and that Nabiki really was afraid for her life and that of 
her sister.

   The crowds thickened, and Nabiki saw the gate of the station 
just ahead. Elbowing and pushing her way through the mass of 
people, she made for it. 

   She had given it her best shot. Akane would have to do the 
best she could, too. Which probably would be considerable. Her 
little sister could surprise. Certainly she had never expected 
Akane to save...

   Her foot caught on something, and a push from her left sent 
her staggering off the curb. The concrete bit into her knee, and 
she picked herself up, irritated at...

   The scream of brakes became the world, and Nabiki stared in 
fascination at the silverglinting radiator grill, shining cold in 
the sun. Movement off to her left but that didn't oh my god...

   Impact, and she felt her rib cage shatter as she flew through 
the air. Blue sky, and sun, and it was so light....

   Back to earth, and her arms and legs flew in crazy patterns 
as she skidded. Oh, no. Oh no. No...

   She was hurt, fuck, bad, oh God, she couldn't move.... her left 
arm was flopping like a fish, and she didn't want it to... why 
was it doing that, oh no, no, no...

   Her chest hurt, and she coughed, and it was painful to do. An 
odd sinking feeling rose in her mind, and her vision turned red, 
and oh God, she was going to die, no, please no...

   She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out, just 
a red, bubbling froth that welled up, choking her. No, please, 
no...

   The muscles of her neck seemed to turn to jelly, and her head 
slipped to one side as the red mist in her eyes began to grow 
deeper, deeper... Ranma, there he was, just a few feet away, 
with that odd expression...

   The red of his shirt blended with the red in her vision and 
faded to purple, then black, she couldn't see, no, no...

   Her sense of self wavered, no, she didn't want to, God, no, 
she was afraid, please no, it rippled and rushed up at her, no, 
please no...

   Oh God, I don't want to die, please, I don't want t

^_^

   "How was Mrs. Ikuse, Kasumi?"

   "Fine, father. Her flowers are doing nicely."

   "Good, good. She gave me one of her figs once. Very good. 
Very tasty."

   "Her husband used to raise them, as a hobby. He was very 
proud of them."

   "He should have been. It was very good. Do you know any 
recipes with figs, Kasumi?"

   "I think I do. I'll look."

   "I might do a little work in the garden today. There's an 
arrangement of rocks that needs work."

   "The one in the northern corner?"

   "Yes, that's the one."

   "I think it looks a bit crooked."

   "Yes, exactly. It may take some work."

   The phone rang.



-< End of Chapter 9 >-