Here it is, Part Five!  For this and any of my other works,
visit my Web Site at:

http://www.geocities.com/coutuva

As always, C&C is anticipated, accepted, and appreciated.
All original Ranma1/2 Characters and Backstory Copyright
Rumiko Takahashi, and are used without permission.

Please Enjoy!
Coutuva.



Secrets: Volume One Part Five
--------------------------------------------------------------------



        Miyoko leaned forward over the railing of her balcony, a
faint smile crossing her face as she watched the sun slowly break
free of the horizon, bathing the wakening city in light.  Her
smile spread slightly as the heat of the sun gradually warmed her
face, giving her the feeling that perhaps, the beautiful sunrise
was a good omen.
	This was an event she seldom witnessed, being someone who
normally valued every last moment of her night's sleep.  This past
night, however, that sleep had been fitful, short-lived, and
definitely unsatisfying.  In fact, she had actually been anxious
to get it over with.
        Today, she would ask Yoriko the question that had been
burning in her heart for the past few months, and the anticipation
was driving her crazy.
	In her mind, she ran over her approaches, rehearsed her
lines, and even debated how she should dress for the occasion -- in
short, she was petrified.  She found that almost laughable, since
she had won battles against enemies that would send other Martial
Artists running, and yet was deathly afraid of a one-syllable word.
	Grunting in frustration, she closed her eyes and began a
breathing exercise, one intended to focus and clear the mind.  Just
as she noticed it starting to help, she was interrupted by the
sensation of two soft, warm arms wrapping around her waist,
followed by the feeling of a face nestling against her upper back.
Her heart instantly melted.
        "Ohaiyo, Miyoko-chan," her favorite voice greeted happily
but sleepily, followed by a gentle squeeze.  "I missed you," she
added, moaning contentedly as she repositioned her face.
        "Ohaiyo, Yoriko-chan...  Gomen.  I couldn't sleep," she
replied, clasping her girlfriend's arms and holding them snugly.
        "Ano...  Something wrong, Miyoko-chan?" Yoriko asked,
raising her head.
        "Iya...  Nothing's wrong.  Actually, things couldn't be
more perfect," she stated, deciding that she'd never get a better
opportunity.  Opening Yoriko's hold around her waist, she turned
around and smiled at the confused girl, then took both of her
hands.  Looking directly into her sea-green eyes, she drew a
breath and spoke.
        "Yoriko-chan...  I...  Have something to ask you..."




        "Ohaiyo, okaasan!" a bright, exuberant shout echoed off
the walls, just as Akane felt the corner of her bed sink.
        "Ohaiyo, Kei-chan!" she responded happily, reaching up
to receive the flying hug that was sailing toward her.  "Mmm,
you're awfully excited this morning.  Did Baachan give you that
sugar cereal again?" she recovered, sitting up in her bed as Kei
rolled off to the floor.
        "Iya, Kaasan...  I'm starvated!" he replied, his eyes wide
as plates.  "I came to get you up so we could go eat!"  he
explained, grinning.
	"He's been bouncing off the walls in here, Akane-chan,"
Nodoka informed, stepping out of the bathroom.  "He's been up for
an hour already, just itching to wake you," she added, smiling
indulgently.
	Akane looked at the clock beside her and frowned.  "Too bad
you won't get up this early on a school day," she admonished,
reaching to her side for her kimono.  "Okay...  I have to get
dressed, then we'll go.  There's a nice little place across the
road.  Auntie Nabiki and I went there yesterday," she smiled,
glancing up at Nodoka, who nodded her agreement.
        "Hai!  Can I watch Tenchi?"  Kei replied, already
standing in front of the TV.
	"Only until I'm ready.  I don't want to have to drag you
away from that thing like I do at home," she smirked, swinging out
of her bed and wrapping the kimono about herself quickly.
	"Arigato, Kaasan!" he grinned, landing on his backside
between the beds, looking back to his mother to turn on the set.
"Okay!  I'm ready!"
        "Hai, hai...  Here you go," she groaned affectedly, punching
up his favorite channel.
	When she stepped from the bath a few minutes later, Nodoka
caught her in the hallway and whispered urgently into her ear.
        "Akane...  He's been asking about Ranma since he woke up.
Neither of you said anything about the situation when you came to
meet us, and I've been putting his questions off as best I can.
What is going on?  Are we going to see him?" she buttonholed,
her steel gray eyes riveting Akane's.
        "Hai...  It just that things aren't turning out to be as...
simple as we thought they'd be," Akane sighed, lowering her gaze.
"We'll have to find someplace to talk, Nodoka-sama.  It's a long
story," she added, looking back at the woman pleadingly.
        "You mean...  You still haven't found him?" Nodoka gasped,
fearfully.
        "Iya, iya...  We did!  I've talked to him...  Sort of,"
Akane flustered, trying not to speak too loudly.  Noting Nodoka's
confused expression, she sighed again and rested her hand on the
back of Nodoka's nervously meshed ones.  "I'll call Nabiki.  If
she'll take Kei for a little while, I can fill you in," she
assured, then turned and strode away quickly -- before her tears
came back.
	In her room, Nabiki was at her wits end.  Never in her
entire 'career' had she ever encountered the scenario that was now
staring her in the face.  According to her last set of searches,
Naganato Yoriko didn't even have a birth registration.  Now, she
was convinced that something deliberate was going on.
	Smirking, she pulled her cell phone out of her valise and
punched one of her speedial codes.  When the gruff voice on the
other end answered, she rolled her eyes.
	"Yeah, it's about time you woke up anyway.  Listen...
Gather a few of your 'associates' and get over here.  Right;
those ones.  No...  Just 'detained'.  Yep.  I'll expect you by
noon.  I'm at the Taihei.  Call me when you get here," she
stated, slapping the phone closed.
	A wicked smile crossed her face as she thought over her
plan.  It was risky, but she knew she'd accomplish one of two
things: either get her answers or get this mystery woman out of
the picture for good.  In her opinion, that was worth incurring
the wrath of Ranma, especially since she knew he didn't make a
habit of striking women.
	Flopping backwards on to her bed, she was just about to
indulge in a good stretch when her room phone rang.
        "Tendou Nabiki desu," she snipped, annoyed at the
disruption.  "Oh!  Akane!  Gomen...  I was up rather late last
night.  Sure!  Better you than me.  Just be careful...  You
know how sensitive she is.  An hour?  No problem.  I'll be ready.
Ja!" she grinned, glad to hear that Akane was taking it upon
herself to break the news to Nodoka.  She was actually planning
to get Akane to do it anyway, figuring Nodoka would be feeling
sorry for her, and not make too much of a fuss.
	Smiling to herself, she flopped back down again and
snickered out loud.  Things were suddenly starting to work out
very well.




	It wasn't any of the reactions she had been expecting, and
she wasn't quite sure what to do about it.  Yoriko had stood
wordlessly in front of her for several long moments, her eyes wide
and fixed.  Then, the girl simply stepped forward, wrapped her arms
around her, and laid her head on her shoulder.
        After several more moments of silence, Yoriko finally
gasped a breath, then sniffed once and spoke.
        "Miyoko-chan...  Those were the most beautiful words...
I've ever heard anyone say...  And I have prayed that if anyone ever
would, it would be you," she breathed, tightening her hug.  "I am
honoured that you love me enough to ask me to share your home,"
she added, sniffing once more.  "I didn't think...  Anyone could,"
she sobbed, finally dissolving in tears.
        Miyoko felt her heart literally reach out of her chest and
envelop the sobbing girl, and tightened her own hug in response.
	"Yori-chan...  I just always want us to be together," she
whispered gently, the surge of emotion coursing through her
bringing moisture to her own eyes.  Quickly wiping her face, she
took Yoriko by the shoulders and lifted her away, wanting to finish
what she had started.
        Yoriko, meantime, surprised by the unexpected maneuver,
looked back at her with slight shock in her eyes.  Miyoko broke
into a knowing smile, then raised a finger to her lips and mimed
the 'Shhh' sign.
	Reaching down into the pocket of her robe, she withdrew
something she kept covered with her hand, then held the hand up
before Yoriko's face.
        "I just thought...  The occasion called for something
special," she smiled, and brought her other hand up to
simultaneously reveal and open a small velvet ring box.  Yoriko
gasped out loud, totally shocked and utterly thrilled by the
gesture.
        "Suki da yo, Yori-chan," she whispered, taking the
delicate gold and diamond ring from the box and slipping it on
Yoriko's trembling finger.  "Now, it's official," she added, then
smiled the most beautiful smile Yoriko had ever seen.
        Yoriko hit her limit.  Looking down at the gorgeous,
sparkling ring adorning her finger, then back up at Miyoko's
lovingly smiling face, she lost the battle with her overwhelmed
emotions.  With a swoon that felt like it came from her very soul,
she simply collapsed into Miyoko's arms.




        As Akane, Nabiki, Nodoka and Kei stepped out of their
hotel and waited to cross the busy street, none of them noticed
the black Mercedes parked halfway down the block, nor did they
notice its occupants watching them intently.
	The two men in the front seat of the car exchanged glances,
then the one on the driver's side nodded.  The passenger side
individual pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number, then
uttered a single sentence.
        "Confirmed departure -- move in," he instructed, then
closed the phone and opened his door.




	Akane sat on the bench at the park, eyes lowered and face
downcast.  Nodoka sat bolt upright beside her, her face white as a
ghost.
        "He's...  A girl now?" she repeated, the fact stubbornly
refusing to stick.
        "Hai...  And he wants to stay that way.  He went back to
China and used the Chisuiton to lock himself as a girl, then came
here to start a new life," she added, not raising her gaze.  "He
wasn't very happy when he found out we'd tracked him down."
	Nodoka remained silent for several minutes, her expression
unchanged.  Finally, just about the time Akane was about to check
her pulse, she abruptly spoke.
        "What...  Have we done...?" she gasped, her eyes closing
slowly.  "For the sake of our own selfish interests...  We destroyed
him.  This is exactly as I feared...  And exactly as I expected," she
whispered, shaking her head sadly.
        Akane couldn't help but grimace.  "Nodoka-sama...  There's
-- more," she ventured, hesitantly.
        "Hai?" Nodoka responded, quietly.
	Akane swallowed hard.  "He doesn't love me.  We had a...
Discussion, and certain things that happened...  Proved it," she
sniffed, wiping her eyes.
        Nodoka only huffed.  "Akane-chan -- I cannot offer you any
sympathy.  You held my son's love in your hand...  And chose to let
it fall to the dirt.  That was your choice, and yours alone," she
stated, the merest hint of bitterness edging her voice.
	Akane's humbled response was almost inaudible.  "I know..."
        "Your past actions have cost you a husband...  Me my son...
and our families their legacy.  I should, by all right, get up and
walk away from you for what you have done," she continued, her
eyes opening slowly.
	Akane cringed.  This was the moment she had been dreading
for the past seven years, and it felt every bit as horrid as she
thought it would.  Glancing back up at Nodoka, she fully expected
to be greeted with a scathing glare and a drawn katana.  Instead,
she was shocked to see a single tear trailing down the woman's
cheek.
        "The only reason I am not...  Is because I too share a
large part of the blame," Nodoka abruptly asserted, crossing her
hands in her lap.  "When my husband and your father agreed to unite
the families, I allowed my only son to be forced into a life he had
no control over.  Only when he left...  And never spoke to any of
us again...  Did I realize my mistake," she explained, her voice
wavering.  "I have lived with my shame since then...  As I hoped one
day to tell him," she added, dabbing at her eyes briefly with a
kerchief.
	Akane didn't quite know how to respond, so she opted not
to say a word.  Nodoka noticed her silence, and took it as reason
to continue.
        "Akane-chan...  Our actions, along with those of some who
also acted selfishly, only succeeded in driving him away.  There is
likely no hope of either of us recovering that which we have
lost...  But the same should not have to be true for your son," she
noted, turning to face her.
	Akane blinked.  "But how?  I came here hoping to bring
him home...  But all we did was fight.  I may have even pushed him
further away," Akane confirmed, lowering her gaze again.  "I know
now...  That I can't face him, Nodoka-sama.  There's too much..."
she began, but Nodoka finished for her.
        "Anger," she stated, nodding.  "I know.  I never
understood why a pretty young girl like you, with a loving family
such as yours, carried so much anger in her soul.  It almost seemed
that the harder people tried to love you, the angrier you became,"
she observed, shaking her head.
        Akane only nodded sadly.  It struck her at that moment that
without realizing it, Nodoka had repeated, virtually word for word,
what her therapist had told her by only her third session.  Akane
also recalled how she had almost beaten the poor therapist to a
pulp over it, which led to her being put on the lithium that
until yesterday, she hadn't been taking properly.
        "I will see him...  If he will see me.  We have an
opportunity to make up for two lifetimes worth of mistakes,
Akane-chan...  Although neither of us stand to benefit as much as
will your son.  I only need your promise...  That you will accept
that.  Promise it...  On your honour."
	Akane sighed resignedly, knowing what such a promise meant
to Nodoka.  Even so, it took her only a heartbeat to make up her
mind.
        "Nodoka-sama...  I promise it.  On my honour...  What ever
there is left of it," she stated, clearly but sadly.
	Nodoka smiled and nodded approvingly.  "I am proud of you,
Akane-chan...  It takes courage to face one's faults and grow from
the experience."
        "Domo, Nodoka-sama...  It's been...  A painful lesson," she
acknowledged, sighing.  A moment later, she turned to Nodoka with
curiosity on her face.  "Why...  Are you helping me?"
	Nodoka only smiled thinly.  "Helping you gives me the chance
to face my own demons...  And perhaps be able to know my so -- my
*daughter* as she lives now.  I missed his youth, through my own
noble naivete...  I do not wish to miss any more," she noted,
quietly.



        "Take this...  Your instructions and a picture are inside.
I'll call you later," Nabiki whispered, handing the envelope to
the man sitting on a nearby bench.  "Now, get out of here," she
ordered quietly, looking like she was accepting thanks for
returning something.
        "Sure thing, Boss," the man responded, and tipped his
tennis visor to her.
        Nabiki then turned and walked back over to Kei, just in
time to join him in some rides down the long slides.  As she made
her way to the top yet again, she glanced over at the bench
occupied by Nodoka and Akane, and had to look twice as she noticed
that they seemed to be hugging each other.
        "Uh-oh...  This doesn't look good," she grumbled, frowning.




        Yoriko rolled on her back and yawned loudly, then rubbed
her eyes and slowly sat up in the bed.  As soon as she saw Miyoko
sitting at her side, she broke out in a case of the giggles.
        Miyoko, at first glad to see Yoriko snap out of it, was a
bit taken aback.
	"What are you giggling at?" she finally asked, regarding
the girl like she was from Mars.
	"I had a dream..." she began, her cheeks flushing slightly.
        "Must have been some dream," Miyoko quipped, touching her
own cheek and then pointing at Yoriko.
        "Hai...  It was...  Absolutely wonderful," she gushed, her
face reddening even more as she leaned forward and double-crossed
her arms.  Miyoko bit the inside of her lip.
        "So...  Tell me...  What was it about?" she prodded,
wanting to see if Yoriko would actually say it.
        "Ano...  Well...  It's kinda... " the girl waffled, her eyes
darting around as she wrung her hands in the blanket over her lap.
        "Yoriko...  Hold up your left hand," she finally insisted,
unable to stand the suspense.  "And look at it," she added, smirking.
        "Masaka...  You mean...?" she gasped, her eyes again
widening as she spotted the ring.
        "Hai...  We can start today, if you want," she confirmed,
smiling brightly.
        "Oh, Miyoko-chan!  I love you!" she squealed, leaping up
and knocking Miyoko down on the bed.  "This *is* a dream come true!!"
she wailed, hugging the stuffing out of the now laughing redhead.
        "In more ways than one, Yoriko-chan," Miyoko seconded,
pulling her into a passionate kiss.
        Miyoko continued to be amazed by how excited and happy her
gesture had made Yoriko, given how much she had worried about
asking.   Yoriko was on a tear, making them breakfast in record
time, laying out a skirt and blouse for Miyoko, and even making the
bed, so anxious was she to get things underway.
        For her part, Miyoko was thrilled, but couldn't help but
notice how Yoriko was acting as if it was a limited time offer.
Finally however, she managed to get the blonde dynamo to land long
enough to talk to her, and laid out a more detailed proposal.
        "Hai...  You can move whatever you need in for now, but I'm
putting in a request for a larger unit.  We should be able to swing
a two-bedroom," she indicated, happily.
        "Okay...  I don't have much anyway...  Most of my clothes
are already here," Yoriko noted, grinning.
        "That's true..." Miyoko smirked, remembering Yoriko's
tiny one-room apartment from the the day she helped her get it.
"You have more clothes here than you have closet space for," she
indicated, wagging her thumb at the hall closet.
        "Hai...  And it took you this long to get the hint?" Yoriko
retorted, shaking her head in mock disgust.
        "Ha, ha...  Smartass.  So, all ready to go?"
	"Hai!  Let me put these away and we're gone!" she responded,
almost jumping to her feet as she grabbed the few dishes off the
table.
        "Forget those...  That's what the dishwasher's for!" Miyoko
chided, walking to the door and slipping her purse over her shoulder.
        "Well, somebody has to put them in it, ne?" Yoriko grinned,
running over and stepping into her shoes.
        "Baka ne," Miyoko groaned, then abruptly took Yoriko by
the shoulders and looked into her eyes.  "I forgot to tell you...
I'm so damned happy you said yes!" she blurted, pulling the girl
into a huge hug.
        Yoriko simply melted into the embrace.  "Iya, Miyoko-chan...
you told me," she whispered, holding her ring finger up behind
Miyoko's back.
	



        "That's it?  Two bags?" Miyoko blinked, looking over
the two plastic shopping bags filled with Yoriko's possessions.
        "Hai!  Like I said...  Everything else is already at your
place," she replied, grabbing the bags from her bed and looking
over the room again.  "And I'm just month to month here.  I tell
the landlord I'm out, and it's done.  Believe it or not, there's a
waiting list for this building," she indicated, turning back
toward Miyoko and smiling.
        "Hai...  It's a lot like what I was in when I first got
here..." Miyoko nodded, thoughtfully.  "I guess this means you're
done, ne?" she followed, taking the heavier bag from her.
	"You bet!  Packed and ready!"
        "Then let's go.  You have to work in two hours, so we
better get you settled in."
        "Hai, hai... " Yoriko droned, rolling her eyes.  "I wish
I could book it...  I'm too happy to think about work," she pouted,
starting through the door that Miyoko held for her.
        When they arrived back at Miyoko's apartment, Miyoko opened
the door, then abruptly turned and picked Yoriko up, carrying her
across the threshold.  Yoriko almost started to cry again after
Miyoko, while still holding her up, looked into her eyes and said
"Welcome Home."
        As soon as her feet touched the entry mat, Yoriko
immediately hugged Miyoko tightly, then turned to whisper in her
ear.  "It's always felt like home to me," she emphasized, happily.
        After finding a few corners to tuck her things into, Yoriko
had to start getting ready for work, and pouted all the way through
the process.  Now that she had what she had been wishing for, she
didn't want to leave -- even for that.
        It was only through Miyoko's gentle urging that she finally
did go, although she lingered in the doorway like she was leaving
on a trip abroad.  Miyoko had to shake her head at the girl, but
she could understand how she felt.  She loved being with Yoriko,
and always missed her when they were apart.
        Yoriko was still pouting as she walked out of the grounds
of the building and turned out onto the sidewalk.  Glancing down at
her hand as she trudged up the street, she smiled happily at the
sight of the ring, just that fact that it was there reminding her
that it was all still true -- she wasn't imagining it, and it wasn't
going to change.  
	Sighing, she raised her gaze again and picked up her pace, 
already counting the minutes until she could go *home*.
        Rounding the corner, she walked right past the old green
Toyota sitting by the curb, not paying any attention to it or its
four male occupants.  As she passed it, the three passengers
watched her go, then turned to the driver almost simultaneously.
	"That her?" the front-seat passenger asked, incredulously.
        "Yep...  That's her, see?" he responded, handing off the
picture.
        "I don't get it...  She's only tiny.  Why four of us?" a
voice from the back asked, critically.
	"Because she's paying for four of us.  Any other stupid
questions?"
        "Then what's next?  She must be goin' to work...  She'll be
there at least four hours.  I know 'cause my cousin works for that
place in Tokyo."
        "Yep...  She is.  Only today, she's gonna be late," the
driver replied, starting the car.




        Miyoko wandered into her bedroom, still smiling over the
events of the day.  She reached forward to open the top drawer of
her dresser, only to gasp as she noticed Yoriko's till keys and
passcard sitting on the top.  Smirking, she realized that the girl
must really have been messed up, since she normally wore the works
around her wrist.
	Sighing, she dashed to the doorway and slid on her soft
flats, then ran to the end of the hall.  She knew there was only
one way she'd catch Yoriko now, and opened the window wide.
	Picking her first rebound point and setting herself, she
sprang out into the early afternoon sky.




        "Here she comes.  You two get out here, and start walking
toward her.  I'll move the car just behind her, then we'll get out
and box her in.  Remember, wear the glasses and act like cops.  And
make damned sure you don't hurt her!  The boss says that if she
gets hurt, then we're dead," the driver instructed, his tone very
serious.
        "Then we'd have to use feather-lined gloves.  She looks
like she'd break if you touched her, period," the front one
responded, shaking his head.
        "Just make sure, got it?" he reiterated, angrily.  "I want
to get paid for this job, not hospitalized.  Go!"
	As the two in the back stepped out, the car then moved down
the street as normally as possible, then, as it passed Yoriko, it
pulled over and stopped.  The other two got out quickly and started
walking up behind the unsuspecting girl.
        Miyoko cleared her third rooftop and angled across the main
street, expecting to see some sign of Yoriko's brightly colored
uniform on the sidewalks below.  Not spotting her, she took another
bounce and propelled herself further up the street, figuring Yoriko
must be just up ahead.
        "Ano...  I don't understand...  What do you want with me?"
Yoriko blinked, nervously.
        "We want you to come with us, Ma'am.  Immediately," the
man in front of her stated, then suddenly grabbed her shoulders and
spun her around, covering her mouth with a chunk of duct tape.
	Before she knew what hit her, another man grabbed her feet
and the two of them carried her toward a car with its door open.
Yoriko panicked and tried to struggle free, but a third man grabbed
her arm and held it painfully tight, just as they reached the car.
        Miyoko, thinking she may have overshot Yoriko by accident,
slid down the roof of a cafe and settled to her feet atop a garbage
bin.  Casting her gaze up and down the street, she was about leap
down when she saw a flash of colour.  Bounding off the container,
she moved toward the flash rapidly, only to feel her heart stop as
she discovered what had caught her eye.
        Two large thugs, one on the curb and another on the street,
were in the process of forcing the struggling Yoriko into a car.  As
she homed in on the vehicle, the thugs finally got her in and dove
in themselves, and the car screeched away from the curb.
        Bouncing off a convenient sign, Miyoko propelled herself
toward the car, enraged beyond reason.
	Someone was hurting Yoriko, and there was only one price for
that transgression.
	Swinging her legs under her, she slammed into the roof the
car, caving the middle of it in.  Balling her fists, she rained
chestnut punches on the windshield, shattering it into a mass of
vision-blocking broken glass.  The car slammed on its brakes and
careened to the side, Miyoko using the motion to roll forward to
the street and stand ready.
	The first gorilla bailed out of the car and leapt over
the hood at her, brandishing a long knife.  Miyoko leapt at him
head on, slapping the knife from his hand and driving her fist into
his face.  As his nose exploded in a burst of red, she angled over
his shoulder and grabbed his shirt, using her momentum to launch
him over her head and across the sidewalk, then completely through
a wooden fence.  The second thug on the passenger side jumped out
his door snarling, only to be met with a leg sweep that brought
him down onto Miyoko's upward thrusted elbow, jamming his
shattered jaw into his cheekbones.  As he recoiled backwards
from the impact, Miyoko followed through with a kick that sent
him into the same fence as his companion.
	The third was already on his way around the car as she
regained her stance, and tried to launch a kick at her.  Blocking
it, she delivered a solid kick to his chest, feeling several of
his ribs crack.  She followed that with an aerial changeup to the
side of his head, sprawling him face first into the concrete of
the sidewalk.
	As she spun to go after the fourth, she froze in her tracks
as he dragged the terrified Yoriko from the car and jammed a gun
in her temple.
	"Back off!  I don't want to hurt her, but if you so much
as move, I'll do her right here!" he shouted, his voice a panicked
shriek.
        Miyoko glared back at him with eyes as hard as steel.
"You just signed your death certificate, asshole..." she growled,
and in a move so fast it looked like a twitch, fired Yoriko's keys
straight into his face.
        What happened next looked to the frightened Yoriko like a
slow motion replay of a Jackie Chan movie.  The thug, stunned by
the set of keys embedding themselves in his face, let go of Yoriko
and dropped the gun, moving to claw at the pain.  Yoriko fell to
the side just as Miyoko grabbed the roof of the car, lifted her
legs and launched herself through it over the back seat, driving
her feet into the thug's knees.  As they both let go with sickening
pops, he collapsed to the ground screaming while Miyoko landed hard
on his chest.  As she lined her fist up on his remaining eye, she
looked down at him and snarled.
        "Who sent you...  And why?" she demanded, pressing her knee
into his chest.
        "Won't...  Tell you..." he croaked, trying to shake his
head.
        Miyoko frowned.  "It's your funeral," she remarked coldly,
then drew her fist back and yelled a strike cry.
        "OKAY!!" the thug suddenly shrieked, as Miyoko stopped her
fist mere millimeters from his eye.
        "Talk," she commanded, drawing her fist back to ready.
        "Ten - Tendou Nabiki...  She wanted us...  To hold her for
questioning," he gasped, having a hard time breathing with Miyoko's
weight on his chest.
        "Chikusho...  I knew it," Miyoko snarled, then lifted the
hapless thug and growled into his face.  "Tell that bitch she's
next," she ordered, then let the thug drop.
        Getting up off of him, she immediately went to Yoriko's
side, worried that she was hurt.  Yoriko, meantime, sat motionless
against the side of the car, eyes wide and body trembling.
        "Yoriko-chan...?  Are you okay?" Miyoko blurted, ripping
the tape away from her face so fast she barely noticed it go.
        Yoriko blinked once, turned her eyes to Miyoko, then burst
out in tears and dove into her arms.
        "Miyoko-chan...  I was so scared!" she wailed, her small
form still shivering as she clawed at Miyoko's blouse.
        "Shhh...  It's okay, Yoriko-chan.  I took care of them,"
Miyoko soothed, stroking the back of her head gently.
        "I...  I thought they were going to rape me...  Or kidnap
me...  I was so scared..." the girl blubbered, drawing her legs up
and cowering against Miyoko's chest.
        "Bastards," Miyoko spat in response, turning and ripping 
the keys out of the thug's face beside her.  "C'mon, Yoriko-chan.
Let's get you home."
        "H-Hai..." Yoriko gasped, tightening her hold as Miyoko
rose and lifted her up.
        "Hang on..." Miyoko advised, then leapt into the air.




	Nabiki's face fell as she stepped into her room and turned
on the lights.  Her valise had been emptied all over the room, and
her computer lay plugged in and open on her bed.  Diskettes and
removable drive cartridges were also scattered about, and every
drawer in the room was open.
	Her first reaction was anger, assuming that her room had
been simply ransacked by someone looking for valuables.  However,
as she thought about it, she realized that all of her valuables
were still in the room.  Gasping, she dashed to her computer and
turned it on.  As she watched the video and BIOS copyrights flash
by, her heart sank when the computer simply flashed blank, leaving
her with nothing but a cryptic message:  "Missing Operating System".
	Her hard drive had been cleaned off; completely.
	Shutting the now-useless machine off, she felt her chest
tighten.  In a panic, she gathered up the scattered papers to see
what was missing.  Her heart sank even further as she noticed that
anything to do with her searches on Naganato Yoriko was gone.
	"Oh my god..." she gasped, her face draining.




===================================================================
END - Secrets V1P5                     A Ranma1/2 Fanfic by Coutuva


Comments Welcomed, Flames Extinguished!
coutuva@vecdev.com